#winging it out here fellas | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

devilfic · 2 months ago

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❝right place, right time❞

X. we don't fight fair.

parts: previously plot: you and bruce talk some more about your arrangement. everyone wants to know what's going on with you two. pairing: battinson!bruce wayne x gn!reader. cw: surgeon!reader, secret identities, slow burn, angst is back baby, but so are the romcom plot beats, somebody get gordon a drink and get one for me too. words: 7.6k. a/n: LOTS of plot this chapter, but also some maybe cute things coming later. in between the horrors :D

It takes more coaxing than you would like for Bruce to let you leave alone two days later. Even with proof of a patient, he insists he send you in his car, with his driver and his guards. One of the cops on your detail had confessed they were feeling redundant, leisurely as they were anyway, parked outside General with coffees barely keeping hot in the November chill, “Just the one today, right doc?”

You snuggle deeper into your coat, hands eagerly grasping at the warmers in your pockets, “Just the one. If everything goes smoothly, I’ll be out before lunch.”

“Well, we’ll be here. Holding down the fort.” The two of them snicker to themselves. Glancing to the side, you see Bruce’s men: one in the driver’s seat of his car and the other waiting by the entrance for you. Unlike your detail, they dared not crack a smile for fear of looking too cheerful. You wouldn’t admit it out loud (because these cops were being paid to keep you alive), but you felt like your life was in much better hands with people who weren’t currently goofing around on the hood of their car.

“Right. Thanks, fellas.” You can’t be bothered to sound sincere, and from their general lack of acknowledgement, they don’t seem to care.

You spin on your heels, preparing to follow Bruce’s guard into the hospital, but nearly crash into a woman walking behind you. The collision has you stumbling and jumping back, Bruce’s guard jumping forward, and the woman baring her teeth at you in a… smile?

Her teeth glint bleach-white off the gathering snow, a few shades lighter than the hair smoothly pinned at her crown. Unlike everyone else shuffling past on the icy sidewalk, she is perfectly content with standing right in front of you under the porte-cochère. You supposed the black, mink coat wrapped around her person kept her all warm and toasty. You felt jealous. Then you felt like you should apologize for ramming into her, but nothing came out.

“Apologies, I didn’t mean to scare you,” The extravagant woman speaks first, glancing over her shoulder at the guard who now looms between the two of you, prepared to defend if need be, “Oh! Hello, pleasure to meet you.” She reaches a hand out to the guard and when he doesn’t go to take it, she snatches his hand up from his side in a firm handshake.

You’re more forthcoming with your hand when she turns to you, though you’re not at all sure why she’s bothering to introduce herself. Anyone else would’ve moved on by now. And flipped you off while they were at it.

“Ma’am, is there a problem here?” One of the cops pipes up from behind you, eyes fixed on the woman.

Her smile grows wider, “Not at all, officer. I just thought this all looked so… curious.” She gestures between the cop car and Bruce’s car with one French-tipped finger, “You wouldn’t happen to be a celebrity doctor, would you? Plumping up the pillow-faces of our city’s darling socialites, perhaps?”

You try to scoot around the woman, but she moves with you, keeping perfect eye contact with you the whole time, “I’m real sorry, but I need to get going. I have an appointment-“

“With Bruce Wayne?”

You flinch. The woman looks… familiar, now that you’re looking at her more closely. Her name escapes you. “Excuse me?”

“Bruce Wayne. That’s his car- well, one of them anyway. A source of mine says it’s the same one from two days ago when you both arrived together for… something. And the same one from a few weeks ago; if I recall, Mr. Wayne made a generous donation—a whole wing!—to Gotham General earlier this month. And now you’ve been spotted using his car. What’s that all about?”

The same cop from before flanks your side, locking you in with Bruce’s guard and this mysterious woman, “Lady, they’re busy. I’m gonna have to ask you to leave.”

“I only want to ask a few questions.”

“And they don’t have to answer. If you keep this up, I’m gonna write you up for harassment.”

She looked like she’d been waiting to hear that. She reaches within the folds of her coat and pulls out a badge, brandishing an ID for the cop to read, “Whatever happened to freedom of the press?”

You peer at the ID yourself, at the impeccably styled photograph of the same woman with the same blonde hair falling in loose, Hollywood curls that frame her smile. Beside her photo is her name: Vicki Vale. You suddenly remember where you’d seen her before.

Vicki knows you know, too. You try to sidestep her for the door but she crowds in on you, barreling through the arms that attempt to hold her back, “Are you Mr. Wayne’s doctor? Is he sick? Is he dying?”

Your lip curls back in a snarl, “What ever happened to HIPAA?”

That amuses her. “Is he in the car right now? Is that why you’ve got all this security? Is Bruce Wayne paying for your protection after you were taken hostage a few weeks ago?”

The cop grabs Vicki by the upper arm, managing to wrangle her away from you, but she only pivots to the car, tapping her nails on the tinted windows and calling out for Bruce to comment. You almost feel sorry for her, in the way you might feel sorry for a rabid dog walking in circles on a busy street.

You feel a hand on your back and Bruce’s guard ushers you quickly into the hospital, even as Vicki shouts after you for clarification on Bruce’s whereabouts. His expression, as always, is flat.

When you’re far enough away from the lobby, you ask, “Does that kind of thing happen to… him a lot?”

The guard doesn’t bother to pause in his stride, doesn’t even bother to look down at you as he answers, “Yes.”

You supposed if you had to deal with people like Vicki Vale all your life, you’d become a recluse too.

At the very least, you hadn’t said anything damning. She would have nothing to go off of with whatever soundbite she managed to grab from you, and God save her editor when they’d inevitably have to cut out her getting threatened by a cop.

She’d been waiting for you, though. How she knew you’d be here, at this time, meant she’d either been tailing you or she had someone on her payroll doing it for her. The thought makes your stomach churn.

Bruce had been in your office twice, but you had never been in his.

It was bigger, obviously; it’s two floors below the penthouse with a receptionist outside and some hallways leading to God knows where. The receptionist��Jennifer, who insists you call her Jenny—is very forthcoming with refreshments as you wait outside for Bruce’s meeting to finish. You decide there’s no better time than now to pick apart the marble floors and TVs on the wall replaying WE’s corporate reel.

The lobby downstairs was modern, clearly remodeled, but Bruce’s office and penthouse were comparatively frozen in time. You could almost picture the first Waynes walking through here all those years ago. Everything—from the luxurious leather chair you were sitting on, to the warm low light, to the gentle clicking of Jenny’s fingers on the keyboard, to the empty glass of sparkling water she’d given you had almost made you forget that you were currently living in the penthouse upstairs.

The door to Bruce’s office opens, breaking you out of your contemplation. A man in a fine suit walks out, chatting with Bruce, though you couldn’t see the latter from where you were sitting. You can only catch the last half of their conversation: something about an auction?

You don’t have much time to think on it. Jenny quickly rises from her desk and slips into Bruce’s office, and a few seconds later comes out to invite you in.

You don’t see Bruce at first. The room is just as big as you imagined. Bruce’s desk is right across from the doors, backlit by large windows letting in the noonday light. It’s a heavy, wooden thing that is far bigger than it really has any business being with next to nothing actually on it. And, notably, he is not sitting at it.

It takes you a second to spot him to your left at a built-in bar, washing out a glass of what looked like dark liquor down the drain. It isn’t until Jenny shuts the door behind you that he looks over at you, setting the empty glass on the counter.

Today, he’d forgone a sweater for a white button-up with the sleeves rolled to the elbows. You noted the healed over cuts and scars on his arms and wondered if people asked about them the way you had, enchanted (rather than perplexed) by stories of martial arts hobbies with no concerns for where he went at night. He watches you thinking about it, but before you can ask, he speaks first, “So, you met Vicki.”

Your shoulders slump just at the mention of her. Bruce catches it and a smile, however small, warms up his expression. “Unfortunately.”

“Bet she made an impression.”

You cross the room in a few strides, undoing your coat and throwing it over a nearby chair, “She’s tactless. She said her source recognized your car and now she wants to know what we are to each other,” You pause in your ranting when you see him pour a bit of brandy into the glass next to him, “Is that for me?”

He casually hands it to you, “You look like you need it.”

You don’t have the marbles to take offense to that at the moment. You knock back the shot in one go, then go to pour yourself another one as Bruce watches you. After you throw back the second one, you realize that he hasn’t responded to you. “Weren’t you listening? I said she’s following us.”

“Plenty of reporters are, she’s not special.”

“Wh- sorry, what?”

Bruce shrugs, “Vicki Vale isn’t the only reporter in Gotham who knows what cars I drive, who I go to lunch with, or where I put my money.”

“Isn’t that…” You start to ask, but the way Bruce is looking at you makes you feel like your perfectly reasonable question has a perfectly obvious answer already, “…isn’t that bad?”

“Not when I know what cars they drive. I know who works for them. When I don't want to be seen, I’m not seen. They don’t have that luxury.”

“You keep tabs on all of them?”

You watch Bruce lean against the bar to face you, one hand in the pocket of his- okay, whoa. Either his thighs were getting bigger or his pants were getting tighter. You don’t remember his other suits being this… formfitting. You can’t help but notice how they stretch as he reclines, and though your eyes flick back up to his before he can catch you, he makes no mention of it… even if his eyes narrow some. He waits until he’s sure he has your undivided attention, “I like to be informed. Especially since we’re selling a narrative, now.”

“A narrative.” After a moment, it clicks in your mind. “That we’re together. The narrative we never agreed on selling.”

Bruce brushes right past that, “So what’d you tell Vicki?”

You pour yourself a third shot, though it’s a bit more modest. You cap off his brandy and move away from the bar as if it would silence the siren song of day-drinking, “I told her that asking if you're dying is a HIPAA violation.” Bruce's mouth twitches as if containing a laugh. "What?"

You watch him contemplate telling you, and then, as if he suddenly thinks better of it, he shakes his head. “You just reminded me. If we do agree to do this, I will have to fire you. Patient ethics."

“Which is another reason why we probably shouldn’t do it.”

His head tilts, “Probably?”

You flush. You sip on your drink, folding your other arm around your waist as he questions you with his eyes, “I just… I’m frustrated. I hate this. I hate that the safest choice here is to hide away while you take care of it. It’s not that I don’t trust you to do it, I just don’t want to run away.”

Bruce watches you in that way of his, calculating and assessing. “Going in alone is running away too. You’d be Isaac bound at the altar.”

“And you, Abraham? Delivering me to a cruel god?” A rush of exasperation sours his expression. “I’d be stopping him. It’s me he wants.”

“And what about your parents? Your friends? Judith? You’d be fine leaving them to bury you?”

“Of course I’m not- of course not.”

“Then you don’t have to do it. Trust me.”

“I do trust…” You stare at him for a moment, “I trust you. I have to. But you get that this is weird, right? Getting together for the press? Putting all eyes on us? You get why this feels weird for me, don’t you?” Bruce is quiet, holding your gaze steady. You know that this plan wasn’t his first choice, and yet he didn’t look nearly as put off by it as you were. Perhaps it was another way you two differed. Something else to chalk up to being so rich that things like this- maneuvers like this become necessary. “Why do you want to do it?”

He pushes himself off the bar, taking a step and then another until he’s squarely in front of you. You have to squeeze your hands into fists to tamp down the immediate flight response you feel being this close to him, seeing this almost unguarded side to him. It was different from the deer-in-headlights deal he had when you first met: open, but unsure. It rocks you that he doesn’t look so unsure anymore. You swallow and keep his gaze, but it feels like a lot more work for you than it is for him.

“You said you don’t want to hide, and I don’t want to make you. We need a good reason for me to stick by your side. This is a solution.”

“You don’t need to stick by me. I’ve got a detail, remember?”

“I don’t trust two cops to keep you safe.”

“Your guards, then. You’ve got more than enough to do the job for you.”

Something in Bruce’s eyes flicker, “Maybe I want it to be me.”

Your courage slips. Your lips part, sounding out words you can’t bring yourself to say. What do you say to that?

He wants it to be him. He wants to be the one to keep you safe.

Logically, you know he’s right. GCPD’s finest couldn’t hold a candle to his strength and dexterity. They couldn’t even keep him out of their servers. And his guards were better, but they were still fallible. A gunshot or a stab wound would take them out just as easily as it would anyone else. The man before you had survived both of those things and more.

Uncanny warmth unfurls your fists. It curls around your rib cage, through each bone, around each lung, worming its way up your throat and unspooling in your mind. You feel warm all over. It is a terribly strange feeling to have for Bruce Wayne, but you’re having it all the same.

If he was still just Batman to you, you might’ve done something you couldn’t easily take back.

You suddenly wish for the times when that was the case, when blindfolds were commonplace, so you wouldn’t have to look him in the eye or think through how one might have gone through with those thoughts, if one had the chance- “As far as reasons go,” you struggle around the lump in your throat, “That’s not the worst.”

Bruce smiles.

He skirts around you and heads for the desk as you watch him go, the scent of him finally permeating past your defenses. He didn’t smell like green apple today—more sandalwood or pine—and as you debate on the specific notes, he comes back to you with a flier in hand. It takes your scent-drunk mind a minute to read it.

Gotham City Food Bank presents: The Thanksgiving Bachelor Auction!

You stare. Bruce is still holding the flier out to you, expecting a reaction. You can’t really think of one. “Uh.”

“I’d like you to come.”

“Why…?”

“The food bank puts together Thanksgiving baskets every year for the needy: turkeys, tofu, yams, stuffing, the works. They do a charity event to raise money to stuff the baskets. It’s for a good cause.”

“That’s awesome. What does this have to do- oh, fuck.”

Bruce raises his eyebrows. You recall what the man from earlier mentioned about an “auction”. You snatch the flier away to look at the finer details. It would be this weekend, there were six bachelors planned (including Bruce), and each person was encouraged to bid big for charity. Dinner would be provided. It sounded nice.

“You can bring Dr. Madison,” Bruce offers, “I think she likes me.”

She does. She painfully does. You could imagine her emptying this month's and last month's paycheck on a date with Bruce. Taking him to the nicest (and least vandalized) sushi joint in the city, engaging him with tales of the kids she's saved and her love of Broadway. Pampering him with praises for his charity work, admiring him openly and easily, charming him the way she charmed him at General.

She is a charming, sweet, beautiful woman. Bruce would look very good with her, even for charity. You wonder what things would've been like had he broken into her apartment instead of yours.

“Just wait 'til she finds out you personally invited her," you force a laugh, "She's going to have to take out a loan."

"I didn't know you were planning to bid on me, too." He's joking. Obviously, he's joking, if the barely restrained smile is anything to go by.

"In your dreams, maybe." Bruce shrugs. "But... I thought we were creating a narrative. Letting someone else buy you for a night isn't very romantic." You hate how hesitant you sound, like the idea of it displeased you. You don’t mean to sound that way, of course. It's just that if anyone were going to go on a date with Bruce... shouldn't it be you?

“The dates are just for fun. You'd be my real date.” His real date. God. “It would make you look like a good sport." He sees you mulling it over, still unsure. He folds the flier into his pocket. "Or not. We don't have to tell them anything yet. I wouldn't want to make it awkward for Dr. Madison if-“

If what? If she found out you were "dating" Bruce days after telling her to her face that you didn't know his relationship status? God forbid she rub it in your face after you spent so long being indifferent about him. “It's fine. We'll come. But maybe hold off on calling me your real date until you’ve fired me. Officially. You know.”

“I'll have my people talk to your people.”

You feel queasy at the smile he gives you, so casual and reassuring. You could really use a lie-down right about now. “Okay. Well. I’ll see you at home.”

Bruce blinks, but you’re already heading for the doors of his office before you've realized what you just called his place. You hear a quiet “see you” from behind, but you don’t dare to look back.

“Please don’t agitate the inmates. We are liable for anything that happens to you on the premises, but if you go poking around where you shouldn’t, that’s on you.”

The corrections officer hands you a clip-on badge with your name on it, but when she goes to ask Batman for his ID, she hesitates.

“He’s with me.” Detective Gordon assures her from his other side. The officer’s eyes narrow. James raises an eyebrow, “I talked to the warden about it. If you’d like to bring it up with him.”

That seems to be all the convincing she needs. She passes James his badge and gestures for you three to continue on down toward the visitation room.

It had been a hassle getting Bruce through the metal detectors, and it had been distraction enough that it didn’t weigh on you just who you were going to see until you were already in the room.

It was wide, with vending machines and a couple of tables scattered about, barred windows allowing a look into the unusually sunny afternoon outside. A handful of inmates were already there: some visiting family, others meeting with lawyers. It made it easy to spot him. Lucien was the only one alone, and from the looks of him, he was more happy to see you than you were to see him.

As you three walk over, he stands from the table, grinning ear-to-ear. You barely remembered his face from when you were younger, save for the same patchy beard that had yet to fill in after all these years. He greets Bruce first, holding out a hand, “Wow. You know, I’ve never seen you up close before. Kinda glad about that.”

Bruce does not shake his hand. Lucien’s smile is unwavering. His eyes slide past yours to meet the detective’s, and James shakes his hand out of pity.

It isn’t until you and James sit down that Lucien finally looks at you dead on. “You look good.” You feel your stomach lurch. It didn’t feel good to hear, especially when he looked at you like freshly caught prey. When you make no move to reply to that, he shrugs, “I almost didn’t recognize you. I hear you’re a doctor now. Really worked your way up from gutter trash, huh?”

Your expression hardens and he snickers.

James cuts in for you, “Mr. Goulding, we requested a visit because we think you might be able to help us with an ongoing case you were involved in. Can you tell us what you remember about Dimitri Young?”

Lucien’s eyes slither back to James, “Not much. Kid wasn’t with us long. He was… skinny. Cried easy. Up Nat’s ass all the time.”

“Were you close with Ms. Young?”

“Yeah, yeah. You could say that. We worked with each other. Ran the trade for a while with a couple other kids. Got a lot of customer service experience back then. She was… nice. Shame what happened.”

James raises an eyebrow, “Seems like you were on good terms. And after Natalie was killed, did you keep up with Dimitri? Visit him at Arkham, maybe? Write him letters?”

Lucien glances at you. “Well… it was tricky. Thanks to the good doctor and friends, I had to steer clear of the whole thing for a while. Felt bad for the kid, though. When I heard about the plea deal… I’d have taken life here over Arkham. I don’t care how fucked up the kid got over Nat’s death. What they’re doing down there?” He looks over at James and grimaces, “That’s the real criminal shit.”

You remembered that. His lawyer had pleaded insanity under the guise he’d get parole on good behavior, gain sympathy for having lost his only family so brutally. You remembered what Bruce said too; he’d been good. He was doing good until he saw you.

James gears up to ask another question but Lucien cuts him off, “Are they gonna talk or are they just decoration?” He points his finger at you and Bruce who hovers over your shoulder.

You wring your hands underneath the table, feeling Bruce’s eyes burning into the back of your skull. The truth was that you had a list of questions to ask him. You’d stayed up all night writing them down, rehearsing them.

Now, you could only remember Natalie and the barrel of her gun.

Lucien was there, too. He was on the frays of the memory as he always was. The shootout had yielded successes and failures, and Lucien, who’d been there that night—who laughed as Alex laughed and laughed harder when the bullet nestled itself into the meat of her brain—had not been found for years after that. You thought sometimes that you saw him on the street, but his appearance in your memory was just as frayed.

It all comes back to you now that you’re sitting in front of him. The everyman, a person meant to blend into the crowd. It didn’t surprise you that he’d managed to stay out of here for so long.

“…You don’t have to if you’re not ready.” James’ voice floats in between your musing, making you aware of his and Lucien’s eyes on you. Lucien is still smiling, strands of golden hair slipping out of the small bun at the back of his head.

“Why did you stay with the Vipers for so long?”

Your question surprises him, like he hadn’t expected you to have a voice after all these years, “I was open to new opportunities. But they paid well and you’re almost guaranteed a good position if you don’t get gunned down before 18. I was running my own little unit of teenyboopers before I got locked up.”

You frown. How casual he is describing it all. “They didn’t toss you aside as soon as you got too old to control?”

“No, no. That was your friend’s big issue, wasn’t it? Scared to be controlled. Nah. The boss man liked me. You know they like ‘em young, easy to impress upon and all that. They want the lifelong loyalty. I’ve never been that devoted, you know? But I liked the money.”

“Do you know what happened to Dimitri?” This question, Bruce asks. For the first time, you see Lucien’s smile dim some.

Lucien clears his throat, “No. Kid kick the bucket?”

“He broke out with some inmates not too long ago. He’s on the street hunting down people related to Nat’s case.”

Lucien looks from Bruce to you, then breaks out into a fit of hysterical giggles. The sound is grating to your ears. “Holy shit. He wants to kill you.”

“He’s killed one person already,” James stresses, trying to save you the humiliation. “We need to know if you think he could be working with the Vipers again. We believe someone is supplying him with… venom.”

“Venom? Fuck me. That’s expensive, especially those newfangled strains they had on the street when I was out. Can really fuck you up if you’re not careful.”

“Did the Vipers have their hands on that kind of stuff? You were a lieutenant after all.”

“Maybe. Not as much as they did drops. That was all the rage. Venom’s too volatile and, like I said, it can really fuck you up,” Lucien exhales hard through his nose. “If Dimitri’s on that, he’s not gonna last. Especially if the Vipers are giving it to him.”

You frown, “Why especially?”

“I mean, come on. Same reason you and your friend beat the shit out of him all those years ago,” You flinch at the memory. “He was weak and nobody gave a shit about him except Nat. My guess is the kid probably went back to ‘em for help, and they saw an opportunity to make him a lab rat.” You feel Bruce shift behind you as his cape brushes what little of your arm you were allowed to leave exposed here. Lucien’s eyes drift up Bruce’s body, sparkling with some new recollection, “And with Mr. Vengeance on the streets, I imagine juicing your best men up with venom oughtta make a nice challenge.”

Lucien watches as you process what he'd realized instantly. Behind the feigned impassivity, some little bit of him seems to find this just as awful as you do. Even if it's just pity, a shake of the head as foresight grants him the knowledge that what comes next will undoubtedly be a tragedy.

It had to have been Dimitri’s first time on venom when he attacked Russo, and as uncoordinated as he was, he had put up a fight against Bruce. You couldn’t imagine what he’d be like if he got better at it. If he got more of it. And he would, if the Vipers had any sense. You knew they didn't give a shit about you, or Russo, or Alex, or Dimitri. They were just hoping that his rage would make a casualty out of the Batman.

He was going to kill himself for the chance. And the Vipers wouldn't care. They would leave his doped up, bloated carcass in the street like they had left Nat.

You realize that you aren't breathing when you feel a cool hand on your upper back, closing around your scruff and sending a jolt of awareness through you. You almost think that it's Dimitri—having crawled out of your racing thoughts and come to take you once and for all—before realizing that it was Bruce, hovering so close now that his cape brushed your shoulders. His leather-clad thumb brushes against the nape of your neck, and when you look up to see him looking down at you, you catch him imploring you for something. Urging you to get out of your head.

Looking at him reminds you to breathe. You take one deep breath in, holding his gaze, and turn back to Lucien.

When you do, he looks different now. His eyes linger on Bruce’s hand. When you ask him your next question, he doesn’t seem to delight in the drama of it anymore, “After Dimitri was put away, what did the Vipers do?”

Lucien stares at you, then past you. His tone is solemn after a few moments of silence, “It was business as usual. They packed up what they could, moved to their other safe-houses in the city, relocated and reallocated. They talked about… the kid costing more than he was worth. Handful of us pitched in and got Nat a grave. I’ve been a few times. Not recently. It was nice.”

“Where?”

His eyes narrow at you, “Why do you give a shit? You feel guilty? Wanna leave some flowers for the dearly departed?”

You feel your lower lip wobble and you curse the feelings burning inside you. You were trying so hard to keep it together. “Do you think any of the Vipers would bother to tell him?”

He stares at you for a minute. Someone new walks into your peripheral view. It’s one of the correctional officers warning you about time. Something soft coats Lucien’s voice then, "She's in St. Agatha’s cemetery, near the treeline. The name on the marker is Adelpha Lions. We couldn't bury her as Natalie.”

Adelpha Lions. St. Agatha's. You think about bringing her flowers, but the thought leaves a terrible taste in your mouth.

The officer from before comes back to escort the three of you out, and Lucien doesn't bother to acknowledge her or James thanking him for his time. He only watches you, leveling you with a look of such contempt that you feel your chest hollow out, breath stolen again. He watches you well until the door to the visitation room swings shut.

Bruce and James walk ahead of you, though you notice that Bruce lags behind, glancing back at you every once in a while to make sure you're keeping up. James mentions something about keeping an eye on the cemetery, just in case Dimitri does know about it, and it leaves the same terrible taste in your mouth from before.

You know you ought to say something, but you find yourself drifting after them, mind elsewhere, stuck on the way Lucien looked at you. It was like a switch flipped when he saw Bruce touch you.

Why had he touched you? So blatantly, so intimately? He had to have known how that would look. Could it have been that he didn't care? Or, that he cared more about you?

You peek at Bruce’s profile as you walk; the cold lights above you both make the black of his cowl stand out, but they also make the blue of his eyes that much more piercing when they suddenly zero in on you. Your name is called. You look to the side and see James staring at you, expecting, worried almost, “You good back there?”

“Sorry. What?”

“I said I’d like to talk to you.”

“Oh. Sure.”

“Alone. If you don't mind.”

You look at Bruce. His eyes have focused on James now, searching for what he might want to talk about. You wished you could read minds. You decide it couldn't hurt to ask, “Can I ask what about?”

“Just some... questions. We haven't had the chance to really speak since the night you were attacked. I'd like to follow up with you." You bristle when you realize he expects Bruce to fully leave. James notices, glancing between you and Bruce. "I’ll drop you back at Wayne Tower, since your detail says that’s where you’re staying now.” When you don't make a move to confirm, he sighs, jerking his thumb toward the exit, "...I'll let you two talk."

You watch him walk toward the parking garage, just as Bruce crowds up against you, dropping his voice to a whisper, "He wants to know about me."

"Yeah, no shit. What do I say to him?"

"I told him I'd look into Bruce Wayne to keep him off my trail. There's not much I can do since you told him what you saw." You can hear the irritation bleed through his words. "As far as he knows, Bruce Wayne could be a suspect and you could be in danger."

You curse under your breath, "So I need to clear your name."

"What exactly did you tell him the night you were attacked? Exactly."

"I... I said that I had reason to believe... uh, confidential information was leaked to Bruce."

"Did you tell him exactly what the information was?"

"No."

"Did you tell him where you saw it?"

"No. Just that I knew you knew something you shouldn't. But he knows I had no proof."

Bruce goes quiet. You see him looking off to the side, eyes flicking to and from as he thinks about what to say next. Each second feels like a minute, and you keep watch over the direction James went for fear he'd come looking for you after too long.

You feel Bruce's hand take your upper arm and he brings you closer, tucking you away from the security cameras overhead and into him instead, "Can you lie?"

"You want me to lie to a detective?"

"We don't have a lot of options here. Can you lie?"

You frown, biting into your bottom lip to ground yourself. The pain focuses you some, "What do you want me to say?"

It's your luck that James is patient. A few minutes later, you find him propped up against the trunk of his car, hands in his pockets as he waits patiently for you and Bruce. Bruce gives you both a single nod before heading off to his own car, leaving you alone with the detective and the world of questions he could be gearing up to ask you.

But before you prepare yourself for the first one, James walks around to the driver's side door, flashing you a playful look, “You ever seen the Bat Signal up close?”

The answer was obviously no, but now that it was right in front of you, you wanted nothing more than to see it turned on. You'd seen it light up the cloudy night sky a million times it felt like, and it never failed to take your breath away. It's far too sunny out to see it now. As the chilly breeze tries to sneak under your clothes, you turn to watch the sunlight glint off the skyscrapers, enjoying the little bit snowy Gotham afforded this late in the year.

The city’s still loud from this high up, but it’s different. Kind of like how it felt watching the city from the penthouse. Up here, it felt secluded. Private. Perhaps that’s why James picked it. He kicks the base of the floodlight with his shoe and it barely tremors, “Was a hell of a time trying to get this thing up here. Chief's still coming around to it.”

You think about the burner phone in your pocket. Bruce’s relationship with the rest of the GCPD was… strained at best, but he and James seemed close; you wondered just how deep their relationship went, exactly. Apparently, not deep enough to tell him who he was.

His voice catches your attention just then. “You living with Wayne, now? How'd that happen?"

You breath out a heavy sigh, “I uh… yeah. He offered. After the whole thing with Dimitri. Just until he’s caught.”

“That’s awfully generous.” You don’t respond to that, so he presses more. "Did he offer or did he...?"

"He offered. No coercion." That wasn't entirely the truth, but you had no room for nuance right now.

“Do you feel safe with him?”

“I do.”

“You seemed worried when we first talked about him. You said he had your file.”

“I... I said that I thought he had access to it. Because of something he said."

James’ eyes narrow at you, watching you with his head tilted. “What'd he say to you?"

"He just mentioned something about the... the case. I told him where I grew up and it jogged a memory."

"Is that so?"

You cursed how apathetic James could make himself look. You had no clue if this was working on him, only that you had to follow through with this, seams tight, no loopholes. "He heard about the shooting. His butler, Alfred, he's always been really protective of Bruce. Everyone knew the Vipers snatched kids with no one to check on them, I think he just wanted Bruce to stay safe. Make sure he didn't make the wrong decision if he went out and got himself in trouble. Like I did."

"So, you told Wayne where you grew up, he brought up the shooting, it triggered something in you. You assumed he knew about your file and you felt threatened. That's why you went to the Bat."

"Yeah."

"And now... nothing?" James raises an eyebrow, gesturing to the empty air. "It's all good now?"

It wouldn't be a good story if it was all good. You twist away from James, leaning against a nearby pillar, "Not exactly. I don't know if he really knows or not, it just felt like a scary coincidence. You know? But I told Batman and he said he'd look into it. I trust him above all else."

"You seemed so sure the night I interviewed you."

"I was looking for patterns."

James hums. "The Bat seems to really like you."

That a was a shift. You perk up a bit. “What do you mean?”

“He speaks highly of you. Says I can trust you like I trust him. If you say you feel safe for now, I trust you." Your skin prickles with flattery. "There's just something that's not quite making sense to me."

“Oh?”

"When I looked into your file, nothing looked out of place. GCPD keeps a log of who accesses a file, and from what I could tell, it hadn’t been touched in years. It looked fine… at first.”

Had this been a few days ago, this information would have shook you to your core. It still does, but for an entirely different reason now.

“I’m—admittedly—not great with computers. Normally, I’d ask the guys down in IT about this kind of thing, but seeing as… anyone could be involved, I had my daughter take a look at it. She-“

“Your daughter?”

James pauses. You were no cop, but that didn’t sound particularly legal. Then again, you didn’t have much room to speak. “She… she showed me the metadata, beyond just the stuff we usually see up front, and she found something. The database logs who accesses what because poking around files you have no business looking at can get your badge taken. Needless to say, she found more than a few things wrong.”

“Oh?” This time, your “oh” sounds decidedly more nervous.

“The name and badge number of the last person to access your file was scrubbed from the frontend, but it was still available on the backend. It was an officer, Paul Brown. When I pulled him aside to ask why he needed your file, he claimed he didn’t know anything about it or you. He seemed to be telling the truth, but doing some further digging, I found a trail of cases he’d been accessing over the past two years. Cases related to certain notable figures in the city.”

Notable figures. Like Bruce? Was there more he hadn’t told you?

"I found a connection between those cases and some recent movement from the Penguin. Turned out the guy was a mole feeding intel to Cobblepot. And not just him. I was checking the files he accessed against a timeline of events, and I have reason to believe he’s been feeding a couple of politicians the same need-to-know information. Politicians like Daniel Roberts.”

“Councilman Roberts.” You feel your blood pressure rise as James nods, “Detective, I don’t mean to be rude, but should I even be hearing about this? This sounds serious, way too serious for me-“

“You were there that night at the party Wayne threw, and so was Roberts.”

“Well, yes, but that doesn’t mean anything. There were tons of politicians there who support the mayor. Bruce is interested in politics. Doesn’t mean he’s in bed with them.”

Your defense seems to intrigue James. He rests an arm on the floodlight, “Did the two seem chummy at the party?”

“They didn’t really… talk. I mean, he intervened when I got into an argument with Roberts, but-“

“An argument about what?”

You could kick yourself. It was like this man had a skill for drawing the truth out of you. “It was stupid. He said some stuff about Batman and it got me riled up. Bruce put out the fire.”

“Roberts is the most vocal anti-vigilante member on the city council. Now I know he's connected to a dirty cop, and that he's in Bruce Wayne's circle. Doesn't that seem a little strange to you?”

You swallow, “What exactly are these questions leading to, detective?”

James moves away from the floodlight, approaching you slowly, cautiously, as if he expected you to take flight the second he got too close. “You told me that night that you knew Wayne had information about you he shouldn't have. I found the thread, I pulled it, and now I find Wayne at the center all over again. I'm looking for patterns, too. So, I'm going to ask you again," You watch him reach into his pocket and pull out his phone, flipping the screen to you. In big, bold text, it reads, "NOD IF WE'RE BEING RECORDED" "Are you sure you're safe?"

You should win an Emmy for how you school your expression into one of complete nothingness. All the while in your head, you are cursing the very bed Bruce was conceived upon. You curse him for leaving you here to explain all this, but most of all, you wish you’d kept his bottle of brandy.

You shake your head. James blinks. "I'm sure." You watch him exhale heavily, shoving his phone back into his pocket. "I'm telling you what I believe, detective. I believe I was wrong about Bruce Wayne."

"Maybe. But maybe there's more out there I still need to find."

"You're a good detective, James. Thank you for caring so much. If you can't trust me, trust Batman. If there's something to find, he'll find it."

You can see the slight shake in James’ shoulders. You wonder if he’s starting to freeze up here. You reach into your pocket and hand him one of your warmers, and though he recoils when you first hold out your hand, he thinks about it for a moment, then takes it. "You and the Bat..." He starts, rubbing his thumb against the heat pack in his hand. "He tell you who he is?"

You dodge the question as stealthily as you can, "Did he tell you?"

James considers your question, stern-faced and shivering, “No. But I have my theories." After a moment, he side-eyes you. "You didn't answer my question."

"It's... not for me to say."

He's not satisfied, and you didn’t expect him to be, but he looks too tired to argue now. He runs a hand along his face and looks out onto the city horizon. Under his breath, you hear him whisper, “Yeah. I figured.”

"He trusts you a lot, you know. For the record. I can see why."

You watch him reach into the pocket of his coat and pull out a lighter and cigarette, bringing it to his lips to take a long, deep drag. He holds one out to you, but you shake your head. You'd never been one for smoking (you'd seen the effect it had on the insides), but you could envy the temporary peace on James' face as he blows out a cloud of smoke. "Not a lot of that to spare these days."

a/n: this was a bitch to write with a headache

#bruce wayne x reader #bruce wayne scenarios #bruce wayne fic #bruce wayne #batman x reader #batman scenarios #batman fic #the batman #battinson x reader #battinson #dc #mjwrites #bw; rprt

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hotvintagepoll · 2 months ago

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Paulette Goddard (Modern Times, The Women)—One of the few Glamazons of the era who I feel like also walked the line of just being A Weird Little Fella. She balanced out Charlie Chaplin's The Tramp by being The Gamin (or as I think of her, The Gremlin). If you don't believe me please watch her stealing bananas.

Thomas Mitchell (It's a Wonderful Life, Stagecoach, Only Angels Have Wings)—One of those job'bing character actors who turn up in a lot of movies in bit parts. He is a very good actor, with a lot of pathos—you probably know him as the uncle from It's a Wonderful Life, or Jean Arthur's newspaper friend from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. A salt of the earth type who brings gravitas and pathos to every part. He scrungles gorgeously.

This is round 1 of the contest. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. If you're confused on what a scrungle is, or any of the rules of the contest, click here.

[additional submitted propaganda + scrungly videos under the cut]

Paulette Goddard:

youtube

Thomas Mitchell:

youtube

#thomas mitchell #paulette goddard #hotvintagepoll #scrungly 1 #Youtube

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e-likes-bones · 2 months ago

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so a couple months ago now i think? i decided on a whim to make a puppet since i figured i had enough supplies lying around to do it, which resulted in me being struck to make arguably one of the best members* of the rock-afire explosion into a marionette: looney bird!

(excuse the goofy looking puppetry, i don’t actually have any experience w/ marionettes. whoops!)

anyhow i know a couple people that have seen puppet looney were curious how i made him, so under the cut i’ll have my rambles about that!

making looney bird was super fun! so expect this section to be long because i do wanna explain everything as much as i can. i will divid this up into sections, which shall be:

body, head, & neck

face & plant/leaves

tail & wings

legs & feet

strings & control

anyhow! let me get to explaining lol

Section 1: body, head, & neck

this is where i began! i made a base for the head & body out of crayola air dry clay so i had base shapes to put the fur on top & so the puppet would have a decent little bit of weight to it. the head was just a small ball, while the body was larger & slightly more oblong. while the base & the other sculpted parts were drying, i had to color the fur i was going to use.

i only had white faux fur (2 different kinds, a soft, sort pile, & a less soft, longer pile; what i use for most of looney is the short pile) going into this project, & since this fella was made exclusively from craft materials i had lying around, i needed to find a way to color it. I attempted dying some of the fur w/ some old t-shirt dyes i had lying around, but when that didn't work i turned to my old alcohol markers to see if they worked, & they surprisingly did! really well too! (altho there are some areas that i struggled to get ink into, but overall the color isn't too too patchy)

once i had the dry clay & fur, i got to covering the bases w/ the fur! which. i did primarily by super glueing small sections of each piece of fur down, maneuvering the fabric to lay flush w/ the base & making sure to maintain the same direction of the fur, & repeating until the fur was completely attached.

the neck was simpler, i took some more of the red colored fur, folded it over into a flat tube shape, & glued either end to the head & body (still paying attention to the fur direction!) then i took some of the remaining uncolored (white) fur & made the ring of white around the base of looney's neck!

Section 2: face & plant/leaves

imo, this was the section i had the most fun w/ lol! i actually sculpted the face after making the head & body's clay bases so that they had extra time to dry. i made the entire face as a "faceplate" for easy attachment at the size i needed, plus sculpting the face as one thing allowed me to have the 3 extra bits i needed to attach looney's face feathers the best later on in the process. the face is also made of crayola air dry clay btw.

after the face was dry it was painting time! i just used some old art kit acrylic paints for all the base colors, & the eyes were possible using a nail art dotting tool. i went over looney's cheeks w/ chalk pastel dust to get the blush effect, then sealed everything in using mod podge.

now he needed his face feathers! remember how i had 2 different faux furs? well here's where the longer pile one gets used! i cut really small sections of the longer fur & trimmed them down to be just 3 little fuzzy bits essentially, then using another alcohol marker, i colored them green & glued them to the green side sections on looney's faceplate. from here, i attached looney's face to his head, then cut & pasted the surrounding small white feather sections on either side of his face & below his beak. it was after that i made the purple feathers, as those are just colored paper clippings that i glued to the back of looney's faceplate that didn't attach to his head. (picture of what i mean below)

anyhow! onto the plant on looney's head! the stem of the plant was just a jewelry wire that i twisted to make a bit thicker, then dipped in green paint to color it & smooth the twist out, then sealed w/ mod podge, & finally glues to the top of looney's head. the leaves, much like the purple feathers, are paper, but cut into leaf shapes & colored to roughly mimic looney's leaves, then they were very carefully super glued to the stem

Section 3: tail & wings

these bits were pretty simple imo, the tail is made of embroidery floss i cut & sectioned to create looney’s tail pattern, then i tied it together to create a base i could easily attach to his body. i also tried brushing it to make the individual threads smaller since i preferred the look & thought it made it look more like feathers? but either way, from there it got glued on & i moved on to the wings.

the wings are again the short pile fur i used on the body, but they were left white when i cut them, so once i got the wing shape formed i could color the sections that needed to be red & just leave the wingtips white how i wanted. the wings were 4 panels cut into a roughly triangular shape & glued together to create 2 wings

Section 4: legs & feet

the legs & feet were also relatively simple but i have never been the best at sculpting feet so i suffered just a tad. anyhow the feet are also sculpted from crayola air dry clay like other pieces, then painted & sealed the same as the faceplate.

the legs are pony beads & more embroidery floss. i used the beads to make the legs as full & patterned as i wanted & the string to make sure the legs are loose & easy to maneuver. 2 beads were glued to looney’s body & 2 to his feet, & the string was looped thru the body beads, down through the leg beads, & tied & secured to the feet beads

Section 5: strings & controls

finally! the last section!

the string is just some clear beading string. there are 4 strings, which were tied & glued to both foot beads, the base of the tail, & the base of the plant. i eyeballed the needed length for each string to keep the puppet at an upright position when held up regularly & cut them to size.

the control is just a pair of chopsticks i cut to the rough size of the puppet & glued the ends of the strings to: the head & back end strings to either side of one stick, & both feet strings to either end of the other stick.

& that was pretty much everything i had to do to make looney!! it took like. 2 days? i was very dedicated to finishing him in just a weekend. thank you to anyone who read all my extended rambles about how i made this guy!!! i appreciate it!! also please excuse any typos, i never make typos ever idk what y’all are talking about

#i love looney bird!!!#can yall tell? idk if you can #anyhow i did also make a barrel for him but uh. 10 image limit #ill put it in the reblogs as a treat #thank you to everyone who hyped this fella up i am really proud of him ngl #now to just see if i can ever make other band members. maybe #or at least make a billy bob cosplay bc i wanna do that too #also if anyone has any ideas of what i could do w looney going forward? id like to puppet him to songs or something but idk what #or if anyone would wanna see that #ok ill shut up for now!#the rock afire explosion #rock afire explosion #rockafire explosion #rockafire #showbiz pizza #looney bird #marionette puppet #puppetry #:0 my art

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daydreaming-nerd · 7 months ago

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Young Love and Old Money (Cassian x Female! Reader) Part 9

Young Love and Old Money Masterlist

AN: Okay remember when I said there would be a lot more angst? Well here we are. We have arrived at angst station, everybody off the train. This part is so dramatic I really laid it on thick here. Regardless I hope you enjoy and I will try to get part 10 up ASAP!!!

Summary: She was the most beautiful woman in Prythian, sister to the High Lord of Night, and now she is the soon-to-be wife of Eris Vanserra. Despite her many titles and her aura of unattainability, Cassian can't help but fall deeply in love with the princess of the Night Court. But will it be enough to stop her impending wedding to a man who is sure to destroy her from the inside out?

Warnings: Sexism, super heavy angst, this got really dark, violence, blood, implied rape (but not described), did I mention violence?, (I'm sorry you guys.)

Word Count: 6,333

The next morning I wake up in my own bed and I don’t move for hours.

Thankfully, after about an hour of crying by the Sidra, Azriel found me and took me back to the House of Wind. Apparently Cassian had sent him, which gave me a little bit of hope. That is until I went to his door and found his room empty. According to Azriel he left for Windhaven after returning home to pack a bag. I didn’t need to interrogate further to know that Cassian wouldn’t be back before the wedding.

I spent the entire day before the wedding in bed, staring at the sliver of light on the floor that the curtains let into the darkened room. Everytime I close my eyes I could hear Cassian and I’s laughter, which made me unable to fall asleep. When I wasn’t reminiscing over memories of Cassian I was listening intently to the sounds of the house, hoping I would hear his heavy boots thudding back to his room. I just wanted to see him one last time.

However, those footsteps never came, and I found myself staring at the wall until my body gave up on me, from either exhaustion or hunger and I fell asleep.

Cassian’s pov:

The second I landed in Windhaven I cracked open a bottle of whiskey and downed a glass praying it would allow me to sleep. Of course I was wrong.

The entire night I saw images of y/n holding that little girl in her arms. God I had practically melted right then and there, thinking about what she would look like holding our own children. How adorable they would be with their tiny wings.

My sleepless night had carried over with me the next day, everything and everyone putting me on edge. A young Illyrian had dropped their sword while sparring and I blew up at him. Devlon tried to argue that the females shouldn’t be training and I nearly slammed his head into a wall.

I was aggressively sharpening my swords on the edge of the sparring ring when Azriel found me, my brother simply nodded his head towards the center as if to say “blow off some steam big fella.” I couldn’t turn him down, as he was the only one who could give me a run for my money, and today he sure did.

“You fight like shit and you look like shit too brother,” Azriel barked after beating me again. He tossed his sword to the ground seemingly calling it quits for the day.

“Yeah well my mate is about to marry another male in the next 12 hours so how did you expect to find me?” I gripe at him taking my seat on a weathered rock.

“I suppose I wouldn’t know what to do in your situation either,” he admitted, taking a seat next to me.

“Seems about right for me. Grew up a bastard and lived in the mud till you and Rhys’ sorry asses came along. Lost my mother and never even got to bury her, fought for 500 years, and then became mated to the princess, who is marrying another male.” I scoff, shaking my head at the ridiculousness. “I’ll give the mother one thing, at least she’s consistent.”

Azriel was quiet for a moment, as if taking in what I had said before clapping a hand on my back, “The pain, it will go away Cass. It will take time, but I will be there with you every step of the way.” he assured me, and for a moment I felt a little lighter.

“Get wasted with me tomorrow?” I ask more seriously than I should.

“You know I will,” he said, offering me a slight smile.

I hoped that Rhys had gotten some more whiskey since the last time I raided his cabinet, because I don’t think any amount of drink could make me forget the way she looked at me the first morning we woke up together. The way she would laugh when I kissed her cheeks, the feeling of her delicate hands running soap over my wings. How she would say “you need a bath!” when I would give her a sweaty hug after training. The face she made when I distracted her from one of her romance novels by tickling her feet that rested in my lap.

By the cauldron, I was a dead man.

y/n's pov:

Stepping into the Autumn Court felt like I was walking to my own execution. Instead of Eris being at the end of that aisle there would be a guillotine. I almost wished for that instead. Any comment made by Rhys about how I seemed tired I chalked up to pre-wedding nerves and thankfully he didn’t push after that.

The entire morning had been spent poking and prodding at my skin, my hair and my eyes. If I thought that Nuala and Cerridwen were meticulous I was sorely mistaken. The ladies of the Autumn Court didn’t mess around and if this was my life going forward (which sadly it was), cauldron boil me.

The ladies in wait primped me up until a half an hour before I walked down the aisle. I had to literally commande them out of my suite in order to have a moment alone. I sat staring at myself in the floor length mirror. For what it was worth, I looked beautiful. I half expected the dress that was chosen for me to be awful and gaudy, however it was elegant. The lace along the neckline mimicking the flames associated with Eris’ power. Had I been walking down the aisle to a different groom, I might venture to say that I was excited to be married. However as I stared at myself in my white wedding dress I couldn’t help but feel a tear slide down my face.

A tentative knock reverberated through the room, nearly making me jump out of my skin. I took a deep breath and wiped away a stray tear.

“Come in,” I said with shaky words looking at the double oak doors through the mirror before me.

The door opened slowly, whoever it was looking around the room before entering. A large figure finally popped it’s head in, eyes finding me immediately. I would know that jet black hair anywhere.

Cassian.

I whirled around to meet his gaze as he shut the door, taking slow and tentative steps towards me. His eyes searched my face for any hint of anger or resentment.

“Cass,” I breathed, as if to assure myself he was really there.

“You look beautiful,” he smiled looking me up and down, but I could see the veiled sadness on his face. He was putting on a front, and a bad one at that.

“Thank you,” I say, taking a tentative step towards him. “How did you get in here?”

“They don’t have you that well guarded,” he chuckled, stepping closer till he stood before me. Neither of us reached for one another, unsure of where we both stood. It felt wrong not to instantly wrap my arms around him. “I don’t like where we left things,” he continued.

“Neither do I,”

“I wanted to say that I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I yelled at you that night. I’m sorry about the things I said,” he starts again. His hands reach for mine but pull back as if afraid to touch me. “I wanted to say that I understand now. And that I think you are incredibly brave to be doing this for Velaris. I’ll never be happy that you’re marrying Eris, and I’ll always wish it was me. But I understand now, and I respect the love you have for your people, and the lengths you’re willing to go to to keep them safe. Will you forgive me?”

I feel the stray tear pricking my eye once more, “There was never anything to forgive Cass. I was more upset with myself for giving you false hope. For going along and loving you and acting like things were going to be alright when I couldn’t guarantee it.” I sigh, casting my head down, unable to face him.

I feel his gentle calloused hand tip my chin up to meet his gaze. His eyes, that beautiful hazel, glassed over. Despite it all, despite what I put him through, there is still so much love in them, and I know I’ll never really deserve it.

“Loving you was the greatest gift I’ve ever known, and ever will know,” he smiles as if he’s remembering the short time we did have together. “I’ll be here waiting if you should ever change your mind or in case something ever happens.”

“Cass,” I start to protest but he stops me.

“I’ve loved you for so many years y/n. There can be no one else but you. If I don’t get to have you until we are both old and gray so be it. I’ve waited this long,” he assures me cupping my cheek.

I don’t even have words to reply to his confession. Boundaries be damned. I threw myself around him pulling him as close as possible. His arms tighten around me like he had been waiting for me to make a move. In the embrace there’s an understanding, an unsaid agreement.

I back away to see those hazel eyes once more, my own eyes raking over his body. I notice he’s not dressed in a fine suit jacket, or even his fighting leathers. Instead, he’s donning a loose fitted shirt, something completely unfit for a royal wedding.

“You’re not staying are you?” I ask, pressing a hand to his stubbled cheek that tells me he didn’t shave this morning.

“No, I just had to see you one last time,” he answers, taking my hand from his cheek so he could hold both of them.

The weight of his words shoot right through me, and as I look at him, I let them sink in. I watched as a tear slid down his own cheek, it was the only time I had ever seen the general cry.

“One last time,” I repeated, letting the words consume me.

His eyes glanced down at my lips, a silent plea to taste them again,

“Can I?” he whispered.

“Gods yes,” I sigh.

A hand drifted up cupping my cheek and pulling me into a kiss. The last kiss we might ever share. I poured every ounce of love into it trying to give him something to remember me by, trying to savor every moment of it for when my days ahead were darkest. My chest heaved as if being pulled forward and then…

Snap.

It was as if a piece of me was returned, one I never knew I lost. I pulled back to meet his gaze and by the way he looked at me I could tell he knew, had known. I felt like I was truly seeing him for the first time as that shimmering golden bond glowed between us.

“You’re my-” I started but I jumped at the bang sounding throughout the room.

My eyes met the fiery auburn of Eris’ as he entered the room, at least twenty autumn court soldiers behind him. I didn’t have time to step away as he winnowed to me pulling me away from Cassian.

“You!” he seethed at my general who was already assessing the situation. “I had my suspicions but never the proof and you fell into my trap so easily.” he boasted.

My thoughts scrambled to what Cassian had said earlier…”They don’t have you that well guarded.”

“Restrain the bastard!” Eris ordered his grip on my arm tightening at the command.

“No!” I screamed lurching for Cassian but Eris hauled me back to him.

The soldiers were on him in an instant all of them falling like dominos before The Lord of Bloodshed. Cassian’s eyes blazed with a fury by the likes of which I had never seen before, he wasn’t a general protecting his princess. He was a male protecting his mate.

Eris’ body tensed behind mine as soldier after soldier fell. In an act of desperation I felt him unsheathe the dagger at his thigh, pressing the blade to my throat.

“Oh general,” Eris sang.

It was enough to catch Cassian’s attention for a split second, his eyes widening as he saw the position I was in. A rogue soldier used the small window of time to pull his dagger and stab it through Cassian’s side.

“NO!” I screamed as Cassian hissed, his knees hitting the floor. Immediately the rest of the soldiers were on him, restraining him and binding his wings. His siphons tried to come to light but sputtered out.

“Bloodbane,” Eris smiles, lowering the dagger from my throat. “Stings like a bitch doesn’t it?”

“Eris please, don’t do this. He’s my mate, I didn’t know until now and-”

“I would choose your next words very carefully, pet,” he cuts me off. “Right now your ‘mate’ has been stabbed with a dagger laced in bloodbane, which means that even if your dear brother did know he was here he couldn't communicate with him. As for Rhysand, he now sits in a wedding chapel completely unaware and unarmed with a bloodbane arrow aimed for his fucking throat. And last time I checked the only asset you had was a magic cunt.”

Cassain growled from the other side of the room at Eris’ vulgar words. My eyes flitted to where he was pulling against the restraints.

“However, I consider myself a merciful ruler,” Eris taunted, grabbing my face to meet his stare. “I’ll give you a choice. You either walk down that aisle, be a good little wife, and pop out a couple of heirs as promised, or you call off the wedding and I’ll gut your precious general where he kneels.”

“y/n, no!” Cassian gritted through bared teeth.

I watched my mate struggle to break free, the bloodbane in his system beginning to take over. I looked to Eris who stared at me with hungry eyes. I tried to think of some way out of this, but Eris was right. We had fallen right into this trap, and my hands were tied.

My gaze met Cassian who could read my face like a book, “I’m sorry Cassian, but I once told you that I could never live with myself if something happened to you and I had the power to stop it.” I turn to face Eris and his shit eating grin. “If you promise not to hurt him, or my brother, I will go with you.”

“You will submit to me fully?” Eris asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes,” I nod, my mind flashing back to when Rhys was in the same position.

Eris steps closer to me, tilting my head up in an act of dominance, his mouth too close to mine for comfort. I could hear Cassian’s grunts as he continued to try and break free.

“And you’ll warm my cock whenever I please?” he muses, clearly loving the control he has over me.

“Yes,” I grit.

He smiled triumphantly, releasing my chin as he turned to his guards, “Take him away and lock him in the dungeons.”

“You said-”

“When you walk down that aisle and say ‘I do’ then I shall send him back to the Night Court, Jewel of Prythian. I won’t be taking any chances.” Eris growls in my face before turning to Cassian who had now been brought to his feet. “If I ever see you in my court, or anywhere near my wife again Prince of Bastards, I will make sure that she pays the price.”

“You fucking bastard!” Cassian roars, body nearly limp from the bloodbane as he’s hauled off by the guards.

“Wait, let me say goodbye!” I cry running to him, but I’m yanked back by my arm so roughly it nearly pops out of its socket.

“Your obedience begins now!” Eris grits but I pay him no mind thrashing about in his grasp trying to touch my mate once last time as he disappears behind the oak doors.

“Cassian!” I scream for him, tears waterfalling over my eyes.

“y/n!” he shouts back.

But it’s too late. The doors close with a definite slam and I’m left weeping in Eris’ grasp as I hear the sounds of Cassian struggling down the hall.

Cassian’s pov:

Eris was right, the bloodbane hurt like a bitch. Even an hour later as I sat on the cold, wet floor of the Autumn Court cell, the toxin still made me feel lethargic. As if I had taken the world's strongest sleeping tonic.

The worst part of it all was that I could hear everything. The organ playing signaling that y/n was walking down the aisle and the cheers of the people as they finally said their vows. The worst and loudest of them all were the bells.

They rang with such clarity, and joy. The happy little melody could be heard from everyone in the Autumn Court, announcing that the Eris and y/n were finally wed. The ringing made me double over with grief, their sound a reminder that I was the only male in Prythian who could not protect his mate. A shame greater than being a bastard, and one I would carry with me until the end of my days.

Metal on metal screeched from somewhere in the dungeon as a light poured in. The jingling of keys and stomping of boots stopped at the door to my cell and I didn’t even bother to look up. Nothing mattered anymore anyways.

“Come on ‘Prince of Bastards’, time for you to go back to your own court,” the guard grumbled, like hauling me home was a huge inconvenience to him.

I rose to my feet and stepped languidly out of the door. The restraints on my wrists and wings were removed, the skin on my wrists rubbed raw from the blue stone shackles. I was led up the stairs to where the wards ended and was immediately winnowed to the border of the Autumn and Winter Court. The cold blizzards of winter whipping around us and chilling my wings.

“Prince Eris has asked me to remind you that you are now banished from this court. He also says that should you choose to seek out his wife once more you know what the consequences will be.” the guard relayed.

Before I could even think about punching the asshole square in his jaw he disappeared into thin air, no doubt going back to his post in the basement of the palace.

I was left with nothing but the sound of my own thoughts, and the feelings of my own guilt as I flew home towards the House of Wind where I knew Azriel was waiting. The flight was the longest one I had ever been on, as normally I took this route with y/n in my arms.

I had never been so happy to touch down on solid ground once more. Azriel tentatively walked out onto the balcony, two glasses of whiskey in hand. His shadows told him that something was very wrong.

“What the hell happened?” He asked, an alarm ringing in his voice.

The lump in my throat returns as I remember how it all went down. “The bond snapped for her, and she changed her mind. Eris found us, said he had set the whole thing up. I was stabbed with a bloodbane dagger,” I say, lifting my arm to assess the blood leaking from my side. “He told her that if she didn’t marry him he would gut me and Rhys.”

The next words teeter on my lips as I feel my eyes brimming with tears. It felt like pieces of me were being ripped out as I finally confessed to my failure.

“I couldn’t save her,” I choked out, voice cracking halfway through.

The words being uttered into the world was enough to have my knees crashing to the ground. The impact radiating through my body to the open wound on my side that still hadn’t healed. I was sure that Azriel had said something as I heard the glasses of whiskey clatter to the ground. But the roaring in my ears was so loud, so unbearable, that the only thing that assured me he was still there was the arm he slung around my back as he knelt next to me.

y/n’s pov:

The wedding was uneventful and to be honest the only part of it I remembered was when the priestess said, “If there is anyone present who can show just cause why these two may not be joined in matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

The silence that had fallen upon the crowd was so deafening I nearly shuddered. I was stupid to hope that he would come charging in like some fairytale I had read as a child. The smug look on Eris' face as the priestess continued with the nuptials made my blood go cold.

The reception was even worse. I had spent the entire time sipping wine with a bland expression on my face. It seemed as though Eris’ new favorite word was ‘wife’ considering he found a way to use it in every sentence. While most would think it a term of endearment I knew it was just to show his ownership.

“Prince Eris, congratulations on stealing ‘The Jewel’ from us all,” a voice said, cutting across the sea of chatter. I looked up from my lap to find the High Lord of Spring, standing before our table.

“Thank you Tamlin, she is quite the prize,” Eris crooned, placing a kiss to the back of my hand.

“That she is,” Tamlin nodded, his eyes raking me from head to toe. “Almost makes me regret crossing her brother, I would’ve liked to have been in the race for her hand.”

“All in the past now,” Eris smiles, kissing the palm of my hand. “Right wife?”

“Right,” I nod to him before turning to Tamlin. “High Lord, where is the Cursebreaker tonight? I would’ve liked to make my acquaintance.” I ask secretly hoping that my brother might catch a glimpse of his mate tonight.

“Feyre is,” he averts his gaze from mine as if trying to decide what to say. “She is safe at home. Busily planning for the wedding.”

“The wedding?” I inquired further, wondering if Rhys knew.

“Yes we are to be wed soon,” Tamlin beamed with pride. “I’m sure we will see you both present?”

“Of course Tamlin, of course,” Eris assured the High Lord of Spring.

Surely if Feyre was getting married to Tamlin my brother knew. I hoped I would get the chance to tell him. The last thing our court, well I suppose his court now, needed was another separation of mates.

The rest of the night passed on quite slowly. At one point I was able to feel the bond between Cassian and I. It was faint, but it was there, and I almost swore that I felt him tug on it at one point. It wasn’t until people started making their excuses to go home that Eris finally said the words I had been dreading.

“Shall we go to bed, wife?” he mused his lips brushing the shell of my ear.

“After I say goodbye to my brother,” I nod standing up to find Rhys, wherever he was.

“You’ll see your brother soon enough, my pet. For now let us retire to our chambers,” he growled, grasping my arm and winnowing away to what I assumed was his room.

He watched intently from behind me as I took in my surroundings.

The bed was large, draped in furs and crisp white sheets. Wood paneling surrounded the four walls, giving the place an ornate look. The fireplace was a glow, casting a warm light upon the room. If it had been anyone else’s room it would’ve been cozy, maybe even romantic.

The air filled with tension as I waited for Eris to do something, or say something, as I refused to turn and meet his gaze. The only sound heard was the crackling of the fire.

“I’ve waited for this moment for quite a long time,” Eris mused from where I knew he was leaning against the door.

“You’ve made that abundantly clear throughout our courtship,” I say straight, unable to meet his predatory stare.

“How should I have acted when you are so tempting? So innocent, so pure, and now so completely mine,” he purred and I could hear his feet shuffle as he pushed off the wall. “And now that you’ve promised me your submission? Well,” he chuckled. “I’m going to have a great deal of fun with you.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I knew what was coming and I knew he wouldn’t be gentle and loving like Cassian. I knew that once again my hands were tied.

“Tell me you belong to me,” Eris uttered, taking a step closer to where I stood rigid.

I sucked down the lump in my throat, “I belong to you,” I whispered.

“Tell me you want me to touch you,” he went on, taking another step forward, his presence looming.

“I-I want you to touch me,” I repeated back, a tear slipping down my cheek.

Eris hummed in approval behind me. He took one, two more steps until I felt his warmth at my back. Finger tips danced up and down the backs of my arms causing my breath to lurch in fear. His breath was hot on my neck as his presence sucked out every bit of air from the room.

“Tell me you love me,” he purred.

My heart stopped cold. There were many things I would have to do or say to please Eris in the millennium that I would be tied to him. But these three words? He would never hear them from my lips. Maybe towards our children, but never to him.

“You know it wouldn't be true,” I whisper, feeling the tension radiating from his body.

His hands grip my hips like a brand, ripping my body around until I am face to face with his seething eyes.

“Then I will make it fucking true!” he growls hauling my mouth to his.

Eris had kissed me a thousand times before, not one of those times did I ever enjoy the experience. But this time? This had to be the worst. All of it felt so wrong. Knowing I had a mate. Knowing he was somewhere in this world right now. It made me sick. It was rough, all teeth and tongues. He didn’t want to kiss me, he wanted to devour me.

“Say it!” Eris demanded, breaking apart our so-called kiss.

“I will love your hounds and your mother, I may love your brothers and one day our children, but I will never love you, Eris Vanserra,” I seethed, unable to take much more.

I expected him to growl, or curse or hit me. I expected a thorough lashing for what I had said, but he didn’t even so much as flinch. What scared me more? His mouth curled up in a smirk.

“You forget that you are also a Vanserra now and speaking of heirs, I think it’s time I put one in you right now,” he mused and my stomach bottomed out. “What do you say ‘Jewel of Prythian’ think I can get you knocked up on the first try?” he smiled, backing me to his bed.

There were no words for the terror I felt. No handbook to prepare me for what came next. All I could do was shut down every emotion I had and do my best to become a ghost. A shell of myself.

No matter how hard I tried, it didn’t subdue the pain.

Azriel’s pov:

I thought that getting Cass drunk might help distract him from the feelings floating down the bond tonight, but boy was I fucking wrong.

I had seen my brother lose soldiers and whole infantries. Had seen him lose his first love, the valkyrie, Tanwyn. I was there the day Rhys and y/n went under the mountain and we thought we lost them for good.

None of that compared to the screams of agony that emanated from the male before me.

“He’s fucking hurting her!” Cassian bemoaned, gripping the nearly empty bottle of whiskey.

It didn’t take much to figure out that he could feel everything y/n was feeling through the bond. And at this late hour? It wasn’t hard to guess what Eris was doing to her, and Cassian had to feel every moment of it down the bond.

“Shh calm down Cass you have to try and block her out,” I pleaded with him, gripping his hand in mine.

His eyes were glassed over, his hair tangled from him nearly ripping it out at the roots. He had been like this for well over an hour now, and I almost wished the whiskey would do its job and make him fall asleep simply so he would be unconscious.

“I can’t Az I’ve tried,” he yells at me, nearly slumping to the side from where he sat on the floor leaning against the wall.

Earlier Rhys had spoken into my mind and asked if everything was alright. I had lied of course, telling him everything was fine, not wanting to insert myself in my brother and the princess’ business. Now I wished I had told him to come if only for him to break into Cass’ head and make him sleep. Watching him feel everything his mate was feeling while she was being… well there weren’t words for it.

“Breathe Cass, breathe,” I soothed, trying to get him to catch his breath long enough to breathe in and out fully.

“I-I can’t,” he cried. “My mate.”

His voice resonated with hopelessness and brokenness, reminiscent of the tragedies depicted in literature. This situation felt nothing short of hellish. For centuries, I longed for a mate—a bond that every fae yearned for. But witnessing how it tormented Rhysand, and observing its impact on Cassian, made me question if I truly desired a mate. In my 500 years of life, I had never seen a male stripped down to his core as profoundly as this.

y/n’s pov:

The next morning I woke up late in the day, the atrocities of last night lasting well into the early hours of the morning. It took me a moment to get my bearings. I wasn’t in the House of Wind, I was in Eris’ room. It wasn’t Cassian’s arms around me in a possessive grasp, it was Eris’.

I slowed my heartrate down enough to assess the room around me. Behind me, Eris was fast asleep, which meant I had a few moments to collect myself before he woke. I looked around the room for a second space and found a door ajar that appeared to lead to a bathroom. I saw my opportunity and took it, carefully wiggling out of Eris’ grasp.

My body ached all over, especially between my legs, but I pushed through until I stood from the bed. I tiptoed over to the bathroom, shutting the door as quietly as possible. Thankfully there were two robes hung on the door. The one for Eris made up of thick cotton, and the one for me made of a cream colored silk.

I reached for the silk robe and slipped it over my bare body, noting every large bruise and handprint that littered my skin. A problem for a later time, I told myself.

I must’ve spent fifteen minutes in the bathroom collecting myself. Constantly repeating my new found mantra.

I will not cry.

I spent so long taking deep breaths that I thought I was prepared for whatever came next. But the second I opened the door and saw Eris standing, staring down at the white sheets of the bed expectantly I knew I was sorely mistaken.

“You didn’t bleed,” Eris stated, tossing the bedsheets aside, stalking towards me.

“What do you mean?” I replied feigning innocence like I didn’t know what he meant.

My heart began to beat out of my chest as Eris stalked closer and closer to me. How could I have been so stupid? To overlook the one thing that meant the most to him in this entire facade.

“Virgins are supposed to bleed the first time they are taken by a male, yet you didn’t,” he growled, stepping into my bubble as my back hit the wall. Never in my life had I felt so small. “Which means you weren’t pure when you married me, or when you came to my bed.”

Every nerve in my body froze over as I watched him put together the pieces. There was no telling what happened next, and the only thing I could do was beg for mercy from whatever plans Eris had for a soiled female.

“Eris I-”

“Did you let that Illyrian bastard deflower you?” he gritted out, a rough hand came to grip my throat, slamming my head against the wall.

Tears pricked my eyes. Even if I had wanted to answer, the hand on my neck wouldn’t allow me. I could only shake in terror and anticipation of what would become of me.

“You useless, pathetic fucking whore.” he gritted, hand squeezing tighter with every insult. “Our marriage is now null and void by the traditions of my court, which means you no longer have the protection of being called my wife.”

His hand releases my throat and I have mere seconds to suck down a breath before a harsh slap falls across my cheek, knocking the air from my lungs once again. The next thing I know I’m kneeling on the floor, clutching my face. Eris reaches out a hand to yank me up by my hair.

“Let me show you what we do to ran through sluts in my court,” Eris spits in my face.

His hand doesn’t relinquish its grip from my hair. Instead it begins to drag me out of the room and down the hall. My scalp is burning from the tug on my hair. He takes a back corridor reserved for servants and my bare knees bump, slice and break on the rough stone stairs leading down to wherever he’s taking me.

My hands try to find purchase on the walls around me so that I can ground myself and fight back but it’s impossible.

“ERIS PLEASE!” I scream, but my pleas fall on deaf ears.

We reach a basement room that drops in temperature and he finally releases me. I try to catch my breath as I watch him scribble something on a piece of paper, picking up a hammer and nail. I instantly go to cower in a corner as he walks towards me. The autumn prince pulls me out of my fetal position by my ankles pinning me to the ground beneath his weight.

“In case I did get you pregnant on the first try,” he seethes before I feel a sharp pain to my lower abdomen.

I don’t look down, I can’t look down. Afraid of what I might see there when I do. My eyes roll to the back of my head as Eris grasps my arm and a cloud of darkness washes over us.

When the shadow withdraws my bare skin is whipped and flayed by blistering cold winds. The ground beneath me is soft, but ice cold. I open my eyes long enough to see white as far as the eye can see.

The Winter Court.

“And just in case you get any ideas about utilizing that so-called mating bond,” Eris speaks again before another sharp sting plunges into my side.

White hot pain spreads from the intrusion and spreads like acid moving through my veins. I feel like the blood beneath my skin is on fire, and I almost wish it was in order to combat the blizzard around me. Only one thing could disable me like this, bloodbane. The very same used on Cassian.

“You’ve brought this upon yourself, ‘Jewel of Prythian’. I hope that bastard general was worth your life and your court. Because when Hybern comes to call it won’t be Autumn Court armies that come to your aid.” Eris says, the disgust in his voice evident.

I can’t speak, can’t even think about anything but the agony I feel. The throb from my lower abdomen and from my side. The bite of the wind and snow on my bare skin. I can barely register the cloud of darkness as Eris winnows himself away, leaving me with nothing but a silk robe for warmth.

I reached down with a cold hand to rip the dagger from my side. I hoped if I could stop the bloodbane from spreading that I might be able to use the bond to call Cassian. The second I discard the dagger blood stains the white snow surrounding me, and I realize my mistake. My hand grasps at the open wound, attempting to apply pressure. As I sat there, bleeding and freezing to death I thought of one thing.

It was all for nothing.

All the pain, all the suffering. Hurting Cassian, hurting myself. It had all been for nothing. I was dying and alone, fingers and toes already losing feeling and I still had no army for my people. Cassian nowhere in sight to save my body and my soul. And I would die here knowing that it was all for nothing.

Because time was of the essence, and no one was coming.

Part 10

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yurinaa-world · 8 months ago

Note

Hello! I've been loving the small snippets and headcanons so much, I just went on a small brain off - intake cuteness marathon while reading and saw that your requests were open (or at least they said they were open, if not you can completely ignore this! ´ω`)

Imagine the sweetness of calling Sunday your dove or swan.. Then think of the silly possibilities of calling him OTHER white birds. I would love to see how you would write his reaction to being called different names like "My Royal Spoolbill" "My lovely Red-Vented Cockatoo" "Beloved Masked Booby"

I just think it's a lil fun to tease Mr. Know-it-all with names that he might have to actually go and search up, some birdies being a nicer compliment compared to being called a chonky lil fella like the Willow Ptarmigan(〃ﾟ3ﾟ〃)

Thank you for your time whether you further this thought or not~!

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓈: Sunday x Gender-neutral Reader

𝒮𝓎𝓃𝑜𝓅𝓈𝒾𝓈: Calling him bird names

𝒲𝒶𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈: Fluff, spelling mistakes

(𝒩𝑜𝓉𝑒𝓈: I found the request after posting it and I decided just to repost so it makes sense)

𝒮𝓊𝓃𝒹𝒶𝓎

Ugh, you're right the way he would call Dove or Swan. Like in such a sensual voice with you adding with the fact he only does when he whispers in your ear, almost sending shivers down your Spine. Ah, don’t tell him your mind is stuck thinking about something you shouldn’t be. He’s not at all innocent just because appearance, he knows what he’s doing.

Did I ever say that he also kisses your hands while calling you his “beloved swan.” (I’m sorry I’m shameless). He’s such a gentleman giving you cute and sweet nicknames “my beloved swan & my dearest dove.” while you on the other hand are just a menace.

“My lovely rock pigeon.” Anyone hearing that would be so confused and honestly, he is a little. How creative could you be with nicknames? Like calling him “my beautiful stork.” Or “royal tern.”

The more and more you begin to find more and more white bird names to use for him the more he questions everything.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

“My dearest stork.”

You say playfully while the back of your hand gently rubs against Sunday's little wings. They are so soft and warm. “a stork? Am I just a bird with long legs to you?”

A mischievous grin curls up the corners of your lips while a single eye twinkles at your beloved Sunday.

“You have little wings and feathers right here so I don’t see a difference really.” you point out the little mini version of wings by the sides of his hair.

along with your words, Sunday grabs your hand and intertwines it with his. “some birds bite if you get too close to them, maybe I should bite you.” He playfully threatens as he brings your hand closer to his mouth.

“don’t worry I don’t bite that hard.”

if you liked this, consider tipping me on ko-fi! it'd mean a lot!

#✧*:･ﾟ✧:･ Yurinna's Writing :･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧#sunday hsr #sunday x reader #sunday x you #honkai star rail x you #honkai star rail x reader #star rail #star rail x reader #hsr x you #hsr x reader #honkai star rail

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ruhorih4ra · 5 months ago

Text

Hello fellas 🧙🏻‍♂️ long time no see... Heheh

Get out of my way: the new exchange student!

She was doomed from the beginning. Since the first time her body appeared in that grim room, surrounded by demons. Demons! The one and only Lucifer, fallen angel and king of hell. Except he wasn’t the King of Hell and instead of being an horrendous monster he was a good looking jerk with an old-fashioned uniform. At the time he was kind and respectful, but she knew it, when she saw the demon’s eyes, those eyes that spoke for themselves, she was sure that Lucifer knew.

She is extremely capable to do her job, so she remained calm. When Asmodeus touched her body and exclaimed with a very sweet and fake voice that she was beautiful and how he couldn’t help but want to feel her skin, she knew he was merely doing a security check. That implied that Asmodeus aka The Avatar of Lust, also knew her secret.

Initially, Beelzebub was left in charge of her, The Avatar of Gluttony and King of flies looking after a human? She did her best to remain unfazed by his stature and stern features, but really appreciated when Mammon stepped in and demanded to be in charge. That was until he pinched her forearm so bad she felt a drop of blood slide down her arm, “Don’t try anything funny, human.” So, The Avatar of Greed knew too.

She did a quick report. Real demons, all have different eccentric traits, some have functional wings, others have tails, all of them are taller than the average human. They have unusual features and seem to speak English fluently. All of them knew her now not-so-secret secret.

She tried to look for the famous exchange student, the human who had been kidnapped. Sc only saw you for a split second before her vision was blocked by the prince of the Devildom. “Welcome to the Devildom, Sc.” He smiled and it was so honest and open that he could have fooled her. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

When Diavolo finally introduced you, she felt relieved. You seemed to be a nice, kind person. So she assumed her reports were correct and you had developed Stockholm syndrome after being captured for a whole year. “Nice to meet you, Mc.”

“Nice to meet you too, Sc. Don’t worry, you’ll have a good time here.” You replied, your eyes were kind and you seemed genuine. Sc felt sorry, she knew right there that you were the only one who wasn’t aware of her intentions.

However, that was the first and one of the few times she could actually talk with you. Sc knew they would try to avoid leaving the two alone, but they were more stubborn than she had thought, always putting you in opposite directions.

She had received a particularly harsh reprimand one day after “helping” you with council work. She wasn’t trying to be sly, but you offered her information for free so why not? Lucifer seemed furious, Sc didn’t know what made him angrier the fact that Mammon wasn’t there and thus you had been alone or the possibility of an information leak. Mammon arrived before she could say anything relevant, but Lucifer probably knew that already.

However, that day he offered a free waltz class. She accepted, what else could she have done? “I told you to stay away from them, human. I know who you are and your reasons to be here, don’t bring Mc into this.”

Sc didn’t lose her temper and kept smiling, dancing as well as an expert. “Why? Are you afraid of losing them?” She was so sure that Lucifer wouldn’t try anything while you were under the same roof that she let down her guard. “Is that a threat?” Lucifer asked, staying calm too, leading the dance with the same softness of his voice. “You brought them here without their consent, forcing them to coexist with you and your brothers.”

Lucifer raised an eyebrow and Sc took it as an invitation to continue. “You put them in danger and manipulated them to love you. That’s not love, that’s codependency.” Lucifer’s grip tightened, squeezing the new exchange student’s hand more and more. “I see you have been thinking about it quite a lot, human. You can think whatever suits you best as long as you stay away from Mc.”

“That’s enough, Lucifer.” Sc felt his hand being slowly crushed under an unstoppable force. “If you try to hurt them I’ll break every single one of your bones with my own hands.” Lucifer smiled and tilted his head. “Almost as good as a cursed record, don’t you think?” Sc couldn’t reply, the pain of having her hand completely crushed was too much, her skin was pale, if she didn’t fall was because Lucifer’s hold on her waist. Before she fainted, Sc took Lucifer from the shirt collar. “They’ll realize what kind of monster you are and we’ll leave together.”

She couldn’t remember a thing after that, she woke up in her bed with her hand completely fine. However, after that the brothers reinforced their security, there wasn’t a moment in which one of them was not watching her and thus she couldn’t get close to you. Always playing with Leviathan, reading with Satan, sleeping with the twins, shopping with Asmo. It was torture.

“Mc love this game.” “This is Mc’s favorite book.” “Don’t touch Mc’s pillow.” “I remember that time with Mc when…”

Why? Sc wanted to pull out her hair in desperation. Since she arrived her mission had been impossible, she couldn’t get any information of the Three-Legged Crow Group and their recent growth in the human world, Sc knows that the prince is closely related but that’s all.

Oh, but in comparison, she knows lots of things about Mc’s whole routine, what they like and dislike. They were like puppies wagging their tails at the mention of your name, no, maybe it would be better to call them worshipers. They didn’t act like demons, not unless they thought she was up to something against their beloved human.

That’s when she decided to take action. Her contacts told her about a certain creep in a local market that was always ready to offer solutions. She asked Beel to take her there with the excuse of wanting to know more about the devildom’s cuisine and then… Beelzebub had been glued to her the entire time.

Sc hadn't completely overcome her fear of Beelzebub, but she had to admit that looking the gigantic demon cry over pudding had been a great help. Still, Beelzebub is a demon capable of swallowing her within seconds if he wanted and that’s something she couldn’t ignore. “No turning back now, not without Mc.”

“My lord, do you know that I am a spy who was sent to the Devildom to gather information about Lord Diavolo?” Sc spoke in her best professional voice. As expected, Beelzebub face remained neutral, nodding slightly. “Lord Diavolo tried to kill a human, they were at an amusement park.”

“That human shot Belphie, Lord Diavolo showed mercy, I would have shown him my fangs.” Beelzebub said with a mouth full of fries. “Following that logic, Lord Belphegor killed Mc, right? what should we humans do?”

Beelzebub stopped, he didn't look angry or threatening, he looked embarrassed. “Mc didn't die.”

“They died, in a sense. You know that, right? Why are they still here? Are you threatening them? Why?” Sc stood in front of Beelzebub, her heart violently shaking her whole body. “Mc is nice and understanding, they forgave us. I don't know why and no, we're not threatening them.” Beelzebub had stopped eating, he stood in the middle of the busy sidewalk, earning curious glances from passing demons.

“Are they nice and understanding or they have to be? How much of their love is just well-masked fear, my lord?” The woman knew that Beelzebub had been an angel, when he speaks about you she can even see some of that light in the demon's eyes.

Beelzebub wasn't a fan of overthinking, although he was an expert on the matter. The fact is that he didn't have time to do it while you were in his arms, feeding him his favorite desserts or sitting on his back sharing your day while he did push-ups. He had wondered those things too, but he had pushed them to the far corner of his mind. What if Sc was correct? What if they weren't protecting you?

Beel felt the sudden need to see your face and so he turned around. “We should go back to the house of lamentation.” he didn't wait for Sc, just walked along the crowd with stiff steps and a gloomy face. “Mc can leave if they want, they're strong and capable. They even confronted Lucifer more than once, protecting Luke and me and... don't tell Lucifer I told you this.” He stopped, not many demons were around anymore, the stalls and enthusiasm of the market had disappeared. “They don't need us as much as we need them. It must look twisted from the outside but I don’t want them to leave.” The red-haired demon stopped as a certain question forced its way through all of his troublesome thoughts. “How do you know what Belphie did?”

Beelzebub turned to see Sc, but he just found an empty street, that and the horrible silence that settles before the painful realization that he had been fooled.

Sc was taught to be discreet and silent, her steps didn't make a sound, losing Beelzebub had been easy once the demon's mind had wandered far from there. It was only when she was in front of the shady place that she started questioning her plan. It didn't even look like a shop and, if that wasn't enough, it was quite far from the local market too.

But she entered nonetheless, the classic sound of a small bell ringing was heard when she opened the door and peeked inside. Two white eyes that resembled a pair of marbles and were the only perceptible thing in the dark room met her eyes and left a sensation that ran down her spine and shook her nerves.

She thought of backing off, but she saw Beelzebub looking for her and quickly stepped inside.

“I need something to neutralize demons.” She walked towards the pair of eyes that laughed with a quiet delight. “Now.” She held the demon's gaze and cursed when someone knocked at the main door. The demon put a bird cage on the table. “10,000 Grimm.”

“What the fuck is this?! Those idiots are at least 6’0 tall, this crap is the size of a rat!” Sc hissed but the bell rang again and her muscles acted on its own, taking the cage and leaving the Grimm.

“What are you doing? What is that?” She had never seen the avatar of gluttony so angry and threatening. “I need it for my classes.” Sc said with the last shred of will she had left, feeling a pang of shame when she heard her own voice sound like a little girl on the verge of crying. Beelzebub inspected the cage first and then the seller, trying to choose the best way to proceed. “Fine, but you'll show it to Lucifer later.”

Beel dragged her carelessly through the Devildom's streets. She could hardly hold the cage and follow the demon's footsteps, before she could even think in the possibility, the cage slipped from her hand and rolled open on the floor. “Wait, lord Beelzebub!”

Beel stopped and picked up the cage in less than a second, handing it to Sc and resuming his previous race, but Sc’s movements were even more clumsy than before as she couldn't stop looking at a little black cloud swirling around Beelzebub's head.

“My lord, you have something on your head.” Sc murmured, stopping Beelzebub again from his hasty walk. The demon just looked around, the murderous scowl that had formed on his face gave way to one of curiosity. “I don't see anything.” He gave Sc a look that meant he wouldn’t stop again and promptly turned around and once again took her wrist to continue walking.

Lucifer found nothing out of the ordinary with the cage, he merely raised an eyebrow and sighed in annoyance, “I suggest something bigger.” He said as his only comment. Eventually she thought that everything had been a scam, surely the seller had seen a good opportunity to fool her and that was the end of her little feat.

That was until your blood stained the House of Lamentation and she saw for the first time since her arrival the fear painfully painted on the faces of all the brothers, from the youngest to the oldest. They had rushed to your room while she stood there, looking stupidly at the dried blood as a lump formed in her throat.

Perversely, and much to her shame, she realized that for the very first time since she set foot in hell she was alone. Nobody was watching her, she could wander around with no one to stop her.

Finally, she could do her job.

So she remained silent, even when she saw two little demons bothering you at the dining table. She kept quiet, even when a little demon (who didn't look so little anymore) threw a book at her head when she tried to catch him. She didn't say a word, not even when you fought with Lucifer and left everyone feeling miserable.

She could remember Satan's madness, the raw emotion, the demon had radiated, drowning Sc in a sea of anxiety and fear. But even then she remained calm, because surely you would forgive them, surely you would forgive her too, right?

She didn't mutter a single word because it was working. She had been forgotten even by the prince and his terrifying butler. She convinced herself that this was for the best and that you would thank her once you were both in the human world.

However, that changed one night, when Mammon arrived to the library and roughly tied up her wrists. “How did you know I was here?!” Sc struggled in an attempt to free herself from the rope. “I have eyes everywhere.” Mammon winked at her and forced her to walk ahead of him. “Where are we going? Where is Mc?”

Mammon stopped, but his hands stopped Sc from turning around. “Why are you askin’, human?” Sc felt the pointy nails of the greed demon caressing her neck. “They seem off, I’m worried. That’s all.” And wasn’t that true after all? You were different, ever since the fight you have been more rude and violent. Even she has retreated behind Lucifer’s back when you pass by.

“Someone attacked them.” The avatar of greed’s voice was cold and composed. “Those idiots dared to hurt them.” Sc felt Mammon´s nail pressing on her neck, exactly on the carotid arteries. “Do you know something about it, witch?”

“No, I don’t. Are they oka-!” The young woman couldn’t say anything else as the demon pushed her to the floor. “Ya wanna know somethin’ human? Truth is Mc’s not a bad liar, ya know? They had lied to me looking straight to my face without batting an eye.” Sc’s groaned when Mammon took her by the hair and forced her to stay still while he spoke just inches away from her face. “It’s unfair, you see, because we are demons, I can hear your heart screaming the truth, it’s so loud it hurts my fuckin’ ears.”

“Please, I ddon’t knnow anything.” Sc said in short breaths. “Are they okay?” Sc asked again. Mammon tightened his grip on the woman’s hair before releasing her. “Yes they are. I’ll take you to the attic and you’ll stay there until Satan beats the truth out of you.”

Luckily, she wasn’t held hostage for long and nobody ripped the truth out of her, no wonder why. They looked miserable, awful, lost. Sc had found what had happened, from the attack and the fact that the attackers remained unknown, to your decision to stay in purgatory hall.

Every time she saw you, you were surrounded by little demons. No, they weren’t little anymore, they were real copycats of the brothers. They were your guardian demons, spinning around your head like nasty flies. She knew it was her fault, after all, they had appeared after she bought that cage.

At one point she had decided that the mission wasn’t as important as you and that she should do something but then again, things were much better now that the brothers weren’t there all the time but bloody hell, things were worse now that you were alone with those pests.

She got out of her classes to take a break and that’s when she saw you sitting alone at an old and almost crumbling table. She counted them, there were 6 demons already, one more than the last time.

Sc looked at her hands, only one report left and you could leave the devildom. She only needed a little more time, then she could save you and show the world the truth. Almost unconsciously, her eyes landed on you again, sleeping peacefully in that lonely place.

Part 22?

She swallowed hard before going back to her business. Not even 5 seconds passed when she heard a loud sound coming from the place you were at before, she ran as fast as possible but when she arrived you had disappeared and the table you were in was now reduced to a pile of rocks.

I know I don't update this (or anything, actually :3) often, so feel free to tell me if you want to be removed from this humble taglist hahshaha.♡

Taglist: @yuumaofc @asmolover1234 @gallantys @prefesro @urminebutidontwantyou @fiveofspades @exrellian @kaiserkisser @cutestpatoootie @fandumshippr @frenchmess23yo @reject-queen @completelyshatteredbrokenmschf

#obey me #obey me fanfic #obey me mc #obey me fandom #obey me gn!reader #obey me lucifer #obey me angst #obey me satan #obey me beelzebub #obey me mammon #obey me belphegor #obey me brothers

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shadowsndaisies · 4 months ago

Text

the hard deck: too observant to play dumb (pt 1)

wc: 1.7 k

synopsis: how the arrival at the hard deck went

main masterlist

athena-verse master post

a/n: hey yall! so fun fact it has been 8 years since I started this blog, and as a little thank you, I have a 3 part update to the athena-verse, the whole thing comprises the hard deck scene from the beginning of the movie and will end basically where athena settles debts starts. as always I hope you enjoy, and let me know if you want to be added to the tags!

You'd been standing with Jake and Javi when Nat finally walked in.

"Athena! I've been looking for you!" she shouts, pulling your attention away from the pool table you'd just set up with Javi.

"Oh shit, sorry 'Nix," you offer a half smile.

"Answer your god damn for when I call you," she groans, pointing menacingly at you.

"Yes, Ma'am," you mock salute before noticing the two men behind her. "Looks like you made new friends just fine though," you offer jokingly.

"Payback, Fanboy. Meet Athena, smoothest flier you'll ever see," Phoenix introduces, and you smile warmly at your friend before offering your hand to the two behind her.

"Nice to meet you fellas," you greet.

"High praise coming from Phoenix," Fanboy notes, shaking your head.

"Highest of the high, actually," Payback adds on.

"Yeah, well, there's almost no one I'd rather have on my wing than 'Nix," you compliment back. You were going to ask how they knew your friend, but someone else interrupted you before you could.

"Yo, are we playing or what?" you roll your eyes as you turn back to where Jake and Javi are standing and gesture to the three in front of you; you realize Jake is hunched over the table, lining up his next shot.

"I'm playing nice, Seresin. You should try it," you prod, and Javi manages a slight smirk at Jake.

Jake looks up and makes eye contact with you while landing a ball in a corner pocket, and you can't help but roll your eyes again, cocky bastard. When he straightens, he finally notices what has caught your attention. "Well, what do we have here? If it ain't Phoenix, and she found new friends," he smirks, walking around the table in your direction. "And here I thought we were special Coyote. Turns out the invite went out to anybody."

It's almost like a switch is flipped, you realize, watching as Jake now interacts with others. Cocky attitude inflating his ego in a way that was so Hangman but not necessarily Jake. Nat didn't believe you when you tried to explain that you saw past it, and that's why you were friends. She was confident in her reading, which fair, especially when he acted like this.

"Fellas this here is Bagman," she introduces, and you can already tell it's going to be a long detachment spent between your two friends, especially since they hate each other.

"Hangman," he corrects, tone slightly barbed.

"Whatever," Phoenix makes a face at him and rolls her eyes when she looks at you as if to say, C'mon Athena, don't you see what I'm talking about? "You're looking at the only naval aviator on active duty with a confirmed air-to-air kill," she adds on, turning back to Jake.

Your eyes narrow at the compliment-like a statement; however, you don't trust it for a second.

Hangman smiles, "Stop," he muses as he settles down beside you, bumping your shoulder with his as he does, full of pride like a peacock strutting his feathers.

"Mind you, the other guy was in a museum piece from the Korean War," she clarifies, and you nod; you felt this was where she was taking it.

"Cold War," Coyote corrects, always one to back up his friends.

"Different wars, same century," Payback interjects.

"Not this one," Fanboy tacks on.

"Who're your friends?" Coyote asks, eyes dancing over the two on either side of Phoenix.

"Payback."

"Fanboy."

Both aviators introduce themselves with a simple nod, and you can't hide your smile of amusement. The testosterone was off the charts, and Nat was leading the bunch.

"Hey Coyote," she greets, eyes darting to Javi, and you fight the smirk at the look in her eye.

"Hey," he greets, dragging out the 'ey' a bit, and your eyes dart over to Jake just to find a knowing look already focused on you.

"Who's he?" Nat asks, nodding to the side.

"Who's who?" Coyote's brows had furrowed down, and then Nat turned to look at the quiet Aviator in glasses who'd been munching on peanuts while you played pool.

"When did you get in?" Coyote's voice floats over from behind you as you take a moment to observe your silent comrade.

"Oh, oh I've been here the whole time," he admits, and your brow quirks, and quickly you turn to look over at Jake.

"Man's a stealth pilot," you muse gently, and even Nat cracks a smile.

"Literally," Coyote nods.

"Weapons systems officer, actually," he corrects, and your lips twitch; he's adorable, you decide immediately.

"With no sense of humor," Jake huffs out.

You elbow him, and he gasps before standing and handing off the pool cue to Nat.

"What do they call you?" you ask, voice sweet.

"Bob," he answers, offering a hesitant smile in response to your wide one.

"No, your call sign," Payback clarifies.

He seems to hesitate, "uh.." he trails for a second, and you can read the nervous energy easily. "Bob," he repeats, and you frown a bit at the cautious undertones of his voice.

"Bob Floyd?" Nat asks. "You're my new backseater? From Leemore?" her tone had turned a bit incredulous. The smothered chortles from Payback and Fanboy were not nearly as covert as they seemed to think it was, based on the glares Nat was sending them.

"Looks like it, yeah," Bob confirms, and that nervous undertone is still there.

Nat pauses and looks at you. You tilt your head knowingly, and she nods, turning to the back seater.

"Nine ball, Bob. Rack 'em."

"Uh.. kay, yeah," he nods, standing and taking the pool cue outstretched in Natasha's hand.

You pat your friend's shoulder knowingly before turning to look for Jake. You spot him at the bar and start walking that way. You pause, though, when you see him talking to Penny, and then you realize who was on the other side of her and, most likely, who had just caused the bell to ring. Leave it to your dad to piss off the woman who loved him through his worst and best without even trying.

You're so focused on watching the interaction at the bar you miss it when he walks in.

"Bradshaw! That you?" Nat's voice rings out over the noise of the bar. It's only now starting to get busy, and you can't help the way your head snaps over to him.

You'd knew he'd be here. He said as much in his email, but being confronted by him and the past you avoided was something you decided then and there that you weren't ready for.

You're stuck, frozen, watching him interact with Phoenix.

"This is how I find out you're stateside?" she asks before lining up to take her next shot.

"Yeah I thought I'd surprise you," he responds with an easy camaraderie that you hadn't realized existed with the woman you considered to be one of your closest friends these days.

He's looking around the bar, not having spotted you yet, when Nat lets out a hum, taking her shot. Obviously, she lands another in the pocket; this was Phoenix we're talking about. She manages to hit Bradley in the gut with the end of the pool cue, forcing him to keel over a bit.

A petty and vindictive piece of you takes pleasure in that. But another piece, a little girl, she aches for the easygoing relationship and the best friend she once had.

"Guess I surprised you back," she smirks, facing Bradley.

He nods at her, "it's good to see you," he manages to huff out, slowly standing back up.

"It's good to see you too," she smiles, and he lays a gentle hand on her shoulder, and you have to turn back around.

You're counting your breaths again, focusing on what you can see, touch, hear, taste, and smell. You realize too late that Jake's analyzing you. He'd seen how you stiffened up and focused on the interaction, and he saw how you forced yourself to turn around, away from Bradley.

He grabs the beers Penny offers him and a glass of something else, says something to Penny, you think, and then turns back, walking toward you. He places the glass in your hand with a whispered "G&T."

"Thanks," you manage to spit out.

"Where's your head?" he asks, voice still low, and you know that right now, no one is paying attention to the two of you.

"A little too far off the ground," you admit; it wasn't worth the effort to lie to Jake; generally, he saw through it anyway.

You notice how his eyes dart past you, looking at Brad and Nat, but he doesn't ask you about it. Instead, he asks, "What do you need?"

"Time machine?" you ask, eyes finally meeting his straight on instead of jumping around like they had been. He was good at that, asking the right questions; probably a perk of learning how to piss everyone off is also knowing when to pull back.

"Fresh out, I'm afraid," the drawl in his Texan accent always appeared early in the morning and late at night, but also when he drank. Your favorite appearance was in the whispers when he talked low, and it just tended to bleed into every word; it made you think of Jake the football star, Jake the kid who grew up on a ranch, a version of the man before you, you never got to meet.

"Then I guess I'll have to just… manage," you muse sourly.

"You always tend to do better than just manage, 'Thena," he reminds you.

"I don't know about that, at least not this time," you admit.

"This got something to do with Bradshaw?"

"You're too observant to play dumb," is how you answer.

"What, is this a kiss and not tell situation?" There's a cloud in the green of Jake's eyes as he asks, and you're tempted to answer, but quite honestly, you weren't sure if there was a statute of limitations on don't kiss and tell, and you're not sure if your first kiss when you were 13 counts.

"No, it's a different kind of history," is what you actually say. "I'll be okay, you go on though, I just need a minute," you urge.

Jake hesitates, not at all sold on what you'd said, but slowly, he takes a step forward and then another until he's approaching the pool table again.

...

everything: @butterfly-skinnylegend

athena’s tags: @omgbrianab @smoothdogsgirl @bazellawriz @sbrewer21 @inky-sun @djs8891 @rory-cakes

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styllwaters · 1 year ago

Text

Primarily airborne sophonts hailing from the low-gravity planet of Hanidias, the Arrows are one of the oldest species in the Zhagaviit Galactic Community.

___

Introducing Arrows officially! These guys are the revised version of my older spec bio species, the Angelum. They've since undergone a lot of changes. Further information below!

Before I begin, I would like to make some things clear. A lot of the lore in the old Angelum info post is now irrelevant. Here are the revisions:

The Sacrazoa, Thronalia and Seraphae subtypes do not exist. Additionally, there is no 'Original Angelum'.

Previously I stated that the entirety of the population was genetically modified, but I've retconned this to only a select few individuals.

The only Genizix-touched Arrows are the Higher Arrows, which I will delve into later.

Lifepods do not exist.

Rather than communicate telepathically, the Arrows communicate with chemical signalling/pheromones.

Now that that's out of the way, time for some fresh new lore!

___________________

Arrows spend a good amount of time floating in the air. They possess a specialised 'gas bladder' which they can inflate and deflate to control their position, slightly similar to how a fish controls its buoyancy in the water.

They do not have the same level of agility as a bird or other winged creatures, their lack of powered flight making them significantly slower. However, they can change direction, dive quickly, land, and often take advantage of air currents and wind to increase speed.

Arrows feed on floating 'aeroplankton' which thrive in the atmosphere of their planet. Concentrations of these microscopic lifeforms are farmed in enormous quantities. Arrow's feeding tendrils are typically only deployed when they are eating; the aeroplankton is absorbed into the tendrils and nutrients are transported upwards to the main hub. However, they can also be deployed for courtship displays (especially for the males) and dancing.

Arrows, in the past, were the target of many predators. They were mainly concerned with attacks from other smaller, faster, flying organisms. To combat this, their five eyes aided in a wide peripheral vision enabling them to spot trouble quickly. In addition, they evolved countershading in order to camouflage with the dark sea below and the cloudy sky above. Males sport a more contrasting palette, clearly outlining them against the sky, but those who were able to survive indicated a viable choice for a mate.

Nowadays, with safer areas, infrastructure and impressive technology, predators are no longer a threat.

There are four main ethnic groups on Hanidias; namely Cursors, Needles, Indicators and Darts. Cursors and Needles mainly reside in the skies above the open ocean and cliff sides. Indicators make their home in the icy Northern and Southern poles, and Darts above the brackish river water further inland. However, all Arrows are very widespread.

___________________

This is just an introductory post - there's still a lot to say about these fellas - but i'll leave it there for now. As always, asks are welcome!

#vivere 44 #speculative evolution #speculative biology #spec evo #spec bio #aliens #arrows #art #my art #xenobiology #xenofiction #i've had this in my drafts for like 2 weeks

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ghost-bxrd · 3 months ago

Note

That bit about NW being more cold resistant than normal dragons...

Now I'm picturing some bandits or rival armies hiding out in the snow somewhere, figuring dragons won't like to head out here, plus those things are huge, they'll hear those huge leathery wings flapping...

And then they look up and the crown prince is right there, on his fluffy dragon, both the dragon and rider grinning at them "Hmm, what d'you think, Nightwing, surrender time or breakfast time?"

YESSSSSSS!

Or even Nightwing deliberately allowing himself to be snowed in, hidden under a blanket of snow, and the bandits thinking “oh wow, the crown prince is easy picking out her fellas! Stupid boy thinks he can take us on without his dragon!” And Dick just grinning like a maniac when they reveal themselves, all self assured and shit.

Only for Nightwing to rise from the snow like a literal creature of nightmares ksksksks

#for several reasons Nightwing is the second scariest dragon the kingdom has #or maybe third scary #Bat is actually pretty far down the list btw #because Bat is a huge softy #meanwhile Nightwing is actually pretty deranged #Nightwing #dragon au #dick grayson #dragons

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sirenascales · 1 year ago

Text

I want your love, I dont wanna be friends[18+]

You're the new assistant at Hawks Pro Hero Agency. So cute and shy. 🤭❤️ But you have got to stop doing this silly little dance with your boss and just make out already.

Hawks x PlusSize!F!Reader

9,566 words

cw: SMUT, nsfw, unprotected sex, a girl kisses you in this, brief mention of a domestic violence situation, hawks is too hot,

note: my first mha fic... dont even looooook at me bro jk pls enjoy

The first time you actually got to meet the Wing Hero, a villain had attacked a bank just as you were doing your usual weekend errands. The villain had some kind of explosion quirk, and you ended up getting caught in the blast, despite being a fair distance away. Everything was going by so fast, people yelling in the distance in panic and fear, loud sirens going off.

Your ears were ringing, body hurting as you slowly tried to at least sit up. Your skin stung with cuts, as you were hit with glass, though thankfully, none of the injuries seemed to be too serious. If anything, it was the blast and fall that hurt you the most.

Chaos was all around you, some pro heroes swooping in to apprehend the culprit. It seemed to be an easy catch, but you mainly tried to focus on getting up on your own two feet.

"Alright fella, it's no use fighting now. Here, take him in. I'm gonna look around to see if we still have any victims."

"You got it, boss!"

The voices seemed so far away, your head pounding as you managed to get to your feet, not even taking two steps until you were hit with an insane amount of nausea, your brain whirling as your vision blurred. You fell forward, expecting to hit the ground face first when you felt someone grab you.

"Whoa! Okay, I got you!" The male voice seemed so far away and you slowly turned your head to look at the owner. All you saw was blond hair, and magnificent red wings.

"Oh... you're Hawks," you slurred.

"Yeah, and you are concussed," he said rather seriously, gently guiding you towards a nearby ambulance. "You need to go to the hospital now."

"Hm... where are we? I feel sick..."

"Okay, here we go," Hawks said, a worried frown on his face as he handed you off to the paramedics. "She has a severe concussion and is bleeding from her head."

"Oh... am I...?"

It was all a blur after that, and you barely remembered the trip to the hospital. All you knew was that you had actually suffered a concussion and a few broken ribs, and that the adrenaline made you not feel the pain at all. They kept you for a few days until you were cleared to go home and recover.

Though, this couldn't have happened at a worse time. You were supposed to be starting your new job soon, but with you being broken, you had to fearfully send an email explaining the situation. They were, thankfully, very understanding. But of course they were, you were supposed to start work as an assistant at a pro hero agency.

Blinking, you sat back in your seat as realization had finally hit you, staring wide eyed at the signature of the person who replied to your email.

'Dear 'Reader',

I'm so sorry that you were caught up and injured in these recent events. We understand your predicament and will hold your place until you are ready to start and join our team.

Please feel better,

Keiko Watanabe, secretary of Hawks Pro Hero Agency'

Your mouth fell open. How could I you forget?! "Oh shit..."

♡♡♡

Three months had gone by, and you were adjusting well into your new job at the pro hero agency. You worked side by side with a beautiful girl named Keiko, running the clerical side of the agency and helping Hawks when he needed it.

Yeah, you worked at Hawk's agency, and sometimes directly with the man himself. Mostly in the form of going over messages, interview requests and other things with him while he was not on patrol. He was rather surprised to see you a few months back when you first started working there, but he welcomed you with open arms, as well as his sidekicks and the other office workers.

You and Keiko had become fast fast friends and were like peas in a pod, honestly. She was utterly gorgeous, with long, straight black hair and blunt bangs cut across her forehead. She was flirty and fun, but super hardworking and a great friend.

"You look hot today, girlfriend," you said as you sat at your desk this morning, eyeing the dress she wore. It was still tasteful for the office, but Keiko had legs for days. "Yummy."

"Oh shut up," Keiko waved you off with a laugh, giving you a look. "You don't look so bad yourself. Finally trying to take Hawks home with you?"

"Keiko!" you gasped, blushing and quickly looking around, hoping no one heard. "Shut up! That is not what I'm doing!"

"Uh huh," Keiko said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I didn't check the messages yet, can you do that while I go over this last incident report?"

You nodded, picking up the office phone and getting yourself ready to write down the messages that were left overnight. "Damn, six of them..."

They were just the usual stuff, plus one that had piqued your interest as you wrote it down. After you finished, you got up from your desk, ignoring Keiko wiggling her eyebrows at you as you made your way over to Hawks' office. He wasn't on patrol, and won't be for another hour.

"Sir," you started, knocking on his closed door. "I have something that could be important." You looked down at yourself, smoothing out your clothes. Of course Keiko was right; you wanted to look your best around Hawks. You wore a pretty skirt that fell just to your knee, and a top that you knew made your boobs look good with the perfect bra...

"Come in," Hawks called from behind his door and you nodded, taking a deep breath before you walked inside, taking in the man sitting behind his desk.

Of course you wanted to get his attention... look at him. He was beautiful, in a rugged way, with his messy blond locks and sexy facial hair. His goggles were on the desk, and his gold eyes were on you as you walked over to his desk. You swore they moved down your body for a quick second before he looked you in your face again. His large, red wings instantly drew your attention, them rustling slightly when the man tilted his head up a bit.

"What's up?" he drawled, his voice sending a shiver up your spine.

"Well," you started, fighting back a blush. "I was going through the messages and I got something interesting I think you might like." You smiled, sliding the note you wrote to him. "You will receive an official invite in a few weeks, but the Green Cross Foundation is hosting a charity ball in three months, and all proceeds will go to the children's hospital. You've been formally invited."

"...huh," was Hawks' only reply and your smile fell.

"... is this... bad?" you asked him unsurly and he quickly shook his head.

"No, no, it's not," he said, putting the note down and looking back at you, an easy smile growing on his face. "Thanks, this is definitely something I'm interested in."

You smiled back at him, feeling your face heat up. "No problem, sir! I'll just get back to my desk now." You turned and left the office, goosebumps forming on your skin as you felt a hard stare follow you out the door.

The rest of the day went by smoothly, with Hawks having gone out on his patrol hours ago. It was now time for the office to close and you and Keiko were just getting ready to leave when you realized something.

"Oh shoot, I felt my folder in Hawks' office," you said with a sigh. You shooed Keiko off to go ahead without you, making the quick trip to Hawks' empty office. You found your folder, taking a quick peek inside when you heard the office door creak open behind you. You let out a startled shriek, whipping around and finding Hawks' standing behind you looking surprised.

"Hawks!" You gasped. "You scared me!"

It took Hawks a moment, but when he found himself, he had the nerve to snicker behind his hand. "You're the one snooping around in my office, no wonder you're so jumpy."

Your jaw dropped and you scoffed. "I was not snooping. I left my folder!"

"Uh huh," Hawks just waved you off, grinning and you knew that he was just teasing. You huffed at him and he laughed again.

"Fine, fine, I'm sorry~" he drawled, and you realized he was holding a small box. "Here, I'll share my cupcake with you as a peace offering."

You blinked. "Cupcake...?"

"Yeah," Hawks answered, opening the box and revealing the most delicious looking chocolate cupcake in the world you've ever seen. "There's this awesome bakery along my beat, so I stop by from time to time. You don't mind if I use my hands?"

"No," you answered, shaking your head. "And I'm kinda upset that you never got us anything from this so-called amazing bakery. Not even a damn cookie?" You were both pretty much off the clock now, so you naturally went to talk with the man more casually. He didn't mind.

"Sorry, but I'm gatekeeping," Hawks answered with a smirk as he carefully used his fingers to break the cupcake in half. He got frosting on his thumb, and after he handed you your half, he sucked that thumb right into his mouth.

You gulped.

"Though, I will have to say, if you tell anyone about the bakery or this cupcake, I will have to fire you." Hawks grinned at you again, clearly joking and you shook your head at him, rolling your eyes.

"Yeah yeah, your secret is safe with me, bossman," you said, bringing the cupcake to your mouth before adding. "And Keiko."

Hawks snorted and you bit into the cupcake, immediately moaning at the chocolatey goodness that exploded in your mouth.

"Oh my goodness!" you exclaimed after swallowing, glancing over at a very satisfied looking Hawks. "This is amazing!"

"I told you!" He replied, watching you eat the rest of the cupcake before he ate his half. You had let out another very satisfied sound and Hawks had to take a deep breath.

"I'm going to find this place," you said and Hawks let out a short laugh.

"Not if I can help it," he shot back, glancing at you, his eyes doing a slow once over when you weren't looking.

"Well, I'm out of here," you said, turning back to him with a smile. "See you tomorrow! Thanks for the cupcake."

Hawks nodded. "Yeah, see you tomorrow, but wait up..."

"Huh?" you blinked when Hawks stepped to you, holding still when he lifted his hand up. With the same thumb he had licked the frosting off earlier he pressed it to the corner of your mouth.

"You have frosting here..." he then said softly, and your lips fell open as he used his thumb to wipe off the frosting. A shiver went down your spine, his thumb just grazing your bottom lip before he stepped back. You watched him hesitate, before he grabbed a napkin and wiped his thumb clean.

"Th-thank you..." you stuttered softly, very much aware of the heated tension in the office. Your lip tingled where he touched you, your heart pounding in your chest. Hawks looked at you, his gold eyes nearly pinning you in place as he stared right into mines.

"Have a good night..." he finished with your name.

You gulped and nodded. "Y-yeah..." And you turned and rushed out.

♡♡♡

"And you just turned and ran out of the room?" Keiko asked you the next morning after you two met in front of the agency doors. You told her about what had happened between you and Hawks the night before, and she was looking at you with her eyes narrowed. "Seriously?"

"What was I supposed to do?!" you whisper-hissed as you stepped inside the building.

"I dunno! Jump his bones?!"

"Shhhh!" you hissed at her, looking around the office before rushing to your desk. "There's no way. Besides, he's not into me."

"I could smack you right now," Keiko said, setting her stuff down. "From what you told me he did last night, he totally does have a thing for you."

You shook your head quickly, trying to ignore how hard your heart was pounding in your chest at the mere thought of Hawks possibly liking you. There was no way. "Nah, absolutely not."

"And why not?" Keiko demanded. "You're hot! Those thick thighs will make any sane man want you." You blushed deeply, looking down at yourself. It was a particularly hot day, so you decided to wear a cute sundress to work. You figured it was work appropriate, but when you are thick, a lot of leg tends to show.

"Sh-shut up," you mumbled, turning away from Keiko to face your work. Yesterday was just all in your head.

Keiko just narrowed her eyes at you, a deep pout on her face as she scoffed. She was going to prove it, one way or another. But the day went on smoothly, with Hawks starting out on patrol before he returned a few hours later, ready to do the more clerical work of his job. He was his usual friendly self with anyone...but you could tell that he purposefully wasn't looking at you. At all.

That had noticeably made you feel down for a while, and all Keiko could do was roll her eyes at the two of you. "I have to do everything around here..."

"Huh? What was that?"

"Nothing, babe."

"Hmm," you hummed, glancing over when Hawks walked by. He was out of his usual uniform, having showered after he returned. You really liked how he looked while dressed up as the hero he was, but his more casual looks were absolutely drool worthy. How he tried to kill you today? A simple get up of a pair of denim jeans, which fit him perfectly, by the way, and a white tshirt. He had on a simple gold chain and cool looking sneakers, and you had to fight not to ogle at him.

"He's so hot..." you mumbled and Keiko snorted.

"Don't I know it, honey..."

Work went on, and Keiko had to make some copies so you walked with her to the copy room as you chatted.

"I just... maybe he feels embarrassed? About what happened yesterday?" you said unsurely, and Keiko slammed her finger on the copy button.

"You are killing me. First you said it was all an imagination, and now you think he's embarrassed?" Keiko questioned you, totally exasperated.

"He won't look at me!"

"Because he likes you, fool! You don't see the way he looks at you when you're not looking."

"What? No he doesn't..."

"Ughh!" Keiko threw her head back and groaned, catching a glance of something in the corner of her eye and she smirked to herself. Bingo. "Do I have to prove it to you?"

You wrinkled your nose at her. "And how will you do that?" you asked, just before you were pressed against the closest wall. Keiko cupped your face, pressing her lips against yours in a kiss. Your eyes went wide, your heart skipping a bit as you stood there stunned, face heating up.

Keiko was a beautiful woman... you wouldn't mind being with someone like her but...

Your eyes closed halfway, your hand gently pressing against her hip, when someone walked into the copy room.

Hawks.

"Whoops! You caught us!" Keiko exclaimed as she quickly pulled away, covering her mouth with her hand as she giggled. You were still frozen as Keiko twirled her hair, while Hawks stood staring at you two with an unreadable expression on his face.

"I'm sorry, sir~" Keiko continued to speak, the pro hero turning almost robotically to face her.

"Keiko, please go and get in touch with News Seven, I'll have to postpone our interview." His voice was icy, not harboring any of the warmth it always had. You didn't like it at all, while Keiko just smiled to herself, a smug look on her face.

"Yes sir!"

Keiko left, leaving you with Hawks. You fidgeted a bit, feeling awkward as you tried to leave. "I-I was just... keeping her company."

"And that's the problem," Hawks retorted and ice ran in your veins. "You're here to work, not socialize."

"R-right..." you whispered, feeling like there was a pressure in your chest that made it hard to breathe. "I'm sorry."

And you scurried off back to your desk, ignoring Keiko completely as you sat down. "I hate you."

"He was totally jealous~," Keiko sang to you and you glared at her.

"He was mad."

"No, babe," Keiko started, just as Hawks stormed by, his fists tightly clenched at his sides. "He's jealous. He wants to be the one pressing you against the wall, kissing you breathless."

"I..." You stammered a bit, not knowing what to say. "I don't like when his voice gets cold like that..."

Keiko wiggled her eyebrows at you. "Maybe you should go warm him up, hehe~"

♡♡♡

You were going to puke. It was the end of shift, and on the days when Hawks ended his shift in the office, you two went over the messages that were left throughout the day. So here you were, clutching onto the slips of papers so hard, they were wrinkling up. But you took a deep breath after a while, knowing that you had to put on your big girl panties and do your job.

You knocked on Hawks' closed office door. "H-hey. It's time to go over the messages..."

"Yeah. Come in."

Hawks sat behind his desk, his gold eyes slowly going over your form until they landed on your face. His lips pulled down in a slight frown, noticing how you stared at the floor, nervously chewing on your bottom lip as you sat across from him.

"There's not much today, sir, so it'll be quick." You set the messages down on the desk, smoothing them out. Hawks raised an eyebrow.

"What the hell did those poor papers do to you?"

You let out a laugh. "Sorry. I was just nervous..."

Nervous? Hawks drew in his eyebrows, looking over you once again. Yeah... you were tense in the chair, fiddling with the papers while looking at anything other than him. Then he thought of what happened earlier at the copy room and he sighed.

He truly had no idea what had come over him. He had walked inside to see you pressed against the wall, Keiko's lips on yours. His vision had turned green then, jealousy burning in his chest as he registered what he saw. That was supposed to be him pressing you against the wall. The jealousy was bitter on his tongue as he spoke to you, voice ice cold.

He hated feeling that way, and he hated how his reaction then made you feel nervous just to be around him. He frowned and sighed again, his wings very slowly flapping up and down.

"Look, don't be nervous, okay?" he said, tapping his desk. "It's fine, water under the bridge. I want you to be comfortable here." With me.

You looked at him, finally, feeling your heart hammer as you took in his expression. He seemed serious, and he held your gaze firmly until you nodded slowly. "Okay... yeah."

He smiled. "Good. Now let's get to these messages." He grabbed the papers and looked them over at first, pausing a bit as he looked at you. "So Keiko... are you two...?"

"What?" You blinked a few times before you finally realized what he meant. "Oh, no! She's just my friend! She was just being a little turd."

Hawks barked out a laugh at that, setting the papers down. "I am glad to see her mischievous nature come back to her after being put through the ringer like she was."

Your eyebrows shot up and you tilted your head questionably. "Do you know about Taichi?"

Hawks nodded. "She told you about him too, huh?"

"Well, I just know that he was abusive..."

"Yeah, he was a real piece of work. She was working with me when she met him, and I thought everything was fine... then Keiko started to get more... reserved and detached. She was jumpy and just... wasn't herself." Hawks sighed deeply, rubbing his eyebrows and you squeezed your hands. "She called me one night. Taichi was losing his absolute mind and he would have killed her if I hadn't swooped in when I did."

Your mouth fell open as you stared at Hawks in awe. "You saved her..."

"Bah," Hawks waved you off. "That's my job. I protect the people who need it."

"Still," you said softly, smiling as you reached over and gently grabbed his hand. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have my best friend. Thank you, Hawks, for protecting her."

You squeezed his hand, and he now stared at you in awe, and you swore, his cheeks had turned a slight dusting of pink. He cleared his throat, awkwardly grabbing the papers. "Anyways... let's do this..."

You giggled softly and nodded your head. It took no time at all to go over the messages, taking care of the responses and what not. Thirty minutes later, you were finishing up, ready to leave.

"So, if you and Keiko aren't together... Why the hell were you two making out in the copy room?" Hawks had to ask and your face went hot. How the hell would you explain this to him?!

"Well you see... we weren't making out..." you started, nervously twirling your thumbs. "She kissed me...."

Hawks raised an eyebrow. "O...kay?"

"She wanted to see if you would get jealous..." You had turned your back to him as you told him, knowing you wouldn't be able to face him. "But seeing as you didn't, and it's all water under the bridge, it's all good. Goodnight, Hawks!" You tried to leave quickly, grabbing the door handle. "I have tomorrow off, so I'll---" You tried to open the door, only to have a hand reach from behind you and slam it shut.

You gasped sharply, turning around to face Hawks. You stared straight at him, his sharp golden eyes freezing you on the spot. You gulped. "H-Hawks...?"

"Make me jealous?" he questioned and you gulped again, nodding.

"Y-yeah! Crazy, right?" you asked, forcing a laugh as you blindly reached for the door behind you again. You didn't realize that Hawks was slowly backing you up until your back hit the door and you gulped for a third time.

"And if I was jealous?" Hawks then asked and your breath hitched in your throat. "Then what?"

"I- I... what?" You replied dumbly, unable to move your eyes away from his. His stare was piercing, as if he could see into your soul, and you were honestly ready to bare it all. "No way. I'm just a stupid girl with a cloning quirk and you're... Hawks."

"Keigo," he said immediately and you looked at him confused. "When you're with me, you call me Keigo." He leaned in and you held your breath as he started to whisper in your ear, his voice having gone deep, and it sent shivers down your spine. "Do you think it's funny to make a man jealous like that?" He asked, ending with your name.

"N-no, of course not," you gasped out a reply. "I had no idea... that you would even feel that way..."

"Like I wanted to tear this whole fucking building down."

You gasped again, your breathing coming out in short pants as your heart raced, your skin tingling as his breath warmed against your ear as he spoke. He pulled back, taking in your flustered state, and his eyes darkened.

You had to say something. "P-Please don't tear the building down..."

Hawks smirked and scoffed lightly. "Duh. I haven't fucked you over my desk yet."

Then he stepped back away from you completely, turning away as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. Your legs felt weak.

"G'night. Enjoy your day off."

♡♡♡

A week has passed, and everything was normal. Work was normal, even the villains causing havoc were normal. It was like nothing had happened, and it was driving you absolutely crazy. You twirled your pen in your hand, aware of Keiko giggling in her desk beside you, because she was so entertained by your misery and suffering.

"I'm going to explode," you muttered and Keiko laughed. "How can he be so... so himself?! Like nothing happened?!"

"You are so cute," Keiko hummed, spinning in her chair. "You already know how the boss is. He doesn't let things get to him so easily."

"Yeah, except me getting kissed by anyone other than him, apparently," you said, rolling your eyes.

"Well, he is a man, right?"

"It's just not fair!" You whined. "He can say that, so casually and just go on like nothing, but a week later it still gets me weak in the knees, especially when I have to go into his office. Like.... ugh!" You let out a loud groan before allowing your head to hit the desk with a thump. You were losing your mind.

"Hmm, his desk looks sturdy too," Keiko commented and you could have cried.

"You're not helping!"

"Oh my God," Keiko laughed again at your misery. "You know what else it is? You totally need to get laid, sweetie. You're so strung out." You just groaned again. "It should be easy! You have someone that totally wants you!"

You blushed deeply at that, quickly shaking your head. "No way!" You exclaimed before leaning closer to whisper. You were at work, after all. "He's my boss."

"Which makes this even hotter," Keiko whispered back. "You want him just as bad. Just go for it."

"I... I can't!" You whispered again, shaking your head. "I'm too shy, I..."

"Ahh, so you want him to make the first move? To ravish you, huh?"

Your face burned even hotter at the word 'ravish', seeing as she was 100% right about that. Picturing Hawks coming in and just taking what he wanted from you... made your brain go haywire.

"I'm going to die."

"Not before you check the mail," Keiko said, just as the usual mail delivery man came waltzing into the lobby. You exchanged polite greetings as he handed you a thick pile of envelopes.

You sighed as you looked through them. Most of the mail was junk, until you came upon a rather fancy looking envelope. You stopped, looking at the return address before you stood up from the desk and went over to Hawks' office. You lifted your hand up to knock, stopping yourself with a curse as you suddenly remembered he was being interviewed. You put your hand down, just as the door opened.

"Oh," the man at the door said to you in surprise. He was the interview's assistant. "We just finished. Come inside."

Awkwardly, you stepped inside, finding Hawks talking with a rather pretty looking reporter. He was in his casual wear again, smiling pleasantly at the interviewer. She had hearts in her eyes.

"Thank you so much for taking time to do the interview, Keigo," she said, and Hawks face twitched ever so slightly at her using his name. "We have to do this again sometime? Maybe over drinks?" She put a hand on his arm casually and you blinked as he just looked at her, still smiling.

Your chest felt tight and suddenly, everything was green. Huh.

"Maybe we should," Hawks said easily, gesturing towards his door. "I don't mean to be rude, but my assistant and I have something to work on now."

"Oh, of course!" she said, batting her eyelashes. "Goodbye, Keigo!"

This time you twitched, watching as the reporter and her assistant walked out the office. You blinked a few times, forcing a smile as you faced Hawks, who just let out a very dramatic sigh as he plopped down on his seat.

"Thank fucking God."

"Was it that bad?" You asked as you sat down, surprisingly having not crumbled up the envelope.

"She's a good journalist and interviewer," Hawks answered, rubbing his eyebrows. "But she pushes the boundaries and it bugs me."

"Oh... like when she said your name?" You asked, your tone of voice taking on a slight edge. "She seems to really like you..."

You fiddled with the envelope, looking away from Hawks. He raises his eyebrow at you, any negative feelings he had towards the reporter now gone as he grew amused by you, and the clearly unhappy look on your face.

"Oh... now this is funny," he hummed and you looked at him confused.

"Huh? What is?"

"You're the one that's jealous this time," he said, now grinning as you blushed deeply, your mouth falling open in shock.

"N-no! I'm not!" you instantly denied, though deep down, you knew the truth that you were. Quickly, you slammed the envelope on the desk. "Th-that's from the Green Cross! That's your invitation to the charity ball."

And with that, you shot up to your feet and made a beeline towards the door. Though before you could read it, you were stopped in you tracks by one of Hawks' red feathers blocking your way. You watched it carefully, your breath shuddering softly as it floated to you and gently touched your face. It tickled.

"Now, now, sit back down. It's not fair that I had to bare all my feelings out that day, but you try to hide your own," Hawks said, his tone having a bit of a demand to it. His feather moved down to your chest, and with the strength of a full grown person, it pushed you back towards the chair you were just sitting on. You sat down immediately.

You huffed, the feather now soft again on your skin, it tickling the side of your neck. You twitched, frowning a bit before you huffed again. "Fine, I was jealous," you admitted, turning your head away.

"See? Was that so hard?" he asked, and he was clearly teasing you. You glared at him, making him laugh as he leaned back in his chair. He didn't even touch the envelope yet.

"Are you not going to open that?"

"I will eventually," he answered, tilting his head with a grin. "But let's talk about you being jealous."

Your face heated up considerably and you stuttered. "And so what if I was? I'm only human, so what if I don't like another woman touching the man I like?"

"Oh?" Hawks eyebrows rose and you cursed when you realized what you said. "I'm glad the feeling is mutual."

Your eyebrows rose this time, heart pounding in your chest. "W-well..." you coughed. "Hawks, I-"

"I told you to call me by my name."

"Keigo... I just... I dunno... you spent the whole week acting like nothing happened so... I dunno, I figured it was done with..."

Hawks sighed softly, standing up from his seat so he could circle his desk, sitting back against his desk beside you. He put his hands in his pockets. "Well, it was the best way for me to control myself, if I'm being honest," he started, looking down at you. You could feel his feather moving down to your chest. "Because if not, well... I may have made what I said a week ago into a reality."

Heat rushed through your body, a deep chill going down your spine and right between your legs. You let out a soft gasp, staring at his desk and thinking of all the possibilities. Your mouth opened and closed slowly, before you responded.

"It's not like I'll stop you..."

Hawks brought a hand up to his face, rubbing along his facial hair before he looked down at you again, his gold eyes piercing you deeper than you've ever thought before. You lost your breath.

"Stay after your shift today."

♡♡♡

You were going to puke. You paced back and forth in front of Hawks' office door, officially clocked out for the day and officially freaking the fuck out. He told you to stay after the shift was done... That could only mean one thing, right? With the tension and heat between you...

You knocked on the door, stepping inside when he answered shortly after. You smiled at him as you took him in, and he returned the smile and just about made your heart explode.

"Hey, what kind of food do you like?" he asked, scrolling through his phone. You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion.

"Uh... Italian?" You answered unsurely. Hawks clicked around on his phone before putting it away.

"Perfect. Let's go," he said, standing up and quickly checking his jean pockets. He picked up a set of keys before walking towards the door.

"Uh, where are we going?" You asked, following him. He looked back at you and winked.

"Dinner, duh."

Your heart swelled in your chest. "Oh... cool."

You left the agency building, heading towards the parking garage next door, where you approached a rather nice looking black car. He unlocked the door, opening the passenger side door before gesturing to you to sit inside.

"Ma'am."

You laughed and playfully pushed him before climbing inside, Hawks sending you a winning smile before he climbed in the driver's seat, not wasting time before he pulled off out of the parking garage and into the streets.

"This restaurant makes really great food," he started after a moment, glancing over at you, raising his eyebrow at you when he caught you staring. "What?"

"I'm just trying to figure out how your wings fit in here," you answered, tilting your head. He laughed.

"I have my ways~"

"Uh huh," you said with a quirked eyebrow, looking out in front of you. Dinner with Hawks... that seemed quite nice, actually.

There was a comfortable silence as he drove, Hawks having turned up the radio. You bumped your head to the music, appreciating the chill vibe. It calmed you down.

Soon you arrived at the restaurant, Hawks quickly jogging around to open the door for you.

"Ma'am." He grinned at you and you snorted.

"Nerd."

The restaurant honestly looked... less impressive than you thought. Even the street we were on wasn't that busy, and looked a bit run down. You looked at Hawks questionably, and he just gestured towards the restaurant with his head, smiling big. "Don't judge a book by its cover."

"Okay, I'll follow you," you said, following Hawks inside. The inside didn't look any better, run down and dingy. Hawks nodded to a tired looking woman sitting at a rundown counter, not even waiting before walking to the back of the small establishment. He approached the large door, turning to put his hand on your back. He opened the door and gently pushed you through the door.

You were in awe of what you saw, your jaw falling open. The restaurant, in fact, wasn't just a small dingy place... it was attached to a rather extravagant restaurant, connected only with one door.

And the most amazing part, the patrons seemed to be only Pro Heroes.

"What is this...?" You asked in awe, Hawks talking with a hostess before she started to lead you through the tables.

"This is just a place for Pro Heroes to come and have some privacy," Hawks answered, looking back at you. "Who wouldn't like to eat a fancy Italian dinner without the paparazzi hovering over us?"

"Oh... that definitely makes sense," you said softly, looking around. The pro heroes were all dressed nicely, but seemed to be at ease as they ate and chatted with the people they've brought with them. "It looks nice."

"And the food is good too. Thank you." Hawks smiled at the hostess after she led you to a table far away from everyone. It was a small booth perfect for two people, and you sat across from each other.

"Well, I can't wait to try it," you said with an excited grin, picking up the menu. "Thank you, Hawks."

"I told you to call me by my name," Hawks said sharply and you blushed, biting your lip.

"Sorry, Keigo..."

Hawks sighed, taking a sip of water. "Don't worry. By the end of the night, my name will be the only thing you'll be able to say."

He even had the nerve to cast you a bright smile, all while your face heated up as you chugged down some water.

"I'll be looking forward to that..."

The rest of dinner went by smoothly, and you talked throughout the entire time. You told him more about yourself, how you ended up in Japan, and he talked more about his hero work. He didn't really talk a lot about himself, only surface level things... but you were sure you two could get to that stage... hopefully soon.

The food was delicious, and the dessert even better. You couldn't even keep in the satisfied moan that left your mouth as you took a bite of the richest chocolate cake you have ever tasted.

"This is so good. What is it with you and good cake?" You asked him playfully and he shrugged.

"I got good taste." He said, watching you happily eat the rest of your slice. A sense of calm washed over him, his eyes trained on your mouth as you licked off some chocolate icing off your lips. He took in a deep breath, calling over the waitress to ask for the check.

"Oh, I can pay for my meal," you suggested and Hawks just scoffed, pulling out his wallet.

"Don't even think about it." He handed the waitress a black card, ignoring the pout on your face.

A few minutes later, you were walking out of the restaurant and you stretched your arms above your head. "That was great, Keigo, thank you." You turned to him and smiled at him gratefully. "I really like it here."

A touch of pink dusted his cheeks and he coughed, his car beeping as he unlocked it. "Yeah, it's no problem. Get inside, we'll head back to my place now." He opened the passenger door and you froze, your mind whirling at 100mph. You weren't dumb, you knew exactly where this was going, especially with the many not so innocent comments he's made. Your skin started to tingle.

Hawks said your name and you looked at him, eyes wide. He stared back at you. "You good?"

"Y-Yeah," you managed to answer, climbing into the car. Hawks closed the door and went around to get into the driver's seat. A minute later, he drove off.

The tension was thick, your palms sweaty as you squeezed them in your lap. You glanced over at Hawks, and he looked very relaxed as he drove, his eyes trained on the road. He glanced at you, his lips curling up just a bit. "Nervous?" he asked.

"No!" You answered a bit too loudly and he chuckled softly, the sound going right to your pussy. You almost groaned.

"You're so damn cute," he hummed, just as he stopped at a red light. He turned his head to face you. "I can either take you back to your car, or go to my place," he said, his gold eyes keeping you rooted to the seat. "Make your pick. And know, once you do, that's it."

You gulped, staring at Hawks with your mouth fallen open. He was undeniably handsome, rugged and just fucking hot. God, you wanted him so badly, it almost hurt. You didn't know why you were hesitating so much, it was clear he wanted the same thing. What were you so scared of?

"I want to go home with you," you found yourself saying, and Hawks' mouth twitched just a bit. The light turned green and he started to drive again.

"Alright," he said cooly, staring ahead. Now the tension was really thick, Hawks' now laser focused. He had one hand on the steering wheel, the other falling to your bare, plush thigh. You had worn another dress to work today... and thank God you did because feeling his touch on your skin was phenomenal.

His hand felt rough, probably from all the work he's done over the years. It also felt strong... You pressed your lips together tightly, trying not to move too much in the seat as he drove.

Then he started to move his thumb back and forth and you could have died. You shivered, goosebumps forming on your skin. You stole a glance at him, and he was smirking to himself. You hated that he seemed so calm, while you were almost bursting at the seams.

You couldn't have gotten to his place fast enough. Hawks lived in a nice apartment building, with an attached parking garage. After parking, he led you to his apartment on the top floor, as cool as a cucumber as he led you from the elevator down the hall. It was maddening how he casually unlocked his door, gesturing for you to step in first before following behind you. You stood in the foyer, looking around as you slipped off your shoes. You heard the door close behind you, followed by the click of a lock.

The hairs stood up on the back of your neck, Hawks' presence behind you making your heart hammer. You could feel his breath on the back of your neck, feel his movement as he gently grabbed your arms, leaning in slightly to whisper in your ear. "Are you okay?"

You gulped and nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay," you answered softly, keeping still as he slowly rubbed your arms up and down.

"You don't have to be nervous," he then said, grabbing your hand. He led you through his apartment, taking you to his bedroom. "I'll take care of you."

You audibly groaned at that, squeezing his hand tightly. "It's not fair," you whined. "You seem so unbothered while I feel like I'm going to burst out of my skin."

Hawks laughed at that, turning around to face you before he grabbed your hips. "Like I told you earlier, I have to control myself around you."

"And what if I don't want you to do that?" You asked him, body tingling as he pulled you close to him. You grabbed the front of his shirt, looking right at him. "I want you to just... let it go. I can handle it. I've been holding onto this heat for so long, it's driving me crazy..."

Hawks' gold eyes were growing darker by the second as you spoke, their gazes settling on your lips. "Yeah? You can handle it?"

"Yeah," you answered breathlessly, your bodies getting closer than ever. Hawks moved his face towards yours, eyes going from your lips to your heated eyes. He hesitated just before your lips could touch, and you were close to throwing a tantrum.

Until he did kiss you, and the world around you seemed to freeze as fire erupted inside of you. Your knees had gone weak, but Hawks easily held you up against him as he kissed you. It was a bit slow at first, hesitant and experimental, as if you two were trying to get a feel for each other. You breathed heavily when you pulled away, panting as you stared at each other, eyes blown and faces flushed.

The tension finally was enough to snap the cord, and the next kiss you shared was hot, feverish and full of the unspoken lust and need that festered between you. Hawks cupped your face in his hands, holding you still as he ravaged your mouth, easily pushing his tongue into it. You groaned deeply, trying to keep up with him, your arms wrapping around his neck.

Pulling away, he started to kiss down your neck, biting and sucking on the skin here and there, making you gasp and moan softly as you began to yank in his shirt. "More... I need more," you gasped, and Hawks grabbed your face, pressing another kiss to your lips.

"Then I'll give you more," he rasped out against your face before he stepped back, carefully removing his shirt so as not to disturb his wings. He tossed his shirt to the floor before grabbing you to kiss you again, this time pushing you towards his large bed. You sat down on the edge of it, looking up at Hawks when he cupped your chin in his hand.

"You're so pretty," he whispered, unashamed as he so openly ogled at you, your chest heaving, your legs bare as your dress had pushed up a bit when you sat down. "I've wanted you for a long fucking time. Having you work for me has been a blessing and a curse. I get to see that pretty face, but couldn't fuck you in the supply room like I've fantasized about."

His thumb had moved to rub on your lip and you grabbed his wrist as you sucked that thumb into your mouth. You licked it softly with your tongue, registering the words he said. They just made you even more turned on. "Well... I think I'm better than a fuck in the supply room," you started, gently kissing the palm of his hand before smiling. "At least be a gentleman and fuck me in the backseat of your car."

Hawks groaned loudly, rubbing his face as you started to rub on his chest, loving his tan skin and muscles. "You are going to kill me," he groaned again. "Lay down in the middle of the bed."

Nodding, you did so, pushing yourself back until you were lying down. It took a second for Hawks to join you, pushing himself between your legs on his knees. You couldn't help but blush as he rubbed on your legs and thighs, your dress now pushed all the way up, he could see your panties. He licked his lips slowly, spreading your legs open until he was able to see just exactly how turned on you were.

"Nooo," you whined, covering your face in embarrassment. "Don't look at me like that..."

"Ahh, come on babe," Hawks said with a laugh, and then you felt something soft wrap around both your wrists. Your wrists were then pinned down on either side of your head. "Don't hide your face from me." Hawks' feathers were pinning your wrists down. You shuddered in delight as you tried to free your wrists, and failed.

"Hawks..." you whispered softly, and he just sighed deeply, rubbing his face with one hand before dragging it down to cover his mouth, so only his narrow eyes were shown.

"I said, to only call me by my fucking name when you're with me." Then he leaned over until his mouth was pressed against your ear. "We'll just have to do something about that, won't we? I did say my name will be the only thing you'll be able to say, didn't I?"

You gulped, heart pounding with anticipation. You slowly licked your lips, breathing a bit heavily as you watched him pull back up on his knees, unbutton his pants before he started on getting your dress off.

Your wrists were free so you helped him, tossing the dress to the floor just as he pressed his face right against your bare chest. "God, your tits are perfect," he mumbled, cupping your breasts in his large hands. He started to leave kisses on your chest while he massaged them, making you moan as he would tease your nipples with his fingers.

Then he would pinch one, making you squeal from the pain, only for him to suck a nipple into his mouth to soothe it. You were a mess, running your fingers through his already messy hair and moaning as he continued to massage and lick your breasts. Soon, he started to slowly kiss down, squeezing your soft stomach as he kissed it, grabbing onto your thighs as he reached your panties.

He hooked his thumbs into your panties, pulling them down, and before you could cover your face again, his voice rang out.

"Hey, what did I say?"

Your hands fell to your side, and the next two words out of his mouth had you ascending into space.

"Good girl."

You whimpered, biting your lip as he finished pulling off your panties, leaving you completely naked. "Keigo, please..." you said softly, clenching the bedsheets. "I need you..."

"I know, babe," he answered, his gold eyes savoring every inch of your exposed body that was laid out so perfect for him. He rubbed at the tent in his pants, groaning at just how uncomfortable he was starting to feel just by how turned on he was. "God, I wanna fuck you so bad."

"Then do it!" You finally snapped. "God, Keigo, all this week I've just been wanting you to fuck my brains out, fold me like a fucking lawn chair and break me into a billion pieces." You were panting now, staring at the man with dark, heated eyes, your lips trembling. "So please, I want your cock before I fucking die."

...

"You know," he started after a beat of silence, getting off of the bed completely and you closed your eyes, almost dreading what he was going to say. You heard rustling and then the pad of his footsteps. "I wanted to take things a bit slow, ya know? It's our first time together. I wanted to eat you out, maybe have you suck my dick, get the juices flowin'."

Then, you felt a strong grip on your ankle and you yelped when you were suddenly pulled down to the edge of the bed. You pushed yourself up on your elbows, and Hawks was standing there, absolutely naked. Only thing he had on was his watch and gold chain. He slowly stroked his cock, and you almost drooled at the sight of it.

"But fuck that. You wanna get fucked? Fine by me, you've no idea how many times I fantasized about you screaming my name as I fucked this tight pussy of yours." He pressed his fingers against your clit, rubbing it in tight circles and making you cry out from the immediate pleasure as you fell on your back.

"We can start the romantic shit later. Right now, I'm claiming this pussy." He leaned over you, still rubbing on your clit while he kissed you hotly. You clung onto him for dear life, just his fingers making your mind go hazy as he slowly slipped two of them inside you. It felt so good, but it wasn't enough. You needed more of him. But he just slowly started to finger you, stretching his fingers, and the part of your brain that wasn't already fucked out was grateful he still wanted to take the time to get you ready for him.

Though it honestly didn't last long, since you pulled away from the kiss, which made him growl at you.

"Stay fucking still."

"Please, just fuck me..." you moaned softly, prepared to beg at this point. "Keigo, please..."

He groaned himself, pulling his fingers out of you. His eyes nearly rolled to the back of his head as he used his tongue to clean you off his fingers. "I definitely have to eat you out next time, my God..." he mumbled to himself, fixing himself between your legs with your ass pretty much hanging off the edge of the bed. "You ready? I'm gonna go right in."

You frantically nodded your head. "Yes, please! Keigo I ne- Oh fuck!" In one quick thrust, Hawks pushed his cock deep inside of you, your gasps coming out simultaneously before you cursed. Tears stung at your eyes from the stretch, your breaths coming out in pants as you adjusted to how full you felt. You loved it.

"So... fucking tight..." Hawks gasped, bracing himself up with his hands on either side of you. He looked down at you, taking in your teary, blissed out face and he leaned down, kissing you deeply. "You feel so fucking good..."

"...please..." you pleaded weakly. "I need you..."

"Shit..." Hawks cursed, slowly pulling back, making you both groan, before he pushed himself back in. He fucked you slowly at first, wanting you to adjust, but as he continued, his thrusts came faster, and had become stronger, your moans getting louder.

Words couldn't explain how amazing you felt, the drag of his heavy cock inside of you sending you to heaven, his breath would fan across your face, his cool chain rubbing on your chest with every thrust he made. Your entire body burned with desire, your hands weakly holding onto Hawks' sides as he continued to fuck you.

"Shit... God, what the fuck..." Hawks cursed and moaned, sweat forming on his forehead. He was in rapture, your tight walls squeezing around him driving him crazy. His hands clenched onto the bed sheets tightly, though his arms almost gave out when your hands slowly moved to a very, very, sensitive place.

His wings.

All you did was caress where his wings came out from his back when he froze, still inside you as his eyes glossed over, his mouth falling open in a strangled gasp. Blinking, you slowly stroked that same spot again, and you felt him twitch inside you, another strangled gasp leaving his mouth. It was when you did it a third time that he snatched both your wrists up with one hand, pinning them above your head as he growled in your face.

"You're going to kill me," he said, using his feathers to keep your wrists pinned down. Now free to use his hands, he grabbed your legs, pushing them up over his shoulders, your feet in the air as he started fucking you again. Hard. "God, your pussy is perfect,"

"Keigo..." you moaned his name, the new position making him fuck you deeper, harder. You were completely at his mercy now, him now spurred by whatever happened when you touched his wings. He was more fierce now, all grunts and growls as he drove his cock into you repeatedly, making you call out his name like a mantra as tears formed in your eyes from the pleasure. "Keigo, please... please, I'm gonna cum..."

You were almost there, the heat in your belly getting stronger. The bed was creaking, skin slapping against skin. Hawks grabbed you roughly by your hair, kissing you sloppily as he fucked into you again and again and again.

"C'mon babe, cum for me," he whispered against your lips, keeping his forehead pressed to yours, maintaining eye contact. You couldn't look away even if you wanted to. "Cum, I wanna feel your pussy squeeze around my dick."

"Keigo..."

"Fucking cum, baby. Scream my name and cum," he reached down with his free hand, roughly rubbing on your clit as he growled. "Fucking cum."

"Keigo!" You screamed out his name one more time before your vision turned white, your orgasm washing over you with a force that knocked the breath outta you. You clung onto him, breaking down into sobs as wave after wave of pleasure hit you from the top of your head down to your toes.

"Keigo... Keigo please..." you cried, Hawks still fucking into you through your orgasm.

"Yes... yes, baby, just like that. I'm gonna cum too..." He was breathless, his thrusts coming in frantic and messy. "Can I cum in you, baby? Fill that pussy up? I want you to milk me, baby, fuck, fuck, you feel so good."

"Yes! Yes please!" You cried, now hit with that strong over sensitivity but you didn't care, you wanted him to keep fucking you, and he did, until he finally hit his orgasm, blowing his load right inside of you as he let out a loud, gutteral moan. It was enough to make you cum a second time, and you swore you went to heaven for a moment.

Soon, you fell into a heap on the bed, and you wrapped your arms around Hawks, accepting his body weight on top of you. There was no better feeling in the world. But you knew you had to let go eventually, so you did and he rolled off of you after carefully pulling out.

"Are you okay?" he asked while lying down next to you, breathing heavily as he covered his eyes with his forearm.

"Hmm," you hummed softly, eyes closed as you regained your breath. "I'm absolutely wonderful..."

You cranked open an eye to look at him. Hawks had a lazy smile on his face, looking very satisfied. You yawned soon after and he just chuckled softly, pushing himself up. "Let's clean up and get to bed."

You nodded slowly, pausing when you felt him kiss your temple. "You should totally call into work tomorrow." From what you remembered, Hawks had off, but you still had to go do some office work.

But Hawks clearly had other plans. He smiled at you, his eyes still full of carnal heat and desire. "Because you're not leaving my bed at all."

-End

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#hawks x reader #hawks smut #mha x reader #mha smut #keigo takami smut #yeehaw #i wrote this in two days lmfao #enjoy it

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