#unfortunate and i really wish i had made different choices before this. but i don't have any control over that so there's no use

[coquelicoq]

usually i don't have any problem not thinking about work when i'm not getting paid to do so, but i made a big mistake earlier this week and spent five hours today dealing with the fallout and still have not managed to resolve it, and when i clocked out it was actually with this vague dread about leaving it unsolved instead of relief that it's finally the weekend. like it's bad that it's the weekend because it means i have to stop working on it?? wow. gross.

[anna-hawk]

L'étranger

Frank Castle x f!Reader

Summary: You decide to hit a bar after one hell of a day at work and meet a man who's willing to listen to you rant away. As the chemistry seems to build between you, you choose to be bold and ask him to come home with you. He doesn't give you what you want, but ends up giving you what you need.

Rating: Explicit 🔞 // WC: 5,9k

CW: PWP, sex as stress relief, bj, finger fucking, soft and emotional sex, first meetings

A/N: this is based on my current work life. I just wish I could meet Frank that way too 😅. Also, the title means "The Stranger" in French.

Read it on AO3

Stumbling through the doors of the first decent bar you found after leaving your job, you made a beeline for the counter, desperately needing a glass of wine or beer. Or whatever. You weren’t picky tonight. You threw yourself onto a free bar stool, slapped your purse onto the counter with a resounding smack, and uttered a large and miserable half sigh, half groan. 

“Sounds like someone had a day, huh?”

You tiredly glanced to the side and caught the sight of the man the voice belonged to. Absently, you thought to yourself that you’d at least managed to sit down next to a good-looking guy. The sharp jaw, broad nose and wide shoulders definitely did it for you. Unfortunately, you were too exhausted, mentally and physically, to really take more note of him right now. Instead, you stared at him with half open eyes and a flat expression. At his lopsided smile and expression of genuine concern, however, you huffed out a bitter laugh that transformed into another one of your long sighs. 

“More like month.”

The man cringed in commiseration and lifted his hand for the bartender to get his attention.  

“Hey, man, serve the lady whatever she wants and put it on my tab, yeah?” 

Your eyes widened in surprise at his words.

“That's really kind of you, but you don't have to,” you said softly, waving a hand around. 

“I know,” he replied simply, but shrugged in a way that clearly stated that he was still doing it. 

You stared at him for a second while he took a gulp of his beer, observing his profile. And what a profile it was. You weren’t in the mood for dealing with a man trying to hit on you, but this guy wasn’t showing you more than genuine kindness. 

“Thanks,” you finally said, giving your order to the waiting bartender. 

“Don’ mention it,” the man smiled, inclining his bottle of beer towards you. 

Silence fell, but you could see him watching you out of the corner of your eyes, contemplating you as you pulled out your phone and put it on do not disturb. You refused to be bothered by anything from work or anything else for that matter. You muttered darkly under your breath as you saw the text in the most recent notification for your job’s group chat, but chose to ignore it. They could deal without you for the next two days. 

“Wanna talk about it?” The man asked tentatively right when your drink arrived. 

You gave him an amused side eye and took a long sip of your drink, groaning in satisfaction at the taste.

“I don't wanna bore you with my shit, but thanks for asking.”

You weren’t blowing him off, but really didn’t think that he’d be interested in listening to everything that was bothering you. 

Apparently he figured that he wasn’t the issue, since he shrugged. “I don't mind. Not a lot I can do, I guess, but if you just wanna rant at someone, go ahead.” 

You laughed at the suggestion and sighed deeply, turning towards him with your head tilted to the side. 

“Oh, you're not ready for this.”

He smirked and faced you as well. “Try me anyway?”

You stared at him for a while, considering him, but he only looked back calmly. Before you knew what was happening, you were talking.

“It’s my job… My manager is retiring in the next few weeks, and the guy replacing her is the worst choice the higher ups could have ever made. He comes from a different field, knows jack about what we do, and trust me, it’s not the past month he spent with my manager while she trained him, well, tried to at least, that will teach him everything he needs to know. It’s just impossible. She always has so much to take care of, and I don’t think that he realizes it yet. And if at least he was putting in the effort and showing us that he wants to do well, that would already be great, but he doesn’t. He keeps putting the blame on other people or the system or whatever whenever something isn’t working, or he messes up. He’s all fake smiles and laughs, but he complains about everything. It’s a nightmare. The thing is, he isn’t the only one at fault. The general manager handpicked him because she knows that she can control him, something she couldn’t do with my old manager. Our office is kinda far away from the headquarters, and we always did great work without anyone’s help. I’ve been working for that company for fifteen years, and my coworkers and I felt that everything was flowing pretty well, even if we knew that the company has more flaws than good sides. Although the salary isn’t what I’d love it to be, I love my coworkers, and the job itself is fine too. But now, with the manager gone, we all suddenly realize just how much shit is going on behind the scenes and what might happen to us. They tried to bribe us by giving out bonuses, but only to certain people. It was all supposed to be hush-hush, y’know. The people getting the bonus weren’t supposed to talk about it, but that’s not how we work. So instead of making us happy, it made us more angry. Not at each other but at the higher ups. Why would some of us get a bonus and others wouldn’t, when we’re doing the exact same job? That, and don’t get me started on how they’re basically kicking my old manager to the curb. She gave thirty years of her life to that company, worked her ass off, spent hours upon hours working so the job wouldn't transform into a giant shitshow. Her work ethic is incredible, and the higher-ups don’t seem to realize just how much she brought to the company. My guess is that they’ll have a rude awakening once she’s officially gone and everything is going to come crumbling down around us.” 

You paused, sighed explosively, and drank down the rest of your drink. 

“Well, shit,” the man said with raised eyebrows. “I’m sorry you have to go through this. These people really don’t sound like they deserve to have you or your coworkers puttin’ all that effort into the company.”

You scoffed as you stared into your empty glass. 

“You bet your ass they don’t,” you muttered sourly. 

The man chuckled at your vindictive tone, which had your lips pulling up on one side. 

“Hey, man, can we get a refill?”

You lifted your eyes to find your stranger addressing the barkeep and waving a hand over his beer bottle and your glass. While the barkeeper nodded and started on the drinks, you smiled ruefully as your seat neighbor turned his attention back on you, your heart squeezing at the soft smile he sent your way. 

“Thank you,” you whispered, ducking your head. 

“No problem,” he replied in a low tone. 

After a few seconds of silence, you realized that he was still watching you expectantly when you looked at him again. He chuckled at your expression. 

“Somethin’ tells me there’s more.” 

You laughed, loudly and with a wave of relief washing over you. Talking to him was lifting a giant weight off of you, as if getting the words off your chest had been more necessary than you could have ever imagined. His grin was wide as he watched you laugh, which had your stomach warming at the attention. 

“I wanna quit,” you started before pausing briefly and watching the barkeeper bring your drinks. You thanked him and took a fortifying sip. The drink you chose wasn’t too strong, since you just wanted to take the edge off, so you weren’t even really tipsy now. You definitely felt more loose, though. “I’ve thought about changing careers for ages. I don’t mind my current job as it is, it has good and bad points, like any job, I guess. So I’ve put my actual dream career to the side for years, focusing on staying financially stable instead. But now, I realize that I don’t wanna stay in that fucking company. I just can’t, you know? I can’t work ridiculous hours for a barely decent salary anymore. The thing is, I can’t just up and quit like that. I’d lose all the benefits I got over the years, and getting the degree that I need to be able to do what I really want costs money. So right now, I’m still checking out my options, but if the CEO doesn’t agree to let me go with my benefits, I don’t know what I’ll do.” You shook your head miserably and swirled your drink around in the glass. “Going into work and being stressed has been part of the job since day one. But mostly, it was never in a bad way. Especially lately, because I know my job, and I’m good at it. Now, though… When I’m going in, I feel pure disgust and contempt for the people employing me. I’m just so… done.”

You finished with a long breath, your anger simmering down after getting it all out, leaving you with mostly frustration. Your face suddenly grew hot as you realized that you’d basically word-vomited in front of a complete stranger, showing him all the ugly feelings and resentment you’d been carrying around for the past couple of months. 

“I’m sorry,” you sighed, closing your eyes and rubbing over them with your thumb and index. “I know you said you were okay with this, but I still feel like I basically just dumped everything on you like a whiny kid.” 

You heard him chuckling, the sound low and warm. 

“Yeah, I told you to go for it, but you didn’t sound whiny to me at all. Just like someone who really needed to get it all off their chest.” 

Leaning your head over your folded arms that were already lying on the counter, you turned your face towards him with a small smile. 

“Guess I did.”

“Do you feel any better?” He watched you intently, his eyes moving over your whole face. 

You looked to the side, taking stock of your emotions, before you met his gaze again with a smile. 

“Yeah… I do.”

“See. Worth listening, then.”

After the past weeks of absolute nightmare, you couldn’t believe how lucky you were to have happened upon someone as kind as this man. 

“You’re something else, you know that?” you said with a tone of wonder, taking more of him in. You'd noticed his prominent nose earlier, but his mouth was just as worth looking at, as were his brown eyes. 

He scoffed, the sound self-deprecating, but he didn’t say anything, and instead, took a swig from his beer, which brought his large hands into your line of sight. 

“Thank you,” you continued, keeping your eyes on him from your slouched position over your arms. 

“No problem.” This time, he was the one to look away, as if suddenly shy, which only intrigued you more. 

Straightening again, you propped your elbow on the counter and put your head on your fist, leaning slightly in his direction as you observed him with interest. He automatically looked at you again, beer bottle halfway to his mouth. Your heart started to beat faster as his eyes dropped to your mouth. You bit at the side of your bottom lip, as if in reply to his staring, and felt a zap of want when he met your eyes again with a different kind of intensity. Emboldened by your drink and his reaction to you, you leaned in enough for him to be the only one able to hear you. 

“Come home with me?”

The man blinked at you once before simply staring at you quietly, which was the only sign that he was at least slightly surprised by you being this straightforward. You held his gaze, no matter how much you wanted to look away, as embarrassment started to run through you despite your boldness. As his eyes drifted to your mouth again, your anxiousness began to evaporate. 

“Hey, Will,” he said, while keeping his attention solely on you as he addressed the bartender who was walking past you. “I’ll close my tab next time, yeah?”

“Sure thing,” Will answered easily, grabbing the beer bottle and glass from in front of you to put them away. 

Biting your lower lip on a giddy grin at the realization that this was actually happening, you got up and grabbed your purse. The man rose as well, a tiny smile at the corner of his mouth at your reaction. As you walked out of the bar and onto the sidewalk, you hailed a taxi that was just turning the corner of the street. The both of you got into the car, and once you’d given the driver your address, you spent the ten minutes it took to get to your building in silence. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but your heart was beating like crazy as you tried not to overthink your decision. You refrained from looking at him directly as well, opting to keep your gaze on the street. However, you were aware that he was watching you through the semi darkness of the cab. After arriving in front of your building and stepping out of the taxi after paying for it, you made your way towards your apartment, with the man following one step behind you. He stayed beside you as you fished for your keys, staying just as quiet as before. 

“Right, um, I’ll quickly hit the shower, okay? Been in these work clothes for much longer than I like,” you laughed awkwardly, as you stepped through your apartment door. 

You internally rolled your eyes at yourself at your babbling, but the man just sent you a small smile and hummed in understanding. You nodded and began walking off, but after only one step, you quickly turned back to him. 

“Make yourself at home, yeah? Um… I don’t have anything interesting to drink but if-”

A warm palm cupped one of your cheeks and tilted your face into the man’s direction as he stepped close to you, effectively shutting you up. 

“I’m fine, ‘kay? You go take that shower, and I’ll just wait here, alright?” he said soothingly, his voice low and gentle. 

Staring into his soft brown eyes, you blinked at him before you nodded with a small smile. He let go of you, and you immediately headed into your bathroom, shutting the door and taking a deep breath. You rushed through removing your clothes and finally stepped into the shower. The hot water helped relax your nerves, and by the time you were done, you were still nervous but in an excited way this time. Once you were done drying off and brushing your teeth, you put on a thin bathrobe. As you looked at your underwear selection, you bit your lower lip as you chose to forgo putting on panties. If things went as planned, you wouldn’t be wearing them long anyway. As you stepped out again, you found him standing in front of your bookshelf, his head inclined to the side as he read the titles. He lifted his head towards you, his eyes drifting over your whole body as he watched you approach. 

“Hey,” you said quietly, giving him a small smile. 

“You got a nice book selection,” he commented casually, while standing close to you. 

You threw your bookshelf a small glance and smiled. “You can borrow whatever you like.” 

He hummed, the sound contemplative, but he leaned in until his nose was almost touching yours. 

“Maybe not tonight.” 

You nodded, going nearly cross-eyed as you stared into his warm eyes. A second later, you were closing them anyway, as he tilted his head and pressed his mouth against yours. It was only a gentle press of his lips at first, which he repeated as he leaned his head to the other side this time. His hands came up to cup the sides of your neck, using his thumbs under your jaw to direct your face how he wanted it. Your hands lifted to his biceps, squeezing them as you tentatively sucked at his bottom lip. He seemed to enjoy it, since he grunted and moved in further, causing you to take a step back and against the bookshelf. You moaned softly and opened your mouth as his tongue gently slid over your top lip. As the kiss deepened, you slid your arms around his waist, grabbing at the shirt, while he cupped the back of your neck and placed his other hand on your lower back, bringing you fully against him. You tried pushing for more, but the man simply stroked his tongue lazily against yours while keeping you flush against him. Despite the slowness of the kiss, your knees were beginning to shake anyway with how thoroughly he was delving between your lips. 

“Be — bedroom,” you gasped in between two presses of his lips against yours. 

Your stranger leaned his head away to quietly stare into your eyes, his expression intense, before he took a step away from you, indicating for you to lead the way. Biting your bottom lip, you briefly hesitated before you took hold of his hand to pull him towards the bedroom. As you reached the foot end of the bed, you turned back to him, meeting his gaze. He stepped back into your space without waiting for you to pull him towards you, his hands drifting over your hips and to your back as he sought out your mouth again. You sighed into the new kiss and ran your fingers through his lush hair. A thrill rippled through you as his hands moved down to your ass, squeezing it sporadically while the kiss turned hungrier. Wanting to get to your skin, his hands slowly parted the sides of the bathrobe until his fingers could touch your bare thighs. He ran them up slowly, making you shiver as he progressively reached your hips. They stilled for a brief moment as he realized that you weren’t wearing anything underneath the robe. His answer to that fact was to exhale harshly through his nose and make you take a step back towards the bed as he gently bit down on your bottom lip. You gasped at the sharpness of his teeth, and moaned into his mouth. His hands kept exploring your back, ass, and thighs, until you couldn’t stand it anymore and swiftly moved away from him to untie the robe and remove it at last. You were about to return between his arms, but the way he watched you attentively had you stopping and, instead, moving back, taking the last step needed to get on your bed. You did so slowly, moving backwards as you knelt down at the end of the bed. His eyes roved over your body, observing you with such obvious desire that it almost left you breathless. You hadn’t realized just how much you needed this kind of undivided and honest attention. The man licked his lips quickly, before he walked up to you and bent down to cup your face and bring his mouth back to yours. Your eyes fell shut as you let him explore your mouth again, tipping your head to the side when he drifted his lips to your jaw before he tilted your head up to kiss down your neck and throat. Needing more of him, you reached for the buckle of his belt and tugged at it meaningfully. He leaned back a fraction to stare at you with a small smile, which you returned before you attacked the belt with needy fingers. Your heart beats were stumbling over each other at the sight of the sizable bulge in his jeans, making you almost clumsy in your haste to get to see all of him. Your stranger let you work in silence, but you knew that he was watching you. His shirt got in the way of your fingers a couple of times, making you huff and tug it up. 

“Off. Now,” you ordered almost snappishly, which only had the man chuckling in amusement. 

As you finally popped open the top button on the jeans, the man complied with your request and began to undo his shirt. With most of the buttons undone, he lifted his hands to the collar of his shirt to pull it over his head. While he did so, you fully opened his fly and tugged the jeans and underwear down enough to free his length. You took in a shaky breath as saliva pooled in your mouth at the gorgeous cock standing proudly in front of you. Right as your stranger was having his face covered by the shirt while he pulled it off, you dropped to your front on the bed and leaned in without a second thought, sliding your lips around the tip. His hips jerked as he uttered a short curse of surprise, finally ridding himself off the shirt, which he threw to the side. 

“Shit,” he rasped, as you slowly licked around the head, lapping at the nerves surrounding the crown and using your hands to guide him this or that way. 

Using your elbows for support, you took more of him into your mouth, raising your eyes to his as you did so. His fingers landed in your hair, stroking over it in a gentle caress as he watched you with hooded eyes. You bobbed your head, filling your mouth with as much of him as you could. He felt incredible, big and hot, coating your tongue with his taste and making you moan. Tilting his head to one side, he slowly pulled all the way out, keeping himself a few centimeters away from your mouth. You lowered your eyes to his cock, before you met his hungry gaze again, and opened your mouth. Licking his lips again, his nostrils flared as he slid back between your lips, groaning as you sucked him in eagerly. You let him fuck in and out for a few slow thrusts, delighting in the way he was watching you and how he filled your mouth. Which only made your core ache with the need to have him inside you. 

Pulling off with one last lick, you rose to your knees and grasped the back of his head with both hands. There was no need for words as you met in the middle for a heated kiss. He quickly stepped out of his boots and the rest of his clothes before following you onto the bed, the both of you moving back on your knees until you got to the center. With one arm around your back, he lowered you to the mattress and slipped between your thighs. He draped his body over yours but held himself up with one elbow, using his other hand to stroke the fingers over your jaw. The way he stared at you had a warm shiver going through you, which only got stronger as his hand traveled down your body. His eyes didn’t waver from yours as his hand arrived at your mound before it went further. Your lips parted in a small breath as his fingers drew around your slick folds in a gentle caress, only for your mouth to open wider when he gently began pushing two fingers inside you. You moaned softly and bit your lip as he removed them before he slid them back inside. He watched you intently, drinking in each of your expressions of pleasure as you gripped his shoulders while he slowly fucked you with his fingers. 

“Please,” you begged, clawing at his skin when he didn’t move faster. 

Instead of picking up the pace, you felt a third finger pressing in alongside the two others, forcing a sharp gasp out of you. Throwing your head back against the pillow, you squeezed around his fingers, which earned you a low groan from him. He didn’t go faster, though, content to watch you squirm and moan as your hips undulated on their own to get more friction. Finally, he stopped moving, however kept the fingers inside you, and used his thumb to lightly rub it against your clit. Your hips jerked and thrust up into the contact, while you cried out at the sudden shift in erogenous zone. On any other day, and had you been in a different mood, you would have actually loved having his fingers inside you like this, teasing you, but tonight, you needed him to fuck you. Extending an arm towards the bedside table, you blindly grabbed for the drawer. 

“Please,” you repeated, meeting his attentive gaze with your half lidded eyes. “Fuck me.” 

His eyes followed the length of your arm towards the bedside table. He glanced back at you briefly, before he withdrew his fingers from you, which had you sighing in loss but also excitement at what was to come. Quickly rolling to your side, you opened the drawer to get a condom out of it before laying back under him. He held himself up with his hands level with your shoulders now, watching you as you tore the wrapper open and pulled the condom out. He leaned down and placed a long kiss on your lips before moving up again. 

“Go on,” he rasped, the tone telling you that he was at least as affected by the situation as you. 

With your heart slamming in your throat, you peered between your bodies and rolled the condom down his length, licking your lips as it twitched between your fingers when you made sure it was secure at the base. Usually, doing this was something perfunctory, just a step to get to the good part, but with this man’s low grunt as he watched you, you felt yourself burning up even more. Slowly, you shifted your gaze back to his, meeting molten eyes as he lowered himself to one forearm again. He curled his hand under your neck to slip his fingers into the hair at the base of your head, while his other hand vanished between your bodies like earlier, only to line himself up with your entrance this time. You threw your legs over his hips as he did so, and let your fingers run through his hair before closing them in the soft strands on top. His gaze found yours as he pushed inside you slowly, so incredibly slowly. Your mouth fell open on a silent cry as you felt every inch of him inexorably burying inside you. He grunted and hissed when your fingers tightened in his hair, but his eyes remained focused on your face. When he was finally completely inside you, you brought his head down to kiss him deeply and squeezed around his cock to get a better feel of it. He groaned into your mouth and pushed his hips further into you, only resulting in making your head press into the headboard since he was already so deep inside you. While keeping his lips locked with yours, he began to pull out, using the same pace as while moving inside. You moaned and tightly wrapped your legs around his hips, while your walls tried to keep him inside you. He stayed there, with only the tip still inside you. Sucking on his lower lip harshly, you pressed your heels into his ass to get him to move, which he finally did, albeit as unhurriedly as before. He did it again and again, going slow but deep every time, tilting his hips in just the right way and driving you absolutely mad with need. 

“More,” you moaned brokenly, tugging at his hair and shoulders. 

His hand slid down your hair until it was curving over your neck, with the thumb lying at the hollow of your throat. He did move faster then, but it was still too slow for your liking. Drawing your nails down his arms, you keened, halfway between intense pleasure and intense frustration. 

“Fuck me,” you begged, as your fingers squeezed and gripped at his arms and shoulders. “Please, just-”

But the man kissed you quiet. Your eyes closed at the thorough kiss, except that it didn’t last long, since he knelt up and thrust in deep. You cried out, but as good as it felt, he still wasn’t fucking you harder. As you were about to grab his arms again, he caught your wrists and crossed them over each other. You gasped in surprise when he used one of his large palms to press your crossed hands between your breasts, keeping them there with strong fingers. Staring at him with wide and desperate eyes, you whined feebly as his hips gently rocked into yours, making a sharp bout of pleasure run through you. 

“Please,” you repeated for the nth time. “Just… please,” you whispered the last word, feeling your throat constrict. 

His expression was tender as he watched you while he leaned over you. 

“I got you,” he promised in a low tone, kissing you once. “I got you, Sweetheart.” 

The endearment and affection in his words had your heart missing a beat. 

Straightening again, he began moving once more, one hand at your throat, the other still holding your hands secure against your chest. His hips moved firmly; not quick and hard, but firm and intense, letting you feel all of him, while your legs, the only point of you able to do anything, kept pressing the heels into the back of his thighs. You whimpered at the pleasure he was giving you, so utterly different from what you had expected. As your stranger slowly but unrelentingly had your body climbing to its climax, you realized that he wasn’t giving into your pleas because he didn’t want to, but because he knew what you really needed. He’d listened to your story, observed you keenly, let you take the lead. He’d silently taken all of you in to reach this moment and give you what you needed and didn't realize you wanted: letting him take care of you and making you let go of all the negative things that were part of your life. It was with that knowledge that you were suddenly coming, the intensity of your orgasm so strong and so abrupt that your head flew back, your eyes closing tightly, as a cut-off sob spilled over your lips from the overload of feelings. 

“Sh, sh.” 

You felt his body leaning over yours again as his voice drifted closer to your face. His lips moved between your mouth and jaw, placing gentle kisses here and there as he let go of your hands. You instantly wrapped them around his shoulders, holding him tightly as he slid his nose against your neck while his hips picked up speed. Your thighs were trembling against his sides, but you didn’t let go of him, clinging to him as he rode towards his own release. His fingers combed through your hair as another sob ripped through you, which he followed by lifting his face to kiss you fiercely. You welcomed his mouth with gratitude, letting your tongues stroke against each other sensually until he came with a deep groan, his cock pushing as far inside you as possible. 

As you both panted softly, you met his gaze when he slightly leaned up, his eyes moving between yours searchingly. The hand that had been at your throat rose to your face, his thumb stroking away the wetness under your eye. 

“You good?” he asked in a quiet voice. 

You stared at him silently, letting your eyes slide over his face with its warm gaze and worried pull of his mouth. Uncurling your arms from around his neck, you cupped his face and let your thumbs brush over his cheeks. 

“Yeah,” you answered softly, and smiled as his lips pulled up before meeting him for an unhurried kiss. 

After a minute, he pressed a final kiss to your cheek and gently pulled out before rolling to the side and off the bed. You watched him pick up his clothes and leave the room in silence. Biting your lip as you gathered your thoughts while climbing out of bed as well, you grabbed the loose T-shirt you wore to bed from the hook behind the door and slipped it on. With a small glance at the empty doorway, you returned to the bed and pulled down the covers to settle into a sitting position against the pillows, feeling unsure of what to do now. The man came back with only his jeans on, which had you taking a couple of seconds to admire his gorgeous form before you met his eyes. He remained in the doorway, looking as unsure as you. His fingers fiddled with the shirt absently as his eyes dropped to the floor and then to the side. When you had asked him to come home with you, it had been a spur of the moment decision, only done to get all the frustration out of your system. A one-time thing, purposely choosing to keep the encounter anonymous. But you didn’t want him to leave. Not yet, anyway. If he wanted to leave, that was okay, but-

“You could stay if you want,” you found yourself saying, as he still hadn’t moved away from the doorway. 

His eyes snapped to yours, then to the spot next to you, considering it for a second before he nodded a few times. He moved towards the bed and joined you under the covers after taking off his clothes again. Lying down next to him, you faced each other. His eyes traveled over your face again, stopping at your mouth a few times, which had you smiling lightly. At that, his gaze found yours, but you both stayed quiet as you observed each other. 

“Thanks for tonight,” you finally said softly, with a faint smile. 

The man frowned and shook his head as he looked down. “You don’t gotta thank me for nothin’.”

You smiled fondly at his display of shyness. “Maybe, but I haven’t felt this… peaceful in weeks, and this means a lot to me.”

He nodded in acknowledgement and lifted his eyes to yours with a tiny, one-sided smile. You bit your bottom lip as you observed him.

“You really are something else,” you murmured, before chuckling at his unconvinced huff. “No, you really are…” you trailed off meaningfully. 

“Frank,” came the answer after a beat of silence.

Your smile widened at finding out his name.

“Nice to meet you, Frank,” you grinned before sharing your name as well. 

Frank snorted at your antics. “Yeah,” he said in a low and pleasant tone. “Likewise.” 

A second later, a giant yawn split your face, which had Frank chuckling in amusement, while you tried to muffle the yawn with a hand and push at his chest with the other. 

“Maybe we should get some rest, huh?” he suggested with a small laugh. 

You only hummed in agreement and turned briefly to your other side to reach the light switch, sinking the room into darkness with only the city lights coming through the blinds. 

“Good night, Frank,” you said softly, the name sounding private in the small space between your bodies. 

“Night, sweetheart,” he repeated in an almost whisper, shifting closer to press a tender kiss to your forehead while he pulled you into his side. 

[heiayen]

so, when i die, which i must do neuvillette x gn!reader

summary: "how unfortunate it was, that the later you longed for… never came. not how you wished for it to do." of fate's cruel joke and tragedy

tags: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH, braiding neuvie's hair!! fluff/angst. reader gets shot but it isn't described in details. not proofread

notes: i don't know how to write neuvillette. alsooo at first it was meant to just be a fluffy fic of braiding neuvie's hair but thanks to écrin network yall are getting angst <3 and yes. the title is mitski lyrics

Every morning, you would wake up early to braid Neuvillette's hair.

It started as something small at first, as hushed morning conversations in bed, with your fingers lazily braiding a strand of his hair. It was always sloppy, a little out of shape and you would always unbraid it before he would leave the bed— and you back to sleep, but… it was here. Always was here, a quiet declaration of your love for him.

Only with time did it evolve into actual braids. You remembered clearly this one time when you woke up in surprisingly good spirits and with the sudden urge to properly braid his hair.

He didn't refuse, because how could he? Seeing the shine in your eyes as you asked him, his only choice was to say yes.

He looked beautiful, you remembered.

The braid wasn't perfect, no, far from it even. One of the three strands was a little thicker than the other, the shape was a little off at the end but, really, you just woke up minutes ago and were running on nothing but pure will and adoration for this man. You'd make a perfect braid for him later, you said to yourself.

And as your hands moved to brush your fingers through the strands to free his hair from the plait, he stopped you.

He wanted to wear it for the rest of the day, you remembered him saying. That he didn't care about it not being perfect.

It was yours and it made you happy.

He looked so beautiful, smiling softly at you.

That day marked the beginning of your little tradition of braiding his hair every morning, and today was no different, accompanied by your rambling about the upcoming day.

"…wish I could sleep longer today, though. Right after I am done with the fighting, I will go to your office and take a nap there."

Today was an important day for you. You were one of the Champion Duelists, known for your elegant, but efficient swordplay, and today you had a duel to win. You were confident in your skills and, if anything, more worried for the man who challenged you. He didn't seem like someone adept at swords enough to win, but if he wished to fight for his honor, then it was his choice.

"You are welcome to do as you wish, love. But be careful during the duel." Came his reply in a low voice, with traces of morning sleepiness evident in his tone, "I don't want anything to happen to you."

You appreciated his concern despite your confidence. It made warmth bloom somewhere inside you, as you continued gently brushing his long hair.

"Only Clorinde surpasses my skills as a fighter, there's no reason for you to worry about me." You said softly, finally putting the brush away and starting to part his hair, "But no matter, I will be careful either way."

You leaned to peck his cheek before you went back to braiding. You and Neuvillette talked about mundane things for the rest of it. You shared your plans for the rest of the day, how you planned to meet up with Clorinde in the afternoon, feed her some good desserts or just food because, archons, you two finally managed to find a moment of free time to meet up and talk and you wouldn't pass on the occasion to share your favorite sweets and other dishes, no.

When you were finally finished, you tied it with his usual ribbon and moved from your place behind him to get up from bed. You stood in front of him, smiling.

"It's all done!" You clapped your hands and gestured at Neuvillette with your hands, "You can now go and do your important court duties, dove."

A small chuckle slipped past his lips and he reached out to hold your hands, tug you a little closer to him.

"Thank you, love." He got up and placed a gentle kiss on each of your hands, for your hard work, "I'll be waiting for you to come later."

You wished the later could come faster and that today wasn't so busy for you both. How you wished to spend the entire day with just him, his loving embrace, and the blooming warmth in your chest.

"Me too."

How unfortunate it was, that the later you longed for… never came. Not how you wished for it to do.

In all of your confidence you failed to notice the conspiracy, the tragedy brewing behind the shadows. You took your safety for granted, believing you wouldn't get hurt because why? You were so good at it, and the man who challenged you barely seemed to know how to hold his blade and–

Maybe that was your undoing. The damned self-confidence that prevented you from understanding what was really happening before it was too late.

Only when someone yelled in the crowd, the defeated man smiled wickedly at you from the ground, only when your eyes met the gun's barrel did you realize that your safety never was granted, and that being the Iudex's lover had its price one you didn't wish to pay any soon.

He was your beloved, your Neuvillette in the warm embrace of your arms and at home. Your lover, for whom you would do anything, even if it meant waking up early just to braid his hair and sleepily mumble into his shoulder, your fingers doing the job on their own but in people's eyes you were one of the Champion Duelists, someone important to the Iudex of Fontaine, a playing card in a greater scheme of revenge.

Right.

Before you could react, the bullet hit its goal and you fell to the ground, gasping in shock and scowling in pain. You stared at the man who shot you before someone came and dragged him away, another person trying to move you away, but you could already feel your consciousness slowly slipping away from you.

You weren't ready to pay with your life for simply loving, and yet the decision was made for you.

Your lips parted as you tried to say your lover's name before losing consciousness but you barely managed to utter it, light as a whisper and as lovely as a prayer.

Oh, no.

You didn't want to leave him. Not yet, not anytime soon, not at all, not before spending an eternity with him. Was it foolish to wish for it? To wish for something impossible, yet something your heart longed for?

You wanted to braid his hair again, get all the rainbow roses and other flowers, and ribbons, and weave it into the strands. You wanted to kiss him once more, share your favorite desserts, and talk about your day to him, sleep peacefully knowing he was next to you, knowing that you were–

To think about it, you never were safe, not with how fate loved cruel jokes and tragedy.

Someone's warm, gloved hand cupped your cheek and soon, you could feel the first drops of rain on your skin. You wanted to speak an apology into his palm, but you didn't have enough strength for it anymore.

It seemed the rain wouldn't stop for a long time.

[tossawary]

I've only seen 3 episodes of the new "Percy Jackson" show so far and my main complaint with the first two episodes was pacing. I thought the pacing in the third episode was much improved and overall very good, but a lot about the first two episodes felt rushed to me.

I think episodes 1 and 2 both could have been two episodes each to slowly introduce us to Percy, Grover, Sally, Mr. Brunner, Mrs. Dodds and the Minotaur, and then to the Camp, to Annabeth, Luke, Clarisse, the satyrs and the different cabins, etc.. I mean, I think what was there was pretty solid! I like the actors! I don't think it's badly written (I think making Luke show Percy around the camp was a good choice to make later things hit harder, since we will have more time with Annabeth on the quest itself later), but I would have liked more breathing room scenes, like when Percy burned the blue jellybeans, for things to settle in, and I blame the studio for not giving this show a longer season to work with.

As it stands now, the first two episodes felt more intended for existing fans, rather than for onboarding new fans. I feel like a frog being thrown into boiling water instead of the water coming up to a boil around me. If you're not familiar with this religion & lore already, if you don't know who the Twelve Olympians are, the introduction to the Camp doesn't give you much of a foothold, which is quite unfortunate when PJO was many people's introduction to this stuff.

The blue food is not really explained. The tension of the mystery with Mrs. Dodds kind of gets thrown out because it all happens so fast. There's no time to slowly build a feeling of normalcy and then wrongness. Percy's relationship with Chiron is undermined by how little time they get together. Percy finding out who his father is happens SO QUICKLY that we don't have a proper understanding of what's wrong about his claiming when it happens. The camp looks cool and I want to see more of it! How it functions is barely explained! We barely get to meet anyone! It feels like Percy is there for less than 48 hours before he's leaving on a quest again, so there's very little time to build up his attachment to it. I have less emotional investment in Percy's conflict with Clarisse because we barely get to understand what daily life at Camp Half-blood might be like (although I understand putting less focus on Clarisse now knowing that you'll be able to play catch-up during future storylines).

I think the show is making pretty good choices with the time that they have, I just wish they had MORE time. I don't think that they have to include every little detail and scene and character from the books. I like a lot of the changes they've made just fine. I just feel like the writing and acting is being undermined by the fact that there's very little time to set things up so that you can knock them down, and that it takes more time to show something visually than it does to read a sentence. Everything in episodes 1 and 2 is moving so quickly that some of the magical aspects feel... less magical to me because there's less time to develop contrast. And the show doesn't have as much time to potentially develop cool NEW things, to slide in more new funny character interactions, because it's all so smushed down. I want more time to see these actors shine together.

(Although, admittedly, it is VERY funny to feel like Percy is stuck in some sort of speedrun version of the story. Every day is a new rollercoaster of Percy not knowing what the fuck is going on and going with it because he's not given the time to ask questions. Sure! This might as well happen next! His life sucks already. That part feels very true to the books, although I think the feeling could still be preserved if the show was given more time.)

I'm tired of 8 episode seasons. I don't know if I think that PJO needs a full 20+ episodes to tell the story of the first book, probably not, but being constrained to only 8 instead of at least 10-16 feels disappointing.

[kitsune-oji]

Hi! I saw that post of the 22nd of August when you asked if anyone had ideas for fics, could I suggest a fic where Mammon comforts a gn MC who is scared to death after an horror game marathon with Levi but tries to hide it?

I hope I respected the rules and this made sense, English isn't my first language.

I wish you the best of days.

With You

I don't have to feel scared

Thank you for this cute idea!! Your English is very good, don't worry :) it's not my first language either btw. I hope you like it ✨

Mammon x/& gn! Mc (you/yours)

Word count: 653

Warnings/Tags: comfort, fluff, Reader being scared after playing horror games and being a bit shy

It was fun, it really was. You enjoyed playing with Levi and the fact that it was a horror game was alright too. While you were there, even though you jumped and yelled and held on tightly to the blanket in your lap or the controller, you weren't too scared.

But now it was different.

Levi wasn't next to you anymore, yelping and saying you scared him by getting scared yourself. You didn't have anything to focus on, no goal in a game to work towards. Somehow, not actually being in such a suspenseful situation made it worse.

The darkness of the corridor, the endless silence stretching on until you got to your room. Every little creaking sound made you flinch and look around, as if expecting something to jump out from the next corner and see something crawl away in the corner of your eye.

Sort of stupid, wasn't it? When you lived in a house with demons, one would think you wouldn't get scared so easily anymore. Unfortunately it didn't work that way.

Your room felt cold and uninviting when you stepped over the threshold. Even turning the light on didn't save you from the uncomfortable, anxious feeling in your gut. Images from the game kept flashing through your mind, scary scenes replaying again and again to the point you feared they would actually manifest in real life.

You couldn't be alone. Not right now. Should you go back to Levi? Maybe not, you weren't sure. Either way, you needed someone around you, so you quickly walked out of your room again and screeched when suddenly there was someone right in front of you.

Mammon held his ears and shot you a look you couldn't quite place. It wasn't happy at least.

"It's just me, what the hell is your problem? Damn that hurt..."

Despite his choice of words, he didn't sound too angry. You tried to calm your racing heart.

"I noticed ya weren't with Levi anymore so I thought I'd come over. What's with the screaming? I don't look that horrible."

He really didn't. Mammon was like a sight for sore eyes, his mere presence made you feel better already. Yet your hands still shook.

"I'm sorry, I-, there's just, I wasn't, I'm just a bit.. jumpy right now", you stuttered, trailing off and looking at Mammon's reaction tentatively.

His eyebrows lifted and you could basically see a lightbuld over his head lighting up.

"What, yer scared cause of some dumb video game? Why did ya play it then?"

"I wasn't that scared when we actually played it, it's just, now that everything is quiet I keep thinking about it..."

He blinked, then looked to the side and scratched his neck, stepping from one foot onto the other.

"Ya know...", he started, "If you want me to keep you company, you just gotta say it."

You tugged on one of his sleeves until he looked at you again and nodded. There was a pause before Mammon took your hand from his sleeve and held it in his own instead. Looking straight ahead, he marched towards his room with you. You could see the tips of his ears twitching slightly.

Once you were in his room, Mammon put on one of his action movies. The sounds of racing, explosions, gunfire and talking was much better than the suffocating silence from before. You crawled under the blanket with him and he tugged you close to his side when you leaned against his shoulder.

Like this, all the fear from before felt so far away. Like a distant dream.

Slowly, you closed your eyes and took in Mammon's scent, the sounds of the movie, the gentle rise and fall of his chest, the warmth of his arm securely around you. With your own demon, you didn't have to fear anything else coming to hurt you. He would be stronger than them all.

[rmorde]

Trigun Manga Reaction

Now reading Volume 1 Chapters 7!

Oh. Nice foreshortening!

Have I mentioned before that the art in the manga is amazing? I mean not only is it pretty but the techniques and the visual storytelling!

This manga really spoils me rotten with beautiful double spreads.

Was Trigun a weekly manga or a monthly comic in the 90's? Like, how is this level of quality maintained every chapter?!

This sweet apologetic smile. Baby Girl Vash. SOMEONE PLEASE PROTECT HIM!!!

I love this part because of how the "tech" looks. Maybe I'm just high on nostalgia but if you ask me, the best and most creative visual takes of futuristic technology are from the 90's. OK... 70s to 80's too. BUT 90'S ARE THE BEST!

LMAO! I remember this! Vash loves teasing his enemies with cheeky notes, doesn't he?

Dime novels??? Penny dreadfuls?? Gasp! HARLEQUINS?!!

DOES THE SETTING OF TRIGUN HAVE AN EQUIVALENT OF HARLEQUINS?! IF SO, I'D BE SO HAPPY BECAUSE I HAVE THIS HC ABOUT WOLFWOOD'S FASHION CHOICE BEING CONNECTED TO THOSE RAUNCHY CHEAP ROMANCE NOVELS!!!

Also, another amazing nightmare face! But then...

WHIPLASH! Vash adding levity by hyping himself up. Tho more likely, he is telling the truth. Not that anyone would really believe it with the facade he puts up.

Oh, wait. I only notice this just now. The Vash's glove design in the manga is what was used in in Tristamp. Only three fingers are covered. In '98, it was all of his fingers are concealed by the glove.

AH! I REMEMBER THIS! ESPECIALLY HOW IT ENDS! I'm laughing already. Kaite... is not the best navigator.

Ah Classic Vash. Deflect. Deflect. Deflect.

Oh... This scene. It's kinda scary how catching Vash off guard is deadly for his attacker. Really highlights how much he has to control all himself all the time. Killing is too easy for him with his abilities. So, he has to exercise strict disciple and caution for the sake of others all the time.

This is also sad. A kid telling off an adult for not wanting to kill. It really hammers down how awful their world is - that killing is the norm and logical thing to do. Avoiding violence and killing is seen as stupidity.

This page makes my heart hurt for so many reasons. Vash is suffering physical pain from being shot. However, I think what is more devastating is his ideals being questioned and insulted by a child - someone who should be innocent from the concept of taking lives.

Vash was hurt by what Kaite said. But, I think he also understands why he did it too. It was out of both worry and the unfortunate circumstance of their violent word. Hence, his intense glare at the top of the page then softening into a sheepish look at the bottom.

Oh wow. Another beautiful art and amazing composition and...

Rem just has strong presence in the manga, doesn't she? It's something that was in Tristamp but kind of lessened in '98.

Oh... I wish this had not been cut out from '98. I don't think this can be rehashed in Tristamp, can't it? Damn... it deserves to be animated.

Kudos for '98 in doing a great job animating this page.

Boo for not doing justice for this page, '98! WHAT THE HELL?! Why was Rem not featured a lot in '98?! At least, Tristamp made up for it... BUT I LIKE REM'S LONG HAIR DESIGN BETTER!

HAHAHAHAHA!

AH.... Ah? AHHHH?!

Fuck! I forgot. This was not supposed to be funny?! Why did I remember this scene is funny?!

Also:

@poofyphluff 

I read about the filler thing. Didn't expect it to be that much. And yeah, I'm really admiring Nightow's skills with scaling in his art. It really enhances his visual story telling.

@revenantghost

It is slowly dawning on me the differences between '98 and the manga PLUS the similarities between Tristamp and manga.

I guess my memory is not as accurate as I believe. I thought the OOC-ness from '98 is not that much yet. I thought Vash being a horndoggy perv is just a Badlands thing. It's really nice that it is nowhere here in the manga tho and Tristamp.

It begs the question tho, why make Vash like that in '98?

Oh. So Wolfwood's situation and I guess the '98 ending is similar to what happened with the first Fullmetal Alchemist anime? The studio was forced to do an AOE.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Feel better soon.

[vera-deville]

Poor Unfortunate Souls

06/24/2023

Pairing: Azul Ashengrotto x Reader

Word Count: 976

Warnings: None that I can think of!

Gender: Gender Neutral

Tags: @rose-the-witch1

In which Grim is a poor unfortunate soul.

"My dear sweet child. That's what I do. It's what I live for~" Y/N sang, sending shivers down Grim's spine.

All he wanted was a can of tuna. Not whatever possession this was. It was a Tuesday. Why in Twisted Wonderland was his henchman acting weird? (Weirder than usual, anyways).

"And I fortunately know a little magic" Y/N continued, throwing in a wink for no good reason. "It's a talent I've always possessed, And dear Grim, please don't laugh! I use it on behalf of the miserable, the lonely, and depressed." Grim wondered what Y/N was on about now, and could have sworn that they'd muttered "pathetic" off to the side, and was highkey offended at being called miserable, lonely, and depressed.

Y/N switched on the lights to the kitchen in a dramatic flourish. They then grabbed the opened can of tuna, as well as a bunch of other ingredients and pots and pans and ladles and other things that suspiciously looked like potions.

They started cooking up a storm, and Grim could only watch in horror as they continued their singing about poor unfortunate souls. Grim messaged the first year's group chat. He asked Sebek if he could hide out in Diasomnia, but of course, the ever upstanding retainer of the infamous Malleus Draconia denied his request.

This led to him begging all the others in the group chat to allow him asylum, but of course Jack wouldn't let him in his house for no good reason, and Epel didn't want Vil going off again about Grim and his usual...Grimness.

So who was left? Ace and Deuce.

After much begging (Grim was not too proud of that), they finally gave in and let him escape to Heartslabyul.

In the meanwhile, Y/N was still not done cooking up...whatever they had been cooking up. Throwing in this and that, they added in a few jigs here and there, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

The infamous Octatrio were making their way to visit the Ramshackle Prefect, as over time, they'd made good friends (one of them in particular). Just before they entered Ramshackle, Grim ran past them in a tizzy, somehow not even noticing them.

This worried Azul slightly. What had Grim done this time? Jade and Floyd half expected to hear Y/N yelling at Grim inside the dorm, but to their surprise, they didn't hear any yelling.

They heard singing.

The prefect was saying, "The men up there don't like a lot of blabber. They think a girl who gossips is a bore!" Floyd, now more curious than before, followed the sound of Y/N's voice, Jade and Azul following closely behind.

Azul found Y/N's words rather weird. What did she mean that the men "up there" don't like a lot of blabber? Did someone say that Y/N talked too much? And gossip could be really helpful in a bunch of situations. It's somewhat a form of gathering information, after all! But Y/N didn't sound too sad when they sang out the words, so maybe that's not it.

"Yet on land it's much preferred for ladies not to say a word! And after all dear, what is idle babble for?" Y/N continued.

"Is Shrimpy depressed?" Floyd asked unhelpfully. Jade considered his question. Humans were much different from them after all, and Y/N wasn't even from this world.

"Maybe they're stress cooking. I've heard that it is something that humans tend to do as an outlet for their stress." Jade added. Azul shushed Floyd as the three listened to Y/N continue their frantic cooking and song.

All of a sudden, Y/N belted out, "Come on you poor unfortunate soul! Go ahead! Make your choice!" It startled poor Azul out of his skin, and he bumped into Jade. Muttering an apology, Azul refused to take his eyes off the sight in front of him.

Y/N was holding their ladle in a way that no one would wish to be in a 7-feet radius of them, and with the way they waved it around blindly, Azul definitely did not want to be the one to bring them out of their concerning reverie.

It was when the Ramshackle Prefect sang, "I'm a very busy woman, and I haven't got all day. It won't cost much, just your voice~" that the Octatrio finally recognized the song. Everyone from the Coral Sea knew the song.

"If you want to cross the bridge, my sweet, you've got to pay the toll. Take a gulp and take a breath, and go ahead and sign the scroll!" Y/N mimicked their signature in air as they began plating the tuna food they made for Grim. "Flotsam, Jetsam, now I've got-"

And it was at this moment that Floyd decided to make their presence known.

"Shrimpy~ You never told me you could sing!" Floyd practically jumped towards said shrimp. Finally acknowledging the Octatrio's existence, Y/N put down their ladle, and ran over to Azul, intent on hugging their boyfriend.

"Oh, I just sing a little here and there! You guys came at the right time! I made some dishes out of tuna for Grim, and you guys can taste test!" The Ramshackle Prefect exclaimed.

Looking back at the array of dishes Y/N had placed on the kitchen island, Azul, Jade, and Floyd looked at each other. It looked...edible. So it wouldn't kill them, right? It didn't smell terrible, but Grim running for his life did have a slightly unsettling feeling.

Azul, deciding to be brave, took the first bite.

"So how bad is Shrimpy's cooking?" Floyd asked.

Shooting him a dirty look, but nonetheless awaiting Azul's answer, Y/N sat down opposite to him.

"How much?" Azul asked in all seriousness.

"What do you mean?" Y/N asked.

"How much for the recipe?"

Author's Note: So, I'm working on this month's entry for the @briarvalleyarchives, but, I haven't finished it yet. Part of the reason is because some time through that fic, I suddenly had the idea to write this one.

...So I did. I though it would be funny to spook Grim.

Lately, I've felt that my writing style is kind of bland, so I've been trying to level up that aspect. Still have a long way to go-

Keep in mind that this is not the entry for the @briarvalleyarchives. It was just inspired by this month's prompt.

[fox-quills]

Do have any additional thoughts/ideas you’d be willing to share about Mobius?

OKAY FIRST AN APOLOGY BECAUSE THIS HAS BEEN SITTING SINCE???? NOVEMBER????? I'm so so sorry anon I'm on mobile 99.9% of the time and I don't know where that stupid app hides asks but I'm like the t-rex from Jurassic Park I can only perceive movement 😭

Second thank you so much for taking the time to ask about my mostest favorite topic in the whole wide world! Unfortunately there's not a lot I can say about the fic story-wise without spoilers, although I have SO MANY post-fic thoughts I'm dying to share. Unless someone really wants my thoughts on how gender works in this particular omegaverse variant?? I spent so much time thinking about something that's only tangentially mentioned lol BUT, I can talk a bit about the process of writing Mobius! Because it has been an experience. I started Mobius just over a year ago (april or so), but didn't really knuckle down and and get cracking until June/July. It started as aideku, because I thought it was an interesting ship idea, but the few fics I'd come across hadn't really scratched the itch. I didn't even plan on writing it, but my beta at the time kept nudging me, and before I knew it I had a wholeass plot. And then a first chapter, at which point I was done for. In the original iteration of the fic, Hizashi was only meant to be the supportive BFF, but something in the original idea run (I forget what exactly) made my beta go.... hey how come this isn't a poly ship? And the answer was, I'd never written one before and didn't think of it, BUT IT IS NOW. (If you've read any of my other fic you may have noticed that this has become A Problem, and also led to a stealth love of dekumic, because apparently I wish to languish in rarepair hell) The fic has gone through about four major version changes. Aideku -> aidekumic (which came with some major detail pivots even though the overall plot hadn't changed) -> suffering reduction (it was gonna be so bad) -> suffering reintroduction, but different. It's gonna punch everyone right in the heart but I don't think I'm sorry about it. I'm also going to have to sneak back to the first chapter and retcon a detail once I get the actual logistics sorted. OH WAIT I DO HAVE A DETAIL I CAN SHARE THAT'S NOT A SPOILER ANYMORE. Although maybe skip it if you haven't read the latest chapter. Hizashi was, originally, not going to get together with them this early (not until near the end of the fic, actually). They still had the bond, and Izuku did eventually figure it out, but for [redacted] he decided not to act on it. So they both thought they had a one-sided bond, and just... never did anything about it. For a long while. Which eventually culminated in Shouta being away, Hizashi having an untimely heat, and him and Izuku sleeping together because mash an unfulfilled bond together with overwrought pining in a hormone cocktail and you get bad choices. Which resulted in a lot of immediate guilt in the aftermath, even though Shouta had clocked them ages ago and wasn't all that upset about it. Then something immediately happened to make things worse, but I can't disclose that part because it's still going to happen. ;)

That continued to be the plan until chapter 11 happened, with all the snuggling and purring, and @fondofeveryprickle read it and was like, "...if you wanna keep this I think you need to reevaluate The Suffering because these things do not mesh." Which resulted in a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth because that was a HUGE upset to the back half of the fic, and not something I was excited to re-jig. But she was right. And the new way was better. And then @scratchxiii said, "Hey what if we added Different Suffering?"

To which I replied, "Ouch my heart, that's absolutely devastating let's do it."

The blorbos uh, tend to get the worst of it when we're left unsupervised. BUT fresh suffering aside, the happy ending tag still applies, I'm just gonna make them earn it. :)

[armpirate]

The Only One || JJK || Ch. 31

Pairings: mafia!jk x fem!reader

Genre: smut, angst, mafia, contract relationship

Warnings: Prostitution, torture, blood, use of drugs and weapons

Summary: You've always wished for a better life. Every single day at work, you were hoping something would change. Although you didn't think that change would come in the form of one mysterious man and a contract.

His controlling and selfish behaviour only wanted to keep you away from any other man that wasn't him, and you only had to wait for him.

Too bad you really thought you'd be smarter than Jeon Jungkook.

Previous || Next

MASTERLIST

Aprox. time of reading: 13 minutes

Seoul, South Korea. 4 am

The room went cold after she left, and his heart started beating differently all of a sudden. It felt heavier on his chest, as it sank deeper in his body as time went by and it made all of his senses go numb almost instantly.

Supporting his weight on the wall behind him, his head fell back. He didn't want to think about what happened and what he did, but suddenly all the thoughts of a future he never thought he wanted started showing up in his head, in front of him, as if a movie was rolling in front of his eyes. Everything that could've been, showing up in his eyes, torturing himself with the images of what happiness would be like if things had been different, if only they had met in different circumstances.

All the smiles she gave him, the short cuddly moments they lived together, the softness of her skin, the taste of her lipstick when he kissed her that night... All of it vanished. All of that was replaced by her eyes trying to hold back the tears, her trembling lips fighting to get her words to be pronounced properly, and the pain that was coating every single one of them.

If only he hadn't been as selfish, and had allowed her to leave on time, maybe neither of them would be suffering as much.

—Sir.

Called out by the male voice coming from the entrance door, Jungkook turned his body fast, trying to hide his face while he wiped the tears away with the reverse of his hand. He got his phone from the bed, putting it inside his pocket again, before he turned to the door and faced the man that was calling for his attention.

—Mr. Kim is here —he let him know.

Jungkook nodded, motioning for him to let Namjoon pass. His lungs were filled with air that soon would leave as he tried to control his breathing again and make that knot in his throat disappear.

—I know how you're feeling —his deep voice tried to sound relieving, but to him it just was filled with false empathy.

—No, you don't —he sighed—. And I don't need you to know either.

—You did the right thing anyway —Namjoon's hand fell over his shoulder, in a reassuring gesture—. Not only for the family, but for her as well.

Without saying a thing, he huffed, finding it annoying how Namjoon found the way to make his choice about the family. If it had only been for Bangtan, and his father's legacy, he probably would've found a solution, just like he did when he gave up on Busan to keep the relations with the Choi family. He didn't care in the slightest about any of that, not when her life was in danger and he couldn't keep playing around with nothing.

—Unfortunately, the people we care about are always our biggest problem —Namjoon mentioned—. We see them as a source of strength, but others see it as a weakness, the best spot to attack. We can't be too attached to anyone, unless we want them to be in danger. It's the life we have to live.

—I know —he nodded—. We still made a deal.

Jungkook lifted his eyes from the ground, setting them on Namjoon's before he turned his whole body to him again.

He knew Jungkook would bring up the conversation they had back in the Watchtower. Although he insisted on separating them both for their respective protection, he was still hesitant of moving away from her.

"She can count on one of Jimin's men to take care of her. She'll be safe" that was Namjoon's promise.

—Jimin is already aware —he assured—. As soon as she lands in Mallorca, she'll have someone watching her every move.

—Namjoon, if something happens to her...

—I know —he nodded—. If something happens to her while you two are away from each other, we'll go on with your plan. But, for now, I need you to keep as much distance as you're able to. You can't contact her, you can't send people her way to get to know how she's doing. For you, she's dead. She hasn't ever existed, and you have never claimed her. Remember it's her life that you're risking.

Jungkook sighed, sitting back on the old armchair in the corner of the room, embraced by the darkness again.

—Do you know something about the message you received?

Namjoon looked away, shaking his head when the black haired man brought up the anonymous note he told him about in the party. He thought that it could've been Sanhyuk after Jungkook took Y/n back after giving him Busan, although it wasn't like it made a lot of sense to him -and he realized his intuition didn't trink him when the discussion ended with the conclusion that Sanhyuk not only didn't know about the attack, he didn't care about whatever happened with Y/n at all.

That young boy was too worried about his own pride and how powerful he looked to care about a woman that only brought him problems. And there was no reason for him to be so angry to throw a death sentence at her. At the end of the day, he was the only one that gained something after she left his place.

Jungkook was familiar with that threat, and the whole meaning behind it. Women's clothes, stained with blood, were sent to Namjoon's apartment the same night Jungkook was trying to hide at Sanhyuk's place. His guts twitched just thinking about it, while also finding impossible the fact that someone else was using that threat.

It was often used to declare how the lover of the enemy would be marked with blood. The men that received that same warning ended up seeing the people they loved dying -and it went further with the females in their circle. He had learned the bad way how some people were punished by being forced to see how their lovers were tortured, raped and killed in front of them.

He had never used it, because he was keen to believe those who deserved to be punished were those who chose to be part of the family, swore with their lives they'd follow the rules and still managed -at some point- to mess it all up for everyone. There was no point in punishing those who were unaware of everything going on.

Y/n was marked with that threat, which meant she'd be in danger if she stayed in Seoul. He knew she wouldn't have left if he had explained it to her, because somehow she'd have found the way to make it about strength and support. And while she could've been right, that strength and support was too far away from his grasp. It didn't matter how many men he had watching over her, whether he was glued to her or not, whoever marked her as a target, knew every step he took, knew how his security worked -enough to break into his house and kill everyone watching it without making a fuss-, and knew how important Y/n was for him to make him weak.

She couldn't come back until he had found out who was behind it all.

—We're trying to work on it as much as we're able to —he shrugged—. There's only one person who used those threats, but it's impossible that it was him.

—I know —he nodded—. Could be someone is imitating him to deceive us.

—Sanhyuk?

After hearing his name, Jungkook quickly shook his head.

—That asshole is way too busy rubbing on everyone's faces how he got Busan —he sighed—. He's so dumb he doesn't even know we barely used that spot in the past three months, and our focus is something else. I can't expect him to be that smart. And I doubt he'd target Y/n.

—Wouldn't be the first time...

—I know, I know. I still don't think it was him —he turned to Namjoon—. He knows killing Y/n would get him nowhere, and would mean his family would be fucked if they ever entered a war against us. Everything he did would be thrown out the window.

—So, we're at square one.

—I need everyone in Seoul to watch every suspicious move, and I want to be informed of absolutely everything they find out. That's the main priority as of now.

—Should I send a notice to the rest of the members?

—Yeah —Jungkook nodded—. We don't know where they're working from, so the more we can cover, the better.

Namjoon stepped towards Jungkook, patting his shoulder and pressing his fingers over his shirt in a comforting way, before he stepped outside the apartment again. It wouldn't be an easy operation, but he knew Jungkook was working better under pressure, which meant he'd get a name and a face in a matter of hours -or, at most, days. And for his and Y/n's sake, he better do it. If whoever sent that threat thought it'd make kick her out and forget about her, they didn't know who they were messing with.

✸ ✸ ✸

Palma de Mallorca, Spain. 9:17 am

When Y/n landed, she was barely able to open her eyes. Her eyelids felt heavy and puffy, and her drenched eyelashes tangled on one another everytime she blinked. She wasn't able to think about something else that weren't his words, repeating in the back of her head like a broken record, while she remembered the way he looked at her.

She wiped her tears again with the reverse of her hand, annoyed at herself for spending the flight crying over someone that played her. But she wasn't even hurt about that. It was the fact that he bothered to earn her trust, and had her getting comfortable around him after their long journey, only for him to kick her away as soon as he thought it was too much to handle for him.

She was a burden? She wasn't special?

She already knew that when he first spotted her in the club, when he made her sign the contract and when he forced her to go to Korea as a penalty. He still bothered to accept her around, opened his home for her, and tolerated every wrong move she made for whatever reason he had. But, out of nowhere, he decided she wasn't that important to keep doing all of that. And she should've seen it coming. She knew she was just a whim, and that he'd lose interest after a while. But her first thoughts and ideas got blinded by some type of illusion when they started getting on well, when she started seeing further than that contract.

She was stupid for being fooled like that, even more after how she tried to find an excuse for his sudden actions still. Because she was unable to believe someone could fall out of attraction and interest so fast.

Landing back in Spain felt strange, and it took her aback how it didn't go as she thought. She wasn't excited, she wasn't happy... She didn't want to be there. It didn't feel like home. Probably because she stopped considering that place her home.

She sighed when a tall auburn man in a suit guided her to a black car, once she walked down the stairs of the private jet.

—Tell your boss to get this car up his ass —she crossed her arms—. I'll be able to get back home by myself.

There was no lie in what she said. She knew every trick and every way to hop on any transport that could take her where she needed to go. Sneaking inside the bus was her speciality before Jorge took her in, so it wasn't like she'd be lost and helpless like Jungkook probably thought she'd be.

—He insisted —he cut her off.

She also frowned when he replied in Spanish. Another reality check for her. She was indeed back there, it wasn't part of her imagination.

They drove through the highway, traveling all the way from the airport to the centric area of Palma, going deeper into the city and the humble neighborhoods until they reached the place where she used to live.

—No, I need to get to the hospital. Didn't your boss tell you that? —he let him know— Either way, I don't care. Take me to Son Llatzer.

But the man didn't move. Instead, he just stopped the engine and got off the car, before he surrounded it and opened the door for her. Not waiting for her to hop off as well, he opened the truck and took out a small suitcase that he left in front of her.

—Those are your belongings —he was limited to say—. If you want to go to the hospital, go by yourself.

—Dickhead —she muttered.

She grabbed her things, dragging the suitcase behind her while she walked to the old building. Stepping inside the common area for the first time made her heart sync in her chest, disappointed at herself for feeling so empty despite being back where she wanted to be.

—Oh my god, Y/n —an old voice got her attention—. I didn't know you were coming back. Jorge told us you were sent overseas for work.

—Yeah, yeah —she answered fast—. There was a change of plans, so I'm back.

—That's great —she clapped—. Jorge has become so messy in the last months, and that kid doesn't even look after him. You'd think that after he came back from the hospital, she'd... —but Y/n cut her off.

—Came back from the hospital? —she frowned— Isn't he interned now?

—No, he came back two months ago. He had a really fast recov...

Y/n didn't care about what else she had to say, her body moved faster. Sprinting upstairs, she didn't bother about her looks or how out of breath she'd be after she rang the door. It took her a few seconds, but she heard those familiar steps behind it. Lazy, dragging the sole of her slippers over the ground tiles before the door clicked in front of her.

—Y/n...

A teardrop rolled down her cheek, followed by several others when she looked at him, completely paralyzed. In the almost fifteen hours in the air, between one airport and the other, she couldn't take away the picture she saw of him in the hospital bed. And now he was standing in front of her, smiley and looking as healthy as he hadn't looked in the six years she had been living with him.

Her arms wrapped around him tight, hiding her face on his chest while she cried away all the frustration and worries.

—My girl —he sighed, patting her head—. You're back. I thought you said you'd be here for lunch time.

Y/n looked confused, only moving away to look at him. As if her looks were judging him, Jorge took out his phone and read out loud the texts he supposedly received from her, making her take his phone and read the chat by herself.

She didn't care about the text that was sent that day. She kept scrolling up to the oldest part of the chat, aware that he thought he was talking to her ever since she left. And then she understood why he didn't seem annoyed or upset when she called him for the first time. Jungkook managed to always make him believe she was speaking to him every day.

Her part of the chat was filled with grammatical errors, and there were several words she hadn't used in her life. But it seemed like it worked to deceive Jorge into believing she was the one he was talking to.

—What? —he snatched his phone from her hands again.

—Nothing —she shook her head—. It's just... I thought I sent that I'd be here in the morning, that's it.

—You look so thin, and pale —he sighed out loud—. I bet you weren't eating properly.

Jorge took her in, closing the door to their home behind her. Although her paleness had nothing to do with what she ate or not. She didn't understand what was going on there, or what she was supposed to believe after she saw everything she thought was real -and concerned her- wasn't even something she had to worry about.

—I'll cook you something nice for breakfast —he assured her—. And don't worry, I'll pay back everything you spent these months.

—These months? —she turned to him.

—Yeah. You kept paying the rent, although you weren't living here. And you also paid for the private insurance when I was interned —he clicked his tongue—. You went abroad to earn money for you, and instead you spent it on me and Carla. I can't allow that.

When he was back in the kitchen, she tried to make some sense out of everything she found out after stepping in her house after a minute. She didn't pay for any of those things, which meant Jungkook was the one who paid for all of that without telling her. She knew he told her he'd still pay the quantity they agreed on when she signed the contract, but looking after Jorge and also texting him in her name was off limits.

Then she was aware, the phone...

She licked her lips, opening that chat with whom it was supposed to be her, clicking on her name only to be redirected to the user's information. She tapped her thumb over the phone number, instantly being redirected to a call.

Her heart started beating fast, while she tried to understand what was going on. He lied to her to get her to leave, and at that point she also doubted any of the words he aimed at her were also real. She just wanted to hear an explanation from him, feeling nervous with every dry tone that came out of the speaker.

She was hopeful to hear his voice, but the tones got more constant after a minute, letting her know the call ended automatically. She would’ve been fine with hearing anything he had to say, even if he wanted to repeat everything he told her before she left, making her able to hiss how bad she hated him for lying to her that way just to move her away from the equation without giving her the real reason.

Just like that? He would end everything just like that, without giving her a proper explanation? 

Taglist: @kaiparkerwifes @sheylamc @amy2006jones @allamericanuniverse @00frenchfries00 @massivelyfullenthusiast

[color-cacophony]

I was going to make a Big Official Review Post about Rayman in the Phantom Show but I don't really have enough complete thoughts to make something comprehensive and organized, but I still want to share some points from my experience with it so uhhh without further ado, here's a bunch of thoughts on what dazzled me and what I thought could have been done better.

Here I go...

I'll start with the stuff that bugged me first because I don't like to end on a bad note:

I think the biggest issue is that giving the player the option to complete each set in any order diminishes the opportunity to have a linear story. Without a series of events building up to the finale, the actual climax doesn't feel as grand or substantial as it should be (it definitely feels like a few lines were cut from the moments before Phantom's first verse with how abruptly it starts). It would have felt more immersive to see actual scenes of the heroes trying to play their roles and have more varied quests based on puzzles or even characters and dialogue (like the search for Sweetlopek's stolen axe), all whilst gradually putting the pieces together that they were led into a trap.

Speaking of putting the pieces together, it would've paid off to have Beep-0 learn from his own arrogance in the past instead of repeating his assertion that he knew what Phantom was up to all along. That part made me kind of sad because I really like Beep-0 and it seemed like they were setting him up to eventually become less uptight and more open to admitting his mistakes, which would be more satisfying and obvious!

As we all know, Beep-0 isn't the only one who repeated himself. I remember an exchange I had with @randomrabbidramblings about our predictions for what would happen in the climax; they were hoping the final showdown with Phantom would not be redundant with his first encounter, having the same battle gimmick as before. Unfortunately that is, in fact, what they ended up doing. While framing it as Phantom being unoriginal or making a callback helps it a little bit, ultimately it made me feel let down (although I love Beep-0's delivery when he reiterates his line from Kingdom Battle. he means business).

As for the aftermath of the battle, I want to know where Phantom went. There doesn't seem to be any sign of him anywhere in the studio. It's really odd, given how this was supposed to be his grand comeback (alongside Rayman, of course), but we don't get even a simple explanation of what happened to him after he was defeated for the second time, unless I missed something. I presume this is his last major appearance in a game (unless they decide to do something completely different with him in the distant future??? wishful thinking but not ruling it out!), so it's a strangely underwhelming and mysterious send-off to our beloved ghostly diva. I would have been bummed that we didn't get lore paintings for him, but the memory entry summarizing his surprisingly short-lived career actually made me laugh and honestly, the thought of him only releasing one album and becoming so well-known just because he's notoriously a huge jerk and a producer of incredibly terrible films is so in-character for him.

Another choice I found unusual was the lack of any explanation as to how he got his voice back, since it's been established that he screwed it up by overdoing it. Although, they must have dismissed it knowing that not everyone is going to find the mural containing the only source of that detail. His voice could have healed over time anyway, but it just doesn't entirely make sense that they don't acknowledge it at all (I did see @bramble-scramble 's post mentioning a detail @randomrabbidramblings pointed out where a gramophone can be seen in a box in the studio's control room and it is supposedly the one Phantom replaced with a new one when he messed it up, but even if that's true, it's still a bit easy to miss).

I understand that a lot of these issues were due to restraints since it's only a DLC and they could only fit so much in, but that goes to show that this concept is a little too big for a DLC, but not quite big enough for a full game.

Now, for the things I loved...

I must give massive props to the artists and animators for taking reference from multiple Rayman games and essentially making the pinnacle of his goofiness. Rayman was HIGHLY entertaining to see (and listen to, thanks to David Gasman) and very lovable in this! And the way his dynamic with Rabbid Peach and Rabbid Mario changes up until the end where he becomes friends with them and realizes that he can work with the Rabbids now instead of against them it's just 🥺 awgh... It feels cheesy to talk about it but it really does make me happy now that Rayman has a chance to be an equal to the Rabbids and have something resembling a mutual understanding.

I appreciate them bringing back characters from the main game and giving them their own sets. Fittingly enough, it's like a curtain call for the final installment of SoH.

The return of Beep-0's swearing. SERIOUSLY IT'S SUCH A SMALL THING BUT IT DELIGHTED ME

The studio's lobby is gorgeous. Absolutely STUNNING I love all the details and the music notation motifs on everything.

Honestly the rest of this is just going to be me gushing about Phantom hehehe...

First of all, I was completely awestruck at the decision to give him a swing/jazz sequence because I love the aesthetic of the whole sassy big band musical number kind of thing so when I saw that Phantom was going to do that I went INSANE. The animation in the song sequences is absolutely top tier. Phantom is ALL OVER THE PLACE, very charming, very energetic. The swing bit made me realize just how unbelievably coordinated he is. Like when he's zipping and spinning around the stage and it doesn't affect his singing at all? Holy crap. Then, I went even MORE insane when rock/metal Phantom showed up. I would have wanted a verse in that style too, but I get that it was cut because it would mess up the pacing of the battle.

I love Phantom's inability to contain his excitement at the start of the battle, his annoyed lines when you destroy the lights, his smug remarks even when he's taking damage. He's just so- I'm just gonna say it- so freaking cute in this! His line deliveries in general made me fall so hard for him, especially "were you EVER a thing, Rayman?". The way he drops his voice sounds so cool...

Regarding his abilities, I thought they were going to explain why he could turn people to stone in Kingdom Battle, but they simply took that detail away. I don't have a big problem with this, as the Stone Deaf ability could have been part of the Megabug's influence (and it makes him at least a bit less OP lol). I'm also satisfied to finally know that he can indeed phase through things like any other ghost and isn't limited to just teleporting.

His death acting has definitely improved since last time, in that it's silly and makes me smile instead of just making me feel embarrassed lol.

So uummmm yeah that's all the noteworthy stuff I can think of! Overall I thought the DLC was delightful during my playthrough, but after I finished it I felt kind of sad because it just didn't feel "thorough". However, given that Sparks of Hope generally improved on so many aspects from the last game, I'm confident that they'll keep adding and experimenting with more characterizations and scenarios and make something even better if they decide to continue with Mario + Rabbids. And even if they don't, we'll always have the amazing fans to continue the story and put even more wonder into this wild crossed-over universe!

Anyway, thank you for reading through this highly disorganized rant/gush! And while I'm at it, thank you to everybody in the Mario + Rabbids community for making such amazing art and just being here to share our love for the series. That means thank you to @randomrabbidramblings @bramble-scramble @salamifuposey @hostess-of-horror @phandrow @pastelprince18 @critterzone13 @hostdoozy @majorpepperidge and more! You guys are super cool and I appreciate you even though I've never directly interacted with all of you, hehe. I suppose all I have left to say is goodnight, so goodnight/day everyone! Until next time I decide to dump more nonsense onto your dashboard :D

[androgynousblackbox]

How To Lose A Lucifer In 10 Days. 3 [Appleradio, Radioapple]

Step 3: Make a deal with him

After Bel was gone, Charlie promised that first thing on the morning she would help out Lucifer to think of a solution to this whole mess. Lucifer seemed biting his tongue strong to resist the urge to just break all hell loose right there and then, his hand squeezing at his hat like a stressball. At least he thanked Charlie for being understanding.

"And uh…" added, scratching his cheek. "Sorry for freaking out like that at seeing you. You are really pretty and I am sure your Lucifer thinks the same, but to me it was like seeing my kid without some of the parts that make her, you know?"

"Aww, it's okay" Charlie rubbed his shoulder. Lucifer squeezed his arms against his chest as if hugging himself, smiling up to her. "Don't worry about it. This has been quite a shock for everyone. Hopefully we can solve this quickly and you can get back to her."

"Thank you, sweetie" Lucifer could not believe his luck in that even other versions of his daughter, in an another whole dimension or pill bottle or whatever, was still the best thing anyone could find in Hell. "Have a good night you two" wished to Vaggie, the two of them returning the gesture as they went back to their room.

"Well, that was mildly entertaining" let out Alastor, conjuring his staff as he walked past the king to the lobby. "Now, if you will excuse me, I do actually have a bed to go back to."

Lucifer blinked at him.

"You are not even a little concerned about your Lucifer?" asked, following him behind.

"No" answered Alastor with ease. "I would hope that the literal king of hell can take care of himself anyway. Not that is my business either what happens to him, that is for his daughter to concern herself with, as she is so used to it. Regardless of what kind of… partnership you may have with your own Alastor" Alastor said like those words were objectinable on themselves, " I assure you that is not the case here. I wish you all the luck with your endeavor though. Have one Lucifer or another here does not make much of a difference for me."

"First of all, that partnership is called marriage. Don't make it sound like a transaction" said Lucifer, frowning. "Second of all" added, teleporting suddenly to stand in front of Alastor before he went inside the elevator, "I do not believe for a second that you don't know at least someone that could have a solution to this. If you are anything like my Alastor, then you know every person on this ring with any amount of power or someone that knows them. Isn't there anyone that could just, I don't know, open a portal or something?"

"I thought you agreed with Charlie to wait until tomorrow?"

"Charlie doesn't need to worry about this more than she does. You may not care about the Lucifer of here, but she obviously does. So I prefer to work on this as fast as possible and if you can help, then I am taking my chances."

"The king of hell wants the help of a simple sinner?" Alastor smirked. "Now that is a new one. But I am afraid that I will have to dissapoint, your Majesty. I can't think of anyone with such power. How unfortunate, but oh well" He summerged himself on his shadows, goinger under the feet of Lucifer, and only came out inside the elevator, already pressing the button to his tower. "Good night, your Majesty" said with a little grin, letting the doors close over the expression of total desolation that was so beautifully painted all over Lucifer's face.

In his humble opinion, it was the best face he ever saw on him. It was almost a pitty he wasn't going to be able to see it all the time, but have this other Lucifer as a permanent presence wasn't exactly his first choice either. Not if he was going to continue telling people about his Alastor and whatever bizarre choices he had made. The joke about him being a father for Charlie only worked as far could elicit a strong negative reaction on the most powerful being of hell, not if Lucifer was going to fully suscribe to it and expect him to take it seriously. Then it was just weird, uncomfortable and he didn't like it anymore.

But in any case, that was truly nothing worth losing any second of his precious sleeping hours over. Either they were going to return that Lucifer where he came from or they won't, simple as that. As long that Lucifer understood to keep away from him and don't ever call him with those ridiculous nicknames again, then there was no reason why his routine had to be affected at all.

He changed into his sleepwear and slipped into bed, hearing the subtle sounds of his bayou to lullaby him into sleep. For a fleeting moment he considered how hilarious it would have been for their Lucifer to find himself in the presence of an Alastor who considered him a husband and how truly shocking that would have been. He chuckled to himself in the dark, almost wishing he could have seen that trainwreck happen. That if he wasn't in a completely different place altogether. Maybe one with beings more powerful than himself that could teach a little bit about humility, for once. Maybe he was dead already for all he knew and that made Charlie the queen. Who knew. Alastor stopped thinking about it soon enough, enjoying the comfort of his bed instead and not bothered one way or another.

Someone was knocking on his door. Alastor peeked one eyes open to see his window, the relative darkness of the night still present. He went to grab his clock at his nighttable. He had barely had two hours of sleep.

"Who is it?" asked, willing to throw out of the window to anyone that wasn't Charlie or wasn't an actual emergency. The place better be burning up or someone had to be in the middle of a especially painful dead to make it worth bothering him like this.

"Lucifer. Can I come in?"

"No" said Alastor, turning on his bed. Literally the only being in hell he couldn't just kick out. Just his luck.

"I went to Stolas's house because he knows a lot about the stars, so maybe he would know anything about this. Thank goodness that kind of thing is still the same here" continued on Lucifer, not minding at all to talk through the door. Alastor grumbled to himself. "The issue is he has to go through a bunch of books and he seemed to have already a bad night, so he told me he would look into it tomorrow in the morning. Apparently he is still dealing with his divorce so, you know, you don't want to be an asshole to a guy who is already down either" Lucifer waited a moment, as if expecting that Alastor was going to talk. He didn't, waiting for him to take the hint. But how could this be Lucifer if he didn't dissapoint someone. "Can I stay with you?"

Alastor sighed deeply, resigning himself to leave his bed and put on a night robe on top, going to open the door.

"No" said as soon he opened up. Lucifer looked up, pouting like a fucking puppy. "Didn't we make it clear already that I am not your Alastor? We have no relation at all. I find that to be the best kind of arrengement."

"But you are an Alastor" said Lucifer, twisting his fingers together. "Just let me sleep on the same room. You don't have to do anything else. I can make my own bed and you can stay in yours. I um" Lucifer swallowed thick, looking down "kinda really don't like sleeping alone. At all. My Alastor had to… go for a long time, so now I get a little bit nervous when I don't know where he is. And you are not him and I know where he is, but… please, I don't want to wait until morning awake."

Alastor passed a hand through his face, already knowing this Lucifer was definitely more annoying than the other one.

"Still no" said with a sigh. His room was a sacred space and to trust in another demon to be there while he wasn't conscious or able to defend himself was unconceivable. The fact one of those demons was one he could never take in a fight made it all the more easy to reject. "Take those pills the queen left you if you are so desperate for a pleasant sleep."

He was about to close the door when Lucifer blurted out:

"How about a deal?"

He opened it up again. Lucifer's brow was slightly crinkled, a determined look on his head.

"What kind of deal?"

"Hah, that never fails" Lucifer chuckled to himself and then cleared his throat, regaining his composure. "Well, it's pretty simple. Just let me sleep on the same room as you until I can get back to my Alastor. I won't try to do anything, I swear. I just really want to sleep. If you do, then for every night you let me do that I will tell you one weakness of mine you can use on your Lucifer."

Alastor's eyes shined with interest at that.

"The king has no weaknesses" pointed out carefully, not paying close attenton to whatever trace of trickery on his face. "Not physical at least."

"Oh, he has weaknesses. I should know, I am him" Lucifer nodded. "I don't garantee you will be able to kill him, though."

"You would be willing to sell out another Lucifer for such a simple favor?" asked Alastor, not knowing if to be impressed at the casual disregard or at how obviously stupid it was.

"I know what I am asking of you and is not small" said Lucifer, frowning again. "I am basically asking you to trust me, something that nobody ever does in hell, so I have to offer something of equal value to you. As long you promise that Charlie will be safe, you can do whatever you want with the other Lucifer when he returns. It won't be my problem to deal with anyway."

Alastor considered this for a long moment. Maybe this Lucifer was a little more interesting that he gave him credit for.

"What is stopping me from using those same weaknesses against you?" asked, narrowing his eyes.

"I mean, you can try" said Lucifer, shrugging. "But my Alastor already went through them all so they won't work the same on me. On another Lucifer that won't expect it, though? That is different. He won't stand a chance."

"And all you want to do is stay in my room and sleep away from me in your own bed?"

"Exactly" The eyes of Lucifer turned red with golden pupils as he extended his hand, a smile on his face. "What do you say then, radio demon?"

Alastor looked from his hand to his face, feeling the increasing energy like an electric feel that was putting every hair on his arms up. A sound of estatic filled the room when he returned the same room and shook hands with the devil.

"You got yourself a deal, your Majesty" said, their energies twirling in the air around them. A portion of golden energy entered his body, just as a green one went inside of Lucifer. Alastor was the first one to break the contact, whipping away his hand on his robe. Lucifer didn't seemed to mind, his face brighting up a little as Alastor made himself to a side to let him in. "I hope I don't have to ask you to please don't go through my stuff or destroy anything."

"I have shared a bedroom with my Alastor before, I am not an idiot" said Lucifer, looking up to his bayou as a smile extended on his face. When he turned again to Alastor, he looked a bit more sheepish than the devil he shook hands with. "Thank you, I know this is a huge bother" said, so casually that Alastor found himself uncomfortable.

"This is not out of generosity, your Highness. I expect something in return" said, opening his night robe and letting one of his tentacles to put it away.

He sat on the edge of his own bed, waiting. Lucifer blinked.

"Oh, right" said, turning to him. "His first weakness is lemon tea with sweet cookies on the side. At least five sugar cubes. Give him that for breakfast and he will be putty on your hands."

Alastor stared at him without understanding.

"Is that a joke?"

"I am just giving you what I promised" said Lucifer, a mischiveous smile appearing on his face. "I said I would tell you his weaknesses. I never said of what kind" He winked an eye as he snapped his fingers, a small bed appparing in front of Alastor's library, one half on the soft grass of his bayou and the other on the wooden floor.

Alastor stared at him, going over their previous conversation and realizing, suddenly, that it was true. He just assumed that Lucifer meant the kind of weakness one could use in a fight and Lucifer used that against him. That was unquestionable his mistake.

Alastor looked at the tiny king changing his own clothing for a blue pajama decorated with a duckie pattern, with a new found respect he never had before.

"Touche" said slowly with a snear. Just because he had lost fair and square didn't mean he had to like it. "What I am supposed to do with that kind of information?"

"Whatever you want" said Lucifer, accomodating on his own bed. "Use it, don't use it. Maybe actually try to be friendly with him when you see him? I don't know" Lucifer rested his head on the pillow, exhaling deeply at last. Alastor slowly got on his bed too, making extra sure that the king would stay there. Lucifer turned to the other side without minding the inspection, his eyes still shinning a bit of red in the dark. "You two seem like pieces of work for what little I could gather."

"Some people are just not meant to get along" commented nonchalantly Alastor.

"My Alastor and I do. We don't always agree on everything and sometimes he is a dick, but we usually get along" Lucifer let out a tiny yawn. "Good night, b… Alastor. Sorry, force of habit."

"Mmm" Alastor let that be his only response as he saw the king turn around, giving him his back with full confidence.

He waited and waited as the breathing of the king became slower, his body seemingly fully relaxed in his presence. Like a complete fool. Maybe being the king of hell gave someone that inflated sense of security, of thinking that even if someone tried to attack them on their sleep they would be able to fight it off. Alastor wasn't stupid enough to try his luck that way.

Eventually, looking at the king, he also fell asleep too. He didn't saw when Lucifer turned on his bed, staring up to his side.

"I understand, Stolas" was saying Charlie, walking back and forth on the kitchen. After a while listening on the line, she covered the mic of her phone and looked at Lucifer sat at the table. "Stolas wants to know if you have been in contact with any disruption in the time space, as in…" She listened again. "Some kind of black void floating in the air or a zone where the light wasn't right?"

"None of that" sighed Lucifer, passing his fingers through his hair. "I told you, I literally just woke up from my bed and I came down to eat breakfast. I didn't see anything else or felt anything different, until this one started talking to me" commented, pointing at Alastor, who have been alternating between glaring at him, as if he had the fault of any of this somehow, and looking at Charlie as she made the call.

Lucifer was starting to feel that whatever had made him nice before had already dissapeared in the air as if never existed. He had heard the cliffnotes already of what kind of life the Lucifer of this place had before him and how different it was from his own. This Lucifer had fallen alone, as horrible as that sounded. There was never any Lilith to share his dreams with. Only after many years he got to know this one sinner that originally was supposed to be his guard, fell in love with, married and later have this Charlie by magical means to by pass the whole sinners can't reproduce norm.

It was just a total coincidence that the sinner this Lucifer was married to turned out to also be the assholes that worked with his daughter.

"He says no" Charlie added, walking again. Lucifer had to see again her little blonde tail to convince herself that this was all real. As cute as that tail was, it only remind him of his actual daughter he wasn't seeing. "Have you maybe step up to any machinery designed to open portals? Even if just be on their vecinity. Or know someone that would make a machine like that? Experiments of any kind related to that?"

"No and no. And frankly, if I did know someone like that I would be back home already. No offense, sweetie" added, smiling up to Charlie and she returned the gesture briefly, before listening again.

"Also no" She nodded, biting his inferior lip. "Mmm. Are you sure? Yes, I understand" She sighed, rubbing an eye. The red one, noticed Lucifer. It was so weird to see a face that otherwise was so very familiar and still see something that made it completely different. "Okay. Yes, thank you. Thank you a lot. We will see you then. Have a good night."

Charlie put down her phone on the counter and sighed, squeezing her brow. Vaggie squeezed her shoulder.

"Alright" Charlie patted the hand of her girlfriend, grateful. "Stolas says that this if there isn't any sign of scientific intervention, then this problem has a magical origin. He might be able to descipher the origin of the magic and it's nature, which might help us know how to undo it, but he needs to read more on it to be sure. He says that we should visit him tomorrow morning so he can see papa."

"He is not papa, little fawn" commented Alastor, his face soften up when he saw Charlie. "You don't have to call him like that."

Before Charlie could respond, Lucifer spoke up.

"I don't mind" He smirked, winking an eye at Charlie. "I technically am papa, aren't I? You can call me whatever is that you want, sweetie."

"You might have raised a Charlie, but not this one. Don't flatter yourself" pointed Alastor with a tense smile, narrowing his eyes, and Lucifer chuckled softly, now understanding why being on that position was so fun for the other Alastor. To see the perfect control of this demon slip away from his hands was a treat for his gaze.

"I am just saying, she still has my magic. I dare say a smidge more than she has yours" added with a full grin.

Alastor's lip twitched on the corner, drawing half of a snarl.

"Let me make something clear now" said slowly, standing up. He walked over where Lucifer was at, gripping both hands behind his back. "You can stay here. We will help you out get back to your own place so my husband can get back. As far as royal duties go, you will keep fulfilling them because nobody else will want to do it. But you are not our Lucifer and you are not part of our family, so don't start getting ideas. You are just a temporary guest, an uninvited one at that. Understood?" Alastor finished the word, looking down on him.

Lucifer almost let that hurt him. He couldn't care less about being the replacement husband for this guy, but being told that about someone that was essentially his daughter did struck a nerve inside of him he tried hard to suppress to not give this asshole the satisfaction. He stand up from his chair, staring him back.

"Shouldn't be Charlie the one to decide that?" responded, keeping up his own smile. "There is no reason why you should get jelous, buddy."

"Jelous?" Alastor scowled.

Charlie groaned loudly, going up to him.

"Enough" she said, looking at both of them, but landing in the end on Alastor. "Dad, it's okay. I don't mind calling him that. I know that papa will return soon enough, so it's fine."

Alastor's gaze threw a final dagger in Lucifer's direction before losing all the edge for Charlie. He nodded slightly.

"If you say so, little fawn" he sighed, taking a step back. Lucifer tried to make it no obvious how much that surprised him. "If there is nothing else to do…"

"Not right now" Charlie confirmed. "Papa is going to be okay where he is, dad. One night away from home won't mean much and then he will be back" She looked over at Lucifer, who suddenly had the impulse to reassure her of every concern she could have.

"Oh, yeah, totally!" said, implanting a smile for her. "The worst that can happen is some stupid comment from the Alastor over there, but otherwise he will be just fine. My Charlie surely will want to help him out too so who knows, maybe he could be coming here sooner that I can get back!"

"Exactly, see?" Charlie looked over at Alastor and hugged him by the shoulders, squeezing him against her. "Everything is going to be okay. Don't worry."

Alastor patted her back with one hand.

"Who is worrying?" said and booped Charlie's nose with one finger, smirking. Lucifer had to look away at how nonchalant they both were. It made his chest ache thinking about his Charlie. "You are right, as usual, little fawn. You should probably get back to sleep now. I will be going to bed too."

"Alright" Charlie got on her tip toes to kiss his cheek before letting him go.

Lucifer perked up to receive his own hug. Instead Charlie smiled at him and gave his shoulder a squeeze.

"Go to rest too, papa."

Lucifer cleared his throat, hiding his admitedly stupid dissapointment. No matter how she decided to call him, it wasn't still the same, just like she wasn't the same for him. Charlie didn't notice, but Alastor rolled his eyes behind her.

"See you tomorrow, kiddo" Lucifer smiled, seeing the two girls wishing them a good night as they went down the hallway.

Alastor didn't say another word. He barely threw a glance to Lucifer before he got lost on his shadows, seemingly melting into the floor. Lucifer snapped his fingers and gave a single stept, landing outisde of the elevator. In front of him it was either the door to the room he thought was his or beyond that the radio tower. Neither options was particularly attractive. Even less so when between his feet a dark figure extended to the door, Alastor straighen up his back as he manifested himself.

"You are not sleeping here" declared.

"Who the fuck was asking?" replied Lucifer. "It was just force of habit to come here. I will pick any other room anyway."

"Glad we are on the same page" Alastor opened up his door, but before he could close it Lucifer put a hand on it. Not making pressure to close it again, just to make himself known. Alastor regarded him with an arched eyebrow. "What now?"

"I think I understand most of everything here" started Lucifer, looking him up and down. "The part that is still nagging my brain is why Charlie called you a sinner and then you stink up as a fallen."

"Does it matter?" Alastor rolled his eyes. "If you are going to get back to your world tomorrow, you don't need to know all the details."

"Are you seriously asking why I would be curious about fallen angels? Me? Come on, man" He smirked, pointing with his eyes down to his hand over the door handle. "I couldn't help to notice too that despite all your my husband, my husband that you do, that ring is not the ring of a king married. I would know" said, showing his own. "What happened? Did you had a big fight and had a quick divorce that already regretted?"

For some reason, he had to know. Not only it would make all the sens eof the world that a marriage between a version of himself and Alastor wouldn't work out, but it would also make him feel less of a failure about the ending of his own marriage. It wasn't his fault that all Lucifer were just doomed to never have a happily ever after. At least he got a few amount of good years with Lilith instead of the thousands of single years. Maybe it wasn't the best thought processs to have. He comforted himself thinking that he had the decency to wait until Charlie wasn't present to satisfy his own curiosity. A divorce is never a pleasant subject for the kids to talk about.

Alastor's lip twitched, the static sound that surrounded him expanding, wrapping his presence like another barrier.

"We have been married for almost a century and I am the father of his children" said calmly, his eyes wrinkling. "I will call him whatever I want, I earned that right. If you are really that desperate to know, there was a mistake that neither of us had any control over that separate us briefly. But as my lovely little fawn could tell you, we have full intention of fixing that mistake in the near future. Not that is any of your business in the first place" He huffed through his nose, looking him down and up. "As for that stank you talk about, I will let you come to your own conclusions. I am sure you can manage a theory or two if the crown is not too tight in that head of yours, your Majesty."

Ah, there it was. That was the Alastor he knew and couldn't stand being around with. Lucifer was almost relieved to seeing that. An Alastor who gave hugs and was genuinely kind to Charlie was a lot less ennerving than one who felt the need to throw cheap shots just to see if it annoyed him. Finally something he was more familiar with.

"Alright, sure" said Lucifer, smirking. "Here is the first one: you ate a bunch of angels during extermination day and with your weird voodo magic that mixed it into your body, making this weird fake fallen smell."

"My husband has eaten more angels than I did, actually" commented Alastor with an smile wider than his face should allow, a glim of something light and fun in his eyes Lucifer couldn't quite define. "Full body too. So no, nice try."

"Wait, seriously? He is a cannibal here?" When Alastor shrugged with apparent delight at Lucifer's grimace, Lucifer sighed. "Why I am not surprised you would introduce him to that?"

"Careful to judge too harshly, sire. That is still another version of yourself you are talking about. Although a infinitely more tolerable one."

"Yeah? Well, you are still the same creepy asshole no matter what universe I am in" He frowned, looking at that engagement ring for a moment too long. "I still haven't completely rule out that you are just manipulating the poor guy. Without any Lilith to keep him company, it can get lonely. Some people would love to take advantage of that, I bet."

"Oh, is that what we are doing now? Putting doubt about my intentions with my own husband?" Alastor chuckled. "What an adorable little thought experiment you have cooked up now, your Majesty. Do please tell me" continued, resting his elbow above Lucifer's hand as he supported his head on his hand. "In that marvelous mind of yours, what reason could I ever have to staying married to my husband for more than 80 years?"

"Power, obviously" Lucifer shrugged. "Money, influence, authority. You won't tell me that this is the version of you that just so happens to not care about those things, don't you?"

"Mmm, I will give you a quarter of a point. I won't deny that was a thought that crossed my mind at some point, but who wouldn't have it in front of a king? Especially one so impressive as mine is? So what is the reasoning for why I would want to have a child with my husband then? That is just an heir that is going to take the throne away from me if Lucifer ever decides to stand down. Why would I create such an obstacle for myself if my motives are that simple?"

"Are you kidding me? To trap someone with a baby is one of the oldest tricks on the book. Even if he gets tired of you and kicks you out, a kid garantees that you will forever be tied together. You can also just use her as leverage whenever is convenient for you."

Alastor let out a short, loud laugh at that.

"My, you must have a very high opinion of my manipulation skills if you think I could raise a daughter that unquestionably loves me with such an agenda in mind. I am flattered, your Majesty."

"Charlie loves everyone. That doesn't mean much about if you deserve it or not" pointed out Lucifer, beaming a little bit at bringing one of the best qualities his daughter had. "Don't act as if you wouldn't. If you are anything like that guy, you don't give a fuck about anyone but yourself."

"You two must had a very close relationship to be so sure about that, sire" said Alastor, relaxed as ever, chuckling softly when Lucifer made another face of disgust.

"I don't need to be close to a piece of shit to know what it is. You understimate how much I have seen of hell and it's sinners if you think you are that especial in that regard."

Alastor sighed, as if dealing with an annoying little kid now.

"Your Highness, you are the one who has decided, entirely on your own, that I must have tricked a version of you into a sham of a marriage and is using our daughter just to get a taste of your power. If your position was supposed to make you oh so wise to my tactics, then how come my Lucifer allowed it to happen in the first place?"

"I don't know, desperation? Maybe he doesn't care as long you at least give him what he wants and don't hurt Charlie. The fuck would I know?"

Alastor's arched eyebrow went higher, his own face reflecting such contempt that Lucifer was a little taken aback.

"Now who is understimating the king of hell?" sneared. "You don't know anything about him or about us, sire" Alastor pronnounced the honorific like an insult. "If we are done with this little trip of yours through your wildest imagination…" Alastor opened up the door, throwing Lucifer briefly off balance, as he came inside. Lucifer impulsively went behind him, phasing through the arm that closed the door. Alastor blinked at him and snarled, his ears going back on his head.

"I told you are not sleeping here. Get out."

"I still don't know about why you smell to Heaven" said Lucifer, squinting his eyes. Something about his phrasing did bothered Alastor personally, if his clenched fist are anything to go by. He took as a good sign that something else was happening. "I just never seen something like it unless it's an actual fallen, so just imagine my surprise at finding that essence stick to you of all people. Just tell me how you do it and I will get out of your hair."

"I could kick you out too" Alastor's antler grew his antlers on top of his head and his body become larger, so much that the back of his head quickly hit the ceiling. The display of magic all around gave Lucifer pause for a moment, mostly out of surprise than any actual fear. This felt so much more different than anything he had seen with the other Alastor. He wasn't about any ordinary soul, that was for sure. "I have sparred with my husband before. I have no illusions about defeating you for good, but I can at least keep you away if needed."

"Yeah, cool. Destroy your entire room trying to defend it, that sounds smart" Lucifer dismissed the display of power, looking to a side. Seeing for the first time some family pictures frammed and hanging on the wall, some with Charlie smiling with her arms around one or two of her parents. There was another girl on them he did not recognize, probably a friend of this Charlie. "Oh, also, worry Charlie with all that noise in the middle of the night like I did already. That is oughta to come out excelent" The static and expansive darkness stopped on their tracks. He sighed, impatient. "I don't know why you can't just tell me. I have no reason to use that information against you if that is even possible. It's an easy question that shouldn't have such a complicated answer."

The head of Alastor twisted to a side, neck cracking. His form did shranked a bit, but it was mostly still there, his long claws scratching at the air as if wishing to have a target to strangle.

"Is the idea of privacy just a foreign concept to you?"

"No, no, no. Privacy is whatever you two do here, something you both can take to the grave for all I care. If it's a matter of fallens in my realm and someone possibly messing with angelic magic, then that is very much something that concern me" When Alastor didn't gave him any sign that he cared at all about that, he rolled his eyes. Fuck it. Time to take out the heavy guns. "How about a deal?"

"Deal?" Alastor's smile was already fixated, glowing a soft yellow light through his teeth eveytime he spoke, but something on his face told Lucifer that was exactly the magic words.

"Yes. A pretty easy one: tell me about why you are like that and I promise to not enter your room or involve myself at all on anything that involves your… relationship with your Lucifer. With the exception of Charlie that is. That already involves me too, since our magics are the same."

The green dials that Alastor had for eyes inspected him carefully, as if he had any other trick up his sleeve. For once, he didn't, actually, but who was going to say that to any Overlord in hell and expect to be believed?

"Fine" Alastor offered up his giant hand and Lucifer barely could contain rolling his eyes as he was force to shake the pinkie, knowing full well that it was intentional from his part. After the exchange of magic was done, Alastor returned to his normal form. "First of all, I want to know out of my curiosity that I hope you don't mind indulging me in. The day of the extermination, did someone died from your side?"

"Ah, yeah" Lucifer winced. "Sir Pentious, one of the residents of the hotel, and Razzle. I didn't know the man a lot, but everyone told me he was brave and selfless during the battle so I have to respect that. He gave his life to try to protect the dream of my daughter. Why?"

A moment of silence passed as Alastor seemed to struggle to take out the words out of his mouth. Lucifer almost got the impression there was some sense of embarassment as he waited for the other to speak.

"That is the first major difference then. Our Pentious is alive and well in this side. Razzle is also still Charlie's companion" started Alastor. "During the battle, I confronted Adam" Lucifer nodded. That also happened with them, for what Charlie had told him. Right after the fucker just disssapeared for months doing who knows what and came back when everyone else had finished the hotel already, without explaining anything to anyone and his own tower at the ready because Charlie really insisted on it. "I lost" Alastor pushed the word out of his mouth as if disgusted with himself for pronouncing them.

"So that is still the same" said Lucifer, not knowing where he was going with this.

"I meant definitely. My neck got cut off and I didn't manage to heal myself in time. I lost consciousness. When I woke up again, I was on another place. A place that wasn't here" Alastor put more emphasis on the last phrase, clearly hoping that Lucifer would get the idea without actually spelling it out.

He didn't seem particularly happy when Lucifer actually did, his eyes going wide at the realization.

"YOU WENT TO HEAVEN?!"

Alastor screeched, making a face that tell of how much he wasn't proud of it. He nodded slowly, avoiding looking at him.

"IS THAT… so it is possible! Redemption can happen!" Lucifer laughed, brushing his hair back. "Holy shit, my baby was right! She is going to be so happy when she finds out!" said, before noticing that the ear of Alastor were still flat and his posture haven't changed at all. "Wait. So you came back after that?"

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't" Alastor retort. "They wouldn't let me so I had to see myself out."

"Oh, fuck" Lucifer had to snort just imagining the face of Sera at seeing one winner who wanted nothing to do with Heaven. A winner like Alastor was such a hilarious image he found himseelf almost wishing he saw it. He must have been so utterly miserable there, without being able to cause the mayhem and destruction that hell gave him so freely everyday. "That is the funniest thing I have ever heard. Heaven must have been pretty upset about that, I bet."

Alastor's smile reflected some mirth at that.

"They are not fans of me now."

"Join the club!" Lucifer laughed again, whiping away the tears from his eyes. "Ah, that is so good. So, how did you do it?" asked, crossing his arms, now genuinely invested on that story. "How did you came back here then?"

"Aren't you going to question that they let me in in the first place?"

"Nah. I stopped questioning why Heaven does the things they do a long time ago" Lucifer shrugged. "They don't ever explain themselves anyway, so what is the point, right?"

Alastor nodded, as if reluctantly agreeing with him.

"So?" insisted Lucifer. "How did you manage to get back?"

"I caused some massive fires, killed a lamb cherub as a sacrifice to summon my husband and then made a deal with him to bring me back. The end" said Alastor on a roll, as if it was a very practiced joke that he knew killed in all the parties.

Such as one, Lucifer bursted out in a fit of laughed, holding onto his knees. He was positively wheezing as he looked up again to Alastor, looking satisfied with himself.

"Oh my name!" he said, almost breathless. He shook his head up and down to himself. "Yep, that is exactly how I would expect your redemption to go down. That is fucking hilarious. Oh, please tell me that Sera was there. Please tell me that your Sera was a pain in the ass the entire time."

"She was" confirmed Alastor and Lucifer had to support on his cane as he cackled.

The mental image of the stoic, composed, righteous Sera having her hands full with disasters around him and a winner dealing with the devil was the single best thing he could imagine. Show her the power that souls could still have outside of the rules they were so fond of. Show her that their paradise wasn't actually fit for everyone. Not to mention the simple chaos of releasing something of that nature in a place fully unprepared for it as Heaven had to be a total shitshow worth admiring.

After what seemed a pretty long time, Lucifer finally managed to regain himself enough to clean his cheeks. He couldn't remember at all when was the last time he ever laughed that much at anything.

"Oh, fuck, that was great. Dare I say it, divine? Hah! I am so glad I asked now. Thanks for telling me."

"It was a deal" said Alastor, regaining the tight smile as he opened up the door again. "I fulfill my part, now it's time for you to do the same. Have a good night, sir."

"Yeah, yeah" Lucifer conjured up a hankerchief to clean up his eyes. He passed to the side of the radio demon and patted his shoulder. When he Alastor took a step back, he pulled his hand away without losing the smile. "Ah, sorry. I will get out of your hair now. You are a much funnier man that I thought, I will give you that."

Alastor made a neutral hum sound as Lucifer walked out. When the door firmly closed behind him, Lucifer let out a chuckle and walked back to the elevator. The magic revolving around their deal made a barreir between himself and the door that only he could feel. He shrugged and made his way to the elevator, thinking of how happy his Charlie was going to be tomorrow when she was told the news. Maybe she could even appreciate the humor of the first redeemed sinner actively sabotaging it all up to end up in hell again. He did at least.

[celinou]

Thanks @lenorelovesmax for tagging me 🤍

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 2, currently. Well, more like one and a half baked scene that has no context, to be more accurate.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 194.036 words.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? I have like the one fic, the other thing has 2 kudos. So... - A Walk in Chiaroscuro (354)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes, absolutely. It's pretty rare when I don't. I like to tell people that I appreciate their support and comments or to answer questions they might have about the story or the choice I made.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I don't do angsty endings. I'm too old and too jaded by life to appreciate them anymore. I'm at a point in my life where I need to know there's hope and happiness at the end of the line.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I'm guessing there will be some kind of repetition since I've only published Awic... Soooo, it's a Walk in Chiaroscuro! ...but if you want to know about the ones that I keep in my drawer never to see the light of AO3, the happiest ending goes to Let's Write a Love Story (it's a Homestuck fanfic)

8. Do you get hate on fics? No. I'm writing in a mostly dead fandom so far and for kind of a rare pair so, people have been starved of content. They were so nice and sweet to me in the comments.

9. Do you write smut? I wish! I don't have the chops for it but I so wish I could write good smut! Honestly it's something I really want to push myself into exploring. Unfortunately your girl is a bit too vanilla in her taste which makes for poor reading. I don't fear being bad... I fear being boring, you know?

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've ever written? I've never done that, no. But who knows what future will lead me to write.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? No. I don't have enough reach to be the target of theft.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope. And tbh I don't have the patience to translate it myself in my native language.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Could have... but no. There was an attempt at a joined project for Dragon Age but, unfortunately, it didn't work out in the end. I'm not abandoning the idea of writing for Dragon Age but I'll probably go in a very different direction since it would be a solo project.

14. What's your all time favorite ship? I... don't have one... Yeah, I'm not much of a shipper at the core. I mean I did write for Caulscott but I practically ship Max with everybody in LIS so... I was more interested by Nathan's potential as a love interest more than the ship itself. Outside of LIS... I can't think of any ship rn, I'm afraid.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Tough question. If I abandoned a project I don't consider it a WIP. It's a dropped thing that goes in the reusable idea bin... and if I'm still working on it, I don't go into thinking I won't finish it. So, it's hard to say really. To not leave you with such a vague answer, I'll give you this: the fic I planned to write about the Hidden Object Games series Dark Parable, that never took off and never will (for I have better/much more attractive projects to work on). It's a dropped thing. But now you can see I have weird and obscure taste.

As for original projects: I have a Horror RPG project that probably won't ever see the light of day, called: The Clockmaker. (because I realized I'm shit at pixel art, tragic)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Hum... No. I don't mind people doing it but I tried it myself in my pirate epic and, let me tell you, I'm not that good a multilingual as to be witty in more than 2 languages. I found what I wrote cringe af when I read back my text in the editing phase and scrapped it all out.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Homestuck. I started writing fics very late in my life. (I wrote original stuff before that)

20. Favourite fic you've ever written? A Walk in Chiaroscuro. Because it's the only fic I went into unafraid to write what I wanted without thinking about who might read it. And to this day it's the truer work I've put out. Not the most personal by any stretch but the one I indulged in the most. And I'm so proud of it. Flaws and all.

I tag @sourrind and @momochizoey if you feel like doing it. And everybody who'd want to as well, consider yourself tagged, friend!

[memorydragon]

Since I've now played through the remake eight times now (this is normal) I felt like I should say a few words on Trials of Mana, or Seiken Densetsu 3/Secret of Mana 2 as we called it back in the day.

First of all, let me say SD3 is one of my top two games of all time (the other being Tales of Phantasia). I have played this game an unholy number of times in my youth. I've had the Trials of Mana remake for a while now, tbh, but have held off on playing it because I didn't want Remake Disappointment. But coming off of three games in a row that ended on a downer (I'm looking at you, Kiseki) and a really rough semester, I finally decided to give it a go.

On the whole, I have to agree with the review that I read before diving in. Which is to say, it's a very faithful adaptation. It has everything that made the original fun and enjoyable. I do kinda wish they'd actually put a bit more effort into additional content (because there is so much they could have done and it would have been amazing), but overall very satisfying to play through.

I will say I am delighted that my fave was turned into a bisexual icon. He and Angela are both very bisexually color coded and my headcanon is that they are bi besties who wingman for each other and chat under the sacred bi tree about mutual crushes. ("He's hot." "He's not the smartest around." "Yeah, but you have to admit those muscles." "You're bringing me around to himbos." vs "Do you ever just look at Riese and think damn." "All the damned time. She could have her wicked way with me any day." "She's Riese, she's too kind for wicked." "I know. T_T" ) Like, if I could find the way to transfer photos from the ps4 without massive amounts of headache and digging, there's one screen cap for when I got an achievement of them in their dark classes still matching and it was like, yes, good.

Hawkeye is still my absolute fave, especially since they animated him with dancer warmups and very bisexually. He has soulful sad eyes. He hits fast. His beaming smile at friends is sweet. He's a treasure hunting thief. He was most definitely sleeping with Eagle He's out for revenge but ends up pitying Belladonna.

And honestly, let me just say that Fairy just kind of going 'oh, well. I don't have much choice, the MC is the only character around' as the way of picking the chosen of Mana still tickles me. Like, not even giving them a choice about things, just there's only one person here and now you're the chosen one.

I do like the voices, both english and japanese. Charlotte is still.... unfortunately translated, but the fact that their actor pool is all from New England is hysterical. Like, the Wiki says Angela has a valley girl accent and I'm over here like, um... I can see how you think that, but she's very definitely still a New Englander. No one says 'on' like that in California, I should know. That's where they put me in speech class.

Overall the game is easier, not just because they give all sorts of tips that I would have loved to know the first time I played. (The first time I played was... well. This is a game that very much needed the manual it no doubt came with, but I was emulating an english translation that didn't come with the manual. And I still persisted in playing.) The two main differences is that now the game lets you powerlevel your way through things and full screen class skills can be avoided. The former was Weird, because I played the original an unholy number of times and had every level and seed acquiring down to an art, and suddenly I'm several levels above where I should be, but it's keeping the skill points for later. That took a lot of adjusting to, but I managed, and now am usually past 38 even before I get to the first mana stone. XD Kinda makes me miss using the second class changes, but oh well. Full screen skills being avoidable is part of a 3d environment, which is honestly nice. It does make beastmen/swordsman and other monsters much, much easier though. It's no longer Kill Immediately and aggressively before they use their tech and shred your party.

The trap door monster in Laurant is much more of a bitch though. Fuck that thing, 3d made it so much worse.

The post game content is a bit monotonous, but not terrible. What I wish they'd done more with is the personal quests and at least a bit more interaction between certain party arrangements. Mainly along the shared quest lines. The all girl/all boy party was a fun touch, but I'd I wish they'd even done a bit more with that. Just more interaction with the characters, since that's half the charm of the game was who is and who isn't in your party. Writing didn't seem to be the remake crew's strong point though. Honestly, being faithful to the original is probably way more than enough. It's just wishful that we could have gotten a little bit more than just a little bit extra.

The new techs and new game plus does make replaying through faster, which is sometimes great when you just want to play with combinations. They also let you reset your class with specific items, which is a fantastic addition. I don't use it much, but being reminded why Riese's light/light class had the worst summon, it was nice to be able to switch her around. I also like that you can change the outfits regardless of class, which is great when Angela's dark/dark class was honestly clashing terribly on top of being a bikini armor. Now when I want to use Ancient, I just switch to her more reasonable outfits.

Kevin and Duran getting boob armor for their dark ultimate class was amazing though. Hawkeye not having revealing outfits also gives way to lots of gender headcanons. I also now have a lot of polycule headcanons, because they absolutely are. Except Charlotte. She can cuddle, but she needs to grow mentally 50 years. Then she can be the hot half elf who hits up her silver foxes/cougars, but she does not act her age in the slightest and looks about ten so she's waiting until she does some growing.

Being able to fight the black rabite on all paths rather than only available for Duran/Angela main is great too. I mean, it's still traumatic in a deeply unhinged way, but again, the game is easier in the remake. That includes superboss. Though I did not appreciate being asked twice each time I go to fight it if I'm sure I want to fight it. Like, fuck you game. I've already got the psychological trauma of the original.

(It does make me miss my irc heyday, when I had my bot named BlackRabite and would occasionally switch over just to make it bounce.)

Rabites are still the Most Monster of all time. I love them. Even when they're murdering me or I'm murdering them. You can't actually kill the black rabite. It just bounces away when it's done messing with you.

Anyway, I've played through most of the classes now, though I think I'm still missing one of each for Riese/Duran/Charlotte. I actually did a no healer run this time, which was interesting. Way easier in this version, especially with certain shared techs, but it's nice to not have to plan a party on needing a healer. I'd probably have all the classes by now if I didn't like, use Hawkeye for everything, but hey. He's a fave. I did a Hawkeye-less run, of course, but still. He's going to be in my party the majority of the time, because I love my bisexual thief. (They made his ultimate class change item the Loyal sphere, which also hits mine and Riese's Loyality kink, just as she hits his kindness kink and yeah, I've got a lot of headcanons about Riese accepting her bisexual thief boyfriend and outside game canon incest is just going to happen. Sorry, square, you made that final scene of Eagle saying the memories they had together were his most precious treasure after you've made a prequel game I didn't play that made Hawkeye Flamekhan's grandson. I found this out through wikipedia (and will absolutely be checking out how to emulate gba now, because Hawkeye's mom sounds Badass) and only after you made me ship it, so now it's just Flamekhan who gets ulcers when he finds out with Jessica as a supportive sister-in-law because only he knows he disowned his badass daughter. He only has himself to blame, while Ignorance is gonna stay blissful. And while Jessica and Hawkeye are distancing themselves from the old man because they think he's being homophobic, Jessica takes over Nevarl. As she should. Queen of Thieves we all deserve.

(Falcon in the thereafter may have had a few ulcers herself, but then decided, fuck it. Her father was the one who said he didn't have a daughter first, so she doesn't have a father. She's got a cute son-in-law now instead of step brother and will have a cute amazon princess daughter-in-law soon, so her son is obviously doing well.)

I did warn you I have thought A Lot about this. XD

The one thing I kinda wish didn't carry over is the total play time, because I do really not need to know how many hours I spend on this game. But well, no one else needs to know. XD I also kind of wish the final class was more of a combination like it promised than just a few extra stats, but hey.

Anyway, in terms of a remake, I do highly recommend it. I enjoyed it greatly, and it's very New England english cast, which most people may or may not necessarily realize that all of them are from there, but those were the vowels of my people. Also, I'm more forgiving of Charlotte's manner of speaking now, because she's hilariously also strongly from New England.

Listen, when you're put in speech classes and told your accent is terrible as a child, it's only natural to turn to Spite. That's just how it is. XD

On a final note, they animated the merchants in the most unhinged manner possible, and I adore it. It's absolute madness. They went there and it's glorious.

[the-force-awakens]

For the fic asks, 5, 29 for your Poe/Volya fics, and 37

!!! Ah, thank you!! *rubs my hands together gleefully* my time to shine, I love talking about these two

5. What do you wish someone would ask you about [insert fic]? Answer it now!

I feel like every single question I've ever wanted to be asked about Poe and Volya just like - flew right out of my head, lol. I contemplated something about their Force connection but I don't actually think I've included it yet in any of the fics I've posted to ao3, so I'm gonna go with something involving the "bad au" once again, cos it's something that jumped out to me when I was reading the tlj era fics back to back: the difference in when Poe and Volya both think something's changed between them, and why.

In my hand was the one you reached for, Poe mentions in his internal dialogue that something changed between them aboard the Raddus (which I think is reinforced in an earlier one-shot that @dameronalone wrote) during the events of tlj, but in the fic that's pretty much a direct sequel to that, if we got nothing we got us, which takes place from Volya's POV, she thinks that their relationship shifted after he made it back from Jakku and the Finalizer.

And I think that makes a lot of sense, 'cos although we definitely haven't touched on that specific era yet from Volya's POV yet, the days Poe is missing absolutely are what makes Voy in this verse realize just how much she loves him and just what she's been risking trying to hide that. Unfortunately, her crash course in "fuck I can't lose him, I love him too much for that and he doesn't even know it" gets a follow-up grade in tlj when they get put on separate transports during the evac to Crait....cos I'm. extremely evil.

And then of course, for Poe - they haven't really had the time to *stop* since he got back, until the Raddus, for better or worse (but mostly for worse), so I think that's the first stretch of time that he's actually had where he can notice something has changed for Volya that makes her a lot more open with her feelings than before, and ergo that their relationship has shifted because of it.

29. What songs would be (or are) on a playlist for [insert fic]? Explain your choices if you want!

I mean I have a couple of generalized poelya playlists already to be quite honest - their regular one, and one specifically for the aforementioned bad au. And one somewhere that's specifically songs I think Volya would put in a playlist that remind her of Poe.

But.....the two songs that are just simply put the most Volya/Poe to me, to the point that they could really fit any fic I've written for them, is About Love by Marina and Storm by Ruelle. Their relationship is (obviously) very much inspired by my big ole feelings for Poe, so Poe's pretty much the first/only person Volya's also had big ole feelings for, and I think these songs really capture the "oh shit this is my one exception and oh man what do i do with all these FEELINGS" that Volya constantly feels around him:

… Started in the strangest way Didn't see it coming Swept up in your hurricane Wouldn't give it up for nothing Now I'm all caught up in the highs and the lows It's a shock to my system I don't wanna run away so I stay [About Love]

&

I am caught off guard by you Like a wave I'm pulled into It's a feeling I can't fight Like a wildfire deep inside You're taking my heart by storm I'm lost in your love (lost in your love) I can't hold back any more I'm lost in your love (lost in your love) [Storm]

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

Okay, my first thought was not actually a Star Wars fic - although there's definitely some fics of mine there that I wish got more traction, and it'd be nice if my poelya ones got a leetol more attention but I'm also not terribly bothered by that because hey I'm writing for myself and my friends and it's fun - it was a crossover Spidey/Moon Knight fic that I wrote in 2022.

Just...maybe not the crossover you were expecting. I had finished replaying Spider-Man PS4, I think, and I was like....this would work really well for a crossover with Moon Knight. It ended up being a blend of the television show and the early Mackay run before I quit reading. It definitely got a little bit of attention, but mostly just of folks wanting a continuation, which I had no plans for. But it's definitely still one of my favorite fics I've written - writing for Peter really is just so much fun.

fic writer asks?

[cloudselkie]

Shay's 2023 Tarot Purchase Round-Up

Unfortunately, I don't have time for a huge review post this year, but here are my top 10 favorite tarot decks that I purchased this year!

10. Dreams Within Dreams Tarot

- This was a Kickstarter I backed last year. The art is beautiful and the artist stated that they were inspired by their favorite anime growing up in the late 90s and early 2000s. The only reason this deck isn't higher on the list is because I found that the whiplash between some cards being fan art and some being original art was too much for me to really connect with it.

Where to buy: Kickstarter exclusive, but still available in various Etsy shops

9. Stars Lighting Up the Night Tarot

- This deck came out of nowhere and instantly became a favorite. I love the night scenes and the multiple versions of some cards so you can customize the deck. It also has the linen card texture I love! I purchased the limited edition version just to get that texture!

Where to buy:

8. Titanic Tarot: Risen Spirits (Titanic Tarot 2nd Edition)

- This version massively improves on the first (which I already loved) by removing the borders and including updated art for the pip cards that better represents the full story of the passengers of the Titanic, including before the voyage and after.

Where to buy: Mostly out of stock, but still available at some Etsy shops and online magic supply stores

7. Sleepwalker Tarot

- I ended up getting the mini because it was all that was left, but I wish I had the full size. The art is so beautiful and Iove how calming the subjects are with their eyes closed. Also, I found the full size and will definitely be purchasing!

Where to buy:

6. Witch Sister Tarot

- I waited TWO YEARS for this tarot and the art alone was worth it. I love the artist's previous deck, and stumbled on some of the art for this one on Etsy while looking for devotional items for selkie and for the Cailleach. It's finally out! The only downside is that it's a Llewellyn deck and has their usual thin cardstock.

Where to buy:

5. Shadowscape Tarot

- An oldie but a goodie. I finally got this after a few years of eyeing it, and it's definitely a great choice for being a mass market deck. Stephanie Pui-Mun Law's art is beautiful. Reminds me of old Amy Brown paintings, but far better executed.

Where to buy:

4. Starspinner Tarot

- I ADORE the art for this deck. It reminds me somewhat of CLAMP art. The art is also inclusive and bright and the deck has four different lovers cards so you can have whatever flavor you wish! This one is also mass market but great quality.

Where to buy:

3. Cozy Witch Tarot

- Of course I expected this deck to be cozy, but I was surprised with just how much I like the whole package. The card subjects are diverse not only in skin color, but in body type as well, which really stood out and made this deck one that I came back to often. The only downside is that the cards are slightly larger than standard size, so they can be difficult to handle at times.

Where to buy:

2. Monsoon Tarot

- This deck honestly has the most beautiful art of any deck I own. I'm always discovering new details in the cards and they range from cozy to dreamlike to grotesque in all the right ways. The cardstock also has that linen/playing card texture over them which makes shuffling a breeze. I use this less to read and more to just wander through and look at.

Where to buy:

1. Spirit Keeper Tarot

This one is hard to get a hold of, but so worth it. I happened to check in while the author still had some of the current edition left in stock after pre-orders on her website and managed to snag one. I LOVE working with this deck. The art is great, but the companion book is really what makes this deck incredible. The book goes over a lot of the inspiration behind each card and the symbolism. The author is of Chinese descent, so she has tied both western and eastern concepts to each card, which she lays out in the book. This has been the main deck I have read with since I got it. S tier deck.

Where to buy:

[dixons-sunshine]

A Girl Like You (Robin Buckley x Fem!reader)

Summary: Robin had problems with finding someone who'd want to be with her. First, she liked girls, which was a BIG no-no to most people (considering it was the 80s), she was super awkward and the one girl she likes would never like her back-or so she thought. One rented movie and strategically placed note changed her mind about never finding someone right for her.

Warnings: Non that I can think of. Please let me know if I should add anything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Enjoy your day," Robin Buckley told the young couple in front of her, forcing a smile at them. As soon as they turned her smile faltered, watching as the guy pulled the girl closer to him, his arm around her shoulder.

'Why can't I be normal?' she thought, sighing as she saw him give her a kiss. She wished time and time again that she could make her attraction to women disappear, but alas, it didn't. And that complicated her love life a lot.

She was used to only being able to admire from afar, having to suffer the curse of a crush in dead silence, but something about you made it different this time.

All she wanted to do was to confess to you so that she could hold you, kiss you, do all the normal things that guys could do with their girlfriends, but alas, she couldn't. Not when she would be a social pariah. Not when she didn't even know if you felt the same.

No. That was a risk she didn't wanna take.

To make matters worse, the two of you hung out on a daily basis. With you working at the convenience store down the street from Family Video, the two of you spent your lunch time together. That was how Robin got to meet you for the first time.

Her lunch time had started and she had a hankering for a bag of doritos. As she was about to pay for it, she accidentally bumped into you, making you drop all your stuff.

She had apologized profusely, offering to buy you anything you wanted as an apology, but you simply smiled at her and told her that she could apologize by spending her lunch break with you.

And that's how the daily hang outs started happening. Every day at 1pm, she would meet you at the convenience store and then the two of you would sit in the alley way next to the building and talk. It was the part of Robin's day that she looked forward to the most.

Unfortunately, you were sick today, so she decided to spend her lunch break working.

"Hey, Robin. I didn't know you were working today," Steve said, approaching the counter.

Steve has been her best friend for over a year. Coincidentally, he was your friend too, so Robin would sometimes hang out with you-along with Steve- outside of your usual meet ups.

"Yeah, I am, because someone decided to tell Keith that it was their birthday and they shouldn't have to work," Robin said, rolling her eyes and turning her back to her best friend.

Steve laughed, going to grab the movie of his choice. "Don't be so mad, Robbie. I bet if I told you why I said that you'd be interested."

"Not interested."

"Not even if it was about Y/n?"

Robin visibly perked up at the mere mention of your name, turning hastily to look at Steve.

"What about her? Have you seen her today? Is she okay? Is she dying? Oh god, please tell me she's not-"

"Robin, calm down! No, she's not dying, but she is very sick. I took her to the doctor today. He gave her a week off from work to recover. Said something about flu or something. She asked me to come and get a movie for her," Steve said nonchalantly, handing the tape to Robin.

Robin's mood instantly went from worried to sad. She was glad that you were okay, but disappointed because she wouldn't be able to see you for an entire week.

This was gonna be torture for her.

"Hey, Robs?"

"Yes?"

"Not that you want my input or anything, but go for it. I think she really likes you. And before you deny anything, I know about your crush. Just go for it. Even if she doesn't feel the same, she'd never out you. She's a good person. Do with that information what you will."

Robin bit her lower lip, debating on what to do. Should she risk everything and confess to you? Or should she just compress those feelings and keep your friendship.

'Fuck it,' she thought, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen. She wrote something on the letter, before placing it in the tape's case.

"Here you go, Dingus."

Steve took the tape from Robin, saying his goodbyes and heading outside to his car.

Robin inhaled sharply, hoping that what she just did wouldn't end up to be the worst mistake ever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"There you are. What took you so long?" You asked as Steve stepped into your room, which was dark due to the raging migraine you had.

"Sorry, I was having a little chat with Robin," Steve said, closing your door to not disturb your parents who were downstairs.

"How is she?" You asked nervously. Even if it was only a day, you missed Robin. She became the best thing in your life in a short amount of time and that realization scared you.

You always wondered why you never had a boyfriend, or why you didn't have any sexual or romantic attraction to men in general, until you met Robin.

She was the sweetest, kindest, smartest woman you've ever met. At first it started out as a friendship, but somewhere along the way, your feelings for the girl started to blossom into something non-platonic and that's when everything clicked into place.

You liked Robin, in a way that people would deem you a social pariah if you ever were to act upon those feelings, so you tried to push those feelings down to the deepest depths of your mind. But as you hung out with Robin more and more, keeping your feelings in check became a lot harder than you expected. There were a lot of times you wanted to confess your feelings, but then you'd remember that she could publicly out you and make you the freak of the town.

And that scared the crap out of you.

"Hello? Earth to Y/n?" Steve said, snapping you out of the spiral you were sending yourself into.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I asked if you'd be okay with setting up the movie while I go make us some snacks?" He asked, gesturing to your TV.

"Oh, yeah. Of course." You nodded.

As Steve left the room, you got up to set up the movie. As you opened the case for the tape, a piece of paper fell from it. You picked it up, wondering who this was meant for.

Curiosity got the best of you, so you opened it up. You let out a small gasp when you saw that it was for you, and the letter was from Robin.

Y/n...

I don't know how to start this, but I'm too scared to do this in real life, so... Yeah.

I really freaking like you, and not in a platonic way. I like like you, Y/n. I like you so much, it actually hurts. And I know that, realistically, you don't feel the same, but I just had to tell you.

So, yeah. Do with this information what you will, I guess. I don't expect you to like me back, and I hope this doesn't ruin our friendship. I value our friendship too much and it would kill me if I just ruined everything.

Don't be too harsh on me, please?

Robin

To say you were surprised would be an understatement. You couldn't fathom the idea that Robin liked you. She was so perfect and you were... You.

You knew that you'd be out of commission for another week or so, and you didn't wanna leave Robin in suspense, so you did what you could in that moment.

You wrote her a note back.

Just as you finished putting the note back into the case, Steve came back with the snacks.

"You're lucky you're one of my best friends, otherwise I would not have spent this much time preparing all of these snacks."

You chuckled. "I appreciate it a lot, Steve. Also, I'd really appreciate if you'd give this note to Robin tomorrow."

Steve looked at you in confusion, before ultimately agreeing. "Sure?"

"Thanks. Now, let's watch the movie."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robin had never been this anxious in her entire life. This was the first time that she ever confessed to her crush that she liked them, and it scared her to her core. On the plus side, you liked her back and the two of you could ride into the sunset together. On the downside, well...

She didn't even wanna go down that path.

"I come bearing gifts," Steve said as he finally came to work, two hours late.

"Oh, goody. Everyone's favourite person," Robin said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, don't be like that, or I won't give you what Y/n told me to give you."

That instantly caught Robin's attention. She leaned over the counter to see what Steve was referring to. "What did she wanna give me?"

Steve opened his bag, taking out a folded piece of paper. He handed it to Robin, shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't know what it says. All Y/n told me was to give it to you."

Robin looked at the piece of paper in fear, knowing that this was about to make or break her relationship with you. Not to mention that there is a possibility that her confession to you could spread like wildfire, and then bam! Social pariah.

"Well, are you gonna read it?" Steve asked, lazily leaning against the counter.

"Not with you here. You have work to do. If you think that I did your work for you yesterday, you are mistaken."

Steve let out an overdramatic sigh, grumbling as he went to go get a box of tapes he had to stack on the shelves.

Robin let a shaky breath escape her. Her hands were trembling as she opened the note you wrote for her. Reluctantly, she began to read.

I really didn't expect this. This was a huge surprise to me. Maybe because I thought that there was no way that you would like me back, especially since I thought your taste was... different than me.

But, Robin Buckley, the most beautiful girl I know, how about we go to the arcade sometime?

Y/n

To say Robin was ecstatic would be an understatement. She was smiling so hard that she thought her face would start to tear, her heart was practically beating out of her chest and she was slightly jumping like a toddler.

"What got you so excited?" Steve asked her, having an inkling suspicion about what it was about.

"You were right. She does like me..." Robin trailed off softly, holding the note close to her chest.

"That's amazing! I'm really happy for you. Now, at least one of us isn't a single loser anymore."

"Oh, please. You don't have to be single to be a loser." Robin said, grabbing her bag before rushing out of the door.

"Hey, where are you going?!" Steve called after her.

"You know where! I have a date to pick up!" She said, getting onto her bike.

Steve smiled as he watched her bike away, chuckling to himself.

"She does know that Y/n is still sick, right?"