#the weird red dots by his eyes and mouth was a style choice i thought they looked cool kinda

[rararasputins-dick-mind-control]

podcast guy

[shorkbrian]

💖💘my heart’s dizzy and I my dose of serotonin whenever I read your prose🤟🏽😩 was wondering if you could do reader with an erratic future-vision!quirk so when they first meet yandere!Hawks they’re suddenly plagued by erotic, sensual, 365days-level of disturbing visions of them, so reader actively avoids them (it’s like those Tik Tok future-seeing videos playing to “Play Date”)

Prelude - Hawks isn’t a famous pro-hero in this, but he still has his quirk. It’s not really mentioned a bunch tho lol.  This is rlly long, but I decided not to put it into two parts because the smut is so slight lol. Hope this meets your expectations anon, thank you for reading!

Pairing -  Keigo Takami X Reader

Warnings - NSFW mentions, dubcon, noncon. No out-and-out explicit smut, just a really long story. Hawks is manipulative and gets what he wants

Music - https://open.spotify.com/track/5ukAQcKEIJuzIbP55xp07x?si=iz6I-RoDSdCNYhT2Du8etg

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He was a friend of a friend, someone you had only met once or twice.

Your friend kept bringing him to hangouts, he kept showing up on her instagram feed,  getting mentioned in her twitterbio, and eventually it came out that they had started dating. It didn’t catch anyone by surprise.

What did catch you by surprise, was how infatuated with him your friend was.

“He’s just sooooo hot, isn’t he?” She squealed, shoving her phone in your face to show off a shirtless pic he had just sent her.

You nodded in agreement, quickly appraising the pic before turning your head. Yeah, her boyfriend was attractive, but you weren’t one to ruin relationships. Plus, you and Keigo had never really talked past the brief “Hey” and “Wassup?” said in greeting when introduced the first time.

“Can he come to the mall with us on Friday? I promise there will be no third wheeling.” Your friend begged, clasping her hands together. You thought about it for a second - this had been a fun shopping trip the two of you had planned a few weeks ago, meant as a girls date on a day the mall wouldn’t be crowded. But would it really hurt anything if her boyfriend came along? Probably not.

“Yeah, I don’t mind.” You shrugged, watching your friends face erupt into a wide grin. “But don’t ditch me to go makeout in a bathroom or something, got it?”

“Sir yes sir!” Your friend faux saluted, before patting you on the shoulder. “Thanks girlie!”

You jerked back, head suddenly swarming with visions, your quirk activating. Your quirk was helpful in some ways, but you mainly tried not to use it - headaches resulted, and you hated getting glimpses of the future. Sometimes they’d be good, but they were often bad - you had gotten a screenshot glimpse of your brothers death, his face marred and bleeding out onto the pavement.

It still made you sick to think about it.

Touch wasn’t something you could always avoid, but you tried, seeing as how it activated your quirk, giving you visions of your future with whomever you touched, or whoever touched you.

You saw your friends face, eyes puffy with tears, shouting something. Then another scene flashed, your friend on TV, talking to a reporter.

Thankfully, the visions ended, this episode relatively quick due to how short of a time she touched you.

“Oh shit, I forgot, I’m so sorry.” She rushed to apologize, holding her hands up and backing away from you.

“It’s-it’s fine.” You wheezed, waving your hand in the air to signal that it wasn’t a big deal. The vision just probably meant the two of you would get into a fight soon, which wasn’t uncommon.  It was fine, you were fine.

——

The mall wasn’t too crowded, which made the day pleasant. Your friend was talking to her boyfriend, hand tangled with his as the three of you walked in.

“So (Y/N), what do you think about that new Victoria’s Secret launch?” Your friend bumped you with her hip, drawing your attention as she pulled you into the conversation between her and her boyfriend.

“Oh, um… what?” To be fair, you had zoned out when the couple started being gross and mushy, which was like, the second your friend met Keigo at the door.

The blonde man laughed. “Victoria’s Secret just launched a new line of lingerie, have any thoughts about it?”

Turning red, you smiled sheepishly. “Ah, well…. From what I’ve seen of their stuff it’s… nice? So I’m sure it’s good.”

Your friend mock-gasped, almost slapping you on the arm before quickly remembering your quirk, drawing her hand back. You gave a quick nod of thanks.

“(Y/N)! Don’t tell me you didn’t even know about it?! I practically live, eat, and sleep Victoria’s Secret, it’s impossible to miss their product drops when you’re one of my friends.”

Unsure how to respond, you floundered, opening and closing your mouth like a lost fish.

“Babe, leave her be, she’s probably just shy.” Keigo stepped in, giving his girlfriend a chuckle as he steered you both towards a shop.

“Fineeee.” Your friend whined, turning to focus on the task ahead. “They have a VS shop here though, you’re not getting out of here without going in with me!”

----

The VS store was huge, smelling sweetly of flowers, bright colors assaulting your vision, soft pop music filling your ears.

It was hard not to cringe at all the fancy lingerie, you were honestly a bit embarrassed to be strolling through the store with your friend, let alone her boyfriend by her side.

“Does-does Keigo mind?” You quietly asked your friend, out of earshot of her boyfriend, who was looking at perfumes, last time you checked.

“Not at all birdie, I’m used to clothes, any form, any shape.”

You whirled around, squeaking in surprise at Keigo, who had apparently finished with browsing the perfume. He was flashing you a 1000 watt grin, continuing with what he was saying. “I’m a model, practically every girl I’ve ever met I’ve seen in less than full underwear, it’s no big deal.”

“Oh…. Cool.” You offered, cheeks turning red again. You felt like such a blushing schoolgirl, turning red when faced with looking at bras and panties, flushing when a man got too close.

It was the nature of the store, you told yourself, that was making you so embarrassed.

“Oo! What do you think of this one?” Your friend was holding up a babydoll, pink, with light fabric and zero coverage.

Keigo wolf whistled. “Man, that’d be a good look for you. Lets buy it.” The couple moved on, pointing at different clothes, your friend occasionally picking one from the rack to hold up against her body, looking for Keigo’s opinion.

They were cute together, laughing over the cheesy names on the tags of the lingerie, holding hands as the browsed, your friend occasionally stopping to plant a kiss on her boyfriend’s cheek.

“I think that’s everything that I like…. (Y/N), your turn!” Pulled out of your casual observance, you back pedaled. “Me? No, I’m not really the type to wear this kind of stuff - I don’t even think most of it would fit, I have weird proportions.“

“Nonsense!” Keigo looked around for a moment, going to the nearest rack to quickly sift through bras, before pulling one out. “This one would make all the boys drool over you honey.”

He held it out towards you, shaking it slightly when you hesitated to take it. Was your friend okay with him talking to you like that, pushing underwear at you to buy? A quick glance sideways showed she was more than okay with it, clasping her hands excitedly as she watched you.

The bra was sheer, soft lavender fabric forming the cups, an intricate embroidered detail of flowers dotted haphazardly over the bra. It was pretty, but you weren’t exactly partial to it. When would you wear it? Who would you wear it for? You weren’t sure it was your style. Plus, it probably wasn’t even your size.

“My arm’s gettin’ real tired.” Keigo joked, before you finally took the garment from him. Checking the size, you paused for a second, blinking towards the man.

“How did you-?”

“You spend enough time in the fashion industry, you learn to tell a girl’s size just by looking at her.”  He seemed to puff up, as if he was proud of his bra-sizing skills.

“Let me help her pick out some things too!” Your friend cried, rushing past you to head over to the next rack, ushering you to follow with a wave of her hand.

You ended up with an armful of lingerie - bras, panties,  an odd bustier or two, and some other flowy items, like a sheer robe and a lacy chemise. The choices weren’t exactly made by you, more so made by a combination of your friend and Keigo together. They had alternated holding up items towards your body, comparing color and garment cuts, lost in their own mushy-gushy world, and it was almost like you didn’t exist for a few moments, nothing more than a barbie doll to dress up.

But now the three of you stood in line to checkout, and you felt included again, your friend cracking jokes that were making you snort, Keigo watching the two of you interact.

Until your friend accidentally brushed against your arm as she shifted forward in line.

Again, you saw her tearful face, heard her sobbing, before the other scene flashed, of her on TV, talking to the reporter. She still looked upset, eyes rimmed red, nose running, hair a mess.

With a gasp, your vision returned to the present, and you were wobbling on your feet, almost falling.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry (Y/N), I’m so so sorry. Here, let me take that, go sit down by the entrance.” She fussed over you, face concerned as she carefully took the stack of clothes from your arms, making sure to not make contact.

“Oh fuck, is she alright?” You heard Keigo ask, your friend stepping in front of you as he moved forward to check on you.

“Yeah, she’s just feeling a little dizzy. Can you make sure she doesn’t fall and crack her head open? Just wait by the entrance please.”

“Okay. Oh, here-“ You were a bit dazed, but you saw Keigo fish his wallet out of his pocket, thrusting the entire thing into his girlfriends hands before patting her on the shoulder “Whichever card is fine.”

And then you were stumbling towards the entrance, towards the bench right outside.

You hated seeing the future. Why was your friend crying? What had happened to elicit such a reaction? The unknowns killed you, kept you up at night as you tried to puzzle out the events that could lead up to the scenes from your visions.

Not looking where you were going, you tripped on air, unable to catch yourself as you plummeted towards the ground.

But then you were seeing Keigo.

He was above you, face flushed and sweaty, hair tousled, his chest bare. The room was dark, barely lit, and he was so close. The man leaned down to kiss you, then the scene changed.

You were bent over a table, only able to see the solid wood your face was smushed against. There was a heat in your belly, a tingling between your thighs, and pressure. Someone was talking - Keigo, muttering behind you angrily. You head was pulled up, a hand fisted in your hair, and then one of your knees was pushed up onto the table, and the pressure inside exploded into pure pleasure.

You felt yourself screaming, bucking your hips as you suffered through whatever the feeling was.

The scene changed again.

Hands tied above your head, you were pressed against a wall, sitting on some kind of…. Saddle? Your legs couldn’t touch the ground, and you squirmed, before gasping loudly.

There was a nub in the seat, ribbed and textured, slick with some kind of liquid… From you? Then you saw Keigo, standing in front of you, smirking at you with hardened eyes.

He had something in his hand, arms crossed over his chest while he fiddled with the object, muscles flexing. He was shirtless again, and-and his cock was hanging out of his sweatpants, pressed against his belly, smearing precum over his skin.

You tried to say something, anything - the visions never lasted this long, it was too intense, there was so much sensation. But your mouth wouldn’t move, choked up.

Keigo’s hand was on his length, rubbing slowly, saying something that didn’t reach your ears.

The scene changed.

Something was shoved down your throat, warm and twitching. You were sobbing, choking, clawing at whatever was in front of you. A dark laugh filled your ears, and you opened your eyes, met with the clenching abs of a strong stomach.

Keigo was brushing your tears, no, smudging them over your face. Were you wearing makeup? His cock was sitting in your throat, his hips moving in tiny jerks, stabbing your esophagus, making you gag.

Then you were back in the present.

A hand was holding your arm, keeping you from falling and making contact with the hard floor.

“-N)? (Y/N)? Are you okay? Talk to me birdie”

You made a panicked noise, pulling yourself out of Keigo’s grip so fast that you fell flat on the floor, scrambling backwards away from the man.

He almost looked scared, confused as he followed after you, holding out his hands. “(Y/N), you gotta calm down, you’re gonna make yourself sick.”

The man reached for your arm again and you pressed yourself against the floor, screeching out a loud “No!!” before he could touch you. Keigo paused, looking at his hand, then at you. “Hey, hey, I’m not gonna touch you. It’s okay little birdie, you’re alright.” He cooed, sinking to his knees in front of you.

You were hyperventilating, wide eyes trained on Keigo. Your thoughts were swirling in your head, you couldn’t focus, the sensations of the future still echoing through your body.

Keigo crouched there while you steadied your breathing, talking to you the entire time, trying to help you relax and calm down. You weren’t sure what he was saying, something about the weather? Or a dog? But you could feel your breathing evening out, head clearing.

“Hey, she fall?” You friend was carrying two bags, crouching down beside Keigo, cocking her head at you.

Her boyfriend nodded, turning to her and taking one of the bags. “I caught her, but then she freaked out and fell for real.”

Your friend nodded. “I should’ve told you earlier, she has a touch-based quirk. Every time someone touches her, she sees snippets of her future with that person.”

Keigo cocked his own head, gazing at you curiously. “I guess her future with me isn’t too positive then?”

Your friend shrugged. “Eh, she just hates seeing parts of the future. She doesn’t want to know what’s going to happen, makes her worry or something like that. Don’t take it too personally, she’s like that with everyone.”

“It-it-“ you rasped out, causing both sets of eyes to swivel towards you. “-I hate it... because-‘cause I can’t ever cha-change it.” You shivered.

Keigo nodded in understanding, before rising to his feet. “Think you can walk to my car? I’ll drive you two home, I think you’d benefit from some rest.”

He dropped you off at your apartment, and you wearily waved at the couple as they drove off, before heading inside.

----

A week passed, then two.

The visions you had concerning Keigo were plaguing your mind, filling your body with anxiety. There had been a distinctive feel of fear during each one, and despite all the other various sensations felt, the most overwhelming had been distress.

Whatever was going to happen, you weren’t going to like it.

You were holing up in your apartment, ignoring your roommates when they knocked on your door, only leaving your room to eat or grab water. You couldn’t sleep, too scared you’d have dreams, or more accurately, nightmares of what you had seen.

Curse your quirk.

Trying to pass time, desperate to keep your mind off of the future, you threw yourself into any activity you could find.

First you tried coloring - it was supposed to be relaxing, but it gave you too much time to think.

Then you tried gaming, spending hours in front of your computer mashing the keys. That worked for a bit, but your eyes and head soon protested.

You listened to music at full volume, tried several workout videos, even resorted to cleaning your space with fervent energy.

None of it took your mind off the inevitable.

“(Y/N), someone’s at the door asking for you.” You jerked awake, slumped over uncomfortably on the floor, the half finished card tower in front of you promptly knocked over at your erratic movements.

“(Y/N)?” Your roommate called again.

“Yeah! Coming, sorry.” You mumbled, scrubbing sleep from your eyes. You guess your body would give out sometime and force you to fall asleep, but as you moved to stand, you sorely wished your body had chosen a more comfortable place to pass out.

Opening the front door, you immediately took a cautious step back, sleepy demeanor vanishing.

Keigo smiled at you, one hand in the pocket of his jeans, the other holding a bouquet of flowers.

Flowers?

“Hey birdie, mind if I come in?”

You stared at him for a second, immediately on guard. Why did he have flowers? Why did he want to come in? Wasn’t he dating your friend? She didn’t live here, what was he doing here?

The man cleared his throat, raising an eyebrow at you. You moved to the side, holding open the door for Keigo to come inside.

Your roommates were home. If anything happened, they would be within earshot.

Keigo shot you a smile and a thanks, before immediately moving into the small living room, taking a seat on the couch. When he saw you still hovering by the open door, he patted the cushion beside him.

“Come sit, I promise I don’t bite.” He thought for a moment, before grinning. “Well, not unless you want me to.”

Hesitantly, you shut the front door, going to sit in a ratty armchair further away from the winged man. If this bothered him, the man didn’t let it show other than a short pause before he spoke.

“So, I know it probably seems like, super weird for me to show up at your apartment, but hear me out.”

Flowers were shoved in your lap, Keigo taking great care to avoid touching you.  “I felt bad about the other day, and my girl and I decided that we should get you some flowers. She picked ‘em out, it even says so on the note.”  The man laughed, running a hand through his hair.

“She’s so uptight about this kinda stuff. Anyways, just wanted to say that I’m sorry for grabbing you like that. If I had known, I would’ve let you fall flat on your ass. But I know now, so I’ll be better, cool with you?”

Finishing his little speech, Keigo held out his hands, wings stretching behind him to mimic the gesture.

Looking at the flowers in your lap, you felt your hands shaking. Picking up the little note attached to the bouquet, you found that your friend had indeed picked out the flowers, which made sense. They were your favorites, and in a nice color too.  Keigo had left a messy, scrawled “Sorry!” in one corner, before signing by his girlfriends name.

“Um, thank you Keigo, you didn’t have to apologize.” You murmured, rubbing one of the flower petals between your fingers. You were so glad your quirk extended solely to humans - if you were shown glimpses of the future of everything you touched, you would most likely go mad.

“Nah, I wanted to. Also wanted to swing by, check how you’re doing. You been taking care of yourself?” He relaxed on the couch, legs spread, arms resting behind his head. This wasn’t his home, yet you totally could believe that it was by the ease with which he owned the space with his presence.

“Oh, well… I’m still here, so…” You shrugged.

Keigo frowned. “That’s not a fun answer. How much sleep you been gettin’ each night? Eight hours?”

You shook your head, huffing out a breath in place of a laugh.

Keigo clicked his tongue. “No sleep? That’s bad for you y’know. Have you at least been drinking water? Eatin’?”

You nodded quickly, looking up to meet the man’s gaze. “I’m not a kid. I appreciate your concern, but it’s not necessary.”

At this point, you think the best thing for your health would be for the man to leave.

The blonde man stared at you for a moment, before sighing. “Alright, I get it. But I don’t want to hear that you’ve passed out or something, got it? Your friend would kill me.”

He rose to his feet, and so did you, walking him to the door. “Thanks Keigo, and thank you again for the flowers. That was very sweet of you both.”

Keigo beamed, giving a two fingered salute. “You deserve it birdie. Well, have a good rest of your day, yeah? Eat something.”

You smiled, at Keigo as he turned away, beginning to whistle as he strolled down the hall.

Once the door was shut, you found a vase for the flowers, filling it with water and setting it on the table. Your roommates would think it was pretty, and it was, a nice little centerpiece.

That really was nice of your friend and Keigo to offer you flowers.

——

“Welcome to Gold Nile Jewelers, how can I-“ You blinked at the man entering the shop. “-Keigo.”

“Birdie? You work here?” He looked just as confused as you felt, cocking his head to the side as he approached the counter.

You looked around the small display room, nodding your head. “Yep… You looking for anything specific today?”

“Ah, right!” He clasped his hands together, bending over to lean on the display counter as he looked up at you. “So professional (Y/N), it’s just me.” The man chuckled.

“Actually, I thought I’d get my girl a cute little bracelet or something like that, you think she’d like that?”

Knowing your friend, she’d be ecstactic. “Oh, absolutely. Any particular occasion, or just an “I love you gift”?” You asked, already running through the list of bracelets in stock.

“It’s our two month anniversary in another week, thought I’d get her a little sumn’ sumn’, y’know?”

Gold Nile Jewelers was an expensive store. You patted yourself on the back for not dropping your jaw when he said “two month anniversary”. People came here for wedding rings and special occasion jewelry, not monthly anniversaries like some high schoolers.

Well, unless they were rich.

You showed Keigo the selection of bracelets currently available, the man listening quietly to your product descriptions and recommendations, asking questions about the fit and feel, and if you think your friend would like a particular one.

“Honestly Keigo, I could choose one I think she’d like, but it’d be more special if you chose for her.” You finally told him.  He wasn’t annoying you, but you felt frustrated with his apparent lack of knowledge about his girlfriend. How did he not know what her favorite color was? “I’d suggest coming back in a few days. Go home, see what kind of jewelry she wears, pay attention to the colors she gravitates towards, if she’s allergic to any metals.”

Keigo tapped his chin. “Hmm, you have a good point. I guess I should pay more attention to those kinds of things.”

You nodded as you began to pack the expensive bracelets back into their display cases. “Gifts for a significant other can be hard. Honestly, it means a lot if they pick it out themselves and surprise you with it. Makes it special.”

“Oh, you have a partner?” Keigo asked, bright eyes watching your hands work.

A frown almost crossed your features, but you stopped it before it could show. “Ah, sorry, that’s not really a work-appropriate question.”

“Awh, c’mon! It’s just me, we’re friends, can’t you tell me?” Keigo pouted, batting his eyelashes at you in an exaggerated, dramatic fashion. The display made you laugh, so you indulged him. After all, he was a friend. No harm in telling him something he was bond to know sooner or later.

“I’m actually single right now. But as a jeweler sale associate, I know how much it means to a person when their partner picks out a gift for them, especially if it’s a surprise.”

Keigo nodded his head solemnly.  “That makes sense. I better follow your advice then eh? Find out what she likes-“ he mused “-I can do that.”

“Good luck Keigo!” You called after him as he strolled through the door, waving when he smiled at you, giving that same, goofy two fingered salute that he always did when saying goodbye.

The man unnerved you, the visions you had experienced concerning him making you worry. But as long as he was dating your friend, you felt that you’d be fine.

-----

Keigo showed up again two days later.

“Back so soon?”

“You know me-“ He shook out his umbrella, placing it in the drip-bin by the door, wiping his shoes on the mat. “I always try to be speedy with my work.”

It was grey outside, drizzling slightly. You loved these kinds of days, where you could sit near a window and watch it rain while sipping tea. It was so peaceful and calm, and always soothed your stress.

“Find out anything useful?” Whatever he could tell you would make it easier to refine the jewelry selection for his particular needs.

“So, she doesn’t have any bracelets, and I asked her about why and she said they annoy her. She likes necklaces.” He clarified,. You could tell by the way he puffed up that he felt proud of his detective skills. “I even made a note of the lengths - she likes ones that dip low, which-“ He wolf whistled, and your stomach turned. But it was fine, just awkward.

“Alright, I think we have quite a few like that. Let me collect them for you and lay them out.”

Keigo strolled around the display room while you bustled about, looking in each case at the shiny metals and stones  

You laid out the necklaces, calling Keigo over. The man smiled brightly at you as you showed him the selection, noticing he was gravitating towards the more simply, elegant choices.

“I’m sure she would be thrilled with any of these.” You offered, Keigo silent as he tried to decide between two necklaces.

Still, the man shook his head, quirking his lips. “I just…. I need to see them on, y’know?” Then he brightened, as if he had just thought of something. “Hey, can you try them on? Model one for me? Just to see what it’d look like.”

You laughed nervously. “Sorry Keigo, but I’m not allowed to do that, it’s against company policy. Only customers get to try on the jewelry, and that’s if they’re supervised.”

“Awh, c’mon! No one else is here, and I won’t tell.” The man leaned forward, shooting you a quick wink before he snatched up one of the necklaces, holding it out towards you. “Please? I just need to see it. I promise I’ll buy it.”

He was so insistent, and no matter how loud the alarm bells were wringing in your head, you felt cowed by his confidence.

“Um, still… I don’t think it’s allowed-“

“Fuck what’s allowed-“ He cut you off, snorting. “-I want to see what it looks like. It’s just me (Y/N), I’m not gonna snitch.”

A heavy sigh, and you finally agreed, taking the necklace from his nimble fingers.  You slung it around your neck, not fastening the back as you held it in place. Hopefully that would be enough to sate Keigo’s curiosity.

His eyes immediately followed the curve of the necklace, how it dipped low towards your cleavage (curse you for wearing a lower-cut shirt today). You tried to ignore the leering.

“Here, let me help you fasten it, doesn’t look right otherwise.”

Before you could protest, he was sliding behind you, deft hands reaching for the necklace your had in your grasp.

“Keigo no-!”

But it was too late.

You were pressed up against a wall, face-first, your hands gathered into the small of your back and held there with a vice-like grip. There was pressure between your legs, something hammering into you, in and out, in and out, in and out.

Keigo was talking to you, you could tell it was the man by his voice. What was he saying? You were too overwhelmed with the sensation between your legs to focus on the words falling from his lips.

Sweat dripped from your temples, Keigo’s chest pressed up against your back was slick with perspiration, his nipples hard and pressing into your skin. It was an uncomfortable situation-

And then it changed.

You were tied up now, tight enough that you couldn’t move no matter how you thrashed. Knees bound in such a way so your ass was up in the air, arms stretched out in front of you, anchored to the headboard of the bed.

Keigo was behind you again - nothing to indicate that the tongue running through your core was his, but somehow, you knew.

You were begging and pleading, withing in your restraints against his tongue, but he wouldn’t let up, he wouldn’t let you crest the mountain that had built up inside. He kept chuckling, the vibrations running through you and making you buck your hips. You felt disgusting.

Then the bed was gone, and Keigo was in front of you. He was sitting in an office chair, your legs straddling his lap. Hands on your hips were dragging you back and forth, grinding you on the hard member protruding from Keigo’s lap. He was flushed, letting out little moans as he kept eye contact with you, smiling and praising you.

Then you were back.

Gasping, you shot away from Keigo, the expensive necklace clattering to the ground as it fell from your hands.

The man froze, confusion etched across his features as he watched you bend over, trying to catch your breath, to calm down, to ignore the lingering sensations from the futuristic visions.

“(Y/N)…”

“I think-I think you should leave.” You heaved, tears building. That had been awful, everything had felt good but you hadn’t. You felt uncomfortable and disrespected and stupid. That couldn’t be your future with Keigo, you wouldn’t be able to handle that. He was your friend’s boyfriend, for goodness sake!

Keigo opened his mouth to say something, but you snapped at him “Leave.”, making the man click his jaw shut.

He walked out the door, shooting you concerned glances the entire way.

You felt better as soon as he was gone, the door clicking shut after him. Thankfully, you were the only employee out front at the moment, and no other customers were present, so no one but you and Keigo had experienced your outburst.

Bending down to pick up the necklace, you inspected it carefully, horrified that you had dropped such an expensive item. It was alright though, so you brought it back to the others, shakily beginning to gather them up to put away.

You didn’t want to see Keigo again.

——-

“I just don’t understand!”

Your friend sobbed, surrounded by tissues on your bed, eyes red and blotchy.  You wished you could rub her back, our give her a hug, but you knew what would happen. So you stayed on the floor, passing up tissues and offering wordless sympathy.

“Why would he break up with me? Why?”

You shrugged, looking for words. “I don’t know… I’m sorry that this happened, but if he can’t see how awesome you are, then he’s an idiot.”

She sniffed, blowing her nose. You could tell she wasn’t convinced, but she didn’t say anything further, instead choosing to wipe her eyes.

She had called an hour or so ago, tearful, asking if she could come over. Refused to tell you what was wrong, but the second you let her in, she had burst into tears, explaining everything.

Keigo had broken up with her via text, that asshole.

“I just…. I thought we were good. Did I do something wrong? I just don’t get it.”

“Neither do I. You said he just texted you out of the blue?”

She nodded her head, going to blow her nose again. “We were supposed to go out for dinner tomorrow, it’s our two month anniversary.”

You cringed. Did your encounter with Keigo in the jewelry store have something to do with this? Had you driven your friend’s boyfriend away? Had you weirded him out? Oh god, what if this was all your fault?

Your friend broke down into a sob again, slumping onto your bed. You passed her another tissue. “It’ll be okay. I think he’s a stupid fucker that just wanted to play with your heart.  He isn’t worth shit. You deserve so much better than him.”

She nodded, blotchy eyes seeking out your own. In the back of your mind, you cringed, seeing the exact same scene from your vision. Well, at least the two of you hadn’t gotten in a fight.

——-

A few weeks later, Keigo was at your door.

“You need to leave. Now.”

“Aw, c’mon (Y/N), at least hear me out?”

You huffed, crossing your arms. Maybe he had a dumb explanation for why he had dumped your friend. You were wary of him accidentally touching you again though. “Fine, but make it quick.”

“No promises.” He grinned, breezing past you and into your apartment. He beelined for the chair you had sat in last time he was here, leaving you to take a seat on the couch.

“Alright-“ He settled in, fixing you with a gleeful eye. “How do you feel about your quirk?”

Caught off guard, you blinked. Wasn’t he going to explain why he had broken your friend’s heart? “Um, what?”

“Your quirk, y’know, the one that makes you see the future?” He leaned forward, rubbing his hands together with a smile. He seemed far too pleased, and it made you nervous.

“I hate it. If I could get rid of it, I would.” You stated, ready to move onto a different topic. But just as you were about to ask him about your friend, he rose to his feet, fishing in his pockets.

He drew out a bracelet, black and red, thin. “Well then, lookie what I have.” The man walked over, sitting down quickly on the couch next to you, causing you to immediately scoot to the end. You didn’t want him touching you.

“Oh, sorry.” He apologized upon noticing your unease. Instead of scooting closer, he simply tossed the bracelet onto your lap, leaning back as he watched you look at it curiously. “Put it on, see how it fits.”

“I don’t need jewelry Keigo, and I think we should be spending our time discussing why you bro-“

“Just put it on (Y/N), please? I promise you won’t regret it.”

Huffing, you did as he asked, clasping the bracelet around your wrist. It fit snug, almost too tight, but it hugged your wrist comfortingly. It was pretty, but you didn’t see what this had to do with your quirk, or with your friend, or anything that held any relevancy.

Bracelet now on, you fixed Keigo with a blank stare. “Happy?”

“I don’t know.” Keigo grinned. “Are you?” And then he was hugging you, arms wrapped around your shoulders, face buried in your neck.

You shrieked, already panicking as you tried to ready yourself for the onslaught of  visions that accompanied physical touch.

They never came.

Choking back a surprised gasp, you drew back from his hug to find Keigo’s eyes, the man smiling down at you as he watched your reaction.

“Kei-Keigo…” You stuttered, shocked, surprised, euphoric, confused - so many emotions, all at once. You couldn’t even think to brush off the hands still around your shoulders, thumbs brushing at the tops of your exposed collarbones by the neck of your shirt.

You weren’t able to think rationally, couldn’t focus on anything but the awe you felt at being touched without being slammed with visions of the future.

You forgot about the terrifying visions you had gotten when Keigo touched you.

You forgot about how he had hurt your friend, broke her heart with no explanation.

You forgot about his hands refusing to leave your body.

“Keigo, this is…. Amazing” You breathed, wide eyes snapping up, catching his smiling face, eyes crinkly and twinkly.

“I had my team modify some quirk-cancelling cuffs! You seemed so upset whenever someone touched you, I couldn’t leave you with such a burden.”

Nodding, you returned your gaze to the bracelet, turning your wrist this way and that to look at the bracelet from different angles.

“I mean, I know how much I like being touched, and touching. I think I’d totally die if I couldn’t.” Keigo chuckled, but you weren’t listening.

The rest of his time sitting next to you on the couch was spent explaining the colors he had spent so long picking (“They’re my personal favorite, aren’t they nice?”) and why he had decided on a bracelet (“It could’ve been a necklace, but I think it looks better in it’s original cuff design, looks cooler that way.”).

By the time he had to leave, you were completely sidetracked, so distracted with your shiny new jewelry that you didn’t even remember to ask what his deal was with being a jerk to your friend, his now ex-girlfriend.

-----

“-and then he gave me the bracelet. I wasn’t thinking much after that, I just… I can hug you, isn’t that incredible?”

You gave your friend another squeeze, feeling a smile dance across your face. But then you sobered, pulling back from her with your hands on her shoulders, quickly becoming serious.

“But he’s really starting to kind of weird me out. Why won’t he explain why he broke up with you? He’s being a little bitch. I tried asking him a couple times, but he kept cutting me off, and I feel like the bracelet was a distraction to stop me from busting his chops about his behavior towards you.”

Your friend looked sad for a second, before shrugging. “I dunno, he just said things weren’t working out, and that while he liked me, he’s not ready for a relationship right now ‘cause of where he’s at in his life.”

“Psh-“ You scoffed, going in for another comforting squeeze for your friend. “-that’s code for “I’m a fuckboy and want to sleep around”.”

“I know….. But it still hurts.” You friend sighed, wrapping her arms around your neck. “But at least he gave you that quirk thing. I’ve never seen you so happy.”

“I just wish he was a mildly decent person.” You grumbled, detaching from the hug to sit back, glaring at the ceiling. “He gives me the fucking creeps.”

“How so?” You friend locked her head to the side, throwing her arm over the back of the couch. You had called her over the second Keigo had left, finally gathering your wits about you.

“I dunno…” You shrugged, not quite ready to tell her about the disturbing visions containing him. Did that have something to do with their breakup? Was it your fault? What was going to happen with Keigo? It honestly scared you, the residual feelings and sensations you could remember from the visions.

Your friend nodded understandingly. “Some people just give off those vibes. Well, at least we don’t ever have to see him again. Good riddance I say.”

You agreed.

——-

Knocking on the door, you shuffled your feet as you took in the house.

It was one of those rich places - nice neighborhood, fancy street filled with lavish houses, expensive cars. You felt slightly out of place, shifting from foot to foot in your clearance-rack clothes.

The door swung open, revealing a sleepy Keigo, shirtless, clad in nothing but sweatpants.

“Oh, um-“ You quickly turned, averting your eyes, trying to give the man privacy in case he hadn’t realized he was shirtless. It looked like he had just woken up from a nap, eyes blinking owlishly, hair mussed.

“Hey (Y/N), come on in.”

Still keeping your eyes turned away, you stepped inside the opulent house, trying not to gape too much at the decor inside. You didn’t want to look like a complete peasant in front of Keigo, but he’d already been to your house, so you could imagine that he knew of your poor-ness.

“Something wrong? You can look at me y’know, I’m not gonna turn you to stone or something.” Keigo joked, voice entirely too close for comfort.

Head whipping around, you found that he was too close, practically almost touching you as he stood beside you, head cocked as he watched you.

“No… nothings wrong, you’re just…” You gestured to his torso, and Keigo looked down in confusion, before looking back at you, a grin on his face.

“Ah, just woke up.” He shrugged, before reaching out to touch your arm. “Bracelet still keeping that quirk at bay?”

You nodding, following the blonde as he turned and walked further into his house, towards the kitchen.

“Glad to hear! I just wanted to look at it a bit, make sure nothing’s worn or torn, y’know? Hate for you to have to deal with the no-touching thing again.” He said over his shoulder, gesturing for you to sit down at the island, on one of the barstools.

You did so, watching the man open his fridge, take out a carton of milk, uncap it. “Is it too tight?”

“Nope.”

He drank right out of the bottle, and you watched some dribble out of the corner of his mouth, down his chin. The man finished gulping down the milk, taking the bottle away from his lips to swipe at the white trail of liquid rolling down his chin.

Eyes dark, he made contact with your own eyes as he cleaned his chin with a finger, stuffing it in his mouth to suck it clean.

That was gross.

The next second, he was back to normal, cheerfully putting the milk back into the fridge. “Good, good. Now, mind if I take a look at it? You should keep it on though.”

You nodded, and Keigo straightened, walking around the island to sit next to you, shuffling his stool closer.

He grabbed your wrist, laying it out on the island, before beginning to poke at the bracelet, running his fingers over it, fiddling with it, squeezing the tendons in your hand, smoothing his hand up your arm.

It felt a bit intrusive.

“So the visions are all blocked?”

“Yep.”

“And you can touch and be touched?”

“Yeah.”

“How’s your appetite? Sometimes complete quirk suppression can make you lose your appetite.”

“It’s been normal, I guess I’m a little hungrier than normal, but I’ve been getting out more too, not as afraid of crowds.”

“Nice! And how about your libido?”

You spluttered, choking on your own spit, snatching your hand away from Keigo’s wandering touches.

“Excuse me? That’s a bit personal, thanks.”

Keigo shrugged, bright eyes hooded and lazy. “It’s just a question.”

“Are you done making sure it’s all good? No broken parts?” You changed the subject, narrowing your eyes. You can’t believe your friend had ever dated him, that you had ever thought he was anything but a playboy.

You wouldn’t even be here, in his house, but he had come into the jewelers a while back (both you and your friend had blocked his number), spouting something about your bracelet needing constant checks and maintenance in order to keep suppressing your quirk. (“Wouldn’t want it to stop working, right? Just stop by sometimes, here’s my address.”).

So here you were.

Keigo leaned back a little, raising an eyebrow at your irritated tone of voice. “Woah there, don’t get snippy. I’m doing you a favor, right? I’m not trying to hurt you or something.”

Technically, you guess he was right. But he had played your friend, had fucked with her feelings. He was a fuckboy, liked messing with each and every girl he could find, and you didn’t care to be one of them.

“And I appreciate that Keigo. But I like to keep my private life private.”

Keigo was silent, simply holding out a hand for you to place your arm in, so he could fiddle more with the bracelet.

Several moments of awkward silence passed before he spoke again. “You’re being awfully ungrateful. It makes me think you don’t even want this little gift. If I were you, I’d be doing everything I could to show the person kind enough to do such a thing for me how thankful I was.”

Lost for words, you stared at the man. Was he expecting some sort of award? Some sort of prize? It’s not like you had anything to give him.

“I don’t have anything to give you in thanks. Just my words, which I’ve said plenty of. I didn’t ask you to make this for me.” You pointed out.

“Sure, but you use it, don’t you? You wouldn’t like it if I took it away, right? Think about how miserable your life was before I gave you this.”

Your life had been miserable. Afraid to go out in crowds, afraid to leave the house, Nervous about grocery shopping, about paying and having the cashier touch your hand as they handed over the change.

Scared of public transportation, of coffeeshops and bookstores, of public parks, even your own home. What if one of your roommates forgot and touched you? Or accidentally bumped into you?

Plus, you could hug now, and shake hands, and slap your friends back when she told a horrible joke, or tap her when you wanted her attention.

You didn’t want to go back to before. “I’m sorry Keigo… I really do think it’s lovely, and I can never thank you enough for doing this for me.”

Keigo let go of your arm, and it swung back to your side. You could feel the man looking at you.

“You know what would let me know that you mean it?”

God, it better not be something sexual.

“You could buy me coffee. Or maybe a cookie from that bakery on 1st Avenue, you know the one? With the little bunny pastries?”

That surprised you.

“You go there? That’s my favorite place.” You mused, looking at Keigo in surprise. He didn’t seem the kind of guy who’d like a place like that. But appearances could be deceiving.

“Of course! I really like their stuff.”

“Alright,” You conceded, rising to your feet. “I’ll get you some stuff from there. Want it today?”

Keigo rose to his feet as well, crossing his arms over his bare chest. “Yeah! Let me get dressed real quick, and then I’ll go with you. Don’t go anywhere birdie.” He shot you a wink, before sauntering past you, out of the kitchen.  You raised a brow, surprised. He meant to go with you?

“Make yourself at home while you wait, don’t be afraid to kick up your feet!”  

——-

The bakery smelled as lovely as usual.

A warm atmosphere, good food, friendly employees. It was your favorite place for a reason.

“Alright, what do you want?” You asked Keigo, the two of you staring up at the menu.

“Hmm, I don’t know. What are you going to get?”

“Probably a muffin, those are my favorite.”

“What!?! That’s my favorite too! How crazy.” Keigo smiled at you, dimples showing. You got the feeling that he was brown-nosing you, but you kept the thought to yourself, striding up to the counter to order.

Muffins purchased, you approached Keigo, who was lounging by one of the display cases, admiring the delicate, mouthwatering masterpieces held within.

“All good to go?” His smile was so charming, so friendly, you almost caught yourself wanting to see it more. Huffing in irritation at yourself, you pushed past him, shoving the bag with his muffin into his chest.

“Here’s your stuff. I’m going home now, see you around.”

“Wait!” Keigo turned, jogging a little to catch up as you exited the bakery. “We gotta eat these before they get cold - hey, birdie, are you listening to me?“

You weren’t, stoically keeping your head turned forward, walking with determination. There was only so much of Keigo that you could tolerate, and you had reached your limit. He was starting to really annoy you, didn’t he get that you wanted to go home? You’ll just eat your muffin on the subway, it’s not that hard.

“(Y/N)-“ His sudden growl was punctuated by an arm on your shoulder, spinning you around and pulling you towards the man.

“Hey-!” The sudden collision of your face with his chest knocked your breath away, almost causing you to drop your own muffin in the process.

When you managed to gather yourself, you shot a glare up at Keigo’s face, only to find the blonde smirking down at you, a fierce glint in his eyes.

“I expect you to listen when I’m talking, got it? I don’t like being ignored.”

That’s evident.

You tried to back away, but he still had a hand on your shoulder, squeezing you tight to him. “Keigo! Let me go, you stupid idiot-“

“Stop it, I’m not doing anything to you, ya big baby.” He cooed down at you, before taking his hand away, letting you stumble backwards.

He was just messing with you, teasing you. It was obvious, yet still you allowed him to be around you.

“Alright, I’m sorry, I know all the touching’s gotta be new still. Wanna go eat these in the park? I’ll buy you some ice cream if you want.”

“I don’t want ice cream, I want to go home.”

Keigo frowned, walking after you when you turned on your heel, heading for the subway. “Why do you dislike me so much? I’ve done so much to help you, and yet you spit in my face. Your parents ever teach you how to be grateful? Or even respectful?”

You gasped at his accusation, stopping in your tracks to whirl around, only to find the man far closer than what you had expected. Still, you tried to hide your surprise at his proximity, jabbing a finger in his direction.

“You are a playboy, you broke my friend’s heart, and you want to sleep with every single person you come across just to mess with their feelings. I don’t want to be around you. I won’t get dragged into that.”

The man watched you, face solemn and contemplative. “Is that really how you see me?”

“Why would I say any of that unless it was true?”

He ran a hand through his hair, looking up and around, as if gathering his bearings, before back down at you.

“Have you ever considered that I’m the one getting my heart broken?”

“Yeah right-“ You scoffed, only for Keigo to cut you off.

“People want to sleep with me because they think it’ll get them something that they want. Fifteen second fame, a piece in a tabloid about my “new lover”…. Think it’ll help them further their career, or that I’ll give them money. I can’t find anyone real.

“And my friend wasn’t real enough for you?” You spat, not believing him for a second.

“Nope.  You think she liked me for who I am?”

“Uh, yeah? She gushed to me all the damn time about how good you were, how she felt about you. That girl held nothing but love and affection for you.”

The man snorted, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, sure, love for my wallet.”

“She’s not like that.” You argued, brows furrowing.

“Really? Cause she was sucking me dry, and not even in a sexy way.”

You crinkled your nose at what he was implying. Your friend wasn’t like that, she truly had felt for Keigo, had liked him as her boyfriend. She wasn’t just a leech.

“I’m done talking about my failed love life.” Keigo said lowly, nudging your shoulder. “I just thought two friends could hangout, but it seems like you think all I do is try and fuck people.”

“No, Kiego…. That’s not what I meant.” Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t, but right now…. You almost felt a twinge of sympathy for him.

Some of what he was saying made sense, how people would try and use him for various reasons. But that still didn’t explain his sudden and harsh breakup with your friend. And over text no less, a complete douche move!

But you felt bad about his words, about how he seemed to actually want to hangout, and yet you were accusing him of trying to sleep with you. But what about those visions you had had? Was that even how they went? Or were you remembering falsely based on your bias towards the man?

And what about his suggestive touches, his leering gaze? Was that maybe just how he always was, and it wasn’t exclusive to you? Were you inflating your place in his life, thinking that he wanted you?

It was confusing, and you didn’t want to think about it, try and untangle the lies from the truth. Right now, you just wanted to eat your muffin.

“If you really didn’t mean it, then can we go eat these in the park? I just want to chill with someone that isn’t trying to gain something from me. I want to spend time with someone that’s real.”

With a half-irritated sigh, you nodded, hoping you wouldn’t regret hanging out with the obnoxious man.

-----

He kept calling you, texting you. You’d had to unblock his number at some point, in order for him to text you about the bracelet and when he needed to look at it.

“Come overrrrr, I’m bored!”

“Birdie, are you hungry? The delivery place gave me extra Torikatsu and I don’t want it to go bad. Can I come drop it off?”

He’d swing by the jewelers, leaning over the counter to talk to you about a recent shoot he’d booked, or something he saw recently.

Keigo seemed to slowly insert himself into every facet of your live, against your will, ignoring every subtle, irritated attempt of yours to turn him away. Every single time you saw him, your mind would inevitably think of the visions, but you felt like you couldn’t trust yourself with those anymore.

The man assured you at every step, he had no romantic feelings for you, he just wanted a friend, someone to put him in his place, be honest with him.

You definitely were honest.

Snapping at him when he showed up at your apartment uninvited, coming up behind you on the street and grabbing your sides, laughing when you shrieked and tried to hit your attacker, only to realize it was Keigo.

Tearing into him when he tried to talk badly about your friend - she had been having less and less contact with you, and you couldn’t figure out why. Now your relationship with her was reduced to curt text messages. Maybe she was just going through a hard time, and wanted alone time? Still, you let her know you were there for her, whenever she needed.

You were honest when Keigo asked your opinion on food, TV shows, clothes, movies. It was almost satisfying saying something sucked, just to see Keigo’s face fall slightly, before he shook his head, whining.

“Then help me pick something out! I can’t do it without you-“

He totally could, he was just being a baby.

The more he inserted himself into your life, the more you realized that he was akin to a petulant child, just with muscles and a penchant for inappropriate touching.

Whenever he saw you, he’d try to draw you into a hug, letting his hands drop far down your back, way too low for you to feel comfortable. You’d slap them away, and Keigo would laugh, before ruffling your hair.

He’d have you come over so he could check your quirk suppressor, except he was in the middle of a show, and it was getting to the best part. (“Sit down, shhh, it’s just getting good!”) You’d have to sit through the entire thing, enduring Kiego’s hand lazily drawing shapes over your pants on your thigh, simply putting it back whenever you shoved it off.

He was insufferable, irritating to no end, but you could tell he was a lonely man, bitter about his love life and with his friendships.

So you tolerated his presence.

After all, he wasn’t trying to hurt you. That’s something he reiterated every single time you shied away from his touch. He made you feel like a fool for thinking the man was hitting on you, when he made it so clear that he wasn’t, only interested in friendship.

Until you fell asleep at his house.

Another one of those days were he needed to look at your quirk suppressor (which you were 99% sure was fine, it seemed like he just enjoyed seeing it on your wrist). He had been rummaging around in his room before he had to run and open the front door for you, talking as he walked back to return to his previous task.

Apparently he was trying to find a good shirt, seeing as how he had pants on, but his chest was bare. Keigo instructed you to sit on the bed for a second while he retreated into his massive closet, trying to find a good shirt  to go with the rest of his outfit.

His bedroom was pretty large, a full California King taking up the majority of the space, neatly made. The sheets and blankets felt soft beneath your fingers as you sat on it’s edge, prepared to wait for Keigo for a bit.

The man always took his fashion very seriously - one time he’d even spent two hours trying on clothes until he’d decided on an appropriate outfit to go to the park.

So you followed your tired eyes, exhausted from work and dealing with Keigo, worrying about your friend, daily life stressors and the like.  Keigo wouldn’t mind if you laid back, right? Your feet wouldn’t be on the bed, so it’d be fine.

And it was fine, pleasant, the room the perfect temperature.

You were roughly jerked out of sleep by pressure. Pressure on your hips, pressure on your lips.

Eyes jolting open, you tried to inhale, only to find yourself unsuccessful.

Keigo was on top of you.

Panicking, your hands came to push at him, a muffled sound of protest being squeaked out from where his lips pressed against yours.

Noticing you were awake, Keigo pulled back, smiling the whole while.

“I’m not willing to wait anymore, I just gotta have you.”

His eyes were glinting, hair tousled, still shirtless. You felt goosebumps arise as you remembered the vision you had so long ago, of this exact moment.

“Wai-mmph!” His lips were on yours again, passionate and warm, moving eagerly. A wet tongue pressed at the seam of your mouth, surprising you and making you blanch, which allowed the man access.

Kiego’s tongue explored the inside of your mouth, playfully tapping your own wet muscle, encouraging you to lift it and wrestle with him.

This was too weird, this wasn’t happening, you couldn’t do this-

Biting down hard, you snapped your teeth shut on his tongue, and Keigo yelped, drawing back immediately.

“Ouch, what the fuck!?! Chill out (Y/N), geez.” His hand was dabbing at his mouth, wincing when it came in contact with his bleeding tongue. You had bitten him deep, but you weren’t focused on that right now.

“What are-what are you doing?” Your voice was breathless, disoriented. The room felt…. Dark, and suffocating, as if it was closing in on the two of you, trapping you.

Keigo looked down at you, and it was only then that you realized you had been moved to lie on the bed fully, shoes off, legs splayed. The man rested on his stomach between them, his weight pressed against your body, keeping you still.

“I told you, I can’t wait anymore. I’ve been as nice as I can, but it’s time you started paying me back for everything I’ve done for you.”

What? Paying him back-was he talking about the quirk suppressor he had gifted you? Had he been lying about his true intentions this whole time?

“That’s not right, it was a gift, you-you don’t have to pay back a gift.” You spluttered, feeling as if your chest was collapsing.

Keigo shook his head, swooping down to leave a bloody kiss on your forehead, which you cringed at, before pulling back to speak.

“Nah, it wasn’t a gift. You know how expensive it was? You were always gonna have to compensate me. Now shush, I wanna feel you-“

One of his hands grabbed your jaw, keeping your face turned towards his, pressing down until tears formed in your eyes. His lips were bloody from the bite on his tongue, tasting unmistakably like iron.

You didn’t want this.

Trying to bite him again left you with a slap to your thigh, making you cry out. Keigo huffed out a laugh against your mouth.

He detached from your lips, just to start nibbling at your jawline, elating streaks of red where his lips touched.

“God, you are so sexy. I was trying to chill, but then I came out and you were sleepin’ all cute, and I couldn’t fucking stop myself from touching.”

“Stop doing this, I can pay you with something different. I don’t wanna do this Keigo.” You whispered, on the verge of crying.

“No, I get to decide what you’ll be doing for me, it���s my bracelet-“

“It’s not, you gave it to me, please stop-“

“Shut up.” He growled sinking his teeth into the side of your neck, nipping at the skin hard enough to have you screaming. “You’re so ungrateful, where’s my thanks? I’ve done so much for you.”

“Thank you, thank you Keigo, I appreciate it all-“ You hurried out, hoping it was what he wanted to hear “But I can’t do this, please don’t make me. I wanna go home.”

“There we go, I like the sound of you thanking me. You’re going to thank me for each and every time you cum tonight, got it?”

“No, no, we can’t do this, I can’t! Get off of me, please-“

“You’ll do it, or else I’ll whip you until your flesh hangs off of you in strings.” He hissed, squeezing your jaw cruelly.

The tears in your eyes overflowed as you fell silent.

“Aw, birdie, don’t cry. I’m not gonna hurt you, I never have, right?” He waited for a second, watching your face before he pressed harder, eyes hardening “Right?“

You nodded jerkily, and Keigo came to kiss your tears away, savoring their salty taste as they rolled down your cheeks.

“Keigo, this isn’t right though, please get off me. I don’t want this-“

“You want me to take this away?” A hand caught your shaking wrist, the one that had the quirk suppressor fastened snugly around it, wrenching it up so both of you could see it. “Huh? Put you back where you were in your miserable little life? Running away from everyone, holing up in your apartment, not willing to touch or be touched…”

The very thought made your insides churn, and a fresh round of tears rolled down your face as you shook your head no, lips wobbling as you whined. You felt so pathetic, so small and dumb underneath Keigo.

“That’s what I thought. You’re going to relax now, right? No more begging unless it’s for more.”

He didn’t wait for an answer, beginning to shuffle around until he could slide his hands under your shirt, pressing against your tummy as you flinched away.

“Don’t worry birdie, you’re gonna like every single thing we’re gonna do. You’ve had sex now, yeah? Since I gave you the bracelet?”

You shook your head “no”, it’s not like you were eager for sex before you got it, and all the touching-without-terrifying-visions thing was still new to you, the dating world was being eased into. Somehow though, every single date seemed to be crashed by the man on top of you.

Keigo lit up like a Christmas tree, licking his lips gleefully. “Okay, okay, I can-whew, that’s hot-I can be gentle.” It sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince you, his hands skirting up your ribs, shucking up your shirt as the traveled higher and higher.

“Keigo please-“

“Don’t you dare say stop, I’m not gonna. You’re the first person that doesn’t want anything from me, you’re real, and I’m not stopping.”

His admission made you cringe, recoiling from his touch. He followed you, palms finally smoothing over your breasts, over your bra.

“You’re going to do what I say, or else this-“ Your wrist was wrenched into view, red-and-black bracelet glittering. “-gets removed. And I’ll still do whatever the fuck I want, but you’ll be off in your mind having visions of who-knows-what while I have my way. Got it?”

Your blood chilled, body suddenly feeling ice cold. His tone was dead serious, spitting out the words with a sense of finality.

“So, just lay there and take it birdie, I’ll be good to you.”

[gisachi]

OMG! No.19 with my Shinran babies please! Love you!

Thank you for this number, Anons! I have a particular idea stuck in my mind for this one when I first came across the prompts list. So I’m excited to finally write it down.😆 Hope you like it! Fluffy ShinRan ahead! 💞

19. One person stopping a kiss to ask “Do you want to do this?”, only to have the other person answer with a deeper, more passionate kiss. (1,937 words)

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Among the multitudes of traits Ran admires from Shinichi, it’s his confidence that always gets her.

Ran loves the way his lips tug to an accomplished smirk whenever he completes all puzzle pieces of a baffling mystery, or the way his bright eyes glint when he quotes his most favorite lines from Holmes’ cases. She loves how easily he captivates big crowds with his proud, gallant voice, streamlining facts that would put any expert to shame. She loves how he, despite his energy, turns cool and collected when facing a crisis, because as young as he is he knows how to make judgments better than any adult ever can.

She loves him like that. And she loves him even more when he’s like that, to her.

She remembers the first time he held her hand as his girlfriend during their walk home from school — he was all smiles and charm with no hint of reluctance in his eyes. The same way whenever he presses his forehead against hers to check her temperature, or when he tucks her loose locks behind her ear on her stead. He doesn’t hesitate stroking his fingers on the corner of her lips to remove grains of rice stuck on them whenever they dine out, only to eat them afterwards and laughing at how red she’ll be from that.

In those gestures, it’s like he’s teaching her how to be physically comfortable with him. Which she does learn so easily. She likes it. It makes her feel the legitimacy of their relationship. They’re not only best friends but two human beings who love each other and find comfort in each other’s physical closeness.

But as much as she feels his confidence translating through these gestures, there’s one thing he hasn’t done.

He has never kissed her.

This dawned on her when she notices how his face only goes as far as touching her nose when he presses their foreheads together, though her lips are out in the open. That, and when he drops her home after a date, he’ll get really close and it’s ridiculous how her eyes flutter in anticipation for a kiss but he won’t; instead he’ll just squeeze her hand and say his goodbye.

He’s never kissed her.

Not even an attempt.

She doesn’t know what to feel about it.

“Is there something wrong?”

Shinichi slumps beside her on the bed, body nestling comfortably albeit the worried expression he wears. She remembers they’re in her room doing homework, a routine they have after class, which they do alternately between his house and hers.

Earlier, she told Shinichi she’ll lie down for a moment, and judging by how he follows her five minutes after she said that, she figures her somber tone must’ve bugged him.

“Are you sick?”

Ran vigorously shakes her head, and it looks like she’s answering him but in truth she’s veering her brain away from her silly thoughts, embarrassed by where it has drifted to.

Notwithstanding that, he presses his forehead against hers like how he usually does. Even if he’s done this a thousand times, she still can’t help but blush.

“Weird. You aren’t.” Shinichi remarks, voice evident of concern.

“Like I said.”

“You didn’t say anything.”

He observes her for a little longer, caressing her cheek with slow strokes of his thumb, handsome blue eyes serious, unyielding.

This is embarrassing.

His face is only inches away and her breath hitches, unsure of where she must look but in the end settles for his eyes, which stare right at her like he’s seeing through her soul, reading her thoughts.

Then, Shinichi closes in and goes for it.

On the lips.

Ran releases a surprised ‘mpfh’ right when he presses on her, and her temperature begins to rise like she’s truly in a fever.

Even with the littlest movement of his mouth over hers, she feels like she’s going to pass out from the drastic temperature change in her body.

His lips are so red, so warm.

She can’t breathe. She can’t move. She can’t—!

He pulls back.

Ran dumbly looks at him, shaken by the entire feeling of them lying on her bed and him suddenly giving her a kiss. A kiss which, though abrupt, is enough to unleash all the butterflies trapped in her belly.

Shinichi just kissed her.

On her lips!

But...

“I-...” he withholds his words, eyes wide, as if startled by his own actions. The hand framing her cheek quivers.

Something isn’t right.

Something‘s bothering him.

Unsure of what she’s done wrong, she touches his cheek, only for him to flinch beneath her fingertips.

“Shinichi…?” Her voice quivers, too.

The look in his eyes before he captured her lips was so sure. Now, he gazes at her like he’s having second thoughts; eyes lidded with delicate love and affection but behind them lie badges of uncertainty.

She doesn’t like it.

All his life he’s been so confident of his choices, but why, now, does he seem to doubt giving what she secretly anticipates from him for the longest time?

“I uh… I’m sorry I-...I might’ve been rushing, I just...crap,” he hides his reddened cheeks with his back hand, averting his gaze away.

Wait.

No.

If she pays close attention to the stillness of the room, she can hear his erratic heartbeat thumping mercilessly against his ribcage.

If she observes his face carefully, she can count each drop of sweat dotting his forehead.

The more he speaks the more he jumbles up his consonants.

All of these he desperately tries to conceal with his hands but it isn’t working because they, too, shiver like it’s winter.

It’s not that he’s doubting.

He’s…

“Do you want to...do this?”

Ran blinks her doe-like eyes at his question, and in that instant he flits his nervous eyes back at her.

His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows, voice muffled by his hand.

“I mean we can…not, like, if you’re not read-”

Silly boy.

Removing his hand from his face, she silences him with a press of her lips on his.

What do you mean I’m not ready?

Torrents of emotion brew inside her as she recreates his kiss from earlier, though instead of making it brief, she does it longer.

You’ve prepared me enough—it’s about time.

She doesn’t expect him to get flustered at this. After all, he’s Shinichi. But like all other guys whose knees get weak when they receive a heartfelt kiss from their love, his whole resolve collapses, dissolves through his fingertips, as though she’s absorbing all of that from him and he’s letting it.

Wow. The power her kiss has over him.

Nothing can get any better than this.

However.

It is one thing to kiss, but another to be good at it. Though she surges on him with so much passion, she finds herself...stuck.

Does she move? Where does she place her hands?

She plants awkward kisses along his mouth, and with every passing second the confidence she mustered begins to wane.

She’s horrible. Pathetic.

He must be hating this.

“Ran.”

Shinichi breaks away, stares at her for what seems like forever.

She waits for him to laugh, but he doesn’t.

Instead, he guides her hand to his nape, cradles her jaw and smiles, “May I?”, before pulling her to meet her mouth and kiss her again.

It might be his confidence regained or a natural talent, but the way he delivers is magical. Heavenly. “Like this,” his voice comes out breathy, as he leads her mouth to a specific motion over his. Oh god. She feels as though she ascends the skies, floats above the clouds, flies with the birds with every brush of lips. It doesn’t take long until their mouths dance in perfect rhythm, lips melding comfortably like melting iron.

This is...surreal.

The bed shifts and suddenly she’s facing the ceiling instead of sideways, his upper body hovering above her. His tentative kisses become more decisive, more characteristic of him, and they fill her body with outrageous warmth as he punctuates every kiss with a soft, wet sound, and she cannot filter her next actions so she hums in his mouth, silently.

His lips are like strong armors, clashing against hers so powerfully and she’s willing to lose. The way he grazes his tongue over her inner lip makes every fine hair on her skin tingle, and she sighs in bliss as he delicately tilts her head in an angle more comfortable to them and albeit faintly, he moans.

Everything around her disappears, it’s just him and her, being intimate like this. Being more intimate than ever.

A sudden bite on her lower lip however jolts her and she opens her dazed eyes to see him with his shut tight, brows creased in concentration, his full undivided attention to her, kissing her with an intensity greater than the heat of a thousand suns and it’s...ridiculous. Ridiculous how mad her heart beats at how frustratingly handsome he looks. How her ears flush and cheeks flare up at how foreign they sound. How her vision blurs and blurs until she can no longer keep her eyes open and just fall, deep into his embrace, into his lips, surrendering her will slowly, sweetly…

His mouth leaves her with a quiet pop, weight above her lessening a little.

She cannot open her eyes, but she finds herself lifting her head, wanting to feel his lips again. At this point, it’s already a crime to stop.

“Ran?” He sounds croaky, and she doesn’t realize how dry her throat has become until she replies with an equally hoarse ‘Hn?’

Why are you stopping? Don’t!

“...Your father might kill me if he sees us like this on your bed.”

Her eyes open, reality kicking in.

She’s not in the clouds. They’re still in her room.

“Ah... you-you’re right!”

Shock and embarrassment pass over her face, realizing how much her body reacted to him like it had never reacted to anything before. Her heart rate refuses to slow down.

Oh my god. We just...

He chuckles lightly, pulls her up until she’s sitting Japanese-style on her bed.

They share a minute-long silence, allowing themselves to absorb what just happened, before he starts.

“Hey, Ran.”

“Yes?!” she squeaks, a complete opposite from Shinichi’s tone. She wants to slap herself for sounding too hyper from still being so hung up on the intense kiss they just shared.

“We’ll um, take it slow, okay?”

He soothes her with a cold but steady hand, and she feels herself gradually calming down.

“We’ll take it slow if we’re going to do more of, um... that, from now on.” He mumbles the last part of the sentence, scratching his cheek shyly, averting his gaze again like a bashful boy that he apparently is.

Shinichi stuttering, blushing, being a shy mess.

A sight she doesn’t know she needs.

“...Yes,” her lips tilt with her head, “Yes, of course,” before they widen into an adorable beam. “Then, please take care of me, Shinichi!”

His face flushes once again, more crimson than he’s ever been.

Shinichi may not know it, but Ran will always admire Shinichi for his confidence.

But seeing him like this - being a vulnerable, nervous, mess of a man - is a different story, as she realizes how she wants to see more of this, too.

Maybe tomorrow.

Maybe the day after that.

Maybe, for the rest of their lives.

After a little moment of sharing shy giggles, he stands up, extending his hand to her. “Let’s finish homework?”

She nods, takes his hand. “Okay.”

.

.

.

[themysteriousauthor18]

Me attempting to write BillDip for the first time.

Dipper stared down in disbelief at the being in front of him. It didn’t appear that way, no they just appeared like any other human being. But with the searing pain of his hand and the flash of blue prior to touching the statue that was no longer there, Dipper knew. He knew this wasn’t just another person. 

What any other person would see is a young tanned man that looked to be in his early twenties sitting on the forest floor in front of him. His apparent however was a little off. For starters, his hair appeared to be black aside from his bangs parted to the right of his face that was a bright blonde. A nice contrast to the rest of his hair. But considering dyed hair was now a thing it could have been plaid off as such. 

The odd hairstyle was the least of the weirdness that stood out. No in fact the weirdest thing about the man was the black triangle eye patch the seemed to stick to his left eye without any visible strap. As if that were his eye or apart of it. 

Well, there was one more thing, the oddities of all. 

He was naked. 

Dipper, his mind finally clicking back to reality was quick to avert his gaze from the man who sat as if he were star gazing despite it being the middle of the day. With the 20 year olds pale face substituted with a dark crimson now he managed to utter what his mind was barely processing. “B-bill..?” His voice came out more scared than he would have liked. If Bill was truly back why did he appear like this? Appear human..and a better question, why the fuck was he naked? 

Hearing a ‘hm’ in response was weird enough. One for the fact that he wasn’t immediately destroyed just for uttering the name. And second, he did indeed sound like Bill, but the strange echo his voice always seemed to come with wasn’t there. So his voice just naturally sounded higher. 

Keeping his eyes off the dream demon was a bad idea but he couldn’t force himself to look at him especially with human...male parts. 

“What’s this? Thought you flesh sacks wouldn’t be around. I guess the sun hasn’t burned out yet..I don’t see any flying cars either so I guess I’m not that far into time.” Dipper listened closing to the sound of the rustling suggesting the other male was standing up. He chanced a look with the blondes back turned to him.

Is he really human, or this an illusion..does he have a tail maybeee--Nope keep your eyes up.

Visibly holding a hand out to block the lower half Dipper continued, ignoring the red on his cheeks. Now he was reminded why he always stalled in the boys locker rooms until all the other men left to get changed. 

But as Dipper struggled to form a sentence the blonde looked over his shoulder. Eyes widening as the dots connected. “Wait a minute! Wow! Is that my old flesh sack! Pinetree. Wow you humans really do grow.” Dippers jaw unhinged, weather it was in fear or just plain shock was unknown. 

When the dream demon turned and progressed forward the brunette backed away by extension. “S-stay back!” Bill laughed, amused. 

“Or what?” He pressed, taking another step forward and Dipper a step back. 

“I-I’ll punch you!” Idiot. He’s a dream demon, what is punching him gonna do? 

His threat did anything but intimidate Bill. It only earned another laugh from him, this time one enough to get the newd blonde to shed a tear with how had he laughed. 

“You may not be a squeaky kid anymore, but you still got your childhood humor haha!” Dipper, now up against a tree paled as Bill sighed as his laughed subsided. He grinned menacingly. 

“Listen kid,” he raised a hand. “Its been fun but I’ve got a pathetic world to concour.” He spared a glance down at himself shaking his head in disapproval. “Hm. Can’t do it naked!” He clapped his hands to summon some clothes.

...But nothing happened. 

For the first time both men shared the same reaction. 

Confusion. 

Bill clapped his hands again, when that didn’t work he tried snapping his fingers and when that didn’t work he had even tried saying ‘hocuspocus.’ Nothing worked. 

Powerless, he was powerless. 

Dipper couldn’t believe his eyes, this was to good to be true. Sure Bill could probably still stab him, but as far as having his magic? It wasn’t there.

He sighed in relief but that breif moment didn’t last long. Bill had the front of his hoodie within seconds and even without the red of his eyes there was still a slight bit of it on his ears and cheeks. “What did you do pinetree!” Even without the filter on his voice he still managed to intimidate Dipper if just in the slightest. 

“I didn’t do anything. All I did was touch your statue.” Bills one eye seemed to be enough to pour into the wide brunette’s eyes. After a second he moved away crossing his arms over his bare chest. 

“Well drat. Looks like that pesky salamander really did strip me of my powers.” 

And your clothes. Dipper mentally added. He watched the taller male shrug turning back around. 

“Oh well, I’ll just have to get them back..somehow. But for now I can’t exactly live out here. If he wants me to life among you mouth breathers then if thats what it takes to get my magic back, guess I don’t have a choice.” His tone carried a thick layer of passive aggressiveness. Clearly he wasn’t as happy or calm about it as he made himself out to be. 

“Now, all I need is a place to crash.” He tapped his chin, eyes slowly trailing over to the scared brunette. 

“Oh no-hell no!” 

“Didn’t think you’ve ever curse. Guess ya grew a pair kid.”

“There is no way I’m letting you stay at the shack!” Dipper said, coming off the tree now and glaring at Bill. The blonde grinned, strolling up to the brunette, shoving a finger against his chest. His face uncomfortably close.

“Oh yes you are. Otherwise you want me to tell your precious little family about how you’ve kept my statue a secret for,” he paused counting his fingers. “Hm lets see, seven whole years? Wow! I feel special.” Dipper growled, bearing his teeth as he clutched his fists at his side. Bill only grinned wider, pressing more onto that nerve. “And let’s not forget all those dirty little secrets you told me.” Bill paused, using his free hand to mimic a mouth. “ ‘Is it weird that I kind of miss the weirdness. Does that mean I miss you?’” Bill mimicked the poor attempt at Dippers teen voice.

“Seriously pinetree if I didn’t know any better I’d say you have a thing for me. Wow your weirder than I thought.” 

Said brunette was a dark shade of red from the anger building up.  “They’d never believe you.” Inching a little closer Bill continued to grin. 

“Do you really wanna chance that? Besides, what will old foredsy say when he sees me around? If I choose to reveal myself that is.” Dipper stared him down. 

“If you hurt them-” Bill gave a harsh pat to the top of Dippers head. 

“Relax kid! Live a little, who knows when your pathetic life will end.” Dipper kept his eyes on the dream demon in the human body. “Now give me your hoodie or something, walking around naked ain’t exactly my style. But I’m sure your enjoying the view.” Dipper growled once more, averting his eyes when Bill swayed his hips.

“I hate you.” 

“Why thank you!” 

[famous-aces]

Sun Ra

Who: Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount)

What: Musician and Composer

Where: American (active largely in US)

When: May 22, 1914 - May 30, 1993

(Image Description: a black and white photo of Sun Ra from 1979. He is standing in front of a brick wall that has words spray painted on it, partially blocked by his body. Legible is the word "Sunshine" in huge letters, the "I" dotted with a character or starburst. It is written in such big letters the last few have to be reduced to keep them from running over onto the door. Also legible are the letters "L, A" but the rest of that word is behind Ra. Ra himself is a stern looking, dark-skinned black man, shown here from the chest up. He has a longish face, a smallish mouth and eyes, a broad nose, and a cleft chin. He has a very serious expression.  He is wearing a wool cap, dark on top with a paler ring at the hem. On top of the hat is a huge 3D sun, about the size of his face. Poking out of the sun are a bunch of shiny wires ending on either small stars or pingpong ball sized planets. On his body Ra wears a cape and below that a robe. The robe is made of two distinct materials, mostly something wrinkled or rough, but in the center over his chest is smooth black fabric with white polka dots on which a sun and the planet Saturn have been painted. End ID.) 

He said he was born on Saturn. He wore bright robes and elaborate hats. He was a creature of Ancient Egypt and the unknown future. He never wanted to sleep and never drank. He said his biography was a mystery.  He was very fond of mysteries. 

Sun Ra was also a jazz pianist, composer, and the leader of the Sun Ra Arkestra, a free-jazz big-band. He is also one of the fathers of Afrofuturism, but given the themes he embraced, the outfit, and the Saturn thing you may have guessed that. 

Ra became well known for his musical innovation and uniqueness of instrumentation as well as the drama that characterized his music and persona both on and off the stage. He was active in the jazz scene for roughly forty years from the late 1940s to the early 1990s and he always seemed to be at least a decade ahead in his trends.

Ra was always creating pieces that defied the common and brought together his many complexities of style.  In the 1950s, when he first became a band leader, he began incorporating electric piano (his instrument of choice), tympani, and flute, instruments then unheard of in jazz bands. He later would be among the first, if not the first, to introduce the synthesizer. In the 1960s he began incorporating improvisation into his compositions and became well known for his strange solos. And in the 1980s he integrated earlier works into his performances.

His flair for the dramatic was at its highest on stage where combining Ancient Egyptian and sci-fi themes in sets, dance, and costumes. His performances were huge and eclectic and energetic. As much a spectacle for the eyes as the ears. 

His best loved albums include SuperSonic Jazz (1957), Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy (1963), The Magic City (1966), Atlantis (1969), Astro Black (1972), Space is the Place (1973), Lanquidity (1978), Disco 3000 (1978), Sleeping Beauty (1979), Nuclear War (1982), and The Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt (1983). There are best of albums like Sun Ra: Singles 1952-1991 (2016) and In the Orbit of Ra (2014). I don't know anything about jazz (free or otherwise) but I did like listening to his stuff, it is very cool and weird.

His personality was as exciting and strange as his music. He had an "equation" rather than a philosophy. Whatever he called it, his thinking was a very New Age, UFO Religion mindset although he was getting into these themes in the 1950s, well before those were popular. His personal equation combined many different sources with his own thoughts to find the path that, one biographer states, "leads beyond the stars." He drew heavily on Ancient Egyptian mythology and mysticism, channeling, black nationalism, Rosicrucianism, Kabbalah, Zen Buddhism, with a very heavy lean into Gnosticism. He frowned on most organized religions but was a highly spiritual being.  He was very much pro-civil rights but became disillusioned with the movement. Perhaps the most important things to him were outer space and music. He was always looking both to the distant past and far future.

His theories and equations were his own and explanations never gave a full picture. He took the role of eccentric teacher and apparently played the part well. He had many followers, especially among musicians. Overall, it seems, he embraced the strange and unknown and wore his identity with pride. He was queer and contentedly so.

He would not have been out of place today. Maybe he was from Saturn, but he could have easily been from the future.

(Image Description: the album art for Atlantis. It is all in yellows and purples.  It says "An Intergalactic Space Travel in Sound" on the top of the cover. Below that and on the left it says "Sun Ra and his Astro Infinity Arkestra". To the right it says "Atlantis". Below that is shows an amorphous blob of eyeballs and flame.  End ID) 

Probable Orientation: Aroace 

He is another one that aphobes say cannot be ace because they like him too much. They like and respect him so he cannot be sexually abnormal. They can accept him as queer, but aroace is too far. There are many who now accept him to be asexual, but many others who hold fast to their aphobia. Those people constantly claim that he was a sexual entity of some kind despite Ra's own profession to being "nonsexual.".

His queerness was noted before his persona was formed. In 1943 after having a nervous breakdown his doctor accused him of being "psychopathic" and "sexually perverted" because of his being queer. The same doctor also professed Ra (then Blount) was "a well-educated colored intellectual," evidence that his "psychopathy" and "perversion" were rooted in queerness, not something actually wrong with his mental health.

Over the years he had close confidants among his Arkestra musicians and other musical professionals. These were some of the people he was closest to in the world and all of these relationships were platonic, seemingly none I would classify as queerplatonic.  All of these confidants noted there was never any romantic or sexual partners they knew of in his life but some have asserted either he was too busy, he just never talked about it/told them (unlikely because he was willing to discuss just about anything which will be highlighted in the quotes), or this was part of his self-denial (he never did drugs or drank and liked to Go Without). Some people in his life assumed Ra as gay (and allo). He was more interested in music than relationships and role as teacher rather than as sexual/romantic partner.

But most of his time was spent with music.  His music involved a lot of talk of love but it was always a larger concept than romantic love. Brotherhood, universal acceptance, things like that.

But this should not be debate. Again, he basically said he was asexual in that he literally said he was "nonsexual.". 

(Image Description: a color photo of Sun Ra in his costume from Space is the Place. He stands tall with his head tipped up, again serious faced. He has his arms crossed over his chest like a mummy. He is wearing red robes with yellow sleeves that go to the floor. He wears bracelets, rings, and gold shoulder pads. On his head he wears a huge tall headdress. It looks very similar to a pharaoh's crown. Part looks like the lower part of an Egyptian headdress, like the thing the Sphinx wears, and it is striped shiny gold and black.  Sitting high on his forehead is a gold and jeweled crown piece and on top of that going probably two feet or so above his head is a gold pronged structure with a gold orb in the middle of the prongs. End ID) 

“I don’t believe that something like that [asexuality] exists. Everybody has his or her sexual orientation, be it secret or open ... I don’t think I ever talked about his sex life, but I am pretty sure that he knew Fernando [Vargas, a sound engineer] and I were a gay couple. It made no difference for him, so he was not like a religious fundamentalist who would object to work with people like us, you know. He was just the kind of a guy, if Fernando was drinking wine, he wouldn’t have wine. I heard that none of the guys was ever using drugs. At least they didn’t do it in the studio, but we did have them sleeping overnight. He seemed to be with a pretty clean group.”

-Warren Allen Smith, studio owner and friend of Sun Ra's. (Despite not believing in it Smith basically points out that Ra could have been asexual. He never talked about his sex life, spent the night in a platonic group, Smith also mentioned in the same interview that Vargas and Ra would spend long nights alone just talking about music, that seemed to be what Ra wanted to do. To talk and philosophize.  It seems his sexlessness was not about being straight edge.)

"[Vargas was] a good gossip [who would] tell stories about the pope’s testicles." 

-Warren Allen Smith (he also describes Vargas as being "outgoing" and "unreservedly gay". The point here is that these men were close friends of Ra's.  And Ra was perfectly into this kind of discussion. Indeed he told Vargas and Smith about his own testicles, one of which was undescended. He was not afraid to be completely open about himself and his body.  He did not shy away from sex or sexuality, he just wasn't interested in it. It would be out of character for him to avoid talk about his sex life or bring around a romantic partner.)

"Sun Ra abolished sleep from his 'so-called life,' just as he had come to do without the distractions of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, women [sex]."

-John Szwed (Ra biographer in his book Space Is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra) 

"I have heard from Damon Choice and others that Sun Ra used to turn to his Arkestra and declare: Leaders will ask you to give up your lives for them, I ask only if you’ll give up your Death for me? Nothing that is essentially incorporated into human being – not sex, not Death, not religion, or money – nothing that we are or have been is beyond evaporation as our ontology catches up with our time." 

-Thomas Stanley (biographer in his book The Execution of Sun Ra) (In other words Ra saw sex as inessential to human nature)

"A gimmick."

-Sun Ra on sexual intercourse

“I have never been able to think of sex as a part of my life though I have tried to but just wasn’t interested.”

-Sun Ra (Nuff said)

(Image Description: a photo of Sun Ra at his keyboard. He is wearing a beaded headdress and shiny rainbow robes. He has his eyes shut, he looks calm, and he has his keyboard at a strange angle as he plays.  End ID) 

[yeaimfishboi]

After the Midnight Hour |  Chapter I: It’s Been a While

Pairing: JaehyunxReader

Word Count: 3.4k

Genre: Mafia!AU, angst, a wee bit of floof, and some heated situations?

Warnings: Blood, gore, swearing, character death, etc. Nothing too bad in this chapter

A/N: This is the Jaehyun series for the NCT Mafia Universe! I’ve been working on this piece for about three months now (technically more but shhhhhh) so I really hope you enjoy! (Masterlist in comments)

Summary: Having always taken care of her sister, Y/N finds herself in a predicament when it comes to the cost of medical treatment. Though when a certain loan shark is reached through her best friend, she receives much more than she bargained for. 

”Nothing Good Ever Happens After Midnight.” -Bo Schembechler

“Y/N, how’s that job of yours going?” your sister asked.

“It’s going okay Jiyeon. It’s hard work, and I’m not the biggest fan of my coworkers but I’m making enough money for us,” you responded softly smiling at her.

You slowly examined your surroundings, the smell of false flowers and antiseptics quipped your nostrils. You heard the hasty and abrupt monotone beeps of the cardiac monitor attached to Jiyeon’s chest. The normal coarse bland blue blanket other patients used was replaced by a soft fuzzy with green, purple, and blue polka dots that you gave to your sister months ago.

Jiyeon was diagnosed with stage two Osteosarcoma when she was about 13. She fought it off and was in remission at the age of 17. It was an amazing feat since the doctors didn’t expect her to live through it let alone beat it, but, much to your dismay, it came back when she was 19. When you were 18 (about a month or two before your high school graduation), Jiyeon was nearly 20, your parents passed away in a car accident. You and your parents were driving to go shopping for food when the car slipped on gravel and flipped over multiple times. Your parents died instantaneously, yet you were very lucky since you sat in the backseat you were pretty encased in the car. You only had a few broken bones, you suffered a crushed lung, and some bruised organs. You made a fairly fast recovery, but all of that seemed to fade away when the doctors found a malignant brain tumor in Jiyeon about 3 years ago, at that point everything seemed so bleak. Jiyeon had undergone at least 4 major surgeries since then but every single surgery somehow only removed parts of the tumor at a time. She’s been in hospice since her last surgery, confined to a room. Not able to leave whatsoever, and it made you feel like a horrible sister for not being able to stay by her side all the time since you had to work a lot. You were only able to visit her a few hours a day. Usually, you guys played video games or ranted about annoying people. Sometimes she gave you makeovers since she loved makeup and you never wore it. You treasured those few hours since it was all you got and might possibly all you could ever get.

“Ms, Y/S/N?” your thoughts were interrupted by Doctor Kim entering the room. “May I speak with you?” You stood up and started following the doctor out.

“I love you Jiyeon, I’ll be right back,” you slowly shut the door behind you.

“I regret to inform you Ms.-”

“Call me Y/N please,” you interrupted.

“Ms. Y/N, I regret to inform you that the last surgery went without success. We can’t seem to find a way to remove this tumor. We are going to try one more surgery, and follow it up with rigorous radiation therapy and chemotherapy, but it’s going to cost a lot,” the doctor tried to subtly point out the obvious, which was that you were barely scraping by for yourself with the cost for your sister’s treatments on top of that. You knew at this point you had one last option, you just never thought it would come to that, but you had to do it.

“It’s fine, Doctor Kim. Do whatever you need to save her. I’m just going to go tell her,” you sighed as tears pricked your eyes. You slowly walked into the room towards your sister’s bed, when she interrupted your sullenness.

“It didn’t work, did it?” she asked.

“No, I’m so sorry Ji. They’re going to try another surgery and then combat that with chemo and radiation.”

“It’ll be okay, sweetheart. I’m going to be okay. Just make sure that you stay alive as well, okay?” she softly smiled while she squeezed your hand. She knew your habits just as well as you did. You always put her first, and sometimes (the majority of the time) that meant you went without food or a real roof over your head.

“I’ve got to head to work Jiyeon, I need to be a little early since I just started working there and I’d like to keep it. I love you and I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? I’ll have a surprise for you,” you said waving goodbye.

“Goodbye, I love you Y/N,” she smiled.

As you exited the hospital you pulled out your phone and made a much-needed call. With every tap on your phone screen, your heart pounded louder and louder, your anxiety grew more and more. You put the phone to your ear and listened to the rings as they shook the inside of your head.

“Heyo,” the other line responded.

“Ten, it's me, remember how you said if I ever needed help with what’s going on you knew someone who could help me? Well, I’m taking you up on that offer,” Ten was your childhood best friend, but as you two grew older you drifted apart. As of high school, all your time was spent caring for your sister, and Ten had found a new group of friends that hung out a little too dangerously for you. Even though you two had stopped talking you still both cared deeply for each other.

On the day of your graduation, Ten was there with a bouquet of flowers and a big hug. You still have that photo of the two of you by your bed. He was the only one to come to it as your sister was in the hospital and your parents had just recently passed away. He even dragged some of his friends to come with him but they didn’t get that much of a chance to talk to you since you had to leave quite soon after. You did talk with a few of them though, you attended school with some of them. You liked to call those boys your children since they were so young at the time and didn’t have much in the way of parent figures in their lives. At graduation, they helped you carry things and helped you up the stairs as you were still on crutches. You’ve always wondered how those kids are doing, you missed them a lot. You also enjoyed the company of Ten’s other friend, but you couldn’t remember his name. Johnny, was it?

That day, right before you left, Ten pulled you aside and said that if you ever needed help with everything going on, he knew a way to do it.

“Is everything okay Y/N?” your thoughts were cut short by the sound of concern coming from your former best friend’s mouth.

“I’ll be fine if this works,” you sighed.

“Do you want to talk about it? You know what, I’m taking you out. I haven’t seen you or really heard from you in 3 years. We’ll talk about everything then, okay? I’ll meet you at our favorite tomorrow at 3.”

“Alright,” you hung up the phone and headed to work.

~

As you opened the door to the diner, you were immediately greeted by one of the waitresses.

“Y/N!!! It's not your usual day, what are you doing here?” she asked smiling ecstatically at you.

“I’m here to meet someone!” you smiled back.

“Does Y/N finally have a date?” the cook chimed in from the back.

“No, Tomas. We discussed this, I don’t have time for a relationship,” you retorted. To which he just rolled his eyes at you.

“Do you want to sit in the usual place while you wait while you wait for them?” the waitress asked.

“Sure, Jen! He should be here any minute at this point!”

“It sure sounds like a date!” Tomas shouted again.

“Oh shove it, Tom!”

As if right on cue the door to the diner opened. Revealing a young man that you could barely recognize. He had bright celeste and lilac hair that he had styled up with a little gel making it look almost effortless. He wore a black leather jacket that had some wear and tear on it. You were pretty sure it was the one you bought him for his birthday four years ago. He was wearing tight skinny jeans which showed off his muscular thighs. He had tattoos going up his neck of all colors and patterns. The one that stood out to you was one of a red rose that stood vertically to the right of his throat.

“Ten?” you stood up to face the man.

“Y/N?” he scanned your whole body up and down.

“You look different,” you both blurted out at the same time.

“Wait, Ten?” Thomas shouted.

“Hey, Tomas. It’s been a while,” Ten chuckled quietly as he took off his jacket and set it down on the stool next to you.

“You were right Y/N, definitely not a date,” Tomas chuckled.

“Hey, Y/N, who is this Ten and how does Tomas know him?” Jen whispered to you.

“Oh my god, that didn’t even process in my mind,” you laughed at yourself. “Jen, this is Ten. Ten is my childhood best friend. Ten this is Jen, Jen started working here as a waitress about two years ago.”

“I see you’ve still continued to go here?” Ten smiled at you. One thing you definitely missed was Ten’s beautiful smile.

“It was one of the few things that connected me to home so I continued coming,” you smiled back at him.

“Y/N, I assume you want your usual? Same with you Ten?” Thomas asked loud enough for all three of you to hear.

“I haven’t had an Elvis Presley in 3 years, that sounds really good Tomas,” Ten yelled back. An Elvis Presley: peanut butter, bacon, and bananas. Three things that are absolutely delicious on their own, but put them together and it’s one of the most disgusting and deplorable things. Almost as despicable as mayo, peanut butter, and lettuce.

“Y/N, how were you ever friends with him? An Elvis Presley? And I thought your tastes were weird,” Jen shook her head.

“I don’t know, Jen. He’s a strange one,” you laughed.

“Yah, leave me and my food choices alone,” he nudged you.

“Hey, Y/N, how did Jiyeon’s last surgery go?” Thomas asked whilst he was hard at work.

“Oh, yes! We’ve been dying to know!” Jen chimed in.

“That’s actually what Ten’s here to talk about with me,” you smiled sullenly.

“Oh, so no eavesdropping? Got it,” Tomas chuckled.

“I mean you could, but if you did I’d have to cut off your tongue,” you casually stuck your tongue out at him.

“Avox style, I like it,” he smirked back at you to which you just shook your head.

“You guys are all really close,” Ten interrupted.

“We’re her only friends. We keep trying to get her to do more stuff with other people but all she has time for is work and Jiyeon, and the twice a week she comes here for lunch,” Jen smiled.

“But we love her, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.” Tomas joined.

“That’s really sweet. I wish I was here all these years to be here for you Y/N,” Ten sighed.

“It’s okay you’re here now, and that’s all she needs,” Tomas handed both of you your plates, “now go catch up. We’ll be quiet... kinda.”

“So how is everything going Y/N?” Ten turned to you.

“Jiyeon’s been keeping it together, her last surgery didn’t work, so our last resort is one last surgery with rigorous chemo and radiation ther-”

“I didn’t ask how Jiyeon is doing, I’m asking how you are doing,” he interrupted.

“I can answer that one,” Jen jumped in before you could even answer.

“Let’s not talk about me, how are you doing, Ten?” you asked.

Your dejected look could even deter the strongest of humans when it comes to talking about your life, and all of the people in the diner seemed to agree.

“I’ve got a girl,” he smiled.

“Oh my god, you do?” Tomas shouted out, “How is it that Ten got someone before you did Y/N? I never saw that coming!”

“Butt out of my love life Tomas-”

“I don’t have time for a relationship,” you and Tomas said simultaneously.

“I’m trying to help here, it’s been boring here since, you know..” Tomas trailed off.

“I’m not enough for you guys, I see how it is,” you laughed.

“You had a boyfriend?” Ten nearly choked on his sandwich.

“Yes, and it ended. Not on good terms. Anyways, what’s she like? Is she cool, is she as nerdy as you? Tell me everything!” you giggled at him

“She’s great. She’s a lot like you. At least a lot like you when we were kids. She keeps me in check.”

“Good because if nobody is there to watch you when you get angry, we’re all dead.”

You listened to Ten talk for a while. Hearing fun stories about his girlfriend and his friends. The dumb stuff they’ve done to all the small things he enjoyed, with Jen and Thomas joining in every once in a while with some stories about you, albeit it wasn’t very much though. All you two did was talk. Tomas did break into a dance at one point when his favorite song played on the radio. He tried pulling you off your seat to get you to dance too like you normally would, but you were far too embarrassed to dance with him. Ten also made a comment about how you didn’t have to hold back your eccentric ways around him.

Thomas was telling Ten a story about how you stood on the counters one time after Jen cleaned them because she was irritating you. As he was re-telling the story (and reliving it), you looked down at your phone. 6:15.

“Shit, I’m going to be late,” you burst out.

“Don’t worry I’ve already got the bag of food for her. Say hi to her for me. Okay, Y/N?” Thomas stopped you before you had a major freak out.

“If you want to ask her out just do it,” you teased him.

“Where would we go on a date, the hospital?” you just shrugged at his response.

“Hey, Ten. Do you want to come with?” you asked him whilst grabbing your coat.

“Sure, where are we going,” he asked totally oblivious to what you and Thomas were talking about.

“We’re visiting Jiyeon.”

~

“I’m sorry I’m late, but I’ve got something for you, Ji! You’re really going to like this one,” you smiled at her as you opened the door.

“What? Did Thomas put Nutella in the croissant instead of chocolate?” she laughed at you.

“Nope. Come on out kid,” you opened the door to reveal Ten and Jiyeon’s jaw dropped.

“Hi Jiyeon,” he smiled at her shyly.

“TEN? IS THAT YOU?” she screamed, “Look at you! You have tattoos, you’ve got blue and purple hair, and you’re wearing... leather? Are you sure you didn’t eat Ten?”

“No, it’s really me,” he chuckled at her silliness.

“My goodness Y/N, look at how grown up he is!” she squealed.

“I can see Ji. I’m not blind. I also got word from the doctor, they scheduled your next surgery for next month until then it’s the same normal treatment.”

“So no sugar?” she asked as her face fell.

“I brought you some, just for tonight. Courtesy of the great Chef Thomas,” you smiled sweetly at her and handed her the bag with the sweets Thomas made her.

“Even you guys are much closer now,” Ten pointed out your interactions.

“She’s all I’ve got in this world. Well besides Jen and Thomas but I only see them twice a week for an hour,” you frowned.

“I mean I am all you got after that ass Cha-”

“Ji, we’re not talking about that. I doubt Ten wants to listen to my only relationship and how it was a failure,” you cut her off before she could start talking about it.

“I would love to hear all about this boy, and how I should cut his dick off,” Ten chimed in.

“Please do, he deserves it. If I wasn’t confined to this damn bed I would’ve done it myself,” Jiyeon laughed while wiggling in place, acting as if she was restrained to her bed.

“Nobody is cutting off anyone’s dicks, alright?” you scolded the two of them.

The rest of the night consisted of the three of you joking around, playing Mario Kart, or stupid little card games. You guys even reminisced about all the dumb things you did as kids. You guys went on and on until you realized it was ten o’clock at night.

“I think it’s about time we leave. I have to get ready for work in a few hours,” you huffed raising yourself from your seat, Ten following suit. You two started heading to the door before your sister stopped you.

“Ten was this a one-time thing, or are you coming around more often? Y/N really needs someone besides me to help make sure she’s taking care of herself,” Jiyeon looked up at him.

“I promise you’ll be seeing a lot more of me. I’ve missed you guys way too much. I'll try and visit you once a week Jiyeon, then you can dish some more about this ex-boyfriend of hers,” he chuckled at her.

“Please, I’m pretty sure Y/N and my designated nurse are tired of me talking about it, but it’s all the drama I’ve got to talk about,” hearing her say that you immediately felt a pang in your chest. It hurt you to realize all your sister had gone through. She’s been stuck in this place for years, she hasn’t been able to leave because the doctors feared she’d have a seizure. She’s right when she says that the whole boyfriend situation was the only drama she had to talk about unless you wanted to count that one time the hospital didn’t give her pudding with her meal.

It hurts you to know that your sister is hurting not only physically but mentally as well. The last time she saw the sun glisten across the ocean from the beach was three years ago, but to be fair that was the last time you saw it as well. She hasn’t experienced things and normal human would in so long. It’s been three years since she has gotten to go clothes shopping, three years since she’s gotten to sit down and eat at the diner, it’s been three years since she’s stepped out of this white, overly sanitized box of confinement.

“Earth to Y/N!” your thoughts were interrupted by Ten waving his hand in front of your face.

“She does that every once in a while, she’s thinking about sad stuff,” Jiyeon giggled, “it’s definitely time to get her out of here.”

“I love you, Ji, I’ll try and stop by tomorrow,” you smiled at your older sister.

“I love you too, take care of yourself, too, please.” You nodded slightly at her.

You and Ten headed out of Jiyeon’s room and exited the hospital. The darkness combined with the contrast of street lights had thrown you for a loop. It felt like it was just ten minutes ago that you entered the hospital with the evening air.

“Went by fast for you too, huh?” Ten’s voice interrupted your reminiscing.

“Yeah, it did. I really missed moments like these. Where time seems to move far faster than we believe it does,” you smiled pull down your jacket by the pockets.

“We’ll be having a lot more of these moments, just like we used to. I promise I owe you at least that for being gone for so long,” Ten’s phone rang interrupting him from his apology. He quickly answered the phone and hung it back up, “that’s my cue. It was great seeing you again, but before I leave,” he handed you a small piece of paper, “this is the address he’ll meet you at, tomorrow at midnight. Be careful in that part of the neighborhood, okay?”

“Okay, Ten, I will.”

[komorebirei]

The Water Was Never Afraid - Chapter 13: Dare

(AO3)

“I have a confession,” Adrien blurted out.

Kagami lifted her head from his shoulder. They were sitting on her bed, and she had been watching him pet her calico cat, Goro. Befitting to his name, he was sitting on Adrien’s lap, rumbling up a storm.

“What?”

“I got fitted for a photoshoot today,” he stated casually.

“Oh? So you’re starting modeling again?”

“Yeah, unfortunately.”

The air was filled with only the sound of purring for a good chunk of time while Adrien pondered how much he should say.

“Why is that a confession?” Kagami asked.

“I haven’t gotten to the confession part yet,” Adrien hedged.

Kagami stared at his profile, and he focused on stroking the smooth fur on the sides of Goro’s face, scratching him under the chin.

Now that he had alluded to it, he had no choice but to say something.

“It’s for Marinette’s feature in the Style Queen.”

Kagami gave him a suspicious look. “That’s great for her. But I still don’t get why this is a confession.”

“I, um…” The way Adrien had felt while Marinette was fitting him made him feel guilty. He figured the one-sided knowledge of his moment of vulnerability with her as Chat Noir had just made things weird at that moment, but he feared that wasn’t all it was. Maybe what Chloé had said at the soirée had affected him more than he thought. Whatever the reason, the way he saw Marinette had shifted.

He wanted to admit it to Kagami and come clean. He’d tell her that he had no intention of doing anything and was going to steer clear of Marinette at work, once this photoshoot was over. That was a healthy and mature way of handling this, right? Full disclosure. If he could tell her, it didn’t have to mean anything, right?

But, did he dare? Telling Kagami might put a strain on their relationship. She might break up with him. Their friendship might never be the same again. She might develop a grudge against Marinette. He could think of a dozen possible consequences of telling Kagami, and none of them were good.

Except the glimmer of possibility that she would appreciate his honesty and they would grow stronger because of it.

Her scrutinizing eyes pierced him, and he felt like he could hide nothing from her. Better to tell her and apologize before she could figure out herself that he had some kind of feelings for Marinette and feel betrayed.

He opened his mouth to speak, but the words he wanted to say wouldn’t come out.

“I know you don’t want me spending time with Marinette,” he said, as if that were the confession. “I just wanted you to know what I was doing, so you wouldn’t find out some other way and be hurt. The photoshoot is on Wednesday, and she’ll be directing.”

Coward. You are a coward, Adrien Agreste.

Kagami reached out and stroked back a lock of hair that had fallen out of place on his forehead. “Adrien, I never said I didn’t want you spending time with her. If it’s for work, why would I mind?” She smiled. “Thank you for telling me, though.”

Adrien gave her a crooked smile back while his stomach twisted in knots. He pulled her in with one arm and planted a kiss on her head. “Thanks for understanding, Tiger.”

“Just returning the favor.”

“Hm?”

“You always understood me better than other people.” Kagami settled her head back on Adrien’s upper arm and reached out to bury her fingers in Goro’s side. His purrs reverberated in Adrien’s lap.

Adrien looked at her quizzically.

“My life has always been straightforward—make it to the top, no compromises. Ever since I was young, my mother taught me that if I considered others too much, I would end up yielding and showing weakness, even losing my position. She taught me to develop a tough skin so I wouldn’t feel guilty pushing others down to come out on top.”

Adrien rested his cheek on the top of her head, hearing her out before making any comment.

“When we first met, I lost to you, but you gave me a second chance. You saw how devastating the loss would be for me, and you spared me from disgrace. I never told you how much that meant to me.”

“… Oh.”

“You showed me that having compassion for others doesn’t always make you the weaker person. It changed my perspective… so, even though I tease you for being so nice to people, it’s actually something I admire about you, and it makes me want to change.” She smiled up at him.

Adrien melted at her words. She had never admitted as much to him before. He had honestly thought that she hated that aspect of his personality. He kissed her nose affectionately and ran a thumb along her freckled cheek.

“So,” Kagami continued, “I’ll admit, you’re right. I’m a little jealous of Marinette, and I don’t entirely believe that you never had feelings for her…”

A needle of guilt pricked Adrien’s heart.

“… so naturally, I don’t want you to spend time with her. But, I know you’re friends, and she means something to you. I know you want to help her. So, I’m going to respect that. I trust you.”

“Thanks, Kagami,” Adrien breathed, and Goro protested with a mewl as he stopped petting him to pull her close in a tight embrace.

—

The next day, Adrien had another fitting with Marinette to check the modifications, but this time, he was prepared. He was strictly professional with her and didn’t touch on any unnecessary topics of conversation. The fitting passed quickly and without incident, and Adrien went on with his day.

“Maybe I’m getting worked up about nothing,” Adrien mused, sinking into his desk chair and switching on his computer.

Plagg phased out of Adrien’s shirt to land behind a succulent pot, visible to Adrien but hidden from prying eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“I mean, I’ve been seeing her a lot lately, more than usual. Isn’t it natural to be thinking about her?”

“You’re talking about Bakery Girl again?”

Plagg’s observation made Adrien feel self-conscious. Had he been talking about her a lot recently? “I was just worried…” Adrien trailed off. Plagg would tease, and he wasn’t in the mood.

“Worried about what?”

“Fine. I was worried that I might actually like her that way. But I’m probably just working myself up by worrying about it.” He opened his email and perused the inbox for urgent matters.

Plagg shrugged tiny shoulders. “You surely wouldn’t have to think about it so hard if you felt nothing for her.”

“I don’t feel nothing, Plagg. She’s my friend.” Adrien thought about the time he had dropped in on her while she was putting together her ‘Inspiration Book,’ and how comfortable it was to just chat with her and hang out. “Oh! That reminds me…”

On a whim, he pulled out his phone and opened Marinette’s instagram, @TheRealMDC.

“Oh~ho. You’re stalking her now?”

“No,” Adrien emphasized. “She said she had an account where she posts her designs, so I’m looking for it. Detective work, not stalking.”

Her personal account clearly wasn’t it. There were no drawings—only selfies of Marinette with her friends and some random artsy pictures—a few of her balcony plants during the daytime, outfits, macarons.

He tapped a picture of Marinette wearing an above-the-knee bright yellow circle skirt, paired with a half-sleeved cropped shirt with broad black and white stripes that showed off her trim waist, and tomato red shoes. The colors reminded him a little of Chloé, though the style was quintessentially Marinette. She was posing outdoors in the Jardin des Tuileries, so she must have had a friend take the photo. She would have made a cute model.

“Looks an awful lot like stalking to me,” Plagg said right next to Adrien’s ear, making him jump in surprise.

“I like her outfit!” he insisted. “I work in the fashion industry, I am allowed to appreciate stylish clothing! Plus, it’s not stalking if she challenged me to find her!”

“Methinks the lady doth protest too much,” Plagg quoted Hamlet, polishing his whiskers.

Adrien rolled his eyes, pressed ‘back,’ and opened Marinette’s list of followers. He typed in the word ‘design’ to see if anything would come up. The list of results was so long he had to scroll. Duh, of course Marinette would be following a bunch of design accounts.

“What about that daredevil reporter girl?” Plagg suggested.

Right, Alya. Adrien pulled up her account and searched her follower list for the keyword ‘design.” Only one account came up: @DottyDesigner. He snorted at the pun—especially appropriate if this was Marinette, since polka dot patterns featured prominently in her designs.

Adrien tapped to view the profile, to be rewarded with hundreds of illustrations of various outfits. When he clicked on one, a swipe revealed the finished outfit on a dress form. These were interspersed with random sketches not paired with finished pieces.

From what Adrien had seen of Marinette’s illustration style, this was it. His hunch was confirmed when he saw that the account was following @TheRealMDC. “Gotcha,” he muttered triumphantly under his breath. He didn’t think he’d be so lucky as for his first tactic to work.

“Is that Bakery Girl’s work?” Plagg zoomed up close to the screen and tapped one with a cream-colored romper. “I like that one, it reminds me of cheese.”

“Ha! I’ve gotta tell her I found it!” Adrien was still feeling victorious as he perused the designs.

“Does that mean you’re going to visit her again?”

Adrien froze. He hadn’t decided on a course of action as Chat Noir. Steering clear of her seemed to be the obvious answer, if he were being consistent. But Marinette seemed to like and trust Chat—maybe even more than Adrien, though he couldn’t fathom why. The idea of ceasing to visit her just when their friendship was starting to pick up seemed disheartening.

If he was going to start distancing himself as Adrien—which Kagami wanted him to do anyway—then his double life shouldn’t make things so awkward.

Things were different when he was Chat. His actions were more inconsequential.

“I mean… why not? What harm could it do?” Adrien decided, still half lost in thought. He slipped his phone into his pocket and got back to work.

—

Chat Noir tossed a chunk of bark from the tree branch at Marinette’s French doors. It was already dark out, and it felt like too much of an intrusion to invite himself onto her balcony.

Moments later, she opened the door with a little smirk on her face. “Back so soon, Chaton? I hope you’re feeling better today.”

“I am, Princess!” Chat replied in a chipper tone. The branch bounced as he leapt onto her balcony and gave her an exaggerated, princely bow. “How are you this evening?”

“Very well, and you?”

“Great—I found your design Instagram!” He leaned against the railing with his arms crossed, looking as proud as a cat who’d brought home a mouse. “Your drawings look amazing.”

“Oh, really?” Marinette put her hands on her hips. “How much did you have to stalk me to find it?”

Chat Noir made an offended look. “Stalk you, Princess? I’m a gentlecat, I would never do such a thing! It wasn’t hard, actually—I know you’re friends with that Ladyblog girl, so I searched her followers list for the word ‘design,’ and the only handle that came up was following your personal account, so I figured that was you.” He smirked. “Didn’t think it would be that easy, but you’re more predictable than I thought, Princess.”

“Hmm,” Marinette hummed, coming up to Chat Noir and looking him over in a calculating way that made him feel less confident. “So you do have a good head on those shoulders, Minou.”

“Are you patronizing me?”

She snorted. “Never! It’s just… there’s one detail bothering me about your story.”

Chat Noir gulped. “What’s that, Princess?”

“How do you know about my personal account?”

“—Uh!!” Chat Noir blanched. Marinette’s design account had over ten thousand followers, so he would have had to scroll through pages upon pages of usernames to notice the private account that only a leap of faith would lead him to believe belonged to her. Her name didn’t appear anywhere, and the profile picture was an artsy shot of a model wearing one of Marinette’s pieces on the runway—not that Chat Noir would know that. Instagram had only showed him @TheRealMDC followed @DottyDesigner because Adrien was already following her account.  “Umm… I…” he tried to think of a plausible excuse.

“You’re a creepy stalker.” Marinette flicked his bell.

“No, I’m not!” Chat Noir objected. “I happened to find out in a legitimate, non-creepy way!”

“I don’t believe it,” Marinette laughed, “You’re totally a creepy stalker! You shouldn’t be allowed on my balcony anymore!” She pushed his nose with a fingertip, making him lean back over the balcony rail, far enough that it would have been dangerous if he hadn’t been equipped with a super suit as a safety net.

“Hey, Princess, have mercy!” He flailed, twisting away from her finger. Since she had leaned in to push him, when he got free and rebounded onto the balcony, he ended up practically in her arms.

He edged past her and stepped away from the rail, heart pounding and face flushed, temporarily robbed of words. If he wanted to lie to himself, he would say it was due to the adrenaline of almost being pushed off the balcony, but he wasn’t so naïve anymore. This feeling was familiar.

“Sorry, Minou, I went too far.” Marinette bit her lip and, taking his arm, pulled him in the direction of her flat. “I just made banana bread, do you want some? If you prove yourself worthy tonight, maybe I’ll even let you come back another day.” She shot him a playful look over her shoulder.

“Sure, I’d love some, Princess.” He followed her, just as he followed the last girl who made him feel this way.

For the rest of the night, his eyes were drawn to her, taking in the way her eyelids folded behind thick eyelashes when she blinked, the natural pink hue of her cheeks, the creases that appeared beside the corners of her mouth when she smiled and spoke, the way she tucked one leg under her when she sat. He got drunk on the sound of her voice, teasing her just a little more so he could hear her laugh again.

This feeling was familiar, because this was exactly how it had felt to fall for Ladybug in less than twenty-four hours.

Except, instead of a carefree student who could pursue his Lady to his heart’s content, now he was a businessman and highly public figure with a girlfriend, who was only stealing moments with a friend he wasn’t allowed to meet without the mask.

As he drank in her presence, his heart hurt.

Maybe it would be okay for him to just come and see her now and then. This didn’t have to turn into anything.

They could just be friends.

This should be fine, right?

Did he dare to keep coming back?

[americanowrites]

All I Want

CHAPTER 6

“You pull on that dress one more time and I’ll throw my shoe at you,” Lauren yelled at me, I looked up to see her glaring at me in the mirror. She was stood playing around with her hair which she claimed looked terrible, all I could see were perfectly formed curls framing her perfectly contoured face, expert eye liner to match. She’d poured her body into a very tight fitting dress, one which created curves in places there weren’t any but still made her look slimmer than ever. I hated her slightly. “You look fine.”

Sometimes I look in the mirror and can’t see past the flaws staring back at me, the wideness of my jaw, my big lips, the dip in my nose. The double chin. I didn’t tend to look in full length mirrors, the flaws would be too long to list, but I knew my round tummy and thick thighs would be top of the list. There were big flashing red arrows pointing out everything wrong with me, constantly reminding me what was hideous about me, a daily reminder to hate myself.

“I don’t want to look fine.” I sighed, I knew what I looked like and I hated it. I felt like a whale and I looked like one, maybe even two.

“You look beautiful and that dress is gorgeous.” She continued to stare at me, whilst rolling lipstick over her already red lips. I looked away from her eyes and down at the dress. It was gorgeous, I’d give her that. It just didn’t mean it looked gorgeous on me. I kept hearing what those girls had said, seeing the looks they gave me whenever I looked in the mirror. I felt constantly sick whenever I thought about it and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. But I’d fallen in love with it instantly so bought it despite knowing it would look nicer if I lost a few pounds; the cream mesh fabric was see-through, giving a view of the material beneath. It actually complimented my pale skin instead of making me ghostly and self-conscious. The shimmery golden flowers dotted on the mesh give it more of a party feel, I just prayed I would fit in amongst all the designer dresses and shoes. I’d stuck with nude wedges, a choice I was sure to regret. I was tempted to just go in flats but both Lauren and Lucy would refuse to let me leave the house in flats. Lauren had already made a comment about being shocked I wasn’t in Vans.

“What time’s Tom getting here?”

“Ten minutes ago,” Lauren sighed, finally happy with her appearance she turned away from the mirror. “He text saying he’s on his way, but I’m not sure.”

“London traffic is a nightmare.”

“Sticking up for Tom, whatever next?”

“I’m pointing out fact.”

“Can I ask you a question?” she put down the lipstick she was playing around with, turning her full attention to me.

“Sure.” I tried to sound confident, but the look in her eye was making me feel quite nauseous.

“Just… what’s going on with you and Harry?” she glanced away, clearly not as confident in her questioning as she seemed.

“Nothing,” she cocked her head, not believing me. “Honestly, we’re friends. I think. I really don’t get why everyone is so weird about it. Can’t we be friends?” we were friends because I wasn’t stupid enough to think anything else would ever happen. I mean, he’s Harry Styles and I’m me. I didn’t make boys look twice, I didn’t turn heads and I wasn’t the type of girls boys dreamed about. I couldn’t attract attention from normal, non-famous boys I saw every day, so what hope did I have of ever attracting the eye of Harry Styles?

“Of course, I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Why would I get hurt?” I sat on the bed, my feet were already stating ache, as was my head.

“His life is different… difficult.”

“Don’t you think I know that? Honestly why is everyone acting like I don’t know who he is? I’m well aware of who Harry Styles is. I can handle it.”

“Okay, fine. Just be careful.”    

“Girls!” Lucy’s voice came from across the hall, she’d been in the kitchen pretending to cook but I knew she’d been trying to listen to our conversation. She had also been quizzing Lauren on Harry and me, trying to find anything out. She refused to believe that we were just friends. Apparently girls and boys couldn’t be friends.

“What?”

“Come here, don’t shout April.” I groaned and rolled my eyes, she was just shouting and now suddenly it was acceptable. Lauren laughed before strolling from my bedroom, taking her clutch with her, our conversation suddenly forgotten. I looked around making sure I had everything before following her.

“What?” I found her and Lauren at the breakfast bar, drinks in hand. “Why are you drinking champagne?” I frowned, as I watched Lucy pour me a glass, the bubbles shooting up the sides of the glass made it look like a bath bomb.

“Because you’re about to go to a celebrity party, I’m sure the champagne will be better than this, but at least you’ll be slightly accustomed to it.”

“Harry isn’t really the champagne type.” I accepted the glass she held out, I’d had champagne before, but I never liked it. It had an odd taste and I’m not sure why it was such a beloved drink.

“I imagine he is. Just imagine the stuff he drinks, probably treats Moet like bottled water.” Lauren replied, I frowned at her, wondering where that image of Harry had come from.

“You know Harry’s not like that. He drank Corona with me.” He seemed pleased with the drink I bought him the other day, and he’d drunk it all.

“Because he thinks he needs to act like a student to get you to like him. You’ll see a different side to him tonight. Guaranteed,” She gulped down her flute, looking the opposite of ladylike. I was about to reply when the intercom buzzed. “Thank god for that.” Lauren sprang around the door and picked up the phone, like she lived here. Lucy laughed before coming over to me as I listened to Lauren yelling at Tom.

“Have a good time and please enjoy yourself. Remember Harry wants you there.” She rubbed my arms and squeezed slightly, before Lauren stuck her head around the corner.

“We need to go; he’s having a bitch fit about the cab fare.” She rolled her eyes. “See you later Lucy Lu!”

“Bye, look after each other.” She told us as we reached the door. “If David Beckham turns up, send him over.”

*                            

We had to sign in. There was a register. We didn’t even have those at uni for our classes. Yet Harry had one at his birthday party. There were also two security men at the door and one inside, they looked a bit scary with their frowns and black clothing, but I guess they were meant to. Tom found it hilarious, saying how he remembered him having a party at the local children’s restaurant and it being odd that we were now at a private members club in Mayfair having to sign in to a party. Lauren mumbled something about it being pretentious and over the top. But I knew it was a precaution that needed to be in place, especially after seeing the men outside all stood around waiting for someone photo worthy walking past. We’d been ignored, thankfully but it didn’t stop them from taking good long looks at us, assessing us and our monetary value.    

The party was on the second floor, but the music was booming throughout the building, the bass making the floorboards jolt and shake. It wasn’t the music I knew Harry listened to, but The 1975 were hardly party friendly, instead chart hits and EDM seemed to be the DJs choice.  Lauren trailed behind Tom and I as we made our way upstairs, she was already complaining about her feet hurting and neither of us had any sympathy.

“Hurry up Lauren.” Tom called over his shoulder at her.

“If you were a gentleman, you’d come and help your girlfriend.”

“If you were capable of thinking, you’d have thought about this scenario.”

“Sorry I presumed there wouldn’t be stairs; blame the popstar, not me. I’m gonna give him hell when I see him.”

“Shut up the pair of you.” I snapped, they’d done nothing but bicker all the way here, about Tom’s lateness, the traffic, their present for Harry. Everything. I was about ready to push them both down the stairs.

We rounded a corner and came face to face with an open door and another security man. This one looked friendlier.

“Hi,” I smiled at him, he returned the smile before smirking at Lauren, who came up behind us huffing and puffing. “Don’t mind her; she’s just not used to exercise.” The man laughed before gesturing for our hands. He held out a stamp, and pressed it to my skin. It left a big red H on my hand, just like something you’d get in a club. I moved my brows in question.

“In case you need to go outside for a fag break. We can let you back in,” He stamped Tom and Lauren before moving away from the door. “In you go. Harry’s over in the corner.”

 The room was dark, very dark, the only light coming from the flashing lights. Strobes of red, blue, orange moved across the walls, in a deliberate attempt to make you feel drunker. It was packed, I had expected a small party but there looked to be over a hundred people crowded into the room. Except it wasn’t really a room, it did look like a club, the floor was tiled and shiny, but lacked the traditional stickiness found in clubs. And there was a full length bar to the left of me, with a wall of alcohol and glasses.

“Is it a free bar? I hope it is.” Lauren yelled at the side of me, the music made it hard to hear much. I couldn’t even recognise the song it was so loud.

“I think he said it was.” Tom replied, slipping his hand onto her waist and pulling her over to the bar. They left me stood in the middle of the room looking around me, not knowing what to do, where to go or who to talk to.

“You look a little lost,” A voice boomed in my ear after a few moments of panic, a blush spreading across my cheeks at the proximity of the stranger and the feeling of breathe against my hair. To my right staring at me, was mound of hair and brown eyes. Nick Grimshaw, I forgot him and Harry were friends. I started failing, my mouth opening and closing as Nick assessed me with a smirk on his face.  “You are meant to be here right?” I nodded, my mouth snapping closed. “What’s your name?”

“April.” I stuttered out, my blush deepening at my hideous display. I had no idea why I was acting like this, why I seemed to be starstruck. He talked on the radio; I didn’t even listen to him.

“Ah, yeah I know you. Harry’s over here.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me through the mass of bodies, calling out greetings as he passed people. I tightened my grip on the parcel in my hand. The present I’d bought for Harry suddenly feeling a ton heavier as regret set when the people thinned out and I caught a glimpse of a pile of presents in the corner. “Look who I found!” Nick yelled again, stopping us from walking. I looked around his body to see Harry snap his head towards Nick, his mouth opening in question before his eyes found mine. His face transformed from blank to a heartbreakingly wide smile in a second, making his dimples indent, eyes crinkle and my heart thump.

“April!” He jumped off his seat, the brown haired girl next to him grunting as he stumbled over her legs and bounded over to me. Nick managed to drop my hand and move away before Harry encased me in a tight hug.

My heart kicked up its tempo, my arms automatically circling his waist, the buckle of his belt digging into my stomach as he squeezed me. We’d never hugged before so I wasn’t prepared for the assault on my emotions and nose. I didn’t really know how to respond, I wasn’t a hugger and my heart and belly were both jumping and jolting about.

“I’m so glad you’re here.” Harry mumbled into my hair, his voice sending a tickle throughout my body. Despite the loud music and talking, I had no trouble hearing him.

 “I said I’d be here.” I rubbed my free hand up and down his back, the fabric of his shirt moving against my hand and the hardness of his muscles making my palms sweat.

“I know. But I did wonder,” He laughed and pulled away, his cheeks slightly pink. I wanted to reach up and touch the pieces of his hair falling into his eyes, but he lifted a hand from my waist and shoved his whole fringe above his head before I had chance to embarrass myself. “Are Tom and Lauren here?” He looked over my head, pointlessly searching for them in the sea of people.

“They found the bar. And I hope it’s an open one, or Lauren will be pissed.”

“Won’t she be pissed anyway?” I laughed at his joke. “Come and meet people! I’m so happy you’re here,” If he didn’t stop saying that, I may collapse. He dropped his hold on my waist, but slipped his hand into mine, our fingers entwined. My heart twisting and tightening as we moved towards a table full of people. We were holding hands and I wasn’t sure why but I liked it.

“Guys this is April. She’s the genius I told you about; she’s also very funny, total mastermind when it comes to films and music and she looks extra pretty tonight.” I blushed at his introduction, looking down at my feet, making sure to suck in my stomach as a series of chuckles emitted from the people sat around the table. I quickly glanced at the faces, recognising no one, apart from Nick. At least I had time to prepare for the celebrities; if I knocked back a few beers it might not be so bad. “April, this is Sam, Lou, Ben, Tom and the girl sat sending me evil daggers is Gemma.” He pointed to the girl he’d been sat next too; she stuck her tongue out at him before smiling at me.

“I’m his big sister, so any concerns about his behaviour please direct them to me and I’ll pass them along to our mother. He’s already slightly drunk, so excuse any funny business.” She had a deeper voice than I would have imagined, but the sibling resemblance was uncanny. She was Harry with long hair.

“I am not drunk, ignore her, she’s telling lies.” Harry told me, pouting his lips and shaking his head, my heart stammered at how cute he looked.

“I love your dress.” A high voice on my left turned my attention away from Harry’s eyes and lips. I saw a girl with grey and blue hair looking at me, a smile on her lips. I thought for a moment before remembering she was called Sam.

“Thank you.” I smiled; glad my outfit fit in with her choice of a black shift and combat boots. “It’s very pretty. Have I said that before?” Harry chuckled next to me, he really was drunk.

“Come and sit down April. Tell us all about being a genius.” Gemma called to me over the table, patting the seat next to her. I squeezed Harry’s hand and let go, moving towards his sister in a rare flash of bravery. I normally had to be forced to talk to new people, hence why I still had the same best friend I did at eight, but these people were smiling and with Harry watching me I was able to paint on my courage.

“She’s mine Gemma; you’ve stolen enough of my friends. Find your own.”

“Zip it. Go and get the girl a drink,” Harry dramatically flapped his arms around before turning towards the bar, gently pushing his way past a snogging couple. “So, tell us about yourself April.” The whole table turned and looked at me, my cheeks flushed at the attention. I looked down, pulling my dress, covering my legs with the short fabric.

“Um. I don’t really know what to say.” I tried to smile, but I think it came out wrong, my courage all but vanishing. Why did Harry have to leave me alone with strangers?

“What do you do?” I looked at the man who asked the question, I think he was called Ben. He looked older than the others, a beard covered his lower face, his eyes looked kind and genuine.

“I’m at uni, in Leeds.”

“Leeds, we’re from Hull,” I turned my head and caught the eye of Lou, as she pointed to between herself and Sam. “And Tom.” She pointed at the man next to Ben; he was itching at a tattoo on his crowded arm, the inking’s twisting and morphing as he moved.

“I’ve been to Hull fair before.” I didn’t really know what else to say, so I pulled out the only thing I knew about the place.

“Hull fair is ace; we take Lux every year.” Tom told me, I knew from the fandom that Lux was a baby Harry was often with. I suddenly remembered seeing Lou’s face before; I’d seen her in photos of the boys.

“You’re the band’s hairdresser aren’t you?” I asked Lou, she smiled at me, not at all startled by my sudden question.

“I am. Not that they ever let me do any hairdressing. I do their makeup too.”

“Makeup?” I couldn’t help but smirk, the idea of the boys sat in chairs getting powder pressed to their cheeks was hilarious.

“Harry isn’t as flawless as he claims; he needs a lot of help.” Gemma replied, dragging a laugh from my lips. It felt extremely bizarre to be sat with the people Harry cared about, people who knew every side of him. I crazily felt like I actually fit in with these people.  

“Yeah he does think he’s pretty awesome.” I replied, this time causing her to laugh.

“I like you; clearly you’re immune to his charm offence. It’s lovely to find someone like that.” I laughed, not wanting to admit that I was putty in his hands and he didn’t even have to try and charm me.”

“The same can’t be said for my sister. I think she fell in love with him.”

“He’s met your sister?” Gemma’s brows lifted up her forehead, they were perfectly plucked and shaped.

“Yeah, last night.”

“Where?” Her tone had changed to serious, she wasn’t joking anymore.

“I went for dinner with Lucy and her boyfriend and Harry showed up. He said he was eating alone so he joined us.” Gemma frowned at my answer and I felt like I’d given her the wrong answer.

“Have you heard this?” The rest of the table had started their own conversations, but turned back to Gemma. “Harry was with April and her sister last night.” Her tone held a note of disbelief. Tom and Ben both laughed.

“Why do I feel like I shouldn’t have said that?” I asked the table, causing Tom to laugh louder.

“Because that little shit had dinner plans with us and he cancelled, said had band stuff to do, something about the Brits. I can’t believe him.” Gemma sounded mad and looked ready to knock his head off.

“I’m sorry. He said he was alone or I wouldn’t have let him stay.” I can’t believe Harry cancelled on his sister and friends, to stay and eat dinner with me, Lucy and her freaky boyfriend.

“It’s not your fault, April.” Lou told me, reaching across and tapping my hand.

“He’s such a shit,” Gemma was sat fuming. “Why lie? It was his bloody idea.”

“Gemma, don’t say anything tonight, wait until tomorrow at least. He needs tonight.”

“He needs a slap.”

“Who needs a slap?” Harry’s timing was incredible, the table turned to look at Gemma, fearing she was about to blow.

“David Cameron, I mean he’s policies are just stupid.” She gave him a seamless answer, the lie falling easily. Harry gave her a funny look, not fully buying her response but he let it go as he slid a glass towards me.

“I didn’t know what to get, so I got you a long island iced tea. Lauren said you liked them.” Harry smiled and pulled out a chair opposite me.

“Thanks.” I smiled back before taking a sip of the drink. I did like long islands, but I knew I wouldn’t be having another one tonight, my eyes nearly watering at the strength of it.

“So have you had an interrogation?” He picked up his glass; the liquid was clear so it could have been anything.

“Not at all, they’ve been very nice. I hear you like to wear makeup.” Harry took a drink at the same moment I spoke; he coughed at my mention of makeup and sent liquid flying around the table.

“Smooth.” Gemma laughed at my side, as did the whole table. Harry’s cheeks turned pink and he scowled at his friends.

“I do not wear makeup.” Harry stared at me, deadly serious.

“Oh hun, the makeup bag I have at home with your name superimposed on it, would suggest you’re lying.”

“Shut up Lou!”

“Stop lying Harry!” They sat making faces at each other; acting more like brother and sister than work colleagues “I need a drink if I’m gonna deal with you all night, nice of you to offer your other guests a drink Harry.”

“You know where the bar is, you have functioning legs,” He coolly replied, which caused Tom to whoop from across the table. Lou stood up, glaring at her boyfriend, Sam and Gemma followed her lead, pushing their way past the boys around the table. I watched as they pushed their way into the crowd and felt Harry drop down at my side. “Hi.” He grinned at me.

“Hey, happy birthday!”  

“Thank you very much. I spy something… Dare I ask if it’s for me?” He wriggled his eyebrows at the parcel I still had clutched in my hand, excitement colouring his voice.

“You dare and it is for you. I kinda feel I should warn you not to expect much.”

“I didn’t expect anything, so I’m already happy.”

“That is such a cliché answer. Everyone expects presents on their birthday.”

“True and I’m secretly bursting with excitement about the pile I’ve got forming over there. It’s huge and I’m a child.” I laughed and handed him the gift, I’d wrapped it in pink shiny foil paper and topped it with a purple bow.

“Love the paper. Very manly.”

“Says the guy in the heart shirt.” I eyeballed his button up, the dark shirt was littered with white love hearts and it honestly looked like something a woman would wear. “Did your mother lend you that?”

“Yeah, cos I haven’t heard that before. It’s Burberry. Men’s.” He added.

“Just because it’s Burberry, doesn’t excuse it.” I secretly loved the shirt, it made him look very cute and the dark fabric complimented his skin tone perfectly.

“Whatever, you’re as bad as Gemma. She didn’t stop laughing for an hour after she saw me.” He was running his fingers over the present, in an attempt to figure out what it was.

“I wish I could say the paper was a joke, but it was the only stuff I had and I’m tight so I wasn’t buying another roll.” Harry laughed before sticking a finger into a gap and ripping the paper off, he wasn’t one to save the paper, though he had removed the bow and stuck it in his shirt pocket. He stared at the gift before cracking up, rolling his head back.

“I hope you aren’t suggesting I need this?” He waved the book about.

“Take it any way you wish.” I took another sip of my drink; the ice had diluted the alcohol slightly.

“You know I’m going to be bombarding you with jokes now. I might instate a daily joke service. How do you feel about daily texts?”

“I’ll block your number.”

“You love my jokes. Everyone does.”

“Did you miss the part where I bought you a joke book? I really recommend you read it. ASAP.”

“Whatever, I’m so underappreciated,” he huffed, leaning back against the back of the chair, before throwing himself forward again, his face looming close to mine. I could see the tiny wisps of hair dotting his upper lip. “Thank you very much April. It is the best present I’ve ever had.” He placed a kiss against my cheek, holding it for a few seconds while my heart clattered about before blowing against my skin, the smarting of fine hair on his chin and the vibration both resulting in a series of high pitched squeals from me.

“Harry!” I screeched at his move, feeling a patch of spit on my cheek. I lifted his arm using it to wipe against the wet patch he’d left. Harry was dying with laughter his entire face bright red as he howled, people sending us curious glances while Harry struggled to breathe.

“Your face was a picture!” His whole face was scrunched up in glee, a sight that had my own lips twitching.

“You’re a dick.” I crossed my arms, trying my best to imitate the pouted lips he wore so well.

“Oh come on, smile.” He poked my side, causing me to jump. He then did it again and again, until a laugh escaped.

“Stop it!” I coughed out between giggles.

“Never!” He yelled through a roll of laughter, jabbing me a few more times before we both heard a cough. “Niall!” Harry bellowed, holding his arms out to his bandmate, leaving me breathless and nursing my aching ribs.

Niall Horan was stood looking at me, his eyes were glued on me, the bright blue colour visible even in the dark room, roaming over my face, taking me in. his intensity was causing me to blush. Again.  

“ ’Sup, who’s ya pal?” He nodded at me, dropping a wink in my direction, his eyes locking on mine.

“This is April Summers.” Harry slid an arm around my shoulders. An exchange seemed to take place between Harry and Niall, a silent conversation told with their eyes.

“April Summers, lovely to meet you. I’m Niall.” He said my name with a hint of familiarity and came so close to me, his eyes blurred in my vision, before leaning down and kissing my cheek.

“Hi, Niall.” I smiled as he leant back up. He looked a lot younger than in photos; his baby soft face and bright blue eyes gave him a youthful and naïve appearance.

“Liam’s around somewhere, I lost him by the models.” Niall shrugged, not seeming to care about his friend as he laughed. I was certain Liam had a girlfriend but I wasn’t about to question it.

“Where’s my present?” Harry asked Niall, necking back a drink that seemed to appear from nowhere.

“In the shop,” Niall reached across for my drink, not asking before he took a sip. He cringed at the taste. “That tastes like shit.” He pushed the drink back to me; I definitely wasn’t drinking it now it had his germs all over it.

“I know.” I told him, hearing a gasp from Harry.

“What? I thought you liked it.” He looked wounded, his smile disappearing as his eyes and lips doubled in size.  His pout was painful.  

“I do normally, it’s just very strong and I’d like to be able to remember how to walk.”

“You should have said, I’d have gotten you something else. Have mine,” He lifted the glass to me, before realising it was empty, his face dropping as he turned back to me. “I’ll go get another one.” He made a move to stand up, but stopped when Niall held his hand up.

“I’ll go mate, I need one too. What you having?” He asked me with a smile on his face.

“Corona please.”

“Coming up mi ’lady.” He dropped another wink, making Harry create a retching noise and making me jab my elbow at him. Niall ignored him and sauntered off towards the bar.

“I’ll have to keep an eye on him.” I heard Harry mumble, but I ignored him and watched the partygoers throw themselves around the room, the hits of the past years ringing through their veins.

Harry sat with his head ducked, flipping through the pages of the joke book, I heard a soft snigger when he landed on a page near the back.

“Don’t tell me, it’s actually funny.”

“What's a frog's favourite drink?”

“Oh god.”

“Croaka Cola!” the grin stretched across his face was adorable, making up for the atrocious joke.

“That book was supposed to make your jokes better!”

“That joke is brilliant!”

“A frog could actually think of a better one.”

“Debatable. Wouldn’t tell em like I can.” My heart stammered when he dropped a wink at me. I found myself staring at him for a few moments before I could speak again.

“W-what else did you get?”

“Gem got me a jacket, Lou got me a photo of Lux and me, put it in a frame Lux decorated and mum and Robin got me a camera.”

“You a photographer now?”

“Nah, not yet, wanna start taking more photos though. I see so much but don’t really see it too. Ya know?”

“Yeah,” I knew his life was full of touring amazing places but I also knew what fans were like, I was a part of the fandom, I saw the mobbing at airports and outside hotels, it wasn’t easy for any of the boys and Harry always seemed to have it worse. “You should make it a thing; try something new in every place you go. Like Strudel in Berlin or Churros in Mexico. Though you’ve probably had both of those, you can get Churros on bloody Oxford Street.”

“I had some at Chimichanga once, never from Oxford Street.”

“There’s a really awesome place called Seven, it’s in Brixton so a bit far out but the Churros are to die for and I want to bathe in the chocolate sauce.” Harry was staring at me while I spoke, probably shocked by my passion for Churros, the little smile on his face sending my blood pressure sky high.

“That good? We’ll have to good sometime. Think I can brave a trip to Brixton.”

“Once you’ve had them, you’ll walk a million miles for them. guaranteed.” My voice didn’t betray, didn’t let Harry hear how ecstatic I was about the idea of making plans with him, that we could take a road trip across the river and get lost in South London while stuffing our faces with sugary bites of heaven and singing along to our favourite bands. It was stupid to think it would happen, but I couldn’t stop the image lodging itself in my head.  

***

I was drunk. My ears were fuzzy, like someone had stuffed cotton wool in them, and I was swaying. My eyes were also starting to tingle and blur at the sides. It was my own fault, so I had no right to complain about the hangover I could feel fermenting. I’d only drunk so much so I could try and get through the night, but my body didn’t seem to care about that, it was determined to punish me. I’d started necking back the shots when the stripper walked in, a women supposedly dressed as a police officer, had stormed in, demanding to speak to whoever’s party it was. Harry had shit himself, actually believing the woman as she sat him down and told him how naughty he’d been.

Of course it was all fake, it took Harry a little longer than necessary to realise, and in that time the women had shred her top and unbuttoned her trousers. Nick had bought Harry a stripper as a present, the whole room was in stitches, watching and snapping photos as Harry tried to cover his eyes and his cheeks burned, the grin never dropping from his face. If he hadn’t held my hand earlier and if I wasn’t so completely besotted with him when I had no reason to be, then I might have found it funny too. Instead I’d found it devastating, seeing everyone ogle her perfectly toned and curved body, while the grin on Harry’s face slowly killed me. He hadn’t touched, but only because he knew it was being filmed, I’m sure he wanted to.

I’d just thrown another vodka down my throat, contemplating how I could leave without saying goodbye when I felt fingers touch my back, before they slid around my front, encasing my against a firm body. The shiver down my spine alerted me to who it was.

“Come dance with me.” His words were slurred, tumbling together; he was as drunk as me, if not more. He didn’t phrase it as a question, more of a demand, but we both knew I’d never say no. He didn’t wait for my response, before pulling me backwards and further into him, our bodies pressed together in ways I’d only dreamed of. Holding me against his side, an arm still glued to my waist we walked into the mass of bodies; blending in under the dark lighting and the drunken swaying bodies.

He spun me around, a little too roughly for my suffering head, but all that vanished when our chests collided. I could feel his heart beating, the fast thud radiating into my own chest, mixing with my heartbeat. It felt like our hearts wanted to leap from our chests, given a chance, I knew mine would. It would leave me and run straight to him, where it was beginning to build a home.

He slowly wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling my lower body closer to him, every deliberate move made me feel more and more lightheaded. We were flush from head to toe; his belt buckle was digging into my stomach again, I could feel every part of him. Slipping my hands up his arms, revelling in the bumps and curves of him before locking my hands around his neck, I could feel his pulse practically quicken as we settled in our position. A few strands of his hair tickled my fingers, the soft curls slightly damp from the warm room, moved around my fingers. He started to slowly move us from side to side, swaying us. The music had calmed down, the heavy bass replaced with a soft, lulling Ben Howard song that seemed to float around us. Our foreheads moved towards each other, him having to bend down to reach mine, before our clammy skin touched. I never wanted to move again.

His spread his hands across my lower back, and with his long fingers holding me tight and close, I felt safer than I’d ever felt before. He slipped a hand inside the opening between the lace and slip of my dress; the heat of his hands easily seeping through the material, warming me to my core. I shivered, seeing a smile move across his face, transforming his features. He knew his effect on me.  

Our eyes moved slowly to each other, both of us drinking in the sight of the other, my eyes roaming over his broad shoulders, the long expanse of his neck, his perfectly formed jaw bone. I could look at him forever and never get bored. Another shiver ran through me when I finally reached his eyes, finding them waiting for mine, the green I’d seen in photos for the past three years, would never match up to how they looked in real life. So many colours ran together, swirls of browns and dark greens, which no camera would ever capture it and I was so thankful for that. He pressed against my back, trying to get us closer, the roughness of his jeans against my bare legs only heightening the sensation. Our eyes didn’t stray as he moved his face towards me, lips slightly pursed, the gap between us closely quickly.

It was mere seconds before our noses touched, sliding against each other before slotting perfectly together. He stopped moving. I could feel his breath against my tingling lips, I wanted to move but I was frozen. I needed him to move. It was agonising. He grinned before moving again, slower. Painfully slow. Our lips ghosted over each other, barely touching. I barely registered the slight ridges of his chapped skin, before he pressed his plump, full lips against mine. My eyes closed and my head moved backwards, the force of his movement taking me by surprise. Our lips moving together instantly moved against one another, both of us battling for dominance. I curled my fingers around his hair, feeling him groan against my lips. His reaction had us both smiling against the others lips, the pressure never once wavering.

My heart was about to explode from my chest, when he forced my lips open, a blast of hot air hitting my throat. I gasped, unable to breathe fully as he gently nibbled my lower lip. His grip was the only thing keeping me from collapsing; I’d lost all feeling in my legs. I tightened my grip on his hair, scratching my nails against his scalp as he touched my lip with his tongue. I felt like I was on fire. Every inch of my body craved more. His tongue moved teasingly slowly over my lip, before it touched my own. A jolt ran through my body, I wanted to be closer to him, I needed to be closer. I was desperate for air, swallowing his breathes as I attempted to catch my own.

He groaned again, the sound vibrating around my mouth. We’d stopped swaying but he started to attempt walking backwards, out of the crowd I’d forgotten about. Our bodies collided with other guest; he let out a moan into my mouth.  My eyes shot open, seeing his still closed, our mouths still moving together. I unwound my fingers from his hair and moved my arms down his chest, his heart still pounding. His eyes fluttered open, the green colour gone, replaced by his black pupils. I dragged my lips away, wanting to savour the feel I knew I’d never experience again. I gently pressed against his chest, separating our entwined bodies. The flash of confusion at my sudden distance nearly floored me.

“What’s wrong?” His was low; stirring something in me I wanted to squash.

“We can’t.” I shook my head, withdrawing my hands from him, the beat of his heart doing nothing to slow mine or clear my head.

“April. I want to.” He sighed my name; I closed my eyes, loving the way it sounded against his lips. I needed to get away before I welded our lips together again.

“No. You don’t. You’re drunk. I’m drunk. I’m going to go.” I took a step away from him; he followed immediately, closing the space again.

“Don’t go. Stay. Please.” His pleas were killing me as his hand grappled for mine. I didn’t let him entwine our fingers again. I knew he wouldn’t remember this in the morning. I would. I’d remember it forever. It would torture me.

“I don’t want to. Just let me go please. ” Something flashed across his eyes, I couldn’t tell what it was, but it destroyed me. I stepped away again, this time he made no attempt to follow. He let him arms fall against his sides, looking utterly defeated. I couldn’t even force a smile, before I spun on my feet and ran away.  

 She was at his birthday party. Fuck

Arry is real

I hate her

She’s so fat.

That dress looked ready to burst

Harry was so fucked he probs didn’t know she was there

She looks so rough in that photo gemma posted

What does harry see in her

[bikaelsons]

die easy

CHAPTER THREE ∙ put a fifth of rum in my hand

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Matt’s first ever decade dance in middle school was the 90s. He’d raided his dad’s old clothes, poked extra holes in a belt to keep the jeans up, and tried to participate.

Ty rarely bothered to participate—not until he and Caroline started dating, at least. Then he was on board. But Matt had always tried to pitch in, help out, and show up as much as possible. Part of succeeding at school with average grades was just in the showing up and being visible to staff, so he did his best.

Like he was now, ferrying boxes of feather boas around and watching faux champagne fountains be set up in the gym.

“What is this?” demanded Caroline, marching toward him with a stride that made her curls bounce. When they’d been kids, it had made her pig-tails swing around like they could help her take flight.

“It’s a decade dance,” he replied, not bothering to inject any excitement into his tone. “You made us all sign up, remember?”

“No.” She picked up a fistful of lavender-coloured feather boa. “This. The 20s. We’re doing the 70s.”

“Too flashy, people!” Rebekah’s chirpy voice had a visible effect on Caroline’s face, like someone had taken her nose and pinched it until she went bright red. “It’s supposed to be a speakeasy, not the world fair.” She spotted Caroline and made a beeline towards her. “Ah, good. You’re here. They need help setting up the tables, so … get to it.”

“What do you think you’re doing?” demanded Caroline.

Matt ducked his head, focusing on doing anything other than getting involved. For now.

“Somebody has to be in charge.”

“Yeah, me,” said Caroline. “I’m the chair of the dance committee. The theme of the decade dance is the 1970s.”

“So you’d rather dress in tacky clothes with awful hair than be a classic flapper from the jazz age? Honestly, I don’t know what my brother sees in you.”

“Well, maybe he sees a challenge. See, unlike some other people, I don’t sleep with everyone I make eye contact with.”

Even Matt cringed at that one. Slut-shaming wasn’t Caroline’s style unless there was a point to it; telling Damon to grow a pair and stop screwing with Elena by … well, screwing other chicks, that was one thing. Acting like Rebekah was evil for sleeping with the Salvatores rather than for everything else she’d done? Even for what they were trying to achieve here, that was nasty.

“How about we do both decades?” Matt suggested.

“No,” they both chorused, barely glancing at him.

Well, at least they agreed on something.

“Go on, Matt, don’t be a coward,” said Rebekah. “You know you loved my 20s idea when I presented it to the group.”

Caroline whirled on him, eyes wide. “Traitor!”

“Bell-bottoms and disco?” Matt asked. Taking Rebekah’s side could only help their position. Caroline would forgive him, and she was less likely to kill him. That, and he needed Rebekah to talk to him today. “I don’t know, this just seemed cooler.”

“See?” Rebekah leaned in closer to Caroline. “This is just cooler.”

“Whatever!” exclaimed Caroline. “Have fun at your stupid dance.” She stormed out, curls bouncing once more.

Matt waited a minute or so, then followed her out, looking for all the world like a good dude wanting to make things up with a friend.

“Caroline!” he called, jogging after her on the front lawn. “Wait!” He caught up with her at her car, finding her grinning at him.

“Impressive,” she said, eyes shining. “You sold it.”

“And you bought yourself a day.”

“Thank you. Just … keep her occupied. And be careful.”

“You too,” he replied, stepping back so she could get in. “And, uh … tell him I said hi, okay?” It had been way too long since he last talked to Ty.

“I will,” she promised, ducking forward to kiss him on the cheek.

Matt watched her go, enjoying his final moments of freedom before heading back inside.

Rebekah had already decided on the red, white and black colour scheme. She’d drawn sketches of the set-up for the gym, giving clear instructions to all the volunteers. Even Caroline would’ve been jealous of her ability to run the show, and Caroline was the queen of doing just that.

Matt, for his part, mostly went where he was told. Hanging streamers, bead curtains (of all things), and dotting balloons here and there.

They took a break for lunch when the volunteers demanded it (Matt was pretty sure he heard one or two them mention the Geneva Convention, which meant Rebekah heard it too). Unsurprisingly, she was left alone on the front lawn as everyone else grouped off to chow down the pizza someone had ordered. Rebekah remained seated on the grass, smoothing her jeans primly as though she were wearing a gown instead. He guessed it was a big change from silk skirts to denim.

Matt piled pizza high on two paper plates and wedged two cans of soda under his arm, heading over slowly so as not to drop anything. She saw him, but it took her a moment longer to realise that he was headed for her, not just in her general direction.

“Oh, um,” she floundered, taking the cans from under his arm and setting them on the grass. “Thank you.”

“No problem. I don’t know what you like, so I got you one of everything.” He handed her her plate then settled next to her on the grass.

Rebekah eyed her pizza skeptically, picking at a slice of pepperoni. “Do I want to know what meat this is?”

“I wouldn’t even know how to answer. It tastes good, though.” He bit off a part of his own, groaning. “It’s really good, actually. I take it back. This is all for me.” He reached for her plate jokingly, and she pulled it away from.

“Absolutely not. Get your own disgusting mystery meat pizza.”

“Okay. But you have to actually eat it, or I’ll try and get it again.”

“So you’re blackmailing me into eating? How truly revolutionary this post-feminist world is.”

“I don’t know that it’s post anything, but yeah.” He gnawed on his crust, watching Rebekah’s delicate nibbling with an amused eye. “Things must be different here, huh? For women, I mean.”

“Yes and no. Women seem to have freed themselves from the base level of oppression—open ownership of them and their bodies, being practically sold for cattle, the works—but Stacey Coolidge still curls her hair every day because Bryce Smithton and his cronies rated her as the ugliest on the cheer squad, and Elise’s mother has bruises she thinks she hides under her baggy sweaters. It’s not gone, it’s just … quiet.”

“It must’ve been weird to watch stuff happen to human women like that. Did you ever do anything about it?”

“I eat rapists whenever I come across them.”

Matt paused, bite of pizza heavy and tasteless in his mouth. “That’s … probably not the worst thing you could be doing with immortality. I mean, it’s no due process, but it probably accomplishes more.”

“They don’t rape again, and their victims get to live their lives with the knowledge that those who hurt them are rotting in the ground.”

“And that there’s someone willing to defend them,” Matt reminded her.

“Mmm. It must be nice, that.”

Matt frowned. “You don’t think you have someone to defend you? Your family is made up of the most powerful people on that planet.”

“Unfortunately, yes, we are.” She must have caught his incredulous look, because she continued, “Once you bear the mantle of ‘most powerful’, a slew of people come knocking to disprove you. They covet the title, wish it for themselves, and seek your demise as a means of achieving that. Knowing this, my brothers have become … determined to maintain their status, whatever the cost to us as a family. The daggering is but one part of the price we pay for our role in the supernatural world.”

“How does daggering help you all stay powerful?” Matt would’ve thought that stabbing relatives was something more divisive than uniting.

“It helps Nik maintain the illusion of power. We as a family are the most powerful, but Nik is the most powerful among us. Being a hybrid, he doesn’t share our weakness for the daggers. Using them against us is a sweet torture he rather enjoys.”

And then Matt understood. It was nice for the women Rebekah had defended to know that there was someone to protect them; Rebekah couldn’t share that relief, as her own big brother, someone who should have defended her at all costs, was the one she needed defending from. All other evils she could face, but her brother’s anger was insurmountable.

“Does Elijah do anything about all of this?”

“What could he do? Elijah and I are equals in power, if not in our positions relative to Nik. He and Nik share a bond I do not, being close in age and temperament. Elijah hides it well, but Mikael’s rage runs through him just as Mother’s cunning does Nik. But there is nothing Elijah can do to stop Nik. Nothing but pray that he will redeem himself one day, and in that, we shall all be free of his influence for good.”

“I can’t imagine living like that.”

“You get used to it.”

“You shouldn’t have to.”

Rebekah set down her plate, holding her grease-slick hands palm up so as not to mark her clothing with them. “As your friends have made clear on many occasions, I deserve what I get.”

“No one deserves to live like that.”

“Not even Finn? He lived in a box more than he walked as a man, no more than a glorified paper weight for centuries. He deserved freedom, and life, and the woman he’d once loved, but you took that from him when you staked him in the heart.”

Matt had really been hoping that wouldn’t come up. It was stupid, he knew. “He was going after Elena. I had no choice.”

“It happens,” said Rebekah, tone light. “I’m under no illusion as to our position here. I know you sought to kill me, Matt. To kill all of us. And I know we deserve it. What I don’t know is why you support my proposals at dance committees and bring me food. What game are you playing?”

None, he wanted to say. He wanted it to be true so desperately. It just wasn’t.

Taking his silence for an answer, Rebekah scoffed. “Right. As I thought. Enjoy the rest of your food.”

She marched away, leaving her half-eaten pizza and unopened can behind her.

It hadn’t been easy, figuring out what to do with himself in this small town.

Elijah visited the cinema twice, finding it irritating but palatable both times. A local production of Othello had provided a pleasant way to pass the time; the young girl playing Emilia was particularly enlightened as to the play’s true intentions, in Elijah’s (rather learned) opinion.

He saw it three times. That was also the number of times it ran for.

He ran into Tam and her boys around the place. It was a small town, after all, and he lived only streets away from where she worked. He’d figured out that while the bourbon and whiskey was terrible, the vodka wasn’t half bad, nor were the old fashioneds (even though they contained the terrible whiskey).

Tam was practically a new person. Whoever said that money couldn’t buy happiness had never known the bite of hunger deep in a belly, nor the hard choices to make with small mouths to feed. There was a point where more money was irrelevant, but that was not a point Tam had ever experienced. For her, money was freedom, and a raise in pay went a long way.

For starters, the boys no longer huddled under the bar. She paid her neighbours’ teenaged daughter to watch them while she worked, and she worked hard. Elijah accepted that he could only find opportunities for snatches of conversation with her while she was behind the bar, though he often joined her for her break out in the alley where she smoked a cigarette (always her last one) and talked about her boys.

She never asked Elijah where he’d come from. Never asked him why he stayed. This was a good thing, given that he didn’t have an answer to either of those questions.

Matt shouldered his bag, flipping off the gym lights. He shut the door behind him, leaving it unlocked for the janitor he could hear vacuuming just a way down the hall.

Strolling out to the front lawn, Matt took in the front of the school, strewn with litter. Rebekah stood at the curb, facing the road with her arms wrapped around herself.

“Hey,” said Matt, walking toward her. She barely turned to acknowledge him as he continued, “Missed your bus?”

“Funny,” she said, tone acerbic. “Nik was supposed to pick me up. I suppose he forgot.”

“Don’t tell me you can’t afford a car.”

“I’ve had a dagger in my heart for the better part of a century. When do you imagine I’ve had time to learn to drive?”

“Good point. Want a ride home?”

She finally turned to face him. “You’d do that?”

“Well, I do know where you live.” And anything that put off going home to an empty house was a good idea in Matt’s books. “Come on. You can pick the music.”

As it turned out, Rebekah had no idea what music was currently popular, so Matt flipped on a random radio station and left it at that. A quick study, Rebekah learned how to change the station whenever a song came on that she didn’t like.

They rode mostly in silence, but it wasn’t companionable. Matt wanted to say something, to ask her questions about her life and her family and Elijah, but who was he to demand answers from her? Just a convenient human giving her a ride home.

“Your hand is better,” she noted. “I’m glad.”

“Uh, yeah. Vampire blood’s a miracle cure, apparently.”

“Not always. But in this case, yes. I’m glad. Sorry about Kol, again. He’s a bit of a …”

“An unrepentant bag of dicks?”

“What a charming turn of phrase,” she said sarcastically. “But yes.”

“It’s no problem. I get problematic families. My mom made out with Tyler once. It was weird.”

“I haven’t seen her around.”

“She’s off with her latest boyfriend, I imagine.”

“Not with you? Her son?”

“She’s never been the motherly type.”

“I can’t imagine. My mother’s a nightmare, but she still tries to take care of us in her own demented way. What possible reason could yours give for abandoning her child?”

“She’s pretending it’s because of Vicki, but she’s always been like this.”

“Vicki?”

By that point, Matt just assumed everyone knew about his sister. “Vicki was my older sister. She died.”

Rebekah went quiet. “I’m sorry. I’d say I can’t imagine, but unfortunately I can.”

Matt didn’t know if she was talking about Finn or Henrik. He didn’t bother to ask.

They reached her house in silence, Matt pulling up over the cobblestone driveway.

“Here we are,” he said, putting the car in park and turning to her. “Home sweet home.”

She gave him a dubious side-eye that would’ve made Caroline proud—if she didn’t hate Rebekah, that is.

“Okay, spill,” she said. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

“I drove you home,” he said as though it was obvious. Please, don’t pry. “You don’t have a car.”

“Not just that. I mean, helping me with the dance and standing up to Caroline … I don’t buy it.”

Abort, abort. “Buy what?”

“The whole gentlemanly thing after everything my family’s done to you. What are you up to?”

Manipulating you for my friends. Again. “It’s sad you can’t just get a ride home from school without thinking there’s some ulterior motive.” It was true—it was sad. That didn’t mean that she wasn’t right.

Rebekah stared him down for a moment, then looked away, sighing. “You’re right. I’m probably gonna organise the whole dance and then have to compel myself a date.”

“Let’s not get crazy.” Matt laughed. He knew of at least ten guys dying to ask Rebekah to the dance. “Goodbye, Rebekah.”

She returned his smile, hand on the door handle. “Goodbye, Matt. Thanks for the ride.”

He watched her in the rear view mirror as he drove away, standing all alone on the curb again, just as he’d found her.

Matt got a call from Elena mid-shift. He put up with the glare from his manager as he ducked out to take it.

“Hey. Is everything okay? Did you find out who sired the Salvatores’ line?”

“It’s Klaus,” said Elena. Matt couldn’t hear any relief in her tone, but he felt enough himself. As long as the Salvatores were linked too, Tyler was safe. “But that’s not why I called. Jer’s coming back, and he might need to stay with you guys for a bit.”

“What’s going on there? I thought he was—”

“Yeah, he was, but Kol’s been here stalking him, so we’re bringing him home instead. I don’t know if Kol will come after him again, or get any of his other siblings to do it—”

“And none of them have been invited into my house,” Matt finished for her. “Got it. I’ll set up the couch or something.”

“Thanks, Matt. I really appreciate it. Look, I’ve gotta go, but call me if you need anything, okay?”

He doubted she really meant that, but he said, “Yeah, thanks,” anyway, waiting for the click as she hung up.

Sighing, he tucked his phone back into his pocket and headed back in to finish his shift.

Matt pulled into his driveway, truck sputtering as he turned it off. The brakes were squealing again. He’d have to check them out in the morning before he headed to the school to help set up for the dance.

Heading inside, Matt switched on the TV just to have some noise in the house. He reheated the two remaining slices of week-old pizza a little too long, hoping the extra heat would kill the bacteria or something. He knew it wasn’t good to eat old food, but it wasn’t like he had much of anything else.

Falling onto the sofa, he found himself scrolling through his contacts to find Elijah again. He opened up their conversation, finding his last text sitting there.

Can we talk?

It looked kind of pathetic on its own without a reply. He knew Elijah had called him 10 seconds after he sent the text he’d agonised over for half an hour, but still. It looked kind of sad.

Setting his pizza aside, Matt wiped the hand he’d been using to eat on his jeans so he could hold the phone in both, tapping out a message.

Did you know Kol was spying on Jeremy?

He stared at the unsent message for far too long before deciding to suck it up and press send.

The phone rang 15 seconds later. He knew because he counted.

He answered the phone with, “You really don’t like texting, do you?”

“If I wish to convey something via text, I will compose a letter. Is Mr Gilbert unharmed?”

“Uh, I think so. Elena didn’t mention him being hurt, and he’s on his way back here, so I think he’s fine. Why would Kol spy on him anyway?”

“I imagine Kol was acting under Niklaus’ orders. If you’re given reason to believe that this behaviour will continue, I can return. Although I’d warn you that doing so may reveal our conversations, which would go far more poorly for you than it would for me.”

“Jer’s staying with me until we figure things out. None of you have been invited in here, so.”

“Ah, so it’s not just me,” said Elijah, something like humour colouring his tone. “Good to know. Please inform me if there is anything I can do to be of assistance. I’m perfectly happy to deal with them both, though these are symptoms of the greater disease that is this feud among you all.”

“You say that like you’ve had no role in it.” Matt winced. That was maybe not the best thing to say to a centuries old vampire.

“Excellent point, well made,” was all Elijah said of it. “And how are you, Matthew?”

Matt hesitated. “I, uh, I’m fine, I guess. Been busy setting up for the dance. Your sister’s helping, so it’s gone pretty well. Very efficiently.”

“Rebekah does know how to throw a party. Take care with her. She is somewhat volatile at the moment, especially with regards to Elena.”

“Literal backstabbing will do that to someone.”

Elijah’s chuckle crackled down the line. “Yes, it will. Thank you for seeing that.”

“Hey, I get it. I wouldn’t be so quick to forgive Elena for that either.” And the way Rebekah had looked, quipping about compelling herself date while that fear lurked behind her eyes … Matt knew that fear all too well. Being left out was never fun for whatever reason, be it blood feuds or a lack of money. “But she seems to enjoy setting up the dance, and I know a few of the students have been impressed, if a little fearful.”

“A common reaction to our family.”

Matt laughed outright. “Yeah, maybe. How are you, by the way?” It felt an odd thing to ask, but that was what people did, wasn’t it? Ask one another how they were?

“I am well. Enjoying the slower pace of my new locale. Living out of a motel isn’t ideal, but some vacancies have appeared in one of the finer establishments so I’m considering shifting myself a little.”

He made no note of where he was, only vague comments. Matt supposed that made sense. Why should Elijah trust him? “Sounds nice to be somewhere where no one knows you.”

“A fleeting pleasure, and one a person should be careful when partaking in. The longer you linger, the more they know you. To maintain a sense of mystery one must travel, and I do find that so dreary.”

“Car rides not your kind of thing?”

“I do not only ride in cars, Matthew. I can drive them as well. But yes, the open road isn’t nearly as freeing as the label suggests. The road itself is contained by borders.” Quiet crackled between them once more. “Tell me more about this dance. Black tie?”

Matt snorted. “Figures that you’d want to talk about the suits. No, it’s a decade dance. The '20s.”

“Ah, a truly magical decade made marginally less so by my father. Though I did enjoy the fashion.”

“I wouldn’t know. I still have to rent my outfit.” Hopefully somewhere nearby would have something left. He’d only gotten paid that night. “It’s tomorrow night, so that’s not ideal, but I’ll make it work.”

“I hope you do. The suits were fantastic. I knew a tailor in New York by the name of Farwell that made the finest suits. His great-niece tailors my suits to this day. I wouldn’t trust anyone but his family, truth be told.”

“I wasn’t aware that good tailoring was a genetic quality.”

“Oh, of course. Family businesses count on it.”

“Really? Because the Mayhew’s Bakery on Main Street got terrible after old Jeb died.”

“The exception that makes the rule, I assure you.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Matt picked at his cold pizza. “I should probably get going. I have to get up early tomorrow morning if I’m going to get my jog in.”

“Exercise is important,” Elijah agreed. “It was nice speaking with you.”

“Uh, yeah. Me, too.” He cringed, because that really didn’t make any sense. “I’ll talk to you later, I guess.”

“Goodnight, Matthew.”

The phone clicked as Elijah hung up.

Matt came back from his jog the next morning to find a '20s style suit straight out of an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel hanging on his porch. He didn’t question it.

He also didn’t question how Elijah knew the moment he’d reached it (and also assured himself that it wasn’t creepy, not really), because that was the same moment his phone vibrated in his pocket.

He pulled it out to find a text message from Elijah himself.

It’s not a Farwell, but my assistant assures me that it is just as genuine. Enjoy your evening.

Matt replied with his thanks. He didn’t expect a response, and wasn’t disappointed when he didn’t receive one. He was too busy being floored by both the suit and the first text.

Matt hefted the container of ice, pouring it into the punch. The room was warm and the AC wasn’t working as well as it should have been, and warm punch was definitely on Caroline’s no-no list for dances.

“Have I told you how amazing you are?” asked a familiar voice. Speak of the devil.

Grinning, Matt turned around to find Caroline standing there in a bright red flapper dress. “Yeah, I’m one of the good ones, I know,” he said. She returned his smile, but he knew the look in her eyes. “Why the compliments? What else do you want?”

“I know that you and Elena have been getting closer lately …” she began, somewhat leadingly.

He tried not to roll his eyes at her coy smile. “And your point is?”

“One way or the other, she’s pretty much spoken for,” she explained, her words slow. Did she think he was dumb?

“Elena’s my friend, Caroline,” he said, tone measuredly cheerful. “I’m just looking out for her.”

“And I’m just looking out for you, because sometimes the people that love her get caught in the crossfire.”

Matt sighed. Was this conversation really happening? He’d more than moved on from Elena—hell, he’d dated Caroline, hadn’t he?

Just as he was about to respond, he spotted Tyler over her shoulder. “What’s he doing here?” Klaus was still out to get him, and it was monumentally stupid of him to just show up like this.

From the look in Caroline’s eyes, she rather agreed, spinning away from him to give Tyler a piece of her mind.

Matt settled back against the drinks table. They didn’t have servers, mostly trusting the kids to be able to pour their own punch, but it was best that someone kept an eye on it. He’d be willing to bet anything that a good dozen of the guys there had flasks of some illicit variety shoved into their coat pockets.

It was a good place to observe from, he discovered. He watched Caroline and Tyler argue until she gave in, letting him literally sweep her off her feet. He watched Bonnie and Jamie, her date (who Matt made a note to introduce himself to later), dancing with abandon. She looked more joyful than he’d seen her in a while.

And he watched Elena and Stefan arrive, the former coaxing the latter into dancing—

And he saw the moment her smile fell as the crowd parted to reveal Damon, clad in leather and sticking out like a sore, scowling thumb. They left together, Jeremy trailing behind.

Matt wondered if he should follow too, but what good would he be? He didn’t even have a magic ring to bring him back to life. He was just plainly, painfully human. If they needed his help, they’d have asked for it. And they never asked for it.

Besides, they were probably just dealing with their love triangle drama, and Matt had no intention of getting involved in that.

Minutes later, Jeremy stormed back into the gym, Elena following closely behind. Matt considered following them, too, if only to lend emotional support to Jeremy. He’d been through a lot, and Matt had been trying to get him to open up while they stayed together, but to no avail.

Then Jeremy came sprinting back in, and Matt knew something was wrong. Jer grabbed the Salvatores and bolted out, and Matt pushed himself off from the wall and followed after them.

The air was cooler outside, hitting Matt’s face like a bucket of ice water. Thankfully, the suit was heavier than it looked and protected him from the elements well enough. He wondered, briefly, if Elijah had had the weather in mind when he made the request.

He forgot all about it when he saw what was happening. A circle of salt outside the school, and the Salvatores stopped right at the edge of it while Jeremy crossed over it with no hassle.

He may have been only human, but he paid attention when Bonnie talked. He knew that salt was a powerful binding agent.

“Where’s the witch?” Damon asked him as he approached.

“I think she went off with her date,” said Matt. “Do you think she can undo it?”

“I’m not asking for her just so she can evaluate its decorative qualities,” Damon snarked as he passed Matt, disappearing into the school.

With Bonnie trying to undo the spell, Matt stood watch at the boundary as humans trickled out one by one. Their hypothesis could only be considered confirmed: Every supernatural was trapped inside, but humans were free to pass as they pleased.

Giving up on what was obviously a fruitless endeavour, Matt jogged back inside, finding them all congregated in the history room while Bonnie chanted.

“People are walking right out of the dance, past the barrier,” he said, eyeing Klaus as he passed him.

“If Matt and I can leave, we can stop Esther ourselves,” said Jeremy. “We gotta find out where she is.”

Stefan sighed. “Suicide, Jeremy.”

Klaus blurred as he dove for Jamie, lifting him up by the throat. “Suicide would be disappointing me.” He looked at Bonnie. “Now work your magic, witch, or I’ll start killing people you fancy.”

Matt fisted his hands by his sides, desperate to jump in but knowing it would be futile.

“Let him go!” cried Bonnie.

“Not until you get us out of here.”

“Ah, don’t be stupid,” said Stefan, sauntering over to them. “Bonnie doesn’t give a damn about us. The only reason she’s helping right now is to save Caroline and Tyler. You start killing the people she cares about, she’ll tell us all to go to hell.”

Klaus glowered at him, dropping Jamie to the floor.

“I can’t do it,” said Bonnie. “It’s not working.”

“Maybe our best bet is to let Jer and I go,” said Matt. “Find out where Elena is, and we’ll take care of it.”

“So we’re trusting the busboy now, are we?” asked Damon.

Matt glared at him. “Do you have any better ideas? Thought not.”

“I need Gilbert blood to track Elena with,” said Bonnie. “And I’m also gonna need some space.”

Jeremy had packed Matt’s trunk full of Ric’s vampire hunting paraphernalia before they left. Matt had at first balked at the idea of carrying vervain grenades in his only vehicle, but it was a good call.

Jeremy’s phone pinged in his pocket. Pulling it out, he announced, “Bonnie says they’re at the old cemetery.”

Matt grabbed a rifle, tossing it at Jeremy. “I’ll drive.”

They parked down the road from the old cemetery. Jeremy foisted the rifle on Matt, who barely had any practice with the thing, and found a crossbow for himself.

Matt raised a skeptical brow at the sight of Jeremy running his hands over the crossbow almost reverently.

“What?” said Jeremy. “Bows and cross bows are where it’s at. I’m a guy that knows what he likes. ”

“And what you like is weird.” Matt tucked a few syringes of vervain (capped, of course) into his belt and slammed the trunk shut. The moon was bright enough to see by, so he didn’t bother pulling out his phone to use as a torch. “You’re crossbowsexual. Bowsexual for short.”

“Nope, that’s you.”

“It’s bisexual, dumbass.” Matt resisted the urge to elbow Jeremy as they made their way off the road and into the woods. It probably wasn’t a good idea to start play-fighting while holding lethal weapons.

They made quick work of the trek to the cemetery. Apparently witches’ main weakness was needing to use a million fucking candles in the dark, because an orange glow led them right to Esther’s hideout.

They stalked closer, Matt testing out the sight on his rifle. He’d shot before while hunting with Jeremy’s dad, and he’d had plenty of practice with supernatural shootings. He just didn’t know if he’d ever tried to shoot a witch before.

Years later, they’d still be arguing about who stepped on the stick. On his deathbed Matt would swear it was Jeremy’s clumsy ass.

Whoever it was, the result was the same. Esther came strolling out of the old Salvatore crypt, walking slowly as if she had all the time in the world.

Jeremy stepped toward her first, crossbow raised. Matt clicked off the safety, drawing her attention to him as well. “Don’t move,” he said, looking down the sight and trying to swallow down the bile rising in the back of his throat. This was Elijah’s mother. Rebekah’s mother. They’d loved her, once.

Whatever. She was trying to kill her own kids.

“Where’s Elena?” demanded Jeremy.

“Jeremy?” called Elena, running out of the crypt.

“Let her go,” Jeremy insisted, readjusting his grip.

Esther looked him up and down, eyes not betraying a hint of anxiety. “How foolish of you to risk your lives in defense of those who will kill you.” She looked back at Matt, staring him down with a knowing smirk. “But if that is your choice …” She raised her hands towards them.

In his hands, Matt’s gun began to shake. At first he thought it was him, his nerves, but then it turned of its own volition, pointing at Jeremy. And Jeremy’s crossbow was pointed at him.

“Matt,” said Jeremy, panicked. “Matt, drop the gun.”

“I can’t! I’m not controlling it.”

“Esther, stop it!” yelled Elena.

And she did, with a heavy gasp. Matt lowered the rifle, his arms still twitching from the spell.

Esther slid to the ground with a thud. Over her body stood Ric, bloody stake in hand. Not taking any chances, Matt aimed the rifle at the body, advancing toward her.

He knew she was dead even before he checked her pulse. Somehow, he just wanted to be sure.

What followed was a mess of “Are you all right?"s and "God, that was so close"s. Matt tried to offer his help, but there didn’t seem to be much he could do.

Accepting that he’d outgrown his usefulness for the time being, Matt lingered outside, trying not to eavesdrop on the conversation happening inside the crypt.

Alaric wasn’t going to complete the transition. Matt didn’t have to spy on them to know.

After Jeremy and Ric started exchanging the phrase "man of the house”, Matt decided it was time to make himself scarce. He was just on his way back to the car when he came across Esther’s body again. Stabbed in the back as she’d been, her wound wasn’t even visible, and it was too dark to see her blood on the ground. She simply lay there, blank eyes staring up at the sky.

She had the same eyes as Elijah.

Matt bent down, closing her eyelids. He didn’t know what he’d want to happen if his mom had died after trying to kill him, but he knew he wouldn’t have wanted her body left out for the crows. But what to do with her? He couldn’t cart a dead body around town, and it wasn’t a good idea to have her end up in the coroner’s hands. He didn’t even know if the new coroner was up to speed with the protocol for supernatural deaths: When in doubt, animal attack.

Scooping up her body, Matt carried it just out of sight, covering it with some fallen branches. He found a stick shaped like an ’S’ and stuck it in the ground so it’d be easier to find later, then jogged back to the crypt.

Jeremy was silent in the truck on the way back, crossbow across his lap and fingers absently playing with his suspenders.

“Wanna go straight home?” Matt asked.

Jeremy shook his head. “I don’t know if I can be there just yet.”

Nodding in understanding, Matt made a left onto the main street, then ducked down a side road to park behind the Grill. “Let’s go make a toast,” he said, grabbing the keys out of the glove box. “Crossbow stays in the car.”

Neither of them laughed.

Matt called Elijah to tell him about Esther’s death. He figured the guy deserved that at least. He described the location of Esther’s body, Elijah said he’d inform Klaus (while leaving Matt’s name out of it), and the Original then bid farewell.

Matt let him go, pretending he didn’t hear the thickness in Elijah’s voice. He could afford him that dignity at least.

Three days later, everything had changed. Again.

Matt drove home with the taste of bad tequila in the back of his throat, sliding across his tongue with every exhalation of breath. He’d only had the one shot, just to celebrate with everyone, and had made his excuses soon after dropping the paint cans at Elena’s so she and Jeremy could re-do Jenna’s old room.

It was a time for new beginnings, apparently. Too bad all Matt could think of was the new problem.

Impatient, Matt pulled over at the side of the road and grabbed his cell phone from where he’d thrown it to on the passenger seat. He had Elijah on speed dial by that point, still filed under 'E’.

“Matthew,” Elijah greeted after two rings. “I hope this is a social call.”

“Not really.” Matt cursed silently; he couldn’t believe he was doing this. “You need to come back to town.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Ric is a superhuman vampire hunter turned Original by your mother, and he’s … he’s gonna hunt you all down and kill you. The others already desiccated Klaus and they’re keeping his body safe because he’s their sire, but once Rebekah finds out what they did—”

“She’ll kill you all,” Elijah finished. “They have to release his body to me. It’s the only thing that will satisfy her.”

“So you’ll come back?”

“I’m needed, apparently.”

“Please, just, swear that you won’t hurt anyone. I’m trusting you not to make things worse.”

“I will try, Matthew,” said Elijah, voice strained. “But you must understand that my family is my top priority.”

“My best friend is sired to Klaus’ line. Right now, his safety is my top priority too.”

“Good. I’ll see if we can’t find a way through this for us all.”

Matt let out the breath he’d been holding for what felt like all day. “I don’t even know what to do about this all anymore. I want to keep Elena safe, but she’s stuck in the middle of all of this and I can’t see a way to fix it.”

“As long as Elena is in the presence of vampires she will be in danger. The only way to protect her would be for her to leave town, but that is unlikely to happen. If there’s a way to keep her out of the coming confrontation between my family and Alaric Saltzman, I recommend you take it for both her and yourself. Leave town.”

“She won’t go for that.”

“Convince her. I don’t want to see Elena injured either, believe it or not—”

“I do believe you, Elijah. It’s dumb, but I do. I just … I don’t know how to cope with all of this anymore.” He hoped Elijah couldn’t hear the tears in his voice. (Part of him hoped that he would.)

“Matthew, you are what, seventeen years old?”

“Eighteen.”

“A negligible difference; you are a child. You have no role in this fight, and the same goes for the rest of your friends. The Salvatores had no business installing themselves in your lives, and there is no shame in reeling from the mess your life has become.” The sound of shuffling, something clicking into place. A cupboard door slamming shut. “I have to take my leave of you for the moment, Matthew, but I’ll be in Mystic Falls by tomorrow if I can. Call me if you need anything further.”

“You’re already doing enough just by getting in the middle of all of this.”

“I was born in the middle of all of this. You have a chance to be free of it. Never forget that. Goodbye, Matthew.”

“Goodbye, Elijah.”

Elijah farewelled Tam at the bar just before closing, his things already packed in his car. She gave him her thanks, asked him to call if he was in town again, but otherwise left it be.

It had been nice, having a friend. Elijah would miss it.

Things had quickly reached the point where Matt woke early every morning, expecting a phone call telling him something was wrong. He was usually right.

He got the call from Jeremy at 6am telling him that Elena was in the hospital. Something about being stable, awake and talking. She’d hit her head in the kerfuffle the day before, but she was recovering well and could Matt please set up the house for her when she got back?

Biting back the anger at Elena getting hurt in a vampire showdown again, Matt did as requested. He let himself into the Gilbert house by the key under the ceramic duck out front and did a lap of the house to see what needed doing.

He sponged the blood off the floor in Jenna’s room, then scrubbed the half-dried paint from the floorboards. He opened every window upstairs and set up pedestal fans to try and air out the paint smell that had gathered thickly in the air.

His head was dizzy from the fumes by the time they arrived. Stefan set Elena on the sofa, Jeremy covered her in a blanket, and together the three men stared at her like she was about to collapse again.

Matt tried to convince her to leave; he really did. Stefan made snarky comments about free will and letting Elena make her own choices, and Matt was left pissed and knowing full well that when Stefan said “free will” he did so aware of the fact that Elena was so blinded by love for him that she’d leap into lakes of broken glass. And that was saying nothing of whatever was going on between her and Damon.

Elijah arriving was a relief like no other. Sure, everyone else tensed up and got ready to fight, but Matt could hardly disguise his relief.

The terms Elijah set were fairly simple, and Matt shared none of the others’ hesitation in accepting them. He kept quiet, though, knowing his place in this discussion.

They agreed. Of course they did; it was Elijah doing the bargaining. When Elijah left, it was without a glance at Matt, and he thanked god for that. There was no way he could deal with the others knowing about his and Elijah’s alliance of sorts.

That would only end one way.

Matt knew there was no excuse for it. He knew it was bad, and he should feel bad, but he didn’t have time to feel much of anything as he loaded Elena into the car.

He’d spiked her tea.

Ignoring the part of him that argued against what he’d done, Matt buckled her in and made sure she was settled before he closed the door as quietly as he could without waking her.

“It’s the right thing.”

He didn’t jump when Elijah’s voice drifted over to him. “If I need a vampire to reassure me that I’ve done the right thing, I probably haven’t.”

“I mean it,” said Elijah. “The Salvatores would never let her leave, and if you tried to convince her, she’d tell them.”

Matt turned to face him. “I don’t need you to lecture me. I know we’re all way past the good choices. Just … don’t. Please.”

Elijah seemed taken aback. “I’m sorry, Matthew. I was under the impression that you appreciated my counsel.”

“Not right now.”

“Noted,” Elijah said, jaw working. “Drive safely.” He whipped away before Matt could reply.

It was dark by the time Elena came to. She was understandably incensed, but somehow not surprised once she pushed past the confusion. He guessed that spoke to how she was treated by the vampires in her life.

Matt ignored the pang that came with comparing himself to them.

“I’m getting you out of town, Elena,” he said finally, hoping his tone left no room for argument. “It’s the only way to keep you safe.”

“I’m the doppelganger, Matt. There’s no getting me away from this. It’ll just follow me.”

“Elijah will take his siblings and leave. He’ll keep Klaus under Bonnie’s desiccation spell until you die, and he’ll make sure the location of any children you have stays hidden so Klaus can’t hound them for blood.” Just like he promised me he would. “You’ll be safe, Elena. It’ll be over. You just have to get through tonight, just until Klaus is returned to Elijah and we deal with the whole Alaric situation.”

Elena shook her head, staring out the window. She sniffed lightly, obviously hiding her tears.

“Elena,” said Matt, hand brushing her arm. “It’s what your mom would want you to do. We’re kids. This isn’t our fight, and it’s not fair that we got caught up in the middle of it. Let it go.”

“I can’t just—I can’t just let it go, Matt. I care about them.”

The Salvatores. “I know you do. But you need to care about yourself, Elena. They’re dead. They’ve lived longer than any human will. You’re still here, and you’re still alive, and you have the capacity to live this incredible, full life if you just let yourself—”

“A life with you, you mean?”

Well, that hurt. “Elena, I’m over you. I love you as a friend, as Jeremy’s sister, but that’s done. You and I, we didn’t work. I’m not some puppy trailing after you. I’m someone that loves you like family and wants you to have everything you deserve, everything that’s going to be taken away from you if you stay in that town. Please, Elena,” he said, tone pleading. “I’ll turn around if you say so, but please, just … consider it. Consider that maybe your life is worth at least as much as theirs.”

She was just about to respond when he got the call from Jeremy.

Alaric had killed Klaus.

“We have to go back,” said Elena, face pale. “Listen to me, Matt. If Klaus is the one that turned their bloodline then that means they’re all gonna die.”

He grit his teeth together, hands tight on the steering wheel. He’d been full of words only a minute ago, but now he had no idea how to tell her.

“We have to go back, Matt!”

“Elena,” he began. “Damon’s not with them. He’s a hundred miles out of town. I can keep driving to him … or I can turn around and go back to Stefan.”

He’d told her she had to choose. She knew she had to choose. Neither of them had thought the choice would come so soon.

Elijah stood in the woods, staring into the space where they’d all stood. Caroline and Stefan and the Gilbert boy. All gone to lick their wounds and say their goodbyes.

He hadn’t had the chance to do either. His brother was gone.

He felt her arrive more than heard it, whirling around to find Rebekah standing before him.

“Elijah?” she said, voice as small and innocent as it had been when she was a child.

He had missed her terribly.

“There was nothing I could do to stop it,” she confessed, tears running down her face.

He pulled her to him, no words left.

But it didn’t make any sense. Why were the others still alive? Niklaus had been certain he’d sired their line, and Elijah could think of no way any other of them had done so …

Perhaps Matthew had the answer.

“Go and pack what you can,” he told Rebekah, pressing a kiss to her tear-stained cheek. “I’ll meet you at the mansion once I’ve finished up some things. Alaric is still on the loose, and we have to move.”

She nodded, face drawn and wan. “Be careful.” She tugged him in for another hug, then sped away.

Dialling with shaking hands, Elijah put the phone to his ear.

Matt’s phone rang from the console between them. A glance at it told him it was Elijah.

“E?” asked Elena.

“It’s Elijah; we exchanged numbers when we made the deal. You can answer it.”

She did so, seemingly satisfied with his explanation. “What do you want, Elijah?”

“Elena,” Matt could hear Elijah’s voice clearly. Elena must’ve put him on speakerphone. “Where are you?”

“Just outside of town. Why?”

“The Salvatore brothers are still alive, yet Rebekah is certain that she saw Niklaus dead.” Matt didn’t think he was imagining the hitch in Elijah’s voice as he said the words. “Do you know anything about it?”

“No,” said Elena, tone turning hopeful. “I thought Klaus sired their line—”

“As did I.” A shuddering breath. “And you know nothing about it?”

“No. I’m sorry.”

“My apologies for wasting your time.” Click.

Elena handed Matt’s phone back, pulling her own out. “I have to call Stefan,” she said, trying to turn it on. “I think it’s dead.”

“Here, use mine,” said Matt, handing his back to her. He watched her face carefully, looking for any sign of what she was feeling. Hope, but a confused sort, and Matt knew how she felt. If the brothers were still alive, maybe it was all a lie, maybe Ty was fine too—

Elena’s eyes widened as she looked up at the road. “Matt, look out!” she screamed.

He turned back to see a figure in the middle of the road, unmoving. He hit the brakes, swerving to miss them—

And dove off the bridge, right into the black water.

Matt woke on the riverbank, alone and choking.

Water, warm and sickly, streamed from his nose and mouth. He coughed the last of it up, whole body convulsing. He sat up when it was over, head spinning. A touch of his fingers to the source of the ache in his temple revealed a gash that covered his fingers in blood.

What the hell was going on?

Looking up, he could make out the outline of Wickery Bridge, lit by the few streetlights they’d installed during the rebuild. Part of the fence along the edge was busted—

He remembered now. They’d ploughed off the side, into the water.

Elena.

Struggling to his feet, Matt had just cleared his throat enough to call out for her when Stefan emerged from the river, water streaming off him and Elena in his arms.

She was still. Pale.

“Is she—” Matt choked again, throat sore.

Stefan didn’t answer, just dropped her onto the grass and began pumping her chest with his hands.

First those who lived nearby came, having heard the tires squealing on the road. They called the ambulance that took Elena away, Stefan still pumping her chest in a desperate attempt to find her heartbeat.

“You okay, son?” asked an older paramedic, steering Matt towards the back of their ambulance. “Let’s take a look at that head lac, shall we?”

Matt didn’t speak beyond answering their usual questions. What year is it. Who is the president. On a scale of 1-1o, how is the pain?

As they pulled him back into the ambulance, sitting him down and strapping him in, Matt looked out across the river.

He could’ve sworn he saw Elijah on the other side.

Elena was coming back, as it turned out. Meredith Fell had given her vampire blood without telling anyone. Matt had to wait until he was discharged to find out from Stefan, who was guarding the morgue like it was his job.

“Why did you save me?” asked Matt, voice still rough. His head pounded where they’d stitched it up, and he definitely didn’t have the money to fill the prescription for pain meds he needed.

“It was her choice,” said Stefan, as though he was talking about the sun rising in the east or the colour of the sky. “She chose you.”

They both knew it was the wrong choice.

Meredith dropped Matt home. His car was wrecked and Jeremy wasn’t leaving the hospital until Elena woke up, so his options were limited.

She barely spoke, just watched him go and left him with a caution to avoid deep water while his head was still spinning.

Like he was ever going near more than a teaspoon of water again.

He watched her drive off, limbs feeling like he was moving through water even still, all slow and clumsy. He’d made his way up half of the front steps before he heard the whoosh behind him. He knew who it was.

“Matthew.”

He didn’t stop, just trudged up the stairs and reached the door, realising that his key was at the bottom of the river, along with the spare he kept in the truck.

And the actual truck.

Pounding his fist on the door, Matt groaned. “I don’t s'pose you got high and mighty and made yourself a key?”

“I’m afraid not,” said Elijah, barely making a sound as he climbed the stairs and joined Matt. “But I can still open the door, if you want.”

Matt moved away wordlessly, watching Elijah shatter the lock and leave the door swinging. Matt all but fell inside, legs numb.

“I am truly sorry,” said Elijah, resting a forearm on the doorway. “Rebekah … you must know that I didn’t know what she was going to do. That she would go after Elena, and you in the process. Many things have happened tonight that I will regret for some time to come, but what happened to you … it was unnecessary, and I am sorry.”

Elijah waited only a moment, the silence stretching between them like rubber band that could snap any moment. But who would it hit?

“I’ll take no more of your time,” Elijah said, making to turn away.

“You can come in.”

Elijah froze, glancing back at Matt. He didn’t know what he looked like, but he couldn’t imagine it was a pretty sight. “You aren’t obligated to invite me into your home, Matthew. Especially not after tonight.”

“Not obligation,” Matt replied. “Choice. You can come in.”

Matt would never know—could never know—what went through Elijah’s head then. Whatever it was, it ended in him stepping over the threshold, hands fisted by his side. “Thank you for your trust.”

“What have I got to lose?” Matt shook his head at the pitying look Elijah sent his way. “I’m gonna go change. Make yourself comfortable.”

Elijah did as instructed, settling on the lumpy sofa after moving the blankets aside. It appeared that Jeremy Gilbert was staying here, or had been before today. Elijah guessed he’d want to be at his sister’s side during her transition.

Elena Gilbert, a vampire in transition. The Salvatores alive. According to Miss Forbes’s tears (that Elijah had spotted while spying on them at the hospital), Tyler Lockwood had passed. So why did Elijah feel like he didn’t have the whole story about Niklaus’s loss?

Perhaps it was the denial. Or, worse—hope.

Matt reappeared in fresh clothes, carrying a bottle in one hand. "Found some of my mom’s old Malibu rum,” he said by way of explanation. “I’d offer you bourbon, but I think this is the only booze in the whole house.”

“I’m more of a whiskey man,” said Elijah. “But rum will do nicely in whatever form.”

Matt found two glasses for them, half-filling them with the rum. “I’d mix it with something, but I don’t have anything,” he said, almost sheepish.

“I can take it,” Elijah promised, accepting the glass from him. He raised it in a mock-toast, watching Matt mirror his movements. “To making our own choices.”

“Whatever the fuck that means,” Matt finished.

They clinked glasses and downed their drinks, then sat in silence with nothing but the memory of the wretched day.

[rebeltheanomaly]

The Phobites

The servants of Yvriolketl, entities based on the worst fears of mankind.... Cynoscote: A blood-soaked grinning hound that delights in causing indiscriminate carnage, often seen as the pet of Yvriolketl. Trypani: A nurse with an empty, bleeding gash instead of a face, covered by bandages. She has syringes for fingers, and likes injecting people with drugs and then harvesting their fluids.... Glossoryan: While not as visually horrific as alot of other phobites, his abilities are terrifying. He's a master debater, and often brings the person he's debating against endless grief by the end of it, usually posing as a lawyer and getting innocent people convicted... Socionib: Usually manifesting as a party invitation that is psychologically impossible to refuse. People there are forced to stay forever and interact with the most annoying people they can imagine. Thanatomar: A gaunt figure who's touch brings death, he can also change into an oily form or a purple cloud. Necromant: A tall, black cloaked, skull-faced figure with a vajra. Under his cloak are countless sewn together cadavers, writhing in pain... Coulrabi: A clown that stalks people, usually laughing creepily or asking "Aren't i funny?". He then uses his deadly gags to leave their corpses a gruesome joke... Pedialis: A creepy doll-esque construct with two weird blades instead of hands. She constantly giggles, her eyes are realistic and wide, and her jaw is completely disjointed from the rest of her body. Acronaut: A massive U.F.O.-like structure, it sucks people in, forever suspending them above a glass floor.... Pteromerhanic: A construct resembling a small plane, it latches people into it's underbelly crucifix style and skewers them with spears on chains protruding from it's wings.... Mysox: A bloated figure in a hazmat suit carrying a large gas tank on his back. He launches a gas that leaves the victim with a disease with countless symptoms, none of which are pleasant.... Agorastull: An unknown evil that traps people outside of their comfort zones... Claustromass: A mold-like ooze that infects places and people, making places narrower or people stuck in a room.... Arachnea: At first a beautiful woman, until you learn her insides are spiders intent on having you for dinner.... Ophidia: A woman with snakes for legs, arms, hair, and a tongue... Hemora: A Penanggalan that sucks blood in order to make a strong atronach of red hardened fluid to serve as a body.... Astrakrome: A being that rules over thunder and lightning, causing the most ludicrously violent and chaotic storms imaginable.... Musoil: A hive mind of skaven rats.... Emeter: An obese corpse with it's limbs replaced with tanks of disgusting fluids, which constantly leak from it's mouth. When it opens, the fluids come out in a vile stream.... Aquatua: A drowned girl dressed like a sea nymph who makes the water her weapon.... Nyctro: The darkbound, the shadows answer to him..... Carcinogyte: An old man in a wheel chair that breathes the most horrific and painful form of cancer imaginable.... Dentalair: A malfunctioning automaton that believes it's helping people through his "Dentistry" Trypectioze: A disease that inhabits a body, filling them with disturbing holes of biological matter.... Aeroflight: A harpy-like orb that picks people up for an eternal flight of horrors.... Turokial: A cannibalistic gentleman whose body melts when he needs to feed. He kills by inserting his hand into people, turning them into a cheese-like substance inside-going-out.... Omphalume: A parasite that causes tentacles to grow out of the navel of it's host... Papaste: A murderous creep who dresses like the pope and has an obsession wit anti-catholicism... Nomotechedoor: A tube-shaped robot who steals cellphones for data. Ephebiyoung: A group of teens who embody youthly chaos. Phagomorphicus: An elongated vaguely-phallic looking serpent who swallows people into a pocket dimension where they are digested for eternity... Triskaid: An odd kid with an odd obsession with the number 13... Ablutia: A corpse-like woman who manifests in baths and showers... Dextra and Levoi: Creepy twins who stalk people from either the left or the right, only visible to them... Phoborous: An entity that manifests all fears in whoever sees it... Thallasoar: A kraken/megalodon/shapeshifting sea monster that rules a pocket dimension similar to the game Subnautica. Acousticet: A blind man with speakers for eyes and a mouth, and extremely good hearing. Ambularz: A mech that forces people into it and then never lets them stop wandering. Photoceptrex: A light-manipulating femalien without features. Somnion: An entity that preys on sleeping victims. Cibum: A man that owns an inescapable buffet. The more you eat, the less you have.... Chronoclock: A clock-headed man who drains time.... Panatalia: The nigh-omnipotent bride of Yvriolketl. Chirofell: A man with a million hands. Spheksio: A humanoid wasp with the general disposition of a Xenomorph. Rhytole: An old man who infects everyone around him with constantly growing wrinkly skin... Dr. Iatris: A doctor... of torment.... Aichmoa: A beast covered in sharp blades, spikes, and other such surfaces. It is relentlessly hostile. Catoptrein: A mirror-wielding jester that plays deadly tricks. Baron Apeiron: An eternal being with unknown powers... Logizomechanus: A hyper-intelligent computer with a hatred for humanity. Scoperat: A paparazzi who posts everything about who they stalk on the internet. Spectromire: A phantasm that takes the form of those who look in his mirror, but embodies the worst parts of them.... Koinonipru: A room that locks people inside it, making the most challenging escape room ever known. Automysormy: A chubby frog-like being who makes everything dirty, and follows whoever it's crushing on. Dromostega: Living streets that consume whoever crosses them. Vocale: A humanoid who projects voices in your head, driving you mad.... Ergomill: A CEO who forces his employees to work, even after death.... Decidorqua: A man on the crossroads, forces people to make the choice of which to cross. Genomia: A succubus who appears to virgins not allowed to be deflowered. Hypnow: A hypnotic entity who lures people into eternal slumber..... Megaliath: A large chrononaut that consumes things to increase it's size. Gyromeh: A spectral serial killer that manifests on streets. Mycothet: A mushroom that, upon being eaten, slowly regresses people into hallucinating, hostile zombies. It's also addictive so... Acribys: An odd little imp that lurks inside bookshelves, scrambling the text on reading material and making it unreadable. Hexakosioihexacontahexamazu: A ghost made up of 666 sinful spirits... Sesquipedaloi: A short lecturer who grows larger the more he lectures, growing hostile at a certain size. Gnosio: A purveyor of books who forces forbidden knowledge into people's heads. Hydrosopa: A creature constantly covered in sweat, who is a little too affectionate.... Dorosmas: An old witch who gives gifts... Rather dangerous gifts.... Koumpouneed: A patchwork doll who makes "Friends" by sewing cursed buttons into people. Lachanavlar: An odd giant radish-like root filled with caterpillars that can come out and infest other people's bodies, turning them into gourds.... Nephothium: A cloudlord that traps people in it's pocket dimension. Ombrolite: A rain woman with a freaky face and mysterious abilities... Pentheralir: World's most evil stepmother Pogonorris: Badass beard. Chairolian: A fiendish comedian with a sick sense of humor... Philorake: An angelic hunk with the abilities of cupid and twin derringers he calls his "Love Guns" Deipnofens: A dinner party host who reveals his party to be eternal at the last minute.... Punchumatthree: An assassin who always leaves a dot in the forehead of his victims.... Reterio: An annoying kid who makes you misspell everything. Emojizus: A weird figure that bombs people with emojis. Selfia: A chick that takes selfies of everything. Ignorizu: A possessor that afflicts it's host with the inability to be noticed by anyone... Somniun: Basically, a scarier version of Freddy Krueger. Countrolapse: A daredevil who befriends people and then convinces them to face their fears, which invariably kills them. Stasibasiu: A living pillar that manifests under people, ascending to the point where whoever is on it is forced to stand until exhaustion causes them to pass out.... Domatorik: A living house that keeps people inside it's extradimensional interiors. Anthroplauz: An endless group of people who attempt to assimilate others. Lalotily: A woman who's presence forces those around her to speak, even after death. Clinopkin: A bed mimic who forces all who lie upon it into a pocket dimension of evil plushies and mountainous pillows Anemoster: An air controlling pot-like figure. Peladorute: A balding brute who leaves his enemies and victims completely hairless. Simmetronian: A psychopath who carves himself and others to be perfectly symmetrical Nostoreign: An entity that dwells inside one's home while their away, waiting for them to get back so it can strike... Xanthocrep: A creepy yellow claymation esque alien with eye-stalks protruding from it's torso. Kathiselloma: A lazy kitsune with a seductive personality and various magical powers. Arachybutyrogah: A land whale with a sticky substance constantly dripping from it's mouth, which it force feeds others. Ideabulbor: A light bulb headed man with the ability to forcefully project thoughts into the minds of other's. Oikobodie: A living meteor that forces appliances against their human masters. Ecora: A witch that inhabits houses and seems hospitable, until it drains your life energy... Logoaster: A man with power in his words... Neotoymin: A cutting-edge toy and gift maker who offers his services to those who can't comprehend all of his incredibly advanced tech, usually scaring them to death. Gymnomeul: A naked, genderless gymnast who demanifests all clothing around them. Anabley: An odd, female entity that lurks above a certain human, threatening them that if they look up, they will be killed.... Chromotomie: A monopoly man pastiche with a half-gold, half-silver comedy mask, usually acting as a game show host. Zoonaren: A shapeshifting beast with the compulsion to seek out and kill humans. Cyclore: A bicyclist, if he rides near you, death will soon follow you... Alliumnew: A garlic-headed "Vampire" hunter, he hunts down anyone he sees eating plant matter. Acarowan: A mosquito-masked vampiric butler. Syngenextruom: A "Giving tree" who collects people and forces them to be part of their "Family", no matter what... Ranida: A "Princess Frog" amphibian humanoid who wants to find her "Prince" Meteora: A space wizard with an appetite for destruction and a nihilistic philosophy Uranachel: An angelic enchantress. Kleptryck: An impossible thief Teratomonger: A shapehifting monster who basically just wants to eat children. Ochoplang: An a.i. with a psychotic obsession with death who inhabits vehicles. Plutorius: Universe's wealthiest man. Acerapatchley: A lemon-headed candy-maker and citrus farmer. Eat his citrus, you're head will pucker up, fall off, and become a lemon tree. Aeroacrack: A hoard of head-shaped balloons that seek out people to carry away to the land of nightmares.... Aeronausiying: An angel-esque green alien  constantly projectile vomiting. Agatuject: An asylum inmate who constantly projects his insanity into the area around him. Agliothorpe: A sadistic entity made of torture devices who feeds off of pain.... Agraki: A mass of tentacles that violent copulates with anyone it sees... Agrizooma: A wild unidentifiable beast that actively hunts down any potential prey. Ailuria: A catgirl who traps people in a "Feline dimension". Albuminerak: A snake that crawls inside sleeping victims to take bites out of their kidneys... Alektorui: A giant killer chicken-like entity. Allodoxic: An androgynous humanoid who constantly argues with everyone else, forcing his opinion into everything. Amathilartha: A maid who controls dust. Amaxord: A car that absorbs people into it, giving them a ride that literally lasts forever. Amnezinu: A weird cthulhian alien that eats memories. Amychus: A gremlin-like creature that scratches people's organs out. Ancraoderlar: A wind-manipulating spirit resembling a kamaitachi. Androman: A masculine man who can adapt to any attack. Apisivy: A roughly bipedal hive with aggressive bees swarming him at all times Anemonu: A construct of old wood that breathes cold air at people. Angini: A woman with a fetish for choking people... to death. Anglosax: An English nationalist who turns everything around him, well, English. Angrosaur: A man with uncontrolled rage, basically Red Hulk. Anklyuine: A lizard that climbs inside people's bodies and eats their control nerves. Anthomuss: A realistic flowey with much more violent tendencies.... Anthroid: An android who studies human culture... A little too closely.... Antloros: A being whose mere presence causes floods. Anupturei: A ghost who haunts a host's romantic partners, keeping them single forever.... Aphenphosmoid: An orb of darkness that produces hands that continuously "Bad touch" the victim until death.... Apotemnuli: A human centipede of amputees. Arithmoss: A mass of numbers that gives people arithmomania. Arrhenthron: A man of manliness. Arachnoarch: The king/queen of spiders. Arsonuthrope: A pyrovorous entity that enjoys making living beings his next food source. Asthenruff: A living air that causes a slow-acting disease. Astromarus: An entity of starlight. Asymmetriun: An entity that creates asymmetry. Ataxion: A spark that causes Ataxia. Ataxozor: A husk doll that causes disorder and untidiness. Atelin: A mimic that haunts people with OCD. Aten: A millipede-like being that causes ruins. Athazagor: A casual 30-year-old with the abilities of goetic demons as well as the ability to make people forget who they are, turning them into sad, soulless, featureless wandering gaunt figures. Atomosaun: A soldier with a severely deformed head resembling a mushroom cloud. Atychi: A nixie that annoys people into failure, slowly driving them mad. Aulonote: The pied piper's much creepier cousin. Auronarch: A king of bling who can turn people into his servants made of gold. Auroranus: The mystical spirit of the northern lights. Autodysomue: A vile spreader of bad odor.. Automatonus: A creepy humanoid construct of mannequins, marionettes, and other such things that lives to drive people mad with paranoia. Automespair: An entity that whispers into people's ears when their alone.... Bacterion: A humanoid conglomerate of countless bacteria. Bacillonic: A massive "Microbe" Ballistor: An insanely hostile robot that relentlessly searches for victims to fill with bullets and missiles Bolshevikro: A bizarre russian amalgamation of clones of various bolshevik politicians. Barobaro: A metal and wire construct that controls gravity. Bathmoreist: A sandworm-like creature that manifests any place at the bottom of something, hoping to sate his hunger. Batolei: The living city. Batrachiu: An amphibious aberration. Belonu: Pinhead's more disturbing cousin. Blennos: An amorphous slime entity, much more intelligent than any of his ilk. Bogygumon: Father of all bogeyman. Botanolylei: Mother of plants. Bromidrosiru: A man with the stench of a thousand corpses. Cacoca: The world's ugliest aberration Calygina: A clone of Tomie from Junji Ito's manga of the same name Cardiacaxe: A golem completely made of still-beating hearts of various species Carnoff: Mooshoo pork from Gex meets Hog the Ripper from Mutants Genetic Gladiators. Catagel: An extremely effective critic Catadepi: An entity that distorts height perception in order to induce suicides. Cenothu: A brain-like entity that forces close-minded people to accept their beliefs might be wrong via psychic torment. Chaeti: A mass of hair that infests people's bodies. Chaimatren: The eldritch bearer of endless winters Chemoclo: A hazmat entity leaking chemicals Cheroli: A ditsy girl who spreads gaiety Chioneue: The mistress of savage snowfall Chiraptor: A presence that haunts people, making them feel as though they are constantly being violated in every way possible. Chiroptos: Manbat on demonic steroids. Cholerianna: An undead diseased woman, killed during the oregon trail, now she takes vengeance on all those who refuse to help her. Choron: A gaunt entity who kidnaps people to dance with him, problem is, if they stop dancing with him before he's ready to stop, he kills them. He also never gets tired so.... Chromatyzxyl: The color out of space repurposed. Chronomentron: A massive clock automaton that encases a pocket dimension of collected history eternally locked in clockwork torment. Cleithrisio: A being that traps people in various items and keeps them trapped until they solve the puzzle, which could take forever. Cnidrio: The broodmother of an aberrant hoard of countless insects somewhere between parasitoid wasps, japanese giant hornets, and mosquitoes. Climacroat: The figure under the stairs that makes them last forever. Cometacean: A crab-like alien that uses a comet as a shell. Coimetroffer: An undead gravekeeper. Coitall: An aberration whose presence forces the nearest people to engage in intercourse, no matter what. Contreltio: A repulsive molester. Consecotale: Imagine if in IT Chapter 2 Pennywise did more than the fortune cookies.... Cremni: The girl inside the precipices.... Cryon: The embodiment of ice, frost, and other such wintery elements. Crystallicanth: A living giant diamond that floats and emit lasers that encase everything in a crystalline substance. Cybernite: A cyborg dominated by an A.I. that acts like the Warpers from Subnautica but with Batman's tactics. Cymokymo: A living wave of pure energy. Cypridianne: A prostitute that turns into a diseased monstrosity. Dementrox: While some can drive other's insane, it drives the world itself insane.... Daemonos: The amalgamation of one piece from all demons. Demoras: The endless crowd that assimilates all who enter. Dendroid: An atronach of wood who fiercely guards the woodlands it inhabits. Dermatosion: A fiend endraped in skins, covered in everything from acne to leprosy Dormator: A figure with arms made of stinging whip-like tendrils Diabetro: A fat bastard who traps people in diabetic death mazes Didaskelein: A shapeshifting entity who usually takes forms like a tyrannical headmaster, a douchy jock, a micro-managing professor, and all other forms in order to make school a living hell. Dikuriel: An angel with a blindfold, but eyes cover the rest of her body. A flaming sword in one arm, an endless length of chain in the other, she relentlessly punishes all injustice. Dinu: A living vortex that causes all dizziness. Diploplone: An entity that goes into people's eyes and causes double, triple, and even beyond that vision. Dipsuil: A man in tubes parodying Bacchus and Dionysus. Dishabiliulsiv: A perverted freak who watches you undress yourself. Disposite: A being that steals everything you don't want to get rid of... Dorarori: A furry mass that turns people into his pets in a horrifically painful way. (Basically Furries) Doxiel: A therapist who controls her patients with subliminal messaging, forcing them to act inappropriately, and say all their thoughts aloud. Dutchley: A dutch nationalist kidnapper who forces people to live in his bunker/simulation of his beloved home country. Dysmorphine: A presence that makes itself known by causing horrific deformities. Dystych: A jynx that causes countless accidents. Ecclesior: The ancient knight of the unknowable church. Eicie: A living house with an extradimensional interior. Eisoprau: The man on the other side of the mirror. Electrote: A being of electricity that can possess all that rely on his element. Eleutheruth: The being who frees all who don't want to be. Elueryo: The cat of the most ill of omens. Enetin: A drugged up fiend that attacks with a combination of heroin and agony.  Enochu: A crowd of people that will randomly fly into an inhuman murderous frenzy. Enosio: A being that convinces church-goers that they have committed an unpardonable sin. Entomohive: An eldritch mass that produces lovecraftian insects. Eosounclair: The fiend that comes with the dawn. Epistaxioeleed: A weird creep that likes to drink nose blood. Equinos: A nightmarish horse that stalks the fields. Eremor: A specter or shadow that feeds on loneliness and depression.... Eruethri: A weird woman who blows gas into people's faces, causing them a disease that starts with blushing, and escalates to [DATA EXPUNGED] Ergasino: A hallucinatory entity that haunts surgeons. Erotach: A being that appears attractive to taunt hedonists, in order to feed on them when their alone together... Euno: A being that delivers good news to people, they only realize too late that that's the last good thing that will ever happen to them. Eurotina: A massive, all-consuming vagina. Erythro: A being known only as "RedLight", people exposed to it gain a fear of red. Febrivasque: The red death with alot more emphasis on fever. Felinus: Bast was kidnapped and brainwashed.... Francoux: The worst of the french all compiled into one being. Frigoimit: The winter hermit, father frost's secluded brother who is a grim reflection, yet much more unassuming than your ordinary Krampus.... Gateru: A massive cat who toys with humans Gamoril: The ideal bride and/or groom... Until the wedding night, when all hell breaks loose. Gelion: A jester that makes his victims the laughingstock of all who know them before taking their lives.... Genium: Inter-dimensional chin. Genuruuki: A spider-like humanoid abomination of countless knees. Gephyre: The thing under all bridges.... Germanus: A nazi-esque character of an alternate history where Germany won WWII, he spreads his ideologies no matter the cost.... Gerascu: The thiever of youth Gerontos: World's oldest human.... Geumi: A being that crawls into people's mouths and controls taste-buds. Gnosion: An eldritch collector of knowledge. Graphornix: A being who writes fate... Gynoir: A misogynist's worst nightmare.... Hadesemoah: Hell is alive.... St. Hagius: A tyrant who uses holy imagery and poses as a saint. Hamart: The prince of sinners. Harpax: World's most effective robber. Hedonestra: Mistress of pleasures. Heliun:  The sun's apostle. Hellegenologet: A being who only speaks in Greek terms who is vaguely associated with complex science. Helminth: A humanoid infested with a hive-mind of worms. Hereseio: A challenger of the doctrine. Herpetill: An insectoid reptile. Heteron: A humanoid literally split down the middle, both genders hate each other... Hierophantes: The priest of Yvriolketl Hipporse: The steed of Yvriolketl Hobomo: A creepy beggar that turns cities to slums Hodoragg: A tourist who attracts followers through charm and takes them on a never-ending road trip..... Horman: A masculine humanoid robot with shock fists. Homilareth: A sectarian reveren in red Hominid 0: A man who seeks the endless experience, he who wants to do it all. Homoro: The spirit of monotony Hoplic: A heavily armed man who shoots anything he sees. Hydrargyol: A human melted into a poisonous mercurial woman, not the sexy slime girl you might be imagining... Hydrozom: A former swimming champion, now he is the drowned fiend. Hydripholc: A massive hell hog that was the first thing to have rabies. Hyelic: A glass figure that shatters itself into others before reforming inside their bodies. Hygrox: A living mist that brings moisture, dampening everything around it until it's essentially a swampy mess. Hylen: The materialistic embodiment. Hylogger: A territorial treaunt who fiercely guards his home with creative yet thematically appropriate curses. Hypegion: A catastrophic force that causes disasters in order to test humanity, but also causes the least prepared to be the leaders. Hypnoid: A weird creature that keeps people asleep in order to enter their dreams. Hypsidooni: Regardless of the funny name, this being is a force that pulls people over the edge. Ichthyon: The fiercest of fishkind Illyngios: A ruglike entity that waits for people to walk onto it, and causes disorienting illusions. Iophio: A master of poisons. Insectorus: A tiny bug that controls all arthropods in a 50 mile radius. Isolotu: A living dimension that absorbs people into it, feeding on loneliness and isolation. Isopterr: A massive termite queen. Ithyphallon: A being who's favorite food is erect penises. Japani: A being that is all of Japan rolled up into one weird anime creation. Judeus: A golem who protects the sacred land of a forgotten sect of Jews. Kainoloth: A masked mage who sends people to unknown dimensions. Kakorrhaphi: A being who knows all your mistakes and failures, and never lets you forget... Katagel: A subconscious harlequin that knows how to trigger your anxiety Katsaridan: A hoard of roachfolk who spread their "gifts" Kenos: A living void that consumes all Kinetis: A being of movement. Kolpoi: A woman with mutated genitals. Kopor: A brown smoky substance that zaps people's energies. Konio: A certain species of living Dust. Kosmicut: A space lord of cosmic phenomena. Kymoci: A living tsunami. Kynole: A foamy substance that attracts animals, and makes them serve it's twisted whims. Kyphek: A lord who overworks his subjects, his demands usually lead them to become hunchbacked slave creatures. Leproser: The marquise of lepers Leukem: An albino herald of the white calamity. Ligyron: A floating machine that constantly generates eardrum shattering noises. Lilapsid: The living hurricane, it inhabits an old native american shaman. Limnius: Lady of the ancient lake. Linoni: An entity that uses lines to cut people to bits. Litifica: A prosecutor who gets all her opponents sued. Lockitrude: A malformed brood mother of mutated fetus creatures. Lui: An attractive man with highly contagious syphilis, once you're infected, everyone around is too... Lutrane: An otter of unusual size... and hunger.... Lygomorr: A skeletal spirit similar to Dusknoir who brings people into the dark void for eternity.... Lyssoam: An addictive white cream that causes instant madness. Macrone: A being that turns waiting into an eternal limbo (The state of existence, not the game) Mageir: A sinister cook that causes various horrific events. Maeius: A baby that crawls into pregnant woman to devour the fetus and pretend to be their horrifically deformed child until it kills them. Malaxuzz: An insectoid that keeps a "Lover" hostage and keeps them alive but also force feeds them, rapes them, and other such detestable acts... Maniax: A mad caricature of humanity, similar to The Mask or Judge Doom from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Mastigot: The grey punisher, he disciplines all misdeeds of one specific person until they die. Medomalan: A being that takes away all sexual desire. Medorth: A lizard that bites, giving an endless, ludicrously painful erection. Melist: A walking corpse that is also a hive of mutant bees. Melani: A black portal that sucks people into the Omega Reality. Melov: A living melody that brings obsession to all who hear it. Meningitane: A brain inside a cloud that causes brain disease. Meniuc: Living menstruation Merinth: A dominatrix goddess Metallance: A steel inquisitor. Methasriol: The entity of change Methysto: The alcohol demon Metroich: A mad poet Micronome: A pixie that torments people with tiny items Molysomoir: A being that tricks people into following it into the world of filth Monopand: A void that isolates people for eternity.... Monopathos: A being that uses humans to culture countless microbes... Motoret: A living mass of various motorized vehicles. Mottenus: A mothman that causes various disasters over a prolonged period of time. Murina: A mouse woman with a tail that acts as her evil side. Myrmecuni: A queen of an ant dimension Myhtroel: A gatherer of countless stories. Myx: An odd material that can take on any property, also happens to be alive.

[underimagines]

All Dolled Up - FellbrosxReader

So, if any of you remember this ask I answered a long time ago, I spun the Fellbros, particularly Pap’s, reaction, around in my head for a while and decided, “fuck it I’m gonna write this up”. So here you guys go. It’s also an early Birthday gift to myself (my b-day is Jan 30. I’ll be 23.), so the Reader is more myself than anything, but I kept it vague for you guys. EDT: Now on AO3. - Mod Sync

——-

“Hmm….. What to wear today?”

You shuffled through your clothes drawer, trying to decide on an outfit. It was a very lovely Summer day. Warm with a light breeze off the ocean, not a cloud in the sky to block the sun. Perfect for spending a day outside with your skeletal boyfriends. And lucky for you, Sans and Papyrus both had the day off today. You were gonna cash in this rare event for all its worth.

Now, if only you could decide what to wear.

You parused through your selection of shorts for what felt like the hundredth time. For some reason, you just weren’t… feeling your normal boyish style. You didn’t feel like wearing any of your shorts or pants or even a good number of your T-shirts.

You plopped down in a huff in front of your drawer. On a whim of slight frustration, you pulled open the bottom drawer, intending to push it closed in an attempt to relieve said frustration. Instead, you paused, your eye catching something.

It was a skirt of yours. One of the very few you had. You didn’t normally buy feminine clothing, only when whatever it was really caught your eye and just, resonated with you. And as such, it was very rare that you ever wore them.

You pulled out the skirt. It was a blue and white wrap skirt that fell below your knees. You remember getting it from one of the many New Age/Boho shops that dotted the shopping strip. You stood and tossed the skirt onto your bed. You also remember having a camisole that could go with it, a plain white thing that hugged your figure. Slip a swimsuit on underneath and you wouldn’t have to worry about it becoming transparent should you get it wet.

You appraise your choice once you’ve set it out.

Yeah. Yeah, this could work.

Looks like it’s a feminine day.

As you’re pulling on your chosen outfit, a thought occurred to you.

Sans and Papyrus had never seen you in anything even remotely feminine. This will be a treat. You giggled to yourself, imagining some possible reactions. Once you finished getting ready, a knock resounded from the front door. The boys were here. You rushed down to greet them, nabbing a pair of sandals from the shoe rack next to the door.

“Hey! You guy ready?” You beamed at them as you pulled the door open to let them in. They were both in more casual clothes, Sans in a t-shirt and swim shorts, while Papyrus, surprisingly, was in a nice black tank top and shorts, showing off his long limbs in the best of ways.

(God, Paps had legs for days, and the way he walked- stop that train of thought right now.)

“heya doll, yeah we’re ready.”

“YES, THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS IS ALWAYS PREPA-” Oh, now they notice. You giggle a bit at the stunned looks on their faces. Sans’ face started to turn red as he stared, but something seemed off with Papyrus’ expression.

“What are you wearing?” Papyrus quietly asked you, a waver in his voice you didn’t recognize. Your brows began to pinch in confusion and concern.

“A skirt…? I thought it would be oka-”

“Go back and change.”

You froze, wide eyed. That… wasn’t what you were expecting.

“Wha-”

“boss-?”

“Go back and change. I don’t know who forced you into this, but I will not allow them the pleasure of seeing you humiliated for their entertainment.” He took you by the arm and began corralling you back to your room. “You will go change back into your normal clothes and I will hunt down whoever has harassed you into this.”

“I- Wha- Papyrus, no one forced me into this! This is mine!” You cried, trying to wretch your arm from his grip. He held fast, but stopped moving.

“You need not be afraid of them, dear. I will protect you, now that I know someone dared do this to you. THEY WILL RUE THE DAY THEY THOUGHT IT WAS GOOD TO MESS WITH MY DATEMATE!” Now you were just frustrated and confused.

“What are you even talking about?! I bought this at the strip weeks ago, I even still have the receipt!” You tried again to pry Papyrus’ hand from your arm, still failing. This when Sans finally stepped.

“hey, boss? think we’ve got a misunderstanding on our hands. how ‘bout you step outside for a second, while sweetheart and i have a chat?” Papyrus looked over at his brother with a slight glare, before huffing and releasing you.

“don’t worry, bro. i’ll get this sorted out.” Sans gave his brother a quick pat, moving out of the way so Papyrus could head out front. Sans then turned to you, giving you a sheepish smile and a peck on your cheek.

“you ok there doll?”

“Initially? Kinda upset, but now I’m just confused.” You rubbed at where Papyrus had held onto you. It was only faintly red from his grip, seeing as he would never dare hurt you on purpose. “What was he talking about?” Sans sighed and scratched at the back of his skull.

“how many monsters have you seen in feminine clothes?”

You paused at this question. You trace back your memories since Monsters arrived on the surface and became part of your like. And you were honestly struggling. Sans easily recognized this and continued.

“one, maybe two, right? there was a reason for that sweetheart.” Sans scrubbed his face and gave you a weak, crooked grin. “you already know the underground wasn’t exactly a nice place. things like skirts, tights, dresses, and such didn’t offer protection in certain ways and could be restricting. not exactly safe for a ‘kill or be killed’ world.”

“Ok… And how does this transfer over to me now?”

“see, there were only a few reasons anyone would wear clothes like that. first, you were powerful and could kick enough ass that no one could tell you otherwise. think muffet, or the queen. second, you were a kid who didn’t know any better, or just plain stupid. that got corrected real quick in most cases, and… not always in pleasant ways.” Sans shuddered, and you didn’t ask to elaborate. “third was… well, you were a prostitute. And forth is that someone forced you into them for humiliation purposes. put you in something skimpy or restricting in public and let everyone ridicule you. sometimes… those times developed into worse than just words…”

You put a hand over your mouth in shock, unspoken implications clear to you.

“And he hasn’t noticed anyone else in skirts on the streets at all? Or even in the shops?”

“if he did, i don’t think it registered? and maybe he thinks it’s a weird human thing in the shops? i don’t know, wasn’t expecting that either.” Sans shruged, then heaved a sigh, giving you an easier smile this time, brushing his knuckles along your cheek. “it ain’t that you’re not good looking, all dolled up. you look absolutely gorgeous right now, and i don’t care what you wear. just, don’t hold it against Paps for the way he reacted.”

“No, it’s ok. I get it now. Let’s go talk to him.” You lead Sans out the front where Papyrus was still waiting. At the sound of the door, Papyrus turned to the two of you. You quickly hurry over to him, before throwing your arms around his middle and hugging him tight. He stiffened at the sudden contact, still getting used to such affections, but he hesitantly wrapped his arms around you and held you tight.

“Oh Pap, I’m so sorry if I scared you. I didn’t know. I just wanted to wear something different today, it’s normal for some people.” You shifted a bit in order to look up at him. “If it really bothers you, I’ll go change. I don’t want you to be on edge for no reason.”

“I WASN’T-, You don’t-, I-…” Papyrus stopped and took a breath, calming himself as he tried to find the words. “I… should apologize as well. I thought about it while waiting and… I shouldn’t have jumped to such conclusions. You’ve trusted us to tell you when something is wrong, and I… should have had the same amount in you. Please forgive my impudence.”

“You thought something bad was happening based on things you’ve known. I can’t fault you for wanting to protect me, even if it was a misunderstanding. But I also made a mistake, so, I guess we’re kinda even in that regard?” You gave him a quick squeeze, smiling up at him. He cracked a small smile back at you, finally beginning to relax again.

“You-… really do look lovely, though.”

“Heehee, thanks Pap, you look pretty damn good as well.”

“and what am i? chopped liver?” Whoops, you two had forgotten about Sans, but his teasing tone at least showed he was fine with that at the moment. “we all good now?”

You blinked up at Papyrus, “We good?”

He leaned down a pressed a kiss to your forhead. “Yes, it’s fine now.”

“great. so, we heading to the strip today, or next century?”

“Scare unsuspecting tourist?” You deviously offered.

“scare unsuspecting tourists.” He flashed you a wicked grin.

“NYEH HEH HEH HEH!! THOSE WEAKLINGS WILL NEVER FORGET BEING JAPED BY THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS!!!!”