#still not sure about hacker having lovers either since

[ds-randy]

Can i become Bobby's boyfriend?

absolutely not.

[coffee-and-tea-time]

⁺˚⋆｡°⚝ You choose... me? ⚝°｡⋆˚⁺

thank you thank you thank you thank you Yandere! Hacker x Yandere Lover! Reader

Did you miss us? ( ๑‾̀◡‾́)✨

We honestly loved writing this geek, we end up adding some mention of yanderes games we play together! (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧ Coffee likes to watch me react to yandere vns oh, don't act like you didn't melt over some of them too shhh. Anyways, hope you all enjoy reading this as much as we enjoy writing it! ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ - Tea

Woah, feels like it's been a long time! (since I last have seen my son lost to this monster, to the man behind the slaughter) ♡ˎˊ˗ tbh I could keep talking about this for hours, I love yanderes (づ> v <)づ♡ * Jack Skellington is still in his Christmas phase? Maybe I could ask him for one as an early gift - coffee

if you want context, you can go here but it's not that necessary we think - the twins

word count: 3.3k

tw: yandere behavior, willing reader, writing in you/yours, this got some internet/yandere references hope y’all catch them (links will be below the story, please do tell us if we missed any) If you don’t know them, take them as recommendations ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧ (weird to say that when there’s a blood soup reference on here, is like the canon event of everyone who likes yanderes), anxiety attack?, yapper yandere

Huh, honestly the one that struck you the most sure had to be Grier, you still can catch every so often from the corner of your eye how different security cameras move all of the sudden, probably hoping to find one not taped unsuccessfully, talk about stalkerish, cute.

“I will choose… Grier”

The seller gives you a soft sigh, almost of defeat but also relief, tapping his foot as he glances over at the one security camera that was moving now on the far right corner of the shop, moving frantically from side to side as if searching for something. He abruptly lifts up from his seat and groans. 

“Alright, I'll go get the ladder…” 

The seller goes down the wooden ladder after taking the tape off the camera lense and signs for you to come closer to it.

"The cameras here don't have sound but showing you to him should be enough of a clue all by itself"

You freeze as the security camera focuses on you, standing there, you wave awkwardly and the camera starts moving side to side abruptly before freezing,  like the person behind it moved away from it.

"Well, either he fainted or he is coming right away!"

The seller says in a cheerful voice as he goes to cover the camera lense again with a strip of tape. A couple of minutes pass before you hear the screeching stop of a car parking in front of the shop hurriedly, soon followed by a panting man who barges inside like his life depended on it.

“I’m here! I'm here!!” 

He says almost tripping on his own feet as he shoves in your face a bouquet of your favorite flowers.

"Oh, those are my favorites! Thank you"

"I-I know, don't worry, I made sure to do a quick background check on your medical history so I don't trigger any allergies, I promise I will gather more information tonight! Don't worry"

Well, you can’t really be surprised by his actions since you were warned, though you were by his speed, how did he manage to hurry here driving, buy you flowers and check your medical history in the process? I guess you’d never know, maybe he's a student of Penelope García.

“Well, Grie-”

As the seller attempts to congratulate you both, hand hovering over your shoulder to pat it as a friendly mannerism, Grier is quick to slap it away with a glare that makes you remember a surly cat.

“Is everything ready? I would much rather finish paperwork as quickly as possible” 

Wow, that’s a really sudden change of tone, the distant and somewhat professional posture he took in a matter of seconds makes you think if the Grier that was tripping over his feet, babbling nervously while giving you flowers was just a trick of your imagination, but the theory quickly dies as he places his stare on you again, his expression completely changing, getting all flustered and blushy again… cute. 

“Well, shall we get going? I hope you like my house but of course you can redecorate it- we can redecorate it oh maybe we should go first to your house to get an example? I can mimic your space so you feel comfier although if that makes you uncomfortable of course we don't need to I just would love to know more about you so that I don't messed up, well, not only things I mean get to everything about you, but please don't feel pressur-” 

“Grier, we got the memo, continue yapping out of the store. And for you Dear, I hope you find your happy ending with that parrot you bought, no refunds or returns are allowed."

The seller, who looks like he's about to get a migraine if he keeps hearing Grier, quickly kicks him out and says his farewells to you. As you exit the store behind Grier, he is quick to show you the way to his car.

"Thanks.. uh, do you mind if we go to my place real quick?"

Well, it's pretty obvious he will take you to his house and you can't really back up now so, you only need to gather some thi- oh, he's already panicking.

"Your place? Going to mine doesn't sound appealing? I-I can change it! What's the thing you would totally love that my house had? It's not like I don't want to see your house I honestly would love to but you do plan to come to mine after, right? Maybe you'd rather be in your place? But then we'd be so far away… or course I don't want to bother you I swear I can do and buy whatever will suit you best to be comfortabl-" 

"We're gonna go grab some of my clothes! I need my things, then we can go to your house"

The seller wasn't lying when he said Grier is a rambler type of person, but you can't really be annoyed by it, his voice is honestly so damn good, and the way it sounded when he went all serious mode talking to the seller was just… wait, no, no time for simping right now, you gotta think what do you need to gather from your house.

"Oh yes of course of course sorry I got worried for a momento although it would've nice to go shopping together if you forgot something of course we can also shop online if you don't really like crowded places oh, I… god"

As he was talking, you honestly were more focused on how pretty his watery eyes are, just hearing bla bla bla, you can't help but start caressing his hair, it seems like it took him by surprise but certainly not in a bad way, leaning into your touch as you run your fingers through his messy, wavy but soft hair, you must admit that you thought it was tangled at first but that isn't the case.

 Ah, right, your things.

"Well, shall we get going?"

You watch him nod, seeming incredibly out of words, as he red faced opens the door for you before going to his seat and searching for something in his phone before he starts driving. Uh, then you have full control over the music? He seems like in his own world and you hardly doubt he minds you changing the music when he still can't even cool down his blush… you must tease him from time to time for funsies, noted. 

Part of you wanted to put that one song from ayesha erotica but maybe it was a little weird, so you switch to the safe choice: do nothing. You switch to your phone to make a little note for yourself about important things you need.

Oh, right

You forgot to tell him your address because you were too focused on other things, well… just as you remembered he was already parking in front of your apartment anyways- 

Grier makes his way out of the car once the engine is off, walking around the car to open the door for you, helping you out with his hand, then walking alongside you as you make your way up to your floor and through the door of your apartment. 

"Here, make yourself at home, I’ll be picking  my clothes”

Although it doesn’t seem very smart to let someone like him snoop around, though you can’t help but also be curious about what he will do and, well, it’s not like he can do much since it's just your house… right?

Anyways, you left him for a moment to go pack clothes, catching him nervously walking around from time to time, but he seems really the quiet type, surely more on the soft yandere side, his droopy innocent eyes made him look the part.  damn wrong Dear, you seems like a yandere amateur, try again.

"Ugh, I still have so much to pack"

You murmured, already getting tired of the repetitive grap-and-pack motion, impatient to get to talk to your little yapper and get to know him better. Speaking of the devil, you feel his presence behind you, his shadow betraying his location as it engulfs you, then feeling a soft tap on your shoulder, so soft in fact it seemed as if your shoulder was made of needles.  

"You don't have to worry about your computer and stuff. I already have them backed up, t-to save you time! Since you seemed stressed and said I could snoop around I thought about helping a bit and backing up your devices… same with all your accounts- just to help of course"

Well, now you know what he was up to while you were busy.

WAIT A DAMN MINUTE

"...did you check my browser history?"

You blurt out the question as you run through the chance of any incriminating, possibly cringy, piece of information in your phone that might require some explanation… God forbid if he found your tumblr-

"...No"

He did.

"I have a tiny question though, if you don't mind of course- the last thing I want to do is bother you in any way"

He totally did.

"....depends, what do you want to ask, Dear?"

Okay, you got this, you got a yandere for something. Whatever he asks you, if it turns out awkward, there's little that can't be solved by some pampering when it's related to yanderes,  how he giggled when you called him Dear confirming this notion. You got this.

"I just was, you know, curious about what games you played, I wasn't prying! But, you know, it's good to know your interest to get to know you better and maybe play together while cuddling on the couch and have some hot cocoa with little marshmallows as we wrap ourselves in a big blanket…. Anyways, the point it's… what's exactly your type?"

Okay, you don't got this. 

"Huh, how is one thing related to another?"

It's better to buy a little time while you think of a correct answer for that. Would it be too cheesy to say something like 'you'? Maybe you really should have bought that manual for 'how to take care of your yandere' when they offered it to you on the website. 

"Well, wandering around a bit I found you seem to like playing something called 'dating sim'? According to what I saw it's like flirting and romance virtual characters although the stories really differ from one to another which makes it really confusing to figure out what's your taste to be honest"

Alright, you have to reply quickly to give him some peace, maybe he found one that really didn't resemble him and got nervous? It doesn't sound wise to let a yandere get insecure.

"My type is…"

You gently place your hand on his chin to make him look directly into your eyes.

“Let 's see… My type has gorgeous, green, droopy eyes, a bedhead that, I must say, is pretty damn soft, the kinda guy that rambles a lot and seems to have this nervous habit of straightening his clothes and, especially, my type is a certain guy that can't take his eyes off of me” 

You watch as a red tint paints his cheeks, a shivering smile appears on his face as he takes a step closer to you nuzzling himself onto your hand like a cat asking for attention.

"Really? Can you promise that? Will you willingly say that into a microphone? Just for the record, do you really really see me as your ideal?"

"Of course, of course, who wouldn't find an adorable hacker this endearing?'

"Then... you got a thing for hackers? So, your favorite was that seven zero seven?"

Did you really hear that right?

…

You can’t help but feel your past haunting your back. 

"It's a really good character, although, I find kinda sad that seven has this hint at him being aware of every reset"

Does this count as dodging the question? Maybe.

"Following that logic, I'm aware of every breath you take so does that means I can get more of your attention? Or maybe I'm being too greedy though you seem to have spent a lot of your time romancing them, obviously I'm not judging you but that means that it would be okay also for me to check on you at every hour, even if it's 2 am? Just to make sure you don't need anything, of course! That you're well cared for… or do I require something else to be worthy of that? Please tell me, is it my personality? I don't really think so since, well, I see you gush over intense personalities such as that… Damon? Deimon? The game isn't even finished but you seem to like everything about him although he doesn't really show you about himself. That means that what makes up your favorability is... The attention over you?"

Oh god, he found itchi.io, better start praying he didn't see anything weird.

"Well, they are just… games I played because I was bored, you shouldn't look too much into those”

"But you play more than one or two which means that you really enjoyed playing them and searching for more of that kind but I can't help but be confused and intrigued about what is that something, you even liked one where the characters shared the same body as a human and… a fae? I didn't really understand but they seem really different, which makes it very hard to find a pattern, but that isn't the only one you played like that, you also have one that switches between a shy boy and a flirty one, do you like the contrast? What exactly is that thing that makes you fawn over them? Maybe it would be good if I got two different aesthetics? I can't hide my name like that ‘redacted’ guy that looks mysterious…but I can change looks out of the blue and leave little clues of something? But, about what? I really don't have that much to tell and my stalking it's pretty much obvious, I also don't have superpowers to act like the hero one."

"Honey, it's okay, you don't need to do such a thing, as I said, I like you, those are just games I play in my free time to not get bored"

"Maybe it will be better if I go directly to straightforward characters? That 'Friend' was really honest most of the time, that… fan? Monster? Also was honest, why is there so much variety? But there also was people that were better at hiding it like that mushroom boy or that sol… it's difficult to stabilize a pattern if they keep variating so much, maybe I should put my focus on the ones you know the longer, I had to buy a seifuku and chase you with a chainsaw? No, there's the possibility I could injure you and I absolutely can't risk that, maybe I can buy a mannequin and put a synthetic deer head and say it my brother"

Okay, just how many did he see? Why does he need a pattern in the first place? You literally choose him, but well, he seems to want it to get more of your attention… Why don't give him so? Probably will help him to calm down, you aren't planning to do a crossover of Perfect Love with this guy.

"Dear, look directly at me for a second, did you hear what I was telling you? Listen to me, those are games, you are the one here with me, don't you think that you are already winning by far with that thing alone?"

You pinch his cheeks to get him to stop rambling about favorites, finally, and his eyes seem focused on you once again.

"Well, that's right, I'm the one feeling your touch, even if is a romance game, I'm the one closer to you although I'm not a big fan of you giggling and choosing flirty things but that hobby also means staying more at home where I can stick around more, if I think it carefully, it's something safe overall”

As you let go of his cheeks, he is quick to hold your hand in order to forbid you to move it away, leaning his cheek into your palm again as he talks.

"Yeh, there's a lot of people with the same taste in stories that me, so you can say they are pretty popular, don't look into it so much, there's no need to bother your mind with such a thing, these are just things I enjoy reading"

"It's true that they are just stories, you enjoy reading about lovesick so much? That's why you use tumblr? It makes sense since the blogs you follows also have the same theme and there's even one you seems to check frequent that's seems to have everything about yanderes… that's like you don't enjoy them in particular but the yandere part, don't you? That… sounds wonderful like it was probably obvious since you bought me but if you keep so much of your time looking for more of them that means you will just love my little antics too? please please say yes please please please"

Fuck, he did enter to your tumblr and even checks your followings, thanks god he end up with a good train of thought at the end.

"Yes, you're the one here, you shouldn't worry about the little hobbies I have, I just enjoy the reading, It's called dark romance and every character is different because one thing or another, you gonna get a headache if you think about it too much"

And please don't search more. Sadly, you can say that, he will definitely search more if you said it like that.

"Well, that makes sense, after all, you won't go into the yandere shop if you don't know anything about the subject, and there's a lot of options and… I win, because you chose me to let me be with you”

Well, your danger Kitty seems a lot more calm by now, you should note that if he starts rambling non-stop, focusing your stare at him totally works.

Well, you better start going before he start snooping on tumblr or worse: find c.ai

"Love, you know something? I'm getting sleepy, why don't we finish packing another day? I'm curious to see how it's your place"

"O-oh yes yes of course! I hope you find my house of your likeness but of course you can change whatever you don't like or if the neighborhood is not of your likeness we can also change that just differents methods I'd it the locations or the neighbors perse but I can totally take care of it you said you were sleepy, don't you? I have a spare room but if you are comfortable with it my bed is pretty comfy of course the spare room also has a comfy bed but…"

He keep yapping, you can't really help but giggled as he goes on with excuses on why you two should totally nap together for a better sleep as you two make your way out with some of your things to put them in his car, and as you get comfortable on your seat and he drives…. The unthinkable happens.

"Yes, we can eat that after napping together dear"

"Awesome! I love to spend more time with you as much as possible, we can watch something as he eat, oh right, we can totally watch that anime you saw"

Just like your breath, the cars stop for a moment at the red light.

"...which anime?"

He smiles to you, like excited to show off he knows a cool fact and pull his phone to research something quickly, and show you a photo of that one anime.

"You did really liked tha-"

"We don't talk about that one"

You feel your past decisions haunting your back once again.

That one anime for me totally will be Diabolik Lovers ngl- don’t proud of myself on that (if curious, my fav Sakamaki was Kanato and fav Mukami was Azusa), although I saw weirder, I hope Grier doesn’t bring those up, I rather them buried  ~ coffee

My questionable past anime has to be Brother’s conflict…WAIT THAT SOUNDS SO WRONG- I didn’t like the brothers aspect, not one bit! I sort of started watching thinking the thing was going to be about brothers being into the same girl and competing against each other, I didn’t think they’d be competing for their FUCKING STEP-SISTER. so yeah… the ending and opening were sick though…Coffee still teases me by playing them from time to time. ~ Tea (I totally recommend playing those out of the blue around a person who watched that anime, it's always fun ~ coffee)

All the links to the things Grier mentions in his ramblings:

Penelope Garcia is the hacker of criminal minds.

Binary Star Hero

A DOUBLE SIDED MIRROR

MONSTER X MEDIATOR

The Kid at the Back

Mystic Messenger (phone app)

*coff coff*  I must say, the Tumblr blog Grier makes reference of, is totally talking about maleyanderecafe, if you like yanderes, you had to know them, they got everything about yanderes, I love them (so yeh, the mention is cuz I wanted to fangirl a little)  ~ Coffee

See Thru: Need a Friend?

Inclement Idée Fixe

Mushroom Oasis

Broken Colors

Duality

14 Days With You

Perfect Love

Blood Soup

sorry for any misspellings or weird sentence structure ❣

images from pinterest ⚘

[luceafarul-de-dimineata]

I'm curious, what if mc in the shipper au is polyamorous and dates multiple or perhaps all of the kings, what then?

I'll be including Asmodeus as one of the kings MC starts dating because I want to write for Dantalian as well.

Whb shippers reacting to a poly!Mc dating all the kings

Well, you're dating Satan, so Paimon doesn't complain that much. Would probably still bicker with some of the more active shippers about which king you like most, but he'll be chiller in the forums. He continues his usual fan-fic writing and edit making maybe throwing in some photos of you and another king so he doesn't get pilled on by the other shippers.

Eligos takes a hit when he hears that but he learns to accept it. This is... good, from his point of view. Mammon loves seeing you being greedy for lovers and Eligos likes seeing Mammon happy, it's a win win situation. After all, everyone in hell belongs to Mammon, so you're basicly just playing with some toys that belong to you. Eligos is of the opinion that you're only trully dating Mammon and the other kings are side-dishes, so he let's it happen.

Foras cries. He just cries. He's absolutely godsmaked as to how you could possibly convince Leviathan to let you date other people. On one hand, he's happy that you consider his majesty your lover. On the other hand, how dare you go out and show your affection to other's. He tries to keep you in Hades as much as possible, right next to Leviathan's side, and he'll only stop when either you or Leviathan tell him to. Stops doxxing people for a month since he's too sad to open the forums.

Glasylabolas is sad, but for other reasons. How is he supposed to start drama when it's public information that you're dating all the kings?! He tries to argue with people about which king you love best, but he only gets responses from try hards (Gamigin) which is less fun than having all the forums in chaos. Plus, Gamigin never leaves Paradise Lost and he was doxxed ages ago, so he no longer has where to show off his hacker powers.

You better hope that Beelzebub set Amon down and explained what polyamory is because the moment he finds out that His Majesty Beelzebub's s/o is being stolen by the other kings, he sees red. The one law that seperates Avisos from Abaddon is that you're not to steal someone's lover, which is how Amon percieves this whole ordeal. At one point you were on a peaceful date with Mammon and you see Amon making a beeline to you. He was ready to shoot Mammon (as if one bullet could kill him) but you had to throughly explain to him the concept of polyamory.

Amon: So it's like an orgy... but romantic?

Mammon: Sometimes it's just an orgy

Mc: Mammon! But yeah, that's kind of it.

Will leave you alone from that point onward. He has no interest in destroying a happy law-abiding relationship.

Dantalian is also sad that he no longer has anyone to fight with in the forums. But he has a lot of fun going "I told you" on every post he made about how a poly relationship is the only logical step for the relationship between you and the kings. Him and the whole Abaddon crew would ask if they can join in the bedroom fun and 9/10 Asmodeus even encourages them. Whether you like it or not, dating Asmodeus was always the gate way drug to being into polyamory.

Gamigin chockes on his spit when you tell him that you're dating all the kings. He looks at you with this face

He didn't know you could do that. He's still an avid Mc x Lucifer shipper and will continue to get into arguments with people that disagree. He had to be lectured by the Paradise Lost marketing manager (Buer) about how bad it looks for most of Paradise Lost's media output being arguments on the internet about a stupid topic. Gamigin stops redirecting his passion for the subject towards making sure that your stay at Paradise Lost is the best in hell. Finally he can talk with his brothers and they'll understand what he means by keeping you happy so you come to Paradise Lost more often.

[tonyglowheart]

Reread that Matrix AU fic recently (the one where Bond is an Agent but like older programming & Q is a hacker who jacked back into the Matrix to rendezvous with Agent Bond under the pretext that maybe he will defect even though he definitely won't- only for Bond to be like yeah no you for sure aren't defecting lol, I can tell, you don't act like it. But he still met up cuz well. :3)

And like... I am intrigued I am fascinated I am in love, I want. More

Anyway I haven't. watched Matrix Resurrections yet lol but I hear that programs can jack OUT of the Matrix now too?? and like nanobot swarm bodies can be a thing? But also that the machines can uhh do something or other with human bodies to like, bring ppl back to life and also extend their lifespan/slow their aging etc?

These concepts have all sorts of possibilities for our star-crossed lovers and ALSO so much delicious Bond x transhumanism (but from the other direction?) exploration. Cuz like. sure we could just say he jacks out into a colorless nanobot swarm. But surely Q can come up with something better.

Which is one possibility, of course, but I ALSO started thinking about how Smith was able to take over that guy and then exit the Matrix that way, by taking over the dude's body. Now, of course, just murdering some random guy would be unethical and perhaps unpalatable (to me if nothing else lol, I don't want them killing some random dude to give Bond a body lol). Death penalty dude is also similarly unpalatable,. but what IS fun and silly is what if we go the Supernatural route and there's a dude who is brain dead and on life support (and happens to look a lot like Bond lol) that Bond takes over? I mean it's environmentally friendly, it's basically recycling?

What also could be a fun concept is if it's a custom grown body. Cuz I don't know the specifics of what Resurrections sets up but even in the orig trilogy they had all sorts of advanced technologies that do stuff with biological systems (those machines that rebuild your never-used muscles etc), so why not have machines that can custom design a test-tube baby body. We could make it spicier by making it a cyborg sort of system from the get-go.

Either way, I think there's all sorts of fun transhumanism by in reverse concepts to explore here about like,. a program that tbh already exhbits a lot of the "soft" markers of personhood, experiencing physical humanity and like what/how that might affect them, and also how it translates to if/when they jack back into and out of the Matrix.

(Another thing that I think would be fun and delicious to see is a continuation on the dynamics from the fic and into a sort of Mr & Mrs Smith situation for Agent Bond and Q thru the events of like Matrix 2 & 3 or whatever, but it's also been way too long since I've seen those so I can't imagine the specifics of how they'd slot alongside that plot lmao,,, but also the AU is so spicy and fun because there's a LOT of interesting and cool philosophical depths to plumb with fast forwarding them into the era of machine-human peace & coexistence following Matrix 3.

[thefanficmonster]

Few Too Many

Corpse Husband x Reader (Female)

Warnings: Swearing, In-game violence and death, Suggestive comments

Genre: Protective fluff, Humor, RPF (Real Person Fic)

Summary: Jealousy is a dangerous thing, especially when the jealous person is armed with a gun....in a game of Counter Strike. At least Y/N’s friend will now know not to mess around and flirt with her, especially not with Corpse around.

Requested by 🐐 Anon. Hi dear! Thank you so much for your request! Sorry it’s taken me so long to complete and post your request but here it finally is! I didn’t want to make it IRL violence to avoid triggering anyone while I also felt it’d be very ooc for Corpse to beat someone up but I still hope you enjoy the fic if you come across it and read it! Love, Vy ❤

“Hey everyone!“ Y/N greets her squad as they all customize their characters while I sit there, observing and unknowing of what I’m supposed to do. “I invited Corpse to play with us today, hope y’all don’t mind.”

“Of course not! Nice to finally meet you, Corpse. We’ve heard a ton about you from Y/N, thanks for making our girl the happiest she’s ever been.“ One of her friends says, the tone of his voice suggesting he’s only half-joking with the dad like comment he made.

“Nice to meet you too, man. Glad I’m the one she gave the chance of making her happy. That’s all I ever wanna do.“ Though it may sound cheesy, as guys, her friends can probably read into how genuinely I mean what I’ve said.

Dating a girl with only guy friends has it’s pros and cons. Which outweigh which is still up for debate since I’m still researching, but so far so good in my opinion. This is the first time I’m interacting with them directly so I’ve still got a long way to go in terms of getting to know them and the details of their relationship with Y/N better. Regardless, I at least know they can easily understand me and put themselves in my shoes if I ever ‘mess things up’ with Y/N and she goes to complain to them - something that will most likely never happen. I’d never dare make this girl upset. Chances are, if I do, her friends won’t get to me on time - I would deliver my own punishment just the way I think I deserve it. However, there’s also the chance of them getting super protective of her and ganging up on me over something as small as a fight. By the many things and stories Y/N’s shared with me about them, I believe they wouldn’t think twice about kicking someone’s ass for her. They’re not massive dudes - I’ve seen pictures of them - but I for one don’t ever wanna see em angry.

“Ay bro, what’d you do to score our best girl? You must know what she likes. If so please, by all means, do tell.“ One of them, not the one who was previously talking, speaks up, his words making me furrow my brows in both confusion and irritation.

I open my mouth to complain as I slowly start cracking my knuckles when Y/N and her friends beat me to it. Thing is, Y/N’s friend group consists of three guys and her and yet four voices scolded the guy that made that suggestive comment. That being said, this guy probably isn’t considered to be one of her friends, at least not one that’s a permanent part of her friend group.

“Seth, cut it out!“ The guy I was previously speaking to says sharply before softening his tone to refer to me, “Sorry about my brother, excuse his lack of brain cells, please.“

Just then, I also receive a message from someone. Checking my phone, turns out it’s Y/N who by the way is currently in the living room while I’m in the recording room. Her text reads:

Y/N ~ Ignore Seth. I told Leo to not invite him but he’s still here somehow

I send her back a quick reassuring text before answering the guy I now know is named Leo, “No worries, it’s fine.”

“See? The guy can take a joke, you’re all just freaking out over nothing!“ Seth laughs, reminding me and the others of how loud he is compared to us.

Despite acting like it’s no big deal, I can’t help but admit to myself that this behavior of Seth’s has awoken a deeply buried suspicion of mine that’s not only mine but also arises in every guy whose girlfriend hangs out with a lot of guys. It’s not that I don’t trust Y/N - she could literally blindfold me and tell me to walk through a pool of lava, promising it wouldn’t hurt and I’d do it - but we all know about that saying that every guy in a group with one girl has liked said girl at least once.

Disturbing to think these four, including Seth five, dudes could’ve possibly been my competition at some point. It’s nice that they’re all super chill about it, mostly cause some of them have girlfriends as I was told.

Nevertheless, we get over that hiccup and carry on with the small talk and preparations for the game. Since it’s my first time playing CSGO, Y/N, Leo and her other friend Clancy explain the mechanics to me in detail to avoid me getting confused mid-game and getting myself killed. When they finish, we start the round and wait for the game’s algorithm to separate us into two teams which Y/N jokingly refers to as cops and robbers. Unfortunately, the end result of that separation ends up being me getting put in the terrorists’ force with Leo and Clancy while Y/N’s with the FBI, partnered with Seth and her other friend Evan.

“Alright, team, we shall now disperse. Corpse, remember, if you see more than one of them, radio in and lay low, we’ll be with you as soon as possible.“ Leo informs me as he runs off in one direction, Clancy going in the opposite. I confirm I understand and go along my way too, heading for this ancient looking structure that looks like it could belong in an old-timey movie. 

Walking in, I realize the place is way bigger than it appeared on the outside. A quick look up confirms that there are three fucking floors above, not to mention that the ground floor is huge. Luckily, there are many crates and barrels to hide behind if I come across an FBI agent. I sure as hell hope it’s Y/N, I could maybe even try talking her into giving me a second chance at life and pretend she never saw me. Come to think of it though, I’d probably prefer getting killed by her rather than her friends - especially Seth.

Given that we’re in a Discord call, I can hear all the conversation going on. They are all quiet though, I can just periodically hear the mumbles of someone muttering to themselves as they navigate the map cautiously out of fear of running into their opponent unprepared. The silence is put to an end though when Seth speaks up, addressing Y/N.

“Yo, your boyfriend’s with the terrorists, ain’t he? That’s like the universe giving you a sign that y’all shouldn’t be together.“ The fucker laughs at his own joke while I can literally hear Y/N rolling her eyes.

“Have you heard of Romeo and Juliet, Seth?“ She asks sarcastically, almost getting a chuckle out of me but I suppress it to avoid getting caught listening in.

“Yeah, they both die at the end. Fucking boooriiinngg.“ Just then, I spot two silhouettes entering the building. Aiming my gun at them reveals their names - just the people I’m currently involuntarily eavesdropping on. Seth and Y/N don’t notice me though so I quickly duck behind a crate and prepare to radio in when Seth continues verbally torturing Y/N and dancing on my last nerves, “I personally think the friends-to-lovers trope is far more interesting...“

Did this guy just- no, he’s gotta be fucking kidding me

I’m left with my jaw hanging in disbelief at this guy’s audacity. I have no doubt Y/N’s about to put him in his place herself but I just gotta have my own chat with this guy. And by ‘chat’ I mean I mindlessly rush out from behind the crate towards where I saw him and Y/N and open fire on him.  I hear his startled and upset screams with Y/N’s laughter in the background. She doesn’t try to stop me as a teammate of his should and would, instead she just observes the scene unfold, laughing her ass off.

“Yo man what the fuck was that for?!“ I hear Seth’s yell but only faintly since the sound of gunshots is still echoing through my headphones. Yeah, I’m not done shooting this fucker.

“Corpse...Corpse, buddy...“ Y/N manages through fits of laughter she cannot tame, “That’s a few too many bullets, he’s already dead.”

“And that was a few too many comments for him to be let off the hook.” I answer as sharply as I can with the new-formed smile on my face. What can I say, her happiness is contagious.

“Well, you got your first kill in CSGO. Good job, babe! I’m super proud of you!” She cheers for me, clapping her hands excitedly. 

“Nah that was my first overkill.“ I quickly add, with a more threatening tone: “And it won’t be my last.”

“Let’s just hope there aren’t few too many of these overkills either.“ She snickers.

“That doesn’t depend on me, babe.“ I say smugly, suggestively enough for Seth to pick up the dropped hint. Mother fucker’s officially been put in his place and I couldn’t possibly be happier - with the added bonus of getting a ton of laughter out of Y/N who also decides to walk away, leaving me unharmed but promising to shoot to kill next time she sees me.

I’m ok with that. She could kill me anyday.

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[falcor-thee-luck-dragon]

Bad Dreams - Bucky Barnes x Avenger (f)reader

Summary: You and Bucky are adjusting to civilian life after the Blip, some nights he needs you more then he realizes.

Warning: bit o angst, soft Bucky, fluff

Masterlist

It had been a long fucking five years alone, sure you had Nat and Steve around at the Avengers Facility. But no matter how much time you spent with them doing whatever to keep your mind busy, at the end of the day, you were undoubtedly alone. You liked it that way at one point in your complicated life as an Avenger, but after the blip, you absolutely despised it. 

No one had expected what would have happened to be so terrible and tragic, or it to even go the way that it did. You had never even heard of Thanos or what the fuck kind of weirdass monsters could exist from other parts of the galaxy until they showed up knocking. How rude huh.

Life was peaceful before hand, well for the most part; you were an Avenger, someone who was part of the team. A conjurer of flame and ash, a Phoenix held within that was not afraid to use your power, and you used it well.

Then as per usual, shit went down and low and behold you met the one and only James Buchanan Barnes, Steve’s old friend with the metal arm and troubling history. Not to mention a face to die for, or at least one that would cause a bit of a chaotic scuffle between your two friends. They clearly had other priorities apart from yours at the time which was keep Steve out of jail, don’t burn anyone, and refrain from flirting with his 90 something year old friend. You tried your best in most of those areas. Most of them. 

Nonetheless, you fell hard and fast for the blue eyed man, and him the same for you, his feisty little firecracker with a heart as big and bright as a dragons. So when he went to Wakanda to lie low and get some much needed help. You followed.

With a heartfelt goodbye and a lasting kiss, he went under for a couple long weeks until Shuri and her expert team of scientists were able to fix what those bastards at Hydra had done to him.

For a short yet blessedly peaceful amount of time did you and your dark haired lover live safely within the Wakandan borders. In a small and beautiful little village by a lake, a hut all your own to shelter you from the heat and rain that poured hard onto the earth, and most wonderfully of all you had Bucky.

Life was simple for the first time in a long time, you spent the days helping out the locals and teaching the children how to properly swing a stick in defense, you know completely normal leisure activities. Spending the evenings making a big fire to tell stories under and cook the best food in Wakanda.

And the nights? You spent those wrapped up in Bucky’s arm, although most times you would be the big spoon which he loved more then anything in the whole world. Telling you it’s not just because you’re naturally warm, but that he’s been admittedly a bit touch starved from the years alone and lost. And for that you would always hold him closer.

Then that fateful day came crashing into your lives like a waterfall against rock, your friends had shown up claiming some being called Thanos was coming to take a stone out of Vision’s head. Yeah that was a new one.

The battle wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great either, you were able to save many lives by scorching the beasts that pursed onward. Letting whips of flame slash hard against the enemy with great skill and force from your bending. Then the world seemed to still, and the wind swayed the trees oddly.

Then HE came, the Titan from another world, he threw down all in his path without an ounce of mercy or remorse. You and Wanda were so close, so damn close to stopping him, but then he threw you back with the whole force of the gauntlet and a moment later Vision was dead.

Your head was bleeding and a fresh scar had marked your jaw in a bloody red slash from the impact. Though your mind didn’t have time to register nor care as Thanos abruptly disappeared into oblivion, leaving a confused Thor in his wake. Much like the rest of the Avengers.

Then to your horror, one by one, your friends began to turn to ash and dust. Gone. You raced for Bucky nearby, praying to who’d ever listen to spare him or you for that matter. You just needed ten more seconds and then you could have held him one last time, touched his precious skin, ran your fingers through his long dark locks.

Looked into his ocean blue eyes, but no, the universe laughed as you gasped in panic, then it snickered as you screamed. Cheering you on as you sobbed in a cyclone of your own fire until the ground was scorched to shriveled dry earth. And no more tears could fall, your throat raw and heart broken in two.

Your world was gone, a memory forever kept locked inside your heart and soul. He was gone, he was your world, Bucky made your life better and you his.

For the coming months you were a mess, an angry and frustrated wreck of a person. Functioning by sheer will power and Natasha to keep you afloat in your new dreary little world of nothingness. You envied Steve for his ability to keep most of his shit together, and where almost enraged by Tony who had everything still intact. Pepper and a child on the way, how cruel the universe appeared.

You would wake up in the middle of the night sweating, your heart racing a mile a minute and usually part of the wall behind you would be burnt and blackened. You never set fire to anything thank god, but fuck, your heart hurt so much.

You wanted to scream most days, but as one year rolled into two and then three, the dull dreary ache in your body subdued to a tiny flicker of sadness. It became almost nonexistent during the day as you went about Avenger business, only to burn hot and angry at night.

You wanted to move on and forget, but you couldn’t, he was too important. They all didn’t deserve to go like that, none of them. And so another year passed, then it was year five since the blip, more months passed on. Until out of nowhere something or perhaps someone miraculous lit the way into a new sense of hope.

Resulting in the return of everyone who had been lost before, including your Bucky. And from that moment after the battle, when at long last you had finally found him, you knew life would never be the same.

——

Rain pours relentlessly from outside your apartment window, a rhythmic pitter patter near your bedside that aids in keeping you asleep and unbothered for the time being. No sooner do you reach the climax of your dream that consists of you being chased by a giant monarch butterfly with no weapon but a sandbox plastic shovel, do you wake. Strange dream.

All your senses flooding back into you as you feel for your lover in the darkness, your eyes still closed as you do so. Your hand slides across the crinkled bedsheets to no avail, the spot next to you is undeniably empty and rather cold.

oh, Bucky.

Cracking one eye open you glance at the alarm clock where it reads 1:10am in big red letters, illuminating the nightstand that it sits on. You take in a deep breath and roll onto your back to stare up at the ceiling, this has become a reoccurring event with Bucky in the following months since his return.

In Wakanda things were different, it was like a nice prolonged vacation away from all your problems and responsibilities of the world. Now, you two have an apartment somewhere in New York City all your own. Bucky goes to therapy and does his best to integrate back into his new role as a civilian while you work as an Avenger part time. The other half used for being a supporting loving girlfriend to Bucky and a hacker on the side for extra cash in the bank.

You get it though, he’s adjusting the best he’s able to manage right now, and even when he swears the nightmares are gone for good. You know him too well to believe that shit, you can see it in his eyes, he may have been a master assassin at one point. Now he’s with a skilled and almost equally as weathered Avenger who’s seen her share of people really going through it.

It’s not like you were doing any better, you’d wake up screaming in the dead of night from another nightmare involving losing Bucky again. That only lasted for a month or so, but still, it sucked and hurt every damn time. So you get it, nightmares can be a bitch.

Blinking the bleariness out of your eyes, you yawn into the darkness and take a moment to listen to the sound of the rain. It’s peaceful and calm, and though you’d like nothing more then to roll over and fall back into the dark comfortable void of sleep. You long to see Bucky again, even if you saw him not even two hours ago.

Pulling the blanket off of your body, you slowly sit up and face the blurry window that overlooks the glowing city, well more so the park close by. Pushing some hair out of your face, you stand and take a brief moment to stretch before letting your right hand emit a beautiful blue flame.

It proptly lights up the dark room into a shadowed yet still visible one, with a lazy proud smile, you move for the opened bedroom door. Your flame lights the way down the hall until you wander past the tiny kitchen and stop in your living room to the sound of heavy breathing coming from the far end.

You give a lopsided smirk to no one in particular as you pad over to the man who’s sweaty and shirtless on the wooden apartment floor in nothing but his boxers and a single blanket that’s not covering much. Well he sure looks like a hot mess, your hot mess that is.

He gives you an apologetic glance before staring tiredly back at the nearby wall. You extinguish your flame and gently nudge his leg with your sock, “How’s the floor?” You ask with a tinge of humor to lighten the mood.

He lets out a breathy laugh before looking back up at you, “Solid.” Quips Bucky in reference to the hard floor and perhaps his take on the makeshift bed, always one for a bit of humor huh.

Chuckling you crouch down to better meet his shadowed gaze, “I guess so,” You mutter with a shrug, “....afraid I might burn you in my sleep?”

Shaking his head, he gifts you the flash of a smile, “No. Not this time Y/N.”

You smile back before sitting down next to him, you look down at his hand before reaching out to take it without any resistance, “I know it’s the nightmares Bucky.” You whisper softly, your eyes sincere and true, “You don’t have to hold it all in okay, I don’t.....I don’t want you to do that.”

Letting out a reluctant sigh, Bucky frowns, “I know Y/N....I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, I just love you too much to see you hurting. I’ve missed you for what feels like a hundred goddamn years and I don’t want you to slip away from me..” You add with a sad smile, “Never again.”

Squeezing your hand gently, Bucky nods, “You’re not going to lose me okay. I promise you that much alright. I love you Y/N.” And he means every word.

“That’s good then. Can you at least tell me something to ease your mind from what’s bothering you?” You ask with a hopeful smile, “Please. Remember what the therapist talked about with speaking your thoughts and feelings....it’s like emptying a treasure chest or some shit.”

“Right.” Laughs Bucky, “Can’t say you’re going to find any gold in here.”

“Shut up I don’t care.” You muse with a shrug, “I’m here to listen.”

“As the lady wishes.” Retorts Bucky with a half-assed bow that caused you to break out into a small smile at his cheekiness.

“Wait.” You pause.

“What?”

“Can we sit on the couch for this I wanna lay next to you.”

Rolling his eyes, Bucky fakes his annoyance as you patiently await his answer, “Fine.” He confirms, quickly standing up and taking you with him, “But you gotta lay on me I’m kinda cold now.”

Bucky falls onto the large comfortable couch with a dramatic huff as he pulls you onto his shirtless body, “Weren’t you just all sweaty?” You wonder with a raised brow as he quickly wraps his arms around your waist.

“Yep.”

“Gross.”

Bucky chuckles, “Well you’re making me talk about my feelings.”

“That’s because you won’t talk about them with your actual therapist.” You sass back.

“I hate it when you’re right.” Mutters Bucky into your cheek as you snicker at his adorably dramatic self.

“I think your brain short circuited and misplaced the word hate for absolutely love and adore.”

“Maybe.” Adds Bucky as he steals a sweet kiss, “I’m still working through things you know.”

“Okay smartass. Now tell me what’s on your mind.”

His chest rises as he takes a deep heavy sigh, he stares out the nearby window that keeps the rainy city from being bothersome. You can’t completely see his face due to the darkened room, but you’re close enough to see the way his face turns into a frown.

Suddenly you think maybe you shouldn’t have bugged him to speak about his nightmares. Until he purses his lips together and glances those big beautiful blue eyes down at you, the flash of a smile revealing itself in a split second.

To give him a bit more confidence and perhaps to calm his nerves, do you reach a hand up to gently caress his stubbled cheek, “Was it the Starks again?” You whisper softly in question, knowing how much it still haunts him. Among all the others.

Closing his eyes, he leans into your touch, “Not this time.” Mutters Bucky before taking that hand in his as he rests his head against the couches puffy arm. “Someone else.....Someone who got in the way. Wrong place wrong time.”

“oh.” Slips from your mouth quietly, you’re not sure what else to say, but you’re still hoping he’ll speak a little more about it. “Do they have anything to do with your list?”

It’s a shot in the dark, but you’re well aware of Bucky’s goal to make amends with his past and the people tied with it, maybe someone might be linked to it by chance.

Bucky takes another weighted breath, you can just sense how terrible he feels about this person. “Bucky take your time, it’s okay I’m right here.”

Looking for a positive sign you watch as he closes his eyes once again before moving his head a little bit so that it rests against yours, “I know....it’s just, difficult.”

“Always is.”

“Yeah.”

Kissing your forehead, his flesh arm wraps around your waist as he makes himself more comfortable before continuing, “I was in some government building at night.....tasked with eliminating some special high end target. I finished the mission in under a minute, but uh....there was a civilian who saw everything.”

“Oh shit.”

“Yeah.” Mumbles Bucky against your skin as he takes a moment to gather himself, soon he shifts underneath you once more before letting out a soft breath, “I shot him.”

A bang of sadness washes over you in that brief second and then a sparking anger for what Hydra had forced him to do. You keep silent and wait for Bucky to continue on with his story.

“That guy I killed. He um....he uh, he didn’t deserve that....but I had to.” Bucky’s voice is shaky as he puts his words together, “And you know what’s the worst about this?”

“I’d like not to imagine it but I know you should tell me.”

“You remember Yori?”

“Of course, he takes us to that great sushi place sometimes.”

Bucky squeezes his eyes shut as he hugs you tighter against his bare chest for some kind of comfort, his voice nothing but a regretful whisper, “I killed his son.”

Your eyes soften as he reveals who this mystery civilian was, “Damn.”

“Out of all the people in this world and I meet the man who’s son I murdered for Hydra.”

“That’s almost a sick joke.”

“I know. God I’m so fucked up.”

“No.” You protest softly while he hides his face in your neck, “I know you’ve heard this a thousand times but that wasn’t you. It wasn’t the real James Buchanan Barnes alright, you didn’t have a choice. Those fuckers took that away from you.”

“I know Y/N, but I still did it.”

“Bucky look at me.” You ask kindly, to your genuine surprise he lifts his head from your neck to look into your determined gaze, “You’re not the only one here who was manipulated and had their freedom taken from them by Hydra. I’ve done terrible things too, but you know what? We were never truly ourselves then, they molded us into their weapons and now.....they can never touch us again. You understand me?”

Tears whell up in Bucky’s shimmering eyes at your truthfully honest words, he had temporarily forgotten that you were once an unwilling participant in Hydra’s mind stone experimentations many years ago.

“I understand....” Mutters Bucky as he swallows hard, “what would I be without you?”

Giving him a small tearful smile, you gently wipe away a stray tear from his cheek, “A little bit more alone I’d say.”

“You’re a hundred times braver then me you know that? I couldn’t image five years without you and these fucking nightmares.” Admits Bucky as he moves to rest his head in the crook of your neck, “I’d go insane.”

Appreciating this close proximity and his heartfelt confession, you smile into the darkness, “I think I did. Thing is about shitty situations like that....life moves on and finds a way. I have you now, I thought I would lose you forever.”

“I’m glad you didn’t.”

“Me too.”

[angelaiswriting]

The Assistant (15 of ?) | Vladimir Ranskahov x fem!reader

[original picture found on: pinterest]

✏️ Pairings:

(almost official) Vladimir Ranskahov x fem!reader

Anatoly Ranskahov x OC (Paulina) mentioned

✏️ Requested by @kellydixon01 : Y/N–hacker, big mouth, even bigger attitude–is the new addition to Fisk’s team. Sent to help the Ranskahovs, she immediately gets on Vladimir’s nerves. But as time passes, they start to take a liking to each other, even if none of them is willing to admit their feelings. Yet.

✏️ Previously on The Assistant (aka I’m shit at updating): Y/N has moved in with Vladimir and the two have found themselves growing closer. There’s only one problem: Vlad’s old friend Ulyana thinks the two are a couple and has invited them over for dinner to celebrate.

✏️ A/N: y’all. Y’ALL. First off, I just want to apologize, it’s been forever and a month since I updated this; I’m not even sure there are still people reading/that remember this story apart from Alice lol. It took us me 144 pages !!! but it’s finally happening. Enjoy! I literally cried when I wrote the end of this chapter because it was about fucking time!

✏️ Warnings: fluff; and tears, but those were mine as I wrote this lol; Sergei has a doggie!; a smidge of swearing.

✏️ Word-count: 6,060

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: MATCHMAKER

Sitting on the closed toilet seat with the pipe wrench still in his hands, Vladimir could hear Y/N and Ulyana laugh in the living room. He couldn’t make out their words, for their voices were quiet despite their hilarity, and the left-ajar door of the bathroom didn’t help him any.

The most surreal situation I’ve ever experienced, that’s how Y/N had labeled it less than an hour ago, before he helped Lina bring in the tray with the cups of tea. And the more he mulled things over, the more he found himself agreeing. The most surreal situation I’ve ever experienced – and he had lived through plenty of what could be considered ‘weird shit’. Ulyana in general had been a whole exception in his book. Ulyana, with her afternoons spent playing bingo at the daily center for the elderly with all her old-lady friends; Ulyana, with her borscht and her endless words of encouragement and comfort when both he and Tolya had needed them the most.

But also Ulyana, so dead-set on the idea that he was too stiff and needed a gentle touch in his life that she just… mistook Y/N for his woman. As if he needed someone! But it was still a good thing in a way, though, he reasoned as he stood up and moved to stand in front of the sink to stare at his reflection. And probably his brother was right about the fact that he had to open up to her, tell her what he felt – and what he was scared of. And just… try, for once. Make an effort to take his private life into his own hands instead of just wasting it away on cigarettes and underground fights.

As he stood there, hands gripping the sink, wrench abandoned on the counter, he tried to focus on what existed beyond that scar on the right side of his face and all it meant. By now he was convinced that she didn’t see it – not because she didn’t want to, but because she was able to see right through it. She knew about his past, and not just about Utkin, but also about some of the stupid things he had done in his short-lived youth – he had told her about that over vodka, a bit more rarely over coffee. And while he had always had problems with that, he found himself having fewer and fewer now.

Yeah, maybe it wasn’t that bad to pretend he had someone that cared about him, and while that equaled lying to Lina, maybe it was for the greater good?

It came off as a question even in his own mind, but it was one he found himself being willing to put in the time and effort to find an answer to. It was almost stupid, to think that feelings seemed to terrify him to the bone, while he could take a gun pointed at his head any day without batting an eyelash. Because that’s what he did, that’s what the target on his back felt like.

Maybe all he needed was to grow a pair, listen to what Ulyana had always told him, and walk out there a somewhat taken man.

And not taken to the demons in his head, but to someone – a friend, maybe? – that he had learned to respect. In a way, that is; that road still seemed a long one, after all.

When he joined the two women again some twenty minutes or so later, after he had fixed the kitchen cabinet Lina had been too shy to ask him to repair, he found them leafing through an old photo album. Belka – Ulyana’s old, white cat – was snoozing in Y/N’s lap, the tip of her fluffy tail moving up and down every once in a while as she purred at her new friend.

It was a weirdly cozy view, one that seemed to put all the thoughts that were still swarming his mind at ease. He leaned against the frame of the door, arms crossed in front of his chest, and he just stared for a while, half-present in the moment and half-lost in his own mind. He didn’t miss the moment her head lifted up an inch and her eyes met his, though, and before he could realize anything, he found himself smirking back.

“Ulya is showing me the photographs of her wedding day,” she said when he moved away from the door and really entered the room. Her fingers absentmindedly scratched the cat behind one ear as she maintained eye contact until he sat down at the round table in front of the window to her left.

“Those are a must-see when you step foot into her house.” His was a playful huff as he lit himself a cigarette. They had all gone back to Russian, which meant that Ulyana had gotten to know Y/N faster than he had. “Next thing you know, you’re walking down Soviet memory lane.” And then, when his eyes met Lina’s: “You know I’m joking. Tolya and I have always loved your stories.”

The woman shook her head, but there was a smile on her face that somehow warmed his heart. It meant that it was all back to normal now; that, in her heart, she had forgiven him for disappearing for so long and never, not once, calling to check in on her. “This girl’s bewitched you,” she chuckled, patting Y/N’s knee with her free hand. “I don’t remember when the last time he wasn’t serious was, anymore,” she explained as she leaned back against the couch, giving her guest’s unasked question an answer.

Vladimir scoffed and when his phone beeped on the table with a text from Sergei a moment later, he stood up. “We gotta go now. Work’s calling.”

Ulyana had a look on her face that seemed to complain On a Saturday? but she knew he was a busy man with a demanding job, and so she dropped it. “You’re both invited over tomorrow,” she said instead. “I’ll prepare a nice dinner to celebrate together.” She closed the album of photographs and put it down on the coffee table by the side of the couch.

When she stood up, Belka seemed to catch the hint: she woke up, let out a huffy meow, and jumped down from Y/N’s lap to rub herself against one of Vlad’s legs.

“There’s nothing to celebrate, Lina,” Vladimir was saying as he let the old woman fix the collar of his shirt before engulfing him in a hug.

The way her eyebrows rose when she turned to look at Y/N was almost comical on that round face of hers. “He’s still as stubborn as always, isn’t he?” she whispered in her ear when she hugged her goodbye. When she turned back towards Vladimir, she had her hands on her hips and a firm look in her eyes that he knew he couldn’t escape. “You two will come over for dinner tomorrow night if it kills you! It’s so good to see you finally happy, my boy, and not just alone as always. And if that’s not enough, I haven’t seen you in months! Is this how you treat your old Lina?”

*

“I can’t believe she managed to convince you.”

He was driving to Sergei’s place when Y/N spoke again. They hadn’t exchanged a word after leaving Ulyana’s apartment and truth be told, he was almost afraid to hear her speak again.

“I can’t believe it either,” he groaned, one hand gripping the steering wheel tightly while his left arm just hung out the rolled-down window.

There were heavy clouds behind the buildings in front of them and it looked like it would start pouring soon. But the slightly chilly air was a blessing after that day’s stuffy heat, so he was ready to face the early-summer bad weather when it would come.

After that exchange, the silence went back to being almost embarrassed. She was looking at him from the corner of her eye – he hadn’t missed it, he was good at noticing things about people, even though probably not as good as he thought he was when it came to her. Whether she was trying to come up with something to say or not, though, he did not know.

His own thoughts were all over the place as well.

He had a little less than one day to come up with an excuse to ring Ulyana up with just so that he could avoid that dinner date she had organized. In his heart he knew she was doing this for him: she and Aleksandr had never had children, and that’s exactly how she had always seen him and his brother ever since they had first rented that apartment on her same floor. We’re all Russians, we have to stick up for each other, she had said once, one of the first times she had insisted they’d come over for dinner. She had taken care of them; and it was remarkable, the way they had let her into their lives, one kind act at a time, in a time when the Siberian wound was still tender and they didn’t know who to trust in this new, foreign land.

Then, a little more than a year and a half ago, when Anatoly had introduced Paulina to her, it had become just Vladimir and Ulyana most of the time. Tolya was busier now – he didn’t only have his job, but there was a woman now and he did things with her, took her places, came up with things just to surprise her for the sake of it… It had been a shock at first because that was someone more similar to the old Anatoly Ranskahov, the one who had lived in Moscow and had danced around a different woman every night – with the only difference that he was now a faithful lover.

“Are you upset?” Her voice tore him out of his mind once again and he turned towards her with a questioning hmm? that prompted her to clarify. “About her thinking that we’re together.”

He shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t think I am, nyet,” he confessed eventually.

She was staring ahead, not looking at him, but a smile still blossomed on her face at his words. “If I don’t tell you now, I know I’ll never have the guts to.”

But Vladimir was already slowing down to park the car and when Y/N turned her head to see what he was staring at with such a confused expression on his face, the faint smirk on his lips already fading away completely, she knew she wouldn’t be opening her heart any time soon in that car.

“What the fuck?” was what Vlad mumbled as he hastily turned off the engine, pulled on the handbrake, and threw his door open. “What is this?”

Sergei was standing there, a black and brown rottweiler laying at his feet, panting with its tongue almost touching the asphalt in the somewhat stuffy evening air.

“This,” his friend said, slowly, shoving the handle of the leash in the other’s hand before Vlad could come back to himself, “is Sharik. I need you to look after him while I’m gone.”

Vladimir stared down at the dog, and the dog sat up against Seriozha’s legs so that he could stare back at him better. He was a big piece of meat, and he could already picture him drooling all over the couch he had back at home. “Why?”

“What do you mean, why?” frowned Sergei, dropping the black gym bag from his shoulder to Vlad’s feet. “I told you yesterday, before you and Y/N left the garage. If I need to go out of town for business, I won’t be able to bring him with me. You agreed to look after him for me.”

While his owner spoke, Sharik sniffed at Vladimir’s shin with curiosity, and after a long moment of scrutiny, he lazily wagged his tail in approval.

“You need to take him out in the morning and at night, he loves walks in the park.”

“What?” He wasn’t sure the type of ‘take the dog out’ he was thinking of was the one Sergei had in mind.

“Don’t feed him weird shit. His dry food is in the bag. Don’t give him more than what I wrote down – he loves to beg. And make him play before bed, or he’ll keep you up all night.”

“What?”

“Your apartment complex also has a pool and he enjoys chilling in the water, so if–”

“I won’t be looking after your dog. What?”

Before either of them could speak, Y/N’s What’s going on here? made them turn in her direction. She had gotten out of the car, and while she was still holding onto the door with one hand, Vlad knew she’d soon come forward.

“Solnyshko, hi!”

Vladimir knew he was fucked when Sergei greeted her and hugged her back when she walked up to them. He’d manage to convince her and while she was just a guest in his house, Vlad knew he’d be the one bending his will.

Sharik gave her the same treatment he had reserved for him just moments before, but he sped it up this time, and the wagging in his tail wasn’t as lazy as it had been with him – it was a hard slapping back and forth against his leg that gave him just a slight taste of the dog’s strength.

“Who’s this good boy?” she cooed as the dog sniffed the palm of her hand before giving it a lick and allowing her to pet his head.

In no time, and before he had the chance to register what was going on, Y/N had gone back to the car and, appalled, he had to watch her lead the dog onto the back seats.

As if he had read his mind, Sergei reassured him: “Don’t worry, he doesn’t shed. But you still need to keep him brushed, it relaxes him.”

He stared at the car, kept an eye on Y/N as she put Sergei’s gym bag in the trunk, and then walked back around the car to sit on the passenger seat. She was still caressing the dog, her back turned towards the two men, when Vladimir spoke.

“You know I don’t deal with animals.”

Sergei scoffed. “We deal with much worse. Now, don’t be a brat, I didn’t have to listen to the two of you singing like shit last night just to then not be able to get payback.”

“We didn’t–”

“It’s all cool, Volodya.” Serzh patted his shoulder and grinned at him before turning back to stare at the car his dog had got into. “She’s nice, I don’t mind. It was about time you found someone that would headbutt you every time you headbutted them.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about, brother. Sharik is a good matchmaker, who else do you think got Tolik and Paulina together?” he grinned. “But if he is missing even so much as a hair when I come back, we’ll have a problem.”

He scoffed. “A threat? Over a dog?”

“He’s not just some dog, Volodya. He’s my boy.” He stared him down for a moment before turning around. He had already started to walk back towards the building he lived in, when he said one last I’ll call you when Aslan and I have left the state before Vlad turned his back on him.

*

Just as he had expected, Sharik launched himself onto the couch the second Y/N opened the door of his apartment. The only thing Vladimir could do was watch him run across the entrance corridor, fly mid-air, and then fall heavily onto the clean cushions of his couch half a second later. And to be such a big and heavy dog, he was fast.

“I’m going to kill Sergei,” he muttered but before he could take another step forward, Y/N stopped him with a hand on his forearm.

“C’mon, he’s just a dog, Vlad. Don’t be mean. I’ll get him down,” she chuckled and toed her shoes off before walking up to Sharik.

Sometime later, after that dog had finally stopped whining and complaining that he wanted to get on the couch despite said couch’s owner didn’t want to, there was silence again. 

The next-door neighbor had knocked on the door not long after they had got home: he had heard the noises, and had felt the need to complain about that sudden surprise, and to poke his nose into business he knew nothing about – There’s a pet fee you’re supposed to pay if you want to keep an animal in here. And then, when Sharik had walked up to the door and nosed his way to stand between Y/N’s legs – Vlad has seen it in the mirror hanging on the wall right at the other end of the room – that very neighbor had found something else to complain about. Its size exceeds the limits allowed in this complex, or some shit like that. He hadn’t heard what she had told the dude; all he knew was that less than five minutes after he had shown up at the door, he had left with his tail between his legs, and so Vlad had managed to go back to staring at the screen of his laptop.

He wasn’t doing anything, really. For once, he didn’t feel like burying his head into his work – everything needed for Aslan and Sergei’s trip to Florida had already been organized, and the last touches for the upcoming shipment could wait until Monday. It was very un-Vladimir-like, to take a whole weekend off, but for once, he wouldn’t complain.

What he ended up thinking about – or, rather, whom –, however, was Ulyana. He had been praying for an excuse to cancel that dinner date for the next day, but he hadn’t expected to be actually presented with one. And although he still had the intention to ring her up and apologize, he still had to pick up the phone. He couldn’t possibly leave Sergei’s dog home alone, now, could he? Or did he want to come back to a destroyed house? 

“Shari’s napping.” When he looked up, not even taken by surprise by her sudden appearance in the doorframe of the kitchen, he found her standing there, leaning a shoulder against the wood and staring at him. “What are you up to?”

“Work,” was his quick reply. “Checking that everything is in order and… stuff.”

“‘And stuff’?” She didn’t seem convinced, and she stared at him for a long minute, before dismissing it and sitting opposite him at the small kitchen table. “Anyway, why didn’t you tell me about this favor you had to do for Sergei?”

He shrugged a shoulder. “I didn’t know I had to look after stupid dog.” And then, when she raised an eyebrow: “A very smart, but spoiled dog. Better?”

“He’s not spoiled. Serzh just really loves him a lot,” she pouted. And when he glared at her, she continued: “This doesn’t matter, though. You have to find a solution for tomorrow night. Call Sergei and ask him how Sharik deals with cats, and then call Ulyana and ask her how Belka deals with dogs. Or something.”

“Why me?”

“Because I asked nicely? Because you got us into this?”

As it turned out a couple of calls later, Sharik was very gentle, almost submissive with cats and animals in general – despite his size, despite his face, and his breed, and the size of his paws big enough to be as big as at least three cat legs put together. And Ulyana had no problem having a dog over either – she had looked after a neighbor’s dog more times than she could count, and Belka was used to napping in her bedroom when another animal was over.

So, not a problem – as Lina had said. Just come over and bring the dog, I’ll have something ready for him too.

His plan to avoid that dinner date had miserably failed, although there was something inside him at the thought of showing up at Lina’s and pretending like he and Y/N were a thing of some sort that just… pulled at some strings he didn’t even know he had inside. And as he watched Y/N fill Sharik’s bowl just as they got ready to eat dinner, he found himself being almost happy that those strings were being pulled, for once in his life.

“So we just take him over to her place?” she asked him when she sat down, a steaming plate with rice and veggies right in front of her.

His diet had taken a turn for the better ever since she had moved in with him – he still had more vodka than was healthy to have hiding pretty much in almost all the cabinets in his apartment, but at least his fridge was full of food his body could actually digest this time.

“That’s what she said,” he grumbled.

They ate in silence after that, and only when he had done the dishes, did she speak again.

“Do you wanna settle for a story?” She was sitting next to him on the couch, with Sharik’s heavy head resting on a knee. The dog was staring at her with adoring eyes as she gently scratched behind his ears.

“A story?”

“Yeah, about how we met. How we ended up together. Ulyana asked a couple vague-ish questions this afternoon, so I think she’ll ask more tomorrow. No?” She glanced at him when he didn’t reply. “Unless you wanna tell her the truth.”

“I don’t know what I want,” he eventually confessed. “I don’t want to lie to her, but if I hear her ask me about ‘my woman’ another time, I’m going to burst.”

He didn’t expect to chuckle with her, but he did. And when they grew silent again, and she went back to staring at the TV screen after a quick Let me think of something, then, he laid his head back against the seatback of the couch, head turned in her direction, and studied the profile of her face. The way the corner of her mouth rose up into a smirk before she giggled at Sharik’s sniffing nose against her bare shin. The way her chest rose and fell with every breath she took, slow and regular and almost gentle. And before he knew it, his eyes had dropped closed and he had fallen asleep.

When he woke up sometime later – the clock on his phone signaled just a few minutes after half past eleven –, Y/N and Sharik had already left the room, and he was uncomfortably half sitting, half lying on the couch covered by a pile blanket. The TV was off, and not a sound came from inside the apartment – nor from outside in the corridor.

He briefly wondered whether Y/N had managed to come up with a story in case Ulyana would ask questions, but he barely had the time to walk into his room and sit on his bed, that his ears picked up some snoring.

There, bundled up under his blankets, was sleeping Sharik, who had somehow managed to make himself at home. He even had the audacity of staring at him with an accusatory look in his eyes, the fleabag, when Vladimir turned on the lamp on his bedside table to get a closer look.

“Get off,” he groggily ordered, yanking the covers back with a quick movement of his arm. “Get off my bed, dog.”

But for all he tried, the dog wouldn’t budge. And even when Vladimir picked him up and put him back down onto the living room floor, he barely had the time to close the door of his bedroom – something he hadn’t done since before Utkin – that Sharik was already pushing against it with his nose to slip into the room.

“You are stubborn beast, aren’t you?”

Taking him back to the living room by force didn’t help at all, for the dog wouldn’t stop bugging him. He had managed to lower the door handle twice in the half-hour Vladimir spent trying to get rid of him without… yeah, without actually getting rid of the fucking four-legged light of Sergei’s life.

When it became apparent that he wouldn’t have a good night’s sleep in his goddamn bed that night, was when Sharik almost tripped him over from behind just to then launch himself onto his bed much like he had done that evening with the couch – and the at least other ten times Vlad had tried to kick him out of the room. He laid there, on his bed, curled up like a too-big cat, staring at him with eyebrows that wouldn’t stop going up and down until he huffed out a complaint and went back to sleep.

“I’ll kill you, Sergei,” he groaned, rubbing his face with both hands to try and shoo the annoyance away.

He stood in the hallway for a while, then, eyeing the couch from the other side of the living room while mentally cursing himself. Before fixing the spare room, which he had turned into Y/N’s bedroom as the weeks had gone by, he had had to take care of his brother and by giving him his bed, he had had to get the couch. It was too small for him, and uncomfortable – and the thought that she, too, had had to sleep there for endless days before he got his shit together still stung, in a way. And since it looked like he wouldn’t be able to get Sharik out of his bedroom – nor out of his bed, for that matter –, he was left with only two options to pick from: either the couch or…

He knocked on her door before he had the time to talk himself out of it.

“Is something wrong?” She was scrolling through her phone when she told him to come in. The lamps on both nightstands were on, and it looked like she was still far from falling asleep.

“Dog’s in my bed,” he said, staring at her from across the room. “Couch is…”

“I know,” she chuckled. “Still not the worst couch I’ve slept on, though, don’t worry,” she continued when he made a weird face. “Stay in your half of the bed, and you can sleep here if you want.”

He didn’t sleep that night, however. He laid on his right side, staring at the wall, and she laid on her left, staring at the opposite wall. She had wished him good night at some point, when she had put her phone away and had turned the lights off, and he had answered with a hum. But then, he had just laid there all night, listening in on her soft breathing – and then her soft snoring – and he remained motionless. When he did fall asleep, sometime in the early morning, just before the first light of day peaked in through the curtains, his last thought was that maybe, this wasn’t that bad.

*

“Through mutual friends, if so one could say,” Y/N replied over celebratory vodka. Ulyana had kept her best questions for the end of the dinner and Vladimir had almost deluded himself into thinking the old woman would never ask. They had come up with a story to tell just in case, but silence would have been better. “I apparently showed up at the garage at the least opportune time.”

“Oh! So was it love at first sight?” Lina was pouring them all a second shot with one hand as the other one rested on Sharik’s head.

Vlad laughed – what an absurd concept, he found himself musing. Love at first sight? With someone as careful as him? And although Y/N kicked his foot under the table to try and silence him, he couldn’t fully erase the smirk from his face. “Nyet,” he chuckled eventually as he wiped away a tear with a knuckle.

“Hell no! He was very rude and stubborn at the beginning,” confessed Y/N, and Vlad was barely able to scoff at her that Lina had turned in his direction with a gaze of steel.

“Very rude?” she inquired, eyes squinting as she frowned. “With this lovely lady?”

“Don’t gang up on me, she was very stubborn too!” he complained. “Still is.”

“One ought to be stubborn if one has to put up with you, my dear Volodya.” Ulyana patted his hand on the table. “Doesn’t give you the right to be rude. I didn’t raise you like that.”

He had been on the verge of pointing out that he had, in fact, been raised by his own mother and not by her, but he didn’t deem it appropriate tonight – nor necessary. Lina didn’t mean any harm, and he knew what she was trying to imply.

“It’s alright, Ulya, he has learned how to tone it down now.” The smile on Y/N’s face seemed sincere, and at that moment, he wouldn’t be able to tell what she was thinking about. “Ever since we moved in together, he’s learned how to behave himself. Most of the time, at least.”

It was Ulyana’s turn to playfully slap Vlad’s forearm and he found it almost weird, to find himself with his back to the wall in front of those two. And not even in a bad way, with all of them drinking vodka together and celebrating a romantic relationship that simply wasn’t there.

What had he become? Lying like that to an old, dear friend… Without thinking twice; without remorse. He sat there in her living room, eating her food, drinking her alcohol, and he kept on adding lies to the fire without being able to stop.

“Hey, she’s not a saint, either! Tell her.”

Y/N laughed, and it somehow took him by surprise, it knocked the wind out of him. He fully turned his head to stare at her, and it almost felt like seeing her for the first time and for the millionth time at the same time. The way she tilted her head back as she laughed; the way her earrings and piercings caught the light of the lighting fixture; even the way her fingers brushed against his, and the way he ended up holding her hand in his. Warm and soft, the skin so smooth that he almost pulled away.

He watched her talk, recount the story of how they met – or a watered-down version of it, with anything too compromising being filtered out. And as she conversed with Ulya, her fingers played with his and his gaze kept on dropping down on his hand, never missing a movement. She had somehow ended up tracing the three-bar cross between his thumb and forefinger – without looking at it, almost as though she had done just that so many times that she had ended up memorizing its placement, its lines. And as she went on talking, her fingers brushed across the Xs on his knuckles, and he had to fight that sudden impulse that pushed him to pull his hand away.

A couple of hours later, when they had finally bid Ulyana goodnight and thanked her for the pleasant dinner she had offered them, he found himself walking his best man’s dog in the park just across the street from her old friend’s apartment building. He watched Sharik sniff here and there, and for a moment he found himself wondering if that was what a normal life felt like – walking the dog at almost eleven in the night, with plastic bags in a pocket in case the dog pooped, arm in arm with a woman.

“You’re quiet,” she said at one point, when they stopped under a tree while Sharik sniffed just a few meters in front of them. “Is everything alright?”

It took him a while to answer. And it wasn’t because he hadn’t heard her, but because he was afraid of somehow saying the wrong thing as was custom with him. “Da,” he sighed eventually, “just thinking.” He shrugged, but he didn’t make a move to pull away when her hand trailed down his arm and her fingers entwined with his.

“I had a good time tonight. I hope you did too, and that I didn’t push myself too far with that story about… you know, us.”

“It was fine, she bought it.”

“Doesn’t make me feel less bad, though.”

He turned his head to look at her, and for a moment, the thought of how it would be like to do this every night with her crossed his mind. “Eh, I know.” It was quiet for a while after that, but when Sharik steered off the path, he found himself cursing out in Russian. “Come here, you stubborn dog!”

“Don’t be mean, Vlad! He’s just a dog.” She ran after Sharik then, and he watched her take him back by the collar as he fished a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his pants. He had just lit himself one when she took it from his fingers and put it out against the sole of her high-heeled shoe as she kept her balance with a hand firmly wrapped around his forearm.

“Why did you do that?” It was almost a gasp, half-surprised and half-pissed at a cigarette waisted in such a way.

“I had something to tell you yesterday, in the car.”

“You could’ve done that over shared cigarette!”

“I don’t want to taste cigarettes when I kiss someone, though.”

He almost opened his mouth to retort when her words registered in his brain, and all he could do was stare down into her eyes, not a sound leaving his lips.

“Like that night after the bar, just without drinks. I wanna do this sober.” She had taken a step forward, and they were now standing toe-to-toe. He could almost feel her, even with that short distance separating them – like when she had turned around and had ended up pressing her forehead against his back the night before, with the only difference that they were both awake now. “I want to kiss you again so badly it’s driving me nuts.”

That gasp didn’t leave his lips just because he managed to abruptly inhale quickly at the last second, but her words did make his heart beat faster somehow.

“I kept on telling myself that you’d do it, but you haven’t so far, and I can’t understand if that’s because you still dislike me or –”

He cut her off before she could continue. Her cheeks were burning when he cradled her face between his hands, and her lips were soft against his. Her hands came up to wrap around his wrists. When he pulled her closer, she let him; and when she deepened the kiss, when her tongue brushed against his teeth, he let her.

It was like one of those cliché moments, although it lasted for a couple of seconds at most: his breathing stopped, and the world seemed to stop with it as he kissed her. And then, when everything picked up again – his breathing, his heart, Hell’s Kitchen late-night traffic, Sharik’s tail snapping like a whip against his leg as he stood there – he found himself not wanting to pull away.

She did, though, and she looked up at him out of breath, his hands still cupping her cheeks and her hands still holding on to his wrists. “You’re so stubborn, I swear,” she chuckled. “But if you don’t kiss me again, I’ll go back to being stubborn, too.”

He cackled, and when Sharik pushed against his thigh with his nose, he looked down at him and shook his head. “Maybe Sergei was right, after all,” he mumbled before turning his attention back to Y/N and kissing her again, silencing her question before she had the time to voice it.

This is Sharik :) (pics found on Pinterest eons ago, I don’t remember the links, credits to the owner(s)!)

Comments and inbox are always open for feedback :) pls if you have any ideas you’d like to see in this story, feel free to hit me up, they’d for sure help me out lol since I’m slow AF :’)

TAGS (to be added to or removed from any list, shoot me an ask)

Everything: @idhrenniel @saibh29 @fuckthatfeeling @aya-fay @pebblesz892  @mblaqgi @becs-bunker​ @gruffle1​

The Assistant: @flowers-in-your-hayr

People that might be interested: @kind-wolf​ @brobachev

[unholyplumpprincess]

I Need It Rough

Here’s for @clefaiiiry for the idea of Crypto/Mirage and Crypto being frustrated and needy and getting his pretty little face fucked like he deserves.

Summary: Crypto is frustrated at a match gone wrong (IE he didn't win) and seeks out the comfort of his partner in a more...non traditional manner. Elliott, ever the most deserving of Best Boyfriend Of The Year Award, face fucks the hell out of him to help fuck out his frustrations.

(Older content)

Reblogs > Likes. It costs zero dollars to reblog :D

Minors and ageless blogs DNI or you will be blocked!

Fandom: Apex Legends

Relationship: Crypto/Mirage

Warnings: NSFT/18+, rough face fucking, uhhh fucking out frustrations?, fluffy aftercare, dom mirage??? On MY blog??

Words: 2.4k

__________________

Loud mouth. Smooth talker. Doesn’t shut up.

A lot of names for Elliott could come and go as they pleased. He knew what he was, and he knew what his voice did for many. Especially his fans. He liked to show off, be glamorous as he pleased. But, most importantly, he liked how his voice made a certain someone squirm.

Crypto had been a new legend added to the roster through unforeseen challenges. In fact, Elliott is sure they hadn’t even BEEN seen. Regardless, he’d been welcomed into the top Legends crew like one of their own. Even if there was some curiosity about how he even got there.

It took a little while to break through any of his layers. Even Elliott, who came off as the most least feared of them all, couldn’t quite crack his hard exterior easily. Because even if he came off friendly and inviting, Crypto had made it clear that Elliott was just as to be feared as any other legend. He was there for a reason. His smile and laugh were not the reasons his kill count was so high.

~Rest under the cut~

Becoming partners- now that was even unforeseen by Crypto. He had no interest in finding a partner, let alone falling for another legend. That in itself was dangerous, it drew too much attention. The media curious about who had Elliott all lovestruck.

Thankfully, Elliott could keep his mouth shut sometimes. Kept it a mystery. Some people speculated it to be the ever-fearsome Bloodhound, some even guessed at Wraith but when he chuckled and lightly brushed it off that theory was shot down entirely.

Crypto smirked every time he saw headlines. ‘WHO IS DATING THE LOUD MOUTH LEGEND?’ Tempting enough to reveal himself, almost.

Almost.

No one expected it to be Crypto. Why would they? He was a stranger in their midst, yet an enigma easier to solve than Bloodhound, he had a pretty face. It made it easier to climb the ranks of popularity online, something he still kept tabs on even if he didn’t run the drones streaming the game live for others now.

His mother would be proud knowing he’d landed her favorite. Elliott ‘Mirage’ Witt. However, he kept that out of the letters. No need for more exposure and concern.

When it came down to it, Elliott was a lover of higher expectations. At least for Crypto, who had been used to the idea of loving someone coming with a price. It did, but telling little bits about himself and going slow was not too bad of a price. Especially when Elliott was all smiles, dimples, and a smooth voice telling him that of course they could go slow.

It didn’t affect their work in the matches either. Whether against one another or on a squad, there was no hinderance.

Except, of course, when Crypto found himself in the top five. Edging closer to the sweet taste of victory only to fall to a newcomer who was keen on focusing the hacker down. A few shots to the back and a familiar pain only to find himself awake in the med bay with the words ‘SQUAD ELIMINATED’ on the screen in front of him.

It meant frustration. It meant need. It meant desires he couldn’t handle until they became too much and he’d rather scream or be used.

The latter was more appealing.

The dorms set up on this planet were nice. It was like a little community for the more experienced legends and those newcomers from all over who wanted to participate in the blood sport and work their way up to being champions. The qualifications for it all were something Crypto was glad he didn’t have to go through.

Elliott’s dorm is much like his room on the dropship when they were all being sent to Talos. It’s covered in fanart of himself in the living room, his color scheme most prominent here. There’s a few cardboard cutouts from various sponsors, different gear to promo, his kitchen has quite a few drinks and mixing tools for said drinks, something that makes Crypto smile a bit when entering. Elliott wanted to take his bar with him, essentially.

Rolling his neck and shoulders, Crypto sets about shrugging out of his coat, folding it neatly onto the couch. He’d come straight from the med bay. Stressed and frustrated. Knowing that Elliott was going to do an interview after meant that he had time alone to think. Best do it in Elliott’s dorm which felt like home.

Having long since abandoned his shoes at the doorway, he’s left in his tight black pants, matching shirt, and jewelry. Running a hand through his hair and letting out a low groan of frustration before fishing his phone from his pocket. It was wiped of any data, wiped of anything except one number that embarrassingly had a little gold heart next to the name ‘Idiot’.

He hesitates on texting him. Elliott loved the limelight, loved the glory, the cameras, and most importantly loved the afterglow of a match well done. Crypto feels himself hesitate, feeling almost selfish for asking him to come now.

It took awhile to work him out of his shell. With lots of kisses to his knuckles and Elliott promising that he was more important. He finally works up the urge to hit send and is relieved when it is read not 30 seconds after.

It takes five minutes of waiting. Five minutes of patient waiting.

At some point Crypto had gone to the bedroom. Setting a pillow on the floor and dropping to his knees onto it. Waiting patiently near Elliott’s bed as his head bowed, ears perked and waiting for the sound of the door to click open.

He hears Elliott laughing before he hears the door. Hearing his voice call out, “Yeah! We’ll get drinks later, kay? I’m gonna rest for a bit!” All chipper and cheerful before the door slides shut and the lock is clicked into place.

Crypto swallows thickly. Letting his tongue wet his lips as he keeps his head down.

He hopes he looks good, in the back of his mind. Legs splayed out just so on the pillow to outline his lower body. Hands resting on his thighs and head bowed. Showing off his body, trying to look inviting and not like he was digging his nails into his pants in frustration. Need.

He’s in tune with the sound of boots. The sound of gear being tugged off in a not-so-hurried pace. He nearly snarls, but he waits. Just be patient, fall into your space, relax. He tries to encourage himself like Elliott might, but it isn’t the same.

When Elliott finally comes into the room, he’s dressed in his boots and pants. Everything else tossed off and his curls left down from his goggles. Crypto raises his head to look up at him, steeling his jaw and feeling the metal of his jawline seem to heat up with his body.

Elliott looked a pretty picture. Eyes soft, a smile on his lips that read cocky but the dimples gave him that charming look, and a glisten of sweat about his skin. His torso is exposed, toned and fit with a dark happy trail leading from pierced navel down into his pants. Gold adorns his pecs from piercings through his nipples and Crypto longs to tongue at them.

“Hey, beautiful,” Elliott coos softly. As if calming a feral kitten. Carefully coming over one step at a time until Crypto’s shoulders relax, falling just as Elliott’s warm, calloused fingers cup his cheek. “Look at you. Already ready, huh?”

Crypto hums in response, soft and almost irritated. Nuzzling at his palm and nipping at his fingertips until Elliott nudges his thumb at his full lips. Crypto accepts, suckling on the digit and fluttering his eyes open halfway to look up at him.

Dark brown eyes look back down at him with an intensity that leaves him shuddering. “There you go, baby.” Spoken softly, almost possessively as he presses his thumb down onto Crypto’s tongue. Forcing his lips to part and drool to threaten to spill.

“God, can’t wait to ruin your pretty little mouth.” Elliott murmurs, as if to himself if he didn’t smear the saliva onto Crypto’s lips with his thumb. Wetting them as he pulls his hand back to begin working at his fly.

Crypto grunts, turning his head as if he was going to be difficult. A bratty scenario, trying to make Elliott rougher. It works like a charm when one hand winds in his hair, yanking his head back to face the trickster. He exhales sharply through his nose at the sudden pain, hissing as he’s come face to face with Elliott’s cock.

One hand in Crypto’s hair, the other wrapped around the base of his cock and lazily stroking, he looks quite the picture. Crypto tries to avoid eye contact, turning his gaze with another huff only to get Elliott to gently smack his cheek with his cock. “Come on, baby boy, open that sweet mouth up. You w-want to text me all urg- urging- ugh- in a hurry? You’re going to get it.”

Crypto almost smiles at the stutter. Watching Elliott squint his eyes for just a moment to focus on getting out of the tick. He normally could keep his voice controlled in moments like this, but if he focused too hard on sounding smooth, it came out harder. Just like that.

So he does smile, a bit more of a smirk. Eyes flickering up to meet Elliott’s, challenging him.

“Fine.” Elliott hums in response.

Fingers twist and yank Crypto’s hair fluidly. It makes him gasp out, lips parting enough for Elliott to slide the head of his cock in without risk of biting. “See? That so hard?” He coos out, watching as Crypto’s fingers scramble at his own thighs before he reaches up to hold onto Elliott’s instead.

It’s smooth sailing from there as Crypto gives into soft treatment.

The rough hand in his hair turns to soft pets. Stroking his hair back from his face by warm fingers. Another hand cups underneath Crypto’s jaw, stroking with a thumb at where metal meets flesh. Carefully feeding him inch after inch of Elliott’s cock.  

A beautiful thing, if you asked Crypto. Elliott was about seven inches, a nice size without being too thick or too much with an upwards lean. Some freckles dotting the base where he kept the curls there trimmed and tidy. The head was almost a supple red when aroused, peeking from foreskin that made it glisten and shiny if it wasn’t just from Crypto’s saliva.

It’s with trained practice he relaxes his throat. Fingers flexing on Elliott’s thighs and humming in discomfort at first. “Shh, you got this, baby. Take your time.” Elliott speaks so softly. Still petting at his hair and moving the hand from his jawline to rest in his hair as well to massage at his scalp.

It does the trick. And only in a few moments does his nose press to Elliott’s pelvis. Allowing him to take deep, slow breathes and inhale his scent as his fingers grip tight to his pants.

“Look atcha’, babe. Fuck- wish you could see how you look right now. Such a good boy.” Elliott sighs out, gently rocking his hips to get used to the wet tightness of his throat. How Crypto’s teeth scrape along sensitive flesh without biting.

Crypto, in turn, looks up at him with this sort of lazy submission in his eyes. Humming in response to being told he’s good as his hair is pet behind his ears and his temples given a soft massage with thumbs.

It was a warning. He always knew it was. Knew when to force himself to not focus too hard on it as Elliott slowly pulls out before pushing back in with a low moan that sets Crypto’s skin alight from how good he sounds.

It’s repeated. The same motion. Until Elliott can go faster. Until he’s truly face fucking him and Crypto’s hands no longer plead and scrape at his thighs, rather just holding onto him for dear life as he feels him press into his throat again and again.

When he becomes light headed, Elliott pulls out. Keeping the head on Crypto’s tongue that lolls out as he takes needy breaths. Pressing sloppy, wet kisses over the head and shaft with a hoarse, “Please-” Whining from his throat until Elliott takes him again and uses his mouth just like a toy.

Elliott is full of it. Full of that smooth talking, loud mouth that people don’t get to see. “You look so good, sweetheart.”

“Fuck, just like that Crypto-”

“What a good boy. You look so beautiful on your knees.”

“Bet you’d cum on my boots if I’d let you.”

He’s full of it, praise and dirty talk. Crypto’s too hot in his own pants, trying to grind against nothing for friction. The taste and scent being too much- it's all too much to his sensors.

Elliott shoves in one last time, grabbing Crypto’s hair and keeping him down on his cock. “Swallow.” He pants out, a whiny moan leaving him as he cums. A beautiful noise to match his furrowed expression. Curls hanging in his face as his fingers shaky even as they pet Crypto’s hair as the man swallows every drop. Even if he does make a small face at the taste.

There’s a pause as Elliott lets Crypto milk him dry with small lavishes of his tongue and soft suckles. Slowly pulling out and letting him lick at the head like nothing more than an obedient pup until Elliott laughs softly, breathily.

Dropping onto his knees, Elliott cups his jaw, bringing him in for a deep kiss. Tongue exploring and licking over Crypto’s tongue in reply. Tasting himself as both men moan in reply to the feeling until Elliott parts with a wet sound.

Crypto’s eyes are glassy, lips parted and flushed just like his cheeks. His pants are straining, his hips canting into nothing as Elliott brings him into an embrace. Caressing his hair and his back, petting over his skin until he calms down enough to nose into Elliott’s neck and come down.

“Thank you,” He murmurs out, voice hoarse and shaky. Nosing just below Elliott’s ear until his partner pulls him back to place a soft kiss on both cheeks, then his forehead.

“You’re welcome...Let me take care of you this time around?” Elliott murmurs too sweetly, nuzzling their noses together as if he didn’t just face fuck him into a stupor.

How could he say no?

[angelic-writer]

“Come on, _________, please stay with me, please. I’ve already lost so much today, I can’t lost you too.”

For the whump prompts

((Ohohohoho! You fool. You activated my trap card! >:) ))

“Come on, Victor, please stay with me, please. I’ve already lost so much tonight, I can’t lose you too.” Philip’s voice started to crack as he watched the wounded pyrokinetic try to take deep breaths. His lover’s blood leaked out from the cracks of his fingers as he tried desperately to stop the bleeding. His own breathing was hitching, his vision was blurry with tears...

He was not losing him too.

All the people he had lost tonight flashed through his mind. Simone, Casey, Matthew, John...

Simone Taylor. Someone he considered a very close friend. He always annoyed her by being brash, but he always appreciated her logical side.

Casey Joint. Their very own hacker for the Ministry. Even though he spent all his time on his computer, he was always the jokester, mostly joking about how his name was almost a pun for “Casing the Joint”.

Matthew and John Defoe... They were like his two sons. He found the family he never had. He planned on adopting them when he married Victor, but now...

Trilby’s breath hitched in his throat as he tried to get up. He had to get to Victor. He had to!

“Trilby, you have to stay still!” Chris hissed at him, trying to bandage his arm.

“Quinn, I have to get to Victor. I... I need to-”

“I-I know... But-” Trilby didn’t give Chris enough time to finish as he was already up and limping over to them. He glanced over to Siobhan who was already laying in a pool of her own blood. The others told him it was just a concussion, but he knew they were lying. With how severe her head trauma was, it’s unlikely she is ever getting up again.

“Hey, Vic. I’m here. Phil’s here. Just- Take a deep breath, okay? Help is on the way.” He tried to whisper comforting words to him, but Victor could only chuckle as air rattled in and out of his lungs like a buzz-saw.

“Trilbs, you know I’m not gonna make it. This... This is too serious for me...”

“God, just- Don’t talk like that! We’ll get everyone here to the hospital and everything will go back to normal!!” Trilby commanded. Really, he was trying to put on a facade so he would not break down entirely.

“Easier said than done, Trilby. But mostly everyone’s dead. We’re just not good enough for them. We’ll just get replaced anyway. That’s how it usually works.” He paused to cough. Blood trickled down his mouth as he did so.

“Vic, please... Don’t be such a cynical bastard!! You’re always like this! You’re always too serious and when I try to joke around, you always ruin the mood with your pissy attitude!!! It’s not even funny!” Philip started to sob. Victor gave him a wry smile.

“But... I did like some of your jokes... Even though some of them were pretty distasteful like the kabob one, I liked the ones that weren’t about stabbing!”

Philip grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly while Trilby started to apply pressure. “Listen to me, Victor. You’re going to make it out of there alive. We’re gonna go on all the dates you want, go to all the places you want to go - Hell, you could even pick a suit you want to wear when we-” His words got caught in his throat. He can’t say it. Not now.

“A suit? What?” Victor was confused for a second. Then, his eyes lit up as he realized. “Wait... Are you asking me to...?”

Philip slowly nodded. He leaned down, allowing Victor to give him a kiss on the cheek.

“Of course I will. I’m sure we’ll be a wonderful couple. We’ll be pretty badass, won’t we?”

“Uh... Uh huh...”

“Hehe. Hey... After this, we can go to the pub. My treat.”

“Y-Yeah...”

“After that, we can go ring shopping. We can buy the most lovely rings. The kinds that’ll make any married couple jealous.”

Philip nodded, sniffling.

“And... We can like, go to Australia for our honeymoon...”

“Yeah... I-I’d like that...”

“Good.”

Trilby tried to contain himself. He tried to swallow a sob that was coming up. God, why are they taking so long? Where the fuck is the ambulance?!

“Hey, Philip...”

“Yeah?”

“Even though... our relationship had its ups and downs, I-I’m glad... I met you...” His eyes started to flutter. “I’m glad I fell in love with you...”

“No! No, no, no. You will not close your eyes on us, Cassen! You keep those damn eyes open, you understand me?!” Trilby shouted.

“But... I-I feel so tired... M-Maybe I should take a nap... Wake me up when all of this is over, okay...?”

“No! No NO NO NO!!” Trilby’s words did not reach him at all. Victor’s eyes slowly closed and his hand fell limp. “Fuck! FUCK!” Trilby put his hand on Victor’s neck, trying to feel a pulse. He didn’t care if his voice had risen, he had to feel something!!!

...

...

...

“No...” Trilby started to shake. “No, no, no...”

“What?!” Philip’s voice was shrill and panicked.

“He... He has no pulse...”

Those words felt like a sword being plunged through his heart. He... He can’t be...

“No. No, he’s not dead. He can’t be!” He started to do chest compressions, the same way Victor had been doing for him when he was dying. “Hold the wound, Trilbs. We need to keep him alive until the ambulance arrives, alright?!”

Trilby reluctantly did so. He knew it was no use. Victor’s skin was cool to the touch and his pupils were dilated. Classic signs of shock. He couldn’t stop himself from shaking. Tears were already pouring from his eyes. He didn’t acknowledge Adam running into the room. In fact, he and Phil didn’t acknowledge anything. It was like everything just faded away.

They were focusing on their co-worker who is likely dead like the rest of the agents. Trilby could hear Victor’s ribs crack at one point due to the pressure of Philip’s compressions, but he either didn’t notice or didn’t care. At one point, Chris came over to help and Trilby took over compressions while Phil did the breathing.

They were working very hard to try and save him. But, it didn’t matter how long they were doing it for. It didn’t matter that Adam brought the defibrillator to try and shock him. It didn’t matter how many times they shocked him.

Victor was never coming back. This “nap” of his is one that he will never wake up from. He will never get to joke about how this mission of theirs almost got them killed. He will never be able to be a jerk to everyone. He will never get to impress Phil with his pyrotechnics. He will never get to kiss his lover goodbye. He will never get to do the things he promised Phil he would do. He will never get to walk this earth again.

He will never come back.

He will never...

“One, two, three! Clear!”

WHAP!

Victor’s body flinched. Adam checked. Nothing. Trilby restarted compressions. He was already getting exhausted. He was about to give up when Philip yelled at him not to. He’s not gone, he said. I won’t let him die!

His arms were already getting sore. It was clear he can’t keep doing this. “D-Do you want me to take over?” Chris asked. Trilby nodded and fell back, winded. The adrenaline rush had long since faded and now, he’s trying to catch his breath. All he could do was stare at the ceiling and listen to them try to revive Victor. His eyes started to close when suddenly...

“Wait!”

His head snapped up. Propping himself up on his elbows, he looked to see Philip checking Victor’s airway. “I-I think I got something...”

Trilby was already up and running. He immediately checked Victor’s pulse. Please... Please let there be something...

...

It’s faint... He has a pulse, but it’s faint...

That set off something inside of him. Suddenly, it didn’t matter. He is not giving up on him. They had come this far, they are not gonna leave him. He put his ear to his chest to see if he had a discernible heartbeat. He couldn’t hear it. He started compressions again. This time, he is determined. He is determined to make sure he’s alive. He will not let this man die!

Once he got to thirty, Adam placed the paddles on Victor’s chest. “Alright, count of three, we shock him!” Trilby instructed everyone. They all nodded.

“Okay, one, two, three! CLEAR!”

WHAP!

Victor’s body flinched once again. Philip once again checked his pulse.

...

“Okay, it’s getting stronger!”

Trilby put his ear to his chest. Finally, he could hear his heart beating steadily. He breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, god.”

The tension in the room eased. Phil let out a chuckle and stroked Victor’s hair. “Well, looks like you’ll be waking up from this nap after all.”

Trilby was shaking as the second adrenaline rush faded. He hugged Chris tightly as he started to sob. “Chris... W-We did it... We did it!” He said as he began to laugh. Chris rubbed his back as he rocked him gently.

After Trilby had calmed down, he went over to Siobhan to see if she was okay. To his surprise, she was still breathing. Despite that blow to the head, she was still alive. He immediately started to treat her head wound. “I’m so sorry... I’m sorry you got dragged into this... I’m so sorry...”

Soon, the ambulance arrived. They loaded Victor onto the stretcher and wheeled him out, Philip following close behind. They soon got everyone loaded into the ambulances and drove them to the hospital.

Finally... After 7 months, it was over. The New Order was no more and Trilby will make sure it stays that way.

[artificialqueens]

Pros and Cons, 1/3 (Witney) - Marion

Summary: The wives of two conmen become fast friends (and maybe more) as their husbands plot an elaborate heist. As the planning progresses, Willam and Courtney grow closer and begin to think that maybe their husbands deserve a taste of their own medicine.

A/N: Partners of partners in crime to lovers AU? I’m not even going to pretend that I didn’t steal this plot (with permission) from Ortega. I’ve had this done and waiting to be edited for about four months now so I figured I’d finally try getting the first part out before the end of the year. I haven’t forgotten about Academic Dishonesty, and hopefully I’ll finish that in the next few weeks now that I’m on break. Shout out to Ortega, Freyja, and Jazz for betaing this and making it so much more readable!

The dock was quiet, as usual. Courtney liked it that way. Perhaps not as much as actually being present during one of her husband’s meetings, but it’s not like her input would have been appreciated anyway. Instead, she had been sent out with the wife of her husband’s new partner to “get to know each other while the boys talk”. She had wanted to argue, but it wouldn’t have done any good. It was better to do as she was told than make him angry in front of his team.

Willam seemed to think the same of her own husband as well. Considering the way that he had acted when they had first arrived, Courtney wasn’t surprised about that. She had left without protest, or a word to anyone. When they had reached the yacht’s deck, she picked a chair - the one Courtney thought of as her own - and sprawled onto it without a glance at Courtney. Had she seemed more inviting, Courtney might’ve attempted to talk to her, take her husband’s advice and get to know the other woman. They were going to be seeing a lot more of each other over the next few months, shouldn’t they at least try to be friends? But Willam had all but asked to be left alone, and Courtney wasn’t in the mood to get on anyone’s bad side.

So she left the boat and walked to the end of the private pier to be alone with her thoughts. With her sandals next to her, she gently kicked at the water as she sat. She wasn’t sure how long had passed before she heard someone approach. She watched as Willam wordlessly took a seat next to her.

As the silence stretched between them, Courtney searched for something to say.

“So how did you two end up together?” she asked as the silence began to feel insufferable, not bothering to look away from the sun setting in the distance.

“He was good for me,” Willam said, her voice even.

Courtney tore her gaze away from the sunset and raised an eyebrow. “That is what ‘good for you’ looks like?” He could have been putting on a show of dominance in an attempt to impress his new teammates when they had arrived, but Courtney had a feeling that Willam’s husband was always like that.

Willam didn’t bother to turn to look at her. “PhDs aren’t cheap,” she said, as if that told her everything she needed to know. Maybe it did.

Courtney nodded. That was something she could understand, even if it hadn’t been a problem for her. “I can imagine, given the amount they charged for my Master’s.”

That got Willam’s attention. She raked her gaze over the other woman, as if reassessing her initial conclusions about her. Courtney felt something warm swell in her chest. It wasn’t pride at her achievement, though she felt eighty pages and countless sleepless nights spent evaluating the results of her research warranted it. No, she knew that feeling. This was different. As if she had received approval that she hadn’t even known she’d been waiting for.

“I hope they gave you your money’s worth,” Willam said, “my program didn’t teach me shit.”

“Oh?” If her interest in this woman hadn’t already been piqued, it was now. What had Willam studied, gotten a PhD in, that she felt she hadn’t learnt anything from? If she had to guess, she’d say fashion design, but that didn’t feel right. Willam seemed to her more like someone who wore designer clothing rather than created it.

Willam nodded decisively. “No one would take me seriously without a degree so I figured there had to be something that they were gonna teach me that was super important, but no. There’s nothing in computer science that you can’t learn from fucking around in your free time after finishing your homework.”

Courtney was taken aback. She hadn’t thought that Willam was stupid, but she hadn’t taken her as a programming prodigy, either. “You knew everything they teach you for a PhD by the time you were eighteen?” she asked. She tried to keep the surprise out of her voice, but she was sure that she had failed at that.

Willam shook her head. “No, but by twenty, yeah. I got a bachelor’s in acting first. It was fucking stupid but I couldn’t really change it by the time I realized.” She shifted, pulling her legs up from where they had been dangling over the side of the dock and tucking them under her. “And I graduated high school when I was sixteen, not eighteen.”

“Why are you out here then? You’d probably be more useful in a heist than like half the people in there combined.”

“Probably the same reason as you. I mean I’m sure your shit is useful too,” Willam said, and Courtney knew she was right. They weren’t here to be masterminds, they were here to be pretty. And they were out here because their husbands didn’t need pretty right now, they needed masterminds. And surely those two things couldn’t intersect.

Courtney shrugged. “It’s still stupid that you don’t get a say in any of this. I’m sure you’d be a better hacker than Tim in there.”

“Aren’t you going to tell me what you studied?” Willam asked, done with the subject at hand. Of course she’d be good at what they’re doing, there was no need to dwell on it.

Courtney shook her head with a smile. “You’ll laugh.”

“Probably,” Willam said, no hint of jest in her voice. Somehow, the sincerity of it emboldened Courtney instead of scaring her away.

“I studied forensic psychology.”

Willam snorted. “Like criminals and shit? Is that how you ended up here?” she asked.

“It’s complicated,” Courtney said, a bit deflated.

After a few moments of silence passed, Willam nudged her with her shoulder. “C’mon, I think they’re gonna be done soon,” she said, standing and then holding her hand out to help Courtney up.

Courtney took it without hesitation. A buzz she couldn’t quite name moved through her. She couldn’t tell if she was excited or terrified of the next few months, but she felt certain that things were going to change.

***************************************************

“Do you love him?” Willam asked as she rifled through a rack of fur coats that Courtney had been side eyeing since they reached this side of the store.

“What?” Courtney asked, certain that she had heard correctly, but willing the other woman to pretend she had asked something else. She hadn’t recognized anyone when they had entered the store and she knew that her husband’s most loyal lackeys were in the conference with him, but she still felt the urge to look over her shoulder and see if anyone had overheard the question.

“It’s a fair question,” Willam said, apparently unwilling to give Courtney the out she had been hoping for.

“Is it?” Courtney asked. Willam turned and eyed her, looking like she was sure that she already had her answer. Courtney supposed that she had, indeed, given her one through omission.

“Yeah, it is.”

Courtney felt herself grow a bit defensive. “Okay then, how about you answer it. Do you love Jace?”

Willam looked her in the eye, her gaze steady. “No.”

Her bluntness surprised Courtney, though maybe it shouldn’t after having known her for as long as she had. Having spent time with her nearly every other evening for two weeks had made it obvious that Willam would say what she thought without hesitation, at least as long as her husband wasn’t around.

Nonetheless, Courtney wavered. “Did you ever love him?” she asked, her voice quieter than before, hoping they hadn’t drawn the attention of those around them.

Willam turned back to the rack and shrugged. “He was the guy with the most money that treated me the least shitty. There wasn’t really an expectation on either side.”

“He’s the one that treated you the best? The crime boss that doesn’t let you speak in front of his colleagues?”

“I didn’t say he kept the title for very long. Besides, he wasn’t a crime boss when we met, just like third in line or whatever. And honestly I could say the same thing to you. If everything you say about Jace is gonna sound like you’re insulting me then maybe we should talk about Rick. He’s a keeper, isn’t he?”

Courtney wanted to hide. Willam’s tone had remained steady, but her searching through the rack had become more erratic. It wasn’t the way that Willam had said it, or the way that the atmosphere had changed as she spoke that left Courtney uncomfortable - it was what she said. She was right, of course. But she didn’t need anyone reminding her of it.

“Touche,” she all but whispered, and turned away to look for something a little more her style, and a lot further from Willam.

***************************************************

In the last month, there were times where being around Willam felt insufferable. But not always, and certainly not on the days where they ignored why they were spending time together in the first place. No, on those days, Willam was tolerable. Better than tolerable. Funny, quick-witted, honest, perhaps the best friend Courtney had had the chance to see with any amount of regularity in years, and breathtakingly gorgeous. That last one could become a problem, Courtney could admit to herself when she was alone, but her resolve was strong and her self preservation was even stronger.

Upon seeing Willam in a bikini for the first time, Courtney began to wonder how much she really believed that.

“No more sitting around whining when they have their meetings on the yacht,” Willam said as she emerged from below deck. “If they’re gonna have us this close to the beach, we’re gonna use it.” She didn’t wait for a response before leading Courtney off the yacht. She didn’t need to. Wherever she went, Courtney would follow. That’s how it had been since she had first presented Courtney with the idea of “let’s do something fun!” during their second evening together. Even at her most overbearing, Courtney couldn’t seem to keep herself from her side for long.

Walking behind her along the dock, Courtney tried and failed to keep her eyes off of Willam. Her hair was tied back in a fishtail braid- there were new colorful streaks, courtesy of not having to try to look professional as a stay-at-home wife. Scanning down her tanned back, Courtney couldn’t decide what was drawing her eyes more, the newly discovered tramp stamp on her friend’s back, or the enticing ass below it.

Stop it, Courtney reminded herself. Trying hard to focus attention anywhere else, she continued her sweep down to look at the ground. Except–

“Are you wearing platform crocs?” Courtney asked, unable to hold back the question. If she had learned anything about Willam in the past month, it was that she took her shoes seriously. Courtney never would have imagined Willam having anything to do with what she was wearing now, aside from perhaps taking any opportunity to mock them.

“Yeah,” Willam said, glancing back at her. “I was gonna wear my pool party pumps, but those are more pool than beach. These are fucking great for the sand, though.”

Courtney could not imagine any way that the shoes would be good for the sand. Easier to clean, perhaps, but while they certainly seemed like a better idea than pumps on the sand, they still seemed like a recipe for disaster. Still, Courtney kept her mouth shut. Maybe she didn’t know Willam’s tastes as well as she thought.

The beach was nearly empty when they arrived, owing to the fact that most of those who shared the property preferred to spend their Tuesday evenings plotting a bank heist or figuring out the most effective way to steal from their workers’ wages. Generally, that thought led to a spiral of guilt over the fact that she hadn’t found some way to force her husband to be a halfway decent person, but Willam drew her attention away from it with ease.

“You’re too much of a prude to go skinny dipping before sunset, aren’t you?” Willam asked.

Had she had a drink, Courtney would have done a spit take. Skinny dipping? With Willam? She wanted to argue that she wasn’t a prude, but what could she say to convince Willam without having to give a different reason that she wouldn’t go skinny dipping with her? It didn’t sound unpleasant, that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that it sounded a little too pleasant, and she wasn’t ready to face that fact, not yet.

Willam rolled her eyes. “It was a joke, Court,” she said, spreading out the two towels she had brought next to each other in the sand. She put on a pair of sunglasses, and laid down on one of the towels.

Courtney looked down at her. “Didn’t we come here to swim?” she asked.

“What?” Willam asked, her voice tinted with the slightest amount of panic. “There’s fucking sharks out there, I’m not going out there!”

“Shark attacks are a lot more rare than horror movies would have you think,” Courtney said, taking a seat on the open towel. “Trust me, I’d know. Where I’m from even the rivers have sharks, and I’m in one piece.”

“Remind me that I can’t ever go with you to visit your family,” Willam said.

Courtney felt her mood drop, but tried not to let it show. “I’m just saying, we humans kill a lot more sharks than they do us.”

“And I’m just saying, if you wanna see me get wet, you’re gonna have to take me somewhere without monsters.”

Courtney felt her face heat and hoped that Willam’s sunglasses would keep her from seeing the flush that she was certain was rising on her cheeks. Willam hadn’t meant it like that, she was sure, but that didn’t keep her mind from wandering where it shouldn’t. Willam was her friend, her straight friend at that, and they were both married. Married to men they didn’t enjoy the presence of and who made it clear that they thought they were better than their wives by some divine right, but married nonetheless. She had to get a hold of herself.

“Are you gonna just sit there, or what?” Willam asked.

“I mean you’re just gonna lay there, what’s the difference?” Courtney asked, glad for a deflection from her thoughts.

“Yeah, but I’m tanning, and that’s a thing people do. You’re just sitting around on the beach like a weirdo.”

Courtney hadn’t quite realized that she was looking for an out until she found one. If she could get away from Willam, even just for ten minutes, she might be able to get a hold of herself. Being around her for hours every week was intoxicating, and she needed to try and sober up if she was going to spend the next few hours next to the nearly-naked frame of the woman beside her.

“Actually, I forgot to put on sunscreen. I’m gonna run back to the yacht for a minute,” she said, hoping it came out casually rather than quick and flustered.

“I’ve got some in my bag,” Willam said, sitting up and reaching into the purse next to her. “C’mere, dumbass, I’ll get your back.”

***************************************************

“Any idea how much longer they’re just gonna sit around planning?” Willam asked as she reclined in her seat. The mall didn’t strike her as particularly Willam when they had been dropped off that afternoon, but as their time had progressed, it seemed that she fit better than Courtney had ever anticipated. Half an hour in the pet store and one Yves Saint Laurant purse later, Courtney felt as though she had never quite seen Willam as herself as she was now.

“Planning’s important. It takes time to make sure nothing is gonna end up getting screwed over,” Courtney said.

Willam rolled her eyes. “I know that, I just didn’t think that they were capable of thinking this long without their brains breaking. Besides, I bet we could pull something together in a third of the time.”

Courtney’s eyebrow shot up. “You think so?”

“I know so. I mean c’mon, all of them have, what, like three brain cells all together? I mean we’ve got at least five. Besides we’ve got psychology and computers and feminine wiles on our side,” Willam said, trailing her hand up her thigh in demonstration. It was really, really in Courtney’s best interest that she not lift her hemline any higher. “What have they got?”

Courtney pulled herself out of it. Straight. Married. Friend. “You mean aside from the money and weapons and hired thugs?”

“I’m sure if we needed them, we could get some of those too,” Willam flashed Courtney a grin, “but I doubt we’d need ‘em.”

“If I ever need to pull off a heist with a quick turnaround, I’ll keep you in mind,” Courtney said with a snort, but it seemed as though Willam’s attention had been pulled away from the topic already.

“Oooo girl, look to your left! Hot ass alert!” Willam said in a conspiratorial whisper.

Courtney followed Willam’s gaze and wrinkled her nose. “That guy’s like seventy.”

Willam looked at her like she was stupid. “Not him, dumbass, the blonde in the mini dress!”

Courtney looked back again.There was a tall blonde woman, about their age, standing in line to get a smoothie. She was wearing a tight black mini dress and did, in fact, have a nice ass. Maybe she really didn’t know Willam’s tastes as well as she thought. The thought made her mind drift. So maybe Willam wasn’t straight.

Still your friend. Still married, both of you. She scolded herself.

“Don’t look so surprised,” Willam said. “And don’t try to pretend you don’t like girls either, you’re not subtle.”

Courtney felt herself flush. Had Willam really seen her looking, all this time? She must seem like an ass.

“Sorry,” Courtney said, trying and failing to find some excuse.

“Don’t be,” Willam said. “I like the attention. And I already know I’ve got a nice ass. It wouldn’t hurt for you to compliment it while you’re staring at it.”

Courtney had been certain that she couldn’t go any pinker, but she began to lose that conviction. She really needed to work on her subtlety.

“I know you don’t always walk behind me because you trust my directions. And you’ve got a nice ass yourself. Now c’mon, there’s another store I want to check out before we get picked up.”

Unprompted, Courtney could’ve sat in the same spot for hours replaying the conversation, but she didn’t get the chance. Willam’s hand wrapped around her own and began tugging her to their next destination, with no courtesy given to the fact that Courtney had spent the last few weeks using all of her willpower to avoid imagining feeling those hands on her skin.

[noctuascion]

;; I keep writing fluff and angst, so I kinda wanna try silly stuff. It's rare for me, but let's try it! ;;

Prompt: Quit touching me, your feet are cold!

--

Matches that dragged on were far from favorable in Elliott's eyes. He hated it especially when Pathfinder and Octavio managed to secure a spot just out of reach by he and his teammates and the ring ended up favoring them instead. He hated it immensely, but there was little he could do, and they just ended up waiting it out until the ring killed them.

There was much to be said, but all Elliott wanted to do was curl up in his bed and go to sleep. Maybe for twelve hours. Maybe for a week. Maybe until the next year. Who knows? All he knows is that he wants to lay down with his beautiful, adorable, and incredibly prickly lover.

Park ended up being taken out about halfway through. Apparently, Natalie and Renee had been too busy doing whatever that they hadn't been watching after Park, a squad showed up, and he was taken out without issue. Renee managed to portal her and Natalie out of harm's way and ended up having to leave his banner.

To say he was absolutely livid was an understatement. Apologies were made, and Park wasn't one for holding grudges, but he was still pretty mad at them.

Upon entering his room, Elliott spotted the hacker taking up residence in his bed, a large, soft yellow blanket covering his shoulders, cocooned by warmth (or what little warmth provided), and watching something on his laptop. Frankly, Elliott couldn't ascertain what he was watching. He watched a lot of documentaries, a lot of cat videos, and soap carving ones. If he was especially bored, he'd sometimes look up tutorials on random things and participate. Elliott came in one day with origami all over the place.

He's just happy he isn't working on whatever it is he's so diligently working on. He deserved a break every now and then, but he tended to forget that a lot.

"Oh, my sweet angel-faced, uh… angel!" Elliott said, announcing his presence to Park, whose eyes rose to meet the trickster's. "So nice to see you all cozy in my favorite blanket."

"And nice to see you're still in a good mood, despite the last match."

Ah. So that's what he was watching. The holographic expert waved his hand about in nonchalance, approaching the bed before sitting down, bouncing a bit and causing the hacker to do the same.

"It sucked, but, hey, what can you do? Besides, I have the world's greatest boyfriend to make me feel all better." Rather than shifting over to where his cocooned lover sat, however, Elliott, instead, laid on his bed, back facing the other and pulling up one of the remaining blankets his boyfriend has yet to steal. "After a quick nap, though."

Park huffed in amusement. "You and I both know 'a quick nap' will be three to four hours."

Yet another hand raised to wave in a useless gesture before promptly falling back to where it was placed prior on the bed. "Details, details." A yawn. "We can talk about it after I wake up in an hour."

"Sure."

With that, the two lapsed into silence, Elliott's eyes falling shut and Park's focus returning to his laptop. The tapping of a keyboard was heard, so the trickster suspected he got bored of watching highlights from their last match and moved on to something else.

And, for awhile, it was nice, quiet. Normally, Elliott's endless talking would fill up the silence, and Park would listen and occasionally provide his own input, but there was none of that. It was just them, together, just enjoying having the other near, undisturbed by the slow spin of the universe.

Elliott had almost fallen asleep when he felt the other begin shifting, something sliding under the blanket and carefully pulling up his shirt.

"Mm… Babe, feelin' frisky…? Didn't know you had it in y—AH!"

It was not a hand, like Elliott had suspected, but, instead, his boyfriend's frigid fucking feet pressing against his warm as hell back. He couldn't exactly escape either, since he was close to the edge of the bed and Park's legs were long. The jerk also started laughing when he heard the startled noise from the other, and Elliott knew he wasn't sleepy anymore. In fact, he was wide awake, and unsure if he was pissed or not.

He immediately sat up, Park's feet retreating back under his own blanket, stifling his quiet giggles with a hand covering his mouth. His little shit of a boyfriend was the absolute worst.

"The worst. You're just the worst boyfriend ever," Elliott said, and Park knew, even if he said it, that it wasn't true. Dramatics were his strong suit, after all. "How can anybody's feet be that cold!?"

"Like this."

"Get your tiny, cold foot off my leg!"

Park's laugh returned, only for him to release a sound of surprise when he was suddenly being pulled by his leg onto his back, Elliott pouncing on him immediately. His laptop ended up being pushed elsewhere during the chaos, but neither seemed to care, too lost in each other's eyes.

"You're a menace. A cold menace!"

"Mmhm."

"But that's fine. All I have to do is cuddle you until you're warm."

"Wait—"

The hacker had very little room to escape now, what with the large mass atop him, encasing him in warmth.

"Ugh. You're heavy."

"It's the muscle, babe. All muscle. And my huge—"

"Don't. Don't say it."

"I was gonna say my huge heart. Gosh, babe, so perverted."

"…"

Elliott wasn't exactly surprised to feel the other's cold foot back on his bare skin, and, sure, he deserved it, but it was still cold and he didn't like it. Jokes on Park, though—he gets to hold his favorite popsicle, even if he's a big jerk that bullies his amazing, warm boyfriend.

Despite the cold foot being pressed against his back, the trickster still pressed his lips against Park's cheek, the hacker letting himself smile faintly at the contact.

"I love you, even if you have cold feet."

"And I've grown to tolerate you."

"You're a walking blizzard, babe. Good things blizzards are cool."

"Ugh."

[ko-chan-the-blueberry-donut]

Back to Where I Started/Reincarnation AU 3

Okay, so a lot of people have been complaining that Sophia and Atsuko can’t exist in the same plain of existence, but I’m going to counter that as here’s the thing, Sophia and the others haven’t died, and since the worlds are different dimensions, it’s possible time flows differently as well. Remember, Sorcier and our world are not a straight timeline, they’re different worlds, which could include different time flow and timelines. So yes, it’s possible. It would cause a lot of repressed memories resurfacing and déjà vu, but it’s possible.

Yes, the harem dimension jumped for Katarina.

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

Aiko luckily made it to school on time, with minutes to spare to text her parents and brothers she was there safe. However, she wasn’t alone long as Acchan tackled her soon after arriving.

“You should’ve told me you were walking! I would’ve walked with you.” Atsuko scolded gently. Aiko gave a fond grin.

“It’s fine. Don’t worry. Anyway!” Aiko got down to business. “I saw an angel that looked just like Maria Campbell from Fortune Lover! My heart was about to burst from her pure aura!”

“Oh?” Atsuko grinned, eyes sparkling in mischief. “You sure you didn’t fall in love?”

“You’re missing the point! She even gave me sweets!” Aiko showed Atsuko the bag the mysterious girl gave her. Atsuko examined the bag before grinning wider.

“Sounds like you just met your future wife, Aiko-chan.” Acchan laughed.

“Acchan! Pay attention, what if Maria was reverse Isekai-ed? We have to get her back in the game before Katarina Claes conquers the black-hearted, sadistic prince route!” Aiko shook her friend. Acchan laughed harder.

“You told me you can’t even play that game anymore because you get headaches—there’s no point in mourning Katarina Claes winning.” Acchan giggled. “By the way, here.” She took out a game case and handed it to Aiko. “Try this game, instead. The protagonist is a cutie!”

“Persona 5 Royal?” Aiko examined the cover. She saw a handsome black haired boy in a mask on the cover smirking back at her. Atsuko nodded.

“Yeah, I just finished it. You’ll like it. The hacker girl reminds me of you, haha.”

“Thanks, Acchan. It sucks I can’t play Fortune Lover anymore though.” Aiko pouted.

“I can’t really blame you. I’ve had to hide my game case too. I’ve been having weird dreams every time I play it.” Atsuko confessed. Aiko blinked.

“Dreams?”

“Yeah, that I have white hair and red eyes and I have a very quiet brother who watches over me. I live in a manor too. Maybe I’ve been playing Nicol’s route too much…”

Aiko didn’t want to mention when she first saw Atsuko when she woke up, she saw the same image Atsuko was describing. An eerie feeling crept up in her stomach, but she shook her feelings away.

“Anyway, we should probably get to class…” Aiko began, but Atsuko’s attention was elsewhere.

“Hey look, guess it’s the new transfer students.” Atsuko pointed out, and Aiko turned her attention to the limo pulling up to school. Students in the courtyard observed the spectacle with curiosity.

“Transfer students?” Aiko furrowed her brow.

“They announced it in our class. You were too busy sneaking a snack in class, silly.” Atsuko grinned fondly at her friend. “The game Fortune Lover was based off their appearances. That Maria look-a-like was probably her real life model.”

“What? Really? You never told me that.” Aiko was confused. Atsuko then looked confused herself.

“Hmmm it’s strange… that fact just popped into my head just now.” Atsuko wondered. “Maybe I forgot to tell you because I didn’t think it was important?”

“You usually know everything about games though.” Aiko reminded her. Then she made a face. “You’ve spoiled enough of them for me to know…”

“You know you love my spoiling.” Atsuko smirked. “Oh! There they are! I heard they’re all really high status. Weird that they’re coming to our school.”

“Yeah… weird…” Aiko’s attention was on the seven students who were now entering the courtyard. They were all exceptionally beautiful. Aiko felt her heart go doki doki at their magnificent aura. It was like they were from another world, despite wearing the same school uniform she did. Yet, more so than their beauty, they were familiar. She wanted to know why. Why did she want to go up and embrace them?

“Ow…” Aiko said, holding her head. A sharp pain was piercing her skull. Atsuko steadied her.

“Hey, let’s go to the nurse. I’m not feeling too great either…” Acchan told her. “Maybe it was something I ate?”

“It could be because you’re not sleeping well you said…” Aiko murmured, still in pain. Atsuko and her began walking towards the nurse’s office.

As they walked away, they didn’t realize the seven transfer students were watching them.

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

Here’s Chapter 3! Hope you enjoyed.  

[bluepenguinstories]

Happiness Overload Chapter Sixty-Four

I bobbed my head to and fro. Then I decided to practice my speech in front of the designated villain:

“So you have me in your sights. Nowhere for me to run. You can complete your goal, become all-powerful, and more than anything, be satisfied.”

“Something doesn’t feel right,” he muttered as if he were in a Tom Waits song. “I’m supposed to work for this. You’re just giving in.”

“Are you mad that I haven’t experienced the full extent of despair and hopelessness? But you should have known that me having Euphoria within me, that it would be impossible for me to feel anything other than happy.”

“That’s not it. I need to earn it.”

He spoke with such clarity as if all of his jumbled thoughts had been formed because during every moment of his existence, he longed for the one he found himself in.

“You have! You’ve worked very hard and your efforts should go rewarded! You should know, vore isn’t one of my fetishes, but I’m open to try new things.”

“Heh,” his smile once again rest plastered on his face, and I could make out a faint whiff of a chuckle. “It’s as if our personalities have reversed.”

“Not at all! I am, after all, the blank slate!”

“I don’t get it. I must have won. I already know you won’t try to resist. I’ve done everything up until this point and once I devour you and take your power, I can finally rest. But then...why does it feel like I’ve lost?”

I shrugged my shoulders. I almost wanted to shout with glee, but it wasn’t quite time yet.

“I’d say ‘sometimes you just gotta take that L’, but...it’s not really like that. As we speak, The Flashbulb is dissolving. They were an enemy of yours, weren’t they? And if not for the events which you orchestrated, their plans for this world wouldn’t have been foiled. So you won.”

In fact, seeing as things were about to end, I was more than a little curious how things were going back there now that I wasn’t able to support Velvet or any of the other friends I might have made along the way.

That was it, huh? Blanc was gone once again, and in their place was the reality of the situation: that things weren’t quite over yet. No, I already knew that. I was a fool to believe that things would be so easy. As soon as Blanc left, the fight was back on, with a glint of smugness in the eyes of the Flashbulb members. I knew I had to act, but I was still trying to process everything. My friend, gone once more. How many times has it been? Hell, it didn’t even matter. The impact was the same each time.

“Now that that’s out of the way, let’s go ahead and turn back time,” Dr. Humble declared, and that was the moment when I was broken from my trance. I jumped in front of the two Flashbulb members, and whether they were in charge of the whole operation or not didn’t matter much to me. In its own twisted way, it seemed like every member was equal measure all powerful and powerless against the other members. Less a check and balance and more two magnets in the same direction, unable to connect.

Look, the metaphor was better in my head.

Either way, I snatched it out from Dr. Humble’s grasp, and while Dr. Asparagus (or Modest. Potato, tomato. Same difference) tried to fight back and restrain me, I fought back and shoved my elbow into his stomach and stomped on his shoe. Both of them gasped now as I held their device in my hands, and I retreated back toward Coriander.

“What’s the deal?” Dr. Humble protested. How ironic, considering the position of power they held.

“You said yourself that you couldn’t turn back time until the ‘celestial’ or whatever you wanna call it this time is dies along with Earth!” I fired back at them. I didn’t know how to use their time travel device, nor did I care to. Perhaps if my endeavor proved fruitful, however eventual, Coriander and I could work together to find a new purpose for the device. As much as I didn’t want to fixate on it, there was a certain air that things were much less certain ever since Blanc departed.

“Please, that world of yours will come to an end whether we create a new timeline or not, so why not just start now?” Dr. Asparagus argued, his voice with the same smugness one would expect from a moldy piece of asparagus.

“I’ll be the one to decide that!” I declared, and maybe I didn’t have a reason to and maybe he was right, but damn it, this wasn’t just a battle over time preferences, but a battle over power.

When Coriander finally spoke, having been in the background the whole time, motionless, just as dazed as I was sure that I was, she sounded the least confident of all.

“What are we supposed to do now?” She asked. “I wanted to be able to return to the world.” She sounded like she was about to get choked up.

Now’s not the time to lose confidence, I wanted to tell her, but it wasn’t like I was any more hopeful.

“Velvet?” Her voice came in once more.

As soon as Coriander said that name, a screen popped up in the air with my likeness, as well as a series of writing.

“Ah, so that’s who you are,” Dr. Humble was now the one to sound smug. Quite a big deal of humblebragging, I’d say. “You’ve been a nuisance throughout your adult life, haven’t you? Governments have embellished stories of you, making you out to be some larger than life threat, when really, you’ve just spent much of your time with reckless impulses. All of your feats seem to be nothing more than lucky breaks. So insignificant to us, that when figured into the dangers of humanity, you’re not even a thought.”

Sheesh. You get your own Wikipedia page and all of a sudden everyone thinks they got you figured it out. Much of what that profile says about me could be applied to The Flashbulb themselves. Embellished? Check. Larger than life? Check. Nothing but lucky breaks? Also check.

“Is any of that wrong?” He asked me, as if he already thought himself correct.

“I mean, sure, I’ve definitely thought that way about myself,” I shrugged. Maybe it was the whole “nothing left to lose” attitude, but hearing such an amusing report gave me quite the ego boost. “People thinking I was some badass secret agent, when really, I just got where I was through a series of fuck ups. It could be that everything that has brought me here was due to countless lucky breaks, as well.”

They both laughed. I didn’t dare look through the corner of my eye, but I suspected there was a great fear and apprehension from my dear lover.

“I can’t believe this! We were scared over nothing! Nothing!” Both of the two men began to cackle, less like witches and more like they just discovered fire. An ever-widening crooked smile crept on Dr. Humble’s face as he spoke: “I’ll tell you two, hell, if Dr. Katsushika can hear us, I’ll tell that damned wild card as well! We as an organization are eternal! Countless others before you have tried to defeat us, all ending in utter failure to the point where we started to view having enemies as routine! And with that in mind, you thought you had a chance?”

True, they had an impressive track record against their opposition, but something about their speech of villainy just irked me.

“You’re right on that count, too,” I conceded. “We may not survive, either. Hell, I’m willing to bet our chances are slim to none.”

“Velvet!” Coriander scolded. Or maybe that’s what I interpreted from her tone. My head could be a real mess sometimes. But I knew why she would have scolded me, if that was the case. I mean, she didn’t want to die. Nor did I. Plus, it probably sounded to her like I was giving up or admitting defeat. Easy mistake to make, especially when I was less focused on communication and more focused on what should come next.

“That said, even with low chances like those, I’m still going to try and I’ll keep trying so long as I live. You’re probably thinking that all my luck has run out, but I have to ask: are you willing to test yours?”

Without so much as a reaction, Dr. Mumble (err...not Humble, but the other one) reached for one of the buttons on their console and spoke into it.

“Guards, dispose of these two intruders at the front.”

“Loud and clear,” a guard at the other end responded. At once, my heart both ceased to beat, for even just a second, and then it beat way too fast.

“It shouldn’t take them more than a few minutes to get here,” Dr. Microbe (like hell I was going to dignify that Flashbulb goon with their name) explained. “Especially with their numbers. You made a valiant effort, but when all is said and done, it won’t be so much as a footnote in a small section of our history.”

“How?” I balled my fists. They shook and I had to be careful not to crush the time travel device I held in my hand. It wasn’t like I knew how to use it, nor would I turn back time. As lucky as I may have been at times, I still preferred to do things on my own terms. “Popsigirl should have disabled all communications!”

“You’ll find that much like the code to Dr. Etna, much of our system constantly rewrites itself and corrects any errors along the way. Even if communication was temporarily cut off, it was never going to last long.”

Tenser than before, Coriander once again asked, “what do we do now, Velvet?”

I turned to her. As I did, I noticed something else. Call it keen eyesight, or potential for yet another lucky break, but I had to take any chance I could.

“I’m not going to ask you to trust me,” my words were just as shaky as hers had been. “Not when things are looking the way they are. But I will ask for you to check that wall next to you. If you find a panel, well, you know what to do.”

At first she gave me a baffled look, like “English, motherfucker!” But then she nodded.

“Are you sure?” She asked.

“You’re as capable a hacker as I.” While I knew her specialty was more hardware than software, there was a certain amount of blind faith that I had to employ. Not to say I doubted her abilities, but that I had my doubts that anything could have helped us at that point.

While Coriander got to work with visible frustration, it appeared that Humble and Modest (screw it, just this once) weren’t living up to their names.

“Even if you two manage to figure a way out of here, what then? Like always, the predator becomes the prey, and here you are, on the defensive,” one of them spoke. Did it matter which one? I sure as hell didn’t think so. “Even if we were to lose all of our members, we could just recruit new versions of those same people in another timeline! You could kill us right now, in fact, and so long as one of us lives to bring new members in, what can you do? You’re fighting a losing battle!”

Talk it up. Every second you guys waste running your mouths gives me that much more time.

“Got it!” Coriander declared. I turned to see an opening beside us. Hell, as soon as I saw that, I couldn’t help but show off a sly grin.

“Well, not to be as cliché as you guys have been, but as they say, ‘we’ll deal with you later!’”

I shoved the time travel device into my pocket and ran into the opening along with Coriander. As we did so, the wall closed behind us and the two of us were surrounded in darkness. I’ve spent many nights by her side with the lights off, so that moment seemed like nothing to me.

“Good job, bae,” I put my thumbs up. Being as dark as it was, I had to be careful not to stick my thumb up her nose on accident.

“I’m surprised I managed to figure out something, I mean, it was tricky and even then, if we hesitated even just a second more, it might have closed on us.”

“Ugh,” I felt nauseous with what I was about to say next.

“What?”

“It really is the case that every second counts,” I said, just as I knew I would. Oh, the cliché. Oh, the disgust that was mediocre dialogue.

“Oh yeah. Gross,” she dismissed. “I think we’ve got more on our plate than rhetoric.”

We continued to move forward as we spoke. Any second, those guards would enter the room, and I was sure that both her and I knew that it would only take an instant on their end for that same wall to open up for them. We had to be on the move and figure out a strategy. I was aware of the real possibility that they could hear and catch every word we said, but I think our greatest asset was that we didn’t really know what we were going to do next. Really kept them on their toes.

“We can’t return to the world we knew,” her worries spilled forth. “It will still end, regardless of what we do. We can’t even get rid of the angel without having the world be destroyed in the process. I can’t stop thinking about this. How there’s nothing we could do. Bitterly, I already knew that, but I wanted so bad to believe there was a solution where we could reverse course and come out victorious. So what now?”

I gulped. My, how easy it was to give in to despair. I didn’t think she was quite there yet, but I wouldn’t have blamed her if she was.

“It’s easy,” I spoke up, at last thinking that I had an answer. “I know we didn’t get the most satisfying outcome, so now we try for the next best thing.”

I couldn’t tell whether she nodded in agreement, or if my words didn’t inspire much confidence, as with the total darkness, there was any number of ways one could interpret silence. Regardless, we continued to move forward.

We were on our way to bear the bad news when we both heard the announcement. It meant nothing to me, but it shook Dr. Hepburn to her core. She did a little jig, then turned to me and began poking my shoulders with such intensity and I was left wondering why I kept letting her.

“Hey. Psst! Hey.”

“Yes, HR lady?” I smiled. I couldn’t help but imagine that if I were in her position, I’d act the same way.

“You know that feeling when you go around giving people false hope but then you find out that hope is even more false than you realized?”

I shook my head.

“That’s how you’re feeling right now, huh?” I replied.

“Yeah!” She pumped her fists. “Everyone wants to be Grandmaster Flash, but there is no Grandmaster Flash, so everyone’s been vying for a false position at a false top!”

“Right, and I only like true tops,” I joked.

“Sorry,” she looked down and shook her head. “I’m not a fan of hierarchy. In fact, in some ways, this is quite a relief to me.”

“How so?”

“Because now everyone’s morale will be shifted from super low to super high...in your guys’ favor! They’re probably all pissed right now, like they’ve been cheated! Well, the ones who weren’t driven to despair, anyway.”

“Hmm...that’s one way to look at it, I suppose,” I wasn’t sure if that’s how things worked with people, but it seemed like a possibility.

“You know, I was always rooting for you guys,” she snapped her fingers.

“You were?”

“Well, once it turned out you guys were winning, anyway. If you guys were on the losing end of things, I’d be like ‘I wish they’d protest in a way that didn’t affect us’.”

“Gee, thanks,” I scoffed.

“Don’t mention it!” She held her thumb up and grinned.

Soon we entered a room and Dr. Hepburn had me sit next to her as she addressed a group.

“Greetings, I hope all of you in the Design Department are well,” she began. “I regret to inform you that going forward, your department will be laid off. The Flashbulb wishes you all the best in your future endeavors.”

All around the room were blank stares. I’m pretty sure I could be counted as one of those blank stares.

“All right, Hepburn. Cut the bullshit,” one member finally spoke up. Some gruff guy with a gray pompadour haircut.

“No, no, she’s serious,” I waved my hands out. That proved to be a mistake as the guy turned his attention toward me.

“First of all, no she isn’t. Everyone knows none of us get fired or laid off here. We’re stuck here ‘til the day we die, which usually entails us getting killed by someone. Second, who are you?”

Before I could answer, Dr. Hepburn tapped her pen away at her clipboard until his attention turned toward her instead, to which she took over.

“She is my auntie assistant,” she explained.

“What kind of sick roleplay…” I heard him muttered. I wanted to defend myself and go, “It’s not sick! It’s perfectly healthy!” But why would I when it wasn’t even roleplay?

“Anyway, I don’t know why you’re wasting your time with such an excuse when we already know the big secret. Hell, now that the cat’s out of the bag, a big lot of us are asking ourselves, ‘what was ever the point?’ I mean, the obvious point should have been, ‘to help each other improve one another’, but with this sham of a competition, it’s clear we’ve not really been a help to anyone, let alone ourselves.”

Hepburn’s tapping continued with such a frenzied intensity that I imagined she would make a great drummer, if she wasn’t already one to begin with. Maybe if I got the chance, I could convince her to take up the drums. But then maybe she wouldn’t be into that sort of thing. It’s the thought that counts, anyway, right?

Then the tapping stopped and she smiled a big smile.

“Good! Now you know why you’re being laid off!”

“Oh for crying out loud!” He got up from his chair and flew into a rage.

“Anyway, now that you’re no longer with the company, wanna burn it down?” Dr. Hepburn suggested.

He froze in place.

“You know what? Yeah. I do. I’m sick of all the micromanaging and the way every department can’t seem to help but do more harm than good. Worse, I’m sick of hearing ‘Grandmaster Flash told you to’ when no, no they didn’t. That’s just an excuse to make me do something you didn’t want to do.”

I was glad he seemed to be on our side. Now there was just the matter of the rest of the Design Department…

I shot my hand up.

“Hey, is there someone here named Dr. Oz?” I looked around and asked. One of the members, a sheepish looking young man with mutton chops and a wool sweater turned to me.

“That me,” he bleated. I couldn’t help myself, I was beaming at the prospect that I could be a matchmaker.

“I met Dr. Phil!”

His eyes widened, like he had just seen a wolf. Jeez, I didn’t mean to put him on the spot like he was some sacrificial lamb.

“Did he say anything abaa-t me?”

“Yeah! He said that he thinks it would be great if you two worked together to rally up more departments! He said his department’s sick of this shithole and he bet he isn’t the only one!

“Did he really say that?” The pompadour guy interrupted, ever the skeptic.

He said some of those things. Look, I’m improvising here.

“Sure did! Who are you, anyway?”

He grunted. “I’m Dr. Toto. What about you? No more games, either.”

I bless the rains down the yellow brick road – no, now’s not the time for that. I have to think of how to answer. Probably not a good idea to make something up, but what else can I say?

“Dr. Hepburn, go ahead and tell them the truth. I’m still a little shy,” I tugged on her sleeve.

She looked down and smiled. She must have known just what to say.

“The truth is, Juniper is best girl.”

I just about fell back in my chair. I was rooting for you, Dr. Hepburn! We were all rooting for you! “Back in her original timeline, there was a contest all around the vote all around the world, and it was decided at the end that she was best girl. The company caught wind of this and just had to find out what all the hype was about, and so she was brought here. There was a raffle in the cafeteria with the grand prize being to meet her. Needless to say, I won.”

That had to be the among the top ten most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard.

“Yeah, okay. Seems legit,” Dr. Toto grunted as he nodded.

There were two other members of the Design department, one of which had long, flowing fuchsia hair, and the other had short, iridescent indigo hair. Both of them were pretty, but if I had to choose one over the other...no. That wasn’t what I was there for.

The one with fuchsia hair turned to me.

“How did you do it? Become best girl?” Fuchsia’s voice was soft and soothing.

Way to put me on the spot, Hepburn.

“By starting a revolution!” I declared. Hey, if Dr. Hepburn was going to make a bold claim, so was I.

“Cheers, sis, I’ll fucking drink to that,” Indigo added, and if Fuchsia’s voice was beautiful, then Indigo’s voice was hot, with the way it was husky and self-assured. Still, I didn’t mean to compare the two.

“Anyway, we gotta get a move on and lay more people off. If you guys can work on getting the word out, we should at least have a few more departments on our side,” I explained. Dr. Hepburn gave me a pat on the head.

“You did well as an auntie assistant,” she told me.

“Thanks,” I blushed, though really I didn’t want my hair messed with.

As we left the room, we heard the siren call of an alarm.

“The guards…” I heard her mutter, and before I could react, she took me by the hand and we ran.

Well, wasn’t that just swell?

I mean, I should have expected it, really. If it happened just as planned, then I wouldn’t have found it to be such a masterpiece, just a simple work of art, instead. So revise, improvise. After all, you couldn’t spell painting without ‘pain’ and you couldn’t spell drawing without ‘aw’ and without a doubt, you couldn’t spell revolution without ‘vore’.

Once the alarms outside of my head went off, the alarms inside my head did as well.

Soon, I could hear the click-clack approaching the door to the command room I was in. Which command room? Did it matter? Why did we have so many command rooms? Beats me, but I was sure going to miss this place once it was all over. Which, ‘over’ was just an anagram of ‘vore’. I felt that was worth pointing out.

“Wah! Ha! Ha!” I let out a proud laughter as the door to was busted down and fine chiseled armored specimen stormed in with their suits of shiny metal and their heavy weapons. Each of them fell before they could even pull their itty bitty triggers. Turns out I was right to hold on to Cilantro’s laser backpack. That thing could pack a PUNCH with a capital ‘UNCH’.

As the three guards lay on the ground, I stood over them in triumph and announced:

“It’s just like the tools of the ruling class to be anti-creator. Well I’m here to tell you that I’m pro-creator, and I plan to procreate for as long as I live!”

I couldn’t just stand there over them, as much as that would have made for a fine work of art, as I wasn’t quite sure if they were dead. Yes, I could have fired another shot or three, just to make sure, but there was a beauty in the uncertainty of it all that I just had to relish in. I sniffed the air, which mostly smelled of the smoke produced from that laser blast.

“I was really hoping to catch the whiff of a charred corpse,” I sighed with disappointment. That mood didn’t last, and soon I was back on the drawing board. “Anyway! As they say in Spain, Seeyanara!”

If my calculations were correct (and while some may have thought calculus not to be my strong suit, they would be wrong, as not only was I not good at calculus, but calculating was an art, so being good or not was irrelevant) then Velvet and Lil C should be close. Good! I could return the cute backpack to its rightful owner.

We were still alive, but at a disadvantage. Sure, I could hack into stuff as well, although if someone were to ask me, Velvet was still better in that department. She could roll with the punches and think fast on her feet. Me? I needed total concentration.

At the moment, as we moved forward in pure darkness, concentration was the one thing I did NOT have. It’s not like I wanted to admit it, but it was the reality we were in: at any moment, the walls we found ourselves between would be blasted open and the two of us, shot down. It got me thinking about what our impact would have been. The “close, but not cigar” in terms of success stories of those who went against The Flashbulb? The little clone that could, until she didn’t? It’s not like I cared how I was remembered, if I was remembered at all, I just expected a little more.

Well, my worst fear came true: in front of us, a blast tore through the walls and we both jumped back.

We’re gonna get raided and we’re gonna get shot down without so much as a fight and we aren’t going to have any romantic last words between us it’s just going to be violent and bloody and –

Instead of an army of guards, only one figure entered, one who I wished I didn’t have to see again so soon: that mad artist.

“Smart thinking, you two! Making out while the enemy’s looking for you!” Were her first words upon us meeting, and I was not amused. In fact, I’m pretty sure I growled without so much as a word.

“Ha. I wish,” Velvet joked back, though by now I could tell that was just how Velvet acted when she was tense.

“Anyway, you two should get out of there. Don’t worry, I took care of the guards that were after you. Though there’s going to be a buttload more.”

“Is that the scientific term or…?” Velvet shot back.

Disregarding the useless small talk, we walked forward, through the new hole that was formed. Velvet first, me just behind her. There was no way I was going to trust that popsicle stick lover. Then again, she hurt Velvet before, too. Ugh. Just the thought of either of our wounds was enough to send shivers.

Light illuminated us (get it? Because...oh, who gives a shit?) as we stepped out. I still wanted to keep as much distance from that...you know. I selfishly wished that Velvet would do the same.

“Jeez, I can’t believe you guys didn’t defeat the bad guys yet? How hard could it be?” You-know-who (or you don’t, and if you don’t, lucky you) began questioning. Although not quite accusatory and more playful in tone.

“Gee, I don’t know. Army of guards, code that self-corrects, time travel devices, the list goes on,” Velvet was incensed, no longer playing around.

I didn’t look that artsy fartsy helper in the eye, but I was still compelled to speak up.

“I-It’s not just that!” My fists were balled. We didn’t have time to stand around and argue, but dammit, someone had to set the record straight gay. “So long as one Flashbulb members wishes to stay in power, then we may as well consider the whole thing a loss! They can always go back in time! This is the problem with the organization as a whole! Those guards may as well be members too, because even if they aren’t official members, they have a vested interest in killing anyone who threatens their power! What’s to stop them from forming a new Flashbulb? We can’t just go 75%!”

I began to huff and puff. Hyperventilate. Even though I didn’t see her face, as I refused to, I could just tell that she smiled in return.

“I see your point, and that’s why I’m saying, it’s easy to beat them! You just gotta send them back to their own time and leave them nothing in their possession! I don’t see what’s so hard about that!”

I didn’t give her a reply. I never wanted to speak to her, or around her again in the first place. But I spoke once and that was already too much.

“Now, this is a big organization, so there’s bound to be plenty of departments that don’t care about the lack of a Grandmaster Flash. In fact, they might have been elated when they heard that! You guys will probably have to deal with them. Well, you guys, or the ones who defect. I suspect there’s been a few departments who have been unhappy with this company for a while now, and probably want to tear the whole thing down. So you got that going for you.”

I heard every word, but none of them meant anything to me. Maybe they held significance, but I just let them flow in and out.

“I’ll be real with you guys, you’ll probably still need to kill some guards, unless you can strip them naked and send them flying to some deserted island. Either way, their bodies will have to go somewhere. I’m going to go help out these other departments who are on your side! I’ll be sending plenty of doctorates flying home!”

I looked down and noticed Velvet reach into her pocket and pull out the time travel device that she stole from Dr. Humble.

“I see what you’re saying, but I don’t even know how to use this thing,” she must have pointed to said device as she told Dr. Popsicle.

“Well gee, I’d help you figure it out, but I can already tell there’s more guards approaching.”

That was weird. I didn’t hear any. But then, I heard a little tap-tap sound in the back of my mind, and that could have been them in the distance.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. You’re good at figuring things out under pressure. In fact, you should go back in that room you were in and kick those two men out.”

“Really? After we just left with our lives?” Velvet interrupted.

“What better way to practice a craft? As for you, Coriander…” Popsigirl spoke, and I felt like screaming for her not to say my name, but instead I said nothing. “I’ve come to return your backpack.”

I didn’t take it. Instead, Velvet took it and handed it to me. For what seemed like an eternity, I stood in place. Then, arms wrapped around me, the familiar arms that I’ve felt many times before, and I looked up.

“I get it,” Velvet whispered while still in her arms. “She’s gone now. You’re safe.”

“Right,” I nodded. “Let’s just go back there and show those two what’s what.”

At least if Twee-humble and Twee-modest wanted to put up a fight, I could fire my lasers. So for their sake, they should have played nice if they knew what was good for them.

In all my years, I never understood the hype with Audrey. Katharine, however, she was worth all the hype and then some. Really, where was the Katharine fandom when you needed them? If they wouldn’t show up, I would just have to be Special K.

Okay? Okay. Focus. OK? Right. Rikki-tikki...tic-tactile.

My auntie (no relation) assistant, Dr. Not-a-Doctor Juniper was right beside me as someone who just happened to be right beside me. Where were we? I think we were in hiding. In a closet or a broom room. Something about guns and guards and not wanting to die. That sounded about right.

“You look scared!” Junie B. Jones commented. Really, I heard that name somewhere before. Probably in a newspaper somewhere during some time period.

“I’m more than scared,” I assured her. “They probably don’t like traitors, just like they don’t like intruders.

“Well...that makes sense, I guess,” she gave it some thought. “I’ll be honest, I wish I had some kind of plan. I thought things were going pretty well back there with the Design Department, but now I’m losing hope again.”

“I know what you mean. It’s like a civil war here. Flashbulb vs. Flashbulb. It’s like we’re trying to pin each other down, but neither of us wants to be underneath the other.”

“...Did you have to phrase it that way?” She sounded concerned. I didn’t understand, and more than that, I didn’t think there was any other way to phrase it. It was just the reality of the situation.

Even in the darkened room, I could tell Juniper was sullen.

“The truth is...it seems like everyone’s doing their part, but I feel like I haven’t really done anything.”

“Don’t think of it that way! You came up with suggestions that probably wouldn’t have been implemented! I can tell you have a desire to help others, and sometimes that desire is good enough!”

“Gee, that’s real nice of you to say, but…” she looked away. “Is that really enough?”

I shrugged. “Who knows, but sometimes it is, so maybe one of these days, it will be!”

I pressed my ear against the door. From the sound of things, it seemed like all the commotion died down. Though the alarm kept sounding, there was nary a threatening aura to be heard.

I opened the door.

“I think we’re safe for now,” I told her.

Then, as if I just tempted fate (which hey, if I did, that’s pretty cool, I mean, it would have been bad for us, but it would also be just like one of those ironic lines in a movie), other faces met ours.

“Dr. Phil?” Juniper noticed one such face. Some chubbyish guy who looked ready to hit the hay. That was, until he smiled a big smile and right next to a human-shaped hay pile was Dr. Oz.

“Hey! Dr. Juniper! Look! Dr. Oz and I are a couple now!”

Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz shared a passionate kiss and everyone in the Marketing and Design department cheered.

“Don’t worry, I’m not a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Dr. Oz reassured us. “In fact, Dr. Phil and I have been spreading the word, just like you suggested, Juniper! We’ve got the Agriculture, the Housing, and the Clothing Department coming over to help us with possibly others on the way!”

Juniper smiled and I thought I saw a tear roll down her cheek, but she wiped it away, whatever it was she wiped away.

“I’m glad for you guys. I’m glad to have made some friends, even when I thought I’d make enemies and be scared for my life.”

I watched as those two departments and Juniper shared a hug with one another. Meanwhile, I had a No. 1 pencil in my mouth (a rarity. Most of them had been eked out of existence in favor of the inferior No. 2).

“Yeah, yeah, soak it in,” Dr. Toto cut the heartwarming moment short with a cross of his arms. “But we still gotta deal with those guards, as well as the departments that don’t want to defect.”

“Right. Good thing Dr. Glinda and I have constructed a shield to block any artillery,” Dr. Ozma declared.

“Dr. Glinda?” Juniper asked.

I pointed my tender pencil at the member of the design department with fuchsia hair.

“Oh! Fuchsia! So who is indigo?”

I wanted to burst into laughter. I never thought to call Dr. Ozma ‘Indigo’ before. I couldn’t help but think, “my name is Indigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to –” but I didn’t know where I was going with that.

“That’s Dr. ozma, Junebug.”

“Oh! Junebug! That’s a cute nickname!” Juniper grinned. With much brighter spirits, we charged on. I thought to let everyone know that it seemed like none of us had a clue where we were going, but I kept my mouth shut because nobody liked a buzzkill.

Anyway, things seemed to be going pretty fine and dandy. Some guards rushed in and after warning us to go back to our departments. Dr. Glinda and Dr. Ozma raised the protective barrier around the two groups. The next logical thing was the guards opening fire, but after their artillery was depleted, Juniper seemed to gain a new set of confidence and declared:

“We have gay and anime on our side!”

Those same guards ran up to us and tried to break the shield down by bashing their weapons against the shield. It seemed like that was actually working as I noticed our shield start to break. But before it broke fully, each of the guards fell to the ground. Dr. Toto looked confused, but once everyone saw who had taken the guards down, we all froze in fear: the dreaded Dr. Katsushika stood, with several giant marionette dolls beside her.

“Who let her out of her cage?” Dr. Glinda asked as she trembled.

“Coming out of my cage and I’ve been...doing...just…” Juniper muttered, her teeth chattered. Must have been a nervous tick of hers. Cute.

“Nice revolution you have there. Shame if something were to happen to it,” Dr. Katsushika grinned. We all got ready to scream and run, until that same artist laughed. “I’m just messing with you guys! I’m on your side! Let’s go!”

Relieved, we followed behind her. I recall Juniper asked Dr. Katsushika something like, “why’s everyone so scared of you?”

To which Dr. Katsushika replied, “People tend to think I’m evil, that’s all.”

“Aw, I’m sure you’re not that bad. You’re probably just misunderstood.”

“Right!” Dr. Katsushika agreed. “Just give me five, no, ten years, and I’ll be a full-fledged artist!”

It was really nice to see everyone come together, even if it was for the purpose of making us all break apart. Would our organization really be no more? And if so, what would that make me, then? That thought was fraught with a frailty I couldn’t fathom. Some eternal entity, falling. I hoped at least one of us could see the end, if not me, but for the moment, I chose to close my eyes and wait for whatever outcome.

Two figures sitting. Both of us humanoid. Both of us eager for it all to end. Neither of us human. Well, one may be, but at times I knew better. Then at times I knew worse. Even to the bitter end, I couldn’t keep myself consistent.

“I never really cared whether The Flashbulb was defeated or not,” I said once I managed a split hair of clarity. “I always considered them too easy a target. Anger was fine, but anger wouldn’t last me. My true frustration was finding something that would.”

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, or none of the above, looked down on me. Not with pity, not in contempt, but just because they sat on a rock while I sat on a flat surface.

“Is it frustrating?”

“I can’t...be happy...if I don’t find something...that will last me...until death...but...being immortal...makes things...all that more...difficult.”

I didn’t need to space out all of those words. I think I just wanted to for dramatic effect.

“I see, then!” That bright light beamed.

I couldn’t help but smile, even after everything that happened. All that I caused, and all that I didn’t. What I let happen and what I perpetuated. I still never found what I thought to be happiness. Soon, even the dissatisfaction would be gone.

[hungline]

put on a show

pairing: ot7 (seokjin x everyone), care bear line  genre: smut, fluff, light angst, friends to lovers au, rated xxx  warnings: explicit sexual content, pseudo sugar daddy!jin, threesome, exhibitionism, polyamory negotiations, handjobs, fingering, anal sex, dom/sub undertones, circle jerk, cum marking  words: 4104 

summary: Seokjin loves his boys. Maybe not in the way that people generally love their friends since he frequently has threesomes with them, but he loves all six of his friends just the same. 

+ tag list: @dimplemono @kirtikagarg @disrespectfulkookies @honeymoonjin @reeneryu ✨

Movie nights always consist of the seven of them spread around Seokjin's living room.

His apartment is the best equipped for it after all ー even considering the fact that he is still an undergrad student like the rest of his younger friends. Jaehwan and Heeyeon don’t count since they are “basically older” even though the three of them are the same age and those two always make it a point to rub it into his face that they have already graduated and are out there living their full adult lives.

Seokjin understands that he lives a pretty privileged life due to his parents' wealth and the position he currently holds at their company, but the only times he had used that to his advantage was when it would benefit someone other than himself. Like when he paid for six months of Namjoon's rent the moment he learned the younger had lost his job, or when he paid Taehyung's bail the first time he got drunk at a party and somehow ended up in a shopping center instead with no clothes on, and again when he hired a hacker to get him some illegally obtained documents to use as blackmail on the middle-aged professor who kept pestering Jeongguk to sleep with him for a good grade or else fail his class.

(Not to say that Seokjin didn't use those documents anyway to get the man fired after Jeongguk had passed the course with flying colors all on his own, but what Jeongguk doesn't know, won't kill him.)

He has definitely gone above and beyond when it comes to taking care of those that he loves. But he isn't ashamed of it; if anything, Seokjin is proud.

Seokjin loves his boys. Maybe not in the way that people generally love their friends since he frequently has threesomes with them, but he loves all six of his friends just the same.

That is why he invested in a projector and a surround sound system when movie nights at his place turned into a thing. They even hold a weekly poll for what movie they will watch. (Yoongi frequently wins those.)

He bought two other loveseats shortly after and then a dozen throw pillows and extra blankets. His parents hadn't said anything about his brow-raising purchases, but they did ask him if he was entertaining people more often. Especially when he began buying popcorn in bulk, along with gummy worms and gigantic ice cream cartons.

Seokjin will even pay for his boys’ Uber rides too, in case it’s raining or the bus will get them to his place later than usual. Will even offer them one of his spare rooms when they stay too late or pay for another Uber to get them home. He has never asked any of them to pay him back because he finds it completely unnecessary. 

Of course, they always insist on doing so, wanting to return the favor in some way, but Seokjin has more money than he knows what to do with. Most of it does belong to his parents, but Seokjin’s been running a few aspects of the company by himself for years, and that’s where the rest of his income stems from. Even without his parent’s wealth, Seokjin still has too much money. Having his friends try and give him any more only makes him at a loss of what to do with it all.

He knows that he has also stepped on plenty of toes because of his wealth and the blatant way he throws his money around when it comes to his six favorite people on the planet. It’s a fact he got himself used to after a year of knowing everyone, but he couldn’t stand by and watch his closest friends struggle while he lived a pampered life. It would be wrong to not at least offer to help, no matter whose pride he was going up against.

And yes, Yoongi is still absolutely mortified over the fact that Seokjin bought him an apartment when he realized that Yoongi was couchsurfing. Yoongi still goes on rants whenever Seokjin is too flashy with his wealth, and Seokjin doesn’t hold that against him. He has never known poverty like Yoongi has, and he probably never will, but that doesn’t mean Seokjin did any of what he did out of pity either. He wants his friends to live good lives and would do anything to make sure that happens. So they came to the compromise that Yoongi could start paying him rent in full once a company hired him as a producer and since that is happening soon, Yoongi has been in a better mood all around which Jeongguk definitely appreciates.

But the fact of the matter is Seokjin would do anything for his boys.

So on this particular movie night, he is only a little caught off guard when Hoseok and Jimin decide to sit on either side of him.

He knows of their intentions as soon as they have sat down, he isn't blind after all. He's just surprised that they finally decided to share their bed with him. He has never been with Hoseok and Jimin, but he wouldn't mind it since he has slept with the other couples in their group after all. Yoongi and Jeongguk are sweet and do everything he asks of them until they finally get their release and Yoongi turns into a brat, wanting more. With Namjoon and Taehyung, they are more focused on getting Namjoon comfortable though, wanting him to feel cherished in between them both whenever they're together.

Seokjin frequently has sex with them even now and that probably does nothing to help the feelings he has for all of them.

He swallows as Hoseok and Jimin cuddle into him, shifting slightly until he's more comfortably pressed into the couch. Hoseok moves with him, wrapping his arms around Seokjin's bicep and pushing his feet underneath the elder's thigh. Jimin turns to the side until he can throw his legs over Seokjin's lap, effectively trapping him in his seat.

It's a good thing Seokjin had one of his “booty call” showers earlier and remembered to use the bathroom before his friends started arriving.

His hair is still a little damp, but that doesn't deter Jimin from carding his fingers through it.

The others are staring at them, Seokjin can feel the weight of their gazes on him, but he's focused on the movie. Spider-Man: Homecoming is pretty alright for a Spider-Man movie, a lot better than the Amazing Spider-Man was at least. Seokjin particularly likes how fatherly Tony Stark acts towards Peter, especially considering how little screen time he is getting throughout the movie.

But it quickly becomes hard to focus when Jimin nudges his thigh into Seokjin's crotch and starts rubbing insistently against him.

Seokjin's breath catches in his throat, eyes searching the room as Jimin continues. Namjoon and Taehyung are watching them, but Jeongguk is actually watching the movie while Yoongi's eyes flicker from the screen to them and back. Seokjin turns his head to see what Hoseok is doing and freezes when the younger man immediately starts to kiss him.

He can't help the noise he makes; it's expected that he will moan when kissed the way Hoseok is kissing him. What Seokjin is more concerned with is the fact that all eyes are on him now. Everyone is hyperfocused on watching him kiss Hoseok and tracing the path Jimin's hands take across his torso.

Jimin's hand replaces his thigh as he shuffles in his seat and suddenly Seokjin is moaning again, his dick fighting to get hard as fast as possible.

He's so fucked, he can already tell from the moment Namjoon stands up and walks slowly over to them on the couch that there's no way anyone is going to go home tonight. Seokjin whines when Jimin presses the palm of his hand harshly against his crotch, pushing him into the back of the couch. Hoseok pulls their lips apart but is quick to let his heartshaped mouth skim down Seokjin’s throat instead, keeping them connected.

"Hyung," Jeongguk says, now standing behind Namjoon's shoulder in front of them. "We've all been talking."

"Yeah, I can see that," Seokjin mutters, cursing when Hoseok bites his shoulder. "Hey! I have to be in the office tomorrow, no marks!"

Hoseok bites him again anyway and laughs when Seokjin swats at him, pouting until Jimin cups his face and kisses him greedily. Seokjin moans right into his mouth and squirms as Hoseok ungracefully shoves his hand down Seokjin's sweatpants to wrap around his cock. The other four are now standing over them, palming themselves as they watch.

It's Namjoon who brings everything to a head. "Hyung, we've been talking and we came to the decision that we love you and we want to share you."

Seokjin blinks up at them, turning away from Jimin's lips and shivering as Hoseok starts to pump him. "Like, we're all together or I'm just with all of you?"

"You're with all of us, if you want, hyung," Yoongi replies as he reaches down and pulls Seokjin's sweatpants down his legs.

He lifts his hips up to help then settles back onto the couch as Yoongi peels his sweats off and steps back. Jimin rummages around in the bag Hoseok brought with him until he pulls out a packet of lube, the kind that usually comes with a box of condoms. Seokjin rolls his eyes but says nothing as Jimin rips open the packet and pours some of the lube into Hoseok's hand. Hoseok goes back to stroking him and Seokjin gasps, eyes fluttering shut as he relaxes, spreading his thighs so everyone can get a good view of the show.

Because that's what Hoseok and Jimin intend to do tonight, don't they? Make a show out of fucking him for the others to get off to. A pseudo punishment for being the last to have him.

Although, it might be an actual punishment from Jimin. Seokjin's listened to Hoseok drone on about their sex life often enough to know about Jimin's appetite. Not like he minds, but it will be refreshing to let someone else take charge while he simply follows along.

"But first, Jimin and I get to have you all to ourselves tonight since these fools have already had a turn," Hoseok croons into his ear. "Ah, hyung, you're so mean. Letting everyone else have you except me and Jiminnie. Don't you love us?"

Seokjin groans, panting as Jimin and the others begin to undress. "Of course, I do. Why do you think I throw my money at all of you?"

"Apart from how annoying that is, hyung," Yoongi says, rolling his eyes and smiling when Seokjin only sticks his tongue out at him. "I hope you know we don't want you for your money and never will."

Taehyung's voice is husky and deep as he leans over and pulls Seokjin's shirt off him. "We want you cause you love us and do so much for us, hyung. You deserve everything in this world and we'll be the ones to give it to you."

"Yes, but first," Jimin cuts in, pushing Taehyung away from the couch. "No one but Hobi and I get to touch you for the rest of the night. You can say no to anything I suggest, hyung, but I need you to decide now whether you're okay with this or not."

Seokjin stares around the room, breaths deep and uneven as Hoseok twists his hands around the head of his cock. The others stare back at him, expressions vulnerable but their eyes darkened with lust.

It's not like Seokjin has to think too hard about this. He knows what he wants to say and why he wants to say it. He knows that he loves his boys and that he's always loved his boys, but he never entertained the idea of actually being with any of them. Let alone all of them. His boys had paired themselves off until he was by his lonesome, pining after all of them and willing to jump into bed with them whenever they desired him.

Now though, he gets to have them. He gets to have all of them.

So he nods his head and rasps out, “Yes, I’m okay with this.”

Jimin smiles, something dark flashing in his eyes before it's gone again. “Good. Now, do you want me to fuck you while you fuck Hoseok? He’s already prepped for you and everything, but I’ll need to get you ready for me.”

Seokjin nods again. “Yes, please.”

“What a good boy,” Jimin murmurs into his ear, pouring more lube onto his fingers. “Scoot towards the edge for me and lean back, hyung.”

Seokjin does so without hesitation, groaning as Hoseok merely moves with him. Jimin moves his fingers closer to Seokjin’s spread legs and looks up, meeting the elder’s gaze and raising a brow in question. Seokjin nods, hissing through his teeth when Jimin teases his rim with one fingertip.

Hoseok twists his wrist around the head of his cock at the same time that Jimin pushes past his entrance and slowly works his finger into him. His entire body reacts like he just touched a livewire and Seokjin fights to stay still, gripping the couch cushions beneath him.

Another twist has Seokjin crying out, his thighs shaking with the strain to remain still. Hoseok only laughs, kissing him again to keep him quiet as Jimin manages to get his entire forefinger into him. The others are now as naked as Seokjin, but they keep their hands to themselves exactly how Jimin commanded them to earlier. No one would dare cross the shortest man in their group of friends, all too familiar with the unexpected level of rage that would accompany it.

Hoseok’s lips are soft and demand his attention, but they aren’t enough to distract Seokjin when Jimin pushes a second finger into him. He moans against Hoseok’s mouth and clamps his eyes shut, doing his best to focus on all that is happening at that moment. 

Jimin is working him open while Hoseok jerks him off, but the other four are also jerking themselves off as they watch. Seokjin finds it difficult to pay attention to only one thing, so he broadens his perspective and looks at the whole picture instead.

It works for a few minutes until Jimin is kissing his neck and pushing a third finger into him.

Seokjin yelps, jerking forward as Jimin’s fingers move in him. Hoseok presses him back, one hand flat against his stomach as the other hurries its movements around his cock. Jimin’s smiling when Seokjin opens his eyes again, gaze finding the shorter man’s immediately. 

“Hobi, get undressed and take out two condoms from your bag,” Jimin orders.

Hoseok immediately does as he is told and Seokjin tightens his grip on the couch cushions as he is left to deal with five pairs of eyes on him and three fingers in him. He hears Hoseok finding the condoms before he sees it, but then he’s too distracted by Hoseok pulling his shirt and shorts off to actually make a comment on anything.

Jimin wiggles his fingers in him teasingly, laughing when Seokjin turns to glare at him. “Eyes on me, hyung.”

Seokjin keeps his eyes on Jimin then, no matter how much he wants to look at Hoseok instead. Jimin nods his head approvingly and leans across him, patting the couch.

“Lay back, hyung. Hoseok is gonna ride you while I fuck you, okay?” Jimin asks, tilting his head to the side as he does.

“Okay,” Seokjin rasps out, turning and leaning back on the cushions.

Jimin keeps his fingers in him while he moves though, so Seokjin takes a moment to even his breaths before he opens his eyes again and finds Hoseok standing in front of him. He holds up one of the condoms and notches his head towards Seokjin’s crotch. Seokjin nods, keeping his eyes open even as he looks over at the others and finds their sole attention on him.

Maybe Seokjin should feel weird about being put on display, but instead, all he feels is a rush of warmth and pure want as Hoseok opens the condom. Seokjin’s thighs jump when Hoseok rolls the condom down his cock, but he stills as soon as Hoseok climbs atop him.

Jimin smacks Hoseok’s asscheek with a grin on his face that Seokjin can’t see, but can tell is there. Hoseok only laughs in response and picks his hips up, leaning over Seokjin until their lips can meet again. Jimin pulls his fingers out of him slowly then and Seokjin moans, smiling when Hoseok bites his lip to distract him.

Vaguely, Seokjin knows that Jimin is pouring more lube onto his other fingers and pressing them into Hoseok, double-checking that he is ready and prepped. He can feel it in the way the muscles around Hoseok’s hips tighten, keeping his ass held up high. But soon enough, Hoseok is relaxing and leaning up, breaking off their kiss.

Seokjin watches as Hoseok shuffles backward and rises up again, grabbing hold of Seokjin’s cock and moving down slowly. His hands find Hoseok’s waist instinctually, his grip tight as he makes it past Hoseok’s rim and finds himself buried in the younger man’s giving heat. Hoseok pushes down until Seokjin is in him to the hilt, hands still on his waist.

When Hoseok lets out a breath, it feels like the entire room does as well. 

Hoseok starts to move then, his palms on Seokjin’s chest as he raises his hips up then slams them down. Seokjin moans, shutting his eyes again as Hoseok gets to work.

Over the sound of their moans and the heavy breathing coming from the other men though, Seokjin can hear the other condom being opened. 

His suspicions are only proved correct when Jimin nudges his thighs apart and scoots forward, lifting one of Seokjin’s legs over his shoulder. Seokjin holds his breath, only exhaling when he can feel Jimin’s cock start to press against his rim. He takes deep breaths as Jimin pushes into him slowly, Hoseok having paused above him at the first sound of Jimin’s involvement.

Time seems to freeze when Jimin stops, buried deep inside him. Seokjin can feel Jimin’s ballsac pressed to his asscheeks, but he focuses on his breathing, tilting his head back as Hoseok leans down once more and takes one of his nipples into his mouth.

Seokjin moans before he can stop himself, his grip on Hoseok’s hips tightening as Hoseok rolls his nipple between his teeth. Jimin starts to move again, pulling back slowly and stopping when only the head of his cock is still inside Seokjin.

He thinks they might be some kind of sex demons though when Jimin slams back into him at the same time that Hoseok bites down on his nipple.

A shocked noise that Seokjin can’t quite pinpoint makes it way past his lips and the others close in, making their presence known. Seokjin opens his eyes again and finds Jeongguk’s cock right in front of him.

He can't help but laugh as he thinks about the fact that he now has access to six other dicks that aren’t his own. Hoseok stares up at him in confusion, but only moves onto his other nipple instead as Jimin quickens his pace.

Briefly, Seokjin wonders what Jimin would do if he were to grab hold of Jeongguk’s dick and open his mouth for Yoongi’s. He theorizes that Jimin would stop what they're doing and dole out punishments for him though and at that moment, Seokjin really doesn't want to stop.

So he moves his hands up Hoseok’s torso instead and tweaks his nipple, grinning when Hoseok jumps. Jimin takes hold of his other leg and swings it over his shoulder, effectively keeping both of Seokjin’s legs in the air. He doesn't mind too much since everyone knows just how flexible he actually is. Hands clasp his thighs and keep him still as Jimin continues to move, Hoseok beginning to find his own rhythm again above him.

Jimin’s cock drags against his prostate soon after and Seokjin chokes out a moan he can’t stop himself from making. Another of his moans rises into the air when Hoseok sits back up and fucks himself down on Seokjin’s cock, hard.

The others moan too and Seokjin can only hear their uneven breaths and the sound of skin slapping against skin now. He closes his eyes and focuses on Hoseok and Jimin, not wanting to get too overwhelmed.

Jimin’s movements are hard and fast, exactly the kind that Seokjin enjoys when he's getting fucked. Hoseok’s movements are getting slower and becoming a bit sluggish, but Seokjin knows that if he decided to move and help a little that Hoseok would only pin him down and fuck himself down harder.

...There’s a thought.

Seokjin opens his eyes and teases his hips up when Hoseok next pushes himself down. He is quickly rewarded with a curse and the hands on his chest pushing down on his sternum even harder.

“Stop moving, hyung. Fuck,” Hoseok whines, his hips never stopping.

Hoseok starts to moves faster right then, a bit of anger in his movements as he fucks himself on Seokjin’s cock. Seokjin only smiles, moaning when Jimin grazes his prostate once more. The others let out a collective exhale at the sound, but no one interrupts.

In the pit of his stomach, Seokjin can feel his orgasm building to momentous heights. It feels like an icy sort of burn that is fighting to get out, to release itself and drive Seokjin insane at the same time.

He can tell that Jimin is close at least and Hoseok is almost there. Hoseok’s thighs shake with the strain of keeping himself up, and he is losing his steam.

Seokjin moves a hand up and pinches Hoseok’s other nipple, smiling to himself as Hoseok moans and stills above him. He moves his hips upwards to finish the job and groans at the same time as Hoseok when the younger finally reaches his orgasm.

Jimin’s thrusts become sloppy then as Hoseok comes over Seokjin's stomach and chest. A little bit of the milky substance even ends up on his chin, but Seokjin doesn't mind too much. He only continues to smile, moving his other hand up Hoseok’s back and pushing him down so they can kiss again.

The come between them squelches as their lips meet, but that only spurs Jimin on so Seokjin counts it as a win.

Soon, Seokjin can feel his orgasm rising like a tidal wave until it engulfs him and he whines loudly against Hoseok’s mouth, releasing himself in the condom. Hoseok moves until he is no longer on top of Seokjin and is instead kneeling on the floor, off the couch altogether, but still keeping their kiss intact.

Seokjin shakes through his orgasm, his body spasming randomly as Jimin fucks him through it, milking it for all it’s worth. He can hear the others getting closer themselves, but they don't move forward until Hoseok has stood up and broken their kiss.

“Hyung, can weー?” Taehyung barely manages to get out.

“Yes,” Seokjin keens, cutting off Taehyung’s question because he already knows what he is asking, already knows what comes next.

He opens his eyes just in time to see Namjoon spill his release on his chest. Jeongguk steps forward before Namjoon is done and does the same, more come ending up on Seokjin’s chin than before. Yoongi and Taehyung follow in the same fashion and as soon as they have stepped away, Jimin pulls out of him and takes his condom off quickly. 

Seokjin stares up at the ceiling as the last of his lovers comes on his chest, in a bit of a daze. In the back of his head, he is thinking of the long shower he will have to take again later, but at the moment all he can really do is dip his fingers into the mess on his chest and bring it to his lips slowly. 

Everyone groans simultaneously as he sucks on his fingers and Seokjin grins. All eyes are on him, all blown wide with lust and want even after just getting off. Seokjin can’t help it. He meets their gazes and winks, laughing to himself when all six of them groan aloud.

He could definitely get used to this.

[writing-radionoises]

the beginning of the end

ship: kamukoma, naegiri, naegami

genre: concept

prompt: disregarding dr3, izuru reaches out to naegi via walkie talkie to fix things after realizing he can’t find them himself. this leads to izuru leading naegi around the world to capture toe remnants and bring them into the neo world program.

notes: i hate dr3.

"What if you don't come back?" Komaeda asks, his fingers digging into his bandaged palms, "What if you die out there and I never see you again? What if I die while you're gone? What, what if…"

He is stuttering, shaking. His pastel green eyes cast downwards.

"Izuru,I don't want you to go… I don't wanna be alone," Nagito murmured, there are now tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

"... I know," Izuru answers, reaching out to cup his lover's face in his hands, "I don't want to leave you, either, little clover. But it's for your safety, the Future Foundation is tracking me down, I don't want you to get hurt. It won't be for long, and you won't be alone. I've arranged a diversion to throw them off my track, and allow me to fix things, okay?"

Komaeda leans in, capturing Izuru in a hug and holding him tightly. It's uncomfortable, as he's considerably taller than Izuru, but it's okay.

"There is a little girl named Monaca Towa who has organized the diversion. She is under Enoshima's brainwashing, but not like us. She doesn't believe this scheme is a diversion," Izuru continued, "But it will work as one. You're going to work with her and a few other children while I'm gone, okay? I won't be far, and I'll be back soon."

The two fell silent so Izuru began to gently rock the other, attempting to comfort him.

"... You thought about this a lot," Komaeda hummed.

"I've been your caretaker for a good three years, I knew the transition would be hard. I'd like to return to my lover still alive," answered the dark one, followed by a slight chuckle.

Komaeda smiled in return, letting go of Izuru and instead pressing a kiss against his lips.

"I trust you, Izuru. Please be safe, and home soon?"

"I'll do my best."

They eventually parted, leaving Izuru to grab his bag, and leave Komaeda with a kiss.

Komaeda would not see him again for another year.

--

Makoto Naegi stood on the edge of the border between the mainland and Towa City. The bridge had been broken, the only way across was to fly, but he had no clearance to do so.

It was okay, Togami had the case handled, he'd answer the distress call.

Togami was clever, Makoto knew that much. His boyfriend was no fool, he can fuck his way into a situation and fuck his way out.

But still, he can't help but worry. Especially after the killing game.

Makoto sat down in the back of a Future Foundation van, watching the city from a distance peacefully. It's a shame what's happened to it, Naegi remembers fondly of seeing commercials and documentaries of this island for many years, seeing how beautiful it was.

And now, it's a pile of trash. Disgusting and destroyed.

Barely a shred of hope left.

The bushes beside Naegi rustle, putting him on his nerves edge as he gripped his hacking gun, shakily pointing it at the bush.

A Monokuma emerged in all its glory. Black and white, small. Just as he remembered.

"Thrills, chills, kills!"

"Phuhuhu!"

"Iiiiiit's punishment time!"

"What are you, scared, Naegi?"

The voice morphed from the familiar voice of Monokuma to hers.

"Go on, shoot. You know you want to."

"Kill it! You want to! You want to shoot it, rip it's guts out!"

"You hate me, don't you?"

"Do you? Huh? Huh? Huh? Hu-"

"SHUT UP!" Makoto cried, impulsively pulling the trigger on the gun as the Monokuma toppled to the ground, and Makoto dropped it.

He took in a few shaky breaths, a hand on his chest as he tried to settle down.

Those flashbacks have gotten better since the killing game, but they still are horrible. At least Makoto can go places without another person now.

He picked up the hacking gun and inches closer to the Monokuma, gently kicking the body with his foot before confirming it was dead.

He will not come back like the Monokuma Naegi knew.

He then noticed a walkie talkie the Monokuma had been carrying, along with a note attached to it. Cautiously, Naegi picked it up.

Channel 11. State your name.

I'm here to help.

-You'll know soon

The note was cryptic, but the handwriting was beautiful. Perfect cursive, a lot better than both Naegi's and any of his friends.

Whatever his note was, the phrase "I'm here to help" put Naegi at ease. He wasn't sure what exactly was going to happen, but it was worth a shot to try.

He tunes the walkie talkie to the channel instructed, then pressing the talk button.

"... Uh, Makoto Naegi?"

"Perfect, you were who I was looking for," responded the voice from the other side.

"H, huh?" Makoto questioned, raising a brow as he took the walkie talkie back into the van, closing and locking the back doors of our behind him, "W, who are you?"

"I am Izuru Kamukura," answered the voice, "I was seeking you out to end this whole mess of despair. Frankly, I'm rather bored with it, and I know you and your friends have a plan for the Remnants."

"How?"

"The Ultimate Hacker is among my talents."

Naegi fell silent, trying to figure out what to say before pressing the talk button once again.

"Why do you want in on this?"

It took Izuru a moment to respond, as if trying to think of why exactly he did want this. Makoto was certain he knew, the Ultimate Hope wouldn't just jump into something spontaneously, right?

"... My friends, the Remnants. They are hurt, misguided," he started, "There's a particular one I care about very much, and this apocalypse has only made his situation worse. I… Don't want anymore pain."

"Oh, I think I understand that…" Naegi answered, "H, how are we supposed to do this?"

"The Future Foundation wants to capture and kill the Remnants, but you want to provide them with a form of therapy to undo the brainwashing, correct?"

"... Yeah, yeah that's right."

"To capture my friends is not something that's possible, but to reason and persuade them is. They are unhinged, but not unreasonable. I know that without someone on the inside, the Future Foundation would die and fail to do this, so I'm here to help with that. I can communicate where to go, and how to get to the route of the problem for each of them. We will only be skipping one Remnant," Izuru explained, calmly and clearly. Naegi is pretty sure this is scripted.

"Why only one?" Makoto questioned.

"He is close to me, and not as affected by the brainwashing as the others. I can just bring him with me, spare the trouble," Izuru said.

"Ooh, okay," Naegi responded, glancing out the window of his truck, "If I were to cooperate with this… Where would we be going first?"

"The closest here would be Pekoyama and Kuzuryu, they are North of Towa in a large city. They rule the streets there. The furthest we'd go is into the Novoselic Kingdom, where Nevermind, Souda, and Tanaka reside."

Makoto set down the walkie talkie, thinking for a moment of the pros and cons. It'd be nice to radio Kyouko or Byakuya now, figure out what to do. But they have their own problems, they can't baby Makoto.

Hesitantly, he picked up the walkie talkie again.

"How do I know you're not tricking me?"

It seemed like a simple question, but it brought Izuru to silence. He had hit a soft spot.

"... Naegi, I am begging you, please believe me. I cannot live like this, scratch that, Komaeda cannot live like this anymore, I could care less about myself. If I could do this on my own, I would, but I really need your help. The Remnants need your help,we are all hurt, damaged, and broken by her, you know it's not easy to break from. Please, help me save them," the other begged across the line, the emotion made his voice waiver, and while Naegi was bad with emotions, he could tell that Izuru was honest with him.

"Okay," Naegi replied, "Where do we start?"

[strangely-constructed-soul]

Not My Enemy (Feysand) Chapter I

Fic Masterlist/ Main Masterlist

Rhys had had one hell of a night. Racing down the dark avenue, he only slowed momentarily to catch a glimpse of his pursuers. Luckily, there was no one behind him, meaning he had outrun the rival gang’s members. His ex-girlfriend, Amarantha, had sold him out to the leader of the Spring gang, Tamlin. Rhys dove into an empty store on one of the side streets that ran along the avenue. Gasping for breath, he reached into his pocket to retrieve a burner phone. He dialed the only person he could call, praying that she would pick up.

“Hello?” A cautious, yet silky feminine voice drawled on the other line. Rhys sighed in relief.

“Don’t hang up, please! I need your help, Feyre.” He begged, voice cracking on her name. A wave of dizziness overcame him momentarily, and he clutched his arm to try and staunch the bleeding. He clenched his teeth against the pain, unable to stop a grunt as he pinched the wound to seal it off. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he realized Feyre’s line had gone deathly silent. Then she inhaled sharply.

“I’m coming to find you.” Determination filled her voice. Then- “Are you… are you hurt?” Rhys was beyond surprised to hear concern, no, worry in her tone.

“I’m fine. Just a little stab wound,”

“Rhys!” Feyre exclaimed, sounds of shuffling and the jingling of keys were audible. “Where are you?” He then proceeded to tell her his location, hoping against all odds that she would have mercy on him. Mercy, because Feyre Archeron had once promised to kill him, and cauldron knew that she most definitely could.

He began to dream of the night that they first met, and of the deal that they had struck:

He had planned on going to the roof to escape the noise, but he had hesitated upon seeing a beautiful, golden-haired woman practically running from the obnoxiously loud ballroom. From an outsider’s perspective, it looked like a huge company party full of snobby rich people. In actuality, it was filled to the brim with gang bosses, members, and the occasional hacker. The ball was the only day each year that the gangs even pretended to be civil with each other. He eventually decided to follow the woman out the exterior door that she had gone through to make sure she was safe. “There you are. I’ve been looking for you,” Rhysand purred at the gorgeous woman standing before him as the door closed behind him with a click. She was wearing a long, forest green gown that accentuated her already devastating figure. The woman scoffed at him before running her eyes up and down his own body. Damn him if it didn’t make his heart pick up its pace in his chest. He chastised himself for his thoughts. He had a girlfriend, albeit an abusive and controlling one that always had some way to blackmail him.

“You’re a prick, you know that, right?” Her eyes blazed with fire and amusement that had feelings stirring in Rhys that he admittedly hadn’t felt in a long time. Or ever.

“The name’s Rhysand, not prick, but I’m fine with anything you call me as long as it is coming out of that delicious mouth of yours, Darling.” She rolled her eyes at his antics, before dropping her eyes to the ground.

“My name is Feyre,” She whispered before continuing, her next words ones that chilled Rhys to his very core, “Tamlin doesn’t like me talking to anyone.” Icy rage shot through Rhys’s veins like adrenaline. How could anyone be so cruel? Then he realized: wasn’t that what Amarantha had been doing to him? Isolating him from his friends. His rage dulled into sadness for the both of them. Rhys took a few tentative steps closer to Feyre and tilted her chin up.

“Then it’s a good thing I’m not just anyone.” He murmured, his breath caressing her forehead. Even in such high heels, Rhys had about five inches on her. She shivered, causing him to be concerned. He pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders, and her shivering stopped.

“Thank you.” She murmured, rubbing her hands over her gloved arms to warm them up. One of her gloves slipped down her forearm; that was when he saw the bruises. His fury returned in full force at what Tamlin had done to her. Her eyes widened as she realized that her arms had been exposed.

“I can help you.” Rhys whispered. She shook her head.

“Please leave me alone.” She drew back from him.

“I- I can’t.” He silently pleaded with her to return to his embrace, so he could protect her. She pulled out a vicious looking knife and it clattered to the ground when she threw it away.

“I was supposed to kill you. Tamlin told me to stab you when I lured you out here, but I can’t. You’re- you’re so different than what I thought you’d be.” Her voice was thick with guilt. Rhys realized that he should have known better than to fall for such a trick. Then again, she had seemed to be in genuine pain.

“I guess I owe you then.” He regarded her in a flat tone, but when he met her gaze, he let his expression show the true offer there. Do you need me to get you out? He asked through his eyes. She nodded, only a small sliver of doubt in her eyes as she extended her hand to shake his.

“If you’re lying to me, then I’ll kill you. But we have a bargain.” He gripped her small hand in his large one.

“Then I swear to never lie to you, Feyre Darling.” Her eyes softened, and they hurried away from the party, but not carefully enough to escape the notice of a certain red-haired henchman, who finally did something to help his friend Feyre. He told Tamlin nothing.

In the three weeks since he’d helped her to get away from Tamlin, Feyre and him had finally built a tentative trust between themselves. Rhys knew that she would not be happy about him going on such a dangerous mission without telling her or anyone else in the gang first, but Rhys just had to go after Tamlin. Tamlin, who was still apparently very angry about the disappearance of his girlfriend, who was coincidentally his best person in the field. Tamlin had taken to giving Feyre low paying, low risk jobs in order to keep control over her. Rhys sighed in resignation. At least Amarantha was gone forever; she had been sleeping with Tamlin for the past year. Luckily, Tamlin still had no idea where Feyre was; she was living in Rhys’s own apartment on the other side of the city. Rhys was losing consciousness from the blood loss, and his surroundings were starting to slip away from him. The last thing he thought of before he succumbed to darkness was the look that would be on Feyre’s face when she heard what had become of her ex-lover and what Rhys had done and still planned to do to him.

Twenty minutes later, Rhys was shaken awake by a pair of small hands with slight calluses and definite strength despite their size.

“Rhys!” It was Feyre. This was the first time she had ever used his preferred name; she always called him either Rhysand or Prick. She gently slapped him, and he forced his eyes open a crack.

“Feyre,” He murmured, his voice coming out as a breathy whisper. He traced her cheekbone with his fingers, unable to keep his mask up in his weakened state. Feyre could probably see every emotion in his eyes before they drifted closed again. The darkness beckoned him into its depths. Rhys knew that he didn’t have much time left. He felt himself slipping away.

“Rhys, please.” There was so much distress in her voice, and resolve too, that she sounded like she maybe…cared for him. Rhys didn’t actually believe this, of course. He was darkness, she was light, but when she held his hand and started to lift him, he made himself hold on. He just needed to keep the darkness at bay for a little longer.

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A/N: This is going to be a little more angsty and action packed than most of my other fics. There will still be fluff, I promise, just not in this chapter 😏. Also, I know I heavily imply that Rhys is dead in this chapter, but he’s just dying, I swear(he’ll be fine, where would our story be without him). Yes, I sound just a tad sadistic right now, but it gets better.

Let me know if you want to be tagged. Also let me know what you think in the notes. Have a wonderful day because today is my birthday!!!!!