#then after this i just got the church route left

[ghxstwrites]

Forgive Me Father

Pairing: Priest! Yunho x GN! Reader

Summary: It’d been forever since you stepped into a church, but after one too many life altering events, a friend suggested confessing as a last resort, and it turns out you got more than you prayed for. 

WC: 2.6k

AU: Religion! Au

Genre: smidgen of Angst, Smutty smut smut smut, porn with plot

Warning(s): Smut! MDNI! priest kink went brrrrr with this man, dacryphilia, impact play, lotttsss of degradation, lil bit of praise, discussion of religion and blasphemous acts, reader can be a bit of a smartass, unprotected sex (that's not very holy… wrap it up) - sorry if i'm missing anything!

A/N: Well, I wont ever see Heaven after this. Thank you to @bunnliix for the proofread and help on this one, also @skzdust for you Catholicism knowledge, big shout out to @kpop---scenarios for the title!

Nets: @mirohs-aurora-society

Tag List: @bethelighthalazia @a---shura @kpop---scenarios @autieofthevalley @wisejudgedragonhairdo (send me an ask if you'd like to be added!)

Kinktober & Flufftober Masterlist

It felt like one thing after another, your fiancé ran away with their co-worker and work had eliminated your position, and you’d lost what was supposed to be a lifelong friend in the process, it felt like something was out to get you. You’d tried everything to help clear any negative thoughts with every feasible solution you’d been recommended when searching the internet.

Journaling? Didn’t work - after you’d nearly jammed the pen through one of the books writing all the warning signs down after your fiancé left, and ruined another with tears talking about your friend.

Yoga and Meditation? Nope, after 3 sessions you decided being alone with your thoughts was definitely not the route you wanted to take.

Blasting your favorite songs? It worked… until the song you were going to use as your first dance at your wedding came on. Your speaker went through the open window right before you cried yourself to sleep that night. 

Which brings you to today, a group of your friends had decided to invite you out to lunch, the first time you’d really seen the world had set its sights on you. 

“Oh sweetheart…,” your friend cooed at you across the table, it sounded like she was mocking you at first, despite you knowing she wasn’t, you weren’t convinced she had an evil bone in her body. “Listen… I know it isn’t usually your thing, but.. Have you thought about church? Or even going to confessionals? They don’t really talk to you, the priest just listens…. Once you're done he offers solutions and if you use them, great. If not, no harm no foul?” she shrugs her shoulders unsure of her own words to you. 

You contemplated for a minute “You’re right it isn’t my thing, I don't really get how sitting next to a stranger who’s whole personality is religious context, talking to him like you’re talking to air…but if it works for you, that's great… for you,” You, admittedly a little harsh, reply back to her. 

Late one night you’d sat on your bed looking for jobs on your laptop, and with every passing one you’d grown more frustrated, you either didn’t have matching qualifications, they wanted a better degree or they weren’t even paying a livable wage. 

“Fuck this,” you huff out as you close your laptop, shoving it off your lap and fall back in bed. You’d pull your hoodie over your face as you listen to the sound of rainfall hit your apartment window and your friends' words ring back in your brain, what else did you really have to lose? Talking to a stranger who knows nothing about you and would likely never see you again, huffing you get dressed and head over to your local church.

Walking in, you take note of the admittedly beautiful surroundings, stained glass windows, marble statues, all of it was cloaked in darkness as night had fallen, but the moon light cascaded through the windows beautifully. 

You took a moment to look around, familiarizing yourself with your surroundings as it had been years since you’d entered a church. Wooden pews, rich velvet red floors, as dated as it may look, it was beautiful. 

It wasn’t long before your eyes fell on the confessional, a wooden box in the far corner of the room, sighing to yourself, you walked toward it. You slowly reach for the handle and open the door, you sit down in the booth as the silence is suddenly so loud. 

“What brings you here, Child?” A male voice spoke from the otherside of the grate.

Startled, you respond as calmly as you can. “I-I’m down on my luck and a friend suggested this… I’m hoping you can listen or help?”

The man spoke up once again “Very well, you may proceed.”

With a heavy sigh you proceed to recount the last few months of troubles to the man, feeling yourself getting angry and the tone shift slightly. You feel like you can dig your nails into the laminated wood you sat on, that same grit showing up in the way you speak.

“Easy child...” the man lulls out at you “There's no need to speak with such venom.”

The tone of his voice admittedly going straight to your core, but why? You don’t know anything about the young priest on the other side, other than exactly that, a young man who has devoted his life to the church, are you really that insane?

“Sorry sir -” 

“Please, refer to me as father, Father Yunho,” He cuts you off.

“Sorry Father…” you manage to say back, a calmness washing over your voice as you try to push those thoughts  to the back of your mind.

“Father, please help.” you whine out, feeling frustrated “I am at the end of my rope and nothing seems to be working,” you admit.

“I see… is that all you’d like to confess, child? I have a feeling there is more,” he all but whispers. 

The way his words fall from his mouth has you pushing your thighs together, his voice was as velvety as the floors of his church, delicate yet demanding.

“N-no father,” you say, barely above a whisper, when you hear a small chuckle on the other side.

“Very well, I sense that you need to reflect on yourself and perhaps your relationship with our savior, putting your faith in him may guide you to the path you are seeking,” he retorts back at you.

“Thank you Father.. For listening and.. Helping,” you sound pitiful, you felt as if you were about to cry

“If you feel the need to come back to confess anything further, I’m always here child.” he said back to you, his tone calm but with a hidden undertone to it that you couldn’t quite discern.

It had been a few weeks since you’d gone to visit Yunho, and out of everything you confessed that night, the one thing that stuck with you was the sound of his voice. 

The way it flowed like warm honey wouldn’t leave your head, what would your name sound like falling from those lips, the noises he’d make, maybe even… No, stop, he's a priest, he was there to listen and guide you and now all you can think about is the noises you could make him elicit.

You’d laid there, it’d been a rough day as several more rejection emails clogged your inbox, you think back to the young priest's words, full of encouragement - but the more they replayed the more you stirred, your hand guiding its way down your body, “Father please…” you’d softly moaned out as your hand dips into your shorts.

It had felt like the universe had given you a break, you’d been given a job offer, and a nice one at that, could this have been the divine intervention the young priest was talking about?

Despite the feeling of gratitude, and things looking up - there was still one thing in the back of your head. 

Father Yunho.

You found yourself back in the walls of the church late one evening, you’d just come from your first day of work and since the church was on the way home you wanted to stop in, if nothing else to pay your respects and close this chapter of your life. 

You’d sat down on the cold bench in the confessional. “Father Yunho? Are you there?”

“Oh it’s you again,” he speaks softly. He remembered me? “Is everything okay?”

That damn voice, the way it seeps out of his mouth, the way it makes you think the unholiest thoughts in the holiest of places.

“Y-yes… well yes and no,” you say to him “I was able to find a job, Today was my first day actually, I wanted to stop in and say  thank you…’ you trailed off

“And?” the young priest smirks to himself, he knows something else has brought you back - no one comes to confess a warm hearted thank you. “I feel as if there is still something you are withholding, child.”

“Please, call me Y/N…” you muster, trying to change the subject.

“Very well, Y/n,” he says, “Please, I will not force you but how can I help you if you do not confess what is plaguing you?”

Damn it. He has you cornered, you can’t back out of this now. 

“F-Father, please forgive me, but I.. I have sinned,” you whimper out. “Since the last time we spoke I.. I can’t stop thinking of you.” you confess to the young man sitting across the partition from you.

“Thinking of me? Thinking of me, how?” he asked you.

“I-” you choke on your own words, “Late at night.. When I replay your words, they start as encouragement and then I can’t help but think of what other sounds you can make.. I..” you look at the floor, embarrassed by your own confession, across the partition Yunho's face is getting hotter, and embarrassingly enough to him, his pants are getting tighter. 

When Yunho took the oath to be a faithful leader for Christ on the altar in this very church he made many vows, including celibacy, which never affected him until now. You, a seemingly innocent individual, came to him for advice, advice he was happy to offer to you, and now sitting across from you as you recount the blasphemous things you’d done while thinking about him, had made him feel things he’d never felt before.  

“Y/n, Pl-Please,” Yunho whined out

“I’m so sorry Father… I feel so ashamed at the amount of times I've gotten off to just the mere thought of your voice…” you feel the tears well up in your eyes.

Yunho is sat across from you and with every whimper and sob he feels it go straight to his dick, painfully aware of just how bad he’s affected you, as it’s now affecting him.

“Y-Y/n.. Please.. I…” he breathes out as his head tilts back against the confessional as he tries to push the thoughts out of his head, but now all he can think about is your tear stained face begging for forgiveness and he lets out a low moan. 

“Father are you… are you okay,” you lift your head to look at the mesh partition as if it were him. “I’m sorry if I…If i said too much.”

“Such- ah- filth should be reprimanded,” Yunho says through gritted teeth.

The sound goes straight to your core, causing you to press your thighs together in response.

“Father I -” Your words were cut short by the confessional door swinging open, leaving you face to face with the young priest. 

“You come into the house of Christ with such a perverted mouth and expect me to let you walk away?” He spat at you.”You are beyond saving Child,” as he pulls you out of the confessional and pushes you onto a nearby pew, leaving you shocked.

“The likes of you should be punished” he sits next to you and pulls you over his lap eliciting a yelp from you. His large hand comes down on your ass, the sound echoing through the church, causing you to cry out. 

“Quiet, you’ll take the punishment as penance for your sins, understood?” You let out a muffled sob “Now, Count.”

“One..” spank “T-Two,”  spank  “Th-Three,” you cry out as Yunho's broad hand comes down on your ass, tears rolling down your face.

“Such a waste of obedience in such a disobedient slut,” he says to you, gently massaging your asscheek from the smacks. 

“On your Knees,” you quickly move to place yourself on the ground. “Years ago, I vowed to Christ I would serve him in all his glory, I vowed obedience, poverty and celibacy.. And then my only thanks is to be sent a filthy slut to break me of those vows.” he spits as he removes his robe, and makes quick work of his belt. You sat back watching his every move, eyes eventually finding the tent that had been forming in his slacks.

“Father.. Please… please forgive me,” you sob up at him. “Quiet, you’ll speak when spoken too, understand?” he looks down at you. “Yes, Father” you squeak out as he smirks. “That’s better…” he reaches out to cup your face, wiping the stray tear away. ‘Now, why don’t you put this pretty mouth to good use?” he coos at you, tracing your lower lip with his thumb. 

Leaning back, he pulls out his aching cock, you lean forward and give him and give him a couple experimental pumps, which draws a beautiful noise out of the taller man before taking him completely in your mouth. 

The warm wet feeling has him in shambles, he’s putting all of his focus into not cumming down your throat immediately as you expertly work his length, his hand finding your hair as he attempts to take control of the situation. 

“There you go…” He lulls out, as his mouth drops open, as an unfamiliar pit starts forming in the pit of his stomach. He can feel it building as you bob your head up and down his cock, his grip on your hair tightening as he feels himself getting close, he pulls you away from him, using the hand in your hair to make you look up at him. Drool trailing out of your mouth as you look at him with slightly glassy eyes.

Looking at you, a switch flips in his mind, “So pretty, so obedient for me,” he says barely above a whisper as a smirk forms on his face. “Up, I’m not finished with you,” he pulls you to your feet as he stands up, leading you up to the altar, he forces you over it as he kicks your feet apart, he reaches for your hair, pulling it forcing it to look up. In front of you is a large marble statue of Christ. 

“To make sure you know just what you’ve done, I want you to see him,” he says sternly as tears well in your eyes again, before you can form a reply you feel Yunho’s cock slide into you, bottoming out rather quickly. The young priest throws his head back as his fingertips dig into your hip, causing you both to moan. Yunho pulls out slowly before ramming himself back into you, setting a rough pace. 

 “Father.. P-Please” you beg as his grip on your hair tightens. “F-uck please.. I can’t last much longer like this, Father please,” tears stream down your face as you stare at the marble statue in front of you.

“Not my favorite sinner begging for forgiveness now” he quips at you, his pace slowing down “Tell me exactly why I should forgive you for the sin you’ve brought into this church? Before our Lord and savior?” He punctuated each word with a sharp thrust. “How pathetic, now you’re crying?” he smirks as he pulls you back, body flush with his “Go on, let go.. Show me how much you really are sorry,” He coos in your ear. 

“Father - I.. I” your mind goes blank, your orgasm hits you like a ton of bricks with one final thrust from Yunho, his name falling from your lips like hymns on a Sunday morning, he lets go of your hair, causing you to fall forward onto the altar as he pulls out of you, painting your back in his seed. The feeling of his seed on your back makes you shudder, the aftershocks of your orgasm pulling the energy out of you as you lay on the altar. Catching his breath, Yunho looks down at you, covered in his release and smirks.

”Whoever conceals their sins, does not prosper,” He breathes out  “but one who confesses it finds mercy.”

[queenofthekings]

𝓢𝓽𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓐𝓵𝓲𝓿𝓮

Summary: Your story of survival in New York, and the promise you made to Eric.

Author’s note: If I get anything wrong about New York, pls don't yell at me I'm just a Brit who's never been and is relying on the movie and my friends for help lmao. Special think you to @littlexdeaths for helping me with this, without you I probably wouldn't have gotten this finished. And if any of you see a reference to The Enemy, no you don't.

CW: 18+, fluff, descriptions of injuries, horror, spoilers for a quiet place day one.

Word count: 1.5k

Tagging: @espressomunson.

Any hate will not be tolerated, constructive criticism is welcomed.

You’d first met Eric in class, his accent being the first thing you noticed about him. Like him, you’d travelled far to attend law school in New York and both of you would talk frequently after classes about life back home and how different New York was compared to it.

The more you got to know each other, the more romance blossomed between you. He would always wait for you before class and go in with you, sitting beside you just so he could brush his fingers against your hand or whisper something funny into your ear to distract you.

You were expecting him to ask you out on a date, but then the world fell apart.

When it started, you were with a couple of your classmates, just laughing and joking around and then it stopped.

You barely had time to react before something akin to a bomb exploding just down the street caused everyone to start screaming and running all around you. Your lungs and eyes were burning from the smoke, and you could barely see but all you knew was that you needed to run. You had no idea where your friends were, but you hoped they were just hiding somewhere, and you’d see them soon as you darted into a bookstore.

With shaking hands, you got out your phone and dialled Eric’s number, silently praying he’d pick up only it went straight to voicemail. “Eric, it’s me. If you get this, stay where you are; I will come for you, okay? I will come find you. I’m so fucking scared right now, but I hope you’re still out there and you’re safe.”

You wanted to tell him you loved him, but you were too scared to, what if he didn’t feel the same way? God, feelings were hard when the world was ending.

You ended the call and looked around you, trying to find anything of value, picking up a map and a small nightlight you could use as a torch. You weren’t entirely sure where you could go but staying where you were clearly wasn’t an option. Shoving your things into your backpack, you hesitantly walked back out onto the now quiet street, trying your best not to walk on any broken glass or rubble.

Tears began running down your cheeks as you walked, but you didn’t bother wiping them away. You had to come to terms with the idea that you were the only one left; your friends were gone and so was Eric, even if that thought killed you.

As you walked, you wished you could listen to your music to drown out the silence with the occasional bursts of screaming but you knew it was too dangerous, you had to be alert at all times.

As night started to fall, it began pouring with rain and even through your hooded jacket, you were soaked through. You ran towards some shelter as fast as you could, you ended up finding an abandoned church and slipped inside the door as quietly as you could.

Being careful to avoid the puddle from the hole in the roof and the massive hole in the floor, you made your way to one of the pews and finally rested.

Sleep didn’t come easy for you that night, but you managed to get maybe a couple of hours, better than nothing, you supposed.

In the morning, you looked over your map to find the best route to South Street. It wasn’t going to be easy, but you knew it had to be done, even with the number of blisters you’d gotten on your feet from walking so much the day before.

Sliding off your shoes, you assessed the damage and wondered if you should trek out to find a pharmacy to get some band aids but just as you were about to put your shoes back on, you heard a commotion from the hole in the floor, with two people climbing out of it.

You froze as you slowly made your way over towards them, your heart pounding in your ears as you saw Eric. You couldn’t quite believe your eyes as you got down onto your knees next to Eric’s head, a shaky hand on his shoulder.

His eyes opened and instantly locked with yours, slowly getting up to embrace you, even if he was soaking wet. You tried your best not to cry but after everything you’d both been through, you couldn’t hold your emotions back and neither could he; you both held each other and cried quietly.

Eric refused to let you go, and you refused to let him go – even for a second. You slept together wrapped up in each other’s arms that night, finally getting some decent sleep at last.

In the morning, you could tell Sam wasn’t doing well and both you and Eric offered to go get her medication, Eric refusing to let you go. Reluctantly, you allowed him to go but not without giving him a kiss on his cheek, a silent promise that you’d see each other again.

You stayed with Sam, initially playing tic-tac-toe together but eventually getting to talk about each other’s lives before everything went down. Went to school together, had a massive crush on him you wrote on the notebook, causing both of you to laugh silently.

“He talked about you a couple times,” Sam whispered. “Always wanted to find you, now it makes sense why.”

You weren’t entirely sure what that meant, but in your heart you hoped it meant that he felt the same way about you. You kicked yourself for letting him go with just a kiss on the cheek and not a proper love confession, just more reasons to make sure he came back safely with Frodo in tow.

The four of you stayed in the church until the next morning, deciding to venture out to find Patsy’s. You and Eric never let go of each other’s hands, not for a single second.

But when you were out in the open, you’d knocked over an abandoned suitcase, the sound echoing throughout the silent streets. All four of you froze for a moment, before you knew you had to lead the monsters away to give Eric and Sam a chance.

Pressing a kiss to Eric’s lips, you pushed him away and sprinted away in another direction, screaming as much as you could to draw them towards you. It didn’t even fully occur to you that you could die in the process, but as long as Sam, Frodo and Eric made it out, that’s all you cared about.

That was the last time Eric saw you, saving his life. And all he could think about in that moment was how much time he’d wasted not telling you how he felt. And now, you were gone.

By the time Eric got onto the final boat with Frodo, he finally allowed himself to cry, to mourn over the loss of both you and Sam. At least he still had Frodo to comfort him, he closed his eyes and just stopped to listen to the purring cat in his arms until it jumped out of them. His eyes opened instantly, feeling himself on the verge of a panic attack as he looked around for that black and white cat.

Until he saw him at someone’s feet, his eyes filled with tears, clouding his vision but he could tell the person was walking towards him. Wiping away his tears, he got a good look at the person. He blinked several times, not quite believing his eyes.

It was you.

Battered and bruised, a long cut down the left side of your face, but still you.

You smiled once Eric noticed you, the cut across your face contorting a little so it almost looked like a half grimace. You took a seat next to him, handing back Frodo. “Hi,” you said, your voice a little croaky after not being used in what seemed like forever.

“Hey,” he said back, his voice just as croaky. “I thought I’d lost you, too.”

You shook your head, petting Frodo. “I was almost a goner,” you pointed to your face. “But I got saved at the last second, I don’t even remember by who. I thought I’d died, but my face hurt too much. Couldn’t even see out of my left eye at first, but I knew I had to get to here.”

“You still look beautiful,” he moved a stray hair away from your face, not even flinching like most people did at seeing your cut.

You pulled a face, letting out a small hiss in pain as you forgot the cut for a moment before you rested your head on his shoulder. “So what happens now?”

Eric sighed, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. “I don’t know, but one thing I know for sure; I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

You laughed softly, shaking your head once again. “Don’t you worry, I’m not going anywhere. I’ve got all I want right here; I have you and we have Frodo.”

“Good. Even then, I’ll follow you wherever you wanna go,” he whispered, capturing your lips with his in a gentle kiss.

[yanderepuck]

Do they get lost easily? What is their sense of direction like?

Napoleon: he's got a great sense of direction, until he gets distracted. Can not multitask. You will get lost. Has gone the wrong direction to the mansion many times because a kid he teaches came up to him and started talking to him. But he also knows the streets of Paris very well so it's easy for him to get back on track

Mozart: decent???? It's not like he's going out anyway to be able to learn what is where. But as long as he can eventually find the Seine he's fine

Leonardo: almost perfect but what else do you expect. Man used to make maps. However he will never admit if he is lost, he'll never ask someone for help and he's going to make you believe he knows where he is going

Vincent: it took him a month to find the kitchen in the mansion. Do not send this boy outside. What were you thinking. He's checking Google maps every block even though he's walking straight for 10 minutes.

Theo: very good. He goes to word places for clients and he knows about dumb little alleys for shortcuts. They look sketchy as hell but when he's in a hurry he doesn't care.

Arthur: not as good as you would think but not bad. Yes he is very aware of his surroundings but he also gets lost in his thoughts a lot. He's also not asking for directions.

Isaac: not a clue. He has to take the same route every time to the university or he will get lost, even if he's just one street over.

Dazai: it's not that he has a great sense of situation it's the fact that he will just climb a building into the roof and look around to get an idea of where he needs to go.

Jean: he also goes the same route every time, but if a street is closed he doesn't panic, but he always ends up taking a very long route. 'i know a short cut' one hour later.

Will: very reliant on landmarks. He takes a carriage just about everywhere so he knows things from looking out the window. He knows the area around the theater but after a certain point he is lost.

Comte: he only has two locations in his head. The mansion and the bakery baguette store. No where else. He relies on a carriage so much.

Sebastian: he's giving you the most detailed directions. He knows the sketchy little alley ways. He may not have been to that specific store but he can get you there no hesitation.

Vlad: oddly yeah. He walks around with his flower cart after all. He might be a little hesitant on something, but he's getting you there eventually.

Faust: as long as he starts from the church he can get you anywhere. Very reliant on landmarks.

Charles: for as dense as he is, he's pretty good with direction. But he gets distracted easily so he ends up going in the opposite direction anyway.

Drake: immaculate. Better than Leonardo maybe. He's a pirate after all. He's got a compass in his head I'm sure.

Galileo: for someone who studies the stars he's not good with left and right. He's not a complete loss but give him a moment and he'll get you there. Is half and half in asking for directions

[thedeviltohisangel]

All The Things I Did (8): That Girl Is Going, Going, Gone

a/n: ok a bit of a different chapter! this is more cass than john & cass until we get to the main event. i PROMISE the next chapter will pick up right where this one left off (don't be mad, be excited!). lots of warnings for this chapter and hopefully you guys don't change your love for her after reading about berlin. please let me know your thoughts & send in any interlude (aka novels) requests. always open. love ya xoxo

warnings: murder, blood, death of minor character, smut

Cass looked at Will with horror as he opened a black briefcase and set it on the ground of the alley way. It looked a lot like a gun. 

“Will, no one said anything about an assassination.” She had shot a gun before. Had been shot by a gun before. But she had never pointed one at another human being and pulled the trigger. 

“Cass, you’ve got this. You stay steady and you’ll be fine.” She rolled her eyes. Of course he would think it was so simple. He wasn’t the one expected to pull the trigger. To take a life.

“Walk me through the plan again.” 

“Dressler comes through this main drag on the way to his country estate. We track him to the edge of the woods where your asset has placed an obstacle for the car and when he gets out, you take the shot.” Cass knew it wasn’t going to go according to plan because things like this never did. Because Dressler had been on OSS’ target list for almost a year and they were the third pairing of agents to try and accomplish this task. “You scored better than me on the range. Don’t think for a second you aren’t the right choice for this.”

“And we avoid the fatal flaws from previous iterations. Don’t approach the vehicle. Maintain surveillance detection tradecraft. Make the exfil window.” 

“That’s kind of a big one, isn’t it?” he smiled. She was too busy testing the weight of the weapon in her hand to notice. “I meant it when I said I’d get you back home to him.”

“You got someone to get home to?” Will shrugged. 

“Thought I did. Then I got a letter last week…it’s for the best. Loving someone in this line of work isn’t for everyone.” Cass gently palmed his cheek.

“Then we’ll get you home to find someone who will make it work.” Find someone who would love those doubts right out his head the way John had for her. Find someone who’s passion for their work matched in kind. Find someone who would help him clean the blood off his hands when the war was over. 

----

It was Sunday and the roads were filled with people going to and from church. Cass was in a white dress, Will in a suit, as they each smoked a cigarette while they waited for mass to let out.

“When did you start smoking?” 

“I didn’t. Still don’t really drink either.” She dropped the cigarette onto the sidewalk and pressed it beneath her foot. “They take away your control over yourself. I don’t like the way they make me feel.” But she thinks she was learning to like the smell of smoke on the collar of John’s jacket. The bitter whiskey on his lips when he kissed her. The way his face flushed and his curls pressed to his forehead and his hands wandered after a night of them both. The doors opened and people began to exit the church.

“I’ll go get the car,” Will said, slipping into German with ease. Cass nodded and removed a compact from her purse. She pressed the powder to her nose as she caught sight of Dressler over her right shoulder. She counted two men who looked like SS hovering around him for protection. They escorted him to a waiting Mercedes, Will pulling up to her a few minutes after their departure. “Let’s go kill some Nazis.”

They took the occasional turn to ensure no one was following them, maintaining a safe distance from the target who was following the route from church to his compound outside of Berlin just the way they had mapped it. 

“Final weapons check.” Cass pulled the chamber to ensure a bullet was loaded before releasing it back into place. “Will…if something goes wrong, we abort and get to the airfield. We don’t need to force this.” 

“Copy, Lieutenant,” he smirked. “But it would be nice to be the one to knock Dressler off the list.”

“I agree but-” Her hands flew to brace against the dashboard as he slammed on the brakes. An overturned horse cart was blocking the Mercedes path and the car sat still as the occupants determined what to do.

“Come on,” Cass whispered, “Get out of the goddamn car.” The door opened and one of the SS officers got out and walked towards the cart. 

“Close protection remains,” Will muttered. When the second SS officer exited, Cass began to get nervous. He walked towards her side of the car and she rolled the window down with a smile.

“Good morning, sir. Is there a problem with the road ahead?” The pistol was hidden in the fold of her skirt, her thigh acutely aware of the metal. 

“Yes. We’ll need you to turn around so we can go back the way we came.” She knew there was no other way to get to the compound. Knew they were really just clearing them from the area. She opened her mouth but the words were silenced as Will whistled. The third door was opening. 

Will pushed the car into reverse and rolled over the foot of the man by her door. He dropped quickly with a yell. It took one second for her to lean her body out the window. One second for Dressler to look in her direction. One second for her to shut down her humanity, inhale, exhale and pull. Between his eyes and he was gone. A man who only answered to Himmler. It was automatic for her to move the gun to the man on the ground. He had seen their faces. Looked her in the eyes and stared at her legs. A loose end and he was gone, too. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” she screamed as Will took them backwards down the road as quickly as he could. The second SS officer in the car and chasing after them as quickly as he could. “What did I just do?” 

“What you had to, Cass!” They both ducked as the first bullet hit the front of the car. “Hang on.” The car pulled sharply to the left as they raced through a field, another bullet pinging off the exterior of the car. 

“Two minutes until takeoff.” Her watch seemed to be ticking faster than usual. As if the universe was trying to close the gap between here and home. The Mercedes gained ground and nudged the back of their car, spinning them in a circle Will couldn’t regain control of. 

“Run!” They could see the clearing in the not too far off distance. Her knees hit the ground before she pushed herself up with urgency and took off at a sprint. She heard the consistent popping of a gun behind her but she kept running. 

Cass collapsed on the open hatch of the low profile plane and let herself slide down as it closed, Will stumbling in right behind her. 

“Do you think we did it?” she asked after they had settled for a moment. “Will?” She turned her head and noticed he looked a little pale. His breathing was labored. He turned and looked at her and he was afraid. She repeated his name again before she noticed his hand pressed to his side and the red blooming out from underneath it. 

“You guys good back there? Going to be bumpy if you can hold onto something.”

“Where’s your medical supplies? My partner’s been shot!” Cass pressed her hands with all her strength to the wound. She grunted as they took a tight turn and they slid to the wall of the plane. 

“Orange bag!” She grabbed it, the zipper slipping through her bloody fingers. Cass grabbed as much gauze as she could and the scissors, cutting Will’s shirt to get a better sense of what she was dealing with. 

“I’ve got to look and see if there’s an exit wound.” She rolled him slightly as he yelled in pain. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she said but there was a hint of relief to her tone as she found a matching wound in his back. She took a deep breath as she cleared the blood in search of the bullet’s entrance. Once she found it, she held the gauze to it and tried not to wince as his breathing sounded like it was growing ragged.

“Cass…” The gauze in her hands turned red, a pool of blood seeping out from underneath him. The wound wasn’t clotting and the rudimentary kit had no platelets to help. 

“You’ve got to hang on. Save your strength. We’ll be back before you know it.” An hour and she was out of gauze, cutting fabric from her skirt in its place. Wil was sweating. Paler. Taking a long time to inhale after he exhaled. “Do you remember back in school when I almost quit? You stopped me on my way to the Colonel’s office and told me the OSS needed me, that Europe needed a free spirit to bring back their freedom. Now, I need you to do exactly what you told me. Pull up your boot straps, keep your head in the game and fight through it.” His hand weakly rested on top of hers.

“You…did…”

“I’m right here. We can talk about it all when we get back.” A tear rolled down his cheek and a matching one rolled down hers. “Don’t do this, Will. Please.” His hand dropped to his side and there was no longer light behind his eyes. 

“Lieutenant, we’ve got wheels down in 30!” 

“Tell the control tower that Captain Foster is…” Her hands were on his chest as she tried compressions. Her tears were coming quicker now. She watched them drop on his face and he didn’t react. All she could hear was her own heartbeat and the silence of Will’s as she pressed and pressed and pressed and nothing happened. She didn’t notice the plane landing. The pilot calling her name. She kept pressing and pressing and pressing. 

“Cassandra.” Harding’s use of her full name pierced through the fog. It was soft and familiar and safe. “Cassandra, you have to let him go. Let the doctors look at him.” She couldn’t even imagine how she looked. His blood all over her arms and clothes. Her dress ripped from when she was trying to make bandages. Tears dried to her face and snot dripping from her nose.

“Where’s John?” she asked. That was who she wanted to see. The only person who could offer her comfort in this moment.

“He’s probably halfway to Norway by now taking a second strike at those submarine pens for you.” She choked out a laugh. No doubt John would be willing to do an extreme act of commitment such as this. “Come with me to get some water? Maybe some food?” 

“That sounds good.” He offered her his arm and she gripped it like without him she would collapse, letting him escort her out of the plane. There was a group of people waiting and watching. The mechanics to make sure Cass was alive and well. The medical team. Extraneous personal who just wanted a glimpse of the covert American intelligence officers.

Harding led her to the mess hall, the orderlies freezing at the sight of her before scurrying to set the table. He pulled a chair out for her and she sat and avoided his gaze when he took the chair across from her. 

“Were you successful?” 

“Yes, sir,” she croaked out as the food and drink was placed in front of her. Harding waved off the second plate they brought. “I apologize I wasn’t here to give the briefing this morning. I should have been available for their questions.” 

“You can’t be in two places at once, Lieutenant. You were where you were needed most.” She nibbled on a bite of eggs and chased it with a few gulps of water. “They’re going to want you to talk to a shrink.”

“I’ve talked to them before. Know how to play the game.” He reached for her hand across the table and she offered it, wanting the reminder she was here and she was okay. He looked like he was inspecting the blood dried into her knuckles and caked under her nails. “He was a friend. An old friend.” The loss would sting for awhile. 

“The world is a better place for the task you two accomplished.” Cass took a shaky breath and blinked back tears.

“Then why do I feel so awful?” Harding knew the general feeling of taking a life. He had dropped bombs and shot guns and watched the havoc with a smile. But he had never looked another human in the eye and watched the life leave it. “Why do I feel like I did something wrong?”

“War is not natural. The role we play in it won’t be either.” She nodded with understanding. “You feeling up to interrogation?” They would want a look at her before she was able to change and clean the blood from her skin.

“I don’t have a choice.” She hoped it would be the first and the last time she had to relive the traumatic moments this day had brought. “Thank you, Colonel.” He indulged himself for a moment. Held her chin between his thumb and pointer finger. Looked into the eyes that he had found himself learning to love. 

“You should get going,” he whispered. Before I say something I might regret.

----

“How you doing, Bubbles?” The medical wing was the first stop John had made after landing. He hadn’t been able to find Mary to ask for an update on Cass and Colonel Harding had disappeared almost as soon as the last B-17 touched down. 

“Never better, sir.” His eyes were flickering to the door at the end of the wing. A private exam room. Crosby was also oddly quiet. They had seen Lieutenant Cooper be escorted back there almost an hour ago and she hadn’t emerged. They hoped nothing was wrong because they didn’t want to be in the radius of John Egan when he found out.

“That’s good. I was actually looking for you, Crosby.” John paused as both men continued to shift in their seats. “They not keep you comfortable?”

“No, sir, I mean yes, sir, I’m fine it’s just-” Bubbles stopped as the entrance opened and he recognized the secretary from Lieutenant Cooper’s office. She looked vaguely horrified to see John Egan.

“Mary! I stopped by but you weren’t there. Any word from Spook?” Bubbles, Crosby and Mary all looked at each other. “Clearly, I’m on the outside of whatever this is.” John’s finger twitched as his side. He wasn’t liking the feeling in his chest.

“Colonel Harding didn’t talk to you, sir?” He liked that even less.

“No. Mary, whatever is going on, I need to know right now.” Her gaze dropped to her feet.

“I can’t, sir. It’s need to know at this moment in time.” His chest heaved at her words. 

“You can’t?” He spun back towards the airmen. “Then why do you two look like you know something?” Why wasn’t anyone telling him anything? What happened that they were keeping from him. 

“Sir, we don’t really,” Crosby started. 

“Someone just please fucking tell me if I need to start grieving.”

“Can’t get rid of me that easily, Major.” She is trying so hard to smile because John is who she has been wanting all day. But he turns to look at her and he looks so relieved and she hasn’t felt safe enough to show emotion since she left his arms a few days ago. 

“Cass…is that…blood?” He walks towards her slowly. They had let her wash the blood from her arms and face but there was still some dried into her hairline and soaked into her dress. She nods as a sob rips from her throat. “Oh, Cass, baby.” She collapses into his chest as soon as he is near enough. 

“Will’s dead,” she sobs into his neck, “I tried so hard. I wasn’t good enough.” His arms were iron around her, the only thing keeping her standing. 

“I know you did everything you could.” He kissed the side of her head and stroked his hand down her hair. “I’m sorry you lost a friend today, my love.” The word felt like a slap across her face. She was so undeserving of his love after what she had done. She had taken the life of another, twice over. She could scrub at her skin but the blood would never wash away.

“Will you take me back to my room?” He slid an arm under her knees and lifted her so she was in his arms, her arms around his neck and her head resting on his shoulder. “Don’t let them take me away from you. Please.” 

He noticed the stares and whispers that followed as they made their way to her billet. He didn’t put her down until they were safely behind her closed door.

“We should get you cleaned up,” he noted as she sat on her bed and looked through her wardrobe for her shower kit. 

“How was Norway?” she asked quietly. 

“Successful. Had to leave Biddick in Scotland but he’ll be fine.” He found the basket of her toiletries and a towel. 

“Good. I’m glad you guys were able to use the information.” She smiled. “I’m sure Curt will find his way around quite well.”

“I can stand outside the door. Make sure no one bothers you.” John was offering her a few moments to shed her armor and embrace the emotions that were still heavy in her chest. 

“Outside the door will be too far.” Cass stood and pressed her forehead against his lips, asking for the strength of his touch during this weak moment. 

“I don’t want to be intrusive.” 

“I’m asking you to take a shower with me. That’s all.” They had seen each other naked. Shared a bed. Expressed the very real feelings between them. What was one more facet of domesticity gracing their lives? 

Cass undressed and stepped under the water and watched it run red down the drain until John’s chest pressed against her back. He wrapped one arm around the front of her chest and the other around her hips. She rested her own hands on top of his. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Her head turned so she could look at him. 

“They sent me there to kill someone,” she whispered. John stiffens for an instant before he recovers. “I killed him and his bodyguard because he saw my face.” She hates that in the moment she had been thinking about the fact that they would remove her from the field if they thought her identity had been compromised. That she wouldn’t be able to do the job the way it was meant to be done anymore.

“It’s okay you don’t feel good about it.” Cass smiled. He was the only one so far to not try and convince her that she had done the right thing. That she had made the world a better place and shouldn’t let the specifics bother her. This was why she had sought him out in the first place. This was why she loved him.

“They’re grounding me. Desk duty until further notice.” He reached for the shampoo and lathered it between his hands. She titled her head back into his waiting hands and let his fingers work through the roots of her hair, the last of the red going down the drain, her eyes closing as he soothed the ache away. 

“Bet you’re as happy about that as I was being Air Exec.” 

“Touche.” Next was a bar of soap, Cass turning around and John dragging it across her skin and focusing on the few spots of dried blood she hadn’t been able to scrub off in her haste earlier. He seemed to get lost in a trance, circling her breasts a few extra times and moving it slowly down her torso before letting it slip into the wispy curls between her legs. “So much for just a shower,” she whispered as her legs spread a little further. 

“I’ll stop, Cass.” He moved his hand and she grabbed his wrist and moved it right back.

“Make me forget, John.” The soap was discarded out the shower stall, his fingers dipping between her folds and relishing in her warmth. Her forehead dropped to his chest as she shuddered. 

“Remember what you said to me before you left?” His fingertip circled her clit and she nodded. “Said I could show you how much I love you when I get back.”

“I did say that,” she gasped as he slipped a finger into her and the heel of his hand rubbed her bundle of nerves with every thrust. “Oh, I like that a lot.” 

“I want to show you, Cass, show you properly.” She brought him in for a kiss as she felt herself getting closer and closer. “Take my time and love you the way you deserve.” 

“I want that too, John, please.” Her hips rocked at the same gentle rhythm of his hand as she chased the feeling stirring low in her belly. 

“I missed this sight, baby.” He had her like this once before, had only been separated from her a few days, but it had been too long. “Love having you like this.” 

“John, I-” The words caught in her mouth as he hit that sweet spot with a curl of his fingers and stars danced across her vision. He held her as her knees buckled, his fingers not stopping, as she kissed him to try and keep quiet if only slightly. “Take me to bed. Take me to bed and make love to me, John Egan.” 

He would be happy to oblige.

[ceddar-cheez]

Ok I have a minor gripe about Gale’s big romance night. Absolute spoilers because I’m just gunna brain vomit. I love this nerdy wizard a lil too much

So! I’m kinda peeved about how the choice to indulge Gale in magic sex has a lot more detail and effort than wanting to connect with him as a mortal in mortal flesh. You don’t even get naked when you choose mortal sex. It’s so disappointing because it feels like I made ‘the lame choice’ that they didn’t bother finishing and that undermines a big theme in his romance (or how I’m playing it)

I rolled a Barbie Bard so “love your true self!” is like central to the role play. So of course Barbie pushes that she loves him for his personality and not impressive tricks. But then if you go that route Gale is like ‘eh well if you wanna do it the old way then sure’. Like no no no Gale this is can be just as sensual as the other stuff… if not more really. The point is to empty your mind and be present in every part of your body. I used to overthink during sex (ADHD related) and it became a whole other level when I got out of my head. And like what is that magic sex if not Gale thinking reeeeaally hard?

Really I think the astral projection sex isn’t as amazing as he hypes it up to be. I mean just think, he says he hadn’t been with a mortal since being with Mystra and that relationship lasted a while (for how I interpreted it). I don’t think he’s had sex in his body in a long time. Cause Mystra doesn’t have a body, the astral sex would be fulfilling, but for Gale I can’t help noticing he left something behind

Himself

His whole body

That thing that feels touch and heat and pain

I think this illustrates what I think it feels like:

A tiktok woman (StruggleCare) was in labor and it was long and rough. She was in the hospital hooked up to an IV that was keeping her hydrated but she wasn’t allowed to eat or drink anything in case they needed to do an emergency c-section. Her body was hydrated, but after so many hours she was begging for water to get rid of her awful thirst. Something about the experience of feeling water in your mouth is important to tell your brain it’s not in danger. (They did give her water and her birth went fine, just in case you wondered how this particular tale ended)

I feel like Gale’s “ascended” sex is like that IV. He’s been parched for so long that he doesn’t notice the thirst.

But here comes Barbie Bard and this man tripping over himself saying how he likes her musk. In the shadowlands he stops you to make a comment about how hot you look fighting and sweating.

Mystra doesn’t have a musk. Nor does she sweat.

So really the question is… when was the last time he was actually touched more than on the hands? I wanted to see that touched-starved desperation. I just love the idea Barbie Bard took a man with his head in the stars and fucked him back to his own humanity.

Very Hozier if I do say so. I like the theme of finding salvation in human after being failed by a god with unobtainable expectations. (Mystra and God god aren’t 1-to-1 so not perfect fit)

Anyway I don’t know where I’m going with this except I guess it’s time to bust out Procreate. I wanna hear other’s thoughts on this too

[hoonieyun]

give up heaven

give up heaven

pairing: park sunghoon x reader "y/n"

genre: angst, drama, angel!sunghoon, human!reader

warnings: religious themes, suggestive, manipulation, major character death, profanity, coercion, corruption? overall 18+

summary: meeting sunghoon changed your beliefs in life. the love he showered you with and the light you felt with him was unlike anything you had ever felt before. he promised you that he would give up heaven for you so it was only right that you do the same.

notes: this was so ksfhsdf sorry in advance but i had to!!!!!

word count: 2637

ʚ ɞ

sunday was made for church. your pleated skirt, soft turtleneck, and black shiny mary jane shoes with a two inch heel, somewhat of a uniform that you’d wear on sundays when you went to church. 

your hair was done up in a sleek ponytail, two strands in the front left loose to frame your face, and the smell of warm coconut vanilla hugging your skin from your perfume. that was how you usually presented yourself on sundays when you go to church because…

sunday was made for church. 

it was, however, also made for sunghoon. sunday’s would be the day you’d sneak off with him. your parents having become too busy with church duties that they didn’t even bother to make sure that you made it home after church. after church, every sunday, you made your way home through your usual route, but for the last 2 months, instead of heading straight home from church you would make the right on the street instead of the left that led straight to your home. 

the path on the right led to sunghoon, who was always sitting in his vintage black chevy el camino, 1970. you had memorised it because he’d never let you forget the first time you got into his car and spilled a red cherry slushy on his seats. although he says that he forgives you, you made sure to make it up to him. 

so that’s where you were now, making the right on the street instead of the left, and soon enough sunghoon’s car came into your vision. it was parked next to a few garbage cans and the closer you got, the more sunghoon became visible. taking the cigarette out of his mouth and flicking it out onto the street while a smile breaks out onto his lips. a smile that made you smile. 

“hi, my pretty girl.” sunghoon says as you bend over, leaning into his car window. “hi hoonie!” you say, the petname falling from his lips causes a shade of red to to creep onto your cheeks. you swing his door open and take the seat and before you could even settle into the passenger seat and put your seatbelt on, sunghoon is leaning over and giving you a kiss. 

“sunghoon, stop that tickles!” you say and he can’t help but laugh at your cute reaction. 

he pulls himself off of you, although he doesn’t want to, and slightly ruffles the ponytail on your head. “you do your hair just how i like it?” he asks and you nod, your cheeks growing an even brighter red. 

“and the turtleneck? i thought you liked it when i-” sunghoon begins to say but you cut him off. “hoon, you know i had to cover it up. it hasn’t gone away yet.” you say, shyly. pulling up the turtleneck even more. sunghoon loved leaving little marks on you whether it be various shapes and sizes of hickeys or small love bites on your thighs. seeing his mark on you made him like you even more. 

“that’s alright, sweetheart.” sunghoon says before pressing a quick kiss onto your blushing cheek. “where we headed today?” you ask and he tells you its a surprise and that he’s been planning it for awhile. you start to feel butterflies in your stomach, you always imagined that sunghoon is the romantic type but he hasn’t shown that side of himself yet. 

usually the two of you would just spend hours in his car, sitting with one another and limbs entangled until nightfall. eventually you’d tell him that you needed to go home and after some failed convincing, he reluctantly takes you home; dropping you off on the corner before your home so your parents don’t see who you’re with. whenever they’d ask why you were home so late you’d just tell them that you were busy at the animal shelter or lost track of time at the botanical garden. 

after some driving and a quick stop at a minimart to get some food and your favorite cherry slushy, you and sunghoon arrive at your destination. a small outlook on a secluded side of a cliff, beautiful flowers and lush trees adorn the ground as sunghoon guides you to the spot, your hand in his. 

the sun is just setting when the two of you arrive and when you get there, you see a white plush picnic blanket sitting just a few feet from the edge of the cliff. candles and a small picnic basket sitting atop the blanket. “hoon? you did this for me?” you ask, your eyes wide and bright at his romantic gesture. 

“of course, sweetheart. do you like it?” he asks and you hug him in response. he returns a hug while also placing a kiss onto your head. “come on, let’s take a seat.” sunghoon once again pulls you by your hand to guide you as you take a seat on the blanket, taking in the view but sunghoon was too busy staring at you. something more beautiful that the sunset that was showering the two of you in a golden light. 

“what’s all of this for?” you ask, averting your gaze towards him. 

sunghoon wasn’t sure how to tell you this but he needed to do it. 

sunghoon’s eyes that were once soft and had a bright glint to them had turned dark, like he was hiding something. “everything ok… hoon?” you ask, unsure of why his behabior suddenly changed. “you know, y/n..” he begins. 

“you know that i love you right?” he confesses. although you and sunghoon had spent every sunday together for the last few months, neither of you have ever professed your love for one another. 

until now.

“you do?” you ask and he nods. softly brushing away hair from your face and gently cupping your cheek with his hand. “i wish that we could spend longer with each other but i’m afraid that we don’t have a lot of time left together…” sunghoon says and his words confuse you.

was he leaving? he couldn’t leave you… especially after just telling you that he loved you… right? “what do you mean? is everything okay?” you clarify and sunghoon sighs, looking down before answering your question. “what i’m about to tell you… is really hard; but promise you’ll believe me?” he asks and you nod in response. “words, pretty. use your words.” he says and although quiet and soft, a small yes leaves your lips. 

“all my life i felt as if i was running from someone. this person that had this control over and if i didn’t do everything that he wanted… then i would be damned to hell…

at some point… i disobeyed him and now i’m forced to live this life where i feel like i’m always on the run-” you cut him off…

“from who? sunghoon, what’s happening?” you ask. 

“let me finish. okay, sweetheart?” he says and you once again nod in response. 

“when i disobeyed him, he took everything from me. it felt like i was a bird with no wings and i had just fallen from the highest of places and plummeted to earth. it wasn’t fair…

i just wanted to live my life the way i wanted to but he didn’t allow me and in return… he punished me. i was so lost…

until i met you. yn… you brought so much light in my life and i’m so happy everytime i’m with you. i wish i could spend the rest of my life with you because i just love you so much.” sunghoon says, his sentence trailing off.

“i love you too! i want to spend the rest of my life with you too sunghoon!” you confess and sunghoon has to bite back a smile. “i know, my love; but you have so much going for you.” sunghoon says. “you’re so beautiful and smart and have the world to explore. i don’t want you to waste your life spending it with me…” sunghoon says and his words hurt you. how could he say that being with him is a waste?

you looked forward to sunday every week because you get to be with him. sundays became less about going to church and basquing in your faith and more about spending time with the man that made you feel loved. being with sunghoon felt like nothing you had ever felt before and you weren’t ready to let him leave or give up what the two of you have. 

“you’re not a waste of time!” you begin, now you were cupping his face with your hands. 

“sunday is my favorite day of the week because i get to be with you. i don’t know where i’d be right now if not… you. you make me feel so loved and i’ve never felt happier than when we’re together. 

sunghoon… please don’t leave me. i don’t know what to do without you. please…” you say, tears pooling at your lashes and sunghoon instantly wipes them away. 

“do you mean it, my love?” he asks and you answer before he could even finish his question. 

“yes! more than anything. i love you sunghoon…” you say. 

“you know, i’ve gone through so much in my life and you’re the one thing that makes me want to keep going. 

i’d give up heaven if i had to…” sunghoon says. 

his sentence causes your breath to hitch. does he mean that? does his love for you go past his belief and faith in god himself? that he loved you so much he was willing to relinquish the holy kingdom if it meant that he could be with you. 

“i… i would too.” you say, reluctantly but as the words leave your mouth the more you believe it. 

“would you really..? give up heaven… for me?” sunghoon asks, his eyes having become darker the longer the night went on. like it was reflecting the darkness of the night sky, the moonlight failing to even create any reflection of light in his eyes. 

“yes…” you say. 

“say it… say it then.” sunghoon says, his hand flying to your cheek. his grip was a bit tight. 

“i’d give up heaven for you, sunghoon.” you say and a smile spreads across sunghoon’s lips, but not the smile you’re used to. this smile was different. it was… wicked; like he was waiting for you to say that this whole time.

sunghoon himself said that he would give up heaven if he had to just so he could be with you, so it was only right that you do the same. 

as you’re looking into sunghoon’s eyes, his grip on your face gets tighter and you don’t realize that his fingers have made it’s way to your neck. the turtleneck not aiding in your breathing as sunghoon’s grip around your throat tightens.

“hoon… i- i can’t breathe.” you tell him as you try to pull his hands off of you. sunghoon starts to push you into the ground, his body above yours as he continues to hold a tight grip over your neck. tears falling from your eyes as you look at the man you love, his eyes filled with something sinsiter, a look in his eyes you’d never seen before. 

“i didn’t think it’d be so easy to get you to confess like that…

you know, that story i told you and everything i have told you, wasn’t a lie. i do love you but i have to do this. i’m an angel or a fallen angel, you could say. the big guy upstairs didn’t necessarily like my behavior because i didn’t think being an angel meant doing only good. 

i was SICK of being good because being evil… was way better than anything else. 

but he didn’t like that so he damned me to live on earth, taking my wings away and forcing me to live as a human… but i found a way to make it back to heaven.

if i sacrifice enough innocent lives to a special friend, he’d grant me a special wish to return to the pearly gates and finish what i couldn’t do before.” sunghoon confesses. 

his words were true. he did love you but he loved being evil way more than he loved you… and more than he loved any of the other innocent women he sacrificed in order to make it back to heaven and spread the darkness he was shunned for. 

ever since he was a young angel, sunghoon knew he was different, he didn’t agree with what the elders taught him and he was constantly getting in trouble for defying authority. it wasn’t until his 18th birthday when he was ostracized by god himself and sent plummeting to earth as punishment. 

on sunghoon’s 18th birthday, he tried to steal the halo of an elder angel because he believed that he could do better with it than some old man. word spread quickly and his evil regime made it’s way to father and before he could even plea for forgiveness; he was falling thousands of feet from the sky onto the dirt of earth. tossed away like he was merely trash. 

you were the last innocent person he needed to be able to get his wish from a certain someone in the depths of hell. the man in red instructed him to gather 1000 innoncent souls for him and in return, he’d grant him his wish of being able to return to heaven. so sunghoon did just that. 

for the last 300 years, sunghoon has been preying on innocent women, corrupting their minds with his evil ways and getting them to give up heaven for him. he felt fulfilled when they took their last breath and the liveliness behind their eyes dissipated. his love dissappearing at the same instance. 

you weren’t sure how you didn’t see the signs. sunghoon always made you feel like you were dancing with the devil but in more ways than not, he made you feel loved. something that the priests at church often preached about. how the devil will find ways to seduce you and make you feel good so that it was easier to believe in their wickedness and succumb to their evil ways. 

but you loved him and he loved you. so how could you not feel like you were in heaven whenever you were with him. 

as you took your last breath, sunghoon’s long and slender fingers left your neck. he had to put a lot more strength in his grip because of your turtleneck but in some ways it aided him in cutting off your airways. 

he slightly pulls back the turtleneck and the fabric reveals redness. his previous lovemarks were now covered by the redness of his handprints wrapping around your delicate neck. sunghoon sighs as he stands up, wiping his pants of dirt, and looks into the night. the moon was so beautiful and the stars seemed to shine so much brighter now. 

taking it as a sign that he did everything he needed to and that soon, he would be able to go back to heaven and with every angel in the white clouds. he’ll make sure that they all give up heaven the way he was forced to. 

copyright 2024 - present © hoonieyun all rights reserved

all writing here is fiction & not in any association with characters mentioned.

if you enjoyed reading this please consider reblogging and following <3

taglist: @silquids @augustloaf @shuichi-sama @who-tf-soddhi

[bingqiv]

Saw your post about the Doctor's outfits this series and yeah! It's fun to have him change every now and then but every episode is way too much. The Doctor always has An Outfit that's their signature look and it feels so odd not having that immediate recognisable signature. It's such a Thing that we've had scenes of quite a few Doctors picking their outfit post-regeneration.

Even if we look at someone like 12 who changed fits pretty frequently there were always core design elements that remained consistent across the board, so it felt like a cohesive look. His silhouette was basically always the same even when there was a change.

Besides, the Doctor's always been kind of out of place and larger than life so having one outfit sets them apart from everyone around them. As well as being a very good way of distinguishing between each incarnation and giving them a unique identity. Especially as the outfits themselves often give some indication of the kind of Doctor this particular regeneration will be.

Weirdly I think the outfit thing felt most glaring this most recent episode because the Doctor wasn't in it much. We got a whole wardrobe change just for that? I also feel like Ruby has carried over consistent design elements between costumes more than he has...

you’ve literally summed up my thoughts perfectly!

each doctor had a look that stayed somewhat consistent through their run. they had changes throughout their run but it still harked back to their initial fit.

they only introduced a second reoccurring costume for tennant’s doctor during season 3 and even that was just a colour change of the suit, tie and converse. it’s still identifiable as the tenth doctor. even during the 60th anniversary, tennant’s costuming was still very much in line with what ten wore.

with smith’s doctor, they only changed up his costume after the ponds left in season 7. but even then it still has the core elements that defined his costume (and era). they kept the bow tie, kept similar material for the jacket and kept similar boots. it is the same costume just spruced up a bit.

then you have capaldi. they kept a similar colour scheme amongst his different wardrobe changes and kept the silhouette of his jacket the same.

now if we take a look at the different costume changes that gatwa has had over SIX episodes. there’s been no real constancy (there was an attempt with church on ruby road and space babies that hasn’t followed through with the rest of the season). the costume change makes somewhat sense during devil’s chord (if you ignore the fact that the previous two outfits had sixties influences and would’ve made sense in that era). but i just don’t get why had to deviate with entirely different costuming for boom, 73 yards and dot&bubble. especially when the costume that his earlier promo photos had were so cool (the leather coat and striped shirt) and they could’ve had the blue shirt that was worn in space babies as an alternate costume.

i just don’t know why they’ve decided to go down this route since the doctor has always had a defining look that has followed through their seasons. whittaker’s doctor has such little variation in her costuming (which for all the complaining people had was very much a doctor outfit).

and you’re bang on with ruby having a more defining look than the doctor which is an interesting choice that rtd has made. especially as this season only has 8 episodes and we have at least one more outfit change ahead with the regency episode. i just hope they pin down a look for the doctor next season.

[theminecraftbee]

There’s a flier someone’s left on the bus. Something shaming a—company logo he doesn’t recognize, as he shoves it aside to grab the last seat in the back that usually means he and Gem don’t have to sit next to anyone else—for “desecration of the Carrows Life”. Alright; with a logo and a slogan like that, it’s either a religious nut job or one of the people real mad at the Church about the demons.

Yeah, sure. He’s exhausted. Impulse can’t really bring himself to care about neon-yellow fliers in the dead of night on the bus.

Just another hour and practically every single stop down the line, and he’ll be home. He’s glad there’s a late-night bus down here; enough people come and go from these streets at two am that they make some poor bus driver do the route.

Next to him, Gem grumbles as she removes her makeup. “Impulse, why do I keep getting the waterproof kind?”

“Hard to dance and still look good if it doesn’t stand up to sweat,” Impulse says, settling into his seat as the bus starts moving again. “Don’t see why that should make it that much harder to remove, unless you’re sweating acetone these days, but they don’t pay me to know how your makeup works.”

“No, they pay you to be your stupid big protective butt. You absolutely know how my makeup works,” Gem says.

“You could wait until we aren’t on a moving bus to take it off?” Impulse offers.

“Nah. I need something to do so I don’t fall asleep, and I’m not opening my other bag until we’re both safely at home.”

“Yeah, fair,” Impulse says, not glancing at it for too long. Gem had a good night tonight. Sometimes, he’s jealous of the nights she has; the amount people are willing to throw at her sometimes is insane. Most of the time, though, he’s just glad he’s paid a regular salary to stand in the corner and occasionally show people exactly why he’s so big if they act up.

(Someone’s got to do it.)

The doors open. The unmistakeable smell of someone on way, way too much weed wafts through the doors. Impulse sighs. There’s a reason they sit in the back.

“What are the odds we get lucky and get home early?” Gem says. “My knee hurts.”

Impulse looks at her sharply. “You didn’t say anything during the show.”

Gem laughs. “Relax, relax. Not that bad. Nothing a bit of icyhot won’t solve, or one of your little…” She wiggles her fingers.

“You need to tell me these things before you dance on them, Gem,” Impulse says. “One of these days, I won’t be able to fix it! Then what are you gonna do about your knee, huh?”

“Uhuh. And the bruise on your face…?”

“He was drunk,” Impulse says. “It’s barely a scratch. Or, uh, well, it’s a bruise, but…”

“If I were any good at healing,” Gem says.

“I’ll ice it!” Impulse says, putting his hands up. “Besides, I don’t need my face to do my job. Might make guys respect me more?”

The bus stops. A few more people get on. There’s a bit of shouting from a drunk guy, and it makes Impulse look up on instinct, both his and Gem’s awareness hovering around their bag. Gem has a nasty curse on it if anyone but her tries to grab it, but these days…

The drunkard isn’t looking their way. He settles down again. Impulse doesn’t.

“One day, one of us will get a car, and we’ll just drive,” Impulse mutters.

“And pay for parking?” Gem asks.

“Well, it’s the thought that counts,” Impulse says.

The bus stops. Impulse looks up at the sign, just to make sure they aren’t near their stop. They aren’t. He almost looks down.

There’s a feeling in his gut. He doesn’t ignore gut feelings after as long as he’s been doing what he does. He puts a hand in his jacket. He doesn’t actually carry a gun; people think he does, but he’s fairly effective at threatening without it, and if all else fails, he does have a thick vest he’d bought with his own money after the only time he’d been shot. It had taken all of his savings, but it had been worth it.

He curls his fingers instead around the lucky charm Gem had given him after they’d become roommates and tries to focus on the feeling. There's something scraping nearby. A horrible scraping, like talons against brick, or maybe more like death clawing against soil.

The bus starts moving again. The drunks stay drunk. The fellow exhausted club and bar workers stay exhausted. The guy who’s high out of his mind doesn’t even blink.

A woman who had gotten on the bus, though, approaches them. Gem stiffens. Impulse is hyper-aware of the bag full of the night’s tips that Gem has with her.

“Hello. Sorry for interrupting,” the woman says. She’s tall. She has long, light brown hair that she hasn’t tied back. She’s wearing a long overcoat. It looks second-hand, but not properly so, like it’s being worn by someone who doesn’t quite know how to fit into second-hand clothes, or perhaps doesn’t quite know how not to fit.

There's bruises on her face, too. A split lip and a black eye and a bit of blood on the collar of her shirt.

"You look lost," Impulse says without thinking. The woman blinks.

"Oh! Yes, I suppose you could say that," she says. "That's..."

Impulse slowly takes his hand out of his jacket. Her voice is even more lost, somehow. Impeccably put-together. Very hard to read. But Impulse, he has to read people for a living, and this is a woman who is lost.

"I was just here because you two look the most aware and fit on the bus," she says.

"Oh, I'm not all that fit," Gem lies to the woman's face. "I mean, just look at me! I'm delicate!"

Impulse has seen Gem's abs. She's not delicate, she just puts on a show of being—still not delicate, actually, but the kind of not-delicate men like, not the kind of not-delicate she actually is. It's a fine line.

The woman raises an eyebrow. "Okay," she says. "I'm just—there are demons. Not far. I got away from them, but they might be following you."

"They're following you?" says Gem.

"Shhh," says the woman.

"Fine," Impulse says. "They're following you. Why? And why did you get on the bus?"

The woman is silent for a moment. "I don't think they'll catch up to us," she says. "I don't—I don't have another place to go back to, right now. I'm a bit... I don't mean to put anyone in danger. You two are the most fit looking people on here, is all. If danger did happen..."

Impulse feels something in him crack. He looks at Gem. It wouldn't be the first time the two of them have helped someone down on their luck off the streets. Of course, it's not entirely out of the goodness of their hearts, all the time, but, well, Impulse is still Impulse and Gem puts up with it and this world doesn't work if people don't help each other, Impulse has always said.

Gem shrugs and nods.

"Sit down. You can get off at our stop. My name's Gem, by the way."

The woman, slowly, sits down in a seat across from them.

"Impulse," Impulse says.

The woman opens her mouth. The woman closes it. "You can call me Griba," she says, finally.

Impulse quirks an eyebrow. "I can call you?"

"Hey, that sounds like—wasn't there someone with a name like that on the news recently?" Gem says.

The woman grimaces. "You could say that," she says.

Gem and Impulse look at each other. They look back at the woman. "Fine then. Keep your secrets," Gem says imperiously, and her tone works, because it makes—Griba, Impulse supposes, until she wants to give them her real name—laugh.

"At least until we find out if the demons get me," she says agreeably.

The bus stops again. They all tense. One person gets off and no one gets on. The bus starts moving again.

"One of these days," Impulse mutters.

"You've got to finish the sentence," Gem says. "Don't leave me hanging like that!"

"Is this an ongoing thing?" Griba says, and they continue onwards together.

[grimalkinmessor]

9 and 14 please?

9: Which antagonist could you never forgive?

Well, I'm actually a notorious villain lover, so this a very difficult question for me to answer lmao. Especially for an anime that usually attempts to forgive every antagonist and show them the error of their ways. There are antagonists I don't particularly like but still see the reasoning and the attempt at redemption of, like Toichiro.

I think the antagonist I like but could never forgive is Mogami. The dude is hella interesting, he's OP, he's a great foil for Mob—but his reasoning for being evil is trash. My dude literally did not have to kill all those people 😐 And then BLAME it on the people who paid him to do it. Like bestie you made the choice to take that route allll by yourself, even if other people made it easier for you to take than others. He doesn't acknowledge his own failures and acts like Mob is the stupid one for wanting to be kind and help people. And to show him how "terrible" other people are, Mogami,,,,warps the world by removing every one that's ever been kind to Mob. Then removing his powers and telling him THAT'S the reason people treat him badly?? Make it make sense. He did that shit for fun or because he's legit insane or both. AND HE'S NOT EVEN SORRY. MY DUDE JUST CAME BACK, SPOUTED SOME MORE BULLSHIT ABOUT HOW MERCY CAN'T BE THE ANSWER AND THEN FUCKED OFF INTO THE ETHER.

So, while Mogami is my scrunkly and I adore him, if I ever catch that bitch in my neighborhood irl he's catching these hands 😌🙏

14: Are there any MP 100 fanfics you HAVE to rec?

*cracks knuckles* BUCKLE UP BOYS I HAVE A TRUCKLOAD >:D

First up, the fic that roped my into this fucking fandom against my will—

Sunflower by Copyspaghetti (Mobreirit, unfinished)

Seeing the world from the lens of a powerless child brought novelty. There was a point to doing things that didn’t boil down to the fate of humanity.

This simple interaction left something alive in his chest that would only grow.

—

In which a hyperactive middle schooler forces his way into Mob’s heart, allowing him to start life anew after giving his youth to extremism. Juggling therapy, a brother, a kid, and the remnants of Claw is a lot.. his past haunts him. And befriends him.

Terryh and Sasha posted a flurry of screenshots of this fic on twitter a while back, and I remembered them when I was looking for a new piece of media to get into, and this fic was the reason I watched MP100 at all—because I wanted to read it with all the context lmao. And it did not disappoint; Sunflower is an Age Swap fic that really digs into the hows and whys of the MP100 world, and while I adore all of Copy's fics, this one is number two on my list of all time favorites. Tiny Arataka and his struggles, Shigeo and Ritsu and their attempts to get better while also wading through their own struggles, the soft fluffiness of their time together contrasted with the world around them, just,,,,,,💋🤌✨ fuckin' SUPERB.

Between Acolytes and Sanctities by Copyspaghetti (Mobrei, unfinished)

The book burnt Arataka's fingers through the leather gloves. As an acolyte of his father's church he got the worst jobs with a front row view of how little it all mattered. Saltville was starving but the Gods did nothing. That's why he stood there now, alone in the woods at the foot of the shadow mountain with a spell book hotter than the bonfire itself. – In which Arataka's village, Saltville, is famined and he asks a forgotten God of the shadow mountains for help. Instead of feeding his village, he lends some of his divine power to the boy to solve his own problems. What could a human become to a God?

My FAVORITE, number ONE Copy fic if you MUST know—because it's about ✨✨ the INTRIGUE ✨✨✨✨🤌🙏✨💕✨ Really super old super powerful Mob tired of everything?? Convinced he's nothing but a plague, only capable of causing devastation?? And little stubborn Arataka demanding that he pay attention to the ants humans again, staring with Arataka, of course. Obviously. The imagery in this one has me by the balls. I'm feral about it, feening for it, I wanna print out this fic's vibes and make it into a snowglobe that I can eat.

but it does no damn good by quiveringpalm (Reimob, finished)

"We can’t have this sort of conversation," Reigen says softly.

Mob is blinking slowly at him, his eyes searching all over his face as if to find a real chink in his proverbial armor, except that Reigen hasn’t ever felt more naked than he does now in the dark on this fucking bed in this fucking hotel in this godforsaken fucking town, he really never should have taken Mob here but it’s too little too late, too late and too little, god, Mob is so little.

His voice is even littler, barely above a whisper. "... Even if I want to?"

The oneshot that one-shots my whole heart ong. I can't even explain how much I love this fic, it just gives me all the warm fuzzies 🥰 Also the tire swing. The tire swing. Read it and you'll know what I mean 🙏

Ironic Process Theory by tragakes (Reirit, unfinished)

Right now Ritsu was virtuous. He was righteous. He was doing what lesser people could not; he was carrying Reigen back to his apartment because Reigen had been beaten within an inch of death, and later he would tell Shigeo that he had saved his boyfriend. Were they boyfriends? They had never referred to each other as such, but Ritsu knew they were fucking, which had to make them boyfriends.

He imagined telling his brother, and he imagined his brother’s expression when he learnt Reigen got hurt, and all of his insides twisted into a hot, tight, knot, and he decided that maybe he wouldn’t tell his brother after all.

That was, in fact, the virtuous and righteous thing to do. One couldn’t go around boasting about their good deeds.

Read this fic RN. 👁️👁️ I love me some ritrei but this? This right here? Takes the cake. Holy shit. It's technically transitive property mobreirit (in that order) but that just makes it better tbh. One of the tags is "Ritsu and his mental gymnastic: extended edition" and that about sums it up. Bitter Anxiety-Ridden Ritsu my beloved 🙏

Piece of Me by allthisandheaventoo (Mob?Rei?, finished)

Mob is a late bloomer. Not enough to be concerning; most kids present at ten or eleven, and Mob is only thirteen. Reigen himself was twelve when it happened, when he had woken up one morning squirming and feverish and horny as all hell before realizing that meant he was an omega. He remembers a kid in his grade who didn’t present until he was sixteen, smelling like pup until halfway through high school. The point being that Mob is completely normal for not having presented yet, and having him around the office has never presented a problem for Reigen before. Until it does.

The A/B/O breastfeeding fic. I think about this fic all the time. It's nested into my brain and it's never leaving. Yes. The ship bit is said to be ambiguous but not TO ME. Fantastic, give me fourteen of 'em rn 🙏

facing three ways by hapful (gen, finished)

The alarm settles as Taka walks out to the fields to join his class lined up. Keiji comes up to him immediately, eyes full of concern. “What happened? You look sick,” he says, and Taka could cry but he doesn’t.

“Hey Keiji,” he says instead, “aren’t you sick of people?”

“Yeah,” Keiji answers, concern still lacing his tone but with a tired, understanding edge.

Taka smiles. It isn’t pleasant. “I have an idea.”

two beaten down kids decide to summon a demon to solve their problems, and everything changes.

AHHHH. AHH. The Age Swap platonic mogarei fic I didn't know I needed until I found it *collapses* BEAUTIFUL.

The Paper Moon by DespiteWhatShouldBeOtherwise (gen, finished)

It wasn't the rain, or the car, or even dying that ruined his day.

The worst was when he woke up, and everything that happened after.

In short, Reigen gets hit by a car and winds up leaving the hospital with a little something extra.

I can't say much about this fic without spoiling it, but please know that the mystery and intrigue kept my eyeballs glued to my phone screen every free moment for three whole days. Thank you.

Where Did You Go? by iamwish (gen, unfinished)

“You know what else is important? Eating. And paying rent. And, hey, we’ve had this conversation, our clients’ lives are important, too. Your life is important. This stopped being a sprint a long time ago, Ritsu. It’s a marathon now. And what do we do during marathons?”

“We pace ourselves,” Ritsu answers rotely.

-

Is this fic:

1. Technically a rewrite of season 1 with Ritsu as the main character

2. An exploration of the consequences that one change, one absence can have

3. The author torturing Ritsu by giving him something he wanted for a price he never would have willingly paid

4. All of the above

Deshi Ritsu AU. DESHI RITSU AU. Well, kind of not really but dESHI RITSU—

Soft and Wet by UnderWickedSky (Ekurei, finished)

Ekubo offers an explanation, “The spirit is in your guts, twisted around your inner organs. This is exactly the type of curse that makes someone perfectly healthy suddenly drop dead from a heart attack or an aneurysm. The kind that gets reported in all the newspapers because it was just so unlikely."

“At least I’d be famous,” manages Reigen weakly.

[Ekubo helps Reigen with a pesky curse, and eats well in the process.]

There is no smut in this fic. There is NO smut in this fic. It just FEELS like there is. I can't explain it, it's like a fish hook—yoinks you in and leaves you super confused and super intrigued at the same time. My favorite Ekurei fic.

if i start a commotion by carnation (Ritmob, unfinished)

“Can you take back a confession...?”

“I can,” Ritsu says obstinately. “I do. I take it back, I didn’t mean it. I did mean it but I shouldn’t have said it so I take it back, it didn’t happen. Now you can’t talk about it anymore, because it didn’t happen.”

“I think it did,” Mob says, doubtfully. “I still remember it, so... I think it did happen. I think – maybe you can’t take it back. Sorry.”

ANXIETY-RIDDEN RITSU MY BELOVED 💕✨ And Mob just,,,trying to wrap his little brain around the idea of Ritsu loving him romantically, slowing growing to like the idea and giving Ritsu several heart attacks in the process—and Dimple several migraines—I love him your honor.

or at least i pretend by carnation (Ritmob, finished)

He tells Shigeo about a test he did well in and another he did less well in, and about how it is competitive here, like everyone says it is, like everyone at home had warned him it would be every time they learned he was applying to Matcha University, but it’s competitive in a good way, a friendly way, not a damaging way, because everyone here wants to work hard and do their best and they want everyone around them to do well, too – competitive, but supportive; so it’s good, it’s all good, and it’s all new and different but it’s good. Everything is good. All of Ritsu's stories are pleasant and mild and nice because everything about Ritsu's life is pleasant and mild and nice as well, and all his stories have been told so many times they’re polished smooth by repetition: he offers them up to his brother with well-practised ease.

This fic came into my house and personally beat me up with its bare hands. I'm in love with it. Unrequited Love combined with MEGA "It's Complicated", Ritsu pulling off the heist of the century, and Mob just. Mob. Sigh MOB. carnation always nails the exact flavor of ritmob that I enjoy, but the angst of this one combined with happy(?) ending makes it one of my favs 🥰

Better Him by ConnorRK (explicit gen, finished)

“Reigen, are you kidding me? Can’t you keep it in your pants for one minute! This is serious.” Ritsu, outraged, undoubtedly trying to murder Reigen with his eyes. It makes Sato laugh, delighted, and in front of him, Takashi positively grins.

“Sounds like this ain’t the first time, is it, Reigen? You got a thing for stuff like this? You wanna be held down? We can do that for you.”

Hi hello yes may I have this fic printed onto my eyelids please, thanks—rape aftermath/recovery fics are actually some of my favorites, and this one? Reigen discovering just how far he'd go for his kids?? I can't—just take my wallet at this point you've already ripped my heart outta my chest 😭 LOVELY 💕

Zero by SeaSaltFreckles (Mobrei², unfinished)

Joseph still looks apprehensive. He puts a finger up to the earpiece and listens carefully to whoever is on the other end. Then, he sighs and crosses his arms over his chest, leaning back. “Our records say that Reigen Arataka is the one who eventually stopped him. Why?”

Again, Rei’s eyes shift all around, and his expression shifts from realization to sadness in the blink of an eye. “Because that’s how it happened in my world… I also tried to stop him, but I couldn't and– and because of that, Shigeo…” He pauses, swallowing thickly. “Shigeo is the one who wiped out humanity. He's the one who destroyed my universe.”

A story in which Reigen Arataka and his world's Kageyama Shigeo travel across dimensions and bring their fight to the doorstep of Mob and Reigen, but everything is far more complicated than it should be.

YOUR HONOR THE WAY I AM UNHINGED ABOUT THIS FIC 🙏🤌✨😳💕😭❤️‍🔥 GOD. ???-kun is my favorite character forever and always and I'm a slut for characters meeting alternate versions of themselves, so this fic just absolutely fucks its way right up my alley, holy hot damn.

I'll stop there, because otherwise this post will be super long instead of just mildly long, but please be aware that I'm feral about several more fics. Yelling about them forever and ever amen 🙏

[crystalkitty1220]

You underestimate me, CK. I only have more questions now.

What was Nevin doing to try to save Drew? Is he okay after some of his branches got crushed in the fight? Will he ever manage to come back or is Nevin just deep in denial?

Overall I really like your au, and I’m happy to see you again too! Your monthly posts are always nice.

I don't know what warnings to do this time so I'm just gonna say that if you couldn't read the fic thing, do not proceed. Also because spoilers ig.

First I'd like to reiterate that the second part of that fic thing was very experimental. So nothing about that is certain whatsoever and I was mostly just going for vibes for it, to test out the potential bad ending that I really want to make work somehow. So I can give you some hypothetical answers, but unless I can successfully make most of the other events in that ending not horribly out-of-character, that ending might not even be real. The entire bad ending is based on this one bit of animation I have in my head and am very slowly drawing out. I'm hoping if I can show how cool it looks I won't have to justify the character actions /hj. I also just do not have any ideas for another ending so I am desperately trying to make 'twist' villain Isaac Beamer somehow work. That's most of the reason that I'm focusing so hard on curses and such right now; getting the essentials done will make writing the story a little easier. Maybe when I finally have a curse for Dez (I'm accepting suggestions; Echos and I have nothing), I'll magically have a whole new ending thought up.

Anyway, hypothetically, Drew's probably fine after the fight. It was painful, yeah, but the branches will grow back.

Now I'll move onto the things centered around the first half, since that one's a little more final.

Drew probably can't come back? I mean, it could be cool if there's some kind of ritual to move his consciousness somewhere else, but his body's irreparable.

You didn't ask but I'll also add that he and the branches can be killed, via burning or something like that, but Nevin's not likely to let that happen.

Nevin is very deep in denial, and for the most part doesn't have any ideas other than praying and such. He refuses to move on from Drew's loss for a few reasons. First of all, of course, Drew's his twin brother. Secondly, ever since the incident, his life has basically entirely centered around it. The incident is what made him turn to religion (and just so he can keep the extra bit of trauma, in place of his step-mom we'll say the first couple churches weren't exactly kind about his curse - or his being gay, for that matter), and religion is obviously why he thinks the branches are a miracle keeping Drew alive. The incident is why he became homeschooled and rarely left his house for so much of his life, and started hyper-focusing on Drew instead of making connections or getting hobbies. Speaking of hobbies, his curse in general also made it difficult to start any of those. Most of his life has just been getting control of his powers, religious stuff, thinking about Drew, repeat (though Grandma Jovel was eventually successful in getting him interested in cooking and spoken poetry). So he can't fathom the idea of letting Drew go.

When he meets Chris, Nevin gets really excited about the possibility that Chris or Charlie could communicate with Drew, and from there they could work something out. So Nevin starts hanging around Chris, invites him over, and you've seen the rest. Info-dumping about Drew was basically Nevin trying to get Chris to see why this is so important. He could just say "he's my baby brother and i love him and you should love him too", but in true writer fashion, he takes the "show, don't tell" route.

So, yeah, that's basically the closest thing Nevin has had to a plan. I mean, now that I brought up the idea of there being some sort of demonic ritual to transfer souls or whatever, it could be cool to have Nevin go against his morals and try demony stuff, but then I'd have to add so many more eggpire fansongs onto my curse!ibvs playlist. I've already got five, I don't think I should go any deeper.

[diabolikpersonals]

kanato cl endings!! this is my new favorite kanato route!! and for once, I think the good ending is more satisfying than the bad one lol

euphoria end:

in the church, kanato concludes that he just can’t ignore the sakamaki brothers. he has all kinds of feelings for them, including jealousy and contempt, and because of that, he won’t be able to part with them easily. (thats the most backwards way to say you love them I’ve ever heard, but I’ll take it!! good job, kanato!!) but outside, the scarlet and violet families are arguing over who gets to go inside and steal eve. ayato and laito are standing guard, and even though they’re SO outnumbered, ayato declares that they’ve got no choice but to stop em. and laito says it’s for his oniichan’s sake ^^

kanato… [wiping tears] …wants to go save ayato and laito. he can’t leave them, because they’re brothers who have been together since before they were born.

before he goes, he and yui stand at the altar and yui comments that it feels like a wedding, but kanato refutes that they can’t possibly have a wedding without wedding cake. they have a ring, though! because kanato bit yui’s ring finger earlier and it left a scar. so, because it might be their last time, they exchange vows and kiss.

…which is, of course, the key to leaving this place. everything goes white and they’re back in the real world. yui thinks ayato and laito are dead for a sec, but theyre just snoozin. karl heinz shows up, explains the whole thing, and gives kanato a pat on the back and tells him it’s time to inherit his powers.

kanato says, no way!! I won’t be king. I once thought that I didn’t care about those other guys, but I’ve just realized I have all these complicated feelings about them, and I don’t know what I’ll do if those guys are gone. so I won’t be all alone like you, father.

karl heinz is like “lmao…I’ll give u a little more time” and he disappears. time to go home. kanato jokes that they can leave ayato and the others behind, but he’s not serious >_> so they get to work waking em up. kanato says that he never thought such a day would come, but he misses how noisy the sakamaki house is. (awwww…!!)

back at the sakamaki house, the triplets + yui are studying together for a makeup exam. ayato and laito start goofing off after ten minutes, but kanato is SERIOUS because reiji hid all his sweets so he NEEDS to pass. he kicks his brothers out so he can focus, then grumbles that he should’ve left them at the miniature garden (LMAO) but yui’s like “aww, you’re totally having fun.” they make out and kanato says he loves her no matter where they are, and all’s well that ends well!! good for them!

labyrinth end:

yui confidently tells kanato she’ll trust whatever his decision is, and he’s like “okay. I want to murder everyone.” yui is all UMMM anything but that, please??? but he’s not listening. he sucks her blood till she loses consciousness

it suddenly cuts to carla whipping ruki and shin till they pass out, which is awesome but very unexpected. it’s the first we’ve seen them since they got captured lol. subaru arrives to tell carla that eve is at the church, so off we go!!

at the church, ayato and laito have gotten their asses severely kicked by scarlet fam. yuma also collapses and shu’s like “yuma….!” which is enough otp crumbs to keep me fed all week, thank you very much. carla arrives on the scene and starts shittalking with reiji, but then…!!

………..when yui wakes up, she sees kanato is covered in blood and she’s like “oh god we have to treat ur injuries!” and of course kanato’s like “dont worry, it’s not my blood ^^” he happily tells her that he’s almost finished taking care of things here, and he continues his unspeakable violence. he’s killed everyone and they’re the only ones left. he hugs her, and the blood he’s covered with is still warm.

well it doesn’t work; they don’t go home. (not that this would work anyway, but aren’t ruki and shin still alive in the violet dungeon? am I wrong…? did carla kill them? whatever.) yui faints and can’t speak, so kanato moves her around like a doll. they’ll live forever in this world, then, just the two of them. it’ll be awfully quiet.

back in the real world, karl heinz is like “my friend. did u get my sons killed” and socrates is like “sowwy :( I just didnt think it was worth it to lose my best friend to some immature adam.” karl heinz says it’s ok, and socrates suggests reversing time. karl heinz is like sure, yeah, let’s reverse time and have them try again. (EXCUSE ME???? EXCUSE ME????????????? COULD U DO THAT THIS WHOLE TIME. THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING) so I guess they, uh, reverse time and try again????.?.??

[pearl-the-artist]

Against all odds i actually updated the thing. New chapter below for anyone that cant access ao3

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

"Good night Ezra, see you on Tuesday!"

"Yeah... Good luck."

The young nurse grabs her bag and leaves the building after another 12 hour shift, having pushed through exhaustion for long enough that it was now replaced with a mere buzzing numbness. A deep inhale of the pleasant night air was enough to reinvigorate her senses at least by a little, clearing the fog in her mind. She wanted nothing more than to just collapse into the welcoming sheets in her bed at home.

"Thank god I have the rest of the week off..." , Ezra thought, making her way home. The town wasn't that small, but she didn't mind walking- it was a mere 30 minutes from home, and the view was lovely, especially in the evenings when the sun set and and cast a pleasant golden ray through the trees. All in all, if it weren't for the on-and-off threat of the alternates, living in this town would be near ideal. Yet despite everything so far, she'd managed to get off easy with only one strange encounter that didn't escalate past mere confusion after she spotted an alternate on her way home one night just... standing there, watching. It was eerie as hell, but one speed-walk home, repeated checking if it was following her and a few weeks later she'd already discarded that memory.

Halfway there. She knew this route by memory, ingrained in her mind after having walked it god knows how many times in the past four years. She allowed herself to take her attention from the tree lined road for a brief moment to pull out her phone, glancing at the screen: 3:14 AM. Friday already... The weeks seem to have flown by too quickly as of late. 

With a sigh she pocketed the phone in her jacket again, letting her gaze wander to pass the time. As she left the avenue and a more empty horizon came back into view, her eyes had almost missed it; a small anomaly in the distance she wouldn't have noticed had she been any deeper in thought. Out where that local old church sat, all by itself, a small, pile of... something, lying just a few feet away. She was tempted to dismiss it and move on but it just looked so wrong, like it didn't belong there, glowing softly in a pale color that reflected the gentle moonlight.

Curiosity had bested her as Ezra took a turn for a small detour in the direction of the church. The more she approached the pile, the more its shape seemed to resemble an actual person. With that thought, the first thing that shot to mind was concern- were they dead? Did they need help? She jogged the rest of the way there until she was right before it, and... For a moment, all she could do was stare, unable to make sense of what she was looking at.

With a lack of better description, it looked like an angel. Dressed in a white flowing robe and soft wavy locks of silver, and more importantly- the large wings, sprawled out on the ground beneath them, there was no other word to describe it.

But that made no sense, she'd never seen anything like it before. The body lied on its back but their face was partially covered by strands of hair, a trail of bent and flattened grass making it look like they were dragged out here by someone, or something. Ezra seemed to remember in her moment of gawking that this was still a person- probably? And snapped out of it to at least rule out the possibility of them being dead. Reaching out to place her hand against their shoulder, she flinched.

As soon as her hand even got near the body it began to tingle slightly, the feeling only escalating to something that faintly felt like pins and needles in her hand, the sensation one would get when their limb falls asleep. It startled her at first, the reaction unexpected, but after rubbing her hand and realizing no harm was done, dismissing the feeling as a result of the cold night air, she tried again by shaking the body carefully first, hoping to wake the unconscious figure somehow.

"...Excuse me, hello? Can you hear me?" A brief pause. No response. She tried it one more time, shaking them with just a bit more urgency. Nothing.

The worried nurse knelt down next to them, placing an ear against their chest to check for both breathing and a heartbeat. The contact caused a humming, static feeling in her mind, similar to when she touched their shoulder just now. Aside from that there was no movement that would imply breathing, but oddly enough, deep down, she could make out a faint, steady... thrum of sorts. It sounded wrong, too slow for an average adult, and too distorted to even resemble a heartbeat to begin with. This wasn't just arrhythmia of any kind, in fact, she couldn't recall hearing anything of the like before.

Just as she sat back up to fish for her phone, at this point it would be best to just call the police and let them handle it, she got a better view of the body, noticing the inky black stains covering the body. In her confusion and worry she'd completely ignored it, but only now realized how odd it looked. They appeared like injuries, but instead of blood, the cuts and what looked like bullet wounds were stained with a strange matt black liquid, even seeping into the white robes, making for a morbid looking contrast. 

...The longer she looked at it, the more her concern was replaced with unease. A feeling of dread having crept up on her gradually that she only now bothered to acknowledge, this person looking more and more like it wasn't human at all. By no means was she acquainted enough with the townsfolk to recognize every face, but she was confident to say that this one was not only new to her, but deeply unsettling overall. And then the thought hit her.

In hindsight she should've questioned it sooner. It had wings, for crying out loud, but in her defense, god, it could've been a weird prop or something. But the blood- those weird inky stains, the odd cold shivers she got just by looking at it. Could it really be that this was an alternate? She hadn't seen one in so long she'd almost forgotten, hell, this one was new, no broadcast or poster had even shown something remotely resembling it before. Strangest of all, this whole time, she'd been under the impression that alternates couldn't be injured by conventional means, or even be killed at all. So what was different with this one? Did the PSA's lie? Surely they wouldn't, maybe it was just a lack of knowing better...?

Nevertheless, after a few painful minutes of her thoughts pacing back and forth, Ezra decided to listen to her gut instinct. Slowly, she stood back up, and once more began to stride back to the main road, away from the church, away from whatever that thing was. Nothing good, that's for sure. Part of her felt bad for them, but she was not in the mood to risk anything... She just wanted to be home at this point.

Arriving back home with swift steps she fumbled for her keys at the bottom of her bag, missing the lock a couple times before finally shutting the door behind her and tossing the keys on the table next to the entrance. Her bag followed suit right after, dropped to the ground with a soft thud.

After undressing and getting washed up for the night, she really wasn't in the mood for anything other than going to bed at long last. Desperately seeking some rest after this chaotic mess of a day, Ezra crawled under her sheets and curled up into sweet, pillowy heaven, waiting to be taken away into peaceful rest.

And so she waited.

And waited.

...And waited.

...

Sigh.

A good hour passed of tossing and turning and counting numbers in her mind, but nothing seemed to work. Something was keeping her from falling asleep, her mind restless and unable to settle. It was an unceasing urge, feeling like she had left something unfinished that she needed to return to, stronger than any doubt she'd ever felt. And it kept gnawing at the back of her mind, like a parasite.

In the end, after another few minutes of staring holes in the ceiling, she had a feeling she knew what it was.

The old church.

Grumbling and whining a few unintelligible complaints under her breath, Ezra reluctantly dragged her body back out of her bed. Immediately the warmth she was surrounded in left her, the cool air in the room biting at her skin. What a bother this was, Ezra thought to herself, why of all people did she have to get roped into this...

With a heavy sigh she simply threw on the first pajamas she could fish out of the closest drawer and left the room, shuffling back through the living room to the foyer. She hardly put any effort into wrapping the jacket back around herself again and throwing on whatever shoes fit easiest before leaving the house, just wanting to be done with this as quickly as possible. 

As soon as she stepped back outside the cold night air once again made itself known in the most unpleasant way possible, a stray breeze immediately taking any remaining warmth she carried from her home with it, leaving her shivering slightly. This proved to thankfully be somewhat helpful as after a few minutes of walking, the cold helped wake her out of that groggy state a little. By the time the church came back into view she'd grown more used to the temperatures, the jacket providing a little warmth in the end.

Finally, after stepping off the gravel path and walking along the grassy field for a bit, there it was. The lifeless body, still lying in the grass outside of the large building. 

To be honest with herself, Ezra wasn't even sure what to do with it as she stood over them for a moment. Like, sure, she was here, and so was the body. Now what?  With a deep breath she supposed it wouldn't hurt to take a closer look at least.

She knelt down beside it, brushing the few strands of hair out of their face. Now was as good a time as ever to get a better look for curiosity's sake, and she had to admit... he was quite beautiful. There was such a gentle, ethereal glow to his pale skin, the platinum hair elegantly flowing down to his shoulders, framing his face with its gentle wavy locks. The peacefulness of the moment felt almost uncanny. Moving on to the more glaring issue, she first took a look at his right wing. The nurse tried her best not to directly touch any of the black liquid, even if it had already mostly dried. If her field of work had taught her anything, it's to best not touch any liquids she wasn't familiar with. The wing was a little awkwardly folded underneath their body, so she gently pushed them to the side to free it, unfolding the large wing carefully. As she did, she noted with surprise that he felt much lighter than expected. Something else to note about the alternates, she supposed. Even the authorities knew so little about these beings that being able to study one up close was actually kind of thrilling. 

Running a finger over the soft, white feathers, trying to handle them as carefully as possible with the unfamiliarity of handling such a limb, she inspected the damage. A single bullet wound had left its mark near the bend of the wing, and although it didn't seem to be that grave, it wasn't the only fault. Near the center of the bottom half of the large wing, a rather nasty cut sat at its edge, the same black inky stains tainting the feathers around it. A lot of the primary feathers there seemed cut off or damaged, a single one hanging off the wound in its sad attempt to remain attached to its body.

Their left wing was entirely unscathed, though the body... the body took the most blows. A couple of bullet marks once more making themselves known here and there, alongside a gash in their left shoulder, and, more curiously... a hole in their chest that seemed like it was burnt around the edges. 

The wounds were bad but mostly nothing she hadn't seen before, though it made her think... What could've possibly caused these damages? Given the bullet marks it would be fair to assume that the assailant was human, but was that actually possible? Did they have a higher ground above the alternates than they'd initially thought? There was no way to tell for certain, and all she hoped for was an opportunity to get answers from this being, if she got to speak to it at all. For starters, she would have to tend to these injuries. It wasn't too big of a deal, though she would need the appropriate equipment, and instinctually Ezra reached for her bag. The woman kept a smaller assortment of first aid with her ever since the alternate attacks had an uptick in frequency again, but as her arm reached to her side, it found nothing. She turned to check, and paused. In her exhausted frustration, she'd forgotten it at home. The disappointment threw her off her train of thought entirely, and she simply fell back to sit in the cold grass before the body, allowing herself to let out an audible groan of frustration.

A minute passed where she quite literally did nothing but stare at the alternate with disgruntlement. Her mind, blank as a slate, tried to get the train of thought back on its tracks. She couldn't just leave him out here like this. She knew well it would keep bugging her, leaving her restless as it had before. And what if someone else found them? Alternate or not, the thought didn't sit right with her. Slowly, with a strange idea in mind, she leaned forward, experimentally lifting their arm. It had a weight to it, but it didn't feel heavy at all. She glanced down the gravel road she came from. Would it really be a good idea...?

Whatever. It didn't matter, she thought, and she was too tired to care. Rising to her feet, she approached the unconscious alternate, pulling the sleeves over her jacket over her hands so she wouldn't be in direct contact with the entity, and hooked one arm under its back. She tried to be as careful as she could to fold the wings between their body and her arm in a way it wouldn't damage it, the other arm reaching underneath their legs. As expected but still to her surprise, she was actually able to carry the body, the weight still a noticeable strain but not impossible.

"God... I guess I am doing this, then."

She could laugh at the absurdity, but had to carefully regulate her breathing to be able to carry him steadily. And just like that, with a half-dead demon in her arms she began her march back home, praying not to run into anyone else on the way. With his weight slowing her down it would be a long walk, and she was not mentally equipped to explain her situation. Hell, Ezra wasn't even entirely sure herself. Empathy is a nasty little thing, sometimes.

A long and exhausting walk home and the relieved realization that despite forgetting her keys, she'd left the door unlocked, the young nurse was able to carry her strange patient home and lay them down on the couch. The Injuries had left pesky black stains on the sleeves of her jacket that she only hoped would be able to wash out, but she wasn't in a position to care at the moment, simply hanging the jacket back up and moving on with preparations. Despite the alternate being rather tall, the couch thankfully accommodated their size juuust enough to fit. The wings, on the other hand, were a little awkward to position, but she folded the healthy one underneath its body and let the injured one hang off the edge for easier access later. Just as she tried to carefully move the mangled limb, however, her finger accidentally grazed part of the wound and in an instant, a searing pain akin to a burn made itself known.

"Shit-!"

Hissing under her breath she rushed to the bathroom to rinse the black stain off with lukewarm water, holding it there until the pain subsided at least a little. She hadn't even started treating her unexpected guest, and she was already fishing for a band aid in her bathroom drawer. Great start.

The pain in her finger was reduced to a constant, annoying hum that would definitely leave a nasty burn mark in the morning but alas, this was a minor obstacle. She would be more careful.

So then, after washing her hands, finding some disposable rubber gloves in the kitchen, and digging out her heavy box of drug store equipment, she returned to the living room back to the sleeping beauty.

The joke lightened her mood only marginally.

What she didn't expect is how quickly her care would be interrupted.

With nothing but a desk light positioned to face the alternate's body and not even fifteen minutes of focused work in an attempt to wrap up the wing with gauze, Ezra nearly jumped off her seat by the beings side when the guest made a low, inhuman noise that pulled her from her zone. Before she could even react, within in a matter of seconds she found herself slammed into the couch instead, a sharp, buzzing feeling tight around her throat. Piercing white eyes and a face that, despite being illuminated by the small lamp was shrouded in a thick, black shadow, greeted her vision instead.

"Pathetic little ant."

A voice that filled her ears with static hissed in barely restrained fury. The sharp pain around her neck grew stronger when the alternate's claw dug into the soft skin, increasing pressure.

"You didn't think you could possibly... ah?"

As quickly as she was pinned down, the entity released her again, sitting back and letting its wings drape over the armrest. With slight amusement Ezra observed the confusion on the alternate's face as it scanned its surroundings, then itself. The shadow that covered its face had vanished, giving way to a more human appearance. At last, it turned to look at the poor startled woman, still in the same position as before while she attempted to regain her bearings.

"You are not one of them."

"...What the fuck are you talking about?"

[archiveikemen]

'Black Wedding' Story Event: Chapter 2

Harrison's Route

I do not own any of the Ikemen Series content being uploaded on this blog, everything belongs to CYBIRD. Please support them by playing their games and buying stories. Not 100% accurate, expect mistakes.

read this before interacting with my posts

Harrison: Come here, Kate.

Kate: Wah…!

Harrison hugged me from behind and patted my head affectionately.

(He usually doesn’t do this in front of people.)

The cultists looked even happier at the sight.

Cultist: It is understood that the two of you are very in love with each other.

Cultist: However, we still need to observe you for a while more before we can decide whether you shall be allowed to have your wedding here.

Kate: A-Alright.

Harrison: Be our guest.

…

— In order for them to ascertain that we were genuinely in love, we were asked to do some volunteer work around the church grounds.

Our every move was being monitored by the cultists.

After confirming that we were finally alone, Harrison spoke to me.

Harrison: You’re truly a very bad liar.

Kate: Ugh… I’m sorry for getting in your way.

Harrison: That’s so like you.

Kate: So, were any of the cultists lying?

Harrison: None of them were lying. They all had good intentions.

Kate: In that case…

Harrison: Yes, it’s just as the investigations had shown. The crimes were committed by the Founder alone.

(I see…)

Kate: As expected, we need to have our marriage approved by the people here in order for that man to show himself.

The church was open for children to come visit, and we were asked to go play with them.

If we wanted to punish the Founder, we had to first make ourselves look credible. Our efforts would otherwise be pointless.

(We need to show them how deeply in love we are with each other.)

Enthusiastically, I pushed open the door to the room the children were in.

Harrison: Woah…!

A petite little girl ran and bumped into Harry.

Petite Girl: I-I’m sorry…

Harrison: No, I’m sorry. Are you hurt?

Petite Girl: N-No…

Harrison: I see, that’s a relief.

Little Children: H-He’s so cool…

(The children got all heart eyes for him almost immediately.)

Petite Girl: I want to be this big brother’s girlfriend!

Girl With Braids: No, this big brother is mine!

Harrison: Haha, thanks. However, it’s a pity.

Harry pointed his finger at me and narrowed his eyes affectionately.

Harrison: I belong to her.

(Uh…)

Harrison: She’s earnest, clumsy, and good-natured… I can never take my eyes off her.

Petite Girl: … Okay. Will I also meet someone like that someday?

Harrison: Of course, someday.

Girl With Braids: But let me know if you ever break up with that big sister!

Harrison: …

Harrison: Haha. Sorry, but that’s definitely never going to happen in my entire lifetime.

(I got worried when Harry said “are you okay with it?”.)

Even though this wedding was fake, I wondered if Harry was interested in marrying me.

However, I knew that whether or not we got married wasn't the most important.

Because—.

Harrison: Hm? You want a shoulder ride? That big sister over there is an expert at that.

Kate: …! I’m not sure if I am… but I’ll try my best!

Harrison: I’m just joking. Kate, you’ll be my support.

Kate: Okay!

…

After playing with the children until we were out of breath, the cultists led us to a room.

Kate: … That’s a lot of dresses.

The room was lined with all sorts of wedding dresses.

Cultist: This is your final test. Please choose one dress for her.

Harrison: For her? Got it.

Harrison looked at some of the dresses and pointed at one of them.

Harrison: I think the one that suits her best is—

Harrison: This one.

Cultist: Well then, will the lady please change into the dress he has chosen.

I left to go put on the dress and went back to Harry—

Kate: What do you think…?

Harrison: … Yeah, it looks good. It suits you very well.

Harry chose a beautiful black wedding dress.

Cultist: Why did you choose this one over all the other options?

Harrison: No matter what kind of darkness she finds herself surrounded by, she will never lose sight of herself.

Harrison: She’s someone who remains untainted. That’s why I think this dress suits her.

(... Is that what he thought while choosing the dress?)

Cultist: … I see. The two of you have been acknowledged as a couple truly in love.

— The wedding ceremony would be at 10 o’clock the next day.

After informing us of that information, the cultist left.

Kate: So… we’ve been acknowledged?

Harrison: Yeah, that’s right. We can take a break for now.

Kate: Thank goodness…

I heaved a sigh of relief and looked at the black wedding dress Harry had chosen for me.

Kate: … When you asked me if I was “really okay with this” before this mission started, I got kind of worried.

Kate: I thought that you might not want to get married in the future.

Harrison: …

Kate: While it’s true that marriage is something I want, I also found something that’s a lot more important than that.

Harrison: What is it?

Kate: As long as I can stay by your side forever, that would make me the happiest.

Harrison: … I see.

Kate: Anyway! Harry, let’s do our best tomorrow, yeah?

Harrison: Yeah. Stay close to me so you don't get hurt, okay?

…

— The next day, in the black wedding dress, I walked into the chapel with Harry.

Not long after, a man in glasses with a gentle demeanour showed up alone.

(... This man is the killer behind the deaths of those couples.)

Founder: Why is there no one here? Where are my believers…?

Harrison: There’s another church behind this one, right? That’s where they all are.

Harrison: I lied about the change in venue for the wedding ceremony, as well as the timing being changed to 11 o’clock.

Founder: W-What the…

Founder: … Who are you people?

Kate: … Just a couple in love.

Harrison: Yeah. Like the people you killed.

Founder: …!

Harrison: The bodies were seized last night as evidence. No more running away.

Harry pulled a gun out of his pocket and pointed it at the man—

Harrison: I have something to say to the bride.

Harrison: Therefore, I’m going to need you to die.

[fireemblems24]

Azure Gleam Ch 10

Onto AG Ch 10. Slowly making my way through all the Hopes routes.

MAIN STORY

Guys, I finally made AG Ch 10. Between wisdom teeth and a concert and FE Engage and other stuff I haven't had a lot of time to actually play much.

Aegir is not leading Adrestia well. It's so funny to me that so many dads got white-washed but they still left him an idiot.

So we're starting part 2. And Adrestia has gone to shit. I guess the nobles went full maniac the second Edelgard's gone. It's really a nation of sociopaths.

Rhea just said "knaves." I love that word.

Ohhh, Rhea brought up that lack of donations that Dimitri noticed in Houses, cool call out.

And they're putting it all together. Thomas, Cornelia, Thales - I love this, you guys. Dimitri and co getting to go after the people who did Duscur. Don't get me wrong, Edelgard is the far superior villain to TWSITD. And if I had to pick between the two, I'd pick her. But given that Dimitri gets two stories, I'm glad one of them gets this.

Claude is here!??? Does this mean he's not siding with Edelgard in AG? It'll be funny if he's the smartest in Dimitri's route - again.

Oh, we get a Claude and Dimitri team up? That's pretty cool. I doubt we get to use him though.

So it's cannon now that all three (church, Kingdom, and Alliance) are all weaker put together than Adrestia as one.

I also just noticed since Adrestia went full evil, that Dimitri is morally right in invading them to rescue the citizens lamo. He's really the "good boy" in Hopes. Though, he always was if you just removed the massive trauma events.

We're going to reclaim Garreg Mach! Cool.

Pretty cool seeing Rhea, Dimitri, and Claude all talking strategy.

Claude seems like he still wants to get rid of the church. But Dimitri's too realistic about it haha. The only one not living in an anime power fantasy.

Oh, cool, got some Golden Deer members playable now. And Lorenz uses his few lines to drag Claude lol.

If Rodrigue is in the West, does that mean no Rodrigue this chapter? Big sad.

MAP/SIDE QUESTS

Haha, some random merchant just said Dimitri lifted a whole ass cart out of the mud (she only later found out Dimitri did it).

This is the only route that lets Catherine and Shamir be girlfriends. By default it's the most superior.

Ingrid's alive again 😭

Interesting fact, Sylvain's mom actually really cared about Miklain.

Dedue is worrying about Dimitri and his overly enthusiastic work ethic.

I love how Edelgard is like we must have war to end nobility and promote commoners, meanwhile Dimitri is knighting and promoting commoners left and right and no one gives a shit. Meanwhile, Edelgard can't promote willy nilly because the Empire nobles will throw a fit. I wonder if she actually bothered to learn anything about Faerghus she'd realize how different it is and how they'll solve their own issues on their own terms.

SHEZ & ASHE A SUPPORT

Shez didn't get any answers about her mother.

Shez makes peace with it by saying she still loved her mother as a good mother regardless of what past she might has had.

They make some guesses what the mom's past is.

They were happy with the journey even if the destination was a disappointment (or never happened at all)

OH! Ashe got a letter at the end! But that's their A Support. So what's in the letter?????

SYLVAIN & ASHE A SUPPORT

They're learning strategies from Loog's past battles and learning more about Loog (who's pretty mysterious).

Sylvain is impressed with how smart Ashe is.

He's also jealous that Dimitri gets a knight like Ashe and offers to "steal" Ashe, but he shoots that down saying "only Dimitri." That just makes out of AG Ashe hurt worse.

Oh! Dimitri offered for Ashe to take over the land Lonato used to rule rather than always be a knight. Ashe likes that.

Ashe fawns over Sylvain's intelligence too.

I love seeing this mentor, teacher, more mature Sylvain.

ANNETTE & MERCEDES A SUPPORT

It's their only support, but at least it's A!

Since they're both nervous about the battle, they decide to chat.

Awww, I love that we're getting some details about their time at the sorcery school together. Apparently they'd chat together till dawn.

They talk about how they've stuck together through everything. Which makes outside SB Mercedes depressing.

Haha, Annette saved Mercedes from a bandit trap, but was in such a panic that SHE fell into the trap and needed Mercedes to heal her lol.

"Everything's better with you." Annette to Mercedes.

They plan to make lists of things they want to do after the war and then will do them once it ends. (if they had this discussion and then Mercedes defects, that hurts)

That was so wholesome.

MERCEDES & INGRID A SUPPORT

Ingrid is kicking ass in training, so Mercedes brings snacks to reenergize everyone.

Oh course, it tastes amazing, because it's Mercedes.

Ingrid wishes they were as relaxed around her as Mercedes, but Mercedes says that Ingrid is kind to them in a different way (mother Mercedes is here again!)

Mercedes bring up Ingrid's brothers and how it's probably like that.

Hahaha, Ingrid says she's going to show Mercedes her affection. And Mercedes is like "where is this going?!" Poor girl probably got excited lol.

You know what I also just realized? With Dimitri in charge, Ingrid doesn't feel pressured to marry. She's just a knight and living her best life and I love that for her (and we stan a king who stans women)

DIMITRI & BERNADETTA B SUPPORT

Is it petty that I feel a bit smug about Dimitri getting an Empire support but Edelgard didn't get a Kingdom one? lol

She's sneaking about and Dimitri finds her and she freaks out. So typical Bernie support lol. Poor thing trips over crates.

OMG. Bernie is like "this is the worst" and Dimitri naturally assumes HE's the worst lamo. OMG, Dimitri, baby, no. Thankfully she clears that up.

I kinda wondered why these two got a support and it actually makes a lot of sense. Dimitri doesn't sleep and Bernie sneaks out at night, so yeah they'd run into each other.

Dimitri's not offended because her being from the Empire means she's afraid of the Kingdom's king. Fair.

Bernie thinks he's going to execute her and he calls her a valuable ally instead. That's a bit sweet, not going to lie.

Dimitri then swears by his father's name, and Bernie's like "ok, I'll tell you." It's pretty funny how sincere they both are in very different ways.

Bernie exhausts Dimitri lol.

SYLVAIN & YURI C SUPPORT

Starts with the classic "..."

They're talking about Miklain. Yuri's like the rumors about his violence seem exaggerated. Sylvain's like "naw." You have no idea how much I love that Sylvain is like captain of the "stop making excuses for Miklain club"

Yuri makes it sound like Dimitri preyed on Miklain's inferiority complex to recruit him (saying uncrested people could get a chance to prove themselves).

Sylvain's impressed with Yuri's cunning.

Man, Yuri thinks Sylvain is just waiting to kill him for some reason and has a murderous smile. But this impresses Yuri. Sylvain is like "mixed messages, dude."

SYLVAIN & INGRID A SUPPORT

Ingrid's overwhelmed by noble work, which makes her appreciate Sylvain, Felix, and Dimitri more.

Sylvain responds by . . . asking her out (well, to dinner)

Sylvain said that they're "basically family" and said Felix and Dimitri feel the same way 😭😭😭😭 I can't.

Sylvain says we appreciate the things that stay the same because we can't stay in the past (or shouldn't) which is actually kinda deep for an FE support convo at least

Of course it devolves into Ingrid and Sylvain bickering about him gawking at her eating lol

Hearing them talking about how much they love their friendships and how they'll always be dear to each other makes recruiting any of trio to CF just criminal. I personally find it way more cruel to recruit them away from their homes and families than to kill them (i.e. the true way to play CF in "evil mode" is to recruit most of the Blue Lions and I will stand by that)

SYLVAIN & SHEZ A SUPPORT

Sylvain feels bad that they dragged Shez into the war, and that they only reason they're even fighting it is to keep their homes from getting destroyed.

"If we fail, we'll lose everything. Our houses, our families, the places we grew up." - see this is why recruiting them to CF is actually the evil thing to do. Then they gotta deal with that guilt.

Shez, of course, has nothing at stake unlike the Faerghus people

Poor Shez doesn't know what it's like to have a home.

I had Shez deny that it's just money she's in it for. And then calls Faerghus her home. 😭😭😭😭

Sylvain is inventing weapons. We stan a genius.

This support was seriously so sweet. It made my soft spot for both characters even bigger.

DEDUE & CATHERINE C SUPPORT

I have no idea what these two will have to talk about, but I'm still excited to see it. Maybe Dedue will try to recruit her back.

Dedue is suspicious of her because she shows up to a city where only people of Duscur are living. It's sad that he's got to be that way, but I'm excited if this support gives us more Duscur crumbs.

Neither Rhea nor Dimitri let him know what she's doing there lol, she's just helping after a big fire.

Catherine points out that the church is always helping people out, plus they feel a debt to Faerghus for giving them a home after Edelgard did her usual.

Apparently Rhea "jumped" at the chance to help. No one in the church cares that the people of Duscur don't worship the same religion, they just want to help/pay their debt.

SHEZ & INGRID A SUPPORT

I feel like I unlocked a million supports, but I'm not mad about it

Dedue put Shez on ingredient shopping duty.

Ingrid is flustered getting spotted by Shez in the market though. She looks like a deer in the headlights lol.

She's fangirling over the market since it's more lively and prosperous than Galatea.

Shez asks Ingrid to go on a shopping/eating date, but Ingrid feels she shouldn't be meandering markets as a future count.

Ingrid wants to help and protect Dimitri so bad as a knight. She also brings up her farming endings too.

I had Shez offer to help Ingrid out. She even offers to be Ingrid's personal mercenary. It's kinda cute.

Shez got Ingrid to blush a bit too. Happy Ingrid is a good Ingrid (and Shez too)

DIMITRI & INGRID B SUPPORT

It's sad that they only go to B, especially since we know how badly Ingrid want to be his knight (and has a crush on him, but like, girl, I get it, no one is immune to Dimitri)

Dimitri was planning with Duscur forces - how to use their unique fighting styles and avoid in-fighting with regular Faerghus forces

Dimitri asks her about Duscur, but Ingrid's moved on, and understands that it wasn't just Duscur.

She feels ashamed for putting it all on Duscur, and is not afraid to interact with them.

Dimitri of course blames himself for not insisting harder to Ingrid, but they were both dealing with shit. Dimitri's still upset with himself for not having the right priorities.

But like, Dimitri, even Ingrid herself says they weren't allowed to see each other (fuck Rufus).

Ingrid said she wouldn't have even listened to him. But like Dimitri just wanted to blame someone, so did Ingrid. Which, never really thought about how they dealt with it in a similar way before.

Dimitri takes her to a Duscur run Inn so help bridge the gap. She thinks she can do it with Dimitri there to help her out.

The character growth. Man, this is another missing discussion from AM that AG blessed us with. I swear AG doesn't have a single bad or boring or unnecessary or repeat support (no I'm not biased, why did you ask?)

INGRID & FELIX A SUPPORT

Felix is handing out compliments. Sound the alarm.

Aww, Ingrid has a rough battle, and Felix is worried about her.

Ingrid had Glenn's spur with her. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 She says that helped her through the battle 😭😭😭😭.

Felix is obviously confused and worried that Ingrid is relying too much on remembering the dead, but Ingrid argues it can be a strength too. And Felix . . . AGREES.

GUYS 😭😭😭😭 Felix is growing up. 😭😭😭😭 He's understanding that his views aren't the only ways to exist. 😭😭😭😭

He tells her to visit Glenn 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 OMG, guys, he's encouraging her to keep using Glenn's memory as a source of strength and hoping she'll visit his grave and give him flowers.

Guys, he's not only understanding and accepting that people feel differently, he's ENCOURAGING them to continue using that opposite way because it works for them. Guys, he needs a cookie or something.

Ingrid is just that powerful.

Ingrid wants Felix and Dimitri - Rodrigue, Sylvain, and Gustave - and everyone to come visit and just have a festive time near his gravestone. Haha, Felix gives in too.

SHEZ & DEDUE A SUPPORT

Dedue commanding soldiers. We love to see it.

The people of Faerghus are warming up to Dedue 😭😭😭😭, the wounds of the past are healing (the soldier's mom died in Duscur)

GUYS. DEDUE ARGUED BACK. The soldier gave Dedue shit, and Dedue stood up for himself. OMG. He gets a cookie too!

Both Felix and Dedue showing real growth back-to-back supports, I can't . . . 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Shez called Dedue her friend. 😭😭😭😭 Says that's why she's happy for him, because they're friends. 😭😭😭😭

Shez is determined to prove herself. Dedue says she doesn't have prove herself, that he trusts her.

Shez asks if Dedue really does despite her powers. Dedue doesn't deny that he's concerned about the powers, but it doesn't define Shez.

Haha, Dedue still adds in that if Shez ever did turn on Dimitri, he'd cut her down. Which, yeah, that tracks, which Shez agrees.

DEDUE/INGRID/FELIX PARALOGUE

3 of my favorites in one paralogue about the tragedy of Duscur. Yes please (they're also fully leveled up so I'm not broke!)

Everyone is down in the dumps because they're near where the attack took place. Probably a bit awkward with that trio.

Guys, we're in Duscur, it's exciting.

Aww, Dedue is telling Ingrid she doesn't have to fake being happy while their (because he knows about Glenn).

They're fighting Duscur :( having to put down a rebellion. Not everyone wants peace with Dimitri.

Dimitri keeps coming back in attempt to continue to make peace.

Oh, so the leader of the insurrection lead the group who killed Lambert and Glenn. This is intense.

They aren't allowed to kill him because they need information, but Ingrid wants to kill him, but won't.

Haha, that's why they didn't take Dimitri, well why he didn't go. Dimitri trusted them to handle it.

Felix said king, not boar everyone.

I can't wait to see the end of this paralogue.

Oh, we're rescuing Duscur soldiers? Glad Ingrid is a pegasus knight. She can zip around fast.

We're not killing, just subduing.

Ingrid requested this assignment to help her move on from the past.

Ingrid and Dedue put their faith in Dimitri to figure out the motivation.

Dedue wants to stop by a childhood spot that got trampled and he's wanting to see if it recovered. Ingrid asks to join him and he does. Shez also wants to come. Felix accepts grudgingly lol.

Ingrid has shown such growth in this game. I love it so much.

It's recovered 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 Dedue used to come there with his sister.

Dedue invites Ingrid to come back and keep checking on the field. Felix is just hanging back though. Typical Felix.

Felix says he's focusing on his duty to protect the same things Glenn did and Shez can say the lands or . . . well you know who and you KNOW which one I have to pick.

Felix says protecting Dimitri is the same as protecting Faerghus, and makes Shez swear not to tell Dimitri (well the boar but you know). I had Shez tease Felix big time by claiming she was going to run around and telling everyone lamo.

The Dimilix is real in this game.

MAIN MAP

So the Empire's going full scorched earth tactics.

Annnnd of course Dimitri's blaming himself for other's actions. He's getting all worked up too.

Oh, geeze, they killed all the citizens too. Shez says the Empire was always rough, but not this bad.

I still can't get over the fact they wrote themselves into a corner with Edelgard - either team up with TWSITD again or Dimitri and Rhea, so instead they just zapped her lamo.

Oh, that's cool, the map battle zone flipped spaces because the Western Church attacked.

Arval hoping to strike down TWSITD is rich since you know he's (she's, they're?) connected.

Poor Shez is worrying about her power again. I swear she's much better integrated in AG, then SB, and GW it's like why is Shez even there? They have no plotline.

I think my Dimitri is too strong guys. He just. Kills everything.

Myson escaped. Ohhh, now he's confronting Shez. And asking about Avral I'm assuming.

Arval makes a good point, that the power Shez has keeps saving lives. And brings up Dimitri's point that power isn't evil or good, it's how it's used.

Ashen Demon brought back up again. Arval really wants us to kill Byleth, hunh. Except this time I'm determined to recruit Byleth.

I wonder if Arval will eventually turn on us, esp once I don't kill Byleth. Because he really wants us to kill Byleth.

Rodrigue is back! My beloved.

Oh, hi Claude. Not sure where he stands with me right now. I vastly prefer the Claude who has two braincells.

Judith being alive again is good though.

I do like hearing about how Claude and Dimitri are making plans together to trick the Empire.

So our goal is to retake the Monastery. Makes sense.

xxxxx

[wanderlustmagician]

Anything you wanna ramble about?

Jfbdksjeekdj so many things!!

I’ve been rambling about my modern au for a while so maybe I’ll do the mythical creatures thing that’s been knocking around my brain. This time :D

Have you ever heard of a Peryton? They’re essentially winged deer who are the Guardians of the Forest. Fierce and intense, magically haunting. Very cool. Some people’s interpretations have them with these really wicked fangs.

And thunderbirds!! They’re like coated in lightning and I have got to get my hands on more information on them. They’re so cool!

Which of course made me go hmmm what if, what if. And I play fast and loose with everything when I write because it’s more fun for me that way… so LU mythical creatures. I’ve seen it done a few times and LOVE the concept;

Twilight is harder than expected when you don’t want to take the easy way out. I’ve been playing with the idea of a version of Peryton for him, more wolf than deer, BUT then I remembered that Black Shucks are a mythic, ghostly dog-like creature that exist and it kind of fits in the most spooky sense. Depending on where you look at the mythos, they’re either menacing (malevolent also but eh) or companionable omens of death that usually roam a coastline. There’s also church grims, which often take the form of a black dog, and guard church cemeteries. So playing fast and loose, as I do, I thought Twilight could be the more companionable, omen bearing Black Shuck in his Mythic form and then by the time he meets Wild in BOTW, he’s more spirit-like and is more akin to a Church Grim… just on a more personal level. I think it would be a fun little idea to play with instead of meeting Wild on the Plateau and have him be like “guarding” the Shrine… Wild meets him in Blatchery Plains where he actually died and that’s where they meet.

Sky would be some form of Thunderbird and nothing will change my mind on this. It fits. SO WELL. At least from what little I remember from previous research dives on the subject. I also originally had planned to have Sky be the reason that the Faron region changes from being a big growth forest in Twi’s time to the lightning infested jungle of BOTW/TOTK. It was gonna be because he was visiting Twi, who if I had left him as a Peryton would have been bound to the forest he guarded, which was planned to be Faron! Obviously I’ve changed that somewhat… but I still like the idea so I may find a way to work it back in.

I don’t like to take the easy routes when doing these kinds of concepts, not because I look down on them but more because I like the challenge. So Hyrule is giving me a little trouble because he’s canonically got fae blood. So like fae or even changeling… but changelings are a type of fae so of course I’m going to go all in on that (and get horribly distracted because doppelgängers are a type of fae, what that’s so cool) and it’s lead me down a rabbit hole. So more on Hyrule another day…

Wind is also giving me fits because he’s going to be something ocean related and it’s gotta fit his nature, so there’s Cephali which are a type of Sea fae and then there’s others that are more commonly thought of, but I could make him something wind related a novel idea I know which means more research to be done! I had some other ideas, like mythos or superstition believed by sailors to draw inspiration for but like I said more research.

Wild! Is! A! Church Grim! Also! But he’s gonna be an amalgamation like Twi. Dryad calls to me for him, but I want to do a little more digging because it’s gonna be a connection thing for him. He’s a church grim, but all of Hyrule is the cemetery :3c hehe oops

Time is 100% a changeling. Hands down. No explanation needed. He may become something else after events of TP, he may not, we will see. I will saying nothing else because mans needs to be mysterious. It may change if I stumble across something more interesting though

Legend is a kitsune (which is also!! A type of fae!! It falls into fae rules. Very interesting.) but they’ve got that same tenuous relationship with being perceived as good versus not good. In a lot of myths, they’re the messengers of the sun goddess… which feels fitting for Legend since he’s been on the most adventures! The more intense Good vs Bad in their mythos also feels fitting because Ravio is also a kitsune! While mythos says they’re fox spirits… I don’t follow rules so they’re bunnies. Heh.

Warriors is going to be my only one without anything as of yet. I want to do more research into mythic creatures and spirits more associated with war and just haven’t had the time yet. Maybe this weekend. Some of these wouldn’t have “true forms” while on their adventure through time together… so it would be interesting to have TOTK events happen post LU events and have Wild contend with how changed his brothers have become in the years (millennia for then really) since they traveled together.

This was rrreeeaaallllllllyyy long. Oops lol

[beeeinyourbonnet]

Covetous | Chapter 7

Rating: E

Pairing: Macelle (Father MacAvoy x Belle) or Nostelle (Nosty x Belle), who is to say which

Summary: Father Joseph MacAvoy wakes up in a library across town with no idea of how he got there. When the kind librarian doesn’t kick him out immediately, he considers that maybe there’s more to life than alcohol.

[chapter 1] [chapter 2] [chapter 3] [chapter 4] [chapter 5] [chapter 6]

[read on ao3]

tws: alcoholism, homelessness.

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

MacAvoy did not remember the bus being so nauseating. Every time he got off one to switch to another, he had to find a discreet place to vomit, and he regretted leaving all of his booze at the church. The only thing that kept him from going back to get a bottle was the thought that Belle would confiscate it if she found it, and then he’d have nothing.

 His third and final bus pulled up two blocks from the library, and he was so dehydrated and void of all the eggs and toast he’d eaten all weekend, he wasn’t sure he could make it. Vodka was, for once, not what he wanted—water would have been divine.

Nonetheless, he staggered forward. He had to see Belle. She would need counsel, a friend after her weekend. He would be there for her no matter that his stomach felt like a wrung-out sponge. 

His phone told him it was about ten when he stumbled into view of the library. That was good. He didn’t look overeager waiting until ten to get there. Of course, she was the one who told him the route, so she would likely know that he’d left over an hour ago. 

Whatever. She already knew he was pathetic. At least he was arriving sober this time, of his own free will. 

The first thing he saw when he stumbled into the library was the cart full of water, and he lurched for a bottle. 

The second, as he chugged water with more speed than his stomach wanted him to, was Belle’s empty circulation desk. And yet, someone had opened the library, so she probably wasn’t lying murdered in her apartment.

He crossed himself at the thought. If she was, there was nothing he could do—he didn’t know where she lived.

“Joseph!”

He whipped around, spilling water all over his hand, and there she was, resplendent in an olive green dress and carrying a stack of books, all but glowing with happiness. What did that mean?

“Belle! Ah—good morning.”

“Give me just a minute, I need to re-shelve these.” 

He wanted to follow her, but she’d said to give her a minute, so instead he lurched his way to the circulation desk and fished the fiver out of his pocket to drop in her collection jar. Part of him wanted to wait for her to see it so she’d know he wasn’t just taking advantage, but he knew that doing a good deed for recognition would sully it, and he’d done so many awful things over the weekend, he couldn’t add that to the list.

“Good morning!” 

He jumped, almost knocking the jar over, and then Belle had her arms around his shoulders, squeezing. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you!” She might as well have floated off, back around the desk. What had put her in such a good mood?

“No problem,” he managed, leaning against the desk. He’d spent all weekend sure she would be broken, sure she would just run to him, her wise and loving confidant, and now he didn’t know what to do.

“Why don’t you bring over a chair and tell me about your weekend? There’s coffee if you want.” She pointed to the carafe near the cart. 

Coffee was a smart idea, so he poured himself a cup, black, and then dragged over a chair. He thought Belle might have been shopping again, but she was reading through her emails. He averted his eyes to preserve her privacy.

“Was the trip difficult?” she asked, typing a quick reply to one.

“No, it was no trouble.” He studied her back, trying to discern anything. Where had Nosty hurt her? He must have. 

“Did you hold mass yesterday?”

He sipped his coffee, narrowing his eyes at the back of her head. “I sat in the pulpit, but no one showed up.” The doors were locked, but she didn’t need to know that. 

She hummed her acknowledgment, clicking through a few more emails, and then she pushed her keyboard back in and spun her chair to face him.

“So!” She clasped her hands in her lap. “What’s your plan?”

“My plan?”

He searched her face for a clue, and as she started on about being glad to have him in the library, he zeroed in on a red mark on her neck. It looked like a bruise, not the bite he was expecting.

“What happened?” he asked, hoarse.

“Hmm?” She frowned. “What do you mean?”

He raised a shaking finger toward her neck, and her eyes widened before she slapped a hand over the mark. Far from looking terrorized like he expected, she flushed all the way to the tips of her ears.

“Oh, that.” Her voice was oddly high-pitched. “I thought I’d covered it better. If you’ll—I’ll be right back.”

She fled to her office, and he sat, stumped. What was she hiding? What had made her so happy? Surely, if Nosty had hurt her, she wouldn’t be wandering around with her head in the clouds? Was he still drunk somehow, despite everything he’d purged from his system on the way here?

Maybe she’d left something on her desk that could clue him in. He didn’t want to snoop, so he vowed not to touch anything. He’d just look around, see what was there.

He was debating how to get around his no touching rule and also open the desk drawer when she came striding back out, no longer flushed and with no more mark on her neck.

“Close call.” She plopped back into her chair, throwing her arms out for balance when it spun. “Can you imagine if a patron had seen that and complained?”

“What?” He was so confused. He had to still be drunk. “I don’t understand. Did you hurt yourself?”

“Oh.” She blushed again, biting her lip. “Nothing, Father—Joseph! It was nothing. Thank you for spotting it.”

Not only did he feel like a failure, he felt stupid. What was he missing? Why was she embarrassed by a bruise? Sure, it was in a strange spot, like someone had given it to her, but—

Oh.

It was his turn to flush, and he turned away before she could see. He didn’t often think about pleasures of the flesh because he’d always been more tempted by drink, sometimes even gambling. There had been times when he’d wanted, but it had been so long. His parishioners, however, had been another story. He’d heard all manner of depraved confessions, even in his little outskirts-of-London parish.

He remembered now a man who’d admitted to wanting his wife to choke him, and MacAvoy’s hand flew to his own neck. Is that what happened? Had Belle been choked? 

He wouldn’t ask her. There were many things he was sure she’d confide in a close friend, but they’d spent all of one day together, and he was sure any other close friend she might have had would not have been a Catholic priest. 

“So,” he wheezed. He cleared his throat. “You had a nice weekend?”

“It was wonderful.” She twisted the ends of her hair around a finger, and he had the fleeting urge to join her, to twine their fingers together so he could have the pleasure of touching her hair as well. 

“Good.” He cleared his throat. “Good, I’m glad.” 

“So, volunteering?”

“What?” Who was volunteering?

“Earlier? I said it would be helpful if you volunteered while you were here? I know last week was kind of slow, but it’s usually quite busy, and I’m always looking for new volunteers.”

He swallowed. It made sense that he couldn’t simply take a bus to the library to sit at Belle’s feet for eight hours a day, five days a week. That would have been insane.

“Of course. I would love to help.” 

It wasn’t a lie, but Belle’s sunny smile made it feel even more true. He smiled hesitantly in return. 

“If you don’t mind starting today, I can teach you how to check books in and out and you can cover for me at lunch?” 

All he really heard was that he would be here while Belle went somewhere else at lunch, but what was he supposed to do? Say no? She’d taken care of him for two days, driven him across town, and welcomed him back even though it was obvious he was hungover. 

“Anything’s fine,” he said, and Belle rewarded him with another smile.

****

After almost two hours, he did not really have the hang of the system. He was not great with computers, and though he practiced on a few older ladies that had come in to return and pick out new books, he wasn’t confident enough to be left alone. 

In the end, they decided he should write down the library card and book information of anyone who came in, and Belle would just log it when she came back.

“Going somewhere fun?” he asked, trying not to stare at her touching up her lipstick.

“Not really. Nosty and I are going to the clinic to get tested.”

She puckered her lips together a few times, then capped her lipstick and stuck it back in her purse. It gave him time to process what she was saying, but he still didn’t understand. Was she pregnant? He wasn’t the most knowledgeable man, but pregnancy usually didn’t show after just a day or two.

“Tested for what?” He probably shouldn’t have asked, but she had mentioned it, so it wasn’t prying too much. 

She glanced sideways at him. “Sorry, I don’t mean to overshare.”

“It’s not oversharing.” Was she pregnant? “It’s my job to listen.”

She licked her freshly colored lips, but even whatever hesitation she had couldn’t stop her from smiling for long. She had to be pregnant.

“You are my closest friend, I guess,” she said. “I’m sorry if that’s odd for you.”

His neck warmed, and for the first time in forever, it wasn’t from guilt or shame. It was a nice feeling, a pleasant warmth. “You’re my closest friend too. You can tell me.”

She pursed her lips again. “We’re going to the clinic to get tested so we can be, ah—safe.”

“Safe?” He frowned. “From what?”

She wiggled her eyebrows, and as understanding crept along the tips of his ears, he wished the library would swallow him. They were getting tested for STDs. Of course. Like safe, consenting adults did. 

His knees shuddered, and he clutched the desk. Did that mean—

“So you haven’t—you didn’t this weekend?” Was he even allowed to ask that? As a priest, probably not. As her closest friend, though?

“No.” A dreamy look crossed her face. He was going to be sick. “We stayed up all night talking.”

He wanted to pinch himself to make sure he was conscious, but she would notice. How could they have done nothing? Maybe she had been drugged? She didn’t remember?

“Joseph? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing, sorry, I—”

She laid a hand on his, and oh god, how could she have figured it out already? He was going to fling himself into the Thames. 

“How much did you drink this weekend?” 

His vice. It had saved him. She thought he was just hungover. He tried to look sheepish which wasn’t hard. 

“More than I should have.” 

Belle squeezed his hand and then, for one horrible split-second, he saw her naked. His stomach clenched.

“I’m sorry, I need to—” He stood, stumbling over his chair in his haste to flee to the bathroom.

“Okay, good luck,” she said, and he tried to laugh. “I’ll wait until you’re out before I go?”

He nodded or maybe he agreed, he couldn’t remember. All he knew was he had never run so fast, but he did make it to a toilet before throwing up.

When he returned ten minutes later, shaky and thirsty, Belle was standing by the door clutching her purse, peering out the window. 

“When’s he supposed to get here?” MacAvoy asked.

“Any minute now.”

There wasn’t enough left inside of him to react to that, so he collapsed in his chair, sipping his water. After that round of vomiting, he was sure the shakes were to follow. 

Belle waited at the window for another ten minutes, then sat at the desk staring out for fifteen, then poured a cup of coffee and ran to bring it to the man sitting outside the convenience store across the road, then stared at the window again.

Her lunch hour came and went, and as much as MacAvoy was glad not to see Nosty, his heart ached watching Belle wait for him. He should have known he wasn’t coming. Belle should have known.

Tentative, he put a hand on her shoulder, and she all but jumped out of her skin. 

“Belle?”

“He’s coming.” Her eyes were wet, but the set of her jaw was determined. 

“Are you sure?”

“He wouldn’t not come.” She pressed a hand to her neck where he knew the mark was, where Nosty must have choked her. “If he’s not here, it’s because something happened.”

“Like what?” 

She shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s dangerous on the streets. Once he came in with a slash across his shoulder and wouldn’t tell me how he got it.” She swallowed. “It’s dangerous.”

In his drunken stupors, he’d met all manner of dangers on the streets, so he coldn’t disagree. “Do you want to try to teach me the computer system again while we wait for him?”

A tear spilled over her cheek and he forced himself not to brush it away, not to use the tip of his finger to caress the soft skin of her cheek. 

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s get some books to practice with.”

****

They practiced all day. Nosty did not show up. Joseph could even check books in and out on his own by the time Belle had to close the library.

She wandered back to her office, the loneliness rooting in her gut again and telling her that nothing had happened to Nosty. He had simply kissed her goodbye outside the library that morning and lied when he said he would see her in a few hours.

But no. He wouldn’t dare. He had held her so tenderly, kept her heart safe within his grasp. He knew leaving would destroy her. Something had happened.

Out of habit—and a little hope—she checked every possible hiding spot in her office and bathroom before locking up, then wandered through all the stacks. Nosty didn’t leap out and grab her, she saw no flash of tartan, no wild tangle of hair. 

As she turned off the lights, tucking her home in for bed, she looked around one last time. Nosty wasn’t there.

She would have to find him.

****

It was supposed to be a chilly night, so while Belle closed the library, MacAvoy took another cup of coffee to her friend across the street, along with a few snacks she recommended for him. 

The man thanked him, and in a moment of what MacAvoy considered genius, he asked him if he’d seen Nosty, but he hadn’t since that morning. That, at least, probably meant that Nosty wasn’t lurking somewhere in the library.

Belle emerged and MacAvoy made his hasty goodbyes, promising to come by for a chat tomorrow.

“You don’t have to drive me,” he said.

“I don’t mind.” She stood on her toes, searching the distance, and then flattened. “Maybe he’ll be waiting for me at home.”

“Then you should go home.”

She smiled then, and he was grateful that she didn’t listen to him because he felt like shit, his muscles were shaking, and he didn’t want to be out of her company for the hours it would take him to reverse engineer her bus instructions.

MacAvoy wasn’t sure that Belle looked anywhere but straight ahead while she drove—he didn’t see her check her mirrors, her blind spots, anything. She stared forward, eyes full.

“Belle,” he said. “You’re gonna hit someone.”

She jumped, blinking some tears down her cheek, and then finally did her usual visual circuit from mirror to mirror. “Sorry, I’m sorry. I’m just worried. Can you do me a favor tonight?”

The devil decided that now, as she asked him for a favor, was the time to remind him of the vision of Belle pressed to the shower wall, Nosty’s gargantuan cock inside her while MacAvoy held his own pitiful member. He clenched his fists.

“Anything.”

“Will you call as many hospitals in your area as you can and see if he’s checked in? I’ll call in my area. And text me if you find him?”

That was not the favor he expected—although he didn’t know what he’d thought—but he hastened to agree. He knew how to use a phone, and there had been a time when he’d made the rounds at hospitals. He might even have contacts at some of them. 

“Thank you.” She reached across and closed her soft, gentle fingers around his fist. He felt it in his cock and wished he could fucking die. “I don’t want to do this alone.”

With a hand somehow both stiff and trembling, he patted hers. “You don’t have to do anything alone, Belle. I’m here.”

He was here with his impure urges and visions sent straight from the devil himself, but by God was MacAvoy going to call those hospitals for her. 

****

It wasn’t until the fourth hospital he called that MacAvoy finally got somewhere. Thank God, because he refused to drink a sip until he’d finished his task, which also meant that he couldn’t force down any food, and his whole body rebelled. He needed the dopamine of a success.

“Nosty?” the man on the phone asked. “And who’s calling?”

“Father MacAvoy,” he half-wheezed. “From St. Joseph’s. I’m his chaplain.”

“Sorry, Father. We haven’t seen him in a couple months. If you’re looking for him, he’s probably locked up or dead.”

MacAvoy closed his eyes. Belle would not want to hear this. 

“Thank you. Can I ask—do you see him often?”

“Fairly. He’s had a bit of a dry spell recently.” 

So that meant that wherever Nosty spent time, it was likely near this hospital. He thanked the man for his time and hung up. Belle had said to text her, but this was news that he felt was probably better delivered spoken. Texts were for concrete information and hospital addresses. 

Promising himself a drink as soon as this was over, he dialed Belle’s number.

****

All of Nosty’s new clothes were folded neatly on the spare bed, just where they’d left them. None of her books were missing. There wasn’t even any food or water missing.

Belle was torn between a desire to cocoon herself in the bird blanket and think about Nosty’s strong arms and to move, move, move. The blanket wouldn’t help find him, though, so she made herself a cup of tea and set her laptop up at the kitchen table. 

The closest hospitals to her flat and the library didn’t know him at all. She considered pouring a glass of wine, but what if she found him and needed to pick him up? Better to stay sober.

Her phone rang and she snatched it up, praying for an unknown number and Nosty’s voice. It was only Joseph, but maybe he had good news?

“Did you find anything?” she asked instead of hello.

“Maybe.” 

Her heart sank deep into the expanding loneliness in her gut. Soon, it would blossom and overtake her, and she’d be nothing but a husk. 

“What?”

“I found what I think is the hospital he usually goes to.” 

Belle took a sip of tea. The hospital he usually goes to. Usually goes to for what? Did he have a terminal illness? 

“What do you mean?”

“I spoke to a man who said they used to see him fairly often but haven’t for a few months.”

What did that mean? Why was he there so often? She rubbed her forehead. If only Nosty had left some sort of clue or ever allowed her to know anything personal—she’d be able to find him then. 

“Did he say anything else?”

Joseph made a noise like he was reconsidering talking, and Belle straightened.

“What? What did he say?”

“Belle, maybe this isn’t—”

“Joseph, what did he say?”

The only sound for several seconds was Belle’s hammering heart. Then, “He said if I can’t find him, he’s probably locked up or dead.”

Belle set her mug on the table, a great feat of restraint considering she wanted to hurl it against the wall. Nosty couldn’t be dead. She would know. She didn’t know how, but somehow, she would know.

“Belle?”

That meant that Nosty was locked up again. He was probably miserable. She had to find him.

“Belle?”

“Sorry.” She stared at the map on her computer. How many police stations were there? How many would she have to call? Would they even listen to her?

“Are you okay? What are you doing?”

She shook her head, the map lines swimming in front of her. “I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

“Come to the church.”

“No, I can’t.”

“Belle, it’s not haunted, I promise.”

“What if he comes here?”

Joseph was quiet. A sob escaped, ripped from her chest, and she pressed a hand over her mouth. 

“Do you want me to come there?” he asked.

“Yes, please,” she said, even though she had intended to say no. 

“Okay. There’s just—I’m sorry, but—”

“You have to drink.” She didn’t care. How was she supposed to keep Joseph from self-destructing when she was crumbling from the inside? 

“I do.”

“It’s fine. Get in a taxi. I’ll pay.”

“Okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

They hung up and Belle stared at the map again. She could hardly remember what she needed to do. She wouldn’t be alone anymore at least. Nosty would have to accept Joseph once they found him and he realized how integral he’d been in helping her. Is this what having real friends was like? Heartache and support in equal measure? She’d take it over the loneliness.

****

MacAvoy felt disgusting as he gulped from his handle of gin then stuck it in his jacket pocket before heading outside. How could he bring his vile crutch when Belle was paying for his taxi?

But he’d be no use to her sober, that much was certain. If he wanted to help Belle, he’d have to give her a glimpse of his world.

The drive took half an eternity, but Belle stood on the sidewalk, waiting for him as promised. She swiped her credit card and then she was in his shaking arms, sobbing.

“Come on.” He patted her on the back, feeling each sob deep in his chest—and only his chest, thank God. “Come on, let’s get you inside.”

She led him up to a small two-bedroom whose decor style could be boiled down to, unsurprisingly, books everywhere. He hid his smile, not wanting her to think that he enjoyed any part of what was going on.

“So I’ve broken the city down by area,” she said. “And I’ve been making a list of all the precincts to call.”

“Have you eaten?” he asked. 

She licked her lips. “No, not yet.” Oh, how the tables had turned.

“Come on.” He spied her laptop and a mug on the kitchen table, so he put a hand between her shoulders and guided her there. “You’ll be of no use to Nosty if you faint. Do you need another cup of tea?”

She allowed him to push her into her chair, then she looked into her mug and nodded. “It’s gone cold. Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” An electric kettle sat by the sink, so he filled it again and set it to heat. While his back was to her, he nipped from his gin bottle. 

The chair scraped and he whirled to see why, but Belle was just taking a box of tea and another mug from the cupboard and bringing them to the table.

When the water boiled, he managed to pour it into both mugs without spilling, and then while Belle added a squeeze of lemon to her tea, he tipped a shot of gin into his. 

“All right,” he said, unsure of where the authority in his voice came from. He hadn’t sounded like that in years. “Let’s see about dinner.”

“I’m not hungry,” she said. Somehow, the look he turned on her was strong enough to make her blush. Maybe she’d taught him a thing or two. “Fine. Let’s get a pizza. Here.” She fished her card out of her sweater pocket and handed it to him. “Get whatever you want.”

At this point, all he wanted was Nosty to appear or for Belle to eat. He didn’t have a thought to spare for pizza.

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll figure something out.”

She nodded, and when she turned back to her computer, he saw that she’d made a spreadsheet of information.

This was going to be a long night.

[chapter 8]