#wow i actually gave you a sincere ending and didn't hit you with a fucking meme *pats myself on the back*

[da-birb-writes-sometimes]

The Song We Are Drawn Towards; Jade Leech

A song rests in the heart, calling out to the one who completes the harmony. Their match pulls at them, as the moon does the tide.

Main Character: Jade Leech

Supporting Roles: Floyd Leech, Mr Leech, Azul Ashengrotto

Content: Soulmate AU (I use the term soul match instead), gender-neutral reader, hurt/comfort, enemies to friends to ???, can be read as familial, platonic, or romantic and that was done on purpose, exploring different parts of Jade so he may seem OOC

Content Warning: self-doubt (Jade), injury & blood (Jade), some swearing, just general tweel things

Word Count: 5K

Author’s Note: Please do not repost my works to other websites or into AI software. I may or may not write parts for other characters; if you want to be tagged for those please let me know. I switch between third and second-person point of view, if that bothers you, sorry. Spell check done by Grammarly. Much like Azul's, this too was written in two or three days.

Azul's Story & Prologue | Floyd's Story

As a young mer, Jade would often listen in to what people had to say about soul matches. He would humour Floyd, and listen to him ramble about what his song and pull was like. For his twin, it felt like someone tugging at his tail playfully, and his song was like that of fireworks and twinkling stars in the night sky. It suited him; playful, full of wonder. And if Jade were to be honest with himself, he would admit that he was jealous of Floyd. That he knew, but didn’t want to admit, since then those jealous feelings would only continue to grow until he snapped out, and he didn’t want that to happen. 

“What about yours, Jade,” Floyd drawled out the question, peeking up from behind the bed. “Ya never share what it feels like for you. I wanna know about the lil siren song stuck in your head!~”

Jade put down the book he was reading and looked at his brother, pursing his lips into a slight frown. “You wouldn’t find it interesting, there isn’t anything to really say about it,” he sighed.

Floyd didn’t like this answer, and tugged at his brother’s tail fin rather harshly, threatening to tear at the caudal fin. “That’s not fair! I told you mine,” he whined. “It’s only fair if you share yours! We could even help each other out and hunt them down together!”

For as much as he enjoyed his company, Floyd could be as persistent about a topic he deemed as interesting as he was flippantly annoying at times. “Well,” he smacked Floyd’s hand away, smoothing over his caudal fin, “if yours is like a starlit sky, then mine would feel like a moonless, and starless one.” Void of any light. Void of any sound. Nothing but a gaping darkness where there should have been light. “Happy?”

“Hmmmm,” Floyd shrugged his shoulders and sank to the floor, busying himself with whatever had caught his eye. “Not really, but you’re being boring. Eh, whatever! When we find ‘em it’ll get twice as interesting.~ OH! Maybe one of them is a surface dweller! I wonder what their reaction would be to us!” He threw the toy he was playing with at his moping brother. “But you don’t need to worry, Jade, I won’t leave the sea!”

Jade sighed. He had only spoken about the lack of any sign that he had a soul match with his father. Not that he didn’t want to tell his mother, but he knew that she would take it harder than his father would. And saying that it was like the darkness of night without any light source was technically accurate, but Floyd didn’t have to know about this quite yet. He would tell him eventually, just… not right now.

. . .

The Leechs’ father could tell when something was off with Jade. He may have been good at hiding it from his brother, and masking from his mother, but the older eel-mer recognized that look well enough.

“Thinking about it again,” he asked, putting down some paperwork that could always wait. “You know, you can always talk to me, Jade.”

The younger eel-mer looked up towards his father, debating whether or not he wanted to reveal everything that has been weighing so heavily on his mind. “Is,” he paused, worrying over his lip with his teeth, “is there something wrong with me?”

Mr Leech got to his son’s level, and put a hand on his shoulder. “Nothing is wrong with you,” his voice was stern, but he knew that what Jade needed was reassurance, a steady anchor in the churning sea lest he be lost in it forever. “Some merfolk don’t have soul matches, and that is perfectly fine and normal.”

Jade opened his mouth and then closed it, eyebrows pinched.

“You have yourself, and you are enough as is. There is nothing wrong with you, even though at times you may feel that there must be.” He looked into his eyes, placing a hand on his cheek. “Also, you are in control of your life, Jade. You will form all kinds of different relationships, and you don’t need a soul match to determine that for you or determine your happiness or success in life.”  

Jade rubbed at his nose and placed his hand over his father’s. “Thank you, dad,” he whispered, as if he was any louder than that, all of those emotions inside would burst.

His dad pulled him in for a gentle hug, “And whenever you have a bad day, just remember that. And that you’ll always have me, your mother, and your brother.”

“I will.”

. . .

. . .

. . .

Jade was busy doing his morning routine. Taming down his hair, fixing up his uniform, and making sure everything was in order; that his courteous and carefully crafted mask was on. Since it was better to keep the less… appealing parts of himself away from the public eye. But the most difficult part of the morning has had yet to pass, waking up and dragging Floyd out of bed. Both of the mers were not morning people, but it was all a part of the experience of living on land and attending one of the best mage schools that Twisted Wonderland had to offer.

He opened up the blinds, letting in the weak sunlight. “Time to get up, Floyd,” he hummed, poking the mass of tangled bedsheets with one of his brother’s shoes that had managed to get on his side of the dorm. 

A golden eye glared out from beneath the sheets before turning back over. “Jus’ five more minutes,” Floyd groaned, pulling the sheets over his head to block out the light and his brother’s smug face. “Too earlyyyyy!”

“Tsk, tsk,” Jade tutted, grabbing the blankets and pulling them off, earning a loud groan and a tired yet irked look from his sleepy twin. “We both know that’s a lie. Now,” he grabbed a wayward lanky leg, yanking him out of bed, “up we get.” When did he get so heavy?

Floyd fell on the ground with an oomph, and shot his twin a venomous look. “Ugh! Fine,” he grumbled, rubbing his backside and making his way to the bathroom to freshen up. “Do ya think there’ll be any interesting guppies?~” He poked his head out, fighting with his uniform since over the break he had a growth spurt. 

Jade quirked a brow, looked over at Floyd and motioned for him to get back in the bathroom and fix his appearance. “The probability is high,” a sharp smirk graced his face, “especially since it means that we should have the chance to… manage those who fail their end of Azul’s little contracts.” He noticed in the reflection of one of his terrariums that his tie was crooked, leaning in, he fixed it. “That should be entertaining enough.”

“Eh heh heh!~ Squirming like a worm on a hook,” Floyd sang. He continued to busy himself with looking at least ‘halfway presentable’ by Azul’s standards, humming his and his soul match’s song under his breath, a dopey smile on his face. 

Jade could feel his mood sour a tad, but reminded himself that he shouldn’t be jealous of Floyd. Besides, he has fared well enough thus far without a soul match. He had his interests, his brother, an Azul to annoy and pester, and an entire world to explore still. New discoveries to be made. Plus, he had recently made a new terrarium and he could see the beginnings of new growth about to burst forth. He was content. Not happy, but content with what things were currently. He gently picked up one of the smaller terrariums, noticing it was looking a bit dry and in need of some extra water. As he was putting it back in its proper spot though, he froze, hand clenching the little glass in a vice grip.

He could hear singing. It was quiet, but it was still singing. And now it felt like the time that a foolish fisherman had gotten one of his lures in his fin, being pulled towards someone. The glass shattered, sending small flecks of blood and glass on his glove and the floor. But he ignored the stinging of his fingers and palm, all he could focus on was the song and the insistent tugging at his heart.

. . .

Jade had made it his personal mission since recovering from the shock of the sudden soul match, to make the singing in their head as loud as possible. To annoy them as much as possible. They had kept him believing for all these years that he was alone, so now they could deal with the consequences of their actions. Was it petty? Extremely, but Jade did it for another reason; if he was loud enough, eventually they would either seek him out to make the internal assault stop, or he would see them wince and he could make their life a personal hell in person. And he knew they were nearby, as the pulling at his soul felt the strongest when he made his way through the halls of the school. He could just follow the tugging, but he didn’t want to chase them down. He wanted them to seek him out.

Something irked him about this whole situation. And it was the fact that even though the singing in his match’s head was intolerable, thanks to him, the song in his head has yet to retaliate, still the pleasant background hum that it was on the first day. He has only heard it go up in volume a handful of times, but never to the volume of his. The tugging during those short outbursts, feeling like he was caught in the strongest gyre of his life, even though he was still on land.  

“Jade, are you paying any attention?” Azul quipped at him, snapping his fingers to bring the plotting eel out of his thoughts.

Jade shook his head, centering his thoughts to the present. “Ah, my apologies, Azul, my mind must have drifted elsewhere. Could you repeat what you just said?” He got caught up thinking about them again, and he bristled. Why should he afford them the luxury of even thinking about him?

Azul sighed and pushed up his glasses. “I said that due to the full moon next week, I won’t be able to look after the Lounge or dorm affairs. And we can’t just go about and hand over these duties to just anyone. So in short, the Lounge will be closed during the day and open all night.”

Ah, so that was what he wanted. “Is that your long winded way of saying that we will all be working midnight shifts,” he looked down at Azul, eyes searing.

“Azul is so meannnn,” Floyd appeared from seemingly nowhere, and tossed his arm onto Jade’s shoulder. “He doesn’t want to even find his cuttlefish! So mean, even to your soul match,” he bemoaned. 

Azul flushed blue at the pet name that Floyd had apparently dubbed his soul match, embarrassed. “I told you not to call them that,” he hissed, quiet enough so that no passerby was able to easily overhear. “Besides, only those who have found there’s or,” he glanced at Jade, “well nevermind the or. Those who still haven’t found their soul match won’t have to work the night. So stop your whining!”

Floyd rolled his eyes and got off of Jade. “Eh, still mean. Maybe finding your cuttlefish will change that?~” He leaned into Jade’s ear, making sure that Azul couldn’t overhear him. “Maybe his soul match will put him in his place.~”

Azul’s eye twitched, “Do you want me to put you on dish duty?” Whatever he was whispering was sure to give him a migraine.

“Do you want to buy new plates,” Floyd’s joking aura turned into something more menacing. He and Azul stared at each other for a few moments before Floyd apparently got bored. “Tch, whatever.” And he was off, as suddenly as he had appeared, slinking into the crowd of students that quickly got out of his way, lest they wanted his sudden mood swing to be directed at them.

Azul pinched the bridge of his nose, “So, technically you will be in charge of the Lounge this week.” Since you don’t have a soul match you have nothing better to do. He didn’t need to say it, but Jade could feel and infer the implication, and his left eye twitched slightly. 

He mentally smoothed himself down, hiding the momentary glimpse of weakness, of the mask slipping off. “Of course,” he voice was clipped, “you can rest assured that the Lounge will be properly kept to your standards.”

Azul gave him a look, but just summed up Jade’s odd behaviour as just a Jade thing. The eel-mer was never the easiest to read, even on the best of days. “Just no funny business, and do not turn the entire menu into mushroom dishes,” he huffed. He didn’t want to hear that revenue had been impacted by Jade’s hyperfixation on fungi.

“Half of the menu,” Jade bargained, sending a mocking polite smile towards Azul. Seeing him send him back a glare, he continued. “Afterall, Azul, you’re leaving me in charge. Part of that position includes overseeing the menu for the week. Besides, it would only be half. That should be a fair enough trade; you get to look for your match, I get a say in the menu.”

Why did the twins insist on giving him a headache at least once a day? “Fine, but only for this week,” he gave in. Jade pulled his weight in both his Lounge and vice-house warden duties, so he would give in to the eel’s demands this once. Besides, he wanted the same as Floyd; to find his soul match this year.

Jade chuckled, “Pleasure doing business with you, Azul. Please do keep me updated with how looking for your… What did Floyd call them? Ah, your cuttlefish, goes.” And he walked off before Azul could give him an earful of whatever it was that he was going to tell him. Perhaps staying at the Lounge should keep him occupied from thinking too much about his match. 

. . .

. . .

Ever since arriving in Twisted Wonderland, a song has played in your head. The first hour wasn’t horrible, just faintly playing in the corners of your mind. Sure it was annoying, but it was tolerable. But the faint humming soon turned into an assault, and you felt like you were standing next to the speaker in a concert. So, needless to say you were willing to do almost anything to make it stop. You’ve had a damn headache for weeks and no amount of this world’s version of Advil, Tylenol, or ibuprofen worked. How you haven’t snapped yet still eludes you, and you wanted answers. Now. 

Ace and Deuce were of little help, just giving you weird (Ace) and concerned (Deuce) looks. So you took it on yourself to get to the bottom of why this infernal song is playing on repeat while on full blast. This, naturally, led you to the library to hunt down some answers. Any students that rounded the corner you were in were quick to walk in the opposite direction, noticing the quickly building mountain of books, and increasingly irritated muttering. 

“AHA!” You shouted, finally finding something that looked halfway promising. A series of hissed hushing came your way but you shrugged it off, happy to finally find some answers.

“Humans may come down with peculiar symptoms should their soul match be of a different clan.” 

Soul match? 

“The most distressing of these symptoms can be found with those whose match belongs to the merfolk clan. As, until they find each other, they will feel like someone is pulling at them when there is in actuality, no one there. Some humans have also complained about the song that plays in their head, as some soul matches will purposely cause their song to be loud, as to remind their soul match that they are still out there. Waiting to meet them. 

A song rests in the heart, calling out to the one who completes the harmony. Their match pulls at them, as the moon does the tide.”

So this song that’s been driving you mad for weeks is due to your soul match? Someone who was picked by the spirit of one of the Seven; someone who makes you happy through a familial, platonic, and/or romantic relationship. Well two can play at that game. They messed with you for weeks, gave you headaches and migraines for weeks. The least you could do was to return the favour in full force. Bring it on, motherfucker.

. . .

Jade woke up, hissing. The faint humming in his head had exploded into loud screaming, but not out of pain or fear. No, it was spite and pettiness. Looks like his soul match finally had enough of the onslaught in their head, or finally figured out that they could control the song in his head. He would have been amused, finally feeling his match break their composure and disturb the harmony, but not in the middle of the night. Not the day before he would be forced back into the water during daylight hours and only being able to come out during the night. 

He glared up at the ceiling, gritting his teeth in annoyance. He really should have seen this coming, after all, he had been doing this to them for weeks, never once letting up on the deafening song. It was no use going back to sleep now, even if he tried. His soul match was too loud and angry to be ignored. Sighing, he pulled himself out of his sheets, spared a look at Floyd to make sure he was asleep, and went to the Octavinelle pools to try and cool off.

Slipping into the water, he shifted into his merform. The song was still loud as ever, but the coolness of the water helped take some of the pain away. He could always apologize through the song in their head, but he wasn’t going to back down from this battle. So he fired back, louder than them. It’s only fair.

The scream of the song halted for a second, and Jade smiled to himself, letting himself sink to the bottom of the pool. But that feeling of victory was short-lived, as the singing returned, this time hitting him like the sonar of a sperm whale, loud enough to make his eardrums rupture. He hissed in pain, letting his singing in their head cease, falling into something not as loud, but still noticeable. And as soon as it had started, the singing in his head changed to match the volume it was for them. What you do to me, I’ll do to you. Is the message he guessed they were sending.

Still in pain, he decided to lessen the volume in his soul match’s head to a pleasant humming, and they soon did the same for him. And so, he sat at the bottom of the pool, looking up into the faint blue filtered light from above, and let his soul sing for him. It conveyed loneliness, jealousy, hurt, confusion. Everything that has plagued his mind, all of the things he kept bottled up, was sung and put out into the open.

The singing in his head changed too, they were also confused, lost, and unsure what any of this meant. Nothing was said, but the emotion carried through. Both of them were like that for a while, humming their emotions and thoughts to each other. This continued until the slivers of sunlight filtered through, and cast their golden beams into the water.

Another set of mismatched eyes peered down from above, noticing that his brother was singing, finally singing for the first time. Floyd memorized the lyrics, and he swam silently to the other side of the pool, letting his brother be, and coming up with a plan.

. . .

. . .

. . .

Someone was knocking insistently at your door. You grumbled, rubbing the sleep out of your eyes. Whoever it was might want to have a good reason to wake you up from the dead of sleep. The song in your head hummed, like it was chuckling at you. You sent a sharp note through their head in return. The knocking persisted, threatening to take the door off its hinges if you didn’t hurry up and open it already.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” you yawned, cracking the door open so you could at least put a face to the intruder before letting them in. “Floyd?”

The person knocking at your door at this ungodly hour was none other than Floyd Leech, looking way too chipper for this time of night. “Heyya, Shrimpy!~” How could he still have all this energy at this hour? “Come on,” he grabbed you by the arm and dragged you behind him without explaining any further in typical Floyd manner.

You dug your heels in, but it didn’t stop him. “Where? It’s night time, I wanna go back to sleep,” you protested, sending him a groggy glare. Either you could walk with him, or he would get tired of pulling you along and throw you over his shoulder.

Floyd decided to actually answer your questions for once. “We’re going to the Lounge, silly Shrimp!~ Silly, silly Shrimpy,” he said, still tugging you along behind him.

“Why? And why couldn’t you let me change into something else,” you pointed down to your sleepwear. “Also, I thought the Lounge wasn’t open this late?”

“Eh, Azul wanted to still ‘make some revenue’ and ‘benefit from matches finding each other and wanting to share some food together’ so the Lounge is open at night this week. Come on, hurry up! I wanna go bug Jadeeee!~” And up you went, there was no use in protesting or fighting him, so you accepted your fate as the eel’s human tote bag.

You sighed, and hummed the little tune of you and your soul match under your breath. The song in your head hummed along, harmonizing the melody. You couldn’t see Floyd’s face, since you were currently getting a great view of the ground passing by, but he wore a large and smug smile on his face as he quickly made his way to the Mostro Lounge.

. . .

The Mostro Lounge was quiet, a few new soul matches occupying some tables and chatting, and the small waitstaff team going around and seeing if they wanted anything from this week’s limited menu; The Moon’s Harmony. Jade stood behind the counter, making sure that everything was going smoothly while Azul was out. And so far it was, although it was the first night, but so far so good. During moments when there were no customers, Jade would test the waters with his match, letting the song go up in volume until they retaliated. He would shake his head and silently chuckle to himself, ears still ringing from the other night from when they had enough with his petty shouting in their head. They had some spunk, he’d give them that. It was quiet tonight in his head too, his match most likely asleep at this hour, so he was surprised to hear the annoyed grumbling in his head.

He decided to get cheeky, since things were pretty boring on his end, and he received a sharp note in return, making him wince. Even when half-awake they could still tell him off. He went into the back and busied himself with cleaning up a few dishes, letting his mind wander about. The pulling at his soul was the strongest this week, and he wanted to follow it, but he still wanted them to find him. For them to make the first move. For them to choose him. Sighing, he put the plate he was working on to soak in the sink.

The line pulling at him went taut. The singing in his head getting louder, but not from his match willing it to. They were close, closer than ever before. He exited the back, and came to stand behind the counter, looking out for any familiar or new faces. Still the same customers as before. Strange, he could have sworn that-

“Jadeeeeee,” a flurry of teal hair burst through the door. “I missed youuuu!~” Floyd sang, but Jade just cocked a brow at his brother’s entrance. “Also,” he tossed you onto a sofa, “I brought Shrimpy with me!”

Jade glanced at you, noticing that you were still in your pyjamas. “Ah, hello, Prefect,” he said in his usual polite and proper way. But his mind was elsewhere, the pulling and singing at the forefront of his mind. “Strange for you to be up at this hour, no?”

You straighten yourself out, and suppress a yawn. “Hi, Jade. Wasn’t really my choice,” you shot a look at Floyd, “I was just dragged along for the ride.” The singing in your head was also getting louder, and you felt like you were being drawn towards a magnet. Where are you?

Floyd’s eyes kept on going between you and Jade, and a frown formed on his face, apparently not happy with the results that he got. “I could’ve been out searching for my match, but Shrimpy is just so much fun when they get mad,” he flung himself across your lap, effectively trapping you there. His eyes shone, and he sent a wink at you. “Say, what’s that song you’ve been humming, huh, Shrimpy?”

“It’s nothing,” you state, knowing that once Floyd found out you had a soul match, a mer no less, that he would make your life a living hell… Well, more so than he already did. And you didn’t want both Floyd and Jade on your case or interfering with you or your match’s lives.

This interested Jade, who was still watching from the counter. The song in his head sounded annoyed, and tired. “Nothing you say,” he stayed where he was, watching your reactions carefully. “Do you know of soul matches, Prefect?”

You kept a neutral expression, “Just some of the basics.” The song in your head was curious, something must have caught their attention.

“But Shrimpy, you have a song in here, don’t cha?~” Floyd pointed to his head, and pointed to your’s. A shit-eating smile took over his face, “You have a soul match!!!~ Shrimpy and a mer, sitting in a tree-”

You pushed Floyd off of your lap unceremoniously, hoping he wouldn’t finish the rest of that lyric. He shot you a look, but rolled his eyes and got up from off the ground. “Well maybe if you leave me alone for a minute I can go find them,” you muttered. “And no,” you spat, “you aren’t invited.”

Jade seemed satisfied with this, and went back to see if anything needed to be looked after. Come find me, he sang in their head.

But what about choosing? You sang back. 

He looked back out, noticing that both you and Floyd were gone. Choosing? That can come later, we haven’t even met yet. Or at least I don’t believe we have.

You were being dragged again by Floyd, this time to the pools. Where can I find you?

Jade sighed, loosening his bowtie. Just follow the song. Follow your soul. Then you will find me.

. . .

. . .

You were floating in the Octavinelle pool, trying to relax. Tring being the main word, as Floyd was hell bent on spending time with you tonight. Not to mention, through the exchange of your song, your soul match has been loud, not to the extent of the first weeks, but still loud enough where they couldn’t be ignored.

Find me.

Floyd splashed you, trying to get your attention, masking the extra ripples from someone else entering the pool, and hiding your form from them. “Shrimpyyyy,” he whined, “come on! Sing your song! I won’t tell anyone! I’ll even sing you mine!” He swam up next to you, “Maybe that will help you find them.”

Find me. “I need to find them on my own, Floyd,” you sigh, knowing it was true. Find me. 

“Eh, you’re boring,” he sighed, and dived down into the depths, disappearing.

You swam over to the side of the pool, feeling like you were being drawn down, your song the loudest it has ever been. Find me. Taking a deep breath, you centred yourself and dived down, following the pull and the song, only coming back up for quick gasps of air.

Meanwhile Jade was stretching out his tail, and humming his song. He felt something tugging at him from above. Looking up he saw a figure breaking the surface. Find me. The pulling was from them. They had actually come looking for him. But he stayed where he was, watching from below.

You took in a few short fast breaths before taking in one last large one before diving down again. Find me. The singing was loud, the pull guiding you to the bottom of the pool. There, you could see a figure. Find me. You feel your lungs start to burn, but you had to reach them. As you continued down you finally saw each other. Two oh-so familiar mismatched eyes glowed from the depths, and Jade’s skin was glowing faintly from his own bioluminescence.

Jade looked back at you, despite being out of your element, and in your pyjamas, he looked at you in wonder. He snapped himself out of his own thoughts though and hauled you up towards the surface, where you promptly gasped for air, and coughed out a bit of water. He waited for you to catch your breath, patting your back gently. Not saying a word, waiting for you to make the first move.

“I found out,” you coughed, looking at him, finally feeling like your soul had found home.

Jade wiped some water from your face, “I’m glad you finally did.”

. . .

Bonus!

Floyd watched from below, “Heh, took them long enough. Welcome to the family, Shrimpy.”

Fin!

Link to Masterlist

[cathrrrine]

RUN | Pietro x Reader

Originally from my Wattpad

CHAPTER 18: SAFE HOUSE

—

A/N: I hope you guys like this one ! I just wanted to add a little bit of fluff after all that angst-fest. Happy reading my loves! :)

———

"Enigma." I mumbled, the strange woozy feeling in my chest expanding as I shifted in my car seat to turn to Pietro.

"What?"

"I figured it out. I'm your enigma. Everyone has one." There was a lightness to my words as I said them and oddly enough, I didn't really mind. "You said you couldn't figure me out, therefore I'm your enigma."

I could see his hands on the wheel tighten just a little bit. The whole car ride, I'd been observing him. I just couldn't get his words out of my head.

You're driving me crazy, Y/N.

My head felt like it was about to explode by the sheer amount of force it took for me to figure out what he really meant. I felt...perplexed. I was wracking my entire brain out by trying to decipher the whole point of our previous conversation. Why did I drive him crazy? Why did he feel the need to tell me that?

Why did I feel like I should trust him?

"My enigma?" He scoffed, throwing a playful, cocky look my way. "You are nothing close to anything I'd call mine."

I rolled my eyes, "You know, it's no wonder you've got a head full of grey hair, you grouch."

"Hey!" He gasped, genuinely shocked at my comment. "I am most definitely not a grouch."

His accent made his reaction much better than I could've imagined. The way he rolled his R's made me laugh a little, so I copied it just for kicks, the letter teetering on the edge of my tongue. "Yep, a grouch would most definitely say that."

I scanned his face for any signs of annoyance, waiting to see if my words left any impression on him. Instead, I saw his expression grow heavier. I'd miss it if I blinked, but I swore I saw a flash of that same expression he wore when he confronted me before in my cell. Seriously, I have got to figure him out, and soon. Before I'm too vulnerable.

"We're here."

I turned around, looking out of the window to see the building I'd been dreading to return to. My heart felt like it had been dipped in acid and encased in lead. Suddenly, I knew why Pietro grew quiet.

Getting out of the facility had been fun, exhilarating almost. Steve had helped me escape just as he promised and left me with Pietro in the garage, handing him the car keys and giving him strict instructions to drive away while remaining incognito.

Pietro had a dazed look on his face then, part-confusion and part-anxiety, but I knew that we had one thing in similar; roguery in our veins. Pietro is a little troublemaker, I had mused as I eyed his way-too-giddy movements. He had no trouble following his Captain's orders, he was eager almost.

I told Steve that we could hide in an old safe house of mine, a tiny studio located somewhere in a sketchy town that was close to the facility so it was reachable by car, but far enough so that it wouldn't be a problem if any of his teammates were to come looking. At least we'd have enough time to escape if they did.

The last time I'd been here had been 2 years ago. Back when I thought I was still running from The Winter Soldier. Everything the Captain had revealed to me made me want to throw up. How else were you supposed to feel when someone told you that you'd been running and hiding for years, from a ghost? I felt like I'd been on an unprompted wild goose chase, except that instead of chasing the 'goose', I'd been chased by it. What a joke.

"You alright?"

Pietro raised an eyebrow, nothing but that disgusting kindness in his eyes. I wanted to strangle him right then and there. Was he offering me pity?

I threw him a half-hearted scowl, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I'm just asking. This can't be easy for you, no?"

His words hit me like a truck, and the realisation that he wasn't offering me pity, but simply just inquiring, soon came after. It was an odd question to be asked. I'd rarely been offered that luxury, of someone caring enough to ask if you were alright or not. It felt weird to be on the receiving end of that kind of sincerity, something I thought only existed out of my own realm. Yet here I was, trying to figure out the answer to his question.

I shook my head in an effort clear my thoughts, sort of like an etch-a-sketch. "I've been through worse."

We entered the building quietly, ignoring the looks thrown our way from a few bystanders. It was a rather rundown building, just as I had remembered it to be. I'd never made company with any of the people who live here, because how could I have? What kind of shit assassin would do that?

"They must not be used to new faces, huh?" Pietro tried—and failed—to ignore the man eyeing us from our right, clearly uncomfortable with the unwanted staring.

"I'd assume not. It's a pretty small town."

Pietro cleared his throat, "I see."

He looked a little uneasy, shifting from foot to foot. I followed his line of gaze and oh my god, the man was still staring.

"What the fuck are you looking at?" I snarled. He scurried away immediately, eyes averting from us either in shock or in fear. Though it was most likely the latter, considering the way he kept looking back with wild eyes to see if we would chase him down.

I turned back to my speedster companion, and sure enough, he looked much better than he did before. "It's fine, he's just a creep."

He nodded, "I was never fond of creeps."

We climbed up the flight of stairs that lead to the studio apartment, silent the whole way up with Pietro taking in his surroundings and with me being a bit preoccupied with the thoughts swimming in my head. Memories from my past kicked in violently, and I tried to swallow them down.

"Is this it?" He said as I stopped in front of a tattered door with the number 42 on top of it, pointing to it with his right hand.

"Yep." I walked closer to the door, reaching up to the number 4 and trying to detach it from the wall. Apparently though, it was too high for me, sitting just at the tip of my fingers. Either someone had moved it higher, or I'd grown shorter since

Heels. I'd worn my goddamn heels when I last set this thing up. I'd have slapped myself by now if my hands weren't occupied.

Annoyed, I groaned and stood on the tip of my toes. Just a bit more.

"Here."

My breath caught in my throat as I felt his voice reverberating through his chest which was now level to my head. Pietro came up behind me with his taller stature, his height enabling him to reach for the 4 in less than a second, his hand brushing against mine in the process. I blinked, hard, trying to steady myself and grab hold of my thoughts. I felt my face grow hot, warmth spreading through my skin like fire.

I tried not to make it obvious, how much his skin contact had bothered me. I felt stupid for making such a big deal out of it, and even more so that it was caused by him. What the hell? My throat felt tight, so I cleared it with a cough and put on a neutral expression seamlessly.

He backed away as soon as he grabbed hold of the number, twirling it around his fingers with a playful, lopsided smile. Holy shit, I want to rip it off his face. Just punch the living shit out of him.

"Hmm, maybe you're not that useless after all." I scoffed.

He grinned, "Well, if the grouch hadn't been here, it would've taken you all day to reach for this thing."

"Huh, so you admit you are a grouch."

"I didn't—Whatever you say, gnome."

"Wow, look at you." I snickered. "Practicing sarcasm are we? Pray, do tell, was I your inspiration?"

He shook his head in defeat, then he flipped the 4 over, eyebrows meeting in the middle. "What is this anyway? Some sort of secret hidden in here?"

Classic topic changer.

"Yes," I snatched the sign from him. "A very important secret actually."

I turned the thing around and pressed hard on the back of the long vertical line with my nails, breaking the plastic cover. It gave in with a little bit of pressure, and I dug my fingers in to pull out the slender, metal object that I had hidden 2 years ago.

"Ah. The key." Pietro looked impressed.

"Smart, isn't it? It's an old trick that I stole from a woman in Amsterdam."

He moved closer, and I felt myself flinching a little, afraid my body would have the same reaction that it did just a few seconds ago. Luckily, he didn't notice how distressed I was.

"Why bother though, if you weren't going to keep the key with you? Why not just kick down the door or climb in through a window or something?"

There he goes again, with his perpetual rambling.

"We're 4 floors up idiot, climbing in through the window is too risky, people might see and I might fall and die, which is not very ideal, in case you haven't figured that out yet." I inserted the key into the lock and twisted it, hearing the clack of the latch and bolts as they moved.

"Plus, I just did it for fun. I never even knew if I'd come back here or if this building would even still be intact by the time that I did."

He didn't take up the trouble to reply, or even if he did, I didn't hear him. The moment the door opened and I stepped foot inside the room, I was immersed in the haze of my past. A version of my life that was drastically different to the one I had now.

My emotions were all over the place.

A cloud of dust covered the room from years of vacancy, our shoes creating imprints onto the floor. I was surprised no one had broken in for the whole 2 years. Somewhere in the back of my head though, the memory of me threatening the landlord popped up.

"If I come back and I find out that my house got fucked up, I won't hesitate to drive this knife through your chest."

It's a wonder how far a knife and few sharp words could get you.

"Looks like it needs a bit of vacuuming, just a bit. But that's just my opinion."

I fumbled around for something hard and chucked it at Pietro's head with full force, earning an 'Ow!' immediately after.

"What was that for?"

"I've been meaning to throw something at you for a while now." I shrugged, then continued to explore my previous home even further.

It was exactly as I left it, minus the accumulated bits of dirt and the herd of dust bunnies. I walked to the small kitchen space, opening the cabinets and finding the slightly dented kettle and the 2 mugs I had kept there, untouched. Then I fished around the drawer beneath it and eventually found the box of—hopefully unexpired—tea packets and some Sweet'N Low's.

My fingers clasped around the faucet knob and turned, waiting for a good minute for running water. "Come on, come on..."

After some violent sputtering and grumbling from the sink, out came the water flow. Yes! I cheered mentally.

Then I turned to the silver-haired grouch, gesturing to the tea packets I held between my fingers. "Care for some tea?"

He shrugged, "Only if you won't poison me."

taglist: @ifilwtmfc

[karasunology]

❝ PLEASE JUST KISS ME ALREADY. ❞ with SAKUSA KIYOOMI !

✎ . . . “please just kiss me already” with sakusa 🥺🥺 hcs or scenario is up to u!!

❝ ― submitted by @akaashit-baeji <33 ❞

-ˏˋ ➶ character(s) ━ sakusa kiyoomi <3

-ˏˋ ✉️ REQUESTS ARE ALWAYS OPEN.

⇣ please read the RULES before requesting.

✎ . . . PROMPT LIST YOU COULD REQUEST FROM. PROMPT LIST O1 | PROMPT LIST O2 | PROMPT LIST O3

[ ♡ ] i love the ending but in the middle i was kinda a bit of in a lost, so hope y'all don't mind that part tehee🙈✨ i have rewritten it SO MANY TIMES AHH. i just gave up so please enjoy this huhu

SAKUSA KIYOOMI.

➜ atsumu was a good guy, but right now all you wanted to do was strangle him tehee <3

➜ okay well, this was also probably, KIND OF, your fault for agreeing on this but curiousity got the best of you and now you're plotting on how the fuck do you ACTUALLY get yourself to ignore your boyfriend, sakusa for a day.

➜ sitting beside him, your head leaning against the headboard while you plan on how to ignore your boyfriend AS IF HE WASN'T RIGHT NEXT TO YOU REWATCHING THEIR MATCH HIS HAND BRUSHING AGAINST YOURS

➜ and so here you are now, trying to avoid your boyfriend early in the morning, slipping away from his grasp on your waist, rushing out of the door before sakusa realizes your absence

➜ you came to practice earlier than usual, though THAT wasn't the part why some were looking at you in curiousity buzzing their minds

➜ it was because your mans wasnt with you

➜ like bruh mind your own bussiness damn😤😪👊

➜ but then i remembered im also like that 👁👄👁

➜ sakusa came in earlier too but he was all by himself with an irritated look, he hated mornings, especially ones that he doesn't wake up to you by his side.

➜ his usual routine has incorporated you into it, there wasn't a day that you didn't exist in his schedule.

➜ he discreetly watched you play a two vs. two with bokuto, hinata & adriah, watching you laugh as you setted to hinata ─ the ball bouncing to the wall with his spike, rolling over to sakusa.

➜ you were about to get the ball until you saw who it rolled up to ─ your eyes widening as your froze when he maintained eye contact with you.

➜ you were like : pANIK

➜ until hinata being the innocent babie he is, didn't notice the growing weird tension between you and your boyfriend, taking the ball from the ground

➜ before flashing his CUTE ASS SMILE AT KIYOOMI WHILE APOLOGIZING THAT HIS SPIKE WAS TOO STRONG

➜ UH SIRR??

➜ timeskip hinata. periodt.

➜ the power he has tho

➜ n e ways, that's where kiyoomi lowkey started freaking out

➜ and by lowkey, i mean his BURNING EYES never leaving you

➜ like you could F E E L his eyes on you

➜ like 👁👁

➜ THE MILEY CIRUS PICTURE WITH BLUE EYES LMAO BYE

➜ he was also kinda scared ngl

➜ did he hurt you?

➜ did he do something that could hurt you?

➜ did you not love him anymore?

➜ sir how tf did u come into that conclusion i

➜ while sūgo in the back be like : oh wow, tea.

➜ # sūgo is a chismosa 2k20

➜ AND WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE DOING FINE, homeboy hits you up with a text

➜ the last straw was when you LOOKED at the notification pop up at your lockscreen but decided to ignore it

➜ like HIS MESSAGE, igNORED, by YOU, which did i mention was ONLY A FEW FEET AWAY FROM HIM??

➜ and you know what he did? HE DIDN'T TRY AND REACH OUT TO YOU FOR THE REST OF THE DAY

➜ knowing by the end of the day he'll have his way with you🙈✨

➜ LMAO WE LOVE A PETTY BITCH😈😘💆💅

➜ no but really, you were scared that you probably took it too far and made him upset with you

➜ and atsumu pretending he was jena marshall while YOU freak out for the whole day

➜ acting as if he wasn't a main contributer to this chaos

➜ the day ended and you were now forced to go back home WITH sakusa

➜ you were nervous

➜ bruh who wouldn't??

➜ this is sakusa kiyoomi we are talking about

➜ we don't know what's going on behind that mask of his

➜ and it has been driving you INSANE while you two sat in silence on the way home

➜ #prayfory/n2k20

➜ unbeknownst to him also in the brink of going insane because HOW. THE. FUCK. DOES. HE. CONFRONT. YOU. LATER.

➜ WIKI HOW IS THE GO Y'ALL😼😩🙈😻

➜ and the SECOND you two stepped inside your house PHEWWW

“ why have you been ignoring me? ” his voice muffled by his mask, cornering you into the wall as your back was against it, your eyes averted somewhere else while you're just the embodiment of 👉👈😔

➜ don't be suspicious, no don't be suspicious.

➜ realizing that you still weren't talking to him, he moves away from your face, backing away, a lowkey heartbroken expression evident in his face as he dragged his mask down.

“ i'm sorry. ” he apologizes, his eyes looking at the ground

➜ you were caught off guard by his apology since it seemed so sincere and GOD DID YOU FEEL LIKE A HORRIBLE PERSON

➜ the guilt luv, THE GUILT

➜ you said fuck it to the challenge, while you tugged on his jacket while he looks back at you with a snap

“ i'm sorry, ” you started off, making his jerk an eyebrow at you. “ i never meant it to go this far. ”

“ what do you mean 'this far ' ? ”

➜ after you told him that it was a prank 💆✨😻🔫 he didn't know how to react

➜ sakusa.exe has stopped

➜ basically that microsoft shut down audio right then and there

➜ like DID YOU JUST IGNORE HIM BECAUSE OF A CHALLENGE??

➜ he was irritated to say the least, he didn't get ANY sort of conversation and contact with you the whole day and FOR THIS?

➜ sakusa : you did this,,, FOR WHAT ?

➜ but his emotions didn't cloud his judgement just yet, the fatigue from practice and just everything that happened today was getting to him.

➜ he stays silent to collect his thoughts and wow did it frighten you.

“ okay, i know you're mad at me ─ and i won't force you to forgive me, because wow i would have hated myself too ─ no, that's not the point uh, i just wanna say sorry, god i'm a mess ─ ”

➜ sakusa wanted you to shut up.

➜ and he did, his hand covering your mouth while you looked at him with surprised

“ can you please just kiss me already? ” again, caught off guard by the one and only sakusa kiyoomi.

➜ and not gonna lie, he also caught HIMSELF off guard.

➜ this sakusa was desperate, this side of him that no one but you could see. the vulnerable and weak sakusa that put his pride away to ask for your touch.

➜ kiyoomi doesn't like skin contact, but with you, he wouldn't mind it.

➜ of course you obeyed his request, you already feel guilty enough for depriving him of your affections for almost a day.

➜ the kiss was passionate and longing in a way, it was a long and drawn out one that left the your legs jelly as it was only sakusa holding onto you that gave you support to stand up ─ needy and greedy, the pent up flustration and yearn for you was too much that he had to pour it all in not just one kiss.

➜ oh no, the night was still young.

“ don't you know how worried i was? ” his hot breath and pants fanning your face, an uncharacteristic flush across his face.

➜ challenge : failed.

➜ but hey, atleast you had a long night ahead of you.

➜ and sakusa made sure your attention was only at him.

[starkerparkerpony]

You're so very precious my little darling Pt.1

This was supposed to be my first attempt at writing smut but my prudish tendencies are incapable of doing it without proper build up.

Relevant info- aged up starker, peter is 28, tony is 46. This is mostly just light flirting and some coarse language. 1st of 3 parts. This is Tony and Peter's first meeting, Thanos has already been dealt with, Tony doesn't know that Peter is Spiderman... yet.

Do tell if you would like to be tagged in future updates.

Tony first met the smug little prick who ran 'park.er' at TechCrunch. He had these ridiculous brown curls that looked entirely way too soft, obnoxiously brown eyes that were way too big and a devastatingly disarming smile... with dimples. It was all too much and Tony didn't care for the way everyone seemed to be swooning at him at all.

They were on the same panel, discussing their respective new smartphones which were being lauded as "innovative & groundbreaking". Tony had questions about whether this inexperienced newbie's product was at the same level as his, but he actually respected the work the kid had managed to get done in the varied fields of genetics, textiles and adhesives (of all things) so he kept his silence.

"Starkfone is technically the first time that Stark tech is being retailed directly to the general public and there has been some criticism about the prices, or rather how high they are, what do you have to say for yourself Tony?" the moderator guy asked.

"Well, what has to be kept in mind is that unlike some other smartphone brands, we are manufacturing within these great United States of America because if I'm going to conquer the market then I'll bring the jobs too" Tony winked at the audience as they applauded "So yeah, prices are a bit higher but no one can deny that you get more bang for your buck. Especially when the Stark name is involved."

Tony had actually fought tooth and nail to get the prices lowered and they would be in the future, but yeah, besides the intelli-crops this was the first time that the general public was the customers rather than the government or other companies, they still had some stuff to figure out but Tony gave the audience his signature smirk and they cheered for him anyway.

Parker just looked on in amusement.

"Peter you're manufacturing the Gizmo in the US too right? Yet your product is 30% cheaper... How'd you pull that off?" The moderator asked the kid.

"Ah... after having spent like ten minutes in Mr. Stark's company, I'm coming to the realization that maybe my low pricing is a result of my low self esteem." The boy chuckled, the crowd laughed with him. Tony played along and shrugged.

"No but seriously... I have absolutely no problem being the Android to Mr. Stark's Apple" The kid grinned cheekily at the crowd and the audience ate it up. He definitely knew what he was doing.

And Tony hadn't missed the fact that the kid compared his tech to Apple.

"Are you calling my tech a vanity product kid?" Tony challenged, playful smile firmly in place.

The crowd went "Ooooohhhh" anyway.

"Oh no, I'm sure it's a great phone Mr. Stark! I just have no way of knowing for certain, you know... cuz' even I can't afford it" The kid shrugged smugly as he got another huge laugh from the audience.

******************************************************

Tony rarely had a quiet moment at events like this but he had managed to get away to an empty corner for a breather and was distracted by his phone when he felt a hand gently rest at the small of his back.

The Parker kid came around to stand in front of him, he was almost a head taller than Tony now that he was close up. The boy had moved his hand but Tony could still feel the tingles from the initial touch.

Trouble.

"Mr. Stark I hope I didn't offend you earlier... I was very nervous, this is my first time here and my friend Michelle told me that compared to you, I have the 'personality of a wet sock'. So, I guess I was just trying to make a good first impression" the kid caught himself from babbling more and it pissed Tony off, how sincere he sounded.

What also pissed Tony off was the fact that the boy wasn't just taller than Tony but also very muscular too, a twunk if there ever was one.

He was definitely only pissed at him and not attracted to him at all.

"Don't worry about it Parker I can take it... you did good today, great first impression, consider me blown away" Tony assured him with a friendly smile "And please call me Tony."

"Only if you call me Peter."

"You got it Pete." He said, trying to irritate the boy a little but didn't get much other than a little eye twitch.

"Was I interrupting something?" Peter asked

"Nope, I was just replying to some texts."

"Well, if you're free, I'd love to pick your brains about this AI project I've been working on and maybe buy you dinner?" Those eyes and dimples were in full effect, sincerety shining through... so Tony had a hard time saying no to the kid.

He definitely didn't just wanna spend time with an attractive, intelligent man... Tony was being generous and helping out the not-so-little guy.

By the end of the of the evening, filled with charming and intelligent conversation, he had to concede that the Parker kid wasn't all that bad.

******************************************************

The second time Tony met Peter Parker was almost three months later and he was at a low point.

Bruce and Rhodey were away at work, Happy was with Pepper and Pepper was... married.

And even though things were better after the Thanos episode, they weren't all that good.

And Tony was spiralling... rather publicly.

It's just that it had been a while since he his last encounter with alcohol and so the open bar at the Mayor's gala hit him like a truck. All while being surrounded by cameras and reporters.

Tony was about to respond to the asshole who kept asking him about Steve when he felt a hand rest at the small of his back and deftly start to guide him away from the bar and the cameras.

"Long time no see little darling" Peter Parker was looking down on him with those eyes and that face... God he's obnoxiously good looking.

Speaking of obnoxious "Did you just call me little darling?" asked Tony, justifiably indignant.

"Wow you really are drunk" Parker chuckled.

God has his voice always been this deep and husky...?

"That's not what I asked" Tony insisted

"Did you want me to call you little darling?" asked Peter, eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Ugh- Where are you taking me by the way?" He's definitely still just as irritating as last time.

"Home"

Huh... hooking up with a business rival was not what Tony had planned for the evening but it was better than being miserable and alone, which was in fact the plan, so he went along with it.

Parker stopped by a Burger King drive through on the way which only made him all the more attractive to him.

They were awkward in the elevator of the Stark Tower and the boy still hadn't made a move which was a little weird.

What wasn't weird was Parkers arm casually draped around his waist.

Once they were in his quarters living room area and Peter seemed like he was starting to leave, it became evident to Tony that the kid had literally just meant dropping him home.

He was a little disappointed but he wasn't gonna say anything... until Parker opened his smart mouth.

"Well, I'll see you around little darling" He snickered

And Tony had intended to just give him a light shove, but the back of Parker's knee hit the couch and Tony stumbled too and somehow they ended up with Peter on the couch and Tony in his lap, straddling him.

"Gotta' say... when I imagined Iron Man making a move on me, I expected something a little more advanced than the 'stumble straddle'" the kid was playing it cool but Tony could see his blush.

So he responded with "You imagined me making a move on you?"

"Oh repeatedly... it has been my favorite fantasy since I was like 15" The kid had the gall to wink at him.

"Well sorry for letting you down kid... now are you gonna fuck me or not?" There was a corner of Tony's mind that was worried that he was coming off too desperate but Parker was hot and Tony was drunk and horny so he couldn't care less about appearances.

"Your ability to call me a kid and then ask me to fuck you in the same sentence would be worrying if I wasn't almost thirty... speaking of fucking you, that was my initial plan but you're drunk and I don't wanna take advantage of my little darling..." Peter was letting him down but he had a very fond smile on his face... it made Tony all warm inside. The pet name was growing on him too... uh oh.

What was also contributing to his warmth were Peter's, rather large, hands. Resting on his waist and thigh.

"Maybe I want you to take advantage of me..."

"Oh there's no 'maybe' about it... you have a semi just by sitting on my lap, this is as embarrassing for you as it is flattering for me..."

God he was a smug little prick, Tony loved it.

~To be continued~

[the--ass--in-assassin]

Oh wow, Blitz couldn't believe that had actually worked

He was rather relieved though....

"Yeah, no, I think that's a great decision, she doesn't need to know that shit, just... I'm really, really proud of you for deciding to tell her, Stolas, I think you'll see in the end that this is the right choice,"

He punctuated that by gently kissing Stolas's hand, wanting to show him just how sincere he was

The rest though.... the rest just made him ache, made his stomach churn and his face wrinkle with disdain

"Classic victim blaming.... I'm not surprised, but.... I'm really sad to hear that baby, but I hope you know that regardless of what your sick, twisted, family thinks or says or does.... you've never deserved to be hurt, and you don't deserve to be blamed for being hurt either, you deserve to be happy, and to be loved, and to be with someone who can take care of you... and.. and I will take care of you Stolas, I promise,"

He was committed to that now, he wasn't going to let anything else happen to Stolas, he was going to do everything in his power to protect him and take care of him, no matter what

...But the thought of Stolas trying to protect him- especially from Loona-.... he didn't understand that, his stomach was tightening and he felt himself starting to crumple, curling in on himself like a ball python, trying to make himself smaller as the shame and self-loathing began to pulse faster within him

"....You're wrong...." he wispered

"I do deserve it... I... I've deserved everything that's happened to me since I left the circus.... except you, I... I don't.... deserve you..."

His throat felt tight, he felt sick, dammit... why did he have to feel so fucking honest about everything right now...?

"I'm not a good father to her.... and I wasn't a good brother, or lover, or son-..."

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck make it STOP-

He shook his head quickly, punching his claws into his palms hard enough to draw blood, hard enough to keep the tears away, make some of the emotional pain disappear

"So what if she gets a little angry sometimes and takes it out on me? I fucking deserve it, I deserve fucking worse.... and she's not.... abusive... like your ex-wife is.... she's just a teenager, doing what teenagers do.... that's all... the least I can do for her is take it,"

He was almost glad for Stolas's revelation, it gave him the opportunity to shove all of his worst feelings in a box and burry them, his depression quickly turning to justified anger as he uncurled himself and sat up, gently pushing away from Stolas as he started moving to the other side of the bed so he could get up

"Where's my gun?" he asked immediately, turning off his feelings and going back into the hardened killer he usually was

The hardened killer he so much preferred to be

"First, I'm gonna kill that motherfucking snake in the grass Striker, and then, I'm gonna kill your goddamn fucking bitch of a wife, I may not be able to shoot her dead, but you can't tell me that she'd live through having her head cut off of her scrawny goddamn neck, angelic weapon or no,"

He felt comfortable in anger, it was his default state, and protecting Stolas? He felt great doing that

Pausing a moment, he turned and leaned back over, cupping Stolas's face and giving him a quick kiss on the head

"I am not going to let anybody hurt you, got that? I fucking won't,"

He had thought maybe after the first failed try, Striker would have given up, or the hit would have been called off, but..... if Stella was behind it, then he felt sure that that wasn't the case, and that meant Stolas was in danger

And Blitz. Didn't. Like That.

Blitz was quiet for a few moments, letting that sink in, actually taking the time to consider how he should respond for once instead of just saying the first dry thing that came to mind

Change was good, after all, he needed to change...

"..I know we have really different situations," he prefaced

"But can I just... offer you a peice of advice, from one dad to another? You might wanna consider telling Octavia the truth, I get that you've been hiding this for over a decade, and for good fucking reason where your kid is concerned, but... it might be a good idea to atleast consider being honest with her- I mean I'm not sayin' you have to just blurt out everything all at once here or anything like that, or be explicit about everything, but maybe you should start laying out a few nuggets of information here and there, ya' know what I mean? Like... probably don't admit to the abuse right away, but maybe mention something like.... 'your mom and I have had problems for a long time' and gradually build up to admitting that your marriage was arranged, the gorier details don't have to come up... ya' know, ever, but the main idea isn't to dump truth bombs on her like explosions, it's just that..... look, kids are real smart, I know you know that, and even if you do everything right and keep it from her all the time yourself, there's no guarantee somebody else won't spill the beans later down the line, somebody like one of your relatives, you know? Or even your bitch of a fucking ex, if she gets mad enough, what's to stop her from saying something like 'I never would have married your father if I hadn't been forced to'? I mean, you definitely can't rely on people who are 'rich and powerfull' for pretty much anything.... no offense, I don't mean you, and not to mention exes..."

Yeah, Blitz had plenty of experience with volatile exes, Fizz and Verosika had never been abusive but they'd both go out of their way to tell everyone they meet what a pile of shit Blitz had been to them, especially Verosika and her fucking "max my credit cards and run three rings to wrath" story....

He imagined an abuser would be even more brutally "honest"

"It just.... might be best for both of you to consider it, 'cause if she learns it from somebody else she's going to be fucking heartbroken and furious and resent you and shit, I don't want that to happen to you, it'll atleast be better and easier coming straight from you yourself, but... that's all I'm gonna say about it, ok? Promise, I know it's your business and not mine, I just... I feel like if I didn't atleast try to tell you, I'd regret it, and I'm done with regretting shit, ya' know?"

Blitz couldn't believe this was happening though, that Stolas was so... accepting of him, so eager to keep him around for good, so welcoming, he really wanted to keep Blitz and all the nightmares he brought along with him.....

At this point, even if he secretly did want nothing but sex, Blitz would be ok with that, he could always lie to himself about it if things got too hollow, but he didn't think he'd have to, even if he was reduced to nothing more than a sex doll, atleast Stolas thought of him as a valuable sex doll and not just a plaything he could exchange at any time, that was a big enough step up for Blitz to be atleast somewhat satisfied with his lot in life

He wasn't letting himself think about that though, all he was really letting himself think about was that Stolas wanted him- wanted something so much more than just a monthly shag with him- and he was welcome there in Stolas's home- apparently more than welcome at that

"Oh don't worry about that, Loona would never hurt Octavia, and she really doesn't hurt me either," Blitz promised quickly, nodding affirmatively to himself

"But I can see where you'd be worried about her like, breaking your dishes and shit, so I'll definitely talk to her about that,"

Loona could probably use a freind or two herself, yeah she had that one hellhound that worked with Verosika, but she didn't have any female freinds, and Blitz didn't like her hanging around that guy anyway, he seemed like bad news, anyone who hung out with Verosika must be...

"Oh they've already tried to do that," Blitz shrugged

"That fucking dickass Striker who tried to kill you at the Harvest Festival was flirting with me and trying to seduce me into being his partner, but don't worry baby, I turned him down, him and his stupid fucking accent,"

Pausing, Blitz glanced down breifly, not wanting to meet Stolas's eyes for what he had to say next

"You.... might wanna steer clear of my exes.... Fizzarolli and Verosika Mayday specifically.... they're both manipulative fucking peices of shit so ya' know... um.... ya' never know what they'll try to do to turn us against eachother..."

To tell Stolas what Blitz was really like....

It was kind of nice, though, to have this weird.... co-protective relationship going on, that they'd have eachother's backs, as Stolas had said, yeah Blitz had sort of been acting that way for months now and... if he thought about it, so had Stolas..... so....

Maybe it wasn't as weird as he thought....

It was different though, the last relationship he'd had that was so committed was Fizz, and that hadn't lasted, that had blown up, that....

He didn't want to think about Fizz

"Yeah, it's... weird, right? I mean, you'd never think the two of us as having anything in common but.... I guess... we're kinda alike... alot more than I used to think, atleast,"

He used to think he and Stolas were so fucking different, that they could never be anything alike, never see eachother's point of veiw, that they were just too different to ever have a real relationship, but... the more he learned about Stolas, the more he realized how untrue that was, Stolas clung for the same reasons that Blitz did- not because he wanted control or ownership over a toy, or to humiliate Blitz in front of others by making it obvious that he was owned by Stolas, but because he was lonely and afraid of losing what little companionship he had

...Just like Blitz

It... kind of made Blitz feel bad for rebuking him so often, it made him want to be more honest with him about things- hm, full of changes indeed...

"....I stalk my employees," he said quietly, looking down in shame, he wasn't going to confess to that being the reason he'd gone to Ozzie's, he knew Stolas still thought it had been a date and he didn't want to take that away from him, that was one secret he'd gladly take to his fucking grave

But that didn't mean he shouldn't be atleast somewhat honest

"I don't have anybody else in my life besides you and Loona, so I guess I formed an 'unhealthy attachment' or some shit, I try to force myself into their lives so I can feel like I have actual relationships with people and that I can pretend to have a healthy romantic relationship... so uh... anyway, my point in telling you that humiliating little secret is that... you're not pathetic, Stolas, I am, so don't... don't feel that way about yourself.... I wanna spend as much time with you as I can, so back at'tcha, the only thing really standing in the way of that is work, but hey, it's just a day job, not like I spend all my time there or anything," he shrugged

Ofcourse I.M.P. meant much more to him than "just" a day job, but he still usually worked regular afternoon hours there, he didn't go overtime that often

The next words, though, had Blitz staring at Stolas in surprise, before breaking out into a laugh, unable to help himself

"Sorry, sorry, I just uh.... really? Tone it down in public because of standards? This coming from the man who spent the Harvest Festival flirting with me? And at Loo Loo Land? And even at Ozzie's you were totally willing to hold my hand and shit..."

Yeah, Asmodeus had called him out and made Stolas clam up, but that was humiliating, he didn't think that was a status thing so much as a natural cue of embarrassment thing

"I'm not laughing at you baby, I'm just uh... confused... when we're having an affair you can call me sexy over a microphone in front of an entire community, but if we're committed to eachother we have to clam up?"

It didn't make sense, but Blitz didn't want Stolas to think he was making fun of him or angry, so he reached up and gently stroked his fingers through Stolas's hair, scratching at his scalp affectionately

"How long do you think my recovery is gonna take?" he asked in confusion, head tilting a little

"I mean you make it sound like I'll be out of commission for weeks or something, but I should have my shooting arm back in like, a day or two, would've been less if I could still take some good pain killers,"

He fell a little quieter at Stolas's thoughts on him integrating into the family though, not because he was against making some changes, but.... he didn't think Stolas was thinking about any of this realistically, and that concerned him

"Stolas.... you don't really think that's gonna work, do you?" he asked quietly

"I mean don't get me wrong, I want it to, I want to be with you, in... ya' know... a committed sorta way? But... your family is never gonna accept me, or be ok with me being anywhere near you, I'm honestly shocked it's even legal for you to have a relationship with me in the first place, but.... Stolas, I could be perfect- the perfect idea of what they would want in a partner for you, a member of their family, and it wouldn't make any difference, they'd still think of me as nothing more than just a peice of trash, and I'm fine with that- seriously- I've lived with it my entire life, I stopped caring what those fuckers thought a long time ago, but... I just don't want you to get your hopes up thinking that you can teach me table manners and how to wear a tie and suddenly they'll begrudgingly be ok with me being with you,"

Sighing quietly, he gently stroked his thumb along the edge of Stolas's jaw, giving him a light kiss

"I'm not gonna let something stupid like your fucked up family keep me away from you, ok? And if I change.... it's only gonna be so I can be better for you,"

Stolas deserved that, if he was so determined to be with Blitz, then Blitz was going to make sure he was the best version of himself he could be