#this is kinda a birds eye view next time I want to try getting the view from the ground

[becks-art]

my ms paint brackish fan art

[amuyyi]

venus .

synopsis; you're going on your third year of university, and your friend kazuha invites you to an end of the year ball. parties have never been your thing, but for her? youll make an exception.

trope; non-idol!kazuha x f!reader, friends to lovers, fluff, suggestive, kinda smut? ball/fancy party ! university au!

wc; 6.3k

cw; kinda suggestive, kinda smut? cursing.

a/n; i decided to try writing something suggestive for the first time and next thing u know im 6k words in and i started going thru burnout near the middle/end >< apologies, just wanted to get one last fic out before i disappear to china for 2 weeks!

Your eyebrows knit together with immense concentration as your eyes shift between the notebook on the picnic table and your laptop propped up in front of it, your hand gripping your pen with an unbreakable grip. It was a wonderful day out on the university campus quad, with perfectly warm but not too hot temperatures and a light breeze, and you decided to take advantage of the perfect study environment to finish up the last homework assignments you had. You could see people from the corner of your vision, some were walking with friends, others lounging within hammocks they propped up between trees, you could even spot a group of boys playing pickleball. There were squirrels either digging within the dirt or rummaging through nearby trash cans, and birds singing from the trees. These were perfect conditions to allow for optimum problem solving. You look back at your work. Now, if you just had the correct formula and numbers, the answer should be…

“y/n!”

Before you could even process who had ripped your focus away from solving your chemistry homework, a colorful piece of paper was shoved directly into your face. With the way it was aggressively being waved around and how close it was, you could already tell who the concentration-culprit was.

“Kazuha, what am I looking at?” You ask aloofly, trying to move your head away so you could actually read the parchment. As you make your futile attempts, you catch a quick glimpse of the Japanese girl, seeing that she's made her way to sit on top of the picnic table instead of on the actual very much open seat with her long legs crossed as she beams at you.

“Can’t you read it?” Her voice was sweet and upbeat, as if the answer she was expecting was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Not when you have it literally 2 inches from my face and you won’t stop shaking.”

You can see Kazuha roll her eyes playfully as she pulls the parchment away, placing it on top of your notebook to allow a proper view of its contents. “It's a ball!” You hear Kazuha say excitedly as you skim over the information on the page, “The university’s hosting it as a sort of end of the year celebration. It's gonna be at this fancy castle place that rich white people used to hold masquerades and all that kind of stuff at back then.”

“No.” Your response was almost instantaneous, and you can immediately see Kazuha’s face turn into a frown and then a pout as she whines, leaning forward above your laptop screen, “Whaaaatt? Why not?”

You cross your arms and shrug, shifting your gaze over to the other students enjoying the weather as you speak, “Parties just aren’t my thing, Zuha. They’re loud and cramped, and more often than not I somehow always end up alone.” The way you spoke would’ve sounded quite pitiful if you weren't so firm with your words. What you said wasn’t some opportunity to gain pity from your friend, it was merely fact. Whenever you went to any sort of party or dance with your various groups of friends throughout the years, sooner or later they would break into their own little mini groups, and you were left floating amongst their conversations, left out. You simply didn’t want to relive that experience again with your current college friend group.

Kazuhas frown deepens as she closes your laptop, crawling closer to you from the top of the picnic table as she puts on her best puppy eyes, “come onnnn… Please? The girls already bought tickets, and it's almost our last year of uni! ” She begs, and you try your best to mask the smile that's threatening to form from the corner of her mouth as you repeat your answer, “no.”

She inches closer to you, grabbing you by the shoulders as she lightly shakes your body back and forth, as if that would help get her words from her mouth into your brain and into your heart. “It won't be the same without you!! Yunjin and Chaewon will likely end up hardcore drinking the whole night together, and Sakura is gonna be babysitting Eunchae the whole time!!! You’re the only person I’d genuinely want to spend all night with. I haven’t even bought my tickets yet because I’ll only go if you go!! ” You bite back laughter as she continues to whine, words spilling out of her mouth at rapid speed.

“It’ll be just like prom!”

“I didn’t go to prom.”

“Exactly!”

Hiding your grin was starting to become pretty difficult. Frankly, it felt nice to be wanted. Especially by Kazuha. She's always been so kind to you ever since freshman year, and has always tried her best to include you in social events with her friends. Even so, despite her quite literally saying she wants you there you still can't shake off the feeling that you’d end up alone just like always. You look back at Kazuha and see her desperately trying to win you over, her eyes almost sparkling with a cartoonish glint as she frowns… Still, you’d hate to be the reason why the other girl doesn’t go to an event she is so explicitly excited for.

Letting out a defeated sigh, you rub your temples as you give in, “Fine, I’ll go.”

You watch as Kazuha immediately lights up at your response, pulling you into an all too tight hug as she gleams, “Yes!!! You’re the best!”

“But! Only on one condition,” You pull yourself away from Kazuha and stick up your index finger in her face, forcing her back as she looks you in the eyes, nodding to indicate she was all ears. “You won’t leave me alone.”

The taller girl rolls her eyes as she scoffs, swatting your finger away dismissively as she speaks, “That was already part of the plan, silly. You wont leave my sight the entire night.” The gives your nose a light tap with her finger as your face scrunches up, not appreciating the gesture before shaking your head, beginning to shoo her off the table and onto her feet.

“Okay, okay. Now go away, I need to finish my work.” You allow yourself to smile fully this time, unable to truly keep up the cold and dismissive persona as she winks at you, “Meet me at my place on friday, we’re gonna go dress shopping!” You watch as she spins on her heel and merrily walks down the quad, chuckling at the sight before you return to your work.

…Did she turn off your homework program when closing your laptop?

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

Soon enough, Friday had come and you swiftly made your way to the front of Kazuha’s apartment. You had decided to wear a simple white tank top and skirt paired with a bolero top to make changing a quick and efficient process. In all honesty, you were both a little bit excited for this experience but also dreading it for multiple reasons. On one hand, you really didn’t want to go to this ball. The idea of a majority of the university being put into a castle where you could easily get lost and lose sight of your friends was not an ideal situation. On the other hand though, Kazuha did promise you that you wouldn’t be alone this time. The idea of her having all of her attention on you throughout the night didnt sound all too bad…Plus, you did enjoy dressing up and feeling pretty. You sigh as you quickly send Kazuha a text.

Y/n [14:05] – Here.

Zuha [14:05] – come in ^w^ im still getting ready

You laugh a little to yourself at the text, Kazuha was always so punctual until it came to you. You didn’t take any offense to it though, you soon learned over the years that it was a sign that she felt comfortable to take her time with you.

You open the door and you’re greeted with a welcoming living room, ambient light illuminating the sight as you take it in. Kazuha most definitely pays a fortune in rent for this place, the walls lined with large bookcases and a generously sized couch pressed up against the wall. The interior of the apartment was various shades of gray and white, yet somehow still managed to exude a comforting warmth despite the cooler tone. There were blankets and pillows scattered charmingly on the couch and the bookshelves not only held actual books, but also little trinkets of all kinds, including rocks, figurines, and origami figures. The kitchen table had a bowl of fruit freshly put out, and you take notice of a pair of ballet shoes placed next to the door. There have been many nights spent here with the other girls before, whether it be movie nights or drinking, and you can appreciate Kazuha in keeping the space clean for your arrival.

You immediately make your way to the couch, the plush fabric giving into your weight as you get comfortable. A few minutes of aimless scrolling on your phone pass before Kazuha emerges from the nearby hallway, her long black hair ruffled in an intentional way as she wore a black tank top and jeans with a matching jean jacket that slightly slipped off her shoulders, exposing them. You find yourself staring a little longer than usual, taking in the sight before you. Of course, Kazuha was always beautiful— all of your friends were, but something about her outfit and hair and light makeup she put the effort into doing for a simple girls day out with you made your throat unexpectedly run dry.

In all honesty, ever since you first met Kazuha you have always thought she was incredibly attractive, and her kindness and bright personality that came out as you two got closer made her even more desirable; but the idea of ruining the first friend you made in college with a dumb crush immediately steered you away from making any moves beyond platonic. Most of the time you can forget that you even felt anything towards her in the first place, with schoolwork often taking up most of your brainspace— but not this time, apparently. You try to not let your eyes linger on her for too long before she speaks up.

“You ready?” She asks, snapping you out of your trance as she smiles, twirling her car keys along her index finger. You get up from your seat, clearing your mind from your previous intrusive thoughts as you nod, following her out of the apartment and into her car.

The ride to the boutique was enough to completely make you forget about whatever ideas you had before, the pair of you singing all kinds of songs as the world seems to pass you two by on the road. Kazuha had an impressive roster of j-pop music queued up for the ride, and you found yourself silently admiring her as she loudly sang the lyrics out the window as she drove, giving the sky a performance that could never be replicated.

You always seem to forget that the girl was practically born for the arts— from dancing to singing or just general charm, Kazuha was a perfect candidate to become a celebrity or the other. She was beyond good at what she did. It was only reasonable for her to pursue a performing arts major, and you were certain that after graduation you’d see her on the big screen, dancing and singing for the whole world to see. You could only hope that out of everyone in the world who would listen, she’d still find you. You try to follow along with her singing, but you don't know even a fraction of Japanese, and Kazuha can't help but laugh at your efforts. Smiling, you look out the window to try and hide your blush.

Once the two of you arrive at the boutique off campus, Kazuha was quick to drag you towards the wide variety of dresses lined up on the walls, “so… what kind of dress are you thinking?” She asks excitedly, already rummaging through dresses while constantly looking between you and the rack, “I think you should go for something that's gonna enunciate your curves, you got a hot bod.” The comment was so lighthearted and so painfully platonic, yet it still made your cheeks warm. You can’t be feeling these things right now. You dismissively wave your hand as you respond, “don't tease me, Zuha.. besides, aren't you supposed to be looking for dresses for yourself?”

The taller girl furrows her brows as she grabs your forearm, giving it a firm squeeze, “I’m being serious y/n, you’re crazy hot. Give yourself some more credit!” She shifts her attention back to the dresses and her eyes catch sight of a bundle of blue fabric, pulling it off the rack she shoves it into your arms and guides you to the dressing room, “try this on, I’m gonna find some more dresses for you!!”

You were left dumbfounded by Kazuhas words within the changing room for a moment before you pat your cheeks, forcing yourself to focus on the task at hand before trying on the dress. The way she spoke to you felt way too much like a girl talking to another one of her “girl friends” and it made your stomach churn, but you repressed the feelings as you slipped on the blue fabric. It took a bit of effort, but after fighting the tightness you were able to get the dress on. It definitely hugged your body well, being a bodycon style and all, but you felt like a ball at a castle calls for a more dramatic and elegant look.

You step out of the changing room, looking around for your friend as she quickly shuffles her way back, her face partially masked by the comically tall tower of clothing she carried within her hands. Her eyes scanned you from top to bottom, eyebrows raised as she takes in your appearance, smirking a little at how shy you become. “I… don't think this one is good for the ball, it kinda feels like I’m going to the bar?” You sheepishly comment, suddenly shrinking and trying to hide your body from your friend as she places the dresses on the bench nearby.

She places a finger on her chin and her other hand on her hip as her eyes glaze over you again, deep in thought as she nods. “Yeah, youre right… but you still look great, you should wear something like that for my birthday,” she smiled mischievously, but you could tell she was being serious with her words. You try to stop your heart from practically racing out of your chest as you quickly grab another dress from the pile, disappearing into the changing room as Kazuha giggles.

Soon enough, you and Kazuha are practically going through a real life movie montage, with you trying on every dress she suggests and her sitting down and giving you her opinions. You had tried on a flowy red dress that was off the shoulder, and the color was great but Kazuha wasn’t much of a fan of the shape. There was a champagne dress that was very princess-like, but was just simply too much. The layers and the itchiness and overload of glitter made you want to die. This continued on with just about every color and style of dress until the ravenette hands you a long white dress, throwing you a thumbs up and a wink as you disappear back into the changing room. Honestly this was all fun, but if this wasn't the piece for you after going through what felt like thousands before, you were just going to show up in a t-shirt and shorts.

As you slip on this dress, you notice the amount of detail put into it. It was an off the shoulder dress with a leg slit in which the fabric twists around your hips almost like if it were a flower. It hugged your body well, but it wasn't suffocating whatsoever, and the fabric was surprisingly comfortable with a shimmery sheen on top. It was beautiful, but you couldn't manage to zip up the back of the dress by yourself. You poke your head out and meet the gaze of Kazuha, waving your hand to beckon her over and into the room with you.

You couldn't help but notice the way her eyes widened when she saw you, and how they eased over every part of your body for just a little bit too long. You let out an uncomfortable yet soft cough and she snaps her attention back to you, “This.. This might be the dress!” She says, putting on a smile as you laugh at her response, “yeah? You think so?” And she nods, shooting you a comical double thumbs up as you continue, “I need help with the zipper, though. Do you mind?” You turn around and expose your bare back to the other girl.

You try to keep your gaze downwards as you feel her fingers trail down your back, all too scared to accidentally make eye contact with her while so vulnerable. Still, it seemed like the harder you tried to not do it, the more prompted you were to do so. Sparing a glance into the mirror it's nearly impossible to notice how Kazuha bites her lip, her fingers shaking as she zips up the dress for you, almost as if she was scared to touch you. You can feel her breath on the back of your neck and you shiver, realizing she's gotten closer. Her eyes dart up to meet yours within the reflection, and you’re left there frozen like a deer in the headlights. Her hands slowly trail down your sides and firmly land on your hips as she once again drinks in the sight of you, but this time, there's nowhere to go.

All of a sudden it became very very hard to think. For the first time, you see Kazuha’s eyes darken, and you cannot figure out what could possibly be going on in her mind. Hell, you can barely figure out what's going on in your own. She still hasn't broken eye contact with an unreadable poker face as she wraps her arms completely around your hips, pulling you closer and completely pressing your bodies together. You gasp at the sudden contact, feeling heat shoot through the entirety of your body, your ass pressed up against her core. What is she doing? What are you doing? You close your eyes, unable to look at the vulgar spectacle before you. She leans down and gently places her chin on your shoulder as she leans into the cook of your neck, and you feel the ghost of her lips hovering over the sensitive skin, waiting. The sensation causes the quietest whisper of a whimper to escape your lips.

And just like that, it was as if a switch flipped. “You look so pretty!~” she cooes, squeezing your body and rocking the both of you side to side in a playful (and very platonic) embrace as she grins, “You’re going to catch so many eyes at the ball. I’ll let you change and we’ll buy this dress then head out, yeah?” The words flow out so fast, Kazuha manages to slip out of the small changing room before you could even process what happened.

As soon as you hear the sound of her footsteps fading, you press you back up against the cold mirror, hand on your chest as you feel your heart threaten to give in. You squeeze your thighs together as you try to calm every nerve in your body that was working over time (it was all of them.)

Sweat forms on the top of your forehead as you shakily breathe out, “fuck…”

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The next few days following the “dress incident” as you very originally named, went by painfully slow. Seeing as it was the end of the school year, you had already finished all of your finals and you were simply left sitting alone in your apartment trapped within your thoughts as the days passed. There isn't any more schoolwork to keep you distracted, but frankly, you dont think even all the assignments in the world could keep you from thinking about what happened in that dressing room. You haven't texted Kazuha since. How could you? What even was that? There had to be a logical explanation for… whatever that was, surely. You’ve known Kazuha for around three years now, and not once has she ever done anything to show you she may like you more than platonically.

The situation left you so distressed, you sought out solace in the form of your roommate, Sakura. You’re left restlessly pacing the living room, biting your nails as you retell the story, the older girl’s eyes following your every move. After seeing you do about 30 rounds around the coffee table, Sakura finally decides to speak up. “Y/n… you do know Kazuha has always treated you differently than the rest of us, right?”

Almost comically, your neck snaps towards your roommate as you dash over to her, grabbing her firmly by the shoulders as your eyes widen, staring her down with a stress driven craze, “what.”

Sakura immediately raises her hands in defense, dropping her phone as she is practically pinned against the couch by your unexpected strength. “I-I’m just saying..! Kazuha has always been a pretty shy and reserved person. I mean, she can hold conversations well with just about anyone just fine. But with you? I've never seen her so outwardly affectionate to anyone. She's always touching you and being… silly? I don't know. At least with me, she’s upbeat sure, but she's usually so much quieter, never latching onto my arm, whining, or always trying to get my attention in any way… I'm sure it's the same for the others too…”

As the older girl’s words trail off, your grip on her loosens, and you can see her sigh in relief as you collapse on the couch next to her, lost in thought. Did Kazuha really treat you differently? “But I thought she was just, I don't know, treating me like one of her girl friends? Gal pals or whatever?”

Sakura simply shrugs at this response, “Maybe to her, you’re more than that.”

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

You sit in the passenger seat of Sakura’s car as you wait in front of Eunchae’s dorm building. Alongside the dress from the store, your hair was tied up into a low bun held in place with a white floral hair stick and accented with a gold arm cuff and necklace that crawled up your body nicely. Sakura had a light pink mermaid style dress on with pearl accents, and you can catch a glance of Eunchae waddling her way over, her hair in an adorable high ponytail to match with her puffy blue dress.

You exchange pleasantries with the younger girl before turning your attention to your phone, nervously nibbling on the pad of your thumb as you quickly send a text to the girl whos been driving you crazy.

Y/n [19:56] – Kkura, Eunchae, and I will be there in five.

Zuha [19:56] – yay!! can't wait to see you in that pretty dress <33

You bite the inside of your cheek, feeling the blush rush to your face.

Y/n [19:57] – What dress are you wearing btw? I didn't see you buy one at the boutique.

Zuha [19:58] – its a surprise～～ (^з^)-☆

“Who are you texting??” Eunchae’s voice rings out, and you immediately shut off your phone in a mild panic as she leans over your shoulder, frowning at the black screen before her.

“Just letting Zuha know we’re on our way– and put your seatbelt on.” You realize how much you sound like a mother in that moment, and it shows on your face, cringing at yourself as Eunchae snickers, returning to her seat as you make your way to the castle.

To describe the venue as grand was an understatement. Your eyes are met with towering spires that stretch dramatically into the sky. The castle was constructed entirely of stone, its walls weathered from the centuries of its existence, dark green ivy leaves crawling up its exterior, giving the fortress a sense of timelessness and majesty. “Wooaaah!! This looks even prettier than the pictures!! They must’ve paid a fortune for this place,” Eunchae’s upbeat cheer interrupts the serene experience as you and Sakura look at each other, laughing as you guide the younger girl down the cobblestone path and toward the crowd.

It felt like all of the university was here at the castle, the courtyard becoming a hive of activity as people shuffled their way in and out through the main doors and from the main hall. The dimly lit grandeur of the hallway before you left you awestruck, casting long shadows that helped illuminate the faces of the individuals passing you by. You spot Kazuha almost too quickly within the crowd, her hair placed elegantly along her bare shoulders as you finally get a look at the dress she picked out for this occasion. She chose the color black for her dress, almost as if to intentionally match your own. The dress was strapless, showcasing her shoulders with a sweetheart neckline that had a hypnotic type of allure to it. The top was fitted, hugging her body and torso to excellently showcase her slim figure before flowing out into a multi layered floor-level skirt. Alongside this, she wears a pair of long black gloves and a pearl necklace that enhances Kazuha’s beauty tenfold, her aura emitting a sense of timelessness and grace. She looked beyond gorgeous, like a black swan. You feel your ears grow hot and your stomach do flips as Sakura gives you a reassuring squeeze on your hand, smiling softly as she guides you and Eunchae towards the group.

Yunjin and Chaewon hold Kazuha in conversation, and you can see a small smile form on her lips as she listens to the duo intently. As the three of you approach, you lock eyes with Yunjin, who grins at your arrival, playfully moving past Kazuha and Chaewon as she wraps her arms around your neck, pulling you into a warm embrace. “y/n!! You made it!!” You get a whiff of her perfume and are immediately hit with a woody scent with a mix of citrus, which you think is fitting with her short green dress and bright orange hair. You laugh into the hug, giving her a light squeeze before looking over at Kazuha.

You swear you see her eyebrow twitch for a millisecond before Yunjin glances at the other girl. Giggling, she leans in and whispers into your ear, “She’s been talking about you all night, by the way.”

Cheeks now embarrassingly flushed, Yunjin pulls away, and you can see Kazuha glaring daggers into the back of Yunjins head as Chaewon sighs, pulling her partner away from you and linking their arms together. The bob-haired girl wore a blood red maxi dress, with matching stiletto heels to boot. She had an authoritative energy to her tonight, and if she wasn’t your friend, you think you would’ve been a little intimidated. “Let the girl breathe, Jen.”

You sheepishly smile as Yunjin sticks her tongue out at the shorter girl, beckoning for Sakura and Eunchae to join as they chatter amongst themselves, leaving you and Kazuha off to the side. After exploding Yunjin with her mind, Kazuha’s gaze softens as she walks up to you, her breath hitching as she opens her mouth, but nothing comes out. You giggle at the sight as she grabs your hands with her gloved ones, looking you in the eyes as she speaks, “you look stunning tonight, y/n,” and the words held a completely different meaning this time. She’s complimented you before– countless times really, but they held a different weight now. It was different now that you could feel an unseen electricity between you two. It was different now because of what she did (or didn't do) to you in the changing room that day.

Blushing, you squeeze her hands, “You look beautiful as well, Kazuha.” Your words were breathless and shy, and you think about how embarrassing it is to say that she quite literally took your breath away with her look tonight. You’re not too sure how long you and Kazuha stood there in the middle of the hall, simply staring at each other as the world seemed to no longer exist around you, but the sound of a cough brings the both of you back down to reality.

“Wanna go to the dance floor? They also have food and drinks,” Chaewon suggests, already leading the group as you can now clearly see how flushed Kazuha’s cheeks are, and you melt at the sight, intertwining your fingers with hers as you follow the group onwards.

The rest of the night was spent dancing and enjoying your time off with your friends. Eunchae was socializing with just about any person who crossed paths with her, Sakura having to hold her back to ensure she didn't get lost. As expected, Yunjin and Chaewon had actually already pregamed the event, but still had more alcohol hidden within their dresses. They offered you a shot, but you declined (much to Yunjins dismay.)

Despite Kazuha being rather introverted and soft spoken most of the time, she definitely had more friends than you realized. Almost every five minutes she would be approached by some group of girls or a lone guy and she’d end up in a conversation that would leave you off to the side. Despite this, Kazuha was an expert at staying true to her word. She always held your hand within hers, sparing glances back at you and playing with your fingers while socializing, almost as if silently saying, “I’m still with you.”

The gesture was sweet, and you really did appreciate it all. But as the night wagered on, you couldn't help but feel that familiar prickling feeling creeping up on you once again. The amount of people brushing up against you made your skin crawl, and the music seemed to be all consuming and suffocating despite the large size of the room you were in. Even holding onto Kazuha's hand was beginning to feel like too much. You frown.

You watch as Kazuha chats with a girl you recognize as Danielle, and you tug a little bit on her arm, catching the taller girl’s attention as she leans over to you, offering an ear as Danielle continues to ramble on. “I think I’m going to get some air!” You try to speak over the music, and it takes a moment for the words to register in her mind, “Do you want me to come with you?” She asks, her eyes caring as she looks into yours, and you want to say “yes, always,” but the rhythm from above begins to shift, and you watch as Danielle’s eyes light up as she grabs hold of Kazhua.

“Oh my god. I love this song, we HAVE to dance, come on!!”

Soon enough your hands break away from one another, and you try to give a reassuring smile to Kazuha who tried to make her way back to you, but ended up getting swept away by Danielle into the sea of people rotating to the dance floor. The smile on your lips drops as soon as she is no longer in sight, and you take a moment to look around. The other girls were nowhere in sight, and there were only strangers surrounding you as you awkwardly mumbled half hearted apologies, desperate to be anywhere but here.

After running through what felt like endless hallways, you burst through a set of wooden doors. Your face is hit with a cool breeze and you finally feel like you can breathe.

You sigh and rub your head, taking in the cold night air as you try to calm yourself down. How ironic. You were so insistent on not being left alone on this night, and when you get what you want, you choose to return to the familiar feeling of solidarity.

Taking in your surroundings, you realize you have ended up on an unused balcony, the stone flooring facing out into the forest beyond. The faint flickering of fireflies emerge from the darkness, and you take a moment to simply just take it all in— to ground yourself. The muffled booming of music from inside lingers, and you close your eyes, leaning over the balcony in contentment.

“Y’know, I don’t think we’re allowed here.”

Kazuha’s warm voice rings out, and you twirl around, finding the taller girl smiling at you softly. She joins your side, staring off into the forest before looking back at you. “Are you okay?”

You hum in response, nodding as you breathe out, eyes focused on the fireflies ahead. “yeah, it was just getting really overwhelming in there…”

Kazuha stays silent, also staring off as a comfortable silence drapes over you two. You can't help but let your mind linger again to the changing room instance, and you look back at the ravenette. She seemed completely unphased by the situation, and you start to wonder if it even happened at all. You open your mouth, wanting to ask what exactly you two were, but the sound of the music inside slowing down catches Kazuha’s attention.

Her ears perk at the tune, and she shifts her gaze back to you, offering her gloved hand just like she did at the very start of this night. “May I have this dance?”

The question catches you completely off guard, and you can't help but laugh, all tension within your mind and body letting loose. “What?? Right now?”

Kazuha gives a gummy smile, “yes. I’d like to dance with you. Right here, right now.”

Your laughter continues and rings out into the night, it’s a wonderful feeling. “Zuha, you know I can't dance,” you chuckle, and despite this truth, you still allow her to take your hand in hers.

“Then just follow my lead.”

You’re pulled into her body, and its a softer experience than before. She guides your free hand onto her shoulder before she places hers on the small of your back. You ease into her touch as she leads the way, taking the first steps and guiding your body to follow. It was clumsy and messy at first, with several instances of you stumbling on your feet and needing Kazuha to keep you up, but it didn't matter at all.

How could it? How could anything else matter in the world right now when the moonlight above framed her face so perfectly? When the shine of the fireflies are dull compared to the woman before you right now?

The both of you laugh as she twirls you in sync with the muffled tune of the song, and you can't help but let out a surprised yelp as she dips you, your hair flying back as you are given a clear sight of the canvas of stars just above the two of you. It was stunning, romantic, even. Kazuha lifts you back up, and suddenly your lips are centimeters apart. You feel her hot breath against your lips, and you suddenly feel like you’ve been transported back to that cramped room.

You feel Kazuha hesitate, before she asks, in barely a whisper, “C-Can I…?”

You would have laughed at the question, the words being so upfront yet so scared coming out of her lips if you didn't so desperately want it as well.

“Please.”

Kazuhas lips immediately press against yours, and it's sweet. It's intentional and tender, full of pent up emotions that threaten to overflow, but the need in the way she tightens her grip on you is strong. She's waited so long for this, and she wants to enjoy it all, but she's holding back, scared that you'll slip away again. Her lips taste like cherries, and it's a wonderful flavor. A flavor you’ve waited three years to taste. You find yourself licking your own lips as you pull away, your arms wrapped around her neck as your faces remain close.

“Is this what you wanted to do when you cornered me back at the boutique?” You whisper, your lips teasingly hovering over Kazuha’s, pulling back when she tries to meet them. You smile mischievously as you see her grow impatient.

“Something like that.”

She's suddenly latched onto you again, lips pressing against yours with more pressure as you gasp, your hand instinctively flying to her hair as you dig your nails into her scalp. A sound you’d never expect to ever come out of such a quiet girl erupts from Kazuha’s throat.

A growl.

You feel that all too familiar heat shoot throughout your body once again as the taller girl pushes you against the stone railiing, her lips trailing down your jawline and onto your neck. Her teeth graze the skin and you cant help but let out a moan, your voice egging her on even more as she begins to mark your neck.

You really should stop her. You’re still out in public, and there was no way you would be able to cover any hickeys she may leave on you with a dress that was very much made to remain off your shoulders. But when she presses her knee in between your legs through your dress and her hands find their way to your chest, who are you to stop her?

Kazuha was nowhere near finished with you.

[thetriumphantpanda]

get down on your knees and tell me you love me | javier peña

Take The Weight Off His Shoulders - Chapter Six

Chapter Summary | There is something about Javier Peña that makes you bold, makes you want to prove to him that you're a woman, not the girl he used to know, and how better to prove in than getting down on your knees for him?

Chapter Warnings | A pretty tame one, all things considered. Public-ish oral sex (M), Javi talking you through sucking him off, inexperienced reader, cum eating, no use of y/n and some advancement of the plot.

Pairing | dbf!Javier Peña x F!Reader

Word Count | 3K

Authors Note | LET ME TELL YOU. THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN LIVING RENT FREE IN MY MIND SINCE THE CONCEPTION OF THE FIC. I hope you love it just as much as I do and that you're still enjoying the sprinkling of plot that comes along with it. If you're enjoying this then reblogs and comments really do help and if you’d like to support me further, please consider a donation to my Ko-Fi. 

Thank you to the incredible @perotovar for letting me use her beautiful gif for this chapter!

I no longer use taglists. Please follow @thetriumphantpandanotifs to be notified of new updates.

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist | Ko-Fi | Series Playlist

It’s Friday night and the bar is busy. You and Liv were lucky to get a table. It’s loud, full of patrons trying shouting orders at the bar, the smell of fried food wafting through the air, as well as the sound of disagreements at the jukebox over what song someone will play next, but its your happy place, always has been, especially when you’ve got a birds eye view straight across to Javier Peña, sat sipping beer with your dad.

“Are you going to look at me at all tonight?” Liv asks, mouth full of the fries she’d ordered for you both.

“Sorry,” You mumble, dragging your eyes away from Javi, who seems to be having a similarly hard time tearing his from you, “What were you saying?”

“I was trying to tell you,” She starts, picking up another fry to stuff into her mouth, “That I remembered something about that party.”

“What party?” You ask, picking up your own fry, biting half of it off into your mouth, dipping the other half into the pile of ketchup on the side of the plate.

“You remember calling me from work earlier in the week?” She asks, “The party at the house that got busted?” She smiles when there’s a flicker of recognition on your face, “Well, I remember that it was Vanessa that invited us, so,” She picks up another fry, “You’ll be so proud of me for this, I did some digging,” She looks pleased as punch, which makes you chuckle, “I spoke to her, and she said it was Tyler who hosted the party.”

“Tyler?” You ask, “As in, Tyler Johnson?”

“The one and only.”

You pick up another fry, the pile dwindling in front of you slowly. Tyler Johnson. Oldest son of Richard Johnson. Long-standing mayor of Laredo. His family had been in power in town for as long as anyone could remember. Tyler, raised to follow in his father’s footsteps had faltered, opting, much to the chagrin of his family, to choose to say no to college. As far as you knew, he didn’t really see much of his family, worked at the local manufacturing company and spent most of his free time hanging around outside of bars trying to chat women up. His younger brother, Garrett, having taken up the banner, currently deep into his bid to become the youngest mayor Laredo had ever seen.

“Why the hell was he doing hosting a party in an abandoned house?”

“I don’t know,” Liv shrugs, taking the last fry off the plate, “That’s for you to find out, isn’t it?”

Unable to argue with her logic, you shrug, “You think he’s the kinda guy to get involved in that kind of shit?”

It’s confusing to you, because although he’s the perfect candidate for it, estranged family, always in the shadow of his younger brother, anytime you’d come across him, he’d seemed pretty straight-laced to you. Sure, he’d been drunk a few times, but never seemed like the kind of guy to take drugs, let alone be hoarding it in a house he didn’t even own. But then, Dylan hadn’t seemed to be the guy to take enough drugs to die of an overdose, so you suppose anything could be true in this case.

“The deadbeat son, disappointment to his family, who has never amounted to anything?” Liv chuckles, “Yeah, seems the type to me.”

Something doesn’t particularly seem to settle right about this for you, but that’s for next week. You shake your head a little, letting your eyes drift back over Liv’s shoulder to where Javi is sitting, looking straight back at you. When you meet his eyes, he throws a wink your way.

“What on earth are you staring at?!” Liv squeals, turning around to follow your eye line, finding Javi right there, “Oh.”

She turns back around to you, and you had wanted to try and keep it at least a little cool, but the wink he’s given you, paired with the smirk on his mouth, as heat flushing across your face, your bottom lip sucked between your bottom teeth, and your eyes on the grain of the table under your arms.

“Girl!” Liv reaches over, slapping your arm gently, “Have you fucked him?!”

“No!” You exclaimed, “Keep your voice down for crying out loud.”

“You’ve done something though, haven’t you?” She prods, smirk on her face, “I’m right aren’t I?”

Closing your eyes, you can’t help but smile, looking up at her as sheepishly as possible. Javi’s words ring in your ears, probably best we don’t tell anyone about this, but technically if she guesses, you haven’t told anyone.

“Shut up.” Is all you say, but there’s heat flushing all over you and a smile you can’t hide on your mouth.

“You lucky bitch!” She’s smiling so wide, squeezing at your arm, “Is he any good?”

Rolling your eyes, you sigh, shaking your head, “I don’t kiss and tell,” You sigh, chin resting on your palm as you look over the bar at him, currently locked in conversation with your dad about something, he looks so fucking good in his plaid shirt, arms rolled up to his elbows, “God, he’s so good looking, wish I could have five minutes with him.” You muse out loud.

Your eyes flit back to Liv, who has a devilish look on her face, “Say no more,” She smirks, “You want another beer? Perhaps you need the bathroom?”

You twig almost immediately, as she stands up, chair scraping, pulling the attention of people around who are looking at what the noise was. Shooting your eyes over to Javi, you note that your dad has already figured the noise was nothing, he’s gone back to talking to the side of Javi’s face that’s given to him, as he looks directly at you. You tilt your head toward the door, give him a smile and start walking towards it, as Liv makes a beeline to the bar.

You’ve not made it halfway down the hall when you feel a hand circling your wrist. Turning to the side, Javi is there at your side.

“I want to kiss you so badly.” He speaks softly, but even you know that there are too many eyes here.

You make it to the end of the hallway, faced with a choice, you push on the handle for the single disabled stall, finding it open, you pull Javi into it, closing the door, enjoying the ‘snick’ of the lock closing too.

“Now you can.” You smile, pressing your back up against the door.

Javi is pressed against you in no time, palms warm on your cheeks as he leans down, mouth slanting over yours, soft and warm, pulling away from you before you have the chance to wrap a hand around the back of his neck and deepen it by opening your mouth against his.

You’ve got a corner of your bottom lip sucked between your teeth, eyes looking up at him through lashes as his hand rests on your waist, “Javi?”

“Hmm?” He muses, eyes trailing up and down your front, stalling slightly where your shirt reveals your cleavage, before his brown orbs meet your own eyes.

“I think I want to suck your cock.”

His face is a picture you wish you could keep forever, eyes wide, mouth hanging open, shock written over every inch of him. His hand on your waist grips tightly, like he can’t believe what you’ve just said.

“Baby,” He coos, “We don’t have time.”

“You underestimate Liv’s ability to talk to my dad about utter nonsense.”

“What happened to keeping a secret?” He asks, eyebrow cocked, “Thought you were a good girl.”

“Technically I didn’t tell her,” You shrug, hands trailing up his chest to rest on his shoulders, “She guessed.”

“You really want to suck my cock in a bar bathroom?” He asks, leaning forward a little, his mouth just centimetres from your own, “Definitely not the good girl you make out to be, are you?”

“I just want to return the favour.” You shrug, memory flashing to earlier this week when he had you pinned against a brick wall with his hands down your trousers.

“Okay baby,” He relents, stepping back a little to turn you both, his back now against the door, “But we have to be quick.”

His palms press gently into your shoulders, watching with darkened eyes as you sink to your knees in front of him. Your hands rest on his belt as anxiety spreads through your stomach. Javi notices your pause, his hands holding onto your own at his waistband, “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to.” He insists.

You shake your head, “No, I want to,” You respond, “I’ve just-” You trail off, lip back between your teeth, “Never done this before.”

Javi sucks in a deep breath, looking down at you at you. He cups your cheek, thumb rubbing across the skin underneath it, “God damn it baby,” He sighs, almost pained, “You can’t say stuff like that and then look at me with those eyes.”

It’s performative but you flutter your eyelashes at him, a small smile across your mouth, “Will you teach me?”

He closes his eyes, taking in a deep breath, but then his hands are moving to his belt, undoing it in front of your face. You can already see that he’s half-hard behind his jeans. Javi undoes the button and pulls down the zipper, and then motions with his head for you to do the rest.

Hooking your fingers into the waistband of his underwear, you shuffle back a little, pull them down his thighs. You can’t help but gasp when you pull them down enough to fry his cock, watching it bounce slightly in your face. He’s big. Almost like he can sense your trepidation, Javi is reaching down, squeezing your wrists in comfort.

“It’s okay, cariño,” He coos, “We’ll take it easy this time.”

He drags his hand down to grip at one of your hands, moving it to get you to grip onto the base of his cock with your fist.

“Move your hand up and down a little first,” He instructs, moving your hand with his own, “Just like that.”

Then he’s taking his hand away, letting you handle this on your own. You look up at him from your knees, smiling a little to yourself when he tips his head back slightly against the door, hips bucking gently into the movement of your hand.

Almost like he remembers he’s meant to be teaching you what to do, Javi looks down at you, his hand trailing to rest at the back of your head, “Open your mouth,” He says softly, batting your hand away from his cock, gripping it himself to guide it towards your open mouth, “Use your tongue a little,” He instructs, “Just on the tip for now.”

His voice is low and gravelly, which makes your pussy clench a little. You shift on your knees, trying to get some friction to relieve the ache you’re feeling, as you do as he says, using your tongue to lave attention to the tip of his cock, swirling it around but also stopping every now and again to give small kitten licks to the tip, preening to yourself when he lets out a low groan.

“Think you can take more, cariño?” Javi groans, hand clutching your chin so you’re looking at him, “Just wrap your lips around me and take me in as far as you can.”

You do as you’re told, sealing your lips around the head of his cock, flattening your tongue along the underside of him, before moving your mouth down as far as you can before he’s brushing against the back of your throat.

“That’s it,” He praises, “Good girl.”

The praise makes you swoon as you move your lips back to the tip and then back down again, looking up at him through your lashes, finding his head tipped back against the door, his chest heaving with heavy breathes, his mouth open, with a whispered ‘fuck’ breathed out as you move your mouth up and down a little faster.

“You’re doing so good for me,” His tone is heavy, lust-filled, and just like before, the praise goes right to your cunt, “Use your hand on the bit your mouth doesn’t reach.”

So you do, circle your hand around the base of his cock, pumping your hand up as your mouth moves down. Javi is more vocal, his hand on the back of your head, gently guiding your head to the movements he likes.

“So fucking good,” He breathes out above you, bucking his hips into you as you move down his length, “Gonna make me come, querida,” He warns, which only makes you double the efforts of your mouth on him, “Where do you want it?”

You pull of him now, still pumping his length with your hand as you look up at him through your lashes, “Where do you want it?” You ask, innocent as the day you were born.

“I don’t think you want what I want.” He says simply, breath panting as he thrusts into your palm.

“Try me, Peña.”

“Jesus, girl,” He chuckles a little, “Where’s that innocent, little thing gone?”

“I think I left her in an alley somewhere in town.”

He sucks in a breath, baring his teeth a little as he works as hard as he can to keep it together, towering above you.

“You want me to come in your mouth, huh?” The hand on the back of your head is now cradling your cheek, “That what you want?”

Instead of answering, all you do is stick your tongue out for him, guiding him back to rest on your tongue. You don’t do anything else though, just look up at him, waiting for him to give you what you want.

He does exactly what you want him to. Taking himself in his fist, he moves his hand up and down his length, furiously tugging himself until he’s moaning, head thrown back, with his cum aimed right onto your tongue, giving you every last drop. He looks down at you, pulling himself from your mouth. It’s a taste you’re not used to, musky, masculine and you’re sure distinctly Javi, but it’s not necessarily unpleasant, so you close your mouth and swallow everything he gave you whilst looking him dead in the eye.

You’re both breathing heavily, looking at each other until you start giggling, which sets Javi off chuckling as he helps you from the floor once he’s put himself right.

“Did you really leave your friend to entertain your dad so you could suck my dick in a public bathroom?” He asks, palm on the small of your back pressing you into his front, leaning down so his lips are close enough to your lips that you can feel the heat of his breath on your skin.

“I think I did, yeah.” You chuckle breathlessly, letting him press his mouth to yours.

“Think you better go back in there and save her,” He says against your mouth, “But call me later, and I’ll help you with this.” His hand dragging down your front to cup your pussy through your shorts, where he knows you’ll be soaked.

“I’m counting on it.”

You don’t really think about leaving at different times until you spot Liv sitting in Javi’s old stool, talking to your dad.

“Well, there they are!” His voice booms when you get close enough to the table, “Where the hell have you been?”

Sucking your friends cock in the bathroom, dad. Is what you think.

“Oh, I was just asking Javi about something for work.” Is what you actually say.

“Well, it was lovely to catch up!” Liv says to your dad, slipping off the stool for Javi to sit back on, “But we’ve got very important girl gossip to catch up on.

Then she’s dragging you away, back to your table, where you spend the rest of the night talking, eyes drifting over to Javi, his own meeting yours when he can.

Yeah. You’re fucked.

Monday afternoon comes in a flurry, your boss poking her head from around her office door, catching your attention as she motions for you to come in and meet her. You swallow, a little nervous, because the piece you promised her would be done, is now blown wide open with the addition of Tyler Johnson hosting a party in a drug den. Picking up your notepad and pen, you resign yourself to a telling off for being slow as you settle into one of the chairs in her office.

“How’s the piece coming along?” She asks, making you swallow a little.

“Well,” You start, deciding to be honest, “It’s done with the information we have.”

“But?” She says, lifting an eyebrow up.

“I think there might be more to it,” You shrug, “I’ve been making some enquiries and I think I might be able to go deeper with it, if you’ll let me.”

She thinks for a moment, “Is this going deeper going to be illegal or dangerous?”

“No?” You ask, because right now it’s neither, but who knows how far the string you’re pulling might unravel.

“Then I say go for it,” She smiles a little, “I know you’ve been wanting something more challenging here, and if you think there’s something worth digging at then dig at it, but promise me if it takes a turn, you tell me?”

“I promise.”

“Well then, reporter, go get your story.”

[xxgodcomplexx]

possible lestappen fics

there’s a lot of fics i wanna write for lestappen yet have never gotten to cause of my fuckin adhd brain- so here is a list of the ideas instead

maybe I’ll write them some day…

(also- feel free to take these ideas and use them as prompts for your own fics)

Song of Achilles AU (Max is soooo Achilles coded, just imagine him saying: “There is no agreements made between lions and sheep. I shall eat you raw.” Jos as Thetis? Sebastian as Chiron? Fernando as Odysseus? Lewis Hamilton as Hector?)

Pride and Prejudice AU (Max as Mr.Darcy, Charles as Elizabeth) (maybe a side of Landoscar as Mr.Bingley and Jane)

Idea 1: ‘Max was not Charles’ first love, nor was he his second or third.’ (A fic where Charles reminisces of all his past loves and how Max fits into in. His first love was racing, second was Jules, and third was Sebastian. Ambiguous ending)

Idea 2: ‘Charles was Max’s first, second, and third love.’ (An accompanying fic to idea 1 from Max’s pov and his view on their relationship)

Idea 3: ‘Charles had hated Max before he even understood the true meaning of the word. Birds flew, fish swam, and Charles Leclerc hated Max Verstappen. It was simple really. It seemed predestined…inevitable- even.’ (A enemy to lover fic where it’s actually just Charles one-sided ‘hating’ Max until he realizes that he stopped hating Max somewhere along the way. Austria 2019 is mentioned here prominently)

Idea 4: ‘Charles thinks Max looks his best when he’s bloodied, his eyes wide and equally red with fury. Max thinks Charles looks even better when he’s crying, his pretty face bruised black and blue.’ (EQUALLY TOXIC RELATIONSHIP, Charles and Max find each other at a young age, classmates and neighbors. They don’t like each other and end up getting into a fight. The two quickly realize that they aren’t… normal after they get into their first fight. They grow up together as known enemies but they can only indulge their true selves in each other)

Idea 5: ‘Into the Lions’ Den’ (Charles pov beginning from before he even joins F1 all the way to current time. He reflects on Max’s past and future teammates and how they are essentially sacrifices. They enter the ‘lions’ den’ and are left to try and compare to Max, only to be left ripped apart. After all, who can hope to stand next to him? Red Bull has two drivers only because they need to. Despite that- as Charles reflect on all this…he can’t help but dream of standing next to Max as his teammate. Let himself be tore apart, let Max eat his heart and drink his blood)

Idea 6: Shameless smut (as the name suggests…it’s just shameless smut. This would be my first ever smut fic if I ever finish writing it. As an asexual person…this is especially hard to write. The plot is basically Max as the ‘successfully businessman who’s very busy and sexually frustrated’ and Charles as the ‘call boy who Max calls on accident when he was trying to find a call girl’. Max is confused and kinda disappointed at first, until he notices that Charles is very very pretty and that Max really wouldn’t mind sleeping with him- in fact -he would like it very much. This fic is just silly. Max is very horknee and not cool at all in this fic. Luckily Charles thinks he’s hot.)

Idea 7: ‘Turns out I don’t mind him kissing guys as long as it’s me he’s kissing .’ (Have you seen that one Reddit story of his guy who worries he’s being homophonic towards his gay roommate cause every time he sees him kissing a guy or bringing one home he feels sick and upset. They end up getting into an argument and he worries that he will ruin his friendship with his roommate. But he then finds out that he’s liked his roommate the whole time and that’s why he felt like throwing up every time he saw him with other guys. Yeah, that but Lestappen. Childhood rivals to friends, living together for college. Max who worries that he’s being homophobic cause he can’t stand seeing Charles with guys, and Charles who just wants Max to get the hint already)

I have more notes on each of these, so let me know if you wanna know more about any of these fics. I think I also might have some snippets for them :)

[dullgecko]

The Bad kids and they’re pets (minus Adaine cus we already know bout Boggy) (From most of the headcanons I’ve sent in)

(Riz and Roomba) (this is my favorite headcanon)

Riz and the Roomba’s relationship is complicated. It was a gift from Gorgug. At first he just ignored until it sucked up his tail and he had to kick it off of him. Then he kinda of just avoided it at all costs, if it was cleaning the area near his desk, he’s sitting on top of desk.

Then one day it got stuck underneath a book shelf and he made sure to keep an eye on it. He eventually found it a bit entertaining. He eventually started calling it little nicknames and looking for it when he got home. One day it fell down some stairs and he freaked out, called Gorgug and said something along the lines of- “GORGUG HE FELL DOWN THE STAIRS!!” - “Who?” - “GUKGAK JUNIOR- I MEAN THE ROMBA!!”

(Gorgug and Cloaca/Chloe)

Gorgug always loved birds when he was growing up. He liked watching them, listening to them. He even went through the effort as a kid to learn the different species he had living in the tree. Unfortunately birds are fragile, one day Gorgug saw one had died out in front of the tree and he literally went bawling to his parents asking them to heal it. Unfortunately they couldn’t. They had a little funeral and everything.

Ever since then Gorgug been so careful around birds, and as much as he wanted one, never said anything because he didn’t want to risk it. Cloaca was supposed to be his way of having a bird that he could rebuild if he broke it. Unfortunately, Cloaca “sucked.”

Gorgug wanted to rebuild her or start from scratch but didn’t have the heart. Eventually Cloaca started repeating other things and Gorgug decided to keep her around. Now she sleeps on a stand next to his bed and he’s trying to teach her what her actual name is and that she doesn’t suck.

(Fig and Baby)

Fig’s mom is a ranger, so she has a lot of experience with animals. Baxter was her equivalent to a childhood dog. Baby, however is not a dog, or an animal really. He’s just baby. Baby mainly stays in Hell unless Fig summons him, unintentionally usually. Fig kind of views him a pet of sorts, she’s tried to teach him things, like basic math (which failed) and basic reading (also failed).

Sometimes he’s just koala stuck to her leg or following her around. One time he called her mom and she didn’t correct him until he started saying it in front of people and she had to explain that she’s technically not his mom. This made him cry, ugly and hysterically.

(Fabian and Hangman)

After Fabian found out that the Hangman was a hell hound, he was ecstatic. He tried on multiple occasions to get Hangman to switch back into this form, and much to his disappointment, the bike refused. Fabian tried calling him a good boy, offering him treats, playing fetch.

Eventually hangman gave into his masters demand, and turned back. The hangman was a bit ashamed of this form, due to the many years of mistreatment from his master. After hearing this Fabian went all lot trying to heal the Hangman’s “Canine side”, toys, new bed, treats, he even gave him a collar with the sea caster emblem on it.

(Kristen and unnamed dog)

Kristen doesn’t have a pet currently, she did however have a really old childhood dog. She was an old Sun dog (fantasy golden retriever), she was incredibly elderly and yet would still follow after her wherever she went. Kristen adored her, in the middle of the night Kristen would go downstairs and lay on the old smelly dog bed with her.

She used to sit on the porch and wait for Kristen to come back from school. Kristen doesn’t really remember when she passed, all she knew was that day was the first day Helio talked to her.

AHHH THIS WAS SO LONG!! SORRY FOR THE DUMP BUT I LOVE THESE GUYS SO MUCH!!

These are so good I love them <3

Rizs roomba. Stick googly eyes on it and it activates his prey drive. He will perch and watch it like he's hunting and zone out for hours. He makes sure to clean the top of it occasionally (his office gets dusty because it isn't very well sealed) and keeps the sensors clear. He even put a little lip near the door so it won't escape and fall down the stairs again.

Chloe/Cloaca can't get totally rebuilt but he does upgrade her occasionally. Her feathers look a lot nicer and she's getting smarter but she still has the same basic frame. She's Gorgugs first pet though so he doesn't take her into battle because he's sentimental like that.

Baby is more of a menace than a pet but Fig still loves him. Sometimes interacting with him does require an extra headache tablet though.

Hangman will pout and sulk about it but will usually revert to dog-mode when asked. He is currently learning the joys of head scratches and belly rubs (also the goblin seems to be quite intimidated by this form. Hangman managed to chase the hissing menace up a tree once just by barking and remembering it makes him happy).

Kristen still finds herself wishing she had a pet but feels like she's not responsible enough to care for one right now. She gets a quoki pet to fill the void instead because it doesn't matter if she forgets to feed it occasionally.

[sensei-venus]

Omg menaces to society Hawk and gremlin!Reader-

But also imagine like S4 Hawk coming around after being an asshole and seeing Reader hasn't changed much at all. Maybe Sam got her to stop wearing thick af hoodies in the summer time. Moon definitely contributes to Reader's gem collection. And she just sits on the sidelines because she's like everyone's child they have to watch over and make sure she doesn't fall in the koi pond- And Hawk walks in and is like "wait she's kind of cute now"

- gemini sensei

(Unedited) (This was so much longer but half of it got deleted😭) ( @gemini-sensei )

“I don’t think she’s changed mush at all since you last hung out with her if I’m going to be real with you.” Miguel said as both boys glance over at the chubby girl. She was playing near the koi pond, on her knees looking directly into the water. Watching the pretty new koi fish Daniel had put in a week prior. Slowly she inched her hand near the water.

“Reader no! No touching the fish!” Sam yelled out from across the yard. Everyone in the area looked over to the girl who was now huffing. She reels her hand back from the water and slumps backwards. Eyes still glued to the cold water of the pond.

Hawk feels himself start to blush just a little bit as he watches the unhinged girl. Too him she was definitely different. The last time he had really seen the girl was months ago. While she was still around school all the time he had yet to really see or talk to her. Never letting up with showing up out of the blue and then disappearing just as fast. One minute she was there the next she was gone. It wasn’t as if his view on her had really even changed all that much. Yeah she was hanging out with the “enemy” but it was never as if he went out of his way to target her like the others.

He really couldn’t because she was never there in the first place for him to mess with.

When he was still hanging out with everyone, mostly Miguel she was around them constantly. When he first meet her it was all Miguel’s doing. The girl wasn’t attached to him, it was Miguel who was attached to her. Reader was always doing something that didn’t seem real or made any kind of common sense and Miguel always seemed to be drawn to it. The only thing he could think of was the fact that Miguel was so “puppy” like that he couldn’t get away from trying to keep the girl from doing stupid things. He was constantly trying to keep her in some kind of line, so as not to hurt herself or other.

Hell the first time he met her and saw the two together he thought she was Miguel’s girlfriend.

Miguel was trying to keep her from eating something which he later found out was a literal rock she found. Scratch that it was a large plastic diamond she found at the minimart. But still, Miguel had to threaten to not take her to the mall to get her to spit the little piece of plastic out of her mouth. After that she kinda just wandered away from them. Then Miguel had to jog after her once she tried to make a break to the parking lot where a car almost hit her. He found out quickly that she wasn’t stupid by any means she just couldn’t keep herself out of stupid situations.

It took him a while to figure out that Miguel wasn’t lying and that Reader was just a really good friend. One he tried to keep out of getting in trouble or hurt.

When he started dating Sam things turned because as much as Sam decently liked the girl, it was a pain to keep track of her. Hawk remembered when she said during a conversation “It’s like having a child, but the child is our age and likes to run into on coming traffic for fun.”.

For weeks he ended up spending more time with Reader when he went out with them. Hanging out with the three was fun, until Miguel wanted to go kiss Sam in a corner. The two love birds couldn’t really keep an eye on Reader every second but it seemed like every time they did she got into something.

So after alot of begging on Miguel’s part, he talked Hawk into “taking care of” her for a while. He just asked to make sure she didn’t hurt herself or do anything to dumb. Hawk didn’t see why he would ask him that until he actually started to see some of the weird shit Reader would do.

Window shopping at the mall? More like Reader staring at a window for twenty minutes.

Need extra change? Yeah she’s trying to jump into the coin fountain in the middle of the mall because she wants to.

Oh there is a candle place? Reader is trying to snort every candle while thinking about trying to eat some of the wax because she wants to know what they taste like too.

He doesn’t even want to start on the time he lost her in the middle of the food court only to find her buying half a pint of ice cream and trying to eat it with a fork.

Every time he took his eyes off of her it was something else that she was getting into.

At first he wondered if there was something was going on with her. But after he was able to get her to sit down with him for a few minutes it was made apparent that that’s was just her. She didn’t like following rules, she didn’t like staying in one place, and she just wanted to do what she wanted to do. He couldn’t really even say that she was doing any of it out of rebellion, it was just her. It actually frustrated him to every extent.

Two seconds after that conversation she was gone.

He couldn’t even finish a conversation with her without running off to go do something weird.

Now he was looking at her and was seeing a total different person. Maybe not that different but enough to make him scratch his head a little bit.

“Uh I don’t know she looks a little…”

“If your talking about the hoodie thing yeah we finally got her to stop with that. She almost got heatstroke last month from wearing the stupid hood all they time out in the sun. Moon took her hoodies and Sam basically locked mine up so she can’t get them now. I thinks she’s kinda started to embrace not wearing them now that she can’t get her hands on them. She was kinda pissed at first because now she can’t stuff random things in the pockets.” He shrugs as he goes back to watching the girl.

Hawk feels his cheeks grow hot with a nice pink blush coming on.

The hoodie that once draped over her was long gone. Now replaced by a nice tight tank top that she was spilling out of. He noticed her fat tits that poked out of the top and spilled out the sides. Her chubby belly that every so slightly filled out the shirt just right. He could even see her thick thighs now that they where no longer hidden under Miguel’s oversized hoodie. He sucked on his inner cheek as he watched her move around a little in the grass.

Her nice curves where no longer hidden away and he could see her curves which made his face go even redder. She was hot, he could even go as far as saying she was down right sexy.

He wondered if her ass matched the rest of her. Plump and round, filling out her tight jeans just right.

“Reader no!”

He bit his cheek hard, drawing blood as a sudden big splashing sound made him come back into focus. Both him and Miguel watched as Reader held up one of the huge goldfish. She giggled as she held the trashing fish up in the air. This helped to drench her upper body in cold water. Her tank top completely ruined. Miguel sighed as he watched the girl show off her catch. Sam was quick to jog over and try and pry the poor thing from the chubby girls hands.

The whole time Reader whined and groaned at the brunette’s reaction. Slowly she released the fish back into the pond with a small splash. She huffed as she sat back down and watched the fish swim away. Her eyes still never breaking from the cold water of the pond. Sam was busy giving her a lecture about not touching the fish like that. This just made her roll her eyes and pout.

Hawk felt his heart beat start to pick up a bit more in his chest.

Was he really catching feels for the well know gremlin girl?



[yourlocalartsonist]

ROTTMNT Moths Fly In Packs - Chapter Eight

A/N: I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG OH MY GOD. I genuinely didn’t expect it to, chapter 8 was supposed to be way shorter but uh yk my brain didn’t like that apparatnly. So now it’s uh 10K words. I think it’s genuinely worth the wait and read tho so hey, alls well that ends well or something. I’m gonna try to be faster with updates now. I’m FAIRLY CERTAIN chapter nine will be much shorter or at least nothing crazy like 8 or 10k. But what I can guarantee is chapters 10-13 will most definitely be short and lead up to the grand arc finale of chapter 14. We’re getting pretty close to it and I’m literally vibrating from excitement but no spoilers. Anyway enjoy the chapter! :D

Credit to: @sweaterrat and @yosajaeofficial for being my beloved beta readers! This story wouldn’t be able to have the quality it does without them so please give them some love and check out their ROTTMNT stories too!

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Chapter One

Disclaimer: Chapter involves depressive thoughts, mentions of bullying, depressed behavior, mentions of Kr*ng, PTSD behavior, violence, very lightly graphic description of injuries, blood, and curse words. If you’re sensitive to that stuff, scroll past and stay safe!

Outside the window, you can make out a bird’s nest sat in one of the trees. It’s been here for a week now, perfectly timed with when I got back to a consistent school life. But lately, the mother’s been staying at the nest more often. I’m guessing they’ve got babies on the way, she’s probably incubating her eggs right now. I think I’ve gotten attached to them, that small family of robins. The parents are so dedicated, aren’t they? The mother especially, never leaving the nest unless absolutely necessary. 

On the contrary to my peaceful view, the classroom is noisy, hectic, and cluttered. No real science work for today so everyone’s just doing their own thing. Very loudly. Jaiden and Zane are chatting and laughing with each other next to me. I think things are better between us, I still don’t really know where Jaiden and I stand right now but at least Zane seems fine with me. Though I won’t lie, I’ve been feeling more and more like a third wheel around them. 

“Dude! I’m telling you, we have to play this game together! We’d have so much fun!” 

“I already said I would, Jaiden! Man, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you laugh like this. Shame you’re letting such a pretty smile go to waste.”

“Yeah? Let’s hang out more often then and maybe I won’t do that.”  

Like right now.

Lowkey, I’ve been feeling invisible around those two. Jaiden barely pays any attention to me, it’s as if Zane was their best friend instead of me! I mean, I know friends can drift apart, I definitely know. But still, I never imagined it would happen to us. I still don’t wanna believe that’s what’s happening. I wanna keep hope.

“And ironically, you’re being pretty quiet today, Salena. Did you two switch personalities or something?” 

“You are weirdly quiet, actually. What’s up?”

Oh lookie, I’ve been acknowledged. “Nah, you guys don’t have to worry about me. Just lower on energy than usual.” 

I went back to my routine of staring out the window like the main character in a music video. In the reflection, Zane was still watching me. With the way his eyes lingered, I had a feeling he’s not falling for my excuse. 

Seems like Jaiden’s not too worried, though. “Oh, Zane! You wanna hear about this new skate park I found?” Just went right back at it with Zane. Who’s weirdly still staring at me.

“…Actually, I’m kinda hungry. Jaiden, you mind getting me a snack from the vending machine?”

“Huh? But I wouldn’t know what to get you. N-not that I don’t pay attention to what you like! But, you know… Salena has better taste in these things! She should go-”

“She always goes.”

“‘Cause she knows what she’s doing.”

“Jaiden.”

“Guys, it’s fine! It’s fine. I’ve got this.” I didn’t want them to fight again so I got up from my seat. “Be back soon.”

Jaiden gave me their most gleeful smile I’ve seen them make in a while. I think seeing them smile makes this gesture worthwhile. Even if it’s just for a little bit.

The walk to the vending machine shouldn’t have been long, it’s not super far away. But my legs dragged on forcing each step to be slower than the last. I feel guilty thinking like this but a part of me wants this dumb walk to go on forever. I can’t stand being near them and I don’t know why! It’s not like we’ve got bad blood, they’ve both been normal towards me since I came back. So why am I acting like this? I’m seriously starting to doubt Splinter’s theory of me not being the problem here…

I approached the machine, stopping as I heard a struggling voice in front of me. 

“Argh! How’d she say these things worked again?” 

His finger pressed against the glass, tracing the code for the snack he wanted. He tapped the buttons on the screen. Nothing happened. Scratching his head, he leaned forward to read the next instructions. Finally, he pulled out a dollar bill.

…Before proceeding to insert it in the wrong way. And taking it out. And inserting it back in. And repeating the process. I can feel my soul exiting my body from second-hand embarrassment. 

I recognized the fluffy black hair. With a crooked smile, I pulled out my own wallet.

“You’re supposed to put it in this way.” I slid my bill into the slot, the granola bar he selected successfully being pushed down soon after. “Good to see you again.”

“Woah, cool!” He stared at the giant food box almost with a childlike wonder, pausing for a few minutes before turning to me. “And hey! Yeah, it’s really nice seeing you again, too.” His eyes remained locked for a while before he scrambled to hand me the bill he had. “Here! Let me pay you back-“

“No, no, no, don’t worry about it! Really! Consider it my apology for, um, last time.” 

“Apology? I mean, you weren’t the one doing anything weird so I don’t think you’ve gotta apologize.” He stuck out his hand. “I’m Casey Jones Jr. I was gonna introduce myself the first time we met but, you know.”

“Salena Moni! So, how’s everything holding up? You joined pretty late in the year so if you need any help reviewing stuff I’m more than happy to.”

 

“Oh, don’t worry! It’s actually going alright. Still technically my first time going to a real school, so it’s a little bit of a challenge but I already knew most of the material anyways. I didn’t have to catch up on much.”  

“Wow, that is… remarkably impressive.” If only I handled transferring as well as this guy. “Wait, hold up, real school? Were you homeschooled?”

“You could… say that. My uncle taught me everything, he was the smartest person I knew! Just turns out it was literally everything.”

“Cool! I guess we can check grades off the box, then! So, is everyone being nice? Made any friends?”

I bit my lip as I received my answer in the form of his face freezing mid-speech. “W-well uh…”

Oh, you poor thing…

I guess he could read my face since he immediately tried reassuring me, as if he wasn’t the victim in this scenario. “I-I mean it’s not awful! A couple people were nice to me, including you! Sure, some are a little… hostile. But it’ll get better eventually.” 

“Y-yeah! It definitely… definitely will.”

And cue the classic awkward silence that stars in any first conversation. A little overdue for this one now that I’m thinking about it. 

I’m so conflicted. I know damn well he’s not gonna have the high school dream he’s probably imagining right now. No one does. I may not have been at this school for long, but I’ve been here long enough to know how the people are. April told me it gets even worse every year as cliques start getting established and people grow past the initial politeness. I’m glad she did, she never kept anything about high school from me no matter how bad it was. Nothing was in my control but at least I knew it was coming.

And here I am playing the exact opposite role for Casey. I hate giving people false hope, I hate it with a passion! But I’m supposed to, I think. In a situation like this I’m supposed to hype him up. Ignorance is bliss! Wouldn’t it just ruin his spirits if I broke the glass? 

“Anyway, it was nice to meet you! I guess I’ll see you around?”

“Y-yep! Hope things get better for you soon!” 

“Me too.”

Ugh, the guilt is eating me up! I’m acting like I’ve never told a lie in my life but it’s not that. It’s his pure mindset that’s completely fucking with my morality! 

I know to keep my mouth shut, I do. I don’t want him to hate me like everyone else does. I haven’t met someone who’s been so nice to me in this stupid ass school before, I don’t want to ruin this chance now that I finally got it. Plus, he might not even believe me…

I watched him turn to walk away. 

Fuck it, social norms are for losers!

“W-wait! Casey?” He turned back around and I nearly shit myself from fear. “So, don’t be mad but I may have um… lied about something?” 

“Uh, sorry?”

I took a deep breath, bracing myself. “Well, here’s the deal. Things aren’t really gonna get better, sorry. Or, actually! I don’t mean that extremely literally, I guess...” 

Focus on your hands, it’ll be okay. “Just… People here are mean. Really, really mean. You’re homeschooled, you’re new, and you’re nice. It’s a recipe for disaster here whether it’s today or even a year after you’ve settled in!”

I can’t even read his expression and get an idea of his reaction. He’s got a scary good poker face, I’m curious which relative taught him that one.

“Casey, please don’t take this the wrong way. I-I’m not saying any of it is your fault! Or that you need to change or do anything. I’m only saying this so you don’t have any… unrealistic expectations so to speak.” 

God, his silence is more terrifying than anticipated.

So much so I couldn’t help letting out a quiet breath of relief when he finally did speak. “You know, you’re the first person here who’s told me that.”

“…Is that bad?”

“Not at all. All my family, they never got the chance to go to school. Hell, I didn’t think I’d have the opportunity. But here I am! First time in a new building with weird people and absolutely no clue what to expect. I’m usually good with surprises but this one is just so… different. Different is scary, you know?” 

I nodded. I most definitely did know.

“Anyway, you’re right that people are just mean here. I don’t even know why, I mean, I’ve met my fair share of dicks before but at least they had good reasons! We were under so much stress… But that’s not what I hate. It’s the fact that any time I tell an adult, they say the same thing over and over again!” 

“Let me guess.” I cleared my throat and enhanced the performance with my intoxicated Mrs. Doubtfire voice. “Just ignore them and give it time and it’ll magically fix itself ‘cause boredom beats bullies or some shit, right?”

“Yeah, exactly!” His laugh is like holding your parent’s hand when you’re getting the flu shot, it’s magical! “They say that to everyone, don’t they? God, what’s up with that? I’m so not used to adults lying to me.”

“Dude, what? You’re kidding, your whole community’s gotta be amazing if you’ve never been lied to by an adult.” 

“Eh, more or less… Anyway, um, thank you. For telling me the truth. And the granola bar. I seriously owe you for this.”

…I take it back, Splinter might’ve actually been onto something.

I mean, he’s a little strange, I won’t lie about that. This is the first time I’ve heard someone actually be grateful for me telling the truth. In the past it either got me isolated or in huge trouble, depending on who I was honest with. Maybe this is why I’m so used to lying. I hate it but I’ve had to do it so much. I’ve never met someone who finally lets me relax about it, not until Casey Jr it seems.

Maybe he deserves me being a little braver for a change. 

“Well, here’s a way you can repay me. By us being friends!”

…

This was a lot more epic in my head without his speechless pause. Maybe I got the vibe wrong-

“REALLY!? OMIGOSH! That would be so cool! I’ve literally been thinking about asking you the same thing ‘cause I keep wanting to talk to you but never run into you but now we can talk whenever we want, IT’LL BE GREAT!!!” Spoke too soon, he is literally shaking me by the shoulders. It feels unnatural not being on the other side of this scenario. 

“Casey, my stomach doesn’t approve of this-“

“Sorry, sorry!” He finally stopped and allowed me to remember the pleasant feeling of absolute stillness. “I just can’t believe you actually wanna be friends with me!” 

Still, his surprising enthusiasm gave me a good laugh. “Dude, it’s alright! It’s kinda more surprising you wanna be friends with me.”  

“Why wouldn’t I? You’re the kindest person I’ve ever met in my entire life, anyone who’s friends with you is lucky to have you!” 

Lucky to have me?

Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, unexpected compliments go burn in a fire but also don’t leave, it actually feels really nice. 

“Salena, are you okay? Did I say something wrong?”

“N-no, I mean, all I did was buy you a snack and tell you people are jerks. I’m not too sure I should be receiving the title of the ‘kindest person you’ve ever met’ and stuff.”

“O-oh yeah, you have a point.” He got a little flustered at that, despite it really being my fault for not being able to take compliments. “I don’t know, I mean, I still think you’re really cool. I’m just so happy you wanna be friends with me!” 

He looked like a child on Christmas morning as I tippy-tapped my number into his phone. Come to think of it, I know I’ve definitely reacted excitedly towards certain people - or turtles, I should say - but having someone do it to me? Feels kinda nice.

I looked up at the clock. “Shit. We should probably head back to class before we get in trouble.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. But hey,” his eyes closed as the corners delightfully wrinkled “it was great running into you again! Fate really wants us to be friends.”

He has a really nice smile. 

“Funny how life works, ay?”

I skipped my way back to class, mind too deep in thought to realize how fast I went.

This guy, Casey Jones, he’s giving me certain vibes. I don’t mean the creepy, stalkerish, "I need to get the hell outta here” vibes. More like deja-vu. I can’t pin what exactly, but something about him feels so… foreign yet familiar. Homey, if you may. Like a nice, warm fire in mid-winter night. It’s really soothing. 

And immediately I’m thrown into emotional whiplash as I went back inside the annoying ass classroom of teenage chaos. So much for soothing vibes. I plopped back in my desk as Zane slowly scanned me.

“You took a while. Did you get my snack?…”

…Fuck. “Sorry! I completely forgot!”

“How did you forget when it’s the literal reason you even left?” Jaiden doesn’t seem as chipper as before.

“I know, I’m so sorry. I got a bit distracted. Gimmie a sec, I’ll be right back-”

“No, wait! It’s fine, I’m not hungry anymore.”

“Really? Okay, suit yourself.” I shrugged, getting settled in again. He leaned closer to me, both confused and concerned.

“You seem happier right now. Did something good happen?”

“Oh, yeah, I guess! Just ran into a new friend.”

His face scrunched up, going back to chatting with Jaiden. I have no clue why he glared when I said that, I don’t think I said anything wrong or alarming. Honestly, bro has worse mood swings than I do. It's seriously annoying sometimes but whatever, they’ve gone back to their little bubble now so I shall go back to mine.

I pulled out my phone, greeted with Casey’s excited text already.

CJ: Hey! Not really doing anything in class so if you’re free too, text me back :D

Smiling, I let myself get engrossed in my phone, happily typing away. He’s a fun guy to talk to. His enthusiasm and bubbliness is a little surprising considering how borderline timid he seemed at first. Goes to show, never judge a book by its cover! I felt my mood lifting, less gloomier than before.

Until I remembered something he said.

“My uncle taught me everything, he was the smartest person I knew!”

Was?...

***

Ah, midnight. A time when the mentally sane and emotionally stable would be sleeping. Turns out I’m neither of those folks, I’ve got better things to do. I have weapons now but I’ve gotta actually practice using them if I don’t wanna render them useless. Besides, in bed or out here, I’m not falling asleep either way. At least this serves as a good distraction! And won’t give me a headache like my phone will.

The blades cut through the air as I twirled them, striking at an imaginary enemy soon after. 

I try not to think about life when I’m training, it distracts me too much. Sometimes I feel like Casey’s the only thing making school bearable anymore. We don’t share any classes so we text more than talk but I don’t have to do any mental gymnastics to figure out how he views me. I’m still confused as hell if Jaiden likes me or hates me and have no damn clue what Zane’s deal is anymore. He keeps staring at me. More than usual. Sure, I could always sit there and ponder for hours on end what the fuck is going on, but I doubt even that’d get any results.

The sickles, however, do show results. They feel lighter, smoother, easier to duel. I’m getting faster with them and my arms don’t feel as broken after training anymore! It’s something I can lose myself in, track the improvement. It’s so much simpler than everything else.

It keeps my mind occupied. If I focus on them, I don’t think about anyone from school or anything bad that’s happening! Or at least, I usually don't. I guess I’m thinking about it now, though…

“Someone’s training hard.”

“AHH!!!”

Immediately I jerked to turn and held up a blade in defense. However, it turned out to be a false alarm as instead of some midnight mugger I expected to see, I’m greeted with a smirking blue idiot standing in front of me.

“Woah, hey! I come in peace!” The stupid bitch held his hands up, mocking me with his fake fear. “Been a while, huh?” 

“Leo? Oh god, you scared me! Where did you even come from?” 

“The better question would be: Where did you disappear to? We haven’t gone out in like a week! You kept leaving me on read when I texted you but seemed fine in the group chat. What gives?” 

“…I forgor?”

“Really?” I could tell he wasn’t satisfied by my answer. “You just forgot to respond to me? Every single time?”

“W-well sorta. I mean, it’s nothing you did so please don’t take it personally! It’s with everyone. I’ve just been a little bad at responding to dms…” My social battery’s been so low lately I question if it’s even charged at all. “That’s entirely on me, though! I’m so sorry.”

He crossed his arms and looked me up and down. He’s doing that nonchalant poker face again, the one he does when he doesn’t wanna be read, otherwise he’s an open book. 

“You know you can tell me if something’s up, right?”

I guess he also does that face when he’s trying to read someone else. “Yeah, I know. I’m alright. It’s just… I dunno, things are a little weird but it’s fine. It’s really nothing to worry about.”

He hummed in response. I don’t really think he bought it but his eyes eventually drifted to my weapons, dropping the topic regardless. He must not wanna push it.

“Sooo, sick weapons! Where’d you get ‘em?”

“Oh, these? Draxum gave them to me!”

He gagged, interrupting me. “You met Draxum? The sheep guy? Oh, poor you! Was he awful to deal with? I bet he was! You know, like always.” 

“Oh come on, he wasn’t that bad! A little grouchy at first but in his defense, I caught him in the middle of his shift, so.”

“Please, sheep bitch doesn’t need a reason to be a jerk! He’s just an old cranky loser who spends his days yelling at kids and smuggling whatever mystic bullshit of the week he found from the Hidden City! It’s giving Oscar the Grouch, just missing the lemon. Oh wait, that’s ‘cause unlike Oscar, he doesn’t even have one single thing that makes him uncharacteristically happy!” 

“Wow, angry aren’t we?” It’s rude to laugh, but I can’t help myself around this dork. He looks like a kid who got denied an Xbox when he crosses his arms like that. “Leo, be real. This is because he threw you off a roof, isn’t it?”

“You know!? I mean-“ He laughed, trying to hide his poorly made lie. “What? Of course not… Maybe just a little but that’s not important.” 

Leo grumbled on with some incoherent noises for a minute, before cooling down and moving on from the “sheep bitch”. 

“Ugh, well anyway, if you got it from that moron, they’re definitely mystic or something, right?”

“Oh, absolutely! They’re actually super cool, I mean-“ For a good five minutes I kept blabbering on and on about the sickles and how they function and all my progress that I didn’t notice Leo - bless his heart - trying and horrifically failing to pay attention. He doesn’t really hide it well when he spaces out.

“And they- Uh, Leo, you good?” 

“…Would you be mad if I said I got like, none of that?” 

I sighed but gave a gentle smile. I knew he had a short attention span so I can’t really act like it’s his fault I forgot about that. 

“Actually, do you want me to just like… act it out instead? I think I’ve gotten pretty good at using these so I don’t mind showing instead of telling!”

He shrugged “Nothin’s stopping you. Go on, impress me!” 

Well, nothing except my nerves. But hey, it’s just Leo. If I mess up, he’ll laugh with me a bit and then I’ll just retry. No real pressure around him. I could use a progress check right now, anyway.

“Aight, so we only know two out of who knows how many powers for these things, they’re the only two I’ve been practicing. First up!”

 

I spun them around, careful to not mess up my handling. My goal is to form blades strong enough to crack a dent through the concrete edge of this building. So the sickles need to be made out of metal or steel. I usually go with metal but I do actually wanna impress him and steel’s stronger. I aimed at the edge and swung my arm forward, the sickle shot through the air and sliced through the concrete like a knife to a cake.

“OH SHIT!”

“I got it!” He teleported to catch the flying solo sickle and came right back within a matter of seconds. Oh, what I’d give to experience never having to walk again. 

“Sorry about that! They’ve never broken the edge like that before!”

“Sorry!? You’re not allowed to be sorry, that was so cool! It went clean through!” I’ve never seen him gush about something this way. I’ve gotta admit, it’s kind of adorable. “Okay, I’m hooked! What’s the other thing it can do?”

“Invisibility! But I can’t do it for long, at least not yet. I made progress, though! Went from only three seconds to five!”

“Wait, actually, back up a bit. I get that Baron Ass told you how the sickles work and blah blah blah, but how’d you learn how to fight with ‘em? Ya know, the non-mystic aspects.” 

“Oh, YouTube tutorials at first. But honestly, sickle fighting is mid so I did a lot of improv, really.”

He chuckled and eventually lost to his giggles as if me saying that wasn’t completely justified. “Did you just call an ancient form of martial arts mid?” 

“Stop judging me, I’m right! Sickles were improvised weapons. They’re good for the last resort, not the first choice!”

“I’m not judging, I’m not judging! Promise! I respect it, even!” He leaned against the roof’s edge, gradually collecting himself. “But if they’re that bad, why didn’t you ask for a different weapon? One that’s cooler and not ‘the last resort’?”

Oh boy, where to begin?

I then explained how I essentially found myself wrapped in some “chosen one” bullshit through the sickles. They still don’t work any time Barry touches them but are perfectly fine in my hands. It’d be pretty dumb to pass up these weapons for a different one, even if sickles aren’t the coolest thing to own. Although, he’s definitely acting like they are judging by how intensely his eyes are staring at them. They’re sparkling brighter than I thought eyes realistically could. 

“Well, now I’m offended! Mystic mystery sickles that do all kinds of glowy stuff for you specifically? How could you not tell me about these sooner!? They’re so amazing!”

“I know, I’m real sorry, Leon.” He’s joking around, his tone’s too light to be mad. But I do still feel bad for accidentally ignoring him like that. “Anything I can do for you as an apology?”

“Well…” His smirk revealed that thing was the main reason he came here in the first place. “We could make up for the lost time and go on a run together tonight. It is a weekend so you’d still have tomorrow and the day after to rest up. But hey, that’s just an idea…”

It's Friday again. Just like the first time we did this.

He held out his hand as an offer and I took it with a grin. “You make a convincing argument.”

And off we went, dashing through the night. It’s a bit humid today so the wind from sprinting so fast is greatly appreciated. Not to mention my speed is so much better than before! 

The daily restrictions of civil life can go suck my dick and feed my liver to their uncles ‘cause oh my god nothing beats this feeling! No one else is here, no one who could stop us! Sure, jumping off roofs isn’t the safest way to have fun, but everything else in my life is already so safe! I’m allowed to have this one thing, this one moment to be free.

I’m so distracted that I didn’t realize I’m actually giving Leo a run for his money this time! Hehe, run. God, I’m so funny.

“Looks like you can actually keep up with me now!”

“I know, right!? It feels fucking amazing!” 

Judging from his mischievous ass face, I probably should’ve kept my mouth shut. “I don’t mean to burst your bubble but…”

 A blue light appeared as a hole ripped in the sky and the lovely piece of shit went right through, appearing again somewhere way ahead of me. “I’m still faster!~”

“Hey! No portals allowed!”

“Uh, last time I checked, portalling is totally allowed.”

“Says who!?”

“Says me and I’m leader! Whatever leader says goes!”

To add insult to injury, he doesn’t just portal himself. As I’m trying to catch up to him mid-jump, the jackass opens a portal right under me, sending me back even further than I already was with no time to recover. 

“Leo, you cheat!”

Bro’s giggling his ass off as he blinked in and out of sight. I’m no different with how sore my face is, so I can’t even pretend to be mad. 

Instead, all I can do is try my best to speed up and catch up, plotting my revenge in the meantime. Easier said than done, that dude’s faster than the Flash right now since he’s, ya know, portalling. Doesn’t help that he keeps appearing right next to me every few minutes just to taunt me and disappear again.

A few minutes into our little cat and mouse game though, I lost track of him and he hadn’t shown up in a while to pester me. So, I started calling out his name, trying to look for him. You’d think it’d be easier to find a 5’5” giant, green turtle man but I guess they wouldn’t be ninjas if that were the case.

“Leo? Leo!? Le- Huh?”

I finally found him. But instead of the shit-eating grin he gave me earlier, he’s silent and still behind the edge of a roof, his back facing me. It’s starting to freak me out a little, he looks like he’s going fucking Blair Witch mode. No words, no witty remarks, nothing. Just ghostly staring at whatever the view is. Only thing I can see from here is a museum. 

“Hey, Leon, you okay?”

“Shh!”

With his eyes still fixed up ahead, Leo took my hand and guided me forward. He eventually looked at me and nodded towards the street below us. Gazing in that direction, I saw a large purple truck with the logo of that one weird shoe store I browsed a few years ago. From what I’ve gathered these past few weeks, big trucks mean bad news. 

But maybe that’s not what I should be focused on. Standing near the truck were two people, their skin an unnatural shade of purple. One’s large and brutish, the other tall and slender. They’ve got foot marks on their faces and flames on their bald heads. Exactly how Mikey described…

“The Foot Clan.”

He nodded. “I don’t understand, those guys were all turned into Krang during the invasion.”

Sorry, what? “You’re sure it was those two specifically? I haven’t heard about any cures or vaccines for the Krang victims on the news. It’d make headlines if there were.” I haven’t heard anything about them for a while now that I think about it.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” He leaned closer to the edge, as close as he could get without getting caught. “They’re parked a street away from a museum, the hell are they up to now?” 

I mimicked his actions, trying to hear the Foot people better. The slender one’s on the phone, sounding frustrated. He’s doing that whisper-yelling thing people do when they wanna be mad quietly to avoid societal shame. 

“Yeesh, someone’s having a bad day.”

“You can hear them?” Why does he look so confused?

“Yeah, can’t you?”

Leo shook his head. “Whatever, what are they saying?” 

I cocked my head to the side, spying in on their conversation.

His voice is scratchy, a little sore on my ears. “What do you mean you can’t get it off? Just bring the whole thing and hurry! We can’t risk alerting anyone!” Neither of us can tell what he’s referring to, unfortunately. The Foot dude avoids naming it. 

I looked back at Leo scanning around for any clues. He stared at the back of the museum for a minute before his eyes widened. “I know where we are. It’s the Historical Society Museum. Donnie mentioned wanting to come here once.” 

“I think I’ve heard of it. Isn’t there a lot of ancient stuff in there? Like, from centuries back?”

Nodded again. He’s being unnervingly quiet, considering it’s Leo. He stared at the clan, then at the museum, then back at the clan. He looked… scared. Scared in a way I’ve never seen him before. I felt my hand being subconsciously squeezed. I didn’t even notice he hadn’t let go in the first place.

…I have to help him.

I readied myself for whatever his idea was, no matter how outlandish or risky it may seem. “Alrighty, what’s the plan?” 

“Right.” He hesitated, before gripping his katanas and turning back. “…The plan is for me to portal you home, kick some Foot ass, and pick you up so we can continue our run.” 

WHAT!?

“What do you mean ‘portal me home!? I’m not leaving!” I was prepared for anything, but this!? “We just stumbled across the Foot Clan who are for some reason not freaky alien zombies and messing with ancient artifacts that do who knows what!”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m sending you home before your adrenaline junkie ass can do something stupid.”

“And what makes you think I’d do that!?”

He held up my scarred left arm and stared at me unimpressed.  

“…Okay, that’s a low blow even for you.” 

Though as much as I hate to admit it, he kind of has a point. I sighed. “Alright, tell me. If I leave, will you at least call your brothers to help you out?”

“Yes!”

“Leo.”

“Fine, I lied.” The steel fucking balls of- “But still! I’ll be okay! I’ve gone against them plenty of times before.”

“Doesn’t mean you’re invincible!”

Before I could say anything more, I heard the sound of a truck starting up. I looked down and Leo followed my line of sight to see the Foot getting ready to drive. 

Shit, they’re getting away!

“Okay, okay! Listen, I promise, I promise I won’t run off on my own and do something dumb this time. Anything the leader says goes! Just please let me join!” I can’t leave him alone!

I could sense him debating on what to do. His eyes look so conflicted, there’s definitely more than what he’s telling me. Nevertheless, I’m not budging. I don’t wanna sit at home being useless and worry the entire time.

He took a deep breath in, and let out a loud sigh. He looked at me with a defeated smile. “I’m not getting rid of you, am I?”

“Nope.”

“Alright, fine, but you’re sticking close.”

Before I could celebrate too much, I felt the ground beneath me disappear into bright blue light. Not anything sudden, more gentle really. Even then, I felt disoriented with my feet going from firmly grounded to touching the air! Not to mention how light my whole body felt. Gravity did a complete 180 and I got flipped around, landing under the truck. 

I nearly lost my grip but a hand on my back kept me in place long enough for me to recollect myself. Leo portalled us here.Well, obviously he did, it just caught me off guard again. It’s not really too bad going through his portals but it sure is a fucking trip when it’s unexpected. Either way, it got the job done. 

They drove for quite a damn while. It wasn’t the most pleasant experience having to cling on to the bottom of a moving truck as the only scents to breathe in were that of oil and gasoline, but we probably looked super cool! My ears disagreed but oh well. They parked in front of a mall this time. Not just any mall, the fucking World Trade Center! We’re literally on the other side of the city, what on Earth could they need here?

I wanted to follow them in but Leo was against it. He said it’d be safer for us to spy from a distance for now so we went to the roof of a neighboring building, looking in at them. The Foot are on one of the higher floors, almost seeming like they’re scavenging for something. 

Leo’s trying to figure out another way in for us. I still don’t understand why we didn’t just follow them. I know Leo’s not a total reckless nutcase or anything, but being this cautious felt a little unlike him. 

“Hey, look, I don’t mean to shoot your own words back at you or anything. But you know you can tell me if something’s up, right?” 

For a split second, he looked different. His eyes were dead, his lips shut and neutral. He stared at me but he looked so… lost. Empty. 

And then his smile returned, face back to normal. Or at least what he convinced me was normal. I’m not so sure anymore. He flicked my forehead again. Even softer than the first time he did it. “Stop worrying so much! You’re gonna give yourself a chasm worse than Raph’s.”

I didn’t know how to take it from there. So I just watched him.

He eventually decided on portalling us into the building’s vent system. It’s a little cramped but was the only place we can eavesdrop without being immediately spotted. Though honestly, I don’t mind this one bit! I’m controlling the impulsive adrenaline ,however, he didn’t say shit about internal adrenaline! I can’t help it if stealth makes me giddy!

“Hehe! It’s like we’re in a movie!”

“Love your enthusiasm as always but remember to not get too caught up in it.”

I momentarily shoved my excitement to the side as we both tried listening in on the Foot Clan. The skinny dude, who I now know to be the Lieutenant, is barking orders at the rest of the soldiers scouting around while talking to the giant Brute. 

“You disabled the cameras, correct? You know we can’t make it any harder for them!”

“Of course I did, it’s a no-brainer! Why’d ya have to ask it like that?” Woah, villain or not, his New Yorker accent is one to admire! “You know, sometimes I feel like you think I’m just stupid and nothin’ more.”

“Oh, don’t start now. Focus on finding good metal. The sooner we finish this the better.”

Hearing his raspy voice makes my own throat itch a little. I lightly clawed at it, trying to not make too much noise as I moved. 

I leaned a little closer to Leo “What do you think they need metal for?” 

“Not sure. Could be to make more soldiers or something? It’d be a cool upgrade from their paper soldiers.”

Leo’s tone seems a little lighter than before, I’m glad to hear him joke around again. “They could make paper soldiers?”

“Yeah! And they’re completely sentient, one of them even became besties with Raph! Anyway,” he pointed down at a handful of soldiers collecting metal artifacts “they’re probably trying to make those origami soldiers again with something stronger.”

“But how would you fold metal?”

“Beats me, Mikey would know more on this. He’s figuring out how to recreate whatever spell they used so we could get some help with patrolling. Word of advice though, salami origami does not work as a substitute.”

“No shit. Who’s bright idea was that?”

“...You don’t know him.” His guilty face says it all.

We were giggling a little too loudly, I suppose. One of the Foot dudes stopped and started listening for our voices again. He shrugged and moved on soon enough. I didn’t realize I was covering my mouth till I let myself breathe again.

“We should probably be a little quieter and take this stealth thing more seriously.”

I nodded in agreement. He’s not upset, honestly he’s struggling just as much as I am to choke down more giggles. It’s like we’re hiding under a blanket during a sleepover pretending we’re not awake in front of the parents and not in a likely life or death situation spying on the black-magic cult. I’m trying my best but it’s already hard enough to keep my adrenaline addiction in check and Leo being here makes it worse in the best ways possible. 

Still, I don’t wanna know what happens if we get cau- What was that creaking sound?

CLANG! 

It would seem those were not really sturdy vents. 

You know that moment from the Ice Age sequel when the vultures surround the main cast with hungry, devilish eyes ready to feast on them at any given moment? Yeah, let’s just say I wouldn’t be surprised if the Foot Clan randomly bursts into song about “glorious food” full on broadway musical style.

“Uh… Hey, fellas! Long time no see, am I right?” Despite his demeanor, I caught the real reason he raised his hands. I reached back for mine as well.

A sheath of metal filled the air as Leo took his katanas out their case, perfectly timed with the Lieutenant’s new orders.

“GET THEM!” 

“Run, hide first then get the stolen thingie if you can. I’ll keep ‘em busy!” Leo charged into the fight, holding them off to make sure they couldn’t get to me.

Unfortunately, there’s like a bajillion of them that can easily outnumber us. I’ve learned to be quite a slippery sprinter but even then two already managed to block my path.

Now would be a good time to turn invisible!

“Come on, come on!” I could barely get the sparks to even start spreading. Turns out stress is a huge fucking factor I neglected in my training. 

I wouldn’t have minded if it just took a few seconds to work but the real issue was I couldn’t keep it working. I didn’t even really go invisible, just sorta flashed in and out of transparency for a few seconds! The only reason I haven’t gotten caught yet is ‘cause these two morons are too busy laughing at me.

“Is that really the best you can do!? Whoever you are, little girl, you’ve got your work cut out for you!” 

“Oh no! She’s… she’s… blinking like an old flashlight!! We’re so scared!”

…BITC-

Resorted to traditional methods. I made the sickles the consistency of a metal pot and threw it at one of their heads, knocking them down. The other I kicked straight in the chest while they were distracted by their idiot teammate, also knocking them down. I’d love nothing more than to give some extra special attention to them but this old flashlight’s gotta run for the shadows while they’ve got an open chance. 

A blue portal opened in front of me. “Hey Salena, so this fight’s a little more intense than I expected and I wanted to quickly check if you’re really sure about-”

“Leo, I’m fine! I’m not leaving mid-battle!”

“No, no, that’s fine! That’s great! Just a reminder there’s no shame in calling it- DUCK!”

 

Without hesitance, I dropped to the ground right as his sword swung above me to block one of the soldier’s attacks. Maybe I should let Leo handle this guy since I can’t really do much while laying on the floor. Then again, doesn't mean I can’t do anything. And also I don’t have good impulse control.

“OW!!! WHAT THE FUCK!?”

I bit on to his ankle as hard as I desired despite his pleading cries. I didn’t let go until Leo broke out of his shock and finally punched him unconscious. Fighting might actually be a really good way to get out my urges.

“Why-“

“Don’t. If it works, it works.”

I flashed a grin, got back on my feet, and bounced away. I need a better vantage point if I wanna find the stolen item, especially with the chaos over here. I quickly made my way up to the indoor balcony thingie. Terrance? The second floor? Whatever the fuck it is. I’ll have to admit, despite how absolutely pumped I’m feeling right now, it kinda feels nice getting away from the clusterfuck for a bit. I heard Leo still spamming all his dialogue options to keep the main two creeps occupied. Actually, I’m pretty sure I can see them from up here, too. 

“So, you guys are looking great! Never thought I’d say this, but I am loving the old look making a return.” His hands did more tricks than usual, keeping his swords flowing like an intricate dance. There are multiple soldiers practically hounding him yet he’s fending them off almost gracefully.

“Can’t you stupid children stay out of our way for one night! There’s great evil being put on the hold right now for your antics!”

“Hey, speaking of evil, what’s with the normal amount of eyes? Not that I’m missing the other option but- GAH!”

And yet, even with Leo’s skilled moves, he’s struggling to keep up with the two leaders specifically. I deadass would’ve been slaughtered by now if I didn’t listen to him about hiding. 

“We got some outside help. Now, stop askin’ annoying questions and maybe we’ll go easier on ya!” He swung his axe again, thankfully missing Leo.

I gotta wonder, from Mikey’s stories, they’ve fought the Foot Clan with ease several times in the past. Leo was doing fine just now, too. So why does it look like this could be his first time facing off the Lieutenant and Brute? Nobody’s perfect but I don’t think either of us expected him to lose his grace and become borderline clumsy against them.

Wait, no! Distractions! Leo can handle himself, I need to focus on my own task. Stolen thingie! But where the hell is it?

Just as I was about to think they left it in the truck like common sense would dictate, a soft, reflective red glow caught my eye. The moon was on my side tonight.

“There she is!”

Or maybe I was being too optimistic. In fairness, I should’ve known I couldn’t stay here for long.

It would be really fucking nice to turn invisible now. Sickles? No? Oh, okay, fuck me then I guess.

I hopped off the edge before they could reach me and slinked to the other side of the room, following the red gleam. Despite the sickles betraying me with horrific timing twice tonight, I got them to cover me long enough to reach the ruby ring the glow came from. The light bled past the folds of the drape covering their stolen prize. I lifted it to find a… weird mannequin bust? With arms. Decorated with several ornaments and jewelry including the ring. What the fuck are they using this for, a fashion show? 

I flinched to the sound of a loud thud paired with Leo’s groan. Flipping my head behind me, I saw him cornered against a wall, swords shielding him from the Brute’s axes.

“Okay, either you two got a lot stronger or my body isn’t what it used to be.”

I gotta calm myself down, Leo’s a trained ninja and will likely be completely and totally fine! A tiny slip doesn’t mean inevitable doom!

 

…I hope.

I turned my attention back to the mannequin thing to mentally measure its size. I’m fairly certain it’ll fit inside my backpack, it’s not too big. Just gotta get it in now.

Another sound interrupted me. This time, it was loud metallic clanking off the floor. Leo’s katanas…

“On second thought, maybe it’s both.” His weapons were away from him, too far out of reach. His voice sounded weaker, arms wrapped around his torso.

Oh no.

Neither of them were holding back. As soon as he was down, they were practically hammering at him. His arms were up, defensively blocking his head. I’m supposed to stay away from this. I’m supposed to listen and focus on my task. But I can’t stop my body from turning when I see something like this happening. 

He’s in the air now. I need to move. He’s being swung. I need to be faster. 

“Let this be a lesson, turtle. Our battles have drastically changed.”

The window shattered from the force of his body.

“LEO!”

I don’t remember ever sprinting this fast, but I was out the window right after through the very hole he created. The height couldn’t scare me if it tried. My arm outstretched, I caught him with one hand and had my sickle in the other. Careful to not dare mess up my timing, it snatched onto a power line just as my blades turned to rubber, thick enough to not get us shocked from the voltage. 

“N-nice… nice catch.”

“Thanks.” It’s harder to talk when I’m panting like a dog and trying to limit my shaking limbs.

His weight felt like it would rip my arms apart. I didn’t expect a giant muscular turtle to be light but that doesn’t make it hurt any less. Still, some-fucking-how, I’m able to keep us both hanging from the wire, comprehending the fact that we’re not dead. Thank fuck for Raph forcing me to work out sessions.

“You, uh, you doing good up there? You’re breathing kinda heavily. Hey, heavily! Didn’t even mean to make that one!”

“Leo I will drop you.”

He convinced me to suffer a little longer and try to swing him, giving enough momentum for him to catch onto the side of the neighboring building. Then, I swung myself, Leo catching me to soften the landing. We scampered up to the roof, coincidentally the same one we were on a while ago. 

“And literally back to square one. Fantastic.” He sighed, clearly annoyed by our failure. His attention quickly shifted once he noticed me rubbing my sore arms. “Hey, you okay? Want me to take a look at you?”

“Me? Take a look at yourself first, idiot!” 

I’m not gonna pretend I’m not in pain, but it’s nothing close to the tragedies on his body currently. His arms are bruised and cut from the fight. One was actively bleeding with bits of glass still stuck in some places. Luckily it was the only fleshy place he took damage on, everything else was protected, albeit a little cracked.

“It’s… It’s fine. My shell took most of the hit, anyway.” This bitch. “Besides, I’ve got bigger things to worry about.”

Despite his condition, he started walking to the edge of the roof, heading back towards the WTC.

“Where the hell are you going?”

“To get my katanas back.”

“Oh, no, no, no, you are not going back in there! Can’t you just make new swords or something?”

“And help the foot by practically gifting them Hamato weapons?”

“You said they’re made from your magic! Shouldn’t that protect them from other people trying to use them?”

“I don’t know, we only learned about this ninpo stuff, like, last year! I don’t know enough to be sure nothing will happen if I leave them with the Foot. I’m not doing that.”

“Well, I can’t let you go back.” I stood in front of him to block his path. “We can figure something else out but you are not going back in there! Look at you, it’d be crazy!”

“I was crazy once-” My hand shut his stupid, smug mouth before he could complete the ritual. 

“Leo, you were thrown out a window! You’re hurt!”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay! I’ve been through worse! I’m just gonna get my swords back, that’s all.” He put a hand on my shoulder and threw on a fake smile to comfort me. The blood is literally dripping down his arm as he did, defeating the point. I looked back at his eyes, not bothering to hide how furiously concerned I am. If I’m reading him right, he’s not oblivious to reality. He’s a medic, he knows it better than I do.

He took a shaky breath in. “Fine, you’re right that I’m a little hurt. But we can’t waste time patching me up, I need to get my swords! Rule number one of basic survival is never let the Foot come into possession with highly mystic material ever.”

“Then I’ll go while you take care of yourself.” 

“NO!” His head perked up as his eyes grew wider. He tried saving his initial reaction. “No way, not happening. It’s a safer plan if I go in, I’m more used to them” Safer for us or for just me. 

“And yet, you got beaten to a pulp, isolated from your weapons, thrown out a window, and are now bleeding with shards of glass sticking out your body. Did I miss anything?” He’s neglected himself all night being overly cocky and confident nothing bad would happen to him. That’s what’s led to him turning out like this! “They didn’t exactly go easy on you, Leo-”

“Then imagine what they’d do to you!”

His brows knit together, staring at me, not blinking. I guess my wish was granted since he finally stopped disguising his true fear.

“Salena, please. Stay here, I’m going in.”

I almost let him go. Almost.

Too bad for him, I yanked him by the mask tails and pulled his stunned face back to face me. 

“Hey, wh-”

“Alright, listen. I know whoever these guys are, they’re dangerous as fuck. I know I’m nowhere near as skilled of a fighter as you and I probably never will be. And I know I am way in over my head about this. But none of that matters to me.” 

He kept quiet. So I continued. “What matters is that I’m your friend. Friends don’t let each other jump into losing battles, okay? You’re hurt, Leo. Please, just let me help you.”

I looked up at the sky. The clouds are covering the moon now and should stay that way for a little while. I could take advantage of the newfound darkness. 

I stood on the ledge, mentally preparing myself to reignite the flames. Sure, I talked big about being able to handle myself and whatnot but I’m just trying to fool myself into thinking I’m not scared. If I can keep myself level-headed and use my sickles, I’ll be able to stay invisible for a short bit. If I play my cards right, that should be all I need.

I felt a hand grab my wrist. Turning around, I readied myself to once again reassure Leo I’d be fine but stopped when he put something in my palm. I recognize them, they’re tanto knives.

“Hey.” His smile is forced but not disingenuous. 

“You’ve got this.”

So off I went with the last little push I needed. The cool night air feels fantastically refreshing on my skin. Every leap leaves me more confident I’ll succeed. I have to. He needs someone he knows he can depend on. 

I scouted around and found an open window to sneak back in through. Judging by how crazy strong these guys are, my best bet is the element of surprise and for these oversized lethal boomerangs to actually work in my favor. Which they hadn’t before. But nothing’s ever hopeless. The reflection off the moon was their main source of light, with the clouds hiding it now and my knowledge of the floor’s layout, I think I might have a working plan this time.

I rushed over to the balcony I was at previously, this time being more cautious of any look-outs. There were three of them up here so I’m glad I didn’t choose the reckless route. I took my sickles out my backpack, breathed in, and turned invisible. A little harder to do since my nerves haven’t completely disappeared but it’s going smoother than before. 

I snuck up to the soldier at the back of the trio, covering his mouth and dragging him to the dark, knocking him out shortly after. His two buddies were a piece of cake after that, hit one with a blunt-force sickle and take the other by hand at the same time. No one noticed a thing. 

With the balcony cleared, I reclaimed my little sighting spot and looked over the entire floor, making note of every nook and cranny I could hide in. The clan’s focus changed since last time, they’re trying to get out as fast as possible. Seems like they’re taking Leo’s katanas with them since Lieutenant Itchy McSore-Throat was holding onto them.

“All of you hurry up! We must get out of here!”

I spotted the stolen mannequin in the distance. It’s actually not too far and surprisingly not removed. The two leaders seem distracted by someone. Perfect timing. I crept down and started taking out some more soldiers, listening in to the conversation at the same time. 

“What about getting all the mystic metal we can?” That’s a new voice.

“Forget the metal, we’ve got enough for today. We need to leave or that turtle will bring reinforcements!” 

“Yeah, sure, whatever makes ya happy, boss.” 

“You better not be questioning my authority.”

“Our authority, he means. We’ve had your type before, and they grew to be traitors. I suggest you don’t test the patience of the Foot ‘cause it’s growin’ thin.”

“Nice phrasing! Even if you shouldn’t have interrupted me.” I can’t tell if these two have workplace tension or workplace bromance anymore. “But he’s right. You’d do well to remember your place, rookie.” 

“Hey, I wasn’t tryna question anything guys. Just sayin’ maybe we should’ve planned this better in case we got caught.”

“So you may be right. We’ll keep it in mind but work on your delivery when it comes to criticism. Now quickly, go join the others.”

“Can I at least hold the magic swords?”

“No.”

She grumbled and left through the door, likely exiting the building. Her attitude was a pleasant surprise. I’ll admit, I kinda assumed all the Foot soldiers had brain-numbing levels of obedience. 

The clouds were clearing up, though. The moonlight brightened the room back up, I can’t use the darkness for cover much longer. Alas, if only I knew how to use my literal invisibility powers for longer than a few seconds but you know what? This is genuinely perfectly okay. I’ve taken out enough of them to only leave a few left standing, not to mention the majority of them are already out the building. I gotta take these freaks head on if I wanna get Leo’s swords. No more hide and seek.

I let the light illuminate me. 

“Hey guys!~” I waved gleefully as the Foot idiots finally noticed my presence. “Remember me? Hope it hasn’t been too long.”

“You!” The Brute turned to me first. “You’re the Hamato ally from earlier!”

“What are you doing here! Why have you returned!”

“You sure have a way of asking questions that makes them feel like statements. Anyway, I’m here to collect something you stole from my friend.”

He gripped the swords as he scowled at me. I held my own sickles tighter.

“You foolish child! You leave us no choice but take you out permanently.”

“Oh, really now? You and what army.”

I scoffed when I caught his expression change. Everyone looked at each other, noting how very few of them are suddenly in the room. So distracted they barely noticed me going for my first blow. 

He quickly got ready to block me with Leo’s weapon, absolutely bewildered when I only zoomed past him and sliced at the leg of another soldier behind him. It wasn’t too deep but poor guy was still rendered useless. I dashed to my left at another soldier, dodging his attack and punching right up his chin. 

“What’s going on!? Those sickles were dull the last time she used ‘em!”

 

“They must be mystic…” 

“Right you are, Lieutenant! I kept them dull on purpose, my mistake.” 

I threw a tanto at a cultist’s shoulder. 

“You threw Leo out a window. I think you can bear to see some blood.”

One by one, I went around the room, sprinting past anyone chasing after me and immobilizing anyone with their guard down. I got in a groove good enough to keep myself progressing along while getting out my rage. I wasn’t kidding before, I would’ve kept my blades dull again. I’m still careful to not do anything fatal but I’m not gonna be exactly merciful, either. They deserve this.

Fighting felt like dancing, gliding across the room in an energetic fashion. I’m not crazy enough to go for the Lieutenant or Brute which ended up being a plus for me. They was more than ready to protect themselves, but not their team. At last, I got them all exactly where I needed them. 

Alright, stay calm. Turn invisible no matter what.

My sickles shone with a pink glow, allowing me to disappear from their sight. I scampered past them, reaching the bejeweled mannequin behind them. It feels a little different? But there isn’t any concrete proof for this so my brain’s just tricking me. Whatever, no time to lose. I shoved it in my bag, getting myself used to the weight, and aimed a sickle at his arm.

 

“Where’d she go!?”

“Stay alert! Don’t let her catch you off guard!” 

A bit late for that buddy. 

My blade sliced through, leaving a massive gash on his arm. He screamed and dropped Leo’s sword. I ran through, catching it just as I became visible again. I snatched the other one as quickly as possible and sprinted to create some distance.

I held my arm up to my face, making good use of the wraps’ built-in comms. “Leo! Heads up!”

I threw a katana out the window, smashing the glass as it flew outside. I stopped in my tracks with a smirk. I knew we won.

I dodged the last attacks of the night, accelerating faster than I realized I could go. “Well folks, this was quite a fun match! Hope to never see you again!” Blue light sparked across my body. I leapt in the air, gave a quick peace sign purely to piss ‘em off, and bid my farewell.

“Toodles~”

Teleportation isn’t actually too bad if you know it’s coming.

The cool night air returned on my skin. I was floating for a few seconds before crashing to the roof on my knees. I didn’t even care about the pain, I was too busy enjoying the hug I received for my success! 

“I DID IT! I FUCKING DID IT! WOOHOO!!!”

“Celebrations later, escaping now! Come on!” 

Leo dragged me up and pulled us through another portal.

***

“We are the champions!~

“Gone with the losers ‘cause we are the champions!” 

I handed another slice of pizza to Leo, half the box pepperoni for him and the other half plain cheese for me. We already dropped off the mannequin back to the museum and I gave an anonymous tip to 911 so now we’re simply chilling on the roof singing to celebrate our victorious night. I’m honestly still hyper as hell over it.

“I can’t believe we actually did it! I can’t believe I actually did it! Salena one, Foot Clan NONE BABY, FUCK YEA!”

“Man, I am so happy you came out okay. You have no idea how relieved I was when I saw you again.” He bit into the cheese, the least stressed I’ve seen him all night.

I couldn’t realize it earlier but that hug he gave wasn’t for my success. It’s clear to me now.

“Leo?”

“Hm?” He looked towards me as he bit into the cheese.

“Thanks for trusting me.”

He mirrored my smile. “Hey, we’re friends, right? That’s what I’m here for.”

The spring breeze feels so sweet. The view of the city is rewarding as always. A safe city, a safe night. I can see why they’re so into this whole hero gig. Everything about this moment feels absolutely perfect.

Buzz! Buzz!

I swear to god if my fucking phone’s gonna ruin it again. I quickly checked the notif to see if it was anything important. To my surprise, it’s Jaiden.

They sent me a text. The first one in weeks. It’s a dumb meme I saw earlier today.

We used to do this a lot in the past. Whenever we got into a fight, it’d be our way of ending it. We could never stay mad at each other for more than a day. In the past at least.

I guess this means they’re not mad at me anymore.

“Everything okay?” Leo stared at me, probably concerned by my change in demeanor. 

I double tapped to like Jaiden’s meme and put my phone away, going back to normal.

“It’s nothing important. Just, uh, highschool stuff. You wouldn’t get it.”

He laughed “Oh, okay, well. I know I’m too fabulous to be the average, uncool, normal teen guy doing normal teen things like going to highschool that you want right now but…”

“If you ever need someone to lend a shoulder, you know who to call.”

He’s an idiot, but a very sweet one when he wants to be. 

“Thanks, Leo, but I mean it this time. It’s nothing.” I raised up my slice to request a toast of some sorts. “Let’s go back to celebrating, shall we?”

He let out a satisfied chuckle, returning my toast. I didn’t wanna let anything ruin the way I felt tonight, even if their text tainted the vibe a bit. But hey, it’s technically a win, too! I got my confirmation that Jaiden and I are indeed still friends.

Though I gotta admit, I’m not as happy as I thought I’d be.

Next Chapter

[zeibei]

how do you think freeze's life would have been different had he known ice from the moment he was built? what if they knew each other from the beginning and experienced learning about the world together for the first time? ice's first ice cream experience being with freeze...

That would be really sweet actually… The idea of them being able to meet very early on, before they could properly establish a personality for themselves and being there for that process after being activated… It's a bit romantic actually…

It would be more of the build up just the idea of being able to form that bond early on and be there together to experience the world together. So Freeze wouldn't have felt that shy early on when getting to know Ice but comfortable enough to do things together and enjoy each other's company.

Like to think that Freeze got paired up with Ice since both were Ice-type robots but since Freeze has an experimental energy source, he'd have some issues occur early on and need peer reviewing on what could be changed/repaired. But as well having someone who was similar in a way but also was still extremely new that they could be independent and learn about things within society is to get acquainted.

Someone who he could experience “firsts” with such as seeing snowfall while at a colder climate area or things change over a period of time while stationed together. Really would be truly inseparable rather than always next to each other because of how much it really would impact their relationship and truly being able to know each other from the very beginning.

also the ice cream part got me thinking of this little writing in mind, Korn writes something? let's play??? Woah

Something about two guys probably out in the park trying to enjoy the day outside and kinda mostly just people watch and just walk a little.

Freeze and Ice are sitting down on a bench in the park near Light Labs, they had made their way here before, so it wasn't the first time. The two have gotten accustomed to coming here regularly (due to trying to interact with some of the animals- that didn't end too well).

Today was different, since they just wanted to go out after having to run multiple tests on their processing and internals before having to go out on their first assignments. It was just nice to get out of the labs for once.

Both of them are just laughing and watching people pass by, seeing birds and squirrels interacting with the environment.

Freeze lets out a sigh, “I felt like today wasn’t ever going to end, but I’m glad I am getting to spend the time with you, Ice Man..”

Ice laughs and is like “Aw it's nothing, Freeze… Plus I told you already, just call me Ice, you don't have to be so formal about it!”

Freeze can't help but laugh as well. “Well pardon me thennnn, Ice.”

Ice turns away and rolls his eyes, puffing up his cheeks from the comment. “Oh god, just because you learned sarcasm doesn't mean you have to use it on me, huh?”

Freeze can't help but smile under the mask he has built in, “Would it make you feel better if I got you something?”

Ice can't help but look over his shoulder. “What is it?”

“It's a surprise, that's what it is!” Freeze exclaims.

“Hmph… Okay fine…” Ice turns back over.

“Great! I shouldn't take long!” Freeze says, as he gets up from his seat and walks off to go get whatever he was talking about.

“Wait? You're leav-” Ice is unable to finish his sentence before Freeze is already out of view.

The smaller robot kicks his feet as he sits, hoping the taller one would come back soon.Ice still isn’t used to being left alone for long.

“Iceeeee, I’m back!” Freeze returns with two cones in hand, nothing too big, but rather a simple vanilla scoop for the both of them.

Freeze sits down next to Ice before handing one of the cones to him. Ice takes the cone before looking down to hide the water in his eyes, “Thank you. Um, next time, just don't walk off like that, okay?”

Freeze can't help but feel bad in the situation, and he apologizes, “Ah, I’m sorry about that Ice… I’ll make sure not to next time.”

Ice wipes his tears away, and he looks down at the ice cream cone in his hand, and looks back at Freeze. “...What is this by the way?”

Freeze chirps up a bit, “Oh.. It's ice cream… Vanilla flavor I was told, some of the scientists that were working on me said we should treat ourselves once in a while to it.”

“Huh…” The smaller robot says before taking a bite out of it.

“Wait- Ice I don't think you should do-” Freeze says, trying to stop Ice.

“Oh! It's cold and sweet!” Ice’s eyes brighten up after the first bite, helping himself, but eating up the rest off the cone right there on the spot.

“I hope you know that you're usually not supposed to eat it all in one go…” Freeze awkwardly chuckles.

“Wait? You're not supposed to???” Ice looks at Freeze with sad eyes after finding out about that.

“No… you're supposed to savor it, but I should also warn you that it does melt after a while..”

Ice stares at the cone, then he stares back at Freeze.

Freeze, taking notice of this, says “I’ll share with you as long as you don't eat it all, Ice.”

Ice can't help but laugh, “Pfft- well I know nowwww, you don't have to remind me.”

Freeze laughs as well, “Well let me at least try some first before you get your turn.”

The taller bot takes off their mask before taking a lick of their ice cream. Ice can't help but stare at Freeze as he does.

“Huh, you look so different without the mask..” Ice comments, kicking his feet a bit.

Freeze is surprised by the comment, scratching the side of his face a bit, and he says “It's not too weird is it?”

“I don't think so? I think you have a pretty nice face actually, Freeze!” Ice smiles as he says that.

Freeze blushes from the comment, and he clears his throat before handing the cone off to Ice. “Here, just have it before it melts.”

[bagerfluff]

Evening Gone Right?

Older Takaishi Takeru x Male Reader

Prompt - 30 Prompt Challenge - Getting lost somewhere 

“And you said this was a great idea”, Takeru sneered.

You rolled your eyes. It wasn’t your fault that you thought it was left instead of right. You thought that you guys had come from the left, so when you were walking back you said to go left.

Now you and Takeru were lost somewhere in the Digiworld.

Without your Digimon, and it was getting dark.

“The walk was great, we just took a wrong turn”, you countered. You looked around to try to find something you remembered. You and Takeru were just supposed to have a nice evening in the Digiworld.

Get your minds of school and life. And until you two got lost it was fine, it was a great idea. The walk was a great idea. Some time for just you and Takeru, you both loved your Digimon.

But it was nice to spend some time alone with each other. Now you kinda wished you had taken them with you, it would be nice to have a birds eye view.

“Yes, but you were the one in charge of remembering how to get back”, Takeru said. “If I remember none of us were in charge of it, I just happened to remember most of the turns” you countered.

Making Takeru glare at you. Takeru sighed and walked back over to you. “You're right, guess I’m just a little stressed”, Takeru said and you nodded, knowing exactly how he was feeling.

“Yeah, but it's not like we haven’t been in the digiworld at night before and Patamon and D/n have probably started looking for us”, you said. Trying to calm down Takeru.

Takeru nodded and looked at the sky, “we should find some shelter”, he said. You nodded, “there was a cave around that way”, you said before starting to walk.

You felt something grab your wrist so you turned your head. Takeru let go of your wrist and walked ahead of you, “I’ll lead”. Takeru said with a slight sneer in his voice.

You glared at the back of his head before following him. “I’ll let you now that I have a good internal map”, you said and Takeru let out a little laugh.

“Sure”, he said teasingly.

You rolled your eyes, but also made sure that you guys were alone. You knew what could happen if a Digimon popped up, you and Takeru could die.

You watched the forest as Takeru led you to the cave. “Here, hopefully no Digimon lives there”, Takeru said, stopping about six feet in front of the cave entrance.

“I didn’t see nor hear anything”, you said, walking closer to the cave. You heard Takeru behind you. You looked around the cave, it didn’t look like anybody lived there.

No scratches, no bones, nothing. Just rocks and moss. “Looks fine”, you said, though still a little timid. It’s still possible that a Digimon did live here, just that they were out right now.

But the sun was setting and it would be better to be in a cave then in the dark. “It’s fine”, you said, walking fully into the cave. Takeru nodded and walked in so he was sitting next to you.

“Now that we got shelter, we need food and water, we were going to have a shack when he got back from our walk”, Takeru said. You suddenly noticed the hunger that dug into your stomach

“Yeah, here”, you said while digging in your pocket and pulling two granola bars. “Whoa, never thought you’d have food on you”, Takeru said while grabbing a bar.

“Just Jou has rubbed off on me”, you said before taking a bite out of your granola bar. You and Takeru sat against the wall of the cave, only a few feet from the entrance.

Takeru is closer to the entrance than you. You glanced over at Takeru, the sun had fully set and the moon was rising. Conveniently, the moon was rising over the entrance of the cave.

It was kinda hard to see the moon, the light was still bright. It lit up Takeru as he ate. His blonde hair looked perfect with his hat and the light.

The slight breeze from the cave helped too, the fluffy strands peeking out of his hat. His face was bordered with the light, causing a shadow to cover his face.

He still looked perfect though, you wanted him to turn, so you could see his eyes in the light. His skin was nice too, it was almost reflecting the light as it shined.

Takeru crumbled his wrapper and put it in his pocket. Takeru sat up slight and turned his head towards you, “you’re staring”, he said. You didn’t respond at first, too busy looking at how the light bordered his head, almost like he was glowing.

“You look pretty in the moonlight”, you said with a smile.

Takeru blushed and looked away, leaning back down. “You know, it isn't how I thought our date would turn out, but I love it”, Takeru said. You hummed in agreement.

You scooted closer to Takeru and wrapped an arm around his neck. “Yeah, I wouldn’t have in any other way. I got a little bad because of uncontrollable problems”, Takeru rolled his eyes after you said that.

“And we got lost, but, I’m with you, so it’s perfect”, you said, kissing the side of Takeru’s head. “I wasn’t worried for a bit, I was with you”, you said and you felt Takeru nod.

Takeru smiled and leaned his head on your shoulder, closing his eyes as he let his sleepiness take over. You did the same, falling asleep with your head on Takeru’s.

When Patamon and your Digimon found you two. You two were cuddled up with small smiles on your faces. Completely content with your situation. Not a line of worry on your faces.

All because you two were together. 

[totally-not-a-cannibal-hannibal]

To My Taste

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Part 2: To Be Misunderstood

Part 1: Small Potatoes

⚠️Warnings⚠️ This part has the start of rape. It never gets to that point but it gets close so please don't read this part if you think that might even remotely be triggering. Please take care of yourself, this stupid fanfic is not worth your mental health. I'll leave a summary at the end if you still want the spark notes on what happened in the story. The whole first part is littered with violence against a woman so beware. My intention is not to glorify this kind of attack and I try my best to not be too flowery in writing the attack for that purpose. Reader discretion is advised.

It's kinda long because I couldn't end on a depressing note. 🥲

        My mind assumed the worst, how could you not. I ran out of my room without thinking and scanned the dark surroundings. I didn't see anyone. The street light barely lit up a spot on the floor where some feathers laid. The brilliant peach color seemed to shine against the darkness of the room. I was so distracted by the thought my love birds might be dead I had forgotten about the potential intruder.

          Just as I came back to my senses I was grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground onto my back. I could make out a large frame larger than any man I knew. He jumped down on top of me putting his face into view. He had no mask, he intended on killing me. I screamed and tried to pull my legs out from under him. 

       In a flash I saw the glint of a large knife in the limited light of the room. He thrusted it down into my shoulder. I felt like the tip of the weapon snagged on my cheap vinyl floor of my kitchen. I had so much adrenaline rushing through my body I couldn't even scream. 

       It was the killer, I knew what was coming next. Choking, biting, rape. He leaned down on me once he was sure my shoulder was stuck. His eyes were crazed, like a dog left in the heat for too long. He sounded like one as well. He grunted as he struggled to tear my underwear. My free hand tried to claw at his hands desperately, finally I was able to scream. I screamed for my life, it sounded like the stock scream for a low budget horror movie. My sudden screaming must have startled him or just pissed him off because he yelled back as he punched me in the face. I could taste blood and my vision got blurry but I knew I had to do something, he was making progress on my underwear. 

        The only thing I could see clearly was his face so I did the only thing I could. I took my thumb and jammed it into his eye. My nail slipped past the eyeball and bent around the corner of his orbital bone. He let out an animalistic scream, louder than my own even. He pulled his upper body off of me and my thumb was released from his eye.

         He grabbed the knife and ripped it from my shoulder and held it in the air. He slammed it down at my face, instinct took over and I curled to the side. With most of his weight on my legs my upper body could move freely. He struggled to pull the knife from the concrete below the vinyl. Grunting like an ape he finally freed it. Thanks to the time it brought me I was able to get a leg free from his hips and my other slipped out shortly after. He held his eye with one hand and slashed at me frantically with the other.

       I wasn't sure how but I managed to get to my feet. Something he was much slower at, he was still on his knees. I blindly grabbed the first thing my hand touched on my counter. I swung around the cast iron skillet I had borrowed from my landlady. In one sweep I bashed it against his skull as hard as I could. He fell like a sack of dirt. I jumped over him and ran to my bedroom. I slammed my door and locked it. Using all the force I had left in me I pushed the dresser in front of the door and grabbed for my phone. Something I had wished I'd done before I left my room to begin with. Dialing 911 I put the phone on speaker so I could continue to barricade my room. 

       "911 what's your emergency"

       "A man has broken into my house, he attacked me." I was in the middle of giving her my address and name when there was a bang at my door. Letting out a scream I take the phone with me to the bathroom. In the harsh light of the white bulbs I could see how much blood had poured down my shoulders and lip. I held up my hand and realized I had his blood on my thumb. No matter what happened we'd have DNA on him at least. The operator stayed on my phone with me.

        The banging stopped not long after he heard me on the phone. I knew he was gone but there was almost nothing in the world that was going to get me out of my bathroom closet. After what felt like hours I heard sirens outside. 

         It was all a blur. So many people in my house all at once. I was put in a blanket and walked through the place I was just attacked. He poured bleach on the floor, likely to destroy any DNA that was left of his from his blood. Holding my blood covered thumb out like some kind of hitchhiker they walked me to an ambulance. I was looking all over for my birds. I knew they were not what was important but it's all I could think about. Ricky was dead on the floor, neck snapped. I couldn't find Lucy. 

       "My bird, call for her! Maybe she flew out. Her name is Lucy. Please check the trees!" I begged, pointing to the tree line. An officer nodded as he helped me in the back of the ambulance. I had been crying the whole time, of course I had but for some reason I was now sobbing over my birds, one dead the other lost. 

        I don't have any memory of the ride to the hospital. Once inside I still couldn't get a second alone. Doctors and cops all had so many questions. Most of which I wasn't ready to answer. 

      A nurse almost cleaned off my thumb and I thought I might hit her. The cops came in and took all they could from my thumb and nails. They took my clothes. As soon as they left, my hospital room door was flung open by Jack. He asked me all the same questions but he was slower, giving me time to answer all I could. I still couldn't give him all the answers he needed.

       Will stood in the doorway like he was scared to come in. Jack squeezed past him to go make a few calls. 

       "I'm sorry this happened." He said softly. He didn't budge from his spot. His hands shoved in his coat pockets. He was still in his pajamas. Did he jump out of bed and drive all the way over? He just looked at me like he felt guilty. Seeing that expression on his face made me want to cry more.

       Without warning he was pushed against the doorframe as Beverly ran in. She stopped in her tracks when she saw me in the hospital bed. 

        "Fuck prison, when we get this guy I'm gonna kill him." She said as she came over and gave me a hug. She made me chuckle.

       "Let me get the first shot." I say as she fixed the collar of my gown. She smiles at me. "Did they find my bird?" She shook her head no while pulling the thin hospital blanket higher on me. There was something she was thinking and didn't want to say. "Bev it's all going to heal. He didn't even get my underwear off, It's alright." I say with a small grin but I could feel the tears starting to fall. We hugged till a doctor came in to replace some bandages. 

       Will always stayed just outside the room or in the doorway. Jack had called Dr. Lecter, he needed as many members of the team he could get to find this guy but he didn't want to leave me alone with strangers. I was thankful but Dr. Lecter was one step up from a stranger. He and I sat in the white and blue hospital room alone together. We didn't speak too much. He told me it was alright if I didn't want to. It wasn't that I didn't want to, some parts I just couldn't recall, it had only been 12 hours. I knew memory loss after trauma was normal but I needed to try and remember as much as possible to tell the team. 

        "He smelt like cigarettes, not the cheap kind. I didn't smell alcohol on his breath." I said as I looked up at the wall mounted TV. Dr. Lecter wrote it down. Slowly things would come back to me. Unfortunately that led to flashbacks and panic attacks.

         A few days passed and I was finally able to be released from the hospital. Jack wanted me to stay longer but the cleaner they used smelt like the bleach he poured all over my kitchen so I was eager to leave. 

          As odd as it sounded I was excited to get home. I just wanted to be with my things and see if Lucy would come home if she heard me calling. 

         Beverly and Will were over all day and at night Jack had local police stay outside in squad cars. This thing wasn't the type of thing you just get over but I was doing pretty good all things considered. Zeller and Price had taken what evidence they could from my house and cleaned up the best they knew how. Someone even hooked up my cable. 

           The vinyl floor in my kitchen had been pulled up so just concrete was left. They took the skillet that I needed to return to the landlady. She'd understand, she brought over a blackberry cobbler in hopes I'd tell her about what all happened. We were both incredibly nosy people so I knew what a mystery was doing to her. I indulged her the best I could, I didn't want to scare her too badly so I was very, very sparing with the details. Once she left I tucked into the cobbler.

       There was a knock at my door that made my heart leap from my chest. 

       "It's me Jack, can I come in, Lydia?" I checked the window just to make sure before opening the door. Once I open the door he lets himself in and sits down at my table.

        "You got the guy?" I asked, smiling as I take a seat as well. 

         "No not yet, I actually came on personal business. I was speaking with Dr. Lecter and he thinks it would help you to attend therapy, with him if you prefer or with an unaffiliated colleague of his. I want you to have a clear head and be happy because I care about you but also so you can get back to work. You can't work on your own case of course but we have others. I need you, late or not." He said as he smiled across the table at me. He probably wasn't wrong. Talking about stuff tends to help me. Dr. Lecter was great with me in the hospital. Maybe it was a good idea.

       "Yeah that sounds good actually. I'll start to see him." Jack breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. He looked behind me at my kitchen floor. 

         "Did those neanderthals with beakers leave you without any flooring?" He asked as he stood up and kicked at the exposed concrete. Jack seemed like what I imagined a dad was like. Caring but strict and just couldn't leave your house without trying to fix something. 

       "Yeah it's fine I was just going to have the guys at the hardware store put more in." I say laughing at his name calling. 

       "No, I know a guy, he and his sons did my whole house, let me do this for you." He said as he had his phone out and was already dialing. There was no stopping him at this point. He sets a time for them to come and put in new flooring. 

       He gave me Dr. Lecter's office number to set an appointment up. I liked seeing such a soft Jack, he had such a kind voice when he wasn't yelling. He left shortly after I set an appointment for tomorrow morning. 

        That night I couldn't sleep. I had to lock my bedroom door, I finally fell asleep as I heard the birds outside start to sing. I slept through my first and second alarm. Finally the 3rd one got me up. I had to rush around, I was super late.

       The drive to Dr. Lecter's office was pretty long and I was at least half an hour behind schedule. I ran into the building but froze when I saw Dr. Lecter talking to his secretary. 

        "There you are, I was starting to think you changed your mind." He said with a soft smile. I felt horrible about wasting his time. 

         "I'm so sorry I didn't hear my alarm go off." 

       "That's quite all right. You are here now, that's what's important." He leaned down and whispered something to his secretary who nodded at him. "Come in, please." He said as he held open the large wooden doors to his office. 

         I walked in quickly trying not to take up any more time than was necessary. The office was nothing short of immaculate. I had never been inside a room like it. I did my best not to gawk at how extravagant and lavish it was.

         "Please take a seat." He said as he closed the doors. I sit down in the closet chair. The notepad on the table next to me clued me into the fact this was his seat. 

          "Shit sorry" I curse under my breath as I stand up and move to the identical chair across from the it. He grins and nods.

          "That's alright you may have that chair if you prefer." He said as he picked up his notepad. 

       "No no this one's perfect." I insist. He takes his normal seat and crosses his leg getting comfortable. 

      "You look well, how did you sleep?"

      "Oh um not great, that's kinda part of the reason I slept through my alarms."

      "I see, any reason in particular you had trouble sleeping?" He asked as he pulled the cap off his pen. 

       "You know why." I say with a small smile as I look away from him. Picking at my nails I do my best not to think about the man. 

       "I know, I'd like to hear it in your words." His voice was soft, gentle like he was coaxing me. 

       "I was afraid the man would come back, I got a new gun but he took the last one. What would stop him from taking this one?"

       "That is perfectly understandable, the mind is rewired by trauma, previously innocuous activities can start to feel like real dangers to us. Do you have any plans to move?" 

        "Definitely not, it's my house, the rent is low, it's a good neighborhood. The house doesn't remind me of him, it's just the idea of sleeping and not being able to get away." I shift in my seat getting a little uncomfortable dwelling on the incident. He watched me closely and must have been able to pick up on how uneasy I was getting. 

       "You're from the area, yes?" He asks as he closes his notepad and folds his hands in his lap. 

       "Yeah southern Virginia, took me a bit to lose the accent when I moved north." 

         "Was losing your accent a concerted effort or did you lose it naturally?" 

         "It was purposeful, I went to college and my professors had a hard time understanding me. I got tired of being misunderstood. It slips out sometimes though. Where is your accent from? I don't think I can place it." I say with a grin.

        "That's very adaptable of you when I first moved here I too had a problem with people understanding me. It never feels good to be misunderstood. And to answer your question I am from Lithuania, it can be a difficult accent for Americans to place." He seemed happy to speak about his home country so I questioned a bit more. About his childhood, when he moved to the US, what Lithuania was like. He answered them all as quickly as possible. I started to get the feeling maybe he wasn't as comfortable with it as he was trying to portray. 

       "Why don't we get back to you Agent Trew. " He gently redirects the conversation. 

        "Oh please call me Lydia." 

        "Of course Lydia, please tell me about your childhood, I couldn't help but to notice there was no paternal medical history filled out." I was surprised by his request, I wasn't sensitive about my fatherlessness, it was just sudden. 

        "My mom says he was a one night stand, met him at a bar. He liked cheap whisky and drove a blue pickup. None of that really fits into a parent medical history sheet." I say with a laugh trying to make light of what is normally an awkward conversation. 

       "Your mom raised you by herself? Strong woman, I can tell you must have been a handful as a child."

        "Oh you have no idea I was a little monster. I was tearing up the house every other day and trying to bring home wild animals. I'm surprised my mom didn't sell me to the zoo." He seemed to get a bit of amusement out of the thought. We spoke very casually for a while about life, the weather, and hobbies. 

          He checked his watch and our hour was up. I was looking through my phone calendar for the best day to schedule another appointment while he gathered his notes.

         "I am having a small dinner party tomorrow night. Jack and his wife were invited but they had to cancel. I'm afraid Will and I are hardly a party by ourselves but would you be interested in joining us for dinner at my home?" I had heard of his dinner parties before, though it was a bit unexpected.

          "Oh Dr. Lecter I appreciate it but I'm a vegetarian. Will had told me how you enjoy your meat alot, which is great but I personally don't eat it. It's a texture issue not a moral one." I normally didn't feel the need to mention my dietary habits but he was kind enough to invite me. He was owed an explanation. 

          He smiled and licked his bottom lip slightly. It was like he was trying not to chuckle. He nodded understandingly. 

         "I am capable of making you a meatless meal, I won't force you to eat something you don't like." 

         "I couldn't put you out like that, making two separate meals is alot of work."

       "I enjoy cooking, the challenge of making something delicious for you would be part of the fun for me. It is hardly a dinner party with just two people." He says 

       "Well how could I say no to trying some of your famous cooking? I'd be delighted to join you guys." 

         He seemed happy I agreed but he was always so hard to read, I just have to hope he was glad and didn't feel burdened. We said our goodbyes and I made another appointment for a few days away, he said the sooner the better so I was sure not to space the meetings out too far.  

       A dinner party sounded like a good time but also a bit intimidating. The last dinner party I went to was with my dolls as a little girl so dinner with such a formal man like Dr. Lecter sounded a little daunting. At least Will would be there, I knew he wasn't big into fancy stuff and wasn't the best in social situations so as long as I minded my manners better then he did I'd be fine.

          

  Spark Notes:

♡Lydia is attacked so Jack asks her to start seeing Hannibal.

♡She is invited to have dinner at Hannibal's

♡It is learned she is fatherless, that she has trained herself to not have a southern accent because it was different to understand, and finally that she is a vegetarian.

[web-spinning]

Same anon as a second ago, just noticed you already did a first kiss with medic lmao. If you don’t wanna write a second one but with that specific scenario could we just get medic confessing to the reader who is his best friend, and also has feelings?

Medic confessing his feelings to a best friend reader.

The little white dove cooed as you ran your fingers down its back. You smiled, leaning deeper into the chair you were sitting on as the bird sat down on your lap. Ludwig had called you here about half an hour ago, but immediately after you entered his lab he fled the scene. Excusing himself that he needs to quickly get something from the common room of the base. Time seemed to run quickly, and you were getting impatient. Why would he want you here if he’s busy? You inhaled. Maybe the logical part of you wanted to leave, but you were a bit too biased about him. You just liked this mad doctor. At times he was a bit reserved of course, but you knew that side of him that was caring and lovely. Well not fully lovely,you could say he tried his best though. 

Lately he’s been a bit more distant. He used work as an excuse for his behavior, but it was hard to believe that. It sounded like he made that up. You knew he didn’t have many missions lately. Something else was bothering him, you just couldn’t figure out what. 

Finally, the lab door opened wide and Ludwig’s figure slowly revealed itself onto the dull light of the room. He closed the door behind himself, and walked over to you. You noticed he wasn’t handling anything. 

- Sorry for keeping you waiting. I couldn’t find it anywhere.-He said, fixing the glasses on his nose. You curiously looked at him. 

- Why would you call me here?- You asked, standing up. The dove flew off your laps, landing on the man’s shoulder. 

The man gulped and shooed the bird away. 

- You might want to sit back down.-He said. You tilted your eyebrows at him,but did as he suggested. 

An awkward silence filled the room for some seconds, before Medic deeply sighed. 

- There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you…- He paused, thinking of what to say next.- It’s a bit odd. I won’t be surprised if you don't like it. 

You just nodded your head as a sign that he can continue. 

- Well I can’t keep it in anymore…I like you. A lot actually.-Ludwig finally admitted. Your jaw dropped for a moment and your eyes went wide. This doctor? This mad man who seemed to have no human feelings? He likes you? 

You stood up from the chair to get a better view of his face. He seemed a bit anxious about the fact your reply was taking so long. 

- Huh, that’s odd cause…-You looked for words, trying to not make it even more scary for both of you.- I guess I like you too. 

His face dropped at first, but then it lightened up. He looked at the ground for a moment, then back at you. 

- Now what?- He asked you. You uncontrollably let out a chuckle. This man, around 40 if not more of age, was asking you how to settle a relationship. That was kinda cute though. 

- Have you ever read Jane Austen? Now the main characters kiss.- You said, earning a lighthearted chuckle from him this time. 

- Very smug, mein lieb.

[ninapi]

○●○●○●○●●○●○●○●○●●○●○●○●○●●

┊┊┊✧ ⁺ ⁺╚══ Bakeneko clan path ╝

Premise: The possibility to save humanity presented itself, but you would have to leave the forest to chase this opportunity, something that could end your life. What you didn’t know was that chasing it would also mean find a love like no other, one that was waiting for you on the other side.

Word Count: 5582

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

Deciding what to do with your remaining time was difficult.

Hinata-kun and his family were as welcoming and sweet as you always imagined a true family to actually be like. Your parents weren’t exactly doting on you, always busy trying to subside in the harsh environment you used to live, so you always admired families that irradiated warmth and love, much like the one you were staying with at the moment.

Instead of going to the north with Tobio, you decided to listen to Hinata for once, “No, (Y/N) stay! Kenma said he will be visiting next week, he has important information about your disease, seems like it’s connected to us in a way, if I can help in any way to get you cured, I will try everything.” clinging onto your arm, he refused to let you go.

“It’s fine (Y/N), listen to the tangerine headed idiot. If his cat friend can’t help you, you can go with me next moon.” In all truth if you could stay a day more with the Tengus you would choose that option, the unknown was somewhat terrifying, specially having to face it partially on your own.

“Ok, let’s wait for him then.” with new resolution Hinata left to send his bakeneko friend a parchment stating you would wait for his arrival and to plead for him to come faster since your condition kept worsening every day.

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

Kenma was able to arrive at the village a couple of days earlier, Tobio had just arrived from his almond picking and refused to leave your side in the presence of the potential predator, he didn’t really trust cats.

“(Y/N), this is my best friend, Kozume Kenma. He is very close to the leader of his clan, he’s the one who has a lead on the disease. Bakayama, get out of the way, he is not going to eat her.” Tobio was now blocking you entirely from view, making you chuckle at his overly protective behavior.

“Thank you for coming, Kozume-san, it’s a pleasure meeting you.” you bowed your head in his direction, startling the bakeneko with your good manners. Humans around him were anything but polite.

“Sure, you can call me Kenma. Like Hinata-kun said, my leader has intel that connects your bird disease with this side of the forest’s curse. He didn’t want to give me more details, saying he would only talk to you, he’s a pain, I apologize in advance.” Kenma deflated on his seat, heaving a deep sigh of disappointment.

You were honestly very intrigued by this clan, they weren’t as mysterious as the foxes, but you had an odd feeling about this. There was an old painting in your house, one of a beautiful cat with two tails, it was said to be your great grandmother’s craft and was kept as heirloom among your family. You were entranced by it since very young, even more so after your mother told you one would kidnap you and make you his bride like they did to your great grandmother if you weren’t careful, it made you believe they were real regardless of the common knowledge.

And here you were now, seeing one with your very own eyes.

Kenma’s cat ears were dark like his roots, a little droopy and seemingly fluffy, his tails matched his hair, one of each color, catching your attention right away and making it really hard for you to concentrate in the actual conversation.

“So, I was thinking we could go to Kuroo tomorrow morning, I’m very tired and I have some things to do around here. Would that work for you?”

“Yeah, sure. Is it too far from here?” your condition was worsening as days went by, you were worried about the journey since it was going out of the forest, that was dangerous for you.

“Not really, our settlement kinda is, but Kuroo’s secret base isn’t, shouldn’t take us more than a couple of hours on foot. I brought some suppressants, this is what we use to hide our tails and ears from humans, I asked around and should help stop your decomposing process at least for a while, just make sure to take one every morning once you’re out of the forest.” he handed you a glass bottle full with little black balls, they smelled terrible it was pretty obvious to you they were made of a heavy blend of herbs and spices, thankfully you just had to take them once a day.

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

Kenma was right, this secret base he mentioned was actually fairly close to your own village, and the medicine he gave you seemed to be working, you still didn’t feel good, but at least you didn’t feel worse. According to Asahi, your body should have started decomposing by now, slowly dragging you to a painful death, but nothing bad seemed to be happening to you, at least not yet.

The secret base was actually just a cottage in the forest. You thought it would be hidden in a cave or under a tree, something crazy like that, it was supposed to be hidden, right? Because it wasn’t. It was actually a cute little cottage very well tended that even had its own little garden with all sorts of herbs planted in it.

You were looking at all the plants in awe when something moving on the background caught your eye. There was someone sleeping on a hammock outside the cottage, a hat was covering his face and the black thing you saw moving was one of his tails falling from the side of it.

“That’s him, (Y/N). He knew we were coming, sorry he’s a bit much sometimes, let me wake him up.” your soft comprehensive smile made Kenma feel better about this whole thing. Others would have left, his disrespectful attitude was the reason why he had to flee from his clan after all, even if he was the leader, but you seemed not to care, you had the patience required to deal with Kuroo, he could leave in peace. “Kuroo, she’s here, get up.” he kicked the hammock with his foot, making him fall with a harsh thud.

“You heartless fuzzy man! Couldn’t you like, I don’t know pat my shoulder? Call out my name? Do you really have to be like this? I thought we were friends!” the man was rubbing his butt, yawning in between words, making you chuckle. He heard Kenma, but hadn’t really register the situation fully until he heard your cute chuckles.

The bakeneko clan is used to humans, for generations now they’ve been living amongst them, some families stayed in the forest, but majority joined the colonies in the human world.

But Kuroo had never seen one like you.

You were staring at them both, without disgust on your face, not even curiosity and they had their ears and tails out in the open. You also seemed to be enjoying their banter, not even their friends wanted to be around them once their bickering started, it was refreshing having someone being interested in their silly behavior for once.

“There she is! The girl of the moment, the diamond in the raw!”

“Oh god, please just shut up…you're embarasing me...” Kenma’s hand was covering his face in shame. He knew this would happen.

“Don’t listen to him, (Y/N). Come, let’s go inside, being out in the sun isn’t good for you. Kenma, you can leave now, I’ll take care of this. Report to me if anything’s out of the ordinary in the colony.” to this he just nodded, turning around and leaving you alone with the strange man you just met. Anxiety was eating you from the inside out now that you were left alone, you thought Hinata’s friend would stay in case you had to go back to the village, you didn’t even know the way back…

“Don’t be nervous, I won’t bite. Unless you want me to that is.” he shot you a little wink before bursting out laughing. He should be trying to ease your nerves, not make them worse.

“Kuroo-san, your friend told me you had more information on the disease, is that true?” you were now sitting beside each other in his cottage, trying your best to forget about your nerves.

“How much do you know about the Tengu curse?”

“I know it was casted by the Eagle clan, that they were thrown to the side of the forest and since then they can’t leave in their true form.”

“Do you know why did that happen?” he wasn’t expecting you to know this much, you could see that in his eyes.

“Their leader was killing humans.”

“Correct. Now, the curse itself it’s more like a magical barrier, the moment they try to leave the forest they turn into their bird form. At the beginning that was all, humans forgot about the massacre and moved on with their lives, but a few of the Tengus left the forest in a way or another, they thought the curse was just the fact they had to remain birds while being outside, but the true purpose of it was for them not to come out at all.” this caused you to gasp, were you responsible for the second wave of the disease? Were all those deaths your fault? Even your own demise?

“When they cross the barrier they bring what we call ‘toxicity’ into the world. It affects us as well, I’ve heard from the weasels they also experienced some symptoms, but it doesn’t kill us, unlike humans.”

“I…I rescued one of them when he fell out of his tree…and took it to my house…are all those people dead because of what I did…?” your hands were trembling, you never expected this to be related to your own bird, you took such good care of him and he never left your house until the day you left for the forest.

Kuroo’s hand rested over one of your knees, offering some sort of comfort.

“No, (Y/N). This isn’t your fault, it’s been going on for a while now, but has been getting worse lately, that’s why so many humans are dying and the birds are being mercilessly killed by them. This must be stopped at once.”

“But how can we stop this?”

“I’m going to meet the current head of the Eagle clan, I want you to come with me as proof. They probably have no idea of what’s going on and they are the only ones that can lift the barrier.” you nodded, determination showing on your face. “I’ll do everything within my power to help you."

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

The leader of the Eagle clan was a busy man, he was popular among the forest clans, envied by many.

He replied to Kuroo’s parchment saying he would visit him instead, humans were not welcomed in his side of the forest and things had been a little tense between them and other smaller clans around the area, he needed to protect their place at the top.

The wait wasn’t as bad, the medicine was really helping, yet Kuroo still didn’t allow you to be in the sun for long periods of time, though you could go into the garden and help him tend his herbs. That’s when you got to learn he’s the one that made your medicine, following an ancient recipe from his clan.

Entranced by the past of his clan you loved hearing him talk about it, and he was always willing to indulge your needs and wants, “So one of the leaders from my clan, a few generations back, fell in love with a human. She saw him in his cat form after being injured; when we are in pain is really difficult for us to make our second tail invisible to humans. So she saw him and took him to her house, nursed him back to health. Turning into our true form outside of the forest requires a lot of energy, so while he was injured he remained in his cat form, until he got better and without trying, he turned back into his real form right before her eyes.” you were immersed in his story, your eyes glued to him as his mellow voice transported you to a different era, funny enough this all seemed familiar to you for some reason.

“And what happened next?” he chuckled at your eagerness, getting comfortable by resting his head on your lap nonchalantly to continue with his story.

The weight of his head, and the warm feeling of his back pressed onto the side of your thigh brought a lovely rosy blush to your beautiful face, thankfully he saw it just in time. “She didn’t reject him, on the contrary, she didn’t let him leave her house until he was completely recovered. It took a while and they ended up falling for one another.”

“So he had to figure out a way to look human all the time to be with her.” he just nodded with his eyes closed.

The story was beautiful but it sounded somewhat unfair, “Couldn’t she have gone with him into the colony? Or are humans not allowed in like in the Eagles one?” this caused him to open his eyes, your words picking his interest.

“No sane human would want to live among yokai cats, as you guys call us.”

“That’s what you think. In my opinion, your ears are pretty cute. Definitely a selling point.” laughing he turned on his side so he could look at your face properly. “Are you flirting with me right now? Because I think you totally are.” you rolled your eyes, giggling at his antics.

“You know, there was a painting of a bakeneko in my house, for the longest time I felt pulled by it. Maybe that’s why I’m comfortable enough with you around, I’ve always seen one of you as part of my family legacy.”

Kuroo’s eyes were wide opened, taking in what you just said, “This bakeneko, how did it look like? The one in the painting…”

Humming in thought you roamed through your memories trying to get back as many details as possible, “Almost completely white, one of his ears and the side of his face was black. Eyes as blue as the sky. Beautiful really. Always wished it was real so we could play together.” the lovely smile gracing your lips was doing things to Kuroo’s heart, he somehow was feeling jealous towards a painting of a dead relative, odd.

“That’s definitely great uncle Tetsusaburo….”

“Tetsusaburo…I’ve heard that name somewhere…is it possible that my great grandmother saw him and was awe struck by his beauty? She used to paint everything she found beautiful.”

“Great uncle Tetsusaburo is the bakeneko of the story I just told you, (Y/N)….” you were now staring at each other in realization.

“So my great grandma is the one that was in love with the bakeneko leader??? I knew there was something entrancing about that painting! I could feel things just by looking at it, it must have been her love plastered in it!”

“This world is so small, it’s ridiculous. But wait, does that mean we are related-?” the alarm in his face was amusing, this was causing severe distress to the poor man.

“I don’t think so, blood has been mixed in the way, there’s two generations in between. Though, I find it fascinating that I’ve crossed paths with one myself. It must be in our blood…”

“You mean falling in love with the bakeneko clan leader? Because if that’s what you mean I must agree with your theory.” his reply caused you both to laugh, you spent all day sharing more stories about your past and your relatives, they weren’t as different from humans, and you weren’t as different from them.

The weeks you had to share with Kuroo waiting for the Eagle clan leader weren’t at all bad.

You both got used to the other, finding an unexpected harmony in the process.

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

You were watering the herbs out in the garden when a very large winged man with an stoic expression came right into the property, followed by a redhead and what seemed like a younger eagle right after. They gave a powerful vibe, almost felt like a military patrol, it was intimidating to say the least.

“Tetsu….!” your strangled call made the fuzzy eared man to run to your aid. The medicine was losing its effect, he was a bit edgy because of that, thinking you would fall sick any time now.

“What is it (Y/N), are you ok?” his eyes landed on Ushijima not until he had made sure you were fine, annoying the youngest member of the crew.

“You disrespectful furry creature! Show your respect, bow to our king!”

“There, there Goshiki-kun. Don’t get on the way, grownups need to talk.” the red headed winged man dragged the youngster out of the way, making the scowling giant to walk towards you.

“I got your parchment, Kuroo. Is this the human you wanted to show me?” Ushijima's stare was so intense it was making you shy, Kuroo gently tugging you behind him in a protective manner.

“Yes, my lovely (Y/N) could die any moment now due to your stupid barrier, can’t you just turn it off or something?” his choice of words made you blush furiously. Things with him have been warming up as days went by, he was funny, gentle, you liked spending your time with him. But he just called you ‘his’…didn’t he?

“What do you mean she’s dying because of the barrier? Is she a Tengu? I don’t see her wings…” he was going around Kuroo, analyzing your body in search of said wings.

“Back off man! Stop looking at her like that or I would be forced to punch you where it hurts…she’s no Tengu, you won’t find wings. That’s the problem, your barrier is leaking toxicity and killing hundreds of humans. Isn’t it time for your clan to forgive them? Not even his grandchildren are alive now…”

You wanted to save humanity but you also wanted to free your beloved friends from the chain they were kept on, “Sawamura-San is indeed a great person, he comes from the same bloodline but he does not resemble the evil tyrant. He takes care of the safety around the village and looks after lost chicks, he is not even in a place of power, the leadership of the village belongs to the Hinata family now.” your voice was soft, determined, a little nervous, but Ushijima could feel your honesty behind said words.

“I’ll see what I can do. Wait for my parchment.”

But before Ushijima could leave, Kuroo grabbed the sleeve of his very complex and expensive looking kimono, making him look back, “WAIT. Please…just wait a second…” his voice was wavering, he sounded worried, defeated even, “She doesn’t have much time left…please…is there anything you can do to help her while we wait…?” he was terrified of losing you, he’s never been this happy in his life, just having you around made his days so much brighter, it was fun to be alive, not even the problems in the colony could ruin his mood lately.

“I shouldn’t be doing magic outside of the forest…but…” he looked at you straight into your soul, your chest felt warmer, your eyes felt cold. A faint golden glow emitted from your body as you floated in the air for a few seconds, you could feel your blood tickling within your veins, the world turned brighter, the colors more intense and suddenly you could even hear the stream running miles away from you.

“I infused her soul with my essence, the toxicity shouldn’t affect her any longer. I’ll see what we can do for the rest.” Kuroo was so relieved that his legs gave in, making him fall knees deep into mud, “Thank you….” Ushijima gave him a short nod, before making his way over to his comrades just to disappear into the sky within seconds.

You made your way over to Kuroo, helping him back up, he held onto your face with both of his hands, looking a little desperate, “How are you feeling? Does anything hurt? Please tell me that soul infusing thing didn’t make you fall in love with him instead….” his outburst made you chuckle, “Not at all, no…my soul had been already compromised even before the eagle infusion.”

The grin on his face was so wide you could swear his face would split in two, his heart was racing, “Compromised, huh? By the handsome leader of the bakeneko clan, right, how could I forget…” his smoldering gaze made you shudder, his face moving closer inch by inch until his lips pressed against yours. Relief and longing pouring into the loving kiss.

“Are you seriously feeling good though? You aren’t as pale anymore.” you nodded, resting your face on his shoulder while looking up at him, “I’m fine, feeling a bit tired but lighter and better, though what if I suddenly start preferring feathers over fluff-?” your teasing look stirred something possessive inside of the clan leader, gathering you in his arms and taking you back into his cottage, “I will have to engrave my essence into you as well then, just to make sure that won’t happen~” his alluring tone of voice was just a little sample of what was to come.

Thankfully you still had a lot of time to kill while the eagle leader figured things out.

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

“Tetsu how did you find this place?” the cottage you’ve been living in was as cozy and warm as a real home, it didn’t look like a secret base it felt more like someone’s actual home. The ceiling was high, there was just one bedroom, the rest was all cramped in the same space. Outside there was a beautiful natural hot spring and the windows were adorably round, ivy growing in the outside. A lovely place to live apart from society.

You were laying in Kuroo’s bed, securely in his arms, his head resting on top of yours, “It’s been in my family for a while, I found the keys to it when I was a kid and have been coming here ever since. I was told it belonged to great uncle, I believe this is where he came to live when his suppressants weren’t working anymore, if you take them every day they make you real sick and that eventually killed him.” you gasped in horror, the tale your mother used to tell you clicking in your head.

“I remember my mother used to say the bakeneko kidnapped my great grandma and made her his bride. Could it be possible this is where they lived?”

“I think so yeah, I do think they had a child together, the first time I came here there were old toys littering the floor.”

“Yeah they had my grandma, ever since, every women in my family only has one daughter, she had my mother and she had me. My father used to say it was a curse placed upon our family by the bakeneko painting, he even tried to burn it asking for my mother to bare a son, but I honestly don’t think it’s a curse, maybe destiny was just waiting for it to repeat itself.” Kuroo was rubbing comforting circles on your naked arm, humming in thought.

“Then that means we are probably having just one daughter, that’s fine with me though, I won’t go cursing my own blood.” he chuckled earning a swat on his idle arm from you.

“What?! After tonight I wouldn’t be surprised if we have a little kitten crawling around in a few months.” you buried your face on his bare chest, cheeks burning at the memories of your fierce rendezvous.

“If it was a curse then we probably just broke it, if it was supposed to bring us together.” it was a silly theory, but it warmed both of your hearts.

“You’re probably right, but you’re so sticky love, it’s distracting. Let’s go take a bath.” he laughed at your horrified expression, quickly bringing you up with him in his arms and walking his butt naked self to the wonders of his natural hot spring bath, gently setting you over his lap as he scooped some warm water with his hand to clean you over, your stickiness was his fault after all.

Relaxing like this felt foreign, you still had to save the village, not everything was done for, but just knowing you shouldn’t be suffering any more symptoms and once the barrier is gone your sickness should go away completely was such a relief.

“Tetsu, why are you running away from your clan?” It’s a question you’ve been meaning to ask for a while but you never had enough courage to do so until this day.

“The elders of my clan wanted us to return to the forest. I disagreed. It wasn’t just me but I am the one that represents our people. We all want to stay in the colonies, it’s were we were born, we’ve made our life there and returning to the forest would be a set back. We had a big fight and I’ve been avoiding them ever since. Kenma keeps me up to date and Yaku takes care of the important matters while I’m gone.” he buried his face on your neck, ashamed of his lack of power to defend his own people.

You threaded your fingers through his bed hair, trying to get him to relax, “Can’t they go back on their own and leave you guys in the colonies? Maybe they just want to return to their own homes and die there.” he never thought of it that way, it made sense and it was a potential solution to the mess he got himself in.

“You’re so diplomatic, you’re making me fall for you harder, you dangerous creature.” he showered your face with messy kisses, making you giggle.

“I am no such thing, I just like to think there’s a way to make everyone happy as long as both parts sacrifice something.”

“Is that why you said it was unfair for uncle Tetsusaburo having to take suppressants for your great grandma?”

You nodded, resting on his chest while playing with the warm water covering your bodies. “They would have been able to live together for longer if she had just gone to the colonies…”

“I love how you’re more in our side than in the human one but to be fair, things were different back then, he probably didn’t want her to go through all the crap the elders would have her go through, the fact that he was wondering around your village also makes me think he was sick of the strict rules and fled just like I did.” It was possible, sadly no one alive back then remained and all you could do was to speculate about the past.

“I do think they were happy while it lasted though. The painting is our family heirloom after all, her most precious possession.”

“Would you….consider coming with me to the colonies once all this is done?” his overly confident self couldn’t be heard in his words, he wanted that more than anything, he was even willing to formally quit to his position as leader and stay in the cottage if that meant you would stay with him, but he knows you well enough to know he had to ask for your opinion first and discuss things through, you were smarter than he was, your resolution beyond praise.

“If that makes you happy I’ll go. But if your happiness is here in this tiny cottage, then I’ll stay here with you. Both sound lovely.” his hold around your waist tightened, his face now burying on your chest, he was grateful, to the damn barrier that made humanity go sick, to Kenma’s friend for contacting him, to his ancestor who built this cottage and seemingly sort of cursed your family, he was grateful for the love he was receiving from you, for the happiness that filled his otherwise desolated heart.

“Let’s go after all this is done and see if you like it first. You’re all it matters to me now, I want you to be happy, comfortable, but most importantly, healthy…” you kissed his head and remained in the water for a bit longer, you knew everything would be fine, home was not a house or a place, as long you stayed together, everything would be just fine.

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

The eagle leader arrived back at your cottage a moon later, this time he came on his own.

“I was able to find a reversion spell, it took a while to find everything I needed to accomplish it, but it has been taken care of. As for the Tengus, we signed a treaty, as long as they respect our rules they can do as they please.” happiness was filling your insides, you were happy for your friends, happy you were able to help those in need even if they weren’t the nicest to you when you lived amongst them.

“How have you been feeling, human? Any changes after the soul infusion? Or after this morning that the toxicity got removed?” you hummed in thought, analyzing your own body.

“I’ve been feeling a lot better, though, lately it’s hard for me to eat, could that be a side effect of the infusion?” Ushijima looked you up and down, taking in the information. Kuroo didn’t like how nosy this man was, why did he always had to look at you like that.

“Not that I know of, according to texts, headaches, nightmares and mild joint pain are the typical symptoms. Let me run a scan.” he was once again staring into your soul, yet this time you didn’t float nor felt anything, just your man radiating annoyance by your side.

“It’s not the toxicity…not the soul infusion either, you’re just pregnant.” your eyes widen at his statement, feeling Kuroo’s grip on your hand.

“HA! What did I say? I just knew it, that night was just way too much.” you stomped on his foot, trying to stop him from sharing more details about your intimacy with the conservative eagle king.

“If there’s nothing else I can do for the creatures of my forest, I will take my leave then. I still advise not to go south into the fox territory though, even if the rest of the clans signed the peace treaty I am not even going to pursue them.” with a curt nod, he flew away at an insane speed.

Kuroo took you back into the cottage, bringing you in his arms to kiss you deeply. He was going to be a father, all thanks to you, something he always dreamt of being.

Even if you were happy, the problem of the foxes kept disturbing your thoughts.

“Tetsu, why is it that everyone hates the fox clan? In the Tengu village the elders feed you poison if you talk about them….”

He was confused by your question, he was over the moon thinking of his child right now, of the lovely family he was building with you, but he would indulge his love whatever the subject might be.

“Well yeah, for them it’s worse than for the rest I guess. We don’t really care about the foxes really, but also don’t interact with them.” bringing you over to the sofa, he made sure you were comfortable placing a pillow behind your back and one under your feet, making you smile.

“The Tengus used to be the leaders of the bird clans, the legend of ‘Sarutahiko Ōkami’ is still told to this day. He was a powerful warrior, loved by the masses. He brought prosperity to his clan, and they were at the top of the chain for many years. But the war against what they call ‘the predators’ came, of course we were on the other side, which is why the bird clans don’t like us very much except maybe the owls, they’re pretty impartial in the matter. The fox leader was an incredibly powerful old lady. Her nine tails made of fire burnt their forces to the ground and Sarutahiko Ōkami died in battle. After that the Tengus were ridiculed by the rest of the bird clans and the Eagles stole their place at the top. Even then I still think feeding poison to those who speak about them it’s pretty intense but the elders of every clan tend to be a pain, always stuck in the past.” you hummed, your hand caressing your still very flat stomach, thinking of your future to come.

“Do you think they’ll accept us?”

“Of course they will, she’s my daughter meaning she will rule over them one day, thankfully by then all those old farts will be dead. Nothing to worry about, my love.” his choice of words made you laugh, leaning over to rest against his warmth.

“Then we should probably start packing. Kenma-San told me your settlement is far from here, we should go soon while I can still walk.” he was unsure, the first months are critical on the baby’s development he preferred to play it safe.

“Nah, let’s wait until we can actually see your bump, that way everyone will know you’re pregnant and will respect you from the start.” questioning him wasn’t an option, he was their leader, he knew them better than you did.

A new adventure was about to begin and more would come after that, there was no doubt about it, next time though will be as a family of three.

○●○●○●○●●○●○●○●○●●○●○●○●○●●

Note: According to my regular standards this should be considered the true ending~ however, next week the second half of the story will start, the mysterious side of the forest. 👀🫶🏻

Previous Chapter Masterlist

[strawbrygashez]

Business Man OC x Postal 4 Dude

Ocean

(OKAY IM NOT PUTTING THIS IN THE TAG YET. I FOUND THIS IN MY DRAFTS AND I WANNA KNOW IF I SHOULD CONTINUE!! LET ME KNOW PLEASE. THIS ISNT DONE !! I FORGOT I WORKED ON THIS)

:D I’ve been thinking about this idea of Dude being with some rich business guy for a while bc,, I think it’s just funny picturing p4 being in this kinda situation!! UHHH and I kinda made up a oc for this so :3 LETS GOOO!!!

————————————————————————

Dude was waiting for any moment now for the view he saw in front of him to slowly fade out of existence, to only wake up in yet again in horrible condition like what happened all those years ago. It didn’t make much sense why he was here. He’d never expected in his whole life that he’d one day end up somewhere as nice or pricy as this. Well, that was a lie. He’d stayed over at whatever crazy places Vince found himself preoccupying before but what was surprising about this time, was the circumstance he was in currently with someone else. Never in Dudes whole life did he think he’d end up being some business man’s arm candy, but here he was, laying on his side in the most comfortable bed he’d ever had the pleasure of laying on in his whole life as he glanced around the different things in the extremely high-end hotel room, still in the trance of being half asleep.

Eventually his tired eyes settled on the view of the beach just right past the large sliding glass doors. It was still way too early in the morning for anyone to be out so he had a pretty clear view of the waves as they swayed.

Calling this a dream come true would be way too cheesy, but even just the flight here alone felt unreal. While Dude would love to act like getting anxious in new settings was a thing of the past, for him, he couldn’t ignore the way he felt barely grounded in reality and odd as he compared himself to everything around him. It felt dreamlike but not in the fairy tale way..but he supposed that’s why he brought his medications. He’d just have to get himself to take them when he got enough energy to actually get up and start his day. For now he just watched the sunlight reflect off the waves, trying to focus on that alone which might have worked a bit too well as he began to zone out even more.

He stayed like that for a good half hour until he felt the person laying behind him shuffle around before they pressed up against his back with their lips pressed against his shoulder. Dude let out a sigh of ease and began to close his eyes.

The man behind Dude reached up to gently move the loose strains of hair out of Dudes face before speaking. “Good morning darlin’.” Dude could tell the other had probably just woken up as well, judging by the sound of his voice. While Dude was glad he had someone to talk to at least now again, he knew that he’d definitely have to get up in a bit for real. The man’s schedule did have him getting up super early in the mornings though he never really did too much. The fucker was basically in a job position where he barely even had to raise a finger due to his dad helping him get the job but for some reason or another, he kept the same early bird schedule going every day.

He was with him most of the damn time since most of the guys free time was being spent having Dude keep him company in different ways often in his office. So he had a pretty good idea of his daily schedule by now. Though this week and the next two would be different since they were in a completely different state for a ‘business meeting’ the man had to attend to and just happened to ask Dude if he wanted to tag along.

Dude only grumbled something the man couldn’t make out in response. The man smiled and placed a hand on Dudes arm, slowly running his hand up and down it. “You alright? You should probably take a bath before we leave for the day. You’re probably sore after last night.” The man said after noticing the bite marks and whatnot that had made a home against Dudes tan skin. ‘Ya think?’ Dude thought to himself. Despite being the generally rougher of the two, Dude found himself being at the receiving end of whatever the man had planned, which wasn’t something Dude was used to really beforehand but he couldn’t find it in himself to complain much. It’s hard to when the other man was surprising skilled when it came down to it and knew exactly how Dude liked being touched..plus the extra help Dude received in his day to day life from him kept him even more so compliant. Somehow the man had enough power to get Dude out of almost any situation he found himself in with just about anyone. He wasn’t even exactly sure how he did it but he rarely questioned it.

“Mm…okay.” Dude groaned before trying to get out of the man’s grasp. “And don’t forget to take your medications. While you’re in the shower I’ll call for room service for breakfast.” The man said, now finally beginning to sit up. Dude nodded as best as he could still half asleep and trying to get up also. As he sat up at the side of the bed for a minute, he rubbed the sides of his head.

“Hmm… also remind me to set you up some yoga classes when we get back. If you want to that is. Maybe it will help those old bones of yours get more limber.” The other joked. Dude rolled his eyes before standing up. “Mhm. Whatever.” The man watched Dude as he took his meds on the beside table for a moment. “If you aren’t feeling well you can stay here while I do the meeting.” He said. “Nah. You said you wanted me to come along..it’s not like I have much of a choice too anyways.” Dude replied with a chuckle once he finished taking his meds. The man’s expression became slightly serious all of the sudden. “Don’t talk like that. You know you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

Dude shrugged, “I meant like..since you took me all the way here with you. I can’t deny something stupid and small like that.”

[josies-not-suicidal-now]

You scroll, you scroll. There's a video titled "Interview with Eleanor Bessermann at Cafe Berio - Berlin (2042)" with 3.2k views, looks interesting enough. It's a tripod shot of two people sat at an old fashioned looking cafe table, like in tumblr memes about slavic men smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee outside in 2° weather. These two are having coffee. The telltale crumbs of a chocolate croissant are noticeable on the small plate towards the right side of the table, yet the pastry itself appears to have already been consumed.

On the left sits a balding man, he appears to have the irrepressible urge to smile. All the skin around his eyes crinkles together behind his thick prescription glasses. He greets the viewer and introduces himself as the creator of some artistic endeavors, and introduces Eleanor Bessermann and thrusts the microphone at her. Her hair is long and pitch black, with a few grey streaks. Suddenly it dawns on her that it's her turn to talk and she frantically takes her hands out of her pockets to lean forward into the microphone, she announces "Hey there, my name is Bread"

The microphone moves lazily between them as they go through some fan submitted questions. The noise of chirping birds and passers by cloud the soundscape and some words get lost here in there. Sometimes they talk over each other and the microphone has to be awkwardly handed back and forth to try and collect everything being said. Some questions are answered with a single quippy fun sentence and Bread looks very pleased with herself. She's beaming, she looks almost amused, like as if everything being said tickles her immensely, and at times she can't stop herself from leaving the short quippy answer by itself. In the questions where a single sentence isn't enough, her descriptions drag on, often times overlapping with themselves. As the explanations drag on her joy even seems to slowly disappear, Like a little nerdy kid becoming uncomfortable in the process of explain their bad joke.

They move on to some questions from the presenter, he asks questions about the process of making art, and Eleanor has lots to say. They trade thoughts back and forth about mediums and messages, textures, and emotions, love, heart, sincerity. Both of them are far too scatterbrained, it's clear, their points feel strung together and abstract, yet not without merit. They speak towards the human condition, yet not about it. Finally they both agree that they don't have anything they can add that wouldn't be a repetition of a point that's already been made, even if there have also been multiple repetitions already, so. The presenter asks the final question "So, any idea what your next book is gonna be about?"

Bread gets so excited about this question that they fail to answer it for a couple moments "Ok, look, so. I've had my penis for 40 years now, and I think I'm done, I think I'm ready for the next thing. And I've always kinda felt that like a core facet of what's wrong with how we as a society look at gender related stuff, is that 1 we see the phallus as a dangerous thing and 2 we see vaginoplasty as a loss, when it's actually clearly more like a transformation. Like the beauty of vaginoplasty is that your genitals fully stay your genitals like it's all the same stuff still, you've just moved it around a little bit so you can have it like you want it. And I think like the fact that we see vaginoplasty as a loss just is so indicative about our fear of the unknown and of change and of uncertainty, like there's so much change, like the whole movie Annihilation is inside a neopussy. So the point that I'm getting at is that, everything is scheduled I am getting myself a vagina, and I'm gonna write a psychedelic mind-bending novel about how cool it was once I'm done with recovery and it's gonna make 1,000,000€ and I'm gonna buy a bunch of pretty girls drinks with that money. Yeah." She laughs at her own joke.

[closedtub104]

What a nice drawing! murder drones

where do i even start. today was one of the weirdest days that i've experienced. first off, very terrified, im very surprised i made it back home alive.

i guess we'll start in the morning. i got up, again having the urge to draw something. but i've (again) already drawn almost everything in the base that's interesting. so i went back outside on my usual spot at the top of a building. it's a pretty tall building too. you got a birds eye view of half of the city and then some. i usually choose some shorter buildings around it for drawing smaller objects.

i remember that i wanted to bring my burrito plushie with me to at least keep me company. so i did that and set off to the building. as usual trying to keep a low profile.

and then. i saw it. i was on the building, looking for things to draw. and they were just sitting there, still as stone

A disassembly drone. and they were just sitting still. it was just too perfect. a part of me wanted to leave because they could spot me. i thought it was too dangerous. but i yet again. stayed out their. busted out my notepad, with tons of random objects that have been drawn across vast amounts of pages. flipped to an empty page, and started drawing.

i believe halfway through he did notice me. but i was too busy trying to perfect the curvature of his tail. it was only then when i looked back up, he was staring at me. right into my soul.

i nearly jumped. but then. i saw my cue to find shelter.

they displayed a wide X across their visor, and hung their jaw low. i tried to find a spot. but the stupid rusty door to the stairwell was jammed. the lock run out, it was too hard to turn. i tried kicking the door. but then.

i saw a shadow. and it was right behind me. i didn't want to turn around. just to see death himself right in front of me. i started to turn around, and lunged for the left side. but i dropped my plushie. i couldn't leave my plushie behind. i don't care if death was right in front of me i wanted to at least bring my stuff back to the base.

i lunged for the plushie. but yet again. i dropped something. and it was my notebook.

"NO!!!" i screamed. the murder drone picked it up. and started looking through it. i tried to hide my face. and then. they got to their drawing. i didn't know what to say or what to do. do i try and grab it? he switched his hand to a pen. he was writing something on an empty page. he tossed the notebook towards me. i hid and tried to find what he wrote. it said "you fine if i keep the drawing? it's really nice."

I was speechless. "y-you want to. keep it?" i stuttered. they nodded their head yes. so i ripped out the page anyways and tried to hand it to them while keeping distance. they then pulled out claws. and thats when i thought i was dead.

but instead of me getting clawed. the clawed open the door. and flew off.

i was terrified, yet left confused. a murder drone that let one survive? but why. why did they let me live. was it because of the drawing. i really hope i got that copied into my memory so i can remember to look out for him. i'm kinda interested. do they have personality? i think they would, because if they didn't they would probably only aim for me and not give a crap about my stuff. who knows. maybe i'll see him again. well until next time.

CT out

[alyjojo]

The Person On Your Mind in September 🫏 2023 - Gemini

Whole of their energy towards Gemini: The Sun

This person is crazy about you, and they’re also working on something for themselves, separately from you. I get they could be younger than you, possibly still a student or going back school, in a way that separates them from you. They could be living with parents or at a distance from you. The challenge between you is they’re focused on what they should be, and you’re trying to pull them away from that, that’s why Selfish comes out in your messages. Your lack of support is causing conflict in them, when you should want what’s best for them, and you, separately. Giving each other space.

They are very happy with you, and definitely feel passion 🥵 for you, that’s a repeated message. Love too. It’s at an Ace, this feels like not much time has been invested in this, but they feel like you light them up like The Sun ☀️ And they try to be fair by you & treat you well, probably talk to you a lot, both the Queen and Page of Swords are here, they like your chatty ways and are turned on by your brain 🧠 Always a good thing with air signs.

Feelings: Ace of Wands

A lot of passion, and they’re trying to make plans for a future with you, maybe dates or “what comes next”. But again, it feels new, and they’re wrapped up in other things right now. 10 Wands rev here feels like “almost done but not quite”, they could have one more year or something to go before the distant future becomes more of a reality. For you, I’m getting you’re on a different page, and though there’s a lot of communication back and forth between you, there’s a major lack in understanding their life & experience, though they try very much to understand yours.

Intentions: 4 Wands

They intend to come home, maybe for a visit, it seems like a short time period but they’re genuine about it and trying to make it happen. Or they don’t have a choice and just have to wait for it to happen. 3 Swords here is some outside thing blocking them, in this case it’s school, parents, money, distance, etc., not a person. They don’t have a choice.

Actions: 5 Pentacles

In actions I get possibly going into debt in order to reunite with you, or you are, borrowing money from family, for you, or leaving a family bonding opportunity when they don’t have much time, just to spend it all with you, like something is wayyy off balance with this. They’re bending over backwards for you and they’re going to end up getting pretty defensive because it’s like you’re “holding them back”. And in some ways, you are 💯 That’s going to have to be more balanced in the future I think if this is going anywhere good. But do they care about you? Big yes 🙌 Do you care about them? I think so, yes?

Messages:

Their side:

- We don’t feel the same way.

- I fantasize about you DAILY

Your side:

- Debt 💸

- I’ve wanted you for a long time.

- Selfish

Possible signs:

Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, Virgo & Pisces

If you’re dealing with:

The Hanged Man shows you waiting in several instances, trying to gain an outside perspective or a bird’s eye view of what’s going on with the people and circumstances around you, so you can decide on what you want to do moving forward. You could be kinda quiet this month, not interacting much at all.

Aries - done with them because they’re a liar, or you are

Taurus - waited to see if things would grow or change, they didn’t, so they’re moving on

Gemini - blocked in life right now and pessimistic about it, losing faith, possible depression…probably could use a friend

Cancer - loves being around you, very happy, and has a huge crush on you, could be this person

Leo - doesn’t know whether to let go or not

Virgo - they have secrets and things they don’t tell you about relating to Lovers 🤨 or you do

Libra - something is falling apart, suddenly or by surprise, and they can’t handle it all

Scorpio - healed from this and already on to the next person

Sagittarius - feels that not talking to you is the right thing, or is justified in why they need a break, could be dealing with stress or sick

Capricorn - not speaking and won’t, could literally have you blocked or vice versa

Aquarius - has very deep & intense feelings they don’t share because the waters would flood your brain, a divine Cups pair with the Queen flipped…it’s not balanced, they could feel you manipulate them, that’s someone else, or switch it

Pisces - focused on business and increasing finances, the practical things, after a worrisome and painful situation, or work is getting better now, you could work together