#which unintentionally makes this a bit of a filler chapter.

[mechazushi]

Insane Dad Lore (Essential Errand)

[Slight Trigger Warning] Verbal Abuse.

[Notes] Sooooo.... change of plans.... Instead of posting the chapters in order even if I get them done out of order, I'm just going to post them as I finish them and then organize them once I port all the chapters to Ao3. Really, the ultimate goal here was to just get all the ideas on (electronic) paper anyway. So I guess ya'll are going to have fun wondering what order these are going to go in, {cuz' I'll be doing the same damn thing ᕙ (° ~ ° ~)}

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There had been a break in the lore gathering where there wasn't as many an opportunity to try and pry some new childhood history out of Kafka. That didn't mean there wasn't inciting incidents that led to new loose threads. It was after an early morning period of training did such an event arose. Reno and Kafka has just gotten back to barracks after hitting the gym just to come back and find Minase in a state of inconsolable crying. Hakua was sitting next to a tower of shaking blankets placed on the bed, desperately trying to appease the distraught soldier within by patting and rubbing its back as well as whispering words of comfort. She tried to say comforting things at least, but must have accidentally said something to make the crying worse.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Reno tried to ask as they passed through the door.

"I'm not entirely sure? I just caught the tail end of a phone conversation and now she's like this." Hakua told them as she continued to hug the pile of blankets close, "Whatever it was, it sounded pretty distressing."

"Hey, Reno?" Kafka spoke softly down to his friend, not wanting to take his eyes of of their compatriot, "Can you do me a favor and go down to the vending machine and grab a water? I feel like she's going to need it."

Reno nodded quickly and turned back out the doorway, leaving Kafka. He approached Hakua and nodded his head away, silently asking permission to sit on the bed next to Minase. After she moved, Kafka sat down slowly so as to not make the pile of blankets jump. He mimiced Hakua's original position and wrapped his large arm around the tower, Squeezing it close to him as he tried to wrap his other arm around it.

"Heeeyyy, Minase." He said cheerfully, but not loudly, "Looks like you're not having a good go of things, huh?" The covered pile only continued to cry.

"Bad days are no fun, aren't they?" He chuckled in an attempt to brighten the mood, "It's safe to say that there's never going to be a shortage of those. You wanna know what makes me feel better about them though?" He tried to ask the sad menagerie of stolen blankets. It had stopped full on crying and had downgraded to some small sniffles.

"Much like our tears, it can't be raining all the time. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to see the sun!" He smiled brightly as the pile continued to sniff harshly. Eventually, a very red face with pink, tear stained eyes managed to poke her face out from under the blankets.

"Wow, are you corny." Minase said through a mixture of tearful snorts and half-efforted chuckles.

"Got our resident Sun to poke her pretty little head out, didn't it?" Kafka joked back as he gently tugged the edge of the blanket off from around her hair.

She giggled a little in return as she leaned in harder into Kafka's embrace. Seeing Minase in a more relaxed state that what she was in earlier, Hakua took the opportunity to seat herself behind Minase and lean her weight against her back as a show of support. They all took a few minutes of the calm for themselves, just letting their friend take deep soothing breaths and let the last of her tears drain from her eyes. Reno came in after Minase had gotten her heart under control and gladly took the offered water bottle. He had decided to sit on the floor in between Kafka's legs and Minase's.

"Want us to grab anything for you? I think they're selling strawberry ice cream fish cakes in the canteen." Hakua offered as a helpful gesture. Minase's tears almost triggered again as she thought about the offer.

"Sound's great." She said bitterly, "But I think I would rather have my dogs right now."

"Oh, you have dogs?" Reno asked innocently. He started to cringe and think he said something wrong once Minase started to cry again.

"Not for much longer apparently!" She wailed, "I think my horrible step-father is threatening to kill my dogs!" She tried to wipe her tears with the edge of the soiled blanket, but it wasn't very effective.

"Now why would someone do something like that?" Kafka asked, astonished at the thought.

"I don't know! I think he's just always had it out for me since he came into the family!" Minase's tears had slowed, but her sorrowful screams hadn't, "I had them stay with Aunti Mei before I left for the defense force, but apparently her new landlord is evicting the pets at her place, so she had to drop them off back at mom's, but Chase hates me; he's always hated me! And now he's taking it out on my bubbies!"

"Oh, baby…" Hakua said softly as she tried to give Minase a hug from behind.

"I just got off the phone with him, I don't even know how he got my number, but it's just… something he said, or how he said it… I don't know, I just feel like my babies aren't safe anymore!" She began to cry again as Kafka held her even harder, "I can't bring them here! I don't have any other relatives nearby to send them too! I refuse to send them to a shelter! I don't know what to do!"

As she continued to cry again, Reno could see Kafka's expression growing darker and darker. He had tucked Minase's head into his chest as he listened to her woes. Reno started to wonder if maybe it was so she couldn't see the quiet anger building up behind his eyes. Suddenly, like someone had flipped a switch in his head, Kafka donned as soft smile, one that barely managed to hide the softly rolling fury behind his expression. He brought a hand up to gently pat the top of her head. With a clearly sincere tone, Kafka spoke some more sweet words until she stopped crying again. When he could hear the hiccuping had slowed, he pulled her head back and made sure to look her in the eyes.

"Minase, I'm going to tell you this right now. You aren't going to worry your strong heart any longer, ya got me? Nothing is going to hurt your fluffy little friends, okay?" Minase just looked at him with a lot of burning questions in her eyes, but found that she didn't have the strength to say them.

"I wan't to hear you say 'Okay' too." Kafka gently placed both of his hands on either side of her face as he asked, "Please?"

"Oh-okay." she said meekly.

"Atta-girl." He responded as he gave her one last strong hug.

Kafka then looked at Hakua and gave her an expression that seemed to communicate a lot of things, most of which Reno just translated as 'Keep an eye on her'. He then got up loudly from the bed and stretched, groaning all the way. He walked over to his personal locker at the other side of the room and could be heard rummaging through it. Reno couldn't see what he was grabbing from his spot on the floor, but could definitely hear when he stopped going through his and suddenly started going through what he thought to be Aoi's.

"Sir, can I ask what you are doing?" Reno called out as he got up from the floor to investigate the weird behavior.

"Hm? Oh, just- uhh, changing into civilian clothes. I just remembered I had some business outside of base that I should probably take care of." Kafka said as he donned a large black jacket, thin gloves, a neck gaiter, and grabbed his over-sized black towel. The item he had seemed to grab from Aoi's locker was his spare set of combat boots.

"Okay… If it's just errands, then why do you need Aoi's boots? Aren't they bigger than your feet?" Reno continued to question as he followed Kafka out of the barracks and over to what appeared to be a supply closet.

"Oh, the boots? I-uh, noticed mine were pinching my feet, so I thought I'd take Aoi's for a spin." Kafka offered as an excuse, but Reno could tell what a poor excuse it was. It didn't distract him enough from questioning why Kafka was holding the door's handle a weird way and suddenly slamming his shoulder into it.

"Isn't that door locked?" Reno kept interrogating an uninterested Kafka. He didn't stop him once he somehow managed to bash the door open and walked inside like he owned everything.

"Only if you don't know how shittly made some of the doors are here on base." Kafka said nonchalantly as he scanned the shelves within. He found and grabbed a flat head screwdriver, a hammer, and a can of WD-40 and put them inside the towel before twisting the whole thing together and tying it in such a way as to not have the contents spill out.

"Hey, could you do me another favor? I know, I'm asking a lot today, but just this once? I'll even pay you back for the water bottle later, but first, could you help Hakua keep an eye on Minase while I'm gone?" Kafka asked as he left the supply closet and slung the impromptu bag over his shoulder.

"Wait, you're leaving now?" Reno asked as he followed him to the end of the hallway.

"Yeah, bud! I just said I had errands to do, didn't I? Don't worry, I'll be sure to tell Vice Cap where I'm going." Kafka said with an encouraging wink as he rounded the corner and quickly jogged out of sight.

Reno wasn't sure what was going on with his friend, but he was fairly certain it wasn't good. It certainly didn't make him feel better about knowing that Kafka was about to do it without him.

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It was about three am that night when Minase got woken up by another phone call. She shook the sleepy fog from her head as her pink flip-phone rang out it's cheery little chip tune. She grabbed her phone quickly and walked as fast as she could bring herself to in her groggy state out the barrack door. She walked a good distance away before sliding the device open and taking the call.

"Sweetie?" A familiar voice called out, not bothering to hide the distress it carried.

"Mom? Are you okay? What's going on?" Minase answered in a gravely tone, trying to get accustomed to understanding others on a lack of sleep.

"Listen Sweetie, I get you were upset at your father about what he said about the dogs-"

"He's not my dad." Minase interrupted in a quiet voice, knowing that her mother was just going to ignore the comment anyway,

"- But I don't think it warranted hiring a hit-man to get them!" Her mother whispered harshly. In the background, she could hear the sound of sirens and her step-father shouting at someone.

"Wait, what?" Minase asked as she rubbed her face.

"I understand you're attached to your little goobers, but Chase wasn't actually going to hurt them! He loves them too, he just has a hard time showing it and-"

"Mom, stop, back up. What was that about a hit-man?" Minase thought she had heard her mother wrong when she said something about a hit-man.

"A strange man broke into our house tonight and stole your dogs!" Her mom said as her quiet tone got increasingly shrill.

"Maybe start with that?!" Minase almost felt like she was shouting once she heard about the break-in.

"What, that someone stole the dogs? I thought I did?" her mom questioned.

"No-god, the break in! Someone broke in?" Minase's mind started to fray again. First with her step-father threatening her dogs and now this!

"Yes, I thought that was implied with the dog-napping?" her mother could be scatter-brained some days, but tonight was taking the cake. Minase was growling as she tried to think of her next question, but stopped once she heard her mother scuffling with someone on the other end of the line.

"god damn it woman just hand it here- YOU." A clearly irritated voice broke into the private conversation with an enraged bellow, "Listen here you dumb bitch, I get that being a Defense force officer might make you feel like such a big girl now, but getting one of your suped-up, mutant Kaiju super-freaks to come down here and take away your stupid mutts is a clear overstepping of where you stand in life! How many dicks did you have to suck off for that, Huh? Did you have to get on your hands and knees, bat your dull little eyes at the first dumb schmuck that would listen to you? It really speaks to the quality of your fellow members that if you were that desperate for your yippy rats, you somehow managed to find some deprived knuckle-dragger willing to dedicate some serious grey matter to this idiotic plan of yours and-"

"Shut up, just shut UP!" Minase yelled into her phone, "I didn't ask anyone to get my dogs back! No one even knows where you live because I actively try to forget you exist! We don't even have any mutant Kaiju hit-men for me to even bother sending out to your dilapidated rust bucket shed you call a house!"

"Oh yeah? Tell that to my right fist I just sent through someone's eye socket! Not to mention the fact the fridge has a dent in it now from where that stupid asshat sent me flying into it! Ya wanna come down and take a look at it and continue to be the stupid little bitch that you are, huh? Denying that you got someone from your freak division to come down here and fuck up my shit? You know your paying for the damages, right? I'll be expecting money for a new fridge, a nice one, from your paycheck and it better be before the sun rises on your precious bitch lackey's funereal!-" At that point, Minase just clicked the flip phone shut.

The creaking of its case echoed slightly into the empty hallway as her fist tightened around it in restrained rage. Her arm shook with the force of her quiet wrath before launching her phone into the nearest wall with the full force of everything she wanted to hold back. She watched as it bounced off the wall and bench under it before coming to a stop a few feet from her. The phone looked like it remained intact, with was more than what one could say about her emotions right now. Minase tried not to fall directly onto her knees and instead stumbled quickly over to a nearby vending machine, its light acting as a pleasant beacon in her mind. She tried to stop herself from falling onto it, but her knees gave out at the worse time and caused the machine to rattle a little from the force of her landing. Tears had been welling up for a while, but now fell freely from her tired eyes. She felt her legs lose their strength as she slipped quietly onto the floor, covering up her sobs as best she could.

"Minase? Is… that you?" A tired voice cracked the night's stillness, causing her to turn and face the newcomer.

"Sorry. Did I wake you?" Minase whispered as she gathered herself up just enough to ask Iharu, who was standing in the hallway with just a pair of sleep shorts.

"No… Well, kinda. But that's not important." Iharu rubbed the sleep from his face as he came over to the vending machine and helped Minase onto her feet just enough to help shuffle her over to the bench next to it.

He turned around and went back to the barracks and returned shortly with cash, and paid for a can of hot corn soup from the machine. He chugged some of it and hissed from the heat before sitting down next to her on the bench.

"Here, it's cold out here. You should get something warm in ya." He said as he offered the half eaten can.

She took the offered can with reserved appreciation and took a small sip for herself. A part of her didn't want the company, but considering it could have been anyone else that found her, she was at least glad that it was Iharu. When growing up with a family life that was less than ideal, it tends to make one yearn for anything stable in their life. Minase initially left because she wanted just that, and joining the Defense Force gave her the perfect opportunity. While continuing her training, she came to hear all about how the Defense Force was a great place to not only meet great people, but a place to form deep bonds with them. Something she wanted to experience with all her heart.

It wasn't hard to make friends here with everyone being fairly like minded people. It had only been about a month and she already felt like she was a sister to everyone here. She couldn't even begin to explain just how quickly she became attached to everyone, including the witty old guy in their battalion. Minase knew it was way too early to admit this, but she really did like to think of Kafka as the dad she wished she had. And if Kafka was her dad, then Iharu felt like the brother she always wanted. Most girls here probably would have had their hearts racing at the thought of having an indirect kiss with the resident hot-shot, but to her it just felt like something a caring brother would have done.

"So can I ask what happened, or do you want to sit in silence together until you feel like letting me walk you back to bed?" Iharu asked with a yawn, slouching over until his elbows hit his knees.

Minase bitterly chuckled, "I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep for a while, let alone tonight."

"What, did the fucked-up old man say something stupid and insane like usual?" Iharu tried to be helpful as he tried to cut her step-father down.

"No." Minase tried to playfully counter before contradicting herself, "Well, yes, and it's actually kinda serious, but it wasn't what he said about me."

She took a deep breath before she spoke, "Someone broke into my parent's place tonight."

"Anyone hurt?" Iharu reflexively fired back.

"No one that didn't deserve it. Chase got thrown into the fridge after he slugged the guy, but the biggest problem is that the guy that broke in stole my dogs." Minase answered before she took another sip of the hot canned soup.

"Fuuuuck." Iharu sleepily droned out, "Ain't that a swift kick in the nuts."

"You know what hurts the most?" Minase hinted at, "Is that I feel a little relieved that it happened." She tried to hold back another wave of sobs which caused her lungs to hiccup and her frame to shake again.

"Nooo, Minase! You don't mean that, come on." Iharu drawled as he scooted closer and wrapped an arm around her. She tucked her head into his chest as a hand came up to hold back her tears.

"They have a chance to go to a nicer family this way, right? They practically look like pure-breeds so some fancy, upper-crust family would have to pay out the nose to give them a happy life." Minase continued to quietly sob as she did her best to hug Iharu back for personal support.

"Look, it's been reported to the police, right? Maybe in the morning we can head to your parents' place and we can ask your mother for details. Or maybe we just spend a day or two posting flyers, I don't know. Either way, we can all pitch in to get your dogs back." Iharu tried to comfort her as he rubbed soothing circles into her shaking back.

"There's no point if I have no where to keep them!" Minase did her best to muffle her pitiful wails behind her already occupied hands.

Off in the distance down the hallway, they heard a strange noise, loud enough to be heard over their emotional conversation. Iharu spared a glance down the darkened hallway in what he hoped was the direction the noise was from. Since Minase didn't seem to hear it the first time, he ignored his instincts and went back to comforting her. However, he couldn't bring himself to ignore his gut feelings any longer once he heard what sounded like chairs crashing and a muffled curse.

"What was that?" Iharu muttered suspiciously as he shifted on the bench.

"Yeah, I heard it too." Minase confirmed as she wiped away the last of her tears.

The two of them looked at each other before deciding to get up and follow the noise. They traveled down the almost pitch black hallway with Minase peering into the dark panes of glass that lined the corridor with the light from her phone. Iharu quickly found a janitor's closet in the dark and began to brutally shoulder the door open. He reached inside and grabbed a wide broom and met back up with Minase.

"What's that for?" she asked.

"Intruders?" Iharu answered with an unsure shrug.

"Why would anyone want to break into a Defense Force Base?" Minase countered.

"I'm sorry, do you think we get paid enough to ask that kind of question right now?" Iharu retaliated as he brandished the makeshift weapon.

They didn't have to continue very far before they noticed something strange in one of the offices on that floor. Looking through the inner window, they both noticed that one office was a lot brighter than the others, mainly due to the fact that one of the outer windows was open and the blinds covering it were drawn up. The full moon outside gave out enough light to let the duo see what was a clear outline of a large, hunched figure currently ducked behind a desk. They quietly rushed to the office door, and once finding it unlocked, let themselves inside. With her phone off, they stealthily rounded the desks behind the lumbering figure.

Iharu couldn't tell what the person was saying, but could tell that they were struggling with something wriggling in their jacket. As he lifted the full weight of the broom to come down on the intruder's head, he accidentally knocked the head of it against the lip of a desk next to him. As he let out a clipped curse, the stranger in front of them quickly turned around and scrambled backwards across the floor screaming. Startled by his screaming, both Iharu and Minase began to scream as well. Once everyone started screaming, did two little yapping fluff balls make their presence known.

"Wait, dogs?" Iharu called out first once he heard the unusual disturbance.

"Shit, Iharu?" The barely masked stranger guessed after he calmed down.

"Kafka?" Minase and Iharu both answered once they heard the intruder's voice.

"Well, so much for anonymity." Kafka groaned sarcastically as he pulled down his face mask.

Minase turned and bolted for the light switches back next to the door to the office and turned the lights on. Coming back she saw two familiar looking lumps of hyperactive fur rapidly shaking in the confines of the large black jacket Kafka was still wearing.

"Ronny! Tototo!" She cried as she scrambled for her twin Pomeranian pups.

Kafka unzipped his jacket and very carefully pulled them out so he could hand them over to a very teary eyes Minase. Iharu let the broom drop to the floor as he watched with astonishment while Minase fell to her knees and lavished her once forsaken pets. She held them close as she lovingly pelted them with loud kisses before fully falling to the floor and laid on her side, letting them lick her back with equal voracity. More tears came to spill out, not of sadness for once, but out of happiness and was now mixing into a layer of joyous dog slobber being lathered on her face. Her enthusiastic giggles could not be contained and instead echoed slightly in the mostly empty office. As the scene unfolded before them, Iharu slowly moved closer to Kafka and helped the quietly elated man off the floor.

"Jeezus, man! What the hell happened to your eye?" Iharu asked once Kafka had dusted himself off.

"Hmm! Oh, this?" Kafka answered as he pointed to the fresh shiner blooming over his right eye, "Got distracted and walked right into a light pole! Can ya believe it!" He tacked on a great big smile to hopefully sell the lie.

"Uh huh." Iharu grunted, already suspicious, "Was the distraction caused by the dogs or from recovering getting knocked in the head first?"

"Don't know what you're talking about." Kafka muttered as he innocently shrugged.

"Really?" Iharu incredulously countered, "You seriously expect us to believe that you didn't just break into Minase's Dad's house, knock his front door in, and make away with the dogs in question."

"Yes, because what the story actually is-" Kafka began with a mischievous glint in his good eye, "That I graciously intervened in what was clearly a home invasion gone wrong, rescued the dogs off the street after failing to apprehend the suspect that just so happened to be a similar build and height to me, and have so humbly decided that I could bring these poor, distraught, and fluffy victims to a safe location before notifying their proper owner. Who, come to find out, I just so happen to work with." Kafka finished smugly, "There's already a police report and everything."

Iharu rubbed his hands over his tired face for a moment and groaned loudly, "Oh, this is bad. Oh, you are going to get so caught." Those same hands came up to pull back on his hair, "How did you even know which house to hit? Minase never says anything about her family. E-e-even then, what's your excuse for being out so late? You have to know that Vice-Cap is going to kill you for being out this long."

"I don't know if you know this, but there aren't a whole lot of guys living in Western Japan with the legal name Chase, let alone living with a woman whose last name is Akari." Kafka informed as he patted Iharu's back, "And look, just leave the rest of the scary shit up to me. This may come as a shock, but this isn't the first time I've had to duck an assault charge as well as B+E." Upon hearing this, Iharu slowly turned and looked up at the fellow brother-in-arms, now a complete stranger to him once again.

"Please tell me this is just another Germany thing?" He asked, wanting it to coax out some reassurance that Kafka wasn't as crazy as he was being led to believe.

Kafka just let out a breathy chuckle, "I'll tell you about it some other time." He left cryptically open-ended.

Iharu watched as Kafka walked off and joined Minase on the floor, pulling out strips of cold, precooked bacon from the pocket of his jeans and teased the Pomeranian brothers with it. Iharu, still being too tired to continue to question any of this, just shook his head gave up, preceding to join the other two people on the floor and introduced himself to the new ferociously furry company.

"i really appreciate you doing this for me Kafka!" Minase cheered as she held her pups close to her chest, "But it doesn't change the fact that they can't stay here. I'm sure the higher-ups wouldn't let us."

"You let me worry about that too." Kafka countered as he tore up the last strip of bacon he owned, "Who knows, maybe Bakko could do with a pair of friends."

"Or a set of snacks." Iharu mumbled as he reached out a hand for one of the Pomeranians to sniff at.

"Don't even joke like that." Minase growled as she harshly pulled her dogs out for Iharu's reach.

[sihtricfedaraaahvicius]

Note: part 9, just a little filler chapter to the Halloween fic!

Warnings: 18+!, suggestive, talk of bdsm activities, loads of fluff.

pairing: Modern!Sihtric x you (f)

summary: Several weeks have passed since Sihtric burned Skade's body in his backyard, and so restoring peace in your lives. And now that you were both even more in love than before, you kept asking him about that basement of his….

wordcount: 4,3k

Masterlist

'Those are for when I'm feeling a little… playful.'

'Please, Sihtric?' you pleaded with puppy dog eyes.

'Darling,' Sihtric shook his head lightly, 'I-,'

'Please, my love?' you pouted, batting your eyelashes.

'Fine,' Sihtric sighed with a smile, not being able to resist you, 'I will show you. But I'll only let you take a look, nothing more.'

'Just a look,' you scowled and crossed your arms, 'why are you so protective over that basement?'

'I'm not protective of my basement, sweet thing,' Sihtric pulled you in his arms, 'I am protective of you,' he said and pecked your lips, 'I just know for a fact you won't be able to handle me down there, not yet at least. And I don't want you to unintentionally feel pressured, and I definitely don't want to accidentally hurt you. We need to have good talks before you can try some things with me there.'

'Good talks?' you frowned as you straddled his lap.

'Yeah,' Sihtric smiled, looking up into your eyes as he brushed your lower lip with his thumb, 'negotiations. I want and need to know your boundaries, my love. I need to know what you like and what you do not like. The things you want to try and the things you absolutely do not want to try. How far you are willing to go with me, and how far I am allowed to go with you. And you,' he kissed the tip of your nose, 'also need to know my boundaries. You need to know what I enjoy being done to me, and what I will enjoy doing to you, but also the things I will absolutely not allow.'

'Like what?' you asked, curiously, 'what are some things you forbid?'

'Well, as you know I do not enjoy being degraded or humiliated,' Sihtric said, 'and I don't want to do that to my woman either,' he smiled at you, 'and I mean the hardcore stuff. I have no problem calling you a slut,' Sihtric chuckled, 'unless that offends you.'

'No,' you laughed, 'I actually don't mind that, if it's in the moment.'

'Good,' Sihtric smiled and brushed his fingertips over your cheek, 'because that I do enjoy,' he winked, 'but it's a little complicated, really.'

'Try me.'

'Hm,' Sihtric hummed, 'some of the things I enjoy are considered to be part of what they call a degrading kink. For example, calling each other names or using some taunting phrases, but nothing too crazy. I have no problem calling you my slut, or to command you to call me certain names when I'm in charge,' he smirked, 'like telling you to address me with sir, for example.'

'You like being called sir?' you bit down on your lip with a smile.

'Mhm,' Sihtric hummed, 'sometimes I do,' he licked his lips, 'and it sounded really hot when you just said that,' he smiled, 'but sometimes I'll also enjoy making you beg. It's all rather innocent, the things I really don't enjoy are insulting one's appearance or performance. And I don't allow serious humiliation, like spitting on each othe or tying you up and leaving you for example. Making each other feel as if you don't respect each other is the biggest turn off for me. And, to be honest, it's also really about the way you say things to each other.'

'How so?'

'Well,' Sihtric pecked your lips, then spoke with his low, calm voice, 'will you be a good little slut for me tonight, baby girl?' he smiled sweetly and you felt your cheeks heat up, as well as a heavy, heated pressure between your thighs.

'Shit,' you chuckled softly, 'that's really hot,' you admitted, to which Sihtric laughed.

'Yeah?' he asked with a grin, 'I like that too. But what if I said it like this,' he cleared his throat, gave you an intense stare and raised his voice a little, 'will you be a good fucking slut for me tonight?' he asked with a degrading tone.

'Oh,' you grimaced, 'y-yeah, no, that… doesn't work for me,' you chuckled, 'sorry.'

'Good, because that doesn't work for me either,' Sihtric said, 'at least we agree on that already.'

'Mhm,' you hummed, 'but isn't spanking also considered degrading, or something like that?'

'Yes,' he said, 'that is why things are complicated to explain. I would love to restrain you and chain you up and have my way with you,' he said softly, 'and maybe some spanking and a little whipping,' he smiled slyly as he looked into your eyes, 'and I enjoy a bit of light choking, a little bossing around. Maybe even leashing you, to keep you in check,' he winked. 'But I wouldn't make you crawl over the floor like a dog for example,' he laughed, 'that's where I draw the line. I would never want to embarrass you or dehumanise you. All the things I enjoy doing, are things I enjoy being done to myself. Except for whipping,' he said and frowned, 'for some reason I really don't enjoy that being done to me.'

'Okay… I think I'm getting the idea,' you said, smiling.

'I'm glad,' Sihtric smiled and pecked your lips, 'I only enjoy doing things that still feel respectful to me, in a strange way maybe. And only if it feels good for both of us. It's important to me that whatever we do, we both feel loved and safe in the process. It's all about trust, my love.'

 'You really are a big softie, huh?' you chuckled.

'I am,' Sihtric smiled, 'and you know I will remember all of this, right? And I will pay you back one day for taunting me like this. Then we'll see how soft I am,' he cupped your cheeks and nuzzled your nose, 'my little bat.'

'Sure,' you rolled your eyes, 'will you show me that basement now?' you asked and tugged his shirt impatiently while he pecked your lips again.

'Impatient little bat,' Sihtric chuckled, 'come with me then,' he said and took your hand.

He guided you into the long hallway, which was around the corner of the large black stairs, of which you had been dragged down weeks ago by a demonic force. You walked past his hidden library and, at the very end of the hallway, Sihtric took out some keys and unlocked a door. Behind the door was a large wide staircase, which Sihtric led you down on, guiding you into another long and dark hallway, which was dimly lit up after he flipped a switch on the wall.

'It's really a dungeon, huh?' you snickered, seeing the old brown bricks of which the hallway consisted.

'I prefer to call it a playroom,' Sihtric grinned and squeezed your hand lightly, 'but sure, dungeon works too. But this is only the way towards it,' he said and walked you further, 'the room itself does not look like this, I promise.'

At the end of the slightly cold and old looking hallway, Sihtric took out another pair of keys from his pocket and unlocked a huge heavy black wooden door. He took your hand again and led you into the pitch black room, which had a faint pleasant smell of cinnamon. You heard the door close behind you and you felt Sihtric's hand sneak up to cover your eyes.

'Hey,' you giggled, hearing Sihtric laugh softly in your ear as he flipped another light switch.

'Ready?' he whispered, to which you nodded.

Sihtric uncovered your eyes and snuck his arms around your waist from behind. Your eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room and you gasped softly, followed by a rather nervous chuckle, which Sihtric heard.

'You know,' he pecked your cheek a few times, lovingly, 'I am not expecting you to like everything here, or wanting to try everything. Don't ever feel any pressure, okay, sweet thing?'

'I… I know,' you said, staring around the room with big eyes.

His playroom, as he called it, was large but still cosy, as well as impressive. The walls were painted blood red, the floor was made of a dark oaken wood, while the ceiling was painted black. Each wall had several shelves, and when you look to your left you saw a cinnamon scented candle, which explained the heartwarming smell as you quickly spotted the same sort of candle on almost every shelf. The room was dimly lit with a warm white colour, which Sihtric then changed to neon red by turning a button next to the lightswitch, which gave the room a pleasantly threatening vibe.

You looked to the wall on your right and saw various handcuffs and whips on display. All different in colour, size and shape, and you wondered why on earth there were so many different versions. Next to the handcuffs and whips you saw a few different leather collars as well as various metal chains, all different in thickness. And on the floor, underneath the chains, stood a glass box with uncountable padlocks inside. Some padlocks came with the regular set of keys and some were combination locks, you noticed.

'What's up with those combination locks?' you asked.

Sihtric smiled, swaying gently as he held you tight in his arms, 'Those are for when I'm feeling a little… playful.'

'Playful?'

'Maybe one day,' Sihtric said with his low, calm voice, 'you'll be teasing me, as you always do, but just a tad too much. And then, maybe, I would have to chain you up and tease you back,' he spun you around and took your chin, your noses touching lightly, and he whispered, 'and then I'll want play with you. I'd tease you with my lips…,' he kissed you softly, 'and with my tongue…,' he flicked his tongue against your smiling lips, 'and with my fingers…,' he said, and gently pushed his thumb inside your mouth. 'And I would tease you until you beg me to stop,' he whispered, licking his lips slowly while sliding his digit out of your mouth, and he gently wrapped his hand around your throat, 'and I will make you cum again, and again, and again,' his lips brushing over yours, 'and the only way you could make me stop, is to guess the number combination of that lock,' Sihtric smiled and winked, 'or with a safe word, of course,' he said quickly and kissed your lips lightly, 'would you like that, my love?' he purred as his eyes locked with your fully blown pupils.

You were dizzy at the entire thought and you pulled Sihtric closer, desperate for his kiss and his touch, your hands grabbing him wherever you could while you moaned against his lips as you kissed him.

'Easy, easy,' Sihtric cooed, taking your hands and holding them gently down next to your body, 'easy, my darkness,' he hushed you with a soft kiss, 'remember we're only here to look.'

'Y-yeah, I know,' your breath hitched and you swallowed hard.

You tried to compose yourself again while Sihtric gently caressed your warm cheek, and you looked back into the room. 

Next to his arsenal of chains was a large wooden X-shaped cross attached to the wall. Which was padded with black leather and had restraining points for wrists and ankles. Sihtric saw your eyes grow even wider and he chuckled. He took your hand and pulled you towards the wooden frame.

'You know what this is?' he asked, leaning back against the black leather.

'I think so,' you chuckled softly, 'you can restrain someone to it, right?'

'Mhm,' Sihtric hummed and swapped places, pushing you gently up against the cross.

He held your hands and brought them up to the wrist restraining points, near the top of the cross.

'I could restrain you like this,' Sihtric smiled as he towered over you, then gently kicked your feet apart, ankles towards their respective restraining points, 'or like that,' he leaned his forehead against yours while your breathing became heavier. 

Sihtric slowly trailed his rough hands down your arms, to your waist, and with one swift move he turned you around, making you face the black leather, and he chuckled softly in your ear as he brought your hands up again and pinned you against the cross.

'Or like this,' he whispered, then kissed your cheek and turned you back to face him again, 'but you could also restrain me, if you like,' he smiled and laced his fingers with yours.

'Do you like that?' you asked almost shyly, 'with… this... thing I mean,' you looked back at the cross.

'Sometimes,' Sihtric grinned, 'it's nice for some edging.'

You didn't know what to say to that as your head was spinning, and you allowed the handsome Dane to pull you back in his arms. You looked back into the room again and your eyes got stuck on something that looked like a kneeling bench you'd find in a church. Except this one had red padded leather and leather handcuffs attached to where you'd normally rest your hands during prayer.

'What…' you snorted, and Sihtric followed your eyes.

'That… is a spanking bench,' Sihtric laughed softly at your astonishment, and he pulled you with him towards the unholy bench. He moved his muscular body behind you again and circled his arms around you.

'I can bend you over it,' he softly spoke in your ear, 'or force you down to your knees on it and handcuff you, if you would allow me to.'

'I see,' you chuckled, feeling your core heat up even more at the thought, 'and then what?'

'Then I could tease you,' his lips touched your ear lightly as he whispered, 'with my hands, or my cock. Or I could fuck your pretty little mouth. Hmm,' he hummed, 'but I could also use it to just spank you,' he chuckled mischievously and turned you to face him again, cupping your cheeks, 'but only if you've been a bad girl that is.'

'Oh, really?' you giggled, sliding your hands under his black shirt.

'Mhm,' Sihtric hummed softly, 'but you're not a bad girl, are you?'

You giggled again and shrugged shyly.

'Hm, no,' he husked, 'you're a good girl,' he slid his hands down your back and cupped your buttocks, 'such a good girl for me,' he breathed. 

Then Sihtric suddenly grabbed your ass firmly, bit down on his lip, and gave you a hard loud spank with one hand, and he immediately silenced your surprised gasp with his other hand. 

'Or do you want to be a bad girl for me, hm?' he asked with a devilish smile, carefully removing his hand from your lips.

'I'll be anything you want me to be,' you sighed, to which Sihtric smiled and kissed your forehead.

'I want you to be my queen. My love, always,' he whispered, 'but sometimes… I'd like you to be my dirty little slut, who may need a bit of punishment, after you've teased me for too long.'

Sihtric kissed you eagerly, sliding his tongue in your mouth as he parted your lips, capturing you in a hungry, steamy kiss, and soon you were tugging at each other's clothes and hair. Pushing and pulling each other, playfully, while the tension in the room spiked.

'Where do you want me?' Sihtric asked, his voice hoarse in between kisses, and you suddenly giggled.

'Don't be shy, princess,' he said, before he ran his tongue up your throat and playfully bit your chin, 'tell me where you want me.'

He pulled you back towards the X-shaped cross and leaned back against it, 'do you want me here, baby?' he rasped, holding his arms up as if restrained while he looked down into your eyes.

'Fuck,' you breathed, wide-eyed, while your hands desperately pulled at his shirt, 'Sihtric-,' you moaned, but he quickly silenced you with his tongue in your mouth.

He then picked you up in his arms, your legs locked around his waist and your nails almost scratching his cheeks while holding his face, wanting to kiss him deeper, harder, and rougher. Sihtric moaned heavily into your mouth and carried you over to the large black framed bed, which was even more impressive than the one in his bedroom. This bed also had a huge headboard, but it came with wooden beams which made for a ceiling over the bed. And attached to those black beams were a few iron rings and hooks, holding metal chains and some ropes which hung loose and rested partly upon the dark, soft sheets.

'Or do you want me here, my queen?' Sihtric asked with ragged breath as he laid you down on the bed. 

He took one of the metal chains in his hand, pulling it along with him as he climbed on top of you. The pleasant, dangerous sound of the chain rattling through the iron rings filled the room, along with your heavy breaths. And the stunning man saw your eyes darken once again as he towered over you, holding his favourite restraining material between his tattooed fingers.

'You want to chain me up, pretty lady?' he chuckled dangerously.

You nodded with a grin as you pulled him down to you by the collar of his shirt, and you both heard the fabric rip before you stole a quick kiss.

'Hm,' Sihtric smiled, 'you liked chaining me up, didn't you?' he inhaled sharply and wrapped the cold metal chain around his own wrist, 'I really, really liked that too,' he exhaled and kissed you roughly.

'Sihtric,' you breathed, breaking the kiss, 'just fuck me, please.'

'Here?' he smirked, 'or should I finally lock you in that pillory over there?' he cocked his head to the side.

'God, please,' you moaned, almost tearing his shirt further to pieces as you pulled him in for another kiss.

You felt dizzy with lust when Sihtric pulled you off the bed, towards that handmade pillory, which was placed near a corner next to a large mirror. He took his shirt off before you could do more damage to it, and threw it on the floor as he stepped closer to you, smiling, as he had a dangerously sexy look in his eyes.

'You think you can handle me, baby?' he laughed when he saw the lust in your eyes, 'you think I won't... completely fucking ravage you here?' Sihtric purred, pushing you up against the wooden structure, and the sound of the locks rattling against the wood made you moan.

'Babe,' you pleaded, 'I need you… I need you inside me.'

'I know, sweet thing,' he sighed in your ear, stroking your hair gently with one hand as he had his other hand lightly wrapped around your throat, 'I'm just as desperate to fill you with my cock, believe me, my torturous love.' 

He gave you a few quick soft kisses before he suddenly stepped back, composed himself with a loud exhale and then chuckled. You muttered under your breath at the loss of his touch and gave him a confused and dissatisfied look.

'No,' Sihtric smirked, raking his hand through his hair, 'I said I'm only taking you here to have a look,' he said calmly, trying to control his breathing, and rubbed his hands over his face.

'Please,' you begged, stepping closer to him.

'No, baby,' he whispered as he pulled you close, 'calm down, my love. We can't do any of this without self control.'

'Why?' you complained with a chuckle, wanting him so desperately.

'If there is no discipline, then there is no control,' Sihtric kissed your cheek, 'and then the chances of getting hurt in an unpleasant way are too big,' he sighed, still trying to calm down himself, 'you have to understand, my sweet, sweet thing, that I am only denying you here right now because I don't want to hurt you, or worse, injure you.'

'I know, my love,' you sighed and pressed your face into his bare chest, gently kissing the scars on his body, to which Sihtric hummed softly.

'I love you, my dark angel,' he kissed the top of your head, 'you will have me later today, upstairs, in the bedroom. And I will make you feel really good, I promise.'

'I know you will,' you smiled, 'and I love you too.'

Sihtric kissed your cheek and pulled you away from the pillory, allowing you to explore the rest of the room. You moved on towards a low cabinet, and Sihtric told you that's where he keeps several first aid kits, as well as a landline phone, in case of emergencies, and small things like condoms, lubes, towels and some clean clothes. Sihtric also said he had some leather clothing, which apparently looked like some kind of armour, and you almost passed out at the thought.

On top of the low cabinet was a glass cabinet, which was locked, and it displayed various daggers, to which you smiled. And then, when you looked further, you saw a shelf which held a handful of horror themed masks.

'Masks, Sihtric?' you laughed as you stepped closer to inspect them.

'Problem, my lady?' Sihtric smiled as he took one of the masks in his hands, which was clearly inspired by the old Hannibal movies, but this mask was made of brown leather.

'You wear those?' you felt intrigued.

'Only if you'd be comfortable with it.'

'Hmm, maybe. But… what's the point?' you frowned.

'Some people like it when you can only see your partner's eyes, or half of their face. It adds a feeling of danger, I guess. For me,' Sihtric said, 'it can be nice to wear when things get a little more rough. Putting on a mask is becoming a bit of a different person, or in this case becoming another part of my personality, I suppose.'

'Hm,' you hummed, 'like roleplaying?'

'Eh,' Sihtric went over his thoughts for a moment, 'not really though. I don't play a character or something like that. Masks can just help you feel a bit more comfortable, because let's be honest, the things we'd do here are things we would never do somewhere else. It's… more a secret identity. And a mask gives that identity a face, in a freaky way I guess. Does that make sense?' he frowned with a soft smile.

'I think so,' you smiled.

'But that's for another time,' Sihtric said as he put the mask back on the shelf.

He pulled you with him to a round black sofa, which was placed in the centre of the room, where he sat down and pulled you in his lap.

'Thoughts?' he whispered, 'is it too much? Too little? Too fucking weird?' he chuckled.

'No, it's… enough,' you smiled, 'more than enough for me, I think.'

'Good,' he smiled and took your chin to kiss your lips.

'So, when… you know,' you said, 'do you think we could try something here?'

'Well,' Sihtric cleared his throat, 'I think that first you should take a moment to really think about this, let it sink in. And I want you to make a list of everything you want to try and everything that is off limits. I will do the same, and then we will discuss our lists,' he smiled sweetly at you, 'we'll see what overlaps on our lists and we'll discuss those things thoroughly. And only when we've been over every detail and settled on safe words and safe signals, only then, we can go and try some things. But you have to understand I will start slowly with you. Restraining someone can cause panic attacks when not done properly, or when someone's energy is off. Even for me, baby,' he kissed your lips softly, 'I can still freak out too if something is not done the right way. The most important thing is that you feel comfortable with me and with what we'll do. You have to feel safe and calm, and there needs to be trust at all times. And we can never bring any negative emotions down here, it's not safe. It's not safe when you're not in control of yourself.'

'I understand,' you said softly as you played with his hair, 'other than… you know, the witch,' you rolled your eyes, 'have you ever had a negative experience?'

'Yeah,' Sihtric whispered and cupped your cheek, 'I almost lost control once,' he said and looked away from your eyes, ashamed, 'I wasn't in a good place. It happened with the first woman I was with after my divorce,' he sighed, 'I was angry, upset, confused, hurt… and I carried it with me, down here. I…,' he clenched his jaw, 'I was too angry, too rough. I could stop myself and she was okay in the end. We had a good talk before she left, but naturally we never hooked up again. And that's why I will never take you here if one of us is not feeling right. I'd never want you to get hurt,' he whispered and kissed your lips, 'I love you, little bat, so much. So fucking much, baby,' he nuzzled your nose softly and sighed, 'so, so much, my sweet angel.'

'And I love you too,' you caressed his cheeks with your thumbs as you held his breath-taking face in your hands, 'more than you could ever understand, Sihtric. More than I could ever even try to explain. I... there are no words for what I feel for you,' you kissed his lips softly, 'I love you with everything I got, and I will until my last breath, my darling, and even after death I will still love you. You have my undying love,' you smiled softly.

'Hm,' Sihtric hummed with a smile, 'I can't believe I found you,' he whispered, 'I can't believe you're mine. How lucky I am...'

'Stop it,' you giggled softly, 'you make me shy,' you said and buried your face in his neck.

'Sorry,' Sihtric laughed softly, wrapping his arms tightly around you, 'I love you,' he whispered, 'forever.'

'Forever,' you smiled and kissed his lips, 'so… anything else you're into that I need to know?'

'Hmm, I think most of it speaks for itself here,' Sihtric said, 'and well, I have a praise kink,' he shrugged.

'Oh,' you chuckled, 'do you now?' you grinned, 'I had a feeling already…'

'Oh, really?' Sihtric smiled, 'how so?'

'You always ask me if I like what you're doing, and you seem to enjoy giving praise too.'

'That is true,' he said, 'I enjoy praising as much as I enjoy receiving them.'

'You have any favourite praises that you like to hear?' you asked, cupping his cheek and softly brushing your thumb across his scar.

'Hm, no, a lot of things really get me going, as long as it's genuine,' he shrugged with a smile, his hands trailing over your arms.

'I will remember that,' you smiled, 'because I want to make you feel good too.'

'Baby, you always make me feel good,' Sihtric whispered, 'the way you ride me,' he chuckled lightly, 'the way you suck me and jerk me off,' he smiled sweetly, 'everything you do is so good to me.'

'And so is everything you do,' you kissed his lips, 'and all the dirty talk aside,' you giggled, 'you really are the sweetest and most caring man I've ever met, Sihtric. You're so fucking special and I love you so much. I know I've said that a million times already-,'

'And yet I could never tire from hearing you say those words, my love,' Sihtric said and softly kissed you, 'now, I think we should go back upstairs,' he whispered, 'to my bedroom, where you can show me your praise skills.'

You both chuckled softly and pulled each other in for one more kiss, before Sihtric picked you up in his arms and carried you all the way up to his bedroom.

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[bleue-flora]

Okay, so I heard you wanted to answer some questions so...How about 2, 4, 7, 16, 23, 56, and 73?

(Sorry if it's a lot, you don't have to answer them all if you don't want)

2. Do you plan each chapter ahead or write as you go?

Most of the time I write chapters and then determine the order and/or if I have to break it into multiple chapters. Sometimes I play scrapbook with random bits of writing I have and put those into a more cohesive chapter. Frequently, I’ll have a plan for like a set of chapters as far as what I want them to be. So a bit of both I guess.

4. Where do you find inspiration for new ideas?

Everything?… I mean for starters I have a list that’s made up of words I come across and think I can use later. Sometimes I’ll experience something and it’ll spur a writing section like tasting iron and writing a whole segment on blood. The most random things may inspire me to use as a description or metaphor like watching grass on the side of the road get pushed by the wind. Sometimes quotes from movies I’m watching or elsewhere inspire me. Sometimes an idea comes directly from a person intentionally or unintentionally. Comments can often spark something. Watching old dsmp streams for research is when I’ll sometimes catch a detail I didn’t before. Reading other fics can fuel new ideas. And sometimes I’m just delirious at 3am and decide that Quackity should crucify Dream… XD

7. How do you choose which POV to write from?

It’s usually framed by the story or idea and often because I have specific thoughts I want the character to have.

16. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

Good question, which I answered here. It seems great minds think alike.

23. Best writing advice for other writers?

Not sure I have any business giving advice since I’ve only been writing fanfics for about a year now. But I’ll say this, don’t push yourself into writing if you can’t. Writers block happens and inspiration or creativity aren’t always available, which is ok. Those skills aren’t concrete like being able to pull out your calculator and do math or drive a car or brush your teeth. It’s a process and it comes and goes. I think everyone goes through it in one sense or another, but that doesn’t mean you have to let it beat you. Understand it is inevitable so no need to panic or apologize or give up. Instead, read other people’s works, talk to other writers for ideas, go enjoy life or any of the things I mentioned in 4. Inspiration will come again.

56. What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

I’d say it’s hard for me to pride myself in general. I write because I enjoy it not because I necessarily think it’s good (that requires confidence, which I don’t have XD) I’ve been told that my descriptions are very captivating and help the reader feel and see it in their mind, so probably that. People also tend to appreciate my dialogue which I try to make as real and accurate as possible even if that means lots of stuttering and filler words.

73. What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?

My insanity?…. Lol I mean, come on who else is writing hopscotch torture or making nutrition labels for their works? XD… For real though, I think my more flowery poetic style of writing isn’t standard. Someone once accused my chapter of being written by AI which I thought was both highly insulting and hilarious, because honestly my writing doesn’t follow the laws of grammar or story telling, like what do you mean you think a robot wrote this nonsense lol. ;)

[peachsayshi]

Chapter 13 - Spinning

Tags: Friends with Benefits, Smut, Angst

Summary: You and Gojo are caught up in your feelings and he unintentionally breaks another rule. 

A/N: (18+ / minors and ageless blogs dni) New chapter! This is a bit of a filler chapter but I am working up to some dramatic things (smut and angst coming up!) plus revealing some of the secrets that happened in the timeline 👀 I hope you enjoy it! And as always comments are appreciated ☺️

- - - 

Sitting cross legged on your bedroom floor, you proceeded to fold the fresh laundry into perfectly neat piles. Music enveloped your room, the bass from your speaker bouncing off the walls as you mindlessly hummed along to the track that was playing. This is how you were choosing to unwind after a long work week, by organizing and cleaning up your apartment. There was something completely cathartic about resetting your space and you found yourself having plenty of free time on your hands recently.

Gojo has been exceptionally busy. At first there was an itch when you began seeing less of him, the two of you would plan to get together but that consistently kept getting cancelled. Eventually those plans transitioned to you agreeing on catching up with one another once things settled. Now it seems the only time you managed to hear from your friend was with sporadic phone calls and random text messages that he would send you at weird hours. The itch slowly turned into an ache, that familiar knot in your stomach making its presence known more often than usual.

There was something about the way he managed to fill the silence. You always gave him a hard time about talking your ear off but realised that he actually entertained you with some great conversations.

Even though half the time he was talking about ridiculous subject matters…

You had to hand it to Satoru though, he always spoke with such enthusiasm he would make the concept of paint drying seem fascinating.

He was fascinating.

Eight years of friendship have taught you that but you were smart enough not to feed his ego. Despite the two of you being close, Gojo still never fully let you in. You couldn’t deny that you were intrigued by him, curious to know more about the strongest sorcerer who seemed totally unphased by his own title whenever he was around you. You wanted to know more about how he fought off curses and protected people from the evils that seemed to be invisible in your eyes. Although he consistently evaded your questions, he did slowly open up about other things. You particularly loved the way his face let up when he talked about his students and it made you realise that if there was anything Gojo Satoru had committed himself to, it was his role as an instructor to the next generation of sorcerers.

Still, you usually tried to pry information out of him when the two of you would get lost in deep conversation, noticing the way Gojo would drift in his own thoughts whenever the subject seemed to focus on him.

Clearly there was an extent to which the man loved talking about himself.

There was a point when he spoke where you saw his face grow pensive as he brought up an old friend. He referenced him in passing but the way his mouth fell pained you just as much as it seemed to hurt him. Your question was on the tip of your tongue, eager to learn more about the people within his own circle, but Satoru immediately shifted the conversation onto something else.

That wall, much like his infinity, is impenetrable.

Unfortunately, the dynamics were in his favor. You wished that you could conceal your own emotions as easily around him but it was impossible. Gojo had the capability of knowing exactly how you were thinking and feeling at any given second. His incredible perception was his advantage, that’s why he is able to gauge your reactions so well.

You smiled subconsciously to yourself, goosebumps floating up to your shoulders when you realised how much you wanted your arms wrapped around his neck, your body pressing into his chest while breathing that spicy, sweet cologne…

Stop it.

You paused your action, the jeans on your lap in a mid-fold as you froze in place and your brain instantly turned off those dangerous ideas.  

You swallowed your own emotions, your abdomen tight when you realised that you had just spent the last ten minutes having intimate thoughts about Gojo.

You really shouldn’t but there was something about the way he acts around you that made you the slightest bit curious as to what he was thinking and how he was feeling.

How often did you cross his mind and did he even miss you as much as you did him?

At some point the two of you were going to have to stop this little game you were playing. Even though you weren’t seeking it out at the moment, you do want to settle down eventually with somebody you love. Satoru made it perfectly clear where he stood on relationships. He had no desire to get involved with anybody and the concept of marriage was something he completely rejected.

You recalled having a conversation with him about: 

“Are you really telling me that you’re okay living as a bachelor for the rest of your life?”

“Happily, actually…” Gojo replied, while you both continued your heated debate on the prospects of love.

“But why are you so against it?”

"I have my reasons,” he replied with a shrug.

Satoru always seemed to have a reason for everything but he was not willing to share it with you, leaving you in moments like this to analyze the little things he says to try and put the pieces together yourself.

Truthfully, you don’t want to stop as you found yourself fixated on this new…friends with benefits-ship…

Everything about it felt so good that you couldn’t even remember what things were like before you started hooking up.

How could you go back to just being friends after he’s seen you in your most vulnerable state? How were you supposed to pretend that his hands haven’t unraveled you into submission time and time again? How could you sit next to him without thinking about kissing him for hours on end? How were you supposed to listen to him talk without remembering the moments where he would whisper angel in your ear?

How the hell did you manage to keep your hands off him before this even started?

There was always the unspoken fact that you found each other attractive but since this new dynamic has started the two of you were like magnets whenever you were in close proximity to one another.

Well, you were able to keep the barrier because you were in a happily committed relationship with Haru, you interjected and suddenly you found yourself slumping your shoulders.

Haru was in love with you. He gave you the companionship you needed, he filled the silence with mindless conversations and was the one who held you when you needed him. He was the one to swallow your cries with soft kisses, that made you laugh in hysterics when you needed to boost your mood…

Your heart stopped, realizing that you were seeking out what Haru gave you with Gojo. Your gut wrenching at the idea of you using your friend to fill the emotional gap that Haru left. This ache that knotted your insides meant nothing and you were letting your thoughts confuse you into thinking that you were missing Gojo.

All you needed was to get your distraction back.

After all, Gojo is just your friend.

You had no reason to think anything else could come of this and burned any other thought about Satoru from crossing your mind for the rest of the evening.

If you even thought for a second that you might be falling for him, you would cut ties immediately. You weren’t going to put a strain on your friendship because you’re silly ideals were getting in the way of your agreement.

The two of you were just fucking.

Nothing more, nothing less.

***

Gojo studied the woman before him, acknowledging the fact that she is one of the most stunning individuals he had ever laid his eyes on. She was older than him by ten years but if it wasn’t for the age on her online profile, he wouldn’t have been able to tell.

She was tall, meeting his own towering height, give or take a few inches. Her long, pin straight hair flowed to her hips, accentuating her curves and covering her supple breasts. Her face could strike down any man that looked at her with those deep eyes and he was tempted to nibble on her full lips. Seeing her in person made Gojo realize that her price was high for a reason and totally justifiable.

Anyone would pay extra to fuck a goddess.

Somehow, he wound up here thanks to his own frustrations. His desire for you was driving him wild and his own hands weren’t enough to solve this problem. He still respected the rules that were unbroken and knew that as long as he didn’t go too far with Ami, he was fine. He wasn’t going to have sex with her but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t help him out with his current predicament in other ways.

Besides, you did tell him that he was allowed to see other people. However, that didn’t stop his stomach from twisting at the thought of climbing into bed with someone other than you. He couldn’t quite figure out what this awkward sensation was or why he was bothered by his own decision to meet up with Ami in the first place.

Gojo stripped down to his boxers before sitting on the edge of her satin covered mattress. She was admiring him with amusement, the tempting smile on her lips telling him that she was also enjoying what she was seeing.

“You paid for a full hour but said that you might not be here for that long. Did something urgent come up?” she questioned, her voice sensually low and sending a shiver up Gojo’s spine.

My she is dangerous, he thought to himself, knowing full well how this entire experience would go under different circumstances.

The circumstances being, well, you.

“I don’t plan on sticking around too long...” he explained.

“I’ll have to adjust your pay accordingly then,” she replied, taking a few steps forward until she was standing in front of him.

“I don’t mind paying for the full hour,” Gojo teased with a grin, his free hand moving to touch her silky hair as he rubbed it between his fingers.

She smiled, nearly taking his breath away as she brought her finger to the blindfold covering his eyes.

“I don’t like accepting money for free,” she  stated, tracing her touch down his chiseled jawline. “I bet you’re handsome but I am guessing you don’t plan on taking this thing off to show me what you really look like.”

“Yep,” Gojo smiled as Ami proceeded to slide across her bed next to him. "And you guessed right, I’ve got an exceptionally pretty face.”

“Cocky too,” she purred, “there’s a special way I treat guys like you…”

Gojo hummed, switching his position so he was lying back against her pillows. Ami crawled her body over his lean torso, her hands rubbing up and down his thigh as she glanced in his direction.

“Oh, yeah? I would love to see how...” Gojo insisted, his breath growing heavy as she guided her hand all the way to his mouth.

She traced his bottom lip with her thumb, a devious mask highlighting her stunning features as she spoke, “Be a good boy and lie back while I take care of you…”

He fully caved, allowing this sultry siren to take control by touching and teasing his body however she pleased. Gojo usually enjoyed relinquishing his power every now and then but for whatever reason it was taking some effort for him to fully immerse himself with what was happening. Ami straddled his cock, before proceeding to press her mouth against his. Her lips were working fervently over his own as she deepened the kiss, but the spark that he needed just wasn’t igniting.

When Ami flicked her tongue over his, he would only think about the sensation of yours. The taste of you in his mouth lingered like an addictive poison. One that he craved every single time you crossed his mind. The sound of your moans played in his ear and the sweet way you called out his name when he touched you between your legs filtered his brain. He was only brought back to the reality that it wasn’t you pushing your body against his, when Ami wrapped her fingers around his throat. He tried to erase you and focus on the woman before him but was persistently failing.

She could see that something was off from how he was responding to her caresses. “Are you sure you're up for this tonight, baby?” Ami teased, whispering into his mouth as she snagged his bottom lip between her teeth. “You don’t seem ready for me...”

“Fuck…” Gojo grunted out of frustration, knocking his head back as he pressed his fingers to his temple. “It’s not you, I’m just distracted…”

“What’s on your mind?” she continued, stroking his broad chest lovingly to try and coax him out of the daze he was in.

“Not what...who…” he responded shyly, his cheeks blushing ever so slightly by his admittance.

“I see…” she cooed, “Wife? Girlfriend?”

Gojo scoffed, a comical laugh escaping him as he shook his head.

“Definitely not.”

Ami pressed her lips together, her nail doodling along his upper body with random figures as she continued to question her intriguing client.

“Tell me about her…”

Gojo froze, his hands digging into Ami’s thighs upon hearing her bold question, “she’s just a friend. There’s nothing to say...”

“Is she beautiful?”

“She’s gorgeous,” Gojo exhaled, his words passing his lips faster than he could process what he had just said. Ami tracked her hands down between her legs, stroking his boxers as she massaged his length.

“Tell me what she looks like…”

He described you in detail, from your sinfully sweet lips to the beautiful sound of your laughter and how soft your skin felt in his hands. She continued tricking him into revealing the intimate thoughts that swirled in his mind when he thought about you. She heard the way Gojo’s voice wavered as he swelled between her hands, the tip of his cock poking through his underwear as the pre-cum stained the material of his boxers. Ami pulled the clothing away from his hips, hands returning to grip his member as she continued stroking up and down his shaft.

“Do you think about fucking her with the other women you meet?”

“Yes,” Gojo revealed through gritted teeth, swallowing hard as she played with his tip by circling his thumb over the slit of his cock.

“How often?”

“Too often,” the sorcerer hissed, his hips bucking into her hands.

“I bet you wish you were fucking her right now, don’t you?”

She saw how turned on he is and how easily the thought of you brought him close to his release. Ami spread her legs, adjusting her stance until she brought the tip of his cock to her entrance. Gojo hesitated, knowing that he needed to stop what was about to happen. This wasn’t supposed to go this far. He was only here for a quick hand job or blowjob, but he couldn’t suppress a satisfied moan as she slid down to take in his length.

“F-fuck, wai-...”

“Shh, baby, close your eyes and think of your sweet angel…” Ami whispered in his ear, making Gojo roll his blue irises to the back of his head as he relaxed into her touch.

She didn’t speak after that, fulfilling her promise of taking care of him but also ensuring that his focus was solely on the mental image of you. The sound of her skin bouncing up and down his length took over the entire room. The way Ami stated that you were his was enough to send him over the edge and it didn’t take long until he climaxed at the thought, quickly pulling out of her and releasing hot ropes of cum all over her stomach but imagining that it was you the entire time. She immediately cleaned herself up after they finished, before giving Gojo some privacy and allowing him to get himself together.

After he got dressed, he pulled out his phone to transfer the payment. He doubled the amount he was supposed to give, totally aware that she didn’t reach her own release and was disappointed in himself that he couldn’t pleasure the remarkable temptress before him.

He slipped on his boots, his mind racing as the guilt rushed right through him. He hated that broke another rule, especially since this particular one was a boundary you set for your own comfort. He was angry at himself that he disrespected that and was annoyed for crossing the line in the first place.

What the fuck is wrong with me?, he thought to himself.

“I told you I don’t get paid for doing nothing. I don't accept money like that, not even from spoiled rich boys like you,” Ami stated, her words stung but she spoke in such a gentle tone that didn’t offend the sorcerer. She was leaning against the wall as she appeared before him, her body now covered with just a pink robe.

“You got me off but I did nothing to reciprocate. I tell all the other girls to charge double if that happens.”

“How considerate,” she mused before arching her brow in delight at him, “but for the sake of my own conscience I feel like I need to give you something in return…”

Gojo stood up from his seat, smoothing out his clothes before approaching her slowly. Even though he got what he wanted out of this arrangement, he was feeling worse about himself the longer he stayed in this room.

“How about a piece of advice before you leave and we can call it even?” Ami questioned.

“What is it?” the sorcerer wondered, hearing her feet patter against the carpet as she followed his footsteps to her front door.

She paused when she reached for the handle, before tilting her face and directing her full attention towards his covered eyes.

“Tell your friend how you feel or cut off whatever it is you’re doing. If you don’t tell her then you’re fucked, plain and simple.”

“Look, what happened just now doesn’t mean anything…”

She raised her fingers to his lips, stopping him from even attempting to defend what transpired.

“Don’t take this the wrong way but you’re easy to read. I have had clients come here trying to forget their lovers and those who come to see me because they can’t resist their own primative urges. I see the ones who are lonely, who only visit me for companionship and nothing more. Then there are the ones who are like you, who will bury themselves in any cunt they see just to pretend that they aren’t in love with somebody else…”

Gojo clenched his jaw, squeezing his hands together as the heat rose up to his face.

“You don't know what you're talking about. Besides, wanting to fuck somebody and being in love are two very different things.”

“True, except those two things are tangled up in one person when it comes to you…”

Gojo pressed his lips into a thin line, unsure as to why her accusation made him so irritated.

“Awww, don’t get angry, pretty boy. It’s unbecoming for somebody as handsome as you are…” Ami whispered, before kissing him on the cheek as she said her goodbye. “It’s okay, I promise that your secret is safe with me…”

*** 

CHAPTER 14: JEALOUSY

[btswishes]

Love me for who I am now

Bucky x Reader ( Chapter 2 )

Previous / Next

Summary: You apply for the Stark internship and end up getting it, so now you have 5 months to make a good impression to continue working with the Avengers.

A/N: Continuing my little experiment here with chapter2, a bit more filler for the story. Sorry for any mistakes made, hope you enjoy it even a tiny bit.

Word count:  2,903

Warmings: fights, harsh language, not part of the original MCU

Y/N- Your name 

Y/L/N- Your Last Name

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

   The suitcase made a slight thumping sound, when you laid it down on the floor next to your desk. Wasting no time books found their new home on the empty shelves, notebooks fell asleep in the dark drawers. Pens, pencils, markers and all your stationary soon followed suit and found their own little space to rest.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.” the silence in the room finally got overthrown by the voice of its new owner, asking for some help in the matters unfolding 

Yes Miss Y/N

“Would you put a timer for 5min from now please?” still focused onto your stuff, finding them a visible but safe from damage storage. Nothing could destroy as well as time and dust did.

Timer set for 5 minutes from now.

“Thank you.” The only thing left to do now was to get the clothes in the closet and move the tech to the lab. Hopefully Dr. Banner wouldn’t mind waiting a bit more, not like he seemed to but who knows, Hulk lived inside him after all. You didn’t want to take a chance and play with his limits. The closet was hidden inside the wall, stealthy I must say. Toothpaste and toothbrush, essentials and cosmetics. All was done, now.

      Ding Ding Ding.  

Timer is going off  Miss. Shall I turn it off or restart it?

“Thank you F.R.I.D.A.Y. You can turn it off. “

  Your laptop and small bag were safely nestled under your arm, making your way outside the room.  For a moment you thought you got lost, but the orange tint of the sun’s rays soon pulled your attention in the right direction. Around the corner your nose caught the smell of caramel. Your head hesitantly protruded behind the pillar, as you called out to the man holding 2 cups in his hands firmly.

“Oh.” He jumped a bit, reaching out offering one of the mugs “ I hope you like it, we don’t have much selection when it comes to tea here. Coffee addicts you know.” he laughed out

“It is ok. Thank you very much.” Your leg levered and you swung onto the bar chair like it was nothing, taking a sip from the hot drink. You felt it warm you up slowly as it went down, melting away a bit of your anxiety. Once again your sight was captivated by the view. No one knows how much time passed since you got lost in the sunset, but it was nice. You could barely hear the bustling city from the 134th floor. It was only you, the sun and the room. Quiet almost like a safe serene space.

“Beautiful isn’t it.” Bruce shook you out of your little mind palace

“Mm? Ah, yes. Very much so. “ you puffed out some air with your smile, eyes forming little crescent moons “I feel like a cat, my attention keeps drifting to the glass unintentionally.”

“I understand you. I keep doing that myself and I have lived in the compound for quite some time now. “ the conversation was lighthearted, easily drifting over the main reason for your arrival “One would think I would be used to it by now.”

“Mr Stark made this place so calm. Big yet homey.” Your head scanned the area, words intriguing the doctor “ In a way it contrasts the inner state of most of the Avengers.” realized what just came out of your lips, your body stiffened. Oh man, way to ruin it - you thought to yourself “I am so sorry.” The mug clanked under the table, sending a vibration to his palm, as you bowed “I spoke out of place.”

“I think you might be on to something.” Your neck pulled your head up, a few strands of hair falling down next to your soft cheek. Bruce was still looking at the setting sun with a soft smile, his jaw exposing the beard to the light, coloring it a deep fiery yellow hue. There was something nostalgic in his dark eyes. “Most of us here have some sort of troubled past- lets sugar coat it a bit. This whole building, on the levels we use., is like a constant Zen state. It calms us down unintentionally. How do I say this...” He turned towards his coffee, laughing out almost silently.

“Maybe it offers you the peace you couldn’t have on the inside, masking the pain from past trauma. A way to indirectly cope with all that had happened, offering a haven to heal the past.” Bruce was listening to you, taking in your way of thinking and how right you were about something that had always been in front of his eyes ,but he had never noticed it before. Such a young girl, so much pain in her manner. He couldn’t bring himself to ask you about the weight inside your voice. It felt too close for him to do so. He had just met you after all, it is not like he could just straight up ask you about all your deepest and darkest secrets, that you might be hiding underneath your mature façade.

“Well, enough about our depressing past.” He pushed off the table “Lets get you situated in your new place.”Dr. Banner began walking in the direction of the lab, turning towards you from time to time. He was make sure you were close by and not lost somewhere in this maze of halls, corridors and who knows what else Tony could have hidden in these walls, for some unsuspecting person to stumble upon.

“I am sadly not familiar with your work like Tony is. He told me about you literally a few hours before you arrived, so you would have to excuse me for that.” You nodded with a smile, accepting the apology he didn’t even need to speak of 

“The lab is pretty big.” He unlocked the door and turned the lights on. It was exactly as he said and nothing like you had expected. The color pattern was the same tints, maybe a bit of blue mixed in as well, a dash of red. The tables and tech inside were state-of-the-art, high-quality and very well kept. Some weren’t even yet released or known to the public. Talking year 3054 up in here.

“This will be your desk, right next to me.”Bruce plopped onto his chair and waved at you “Hi, Hi.”

  He gestured for you to get yourself as comfortable as possible, which you almost couldn’t wait to do. Your fingers gently ran over the material getting familiar with it. Just with one look you already knew where everything was going to go, like it knew it’s own home. You had a tech bay, where you could check how systems worked, if they didn’t and building anything. It was amazing, just an arm’s length distance was possibility and creation itself. Excitement boiled inside you, eyes wide. Reaching inside the bag, you pulled out your work computer, your project tablet and made sure they were all connected to the internet and matched the Stark system interface. As soon as you saw the company logo you were all set up.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.” the silence danced hand in hand with your voice

Yes Miss. Would you like a run down on the desk functions?

“Yes please.” In a matter of minutes you realized that this wasn’t just some random fancy desk ,but a whole machine of its own. Interactive hologram functions, building station and program 3D design. It had it all. Bruce was shocked how easy you worked with F.R.I.D.A.Y. , naturally taking a lead and informing yourself at 100% capacity about what you will be working with. For a second Tony flashed before his eyes.

“What made you apply here?” he cut your investigation “I don’t mean to be rude but I saw some of your pre-university work.”

“No problem. I was mostly out of the country for a very long time, maybe most of my life. When I came back the Avengers were something I loved watching on the news.” The praise went over Bruce’s head unnoticed “ There was something nostalgic when I looked at you guys. Mr. Stark’s tech, the way everyone fought with ease, I don’t know how to explain it. I craved that in my life, almost like a forgotten world I was striving to immerse myself back into. “ a gentle crook of the neck and a smile eased Bruce from the question

“Well you made it here, so congratulations.” loud joyous clapping followed his words” I think I am talking for all of us, we will love having you around. So-” His face became serious, glasses finding the bridge of his nose onto his face, eyes sharp “Would you like to start with your job here miss intern?” he winked playfully waiting to see your reaction. Like a mirror ,you pulled your hair away from your face, rolled up your sleeves and flashed back the same look of determination. “Introduce me to your train of thought and your projects.”

“I work mainly with the structure and characteristics of vibranium. At first, I was focused on making prosthetics that pack a punch the same way the Iron Man suits worked and Sergeant Barnes’s arm- of course on a smaller scale. But then my mind started drifting towards the process before amputation, which was for a certain percent of people the healing factor. Maybe inside strength as well. ”

“As in incorporating it into medical technology?” this sounded too simple of an idea coming for someone Tony chose, yet Bruce kept listening. He was judging the book by its cover way too soon.

“Not exactly. Vibranium has a metal crystal structure that possesses ‘memory’ the same way other metals remember being indented even after getting fixed or straightened eventually. My theory has a few parts before I reach the main plan. Going on an atomic level, even deeper to its base structure, I change the connections between the atoms. They have the same functions as in keeping the shape, but missing that molding memory.”

“You are saying you can mold the bonds, selecting freely what function to remove?” Bruce pushed back off his chair, letting the idea enter his ear and stay there, feeding the interest on his face.

“I am not saying I can.” he was listening more and more with each passing minute “I am saying I did it. I am in the final stages of my project.” Your hands pulled out a flat disk of vibranium  “F.R.I.D.A.Y. would you do a double scan before and after I bend this?”

Affirmatively Miss. Scan done. Shall I offer a hologram?

“Please do.” Right between your two bodies you could now see the basics of the metal “ See how the bonds are thicker? I noticed, metal bonds just have to keep  the shape of the crystal structure. Not only did I make vibranium stronger than it originally was, but now if I bend-it.” Your voice strained in pair with your muscles, as you folded and unfolded the sheet. The second scan showed no memory intake not even deformed the shapes “I call this metal healing.”

“That...that is amazing, not even a crease to be noticed! But where are you going with this?” Bruce rubbed his face, still shook from what you just showed him

“It might sound stupid, but this isn’t even my main idea. You see, if we look at matter as one and the same, things start to add up. Everything on a molecular level has no difference. Bonds, and atom-placement dictate what the object will be, look like and how it works- properties if you wish. I looked at vibranium and human flesh as different parts of one thing, which lead me to believe enhancing people could be done without super soldier serums.”

“That is… truly amazing, but won’t the testing period be a sadistic thing. We are not HYDRA thankfully.” As great as this was Bruce had a point here “Human experiments are not a politic the Avengers will ever lean upon. As fellow humans nonetheless.”

“I am not planning to make another Winter Soldier. I already have control over vibranium on levels outside and inside hyperspace.” You pulled out a bottle of metallic looking dust. The top unscrewed easy and you spilled the contents like heavy silvery snow all over the floor. “If I take quarks from the human body and use them to make 1 proton from the atomic nucleus, I can theoretically program it to answer to the human body using the unbroken rule of our system.”

  Bruce blinked a few times understanding exactly where you were reaching “All work in favor of the body.” He said out loud, glasses sliding off his skin

“Exactly. If they get programmed correctly the metal will work for the body, under the command of the main system- the nerves and brain. Post that success I would be able to inject them with a liquid medium directly into the bloodstream. As they make their way to all parts of the body, they will get acquainted with the cells. I want to change them so they will be susceptible to hormones as well. Basically I want to make a metal compound that reacts like organic matter. It would be able, upon will, to pile around bones, create fibers, strengthening muscles ecc. Some could even carry other substances with them, or isolate toxic ones. Now their size and ability for diapedesis is still questionable. So far I can move them at a certain extend.” You swung your hand and the dust lifted off the floor cleanly in one swoop 

“That is amazing!” Bruce pitched his voice after seeing the floating cloud “Are you using some kind of device ?”

“No, this dust was modeled after me, I am the only guinea pig so no one was harmed in the making. I have to say though, it was quite painful till I got it right.” You laughed out uneasy, scratching your arm  

“ I could only imagine, taking your own tissue for this. What else could it do?”

“Well. I know that Mr. Stark isn’t into weapons anymore, so I pitched him the enhancing technique only. The dust’s only function right now sadly is shaping.” Your fingers danced as the vibranium cloud formed Captain America’s shield, before turning into a sword. “As long as I have enough information of structure, function and the way the object works I can make it.” Your footsteps were confidant and strong.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y. the window if you please.”

Certainly Miss

   The clicking sound of the metal around the glass flung the object open. Your hand reached outside and pointed towards the sky. “My uncle had a deep interest in weapons so naturally I learned as well by listening to him.” The dust wrapped around your hand and formed a Heckler Koch pistols. With the pull of the trigger you shot into the air, making Bruce jump from the sound.

“I am sorry about that, I should have warned you.” You giggled stepping in

“That is a completely functional firearm. His breath normalized as his body took him right up to you, running his hands over the gun “ This is, something I can’t even imagine.” Eyes scanning every inch of it looking like a perfect mold “How does it look so solid? Smooth, no trace of it even being made from any smaller particle. ”

“Oh that, intra-atomic pressure. Kind of like gravity times 100 or more. If I pitched this to Mr.Stark I think the selling point would have been…”your fingers gently pulled the weapon out of Dr.Banner’s hand as the vibranium flew from the outside to the magazine “ It doesn’t run out of ammo since I call it back at anytime AND once in the body I can infest it.”

“It could travel through the blood stream and form clumps in certain organs!” he gasped

“I could have gone a bit more sadistic with this one, but I will stop talking now.” You laughed out sending your project back to its jar, securely tightened up. 

“How far is your limit? I mean is there a distance at which you can’t sense the partials, any mental fatigue or physical? You are amazing! This is something out of this world truly, no wonder Tony accepted your application. I wouldn’t be able to come up with anything closely resembling…wow.” He kept praising you each time his mouth opened

“Banner.” Light and confident footsteps accompanied the familiar playboy voice inside the lab

Welcome back Sir

“F.R.I.D.A.Y. medical bay on standby please.”

As you wish Sir

“I would appreciate it if you stepped back from my new intern and helped out a bit. We have injured coming in stat.” Tony waved his hand and Bruce pulled away from you, cleaning the couch on his side “You too miss intern. No slacking off just because it’s your first day. Treat it as orientation.”

“Yes Mr. Stark.” Panic rose up inside you again as you tried to follow what Dr. Banner was doing. Injured? Were the rest of the Avengers on a mission this whole time? It didn’t matter, you were mobilized as well and for a second it felt kind of cool, like you were also an agent fighting crime. The grunts and groans pulled you back to Earth as Captain America’s large frame stepped inside.  

[baileys-aurora]

Under the Surface

Ateez x Reader (fem), Mermaid/ Pirate AU

Part 3/?

Previous Part: Part two

Word count: 2.1k

A/N: This chapter is a filler chapter but the next one will have much more action. Also THANK YOU on almost fifty likes on the first part I’m gonna go cry happy tears now. Hope you enjoy this one too :)

“First things first” The captain stated walking towards your still seated form, “you need to learn how to use those.” he gestured to your weak legs, “Jongho will help you since he is the strongest and can support your weight the best.” As if the boy was listening in, his appearance was made immediately after the captain finished his sentence.

Now that you weren’t so on edge you could accept the beauty of these men, stress from sailing adding maturity to their young selves. He didn’t smile. understandable you thought to yourself, you have caused great mishap for the entire crew and now he had to act friendly and teach you something humans learn early in their lives. “we will begin with you holding the railing on the main deck.” Jongho voiced as if he rehearsed what to say beforehand and held out his hand for you to take. his hand unlike Yunho’s was rough from his time working the ropes and weapons of the ship. You slowly made your way out of the cabin grabbing anything you could with your other free hand to stable yourself. However, nothing compared to the ladders on this ship, they were brutal on your upper legs. Even with Jongho supporting most of your weight.  

 Once you finally made it to the ships side, you were already exhausted from the small amount you’ve done today. Though, many attempts of you trying to walk to Jongho while holding the railing to stable yourself it slowly became bearable. You even ended up getting the boy helping you to crack a smile every so often due to your strange facial expressions. “Like this?” you would ask over and over again trying to copy how Jongho shows you. “close” he would say every time, his eyes telling you he was trying to be encouraging.

Although he didn’t show it, he was enjoying himself, and even showed you his smile every now and then unintentionally. You were turning out to be very different then he originally thought, less evil sea witch at least. After a very tiring two hours of walking you were able to walk a few steps and stand still for a while by yourself. “I think you will be walking in no time.” Jongho smiled at your sweating form now sitting down on the deck, “are mermaids even able to sweat?” he asked laughing a bit. “I don’t now actually, if we do no one can tell. Just like we can’t be seen crying under the surface.” “that must be nice,” you looked up at him as he looked down at his hands hanging over the railing and playing with his fingers before he continued, “no one being able to see you when weakness takes over I mean” he finished his thought not looking back down at you, as a dull shade of pink tinted his cheek from telling you something personal, eyes fixing on the endless ocean in front of him. You knew touching would be to pushing so you simply replied, “then how would someone know you are in danger from your own thoughts, being weak is ok but trying to handle everything on your own is the hard part.” he looked back down at you and sighed, nodding his head, “thank you” his voice was small. But you understood he needed reassurance.

As San was watching for any movements or shadows on the distance, he would also steal peaks down at you and Jongho, a small smile at his lips that you were doing ok and not like the terrified girl he saw in a cell the previous night.

 After a while he began to descend from his spot in the crow’s nest, as it was late in the afternoon and he hasn’t eaten yet. Meeting you and Jongho on the way to the kitchen San offered to take you off his hands so he could return to his work and you could eat, finally. “What is it mermaids eat?” San questioned light heartedly, “The souls of curios sailors” you answered with a serious face. The look on San’s face lying somewhere between horrified and curious, before you creaked a smile at the fact, he believed you. His face relaxing also after seeing your smile and laughing at himself for believing something like that. “so, what are we eating?” you asked still smiling at the gullible boy who was holding your arm for support. “I’m not going to tell you now” he pouted, and wow if it wasn’t the cutest yet weirdest thing you’ve seen a grown man do.

 Once you made it to the kitchen the only other person there was Seonghwa finishing his bread. “The fish is cold now, but the bread isn’t stale yet.” he stated minding his own business. Hoping they wouldn’t notice you slowly made your way to the bread, on your own, picking it up to examine it before finding your way to a chair in front of Seonghwa, while San filled his plate. “No fish?” the boy sitting in front of you asked, “not feeling it today” you smiled back trying the so-called bread. It wasn’t bad not as flavorful as you thought but still good. After that small exchange of words, the two men remained quiet as they ate, yet it wasn’t awkward. Once San was done, he waved as he left leaving you with Seonghwa who was still slowly working on the same piece of bread while staring blankly at it.

 “Are you ok?” you spoke up carefully, he didn’t look at you at first but continued to pick at the food in his hands. Maybe he didn’t hear you? you thought to yourself, his attention on the bread and mind somewhere else. You poked his hand gaining an instant reaction, “mm?” he looked up at you finally, “I was just wondering what you were thinking about so intently” “oh, um just this whole situation, and um how we are going to fix it.” he replied with guilt in his eyes, “not saying I want you gone but I do want you to get home safe” he clarified.

  “I know that me being here is a burden, and I’m sorry I even decided to impose.” “you don’t like us huh?” he asked with a smirk, “it’s because I do like you guys that I’m sorry” his smirk dropping “why? we dragged you to an under-deck cell and threatened you.” “and I tried to sleep with San” you responded laughing, “let’s just say we both did regrettable things in the past 24 hours.” “you regret trying to seduce San” Seonghwa teased showing his relaxed side to you for the first time. Your cheeks flushing red at the thought of it now, “awe look at you blushing~” “shut up” “I don’t think you regret it at all” your face getting hotter more so from the teasing then the subject itself. “you tried to see me naked” you pointed an accusing finger at him, so he would stop.

 Now it being his turn to be embarrassed his face also matching the color of yours, “you know that is not what happened” he shot back at you. Which lead to a stare off between you two. Which of course, Seonghwa lost.

 “I’ve always have been curious about that though, why do mermaids try so hard to seduce sailors? Why did you?” He brought up changing the conversation back to a serious topic, you sighed before answering, “it’s the only way our family name can be continued to the next generation and since we are all women, sailors are our only option.” “I see, so San could’ve been a daddy” Seonghwa joked again, “well now that I have met others maybe I should’ve chosen someone else” you winked at Seonghwa trying to make him smile or laugh again. Instead however you noticed his features fall, “don’t ever make that joke again” he replied to you coldly, making you feel bad for insulting him. “You are on a ship with men who haven’t had a women’s company since they joined, you could seriously be taken out of context. I don’t want that to happen to you.” You don’t know why but his words put knots in your stomach for a couple seconds. “I’m sorry” you hung your head not really wanting to look back up at him, “I’m not scolding you, I’m warning. Other than the main crew most of the men have the mindset of the man you met last night.” At that moment the knots in your stomach came back stronger but this time brought pain in your legs as well. Maybe it was the from pushing them so hard to support your weight earlier you wondered to yourself quietly. “Seonghwa, I want to go lay down” you said looking back up into his eyes, with your brows furrowed. “I didn’t mean to offend you” he responded quickly, “it’s not that, my legs are killing me, will you help me to the captain’s cabin?”

 Once you made it in the cabin Hongjoong looked up at you two with an eyebrow raised. “She is having leg pain” was all Seonghwa said as he helped you to the small mattress they added to the room earlier that day. The captain sighed taking the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger, “okay, I will be back in the morning then” he said while picking up a couple pieces of paper and leaving you two behind. He seemed upset but that was the last thing on your mind.

 Seonghwa watched him leave before facing you again, “how bad are they hurting?” “I’m ok just pushed myself to much probably.” You slightly smiled at him, so he was reassured, “I just need some rest” to which he nodded his head and walked to the door looking back at you again to you smiling so he left.

 The knots became worse as your legs throbbed more, not long after the pain moved to your head as well, your vision becoming blurred and the room spinning. What was happening? You thought to yourself before becoming sick and releasing the contents of your stomach onto the old wooden floors.

 As the sun was setting Hongjoong became curious about how you were feeling and wanted to apologize for his cold personality earlier. As he made his way to the cabin, he noticed a body sitting next to the door, “Yeosang?” The captain questioned the younger boy looked up and smiled, “I wanted to meet her since I’m done for the day but didn’t want to disturb her. So, I just figured to wait.” “She was experiencing leg pains earlier so I don’t think she will be coming out anytime soon.” The sitting boy looked disappointed as he is normally busy, “are you planning on checking up on her?” He asked with some hope left in his eyes, “I wasn’t planning on it” he lied, “but I will now since you want to meet her” Hongjoong began knocking as he finished his statement.

 No answer. Maybe she was asleep? He knocked a second time with no answer. Should he enter without permission? He was debating when Yeosang interjected, “since she is asleep can I meet her in the morning?” “Yeah” the elder answered before they both went their separate ways. Something not sitting right with both of them.

 As they say, curiosity killed the cat.

 San made his way quietly to the captain’s cabin when he was relieved from his shift in the crow’s nest. He softly knocked so no one would hear him except you. When you didn’t answer he reached for the knob, “what are you doing” a voice spoke up next to his ear, causing him to yank his hand back and cover his heart. Turning around he found a smiling Yeosang, “were you about to enter a sleeping girls room?” San’s cheeks turned red as he is still trying to calm down. “I was just going to make sure she was ok” he confessed, “let me come with you” was all Yeosang replied looking at San, “I want to meet her” he spoke up again to clarify any confusion. San nodded his head and reached for the door again, opening it slowly. Whispering that they were about to enter.

 But satisfaction brought it back.

 They were horrified by what they saw, you are lying on the floor unconscious with your own throw up around you. Rushing towards you, San knelt down next to you and rolled you into his lap while brushing the hair out of you face. Yeosang on your other side feeling your forehead then looking up at San with wide eyes, “she has a really high fever” he stated worry heavy in his voice. “Shit! Go alert Hongjoong and bring back some water.” San ordered as he held your limp sweating body, repeating you were going to be ok.

Next Part

[one-leaf-grimoire]

Illusion (chapter 5)

Grey Deer Fic chapter 5! Here’s the link to the full story: link.

As you can see, I changed the name bc I wasn’t vibing with the other one.

WARNING: slight implication of *Sex* (but not with Julius, unfortunately...)

As always, I would really love to hear what you think of this chapter!

"Captain, do you have a minute-"

I stop talking as soon as I poke my head into Captain Hervey's office. It's a sizable room, with rich wood paneling and blue wallpaper making it seem cozy. Several stuffed deer heads are hanging above the severe man's desk, where he sits across from his vice captains. Both Malota and Julius turn around to look at me; obviously I'm interrupting a meeting. "A-Ah, sorry, I'll come back later-"

"Nonsense, spit it out. But make it quick." Hervey gestures me closer, and I gulp and enter the room, a paper clutched in my hands. "What's that?"

This is always a little awkward, even though I've given several of these requests to him over the years. But it's his fault for having the "only registered guests only" rule for our base. "Lawrence wants to come visit tomorrow, can I get your approval?"

Hervey lets out a snort of laughter. "Your fiance? He was here pretty recently, wasn't he? Why do you keep inviting him here, just go visit him yourself."

"Ah, well, he insists. I can't really say no to him..."

But you can, sir. I watch as he takes the paper and looks at it carefully, as if he's making up his mind. Meanwhile, I'm praying that he says NO so I have a good reason to avoid seeing Lawrence tomorrow. Malota looks bored and lets a sigh out through her vulture-like nose. Julius stares at the Captain's table silently. Another reason why I wanted to avoid asking in front of other people is because it becomes awkward like this. Neither of our Vice Captains want to hear about my personal life, I'm sure. 

"Very well. But he better be gone by dinner time, I'm not feeding him, even if he is a prince!"

Fuck! I force a smile as he signs the paper, a magical chill moving through the room as he does so. Somehow, Hervey can manipulate the barrier spell he cast around the base to let authorized guests enter after he signs off on it. His ice magic is some of the most powerful I've ever seen, and he's able to upkeep such a potent spell all day and night, subconsciously. He really is amazing, despite his faults, and it's easy to see why he's captain. "Thank you, sir, sorry for interrupting." With that, I turn and shuffle out of the room, feeling a small weight of dread in the pit of my stomach.

Why, though? Why are you dreading this? Lawrence is your Fiance, your future Husband! Shouldn't you be happy to see him?

That's probably what you're thinking, but it couldn't be farther from the truth. I tolerate Lawrence Kira, and that's all. He's 5 years older than me, always acts like he's my superior (which he is, but come on!), and really isn't the most considerate person. He always talks about how great things are expected of him, and how he needs a supportive wife to help him achieve those things and continue the Kira line. "One day." he always tells me. "One day, our children could be the King. Wouldn't you like that?"

No... Not really, actually.

But I can't tell him that. If I show any disrespect, he'll bring the hammer down, on both me and my parents. We're already on thin ice, and this marriage is supposed to save my family. When the engagement was first decided, I was only 5 years old and had no idea what it even meant. As I grew older, I was told how romantic it was going to be. Doesn't every girl want to marry a prince? I was excited to live out what seemed like a fairy tale.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. It soon became clear that Lawrence would never actually love me. At least not all of me. Not only that, but like I said, he's older than me, and as we spent more and more time together, he started to force me to grow up a bit faster than I should have. I'm sure you can guess what I mean. 

If I didn't have Alice, I don't know what I would have done. But when I came to her and revealed that I didn't want to marry this prince, she didn't shun me or say I was crazy. She held me, and told me that we were going to get out of this, together. And so, I joined the magic knights, as the first step of my plan. The wedding that was supposed to be when I turned 18 was postponed. Luckily, the Magic Knights are a very esteemed and legitimate career path for both Royalty and nobility, so I was able to get away with it. Lawrence's family even said they were proud that their son would be marrying a magic knight.

Well... it's been 7 years since then. There's no plans for a wedding yet. This engagement can only go on so long before Lawrence decides to break it off. By that time, I'll be able to support my family myself! I don't need a marriage, and I'll finally be free to do what I want.

That's my secret, the secret only Alice and I know. My one hope for tomorrow is that Lawrence will coldly tell me that he can't wait around any longer, and will break it off right then and there.

Of course, it's never that easy.

"Hello, Lawrence."

I stand outside the base to meet him as he transports in with the help of a spatial mage. He brushes himself off before looking up, his grey eyes quickly meeting mine. Unintentionally, I feel a cold chill down my back, something that's always happened when he looks at me like that. "It's been too long, have you really been that busy?" Lawrence asks as he walks over, pulling his cloak a little tighter around himself. The snow has long melted, but its freeze still hangs lightly in the air around us.

"Er, yes, pretty busy." I let him take my hand and pull it up to his lips, not bothering to bend over. A royal shouldn't bow to anyone, after all. His lips are cold on my skin as he kisses the back of my hand, before dropping it immediately. "I actually had a pretty big mission a few days ago, I was able to beat five guys-"

"Yeah, I'm sure. You can tell it to me over lunch." Lawrence dismisses my story kind of quickly before turning to walk towards the base. I wince and hold out a hand to stop him. "Uh-er, we can't eat here!"

"Hmm? Why not?" Lawrence throws a glance over his shoulder.

"Captain Hervey said, uh... we can't spare food right now for outsiders."

"Hmph. Fine. We'll eat in town." Lawrence sighs and turns to walk back to me, grabbing my hand as he does. "Also, what did I tell you about using filler words? Stop saying um and er so much."

"R-right, sorry." I let him pull me along, away from the base.

"Man... are they really in love?" 

Giles leans on the windowsill as the others gather around him, peeping down at me and Lawrence as we walk off out of sight. "Every time he comes, she looks like she'd rather be somewhere else."

"It's true," Alice pipes up, leaning against the wall and not bothering to look. "He's a real piece of work, you know."

"How can that be? He's a prince." Elia crosses her arms. "Who wouldn't want to marry a prince?"

"She just wants to live a normal life, I think. She's not cut out for that royalty stuff anyway."

"Nigel, shut up."

Meanwhile, Lawrence and I reach town and make our way towards my favorite resteraunt there. "There's really no other place to eat?" Lawrence asks, pulling his hood up over his head, his eyes darting around the street.

"It's my favorite! I think you'll like it, too." I squeeze his hand, causing him to smile for a moment. "You're afraid of being recognized."

"Yeah... I have a pretty big fanclub you know!"

... I doubt that...

Our base is located in a forest right outside the limits of the noble realm. We're close enough to town so we can get all of our supplies, but secluded enough that Captain Hervey is able to put up our barrier. It honestly feels like a little sanctuary for the squad, but I still like going in to town to see the usual hustle-and-bustle of civilization.

"You know, this type of place does have a little charm." Lawrence talks to me as he quietly sips his beer. His eyes keep darting around the restaurant, as if he were analyzing everything in sight. He's always been like that, cool and calculated, always scheming or sizing the world up. He's really an intelligent man, someone who can keep a level head in any situation. His magic is very strong, too, and it's interesting that he never joined the Magic Knights. When I asked him why a long time ago, he simply said that it wasn't his style. I have a feeling he'd rather be involved in the government down the line.

"I'm glad you think so. I guess not all Royals are so stuffy," I answer, playfully nudging his foot under the table. Lawrence narrows his eyes at me but can't conceal his smile. Ah! I need to stop being so cute around him, remember?

"I'm not that stuffy, am I? I can have fun... what do you and the squad do for fun, anyway?" Lawrence yawns a little, scratching his chin under his hood.

"Hmm..." I think over the past for a moment. "Well, we have little parties in our base now and then. Oh, also, the Captain lets us go to the beach on our days off! We also like to come to town to go drinking some nights."

"Ah... that sounds like fun. A little crude, but fun." Lawrence nods along with my words. "Maybe I'll take you to the beach sometime, just the two of us."

Just the two of us.

"...yeah, sure."

By the time lunch is done, it's obvious to me that Lawrence isn't about to break up with me or anything. In fact, I've somehow managed to warm him back up to me after more than a month of absence, and now...

"Let's go back to the base."

"Huh? Er- Lawrence, I told you before-"

"Stop saying ER! And I don't want to eat. Is your roommate around?"

"...probably not..."

"Good."

This is my least favorite part of his visits. Lawrence hates showing affection out in public, but as soon as we're alone and away from prying eyes, he basically pounces on me. I can't really do much but hold on as his lips crash into mine hungrily. We were each other's first kisses, but I'm pretty sure he's pretty good at it. The way he moves his lips against mine always makes me dizzy, at least. He pushes me until we're both flat on my twin bed, one of his hands bunching up the sheets next to my head. The biggest drawback of avoiding him for so long is that he gets... needy. 

However, his affection doesn't last long. As soon as he's done, Lawrence simply pulls the covers over me and gets up. I roll over, feeling a bit sore, and watch as he starts to re-dress himself. "You're leaving?"

"Yeah." Lawrence buttons up his shirt, his fingers fumbling slightly. "I assume I'm not allowed to stay for dinner." He sits back down on the bed to start pulling his shoes and socks on. "I'll come back to visit soon, don't avoid me any more, you hear?"

"...yeah. No guarantees, though." I gulp nervously, pulling the covers over myself more as he looks down at me again. "I'm a magic knight, you know! I have a duty-"

"Your duty should be our future," Lawrence cuts me off, his gaze moving away from me again. "...do you really feel like this is where you belong?"

I open my mouth to respond the answer that I always do: Yes, of course. I'm meant to be a magic knight! 

But... I can't say that any more, can I?

Because, for whatever reason, someone on my very own squad wanted me gone.

"Hey... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry."

I didn't even notice the tears trailing down my face until Lawrence reaches out to cup my cheek gently. I look up into his grey eyes, which are filled with warmth, for once. But I still get that chill.

"If something's bothering you... you know where to find me, okay? You're going to be my wife one day, hopefully soon. We can put all this Magic Knights business behind you, but you'll always carry that honor. I'll take care of you, I promise."

... "Alright." I nod slowly, reaching up to hold his hand for a second before he pulls it away. "Write me some letters."

"I will. See you soon!"

Lawrence gives me a small smile and a wave, before quietly leaving me alone in my room once again.

I stay there for a while, curling up under my sheets like a cocoon. For just a couple minutes, I feel safe.

Lawrence really isn't so bad, is he? I mean... at least I know what he wants. My attackers won't show themselves again, not yet, and they won't tell me why they want me gone. Maybe... maybe I should just listen to them, and leave...

No. That's stupid. I squeeze my eyes shut as memories start to flood back.

I can't leave... because then I'll marry Lawrence. I don't want to be near him at all! Slowly, I sit up, letting the sheets fall off my body as the more pleasant chill of the base hits my skin. I'll find out who attacked me, and purge them from this squad! I'm meant to be here, I'm meant to be a magic knight.

Eventually, I get up to get dressed, cleaning myself off before heading to the bathroom. I splash some water on my face before looking up at my reflection. I look tired and a little stressed out... but alive.

"Hello there! Enjoy your day off?"

I'm on my way down to dinner when I run into none other than Julius. I haven't seen him all day, not since yesterday's meeting, but he's heading the same way as me now. "Ah, yeah. I haven't seen my fiance in a while, so it was nice to have lunch with him."

"Your fiance? Oh, right, Prince Lawrence." Julius nods as he falls into step next to me. I glance up at the taller man, not able to read any emotion other than his usual neutrally-happy expression. Even so, his presence puts me at ease, although I doubt anyone would attack me now while everyone is awake in the base. "Is the wedding happening soon?"

"Oh, definitely not. We haven't even started planning it!" I smirk a little. And if I have my way... it won't ever be planned!

"I see... I guess, eventually, you're going to outrank us all."

"Huh?" I look up to see him smiling teasingly down at me. 

"You'll be a princess, right?"

"P-Princess?" My eyes widen as I realize that he's right. Then, I shake my head. "Ah! I don't even want to think about that..."

"Why not?"

"Too much pressure?"

"Ah, well, I think it suits you."

I look back up at him, aghast, just in time to catch his wink. "Hey! Jul- I mean, sir, that's a long way in the future-"

"Julius is fine-" He lets out a warm laugh before gesturing for me to keep up with him. "Come on... a princess can't be late for dinner."

..... AHHHHHH.

I swallow my pride and quickly catch up, pouting a bit to myself. Princess... I can't even imagine becoming royalty. And I don't want to! I'll never be a princess, not if I have anything to say about it.

Slowly, though, I feel my cheeks heat up, and it takes everything I have to keep from glancing back up at Julius's face.

Still...

It didn't sound so bad when he called me that...

[unblinded-by-nostalgia-blog]

Unblinded by Nostalgia 300th Review SPECIAL!!!

IMPORTANT NOTE: This series spans volumes 5 - 9 of the manga series. I WILL be comparing this anime series to the original manga because many people will be saying that the manga is just as bad just because they have ONLY seen the anime. I will be reviewing the English Dub version.

Part 1 (Episodes 1-4)

The Story

The series starts crappy! With Yuki being pushed around by the fangirls. And bare in mind, NONE OF THIS CRAP IS IN THE MANGA! And the series brushes off the yaoi ending of the previous series like it never happened. WTF?

The story tries to a a bit of comedy relief, but it isn't funny whatsoever! And WTF is Yuki doing? Is she trying to seduce him!? And an emotional scene is destroyed by comedy relief! Is this series REALLY trying?

And finally, we follow the manga! And instead of a battle scene (like the manga), we get Zero and the other characters murdering one of the vampires who is just a messenger, even for Zero, that's out of character!

The story feels rushed, with the characters implying of Rido when he wasn't mentioned in the manga till much later!

And the episode goes through the ENTIRE 5th volume! This episode feels rushed beyond any reason!

Episode 2 starts with a flashback of the PREVIOUS EPISODE! God, I hate this anime already! We get a scene with the side characters and we get a bit of character development with Aido. This episode definitely follows the manga more then the previous episode. And they ruined a funny scene with Zero and his master. But that is the least of this anime's crimes. And this anime implies that one of the side characters is 'getting it on' with one of his relatives (CoughMother&greatUncleCough) why did the anime add that? Just why? And instead of one girl being offered to Kaname, ALL of the families offer their daughters to Kaname like his life dream is to have a harem! (Hint to another anime review coming soon!)

And now Kaname is seducing Yuki! And the anime following the manga, Kaname feels more and more like a hypocrite. If they just decided whether to just fallow it or not, it would of flowed easier, not a fucked up hybrid! And the episode ends with the anime going off the rails with another scene with the fangirls! This episode should of ended at the previous snow scene! That would of been a beautiful ending!

Episode 3 starts with a scene that isn't in the manga and is actually good! It shows Aido struggling with the truth is Suzuka's death! And we get a scene with Yuki's mental health going downhill and the scene is ruined by her class's president being a hypocritical bitch!

And I want to bring up another problem with this anime, the scenes are all jumbled up and moved around, making the flow all jagged and all over the place!

And the anime removed an important scene with Yuki and Zero, I won't give it away, but it is an important one.

We get a scene which isn't in the manga and is a new, interesting plot line with Aido and his cousin solving the mystery of Suzuka's death. And guess what else isn't in the manga? He has a MILF/Incest fetish with his mom!

We also learn about Aido's feelings towards Kaname, they add a marble in the anime as a symbol of there love, but the overall story is the same.

And then we get a finger job scene with Yuki and Zero, and Aido is understandably disgusted by seeing it. I wonder if sucking blood is equivalent to having sex in this anime...?

We get a scene with Zero warning Yuki not to become a Vampire, it's a very touching/bittersweet scene that isn't in the manga to end this episode.

We open episode 4 to the ending of volume 6, with Rido about to come back to life and revealing that Senri has Kuran blood in his bloodline, making him cousin to Kaname and Yuki.

We also skip a good chunk of volume 7 as well as adding filler that isn't in the manga and more unnecessary flashback scenes! And we see how jumbled up this series is because the next scene is near the beginning of volume 6!

In the original scene of page 109, Zero rubs Yuki's cheek gently to comfort her, in the anime, he hits her face. Is the anime Team Kaname for some reason?

The anime follows the manga during the scene where Yuki looks at the files of her past and then we get more flashbacks to the PREVIOUS SCENES!

But the rest of the episode follows the manga. Until the last minute which has Kaname warning Aido not to investigate further in his investigation. And we end with Takuma meeting a possessed Senri.

The Characters

Everyone seems out of character! Yuki is a weak damsel in distress, Zero's a whip and Kaname is a hypocrite! But we get a bit of development with Aido in episode 2 and episode 3.

The Animation/Special Effects

The characters walk like they are constipated! They move so stuffily. The characters rarely move at all and the backgrounds look dull. And when they zoom into the characters' eyes, they look dead and lifeless... It makes some emotional scenes unintentionally hilarious!

The Dub

The dub is the only positive thing I can really say about this anime, it is well done and the actors did well with what they were given.

The script follows the manga almost word for word, but the written word sometimes doesn't sound right when spoken and vice-versa and you can tell that some of the lines feel forced without reading the manga!

Final Thoughts

Overall, this anime was borderline PAINFUL to watch! The story is a mess, the characters are out of character and the animation looks stiff and lifeless! And we have 9 episodes to go... God help me!

The Story 2/5 The Characters 2/5 The Animation/Special Effects 2/5 The Dub 3/5

Overall 2/5

Part 2 (Episodes 5-7)

The Story

The beginning of episode 5 has Yuki hallucinating some more. Ok, we get it! Her mind's going downhill! The manga used it sparingly, this just goes OVERKILL, And then... More unfunny filler, and Master Cross acts really mean spirited which is really out of character for him.

We get a lot of scenes in episode 5 that are not in the manga and that is just FILLER! It seems like that only Aido is the only character they got right in this manga with the extra scenes they added.

The anime says the Zero wanted Ichiru to come to the day class. Why? They hate each other! This series has so many plot holes that it is hard to keep up with them all! And the pacing is sooo sloooow! First they rush, then they slowed down. Why couldn't they keep it at a constant pace?

Episode 6 starts at the beginning of chapter 33 of the manga, but the scene is so rushed in the anime, I wonder why they bothered adding this scene at all!

After the opening credits, the anime follows the manga... Then suddenly adds a joke out of nowhere and if doesn't make any sense whatsoever!

Why is the anime showing us so many flashbacks scenes? It gets REALLY Annoying! And the anime skips ANOTHER important scene with Yuki and Zero! Why?

And then we get a creepy scene with Ichiru going into the first aid room where Yuki is sleeping. And this scene has no purpose to the plot! And then... COMEDY RELIEF THAT ISN'T EVEN FUNNY!!!

We get a lot of scenes in this episode that does not progress or have anything to do with the story!

Episode 7 begins with Yuki having more flashbacks and Kaname trying to kill 'Senri'. At least this episode starts promisingly...

We get more scene that are exclusive to the anime and is just FILLER!!! And we get a creepy (almost) rape scene with 'Senri' and Ruka that isn't anywhere in the manga. Why does the anime keep adding scenes which doesn't progress the plot in anyway. They add plot holes and make this anime BORING TO SIT THROUGH!!!

And at the end of the episode, we get the controversial scene where Yuki becomes a vampire and finds out that Kaname is her older brother...

The Characters

The characters keep acting out of character and it makes it feel like they all have bi-polar.

The Animation/Special Effects

First thing I will mention is What the fuck is up with Ichiru's character design? His hair is long, yes, but not long enough to tie it back with a ponytail which is tied poorly with a bell!

Another thing, in one scene in episode 6, Kaname mentions that he has brought snacks with him. But there are NO SNACKS ANYWHERE in this scene, or this episode in general! How lazy can the animation (and this anime) get? And plus, this anime recycles footage from the previous series and the earlier episodes of this sequel!

Some of the music in some of the scenes don't match with the tone of the scene, such as a comical scene having emotional music.

The animation in this series is still bad and feels like it's got a low frame rate and the characters are as stiff as hell when they walk or move in general!

The Dub

The dub is still solid, but it still suffers from the same problems as before and Yuki sounds like she has a sore throat half the time.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this series is getting worse by the minute! But its biggest flaw is that it is BORING! Even as its own anime, you will be bored as NOTHING happens! And we have 2 more parts to go... Oh boy!

The Story 1.5/5 The Characters 2/5 The Animation/Special Effects 1.5/5

Overall 1.5/5

Part 3 (Episodes 8-10)

The Story

The anime explains Yuki and Kaname's relation to one another, but it is very poorly done and makes people who haven't read the manga think this is a cleche incest plot line, but it however, more complex then that. I won't explain it hear because it has MAJOR SPOILERS to the manga.

The episode 8 begins with following the manga well, explaining Yuki's backstory and childhood, and how did Yuki's hair get so long, even in the manga its never explained.. But then... Filler ahoy for the REST OF THE EPISODE with uninspired fight scenes!!!

Episode 9 follows the manga. But they have toned down the gore of Rido's dead body. And then they change from the original again with Zero loosing his sanity. Why? I don't know... But they do show that Haruka and Juri's love for each other before they died.

We get a battle scene where the enemies die in ONE HIT! And they toned down the blood as well! Why? They made the battle scenes boring and the characters don't struggle to defeat the enemies!

In the next scene, Zero struggles to get out of prison. In the manga however, he just sits despairingly. The anime makes Zero like a beast who hates his master, while in the manga, he respects him.

Episode 10 follows the manga again by having Aido explain to Yuki that she will be more sensitive to different smells (such as blood). And then we get another unfunny scene where the day class evacuate the school, and a girl forgets her teddy bear... NOT FUNNY!

And we get more battle scenes and the enemies still die in ONE HIT! BORING!!! And the anime decides that Yuki cannot fight, even though she is one of the most POWERFUL VAMPIRES IN THIS SERIES!!! And we get EVEN MORE FILLER with a pointless fight scenes with the other vampire hunters and Yagari. But we do get a sweet bromance scene with Ichijo and Senri.

Wait... How is Shizuka talking to Yuki, even though she is dead! And this scene is NOT IN THE MANGA and WHAT DOES HER TALKING TO YUKI HAVE TO DO WITH THE STORY?

The Characters

The characters aren't acting how they are in the manga... Oh fuck it... Nothing will stop this anime now...

The Animation/Special Effects

The animation still looks stiff and lifeless. The only thing good about this series is the music. It's just beautiful, but it's the same music as the first series!

The Dub

The dub is still very well done, you can tell that they did a great job with what they had, but the lines STILL feel forced!!!

Final Thoughts

Overall, this anime has no hope of redeeming itself. It cannot possibly get any worse then this can it?

The Story 1.5/5 The Characters 1.5/5 The Animation/Special Effects 1.5/5 The Dub 2.5/5

Overall 2/5

Part 4 (Episodes 11-13)

The Story

Episode 11 is just an extended, boring version of chapter 40. With uninspired action scenes that serve nothing but FILLER and a vampire orgy! I wish I was kidding...

The problem is that they drag the emotional scene drag for far too long. You see, if you make an emotional scene too long, you get emotionally fatigued and you get bored by the scene.

Episode 12 begins with a young Kaname and Yuki looking through a picture book. Ok... Does it have anything to do with the story? NOPE! And they have made Yuki into a weakling! And they have said 'fuck you' to the manga and the anime wants to go its own way, and it's so BORING!

And the battle with the ultimate vampire hunter happens OFF SCREEN!! And we are stuck with the bore brigade going to the vampire orgy!

And just when Yuki becomes a hero, but she ends up get captured again... Yay...

Then, we get a battle scene with Takuma and his father. Which happens off screen and we NEVER see Ichijo again. What happened to him?

Episode 13 ends with the final battle. Not with Yuki and Zero, but Kaname and Zero and Rido takes an a 'Amazing' total of three hits to kill. And the rest of the episode takes FOREVER to end, but it doesn't answer all the questions lift in the anime, leaving an empty shell to fill for season 3 that will NEVER be made.

The Characters

The characters have all turned into weaklings! Yuki is a damsel in distress! Zero's a yes man and Kaname is a hypocrite! The side characters aren't much different either...

The Animation/Special Effects

The animation is dull, stiff and boring to look at. The battle scenes are either off screen or the enemies die in one hit!

And is it me, or does the ending credits song sound like a bad ending theme for a visual novel.

The Dub

The dub for this anime is still good, but the lines feel so forced at times that it makes it really distracting.

Final Thoughts

Overall, these last few episodes are bad! The story is a joke, the characters are bland and the animation is dull!

The Story 1/5 The Characters 1/5 The Animation/Special Effects 2/5 The Dub 2/5

Overall 1.5/5

Overall Thoughts

Overall, this is the WORST anime adaptation to a manga I have ever seen in my life! The story is a mess, the characters are now bland as paper and the animation and music is lazy!

Many people have been asking for a season 3 of the anime. But do they really want to rematch the anime and see how bad it actually is! How did this anime get a sequel?

Honestly, just go and read the manga! Just go!

Part 1 2/5 Part 2 1.5/5 Part 3 2/5 Part 4 1.5/5

Overall 1.7/5

[choices-binglebonkus]

Parting is such sweet sorrow and all that jazz

What can be said about The Heist: Monaco? Well, for starters, seeing sneak peeks and teasers from PB before it came out had me thinking it was going to be shit.  I mean, the heist trope is a bit cliché, is it not? But this book turned out to be good.  Like, really good.  

For starters, the book focuses heavily on moving the plot forward.  Minimal filler, no petty drama, and what’s this? All the cast have unique personalities and we get to spend one-on-one time with each one? They all have different dynamics with one another and somehow manage to mesh together successfully as a team? Furthermore, everyone in the crew has their own motive for joining the heist, whether it be revenge, for recognition, to prove themselves, for wealth, or even to win the heart of the princess back? AND they’re criminals with some moral value?!

What’s more, when there was drama between Eris, Rye, and MC after they found out Rye had unintentionally betrayed them and led to Eris going to jail for three years, it was resolved in the next chapter.  Pixelberry didn’t drag it out or let it fester like they did in The Freshman (which made the series seriously unenjoyable to me), they resolved it neatly and quickly and it made their bonds stronger than ever.  

The only complaint about this series I have is Ansel Crane.  He was a really underwhelming villain.  When Luther and Marco Nevrakis slaughtered everyone in TC&TF, exiled Kenna, and took over Stormholt, I wanted to kill them SO BAD.  When Ansel turned out to be a traitor, all I really did was shake my fist and grumble “Damn you!” and that was that.  I was a little more fired up when I found out he was emotionally abusive to Lena (which is PAYWALLED information), but he was pretty underwhelming compared to some of the other villains like Luther Nevrakis, Everett Rourke, and Redfield/Jane Marshall.  But I will say that ruining him was pretty satisfying.  

Lastly, there’s the points system.  If there was one thing I really, REALLY loved in TC&TF and MW, it was the points system.  Your choices actually carried weight and you were rewarded for making the right choices.  Having them bring back the points system in TH:M was an incredible surprise, and a welcome one at that.  Getting good endings for my crew and Sonia was very satisfying, and was an amazing way to end this awesome book.

[calleo-bricriu]

Sometimes I start to think I might read a little too much.

So, I found this particular Muggle author in one of those, "It looked weird on the shelf and why not?" sort of ways that I often find books in Muggle shops.

Did a little bit of digging in to the author, William Lee Howard; apparently he was a fairly widely disrespected doctor that most other doctors viewed as a joke but that people who were not doctors thought was somehow brilliant.

Off to a good start.

The majority of the guy's books have to do with--not so much medical things but more, "Why everything is your wife's fault, trust me, I'm a doctor,” and by occasionally shouting in text about how he’s not a quack.

There were also two aimed at teenagers and I found a few chapter names completely self aware in one of them:

"Self-Abuse--How to Stop it--The Quacks" - Written as though he wasn't one.

"Environments and Diseases Which Rust Brain-Tools" - I'm going to start using Brain-Tools, I don't care that it's ridiculous. I like it because it's ridiculous.

Anyway, onto the book I'm mostly through.

It's the only one he published that wasn't--well, probably wasn't--intended to be some kind of medical book and it's the first one he had published.

No, it’s a story. A rambling, poorly written story.

The Perverts, 1901.

It's a bit difficult to read, not because it's as shocking as claimed but, because this guy just...rambles in a horribly disjointed manner that makes it difficult to follow what the hell is going on in his little story.

But, fine, I've read worse, just needs more focus; about halfway through, I stopped because it struck me that I've read this before.

Not this book specifically, the story, the entire plot, only the version I've read, while still written by a prose-y, rambling whackjob, was coherent and had much better flow to it.

Also, you could pretty easily follow the plot, as flimsy as it was.

In fairness, that one also probably could have been accurately titled The Perverts but there's always been a lot of unnecessary filler and prose in de Sade's writing (and he was at least self aware to the point that the last page of one of them essentially invites you to throw the book into the fire if you found reading it unenjoyable; tempting, but it's a heavy book and makes a good paperweight).

This man clearly read Justine (or The Misfortunes of Virtue) at some point; some similarities between bizarre things like that are bound to happen, pun intended given the topic, but this? This was very close to being the exact same book, just with renamed characters and a different time period setting.

de Sade wrote his in two weeks while in prison (and it shows) and this idiot somehow made it worse in terms of readability.

Oh, and the dedication? "To the memory of Edgar Allan Poe as a tribute to his genius, and in recognition of his struggles with a psychic incubus."

Okay.

I'm most amused by the fact that his last book was a book on "how to live long" and he died before he was 60. Must not be very good advice in that book.

And then I started skimming his other books and this has got to be one of the most unintentionally funny things I've read in awhile, "It has been my fortune――for so I consider it――to have been brought into intimate relations with men who are failures."

Good way to start.

"Many of these despondent and useless men have been guided into places where they fit." He's stopped using his brain-tools and it's not even chapter 8, which is where he talks about not letting your brain-tools get rusty.

(( Just a warning, there’s a short excerpt from the book that has some very literally, direct, and violent homophobia in there. ))

"teachers forced much useful and also useless stuff into unwilling brain cells" - I'm not entirely sure a man who blatantly ripped off one of de Sade's shortest works should be speaking poorly of teachers.

"How frequently have I heard the remark, after explaining to a young man who came to me a complete failure: “Why didn’t my father see all this?”" - You know, at this point, I'm almost certain that the only patients he'd ever seen were ones he made up or, more likely, ripped off from other case files and just changed the names.

"THE OUTSIDE LUNGS――THE SKIN" ...no.

He seems to think the skin does the same thing as the liver? What in the hell kind of medical school did this man attend?

"If a healthy boy should have his body――up to his neck――wrapped in tin foil, or any similar substance which would completely close the pores of the skin, he would soon have headache. This would become very severe, followed by loss of consciousness and finally convulsions――fits followed by death. Now this would occur even if he were in the open air. You can see by this fact that the lungs cannot alone cast off the poisons in the body" - First, weirdly specific scenario. Second, what he's describing is heat stroke not poisoning.

If people were listening to ridiculousness like this and taking it as valid health advice, no wonder so many died before they hit 30. I just went through an entire chapter of this idiot explaining how the skin is the body's main detox organ with only passing mention to things like, you know, your liver and kidneys, and that everything is caused by your dumb ass poisoning yourself by not bathing three times a day, constantly drinking water, then "exercising violently".

"Now it may sound funny to you, but the truth is, that if the boys in the past had really known as much as the chipmunks, we should have very few asylums for the insane or hospitals for the horrible diseases." - At this point I'm starting to wonder if I'm actually reading this or if I'm hallucinating it.

"About fourteen years of age you may feel a gradual soreness in the nipples. This will increase and sometimes be a little annoying. Now don’t become frightened and try to recall some blow you have received there." - This feels like a very, very specific panic that I'm pretty sure only happened to the author.

"Of course the HABIT of self-abuse means ruin to both brain and body. It is degrading to your true self, causes a loss of self-respect and makes a coward of every boy and man." - I get the feeling, by this point, that everything this person writes is just projecting.

"[...] bubbling spring of manly life." No.

"So never sleep with a man, except your father." - How is that less weird?

And we go from, go ahead and sleep with your dad to, "If you should be so situated that you find yourself in bed with a man, keep awake with your eyes on something you can hit him with. At the slightest word or act out of the way, HIT him; hit him so hard that he will carry the scar for life."

Just sleep on the floor if you're that damn paranoid.

"Keep your goat by and in you always." ...what? There are no circumstances whatsoever that would result in me wanting any part of a goat in me.

"CHAPTER VIII ENVIRONMENTS AND DISEASES WHICH RUST BRAIN-TOOLS" - I'm definitely stealing brain-tools. Based on everything else, I'm pretty sure mine are considered rusty somehow.

I don't think I'd take advice about brain-tools from someone who spent entire paragraphs talking about how he thinks people who live in far Northern climates hibernate.

What else have we got here? Dance hall women will ruin your life, you might be a man but you'll be a MAN in big letters if you go into the navy somehow, the navy should be bigger so it can consume more lower case men--I guess that makes sense as this was written in 1911.

"Don’t think that you know more than your mother about what is best for you. You don’t." - Wow, okay.

"I saw the girl, or rather woman, when she was twenty-four years of age, and recognized her by the peculiar conformation of her face. It was the face of a girl giggler. Her facial muscles had become so developed by her uncontrolled girlish habit that nothing could be done for her. " - What on earth is the "face of a giggler"?

"Don’t kiss anyone but your mother and father." - ???

"Don’t use arsenic in any form for your complexion or to give your face a plump appearance. Some of you will tell me of a girl you know who has a nice plump face from the use of arsenic wafers." - Maybe don't eat rat poison. Eating rat poison seems like a bad idea just in general.

Apart from don't giggle, don't kiss anyone, and don't take arsenic what is wrong with you? The entire book aimed at women seems to be a lot of, "For the love of everything don't touch ANYTHING without wearing gloves and also maybe burn your gloves every night and just use new ones the next day, the world is made of filth and full of diseased people. Try to stay outside in the sun without touching anything instead."

Interesting to read in the context of not having vaccinations available for all of the diseases mentioned; I don't know why it bothers me to see tuberculosis written as consumption though but I DO know why it bothers me that this idiot keeps saying sunlight will cure all of those diseases.

It really won't, you'll just die in a brightly lit room instead of a dark one.

"Don’t try to keep awake either by mental effort or that injurious resort of drinking coffee." - Well, I've been failing at that since I was about 15.

"Sleep always alone. Sleeping with another person is unsanitary." - ...uh huh.

"The hair should be washed frequently in water with a little powdered borax, but remember you wash the hair only to clean the scalp, nothing should be applied to the hair directly."  - Borax is corrosive, and how in the hell do you clean your scalp without also getting something on your hair, you can't just remove your hair and put it back later.

"Cold baths will keep your flesh firm and hard; will take off fat if you are too fat, and put on flesh if you are too lean." - Cold baths just sound unpleasant. There was also this whole section where he talked about how women specifically sweat fat out through their hands. I don’t have much for formal medical training but I’m confident that that’s not a thing that happens.

Speaking of, I particularly like that, in the book aimed at women, he's very adamant about daily bathing and in the book aimed at men it's more, "Eh, once per week is probably fine."

"EAT PICKLES AND CANDY IF YOU CRAVE THEM." - Unnecessarily aggressive sounding there, "Doctor". All I can picture is this quack screaming that in someone's face.

I guess it's kind of good to know that I have more extensive and accurate medical knowledge than someone who somehow got through school and earned the title of Doctor.

Oh, and I'm most amused by the fact that his last book was a book on "how to live long" and he died before he was 60. Must not be very good advice in that book.

Kind of want to read that one next.

[i-see-thevision]

Familiar Faces

• Chapter Two •

Prologue // Chapter One // Chapter Three

Genre: Mafia!AU

Pairing: Wonwoo x reader (ft. the rest of Seventeen)

Word Count: 1.6k

Summary: When you make a wrong turn on your way to visit family, you end up meeting some familiar faces and unintentionally get sucked down memory lane. Now, you’re reliving the past along with your former best friend. The only thing is… he’s much more dangerous now than he was before.

Warnings: Explicit Sexual Content; Illusions to Torture

• • •

“Please don’t hate me for what I’m about to do… But I’ve been missing you for almost two years and now that you’re apart of this again, I could lose you again… And I can let that happen without knowing.” He said, confusing you beyond belief.

“Wonwoo what are you talking ab-” But before you could finish, Wonwoo’s lips crashed into yours. Your mind went blank.

Wonwoo was kissing you.

But when he realized you weren't kissing him back, he pulled back.

“I’m sorry Y/n but I love you. I’ve loved you since the day I met you and I can’t keep it in now that were together again.” He rushed out his confession, looking into your eyes for any reaction. It took you a moment to wrap your head around what he just said, what he just did. But once the incredulity passed, you came to your senses.

And you kissed him back. 

As soon as your lips pressed against his, he quickly took control. Before you could do anything else, Wonwoo’s hands were on your waist and your back was pressed against the wall. A breathy moan left your lips at the sudden impact. 

“Do that again.” He practically growled against your lips. You didn't understand what he meant for a moment but it clicked once he tugged your bottom lip between his teeth, causing another moan to escape your lips.

“Good girl.” He smirked against your lips, the sudden praise turning you on more that you thought it would. 

His hands traveled higher, slipping underneath your shirt. His thumbs just brushing against the lace material of your bra. You knew he could feel the goosebumps his touch left in it’s wake. He pulled back for a moment to look you in the eyes. 

“How far are you willing to let me go?” His eyes searched for any uncertainty within yours. But to his delight, he couldn't find any.

“As far as you want, Wonwoo. I love you. I trust you.” You confessed, wanting nothing more than for Wonwoo to make love to you in that moment.

“God I’ve missed you.” He breathed before pressing his lips to yours once again, slowly lifting your shirt up and over your head, haphazardly throwing it onto the floor. You felt his tongue slip passed your lips and into your mouth, exploring every inch of it. His hands now made their way lower, his thumb tracing the waistband of your jeans. His subtle touches were enough to have wetness beginning to pool at your heat.

He unbuttoned your jeans and slid down the zipper before slipping his hand down further to run his middle finger along your clothed core, eliciting a sigh from you. You were melting under his touch.

“Already so wet for me.” He whispered huskily into your ear. Fuck, his voice could have practically made you orgasm right then and there.

His hand soon dipped underneath the waistband of your panties, rubbing his finger in between your slick folds. At the same time, his lips attached to your neck. Biting, kissing and sucking aesthetically pleasing marks into your skin.

Once his fingers started massaging your clit, you moaned and your head fell back against the wall behind you, allowing him more access to your neck. Your fingers were tangled in his hair, tugging softly every time he hit a nerve. 

He then entered a finger inside you, which was easy with how wet you were. You moaned louder, but neither of you cared. Especially Wonwoo, who has been waiting forever to be the cause of you making these sounds. You couldn’t help another moan from escaping when he added a second finger, pushing them in and out of you at an agonizingly slow pace. You tried to use your hips to make him go faster. You needed more friction, you needed more of him. But he held down your hip with his free hand.

“Wonwoo please.” You panted, your breath incredibly uneven by now. It was like he had you on the edge and was keeping you there. It was driving you crazy.

“Patience, love.” He whispered into the crook of your neck. Your eyes fell shut and a whimper fell past your lips as you attempted to do that, be patient. Wonwoo seemed to appreciate that, as his fingers started pumping faster. You gripped tighter onto his hair, not expecting the sudden acceleration in speed. Not that you were complaining.

“Fuck Wonwoo I’m close.” You managed to get out, your moans increasing in pitch. This seemed to turn Wonwoo on further as he then curled his fingers, hitting your g-spot now with every pump. The sounds of your erratic breathing and the lewd squelches from Wonwoo’s finger’s fucking you, filled the room. The sounds bringing you closer the the edge. Wonwoo could tell you were about to climax, so he leaned in closer.

“Cum, babygirl.” He softly commanded into your ear. That’s all it took for your head to fall onto his shoulder, your vision going white as the wave of your orgasm flowed through you. He slowed the movement of his fingers as he helped ride out your high. Once he pulled his fingers out, he brought them up to his mouth and sucked your juices off of them. The sight reigniting your bundle of nerves.

Wonwoo then pushed your jeans further down until you stepped out of them, kicking them in the direction of your shirt. It then occurred to you that you were standing in front of Wonwoo in only your bra and panties, and he was still fully clothed. And that was in no way fair.

“You have way too many clothes on.” You whined, knowing very well he can’t take it when you get pouty. A light chuckle left his lips as he pulled his shirt up and over his head, the offensive material following the direction of your own clothes.

“Better?” That devilish smirk he wore always sent shivers down your spine in the best way. But it seemed more sinister now than it did two years ago. Not that you were afraid of him, because you most definitely were not. You felt safest with him. But it just seems that being in Seventeen may have changed him more than you thought. 

“Much.” You bit your lip, taking in the sight before you. You ran your fingers down his toned chest, stopping just above his v lines. Wonwoo closed his eyes at the feeling of your hands on him, exhaling softly. 

“You have no idea what you do to me.” He growled, his hands returning to your waist. He pushed you against the wall a little harder and dipped his head to meet you neck with his lips again, nibbling another mark onto your sensitive skin. Just as another moan was about to escape your mouth, there was a knock on his door.

Great fucking timing.

“Woo, Mr. Jung just tried skipping town without paying what he owes us. We got him, he’s restrained down in the crypt now. But it’s time for you to teach him a lesson.” A voice you recognized as Minghao informed. Wonwoo groaned, visibly irritated by the interruption. 

“Can’t you just have Jihoon do it?” He countered, bringing his lips closer to yours, smirking. “I’m a bit busy.” The butterflies fluttering in your stomach couldn't be helped as his lips pecked yours.

“He can’t, S.Coups has him dealing with another... situation.” Minghao seemed to not want to disclose what ‘situation’ Woozi was dealing with. However you were very aware of what Woozi’s talents were and what his role was in Seventeen, having experienced his area of expertise personally.

“Besides,” Minghao added. “You always get more information out of them than Jihoon does. He always pushes them too far and just kills them.” It then occurred to you that you never asked Wonwoo what his role in Seventeen was. But by the sound of it, it was in the same area as Woozi’s.

Which was torture.

Wonwoo hung is head and let out a sigh of exasperation. His hands slid down to your thighs, lifting you up to wrap your legs around his waist. You let out a quiet squeal at the sudden action. He walked you over to his bed, laying you down on your back and leaning down until there was about and inch of space between you.

“I’m not finished with you. You better be in this bed when I get back.” He said in a low voice. His irritation causing it to be bit raspy. It turned you on.

You bit back a smile and nodded your head. Wonwoo was pleased by your obedience, kissing your forehead before standing up. He threw his shirt back on and looked back at you while his hand rested on the doorknob. Taking a long look at your half naked form laying on his bed. All he wanted to do right now was pounce on you and make you scream his name. Mr. Jung was going to have hell to pay for interrupting this moment. Wonwoo smirked to himself, this guy was going to die no matter how much information he gave up. 

“This won't take long.” He winked. And with that he had opened the door and left the room, closing it behind him. 

You laid your head back against the cloud like mattress, sighing in both aggravation and content. Aggravation obviously because you were just cock-blocked by whoever the hell this Mr. Jung was. Content because not only is Wonwoo in fact alive, but he loves you and that is all you've ever wanted.

Oh and anticipation, because he was coming back here to fuck you senseless.

• • •

A/N: WOW OKAY IS IT HOT IN HERE? Lol sorry this was kinda more of a smutty filler than an actual chapter, I'm away visiting my brother rn. Chapter three will be much longer and might I say VERY eventful. Thank you for reading my Lovelies! <3

[taeguboi]

So Far Away PART 09

Okay, so idk if anyone wanted me to continue with this series but this chapter was like half finished from last year haha and part 08 was posted last July lmao so I thought I might as well finish part 09 and post it during my slight comeback this Easter hols... I really think this might be more of a filler part again and it’s possibly what I was intending back when I opened the document but I guess we’ll never know for sure *sigh* 

01 / 02 / 03 / 04 / 05 / 06 / 07 / 08 <<< previous chapters

Masterlist

“Hey, Yoongi!” Namjoon greets as Yoongi walks towards the seat at which Namjoon is sat.

“Yeah, hey dude… why were you pointing just then?” Yoongi questions, looking back towards the doorway uncertainly. “Have I got something on my face?”

“Oh! No-n-n-no, I… I was just talking to Taehyung here and you just happened to be walking in as I mentioned your name, and he couldn’t quite remem--”

“Ah yes, Taehyung… I don’t believe we got properly acquainted after last night’s little drama… And wouldn’t it be a shame if all I gathered about you is that ‘You’re a fucking idiot, Taehyung’?”

Taehyung lets out a small chuckle at Yoongi’s comment as he invites him to take a seat at the bar. “Come sit and you'll… probably find out that's true” Taehyung jests, patting at the stool next to himself.

“Um, could we perhaps sit by the window there where there's more room?” Yoongi enquires.

“Yeah, sure, of course” Namjoon replies, gathering his things.

“It's just that I not long ago got a text from Hoseok… he seems really worked up about…”

“Uh, I think I'll leave you guys to it then…” Taehyung says with a low nervous tone.

“Nah, don't be silly Taehyung; chill with us for a bit” Yoongi tells the younger.

“It's not that… I just… I don't think that guy likes me…”

“Hey, you weren't to know about…”

“Look it just fucked everything up for me and I don't need to be constantly reminded of it…”

“Sorry, I don't understand…” Yoongi interrupts. “...It seems things worked out just fine for you… You didn't get smacked in the face at least, anyways… Actually, it seems you got off pretty lightly, only being called an idiot...”

Namjoon chips in “Not only that, but, just to catch you up Yoongs, he and Jimin…”

“Alright, no details, thanks” Yoongi tells Namjoon as the three take a seat at the window booth of the cafe, with Namjoon gesturing for Taehyung to take a seat first, which the younger reluctantly does.

“Oh crap, now I can't leave…” Taehyung realizes as he sits down, blocked off by Namjoon sitting next to him.

“My point. I'm sick of tension today. This will be sorted.” Namjoon demands.

“Hoseok isn't such a bad guy Taehyung, honestly” Yoongi adds. “His head’s just a bit all over the place lately…”

“Fine, I'll stay, but if he doesn't return my politeness again, you have to let me leave…”

Namjoon nods in agreement as the three boys spot Jimin and Hoseok heading their way.

“Hey guys!” Jimin greets.

Yoongi leans forward to Taehyung “Just talk to him for a bit” he encourages. “I think you’ll find that he’s actually quite a cool guy” he smiles fondly, leaning back to set up his work.

“Uh, I'm gonna grab a bite to eat… Anyone want anything?” asks Hoseok.

“Yeah, sure… I'll come up with you” Jimin offers.

“No” Taehyung asserts, reaching across the table to halt Jimin from leaving. “I'll go with. What do you want Chim?”

“Seriously, what is with the nicknames today?” groans Hoseok, causing Taehyung to fill with some dread because that was obviously some aim at him, right?

“I'll just have whatever Hoseok’s having” Jimin replies.

“Alrighty” Taehyung nods as he climbs over the back of the booth to get out of his seat without moving Namjoon.

“Taehyung!” exclaims Seokjin from the counter.

“Sorry” he apologizes, walking over to Hoseok who is already heading to the bar to order.

As Hoseok orders for himself and Jimin, there remains tension between Taehyung and Hoseok that the former now intends on ridding.

“Please don't hate me” is all Taehyung can utter to the guy, unexpectant of any resolve… He guesses he would have felt a similar kind of way had Jimin not shown up at his door last night and instead chose to hook up with a stranger.

“I don't know what to think,” Hoseok truthfully replies. “I guess I've been feeling rather… possessive lately about something that's not really mine to keep…”

“I completely understand, man… I mean, I can’t say I’ve been through the exact same thing, but I guess with the way I’ve been around Jimin for the past few-- Ugh, everything is happening all so quickly, I… You have to know it meant nothing to me, and I'm certain he felt the same way about it.”

“Save it, yeah?” Hoseok huffs, unintentionally coming across more aggressive than he wanted to. “Sorry. What I mean is… you're not someone I want or need to be arguing with. I don't think this is a conversation we need to have, either… I can't handle it right now, or anything about Jeon… that” he admits, resting his head in his palms.

“It might not be ideal but, if you ever need to talk about it, or anything at all… it's the least I can do” Taehyung offers, daring to place a friendly hand on Hoseok’s shoulder to get him to look up again.

“I get it now” Hoseok says, lifting his head, and Taehyung thinks he sees something that could be named a smile. He nonetheless removes the hand from the guy’s shoulder, you know, just incase.

“Huh?” asks Taehyung, confused.

“You and Jimin.... you're simple people…”

“Pardon?” Taehyung chuckles, pretending to be extremely offended.

“As in, not complicated… Sure, it seems it took both of you a while to confess or whatever, but…”

“Woah, slow down there… this literally happened this morning”

“Just… keep him. I feel like it's my duty to tell you… I'm sick of no longer being the one people look to for guidance and happiness or whatever… So it starts now, right? And I could really use a new friend right now… Yoongi must be bored as shit with the shenanigans, Namjoon seems to low key want me to move out… Seokjin seems to view life through rose tinted windows…”

“And Jimin?” Taehyung enquires.

“I don’t know… We’ve never been all that close, truth be told. He’s Jeongguk’s friend, primarily…”

“You guys seem pretty tight to me…”

“Only because they fell out; I can’t trust him, or anyone yet. Anything he finds out from me will just be told to Guk when they make it up again…”

“Well… can’t you perhaps just… be Jeongguk’s friend too?” Taehyung unknowingly asks.

“That’s the thing; I guess I don’t know how to be…”

“I’m sure that’s not--”

“Oh, but it is; we’ve either always hated each other with a passion or messed around with each other… there’s never been an in between, not really.”

“Maybe that’s your answer right there. You don’t know how to be friends with him, so you’re scared because you don’t know what to do the next time you see him.”

Hoseok pauses and judging by the thoughtful expression on his face followed by a small light in his eyes, it seems to Taehyung that maybe Hoseok isn’t all he thought him to be. From recounts of events and descriptions from both Jeongguk and Jimin, he guess he expected for Hoseok to just snap at him and tell him to shut the fuck up.

“I think we can get along just fine.”

*

“Have you calmed down this morning, tiger?” Namjoon jests at Jimin as he slides across the booth, allowing for the boy to sit next to him.

“I’m still recovering from a killer hangover… please don’t remind me of that just yet; I feel terrible” Jimin pleads, hanging his head in shame not only about hitting Jeongguk but also the fact he has a hangover.

“I thought Park Jimin never got hangovers…” comments Yoongi with a smug expression, remembering how it was only the other day that Jimin was bragging how he had never gotten a hangover in his life.

“Yeah, yeah, leave it Yoongs... “ replies Jimin, trying to be as polite as possible, hesitating to ask something on his mind. It seems he won’t need to speak a word though as Yoongi proceeds with the conversation.

“Fine, I’ll shut up about that… But man, you and Guk… What’s going on there?”

“We haven’t spoken since… that.”

“You probably should. Just sayin’” Yoongi suggests.

“I know, it’s just…”

“Please. For the sake of a mate” Yoongi begs, kind of. “I can barely put up with one housemate being miserable… I mean, of course, they’re both miserable because of each other, so I guess it’s unlikely I’m going to get any one of them to improve their mood, but… Well, from experience, Jeon can always at least perk up with his best friend around, and that’ll still be you Jimin… Even if you did smack him one.”

“Again. I feel terrible!” Jimin exclaims, wondering whether Yoongi is enjoying this to any extent. Nah, that’s a stupid idea, Jimin supposes. He’d hate it too if he had to live with Jeongguk and Hoseok, as much as he does have regard for the former.

***

The afternoon passes, albeit slowly and eventually arrives the evening, but Hoseok’s day is only just beginning after regretting that little stunt earlier of skiving from class to wallow in his own pity. The dim lights of the dance studio come on as Hoseok carelessly slings his bag into a corner of the room, thankful that there’s no chance of bumping into him here.

Fortunately for either of the boys, Hoseok and Jeongguk pursue the same interest but in different places, so thankfully, there’s never been an incident of finding themselves alone in the studio and ruining the memories there with… well, you know. This is Hoseok’s escape place, as unglamorous as the room might appear with it’s worn out floorboards and light odour of hard work in the air from all the classes that have taken place throughout the day. He proceeds to dance, with great attempt to focus solely on his upcoming assessment and make up for the time he missed during the day.

Though Hoseok often comes here in his spare time to get away from something, what that may be - usually Jeongguk related, of course, - his mind never fails to wander. Oh, how much simpler life was when feelings didn’t get in the way! Every weekend used to be a new adventure, clubbing at either an up and coming club either in or out of town, or at a regular place he felt was due a visit to catch up with some acquaintances.

This morning could have started just fine. He’d done exactly that, exactly what he used to do. Go out, pull a stranger, wake up relaxed, kick them out, life is good and the day goes on… But that child just had to arrive back this morning from whatever the fuck he’d been doing and…

“Who am I kidding?... I’m just as much of a child as he is” Hoseok thinks to himself, ceasing to dance as he takes a good look at himself in the studio mirror.

“Hoseok?” a voice questions at the door.

The boy turns to see who is speaking, and dread fills him when he sees no one other than his dance tutor whose class he was supposed to attend today. Pushing himself away from the railing at the mirror, he tries to answer in a fluster.

“Uh… Hello…”

“Was there something more important than my class today?” questions the lady.

“I-I-I…” Hoseok stutters, unsure of whether to answer truthfully or with a lie.

“Where were you today?”

“Okay, I skived, but I promise it won’t happen again…” he explains.

“Hmm, it better not” she hums sceptically. “And this is rather unusual behaviour for you Hoseok; you’re always one of my most enthusiastic and talented students.”

“Uh, thank you miss…” he sighs breathlessly.

“Look, I’ll understand if something’s going on, but don’t let it happen again if you don’t have a good reason!”

“I won’t miss!”

“Indeed! Now try not to be too long this evening Hoseok. We’re closing at 7 tonight.”

“Understood.”

As the tutor exits, Hoseok returns to facing his own reflection. It’s as if the conversation he’s just had with his displeased tutor has given him a deeper insight to himself - actually, that’s exactly what it’s done. In this moment sweeps a huge realization; he’s been letting his drive to acheive his ambition slip from getting too caught up in all the personal life issues.

Think about it!; Last week, you almost fainted in a class from the sleepless night before worrying about Jeongguk; a day before that, he left early because of a stupid text from him; the week before that he was almost late from sleeping in again!... Come to think of it, Hoseok had never been late for a class before that one time many months ago when he had to sneak out of Jeon’s bedroom to continue to keep up the secret of the two of them sleeping together, back when it was a secret.

And this Taehyung guy that apparently Jimin is now dating was right; Hoseok and Jeongguk never learned how to just be friends. It would make home life a lot more pleasant... and the advice was coming from a guy who had literally practised what he preached. Sure, maybe the other guys had become annoyed with how much Jimin liked to talk about his new neighbour and friend from what he’d been told, but from where Hoseok stands, whose life is simpler at the moment? His, or the boy next door to Jimin who knew how to take things step by logical step?

“You can’t do this anymore. Move on.”

Part 10 here

[written-in-sunshine]

The Little Things - 001/030 - Tucker/Specs - SFWish

Title: The Little Things Author: Donnie Fandom: Insidious Setting: Various Pairing: Tucker/Specs Characters: Tucker, Specs, Elise Rainier, More To Come Genre: Romance/Humor/Horror/Hurt/Comfort Rating: M to be safe Chapters: 1/30 Word Count: 2791 Type of Work: One-Shot Collection, 30 Day Domesticity Challenge Status: Incomplete Warnings: Gay, Slash, Yaoi, Teasing, Fluff, Heavy Flirtation, Top!Tucker, Bottom!Specs, Lots of griping, AU - Canon Divergent, More to come Disclaimer: I don’t own anything! Summary: Even two ghost hunters can have their quiet moments of domesticity. AN: Alright, so I found this 30 Day Domesticity Prompt list and I thought I’d give it a try for my new obsession. I really enjoy writing for these guys, and these prompts are really nice? I hope you guys enjoy!

Insidious Fic Masterlist Chapter One: The Least You Could Do ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Feeding Tucker was probably one of the worst things about being with him. Ever since Elise had met her unfortunate end, and they had had to work without her, everything had sort of fallen to Specs. While he didn’t mind cleaning and cooking too much, taking care of things that Tucker couldn’t or wouldn’t do having always been something he was good at, he was frustrated. All he had asked, his one little stipulation, was that Tucker actually rinse his dishes when he put them in the sink. That way, when he loaded the dishwasher, Specs wouldn’t have to spend an hour and a half soaking ketchup stains and dried on cheese. 

Stomping into the living room and standing very pointedly in front of the fifth episode of Beetlejuice that his boyfriend was watching, he narrowed his eyes. “Tuck--” “Come on, man, you’re interrupting.” Tucker managed around the spoonful of Lucky Charms in his mouth. Specs shuddered slightly at the sight of crumbs falling to the floor he’d vacuumed only an hour ago. He cleared his throat, and Tucker finally did his best not to try and peer around the other, looking up at him. What greeted him was a very red-faced, frowny, glaring Steven in the pretty, frilly black and green apron he’d been given as a joke. It still astounded Tucker that he wore it, but he supposed it suited the other, at least. The idea, however, that he hadn’t done or said anything that would embarrass the other man lead him to believe that his nearly purple housemate was about to unleash the wrath of the Gods on him. It wouldn’t be the first time, naturally, but this time it looked like he was about to get a new, structurally superfluous asshole jammed somewhere into his body. “Uh…” He started, setting down his bowl and wiping at his beard, then his lips, “Something wrong, sweetheart?” Every time he knew he was in trouble, Tucker would do his best to weasel his way out. Pet names usually melted his little lover, but this time, it seemed, he was in too deep. “Yes,” The strain in Steven’s voice, the slightly higher octave, told Tucker that he was in for it, now, “There absolutely is. You,” Leveling a finger at the other’s eyes, his own narrowed a fraction more, “Promised me you’d start rinsing your damn dishes. You promised me that when you were done with your fucking Hot Pockets last night that you would clean the fucking plate.” Because Steven had forced him to start using them around the house around a year ago. “At least enough that it could go into the dishwasher without incident.” “And, uh, there was an incident, huh?” That much was obvious. Steven wasn’t usually the type to swear, which meant that there was definitely going to be some shit going down. Hell hath no fury like a Specs scorned, after all. “You better fucking believe there was an incident.” Glowering over the tops of his glasses, leaving Tucker and the world around him in a hazy blur, he placed both hands on his hips. Catching the implication of that, he crossed his arms over his chest, instead, with a loud huff and a roll of his eyes, averting his gaze. It wasn’t like he could see much, anyway, “Ham and cheese. Ham and fucking cheese, stuck to the plate like glue! And who has to clean up after you all the damn time, huh? It’s me. My fucking thirty-six year old toddler, going and leaving messes for me to clean up! All the time!”  If Tucker didn’t put an end to this, soon, there would never be one. Specs was good at holding grudges for about twenty minutes, but this one was waxing on the ‘fuming all night and possibly tomorrow’ side of the spectrum. That wasn’t exactly the kind of atmosphere amenable to finishing his Beetlejuice binge with a happy ending. Or any ending without him being gutted on the living room floor. “Babe, ba--” Despite his best attempt at civility, Specs was still speaking over him, and it finally had gotten on his nerves. With a heavy sigh and a frown, he stood up at the same time that he all but roared, “Babe! I get it, you’re pissed.” He took a careful step forward, as if knowing he was about to try and cage a rabid animal, “I don’t do enough around the house,” Throwing an unintentionally nervous glance around the place, he took another step, hands out with palms facing his lover, voice lowering, “And you’re sick of doing everything. I’m a slob.” The concession to his point was enough to make Steven blink, jaw hanging open and eyes narrowed in disbelief. Was Tucker Ackerman actuallyadmitting he could be wrong? This was a trap. Everything in him screamed to abort this mission, to just let him win, because there was something not right about this… But, at the same time, he couldn’t help himself, preening with a little smile at the compliment this admission was.  “You are a slob.” He nodded succinctly, smirking slightly, “But, I suppose, you’re my slob. So, what are you going to do about your disgusting dishes?” Hands sliding down to his hips again, he let them bunch up the apron slightly, the wrinkled fabric pinching in beneath the webbing of his thumb and forefinger. The sight alone was enough to have Tucker’s argument dead on his lips, throat and mouth dry, while he fumbled for a second to think of the most appropriate thing to say. “I’ll take care of it.” Tucker finally blurted, immediately regretting the decision when the other’s eyes lit up behind his glasses. Give a nerd an inch and he’d take a lightyear. “If you dry the dishes when I give them to you.” “We have a dis--” “I know. But if I’m doing it, I’m doing it  by hand, and you’re helping me. You get all the nit-picking done you want, and then you dry.” It seemed like a win-win; Specs could bitch and moan and carry on about how he needed to do better, do more, whatever, and Tucker could put in the extra effort and get out of dishes for another week or so. When the idea seemed to sink in and take hold, Tucker felt like he’d won; what he didn’t quite understand was that, likely, he hadn’t. He had simply delayed a swift death with a little bit of what he would have called filler if he were watching a movie. It was the part of the movie where the protagonist barely managed to escape death in order to go on some inane mission that had no real outcome except to put him back into mortal danger for a dumbass reason connected to the first. Raising his eyebrows, tipping his head and frowning seemed to be about all that Tucker got in reply, of course. He was being an idiot. They had a perfectly functioning dishwasher, and here Tucker was, considering doing dishes by hand. “Do you really think that’s a good reason?”  “Yeah, I do.” Finally wrapping the other up in his arms, Tucker smirked a little when he felt a little bit of give in the tense line of Steven’s spine. Even just a little bit of slack in the tightly corded muscle was enough to tell him that he had, indeed, at least begun the end of this war.  “Fine.” Holding up his hands in defeat, but also to push Tucker back away from him, he took one step closer to the TV stand before turning and walking to the kitchen. Letting Specs lead the way, the elder male enjoyed the view as he stepped foot in the kitchen, placing a hand on the other’s hip to ‘help’ pass him. They both knew exactly what he was up to, regardless of his feigned justification. Whatever he said could never really be trusted when it came to his reasons for touching Steven. Stepping up to the sink and staring into it, eyes on the three inches of steaming, soapy water no doubt hiding the mess his plate was, he sighed. Of course that would be how Specs would handle something like that. Neat and clean. Had he been the one to find and decide to handle this, Tucker would have just scraped a fork over it for a few minutes and scrubbed it a little and called it good. This meant he had to get his hands wet and soapy, and the supervision he’d invited in made it necessary that he not ‘call it good’ until it was impeccable. One of the biggest drawbacks to living with your rather obsessive boyfriend was that, occasionally, you were held to his standards at something. Half the reason he chose to wash by hand instead of using the dishwasher was because every time he tried, he just ‘didn’t do it right.’ If that happened, Specs bitched the rest of the night about how he’d had to come clean up another fuck-up; Tucker had to live with the fact that he wouldn’t be able to make him happy that night. It could really be ridiculous. But most of the time, that didn’t hamper his love for the little spaz. In all of his fire and fury, he was adorable. A crouching kitten with a scratch that stung. The thought brought a small smile to his lips, a quiet huff of a laugh out of him as he sunk his hand into the water that petered off with a pained hiss. “Would you like to share with the class what’s so funny, Mr. Ackerman?” Specs questioned with a quirk to his lips. “Oh my God, you sound like such a teacher like that.” Tucker groaned, rolling his eyes and letting his entire body follow the motion, “I was just thinking about you.”  “So you laughed.” Shooting a sharp glare at the other, he huffed loudly, the dish towel in his hands being wrung. Whether it was from anger or anxiety over the idea was up for interpretation, apparently. “I laughed because you make me happy. Is that such a bad thing?” “You usually laugh at my expense.” And Steven wasn’t entirely wrong, either. Tucker did have a bit of a habit of adding insult to injury on his lover’s part. Even the thought that had made him laugh was probably a little bit disparaging.  “Not always.” Tucker responded, guilt etched into both his voice and his features. It was obvious, now, that he’d probably end up on the couch tonight. “What were you thinking about?” Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Tucker figured the best option to keep an impassioned Specs from full on raging on him was to tell the truth. “You… As a, uh… Rabid… Kitten.” Once more entertained by the mental image that produced, he smiled slightly before clenching his jaw so tightly that his teeth ached. Maybe he even heard one chip. The look he received, even out of the corner of his eye, was enough to almost have him laughing again.  Instead of the beautifully disbelieving, almost hurt face his lover regarded him with, he focused on the dish he was supposed to be washing. After all, it would probably be a little bit better to do it if the water was draining and he was actually doing this. Pulling the plug and grabbing the brillo pad, he turned the faucet on to begin his work while Specs gathered himself. When he finally did, there was no doubt that Tucker would get it. “A rabid kitten, huh?” Specs ultimately turned his head away, mostly to hide his smile, though the shaking in his voice was indicative that he wanted to laugh, “Does that make you a big, dumb dog? You sure do drool a lot.” “Ouch.” Sardonic as ever, Tucker chuckled when the rag popped him in the side of his face. Having preyed on Specs’ insecurities, he supposed it was only fair to let him jump all over some of his. “And I don’t drool that much.” “You drool so much a Bulldog would be jealous. Especially when you come.” Okay, maybe that was a little too far, because Tucker finally turned his head to look at him, the draw of his brows and flat-lined lips reading ‘really?’ Specs quickly added, “Not that I don’t like it.” If he were honest with himself, he had a hard time hitting orgasm without an extra dollop of wetness on his exposed skin, be it saliva or lube. “You sure beg for it enough, don’t you.” It wasn’t even a question as Tucker turned his eyes back on the task at hand. The light above the sink buzzed softly as he rinsed the plate in his hand, carefully panning it under the water.  “...You missed a spot.” Specs found it insanely ridiculous just how red his face was right now. He’d been teasing Tucker for the last ten minutes, if not all day before that, and here he was with a little returned mockery of a sexual nature and he couldn’t take it. As he tapped the plate, he indicated the spot that needed to be worked over again.  “It’s mostly good.” “‘Mostly’ does not make ‘good’. Finish it and I’ll let you go.” No doubt Tucker was ready to get back to his marathon. Perhaps, if he behaved, Specs would join him. “Fine, fine.” With another heavy, dramatic, put-upon sigh, Tucker plunged the plate back under the water and aimed the steaming liquid onto the problem area. For extra brownie points, he put on a distressed face and cried, “Out, out damn spot!” It did, at least, earn a little chuckle from his boyfriend, who knocked their hips together playfully. “Don’t just use the water to get it off, soap and the sponge, please.” If he were honest, Specs had every intention of putting the plate through the dishwasher if only to make sure that it was sanitary. That didn’t mean that Tucker was going to let him, or that he was going to tell him, of course. “I know, mom.” As soon as the word left his lips, their eyes met and twin grimaces caught their features. “Yeah, that was weird.” “Weird doesn’t even cover it.” Specs agreed, shaking his head. “I’ll quit nagging for ten whole minutes if you never call me that again.” “Deal.”  With that, Tucker finished up the dish, rinsing it and presenting it for approval. A nod of acknowledgement was all he needed to hand the plate over, wash his hands and kill the water pouring from the faucet. Specs worked diligently to dry the plate with his freshly gathered rag, the first one still on the floor (he would have Tucker pick that up, later). Once he was ready to put it away, he felt the full weight of Tucker’s body pressing to his back. “Tuck?” He questioned, breathless, as the other man pinned him to the counter and leaned down to nip at his ear. Growling low in his chest, he smirked softly, smugness apparent in his voice. “Put it away, and I’ll make all of this worth it for you. We can even put on Paranormal Activity and you can ride me while we make fun of it.” Breathless and flustered, red as a cherry and just as sweet, Specs nodded slowly and stood up on his tiptoes, the drag of his body against Tucker’s sending a chill up his spine. With a little whine, he managed to set the plate on top of the rest of the stack without smashing them, the cabinet door quick to close. Turning despite the pressure keeping him against the counter, he wrapped his arms around the other’s neck. Kissing him deeply, tongues brushing and lips parted, Specs kept them together as long as Tucker would allow. A yelp left him as Tucker hefted him up by his ass cheeks, his thighs wrapping around the elder’s waist to keep him attached. Carrying Specs to the couch, he flopped on top of him, holding his body over him just enough to keep from crushing the smaller man, mouthing at his neck and jawline.  “Put on the movie.” Specs instructed, watching out of the corner of his eye as shaking hands reached for the remote.  Specs was definitely in for an interesting night. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ AN: This was not meant to be this long. It was meant to be under 1k words, and it turned into a very, very long and drawn out thing. I do hope you guys enjoy it. I had a lot of fun with this! Prompt: Doing Dishes

[architeuthid-blog]

Books That Have Made an Impact On Me

The Pale King: It’s strange to read a book by a dead man, I mean a book that wasn’t finished because the author died but which was published anyway. In the literary world this is taken as a matter of course; one expects posthumous publications from renowned authors. It’s pathological, and it was hard to shake the feeling when reading one of these artifacts that you’re looking at something unintended for your eyes, like you’ve wandered into a dressing room and stumbled upon a clown who hasn’t finished putting on his makeup. Then again, the novel ends with the same abruptness and feeling of ruined orgasm as Infinite Jest, so maybe the difference is academic for Wallace.

That’s not what made this an impact though. It’s a certain scene, in the chapter from the point of view of the slacker-stoner character, who’s wandered into the wrong classroom and ends up listening to a lecture from an accounting professor. It’s the way he describes, in his airy confessional, the teacher’s attitude, a self-possessed man, without any of the corny jokes he’s used to from the humanities department, an assurance that everything he is saying is true and necessary, no filler, no need for emotional connection, just pure knowledge, a Kantian understanding of the world and its phenomena.

This semester I’m teaching a world literature course in the science & engineering building. Every day I arrive a few minutes early to set things up, and every day the previous professor is still occupying the classroom, either still lecturing about mathematics or staying after to answer students’ questions about the material. Every moment is filled. It’s pedagogy at its most efficient and essential. I bet she never feels the need to justify what she’s doing; the importance of differential equations is self-evident, even if one has (probably) never moved anyone to tears.

I’m sure it’s not always the case. Some of my students do seem to care about the Epic of Gilgamesh; I’m actually surprised how many, this semester around. And everything is more complicated than it first appears. I know nothing of this other professor’s life, her dreams, whether or not she’s happy, whether or not such a question actually matters. But every time I’m up at the lectern and have to fill an awkward silence, every time I’ve run out of things to say about some classical Indian epic and then realize there’s still 20 minutes of class time left, every time I ask a question about the text and am met with a sea of blank stares, I can’t help but think about The Pale King and the way that layabout was inspired by an accounting lecture.

Have I ever inspired anyone?

2666: Ah, and we’re hopping right back into morbidity. Another book that was never finished due to the author’s sudden non-existence. This might actually be, unintentionally, my favorite genre of literature. Few will argue against Bolaño’s genius, and 2666 holds up even incomplete, even incomplete and in translation (for Natasha Wimmer, though less celebrated, is also a genius). Beyond general prose mastery, this book is also remarkable for being telepathic: About halfway through The Part About the Crimes, I was sitting in a coffeeshop, thinking to myself, “Wow, all this violence is really starting to become a chore to get through, I wish something else would happen for a change,” and lo and behold, on the next page, the book suddenly lapsed into a bizarre, extended parody of One Hundred Years of Solitude. I have to respect that.

Bolaño has also been one of the largest influences on my writing style, mainly because I decided to write a story that imitated his prose, and, it turns out, imitation is not just the sincerest form of flattery, but also the best way to learn from someone. I swear less in my writing though. I’ve been uncomfortable with swearing, I don’t know why.

The Story of My Teeth: The first book on the list that isn’t a doorstopper and whose writer didn’t die before finishing it. Wow! Also the first book on the list written by a woman. Double wow!! Actually, I’m not quite sure what impact this book made on me, but it was a good one. It certainly made me fall in love with Luiselli’s writing. Her prose is just the kind of weird and humorous that I adore. (I was originally going to write “She’s just the kind of weird and humorous that I adore,” but I’ve never met her in real life, and so cannot make that kind of qualitative judgement. I was going to meet her, back in 2015, at a conference in Tucson, but I miscalculated when booking my flight and hotel, and so had to leave a day early. On top of that my flight was on Halloween, so I also missed out on one of my favorite holidays. I wouldn’t say that I was inconsolable, but I was certainly in an ill mood for a while.)

I’d talk about how Luiselli is like a reincarnation of Scheherazade, a master of the art of the story-within-a-story, but this isn’t LitHub, and the onanism I’m engaging in here is a different animal altogether.

(Even though I’ve written for LitHub before, I kind of despise them, for reasons that don’t quite add up. I think mainly they seem like yet another vanguard of the fake-woke brigade, and I can’t stand people who seem like nothing more than the masks they wear. Ooh, what to do, you’re being problematic again. And you just used “seem like” twice in quick succession. That’s shoddy craftsmanship.)

Not One Day: I actually just finished this book a few days ago. Actually, it hasn’t even been officially released yet (tee hee, I have an advance copy, well that’s less titillating that you might think). The conceit of the book is that the author, Anne Garréta (a member of the Oulipo, nonetheless!), has decided to spend five hours every day writing about different women she has desired over the course of her life. So it’s a confessional novel, but Garréta is very self-conscious about the fact that she’s writing a confessional novel, she knows how the sordid game is played. I, too, often feel self-conscious about the things I do, like I’m always late to the party. Fortunately, Garréta knows how to innovate. And not all her tales are erotic adventures; actually, very few are. One is about a little girl who develops a fascination with her. Another chapter centers around her learning that someone has a crush on her, but she never figures out who.

I don’t know what I’m trying to say here. I like the style. I’m narcissistic enough that I may steal it for something (just like I’m stealing this from someone--but I’m getting ahead of myself).

The Elephant Vanishes: This was gateway drug into the world of Murakami. Short stories are easier to digest than full novels; there are natural starting and stopping points, along with the sly exhortation that you can walk away at any time if you’re feeling unsatisfied. Of course, I was reading the book for an undergrad course, so that wasn’t really an option for The Elephant Vanishes, but then again I never felt the need to take advantage of that particular safety cord.

(The course was called “The Poet In Asia” and was a general survey of Asian literature, more or less. We also read Rumi, Li Bo, Du Fu, Matsuo Bashō,   etc.)

Actually, there’s not much else to say about this one. I guess it also introduced me to post-modern literature, literature that maybe went beyond the mainstays of plot, characterization, and so on. Does that mean anything? Plenty of writers today would say no, that post-modernism is just privileged navel-gazing. But I do gaze at my navel a lot; it collects a worrying amount of lint over the course of the day.

Notes From Underground: Another required reading from my undergraduate years, twice: first in a mandatory “Narratives of the Self” class, then later in an elective course on Russian literature (Anna Karenina would have also made this list, but, I mean, c’mon). My major, incidentally, was philosophy. All of this is just tangentially related.

Notes From Underground taught me an important life lesson, one I didn’t even realize I needed until I had it. Oh wow, I hate myself a little bit more for writing that. I don’t even want to tell you what it is now.

Okay, I’ll give you a hint.

I saw some of myself in the Underground Man, and correctly understood that to be a bad thing.

Pale Fire: Did this book actually make an impact on me? Thinking about it, I’m not really sure. Formally it does something I think is cool. Moving on.

Minor Angels: The first Volodine novel I read. Of course that carries significance. It certainly delivered on its promise of its effect hiding not in the text itself but within the reader’s dreams. After finishing Minor Angels I woke up locked outside my apartment, around midnight, in January, barefoot in the snow, braving my way over slippery ice and pointy rock salt to reach the emergency phone. I need to stop talking about this event, or at least stop pretending that it somehow makes me interesting. This isn’t even the post-exotic novel that made the biggest impact on me. That honor would belong to. . .

We Monks & Soldiers: Everything comes around in great circles. Or small circles. Fuck, I don’t know. Everything is at least repeated here, and by here I mean in We Monks & Circles, er Soldiers. I like how we see the narrative twice, with slight variations the second time. It’s a genuine post-exotic form, the Shaggå, a series of seven sequences, repeated, and interspersed with commentary, impenetrable to the outside reader, any of which could be the enemy of post-exoticism.

Yes, this is hell of pretentious. No, I don’t care. Shut up. I hate you. I’m going to kill you. Oh noble son or daughter, you who are reading this, you shall die by my hands. Think on the Clear Light, though you will not reach it. You are doomed the wander the Bardo for forty-nine days until you are reborn into another miserable existence.

Also, the scene with the spider-girl in the burning hotel is pitch-perfect.

The Soul of an Octopus: This book made me jealous more than anything. Here Sy Montgomery is, going backstage to prestigious aquariums across America, getting to meet firsthand the octopuses in their care (not to mention a rather handsome-sounding marine biologist), and then she goes and writes a best-selling, award-winning book about the experience! Whenever I go to an aquarium, the octopus isn’t on display. Or they’re hiding. I can’t blame them for hiding, I’d be shy too if I were on display like that, but the former just seems like rotten luck. I was so looking forward to seeing the Enteroctopus dofleini at the New England Aquarium two Decembers ago, and her handlers had spirited her away that inauspicious winter day for some well-deserved r&r. At least I got a t-shirt.

I have gone to the following aquariums:

~Georgia Aquarium (Atlanta) ~Tennessee Aquarium (Chattanooga) ~New England Aquarium (Boston) ~Mystic Aquarium (Mystic) ~Tybee Island Marine Science Center (Tybee Island) ~South Carolina Aquarium (Charleston) ~Aquarium of the Bay (San Francisco) ~Shedd Aquarium (Chicago) ~National Museum of Play (Rochester) ~Aquarium (Endless Ocean: Blue World)

Our Lady of the Flowers, Echoic: It’s not the book itself that made an impact on me here, but rather its translation, by Chris Tysh. She takes Genet’s Notre dame des fleurs, a prose text, and transforms it, in her interpretation, into a poem. The effect is striking and opened the door to a vast array of translatory possibilities. Things were no longer one-for-one (nor had they ever been, but before this, it was merely an academic matter, shadows on a distant wall).

Granted, I’ve never translated a prose text into a poem, but then again, I’m not a poet. Poets have an easier time going crazy with translations, I think. The older generations didn’t even bother learning the source language. That’s probably taking things too far. But if Quine is right, then it doesn’t matter either way, I guess. Is Quine right? Who the hell would have a special word for “rabbitness instantiated”?

Autobiography of Red: Another book of poetry, another liberal interpretation of an earlier work. Turning and turning in the widening gyre, etc.

I’ll come out and say it: This book made me cry. I straight up teared up. I bet it made other people cry too. If you say you read Autobiography of Red and didn’t cry, I’m going to assume that you’re lying. Or that your literary sensibilities are far more refined than mine. Probably that second one. (Putting aside the fact that it’s hard to get more refined than Anne Carson, but rationality rarely enters my autoevaluative equations.)

Why did I cry? For all the normal reasons. Even when we identify with them, tragic characters will always be way cooler than we could ever dream of ourselves.

In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods: I’m including this book here specifically because it did not impact me the way I thought it would. While reading it, I often felt tired, like I was running a surrealist marathon (especially once the narrator stopped transforming into a cephalopod). I can’t begrudge Matt Bell’s style; he does some interesting things with his prose. I get the feeling that he’s an ace when it comes to unreliable narrators. But things have to come to a close at some point, and so many times I thought I was finally reaching some sort of conclusion, only to discover that, nope!, we were just going a layer deeper, into the house, or the protagonist’s psyche, or the married couple’s past. So, even though this book was kind of a let-down, I still talk about it, because every condition contains the seeds of its opposite nature, and I’ve read Hegel too, Sam. Maybe Cataclysm Baby is better.

The Pillow Book: I would be remiss if I didn’t mention to book to which I am indebted for the form in which I wrote this whole shindig. I admire the way Sei Shōnagon writes about whatever seems to capture her fancy at any given moment. It’s incredibly intimate (and with reason: we’re essentially reading her diary. Why do people think it’s okay to publish others’ private writings? What would Anne Frank say if she knew her personal thoughts during a time of great trauma were now required reading for middle school students?). Her poetry is beautiful, yes, but it’s the lists that get me. They’re just lists of things, a show about nothing. But they convey so much about her, about her compatriots, about courtly life in Heian Japan. Last semester my students weren’t huge fans of this text; they preferred the Tale of Genji. They found the Pillow Book “too hard to follow.” I think maybe they just didn’t like how long the selection in the anthology was. But then again, judging by their research papers, many of them had no problem reading the New Testament Gospels (even if they had no idea how to write about said Gospels--it turns out, coming as a surprise to no one, that devout undergrounds have no fucking clue how to do Biblical exegesis). So here I am, taking up the one-woman literary tradition of a courtier who lived over a thousand years ago, for no reason in particular beyond a habitual shrug and a muttered “just because I felt like it.”

A Google search reveals that TV Tropes has an article on the Pillow Book. According to the anonymous author or authors of the page, Sei is an example of the “Alpha Bitch” trope. So, that’s enough of that web adventure.

Post-Scriptum: Reading over what I’ve written so far, it would be tempting to ask (like the rote commentator of any list on the internet), “Are these really the only books that have impacted you? What about The Dew Breaker? What about If on a winter’s night a traveler? What about Horror Recognition Guide?” That’s all well and good; plenty of other books have certainly stirred something inside me. The practical answer is one of laziness: I’ve written what I felt like writing about, and now I’m done. Or maybe, if I didn’t mention some book, then I didn’t inspire me as much as you might think it did. Or, I only wanted to include one book by any given author (with one obvious, but pre-eminent, exception).

Incidentally this entire exercise also borrows heavily from not just the Pillow Book but also Not One Day: Anne Garréta ends her confessional narrative with a P-S that’s essentially an apology and a shrug. Which is what I’m doing here, explicitly so.  

Okay, I think I’m done.