#so what that vice ate it on the way home

[mizho-babe]

okay seriously tho: the way I was so invested in K & Vice's developing bond.... K being THE one to shatter Vice's world and tell him he's learned how to love, and to not be afraid of that. chef's kiss.

[ohmy-gojo]

arranged marriage with nanami kento ෆ

– nanami was told that he has to get married by his parents

– since no one caught his eye he just let his parents choose for him

– nanamis secretly a hopeless romantic, so he cant help but be dissapointed in the setting. now all he hopes is that his partner is kind

– he was shown your picture and well, he found you really pretty but he also knows looks are not everything. if youre nice and understanding than he could live the rest of his life with you

– a date was set prior your marriage as to help you get to know each other

– nanami and you showed up at the spot. you were even prettier in person. and when you both started talking, it seemed like you were a little shy so it was mostly him leading the conversation

– he asked about your likes and dislikes, your dreams, your hobbies, what food you like and even your favorite color

– your mannerisms and the way you talked was very endearing to him

– you also asked about him and got to know about his dangerous life as a sorcerer, it worried you to know the man youre marrying has to constantly put his life in risk

– all in all the date went pretty well and he was happy that he got a partner like you and vice versa.

– you both went on multiple dates before the marriage. sometimes you chose the places (amusement parks and fairs) while sometimes he chose (museums and aquariums)

– during that time you both became comfortable with each other. nanami now genuinely enjoyed spending time with you rather than thinking of it as merely a duty. now he can say that hes a little excited to marry you and live with you

– after your marriage everything was the same except you saw each other everyday. you both wake up and make breakfast together, eat and leave for work together

– you also broke out of your shy phase, now you always fill nanami about your day. sending him texts on his lunch break about how hes doing and if he ate

– you make his house more lively bc of your creativity. theres a new cover you handmade for the table and stickers even on the fans

– slowly you both start to fall for each other. it was you who fell first tho and how could you not

– and when you realized you loved him well, you were never good with words so you became more affectionate with him

– shyly giving him pecks on the cheek (first time you did that nanami was frozen, you were afraid he was uncomfortable then you saw the tips of his ears reddening) from then on, you were unstoppable. kissing him when he leaves for wokr and when he comes back home. you also loved to run your hands through his hair.

– even though you fell first, nanami was the one who fell harder

– now he really cant imagine a day without your presence. hes slowly getting used to you and your mannerisms. you fussing over him when he's overworking, always making sure he ate, taking off his glasses and pecking his forehead when he fell asleep reading a book (he could feel you doing that) and your late night conversations

– you made his house a home. it took him some time to realize that he has fallen for you

– now you both cant keep your hands to yourselves lol. he always has to have a hand in your waist

– nanamis love is shown in the way he protects you. from glaring at people who randomly touch you in the crowed train to making sure you dont hit your head in the corner of table

– he also spoils you. remember on the first date you told him about your likes, hobbies and dreams? he remembers all that and gets you whatever you wished

– you guys still hadnt gone in your honeymoon so he and you visited malaysia after the shibuya incident. that was when nanami confessed his love for you. you replied that you love him too with tears in your eyes. it was really the perfect moment for both of you, away from all the sorcery and tensions of the world.

– nanami kento, the hopeless romantic is now getting the love he deserves in this arranged marriage with you

[small-sinclair]

Possessed

Obsessed!Bo Sinclair x fem!reader

NSFW. 18+. No minors!!!!!!🔞

Tw: being eaten out, face fucking, nakedness, bottom/needy Bo, obsessed Bo, fluffy aftercare

I love obsessed Bo. He’s my favorite to write.

He practically stormed into the house at the end of the day. He wasn’t mad about his day or anything, he just needed you. He wanted your love in his heart and filling his mouth. Bo needs you in more ways he could say. Once he found you in the parlor, putting away some board games, all beats were off.

He tossed his hat to the floor and kicked off his boots. “Sweetheart,” he breathed desperately. His eyes had hearts and it swirled around like a storm. “I need you—no,” he pressed you against the pool table, practically cornering you, “want you. I wanted ya so bad it hurt today jus’ t’do work.” He kissed your neck then shoulder.

His eyes locked with yours, and he admired you the same way a stone carved admired a block. “Bo?” You whispered, kissing his cheek. “What gotten into you today?”

“You, cherie,” he breathed. “Always been you.”

Bo pressed his lips against yours hungrily. His hands were too busy ripping your clothes off and letting it go the ground until you stood naked and bare in front of him. Before he could give you much of a chance to respond and protest, he feel to his knees and pulled your hips closer, spreading your legs out.

He was like a possessed man as his tongue pressed inside you, his heavy, blown out eyes softening. He felt as if he hadn’t ate in days as he lapped you up. His tongue swirled with every breath and moan you made. He melted as your hands pulled his hair slightly, earning a deep growl from the back off his throat. He pushes up on his knees, needing more of you in his mouth, more of your taste. There was a type of freedom that came with it, a type of comfort which he couldn’t quite name. Bo loves you, but the way your would moan his name and fight against him only to fail…something bloomed in his chest and through the cracks of his concrete heart.

“B-Bo!”

He held your hips down as his nose buried into your clint, taking deep breaths, as he retraced the letter again and again. Turns out, you got off on the letters ‘Q, R, S’, but he’ll never complain. He loved the sweet music pouring from your lips. You sounded like a siren from some story he read. If that’s the case, let him be the sailor, your harbor, and your home.

He drank you dry and ate you starved over and over again, never slowing for a second. He was obsessed with the noises you made. He was in love with the smell of your body and the taste on his tongue. As you trembled to his touch, he loved every bit of you. As your rocked your hips against his face, he only licked and sucked deeper. Every inch of him was screaming for him to hit that spot, but his hands held your legs and thighs tightly. The friction made it too tight as he felt himself grow more and more desperate for your touch and approval, but he didn’t touch himself. He wouldn’t do it until you command it. For now, he let your hips roll over his cheeks and face, letting you get lost, letting you use him as a tool and a vice at your disposal. He savored your body and taste as his tongue swirled.

When he felt you clenched around his tongue, he felt his eyes closing and roll as he drank every drop of your organism, pure ambrosia of the gods. He felt thankful, felt blessed, felt blissfully at peace.

He felt you grow limp above him, and he caught you in his arms in a moment. Your legs were shaking as he guided you to the couch and laid you on the sofa, setting up on pillow, and slid down to your thighs. He his hair was soaked and he looked like some type of beautiful mess. He kissed your lips gently, shivering at the mere touch.

He began licking you clean, kissing your skin numb as he whispered gentle praises of you, telling you everything he loved about you from your thighs to your stretch marks. His hands racked over the aching muscles as he kisses up your stomach. He let you unbutton his shirt so you could touch his chest and trace his scars lightly.

“More,” he whispers, unraveling. “Want more, darlin’. Please, let me have more?” He’s not one to beg, not one to say out loud what he wanted, so this was a rare moment. Bo shudders as your hand ghosts his cheek. “Been leavin’ ya alone in dis house for too long. Ain’t fair, cher, ‘at I can’t have ya in the shop. It ain’t fair I can’t have ya at all.” He lift your head up slightly and began to suck and kiss a part on your skin. Your gasps turned into him moaning his name.

“Please,” came from your lips, causing him to groan and bite down on your skin, deepening the color on your neck. “Beauregard, have me.”

His real name on your lips made his heart ache. His hands played with the mounds on your chest, rolling them with every breath he took of you. Bo kisses the bruise on your neck as your back arched to his touch.

“Yes, of course, sweetheart,” he says, capturing your lips. “Anything you desire,” he leaned close and kiss your beside ear, “will be yours.”

[rel124c41]

LABORATORY LOVE. jade leech

It makes perfect sense that you are failing potionology, you come from a world without magic! You just wished your failures weren’t the recent entertainment to a certain vice-housewarden.

tags: developing relationship, character analysis, teeth analysis, teasing, potion accidents, 5 + 1 trope, comedy of errors, suggestive themes, & getting together

word count: 21,656

Since the beginning of your impromptu enrollment in Night Raven College, classes have taken your dizzy brain and swirled it around like mixed cake batter. Uncaring of your blunders, the courses march on. You have had multiple professors pull you aside for hush conversations about how: magic might not be something you should be studying; you’re showing great difficulty with this section, my door’s open for extra help; do you have any hobbies, perhaps you should look to pursue one of those. 

You wonder if they knew you were from another world entirely along with being magicless, their tone might change. Compared to others, you were leaps and bounds above where you should be. 

Not that you are aware of your competence. And, even then, it is never enough. Which is admittedly very frustrating. You do not like to be viewed as a failure or incompetent. 

Back at home, you were always on top of your studies, kept yourself afloat on a little canoe. In Twisted Wonderland, your limbs grow fatigue with how harshly you have to tread water to stay afloat. Constantly, you felt ready to drown. You manage to withstand it though, avoiding going under by keeping water a fine line across your chin and bottom lip. 

And, even then, that is never enough.

I. The scarab beetle was added before ginger root when the correct order is ginger root then scarab.

To be fair, you are tired beyond belief. You had to pull off your gloves multiple times to rub sleep out of your eyes. Switching up the order of the ingredients … This is one of the stupider mistakes you have made in Professor Crewel’s class. To be thoroughly fair, the anxiety about your recent situation coupled with sleeping on the uncomfortable spare bed in Leona’s room has been starting to kill your restful nights. 

What a well devised strategy. Chip away at the mental fortitude of a person by taking away physical comforts. Azul Ashengrotto truly knows where to point the arrow notched in his bow. 

You just wish he had chosen anyone other than you.

Yawning, you deposit the comatose scarab beetle into the cauldron. One second it is a black freckle on the gray-blue mixture, and then the next second it has been dissolved down to the bone. It ate it as quickly as acid does, you think awestruck, I’m glad I’m wearing gloves. Said gloved hand holds itself outstretched towards Ace, your lab partner, as you murmur, “Okay, hand me the ginger root now.”

“Huh? I already handed you that though,” Ace says, looking up from the logs of cinnamon he is cutting as instructed.

Usually you two have Grim do the physical labor, cutting up ingredients, while you and Ace uptake harder tasks. However, Grim is not free, called in for an impromptu shift during school hours. Part of you cannot comprehend how that is possible – to work during school – but another part of you cannot comprehend magic, so really the whole globe, this Twisted Wonderland, is incomprehensible. 

An incomprehensible globe where you make friends with the stupidest of the bunch. 

“No you didn’t; you handed me the next ingredient that had to go in.”

“Yeah, which was ginger root. Don’t tell me the fumes in here are making you stupider, Prefect. Your brain fried or something,” Ace asks. He tilts his head in a taunting way that is not effective due to the anemone sprouting from his skull.

“Says the one with the anemone coming out of his brains.”

“Hey! Just because you’re being forgetful doesn’t mean ya get to insult me!”

“Please don’t play smart with me right now. I just need —.” Your words fall out of your mouth as you catch the sight of ginger root sitting pretty on your side of the lab table, untouched and not in the potion. You blank, dumb, until a sudden heat wave washes over you.

Not a blush though you realize as a smoke cloud of brimstone blooms up mushroom-like from your cauldron. Your once squinting eyes widen in fear.

The potion releases a wave of gas as it evaporates away in seconds. It feels like getting punched with heat after opening an oven. As you stand there looking at the bottom of your cauldron, mourning your potion, you suddenly hear laughter in the midst of this new humidity.

“... No — HAHAHA — No fucking way! HAHAHAHAHA!!”

Dread fills you first upon hearing it. Whatever has Ace laughing and pointing at you is definitely not a positive in your book. Sevens above, you are not dealing with being potion-ed cat ears again. It must be something physical on you at very least. Because, Ace has not stopped pointing and bursts out between his bellows, “Now you match the part of looking like an idiot! HAHAHA!”

Annoyance quickly shoves dread to the side. Gut-instinct guides your hand before your brain can catch up. Clutching ginger root, you reel back your arm ready to whack Ace with it until a certain hand shackles your wrist. Shit.

“Ace! (Name)! Once again, this is unacceptable behavior from both of you. Did your parents pick you off the streets and neglect training?” Ah, you recognize those dog analogies anywhere. Curling in on yourself, you turn around to give Professor Crewel a sheepish smile while he keeps your wrist hostage.

“Sorry, Professor Crewel.” 

You would be delusional to think your potionology professor has a soft spot for you; he probably only sees you as a nippy Pomeranian or a Retriever freshly showered in mud. The scowl on his face is something you have come to be familiar with from August to November. 

Crewel sighs, “Luckily, these supplies are not hard to obtain. I’ll be sending both of you to fetch more ginger root and scarabs from the botanical gardens.” His steely eyes aim at you. “And Prefect, I suggest retrieving a hat for yourself. An unsightly look is one step away from a disorganized headspace. Try to be a bit more mindful, pup.”

“Yes, Professor Crewel.”

You have no idea where the fashion advice came from. However, you are not going to dig yourself a deeper hole by asking the Professor what he means by unsightly look and disorganized head. Besides with the way Ace is still biting down a grin, you expect that you will privy to it soon.

“Dismissed.” Professor Crewel sends you on your way.

As soon as you two round the cauldron, you and Ace are both immediately on one another. He grabs the back of your neck as you kick his shin. Idiot! No you’re an idiot! Says the idiot! Ace pinches your cheek as you give him a Chinese burn, grabbing his forearm and twisting it in your grip. I can’t believe you messed that up! At least I’m not signing contracts to cheat! Stumbling to the door, kicking and fighting with each other, you just barely catch the glimpse of Deuce sending a wince of sympathy your way. 

Ace sticks his finger in your ear. His spit-coated touch sends a shiver down your spine. Breaking your whispering, you caterwaul just as you push Ace and yourself out of Crewel’s classroom, “I’m gonna kick you where the sun don’t shine, asshat!” Ace’s cackles are the last thing the classroom hears before the door shuts firmly in place.

The botanical gardens are not somewhere you find yourself often. The mere size of it intimidates you greatly. Plus, it has so many dangerous things lurking inside of it like lion tails, man-eating plants, and carrots that when plucked incorrectly can send you into a coma just from a single scream. For your own growing trepidation, you choose to stay out for safety reasons.

Though splitting up is not your idea, you still concede to it. The guilt over your sleep-addled mistake speeds up your agreement. After all, it was you who switched the order. Thus, you walk around the botanical gardens looking to grab dandelion root (which came before the scarab beetle and ginger root) while Ace gathers a single scarab beetle. 

At least Ace takes up the more perilous task for you. Scarab beetles when provoked flicker on and off in a brilliant light display of red until it explodes. If the mage cannot match the rhythm of beeping reds with the light of their magic pen, the scarab self-destructs. It is hazardous for you to anywhere near an alive scarab. Besides …

Danger finds you like a faithful, old friend.

Standing on the little bridge that curves over the miniature river, danger arrives at your side like a mistress. “So pretty,” someone whispers breathlessly. You choose to ignore this, thinking someone is appreciating the flowers. Pamphlet in hand, you worry your bottom lip and consider which side of the bridge you have to walk down to find the dandelion roots. 

“He-Hello there, Prefect. Quite a nice day for a stroll, don’t you think?”

Caught off guard, you turn to see who is addressing you. It is one of those Octavinelle twins. He holds an empty  jar in his gloved hand. However, you are unsure of which one you are dealing with.

“Ah … yeah,” you twitch as you respond. Where the hell is Ace? You would rather not be alone with a mage that you saw send multiple students to the infirmary only two days ago. You remember it vividly: all the students rushing forward to tear up the contract, as Azul stood on the table, saying with fake direness, “Dear me, I really didn’t want to resort to violence, but alas. Jade. Floyd. Play with them for a bit.”

You shift your eyes away like one might avert the gaze of a stumbling, rabid raccoon. “Sure is … a nice day?” Truthfully, you don’t think you have had one of those in Twisted Wonderland. Your day has just gotten worse in the twin’s presence.

Under the canopy of black walnut leaves and palm washingtonias, you assess all your escape routes. Whichever twin this is, he is looking at you so intensely, eyes half-lidded and the faintest dusting of pink on his cheeks. It takes only a moment for you to realize he is staring at what lies on your head, but you have enough time to map your escape route.

“Well, it was nice seeing you –,” you start, heading down the bridge, in the opposite direction of the Octavinelle twin. You just barely make it a step and a half when he catches you off guard again.

“You have Potionology this period, yes? It is a Wednesday after all.” How the hell does he know that? 

Yet, hearing how he structures his words, you think you finally recognize which one it is … Jade, who had said to you just yesterday, “And if you’re in need of lodgings, feel free to come and speak with us. Reservations for guest rooms in Octavinelle dorm starts at 100 thaurmarks a night.” The last conversation that happened between you two. Eyes pinching down, you think, he’s such an asshat for saying that to you who is very much broke beyond broke.

“Yeah, I do.” You resume your steadyfast escape route. You can clearly hear Jade walk over the wooden bridge, following after you. 

“If my deduction is correct, it seems you have been caught up in the potion accident. What a most unfortunate turn of events; potionology is often a tricky subject for students to grasp.”

Yeah, and without magic or a basic education on this stuff, it’s impossible for me.  You send Jade a wary glance. Now matching strides, you really have no choice but to converse with him or your friends will probably suffer more during their shifts. “Yeah, I messed one up.”

But no one says you have to be verbose during it. 

You ponder on why Jade is so interested in the multiple sea anemones blooming from your head. When your scuffle with Ace finally ebbed, the Heartslabyul student turned on his front-facing camera so you could finally see what made you look like an idiot. A glowing crown of blue sea anemones form around your head.

You cringed, your matching visage on Ace’s phone doing the same. Of course you are not spared any break from humiliation; when you come back to your temporary lodgings, Leona is probably going to laugh up a sandstorm. Ugh … you hate that stupid lion!

Jade says, “I’ve noticed this happens to you frequently. In August, you gained cat ears and could only speak in crying meows. You were deaged down to a toddler on September 14th. Then in October, you underwent a body swap with your friend, Ace Trappola, for a full five days; Thursday through Monday. Am I correct?” How the absolute fuck does he know that?

“...Yeah.”

“You know, Octavinelle is always willing to help those in need. I, myself, can offer –”

“No thanks.” You glance at the pamphlet and take a sharp left turn. Jade follows.

“My, what a harsh rejection. How audacious of you to deny me when I am scheduled to train Deuce and Ace later on tonight. But, I suppose if that is how you feel –”

Begrudgingly, you turn around and frown, “Be easy on them, won’t you? Bye, Jade.” Snapping your pamphlet open wider, you continue on your way. 

What an idiot. You already stuck your neck out enough for them by signing Azul’s contract. Keeping polite conversation with Jade? You could do that. However, you will not take up another deal with Octavinelle anytime soon, unless … well, no, you think to yourself. That hovering ‘unless’ probably won’t happen with Jade. Whatever Jade needs, he can find elsewhere.

Dandelion roots should just be down a little farther; another right turn and you should be upon them. At least that is how your route would have gone if you were not grabbed and spun around by your shoulders. You stare into Jade’s dilated eyes in shock.

“Prefect,” his voice comes out more growl than speech. He soothes his fake humanitarianism voice with a cough and repeats, “Prefect. Just hear me out.” The vice-housewarden almost sounds desperate to keep your attention on him.

“Okay.” You try to ignore the close-lipped smile on his face as you fold up your pamphlet. “Okay.” Dandelion roots are one of the few non-sentient plants in this twisted wonderland, so you can pause your search for Professor Crewel for a mere moment. “I messed up a potion today, but I don’t need your help with it.”

Tutoring … from anyone. You despise the very thought. Before, you were so capable and so independent; now, you have to waver and bend yourself to the assistance of everyone in this alien world. God, you cannot even protect yourself from your day to day. The entire world outscales you like a final boss compared to a NPC.

“Are you absolutely certain? Who knows what kind of misfortune can fall upon you at the hands of a botched potion? Who knows, you could find yourself breathing in poisonous gas or having your intestines turned inside out. What an excruciating sensation.”

A whole body shiver runs down your spine. The fact that that is not out of the realm of possibility makes you loathe your existence in this world even more. Still … “What do you want from me?” … you have Ace and Grim at least making sure you aren’t blown to bits by an exploding cauldron.

“It is just a simple matter of the fungus growing from your head.”

“Fungus?”

Jade’s voice turns so fond that it startles another shiver from you. His lovestruck gaze fastens itself to the apparent mushroom crown sitting on your skull. “Entoloma Hochstetteri mushrooms. The non-scientific name is blue pinkgills.”

Bored and tired, you yawn. Jade glances down at your mouth with pervertish intrigue. It might just be the same amatory he regards the blue pinkgills with staying in his eyes. However, you can imagine him mocking you about having to sleep in Leona Kingscholar’s room so you screw your mouth into a frown.

And, as if reading your body language with ease, Jade offers, “If you are still having troubles with your lodging, I’d benevolently suggest a trade.”

“A trade?”

“A room in Octavinelle, free of charge; all to yourself and your dire-beast for the full two days left in your contract. In exchange, you will give me the Entoloma Hochstetteri blooming from your head. An item for another item. Fair, yes?”

“No.” You straighten your posture. “I want something everlasting; not just temporary satisfaction.”

“Oya? Whatever did you have in mind?”

This is something you have been pondering about for a while. Truthfully, you were considering it your very first week after the encounter with the overblotted creature in the mines. Taking a deep breath, you announce your only term, “I want protection against overblots.”

Jade’s optics grow, dilating and blinking in surprise. It is … simultaneously an extremely well thought out and dumb request. Protection is something you need. But with Jade, someone you barely just met, providing you protection? You neither seem like the type to trust people too quickly or too hold out trust until the very end. 

Immediately on detective mode, Jade tries to figure out your aim. “Overblots are very rare phenomenon. Do you –?” 

“Tell me more about these pinkgills,” you suddenly interrupt, noticing that he is slipping into doubt over this deal.

A hand covers over his erratic heart, and a small sliver of teeth peek through his smile. “Ah, I’d be delighted to. Blue pinkgills are quite mysterious. No one knows if they are edible because no one has dared to try them. There is a peninsula that features them on their currency as well. It is the only country to have a piece of currency featuring a mushroom on it; I’d be delighted to have the opportunity to visit it someday.”

“That’s really interesting. Are they rare to cultivate,” you ask, faking genuine curiosity. 

“Unfortunately, yes. They are native to that one peninsula and thus –”

“Hard to come by? Rare?” 

You supply Jade with the words he is looking for. Subtly, you remind him of the fact these limited mushrooms are just a person’s deal away. The blue halo on your head becomes more and more enticing to Jade by the second. Blue that also bleeds with the color, such a psychedelic hue that almost hurts to look at.

You look like an angel under it … You? Jade hesitates at his train of thought; that is not the conclusion he thought his mind would go to. 

“What a surprise fufu; you are not as brainless as I intentionally presumed, (Name).” Smitten emotion slowly drains from his dual-eyes as he takes in your visage whole, not just the prize hanging above your head.

This is good. Jack could protect me but he is only a first year mage. Ace and Deuce do a good enough job. Grim is only food motivated. Jade did send multiple students to the infirmary by himself. This – “I’m glad to prove such an intelligent mage such as yourself wrong. It’s the first time I have ever done so.” – This is good. This deal will keep me alive and safe.

Jade shakes the hand you have offered up to him. However, before you can end the contact, he yanks you towards him. A groan of pain bleeds from you as you are pulled chest to chest with him. Chin pinched skyward by his other hand, you look into two halos, one gold and the other umber.  

Right away, you clock it as an intimidation tactic, so you do not let yourself appear frightened. Compared to those overblots you faced … 

“However, it would not be fair if I did not receive something everlasting as well. Not just temporary satisfaction.”

Subtle eyes dart around the botanical gardens, trying to find Ace, but halos are all you see. “Okay, what do you want on your end?”

“It is quite common for you to find yourself caught up in the misfortune of a poorly made potion. I want to be there – to watch you struggle and to watch you be powerless. That is all you need to give me.”

“I … I can do that.”

“Then, it’s a deal.”

When you met Jade officially in the cafeteria, you picked up his subtle habit of bringing his hooked index finger up to his mouth before he could smile too wide. When meeting with Azul in the VIP Room, he was very subdued and subservient unlike his twin, listening instead of laughing and nodding along instead of nagging vexed. Now when making a deal with the vice-housewarden, you find yourself peering through a tear in the fabric that envelops him day to day.

For the first time ever, you get to see Jade smile with all his teeth. They curl down and up, reminding you almost of cat claws, with an acute sharpness in each individual tooth. They ensnare you.

II. Your basilisk's egg was not incubated at the correct temperature of 2300 degrees fahrenheit.

Your basilisk’s egg is colder than the collective’s by many, many degrees. Honestly, you blame this one on Professor Crewel for not putting the much needed comma between the two and the three; it was completely natural of you to assume 230 degrees fahrenheit was correct when 2,300 is an outrageous temperature. Regular incubators in your world could not even reach that level of heat!

When you cracked the unfertilized eggs of a serpent king into the cauldron, you sheepishly noticed how much lighter the shade of red yours is compared to others. Almost the pink of a flamingo’s feathers, not red like cranberries, not red like everyone else’s. 

Already too late though; the pink-hued yolk has already sludged into the cauldron. Gravity, such a conniving bastard. You can only watch helplessly as impact is made; the eggshell in your hand is now empty. 

Then, all the liquid in your cauldron rises up like a geyser. 

“Woah!” 

“Holy shit!”

“(Name)!”

Ducking behind your hands, you yell back at Ace, “I didn’t!” That is all you get out before the potion shower lands all over you. You spit out what got into your mouth, “mean to … bleh!”

Magenta sludge drips off your uniform in thick plopping sounds. It is the consistency of a milkshake and you shiver when you realize some has definitely gone down the back of your shirt. 

“Why are both of you clean,” you whine, disassembling the poorly made umbrella your hands made. They drop away from your temple, coated in magenta. Shaking the potion off your gloves, you frown at seeing how both Ace and Grim are unaffected by the geyser that just drenched you. The clumps of potion in your hair make your frown evolve into a grimace.

Grossed out at the sight of you, Ace winches and waves around his magic pen. “Used-a protection spell. Dude, you look ridiculous, haha. Doesn’t that burn?” 

“No, it’s oddly really cold.” 

Definitely the consistency and temperature of a milkshake. You strip yourself of your gloves, carefully folding them inside out. “Ugh, this is going to take forever to wash off.” You do not even know which part of your body to start shaking off like a dog. Your one good lab-coat and your one good uniform, ruined and presumably stained.

An alert shiver zigzags up your spine, and you turn around just in time to see Professor Crewel come out of his horrified stupor. 

As he stands up from his desk, you get this overwhelming urge to run away. You have to physically focus on planting your feet down so this psoriasis itch does not cause you to turn tail and flee. It’s my fault, so I need to accept punishment. Unconvinced by your self-loathing, your body shakes in jitters, ready to rush out of the room should mental resistance let up.  

You are unaware of it, but those emotional cactus pricks of needing to run away from danger will follow you all day long today.

Once finally released from Crewel’s classroom — you had to scrub down everything from the floor, use the emergency shower to peel sludge out your hair, and are given the briefest pat of sympathy on the shoulder — you run into Ace on his way to his club meeting. Is it really that late, you think. Grim left to attend all your other classes, skimping out on the cleanup that was ‘so not his fault! see ya!’ Now you wander, weighing if you should go to Octavinelle first or Ramshackle first. Find Grim or Find Jade?

“Can I join ya,” you ask as you slot yourself next to Ace in the hallway. If Floyd is at practice, you might be able to ask him where Jade is which ends the search for one person. However, it a mute point when you realize:

“It’s kinda a coin-toss if Floyd shows up or not,” Ace responds to your question, both of you standing in the doorway of the gymnasium. Where’s Floyd was what you had asked. Diligently, you search the crowd now. With his height he should be easy to spot; you worry your bottom lip with your teeth. There is really no way you can contact Jade as you do not have his number or know his schedule.

What an asshat. You bet Jade just loves the idea of you squirming around to find him. While he can descend on you like a vulture without any forewarning with his sixth sense for entertainment, you have a harder time locating him. 

Without any warning, you suddenly sidestep away from Ace. The redhead raises an eyebrow curiously before his expression drops in shock. In the spot where you were standing, Floyd trips and hits the ground hard.

“Woah!!” You and Ace shout in unison. 

On the ground, Floyd has the same expression of shock that you two do. Though, it slowly morphs to sadness as he rubs the back of his skull. Seated on the gymnasium floor, rubbing his bruise, Floyd grumbles sullenly, “Why ya do that, Shrimpy? I just wanted to squeeze ya. Haven’t seen you all December.”

Ignoring that, you ask, “Floyd, do you know where Jade is?”

“Ya wanna see Jade?” That relights the eel’s energy. He smiles like he knows something you don’t – which is probably a lot of things, considering where you come from and where you are. “Sure, I’ll take ya. I wasn’t feelin’ basketball practice anyways.”

So, thus you end up following Floyd and Ace like a duckling. Thinking to yourself that this will have to be what happens more in the future. Find someone who knows where Jade is, glue yourself to his side after you messed up a potion, conclude a trail of test runs that borderline on torture. Yet … it is worth it to some extent. 

Vividly, you recall each instance where Jade Leech put himself between you and your faithful friend, Danger. He protected you with a variety of spells the first years have not learned yet in NRC’s curriculum. It really is a valuable deal. 

After Azul Ashengrotto’s overblot, talk between you and Jade has been sparse. It is not like the two of you are going to become friends. A mouse does not become buddy-buddy with a cat. There will never be mutualism between the two species.

Your train of thought slowly ebbs when you realize Floyd, Ace, and yourself are nearing up on Jade. Floyd seems to be crouching forward, in a way that you assumed he did earlier when trying to ambush and scare you at the gym’s entrance. This should be interesting, seeing if Floyd could succeed in getting the jump on his twin. At least it would have been if you didn’t feel like a sword sliced down your spine, spreading heat all over the planes of your body.

“Shit!” You shriek, rushing and bumping into Floyd, seconds before someone yells:

“Hey! Look out!”

In the exact spot you were standing, a framed portrait makes a crashing descent. Well, it would have been crashing if not for a lilac spell wrapping itself around the portrait. Quick and alert, Jade holds out his magic pen, levitating the talking portrait while you and Floyd gather your bearings.

“Geez, Shrimpyyy, what was that for,” Floyd groans, rubbing his arm with a sour look. “You’ve been more like a jumpin’ fish than a shrimp. All skittish and squirmy.”

“I’m sorry, I just felt – Jade, cut it out!”

It is not that Jade is doing anything particularly mischievous. However, when the spell rotates the portrait to face you instead of with its back facing all of you, a shiver that is painful and palpable burns all your pores. The portrait is of a lich, rotted gray skin with curling yellow horns and piercing red eyes.

The voice that comes from the portrait sounds like dark corners of a dangerous night. “What are you mortals looking at?”

Run away, each branch of the nervous system agrees in unison. Terrified, you push off Floyd and rush behind Jade, innately remembering he is supposed to protect you. 

“Wh-What are you doing, (Name)?” Ace asks, glancing at you in confusion. 

The Horned King seems just as skeptical towards you. Jade, raising a perfect eyebrow, looks back at your cowering form and the portrait. 

You can see all the calculations erasing, rewriting, and improving themselves in his head. His million and one hypotheses about the world around him.

“Hm, this is curious,” Jade murmurs just as the person who dropped the portrait calls out:

“My bad man. Stupid spell.” Over the railing of the stairwell, the student setting up the portraits sends you all an apologetic look. Then, noticing the nefarious grin on the vice-housewarden’s face, says quicker, “I’m so sorry about that!”

“Nonsense, I think this has caused an interesting revelation.” Slowly, Jade levitates the portrait up to the student who is very skittish to carry it on with his own spell. “Prefect, how do you feel right now?”

“I don’t know how to describe it … Like a bunch of fire ants just crawled on my skin and bit me all at once.”

“Seems you do know to articulate your thoughts.”

“You’re a pain in the ass, Jade.”

He smiles as if you have just complimented him. “Did you mess up a potion beforehand?”

Your eyes squint in suspicion. “Yeah, I uncooked my basilisk egg. How did you know I messed one up though?”

“Simply an observation. I think the potion causes you to have a heightened sensitivity to danger. You knew when danger was coming and rushed away from it. Foresight?”

“I suppose, who knows,” you say, watching the portrait like a bunny in a burrow might watch a predator, waiting for it to slip away to another area. Tension ebbs from you as the other student takes it and begins his task of rearranging them. You step out of the protective shadow of Jade Leech.

“Who knows,” you repeat, intrigued. “Maybe if I mess up a potion like this again, I can call our deal off. I won’t need your help.” A smile comes up to your face, imagining yourself independent.

Jade only scowls. You wonder whatever for but —

“What did you do to mess up the potion, (Name)! Please, I need it! This would be like an alarm for whenever Riddle’s nearby! I could get away with so much!” Ace squeezes your shoulders with a bruising intensity. 

Ripping yourself from him, you stumble back. A soft ‘ow’ parts your mouth when you collide with something, spine to chest. Jade’s gloved hands come down upon your shoulders unexpectedly, pinning you in place. “Basilisk eggs are a delicacy. They aren’t hard to obtain but they are certainly pricey. However, if you are ever serious about your inquiry, Ace … Azul’s office is always open to help.”

It seems that Ace’s sense of danger is alive and well too, for he takes several steps back at Jade’s words. “Well … when you put it like that, heh. I suppose I’m alright.” His eyes shift to the hold Jade has on your shoulder, not shaken off or side-stepped.

“But you were so eager before.” Jade frowns, putting on an act. He looks awful sorry to see Ace skirter away like a crab poked by sticks at the beach. It is a mere masquerade.

“Naah, I’m good. Have fun, (Name)!”

“Ha-Have fun?!” You sputter indignant. 

But Ace has already left with Floyd in tow. Basketball practice waits for no man. Left alone in the hallway, you shudder in the delicate embrace of a dangerous predator. 

“Have fun … what an appropriate saying.” Jade leans down over you with a smile. You should have known from that smile alone it was going to be bad. And it proves to be bad! Because, of course, it has to do with mushrooms again.

Jade takes you hiking. Apparently, his club starts around the same time as Floyd, and Jade is nothing but meticulous about schedules. So, you are going to be alone in the mountains with Jade … it does not take a magical potion to know that it is a new episode of a true crime podcast waiting to happen.

You tell the three Ramshackle ghosts if you do not come back to treat Grim kindly as you zipper up the hoodie Jade said you would need. The knock on your building’s door sends a shiver down your spine that burns. Like a lightning bolt of prickling pain that makes each pore tingle with fire. You are starting to regret this contract.

“So what exactly am I going to be doing?” You ask Jade as you two make your way down a beaten trail. A heightened sense of danger seems quite trivial for a walk in the woods.

“I was rolling the traits of the potion over in my head,” Jade says, his back to you as he leads the way. “And I was thinking, what a perfect opportunity to unearth the mystery of blue pinkgills.”

“What do you mean?”

“No one has gathered up the courage to test if they are poisonous or not. Being poisoned is an obvious endangerment to a body’s health, don’t you agree?”

“You can’t be serious.” His back never turns. “Jade, no way!”

The smile in his voice is palpable as he teases, “I am only joking. After your potion wore off, the blue pinkgills you gifted me decayed instantly.”

You breathe a short-lived sigh of relief. “However, that doesn’t mean your potion can’t be utilized on this hike.”

“I’m not going to eat a single mushroom.” You vow.

“Nothing of the sort. The hypothesis I want to test out is a bit different.”

Hypothesis? This relationship via contract is akin to a type of scientist’s experiment. Before you can think about the roles of yourself and Jade, your entire body is engulfed with a terrible sense of burning like each particle suddenly was torn in two. It is an appropriate reaction when you realize an entire uprooted tree is rocketing towards you with high-speed velocity. 

“Shit!” You shriek. That is far as your body stays your own. Each atom of the muscular system is possessed by the potion. The potion puppets your body and you find yourself successfully leaping over the horizontal tree-trunk. One hand plants itself on the wood; your legs bunch up to your stomach and then you are catapulting yourself over a log. 

When you plant yourself on the opposite side, feet landing perfectly, your gaze hardens into a glare. “What the hell, Ja–!” An uprooted bush tries to ambush you. Shrieking, the potion puppets all but your fearful vocal cords.

“Now, let’s see,” Jade muses, waving his magic pen. His gold and olive eyes study you. “If I attack from both the front and the back, does it react simultaneously?”

“Jade!”

“Excellent, it does,” Jade celebrates with a sadistic gleam in his eyes.

So, thus it begins. Your first real experiment with Jade and he is throwing an entire forest at you. Frantically, your body jumps and leaps out of the way of roots that try to sweep your legs and rocks that try to cut your arms. You even do a front flip to avoid a particular rock being thrown at you. You don’t know how to do flips unless on a trampoline! Nine of our ten times, you land on your butt performing them; yet, on solid ground you just completed your first front flip on land. Precise yet abusive, your body is puppeted by the potion and Jade’s ministrations. 

If you had known you were going to be attacked, you would have never chosen Jade as your protector.

Suddenly, in the hurricane of foliage and earth, all it changes track and aims away from you. Each individual part – rock, tree branch, colt of dirt, flower and mushrooms – splits. Ignoring your body, the hurricane slips behind you in a frenzy. Wind magic maneuvers your hair in the same direction of all that flying fauna. Then, a fist is in front of your face. 

Your body does not dodge. Rather, it plants itself like stone, sensing all the danger is gone.

You hear all the uprooted discord crashing behind you. Each rock lands like a meteor into the ground, tree branches nosedive down like crashed airplanes, and flowers are shredded apart like brittle paper. It is like when the hatch of a truck’s cargo bed opens on the highway, everything crashing yet the front seat is all calm. All is calm besides the paused fist inches from your nose.

Jade’s leather gloves. The ridges where leather sits to make the indents and folds of his knuckles. You are not graced much time to analyze the sight, to analyze the fist that most certainly would have broken your nose into a bloody pulp.

Deliberately, Jade straightens out. A lot of momentum had been used when rushing towards you, aiming his gloved fist like a tracking missile. Unraveling himself from his crouching position slowly, his dual-colored eyes fix you with an intrigued look. He withdraws his fist to rest by his side. “Hm.”

Now that everything is tranquil, you realize how ragged your breath is as you question back, “Hm?”

“The spell did not have you jump out of the way when I went to attack you. Perhaps it could not differentiate between all the foliage around and a person.” The same hand, that would have swirled up all your nasal tendons and bones into some crude red salad, moves to rest quizzically under his chin. 

Chest pounding, you spit out, “I don’t get it.”

A diagram blooms by the left side of Jade’s head. Despite your words not being an invitation to explain, he does deliberately like you are some foolish student. Like you are someone stupid. He is probably using some elementary magic too, two figures, one red and one blue, appearing from the simple spell. “It is quite simple,” he says slowly.

Asshat, you think.

“Since your botched potion has increased your sense of danger, I decided to test what kind of variables would get a reaction from you.” On the diagram, the red figure has wormlike lines squirming out of its head. 

“I threw a wide variety at you: clumps of dirt, mushrooms, tree branches to whole trees, even the smallest flowers you would dodge.” In the hand of the blue figure, a gold ring has surrounded his fist and crude drawings of all that Jade listed start to throw themselves at the red figure. Wildly panicked, the red figure hops and twirls around to avoid everything. “However,” Jade continues, a frown forming.

“When I added myself to the mix,” the blue figure suddenly appears in front of the red figure, posed like a superhero about to punch through an impenetrable wall, as all the crude drawings of rocks and trees clatter to the diagram’s ground, “I anticipated the usual reaction,” the red figure finds itself in comatose, “the reaction changed though. You didn’t move. In fact, you stood there almost confidently.”

By now, you finally manage to get your breathing under control. With your first solid breath, the diagram of magic starts to flicker into nothing. Crossing vexed arms, you hypothesize aloud, “Perhaps it has already worn off.”

Electricity sparks harshly on your nape; a sudden thought forms. Move your head right now, your bones and flesh say in unison. Involuntary, your neck tilts until your left cheek collides with your shoulder. A whooshing sound darts past your ear. You watch stunned as the bullet-esque rock Jade controls with magic buries itself into a nearby tree. As if it was fired from an assault rifle!

“An incorrect assumption; you are still responding so we’ll rule that thought out.”

The adrenaline that keeps you docile, almost sedated like a syringe-given drug, slowly drains from your body. Your typical attitude resurfaces and – “You –!” A skirmish between shock and anger pulls your face into a constipated look. “You could have killed me! What if that went through my head!”

“Please,” he tuts with pretend exasperation, thoroughly amused at your reaction. “I’m a capable mage who has mastered many tricks. Losing control on something as tiny as a pebble is never going to happen. Besides, I am to not harm you or risk losing my entertainment.”

Like you would believe that. Which you tell him, stomping your foot and pointing an acute nail at him, “Like I have any reason to believe a grand lie like that! I think you’d laugh over my injured body if you got the chance. You know what, Jade? Deal off! I’m not going to be used like a lab rat.”

Having said your piece, you whirl on your feet. There is a lot of debris and a fallen tree or two … no more accurately ripped and thrown tree or two you will need to climb over, but you are going back to Ramshackle. Tucked in a safe bed, letting this potion shed from your system, that is where you are going to. If only your wrist was not grabbed.

Shouldn’t I have yanked my wrist away before he could touch me, you think, glancing up from the point of contact into a pair of deplorable eyes. Who the hell does he think he is, batting you with sharpened paws as you squeak and scurry back and forth in a rodent panic. 

The cat keeps his teeth hidden as he says, “Now, let’s not be so rash. After such a strenuous exercise, the natural course of action is to stop and replenish yourself; not exert yourself more by taking a long, long walk back to the school. I’ll prepare something for us.”

You yank your wrist back. “No way – what you want me to eat those mushrooms; help you identify which one is poisonous or not? You’re sadistic.”

“I have been called worse. However, must I remind you what you stand to lose if you call off our contract?” Your feet pause in their retreat but you dare not turn around. “It would be most unfortunate if this ends so early too.” 

Part of you imagines how his face splits into a grin like those shapeshifters in old horror movies, splitting a jagged line across his features; perhaps he even tilts his head seductively to the side so the sunlight catches his enamels in a perfect way; you know from tone alone his smile must be the cat who got the cream.

Which is why when you turn around, you keep your eyes focused on his knees – trying to avoid looking at the thigh straps of his outfit. You almost feel a bit patronized when Jade says, “If anything happens to be poisonous, I had some Ipecac medicine on me.”

You try your best to not look so sad and slouched when you follow Jade.

From the impromptu clearing where trees were ripped up, or perhaps it was all planned down to last detail even this intentional clearing, Jade unloads his backpack. He sets down this small, portable grill table, unfolding the legs to stand upright. Miniature chairs for two with a pine green and sea green triangle patterns are propped upright. Exceptional care is taken when he removes his blue jacket and white hoodie, leaving himself in a black turtleneck. 

Just how strong is the guy, you wonder, watching him pull out of this out of a seemingly bottomless backpack. It is only when the hoodie is gone that you get the answer. The sharp curvatures of his biceps are visible because the turtleneck is so tight. A hormonal part of you squeaks in fear like a mouse.

You busy yourself with poking the fire Jade has started in the grill’s belly-like canopy. Whatever chunks of logs were thrown at you now stir under your ministries, distracting yourself from the man of the hour. As you prod with your lone stick, Jade starts to prepare your shared meal.

“So, why do you think it happened?”

“Hm?” Jade looks up from the kebab stick in his hand.

“Why do you think I didn’t move when you went to punch me?”

“Ah,” Jade adds another mushroom to his equally odious, fungi version of Vlad Tepes’s impalment displays, “I have several running theories. Though I most strongly attribute it to confusion.”

 “I quite understand what a fist in my face means.”

Jade laughs. “I’m glad but rather I am hypothesizing that it was confusion over me, the flesh I’m in.”

“That makes no sense; I definitely react to people. I reacted to Floyd, and you and him are cut from the cloth.”

“Yes, however there were many variables in the air. As a result, the possibility that the potion saw me as an outlier is not so far-fetched. You were so focused on all the soil and rocks; thus, you ignored me.”

“But the potion reacts to impending danger or whatever is trying to harm me. And I totally see you as a danger.”

“How kind of you.”

“Ugh!” You push the logs more aggressively and fire pops in bigger bursts.

“You reacted to Floyd just fine. When the talking portrait fell, you side-stepped. However, these were all separate instances and not together.”

You consider this, face scrunching. Jade does have brilliant deductive skills; now contemplating it, it is not so far-fetched like he said. Perhaps the potion can only react to living things and similarly only react to non-living things. Yet when Jade grabbed your wrist … you start to ponder on that … but your thoughts disintegrate when Jade starts to fill the grill-plate with his mushroom kebabs. 

“I’m not eating those.” Your face keeps that scrunched up expression. 

“While not equal to red meat, mushrooms still are a good source of protein. Truly, after your little squabble with nature, I think you might find you quite enjoy these.”

“Not a chance in Hell. They don’t look appetizing at all.”

“Have you ever had them before?”

“No but —.”

“How will you know you don’t like them if you never try them?”

How annoying; Jade sounds like every adult you ever met in your life. Really, you are fixated on wearing this scrunched look like a model with the latest trends. Nose wrinkled and brow furrowed, you look down at the arrangement of your presumed next meal. “I’m just a picky eater. You don’t have a sandwich in that bag of yours?”

“Afraid not,” Jade apologizes without an apologetic expression. “I find relying on nature to remind me of home; a hunt is a hunt no matter whether below or above.”

“So you must have some berries on you or something,” you deduct, trying to find yourself an out.

“Afraid not.” Again, this is said very unapologetically. “Though you are most welcome to wrangle yourself a worm out of the ground. Maybe that potion will help you locate a squirrel that you can overpower.”

“You’re lucky you don’t have this potion on you, or else you could sense my foot’s about to hit your crotch.”

“So violent,” Jade smiles behind the fist which curls up to his mouth, “Please, I implore you: try.” Now he is just teasing you instead of being malicious. 

You punch the side of his thigh then go back to observing. There is a decent char on each mushroom now that is more a golden brown than a deep caramel brown. 

“You know, if you brine and deep-fry gray oyster mushrooms, they take on the texture of fried chicken. The taste is similar enough when a simple illusion spell can get the pickiest eater to try them.”

“Don’t even think about it.” Your spine pricks with that familiar, forbidding sense.

“Oh no, you misunderstand.”

Jade says before he starts leaning in to regale you with a story of how he managed to trick Azul their freshmen year to eat mushrooms for five months straight. Azul’s comfort food almost ruined evermore. It is odd to see such a mélange of fondness and sadism on a person’s face but Jade wears it well.

Eventually, you are graced with other food: grapes that Jade has in his backpack. Apparently there are some ducks a little ways down the hiking trail that Jade feeds. They aren’t the type to hibernate or fly south for the winter, the Twisted Wonderland version of mallards. Excited, you implore him to show you them as it is only right after tormenting you so, paying you back for the maltreatment.

He says you need to raise your price for torment or else the entire school will abuse you, but he takes you to the ducks all the same. 

III. The measurement for Eastern bat’s blood was off by 1.5 ounces. 

“Usually when you hold out a hand, there is something in it to offer up,” Jade says analytically. In front of him, your right hand is outstretched.

This world really is out to get you. Not only are you fumbling along in a university that requires a knowledge of foreign, elementary knowledge and has an entrance exam people only pass with Willy-Wonka-ticket luck, but the units of measurements are completely alien to you. Incorrectly, you drained your Eastern bat for half a second too short. Blame can always be pinned on Ace just shrugging when you showed him the beaker; Jade probably will tut and tell you to uphold responsibility. 

So, facing him now empty-handed, you say sullenly, “I messed up a potion.” You try your best to ignore the absolute glee that overtake Jade’s features. “You … The effects when … Well, just take off your glove, touch my hand, and you’ll see.” 

Today is going to suck majorly. Part of you cannot comprehend what odious, monstrous things Jade Leech will do with. Your foresight with him really needs improving; Octavinelle’s vice-housewarden is an enigmatic mystery to you. When flesh mets flesh, the touch of it stings you like a jellyfish. 

His hand is nicely manicured you observe. Just an appropriate enough free edge of the nail to be unamusing yet secretively sharp if need be. His nails won’t cut you up into ribbons without speed and force. It is also a cold hand that feels like resting your cheek on silk when feverish.

Must be because he is cold-blooded and winter is still being stubborn. Taking a deep breath, you look at Jade who is looking intently at you with intrigue. “Was this just an excuse to hold my hand? How quaint, Prefect,” Jade teases when nothing extraordinary eye-catching happens.

Shouldn’t he know to observe the subtleties? You decide to embarrass yourself further by answering, “Just be patient and observe.” Then, hands still stacked upon one another, you turn a bit towards the open hallway you had stopped Jade in.

As the nominated test subject, you had drank the potion when Crewel instructed you to in potionology. Nothing happened and you were given an F. Then, humiliated in front of the class, you realized later that the potion’s intended effects were skewed slightly.

It had taken a lot of trial and error to realize the effects of the potion when first infected. Upset at Ace for not thoroughly reading the measurements, you had taken him by the shoulders and shaked him. In retaliation, he took your cheeks and squished them together to cut off your bemoans. You pinched his cheek in retaliation and then Grim suddenly caterwauled that you two had … disappeared?

Like you said, it took a lot of trial and error. You experimented with Grim, Deuce, and Ace outside the hallway in the main yard. Seeing if it worked skin to fur, seeing if the effects lasted after a quick high five, and figuring out it took a constant touch between two to work but did not work on a third touch.

Now, you have to explain to Jade that both of you are under an invisibility potion that is skewed. So you demonstrate by reaching out and slapping the nearest student across the face. It takes you a while to sum up the courage, the crowd swimming past you. Jade almost grows impatient and tries to retract his hand. Yet at the moment, you remember Schönheit’s face. It feels so satisfactory after being pushed around all the fucking time (especially during VDC) to watch the Pomefiore student stumble in shock. Your hand stings pleasantly.

Jade flinches in surprise and you quickly squeeze his hand tight. Having the contact break after striking a random student is not ideal. 

Background Pomefiore student – you decide his name is C – holds his flushing cheek and whirls around, head on a swivel. He finds no culprit. “Hey! … did you just – Um … Who did,” C’s hair shakes back and forth with his frenzied head turn, “Someone … Someone just hit my beautiful face!”

Behind you, watching C with you, Jade starts to chuckle. The knuckle of his left hand comes up to his lips as he fruitlessly tries to cork laughter. Then, inhibition escaping him, he is suddenly laughing like an amused teen instead of some super villain. His shoulders bounce in time with his mirth.

“I see,” he says a bit breathlessly after his laughing fit. “We are under a potion of invisibility.” His eyes track the Pomefiore student. “A potent one too if that student was not able to even sense us.”

C has already left so you release Jade’s hand slightly, still keeping them sandwiched on one another. “Exactly. Unfortunately, it only works with skin to skin contact. We were supposed to brew something that turned a person invisible but this one requires a second body.” 

For a moment, Jade’s eyes burn with a dangerous intrigue. Dread fills you like a river. Part of you surmises that you will not be able to predict what malicious actions he will have the two of you perform to terrorize the entire school. As if wanting to pry your ribcage open, Jade repeats your explanation to make sure he has all the available information, “So no one can see us or hear us as long as we touch?”

You shrink away at the dangerous lilt in his voice, so Jade takes to interlocking your fingers together. “Yeah, that’s the basics of this potion.” You look at your interlocked fingers as if they are a threading nest of rattlesnakes instead of fingers embracing.

“How quaint. Typically invisibility potions and spells are traceable through the wisps of magic they leave behind. Perhaps that side-effect is neutralized because you are magicless.”

“Maybe … I don’t really know.”

“Hm,” Jade studies your desolate look. “Let us be on our way then.”

“Wait!” You dig your heels into the ground. “Where are we even going?”

“To my dormitory. I need to retrieve some supplies before we utilize this potion’s potential.”

“Wait!” You dig your heels into the ground. “Why can’t we just interlock elbows!”

Finally, that seems to reel Jade out of his steadyfast mission to bring you to some second location. Gold and umber eyes glance down to your intertwined fingers. The bridge of repeating Zs which the heat from you and him met together. His hold is not so outrageously tight where you have no choice to stay.

“It would be most unfortunate if you were to slip and lose your grip. With a tighter hold like this,” he readjusts your contact to passive hand holding, your fingers unlocking from one another, “I’m assured that we will not break contact.”

“I guess that makes sense.” You … mourn? that you no longer get to hold his fingers equally in yours. But you asked for interlocking elbows. You grimace. “... Hey! Why do you say that like I’d trip! You could trip too.”

“With all the trouble you stumble into, it would be imprudent of me to not prepare for you falling in the literal sense. Do not worry though; I will be there to catch you.”

“Who says I want you to catch me? Hell, I think you’d catch me, only to fake out, and then drop me a second later.”

“Fufufu, I wouldn’t be so sure.”

“Ugh, don’t smile like that.”

So, doubly regretful and relieved that your hand-holding formation got a new look, you allow yourself to be dragged off to Octavinelle. This you could probably achieve without hand-holding but you like the secrecy. Plus, you got to flip off Riddle Rosehearts and Leona Kingscholar without repercussions. Eventually, Jade steers you towards the bedrooms located in Octavinelle. Wholly relying on him, you give him a withered olive branch of trust to not torment or abuse you too much. 

“Do you share a room with someone,” you ask as Jade lets go of your hand. The door to his dorm is closed currently, so secrecy lives on. Your eyes are glued to the opposite side that Jade did not walk towards. 

“My brother and I signed up for a double dormitory in middle school.”

“Makes sense,” you say. Sheets scrunched up, shoes and crumbs peppered all over the place, and a horrible sense of cleanliness? You doubt Jade would put up with this from another else but his brother. 

Attention drifting, you turn and watch Jade shift through a thick binder on his desk. He takes it from this apparatus of gold that sits on his neat desk. Teal with golden edges, it is one of three heavy binders. Seriously, the thing is at least a good eight inches thick with papers. “What’s that?”

The smile on Jade’s face tells you that is either going to regale or inform you about something sinister. Each sharp, serrated edge gleams like secrets spoken under candlelight. Though gloveless, his hand still perches under his chin. That tunnel of fangs opens. “Simply some information I have had to collect for Azul. It dates all the way back from our first year, down to Orientation Day. Would you like to see?”

Curiosity kills the cat; too bad you are more like the lab rat. Your eyes drawn down to the now open binder thoroughly intrigued. “Wouldn’t Azul be pissy at you for showing someone such valuable information?”

“Perhaps. But, I thought you disliked each housewarden with a vengeance.” Seeing you are still unconvinced, Jade assuages your worry, “All this information I have collected painstakingly by myself. It is under my jurisdiction who I choose to share it with.”

“And that just happens to be me,” you ask, anticipating some catch. Still, you shuffle over to the desk quite eagerly. “What do you get out of showing me this?”

“Just the pleasure of seeing you squirm.” 

“Ha. Ha.” You laugh dryly. Electing to ignore that little comment, you turn your attention towards the binder’s pages. 

Painstakingly proves to be an appropriate way to describe how detailed the pages are. Reports upon reports of different students stare at you, even with photographic identity in the top corners. It looks more like a report on prisoners than something a student has made. As you flip through, you do spy dates from last year. The margin of notes detail a number of things: past deals made with Azul Ashengrotto, a list of allergies, schedules of classes for each individual student, and a few have their Unique Magics column filled (which you have been told most mages keep those specific spells very private). Some students even have a column labeled Weaknesses on them. 

“God, this is,” you say awestruck. You flip through some more. In alphabetical order, Bucchi, Clover, and Diamond are the ones you recognize first. You wonder if at the beginning there is a section detailing Al-Asim too. The absolute punctiliousness of Jade has some students taking up ten to fifteen pages. “This is –”

“Terrifying?” Jade incorrectly supplies the word.

Attention finally broken from the binder, you look up at Jade who is leaning into you slightly. There is an unreadable iota of something in his eyes. Was he hoping to scare you away? “No, not at all.”

“You’re not off put?”  

“I’m more impressed by it. I mean, I know how Night Raven College is now. Trust me; been pushed around since day one by students and the classes. This … This is what you have to do to survive here.” You overlooked the page you are on, some random Ignihyde student with a D surname. “I don't, however, think sunlight is an allergy.”

“Trust me,” Jade takes your hand, “for students of that dorm, you would be convinced otherwise.”

“So, what are you going to do with this?”

“We are going to be adding to it.”

So, that is how you and Jade spend your day. Trekking through the hallways of Night Raven College and sometimes even walking unnoticed through certain dorms, you both collect information on students. Filling in the blanks in Jade’s sheets and dating new, unexpected information that you happen to stumble upon. 

It is fairly entertaining. Yours and Jade’s preferences towards entertainment are obviously different, but … this is fun. Jade keeps it fun. Initially, you thought intel gathering would be dull and tedious like bird watching, bidding time for a certain student to let something slip. Somehow, you find yourself stifling chuckles that no one could have heard anyways.

This impromptu espionage is much better than how you would have originally spent your afternoon. Leaning into Jade (just to make certain you stay physically touching) you joke about all the embarrassing scenes you two stumble upon. Night Raven College students really are magnets for trouble. You are pleasantly shocked when Jade, smiling with all his predator teeth, suggests you go up to a student and give them a wet-willy. 

You never knew Jade could be this fun to hang out with!

You understand that Twisted Wonderland is an eat or be eaten world. And, as Floyd calls you, you are a shrimp. A shrimp with a drizzle of cajun sauce and seasoned with red pepper flakes to be the most appetizing for: picking on, abusing, and just overall suffering from overblots, potions, and plain old magic. It feels nice to regain a bit of power. To see that even mages have weaknesses is a nice balm to your endless ache. To laugh at their misfortune for once.

For the first time in a while, you do not feel that weight of being a failure. That everlasting pressure of having the lowest marks lightens. With an eel at your side, you find yourself a bit elevated on the food chain with certain privileges. 

Hand in hand with Jade, you two find yourself walking down a corridor. You have taken to holding a few of your own notes in your non-dominant hand. In front of Jade, his binder is hoisted by a levitation spell as his pen works on writing the information he finds useful. 

The binder is under an invisibility spell; so are your notes. However, this kind of magic leaves a trace of smell that high-ranking mages and beastmen are privy to. Magicless as you are, you do not notice a shift of fragrance in the air but you take Jade’s words at their face value. 

His levitating pen has been consistently moving across pages. Even when Jade turns to you, smiling widely and joking about today’s events, his pen keeps moving like a restless shark. So, you are wholeheartedly caught off guard for Jade to suddenly halt in his steps. The pen dots its punctuation then hovers still as death in the air. “Jade?”

“Shush,” Jade snips. You almost have half the mind to remind him that no one can hear you under the botched potion. Instead, you turn your attention towards what has stolen the smile off Jade’s face and grabbed his attention so thoroughly. 

An Octavinelle student happens to be walking out of a classroom. He has blonde hair swept messily like a tumbleweed and that recognizable armband on his biceps. No one you recognize though. Someone Jade must know, given how intensely he is staring. Before you know it, the binder has been magically closed.

“(Name).” You turn when he calls your name. “May I suggest a little detour? Won’t take longer than a minute.”

“Uh yeah,” you nod dumbly. “Sure.”

So, where the Octavinelle student exits, you and Jade enter. No one notices you entering as is the new normal. It seems to be an after school project group. A few students have pushed two laboratory tables together and are in the middle of writing notes. Jade makes a bee-line for the table which worries you – having been content with hiding in backgrounds and shadows with him.

On the table, there is a coffee thermos right where the only empty seat is. None of the mages are alert enough to notice Jade unscrewing the thermos’s top. You are acutely aware of each move Jade makes though. Paralyzed, you observe like a student watching their scientist experiment combusting. It feels very similar to watching a burning train-wreck, enough to make your jaw drop. 

In the pocket of your stunned silence, Jade delicately tucks the black strand of hair behind his ear. His Adam’s apple bobs up and down thrice; a deep phlegmy sound vibrates out his throat. When Jade (out of all the students in Night Raven College!!) hacks up an impressively huge, light yellow spitwad which falls out of his puckered lips into the awaiting cup of coffee. 

When he straightens up to you, black hair split behind his ear and framing his cheek, he smiles with the satisfaction of a job well done. “That is all I needed to do. We may carry on; I believe jurisdiction of our next rendezvous falls upon you.”

You get to pick the next student you two humiliate or gather notes on … you know this, it computes in your brain, but … you gape at Jade with a wide mouth, “Who are you and what the fuck have you done with Jade?”

Because gathering information on students and maliciously keeping them in a binder? You can imagine Jade doing such a thing. Taking the opportunities that this botched potion has given him and causing a bit of mischief with you? Well, that is what you are doing right now so it is very easy to imagine. Jade spitting into a student’s drink as a form of revenge or entertainment? Even after seeing it with your own eyes, you cannot fully believe it.

“I assure you, I have not undergone any body-swapping potion at this time.”

“I just – Dude. Dude,” you huff out a laugh. “That was –” Then, suddenly, you are laughing uncontrollably. It is really an advantage that this potion makes you invisible to the ears too. “Hahahaha!! Oh my – hahaha!!” 

It surprises you a second time when Jade joins in. “Fufufu … heh … Hahahaha!”

In the afterglow of shared laughter, you and Jade look at each other. His eyes are sharp like his teeth. There is a sensation in the air; you can only akin it to walking on a balancing beam and being brave enough to walk across the soft foam for the first time. Like you are trying something new, here with him.

“I just can’t believe you would do that. You of all people.” Your eyes linger hard on the thermos.

“I do admit it is a bit juvenile of me. Typically, Floyd spits in drinks while I add a certain fungal toxin. This was a bit more personal.”

“Remind me to never get on your bad side.” Yet, you have a smile glued to your face. As does Jade. The hand holding does not help with your growing fluster.

Yet before Jade can respond, the door to the classroom is thrown open. The Octavinelle student comes stomping in with a vengeance. Irritation on his face and phone in his hand, he howls, “Fuck Azul Ashengrotto!” You happen to share this sentiment wholeheartedly. “I swear, I cannot even piss without him needing to know! Why did I get saddled with the worst housewarden!”

One of Azul’s contractees, you think just as a student from the table pipes up, “What does he need from you this time?”

“Ugh,” the Octavinelle student groans. He sits down in the empty stoll with a thud; his arm comes up to rest on the table but he does not grab the thermos. “‘Parrantely, our vice called out for his night shift. So, Azul has to schedule three guys just to replace one.”

The Octavinelle student takes a big sip of his coffee. You watch the smile grow on Jade’s face, teeth gleaming. As he sets down the thermos, he continues complaining, “It’s so unfair. I have to drop everything I’m doing just at the drop of a hat for this bitching guy, or else ‘there will be repercussions for breaking contract terms’. What bullshit.”

“Didn’t you break your terms last week,” a Heartslabyul student questions.

“Yeah, when you skipped your shift to go Foothill Town for the weekend,” another Octavinelle student, different from the blonde, pipes in.

“Yeah, I was supposed to taste-test some potion for our vice. Told them I had a family birthday to go to; he won’t find out.” 

“I already found out,” Jade leans in and whispers, his breath warm on your neck. He gives a discreet little point towards the thermos. You stifle a chuckle behind your papers. As Jade pulls away, he looks awfully pleased.

“I mean,” the blonde Octavinelle student continues, “the guy’s a total creep! Who knows what would have happened if I drank that potion; would’ve seen me walking around with a third arm or gills. My housewarden and vice are two peas in a pod: complete and utter monsters.”

Laughter blooms up from the table in agreement. Features wilting, you cannot find yourself agreeing with the student’s sentiment. Sure, you can see that description fitting Ashengrotto for how utterly horrendous and repulsive he was during his overblot. But Jade? Well, he is not innocent-incarnate but a monster is a bit much.

If Jade overblotted, would I share that sentiment? No, I don’t think so. You do not get to entertain that thought further as the Octavinelle student, who is not blonde, pipes up in agreement, “At least Azul has some humanity about him … Jade?” The student fakes a shiver. “Wouldn’t be caught dead alone with him.”

Eagerly finishing off his second sip, the blonde Octavinelle student jumps to add his input, “Have you seen how he looks smiling – it’s like a rabid animal trying to appear less rabid. If you’re going to undergo a transformation potion, at least have it do the job.”

“He’s only got himself to blame for having zero friends, looking like that.”

The hand in yours suddenly squeezes at those words. Concerned, your gaze flickers up to Jade. For a foolish second, you really are expecting his face to pull into that familiar grin of shark daggers. Prideful that his reputation is kept so neatly and undamaged. 

A scowl is not what you are expecting to see. His nose and upper lip twitch like he is pushing whatever is bubbling to the surface of him back down. Just as quickly as the twitch happens, it goes. A firm lid now placed over Jade’s expression, he turns demure to you and politely says, “Shall we take our leave?”

You can only nod along, confused over the whole ordeal. 

You and Jade have this thing going on – no, it is not the potion contract; it is actually something that happens specifically outside of contractual hours. You both have started to smile at one another when spying the other walking down the hallway. To be honest, Jade smiles, you mostly stick your tongue out at him or throw him a peace sign depending on your mood. 

The thing is Jade’s grin has always been big, revealing all his predatory teeth and causing wrinkles to form under his eyes. The next time around, passing by one another near the gymnasium, Jade smiles. He smiles tight-lipped, some subdued version of himself. 

IV. No mistakes were in the mixture, but it had been splashed on you all the same.

“Grim!” You caterwaul as two bottles of salamander eyes fall into your cauldron. 

Ace has been teasing Grim for the better half of this assignment. Something about your low stash of food or something else because really, anything about you two is fuel for teasing. The verbal sparring mattered little to you as you were managing to get this potion right for once! At least, it mattered little until Grim decided to hop over the desk attached to your cauldron. 

Down, those two bottles drop into the cauldron with an expressive ploop!; liquid hits you in the backsplash. All you can think about at that moment is what you are going to owe Professor Crewel. You refuse to be scavenging the mountains for salamanders to pluck the eyes out of. 

Furious and with canary yellow droplets rolling down your face, you reach across the top of the cauldron. Your fingers hook into Grim’s collar, pulling him towards you as the fireball he was going to strike Ace with evaporates on his tongue.

“Myah!”

“You little –”

“What’s your problem, Henchman!”

“My problem is that you just messed up the first potion we’ve ever done correctly in this class! How could you be so careless! Do you have any idea what it took to pull my weight and make that without a mistake!”

When Grim refutes that Ace called his legs stubby, you swear you could almost combust into flames like the King of the Underworld. It would be a fitting reaction. Yet, all you can do is shout, “Your legs are stubby! You’re short! God, your height being teased should not cause you ruin a perfectly made potion. We are a team; this comes out of your grade too you know! Seriously Grim, I can’t –” And then, you cannot even shout anymore in reaction. 

I can’t breathe, you realize with wide-eyed panic just before your legs give out beneath you. “Henchman!” You manage to safely deposit Grim on the ground in midst of your rough fall. However, it does not curb your impending face-plant away. 

Why can’t I breathe, you think. You try desperately to will yourself to breathe automatically through your nose or mouth, eagerly willing to take up the torch for your stressed brain. Nothing. Instinctively, your hand flies up to your throat. Under your fingertips, serrations that open in twelve inch wide cuts brush against your hand. You feel rubbery bristles and sleek skin not wet from blood. 

Huh? You do not get to ask about it as a spell suddenly lifts you off the ground. Second later, you are dumped inside an empty cauldron Deuce has summoned in the midst of discord and you are dampened by the raincloud Professor Crewel has summoned over your head. 

Fresh air, you think while breathing in water. You are knocked out momentary reprise, your new found respect for life after being able to breathe again, when voices suddenly start shouting. 

“(Name), are you okay!”

Over your right shoulder, your vision is swallowed by Deuce’s frantic expression. Half of his goggles are pulled up to his forehead but the left side still suctions to his skin, extending up his eyebrow unnaturally. Quizzically frantic, his eyes race over your body. 

“I’m fine now, I think –”

“Bad dogs!” You do not finish the sentence. Professor Crewel uses some sort of spell and you watch vindictive as Ace’s and Grim’s heads are pulled together by harsh magnetism. They fall to a heap like knocked over bowling pins. “This is a laboratory! Not a playground! To be standing on desks like that is completely unacceptable!”

“Grim was the one jumping around; he ended up knocking over everything!” Ace jabs a finger in the direction of the dizzy dire-beast. 

“He called me stubby! No one insults the Great Grim and gets away with it!” Grim aims a tiny, blue flame in the direction of the Heartslabyul student. A tiny one is only a forewarning of more to follow. 

“Enough the both of you! Your absolute foolishness lead to —

“Ow,” you cry, pained. You had only meant to join in on scolding Grim, not interrupt in such a piercing fashion. Wincing, your dominant hand flies up to your mouth. Strings of metallic red connect your finger to your lip, and you wonder what you are going to do now as the rain washes away the red. 

Because that potion you were brewing correctly … “You dogs and your insolence led to one of your classmates becoming a merfolk.” … was a mermaid transportation potion. 

Now that panic has dwindled away, you suppose it makes sense your momentary lapse of breath. The rain cloud slowly dissipates over your head. With the water in the cauldron reaching the top, there is no more reason to keep it raining indoors. You take the opportunity to survey the damage of another disastrous potion accident. 

The complexion of your tail is a mixture of olive gray with yellow undertones. Truly, you are not sure how to describe the texture of the canvas besides resembling a stingray or perhaps a shark. Your tail breaks off into the shape of an uneven boomerang. Against the rough cauldron’s innards, you definitely feel a dorsal fin scraping on the cast iron.

The crowns of your teeth have elongated into sharp points which is why you keep your jaw hanging open. You are not going to risk biting off your tongue, unaware that magic could repair it. 

“Henchman, you have teeth just like me!”

Oh, you love Grim dearly like an annoying little brother, but you yearn for nothing more than to bite him hard. Painful enough where he learns his lesson. Your lips pull up into a smile when Professor Crewel hits him on the head. Then, you drop your open maw into a crude caricature of a frown when Crewel turns around. You don’t want him to misread your smile; you promise you are not finding this situation funny.

Because, to you, this is the worst. Your legs – your tail – no, your legs feel disgusting. So conditioned to have two separate legs, the innard combination of muscles and bones melting together causes a shiver up your back. Absent of piggy-toes to wiggle, lower limb bones suddenly hollowed out of you, fat and epidermis shifted into something supernatural. Get me out of this body! 

Your pyramiding nausea must be shown on your expression; Professor Crewel gives you a sympathetic look for someone you thought so apathetic. He surveys you before saying, “It will take until after school for me to have the reversal potion brewed. Even then, I cannot keep you in the laboratory.

“Usually, I would pin the responsibility on you two mutts,” he sends a glare at Grim and Ace, “but then I would risk endangering the Prefect further. Perfect.” You grow more very nauseous because you know where this is going. “I think it would be ideal if you stay in Octavinelle for the time being.”

You must be an edible species of mermaid right? Maybe, with enough begging, you could convince Deuce or Grim to set a fire underneath the impromptu aquarium tank you sit in.  “Ashengrotto can escort you. My 2C class is next period.”

You can’t even drown yourself; a whimper breaks your lips. In a kiss that is more a punch, your forehead and the side of the cauldron met like two angry lovers. “Just cook and eat me,” you moan sullenly.

“Yay, sushi!”

“Grim!!” Deuce shouts, mortified. 

When Azul does come in next period, five minutes before the bell like the attentive student he is, you glare at him over the side of your cauldron. It takes all but seconds before his stunned expression to melt into that sinister, scheming smirk. He really is such a snake even after his overblot. You would normally say this little favor is going to cost you an arm and a leg, but you already lost two legs. No way are you parting with an arm. 

“My, it seems you have gotten yourself into an unfortunately tight spot, Prefect. I’ll be happy to write up a contract that alleviates you from this certain predicament.”

Now, it takes luck and hard coordination, but you manage to splash Azul just as he finishes his sentence. It feels like stretching out a knot in your leg when you use your tail to propel water out of your cauldron. 

As Azul simmers in shock, you snicker in satisfaction. Serves him right. 

Soon enough, you are brought to Octavinelle. Hypothetically, it would take Azul two days to finish a reversal potion, which is better than most students who would need five days. But since Professor Crewel is working to ‘alleviate you from this certain predicament’, there is no need for a contract. Thus, the housewarden carries your cauldron through the school with magic.

There are so many questions running through your head that you and Azul remain silent during the trip to the Hall of Mirrors. Are you going to get dumped outside in Octavinelle’s waters to fend for yourself, or are you going to be thrown into the pool left to starve? What can you even eat in this form? It is already so hard to talk with the fangs in your mouth. Blood stains your lips like lipstick. You are deathly afraid of biting off your own tongue.

This is the worst potion accident I’ve ever had, you sulk, chin on the edge of stone. You want an easy life like everyone else but destiny has deemed you a magnetic force for chaos. Like there is something sweet in your blood or on your skin that attracts misfortune to you.

No one else in your first year class had experienced either a multitude of potion mishaps or a multitude of overblotted students. There has to be something in you that causes misfortune to suction to you with eagerness.

It is only when Azul speaks, carrying you through the Hall of Mirrors, do you stop your petite mopeness session. “Now, Octavinelle’s pool is never emptied so it will take some time to arrange it to be closed for the day. As a housewarden, it won’t take more than an hour. In the meantime, you are going to have to swim outside the dorm.”

“You can’t just keep me in the cauldron? I figured you shove me in some broom closet.”

“Now, do you really think I'm so cruel?”

“I do.” 

A scowl moves Azul’s lips. As he carts your cauldron through the mirror, violet sparks shimmering on the bottom like bugs drawn to a bowl of overripe fruit, he smiles cruelly, “Well, I’m glad to prove your expectations right.” Then, without any care, he vindictively dumps you out of the cauldron and into the mirror’s tensile surface.

“Asshat!” You manage to shout breathlessly before you find yourself on the other side of Octavinelle’s mirror.  

The pressure of water is unfortunately reliving to the pressure of suffocation on your chest. In the cauldron, you felt mildly asthmatic. It is certainly easier to breathe now. Which you do, you take a deep breath and then into nebulous waters, you shout out your frustrations. “ugh … UUUGH! AAAAAGH!!” Left alone in the blue, you sink down and down like a stone with each of your thoughts.

Hollowed out the bones in your lower limbs and trapped in skin made of dermal denticles, you eventually force yourself to learn to walk. 

It takes a great deal of try and fail, rinsing and repeating the process. Stubbornly, you refuse to just lie at the bottom of Octavinelle’s water to die and join a whale’s skeleton … or just wait until Azul comes to retrieve you, fake sympathy on his tongue … the mere notion of the latter causes your teeth to grind.

Thankfully, the waters are empty of any merfolk. A dagger named Embarrassment would have punctured your heart if otherwise. Having your multiple face-plants into sand and multiple collisions with reefs being seen by a single spectator makes you grimace. Eventually, you learn to use the yellowish-gray tail with the dexterity found in a squirmy newborn. 

An average person would have taken longer than an hour to learn the motions. You take to it like a duck to water. Impressively, it takes you only twenty-five minutes. Of course, you are arrogant of this fact. Limbs bruised from the rocks you have crashed into and mouth salted with the sand you accidentally swallowed, you sulk. Terribly miserable at the bottom of the sea, thinking yourself the biggest fool in Twisted Wonderland, you sulk at your falsely perceived failures but keep at it.

Moving with a tail mimics the sensation of sprinting. It is a constant motion that you must fall into smoothly. Once you start, you cannot risk a slight falter because that will send you barreling back to the ground. You must be confident about your motions. 

Tail oscillating back and forth, you push yourself off the seafloor for hopefully your last time. You wade gently off the seafloor like a bumpy airplane hopping off the runway. And then finally something happens in your abdomen and in your legs. Finally! Finally, you manage to find your rhythm. 

As if pulled there by an invisible thread, you find yourself swimming over to Octavinelle. Unconfident about your agility, you keep to the eastern side of the dorm, away from the towering spirals that look like a homunculus birth between a crab hand and an octopus, and you keep yourself away from the main building, wary of what could happen if you interact with other students. 

You wrap yourself around stone structures shaped like pointy fish-heads. Glide up the natural pattern of stairs made of the seabed floor, testing your ability to elevate yourself. Brush your hand briefly over a certain gray stone shaped oddly like a circle head with two circular ears, reminding yourself of that mouse creature you saw in the mirror days ago. Then, you turn yourself on your spine, belly up, and propel yourself towards the tunnel in Octavinelle with experience that grows second by second. 

The ‘skies’ are filled with starfishes suctioned to the edges of purple-gray arching stone, a school of moonfish with shining silver bodies with the edges of their fins kissed by orange sunshine hues, and moon jellyfish that move hypnotically like a multiple aliens made of clouds of milky-coral intestines. How phantasmal and pretty.  

Despite being in another world full of alien creatures like beastmen, mermen, and fae, at least the ocean has not changed that much. Now, impromptu and unplanned, you are thrown into the chance of a lifetime. Despite yourself, a smile grows on your lips.

Flipping yourself belly down, you glide over the tunnel system. It is a sectional hallway of Octavinelle that goes from the main building towards the dormitories. The unique faucet about the long hallway with the overarching ceiling is that the ceiling is made of glass. 

You meant to swim over the glass structure but you stutter in your motions when you make eye contact with a certain someone walking down the hallway. Even when separated by a barrier, that mountain landscape of smiling fangs manages to send a shiver down your spine. Why is that asshat’s eyes half-lidded like that?

Regaining yourself, you swim fast inches above the tunnel and ignore Jade Leech who watches you fondly in Octavinelle’s aquarium hallway, a few school books in his hand. You come to regret it later because:

“You broke contract terms earlier,” is the first blasted thing out of Jade’s mouth when he enters Octavinelle’s pools just as Azul exits.

“How so,” you grumble. After his classes, Azul retrieved you from Octavinelle waters with all the grace of a dog owner picking up their mutt from a park after hours of neglect. He leashed you with a spell and dropped you into Octavinelle pools. Now, lying on your back, you glide aimlessly in water like an adrift pool-float.

Didn’t matter where you were though as you knew Jade would come find you. But – “Earlier, when we made eye contact through the tunnel, you swam away like a shy clownfish.” – seems you forgot how rigorous people in this specific dorm were about terms.

Mouth opening to defend yourself (more correctly, lie and say you did not know how to stop), a certain tantalizing scent catches your attention. Flipping yourself upright, you glance towards the edge of the pool when Jade stands on the steps, ankle deep with his pants rolled up and footwear off. In his hands are two steaming plates.

“Oh thank God, I’m starved,” you say, swimming over.

Yet Jade chuckles, “Food is for well-behaved fish who uphold their contract terms.”

“Oh God,” you groan. “Listen, I didn’t know how to stop.” A lie but you tack on, “And it’s not my fault I wasn’t with you. Azul dumped me into Octavinelle. He pushed me in there like a bird kicking her chick out of the nest.” 

“Still, I would have come to retrieve you had you not darted away. Did I perhaps frighten you?” 

“Jade, just tell me what you want to hear and I’ll say it. I’m starving.” You had not realized how famished your new body had grown in such a short time. Swimming is a rigorous exercise but you never thought it would hollow out your stomach so thoroughly. 

“My, what an opportunistic sentence. Anything I want you to say … just like that? Sevens, which of the hundred self-deprecating phrases could I move your tongue into?” The smile he aims at you is a perfect mimic of some villainous character reveling in the downfall of a hero.

“You’re a pain in my ass, Jade. You know that? A real thorn in my side.” 

“A leech on your ankle?”

“At least you’re self-aware.”

“Of course. Any self-respecting person should be able scrutinize and recognize who they are in the eyes of those on the outside looking in.”

“Then you must know I see you as a real asshole for not feeding me.” 

You hold up your hand to accept the plate. At the end of this verbal maze, you will be rewarded with food. Like a mouse who is eventually given cheese after all those twists and turns. However, you do not expect his next sentence:

“You’re hurt.”

Are those the words you must repeat? “I’m hurt?”

Jade shakes his head at you. You watch in surprise as he sits on the edge of the pool, leaving his ankles in the water. You have never seen him look so casual in his dorm uniform. Sure everything is tightly buttoned and hastened in place, yet there is an air of permissiveness around him. “Your arm,” Jade clears up confusion as he sets the plates down. 

When you check the appendage, Jade’s words are proven right. A mark that is sure to turn violet and black runs across your forearm. Must have happened when you were trying to learn how to swim, bumped too hard into a coral reef perhaps. 

“Oh damn, that is going to ache tomorrow.” Hissing through your fangs, “Shit.”

Jade hums in consideration. “Give it here.” He gestures to your arm.

After a moment’s hesitation, you extend your forearm so it rests in Jade’s hands. You expect him to dig his nails into the area, to test what will make you wince. However, he just carefully maneuvers it in his hold, mapping out the bruise’s perimeter with his eyes. Then, he unclips his magic pen from his breast-pocket. 

You rest your head on your shoulder, peering up at Jade with tired eyes. Violet light orchestrates a ballet across his feature, dipping and pirouetting on each sharp curve. It reminds you of how he fought in the violet drenched nightmare of Schoenheit’s overblot to keep you safe.

As the perimeter of your bruise shrinks, you realize something and have to force down a twitch.

Oh.

Oh!

Juxtaposingly, it seems so natural and it seems so artificial. You have feelings for Jade Leech?

‘Please, be serious’ you want to chastise yourself. However, it feels like something that has grown inside your heart naturally. However, it too feels like it was something born of blasphemous methods that would offend Mother Nature. Perhaps that is your own hesitation to admit to having a crush.

Bruise completely gone, lavender light falls away from his face. “There we go.” He looks up from your arm to your body. Seemingly, his eyes flirt about to assess whether there is any more mark from your old, faithful friend Danger you have inevitably fallen into. Does he think you are a failure? The thought makes you sick. You don’t want Jade to ever think that about you.

As you take back your arm from his lap, curling and twisting it experimentally, you thank him.  He responds,“It’s no trouble at all. I uphold contract terms … unlike others.” 

“Oh, climb off it.” 

When you enunciate your sharp ‘t’, Jade’s eyes are magnetized down to the rows of razor daggers in your mouth. If Jade Leech could look stunned, you think this is the closest you have ever seen him do so. A subdued version of the facial expression. 

“What,” you ask. “Something on my face?”

“No, no,” Jade smiles like it is nothing. He picks up the plates previously set aside. He balances each like a veteran waiter, showing you the beef wellington he has cooked for you two. It is paired with a brown sauce underneath the pastry. “I’m glad to see that my preparation was prudent to all the changes the potion did.”

“You aren’t going to change into your mer-form? Show me how to eat and swim correctly so I don’t injure myself?” 

“Now, I don’t want to be too honest with you.” You simply swipe your plate, because God, an honest Jade Leech is scarier than a dishonest one. 

When you head out of Ramshackle the next day, waving goodbye to the ghosts and dire-beast on your shoulder, you come to an unexpected stop on the rickety porch. “Huh, what’s that,” Grim asks as you lean down to pick up the two mysterious jars. Underneath glass, a hundred or so slimy salamander eyes peer at you. And you suddenly recall what you had bemoaned to Jade, Crewel’s going to have my head if I can’t replace his supplies.

Around the neck of each jar, a periwinkle bow has been tied with expert care. You know which dorm that color signifies. For the first in a long time, you walk the hour trek from Ramshackle to Night Raven College feeling light like a feather.

V. Lilies were selected and arrogantly substituted for asphodels.

“So, how did this come to be again,” Jade asks … just for clarification.

Even though it was Grim who grabbed the lilies, it can still be attributed as your fault. If you were in the right mind to speak, you would blame yourself. For one, you used poor judgment to trust Grim would be able to handle selecting ingredients. Secondly, when handed the lilies, you did not check if they were the shape of asphodels. In your vocal absence, Grim clarifies to Jade, “My Henchman messed up the potion!”

“You little weasel!” Adding injury to his insult, Ace whacks the back of Grim’s head. 

“Ow!” Grim cries on Deuce’s shoulder. “Well, they did! Myah, it's not my fault they put it in.”

“You’re the one that picked out the wrong flower, so you’re ultimately at fault,” Deuce sighs. Turning back to Jade, the freshman laments, “Though, we’re not quite sure how one little flower could cause such a big difference. Or when it’s going to wear off.”

With the last sentence said, Deuce sends a wary glance to you. All of them know about the contractual agreement between you and Jade. Obligations stitch you two side by side until the effects of a botched potion wears off. However, he thinks this time should be the expectation. 

“I hope it never wears off,” Ace snickers, undeterred by the glare of Deuce and Jade. 

Originally, none of them knew if the potion was working wrongly, which is quite ironic. Working wrongly … ah, what an odd way to put it. But, when Professor Crewel dipped the rectangular slip of perfume-testing paper into your cauldron and it came back a neon pink instead of a dull orange, you knew you had to make the venture to find Jade Leech. 

Even if I breathed in just a sniff, I have to do this, you griped when your trio asked why you were even heading in the direction of Octavinelle. Sadly, it is an obligation. Your contract has you and Jade spending a large amount of time together.

Out of all the mishaps, this one crept on you silently. Without any forewarning and without any subtlety. One minute you were standing idle by the Mostro Lounge’s entrance and then, Deuce cringes at the memory, you were like this.

“Jade, can I have another kiss pleaseee?” 

Clinging like an eel with captured prey, your arms are wrapped tightly around Jade’s waistline. He cannot seem to pry you off. In honey-laced tones, you bat your eyelashes prettily up at Jade as you ask for your second kiss from him. Hopefully this one will be reciprocated. 

As if the entrance to Mostro Lounge was enchanted with a changeling circle, something shifted in you when you saw Jade. In the crowd of waiters and customers, you found Jade working. Your pupils dilated; your breath hitched; Cupid’s arrow pierced into the cotton-candy red of your beating heart. At the sound of a flustered breath, the trio only got a second to view your visage – a magical cocoon of lovestruck emotions wrapping around you – before you run up to Jade, calling his name in phony passion. 

The first kiss you stole, lip to lip, when you two collided in greeting. The look of disbelief on Jade’s face had Ace sputtering with laughter. 

Deuce was quick to explain everything before Jade … Well, it was difficult for Deuce to tell what Jade was even thinking, or perhaps plotting.  He cannot stomach hypothesizing upon the torment you might be subjected to because of how you are acting. Would Jade feed you poisonous mushrooms for all your non-consensual actions – non-consensual on both parts, you hardly seem right in the head. 

For your sake, Deuce hopes Jade goes easy on you. Speaking of the eel-mer.

In response to your amorous inquiry, Jade tilts his head to look down at you. His eyes are unreadable shields. Though his voice has a tint of minacious teasing in it, “Perhaps we should find another activity for you to take part in? Dishwashing perhaps?”

Grim makes a whine at the memory of dishwashing months ago. Deuce breathes a sigh of relief, dish-washing duty is a low price to pay. It seems Jade might actually be merciful to your unfortunate soul.

“I’d get down and dirty with you in some bubbles.”

Deuce’s face pinches in worry. 

“HAHAHA!” Ace full blown cackles, holding onto his stomach. “Oh, this is great!” He exclaims, sneering at both you and Jade. 

That passive mien on Jade’s face has not even dimmed once at your prevetish intents. Polite disinterest is a mask welded firm to his visage. “My, what a crude innuendo. I must inform you, Mostro Lounge is rather firm on its policy on keeping professional conduct.”

You frown at this sentiment. One could even call you distraught over it. But then something sparks in your lovestruck brain, and you lean harder into Jade like you are trying to fuse yourself to his skin. “Well, is there anything else in Mostro Lounge that is fir–umph?” Jade’s hand covers your mouth swiftly. 

You waste no time, pressing a kiss to the glove and staring up at him with half-lidded eyes.

Composure not slipping for a second, Jade turns to your friends who look on with expressions ranging from horrified to amused. Ah, Isn’t amusement most gratifying when found in the horrifying … Jade thinks so wholeheartedly. With a slight incline of his head, the vice-housewarden says, “As per our contract, I’ll take (Name) for the time being. You three are welcome to stay and enjoy our new spring menu.”

Your friends give various grumbles as Jade guides you away. Deuce even yells out a quick, stay safe, which makes sense when one is in the presence of a predator. However, your entire body is lax and void of tension. You follow after Jade, looking like you would follow him to the ends of the earth.

It is world-altering, tray slipping and dropping glassware type of world-altering, accidentally burning their hand on a hotplate type of world-altering to the staff of Mostro Lounge to see their second boss (and to some their own vice-housewarden) walk arm in arm with the Ramshackle Prefect. The rumors will infect the school for at least a whole semester. Yet despite the obvious euphoria flowing out of the Ramshackle Prefect as they cuddle up to Jade Leech, the side profile of the eel-mer is frozen in polite apathy. 

His cheeks aren’t even pink when the Prefect presses close to him. And you are attractive to have a few admirers who would enjoy having you cling to them. Courteous, Jade opens the VIP room up to you, but you drag him in, refusing to be separated from him for a moment.

When the door clicks shut – thankfully Azul happens to be either in the kitchen or on the floor – with you pulling Jade’s hand and stumbling backwards towards the couch like it is a bed and you two are on your honeymoon, Jade’s stone composure fractures. It all comes spilling from him like an ocean free from the hold of a petite water bottle.

“Fu-Fuck (Name),” his voice trembles against his unoccupied gloved hand. Jade’s skin hue rockets from pale to pink to a red that makes him seem like he is overheating. Resolve wavering, Jade allows himself to be magnetized down to the couch. 

In the sweetest voice that would put sirens to shame, you croon in his ear, “Jade; my lovely Jade; my strong Jade; mine, mine, mine.” You start to press deliberate kisses over his neck, seeing how much resistance his bowtie is going to give to your ministrations.

Jade is on his knees for you. His hands may be planted by your shoulders, but his lower body is completely off the couch. Amorously, you wrap legs around a slim waist and wrap hands around a forest of teal locks. He won’t kiss you back; he cannot find it in himself to, not when you are under a potion’s effect at least. However, he moves his head to an angle like a pleased cat to allow the kisses you litter on his neck.

“Take this off. Jade, off.” Vexful, your fingers pry at the bowtie fastened properly to his uniform. The white article is unapologetically firm against your inexperienced tugs. “Please.”

Something alive wiggles in Jade’s stomach like a spiral. Air crackles with a snap of fabric; the speed Jade rips his necktie off is intense. He undoes his silly bowtie with the eagerness of a highly anticipated Christmas present – good; because, under this potion, you are so eager too.

“(Name), you’re so …” He stops himself, not knowing whether you will remember this later.

As kisses burn his skin, Jade hopes he never scares you off. During Idia’s overblot, he had been so selective with how he fought to protect you – not wanting to mimic the ugliness you say you found in people who overblot. You, with a magic broom in hand, had asked him to abandon his post as vice-housewarden to help you find Grim; he would have abandoned his entire education for you like how the Mermaid Princess abandoned the sea all those centuries ago.

That train of thought is so dangerous though.Your friendship is so incredibly dear to him. Jade wants to take it slow. 

Human courtship works in such mysterious ways that he sometimes feels like a failure at the methods and execution on his end of things. If he were to be truthful with you, pull back the floorboards of his facade to show you the concert of lovebugs thudding in their moshpit underneath … ah, he hopes so passionately to never scare you off. 

As two of his dress-shirt buttons are undone, Jade leans his cheek against your temple. Like an efficient undertaker, he will bury himself under pleasantries to make himself appear more human and subdued. Even in dishonesty, he will love you honestly.

Your teeth are dull. His are not.

Said teeth burrow themselves into the juncture of his neck. Groaning, Jade is ashamed to feel his toes curl in his socks at the bite of such a prey. Sevens, he is stronger than this. 

With spit and teeth, you start to suckle and break the blood vessels in his skin like they are merely thin glow-sticks. He feels each thread of his self control break with them. Serrations from his clenching hands are made in the VIP couch as Jade lets you paint a hickey on his neck. 

The violet in his future bruise is sure to make a perfect matching garish for the color scheme of his dorm uniform.

You take exceptional care to hold your protector gently in your hands as you bite like a rabid animal. Like squishy dough, his skin rounds itself up and into the empty space of your mouth. It is a warm sensation that causes even his knuckles to tingle with the blooming heat.

“(Name)?” Your name falls husky out of Jade’s mouth. He did not think his vocal cords could wither to something unprofessional. “Uuh,” he moans from the sarcophagi of his throat when you chomp harder. 

“So beautiful, so gorgeous, so … so Jade.” You punctuate these sentiments with pecks that move up to his cheek. When you say the last one, you cradle the left side of his face in your hand. You press your lips to his cheek as if trying to fuse with him. 

He kills sentimentality from his voice thoroughly, but Jade has to know, “So Jade? Is that good?”

“It’s perfect.”

Jade drops you off at Ramshackle when your body slips into sleep. When he arrives at his dorm, he lands hard, supine on his mattress. Floyd glances up from his phone, not used to seeing Jade lie in bed so haphazardous without doing his whole routine. Lying in bed, the eel-mer takes his finger to press on the growing bruise on his neck – your own personal attack on him.

“I just had the best day of my life,” Jade muses. A smile wide and wicked blooms on his face as he looks at the ceiling. It only disappears when a pillow is thrown at him.

Reversed I. Jade rarely makes mistakes, but he had forgotten which came first: the live, squawking chicken begging to not be killed or the still, docile egg which could not voice the same plea, begging to not be killed.

Walking out Crewel’s class, having just aced a potion with your lab partner Ace (no pun intended), your eyes expand in surprise when you see one of Octavinelle twins stalking on the opposite wall. Grim bristles in your arm cradle and Adeuce falls silent in their conversation. Tension paints the air. Especially when said twin says:

“Ya breakin’ contract terms, Shrimpy. Can’t believe I gotta do the chase-and-catch act with ya.” His bored look morphs into a smile. “Though Shrimpy’s probably super fun to squeeze. Too bad Jade won’t let me.” His look morphs right back into boredom at his last sentence.

Whiplashed by his chameleon-ing expressions, you stand there numb. His words also make you pause because as far as you are concerned, you are not breaking any terms. The potion you just made went off without a hitch. Bsides, if it went wrong, you would be heading to Octavinelle, obedient to your terms. 

“How am I breaking the terms? I haven’t messed up a potion since …” Since that time you were acting like a spellbound lovestruck fool, “since you know.” 

You trail off. All you know about the last incident comes secondhand from your trio, having woken up in Ramshackle the day after with no recollection of the events. Stricken by only the prologue of a story you do not know, you went about classes in Night Raven College with a lingering sense of uneasiness for two weeks. You think to yourself, Jade must be livid, and start anticipating his revenge at any time. Yet, in the interlude of this horridly put together fantasy comedy that you have been thrown into, teal hair and sharp teeth never make an appearance until now. 

… And the appearance is flipped like a mirror and yawning out, “Uuuh, yeah ya did. If one of you messes up a potion, you guys gotta be with each other.”

“But I haven’t messed up –”

Grim leaps out of your arms when you are grabbed but you do not have the luck to make your own escape. 

Floyd ignores your words. “So, ya get to come with me, lil Shrimp,” he exclaims with a happy lilt, pulling you hard by the forearm. How the hell does a guy of his stature have the strength of a bodybuilder! “Tired of Jade being all boring and not comin’ to find ya. So, I thought I helped!”

“Oh, no, Floyd, that’s not our contract terms. The terms are –” You are cut off abruptly.

“Ya callin’ me a liar, Shrimpy?”

“EEK!”

The face in front of you – that leans down and covers you in a heavy shadow – is reserved for breakers of Azul’s contracts and those who have messed up majorly in Floyd’s book. Unbeknownst to you, you are the breaker of Jade’s sensitive little heart – he has been bemoaning how he probably scared you away two weeks ago, much to Floyd’s annoyance – and that means you have majorly, in behemoth portions, messed up in Floyd's book. 

Staring into those pin-prick eyes and open mouth leer, you almost feel your bladder go slack in fear. With how nice, although a bit devious, Jade expressions have been around you, seeing this twisted version of those features makes you shudder. Don’t forget how vulnerable you are, it warns.

Luckily, there are three glorious idiots in this world that love you dearly. So, when one of them goes, “Hey, my Henchman ain’t no liar, liar!” you relax just a bit. Though Grim’s bravery quickly vanishes with a squealing EEK! when Floyd looks over your shoulder to make eye contact with him.

“Now, you’re someone I can squeeze, Sealy. Don’t get so noisy, ‘kay?” Those hostile eyes land back on you. “Don’t make me drag ya, ‘kay?”

“Hey, you can’t just talk to them like that!” Deuce defends.

“Ya tellin’ me what to do, Little Mackerel? I can talk to anyone however I want.”

“No, you can’t –”

“You can talk to me like that!”

Everyone, even you turn your own head, stares at Ace with wide-eyed expressions. “Hey! Sue me for having self preservation. I for one wouldn’t make such a stupid deal.”

Bristling, you bite back, “I literally devised a plan to save you from a deal with Azul months ago, asshat.”

“That was Azul; not one of the twins. ‘Sides, I’m sure Jade is so eager to see his little boyfriend/girlfriend again. Probably needs another kiss,” Ace teases with a shit-eating grin. 

Your eyes go small in anger, a poor rendition of Floyd’s but still powerful. For these past two weeks, Ace has been referring to you as Jade’s partner and been hinting at more below-the-belt activities. Who knows what could have happened in Octavinelle, you and him all alone for a full day, he teases for the duration of fourteen days, hands steepled in mischief. Just as you open your mouth, ready to rip Ace a new one, you are lifted off the ground like a mere household pet.

“See! Crabby gets it!” You wrestle and twist in Floyd’s tight hold. “Ya both just need to kiss it out!”

“I think the phrase is talk it out,” Deuce adds helplessly as you dragged off by a 6’1” eel, screaming:

“Ace. Ace! When I get my hands on you! ACE!” 

Thus, you are once more brought to Octavinelle against your will. Instead of being cradled by a cauldron full of water and Azul’s magic, you are held tentatively in Floyd’s arms as you wiggle and thrust in hopes to escape. He does not break your ribs or your arms luckily. You whack Floyd with all your might the entire way.

Heels dragging across linoleum, you watch the ground move under you like an escalator. Floyd is still effortlessly dragging you, much like a body-bag. Already, you have tried to bargain with Floyd on getting your tedious freedom. Offering up pieces of candy you have in your pocket, labor you could perhaps do in the Lounge; offering up one day to ransack Ramshackle of any objects he wants, labor you could perhaps do by helping him complete parkour tricks or basketball. 

His mouth twists in contemplation when you offer to let him use the rocky, uneven terrain of Ramshackle’s backyard. Offer it for what? To Floyd for free-use to test ride for his new Blastcycle. You thank your very low population of lucky stars that Jade mentioned offhandedly Floyd was planning to join one trip of the Mountain Lovers Club to test the motorcycle on new environments for tricks. 

You can deal with another deal with an eel! As long as you can avoid seeing the eel you were trying and probably failing to seduce due to a botched potion! Thinking you have Floyd hook-line-and-sinker, you completely stop struggling. 

Until he hums, “Naaaaah!” and you two are jumping through Octavinelle’s mirror in the Hall of Mirrors. If the world has decided to give all its troubles to one person, the world has picked you from the pile. A part of you hates how much this cursed, twisted world has knocked you down repeatedly.

When the bubble pops, Floyd finally lets you walk with him. Though the arm looped around your shoulder feels more like a pillory than a friendly gesture. Devil-toothed, he smiles at you and says, “Sooo you and Jade, huh?”

“Huh!” You shout indignant. 

“Hey, it’s cool. I approve so no sweat. Just unexpected ‘cus I thought this was just an experiment for Jade; then he got serious so I was thinkin’ wooow, weird, ya know?”

Confused, you just blink at Floyd’s words. This contractual agreement between you and Jade is more cat hunting the mouse then cat watching the mouse navigate a maze. It has a very hands-on experiment with you as the main test subject. But serious; why would it be more or less serious now? 

The smile drops off Floyd’s face. “No way you’re this dumb, Shrimpy. I know ya suck at potionology but c’mon.”

“I just don’t understand what you mean by serious.”

“Sevens, you two would be pinin’ till your fourth year without me.”

“Pining?” … That involves your feelings being mutual? Jade doesn’t – “EEK!”

Floyd’s eyes go back to that pin-prick size again. He even halts both of your walk towards his and Jade’s dorm. Without your trio here, you sincerely doubt how much Floyd is going to uphold his decision not to squeeze you. Instead, he just throws back his head and groans. “He owes me a month worth of pickin’ up my shifts after this.”

You have numerous questions on what Floyd is alluding to but you are suddenly pushed into a more brisk walk. Floyd’s hand steers you. “‘Kay, I’ll give ya the rundown so ya don’t act like an idiot. Jade messed up a potion. And, your guys’ contract says you have to be around each other when that happens.” Incorrect but you let him continue. 

“Jade … ya know him, Jade, my brother? Well, he’s the secretive typa-guy. Has a hard time lettin’ people get close. Mama calls him super shy. But, you, got to go hikin’ with him, see our dorm, and even eat a meal with him. Jade doesn’t do that with just anyone.”

Even though there is no botched potion ingested right now, you feel something fluttering around your stomach like a bubbling elixir at Floyd’s words. He continues, “And, right now, my oh-so-tight-lipped brother is under a truth serum potion.”

The world stops. One, because you come to the world-halting epiphany that you have been seeing a side of Jade that no one other than Floyd and Azul might be privy to view it. Two, because Floyd stops steering you in the direction of the dorm due to arriving at the very designation. The guy who keeps his real thoughts tucked behind layers upon layers of purple prose is under a truth serum; the guy who would rather shrivel up like a beached fish than reveal his heart is under a truth serum; the guy whose Unique Magic forces people to tell the truth is under a truth serum. The irony is not lost on you, and thus the world stops.

“Jade’s under a –?”

“Yeah,” Floyd laughs, tickled pink with amusement. 

In sync, you both glance at the dorm’s door like it is a monolith dropped out of the skies. Who knows what might be held inside it? Venturing in might reveal some eldritch secrets that primitive extraterrestrials hid away thousands of moons ago. 

“You can go in there, ya know. Contract says it’s fine.”

A part of you wants to finally clear up the confusion between Floyd and yours and Jade’s contract. Yet, a bigger part of you, oh that part has to see what is behind Curtain Number One more than anything else. An honest Jade Leech is like finding life on Mars. Deluding yourself, you think: Well, the contract never outlined the terms for the other party being compromised by a potion sooo … You glance at Floyd.

“I don’t understand what you get out of this.”

“Hehe, entertainment.”

That tracks well enough that you do open the door. 

Hand on the knob of the monolith, you glance into rather tenebrous darkness like looking under the bed for monsters. Behind you, Floyd flicks up the switch with his index. Light floods the room. On the bed to the right, Jade lies peacefully on his side, hugging a pillow. 

“You’re gonna need to shake him awake. Jade sleeps reeeal deep.” Slack-jawed, you turn around with indignance on your tongue. As a mouse, you refuse to be sent in to poke a slumbering cat. Yet, Floyd has already departed without another word.

“Asshat,” you mumble at the closed door. It is completely unlocked and you know you could leave anytime but … well, let's just say Jade is not the only one who likes to lift up rocks and see what squirms underneath. Besides, you have contractual terms that keep you protected. 

“Okay … okay.” You steel yourself in your resolve. Despite this, you tiptoe your way over to Jade’s bed, hyper aware of what floorboard looks like it could possibly make a creak. Floyd is not under a truth serum; he could be lying about Jade being a deep sleeper.

Jade looks quite innocent when asleep. It is probably the last adjective anyone would ever use to describe him but it is the bone deep truth. Facade and stress melted from his features, there is this alien beauty resting peacefully on pallid skin. His hair is a bit more unruly; teal wisps all still flow in the same direction but they separate more openly. It kind of looks like someone took a balloon to his head and rubbed until static engulfed it. Oh, and his nose is so cute when he has his cheek depressing down on a pillow like that.

Smile stolen, you blink once in surprise from your own thoughts, despite knowing they have become like that overtime. “Aaah forget about it,” you murmur. 

Reaching over, you gently grasp Jade’s shoulder. You have had a question on your mind for a while. Quiet as a mouse, you urge, “Jade. Jade, wake up.”

Nothing. He is sound asleep like a rock. “Jade?” However hesitant, you still try to shake him a bit more forcefully. “Wake up, Jade.” 

Ugh, this is getting you nowhere. Part of you thinks he is putting up another identity and pretending to be a deep sleeper. Jade is rarely truthful. He always speaks in rhymes and half-truths. For a simple potion to untangle his tongue so thoroughly wants you yearn to discover just a bit more about him. 

In this uneasy friendship of mouse and cat, you have found yourself enjoying discovering the hidden, earnest parts of Jade Leech. It is an unexpected development. 

Though, it stings that he only keeps you around for entertainment and abuse.

Cringing, you think you stumbled upon what will finally rouse him from his sleep. You lean down to his ear and lie, “Jade, I was wondering if you would feed me some of the new mushrooms from your hikes? Pretty please?” 

Unamused, you watch Jade’s eyelashes serenely flutter open like he is Sleeping Beauty. Asshat. Groggily, a pair of eyes stare up at you in disbelief, probably anticipating his brother or his housewarden. But, those blissful words you said seem to have him arouse as he stretches from his bed like a rising cat.

“(Name)?” He asks, sitting up in bed. “What are you doing in my room?”

A sheepish hand travels up to cover your pulse. Leaning heavy on your right foot, you lie with a chuckle, “Ah, Floyd dragged me here. Said you were sick with a fever. I’m not sure how he expects me to help though, heh.”

You know you should not … but you want to play with this. A sadistic part of you wants to watch him squirm and wiggle. Under the guise of coming over to assist him with a fever, you can only imagine Jade will try to hide the fact he is under a truth serum. 

“Ah, Floyd is mistaken. I am not sick.”

That response is unusually curt for Jade; it seems he is going to try to conceal this as long as possible. You cannot wait to stretch out his resistrant like it is a stringy ligament you are drawing and quartering until it snaps. “Oh, that’s just unusual because you are sleeping when you should be in class. Slacking off?”

“Yes, I should be in class.” Jade remains firm in his bed, giving you a polite smile. Additionally, he is firm in his resolve to not give up any information. Even under a botched potion, his self control is strong; you wonder if there is anything that could ever make him act out.

Once again ignorant, you do not know that answer is quite simply: you.

However, there is one question you have been burning and yearning to know. Coy, you ask, “Well, that’s no good. Skipping classes like that. Though, you know I was wondering …Did you put mushrooms in that beef wellington a few weeks ago?”

“Yes.”

Something in you snaps. “AH, I knew it! You asshat!” You raise a fist, throwing yourself at Jade. “That’s disgusting, Jade! A violation of friendship! Where was it!”

As Jade bats away your flying fists, he says without much resistance against the truth serum, “In the duxelles sauce.”

You punctuate each time you call him a donkey wearing a tophat with a hit to his shoulder. Stronger than you, as natural of your protector, Jade is able to evade your hits well. The ones that land he lets land. Yet, having had enough, Jade soon grabs your wrist and with a laugh says, “Fufufu, you are so utterly adorable with your instinct to hit things.”

Blank-faced, you blink at Jade. “... Adorable?” It is not a world altering sentence; you bet Jade finds the prey that skitter away from him back home in the Coral Sea pitifully adorable too. Still, the revelation is a bit of a shock to the heart.

“Well, not solely adorable. No, there is a whole library in my soul dedicated to describing you. There are moments when you are irresistible as  –” Whatever poetry Jade was going to wax, he halts it by slamming a hand over his mouth, horrified. Your eyes lock in shared terror.

“Wh-what,” you stammer, pulling away from Jade.

He grabs you by your shoulders before you get too far. With desperation, he pulls you right back to him. Then, Jade appears stricken, dueling in his head whether he should force you to stay or allow you to leave. It is like both of you have stumbled upon something horrifying and left speechless. Speechless at least until Jade grits out, “I … I think you should go.”

Having the upperhand of remembering he is under a truth serum, you ask softly, “Do you want me to leave?”

“No. I ache when you leave. I wish I had the foresight to length out our contract terms, so I could see you more.” The sheets look like they could tear like paper mache under Jade’s grip. With wobbling lips, he forces a smile full of teeth onto his face. “Don’t you think this humiliation is quite enough?”

To be honest hypotheses have been forming in your head quite some time ago. However, after your last botched potion, embarrassment ate up your speculation on if Jade reciprocated what you felt growing in yourself over time. Now, variables are tipping in your favor. And he has been such a mean cat to you so …

You sit yourself on the edge of Jade’s bed; the first sadistic grin you have ever shown him blooms on your face. “Why, no, I hardly think I’ve done enough.” Leg now up on the mattress, you hook your arms around the body part and lean forward, teasing, “You’re never this honest with anyone, Jade.”

“Best to keep one’s cards close to the chest, don’t you agree? With the way you were acting last time we saw each other, it was like you fumbled the entire deck.”

Your left eye twitches. Cracks appearing in your confidence, you grit out, “Oh, did I? I actually don’t remember all that happened; perhaps you can enlighten me. How did it feel to be so … seduced?”

“I have never known such bliss … Really, (Name), this is painful for me.”

As sheets tear under Jade’s twisting fists, your confidence refuels itself. Being in control like this is exhilarating, you can see why Jade enjoys it so. His squirming is so cute! Smug, you purr, “Oooh I see~” You take in Jade’s grimace with satisfaction and ask, “So, me? Really? When did that start?”

“Since that day in the botanical gardens.”

Your smile drops. “Huh?” Slowly, the landscape of your flesh succumbs to geysering blood. Flustering heat rises and lives on each inch of your face. Because – “Ha … heh, huh?” – you started feeling something naturally after the potion incident where you were turned into a mer. To know his emotions have been kept classified, under lock-and-key for so long; it leaves you dizzy with a blush. Perhaps you aren’t fit for the role of the cat.

However, Jade misjudges your sudden silence for fear. He does not dare to reach out. “Please, don’t be afraid of me.”

“Jade?”

“The very thought that you could makes me sick.” 

You take in Jade’s cumbersome words, speechless. They soak into you like blood to a sponge. Fragile and human, your eyelashes twitch over your eyes, jittery until you half-lid your vision. A charmed chuckle escapes your lips, “oh Jade.”

His skin is so smooth. Cradling his cheek in your metaphorical claws, you smile lovestruck without the love potion. His face starts to beam a light, delicate pink. Cute and delicate and innocent … These are things that Jade is not. But under your warped vision, and through countless new experiments, you can squeeze him to fit the description. 

“I could never be afraid of you. After all you’ve done for me … How you protected me? I don’t care about the teeth; I don’t care about the biology. I don’t need deep sea knowledge to know I like you … and I hope you like me too?” 

You do not let him answer, fearful of the raw truth that could possibly be not what you want to hear, pressing a kiss to his lips. 

His answer –the solution to the hypothesis – is given in his kiss.

[messenger-of-babel]

To Lose a Dream

Summary: Leon would make any amount of wishes to make his dreams come true, but the events of Racoon change your lives forever. (Leon S. Kennedy x reader)

Word Count: 3.3K

Notes: ✨ Second Leon done! ✨ I feel it's a little rough only cause my eyes are so tired. This was a chunky piece to write so please keep that in mind haha. Roughly a third through this challenge, I don't know what I'll do with myself not writing for you all every day haha, it's honestly been such a fun month. I feel like I haven't kept some of the past themes well/ I made them vague and mentioned them in like one line, but I hope this one is clearer! Back to some DC ones in the next few days. Enjoy~! xx

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You didn’t know what to expect, coming alongside Leon.

Worry ate at your bones, staring out the window of the car as you hurtle towards Raccoon City. The rain batters at the windows, tracing patterns on the glass as you try to make out any shapes in the darkness. A hand on your thigh snaps you out of your stressed sighing, catching sight of Leon. He's got his eyes still trained on the road, the rain hard and heavy.

"He's going to be fine. I promise."

Leon does his best to soothe you, but the vice grip around your heart still doesn’t let up. You put your hand over his, curling your fingers around his larger digits. "I don't know." you say, voice tinged with fear. He squeezes your hand back weakly, the little comfort that he can provide right now.

"I'm sure it's nothing serious. Your brother hasn't answered a few calls? maybe he's just busy." Leon tries to say, keeping his tone light-hearted. "Either way, I'm sure he will be happy to see you. How long has it been since you talked?"

"He didn't call to wish me a happy birthday." you murmur, head leaning against the window. "We talked just last week."

Leon shrugged. "Maybe he just got busy?" he tries to delicately put.

"He doesn’t just miss those calls. He always makes sure that he calls. Something just feels wrong, I know it." you whisper, fist clenching in your lap. "Not to mention your work called you and told you not to come in. All my friends in raccoon aren't picking up either. I can't manage to get onto the Raccoon City news channel. Doesn't that worry you at least a little?" you stress, voice rising.

He waves his hand gently, trying to get you to lower your voice. "I understand, I do. But let's go into the city before anything happens, okay? It'll only hurt you more running through ‘what if’ scenarios before we even get there. We just need to hold it together a little longer, okay?"

You sigh in defeat and turn away, making Leon bite his lip and focus on the road once more.

He hated fighting with you, hated seeing you upset. He couldn't help the way his heart sank when your turn away from him, and he can't stop the voice in his head telling him that it was his fault. Even if you told him otherwise, he ached seeing you so stressed. You had come to him crying that night worried that your brother hadn't called you like he did annually, more so when the phone wouldn’t even connect to his when you tried to return it. Seeing you so distressed he let you come with him to Racoon City, knowing he was heading in for his first scheduled day. He just wanted to alleviate your worry and anxiety, but now Leon was starting to feel like he had just made it worse by bringing you along. You kept talking about the feeling in your gut, the cold that seeped to freeze your heart over with fear.

He kept brushing it off, doing his best to assure you that everything was okay, but as he pulled up to the outskirts of Raccoon City, he knew he should have believed you.

He should have turned the car around when he saw the smoke, when he saw the fire flickering off the windows. Should have listened to you halfway down the highway the first time you said you felt anxious and taken you both home. Then you both would have been safe, anxious and worried, but safe, nonetheless. Instead, he drives forward, eyes widening in the carnage as you roll to a stop. Cars and buildings are on fire, debris and shattered glass scattered over the road.

"I think we should-" he tries to say around the lump in his throat, but the sound of a car door slamming breaks his thought. His eyes widen with fear, blood cooling as he sees you through the windscreen glass, running down the street.

He jumps into action like he's been shocked, running from the driver’s seat and unbuckling himself like he was branded. "Hey!" he calls out, voice stern but terrified. He pushes his legs to catch up with you, lungs burning when he finally does. "Do not run off on me, you understand?" he yells, spinning you around to face him. You turn, studying him. Panic is etched onto every line of his face, pupils shifting rapidly as he checks you over. "This isn't safe, we need to think. It's not safe for you."

"But it's safe for you?" you snap back, making him falter. "I'm not leaving till I find my brother. He might be trapped here, with no one to help. I have to know what's happening." tears burn at your lashes and your hands wipe them away. His heart shatters and he pulls you in for a tight hug, like the both of you aren't standing in the middle of a crater ridden road. "it's gonna be okay, I promise." he whispers into your hair.

He wished upon every star and every cell in his body that he could rewind time so that you never found your brother.

Very quickly the both of you realised that something awful had happened to the city, when the first resident came ambling after you and nearly took a chunk out of Leon's arm. Now both of you were sneaking into around your brother’s neighbourhood, armed with only some wooden planks you ripped from a boarded-up store.

You were adamant that you were going to find your brother, and you resisted every time that Leon tried to bring you back to the car and away from all of this. When you finally saw the figure of your older sibling, you thought you were about to collapse in relief. With a sigh and grateful tears springing to your eyes, you called his name, wood weapon dropping from your hands.

You couldn't hear Leon's screams for you to get back over the thudding of your feet on the broken-up road, eyes too blurred with tears to see the way that your brother walked with a limp. When you threw yourself on him you squeezed your eyes shut, about to sob in happiness. However, when you felt him turn to embrace you back, a blooming pain ran through your shoulder.

With a shriek your eyes fly open and you try to push him off, ears rushing with the sound of blood and Leon's shouting. You look into the face of your brother, his visage more flesh than skin. His skin was puckered and eyes a milky white, hair patchy and skin blood drained.

He was gone.

"Get off!" Leon hollers from behind you, swinging the plank directly into your brothers- no, the zombie's face, and sending it staggering backwards. He catches you as you stumble back, pulling your flush against his chest. Your hands fly up to try and staunch the sticky flow of blood, shock beginning to settle in.

"Hey, hey, look at me." he commands, eyes darting between you and the corpse struggling to get up from the ground. "We need to get going, can you do that for me?"

You look back, breath hitching as you see what remained of your brother. You remembered his smile, his hugs. The way he lifted you up when you were little and swung you around the room while you pretended to be a superhero. Now all that remained was a blood hungry pile of flesh and bone, filled with a dark malice.

"Sweetheart, you need to focus."

Leon's tense voice cuts through the fog in your mind, his hand coming to press down hard over yours on the wound. You manage a shaky breath and a brief nod of your head, an action that make you wince as your shoulder burns violently.

"Okay, okay, let's get you somewhere safe." he murmurs mostly to himself, an arm coming around you to keep you close to his side. His heartbeat races with worry, scanning his brain for anything. This wasn't his city; he hadn't even visited before tonight. You provided the directions up until now, but with the ragged way you were breathing, you weren't really in the position to help him. in the distance, his peripheral vision strikes a hit.

The sign of the RPD burns itself into his vision, and he quickly reroutes his steps to hurry there.

"Hold on, just a little longer." he says quietly down to you, anxiety peaking as he watches as you half stumble over your own feet.

He wished on the moon and the sky that he had never brought you to the Raccoon City Police Department.

Within, you had both found yourselves befriending an officer named Marvin, who was injured similarly to you. Leon had gotten chewed out pretty badly for showing up regardless of the call that told him not to, something Leon defended in the way you know only Leon could. You were resting on a spare stretcher next to Marvin, bite patched up weakly with some bandages that were already damp with red.

Despite the situation, you couldn't help the smile that flitted over your face when Leon came back into the room, dressed in the RPD uniform.

"Don't you look handsome." you say softly, making him chuckle. He comes to lean down by your side, giving you a quick peck on the lips. "I'm starting to think that you just like a guy in uniform." he teases, a light blush dusting the bridge of his nose.

"Could you blame me?" you tease back, and he shakes his head with a light scoff. He helps you sit up, and you swing your feet to touch the marble floor of the RPD lobby. You wished you could remember the sparkle in those bright blue eyes, before Marvin made him go to the office to fetch something. You followed after him softly, despite your boyfriend's insistence that you stay back to rest.

"It's not that far." you say softly, pointing in the direction. "Just that room, okay?"

He had looked to Marvin, but the older officer looked away and held his hands up, muttering something about not getting involved.

That's why you were here now, watching him forlornly as he gingerly traches his fingers along the wood that was going to be his desk. His back rounds as he leans on the desk, blonde hair flopping pathetically as he tries to hold himself together.

'W E L C O M E    L E O N ' hangs above the desk in yellow and blue, decorated just for him. You watch just behind him on the small stairs overlooking the area, letting him have the moment to himself. He sinks lower so he can sit in the chair, staring up at the decorations with his hands in his lap. You can imagine him here during the day, the hustle and bustle of the office around him. You imagine his coworkers flitting around him, giving him smiles and maybe even ruffling his hair. You can picture his wide smile, your favourite one, stretching across his face as the older officers give him shit for being a rookie.

The memory glows like a warm sun, a golden hope that flickered between the both of you. The ideals that he whispered to you when you went to bed, his tone soft and giddy even though he tried to control it. His hopes, dreams and plans for the future he told you with a soft smile, eyes hazy as he let himself daydream before drifting off to sleep next to you.

Your hands clench on the banister, heart aching. The first day he never got to have, but the first day that he had dreamed of ever since he graduated the police academy.

The first day that he deserved.

You watch your boyfriend take a deep breath, and the golden 'what if' that played around him like a movie faded away until it was just you two back in that cold, dark, room. You go to call out to him, but you voice wavers like there’s a block in it. You only make a half-gurgled sound, eyes rolling into your head as the world spins.

As soon as he hears you hit the ground behind him, he's up and out of his seat, panic flooding his senses for the second time. Leon half drags you back into the adjoining room, setting you back onto the stretcher. Marvin is by his side in an instant, fingers going to press against your neck.

You can hear them talking, but it's like there's an undercurrent of thought.

So hungry...

You groan at the intrusion in your mind, making Leon shush you and grip your hand. "Don't try to speak." he says softly, worry tinging his tone. Despite both of their hands you try to sit up, whole body burning. Your skin feels too hot, like a frog realising it's been trapped in the pot. Your breath feels short and tight in your chest, vision swimming as you try to make out the people in front of you.

"How are you feeling?" Marvin asks, and your eyes flit over to him. you shake your head.

"Bad." you croak out. "It feels bad. It feels really really bad." you cry, face splitting into a sob as your shoulder pulses painfully. "it's all hot everywhere, and it's hard to breathe, and it all hurts."

You hate these people...

You close your eyes to try and prevent the words that wriggle into your mind, twisting and warping like worms. You shake your head. "I don't feel good. Please." you splutter. "Please what do I do?"

Lean turns to Marvin, frantic in his words. "What do I have to do? How can we help?" he rushes out, grabbing the older man's arm. However, Marvin doesn't respond, face grim and taking a step back from you.

"She's turning fast." he murmurs lowly, regarding you with caution. You writhe, still seated on the stretcher, not even feeling the dull pain when your overheated body collides with the marble floor. Leon goes to help you up, but Marvin holds him back.

"You have what was in the box on your desk?" Marvin murmurs, making Leon's breath hitch.

"Yes." he breathes back, eyes wide and fearful. "You don't mean to-"

Marvin nods. "I'm sorry, son. Look at how fast she's changing. She'll hurt you. She isn't changing normally."

And you weren't.

Your skin felt like it was on fire, causing you to shriek and wail in between your hiccups and sobs as you rolled on the floor. It felt like there was fire consuming your entire body, scorching your nerves and arteries. You look up at Leon through hazy eyes, pushing onto your hands and knees. "Leon," you rasp. "Leon, help me. Please. Please, please help me." you sob. It feels hard to get air into your lungs from the hands of panic closing around your lungs. You manage to crawl, looking up at him through tears.

Leon himself has tears dripping down his nose and cheeks, eyes wide and skin pale. There’s a tremor in his body, his breathing short. he doesn’t look entirely there, but he takes a deep breath before looking at Marvin.

"No. No, I can't do this." he says, voice breaking. "Where's the cure? You bastard, tell me where the cure is!" he yells at Marvin, face scrunching in desperation. Marvin shakes his head, leaning on the wall to support his own weakened body.

"That is the cure, son." he tries to say softly, but it's hard with the young man raging in front of him.

"Cure?" you croak, making Leon look down at you. He makes a heart shattering sound as you look up at him, his lips wobbling. That's when you see the gun shaking in his other hand, half hidden behind his body, and you freeze. You begin trying to crawl away backwards.

"No, no." you murmur, voice weak and shaky. "Please, no."

Your skin is itching violently, like a million mosquitoes came to take the blood from you, leaving welts in their wake. "Please, Leon. I wanna live. Please no, I'm sorry." you voice breaks and tears stream down your cheeks.

You hate them, YOU HATE THEM....

You hold your head and wail as the thoughts get worse.

SO

       SO

                   SO

                                 SO

                                            HUNGRY.

"Please Leon, please." your murmur, rocking back and forth. "Leon, please, save me. spare me, please." you whimper, but you aren't sure if you even manage to pronounce the words properly. Your vision feels murky, and as you tip your head up you can hardly see out of your right eye. Your left eye takes in the blurry image of Leon, red faced and wiping frantically at his eyes.

"Leon, I love you." you call out weakly, a pitiful sound crawling from the depths of your throat that resonates in the quiet lobby.

Leon wished on whatever god and heaven above that after what he was about to do, they would let you through their doors.

Leon feels like he can't breathe. His heart is racing so hard he thinks he might have a heart attack, or the organ was going to speed right out of his chest. The only thing in his ears is the rushing of blood and the thumping of his heartbeat. His lips are stained with tears, eyes feeling like they're about to swell from the pressure from crying.

He wanted to believe you. He wanted to save you. He wanted to love you.

You still had days together, a future that needed to be made. But when he saw you as you looked up at him, the way one of your eyes was already a milky white and the way your skin seemed to pucker, he knew you were going. His heart tore at every scream and wail of desperation that left your lips as you writhed in pain, and he felt his soul tear every time you begged for him to listen, to not kill you. The way you begged for your life like he was some kind of executioner.

But he knew in the bottom of his heart, that you were gone. You were fading in front of him quicker than he could preserve the memory of your face, or the way your face split when you were smiling instead of screaming. He knew it in the bottom of his heart when you hit the floor rolling off the medical bed, not noticing the blood that trickled from your temple when you sat up. You were unaware of the way your lips spilled blood like a waterfall onto your chin and chest. You didn't say anything about the way your skin inflamed and warped, the veins in your arms filling with a sickly hue. Yet with your one good eye you pleaded with him, the only thing left of you the colour that he adored.

The colour he made his stationary so he could think of you even while he was at work. The colour that he went and bought a tie in so he could match you for events and Christmas parties. the colour that he had daydreamed you passing on to kids one day. He watched the colour fade from your left eye like he was watching a sunset, the beautiful hue slowly become murky while your mouth still wordlessly pleaded at him.

"I'm so sorry sweetheart," he whispers, although he isn't even sure if you can hear him with the tremor in his voice. He raises the gun, gripping it the way that he was taught. "I love you too."

Then there was a bang, a soft thud, and the lobby was quiet once more.

September 30th, 1998.

That was the date that Leon lost the two most important dreams of his life.

[echantedtoon]

PLEASE PLEASE!! KAGAYA WITH WIFE READER AND HIS REACTION TO HER PREGNANT WITH THEIR CHILDREN!! 🙏 I SWEAR THERE'S BARY ANY KAGAYA CONTENT!!

Warnings for pregnancy and death mentions. I'll do this version in Kimetsu Gauken since I barely write for that version of the characters. Just pretend Amane and Kagaya are just coworkers and reader is his wife for this post.

-You both had been married for just a year now having met through work as Kagaya was the chairman of the academy and you the secretary for him and both the principal and vice principal. So this really came as a shock for both of you to find out.

-You both are just starting out in your early twenties and weren't planning on having kids so soon but neither were against the idea of it. Your mindset being if it happens it happens if it doesn't it doesn't. So when you started displaying the symptoms a little while after your first year anniversary you just thought it was a reaction to something you ate. You did crave some more take out lately so maybe it was bad takeout food? A student had recently been sent home for having a stomach bug. Perhaps you caught it somehow? Maybe you were allergic to something new? 

-After medicine and resting doesn't work out, Kagaya insists on scheduling a doctor's appointment for you. Unfortunately he's unable to go with you to said appointment because of an emergency work meeting but you assure him that your mom can just drive you back home. You were really just expecting it to be a bad case of stomach flu or something similar so imagine your shock when the doctor and nurse comes back from doing tests with bright smiles on their faces. "Congratulations, Mrs. Ubuyashiki! You're a month pregnant!"

-You're shocked. Absolutely happy but so shocked. As said before you both really weren't trying for a baby or really planning on having any so soon but you knew your husband would be incredibly happy with the news. Later that night when he's tired from work and you're all happy he's smiling and kissing your face like usual. "Hello, Dear. You seem cheerful. I trust the doctor visit went well?" "Yes! He figured out what was wrong with me right away!" "That's wonderful news. Did he give you medicine then? You seem to be feeling much better." You wait for him to start taking off his coat before you say anything. "Nope! But I know what's going on?" "And what's that?" "I'm pregnant." "Oh, that's ni-..."

-You giggled as the coat falls from his hands and he turns to you with the most wide eyed shocked look of his life. You were initially nervous when you found out that you were pregnant considering Kagaya didn't have the best family. Both his brothers and mother passing in a house fire when he was little, father dying later unable to handle the loss, and not to mention the constant friction from his cousin Muzan. You always knew that's why he was reluctant to start a family of his own. But when you saw the way his lower lip starts trembling in a smile and tears gather in his eyes as he hesitantly approaches you-

-"A-Are you sure?" "Yep. The doctor says I'm already a month in." This man drops to his knees and hugs your middle smiling and weeping into your stomach with the happiest feeling he's ever had. "Dear, y-you don't know h-h-how happy you've made me!"

-EVERYONE knows by the end of the week. Mostly because Kagaya is too happy and excited to keep it to himself and brings it up once every day even if it's in the middle of a meeting- "Sir, this year's senior prank caused damage to the men's locker room at the gym!" "Don't worry! It's going to be fixed! Did I ever tell you my wife is pregnant, Nakime?!" "*sigh* Yes, Sir. You mention it every day." 

-Everyone is so happy for him minus Nakime who's annoyed by his constant talk of it but keeps it to herself. The girl staff and Rengoku already planned out and threw you both a baby shower as well, with Shinobu yelling at Tengan that a onesie he personally studied with sparkly fake jewels was not safe for a baby to wear! Muzan knows too via Nakime being his spy but he can't escape Kagaya calling him and bragging about it every few days. "Hey, Muzan! My gorgeous wife is having our children!" "I KNOW ALREADY!! You don't have to call me every time I have a meeting just to tell me!" "Where would the fun be then?~"

-When you're around 4 months is when you start working from home on your laptop as your stomach has gotten awfully large. You two are so happy though it doesn't even register in your minds until one of your friends just happened to ask you- "So how's the twins?" "Twins?" "Oh. Well I figured you were having twins since you seem rather large. Are you farther along than I thought?" Kagaya quickly schedules another doctors appointment for an ultrasound. Imagine the shock on your faces when you're handed over the black and white photo.

There's not one not two not three not even four- but FIVE babies! Quintuplets. You both were having quintuplets. You need to sit down and have the nurse bring you a glass of water before you faint, meanwhile your man is a blubbering, crying, happy mess just hugging the picture to him. He later frames that picture and keeps it on his desk at work, showing it to everyone. Nakime and Muzan get more bothered by him now.

-As for how he'd treat you while pregnant- Man will take care of you. holding your hair back when you have morning sickness, getting you any food You're cravin, buys anything you may want or need. he learns how to cook meals if he can't get what you want and has to make it instead. You once caught him reading some early parenting books, and on another occasion he was found speaking to your parents for advice. Will be attentive to both the baby and you as you recover from giving birth and even before giving birth. Will carry them around in a sling when you need a break and will take care of any household needs during the entire time you're pregnant.

-He's very well off because of his work to expect your babies to have a room for each one of your babies each having been filled up already with toys and cribs and clothes and he's still bringing more home. However he always gets your input on everything before making a final decision because he loves and values you and wants your approval. It's always "Do you want water? I think the baby wants water." Or "Do you think the nursery would be better in black and white or greys? Those are neutral colors since we don't know what we're getting." Or "I got you your favorite food! Don't wanna neglect my beautiful wife now.~" Is very invested in their raising. Rocking them to sleep, bed time stories, research for educational toys- This man is determined to give his children the life he didn't.

-When it's the final month of your pregnancy he stays home. Uses all his vacation time plus holiday time as Amane generously offers to take care of everything for you both as you take the journey. He's there when you go into labor, riding with you to the hospital, and let's you practically murder his hand as you give birth to your children. Cries, and cries and cries happily for hours as he holds all five with the nurses help in his lap and his arms. Telling you how beautiful they were and says "Thank you thank you thank you" for giving him such precious gifts.

[majesty0h]

~Sharing is CARING. And Toji Cares About You Very Much~ imagine this is them ok

You and Toji have a great sex life. Scratch that, you have an AMAZING sex life. His stamina is stupid, he's packing bigger than you've ever encountered...he's a FREAK. A hulking, muscled freak who's down for anything and has showed your usually prude ass things you've never even dreamed of. Bondage, wearing vibrators in public, petplay, breathplay, temperature play, hell one time he ate your ass on the balcony while he was dressed as Wolverine. You had no clue where he got all of these ideas, but you certainly weren't complaining.

The current "thing" was watching porn on your VR headset while he went down on you. He'd been shocked to hear that you didn't consume it regularly, I mean, he was beating off to BBW on the Hub every chance he got. He was determined to force you outside your comfort zone.

It started slow, vanilla. Standard B/G, anal. Then it evolved to breeding, cucking, double penetration...

That's when he noticed it.

You took forever, FOREVER to cum on his mouth (to his annoyance) when you were watching dirty movies. But when you stumbled upon a woman getting plowed by her husband and his best friend...you were quick. Too quick. The way you moaned and gripped his hair, pulling him in deeper, it caused his tongue to stop flickering for a moment.

"Hm? What the fuck's gotten you so riled up, ma?"

You instantly freeze and pause the video, cheeks burning red behind that stupid headset, feeling dirty, feeling bad. It was bad this was so hot, right? "Uh, nothing. Just usual stuff," you lied.

You're a terrible liar.

You feel and hear the bed creak as he shifts up and snatches the device off you, raising it up and peering. He's wearing just grey sweatpants, that were tenting the minute he realized what was up. A shit eating grin spread across his face. "Oh fuck. That's what you're into now?"

You groan and throw a pillow at him. "Shu up! I've just never seen it before. You ruined the mood."

Your boyfriend is snickering at your discomfort. "Uh huh. Get on all fours. I wanna see who fucks her better."

You push this morning's events out of your head as you go to work. And it's definitely not when you return home ten hours later, tired, annoyed, and frustrated.

"Hey babes. Welcome home!" Toji, your beautiful trophy boy calls from the living room. "How was work?"

Sighing you kick off your heels and scan your phone. "It was rough. This merger is insane. We have 5 million dollars riding on this and everyone wants to dick around. I thought being Vice President was worth the drama, but it's seriously getting to me," you vent as you scroll through dozens of confidential, high priority emails.

Maybe that's why you loved Toji so much. Whenver you're with him, you don't think about deadlines, trades, layoffs. Just feeling good, happy, and full.

Walking into the living room, you're so engrossed you don't even register there's someone else sitting on the couch with Fushiguro. You only look up in confusion when the stranger whistles, low and deep. It's almost like a purr. "Damn Toji, you weren't lyin'. Complete smokeshow."

Your eyes widen and your head snaps up. There he is, manspreading on your very expensive couch, sleek black boots pressed against your /very/ expensive white rug. He's tall, lanky, built like a beanpole. He's got a shock of white hair, and he's wearing small, circle shaped sunglasses, but the shine of dazzling blue eyes peek through anyways.

Toji's looking at you like it's Christmas morning, his gaze darting between the other man and his jaded wifey. He seems to drink in your confusion.

"Oh...I...I didn't know you had a friend over," you say after an awkward pause. You're trying to address your man, but you can't tear your eyes away from this twink. Who is he? "Hi?"

The stranger beams, shifting to a more professional posture. God he is tall. You feel so small under his gaze, and you glance to Toji for help, understanding. He offers none. "Hey, pretty lady. My name is Jerome. Jerome Washington. The building's maintenance man. I heard..." he leans slightly closer to you, sliding his shades just down an inch. "You need your pipes cleaned."

You blink. "No? The pipes are fine?"

Toji groans in disproval and shoves "Jerome" slightly. "Dude, I told you, you don't gotta do any of that shit. Just be normal, for fuck's sake."

The stranger, who was doing his best to seem mysterious and commanding, broke into a boyish smile. "Oh yeah my bad. Sup? I'm Satoru Gojo. I'm going to fuck the shit out of you tonight!"

"We," Toji corrected, but he's got that same expression.

Have you gone crazy? Has the stress finally made you crack? Are you hallucinating? This was a fever dream. Toji had a knack for wanting to snap the neck of any man who even looked at you...so why was he sitting here, giddy, as this "Satoru" addressed you so vulgar? So hungry?

"...huh?" is the only thing you can say, darting between the pair. You're more than a yard away, but you can practically smell the lust filling the room. "Toji...what is--"

"Remember earlier today?" he interrupts, running a hand through his shaggy hair. "When you were creamin' over that video? The Eiffel Tower?"

"Toji!!"you hiss, flustered he would bring this up in front of a guest.

He cocks his head, throwing Gojo a knowing smirk. "She's all shy. Isn't that cute? But I promise, she was feening."

Satoru licks his lips, still undressing you with his eyes. "I bet. To be honest I haven't either. But I'm not stupid enough to turn it down."

Toji snorts. "Yeah? Don't worry, I'll show your prudes how it's done." He snaps his fingers at you. "C'mere doll. C'mere and kneel."

You're glued to the same spot, trying to reconcile what's happening. You watch as Satoru pats his knee, promising not to bite, unless you're into that.

"Princess,"Toji repeats again, his tone firm and commanding enough to snap you back to reality. You know that voice. It's the "you listen or you're in a lot of trouble" voice.

Sheepishly, you stare at your feet as you shuffle forward. You can't ignore how your heart beats in your chest, how your dress feels too tight, how this is the hottest fucking thing you've ever experienced.

"Kneel."

You don't defy him. You look up at them both with doey eyes, shuddering when he grips your chin, stroking your cheek with the pad of his calloused thumb. Gojo hums and repeats the same motion on the other side. His touch is soft and warm, and you can't help the soft sigh that escapes you. You squeeze your thighs together, trying to ignore the growing warmth. Your boyfriend presses your foreheads together, his voice syrupy against your ear. "I love you so much, doll. I'd do anything to make you happy. If this doesn't show it, nothing else will. Now you just relax and I'm gonna make your fantasies all come true," he promise as he nips at your neck. "Now start making our friend feel at home."

You swallowed hard. You feel like you could faint. You want to reply "yes daddy" like the good girl you are, but words fail you. All you can do is nod.

You take a deep breath and scoot over, still on your knees, but nestled between Gojo's skinny legs. He smiles down at you innocently, but the contents of his words are far from it. "You have such pretty lips, sweetie. How about you open them for me?"

You glance at Toji for reassurance, but he's gone from the couch, crouching behind you, fingers weaving into your hair, massaging your scalp. "Go on."

Your hands tremble as you reach for Gojo's belt.

((haven't written anything like this in years LOL im so rusty. stay tuned for part 2 and feel free to share ;D ))

[tortibomb]

Dramas that consumed me in 2024

Out of the many dramas I consumed this year, here are the ones that consumed me the most. They still haunt me in some sort of way. I think about them often. My brain literally still rots. Spoilers may be included under each gif.

I also wanted to work on gif skills so I made some new gifs and added ones I've made in the past.

The Spirealm - 2024

None of these are in any particular order but if I had one series that I thought about the most and felt the most grief over, it was The Spirealm. I will never be over the huge twist with Ruan Lan Zhu and the giant time skip they threw at us. If I let myself think about it, I cry. I still haven't finished the novel but I plan to eventually.

The On1y One - 2024

The loneliness from both of these boys was heartbreaking. They started off at odds, to brothers, to friends, to each others home. I still think about the stolen glances, little touches, their growth and healing. The unresolved feelings in the end hurts me and I pray we get a season two.

Peaceful Property - 2024

Of course Peaceful Property is still relatively fresh but I still think about this found family often.. The added stories of the ghosts were a special touch, I still think and cry about the mysteries that were going on at some of the properties. I thought I was coming into a silly little show but these goobers had me crying almost every episode. Home's english slang will live as react gifs to send to my husband for years to come.

Love in the Big City - 2024

I wish I could have watched LITBC weekly as half of the viewers here did just to have it last longer on my screen but I simply have no self control. It was a bittersweet ending and I find myself thinking about Yeong's relationships quite often. I am still completely heart broken that he pushed Gyu Ho out of his life because he didn't want to hold him back. I do hope that some day they see each other again and resume their life together.

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo - 2024

This was a heartbreaking drama but with a happy ending. It gave me young boys with traumatic stories who find solace in each other, it gave me a small little snippet of what could be happiness, and it took it away for 12 years. I knew the time skip was coming but it was still devastating.

Jack and Joker - 2024

Jack and Joker is still fresh as well but I ate it up every week. I couldn't hate most of these, what I thought were, complex characters. Everyone did bad things to protect their loved ones. Joke did it for Jack, Tattoo did it for his mom, Save did it for Hope and vice versa. Obviously that doesn't mean I liked their choices. The weeks went by so slow waiting for the next episode.

Mr. Plankton - 2024

I don't like stories like this but I watched it for Woo Do Hwan. It didn't disappoint but i cried for days after finishing it. I cried when I made the gif! This damn beautiful smile! 😭 Hae Jo and Jae Mi had a second chance at love together. I often wonder how they would have lived together if Hae Jo didn't pass on. I wonder about the ways they could have started a family with fertility help or adoption. It hit me hard as well because I struggled with infertility.

Love Sea - 2024

Love Sea was the hottest thing I have ever watched on my tv screen ok. Not only that, I was infatuated with Mahasamut. If nothing else I think about Mahasamut quite often. I think about him protecting Meena. I think about him taking off his collar, so to speak, to knock out Jak.

My Stand In - 2024

Toxic Ming and Cinnamon Roll Joe. I was blind to the color red while watching this to be honest but I won't say I felt bad for Ming until maybe the last few episodes. Joe never got back to his body, and I didn't think he would, but I held onto a little hope that he may. I loved both of these characters, flaws and all. I cannot wait to see Up & Poom in their future project together.

2023 & Beyond

Bloodhounds - 2023

Bloodhounds is where I fell in love with Woo Do Hwan. Episode one where Gun Woo kicked all those bodyguards asses to save his mom is all it took for me to be hooked. This one kept me highly entertained as each episode kept me on the edge of my seat. The bromance was and is probably still my favorite. After I finished this series I started several dramas that couldn't hook me and I had to take a small drama watching break. I CANNOT WAIT for season two.

The Devil Judge - 2021

I need a detailed list of any and all similar series. I'll be honest, it took me a couple episodes to get into this but when I did... well I was done for. In the end, Yo Han leaves and Ga On is left alone. He literally has no one significant in his life now. No parents, No Su Hyeon, No Jeong Ho, No Yo Han, No Elijah. AND I WILL NEVER BE OVER THAT!

Beyond Evil - 2021

This drama has the most satisfying conclusion. Yes, the Dong Sik and Joo Won go onto their separate paths and yes I was sad, but I felt like it had to happen so everyone could move on. The things these two said to or about each other still drive me insane.

A Tale of Thousand Stars - 2021

1000 Stars took me on a journey that broke my heart and by the end healed me. I really need to rewatch this soon so I may be a little fuzzy on it. I didn't feel like the romance was a central part of the plot so I wasn't upset they had only kissed once at end. It was more about Tian and and his journey of self discovery. I remember being floored by the plot twist and I remember sobbing like a bitch.

Guardian - 2018

I put Guardian off for a long time even after I decided to watch it but I ended up loving this drama so much I read the novel series shortly after finishing. For a censored bl, I think the actors did fantastic portraying their feelings for each other. The way they looked at each other, spoke to each other, touched each other. I yearned for more. The drama made it a bromance but it is quite obvious they care for each other.

Currently watching that is consuming me: The Heart Killers, Our Youth, Spare Me Your Mercy. Would these make the list after they were finished airing? I don't know. I also finished Flower of Evil last night and I almost added it to this list but since it hasn't had time to marinate I decided against it.

[wasawattpadkid]

Housewife

Part - 9

Summery: Billy and Stu have been planning these murders for quite some time. Everything is going to plan until you show up. What happens when they meet someone who is just as mentally deluded as they are?

Pairing: poly!ghostface x fem!reader

Warnings for this series: murder, blood, smut (will be more in depth on smut chapters), power dynamics, a dash of sexism, knives, stalking, perverse behavior, cheating,

Part 1

The house was clean but it bothered you it wasn't cleaner. It had been almost a week since the murders. You didn't remember most of your time at the hospital. The doctors told you that you went into cardiac arrest due to trauma. Even your heart was over dramatic. You died for a few seconds but something somewhere decided you needed to be here. At least that's the way you liked to think of it. Friday was Sydney and Tatum's funeral. It was a hard thing to sit through especially seeing Dewy cry the way he did. There was a reason he lived through the murders, maybe it was the same one that kept you breathing.

Staying at home alone was slowly killing you and your dad saw it. In all honesty you couldn't believe he had agreed to letting Stu move in for a bit. Your dad barley let you leave the bed, scared you wouldn't heal properly. He had been taking care of you the best he could. Changing your bandages and whatnot. He had to go back to work soon and he didn't want you to be by yourself.

Stu had called you every night once he heard you left the hospital. He told you all about how his parents were back in town just to see the damage to the house. He didn't seem upset by the heartless fact but you knew it had to hurt worse than his stab wounds. Billy moved back in with his dad, that's what Stu had told you. Billy kept calling but for reasons unknown to him you never answered. Even if you did pick up the moment you heard his voice the phone would hit the receiver.

You heard a car pull in the driveway making your heart sink. Trying to convince your father to let you ride with him to pick up Stu was an impossible task. "You are not going outside with it being cold as hell. You better be glad I'm letting him come over here at all. End of discussion." It was aggravating sure but you couldn't argue with him.

"Boy who raised you?" Your dad snapped as he opened the front door. "Um no one really Sir." You dad dropped Stu's bags by the couch letting the boy walk inside. "That would explain it." Your eyes were wide hearing the hateful conversation. "What are you guys talking about?" Your dad hung his keys up on the hook leaving his coat on the rack beside the keys. "Your friend here thinks 21 Jump Street is better than Miami Vice." Stu shrugged while you bit your lip holding back a laugh and tears. The last time you saw him was at the funeral and you did get to speak to him then. "Is it alright if I give her a hug?" Stu looked at your dad then back at you.

"She's a grown woman ask her." Your dad may not act like it but he appreciated the boy's polite nature. "Can I hug you?" He held out his arms, his baggy sweater covering the wounds you knew littered his skin. "Get over here doofus." Your voice was shaky. A small wince left your lips as Stu squeezed you a little too tight. You weren't about to complain though. You were just happy he was here. Stu pulled away once your dad started talking. "I cleaned out the guest bedroom so you'll have a place to stay. Now I don't care if you two hang out in the same room but the doors in this house stay open." Stu nodded terrified of your dad.

"Understood Mr. L/n." Stu saluted and your dad just sighed. "Have you eaten yet kid?" Your friend barley remembered his middle name let alone the last time he ate. "No Sir." Mumbling under his breath your dad grabbed his coat and keys again. "I'm going to get pizza. Is he allergic to anything?" He asked pointing at Stu. "Soap maybe but that's about it." Stu poked your arm with a smile, happy you still act like your old self. Things were different no doubt but if you made it through death he was sure you two could fix whatever was broken. Your dad took off leaving the house to you two.

"21 jump street really? Man you've got a type." You joked but Stu stayed serious. "Have you talked to him?" By him he meant Billy. The last person you wanted to talk to or about. "No. We have nothing to talk about." The biggest understatement in the history of understatements. "You have plenty to talk about. You could say "Hey Billy does this look infected?" Ooh or "Billy did you ever think that haircut made you look like a ken doll?" You laughed so hard your side started to shoot pain throughout your abdomen.

Stu didn't know his own strength when it came to jokes. "Um here sit down." He grabbed your arm as his other hand rested on your lower back supporting you as you sat on the couch. "I'm fine. It does that sometimes." He looked down at you noticing the bags under your eyes and the sort of death warmed over look you were absolutely rocking. "Can I see it?" He said wanting to compare the damage. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours." You winked at him but he just stared at you with concern. Slowly you peeled up your shirt showing off the gauze. "Jesus Christ it's so bruised." He curiously touched the tip of his finger to the discolored skin.

"Ah!" You screamed scaring him. He jerked his hand away as you held your side and laughed. He felt hurt for a second before pursing his lips, finally having a laugh. "I'm glad you're lightening up." You patted the seat next to you wanting him settle down for a bit. "I've just been really worried about you. You literally died." You could hear the sadness start to crack in his voice. "Hey, only for a few seconds. I'm a drama queen at heart." Stu smiled looking at the wall rather than you.

You grabbed his hand from his lap weaving your fingers with his. "It's going to be hard but we'll make it work. We'll start all over. Just us against the world." He wanted to imagine Billy here. He'd be on the other side of you just sitting, listening to you and Stu talk. The Billy you knew wasn't the Billy Stu had lived with for the past year. Sure he could be a self righteous asshole but behind closed doors he was caring in his own way.

"How is he?" You asked breaking the silence in the room. "He's good. He's going back to school tomorrow." The school had closed for a week out of respect for the people who lost their lives. Everyone had told you to take your time to heal and grieve before going back. It was a surprise to hear Billy would want to go back immediately. "Why?" Stu thought back to the long conversations he's had with his friend every night since he left the hospital. "He said he just wants to get back into a routine. At this point we're just trying to graduate."

It was a valid point. "What are you doing after graduation?" Before, Stu would've said party. But now he truly didn't know. "I guess go to college like everybody else." You didn't know it but your little speech really did a number on him. Not to mention the brush of death he experienced. "That's no fun." You pouted. The boy just shrugged. "Helps me blend in you know? Like you said when we first met." If Stu wanted his sequel he was going to have to work for it.

Lifting up your arms you cup his face turning him to face you. "Don't think you need to change Stu Macher." Now you were just confusing him. "You changed yourself for Billy and it worked. Why can't I be who you need me to be?" His voice was once again wobbly. "Because Stu I fell in love with the real you. The one that hits on anything with a pulse with no intention of following through. The real you that secretly loves girly shit but won't admit it in fear of your friends hating you for it." His lip quivered as tears built up on his waterline.

"If it wasn't for you this whole story line would've been much different. You gave me hope that this whole thing might just work out. You're my best friend, and before you get upset thinking I've friend zoned you. Just know that I love you with all my shitty heart." It was a little soon to be saying the word "love" but after helping murder people it was probably the least dramatic thing you could say. Stu lunged forward with the intention of kissing you. Instead his forehead collided with yours. You grabbed your head falling back from the force quickly holding your side which also started to pulse with pain. "I am so sorry." Stu said trying to check your forehead. "It's okay just give me a second everything is hurting."

If Billy was here Stu knew he'd take initiative. He'd grab your face making sure you weren't hurt and would somehow magically make the pain go away. But Stu wasn't Billy so he had to think of the next best thing. "What can I do to help?" He asked as you waited for the headache to stop. "Can you get the ice pack out of the freezer?" Now that he could do. He pulled open the fridge going straight for the ice box at the bottom. He grabbed the cute little plaid ice bag from the box and shut the door. "Here you go."

"Thanks." You held the bag on top of your head for a second as the cold helped alleviate the beginning of a migraine. Stu sat back down next to you watching you close your eyes. You really were one of the most beautiful girls he's ever seen. "Okay now if you promise not to beat me up you can have that kiss now." He carefully placed his lips on yours, smiling into the kiss. Stu pulled away wanting it just to be a cute little moment. "You didn't have to stop." You said giving him a weird look for the grin on his face. "I know. It's just... you actually smell terrible and I just couldn't go on much longer." You scrunched up your nose playfully smacking his good arm. Stu was back and you were glad to have him.

Your dad finally brought home the pizza noticing someone had already set the table. "Y/n I told you not to be-" He looked at you sitting on the couch with a magazine while Stu was fixing drinks. "What do you want to drink?" Stu asked grabbing the last empty glass. "I didn't know you hired a maid Y/n." That boy was whipped and your dad knew it the moment Stu got in his car. "I didn't, he offered to help." You defended yourself and Stu backed you up.

"It's true. I just wanted to help is all." He wasn't lying but there was more to it. You weren't able to do the few things you loved to do. Having the table set and everyone's food ready was like a love language of yours. Stu was just happy to see you smile because of something he did. "I'll have tea." Your dad sat the pizza on the table as you walked over to Stu. "What do you want to drink?" Stu asked you once he sat down your dad's glass of tea. "I am perfectly capable of making my own drink." You protested but Stu was determined. "I know but I'm already up and making glasses so what would you like?"

You mumbled an answer as he filled your glass. "Thank you." He just smiled at you telling you to sit down. Once Stu sat down everyone started grabbing pieces. "What kind of music do you listen to?" Your dad asked Stu before taking a bite of his pizza. Stu swallowed the food in his mouth before he spoke. "I listen to what most people my age do. A bit of the Beastie Boys mixed with some Nirvana. Nine Inch Nails is pretty cool." Stu saw the unamused look on your dad's face. "That new Elvis record sure is groovy." Your friend's impersonation made you nearly choke on your food. Your dad even laughed which was a hard thing to get him to do.

"He sounds just like you." Your dad pointed towards you. "I do not sound like that." He raised his eyebrow as your mouth hung open. "You definitely sound like that." Stu said choosing to side with your dad rather than you. You shrugged taking a drink from your glass. Once the box was empty your dad folded it throwing it in the trash. "Thanks for dinner Mr. L/n." Stu said making your dad shake his head. "You're welcome kid." Finishing the rest of your drink you stood up not with a wince in pain. "Woah you need help?" Stu asked as he quickly stood up ignoring his own pain. "No I'm fine. I think I'm going to take a shower."

The room got quiet. Stu didn't know what all that entailed and your dad was simply waiting for Stu to make a wrong move. "Dad I'm going to need you to show him how to cover this so he can help when you go to work tomorrow." The boy next to you looked at you like you were crazy. The thought of you being half naked with him and your dad in the same room gave him the heebiejeebies. "Don't he know how to cover his own wounds?" Your dad asked thinking the whole demonstration thing seemed awkward. He didn't do awkward.

"Oh I've just been letting the stitches breath." Stu said nonchalantly. You gasped at the admission in shock. "Good God. Both of you get up stairs to her bathroom I can't believe I've gotta do this." Your dad cursed under his breath. You and Stu started up the stairs before you had a chance to scold him. "Let me see them." You went ahead and started pulling at his shirt. "Unhand me woman!" He yelled embarrassing you. He laughed as he made his way into your bathroom.

Your dad made his way into the bathroom bemused by you and Stu's thumb wrestling match. "Y/n come here." You stood with your arms up as far as you could bring them. He grabbed the hem of the shirt trying to pull it off without hurting you. By this point he had the technique down. Stu cringed just thinking about what was under the bandage. Billy had told him what you did and how you did it. When you hit that wall the blade had curved going diagonally into your skin. They said it was a wonder it didn't go out the other side.

Stu had cuts on his arm and different sized cuts all over his abdomen. Some of which broke the skin on his back. You crossed your arms over your bra concealing what was already covered. "Can you get your shirt off by yourself?" Your dad asked his parental mode on. "Um yeah." Stu said getting up off the edge of the tub and slowly peeling off his shirt. "Jesus Christ boy." You covered your mouth seeing his blood stained tank top. "What?"

"That crazy son of a bitch sure did a number on you." He said looking Stu up and down. "I don't go down easy." He laughed not truly understanding how depressing the sight was to see. "You don't have to tell me that. Do you need help taking of the wife beater?" You mentally face palmed at his words. Stu started to peel the shirt off but his skin was stuck to it. "Ow fuck!" Stu cursed forgetting about your dad in the room. "I'm so sorry."

"How long have you had that shirt on?" Stu thought about it for a second. "Since last night." He really was helpless. "Get in the tub." Your dad sighed but he couldn't be mad at Stu. You told him about his family or rather the lack there of. Stu taught himself everything he knows so he's simply doing all he knows how to do. "Excuse me?" Stu asked not sure if he heard him right. "Y/n get me a warm wet rag." Your dad practically pushed Stu into the bathtub. What Stu failed to realize was that the fabric of the tight tank top had bonded to the fresh scab each stab wound had. If he just torn it off it would rip the scabs off leaving him bleeding again with the risk of infection. If he didn't already have one by now.

"Here hold the rag on each of your cuts to soften up the scabs." Stu did as told trusting that your dad knew what he was doing. "Now let's get this done really quickly. You watching?" Stu looked over at you as you smiled down at him all scrunched up in the bathtub. Even with your dad present it was an oddly intimate moment. "Take off all the tape and gauze. Throw it away, any time we take off the bandage it goes in the trash. Even if it looks clean." Stu nodded along mentally taking notes. He looked at your stitches noticing they didn't look near as bad as his. The bruising was absolutely horrendous but the wound itself looked great.

"Clean it with warm water only. Don't use alcohol or anything like that." Stu starred blankly regretting his previous actions. "If you did don't worry, I'm surprised you tried to clean it at all." You wanted to tell your dad to be nicer but you honestly agreed with him. He took a different wet rag wiping your side gently. "That doesn't hurt?" Stu asked worried about you. "Actually it's not that bad after awhile. It's mainly when I raise my arm to take of my shirt that it pulls the skin and hurts."

"After it's clean put some Neosporin on it and you cover it back up. Since she is taking a shower though I'll have to tape a piece of plastic over the bandages. Make sense?" It made sense but Stu knew he'd forget most of it. "How will I take a shower?" He asked your dad. The boy had been living without bandages since the hospital. He didn't know you needed to do all this extra work and his parents sure didn't ask if he needed help. "Honestly I think you'll just have to get a wash cloth and wash off for the next couple of days."

You saw the discouraged look on Stu's face. He was almost too cute to be a murderer. "Don't worry. We got each other's backs right?" You asked him dragging him from thought. "Of course." You and your dad slowly started peeling Stu's tank top off. You apologized every time he winced or cursed in pain. "Well now you'll learn not to do that again." Your dad said as he threw the ruined shirt in the garbage. The wounds on his pale skin were an angry red meaning he was probably starting to get an infection. Your dad helped clean each wound and after awhile everyone was making jokes.

He placed the last piece of medical tape down making sure he got all of the wounds. "That's the last of them I think. Now let's go get you a shirt on and let her take a shower." Stu slowly got out of the bathtub taking his sweater out of the bathroom with him. Your dad was just about to walk out before you hugged him. "Thank you. You don't know how much this means to me." He was starting to understand why you needed that boy over. "You'd be surprised." Your dad said as he left the room.

The shower was quick and careful. Making sure to avoid the new bandages at all cost. Once you got out and dried off you peeled the plastic layer off of your side, throwing it in the trashcan. You opened up your closet deciding to put on a robe because you struggled with shirts. You walked down stairs to tell everyone good night when you saw both Stu and your dad passed out on the couch. Your friend was curled up with his head on the chair arm, using it as a makeshift pillow. While your dad sat with his arms crossed and head back. You walked towards the TV set turning it off with a click.

"I was listening to that." Your dad mumbled. "Yeah I bet. Go to bed you've got work tomorrow and Stu. Stu?" You called his name slowly shaking him awake. His eyes were wide with confusion. That nap must have been deep. "Hey hun I'm going to bed. Your bed is already made up and everything." Stu barley understood a word you said. "I'll make sure he gets to bed and stays in it. Goodnight sweetheart." Your dad said as he kissed your forehead. You just smiled. "Night dad, love you." You said as he returned it. "Love you too."

Part 10

Taglist: @katie-tibo @agustdeeyaa @bowlofceral @gonnapermashift @tati-the-fangirl @kozumewhore @tatijoestar @illyanam1011 @c4rved-pumpk1n @msghostface @gojosbucket @sammanna @lokigirlszendaya @reneki @fetusharryluvr @kadu-5607 @pumpk1n-writes @lovekeeho @tojisblood @zeysartzone @bluedevilss @life-of-music3 @flyestvenustrap @littleblondesoprano @imobsessedreader @loomiscorpse @nicciekawegosblog @reneemunson @miss-puregotti @ksgsfsgaj @zoleea-exultant @briefwinnerpersonaturtle @mistydreamscape @l4venderia @nex-crowley @ashreblogsnow @brynaa223 @your-desire666 @billyloomiswhore4 @holyladyofsorrows @megluv1 @ellieswifeiya @yoluvrz @forallthstarsinthesky @madsothree

(if your name has a line through it Tumblr wouldn't let me tag you)

[tarrynightss]

Poly Jake & Neytiri headcanons

Pairing: Jake Sully x fem!na’vi!reader x Neytiri

Warnings: Polyamory, pregnancy, slight breeding kink, threesomes, vaginal & oral sex, some light bondage at the end

SFW

Neytiri always has to lay in the middle when you sleep. Not to form a barrier or anything, but because she wants to feel both Jake and you in her arms. After losing her home and father, she’s been suffering through nightmares almost every night. She wants to have the only people who can calm her down right there against her when she startles awake.

You pass on kisses to one another. For example; Jake will kiss Neytiri, who will then kiss you, and you’ll bring the kiss back to Jake.

Lots of group cuddles and nose rubbings. After a tense moment, there’s nothing more soothing than the three of you pulling each other close, linking arms and nuzzling your noses together lovingly.

You and Neytiri make little plans against Jake sometimes, giggling behind your hands as you glance your mate’s way. He’s instantly onto it, of course, grinning as he continues his task. “You girls ganging up on me, huh?” Most definitely, but he’ll be pleased with it in the end.

Jake loves holding you in his lap while you braid Neytiri’s hair. He’ll nuzzle his face into your neck, the tickling feeling making you laugh and playfully swat him away. A minute later he tries it on Neytiri, hand sneaking towards her naked waist and tickling her suddenly. She’ll make an annoyed sound at him accompanied by a hiss, but the smile on her face reveals that she does like it.

Cooking together is awful. Neytiri and Jake have way different tastes in food, and you are left to mediate what will eventually end up in your mouths. “You are a child!” Neytiri will hiss over your head at Jake, you crouched in front of the fire as you wait for them to hand you any ingredient. “We ate this two days ago!” Jake shoots back, making Neytiri look at you for support while she makes a ‘bah!’ sound. Not making eye contact with either of them is hard, but you succeed till eventually Neytiri pushes food into your hand when Jake isn’t looking.

The three of you try your hardest for you and Neytiri to be pregnant at the same time. It makes you and her feel even closer to one another, and you happily rub each others growing bellies. Jake has never been particularly cocky about having two mates, but with the two of you by his side, round with his children, he’s on top of the world. He doesn’t care where the three of you are, often rubbing you and Neytiri’s bellies and bending down to kiss them.

You and Neytiri take care of each others children like they’re your own. You are one family, bonded through Eywa, so who birthed them does not matter. Neytiri is mom to your children just as much as you are, and vice versa.

NSFW

Like I said, the goal is to get pregnant together, and oh is it a lot of fun trying to achieve that. You will be laying on top of Neytiri, kissing over her chest and neck as Jake positions himself behind the two of you. He’ll take his time eating both of you out before sliding his cock into Neytiri, thrusting into her with deep strokes till he spills his seed inside of her. After that, it’s your turn, grinding against Neytiri as Jake fucks you into her until you are equally as full of his cum.

Neytiri loves marking you and Jake with her scent, often rubbing herself along you like a cat. It’s not an inherently sexual thing to her, but it always seems to get Jake hard when he feels her lean body pushed up against his. Neytiri doesn’t mind entertaining it, pushing you both to the floor and taking turns riding your faces till you smell of nothing but her.

Jake’s favorite position is when you (or Neytiri) lays on your back while he holds your legs spread, fucking into you with desperate groans as Neytiri teases your clit. He loves watching both of your naked bodies pressed up against each other, loves the way your moans get muffled by Neytiri kissing you deeply. It’s heaven to him.

Neytiri’s favorite position involves one of you riding Jake’s face while the other rides his cock, meeting each other in the middle to fondle at your breasts and kiss. She loves seeing your reactions to getting eaten out or fucked, and also loves the way Jake oh so desperately bucks his hips upwards with long, drawn out groans.

Jake very much loves seeing just you and Neytiri be intimate together when you allow it. He’ll lazily stroke his cock as he watches his mates rub up against each other, their moans like a song to his ears. Neytiri likes watching you and Jake as well, but takes a bit of a different approach. She hides in the nearby greenery as she watches Jake roughly take you from behind, her pupils wide with desire at the sight. You and Jake know full well she’s watching of course, but she only comes out when it’s over and Jake calls for her to help him with the aftercare. She’ll stroke your face as she holds you, praising you for doing so well.

One of the little plans you and Neytiri sometimes brew is to tease Jake sexually, giggling to yourselves as you tie him up by his arms. He happily goes along with it, but once you two demons start teasing him, he has to grind his teeth together to hold back from breaking the restraints. Both of you will straddle one of his thighs, grinding against the exposed skin with your with slick cunts. You’ll touch each other while doing it, forcing Jake to do nothing but watch as you chase your own orgasms. Neytiri is especially mean with it, standing up and grinding her cunt into Jake’s face till she has cum a second time. His cock will be throbbing to almost a painful extent by that point, and Neytiri watches with a toothy smirk as she makes you sink down on it. Jake curses out your name as you ride him, movements guided by Neytiri. But once he’s close to cumming, she will pull you off of his cock, the two of you chuckling meanly in his face as he whimpers. This lasts for about two more rounds before Jake has had enough and breaks himself free, you and Neytiri quickly running away as soon as he does so. He catches up of course, and oh is the punishment so worth it.

You spoil Jake too! (sometimes). Both you and Neytiri will get on your knees for him, licking along the length of his cock. He has no idea where to put his hands as one of you takes him into your mouth while the other nips along his pubic area and teases his balls. He never lasts long when you do it, the sensation of both of your hot mouths on his cock too much for him.

[inuyashaluver]

hello hello! not sure if you write for her... but can i request a childhood friends to lovers fic with leah galton?! love your writing!!!

pinky promise - leah galton

leah galton x reader

description: in which you and your childhood best friend fulfil a promise that you made years ago

warnings: it’s a long one, babies!

a/n: hiya, lovey! thanks so much for the request and the love! i hope you enjoyyy ❤️

⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆

you and your childhood best friend, leah grew up together joined at the hip. you went to school together, bonding through a mutual love of football from a young age. wherever you went, she went and vice versa.

you were extremely close, both of you each other’s favourite person in the world and no one could come in between that.

so much so, when you were younger, you both made a sacred promise that you both held close to your heart.

when you both reached 16, leah was the first one to explore romance, you were the person she came to for advice, her wingwoman, her best friend. You were more on the reserved side, particularly focused on football and school rather than anything romantic.

–

it was a commonly chilly friday in england when leah invited you over to her house to ‘study’.

“you, leah galton are inviting me over, to study on a friday night?” you quirk your brow, a hint of disbelief evident in your tone.

“yes, (y/n) (y/l/n), i am” she mocks, cocking her head to the side teasingly as you ate lunch together. you take another bite of your sandwich as you narrow your eyes at her, she stares at you challengingly, waiting for you to agree.

“nah, there's a catch for sure” you concluded with a cheeky smile, making the corners of her mouth upturn as well. while you both stare at each other with challenging glares, you watch as leah’s eyes trail from yours to another point in the room.

you look at her confused and follow her gaze to one of your classmates, the girl waves at leah shyly before sitting down with her friends for lunch.

“ah, there’s the catch” you laugh teasingly, watching the girl in front of you look down in embarrassment.

“we’re going on a date next week and i need you to help me” leah pleaded, reaching for your snack you were about to open before you promptly slapped her hand away.

“hm, what’s in it for me?” you smirk teasingly, she rolls her eyes but thinks for a moment. “i’ll buy you an ice cream?” leah tries, gaining a shake of your head when her hand manages to steal some of your snack.

“oh, come on, galton, you can do better than that!” you scoff, she shakes her head at you, “i’ll do that assignment that’s due on monday?” your eyes widen at that, “well, you're doing that regardless if i agree or not” you scold, she internally curses herself for telling you that, you were always the academic out of the two.

“i’ll do the assignment and whatever you want for two weeks” leah pleads, you ponder for a moment, mockingly rubbing your chin with your hand to take the piss out of her, the girl immediately rolls her eyes at you.

“make it three and you’ve got yourself a deal” you say smugly, putting your hand out for a handshake that she reluctantly takes, “deal” she sighs.

–

you went home with her, and as soon as you both entered her room, she promptly got into business, dragging you to sit on her bed while she sat in front of you.

“what about the movies?” leah tries, you shake your head, “too overdone” leah nods along with you. “should i invite her to a game and then go out after?” leah attempts again, gaining you crinkling your nose in dislike.

“babe, no offence but you’ll be all sweaty and that’s not attractive” you tease, leah gives you a playful slap on your knee. “not funny” she grits out, “why don’t you just do a little picnic or something?” you suggest with a shrug, “would you be happy with that?” leah questions, somewhat nervously but you dismiss it.

“well, yeah, if you’re there, you’re great company” you smile shyly, looking down at your lap. you miss the way leah looks at you in slight shock, mildly spaced out from your words.

“oh, okay, i'll call her later ” when leah smiles at you, you wondered what it would be like to go on a date with leah, quickly shutting down the thought, she was your friend, you can't like her like that.

–

one week later, leah goes on the date. it wasn't at all enjoyable like she had hoped. the girl didn't understand her humour, you always did. the girl didn't like football, you did.

and, as it turned out, the girl thought the date was a hangout between friends. the list went on, no matter how hard she tried to block out the thoughts, it always came back to you.

she didn't know why, she didn't like you like that. you were her best friend. just because she thought of you every night before she went to bed, bought you things she thought you'd enjoy, and maybe had one too many lingering thoughts about you being the one on this date meant nothing, right?

—

it was the morning after the date and you were slightly worried leah hadn't called you last night after it like she promised she would.

it was a monday, meaning you have school, you lay in bed, lightly sleeping before you needed to get ready. suddenly, the door opens after a quick knock, not even giving you time to respond.

you open your eyes and in walks leah, a glum expression evident on her face. without another second, she trudged over to your figure on the bed, flopping her body overtop and sinking into you.

“good morning” you laugh, the girl on top of you groans in response, her face buried into the covers over your stomach. “not good?” you ask softly, running a hand over her back in comforting circles.

you feel her shake her head, burying her face further into you, making you slightly nervous before you shut down the thoughts, she needed you as a friend.

she lifts her face up and looks at you, “really not good” she sighs, rolling off your body to lie next to you. you both stare up at the ceiling in a comfortable silence.

“i'm sorry it didn’t go well” you look over at her, she turns her head to look at you, “don't be” she shrugs, lifting her hand up to gently move a stray hair resting close to your eye. the gesture was so intimate, it gave you a funny feeling in your stomach.

you both look at each other with soft expressions, the two of you unaware of the racing minds and lingering thoughts about each other that had you both questioning your friendship.

“i think i might leave the dating scene for a bit,” leah admits, turning onto her side so she could look at you better, “joining the single life with me, huh?” you tease, copying her action and rolling onto your side.

“mmhm” she hums, both of you giggling with each other.

“sorry to ruin our little moment in solidarity, but i need to get ready” you pinch her cheek teasingly and she immediately groans in protest. her eyes linger on you as she watches you move around the room, so fluid and satisfying for her to watch.

you change in the bathroom and come back into the room to see a waiting leah on your bed, you stick your tongue at her, she returns the action with a laugh. you begin to pack your bag while you both chat about the date.

leah making an effort and leaving out some specific thoughts she had during the date.

it was during lunch that you made the promise, you had separate classes which had you both a little sad. you watch as leah’s face visibly brightens when she sees you sitting in your usual spot.

you both chat and laugh as you eat, having genuine, heartfelt fun, even if it was just the two of you.

when a conversation sparks up about the date again, you both laugh as you tease her. she covers her ears while slightly cringing at herself while replaying the ‘date’ in her head before she looks at you with a cheeky expression.

“let’s make a deal,” leah challenges, you raise your eyes amusingly at her, encouraging her to continue.

“if we’re both single by the time we’re 25, let’s date and get married later” leah says simply, taking a sip from her water as she watches you for your reaction, she’s surprised at seeing you nod.

“sounds good” you shrug, “make it official?” you smile, holding out your pinky to her. she grins brightly, interlocking your pinky with hers.

—

years and years go by and the both of you are pining over each other painfully. it was so incredibly obvious to everyone around you that you were both head over heels for one another, it was frustrating.

you both got signed to the same clubs for football, both of you asked by almost every teammate in different teams if the two of you were dating, always having to turn it down, leah always loved to say, “not yet” every chance she got.

it was during both of your years at manchester united that acted as a catalyst for your relationship. you were both 24 at the time, both of you would tease each other about how 25 was swiftly approaching for the two of you. you both wanted it to come as soon as possible, you knew you loved each other but chose to painfully wait.

—

“still gonna keep your promise, love?” leah says cheekily as she kicks the ball to you, her birthday was coming up extremely soon.

you receive it and shake your head with a giggle, “of course, we swore on our pinky’s” you scoff, almost like it’s common knowledge, she knew all too well of course. you swiftly kicked the ball back to her.

“glad we’re on the same page” she said with a bright grin, stopping the ball before walking up to you and giving you a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

“leah!” you laugh brightly, attempting to push her off you but the girl wouldn’t budge. she pecks your cheek repeatedly while she giggles against your skin, her hand lingers on your waist to pull you closer and your stomach flutters.

“we need to get used to kissing, wifey” she mumbles against your ear, a few of the girls watch the interaction and shake their heads. they’ve had to deal with your casual flirting for years, but none of them have suffered as hard as you and leah.

you laugh and she moves off you, slinging an arm over your shoulder to walk you over to the rest of the team to wrap up training.

—

leah’s 25th birthday arrives, you decorate your shared flat with balloons, streamers, flowers and a little banner with ‘happy birthday’ written across it. you were so giddy, excited to spoil your best friend/future wife.

you both had training today, so you wanted to make some parts of the day nice and special for your special girl. you walk into her room, expecting her to be sleeping but are instead faced with a changing leah, the girl standing in shorts and her sports bra about to shrug on her shirt.

she smirks at you surprisingly and you turn around instantly “sorry!”, your cheeks flushed red. you’ve seen each other change countless times, but seeing her changing in her room felt too intimate, it made you nervous.

she lazily giggles, chucking on her shirt and standing behind you. “i’m 25 officially, babe, get used to it” you can hear her smirk in her words and you tug at your bottom lip with your teeth.

her arms experimentally wrap around your waist as she pulls you against her front, giving you a loving hug from behind before turning you around.

you smile sheepishly, your arms going around her neck to pull her into a tight embrace, “happy birthday, beautiful” you breathe out with a smile, kissing her cheek affectionately. she holds onto you tightly, never wanting to let go.

you part with shy smiles, “thanks, babe” she lifts her hand up to stroke your cheek gently before you grab her hand and pull her out to the decorated living room.

she gasps as soon as she sees it, stopping in place and halting both of your movements. “when did you set this up?” she exclaims in awe, looking at you with lovesick eyes that had you swooning.

“when you went to sleep” you say proudly, feeling leah’s grip on your hand tighten. she looks at a loss for words, her mouth opening to speak but nothing comes out. instead, she pulls you by the hand into another hug, her face making its way to the crook of your neck.

“i love you, thank you” you both feel too warm, you knew the feelings were mutual and it only made you both nervous about what you two could become.

“i love you too” you say sweetly, giggling when she nuzzles her face into your neck.

—

you both arrive at training with bright smiles and the girls immediately giggle at the two of you. starting with the birthday wishes immediately before settling into the teasing.

“25, galton, you dating yet?” ella teases, millie laughs immediately, spurring the girl on. “not yet, someone else needs to be 25 first” leah grins, nodding her head towards you before throwing you a wink, your cheeks are on fire. “well that's about..” millie ponders, interrupted by an excited leah, “28 days, 12 hours and 43 minutes” she said simply, sitting down next to you in her cubby to lace up her boots.

you swore your heart stopped then and there, your eyes were wide and your mouth was slightly agape as the room erupted into cheers and teasing.

she nudges your thigh with her own to prompt you to look at her. “you okay?” she mocks, she knew she was affecting you, her smug smile making it hard to breathe while her thigh rested against yours. you nod in response, tearing your gaze from the girl and lacing up your boots as well, her thigh never left yours.

—

it was your 25th birthday, leah has been excitedly reminding you almost every second for the past week. you were both excited, and obviously you both knew why. you could have dated years ago, sure, but something about the promise you made at 16 was just so special to the two of you. you mutually wanted to wait and it was sure worth it.

you woke up to leah hugging your body on top of the covers, an arm slung around your waist while she hugged you to her chest.

“happy birthday, baby” she whispers in your ear, kissing the tip of your ear while she snuggles into you. you stir and turn to her, pressing your face into her collarbone and hugging her tightly. she hums at the contact, resting her cheek against the top of your head.

“thank you” you mumble into her shirt, moving up slightly to kiss the base of her neck which made her squirm, you smile lazily into her skin. “i’m 25, you need to get used to this” you mock, looking up at her with tired eyes, she chuckles as she takes in your appearance. she moves the stray hairs adorning your face, her finger tracing over your nose gently before she boops it.

“i know i tease you about it but we don’t have to keep the promise if you don’t want to” she utters, her hand cradling your cheek as you look up at her, now completely awake.

“of course i want to” you say almost offendedly, leah smiles brighter than you’ve ever seen, kissing your cheek, dangerously close to the corner of your mouth. she pulls back to look at you, you looked at her with so much love she could’ve cried.

“come on, my girl has a birthday to celebrate” she winks, kissing your forehead quickly before getting up to run off to the living room.

like you did, it was completely decorated with flowers, balloons, streamers, the whole works. you trudge out into the living room to a very happy looking leah standing in the middle with a small cupcake in her hand with a little candle lit on it.

you smile at her, placing a hand over your heart as you made your way over to her.

“i won’t sing happy birthday because i know you hate it so make a wish, beautiful” your heart soared that she remembered your dislike for the song. you close your eyes and clasp your hands together, smiling contemptly before blowing out the candle.

she lets out a little cheer, smiling as she hands you the cupcake. you look at her slightly confused, “you didn’t get one for yourself?” you look around for another cupcake but the girl only got you one, you pout a little at that and she waves you off.

“i don’t want one, baby, eat it” she ushers you, shoving the cupcake in your face and causing a little frosting to smear on the tip of your nose.

she laughs at your appearance. “do you want some?” you ask her, she swipes her thumb over your nose and licks her finger with a wink. “i’m good” she giggles, you grab the cupcake and squish it on her lips and she squeals in surprise, frosting all over her lips and nose.

“sorry, let me get that for you” you mock, wiping your own thumb over her nose, stepping close to her, she tenses at your proximity, your lips a few centimetres apart.

you look into her eyes for a second and she grins, taking it as confirmation, you kiss her. its frantic, loving and better than the two of you could ever imagine. the cupcake frosting makes you smile against her. she parts your lips almost immediately, asserting her dominance and taking charge immediately.

your tongues move together and you can both taste the frosting. you whine into her mouth when she presses you against her, her hands exploring your waist. she pulls away breathlessly, a little frosting lingering on your lips, you chase her mouth and kiss her lips gently before pulling away and giving them a little wipe with your thumb.

“pretty good cupcake” she breathes out, you both laugh brightly and she pulls you into another sweet kiss. her thumb grazes your jaw and she hums into your mouth, pulling away with a final kiss.

—

in present times, you’re both 29, the final part of the promise finally coming into play. you’re both happily about to get married, everyone was extremely excited to see their favourite couple finally get married.

when you both exchange your vows, you smile at each other with all the love you had. when you’re both told to kiss the bride, you hold out your pinky to leah and she takes it immediately while interlocking them, kissing you with a big smile as everyone erupted into cheers.

you both didn’t break your promise, and you’re happy you had it in the first place.

⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆

you know the drill - just pretend it’s youuuu!! xx

liked by ellatoone and 44,232 others

leahgalton21: tip for the young ones in love with their best friend, make a promise you’ll get married at 25, confirmed, it works

view all comments

yourname: actually does work

↳ leahgalton21: my best idea

yourname: it actually needs to be a pinky promise, don’t spread false information, galton

↳ leahgalton21: oh, sorry, baby

yourname: you were in love with me?!

↳ leahgalton21: we established this, baby

↳ yourname: i know, i wanted to hear you say it

↳ leahgalton21: little shit

[rhadamanthes]

Medecine. Satoru x reader

word count : 7k :0

warnings : mention of overdose, drug use, SLOWBURN, scent kink, doggy style, dubcon (just to be safe), oral sex (f!receiving), ANGST, fluff, public sex, cowgirl position, happy ending.

Satoru Gojo overdosed on the 31st december. This shaked the friend group like never before, it also was the worst way to start the year. He was discharged from the hospital a week after his admission, a wish from his parents, not wanting the word to spread around that their prestigious family has a junkie son. 

A few weeks have passed ever since, everybody is here for him, trying to lift him up and get his mind on something else. Of course it's hard, none of you are professionals and he hasn't got the treatment he needed. The best you can do is be here for him. Personally, you have never been really close to Satoru, in the friend group you're closer to Megumi, Nobara, Yuuji, and Sukuna. His loudness and obnoxiousness throw you off a bit, but now you feel guilty, was it the drug or his personality ?

Smoothing the part of your hair you knock on the door, you're on babysitter duty tonight, you're nervous it's the first time it's only going to be you and him usually there's other people around. Today nobody else was available. The group went partying and thought it was a really bad idea to bring him in this type of environment given the fact the last time he went, he almost died. Yuuji asked you if you could watch over him as he knows you're not a huge party animal.

The door opens and Satoru welcomes you in with a sly smirk. Taking off your shoes you follow him to the living room.

"So what's the programm tonight you're going to lullaby me to sleep?" he asks, chewing loudly on a piece of gum.

"Actually, no. Suguru told me to make myself at home so... Have you eaten yet?" you ask, taking the tupperware out of your bag.

"Hmm no, i'm not really hungry and this looks disgusting" he says pointing at your food.

You roll your eyes making your way to the kitchen Satoru on your tail. Placing the food in two plates you launch them in the microwave. You cross your arm on your chest looking at him. He just stares at you with a curious glint in his eyes; Not a word is exchanged but the silence is comfortable. The bell of the microwave snaps you back to reality and you give him a plate, going back to the living room.

Both of you sat on the floor to eat on the coffee table, the TV playing some random show. You start digging in your plate and Satoru does the same. You're waiting for his reaction, and you're not disappointed. This man is crouched over the plate, absorbing bite after bite not even lifting his neck, moaning in the process.

"It's disgusting isn't it hm?" you tease.

"Tell me you have more," he says with his mouth full. You furrow your brows at his manners shaking your head.

"No but i have dessert"

He just nods his head resuming licking the plate clean.You chuckles wondering when was the last time he ate at all. Dinner wraps around and you're both dozing off watching the show.

"I never really saw you around" he blurts

"Well i'm very discreet and you're kind of the opposite"

"Maybe you're just stuck up"

"Maybe you're just a drug addict" is what you want to say "Maybe i am" is what you go for.

You spent the rest of the night commenting on the poor acting of the show. You feel like Satoru has warmed up to you and vice versa. Later Sukuna knocks on the door to pick you up, he rushes you because his little brother is in the car intoxicated, telling you that if he throws up on the seat it'll be your fault. You don't even have the time to properly tie up your shoes that he's grabbing your arm directing you to the exit. You quickly wave to Satoru who is smiling at your interaction with Sukuna.

The reason he's picking you up is that Yuuji is your roommate, it makes sense for him to drop you both off at the same place. After a bit of effort and a lot of scolding from Sukuna, Yuuji is finally in bed and you're too. Exhausted, you can't wait to go to sleep.

(｡･･｡)　　　₊　

A few weeks have passed since that night, you're now the assigned babysitter when the group is out partying, you don't mind anymore, you've learned to know Satoru better and he's actually a great friend, he's funny and sarcastic. Underneath all of that you see clearly that he's broken and dealing with a lot. You told the group that he also needs some alone time as for the past few months he's been surrounded with presence 24/7. Suguru almost burned you at the stake for that but when Satoru backed you up, he calmed down. You think he's getting better and better until one night you come to his place and the smell of weed lingers in the air. The scent takes you to the balcony where he's sitting on a garden chair.

"I like your new cologne" you say through the sliding glass window.

Satoru jumps from his seat, eyes wide looking at you with guilt. You extend your hand so he can give you the blunt. He sighs, taking one last hit before passing it to you. Taking a seat next to him, you smoke on his joint. After a moment you give it back to him. He looks at you hesitantly before taking it.

"I know what you're doing, this method where you only smoke weed to keep sober from any other drug ? It's not the solution" you say harshly.

"And what do you know about withdrawal" he chuckles, taking more hits.

"My sister was a drug addict" you state plainly and the smile on his face immediately wipes off.

Satoru clears his throat in embarrassment, passing you the blunt one more time, you take it, only to throw it off the balcony. His mouth opens wide and he stares at you like you just killed his entire family. You stare back daring him to say something. In defeat he only gets up and goes back inside.

"Come, I made chicken curry" You smile, following him inside.

(｡･･｡)　　　₊　

It was rare for you to see Satoru during the day you were in class, and following the New year's event he decided to stop college for a while. But today is an exception. Your only class of the day has been canceled so you decided to visit him. It's 2 in the afternoon and he clearly just woke up, only wearing a boxer and a cringey wolf t-shirt. His hair goes in every possible direction and his eyes are hooded.

"Rise and shine darling!" you say shaking the takeout bag that you picked up on your way here.

"You must be god sent i'm starving" he says locking you in a bear hug you can barely breath.

When you're done eating, Satoru looks better already, you're scrolling through your phone.

"There's this place I want to try, a bakery type of stuff, everything they make looks delicious. Do you want to come with me?" you ask, turning your head his way.

"Sure, I crave anything sweet. " he says with an insistent stare and a wolfish grin. You wonder if there's a hidden meaning in his words but quickly brush it off urging him to get dressed up.

You're waiting in the hall when he finally comes out dressed and combed out of his bedroom. Since you mostly see him when he's at home on late nights you forgot how he cleans up nice. He's wearing a grey shirt and black slacks. That's a change from the wolf pyjamas for sure.

"What are you doing ?" you laugh as he searches through the cabinet

"Car keys"

"Oh no need! It's a ten minute walk!" you say grabbing his arms to get on the way.

You lost count of how many girls turned their heads to look at Satoru, your arms are locked with each other, some of them glance at you with pure jealousy in their eyes. You're about to make a comment about that, but turning around, Satoru is breathing heavily, mouth slightly open. You feel a pang of guilt in your chest, stopping in track.

"Do you want to stop for a minute?" you ask in a sweet voice.

"For a ten minutes walk ? What's next ? You're going to change my diaper ?" he breathes, not looking you in the eyes.

You feel even more guilty now. You know his overdose took a toll on his health but you wouldn't think it was that bad. He feels insecure about it for sure. Shit, you should have just shut up. Once in the pastry shop you took a table next to the window, neither of you have uttered a word since his little outburst. You clear your throat asking him what he fancies to break the ice.

"Listen, I shouldn't have talked to you like that earlier. I know you try to help me" he says, closing the menu, taking your hand in his.

"It's fine" you smile at him "Don't take this the wrong way but since the break is approaching i wanted to get back to the gym would you like to come with me?" you ask threading carefully over your words. He purses his lips and you're about to take back your words when he answers.

"Guess I could use the extra exercise," he answers, leaning back on the sofa.

You squeeze his hand excitedly and order from the waitress. When the food comes, you happily taste the treats, sharing with each other. After a moment Satoru sip his drink, lost in his thoughts, you can tell he wants to say something.

"So your sister is she-"

"Alive and well" you cut him off to avoid an awkward moment. He exhales loudly as if a weight was taken from his shoulders. Nodding his head he asks you more questions.

"How did she get clean ? She went to rehab?"

"No, she had it really bad one night and wanted to get clean"

"You can say the word you know, I'm not going to burst in tears" he says laughing to lighten the atmosphere. You hit his calf under the table.

" She didn't overdose, she just had a really bad trip, and then she found out she was pregnant, she always wanted a baby, she decided to make it right for the kid" you say, meeting his gaze. "I'm not telling you to impregnate someone to get over it" you add huffing through your nose.

"You sure you don't want this ? Me and you in the park while little Saori is running around" he says, caressing your hand with his thumb.

You shiver in disgust at the thought of a fetus growing inside of you, hitting his calf once again as he laughs at your face.

(｡･･｡)　　　₊　

A few days after the pastry date, Satoru hasn't answered any of your propositions to go to the gym. So today you decided to join Sukuna on his training day. You hate to go to the gym alone, scared to look ridiculous in front of everyone, he's an expert so it should be fine. The smell of sweat floods your nose. Looking around you quickly notice a mop of strawberry pink hair, to your surprise you notice white hair too. A smile spreads on your lips and you're on your way to join them but the conversation stops you in your tracks.

"I was breathing like a damn cow in front of her, over walking for a mile, this is stupid I don't want this anymore" Satoru grumbles

"Well you're in the right place but it's going to take some time, don't expect to get back in shape in a week" Sukuna answers, giving you a short glance ,you feel like a deer in the headlights.

"Go fetch a rope we'll start there" he adds, pushing him in the direction with his hand.

Satoru walks toward where the material is staked, while Sukuna approaches you, putting a finger over your mouth.

"I know we were supposed to train together today, but I think it's better if he doesn't know" you nod your head "Don't mention this to him, act like you never heard this conversation hmm?" he says taking off the finger from your lips.

"Thank you" you mutter, before discreetly leaving the room.

(｡･･｡)　　　₊　

Tonight is board game night with the whole crew. Everybody is at Satoru's place, It's been a while since everybody has been reunited in the same place. Yuuji is currently banished from the living room, he is on the terrace for stealing too many banknotes during Monopoly. The end of the round is near and he's giving everybody puppy eyes to be admitted back in, before moving to the next game. He's sleeping at Megumi's tonight but Sukuna still agreed to come pick you up. From dobble to mime games the night has been filled with laughter and funny banters.

Almost everyone has gone home by now, you're chatting on the couch with Satoru when Sukuna sends you a text to come down. Satoru accompanies you in the hall as you put your shoes on. You're about to hug him goodbye when he presses his lips against yours. The kiss is soft, he takes his time to taste you, holding your cheeks like you're made of glass. You don't move, or deepen the kiss. You're dumbfounded. When he breaks the kiss you stare at him waiting for an explanation but he just stares at you with a smile, petting your hair.

"Satoru?" you call in a meek voice.

He shrugs his shoulders, still smiling like a fool, "You were beautiful tonight" he adds.

A warm sensation spreads in your chest at the compliment.Suguru calls him from the kitchen, before you can answer and he disappears down the corridor.

The car stops and you haven't noticed your home yet. You've been in your thoughts for the whole ride, thinking about the kiss, how his lips felt and why he did it? you take your bag from the floor, mutter an apology and reach for the handle when Sukuna grips your arms.

"What happened, you look like shit" he states, Sukuna has always been honest with you, and you know you can trust him.

"Satoru kissed me tonight" you exhale loudly.

"And ? you felt butterflies in your little tummy" he laughs. You hit his arms feeling frustrated already.

"Sukuna! Don't you think it's weird? I mean if he grabbed my ass or just started humping me-"

"You'd smacked him, i hope" you give him a mean glare at his intervention.

"What I'm saying is that a kiss is very intimate. I wasn't expecting that. What would you do if I kissed you?"

"I'm a loyal man so I'd probably have to kill you" you slump in your seat at his words, he's not being very helpful.

"Do you know how many drugs were found in his system that night ?" he talks in a more serious tone.

Your heart clenches in your chest and you shake your head sheepishly.

"A lot, too many, he should have died. He's like this, he takes, takes and takes and then there is the aftermath, don't think too much about it, he probably just wanted to know what it felt like." he says.

You nod your head feeling the tear prickle in your eyes. You have trouble falling asleep that night, thinking about everything that happened and what's about to come.

(｡･･｡)　　　₊　

Sukuna must have been right, after the kiss incident none of you brought it up and things went back to normal. It's Sunday, you're in your bed watching a chick flick. when the front door buzzes. You play dead ,not wanting to move from your cozy bed. After a moment you hear banging on the door and decide to see who the hell is disturbing your peace on this holy day. No surprises it's Satoru, his million dollar smile almost makes you forget that he made you get out of bed.

"Took you long enough" he says, entering the appartement.

He lets one of his hands go to your hair as he scratches your scalp with his long fingers. You close your eyes at the contact, relaxing in his hand. You felt sleepy before he interrupted you, but now it's even worse. You lead him to your bedroom. Getting back under the covers, he does the same getting rid of his jogger and hoodie, leaving just his shirt on.

"Your bed is cozy" he says nuzzling into the sheets.

"What brings you here ?" you say, yawning, eyes fixated on the screen.

"Come ooon can't friends visit on Sundays ?"

"Not when they're trying to knock my door down" you laugh, meeting his gaze "You know I'm probably going to fall asleep, this is not going to be interesting."

"I love to watch you sleep" he teases, fixing a strand of hair behind your ear.

"Creep" you mutter.

As predicted you fall asleep a few minutes after. You looked tired for the past few days, so Satoru is not surprised. He's looking at you, the steady rise and fall of your chest, you look so peaceful, getting closer to you he plants a kiss on your forehead, the scent of your hair strikes him, you smell like lavender cotton and vanilla,so sweet. He's obsessed. Hiding his nose in your hair he takes another sniff. He smells you over and over again still not satisfied, he lowers his head into your neck smelling the scent of your skin mixed with your body lotion. He moans a bit, fuck he could eat you whole right now.

He wants to go lower again, smelling between your breast, pressing his nose against your crotch. But he can't do that to you while you're sleeping, you're the best thing in his life right now. You make him feel whole, you make him feel like he can overcome anything as long as you're by his side. He just can't, fighting his pulsions, he settles for your hair, breathing your scent again and again.

When you wake up Satoru is crushing you under his weight, you do your best to push him away, as he groans in his sleep. Damn he's heavy. squeezing you in his arms, he hides his face in your neck lapping at your skin. You shiver calling him out.

"Satoru stop!" you say in a firm voice, sitting up straight.

"Hmmm, let me make you feel good please" he moans looking at you through heavy eyes.

You admit that seeing him like that makes you feel dizzy, and you're always horny when you wake up from a nap but you can't have sex with him, he's your friend, and he's going through a lot right now he will probably regret it, or get too attached.

"No we can't if you came here for this I'm sorry but you have to go" you say fleeing his gaze.

"No, no, no!" he says, catching your face in his hands "I came here for you, it's the first time i feel really excited in a while, I want to share this with you" he adds kissing your nose softly.

"Satoru, I'm happy you're gaining sensations again but it's a very bad idea" you say looking him in the eyes.

"Why bad ? Am i scaring you?" he asks, in an overly sweet tone searching for your look.

"You're talking in the heat of the moment, you'll regret it"

"No I won't, I don't regret kissing you, I don't regret any moment spent with you."

You believe him, and you want to let go hand taste him, but he only starts to see clearly now it would feel like you take advantage of him. Satoru lays your body down gently, kissing your cheeks, throat and collarbone. His plump lips feel heavenly against your skin. You surrender, letting your hand go to his hair, as you shimmy out of your panty. He groans between each kiss until he reaches your crotch. His piercing gaze meets yours and you nod, giving him access to your pussy. He takes the time to breath in your scent first, closing his eyes and exhaling loudly.

Heat creeps to your cheeks at the way he acts, soon enough his tongue licks at your bud. It feels rough against your skin, you squeeze your thigh against his head. After a few more licks he starts to fully devour your cunt, mouth sucking your clit in while his tongue laps at it repeatedly. Satoru moans louder than you do, he really wasn't lying about feeling horny again. His grunts turn you on even more, you start to grind against his face. You're close, after a few seconds you cum all over his face.

Satoru is out of breath,but smiles through it all. He almost looks high right now. You chase this idea out of your head. You trust him. kissing you through your daze, he places you ass up, face down.

"Like this, baby, hm? So you can keep on watching your little movie" he says, directing your head toward the screen. You nod eager to feel him inside after all his teasing and begging.

Without warning he enters his full length inside of you, air is knocked out of your lungs as he immediately starts to pound you. You close your eyes relishing in the feeling of his big cock inside of you. You're happy you gave in, this is exactly what you needed. You throw back your ass on him gripping the sheet to steady yourself. His moans are still loud and obnoxious drowning yours, but you don't mind, you like your men being vocal.

Gripping your hips hard, Satoru goes full force inside of you until he releases his seed inside of you. His back hit the mattress behind you, panting through his climax. He really came fast you think, is it the overfull emotions? the newfound libido? You're embarrassed and won't bring it up for sure. You wanted to cum on his cock too. You lay down next to him caressing his hair.

"I'm going to make you cum again baby don't worry hmm, this is all thanks to you. I wouldn't want to be sober if it wasn't for you" he coos placing kisses down your body to eat you out again.

His words make you freeze, this isn't good, at all. You know what you have to do, and you dread it.

(｡･･｡)　　　₊　

Your belly is tied in knots and your throat is tight. You knock on the door. Waiting anxiously. Satoru let you in a few seconds later. Smiling ear to ear he leans in to kiss you but you turn your head, his lips landing on your cheeks. You already feel bad, clenching the handles of your bag.

"We need to talk" you clear your throat looking at the floor.

"Sure, Is everything alright ?" he asks, rubbing your back, urging you to come forward but you prefer to stay next to the door. When you're done telling him what you need to, he'll probably not want you in his space anymore.

"I can't keep doing this. You and me, it can't happen anymore" you say looking him in the eye for the first time that night.

"What do you mean ?" his brow furrows.

"The thing you said the other day, about being clean because of me"

"Don't worry about that, it's all good" he says trying to put his hand on your hair but you take a step back.

"No, it's not, I may not always be in your life, what happens then ? What will happen to you ? You have to want this for yourself, not for someone else..." the tear well up in your eyes and you want to throw up.

The way he's looking at you makes you want to disappear, you feel like a stranger in his home.

"If you're not planning to stay then go away"

"It's not what i mean-"

"Go away, you're searching for the most ridiculous excuses to leave me, so just go away right now." he says in a harsh tone, your heart clenches.

"Satoru I'm doing this for yo-" before you can finish your sentence the door of the living room slams shut behind him.

The silence is heavy, through all the times you went to his apartment you never felt that uncomfortable. Holding back your tears, you get out without another word. Clicking the door shut you realise that this was probably the last time you saw him. The tears fall freely on your cheeks, you sob, shoulders shaking. You sit on the stairs that lead to the next floor, not trusting your strength at the moment.

From your spot you can hear object clattering in satoru's appartement, you feel like a terrible person, you want to go inside and apologize, tell him you didn't mean it, that you don't want to be away from him, you do, but you can't and it's killing you. If you call Suguru he'll probably make you cry even harder. Picking up your phone you dial a number that you know by heart.

"Yeah"

"Sukuna please" you cry in the receiver.

"What happened? Where are you ? " he asks in a worried tone.

"I'm at Satoru's please come i'm scared he'll do something please" you beg pathetically

"To you? What the fuck happened?"

"No! to himself, I don't know just please come."

"I'll be there" he hangs up

You rest your head on your knees, crying silently. After a moment you feel a hand on your head. You know it's Sukuna, but you're too ashamed to even look him in the eyes. He sits next to you and caresses your back until you calm down.

"I called you a cab, whenever you're ready you can go." he says in a calm voice.

Your sobs have died down a bit, his presence reassures you.

"We had a fight"

"You don't have to tell me." the tears flood your eyes once more, you're so lucky to have him. You hug him close.

"Thank you," you mutter.

After accompanying you down, Sukuna went back inside. Needless to say, you didn't get much sleep that night, or the ones after.

(｡･･｡)　　　₊　

Summer is around the corner, days are getting longer, warmer, but somehow it makes you feel like crap. Everyone around you are planning trips with their friends, and you just feel empty. The group knows about what happened between you and Satoru, not the details, just that you're not on speaking terms anymore. It was hard at first, everybody wanted to know why, but eventually, seeing the states you both were in, they dropped it. you're closer than ever with the brothers, Nobara and Megumi, since you live with Yuuji they would drop by any chance they get.

As for the rest, Suguru doesn't hide his hatred for you anymore, he either completely ignores your presence or bad mouths you straight in your face. Shoko, and Utahime try to tone him down but he's way too protective over his friend.

You haven't seen him since, you asked around for updates but they always stayed vague telling you not to worry. You miss Satoru, you miss him dearly. How can a person you befriend at the beginning of the year make her absence so hard to bear? Maybe it was more than friendship. You think about it often, if you had never said anything would you two be in a happy relationship? It doesn't matter, what's done is done, you just have to learn how to live with it.

You're currently on a walk downtown, to clear your head, and not stay cloistered in your room. Without noticing you pass in front of the pastry shop you used to go to with Satoru often. You stop in your tracks looking at the facade. You kind of want something sweet right now, is it a good idea ? You hate to attach places with people but... you only went there with him, it was sort of a ritual ever since the first time you tried it.

The door opens, revealing a silhouette that you know too well. His eyes meet yours and you feel your heart sink to your stomach. This cannot be real. It's like the word stopped the instant his blue eyes crossed yours. Satoru is standing ten feet away from you. It's the closest you've been in a month. Taking a good look at him, a weight gets off your shoulders, he looks good, as usual, but healthy. No dark circles, clean looking clothes and he gained muscles, his arms look bigger.

You're happy to see him like that, relieved. He's holding a craft bag with the shop logo on it. You can't help but smile, he really does have a sweet tooth. Satoru takes a step forward but you immediately start walking again, not trusting yourself to have a conversation with him without bursting into tears or begging for his pardon.

(｡･･｡)　　　₊　

"I'll Have a piece of red velvet with a white chocolate chip cookie, a salted caramel and a piece of brownie too please." The waitress takes Satoru's order neatly packing it in a box.

That's his guilty pleasure, even after a good workout session he always needs to have something sweet. After paying, Satoru gets out of the shop, Freezing at the sight of you. Fuck it's been months, it feels like year, and at the same time, it felt like yesterday he was sitting at home with you,cracking the most stupid jokes ever heard.

You cut your hair, you have new piercings too. You're beautiful, even more than the day you left him. He wants to talk to you, stepping forward he's about to greet you, but the second he gets closer, you run away like a scaredy cat. He chuckles to himself at least you are still the same at heart. Looking at you disappear through the streets, He thinks about everything that has happened since that night.

When Sukuna entered his appartement, he pounced on him, ready to throw him out. Unfortunately, at the time Sukuna clearly overpowered him, and with his emotions in shambles he was an easy take down. The following days after your announcement were some of the hardest in his life. He wanted to do everything, anything to get your attention, to have you close to him again.

His darkest thoughts wanted to make you pay for abandoning him, do something irreversible to make you feel guilty. So you'd learn your lessons and never leave him again. When the news traveled to the group, Suguru came by his place telling him he should have never trusted you, he vehemently insulted you but Satoru put him in his place. Despite his anger for you, he still had affection for you and wouldn't tolerate disrespect on your behalf.

Sukuna had the role of his jailor, literally. Every other day he would drag Satoru to the gym by his neck, no matter how much he slept, if he showered or not, through the insults and more. Eventually Satoru stopped complaining and integrated it in his routine.

This being the first step, Sukuna then registered him in an addict meeting, feeling it would be easier for him to talk it out with people that know what he's going through. Just like for the gym, at first he kicked and cried but eventually, he accepted his fate. He truly wanted to get better. A part of him wanted it for you, when his life was gonna get together you could come back ! But Satoru realised that this is the exact reason he lost you, so he started acting for himself. Filling his free time with new activities instead of just rotting in bed.

Weeks after weeks, he finally started to see the end of the tunnel. Summer's approaching and the days getting longer helped him too. He dreads it a bit too. Soon all of his friends would be on summer break, celebrating and drinking their college year away. Temptation will be everywhere, in the shape of a beautiful girl, a red plastic cup, or a rolled up bill.

No matter what he did, you never left his mind, he tried to convince Sukuna a few times to let him see you, but he was always categoric in his answer : none of you were ready. So when he met you outside the pastry shop, his heart almost exploded. He wanted to run to you, cover you in kisses from head to toe, show you everything he accomplished, and finally finally hear you say you're proud of him.

Satoru was happy he saw you, alive and well he wonders if you ever brought someone else to this place, he never did, it was too personal, kind of ridiculous when you think about it, but his memories with you were precious. He came home with a smile on his face that day.

(｡･･｡)　　　₊　

Today is the end of your college year ! The results were published and everybody is passing ! A relief, the summer can finally begin. Tonight, everybody is meeting at yours for a little before party to go to the bar later. The atmosphere is so festive and you're happy to unwind. But you can't help but ask where Satoru is, you were the designated person to keep him company during parties and whatnot. He's he home alone ? Your heart clenches.

"He was at the gym when I called him" You hear a voice behind you.

Turning around, Sukuna is looking at you with a smirk.

"Huh what, who are you talking about" you clear your throat, embarrassed to be this obvious.

"He's coming later, talk to him in private" he nudges your shoulder

"No it's a bad idea, I'll leave before he gets here, thanks for the heads up."

"It's been months, stop torturing yourself, you did the right thing. Just talk to him and make your choice then."

You'd be lying if you said that you don't want to talk to him. Ever since you saw him, you debated calling, or sending a text about a hundred times. You never did, never had the courage. Maybe tonight you really should talk to him ? After all it's the end of a cycle it can be a new start. A deep sigh escapes your lips, you need some air. You quickly put your shoes on and leave the appartement.

There is a park nearby, it's closed at this time of the day, but it never stopped you from going anyways. Climbing the fence you take a seat on your favorite bench, it's near a pond, the sound of water is relaxing. You get lost in your thoughts when the bench cracks under the weight of another person. turning your head, you fall face to face with Satoru. Your heart jumps in your chest and your reflex is to stand up.

"No! please, don't run away this time"

You missed his voice, it's enough to make you tear up, sitting back down you look right in front of you. He calls your name softly, sitting close to you.

"How have you been?" he asks, resting his arms on the top of the bench.

You chuckle shouldn't you be the one asking this ?

"Good" you look at him, god he's handsome, he's close and fresh out of the shower by the way he smells like cologne. "How about you? How's... Life" you ask awkwardly.

"Good," he repeats with a smile. You can't help but smile too. You missed him so much. Holding back tears, you hug him close to your chest.

"I'm sorry. I should have been there for you Satoru. I'm so sorry". you sniffle.

"No baby it's not your fault" he rubs your back, talking to you in a soothing tone. "The things I said that night were out of anger. You did what's good for me, you're good. Sukuna helped me out a lot. It's because of you. I'm getting better, I should thank you" he kisses your hair.

Gosh how he missed your scent, still rubbing your back, he takes a deep sniff of your perfume.You can't help but laugh, shoulders shaking, he does too. You break the hug to really look at him.

"You look good" praising his physics, you rub his arms, squeezing at his biceps

"Look at this," he says, flexing his muscles.

The black t-shirt he's wearing stretches around the bicep. And you feel your pussy quiver. Feeling shameful, you slap his arms playfully, for him to stop. You both giggle.

"You look good too, I like the double helix" he says, pointing at your ear. You tuck your hair behind your ear to give him a better look.

"I heard about your classes too, congratulations" he kisses your cheek. You mutter a small thanks, feeling the heat consuming your body.

You didn't know you were that needy until he was so close, giving you his attention. The both of you catch up, losing track of time. Satoru places your legs on top of his, tracing circles over your knee with his thumb. It's hard for you to concentrate, his hands are big and warm, his thighs feel so strong under yours. Your thoughts are interrupted when you see a flashlight in the distance. Shit the guardian. You exchange a panicked look with Satoru, pinning your body down to the bench, he puts a finger on your lips.

Your heart is beating loud in your ears, he's so close, his perfume is flooding your nose, the heat from his body is seeping into yours. Shit you're getting horny again. when the footsteps go away, you waste no time kissing him. you both moan at the contact. The kiss is messy and needy, you're both throwing all of your pent up frustration and desire in it. Tongues twirling with each other as he fondles your breasts in his large hand. At this rate your panty is going to be drenched. Satoru breaks the kiss, looking at you with heavy eyes.

"Do you want this?" he asks out of breath.

"Yes Satoru, please, I'm ready"

"You are baby ?" you nod furiously, getting hungrier by the second.

Sitting back on the bench, he helps you up on his lap, you feel a bulge under your ass and grind against it. He Hisses, squeezing your ass.

"After this, what will happen ?" you can't help but ask not wanting to repeat previous mistakes.

"Whatever you desire, if you want to keep this going it will, if you want a break, or to never see me again, so be it" he says, blue eyes piercing yours.

"I don't want to be separated again."

"Then we won't" he smiles widely, biting at the skin of your neck.

You moan gridning harder on his cock, you take off your sweater pulling his face in your breasts. He wants to do the same with his shirt, but you stop him.

"Keep it on, I like it"

"Dirty girl" he smiles, sucking one of your tits in his mouth.

Each of your knees are on the sides of his body, you stand on them to take the remaining piece of clothes from the object of your desire, Satoru undresses himself too, groaning eagerly. You spit in your hand to jerk his cock and his head falls backward.

"Fuuuck baby" he moans, you forget how loud he was.

You keep going a few times until you can't take it anymore and impale yourself on his cock. You feel every vein, every inch of his skin, you're full to the brim.

"Satoru you're so big" is all you can mutter as you move your hips slowly to get used to his size.

He kisses your forehead multiple times, taking your ass in each of his hands. He starts to bounce you up and down on his cock at a slow pace. You lock your arms behind his neck appreciating the come and go in your dripping hole. Your mouth is slightly agape, he starts to go faster and you moan out loud in the empty park. Satoru's big cock fills you up perfectly, his tip is pushing your gummy walls out and you feel stretched perfectly as he keep fucking into you. The way he's just lifting you so easily without breaking a sweat drives you mad, it's like you weigh nothing for him.

"Look at me," he begs. You oblige, his cheeks are red with pleasure. Mouth open just like yours, you dive in for a kiss, drowning his delicious moans.

Wanting to relieve him a bit, you place your feet flat on the bench, fucking yourself on him. You throw your ass back with all your might, you want both of you to feel it in the morning. His thrust meets yours as he piston up in your cunt. Your excitation is leaking down your thigh and on his balls, the sounds of your two body mixing feels so sinful, echoing in the empty park. A familiar sensation spreads in your lower belly.

"S-satoru, I'm close baby."

"Shit, wait for me doll."

You hold your orgasm as best as you can, clenching around his dick, begging him to finish.He warns you when he's about to burst and you cum in unisson, forehead against forehead, breathing heavily in each other's mouth. His cum mixes with your excitation, running down your bodies. Pulling out of you, Satoru jerks his cock furiously.

"What are you doing? " you ask, hazy from your high.

"Making up for last time, I was lame." you stop his wrist, looking him in the eye.

"It doesn't need to be now we have all night."

"Night?" he cocks his head to the side.

"All summer" you chuckle pecking his lips.

"Sounds good' he replies, kissing you again.

Sharing sweet kisses you realise that this could work out, you feel tingles in your belly thinking about spending the summer with him, and the same complicity you had before you fell apart.

[scarlettriot]

Our Girl • Kirishima X f!Reader X Bakugou

Smut • 18+ Only • Minors & Ageless Blogs DNI

this piece is written as an X Reader but it was written with @meggsngrits in mind. If that bothers you, you don’t have to read it. It’s for Meg, anyway ♡

Meg, I know it’s been a rough few days for ya so, I hope some time with your guys helps ♡

i definitely didn’t proof this at all so I’m sorry about that…

The moment Katsuki opened the door to your house he knew something wasn’t right. None of the lights had been turned on, your bag was on the floor rather than hanging on the hook like usual, and you, his adorable little wife, we’re nowhere in sight.

After taking off his boots, he took the time to hang up your bag in its rightful place and then started his search for you.

It wasn’t too hard to find you though, he didn’t exactly like seeing you laying face down on your bed with work clothes still on. Hell, you hadn’t even taken your shoes off!

For now though, he started by sliding off your shoes and setting them at the foot of the bed. “Baby girl,” his voice was low but softer than usual, “when’s the last time you ate?���

You didn’t even answer him. Just shrugged your shoulders. But, when you turned towards him, he could see the wet streaks that ran down the balls of your adorable cheeks. Nah. He couldn’t handle having you crying.

You didn’t even answer him. Just shrugged your shoulders. But, when you turned towards him, he could see the wet streaks that ran down the balls of your adorable cheeks. Nah. He couldn’t handle having you crying.

“Silly woman, c’mere.” He’s suddenly so damn thankful he showered before he left the agency so he’s able to sit on the bed fully and pull you into his arms. “Ya get ten minutes of cuddles and then I’m gonna go get you some water.”

Because if you didn’t know when the last time you ate was that also meant you hadn’t been properly hydrated either.

He pulls his phone free and texts your other husband to bring home your favorite take out.

Shitty Hair: Bad day, huh? I’ll grab some mochi too. She want anything else?

“Ei wants t’know if you want him to grab anything on the way home?”

It took you a minute but you shook your head. “No… just want ya both home.”

He relayed the information and then set his phone to rest on the nightstand.

Your arms wound around his torso and your face went back to being buried in his chest. “You’re cute, but your vice grip isn’t gonna stop from gettin’ you water.”

“Does it have to be water?” He barely heard your muffled sass.

“Yea it does, you little brat. Now, you can stay in bed while I get it for ya or you can hold on and I’ll take ya with me.” Your locked hands behind his back told him your choice.

With ease, he swung his legs over the side of the bed while you clung onto him like a little koala. His hands gripped your thick thighs and wrapped them around his narrow waist to make walking effortless.

Normally he would’ve set you on the counter but this time he moved about with you still attached. Grabbing a big water bottle and filling it to the brim. “But Kats! It’s so much!” The corner of his mouth twitched upward and so did his blonde brows. “Oh, fuck off!”

He chuckled and handed the bottle over. “When you’re finished with it, you can drink whatever ya want for the rest of the night.”

There was no point in arguing with him. He wouldn’t budge. So you sighed, “fine,” and took your first swig.

From there he took you back to the bedroom and got you changed into something more comfortable: one of Eiji’s hoodies and a pair of his sweats.

Of course, what should’ve taken less than five minutes ended up closer to thirty… you took your bra off and he couldn’t help himself! He just had to worship you for a while.

Pin your back against the closet wall and pepper kisses across your skin. Over your chest, swirling his tongue around your nipples before migrating down to your soft tummy.

The affection stopped just at the hem of your panties. “Think I’ll wait until Ei gets home, wouldn’t wanna have too much fun without him.”

You looked ready to kill but he kissed you then, hard enough to take your breath away and keep you pleasantly distracted. Stealing kiss after kiss until your lips were puffy and lungs depleted of oxygen.

“Please, Katsuki,” Gods, you sounded so pretty when you said his name like that. Already trying to guide his hand to your core.

You did have such a hard day… “Alright,” his head dipped to your neck, “my needy little woman—”

He pushed your panties to the side and felt how much you actually did need him. Groaning and pathetically rocking his hips against you as his fingers slid inside.

It didn’t take long at all to have you panting for him, whimpering broken versions of his name each time he hit your sweet spot.

“Such a good girl.”

He nips and sucks at your neck, thumb circling your clit again and again. Precise movement that he knows you love.

“Well, that’s one way to cheer her up,” both of you looked to the doorway to find Eijirou looking on, completely pleased with what he’s come home to. “Don’t stop on my account.”

“Wasn’t plannin’ on it.” He hadn’t quit moving those long fingers of his the whole time either. “Think you should join me though.” He turned his ruby gaze back to you. “You want that, right baby girl? Want Ei t’make you cum too?”

He was already walking over as you nodded your head. His smile was as soft and sweet as ever dropping a light kiss on your lips like he does every day when he comes home with his little, “missed you,” and then does the same to Katsuki.

“Gimme some room, would ya?” It’s an awkward little shuffle as Katsuki makes room for Eijirou to sink to his knees between you both. Wasting no time lapping at the mess Katsuki’s made between your legs as his hands tug at his husbands sweats, pulling them down his thighs to give him a little relief too.

Between Katsuki’s fingers and Eijirou’s tongue, you certainly forget about the day you had, you forget about the whole damn week, even your name for a few seconds there.

Eijirou held one of your thighs in his large hand, kneading your soft skin, even taking a few breaks from your cunt to leave a few bite marks over the ones that had faded from just a few days ago.

His wrist flicked, using his other hand to get Katsuki closer to a release too all while muttering praises that sent the sweetest vibrations to your clit.

G— guys, oh fuck, ‘m gonna—“ you whined rather than finished the sentence.

“Gonna cum for us, cutie? That’s our girl,” Eijirou teased since Katsuki was getting close too. “G’head then. We gotcha, love.”

Your nails dig into Katsuki’s arm and pull at Eijirou’s hair as your high crashes over you. Eijirou takes a final lick at your core and leans forward to take Katsuki’s cock in his mouth. Letting the man finish there rather than in his fist.

The two of you pant above him while he smiles, using his thumb to swipe a bit of cum that spilled over.

“Welcome home, Red.” You barely get the sentence out, leaning your head on Katsuki’s shoulder.

He chuckles and kisses your thigh again. “It’s good t’be home. Feelin’ better?”

“Much better now.”

You all sat lounging around the living room with the containers of food Eijirou had brought home covering the coffee and end tables.

The guys listened to you rant about the assholes trying to tell you how to do your job. Thinking they know everything better than you do. More than once they each offered to give these retired gasbags a piece of their mind but you waved them off each time. Just thankful for them listening to you.

The two of them always do though. You could talk to them about anything and they’d give you their undivided attention. And they knew they could come to you for the same.

Whatever the three of you needed, you were always there for each other.

A shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, someone to sit around and eat junk food with… or even bending you over and screwing you until every other thought faded away. Which just so happened to be what the two of them intended on doing for you tonight just as soon as you finished your dinner ♡

[lucky-lucky-duck]

Snapshot: Life as a Vagastrom Student

I love Leo, but I love to argue with him in my head like we're rival mean girls in an early 00's movie when I'm freaking out about finals even more. Then this was born. Tada ⋄

Gender Neutral Ghoul Student!Reader with Alan, Leo, and Sho. Relationships written ambiguously.

Slight warning for language? It's not really that bad.

⋄Explaining internet culture to Alan⋄

You don't bother to repress your sigh as the blank look forms on your captain's face. "They called you a boomer, man. It means you're old. Which is, like, factually inaccurate, considering there's a vampire on campus." A small frown tugs at the edges of your mouth, "It's also mean. Who said that to you?"

A hand lands on your head in a clear a show show of thanks, and the achingly gentle nature of the touch is completely unwarranted for the situation. "Doesn't matter. Thanks."

Warmth radiates from your cheeks, and you duck your face away as you respond at Alan's retreating back, "No worries, dude... Remind me to show you Urban Dictionary some time."

⋄ Communicating with Leo via passive aggressive Tiktok trends ⋄

"I'm passing the phone to the worst candidate for vice-captain, who ate my fucking oreo's without replacing them." The faux cheer in your voice is a stark contrast to the primal rage in your eyes when your gaze meets the man across from you. You're pretty sure this trend is supposed to be done in separate rooms, but it's not like that matters when Leo and his stigma are involved. Plus, this feels like a much better way to drive home the point.

A sly, wicked smile slides up the sides of Leo's lips, and you don't have time to feel regret before the words leave his mouth like daggers with ruthless precision, "I'm passing the phone to a No-Name NPC who is so unremarkable that the faculty evaluators actually forgot they existed."

A pregnant pause fills the common area. Even some of the general students have paused, the hustle and bustle of the garage doing nothing to stop the growing tension. "Hey, so, why are you always such a cun--"

⋄ Tasting all Sho's newest recipes ⋄

"What do you think?"

The taste hits your tongue in an explosion of different sensations. The crispiness of the tortilla blends wonderfully with the different spices and garnishes. If you didn't know that this is Sho's first attempt at both street tacos and using the anomalous mystery meat from the student store, you wouldn't have guessed. "It's great."

"Just great? That's all you've got to say?"

“It is great,” you bristle defensively and lean down to take another large bite.

“I legitimately invited you here to give feedback,” Sho snipes back, grimacing at the bits of food that drop from your mouth as you speak with your mouth full.

“Yeah, and I told you it’s great?” You decidedly ignore the thick judgemental edge in the man's tone as you finish off the last bit of your meal and hold your plate out for another. “No notes.”

The next taco is placed onto your plate, and Sho's eye-roll is fully audible, despite him turning back to the stove. “Just be quiet and eat.”

[lovelyladyabsinthewrites]

Do you find it all right, my dragonfly?

Warnings: downright traumatized adults who need to fucking heal their inner child, reader is also like hl where she's mentally unstable too but at least has a bit of her sanity, not really siblingxsibling, but there is implications, weird/uncomfortable relationships, god mentality, she may not be as bad as hl or sb she still sb's kid, i'm getting a hera and zeus vibe from them honestly, vought should hire a supe therapist or something, finale

Words: 1884

Summary: Years have passed since Soldier Boy's death in Nicaragua. But you and Homelander still suffer the curse of his blood.

🌸Did you get enough love, my little dove 🌸Well you do enough talk, my little hawk. 🌸shall we look at the moon, my little loon

Homelander's eyes pop open, immediately accomodating to the darkness in his room. Even in sleep he caught the subtle noise of the front door to his penthouse suite opening and closing. Normally he would have sprung into action and apprehend whoever dared to break into his home. Only taking him a millisecond to realize who it was, Homelander relaxes back into the mattress.

When he hears you tiptoe your way into his room, he sleepily mutters "Couldn't sleep?"

You don't reply. Simply peeling back the covers of his bed and slipping in next to him. You never imagined how much you'd miss your small home in the middle of nowhere until you moved into Vought Tower with your brother. There was no way you could live by yourself during your last year in high school. Vought wouldn't allow it and neither would Homelander.

Humming at your silence, Homelander shifts to lay on his side to face you. You didn't like how far away your suite was from your brother's. Back at home, he'd been on the other side of the paper-thin wall.

After a moment of quiet, you look up at him through your lashes. "Is it fucked up that I miss him?"

He sadly smiles. "No. I think it's natural. I kinda miss that asshole too."

It was always thought that Soldier Boy was invincible. As indestructible as a cockroach. Stan Edgar was the one to bring you the news from Nicaragua. You simply couldn't believe it as the truth. Soldier Boy killed. You'd sat there in a daze, Homelander to your left as he too stares at the stained carpet under the couch.

Every night since then you'd go to Homelander's room in the dead of night; unable to take how quiet and big it was in your own rooms. Embarrassing at your age that you still needed your big brother's company to sleep.

Homelander was the only person you can seek comfort from. Someone you'd bonded with through trauma.

His blue eyes are so bright in the darkness of his room. Your shade was much more subdued, like Soldier Boy's. Vivid and bold, like a streak of lightening.

"C'mere." He scooches closer to you and wraps his arms around your frame.

All too easily, you accept the security. As long as Homelander was there, you'd be fine.

Years later and it was still the same.

Only now the spotlight was on the both of you and if word ever got out that you shared a bed with your brother, heads would turn and Vought stock would plummet. No one would understand. Everyone would think it utterly disgusting. Not that anything bad happened. You simply couldn't sleep without Homelander being in the same bed as you and vice versa.

Maybe it was odd, but you ceased to care what others thought was normal. It was only Stillwell's private words to you an hour ago. scolding you like you're still that teenager who'd just lost her toxic father. And damnit did her condescending tone still work on you. Why was there a part of you that wanted her praise? Possibly that same teenager who'd grown up without a mother.

"Who cares what they think." Homelander scoffs when you hesitate to go into his suite. He still had his tacky supe suite on, the both of you having come back from a Vought gala event.

Vought's golden children. They sure did love to tote you and your brother out to the public. Everyone ate it up. The most powerful supes in the world. You were legacies after all. Born from the seed of the infamous Soldier Boy who died for his country. There were always Vought events that exploited this fact. It was fucking tiring.

You purse your lips, looking up and down the hall. As you expected though, no one was in sight. A strict rule that no one was to disturb this corridor as it contained the suites of you and the Homelander, the top supes in the entire world. Translucent didn't even dare to peep in on you and Homelander. You always knew he was there. He didn't need any warning. You were even more popular than Payback's twin duo. Both of you having been at the forefront in the creation of Vought's team known as the Seven. The members who would join soon after knew early on not to mess with you and Homelander. You were leagues above any of them. Not only that, but due to your childhoods being not so. . . ideal, both of you had your fair share of mental instabilities.

Try as you may, you were Soldier Boy's daughter. That enough meant you carried his curse. He cursed you with an unhealthy attachment to your brother. You saw how far off he was, having suffered more from Soldier Boy and Vought than you did. Even then you ignored some of the more questionable actions you'd witnessed Homelander commit while on assignments.

Blind loyalty.

"John." You quietly use his birth name to show that you were serious. His smile dampens until his brows fall too. "You know what they're saying."

"What they're saying, or what Edgar told you?"

"Actually your girlfriend told me." Snidely you remark on Homelander's twisted relationship with Madelyn. Seems both of you were to be doomed by unusual relationships.

The muscle below his eye twitches, a note of agitation which only your eyes were capable of catching.

"Regardless, there's truth behind her words. They're lower beings than us, to be sure, but if this gets out it'll be bad press for both of us and Vought." You heave before moving to go back down the hall. "At least. . . for a little bit."

After a moment, Homelander's obnoxious grin returns to his face and he rolls his eyes. He plays along. "Okay. If you say so. But you better not try to crawl into my bed tonight."

You scrunch up your nose before chuckling. "Ah c'mon. That's definitely something you shouldn't be saying to your sister!"

He doesn't attempt to stop you from going back to your suite though you feel his heavy gaze on your back.

As he'd predicted, you indeed came crawling back later that night to curl up against his back. You knew he had a smug smirk on his face, his eyes closed in contentment. Your brother was always aware of your actions before you even knew what you were going to do.

"You're annoying." You mumble.

"I'm not gonna say 'I told you so', but. . ."

You lightly punch him in the ribs but good enough to make him jolt from the abrupt action.

"Don't worry about what others think." You close your eyes to listen to his soothing words, remembering how the two of you would lay under the stars as little kids. A beautiful dream. "We're gods."

Yes. Ichor pumped through your veins. You and Homelander were able to separate your identities from Soldier Boy. He may have started the both of you with his sperm, but you'd forged your own way through blood, sweat and tears.

Incinerators.

Soldier Boy's brutality.

All of it molded you and your brother into the most powerful beings.

"We can do as we please." Homelander turns around under his covers to face toward you. Legs weave together so that you were perfectly configured to his form that latched onto you.

This was how he held you during those long, lonely nights when it was just the two of you in your small house. The nostalgic sound of the rain hitting the windowpane of his bedroom window.

He nuzzles his nose against the soft roundness of your cheek. Your perfume from earlier in the day still clinging to your skin.

This world could take whatever it wanted from him except for you. In the end Homelander plans for it to be just the two of you, the world a pile of ashes around you. Your smile would once again belong only to him. If it came to it, he'd even kill Madelyn if it meant you could remain in his arms.

If he heard a peep out of anyone about you harmlessly cuddling up to him in the middle of the night, he'd tear them apart. Destroy the tower in order to protect you. To protect this.

Did you get enough love, my little dove, why do you cry?

Homelander thinks back to that sweet little girl you once were. Clinging onto your beloved brother's leg for dear life in an attempt to not be swept up in Soldier Boy's darkness.

Such a funny thought to wrap you up in cloth, do you find it alright, my dragon?

Remembers standing next to you as Stan Edgar stood at your front door with several other Vought agents to tell you about Soldier Boy. How there was nothing left of him to even bury. Not a trace physical of him remained on the earth. Only you and Homelander as a testament. A sense of relief washing over both of you and yet. . . a knowledge of doom and the end of your childhood; if you'd ever had a proper one. No matter the mixed feelings you had toward your father, it was a strange thing to now be in a world without him.

Stan Edgar saw to the finishing of your academic studies. He eased his way as your guardian figure while Homelander fell under Madelyn's wing.

Shall we look at the moon my little loon? Why do you cry?

Nights of looking up at the night sky with your brother weren't gone. Just different. The light pollution from the city chased off any chance of seeing stars. The moon refused to be covered though and you could still gaze at it's lonesome fixture above. Your heads pressed together in the same manner you used to do as your sprawled out on a blanket atop of the roof of Vought Tower.

He damned himself for missing the days when it was just you, Homelander, and even Soldier Boy occasionally. Where your backyard bled into the wilderness. Running through the trees while Homelander tried to catch you. Soldier Boy teaching both of you how to shoot a gun, using trees and beer cans as targets. Even picking up a drunken Soldier Boy from the bar at least meant he got to spend more time with you as you accompanied him in Soldier Boy's truck.

Well you do enough talk my little hawk, why do you cry?

You still possessed a scar from your first training day with your dad. Where he gave you a concussion. There were some days where Soldier Boy's training felt more like a punishment as he used you as a punching bag. Never did you cry in front of him. Only in the privacy of the bathroom you and Homelander shared while he cleaned you up. His strong, brave girl.

Homelander brushes back a few stray strands of your dark hair away from your face. You always fell asleep fast when in his arms. You were still that little girl. You always would be to Homelander though he acknowledges you as his equal. He would always be by your side.

After all, you promised to take him to the moon with you.

Thanks for reading!

[sweetsmalldog]

This last episode really continued to hammer home that the Bad Kids really are Arthur Aguefort’s platonic ideal of an Adventuring Party and while Kipperlily can hide behind fairness and favoritism (which certainly play a role) and I doubt many of the parties at Aguefort got their Sophmore year quest personally announced to them by the principal (probably just the Bad Kids and the Seven if I had to assume) that came from the level of danger they were undertaking. The Bad Kids were deemed ready for a World Ending level threat as Sophomores enough that it was 60% of their grade.

The system at Aguefort was clearly designed to have loop holes so that it could be exploited, Arthur Aguefort clearly wants his students to refuse to accept the rules no matter who made them and cut a bloody swath through whoever is in their way to get what they want.

And the Bad Kids have never cared about the rules or listening to people telling them how they had to do something. Of course Aguefort saw the kids that left detention to fight corn monsters in the cafeteria and said “I like these ones” and when they brought him back and almost immediately at least to the world at large killed the Vice Principal and cheered on their friend as he and his mom ate the guy’s face in bloody revenge decided they were smart, strong, and violent enough to get tasked with the big shit.

The Bad Kids proved their worth and that they have the skills and dedication and disregard for the rules that one needs to be successful adventurers. The Rat Grinders grinded rats.