#time to die again for like. two days and then make another attack against someone else 😭

[romerona]

The Cook and The Teacher!

Let's pretend The Bear and Abbot Elementary are in the same city.

Another cute interaction between Carmen (Carmy) Berzatto x Abbot Teacher Femreader! Sunshinereader!

Trigger warning: Mentions of the asshole Chef David Fields, some angst and anxiety attacks.

It was late—too late.

Carmy barely registered the walk home, his body moving on autopilot, his mind still tangled in the chaos of the night. The cold air bit at his exposed skin, sharp and unforgiving, but he hardly noticed. The city around him murmured in the background—streetlights flickering, cars humming in the distance, the occasional shout from someone leaving a bar. But it all felt muted, distant, like he was hearing it through water. What lingered instead was the crushing weight of the night pressing against his ribs, a dull and relentless pressure that refused to let up.

Dinner service at The Bear had been a disaster. One of those nights where everything that could go wrong, did. The shipment. Late. So late that it threw off the whole prep schedule. Orders were late. Tickets stacked up like a goddamn mountain, looming over him, mocking him. Then, of course, one of the fryers broke mid-rush. The kitchen had been thick with tension, and every sharp movement edged with frustration. Richie and Sydney had gone at it—again—voices rising over the clatter of pans, cutting through the already fraying nerves of the staff.

And Carmy? He could feel himself unravelling. Patience thinning. Jaw tightening. His fingers curling into fists so hard his nails dug into his palms, but there was no outlet, no way to fix it. And then there was the heat. The noise. The pressure of it all, building and building, squeezing in on him until it felt like the walls were closing in, the suffocating knowledge that he should have done more, been better, made it work. No matter how hard he worked, no matter how many hours he gave to The Bear, it was still just a ticking time bomb of mistakes waiting to happen.

By the time he peeled off his clothes, shoving them into a crumpled pile somewhere near the hamper, his body felt disconnected from his brain. Like his limbs weren’t quite his own—like he was floating just outside of himself, watching everything happen from a few steps away.

His muscles ached, the deep kind of exhaustion that settled in his bones, making every movement feel heavier than it should. His head throbbed in dull, rhythmic pulses, the pressure lingering behind his eyes, threatening to split his skull in two. And his skin—Christ, his skin burned. Still clinging to the heat of the kitchen, to the suffocating weight of the night, to the stench of grease and smoke that no amount of showers ever seemed to fully wash away. It was embedded in him, stitched into his fibers.

And yet, still, he couldn't stop.

His feet carried him toward the kitchen before he even registered the movement, muscle memory taking over where his brain had given up. His fingers found the knob on the stove, twisting it with a practised flick until the flame flared to life, a small but immediate comfort.

A pan. Some oil.

Something simple. Something controllable.

He should be asleep. He knew that. His body screamed for it, his eyes burned from the strain of the day, his hands still bore the small nicks and cuts from rushed knife work. But sleep meant stopping. Stopping meant sitting in silence, letting the weight of the night press down on him again.

And if he let that happen—if he let himself sit in the quiet too long—he knew what would come creeping in.

The doubts. The failures. The voice of the fucking asshole, even now, echoing in his head. You’re too slow. You’re too careless. You’re not enough. You should fucking die.

He cracked the egg, let it hit the pan, and barely noticed the sizzle. His eyes weren’t on the stovetop. They were somewhere else. Somewhere he couldn’t claw his way out of.

His thoughts swirled, a chaotic loop that refused to quiet down. Back to the heat, the noise, the impossible weight pressing against his chest like a tightening vice. He rubbed a hand over his face, fingers pressing hard against his eyes like he could physically wipe the memories away. Exhaled sharply. Tried to shake it off.

Too slow. Too much. Not enough.

His breath came a little too fast, his jaw clenching so tight it ached. Carmy barely noticed the first tendril of smoke curling through the air.

For a second, it didn’t compute.

His eyes followed the lazy drift of grey, sluggish, delayed, like his brain was still playing catch-up. Then— Shit.

The oil. The heat. The flames licking up the edge of the pan. The Déjà vu.

His body moved before his brain fully caught up. Fast. Sharp. Instinct taking over where exhaustion failed him. His hand shot out, killing the burner, while his other grabbed the lid, slamming it down over the flames before they had a chance to spread.

His pulse hammered in his ears. It was small—controlled—just a second of distraction. For a second, he just stood there, staring at the smothered pan, the burnt remnants inside. The acrid smell clung to him, to the walls, to everything. Embedded, like everything else.

Too much.

His feet moved before his brain could process it. He shoved open the door, barely feeling the cool brass of the handle beneath his fingers, stepping outside onto the hallway. The air hit him sharp, cold against his overheated skin. He inhaled deep, sucking in the crispness, trying to force his heartbeat to slow the fuck down.

Ground yourself. Breathe. Breathe.

But it wasn’t working.

Because the moment he lifted his head, he saw you. You were standing in the hallway, just a few feet away. Still. Watching him.

And you knew.

It was written all over your face. The way your brows pulled together, the way your lips parted like you were about to say something but hadn’t yet figured out how.

“Carmy, you okay?” Your voice was too soft—too careful—but somehow, it still cut through him like a blade.

His breath hitched, his pulse still too fast, too erratic, his body caught between the past five minutes and right now. He should say something. Smooth this over. Make it disappear before it became a thing.

“Was nothin’,” he muttered, shaking his head quickly. His voice came out hoarse, frayed at the edges. “Just—just got distracted.”

But you didn’t look convinced.

Your gaze dropped to his hands. The ones still trembling, even as he tried to disguise it, rubbing them against the fabric of his hoodie like that would erase the evidence. You stepped closer, slow, cautious, and it made his skin prickle.

“It doesn’t look fine. And that’s not what I asked,” you murmured, your tone even. Not accusing. Not pushing. Just… knowing.

And fuck, why?

Why did you have to look at him like that? Why did it feel like you were peeling him open with just a look?

Like you could see whatever was wrong, the way it clung to him, the way it seeped into his bones, wrapped around his ribs like a vice.

Why the fuck did you care?

His jaw tightened as he exhaled sharply, rubbing a hand over his face. His skin felt too tight, his thoughts too loud. His heart was still racing, his breath coming in short, shallow pulls, and the way you were looking at him—it made it worse. Annoyance flickered up, hot and sharp.

“Well, it is, alright,” he bit out, voice low, clipped.

You didn’t flinch. Didn’t step back.

Your eyes held him there. Concerned, not pitying. And for some reason, that made it worse. “What’s going on?”

Your voice was gentle, but he still felt like it pressed against something raw in him. He swallowed again, the motion tight, too quick. His shoulders tensed. Like a cornered animal.

“Fucking nothin', alright?” His voice snapped—not loud, but sharp. A warning. “Just got fucking distracted.”

There was a bite to it. A finality. A 'don’t push it'. But you didn’t look away. He could feel his pulse in his throat, the weight of the night crashing down again.

“Left something on the stove too long.” His fingers twitched, restless. “It’s fucking fine, just—” He gestured vaguely toward your apartment, his frustration turning in on itself. “Just go back to your house.”

He didn’t mean for it to sound harsh. But it did.

Your expression barely flickered, but he saw the way your brows knitted together for a fraction of a second, the way you took in his words, measured them, and decided not to take the bait.

Carmy knew what he was doing. Knew the sharpness in his voice, the edge he was putting there—not to hurt you, not really. Just to push you away, to create space where there was none, to stop you from seeing too much. From seeing him like this.

But you just stood there, calm, unwavering, like you had all the time in the world for him to burn himself out. You took another step closer, slow and deliberate, your gaze never leaving his face.

“Okay,” you said simply, shrugging. “Fine.”

That threw him off. He expected pushback, expected you to demand answers or call him out. Instead, you just… accepted his words. His anger fizzled out slightly, like a match burning out too fast.

You shifted your weight, crossing your arms. “But if it’s fine, then you won’t mind standing here for a second and breathing with me.”

His brows furrowed. “What?”

You gave him that look, the one that was patient but somehow immovable. “I’m not asking you to explain. I’m not even asking you to talk. Just... breathe with me.”

Then, carefully, you reached out—not touching, not forcing, just holding a hand palm-up between you. Not a demand. A choice.

“Just once. If it doesn’t help, I’ll go inside, and you can keep pretending you’re fine,” you said, your tone gentle but sure.

A muscle in his jaw ticked. He hated this. Hated being seen like this. Hated the way you were giving him an out but also making it real fucking hard to take it.

His gaze flickered to your hand. Just sitting there, open, steady, waiting.

Like an idiot, he took it.

It wasn’t much at first. His grip was tight, rigid. Like he was bracing for impact. But you didn’t squeeze or try to pull him closer. You just held it. Let him be shaky. Let his fingers flex, then tighten, then relax—like an anchor, like something solid in the mess of his own mind.

Carmy clenched his jaw. He should tell you to go, to drop it, to just—leave him alone. But then you inhaled, slow and deep, through your nose. And for some fucking reason, he did it too.

Not perfectly. Not steady. But he tried.

“Good,” you murmured, nodding. “Now out.”

He exhaled, shakier than he wanted it to be, his fingers twitching again. You stayed quiet for a moment, watching him, letting the air settle between you.

You shifted slightly, tilting your head. “Again.”

He hesitated but did as you said. In through his nose. Out through his mouth. One breath at a time.

Until the world wasn’t pressing against his ribs like a vice. Until the knots in his stomach weren’t so fucking tight. Until his hand—still in yours—wasn’t trembling anymore.

Finally, finally, his shoulders dropped a fraction, and you let out a small exhale, like there you are.

“See? Now it’s fine,” you said, voice lighter, teasing but not pushing. “Knew I could get you to listen.”

Carmy let out a quiet, shaky huff—half a laugh, half an exhale. “Didn’t say it helped.”

You smirked, tilting your head. “But you’re not telling me to leave anymore.”

“Guess not.”

You let go of his hand—easing the connection rather than dropping it. Still, he can't help but flex it, missing the warmth, the feeling.

Carmy exhaled again, slower this time. His jaw was still tight, but the sharp edge of his frustration had dulled, faded into something closer to exhaustion. He ran a hand over his face, rubbing at his temple. “I'm sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“I know,” you interrupted softly.

That threw him off balance more than before. You weren’t asking for an explanation, weren’t searching for answers, weren’t waiting for him to fix himself before you’d stand there with him.

You just were. And for some reason, that made something in his chest pull tight.

Your smile softened, and you nudged his foot lightly with yours, the touch grounding, casual—like you weren’t standing there peeling back every layer of him without even trying. “You don’t have to say anything, Carmy. Just… let me be here, alright?”

Carmy’s chest rose and fell in a slow, measured breath. His fingers twitched, he wanted to reach you again but instead he let them fall, finally relaxing.

His gaze drifted over you then—really seeing you for the first time tonight.

The colourful oversized pajamas, a mismatched set that somehow made sense on you made you look impossibly comfortable. The messy bed head, strands sticking up in odd directions like you’d been in too much of a hurry to smooth them down. The thick glasses perched on your nose, slightly crooked, like you’d shoved them on without thinking.

And yet, none of it diminished you.

No, you were still—God, you were just so...

Soft in a way that didn’t feel fragile. Kind in a way that didn’t feel forced. For someone who should’ve looked a little ridiculous standing in the dim hallway at nearly midnight, dressed like a walking fever dream, you were still—

Still just you. Still perfect.

Not in the unattainable, polished way that made people feel like they had to measure up. No, you were real. Warm. The kind of presence that pulled people in without trying. Like someone who didn’t need him to be anything other than exactly what he was in this moment—messy, frayed, a little burnt at the edges.

His throat worked as he swallowed, the words forming but never making it past his lips. Instead, he just nodded once, short and barely there. But you caught it, you always did.

You smiled a quiet understanding passing between you and tilted your head toward your apartment. “Come inside. Just for a bit.”

Carmy hesitated, shifting his weight like he was already halfway out the door. “Nah, you really should go back to sleep. You, uh—you got to teach tomorrow, right?”

You scoffed, shaking your head with an amused little huff. “Please, I wasn’t asleep. I was on my Kindle, making poor life choices about just one more chapter.”

That made him glance at you, brow twitching slightly upward. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” you said, waving a hand. “I sleep late all the time. Bad habit. I’m a terrible role model for my students. Preaching good sleep schedules by day, sabotaging my own by night. Not my proudest contradiction, but hey, I make it work.”

He pressed his lips together, unsure. He’d already taken up too much of your time, already made too much of a mess of himself in front of you. But before he could find another excuse to disappear, you tilted your head toward your apartment, eyes glinting mischievously.

“Tell you what—I’ll sweeten the deal." you said, "Come inside, and I’ll make you pancakes or something.”

His brows furrowed, but there was amusement flickering in his tired eyes. “You’re bribing me with pancakes?”

“I’m persuading you with pancakes,” you corrected, crossing your arms. “Big difference. One’s morally questionable, the other is just good business.”

He exhaled a small laugh, shaking his head as he glanced past you toward your open door. The warmth of your apartment, the contrast of soft, golden light against the dim hallway, was enough to make him hesitate just a little longer.

You sighed dramatically, tipping your head back. “Fine. I see how it is. You don’t want pancakes. You don’t want warmth. You don’t want the chance to experience my culinary prowess, which, by the way, is heavily dependent on boxed mix and sheer confidence.”

Carmy exhaled another small laugh, “That supposed to convince me?”

“I don’t know,” you mused, tilting your head. “Is it working?”

He hesitated, then glanced at you, eyes flickering between your expression and the soft glow of your apartment.

He huffed a quiet laugh, rubbing a hand over his face before looking at you again. “You even got syrup?”

You gasped, clutching your chest dramatically. “How dare you. Of course, I have syrup. And not just any syrup. The good syrup. The expensive kind that makes my pockets cry.”

He looked back at the open door, at the warmth, then at you—waiting, expectant, patient.

“…Alright,” he muttered finally, turning off his light and closing his door . “Just for a bit.”

Your grin widened as you stepped aside. “Good call. I was prepared to escalate to full puppy-dog eyes if needed.”

Carmy hesitated in your doorway, eyes flicking between the warm glow of your apartment and the quiet comfort of your presence. The offer was simple—pancakes, syrup, a brief reprieve from his own mind.

And for a second, just a second, it felt familiar.

Too familiar.

His chest tightened. He didn’t mean to think about Mikey, but the memory crept in any way—uninvited and unavoidable.

He wasn’t sure when he noticed it, that pull you had. The way you could turn a moment weightless without even trying. It was something about the way you carried yourself—unapologetically bright, effortlessly magnetic, like the room revolved around you but you never let it go to your head.

Mikey had been like that.

Carmy swallowed, rubbing the back of his neck as he leaned against the counter, watching you move around the kitchen, talking about some ridiculous pancake technique like it was revolutionary. Like this was normal. Like he wasn’t just outside five minutes ago trying to claw his way out of his own head.

Mikey used to drag him into things, into late-night runs for shitty gas station snacks, into arguments about what actually made a perfect sandwich, into moments that felt like they meant nothing at the time but everything in hindsight

And now here you were, doing the same thing.

Pulling him out of his own head. Out of the spiral. Out of the weight of it all.

You didn’t even realize it, did you?

Carmy never thought he’d meet someone else like that. Didn’t think he deserved to.

But here you were.

Different, but the same in all the ways that mattered. You lit up a room without trying, turned things that should’ve felt heavy into something bearable.

“Alright, Chef,” you teased, flicking a bit of flour off your fingers, breaking out of his thoughts. “You wanna help, or are you just gonna sit there looking pretty?”

Carmy scoffed, rolling his eyes, but there was no real bite behind it.

“Jesus Christ,” he muttered, but his hands were already reaching for the whisk.

Mikey would’ve loved you.

A/N: Helloooooo. How is everyone!?? Okay first I want to thank you all for the support, for those likes, comments and shares ❤️ I still can’t believe the love for this fic. Thank you so muchhh.

And second of all I hope you enjoyed this one, I am personally not sure about it. It feels like it needs that je ne sais quoi factor… hopefully I'll have a good one for Valentine’s Day 🫶🩷

Be safe out there 🫶 Tell me if you would like to get tagged.

Tags:

@hiitsmebbygrl16 @urthem00n @svzwriting29 @tyferbebe @akornsworld @khxna @ruthyalva96 @beingalive1 @darkestbeforethedawn16 @turtle-cant-communicate spideybv28 veryberryjelly @daisy-the-quake leilanixx softpia cosmix-stxrs the-disaster-in-waiting memoriesat30 emerald-jade1 sabrina-carpenter-stan-account ateliefloresdaprimavera

[cricket-reader]

Lilacs On Her Lips

Masterlist | A03 | Wattpad | Recommendations | Inbox | Taglist

summary: You didn't mean to fall in love with her. Truly, you never meant for it to go this far. But as the lilacs begin to overtake your lungs, one thing is clear: Natasha Romanoff will be the death of you. Because you'd rather die suffocating on something as sweet as her love than ever forget what it meant to love her.

warnings: hanahaki disease, internalised homophobia, near-death, blood, infidelity, toxic boyfriend, female reader (she/her pronouns)

word count: 3,844

A/N: prompt fill for day 4 for @juneofdoom | "It's really not that big of a deal" | Denial

{Read on A03} | what i’m listening to

I love him.

At least, that’s what I tell myself.

It’s easy to pretend when I’m pressed against my boyfriend’s side, his arm heavy around my shoulders—too tight, too stifling. It’s easy when he’s kissing me—too forceful, too eager; I tell myself that I don’t hate it—I just need to get used to it, that’s all. It’s easy when he lets his gaze wander, and I have to pretend I don’t notice. It’s easy when I see Natasha across the room, laughing with someone else, with her lips on someone else—just a reminder that I will never be on the receiving end of such affection.

I am happy with my boyfriend. He’s the good choice—the expected choice. The kind of man I am supposed to want—all broad-shouldered, confident and charming.

So I can ignore the knots that grow in my stomach every time his eyes turn hungry and dark, I can ignore the prickling of my skin when his hands wander too far, I can ignore the dread that suffocates me every time that we’re alone.

I love him, and he loves me.

It doesn’t matter how heavy my lungs feel when I see Natasha slip into her room with someone else—choking on jealousy as I force myself to follow my boyfriend into bed. Everything is as it should be.

The first time I cough up a petal, I stare at it for what feels like hours. Breath hitching in my throat, I run my fingers over the silken purple petal. I don’t need to be told who it is for. Deep down in my heart, I know there’s only one person who could evoke this kind of suffering. It doesn’t stop me, however, from trying to deny it. I clench my hand around the delicate object, crumpling the petal beyond repair. As if destroying the evidence could destroy the feelings taking root inside of me.

I swallow down the rising panic and tell myself it’s just a mistake.

I have a boyfriend that I love. A boyfriend who loves me.

It should be enough—it has to be enough.

Stuffing the petal deep into my pocket, I tell myself that I will get over it. I don’t love Natasha. We’re friends, and that’s all we will ever be—all we ever should be.

It seems, however, that my body doesn’t get the memo.

Soon one petal becomes two, becomes three and so on and so forth. I stuff them in my pockets, in tissues I discreetly throw away, in cloths or towels that find their way into trash bins before anyone can notice. I excuse myself when Natasha brushes against me, when her touch lingers too long, when the warmth of her presence makes my chest tighten, vines wrapping around my lungs.

I hold it down, swallow it back. Until I can’t.

The petals come in fits now—sudden, ruthless attacks that wrack my body with horrifying coughing spells. Tears burn in my eyes as I hack up another mouthful of lilacs, my body trembling violently. It’s becoming harder and harder to keep it from the team—my boyfriend doesn’t notice. He never notices anything, too wrapped up in himself to bother.

I barely make it to the bathroom in time, collapsing against the porcelain bowl as my body expels the evidence of my own denial. I’d gotten too close to Natasha, letting the redhead lean her head on my shoulder during the team’s biweekly movie night (my boyfriend had come up with a lousy excuse to miss it once again). It was almost as if I was trying to prolong my own suffering (the team always did say I lacked self-preservation instincts).

I flush the petals away. Watching them spin in the water, delicate even as they violently swirl away. I swish tap water through my mouth in an attempt to expel the sickening taste of lilacs from my tongue.

But it lingers even still.

It’s always there nowadays. Nothing I do will get rid of that sickeningly sweet taste.

No matter how much I tell myself that I don’t love Natasha—

My body knows the truth.

I love Natasha, and Natasha doesn’t love me back.

Sometimes, when we’re alone—late night hot chocolate simmering over the stove, I can convince myself that maybe Natasha does feel something for me. Maybe it’s only friendship—perhaps it's merely lust or curiosity. Whatever it is, it isn’t love; it won’t save me.

I sip the burning liquid to combat the flowers crawling up my throat. Listen absently as Natasha’s gravelly, sleepy voice lulls in the quiet of the kitchen. Let myself fantasise that this is what it would be like if I were Natasha’s lover. No more cold nights alone, wondering where my partner is. No more stilted conversations, needing to fill the empty space with nothing but noise. No more pretending I don’t feel hollow when being kissed, kisses that are more out of obligation than desire.

I shouldn’t want this—shouldn’t want her, but really, when have I ever been normal? All my life, I’ve tried to fit into that cookie-cutter mould, tried to be the person that everyone wants to see—never offensive, never different, never difficult. I wonder if the plant growing inside me is the universe’s way of telling me that I had failed. Had I been doomed from the start? Destined to be a spectacle even with my last dying breath. Destined to be different—to have that imperfection rooted deep within me as proof of that.

For all that I would never fault another, I can’t help the self-hatred that clouds my mind like a grey overcast. Inexplicably, I am the only one on the receiving end of my prejudices. Shame curls around my heart in iron-hot tendrils. The thought of anyone knowing the truth sends spiders crawling up my body.

And so I hide.

I put on an artistically crafted mask, something to hide my greatest shame, and I hope that no one will see through it. I play the part of the loving girlfriend to a man I hold no feelings towards, but perhaps resentment. I hold steadfast to my facade, never wavering despite the fact that it’s killing me.

No one can know.

I wake to a cold, empty bed.

It’s no different than any other morning, yet the smell of his sweat, the burn of his lingering touches makes my stomach twist. I long for cinnamon and sandalwood, yearn for lithe fingers and red hair, wish for lazy mornings spent kissing and snuggling.

Jolting upright, I hack a mouthful of blood-stained lilacs onto my lap. I stare at the blood staining the gorgeous petals and white sheets, my heart sinking. My time is running out. Soon I’ll be nothing but a memory—the girl who died suffocating on her love. I wonder if Natasha will care.

Tears roll down my face as the loneliness sets in. For so long, I’ve been hiding. I wish someone was there to wrap me up in a hug, to tell me everything is going to be okay, even if the words are nothing but an empty platitude. Instead of cleaning up the petals, instead of soaking the sheets before the blood has time to set into the fibres, I curl up under the sheets. Tears stain the pillowcase as I wallow away in solitude. Why would anyone miss someone like me? Why would anyone care?

I awaken to a crash, my eyes sore and nose clogged. Someone says my name, but I just want to go back to sleep. I could sleep for a century, and it wouldn’t be enough. Pulling the sheets over my head, I pray that whoever it is will leave me to die in peace.

“Jesus Christ.” The voice is closer now. Groaning as the sheets are yanked down, I glare at the offender with red-rimmed eyes.

Clint stares back at me, eyebrows furrowed and mouth downturned. “Who is it?” He asks, raising a gentle hand to push away the hair sticking to my face.

“Doesn’t matter,” I say. “They obviously don’t feel the same.”

Clint makes a wounded sound in the back of his throat as I hack up full blooms, sticky blood matting them down. He runs to the en-suite bathroom and returns with a damp rag. He kneels at my side, taking my face into his hands. “Have you thought about the surgery?” Clint asks as he wipes the blood from my face.

“No surgery,” I say, heart constricting at the mere thought of losing my Natasha. Clint just sighs, resigned—as if he knew that would be my response.

“What is taking you so lo-” Natasha’s voice cuts through the silence.

Throat constricting, I cover my mouth in a last-ditch attempt to hide what can’t be hidden. Without a moment’s hesitation, the redhead is at my side, eyes alight with fury as she takes in the massacre of flowers before her.

“Who is it? Tell me who it is,” Natasha says, voice sharp. “Is it that piece of shit you call a boyfriend? I’ll kill him!”

“Stop, Nat,” I choke on my words. “I’m fine. It’s really not that big of a deal”

“Not that—Not that big of a deal?” Natasha splutters. “You’re dying! You’re dying and you didn’t say anything! You… were you ever going to tell me?”

My heart constricts in my chest as I take in the tears forming in Natasha’s eyes. The tears I put there. It’s not Natasha’s fault that she doesn’t love me, it’s not her fault that I had to grow feelings for someone so unattainable.

“I didn’t want to upset you,” I confess, tears forming in my eyes. “I didn’t want to upset anyone.”

“You idiot,” Natasha scolds, her hand brushing against my clammy forehead. “Я не могу жить без тебя.”

“You know… You still haven’t taught me Russian,” I say before coughing up another bout of lilac blooms. It was one of those things we talked about over hot chocolate late one night—one of those things we just never got around to.

Clint furrows his brows as I stifle another round of lilacs from erupting onto the sheets. His eyes dart between Natasha and me, calculating—as if he knows—no he can’t, no one can know. He raises a brow at me, a silent question hanging from his lips. I cut it off with a sharp glare.

“I think I’ll leave you two alone,” says Clint as he pushes himself up from the bed. A look passes between him and Natasha that I can’t even begin to comprehend—their bond so long-formed that their thoughts have practically become one.

Natasha’s face twists up as he leaves the room, eyes shut tight. When she opens them, Natasha fixes her eyes to the dying woman before her, two bright emeralds shining with grief. Warm hands wrap around cold hands, holding tight as if that alone would keep me weighted to this world.

“Я не могу жить без тебя.” Natasha says, voice wobbling through every syllable. It’s almost terrifying, seeing the world’s most composed, strong woman being brought to her knees. “It means: I can’t live without you.”

My heart stutters in my chest. I’m not foolish enough to believe those words hold any more weight than that of a dear friend, yet the way Natasha says it…

“I’m sorry,” I murmur, for lack of anything better to say. I’m sorry for falling in love with my best friend. Sorry for putting her through the pain of losing yet another person she cares for. Sorry for not getting over the juvenile feelings that plagued me from day one.

“Whoever it is… they are a fool,” Natasha declares, that sweet furrow settling in between her brows.

“I am the fool,” I mutter, eyes lowering to our entwined hands. “For falling for someone who deserves so much better.”

Natasha’s eyes light up with a familiar spark of fury. “Don’t say that.”

“Nat… I never deserved this person’s affection. I was fooling myself for ever believing that I had a chance. I’d only drag her down.”

Natasha freezes. “Her?”

My heart stops in my chest, cold dread seeping through my blood. The secret is out. Grimacing, I say, “Yes. Her.”

“You… you like girls?”

Mortification curls deep within my soul. “Don’t tell anyone,” I plead, eyes brimming with shameful tears.

“Why not?” Natasha questions.

“I’m not… I shouldn’t… I can’t…” I can’t even finish my sentence without a burst of lilacs erupting from my lungs. They expel onto the stained bedding, adding to the disarray of bloodied flowers scattered around me.

“Shhh, shh, it’s okay, just calm down,” Natasha coos, pushing back the hair in my face. More flowers follow, crawling up my trachea and tearing up my throat. Tears burn in my eyes with the force of the flowers. I gasp for breath as Natasha kisses my hand, tears streaming down her lovely face.

“Please,” Natasha sobs, cradling my hand as if it’s something precious—as if I were something precious.

“Hold me?” I choke out, as the lilacs fill my lungs to the brim. I could die happy in the arms of my love, surrounded by her warmth and comfort. If the request is nothing but a selfish wish, something that will only hasten the flowers growing inside me, I would never say.

Natasha complies, her entire body trembling with the force of her sobs. She places a kiss to my forehead, murmuring in unintelligible Russian, words broken up by the shock of emotion welling up inside her.

“I love you,” Natasha cries, holding on for dear life. “Don’t leave me, please.”

I splutter on a cough at the words, heart working overtime. “Don’t say that,” I croak, voice thoroughly destroyed by the blooms. “Don’t.”

“I know it’s not a good time,” Natasha says, her hand weaving through messy tresses. “But I love you.”

“No, you don’t,” I protest, heart ripping to shreds. Not in the way I need you to.

“Yes, I do,” Natasha insists. Mourning the heat as Natasha pulls away, I try to crawl back into those loving arms, only to be held off. I stare into those green eyes, burning with such passion. “I’ve loved you for so long, Милая—darling.”

I shake my head, thoughts spinning out of control. My world tilts on its axis as Natasha murmurs to herself: “Why couldn’t it have been me?”

“What?” I question, convinced I hadn’t heard the redhead correctly. Certainly… certainly it cannot be so…

“I know I’m being selfish,” Natasha admits, “but if it were me… if it were me, you wouldn’t be… you wouldn’t…”

“You love me?” Words whispered so quietly, as if afraid to break the illusion.

“Of course, I love you!” Natasha says it as easy as if she were stating the weather. “I meant it when I said I couldn’t live without you. You are everything to me.”

“But… those other women…”

Natasha sighs, mouth pulling into a deep frown. “They were a poor attempt at distracting myself. You were already dating someone else, and no matter how much I wanted to murder him, Clint always talked me down.”

“You love me,” I repeat, disbelief coursing through my veins. All this time…

“Yes.” She furrows her brows. “We’ve already established that. It doesn’t matter, though. Tell me who these flowers are for, please. I can… I can make them-”

“Natasha…”

“Let me help-”

“Natasha!”

“What?” Natasha shouts, chest rising rapidly.

“They’re for you.” The words hang heavy in the air, almost as suffocating as the lilac bush inside my lungs. Natasha just stares, dumbfounded. Her intelligent eyes trace over my features, then to the blooms surrounding us both, then back to my face.

“They’re for me?” Natasha breathes out, her face pinched up. “But I love you.”

“I didn’t know that.”

Natasha flinches as if physically struck, her face contorting into the most pained expression I’d ever seen. “Why wouldn’t you tell me? You were dying because of me, and you didn’t say anything! How could you be so… so… so stupid?”

I open my mouth to retaliate, but stop as soon as I feel the roots inside me tear out of their iron-tight grip on the lining of my lungs. Screaming in anguish, I clutch my chest. Natasha is at my side immediately, a warm presence in the most agonising experience of my life. Her words are drowned beneath ear-splitting cries as flowers pour from my lips. The blood-stained lilacs join my pathetic arrangement, each bloom more painful than the last until, finally, the most excruciating thing crawls up my trachea, thick and hard, scratching at my throat as it expels from my body.

I stare down at the roots of my love, now sitting in my lap. A physical manifestation of my hidden desire for that which I shouldn’t. The room is silent, tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.

I look at the object of my desire, her eyes rimmed red, and the stains from her tears left behind on her cheeks. Even in this moment, she sparks the desire I’ve been tamping down, trying to suffocate it before it grew to this. And yet, in this moment, there is nothing more I yearn for than to kiss her—to taste those chapped lips, to feel her body pressed against mine, so warm, so soothing.

Against my better judgement, throwing all rationale to the side, I lean in. Slowly, so as to give Natasha ample time to pull away, to reject me if she so pleases. But she doesn’t. Her eyes bore into mine as she met me in the middle, tears still on the precipice of falling.

I close my eyes as our lips meet, suppressing the bodily shudder that tries to overtake me as I feel those warm lips move against mine. Never in my wildest imaginings would I have ever believed that Natasha would kiss me like this. So soft, so sensual, every bit as sweet as she is. Treating it as the most precious moment, treating me as the most important thing in her life. Every moment so tender, the care behind her lips more than I’ve ever even dared hope for in my lifetime.

Natasha pulls away first, and I open my eyes to see the wet streams of tears flowing down her face. “You taste like lilacs,” Natasha says, her eyes darting to the flowers strewn about the bed.

She sniffs once, wiping the tears from her face. “I’m still mad at you,” she says, voice still a bit unsteady from the overwhelming emotions of almost losing me.

“I’m sorry,” I say because I truly am.

“You could’ve died. You almost died because you didn’t tell me that you loved me.”

“You never said that you loved me either,” I counter, squirming at the way her eyes pin me.

“You were in a relationship,” Natasha protests.

“You were in multiple relationships.” A low blow, sure, but nonetheless true.

Natasha glares at me. “They meant nothing to me.”

“They meant something to me.”

Silence encapsulates the room.

Then, “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“I think we both messed up.” I sigh. “I… I’m not that comfortable with this kind of thing.”

Natasha raises a brow at me. “What do you mean?”

My face heats under her calculating eyes. “I don’t… I’m not comfortable with people knowing that I’m… that I like women.”

Natasha frowns at that, and for a second, I think that it’s over. No one would want to help pick up the shattered pieces of my self-esteem. Not even the most patient person could put up with such a thing. If I can’t love myself for who I am, who am I to expect someone else to? I couldn’t possibly ask Natasha to stay with me though I feel shame for our relationship.

“Why not?” Natasha asks.

“I don’t know.” For honesty is the best policy. It’s better for her to know that I won’t be an easy fix. That this insecurity runs as deep as the dark cave I buried my truth in.

“But you still want to be in a relationship with me?” Natasha questions, voice teetering on the verge of sounding hopeful.

“Of course,” I say, “I just don’t want you to be upset that I want to keep it private.”

“I don’t care,” Natasha insists, stubborn as always.

“Maybe not at the moment, but you will.” They always do. Not that I could ever fault them when their own girlfriend doesn’t want to even hold their hand in public.

Natasha narrows her eyes at me, taking in the certainty of my statement. “Comparing me to anyone else wouldn’t be fair.”

I swallow down the urge to berate her for being so observant. “You’re telling me that you don’t care if I’m not comfortable holding your hand in public? That you don’t mind us not showing up to events as a couple? That it might take years for me to ever be ready for even the idea of telling the team? That it’ll take even longer for me to be comfortable with the idea of marriage?”

Natasha smiles at my rant, only furthering my rapidly beating heart. “I love you. I don’t care how slow we take this. I just want you.”

“That’s not…” I trail off, unable to form a single coherent thought. That’s not what was supposed to happen. She was supposed to realise how much work I was—how loving me was a feat impossible to overcome.

“What about my boyfriend?” I gasp. “I kissed you while we were still-”

“He’s done more than that with others,” Natasha interrupts, voice downright murderous. “Don’t you dare feel bad about that. He’s a piece of shit.”

“He’s not that bad,” I feel obligated to say.

“I would murder him without a second’s hesitation.”

“Nat!” I scold, hitting her arm. Natasha grabs my hand, bringing it to her lips before placing a reverent kiss on it.

“I would kill anyone for you,” she smiles.

“That is the most awful thing I’ve ever heard you say,” I groan behind my laughter.

“It made you laugh, didn’t it?” Natasha asks, pulling me into her arms. She brushes through my hair, the steady rhythm of her chest nearly lulling me to sleep. “Don’t ever do something like that again,” she murmurs into my hair, holding tight.

“I think it’s pretty safe to say that I won’t get Hanahaki again. Unless you stop loving me, of course,” I smirk.

“I’m serious.” She pulls away from me, a frown steady on her face. “If you even so much as a cold, I want to hear about it, alright?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I dutifully respond.

She rolls her eyes at me. “You are something else, y’know that?”

“Hey, you’re the one that’s in love with me.”

“For better or worse,” she says, kissing me on the forehead.

Taglist: @harleycao @fxckmiup @hallecarey1 @filmsbyblair

[senanatheskenana]

Rengoku baby daddy headcanons

Rengoku spends the whole of the train ride rambling to Tanjirou, Nezuko, and Zanitsu about how excited he is to behaving a baby with you. So much so that even they have to admit they were excited.

Like would your baby look like you or him? Perhaps both?

When you both learn you are with child, he makes a promise to always keep the two of you safe.

It's only partway through the Mugen Train mission that he realises that he cannot do that if he dies.

His non-functioning eye waters at the idea of you and his child living all by yourselves, your child never having met their father.

He had never pondered how much he mattered to someone. Or how much the creature growing inside of you mattered to him.

The demon stares at him in confusion when he stops swinging his sword. Akaza nearly believes that heartbroken your husband.

"Tanjirou. If I don't come back- please tell my wife" he coughs "and my family I love them"

Tanjirou is not about to let Rengoku act like he's going to die.

"Rengoku, listen to me... You aren't going to die. You're going to return home, hug your wife and hold your baby, and you're going to live a long life- watching your family grow up. You'll teach your children a legacy. Kyojurou, you're going to live and be so loved!"

His speech awakens something inside of him. He knows he must fight for you- he can't lay and wait for death like a coward. He feels reinvigorated as he continues to fight off the demon's attacks.

Akaza almost feels bad for having to kill the slayer. Almost.

It's nearly day when Rengoku finally beheads the demon, a great deal of pride overcoming himself before he faints face-first into the ground.

Rengoku is barely back to form when you go into labour, but he forces his way from his bed- against the butterfly girls' begs- and hobbles into your hospital room, clinging to your hand as you cry.

He whispers sweet words of encouragement into your hand, kissing your knuckles to distract you and never flinching when you scratch him in pain.

When the baby is born, handed to you in a soft blanket, the first thing you see is bright yellow hair. He's in love with how cute their tiny face is, even as it cries.

"Congratulations! It's a perfectly healthy beautiful baby girl!" Shinobu grins.

His daughter. Nearly the spitting image of him. 'just cuter', he thinks.

When you're both finally allowed to go home, he fights tooth and nail to do all the housework, despite his injuries. You argue with him but he's sure that he'd rather have you comfy and with baby Rengoku than tired and unwell.

Over the months he gets closer to being fullform, though he's aware he'll never see from his eye, and will always have a limp.

That doesn't mean he won't do everything for your child though <3

He'll give her piggyback rides, tuck her into bed, and build forts with her.

He doesn't admit it but having Senjurou around is really helpful when he's in an episode of pain.

Even his father tries to be more involved after the birth, trying to reconcile with his children and make an effort in his grandchild's life.

He retires from the corp after his battle with upper four, with a considerable pension, so he uses all his time to the fullest with his family

But if you think he'll be content with just one baby, you've got another thing coming.

"Aw, but you'd look so pretty pregnant again! And surely Ruka would love a new sibling"

[aquaholicsanonymousworld]

Close-r Call

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Reader

Summary: After years of rivalry with Matt Murdock—both in law school and at Nelson & Murdock—she never expected to get tangled up in his biggest secret. When Daredevil saves her one night, a slip of the tongue sets off a chain of events that leads to an explosive revelation, a very public workplace call-out, and a dinner invitation she never saw coming.

Author's Note: Part two for Close Call as requested!

The rest of the day passed in a blur of case briefs and client meetings, but her mind kept drifting back to last night. To the way Daredevil had looked at her, to the way his voice had curled around his words like a secret meant just for her.

By the time the sun dipped behind the city skyline, she had managed to convince herself that it was just the alcohol, the adrenaline, the danger of it all that made it feel so much more than what it was. A masked vigilante saving her wasn’t exactly a fairy tale. It was a coincidence.

And yet, as she packed up her things and slipped her coat over her shoulders, she couldn’t shake the feeling of eyes on her.

“Murdock,” she called over to his office, pausing in the doorway. He was still seated at his desk, seemingly deep in thought. He hadn’t argued with her once all day, and it was starting to get unnerving. “You good?”

Matt turned toward her, lips twitching as if he were debating something. Then he nodded. “Fine. You heading home?”

She narrowed her eyes, suspicious. “Yeah. Why?”

“Be careful,” he said simply, taking a sip of his coffee.

Something in his tone made her shift on her feet. “Since when do you care?” she teased, arching a brow.

Matt just smiled. “Since you decided to take shortcuts through dark alleys.”

Her stomach flipped. She had never mentioned the shortcut.

She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but Matt was already standing, reaching for his cane, moving past her with that effortless grace that had always irritated her. She turned to watch him leave, the pieces clicking together in her mind.

No.

No way.

It wasn’t possible.

…Was it?

She didn’t get the chance to ask him. That night, as she walked home, a figure stepped out of the shadows, blocking her path.

"Nelson & Murdock really should be more careful about who they piss off," the man sneered. He was tall, broad, his face half-hidden beneath the low glow of the streetlight. "Your firm has a habit of making enemies."

Her heart pounded, but she forced herself to stay calm. "If you’ve got a legal complaint, you’re more than welcome to file it."

He chuckled darkly. "Not that kind of complaint."

Before she could react, another figure grabbed her from behind, yanking her back against a solid chest. A sharp, cold press at her throat made her freeze—her breath hitching as she realized it was a knife. The blade’s edge grazed her skin, just enough to make her still.

"You scream, you die," the man behind her growled.

Panic flared hot in her chest, her pulse hammering. She forced herself to stay calm, to think. But the weight of the knife, the grip of the man holding her in place, made her feel helpless in a way she never had before.

Then, out of nowhere, the air shifted.

A blur of red and black crashed into the man holding her, sending him flying. A second later, Daredevil was between her and the attacker, his movements smooth, brutal, and efficient. The fight was over in seconds, her assailants left groaning on the pavement.

She exhaled shakily, clutching her ribs. "You again. I should start carrying a punch card. One more save and I think I get a free coffee."

Daredevil turned to her, his stance rigid as he surveyed her, making sure she wasn’t hurt. She could still feel the ghost of the blade against her throat, the adrenaline still burning through her veins.

"You shouldn’t be walking alone at night," he said, his voice lower than before, more controlled.

She huffed a breath, rolling her eyes. "You sound like someone I know."

He didn’t laugh. Didn’t smirk. Just tilted his head slightly, as if listening to something she couldn’t hear.

And then, before she could say another word, he added, "Are you okay, Y/N?"

She froze. "How do you know my name?"

Silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating. He had made a mistake.

Her eyes flicked to his cowl, her breath coming faster now. "No. No way."

Before she could think, she reached for his mask.

He caught her wrist midair, his grip firm but careful. "Don’t."

She yanked her hand back and lunged again, trying to rip it away. He sidestepped, catching her other wrist. "Y/N—"

"Take it off," she hissed, pushing against him.

They twisted, a tangled struggle of determination and resistance, her fingers brushing fabric, his grip tightening in warning. He could overpower her. She knew that. But he wasn’t. He was letting her fight him.

That’s what made her sure.

"Take it off, Murdock."

His breath hitched. And then, slowly, he let go of her wrists, reaching up with careful fingers.

His mask slid away.

And there he was. Matthew Murdock, standing in the dim glow of the streetlight, his face open, unguarded, exposed.

Her chest tightened. "I knew it."

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah. You did."

And then it hit her.

The coffee shop. That morning. Her sitting at the desk, gushing about Daredevil—about his jawline, his voice, the way he moved. And Matt had just sat there, stirring his coffee, trying to hide a smirk.

Oh. Oh.

Her face burned. "You—" She pointed at him, stepping back like she needed distance to process this. "You knew I thought you were hot."

Matt’s lips twitched, but he fought the smile. "I didn’t say anything."

"You didn't have to*! You just sat there, drinking your coffee, acting all smug while I went on and on—"

He crossed his arms, head tilting slightly. "To be fair, I was very flattered."

She groaned, covering her face with her hands. "Oh my God. Kill me."

Matt chuckled, the sound warm and entirely too pleased with himself. "Pretty sure I just saved you."

She peeked through her fingers, glaring. "Shut up, Murdock."

The next morning, she stormed into the office with purpose, slamming her bag onto her desk with more force than necessary. Karen and Foggy barely had time to exchange a confused glance before she pointed at them both, eyes narrowed in accusation.

"You knew."

Foggy blinked. "Knew what?"

"Oh, don’t play dumb with me, Nelson!" she snapped, rounding the desk to lean against it, arms crossed. "You knew Matt was Daredevil, and neither of you thought to tell me?"

Karen pursed her lips, giving Foggy a look before sighing. "Well…yeah."

She let out a sharp laugh, exasperated. "Are you kidding me? You guys let me sit here, day after day, talking about how hot Daredevil is—to his actual face—and said nothing?"

Foggy had the audacity to grin. "Oh, we said nothing on purpose."

Her jaw dropped. "Unbelievable."

Karen shrugged, though amusement flickered behind her composed demeanor. "It was kind of entertaining."

She groaned, dragging a hand down her face. "This is workplace harassment. I should sue."

Matt, of course, chose that moment to walk in, cane tapping against the floor as he headed toward his desk. "Good morning, everyone."

She spun on her heel, pointing at him next. "You—"

He smirked. "Me?"

"I hate you."

"You don’t." He was so damn smug.

She huffed, turning back to Foggy and Karen. "I can’t believe I work with all of you."

Foggy clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Welcome to Nelson & Murdock. We keep secrets, and we judge quietly."

Before she could retort, Matt cleared his throat. "Can I see you in your office?"

She turned, narrowing her eyes at him. "Why? Planning to reveal another massive secret you’ve been keeping? Maybe you’re secretly Spiderman, too?"

Matt smirked. "Not quite. But it’s important."

Karen and Foggy exchanged a look, clearly enjoying the show. Huffing dramatically, she grabbed her coffee and gestured toward her office. "Fine. But if this is some long-winded lawyer trick to get me to drop this, it’s not working, Murdock."

"Duly noted," Matt murmured, following her inside and shutting the door behind them.

Once the door clicked shut, Matt exhaled, leaning slightly against the edge of her desk. "I owe you an apology."

She crossed her arms, raising a brow. "For what? Lying to me every single day? Letting me ramble about how hot Daredevil is without saying a word?"

His lips twitched, but he didn’t take the bait. "For not telling you sooner. I should have. I just… didn’t know how."

She let out a breath, some of the frustration ebbing. "Yeah, well. You could’ve saved me a lot of embarrassment."

He tilted his head slightly. "You don’t have to be embarrassed."

She scoffed. "I literally objectified your alter ego to your face."

"So, is it just the suit? Or do you actually think I’m good-looking?"

Her mouth fell open. "You did not just ask me that."

He shrugged, feigning innocence. "You’ve been very vocal about Daredevil. Just curious if the same applies to me."

She groaned, running a hand through her hair. "I hate you."

Matt grinned. "You don’t."

She sighed, shaking her head. "Was that really why you pulled me in here? To stroke your already massive ego?"

He pushed off the desk then, his smirk softening into something else—something real. "No. I pulled you in here because I want to take you to dinner."

Her breath hitched slightly, caught off guard. "You—what?"

"Dinner," he repeated. "You, me, someplace nice. No case briefs, no fights, no masks. Just us."

She searched his face for any trace of teasing, but for once, there wasn’t any. He meant it.

"Are you serious?"

"Very."

Her heart pounded against her ribs, but she forced herself to stay composed. "I’ll think about it."

Matt chuckled. "You do that."

[melljam]

oh my god the unimpressed stare that shingen and gitae give when an opponent tries to attack them with something that fails miserably

shingen’s depressed little glance down at the blade that has just pathetically embedded itself into his skin as if that even does anything because his bones are genuinely impenetrable since he is quite literally built different

gitae’s mildly annoyed side eye at the officers for daring to believe that tasing him would work when they should have somehow known that he’s also just built different and would not even be stopped from committing axe murder if lightning struck him ten times over

ALSO these two are the type that gets excited over something/someone that can actually threaten their lives because of how used to being The Strongest™ they are

its such a shounen villain problem to have. sigh, another entirely boring and unfulfilling day of being the Strongest Guy Ever. when will someone who can actually contend with me come along to usurp my position as The Strongest™ :(

and shingen has experienced That with gap … now he longs for it again because he’s 1. depressed that he lost and 2. depressed that no one else can measure up to gap

their fight truly was the most important part of shingen’s life … unlike the birth of his many sons (or the very existence of one gun), which comparatively means Nothing to shingen

and gitae??? well, it could be argued that he might have just been annoyed at the officers for interrupting his fight, but that also means that he was enjoying his fight with jichang at least a little

but not in the same sense that shingen enjoyed his fight with gap. it was more like gitae was toying with jichang, and he found it amusing because of how easy it was

he’s so strong that he doesn’t even have to try with the strongest king. gitae can just mess with the poor guy until he decides to put him out of his weak misery when it stops being fun (which was when jichang rejected his offer to be his very own Smart Guy and it seemed to hurt gitae’s ego lol)

and after cop interruption, making jichang promise to let gitae be the one to kill him later on??? such a hilariously emasculating thing to do, like, we already know who’s winning our fight and it’s me so don’t even bother trying. just reserve yourself to die by my hand later, kthxbye <3

(jichang would not be able to uphold that promise, so i guess he was able to defy gitae in another way of his own …?)

or gitae’s teased fight with sinu. sinu went all out because he wasn’t taking any chances with another threat to big deal’s existence, and gitae got DISTRACTED in the middle of it. like, yeah your speed is cool and all but is that my dead father? oh, wait no! it’s my half-brother!

both jichang and sinu gave it their all to fight against someone who threatened themselves and their people, and gitae easily brushed them off but gave them an A for Effort !!!

shingen and gitae* must be somewhat bored with fighting when there are so few opponents that could actually compare to them in terms of strength. winning so easily almost makes it a menial chore for them. its the epitome of suffering from success lol

*it applies more to shingen than gitae though, gitae seems like he has the time of his life effortlessly messing around with weaker opponents, a predator playing with its prey

are they seeking something exciting, to flirt with the adrenaline rush of death because the safety of life has just gotten too dull for them?

to bring it back to the original point of the post: the ease of fighting must make the activity so underwhelming now. it becomes disappointing enough to produce such unconcerned expressions to injuries/attacks that would threaten an average person’s life

[the-moon-files]

Aaaaa yay, you updated for Linked Universe again! 🙏 And right when the hyperfixation was coming back for me, too 👀 

I was looking over your posts for LU, and if you don’t mind, I’d love to share some of my own random thoughts with you! I hope that’s okay 👉👈

After I read your “Humans aren't just round-eared Hylians?” post I have had,, many thoughts 👀 One random difference between humans and Hylians I thought about was the possibilities of varying strength,,, You briefly mentioned how Hylians seemed lighter than they seemed to Guide!Reader, and let me tell you, it was such a small detail, but I was transFIXED. I have this image of humans/Guide!Reader just being naturally stronger than the average Hylians - and it made me think of scenarios of the Reader just effortlessly hauling around two Links on their shoulders like sacks of potatoes- And them also picking up things that are supposed to be really heavy with ease! Like, Four would make a longsword, and Reader picks it up out of curiosity, expecting it to be really heavy, but it’s actually not that bad?? (Four in the background: 🧍)

If the Reader is already pretty strong (and maybe even has a profession in fighting, like a boxer or something,, [I might be projecting slightly—]), then ooo 👀 I can see there being this one time where a bunch of monsters ambush the Chain, and as everyone is fighting with the Reader giving them advice and whatnot, a Lizalfos managed to slip past everyone and sprint towards the Reader to attack them. The others are panicking because they won’t be able to reach the monster in time, but just as the Lizalfos raised its sword, one single punch from the Reader sent it flying back into the fray, knocking it into a Moblin. Reader is just standing there with their fist still in the air like “👁️👄👁️ h u h … whY ARE YOU GUYS STARING, YOU’RE STILL FIGHTING—”

In your newest post about the Guide!Reader’s voice, you mentioned how some entities could hear them, and I don’t know if he would, but I think it’d be kinda funny if Ganon and all of his other reincarnations could hear the Reader talking to Link- I’m not sure if he remembers his past lives, but if he does and hears/recognises Reader’s voice, I love the image of him thinking “Oh god, THIS guy again??” Because Reader WILL clown on him-

Dehydrated Ganondorf: *insert evil monologue here*

Guide!Reader: Uh-huh, sure, bold words for someone whose skin looks like a prehistoric riverbed. :|

Sage: *w he eze*

As I was writing all this, I had to think to myself, “Huh,, Guide!Reader doesn’t die when they fall into lava, aren’t really affected by harsher temperatures and winds, and also can swim against strong currents. They’re environment-resistant basically. But there’s bound to be at least one weakness to it all, right?” I did come up with said weakness, and I think it’s kinda basic, BUT one idea I had was that because Guide!Reader is so resistant to the natural elements of Hyrule, they are conversely quite weak to unnatural causes in turn. If they get injured, say they get cut with a knife by a Bokoblin, then that wound would take much longer to heal than it should. Any injuries that the Reader sustains in Hyrule are harder to heal (which I feel like could make some interesting angst,, 👀); their injuries would take more magic to completely heal them, or have more healing potions to drink. I also thought of the Reader being very vulnerable to any sort of poison- Like, if they get a pinch or two (or three) of strong poison in their system, they get knocked out for like two days 💀 

So basically, Guide!Reader is very resistant to the environment, possibly quite strong, but does not have any good constitution,,

[On another note, maybe it’s just a me thing, but I personally love the thought of Wind looking up to the Reader as like a big brother figure,,]

And also!! Happy birthday!! 🥳🥳🎉 As a way of procrastination, I’ve been compiling memes with Guide!Reader and the Chain because the brain rot is hitting HARD,, I can share it with you in the future if you like! /gen /pos And sorry if this is such a long post dkjfgndf-

NOT SOMEONE BEING HAPPY I UPDATED UwU

ur ideas, ur compliments, ur bday wishes, etc. hitting me like^^

Sun: Masc!Reader (he/him) this will be default unless ppl specify otherwise! , Guide!Reader, Boxer/Martial Artist!Reader

Orbit: Headcanons-ish

Stars: Most Links of the Chain mentioned + Sage (Totk Link)! No focus/centric Link

Comets & Meteors: Content Warnings: light cussing, & Trigger Warnings: none known.

Please comment if I missed any. /gen

In reference to This Post! Wait, Humans Aren’t just Round-Eared Hylians??

YOUR BRAIN>>>????!!!

This was such a yummy treat tysm for this, sharing is caring 🫶

I absolutely think Humans could be 10x stronger than Hylians, I mean if we base everything abt their universe off of Link weighing ~8 apples lmao

that means swords, armor, broadswords/claymores, battle axes, huge shields, if those weigh abt like fake swords/wooden ones back on earth to us, then i cant even imagine what canons/horses/tree trunks/boulders weigh 💀

like props on a stage weight rather than the real thing lmao

No but how many Links can you fit in one carry??

ok u got a heavier Link on your back, like Time, Twi or Wars, then Four/Wind/Hyrule/Legend (yes he’s light/smaller side, tho he may deny) in ur arms like one Link per arm, maybe 3 Links if you can like wrap ur arms around them

so like 4 Links total? well, Wind or Four r so light/small one could possibly ride on ur shoulders, so 5 LMAO??? that's like half the Chain already AHALJFAfJLL-

on another note,

I LOVEEE ganon being able to hear Guide Reader bc spent too long around them, also i originally based that off of characters who’ve shown they're meta/highly magical kinda (esp the meta part where they may have directly addressed players/broke 4th wall)

No bc Ganon would just be SO fed up by like, Wild’s time, it would literally be EXACTLY like what u said I’d imagine:

(u just playing the game and not realizing until later they can hear you)

Ganon: “ugh that blonde twink again, god when will this plan actually work-?!”

You: “eyyy, Ganon! omg, why’s he?? Hot??? damn, botw best ganon version fr”

Ganon: “you know what maybe you should just kill me right now, hero Link.”

(the thought of Ganon never being able to escape ur voice whenever Link was near him bc u didnt have a body to fight/kill, and instead he just had to deal with ur comments is SENDING ME)

changing subjects again sorry

YES!! that's the weakness/drawback I was thinking abt for Humans in Hyrule, while yes their environment isn't that effective on us, (i like to use “inside a video game” as the reason bc i think its neat)

humans are notoriously fragile in our own world already - we get sick, we get acid-reflux/throw up from bad food/food poisoning, etc.

so it makes sense we’d be more sensitive to this new environment, but even if we got adjusted,

we’re more external-proof, not internal-proof

(u know that's another reason why it works for Hylians and not Humans, we aren’t automatically healed by food, but their world does, and even in botw/totk when u have “dubious” food, its never inedible, its just useless to eat, so technically Hylians can kind of eat most anything off of that logic, like there is no such thing as “bad food” for them)

and u could take this either way tbh,

like we’re either entirely resistant to magic/dont take to it well bc our world didnt have it so potions/fairies don't work and we have to heal naturally

or just yeah, its like ur in a new country tbh, new germs/nature/food/etc. and u def cant guarantee u wont get a little sick from that

this would definitely include genuine poison!

bro the amount of WORRY the Links would feel after realizing the human guide guy who’s physically here now can barely handle their food??

Wild’s making a thorough list of what foods work for you and what don't, like safe foods to go back on, including recipes,

the way Time/Wars would absolutely be willing to take little detours/stop by towns more to make sure you have the right food you can eat,

and even tho Wild’s cooking, Sage is constantly testing for poison, like the dish itself, the herbs/plants, every ingredient needs to be extra safe even by Hylian standards (like not eating adventurous stuff like pufferfish or smth that could possibly have poison if cooked wrong/not enough etc)

that is to say, even if Wild makes a new recipe/other meal, he always has a backup safe meal to give you instead on those nights, and just way too many in general (yes he knows it doesn't buff ur health but he cant help his Hylians instincts to stuff the hurt person’s face with food ok??)

Hyrule! Is!! Losing!!! It!!!!

he has all the healing magic in the world and the one man he wants to help the most, for keeping him from being lonely on his adventure/looking out for him/being on his side no matter what, now he finds out he can’t even help them??

mans would literally keep trying to heal u til he’s drained it all out to just try and get the wound to close, if u didnt stop him

U get injured for the first time, and while a bruise/cut taking weeks to heal (depending on how bad) is normal to you, Hyrule + lowkey everyone is Freaking Out

Wounds DO NOT take weeks to heal?? They take hours at most??? Dude, are you dying-

(Wind got elbowed for that one, purely bc he voiced Sky/Hyrule/Wild/Twi paranoia out loud lol)

that is going with the version ur mostly unaffected by magic, but u could also do the human thing where we get adjusted to things over time (at least more than nothing), including food/sickness

The way All the Links just surround you or outright don’t let you come into crowded parts of town so ur poor immune system wont make u sick again 😭

on the bright side they'd all get rlly good at preventative measures like this, and taking care of sick you lol

(yes, u bribed Wind to get little bro cuddles when ur sick, it wasn't hard, he sees u as the most genuine bigger bro probably bc ur likely hte most affectionate out of all the Links)

(should I get into cultural differences between humans/hylians like humans being more openly cuddly/affectionate? like how in humans are space orcs fandom they acknowledge its unusual for us to “packbond” so easily to so many different species? and how this could possibly apply to not only Hylians but any Friend-shaped creatures across the Hyrules?? ..nah. I’ll save that for another post)

AND YES!! feel free to shoot rambles/thoughts/not even requests my way! Id love to talk abt it or just post it for the world to marvel at too lol

ohh mY God;; YOU HAVE MEMES FOR THIS?? PLEASEEEE SHOW ME????

thank you for this, srsly /pos

Peace out,

🌙

[muninnhuginn]

gonna have a go at a tbhx liveblog. tbh, idk if I'll keep this up or if it'll fade away, but let's have a go.

context in terms of my current knowledge of the series going in:

superheroes? something about public perception dictating how they're seen and some kind of 'trust' rating

one character takes on the role of another

yaoi in episode two(?)

crimes against women discourse

3d/2d animation - given how the other to be hero series operate I'm going to guess this is dependent on world but idk fully

I've seen 'to be hero' and 'to be heroine' so that'll also be informing some stuff here. oh! also, I'll be watching in chinese, though not sure in this case whether the japanese release gets edited down as it did for the previous series in this collection

will be using the tag '#mun watches that hero show' so as not to spam the main tag

Episode 1 thoughts below cut

unsubtle visuals my beloved. anyway, starting themes of the show are "everyone can be a hero" vs "the only path is to accept reality and work hard".

oooh okay nice episode title card. again, on the nose, but it's not like it *needs* to be subtle. also "41 years after commission", iseeisee.

"one day you'll be replaced by someone else" - okay, so. given one of the only spoilers I do know for this series, that's. well.

two seconds later. fingerguns out. wasn't expecting it *quite* that quickly, but comedic timing on point

"who you are is of no importance" - same thing as he was saying himself earlier, but context makes it come off pretty differently

"nice has been doing poorly ever since 'that incident'" taking notes taking notes. that'll definitely come back later

ah, belief system is largely how I'd thought it'd be? belief makes reality, essentially. "as long as we package you flawlessly" and they're having an ad guy do this. fitting.

this question is more fitting to be posed to an obsessive fan than a romantic partner ngl. oh nice, glasses blonde agrees with me

oof rip he actually knows the answer right down to the runtime. that's... kinda embarrassing. obsessive fan it is.

oh. right. okay, I forgot he'd been involved in making a load (all?) of these ads. he gets a pass but he's on thin ice

"she's always been my goddess". I'm taking so much damage here.

oooh the comboing 2d with 3d for the liquid and smokey effects. reminds me of arcane.

trust vs fear. another theme, methinks

so, the villains will represent a fear - in this case, being fired? makes sense. it's presented as though it's a general fear, but I expect that each fear will be relevant to lin ling in some way or another and become increasingly close to his personal fears as the show goes on....?

2d replay of 3d scene. backdrop is somewhat different now though. or rather, the lighting emphasises the poster with the shattered face and saturates out nice almost completely

not the falling imagery. I wasn't gonna make any of this about link click and I know link click doesn't have the monopoly on falling off buildings but. creator footprint.

"I hope that someday I'll be able to protect those worth protecting" noting down as more arc relevant words even if I suspect the first time around will Not go well

moon pulling lin ling out of his fear, not through any actions of her own, but through the marketable version of her he remembers

pshh the flickering between selves as he punches. jjk op vibes.

first re-emphasis of "anyone can be a hero"

interesting how he carries through the final attack still in 2d

visual contradiction. neat.

discussing nice choosing to throw himself off a building as they're heading up to the very top of another building. topical.

yeaaah. wasn't sure exactly how it'd happen but the crimes against women discourse had me thinking she'd die. I'm... not sure if it sticks or if she "comes back" then dies again? I was kinda trying to avoid spoilers but also vaguely curious. I guess I'll find out

Some misc thoughts overall:

Visually, this show seems really strong thus far. Imagery, how it combines the different art styles, how it switches between them for emphasis. Really works

Tonally... kinda all over the place. A lot of this is presented comedically with dark undertones so it's hard to know how seriously you're *meant* to be taking things

The ending (opening) sequence is incredibly focused on a guy we've not met yet, but with visual similarities to Nice. I've managed to avoid most of the promo stuff so I don't actually have a clue who this guy is, though the chess pieces make me think potential "chessmaster" archetype?

oh right. The part about the belief system that struck me the most was the way that Lin Ling's eye colour physically changed. Currently, we're getting all the mirror visuals and seeing Lin Ling's thoughts with him as "himself". I'm curious as to how far his "becoming" Nice will go and whether he'll be able to "return". There's also been a lack so far of information whatsoever about his life prior to this. Whether he has (had?) friends or family. He didn't seem to be calling anyone when he was at the top of the tower but that doesn't mean he *doesn't* have anyone.

Lin Ling's profession as an advertising guy in the context of the trust system. He tended to be on the back end of the marketing work rather than the forefront before this, sure, but it seems super relevant to me that his job was all about public perception. Also, the sheer number of advertising posters/video ads in the backdrop at all times was overwhelming but intentional. Weirdly, am being reminded of Go Go Loser Ranger with some of it

[lolitastories]

Shadow

Dimitri Belikov

Royal Moroi Reader x Dimitri Dhampir

Description: After a close attack by the Strigoi, reader is hurt. She is strong and stubborn so she decides to go back to her regular routine after a couple days in bed,but she has a feeling someone is watching her.

“You are paranoid” I let out a sigh, allowing my shoulder to loosen up. Maybe I was paranoid. “The Strigois attacked the vehicle 3 days ago, you are probably still shaken up about it” Rose caresses my arm trying to calm me down.

“I guess you are right.” I shake my head trying to let go of the worry and lighten the mood.

“Plus, Aiden is always there to protect you” I look over to the dark haired guy standing only a couple feet away. He has become a dear friend so her words only make me worry not only about me but also about him. Knowing their teaching and priorities, Moroi comes first. I send a smile and nod towards the girls.

“Come on let's dance” Lissa grabs our hands with a slight laugh pulling us towards the dance floor. But I couldn’t stop the tremble shivering down my body. All the noise in the party was making me panic. The room full of people laughing and talking wasn’t allowing me to breathe.

“You two go,” I smile at Lissa and Rose. “I will be right back” With another quick smile I let Lisa’s hand go and turned to walk away. I turned over to Aiden who was busy talking with another guardian. I took this time to sleep past the people and out the stairs. I grab hold of my dress, being careful not to trip and roll down the stairs. The wind was blowing a gentle coldness and the moment I reached the terance, it's exactly what I needed. Arch columns stood surrounding the roof. I closed my eyes, breathing in the cold air, but soon my lungs took enough air in that my mind started to function again. “Shit” I groaned, wrapping my arms around my body. I wasn’t ready to go back inside but also knew that I might die out here in the cold. My head turned sharply to the stairs. There it was again. That feeling that someone was watching me, waiting for me.

“You shouldn’t be out here” My heart stopped as the low voice and dark figure came into view. “Without your guardian” I closed my eyes thanking the gods it wasn’t who I was thinking it was. But jumped seeing another familiar face infront of me once I opened my eyes, he wasn’t the one I thought it was eitheir.

“Dimitri,” I watch him move closer, unintentionally blocking the wind from hiting my skin. “I thought you were Aiden” But before that I thought you were a well mannered Strigoi or someone else coming out for me with bad intentions.

“He freaked out when he couldn’t find you,” A little smirk played on his face which made my head turn in curiosity. “Told him I would come get you,” He grabs my arm pulling me closer and wrapping what he could of his jacket around me. Dimitri has always been nice, except at the beginning. He was cold and quiet when I hung around Lisa. He explained he was new to the place and as a guardian he couldn’t trust anyone. Until we were waiting on Lisa outside a feeding. All of a sudden we started to talk like long time friends. I don’t know what switched that day but I am glad it did. Now he is like a protective older brother, but when he smiles down at me like he is now, or traces my skin whenever he gets a chance I can’t think of him close to a brother figure. He makes a red tinted appear on my cheeks. I lose my ability to breathe. My hands warm against his back, wrapped tightly and enjoying the moment. He has become a close friend and he is the only one my eyes find first in any room. “Are you better?” I nod slowly. His question was simple, but somehow it was the answer for the anxiety in me to calm down. “We should head inside” His hand loosen around my waist and move down my wrist to hold on to my hands.

“Wait,” I pull back, pulling him into a hold. Our hands were holding on as he had made distance trying to pull me back inside. His eyes searched mine for any mistake he might have made but I shook my head to let him know it was nothing serious. I took a couple of steps not letting his hands fall. “I didn’t connect the dots until now,” A confused smile played on his lips. “Since I got out of bed I became a little paranoid,” My hands pull his pull to enterwind our fingers. “I felt eyes watching me. I felt someone always following close behind, hell even in bed I swore I saw a shadow walking by my window” I see his chest rise but unable to exhale. “Everytime in public you were there” My eyes fell against our hands. Slowly I pull them behind me. Still holding on, I pull us closer. “When I walked alone I turned around and in the crowd there you were” I looked up, a small smile playing on my lips. His eyes soften, unable to look at my eyes. “Tell me something Dimitri,” I remove one hand from his to pull his chin towards me. “Tell me you were the shadow,” Because if he wasn’t, then I would truly turn paranoid.

“Yes” So simple falling from his mouth but yet it meant a lot to me. He let out the breath he was holding and moved his hand to cradle my face. “I didn’t mean to worry you. I onl-”

“I’m okay,” I give him a reassuring smile. “It was a stupid idea to walk outside the walls close to sundown. I wasn’t thinking but I won’t do it again” A smile finally appeared on his face. I remember waking up on the medical bed with him, Lissa and Rose standing around me. After the girls left I got an earful on how stupid it was to do that. It was one thing to walk out with my guardian and another to walk out alone, both being a no in his books. I didn’t get a chance to tell him that so I had to make sure I appreciated his worry.

“Good,” His hand moved to the back of my neck as his lips placed a kiss on my forehead. “Let's get you inside” The moment lightened up so it gave me strength to pull gently on his hand taking a stance on not moving as he started to walk away. He turned around lifting his brow back at me. I wasn’t going to say another thing about him stalking me and almost making me sign up for the psychward, but there was another thing I had to get an answer too.

“Is this your watch?” He always has a long black jacket or any type of clothing covering his wrist. Now that I had been holding on to his hand I noticed he wasn’t wearing his watch. And remembering every detail I could of him, I knew it was his watch on my wrist. Who was the stalker now?

“Yes,” He removed his eyes from me for a quick second before clearing his throat and turning over to me again. “I knew you wouldn’t want to stay in that bed so we needed a way to know you were okay,” his watch had a feature where it tracked your vitals but also something else.

“Is that right?” I smirk, walking closer, swinging our arms together.

“Yeah, I’ve been giving the records to your doctors” He stood straighter, proud.

“What about the tracking? Is that something you give them too?” I thought I had the upper hand. His hands were becoming sweaty and his eyes flicker occasionally somewhere else. But when his hand moved to circle my back and pull me closer, when his other hand found the back of my head, or when his lips found mine, my mind lost it. My hands instantly found his hair and pulled him closer. He deepened the kiss, his lips moving with a gentle intensity. My lips parted, inviting him in. Our mouths danced together, the world around us melting away. Everything is fading into the background. Time stood still. My hands trailed down to grab onto his neck, unable to believe he was here. The kiss grew more passionate, our hearts pounding as one. Suddenly, Dimitri broke away, gasping for air. Hesmiled, his eyes never leaving mine.

“That's just for me” His hand moved to cradle my cheek. “When I can’t be there,” My lips curled into a smile. I was trying my darnest to not give into a full teeth smile that was currently threatening to come out. How happy the little girl in me was giving back flips and the butterflies were out of control. “Just in case you forget and walk outside those walls again,” He moves down, placing a simple yet gentle kiss on my lips. He pulls away but not far. His lips hovering over mine with an intriguing smile. “I will be there this time” I roll my eyes. Like I was a child who couldn’t be trusted to learn their lesson. I stomp my feet pulling back a bit.

“I promise I won’t make a stupid decision like that again” His hands pull my face closer to the position we were before.

“I know. But keep it on, for me?”

“Demanding things so soon?” I smirk. “I am not even your girlfriend” I go to remove his hands from my face but he pulls me back with some force. His stare would usually make a person squirm but me? It makes me want to tease him. I place a quick kiss on his lips and look back at his face to see if something changed. His eyes open again, giving me the same stare. My breath danced across his skin. Dimitri’s eyes narrowed, his jaw clenched. Still, he said nothing. I pressed another quick, gentle kiss to his lips but he remained still. "You're so serious," I teased. Another quick kiss, this one lingering a fraction longer. A fourth kiss, softer still. His control snapped. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling her close. His lips claimed hers, deepening the kiss. This time, he didn't let go.My laughter melted into a sigh, my body sinking into his. His lips moved with a hunger that surprised me. Hands slid up his chest, fingers tracing the contours of his face. I felt his tension dissipate, replaced by a raw desire. Our mouths danced together, tongues entwining. The world narrowed to the sensation of their lips touching. His grip tightened, I felt his heart pounding against mine. My thoughts blurred, senses overwhelmed. I gasped for air as we pulled away.

“Will you-”

“Okay” I quickly respond with a stupid smile on my face. Dimitri’s smile was lopsided, his eyes burning. “We can go back now” Feeling the situation resolved I felt way better. I could dance the night away now.

"Not done yet," he whispered back. I look back confused but not for long as he swept me in for another kiss.

[imaginedreamwrite]

Damned Together

Part 4: Inexplicably New

You sit on the sandy and rickety floor with your fingers running along the grooves of the floorboards. The layer that you’ve carved out with your hands is all that distracts you from the tension on the floor. Ophelia has calmed down in the presence of the creature sitting across from you.

Although she had initially been afraid of the stranger who threatened to blow a hole in her knee, she was now relaxed. The appearance of the man hadn’t scared her for longer than a half hour at best. And there she was, bundled and resting against the sand or dust coated jacket he wore.

You couldn’t detect the tune he was humming under his breath, something completely unknown to you. However, it had calmed her enough and, paired with the gentle rocking, she had fallen asleep.

As you cast your eyes upon him, he had clicked his gun again; seemingly playing an old game called Russian roulette with you. He cocked his head to the side, his yellowed teeth glinting in the moonlight. The appearance that had initially caught you off guard was less unsightly the more you looked at him, and still, you didn’t know what he actually was.

“How in the fuck did a smoothie like you end up above ground with a baby?” His voice carries with a deep and husky drawl, another click of his gun as he raises the barrel and points it at you.

Every time you hear the click or see the moonlight cast upon the barrel of the gun, you feel your heart dropping. Beads of sweat roll down the back of your neck, down past your shoulders. You can feel the stickiness of the jumpsuit on your skin—making you almost wish you wore that hospital grade gown.

At least with that horrid material, you could allow your body to get air. These jumpsuits that are typical for the vault dwellers are not as comfortable in the heat as you would’ve liked.

“The vault I belonged to, it…” you stutter and flinch visibly when he cocks his gun again, your eyes darting around the moderate space before they land on Ophelia.

Unbothered and adaptable as children are, she sleeps in the creature's arms. And he, despite his marred appearance, is seemingly entirely too natural with a baby. You don’t know what he is, you’ve never come across someone like him before—you’d never even seen the haggard appearance of raiders before they broke into your vault.

“Raiders infiltrated the vault, they started attacking and killing people. There’s…a security feature, fire…that burns anything that could be a threat to the people…” you can’t say for sure if you’re making sense as you try to relay your story, the woeful tale of how the two sole survivors ended up above the surface.

At the beginning of the personal experience you’d been telling, the man or creature had tipped back the brim of his hat. His light eyes stared you down from across the space, and you watched as his tongue brushed against his marred lips.

The more he watched you with mildly veiled interest, the longer you’d gone without death.

You studied him as he studied you, analyzing more of his appearance while trying not to slip into a panic attack. There was a bandolier across his chest and his hands were covered by dark brown, almost black, leather, or rawhide gloves. He was securely holding Ophelia in one hand and one arm, while the other was playing with the cocking mechanism of his gun.

You survived the attack on the vault, and you survived the first day on the surface with a baby strapped to your chest.

Only to likely die at the hands of a gun held by someone who looked both human and inhuman.

“—we’re the only two survivors. Everyone else is dead. I couldn’t just leave her there, she’s a baby’s, and she would’ve…” you bite down on the inside of your bottom lip almost hard enough to draw blood.

She was a baby and if you hadn't had saved her, she would’ve starved. She would’ve starved or been taken by anyone else who came to the vault after you. Her mother died trying to save her baby and keep Ophelia protected from the raiders and the fire that burnt the attackers and dwellers alike. You couldn’t have let her die like that, you couldn’t have let that innocent baby be alone in the world.

“Ain’t that sweet?” His voice hits your ears through the silence, and there’s a cold and hardened edge of sarcasm rolling off his tongue. You look at the sight of him holding her again, her suckling on the soother as she continues to sleep. “You did that out of the goodness of your heart, dweller?”

Heat bubbled under your skin, different from the kind that was caused by all those treatments and experiments. This kind of heat that bubbled beneath your epidermis was the result of embarrassment and the nature of his cold, teasing tone.

You could have given him every damn excuse under the blinding sun as to why you had saved her from the vault. You could talk your damn tongue off for hours and go into detail, but at the root of his response, it was clear that he didn’t actually care.

“Are you going to eat her?” The question falls from your lips without merit, and it comes with such a rush that you physically feel yourself exhilarated.

But not in the kind of excitement stemming from a burst of happiness; rather, from not knowing whether this question will get you shot or not. The question lingers, and you watch him narrow his eyes in your direction before the corner of his lips twitch.

There’s a humanizing grin that crosses his face and the husky sound of his laugh—it both puts you on edge and simultaneously convinces you that there’s still some kind of humanity to him.

“I’m a lot of hellish things, sweetheart, but I don’t fucking eat children.” The hand holding Ophelia tightens as she squirms from the sounds around her, a soft whimper slipping from her lips as she makes the motion to cry. “Now, there are plenty of twisted hands that would kill to have a baby fresh from the vault, I ain’t one of them.”

The false cry gives way to a real one, and you watch him with bated breath as he sets the gun down. He casts his attention upon the babe wrapped in whatever soft blanket you could find. There’s another flicker of humanity on his face as he reminisces about something unrecognizable to you.

There’s still an unyielding tension that hangs in the balance between the two of you, something that’s wholly consuming—it leaves you fighting to find anything to say and leaves your body feeling taut and rigid.

“Ya know something, smoothie?” With the gun laying by his side, he shifts positions while continuing to hold the baby, not giving her back and not allowing you to get close. “If these raider fuckers don’t kill you, the radiation slowly will.”

Silence fills the hideout you’re in again, and your attention drifts toward Ophelia. You had taken her mother's diary, which would have given you another stab of guilt if it hadn't had also given you insight. Mrs. Coleman was apparently a Shakespeare aficionado—she had gone as far as to name her daughter after the beautiful woman in Hamlet.

Ophelia was not a name that was familiar to you, you never really took to Shakespeare. Although, you had surmised that she must’ve been of great importance for her to name her daughter after the character.

Grace was the second name given to the baby girl you’d saved. Grace had come from the baby’s grandmother, the father of the baby, and had been one that passed down from generation to generation. You had read in the diary pages that Mrs. Coleman was hopeful for her daughter to pass the name down.

She would’ve never known that if the vault hadn’t been broken into, her daughter would have been taken. If things remained as they did, Ophelia Grace would have been ripped from her parents and spent as many years as it took to complete the experiments. There wasn’t really a single circumstance that would allow Ophelia to function as normal in the vault.

“The radiation won’t kill us.” You finally manage to contradict his statement, your voice quiet and subdued.

You remember every needle, every injection, every pulse of fire that burned through your veins. The canisters that would expose you to radiation, to build your immunity. They had altered your DNA and genetic code, just as they had done with Ophelia. Before she should be exposed like you had been, the vault was attacked.

And yet, regardless of that, she would still be able to handle the slow exposure to radiation that remained in the world above.

“You’re gonna explain yourself, or I’m gonna put a bullet through your head.” It was another threat that had felt just as familiar as the one made before.

He hadn’t reached for the gun he had laid on the dusty and sandy floor after he made the threat, rather he had adjusted the soother Ophelia was grasping onto. Her cries which had been sharp and shrieking had quieted down again, as if she was suffering from nothing but a bad dream.

“We’ve both been…genetically modified.” The words stumbled from your mouth in quick succession, you relayed the basics of what had happened to you without expanding.

But it wasn’t enough for him, and it showed in the way his eyes had lifted toward you. The intensity of his gaze had increased until you were met with a steely glare. Finally, his right hand reached for the gun, and he wrapped his fingers around the grip. The barrel was raised, and the audible click echoed in your ears, reminding you of his ability to shoot you without a second's notice.

“The vault I belonged to, they wanted the ability for humanity to be able to live on earth without being affected by the radiation. The tests started immediately after the bombs went off.” You spoke with a certain even tone that was familiar to the robotic tutors you had in your medical vault.

You were relaying history with an air of boredom and disassociation despite it being your history.

“I was the first to survive the tests, they’d put other people from my vault through. I was taken from my parents when I was a baby, I don’t remember a thing about them.” You recoiled and rested your head against the worn wooden wall, your eyes drifting toward the cracked and broken window frame.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” The gun clicked again, and your eyes fell to the barrel of the gun. There were smooth striations at the end of the barrel, likely from being used over and over again.

“They altered our genetic makeup, our DNA. They changed our genetics to be able to absorb and convert radiation into energy. Like vitamin b12, vitamin C or vitamin D.” You flinch when the gun fires, the bullet lodged into the wall by the other side of your head. You look at the perfect circular hole from the side of your eyes, your heart damns near stopping.

“You’re telling me those fucking assholes in the vault have found a cure for this radioactive hellhole? For this god-damn radiation sickness?” The hard edge of his voice comes with a rise in anger.

There’s an aggressive look in his eyes, something that, for a moment, reflects years of anger and rage. You find yourself on edge and made wholly aware of your naivety.

He shot near you twice, perfect aim.

And you’re startled again when he stands abruptly. He takes two large steps toward you and then deposits Ophelia into your arms. There’s a dark glint in his eyes, and you can see the marred flesh of his jaw tensing with and hear his teeth grinding.

“You won’t last a day out here, smoothie. If it ain’t the roaches, it’s the godforsaken raiders.” He turns his head and spits, his ire radiating from his body like mist. “You watch your fucking back.”

His footsteps are heavy as he carries himself down the rickety staircase and out of the shelter you’re in. Without another word he leaves, but you can feel the floorboards rattle as if he struck the post by the front door with as much strength as he could.

Tag list: @gruffle1

[grandlinedreams]

For my 100 followers milestone, I give you this!! Buckle up this sucker is 3.4k lmao

[heads up!: grim reaper!Law, slow burn, angst, fluff]

The day Law meets you, it's because you almost die. 

It's a cold winter day, the sun pale and bright against the gray of sky ㅡ and the iced over pond is too much of a temptation to ignore.

You're wearing a heavy coat, one that helps keep the bitter chill from your skin save for your lips and nose ㅡ how very ironic that it's your coat that almost kills you. 

Places like this are always buzzing with the energy of potential tragedy ㅡ even with the watchful eye of parents and loved ones, misfortune still has a way of happening.

The ice, for one, is far too thin to bear the weight of so many feet, made thinner in spots for what meager warmth the sun does provide.

It's one of those spots that you happen upon, located on the other end of the pond, away from your friends. The ice doesn't so much crack as dissolve, frigid water up to your knee as your balance is lost and sends you into the water entirely.

Dark and cold, water soaks your clothing quickly ㅡ including the heavy winter coat you've got around you. It drags you down,  thrashing made harder for the frozen ache of your muscles ㅡ and the cloud of bubbles that explode from your mouth as your lungs burn. 

And then there's a hand snagging into the back of your coat and hauling you up, not unlike a housecat ㅡ and you're on the frosty bank, coughing blindly until you vomit foamy pond water into the mud. 

"You shouldn't play around places like this," an unfamiliar voice tells you, striking you hard between the shoulder blades to elicit another wave of pond water and watery-eyed hacking. "You could die."

You gasp raggedly, clawing at the ground to work yourself further from the embankment, then focus on your rescuer. All you can make out is a shock of dark hair and golden eyes ㅡ and then your name, being shouted with increasing alarm. 

"You were lucky," the stranger says. "Next time, it won't be like that." 

By the time your friends have made it to you and have called for an ambulance, the stranger has vanished ㅡ leaving you with nothing but the frosty air and a brush with death.

 ㅡ

Law isn't sure why he'd saved you that winter day. He can fall back on the fact it hadn't been your time, but that doesn't account for the fact that now, he's watching you.

Call it curiosity or perhaps morbid fascination, there's a pull that drives Law towards you. It shouldn't interfere with his work, of course, because nothing ever does ㅡ but then suddenly, you do. 

He doesn't know if saving you has allowed something of a supernatural ability to rub off on you where you're aware of his presence ㅡ but the knack that you have for stepping in and messing with the intended order of things is both alarming and annoying. 

The older lady he'd been sent to collect from an unattended heart attack? Somehow, you manage to call an ambulance in time and save her life after she collapses in the middle of an aisle in the grocery store.

Then there's the guy you save from an unfortunate end via the business end of a knife following an altercation at a bar ㅡ tempers diffused and the proper authorities called, he scowls as another of his intended targets walks away. 

There are two or three more after that ㅡ and each time, he swears that you spot him, staring at him with a tiny, self-satisfied smile that drives him crazy.

He doesn't have time for this, damn it. (He actually does, but there are things that have to run on a schedule ㅡ and you're messing with the natural order.)

He needs to get rid of you. 

Cruel? Yes, especially given the fact that he's already saved you once ㅡ but he can't just let you run amok like this. He knows what will happen if he does ㅡ they'll send someone else to handle you, and he doesn't want that. 

So he ends up following you at a distance as you make your way home. Again, he thinks himself inconspicuous enough to not warrant attention ㅡ but by the third time that you turn around, he can tell that you've spotted him.

"If you're trying to stalk me, you're terrible at it. Come on out, I'm unarmed."

"I'm not trying to stalk you," he says flatly, "and telling someone that is hardly a good idea. Are you trying to get killed?"

Ironic, coming from him. 

There's that smile of yours, the one that makes Law think you're laughing at him. "Isn't that why you're here?"

He blinks. "I'm not sure I know what you mean."

You roll your eyes. "I saw you, that day I almost drowned." You shift to tug your sleeve up, exposing your arm. "You left me with a souvenir."

The skin of your forearm is gnarled like the scar tissue of a burn, several shades darker than the rest ㅡ and in the shape of a hand. You pull your sleeve down. "There's one on my back, too. But ever since that day, I've been able to see the border between life and death." Your eyes lock with his. "And you."

This is bad. Very bad. Though he'd assumed you were able to see him, having you confirm it only makes this situation so much worse. If the others find out about this ㅡ 

A couple of things happen in rapid succession. The light turns green as you step off of the sidewalk onto the crossway, a car whips around the corner on a straight trajectory towards you ㅡ and Law snags his hand into the back of your shirt and yanks you back as the car breezes past where you'd just been standing. 

And for the second time, Law saves your life. 

                                ㅡ

You invite death into your apartment. 

It's a strange sentence to be sure, but death is far less imposing when it takes the shape of a man who wears a hat modeled after a snow leopard. 

"Would you like something to drink?" You're nothing if not polite, though you tip your head as you eye Law with no small amount of amusement. "Or do you need things like that?"

Law is less amused than you, golden eyes sharp as he stares. "We need to talk. This isn't a matter to be taken lightly." 

"Of course not," you say, and he watches as you pull a pitcher of water from the fridge and pour a glass, then pour a second. "Serious talk makes me thirsty, though."

Law takes the glass that you offer him, but he doesn't drink from it as he watches you cross the room to seat yourself in a battered, well-loved ottoman. He waits a moment, then seats himself on the couch when you raise an eyebrow.

"Let me get the obvious out of the way," he begins, "you shouldn't be able to see me."

You stare. "I thought we made that clear from this," you say, gesturing to your arm. When his gaze lingers, you shrug. "It doesn't hurt, if that's what you're wondering."

"I wasn't."

Your lips curve against your water glass. "You're so kind." His eyes narrow, and you sigh. "Okay, so I shouldn't be able to see you. What else should I know?"

"That what you're doing is dangerous."

You look away. "I don't know what you mean."

Law scowls. "Don't play stupid with me. You know that you're messing with the natural order of things, don't you?"

The casual way that you shrug annoys Law further. "I think everyone deserves a second chance, don't you?" 

He glares. "No. And if they did, you already used your second chance. What would you call that narrow miss with the car?"

You watch him, the upward curve of your lips that he hates so much. "I call that luck," you answer. 

ㅡ 

Corazon is waiting for him outside your apartment. He towers, a contradiction for the makeup he wears and the shroud of feathers, the lazy curl of smoke from a cigarette between his lips. (He enjoys smoking while in human form. Law has never understood, but he doesn't question it.)

"There you are." Cora turns towards him as he approaches, his eyes flicking to the apartment behind him. "Never thought you'd be one toㅡ"

"It's not like that," Law counters before Cora can make some dumb insinuation. He debates for a moment before he sighs as Cora raises an eyebrow in question.

"Then what is it like? You never interact with humans."

Law's teeth grit. This is all your fault. If you'd stop getting in his way, if he'd just let you drown ㅡ he huffs, kicking at a loose chunk of pavement before he looks up at Cora. "Fine. I'll tell you."

Whatever Cora had been expecting, what Law tells him is far from it by the way the older reaper's eyes widen. And then he laughs. Long and loud until he's doubled over, and Law scowls.

"I don't see what's so funny, Cora."

"All of that is," Cora wheezes, swinging a hand to your apartment before he wipes mirth-born tears from his eyes. "I never thought I'd see the day you had a crush on a human."

"I do not have a crush." Cora gives him a knowing look that only pisses Law off further as his eyes flash.

"Sure you don't," Cora humors him, though it's clear the older reaper doesn't believe him. Calmed down, he sucks on the cigarette, the end of it flaring before he exhales a long stream of smoke. "I just hope you know what you're doing."

This time there's some warning to Cora's tone, reminding Law that he can't get into deep, reminding him of what and who he is.

"I do."

                                 ㅡ 

Law has no idea what he's doing. 

"Have you ever been to a bar?" You're laughing at him again with that smile of yours, head propped on your arm as you drum a tempo on the table with your other hand.

Around you there's nothing but noise ㅡ tinny music playing from speakers set in the corners of the rafters, televisions broadcasting various sports ㅡ and of course, drunk people. 

"No," Law finally answers, studying the din around him with no small amount of annoyance, "I haven't." 

This time you laugh outright, then take a sip of your drink ㅡ and Law does his best not to follow the work of your throat as you swallow. "Alright then, what does death do for fun?"

There are a thousand things Law could tell you. That he's not the only reaper around, that he'd been warned not to do things like this with someone like you. That he should've let you die the several chances he's had to make it happen.

He doesn't. Instead, he lets his eyes linger on your face, trace your features, tread the dangerous water of interest as he has the last few weeks. 

"I don't know," he answers, "but it definitely isn't this."

ㅡ

There are so many ways that Law can kill you. They're everywhere that he looks, and yet he can't bring himself to do it. Instead, he lets you chatter away, lips curving despite himself.

Maybe you're not quite as annoying as he'd thought ㅡ but as his eyes drift to the plush of your lips before darting away, his brow furrows.  Not just annoying ㅡ you're dangerous.

Dangerous because you've been touched by death, dangerous because you get in his way, dangerous because all he wants is to kiss you.

It's your abrupt stop that makes Law almost collide with you and he takes a step back, lips parting to ask what the problem is ㅡ and then he stops.

"Cora," he says, feels your eyes on him as he stares at the man a few feet away from you both. 

"What a nice little jaunt," Cora says, head tilting as he watches the way you reach for Law's hand ㅡ and the way Law doesn't stop you despite the danger of it. "I think we need to have a talk. All three of us."

ㅡ 

Corazon "Cora" is a reaper.

You know that much ㅡ you can see it, the dark shroud that silhouettes him like it does with Law. 

As for what he's doing here, that remains a mystery to you. But from the way Law tenses as Cora talks to him, you can guess that it probably isn't good.

You stand nearby idly, pretending that you can't hear your own name being tossed around, mostly from Law who corrects Cora's careless usage of "that human". You have a horrible feeling that Law's getting into trouble for the last few weeks, and for before, when he'd saved you.

Why had he? Surely he hadn't had to ㅡ he could have let you drown and that be it. None of this. 

Law finally approaches you, and you watch him carefully, trying to glean what their conversation had been about by the look on his face. But his expression is carefully blank, unreadable as he reaches you. "What did he say?"

"Nothing that you need to worry about," he answers, and your eyes narrow before you pull away from him and dart towards Cora. "[Name]!"

"What did you say to him?" You demand and Cora blinks, studying you for a moment. "You guys were talking for a while, so spit it out. What did you say?"

He doesn't have to answer you. Cora knows that, that he owes you absolutely nothing ㅡ but his eyes flick to Law, who's staring at you. This is for your own good, kid. 

"I told him what would happen if he kept this up with you." He pauses to light a cigarette, and you watch the little flame waver.

"And what exactly would happen?"

Cora sighs. "If the higher ups found out about it, they'd strip him of his powers."

Your gaze doesn't waver, boring holes into him. He sort of understands Law's fascination with you ㅡ even without the touch of death, you're an odd one. "And without his powers?"

Smoke curls towards the sky, ghostly tendrils that curl before they disappear. "He'd cease to exist. Reapers are nothing without their powers."

You look back to Law, who's watching you ㅡ and your brow furrows. He wants to say this is nothing? "Is this because of me?"

Cora could lie, but he doesn't. "Yes."

Your fingers curl into fists, aware of the shiny skin of your forearm, the patch between your shoulder blades. "What if he killed me?"

"He won't. I already suggested that."

Your eyes lock with Cora's, unwavering. "What if a different reaper did?"

ㅡ 

Law doesn't like that you're talking to Cora. He doesn't like that the other reaper won't leave and let him face the repercussions of his actions as he wants to. He knows Cora has told you, can see it in the tension of your body, the way you look at him. 

When you return, Law knows something is wrong. "What did you talk about?"

Instead of answering, you wind your arms around him, pressing into him. The pressure should be comforting, but Law tenses, trying to squirm out of your grip. "[Name], answer me."

"Cora told me the truth." He stills. "Were you really just going to keep me in the dark about it?" He feels your hands fist at his back. "You're an idiot."

He knows that. He doesn't care. "What's done is done," he answers. "I'm simply facing the consequences."

"Stupid." You pull away from him and blink, and he reaches to swipe his thumb beneath your eyes. 

"Crying? Really?"

You pull away completely, scrubbing at your eyes. He expects you to call him an idiot again, demand to go home, to talk about what's next ㅡ but you don't. Instead, you exhale slowly. "I'm sorry."

Law blinks, brow furrowing. "About what?"

"This," you sweep your arm out. "You should be in trouble because of me." He wants to protest that he did it of his own volition, that you hadn't forced his hand in any of it ㅡ and then with a jolt, he realizes that Cora hasn't left.

"[Name]," Law starts, "what did you do?"

"I'm cleaning up my mess," you say firmly, "I'm not going to let you get your powers stripped because of me. So Cora and I made a deal." 

Law doesn't have to ask what kind of deal it was, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. His eyes narrow, anger and hurt clashing. "So dying is an easier solution?"

"It is," you tell him, rigid in your resolve. "It's what should have happened in the first place, Law." 

He hates this. Hates that this is how it ends, that you look so at peace with your decision. You approach him again, reaching to stroke his cheek ㅡ and he leans into your touch. "Don't be sad," you tell him, "I'm annoying, remember?"

His eyes close. "No you're not."

You huff a soft laugh. "See, you're a softie after all." You pull away, and his cheek feels colder than it ever has. "Maybe we'll meet again someday. Do this the right way."

The likelihood of that is slim, next to nothing ㅡ but Law lets himself indulge in the idea of it anyway. "Yeah," he answers, "maybe."

ㅡ

Law doesn't get to see you go.

You'd made it clear that you didn't want him to see, didn't want him to watch you die. "You spent too much time making sure I didn't," you tell him, "feels like it'd be a copout if you did it again."

He can't argue that, because he knows he would. You both do. That he'd defy his orders over and over, let you live a little longer again and again.

Maybe he shouldn't have saved you from drowning in that pond. (He's glad he did.)

Law has seen a thousand and thousands mortals die and will see thousands and thousands more, but yours is the one that actually hurts. 

Cora warned him. He warned Law, and he didn't listen ㅡ and now he's paying for it. But it'd been you who'd chosen to leave him ㅡ even though it'd been to protect him. 

Idiot, he thinks, but it lacks any bite. Much as he loathes it because it's a very human emotion, he misses you. 

(Not like he'd ever admit it.) 

"Law." He looks up to find Cora approaching, a look on his face that automatically makes him wary. "I have a gift for you."

Law's eyes narrow. "I don't want it."

Cora's head tilts, eyes gleaming with amusement. "Are you sure? Because I'm sure you'll like this one."

There's someone standing beside Cora. The dark robes draped around them says that it's a new reaper ㅡ and Law resists the urge to roll his eyes. Cora's been oddly insistent that he take on a protege ㅡ perhaps he's not been as adept at hiding how your death affected him as he thinks he's been. 

"I'll leave you two to get acquainted," Cora says, patting the new reaper on the shoulder before he heads back the way he'd come. Law sighs, then shifts his attention to the newbie. 

"First off, you don't need the hood up. It's a dumb stereotype." He looks away, mentally questioning if he has the energy for someone to hang off his every word.

There's a soft laugh, strangely familiar ㅡ and then an even more familiar voice. "And here I thought it gave me a mysterious charm."

Law freezes, then turns as the newbie yanks down the hood. It's you. For a second, Law thinks he's hallucinating ㅡ but you're smiling that frustrating, irritating, beautiful smile of yours.

"Surprise," you say, rocking on your heels. "This was part of the deal that Cora and I made."

"You're a reaper too," he says, and you nod before you hold your arms out and do a small spin, making the robes flare.

"What do you think? I think it suits me." Law approaches, grabs a fistful of fabric and pulls ㅡ and finally, finally, gets to kiss you the way he wants to. 

You blink dazedly when he pulls away, and he smirks. "You said that maybe we could do this the right way someday," he tells you. "I intend to hold you to that."

You smile. "Fine by me."

[twstfanblog]

*~500 Followers Fic: WaterPark Episode~*

A/N: Ignore me taking so long to get this out, AGAIN. As you've noticed I literally forgot about this fic sadly but I remembered! And to make up for it I will be adding more onto this fic in the form of vignettes in a part two. But, for now, enjoy the start up fic! Word Count: 4.4K Warnings: They/She OC, headcanons on the sexuality of the characters Main Pairings: Malleus/Yuu/Jamil/Azul, Alluded-Riddle/Floyd, Jade/Trey, Leona/Ruggie, Cater/Idia, Vil/Rook, Sebek/Silver, Firstie Poly The inspo and reference for most of the dorm's swimsuits! LOOK AT THEM!

Part 2

“Morale is so low lately…” Crowley tapped a golden claw against his desk, pouting as he rested his cheek against his other hand, “The campus is so depressing…”

Yuu raised an eyebrow, not looking away from shuffling the papers in their hands, “What do you expect? We lost to RSA in, like, four events last week. I'm surprised no one’s started a fire or something yet.” They didn’t respond when Crowley just groaned louder, writing something down on the form before moving to the next one.

“That damned RSA! Ruining the peaceful atmosphere of our lovely school! Destroying the ego of our students! Taking my award grants away from me!” He furiously ran his fingers in his hair, messing up the black locks, “The board of directors is going to cut our funding again!”

“Where is the fucking accident report-Oh, there it is.” Yuu forged Crowley's signature on another document, rolling their eyes before finally putting down the headmaster’s paperwork and watching the man fall apart at his desk, “...” They smiled, grabbing a paperweight and slamming it down to gain Crowley’s attention. Once the headmaster startled up, Yuu leaned more against the desk, “I got an idea-”

“Oh, no-”

“Shut up. I have good ideas. All you need to do is approve my event and make sure it’s properly advertised. I promise morale will be raised by the time we get back.” 

Crowley looked concerned still, almost pressing into his chair as if Yuu was poised to attack him. He hums, looking to the side and nervously clicking his nails against his desk, “...” He tilted his head toward Yuu, “No one is going to be hospitalized this time?”

“I mean, probably…”

“...”

Yuu shrugged their shoulders, looking through the piles of papers to grab a blank sheet, “We're NRC students; someone's bound to break a bone if we do anything, ya know?”

The headmaster sighed, face tilting toward the ceiling as though to question the higher powers, “Is that what we're truly known for these days…?”

“I mean that and managing to not die…” Yuu took their time writing something on the paper, ignoring Crowley's groaning as he struggled to make a choice. Just when the man had opened his mouth to give an answer, Yuu held up the piece of paper, “Never mind! I got the okay, already.”

Crowley stared at the paper, realizing Yuu had wrote out their idea and simply forged his signature for approval, “HEY-”

Yuu snickered, waving the paper as they rushed out of the room, “Thank you~! Bye~!”

Once Yuu had slammed the door behind them, Crowley sighed at his desk, “...Well a broken bone isn't too bad…”

“A water park-”

“A water park!?” Kalim nearly climbed onto the table, beaming in joy, “We get to go to a water park!?”

Yuu smiled, pinching at Kalim’s cheek playfully and shaking his head, “Damn right! I even got official permission from Crowley.”

Vil looked at them deadpanned, cup of tea half way to his mouth, “Official, huh?”

“Fuck you.”

Riddle sighed, simply making peace with the fact neither Yuu nor Kalim would apologize for interrupting him. He sipped his tea thoughtfully as Yuu and Vil bickered before speaking, “I've never been to a water park-”

Yuu cuts him off, speaking softly in an almost pitying tone, “Oh, of course you haven't; you poor sickly Victorian child.” 

“Why am I always Victorian?”

Leona yawns, scratching behind one of his ears as he kept himself balanced on the back legs of his chair, “Anyway, who do you plan on having pay for this? Forged signature aside, a trip this big will cost a lot of money…”

“...” Yuu turns back to Kalim, smiling as they tilted their head gently while batting their eyelashes, “Hey, Kalim, can you pay for this trip?”

“Sure! I even know the perfect park! My 6th youngest brother from my dad's 12th wife had his birthday party there only a few weeks ago so I can just call them to book the whole park for the Asim family again. Oh, and I can pay for all of the food, the souvenirs, the-”

Azul sighed, lightly placing a hand to Kalim’s arm in an effort to calm him down, “Kalim, I'm doing this as a favor to Jamil; Stop.”

Idia chuckled, in a rare IRL appearance from the third-year, and continued to play on his phone, “Well, you losers have fun getting burnt in the sun…”

Yuu smiled, tilting their head to the other side as they started poking Idia repeatedly in the ribs, “No~. Participation on this field trip is mandatory~.”

Idia jolted, squirming away from Yuu's fingers, “There is no way this event is mandatory.”

Swiping Vil's pen from his breast pocket, Yuu clicked the gem and quickly wrote on the scrap piece of paper before holding it up to Idia, “It is now.”

Riddle spoke, placing his phone back onto the table face down, “Plus, I have already informed Cater about our impending day trip.”

Idia sat in a stunned silence, his phone starting to buzz on a seemingly continuous loop. No doubt text after text from Cater asking which set of sunglasses were the most ‘Camable’...

Vil snatched his pen back, clearing his throat and reaching for his own phone to alert Rook, “Well I suppose it's settled then. A little romp in the sun could do a few in my dorm some good…though I will need to give a short talk about proper after-swim skin and hair care…”

Yuu smiled, sending a pleased look around the table, “Well, you guys just pick a weekend this month and we can-Fuck, where's Malleus?”

Kalim groaned, slapping the palm of his hand to his forehead, “I knew I forgot something! I was supposed to go to Diasomnia to get Malleus for the meeting this turn…”

Leona scoffed, raising an eyebrow, “How do you herbivores keep forgetting that lizard? He's nearly 7ft tall…”

Rolling his eyes, masking it by adjusting his glasses, Azul gave Leona a side glance, “Oh like you've never forgotten when it was your turn to fetch him.”

“I didn't; I just never went to get him.”

The waterpark trip had finally come, each dorm going through the mirror to the closest Mirror Station*. From there dorms had crowded into buses and made the hour drive to the waterpark.

As the 'event coordinator,’ Yuu and Grim arrived early to the park with the faculty. While Crowley and the other teachers did a final safety sweep of the grounds, Yuu and Grim were to hand out the wristbands as the other dorms arrived. Though Grim, of course, didn't stay long. The cat monster snatching a wristband and rushing into the waterpark to ‘find the best spot’. They sigh, snapping the band of their boy-short bottoms in boredom, Crewel had vetoed Yuu’s original request to wear their bikini of choice. ‘Confidence aside, puppy. Showing that much skin isn’t school-friendly’. As such, Yuu stood waiting in patterned boyshorts and a thick banded halter top to match.

Before long, the first group of buses pulled in, unsurprisingly being the ever-punctual Heartslabyul. The first off the bus was Riddle, a sunhat adorned with a few roses firmly on his head and rubbing what Yuu assumed was sunscreen onto his bare arms. He ordered people off the bus by the vehicle, making them stand along the curb as he personally checked that each person was accounted for. Once Riddle had counted a person, they made their way over to a growing crowd with Trey and Cater in the center. Each of them had a large bin in hand, Trey handing out small tubes of sunscreen while Cater handed out shades in various colors.

Riddle walked up to them, sighing heavily and fanning himself as he grabbed the thick bundle of wristbands from Yuu, “The sooner I get to a cooler area the better…all the bands are accounted for correct?”

Yuu looked Riddle up and down, lips pursed in displeasure, “Have I ever told you that I hate your dorm uniform? Because I know I have, I'm just not sure if I've said it to your face specifically.”

Looking over his swimwear, Riddle sputtered before huffing, “There is nothing wrong with my swimwear!?”

Truly,  there wasn't. Crewel had heard ‘waterpark’ and decided he needed to design standardized swim trunks and tops for each dorm. A way to have a united front while in the semi-public eye and still be able to tell which dorm was stirring up trouble. So while Riddle was perfectly in uniform for the event, Heartslabyul-themed swim trunks, a tucked-in red and black tankini top, and school-issued water sandals, Yuu still sneered at him.

“There is too much going on. I don't know how Floyd fucks with you; you're clearly poisonous.”

“I don't need to take this. I'm leaving; good day, Yuu.” He had started to walk away, quickly turning around and pointing at them as he handed the wristbands to a very excited Ace and Deuce, “And remember sunscreen!”

Yuu waves at Riddle, mumbling under their breath to not give a clear answer.

Savanaclaw and Octavinelle’s buses had arrived just as Riddle had started to signal his dorm members into the park once they were all fitted with a wristbands. Yuu couldn't help but laugh, watching the Octavinelle students stare out of their bus's windows with glares as a group of Savanaclaw students all rushed out and mobbed their buses. A petty act to keep them on the vehicles so that their dorm could enter before theirs.

Leona walked up to Yuu, his hair braided into two large sections that rested over his chest and a full beach towel tucked into his themed swim trunks, “We're here, give me the bands.”

“...” Yuu looked at the redheaded child hanging limp in Leona’s one-armed hold, a baby-fanged grin and shining hazel eyes beaming up to them. They point at Cheka, trying to keep their smile small, “He doesn't go here.”

Ruggie appeared from behind Leona, adjusting a number of bags slung over his shoulders with a little snicker, “You don't know every person in Savanaclaw, prefect. Come on, he's a freshman.”

Cheka seemed to understand the lie, holding up his fists and making an angry expression, “Let me in or I'll beat you up! RAWR!”

Yuu had to physically turn away, a hand covering their mouth to hide the wide grin on their face. Turning back, Yuu personally snapped a band around Cheka’s wrist, “You know what? You're right. He's clearly a fearsome Savanaclaw member, you have fun in there, buddy.”

Seeing the multicolored plastic on his wrist Cheka squirmed around, pointing to the band and smiling at Leona, “Ouji-Tan! I did it! I got in!”

Leona didn't look down, grabbing a band himself before walking into the park as he mutely spoke, “Good job…”

Ruggie moved to follow, only to have Yuu grip him by a bag strap and yank him backwards.

Whispering harshly, Yuu kept their eyes on Leonas's back just to make sure he wasn't listening to them, “How the fuck is Leona getting away with having his tits out? Like, I can't wear a bikini top, but Leona can be out here freeing the royal nipple?”

“Ahahaha…Oh, Yuu…” Ruggie gently worked Yuu's hand off of the bag strap, patting them on the shoulder before pulling them even closer to hiss with a glare, “This horse was a gift, stop looking in its mouth.”

Shaking their head, Yuu shoved Ruggie away lightly, rolling their eyes, “Horn dog, that's your new legal species. Can you stop thirsting over Leona and make your dorm members leave the Octavinelle buses alone? I think they’re gonna actually flip them…”

Looking over his shoulder, Ruggie noted how…yeah the others were rocking and shoving the buses to the point the wheels had started to lift off the ground at a semi-steady pace, “Huh…yeah…” Looking around, he caught sight of who he was looking for and called out, “Jack! Round ‘em up! We're heading in!”

Yuu watched Jack give a salute to Ruggie, turning into his larger wolf form and chasing the other Savanaclaw members away from the Octavinelle dorm and into the park.

Jack made a lovely herding dog, corralling the rowdy Savanaclaw students easily into the park and allowing Azul to finally step off his bus. The cecaelian looked pale, pausing a moment with a hand bracing against the side of the bus before he called for his dormmates to exit as well. As the crowd walked closer, Yuu saw Jade being half dragged by a frowning Floyd, the shorter twin looking vaguely green.

“You guys have fun? It looked fun.” Yuu handed the thick grouping of bands to Azul, leaning closer to peck his lips gently.

Azul sighed, grabbing three wristbands before handing them off to be passed into the growing crowd, “The ride over was already bad enough. Even with smooth roads, being car sick is still far too easy for me and Jade…”

Floyd mumbled, trying to snap his wristband on one handed before giving up, “These two losers nearly threw up on the way over here…

”Jade lifted his head lightly, his full weight pressed to Floyd's side as he looked into the park unamused, “And the rocking did not help…”

Yuu chuckled, helping Floyd with his wristband, “Well have fun dealing with the chlorine smell.”

Azul raised an eyebrow, “Chlorine? Why would you use chlorine in water?”

“To keep the water clean?”

Jade squinted his eyes, holding his wrist out for Floyd to place his wristband on, “That seems unethical…”

“From what I understand, most land pools use a natural filtration system. At the very least this park does from my research…”

Yuu shrugs, “Well, what do I know? I'm just a silly bitch.” They smile, leaning over the podium and loudly whispering to Azul, “Don't put on sunscreen yet, I wanna be the one to slather you down.”

“We're going into the park, goodbye Yuu, we shall see you inside!” Azul had one hand braced against each smiling twin's backs, shoving the teasing Eelmers into the water park and hoping no one could see his blushing cheeks.

Kalim was the first one off of the Scarabia buses, different songs blaring from each bus as they pulled into the empty parking lot. Kalim saw them from across the way, running over with his hands waving in the air and a big smile. Jamil notices as he exits the bus, running after him in hot pursuit.

Yuu watched as Jamil nearly tackled Kalim to the ground. The only thing saving them both from eating pavement was the second Jamil got close, he grabbed onto the cords of Kalim’s loose, twisted tube top and pulled. The fabric tightened instantly, no longer in danger of drooping and flashing an Asim nipple. They stood in the parking lot, Jamil glaring and double-checking Kalim’s outfit before reaching into a beach bag, spraying him down heavily in a mist of sunscreen.

Once they had finished, more Scarabia members exited their buses and walked over in a crowd. Yuu noticed from the corner of their eye as another dorm's buses pulled into the parking lot.

Smiling, Kalim waved, “Hi Yuu! Scarabia, set and prepped for a day of fun!”

“Did you put sunblock on?” Jamil had already grabbed Yuu by the arm, trying to tug them from behind their podium with his spray can prepped.

Yuu mumbled loudly, managing to pull their arm free from Jamil's grip. To counter his second attempt of grabbing them, they shove the thick band of wristbands into his hand. He groans, already being swarmed by his dormmates trying to grab a wristband to enter the park quickly.

Kalim laughs, calling out to his dorm, “Don't crowd Jamil too much! And remember to put on your sunscreen and kohl!” Turning to Yuu he asked, “Do you want a kohl stick? I have a few extra that haven’t been used.”

“I'm good Kalim, plus I plan on getting on slides and I will probably rub it out of my eyes at some point-”

“Kohl is waterproof, you know this.” Vil had appeared, a large sunhat keeping his body completely shaded though he wasn't actually showing much skin. He was in a strapless full-length romper, light in color with splashes of deep purple littering it tastefully. A black braided shawl over his shoulders protecting his arms and tying his outfit together with his designer black shades and plain black flats.

Kalim exclaimed, eyes wide and smiling, “Wow! Vil you look so nice! I've never seen a bathing suit like that before.”

“Because it's not one. I've had time to think it over since we all set a date for this trip.” He held his hand out, silently demanding Yuu hand over the bands for his dorm, “Even with my blend of sunscreen, The chance to tan is too high. I'll simply be enjoying the jovial atmosphere from a lounge chair, maybe do some reading.”

Scarabia had slowly entered the park as Jamil handed out bands, finally freeing the other sophomore from the crowd to join the conversation, “Hm? I can understand not wanting to get into the water; I barely trust NRC students without the threat of drowning. But not even sunbathing?”

Vil huffed, rolling his eyes playfully from behind his shades, “Jamil, if I'm going to tan, it has to be perfectly even and full body. And I highly doubt our teachers would appreciate me being in the nude.”

Yuu sighs dreamily, leaning against the podium to twirl their hair And look just barely not into the sun, “I bet Rook would. Rook loved when I sunbathed naked on our anniversaries.”

“I will drown you myself-”

A purple blur passed them, making them all look into the park though only Vil scoffed at seeing who it was. Epel had taken his chance and raced into the park while Vil was distracted. In the Pomfiore trunks with a cropped halter top and his short hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, he sent them all a nasty smirk of victory, quickly grouping up with Ace and Deuce. The two freshmen sitting in an area they had claimed with enough space for all their friends to rest once they had arrived.

Vil grumbled, shoving the wristbands into a Pomefiore student's hands once his dorm had walked closer, “Thinks he's ‘Too good for sunscreen’- Rook.” He snaps his fingers, the blond seeming to appear from Vil's shadow, and hands him a super soaker. Vil shakes the gun once, making sure it was properly loaded before aiming into the air and firing. 

Yuu, Kalim, and Jamil all watched in a shared muted fascination as a stream of semi-translucent liquid shot from the gun, arching high before splattering all over Epel's exposed back, making the freshman scream and curse as the no doubt cold liquid hit him without warning.

Epel whipped around, eyes bewildered and body shaking from adrenaline, “VIL, WHAT THE FUCK!?”

Vil smiled, handing the gun back to Rook who happily made his way into the park, yelling to Epel while miming that he was rubbing his arms, “Rub that in! Have fun with the other potatoes!” Vil turned to Yuu, lowering his shades and cocking a brow as he gave their swimsuit a look over, “Did you put on sunscreen?”

“Vil, we both know if we fight in this parking lot only one of us will be ok with a titty slipping free.”

“...” The third-year sighed, rolling his eyes and walking into the park.

Jamil glared, mentally following through a plan to wrangle Yuu into submission to spray them down, “Did you put on sunscreen?”

Yuu looked away, smiling lightly as they waved Jamil's question off and mumbled.

Yuu had slowly become annoyed. The Ignihyde buses had yet to appear and their anger only grew as the Diasomnia buses pulled in. They slam their head on the podium, groaning as they wonder just how much longer they'd have to wait to finally enjoy the park themselves. Soon, their beloved Dia-quartet had walked over, the rest of their dorm in two neat lines behind them.

Lilia was already fanning himself, an old black wicker sunhat somehow comically big yet resting on his head. While he was wearing the Diasomnia-themed swim shorts, his upper body was completely hidden by a black shawl that mimicked bat wings, “Diasomnia all accounted for Beastie!” Seeing Yuu had kept their head resting against the podium, he poked at their head gently, “Are you upset that we took so long? You know it takes time to look this cute…”

Yuu sighed, holding their head up and passing the wristbands to Lilia to pass out, “I'm happy, I swear. I'm just also pissed because I know for a fact that you guys left after Ignihyde and somehow you got here before them…”

Sebek hummed, snapping his wristband on without hesitation, “We passed them, I believe…they were pulled over at the side of the road.”

Silver nodded, helping Lilia pass the wristbands out as the Diasomnia members walked into the park, “Their buses might have broken down…”

“...” Yuu turned to Malleus with a small smile, the taller fae already smiling back at them from under his modified sunhat. The horned fae was fully covered, a floor-length cover-up that looked close to a shirt dress with a small green ribbon tying it closed. Fluttering their eyelashes, Yuu cooed sweetly, “Malleus~? Could you maybe…bring them here?”

“For you, my love? Of course.” With a snap of his fingers, the tell-tale sweep of pressure that followed Malleus’s magic moved through the area. The magic moving and condensing to an empty part of the parking lot. Suddenly three buses materialized, suspended a few feet off the ground before crashing down and making the students inside scream at the jostling.

“Oh! Malleus, don't shake them.”

The Diasomnia warden hummed, holding his hand out for Sebek to clip his wristband on as he gave the buses a pensive look, “I didn't think a few feet would matter. I will admit I was wrong.”

“Yeah, a few feet airborne from a car standpoint is a lot. You guys get into the park and I'll make sure no one got whiplash…” Yuu still took the time to pull Malleus down, pressing their lips together before rushing to the new buses, “Thank you again! Lilia, tell Cater if you see him that his selfie stick is here!”

Yuu ran over, keeping a wide breach of the buses just to make sure they didn't tip over onto them or keep rolling. Soon the doors opened, shell shocked Ignihyde students all stumbled out groaning. From one of the buses, Yuu watches as Ortho carries out a paler-than-normal-looking Idia. She sighed, running a hand through her hair as she looked over the bewildered students, “Please tell me no one broke a bone. Crowley gave me a quota for broken bones and I can’t use it all up on you guys.”

Ortho places his brother on the curb, saluting Yuu with a cheerful ding, “I did a brief medical scan of everyone before dismounting the bus, Prefect Yuu! No broken bones to account for…Though my brother states his ankle hurts…”

Idia flinched back as Yuu's eyes turned to him, the shorter student standing over him in his vulnerable position as she smiled ‘sweetly’

“Oh! Idia, does your ankle hurt? Want me to check it?”

Idia was almost 80% positive that meant she was really going to break his ankle just to prove a point. He turned away, his hood going firmly over his head in a desperate attempt to protect himself, “No! Just…just a phantom pain, I guess? Hahaha…haaaa…the buses teleporting was a major jumpscare…”

“I will apologize for that. Malleus didn't really think through that vehicles don't like being airborne…” They smile wider, holding their arms out before gesturing to Idia’s Ignihyde-themed swimwear and coverup, “But hey! Look at you! Showing off your translucent skin! I told you you'd have fun when you got here.”

Idia grimaced, zipping his coverup closed and doing his best to shove his legs into the loose fabric, “I told you I didn't wanna come…”

“And I told you this was mandatory. Anyway! Ortho! You got a swimsuit?”

He beamed, having waited patiently to show off his new outfit shell, “Nii-san made it fully sealed so I can get into the water! I also have an attachable waterjet system that I'm very excited to try out.

“Do a spin!”

Ortho laughed, executing a perfect twirl on one leg to show his form. Ortho's body still couldn't wear actual clothing so Idia improvised. There were bright blue lights etched into his limbs, other pathways of black and a darker blue making more water motif designs. His black shorts-looking shell seemed more flexible than his normal outfits and his goggles were a slowly scrolling rainbow display. Yuu thought Ortho's feet looked like mini speed boats to her delight.

“OH! Baby boy, Ortho! You look like you're ready for fun in the sun~.”

Idia sighed, trying to draw his cover up hood tighter around his face, “Can’t I just stay on the bus…?”

“Idia~!”

They all look to the park entrance, Cater standing and waving his arms to make sure his boyfriend saw him. Standing in his Heartslabyul-themed swim shorts, he had a patterned white button-up opened to show his top scars with their vanity diamond design, and blue-tinted shades resting on his pulled-back hair, “There you are! I've been waiting forever! Come on, I've got a perfect spot for us to chill at before I start taking pics for my cam!”

The elder Shroud slowly emerged from his cover-up, eyes wide and almost sparkling at the vision of his boyfriend, “Whoa… ultra rare topless Cater…this…this is an SR event. No, SSR-”

Yuu lightly nudged Idia toward the gates, other Ignihyde Students already having grabbed their wrist brands and entering the park, “Can you just go and spend the day with your boyfriend so I can finally go fun?”

Giving one last scowl, Idia sighed and pulled his cover-up over his head and made his way toward a cheering Cater. He wasn't going win against Cater, his brother, and Yuu. Some quest's rewards just weren't worth the grinding…

With a smile, Yuu cheered, doing a small dance in victory, “Finally! Time for me to actually have some fun. Ortho, you wanna sit with me and the other Firsties? Ace and Deuce promised to save chairs for all of us.”

Ortho beams, his goggles showing decals of stars, “Sure! Thank you for inviting me along, Prefect Yuu. I can show everyone my water jet pack!”

World Building

*As far as I can tell, the Dark Mirror is the only like...personal sized mirror capable of extended long-distance travel. But I made it so there are massive transportation stations that use the mirror's blue prints to create massive manmade portals that they can control the locations to. Making over seas travel a breezy weekend trip, though it can STILL be very expensive to buy same day travel trickets.

But since these stations are of course more like bus/train stations, you'll normally need to take other methods of travel to get to an exact location. I just like the idea of trapping these fuckers in vehicles together and I will be doing it more often.

[mottysith]

COMPAÑERA COMPATRIOTA VAMOOOO 🗣️🗣️🇦🇷🇦🇷🧉🧉🇦🇷💥🇦🇷🧉🇦🇷💥

I really liked your elliot x teen!reader!!!! So, could I ask for a Guest 1337 x teen!reader who's like really proud in a sense that they want to do things by themselves and really hates the idea of being under someone's wing. They're not mean or anything just really reckless and Guest is just running after them trying to stop them from putting a fork in the toaster, and reader in the deep of their heart sees him as a father figure but would rather die than to say it out loud or something...

Mwah!!! Great day and remember 2 drink water 💕

Pairing: Guest 1337 x Teen! Gn! Reader (Platonic)

Warnings: Nothing, pure fluff.

Argentina el mejor pais 🗣🗣🗣

You have always been independent, being the oldest sibling in your family made you like that, the want of being the strongest and helping everyone was crucial for you, not wanting to ever be seen as less.

And thanks to that you were quite proud with yourself, after all you achieved a lot of things on your own withouth external help.

When first forsakened, you were totally terrified but instantly you gained enough courage to be a little stupid.

As a result of your independant nature and want to protect others you were given Sentinel's habilities, being able to stun the killer for a few seconds.

Due to this the other survivors deemed fit for Guest 1337 to keep you safe during rounds since he is good with kids in difference from other sentinels and is a very good leader.

At first you didn't wanted too, of course Guest 1337 seems cool and all, his soldier clothing showing how cool he is, but you wanted to be able to do what you want during rounds, yet the others didn't listen to that and you were forced to just stay close to Guest 1337 during rounds anyway.

But of course you just ignored that, the second you saw someone in danger you trowed yourself in front of them, using your sentinels hability to stun the killer for a few seconds. But considering how reckless you are that ended up in more deaths than a sucessful save.

And Guest 1337 was tired of running behind you everytime you decided to recklessly try to stop the killer, not thinki g about a strategy before atacking. Constantly scolding you outside of rounds due to your reckless attitude, which you just laughed off.

Outside of rounds however, you two got really close, training together with Guest 1337 telling you stories about his time as a soldier and you just telling him your daily life before getting forsakened.

If Two time even tried to talk to you about the spawn cult, Guest 1337 would give them a glance that would make the culstist hide away from you.

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

Elliot was currently in danger, being low on life and this round's killer, c00lkidd, being at nothing to walkspeed override towards the pizza guy, making him instantly die.

The teen low on health and full of confidence went running in front of Elliot, much to the elders likeness "Reader!" Guest 1337 shouted their name, running towards the teen from behind.

The teen managed to block c00lkidd attack towards elliot, in exchange of being almost dead with less of 5% of health, withouth wasting a second Guest 1337 came from behind the teen and stunned c00lkidd, grabbing the teen and rapidly running away, with Elliot quickly following from behind.

After a while of running the three ended up leaning against a wall, recovering their breath. "Here, have a pizza" Elliot gave the teen a pizza slice to make them recover health, which was gradly accepted.

In the other hand Guest 1337 was seriously annoyed "Don't ever think about doing that again, a little less HP and you would have been dead!" The soldier scolded the reckless teen, who's mind was in another universe as they ate the chewy yet tasty pizza.

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

As your friendship growed even more closer, you started to slowly and unconsciously start to see Guest 1337 as your dad figure, admiring him somewhat due to him being a soldier.

Though you will never admit that! Or maybe...

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

Reader have fallen asleep in Guest's cabin once more, with the soldier already accostumed to that little quirk of the teen to sleep in his room at random times.

But a round could happen at any moment, so leaving the teen asleep just to wake up with the killer chasing them wasn't a good idea.

"Hey kid, wake up" The soldier said, turning on the switch of the light making the room iluminated. "A few more minutes dad" The teen answered in a sleepy yet annoying tone, putting one pillow over their head to stop the light from entering their eyes.

Though a little flatered by the nickname, Guest 1337 completely ignored the teen complaints, taking the pillow away "No, now" The soldier commanded in exactly that voice tone that forced the teen to wake up "Aghrr, my dream beauty is ruined!" The teen complained once more before finally getting up.

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

Notas: Espero que te haya gustado!! Sinceramente no conosco a NADIE que use tumblr 💔 asi que ver a gente argentina es bien divertido PUAJAJAJAJ

[raayllum]

Your Aunt's Spirit In You :: Callum & Amaya, a Meta

Was thinking about these two due to writing a scene between them in a recent oneshot, and then about the similarities they have, so thought - why not? Especially for a shorter meta than more of the long form ones I have siting in my drafts, let's talk about Callum and Amaya

As always, SIMILARITIES first:

Both loyal siblings to a monarch (Sarai through marriage, Ezran through birth)

Taken captive and interrogated by elves

Willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of the group (special shout out to 3x01 which puts this back to back * )

* This is slightly negated by Rayla, not Callum, being the one to actually risk her life (as she talks Callum out of risking his own quite easily) whereas Amaya goes through with it. Still, Callum's sentiment and willingness is there (and on multiple occasions), so it's included. ("I need you to kill me" being another example)

Skeptical, distrustful, and good at reading people (even if Callum changes his mind about Rayla and Amaya does not about Viren)

Good planners / generals (see my General Callum tag here)

Often times more decisive than their partner (Rayla often hesitates, which Janai worries about as well) and encouraging them to prioritize their own needs as well above just their 'duty'

In 4x01, they are both worried about secrets (as a result of war based trauma) and potential attacks, even though both 'secrets' wind up being something positive and wonderful (successfully for Amaya - as she is proposed to and happily rejoices with her partner - and an attempt for Callum, as it leaves him forlorn because his partner is still missing)

Slightly darker sense of humour, maybe ("Now that you'll officially be my little brother, I'll try not to beat you up too much" + "Besides, she only eats three people a day. It's a small price to pay for peace")

And last but not least, there is Janai's assessment of their similarities (aka the meta title) that accompanies the soundtrack piece of "Like Aunt, Like Nephew".

Callum does often undertake dangerous quests / make dangerous choices (travelling across the world to return a dragon egg, throwing himself off a mountain, running into what he believes to be a trap, etc). This is, however, much like how Aaravos' assessment of Callum in 4x04 ("and my favourite, the human mage, already tainted by darkness, and destined to play right into my hands") is true for all of his mage pawns up to that point (Ziard, Claudia, and Viren in the past), true of just about every character in the show. Which makes sense - in an action/adventure fantasy show, most of the characters are going to have to be okay about throwing themselves into danger just by proxy of genre. In most of the trio scenes where someone is hurling themselves into danger, it is usually Rayla first - and then Callum, stepping up if/when she can't do something on her own.

As you might've noticed while there are similarities, outside of their skepticism and willingness to sacrifice (which is again, something most characters in the show have) there aren't that many that go beyond more surface level "these events both happen to these characters," as Amaya and Callum's mindsets aren't that similar, which are the bulk of the main differences we're going to talk about next.

DIFFERENCES:

Prejudice (or therefore lack of)

Amaya is very prejudiced against elves ("Moonshadow elves - the worst kind [...] Don't worry, Callum, I've slain monsters before") at the beginning of the show, whereas Callum never is. He still holds some poor misconceptions (mostly the blood drinking) but he still always sees them as 1) people and 2) therefore worth reasoning with: "Can't you just make peace with them? You don't want to die, I'm sure the elves and dragons don't want to die, so everyone agrees"and his first conversation(s) with Rayla.

2. The ways in which Amaya is similar to Viren are largely different than the ways Callum is similar to Viren.

Amaya devoted her life to safeguarding the Breach and their kingdom's borders, a form of security that Viren was worried about and continued to be worried about once he came into power. Amaya and Viren can both be a little two-faced, willing to present a trusting front and hide their ulterior motives (most notably from each other, and something Rayla has in common arguably with both of them), whereas Callum is incredibly honest most of the time and is very bad at covering up his emotions (something he also has in common with Rayla, since although she often tries to cover things up, she routinely fails at it).

Viren is willing to send his children after the princes in spite of the danger of their secret missions ("if you must choose, choose the egg") and Amaya is willing to hold the Breach rather than go after her nephews, leaving Corvus to do so in her stead. This is very different than Callum, who automatically and often times insists on going along with his loved ones (Ezran, Rayla) when they're embarking on dangerous journeys of their own.

On that note, Amaya and Viren are both also taken captive by the Sunfire elves and given the Trial of Light, with very different outcomes that S5 also reaffirms for Callum, so let's talk about it:

3. The Light Will Decide Your Fate

During Janai's interrogation of Amaya, and Finnegrin's interrogation of Callum, the two respond very differently. Both Janai and Finnegrin want information, but Janai doesn't resort to torture even when Amaya remains entirely silent on any and all matters, and Finnegrin keeps pushing at Callum (and Callum keeps giving up information) even if he doesn't give up what Finnegrin wants, at first.

Amaya's trial is specifically about whether or not she's "pure of heart" or, more accurately, whether or not she's done dark magic. Her interrogation and test, if you will, ends with her passing it - to Khessa's surprise. Amaya is not a mage, and certainly not a dark mage, and is therefore going to interact and approach the world differently than a mage - human or elven or otherwise - would. Callum's interrogation and test is also about dark magic, and he does not 'pass it', lmao.

Because where Amaya had to confront the Light, Callum had to confront his Dark.

This is where we get into more of the mindset differences.

Amaya is willing to cut her losses (if she cannot successfully defend the Breach, she will destroy it, circa 3x01) but Callum almost never does (staying too late in the Great Bookery, for example; holding onto hope that Harrow might be alive even when he knows deep down he knows better, etc). Amaya refuses to give up the Sun Seed for her partner's life, knowing it safeguards a bright future and is what Janai would want her to do; Callum does give Finnegrin the spell and does dark magic to save Rayla, even when she wouldn't ultimately want him to do either of those things on her behalf. 5x08 makes this comparison particularly clear by juxtaposing these two deals and scenes throughout the episode.

Part of this is because, as Amaya acknowledges, for a great deal of her life, she and Callum had very different ideas regarding strength - which is exactly what allows these perspectives to switch:

When she died, I felt lost and weak without her. I hated feeling that way, so I learned to be strong alone. Stoic, strong... and lonely.

But the last two years have changed everything. Meeting Janai, falling in love, I am stronger than I ever was... because we are stronger together. And I realized that was the real truth of me and Sarai, too.

Callum has, up until about halfway through 5x08, always believed that he (and others) are ultimately stronger together, and we see this reflected through the first four seasons and into season five. However, the back half of 5x08 begins to greatly challenge this. Meanwhile, this is something that both Amaya and to a more detailed degree, Rayla, have had to learn. Because, when it comes to how they've responded to trauma, Amaya and Rayla are more similar to one another (and arguably to Viren in this way) than Amaya is to Callum, who by and large has a very different trauma response.

CONCLUSION (??)

While Amaya and Callum do have some similarities, Amaya is not extraordinarily similar to either of her nephews - Callum included - due to their differences in occupation, mindset, and trauma response. The similarities they do share are mostly things that they each share with Viren (such as skepticism) or share with most of the general cast (intelligence - although Callum is a standout - and bravery, for example). Most of their parallels, therefore, are put there to provide contrasts within similar themes (mostly in S1, 4x01, and 5x08), and they do not parallel more than any particular pair of characters in the show (seriously, you could throw a dart and probably find parallels between almost anyone, the show is so steeped in them, so looking at consistency and structure is key). Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed.

—Dragons out

[jujutsukgojo]

I'm a hero now chapter 3

shinsou hitoshi x reader

Summary: Everything was going so well... tw: villain attack

“They’re more active than ever this month, Hawks. We need to warn the public.” Shinso looks at the geographic dynamic and does not like what he sees. It’s all over the place but in a deliberate pattern. 

“We can’t have mass panic, Shinso.” 

“What about safety? Being alert? Letting people protect themselves and look out for one another is the best thing.” So far, the crimes have moved away from your area. That alone makes Hitoshi want to do a cartwheel.

“People may get suspicious and like I said, mass panic. Not to mention distrust against heroes again.” Hitoshi understands what he means but he can’t shake how wrong it is. It isn’t safe. Thousands of vulnerable people are in danger. 

“It’s not ideal but it’s what we have. So far, we’ve captured three. Just a few more and it’ll be over.”

“It will be too late, Hawks.”

“Only a few more. Plus, one of the captured will talk. This is close to being done.”

Hitoshi understands that and what Hawks is concerned about. However, there are so many lives at stake. So far, no one has been murdered but other despicable crimes have been committed. It’s not fair to keep this hush-hush. 

His phone vibrates and shows Doe’s name. 

Are you picking her up?

He wills himself not to smile. 

Can’t rn. I’m on duty. Tell her to be safe and have someone else go.

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

Hitoshi stretches and walks down the street in the twilight. The meeting took forever and his patrol was dead without any sight of the villains. These attacks are nothing but frustrating and insulting. The villains are disgusting and slippery. Because of this, he firmly believes that the public needs to be on alert.

That isn’t the only thing bothering him, though. Even though you are with someone else and have presumably gotten home safely, he doesn’t like it. He’s the one who is supposed to walk you home. 

He runs his hand down his face and groans. Tonight he has off. His plan is to go home and finally sleep. He’ll try to push the thought away of someone else spending time with you and rest. You’re fine, right? Hitoshi groans at his rampant thoughts and intuition. Hitoshi climbs onto a roof and runs. 

First, he hits at Doe’s diner and finds the light off. The pink curtain-covered windows above the shop, which is Doe's apartment, are lit. He knocks on the glass. And hears her talking with someone, a man, whose voice is lowered. Hitoshi leaves by swinging off into the night and checks your college. 

-

He finds you at the doorstep of your school. You stand there patiently with your bag in hand, staring at him as he questions why you’re still here. Predictably, you say nothing. He sighs and pats around for his notebook. Thankfully, it is tucked into the large pocket of his hero costume. 

‘What’re you still doing here ?’

You write back, ‘Waiting for you.’

Hitoshi tosses his head back and groans, although secretly flattered and happy. He rubs his face, hoping that it will be the excuse you believe is responsible for the flush on his cheeks. 

“Alright, c’mon.” 

You walk side by side with him without another word. He writes, ‘Did you have a good day?’

‘Yes. Thanks for helping me with my project.’

He nods and rubs his face again so he can have an excuse for his red face. The two of you have come a long way since a year ago. Before, you couldn’t even look at him, and now you stubbornly wait for him to walk you home. Just a little bit ago, you welcomed him into your home! His boyhood dreams of you were sickly sweet and this is hitting so close to it. 

Hitoshi would rather die than admit to any living being that he was (is) a romantic at heart. Then again…what do you feel? What do you think? Are your insides just as twisted with butterflies and heart giddy? How warm is your face when your hands accidentally touch his right now?

Curious, Hitoshi dares to take a peek at you, only to find your eyes staring directly into his. You give him a gentle smile, causing his heart to skip a beat. Do you know that you matter a lot to him? When he went off to war, he was determined to tell you goodbye, to tell you to be safe. Now here he is walking you home safely. You waited for him. 

How odd is it to look forward to seeing someone who doesn’t talk because they’re afraid? If it is strange, Hitoshi is still happy. He longs for more, he can say that now. Despite his yearning for more, he gladly takes the smallest of smiles. 

The two of you walk silently in the night, basking in each other’s presence and the comfortable silence that’s held. Hitoshi sees the stars twinkle up above seemingly shining just for them. Your eyes trail upwards and spot what he sees. 

You hum and whisper, “How pretty…”

Hitoshi’s warmth spreads at the sound of your voice. Without another thought, he says, “They are.” 

Unlike other times, you don’t tense up. Actually, your hand seems to relax even more. He can’t help himself, his wonder and curiosity are too pressing. Hitoshi flicks his fingers to touch yours. The long appendages twiddle gently. For a moment, you don’t respond. There isn’t a flinch, shriek, or giggle. Instead, your fingers graze along his, not entwining them or enticing anything. They just feel each other innocently. For Hitoshi, that’s enough. Something so innocent and visually thoughtless means a ton for him, and maybe you, too.

Suddenly, a man with scales on his hands and eyes with two lids runs past. On his hoodie is a symbol, much like the one that is left behind at every scene involving the vicious villain group that has been terrorizing the city. Immediately, Hitoshi whips you behind him. He commands, without using his quirk, “Stay here!”

He looks after the villain who turns back with an evil smile. Before he can speak, he blinks with one layer of his eyelids. He wiggles his finger side to side, telling Hitoshi no. “So you’ve heard of me?” Hitoshi teases. “I can see why you’d be scared. It doesn’t seem like you can do much.” 

The villain stops and turns around slowly. Their eyes are ablaze with malice and hate. A snarl is carved on their face, showing sharp teeth with large fangs. Hitoshi isn’t scared, but you are. Your eyes are as round as saucers and you tremble, even with you clinging onto your jacket tightly. 

“Do you have something to say?” Hitoshi asks with a teasing lilt in his voice. The villain’s chest rises and falls. “Am I wrong? You got big teeth and a few scales; is that enough?”

The villain predictably charges at him. Hitoshi has learned one thing over the years since he met Oijiro: heteromorphs can be, and usually are, sensitive about their appearance and quirk. Their belief in usefulness is derived from modern society’s praise of strong quirks rather than reality. Of course, Hitoshi understands this and has experienced these feelings himself; but not on the level they have. 

Deep inside, Hitoshi feels gross and slimy from his teasing of the villain’s quirk. Perhaps afterward, he can apologize for his harsh words. 

The villain slashes with claws and gnashes their teeth. Hitoshi continues to goad them into speaking which they hold strong with their silence. If he can get them to make a verbal sound to his question, he can stop this and hurry you home. 

As if the world is against him, the villain’s eyes go to you slowly. Immediately, Hitoshi understands the intention. “Run!” 

You are frozen stiff. He shouts for you to run again. The villain changes course and heads to you with their hand doing strange motions. Hitoshi’s eyes widen. He read their quirk wrong! 

Strong flowing water from the villain's hands head towards you with frightening speed. Hitoshi, at the same second, screams Doe’s name. Your eyebrows furrow in confusion while your eyes are still terrified. “Doe?”

A white cast covers your eyes. Hitoshi commands that you run away. He spins the knob of his mask to change his voice into a child’s.

“Huh?” That is all it took for Hitoshi to control the villain. The moment of relief is short when the last rush of water splashes on you enough for you to knock out of Hitoshi’s grip.

---

You wipe the water from your face. The lights from the police cars bounce off your wet skin. “And to think that any one of you can call yourselves competent is astounding!” You search for the screwup.

Hitoshi glares at you as you make your way to him.

“Ma’am, please calm down-” Chargebolt, Kaminari, tries to calm you down.

You pay him no mind and focus on Hitoshi. “You! You don't get to tell me what to do, first of all. And that hideous fucking quirk of yours should be landing you in Tartarus!” You poke Hitoshi’s chest. In a moment of desperation, he Brainwashed you when the villain attacked. However, you don’t see it that way and he knows this. Yet he’s growing angrier by the second.

“Hey, miss, you need to calm down.” Kaminari inches toward you.

“No! No, no, no! Here I am attacked by some maniac, and you let another one-” You push Hitoshi’s chest. “Do the same thing! This is amazing, amazing! Once again, none of you are not doing a damn thing when this jackass gets off on it.” You swallow thickly, shivering from the cold increased by your wet skin. “Every day you act like a dog wanting a bone. Just waiting for me. Staring. Welp, the dog fucking bit! You haven't changed at all. You just got better at hiding it.” You growl.

You push him again, staring heavily into his violet eyes, breathing heavily. Your legs are wobbly, and your shivering has gotten worse with the wind blowing. 

Everything is piling up once more. Hitoshi clenches his teeth. Before you can open your big mouth and piss him off further in front of all these people, he throws you over his shoulder. Kaminari leans towards him.

“Uh, Hito-” He doesn’t stay to hear what anyone has to say. Hitoshi wraps his binding cloth up on a streetlight and launches himself up. He swings on it and onto other high surfaces, completely ignoring your protests.  

On the roof of a building, he tosses you down on your bottom. You hiss in pain and stand. Before you can say anything, he growls, “I’ve had it!”

“For a year, a year, I have been repentant and what do I get? This? Damn it, (Y/n)! I thought we had passed this and headed to…God, I don’t know!”

You clench your fists painfully. Hitoshi sees that he’s dancing on all of your nerves, and he does not care. 

“I wanted to please you so, so badly. This is so fucking stupid. What am I bothering for? You’re one person. Even then, it’s not significant! No one’s opinion matters but my own.”

You start to shake, not from fear or even the chill from the water, but from anger. Hitoshi notices and presses. “Who are you anyway? I mean, here I am waiting on you hand and foot, and for what? Who the hell are you?”

“I told you from the start to leave me alone. You brought this on yourself.”

He turns to you after you speak. He’s been egging you to do it, but it’s still surprising that you did. He dramatically gasps. “What? She’s talking to me? It can’t be, no way would the goddess (Y/n) be talking to me!”

You shake your head. “I can’t believe I thought good about you.”

“Good? You called me a fucking villain! You have always seen me as one, too!” His observation is out with a roar that echoes into the night. The ground beneath them, a rooftop of an empty building on a lonely street, practically trembles. Yet you, despite being in front of Hitoshi, stand firm. 

“That’s not true! But I should have. You haven’t changed at all.” Your voice is steel and cold whereas Hitoshi is a burning flame. “I gave you chances. I trusted you and you brainwashed me. Again. For the millionth time.”

“Millionth-”

“Yes!” You protest over his disbelief, and he continues, “Oh, please! It was not a million times.”

“It was, it was! My memory is fucking shot and so is yours because you abused it.”

“Abu-? I was a kid! Dammit, (Y/n), I’m sorry for that! Ok? I. Am. Sorry! For God’s sake, woman, forgive me, already!”

You stomp your foot. “No!”

Hitoshi’s nostrils flare. “I have tried my damnedest. If you can’t see that, to hell with you. For the record, the only reason, the only reason I did what I did today, was to save you.”

Tears well in your eyes. He hopes his face shows how he feels, angry, and not how hurt he is, or how his instinctively wants to wipe the tears that silently stream down your face. 

Frustrated about it all, he leaves you on the roof.

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

He walks into the diner, expecting Doe to be closing up. “I’m here!” He shuts the door and locks it behind him. 

She comes out with a plate in her hand. “I need it to go, Doe.” She sets it in his spot and taps the counter. He slowly walks over to her. “You planning on killing me, babe?”

 “Not yet. I’ll save that for later.” On the plate is his favorite meal. He doesn’t even need to taste it to recognize who made it. He looks up at Doe for an explanation. “I know what happened between you two and I’ll say this: therapy and talking. Talk to each other, apologize, and get some therapy.”

“I already did. For a year,” he didn't tell Doe what happened. 

“No, you acted on it. You haven’t said it, have you?” He stares at her and tries to remember. He did it on the rooftop, right? 

“Both of you need to stop being prideful. That and you need to eat here more.” He raises an eyebrow. Doe explains, “She’s been making your coffee and meals every day, multiple times a day, and it’s being wasted. She’s hogging up the counter waiting for you.”

He has a small smile. Doe hums and shakes her head. “Maybe it’s just me, but I can see what’s really wrong here.”

“What is it?” The lack of trust and forgiveness? 

“Nope. A good dick session.” 

He chokes on his food and rubs his face. “This isn’t mortifying at all.” Of all things to say, she chooses that. Doe has always been a forward woman who aims high and expects nothing less. He should’ve guessed that Doe would be the type to bring out embarrassing stuff. 

“You can keep rubbing your face all you want to, but you know I’m right. Everything would be settled if you get it out of your system.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose.

“I can see how red you are, honey.”

“Oh my God…” He knows he is as red as a tomato. “It’s not gonna happen, babe. I can’t go through any of this again,” Hitoshi asks somberly, “I’m not a villain…right?” 

“No, baby. I understand why you did it again. In the back of her mind, she does too.”

It makes him feel a little better, but not enough to make him want to see you. He meant it when he said he couldn’t do it again. 

“She’s graduating soon, Hitoshi.” He takes a bite out of his food. It’s warm, not hot anymore. You must’ve left a while ago. “I know. The 23rd at the dome.”

Doe chuckles and places both of her hands on the counter. “Yeah, that weird looking building over there,” She taps the counter gently. “I can’t tell you what to do. I can’t make the pain you both feel go away. I wish I could, Hitoshi.”

He’s eaten half of his plate already. “However, since you know where she frequents, why not meet up with her?”

“I’ve been doing this for a long time just for her to spit in my face. Again.”

“I know-”

“I’m tired, Doe. What I did is wrong, yes. But I’ve tried, and nothing is working. I’ve got to let her go now.” There’s a flash of worry on her face. She interrupts again. 

“What’s it going to take? For both of you?”

His plate and mug are cleared. He places some cash on the counter. “The meal and the beautiful woman who served it.”

“And the beauty who cooked it? Second to me, of course.” He comes back to leave some more.

“Hitoshi…” He turns to leave. Right when he opens the glass door, she says, “She misses you.”

Hitoshi stops mid-step. “Every day it’s the same story. Asking where you are, are you okay, yadda, yadda. I’ve told her and I’ll tell you: talk to each other. Both of you need therapy, too.”

He doesn’t know what to do. Stupidly, that young boy in his heart is jumping. The version of him that was alive and well weeks ago is, too. You, the one he’s always watched, miss him. His grip on the knob tightens.

“Bye.”

She calls him again. “Will you at least show up? I can’t go. She won’t have anyone there. Please…please show up. She’s graduating, Hitoshi. The first in her family. She’s going on that stage and getting something that she’s worked hard for.”

He knows Doe mentioned the stage to tug on his strings. The only time you’ve been calm in front of people was your high school graduation. Even then, he was ready to save you. It was a promise he made to himself and you. Now, he doesn’t know if you can again. And you have worked hard. He has had to help you with your homework and damn, did you give it your all. 

“You play dirty, pretty.” He side eyes Doe and glares at her smug face.

“She's your girl, honey. Don't leave her on the stage.”

He snarls. “So fucking dirty.” You almost fainted at the pageant all those years ago.

“Yeah, yeah. Tell your fine-ass daddy that. He needs to come around more.”

“My dad’s married.”

“I mean the sexy one.” Hitoshi sighs, now aware of who she’s talking about. “You mean my mentor?”

She points to herself. “Fine, my daddy. Tell him I miss him. I keep trying to call him.”

“Aren’t you married?” He could’ve sworn she was married. He always assumed he was working or up in the apartment. 

“Widowed. That bastard doesn’t matter.”

“Oh my God…” Hitoshi looks at her in disbelief. She waves her hands around. “Daddy needs to stop playing. I swear I’ll change his life.”

“Bye!”

“I've hit my sexual peak!”

“Enough!”

[starlightwayfinder]

*Walks in with a skip* hey hi Ven and Lauriam brainrot au anon. Would you like to hear another idea that's been buzzing in my brain?

Okay imagine this: the boys take the lifeboat, become xehanorts victims, ven get hurt, lauriam goes insane buuuuuuuut this time lauriam is able to get them both away. And they just both so happen to end up in LoD. Ven is currently losing light and life by the minute and Lauriam is in pretty bad shape. He drags them up the stairs and bangs on the door banging for help. Cue Eraqus answering in surprise, Lauriam who is fading in and out and can't see well in the dark quietly whimpers, "Brain . . . help . . ." before collapsing in a heap with Ven held protectively to his chest.

Eraqus now worried and confused how a random kid knows his grandfathers name calls for his apprentices to help move the boys inside (I imagine Aqua is 17, Terra is 19, and Lauriam is in the middle at 18 and Ven is 12). Ven still manages to connect to Sora's heart but it takes longer than originally but Eraqus and Aqua were able to stabilize his heart before he lost anymore light. Ven falls into a mini coma and Lauriam is out for a few days.

Xehanort shows up at some point asking if Eraqus had seen two young boys, his apprentices had an accident and he's "worried." This can go one of two ways, Eraqus is an idiot and allows Xehanort to come in and see the boys knowing where they are and can manipulate the situation in his favor orrrrr Eraqus deeply concerned how Lauriam and Ven ended up in such a bad state alone at his doorstep so he lies but promises to keep an eye out.

When Lauriam wakes up his memories are fuzzy he just went into straight panic mode when he thought Ven would actually die this time. He's very wary of Eraqus and demands to see Ven refusing to leave his side sleeping in the bed and holding him to his chest. Aqua and Terra are curious about the two mysterious kids that fell on their doorstep but Eraqus keeps them at a distance seeing they've been through a shock.

Things get better when Ven wakes up but Lauriam is distressed to see how empty and traumatized Ven is. He practically has to relearn everything like a baby not just his keyblade training. Eraqus tries to bridge a tentative peace with Lauriam offering to let them stay as long as they need. Slowly Lauriam and Ven find a place for themselves becoming Eraqus' pupils, Lauriam missed having peers around his age and sparring against someone not trying to kill him is surprisingly therapeutic.

Ven recovers and seems to have no memories of the year of hell or daybreak down the union leaders or darkness. Lauriam decides to let Ven be no need to bring old demons back, having Terra and Aqua as additional support which gives Lauriam time to use the library to do research and find his sister and friends. Since Lauriam has had more training he gets to take his mark of mastery sooner and actually passes allowing him to travel and look for more clues. Xehanort eventually shows up depending on what Eraqus does to Terra and Aqua's mark of mastery and Lauriam feels a twinge of fear seeing his abuser again.

Despite his best efforts Lauriam can't stop Xehanort from interfering both in the exam and leading Ven away from home. Lauriam travels the worlds looking for Ven but is always one step behind. Luxu finds Lauriam and decides he'll be useful, this time Lauriam does make it to the keyblade graveyard in time for the final battle just like Strelitzia he can't bring himself to hurt Ven and is mostly on defense. Terra gets taken by Terranort, Ven destroys his heart and lays dying again. Lauriam is desperately trying to save Ven along with Aqua but neither notices Luxu skulking behind until he's right on top of them. Lauriam goes for the attack while Mickey and Aqua take Ven and flee.

Luxu and Lauriam go into an all out brawl but ultimately is defeated by Terranort cutting him down turning him into a nobody. But he's kept imprisoned for a bit before he officially joins the organization. When he goes to CO Marluxia doesn't understand why he feels so agitated (or what he thinks is agitation) why he wants to take the organization down but there's this burning need to. He feels drawn to Sora, he wants him as his puppet but there's a strange feeling of affection as well, he doesn't want to actually hurt him and has to resist the urge to comb his hand through his hair when standing close.

Ven's sleeping heart responds to Marluxia's presence, and Sora feels this longing pain but is also disgusted by Namines abuse. Even though Marluxia can't actively remember Ven some part of him feels he's close. He knows Ven is in danger and is ready to do anything to keep him safe even if it means being obliterated. Hiding away in the chamber of waking Ven's body sheds tears for his brother and Sora is confused when he starts crying as he prepares to go to sleep and fix his memories.

Oh hey, you did find me! 

Thank you for sending me an ask ! 🌟

I love that Lauriam initially mistakes Master Eraqus for Brain. They definitely look alike, and it would be such a shock for Eraqus that someone so young would mention his grandfather! (That would definitely raise some questions,,,)

And Aqua, helping to stabilize Ven’s heart; that sounds like such a frightening moment for all of them—especially since Terra and Aqua are so unused to having any visitors at all. (Also, it’s interesting that Terra and Aqua are closer to their BbS ages, while Ven is closer to his age in UX. I wonder if Ven and Lauriam arrived later in time?)

Hmm… if Lauriam is willing to trust Eraqus, Terra, and Aqua, he might be able to warn them about Xehanort… but there’s a lot of reasons for him to be secretive too. Either way, I think Eraqus knows to at least be cautious, so he’d probably keep them safe, for the time being. 

And it’s cool that Lauriam ends up in the final battle, even if it doesn’t end well for him… I can see how becoming closer with Ven would change his relationship with Sora later on too.

I actually have a question for you, if you’d like to send another ask:

Does Xehanort know that Ven was involved in Strelitzia’s death? If so, does he try to use that to turn Ven and Lauriam against each other?

Thanks again for sending this! Adding Lauriam into BbS makes for a very heart wrenching AU. 

[wonderousmonarch]

Kamen Rider Wizard Thoughts 7

through the power of food and dragons we can save the day

Episode 18

- there's a new gay boy in town

- I'm more impressed that Kosuke can spin a mayonnaise bottle around like that

- the dubious sogman

- this phantom looks like corn on the cob

- I love these two.

- his driver needs to spell Lion because he'll forget it

- the day they convince Haruto to try a new donut is the day Haruto unlocks his final transformation

- bros name is NOT mayonnaise

- ooh backstory time

- I hate it when I'm doing archeology in collect and then the horrors happen

- "this ring... it looks so... collectiblr and marketable"

- he was one ruin over from the stone mask

- just let Nitou finish off the phantoms

- Wiseman is making more appearances outside of his little cave

- I feel like more people would notice if there was just a guy swimming through a river

- IS THAT JK FROM FOURZE

- Nitou is intimidated by evil woman

- uh oh she rizzed him up :(

- Rock Magic Stone??

- the twink who delivers rocks

- bro just wants to sketch

- soggy wizard. wizard who sings

- they really just looped the dramatic part of the song over and over again there

- BUFFA!!! LIKE FROM GEATS

- the boys are fighting. he was convinced by a pretty girl to kill

- at least he's giving them a chance to convince him again

Episode 19

- STOP FIGHTING!!!

- FALCO! "Personally, I prefer the air"

- mayonnaise wizard

- oh yeah. Koyomi and her piss rock

- bro is yapping to a painting

- :(

- oh he didn't know the phantoms kill people

- damn this "selfless vs selfish" shit is compelling. It feels strange to throw in a character with super selfish motivations into this cast of people who are doing things because it's the right thing to do, but I like how it changes things up. idk basically I'm in love with the inner conflict that Beast has to face

- uh oh. the sogman appears

- oooh Land Dragon time... cheese wizard

- hey it's that place from Ex-Aid where Gemn uses Hyper Muteki

- the soggy ghouls

- LETS GOOO BEAST

- "Ghouls, attack!" me too

- also I didn't comment on it earlier but "it's lunchtime" is so silly

- wait beast can also go into the underworld? I was gonna ask

- I mean it makes sense but like still

- oh this thing is icky

- Koyomi with the cheese ring delivery

- oh this is probably my favorite one

- "no turning back now" what do you mean by this you rock twink

- is Beast going to be able to eat a phantom inside of an underworld?

- GRAVITY?

- DAMN THE FUCKING BEAMS

- he's gonna throw a big rock at him

- the CLAWS

- goofy aah run cycle

- the letter 🥺

- oh? this isn't going to work is it

- oh bro

Episode 20

- damn episode 20 already

- the fucking typhoon has rolled in

- new rings :)

- the spell that gets you gussied up

- "when are you gonna use that" oh Koyomi. you're in a TV show dear, the opportunity will present itself

- the steroid spells

- hi wisemannn :) I like his design

- damn Phoenix just fucking boxed those guys

- bro is having one of those "conflicts" we hear so much about

- beast in the intro :0 that goes so hard

- Peppa pig ass house

- another musical monster. they should all get together and start a band

- I feel like everyone knows who this fucking wizard is they could totally track him down and like. pipe bomb the antique store

- Beelzebub??? yeah looks about right

- oh I love them

- bro got the drip ring

- "Violence isn't the only thing I know, it's just my favorite thing to do!" oh phoenix

- man let Shunpei dance

- oh Beelzebub is using her friends against her :(

- oh yeah and Rinko is tracking down Pheonix's old identity but Beelzebub's plan is more interesting

- OH MY GOD he's fucked up and evil

- I think Rinko is about to fucking die

- he's got a nice apartment for someone who died in an eclipse

- goddamn this is so fucked up

- he's going to "ask" him. politely convince him via gunpoint

- "Hold on Shiho, these backflips are important to defeating the Phantom"

- Strong Wizard....

- BEAST TIME

- Now we're thinking with Portals...

- GOOFY freeze frame

Episode 21

- Can't wait to see how Haruto fucks this one up

- bro said "wots all this then?"

- yeah I saw that one coming

- holy shit it's that other wizard

- killer queen act 3

- his says "NOW" while Haruto's says "PLEASE" like Haruto has to ask to tap into some power while this big wizard commands it

- oh yeah Rinko is fucked

- she doesn't know he's Phoenix lol

- I like Phoenix alot

- they brought Haruto to the fucking Cathedral of Shadows... they're gonna fuse him into a more powerful demon

- oh wait they have the dragon rings on pedestals. they might actually be fusing him in the cathedral of shadows

- bro's got cybermites

- "Warn him not to let me devour him" oh Haruto you are in for a bad time im sure of it

- they're eating donuts together :)

- where the fuck is Beelzebub's base. why does he have a fucking aquarium

- oh he's still in control....

- they NEED a different clip to show other than Phoenix just fucking screaming

- mmmhmmmhmm I don't trust him

Phoenix seems super sus rn

- oooh... dragon ring

- HE'S COUNTING IN GERMAN ON HIM

- fuck yeah Phoenix. RISE! RISE! WHERE IS YOUR ANGER!

- Haruto's flashbang technique

- oh boy haruto LOCK IN

- OH IT'S A GAUNTLET! THATS SICK AS FUCK

- IT MAKES CLONES???? THIS IS SO COOL

- the fuck force 4 has arrived

- wait this is just the Four Sword from Zelda

- holy shit four dudes one dragon

- the four different "fwee"

- man someone get Beast something to fucking eat. he hasn't been able to get a meal in so many days :(

- also Rinko is fucking dying. she may have made a mistake telling Phoenix to do whatever he wants

things are heating up and I don't mean because Phoenix is freaking out. very excited to see where this goes