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brokenpieces-72 · 2 days ago

Note

Hello! I read your 'kit' story and it was so good and I was wondering if I could actually make a story request? If your requests are closed then you could freely ignore this! I was wondering if you could do a plot where they find a teenage badger hybrid like in an abandoned war zone?? (I know it sounds familiar to the kit story so if you don't want to do it then that's ok!) Love your work btw love! 😘😘

Note: I want you to know that when I saw this I got so happy. My requests are never closed it’s more when I get around to answering them and posting them. Also for a bit of context, this is taking place before Rudy and Alejandro have met the 141.

Tejón

TW: mentions of abandonment, implications/mentions of child abuse, mental stress, poisoning, let me know if I missed any.

You hear a sharp whistle and shouts in another language. You peek out from your hiding spot to see two men, both with odd smells. Then you see a dog, and you retreat back into the little den you’d made for yourself. Unfortunately, the dog finds you and now has your scent. Uh oh.

You hear a call after the dog starts barking, trying to dig its way inside. You hissed and growled at the barking, warning them to leave you alone. This was your home, you were safe here. Safer than out there. Then you hear someone calling to you. They're looking for survivors, and you hear another phrase in Spanish spoken calmly. There's scratching outside and you growl louder, claws at the ready.

"Mexican Special Forces. We're coming in." Rudy called making his way inside the debris and rubble that made up your shelter. You back into a corner, glaring and hissing. You don't want help, you're fine on your own. Rodolfo raised his hands, showing he was unarmed, but you could see the gun on his back. Pair that with the weird looking mutt next to him and you were still on the defensive. "My name is Rodolfo Parra, I'm here to help you."

Yeah right. The last time someone tried to help you, you nearly got put in a cage. Rudy had seen behaviour like yours before. Not uncommon, especially for hybrids. This was going to take longer in order for it to be safer. The cadejo disappears, assuming you found the ghost dog a little intimidating. Rudy is still moving closer, but lowers himself to your huddled, crouched stance. Your growling, mixed with trembling gives him a good enough understanding of your reluctance. This wasn't the first time someone tried to help you.

"We have food, first aid, and can even get you new clothes." Rudy explained. You'd heard that before, and shook your head. There was little time to mince words. There had already been reports of other shelters like yours breaking down from whatever steel supports had given out. "Niña, this isn't a safe place for you. Not anymore. You can bring whatever you have hear with you, but if you stay here, the rubble is going to collapse on you."

As if on cue, there is the groaning of metal, and some depress falls from the cieling above you. Another rainfall and you would be buried in your own home. You'd done rather well for yourself too. Rodolfo noted the small fire pit in the corner where there was a large enough gap to vent the smoke. Right now you were posted on a collection of ragged blankets and ratty cushions to sleep on. In the other parts he found what looked like beat up cooking ware, a tarp, some wood and rocks, and what he was pretty sure was piece of pipe that you'd somehow taken the broken end of and sharpened it. When Rudy looked you over, he noticed the knife at your hip, opting for your own hybrid features over a proper weapon. A weapon that was likely one of your only tools. Your eyes left him, and stared up, seeing your home threaten to give out with you inside.

"Come on mija, it's not safe here. I need you to trust me for a bit." Rudy pleaded. He offered his hand, and you stared at it. "If I do anything you don't like, just say something. We'll stop okay?"

"Promise?" You asked. Rodolfo nodded. Another groan from above. You held out your pinky, and Rudy recognized it right away, hooking it with his own.

"Promise." He said, followed by another groan. Without warning you rushed to him, and he picked you up, hearing the colonel calling for him to get out of there quickly. A cadejo was able to grab hold of one of your blankets, chasing after the both of you, as Rudy carried you out. The bright light made you wince, nearly blinding you. Your eyes adjusted to see what had once been your home, slowly crumble.

When you were taken back to base, Rudy stuck close to you. Not at first though. A medic came to look at you, and you hissed at them. You didn't like doctors, you didn't like being touched. When a medic tried to assure you everything would be okay, it didn't work too well, and when they tried to reach their hand out to assure you, you uh... yeah you bit the medic you weren't ashamed of it. When another medic tried to step in, you started shouting at them, getting violent. Alejandro and Rudy were both informed of your lack of cooperation. When they came in to see if they could assist they found you curled up in the corner, the blanket Rudy had retrieved for you wrapped tightly around you. This would take some time.

Rudy came over and sat down next to you, giving you a chance to breath and relax. It was a strange world, a new environment, one you either weren't used to, hadn;t seen in a while, or had bad memories with. Alejandro closes the door leaving it open a crack to give some privacy without setting off any alarms in your head. Neither of them touch you, seeing it is clearly a trigger. Alejandro explained what happened and what was going to happen. There'd been reports of survivors and scavengers in the abandoned warzone, and they'd been called to assist with search and rescue. The medic needed to give you an exam to rule out injuries, diseases and infections. You were fine, you cooked your food properly, sterilized every cut you got, you never got so much as a cold, you didn't need a physical exam. Your skin is tougher on account of being a badger hybrid so cuts were harder to come by. That being said, Rudy had picked you up. He knew you were lighter than you should be.

Alejandro asked if he could see your ribs, and as if on cue, your stomach growled. You're just quiet, not saying anything or moving. The two men exchanged looks. Alright, they had to do this another way. Alejandro asked you if you wanted to get cleaned up first instead. They had some clean clothes for you to change into and could wash the ones you had on now. No one would bother you or interrupt you. You could give yourself a physical, and then report back. From there you could decide what to do next. That would be reasonable, and right now, warm water was sounding very tempting.

Cleaned and dressed you felt much more comfortable. It didn't stop you from tugging the hood down on the hoodie they'd given you. The base was colder than outside, and while you had some sunburning, it was in the healing stages. You asked Rudy if there was some cream or aloe you could use for it and he made sure you got some. As for the physical exam, it went okay. Rudy offered to stay in the room with you while they checked your throat, ears, and breathing. At the end of physical the main issue was some wounds that needed some extra cleaning and bandaging, and malnourishment.

You and Rudy both meet Alejandro in the cafeteria where there are a few other survivors. A couple you'd seen before, a couple you distance yourself from. Alejandro and Rudy keep an eye on you while you eat, sitting alone.

"It'll take time for her to adjust." Rudy commented.

"Hmm..." Alejandro was eyeing the others in the room. The ones that you were avoiding.

"CPS is on their way." Rudy added. "Hopefully she'll be collected by her family."

"You don't sound hopeful." Alejandro commented, still surveying the room. Protective as ever. He knew why his partner wasn't hopeful, but Rudy's voice was always welcome. Reminded him he wasn't guarding alone.

"How many kids end up in abandoned warzones without an adult?" Rudy commented. He wasn't wrong. You were on your own. Your parents taught you how to survive, and how to look after yourself, that was good enough. You were fine on your own.

"Colonel?" Alejandro's attention turned to the tablet being handed to him. Profiles of everyone they'd found were available to him on screen. As he looked over each one, he learned why you were sitting alone, and made the effort to avoid a couple of the others. He gives the order to keep an eye on a few of the people they found. Some of the others had petty crimes attached and were already on high alert. Making an arrest out in the open with all of them watching would raise too many alarms. When Alejandro looked up to match the faces to profiles, he noted the looks you were getting from the three people he intended to deal with.

Alejandro came over to your table, and asked to sit down, with you shrugging it was a free country. Deep down, you were glad he came over. You could feel eyes on you, hungry ones. It made you almost sick, but they may be from you eating too fast. One of them, an eagle harpy had looked like she was going to come over and sit with you instead, and you didn't want that. That had danger written all over it. Alejandro still had the tablet and asked if you could look at some photos for him, his voice low. Before answering you looked back to see some soldiers near the food, and asked if you could get some more food first. Alejandro nodded, and checked the profiles again.

As you got up, you could hear someone else get up, and all of the hair on your body stood on end. Fuck. You just wanted food, couldn't they leave you alone? Rudy stepped in, reading the situation like a book in large print. He stood between you and the woman, warning you he was behind you. The harpy tried to get close to you, as subtly as possible by reaching across for whatever was in front of you. Each time, Rudy just ushered you along. Holy shit she was persistent though. You reached for something and she reached for it, but Rudy turned and didn't glare but the look of judgement was a stronger warning.

"Ma'am, please be patient." He said, voice very firm. The harpy backed off, looking annoyed. The dog handler was keeping away a treat from her. Lucky for him she knew how to pick her battles. You finished getting you food and hurried away back to Alejandro, sitting a little closer. Alejandro gave you a gentle smile and let you eat for a bit longer while Rudy joined both of you and the harpy went back to her table. As soonas Alejandro noticed her glaring dangers at his partner, he glared at her in warning. Try something on his man, and Alejandro would be counting her feathers one by one as he plucked them.

Alejandro showed you the profiles of the three survivors, including the harpy woman. You recognized them alright. They'd tried shit with you before, but like the doctor, you showed them you had teeth and claws. Alejandro gave you praise for that. Once the tablet was away, he started asking about you, seeing if you had any interests, if the food was good, and if there was anything you needed to help with sleep.

You find that the worst part on base was boredom. You didn't have to go scavenging or searchinf anymore, but it was something you were craving. A lot. There was a large training course on base so you started going there whenever you could. Soldiers had to run through excerises, so you asked if you could maybe help set up. Alejandro had no issue with this, as long as you didn't pocket anything that wasn't yours.

Your task was to hide things, and in good places too. You didn't make it easy though. You would hide things, but you would hide them even further. Instead of inside cubbies or crates, you would put the items behind or in the corners where it was hard to see. On top of shelves or of the ground was no fun, so you got to digging and shoving things under turned over boxes.

A welcome challenge, one that Alejandro agreed was good, forcing his men to adapt quickly. The you got even more ridiculous, because you found small items on base you could use as fakes and decoys. To this day, even Alejandro is still trying to figure out where you got the rubber ducks to put in placement for hand grenades.

You were called at the end of the exercise after the soldiers tried to argue their reason for being unable to complete their the directive. When Alejandro asked you to show him one of the supply crates you did, and he asked you to bring out a grenade (fake for practice) you did so. A few of the soldiers gave you dirty looks. Alejandro asked you about decoys. You retrieved a decoy and put it in his hand.

“This was the decoy Mija?” He asked. You nodded. “This… this gives me more questions.”

A few smirks from his men, and Alejandro turned around. “Reminder to you all, that even a rubber duck can make for a good distraction.”

If there aren't any training excerises going on, you can still be found running and tumbling on the training grounds. You always manage to find some kind of stick. Sometimes other soldiers will come out to see what you're up to, and just keep a watch on you. A couple times the harpies would come out to watch you, and you would find a hiding place to wait for them to get bored and leave. Or another soldier would remove them.

You hid again, noticing wings just outside thew open gates. You waited and kept peeking to see if they had left yet. The harpy took off into the air to try and find you. You stayed hidden, waiting longer and longer. If only Alejandro had left some of the training weapons out so you could get rid of your hunter. Thankfully you didn't have to wait too much longer before a familiar white and passed through one of the walls.

It came over to you and curled up, resting it's head on your lap. It kept an eye on the entrances as you heard a yell from the colonel. You continued to wait unaware that the colonel was making an arrest. He'd discretely arrested another one of the trio without you noticing. While you were waiting for the coast to clear, Alejandro was tearing into the harpy like a fresh kill.

When the cadejo stood up and went to one of the entrances, you stood up. It was safe now, and just outside the small fort was Rudy. There was no verbal communication when you saw each other, just you going to him, and his arms wrapping around you. Rodolfo could feel you shaking. He assured you the harpy was arrested. Everything had to be kept discrete, not wanting the other survivors to panic or think they were in danger. Rudy and Alejandro had been working with you, learning what the trio of harpies had been trying to do.

"Ready to go back inside?" Rudy asked, after a few minutes. You nodded. Rodolfo smiled seeing you trying to keep a strong expression. Rudy turned and lowered himself, and you understood the offer. You got on his back and he carried you back to the gate where Alejandro stood, watching his partner. Damn, he looked like a dad.

The harpy woman found you alone, and kept quiet. Of course she was cooing about how adorable you were, trembling away. You didn't move only askef her to leave you alone.

"Leave you alone? Aww, but don't you want company? It's so hard living out there all by yourself isn't it?"

"Not that your friends would know, being so close to you." You retorted, smugly. "Bet they forgot what it's like."

"You little shi-"

"I wouldn't." A voice said from behind her. The harpy turned and saw Rudy with his cadejo. Not the sweet, white and blue one, but the menacing, snarling red and black spirit. It looked very hungry for chicken, but would settle for the next closest thing. Two other soldiers were backing him up, and moved in to arrest the harpy woman, who was demanding to know what was going on. As if she could even fake innocence. Her voice got louder as she kept screeching to be released. Rudy sighed and truned his attention to you. You were still shaking and helps you sit down.

"You're safe now. They're never gonna hurt you again." He assured you. You nodded, relieved but still pumped with adrenaline. You extend you pinky to him, without a word, and he returned the gesture. You move closer to him before leaning into his side.

Safe. You were safe.

"You really want to send her to a program?" Alejandro asked Rodolfo. No he didn't, honestly if Rodolfo could have his way, he would prefer to return you to your family, but you were alone. Over the month or so, you'd gotten a lot better. Physical touch had become a lot easier, you weren't hiding in corners as much, you were more social and some of the Vacqueros were inviting you to join them in whatever they were doing, including work tasks.

"Where else can she go Ale?" Rodolfo asked him. Alejandro didn't need to say anything for Rudy to pick up on what his man was saying. Kay this definitely could have used a lot more previous discussion. Rudy gave Alejandro a look that answered Alejandro's silent one. Alejandro sighed. "I'm sorry Ale, but that is something we need to talk about much more, and something she would need to agree to."

"She'll say yes." Alejandro said, convinced.

"Have you asked her yet?" Rudy countered. Nope. No he had not, but every time you were looking for something to do, you would come to them first. You would linger around them even if you weren't talking to them. Neither of them discouraged you from showing interest in their work. Hell, you even asked to spar with Alejandro once. The only reason he refused was because he was worried it might trigger a panic attack. You did get to spar with another soldier though, who went easy on you. Rudy could tell Alejandro wanted to keep you around, but with their work it was high risk. Both of their families lived away from base, at undisclosed locations. Having you stay with one of them could work, but it was another new environment, and new people. Rudy and Alejandro had a place of their own, but you were too young to live on your own still. "I'm sorry Ale, I want her to be happy too, but I don't think we're the ones to make it happen."

"... you have the paperwork for the programs?" Alejandro asked, giving in. Rudy had printed them a while ago, handing half over to the colonel. This was gonna be a couple hours. You didn't give them a couple hours, because a vacqueros knocked on the door, explaining you were missing. This wasn't uncommon, you often tried to hide on base, but they had checked everywhere. The two men exchanged a grave look. Shit, the paperwork had to wait. Rudy immediately pulls up camera footage of the entrances and exits, and sees you... holy shit you had dug under the fence. How long had you been working on that?

"How should we proceed?" Rudy asked.

"Sergeant gather some volunteers, we'll start on foot. She can't be too far." Alejandro ordered. The sergeant gave him a nod and salute before going looking for volunteers.

They'd split up into pairs, not wanting to overwhelm you. Rodolfo and Alejandro going off together. Alejandro had heightened senses and your scent to go on. Every half hour, soldiers radioed in with not much to say. Rudy was starting to feel a sense of guilt.

"Maybe she's been in a program before." Rudy wondered out loud. Alejandro had considered the possibility as well. Maybe you'd only heard about them and that's why you stayed away. They continued to call your name, the night growing darker and colder. Your scent was still fresh. Alejandro focused on that first and foremost, stepping carefully through the uneven ground, before stopping suddenly.

Rudy stopped, and looked at Alejandro, who started to scan the area. You were close. Rudy looked up, in case you might have tried to climb up somewhere. Nothing. Alejandro kept looking, hoping you hadn't ditched your jacket just to lose them. It was a tactic you'd learned, but with how cold it was getting, the last thing he wanted was for you to be lacking in layers.

"Y/N! Where are you?" Rudy called out. Alejandro turned, retracing his steps and found your scent again. Something smelled off though, setting alarms off in his head. He got Rudy's attention as he followed your scent again. Shit, you were laying in a ditch, groaning. There was blood on your arm, and two punctures. Shit!

Alejandro checked your pulse and found it weakened. Rudy didn't seen any snakes thankfully as he turneed you over, radioing in to the group that you'd been found. Alejandro started talking to you but you could barely hear it, sounding like distant echoes. He tried to ask you questions, and you could only whine out unintelligible responses.

"Mmm... fine...." You groaned, as Alejandro tugged you into his lap, so Rudy could started cleaning and sucking the poison out. You relaxed into Alejandro but nudged Rudy off.

"I know, I know, but the poison needs to come out." Rudy argued, trying to get you to stop fidgeting, even when you were weakly hissing.

"M'fine..." you moaned.

"Do you know what snake bit you?" Rudy asked, trying to keep you awake. You couldn't answer him, losing consciousness. Rudy cursed, while Alejandro tried to keep you awake. They had to move quickly, calling for assistance from a proper medic.

One benefit of being a badger hybrid is your resistance to snake venom. Can it still kill you? In theory, yes. If you didn't take care of yourself properly you could have succumbed to the symptoms, but thankfully Rodolfo and Alejandro had found you just in time. After some rest, a proper diet, and a bit of medicine you would be good as new. A human would have been far less fortunate.

Rudy and Alejandro waited outside your room for the doctor to come out. When the doctor emerged, they were both at attention to hear the details of your condition. You would recover but being sent to a program was discouraged for the time being. The two men were allowed in, finding you asleep in your bed.

"You're right. She needs to go to a program, where it's safe, and she can be sent to a proper home." Alejandro said, sitting in a chair, with his tail flicking behind him. Rudy found himself wanting to argue that it might be better if you stayed. You ran away from the base, what were the odds you'd run away from the program or even a foster home. What if you ended up with the wrong people because you ran away? Cartels could pick you up easily. Before Rudy was concerned about every worst-case scenario if you stayed, now he was listing every horrible outcome if you left. The second list was longer.

"Would she call it a proper home?" Rudy asked. Alejandro was pleased to hear Rudy changing his mind, but now he was less sure of his own statement. "It's safer on base."

"She got poisoned." Alejandro said.

"Because she ran away." Rudy said.

"You think she ran away just because?"

"I don't know why she ran away Ale-"

"And neither do you." You cut them off groaning. They'd woken you up. You were going to end the discussion once and for all. "I ran because I wanted to choose for myself. Everyone kept mentioning programs and sending me to a "better place" but no one was letting me decide."

The two men were quiet. They hadn't asked you at all. Legally, there were few options for what would happen to you. You would be sent to a program, where your fate wasn't just out of the hands of Los Vacqueros, but your own more than likely. They hadn't asked if you wanted to stay with them or stay on base. If you ran, you could have control over your life again. Would there be many options from there, no. But it would be your choice. Alejandro spoke up first.

"What do you want to do, mija?" He asked. He looked into your eyes directly. You weren't scared, they weren't meant to intimidate you either. Right now, if you told Alejandro you wanted to live in space, he was willing to help.

"I want to stay." You said in a small voice. Alejandro grinned, pleased. Meanwhile Rudy knew this was not going to be an easy change. There was going to be a battle with a program, but he figured because of your age and knowledge of your hybrid features, the program would be lenient with letting you stay on base.

"You'll have to pull your weight. Not just helping with exercises, the full nine yards. You'll do training along with the rest of the cadets, and you don't get to complain it's too hard." Alejandro told you. You had a feeling he would say that but you nodded in understanding.

"Sergeant Major, wheels up in 2 hours." You said, after knocking on Rodolfo's door. Rodolfo looked up from his packing and smirked with pride at you. You looked down at your attire looking for something out of place or maybe a stain you missed. Rudy just shook his head. "What is it?"

"Nothing your uniform is fine." Rudy said, putting a neatly folded stack of clothes in the bag before coming over to you. He opened his arms slightly offering a hug. You gladly took it, giving him an extra squeeze. They were going away for a while. You'd gotten used to them being absent for a few days, keeping up contact when there were opportunities. They were usually before lights out, since you were often busy with work on base.

"You better come back safe." You said.

"Tell that to my man." He muttered just loud enough for you to hear. You snickered, knowing exactly what he meant. You let go of him.

"You have everything?" You asked, while Rudy let you into his room and you sat on his bed. Rudy was the one who asked you that more than once.

"Yes Y/N." He said.

"Ale has his extra pair of safety glasses right?" You asked. Rudy nodded. You were mentally running through a packing list as you peeked in his bag. It was a small ritual by now, one the three of you would do whenever you had to leave for a while. Going over packing lists, and spending what time you had together before it was time to leave.

"Rudy have you see- never mind." Alejandro said, coming in and seeing you on the bed.

"You have your extra safety glasses right?" You asked him. Alejandro nodded, and you got up to give him a tight hug. "You finished packing?"

"Who do you think had to remind him to take his extra glasses?" Rudy piped up, as he put more items in his bag. You snickered, and Alejandro took the chance to tickle you for laughing at your superior. You just giggled, as you tried fruitlessly to fight back. Instead, you fled to the bed. Alejandro checked from a distance to make sure you were still playing before joining you on the bed.

"You'll call right?" You asked.

"Of course." Alejandro assured you, ruffling your hair. "We'll call if we need some extra help."

"You better." You told him. You got a tight hug from Alejandro as Rudy finished with his bag.

You followed your guardians out to the tar, going over a checklist for equipment. Before they stepped on to the ramp, you stood tall for them. You'd certainly grown into quite the little soldier. Both of them set down their bags to give you one final hug and a kiss on the head. You were going to miss them.

"Promise to come back safe?" You asked each of them. They both promised, as they always did. "Love you."

"Love you too, pequeña tejón." Rudy said, giving your hair another ruffle.

"Love you mija." Alejandro said.

You stepped away as they headed up the ramp, the engines starting to rev up. You stood tall, and saluted them both as the ramp was raised and shut behind them. You couldn't have asked for better parents.

Taglist: @yourlovely-moon @kaoyamamegami @h0n3y-l3m0n05 @sans-chara @1mommyrose4ever29 @smitten-haematite-quartz @talia-the-gemini @yuki2129 @whitetiger846 @graystorm444 @chibiduck @reaperxxxxzz @danielle143 @sobbingnshtting @cringeycookies @cryingpages @dcnocap207 @reaper-chan666 @bestbookfriends @thriving-n-jiving @cutiecusp @shikigami-the-paper-spirit

#cod au #badger #badger hybrid #badger hybrid reader #female reader #colonel alejandro vargas #nagual #sergeant major rodolfo parra #cadejos #abandoned warzone #rodolfo parra #alejandro vargas #cod hybrid au #hybrid au

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biggayenergypod · 1 year ago

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Then you have:

There isn't a lot of fanfic for this so I will read everything whether it is good or not because I NEED MORE!

looking for fics about your favorite character on ao3 be like:

dont care

what the actual fuck

dont care

ooh that sounds- what the fuck

unfinished

don't care

the best fic ive ever read in my life. this absolutely ruined me and ill never be the same ever again

dont care

#fanfiction #thank god for fanfiction #the only way we get proper endings anymore

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lupismaris · 2 years ago

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I'm just gonna complain in the tags tw medical stuff tbd etc

#its the final stretch and i refuse to will anything into this universe other than this is the final stretch im having treatment and it ends #this is the end of this here and now i will not continue to live like this i cannot continue to live like this i cannot carry this fatigue #any further genuinely i cannot its not a matter of will not anymore i just... i cannot. im legitimately still hiding at the office #despite everyone else having gone home because it takes too much effort to gather my things and walk to my car and im afraid of falling #i forgot my cane at home and its cold and my body struggles with temperature regulating and seizes up so badly #but the fatigue has finally reached a point where its hard to lift my bag or put my coat on or my jewelry without help #or walk across the parking lot just to get to my car and its not like the usual hey we have to adjust to new level of disabled #it's fatigue kneecapping you put of nowhere with a tireiron until you can barely loft your bag or fix tea or prepare dinner #and the fact the all the joy of food has been robbed from me because everything takes so much goddamn effort now #everything takes ten more steps and an hour more planning and special ingredients and yes i know lots of people live like this always #but i haven't and its been a forced short term adjustment period with absolutely no support from medical professionals #and im the only cook in my household/family/immediate social circle so all the labor inevitably falls on me not out of malice #but by default even if they try to help they can only do so much because they dont know what to do #i am literally on the verge of a meltdown just thinking about how much effort dinner is going to take because i cant just #eat a fuckin box of easy mac or ramen with an egg and go to bed no I've got to make a special soup with special ingredients #or a proper balanced meal with protein and veg and whole grain and certain seasoning #and im just so fuckin tired im so goddamn tired if this radiologist doesn't come back and say i can eat freely come Friday #i genuinely dont know what im going to do #food is one of my greatest joys and to be limited even in such bizarrely simple ways requiring so much excess labor #is too much. its too much on top of all this hypothyroidic fatigue. i cant do it.#i dont want to go home and make a fuckin soup. i want pizza. i want take away. i want lamb curry and rice. i want food i dont have to cook.#god im so fuckin tired my body feels so ancient like something wrecked in the seabed being involuntary hoisted to the shallows again #and im not sure its going to survive the process. i mean it has to. we dont have a choice. but fuck.

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mayspicer · 7 months ago

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Ok, the boss is no more! There were some super stressful moments but surprisingly we all survived o:

My animal companion got hit with disintegrate, but we had hero points to make him avoid it. I would cry actually, because disintegrate means no resurrection x_x

The war is prevented! At least this one, because Cayden's party is right at the center of a much bigger one just starting. Today we saved the country. Cayden is trying to not even save the whole world, just maybe slow the whole thing down and save as much people as possible...

#majek says shit #I have the diamond for a raise animal companion spell but it can only be used if you have a body and even then there are restrictions #and Kela wouldn't even know about it until after the fight because she got trapped between a wall of force and a stone golem?#or a stone Big Humanoid Fucker idk what that technically was but it would've killed me pretty fast #and it all was in an area of supernatural darkness emanating from the powergamer's character...#which interfered with so much of everyone else's actions and we even addressed it before the session that it's a bad idea to cast this #but its ok because HE will be able to see through it and HE won't be targeted easily:))))#he also almost ended the encounter in the first round of proper combat...#by using mechanics so outrageous but technically ambiguous enough that our GM can't deny them by using only RAW...#and he prefers to settle arguments by going as RAW as possible...#and it wasn't a problem until now when we have a player who exploits to an actually unbelievable extent #we shared our character sheets online yesterday and I finally saw his... still have no idea how the character works #because like half the stuff is custom and missing from the app #he has 9 AC in the app and allegedly 32 AC before buffs...#and the GM says the math checks out but 1. nobody saw that math besides him and 2. so far he trusted that player without too much questions #and only recently he actually realised he's been manipulated multiple times when me and some others started dismantling that players actions #I so hope this was the last session with that person #the worst thing is I think he's an ok guy when I'm not playing any kind of game with him #and I understand different people find enjoyment in different aspects of games - his being figuring out how far he can go with the rules #and there are whole groups of people who like to play like that and enjoy the challenge of making the most broken “build” possible #but the rest of the group are not that kind of people. maybe some like to have fun with researching what's possible #but it's never the purpose of the game and these things dont find their way into the actual game #I'm actually considering the possibility of just leaving the campaign if he stays there... I know I whine a lot in the tags #about different players that get on my nerves for various reasons. it sounds like I'm never happy about anything #but our group is big and we play together as a friend group in 4 different campaigns now (I'm in 3 of them)#and every one of these smaller groups has it's issues. sometimes it's the characters not matching and sometimes different expectations #or interpersonal stuff that can be worked out. this here is not a group composition issue because the powergaming attitude is everywhere #it's impossible to talk casually between sessions and confronting the guy leads to like actual temper tantrums #literally said “the fuck do I care if the party dies I'm not gonna be useful anymore” after the GM gave him feedback to maybe ease it up #he never says things like that when the gm or me are present but we still get info. he just can't be confronted by the gm like that

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ccsainzleclerc5516 · 11 days ago

Text

Co Parents To Lovers Again (part 2)

Pairing: Charles Leclerc x reader

Warnings: fluff (smut in the next part)

part 1

It's been three days since the unfortunate misunderstanding with Charles and you haven't heard from him at all since.

You were overthinking the whole situation that happened on Sunday and couldn't come to any proper conclusion. At the same time, you were sad because he thought you would bring someone else into your bed, even though it wasn't your shared bed anymore, but you couldn't believe that he thought so little of you after all the years you'd spent together.

And yet on the other hand, you were thinking like any woman, you were glad that he was jealous and that the very thought of someone replacing him bothered him because that only meant he wasn't over you and that he still wanted to make things right between you two. Basically, you were torn between your brain and your heart once again and it was just a matter of what would prevail between the two this time.

Even though deep down you knew you couldn't fight yourself. You broke up over some disagreements that when you look at things more closely weren't worth destroying your relationship and your little family. You were both stubborn, he was a little too possessive, you were lacking in understanding, parenting, you spent most of your time alone with Lou and everything came together and exploded.

Now that you look back on the whole year you spent without him, you know that as hard as it is sometimes to be with him, it's ten times harder to be without him. You realize that you both made a rash decision, but then again maybe it had to happen only to make you realize how much you need each other in every way possible.

It's Wednesday night and while you're preparing tonight's dinner and tomorrow's lunch, Lou is sitting at the dining room table drawing. Soon your cooking is interrupted by the ringing of your phone on the kitchen island. A strange feeling comes over you as you wipe your hands on a dish towel and look at your phone only to see Charles' name on the screen.

You want to answer the phone, but you don't want the conversation to end in an argument so before you pick up the phone, you take a deep breath and try to calm down and strengthen your voice so it doesn't sound shaky.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's me." He says it in a completely normal, calm tone and you're grateful for that.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Umm, I'm leaving tomorrow for the race so I was wondering if you could put Lou on the facetime so I can see her since I won't be able to have her for the weekend?" He asks.

"Sure, just let me switch to facetime."

Once you did, Charles face appeared on the screen and he smiled when he saw yours too. You tried to hide the blush on your face and quickly walked over to Lou putting the phone in front of her.

"Baby, daddy wants to talk to you" You said setting the phone in front of her and leaving them alone to talk.

Since the kitchen and dining room were connected, you went back into the kitchen and could hear everything the two of them were saying. You didn't want to eavesdrop, but you kinda did.

"Hey, daddy!" Lou exclaimed excitedly.

"Mon ange, what are you doing?"

"I'm drawing and-and mommy is cooking" She says.

"Yeah? What are you drawing?"

"I'm drawing you in a red car. See" She says putting up the paper in front of the camera for him to see.

"Good job, baby. It looks great!"

"It's for you, I will give it to you when you come get me" She says forgetting that she won't be spending the weekend with him.

"Thank you, baby, but unfortunately we won't be together this weekend because papa has to work, but we'll see each other next week, okay?"

"Oh.." She pouts.

"Don't be sad, we'll see each other very soon, okay? I miss you so much and I'm thinking of you all the time."

Your heart is completely softened by his words and the immeasurable amount of love he has for your daughter.

"I miss you too, daddy"

"Okay, baby. I'll talk to you soon, I love you."

"Bye, I love you too." She says waving her hand as he blows her a kiss.

You watch her from afar and see how her mood immediately changed when she heard that she wouldn't be seeing him. Shaken by emotions, you move closer to her and squat down next to her.

"What's wrong, bug?" You ask her.

She doesn't look at you but frowns looking down at drawing on the paper in front of her.

"I miss papa" She says, hear eyes filled with tears.

"Can I tell you a little secret?" You say and she nods. "I miss papa too." You whisper making her look at you.

"Would you like to watch him race this weekend?"

"You mean on the TV?" She asks.

"No, I mean how about we go and see him?" You suggest and her eyes light up.

"Really?!"

"Would you like that?"

"Yes, yes! And I can give him this!" She says excitedly and you chuckle at how sweet she is.

"Then we have a deal. Now, finish up your drawing and go wash your hands because dinner is almost ready okay?"

"Okay, mommy. Thank you"

Nothing can compare to the happiness you feel when you see your daughter happy. Both you and Charles would do anything for her, and that's why you decided to quickly run upstairs to your bedroom, turn the hoodie right side out.

When a print of an F1 car was visible on the black hoodie, you took a picture of it and sent it to Charles without any additional explanation, because you knew that everything would be clear as a day to him once he saw it.

After just a few minutes, your phone vibrated in your hands.

'Been looking for it for a while now..' Charles' message said.

'I really fucked up this time, didn't I?' He added.

'You kinda did.' You replied.

'I'm so sorry, y/n..'

'You're lucky your daughter adores you so much and you better send a plane for the two of us so we can make it to the race on time.'

part 3

@charlesgirl16 @aleatorio1234 @teamnovalak @watermelonslut @diaryofarandomkid @sunny44 @tempo-rary-fix @ggaslyp1 @janeh22 @seonghwaexile @seasonswinter @itgirlofthecenturysposts @ricciardosredbull @amz824 @sarx164

#f1 fanfic #f1 fic #f1 #f1 x reader #f1 scenario #f1 smut #charles leclerc one shot #charles leclerc smut #charles leclerc imagine #charles leclerc #charles leclerc fanfic #charles leclerc fluff #charles leclerc x reader #f1 x female reader #f1 blurb #f1 fluff #f1 one shot #f1 imagine

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jungshookz · 8 days ago

Text

teeny tidbits: jungkook gets hurt during practice and the only thing y/n has in her backpack are miffy bandaids

➺ pairing; quarterback!jungkook x librarian!y/n

➺ genre; university!au!!! sfw!! soft soft fluff!! jungkook and y/n are so fond of each other wowowow it actually makes me physically nauseous please get a ROOM

➺ wordcount; 1k

»»————- ♥ ———��-««

“ow!” jungkook hisses, wincing as you dab against the scrape on his arm with a cotton ball that’s been drenched in a generous amount of warm water, “ow…”

“sorry, i know…” you mutter, trying your best to be as gentle as possible as you reduce your pressure (you were already going feather light but jungkook has always been a big baby with cuts and scrapes) and toss the soiled cotton ball aside before reaching for another one in the big plastic bag, “i can’t believe you guys don’t have a proper first-aid kit.”

“it’s taehyung’s fault, coach asked him to restock it and apparently he completely forgot.” jungkook snorts, glancing down at the rusty tin box sitting on the counter next to him - you managed to find it after about fifteen minutes of searching the changing rooms but you were more than disappointed when you opened the rusty old box to find practically nothing but dust

but if this were a real emergency, jungkook would be bleeding out on the ground and all you’d have to try to save your boyfriend is a single q-tip and one dried out packet of rubbing alcohol

luckily, you always carry a mini first aid kit with you in your backpack - last winter you slipped on a rogue patch of ice and ended up falling to the ground, your poor books sliding across the sidewalk and your palms all scraped up and bloody, so ever since then, you’ve been carrying your little pouch with you in case of emergencies

gauze, bandaids, cotton balls, surgical tape, and some hard candies - you have it all!!

“explain to me again what the hell you guys were trying to do out there?”

“taehyung said that when one sense goes dark, the other ones become way stronger and we wanted to test that theory out-“

“so you did this on purpose-“ you pause, your eyebrows knitting together in confusion, “you blindfolded yourself and ran around the football field on purpose.”

“i thought i had better instincts than this!” jungkook gestures to himself, his kneecaps all scraped up along with a few scratches on his arms, “and my head hurts…”

watching jungkook run into the goal post full force would’ve been comical if it weren’t for the fact that that was literally what happened - he ran full force into a damn goal post and thank god he was wearing a helmet otherwise he probably would’ve knocked himself clean out

“i don’t wanna study anymore.” jennie huffs, leaning back against the benches behind you guys as she props her elbows up on them, “can’t we do something else to pass the time while they’re practicing?”

“i don’t wanna study anymore either, but weirdly enough this is the only time i can really concentrate.” you shrug, keeping your eyes on your laptop as your fingers continue to dance across your keyboard, “is this the only google presentation the professor shared with us this week? i swear there’s another one-“

“all you care about are google presentations and taking notes-“

“it’s coming up to finals season, of course all i care about are google presentations and taking notes-“

KONK!

“oh, shit-!“ you look up when you hear taehyung’s loud laugh travel over to where you’re sitting, your eyes squinting slightly when you notice that jungkook on the ground, “wait, that was kinda sick, actually, we should do that again-“”

“aw, gross!” jungkook gets up from the ground and shakes himself off and that’s when you notice crimson smeared across his legs as he hobbles towards your general direction, taehyung trailing behind him, “yuck, there’s dirt and shit in my cuts-“

“oh my god, jungkook!” you slap your laptop shut and set it aside, grabbing your backpack and practically sprinting down the steps, “are you okay?! what the hell happened?!”

and that’s how you ended up here - patching up your idiot boyfriend with nothing but miffy bandaids because that’s all the store was selling (it was miffy or hello kitty, and you’ve always loved miffy) - and you’ve practically used up the entire pack at this point

“i just think that you have to think about whether or not an idea sounds stupid before deciding to do it.” you huff, tossing another soiled cotton ball into the bin before peeling open the thin wrapper for the bandaid

“well, how am i supposed to know if an idea is stupid or not?”

“you didn’t think blindfolding yourself and running around a football field was stupid?”

“no, i thought it was an innovative training technique that’s been undiscovered by coaches in the world of football!” jungkook perks up, sticking a finger up into the air before shutting his eyes so that you can tend to the little scratch above his eyebrow

you settle in between his legs from where he’s sitting up on the counter and he instinctively reaches down to place both his hands a little above your waist before giving you a squeeze, “thank you, by the way.” he says softly, and you can’t help help but smile before leaning forward to press a little kiss to the corner of his mouth

“you’re welcome. i’m gonna need a new box of miffy bandaids because you literally used up the entire thing.” you can’t help but frown as you place the last one on his brow bone, “on the bright side, you look really cute with miffy bandaids, so i don’t regret giving them all to you. but you seriously have to stop trying to kill yourself during practice.”

“i’m more of a hello kitty guy, to be so real.” jungkook opens his eyes, leaning down to give you a quick kiss before pulling away, “and you worry too much about me.”

“you worry too little!”

🎙️ ask y/n what kind of candy is in her first-aid pouch (talk to my characters!)

📚 why not explore the rest of the library while you're here? (go say hi to yoongi and y/n in la vie en bonsai, they miss you!)

�� or perhaps you want something shorter to read? (drabbles and mini series!)

🌟 or something even shorter? (teeny tidbits like this!)

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fastandcarlos · 5 months ago

Text

Tennis Champ : ̗̀➛ George Russell

summary: a trip to the monte carlo masters soon finds george’s attention captured by one of the sport’s rising stars

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

liked by landonorris, lewishamilton and 942,503 others

georgerussell63: always fun to be at the tennis and see some of the biggest names play 🎾

48,392 comments

username1: it’s unfair how one man can be so attractive 😭

djokernole: good to finally meet you 🤝

username2: the definition of sophisticated 😭

landonorris: how do you even find the time to show your face at all these supporting events hahah

username3: two of my favourite athletes in one photo!!

ynusername: thank you for coming to watch my match today - hope you enjoyed it!

georgerussell63: @/ynusername you were great! good luck in the next round ☺️

username4: shut up george went and watched yn too 😳

lewishamilton: if only all those tennis players knew how rubbish at tennis you really are

username5: pls tell me you took a photo with yn too!!!!!!

username6: I want to see that photo omg

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

liked by rafaelnadal, georgerussell63, and 942,403 others

ynusername: loving life on court right now, never want it to end ❤️

28,604 comments

username7: we’re all so proud of you yn 🫶🏻

cocogauff: killing it girl 💪🏻

username8: another huge win today, go yn!!

username9: all my money on you winning the tournament this year ❤️

rafaelnadal: playing outta this world at the moment 🎾

ynusername: @/rafaelnadal omg rafa thank you so much ☺️

username10: how do you make playing tennis look so good??

georgerussell63: congratulations - looked like yet another easy win to me 😂

ynusername: @/georgerussell63 I didn’t think you’d be watching 🥺

georgerussell63: @/ynusername just good timing in between practices!

username11: george was watching yn omg omg omg

username12: we all know he loves tennis…but this much??

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

liked by oscarpiastri, alex_albon and 1,402,392 others

georgerussell63: heard my favourite player was playing this weekend, thought I’d come and cheer them on 🥺

53,492 comments

username13: I wonder who his favourite player is 🤔🤔

username14: the cameras all caught you at yn’s match george 😂😂

alex_albon: is this your way of finally making a move?

landonorris: who are you impressing looking that good?

username15: manifesting these two are together 🙏🏻

username16: ngl the two of them seem like the perfect match 🥰

ynusername: thanks for the support (again) and the coffee after 🥺

georgerussell63: @/ynusername thanks for teaching me so much about tennis - @/lewishamilton won’t know what’s hit him next time we’re on court!!

charles_leclerc: a very brave man wearing a white suit 😂

username17: the interactions 🥺🥺🥺

username18: I swear if this is all some sort of prank I will block george russell for the rest of my life

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

liked by lewishamilton, landonorris and 1,043,492 others

ynusername: always nice to return the favour, right? 🏎️

48,603 comments

username19: no way omg y/n is at silverstone

username20: as if we needed anymore proof that these two are together 🤩

lewishamilton: it was an honour to show you around our garage

landonorris: if you want to see a proper team lemme know and I’ll get you some passes to mclaren next time 🧡😂

username21: she even took a photo of the mercedes garage specifically

alex_albon: good to finally meet you after hearing sooooo much about you 😂

username22: not yn already making friends with all the drivers awh

georgerussell63: hope you enjoyed yourself, thanks for showing up and cheering for me this time 😂

ynusername: @/georgerussell63 I had the best time, can’t wait to be at another race soon!

username23: I’ve never shipped two people harder in my life

maxverstappen1: thanks for making my friend so happy!

username24: wtf not max with another cryptic comment

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

liked by username26, username31, and 3,932 others

f1wags: rumours are continuing after george posted a photo of a rather cosy looking picnic these weekend. fans are convinced the legs belong to tennis superstar y/n y/l/n 🎾🏎️

594 comments

username25: surely there can’t still be people around who don’t think these two are dating 🙂‍↔️

username26: you don’t need to be a detective to know that something is going on here

username27: they were made for each other omg

username28: did he really think we wouldn’t figure out who he was with in that photo

username29: both of them had no sport this weekend, ofc they’d choose to spend it together

username30: I’m more invested in these two than my own relationship 😂

username31: oh to be on a picnic with george russell 😭

username32: he’s been so happy recently, yn is perfect for him

username33: I just need confirmation, that’s all I ask for pls

username34: I think they’ve convinced every person in the world they’re dating tbh

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

liked by alex_albon, carlossainz55 and 901,584 others

georgerussell63: perfect end to another fantastic season, one last podium to finish on a high 🏆

48,429 comments

username35: so proud to be your fan, another amazing season george!

landonorris: you could at least look happy in that third pic to be on the podium 🙄

username36: enjoyed your well deserved break!!

ynusername: congratulations, couldn’t be happier for you 🏆🏎️

username37: yn’s here again, more clues 🤩

alex_albon: enjoy all your winter plans…I’m definitely not jealous at all 🤫

username38: I want to know what these plans are…do they involve yn too!?

carlossainz55: always a pleasure to share a podium with you ☺️

username39: praying we get to see more of yn in the paddock next season

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

liked by georgerussell63, rogerfederer and 1,493,504 others

ynusername: what dreams are made of ✨ my heart is full, thank you for all of your amazing support 💞

69,593 comments

serenawilliams: congratulations legend 💞💞

username40: ah yn I could not be happier for you 🤩

landonorris: that was awesome, who knew tennis could be so cool!!

rogerfederer: only a matter of time for that first grand slam…the first of many 👏🏻

username41: sooooo proud to be your biggest fan yn

georgerussell63: on the verge of tears 😂 you’re amazing, so proud of you!!

alex_albon: @/ynusername can confirm george has been on a real rollercoaster of emotions tonight lmao

username42: look at that smile - yn you’re stunning ✨

danielricciardo: I bet I could still beat you at a game 😂

ynusername: @/danielricciardo next time I’m in monaco your ass is mine!

username43: our champion 🫶🏻

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

liked by maxverstappen1, oscarpiastri and 1,392,493 others

georgerussell63: looking forward to off season with you 🥰

tagged: ynusername

59,594 comments

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

˗ˏˋ 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ! ´ˎ˗

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sihtsisdrowkcab · 7 months ago

Text

DP x DC prompt - Villainess AU

Hey! So I found this promt and just had to write something with it!

https://www.tumblr.com/kuroishuuha/714717053010984960/dp-x-dc-prompt-villainess-au?source=share

Prompt

-Danny is transported into a novel/game where he is the villainess fiancé of the male lead.

Knowing that only death awaits him at the end, Danny tries to end the engagement (who knows if death will stick this time - Danny is not gonna risk finding out)

Meanwhile, Jason finds himself as the male lead of a novel/game he never read/played

The system in his head is telling him that the only way to get back home is to have a happy ending with his fiancé

So we have Danny who is desperately trying to end his engagement and a Jason who is trying to woo his fiancé (and cursing the original male lead - because the guy must have done something horrible for his cute and nice fiancé to be desperate to break up with him)-

Story

Danny was so over this. He thought this would have been easy, maybe not on his parents part god knows they don't give up without a fight, but his fiance has shown nothing but disdain for him his whole life (even if he wasn't here for 90% of that life) He thought he'd only have to tell his fiance that he didn't want to marry him, his fiance would be ecstatic and run into the sun with Ophelia and he'd get the weight off his shoulders and wouldn't have to worry about dying anymore and yet...

"No."

Danny just looked at him with horror "What do you mean no?" He practically yelled.

"No, I won't break off the engagement."

"Why not!? You hate me! You've hated me since the moment we met! I know you want to be with ophelia!"

Daminan looked like he was trying to read his face which makes no sense, if anyone should be trying to read the other's face it should be him!

Danny grabbed Damian's shoulders and shook them, he knew he wasn't acting like a proper gentleman, but his life was on the line! "Have you lost your goddamn mind? What in the world is wrong with you?" He paused, took a breath and let go of his shoulders. He was sure this had something or the other to do with politics, he just couldn't wrap his mind around it at all. He took another step back, he had to appease Damian somehow. "Look, neither of us wanted to get married and neither of us really knew what we were getting into when our parents signed the agreement and had us agree to this, my parents won't back down but from what I know of your parents they'll let you back out of this no problem. My parents will be pissed but that's neither here nor there. There is really no reasonable excuse for why we shouldn’t break off our engagement." Danny said smugly, crossing his arms over his chest. There was no way Damian could deny all of that.

How could Jason deny all of that?! He was acting completely out of character, which was funny because he hardly knew what his character was like at all besides from second hand accounts. When he was told he just had to get a happy ending with his fiance he had thought this would be a piece of cake, he had brushed everything else off and took this as a really weird miny vacation, how hard could it really be to marry your fiance? Everything was already set up, it couldn't fail.

Except for the fact that apparently he was a dick and hated his fiance and she was done with all that, which he would have cheered on the fiance any day, get rid of that dick 100%. But now he was here in that dick's place and having to deal with his stupid problems and his fiance wanted to divorce him! How was he ever going to get a happy ending out of this? He did eventually want to get home no matter how annoying Bruce could be at times.

His fiance huffed drawing his eyes to him, he really was very pretty, he had no idea why Damian seemingly hated him. Sure he was being annoying as hell right now but really that was all Damian's fault.

"look i don't know why you seem to be fighting for this, it seriously seems like you just forgot everything!"

Jason froze, should he go with that? It really would be rather convincing seeing as he really didn't know Damian at all.

Danial paused, his eyes widening as he fixed on Jason's hesitance, seemingly picking apart all that he was and assessing him not adequate.

"You really don't act like Damian at all..."

He froze again, was that a good thing? Was this gonna be what gave him away?

"Did you hit your head or something? Temporary amnesia?"

"Y-yes!" Was he messing this up, would Danial believe that?

"Then why are you fighting so hard to keep the engagement? You don't know me at all."

Shit. shit what did he say? How did he convince Danial to keep the engagement if his other self hated him and this self didn't know him?

"I-I heard how wonderful you were from my parents and- and fell in love!"

Danial backed up with a distured look on his face, fuck he shouldn't have said that. "Love? After just hearing about me? That’s… kind of creepy."

“I just want to get to know you!”

Danial looked at him, his shoulders slumped and he looked resigned as he said "fine we'll keep up the engagement for now.” yes! “But when you get your memories back, we're breaking it off.”

Not great, but at least he knew that wasn’t going to happen.

He turned around to leave, oh wait. "I haven't told anyone else I've lost my memories so could you keep that one to yourself?" He asked, turning back around.

Danial looked at him suspiciously. "Why haven't you told anyone else? Not even your family?"

Fuck again! Why couldn't he just get this right? "Of course my family knows!" He really hoped Danial never met them because they absolutely did not. "but no one at this school does, i don't want them to treat me like i'm made of glass like my parents." Not completely off base, they've been tiptoeing around him all summer, probably because he was acting so weird.

"that makes sense." Danial sighed, he looked suddenly like the whole weight of the world was upon his shoulders.

Jason screwed up his face, he had definitely been the one to place it there. He wanted to go over to him and tell him that they could break off the engagement after all but he really couldn't do that. "I'm sorry." He settled for instead.

Danial looked surprised. "You’re apologizing?"

"Yeah, I've made this so much harder for you than it really had to be. And you don't really know me anymore and I really don't know you."

Danial looked at him with something akin to empathy. "It's hard being thrust into a world that's unfamiliar to you isn't it? No one you trust or know around you and having to be something your not."

Jason looked at him in genuine shock. "H-how?"

Danial looked panicked for a second before he gave a light laugh. "I may not have amnesia but I do have expectations from everyone around me." He rubbed his arm. "Everyone says you're way out of my league and that I'm lucky to have you." This time his laugh was bitter.

"If anything you said about the old me was true it was really the opposite."

Danial gave a snort that Jason couldn't help feeling was the prettiest thing he's ever heard. "oh believe me i down played it."

Jason looked at him aghast. "Downplayed it!? Just how bad was I??"

Daniel gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and a smirk, "Now that, my friend is a talk for another time. Danial moved past him brushing his shoulder, what felt like a shock passed through him and he went stiff. When he finally came to his senses he was all by himself, What had just happened?

#danny phantom #danny #dp x dc #dpxdc #dp #dead on main #dp x dc crossover #dc comics #jason todd #dc #jason x danny #dead on main ship #dc x dp prompt #dc x dp

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smallmightsupremacy · 8 months ago

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Izuku isn't losing his arms and here's why:

Okay so I know that we're all freaking out over that one manga panel, but we really shouldn't be.

Deku isn't going to lose his arms. It's all in his head.

Just stay with me.

First and foremost, look at the reactions from the characters when they join the battlefield. Specifically Aizawa:

What about this screams 'one of my students just lost both of his arms and may not end up having a future as a hero anymore?'

You would think that if Hori were to really go through with Izuku losing his arms, he would put more emphasis on the characters' reactions to make it more impactful, right?

To further reinforce this idea, we also need to consider the significance of Izuku's hands in Katsuki's arc. Whether you view their relationship as romantic or not, you can't deny that Izuku's hands holds significance to Katsuki. It represents the time when their relationship first fell apart, and I think in order to call their relationship fully 'healed' and complete Katsuki's growth, he's going to need to accept Izuku's hand again.

I mean, look at how foreshadowed the handhold is. There's no way they're not going to be holding hands by the end of the series. It's a necessity at this point.

And yes, you can argue that they already did hold hands, but to me that handhold didn't seem like the official one. It wasn't as impactful as it could've been. Now, while I'm not saying that the handhold didn't have any emotion to it, I feel like it's impact got a little diluted by Katsuki's revival. It wasn't the main focus. I think that the proper handhold is going to come later and be in it's own moment.

And, I mean, Izuku kind of needs his hands for that to happen.

So now you may be wondering, if Izuku hasn't lost his arms, then how do you explain what's happening to him right now?

Well, like I said earlier, it's all in his head. I think it's AFO fucking around with his mind.

I think AFO is somehow manipulating the vestige world and OFA mental connection he was with Izuku to make him hallucinate that he's lost his arms. He wants Izuku to crumble, and what better way to do that than to convince him that his dream is over and that there's nothing he can do?

I feel like this has also been foreshadowed in a way too. Take a look at this picture:

This image already foreshadowed Ochako getting stabbed in the chest, so perhaps it's also foreshadowing Izuku's fate?

The knife is in his head, so perhaps it's hinting at him being affected psychologically?

Also, the idea that it's only those that are connected to the vestige realm that can see the illusions that AFO is planting would be a great way to get Katsuki to be a part of the final fight too.

We already know that's he's going to be involved somehow. Hori himself said that the ending for mha was going to be better than the ending for Hero's Rising (the one Kats and Izu share OFA), and what better way to improve that than have Katsuki come save him from the mind fuckery?

I also think that finally having Izuku and Katsuki fight side by side has been foreshadowed for a long time, and if that really were to happen, then there's no better time for that than the final fight.

Also, Katsuki's really the only one that can save Izuku right now if my theory were to be true. He's the only character that fits the very specific requirements that Izuku needs (being connected to the vestige realm, and also having a willingness to save/help Izuku).

Speaking of, Katsuki being connected to the vestige realm was a shock for us all, and it doesn't make sense for why Horikoshi would show us such ground-breaking information if he didn't plan on using it later. This has to be the later. There's no other case where I can see Katsuki's connection to the vestige realm being implemented into the story again other than this.

So here's the TL;DR:

Izuku is being mindfucked by AFO and Katsuki is going to be the one that brings him back to reality

#bnha #mha #mha theory #bnha theory #mha manga spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #bakugou katsuki #katsuki bakugou #izuku midoriya #midoriya izuku #one for all #all for one #mha predictions #bnha meta #mha meta #bkdk #bakudeku

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woso-dreamzzz · 8 months ago

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Tears III

Alexia Putellas x Child!Reader

Summary: A slow morning

The day that Mami and Jenni break up starts with rain.

They'd sat you down on the sofa and explained that they weren't together any more. They loved each other but they weren't in love with each other.

You didn't understand that, not really, but you pretended that you did because that would make Mami and Jenni happy.

Jenni left the house. She left the house but she also ended up leaving Barcelona too for Mexico but she explained that even though she wasn't in love with your Mami anymore, didn't mean that she didn't love you with all her heart.

You think that you love Jenni too even though she left the country and the house.

You don't love any of the Barcelona girls nearly as much as you love Jenni so training was now difficult. You didn't understand them well. You were painfully shy and with Jenni gone, you stuck close to Mami. You branch out to Teeny's mummies sometimes because they have Teeny and Teeny's your favourite but that's about it.

You were getting better though, of that Alexia was sure. With the World Cup callup and everything going on, there was no choice but to take you with her.

Any progress you seemed to have made, immediately disappeared. You clung to Alexia like you thought something was wrong. When it wasn't her, it was Jenni.

It was like you didn't even know who the other Barcelona girls were. You clung so firmly to Alexia and Jenni that neither quite knew how to cope.

You had always been like this, skittish and scared and maybe Alexia enabled it a bit too much but she could never get the image of you in your incubator out of her mind.

You were so, so tiny and so, so sick and she was so scared to lose you that she caused this behaviour in you now.

"Mami," You say softly one morning.

You're tucked under Alexia's arm as the early morning Australian sun filters in through the curtains.

This is probably one of the other bad habits that Alexia had enabled. There was something in her that just couldn't sleep properly if you weren't tucked up next to her.

You didn't get any proper skin-to-skin contact until seven weeks after you were born and even then, you were still sickly so it was never for long.

Alexia had started cosleeping with you the moment it was safe. It grounded her. It soothed her to know that you were safe and protected in her arms.

"Hola, pequeñita," Alexia coos, sliding open her eyes," Do you want to get breakfast?"

"Please, Mami."

It's a rest day today and Alexia is more than happy to do whatever you want. This whole World Cup has been stressful on you and she's trying her best to make sure the rest of it runs smoothly.

A few of the other girls are already at breakfast and, like clockwork, you hide behind Alexia's legs as she loads up your plate.

"Pequeñita? Do you want to go and choose a table for us?"

You glance around the room and the way your Mami's teammates have already spread themselves out. You shake your head and move closer.

"Are you sure?" Jenni's voice from behind shocks you and you turn around to look at her. "Why don't we choose a seat so your Mami can fill her plate?"

You let go of Alexia's hand to take Jenni's as the adults swap plates.

It's more so Jenni choosing the table you sit at, partially filled with some of the Barcelona girls but it's the least filled in the room and at least you semi-know them.

You give them all a little wave because that's polite before you hide yourself in Jenni's neck. Her arms wrap around you easily. She used to hold you a little like this when you were littler and it makes you feel incredibly safe.

She feeds you bites of your breakfast as she speaks to the other Barca girls and she doesn't coax you out of your hiding spot and force you to interact with them.

Mami arrives soon after and takes the seat next to you and Jenni. She doesn't have to do much but eat her own food, though she keeps glancing at you.

Alexia can tell that you're still a bit sleepy, the type of sleepy that can only be fixed by a nap rather than waiting longer for you to wake up properly.

You're practically dead of the world on Jenni's chest but still awake enough to whine when Alexia takes you into her arms.

"No," You whine," Jenni." Your hand reaches out for her, finding purchase on the fabric of her t-shirt.

"It's okay," Jenni says," Go with your Mami. I'll be there to see you later."

"Promise?"

"Of course I promise. When have I ever broken a promise to you, pequeñita?"

"Never."

"That's right, never. I'll see you later."

You rest your head on Alexia's shoulder as she walks you back up to your room and get settled in bed again. She cards her fingers through your hair.

"Did you miss Jenni?" She asks.

You nod pathetically. "Miss Jenni."

"I'm sorry, pequeñita, but at least she's here now, huh?"

"We see Jenni later?"

"Well, she promised. You know she won't break a promise to her favourite girl."

"We can see Teeny too?"

"I'll have to call Ingrid but maybe, yes. Would that make you feel better, seeing Teeny?"

"Teeny and Jenni."

"Teeny and Jenni, that's right."

#woso x reader #alexia putellas x reader #alexia putellas #woso community #woso fanfics #woso imagine #woso

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pixiesfz · 6 months ago

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jilly jilly jilly

this could be potential p2 and 3, thinking of a ends with us plot

secret love j.r x reader

plot: it starts with Jill

warning: none I don’t think

You had always been a good writer, whether it was a poem you were forced to write in class or a storyline in a movie or TV show you created in your mind, they were always good.

But you didn’t know you were good at song writing until your best friend convinced you to sign up for a competition.

Jill had always been your biggest supporter; she was always the one who encouraged you when you needed it the most. She always said it was because she loved you so much.

But it was a different type of love than what people thought.

Your parents were homophobic, disgusting people, you would never be able to come out to them without them kicking you out of the house so you tried to always keep your feelings secret.

But in the time that you lived with them, you held a secret that to this day nobody, but Jill knew.

The first time she kissed you was when you won the song writing competition. You were excited by the email you went straight to her house in the rain.

“Jill open this door right now!” you yelled with a smile as she was still in her soccer gear from training, she dropped her mouth open as she let you in.

“Y/n?”

“I won!” you smiled “What?” she asked “That competition you wanted me to do- I won it” you smiled, wrapping the blonde girl into a hug quickly after, squeezing her tight.

You had no confidence when you first saw the flyer, not bothering to enter but Jill told you to do it, she had hope in you.

“thankyou,” you said, nuzzling your head into the crook of her shoulder.

Jill wished that she could stay in this position forever, a pretty girl hugging her, a pretty girl that was you.

“I am so proud of you,” she said, laying her head on top of your wet hair, but she didn’t care.

You stayed in the position for maybe a bit too long for friends before Jill finally pulled back, lifting your chin up with her fingertips.

“What was the song about?” she asked, her eyes looking down into yours.

“Do you want me to lie?” you asked, knowing that she already knew by the way that you had been acting.

“no”

You watched as her eyes darted down to your lips.

“It was about you” you answered and your eyes now darted to her lips which beside the fact that she had been training all day looked soft.

“me?” she smiled and you nodded “you.”

“good” she licked her lips before leaning down to you and capturing her lips with yours, you moaned slightly at the feeling as she pulled you closer to her, you only separated when you thought you couldn’t breathe anymore and it seemed the same to her as you let out deep breaths after, your foreheads touching.

“Do you think we could do that again?” she asked and you nodded eagerly with a smile.

That’s how your teenage years went, sneaking around with Jill as everyone labelled you as best friends, it was good for you until all you wanted to do was hold her hand in public, tell the fans she had gained from soccer to stop flirting with her since she had a girlfriend.

And most of all you just wanted to go on a proper date.

When she started to get selected for the Netherlands team was when it started to get really hard, you would kiss her goodbye in a public toilet at the airport, she would leave then you would wait five minutes after to leave yourself, mostly every time in tears.

Whenever she would go, you would write your songs, and sometimes you would sing them for her when she got back but as time went on they got more depressing but she would always come back with a smile and stories to tell and you never gained the opportunity to tell her how you really felt.

Especially when you decided to be private in the first place.

It was on a Thursday night when everything came crashing down.

Jill came over at five to ‘study’ for your final SAC’s and you went up to your room and closed the door. You tried to study, really but when Jill took off her jumper to reveal a white tank top you were all over her,

Stradling her hips, her hands rested on your ass, squeezing them as your mouth danced along her neck, she moaned out, her leg accidentally kicking off a bunch of books from the bed which made a loud sound.

Not noticing that your parents had arrived home an hour ago you both didn’t think anything of it and you were both quite busy to notice the footsteps leading up to your bedroom door.

“Y/N-“ Your mother gasped from your bedroom door and you both scrambled off eachother as you stood up, facing your mother “Mum-“

“no!” she yelled stepping towards you “Mum please just-“

You were stopped as her hand hit your face, causing you to drop to the ground

“You ungrateful child!” She yelled and stopped Jill as she tried to go to you “Get out of my house” she told her

“You hit your child!” she yelled at her

“She is a slut” your mother seethed out and Jill took a step back, ready to curse out but you sat up

“Jill leave,” you told her and she looked down to you “What?”

“Leave.” You looked at her “Please” you croaked out before you looked out the window, telling her to leave.

You didn’t want her to run into your father on her way out.

A week had passed and you hadn’t gone to school, nobody had seen you anywhere and Jill was worried, she texted you many times and you never replied.

It wasn’t until she was told she would be leaving to Germany to play for Bayern Munich was when she physically showed up to your house.

She climbed up the tree to your window only to see a big lock that had been added. Not giving up she knocked on the door, squinting in to see if you were inside.

The room was dark but she could see the outline of your body under your covers. She called out for your name but you didn’t move.

You didn’t want her to see you in the state you were in, your other friend Georgia had told you about Jill moving, so you knew.

You didn’t want her last memory of you to be bruised and broken.

She might have never left if she did.

#woso soccer #woso #woso community #woso x reader #jill roord x reader #jill roord imagine #jill roord #mancity #manchester city

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goatyuuji · 2 months ago

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JJK 271: The death of Ryomen Sukuna

As a Sukuna fan, this chapter was everything I could ask for. Such a beautiful end for such an interesting antagonist. Okay coming back to the chapter, more specifically to Sukuna and Mahito conversation, we see Sukuna admitting that he had different paths he could have travelled, two to be more precise: one being with Uraume and one with a mysterious black hair figure who is dressed as a shrine maiden, so the question here is who is this mystery person...it's definitely not Yorozu since Yorozu has never dressed this modestly and I don't think this is Sukuna's mom either...so who is this???

I believe this is Kenjaku when he first approached Sukuna in the Heian era.

We previously had a panel of Sukuna's mummified body dressed as a monk by Tengen in the manga...so Sukuna might have grown up in a religious setting, and what better way to get close to him than approaching him as a miko or a shrine maiden.

But that's beside the point. The point here is Sukuna talking about the two paths he could have chosen, and he ends up choosing Kenjaku. He allows Kenjaku to make him as a curse object, allows Kenjaku to make a vessel for him to reside into, allows Kenjaku to rope him into the culling games, and even allows Kenjaku to trust him with Tengen and the merger. But the sukuna who chose this path was an angry version of him, the curse version of him if you will. He wanted to spit back the curses that were residing him, so full of anger anger anger hate hate hate. Even at his death bed his only response to kindness was "don't underestimate me, I'm a curse". So this version of Sukuna choosing Kenjaku over Uraume was no surprise.

But what changed then????....well.....HE LOST

He lost, not to Gojo or Yuta or Yuji or the serveral dozen sorcerers who jumped him, in the end he lost to MEGUMI FUSHIGURO. In ch 268 we see Sukuna trying to manipulate Megumi to give him all the control, to give up and leave it to him.

This curse version of Sukuna who doesn't know anything except cursing others back, recounting all the deaths Megumi caused to him, telling Megumi how he can't live a proper life anymore....somehow somewhere it feels like he is trying to delude himself too by saying after all the atrocities he caused in 1000 years there is no use fighting back, no use in living a proper life anymore. And this Sukuna has never lived for anyone except himself so it's easier to curse the world back, easier to give up all the control and just cause panic and doom and death.

But Megumi is not just living for himself, he lives for Tsumiki, for Yuuji, he can't doom the entire world when the world has people like Tsumiki and Yuuji in it and so he fights, he refutes the notion of proper life and says he wanna try living for someone else one more time.

All this could not have been done without Yuuji Itadori of course, Yuuji Itadori who came as a guardian angel to Megumi Fushiguro, who never gave up on Megumi once, who showed Megumi how to live one more time.

Not only that Yuuji Itadori showed Sukuna, the king of curses, the one person who kept cursing and ruining his life again and again, pity. Yuuji who was cursed by several people in his life, his grandpa, Nanami, Junpei, Mahito, Gojo, Choso, Nobara and Sukuna himself, still able to live his life without cursing others back, still able to live his life with compassion. And Sukuna reaction to it is understandable: rage. Because Yuuji is everything that his chosen path won't let him be, Yuuji is everything that that Sukuna could have been if only he hadn't chosen the path with Kenjaku...if only...

So after Sukuna who has lost everything and there is nothing more for him to lose, he decides to choose a different path, he chooses Uraume. And just like Megumi who decides to live for someone else (Yuuji) when given the second chance, Sukuna chooses to live for Uraume this time. He acknowledges his defeat with grace, does not condemn the path he chose the first time but instead he is regretful which is so raw and unfiltered coming from Sukuna, and moves on North this time with Uraume. This time Sukuna chooses Uraume instead of Uraume choosing Sukuna and serving him.

And with this the story of Ryomen Sukuna comes to an end. We never got his backstory, we never even got his real name because he never looked back behind him to acknowledge those measly things. To say in short, this is the death of the King of Curses who was just living to cause death and destruction around him and rebirth of someone entirely new.

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not-neverland06 · 6 months ago

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How About a Nuke?

Part VIII / Part IX

(Completed) Series Masterlist

Cooper Howard x fem!reader, The ghoul x fem!reader A/N: PLEASE READ, we have reached the end of their journey and I am so sad/happy/excited about it. I don’t even know how to feel honestly. I just want to thank everyone who has commented, messaged or reblogged this story. Your kind words and funny little depressed memes have been really uplifting for me. I was actually considering just giving up on this blog when I posted the first chapter. I haven’t had much inspiration lately or interaction I feel like, and you all have helped reignite that spark within me. Summary: There’s something keeping you tied to Cooper Howard, an invisible string wrapped around you both. You’ve fought against it as long as you could but he’s not gonna let you fight for much longer.

It’s been a month and the bounty on her head gets bigger everyday. Normally the compound hires privately, they don’t like going through the agencies. He figures with Sylvie dead they’re struggling to find a new leader and they’re falling apart. Or they’re just desperate for her head on a stick.

He sees her face everywhere, crudely drawn images of her varying in their accuracy. In some she has a hat like his on, in others her nose is the wrong shape, or her eyes are all wrong. No one seems to have a good grasp on who she is. Out of curiosity and a strange need to know she’s still alive, he’s asked around.

There are different rumors as to where she’s hiding out. Some think she’s taken to hiding out in the caves near Filly. Anyone with half a brain knows that the area’s overrun by irradiated bears and other mutated freaks.

There are those that say they’ve seen her wandering through the sands. Following that lead had led him nowhere. He doesn’t know where she is and it’s driving him insane. She’s like a constant itch in the back of his mind that he just can’t scratch. Days and nights are spent thinking about her and he hates it.

He’s not sure what he’d do when he does find her. Whether he’d shoot her to repay the favor or just tie her up to keep her from leaving again. He’s conflicted on how he feels about her. He’s bothered that he feels anything towards her at all. And he knows that when she shot him, she was shooting to kill.

She had no way of knowing that he would heal from that bullet. She’d watched him bleed out on the ground and left him for dead. He was impressed, as much as he wanted to be mad, he was almost proud in a way.

Throughout their tumultuous lives and times together she’d always had to be guided by him. He’d shown her the ways of whatever world they were living in. She’d relied on him and he enjoyed it. The time had to come when eventually she wouldn’t need him anymore.

It’s outside of Filly that he finds the most accurate poster of her so far. She looks like she did in their first movie together. A proper outlaw, wanted all across the Wastelands for her crimes against a bunch of sick fucks. If he could kill Sylvie again, he would. He’d kill all of them.

Not that he’s condemning them because of what the compound’s doing. He’s dabbled in organ trade before, eaten people, he’s done a lot of fucked up shit. But he draws the line at trying to hurt her. He’s the only one who should be allowed to fuck with her.

He takes the poster down and whistles softly at the price under her name. It’s enough to keep him happy for a longtime. If he never wanted to take on another bounty he wouldn’t have to. Course, he was never in this for the money. A man’s gotta have something to entertain himself with at the end of the world.

He wonders if she’s even still alive. Maybe a Deathclaw got her a day after she left him behind. He could have walked past her corpse and never even known it. He folds the poster up and slips it in his bag. He doesn’t know why he bothers keeping it. Possibly because it’s the closest thing to her that he’s got, but he doesn’t feel like lingering on that thought for long.

He tugs his hat lower on his head and heads through the tunnel leading to Filly. He’s caused a lot of issues here over the years. Usually he kills most of the people who could identify him as an instigator, but he doesn’t feel like pushing his luck today. He needs more supplies and he knows Ma June won’t sell to him if he causes a fight beforehand.

It’s louder than normal today, more people rushing around. They’re all congregating around something in the center of the marketplace. He turns to the left, heading up the stairs to try and get a better look at what’s got everyone so excited.

“They found her!” A boy shouts, fidgeting in his spot next to him. He glances at him from under his hat and the boy pales before scurrying away from him. His lips turn up in a cruel grin and he finally gets a good look at what’s happening.

She’s kneeling in the middle of the marketplace, two Knights on either side of her. He’s more surprised by the fact that she actually has picked up a hat in her time away from him.

She seems to be playing into the outlaw routine more than he thought she would.

You’re embarrassed, honestly, that you let these two idiots capture you. Them and their useless little squires.

You’ve found odd jobs through the Brotherhood when they need assistance looking for relics of the old world. Though, you’re really not sure how much use a toaster oven can be to them, but they pay good money for it.

Once your bounty was posted and they figured out who you were, though, that stopped being useful. You can’t even hunt bounties because the agencies would just grab you and turn you over to the compound.

They clearly didn’t give a shit about women, you don’t get why they’re making this whole Sylvie situation such a big deal.

You had to bribe Ma June by buying some of her junk, but eventually she’d helped you find some work in Filly. The people here are stupid enough that they don’t recognize you when they see you. Most of them are high or drunk so the only thing you have to worry about is wandering hands and not stepping in the middle of their brawls.

From the patrons of the bar you hear stories about yourself. How you slaughtered the entire compound, even the children, which is so far from the truth you can’t help but scoff. Or how you apparently slept with a ghoul and you're carrying his mutant baby.

You don’t even know where they got that one from.

They also seem to think you wander through the sands, shooting anyone who gets in your way. It’s a comfort that no one seems to have caught onto you yet. But it’s also disheartening to know that all that’s left of civilization is a bunch of psychopathic idiots.

What happened to natural selection?

You know your stint in Filly is up when two Knights walk in, their squires struggling to carry their bags behind them. You pull your hat further over your head and duck behind the bar. You try to keep your back to them and let the old man, Marley, who runs the bar deal with them.

His shaky voice is cautious as he greets them, “What are Knights doing so far out here?”

One of their distorted voices rings out through the, now quiet, bar. “We got bored. Wanted to shoot some shit.”

You roll your eyes and focus on cleaning the cup in front of you. You spit into it, not enough water to properly clean it, and scrub at it with a stained towel. Marley hums, clearly displeased with the answer. You can hear his tottering steps approaching you and wince, praying he’s not going to do what you think he is.

He tugs on your shirt with a shaky hand and you slump forward in defeat. “Deal with these jackasses,” he mutters, taking drinks over to a different table.

You pour the only alcohol the bar has into two cups and keep your head down as you approach. “Heard that a woman took over for Knight Damien.”

One of them scoffs and shakes his armored head, “What the fuck is this world coming to?” You don’t know how they’re planning on drinking their liquor with the helmets on but you’re not going to ask stupid questions. You drop the cups in front of them, but your hand slips and one of them tips over into a Knight’s lap.

“I’ve got it, sire.” Their squire lunges forward and begins vigorously scrubbing their armor. Your face curls up in distaste and you’re about to walk away when a metal hand grips your wrist.

“Holy shit, it’s her!” Oh, you’re so screwed.

They’ve got a fucking leash on you, it’s humiliating. The scarred and dirt-covered faces of the citizens of Filly surround you. They’re all leering, shouting at you and begging the Knight’s to share in the bounty. But the Knight’s aren’t listening, they’re just congratulating each other.

“What do you think they’ll give us?”

One of them shoves their squire and he goes toppling into his large bag, feet flailing in the air. “Hopefully better fucking squires. I’m getting sick of this one’s stupid face.”

The squire kneels down and shouts in a shaking voice, “I’m sorry if I’ve disappointed you, sire!” God, you really hate these people. You wished they would just shoot you. Having to sit here and listen to them talk was making your brain go numb.

The Knight’s distorted laugh rings out through his helmet. The other one glances over at you, “What do you think she did? I’ve never seen the compound this pissed off.”

“I dunno. Hey!” You know he’s talking to you, that they want an answer, you really don’t care to give them one. “What’d you do?” They stare at you for a moment and then he sighs when you don’t respond. He shoves his squire towards you and the kid goes stumbling over his feet. “Make her talk.”

He nods rapidly, head bobbing up and down. “Of course, sire.” Your hands twitch to your side and you give him a wicked grin as he approaches.

He’s debating going down there and trying to help her when the first shot goes off. He doesn’t even see it happen, he just watches as one of the squires drops to the ground.

Those who don’t want to get caught in the crossfire are quick to move away from the area, hiding in their shops or shoving past him to get through the tunnel. He heads down the stairs, taking his time and trying to figure out where the shot came from.

The second squire moves towards her and his head flies back, a hole between his eyes and his brains splattering across the ground. One Knight shoves the other one and points at their dead squire’s, “Did you not take her fucking gun?”

He’s been in those suits. He remembers how it felt, the power you get from being in them. How they make you feel like a big man. He also remembers how fucking slow they could be. She’s on her feet and running for cover before they can even start to grab her.

She dives behind a stall and tugs a knife out of her boot, sawing at the ropes around her wrists. He can’t reach her before the fighting starts. Someone in the remaining crowd shouts, “Grab her! Get the bounty!” And all hell breaks loose.

Someone runs at him and he shoots them before they can grab him. Shots start going off, the Knight’s mowing down anyone who tries to swoop in on their bounty. Everyone else is shooting blindly, just trying to get rid of the competition so they can claim her bounty as their own.

He ducks under the hail fire and slides next to her as she’s reloading her gun. She glances over at him and frowns, “Didn’t I kill you?”

He hears a shout and watches as some half-feral woman charges at them. She shoots her dead and turns back to him. He gives her a wry smile, “You want to do this now, sweetheart?”

She peers over her cover and surveys the chaos going on around them. She sighs and glances back at him, “Why aren’t you dead?”

He tugs one of his specially made bullets out of his bag and loads it into his gun. He lifts himself to his knees and aims at the weak spot on the Knight’s chest plate. They both watch as blood explodes out of the neck of the power armor, the Knight’s friend cussing as he watches him die.

“Next time,” she turns to look at him, “aim for the head,” he instructs. She glares at him before making her way to Ma June’s shop. He follows, not willing to let her out of his sight again, and she ducks behind the barrels of supplies in front of the shop.

“Clearly,” she winces as the Knight’s gun starts firing off again, “I’m not making it out of here on my own.” They dive to the side as bullets rip through the barrels they’re leaning against. They’re not gonna have cover for much longer.

He grins at her, “Sounds like you’re asking me for a favor, darling.”

The sounds of screams and bodies dropping is nearly deafening. A few feet away a bullet catches a man in the throat and he drops to the ground. They watch as he chokes on his blood and tries to claw his way to safety. Steps rapidly approach them and she turns to shoot a different man, his body dropping an inch away from them.

He turns back to her and his lips turn down, “After you tried to kill me? You want my help,” he laughs at her and she glares.

Before she can speak a voice rings out above them, “I got her!” He shoots at the woman on the upper level above them, half of her leg gets blown off and she tumbles over the railing, narrowly missing the pair.

He turns back to her, “You’re asking a lot, darling.”

“You’ve fucking shot me, twice. I’m not asking you for anything.” Her lips turn down in a sneer and she looks at him like the very sight of him disgusts her. “I don't need your help. I don't need you.” She glances back over her shoulder, surveying the gore and the bullets flying around them. She checks her gun and he sees just how little ammo she has left. “I’ll handle this myself.” She snaps the chamber of her gun closed and moves to get up. He grabs her wrist and yanks her back down, ignoring the angry expression on her face.

“Look, you might not want my help, but you need it, sweetheart. Just stay here.”

You watch as Cooper runs off, his guns firing before he’s even fully standing. You only wait a second before you’re running into Ma June’s and out her back door. She shouts at you as you barrel through her shop, knocking over her displays and shelves, but you can’t waste any time getting the hell out of dodge.

You’re surprised Cooper was stupid enough to think you would actually wait for him. The Knight’s had called for an air evac out of Filly and if you stay there any longer you’ll be back in the compound before you can blink.

You’ve spent a month evading them, you’re not about to let yourself get caught because of Cooper.

You can’t believe he’s not dead. It’s not like you’ve been losing sleep over killing him, but it’s been hard to cope with the fact that you killed the man that was once the love of your life. Seeing him again, though, you wished you had shot him in his smug face.

You’d forgotten, in the time apart, just how condescending he could be. He seemed to think you needed him to survive. You didn’t.

At best, he provided the comfort of company. Poorly.

Despite how much he undervalued you, you were perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. You didn’t need him to save you. You would have figured your way out of there on your own, eventually. You’ve handled yourself a month in the Wastelands without him. You learned how to carve an existence for yourself out here and you did it without help.

You race into the woods beyond Filly, putting as much distance between you and the sounds of fighting as quickly as you can. The trees around you begin to shake, the ground vibrating and a swirl of dirt and leaves rises into the air and whips you in the face.

You look up and begin pushing yourself faster. One of the Brotherhood’s Vertibird’s is circling Filly. “This is not a hostile landing! Please remain calm!” You blame your distraction on the announcement.

You would have heard him coming up behind you if you hadn’t been listening to whatever the Brotherhood was saying. Rope loops around your arms and you’re yanked backwards. Your head thumps painfully hard against the forest floor, rocks scraping you as you’re dragged across the ground.

Cooper’s face appears over yours, a cruel smile on his lips. “Now, this seems awfully familiar.” He walks around you, boots straddling your waist and grabs you by the front of your shirt, yanking you back to your feet. “I thought I told you to stay put, sweetheart.”

You frown at him, shoving your leg up between his. He groans, doubling over while you shimmy out of the loose rope. “Honestly, after all the shit that’s happened you think I’m gonna listen to anything you say?” You step back from him, brushing the dirt off your clothes as best you can.

You sigh in frustration when you realize that when the Knight’s had grabbed you, you’d lost your supplies. Cooper looks up at you and scoffs, “Missing something?” You eye his bag on the ground and start to go for it. He pulls the hammer of his gun back and you glance towards him. You’d forgotten what a quick draw he could be.

He’s fully recovered now, eyes narrowed in on you and gun pointed right at your chest. “See, a bullet to the chest might not kill me, but I reckon it’ll do a hell of a lot of damage to you. Why don’t you back up for me, sweetheart?”

You let go of his bag and slowly back away from him. He keeps his gun trained on you and stoops down, throwing his bag back over his shoulder. Your eyes dart to the hat on his head and your lips curl up when you spot the hole you’d put in it.

Two hundred years and he’s kept that hat nearly pristine, you take no small amount of pride in being the one to ruin it.

“The Brotherhood will be swarming these woods in a few minutes. They’re not gonna be too happy about one of their Knight’s being dead. Come with me, I can help you out.”

You scoff, “Like I’ll ever trust you again. You’ve shot me, sold me, and left me for dead, Cooper.”

He huffs, eyes narrowing and lips curled in a sardonic grin. You can tell he’s getting pissed off. “The choice is yours,” he tucks his gun back in his holster and turns on his heels. You watch in surprise as he stalks away from you. You had fully expected him to put up more of a fight, it almost hurts that he left so easily again.

Then you hear the sounds of orders being shouted behind you. Metal creaking and stomping through the underbrush and you realize he hadn’t left but forced you between a rock and a hard place. You could follow him or let yourself get captured by the Brotherhood.

“Fuck,” you mutter under your breath. You risk a glance over your shoulder and spot a rapidly approaching party of squires. You run in the direction Cooper went and find him leaning casually against a tree, a satisfied look on his face when he spots you. “Don’t say a word,” you warn, shoving past him.

He glances at her from across the fire and finds himself feeling almost at ease for the first time in a month. It’s been a while since he’s looked up to actually find her staring back at him. She might look like she wants to kill him, but she’s here.

“You have to admit, we make a pretty good team, darling.”

She gives him an unimpressed look, “Yeah, Cooper, we’re so great at murdering people.” She looks over to the dead bodies of the raiders they’d stolen this camp from and shakes her head. “I forgot how much death you surround yourself with.”

“I surround myself with? Might I remind you, you fired the first shot, sweetheart.” Granted, he had shoved her out of her hiding spot and given her no choice about it.

Her head shoots up and she glares at him, “You made me!” She opens her mouth and he grins. He enjoys provoking her like this. Even if the last time he had she’d shot him because of it, but it’s fun to rile her up. She always gets so pissed off, it entertains him to no end.

To his disappointment, she closes her mouth and shakes her head, choosing not to engage with him. He sighs and rips off a piece of jerky. “When did you turn into such a wet fucking blanket?”

Her eyes flare with anger, despite that, he can hear how hurt she really is. “Maybe when you sold me!”

He tilts his head and runs his tongue over his teeth, “You ever gonna let that go? I told you it was a mistake. How was I supposed to know they were gonna breed you like a prize pig?”

She scoffs, the noise high pitched and shocked. She shakes her head and stares at him with wide eyes, “You are unbelievable.” He shrugs and takes a swig from the flask he’d stolen off one of the raiders. He’s not sure how they make their alcohol, or if they trade for it, but it’s fucking disgusting. He frowns at the flask and drains the rest of it before tossing it into the woods behind him.

She sighs and runs a hand over her face, her voice tired as she asks, “What’s the plan here, Cooper?”

He picks at his teeth and shakes his head, “With what?”

She leans against the log behind her and gestures at herself. “With me. What, are you going to wait for me to pass out so you can tie me up and send me back to the compound? I’ve seen the price on my head. I know how valuable I am to everyone in the Wastelands.”

He doesn’t know why what she’s saying bothers him so much but it does. “You really think I’d send you back there?”

Her face is devoid of anything as she responds, “Why wouldn’t you?”

It’s the bluntness with which she asks that, that bugs him. Like there’s no other possibility but him betraying her. Taking advantage of her while she was vulnerable and weak and then handing her over to the people who want her dead. He wouldn’t do that to her.

He didn’t go through all this fucking trouble to find her just to lose her again. He wants to tell her as much but she’s on her feet and grabbing her bag before he can. “Look, I appreciate the help today, but I’m not interested in starting this partnership back up again. I think it’s better if we just part ways.”

He whips his gun out before he can think about what he’s doing. She freezes, still bent over and eyes his gun warily. “I’m afraid that’s not an option, darling.” He can’t let her leave again. And maybe this isn’t the best way to go about it, but he doesn’t know how else to stop her.

“You gonna shoot me, Cooper?” She whispers, her own hand twitching for the revolver at her side. He stands up and grabs her wrists, ignoring the way she struggles against him. He binds her hands with his rope and he sits back down,

“I’m not gonna turn you in and I’m not gonna shoot you. But you’re not getting out of here that easy, sweetheart.”

Her eyes narrow in on his, her fists clenched tightly in anger. “I killed two men with my hands bound today. What’s stopping me from killing you?”

He shrugs, “Nothing. There’s nothing stopping you, just like there’s nothing stopping me. But I’m not killing you, am I? See,” he leans forward, “I’ve fought too hard and spent too much time looking after you to just let you go now. We’re in this together, whether you want it or not.”

Her lips split in a sneer and she throws herself down on the log. “You’re all the fucking same. You treat me like a goddamn dog that needs to be beat into submission. I’m not some misbehaving pet, Cooper!” Her eyes well up and her voice breaks, “You don’t get to just leash me and expect me to be okay with it.”

“I’m under no illusions that you’re happy here, sweetheart.” He runs a hand down his face and she shakes her head in disbelief.

“Then just let me go,” she’s bordering on begging now and his chest squeezes the longer she stares at him with those pleading eyes of hers. It’s not something he’s familiar with, this feeling, this longing for her to just shut the fuck up and stop making this so damn difficult for him.

“I can’t,” he mutters, wanting her to just drop it.

“Why not?” She snaps, dropping any pretenses of trying to get him to sympathize with her.

He surges forward and grabs her by the jaw. Her eyes widen in shock and he smashes their lips together, teeth clashing painfully. There’s nothing gentle or sweet about this kiss. Her teeth are ripping into his scarred lips until the taste of copper is spreading on his tongue. He groans, digging his fingers into her cheeks until her lips part.

His tongue probes against hers, the taste of his blood spreading into her mouth as well. She whimpers, the noise stirring something in him he’d forgotten about. There’s an old desire bubbling in him that’s making him blind to the rest of the world. He wants her, more than he ever wants to admit.

He’s wanted her for a long time before this and they both know it. How hard he’s fought against it, against moments like these. He didn’t think he was still capable of this feeling, this desire for her. But it’s consuming. She’s ruining him, running him in circles until he thinks he’s going insane.

But it’s not the same gentle passion it once was. It’s as twisted as he’s become. The desire to possess, consume, covet until she’s his and only his to do with what he wants. His teeth dig into her, letting her blood overcome the taste of his own. He groans, his free hand grabbing her waist and yanking her closer.

She tastes so much sweeter than he does, he wants to rip a chunk of her off and eat her whole. He’s so distracted he doesn't even notice her pulling out her gun until he’s shooting back from her. He lands roughly on the forest floor and groans, hands clutched over the bleeding hole in his gut. Pain radiates through his abdomen and he rolls onto his side.

He looks up at her in shock. She’s spitting their blood onto the ground, her bound hands wiping at her lips. “Asshole,” she mutters. She tucks her gun back in her holster and looks over at him.

His eyes are wide in disbelief as he struggles to sit back up. The movement causes another wave of pain and he hisses through gritted teeth, “You shot me!”

She rolls her eyes and gives him a blank look, “You’ll live.” He limps back to his own seat and lifts his shirt, watching as the hole closes over slowly and the blood stops leaking. She watches as he heals and sighs, “Unfortunately.” He tugs it back down and sighs at the state of his shirt.

“My shirt won’t.” He digs a finger into the hole and tugs on it, watching as it rips wider. Two hundred years he’s kept these clothes, she ruins them in a month. Un-fucking-believable.

“Sew it,” she gripes, still wiping at her mouth. “I can’t believe you just fucking kissed me,” she frowns and spits again, bits of crimson lingering on her lips.

He sighs and leans back against the tree. “Felt right in the moment.” It did, he wants to do it again. They’re even now, they’ve both shot each other twice. No reason for her to shoot again.

He wants to feel the way she shivers against him and moans into his mouth. She can be pissed all she wants but she kissed back, she can’t deny that. He’s sure if she wasn’t tied up she’d be a bit more receptive to him. Or maybe she just needs time to cool off after the whole compound incident, a month seems like a reasonable amount of time. Then again, women are so damn unreasonable.

She tugs a knife out of her boot and positions it between her knees. She places it between her wrists and saws at the rope until it falls free. She slides the knife back in her boot and tosses the ruined rope at him.

He catches it with a sigh and glances up at her. “Why didn’t you do that earlier?”

Her eyes are alight with a challenge, “I wanted to see if you would let me go yourself.” Well, clearly, he had failed her little test. “I wanted to see if there was even a possibility I could ever trust you again.”

He gives her an unimpressed look, slightly pissed off about his shirt. He never should have taught her how to shoot. If he’d known it would come back to bite him in the ass he wouldn’t have. “And?”

She gives him a disbelieving look and shakes her head. “And instead of letting me go, you kissed me.“ She throws her hands up in astonishment and glares at him. “Why the hell would you think that was a good idea?”

He smirks and revels in the way she shivers at the sight. “Well, darling, I’ve always been better with actions not words.”

“Yeah,” her voice is a challenge, eyes hard and jaw clenched tightly in frustration. He loves the sight of her all riled up. He loves it even more knowing he’s the one getting her like this. “What were you trying to tell me with that little display?”

He doesn’t answer her question, not wanting to just yet. “You liked it, didn’t you?” Her mouth snaps shut and she looks away from him. He laughs, leaning back and giving her a smug look. “You can be pissed off at me as much as you want, sweetheart,” the nickname rolls off his tongue like a taunt and she sneers at him. “But you want me just the same as you used to.”

“Do you like hurting me? Is that why you keep me around? You’ve been alone for two hundred years, Cooper. And for the majority of them you’ve harbored this hatred for me because you thought I had abandoned you just like everyone else.”

Her words strike a place deep inside him that has him on edge. She knows what she’s doing. He’s forgotten, in his time with her, that in the same way he can get under her skin, she can do it too. She knows him just as well, she’s just always been the better half of their duo. She never feels the need to stoop to the level he does. But she’s doing it now and it feels like a kick in the teeth.

“And I’m the only one that’s actually stuck by you.” She laughs, but there’s an underlying pain to it. She looks away from him and wipes at her cheeks and his fists clench within his gloves. “Is this your revenge? You think by torturing me you get back at everyone whose ever fucked you over. I’m sick of it, Cooper. I’m not gonna let you use me anymore.”

“I feel for you,” he forces the words out. He doesn’t want to tell her this. He shouldn’t have to tell her this. She should just stick with him, it’s what they’d always done, it’s how it always should be. Them, together. But she’s fighting against that, against him, so much that he doesn’t have a choice.

She’s backed him into a corner he doesn’t know how to get out of. “In a way I haven’t in a very long time. I can’t let you go. Don’t you get that, sweetheart? We’re in this together.”

She shakes her head and he sighs. “No,” she looks at him and just shakes her head again. “No, you don’t love me, Cooper, or you don’t want me at least. I’m not the same girl I was, that’s what you’re after. That idea in your head, of us together, that’s who I was. You were right, the Wastelands changes you. I can’t be her for you and I don’t want to be.”

He chuckles and she shrinks away from the sound in suspicion. “Newsflash, darling, I’m not the same man. I loved you a long time ago, sweetheart, but I’m not capable of that anymore. Not for the girl you were, anyway.”

She nodded, her arms wrapped around herself. She looked like she accepted the answer, but he could see beyond that, could see that she thought he was rejecting her. It hurt, she could hate him as much as she wanted, but that still hurt her. “Good,” she muttered, “she’s gone.”

“Well, good.” She shrank further into herself and he grinned. “You. You as you are now. That’s what I want. I don’t give a shit about who we were, the only person I’ve wanted since I’ve been out here has been you. You’re the only person I’ve met who can actually keep up with me. I don’t give a shit if anyone in this godforsaken Wasteland lives or dies, but I give a shit about you. You’re also the only one who can knock me on my ass.”

Her eyes darted to the hole in his shirt and a small grin came over her lips. “Haven’t been shot a lot, have you, cowboy?”

“No,” he chuckles again and grins at her, “I haven’t. Though, I am still pretty pissed about the hole in my hat.”

Her tone loses a bit of her playfulness and she glares at him, “You more than earned that.”

He acquiesces and holds up his hands in surrender, “Maybe.” She scoffs at that and rolls her eyes. “But I think we’re even now.”

“Barely,” she mutters, rubbing at the bruises on her wrists. She glances up at him and sighs, a surrender in her eyes. “But, it’s close enough now.”

He stands up and she eyes him warily as he throws himself down on the log next to her. He holds out a hand, “What do you say, darling, partners?”

She sighs and stares at his hand for a long time. He doesn’t mind, he leaves it there, hovering between them. He knows she’ll take it. “Deny it as much as you want but this is how it’s meant to be. You can keep fighting it or save us both some time.”

She reaches forward and tentatively wraps a hand around his, she uses it to yank him forward, their faces separated by an inch. “Shoot me again,” she whispers, “and I won’t miss the next time I knock you on your ass.”

“Oh shit,” you jump at the kickback on the rifle and nearly drop it to the ground. Cooper laughs and reaches around you, taking it from you.

“Maybe I should have started you off with something with a little less kick to it.” He props the rifle against the tree and glances over to the cans you’d been shooting at. Well, you’d gotten one out of five at least.

In all fairness this was the first time you’d ever handled a gun, you’re sure you’re doing fine for a beginner. He sucks on his teeth and looks at your targets. The serious look on his face cracks and he’s clearly trying to fight off laughing.

You shove at his shoulder, smiling, “Shut up. I’ve never used one of these things before.”

He picks the rifle back up and starts laughing now, “You mean a gun?”

You throw your arms in the air in defeat and slump into the patio chairs he’s dragged to the back of the cabin. “This is pointless, anyway.” He cocks the rifle and lifts it up to aim properly. In quick succession he knocks the remaining four cans off the fence. You roll your eyes at him, “Show off.”

He smiles and takes a seat next to you. You remain silent for a while, gazing across the yard and to the towering mountains across from his cabin. You appreciate him inviting you here. When you’d told him how overwhelmed you’d been feeling with all the new publicity you hadn’t expected him to drag you all the way out to his mountain home.

You wouldn’t have accepted if you’d known it was just going to be you and him. You’d thought he was bringing his wife and kid, too. Spending a long weekend playing house with Cooper wasn’t going to do anything in getting rid of your crush. It was just getting worse the longer you were around him.

Waking up everyday and having him be the first person to greet you was going to send you into an early grave. You swear your heart’s never beat this fast around anyone else. He seems to be the only man who's ever had you feeling this head over heels.

“I think it’s important you learn.”

You glance over at him, surprised at how serious he sounds. He’s still staring out at the mountains, but his gaze is distant. His mind is some place else. “Why?” You ask, voice quiet, afraid to spoil the moment.

He finally blinks, gaze darting down to his hands and the rifle still in them. “It’s easy for people to dismiss the war nowadays. They weren’t there, they didn’t watch as hundreds of good men and women died for them.” You frown, sometimes it’s easy to forget that he’d been fighting on the frontlines. He’s so good at being a socialite, you feel guilty that even you sometimes forget he was a soldier before he was Cooper Howard.

His voice is heavy, the tension thick around the both of you. “They seem to think the war is over. I know it’s not, it’s just going to get worse. People can bury their heads in the sand as long as they want, but when the fighting is at their front door, what are they going to do?”

You reach out, hand covering his own. He finally looks up at you and you smile. “I appreciate it, Cooper.”

His eyes quickly look at your hand before looking back at you. “For what?”

You shrug, moving closer to him and lacing your fingers with his. You shouldn’t indulge yourself like this, but you can’t help it. He seems so sad and you only want to make him feel better. You just want to take care of him, the way he takes care of you.

“For always looking out for me. You’re always there, I appreciate it. I appreciate you.”

The sad cast over his face finally breaks and he smiles at you. His hand squeezes yours once, then again and he looks back out at the mountains without saying anything else. You don’t think he needs to, that either of you needs to. Sometimes you understand each other better without words.

You’ll always be there for one another.

You eye him warily and he holds the jerky out further. “Aren’t you a little curious?” He taunts, waving the jerky around in front of your face. You know he thinks you won’t take it. That he’s just screwing with you. He’s been doing this ever since you agreed to tag along with him. Teasing you at every given opportunity.

You snatch it from his hands and rip a piece of it off. It kind of tastes like beef, if not a little sweeter. There’s also that metallic radiated tang to it. You chew it slowly, savoring the slightly caught off guard look on his face. You swallow it down, forcing your face to stay straight and not give away how disgusted you feel right now.

He chuckles, leaning back and looking at you with something that seems like appreciation. “I hope you know that was ass jerky.”

You gag now, glaring at him and tossing the rest of the jerky at his smug face. “You’re such a dick.” You take a swig from your canteen and swirl the water around your mouth. It gets rid of the taste well enough but you’re never going to get over the fact that you swallowed a part of someone’s ass.

He suddenly gets serious, swatting at your arm and motioning to the front of the store. You crouch beside him, watching as a raider walks out of the front doors. You don’t get why they chose an old movie store for their hideout, but Cooper had it on good authority that they had a decent cache of supplies inside.

The last time you’d followed him into one of these things, you’d nearly died, and then he’d sold you. You’re still not fully trusting of him. The only reason you’re with him now is because you need extra security from bounty hunters after getting booted out of Filly.

If he wasn’t such a good shot, you would have never given him a second glance. Despite how much he insists the compound was an honest mistake, you find the trust slow to come. You’ll let him take the lead on this one, you’re not confident in him having your back if things take a turn.

He moves forward and you hang back, keeping watch while he slits the guard’s throat. He lowers the body quietly to the ground and you creep behind him, following him through the doors of the store.

This group is smaller than the last one you dealt with. Only five of them with no extra guards outside. Cooper ducks behind a dust covered shelf before they can spot either of you. You go to the other side of the store, moving slowly along the edge until you have a good shot.

You take out one man and Cooper manages to hit two more before they start firing off their own guns. You dart back behind the shelf, willing to let Cooper handle the last two. But one of them dives behind the shelf and grabs at you.

Another shot goes off and his friend’s body hits the ground while he rounds the corner with you. He’s got an arm wrapped around your throat and the barrel of his gun pushing so hard into your skull you can feel an indent forming.

It wouldn’t be hard to shoot this guy, you still have your gun in your hand. Cooper seems to realize that, too, from the questioning look he gives you. You drop your gun to the floor, you want to see what he’ll do.

Maybe you’re stupid, gambling with your life like this. But you don’t feel any fear, not from the guy holding you hostage at least. You just keep your eyes locked on Cooper’s. They’re so familiar to you, yet so distant. Like a stranger you’ve known all your life.

He slowly rises from the floor, hands raised in the air in surrender. “Alright, let’s just see if we can’t talk this out like gentlemen.”

The guy holding you jerks you roughly, gun banging painfully against your temple. You wince but remain quiet. “Stay back or I’ll blow her goddamn brains out!”

Cooper’s eyes dart from your face to the guy. He huffs, frowning and pursing his lips like he’s trying to think of a way to talk himself out of this. He could leave, he’s got enough time to make it through the door before he fires at him.

Or he could help you.

It’s the only reason you let yourself get caught. If he wants your trust he’s going to have to prove it. Cooper looks at you and a grin splits across his face. It’s like he’s read your mind, from the knowing look on his face you think he might’ve.

Then again, you never really needed words to talk to each other.

With a speed that never fails to catch you off guard his hand darts under his jacket and he draws his gun. He’s shooting the man before you even get a chance to brace yourself. Your body gets dragged back slightly by the dead weight but Cooper moves forward and wraps a hand around your shirt, tugging you into him.

Your hands shoot out, bracing yourself against his chest. He peers at you from under his hat and grins, “You didn’t really think I was gonna let you go that easy did you, darling?” Your eyes dart down to his lips, you feel like you can still taste him.

The timing of his kiss might not have been appropriate, but he certainly hadn’t made it forgettable. Nothing about him was forgettable. As much as you wished he could be. You hated yourself for still letting yourself fall into his trap.

Hollywood might have once labeled you as the most seductive actress of your generation, but Cooper had you beat. He kept you coming back even when you knew you shouldn’t. He had you wrapped around him and all you wanted to do was squeeze until he let you go.

You push off of him, ignoring how much you want to pull him closer. You move towards their pile of supplies, “Let’s see what we’ve got.”

There are a few different posters set up in the old movie store that intrigue him. But the one that’s caught his attention the most is set up directly behind her. Her back is to it, so she hasn’t gotten a chance to see it yet, but it’s all he can focus on.

The Outlaw and The Sheriff

Their first movie together.

He looks at her and huffs out a laugh, she glances up at him for a moment before she begins rifling through her bag again. She looks like she walked right off the fucking poster, hat and all. She’s the spitting image of herself, but she seems so different.

Maybe it’s the eyes. The light there has changed, dimmed slightly from how it used to be. She used to seem so naive to the world, like a little lamb that just needed some guidance. Now, he wonders just how much of the world she’d seen before he found her. If maybe she had never been as innocent to it’s cruelties as he’d once assumed.

She stepped into this new role of hers just as quickly as he had. You didn’t just change that quickly without knowing already just how awful people could be.

“Sweetheart,” she looks up and he points behind her. She turns around and looks up to the poster.

She scoffs, moving to stand beside him, “I always hated how I looked in that.”

He glances over at her and shakes his head, “Probably shouldn’t show you a mirror anytime soon, then.” Her hands reach up to fiddle with the brim of her hat and she smiles, a real smile for once.

“No, I suppose not.” Her hands trace over her lips, he glances back at the poster. At that old signature of hers. She always had to have those red lips. “It’s so different,” she whispers and he knows she didn’t mean for him to hear. Her eyes glisten and he frowns.

He shouldn’t have shown her. It’s not like he enjoyed seeing those fucking Vault-Boy posters, he sure as hell hated seeing clips of himself. Why would she enjoy seeing who she used to be? Who they used to be?

Things used to be so simple. He loved her, she loved him. Now he’d fucked up so much he wasn’t sure she could ever look at him the way she used to. He didn’t want who she was before, he couldn’t handle that. This new her, well, he didn’t give her near enough credit.

But he wouldn’t hate seeing someone look at him like that again. Endless adoration and unflinching loyalty. He knew he would follow her anywhere, he’d realized that a while ago. He didn’t have anything in the Wastelands, nothing but hate and spite to keep him going all this time.

Now, he had her. He just needed her to realize that she had him just the same. She had him wrapped around her and he hated it and loved it at the same time. Hated her and loved her for it all the same.

He tugs his glove off before he reaches for her. He cups her cheek, thumb tracing over her lips before she turns towards him. His eyes meet hers and he smiles slightly at the familiarity and mystery to them. So much of her he recognizes and then there are these new parts he’s yet to discover.

He wants to discover all of her. Learn everything he can about her all over again, feed his desire to consume her entirely.

She pulls him in this time, her lips chapped and cracked. Her arms wind around his neck, yanking him closer and he tugs at her. She tastes as sweet as he remembers and it only makes him crave more. More of her, more of anything she’ll let him have.

She pulls back from him, pressing her hand against his chest, slowly backing him against the wall. He lets her ease him to the floor and she throws a leg over his lap. She settles herself above him, both her hands tightly grasping his neck, crushing their bodies together, eyes gazing intently into his own. He doesn’t know what she’s looking for in him but she seems to find it when she leans in once more.

She isn’t giving him a chance at control, she’s got a leash on him, pulling back anytime he tries to lead. He relents, following her as she slowly explores him.

He’s not sure how long this peace between them will last before one of them inevitably fucks up. But they’re stuck together now. It doesn’t matter what happens, he’s not letting her get away from him again.

She’s his, always has been, always will be. It’s been that way since before the fallout. He’s led her, guided her.

He had loved her as a different man. History always seems to repeat itself with them. As twisted as the world is, as twisted as they’ve become, they always seem to drift back together. No matter how much the both of them fight against it.

He’s giving in now, giving into her.

#cooper howard x reader #the ghoul x reader #fallout x reader #fallout tv series #how about a nuke?#cooper howard #the ghoul

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bestiesenpai · 6 months ago

Text

sukuna bridgerton au

If you get mad at me for this then you’re no fun, he’s a little ooc in this but im world building! I intend to write more! Mini blurbs/fics and build a whole universe! Gosh! Tried to be accurate to regency era stuff but also took liberty with some things 6k words

part two — part three -- part four

Femme reader, you’re a proper young miss aint ya kekw

You are perfect. The Queen's diamond of the season and someone everyone knew by name. There is nothing you have not been prepared for, no social setting that you are unable to make your own. Since you were born your parents had instilled every rule in society onto you, every skill a young lady should have and even some men have as well, to cover every possible avenue.

Perfect indeed, with not only needlework and the pianoforte, but you spoke more than one language and were delightfully decent at drawing. Learning the harp and more advanced bookkeeping skills were on your current roster, the governess keeping not only you but your siblings busy before the beginning of all the balls and suitors calling for your attention.

“(Y/N), there are a great deal of callers outside waiting for your attention.” Your mother debriefed you at the start of the day, after having the maids dress you to her exact specifications. “You remember what I taught you, yes?”

“Yes. Be courteous and make sure to smile, but not too much or they might get the wrong idea. I shouldn’t appear to know too much about one subject, lest they get discouraged from speaking.”

“Perfect.” Snapping her fingers happily, your mother put a hand on your shoulder and sighed, smoothing down the sleeve of your dress. “I am so proud of the person you’ve become, (Y/N). I hope you know that.”

“I do, mother.” Hugging her tightly, you steeled your nerves. She had done the best possible for you your whole life to ensure you would be ready for the society you live in and to hopefully elevate your station in life, one that could afford you even more comfort than you had now.

“Bring the first one in.” Your father announced, ushering the two of you to come to a stand as the doors were opened and the first gentleman of the day came in, a modest but endearing bouquet of flowers in his hands. Making sure to curtsy immediately, you welcomed him in and brought him to the sofas where a proper conversation could be had.

And that went on for ages, one after the other, until you feared your voice would go hoarse from all the talking and fake laughter you had to do. It wasn’t that the men that came to see you were bad in any way, just that you hoped for a bit more excitement upon entering the season. There had yet to be anyone that swept you off your feet, made you wish they stayed just a bit longer and looked at you a bit more.

“Mother, may we stop for today?” You were unable to hold your posture anymore and your back bent considerably, allowing you to relax and look out the window at the sun slowly fading from afternoon to early evening.

“We may. Send the rest away, let them schedule for another time.” Motioning to a footman, your mother conceded to your wishes. “It’s about time for dinner, is it not?”

“Mr. Downey, that old man called upon you?” The next day, a chorus of giggles could be heard in the park from you and your friends. You were recounting all the visitors you had, not sparing a single detail.

“Yes!” You laughed, unable to contain yourself as you strode arm in arm with them around the park lake. “But Father wouldn’t let him step a single toe into the parlor, told him to go down to the alleys he’s usually found in!”

“Oh dear!” Another round of shouts and laughs left the group, boisterous as ever as you all were excited for the upcoming ball at the end of the week being held by the Queen herself. Her royal advisor had seen to it that you were personally handed an invitation at the modiste this morning, letting everyone see the fanfare and the adoration the Queen so had for you.

“(Y/N), you really are Her Majesty’s favorite diamond!” Someone exclaimed, squeezing your hand tightly. “I can’t remember the last time she did something like this!”

“I wonder what it could all mean.” Another girl wonders aloud, making you all come to a stop and think. “I bet there’s some aristocrat in town she wants to impress!”

“Could you imagine!” You jump up slightly, your mind beginning to race. “And me as Her Majesty’s precious diamond at the center…” A flurry of giggles left the group and you began to walk again, chattering excitedly about the future.

The time for the ball came and you were dressed in the finest silks and jewels the modiste had to offer, and a dainty necklace laid on your neck adorned with small diamonds of its own. Butterflies arose in your stomach on the carriage ride over and by the time you arrived you worried about fainting upon standing.

“Stay close.” Your mother tells you, keeping your arm in the crook of hers as you enter the party behind your father, your other siblings behind you as well. Entering the main ballroom, you try not to openly gawk at the grandiosity of it all; there was a large orchestra in the middle of the room, peacocks milling about the garden just outside the open doors and too many servants to count carrying hors d'oeuvres that looked absolutely divine.

“A drink, miss?” One of them approached with a tray of cocktails which you swiftly accepted, eager to fit in with the other patrons. Taking a sip, you were nearly knocked back from the strong bite of alcohol and almost let your composure slip.

“(Y/N).” Your mother squeezed you in warning, never letting the smile slip from her face as her tone conveyed high stress. “Do not mess this up.” And those were her final words to you before you were ushered further into the room.

Quickly righting yourself, you followed your mothers steps in introducing you to everyone and making sure to show you off to eligible bachelors and their families of high titles. Your heart pounded upon meeting earls and marquess’, forcing yourself to not appear too awestruck of a title; appearing perfectly pleased at the information and not showing favor one way or another.

“Time to greet Her Majesty.” Your mother whispered, subtly gesturing to the entourage entering the room and causing quite a stir amongst your fellow partygoers. As she took her seat, you couldn’t help but notice the two empty chairs seated behind the queen and how she looked miffed that one was not being filled upon her arrival.

Milling about so as not to appear too eager, roughly five minutes passed before you made your way over to the queen. The drink you’d been nursing was finally empty and you could feel the burning effects of the alcohol take place, making your face burn and palms sweaty beneath your gloves.

“Your Majesty.” Speaking for the both of you, your mother led you into a curtsy. Standing straight, you let your eyes wander to the chairs, wondering who could be missing from such an event.

“My diamond.” Her Majesty reached out her hand which you instantly took, softly kissing the skin and giving another curtsy.

“Your Majesty.” You responded in kind, giving her a somewhat nervous smile. “This is a beautiful party.” Looking around, you finally let your true feelings show for a moment as you properly soaked it all in. “I am amazed at how you manage to throw such exquisite soirees each season.”

“Oh how you flatter me!” A light chuckle left Her Majesty’s lips and she allowed you to look around a bit more before speaking again. “Tell me, have any suitors caught your eye?”

“Well…” Looking back at your mother, you let out a breathless chuckle. “None have truly captured me, Your Majesty. Some interest me and others vex me, but no one has yet to steal my heart.”

“That is very pleasing.” She grinned, knowing something you did not. “Very pleasing indeed.” Waving over one of her attendants, she whispered something into their ear and off they went as if they had never been there at all. “Take to the floor, my dear, I shall call upon you soon again.”

“Yes, thank you, Your Majesty.” Curtsying again, you and your mother left to go enjoy the party. It wasn’t clear what the Queen had in mind but every time you looked over your shoulder you found her eyes on you and that made you nervous enough to get another drink and not care about the taste.

“Mother, I must use the restroom.” Hardly finished with the glass, you felt an upset in your stomach that couldn’t be ignored. Waiting just enough time for her to excuse you from the group you’d been speaking with, you rushed out of the room and down the hall, thankfully guided by servants to the nearest restroom.

Relieving yourself rather quickly, you were in no hurry to return to the party. This was the first time you were in the palace and your curiosity couldn’t help but get the better of you. Looking over your shoulder a few times, you walked as casually as possible down the hall in the opposite direction. Marveling at the grandeur, you hardly took note of where you were going until a loud thud brought you out of your thoughts. Looking around, you realized you were quite far from the party, the sounds of the orchestra a distant buzz.

“Fuck!” The vulgarity of the word along with its suddenness nearly knocked you to the ground. Grabbing at your necklace, you shuddered at the next few words that came out; this wasn’t proper for a lady to hear at all. Locating the source from an open doorway, you intended on closing it until you caught a glimpse of what was inside.

A completely naked woman was being pinned to a bookshelf by a man with his pants around his thighs, the violent motion of his hips leaving nothing to the imagination. She looked to be in pain, wincing and whining every so often as the man just kept going. He took so little notice of her, in fact, that her head hit the shelves a few times and although she cried out he didn’t falter.

“Fuck!” He yelled again, grabbing the woman's hair and forcing her head to the side. He did finally slow down and straighten up a bit, finally allowing you to see his pink hair. “Fucking whore.” And just like that, the relative slowness was gone and back was this man's brutality. Forcing the woman to walk over to the desk a bit closer to you, you quickly ducked out of the way before you saw something you shouldn’t. It was quiet for a moment and there was a shuffling sound before the door was ripped open further and you couldn't help the shout you let out.

“Who the fuck- oh. Oh?” The man was clearly ready for a fight but upon seeing you, his face changed into a sly smile. He at least had the decency to dress himself, though you kept your eyes trained onto his face and occasionally the ceiling to preserve your modesty. “Well, aren’t you a ravishing creature…come to join the fun?”

“Absolutely not!” Leaping back at his proposition, your face curled in disgust. He laughed loudly, fully taking in your appearance.

“No of course not, why would you? You are a lady, so prim and proper.” He stretched the word out, almost mocking you with the connotation. “You belong at the party, Miss, so run along before someone catches us alone and we’ll be forced to marry.” Raising his hand in goodbye, the man left you, laughter still on his lips as he slammed the door closed.

All but running back to the party, you avoided your mother in favor of going out to the garden with a few friends that were thankfully in attendance; a chance to marvel at the peacocks and performers outside would give you a chance to catch your breath and forget about what you’d just seen.

“Miss (Y/N), the Queen calls for you.” A servant notified you just as the air turned a bit too chilly for your liking. Bidding your friends farewell, you made your way inside. The polite smile on your face dropped immediately at seeing just why the queen summoned you.

“Ah, my diamond.” Her affectionate tone forced the smile right back on your face but your eyes stayed glued to the person behind her. There, dressed in the finest fabrics and with his cravat intricately tied, was the man you’d seen earlier. As he stood at the Queen’s motion, you noticed the freshly pressed pants and shiny boots he had on and the dazzling watch dangling from a chain.

“This is my nephew, you might have heard of him. The Crown Prince, Ryomen Sukuna.” As she spoke, the Queen's voice grew louder, drawing the attention of everyone within earshot and even those that didn’t hear. “I’ve invited him here personally just to meet you.” A small smirk adorned her face as she took in the crowd before her and the stir her words caused. And it grew even bigger upon seeing your face, the horrored expression mistaken for overjoy.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss (Y/N).” Sukuna made a show of bowing deeply to you.

“Come, sit down and chat for a while, won’t you?” Her request was truly a demand and you knew better than to hesitate or question it, so you nodded and did as you were told.

Taking a seat, you kept your body rigid and faced straight ahead, not even giving so much as a glimpse to your side where you could tell the Crown Prince was watching you. You knew it wasn’t proper and that people - your mother especially - were watching to see how you two got on, but you couldn’t bear to turn and have a conversation with the man you’d just seen in such an uncouth position.

“It truly is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Sukuna said, a light chuckle on his lips. “Never thought the beauty I saw earlier would end up being the diamond of the season.”

“I believe you’re mistaken! We did not see each other earlier, Your Highness. This is the first time we are meeting.” Turning your head swiftly, you forced a smile onto your face instead of the scowl you wanted to show him.

“Yes, my mistake! Must have been another fair maiden that caught my eye.” Sukuna chuckled, settling into his chair just a bit more. He let a pause hang between you before he spoke again. “Tell me, diamond, do you wish to marry this season?”

“Of course I do.” You nodded, allowing yourself to relax a little as well. “It’s all I’ve been thinking about since I made my debut.”

“And what are you looking for in a husband?”

“I want one that is kind, that is loyal to me and whom I can get along with no matter what. And if he likes the arts such as I do, that would be even better.” An answer that you had rehearsed many times with your mother, the words came out of your mouth smoothly.

“Interesting.” Sukuna nodded, folding his hands over each other. “Now, tell me how you really feel.”

“I-I just did.” Quirking a brow at him, you were unsure why Sukuna required more from you on the matter.

“I can tell those aren’t your real words. Tell me how you truly feel.” His face was neutral but not serious or uncomfortable; he seemed to genuinely want an answer from you.

“I…” It took a while but eventually the thoughts you’d suppressed in favor of your mothers came to the surface and you looked down at your gloved hands. “I want someone I can be myself with, someone I won’t need to put on a mask for. And a husband that can value my privacy and give me my own space.” There was more you wanted to say but you stopped yourself; no use in rambling to the man when you could save it for your diary later.

“That’s good to hear, actually.” His response surprised you and had you turning more towards him.

“Really?” There was a tinge of hope growing inside you, one that said maybe the man from earlier wasn’t who he truly was.

“Yes. I’ll need a wife that can leave me the hell alone.” And with that, the tinge died out and your face fell.

“Wh-what?”

“Yes, as you will undoubtedly hear about later I enjoy some rather…unconventional pastimes and leisurely activities and if we are to be wed I’ll take great joy in the fact that you won’t interfere with that.”

“But I-”

“Oh don’t worry, Miss (Y/N), I will give you all the babies you desire if you so wish, but just know my heart will never belong to just one woman. It’s not the way royalty does it, I’m sure you can understand.” Giving you a tight lipped and condescending smile, Sukuna stood from his chair and excused himself, mentioning something about getting the two of you a drink.

“So, what do you think of my nephew?” The Queen asked when he was out of earshot, turning slightly in her chair to look at you.

“He- he is a good conversationalist.” You forced the words out, hoping that the Queen wouldn’t be able to pick up on how your eyes were growing misty despite your best efforts to blink the tears away. “I quite enjoyed some of the ideas he’s shared with me.”

“Wonderful, darling.” There was a tension in the air, like she knew what had happened between the two of you. But she chose not to say anything, instead turning back around as the orchestra played the next song. “Sukuna.” She caught him as he came back, two glasses in hand.

“Yes?” His eyes flicked to you for a moment.

“Dance with Miss (Y/N), will you? I want her to enjoy the party.” The tension in the air was back and Sukuna nodded and swiftly put the glasses down. Standing before you, he offered you his hand.

“Right this way.”

“Of course.” Inhaling sharply, you forced your feelings down and took his hand, letting him lead you to the dance floor. As the song began to start up, you could feel the eyes on you, watching your every move with the Prince and the chemistry you had when dancing.

“I didn’t mean to upset you.” Sukuna said quietly, his hands resting on your upper back a moment before taking a few steps. “I simply want you to know the truth if you accept the proposal.”

You didn’t respond to him, letting the words soak in. In the moment it had seemed almost cruel that he had spoken to you like that, said those things and dismissed your feelings, hopes and dreams, but thinking about it gave you another perspective. You knew many men in town that had affairs and secret lovers that would never admit it but here was a man that was willing to be honest with you. A man that had no obligation to spare your feelings or protect them.

“Why did you even agree to come then, if that is how you truly feel about marriage?” You finally spoke, looking into his eyes.

“You know as well as I do that we have a responsibility to do this, to get married and play these silly societal games. When my aunt called me I had no choice but to come, you can’t exactly say no to the woman. And I figured why not meet her precious diamond and see what she had to offer, see if I could build the life the world expects of me with her.”

“And what is your verdict?” Sukuna spun you around as you asked and your head laid briefly on his shoulder, catching the scent of his perfume before you were twirled away again.

“I think you’d make a lovely bride, Miss (Y/N). There may be some hardships but I believe we could learn to be happy with each other and our arrangements.” Spinning you a few more times, Sukuna gently helped you to a stop. “I ask you to be aware of what the Queen will ask you soon, what I will be asking you soon. You can always say no.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.” As the dance ended, you curtseyed and excused yourself. Slinking away to the refreshments table, you had nary a chance to sip some lemonade before a few more men approached, asking to write in your dance card.

As the night wore on, you danced with many more suitors and eligible young men about town, some that had already called on you and others that were waiting their turn. Some of them were dukes and earls and even a marquess came to you, but none held as high a title as Sukuna did. And with your parents eyes on you, you knew that was what mattered the most.

Going through everyone in your mind, there wasn’t a doubt that some would definitely be better matches for you than Sukuna in the realms of compatibility and chemistry but none would be as wise a choice as he was. Marrying a crown prince of all people would solidify your station in life forever; you and your family would want for nothing and you’d never have to worry about needing to follow the latest trends in fashion because you would be the one setting them.

“His Highness Prince Sukuna surely took a liking to you tonight.” Your mother was alight on the carriage ride home, fanning herself ardently. “Why, I do believe the Queen intends on you to be married before the season is over!”

“From a baroness to a princess, how marvelous that would be!” Unable to stop his excitement either, your father chimed in. It seemed they had already accepted the Prince's proposal on your behalf even though it hadn’t come yet. You didn’t have the heart to tell them that he wasn’t really a good fit for you, that you worried you’d never be truly happy in the marriage and you’d always feel less than when it came to how he felt about you.

“Delightful indeed.” Was what you said instead, allowing your parents to revel in this moment and trying to convince yourself that it couldn’t be that bad to marry a prince, especially if it meant that one day you’d be a queen.

May 14

Diary, I fear that I won’t be able to back out of this arrangement even if I say no to it like Sukuna said I could. If I say no, I know I will have many other suitors knocking at my door but none as prestigious as he is and I can’t bear to possibly face the disappointment of my family if I deny them this great opportunity.

I know I wouldn’t be the first or the last to enter into a marriage like this but I had truly hoped that I could have escaped that fate and found real love, true love! It’s rare but a girl can dream, especially one named as the Queens diamond. You’d think I’d have more time to decide on who to marry!

I suppose I have no choice but to say yes to this, don’t I? Sukuna said he would give me my privacy, so I can at least continue to write here without fear of being judged. I just wonder what the life of a princess will entail and how many new rules will I be forced to learn?

Here's hoping that we can at least grow to have a liking for each other over time, but I know better than to wait around for love.

It was a few days after the ball before you heard word from either Sukuna or the Queen. You knew it was coming but the anxiety of waiting had you pouring too much energy into the other men that called you.

“A visitor for Miss (Y/N) has arrived.” It was announced one afternoon, immediately kicking your heart into overdrive. It was a good thing you had felt the need to dress a little nicer today as your visitor presented himself, none other than the prince.

“Your Highness!” Your mother exclaimed, overjoyed and forcing your siblings to stand as well and greet him. They all bowed or curtseyed, some too young to understand exactly who they were greeting.

“Good day to you all.” Sukuna gave a small bow in return, eyeing up your family before turning to you. “Miss (Y/N), I was hoping we might promenade today around the park? The weather is quite lovely and there are a fair amount of swans out there I’m told.” His offer surprised you, you were sure he was going to ask for your hand right then and there.

“That would be lovely.” You nodded, looking back at your mother who would no doubt chaperone this outing. “Allow me to grab my purse and a shawl.” Excusing yourself, it took no less than five minutes for you to be ready and heading out the house with Sukuna by your side, your entire family not but five feet behind you.

“I’m surprised you called upon me today.” You said upon reaching the park, waving to a few friends who were also on dates. “I was certain that the next time I saw you there would be a ring put upon my finger.”

“Young Miss, please have more faith in me. I thought it only right to court you as the others have, to see if we are truly to be a good match or not.” Sukuna put a hand over his heart in jest.

“Was that your idea or the Queens?”

“I’ll be honest it was her idea, but I have no problem going along with it. It’s only right that we get to know each other a bit more before we are wed.”

“You talk so certainly that I’ll say yes! Who said I wanted to marry you?” His arrogance was starting to annoy you, and the fact that he couldn’t even feign that he was the one interested in learning more about you irritated you to no end.

“Please, would you even think of saying no?” Sukuna quirked a brow at you as you came to a stop to admire a pair of swans. “I am the best match you have to make, one that would elevate your status so highly it would make your head spin. And beside…” He trailed off, looking around at the people in the park. “This sorry lot you associate with aren’t exactly highbrow to begin with.”

“That’s enough!” You shouted, taking a step back from him. A few curious looks were sent your way and you could see your mother start to approach from the corner of your eye before your father stopped her. “Do not dare speak of my friends in such a manner. What would you know of being highbrow anyway, what with the pastimes you partake in!”

“Miss (Y/N), I did not mean to upset you.” Sukuna spoke a little louder for the inquiring minds around you. “Please accept my apology.” And he bowed his head deeply in a show of submission.

“Do not mock me.” You hissed, crossing your arms and turning back to the lake. “I can’t believe I thought you could be a real gentleman.”

“Oh, but I can be.” Resuming his previous position, Sukuna squared his shoulders.

“Only when others are watching though, right?” You began walking again, letting Sukuna fall into step beside you. As a relative quiet fell over you two, you looked at everyone else walking about, seemingly so happy with their matches. A pang of jealousy hit you upon seeing a group of your girl friends out with their matches, laughing happily and getting to enjoy a true love match instead of whatever you were stuck in now.

There was little conversation between the two of you, but to the outside world it looked as if you were just taking a quiet stroll and letting the sounds of nature surround you. Anyone looking in would think that you’re content just being in each other's presence and don’t need words to communicate.

“Let’s stop at a cafe, I’m parched.” You announced, suddenly spotting the building across the street.

“Yes, let's.” Sukuna agreed immediately, following your lead. Opening the door for you and your family, Sukuna made a show of buying everyone something, even your father. With your family scattered about the shop, you and Sukuna took a seat by the window, a place where everyone could walk by and see you together.

“How do you like your parfait?” He asked, sipping on the plain coffee he got himself. Your mother insisted he get a croissant as well and he pulled a piece off and ate it.

“It’s delicious.” With fresh in season fruit throughout, it was a sweet treat you didn’t know you’d been craving. “Thank you.”

“Tell me what it is you like to do for fun.” Leaning back in his chair, Sukuna peered over his glass at you. You felt the urge to correct him on his posture but held back, knowing he would probably just laugh at you.

“I’ve recently taken up the harp and I quite enjoy it, it can be such a calming instrument. I also enjoy the pianoforte, though recently I’ve taken up reading a new book.”

“Reading is quite boring, is it not?” Sukuna smirked at you, enjoying how you fought to keep your expression neutral. “I can’t remember the last time I read.”

“I’m surprised you can read at all.” You rolled your eyes, finding small gratification in how he laughed.

“Me too!” Taking a hearty bite out of his pastry, Sukuna grinned at you, showing the sharp edge of his canines. “I think I’ll like having you as a wife.”

“You shouldn’t be so confident in my acceptance of your proposal, Your Highness.” With a warning tilt to your voice, you took a sip of tea. “I can very well say no to your whole courtship right now and be done with it.”

“But you and I both know you won’t. You wouldn't want to risk the ire of the Queen or your family. And neither would I, Miss (Y/N). I’m tired of being hounded to find a wife and you are the easiest decision ever made for me.”

“You could at least pretend you’re interested in me.” He had a point, you knew little people that went against what the Queen wanted and weren’t shunned for it. There were a great deal of pros outweighing the cons in marrying Sukuna from an economical point of view, but could you find it in you to put your heart aside?

“Trust me, I am plenty interested in you.” His gaze fell downwards and your face immediately started to burn.

“Don’t make me throw my tea on you.” You glared sharply at Sukuna, your tone daring him to continue and for his sake he didn’t and his eyes returned to yours.

“My apologies, Miss. Just admiring a beauty before me.” That statement made a passing few girls giggle and swoon to themselves and you could hardly hold back another eye roll.

Your outing was done shortly after your trip to the cafe with your youngest siblings complaining they were tired. The Prince escorted you home, bowing to you once more and waiting until you were inside before turning and leaving.

“Tell me what that outburst was at the park.” Your mother descended on you the second she got, following you up the stairs to your bedroom.

“The Prince isn’t as fine and dandy as you think he is, he called the ton a bunch of idiots.” You didn’t bother keeping your voice down as you walked, just the thought of what he’d said upset you all over again.

“Why, he is a Prince! Of course we will be simple to him, he is used to so much more!” She argued, throwing her arms up in exasperation. “He meant no harm, I’m sure.”

“Mother.” Turning to face her before opening your door, you sighed upon making eye contact. “I wish I could tell you even half of the things I learned about him…the Prince is not the man you think he is.” You repeated your previous statement; your lip caught between your teeth as you debated telling her more. “I don’t know if I can marry him.” The words made your mother gasp in horror and push a hand over your mouth.

“(Y/N), please tell me you don’t mean it. Please tell me you are just playing a sick joke.” She couldn’t bear to hear you say otherwise. You stared at each other, both of you pleading for different things. The heartbreak in her eyes was evident and she took a step back and composed herself. “V-very well, if that is how you feel I will not force you.”

“Mother…” Your voice trailed off at how downtrodden she looked, it nearly brought you to tears.

“No, please do not say any more. I-I need time to come to terms with this.” Smoothing down her dress, she looked over her shoulder to see if anyone was eavesdropping. The silence allowed for the noises of others in the house to be heard; two brothers fighting over chess, a sister playing the piano. “I will be in the sun room should you need me.”

She left without consequence, calling for a maid to bring her some lavender tea. Finally entering your room, your body pushed the door closed and you sank onto the floor, letting your head fall into your hands. This wasn’t what you wanted to happen in the slightest and now just the prospect of rejecting his proposal was putting immense guilt onto you. Seeing your mother so hurt, imagining the looks on your siblings faces and what your father could possibly say were all too much for you.

May 18

I fear I have made a grave error. It wasn’t my intention to hurt my mother but just the idea of me not marrying a prince was enough to make her beside herself with grief, she was hardly able to look at me during dinner. And I know she’s told father because he was the same way!

Am I really taking away my family’s happiness this much? Am I being selfish by refusing? I think I’m learning now that a marriage, especially this one, is not just between two people. There’s so many others that it affects!

I think I’ll reconsider my rejection - after all, not many can say they were named the diamond and married a crown prince their first season out. I know Sukuna will give me my space if I request and not question me on things…is this potential life worth giving up my hopes of love?

I truly hope it is.

At breakfast the next morning you informed your parents of the change of heart and the sullen mood that was looming over them was washed away in an instance.

“I knew you would come to your senses, girl.” Patting you gently on the shoulder, your father smiled big. “It’s easy to get swept up in nerves during this whole thing but I’m glad you’ve thought about how this marriage will be good for you - for all of us.”

Your siblings were thankfully none the wiser to what had transpired and they begged to be informed. Ignoring them, your mother reached for your hand across the table and squeezed it.

“We must go to the modiste later.”

“What for?” You sent her a curious look, you’d just been there the other day for a fitting!

“For your wedding dress.”

#jujutsu kaisen #sukuna x reader #bridgerton au #jujutsu kaisen imagines #jujutsu kaisen fanfic #jujutsu kaisen scenarios

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