#tumblr fucking froze the first time I tried to post this

[bloodyknucklesforme]

❝  i’m staying.  end of discussion.  you gotta learn to let people take care of you.  ❞ with Simon "I-dont-need-anyone Ghost" Riley for the sleeping prompts pls 🥺

Tags: blood, fluff, mentions of sex

He was normally quiet coming in this late. He struggled with the key so much you thought at first it was a drunken neighbour trying to get in the wrong flat. He stumbled in eventually. Kicked off boots hitting the door of the hall closet.

He was making so much fucking noise even as he collapsed on top of you crushing your lips with his. The mask had been discarded in the hallway with the boots.

"Need you. Right now." He growled. There was something off. The arm by your head was shaking under his weight. His breathing was heavy.

"Simon..." You put both hands on his chest and pushed him back. "Stop."

He closed his eyes and sighed. His shirt was wet. You pressed against the fabric and he winced.

"Are you bleeding?" You sat up, grabbing your phone and turning on the flashlight. His grey shirt had a wet red stain towards the side of his ribs. "Simon, what the fuck?"

He gave you an angry look and pushed himself off the bed, tripping over his own feet.

"I'm not dealing with this right now," He grumbled. He looked towards the door.

"You're not leaving." You snapped. You got out of bed and turned on a light. He was pale, well paler. "Bathroom now!"

You had to grab his arm and pull him back. It wasn't hard. He almost fell on top of you. You guided him back towards your bathroom and planted him on the toilet.

He pushed your hands away as you went to take off his shirt.

"I'm fine!" He barked. It was the most coherent he sounded all night. "I don't need your fucking help."

"Was your plan to just bleed out while inside me then?" You couldn't overpower him but you wouldn't let him leave without a fight. "Let me look."

You forced his shirt up, taking the excess and pulling it over his face.

"I don't want to look at you right now." You watched his fists clench. It might have been mean.

It was mean.

He wasn't about to ruin your bed linens though. He had stitches, shitty in-the-field stitches, between two of his ribs. Two had ripped open.

You dug your first aid kit out from under the sink. He moved his shirt back down and saw you grab a bottle of disinfectant.

"I'm leaving. I'll call you tomorrow." He stood up and you pushed him right back down.

"You're staying. End of discussion. You have to learn to let people take care of you." You gathered up the disinfectant and bandages. "Did you do these yourself? They look like shite."

"I don't need-"

"Shut the fuck up or you're never fucking me again." You pointed a pair of bandage scissors at him. He huffed angrily but he stayed seated.

"You held my guts in my stomach, let me help you just once," You said softly. "Have you taken anything for the pain?"

"No." He groaned as you cleaned the blood from around his wound.

"So it's just blood loss making you act stupid." You rolled your eyes. He chuckled and followed it up with a wince.

You weren't a medic. You'd honestly received less than great training but you could take care of him. He just needed to let you do it.

You cleaned his wound and wrapped the bandages around his chest. He was lucky you had large ones.

"Please go to hospital tomorrow and get real stitches. I can't believe they let you leave with those."

"What they don't know." He shrugged.

"You're a twat sometimes. Really, you are." He was too nonchalant about the whole thing. It pissed you off. "Why would you come here like this?"

"Didn't realize I'd torn em."

"Do you get extra horny when you're bleeding or did you just want to piss me off one last time before dying."

"If this had killed me think I would have been more pissed than you." He looked at you with tired eyes. The stains from his makeup only exacerbated the dark undereyes. He never slept enough even with you. He was always up before you no matter how many rounds he went or how exhausted he was. "Was thinking about you all week. Blood loss mighta got to me. Just wanted to see you."

He reached out to brush his fingers against your thigh. You were washing the blood from your hands. You wouldn't dare to say you understood him or what went out in either skull of his. You just knew he left most things unsaid and let his eyes or hands explain. You stepped sideways so he could touch you, leaning his head against your waist.

"Thank you. Sorry if I bled everywhere."

"You were very good at keeping it contained but it better not be on the walls outside. If it is, you're cleaning it."

"Fair deal."

"Come on, let's get you to bed." You pulled him up to his feet and let him lean against you. You dropped him on his usual side of the bed and helped him get under the covers.

You fetched him water and over-the-counter painkillers. He left them sitting but drank down the water. You made sure he was comfortable before getting back in bed.

He laid his hand on your thigh, coasting it upwards. You pushed it away.

"Not tonight. I'm not dealing with more torn stitches."

"Who said I would tear more?"

"I've been underneath you before. I know how you are."

He laughed before cursing.

"Goodnight Simon."

"Goodnight, love."

He was still asleep when you woke up the next morning. Despite the pain, there was a content smile playing at the edges of his lips.

[blacksapphhicmaddonna]

CHAPTER ONE - WHAT I HAVE TO DO.

a/n: hey y'all! so, I tried to post this in response to the anon who asked for a snippet but I saved it as a draft and Tumblr ate it😭 SO THIS IS DEDICATED TO YOU, ANON, WHOEVER YOU ARE!! sorry babes!💔💖💖💖💖

its been a minute since I've written anything fully, this was fun!!! as always, please ignore any grammar/syntax/spelling. I proof read it but you feel me. I'm super excited to be writing something so long and multi chaptered and definitely out of my comfort zone! am I an action girly now? LMFAO but anyway, I'm super open to any feedback and 👀 as always, if you wanna see sum, say sum.

anyway, I love my science gays and I will stan shuriri forever. this is pretty much all angst at this point❤️‍🩹, but I truly hope you enjoy LMFAOOO. lmk how you feel.💗 (and yes, I love a good flashback real bad and ima do it every time if I can. not too much on me LMFAO)

✮ taglist: @mybonafidefeelings@zeezeecave@gr00vyminibus@lppriceisright@darkangelchronicles@princessmel-1995@xenaizogie@nanii2x, and tagging a few folks that enjoyed the sneak peak and a few shuriri/shuri/riri folks who might! @karimwillia @inmyheadimobsessed@mal-urameshi@somethingcleaverandwhitty@imjusthere2readbruv@imagineandwrite there's more but my computer glitching so we gonna get this show on the road! lmk if you'd like to join the taglist or check the link in my tagged post! love y'all, muah

✮ word count: 11,193

✮ panther divider: @firefly-graphics

✮ some of the xhosa translations are from @iinkonde! here's where you can find some of their amazing resources: 1 2 3

Shuri paced the room that seemed to be growing smaller by the millisecond around her, searching for something - anything - inside of the brain most people considered the smartest in the universe to offer the scientist in front of her. She found nothing but the desperation she had been pushing down since the moment they met.

A desperation that mirrored the effects of the herb she had reproduced, also made from the desperation to save something that she felt was slipping through her fingers at the time. Just like the herb had found its way through her body when she first took it, this feeling spread from her throat as she choked when their eyes met as she pushed herself into the dorm room she was once again standing in. Down to her chest, pulling heart strings she didn’t know she had. Plucking them in a rhythm that felt intrinsic, ancestral, almost painful in the way that they made everything feel superimposed. She resisted, but she felt her toes and she felt her finger tips and she felt the curls framing her face dance above her eyes ever so gently. It spread through every atom that comprised the panther and she could barely breathe. She felt everything and she felt nothing, like she was sinking in an ocean of clouds. She could barely look at the woman who was staring back at her with a look of confusion, and an equal desperation that she couldn't explain.

Shuri still had nothing to offer in terms of speech. She paced at a speed that had only just registered as super fucking fast, clearly adding to the concern building in Riri's eyes.

"Shuri-" Riri started, but couldn't even try to finish as her voice had triggered the awaiting and building eruption in Shuri that it always did. Riri, if she did anything to Shuri, she made her feel things she wasn't used to feeling.

"Anything you want, just name it. It's yours. I'll make it happen. I'll build it myself. Just please don't do this. Please." Shuri froze in her place, finding herself begging for something she couldn't explain. She knew she was almost yelling at the other woman, which she would never do but she couldn't find the part of her that could compose herself. She was thankful for the kimoyo beads she had scattered in the room when she entered, enabling a silencing mode and cutting through anything that the government had tapped in Riri's room.

Riri froze too, only moving to fumble with her fingers nervously. She didn't have anything to offer the panther, the queen standing in front of her. She didn't have anything to comfort her friend. The woman she loved more than she could explain. More than almost anything. 

"I don't... I don't want anything from you, Shuri... We both knew this day was coming. You had to have thought about it. I thought you were.. I don’t know... It almost felt like-"

"Please, Ri. Please. Just find something and I'll do it. I'll make it myself if I have to. Please just find something else."

"I don't want... I don't understand, Shuri. We only talked about this like twice, I didn't even think you cared that much or even had time to care about it... or me, really. Just... lets just sit down for a second." Riri tried to redirect, trying to give herself time to figure out what was going on. She felt her mind trying to run back through memories and conversations the two had shared in the past year and some change, but it was few and far between that they ever really had time to talk about their lives in depth lately. At first, they talked a lot after they had finally reconnected. They had even spent a few nights together. But lately, Shuri had been working a lot and it seemed like their connection was running dry. Riri had shared her plans a few months ago and hadn't really heard much back from the woman standing in front of her looking like she was fighting a battle she wasn't sure she'd win. Riri had committed herself to this, to showing up and doing what she felt she needed to do to make up for all the ruin she had caused - or at least what she thinks she caused. And now Shuri was trying to offer her a chance out of it. She didn't know what to do or what to think. That's something she felt often with the panther, she figured out. She had zoned out for only a split second before Shuri was grabbing her wrists and looking in her eyes.

"Riri, I'm begging you." Shuri stared into the Iron Heart's eyes, searching for something she knew she was missing. Something she needed the way she needed air, she felt. Riri searched back, trying to decipher something Shuri wasn't ready to let her see.

"Shuri, you know I feel responsible... But, I just.. I don't understand what's going on. What's wrong? Please just talk to me. It's okay." Riri tried to pull them closer, tried to grab the Panther's hand but her grip was too tight around her wrists. Shuri relaxed it, she hadn't intentionally been holding on so tight but she wasn't ready to let go. She's never been ready to let go of who she loves. She saw that same resolute look in Riri's eyes that was always there when she was sure about something. It broke something in Shuri that she knew she couldn't mend on her own. One final try, she told herself.

"I will give you anything under the sun. Please just don't go to them. Don’t go to him. I- I know you're trying to help and change things for the better, and you will. But not like this. Not until it's safe. He will find you, Riri. He will do anything to get to you and to get back at me. You know this and you still choose to go? You don’t have to make this easy for him. We can figure this out a different way. Please. I will give you access to all the technology Wakanda has to offer, just please find something else to focus on, to take place of this. Please."

Riri tried to pull her closer again but the panther moved back, sending a shiver of rejection up Riri's spine.

"I don't want anything from you, Shuri... I just want you. I- I mean I just want you to-"

Shuri felt her body getting hot and somehow freezing at the same time. Riri just wanted her? But she also wanted to go on this suicide mission, which is what it was regardless of what Riri thought of it. She fought back the defensiveness she felt crawling up her throat like it always did when she was hurt. She didn't want to lash out on Riri, she only wanted to protect her. She only wanted her to be safe, alive. She only wanted her. But it was to no avail. She felt the ferocious beast pull itself through her. She scorned herself as her words burned their way through her skin, landing on Riri's.

"You just want whatever you want. You just want to fight whatever moral war you have going on because you're the one who survived! You would give up your life for what? For who? Not for my mother! Not for me!"

Riri hadn't noticed the tears stinging down her cheeks until she saw the ones pouring out of Shuri's. It was something she had never seen before. She had seen Shuri lash out, though. She knew this was just the first wall of defense the panther had when she felt hurt, afraid, abandoned. She couldn't take this personally, though she had to fight back the sting of the words as they came at her. She reached out to try and touch the woman in front of her.

"Shuri, please. Let's just ta-"

"What?! Sit and talk? For what? For you to tell me again why you have to do this, why you have to go and die? Do you care so little for me? For yourself?"

"You know that's not true!"

"Why wouldn't it be true?! Ungayenza njani le nto kum!?"

"Please just listen to me! I don't know what's going on but we can talk about it! I'm right here, I'm right here!"

"But you won't be after this! You don't have to do this! Just let me try, let me show you that there's other things to give you purpose, there’s other ways we can handle this! PLEASE!" Shuri felt herself starting to cave in, her chest becoming a cavern filled with the screams of the orphaned girl inside of her. The girl who needed her family. The girl who couldn't save her brother. The girl who was held back from her mother as she drowned. The woman who loves women, specifically the woman in front of her who was planning to give herself up. She couldn't keep it together. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think.

"That's not for you to decide, Shuri!" Riri shot back, starting to feel the same layer of armor pull itself over her. She didn't like being yelled at. It triggered something in her that she herself had pushed back as far as it would go. She just needed to get Shuri to listen to her.

"I don't care! You can't do this Riri!"

"Please stop yelling at me!" Riri gave in, covering her ears and turning her back to the panther, who felt herself go still. She hadn't meant to unleash this part of herself. She felt embarrassment mixing with her desperation, afraid she had only made things worse. Who was she to be trying to control the actions of a woman she only met a little over a year ago? Who she was just friends with, and barely that if you based it off what normal friendships looked like. They rarely even spoke for longer than a few minutes every couple days and that wasn’t even true anymore. Shuri scorned herself for the time she hadn’t spent with her, for the time she had been forced to spend trying to fix, defend or save her country. She resented her royal blood now more than ever, wishing she could be nothing more than a girl again. Maybe a student. Maybe just different. Shuri felt herself starting to crack, she felt like she would disintegrate if she stood there any longer. She had done enough damage. She and Wakanda and the Talokan had put Riri through enough and she knew that. She could see why Riri would think this guilt was hers to bare but Shuri knew better, knew more secrets. She knew that her father and his father and so on hadn’t handled things right, and no matter the good T’Challa had tried to do - maybe he didn’t do it right either. So now it laid in her hands, forced once again to stand in the way of something she wasn’t ready for. She felt bad for herself, but she felt worse for Riri. She wishes she had never sent her home with the beads, that they had never touched hands, that they had never even met. Maybe if no one ever knew about Vibranium, no one would be trying to take it. Or maybe if the world had always known, if her ancestors had done things differently, this wouldn’t be Riri’s life. She was part of the lost tribe, as N’Jadaka would call it. Maybe he was right. She didn’t know what to think, but she also knew who she was, herself. She was the most powerful person on the surface world and she was the Queen of the most powerful nation in the world. And she was in love, helplessly, with Riri Williams. She would not let her go again.

"I am sorry for coming here and making you upset." Shuri said blankly, masking any emotions she had just shattered into the room as best as she could to regain any self control she had left.

Riri turned around, tears still swelling in her eyes. She hiccuped and it made Shuri's heart pound.

"I-it's okay. I just don't like b-being yelled at. Can we just sit and talk?"

Shuri nodded, knowing Riri needed a minute. Riri turned to grab a blanket off her bed to wrap herself in as she took a seat on the floor in front of her bed. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths before motioning to Shuri to sit next to her. Shuri stared at her for a moment too long, before kneeling down next to her. They sat in silence that wasn't comfortable for the first time in a long time. Neither missed this feeling, the feeling of such uncertainty between them. Sure, it was always there, biting at the backs of their minds and hearts. But they had both worked hard to be comfortable with just having what they had. But now more than ever, neither was sure what was really going on. Shuri mirrored Riri, taking a few deep breaths. Riri felt herself relax, misreading the quiet sigh Shuri let out.

"Are we okay? I don't want us to fight. I just... need you to help me understand why you're so upset. It didn't seem like you even really cared about this. I know you've been busy with what you have going on so I just figured this... I.. wasn't really on your radar anymore."

Shuri stayed silent, fighting that feeling nudging her.

"Please say something." Riri pleaded quietly after a few too many more moments of silence. She couldn't stand it. Neither could Shuri. She needed to escape. Get out of the room, out of America. She needed to run and scream and break something. She needed to kill Namor. That was her only option, once again. She knew it would come. She knew the fate of her country would be in the air again, and part of her knew she shouldn’t do it. Equal parts yes and no. Blood on either hand, regardless of what choice she made. But she also knew that Riri's life was once again in question and there was only one answer Shuri would accept. She would deal with the aftermath the same way she had been. She would accept whatever came. She knew she wasn't thinking clearly, that maybe she would be exiled or worse, but she also knew she couldn't live with herself if Riri wasn't alive tomorrow, and that was enough for her right now. If Riri wouldn't listen, then there was only one choice.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you, Riri. It won't ever happen again."

Riri was startled at the sincerity in the Panther's voice. She was confused why that was what Shuri felt she had to focus on in the midst of whatever the hell was going on.

"It's okay, I promise. I'm not mad at you for yelling at me. I'm just confused..."

"It's not okay. This, whatever you're planning, whatever he's planning... None of this is okay." Shuri said, pinching between her eyes as she tried to swallow the same beast from just a few minutes ago.

"Shuri... it's not like before. It's not about him. It's not even just about what happened in Wakanda. You know I'm Iron Heart. You knew I was going to start doing these things at some point. Missions that weren’t just flying around Chicago and Boston stopping robberies. And you know that something has to be done. And I can’t let this go on again when we all know it’s my fault.” Riri sighed. “We all know it is. So, please just try to hear me..."

"I have always heard you, Riri."

Riri digested that sentence with a gulp. She replied after a moment.

"Then let me hear you, for once. Tell me why you're here. Tell me why you're reacting like this. Tell me who you are and what you're feeling. Let me in, Shuri." She said, reaching out to grab Shuri's hand again. The Panther's hand was hot, almost burning. She didn't pull away this time.

"I'm here because I lo-.. Because I won't let this happen." Shuri caught herself before she said something she couldn't explain. Riri looked into Shuri's eyes with a pleading, less sure look. Shuri couldn't hold it this time. She couldn't freeze. She couldn't tell Riri. She reminded herself what happens every time she loves someone. She reminded herself of what she was capable of and what needed to be done. Regardless if Riri ever shared her feelings or not, she would swear her life to protecting the woman until the day she met the ancestors and maybe after if she could. She would do whatever it took, every time, no matter what, she resigned to herself. She squeezed Riri's hand.

"What're you gonna do? Lock me in my room, Shuri? I don't get what's going on!" Riri pleaded.

"I would never. You are not a prisoner or someone I want to control. You are free to do as you please, just as I am. Please understand that much."

"What does that mean... Wait, please don't go!" Riri tugged back at Shuri's hand again as the Panther got up to leave. Shuri looked down at their hands touching, taking in every second that their skin touched. She remembered what it felt like to reconnect after a long time apart. She wishes she could live in it like she had before. She brought their foreheads together and closed her eyes.

"I will protect you with every part of me. The cost will never be too much."

"Shuri, please don't do what I think you're about to do..." Riri pulled Shuri's hands into hers and brought them to the sides of their faces. They were so close they could feel each other's breath on their lips. Riri prayed in her head that Shuri would listen to her, knowing the strength and power the woman in front of her wielded. Shuri choked out a pained laugh before kissing Riri's forehead and pulling away, taking in the scent of Ghanian Shea Butter and the sweet scent Riri always had.

"Andizukuphulukana nawe. Impilo yami ngeke ibe lutho ngaphandle kwakho, Riri Williams."

Before Riri could open her eyes, the Black Panther was gone, the sound of a closing door shaking Riri to her core. She felt like she was in shock, having nothing to do but curl into a ball and pull the blanket around her body, covering her face as she let the rest of the tears fall silently. She laid there for what felt like an eternity until she heard a familiar voice call out to her.

"Miss Williams?" Riri jumped up, running around her room tracking down the voice. She picked up a purple and black kimoyo bead and held it up, suddenly seeing several others connect like magnets from across the other corners of the room.

"Griot?!" Riri both yelled and whispered.

"Hello, Miss Williams. Are you feeling alright?" Griot asked as the AI began taking a scan of her body to check her vitals.

"I've been better... what's going on? Why are you here? Not that it's not nice to... well you get what I mean!"

"It seems you have suffered a panic attack of sorts. Please get some water and take a seat before I proceed."

Riri rolled her eyes with a tired huff, giving in because she knew Griot wouldn't budge until she obliged. She grabbed a half empty bottle of water from her desk and sat back down near her bed, pulling the blanket up around her. She suddenly felt the absence of Shuri in her space and fought back the tears threatening to make way through her as she pulled the bracelet on, watching it activate. She had felt this way before, but it was different now.

"Feeling better, Miss Williams?"

"Just Riri is fine, and I guess. Can you explain what's going on now, please Griot?"

"Yes, Miss Riri." Griot replied as a hologram of Stark Tech floated in front of the scientist. She felt even more confused.

"Why are you showing me Stark Tech?"

"The panther has created and assigned your own AI for you, it's name is VIV. It is nearly identical to the JARVIS, or Vision, that Tony Stark had. It has been being developed for over a year, and seems to have just finished."

"What the fu-"

"The Panther also has an updated version of your vibranium Iron Heart suit on it's way to your lab location, or garage currently. She has given you access to me as well, with some restrictions. She has instructed me to inform you of this when the AI download is complete."

Riri sat in even more shock than she was in before. She was even more confused about Shuri's intentions now. More confused about her feelings, than anything. She replayed the words the panther had said to her before she left, she knew some Xhosa but it wasn’t great. 

"Can you translate what Shuri said to me in Xhosa before she left, Griot?" Riri asked, hoping for some clarity. Griot calculated for a moment, before answering.

"It would seem I am not permitted to complete that task at this time, Miss Riri."

Riri felt a pang of frustration rise in her, as she let out a laugh.

"Of course not... Can you tell me where the panther is right now?"

Griot took a moment again before answering.

"The Queen was on her way back towards Wakanda as of her last status, but it would seem she has powered off her location devices. Would you like me to contact her for you?"

Riri sat for a moment, considering her options and her own feelings.

"No, that's alright Griot. We're going to my lab. Can you help me boot up VIV when we get there? We're going on a trip."

"As you wish, Miss Riri."

Riri stood up, grabbing a hoodie and sliding on some J's. Before she walked out the door, she slid on the kimoyo beads and asked a final question.

"Oh, one last thing Griot. Can you turn on privacy mode? I would like my location hidden from everyone, including the Panther. Can you do that?"

"It seems I can, but I would not advise that action Miss Riri. There are safety protocols in place that the Panther can activate for you remotely."

"That's fine, just turn it on. I have my own safety protocols."

"As you wish, Miss Riri."

"Thank you, Griot."

Riri made her way to her garage in no time, paying no mind to the world around her or the messages on her phone from MJ about their project. When she got there, she did decide to shoot her a quick text explaining that she was heading home to Chicago for a family emergency, that MJ could find her portion already done on a small drive in her room and that she had permission to break in, and that she would make it up to her later. MJ did reply, but Riri didn’t have time for that. She got to work, with the help of Griot, or the portion of him that she was allowed to operate, and booted up her own AI and implemented it into her nano suit. The one from wakanda was on its way but wouldn’t be there in time. Thankfully, she didn’t have to meet with Namor for another day and a half. She needed to think quickly but after working everything out with her suit, she was unsure where to go from there. 

“Griot, can I use both you and VIV?” 

“Yes, but you likely will not need me once the AI is turned on. I will be there when you need me, though Miss Riri.”

“Thank you Griot.” Riri smiled to herself, always fond of Griot and their robot voice. It made her think about the time she spent in the lab with Shuri, where they would borderline argue and Riri would laugh at them. This brought back that pang in her stomach and chest. She got to work on turning on and engaging with the AI so that it could mold to her needs, voice and patterns. After about an hour, she felt ready to head off. Except she had no idea how to get to Wakanda, let alone how to get in. She ruffled through her bookbag to find the information Namor had sent for her. A small teal envelope with her name on it, looking like it was written with a quill and ink. She shuddered at the thought of how old this man was and how intentional he had been to get this note to her. She opened it and read over it again, hoping to find more information than last time. Then, an idea came to mind.

“Hey VIV, and Griot, not that I don’t think you can handle it by yourself VIV. But uh, can you both scan this for me? I don’t have my Black light. Look for anything and everything. Cross reference what you find, if anything. Please.” 

“Yes IronHeart.” “Yes, Miss Riri.” They both answered in tandem. While they got to work, Riri sat down finally to think about what she could do. She couldn’t exactly call up the avengers to help her figure this out. She had to be lowkey, she had to be smart, and she needed it to work. She had only been to Wakanda once, and wasn’t really in the know about how to travel there let alone get through the border forcefield. As she went over all she did know, trying to remember any details that would help, the AI duo alerted her. 

Griot speaking first, since VIV seemed to sense a deeper trust from the IronHeart’s patterns. 

“There are markings on the back that would indicate a geolocation where Namor would like you to meet.”

“So, coordinates? I can work with that.” Riri said out loud, still trying to figure out exactly how she could work with that. Until she looked over at her father’s red car, in pristine condition thanks to Shuri. And it dawned on her. 

“Griot, do you have contact information for anybody besides Shuri?”

“I have contact information for Queen Shuri, and Okoye, former general of the Dora Milage.”

“Perfect. Please contact her now.”

“Yes, Miss Riri.”

“Wait, before you do, please transfer this contact information over to VIV. I’m not sure if Shuri knows that I have VIV yet, but in case she does, I don’t doubt that she would shut you down.” Riri explains to her favorite robot as if they needed it. Griot complied and sent a call out to Okoye.

Riri waited, holding her breath. She wasn’t sure is Okoye would answer, or even be willing to help. But this is what she had to work with. 

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Okoye answered.

“Small girl. Is everything alright?” Okoye answered seeming cheerful enough to hear from the girl but not without worry for the cause. Riri took a deep breath and explained the situation, truthfully, to the best of her ability. Somehow, as a surprise to both of them, Okoye was on her way in a matter of minutes as a Midnight Angel, with a jet that Shuri had let her keep. They both knew Shuri would be upset, but somehow it didn’t matter enough to let her get to Namor. They both knew what could happen, and what Shuri would likely do. 

No time was wasted when Okoye arrived, Riri running in the open hatch as fast as she could. Okoye pulled off without a trace, both of them hoping they hadn’t alerted any American law enforcement this time.

Okoye charted course for Wakanda and they both sat in near silence for most of the ride, only sharing a few words when Riri boarded, Riri showing Okoye the letter before she began piloting. They would make it in time. Riri sat near the back, not feeling like she belonged at the mantle of the machine. She had always liked these, having begged Shuri to teach her how to fly one before they set off for war. Riri sunk into her feelings that she had been trying to keep at bay since finding out about the AI. Before Shuri came, she honestly really wasn’t sure what she was going to do or how she was going to do it. But it seemed like the timing would suggest that she was supposed to, whether she really wanted to believe that or not. She didn’t want to believe that she was this horrible monster who brought death and destruction with her everywhere she went, but sometimes she really did. She tried to fight those thoughts back and began to feel the weight of her body, sinking into the seat. Sinking was a familiar feeling to her. She tried to remember how to swim in her own thoughts. She remembered how Shuri would talk her through her episodes. How she would call right away when she sensed anything off, even if Riri wasn’t wearing her beads. She remembered how it felt to think everything would be okay, and how often that was proved to be untrue. 

It was too easy to remember. Too easy to feel like it was just yesterday. Riri couldn't keep her mind from wandering back in time while the Wakandan jet made its way through the air. Trying to focus on anything else, trying to pay attention to the Dora silently flying or guarding the exit, trying to watch the sky around her. Anything. She couldn't bite down hard enough on the inside of her cheek, leaving a sore mark wasn't enough to keep her mind from its current occupation. 

"What are you doing here?!" The shorter of the two screamed, almost screeched as she ran into the panther's arms. 

"I had some time to myself finally. Where else would I go?" Shuri chuckled as she picked the scientist up. 

"You could literally go anywhere in the world and probably... out of the world? At this point with Wakandan tech." Riri explained, seriously, as she hung onto the slim but toned body holding her off the ground with ease, not realizing she was holding on as tight as she was. Not realizing there was nowhere else Shuri would have gone. Nowhere. 

"You're so... anyway, what should we do?"

"How long do we have?" Riri asked as she pulled back, not even trying to contain her wide grin that was plastered across her face. Shuri recorded it to memory, as she always did with the smaller woman's features. 

"96 hours. Well, 96-ish, less now that we've been standing here debating where I could've gone." Shuri jokes as she lets go, making sure Riri found her footing. 

"Shut up! Four days?! We have so much to do!" Riri definitely screeched this time, pretending to slap Shuri's arm. Fighting the urge to grab it and pull her in, Shuri picks up Riri's book bag from where she dropped it and places it in her desk chair as she walks to the bed and pulls her own bag out from under the bed.

"Exactly how long have you been here? You seem comfortable." Riri jokes as she grabs two waters from her mini fridge and hops up on her bed. 

"I am." Shuri chuckles at the sight of the shorter woman having to jump to get on the bed. "And since your first class."

"Are you serious?! Why didn't you say anything dickhead?!" 

"Ouch!" Shuri feigns pain as she catches the pillow Riri throws at her head and plops on the bed next to her. "I had a few things to handle, and needed to secure the dorm building. I didn't want to disrupt your day, I know midterms are coming up no?"

"Yeah, they are but you could've let a bitch know! I would've cleaned!" Riri states, noticing that she sounds much like her mother. 

"I like your mess." Shuri smiles. 

"Shut up. How did you secure the whole dorm building?"

"Well, I hope you don't mind. I have beads in every corner of the building. And a few around campus as well. Including in here. Is that alright with you?"

"Sheesh. Do I have a choice?" Riri jokes, but Shuri nervously answers.

"Yes of course! If it's not comfortable for you, I can sleep at a hotel. I should've asked, I'm sorry about that. Next time I'll-"

"There's a next time too?"

"Well, if you'd li-"

"Are you crazy?! Of course! And yeah yeah, that's all fine with me. I get it. Don't start worrying about it or nun. I was just curious."

Shuri's smile returns and she relaxes back into the bed. It was oddly comfortable, being that the last time she was here was before the war. Sure, they'd been talking for months over facetimes and calls. And texts. And letters.. oddly, but not to them. They were both truly as desperate as they felt, but excused it since it seemed mutual - opting to call it a mutual interest in friendship, as opposed to what it really was in the bigger picture. And sure, they had seen each other one other time, but it was so brief that it shouldn't really count - although it did, to both of them. 

Shuri had arrived at an American event in Boston, forced to show face by the elders after the uproar surrounding her mother and everything. She felt it was too soon and didn't make sense to attend a tech gala when none of it was even touching Wakandan tech. But regardless, she put on her best suit and went, disregarding the elder's request for her to wear traditional royal attire. She sat there, wishing she hadn't come, while big investors droned on. The only part that peaked her interest was listening to the stories of young inventors. They reminded her of herself, so excited and in a hurry. They reminded her of someone else too. Someone she had been longing to see since she left Wakanda only a few months ago at the time. 

Shuri muddled around the thought of calling Riri, or just showing up at her dorm. She knew she had responsibilities to attend to the next afternoon after she returned home, and it really hadn't been that long. Maybe Riri wasn't ready to see her yet? Or maybe she never would be. Or maybe Shuri had really made their connection up in her own mind. Or maybe she didn't? And maybe she should just call her, or maybe send her a quick text to keep it more casual? Keep what, casual exactly? She wasn't sure. She paced around her own mind anxiously the entire night, not realizing it was her turn to speak until the Doras were next to her asking if she was alright. She collected herself and headed to the stage, performing a speech much like her brother had about the importance of innovation, supporting the youth - especially the Black and Brown youth, etc. She meant what she said but she hardly felt as connected or present with it as she was when she wrote it. Still circling her mind was her favorite innovator, the scientist who made everything make sense to her. Pining so badly, by the end of her speech she had resolved to call Riri. Faking her smiles through the eruption of clapping and handshakes as she left the stage, she made her way back to her seat while the closing speech began - only to lose her resolve when Ayo bent down to whisper a reminder of their exit plan and their intended arrival time back in Wakanda. 

She had known it was a foolish thought. Who even knew what the small scientist would be doing at this time? She could be working, studying, partying. God, Shuri hoped not but recoiled at her own thoughts. She wasn't heteronormative and she wasn't the toxic type. She just also felt jealous of anybody and anything that got to be around Riri when she wasn't. Which was most times. Essentially all the time. Really, she reasoned with herself, she had only been around Riri for a few days and it had been against her will anyway. Maybe she really was making all of this up in her head. 

The Queen of Wakanda continued her mental pace as she made her exit, later than most guests and certainly not from the front entrance. She walked through the beautiful building with the Doras who were talking amongst themselves about logistics, seemingly all having caught onto another one of Shuri's "moods". Shuri paid them no mind, as they expected, while she began brooding. What was the point of coming to America, aside from like... the actual point, politically - if not to see her scientist? She caught herself scoffing at "her scientist", making fun of herself in her head as they headed outside and around the back when the Doras suddenly stood alert around her. Shuri looked around her and back at her beads quickly, doing a quick scan of their surroundings, only to hear a small, out of breath "Hey" from her left.

"Williams?"

"Yeah, yeah.. haha. Hoo. Crazy catching you here." Riri joked awkwardly as she tried to catch her breath from clearing having run.

"Yes, well I was-"

"Giving a speech. I saw on tv. Just happened to be in the neighborhood myself so I figured I'd uh, say hi." Riri cut the Panther off as she caught her bearings and finally made eye contact. Shuri made contact back, silently signaling for the Dora to drop their guard. Ayo looked between them but of course followed command. Shuri stepped between them and closer to the scientist, who was now twiddling her fingers and looking anywhere but at Shuri. Just like she did in Wakanda. Just like Shuri had replayed in her head a billion times over. While Shuri took the absence of eye contact as a chance to damn near gawk at the smaller woman, Riri was doing her own mental laps. 

She also questioned her intentions and if she had been making this all up. She also questioned how crazy she must look, showing up here like this. She couldn't stop herself, leaving MJ, Peter and Ned in her OWN room after they had been flipping through channels and Riri caught a glimpse. That was all it took, one, maybe two seconds and she was out the door. And granted, she kind of was in the neighborhood. If you consider being four miles away in the neighborhood. She had considered grabbing her car from the garage but figured it would take too long, so she jumped in her nano suit her and Peter had been working on (that definitely still needed some work), and flew over. Of course she couldn't land in front of everyone, so she landed in a park a few blocks away and took off on foot. None of which she will EVER tell anybody, although she could barely remember her excuse to the three friends she left in her dorm as she forced herself to look back up and meet Shuri's eyes. 

"In the neighborhood?"

"You could say that." Riri joked awkwardly again.

This made Shuri laugh. Riri had that effect on her, she had learned during their late night lab sessions. Even in the midst of the grimmest of days and a literal war, Riri had Shuri laughing so hard she cried a few times. They both seemed to be thinking back while they laughed together and smiled at each other shyly until Ayo cleared her throat. 

"We must get going, Kumkanikazi." Both women seemed to jump a bit, having been pulled out of their staring contest. Riri shuddered at hearing Shuri be called that, she recognized it from when Okoye would speak about Queen Ramonda. She had done her best to pick up on as much of the language as she could when she was there, for some reason unknown to her - she just figured it would come in handy. But now, hearing it and knowing it meant Queen, shook her to her core. She remembered why she hadn't reached out, the guilt that sat in her bones about it. She nearly turned on her heels until she heard Shuri speak. 

"One moment please."

"My Queen, we really must-" Ayo begun speaking in Xhosa but was cut off by the Panther Queen. 

"Please. One moment." Shuri said, a command but almost begging, not turning to face the general one step to the side of her. She pulled at the necklace around her neck and Ayo nodded silently. 

"I will ready the jet." Ayo answered and turned around, her and the two other Dora briskly walking to the jet that was just now coming into Riri's focus. She assumed it was using the new camouflage tech she had heard mentioned before she left Wakanda. 

"Those things get cooler every time."

"Yeah, I suppose they do." Shuri laughed half heartedly. They both tried to speak but cut each other off.

"So-"

"I do-"

"You first." They both sheepishly smiled as they spoke in unison. but Riri insisted. "Go ahead, please." 

Shuri would've resisted if she wasn't so desperate and struggling against showing it. 

"How have you been? I've mis- I've been wondering. We haven't spoken since you left." Shuri caught herself, suddenly feeling like twiddling her fingers and looking at her shoes too but she resisted that too. She was good at resisting. 

"Oh.. well yeah. I've been. You know, school, work. Just been trying to get through the semester. I wanted to re- well I wondered how you've been too."

"I've been, too." Shuri shrugged with a smile. She wanted to know more, everything. To devour the stories Riri could tell her, even the most mundane. She wanted to know what pencils she used to write equations and what she thought of the food in her cafeteria. Riri just smiled, feeling the weight again. She knew Shuri hadn't been good, and she knew she hadn't either. 

"Can I ask you-" They both spoke in unison again. 

"You first." Riri insisted again, before Shuri could. Shuri didn't like it but she also didn't have much time to waste. 

"Why didn't you reach out?" She asked, leaving Riri out of breath all over again. After a second that seemed like a million, Riri answered.

"I didn't know how." She said truthfully. 

"I left you beads. Maybe I should've left a note too. I'm sorry, I figured you'd-"

"No, no. Not like that. I figured that out, it was actually pretty easy." Riri smiled, thinking about how much fun it was to try to get the beads to work. Fun until it wasn't. Fun until she heard Shuri's voice message and left it for months.

"Then you didn't want to?"

"No, I did. I just didn't know... how. I didn't know what to say, or how to say it. But trust me, I wanted to. I really wanted to." Riri said earnestly and more quiet than she intended. Shuri believed her and took her answer, even if she didn't like it. Again resisting herself. Resisting Riri. 

"I understand. Thank you for letting me know. Well..." She looked back at the Jet and sighed. They made eye contact before Shuri decided it would be best to count her losses in her own country, turning to leave. 

"Wait, I still have a question!" Riri almost shouted. "If that's okay... of course." She said more quiet. Shuri turned around eager to hear. Hoping. Resisting. But hoping. She nodded her head.

"Well..." Riri twisted her fingers around in her hands. She still didn't know what to say or how to say it. But she didn't have much time to waste. 

"Well?" Shuri asked, trying not to sound pushy but anxious to know. 

"Is it too late?" Riri asked, looking back up at the woman in front of her. The face she had committed to memory, but a bit different. More mature. Somehow even more beautiful. Shuri said nothing.

"...To reach out... To talk?" Riri finally drove it home, sending a silent prayer to whoever would answer that she wouldn't further embarrass herself. 

Startling the both of them, Shuri's beads lit up and Ayo's face appeared. 

"My apologies my Queen, but if we do not leave in the next three minutes, you may be late to your engagements tomorrow."

"Yes, thank you. I'm coming." Shuri said back, eyes still on Riri. 

Riri felt defeated as she watched the panther tuck her beads back up her sleeve. It probably was too late. And who knows. Maybe it was the right thing to do to not stay in contact. Maybe that's what was best for Wakanda or Shuri. She remembered her mother always telling her that sometimes "doing the right thing feels like shit". In this case, she thought, it felt worse than shitty.

That was until Shuri grabbed her hand. Softly, almost too soft in comparison to what you'd expect from a super powered panther. It was so soft yet sent a shiver through Riri, like electricity was coursing through her. Like her heart was beating for the first time. The eye contact was somehow not as awkward as it was a second ago when they were standing a few feet apart. It was like they were all alone.

"Use the beads. If they need to charge, just set them in the sun but they shouldn't."

"Oh- Okay. I will. I will." Riri said twice, almost like she was confirming with herself first and the Shuri.

"Good." Shuri smiled. She took a step closer before she heard another beep on her own beads. Before the General could speak, Shuri was already responding. 

"I heard you. I'm coming."

She looked at Riri again and sighed, and suddenly Riri saw just how exhausted the Panther really was. And maybe something else too. Shuri stepped back again, not wanting to let go of Riri's hand. 

"It'll never be too late. I'll see you soon?" Shuri said, finally letting go and letting the physical distance regrow between them, hoping that the emotional distance wouldn't grow again too. 

Riri watched as the panther walked back to the jet and boarded, looking back only once, only long enough to catch Riri's small wave but not return it. The younger scientist stood there feeling disassociated, unsure of what to do next. Really, she knew she had to go back to her dorm and go back to living her real life just like she had after she left Wakanda. Although, as dreary as that still seemed to her, this time felt different. Like there was something to look forward to, if she had the balls to actually use the beads like Shuri had said. She mulled over whether or not it was an instruction or a question from the Panther as she chose not to watch the jet fly off behind her. She heard the media start to buzz again when they heard the jet, upset that they had missed the person they were waiting for. Yet, Riri stood there and stared at the ground where Shuri was just standing. She still felt that pathetic feeling, and worried that she hadn't had a chance to explain how she found Shuri or even knew she would be there. She felt the weight of grief again, after seeing how tired Shuri looked when you really looked at her. And she felt guilty, for feeling excited. For feeling the butterflies she always pretended she didn't feel. She wondered, briefly, how Shuri was feeling right now but per usual, tried not to wonder too much as to not become delusional. She knew better than anybody that assuming to know how someone else thinks is the worst mistake you can make. 

Shuri, back in the jet that was flying faster than she would like, was afflicted by similar thoughts. She wondered how Riri had found her and wondered if she really was as lucky as that just felt. She wondered why the girl even came. She wondered if she thinks about her too. She wondered if Riri would use the beads. She sat awake, replaying every moment of their time together since their first encounter over and over until they arrived in Wakanda, despite the Doras concerns for her not getting rest. Shuri would rest when things were well enough for her to rest, she told herself, but even she was starting to notice the cracks. She knew she could only stay awake for so many days until her body would shut down. She had secretly tried some of the elixirs and teas that both Nakia and Aneka had sent her, and she had read what Okoye sent her after hearing everything. She had slept every now and then, but it was never restful. It was never without torment from some figment of her mind taking shape of someone she wasn't ready to face - whether that be Namor, N'jdaka, or her mother. She always prayed for T'Challa to appear, who she wasn't sure if she was ready to see but longed for the comfort of his voice or face, but each time her body fell asleep, her mind fell into a well pit of despair. 

That is, until later that night. Shuri had been through her daily responsibilities after making it back to Wakanda. Once her meetings were over, she made her way to the lab. She did her best to avoid checking the status of Riri's beads, trying to keep her mind busy as she usually did. It was harder this time, knowing that she'd actually spoken to the girl. After bopping around a bit, her body started to feel the weight of the past few days. She hadn't been physically training as much as she should've the past few weeks, because she knew it would knock her out but she was starting to feel stiff. She finally let up and sat down at one of her desks in a back room of the lab after Griot had let her know her vitals. She didn't usually sit in this room, so she hadn't been aware of what was placed in there. As she lazily sifted through the papers on the desk to try to keep her mind occupied, she saw blueprints for Riri's Iron Heart suit. The same feeling of nervousness and excitement rose in her as she more hurriedly looked over them. Despite all the work they did together, she never really got to see too much of Riri's initial process from scratch. She ran her slender fingers over Riri's pencil marks, reading over all her notes to herself. 

With a yawn, Shuri sat back and relished in the fact that Riri actually existed. Sometimes, when Shuri was really out of it, she couldn't believe that everything really happened. She was sometimes convinced she would wake up and her mother would still be here, or that Riri was just a figment of her desperate imagination. Sure, having her mother back would be... well, everything. But it scared Shuri to think Riri might not have been real, that she didn't really happen. She felt selfish for this, knowing that Riri's life would probably be better without the trauma she endured in Wakanda. But nevertheless, Shuri held on tight to the memories she had of the woman, hoping that they would be enough for her. 

She thought about how it felt to hold Riri's hand, to touch her skin again. It was just as soft and delicate as it had been when they parted ways a few months ago. Her face looked the same, maybe more mature in some ways. She looked tired too, underneath the face she put on for other people. They had gotten past that with each other during their long nights alone working together in the lab. 

She thought about what it would feel like to fall asleep in Riri's bed. The mattress probably wasn't super comfortable but she remembers all the colorful pillows she has, messily strewn across the surface. The different colored blankets would probably fit them both well, even with the little space a twin bed supplies. They would have to be close, touching. Shuri imagined breathing in sync, feeling Riri's ribcage rise and fall in her arms while they were pressed against each other. She thought about how Riri smells. She's been trying to replicate it for months. She thought about breathing her in, laying her face in the crook of her neck and sleeping. Not thinking. Sleeping. Not even having to dream. She thought about waking up next to her, seeing her sleeping still until Shuri shifted too much by accident. Riri waking up and no doubt saying something funny. Or soft. Or just saying hello. How her eyes would look. She thought about not being afraid to make it real, that in her thoughts she didn't have to pretend that these touches were by accident or out of necessity. That they could spend an eternity, wrapped in colorful blankets, sleeping and touching skin to skin. That maybe Riri would feel the same, and they would laugh about how long it took to figure it out. That they would laugh until they couldn't, and talk until they couldn't, and then they would kiss. And everything would melt away, and neither would know where their skin would begin or end. And they would kiss until they couldn't. And they'd sleep. 

She hadn't realized she had fallen asleep at the desk until she heard Griot's voice. 

"Sorry to startle you, Panther. But, Miss Williams is trying to contact you. How would you like me to proceed?"

Shuri was shook, unsure of what she looked like or even what time it was. She felt nervous. She felt groggy, not even sure if this was real either. Nevertheless, she answered. 

"Patch me through, please."

She waited a moment with bated breath, hoping this wasn't a dream or some fluke. Until she heard a familiar voice.

"Hello?" Riri asked, sounding nervous herself. Shuri wondered what time it was there, too. 

"Hey." She said, in a more relaxed tone. Even if this wasn't real, it was still the best dream she'd had in months. Maybe ever.

And they talked, for a long time. Eventually working through any awkwardness. Riri never explained how she made it to the Panther, and the Panther never asked. She did explain, however, why it took so long for her to call. Shuri just listened and let herself laugh, like she'd been dreaming about. Finally feeling free for a little bit, even if it was just for a little bit.

On the other side of things, once Riri had cleared everyone out of her room when she got back and promising to explain to MJ later, she had sat down and thought about what to do. That turned into pacing and talking outloud. She had been avoiding the beads like the plague for months, unsure of what to do. Unsure of what choice would cause the least harm, since she already felt guilty for what she had caused. She found herself awake all night feeling anxious. She left for class that morning, deciding that she would get through her day and take a nap. She would figure it out after that. What she didn't tell Shuri, is how hard its been to sleep since she left Wakanda, or really even how hard it was while she was there. But when she tried to take a nap, she realized that all she dreamed about this time was Shuri and how soft her hand was when they had touched and how peaceful it felt to talk to her, even if only for a few moments and only a few words. She decided when she woke up that even if they ended up never talking again, she would keep her promise and use the beads.

And that's what she did. And that's what they kept doing, for weeks and months. They talked, they listened, they laughed, and on rare occasion, fell asleep. Both free from nightmares, even if just for a little while. Until Shuri finally arrived.

And finally, they had some time to really figure things out. Shuri promised she wasn't missing anything important by being there, and that she had allotted enough time. Riri was still unsure about it but couldn't resist the opportunity to finally see the woman she had been pining over for months - as a friend, of course. 

As Riri remembered back fondly, she had forgotten what was ahead of her until she was jolted by turbulence that was usually well controlled by the Wakandan tech in the fighter jet. She couldn't process how she could possibly be on her way to confront the man that almost killed her and did actually kill the Queen of Wakanda. She couldn't fathom that she was racing there, against her love, her best friend, to make sure she didn't kill him first. Suddenly her clothes all felt too tight, and her suit felt heavy despite being nano. Suddenly the air felt hot and her lungs felt empty and she felt dizzy. She had felt all of this before, a panic attack. Riri Williams was no stranger to a panic attack. Not before Wakanda, and definitely not after. Though, for the past few months, she had always had Shuri to help ground her. Now, she was floating in the air, literally and figuratively. Everything was moving so fast. She felt herself spiraling and cursing herself in the process, unable to stop it but ashamed nonetheless. She had worked hard, since she was younger, to have a control over her emotions and thoughts. She needed to, especially if she was going to take this super hero shit serious. Especially if she was going to be there for her mom and sister after her dad passed. Especially if she was going to make it. But she felt that control slowly ripping itself to shreds, doing a number on all the mental blocks she had in place. She couldn't lose Shuri. She couldn't be the cause of another war in Wakanda. She couldn't live with the guilt. She couldn't let Shuri get hurt, or worse, for her again. Even if it meant confronting a man much more powerful than her. Even if it meant losing. Even if it meant drowning all over again. 

Suddenly, she felt a cool hand grace the side of her cheek. She felt her suit dematerialize around her until it was just a bracelet again. She felt Okoye kneel down in front of her, eyes kinder than they usually were. She felt her pull her in close and squeeze. The pressure of the embrace bringing Riri back into her body. They stayed like that until Riri could breathe again. 

She went to apologize as Okoye pulled back silently, just as she had appeared, but she was cut off. 

"Aht aht. There is no need." Okoye softly but firmly let her know, sitting down next to her. They had never been this close before. Riri looked over to see the jet flying itself. The first time she saw that happen she was crazy nervous, but she's grown to trust both Wakandan tech and Okoye. After a few moments of silence, Okoye spoke again.

"I know what she means to you, you know."

Riri looked at her finally, noticing how somber her eyes really looked. She had seen those eyes before, but not like this. Okoye continued, looking back out the windows. 

"I was T'Challa's right hand. I saw it all, from the beginning to the end. I saw him be the panther, I saw him be the king. I saw him be Shuri's brother." Riri felt a pang in her at the use of Shuri's name. She listened.

"And I saw him fall in love. I saw him devote himself to Nakia, and I saw her unravel at the loss of him - until she left. I saw it all, as much as I could. And I often wondered why I didn't feel the way they seemed to feel when my husband betrayed me and Wakanda. But their love... it was pure. It was something out of this world, it was something built into them." Okoye sighed, feeling grief in many directions. Riri found herself fighting back tears again until Okoye looked at her with different eyes, almost loving eyes this time.

"I have seen that kind of love before and that is how I know you have it. Both of you. And that is how I know we will figure this out." Okoye looked at her and squeezed her hand again, affirming what she said. They both heard the AI tell them they were approaching in the next 5 minutes. Through her tears that were now shamelessly falling down her face, Riri gulped out a question, in true Riri fashion.

"Do you think you will ever love like that?"

"I already do." Okoye said, getting up and adjusting herself to get back to the front of the plane to chart their secret entrance into Wakanda. Riri looked confused.

"Ngudade wethu." Okoye answered again, before sitting down and being who she needed to be. Riri knew what she said, and knew that she was right. About all of it. 

As they prepared themselves, Riri suited up and made her way to the front of the plane. 

"Where did he say to meet?" The midnight angel asked Riri. She sent the coordinates to the jet and looked at them wistfully. She hadn't really thought about where she might actually be going to "talk" to him when she was rushing to get herself to Wakanda. She jumped when Okoye gasped. 

"What?! What is it?!" Worry filled her from head to toe again, hoping it had nothing to do with Shuri. 

"That bastard... We are going to have to find a way to break into the palace. He wants to meet in the throne room."

Riri was speechless, knowing that this was a tactic to try to make her feel weak. She also couldn't deny that it was working. She felt her heart rate increase at the thought of being back in there. Of seeing the place where she almost died. Of... all of it. She had visited many times in her dreams, all against her will. And now she would face him there, against her will. She knew he was doing this to weaken her resolve, much like her and Shuri did with the dehydrating jet. She knew his intent all along, but this certainly solidified it. 

Riri tried to make peace with dying in Wakanda. Once again, her mom wouldn't know where she was or how any of this happened. She wondered what lie they would tell her. She wondered if she would fight or just give herself to him. She wondered what Shuri would do, knowing this wouldn't end well no matter what she did. But she held her mind together as best as she could. She knew she had to meet him before she did. She knew she had to do what she could to prevent a second war. Okoye knew too, looking at her and then pulling up her own beads to try and locate Shuri. 

"The Panther's location services are currently offline." The Ai spoke to them. 

"Let us pray she is behind us and not ahead of us."

"Will she know where to find us?"

"We are about to break into the most secure place on the planet earth. I'm sure everyone will know where to find us in a matter of moments." Okoye answered and they shared a look. 

"I hope you know, I will fight until the end with you. I have stood with the Wakandan throne my whole life. I have stood with Shuri and those that came before her. I have stood for the safety of my people as best as possible, but I have made my own mistakes before. I will stand with you, now, Riri. No matter the outcome."

Riri felt the pull of her tear ducts again but different this time. Okoye reminded her of her own sister, and of her own mistakes. She reached out a hand and found Okoye's. They held hands until it was time to land. 

Once they had maneuvered their way into the country using Okoye's knowledge as former general and her new disguising tech, which Riri made a note to recreate if she made it out of this, Riri followed Okoye into the dense jungle around them.

"The best chance we have is to stay low until we can't anymore, and then charge in. The Doras won't see it coming but they will react, with their full might as they've been trained to do. Even to me. Our goal is not to harm any Wakandans, but we have to get to the throne room before he does. I will do my best to reason with Ayo and Aneka but they will resist a meeting with him there. Once we spot him, we must draw him away from the palace. Even if it means drawing him to the sea. Remember that he is most powerful near water."

Riri nods as she listens. Okoye wishes there were another way.

"Remember that if we see Shuri, we may already be too late. We must keep them separate. I do not know if she will choose peace a second time. Not when it concerns you."

"I don't want her to do this, I hope you know. You were right. You were right about it all. I love her. But I don't want her to risk everything for me. You all already have and I can't live with that. I can't live with any of this. I don't want to die but... But I can't let everyone else die for me either." Riri spits out, hoping she's being believed. She means it. Okoye looks at her and hears Nakia's voice in her head. "I just know his spirit. It is simple in that way for me."

"Ndiyawazi umoya wakho. I believe you. And I will fight to make sure no one has to die today, unfortunately even him if it means peace."

"Thank you."

"Thank you, small girl."

"For what?" Riri asked, genuinely surprised since most of the mayhem the past few months has been a result of her actions - intentional or not. 

"For giving her something to hold onto again. Something to believe in." Okoye answered truthfully. Riri didn't know what to say but she took in what the older woman said, against trusting her. After a few moments of silence, it was time.

"Stand behind me and do not fly until I tell you. If you enter the air space anywhere near the palace, you will be shot down before you can count to one. Do you understand?" Riri nodded. 

She did understand. Now, more clearly than ever.

🖤

[searenbound]

Tumblr mobile decided to post this a week early so I’m just editing to say so, but I’m still allowed to be as self indulgent as I want and demand praise on this because it’s my birthday gift to myself. It’s not super long due to lack of energy but I’m happy with it regardless.

Warnings: afab reader that uses they/them pronouns, dom reader/bottom Bakugou, male masturbation, use of toys, Bakugou typical refusal to communicate properly, pegging, written with plus size reader in mind

Pairing: Katsuki Bakugou x reader

“F-fuck, oh fuck” a carefully quiet moan slipped from his lips. Pleasure sparking through his veins with every bounce of his hips, distracting from that pitiful gnawing sense of shame that tries to eat him up when he gives in to this want. Gives in to his needs.

He almost wishes he didn’t have such a strong sense of curiosity and had never discovered this. Almost wishes he had never tried it in the first place, but then he’d angel his hips just right and see bright white stars of pleasure blurring his vision.

A hand wrapped around his dick as he swore and cursed his stupid discovery of one of the best things he’s ever felt. Trying to push aside his embarrassment for the stupid harness strapped to a pillow just so he could simulate getting fucked a little better.

Trying even harder to not pay attention to the lewd squelch of his lubed ass being penetrated over and over. To pay no mind to the name on the very tip of his tongue or the image his brain conjured up while that knot in his stomach pulled tighter and tighter.

Gleaming eyes that sparkled with a sense of satisfaction at his undoing, plump lips pulled into a smug grin and sing-song tone of voice that teased him for being so needy. A perverted image of his best friend and roommate (Yn).

Perfectly plump and soft body pressing into his muscular, larger frame. Treating him like he’s the most deliciously delicate being in the world and they’re honored to break him down into a whiny mess covered in his own cum.

The thought of which made it so much harder for him to keep that name out his mouth. Trying so desperately to at least keep himself just quiet enough to not be heard as he mumbled out his declaration of desperation and love.

“Oh my! Do you really feel that way about me Tsuki? That’s so sweet!” came an overly saccharine coo from his doorway.

He froze awkwardly in place, unsure of if this was real. If they were really standing there with that stupid, infuriating, all too smug smile of theirs. Witnessing him in such a compromising position.

Watching him barely satisfying himself, he hoped it was a fucked up dream. That it was all fake and they weren’t judging him for his shamefully des—“You’re making a cute face right now you know? I’ve never seen that one on you Katsuki, can you be a a good boy and show me more?”.

His breath hitched, they had to be real, and they had to be fucking with him right? He didn’t have time to give some biting retort, rather he didn’t get the chance.

“It’s not like you to get shy, do you want help? I bet it’ll feel a lot better that way too!” he blinked slowly, his senses returning just as slow before he snapped.

“The fuck are you playing at huh?! Trying to make fun of me or—” “Yeah I genuinely don’t care if you’re gonna be a brat about it. Cut the attitude and the assumption I don’t want to watch your cute ass swallowing that pretty little toy you got or you can continue fucking yourself instead”.

Something about the hard set glare, as if begging him to step out of line and the flat tone he’s never heard them use almost made him want to comply.

“You know what? Fuck you, can’t make do shit for you!” almost.

“I shouldn’t give you the satisfaction but…” they sighed, catching him off guard and shoving him off his little makeshift rig. Disorienting him from the sudden loss of that full sensation and shocking him with how quickly they managed to strip down and strap up.

He barely even had the chance to spit out some vitriolic comment about them being whore for how well practiced they are only to have his face shoved into his mattress and told to hold still like that.

“Pfft so you can follow orders huh? Just gotta treat you like the slut you say I am”.

“O-oh fuck you, y— aha! F-fuck you d-didn’t… didn’t even—” “warn you?” they finished his sentence, relishing in the quick disappearance of his attitude “why, should I have hmm? You knew what was happening, did you think I’d go easy and treat you like a good boy when you’ve only given me attitude?”

Their hips began to rock into him, far rougher than he was used to, but delectably none the less. Hitting spots he was unaware of and setting his very being ablaze with a euphoria he didn’t know existed until now.

Pulling pathetic moans and whines from deep with in him and making it impossible for him to think other than to beg for more.

“God, oh shit, (Y-yn) fuck please, wanna cum”

“Hmm ready to be my good boy then? Gonna let me make you cum all over yourself?” he shook with anticipation, a hissed out agreement and a plea for them to make him feel so fuck good was all they needed to hear.

Wrapping his hand around his leaky cock, they guided him in exactly how they expected him to jerk himself off before grabbing hold of his slim waist and matching the quick pace of his hand. Hitting and prodding at his prostate. He was glad they couldn’t see his teary reddened face properly or the way he gritted his teeth with his eyes screwing shut when his orgasm hit.

[midniitemusewrites]

The Amazing God (of Fertility)

[AO3 IS ALIVE AGAIN!! HERES THE LINK TO THIS FIC!!]

[thanks everyone who gave it a like or reblog!! I'm glad you enjoyed it 🥹 warms my heart to write something that people like!!]

Posted here to help tide those over who, like myself, ARE FUCKING ENRAGED THAT SOMEONE IS ATTACKING AO3.

Based on this comic here on tumblr!

Tags include: Explicit, Geraskefer, M/M/F, Jaskier is a God of fertility

Preview:

"Jaskier froze. 

Yennefer blinked. 

Jaskier’s heart went from a sleep slow beat to  panic-rabbit fast in his chest and his hair stood on end from the chill of the early morning. He was freezing on the floor, nude as can be, bare ass against the soft worn wood.

In that half second of hesitation, he’d hoped that she had assumed the spell went wrong—but Yennefer was far too smart to have assed up even the most complicated spell in her arsenal. Slowly, her shock hardened into a mixture of anger and betrayal, and he knew he couldn’t hide the truth from her anymore.

 He was Dandelion, God of Fertility. And he was so, so fucked. "

Jaskier stirred next to Geralt, happy and content. The first light of morning was just creeping through the window of Yen’s impossibly cavernous magic tent, and Geralt was still asleep beside him, his chest rising and falling softly. He stretched, careful not to wake Geralt, letting out a small groan. He could hear birds chirping outside the tent, and bacon was waiting for them eat. It was a perfect day to continue the “Hunt for Dandelion”.

 He’d started feeling guilty about it a week back. But last night he’d come to a decision. And he was ready to face it. 

He stretched again. He coughed. Coughed harder. There was a sharp, unfamiliar tug deep in his chest. He almost ignored it, thinking it was just a cramp from sleeping on his side, before remembering that Yennefer was in the next room over. He tried not to panic. 

Purple light was spilling from underneath their door, along with the low tones of Yennefer’s voice. It sounded like a spell. 

Jaskier didn’t even have time to sit up before the tug got sharper and he felt tendrils of Yen’s magic wrapping tight around him. He yelped and landed harshly on the wooden floor of her room, smack in the middle of a round sigil that had been drawn on the boards in what looked like rouge. 

Jaskier froze. 

Yennefer blinked. 

Jaskier’s heart went from a sleep slow beat to  panic-rabbit fast in his chest and his hair stood on end from the chill of the early morning. He was freezing on the floor, nude as can be, bare ass against the soft worn wood.

In that half second of hesitation, he’d hoped that she had assumed the spell went wrong—but Yennefer was far too smart to have assed up even the most complicated spell in her arsenal. Slowly, her shock hardened into a mixture of anger and betrayal, and he knew he couldn’t hide the truth from her anymore.

 He was Dandelion, God of Fertility. And he was so, so fucked. 

The pot of rouge in her hand fell to the floor, spilling in a wide, crimson arc.

“You?” she asked, her breath barely above a whisper. 

Jaskier swallowed. “Yennefer, I— let me explain—“

Quick as a snake, Yennefer dove and grabbed Jaskier, her nails digging into his arms. Jaskier shrieked, but he didn’t try to throw her off. He probably deserved this. 

He felt shamed. She looked at him like she was trying to see through his cracks, see the God he was hiding underneath his skin. She looked at him like he was a stranger. 

He knew that when she eventually found out the truth, he’d have a lot to explain. He’d apologize and she’d be cranky and upset, but it felt worse than that. He didn’t think it would feel so much like betrayal. 

“You,” she said low and murderous, “are a liar. You’re a fucking liar!” 

“Yen, I—“

Slap! 

The force of her hand against his cheek stung like ice. When he looked back at her, there were tears forming in her eyes.

Shit, shit, shit. It wasn’t supposed to go like this.  He was going to tell her tonight, to avoid exactly this! 

“You piece of shit!” she yelled, hitting him with her fists now, anywhere they managed to collide. 

“Ow! Ow! Yen, I—“ 

“This whole—“ whap “ fucking-“ slap ”time! “YOU KNEW! YOU HAD ME RUNNING AROUND IN CIRCLES WHEN YOU WERE RIGHT THERE! You stupid, selfish idiotic! Bastard!” 

Heavy footsteps thundered and Geralt, dressed only in his braies, stood in the doorway to find his completely nude lover being assaulted by his other lover. And the growing disarray of the sigil on the floor.  

“Geralt!” he cried for help. But the man just stood there, staring at the struggle on the floor. Finally, he seemed to gain control of himself.  

“What— Yen! Stop slapping him— what’s going on?” He finally managed, still groggy from sleep.  He kneeled down and Jaskier thought he was about to still her hands, but instead he used his own bulk as a shield, his arm raised to protect his face. Jaskier rubbed at his bruised shoulder. 

“What did you do now?” Geralt hissed. Yennefer was trying to climb over his shoulders, grabbing at the air in front of Jaskier’s face, but Geralt kept her back. Finally she gave up, slapping Geralt’s chest in frustration. 

A single, perfectly sharp fingernail pointed accusingly at Jaskier. 

“He’s Dandelion.” 

A huff of confused laughter escaped from Geralt.

“What?” He asked. He sniffed the air in front of her and asked, or rather, demanded, “How much wine did you have last night?” 

“It’s not the wine,” she growled, and gestured to the complicated sigil on the floor, “It’s him.” 

Jaskier grabbed at the corner of Yen’s bed and pulled down the sheet enough to cover himself. Not that he had a problem being seen by either of them nude— that had happened plenty of times before. It was just being nude and yelled at. And once he’d said his piece, there’d be even more yelling. 

Geralt eyed the floor again, really looking  this time. His gaze slid up to Jaskier, then back to the floor.

Jaskier gulped. 

“Let me explain—“ he managed, before a pillow from Yennefer’s hand hit him square in the face. 

Geralt couldn’t seem to tear his gaze away from the floor. He was looking at the sigil, but he seemed to be in the past, perhaps trying to remember if Jaskier had ever shown any signs of being a minor deity. 

“I was going to tell you,” Jaskier pleaded, hand on his heart. Yennefer glared at the ruined sigil. 

 “I just… I didn’t know when… and then we started traveling together and—“

“We didn’t have to go on this stupid journey at all if you’d been honest with me from the very start,” She said. At least she wasn’t yelling anymore. Jaskier thought he preferred the yelling as opposed to this. Now, she wouldn’t meet his eye at all. 

No, no, he thought, he had to tell her. But where would he even begin? The part where he encouraged his friends to go looking for Dandelion when he was right there, or the part where he’d been lying to them from the start?  His own dearest friends… 

Geralt opened his mouth as if to speak and  Jaskier clapped his own trap shut. Yennefer still refused to look at him. 

“You are Dandelion,” Geralt said. 

“…Yes.” Jaskier admitted. But I’m still Jaskier, he wanted to say. 

“The God of Fertility.”

“Yes.”

Geralt laid his hand on his chest, where his silver medallion rested on his skin. His expression was one of confusion, but he didn’t fight what appeared to be the truth. How could he? The circle hadn’t lied. 

“How did I not know?” he asked softly. “How’d you even manage to keep that from us? Why did you?” 

Jaskier threw up his hands and scoffed, “You would have killed me, if you knew. In the beginning,” he said. 

Geralt frowned. 

“Or at least, I thought you would have. And then when I realized you were kind, you weren’t like what the stories said, I… don’t know. You would have… treated me differently. And I decided it was safer to just keep it a secret.”

A dry scoff turned his attention to Yennefer. She was staring at him from the corner of her eye only. 

This wasn’t how he’d wanted the truth to come out. He was suddenly very tired, even though he’d just woken up. He’d been keeping that secret for a long time and now that he wasn’t holding it in anymore, his muscles ached with the years’ worth of tension.

“You wouldn’t have believed me, Yen.” 

She squinted. Annoyed, perhaps, that he could predict her reaction to anything at all. She was the Sorceress Yennefer, terrifying and so beautiful it hurt to look at her. She wasn’t predictable. 

“And then we had such a great time, traveling together. Didn’t we? And…” he soldiered on, “the night before last, at dinner…?”

“What about that night, bard?” she said, daring him to finish that thought. But he felt those amethyst eyes on him, and her gaze only compelled him on. He burned underneath her discretion. 

“You fed me, Yen. From your plate, with your fork. You looked at me like…” 

Geralt cocked an eyebrow, turning at Yen. But she only raised her chin, as if the accusation was beneath her. Perhaps she thought she’d concealed her wants better, but they’d both been a little drunk, and Jaskier didn’t have to be a God to know lust when he saw it. 

“Well, fine. If you won’t admit it, I will. Despite your terrifying beauty and rather horrid tendency to shove people away, I’ve seen you, Yen. That strength and terror you hide behind— the courage and the kindness — yes, kindness, that you desperately try to keep hidden. Despite what I know you think of me, I’m not ashamed or scared to admit that I’ve grown quite attracted to you over these past few weeks, and I know I’m not the only one that’s developed—“ he waved his hand in the air, searching for a word that wouldn’t provoke her into throwing yet another pillow, “—affections.”  

Yennefer scoffed again, still staring in the direction of the wall. 

She couldn’t be that angry, he thought. She found what she wanted: Dandelion. He was here. 

Her mouth worried itself in a way he’d seen before— lips pursed, and she looked as if she were battling some thought in her mind. She wasn’t furious anymore, so what was it? 

“I was going to tell you,” Jaskier said softly, “Soon. Probably tonight. I was going to apologize a thousand times, on my knees if necessary, for not saying anything and I was going to offer you my blessing. Yennefer, I am offering you my blessing. If you still want it.” 

She stayed silent. She blinked fiercely, and when finally, her gaze flicked back to Jaskier, she looked slightly… hopeful. 

She cleared her throat and quickly flicked a perfectly manicured finger underneath both eyes.

It seemed she was composed to her satisfaction. “I thought,” she said carefully, “if I finally found you, it would be wonderful. But now I’m—“ she looked down, twisted a ring on her finger back and forth a few times. Jaskier waited. 

“You know I’m barren, Jaskier. Tell me how your blessing will even work with me.”

He’d never seen a more courageous women, kneeling before him to hear an answer she probably believed she’d never get. She hadseemed so sure these past two weeks, too. Talking about finally getting the child she’d always wanted. She must have been hiding behind that veil of hope, then, if there was still a nagging in her mind that told her even with the help of a God, she would remain childless. 

She was his strong, fearless Yen. He climbed over Geralt, never breaking his gaze away from her. He hesitated a moment before reaching up and cupping her cheek, smoothing away a tear that had managed to fall with his thumb. And she let him. Certainly not because he was a God and she knew that now, but perhaps because he was her friend. 

“I don’t entirely  know how it works,” he admitted softly. “And I’m not always able to control it. Sometimes it surprises me. A child is either born or shows up as if by magic, if that is what is desired. It could be that you might bear a babe, or maybe one will come to you in a different way. But it will be yours,” he said, “I promise.” 

Her eyes slid closed and a small sob escaped from her. Before he knew it, her arms were wrapped around his neck, and she clutched him tightly, like if she let go she would fall. 

“Do you want this blessing, Yennefer?” he whispered, asking formally. A blessing had to be done the proper way.

“Yes,” she nodded,“Yes.” 

The night Yennefer almost kissed him, Jaskier could hardly believe his own eyes. He thought maybe he’d been reading too much into things, just seeing what he wanted to see.  But the way she looked at him… he’d just finished telling her about a time he’d gotten caught in a women’s bed. Her husband had arrived home early, and neither of them heard the door. When the man cleared his throat, Jaskier looked up and recognized the man he’d spent a very pleasant evening with the night before. Jaskier was terrified, but then the woman suggested that her husband watch… Yennefer laughed high and bright, and that was priceless. Then she’d called him an insatiable whore in a wine drenched voice that had gone straight to his dick. Jaskier thought he was hiding it well, but then she glanced down and smiled… 

They didn’t talk about it the morning after. Jaskier had retreated to his room, bidding her a good night before she could speak. He didn’t know if her wine had been particularly strong that night, and thus her inhibitions loosened, or what. But he was reeling. He had to tell Geralt about this new attraction. Decide what to do. Would Geralt object? Jaskier liked Yennefer— but being intimate with her was different. He would be opening up his heart to her, and he found that the more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t find reasons to object. Could she be cruel? Yes. But her jabs hadn’t been aimed at Jaskier for months. She teased him, calling him things like flower and even using Geralt’s pet name for him, ‘song bird’, once or twice in the last week. And where a year ago, she might shove him out of annoyance, they played a strange game of chicken. Yennefer would stare into his eyes and dare him to look away first. She would run her hand across his neck, fingering his doublet collar and make some remark about last season’s fashion. In the same breath she would suggest a different style and silhouette that would suit him better. She’d even offered to bring him something the next time she made a trip back from Aretuza. 

Now, she was still wrapped around him, nodding yes. And he remembered that the sheet had fallen away. Only the voluminous fabric of her skirt across his lap granted him any decency. 

They’d have to talk about things later of course. Because now Yennefer was leaning up, catching Jaskier’s mouth in a kiss as if he was the air and she’d been underwater for far too long. 

As soon as their lips touched, as soon as Jaskier tasted her tongue against his, her mouth hot and sweet, he knew she was thinking the same thing: he was sure that she could taste the memory of that other night on him, as he was tasting it in her. 

Finally, they were beginning. 

A moan rose from Jaskier as Yennefer pulled him closer, her fingers grazing his scalp, lowering them both to lie atop the scattered remains of the sigil.

He wanted to taste all of her, she smelled so good. Her perfume encompassed them both, warming on her pulse points, heavy and full of dark purple fruits. Forbidden. He moved down to kiss at the skin there, moving aside the low collar of her dress, desperately trying to mouth at more of her breasts. The thought occurred to him that this was a very nice dress, and Yennefer might be less than pleased if he ruined it. 

The mental image of her disapproving glare, perhaps grasping his neck to admonish him, made his hips buck against hers. Shit, that was something they’d have to do later… 

She threw her leg over his back, and the motion moved him closer into her space, his prick rubbing against the fabric of her dress so luxuriously that he had to pull his hips back a bit, it was so good. How ridiculous, that he was naked and she wasn’t. He wanted her dress off. Gone. 

At this point, they both heard the wood creak as Geralt rose to leave. Shit, Jaskier had forgotten that he was actually still in the room with them.  

“I’ll just…“ Geralt said, motioning to the door, but was cut off when Jaskier broke away from Yennefer and they both ordered him to stay.  

“Where do you think you’re going?” Yennefer rasped from beneath him, disheveled and lips red from Jaskier’s kisses. Her soft hair billowed beneath her on the floor, and Jaskier wanted to know how it felt between his fingers. How it felt to grasp and pull, just a little. Maybe a lot. 

“Is that— allowed?” Geralt finished awkwardly. “Your magic, I mean. Does it matter if I’m here?”

Yennefer had turned around so Jaskier could better get at her laces, and his neglected prick was making it surprisingly difficult to focus on both things at once. “I don’t think so. I don’t think it has before? It should be fine. It’s Yen I’m impregnating, not you.” 

He’d never unintentionally blessed someone with a child before. He was sure it was fine. Besides, Geralt was clearly  hard underneath his braies and Jaskier had the sudden urge to see what Geralt and Yennefer were like together. Was he different than when he was with Jaskier? Was he softer? Coarser? 

He hadn’t asked how Yennefer preferred to have sex, which was rude on his part. They’d gotten carried away after that first kiss. He decided to remedy that now.

Finally, Yennefer’s dress and fell in a puddle around her, and she kicked them aside. She lifted her shift to mount Jaskier again, which he was all for, but he had to ask.

“Yennefer, darling, I am not just Dandelion, God of Fertility. I am a gentleman. How do you like it?” he asked, rubbing small circles into her thigh with the tip of his fingers. Her eyes slipped closed, enjoying the sensation.“Soft? Rough? Slow? Fast? It is my genuine pleasure to give you yours.” 

Her mouth quirked into a smile. “As much as I like when others give,” she said, slowly moving down his body, her hands coming to rest on his thighs and her mouth a breath away from the divot in his hip, “I like to take.” 

He watched as she licked up his length with a slender pink tongue, her hand wrapped around the base, and sucked the tip into her mouth. 

He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t see. All he could feel was her warm, wet mouth and then two strong, familiar hands took his wrists and held them above his head, firm. 

“I always wondered what this would be like,” Geralt whispered. “To have you both. To see the little faces you make when Yennefer does one of my favorite things.” 

“What favorite thing?” he breathed. 

Then one of Yen’s fingers did something to his ass that he did not expect at all to happen. He yelped and laughed at the ridiculousness of it, at how good it felt. 

He was supposed to be the one doing the work, here. Instead, they had him laid out on the floor like a quivering virgin. 

“Yen,” he gasped, “Not that I don’t absolutely love this, fuck you have no idea, but at this rate, I’m going to get pregnant faster than you, darling.” 

Yen pulled off of him, keeping her hand on the base of his dick. Good thing too, because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to last if she didn’t. Her mouth…

“You can do that?” she asked, her tone almost disinterested. It shouldn’t have turned him on as much as it did. She stroked him slowly, waiting for his answer. 

“Shit. I’ve been pregnant a few times before,” he said, “I much prefer to sire, though.” 

A surprised, choking sound may have come from Geralt. 

Her brow quirked up a bit at that. “You’ll have to tell me about that sometime. For now though; Geralt, can you get behind me?” 

Geralt smirked and released Jaskier. Jaskier watched as Geralt cupped Yennefer’s face and kissed her fiercely, dipping her back as if they were dancing. Their kiss was filthy and it looked almost painful, but neither of them pulled away. Then Geralt reached up and tore Yennefer’s shift in two, the scraps hanging from her arms like a luxurious silken robe. The edges of it fell and tickled Jaskier’s stomach. 

She gasped as Geralt began to mouth at her neck, moving further down. But before he could get to her breasts, she whispered something into his ear. He paused to breathe in her scent before moving behind her, and then two pairs of eyes were staring down at Jaskier. 

He was going to explode. Or die. Probably both. 

She rose to her knees and reached behind her, but Jaskier felt nothing. Instead, he heard the delicious sound of Geralt gasping. He had his head tucked into her shoulder, and his large hands were gripping her waist. One hand lifted and trailed over skin light as a butterfly wing, and Yennefer threw her head back in pleasure as Geralt started sucking at her neck once more.

“Oh, fuck,” Jaskier whimpered. He wasn’t sure what was worse— closing his eyes so he had a hope of lasting longer, or keeping them open and enjoying the show. But he had to last, he reminded himself. In order for it to work, he had to spill inside her. 

And all the while, Yennefer’s left hand was on Jaskier’s lower stomach, teasing and pressing gently. 

“Please,” Jaskier managed, and he knew his voice was whiny but he didn’t care. “Please. Yen, take it.” 

Yennefer closed her eyes, relishing in the sound of him begging. He’d beg a thousand times to see that look on her face again. Say anything she wanted. Call her names, call himself names—

“You could call me ‘Mistress’,” she said, and he whipped up to look at her, stunned. “Or ‘Mommy’. I like both.” 

“Did you read my mind?” he asked.

“No. You said it loud. That you’d call me names.” 

Jaskier whimpered again and covered his face with his arm. Shit. He didn’t realized he’d been saying that out loud. 

Watching Geralt and Yennefer together was lovely, but he was getting close. 

“Yen,” he said, “Hurry. Take it, I’m not gonna last.” 

She huffed, but finally, finally brought her hand back around to Jaskier’s prick. It took everything he had not to spill once her hand closed around him. If he was this worked up over 

Then she was guiding him into herself, and he stopped breathing. 

She was hot, and slick, and so, so soft and perfect. Of course her cunt was amazing. Oh shit, was he talking out loud again?

“Thank you,” she said, before sliding up and then down, slowly. 

Jaskier reached out behind him for something to hold onto, but his hands found nothing. Then Geralt was there, right beside him, grounding him with steady, soothing arms. 

She rode him for a while, taking her time and experimenting. She learned that Jaskier loved having his skin stroked with soft touches, his nipples played with. And he was quickly learning that he loved to be teased. 

But it soon became too much--Yen saw the clench of his balls before he could warn her, and she gripped the base of his dick punishingly. He whined, and received soothing kisses from Geralt. What was she doing? Didn’t she want--? 

Her hand squeezed once. “You think I’d be done with you so soon? I want to show you how grateful I am. For your power.” She leaned down close, to whisper in his ear. He gasped as her nipples trailed ever so lightly across his chest. 

“And then I want to punish you, bard, for keeping it a secret for so long.” She licked at  the spot just under his ear, sucking lightly at his  neck, before pulling away cruelly. 

Jaskier’s hands fumbled in the air, needing to hold on to something— Yen, Geralt, anything. He settled for both; his right hand landed on Yen’s hip, and his left on Geralt’s arm at his chest. 

When she was sure he wouldn’t spill, Yennefer released him. Jaskier gasped with relief, but he missed her. Almost like she could read his mind, she moved up until she was straddling his waist and took his cock with one hand. She guided it between her folds, teasing him, letting him just taste her, before she sunk down suddenly, until her hips met his. She rolled against him, moving slow at first, and then gradually built up a rhythm. 

“Look at her,” Geralt whispered, mouthing at his neck. “Look at how hungry she is for you.” 

She looked like a goddess. Her eyes were closed as she took her pleasure exactly how she liked it. His hand was still on her hip and he couldn’t resist it, so he didn’t— he reached lower and  squeezed Yen’s ass, feeling the flesh give so sweetly under his hand, and Yen groaned, her hips twitching deliciously sharper. Who was fucking who? 

“Yes,  fuck, fucking destroy me,” Jaskier gasped, and he felt his own cheeks burn a bit at his brazenness. But it was worth it because Yen responded by leaning down over him, her round tits in his face, as her hands gripped the headboard. Hard. 

Shit, he thought, and spread his legs to plant his feet against the mattress better. Yes, perfect; now he could thrust up into her, like a gentleman. 

But Yennefer smiled deviously. Her hips snapped against his, again and again. She fucked him hard but slow, savoring the sweet slide of his dick. He couldn’t stand being under her gaze, harsh and sharp, yet there was nowhere else he’d rather be. He felt his blush descend lower, and for fuck’s sake, he was a God, he was the one with the power of fertility here! But under that purple-eyed gaze, he found that he didn’t give a shit.   

Yennefer licked her lips and slowly descended to meet Jaskier’s mouth with her’s— before darting at the last minute to lick into Geralt’s mouth instead. 

Jaskier watched as they moved together above him, listened to their moans as they enjoyed each other. He was so busy watching them that he was completely caught off guard when Yennefer used that leverage against him and snapped her hips forward so hard that Jaskier felt it behind his eyes. She shuddered, her cunt clenching Jaskier’s sensitive prick, and collapsed on top of him.  

They were plastered together now, from collarbone to navel, and Jaskier thought he could lie there forever. Every thrust of her hips made Yennefer’s breasts move tantalizingly against his own chest. The soft skin of her stomach met his like a kiss. 

And Geralt was there, making little noises every time Yen did something clever with her tongue. Jaskier reached out to touch him, just to feel him, and could have cried when Geralt tore away from Yen to grab Jaskier’s hand and kiss and mouth at his wrist. Eventually he moved to his arm, his shoulder, his neck and shit Geralt was an amazing kisser. 

He hadn’t meant for this to happen, at least not this soon, not today, but he was so glad it turned out the way it did. 

Yennefer had just came, but already she was grinding against him again, insatiable. This time, there was an urgency in her thrusts, in the way she gripped Jaskier’s shoulders, that wasn’t there before. 

“Yes!” she groaned, like she was wild with it, like an animal, “Fuck, give me everything. Fill me up, Jaskier. I want to make sure it takes.” 

He would. He’d fill her with his spend. He’d do it again and again, however long it took, because Yennefer wanted it, she deserved it, and he was Dandelion, damn it. She’d wanted this for so long. 

He nodded, feeling tears at the edges of his eyes. He couldn’t help it. He almost felt ashamed, crying underneath her like an idiot. But then Yennefer looked at him and kissed his cheek where a tear had already fallen, and she whispered, “Give me this. Give me this, too. I’ll take care of it. You know I can take care of it.” 

Jaskier nearly sobbed again. He steeled himself and flipped them over, so that his knees were resting on the ground to better fuck into her. She raised her hips and wrapped her arms around him. Geralt adjusted quickly, his hands sliding under her spine, holding her up so she wouldn’t exhaust herself. Jaskier jumped as his stupid, gorgeously thick cock slipped easily against Jaskier’s backside. Geralt let it linger there for a moment before sheathing himself in Jaskier’s ass. 

It was too much. It was perfect. The sound of skin hitting skin was obscene and delicious. Between the two of them, Jaskier couldn’t move much, could only fuck into Yennefer shallowly, but he fucked with vigor and the little breaths and uh, uh, uh’s that left her told him that he was doing his job. After a moment, Yennefer cried out again, her hands fallen above her head in exhaustion as another orgasm worked over her. 

“C’mon Jask,” Geralt grunted, rolling his hips in a rhythm that reminded Jaskier of heartbeat, hitting him in just the right spot, “Give it to her. Fill her with your child.” 

“Shit!” Jaskier yelled, finally cumming in waves of pleasure that made the most intimate, dark parts of him throb and pulse. 

 It was always good, fulfilling his duty to whoever wanted a child, but this felt different: it was more than just a good fuck. With both of them surrounding him, it was so much more. 

Yennefer moaned, soft and high, her mouth open in a little “o” of pleasure. Jaskier couldn’t resist licking into it. He ran the tip of his tongue along the border of her lips before kissing her deep. When he thought he should pull away and give her space, she pulled him back with some small trick of her own— she bit, she licked into his mouth in return, and shockingly, she ran her hand along the length of her cunt, brought it dripping back to his mouth to lick clean. He did so,  lapping at her hand. He was about to lave his tongue against her palm one more time when a strong hand cupped his chin and Geralt dipped down to bring Jaskier’s mouth to his own. He kissed hungrily, as if he were searching for the lingering taste of Jaskier’s spend in his own mouth. Him being a Witcher, Jaskier didn’t doubt that he could taste it. 

His second orgasm took him by surprise, and this time Yennefer locked her legs around him, bringing them closer together, grinding and rolling her hips. 

He knew Yennefer enjoyed being intimidating, strong. He thought she’d be placating or submissive in the bedroom, the complete opposite to how she usually was. He was glad he was wrong. He’d just been fucked within an inch of his life and he felt amazing. And she was glorious to watch— the expressions she made, brows turned up as she chased her own pleasure, the way her mouth hung open in a wordless gasp every time she took Jaskier back into her in one slow slide, the way the sweat that was accumulating on both of them trickled down her neck, slid between her breasts to pool just below her navel. 

He collapsed next to her, trapping his arm underneath him, but the dull throb of the awkward position was overshadowed by that ridiculous orgasm that was, impossibly, still roaring through him: delicious pleasure pulsed through his dick, even his ass in waves, making his hips twitch uselessly against the mattress. 

When he heard whispering, he looked up to see Yennefer with her head bent over Geralt’s, her hand trailing feather-light on Geralt’s thighs and strained cock. 

His ears were still ringing, so he heard only bits and pieces. 

“…Next time? Would you like that? If you weren’t allowed to touch?” Yennefer said in soft tones. 

Geralt’s arms flexed above him where he gripped the top of the headboard, the wood creaking dangerously. He keened, sounding strangely like he was almost in pain. But the look on his face told a different story. Jaskier nearly came again just from the sound and sight of him. 

Yennefer refused to let him finish easy, and it seemed that Geralt didn’t want her to. He bucked his hips against her fingertips, trying to get what little friction he could. Yennefer allowed it, though she pulled her hand just a fraction away every time, leaving Geralt wanting.

 Jaskier was fascinated. Did Geralt truly enjoy this madness? Jaskier liked a good tease now and then, but was far too fond of coming to let it go that far. 

Geralt had never expressed dissatisfaction when it came to their lovemaking. So it was a Yennefer thing, then. Something they shared. He suddenly felt very honored, and strangely touched, that he was being allowed to witness this. It struck him how beautiful Geralt was like this. 

Yennefer was still whispering, mewling naughty things in Geralt’s ear that threatened a blush to rise in even Jaskier’s  seasoned cheeks.

Geralt whined. “Yes. Please. Please, can I—?” 

“No.”

“When?”

“Not now. Look at you. No.” 

“Please! Yen, I need—I need it.” 

Yennefer motioned to Jaskier and he went, moving slowly, afraid to spook Geralt or ruin whatever it was they were building up to. 

“Put your hand on his throat,” she said. 

Jaskier didn’t move. Geralt was gasping, his head buried in Yennefer’s chest. He couldn’t see his face.

“Go on,” she said, “he likes it. It’s good for him.” 

Jaskier watched as his hand moved to cover the soft skin of Geralt’s throat. Once he made contact, Geralt laid back on the pillow, his mouth open in a wordless shout. Pre-cum dribbled from his tip, a thin string connecting Yennefer’s finger to his prick. 

He threw Yennefer a desperate glance.

“No,” She said, firmly. 

He didn’t mean to, but Jaskier tightened his loose grip on Geralt’s neck a fraction. Immediately, Geralt thrust his hips up, up, up until he was cumming violently, the muscles in his stomach twitching and flexing, streams of cum landing on his heaving chest and cheek. Some of it got on Jaskier’s hand, warm and wet.

Immediately, Yennefer was whispering into Geralt’s ear. 

“You did so good. I know, I know. Jaskier was naughty— you did so well, my darling. Fuck, you were so pretty.” 

She gave Jaskier a secret smile, and he knew that somehow, what he did was the right thing. 

Geralt was still heaving, still basking in bliss. His hand came up and rested on Jaskier’s arm— thank you for seeing me. Seeing me like this, and accepting it. 

Then Yennefer turned away quickly to sneeze.

“Bless you,” Jaskier said.

Yennefer turned back around with a grin. She caressed her stomach, saying, “Thank you. Very much.” 

She leaned over Geralt and gave Jaskier a chaste, but long kiss. 

“What do you think it will be?” she asked, a beatific smile on her face. She laid back and tucked her arms behind her head, gazing up at the ceiling as if the face of her future child could be seen in the pattern of the fabric. 

“Hmm,” Jaskier said, imitating her pose. “I think only a girl would be fitting.” 

“Strong and fierce as you,” Geralt added in a soft murmur. 

“I think you’re right,” she said. “A little girl.” 

It wasn’t something Jaskier could control. But in his bones, he felt the truth of it. All they had to do now was wait and see. 

And in the kingdom of Cintra, a young princess slept on her fine feather mattress, dreaming of destiny again. In her dream, she walked in a meadow, familiar yet strange. Walking ahead of her in tandem were two men and a woman. Two swords gleamed on the back of a man with hair even paler than her own. The woman said something Ciri couldn’t make out, but when she turned around to smile, her laugh was as clear as water and her eyes as purple as amethysts. 

Then she heard music. The other man slowed to fall in step with the princess, and she was struck by the bright aquamarine of his eyes. She couldn’t hear what he was saying either, but she could  hear that beautiful lute and she knew that he was playing it for her delight. He’d written it for her. 

She didn’t recognize these people, but she knew them. She knew they loved her, and she loved them back. She hoped she would remember this dream when she woke. 

She needed to find this love. 

[mswyrr]

Below is the 2nd part of Chapter 1 of my Sydcarmy fic, copy/pasted due to AO3 problems and post word limit here on tumblr.

Complete info on the fic and the first part can be found here.

The L ride to his apartment was quiet. Sydney stared out the window and tried to let her brain go into sleep mode watching the lights of the city pass. Carmy was quiet too. A weary, compliant blankness had come over him since the alley. 

By the time they got inside his place, she was dead on her feet, yawning and nearly tripping over the new weight bench he’d bought. She frowned down at it and then glanced around, looking for anything else he’d changed. But there was nothing. It was the same miserable, empty bachelor pad. 

There wasn’t even any fun guy stuff like a PS4. Did he do anything but go to work and work out? 

His voice startled her out of her daze. “You look beat,” he said, his expression concerned, like she was the sick one here. “Why don’t you take the bed?”

Sydney waved her hand. “I’m not going to put you out of your bed–”

“It’s okay,” he said. “I sleep on the couch most nights anyway.”

“Um,” she was so exhausted she felt feverish, honestly. She swallowed hard. “Well. Okay. Yeah –” she nodded, feeling like a bobblehead, “okay.”

He put his hands out, like he had earlier, palms up, like he was trying to appear nonthreatening. “Can I help you with your coat?”

She made a face, shrugged. “Sure, I guess.” It wasn’t like she couldn’t do it herself, but it seemed important to him. She watched as he approached and then, ever so gently, slipped it off one arm and then the other. She felt his hand lightly touch her shoulder in a quick caress. 

It was only a moment, but the look on his face was so fucking sad. Like he’d shattered something precious. But that wasn’t true. Whatever she was, she wasn’t broken, and neither was their friendship. 

“Do you need a hug?” she asked. 

His eyes widened and then darted away. “You don’t – have to do that, Syd.” He turned and busied himself hanging her coat on a peg next to his own. “It’s okay.”

Syd stepped closer, touched his arm. He froze, staring at the coats on the wall in front of him. The muscle under her hand quivered, but he didn’t turn to let her embrace him. 

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” she said, and just stepped up and put her arms around his waist from behind. He was, like, all muscle. He was tense too, like she was going to do something to him. It was kind of weird, actually. All hard with no squish.

She rested her head against his shoulder. “Come on, man,” she said, “come on, it’s okay.” She was so tired and her head hurt. 

He heaved a deep breath. She felt it move through him, expanding his rib cage under her arms and deflating again. “You’re never going to look at me the same way again,” he whispered. 

His head bowed, like he didn’t have the strength to hold it up anymore.

It tugged at her heart. She rubbed her head against his shoulder, nuzzling the hard muscle. She was revising her opinion of those really jacked guys in movies now: no squish at all was kind of sad. “You don’t know that,” she said. 

“How could you, after what I–” His whole body tensed up harder, a tremor passing through him. It was so strange. She could actually feel his mind getting all twisted up through his body. 

On impulse, she tightened her hug as hard as she could and the shuddering stopped. He relaxed, going limp under the pressure. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. “I’m not hurting you, am I?”

“No,” he said. “It’s – nice.” There was a hint of wonder in his tone, which she took as a good thing. 

“Okay,” she said. She could feel her own arm muscles straining, but she kept her hold tight around him. She swayed a little, moving slowly sided to side, and he went along, moving with her. He felt better to hold now, more human and less like she was hugging a block of wood. 

She idly thought about how to get him to eat more and work out less. It was possible to take the obsessive gym rat stuff too far. It just wasn’t healthy. But she guessed that was true of a lot of things in his life. 

Still, somehow, it was going to be okay. She told herself this, testing the idea out as she used their gentle swaying to soothe herself as much as him. He was a mess, but people dealt with this stuff all the time, didn’t they? That’s why there were experts. There was a whole thriving economic sector of people who knew what to do about this. 

She sighed, linking her hands together in front of him to make holding on easier, and snuggled against the comforting warmth of him. He fit against her so nice, just the right size to cuddle. As they swayed, she relaxed enough that she started humming in time with their impromptu slow dance, something sweet working its way up from her memory. 

After a while, she realized it was one of her Dad’s old favorites, Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me.” She smiled against Carmy’s shoulder as she hummed. She loved that song. The melody was so warm and gentle.

Then the gears clicked over and she remembered: that was Mom and Dad’s song. Their song. The lyrics were extremely fucking romantic. The thought jolted her and she let go, stepping back and clearing her throat.

That was not a place she was going with her troubled guy friend right now. She hoped Carmy hadn’t recognized the tune. 

“Um. Yeah, so,” she was bobbing her head too much again, “goodnight.” 

He turned to look at her, confusion in his expression, but just nodded back at her. “Goodnight.” He gestured toward the back of the apartment. “You can have the bathroom first. There’s a new toothbrush in the medicine cabinet.” 

He looked as uncomfortable as she felt.

Christ. Had he recognized the song? Or was the whole cuddling thing just too much?

“Thanks, that’s – that’s great. That’s, you know –” she felt like an idiot, “dental hygiene is important.” 

He raised his eyebrows, but just nodded again. Placating the freaky lady from work who had invited herself over to grope him and steal his bed. “Yeah,” he said. “Important.”

Sydney turned on her heel and tried not to look like she was making an escape as she fled to the bathroom. She messed around in there as long as she could, dreading seeing him after her little performance.

Coming on to the crazy guy was a really bad idea. 

She felt guilty for thinking about it that way. It was an Old Richie kind of thought. But it was true. And surely being a good person didn’t mean she had to pretend like humming love songs to someone who was that unwell was a good idea?

It wasn’t like she was against ever dating someone with his issues. But only after he got his shit together. She guessed that would take a lot of therapy and medicine. And then he’d still technically be her boss – if The Bear didn’t go under in the next ten months. It was all so theoretical.

She brushed her teeth twice, playing for time, but then started feeling guilty. He’d let her use the bathroom first. It wasn’t polite to hog it. When she poked her head out, he was on the couch, watching a cooking show. She called out a cheery “goodnight!” and darted into the bedroom, shutting the door behind her firmly. 

She pulled off her shoes and found that the bed really hadn’t been slept in much. The crisp, white sheets and blue quilt all smelled clean and like nothing, like hotel bedding. She thought she might have trouble getting to sleep, but the moment she lay down the warm, welcoming darkness drew her in, and she slept.

-

After a couple hours of sleep, Sydney woke up and stared at the ceiling, cursing her insomnia. At home, she had ways of dealing with it. There was her special chamomile blend tea, her favorite fuzzy purple blanket, and her bookcase of comfort reads. But at Carmy’s place? After tip-toeing to the bathroom and back, she was just stuck in his sterile bedroom with nothing but her phone for company. 

For lack of anything better to do, she sat down on the bed, cuddled the pillow close and went for an old familiar pattern: research. Learning about something always made her feel better. She googled “self harm psychology” and started scrolling through websites that looked trustworthy. 

Reading the American Psychological Association’s cool, clinical prose made her feel like a weight had been lifted off her. The first thing she learned was that Carmy hadn't been lying: this wasn’t about suicide. It was a person trying to cope with “unmanaged psychological distress.” 

This wasn’t actually a life or death thing. It just looked really upsetting from the outside. 

One website with advice for families said never to ask the person the why question she’d driven at earlier. Remembering one experience could trigger another. Sydney literally pressed her palm to her forehead at that and sighed. Jesus. That’s why he’d seemed to get so lost when she’d asked him to think back over it and explain.

But how was she supposed to know? She wasn't going to beat herself up over not knowing anything about this stuff. One of them doing that was bad enough. She read a little more, bookmarking a couple websites. What she read eased her mind enough that she laid back down and started to doze as she scrolled. 

[belethlegwen]

The Faerie Spell - Chp 6

Chapter One: Click Here Previous Chapter: Click Here Story Directory: Click Here Words: 3436 Summary: Daphne's stopped telling the crew about her 'episodes' after a few too many 'jokes' got tossed around during a full group hang-out.

[Super apologies, there seems to be a bug on Tumblr where this is fucking with dark mode/darker themes for some reason? I don't know why and I don't know how to fix it. Sorry!]

I’m not going to lie. 

I know I should have… talked to someone about the Gem thing. I should’ve, at least, talked to her. But every time I tried to think of a way, tried to even line up a conversation about it with SOMEONE, I always froze up and choked. Gem had been… fine, I guess, since the incident; at least in the sense that things were back to normal when we hung out together.

That said, I had… started to try and ask for help with errands when I knew Gem wouldn’t be available, and essentially just trying to avoid any one on one time where possible. It had been two and a half weeks or so since then, and now I was only seeing her when all of us were hanging out together somewhere.

Me and Sheridan had, for the most part, moved past the stupid vacuuming fight, but things were still tense enough that I tried not to bother her for anything. Cal was fine, but only if I caught them between shifts and before they started smoking. Mak was… well… I didn’t ask Mak to help, but if he offered I wouldn’t-- and couldn’t really-- say no once I had posted the request in the group chat.

As far as the group knew, there had only been one ‘episode’ or whatever we’re all calling it since the time with Gem, and it only just came to a halt after two days-- 42 hours and 12 minutes if I really wanna be nitpicky about it-- this morning. The group was extremely relieved to hear.

I had spent most of the time in the company of Cal, it had been weekdays so Sheridan was working, but she was pretty amicable in the morning and evenings when she was home and checking if I needed anything. At one point we even watched an episode of a show we’re both watching together, and that was actually pretty good? Like, there were some hiccups, obviously, she gets impatient if I insist on moving or climbing anywhere myself like she thinks I’m doing it to just bug her, but she’s at least learned to give me some warning before grabbing, though none of them are any good at actually asking me first.

There’s not a lot of room for ‘no’ when people don’t want to wait 12 times as long for you to get somewhere as the rest of them.

…Which is why they only knew about that episode, and that was only because it had lasted long enough that I couldn’t possibly keep it secret from anyone.

There had been two others in the last two weeks or so, and they were-- thankfully-- pretty short-lived. I really didn’t mean to keep at least the first one totally secret, but it had happened within maybe an hour or two of everyone leaving after a movie-night together and it was just… Well…

I had suggested basically as soon as I was out of the last episode and the grocery trip with Mak that maybe we could all-- because I really didn’t want to be alone with Gem, I know I’m a coward for avoiding this for so long, but still-- go catch a new movie. There was one I had been looking forward to forever that had been out for almost a month, but with the… you know, it was hard to convince myself it was worth it in case something happened.

Cal, Gem, and Sheridan were all gung-ho about it, and then suddenly later that day Gem jumped in with a suggestion that we do a movie in the house instead, and I just pretended that it was fine. It wasn’t hard to piece together what had probably happened; Mak didn’t want to go through the embarrassment of me zonking in public, even though I could’ve-- and have, honestly, at least in my head-- made dozens of arguments about how it wouldn’t be so bad because it’d be dark, we could sit at the very back so no one behind us would notice, and like… I mean… there was probably a way I could still watch the movie after that?

…I wasn’t completely confident that it would’ve worked out, volume would’ve been a problem for me-- I really need to buy earplugs, shoot, add that to the list-- but I was getting really tired of being on what I thought of at the time as house-arrest.

Either way, everyone came over that Friday night, and that was kind of where this whole new way of doing things started.

“We’re gonna put your new roommate through his paces to-night!” Cal had called dramatically from the doorway as they burst in with arms literally loaded down with bags of snacks. Gem was behind, carrying a tray of food she had cooked at home-- smelled like the pan-roasted sausage and veg thing she did with the brussel sprouts I actually liked-- and Mak followed after making sure his car was fully locked.

“He’s already had to take three trips to Sheri's room,” I laughed, jabbing a thumb at her as I’m sure she made a face behind me. We had to dump the poor guy so many times during his first full run of the house, but now he could get through the whole place without having to stop and blow up our phones with notifications that he was stuffed.

“He doesn’t get the corners well,” Sheri chimed in as she took the foil-covered tray from Gem and brought it to the kitchen while they took their coats and shoes off in the porch.

“That’s because you’re supposed to get the corners,” Cal retorted, Mak laughing with a nod.

“That’s broom work.”

“What’s even the point of getting it then?” Sheri groaned from the kitchen, and I just rolled my eyes. Me and Cal shot each other knowing looks and then moved to flop on the couch and start spreading out their trove of delicious snacks; chips, chocolates, gummies, BUGLES-- holy shit I love Bugles--, and a variety of store-bought dips, cookies, and a little tray of mini cupcakes.

“Hey, check it out,” Cal said as they whipped out a burned-CD in a clear case from the inside pocket of their coat. “Managed to nab it for you.”

“Oh my god Cal, fuck yes,” I laughed, the movie’s name scribbled in sharpie on the front. “Even a shitty cam job just to say I saw it while it was still kind of relevant will make my whole week. Thanks, bro.” I ruffled their messy dark-blond hair as they shot me an almost offended look.

“Oh, bro, no--” they replied with a grin, finally slipping out of their coat and shoving it behind them; it was always weird seeing Cal without the binder on, but they’d been in it all day at work and I knew that evening time was ‘breathing time’. “You think I would get you, my dearest, most incredible friend--”

“What do you want to borrow?” I shot across the bow but they simply flashed a stupid grin and continued.

“My treasured, longest-lasting friend,” I rolled my eyes with a similarly rolling laugh. “You think I would get you a dirty, peasant’s camjob? Bro, never-- this shit is aiming for the Academy.”

I gasped as Sheridan and Mak reentered the room from the kitchen holding plates of still-steaming food. “For Your Consideration?!” Sheri squealed excitedly.

Cal wiggled the disk between their fingers flashily. “For Our Consideration.”

“Fucker,” Mak laughed, “how do you always find those and find the legit ones?”

“Trade secret,” Cal shot back with a finger to their lips. 

Gem came out with two plates full of the sausage-sprout roast thing and handed one each to Cal and me before running back to the kitchen for her own. I squished down to be closer to the end of the couch where my stairs were attached and Cal squished down with me, giving Gem room at the other end for herself and Sheridan, Mak taking the recliner for himself. 

“Fahbuloush food,” Cal said between shovel-fuls of it, flashing a thumbs up.

“Yeah, it’s fantastic,” I said, leaning out a bit to nod to Gem directly. She beamed at me and I couldn’t help but feel just… awkward. Did she really not remember? Or did she really think I didn’t know? Was what happened really just… nothing and I was just making a big deal out of nothing?

I blushed and sat back, focusing on the food as Cal’s feral eating knocking some of the crispier bits of parm and panko crumbs to the floor. “Shorreh,” they managed through a mouthful that spat out a couple of other little pieces of food beyond their notice. I shuddered a little; that never would’ve disgusted me before now, but tonight I was feeling extremely grateful that I wasn’t only depending on myself or Sheri to clean the floors at least a little anymore.

“It’s cool,” Sheri offered, also face deep in dinner. “Roombie will get it.”

“Oh god you didn’t name it Roombie did you?” Mak asked with a look of utter incredulity from the recliner.

“I haven’t named it at all, I shouldn’t have had to buy the damn thing to begin with--” Sheridan started and I actually felt a little proud-- almost-- that everyone seemed to jump on it before I had to.

“Yes you did,” Mak and Gem said in different levels of gentleness.

“No, you should’ve been fuckin’ vacuuming,” Cal snapped to a harsh hush from Gem after they had finally swallowed, reaching into one of their bags and hauling out cans of soda and dispersing them among the crowd of us. “Anyway, name the li’l guy. You’ll feel better about it.”

“I’m terrible with names,” Sheri sighed.

That had opened the gates, and I probably should’ve jumped in and said something, or at least like… said no, but…

“Yuzuki, that maid from Chobits--”

“Jeeves, you gotta call it Jeeves.”

“Smithers!”

“Let Daph name it.”

“Oh god it’ll get named after a horror movie villain or something.”

“Chasing her through the house like Jason chases teens through the woods.”

“Hannibal,” Cal suggested, everyone laughing at it in some way or another. I laughed too, honestly, just because it-- I mean, I can see why they found it funny. Everyone was having a good time! It was nice to just have a laugh with everyone.

Anyway, the Roomba’s name is Hannibal now. I’m not… it’s not bad, I’m not mad about it.

The ‘jokes’ afterwards were a bit… too much though.

Even when the movie was on, and I was trying to pay attention, comments would keep getting made. There were some innocent ones, and questions, which I kind of appreciated, but it always devolved back to the same dumb joke.

“Does Hannibal knock into your stairs or ladders much?” Mak had asked at one point, nodding toward the steps against my arm of the couch, I wobbled my head. 

“They’re all sturdy enough that if he runs into them front-on he’ll turn, but if he’s coming up the bookshelf he’s knocked the ladder down a couple of times. I adjusted those so they’re high enough off the ground he won’t bump them, I have the one the bookshelf rigged up with an elastic so--”

“Neat,” he said bluntly, turning back to his food. Cal picked up his sudden exit from the conversation and stepped in though; at least Cal had my back. For this, anyway.

“Oh shit, that’s actually really cool,” they said, leaning over the back of the couch to look at the ladder and little doll-room I had set up on the bookshelf. “And you’re heavy enough that if you grab on, it’ll pull down?”

“That’s the theory,” I had replied, a bit embarrassedly. Obviously I hadn’t tested it yet, but… I mean, I had hope it would work.

“Well, if you zonk tonight and it doesn’t work, I’ll keep you off the ground so you don’t have to worry about Hannibal,” they laughed, grabbing my knee and shaking it as they kept looking at it. “Oh damn you can even see the TV from that little spot, hey? Fuckin’ smart.”

Gem had been chewing and couldn’t chime in fast enough, almost gasping for air as she finally swallowed. “If she zonks tonight then you keep Hannibal turned off until she’s back to normal,” she stressed, shooting looks around the room.

“No, it’s fine,” I tried to interject. “He’s only set to start doing his auto-cleaning after Sheri leaves for work and before I have to do any morning Zoom meetings.”

“It’s still too much of a risk,” Gem said from her end of the couch with that clear tone of ‘don’t argue with me’ that was really starting to get my hackles up. “And too noisy for you at that size.”

“He’s actually a lot quieter than th--” I started to argue anyway, but Mak decided to cut in and remind us that there was a movie on, and I blushed, feeling like a child.

This was the movie I had wanted to watch, and I had missed probably 20% of it or more to chatter started by everyone else.

Cal had gotten up and left around the midpoint, stepping outside to smoke ‘subtly’ though everyone knew what was happening. They had given me a nudge to go along, but I had already missed enough of the movie-- I was just hoping Cal would leave it here at the end of the night so I could try it again when no one else was here.

Gem had scooted closer in their absence, and I had kind of felt it coming but tried to play it cool as she picked at snacks and stuff. By the time Cal had come back, she had almost fully taken over their spot, and Cal didn’t see the look on face before they flopped down between Gem and Sheridan, much to everyone but Gem’s disappointment.

I got up to run to the kitchen in one of the quieter moments, and Gem followed.

“Hey, if you zonk tonight…” she had begun softly after a while had passed and everyone finally seemed willing to watch the movie in the other room, “you don’t have to worry. You could come back to my place again, if you wanted, rather than worry about being here.”

“I, uh…”

Listen. Listen. I know what I should’ve said and I know I shouldn’t have been pushing this whole bullshit off, but I was! It’s too late to change that so like, try to keep your comments to yourselves on this one. 

“I’m pretty tired tonight so if, uh, if it happens I’d be fine to just hang out here. I’ve got my beds, it’s ok.”

“If you’re sure…” she drawled, and I could hear the disappointment in her voice in a way that felt like I was being dipped in ice-water. “I just… I don’t like the idea of you being alone in there.”

“I know, I--” the words literally tried to choke me. “Thanks, Gem,” I managed, cocking my head back out toward the living room. “I’m gonna head back, I don’t wanna miss anything.”

Like… she was being nice, everyone would say she’s just being nice by offering for me to stay at her place. Me and Sheridan aren’t on like… same-room-sleepover terms of relationship, and I don’t ever want that with her. Mak absolutely won’t go near me if I zonk, turns out, so that’s out. Cal I might be able to convince to sleepover, but they’ve got cats so I would never be able to stay at their place, and Sheri doesn’t like them hanging out, so…

I went back to the couch and managed to drag Cal over to lean on me before Gem came back. Yeah, if I zonked tonight, I’d just ask Cal to sleepover.

At least, that’s what I thought until Cal opened their damn mouth about it later.

“Hey, that was a pretty good movie, I think,” they drawled as we both brought some trash into the kitchen together. 

“Yeah, can I keep the disc for a bit? I’d like to rewatch it,” I jumped at the opportunity, holding open the trash bag for them.

“Oh yeah absolutely, you can even keep it in the player so you can like, use the remote with your feet and stuff,” they said, looking at me like a brilliant revelation had hit them.

“My feet?” I laughed. Jesus, Cal had hit the devil’s lettuce hard tonight.

“Yeah for when you zonk,” they said with a grin, chuckling.

“Ah.” Of course. I’m the only one apparently trying to not think about that tonight while I’m supposed to be having fun. Cal, despite being somewhere in the stratosphere mentally, could still pick up that I was uncomfortable.

“Hey it’s cool, if you zonk, you know I’ll keep you off the ground n’ stuff.”

“You really don’t need to,” I replied as they threw an arm over my shoulders and started wheeling back around to the livingroom to get more garbage for cleaning. “I mean, you’re having a good night, I wouldn’t want you to freak out about dropping me.”

“Pffffft,” Cal said-- shooting me a look I hope I don’t ever have to see again-- as they pulled the neck of their shirt down. “No binder tonight, don’t even have to use my hands.”

“Ew, Cal--” I blurted out trying to shove them away. I was laughing, I knew I was laughing, but my face and my body absolutely didn’t want to be laughing right now; I don’t even know why I was laughing about it, it just seemed to be the only reaction my brain thought was appropriate? Like it panicked and spun a wheel and here we are! Laugh-town!

“Haha, c’mon,” Cal drawled as they started picking up garbage again, me doing the same to try and take my mind off of it. “You’d love it in there, you can’t tell me you haven’t thought about it, right?”

“Thought about what?” Mak asked as he came back from the bathroom, I tried to shake my head at him to cut if off but Cal had his undivided attention.

“Giant tits,” they snorted with a knowing nod to Mak. Mak’s expression was probably the most blender-mashed look of confusion, disgust, awkwardness and curiosity I’d ever seen, and that was still not nearly as gross to look at as Cal’s face when they grabbed me by the shoulder and said. “I mean, my are mostly only hairy around the nipples, so it’s still pretty good in the middle there, I think.”

“Cal, fuck off,” I said, trying to shove them off again. All it did was make Cal laugh more, and I tried to focus on picking up the dishes and litter from around the room as Sheri and Gem came back from Sheri’s bedroom, also looking curious about what was happening.

Gem rushed over to take some of the dishes from me, and I said a quiet thanks as Cal clarified to Sher behind her that they’d offer me a cleavage ride. Gem’s eyes went wide as she darted them between me and Cal in surprise, and I couldn’t get a read on her expression. “Fuck off with the weird jokes, Cal,” I muttered again, breaking eyecontact with Gem as I did.

My eyes dropped to her shirt, feeling kind of relieved that it wasn’t one with a breast pocket, but I had to contain my shiver as I turned to walk away. Her shirt was… pretty low-cut, and my head just kept going back to all of the weird shit that happened earlier the week, on top of this weird fucking conversation.

One of the things that made me feel even worse was that I knew I was blushing, and I was terrified what she would think of that if she had seen it.

That’s why, obviously, after everyone had left and me and Sheri were getting ready for bed, I decided not to say a damn thing when those stupid warm waves started to come over me. That’s why I just said goodnight, went to my room, and sat on the top of my desk with one of the bags of leftover snacks in my lap until that stupid fucking faerie finished their stupid fucking bullshit, and I dragged my gross-feeling ass all the way up to my stupid tiny sponge-of-a-mattress and ate cheetos until I fell asleep.

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

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[redemptivexheroics]

I posted 5,185 times in 2022

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#wish i could provide a screenshot but i deleted the ask and i didn't get an email notification for it. but fuck whoever that person was.

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

@sonoftartessos​

Aphrodite was in a rush and wasn’t minding where she was going, she was late for a little bonding time with Athena and soon as the elevator from her flat came to the lobby floor she rushed out of it immediately and bumped into a guy knocking him down while making her stumble. “Oh my god! I’m so sorry, here let me help you up” Aphrodite said as she helped the poor guy to his feet dusting him off. “I’m really sorry but I’m in a rush” Aphrodite said a she quickly made for the doors. 

29 notes - Posted May 22, 2022

#4

@inkdreamt​ Liked For A Zeus Starter 

“Don’t hold back Diana, stop worrying about the fact that I’m your father and pretend I’m Cronus, you can’t hold anything back if you find yourself in confrontation with him” Zeus said as he threw Diana off, much rougher than what he usually would, he needed her to be prepared knowing that Cronus would most likely not hold anything back or be worried because she was his granddaughter. “You need to treat me as if I’m your enemy, not your father”

30 notes - Posted February 23, 2022

#3

Feel free to feel this out...

30 notes - Posted May 15, 2022

#2

@bcbliophile​

Ares walked into his manor after a trying day, first that insufferable father of his had tricked him into attending a family meal that went sideways as soon as Hermes showed up, then some stupid mortal tried to buy his company, he needed a drink before he decided to murder someone out of sheer annoyance. Of course his mood was not improved when he noticed his desk chair facing the window and someone was clearly occupying it. “I don’t know who you are but you picked the wrong day to be a nuisance, I’ll...”

Ares froze when they turned around. “Bloody hell, Alona, you almost caught my wrath. You know there is such a thing called a phone, you can do one of two things call or text? You almost got thrown out the bloody window” 

30 notes - Posted January 10, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Like this for a starter...message me if you want to plot otherwise I will throw something out completely random. 

49 notes - Posted January 17, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[dominimoonbeam]

All The Things They Didn’t Know

I was asked to do a Darlin x David. I might have gone overboard... It’s already 5k and I have plans for another chapter... But I can’t wait to share so IT BEGINS!

All The Things They Didn’t Know on ao3 but I’ll post this chapter here too below!

David and Darlin have had feelings for each other since they were teens. Now that Darlin is back, they have to figure out how to express those feelings and take some chances. (I'm bad at summaries, I'm so sorry, but it's good!)

This is an AU without Angel and Sam in the picture. Soooo when Sam would have patched Darlin up after the fight with the vampires, he didn't and they nearly died and THAT was how David got to find out his missing wolf was back in town.

tags: violence, bodily harm, hurt/comfort, trauma, angst, bad self-esteem because this is Darlin, David is a king, they will figure this out

This was a request on tumblr and I am thrilled with how it's going! I hope others enjoy this idea too. I LOVE Sam and Angel and the canon pairs but this is fun to play with and David/Darlin just has SOMETHING.

-All The Things They Didn’t Know-

He didn’t know.

He got a call from The Department that one of his wolves had been found, on the brink of death, by human neighbors, and taken to a human hospital. The Department had called to check in with him before taking an action of their own to extract the empowered from the human facility and move them to one of their own healing centers. He didn’t know who it was, mind racing down a checklist of all the last times he’d seen everyone in his pack, panic building. He was already grabbing his keys and heading out to his truck to meet them at the center. He froze when they told him who it was.

Darlin shouldn’t even be in the city.

Just the mention of them tugged at a wound in his heart.

“From what we’ve learned so far the humans have done a decent job keeping them alive. They were found in their apartment bleeding out from multiple wounds. The human police are all over this.”

Their apartment? What fucking apartment? His mind was going fast, but he drove faster. What had happened? Why were they in town? And who the hell had hurt them?

“Can you get them out of the human hospital and to a center?” The humans could only do so much.

“We’ll handle it, Mr. Shaw. We just needed to get confirmation from you first.”

“Which center are they going to be taken to?”

The man on the phone gave him the name and he hung up before he could give him instructions. He knew where it was. He knew were everything in his city was—except for Darlin, it seemed.

He got there before the ambulance and his wolf, long enough to be told that according to the human records, Darlin had flatlined twice—their heart giving up—before being shocked back to life. They’d lost a lot of blood. It wasn’t likely the humans would be able to patch all the damage and keep Darlin alive on their own, but they a had been trying hard.

When the ambulance pulled up and the fake EMTs pulled the stretcher from the back, Darlin was still bagged, a tube down their throat and IV lines in their arms. They were covered in bruises, wounds, and scars. He could barely see any clean skin at all. His heart pounded in the roots of his teeth. He wanted to shift. He wanted to howl.

Asher arrived just as the healers were pushing Darlin into the back. They both followed and no one tried to stop them. “Did you know they were in town?” Asher asked, voice low, and probably knowing the answer.

David didn’t say anything.

They both watched the staff work, a healer searching out the worst of the wounds to start work on while others tried to clean away the blood.

Asher’s breath caught. “They look…”

David was pretty sure neither of them had seen this much of Darlin’s skin ever. Even when most of them had gone on pack runs as teens, ending up swimming in the lake before running home, Darlin had never really been with them. Darlin’s whole family had been on the edge of the pack, barely attached. But David had wanted them to be—wanted Darlin to be—but he hadn’t known how to explain that, how to make it happen. He had only been able to watch that distance between them grow until Darlin was almost a stranger, spending more time with people outside the pack than the ones in it.

But he was still certain that they hadn’t had this many scars before they left, before the Quinn incident. Or had he just not noticed? Not seen? Fuck. The bruising was dark, in layers that suggested some were older than whatever had brought them to this. And the bites… Bloodsuckers. One of the staff cut at their shredded shirt and peeled it back, exposing a side nearly crushed in.

Asher growled low.

“Call Milo. See if his mate can find out anything about this, file a formal request for information. Someone did this and I want them.”

Asher nodded, staring another second at Darlin before backing out of the room.

No one even asked David to leave. No one would dare.

He watched everything, cataloging the damage done even as it was being erased. He would never forget it. He should have known they were in town and he should have known if they were in danger. They shouldn’t have been alone.

 -

 Darlin woke up, limbs and head heavy and everything feeling hazy and warm.

They blinked up at a ceiling, the lighting low. It wasn’t anywhere they knew and they couldn’t hear anyone talking or arguing, no tvs blaring through the thin walls. Where the hell were they?

Darlin tried to roll onto their side, to sit up, and it was so hard. And then they saw him sitting there, watching them. Darlin froze, gaze cutting away from David to glance around the room. Oh shit. This had to be a department facility. They remembered the fight with the two vampires and dragging themselves home. And then people in their apartment and EMTs. Humans. Oh shit.

“I’m sorry,” Darlin said before David could start on what was likely to be a spectacular lecture about irresponsibility, embarrassing the pack, and jeopardizing covert.

“How long have you been in Dahlia?”

Not the first question Darlin was expecting but it should have been expected. Their brain still felt fuzzy. This was not a good way to go into this conversation. They couldn’t remember the right answer or come up with a good lie. “Am I not allowed to be in Dahlia?”

David’s eyes narrowed. Wrong response. “How did this happen?” he tried again.

Was he keeping his voice low for their headache or was that just David trying to contain his anger?

“I…got into a fight with some vampires.”

“Quinn?”

Darlin jumped, gaze snapping up to him. Oh shit.

The lecture was indeed spectacular, but it wasn’t the one they had been expecting and it didn’t go the way they’d expected either. He was…disappointed. He said they were family and that they should have told them, shouldn’t have gone alone against someone that dangerous, should have considered what Quinn could have done to some of the pack members without them even knowing he was a threat.

He was right.

Darlin stared hard at the floor, sitting on the bed in a room they didn’t know.

“I thought if I could just find him… It would be over,” they confessed, quiet and suddenly realizing how naïve they’d been. They still thought they could end this if they found Quinn—that it was their job to find him—but they should have warned the pack. They should have thought that through. They should have—

“Darlin,” David said. He was standing now.

Darlin hadn’t noticed him get up and that was worrisome too. The healing magic must have been a lot. They felt foggy still, their skin humming and their eyelids so heavy. The only think keeping them from falling asleep again was David fucking Shaw staring at them. They could not be weak in front of him. They definitely could not pass out during a lecture. “I’m sorry. I should have handled it differently. I didn’t mean to risk the pack.”

They blinked and for a second they were falling. He had them by the shoulders, holding them upright where they sat. Oh shit. Had they passed out.

“I know you didn’t mean to,” he said. So close. They expected him to be furious but he sounded…sad? Why? Had they caused that much trouble? David sighed. “Get some more sleep. We’ll finish this later.”

Darlin flinched. Finish it? They wanted to say no. Get it done now. Kick them out or punish them. Better to do it right away than wait for it. Rip off the band-aid or rip out their heart, whatever it is, no reason to wait.

 -

 Darlin sagged and David guided them back down onto the bed, lifting their legs to settle them again. He shouldn’t have gone off on them when they were still recovering. But they’d woken up and at first their apology had jarred him, but then they’d avoided answering him and downplayed what had happened and he couldn’t not say everything piling up behind his teeth.

He was so mad. But it was at himself.

Stealth had called and told him what they knew about the incident between Darlin and Quinn. If he’d checked up on it back then, rather than just taking their word and letting them skip town, he would have known right away. He would have known what a monster Quinn was, that The Department had had a warrant out for him for ages, and that they’d never managed to catch him.

It had never sat right with him when Darlin left town but he’d worried it was because of his feelings for them rather than anything logical. His feelings were the reason he’d never known how to go out of his way to bring them into the friend group either. It felt like something else. And hadn’t known how to handle that. So he second guessed and he left them alone.

He stood over their bed, watching them sleep. They had shadows under their eyes and so many scars even after the healers had cleaned up the gaping wounds, put bones back into place, and wiped away most of the blood. Their shirt had been shredded and pulled away and now they were just wearing ripped black jeans and boots on that narrow white bed. His hand ghosted over their bare shoulder and neck, a network of circular scars interlinking from behind their ear all the way to their shoulder. It almost looked like some sort of strange tattoo. But it wasn’t. They were scars made by teeth, biting over and over, and never healing with magic.

Knuckles tapped at the door before it opened. David turned, leaning against the side of the bed, staying between Darlin and the door.

Asher stepped in, closing the door behind him. He had a bag in hand.

“Where were they living?” David asked.

Asher snorted and told him. If David had tried to pick out the worst building in town, he would have found them. “Place was a dump.”

“Did you get all their stuff?”

Asher nodded, putting the bag on the chair. “They didn’t have much. It’s literally one garbage bag of clothes and a box of stuff.” He glanced at Darlin on the bed behind David and then dug around in the bag until he had a hoodie. It had to be Darlin’s because David didn’t recognize it as either of theirs. “The only thing they had in their fridge was a rubber duck. What’s that about? Who doesn’t have food?”

David shot his beta a frown. “Are you ever not hungry?”

“I wasn’t looking for food! I was just…checking,” Asher said, walking around David to the head of the bed. Asher looked down at Darlin, still out cold. His amusement drained away when he looked them over. “What’s the plan?” he asked, voice softer now. He reached out and slid one hand behind Darlin’s neck, gently lifting them up into a sitting position. David took the hoodie from his other hand and helped put it on them, zipping it up.

“First we get them home. Then we’ll need to have a pack meeting to go over the Quinn problem.”

Darlin jerked a little at the vampire’s name, breath catching and lip curling. Both David and Asher stared at them for a second, soaking that it.

“Did The Department know who did this?” David asked, keeping his voice low and watching Darlin while he spoke. They’d settled back down. With all the healing magic in them, it was surprising they’d managed to sit up and stay awake as long as they had earlier.

“As far as The Department had pieced together, it was a couple of vamps.”

Just like they’d said. “A couple?”

Asher grinned. “Yeah. And the troublemaker won.”

David stared, trying to figure out the joke there. “They almost died.”

“The vamps would have been dead if they weren’t…you know, already dead.” He shrugged but was obviously proud of their wolf in that fight.

“How did the fight start?”

“The bloodsuckers said Darlin knocked on their door wanting to know about…him,” Asher hesitated to say the name and wreck Darlin’s sleep. “They weren’t inclined to give up any info. The Department is chalking the whole incident up as a one off brawl and letting all parties involved off the hook.”

David nodded. He didn’t like it, but he got it.

“You sent word around to the pack? I want everyone in groups for now.” They couldn’t leave the young or the old alone. Shit, they really couldn’t leave anyone alone. Quinn wasn’t some pushover. The Department said he was old and strong.

“Yep. Not many live on their own anyway but they’re all on alert. They won’t leave anyone solo.”

David nodded. Good. He carefully scooped Darlin up and lifted them off the bed. Asher grabbed the bag he’d come in with and then held the door.

David walked down the long hall. It was still so late that there was barely anyone around, except the half a dozen pack members waiting in the lobby. They didn’t say anything, just took in the sight of Darlin still out and bloody and fell in around him on the way out to the car. Arden cut off the staff members making a beeline to try to stop their exit, smiling pleasantly and offering to sign whatever needed signing. Asher still had David’s keys from running errands for him and unlocked the truck, opening the passenger door.

David was surprised how much he didn’t want to put them down. He liked holding on to them, because at least then he knew they were okay. But he settled them in the front seat and buckled them up. Asher had already put Darlin’s things in the backseat.

Marie, Milo’s mom, pressed forward and in front of him to get a quick look at Darlin herself. She touched Darlin’s hand and it felt like they all held their breath, waiting for confirmation that Darlin was okay. The Department had the most powerful healers in the city working for them, but they would never be able to trust anyone more than their own pack. Marie sighed and nodded, patting Darlin’s hand gently and putting it back in their lap.

Everyone eased back and David closed the door. Asher said he was going to take care of a few more things and get a ride from Arden back to the apartment. On any other night, David would jab at him and accuse him of sneaking off to see his mate. But he knew that wasn’t the case tonight. Although maybe he should send him over to their place. They hadn’t quite moved in together yet, though Asher slept at Babe’s more often than he did at David’s. They were in that in-between bullshit phase. Babe knew about the pack and had been to a couple meetings. They were the only unempowered one. David got into the front seat and sent Asher a text, telling him to either bring his mate over or sleep at their place. He couldn’t leave anyone alone like that until they figured out what the Quinn situation was.

Asher texted him back right away with a string of emojis that didn’t explain shit and then a heads up that Milo and Stealth would follow him to his apartment to get the doors. He didn’t have to say that they were also going to make sure no one unwanted made an appearance while Darlin was still unconscious and David had his arms full.

David had always been grateful to have his pack. He loved them. But nights like this showed him just how tightly connected they were. He wished he’d known how to make Darlin a part of that before it came to this.

 -

 Darlin woke up in the front passenger seat of a moving truck. They blinked. It was dark out and their brain felt slow. It took another second for them to remember everything—everything. They sat up straighter, realizing they were buckled in and wearing one of their hoodies and…David was driving.

Darlin looked around and noticed the box in the backseat. Headlights from another car strobed through the cab and gleamed off a bright yellow rubber duck in the box. Oh. Oh shit. That’s their stuff. Darlin swallowed hard and tried not to react. Was he driving them out of town? This was going to hurt. They reminded themselves that it was fair. They’d really fucked up. And it wasn’t like they’d really ever been a part of the pack, right? It shouldn’t hurt to be kicked out. It shouldn’t hurt to know they’d never be able to go back to them.

“Are you going to give me a ‘don’t come back’ speech now?” Darlin asked, less bite in their voice than they’d hoped for. Hide that heartbreak with attitude or else what are we even doing, right?

“What?” David grumbled.

“Are we going to the bus station or are you just going to drop me in the woods and hope I can’t find my way back?” Darlin forced a smile but hated the threat of tears in their eyes. Hopefully it was too dark to see. “You should know, I’m a wolf. I’m really good at finding my way.”

“I’m not—Fuck. You think I’m kicking you out.”

It wasn’t a question so Darlin wasn’t sure what they were supposed to do with it.

“Didn’t you listen to anything I said before?”

“Yeah. I endangered the pack and lied to you and was irresponsible—”

“And you endangered yourself, and you’re a part of this pack and we love you.”

Darlin’s heart jumped, so desperate for those words that they actually pushed away from them rather than latching on to them, trying to rework them to mean something else. Obligation maybe? He had to say it. He couldn’t mean it. Why would they love them? Why would anyone?

Fuck, that was a dark reaction they did not want to think on. Definitely not healthy. Luckily Darlin had never worried a lot about their health. “So…Where…”

“I’m taking you home to get cleaned up and rest. We’ll figure out what to do tomorrow.”

Home? Darlin must have looked confused because David grumbled.

“To my apartment.”

“Why can’t I just go back to my place?”

David laughed, but it was more angry than amused. “From what I hear, it was a dump. It’s a mess after you bled all over the place. And your neighbors probably think you’re dead. At this point, you walking back in there like nothing happened would be breaking covert.”

Darlin nodded, head still heavy. That made sense… “Oh. Yeah, okay. You can drop me off and I’ll find a place.”

He snorted. “Yeah, right. No. With all that healing magic in you, you’re probably going to pass out again.”

“No, I’m not. I’m fine.”

“You were dying a few hours ago,” he reminded, voice rising in indignation.

Darlin groaned loudly. “I wasn’t dying. I was just banged up.”

David raised an eyebrow and took his attention off traffic long enough to shoot them a withering look—not that Darlin withered. “You flatlined. The humans had to restart your heart while holding you together. If the Department hadn’t realized you were empowered… If I hadn’t gotten the call…” He looked at the road again, jaw tight.

Darlin stared. He really looked upset. A part of their brain wanted to insist he was upset because it was a nuisance, because he’d been dragged out of bed or because it could all be embarrassing for his pack. But they knew that wasn’t right and letting themselves think it was in a way thinking less of David, which Darlin was not going to do. “I’m sorry,” they said instead, and this time they meant it. It wasn’t just words pushed out of guilt or panic or fear. They were sorry they’d scared him. They didn’t know they could.

They drove the rest of the way in quiet, Darlin trying not to fall asleep to the hum of the car and the strange, amazing feeling of being safe. It had been a really long time since they felt like that. They parked along the street and David got out. Darlin did the same, body still feeling gauzy and slow. Before they could make it a step, David was there, pushing into their side and curling an arm around their back.

Someone else was on the sidewalk with them and Darlin tensed. “You remember Milo,” David said. “And this is his mate.”

Darlin nodded, more than a little uncomfortable meeting people when they could barely stand on their own. At least it was dark out.

“Milo, grab the stuff in the back?” David said, keys still in hand.

“I can—” Darlin started but David’s arm around them held them to his side.

“Nope.” He started walking toward the building. Milo’s mate, the stealth, moved a step ahead of them, opening the door and then hitting the elevator button.

Milo was with them by the time it opened and all four stepped on. Darlin felt Milo looking at them and expected to see disgust or contempt on his face when they met his gaze. But the man was smiling a little. “Two vamps? Really?”

Darlin shrugged.

Milo nodded, still smiling. “Nice.”

“Milo…” David growled.

“Sorry,” Milo tried to push back the smile.

Milo and his mate didn’t stay, walking them to the door and exchanging a few more words with David before leaving. Darlin stood in the living room, not sure what to do. They didn’t even know this place. But it looked like someplace David would live. It was clean and orderly but somehow still inviting and lived in.

They wanted to lay down on the couch and sleep, but they were afraid of getting it dirty.

The door shut and David came up behind them, nudging their back to guide them down the hall. “That’s Asher’s room,” he said briskly, pointing to the one they passed. “He’ll be back. He might bring his mate.”

He pushed a door open ahead of them and nudged them into the bathroom, flicking on the light. “Shower,” he said, pointing at it. “Leave the door open. I’ll grab you some clean clothes.”

Darlin frowned, brain foggy but not so much that they didn’t keep up. “What? Why?”

“If you pass out in the shower, I’ll have to break the door. Just leave it open. It’s not like I haven’t seen you before.” He turned and walked out of the bathroom, muttering about laundry.

Darlin was glad he’d walked away, because they blushed. Fuck. Was that ever going to stop? They were not shy, even now when their skin was more scars than not—they weren’t shy about being seen. But being seen by David? It shouldn’t be different, but it always had been. They kicked the door shut and sighed, scrubbing hands over their face. When were they going to outgrow that stupid crush?

They looked at themselves in the mirror. Jesus. They were a mess. There was blood in their hair and on their face. Someone had obviously tried to clean them up a bit, wiping away red but leaving streaks and patches. Shit. They took off their boots and put them off to the side before stripping out of the rest of their clothes. They rolled their shoulders, body still so tired but at least nothing hurt anymore. Nothing like a Department grade healing. They stepped into the shower and turned it on, letting the cold water hit them hard before it started to warm up. They scrubbed all the blood off and washed it out of their hair. They tried not to think about how they were in David’s fucking shower, using his body wash and his shampoo. Fuck. They would smell like him. Don’t think about it.

When they were teens, their dad had realized they had a crush on David Shaw. “Forget it, kid,” their dad had said with a mean laugh. “You’re reaching too high.”

Definitely reaching too high. They’d thought their dad was just being an asshole back then, but he was right. It would have made things worse if they’d let anyone see it. It would have been embarrassing.

When they were cleaned up, they turned off the shower and grabbed a towel off the shelf. Of course, David had a stack of clean, fluffy towels in his bathroom. They dried off, stepping out of the shower when someone knocked at the door. “Still standing,” Darlin smirked.

David opened the door but didn’t exactly look, just holding out clothes.

Darlin came closer and took them, frowning. “These aren’t mine.”

“Your shit’s in the wash.”

“All of it?”

“You literally had one other pair of jeans and four shirts.”

Darlin pulled the soft, sweatpants on and then the t shirt. They had to resist the very strong impulse to lift the fabric to their face and breathe it in—breathe him in. Fuck. It was David’s clothes.

“Are you hungry?”

Darlin considered lying but nodded. This was already so fucking weird, why not eat something too?

David huffed and walked back toward the living room. Darlin followed and finally let themselves get acquainted with the couch. They sat in the corner, finally clean, finally someplace where they didn’t have to keep an eye open just in case.

David walked into the kitchen and Darlin could see him from where they sat. They knew they should look away. It was dangerously indulgent. They knew they should leave too. This couldn’t end well. Darlin didn’t belong there. Watching David puts around the kitchen, while they sat on his couch wearing his clothes, feeling safe, made their heart hurt. Darlin had only ever felt their heart when they were looking at David. Maybe the pain of wanting what they couldn’t have was better than not feeling it at all. They’d missed the pain of wanting.

 -

 “Asher has left over pizza in here. Do you want that, or do you want an omelet?” He asked.

No answer.

David closed stepped around the kitchen island to get a look at the living room again. Darlin was curled up on the corner of the big couch, asleep. He sighed and watched them draw steady, deep breaths. It tugged at something inside him, to see them there in his home, in his clothes, safe and trusting that he’d keep them that way while they slept. He tried to tell himself he was reading too much into it—trying to see what he wanted. They were worn out. They would have slept on the sidewalk if he’d left them outside. Fuck, that idea did not make him feel better. They’d been living god knows where, alone, picking fights and hunting a psycho without any of them for back up.

He was going to have to ask about that, about how they’d known those vampires had been with Quinn.

He grabbed a blanket and laid it over them, resisting the urge to touch their hair and push the damp strands back from their face. He couldn’t bring himself to move. He was stuck. His bedroom as just down the hall, but if he went, he’d be leaving them between him and the door. There was no reason to think that Quinn would come busting in. He’d be a suicidal moron if he did. But David couldn’t quite convince himself to accept that and walk away, go to bed, leave them on the couch to sleep.

Asher unlocked the front door and came in as quietly as he could even before noticing them in the living room. David kept an eye on Darlin the whole time, to see if they’d wake up. They didn’t even stir. They were completely out.

Asher locked the door, exchanging whispers with his mate.

“Are you sure it’s okay?” they asked, hushed.

“Yeah. Baabe, don’t worry. He said you could stay.”

“I don’t want to be in the way,” Babe continued, their whisper so soft David would have easily missed it if the apartment wasn’t otherwise silent.

“You’re never in the way,” David said, looking back to offer them a tired but reassuring smile. “Asher is, often, but not you.”

Asher laughed picked up what must be Babe’s bag and wrapping his other arm around them, leading them across the living room and toward his room. Babe mumbled a thank you and a good night before disappearing through the door. Asher put down his bag and doubled back to David. He glanced at Darlin on the couch. “They look better.”

David nodded, but still hadn’t convinced himself to move.

Asher touched his arm. “Thanks… For suggesting Babe could stay for a while. I know you said I could stay at their place but it doesn’t feel right to split up…you know?” he tried to explain. It was instinct. He wanted to be close by and he probably wouldn’t have been able to sleep if he stayed at Babe’s. He’d be awake, listening, just in case Quinn got the drop on him.

“Of course. They’re always welcome, Ash. They’re pack.”

Asher straightened, smile growing, and David groaned.

“You just called them pack.”

“They are your mate, that makes them pack.”

Asher stared at him with the big stupid grin.

David growled lightly and shoved him away. “Go to bed.”

Asher nodded, mumbled a good night, and ducked into his room, closing the door.

David sighed and bent down. He very carefully slid his arms under Darlin and lifted them off the couch, blanket and all. He walked them down the hall, to the back of the apartment, nudged open his bedroom door and, without turning on the lights, walked them to his bed. He laid them down just as carefully as he’d picked them up, refusing to linger on how much he wanted to hang on. Darlin stretched and sighed, turning their face to press their cheek into his pillow. Safe.

He closed the door quietly, turned out the rest of the lights, and settled in on the couch, where he could see the front door.

[burnedbyshoto]

hawks_littledove.mp3

— You’re an avid listener to NSFW ASMR artist Hawks. It’s just your luck that he’s offered to have phone sex with you.

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pairing: takami keigo (hawks) x fem!reader

warnings: smut, 18+, slight abuse of power/influence, phone sex, masturbation, degradation, praise, nsfw asmr artist!hawks

word count: 5,018

a/n: my keyboard is broken and i could actually cry. but hey, hawks do be sexy even tho I would never trust him with my life. also LOL this might be a call out to a lot of us, do not be offended or I will cry.

kinktober day 14 main kink: phone sex | kinktober masterlist

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Fantasizing about being in relationships with fictional characters was entirely healthy and normal.

That was something you believed to the core. It was fictional; thus, no one but you were to be hurt at the end of the day. The character, being fake, could never have an opinion because you must be real in order to have an opinion. So when you were between boyfriends, you discovered a new anime, and before you could stop yourself, you fell hard for a character.

It started as a mild obsession.

You had looked up fanart via google images, your heart warming when you saw the plethora of different fanart. The anime itself had been in circulation for a few years now, the manga for much longer, so the content was endless. Then google images wasn’t enough, and you began crossing into Twitter and Tumblr.

The fanart became better, more engrossing, and definitely much more NSFW. And then, one night during your endless rabbit hole down Tumblr after your daily search on Twitter, you stilled when seeing a new type of content.

⇒ grey fullbuster x reader

The obsession grew worse.

So much so that you had followed nearly five hundred self insert writers and artists on Tumblr, and maybe seven hundred artists, meta writers, and thread makers on twitter. But three months into consuming all the content you could find, you came across a new name that made you tilt your head.

Hawks Fierce Wings

It was a name that was being repeated and heavily talked about on both sites. It was an ASMR artist, apparently, and you frowned at the thought. You didn’t have anything against ASMR videos, but you weren’t exactly sure how to handle an anime ASMR artist. Were they cosplaying while making all those weird ASMR sounds? You really didn’t have any idea, but due to the immense boredom of your lazy day in, you decided to hell with it and tried out his most popular video.

It was simply entitled: Hawks is Jealous.

Did you have any idea as to who Hawks was? God, no, you didn’t. But if it was just some random cosplay he was going to do, you didn’t think it was going to matter. So as the only slightly educated ASMR listener, you never truly became invested when it was a thing; you slipped on your earbuds and pressed play.

The introduction screen faded into an illustrated picture of a slightly handsome man, and some calming yet tense music played in the background. You shifted, eyebrows drew as you waited for the ASMR session to begin, and when it did, you were not ready.

“I saw you walking around with that asshole today,” a voice practically growled in your ear, and you froze.

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

Oh, no!

For almost an entire hour, you sat glued to your sofa, your fingers digging into your lap as the jealous, spiteful words of this man named Hawks poured bitterly in your ear. His words were a near aggravated assault on you and definitely something you were beyond uncomfortable hearing from a stranger, but there was something about his voice that kept you there. Maybe it was the tenor of his tone or the way there was this sly, cunning scent to his words that he seemed to hide deep within his throat, but there was something that kept you there.

The second the passionate, heated kissing noises and heavy moans began to spill from his lips, you screeched, slamming your laptop closed as your cheeks pounded heavily.

Oh my god?!

It took a bit, but eventually, you were able to finish the audio and quickly figured out why he was an NSFW artist. You had never, ever heard a man eat a pussy fake or real as eagerly or vigorously as he did. Your hands were gripping the pants of your leggings, and your chest heaved.

Oh, motherfucking shit.

Finding out there were almost seventy other videos for you to still experience sent you scrambling for more, and eventually, you had to confess you were obsessed. Despite the anime fandoms you had discovered him for, Hawks seemed to be more famous for the content he created as himself. His real name was unknown by the looks of it, and he was only addressed as Hawks by his audience, something you caught on to quickly. So only after creating a new profile for his Youtube account, you made quick work of liking and commenting on every single of his already published seventy-eight nearly one hour and thirty-minute videos. 

Each one was different.

Each one filled with various roadmaps on how Hawks' scenarios would play out for you — the listener. When he used his own persona, he called the listener his little dove or his chicken nugget, sometimes his KFC thigh, or his shish kabob. 

You were glad at the very least he didn’t call you by any of those nicknames when pretending to fuck you at a speed only a “porn-is-my-only-education-on-porn” virgin teenage boy. You knew it wasn’t ideal, usually, but for some reason, it just worked. You commented on everything, read his summaries and thoughts on each video. Eventually, when you found yourself on his final, most recent video, you were ready to go a step further.

The Patreon app on your phone seemed jarringly out of place as you opened the app and subscribed yourself to Hawks' highest tiered option for the price of twenty USD.

And when you got your access to his page, you were immersed in more heavier, better content.

It was a goldmine in a sea of fools gold, and you absolutely went insane.

You weren’t sure if you were insane, needy, or just straight-up idiotic for scrolling to the very first Patreon post and indulging in the content Hawks created. 

There was a stark difference between the warnings alone between the Youtube videos and the Patreon posts. While the porn was readily accessible on Youtube, the kinkiest thing that ever happened in a video was a slight implication that Hawks had left the listener on a vibrator and fuckmachine as he went to go talk to the visiting neighbors.

It was a slight, tiny zone out and miss a detail, but one you had clung onto like an obsessed psycho and even commented on in your comment on the post. Of course, Hawks hadn’t responded, not that you had ever expected him to because all things considered, a video that was eight months old and hadn’t done that well, to begin with, didn’t seem like anything he would remember: notifications and all. 

But Patreon? Oh good, sweet, ravishing Patreon.

The very first video was of the following:

Stepbrother!Hawks fucks Stepsister!Listener in the stairwell during Christmas Dinner.

After praying and swearing to all the deities of the world that you were merely a person with a voice kink for this man and not, in fact, a perverted pseudo-incest worshiper, you clicked on it and began. It was downright sinful.

There were active voices whispered in the background as Hawks laughed about how fucking slutty you were for letting your brother fuck you like this. In the hallway, like a dog, where anyone in your joint family could walk out into. He laughed that you probably wanted it, how your wet ass pussy was greedily sucking him in, so how could you even begin to deny your lust for your brother.

You had to take a break five times during that audio.

Eventually, you do end up catching up.

Each video he had ever posted to your disposal, and most likely due to the different tier levels, you always commented on the videos. Even if it made you feel awkward for lusting over things months old, even if there were no other comments on the videos, which was much more common than you thought, you always commented and liked. It wasn’t anything ever crazy, you had seen the rarest comments bring a whole essay of analysis on why they loved it or the hating words, but you kept it simple.

Just something to keep Hawks spirits high without draining you even further of energy.

A simple: holy shit, that was hot as fucking hell!!!! you never disappoint me!!!

You never expected anything out of it; as a matter of fact, you had merely thought that you were doing the least by merely appreciating his creations when, one night, a few hours after you had gotten home. Your phone chimed with an alert.

Your mouth formed an ‘o’ in surprise; you hadn’t realized there was going to be a new release after he had just updated four days ago. Still, you popped in your earbuds and began the audio with a simple title.

i fuk ur stupid lil pus until u cri

He wasn’t precisely putting much effort into his titles these days, but his tags were definitely accurate and entirely explicit in what was to come. And in this newest video, the prominent tag was degradation.

You weren’t entirely into degradation, but still, you did what you had to do because you weren’t turned off by it. With the beginning sounds of the music playing in the background, you warped into the situation Hawks carefully carved.

But, oh?

Your face simmered with heat as Hawks dirty words dripped from the earbuds, the wet, squelching noise of your cunt and throat being fucked like some inanimate object made you soak through your panties as his disparaging words burned against your spine like a hot brand. After the thirty-minute audio was finished. Your body trembling with the aftershocks of an orgasm that had come despite the lack of actual stimulation of your clit, and you panted on your bed.

Opening your phone once again, you quickly liked the new audio and typed out your comment.

listen, i know i always comment about how fucking hot this shit is, but i have /never/ fucking soaked through my panties… you just did that and i expect a full refund for these panties 💦

You pressed send and, without so much of a second thought, continued your night. You had dinner, talked with friends, and ended the night curled back on the couch with a wine glass in your hand and a simple sit-com playing on the TV. The familiar sound of the Patreon alert rang in your ear, and you frowned, confused.

Grabbing your phone, you opened up the device and nearly shrieked at the sight of the information the notification that said:

Hawks F.W.: lets see those panties before i refund anything

A chill ran down your spine as you quickly put together the indications of this message, and you smirked, despite your quivering hands. 

Me: I have a seven inch dick requirement before seeing any of the goods — yes, that includes my panties

And from that very moment, you began a strange arrangement between you and the NSFW ASMR artist Hawks.

.

..

.

Working was the worst part of your life, you would say.

At work, you would sit in your small 4x4 cubicle, your shelves stacked with plenty of papers and items you needed, not to mention the computer that took up the majority of your desk. You weren’t quite sure what your job here was, you sort of sat at your desk and did meaningless assignments when assigned, but you did nothing for the most part. 

Before becoming an active Hawks stan, you would spend your time doing nothing playing video games. You had somehow managed to install a VPN onto your hard drive so that your employers wouldn’t be able to see what was on your screen outside of the home screen. They couldn’t trace what you did all day, but they could care less, given you got all your work completed on time and done in an over exceptional way.

But lately, since you had dropped into this… engrossed whore like relationship with Hawks, things changed. 

To be honest, it still shocks you to no end when he tells you that he had always been aware of you. Well, with your consistent, ever appearing comments on his posts and overall enthusiasm for everything he posted, it was hard to not be aware. The mental image of your soaked through panties after a long day at his own work had sent him over the edge, and he finally messaged you.

Through the DM’s in Patreon, the two of you grew to become quite the friends with benefits. He would send you countless personalized audio files because you had quickly confessed to your voice kink and how his voice sent your stomach into hormonal knots. In return, you’d send the picture of an occasional soaked panty, and if he was lucky, an audio clip of your pathetic whines back to his audios.

You couldn’t complain about this arrangement.

But as the number of his patrons doubled, and he wanted to entice his subscribers with paying him even more money, Hawks began to offer a bimonthly personalized five minute audios for his $20 tier. The fans poured into that spot, and Hawks and proudly sent you the new number of adoring fans he was getting. On account of growing platforms such as Tiktok, the number of new listeners he got was nearly exponential, as he currently passed one million followers last week. 

The cheeky bastard was also making enough money to stop working his regular work hours anymore. Choosing to transition slowly into his Patreon career while recording.

Hawks, however, seemed to have other ideas for your eventual personalized voice audio.

Hawks had simply asked if, by any chance, you were going to be working tomorrow the night before. Groaning loudly in recognition of your work schedule, you had texted him back that you were going to be working. Snidely including the fact that you weren’t rich like him, you needed the tedious old nine to five job.

Hawks: how utterly boring anyway u can b free around 2?

Me: Eh… probably not. Busy girl w busy schedule, ill be back from lunch so no break Why?

Hawks: well, u knw tht uve been amzing & th bst follower so i wanted 2 give u smthing better then the personalized audio

Me: Oh? Well, what is it?’

Hawks: pick up tmrw n find out

He had changed the subject immediately afterward by dodging all of your questions with ease. So you dropped it, and the two of you resumed a night of flirting. But now, sitting in your small cubicle, your eyes flashing to the clock that read 1:57 p.m., sweat began to build on your palm.

You peered down to your phone as you waited for something, anything from Hawks to show up. The fucker was too cheeky, evasive, and quick for his own good. You felt like pouting as you glared at the phone, waiting for the screen to light up.

And you stilled when finally, at precisely 1:59 p.m., your phone gleamed with light. You couldn’t abandon your computer mouse quicker than you did as you grabbed your phone, unlocking it, and reading the message from Hawks.

Hawks: do u have earbuds?

Me: Yes?

Hawks: good put them on n pick up

The moment you had read the first message, you were already pulling out your earbuds, synching them up to your phone, and placing them into your ear. But your jaw dropped when, for the first time, the call feature highlighted onto the screen, the time immediately changing to that of 2:00 p.m. The decline or accept button had never looked as daunting as it did right now.

Despite the call trying to go through, you still saw his follow up.

Hawks: if u dont pick up u wont get shit

[Accept]

You felt your heart hammering in your chest as both fear, apprehension, and excitement boiled through your veins, the hammering blood pounding in your ears as you waited for some sort of noise on the opposite side of the line.

“Little dove?” Hawks' voices filled your ears, and despite yourself, you smiled softly. The naturalness of his voice sends warm thumps down your spine.

“Hi, Hawks,” you whisper breathlessly, your head already checking to make sure your neighboring cubicle mates didn’t try to look over the divisions to stare at you. For the most part, the office building was quiet except for the phone calls, the clanking of computer keys, and the monotonous music playing softly on the speaker's head. 

“Whatcha doing?” he drawled, and you felt your skin heat up when you heard the all too familiar sound of his shoes hitting the top of his desk, the soft whine of his chair as he leaned back onto it. “Are you really at work?”

“What do you mean, am I really at work?” you squeaked, half horrified at the way the lazy, warm heat of lust was infiltrating your body at the sound of his voice, and the annoyance that he thought you had been lying? “Of course I am; it’s two p.m. on a Wednesday!”

“Ah, so little dove-chan is a raging pervert who engages in phone sex to bypass her long hours at work?” Hawks sighed his tone that of understanding and dismissal. You splutter. “You never fail to surprise me.”

“I do not do… that!” you stammer, your face feeling like hot cinders, your fingers and eyes double-checking to make sure that the audio was going to your earbuds and your earbuds only. You also couldn’t help the way your eyes swept around you, trying to make sure you hadn’t accidentally invited unwanted attention. “I said I was busy!”

“But, you picked up my call?”

“You said, or else!”

“Mmm, okay, I think I see,” Hawks tutted, and although you had never seen what you supposed to be his handsome face, you could imagine a lazy, toothy smirk on his face. “Don’t worry, I don’t mind using your little cubicle to talk you into fucking yourself good for me.”

Your jaw drops.

It hits the desk, and the muffled shriek of utter humiliation is only silenced because you bit onto your tongue like a rabid animal.

“Aw, you sound so excited for me already, little dove. I bet you want to know what I’m going to do to you, don’t you? I just know that I’m going to make you feel so... good…”

“Hawks!” you plea in a hushed whisper, your heart hammering where you sat frozen like a deer in headlights. Sure, you had definitely played his audios before to pass the time, but never before in your existence had you had actual phone sex. This was riskier than just listening to his audios; his audios always had a pattern, a way to escape from the madness of his voice when people were closer than you’d like. But this? No, there was no escape. “I’m at work! I c-can’t!”

“But, fuck, I want you so bad,” Hawks' voice dipped into a gravely tone, his voice just perfectly scratchy enough that your shoulders trembled in unspoken, untouched want. “I want to feel your cunt around my cock, baby, your pussy is so hot and I want to be the fucking lucky bastard that gets to fuck you through your bed.”

“O-Oh my god…”

“I’ve been thinking of what your tits look like,” Hawks continues on, his voice continuing in the style you liked the most. It was raw, heavy, and deep. No character impersonations, just him, pure Hawks. “I hope they bounce the way they do when I imagine you riding me. I want to see you moan when I kiss the underside of your tit, I want to see your face when you realize that you’re my girl, nobody's else's, but mine.”

Heat floods your panties at his words, your shallow breaths making him chuckle on the other end. 

“You’d be so lucky to be just mine, wouldn’t you, little dove?” Hawks snaps, his voice demanding a response, and you heave.

You look around, no one is near, and you croak out: “I’d be so lucky.”

“Louder.”

“I’d be so lucky.”

“Mm, there we go,” Hawks laughs, and your ears prickle for any noise that may indicate that someone was listening in. “What? Are you getting nervous that your needy ass will be heard by your coworkers right now? Answer me.”

“Mhmm,” you hum loudly, your cunt pulsing with more incredible heat and your hands shaking with a slight fear of being caught.

“Aww, don’t worry, little dove. I’m sure your boss will understand that you’re my newest fucktoy and will let me continue. Maybe they’ll want to join in?”

You whimper softly, shifting in your seat at that thought. You didn’t really want your boss coming anywhere near you, he was old and gross for one, and nothing could take the place of this beautiful man's voice in your ear right now.

“Oh, was that a no? You don’t want other people fucking you, do you, y/n? I bet you only want to have my cock in your tight little pussy, bet you want to watch the way that greedy little thing sucks me in, begging for my seed. Would you want me to cum deep inside you? You would like that little dove; you’d like to be full of my cum.”

“H-Hawks,” you keen as quietly as you can, your hips shifting uncomfortably in your seat, your heart hammering in your throat. The pressing heat in your cunt is growing, your panties growing with wet slick as Hawks' voice whispers down your ear, filling every empty and void space in your brain until you were having trouble focusing on the very much public spot you were in.

Hawks let out a soft, guttural moan, and you froze, face entirely combusting into an inferno as the familiar slick slapping of his fapping cock filled your ear. Immediately, you forgot everything.

“A-Are you—?!” you splutter, unable to find the words or the energy to come up with a way to ask if he was masturbating right now. Your eyes spun, your mind in a complete haze as soft, raunchy moans spilled from his lips, striking against your nerves and soul with each successive sound.

“I’m only trying to help you out here, dove,” Hawks growled, undoubtedly in effect to a rather loud smack of his fist colliding with his thrusting hip. “You’re the little office slut who picked up a phone call to entice in phone sex. I bet you knew exactly what I was going to do, and your pathetic, needy whore self caved to my instructions.”

Your fingers curled into the armrest of your chair.

“I bet this makes your boring ass job tolerable, the perfect distraction to a shit job, then imagining a few minutes of fucking yourself against my hard cock.”

“That’s not true!”

“No?” Hawks laughed, not believing you any more than you did. “So you wouldn’t hate it if I showed up and fucked you into the wall of your cubicle? You wouldn’t mind if I claimed your sweet-smelling pussy against your desk for everyone to hear? I know you can scream like a bitch in heat. I know that pretty little cunt of yours would milk my cock dry. Oh, I just know you would look so fucking sexy with your back arched, eyes closed, and you begging for hours just to cum. You wouldn’t cum without my permission, right?”

You gasped, heart fluttering, hammering in your chest as you shook your head, not trusting yourself to speak.

“I need a verbal answer, little dove.”

The heat in your core was blistering, your thighs shaking with your unadulterated lust and need as you ground into the cushion of your chair. All logic and moral long gone as he snarled and moaned your name in your ear, the slick of his fapping cock echoing like a great bell in your ear. You wanted to hear him cum, wanted to listen to the pithering sound of his echoing moans as he spilled the contents of his balls onto his hand — and how you wished it was your womb.

“I won’t cum w-without your permission!” you whispered, your skin shivering with your fear of being caught. 

“God, you sound like such a dirty fucking bitch. I bet your pussy is fucking soaked already. Bet you really want to run that slutty embarrassed finger against your clit but don’t want to be caught by your perverted coworkers,” Hawks hissed, his breaths turning into steady, heavy hot pants. You mewl softly, confirming his spoken thoughts, and he huffs out a laugh. “How many fingers do you normally shove up that pretty cunt of yours, little dove?”

“T-Three!” you gasp, your forehead pressing to the cool of your desk, your eyes glazed over and looking at the entrance of your cubicle, fervently wishing that no one tries to check on you as you grind against your stable chair. “O-Only three fit.”

“Fuck, you really do have a tight cunt, don’t you,” Hawks snaps, the wet sounds of his fisting hand around his cock a beautiful melody in your ear that makes you whine at the back of your throat. “Bet you can’t even fit cocks up your cunt without lube, huh. You gotta stay on top, or else you’ll get hurt with how thick and long my cock will be up that baby pussy of yours.”

“H-Hawks!” you grit out, the friction of grinding on the seat no longer working.

“Go to the bathroom, now,” Hawks commands, the small gasps on his voice from his approaching orgasm more than enough ammo for you to do as told.

You sprint to the bathroom, the slick of your cunt hot, and evident to you as you sped to the bathroom. Your phone clenched in your hand as you locked the door behind you, glad the room was empty. Barely managing to get yourself into the stall, the toilet paper placed on the seat as you raised your legs up, already prepared. The skirt you wore was bunched above your ass, and the panties you wore, stretching out around your knees.

“Sounds like you’re ready to start fucking that pussy for me,” Hawks laughs, but there's no humor, just bite. “Put in three fingers, now.”

Without even arguing or caring, three fingers slip into your cunt, and you cry at the feeling of your fingers completely stretching you out. The smell of sex and slick filling your nose as your fingers slick up, fucking your tight cunt as you moan louder and louder for Hawks. 

“God, your fucking pussy is so fucking wet, I can hear it from here!” Hawks moans, the frantic sound of his drilling hips gaining speed and momentum. 

“I want it to be you!” you moan, your face burning in your humiliation. “I want it to be you fucking my pussy, claiming me in this bathroom. I need you, Hawks, I want your cock so badly!”

“Fuck,” Hawks gasps, something tumbling in the background. “Such sweet words for a fucking dirty ass cumslut,” he growls, and your legs shake, your clit and cunt thrumming with your increasing arousal and pit of tightness in your core. 

“HAWKS, FUCK!” you sob as your hips try to start a merciless speed against your fingers, your body trying to match the speed in which Hawks was fucking his own hand.

“Keep screaming my name, whore.” Hawks gasps, his noises of pleasure beginning to grow louder and louder, your eyes crossing in satisfaction. “Screaming my name like the fucking slutty mess you are. All this shit just to get me to fuck you? God, you’re so fucking pathetic y/n. Begging for me, begging for more? I think you’re my favorite little dove ever, gonna make you mine whenever I get to fuck that pussy.”

“Hawks!” you wail his name again, your arms and pussy throbbing with the energy it takes to keep up with his inhumane speeds. Your vision seeing stars as you tremble more and more, your legs slipping from the toilet seat, yet. “I am your whore, your little dove. Please let me come, please! You fuck me so well, fucking hell, please, I needa cum, I needa cum!”

“Cum with me,” he snaps, his voice so deep, so dangerously smooth. It was precisely what you needed, the voice kink you had for his tenor exactly fulfilled entirely with that simple, last command. And just like that, your jaw slackens, head slamming backward, and pleasurable waves crash through you.

Your fingers still rock at your clit, and your vice gripped walls, your toes curling within your shoes as you soundlessly scream. Hawks, on the other end, is practically snarling, voice deep and altogether dangerous as grunt after grunt leaves him, and you can imagine the milk-white cum splattered all over his chest and hand. A beautiful, perfect sight that you wish you could see for yourself.

Exhaustion settles in your bones as you sit on the toilet, still entirely exhausted as you heave for air. 

“I think that was the best fucking orgasm I ever had,” you mumble, your eyes closed, not ready to stand up and move. “Thank you.”

“I’m good at what I… at what I do,” Hawks stumbles, husky exhaustion ringing in his own voice. “Now, little dove, finish up work, and I promise there’ll be a surprise waiting for you when you’re done.”

Not entirely agreeing, but not disagreeing with his command to go finish you last… two and a half hours at work, you begrudgingly said goodbye to Hawks before washing your hands and exiting the bathroom.

When five o’clock came, you watched as your phone screen lit up, and your face flushed as you read the DM from Hawks.

Hawks: this is my fav audio now ↳ hawks_littledove.mp3 but you surprised me today, so in case u ever want to have more fun sometime  call me 03-9183-2495 ;)

[cordria]

Twin Cores - DP

Saw this headcanon on Tumblr… awhile ago? It stuck with me, and I ended up writing this, and now I can’t find it to give the person proper credit. Lemme know if anyone recognizes this idea and knows who came up with it. (heart) 

Was gonna do this idea for the Big Bang thing, but I forgot all about signing up. ;) Wonders. So I’ll just post it and come up with new ideas.

~2,700 words. 

--

Danny floated high above the clouds, up where the air was thin and cold and the stars sparkled brightly overhead. It was terribly late, and Danny knew he’d be paying for this at school tomorrow, but this was always the best part of his week. He couldn’t come up here all the time, but when he cound, he always found himself relaxing. Hands behind his head, he floated on his back, studying the stars.

He let out a breath through his lips and brought a hand forwards to massage his chest, closing his eyes. Yesterday had not been good day. An accident with some of his parents’ technology had completely ruined his day. For reasons Danny didn’t understand, his chest had felt overly full since. Almost like he needed to cough up something - which couldn’t be, because his ghost form didn’t have any real lungs to cough with. 

With a groan, Danny stretched and rolled his body through a bunch of sharp loop-the-loops and twists, hoping maybe he could work out the kink. Nothing. Hopefully it wouldn’t prevent him from getting a good night’s rest. He was exhausted.

He floated for a few minutes longer, watching the sky and hoping for a meteor or two, slowly turning the overfull feeling over in his mind. He pushed and prodded at the odd sensation, trying to come up with what in the world it could be. 

It had to relate to his parents’ invention. Unfortunately, the day was a fuzzy blur in Danny’s memory and if something in particular had happened to him, he wouldn’t be able to remember it on his own. All he could do on his own was a vague understanding of what had happened.

Getting zapped with one of the newer devices yesterday had resulted in Danny getting split - again. His ghost half had fallen captive to the hero-like obsession of his core, and had gone on a hero-spree. A memory of rescuing a cat from a tree in a very overblown, comic-like way surfaced and Danny buried his face in his hands, embarrassed for himself. “Ugh, I hope nobody videoed that. Or anything else,” he muttered.

His human half had wandered aimlessly through the day, not knowing what to do with no driving force behind everything he did. Vague memories of eating pizza and not noticing the ghost haunting the place next door until Sam pointed it out filtered through the shadows. 

From what he remembered, it hadn’t been a horrible sort of day for either half of him. His ghost half had been allowed to play with his obsession all day and his human half had gotten to just be… human. But he’d been split for much longer than ever before; Tucker and Sam were unable to work through how the strange invention worked. 

Danny didn’t remember being much help with the endeavour. In fact, he sort of remembered his human half stealing the device, passing it to his ghost half, and the thing getting placed on top of the school for the afternoon. Jazz finally got it using some of the newer modifications to the Fenton’s vehicle that allowed it to fly. 

By the time the three of them figured out how to reverse the effects, it was late in the evening on the second day - more than 36 hours since being split. Phantom had started to turn more and more ghost, losing more of his humanity each hour, delving deeper and deeper into this hero obsession. His eyes had turned more ghostly, teeth sharpening, fingers turning into claws. Even a cape had started to mist into view.

Danny slowly ran his tongue over his teeth - they were still a bit too sharp - and pulled his hands far enough away from his face to glance at his fingers. They weren’t claws, not like many ghosts had, but… his fingers no longer really looked human. The changes that had happened to his ghost form the last two days appeared to be permanent, even now that they were rejoined back together.

Danny… didn’t want to think about that. Not yet.

And his human half had started to go through changes as well. Danny vaguely remembered - towards the end of the escapade, when he’d convinced himself that he didn’t want to be rejoined with Phantom - trying to avoid everyone and ending up in a tree, floating in a very inhuman way. His totally human form regaining some of its ghost powers.

Danny mentally poked at the odd, full sensation in his chest again. Perhaps it was that his ghost powers had grown while he was separated. Phantom hadn’t been exactly a half-a-ghost when they’d been slammed back together. And Danny had been just a bit of ghost too. Perhaps now he was somehow 60% ghost and 50% human… and his body was trying to adjust to being too much ghost. 

His mind poked at the sensation in his chest just a bit too hard. Danny slammed his eyes shut tight as he felt the sensation of transformation travel through him - lightning sharp and aching into his phantom bones. Panic set in a second later. He couldn’t transform up here - there wasn’t enough oxygen for his human form to breathe. He’d pass out and fall to his death. 

He gasped and threw his arms out, instinctively trying to grab something even though he was on the edge of the atmosphere, as the transformation arced through his arms and legs. He kept his eyes closed as he fumbled for his ghost side. He needed to transform back fast. His human side would already be aching to breathe, desperate for oxygen after the last hour of being in ghost form.

But his ghost side… was… 

Danny opened his eyes as he realized he wasn’t falling. As he realized his ghost form wasn’t something to grab for, because he was still a ghost.

“But…” he whispered, startled and confused. He’d felt himself transform. There was no mistaking the sensation that had swept through him. He looked around, almost as if the answer would be written in the air next to him.

Then the stars caught his gaze. He froze, mouth falling open, as he stared up at the sky. There were more stars than before, the whole sky alight with points of light. And he knew them - with each star he focused his eyes on, he knew what that star was. How far away it was, what it’s name was, what kind of star it was… 

Delight sparkled inside him as he let his gaze drift across the heavens. Stars he didn’t even know existed seemed to soak into his skin, whispering all their secrets in his ears. “How…?” he breathed, twisting around and around and looking everywhere he could. “Why?”

His gaze snagged on the moon, crescent-shaped and gleaming. He almost felt like he was drowning in it’s glow, feeling everything about it. The ice hiding in its craters. The human-built machinery peppering its surface. The soft warmth still coiling in its dying core. He could just… go there. He could be there in about three seconds. He could just…

He threw up a hand, blocking the moon’s glow, blinking hard and pushing the thoughts out of his mind. “Holy shit,” he whispered, breathing hard, focusing on Earth, on human thoughts, on normalcy. “What is this?”

Then he saw his hand, thin fingers topped with sharp claws, glove missing. His forehead furrowed as he realized both his gloves were gone, as was the logo on his chest, and the white belt around his waist. A black shirt and black pants. His boots looked like his normal shoes, just moon-lit white. Actually, minus the claws and some color changes, he looked… like he had yesterday. “Uh… What is going on with me?” 

He could feel the pull of the stars overhead. He knew he could just lean back, put his arms behind his head, and float there, watching the sky forever. Just revel in space for all time. Instead, he kept his gaze down towards the tops of the clouds. 

At least the first step of what he should do now was clear. Whenever he was dealing with anything out of the ordinary, Sam and Tucker knew what to say. They’d help. He’d go home, grab his phone, and call them. 

Danny flew towards Amity Park-

-and suddenly drew to a stop. He twisted around, eyes wide, realizing that he’d somehow overshot his home by a dozen miles or more. “What the fuck?” he said. He’d only been flying for a moment - how was he all the way over here? “I…”

He licked his lips and tried again. He set his gaze on Amity Park and flew-

-right past Amity Park again. It was an eyeblink of time between one side of the city and the other. Danny hung in the air, confused and slightly annoyed. “What is going on?” he said. A new power, obviously - but one that had unfortunate timing. His fingers curled, the claws digging uncomfortably into his palms. “This is what I get for leaving my phone behind,” he groused. The phone wouldn’t have done well in the thin, cold atmosphere. Even if he’d have brought it with, there was no guarantee it would have still been working. 

“Are all my powers wonky?” Danny asked, raising his hand and pushing energy into his hand. Instead of a steady, gas-like glow, the energy sparkled and hissed, like he was holding onto an exploding firework. “Odd.”

His powers were working differently, so it was time to try using them differently. Time to change tactics. Instead of focusing on a direction, Danny focused his mind on a destination. He closed his eyes, picturing where exactly he wanted to end up. Opening his eyes and taking a deep breath, he tried to fly as slowly as possible.

The world seemed to blur and twist, glowing uncomfortably bright for the fraction of a second Danny allowed himself to be in motion. When the world settled back into place, Danny found himself hovering about ten feet off the ground, within the city of Amiry Park, only about a half-mile from his house. “That worked a lot better,” he said, rather pleased with himself.

Instead of chancing another attempt at flying, Danny figured he’d turn himself human. A ten foot drop wouldn’t be too bad, and he could walk home. It would be the least-tricky way to get home. He took a moment to worry that this new power would prevent him from turning human as easily as normal, but then slammed that idea shut and closed his eyes. 

Danny pushed his ghost form away, pulling at that warm and heavy feeling in his mind. There was a sparkling sensation in his mind, then the sharp pain that came with turning himself human again. He dropped, landing lightly on his toes, breathing a heavy sigh of relief that at least this was still normal. He bounced a few times, testing out a few basic powers - invisibility seemed to work like normal, as did phasing through things. He didn’t try floating, for fear of accidentally ending up two towns over and two hundred feet above the ground in human form.

He walked home, rubbing his chest at that strange, too-full sensation, and snuck in the back door. Despite the fact that all the lights were out, he kept himself invisible to avoid his parents. It was so far past curfew that Danny didn’t even want to think about the trouble he’d be in if they realized he was still out. 

His bedroom door was still locked. Danny phased through it, flipped on the lights, and dumped himself into his bed. “Ugh,” he groaned, feeling the drain of the last two days on his body. He glanced over at the clock. Just before two in the morning. Part of him wanted to just curl up in his bed and fall asleep, try to get a few hours of sleep before tackling school tomorrow. But too much of him had a tight ball of anxious curiosity.

He groaned as he rolled out of bed and stepped in front of his mirror. He looked awful. Dark rings under his eyes and a horrible, pale tone to his skin. He looked half dead. “On the positive side, nobody will question it if I want to stay home sick tomorrow,” he muttered. He shuddered and shifted his weight, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then triggered the transformation.

His ghost form spread like lightning across his skin, slammed through his head, and settled into his chest like a cold ball of fire. He squeaked one eye open just a touch, not sure of what he was going to see. 

Phantom was peering back at him. Danny relaxed, letting his eyes open, and studied himself. From more than a few feet away, he looked absolutely normal. But up close, there were minor changes from the last few days. Teeth that were too pointy. Fingers that were a little more claw-like than normal. Hair that was more… smokey. Just a little. His mouth twisted, unsure of how he felt about the changes. “At least there’s no cape,” he murmured. “I’d look too much like Vlad with a cape.”

He squared his shoulders, set his teeth, and tried flying. He floated up and moved around his bedroom like normal. “So normal.” He caught sight of his claws and shivered. “Mostly.”

“Now…” He took a deep breath and jabbed hard at the over-full feeling in his chest. He was half-hoping nothing would happen. But light sparkled along his body, that tingling almost-painful sensation changing him in very subtle ways. His clothes changed from a jumpsuit to shirt and pants, his shoes looked like they would squeak on the floor as he walked. He was still glowing and transparent. “I’m… a different ghost?” He spread out his arms, feet firmly on the floor afraid to hover. “And I have like… superspeed.”

He took a very careful step forwards, peering closely at himself in the mirror. His eyes looked the same, with the normal green glow. His teeth were sharper, canines almost like little fangs. And… he leaned in, studying his freckles. They glowed, star-like, forming constellations across his skin. 

His mind veered off tangent, remembering the stars overhead, the glittering facts that swirled through his mind, the odd bubbling joy that came with even thinking about space. The freckles on his cheeks rearranged themselves into the constellation Draco, and sparks and speckles swirled into life across his clothes. A supernova that resolved itself into the stars overhead. Danny could trace the stars in his clothes, knew everything about each star. He was caught by the strongest urge to fly there. To zip through space to Alrakis, a binary star system eighty-eight light years away. It would only take him 221 years, 5 months, and 3 days…

Danny jerked himself out of his thoughts. He couldn’t fly for over two hundred years. He shuddered and blinked, settling back on his heels. The glowing freckles on his face settled down, his clothes faded back to black. The familiar sort of pitch-black of space. The sort of black Danny imagined the universe looked like before stars existed. “I have space powers now,” Danny realized, his voice slow and excited. “I have space powers! I’m a space ghost!”

Curious, Danny poked at that over-full feeling in his chest again. The world tingled and flashed, and he was back to his old self. Phantom, with the logo and the better posture and the weight of the world resting on his shoulders. “I’m two ghosts, somehow? Two ghosts… and a human...” Danny stared at himself in the mirror. “Or...” he rested his hand on his chest, feeling that strange overly-full feeling. “Or something…?”

Danny shook his head, not sure where to even begin processing that one. Then he turned himself human again, watching the world get dark as the ghost energy faded away. He scratched at his scalp, trundled over to his bed, and dropped into its softness. 

There wasn’t much he knew right then. The first was that space powers were the coolest power he could have gotten. And the second was that all this would be easier to process after a few hours of sleep and a large cup of caffeine. 

[megumitski]

hello these are the bnha fics i’ve read so far and i just made this to track them for myself. favorites are marked with a 💥! more bakudeku plus tododeku and other ships under the cut.

bakudeku

💥 Bluebird - EtherealBeing (53k)

Dialing a wrong number was no unusual occurrence. Everyone did it once in a while, and Katsuki was well aware of that fact.

However, possessing this knowledge made it no less aggravating for him to discover — a full two minutes into his rant about his day — that he’d been venting his frustrations to a complete stranger. As if that wasn't enough, said stranger was also inexplicably determined to hear his story to its end.

Let’s Be Alone Together - lalazee (3k)

Prompt: Deku being aggressively forward in his pursuit of Bakugou, and how that big oaf would react to someone else actually making the first move.

“Are you going to spend your entire life wishing you’d kissed me or are you gonna grow some balls and fucking do it?”

Bell Pepper - ticklishivories (7k)

Midoriya knew they wouldn’t talk about it. He was right. But he never thought it’d happen again.

spilling over every side - failbender (6k)

No good deed goes unpunished, not when there's a crazy lady with a complex and Lust Quirk parading around the city. By now, Katsuki should probably be used to things blowing up in his face.

be loved - bonnia (5k)

They sit there, in the darkness of the common room, about a few centimeters between them, but miles apart. Somehow, the quiet is companionable. More than it has been in many years. Katsuki knows he’s responsible for the rift between them, and he knows even more that it can’t only be Deku who attempts to mend it.

“Hey,” he says, after a while, and Deku turns to him in question, but Katsuki refuses to look his way. “Touch me again.”

(or: the kidnapping incident leaves bakugou traumatised about being touched on the back of his neck, and midoriya decides to take matters into his own hands)

Leftovers - brichibi (6k)

“Did you two make up?”

That. That’s why that fight felt like it was worth it, even if, technically, Izuku can’t answer her. Have they made up? Is this making up?

He actually doesn’t know.

[Or: the house arrest fic where it is, somehow, more awkward to talk through feelings than it is to fight]

lust-drunk - theboykingofhell (8k)

The one where Bakugou tries not to lose his mind to lust, and Midoriya is the useless gay who does nothing to help that matter at all.

💥 Quiet Rapture - lalazee (261k) - inc.

That A/B/O fic where cocky Alpha Bakugou falls in mate-love at first scent, while Midoriya is just a poor bookstore-owning Omega who got his nose punched in is a kid and can't smell a damn thing. Also known as: That time an Alpha had to use his actual personality to woo his mate instead of relying on his scent.

💥 A Demolition Boy & his Cryptid BF - kewltie (8k)

Bakugou of the Demolition Squad is famous for running one of the most popular Youtube channels on the web that regularly blow shit up and jumped off a perfectly good building for shit and giggles. He's also famous for his Cryptid BF™, never appearing on camera except for a few bodyshots and all information on him is kept locked up tighter than Fort Knox, therefore drawing all sort of attention and curiosity toward his mysterious boyfriend.

Deku from Deku Explains is a hopeless chatterbox who is known for uploading 20-30 minutes video that talked about his favorite shows and comics and have one of the most devoted following on Youtube. He also can't seem to shut up about his boyfriend Kacchan, who regularly make his presence on the channel as a disembodied voice.

They should theoretically have nothing in common except a shared platform to host their content and an army of fans with an endless curiosity and devotion to their Youtubers. Vidcon is where we lay our scene and the internet is about to get a rude wake up call.

What The Fuck Did You Just Call Me? - reading_raindrop (8k)

“A-ah B-Bakugou! You dropped some pencils!”

Katsuki stiffened. Kirishima and Kaminari froze. Basically, everyone within earshot stopped what they were doing to look at Izuku like he sprouted a second head. What did he just call him? “What the fuck did you just say to me?”

Katsuki whipped his head towards Izuku with his signature death glare as he stood up from where he picked up the fallen supplies.

“U-um I said you dropped some pencils! I think this eraser might be yours to-”

“No. What the fuck did you just call me?”

Izuku starts calling him Bakugou and it pisses the explosive teen off a lot more than he thought it would

💥 take care - Chrome (2k)

There are words to say stay safe, I’ll miss you, I love you, but Kacchan has always preferred to leave things unspoken. Izuku isn’t much with languages, but he thinks he’s figured out this one.

---

“Emotional constipation manifested as over-the-top housewifery?” Mina asks. Before Izuku can say that is not what he meant at all, she nods. “Yeah, I can see it.”

Just Look At Me - Colourcubify (52k) - dnf

Midoriya is completely happy with his life. Nope, not one single regret in his twenty-seven years. He especially doesn't regret running into his old childhood friend/bully after almost ten years, nor does he regret spilling coffee all over his very expensive looking suit. How nice it will be to die with no regrets. ~~~~ AKA the sugar daddy AU I meant to be a one shot, that turned into a full fledged story.

A Nest for the Best - Camellia_Sinensis (1k)

Deku’s been nesting and asking everyone in 1-A for pieces of clothing for his horde. Everyone, that is, except Katsuki. Cue the jealousy.

unforgiving - i_write_emotion (19k)

Deku is hit with a quirk that takes away his ability to forgive, and Bakugou’s world comes crashing down. Quirkless!Deku. Pro-hero!Bakugou.

@ Deku WRONG CHAT - katyastark (16k) - inc.

Deku: THE LENGTHS I WOULD GO TO JUST LICK THE SWEAT OFF HIS ABS hnnnnnghhh

Deku: or! like! It doesn’t even have to be his abs! It could be anywhere else! I’m not picky!

Pinky: excuse me what

ChargeDolt: OMG

Uravity: @Deku WRONG CHAT

I love you. I’m completely and utterly in love with you. Please don’t get married. - InkspillsNotebook (6k)

Ta-Da!!!! I hope you all enjoy the finished product!!! I'm sorry (not sorry) I broke a lot of you when I first posted this to tumblr!!

Procrastination - capncapk (5k)

But it is still surprising to see his more-than-friend-but-also-lover-he-guesses in his office seeking attention though Izuku already turned him down.

Usually he'll get a text of 'wyd?' followed by a time and place if Izuku responds with a confirmation, and silence if he's busy.

Or slammed into the wall in the agency's shower for a quickie if no one was around, which despite his anxiety, he often acquiesces to.

While You Were Sleeping - Belkacaramelka (71k)

The one where quirkless fanboy Midoriya Izuku rescues Pro Hero Todoroki Shouto, gets mistaken as his fiancé while he is in a coma, and gets caught up in the most unlikely fake engagement... until his childhood enemy and Todoroki's classmate Bakugou Katsuki tries to catch him out, and they both end up discovering a lot more about each other than they'd expected.

Quirkless AU based on the film; endgame BakuDeku. -- Katsuki didn’t know when the change had happened: how he had gone from asking why Todoroki chose Deku of all people, to wondering why it was Todoroki that Deku chose. Troublesome Deku, who cooed like an idiot at cats, tripped at a random catcall and sang badly. Who, despite everything, proved that it wasn’t the quirk that defined a person. Deku, who was too much, not his, and undeniably off limits to begin with.

briar roses (and hundred years of sleep) - vannral (16k)

In complete honesty, no one who knows the Class 3-A should be surprised anymore. Izuku is asleep.

In which Izuku is hit by a ‘Sleeping Beauty’ Quirk, Class 3-A tries to find his True Love and get them to kiss him, and Katsuki’s very angry about it all.

Yes, They’re All Safe - teaandtumblr (5k)

Villains have entered UA grounds and are disposed of just as quickly, but that doesn't mean a headcount of the students doesn't need to be done. Toshinori would admit, he wasn't quite prepared for what he found in Bakugou Katsuki's room.

💥 all choked up - spicyrabbit (5k)

Bakugou Katsuki had a habit of turning away from the heard. At 16, he does this by coming to terms with wanting, desperately, to see his childhood friend cry.

💥 May I take your order, dipshit? - supercrunch (6k)

So, like, maybe Bakugou wasn’t really the best choice for this whole pizza delivery shindig.

(Midoriya in love, Bakugou in denial, and way, way too much cheese.

A BakuDeku romance in thirty minutes or less. )

blooms every hour - dynamighttiddy (7k)

“It’s you, okay?!” Deku screams. “It’s you. And I know you’ll never love me back, so -” Deku wipes his eyes and straightens. “So just leave it.”

-----

Deku has hanahaki, and Katsuki doesn't know how to save him.

all choked up - dynamighttiddy (7k)

“Deku, what the fuck are you doing?!”

Izuku asks Kacchan to help him train blackwhip. Things don't exactly go according to plan.

A Fight To The Death - iknewaman (10k)

Izuku isn’t competitive by nature, but when the blond, cocky asshole from the other table’s team gets involved he suddenly becomes hellbent on winning.

Rival Pub Quiz AU

💥 Like the Moon - osakakitty (15k)

Katsuki Bakugo is having constant, erotic dreams about Izuku Midoriya. He isn’t sure why, but they won’t go away. In order to make them stop, he needs to figure out what Izuku Midoriya means to him.

Canon-verse story in which Bakugo is confused about his feelings for Midoriya, and doesn’t know what he wants. Besides a good night’s sleep.

💥 We Wear Chains on the Weekend - surveycorpsjean (35k)

Well, in a day of revelations, it turns out that Izuku isn't as vanilla as Katsuki previously thought. Unfortunately, that fascinating discovery is overshadowed by Izuku's dumbassery, because he has zero concept of aftercare.

"Don't go to anyone else," Katsuki says, because screw it. He can do a better job anyways.

Or; Katsuki finds Izuku on a bad drop.

take me out to dinner first - dynamighttiddy (3k)

“Kacchan,” Deku chides. “What’s going on?”

Katsuki takes a deep breath.

He trusts Deku with his life. He can trust him with this, too.

“Have sex with me.”

-----

Katsuki Bakugou is one of the only virgins left in class 3-A - and with graduation just around the corner, he's desperate to change that.

💥 that ultra kind of love - dynamighttiddy (11k)

“So, uh,” Kirishima starts. “Was that your first kiss?” he whispers, almost sheepish. Katsuki’s stomach drops, and he freezes. Memories of green eyes and freckles and soft lips flash behind his eyelids. “Yeah,” he lies easily. “That was my first kiss.”

-----

In which Bakugou pretends Kirishima is his first kiss, amongst other things.

to the moon and back - kewltie (1k)

"He gets stupid when he's drunk," Katsuki seethes in his seat as he watches Izuku croon love notes into Uraraka's throat. He’d never met a worst lightweight then Deku, who become some kind of demented affectionate monster.

💥 Bridges - supercrunch (18k)

Yaomomo sighs. “We’ve got a little bit of a situation, Bakugou. Ashi—uhm, somebody might have accidentally signed you up for that modelling gig.”

Katsuki holds up a hand. "So what you’re telling me here," he says, "is that you told Calvin Klein I would model for them. In my underwear.”

Ashido sinks behind a desk to hide. “Yes.”

(The thing is, they really do need the money. And Katsuki's technically the leader of this bunch of morons, so he finds himself taking the job even though his pride will never recover. And even though nobody thought to tell him that he'd be working with his ex-boyfriend. You know, the cute freckled guy from high school who went and broke his heart.

So, yeah. This whole situation kind of sucks.)

Crescendo - supercrunch - inc. (4k)

(Izuku's band is on their way to the top of the charts. But the real star, he thinks, is the drummer.)

Guilty Kiss - osakakitty (1k)

He could feel Midoriya's eyes on him. Even though he knew it was wrong, Bakugo still wet his lips in anticipation.

(Canon-verse) A short story about making out in a closet. It's messy, but so is their relationship.

💥 Surfaces - surveycorpsjean (25k)

Katsuki has a new girlfriend, but something isn't right.

As impossible as it is, Izuku can't help but wonder what it'd be like to be called Katsuki's girl.

Classical conditioning - supercrunch (8k)

(or: how to trick a boy into going out with you.)

Alright. Maybe his idiot friends had a point, Katsuki thinks as he shoulders open the front door. His mother’s in the living room drinking coffee. Katsuki kicks off his shoes and stomps over. “Am I charming?” he demands, blocking the TV.

Mitsuki pats his cheek. “Oh, hon. Not at all.”

💥 Dance Bunny - EllaBesmirched (17k)

Katsuki Bakugou spends most week nights by himself, sitting in a corner at his local strip club and passing time until he feels tired enough to sleep. Work leaves him stressed and the new city he moved to a year ago is just different enough that he can't sleep at night and can't seem to get comfortable no matter where he is.

When he finally changes up his schedule and decides to head to the club on a Saturday night, he is instantly infatuated with a part-time dancer who can do things with his body that Katsuki didn't even know were possible. The dancer calls himself Bunny. By the second lap dance, Katsuki realizes he is in trouble.

but the entrails are the best part! - supercrunch (15k)

The boy straightens up. He’s about half a head shorter than Katsuki, face soft and youthful and sweet. He turns to look at him properly. His dark hair shines in the dying light, basket of blooms looped over one arm and mouth quirked into a tiny half-smile. The sun hits his face and makes his eyes a bright greeny-gold, just like emeralds.

Katsuki likes emeralds.

“Pretty,” he says, reaching out and picking the stranger up around the middle. He’s surprisingly heavy, although Katsuki doesn’t mind. “I like you. Come see my nest.”

The boy hits him.

He’s stronger than he looks, turns out. Katsuki drops him and falls onto his back, pain blooming across his face. Birds sing. The sky’s a lovely shade of orange, clouds floating lazily by. The boy scarpers. He leaves his basket of flowers behind, footsteps thumping on the ground and fading away as he escapes.

The sun sets. Katsuki, lying flat on his back with a bloody nose, decides he’s just fallen in love.

tododeku

(You Know You’re Really) Cute - ladyhoneydarlinglove (2k)

Kirishima poses the question, who’s the cutest boy in Class 1-A? The answers kind of surprise everyone, especially Midoriya.

Everything Except - Pouler (28k)

"In retrospect, Midoriya probably should’ve realized the moment they were enveloped in a glittering pink cloud that something was about to go Very Wrong."

After an encounter with a unique villain threatens to change the nature of their partnership, Midoriya must find a way to get things back to normal between him and Todoroki. That is, if he's certain that getting 'back to normal' is what he really wants...

count your blessings, not your flaws - PitViperOfDoom (7k)

Midoriya Izuku has never been asked out, confessed to, or flirted with, except as a joke.

Riddles in the Heart - PitViperOfDoom (19k)

The law is clear: whoever correctly answers three riddles will marry the prince, while all who fail are to be executed. The people live in fear as more challengers try and fail, and the throne grows bloodier with every passing year. But a young prince, nameless and in exile from his home, believes there may be more to this brutal challenge than meets the eye.

Of course, there's only one way to find out: ring the gong, and take the trial.

Late bloomer - Nohaljiachi (10k)

That’s why when they’ve found themselves face to face on the ring of the sport festival once more, for the third time ever since they’ve met each other, and Izuku smiled at him, eager and challenging, self-confident but never full of himself, Shouto blinked, dazed and shocked, in realizing just how blindingly beautiful his best friend was. The way Izuku’s white shirt clung on his muscles, the little peek of his collar bone and the hard lines of his pecs visible under it, the way his thighs curved and filled the school gym uniform.

‘Oh, fuck—‘ Shouto thought, his head spinning, feeling like he just got run over by a freight train. ‘Shit. He’s- hot?’

Burn and Breathe - PitViperOfDoom (11k)

Soulmates are connected through pain, and some bonds have more to share than others. Todoroki Shouto wishes he could reject his soulmate. Midoriya wants nothing more than to protect his own.

one string, fit for a bow - furihatachlookie (5k)

There was no magical moment that played a part in Midoriya's realization that he liked Todoroki. The thin red string that greeted him every time he looked down at his hand was an obvious factor, yes, but it wasn't love at first sight either.

It sorta just... happened over time.

fire and feelings - kagshina (8k)

“Uh…” he starts, eyes widening. “Your finger’s on fire.”

Todoroki’s face scrunches together, confused, and then he looks down, noticing the flame. Midoriya watches as shock flashes across Todoroki’s face, and then horror, and then finally settles on embarrassment as he puts out the flame.

“Shit,” Todoroki mumbles, and Midoriya’s lip curves upward.

bakutododeku 

💥 Fire in the Mountains - EllaBesmirched (168k)

“I’ll do it.”

Enji froze, fingers curling into a fist at his side, and didn’t turn around.

Shouto froze too, feeling his own eyes widen in shock at the words that had come out of his mouth, at the fact that he had actually stood up, followed his father out of the room, and dashed after him all just to say… he’d do it? He would do it? Him. Shouto Todoroki. He would--

Enji finally turned around and fixed Shouto with an expression so scathing, Shouto had to fight to keep his chin raised. “You’ll marry the Barbarian King.”

Shouto blinked. “Yes.”

The Ballad of Love and Hate - EllaBesmirched (6k)

After eight painfully long years, Katsuki finally has Izuku back. He's determined to keep him this time, and to do that, he knows there are some things he has to say.

(mis)matched - ethydium (12k)

Midoriya doesn't hate the idea of finding one's soulmate, even though he had long since given up on finding his own. And then Bakugou and Todoroki match, and while he's happy for them, his heart breaks from all the unsaid things he feels for them.

Or:

Midoriya pines and suffers his way to his own happy ending.

pillowed by love - ethydium (21k)

As a prank, Uraraka gets Midoriya a body pillow (dakimakura) with the image of Bakugou printed on it. Then another one with Todoroki's picture. Chaos ensues.

other

For who could learn to love a beast? - supercrunch (4k) - bakutodo

Bakugou takes a deep breath and steps out into the living room, eyes automatically adjusting to the change in light. There’s a boy hanging up his coat in the hall. He’s handsome, albeit in an annoying way, hair dyed two colours to match his heterochromia and skin pale and perfect and smooth. He looks expensive. “Bakugou.”

“That’s me,” Bakugou says. “You’re younger than I expected.”

“I’m older than I look.”

(Deku was right, damn him. Pretty boys are Bakugou's type.)

Want it All - surveycorpsjean (29k) - kiribakutododeku

“Hey, so..." Eijirou grins. "Can we ask you guys a question?"

Frankendick and the Great Acid Fiasco - EllaBesmirched (11k) - shiggyxdabi

Dabi had been intending to spend a very nice Saturday getting stoned and plotting murder, thank you very much, but when a trio of UA brats on enough L to kill a Beatle accidentally dose him and two other unsuspecting homicidal maniacs, Dabi has to change his plans a bit. Apparently no else around here knows how to trip balls and fucking enjoy it.

The Twitter - EllaBesmirched (8k) - tododenki

Shouto never really intended for anyone to find his secret Twitter account. He certainly didn't intend for Kaminari to see Shouto's thirst tweets about him. Luckily, Kaminari doesn't seem to mind.

pray you catch me - supercrunch (4k)

Katsuki pushes her shirt up to kiss her stomach. It’s silly, how it makes her heart flutter, how Izuku’s whispered I love you threatens to make her cry all over again. They’re unwrapping her from her clothes. They won’t let her hide, she thinks numbly. Won’t let her curl in on herself like she’s something dirty, Katsuki’s hands tugging off her underwear so she’s naked and exposed between them. “I,” she says breathlessly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be crying. I’m just being dumb.”

Izuku shushes her. Another tear trickles down her cheek and into her ear. He kisses it away, humming, brushing her bangs off her forehead so he can press his mouth between her brows. “You have every right to be upset. We’ll deal with him later. For now just let us take care of you.”

“She’ll get the message once you stop talking and fuck her,” Katsuki says, slipping his fingers into her. She clenches around him and shudders. “Gonna eat you out ‘til you forget how to move. Now put that fucking motor mouth to good use, Deku.”

[kpop-zone]

Selfish | Jihyo

Hogwarts AU | Enemies to Lovers | “Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck this shit. Fuck.”

Wordcount: 3,890

A/N: Sorry if the formatting is weird, but Tumblr won’t let me post anything on my computer, so I had to post this from my phone 😬

“Y/N!”

When Jihyo saw you running through the hallway, she could immediately feel anger seething within her, and she called your name with a sharp tone.

“Oh Jihyo, fancy meeting you here.”

After hearing her voice, you had stopped running abruptly and were now grinning at her sheepishly, pretending like you didn’t know why she was staring you down.

“Stop feigning innocence, Y/N. You’re late. Again! Snape will for sure deduct some points from Gryffindor.”

Jihyo felt like ripping your head off. Of all the Gryffindors you were by far the most reckless one and usually involved when your house lost some points in one way or another. Your favorite activity was to prank Slytherins which always led to particularly hard punishments for your house by Professor Snape, the head of Slytherin. But you just didn’t seem to learn from your mistakes.

“You’re late too though...”

You smirked cheekily, causing her to get even angrier.

“Yeah but I have this opposing to you.”

With her right hand, she pulled out McGonagall’s letter that allowed her to be late for classes if her position as prefect required it and waved it in front of your face.

“That’s unfair.”

You pouted and Jihyo had to suppress her laughter. It was a little unfair indeed. She had simply overslept this morning, but as a prefect, she rarely got punished for anything. But she always told herself that she deserved those benefits. After all, she had to deal with you and your shenanigans almost every day.

“It’s not. I had some...important stuff to do this morning. And now go before we’re even later!”

She lied and you rolled your eyes before starting to run again.

Like expected, both of you arrived late to class and Snape gave you a lecture about the unreliability of Gryffindors for almost fifteen minutes. At the end, he took away some points from Gryffindor with a smug grin tugging on his lips, causing Jihyo to curse you silently. She was sure that Gryffindor had only lost the house cup championships to Slytherin because of you the past years. This year, she had to put a stop to it. Talking with you, however, wasn’t useful. The two of you were in your fifth year already and not once had you listened to her. She had to find another way to keep you in check. The only question was how... The options had thinned out over the years and it seemed like she was only left with one by now. Despite hating you with a passion though, that option seemed to be a little drastic and Jihyo had shied away from pursuing it until now. A fact that changed, however, when she walked into the Gryffindor common room that night.

“That was hilarious...”

“You should have seen Sejoo’s face.”

“I would have never dared to do that.”

Agitated chatter was filling the whole room and Jihyo immediately knew that something bad must have happened; something that most likely was connected with you in some way.

“What happened?”

Jihyo huffed while plopping down next to Jeongyeon on the couch.

“I don’t think you want to know...”

Her friend responded hesitantly and Jihyo buried her face in her hands in desperation.

“Y/N?”

She asked although she already knew the answer to her question.

“Yeah...Let’s just say the incident involved Y/N, Sejoo, the ‘Ossio Dispersimus’ spell and... a 200-points deduction for Gryffindor.”

Hearing the statement of Jeongyeon, Jihyo’s head snapped up and she looked at her classmate bewildered.

“200 POINTS???”

She yelled, causing the surrounding Gryffindors to look at her in shock. But Jihyo couldn’t care less about them. Enough was enough. You could be glad that you weren’t in the room right now, because she was sure that she would kill you if you were standing in front of her in this moment. You had once again ruined the championship for them with your selfishness and she was tired of it. You had to disappear. If you weren’t part of the student body anymore, Gryffindor couldn’t lose points because of you. And there was one easy way to reach that: she needed to get you suspended for the rest of the year and she already knew how.

If there was one person in this school that hated you more than she did, it was Snape. He had tried to get rid of you on several occasions, but your misdeeds had never been severe enough to make him reach his goal. But if she would help a little, she was sure that they could get you out of the way with joined forces. It was a risky scheme, but Jihyo was sure that she could come up with the perfect plan. For two weeks, she martyred her brain to find a way to set you up while protecting her own reputation simultaneously. Coincidentally and much to Jihyo’s chagrin, you didn’t get into any more trouble in those two weeks. On the contrary, you actually stood out for behaving extremely exemplary. You were the first one to appear in every class and the last one to leave because you offered your help to the teachers who often made you stay longer to clean up the classroom. You also didn’t roam around in the hallways anymore after curfew and didn’t even prank the Slytherins. In fact, there were now other Gryffindors that did more mischief than you.

Your good behavior didn’t manage to lift Jihyo’s mood though. If any, it made it worse. Now that she had finally decided to take action against you, you were playing innocent? Of course, her conscience was immediately telling her to stop her plan and to give you another chance. But her brain strongly opposed to that idea. Your good behavior wasn’t enough to erase all the trouble that you had caused the rest of the year. Therefore, she decided to follow through with her plan, even though her bad conscience heavily weighted down on her.

On the due date of her plan, Jihyo went to the library, tightly clasping a letter in her hand while nervously looking around. Being secretive definitely wasn’t her strong suit. As a prefect, she usually advocated honesty and compliance, so everything that she was doing right now went against her principles. She kept telling herself that it was for the good of Gryffindor, but the little voice in her head kept telling her that she was acting out of pure selfishness and it took all of Jihyo’s strength to muffle it. Arriving in the library, she scanned the students and soon found the perfect protagonists of her scheme. There were some first-year Slytherins roaming the aisles, apparently searching for some books to help them solve their Transfiguration homework. Their school supplies were scattered across a table next to one of the huge windows in the library and Jihyo approached it while skimming her letter one more time.

If you want to learn some curses that they don’t teach at school, come to the Forbidden Forest at midnight.

Sincerely,

Y/N L/N

Jihyo cringed at the primitivity of the letter, but she knew that it would work. Slytherins were overachievers with an affinity for illegal activities. They would be too intrigued by the offer to turn it down. After looking around one last time to make sure that no one was watching her, Jihyo dropped the letter on the table of the first years before scurrying off. Her heart was beating out of her chest and she felt like she was close to passing out. She didn’t know how anyone could enjoy going against the rules; she felt absolutely miserable right now. Not being able to be around people any longer, Jihyo wanted to rush off to her dormitory, but before she could leave the library, someone suddenly called her name.

“Jihyo!”

Jihyo didn’t need a second to realize who the voice belonged to and her body froze instantly. Had you caught her red-handed? For a split second, she considered running away, but before she had the chance to, she could already feel your hand on her shoulder. Reluctantly, she turned around with guilt reflecting in her eyes, ready to get yelled at by you.

“Um...I know it’s a little late, but I wanted to apologize to you.”

You mumbled sheepishly and Jihyo’s jaw dropped. That was definitely not what she had expected to hear from you.

“I know that I’m the reason for a lot of your worries and I also know that I took it too far with the incident with Sejoo two weeks back. I’m really sorry about that and I will try my best to make it up to you and the whole house. I’m proud to be a Gryffindor, so I want to make you guys proud in return too from now on.”

You continued while firmly looking into her eyes as if you wanted to convey the seriousness of your words by allowing her a glance into your soul. A glance that Jihyo didn’t want, because she could feel the complete sincerity of your apology and it made her actions even harder to bear. Why did you need to tell her all this now?

“Um...i-it’s a little late for regret now, don’t you think?”

Jihyo stuttered, trying to sound snappish, but her bad conscience forbade her to harm you even more. You didn’t seem to notice the lack of sharpness in her voice though. Instead, you looked like a beaten puppy who was painfully aware of their misdeeds.

“I know and I’m really sorry. I hope you know that this is nothing personal. I’m really grateful that you’re our prefect, no one would be better at this job than you. I’ve never meant to upset you with my actions.”

You smiled sadly, managing to break Jihyo’s heart. What had she done? You didn’t deserve to be suspended and she didn’t deserve your kind words. What person would set somebody up like this? She needed to get that letter back. Panicked, she looked over your shoulder to the table of the first years, but to her sorrow, the Slytherins were nowhere to be seen. They must have left the library already. Looking back at you, she could see that you were anxiously waiting for some kind of response and she would have loved nothing more than to give you the chance to explain yourself. Maybe the two of you had started off on the wrong foot right from the start. But there was no time to talk right now; she needed to get that letter back first.

“I need to go.”

Jihyo exclaimed breathlessly before running out of the library, leaving you behind with a confused expression on your face. Frantically, she ran down the corridor while scanning the passing people. Yellow, blue and red uniforms passed her by but not a single green one.

“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck this shit. FUCK! Where are those little brats??”

She cursed under her breath as she reached the stairs. She had no idea where the Slytherin common room was and even if she did follow another Slytherin student there, she would not know the passwords to enter. Desperately, Jihyo grasped her hair and turned around her own axis. What was she supposed to do now? The castle was too big to find the first years. Panicked, she walked up and down the corridor, trying to think of a way to prevent the fatal consequences of her plan from happening. Her only chance was to stop the first years from going to the Forbidden Forest tonight. If she could intercept the Slytherins on their way to the meeting point, they couldn’t get caught by a preofessor and the letter wouldn’t come into play. It was the only way to make this right.

Therefore, Jihyo reluctantly went to the Gryffindor common room where she waited on the couch in front of the chimney like on pins and needles. The hours passed painfully slow, but after a while one fellow student after the other left the common room to go to bed until Jihyo was the only one left. 11:45, the clock face read, causing her to jump off the couch and to stumble to the exit. Under no circumstances, she could let the first years slip through her fingers; she needed to stop them. Being allowed to roam the hallways after curfew as a prefect, Jihyo didn’t worry about running into any professors and headed straight to the entrance hall where she was just about to open the heavy double doors when they suddenly swung open without her help.

“Oh Ms. Park, I’m glad to meet you here. Look who I’ve found loitering outside.”

Mr. Filch croaked smugly while dragging two of the first years from the library by their robes.

Shit.

Jihyo tried to fake a smile, but on the inside she felt like dying. How was she supposed to change the course of these events now?

“What a lucky catch. Thank you for your assistance, Mr. Filch. I can take them to their head of house.”

She tried to pull the first years to her side, but Mr. Filch tightly clasped their uniforms.

“It’s ok. I will accompany you. I want to propose some punishments.”

He giggled ugly before shoving the scared Slytherins forward. Reluctantly, Jihyo followed them to Professor Snape’s office while martyring her brain to find a solution for this hopeless situation. But there didn’t seem to be one. Before she knew it, Mr. Filch already knocked on the dark oak door to Snape’s office which swung open a second later to reveal the irritated-looking professor.

“What?”

He grumbled and Mr. Filch snickered silently.

“I’ve found two of your students outside. After curfew.”

Mr. Filch put exaggerated emphasis on his last sentence, causing Professor Snape to grunt angrily before motioning all of them to come inside. He looked at the two first years in disgust, making Jihyo wonder why he was the head of Slytherin in the first place.

“P-professor Snape, we can explain.”

One of the Slytherins stuttered anxiously before pulling out Jihyo’s letter from his robe, causing her breath to hitch in her throat. She couldn’t just rip it out of the younger student’s hands and destroy it, right? That would be too suspicious. Instead, she had to watch how Snape took the letter and started reading it grimly before his face lit up suddenly.

“Y/N...”

He mumbled, looking happier than Jihyo had ever seen him before.

“Let’s pay Professor McGonagall a visit.”

Before anyone could disagree with him, Snape already scurried out of the room and the rest of them had to follow him wordlessly. Jihyo didn’t know who looked more miserable right now. The two first years or herself. All of them slouched their shoulders and regret was written all over their faces. Filch and Snape on the other hand resembled two Cheshire cats, especially after bolting into Professor McGonagall’s office.

“Y/N has endangered the lives of two first years. I plead for an immediate suspension.”

Professor Snape blurted out before giving the other professor the chance to process this ambush. Jihyo had never been more distressed in her life to have a plan of hers work out just like she had wanted it to.

“I beg your pardon?”

Professor McGonagall asked confused, causing Snape to snicker in amusement.

“These two students here have willfully been lured into a life-threatening situation by Y/N L/N, your student.”

He repeated himself while handing over Jihyo’s letter. Silently, the head of Gryffindor read the harmful words before sighing in desperation.

“That is a severe delinquency indeed...but I’m sure there must be an explanation for this.”

Professor McGonagall was quick to jump to your defense, causing Jihyo to draw hope that was destroyed a second later though when Snape scoffed dismissively.

“Yes, there is an explanation. Y/N L/N is a danger for this school, or have you forgotten about the incident with Sejoo only two weeks back? As a responsible head of house, I can’t tolerate such behavior.”

He narrowed his eyes and Professor McGonagall straightened up defensively.

“I haven’t forgotten about that, but if I may remind you, it was your student who used a slur about Ms. Park’s decent here that caused this whole incident.”

She bit back while pointing at Jihyo who flinched in surprise. What did Professor McGonagall mean by that?

An unsettling feeling started to form in Jihyo’s stomach, and she gulped thickly. What if everything wasn’t like it had seemed?

“That still doesn’t justify the endangerment of fellow students.”

Snape tried to distract from the misdeeds of his own student, leading to a stare down between the two heads of houses. The tension in the room increased with every second until the door of the office suddenly swung open. Inside came Filch accompanied by you, causing Jihyo’s eyes to widen. She hadn’t even noticed that the caretaker had left the room.

“I’ve taken the liberty to bring L/N in.”

He snickered before shoving you into the room.

You ended up standing next to Jihyo and looked at her nervously.

“W-what is this about?”

You stuttered, trying to sound relaxed although a slight trembling in your voice gave away that your heart had to be pounding in your chest.

“You have been caught red-handed. It’s over.”

Snape grinned while pointing at the letter in Professor McGonagall’s hand. Confused, you frowned, obviously not being able to know what he was talking about.

“Why would you lure them into the Forbidden Forest?”

The head of Gryffindor asked in disappointment and you looked at Jihyo for help.

“I did what?”

The confusion and fright in your voice was unmistakable and Jihyo hung her head in shame.

“Quit playing innocent Y/N. We have all the proof we need!”

Snape yelled causing you to flinch in shock. In reflex, Jihyo immediately grabbed your hand and you squeezed it tightly.

“You’re going down for this! You lured two first years into the Forbidden Forest. They could have died if Mr. Filch wouldn’t have found them in time. I will not let this go until you are suspended for the rest of the year.”

With every word more tears started to pool in your eyes and Jihyo couldn’t manage to avert her gaze from you. You looked so helpless right now and all she wanted to do was to save you from this horrible place.

“I-I don’t know what you are talking about. I have never seen this letter before. Why would I Iure first years into the Forbidden Forest??”

Your voice cracked in desperation, but Snape just kept on accusing you aggressively. After all, you had a history of pranking Slytherins. Jihyo couldn’t imagine how wronged you had to feel right now, and she gently rubbed your hand with her thumb, not knowing whether she was trying to calm you or herself down by doing so. She knew that she could end all this by admitting that it had been her who had left the letter, but despite being a Gryffindor, she wasn’t brave enough to do that. How was she supposed to explain it? How would she be supposed to ever look into your eyes again?

“That’s enough. We’ve understood your point, Professor.”

Professor McGonagall eventually ended Snape’s rant before looking at you with a sad face.

“I see how this incident is out of character for you, Y/N. Nevertheless, I have to agree with Professor Snape, the evidence is overwhelming. Therefore...you are hereby suspended until we can prove your innocence.”

Your jaw dropped, hearing these words from the head of Gryffindor and you looked at Jihyo as if she was your last hope. But she wasn’t strong enough to save you. Instead, she flung her arms around your neck and pulled you against her body.

“I’m so sorry.”

She sobbed, not being able to hold back her own tears anymore. Suddenly, however, she could feel how you started to stroke her back soothingly.

“Hey, it’s ok. This is not your fault.”

You tried to calm her, apparently not suspecting her betrayal in the slightest.

“Y/N, let’s go to your dormitory to get your belongings.”

Professor McGonagall asked you and you pulled away. With a light smile tugging on your lips, you reached out and gently wiped away the tears that were streaming down Jihyo’s cheeks.

“Don’t be sad, your job is actually going to be a lot easier from now on. Although I really would have loved to celebrate our victory in the championship together at the end of the year.”

You chuckled sadly to cheer her up before trying to turn around to leave but Jihyo held on to you and crashed you into her body again. She couldn’t bear to see you cheering her up any longer. Not after what she had done.

“It was me. I wrote the letter.”

She whispered into your ear while new tears streamed down her cheeks.

In disbelief, you separated your bodies and stared at her with betrayal written all over your face, causing her to avert her gaze. Her guilt was squeezing all air out of her lungs and she waited impatiently for you to expose her. This charade was unbearable.

“And here I was thinking that you were starting to like me back... What a foolish thought.”

You chuckled, causing Jihyo’s head to snap up. Slowly, you started to back away from her while grabbing your forehead in disbelief and Jihyo shakily reached out for you.

“Y/N...”

The words in Jihyo’s mind were all jumbled and the only thing she could utter was your name. Why weren’t you yelling at her? Why weren’t you standing up for your innocence? Your calmness and the disappointed look in your face was slowly killing her. She needed you to punish her for her betrayal, but you didn’t show the slightest inclination to do so.

“No, it’s ok. Don’t worry about it.”

You mumbled, still seeming to be dazed due to her confession.

“Y/N, what are you doing? You should expose me...”

Jihyo shook your shoulder lightly, but you only smiled at her.

“Yeah you’re probably right. But I won’t. I could never hurt you like that.”

You shrugged while trying to remove her hand from her shoulder but Jihyo only tightened her grasp.

“What are you talking about, Y/N?”

She furrowed her brow in confusion although the blurry picture in her head was slowly starting to get clearer, revealing a truth that she would have preferred to keep ignoring.

“I genuinely hope that you’re happy now, Jihyo. That’s all I ever wanted. You should look out for Sejoo and his gang though. They don’t like to see a muggle-born in such a powerful position and I don’t know what they will do now that I’m not going to be there anymore.”

With that, you removed her hand from your shoulder and walked up to Professor McGonagall who looked at you apologetically before giving you a sign to leave the room. One last time, you turned around and nothing hurt Jihyo more than to see that the sadness in your eyes still couldn’t manage to erase the affection that reflected in them. She had been so blind all this time...

Who would have thought that she had been the selfish one all along?

[mywritingonlyfans]

I don’t want to post it on my site simply because I’ve never written before (especially in English) and I’m too shy 👉🏻👈🏻🥺 but i feel like i should show it to someone. thanks to tumblr for anonymity. I just said that I'm really worried if I'm bothering you with this

Well, in general, that's it. I hope you really don't mind

he remembers the first time he saw her.  and how his brain immediately stopped working properly.

he randomly craved coffee that day. he didn't really like this drink until that day.

in the next building from where he lived there was a coffee shop and that was where thomas headed.

a neon sign on the street, a garland of light bulbs, a couple of tables and chairs to relax and enjoy a drink. everything would be fine if not for the music from the speaker. "damn, this is led zeppelin" - he thought to himself : "I already like this place". but going inside thomas liked it even more. he liked it so much that he froze in the aisle, unable to take his eyes off the barista.

- good afternoon, what would u like to drink? - it seems Thomas did not even hear the question and continued to examine the girl opposite him, he was so fascinated by her - mister, are you okay?

- oh, yes ... yes, of course, I'm sorry - it seems he is already redder than a tomato

- what'll it be?

- um .. maybe ... I want - "you" thought the guitarist to himself, but of course he didn't voice it - I don't know what I want - sighed sadly

- well, in that case, let me help you with the choice - it seems her eyes sparkled even brighter. damn this girl really loves her job

- it would be nice - after a couple of questions, the girl began to flutter around the coffee machine.

all her movements were so easy and so ... beautiful. just like her. dark hair, almost black. loose clothes in which she looked even smaller than she was.  "she is tiny. she's up to my shoulder... OK, maybe a little bit higher... or not" . in any case, it doesn't matter, unlike the fact that from the moment he saw her, this girl did not leave Thomas's head for more than a minute. he thought about her all the time. when he fell asleep, when he woke up, when he ate and even when he was working on new music.

from day to day he came to the coffee shop  in the morning for a cappuccino with  a little bit of caramel syrup (I think he would like it) . the barista offered him this drink when he first went into a coffee shop and did not know what to take and now he is ready to drink only it until the end of his days. on the days when he had to go to the studio, he bought coffee for the whole band, simply because "if you don't want to introduce us to the thief of your heart, then at least bring us  coffee from her".  the point was that thomas didn't know her either. not even her name. nothing. all he knew was that she works in a coffee shop and she is about his age. and also that her handwriting is beautiful. when the guitarist took coffee for the whole group, she wrote on each cup what was inside.

they never talked about anything. after a couple of visits, the girl already knew Thomas's order by heart. so every time he quietly entered, greeted from the doorway and said the number of drinks and sat down at a table waiting for his order. he quietly watched every movement of the girl, paid, thanked and left as quietly as he came.

why didn't they talk? they both wondered this question. at first they boyh were too shy, and afterwards silence became a habit. and it became even more difficult to speak first.

almost two months have passed since their first meeting. Thomas stood near the coffee shop, smoked and talked to victoria on the phone.

- fuck! ..yes, apparently I fell in love! I have a crush! I'm smitten by a girl! yes, I'm!..maybe... I do not know! leave me alone vic, please! - thomas was fed up with it. he was angry with himself and his lack of confidence, and this conversation did not help, especially at half past seven in the morning

- did you ask her out? damn, thomas! do you even know her name? - the last long drag and he threw the cigarette  into the trash can

- she is fucking perfect, gorgeous, breathtaking and she's doing the best coffee in the world and she is not interested in me in this regard. end of the conversation! - he ran his hand over his face and ruffled his blond hair.

- how she can not being interested in you? have you even tried to talk to her?

- OK vic, I'm done, see you soon

thomas pushed  the red icon on his phone and entered the coffee shop, without even thinking that the girl  behind the counter heard what was happening on the street.

- good morning.  four please - he sat down at the table - she left her hair down  today, looks good ... nah, perfect on her. he thought about the way she smiles every time when she sees him. although he realizes that she is only smiling at him because he is her customer... damn, he seems to be in serious trouble.

- are you okay? you look a bit...

- t-tired? - did she just...spoke to me? -  yes, could not sleep all night

- coffee does not replace sleep, but I hope it will help you

- me too, dolcezza - she's so cute when she blushes. it seems he fell in love even more, if it possible

the guitarist paid, took his four cups of coffee and headed for the door

- thanks, bellezza - thomas raggi, where did you suddenly get so much courage to call her like that? TWICE!? but still not enough courage. he thought to himself

Thomas gave the stand with signed cups  to Damiano, who was sitting in the front seat

- OK,  that's yours - the singer handed the cup to victoria who was sitting in the back of the car with guitarist - ethan, your coffee, and ... O LORD, FOR GOD'S SAKE! THOMAS YOU FINALLY DID IT !

the blond guy looked up sharply from the phone

- What did I....?

- LOOK! - damiano interrupted thomas and handed him the cup. there was complete silence in the car. the guitarist couldn't take his eyes off the writing on the cup of his caramel cappuccino, and the band couldn't take their eyes off his shocked face. there was a phone number written in neat handwriting

- that's might be her phone number ... did she..?. SHE GAVE ME HER FUCKING PHONE NUMBER!!!

thomas would not be thomas if he called or texted  her. at the end of the working day he just came  to a coffee shop with a neon sign.

- good evening - without looking up from work the girl began - what would you... - she finally turned towards the guy standing awkwardly near the door - oh, hi - she looked down and blushed a little. it seems he should have contacted her  during the day

- I'm sorry I didn't text you, I ...

- no, it's okay, I just misunderstood you, I'm sorry, I - the girl wanted to continue, she was interrupted by  thomas's  nervous giggle

- no, don't apologize - he came closer to the counter - I really wanted to text to you .. and offer to take a walk after work .. and find out your name .. from the very first day when I came here -  the guitarist babble quickly, but at the same time with slight pauses between sentences.  his gaze  time traveled from the barista's face to some random item in a coffee shop all the, which could not but make the girl smile

- I'm y/n

By the way, I apologize for the mistakes, as you already understood, English is not my native language

THAT'S SO FUCKING ADORABLE I'M FUCKING IN LOVE WITH IT OMG pls nervous/anxious Thomas is a thing and I love it!!! Pls get your girl, siiiir!!!! Thanks for that, you're amazing!!

- and i don't mind at all, i love reading it!

[bjy-on-ao3]

Hi, I really love your writing on Ao3! I was wondering if you could write an Adachi x reader where Adachi slips it in while reader is sleeping? Maybe halfway through being fucked reader wakes up but pretends to be asleep anyway because they are enjoying it? I imagine that they'd probably already have a preexisting sexual relationship and have talked about the sex that they are okay with (that could be a creative choice for you tho idc. manipulative adachi sexy). best wishes!

(As usual, you can find the AO3 version of all my uploads [and some things I don’t post here to tumblr] via my Masterlist blog page)

Here you are, anon! This one really struck a cord with me, and I knew I had to fill it, eventually.

Summary 

Adachi gives Reader a pleasant morning surprise to indulge a desire they previously confessed to him.

Tags/Warnings

Biting, Creampie, Dirty Talk, Hair-Pulling, Mildly Dubious Consent, Reader-Insert, Rough Sex, Shameless Smut, Somnophilia, Vaginal Sex

Rise & Shine (F! Reader/Tohru Adachi)

The early rays of morning scattered through the window blinds, bathing the otherwise dark bedroom in pale stripes of yellow and gold. The cloying spring heat had yet to creep in, some remnant of the coolness of night lingering, lending a refreshing feeling, rather than one hot and clinging. Tohru Adachi stirred on the bedsheets of the mattress next to the mostly shuttered window.

He started to disentangle himself lazily from the light sheets, but stopped. A look of confusion spread across his face when he noted sitting up wasn’t as easy as it should have been, the cause your prone form tucked so securely against him. He remembered falling asleep at your apartment after some drinks at Shiroku and a couple rounds of fun, but you had fallen asleep with ample distance between you. Adachi decided you must have unconsciously snugged up to him while the both of you slept.

Though he was confused, that didn’t mean Adachi wasn’t exactly displeased. Neither of you had bothered to re-dress at all before passing out the night before. That left you naked, pressed against him, at least before he tried to extricate himself from your grasp. His eyes roved unchastely over your bare skin, exposed where the sheets rode down past your hips. Lying flat on your stomach after he had escaped your cuddling, your arms splayed on the pillows, legs spread haphazardly. He eyed the swell of your chest pressing into the soft mattress and the tantalizing curve of your ass, his gaze lingering as his hunger was roused.

In that moment, Adachi recalled a conversation that had taken place between the two of you not long ago. You had opened up to him a little with your fantasies and wants, admitting with a thoroughly hot face and hushed tone how badly you wanted him to use you. You hadn’t described exactly how, though, only that your desire for him to use your body however he pleased existed. He remembered how excited the confession had made him, immediately diving into imaginations of how he planned to take you up on it. Somehow, though, the thought had slipped his mind until that instant.

The gears were turning in his head, and Adachi’s lips curled in a sinful, lecherous grin as he came to a decision. What better way to grant your wishes and use you only for his pleasure than to fuck you while you slept, when he had little reason to worry about your satisfaction or concerns. His cock jerked to life at the thought, and his mind was made up.

He drew the sheets the rest of the way off, flinging them to the side where they would remain unwanted and forgotten for some time. The full sight of your body laid out nude before him met him, and another punch of hunger seized him, his reacting in along with it. For a second, Adachi wondered if you would even notice. He couldn’t remember if you were a light sleeper who woke at even a hardly intrusive touch, or if you slept like the dead and would drowse through it all. But he was going to find out very soon. =============================================

It was the touch of something solid and cool between your legs that eased you from the warm, comfortable haze of sleep. It prodded at the soft pink of your cunt before slipping inside with little resistance. At first, you thought you were having some kind of vivid wet dream, but you recognized the strange dark line of half-consciousness, so it was no dream. Something had buried itself inside your cunt, wet and welcoming even while you dozed. The sensation of whatever it was wriggled and curled, easing in and out for a moment before withdrawing altogether.

The thick fog of sleep threatened to lure you back into its clutches with the retreat of whatever had been intruding; you had nearly convinced yourself even if it wasn’t a dream, you had  imagined it. Just a figment of your muddled, half-asleep mind. But whatever it was returned, clamping over your thighs and carefully prying them apart to spread your legs wider. The tip of something far more hot and hard poked at your slick lips, the sensation giving your growing consciousness a jolt. You froze, making yourself remain still despite coming further to, and the thick intrusion sank past your lips and your entrance.

A low, blissful groan caught your attention when the hardness filled you completely, and your cunt clenched reflexively around it. Several debauched noises longed to free themselves from your throat at the aching fullness, but you quashed them, forcing yourself to feign sleep. The groan no doubt belonged to the man you had fallen asleep beside the night before, there was no denying that. You were led to a conclusion even your hazy mind could make: Adachi was the one buried deep inside your cunt, basking in the tight embrace of your soft, wet flesh around his cock.

The realization didn’t alarm or upset you, though. In fact, it only made your cunt feel wetter, and your walls tightened around him again, eliciting another erotic, gravelly noise from Adachi, A wicked heat blossomed in your gut and made your heart drum in your chest, your pulse beginning to race. It almost embarrassed you how much being fucked while you ‘slept’ turned you on, and you wondered fleetingly if he noticed how readily your body responded to him. Would he think nothing of it and just assume you were still dreaming and none the wiser?

Any thoughts were drowned out, though, when Adachi’s hips pulled back and he thrust back into your heat, the start of a steady rhythm. He rocked his hips languidly against your backside, obviously in no rush. A series of small, carnal, and oh-so-arousing sounds drifted from his lips as he pumped his cock in and out of your core. Sounds quiet enough that if you had really been asleep, you doubted you would have noticed at all. You struggled not to react too noticeably to them or from the roll of his hips. But you couldn’t help squirming here and there, a muffled, sleepy whimper escaping every once in a while. You hoped Adachi chalked them up to simply unconscious and involuntary reactions.

Whatever the case, your wriggling and tiny, nearly incoherent gasps and murmurs spurred Adachi onward, and his pace increased, fucking you more thoroughly into the bed. Each deep thrust made you want to swoon and melt and moan. The weight of Adachi’s body pressed into your back, his skin already growing slick with beads of sweat, radiating heat against you.

“Y’know,” he growled casually in your ear, “you’re a really bad actor.” His pace didn’t stop, and he his came to tangle in the sheets beside your shoulders, giving him more leverage to pound into your cunt more roughly.

You ignored him, unsure if he knew you were awake and was telling the truth, of if he was searching for some kind of conscious reaction to find out. Things were too enjoyable though to let them end so easily. Until Adachi could prove you were awake, you were more than pleased to let him have his way with you.

A moment of silence punctuated only by the sounds of sex passed, and then a low, contemplative hum droned beside you. “Well, I guess if you’re really sleeping through this, I can do whatever I want,” he said coyly, and to some it might have sounded almost like a threat. Right then, to you, it was a sinful promise you silently bade him to fulfill.

His hips snapped harder against you, and it was even more of a struggle to fight back the noises that wanted to break free, each thrust so deep it provoked a guttural response. He adjusted himself, tilting his hips and pressing his body more firmly against yours. You didn’t know if it was out of mere convenience for him, or on purpose to overwhelm you and shatter your charade, but the new angle brought on a greater ordeal.

Each rough stroke of his cock, besides sinking so deep, brushed against a much more receptive spot that made your gut twist in a distinctly pleasant way. You tried to disguise the way you turned your head to push it into the pillows as an unconscious reaction, though you unsure how long Adachi would continue to buy your act, if he didn’t already know the truth.

Each time he drove back inside, you lost more resolve to keep pretending, and to disguise and smother your moans and the way your body so badly wanted to meet his thrusts. The molten feeling that had grown in your belly served only to weaken you further, welling up inside and proving more demanding and wild than the sounds of pleasure seeking escape.l

You pressed your face into the pillows more as a particularly stubborn moan bubbled up, much louder than any of the others, trying in vain to stifle it. Though as soon as the sound left your lips, smothered as it was, your little game of pretend was over. A rough hand tangled in your hair, grabbing tightly and jerking your head back and away from the pillows. Your new position left you no choice but to moan freely into the air, already hot and thick with sex and sweat. The stubborn moan seemed like the bursting of a dam, and there was no stopping the myriad cries that followed it.

“Are you enjoying yourself, sweetheart?” Adachi hissed in your ear, amused and breathless. “Pretending you had no idea what I was doing and getting off on being treated like the little cock sleeve you wanted to be?”

With your act revealed, you had no reason to try to fool Adachi any longer. You gave into the carnal heat swelling inside you, crying out and finally slamming your hips back to meet his. “Fuck, yes! Use me, please,” you begged, and Adachi’s stinging grip in your hair tightened reflexively. “I want to be your plaything; use me however you want!” your voice broke with your admission, shattered by a stroke that stole your breath away and made your made briefly go blank.

The words were a catalyst, stoking Adachi’s already boiling lust to even greater heights. He rutted harder against you, feeling the urgency of an orgasm dawning on him, your shameless enthusiasm speeding it along. He relished the outpouring of bawdy shouts and moans bubbling from your mouth now that he had called your bluff. His fingered remained snared in your hair, pulling your head back almost painfully and ensuring there was no chance to muffle a single sound more.

You could feel Adachi’s desperation mounting behind each thrust, even through the lingering haze of sleep clouding your awareness. You felt it in the tension of his body, pushing yours so forcefully into the bed, and in his fingers, both in your hair and on your skin. But you were already ahead of him. The sheer excitement of being fucked in such an obscene fashion made your body tense and burn white hot. Each time Adachi filled you up again, it forced another cry from your lips, and the liquid heat wound tighter and more intense.

Your breathing hitched, becoming quickly ragged and sharp, and Adachi’s was just as labored in your ear. You bucked back against him mindlessly, seeking the last little push you needed and thinking of nothing else. When you came, his named rolled off your tongue in waves, interrupted by moans that pitched more desperate and airy as he fucked you through your orgasm.

He bent his head, and his teeth scraped the nape of your neck, your shoulders, anywhere he could find to leave a colorful, stinging mark. The sharp sensations added to the ripples of pleasure dancing through you, and your voice cracked in your ecstasy. His tempo slowed, gaining force where it lost momentum, until the smack of his skin on yours was clear even through the chorus of groans and cries ringing out. When he finished, he bit down again, harder, so hard a moan turned into a brief yelp, even though he hadn’t broken the skin.

With each spurt of his cum that filled you, Adachi groaned, long and low, the noise feral and thick. The sounds made you shudder, and your cunt squeeze him tighter, even though your orgasm was wearing away and coming to an end. Finally, Adachi was spent, and you were left sweat-slicked and nearly panting, his grasp on your hair loosening. You couldn’t think beyond the feel of him still sheathed in your cunt, or the sound of his heavy breathing beside you. Even smothered beneath his weight, your mind had room only for the pleasures of the afterglow.

You rested limp and pliant against the bedsheets as Adachi released your hair, and when you lay your head on the pillows again, they felt blissfully cool. You were too tired and out-of-sorts to move when Adachi withdrew, vaguely noting the sensation of something warm and thick trickling down your thighs.Adachi didn’t bother laying back in bed, instead rolling to the side and getting to his feet. You summoned the energy to roll over and watch him as he went about getting cleaned up before searching for his clothes and re-dressing.

After several minutes, Adachi had sorted himself out and made himself presentable - or at least what counted as presentable for detective with his routinely messy hair, crumpled clothes, and crooked tie. By then, you had regained steady breathing, watching him lazily and propping yourself up on your elbow. He took one last glance over himself, patting the pockets of his slacks for his phone and keys and ensuring he hadn’t forgotten anything, Satisfied everything was accounted for, he walked to the beside, bending down and taking your chin between his thumb and forefinger before tipping your head to meet his gaze.

“I’ve gotta get going now, sweetheart. Be good while I’m gone and maybe I’ll indulge more of your sick little fantasies the next time I come over,” he promised, punctuating his words with a kiss. It was a gesture that might have seemed sweet or affectionate, were it not for the sharp, hungry bite he left on your bottom lip.

Then, he was gone without another word, leaving you with a burning face, an aching cunt oozing cum, and many angry marks that would soon turn various shades of blue and purple. Yet, you were left also with a bone-deep sense of satisfaction that outweighed everything else. You slid back down onto the bed, recounting what had just happened. Even just the memory sent your arousing spiralling out of control all over again.

It was going to be torture waiting for the next time you could get together.

[heyitsani]

Little Did I Know Chapter 1

@jaydick-week Day 1 fic: Historical AU

Word Count: 8,770

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Mentions of past child abuse (nothing graphic)

Pairing: Jason Todd/Dick Grayson

Summary: After being dealt a poor hand for the first twenty years of his life, Jason take the opportunity of a new life as the spouse of Dick Grayson, a friend of Roy Harper’s. Along the road of adjusting to his life, he discovers new adventures and finds them both a family of their own along the way.

Notes: This is the first part of this story that is focused on character developing and relationship building.  The second part will introduce a few more familiar faces and give us our mystery.  No clue when I’ll have it finished, but I do have some of it done.  It will also shift to Dick’s POV.

I posted this on AO3 yesterday, but didn’t get onto tumblr until today so this is late here.

You can also read it on AO3 here

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

The instant he stepped off the train at the first stop, he took the chance to glance around at the people who were either waiting for people to arrive or leave themselves.  A woman with two small children kept glancing down the line and Jason knew she was probably here to greet her husband.  The kid who looked like he was about sixteen or seventeen in ratty clothes was definitely looking to get on the train.  But the look of all the people told him one thing, this was a poor man’s town.  It made Jason think about all the money Dick had sent with his final letter, enough for a ticket and travel expenses, and how he could probably buy all of their tickets if he wanted.  And still have some left over.

But he also knew better than poking his nose into other people’s business.  So he pushed his hands into his pockets and made his way off the platform and onto the street.  He had a few hours before the train was ready to leave again, so he scanned the area for a place to get something warm to eat.  Something filling because the stale biscuits with the stew each meal were starting to grate on him.

“Hey kid,” he called over to a scrawny boy that was hiding just in the shadows of one of the alleyways. “You tell me where I can find some decent grub?”  He approached the boy but froze when he noticed the kid cowering back away from him. It wasn’t odd for people to be intimidated by the sheer size of him, but he couldn’t recall a kid ever feeling that way. “Kid?”

“I’m sorry, mister.  I cannot help you,” the boy muttered, pressing himself against a brick wall and glancing out into the street behind Jason. “Please.”

But Jason knew that look. He knew what drove a child to react to an adult like that.  And it made his blood boil.  But he pulled it in and knelt down, just outside of the shadow the boy was trying to hide in and looked him over.  His clothes were ratty, too short in length, and definitely not warm enough for the time of year.  It was concerning.  And though the shadow hid most of him from Jason’s full scrutiny, he could see the discoloration on his face.  Probably a few days old, from what he knew about bruising.

Glancing around the street, Jason tried to think of what he should do.  He had a feeling if he tried to find an authority, the boy would just end up back in the hands of whoever had done this to him.  So he had choice to ignore it and walk away or he fixed it.

“Are you hungry?” Jason asked, looking back to the boy. The kid frowned and leaned forward just a bit, considering him for a few moments.  Then Jason received a small nod and Jason stood up.  “Point me in the direction of a shop I can get a few things and I’ll bring some back to you.  And some clothes.  You have to be freezing.”  But the kid’s frown deepened, and he didn’t say anything.  “It’s not a trick.  I know you’re hiding from someone and I’m just looking to help you.  I’m passing through, on my way West.  I’ll help and then vanish.”

“But I cannot pay you.”

“I ain’t asking you to, kid. I have some extra money and if I can help you out just a little, then I would like to do it.”  And though the kid still looked wary, he stepped forward a bit more and pointed to a building across the street about five doors down.

“General store.  They have warm hand food.”  Jason glanced at the building and nodded before looking back down at the kid.  

He quickly glanced around the alley and frowned.  There wasn’t much cover, but Jason also knew there was no way he could bring the kid with him since people here probably knew him.  “If someone comes close, hide.”  The kid rolled his eyes and Jason let out a snort before he headed out and crossed the street to head to the shop the kid had directed him to.

Once inside, Jason easily made his way through some premade clothes that looked like they should mostly fit the kid.  But he could always find a way to alter the items once they got to California to fit better if they were too oversized.  Laying the basics down on the counter, Jason asked the man for one of the leather suitcases behind him and then a few of the hand food that was displayed. The merchant asked a few questions, seemed a little too curious for his own good, but Jason simply brushed him off saying he was from New York and traveling to California.  It didn’t explain the kid clothing and suitcase, but that wasn’t anything Jason was concerned about at the moment.  

All he cared about was getting this food and clothes to the kid and maybe convincing him to get on the train with him.  They could work out the details later.

So with the suitcase full of clothes and the bag of warm food in hand, Jason made his way back in the direction he had come in.  And since he wasn’t a fool who believed the merchant would keep his nose out of a stranger’s business, he simply glanced at the alley where the kid was hiding and gave a nod of his head toward the train station.  He didn’t pause to look back and see if the kid was following and he didn’t look back to see if the merchant was still watching him.  He simply went to the ticket window and paid for another ticket on the same train he would be boarding as soon as he was ready.

“What’s that for?” The kid spoke up as Jason turned away from the ticket window and found him standing a few feet away.  Jason ignored the question for a minute as he handed over the bag of food and set the suitcase next to him.

“It’s a proposition,” Jason said, holding onto the ticket as the kid started shoving food into his mouth. It made his chest ache to see him so consumed with the food.  Mostly because he knew what it was like.  He knew how an abusive parent could use basic survival against you and how hard it was to grasp when the danger was gone.  “I’m heading to California to get married to a man who is the Law.  The way I see it, you can come with me now and start a new life.  Or you can go home to whoever it is you’re hiding from and either end up back in the streets or on the train.”

The kid slowed his chewing and stared at Jason.  And though he hadn’t agreed, Jason knew the kid would come with him.  He knew he was just calculating the risk and Jason would come out favorable in the end.  He knew the look.  

“Name’s Timothy,” the kid finally told him.

“Nice to meet you Timothy, I’m Jason.”  Glancing over at the waiting train, he saw a few people boarding leisurely.  “Let’s get you on the train and you can use one of the lavatories to change out of those clothes and into the ones I got you.” Tim gave a smile around the food in his mouth and Jason just chuckled, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and herding him toward the man checking tickets before they got on the train.

He gave no thought to the man he was planning to marry in California or whether this would change everything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Jason stepped off the train at their destination, he looked back to make sure Tim was right behind him before he started searching for the man Roy had described as unnaturally beautiful.  There were a handful of older couples and even some kids running around on the platform, but he didn’t see anyone who really fit the description he had been given. At least not until a lean man with raven locks and startling blue eyes came running up the steps, breathing heavily as if he had run a few miles to get here.

“Come on, kid,” Jason said quietly, holding out his hand for Tim to take before leading him over to the man he assumed was Dick Grayson.  And the closer he got to him; the more Jason knew this had to be him. And fuck if Roy wasn’t spot on with the description of unnaturally beautiful.  He had never seen anyone as gorgeous as this man was.  No man or lady.  And though Jason was certainly larger than he was, the three-piece suit he wore did nothing to hide the strong lines of his body.  He was the picture of youth and beauty, physically a catch for anyone who was given the chance to stake claim on him.  

And Jason allowed a moment of uncertainty to creep in.  Would this man renege on their contract when he saw Jason wasn’t nearly as beautiful as he was?  And with a face like that, how had he not already found himself a wife or husband? “Dick Grayson?”  Jason pushed the thoughts away and tried to steel himself. He could feel Tim shifting next to him, half his body hidden by Jason’s own form.

At the sound of his name, Jason watched Dick look over at him and freeze.  And as the man’s jaw literally dropped, Jason nudged Tim when the kid snickered at the reaction.  “Jason Todd?”  The breathless sound of Dick’s voice questioned, the man almost visibly shaking himself out of a stupor.  

Nodding, Jason held out his hand and waited for Dick to shake it.  He was pleasantly surprised by the warm, firm grip Dick had.  Another thing Roy had commented on.  Dick Grayson looked delicate and soft, but he was stronger than most and would easily knock down someone twice his size.

“Who is this?”  Dick questioned, trying to look around Jason to see Tim.  But the kid just moved further behind Jason and the older man sighed.

“This is Tim,” Jason offered, tugging the kid out from behind him to stand in front of him with both of Jason’s hands on his shoulder.  “We’re a package deal now.”  Dick’s eyebrows rose as he listened to the tone of authority Jason gave before he looked down and took in Tim’s appearance.  The new clothes Jason had bought for him actually fit, but it wasn’t hard to see the still healing bruising on his eye and neck.  And he was obviously undernourished.  But Jason didn’t know what Dick would make of all of that.

There was another beat of silence before Dick smiled.  “Well, welcome to California Tim.  And you too, Jason.  Of course.” And Jason felt himself relax just a bit at the words because he really didn’t know what he would have done if Dick had said no.  He didn’t exactly have a backup plan for his own living situation if the thing with Dick fell through.  But now he didn’t need to worry.

“Thank you, sir,” Tim said quietly, and Jason felt himself tense again in fear of what Dick would say in response.

But the man just laughed and reached forward to ruffle the kid’s hair.  “None of that sir stuff here,” he said, gesturing for Jason to give him the two bags he had.  “I walked here from the office, so I hope you two don’t mind?  We need to go sign a few papers before I take you both home,” he told Jason as he shouldered both bags on one side and headed down the platform.

“Seeing the town and stretching our legs would be nice, right Timmy?”  Tim rolled his eyes and moved to walk next to Dick, looking up at him curiously.  It hurt Jason’s heart a little to see how quickly the kid latched onto some positive attention.  It was different watching it from the outside in as opposed to experiencing it like he had when he had found the kid cowering in a dark alley.

Dick glanced at him over his shoulder, giving Jason a small smile, before he pointed out a building to Tim and explained how it was the local schoolhouse.  “We’ll get you fully settled before you need to worry about school, though,�� Dick told him and though Jason couldn’t see his face, he could tell Tim’s shoulders relaxed a little at the thought of not being dropped right into the thick of it before he was ready.  It had only been a few days since his entire world had changed, Jason didn’t want him to have to navigate yet another change.  “How old are you, Timmy?”

“Thirteen,” the boy offered, and Jason cleared his throat, drawing both of their gazes.  But he kept his eyes on Tim and raised a brow. “Eleven,” he muttered, and Dick chuckled easily.  Like it didn’t matter that the kid had tried to lie about his age to him.  A kid he hadn’t even been expecting and yet seemed to be taking in stride.

Jason didn’t know what to make of that.

He didn’t know what to make of someone who could just let things slide off their back.  Roy had made it clear that Dick hadn’t had an easy life and that he had been orphaned at eight, being adopted by a family friend who had been there the night his parents had died.  Dick had apparently spent years mute, hiding away from everyone due to the trauma of watching his parents fall to their deaths during a trapeze act that traveled with a circus over in Europe.  It wasn’t until after Roy had met him that Dick actually started speaking again and opening up to people again.

But Dick had been gifted with a bit of a charmed life once he had been adopted thanks to his new father being old money from England and making quite the name for himself in America once he came across with Dick beside him.  Where most kids would have been left by the wayside if they had refused to speak, Dick had been provided with his every need.

Jason had struggled just to be sure his mother had enough medicine and he had at least one small meal a day, despite his father’s lack of effort to provide for any of their needs. And who knew what Tim had struggled with, but Jason could definitely make an educated guess just on the condition of the kid when he had met him.

“Do you have horses?” Tim’s voice pulled Jason out of his musings.

“Not in town,” Dick answered, glancing to the side before gesturing for them to cross the street. “My adoptive father, Bruce, lives outside of town and has a couple in his stables that are technically mine. Do you like horses?”

“Love them!”  Jason watched Tim bounce excitedly as he talked about how they had horses when he was younger, but that they had to sell them for some reason a few years ago.  Jason could guess what those reasons might be.  Very few people sold valuable items unless they had debts to pay.  But Jason kept his mouth shut and just let the pair in front of him continue to talk about horses as they made their way into a large building in what looked to be the center of the town.

“This is my work.  The county clerk is here, and we can sign the marriage papers before I take you both home.  I’ll need to return to work for a bit, but that will give you two some time to get settled without me around,” Dick explained as he led them to an office behind the front desk, which held a woman who regarded them both curiously.  The entire process was quicker and far less painful than Jason had been imaging and in less than an hour, the pair were officially married and Tim was their son.

Not that Tim seemed to care much, not once Dick showed him his office and the drawer of penny candies he kept there for his crew’s kids when they came in.  Dick had smiled innocently and told Jason that he liked being the favorite among the kids.

Jason couldn’t have held back the laugh if he had tried.  And he tried not too think too much about the fact that he could definitely get used to being around someone who seemed to be so open with their emotions.  It was startling to say the least.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time the three of them were walking through the front door of Dick’s far too large home a few blocks from the center of town, Jason was ready to fix some food and just settle in for the remainder of the day.  It was early afternoon and they had skipped lunch in favor of getting a few errands done, but now Tim was complaining of being hungry and Dick was glancing at his watch and saying he needed to head back to the office.

“Everything here is now yours too,” Dick said as they walked into the house.  He pointed out the sitting room, the library and office, and pointed down the hall to where the kitchen and pantry were located.  Jason marveled at the amount of space Dick had for just himself.  “I wanted to have a home for a family,” he shrugged when Jason asked.  “Timmy why don’t you pick out your room upstairs? The one at the very end of the hall is…ours.”  Jason looked at Dick, who had a soft dusting of pink across his cheeks and was avoiding Jason’s gaze.

“Neat!”  Tim called out as he ran up the stairs with thundering steps.  Jason shook his head at the sound of his footsteps as he ran from room to room, talking to himself as he tried to decide.

Jason took the chance to look around as Dick placed his and Tim’s bags at the foot of the stairs. For the most part the home was clean and uncluttered, but there was definitely a layer of dust covering everything Dick didn’t seem to use on the regular.  He knew he would need to go through each room and do a deep cleaning before he deemed the home really livable.

But when he made his way into the kitchen, he was pleasantly surprised at just how clean the room actually was.  And just how stocked it was.  Dick had just shrugged and mentioned that he wanted to be prepared for Jason’s arrival.

“I don’t cook much, but I know the importance of a clean area for cooking.  I just don’t have much time for cleaning the rest of the house.” Jason could understand that.  A Sheriff was important and had a lot of responsibilities.  Plus he couldn’t fault the man for not cleaning what he never used.

Running a finger along the stove top, Jason nodded.  “I like to cook,” he admitted.  “I’ll have supper ready for when you come home tonight.”  Dick looked somewhat surprised by that but Jason just waved a hand. “I’m not a housewife, but cleaning and cooking are two things I like to do.  Laundry is not.”

Dick chuckled.  “I employ a service.  We can keep that service easily enough.”  Oh, thank heavens, Jason thought.  Laundry had been something he had really never enjoyed. He hadn’t been looking forward to doing it for three when one had been boring enough.  “If there is something else you need or want, I’ll show you where I keep the money safe tonight.  I’ll also stop by the bank and have you added to my accounts so you can use them while in town.”

“But that’s your money.”

“What’s mine is yours now, Jason.  I have more than enough money to be sure you and Tim live a comfortable life.  One you haven’t had until now.”  That made Jason pause.  He didn’t know how much Roy had told Dick about his life, but he knew he had mentioned a bit.  And Jason knew even a fool could take a guess at what Tim had gone through based on his appearance alone.  But he hadn’t expected Dick to be the kind of person to just open his entire world to both of them immediately.

“Dick is the best kind of person, Jay.  He’s a bleeding heart through and through.”  Roy had told him one night as Jason revealed some reservation of moving West even though he had already agreed to go.

“I need to head back into work, but expect some knocks on the door.  The neighbors are nice, but nosy ones,” Dick laughed before going to the foot of the stairs.  “Bye Timmy! I’ll see you later!”

“Bye, Dick!  Thank you!”  The kid called back and Dick just chuckled despite Jason’s cringe at the rude behavior.  But a voice in the back of his mind whispered that this was how a kid should be allowed to act in his home.  Comfortable.

“Thank you, Jason.  I can’t tell you how happy I am that I’m not coming home to a dark, empty home tonight.”  Jason didn’t know what to say to that, so instead he just nodded and walked Dick to the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So Tim…” Dick said as he sat down on the edge of the bed they were supposed to share, because married.  And Jason knew exactly what it was he was asking without actually asking.  And part of him wondered how much Roy had told Dick about Jason’s own experience.  But knowing his friend, he probably hadn’t said much because it wasn’t his place. “Was it the malnutrition or the bruises?”

“Both,” Jason admitted, not giving anything more.

Dick hummed and Jason sat down on what would be his side of the bed, watching the man tug off his boots and toss them in the corner.  Jason cringed at the basic lack of cleanliness, but his letters had admitted that part of wanting a spouse was wanting someone to help him clean because he just wasn’t good at it.

“You should take him into the tailor tomorrow to get him sized for some more clothes.  The few things he has now won’t last long.” Jason furrowed his brow at the easy acceptance of the whole situation and wondered, much like he had earlier that day, what was going through the man’s head.  His confusion must have been evident because Dick let out a laugh when he looked over his shoulder before standing and grabbing some clothes from the wardrobe.  “I like kids, Jason.  And I like that you couldn’t leave him to whatever it was he was enduring.  I have seen it plenty of times over the years. He would have either ended up on the train or…”

Or dead.

Dick didn’t have to say it. It was the exact reason why Jason had offered to let the kid join him on the journey.  And he had done it without pausing to think that it might cost them both a home once they reached California.  But Jason’s normal cynicism of people hadn’t applied to Dick Grayson. And he didn’t know what to make of that. He didn’t know what to make of Dick Grayson.

“I know we haven’t had much of a chance to get to know each other except for a few letters but I would like to.  I would like for us to be a family.  That’s what I wanted from the very beginning and adding a surprise child to the mix doesn’t change that.”  Jason frowned and looked at the wall as Dick talked.  Sure, he knew Dick had wanted a real marriage between them, but marriage and family were different.  At least they were in his experience.

Glancing over at Dick, who had managed to switch out of his work clothes and into his night clothes, Jason caught his eye for a moment.  And what he saw there was truth.  Just absolute truth and honesty.  “I’m not sure I know how to be a family,” Jason admitted quietly, and his chest ached at Dick’s frown.  “I don’t know how, but I suppose Timmy doesn’t either.  So maybe the two of us can learn from you.”

He watched Dick watch him, considering his words carefully before giving a single nod.  “I’d be more than honored to show you both.”

And Jason fell asleep a while later with Dick softly breathing beside him and those words circling around in his brain.

A real family.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took a few days for Jason to adjust to the schedule Dick kept.  Not because he was an early riser or a night owl, but because he had the tendency to be in a constant rush.  And it left Jason in a constant state of unsettled.  Because he was the type of man who planned everything out and liked order, but Dick was the type who would stop to have a full 10-minute conversation with Tim at breakfast when he only had five minutes to eat before he had to run out the door to be at the station on time.  

Even though he was the boss and could get there whenever he wanted.

“It’s disrespectful if I demand they arrive on time for their shifts and yet I waltz in whenever I please,” Dick had told Jason one night when he had felt the courage to ask. And when Jason had asked why that mattered so much, Dick had just shrugged and said if he didn’t respect the people who worked for him then he couldn’t expect them to respect and trust him. “If there’s no respect or trust then the field becomes dangerous.  We’ve come a long way out here, but we are not New York or Boston.  We have a long way to go before we are settled, and things can go south quickly.”

And Jason was starting to see that Dick Grayson was self-sacrificing to a fault.  The wellbeing and lives of others would always matter more to him than his own.  He just hoped that wasn’t going to be a problem in the future.

“This is delicious,” Dick commented as he took another bite of the pastry Jason had learned to make at one of the jobs he had held in New York.  To Jason they were too sweet, but when he heard Dick liked sweets from a friend he had introduced Jason to a few days ago, he figured they were worth trying. And apparently it was worth it because Dick was grabbing a second before the first was fully chewed, trying to shrug on his suit coat at the same time.

With an amused snort, Jason grabbed the coat from Dick and circled his finger to tell Dick to turn around so Jason could help it.  With only a slight surprised hesitation, Dick did as he was told and held the pastry in his mouth as he slipped both his arms into the coat.  Carefully pulling it up, Jason smoothed his hands over the shoulders and down the back to sort out any winkles brought on by Dick’s attempts just moments earlier.

“Thanks,” Dick said, his voice sounding a bit like he had swallowed sand.  Looking into the man’s sapphire eyes, Jason wasn’t sure what emotion he was seeing.  He was too used to people hiding those from him.  But Dick was just so open with them, particularly the good ones.

“Can I go into town with you, Dick?”  Tim questioned as he walked into the kitchen, effectively and innocently breaking the moment between the two men.  

Dick turned and smiled at the kid, nodding his head.  “Of course, Timmy!  Do you have all your things?  Make sure to get a pastry for the walk.  They’re divine,” he said, glancing over at Jason with a much more playful look in his eye than before.  Jason held his eye for a moment before looking away as an unfamiliar feeling rose in his chest.  A heat he had never felt before, but was curious as to what it meant.  Maybe he’d have to write an embarrassing letter to Roy and see if the man had any idea what was wrong with him.

“Lunch,” Jason said to both men as he held out two separate lunch pails.  The two of them quickly took their respective tins with a thanks and Tim grabbed himself two pastries before giving Jason a side hug.  It was quite a change from the kid Jason had found huddled in the alleyway of some nowhere town just two weeks earlier.  

And Jason wasn’t simple enough to think it was because of him.  There was something about Dick that was just so bright and warm.  Tim had blossomed under it and even Jason felt as though he was more comfortable than he had ever been.

“I’ll be there to walk you home,” Jason told Tim as he walked with the pair to the front door. “We have an appointment with the tailor after school is done for the day.”  Tim gave him a smile and nodded before hurrying out the door.  

“Have a good day, Dear!” Dick called out teasingly as he bounded down the front steps and Jason hoped all that was powerful that his face wasn’t as red as it felt.  But he couldn’t help the small lift to the corners of his mouth at the tease.  And though he could see a few of their neighbors watching him curiously, he stayed out on the porch to watch the pair walk away until they rounded a corner and he couldn’t track them any longer.

It wasn’t until then that he had the courage to glance around and found two women watching him with wide smiles, looking like they were about to head his direction.  And since that was the last thing Jason wanted to deal with, he quickly retreated into the house and sighed.  

Cleaning was way more preferable than dealing with gossiping women.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jason stood a few feet away, watching the tailor adjust the clothes he had made for Tim since the appointment a little over three weeks ago.  Dick had been right about the few items Jason had bought him that first day, they were already starting to wear out.  Between the work at the house and the somewhat harsher land of the town, even his leather shoes would need replacing soon.  Dick had only laughed and told Jason that he knew where the money was kept and to get the kid some better shoes if he needed them.

It was nerve wracking to have someone be so free with their hard-earned money.  

But at the same time, it was warming to know that even though he and Dick had only known each other for a month that he trusted the man enough to just let him spend as he saw fit. And, of course, Jason knew he wouldn’t spend it frivolously, but Dick hadn’t known that the first evening he had shown Jason how to work the safe he kept in the office on the first floor. But he had trusted Roy enough to trust Jason.  

“Mr. Grayson-Todd, are these to your liking?”  Jason jerked and looked over at Tim, who was examining the current outfit in the full-length mirror. “The other items will be altered to fit these articles if it is to your liking.”

“Timmy?”  Jason questioned instead of answering.  “What do you think?”  

The kid looked at himself for a bit longer before looking over at Jason and nodding.  The tailor smiled and gestured for Tim to change back out of the items and gave a warning to be careful of the pins.

“Should we pay you now?” Jason questioned, watching the man pack away his items.  

With a wave of his hand, the tailor placed his kit on a shelf behind his desk.  “Not until the items are finished.  And I have been instructed to just send the bill to your husband’s place of employment so he can direct the funds to me.”  Jason raised his eyebrows at that.  Dick hadn’t mentioned that when he had sent him and Tim to this tailor.  “Now, is there anything I might prepare for you?  Your husband was insistent that you both be taken care of.”

Frowning, Jason looked down at his own pants and shirt.  He would have been plain back home in New York, but here in San Francisco he seemed to fit in fairly well.  They lived a simpler life here and he enjoyed that.  More labor and less…fluff.

“Do you think it necessary?”

The old man looked him over before moving to circle him slowly as Tim walked out from behind the partition with a smirk on his face.  “You certainly fit in with the townsfolk, but your husband dresses above their standards given the family he comes from, and his employment status.  We could upgrade some of your pieces so that you are on the same level as him.”

“Oh yes, Pa,” Tim chimed in, drawing Jason’s eyes in surprise at the name.  It wasn’t the first time the kid had called him that, but the tone he said it in was much more confident this time.  “Dat would love to see you all dolled up.”  And Tim had certainly never called Dick “Dat” before. It left him too stunned to fight the tailor when the man tugged him over to the pedestal so he could take his measurements.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jason was in the kitchen when Dick came home from work that day.  He could hear Tim’s voice floating in from down the hall as the kid told Dick all about their outing and how he had convinced Jason to be fitted for some new clothes after the tailor had been finished with him.  He could hear the treble of Dick’s voice, but he spoke to lowly to hear what he said.  And though Jason wasn’t actually trying to eavesdrop, he had to admit he liked listening to his husband and their kid just chatting away.

“He’s going to look so fine, Dat!  Just wait until you see that we picked out!”  Tim’s excitement was amusing, so much to the point that Jason didn’t think twice about what Tim had called Dick and was surprised to find Dick frozen in the doorway as he stared at Tim, who looked bashful and uncertain.

“Where did you learn that word?”  Dick’s voice was strained and hushed, but it didn’t sound angry.

Tim glanced over at Jason before looking down at the floor between him and Dick.  “Teacher Barbara said that you were Romani and that it’s what you call fathers in your language.”  Jason had known about Dick’s heritage since about a week after they had come together, but he wasn’t aware Tim had learned.  He also hadn’t known “Dat” was a Romani word, he just figured it was something from Tim’s own past.  But he should have known better because Tim was too smart and too observant for his own good most days.

But somedays that paid off.

“Dick?”  Jason prompted, drawing the man’s eyes from Tim to him.  Jason could see the tears brimming his sapphire eyes and there was a deep sadness, one he recognized from the night Dick had told him about his parents and his loss.  It made him want to step forward and gather him u in his arms, protect him from that hurt that still haunted him from all those years ago.  

But instead he watched Dick blink a few times before turning back to a wilting Tim.  “Teacher Barbara is right,” he told the kid softly.  Jason watched Tim turn his eyes upward to look at Dick when Dick placed a hand on his shoulder.  “I’m sorry, Timmy.  I just haven’t heard that word in a long time and I was the last person to say it.  It caught me by surprise.”

“I could not say it…”

“Oh no, I’d like it very much if you kept saying it.  Just give me a little time to get used to hearing it again, okay?”  The boy nodded and Jason breathed out a relieved sigh that he was being understanding without really understanding.  “Thank you, Timmy.  I’m honored you think of me as your Dat.”  Tim lunged forward and hugged Dick around his middle before shooting Jason a wide smile and shooting out of the room.  A moment later they could hear his loud footsteps heading upstairs.

Jason turned his eyes to watch Dick as he stared in the direction Tim had run off in.  “You okay?”  Jason asked softly, not wanting to disturb Dick’s thoughts but wanting to be sure.  “I was going to warn you when you got home, but he beat me to it.  He called you that at the tailor.”

“I know he’s been testing the waters with Pa and you, but I figured it would take a bit longer for him to come up with something for me.  If he ever did.”

“You’re having a go, right?” Jason laughed, turning back to the pot of stew on the stovetop.  “That kid’s own father was obviously the worst of the worst.  You come into his life and show him what a real father should be and think he’s not going to think of you as one?  I know you’re not that daft.”  He glanced over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow at Dick, who just shrugged.

“I don’t even know what I’m doing most days.  I just keep pausing to think ‘what would Dat do, Dick?’ and hope that I’m making the right decision,” Dick said.  Jason hummed and put the spoon down before turning to face Dick fully.

With only a slight hesitation, Jason reached for Dick’s hand and gave it a small squeeze.  “If that’s what you’ve been doing, then keep doing it because it’s definitely working.  That kid adores you.”  Dick’s gaze turned grateful and Jason’s chest warmed at the sight.  “Now, you need to go get cleaned up.  You stink of work and supper is almost ready.”

Dick’s laugh was soft and bright as he allowed Jason to push him out of the kitchen.  And Jason was thankful for the moment alone so he could hide the smile Dick’s laugh had caused.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Thank you again,” Jason said as he held the door of the barber open for Tim to head outside and him to follow.  With a deep breath, he took a look around and frowned at the crowd gathered at the station. “What do you suppose that’s about?” He asked, glancing over at Tim, who had the same frown on his face.

The kid shrugged and looked at him to see what he wanted to do.  So Jason let his curiosity lead him and they headed toward the crowd to see what exactly was happening.  The closer he got, the more understanding he gained.  From couples leading dirty children away from the area, to the tops of tiny heads he could see just above the heads of the crowd.

The Orphan Train had come into town.

“Pa?”

Looking down at Tim, he creased his brow.  Did he want to expose the kid to what could have been his life?  Or did he want to shield him from the truth?  He and Dick had given him a good home in the past few months.  He, and Jason, had gotten to experience what a good family was supposed to be like. But that didn’t mean old hurts were completely healed.

“If that blonde girl would let the other one go, I’d bring her home,” a man was grumbling as he passed, walking with another man away from the crowd.  “Not gettin’ involved in that rukus.”  That made Jason frown more.  Looking away from Tim he craned his neck to see if he could figure out what the man was referencing.  

Then he saw a small blonde girl clinging tightly to an even smaller black haired girl.  The final two on the stage.  And Jason knew exactly what he was about to do.  He just hoped Dick meant what he said when he mentioned he liked kids.

Gripping Tim’s hand, Jason pushed through the crowd and went to the person in charge.  

“I’ll take them both in,” he told the man who was still trying to convince people to take the girls. The man stopped and looked at him, eyes wide and frozen.  Jason knew he looked much more up to Dick’s standards now and the people of the town knew him as the Sheriff’s husband, making him respectable.

“Uh sir, perhaps you should speak with the Sheriff first.”

Jason’s eyes narrowed and he felt his temper rising, but he kept it under check.  “I said,” he ground out, “I’ll take both of them.  The Sheriff would back me up on this decision.” Releasing Tim’s hand, Jason pulled out his money clip and tossed some money at the man before walking up the stairs to speak to the two girls.  He stopped a few feet in front of them and looked them both other.  Both were skinny and dirty, but they didn’t look bruised or broken like Tim had when Jason had found him.  “My name is Jason and this is my boy, Tim,” Jason gestured to Tim who gave the two girls a wide smile that seemed to pique their curiosity.

“We ain’t leavin’ each other.”  The blonde glared at Jason and the man just laughed.  “What’s so funny?”

“I’m not asking you to separate.  I’m asking if you two would like to come home with us.  My husband and I have a room big enough for the pair of you and you’ll be safe.”  Both girls watched him for a moment before looking at each other, the black-haired girl rapidly moving her fingers in the most fascinating way.  He recognized it as sign language from one of his neighbors back in New York having been deaf and he learned a bit to be able to speak to the man, but he didn’t know much.  Apparently, though, the blonde girl did.

“I’m Stephanie and this is Cassandra,” the blonde finally spoke again, straightening her shoulders and giving Jason a nod.  “Cass doesn’t speak but she can hear just fine.  Her father was a bastard, and I stole her away from him.”  

That was curious.  

“Pa and I know a bit about bastard fathers,” Tim spoke up, stepping forward.  “He and Dat aren’t bastard fathers.”

With another glance shared between the two, Cass and Stephanie gave identical nods and Jason nodded back.  “All right, I suppose we should go break the news to Dick.  Do you have any belongings?”  The girls both held up small satchels that Jason hadn’t noticed before and he frowned.  He’d have to ask Dick to grab them a few premade items on his way home.  With a jerk of his head, he turned and headed toward the main road so they could drop in on Dick at his office.  Hopefully the man wasn’t too busy and none of the town gossips who had seen him already made a point to drop by.

Jason trusted the man with his life, but there were still a few things he didn’t know about Dick. And hearing big news like ‘surprise you’re a father of three now!’ was probably something that he didn’t want to hear from a random person.

Glancing back, he almost came to an abrupt stop when he saw Tim walking between the two girls with one of their hands clasped in each of his own.  Jason hadn’t bothered to think how Tim would take to him randomly adding to their family, but apparently he hadn’t needed to worry.  It made that warm feeling that had been taking up residence in his chest a lot more frequently since coming to California grow just a bit more.  It was a nice feeling, something he had only ever experienced with Roy and Lian, and he wondered if this was how home was supposed to feel.

“Here we are,” Jason heard Tim tell the girls as Jason grabbed the hand of the door and pulled it open so the three of them could go inside.  While Stephanie and Cassandra seemed a bit hesitant, Tim just walked them in with him with no hesitation.

“Timmy!”  Jason heard Dick’s voice call out before he had even stepped foot into the building himself.  “Is this a surprise visit?”  He questioned and Jason watched from near the door as Dick rounded the counter and moved over in front of the three kids.  ���Are these your...friends…?”  Dick asked, eyes looking over at Jason with a bit of a curious look before his eyes widen slightly and he figured out what exactly was happening.  “Sisters, then.”

Tim nodded and introduced the two girls to Dick, who knelt down to get on their level and smiled at the pair.  “Pa said they could live with us.”  Dick looked over at him with an amused twinkle in his eyes and chuckled before looking back at the girls.

“Well, Pa is correct. We have more than enough room and I think you two seem like just the ones to join our little family.”  Jason could see the girls relaxing just a bit more as Dick stood and ran a hand over each of their heads.  “Timmy, why don’t you show them your stash in my desk while I talk to Pa for a moment.”

Without needing anymore prompting, the boy tugged the two of them around the front desk and toward the office in the back where Dick worked.  Once they were both sure the kids were out of earshot, Dick looked at Jason with an amused smile and raised eyebrows.

A shrug of his shoulders, Jason slipped his hands into his pockets.  “They wouldn’t be separated, and no one wanted both.  I didn’t get much out of them other than Cassandra doesn’t talk but knows sign language and can hear just fine.  I’m assuming the no talking has something to do with her father who Stephanie called a bastard.”  Dick hummed and looked back in the direction the kids had run off in.  Jason knew he wasn’t worried about what trouble they could get into, but more needed a moment to process.  The muteness probably hit close to home.

“They have nothing in way of the basics?”

“Not unless those small satchels are magical.”  Dick laughed and shook his head as he turned his back on Jason and leaned over the desk, displaying the long line of his back and the all too tempting ass perfectly as he grabbed a paper and pen.  When Dick turned around and Jason’s eyes were still where Dick’s ass had been, Dick smirked and Jason coughed, looking away and mentally begging for his blush to vanish.

“Make a list of what they need,” Dick handed over the paper and pen.  “I’ll leave a little early tonight and get enough to hold them over until you can get them to the tailor for a proper fitting.”  

Jason took the items but didn’t make a move to start writing, taking a moment really look at Dick. “Something’s wrong.”  It might have only been a few months, but Jason knew how to read the man in front of him.  Glancing around the station, he took in the fact that none of the usual paper pushers were around and the building was mostly silent.  “Where is everyone?”

“Nothing to worry about,” Dick tried to wave it off, but Jason just stared at him, unimpressed. It was a few more moments before Dick sighed and leaned back against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest. It pulled the white button up shirt he wore taut over the muscles of his chest and arms and Jason thought it wasn’t fair to have so much beauty in one man.  Especially a man he had to sleep next to each night but hadn’t gotten the courage to touch yet.  “There’s some trouble outside of town.  Sent some of the crew to go see what they could unfold.  The others are doing the regular patrols.”  There was a pause but Jason knew not to say anything because Dick had more to say, he was just trying to figure out how to say it.  “Just maybe…”  The man sighed and dropped his arms and Jason couldn’t help but notice how tired he looked in that moment.

And maybe he had looked tired for a while now but Jason had been too focused on the beauty of the man every day to notice the exhaustion, but he could definitely see it now.  The dark circles brushing his under eyes, the slump of his shoulders, and the paleness to his golden skin.  Had he been sleeping peacefully through Dick’s distress each night?  How long had this been going on?

“Just maybe stay away from the edge of town for a while.  You and the kids.  We don’t want to alarm anyone in town just yet, but I’d feel a lot better knowing my family wasn’t close to the danger.”  Jason considered the words and gave Dick a nod.  He could do that.  He could keep the Tim, and now the girls, close to home and not stray far from the center of town.  He could do that for their safety because Dick would know what that meant more than he would.

“Okay,” Jason agreed, moving forward to use the desk behind Dick as a writing surface.  He stood close to Dick and gave his upper arm a squeeze before leaning over and scratching out a quick list on the paper for Dick to use to get things for the girls.  “Kids!”  Jason called out once he had finished the list as best he could.  “Tim and I will move one of the beds from another room into the one across from his.  They don’t want to be separated, so they can share a room.”  

“That sounds good. They might even want to share a bed.” Jason hadn’t thought of that.  He would have to ask them on their way home. But at the sound of the three of them emerging from Dick’s office, penny candies in their hands and smiles on their faces, Jason turned his focus back to the list.

He waited for them to round the desk and Tim to say thanks to Dick, the older man ruffling Tim’s hair with a soft smile.  “Stephanie, Cassandra,” Jason addressed the girls, who went rigid and their smiled fading away.  “Dick is going to pick up some things for the two of you on his way home tonight.  For clothing would you prefer skirts and dresses or pants?”

The two girls seemed to relax again and look at each other before Cass was using her hands to communicate and Steph nodding along.  “Pants,” Stephanie turned back to them and stated.  Jason looked over at Dick, who was watching Cassandra with a curious gleam in his eyes.  Jason had learned that this particular look usually meant good things, but something he worked through on his own before he presented them.

“I will come home laden with goods, then,” Dick joked, looking over at Jason and smiling brightly. “Also, I do believe we are due a visit to B’s this weekend.  I will see if the crew can manage without me Saturday.”  The question was in Dick’s eyes and Jason just gave a nod in return. He wasn’t particularly fond of the lavish life of Bruce Wayne, but he was family and he could see the fondness and love between father and son when Bruce and Dick were around each other.

And Jason definitely enjoyed the company of Alfred, Bruce’s manservant who was actually more like a father to the man. Dick called him a grandpa.

“Come on kids, let’s head home.  It’s time for some lunch anyway.  You have yours?”  Jason asked Dick, who nodded and smiled fondly.  Jason gave his own nod and watched as Tim took up the girls’ hands again and led them out the door.

“Stay safe,” Dick called out just before Jason exited and Jason gave him one last smile that promised he would.

[get-me-a-coffee-dipshit]

Hello, I've reached 100 followers on Tumblr! I have no idea how I did it because I was just reblogging posts and pictures that I liked, so thank you all so much ❤

So, here's a Reed900 story for you amazing people. I hope you like it!

-WAKE UP-

Gavin slowly opened his eyes, looked at the white ceiling. He must have slept in the wrong position, his muscles were hurting. He stretched carefully, closing his eyes as he yawned loudly. When he finally got up and glanced where he was, his brain stopped.

This wasn't his house. Actually, this place didn't look like anywhere he knew. When his own house was a small studio apartment, this room was almost the size of his house.

What the fuck was going on?

He listened nervously to hear any signs of life other than him inside the house. He heard faint sounds.

"Hey, anybody here?" He called out anxiously. His only answer was the continuing sounds.

He looked around for a tool to protect himself, found nothing.

He rubbed his sweaty palms to his pants and swallowed. Trying not to panic too much, he walked towards where the sound came from as quietly as possible. When he reached the source of the sound, he froze in place with what he saw.

Connor... Connor was there, and he was doing something on the kitchen counter like everything was normal.

So, Connor was the one brought Gavin here.

He was kidnapped.

"You fucking tincan!" Although he tried not to project the fear that covered his brain like fog into his voice, he was hardly successful. "What the fuck are you thinking you are doing?" He took a shaky step toward to him.

The Android didn't even react to him, didn't even pause. He just kept doing what he did.

"Hey, I'm talking to you asshole!" He tried again.

Nothing.

Gavin realized that besides fear, he was starting to get angry. This dipshit could not first bring him to a place he never knew without his consent and then ignore him.

He reached the android with quick steps and tried to turn him harsly to himself.

But it didn't happened. His hand passed through the android's body.

"What the fuck?" He staggered back in horror. He looked at his hand with enlarged eyes and tried to make sense of what he had just seen. It's a dream- no. This must have been a nightmare. There could be no other explanation.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."

He closed his eyes tightly and pinched his arm painfully.

"Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. This is a nightmare. Wake up..."

Although he tried different methods over and over again, it didn't work.

Mad at his failure, he hit his hand to the wall and growled. As if it wasn't enough that the fucking androids were trouble for him in real life, now they were getting into his nightmares.

"Nines, you're spoiling me.” He jumped with the sudden voice. It was he who spoke, but those words wasn't belong to his own mouth.

He whirled around, saw himself. No. What he was looking at was not a mirror. It was literally himself. Another Gavin.

This other Gavin was like the opposite of him. There was no sign of the usual frown on his face. He had warmth in his eyes and his posture was relaxed. He was looking directly at Connor.

"You are worth it, my love. Especially today." A thick voice answered the other Gavin, made him whirl around once more. For the first time since waking up in this strange house, he saw the android's face clearly.

He was wrong. This android wasn't Connor. But he looked almost as similar to him as his twin. The only thing that set them apart was this android's gray eye color and sharper facial features.

There was a peaceful smile on his face.

The other Gavin chuckled and approached the android, wrapping his arms around his neck and giving him a small kiss on the lips.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Happy forty or something. You don't need to celebrate my aging. I'll keep being pain in your ass for a long time."

Android's loud laughter echoed in the kitchen. He wrapped his arms around the other Gavin's waist and pulled him to himself, pressing his forehead against to other. "No matter how old you are, you are always beautiful to me. Also..." He nuzzled his nose to other's neck. "I have no complaints about you being pain in my ass."

While all this was happening, Gavin was frozen where he was, just watching. It was definitely the most realistic nightmare he had ever seen and he had no idea what experience is affected him in real life and made him see this nightmare.

After a long kiss, the android reluctantly separated his lips from the other Gavin and put what he had prepared on the tray.

"Come on, we're having breakfast on the balcony today."

"Great." Other Gavin paused. "I'm coming in a minute."

The gray eyed android gave the other Gavin a meaningful glance and nodded, left the kitchen.

As Gavin thought about what could be weirder, the other Gavin turned his eyes towards him. He wasn't exactly looking into his eyes, but he seemed aware of his existence.

Other Gavin came close to him and cleared his throat. "Hey. Gavin." He continued after pausing for a while, as if he were collecting words in his head. "I don't know if you're there, but I'll take my chances."

He raised his hand and extended it to him as if he wanted to touch him, but at the last moment he gave up and lowered it.

"It's not the nightmare like you think it is. This is a reality. This is your future. Unless you run away from him." He took a deep breath and his eyes filled with plea. "Please. Please don't refuse him when he comes to you. I know. Now you hate androids, but he'll change your mind and give you all the love you need. You'll be happier than you can imagine. So, I'm begging you. Please give him a chance."

Then he slowly retreated, turned and walked away. Left bewildered Gavin there.

___

Gavin awoke with ache in various parts of his body, especially in his neck. As if the ache was not annoying enough, there were also beepings that gave the feeling that they would pierce his head.

He wrinkled his nose and frowned, opened his eyes. His tired look turned confused with what he saw.

The ceiling that greeted him didn't belong anywhere he knew. Taking deep breaths, he slowly turned his head and looked at where he was.

The beeping was coming from the heart monitor, and there was a flower bouquet and lots of notes on the little table beside the bed.

Hospital.

But... But what was happened? How did he end here?

He swallowed and forced his brain to think. The last time he was at DPD, he was filling out a report. Then when he got up and went to the breakroom for coffee, Connor had caught his attention, the tincan was heading for the archive room when he should left the building.

He was suspicious and followed the android, found him in the archive room holding the head of a dead android.

They fought and.... Oh.

Since he woke up in the hospital, that tincan must have beaten him well. Great. The people in the department now would make fun of him for days.

But these were all things to think about later. He had to get out of here now.

He turned his head to the other side to find the button to call the nurse, and at that moment he noticed something in the corner of the room that he hadn't noticed before.

"What the fuck?"

The person who was looking at him quietly from the corner of the room took a few steps towards the bed but he stopped when Gavin tried to pull back with panic and fastening heart rate. After indecisively opening and closing his mouth several times, he was finally able to pull the words out of his mouth.

"Hello Detective Reed. I'm RK900. I came he-"

"Are you here to finish what your brother left unfinished?" Gavin sputtered with a thin voice. If this android came to kill him, he didn't think he could survive in this state.

Android furrowed his eyebrows, his led turned red. "No. I..." He lowered his gaze to the ground for a few seconds and then made eye contact with him again. "I'm... I'm your new partner."

A hysterical laugh rose from his throat, which he could not prevent. All of this was a joke. It was supposed to be a joke. But his laughter cut short as the android's face remained with the same seriousness.

Fuck.

"You are not joking."

Android raised one eyebrow. "No, Detective Reed. I'm indeed not joking."

Anger surrounded Gavin so fast. He hit the bed with his hand and hissed through his teeth. "So how does Fowler think that I will accept you as my partner when an android, especially one that looks like your twin, that made me this!"

"Actually, I wanted to be your partner." Android explained.

Gavin's eyes widened. "You wanted?"

This time, his led was yellow. "Yes?"

"Are you deviant?"

"Yes, while you are unconscious, revolution is happened. We are free now."

"You are joking."

"No, again, I'm completely serious."

"Well... Well..." Gavin moved his eyes around the room to find something to say. "I don't fucking want you!" He yelled harshly.

Stepping back after his yell, android avoided his eyes, the led was stuck in red again... For a minute the android did not look back at him, and when he looked, the feelings he saw in the gray eyes stunned Gavin.

Android was looking like... Human.

"I...I know you hate androids...but..." Android placed his hand on his own chest. "I have a feeling that we can get along. Give me a month. If you still don't want me after a month, I promise I'll ask the Captain for another partner. Please... give our partnership a chance."

Please give our partnership a chance.

Suddenly, images began to fill up in Gavin's mind. The images he saw while he was asleep.

The gray eyed man- android in the kitchen.

Fond kisses.

Himself. Happy. His eyes full of life.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. What he saw was not a dream.

Then what was it?

"Detective Reed?"

He shrugged from his thoughts and fixed his eyes on the android. Same face. Same eyes. Same tone of voice. It was all the same.

"You..." He couldn't get a continuation of the words.

Android carefully approached him as if approaching a wild animal, slowly sat on the edge of his bed.

"Are you okay?" He talked with worry.

Was he okay? He didn't even know it himself. All he knew was his own voice begging in his ears.

"Please give him a chance."

"Please give him a chance."

"Please give him a chance."

"Please give him a chance."

'Don't accept, tell him to fuck off.'

'But what if you regret it?'

'You don't need a tincan.'

'But you need somebody.'

He buried his face in his hands in defeat. Fuck. He had to do it, didn't he? If he didn't, he'd think 'what ifs' for the rest of his life.

'It's only a month,' he thought.

He was still nervous about the androids. For fuck's sake, one of them nearly broke his neck, how could he not be? Maybe this uneasiness would never pass, maybe he would regret this partnership and would turn this newly deviant android's life hell.

But he would still take the advice of his future self and give the android in front of him a chance.

After all... No one could know him better than himself, right?

He lifted his face from his hands, examined the android opposite him with a scowl, and grunted.

"What kind of name is RK900? I can't always address you like that, it's so mouthful. I will call you Nines. Okay, dipshit?"

Android's suddenly sparkling eyes and smile were very similar to what Gavin saw while he was sleeping.