#you thought I was done after the last Oneshot post?? wrong | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jesterwriting · 11 months

Note

(for that timeloop post,, uhm this relates to the whole body horror thing ((not too much just a brief mention)) so if rn u don't wanna see that SCROLL AWAY!!! OR DELETE ME!! OK disclaimer ends here)

oh man but what if Law did say room anyway and there were impossible scars on your insides... like littered everywhere, they're not fresh but old, almost phantoms that make no sense, because if they were real you would've died. how would he react to that? maybe not when he noticed them crying but after weeks or months, dunno, where they keep skipping his more thorough check-ups (where he uses his devil fruit) since they're anxious about the pains? and think that somehow there are signs of their previous deaths and the mention of them makes it hurt more and more and they just can't do it. but they can't bring themselves to say it because who could possibly believe them? if Law doesn't, it would just feel even worse, won't it? even if they understand his point of view. maybe they even die in front of him and it gets harder to just hold all of that in,,, oh boy. if you think about continuing your oneshot i'll eat it like a starving animal!

pairing: law x gn!reader

contents: slight body horror, slight gore, timeloops, suicide done to restart the loop, hurt/comfort, happy ending,

word count: 1.6k words

note: OHHHHH I LOVED THIS IDEA OH MY GOD. absolutely so smart. anon your mind is huge and i had so much fun doing this request. <33 i really hope you enjoy :33

playlist: caribou - tanya tagaq

a sister fic to this

This had never happened before. You had experienced hundreds of loops, maybe even thousands, and this was the first time Law saw fit to scan you with his Devil Fruit.

Maybe you were getting sloppy. You had a strong immune system so you never got sick, and the first time Law scanned you for your general checkup upon joining the crew, there was nothing of note. You wondered what changed, as if you hadn’t died more times since you joined his crew than you had in your entire life. Maybe it was because the more you suffered, the more reckless you became, throwing yourself into the fray with little regard for yourself. You could take a bullet for your crewmates, so you would. It was as simple as that.

There was a first time for everything, you supposed. A first death, a first breath, a first kill; there were uncountable firsts that one could experience, and you had experienced most of them.

Not this one, though.

You had tried to avoid it for as long as possible. Your captain was a man who carried burdens, ones almost as heavy as the ones on your shoulders. If he knew how many times he failed you — or how many times you failed him — you knew he would take all the blame for himself. As if you hadn’t been the one lying, and fighting, and dying over the course of countless lifetimes.

Law blinked a few times before his brows furrowed and his eyes narrowed. You fidgeted under his stare. If his reaction was anything to go by, he found something horribly wrong with you. While you had experienced slow deaths before, you had never experienced what it felt like to waste away from disease. Maybe you’d find out this loop, you thought, trying to feel nonchalant about the idea and not like you were about to throw up.

“Um. What’s wrong,” You tried.

Law shushed you, the blue glow from his room still surrounding you. You bit your tongue, fingers playing with the hem of your shirt to try and take your mind off of whatever he could have found.

“This can’t be right,” He muttered, one hand cradling his chin. He pointed to your chest. “There’s a scar inside of you, it looks like a puncture wound through your lungs. When did that happen?”

Three loops ago when you fell off a building and onto some rebar. That was a particularly awful death. The last thing you remembered before everything went black was Law’s panicked expression as he tried to put you back together again. There was terror in his eyes. You tried not to think about that part.

“And here,” Law continued, pointing to your abdomen. “There’s a scar running across the length of your stomach. It almost looks as if you were previously disemboweled.”

You had been. Multiple times. It was a common and very disturbing loop ender that you tried to avoid if you could. Watching your organs fall out of you in a steaming heap was never something you liked to experience, but for some reason, your opponents kept aiming for the gut. You wished they’d aim for the heart or the head more often. At least then it’d be quick.

He didn’t stop there, jaw falling open when he stared directly where your heart was. “When were you stabbed, Y/N-ya, this looks recent.” Law blinked a few times before realization dawned on his features. His eyes shot to your face, expression going from open to unreadable in seconds. “How did you survive without my intervention?”

Your mouth was dry. How were you supposed to respond? There was no way you could tell him that you had died on his watch more times than you could count. Law didn’t deserve that. Your captain was a good man, one you loved admired far too much to allow this to weigh him down. He would take your failures to heart, completely discounting the amount of times that he had saved you from having to start anew.

You must have been quiet for too long because Law was speaking again. “Answer me.”

“It’s from a long time ago,” You said.

That was a lie. It was from the previous loop. A quick death by your own hand over the cold corpse of your captain. If Law didn’t survive, there was no point in continuing, and if there was one thing you had grown accustomed to, it was taking your own life after one loss too many. You knew how to make it quick, no suffering. So with a precise hand, you drove your knife into your chest and let the timeline begin anew.

When you saw Law again, whole and alive, you vomited. You were under the impression that he believed that you simply ate some bad seafood, but from the concern that was slowly etching its way onto his features, you weren’t so sure of that now.

“Don’t lie to me.” Law’s eyes flashed, barely contained frustration needling at the corners of him. “None of this makes any sense, half of these injuries should have killed you. The other half would have needed to be treated.”

The truth sat on the tip of your tongue. You felt selfish and needlessly cruel for your desire to tell Law what was really happening. Your eyes burned, and their glassy sheen didn’t go unnoticed. Law handed you a tissue, expression softening.

“I- um.” You hated how your voice cracked. It had been a long time since you told someone about your Devil Fruit. You always died, and they always forgot. For a long time, you thought it was better that way, carrying this weight on your own. The way Law looked at you, though, it made you want to pour your soul out to him. Every pain, every loss, every death lain at his feet, and for once, you could stand unburdened. “It’d be wrong of me to tell you.”

Law’s eyebrows knit together. “Now you’re being stupid.”

“No, I’m not. You’ll regret asking once you know. Don’t pretend like you don’t carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, you don’t deserve my troubles on top of that. It’s better for both of us if you just forget what you saw.”

With that, you stood and made to brush past Law and out of the room. He grabbed you by the shoulder, not allowing you to go any farther. Though his grip was firm, it didn’t hurt. If you really wanted to, you could wrench yourself away from him.

“You’re trembling.”

Your lower lip wobbled, your resolve ebbing away by the second. “It’s complicated.”

“So tell me.” Law’s lips twitched upwards ever so slightly. “Doctor’s orders.”

You let out a small huff. He didn’t deserve this, but there would always be another loop. This current one hadn’t been going so well, and by your estimation, it would take at least three more before you managed to reach your next checkpoint. It wouldn’t hurt to tell Law what he inevitably wouldn’t remember. You steadied yourself with a deep breath and turned to face him, his eyes met yours with a mix of concern and exasperation.

“It’s my Devil Fruit,” You started. Law leaned back on his heels and crossed his arms, attention solely on you. Your heart thundered in your chest. “I’ve died so many times.” Without your permission, your breath hitched. Law’s hand encircled your own with a small squeeze, encouraging you to continue. “It, um, brings me back, I guess. I’ll die, and then wake up in the bunkhouse days earlier, and I’ll be the only one who remembers what happened. All those scars you saw were what killed me in a previous loop.”

He was silent while he chewed on his words.

“How many times have you died since you joined my crew,” Law finally asked.

Your hand was still in his and you gave it a squeeze. “That’s not fair. I know what you’re doing and I won’t let you do it.”

Law’s shoulders slumped as he brought his free hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. “I believe you. It explains a lot. I noticed you cry in your sleep sometimes.”

“You watch me sleep?” The tips of Law’s ears were tinged pink while you laughed.

“I was worried so I checked on you.” With a sigh, he began to lead you out of the clinic to his office. “Come on, you’re telling me everything you can remember. We’re going to come up with a plan.”

Humoring him, you followed close on his heels. It didn’t matter how long or how hard you planned, there was no accounting for the unpredictability of the universe. This comfort wouldn’t last long. Soon, you would be dead again and the cycle would start anew. That didn’t mean you couldn’t enjoy sharing a space with your captain, listening to him meticulously craft tactics to keep you, and everyone else, alive.

It wasn’t until four days later you found yourself breathing, though covered head to toe in blood, with the rest of the crew. Everyone was safe and sound, and Law wouldn’t stop looking at you with a smirk on his face. When you found yourself next to him, he bumped his shoulder against yours.

“I told you my plan would work.”

Just like that, for the first time in your life, you were no longer alone.

#one piece x reader #trafalgar law x reader #trafalgar law x yn #trafalgar law x you #.jesterwrites #rezero fans you know whats up

168 notes · View notes

milkytheholy1 · 1 month

Text

TMNT Masterlist

2003:

Leo:

Third base - Leo x Female Reader

Hey everyone, I currently have two requests left to do but I really want to get some stories that I personally came up with as well. I really want to try writing for different versions of the turts besides 2012 and Rise even if they are my fav versions. Sorry if the character interactions are a bit iffy in this one, I haven't seen much of the 2003 series I'm only up to season 2.

Donnie:

Drawn to you - Donnie x GN Reader

No, the tech-savvy turtle was drawn to you by your persistence, by the way you poured yourself into your work, how you understood the need to complete something no matter how long it took.

Mikey:

Turtle titan to the rescue! - Mikey x Female Reader

Okay so far warning, I haven’t really watched past season 3 of the 2003 series, I have been working my way through it though. So some characters might not sound or act like how they should from the show and I might end up getting some stuff wrong, so sorry in advance. This story will flip between 1st and 3rd person narrative.

2012:

All Turtles:

Turtle Power part 1

What if you included even more turtles in the hit tmnt movie, TMNT:Turtles Forever? This isn't an X Reader fic and takes places in the 2012 universe...well, for the start at least.

Leo:

Dear diary - Leo x GN Reader

Leo practicing how to ask them out with many many scripts for acting in front of a mirror:") or maybe they find out about his diary! You can pick

A confident strut - Leo x GN Reader

Went with the first one since it's been some time since I wrote for my 2012 boy! This is going to be set before the whole sister reveal, but I wanna make it clear that I do not ship Karai and Leo together cause that shit is gross. Enjoy!

I heard you - Leo x Female Reader

The reader,who has a crush on Leo, waits by Leo's side for him to wake up in the farm house and she is so relieved when he wakes up after months

Not traditional - Leo x Male Reader

The reader is giving Leo a whole sexuality crisis so Leo asks April if it's weird for a guy to like another guy and April reassures him that it's perfectly normal, and later that week Leo accidentally slips that he likes (y/n) and in a flash the have this little moment of understanding that they both like each other and want to be more than friends.

Goodbye Leonardo part 1 - Leo x Female Reader

I know what you're thinking, two stories in one night? This is somewhat based on the season four episode: Broken Foot. Also sorry it's so long but I had to fill in some blanks to get to the build-up of the story and sorry for the rushed ending it's currently past midnight where I'm from and I'm very tired.

Goodbye Leonardo part 2 - Leo x Female Reader

Okay, okay, you'll get your stinking part 2. This is probably one of the most requested fics I've ever done, the original intention was to leave it as a standalone fic. But, because you all seem eager for more I eventually broke and decided to do it. This is set a few years after the original and doesn't follow the episode 'Broken Foot' like the original oneshot. In my opinion, it's also waaay more angsty and it might actually be sadder than the first one. So I hope the wait was worth it, enjoy!

Donnie:

Wrong about me - Donnie x Female Reader

Donnie gets cheated on by April and (y/n) finds out and hurts April's feelings then comforts Donnie?

Hot - Donnie x Female Reader

Donnie was talking about some science stuff the last 20 minutes, but reader can't fully pay attention to what he's saying because they're just thinking about his voice, his gestures and everything. They think "don't you realize how hot you are?", but Donnie stops talking and reader realizes they just said that out loud and now they want to die.

Happy birthday - Donnie x GN Reader

it’s the reader’s birthday and the turtles just find out and they have to quickly set up a surprise birthday for the reader.

Well done science boy - Donnie x GN Reader

Had this idea in my head for a few days so thought I'd post it, I wanted to make it a shorter story than what I normally do but I got too lost in it and it ended up being just as long, oops. Hope you enjoy!

Hello nurse - Donnie x Female Reader

Literally did this so I could pull off one reference, that's all. Enjoy!

Raph:

Hots for you - Raph x Female Reader

Raph finds out that his girlfriend is bisexual?

Heard you from a mile away - Raph x GN Reader

not going to lie I had to search up what it meant, decided to do Raph since i've never written for him before in the 2012 version. So if this comes across as out of character, apologies. Anyway, enjoy!

2014/2016: Leo:

Red lips - Leo x Female Reader

“Don’t give me that face, it’s so cute I might not be able to hold back.”

Donnie:

Five years - Donnie x Female Reader

Donnie creates a portal that transports them to 2021.

Five years alt ending - Donnie x Female Reader

It’s weird how many people have asked me for them to have kids, but I guess if that’s what you guys want to see then here is a short version 2, if you will, of five years. Be sure to read the original or it won’t really make much sense, this is just the ending. Enjoy!

Life is a dream part 1 - Donnie x GN Reader

You felt the small vibrations of your phone in your pocket, pulling it out you saw Donnie was once again calling you crap, "H-hey Donnie, I promise I'm on Allen Street. I'm like less than a minute away." you panted into the device. You could hear his sigh through the speaker, "Don't worry about it, I'm just wasting valuable pop tart time." he joked, your laughter was his reward.

Part 2 - Donnie x GN Reader

Speaking of the brothers, Mikey was sat playing some video games while leaning over to slurp his coke, you could hear panting and the sounds of something being destroyed coming from the dojo Raph. Finally taking lighter steps into the lair, you could smell a sweet fragrance waft through the air Leo.

Part 3 - Donnie x GN Reader

"Do you remember that video where the cat plays chopsticks with the chopsticks?" Mikey asked, pushing aside Donnie and getting closer to your face. You flinched at his close proximity, your mind still trying to adjust to your bright surroundings. "Can we focus here?" Leo argued, pulling Mikey away from you, he securely wrapped his arm around his younger brother in case he felt the need to jump at you again.

Final part - Donnie x GN Reader

"What?" he asked, "Can I ask you something?" You pondered why you were willing to tell Raph some of your deep, dark thoughts and not someone like Donatello "It's a free country," he quipped going back to his knitting. "Right," you said, glancing down to avoid making eye contact "It's just that...do you think- feel like something is off?"

Mikey:

Parading in style - Mikey x Male Reader

So I don’t know much about pride parades in NYC but I can only imagine they’re triple the ones from where I’m from, I’m also not going to give you a description of Mikey’s human form as that can be up to you. I’ve learned from experience that everyone has a different view of these characters and it’s unfair to the reader to force them to take my view of what he could look like, so yeah he looks like whatever you want him to. Hope you enjoy!

Raph:

A cold night in new - Raph x Female Reader

Reader's apartment building's heat went out during a really chilly spring day, so when raph comes over he's all like "why tf does she have the thermostat on 5 degrees", but then he finds her cuddled up with tons of blankets on the couch, watching tv. after turning down the volume, reader explains the situation with the heat while shivering and clutching the blankets. raph has a brilliant plan for this.

Begging - Raph x Female Reader

Bayverse Raph and his S.O get into a huge fight and he hurts her feelings and Raph found her on the rooftop crying and he asks for forgiveness

Seeing you - Raph x Female Reader

The reader feels invisible and lonely, so she confides in Raph and telling him how her current boyfriend is using and abusing her. Then later on Raph confesses his feelings for the reader but her abusive boyfriend catches the reader and raph together.

I promise - Raph x Female Reader

The reader has scars from her mother and she shows Raph while crying about them and Raph listens and comforts her.tumblr

#tmnt masterlist #tmnt 2012 #tmnt 2003 #tmnt 2014 #tmnt 2016

26 notes · View notes

moriartyluver · 2 years

Note

Hey<3 may I request Liam from mtp when his noblewoman wife gets badly injured when they’re on one of their missions?<3

A/N: thank you for your request! For everyone who has sent in requests but haven’t seen them get answered, please know that I’m currently in like the busiest year of my highschool career so even trying to post one request a week is hard for me but you can still send in requests! Just remember it may take a while to get a response. I’m trying to finish the ones that were shorter or sent in earlier but I still have a few requests from like Christmas so yeah, it’ll take some time.

Characters: William James Moriarty x fem!reader

Prompt: How would William react to his noble! Wife getting injured on a mission?

Format: Oneshot

Genre: angst to fluff

Warnings: descriptions of violence and injury, reader is female, reader is William’s wife, established relationship, mentions of death, descriptions of blood &bleeding but it’s all worth it for the end because it gets quite cute.

And with one final swing of your dual swords, which you slid back into the scabbards that were clasped around your thighs, the last enemies were dead.

Although William feared you getting hurt and would much rather you stay at home, he was well persuaded by you to let you come with him on various missions. To you, they were quite fun. You admired William’s planning and he respected your skill too. This particular mission involved a lot of deaths and was a lot less subtle than usual.

“It seems that those were the last of them, darling,” you told your husband who has wiping his face of blood and then turned to look at you with a smile.

“Well done, Angel,” William kissed your forehead as he pulled your hood over your head. “I suppose we should be leaving now, hm?”

You nodded and held his hand in yours as you both fled the scene. You failed to notice the gash on your thigh that had been created by a knife that one of the men charged at William with but you had kept in to protect him last second. You thought that you had disarmed him before he could even get to either of you, but alas, you were wrong.

As you began approaching the allocated point for you to be picked up in a carriage by Fred, you noticed that you were beginning to feel faint, and it was quite obvious to William too.

“(Name), are you alright?” He queried looking you up and down to see if there was anything wrong.

“I think I’m feeling a bit faint,” your speech had become slightly slurred as you felt your peripheral vision darken. “I’ll just need a glass of water when we get back. I’m sure I’ll be fine, my dear.”

William wasn’t convinced. This hadn’t been the first time you had lied about your health for his sake. You hated people being overly worried for you because you never felt as though you were worth worrying for and merely a distraction.

“Have you checked yourself for any injuries?” You could occasionally be quite reckless so after every mission, this would be routine. You shook your head hesitantly while your husband narrowed his eyes. He had you sit down on a nearby tree stump and patted you down to check for any possible cuts and wounds, until eventually he found something a lot worse than he had hoped.

Right on your left thigh was a deep wound with a length of at least 10-15 centimetres and blood was leaving it at a fast rate. The skin around it had gotten pale due to blood loss and upon looking closely at your face, he could tell you were trying to stay awake. Could you have just been ignoring this?

“(Name),” he called out to you but you were starting to fade out of consciousness “(name)! Please stay awake! Just listen to the sound of my voice and repeat back if you can.” He said loud enough to grab your attention.

He took his tie off from around his neck and tied it around your thigh, the pressure slowed down the rate of blood loss. William held you in his arms and began walking towards the carriage which had just turned up and tried to remain calm.

Once he had opened the door, he place you in gently and explained the situation to Fred, who noticed he was beginning to lose his calm composure. As the carriage drove to the manor, William cradled your head in his arms and eventually noticed your eyes were fully shut and you had finally passed out. He couldn’t help but panic. No tears. No sobs.

He was just stunned. He couldn’t lose you. If anything, he was to leave this world before you and let you live a long and happy life without him. He could let you die for his sake, while you were protecting him. How useless could he get…? He was unable to protect you and here you lay, limp in his arms and dying of blood loss.

He ran a hand through your matted locs. There was dried blood in your hair but he couldn’t help but find you beautiful all the same. Too beautiful for him. You were beyond him in every way, and now he had ruined it all by being weak and unable to protect himself.

Thankfully, there isn’t usually much traffic late at night and in the middle of nowhere, so it didn’t take too long for you to get home and treated by William who had the help of Louis aswell, seeing as he was frightened he might not be able to see you wake up. The house was dead silent the entire morning after that. Nobody knew what to do without your presence to fill the room and william shut the door to your room and stayed by your side, just in case you woke up frightened, and needed comfort.

A few hours of pacing around his room in silence later, william had came to your bedside, on the verge of tears for the umpteenth time, only to see that your heartbeat had steadied and you were now shuffling around in your shared bed. You were alive and well.

The tears had slowly began to roll down his cheeks as he watched you stir and eventually stretch awake. Your eyelashes fluttered open and you turned to see william at you side, watching you in awe. You were somewhat confused. Last time you checked, you didn’t sleep together the night before and you knew this because you both still had your clothes on, so why was he looking at you as if your were the most beautiful being he had ever laid his eyes on.

You sat up in bed and let your tired legs dangle over the bed. You winced in pain as you felt a stinging in your thigh and it all came back to you. You didn’t remember much before you passed out apart from having William wrap your thigh in his tie and maybe a bit before.

Neither of you said a word until you finally spoke up a minute later and placed your hand on the head of the man who was currently kneeling down before you.

“Are you alright?” You whispered. With your other hand, you wiped away a tear escaping his eye with your thumb and then placed a kiss to the top of his head.

“I think I should be the one asking you that,” he leaned into your touch “if you’re fine, then so am I.”

“Well then I think I’m doing wonderfully, despite the pain in my leg and slight drowsiness.” You smiled softly “that means you must be feeling something similar.”

“That’s good to hear,” he rose up to meet your eyes with his own, then gave you a peck on the lips. Your smile widened and you thought ‘well why not take advantage of this opportunity?’

“You wouldn’t mind staying by my side, would you?” You asked him, holding him by the wrist “ how much sleep did you get last night anyways?”

“I didn’t,” he avoided your gaze out of guilt. How could you be thinking of him when you were the one who nearly died last night? “I’ll take you up on that offer. Just let me notify the others of your status.”

You pouted “I don’t want them to worry for me but I’d much rather be with you, even for a few minutes,” he couldn’t deny you such a simple thing. The others would find out later anyways. He kissed you again and agreed to your requests, climbing into bed beside you and letting you lay your head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat while he wrapped his legs around your waist, wanting to be closer to you.

“I’m sorry for worrying you,” you whispered into his chest “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“If it were for you, I’d let myself cry so much, even the worlds largest oceans couldn’t contain my tears.”

#moriarty the patriot #william james moriarty #william moriarty #william moriarty x reader #yuukoku no moriarty x reader #yuukoku no moriarty #yuumori x reader #moriarty the patriot x reader #mtp william

236 notes · View notes

pomegranate-pen · 1 year

Note

hi there :D!

Ok so... this is my first time requesting in Tumblr and i Saw The announcememt You gave so My mind told me 'why not?' and thougt about a request

(it's about lackadaisy btw)

So this one is about general dating hc's(or oneshot, watever You feel comfortable doing) with Rocky and freckles

The Reader can be female (if You want ofc)

Thanks you for reading My simple request (⁠•⁠ ⁠▽⁠ ⁠•⁠;⁠)

(sorry if there was something wrong)

A/N: heya!!! so here's the Freckle headcanons I mentioned in the last post!!! I decided to also make this with gn!reader, so I hope you don't mind that anon!!! there are also a few people who've requested a cute date with Freckle, so I'll try to do that someday as well! anyway, here ya go everyone!! hope you all enjoy!! BY THE WAY!! I had to take these headcanons out of the bullet format unfortunately, due to tumblr not letting me post it unless that was done, so I hope you guys don't mind that!

Freckle McMurray x gn! reader general dating headcanons!

-If anyone wants to date Freckle Mcmurray, they’d have to be the one to confess and show feelings first. Because Freckle isn’t the most comfortable expressing his feelings or opinions to others, which is often because he’s known as the ‘good kid’ amongst the public and he works with some dangerous people in his true job at the Lackadaisy.

-Though, just like Rocky, how you’ve met him could cause different scenarios, which, unlike his cousin, make you see two completely different sides of him that are not as connected as his cousin's is.

-Met Freckle at the little daisy café? Well, for the longest time, you’ll only see his ‘good kid’ side, the one who stays out of trouble and is keen on keeping quiet, the cat who mumbles most times around you when you ask questions about his life and hides behind a notebook when he’s shy. Though, in time, when conversations do finally get exchanged and he doesn’t hide behind a few pieces of paper anymore to speak to you, you do learn much more about him, just not the part where he’s a talented shooter who enjoys the thrill of shootouts and gets obsessed with it sometimes. or the part where he’s a bootlegger in a close to failing speakeasy and not actually just an errand boy for Mitzi May.

-The reveal of the truth, even the faintest thought of it, shakes Freckle to his core. He never wants you to see it, afraid that it would tarnish the strong friendship you two have and have you become freaked out or afraid of him. So when the truth does slip out, which is most likely during a chase, he’s more stressed out than usual and his tongue has seemed to become twisted, for he doesn’t speak nor say a single word to your or the crew and focuses on the fight instead.

-If you don’t approach him yourself after it, he’d avoid you for weeks and run away when you were in the room, feeling immense guilt for what he’s done and thinking that you must’ve despised him by now. Rocky or Ivy must be the ones who coax him out of the kitchen and convince him to at least, exchange a few pleasantries with you in the day.

-You’d have to choose your words a bit carefully, and try your best to reassure him that you don’t hate him, but do feel a bit offended that he hasn’t told you the truth. He’d apologize profusely, and the normal conversations would be started over again, but now, with a bit more comfortable Freckle than before, since the cat’s out of the bag, he doesn’t feel the need to be cautious around you when speaking about his life.

-Though yes, you are the one who gets feelings first, he’s the one who falls harder. It takes him a few more months, but when it does kick he’s suddenly reverted a bit back to his past behavior- avoiding you at all costs, yet still saying a ‘hello’ and ‘how are you’ at least before running off.

-This, is the best moment to strike and confess. Though Freckle is not known to be expressive when it comes to showing much joy in the day, nor known for being much of a romantic, the smile and blush he has on when you confess is enough proof that he’s head over heels for you as well.

-There’s not much of a difference from friendship to a relationship with him. you still talk about the same things, though if asked, Freckle would talk about a few extra interests and topics he has such as baseball trivia or a few memories of his childhood with Rocky and his mother.

-Although a few memories are spoken about, not much detail is said on what exactly has happened, or how exactly it all has ended, and unfortunately, no matter how curious or concerned you are, Freckle will not speak about it much more than that.

-His love language is mainly spending time with you, and being comfortable enough to speak to you. He only has conversations with people he considers his friends or cares about, so as his lover, you tend to have the most conversations with him, especially when you’re both alone. The love language he likes to receive most would be the same thing. He values all the moments he can spend with you, so when you go out of your way to make time for him it means a lot, and he feels a bit flustered and guilty about it.

-“you didn’t have to make time for me, I know you were busy with that project this whole week.”

-“it's fine,” you shrugged. “and it’s not a bother at all anyway. I like spending time with you.”

-A beat red Freckle is what you’ll be seeing the whole day after that.

-Freckle isn't the best at romance, so usually, if he does want to use another love language such as gift-giving or words of affirmation, etc, he’s a bit awkward and shy about it. he tends to feel out of his element and a bit stressed when doing so. A few compliments and words of comfort from you are much appreciated.

-You will most likely never meet Nina Mcmurray of Freckle’s own accord, since he for one, never wants you two to meet in fear of her disapproving of your relationship. Though, if the meeting ever does happen, he’d be freaking out the entire time through it. he’d be quiet, yet his eyes were panic-stricken and his tail is wagging everywhere. it’d take him a few cups of tea to start calming down. Nina isn’t the most easiest person to please, so if she does like you, then great! Expect her to invite you for some tea or dinner with Freckle at times, but if not, then though you are probably unwelcome in the house, Freckle reassures you that it won’t affect your relationship with him in anyway, and that you’ll only have to avoid coming to his house, which isn't much of a problem since you both usually spend time elsewhere.

-not at all a PDA person, he feels like it’s a bit disrespectful to kiss or hold hands and flirt while everyone else is in the room. though, he does do very small things such as put his hand on top of yours and caress your fingers under the table, or put a reassuring hand on your shoulder, things that you could only notice and feel to make you feel calm during frustrating times. And if you do them back he’ll melt, and you’d have successfully calmed him down.

-Whether you like it or not, the teasing comments of his dear cousin Rocky will be a part of it all, though mostly targeted at Freckle himself, he does sometimes jab some at you as well, mostly speaking about how you’ve got Freckle wrapped around your finger.

-There are often times when Freckle is questioning his entire morality and life, where he regrets most of the things he’s doing right now, since he’s been taught in a Christian household about how people who do such actions are foul and must be punished. Which, on rare nights, leads to rethinking his entire life and feeling the utmost self-hatred and unworthiness of love. Those are times when you’re needed most, to reassure and comfort in however you can. and despite not believing you when you tell him he’s a good person, if the self-hatred is strong enough, he will, while looking away embarrassed, ask if he can hold your hand or hug you. since those actions bring lots of comfort and warmth to him.

-He’s also quite insecure about his laugh, what he sees as a complete failure in his personality and the thing that makes unfortunate things happen to him. so If you ever compliment him or say you like it, he’d first gawk at you as if you said unicorns were real, then he’d thank you with a stutter and think about your compliment for an entire week, always getting flustered each time the memory comes across his mind.

-If you have any hobbies of your own, he’d happily try them out for you. whether it’s painting, dancing, or anything you’re quite passionate about, he’d like to give it a try at least once, if not for the quality time, then for it to be an excuse to see you smile and rambling on excitedly.

-There will be times when you’re stuck in an extremely dangerous situation alongside Freckle, such as shootouts and gang fights, if you weren’t involved in such fiascos in the first place and were just a normal citizen before meeting him, he does feel guilty for dragging you into it all and does try to minimize the number of times he sees you before finishing up a task. He also tries to usually meet up with you when it's broad daylight and cops are out, which would decrease the number of fights that could happen.

-All in all, he’s a calm and peaceful lover, and although he isn't much verbal about it, he appreciates you much more than you know it.

#lackadaisy x reader #lackadaisy #freckle mcmurray #freckle mcmurray x reader #x reader #headcanons #reader insert #fanfiction #lackadaisy freckle #calvin mcmurray #calvin mcmurray x reader #calvin freckle mcmurray x reader

148 notes · View notes

amber-sekio · 7 months

Text

Oneshot -Killing Butterflies

Fandom: Genshin Impact

Ships: Aether x reader ; Childe x reader ; Childe x Zhongli

TW: Aether x reader ; reader x Tartaglia ; Tartaglia x Zhongli (if you squint) ; Major angst ; character death ; hurt no comfort ; Aether loves reader, reader loves Tartaglia, Tartaglia loves Zhongli ; reader dies ; implied death ; gn reader-no gender is given to reader

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

This is a whole bucket full of angst so have fun lol. Also, for context i would recommend reading this post of mine. Anyways enjoy reading! (*^▽^*)

Aether couldn't bear to see you like this. To watch you through yourself at him when he no longer loved you. It was pitiful really. How you begged for him to stay. You were attached to him while he moved on. Tartaglia didn't hate you, he simply didn't love you anymore. Tartaglia moved on and fell in love with someone else; his best friend. You couldn't do anything about it but simply accept what had happened. Though you could never move on from him as he had done.

And so Aether watched as you fell deeper into despair. He tried to lift you up, to show you how much you were loved and that you didn't need Tartaglia to feel loved, that there was someone else who loved you dearly. You were too blinded by your sorrow to notice how Aether thought of you.

As much as Aether wanted to do more for you he couldn't and so he let himself be a shoulder to cry on for you. Hoping. Praying. That one day you would see how much he cared for you.

You had been going to Aether nearly every day for about a week just to cry. He was your dearest friend after all. Until one day you stopped.

Aether thought you simply needed a bit of space to get over your heartache.

That was a week ago though.

It had been two weeks since he last saw you, and he was getting worried.

He stood outside your home, knocked, telling you it was only him and that he was worried because he hadn't saw you in two weeks.

Silence

He knocked again.

Nothing

He wasn't fond of entering without your permission but he had to make sure you were alright. He needed to make sure.

He went to open the door to find it was unlocked already, though it wasn't uncommon for you, it seemed to unnerve him for some reason. Your home was dark, the curtains were all closed and no light was on. The lack of light only made him worry more. You always had light in your home whether from open curtains or candles lit at night so for your house to be so dark in the middle of the day was worrisome. He walked around your house looking for you until he came to your room.

The door was closed and at first it seemed deadly silent from within your room as it was in the rest of your house. He stood there silently until he heard what sounded like a sob come from within your room. He opened the door to find you curled in on yourself in the corner of the room on your bed.

"Y/n are you-"

However you were surrounded by butterflies.

Red butterflies.

Blood Red butterflies

"Aether?"

He knew what was happening. He had seen this before. A friend from another world had died the exact same way, but he hadn't heard of it happening on Teyvat. He didn’t think it was possible here. He didn't want to believe it.

"How long has this been going on for y/n?" Aether inquired while walking over to your side.

"A-about two weeks now," you paused, taking a breath. "Aether do you know what's wrong with me?"

The look in Aether's eyes told you the answer to your question. It hurt Aether to see you like this, to hear you sound broken. It seemed that at the very least the disease wasn't well known in Teyvat if at all.

You didn't have much longer. It was obvious with how pale you were and the number of butterflies around you. Most people barely survived a month with the disease. Typically the victim died within three to four weeks of obtaining it. So it was easy to tell you would be dead soon.

He stayed by your side, tending to you as you slowly grew weaker and couldn't perform simple tasks let alone even walk. The only time he left your side was to inform Tartaglia of your condition and what was going to happen as well as ask Albedo if he knew anything of the disease.

Aether was told that while it did exist in Teyvat, it was extremely rare.

The moment Aether got back he was immediately by your side again.

You died in his arms five days later.

He laid you down on your bed as the butterflies landed on and around you to rest peacefully alongside with you.

Aether sat on the ground next to your bed, closing his eyes only to start coughing. He looked at his hand only to be met with flowers.

Red flowers.

Blood Red flowers.

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

I've come to realize that while I'm not the biggest fan of reading angst, I sure do love writing it.

43 notes · View notes

captain-yeet · 2 years

Text

How to be Human (Felix x Fem!Reader Oneshot)

Summary: Peace couldn’t always be for forever. The love of your life has been hurt, after he had constantly worried for your safety being in jeopardy. What happens when a man as strong and formidable as a mountain becomes human?

CW: None, hurt/comfort vibes, angst.

Vampires and humans in relationships weren't rare, but uncommon enough that if such a thing were to happen, certain precautions were to be taken.

He'd always worried about me. I'm "small and fragile compared to him", after all. I'd always tell him, "Honey, I'm surrounded by vampires, one of them being you. It's gonna be fine."

I hadn't given much thought to the concept of someone hurting him.

I loved our shared room. It was cozy; Felix was a little bit plain when it came to décor save for some mounted weapons on the wall from his human days circa two thousand-something years ago.

Granted I was no grand interior designer myself. My contributions have been posted plants and one stylized painting of a cat meme done in the same style as Starry Night. Felix grudgingly let me hang that.

It was home. Our home.

I hope he comes home soon. Its supposed to be today. He'd been sent out on a job to look into some weird humans who'd supposedly been spreading the word about vampires in Italy, some odd 20 miles from Volterra.

Sunlight slowly creeped into the room through the curtain, engulfing the room in a gentle golden glow.

A knock brought me out of my calm reverie. Reluctantly, I rolled off the bed and trudged over to the door. Demetri stood there, white as a ghost. There was a faraway look in his eyes that immediately sparked alarm bells in my mind. “Dem, what’s wrong? Where’s Felix?”

Demetri swallowed. “He - I need to tell you something, dear. You’re not going to like this.”

My heart sped up. “Is he - no no, please tell me isn’t dea-”

Demetri grabbed me by the shoulders, his gaze intense. “No. Calm yourself. He is alive, but badly hurt. He wanted me to come talk to you to prepare you for the condition he’s in.”

“What kind of condition?” I whispered, my mind going to the worst possible scenarios. Did he get burned? A burn was what I considered the worst. His beautiful face that always gave me the biggest smile whenever his eyes met mine.

Wordlessly Demetri held his hand for me to take. “I’ll take you to him now. I can explain on the way.”

My darling mate - my partner, my boyfriend, husband, soulmate - had been attacked by a gifted vampire that temporarily took away his immortality. I watched him writhe uncomfortably in a room some guards had set up as a temporary sick bay for him. Demetri and two others in the room who’s faces I didn’t recognize shared lost glances as the once strong vampire moaned and groaned in pain. They swiftly excused themselves, leaving me and Demetri alone with Felix.

“Felix?” I cried out, moving past Demetri and to Felix’s side. I cupped my hand against his cheek; he was so clammy... Seeing his skin flush with color was so jarring, after being accustomed to his pale skin.

His eyes fluttered, squeezing shut momentarily before brown eyes met mine. Brown. Not red. The familiar vermillion gone and replaced with a woodsy brown. I couldn’t help the sob that left my lips and I pressed my forehead against his.

“Cara mia, you don’t need to see me like this,” he rasped. A sickly stench reached my nose and I recognized it was vomit. He’d been vomiting.

“Well I’m here,” I retorted, softly, pulling back to give him an empathetic look. “Have you eaten? Had water?”

Felix’s brows scrunched. “Uh, water yes,” he replied slowly. “No food.”

He looked past me toward his best friend, the two sharing a long silent exchange.

The cogs were spinning in my head faster than I could keep up with. But I got the jist of the look. Turning my head to Demetri as well, I quietly asked him, “When was the last time he ate?”

Demetri opened and closed his mouth. He couldn’t meet my eyes, instead choosing to continue looking at Felix. “...We hadn’t thought of it, I’m so sorry.”

I loved Demetri. He had been an absolute sweetheart since I began living in Italy with Felix. I considered him a brother. A dear friend. Whenever Felix was away he’d be right there to keep me company, all I had to do was ask when he wasn’t busy. The fury the coursed through my veins at the immortal’s foolishness burned hot in my blood.

“He’s been turned human and you didn’t think he’d need to be fed? How long has he been like this?”

“Y/N,” Felix croaked. I shushed him gently, stroking his face.

“How long?” I asked again, my voice cracking.

A short, five second silence filled the room.

“Three days,” Demetri said so softly I almost didn’t catch it.

“Three days?” I growled.

That’s it. Absolutely not. I rose to my feet, my hands gliding down Felix’s sweaty arms. “I’m taking him. I will care for him. How could you guys not have thought that maybe after, what, a millennia of immortality he wouldn’t need some kind of nourishment other than water?”

“Two millennia,” Felix added, “I’m two thousand years old, baby girl.”

“Darling I love you so much but please, let me handle this.”

I had to think. We had a kitchen in the castle, which had a considerate amount of dust plastered all over the countertops. No fridge. No modern or semi-modern-ish oven to work with. To be fair, only myself and the receptionists were the only humans in the castle that lived for longer than an hour long tour. And the receptionist had lunch breaks. Me, on the other hand, I’d either get lunch or go to the little apartment Felix had purchased for us in the city.

He wanted us to have privacy to get to know each other, when the bond was first realized.

So I stormed out of the room shouting a command to Demetri to get him some water but not to let Felix drink all of it at once. If it had been days since he ate, he needed food immediately. There was a little sandwich place nearby that I love and adore. A simple footlong should sate him... hopefully.

~~~

“Here, have this.”

I set the footlong onto Felix’s lap. I didn’t want to upset his stomach with anything too over the top. A simple ham and provolone sub with lettuce, tomato, mayo and honey mustard. Granted I just ordered what I normally get. But regardless, the sandwich would be perfect for his weakened state.

Demetri was openly staring at Felix, watching his every move. Felix looked at the sandwich, then to me, then to Demetri and repeated the cycle, his face turning a shade darker.

If he wasn’t starved like a dog, I’d be gushing over him blushing in embarrassment.

“Dem stop with the staring,” I scolded him.

He cleared his throat, averting his eyes to the wall in front of him.

Gingerly, Felix picked up the sandwich, eyeing it like it was a small gross creature in his grasp. So much hesitation came with the first bite. While I sat with him I watched him attempt to chew. He had the idea of chewing down - the manners of keeping his mouth closed. He’d seen me eat. He knows how chewing works in theory.

In practice?

It was like watching a five year old try to be polite at the dinner table at a family gig.

After three bites he pushed the sandwich away, wrapping it back up and placing it on an end table next to the bed. I wanted to take away the sadness in him. He slouched in defeat, wrapping his arms around his stomach.

I reached out to wipe away some mayo at the corner of his mouth, giving him a reassuring smile. “It’ll take a bit until you feel a little better,” I informed him.

Felix pulled his knees up to his chest, resting his chin there. “Any word on the location of the one that did this to me?” He asked Demetri. I tried not to let it show he chose to ignore me. Not eating for thousands of years and suddenly needing to had to be a shock to his system...

But still, the way he couldn’t look me in the eyes...

“I’ll be setting out soon with the twins to retrieve them. I know their location. They will be brought to justice,” he hissed, reaching out to clap Felix on the shoulder, albeit a bit too rough, the now human executioner grunting at Demetri’s hard handed reassurance.

“Demetri’s got this, honey,” I added, sharing a worried look with the tracker who had become like a brother to me. “He knows I’ll find a way to kick his ass if he doesn’t.”

Demetri chuckled. Felix didn’t.

A ghost of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

Loud growling from Felix’s stomach interrupted the flow of conversation.

Shaking his head, Demetri gently squeezed my shoulder with words of comfort before he bid farewell to us, leaving the two of us alone.

“Let’s get you home, yeah?” I stood up and grabbed his discarded clothes that covered a nearby chair, setting them on the bed in front of him.

Felix slowly grabbed his shirt, taking pause. “If I don’t become immortal again...”

I sat next to him on the bed, replacing the shirt in his hands with my hands. “You will.”

“But if I don’t.” he snarled, finally meeting my eyes. Tears brimmed in them threatening to spill over. “If, I don’t, I can’t protect you properly. I’m so, so sorry I failed you this way Y/N.”

Now it was my turn to be confused. “Failed me?” I repeated. “How? By becoming human for a little while? This isn’t your fault!”

“By becoming weak! I promised you the day we confessed our love for each other that I would take care of you. You’re in my world now, embroiled in all the vampire nonsense and the politics, and the danger that comes with it. I need to be my strongest to make sure you’re always well protected and now that I’m mortal I cannot protect you from my kind.”

“I don’t expect you to bear that weight alone!” I let go to cup his face in my hands, our eyes locked on each others. “We belong to each other, that means both of us protects the other, not just you taking care of me!” I reminded him.

That silenced him for a moment. “So, you don’t feel let down at all by me?”

This was what he was worrying about?

I responded by pressing my lips to his softly, putting as much passion and “I love you so much” energy behind it that I hoped he’d understand what I was trying to convey with my actions. “Not one bit, I breathed against his lips.

Strong arms wrapped around my shoulders, pulling me into his chest. I melted into his hold, throwing my arms around his neck, enjoying the sensation of his arms around me. Human or vampire I don’t think I’d ever get tired of his touch.

Time became obsolete. I don’t know how long we stayed like that for. The sun had dimmed in brightness by the time we pulled away from each other. “Let’s go home, you can eat the rest of that when we get back and I’ll show you some good things about behind human. I plan on taking full advantage of this situation.”

Felix chuckled, wiping the tears from his face and looking at me with so much adoration I was thankful he couldn’t hear my heart falter under his intense, loving gaze. “Say less. Unless it involves the two of us in bed and me making you scream my name over and over again, then please tell me more.”

I threw his coat at his face with a giggle. “Felix!” I gasped, giving him a scolding look. The bastard knew what that kind of talk did to me. A small fire flickered to life that only he could douse.

Despite everything he smirked, knowing exactly what was going on in my mind and body. “You said we should take advantage of the situation. Now I can fuck you without wanting to drink your blood and you expect my train of thought to not go there when you say things like that?”

Oh I hated him and loved him fiercely. “Get dressed. I was talking about like, eating chocolate and things like that. Sleeping, for gods sake!”

“There’ll be sleeping to come after you do, don’t worry darling.”

“Get dressed. Now.”

He put his shirt on and threw the covers off his body, swinging his legs out of the bed. Shaking his head he shimmied into his clothes. “Yes ma’am, what you say goes.”

We walked out of Volterra hand in hand back to our little piece of paradise we call home. I had full faith Demetri will find a way to reverse what’s been done. But for now, it’s time to take advantage and show my previously-a-vampire mate the fun parts of being human.

#if yall want part 2 let me know #felix x reader #felix volturi #felix volturi x reader #volturi #volturi x reader #my fics #twilight saga #twilight

180 notes · View notes

1moreoffkeyanthem · 5 months

Note

17. talk about your writing and editing process <3

Man apparently I’m allergic to checking my inbox but HEY better late than never my love!

So my process, if you can even call it that, is chaotic as FUCK!!! I stare off into space writing it mentally first, type all my bullshit in my notes app like a heathen, don’t proofread, drop unsolicited personal lore in the notes, all that. Gonna use TWITR as an example again btw

I’ve said it before, but The Webs In The Rafters is based on a WHACK ASS DREAM I HAD. specifically chapter 17 and the climax of the story. Like I was the Kenny character, Sansa the dog was telepathically speaking in my mind, there were piles of cuddling cats everywhere, the sound of helicopter blades and a trail of spiders in the hay. I woke up like bro what the hell this is a story right here and I went from there. And in fleshing out the plot, pinning the story beats, the time I was writing it was PERFECT TIMING. Because I had a six hour drive to make for a friend’s wedding. And what did my insane ass do? I FUCKING RAWDAWGED that drive. No music, no audiobook, just silent highways and plotting TWITR. By the time I got home I had a very clear idea of where I was going with the story that at that point was only a few set up chapters and a title.

Speaking of titles, a lot of the time I have titles before I have plot, which is kinda weird bc I know a lot of people struggle with titles, but that’s one of the first things that comes to me. Especially with my one shots, like my kysterion fic All The Punches That I’ve Thrown. That lyric popped into my head and a fic idea with it. Song lyrics inspire a LOT of ideas for me.

So does art. Like with In The Truly Gruesome, I saw a drawing emilyartstudios did of Stan and Shelley working a booth for Tegrity at a fair and I was like YO WHAT IF I FUCKED THIS UP AND STUCK ZOMBIE ALIENS IN THERE lmfao. And ofc, the OrangeJuiceVerse wouldn’t exist if I hadn’t seen foxydodo’s art of basketball player Kyle and mascot Stan.

While oneshots come together pretty fast for me usually, being written out in my head to be typed out in the course of a day (back in the days of janitor Riley bored as shit at work and having the time and energy for that lol), multichapters are require more thought structurally. So what I like to do with a multichap:

Think of it in three acts. In script writing, there’s something called the “page 12 event”, the event that gets the plot rolling near the beginning of the film. And I like to stick an event like that at the end of chapter 1 of my stuff a lot of the time, like ITTG and uhhhh yeeting Stan into a mineshaft after we find out the boys are being chased by monsters (jesus what is wrong with me). What I’m getting at: I like to know where my beginning middle and end are, how the characters are feeling at each step, how their relationships change, all that. And a lot of the time I think of the end before I do the middle or beginning tbh. Like I said, chaos. I think of a random scenario (as we know usually someone is hurt and getting taken care of bc I’m fucking evil and that’s where my brain goes constantly), hence the WhumpShots.

And I do primarily operate in WhumpShots. I picture a scene with a character getting their injuries tended, sick and dizzy but having a friend or loved one at their side, etc, and BAM that scene becomes a oneshot. Even the REALLY short ones, like the sot bunny I did last summer called So Only Say My Name, was about 700 words and one sequence of events. That kind of to the point structure comes easy to me, which is why I loved doing Style Week so much; new oneshot prompt every day. And while I don’t usually proofread after I finish a work, I edit as I go, sometimes post random lines on here or send a screenshot to the R.A.N.T. homies (I’ve definitely done this more as of late, a habit from when I attempted writing smut for the first time and would send neen a screenshot all “IS THIS CRINGE?!?” lmfao I love the Idea Trampoline tho). And I can’t spell so autocorrect is fr my saving grace unless it betrays me. Off the top of my head I can think of 3 words in 3 separate fics that I need to fix but am simply not going to bc that requires effort and oh fuckin well.

And I say that, but I may be lax about the more fiddly stuff but I care SO much about the big picture. Like “does this convey the feelings I want it to? Is this going to be a bright spot in someone’s day? Is the vibe I want there?” That’s my priority. If I can leave an impact on a reader, entertain them, make them smile, that’s what matters to me.

Jesus sorry this was a convoluted answer lmao it’s 3 in the morning and I woke up all “hey I should actually check my inbox” and here we are

Thank u for asking abt my chaos melda tâe

#asks #why is my ‘process’ just ‘hey what if I stick Stan in an avalanche and he has to keep Kyle calm enough to take care of him’#insanity #south park #my shit #also I’m awful at answering asks sorry yall

8 notes · View notes

browniefox · 3 months

Text

Anyway here's a some FFXVI Recs for anyone who's interested.

A Lesser Dragon by ScribeOfReaper

Dragoon's learn many things from their namesake. Many of their techniques and traditions are derived from the dragons. Pride not least among them. A shame that no one told them; pride cometh before a fall.

It's really a shame that so little is done with Clive's Imperial Slave name. Like, what was the purpose of it? Why did it never come up again? How did he get that name? This fic provides answer to at least some of that, and is just a fun and well-written fic!

to kill fate by godblues

Ifrit is not the only thing that awakens on the night that Phoenix Gate burns, and bonds of consciousness manifest in ways Ultima never expected.

Unfinished :( but, still fun to read! I love big messy soulmate bonds, which is more or less what this is - all of the eikons have this kind of mental link to each other. It's inspired by Sense8, which I've never watched but know the general premise of. The relationships I feel are really fun and interesting, including some pairings I've either never considered or liked done in a different way.

Chains of Fate by ScribeOfReaper

In the Aftermath of Phoenix Gate, Anabella finds a most precious treasure. One that will not only guarantee her position as Empress and ensure the preservation of her line, but one that proves the power of her noble blood. For who else can lay claim to being the mother of not one, but two Dominants.

Unfinished but updates ~weekly. A very good and clearly well thought out alternate version of events where Clive is taken to Sanbreque with Anabelle bc she knows he's a dominant. The politics are so fascinating to read about! The different sides only grow more interesting, and the author just very clearly knows what they're doing - my best memory is getting to a part and feeling like ':( man this is hard on Clive I wish he had at least *some* support' AND LOW BEHOLD HE GOT IT RIGHT THEN!

These Things Are True by nightspear

After surviving the tragic fire that killed his father and brother, fifteen-year-old Clive Rosfield moves in with his mother and her new husband, the CEO of Bahamut Industries. Following a report from a concerned doctor six months later, Clive is taken into foster care and sent to stay with a man named Cid Telamon. Injured and grieving, Clive struggles to find his footing in a new home while his mother and stepfather fight for his return.

Top tier. Unfinished but updates ~weekly, and I *think* it's finished, just being posted spread out. One of those fics that could be read by someone with no knowledge of the fandom and you'd still get an amazing read and experience out of it. These kind of fics make me think of BDG's explanation of the commedia dell'arte, where the characters names foretell the role and relationships they'll have in the story, but again you could read this w/o having played FFXVI - And you should! Golden characteriation, relationships, distinct voices for each character, I'm eating this up and every update I am screaming and cheering and tearing through it!

my opus, daughter dearest by shepherd

The girl snuffled, trembling and pale and waiflike enough that Cid half expected that she would be carried away with the fading autumn leaves – and when Cid hoisted her up and placed his hand against the small of her back, it almost swallowed her entirely.

Short but cute oneshot of Cid finding Mid. There's a tragic lack of Mid fics, and it was just so nice to read one about Cid getting wrapped around her finger immediately <3

Second Flight of the Fledgling by Ghostline

As Joshua surrendered the Phoenix to his brother he felt the cold of death upon him, and Clive's fiery wings were the last thing he ever expected to see. He did not expect to wake in his brother's arms 18 years earlier, prior to the Night of Flames. Whether by Ultima, his brother, or Metia's divine grace, he had been gifted a chance to right the wrong that had torn his brother from him.

Unfinished by a couple chapters. There's a great many time travel fics in the fandom, but I am also rather picky when it comes to time travel, and this is the only one that's really scratched the itch I've been looking for. It's told mostly through POVs that are not Joshua, which I feel like works very strongly in its favor. The reactions of other characters is exactly what you want them to be and does not disappoint. Also has a great explanation for 'time traveled character in their younger counterpart, which one are they' that will stick with me forever I think and influence how I write some time travel fics.

Queen of Blood and Snow by AnxieteaAndCake

Jill approached the table, putting on the guise she resentfully called “the pretty little doll”. She walks, she even talks! She rarely thinks for herself, however, and never ruffles feathers! And so pretty! It was a cloak she’d donned many times in her life: in Rosaria, on the Iron Islands, even at the Hideaway before she’d finally become comfortable there. She hated it. It was like putting on rancid animal skins: unpleasantly slick on her skin and cloying in her nose.

A good fic that plays with two things that the game should have and never did: the fact that Gav is also a Northerner, and that Jill presumably still has a family or at least Kingdom that she could visit, if not try to make home once more should she wish. In general, Jill's situation with the Rosfields and how that'd impact her and her family is underutilized. This fic utilizes it! There are some things I'd change or tweak, and I can never get enough Gav, but I still think it's a great exploration of Jill going home - if it can even be called that anymore.

Encore by BrownieFox

Joshua wakes up in the Year of the Realm 860, confused but with knowledge of the future he should not have. With time, he will find that he is not the only one. or One by one, the dominants in the past come to remember a future that will never exist.

Wh-what??? How embarrassing, how did this get here? But of course I'm gonna rec my own fic. Have you ever read a time travel fic and were like 'gee, I wish this only focused on each character remembering the future and their immediate reactions to that kind of knowledge', then you're in luck bc that's what this is! It does have something of forward momentum, as there's a short time skip between each chapter, and you get to see how some things change bc of the Dominants remembering things.

#browniefox speaks #ffxvi #ff16 #final fantasy 16 #final fantasy xvi #fic rec #ficrec #fanfiction #brownies fic recs

6 notes · View notes

nyxlaufeyson · 10 months

Text

A Moment Away

Winter Masterlist - Loki Oneshot Masterlist - Main Masterlist

POV: Third

Ship: Loki x Amora

Type: Fluff

Wordcount: 516

Prompt: "Stars"

Synopsis: Loki and Amora get away from the chaos of life and find a moment of peace on a grassy field, looking up at the stars.

A/N: So obviously I haven't been super pungent with all my winter prompts, however I do really want to try to do as many as possible so some that are general winter may be posted in January as well? But Christmas/holiday themed ones will be before Christmas hopefully. I'm making an effort here, guys, but I will not let myself burnout.

The sky was lit up with billions of twinkling stars. Amora’s head rested against Loki’s lap, and he played with her golden hair. They were in the middle of nowhere, where they didn’t have to answer to anyone, and didn't have to abide by useless rules. They were free and at peace.

It didn’t matter that they would inevitably end up going back to the land of rules and consequences eventually. All that mattered were these stolen moments they had together, gazing up at the sky above and not worrying over anything.

Loki looked at the wonder in Amora’s eyes and smiled. She caught Loki looking and stuck her tongue out, causing him to chuckle.

A firefly lit up, and the couple turned their eyes to watch as it flew through the air, blinking in and out. There were several more around, their green lights flashing. They looked like moving green stars, although they were much closer than the real stars in the sky.

“You know, there’s a legend that the fireflies are the souls of the dead.” Amora said, and Loki hummed. Amora was well-versed in all different myths from various cultures. Her powers aided her as she explored different areas of mythology, even those that weren’t true. Being a goddess, she had relative knowledge of which myths held some truth and which did not, yet she still learned both.

Loki strummed his fingers through Amora’s hair. His fingernails were painted black, Amora’s handywork. They always seemed to have matching black nails. “Do you believe it?”

Amora tilted her head slightly, considering the question, before coming up with a witty response. “Are you asking me if I believe the Allfather is wrong in saying we go to Valhalla, Fólkvangr, or Hel after death?”

Loki laughed at her remark, shaking his head. “I don’t know? Do you think that he is wrong?”

She grinned up at him. “I would never!” A chilly breeze blew by, and Loki conjured a blanket for her. She frowned.

“Could’ve done that myself.” She said, and Loki rolled his eyes.

Amora adjusted the blanket on herself nonetheless. “I know you could, my love.” Loki said, relishing in the warmth of her body.

The fireflies flew by again, and Amora finally answered his question from before. “I don’t know. They certainly could be. Beautiful bugs they are, flying free through the air.”

Amora wanted to be free. Her and Loki, free to do whatever they wanted, wherever they wanted, was a beautiful thought. Unfortunately, it wasn’t realistic at the moment. Maybe one day, they would be as free as a firefly.

“Although, their lifespan isn’t very long. I don’t want to believe that the souls only last a couple of months before disappearing completely.” She said, and Loki nodded.

“Perhaps they go to their final destination after having a month or so of freedom to roam around.” He proposed, and Amora smiled.

Her hair blew around in the wind. “I like that idea.” She said, and they relished a few more moments before turning back to the chaos that was their life.

TAGS: (Comment or inbox me to be added/removed; along with what to be tagged for): @michief-dream @iceeericeee

#loki #loki fanfic #fanfic #marvel #loki fluff #loki friggason #loki laufeyson #loki oneshot #loki x amora #loki/amora #amora x loki #amora the enchantress #enchantricks

10 notes · View notes

kelpiejz · 1 year

Text

Tradition - a SasuSakuSara oneshot

it’s been forever since I last used tumblr but hey, might as well use it again to post some SasuSaku fic, right?

Summary: Regardless of how many things have changed, the Gōkakyū no Jutsu remained the same.

You can also read this on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/47920651

Snake. Ram. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger.

Standing alone on the pier in the eerily empty former Uchiha District, Sakura ran through the hand signs that came to her as easily as breathing these days. Though it had been years since she had last used the jutsu, she had the habit of practising the signs whenever she felt particularly alone.

She hadn’t learned the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu here like her husband and so many others before him had, but she was no less capable of performing it. Just the thought of that training so many years ago made her heart clench with longing for her beloved, but she took a deep breath to push the thought from her mind and started the signs over again.

Snake. Ram. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger.

A massive ball of fire engulfed the air above a remote lake somewhere in Kusa, evaporating a few inches of water from the heat alone. Sakura stood next to Sasuke on the bank, still in awe of just how much control the man had over the signature element of his clan. Despite the massive size of the fireball that he had produced, it had never once threatened to light the dry grass just on the other side of the water.

“Did you get that?” Sasuke asked her calmly, glancing over at her with his mismatched eyes, seemingly almost studying her as he did so.

Her gaze met his after a moment and she frowned slightly. “The hand signs?”

“Aa.”

Though she wasn’t willing to admit it in the comfortable silence that had fallen over the two of them, Sakura had known those hand signs by heart for years. She had spent far too much of her childhood watching him to not be familiar with the jutsu that Sasuke had used more often than the Chidori back then. How could she have forgotten when it had felt like he had set her heart aflame with every ball of fire he had breathed in their genin days?

Despite her impeccable memory and knowledge of all things Sasuke, little genin Sakura had never put her knowledge of the hand signs to use. Something about trying to spit even a pitiful ball of fire had felt wrong somehow—like she would have been trying to intrude on something sacred. No, she had never tried to breathe fire like Sasuke, but that didn’t stop her from practising to weave them seamlessly on the off chance that Sasuke—in all of his 12-year-old genin glory—would ask to train with her and decide to teach her his treasured jutsu.

That had obviously never happened back then, but little genin Sakura would never have expected herself to be learning the jutsu from him over five years and a war later.

After taking a moment to ready herself, Sakura weaved the signs, moulded her chakra, and hoped that Sasuke couldn’t see her nervousness or the familiarity with which she moved her hands. As she reached tiger, she breathed in deeply and brought her right hand up to her mouth to help direct what would hopefully be a breath full of fire. The resulting fireball was nowhere near the size of Sasuke’s, but it was far better than what Sakura had expected from a first attempt. After it dissipated, she took a step back with a wide grin.

“I did it,” she said breathlessly, almost in disbelief. Fire was not her element—far from it, really—so she knew she would never have the proficiency that Sasuke had as a child, but she had done it anyway. Looking up at Sasuke for approval, she had to hold back her gasp when she saw a small yet genuine smile upon his face.

As if feeling the weight of her gaze, he turned to look at her. “Aa. You did.”

Sasuke was never a man of many words, but even still, Sakura could hear just how much pride he felt with those words alone. Her heart felt as if it might beat right out of her chest as she turned to him and impulsively wrapped her arms around his torso. If he was surprised by the action—one Sakura had only recently come to understand didn’t annoy him anywhere near as much as he pretended it did—he didn’t show it. Instead, his lone arm returned the gentle hug.

“That was better than my first attempt,” Sasuke said out of nowhere, surprising Sakura with how open he was today. “Back then, I could barely even call it a fireball.”

Raising a brow, Sakura frowned at him. “Sasuke-kun, weren’t you six when you first learned it, though?”

He nodded, and she had to muffle a laugh in the fabric of his travel cloak.

“Sasuke-kun, I know you’re trying to make me feel better about how small mine was, but comparing me to you at six years old doesn’t help much.”

He was silent for a moment, which wasn’t a surprise, but the vaguely upset-looking expression she saw on his face when she looked up tugged at her heartstrings. Shaking her head with a teasing grin, Sakura stepped back from the embrace and tried not to mourn the loss of his higher-than-average body heat in the cool evening air.

“Still,” she said, “all that means is that I have to practise more, right?”

Instead of answering, Sasuke silently gazed over the lake as if he was seeing someplace completely different instead. Knowing he was likely caught up in his memories, Sakura chose to stay quiet and wait for him to decide if he would tell her what was on his mind. She had learned over the years that Sasuke would only talk if he wanted to, so there was no point in pressing him. Instead, she ran through the signs again and tried tightening her control over her chakra now that she knew what a proper Gōkakyū was supposed to feel like.

As she breathed out more fire, Sakura noticed it was slightly larger than before. At least she was going in the right direction, even if it would take far more practice. Still, it wasn’t good enough, and Sakura prepared herself to weave the signs once more.

“Sakura.”

She stopped, letting her hands drop to her sides.

“Sasuke-kun?” Sakura asked, wondering what he wanted to say now. “Is everything okay?”

Slowly, he brought up his hand to gently brush his thumb over her lips. “Be careful. It’s easy to burn yourself before you’re used to doing Katon jutsu.”

His voice seemed deeper than before for some reason, and Sakura couldn’t restrain the butterflies that began fluttering uncontrollably in her gut. Sasuke was always so effortlessly intense in everything he did, and she would forever be weak to him. Feeling almost entranced by his concern, she didn’t look away from his eyes once as she swiped a finger—glowing green with healing chakra—across her mouth and cheeks where she knew there were light burns.

“Do you know the importance of this jutsu?” Sasuke asked as soon as he seemed satisfied with her newly healed face. Sakura could only shake her head, but noticed that Sasuke seemed stiffer than usual all of a sudden.

“The Gōkakyū…” His voice trailed off into silence as he seemed to almost be at war with himself over if he should say anything or not. After this long on the road together, Sakura knew better than to press him. If he couldn’t say it now, he would tell her when he felt the time was right.

Sasuke exhaled, though, and he closed his eyes as he kept talking. “In my clan, the Gōkakyū was a rite of passage. You weren’t a true Uchiha until you could perform it sufficiently.”

‘No wonder Sasuke-kun was already so good with it by the time Team 7 was formed,’ Sakura thought. Being one of the only solid links to his clan he had left, she wouldn’t be surprised to find out that he had practised it until he dropped in the years following the massacre. But… something about his words made her thoughts race.

“So… why did you teach it to me?” Sakura asked slowly, unsure if she really wanted to know the answer to the question. Just being on this journey with him across the Elemental Nations was enough for her; she couldn’t afford to get her hopes up too much in case of any disappointment. However, in her peripheral vision, she saw Sasuke’s hand flinch almost as if he was holding back the urge to reach for her.

“Sakura… by teaching you this jutsu, you have proven that you can be a true Uchiha.”

‘Don’t get your hopes up, Sakura,’ she begged herself and her traitorous palpitating heart. ‘He can’t possibly mean—’

He took a shaky breath, but kept talking anyway. “I know the Uchiha name has been forever stained, and I would understand if you don’t want it attached to you because of the dangers to your reputation, but you are welcome to claim it as your own. Even if you don’t want it, I would not regret teaching the jutsu to you.”

Her eyes widened as she struggled to sort through all the thoughts blaring in her head. Out of all of them, though, only one made it out.

“Why?”

This time, Sasuke actually did reach for her hand and kept his gaze firmly locked on her hand in his. She had never truly realized just how small her hand was in comparison to his, but the warmth of his palm radiated into hers and something about it felt so right that she never wanted to let go again.

His grip tightened slightly, but not enough to be less than comfortable. “Because when I think of family, I think of you.”

Even though her heart warmed at his declaration, Sakura couldn’t help the instinctive and deeply rooted fear that followed it. Quietly, she had to voice it. “And what about Naruto?”

“What about him?” Sasuke almost seemed amused, as if there was something she wasn’t understanding, but the hint of a smile quickly vanished upon seeing the insecurity on her face.

“He isn’t… family? Even with all the Six Paths stuff from the war?”

Sasuke sighed and squeezed her hand gently. “Sakura, it’s not the same. He and I are connected, yes, but I never chose him like I’m choosing you. I never asked to be ‘soul brothers’ with the idiot.”

That… made sense, so Sakura nodded silently. Seeing that she was still feeling off about the whole thing, Sasuke released her hand and wrapped his arm around her back to pull her close to him. She could hear the accelerated beating of his heart even through his clothes, but she wasn’t expecting him to say anything else. However, Sasuke seemed intent on surprising her today.

“All my life, others have made decisions for me,” he began, his deep voice soothing Sakura’s turmoil even as he bared his emotions to her. “Every conclusion I thought I came to on my own, I discovered that I was manipulated into. Thinking I needed to kill my brother, wanting to destroy Konoha, even ending the war with Naruto. Despite that, despite everything, you are the only choice I’ve ever made that was entirely my own. Even if you don’t want my name or my clan to become yours because of how cursed it is, I just ask that you let me stay in your life as a close friend even if you no longer want me in any other way.”

She frowned, wanting to ask why he would ever think she would say no, why he would doubt her feelings even for a moment after so long. There were some universal truths in this world that would never change: the sky is blue, chakra flows through their coils, Naruto loves ramen, and Sakura loves Sasuke. Sakura Haruno had been loving Sasuke Uchiha for so long that she wasn’t sure she knew how to not love him. It was etched into her very soul, and if she had ever lost that love for him, she wasn’t sure she would even be the same person anymore.

As if understanding her question without her even asking it, Sasuke glanced at her with a serious yet vulnerable expression. “I’ve made too many choices for you before, and while I can’t regret the reasoning behind them, I can regret that I had to hurt you in my misguided attempts to keep you safe. But now, even if it could hurt me, I refuse to do that again. You deserve to have that choice too, Sakura.”

Wrapping her arms around Sasuke’s waist, Sakura finally found the willingness to speak amidst the overwhelming emotions crashing over her. She was feeling so much, too much, and while part of her heart hurt at the memories of the forest of death where the air was choked with purple miasma, the bench under a moon that bore witness to a desperate confession, the crater that remained of a hideout where she felt like she was drowning in a dark-eyed stare, the bridge where too many mistakes were made, the end of the world where she spilled her heart out once more, she remembered the good times too.

The classroom where she snuck glances at the boy who made her heart flutter, the training grounds where they learned what teamwork truly meant, the bridge where she cried and held him close, the exams where he complimented her talents, the ramen shop where they tried desperately to see the secrets hidden beneath a mask, the battlefield as hope arrived in an unexpected turn of fate, the strange realm with green skies where he caught her and she wondered if there was something deeper brewing in those eyes, the valley where he finally apologized in a voice she had never heard from him before, the gates where he poked her forehead and she truly allowed hope to bloom in her heart instead of repressing it to stay as a mere bud.

“I want it.” A pause. “All of it.”

He made no move to show he had heard her other than the minute tightening of his arm around her waist and a barely audible sigh of relief. After a moment, Sakura pulled herself away reluctantly, but looked over at him with a brilliant smile.

“Sasuke-kun, I hope you’re ready to give me more feedback on the jutsu; my Uchiha fire might never be as good as yours since fire isn’t one of my chakra natures, but I’ll be damned if it’s not up to your standards,” she stated as she began weaving the hand signs once more.

Snake. Ram. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger.

The sky was cloudy as Sasuke blew out his frustrations in the form of a long-lasting stream of fire over the lake he had practised on in his childhood. Sakura stood next to him, lips pursed, but she stayed silent and held their daughter closer to her chest. Sarada was still only a toddler, but the future was always uncertain.

The fire dissipated and Sasuke grimaced before blowing yet another one. If she wasn’t holding their baby girl, Sakura knew she would be right there next to him, adding her fire to his and filling all the gaps, complimenting each other the way they always had. But she couldn’t. They had both learned their lesson long ago—the world isn’t fair. The past few years had been almost idyllic in their simplicity with their small family in a humble home, but that would not last.

Sarada was only two, still far too young to understand why her father was upset or what it meant, but even she could tell that something was wrong. She whimpered and buried her face in her mother’s shoulder, making Sakura instinctively cradle her closer.

“Dear,” Sakura said when Sasuke finished evaporating more water from the lake, “are you feeling a bit better now?”

Sasuke sighed, a frown finding the familiar place on his face. “No, but I’ll be fine. I just wish the world would leave us alone.”

She understood far too well. In only a few short months, her husband would once again leave the gates of Konoha (and her and Sarada) behind to wander the world, even if for a different reason this time. Sasuke always had such a strong sense of duty, and when rumours about Kaguya and Zetsu re-emerged, Sakura had known from the moment the words had been uttered in that meeting that he would be the one to go. He was their best option, their only option, even if he would much rather focus on his new family.

Right after Sarada had been born, he had tearfully promised both her and their daughter that he would do anything to protect them. In all the years Sakura had known and loved Sasuke, that had probably been the most emotional declaration she had ever heard come from his lips, and she believed in it unconditionally. If protecting them meant leaving them for years on end, then he would do it without looking back.

They stood silently on the dock and even Sarada was quiet as she slowly drifted to sleep in her mother’s arms. Sasuke came to them and wrapped the two most important people in his life in his arm, pressing a gentle kiss to the crown of his daughter’s head and then to Sakura’s forehead right over her seal.

“Not on the mouth, dear?” she asked teasingly and Sasuke huffed out a soft laugh in response, shaking his head.

“You always say you don’t like the taste of smoke after Katon jutsu, my dearest wife,” he whispered just low enough to send a tingle down her spine that she fought to suppress. This was neither the time nor place for that.

Leaning in, Sakura kissed him anyway, savouring the way his lips moved against hers in the practised way they always did. “I’ll live with the taste of smoke. But there’s something else on your mind, isn’t there?”

Pressing their foreheads together, Sasuke looked her in the eyes. “How did you know?”

“I know you,” Sakura pointed out with a sad smile. “I’ve always known when something was wrong.”

Sasuke sighed and closed his eyes after looking down at Sarada with a longing glance.

“I don’t know how long I’ll have to be away, Sakura. I know that you’ll be fine—that we’ll be fine—but still…” His shoulders fell, showing her a far more vulnerable Sasuke Uchiha than he had been in years. “I’m going to miss important parts of Sarada’s life, even if I’ve already seen her start to walk and speak. By the time I can be home for good, or even just to visit, she might already be in the Academy if she wants to be a kunoichi.”

Remembering a conversation from years ago, Sakura understood what other milestone he was subtly referring to even without a direct mention. It pained her to even consider that he might be gone that long, but there was a very low chance that everything would resolve itself that quickly. After all, nothing was ever simple when Team 7 was involved.

“Dear, I couldn’t…” Sakura gasped, clutching Sarada slightly closer. “You should be the one to teach her that; my chakra natures aren’t even fire.”

“And?”

Sakura knew she was grasping at straws, trying to find an excuse to ensure that he would teach Sarada the Gōkakyū when the time was right. His father had taught him, so he should be the one to teach their daughter. He knew how to perform the jutsu to perfection, and Sakura was fully aware that no amount of practice on her part would ever bring her up to his level in this, at least.

“I’m not the one who should be doing this, Sasuke, it’s an Uchiha family tradition and—”

“Sakura.” When Sasuke spoke in that firm tone that left no room for argument, Sakura couldn’t help but be drawn into his gaze. “I understand. I want to teach her the jutsu myself too, but just in case I can’t be home in time, I want you to teach her. I don’t want her to be behind her classmates in the Academy, or for her to miss out on her birthright.”

Sakura nodded silently, knowing he had more to say. He never talked this much with anyone else, but they had found comfort in the silence between words that occasionally said more than they ever could.

“You have as much right to teach her as I do, remember? You’re as Uchiha as I am now.”

Though she said nothing in response, it was clear she understood. In an uncharacteristic attempt to lighten the mood, Sasuke stepped away and smirked. “Just promise me that Kakashi won’t try to teach her before either of us can. He probably copied it when we were genin.”

Sakura couldn’t help it anymore and laughed, knowing that Sasuke was likely exactly right. Unfortunately, the sudden noise woke Sarada from her nap and she began fussing. Sasuke reached for her, wordlessly asking to hold his daughter, and with the ease of over a year of practice, Sakura helped position her comfortably in his one-armed hold. Almost as if she was aware of the safety of her father’s embrace, the youngest Uchiha calmed instantly, grasping onto his clothes with her tiny hands and a murmur of ‘Papa’ as she settled.

With a tilt of his head, Sasuke gestured to the lake. “It’s all yours.”

Feeling lighter than she had before, Sakura walked to the edge of the dock, moulded her chakra precisely to bring out the heat she desired, and weaved the signs.

Snake. Ram. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger.

Uchiha fire bloomed over the lake like it belonged there, and in a way, it did. The smile hadn’t left Sakura’s face since they had arrived on the old dock, and she was glad she had hired a genin team to fix the wobbly boards only a month ago. Though the old Uchiha District was slowly being rebuilt and repurposed after Sasuke finally got around to signing the paperwork that had been sent to him by one of Sai’s ink birds while he was away for his mission, the dock hadn’t been deemed a priority. How the old one had never collapsed beneath the weight of their entire family before Sasuke left, Sakura didn’t know, but now it was more than strong enough to easily and safely hold the weight of an academy student and her mother.

“Did you see that, Mama? I did it!” Sarada cheered breathlessly once the fireball vanished, leaving only the residual humidity of the evaporated water. Just as expected, soot and light burns darkened her cheeks from wasted chakra use and an unskilled hand to direct the breath of fire, but it was all too simple for Sakura to heal them away with barely a thought.

Pulling her six-year-old daughter into a tight hug, Sakura grinned with the overwhelming pride she felt brimming inside her. “I knew you would be able to do it!”

Ever since Sakura had mentioned the tradition on her birthday, Sarada had been begging her mother to take her to the lake and teach her the jutsu. Just like any other mention or link to her father, Sarada latched onto it like it was a lifeline. Though they couldn’t make it out until a few weeks later due to a hectic schedule at the hospital, Sakura had managed to book an entire day off to dedicate to her beloved daughter. Despite that, deep down, Sakura wished that Sasuke had been here to see Sarada blow a fireball bigger than Sakura’s first attempt had been. He would be so, so proud of her.

Just like any true Uchiha, it felt as if Sarada was born to breathe flames from her lungs. It wouldn’t surprise Sakura one bit if her daughter was hailed as even more of a genius than Sasuke had been in their academy and genin days, at the rate she was soaking up any training like a sponge. That wasn’t even counting her currently dormant Sharingan, which made a touch of fear rise in Sakura’s gut. She could never forget just how often Sasuke had been targeted for his eyes throughout most of his life, and if anyone found out just how young Sarada had been when she had first awakened it…

Instinctively, Sakura hugged her slightly tighter and silently renewed the vow both she and Sasuke had made before he had left. He would protect them from outside Konoha’s walls, and she would protect them from within. Nobody would hurt their daughter if she could help it.

“Mama, you’re squishing me again!” Sarada groaned and Sakura released her from her grasp with the same light laugh as always. No matter how many times Sarada complained, they both knew that she found some manner of comfort in Sakura’s too-tight hugs; the girl would pout and mope if they were even slightly looser—exactly the way Sasuke had once told her he had moped in his childhood after Itachi wouldn’t have the time to train. She was truly her father’s daughter.

With a laugh, Sakura gently patted Sarada’s dark hair. “That was better than mine, you know? You really are my little genius.”

“Really!?” Sarada exclaimed, eyes wide and glimmering with childish innocence. “Show me yours again, Mama!”

Of course, Sakura had gotten a lot more practice in the years since she had learned, but her hands flew through the familiar signs and she exhaled a plume of fire over the lake. Sarada giggled as the heat from the flames washed over them.

“Mama, that was bigger! See?” Sarada stumbled through the signs, her little hands still clumsy and unused to some of the more difficult ones to perform—like boar and horse. Her wrists didn’t yet have the flexibility they would acquire through training, and though Sakura had helped Sarada learn all the different signs on their own, she still had to learn how to fluidly switch between them.

Though the fireball wasn’t as big as the one her mother had just breathed, Sarada’s was still extremely impressive for her age. If this was what she was already capable of at only six years old, Sakura was almost afraid to imagine the kind of flames the girl would produce after she had more experience under her belt. It would come with time, and Sakura was certain that someday Sarada would truly master the jutsu like countless Uchiha clan members had before her, perhaps when Sasuke was back home with them to help her refine it.

Sarada giggled and grabbed onto Sakura’s hand, instantly putting a smile on her face and drawing her attention back to the little girl—her thoughts could wait when Sarada was so excited already. “Mama, we gotta do it together! It’ll be the biggest fireball!”

“Oh?” Sakura asked with a teasing smile and glance. “The biggest? Hmmm… maybe if we put our fireballs together, they might be as big as the ones I saw your dad make.”

Sarada’s jaw dropped in awe as she was practically vibrating in excitement. “Really!? Papa can make fireballs that big!?”

She nodded, remembering times from the war and their travels when Sasuke had made fireballs that likely would have made even Madara Uchiha proud. She had heard accounts of just how massive and devastating that attack had been right after the newly resurrected man had arrived on the battlefield of the 4th shinobi war, and knowing that her husband had reached that level was different than seeing it for herself. Of course, there were stories she couldn’t tell Sarada yet—ones she and Sasuke had unanimously decided would be best left until she was old enough to understand and until Sasuke was back to explain them himself—but she was always more than happy to talk about his feats and skills. If anything, they made the young girl even more excited at the prospect of seeing him again.

“That’s right,” she chuckled, “your dad is one of the strongest shinobi out there. Maybe if you ask really nicely, he’ll show you when he gets home.”

As if that had lit the metaphorical fire under their daughter, Sarada’s smile turned into a confident smirk that reminded Sakura far too much of Sasuke back when he was a genin and faced with a challenge he was confident he could overcome. Her heart clenched at the deluge of memories—Sarada looked so much like her father sometimes that the resemblance could make the distance between the divided parts of their family feel worse—but she would never deny their daughter anything.

“Let’s do it, Mama! I want to practise hard enough that we can make a fireball bigger than Papa’s together!”

And oh, wouldn’t that be a surprise for her husband when he eventually returned? Of course, it would take a long time for the two of them to ever match up to the two decades he had been practising the Gōkakyū, but Sakura knew that he would be touched and filled with pride if they even came close.

Crouching down next to Sarada, Sakura poked her daughter on the forehead with her index and middle fingers. She never had found out the entire story behind where this gesture had come from, other than the fact that it was something Itachi had done to Sasuke often when they were younger, but it had clearly meant a lot to Sasuke and she was more than happy to make sure their daughter associated it with an expression of affection in preparation for the inevitability of him poking her forehead after his return. If it was possible, Sarada’s grin widened even more as she laughed happily and put her soot-stained fingers over her forehead.

“Now let’s get practising, hm? That fireball isn’t going to happen overnight,” Sakura teased with a wry grin, relishing in Sarada’s joy. As much as her soul longed for Sasuke to be there with them, to be witnessing every moment of their daughter’s life alongside her, being able to show him the results of him putting his trust in her to carry on the family legacy would be a good backup option.

Sarada stood a bit too stiffly at the end of the dock, already breathing deeply and preparing to puff out her chest to take in as much air as fuel for the fire as she could. “Ready, Mama?”

“Always.”

As Sarada slowly formed the signs, Sakura matched her pace with pride blossoming in her heart.

Snake. Ram. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger.

Mother and daughter stood together on the dock, engulfing the lake in what must have seemed like a sea of flame, flickering with heat above the disturbed waters. They held the stream of fire for as long as they could before it tapered off, but it had been long enough to make them sweat from the heat and proximity alone. Standing up straight, Sakura smiled proudly down at her eleven-year-old daughter, knowing full well just how much work the girl had put into this jutsu.

“Did you see that!?” Sarada exclaimed, spinning quickly and running up to Sasuke, grabbing onto his only hand in her excitement. His visible eye was slightly widened and he almost seemed to be staring off into space, and Sakura had to resist the urge to giggle. It wasn’t often that she got to see her husband this surprised—the last time she could remember had been when she had casually told him she was pregnant over dinner and Sasuke had nearly choked after inhaling some rice.

After a moment, that gentle smile reserved for their family alone graced his lips and he bent down to look Sarada in the eye. “That was very well done, Sarada. Easily as good as I was at your age.”

Sakura hadn’t thought that the smile on their daughter’s face could get any wider, a common sentiment when it came to her husband and daughter, but it seemed she was mistaken as Sarada’s cheeks reddened in her glee. It had been a very emotionally chaotic few days for their family, especially considering the Shin Uchiha debacle, but she was glad that Sarada seemed to be even more comfortable with her place in their lives than ever.

Dragging her father to the end of the dock, Sarada gestured out over the lake. “Papa, you gotta show me yours! Mama told me stories of how good you are at the Gōkakyū, and I want to see you in action.”

“You saw me use the jutsu just the other day,” Sasuke said, though he seemed more amused than anything as he smiled fondly. Sakura assumed this must have happened before she had arrived to the fight, but couldn’t hold in the chuckle when Sarada shook her head. After all, there was one more thing her husband wasn’t aware of yet.

“C’mon, Papa, it’s not the same!” She protested, gesturing to the lake. “It has to be here.”

While this place had great importance to him due to his own childhood and the years of Uchiha tradition carried out here, the small wooden dock on the lake had become something special for Sakura and Sarada, too.

Every year since Sakura had taught Sarada the jutsu, the two had returned here for an entire day to sit on the end of the dock, to dip their feet in the cool water, and to tell stories. Sarada would talk about the academy, her friends, and her hopes for the future. Sakura would reminisce, teasing her daughter with anecdotes about when she was young and still drooling on her father’s empty sleeve. The morning would be spent peacefully, then they would eat a picnic lunch they had prepared together in the morning, and every year Sarada would ask her mother for stories about Sasuke.

Sakura didn’t know how many times she had told the stories of their times on Team 7 as genin, when they reunited during the war (though Sarada was unaware of how long they had been separated beforehand and assumed, in all her wide-eyed childish innocence that they had simply been fighting on different battlefields), and when he had caught her when she was completely drained. When lunch was over, they would pack up and return to the dock.

They would each silently think of their regrets, their worries, and their stressors from the past year before moving on instinct alone to weave the signs ingrained into their very souls. They would inhale, feeling the heat rise in their lungs until it was nearly overwhelming, and then they would expel the negative energy in the form of a purifying fire that tied them across an unknown distance to their wandering loved one. They would let the Uchiha fire cleanse everything, leaving them feeling rejuvenated and even more connected as family.

Sakura smiled, knowing that Sarada had wanted to bring her father here today of all days to show him this new tradition, and turned back to look out over the lake. With a fond sigh, Sasuke formed his one-handed seals and, with the ease of practice, created a truly massive fireball that—from where they were standing—blocked out the sun itself. Sarada’s eyes gleamed in excitement, an ear-splitting grin on her face as the intense heat vanished along with the fire.

“Papa,” she breathed quietly before turning to him, “that was awesome!”

His gaze seemed to warm further as he looked down at Sarada fondly. “Aa.”

Though Sakura knew Sasuke would likely deny it if anyone asked, the praise from his daughter clearly made him happy. It was such a relief to see him in such good spirits, especially after everything he (and they) had been through in recent and prior years. She was also fully aware that while his jutsu had been truly massive, it was carefully controlled to be impressive while simultaneously completely safe for them—something the Sasuke of years beforehand would never have done.

‘Yes,’ Sakura thought to herself, ‘fatherhood suits him much better than he expected it would.’

“We didn’t have time to make lunch, but that’s okay,” Sarada said suddenly. “The important part is the jutsu anyway, and we’re all here so we can finally do this right! Just… maybe make the fireball a bit smaller this time since we’re going to do it together.”

Sasuke’s brow furrowed as he glanced at Sakura in confusion, causing her to smile and laugh under her breath. Of course, to him, they had already done all that was necessary. Standing between them as she was, Sarada reached out and grabbed onto her parents’ hands before she and Sakura closed their eyes.

Narrating for her father’s sake, Sarada began to speak. “Papa, this is something Mama and I have been doing for years. Think back to all your worries and regrets from the past year—though you can think of ones from other years too since you haven’t done this as much as we have.”

Sakura felt a pang in her chest, knowing from many whispered conversations under the trees or in their bed just how many regrets her husband truly had. Perhaps this would be good for him, in a different way than his journey of redemption had been. It was different from the time they had come here before his departure, too. That time had been filled with frustration and hidden sorrow, while today was all about closure.

“Then, you mould your chakra, mixing the worries in with it. Turn all the bad feelings into fuel, and then we let the fire burn them away.”

From the feel of his chakra alone, Sakura could sense just how much pride Sasuke was feeling at that moment and she was sure that if she opened her eyes, she would see a genuine smile upon his lips. No one loved like the Uchiha, and he was surely overcome by those feelings. Their daughter wouldn’t be drawn toward the darkness the way he had been, and this exercise was just proof of it.

Sarada reluctantly let go of their hands, and the small family whispered under their breaths as they weaved the signs together.

Snake. Ram. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger.

They breathed in and, for a moment, everything seemed to still as they opened their eyes—crimson and viridian and lavender rings, all blazing with determination.

Then, the combined fire of the entire Uchiha clan blazed once more over the lake, cementing bonds and purging all regrets.

#sasuke x sakura #sasusaku #fanfic #sasusakusara #sasuke uchiha #sakura uchiha #sarada uchiha #sasuke and sakura #uchiha family #sasusaku fic #ss fic #vignettes #introspective

27 notes · View notes

akirameta84 · 1 year

Text

idk when or if ill finish this and ive had a habit of sharing my unfinished wip fics lately so heres the sequel to the werewolf au oneshot i wrote (and that i also shared the first part of months before i finished and posted it to ao3 lol)

id say its a bit under halfway done? idk. it follows directly after the last oneshot and may be confusing without it. and its an unfinished fic so you wont be missing anything if you just wait for it to eventually be finished and published (even if it might be a year rip)

but yeah. this is the first half or so wip of "Howling Harassment" sequel to the kubosai werewolf oneshot "Lycanthropic Liasons"

has not been edited or proofread obviously cause its not even done

its 5.3k words, and warning for vomiting mentions. if you want to skip the mini scene where kusuo is sick (he doesnt puke in the scene but talks about having done so) ive bolded the start and end of it. you wont be missing any plot details with it, but this wip preview does end shortly after it with just a paragraph so if you plan to skip that scene you can just stop reading at the first bolded part and be fine

enjoy i guess

also my italics didnt copy over so :shrug: place them where you think they go

Kusuo had been enjoying a very nice nap, relaxing peacefully and soaking in some warm sunshine, when the feeling of something wet dripping onto him slowly roused him from his slumber.

He blearily opened one eye but then immediately snapped both open when he caught sight of the tan wolf, shockingly with a normal looking chin, leaning over him and drooling all over his face. Recoiling and lurching to his paws in the same beat, he stumbled a good few meters away from Nendou, standing tensely in the grass.

They were right outside the makeshift and, honestly, poorly constructed hideout of Kaidou and Aren’s, and Kusuo had thought that if he took a nap outside he could both enjoy the sun on his fur and separate himself from Nendou, since the idiot would likely be enthralled by Kaidou and Aren attempting to play card games with paws.

Apparently Kusuo had been very very wrong. He sat down hard into the dirt and reached a back leg to scratch painfully at his head, like it would help get all the saliva off of him even though he knew it wouldn’t.

Nendou had been staring at him the whole time until a deep bark from the hideout entrance sounded, calling his attention. Aren’s deep purple and very furry but scarred head stuck out from the door made of blankets and glared at Nendou, having heard Kusuo’s mental distress. Nendou whimpered but strutted over to the entrance and headed inside.

In regards to the werewolf telepathy, since they were unsure if Nendou could hear them, attempting verbal communication without the ability to speak words was necessary to try and talk to the idiot who had also found himself lycanthropic by unknown means. At least they knew where he was now and Kusuo could fix any problems his disappearance has started to cause.

Kusuo was slightly worried as well that, due to the fact that he was missing all of the last week, Nendou couldn’t turn back like Kaidou and Aren had at first. Kusuo had been able to teach them by just instructing them through how he usually activated his shape-shifting, and it had thankfully done the trick.

He was still hoping that Nendou could hear their trains of thought even if they were blocked from his. He’d shown no signs of it, but this was Nendou. He could be hearing everything and not give a single clue.

Either way, it was still absolutely bizarre to have someone (Or up to three someones) reading his mind for a change, even if the fact that he didn’t have to bother with proper communication as much was pleasant.

‘It’s still bizarre to me that you’ve heard all of our thoughts up to now from when you met us, Kusuo.’

Yeah. That was fair. Kusuo lifted his head and gazed at the darkening sky that was many shades of orange and pink as the sun gradually lowered into the horizon. It was rather pretty and almost soothing to stare at. It’d been decently bright and blue when he’d gone to sleep, so he’d gotten a good few hours in.

That was good. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to sleep once he went back home and dealt with what would be waiting for him. There was no way his brother had already gone from England to Japan in under twelve hours, even if their mom calling about limiter issues was fairly serious, but he’d still get harassed via television video call from his brother and either wait in dread for his brother to fly over or just teleport himself and get it over with.

Both sucked.

‘I think you’re over reacting. Surely your brother didn’t literally create something that turns people into werewolves. That sounds impossible. To be fair, so does being born an esper, but still.’

‘…B-but how else did it get…created?’

Kaidou was very bad at hiding his excitement at the concept of a mad scientist making something like lycanthropy, even if he posed his question as.

And also how he wondered if Kusuo’s brother could make him into a vampire instead, because when he watched a movie series called- ‘Hey stop stop sto-’

Kusuo snorted but obliged and cut that train of thought off, standing up and padding over to the hideout entrance.

Regardless, the answer was very much no to Kaidou, there really was no other potential source, and yes to Aren. Kuusuke was most certainly behind this and Kusuo was either going to make him fix it or commit fratricide.

‘…Can you…m-maybe-’

‘If he makes a cure I’m not letting you stay like this, Kaidou.’

Kusuo arrived at the blanket covering and stepped inside right on cue to see Kaidou’s best attempt at a canine frown and puppy eyes…the latter of which was quite a lot more effective in a literal dog form than it normally was for the boy seated on a pillow in the very corner of the hideout, front paws splayed over a bunch of cards on the carpeted ground in front of him.

He looked away before the eyes could take effect. He was getting far too soft and was not about to consider willingly keeping one of his friends a goddamn werewolf when he could reverse it.

When. Not if. Kusuo kept making sure he left no room for doubt in his mind. That way it would be easier to kill Kuusuke if he failed to make a totally guaranteed cure.

Aren was padding back over to the light blue wolf, a sulking Nendou in tow, and though Kusuo’s thoughts had already spelled out for the two of them that he was about to go home and get the confrontation or whatever over with, he still had one more pressing issue to attempt to solve beforehand.

‘Nendou,’ He projected outwards, staring at him as if it would help get his message across, taking a few more steps on the frankly uncomfortably textured carpet.

To his slight shock, the tan wolf spun his head around so quickly he feared Nendou would break his neck (A familiar sight, Nendou did that far too much, even if it had less of an impact without the…mildly disturbing human face), tongue lolling out of his mouth as he watched Kusuo expectantly.

Aren and Kaidou looked up, intrigued, their minds similarly surprised that Nendou could hear their minds just fine.

…Could he? There was a chance that had been Kusuo’s own inherent telepathy as it was hard to tell the two versions apart, unlike the ease at which he could separate the lycanthropic ability and his own shape-shifting.

If it was his own and the idiot couldn’t hear Kaidou or Aren that wasn’t that much of an issue. Kusuo was the one who needed to help him turn back, after all.

(Considering the fact that Nendou didn’t visibly react to any of Kusuo’s ambient thoughts about that, actually, Nendou was not connected to the werewolf telepathy. He can only hear projected thoughts from Kusuo’s. Kaidou seemed utterly fascinated by that, while Aren was just mildly annoyed at how it was so complicated. Kusuo was in agreement with his boyfriend, and not just because of that status).

Nendou’s head tilted after the good few moments of staring, and Kusuo realized he should probably elaborate on why he got his attention before he was licked or pounced on again.

‘Do you want me to show you how to turn back tomorrow?’

He almost offered to do it right now but remembered, bitterly, that they were all stuck like this for a good while longer thanks to the moon cycle.

To his surprise, Nendou responded by shaking his head no, slobber flailing from his tongue as he did so. He heard Kaidou yelp as a drop landing in his eye, according to his thoughts.

That was…not the expected or desired answer at all. Kusuo wished he could just ask why straight up, but he would just go through the options instead.

Aren had sat down facing the two of them, even though Nendou was still turned away from Kusuo and looking back with his head, face far too amused to be anything but smug.

‘I bet he’s going to already know how to-’

‘You’re jumping ahead in the narrative, shut up.’

‘…I’m what?’

Kusuo firmly decided to ignore him. Kaidou could probably use some help putting all the playing cards away, he not so subtly thought of but didn’t directly project as he looked over and saw the small wolf in question pushing around the cards with his paws to try and get them all in a small stack again.

Aren just rolled his eyes but turned away to assist, and Kusuo gave his attention back to the ever still and rapt Nendou.

Seriously, he kind of wished that Nendou had lost interest in their one-sided conversation during the decently sized breaks in it. That would be less creepy.

‘Are you saying no because you already know how?’ He asked next, using purely his own deductive reasoning and nothing else.

‘You are really something special, babe.’

Kusuo shifted in place, annoyed, as Nendou nodded. There was no bothering with asking why the fuck he had stayed like this a week when there wouldn’t be a reply. He just huffed out a breath of air and asked one last question.

‘Will you please turn back and be human again by tomorrow?’

Nendou unflinchingly nodded at the downright angry tone of Kusuo’s, finally spinning around fulling and raising a front paw up, curling it and uncurling it awkwardly.

Was that supposed to be a thumbs up? Probably. He could only guess that it was because the idiot tended to give so many of those normally.

Kusuo nodded to himself and walked away, putting as much space between him and Nendou as he could in the small hideout, ending up next to the other two slightly less idiotic wolves.

‘Slightly!? It’s more than just slightly!’

Aren just chortled.

‘Do you want help getting home before I go, Kaidou? I can teleport you and then make your family perceive you as human if they happen to see you before you’re able to change back. And, of course, make your disappearance today nonexistent.’

There was a worrying hesitation before Kaidou replied, his snout twisting awkwardly as if he were trying to bite at his lip, and he paused in gently nudging a few cards to the side and merging them with the growing stack. Kusuo used his telekinesis to grab them all and order them neatly into a stack, floating them straight into the box.

Kaidou blinked at him, startled but grateful, but refocused his mind quickly.

‘A-actually I want to. Uh…t-tell them. I don’t want to hide it forever and it would just be…easier. To tell them.’

Huh. Kusuo had heard Kaidou’s mind dance on that possibility, but it had been thought about so little that he hadn’t expected the boy to actually decide on that course of action in the end.

‘…I hope it goes well, then. Do you still want help getting home right now or will you wait?’

‘I’ll w-wait with Aren. Get some nerves out. And go home when we’re back.’

‘Very well.’

Kaidou and Aren had taken to keeping spare clothes in the hideout, so that plan would work just fine for them. Kusuo had no need, he could just teleport freely around those two since his secret wasn’t secret between them. And, in all honesty…it felt nice to have have a friend closer than Aiura or Toritsuka know, as well as someone even closer but not family.

But for now he also was definitely not telling any other friends. Not until he was ready to actually do it on his own terms for once.

Kusuo turned around and walked towards the exit of the hideout despite not needing to in order to head home, but it somehow felt more polite to leave this way and then teleport.

‘I’ll see you guys tomorrow, then.’

Kaidou and Aren seemed baffled that he’d said farewell which was rather fair since he never gave those or said hello much at all, but responded in kind themselves.

Before he could make it all the way out, though, footsteps sprinted towards him, and he didn’t have much time to react before Aren shoved his face against Kusuo’s, rubbing them together like he was a cat instead of a wolf.

Aren’s expression was far too innocent afterwards as he drew back and somehow grinned, and Kusuo rolled his eyes and turned away, keeping his body but most importantly his stupid tail with a mind of its own still as warmth bloomed in his chest, grateful his face couldn’t flush like this.

He continued walking moments after, only not doing something to be polite and reciprocate because he needed to leave and not because the prospect of doing so like this was embarrassing.

He briefly wanted to strangle Aren when he heard his mental chuckle at his denial.

As soon as he had fully crossed through the blanketed doorway, tail and all, Kusuo gathered his energy and teleported to his bedroom, a location so familiar he didn’t even need to conjure the image in his head to travel to it.

And, as soon as all four of his legs landed on his bedroom floor, his television turned on and his brother’s ugly face filled the screen, telepathy canceler adorning his long blonde hair, some of it covering his left eye and the rest of it in a ponytail, despite Kusuo being nowhere close enough to read his mind. He bared his teeth at the image and intentionally raised his hackles.

It took less than a second of being home for his brother to make an entrance.

Fifty six milliseconds, to be precise.

Kuusuke sniffled, feigning sadness as his tinny voice sounded through the speakers, “I can’t believe my own baby brother is so angry at me paying him a pseudo visit. How upsetting, after mom called me so worried about you and everything…”

Kusuo just sat on his floor and glared at the television, making eye contact not with Kuusuke’s image, but with the camera perched very visibly on top of the television.

His brother knew he’d be slaughtered if he had cameras permanently installed in Kusuo’s or their parent’s bedrooms. But he’d been barely spared when he added one to his TV that only activated when he was video calling, and the living and dining rooms got actual full-time cameras.

“Hmph, no response? Not even a rude comment?” His brother paused purposefully and smugly, “Oh, wait, you can’t respond! Without your telepathy, since even with my lovely canceler I’m still far out of range, you can’t speak like that.”

A teasing glint entered his brother’s visible eye as Kusuo continued to glare, unimpressed, “Or can you? Come on, can you speak, Kusuo? Speak? Like a good dog?”

He had to put physical effort into swallowing his growl, because that would have almost given Kuusuke exactly what he wanted. His bedroom sat in silence as they had an impromptu, or really, with his brother, expected competition to see who’s resolve gave first.

Kuusuke didn’t bother to try very hard, giving up with a shrug quickly because as much as he liked to make fun of his brother and attempt to win at every little thing, proper competition or not, they shared the same trait of impatience.

Kusuo’s patience was better overall, though. It had to be, growing up with his powers and all.

“I will say, it is a lot harder to decipher what you want to say like this. I’ve mastered your blank human expression, obviously, but I am very much not a canine person. Maybe I should have made werecats instead…”

Kusuo didn’t even bother to hide his growl that time, narrowing his eyes and translating his words clearly enough that his brother was easily able to garner the meaning when given more information than an empty glare.

“Oh? Am I responsible for you and your friend’s predicament? Obviously. To be completely truthful, though, you were never supposed to find out, and you were especially not supposed get infected yourself.”

Kusuo tilted his head to the side, keeping his eyes narrowed to hopefully keep his skepticism clear.

His brother laughed at first, “Aw, you look adorable like that. It barely looks like you’re angry,” Kusuo snapped his head back up instantly, “But no, I am not lying. That’s why I kidnapped and gave the virus to your brainless friend initially, so you wouldn’t hear any thoughts about it.”

Kuusuke paused to wave a hand dismissively at the question Kusuo didn’t even try to ask, anticipating the obvious.

“I never left London and your friend never left Japan, either. I had robots kidnap and inject him with the serum I had mailed to a private lab I own in the area beforehand. It was easier and I had no risk of getting infected myself. What I failed to realize is that your little pet idiot could break out of a room made of solid steel walls and take off the tracking collar in the process.”

The screen briefly flickered to an image of, presumably, the room Nendou had been held in. There was a large hole in one of the gray, metal walls, opening straight into the outside, and the image barely lasted a few seconds before his brother was back in view.

Ah. Kusuo didn’t think that was possible either, but this was Nendou they were talking about, who has done countless other inhuman feats like his stunt in the school marathon. If Kusuo didn’t know any better, he’d say that Nendou also had psychic abilities.

“Anyways, I’m sure you’re wanting my help with this…issue of yours?” Kuusuke questioned, not leaving room for Kusuo to respond before continuing.

Not that Kusuo would have replied anyways, but the implications were still rude.

“Why don’t you teleport over here right away and let me have a look? I have to admit, much to my shame… I have no way of making a cure without seeing the biological structure of the transformed state first. Otherwise I might be reverting things that are actually a part of your human body.”

That was the biggest pile of bullshit Kusuo had ever heard, and his eye roll only conveyed a tiny fraction of how pissed he was.

“Ah, you’re too smart for that, huh, Kusuo? Yeah, I actually don’t know if I can revert the lycanthropy at all, haha! I never planned to in the first place.”

…Sometimes, the truth hurt significantly more than the lie he had tried to get fed. Kusuo sighed, quite displeased, and stood with a stretch, walking right past his television and heading for the door of his bedroom, which he swung open telekinetically.

He couldn’t see his brother anymore, but he could, unfortunately, still hear him, “Cold shoulder, huh? I never said I wouldn’t try, Kusuo,” He paused mid-step, body halfway out of the door, “Teleport over tomorrow before school, since I really don’t think you’ll get anywhere near me transformed and you’re stuck like this until around six in the morning tomorrow, and I’ll see what I can think of. I won’t keep you anymore, mom’s about to call you down for dinner. Goodbye!”

Kusuo heard his television forcefully shut off with a faint click at the same time his mom’s thoughts grew in volume as they targeted him with ‘Ku-chan, dinner’s ready!’

He’d known dinner was ready. That was why he’d teleported home at this time and had started leaving the conversation when he had. Hmph. Maybe it was a little bit of intentional cold shoulder, sure, but it was mostly dinner.

Or at least that was what he’d tell his mom if Kuusuke whined to her about Kusuo being mean, because he was just being mean for the fun of it. It wasn’t like his brother didn’t deserve it. Sure, he said he was going to genuinely try and fix the whole stupid werewolf thing, but it was his fault in the first place so the effort overall amounted to nothing.

…Did Kuusuke say six in the morning? That probably meant the initial shift had been at six this morning, which added up. That was utterly ridiculous. It was from sunrise to sunrise on the day and night with the fullest moon. How irritating. Kusuo was very good at tuning out Kaidou and Aren’s train of dialogue at this point, helped by his seventeen years of experience tuning out telepathy in general, so much so that he could even forget about them, but their exclamations of horror at that time-frame brought them back into the forefront for a moment.

They’re going to be waiting in that hideout much longer than anticipated… Kusuo sent them a brief condolence. He sent himself a reminder to set an alarm for tomorrow morning so he could shift back promptly.

Abruptly done, Kusuo turned back into his room instead of stepping all the way out, finding and grabbing his dinner telekinetically and bringing it straight to himself, ignoring the silverware for obvious reasons. Upon seeing his plate float away from his table, his mom’s thoughts became rather worried, but he reassured her that he was fine, just still. Having issues.

“…And I’ll be going to see Kuusuke early tomorrow,” He tacked on as well, rolling his eyes at how that statement fully calmed her down in the end.

Setting the plate down on his desk, Kusuo did his best to hop onto his desk chair, grumbling as he landed and the chair teetered precariously before balancing. Doing that was much easier as a cat, considering he weighed around ten pounds as one compared to now in which he was probably a good bit over a hundred.

Mildly annoyed, he huffed again tonight, and started eating (And being a bit disheartened at how dull the normally delicious tonkatsu tasted. He didn’t have anywhere near as many taste buds as a human did, so it was like the flavor was distant and sad), debating on if even trying to sleep when he felt wild awake and irritated was even worth it.

Well, even just lying restfully in his bed would be nice, and Kusuo decided listlessly relaxing was how he’d spend the rest of the night. School tomorrow would probably be a pain after having to deal with his brother, and a mental break would be necessary.

If only he had his germanium ring to truly relax in silence, properly removing both forms of telepathy. As much as he was fond of his nuisances, it was socially draining to always be either in a conversation or hearing one, as the werewolf telepathy was louder than his.

‘Are you telling us to shut up?’

‘Of course not. I’m complaining to myself, not you.’

‘…Right.’

Back on track, even if he could wear a ring on paws, it was no longer functional. The initial transformation had taken his ring with it, just like his clothes, and it’d been warped and broken beyond repair due to Kusuo’s innate strength. If it hadn’t, he likely would’ve tied it to a string and placed it on his neck.

As it stood, it was one wrong tap from Kusuo away from shattering, which wasn’t good when one weak tap from Kusuo could kill a person.

At least in the fading hours of daylight as dusk transitioned to night, people were settling down; and while most people weren’t going to sleep, they were going from a busy day to a mellow night routine, and their minds quieted as a result.

Finishing his meal and barely stopping himself from zoning out and letting his brain decide to lick the rest of the plate clean, he squinted at the empty dish and activated his clairvoyance to see if he had any coffee jelly of equal value in the fridge.

Fantastically, he did. Thank god his parents didn’t splurge on fancy dishes and silverware. This cheap ceramic plate had the same value of a slightly high in value convenience store coffee jelly, and so he apported the two of them, not caring at all that his empty plate was now in the refrigerator.

Kusuo could put it up later, before his parents noticed. Probably.

The lack of hands was making Kusuo actually appreciative of the full scale of his ESP for once, as ripping the seal off of the cup of jelly was as simple as a flex of his mind.

His tail thumped against the side of chair from where it dangled downwards as he shoved his snout straight into the cup. The taste may be watered down and nowhere close to how divine it was normally, but there was still enough of it present for him to enjoy it blissfully.

When he finished it and licked the entire inside completely clean he apported the empty cup for a significantly cheaper but still good brand of coffee jelly, since eating the contents regrettably lowered the value.

He deserved two for this whole ordeal. Maybe three…

…Perhaps not three, actually, since it wouldn’t do if he ate too much coffee jelly while being unable to truly enjoy its delectable flavor…yeah, two would suffice. That reason was why he had avoided his favorite treat even when dealing with being miserable and shape-shifted against his will, but a whole day stuck as a dog warranted it.

----

Kusuo should not have eaten any coffee jelly.

His head and stomach burned fiercely but, at the very least, he heard little to no mental voices due to it being the middle of the night. Even Kaidou and Aren were fast asleep, evidently, since there was no trace of them in his mind. So he did get the reprieve of his headache was significantly less than it could have been in this moment.

His mom rubbed his back (Basically petting him but the comfort was something he would have gotten the exact same way in a human form, so whatever), kneeling down on the floor to be next to him as he sat on the same, chilly, bathroom tile, right in front of the toilet.

Caffeine was toxic to canines, as well as most other animals. Technically it was still toxic to humans but that was irrelevant due to humans having the constitution for it.

Wolves did not have the constitution for it. It made them very ill instead.

Yes, he’d known that, but he’s eaten coffee jelly in his cat form with no repercussions despite his biology being just as altered as it was now…but, on retrospect, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever spent the next few hours after those moments remaining in a cat form and letting that body start to digest it, instead turning back before that could happen.

His mom’s mind was frantic with distress which was fair considering she’d found her normally invulnerable son still transformed and heaving the contents of his stomach into the toilet in the middle of the night after waking up from the noise of him teleporting and landing loudly into the bathtub at first because he’d been disoriented and nauseous, but she’d refused to let her mind come up with and ask questions until she was sure Kusuo was going to be alright.

She was a godsend, and so he decided to explain of his own free will so she wouldn’t start crying, which she was far too close to for comfort, flicking his gaze to the side so that it met hers.

“I’m okay. Or getting there. Dogs can’t have coffee or they get sick. I ate two cups of coffee jelly after dinner…I think I forgot to take the plate I apported into the fridge back out as well. Sorry.”

“Kusuo…” The use of his actual name was usually a bad sign, but now it was more out of exasperation and worry than anything of the scolding variety, “Can you still not turn back?”

He just shook his head, not wanting to explain that he wouldn’t be able to until a time frame that was far too specific for what he was still pretending was a power malfunction.

Kurumi just hummed sadly at that, continuing to stroke his back even as his scooted a bit away from the toilet. His stomach was still rolling queasily, but Kusuo was fairly sure that his body was done being absolutely disgusting.

He almost shuddered remembering how it had felt. He was beyond glad his ESP made him neigh immune to disease, because vomiting was the most unpleasant thing he’d ever experienced so far in life.

As he continued to pull himself back together, staring blearily at the white bathroom floor tiles, his mom asked him another question, “Would medicine help?”

“Even if it did, given my powers, I can’t take it like this. Human medication is a very big no-no for animals,” He sighed mentally and slowly raised himself off the ground, taking shaky steps past his mom and towards the open bathroom door. It was dark in the house, and so the hallway outside looked pitch in contrast to the illuminated bathroom, even with his ability to see in the dark.

The bathroom was, fortunately, rather close to his bedroom, so he decided against teleporting and padded slowly back to his room, pausing as his mom rushed ahead to open the door for him, leaving the bathroom light on in the process.

That was sweet of her, even if he probably could have used his telekinesis fine. He sent a quiet thanks to her and closed the gap to his bed agonizingly slowly, as his stomach lurched ominously whenever he tried to speed up more than a tiny bit.

Kusuo had actually managed to drift asleep briefly before this incident, lulled sufficiently by soft mental voices as he laid on his bed, and now he was even sleepier feeling. It seemed like getting sick had actually assisted in granting him some much needed rest.

He didn’t bother to shut his bedroom door, nosing under the covers of his bed until he was completely buried and comfortable, wondering faintly where his mom had gone when he heard her footsteps go downstairs, but overall not that concerned about it.

It was only when he had nearly fallen asleep again that his heightened hearing noticed her approaching his bed, and she called for him as she approached the lump of covers he’d become, “Ku-chan?”

He stuck his head out from under his blankets, the rest of his body curled up tightly behind him, looking curiously at his mom as she held a bowl full of water out at him, setting it down on his end table once she’d confirmed that he knew of its presence.

“If you feel up to it, you should make sure to drink some water, okay? Otherwise you’ll get dehydrated, since you just threw up,” She reached a hand down and stroked his head gently, and Kusuo nodded both to signify that he heard her and to dislodge it politely.

He knew that. He just hadn’t felt like getting himself water when he would have survived the night regardless. But, now that it had been brought to him, he crawled up on his bed until he could stick his muzzle into the bowl and drink as his mom turned to leave, wishing him a good rest of the night that he almost forgot to return.

Drinking from a bowl like this was mildly demeaning, but it was significantly less of a hassle than using telekinesis to drink from a cup was. So, since he was feeling very icky and wanted to exert as little energy as possible right now, he decided he didn’t care, tucking his head right back under his blanket once he’d had enough to satiate his thirst.

----

Waking up to an alarm at six in the morning when he didn’t have to be at school until closer to nine would usually be a miserable experience, but for once, Kusuo was downright filled with joy when he remembered why he was startled out of a deep sleep so early.

#werewolf au #akira scribbles #<- i guess even wips can go here now lol #saiki k #saiki kusuo no psi nan #the disastrous life of saiki k.#kubosai

22 notes · View notes

moonshine-nightlight · 2 years

Text

2023 Writing/Stories Look-Forward

thanks to everyone who's read and liked and commented and tagged and sent in asks for my writing this year!

today i sat down to sketch out a vague--and definitely not set in stone plan for 2023--and I thought i'd share it with you guys, from a very high level and with the caveat that it will likely not be followed to the letter as i always inevitably bite off more than i can chew

but i lik to shoot high! lol so here's what i've got

Main goal: finishing the first draft of Nothing's Wrong with Dale and getting it all posted. this is the goal i'm most confident about and will lik, cannibalize other parts of my plan to achieve. i also have some like bonus offshoots for Dale, but those will likely get posted after the story is over and so are not part of the plan

Short Story goals: I plan to finish both Selfish (f!naga) and Free Piano: Haunted (m!spirit). I want to put out my Sci-Fi oneshot Snapped (m!alien) and the three part Seen (f!deity) - both of which i posted sneak peeks of a little while ago for that 'WIPs u didn't finish this year' ask meme.

Then it gets a little fuzzy - i'll either do two shorter 5 parts fics (both with winged monsters f&m) or one longer fic (probably Goddaughter or Quid Pro Quo - both m!demon fics), depending on what i'm feeling like for lik April-May ish. My summer fic will be about a runalong. In the fall/winter, I'll post the rest of Free Piano: Haunted and Feral (f!hellhound).

Choosing these from all my ideas was super hard, but I think i'm happy with what i picked (and all are technically subject to change).

At least, that's the plan.

As far as the short term, i plan to finish off some shorter things now (Selfish, Snapped, and Seen - idk y they all start with 'S' lol) in January. After that February and March are literally the busiest time of year for me at work and this will not be an easy busy season so I might literally post nothing (which is another reason that part of my plan is so up in the air). I will be working a minimum of 6 days a week, 55 hours a week - likely more than that so my brain will not be up for much writing during that time.

Hiatus: Last year I was able to keep posting Nothing's Wrong with Dale for some of January, but that's not going to be the case this year - putting up half of the next 4 part arc and then not finishing it until April would be unfair imo - both to you for the cliffhanger and to me because i will be able to write them far better if i write all oft he at once/in a row. So no more Dale until April, I'm afraid. The only reason I'll be able to post some of the other things at all in January is because most of them are already partially done where as next Dale is not started.

Feel free to send in any asks about upcoming/current stories! Happy New Year!

(please note that this is me, if anything, overestimating how much I'll be able to write and asking me to change my mind about say, Dale, to be more frequent etc will not work)

46 notes · View notes

thegreyj · 2 years

Text

Excuse me, but that's not my name

I hinted at this on my masterlist, and now finally publishing it. I wrote it like almost two years ago, but I thought I should try posting some of my older stuff too!

This is just a random high school reunion AU oneshot from my collection, I hope you enjoy!

CW: fluff, humor, mentions of bullying

Word count: 3,4k

Excuse me, but that's not my name

Closing the front door behind her, Aelin kicked off her heels and dropped her keys on the bowl next to the pile of mail Rowan had picked up earlier when he had gotten home. A quick glance at the stack was almost an automatic reaction, which usually didn’t stir any interest in the woman’s head. Today, however, there was something that stood out from the generic white letters. A light blue envelope with “Aelin Ashryver Galathynius” written with neat letters on it.

Must be from someone back when I wasn’t married, Aelin thought. She did add Rowan’s last name to that seemingly neverending name of hers. Plus, she was very particular that all her names were used and to get a letter without one name just felt wrong. Someone might think it funny or even stupid to get so many feelings over a mere name, but for Aelin, her name was her story – an important story too, of how she grew up to be the confident woman she is today. She wasn’t like that always, no, Aelin used to be a laughingstock back in high school. It got to a point where she first dropped her ‘Ashryver’ name, then tried changing her name entirely to ‘Celaena Sardothien’. Thank gods she didn’t go through that officially.

“Did you see the letter that came for you in the mail?” Aelin’s musings were interrupted by the voice belonging to the man of her dreams, her husband.

“Yeah, didn’t open it yet though,” Aelin responded, picking up the envelope finally and trotted towards Rowan’s voice. He was laying on the sofa, reading a book with his glasses perched on his nose. Aelin almost drooled at the sight – she really did win the lottery when she got Rowan as her husband. Six foot four tall, solid muscle, striking tattoos against his slightly tanned skin, the most gorgeous pine green eyes and silver hair. And the accent. Oh, so good. Despite Rowan having lived in Terrasen for so long, he still hadn’t lost the lilt from his voice.

“Done daydreaming about me, love?” Rowan chuckled as he caught Aelin staring. She blushed slightly, then regained her bearings and just grinned at the man still laying on the sofa.

“Well, I can’t help that you look so damn sexy the way you hold that book, and the glasses on your nose… Gods, I might just ravish you for dinner instead of the takeout I brought.”

This made Rowan grin just as brightly as his wife did, and his eyes took on a predatory gaze. He set the book down gently, rose from the sofa and slowly walked towards Aelin, almost like a hunter trying to reach its prey. When he was right in front of the gold-haired woman, he could hear her small, sharp intake of breath, like she was anticipating something unexpecting. Which was the reality of their life. Neither ever knew what the other was about to do, so all the possible scenarios from Rowan throwing her to his shoulder and running to the bedroom, to him stripping the clothes off her and having the dinner off her body went through her mind. Probably all scenarios, except for what actually happened next.

Rowan reached his hand slowly towards Aelin and quickly snatched the letter from her hands. He then ran from their living room, giggling. Giggling. Her giant hunk of a husband giggled while stealing a letter from her. Aelin joined the giggles and ran after him. She found him perched at the end of their bed, opening the letter.

“Hey, what happened to not opening anyone else’s mail?” Aelin tried to sound upset but ended up laughing. She wasn’t actually mad about the fact that Rowan was opening a letter addressed to her. They fully trusted each other, so this was not unusual with the two of them.

“I have to check who the secret admirer is sending letters to my wife,” Rowan simply responded, still with that silly grin on his face. “So, I can then find them and show them you’re taken. They left out the name I gave you, this is outrageous!”

“Opening a mere letter helps you with your machismo, Whitethorn? Alright, be my guest then,” the woman kept up their light banter. “But no, really, I haven’t the faintest idea who this is from, so open it up. I want to find out who dares to write me a letter without actually putting my full name to the front.”

By now, the folded paper had been pulled from the light blue envelope, and Rowan began reading the letter out loud. With his special commentary of course.

“Dear Aelin – who dares call you dear in a letter, unless they are your family?” Rowan gruntled but began again. “Dear Aelin, I hope this letter finds you well – what is this, the 19th century? Finds you well, sure. I have been tasked to form a group and contact them in order to start the preparations. A sort of special operations team, if I may say so. Seriously, whoever wrote this is living some sort of a fairytale. Who writes like this anymore? I remembered you participating in similar tasks back in high school – oh so a high school friend then – and thought you would be a perfect addition to our team. It has now been nearly 10 years since our graduation from high school, and we are organising the reunion. Oh, it’s your reunion soon,” Rowan stopped reading for a bit and looked at Aelin, who did not look very happy with the thought of seeing her peers from high school.

“As I mentioned, I was tasked with forming a group to organise this reunion and would very much like for you to be a part of the team. Please respond to me as soon as possible. I have enclosed both my email and my phone number at the bottom of this letter. Kind regards, Kaltain Rompier. Well, love, it seems you are asked to organise your reunion,” Rowan chuckled at the fire blazing from his wife’s eyes.

“No. Absolutely not. I hated them then, I still hate them now. Kaltain Rompier was a bitch who bullied me back then and I’m sure this is just her attempt to bully me more somehow,” Aelin crossed her arms and looked like a sulking toddler, which just made Rowan laugh.

“Love. Love, listen to me. I get how bad high school was for-,” Rowan was interrupted by the fiery woman in front of him.

“How could you get that, mister popular star athlete who every girl wanted to date, and all the guys wanted to befriend? How could you get how fucking bad the entire experience was for me?” Aelin was on the offense now. Rowan raised his hands in defense, trying to show his wife he was on her side.

“Alright, I can’t fully get that, but I know you and I understand you, and I can imagine based off of what you’ve told me. But if you back out now, you’re just letting them win. What a better way to show off the new, absolutely stunning, confident version of you, than to beat them at their own game?”

Rowan did have a point. A tiny point, but a point, nonetheless. Aelin could help with the organising of the event, then participate in the event and just show off her amazing, successful life. She hugged Rowan, thanking him for bringing her back from her insecurities again. It wasn’t often Aelin fell to the old version of herself, but sometimes the bullied girl showed her emotions through the cracks of the confident, grown-up armor. Thankfully Rowan loved and knew how to handle all versions of Aelin, which made life easier nowadays.

It was now almost three months later, Aelin having done a lot of the organising from the comforts of her home, such as booking the venue and listing the names and addresses of their peers. The other three, including Kaltain, did more of the hands-on preparations, which meant Aelin did not have to meet up with them face to face. She did call them a few times to clarify things and to assist them on choosing the color schemes and similar things.

The event was happening tonight. Aelin had spent the entire morning being pampered to lower her stress levels, and then spending time on the phone handling last minute preparations to increase her stress levels right back up. Rowan was going to be her plus one, and he knew better than to be on her way today of all days. Instead, he had gotten dressed when it was necessary, and was now wearing his tailored three-piece tuxedo while waiting for his wife.

Aelin was finally ready, wearing a dress Rowan had bought for his wife. A black, skin-tight dress with an open back and some thin, golden chains holding the dress up and together, almost highlighting the dragon tattoo on her back. She had pulled most of her hair up, leaving just a few strands down, and very little makeup to enhance her natural beauty. She wasn’t wearing any other jewelry except for the wedding and engagement rings from Rowan, and a thin bangle on her wrist which Rowan had gotten her on her 25th birthday. It had “Fireheart” engraved on it.

“Wow, love. You look… breathtaking,” Rowan said as he stood up, with a smooth motion closing the button on his jacket and offering Aelin her coat.

“Thanks, buzzard. You look delicious,” Aelin winked. It seems that a lot of the stress from before was now gone, or at least more hidden. Rowan chuckled at her comment.

“Shall we?”

At the venue, the two of them separated with a kiss. Rowan told her he’d go find their table while Aelin was asked by one of the venue managers to handle some very last-minute detail, which apparently only Aelin could do, or at least that’s what that Rompier lady had told the manager. Aelin was slightly pissed that she couldn’t simply enjoy her evening as she had planned, or at least try to, but she handled the issue with speed and grace, and then finally began her walk towards the room. Many people were whispering, trying to figure out who she was. Aelin had changed quite a bit since high school, when she had been a shy music geek who almost everyone made fun of.

Rowan was facing similar whispers, most of them wondering how the hell he had ended up on this particular reunion, seeing as his 10-year-reunion had been three years prior. He had been a senior when they had been freshmen, and he had been the biggest star athlete of their school back then. Everyone still remembered him, as he had set some records which, still to this day, were undefeated. Simply smiling at anyone greeting him, but not staying for a chat, he found their table right in at the front of the stage. “Aelin Ashryver Galathynius and date”. Again, they had forgotten a part of her name, which made him frown. He didn’t mind being simply Aelin’s date tonight, no need to steal her thunder. He was proudly showing Aelin off today, since he had the most beautiful woman at his side – as he always did, if you asked his opinion.

Aelin finally made it to the room, but she wasn’t about to mingle. Instead, she quickly spotted the silver head of her husband, seated at one of the small tables at the front. Many women in the room were staring at him in adoration, which brought almost an evil smile to Aelin’s face. They could look all they wanted, but they most certainly could not touch.

“If everyone would please be seated, so we may begin with the speeches before dinner. Dinner tonight will be served buffet-style, so everyone will be collecting their own food when the time is upon,” Kaltain had found her way to the stage by now and her screechy voice was annoying Aelin already, before the event had even time to officially begin. She did manage to sneak to sit beside Rowan as everyone else was distracted trying to find their seats. Once everyone was seated, Kaltain picked up the microphone once again.

“First of all, I would like to offer a very warm welcome to all tonight. I’m so happy to see each and every one of you here on this special evening. I am absolutely certain we will all be enjoying the event as we reach back to our fondest years to reminisce, look back to the predictions made at the end of our senior year and maybe see some of them come true too,” Kaltain had a bitchy smirk on her face. Or maybe the bitchy face was a norm for her. Aelin certainly thought so.

“We have quite a few speeches prepared, so let’s start with those. First of all, I’d like to call to the stage our beloved principal, Murtaugh Allsbrook!” Kaltain began applauding as the old man began his trek to the stage. As the principal opened his mouth to give his speech, Rowan turned slightly towards Aelin and whispered in her ear.

“That old bag is still the principal? I thought he’d be dead by now,” Rowan tried to lighten up his wife with a joke. Aelin snickered quietly, so it was working. He made funny comments about all the people giving speeches, whether his comments were true or not, at least he had managed to make Aelin’s mood a bit brighter. When the numbingly boring, but mandatory speeches were finally over, Rowan told Aelin to stay still as he would get their meals. He knew precisely what Aelin would want to eat, and he was happy to do a small act of pampering for his wife. Aelin thanked him with a kiss and went scrolling through her phone.

Rowan found his way to the buffet line and realised his mistake. Staying still in the line opened up opportunities for the others to engage him in conversation, and he didn’t want to be too rude, as this was supposed to be Aelin’s night.

“Rowan Whitethorn! Thought I recognised you,” came a screeching voice behind him as a hand touched his arm. A hand which did not belong to his wife, but to one Kaltain Rompier.

“Yes, indeed it is I,” Rowan replied with uninterest and tried to unsuccessfully shrug her hand off.

“How have you been all these years? You still look just as good as you did back in high school. I used to have the biggest crush on you back then,” Kaltain giggled trying to flirt. “You can’t still be single, not with those looks.”

“Oh, no. Happily married thank you very much. Here as my wife’s plus one,” he finally managed to get rid of the hand as he grabbed two plates and began collecting food on them.

“Hahaha, of course,” Kaltain giggled again. “And just who might your wife be? Do I know her? Of course, I know her since she is here, hahaha.”

Luckily someone came by to talk to Kaltain, so Rowan could escape that horrid woman and finish the plates for him and Aelin. He was walking back to their table, when he noticed someone trying to flirt with Aelin, but looking like they got turned down. The other person had turned away by the time Rowan reached the table, setting down the food in front of the bottomless pit he called his wife.

“Ooooh you got everything I wanted, thank you buzzard!” Rowan just smiled and began eating his salmon as he watched the incredible woman beside her wolf down the entire plate of pasta and fried things.

Dinner was now over and there were some videos shown that took people right back down the memory lane. Rowan spotted Aelin’s picture a few times. She was so different now; no wonder people didn’t recognise her. In high school she used to wear overly large clothing, her hair was dyed to a darker colour and puberty hadn’t been kind to her either. But even in the pictures, Rowan found Aelin to be beautiful. Her eyes were the one thing that had not changed, and even back then her eyes showed Aelin’s soul if you knew where to look. She looked to be in peace while playing the instruments in the pictures.

One thing in particular made Rowan frown. As they were showing the yearbook pictures behind on the big screen, there were “most likely to” slogans written underneath a lot of the names. Most likely to be successful, most likely to be married with kids, most likely to be a celebrity and so on. But the thing written under Aelin’s picture did finally make him realise how bad high school had been for his wife. Most likely to die a virgin. These slogans were submitted by others, in good jest, but this had to have been pure malice. He now knew why Aelin had never shown her yearbook to him. He grabbed Aelin’s hand in a comforting gesture – to him or to Aelin, he did not know.

As the evening went by, so did the “fun” games too. The most successful of the games was a back down the memory lane trivia quiz – even Rowan had somehow ended up in a question there despite being a few years older. They also hosted a photo booth, which Aelin and Rowan took advantage of to take some... more promiscuous pictures, as well as some cute ones. Neither of the couple wanted to mingle a lot with others, so they just stuck with each other, flirting and joking together. A few of the people who’d been in the music program with Aelin had come by to exchange a few words. Quite a few ladies tried to come by to chat Rowan up, who just responded to them by kissing Aelin on the cheek or the neck, or even occasionally a full-blown kiss on the lips to deter any of the annoying women.

When the mingling was dying down a bit, Kaltain – the self-appointed hostess – decided to finally wrap up the evening.

“Hello again everyone. I hope you have enjoyed the evening tonight; I know I have. We have had quite a few surprises here tonight and some not-so-surprising things come out as well. I would like to thank every single one of you for coming tonight, it wouldn’t have been a success without you all. Now that we have had the pleasure of reminiscing the good old days and had some fun, I’d like to thank a few special people tonight,” Kaltain began her speech.

“Yours truly, I, Kaltain Rompier, was tasked with bringing together the team to organise this whole shindig, and we did a magnificent job even if I say so myself. I’d like to thank my team next. Nox Owens, you did an amazing job with the decorations. Would you please stand up so everyone may applaud you?”

The man in question rose from his seat and had a small grin on his face. Everyone in the room clapped their hands in appreciation.

“I know I could not have done this without Yrene Westfall’s incredible assistance – you knew her as Yrene Towers back in high school. She sent out all the invitations and made sure our dinner tonight was as tasty as it was!”

It was Yrene’s turn to get up for the applause. Her long curls flowed down her back and her brown skin was glowing – probably due to the very visible reason. She was pregnant. And apparently, she is married one of the class heartthrobs too - Chaol.

“Last but not least, bringing to the table her incredible skills at acquiring people’s personal information, as well as choosing and booking our gorgeous venue, Aelin Ashryver Galathynius!”

As Aelin rose from her seat, silence fell upon the room. No one had expected the gorgeous blonde at Rowan Whitethorn’s arm to be the Aelin they knew from high school.

“Um, excuse me, but that’s not my name. At least not my full name. I’d appreciate my actual name used, which is Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius. Oh, and I most certainly will not die a virgin,” Aelin said that with so much conviction and confidence, you could literally picture her dropping the microphone. Rowan simply grinned from his seat, taking her hand and kissing it. Someone started applauding at the back, and the others joined in. Aelin simply stood and enjoyed the attention. For the first time in her life, she enjoyed the attention by her high school peers.

Aelin 1 – high school 0.

#rowaelin fic #rowaelin #throne of glass fanfiction #rowan whitethorn #aelin galathynius #tog fic #tog fanfic #throne of glass #rowaelin fanfiction #my writing #rowaelin oneshot

63 notes · View notes