#ADDITIONAL TAG LIKE TWO WEEKS LATER: I need you all to know that I call this my yassified shiggy post | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fandomfluffandfuck · 1 year

Note

W-would you ever write Ransom with mommy kink again 🥺👉👈 I need more,,, evidence 😳 for science 😳 that Ransom has that kink

related to this previous Pillow-Princess!Ransom × Mommy!Reader drabble I wrote a while ago

(I'm not taking requests right now because I'm still in school, just on winter break for another week-ish, but LOOK I can't not write this because I've been thinking about Mommy's sub Ransom lately 👀😏)

Thoughts thoughts thoughts--

Ransom Drysdale × cis female reader

Tags for Mommy kink, dom/sub, femme dom, sub Ransom, feminization, BDSM, collars & leashes, cock cages, some possessiveness, etc.

The first time you suggest that perhaps Ransom wears a collar for you--for Mommy--a while into your established dynamic, he actually scoffs and rolls his eyes at you. Not as submissive and well-behaved as he usually is while around you--not as well-behaved as you've trained him to be for you (because you're the only one who draws this side out of him). So, clearly, when you bring a collar up, he instantly brushes it off.

Like, sure, he submits to you in the proverbial bedroom (including many more places than just a literal bedroom) but, you're not--it's not--he's not... he's not wearing that.

He's not going to wear something around his neck for you.

He's not going to be claimed like that.

Yes, he gets on his knees for you. Sometimes staying on his knees for so long that he gets bruises and can't stand up without trembling, eyes locked onto you like you're all that matters because to him it's true. You're the only thing that matters. Yes, he wears pretty things for you. Panties and even bras along with anything silky or lacy--he likes the feeling of it gliding across his smooth, waxed skin. Yes, he begs and whines and moans and struggles for you. Doing whatever pleases you, so long as he gets to cum in return. Even if he has to go through multiple rounds of edging, getting so close that it's painful when he's not allowed to let go at the last second. And, yes, he's Mommy's boy. Always needing you. Always craving your body (especially your tits because, fuck, he's an undeniable tits man). But...

A collar crosses a line that he didn't realize he had. Right?

He doesn't want to wear a fucking collar. Never mind a fucking pink collar that reads "Mommy's Princess" in white diamonds. (He's fine hearing and wearing other frilly, feminine clothes, but... seeing that collar and that dirty nickname written out is somehow more real). The collar is thick--with a rigid white leather backing that has pink leather layered over top of it--and tall. Just looking at it, Ransom knows the collar would make it hard to move his neck. And if you fastened it tight enough, Ransom is sure it would feel like having two hands around his throat, choking, it would go so high up on his throat.

He doesn't want to wear a collar...

Right!?

Even if it's a custom collar that one of your close friends (who makes all sorts of, uh, high-end custom apparel 👀) made as a gift. He's not wearing it.

The idea of wearing a collar for his Mommy brings out the brat in him. For whatever reason.

Over the next few weeks, after you bring it up for the first time, he's much more of a brat than normal. Backtalking and ignoring texts and calls. Jerking himself off and not even bothering to pretend that he forgot he didn't ask for your permission. Pushing the orders you give him when you're with him in person. Delaying his obedience when you give him orders. And yet... he keeps fucking talking about it.

The collar.

Whenever he breaks a rule, whenever he's bratty and bad, he references the collar. He claims it's to show off that "Mommy can't control me, not all the time. I don't need a fuckin' collar and leash."

You let the addition of a leash go... you never said anything about a leash. Nor about a cage, like he says a couple of days later when he calls you just to show off that he's at home, in his bedroom, jerking off loudly and wetly and badly--considering that he didn't ask you before touching his pretty cock. You raise an eyebrow at it every time. Collar again, huh? Oh, a leash? A cage? Really, Ransom. Why's that in your head?

He can't shut up about it.

And he also is calling you Mommy even more than normal. Normally, it's your first name when you're not leading into a scene, in the midst of a scene, or after a scene. Now, whenever you talk--

(I'm imagining you run in the same social circles as Ransom, acquaintances originally, but you've got great chemistry and so you started hooking up. But neither of you can be bothered by a full-relationship commitment. (Plus, Ransom isn't ready for that label or commitment in general either, he's, like, the fucking definition of a rich boy who's been having his cake and eating it too.))

--he always calls you Mommy. You don't mind. Not at all. Though... you notice it, constantly.

The way he never stops talking about how much he doesn't need a collar and how independent he is, despite his Mommy. Despite how he literally and figuratively always comes crawling back to you.

So...

You wait and wait and wait and wait and wait. You know there's something deeper to his seemingly intense rejection. A Freudian slip even-?

Perhaps.

Perhaps a Freudian slip turns into one million percent a Freudian slip as evidenced by your current position.

You are towering over Ransom.

Ransom holds his position like a statue because he knows he doesn't want to cross Mommy. You're so good to him when he's good. But only when he's good.

Ransom is being good right now--he's on his hands and knees with his back arched to stick his ass out and pull his head back. You're making him arch his back because he's wearing the fucking collar he claimed to hate so much. Claimed. He doesn't hate it. He wants it. He wanted it so bad it terrified him. He didn't know what to do with himself. He couldn't do anything about it but spit venom at the same time that he jerked himself raw at the thought of it. No one has ever owned him so thoroughly. No one has ever had such control over him. And he craves it. In the darkest, most animal parts of his brain--he wants it.

He thought the most shameful fantasy he could have was sucking on your tits--nursing from you--while whining and crying for Mommy. Your fist around his throbbing, slick cock in its tight ring, reminding him that only you can tell him when he gets to cum and you're not gonna let him cum until you're done. You won't be done until you cum at least three times; so, he's gonna have to rip his mouth away from your tits eventually because you want it on your pussy. Then, you want his thick, long fingers too. And maybe his dick after too. If he earns it. He cries out around your nipple when you flick the head of his cock. He's crying.

He thought that was the most animal part of him. The part that gagged for a powerful woman who could take care of him, dealing out the punishments he deserves but also the praise he deserves; a woman who can deal with his tantrums and can make him want to stop himself before he blows up; a woman who he can call Mommy.

But he was wrong.

He can get deeper into the fantasy.

And you dragged it out of him. You made him tell you. You finally got back from your trip out of the country and finally had your hands back on him which you used to your advantage--you tied him to the bed with leather cuffs and you teased and teased and teased until he wasn't sure if he was actually still sweating or if he was just melting. Until Ransom couldn't help but scream no matter how soft the touches to his dick were, he was so sensitive. Every orgasm he'd given himself without your permission got turned into an orgasm denied. Working him up over and over again only to deny him at the last second. Using every dirty trick until he begged and wailed and confessed he'd do anything for the torture to end. You had one request: the collar, tell Mommy the truth, you want it?

He wanted it.

In fact, Ransom sobbed for the collar.

He cried and cried and begged to have it put on him.

So, you put it on him.

You fastened it around his neck and kissed his slack lips--shocked with an overwhelming wave of arousal. Heady. Just wearing it. Fuck. It brought him even further down. That collar.

You put your hand around his throat on top of his new collar and squeezed. Without even being touched, just talked to, just told he was Mommy's--Mommy's to touch, Mommy's to own, Mommy's to make cum. So cum. Right fucking now--he came all over his quivering abs.

So, now, he's on all fours. Collar around his pretty throat. Nothing else clothes him but a cock cage. A leash attached to his collar. You won't let the details he added go 😏

Your hand was at the other end of the leash, pulling it taut until his head came back and you could almost make eye contact even as you pressed yourself against his back, but now your hand is busy with his hair instead. Pulling it hard.

Your other hand, not the one in his hair, is on the floor because you're towering over him--you're on top of him where he's on all fours, tilting his hips back and ass out. You are naked save for a sheer pair of panties (not unlike the kind Ransom wears when he's feeling extra soft and pretty and small, in need of Mommy's more gentle touch), so your bare tits are pressed fully against his back.

The moan he had let out the second he felt your bare breasts had you chuckling. He's so fucking predictable.

But, regardless of his pathetic, begging sounds drawn from your plush tits against his muscular, hard back--the front of your hips are pressed tight to his round ass. And even though you've not played with strapping (not yet 👀) you can't help but grind against him. Rolling your hips into that perfect, round ass.

You'd fuck him in a heartbeat.

You'd slide your dick deep into his tight, pretty hole until he couldn't do anything but drool. Until he couldn't even beg for Mommy anymore. Speechless. Fuck-dumb.

But, that's not what you're here for. You're fulfilling his other needs right now. So, you dropped his leash to grab his hair instead. You're grabbing his hair. And just because you grab it harder.

"M-mommy!" Ransom rasps, desperate, his neck fighting against the collar; he wants to go with you, with the direction your hand is pulling him. Scalp tingling in pain. He can't though. The collar keeps his neck pretty stiff. Robust in its grip on him. Making him look just that much more obscene.

Your heartbeat thuds through you. You feel swollen and hot and wet between your legs. You HAVE to be dripping down your thighs with how much lust is coiled tight and hot inside you.

And you can't help but lean even more of your weight onto him. Forcing him to hold you up as well as himself. He's already trembling and you want to push him further. So, into his ear, you whisper, "Mommy wants to know how you feel about your collar."

Ransom sobs.

His shaking gets worse. You don't think it's all due to your weight; your words must hit him too.

Ransom doesn't answer though. He could be thinking... so, you reach for his cock, killing time. Waiting. Will he talk?

Instantly, you can feel how wet he is--just like you. Wet. He's caged, so his cock is still mostly soft, struggling to get hard despite how much it hurts when he's all locked up. But, still, he's leaking, pre-cum spilling out of the slit of his cock, and making a goddamn mess on your pristine wooden floors. He's leaking so much that you think he might come through the cage. That'd be a first, but... you'd never punish him for being so incredibly turned on that he manages to cum through a cage. It'd be too incredible. Too fucking hot.

"C'mon, tell Mommy what she wants..." you purr, shamelessly trying to seduce him into saying it. You know he loves your voice like that, low and husky, calling yourself Mommy.

"I-" he chokes, more than just desperate as you continue to fondle him in your hand--he's so delicate like this, vulnerable and little even while his muscles hold both of you up, "I don't know!" He wails.

"You do, princess." You retort. "You know what you like about it just like you fuckin' knew you liked the idea of wearing Mommy's collar all this time. You just gotta let it out, baby. You can't keep it inside you. That isn't good for you. Tell Mommy. Let it out." You nip his shoulder and lower your voice, whispering, "let it out and she'll think about letting this out," you hit his caged cock, smacking it up against his belly.

Ransom gasps. The tears in his eyes are audible. Good, you smirk.

The poor thing's shaking so badly. He's still wordless though, so, for a little extra motivation, you lift yourself off him like you're going to leave him like this, unwinding your hand from his hair, and...

He whines, the sound high and drawn out. You can hear the needy, unabashed, no, no, Mommy, don't go! in it.

You make a sound in response like, fine, ugh, and drop yourself back down on top of him--intentionally harder than you normally would, making him take your weight again, and mashing your tits against him a little harder than normal. You wanna wear him down. Keep the pressure on.

Ransom moans and you feel his shoulders and upper back twitch, lifting himself further away from the floor, wanting to get closer to you. Needing you.

"Be good, Hugh, baby-" you scratch your nails behind his ear and down his neck "-and tell Mommy what she wants to hear."

The use of his real name seems to shock him. "I-" he whines. "The, the-"

"Yes, Hugh?" You prompt when he doesn't add anything else after a good while. You're back to carding your hands through his hair, scratching his scalp. Then, you scratch his nipples. Sending sparkling pleasure down his body to his clenching belly. He looks so fucking good covered in red lines from your nails.

"Ah! M-mommy!"

And he reacts so well to it. The pain.

"Say it." You demand.

"I-I don't know! I just, it just... it feels good. It, it makes meee-" he strings out another whine "-makes me feel good."

"Mmm-hmm," you pinch his left nipple. Then his right. He howls. "You feel good wearing it? Don't you feel good when Mommy touches you? Why's this nice, pretty collar different?"

Ransom chokes on another sob, this one even more shattered. "Feels good! Mommy, Mommy always feels good. I always feel good. It's, it's just-" he shivers all over "-it's so dirty. So... so much Mommy's-"

"Ooh, it makes you feel dirty, huh, princess?"

He whines high in his throat, tucking his chin even closer to his chest as he faces the floor. Embarrassed. Squirming.

"Does it make you feel like Mommy's dirty little Princess? Made just for her?"

Ransom shudders so hard that his legs start to slide apart. Spreading them. Posed just like a slut should be; all fours, legs wide open.

"Are you Mommy's owned princess then, hm? You feel like you've been swept up into a tower prison, caged in, and tied up for Mommy? Just Mommy."

His next noise of unrestrained hunger is one of assent. His nod is jerky and uncoordinated.

"Yeah, yeah... you are Mommy's little princess, Hugh. Because I'm never letting you go now that I have you," in a flash, you grab and pull on his leash, cutting a filthy swear from Ransom's obscene mouth in half, "you're gonna stay with Mommy forever. Mommy is gonna keep you. Keep you in your little cage. And I'm only gonna let you out when I think it's deserved. I think I'll let you out tonight..." you tease, "I mean, you did tell Mommy what you like about your new collar."

"Yes-!"

"But..."

"Nnno," he whines, small.

"You needed a lot of prompting, Hugh. So. I think I'll take you out of your cage and jerk you off--you don't deserve Mommy's pussy--until you cum all over the floor. Then," you pause for effect, "I'm gonna grab you by the back of your neck and shove your face in the mess. And you're gonna clean it up with that mouth, okay? Mommy's floors are always spotless and shiny and she's not gonna let a spoiled, messy princess fuck it up, got it?"

"Yes! Please! God, please, Mommy, wanna cum!"

Me, to myself, after writing that:

I hope you enjoyed 😘

This got way longer than I meant haha

#asks #fandomfluffandfuck #ransome drysdale #ransom x reader #ransom drysdale x reader #sub ransom drysdale #x reader #x female reader #female reader #chris evans character x reader

285 notes · View notes

bluejaysandblackbats · 3 months

Text

Catch and Release

Fandom: DC Comics, Batfam

Summary: AU where Jason doesn't die in the explosion and he and Tim end up attending the same high school months later.

Chapters: 4/?

Characters: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Sebastian Ives, Jack Drake, Janet Drake

Relationships: TBA

Additional Tag: Jason Todd Lives, Jason Todd-centric, POV Jason Todd, POV First Person, Tim Drake Has Issues, Tim Drake Has Issues, Tim Drake is Not Robin, Jason Todd is Not Robin (Anymore), Bruce Wayne Needs a Hug, Alfred Pennyworth is the Best, Alfred Pennyworth Knows, Stalker Tim Drake, Jason Todd Has Chronic Pain, Jason Todd Has PTSD, Angst with a Happy Ending, Unlikely Friends, Injury Recovery, Emotional Baggage, Rage, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Communicating

Chapter Four: Looking Glasses

My glasses weren't ready for my Wednesday appointment, but they were done the Friday after my second week of school. So, I took a cab to the optometrist's and then the pizza parlor, where I ran into Tim. He was with his friends, so I thought he wouldn't notice me. "One meat lover's pizza with thin garlic butter crust," I ordered. I waited in the corner, drinking out of the two-liter soda I bought to drown my misery. I had a crappy week at school and didn't want to speak to talk to anyone. The smell of pizza usually left me in a better mood. Besides, I liked being away from the house and the family. I ate the fries they gave me for dining in and watched people standing at the street corner.

"Order for Christopher!" the man at the counter called. I finished my fries, threw the two-liter in my bag, and grabbed my crutches. When I got to the counter, I realized I couldn't carry my pizza and use my crutches. Tim got up and offered to help. I was mortified. I hid my name and everything to avoid speaking to him, only to need his help.

"Here, listen, my driver's on his way. He can drop you off if you want, and I'll help you to your-."

"I don't wanna be any trouble," I interrupted. I said it harshly without meaning to, but I don't think Tim cared. He'd been following me around campus all day, and we just so happened to meet at the pizza place. It would've felt like he was stalking me had he not gotten there first. "I should've thought-."

"No, it's okay. It's really no trouble. I insist," Tim replied.

There was no polite way to turn him down, and his driver just pulled up out front. "I'll split this pie with you if you don't take me home."

Tim grinned a half-smile. "Alright. Come on, I've got your pizza," Tim reassured me. He carried my pizza to the car, and I followed him out.

Once we got in the car, I asked the question I'd had since the first day of school. "Are you watching me? At school, I mean?" I asked.

"I've been-. I'm curious. People talk, and-. Well, you never let anybody close enough to learn anything about you," Tim replied. I knit my brows with great effort.

"What do you wanna know, Tim?" I asked.

"Jason, what kind of accident was it?" Tim questioned.

"Explosion... Gas leak explosion. I don't like to talk about it," I lied. Honestly, I was dying to talk about it. I was sick of holding it all inside myself, but I couldn't afford to let anyone in my head. Especially not some freshman I'd known for less than a week. Tim gave me my pizza box and the okay to eat in the car. I set the box between us and draped an open napkin over my lap. I let Tim eat, but he wasn't hungry. I ate in silence.

It'd been a while since I'd had pizza. I think it was my birthday the last time. I was in the hospital then. Bruce wanted to cheer me up, but all I could think about was my-. I could only think about Sheila. I tried to take the brunt of the blast, but I wasn't big enough. She impaled her skull on a rock anyway. So, I lay trapped between the debris and her lifeless body for what felt like forever. I relived that moment constantly. Lately, I only think about it when I feel trapped. "Jason?" Tim whispered as he touched my arm. It shook me out of a trance. "You alright? You were gone for a while... We're at my house now."

"Oh, we're here?" I mumbled as if I'd been asleep. I slipped my backpack on, and Tim helped me carry my pizza box inside. His house was mostly empty, save for a maid or nanny working on the premises. He set the box on the coffee table and turned the tv on.

I took my homework out of my bag and sat it upright on the floor. "You're gonna do your homework?" Tim asked. I nodded and put on my glasses.

"Yeah, that's what I typically do when I get a minute to sit down," I half-joked. Tim shrugged and flipped through the channels.

"Would it be distracting if I asked you a few questions?" Tim asked. I shook my head. "Jason, when you were thirteen, you went on a short trip to Hollywood over the spring break, right?" The question was weird, but I nodded.

"Yeah, I was visiting a friend. He invited me out to see the movie his Aunt worked on," I answered. That was a half-truth.

"Did you get to see Robin while you were there?" Tim asked.

I laughed it off. "Robin lived in Gotham... But no one's seen much of him lately," I replied. Tim nodded seriously and turned toward the tv.

"He was in Los Angeles that week," Tim replied, "Weird coincidence, huh?"

"What are you getting at, Tim?" I asked.

"Nothing, I'm just a big fan of Robin. I always ask," Tim whispered. I took a deep breath. "I'm coming on too strong, huh?

"A little," I replied as I opened my history book and filled out my worksheet. It took me an hour to finish my homework before I asked Tim to call me a cab.

Tim seemed sad at first, but he called the cab anyway. When the cab got there, he lingered out front with me. "Hey, um-."

"Thanks for everything, Tim. Can we do this again?" I asked. Tim grinned. I didn't want to admit it, but it was the first time I'd felt normal since the accident. I didn't want to let that feeling go. I opened the door and waved at Tim before heading home.

As soon as I got home, Bruce came out of the manor fuming. He waited until I reached the front door to start in on me. "Where the hell have you been?" Bruce asked, whispering through clenched teeth.

"I got my glasses, ate, and did my homework... How are you?" I asked.

"I was worried-. Did you ask me how I was?" Bruce questioned. I nodded. I never asked him how he was. I think my sincerity shocked him. I offered an awkward smile. "I'm alright... How are you?"

"I'm good... I think-. Yeah, I'm good," I smiled. Bruce let me in, and I took the stairlift without argument. I didn't even have to argue with him. I chose peace and peace felt... Kinda nice.

34 notes · View notes

s-creations · 5 months

Text

Fire & Thunder - Chapter 1

The BeanBean Kingdom, one that has been in self-exile for centuries, has finally broken their silence. Arriving to the Mushroom Kingdom with the plan to help their heroes learn how to use their powers.

Training, unfortunately, was just one hurtle to jump over.

Fandom: Super Mario & Releated Fandoms, Super Mario RPG Rating: Teen and UP Audiences Relationship: Luigi/Prince Peasley, Mario/Princess Peach, Mario & Luigi & Wario & Waluigi Additional Tags: Needed Training, The Main Villain Makes An Appearance, Growing Relationships, Character Lore?, In My Stories?, It's More Likely Than You Think.

‘To the Current Ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom,

Fair Princess Peach.

I, Queen Bean, current ruler of the BeanBean Kingdom, wish to reach out to establish a hopefully peaceful connection. To prove my well meaning, I’m hopeful my Kingdom will be able to help you.

Mainly with your heroes.

Words among the leaves and breeze hold whispers that your heroes are capable of magic. I have citizens who hold the same powers, not as powerful as your heroes, but skillful enough to extend their wisdom.

They will be arriving to your kingdom a week after this letter arrives. Accompanying them will be my son and future heir to the BeanBean Kingdom, Prince Peasley. They wish to remain with you until they feel that your heroes are well trained.

I do hope this is the beginning of a wonderful and fruitful partnership between our two lands.

To Your Wellness,

Regal Queen Bean’

The Toad that had been reading from the rolled parchment let out a shaky breath as they finished. Shivering as they allowed the pent up nervousness to be released. Wide eyes going to Princess Peach, who was tense upon her throne.

The entire hall felt close to a nervous breakdown.

Mario and Luigi being the only exception to this uncomfortable atmosphere. Worried eyes darting around the room, attempting to find an answer before landing on each other. Sharing a shrug of confusion.

Peach, on her part, let out a slow breath before standing and offering a smile to the nervous room. “Well, this is wonderful news! We’ll be playing host to such a powerful kingdom. This is what we need in order to put up a strong defense against Bowser. Let’s prepare for them to arrive.”

As Peach continued to delegate tasks, Mario and Luigi were gently pulled towards the hallway. The other pair of brothers looked grim as they led. Toadsworth gestured them all in before closing the door, waiting nervously.

“Is…anyone going to explain what’s going on?” Mario eventually voiced.

Toadsworth weakly waved his hand while mumbling, “We need to wait for the princess before we discuss this.”

Peach arrived a few moments later. Her warm smile quickly disappeared when the door closed once more. “Oh goodness… Is this really happening?”

“Apparently,” Wario barely whispered.

“But isn’t this what we wanted?” Toadsworth voiced.

“Yes,” Peach gave a small whine, “But I assumed it would be the Jungle or Desert Kingdom first. This plan didn’t start with the BeanBean Kingdom.”

“Would someone be so kind as to explain to us what we’re talking about?” Mario cautiously raised his voice.

“Oh, of course, I apologize,” Peach said softly, “We’ve talked to you about the war that defeated the last Koopa ruler. But we’ve never gone into details of the kingdoms that helped with that defeat.”

“Is the BeanBean Kingdom some place to worry about?”

“Well, yes, they are rather powerful.”

“Or they were,” Wario added, “Until it was destroyed.”

Peach quickly shook her head, “They could still have the BeanStar.”

“Don’t you think if they did, they would use it to stop all of this?”

“If the books are as accurate as they are, then you know the use of its ability before nearly destroyed everything. I would be afraid to use it!”

“So, would that really make them that powerful?”

“Guys!” Mario called out, “Still very confused.”

“Right, right, sorry,” Peach let out another sign before continuing, “We’ve told you about the origins of the war with the Koopa Kingdom. It was quite literally them versus every kingdom who had an ability to fight back. One being the BeanBean Kingdom. They hold a very powerful artifact called the BeanStar, an item that can grant the holder any wish they want.”

“I’m going to assume it was used during this war. What happened?”

“It’s unsure of what was asked of it,” Wario continued, “But the BeanStar more or less…it blew up. Knocking out a good chunk of the Koopa Army with it. But the BeanBean Kingdom was hit hard as well. They slunk back to their borders and put up powerful barriers to keep everyone away after that battle.”

Luigi frowned, “So…no one’s conversed with them…for years?”

“Try centuries,” said Toadsworth, “We have no idea what kind of monarch we’re dealing with now.”

“We could be in luck,” Mario argued, “They’re sending someone here with the intent to help us. If anything, we need someone who knows about our abilities. Training lately has become…”

“Stagnant,” Luigi concluded.

“It doesn’t help that all we’ve focused on is ‘suppressing’ instead of using.”

“But we don’t know what their motives are,” Toadsworth said quickly, “While jumping to conclusions isn’t beneficial towards the situation, there may be other motives involved here. Why would now be the time to reach out?”

“Because…of us?” Mario said while pointing towards himself and Luigi.

“Possibly hoping to take our means of protection for themselves.”

“We get that you're paranoid, old man,” Waluigi stepped in, “But you’re not making the situation better. If they’re willing to help, then we need to take it. Especially if this means we have somewhat of an advantage over Bowser.”

“We’ll just have to focus on being gracious hosts. Welcome them and try to make that much needed connection. We need them on our side.” Peach concluded.

Toadsworth turned to Mario and Luigi, “You two are going to have to represent our Kingdom as you are the heroes of this land.”

Well…wasn’t that just terrifying to hear.

The week went by faster than anyone expected or enjoyed. Toadsworth being the physical reminder of how tense everyone was. Starting every day with double checking on every factor he could think of before running through his caution list. Which was really just a list of his creations that covered the worst case situations they could face.

The day before, Peach offered (more like begged) that the brothers stay in the castle.

“That way you’re just here. No worries about…traffic and what not.” She explained with a wobbly smile.

It was a weak reason, but they understood the request.

Even with how comfortable the bed was, Mario couldn’t sleep. Resting on his back while staring up at the dark canopy. He couldn’t hear Luigi’s snoring.

“...You worried too?” Mario whispered into the darkness.

“...Yeah. It was scary enough when we were just heroes. Now we’re representing the kingdom? For another kingdom that’s been secretive for so long? And we’re being trained by people we know nothing of with powers we can barely use? It’s…It’s a lot.”

“Yeah…it is…”

Cautiously reaching out, Mario gently grabbed onto Luigi’s wrist. Pulling his brother closer until Luigi was tucked under the older twin’s chin. The younger using Mario’s chest as a pillow. Arms wrapped around the other with Mario gently combing his fingers through Luigi’s hair.

“We’ll be okay,” Mario said softly, “We stick together and it’ll all turn out fine. A new adventure, right?”

“...That meaning is so different from when we were in Brooklyn.”

“Yeah, it does. But I mean it. We’ll be fine.”

Luigi didn’t verbally reply. Instead trying to shuffle closer, tightening his grip around his brother.

“...Let’s try and get some sleep.”

They were both exhausted when morning arrived. Slowly shuffling out of bed and getting dressed, Mario tried to offer Luigi a comforting smile. But his nerves were seeping through and the comfort didn’t appear.

Wario and Waluigi looked just as exhausted as the twins felt. However, they were far better put together. While Mario and Luigi wore their famous overalls with coordinating red and green shirts and hats. The other brothers were wearing…well…

“Are you in a suit?” Mario asked with a smile growing. This question aimed directly at Wario.

“Unfortunately.”

“Your hair l-looks nice.” Luigi attempted to give some positives to the clearly uncomfortable brother. The normally tangled locks that were hidden by a yellow cap were now brushed and slicked back.

Waluigi, who looked far more comfortable, placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “It’s just for a few hours. You’ll be fine.”

“I’m going to suffocate.” Was the sharp reply back.

Breakfast was a quiet affair. No matter how chipper Peach attempted to be, it was clear she was as stressed, if not more, as everyone else was. So none of her words uplifted their terrified spirits.

Once the plates were taken, the large group walked outside to the large stairs that lead up to the castle. Toadsworth rushed around, instructing as to where everyone needed to stand. The guard lining everywhere, Peach and Toadsworth at the lower set of the stairs to properly greet the visitors. The brothers were further back. Lined up so that Wario and Waluigi would be introduced first as the current mentors while Mario and Luigi would be saved for last.

The minutes felt like hours as they waited. Mario swears his heart was beating so loudly that everyone could hear it.

Soon the sound of approaching footsteps filled the air. The first to crest the hill was a few rows of soldiers, three to each. Dressed in silver armor, a green smiling face carved into the chest plate. Carrying spears and large shields. Following the first section of soldiers was a large carriage. Vivid green and bean shaped on golden wheels with similarly colored accents. Pulling along by (as what could only be described as) flying, bean-link creatures.

It was…strange.

The carriage, flanked from the front and back by the same looking beanish soldiers, stopped before the stairs. Right before Peach and Toadsworth. One soldier broke away from the ranks to open the opulent golden door.

First to emerge were two rather translucent beings. One red, one green, dressed similarity. Or rather held a similar appearance. It was unclear if they were dressed or if it was just ‘thicker’ skin that was a different color than their pale blue skin. Their hair appeared to be that of the Earth’s version of a jellyfish. They gave a small bow to Peach before stepping to the side.

The final traveler stepped out at this time. Vivid green skin complemented well with the fine, golden hair that framed his face. Warm brown eyes crinkled at the corners due to his smile. Fine garments of white and red with accents of gold draped over his form. A stylish rapier resting casually at his hip.

Peach stepped forward as the new trio reached the foot of the stairway. Offering a small curtsy before announcing, “Welcome, Prince Peasley of the BeanBean Kingdom. It’s wonderful to see you here, I hope your journey went well.”

“Very much so,” Prince Peasley responded with a clear voice, "Thank you for the warm welcome, Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom. Allow me the honor of introducing Merri and Gigi, our own users of Firebrand and Thunderhand abilities.”

“Welcome to you both as well.”

Mario was pulled out of the conversation when Wario tapped his arm. “Fix your face, it’s scrunched up.”

“Is he…a bean?” Mario whispered back.

“The prince? Yeah, kind of in the name of the kingdom he hails from.”

“Peach isn’t a mushroom.”

“But the Toads are. The king was.”

“Oh… Hey Lu, what do you-” Mario faltered when, looking at his brother, he found Luigi with wide eyes. Chest puffed up with shoulders raised as if to make himself seem taller. Cheeks slowly growing a deep shade of red. Eyes practically shining.

Mario’s eyes darted between Luigi and the guests, taking a few moments to understand the situation. Getting his ultimate answer when the prince casually flipped his hair back with a warm laugh and Luigi letting out a choked gasp.

It was Wario’s turn to have his arm hit.

“What.” He breathed out through the side of his mouth.

“Look! Look at Luigi!” Mario frantically whispered, sounding absolutely thrilled.

Curious, Wario leaned over to get a better look at Luigi. Finding the younger twin absolutely love struck, eyes still on Peasley. Realization dawned on Wario’s quickly and a wide smile stretched across his face.

He was less subtle with getting Waluigi’s attention. Enough so that Toadsworth flashed a warning glare at the duo before facing forward again.

“What?” Waluigi hissed out.

Wario just jerked his head towards Luigi. The other brother’s attention darted over to the younger twin.

A smirk slowly formed on his face.

Unaware of what was transpiring, Luigi's attention was solely focused on Peasley. The moment the prince had stepped out, the younger twin felt his heart start to race. Electricity surging through him as a blush dusted over his cheeks. The only thought bouncing around the human’s brain was ‘He’s beautiful’.

The cloud of fascination fell away hearing a few chuckles and small noises of excitement from his side. Luigi turning to find Mario and the other brothers staring right back at him. Each in a varying degree of excitement and knowing smugness.

A new type of terror settled in Luigi’s stomach.

“Mario-”

“You like him!” Mario gleefully whispered.

“Don’t, please don’t-”

“What’s your first move going to be?” Wario leaned over, using Mario as a place to rest his arm, who didn’t seem to mind. “I know a few good ones if you’re stuck.”

“He hasn’t even talked to us yet-”

“I’m taunting you relentlessly about this until you ask him out.” Waluigi stated smugly.

Luigi frantically gripped onto the sides of his hat. “Please don’t do this. It’s nothing, really, it’s just-”

“And here we have the main four you’ll be working with.” Peach’s voice cut through the whispering argument. Louder than normal, no doubt to inform that brothers they were finally approaching.

They quickly stood back in their original lineup. Luigi now shaking nervously as Peach introduced the other brother’s first.

“Wario and Waluigi have been our heroes' acting mentors.”

“Wonderful to meet you both,” Peasley beamed as he shook their hands, “I’m to assume you’re both well versed in fighting formations.”

“Not at all.” Wario replied.

“Oh, well, what about battle strategies?”

“None.” Waluigi answered this time.

“...So…how were you two selected for this role then?”

“Opportunity.”

“Harassment.”

Toadsworth buried his face in his hand. Merri rolled her eyes, clearly unimpressed, as Gigi gave a quick but covered snort.

“Well…either way, I’m sure we’ll have much to share with each other.” Peasley said with a smile. Which faltered hearing Merri and Gigi giggling softly. They fell quiet when their prince flashed them a warning frown.

“Wonderfully said,” Peach quickly interjected and pulled the prince away, “Here are our heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom.”

Peasley’s attention was drawn to Mario fist. Who tilted his hat before shaking hands with the prince. “Mario, at your service. Thank you for arriving to help us.”

“Wonderful to meet you. You’re…human, are you not?”

“Very much so.”

“How interesting. And you are the holder of the…”

“Firebrand.”

“Excellent! I can’t wait to see your strength in action.”

“Well, if strength is what you’re interested in, then you’re going to be super impressed by what my brother can do.” Taking over the introductions, Mario wrapped his arm around Luigi’s shoulders to pull him closer.

Peasley’s regal appearance fell once more as his attention turned towards Luigi. Not of disappointment, but one of…interest. Eyes widening as they take in the sheepishly smiling hero in green. His own mouth parting slightly as a light dusting of blue appeared on his cheeks.

The stunned stupor he was in was broken when Merri gently placed a hand on his shoulder with a whisper of, “Sire?”

“Oh, u-um, yes, wonderful to meet you as well.” Peasley attempted to recover quickly. Smile returned, but not as strong as it had been before. “Uh, if I may ask…is it true that you were able to capture a Boo?”

Before Luigi could answer, Wario entered the conversation. “A Boo? A Boo? Just one? How about a whole army captured along with their big creepy king. That’s what Luigi did.”

The younger brother laughed nervously as his shoulder was shaken vigorously, “Heh, ah, well…”

“He was also able to fend off a pod of Blue Piranha Plants,” Waluigi added, “Using nothing but his Thunderhand and a hammer.”

“Blue variety? Goodness, those are extremely dangerous. We avoid them the best we can back in my kingdom.” Peasley said, sounding very impressed.

Luigi continued to laugh weakly, “Uh…I suppose so.”

“Well, I am very excited to work alongside such powerful heroes.”

The green dressed twin twitched nervously as the prince presented his hand to be shaken once more. Relaxing slightly, Luigi reached out to gently take it in his own. Only for a large bolt of electricity arched from one hand to the other. Causing both of them to let out painful cries and parting quickly.

Luigi’s wide eyes filled with fear focused on Peasley. Who seemed surprised as the sisters and a very frantic Toadsworth worried over the prince’s hand.

“...Well, what a shocking introduction that was,” Waluigi’s smirk was quickly wiped away when Wario elbowed him hard in the gut. The taller brother letting out a pained wheeze.

_____________________________

“Luigi, please don’t suffocate yourself.” Mario sighed softly as he listened to his brother let out a long whine.

Said brother was stretched fully across one of the many cushioned couches placed in the library. Face smushed into the remaining pillow that had not been thrown off in his self pity state. “Just let me die here. I don’t want to go on.”

“So you embarrassed yourself in front of new royalties that we’re trying to impress to make a strong connection with so we can create a powerful army against Bowser and one that you’re clearly interested in as such that caused your powers to flare up and hurt them. Big deal. It could be worse.” Wario’s smile slipped when Mario and Luigi glared at him.

Waluigi, who was casually leaning on the nearest bookshelf, let out a heavy sigh before saying, “I think what my thick skulled brother’s trying to inform you is that you don’t have to be worried. Prince Peasley knows of your ability, so he shouldn't be too surprised. Besides, he seemed smitten by you.”

“Yeah, before my powers did me dirty.” Luigi groaned softly. Face going back to be buried in his pillow.

“You didn’t really give him a chance to really say anything to you.”

“More like Toadsworth pulled the royals away before you could even look his way again.” Wario huffed.

“I think I damaged whatever thin bridge of a connection had started to be built.” Came the muffled groan of Luigi.

Mario heavily sighed at that. Sliding off the arm of the couch to pull his brother to sit up. “Alright, enough of this. You’re just embarrassed, it happens, we’re going to move on from it. We have a job to do.”

Luigi’s brow furrowed, eyes lowering to the floor. “...Maybe I just avoided a huge mistake anyway.”

“Don’t think like that.” The red dressed hero immediately dropped his voice to a whisper.

“You know it’s true.”

“It’s not.”

Wario and Waluigi side eyes each other. Exchanging worried looks knowing they were clearly missing something. Before Waluigi could silently tell his brother to keep his mouth shut, Wario blurted out,

“What are you two talking about?”

Luigi nervously looked over, clearly unsure of what to say. Only for another noise to pull their focus. A few furiously excited barks sounded down the hall before disappearing.

“Was that Polterpup?” Waluigi asked.

The younger twin stood quickly, the self-defeating look replaced with one of concern. “Oh no, I haven’t worked with Polterpup on greeting guests! They were supposed to stay home. Oh, this isn’t good.”

Luigi was out of the library before anyone else could comment.

Wario turned to Mario to ask, “Are you going to explain all of that?”

Giving a gentle shake of his head, Mario replied with, “You’ll have to ask Luigi.”

_____________________________

Cautious footsteps gently padded against the carpeted floor. Luigi slowly made his way down the long hallways. Trying to keep his cool while straining his ears to listen out for a familiar bark.

“Come on Polterpup, where are you?” he whispered fearfully, “I don’t think our guests will be appreciative of a ghost dog just running around.”

Luigi let out a small sigh, “If they weren’t thinking about pulling out before, I’m sure they will if they see you. What a nightmare this is becoming…”

There were a few eager yips coming from around the next corner. Luigi instantly recognized the sound as Polterpup’s playful back. Given a split second to hope that the spectral pup had found some of the Toad guards and not-

“You’re very friendly, aren’t you?”

Luigi halted just before turning the corner. His entire form tensing up hearing the new yet familiar voice of Peasley.

“Of course,” the human whined softly, “Of course he would find Polterpup. Why can’t I catch a break?”

He cautiously peeked around the corner. Finding Polterpup happily laying on their back, resting at the prince’s feet. Peasley smiling softly as he ran his hand over the exposed belly. Laughing at Polterpup’s excitement.

Luigi noted that said hand was wrapped in medical dressings.

Pulling back, Luigi let out a slow sigh. “Okay, he’s not panicking. That’s good…right? How do I approach this? What will he think if he knows Polterpup’s my pet? Wow, the human can’t use his abilities and has a ghost dog that’s barely trained. Ugh, I’ll have to face that reality eventually.”

“Maybe it will be better received with Peach around? If Polterpup’s brought to her, she could soften the blow of…everything. Maybe. Is it really that bad? I should-”

Luigi was broken from his musings when Polterpup phased through the floor. Jumping at the spectral pup barking happily upon finding their owner. Who immediately picked Polterpup up.

“Polterpup, what are you doing? I told you to stay home!”

“Don’t be too upset. They were just eager to make a new friend.” There was another twitch of surprise as Peasley stepped around the corner. Offering a warm smile to the panicked human.

“P-Prince Peasley, I-I was, um,” Luigi wrapped his arms tighter around Polterpup, “H-How are you feeling?”

“Just fine, nothing to worry about. I’ll be right as rain in no time.”

“Oh, well, t-that’s wonderful to hear. Do you need help getting to the Grand Hall? O-Or I’m sure Toadsworth is offering his castle tour. We c-could find them and-”

“Well,” Peasley looked sheepish suddenly, “I’m actually…trying to find the gardens.”

Luigi blinked, “Oh...I…could…take you there?”

“Would you? I would be absolutely grateful for your help.”

“S-Sure, no problem. Just…follow me.”

Polterpup wiggled out of Luigi’s hold. Happily taking the lead as the trio made their way through the wide halls.

“So, Polterpup is your pet?” Peasley asked.

“Um, y-yeah. How’d you know?”

“I heard your comment about him needing to stay home.”

“Oh…”

“As well as your furious comments to yourself about allowing Princess Peach to inform me. A rather interesting plan.”

Whatever higher powered being was believed in here, please strike him down.

Luigi did his best not to stumble over his feet in embarrassment upon learning how much Peasley had heard. “U-Uh, so-sorry, I didn’t m-mean-”

“You’re fine. I understand your trepidation,” Peasley quickly appeased, “There’s a lot riding on this visit.”

“Suppose so… Oh, I-I need to thank you and your kingdom for your willingness to help.”

“No thanks are necessary. If it means helping you and your brother, as well as the Mushroom Kingdom, then we are more than happy to be here.”

There was a pause in the conversation as Luigi opened the double glass doors that lead to their destination. Peasley unable to hold back a gasp of excitement when he saw the gardens stretched before them. Clearly enamored by the numerous colors and flowers gently swaying in the gentle breeze.

“This is wonderful.” Peasley whispered, leaning over the stone banner as much as he could to take it all in.

Luigi smiled softly. Heart and stomach doing interesting twists and flips as he cautiously stood next to the prince.

“You, um, you like plants?”

“A bit more than ‘like’, to be honest. My entire kingdom is based around agriculture. We grow as many kinds of fruit and vegetation that you can think of. I, however, have further fascination with flowers.”

“Really?”

“Mhm, I have my own garden filled with roses. I’ve been taking care of them since my father’s passing.”

“O-Oh, I’m so sorry, I-I didn’t-” Luigi felt like he almost swallowed his tongue when he stopped talking so quickly hearing Peasley let out a gentle laugh.

“Please, don’t worry, you couldn’t have known. He’s…been gone for a while.”

“Still…I’m sorry for your loss.”

“...Thank you.”

Luigi smiled weakly, eventually clearing his throat and asking, “Would you like to take a closer look?”

“Mmm…no, I believe I should wait for the princess first before doing so. I’m fine up here…”

He wasn’t sure if he was imagining things, but Luigi could have sworn there was more that Peasley wanted to say. But nothing else was. Instead, the quiet was comforting as they watched as Polterpup happily chased after a few birds among the foliage.

“May I ask you something?” Peasley eventually asked, head tilted closer to Luigi with his eyes still trained on the gardens.

“Um…s-sure?”

“Well, I guess it’s more of a clarification?”

Luigi couldn’t help but laugh softly at Peasley’s smile. “Sure, what can I clarify for you?”

“I guess…I feel so weird asking this. But can you tell me what happened? When the Boos attacked here.”

“Oh…sure.”

“I mean, only if you feel that you want to,” Peasley quickly attempted to backtrack, “I didn’t mean anything, I was just curious so-”

“No, you’re okay, I understand! I-I’ve been told this isn’t a really normal occurrence for this…place. Uh, it’s just, where do you want me to start? There’s a lot to go through.”

“Any point, really, I don’t mind.” Peasley leaned on his hand, brown eyes now shining as their focus stayed on Luigi.

So…Luigi talked. Starting with the first time that Mario met the Boos and what that meant. Both with the bite and gaining a mentor with Wario. How Wario and Luigi met, Waluigi’s grand entrance, and how the other pair of brother’s started watching over the twins.

First time they used their abilities.

When E. Gadd entered into their lives.

How King Boo had captured Mario and turned the Mushroom Castle into a terrifying maze.

When Luigi used the Poltergust the first time.

How Luigi learned that his ability was able to keep him safe.

How King Boo called him out for a final showdown.

And finally how Luigi was able to trap King Boo.

“I just…use the Thunderhand to power up the Poltergust and the picture frame and…” Luigi rolled his hands around the other before giving a small shrug, “King Boo was sucked in and trapped in the picture frame. Still there…unless something happened to E. Gadd. I should probably call him. Uh, anyway, that’s pretty much what happened.”

He looked over to see if Peasley was still even awake at this point. Only to find the prince staring at him in absolute fascination. “Um, Prince Peasley?”

“Oh, sorry, I was just so enthralled,” Peasley laughed softly, “I had heard stories from others before arriving here. Honestly, it was nothing more than rumors. I- We’ve been fascinated with what you and your brother have been able to accomplish. With the latest being that of your triumph over King Boo. Hearing you talk about it, talk about everything, it’s so…inspiring.”

“Uh, really? I’m sure as a prince you’ve seen a few things.” Luigi replied weakly.

Peasley’s smile turned to one of embarrassment. But he was unable to respond when another voice called out the prince’s name.

“Prince Peasley, there you are!”

Luigi tensed when Merri and Gigi came rushing out of the double doors. Toadsworth quickly followed behind with Peach casually bringing up the rear.

“What are you doing out here? We were so worried when we couldn’t find you in the medical wing.” Merri and Gigi spoke at the same time. Each pulling the prince’s wrapped hand up gently.

“I’m sorry, that wasn’t my intention,” Peasley attempted to calm them, “I was just-”

“Master Luigi, why would you bring our guest out in the open!” Toadsworth huffed as he stepped forward. Luigi’s already raised shoulders climbed further, ears turning a deep red.

Peasley quickly responded with, “I was attempting to find the gardens when I left the medical wing. I asked for Luigi’s help when we came across each other in the hallway. Please don’t be upset with him.”

This caused Toadsworth to falter, a little flustered by the confession. Peach taking the chance to step into the conversation.

“We were just concerned by your absence,” Peach said, “We’re happy to know Luigi was able to keep you company for the time.”

Luigi felt the heat move from his ears to his cheeks as Peasley offered a smile to the human, replying with, “As am I.”

The group flinched as Polterpup appeared once more. Peasley laughing as the new arrival gave a small whine as if upset they had not also received praise.

“You were wonderful as well.”

“Now that the worries have been had, shall we get you all settled in properly?” Toadsworth gently gestured for the group to head back inside.

Peach remained back, mainly to wait for Peasley. Only to be quietly surprised as she watched said prince gently claim one of Luigi’s hands. Bowing his head to have the back of it to gently touch the prince’s forehead.

“Thank you for staying with me. I look forward to hearing more stories and seeing your strength tomorrow.”

“I-uh- O-Of course.” Luigi replied weakly with a small smile.

Peasley released the human’s hand with a warm smile, turning to join Peach. Who was pointedly looking away as if not aware of the moment.

However, as the doors closed behind the royalty, Peach narrowed her attention on the visiting prince. Peasley looked very pleased but flustered as well. As if not believing in his own forwardness. A content smile lay across his face.

Quickly looking back, Peach found that Luigi had not moved. Staring at his hand in fascination. Unaware of Polterpup pawing at their human’s leg.

It took everything for Peach to not let out a squeal of joy.

_____________________________

The next day began with the three brothers practically dragging Wario out of his bed. Who was complaining about having to, once again, wear another stupid, stuffy outfit.

“It’s about being presentable,” Waluigi argued back.

“We’re going to be training!” Wario gruffly argued back.

“Not us! We’re going to be on the sidelines with Peach and the rest!”

“This is torture!”

“Get up you giant baby!”

It took about an hour for the four of them to arrive for breakfast. Toadsworth was not impressed by their tardiness. Their guests, however, seemed unbothered by it. Peasley actually pulled Luigi into a quiet conversation the moment the human sat down. Who was a little sheepish at first but opened up the further their conversation went on.

Waluigi, on his part, turned to the jellyfish sisters. “Don’t suppose you’d be up to telling us what this training day is going to start with?”

“It’s the same training we were given,” Merri answered, “We mainly want to see what they’re currently capable of doing, as well to make sure they can easily call upon their abilities. We’re not going to go too crazy at this time.”

“Okay…but what exactly does that…mean?”

“It’s rather hard to explain it to a non-holder. The most we can suggest is to just watch.” Gigi replied with a soft giggle.

“Alright…”

After all had their fill, the large group that also consisted of BeanBean soldiers and Toad guards made their way to the outside training grounds. Peach, Toadswroth, and Peasley taking seats under a large umbrella type mushroom. Wario and Waluigi situated nearby with the older gently tugging at the button-up collar. Merri and Gigi lead the way to the center to the flattened ground with the twins following close behind.

“Given how reportedly strong your powers are, we decided that outside training would be best to start,” said Merri, “We would like to begin this by stating that, while we are not trained fighters, we are gifted in using these abilities.”

Gigi continued with, “We are well versed in the knowledge of both abilities. Our current goal for you both is to have complete control of your abilities. So you may use them to their full potential. Whether that’s for everyday occurrences or for fighting.”

“These powers are meant to be an extension of you and should be treated as such.”

At this, Merri moved closer to Mario. Gently lifting the hero’s arm up. She gently had her right hand travel from the crook of Mairo’s elbow up to his wrist, increasing the pressure at that point. Mario couldn’t hold back the wince feeling the tight pressure. A deep burning felt in his chest, a familiar one.

The intense massage ended when Merri’s hand moved the pressure to Mario’s palm. Both flinched back, Merri more than Mario, when the very same hand erupted into flames. The largest stream of flames the majority of that crowd had even seen before. A few even let out ‘Oohs’ and ‘Awws’ at the sight.

“Very, very impressive!” Merri gleefully stated, “I’ve not seen such power held in many before. Granted, I only know of three holders in recent years. But the point still stands that this is amazing!”

Mario remained quiet as Merri moved to his other hand. Listening with interest as she said, “I’m aware that you’ve used Fire Flowers before. While the Firebrand seems similar, it’s also very different. First obvious being it never runs out. As long as your fire burns, the Firebrand will remain with you.”

“If handled uncaringly, Firebrand can cause a lot of damage. Fire is wild if left unkempt, destroying whatever it can reach. You need to keep your focus. You’ll be able to change its directions, create shapes and forms.”

“Like fireballs?” Mario asked.

Merri laughed softly and nodded, “Very much so, but even more than that. My focus for you is giving you allowance to control the fire in any form. Whether it’s still in your hands or cut away from you.”

“You are another story,” Gigi said to Luigi, “Thunderhand is also about control. However, you have a vastly different concern. The energy you release acts like that of lightning. It bounces, arches, and dances in every way it can. Holding it close will do you no good. But releasing it will result in a burst of rampant energy that will destroy everything in its path.”

“O-Oh…o-okay, great.” Luigi’s voice shook.

“In order to get past this, you have to learn how to use yourself as a conduit. While not every bolt will follow, you will have the maneuver needed in at least somewhat of a direction. Because…”

Just as Merri did, Gigi applied a generous amount of pressure to Luigi’s palm. If Mario’s fire was a show, Luigi’s energy was a spectacle. The area even seemed to darken as the burst illuminated the area.

Gigi let out a cheerful cry of glee, hands clapping. “Oh, amazing! Absolutely amazing! Your strength seems to hold no limit. Truly a hidden gem.”

Luigi didn’t reply. Eyes still up at the sky where the bolt had hit its peak, swallowing weakly.

“Now, if we’re going to begin, we need to start fresh. Fully fresh,” Marri and Gigi met back up to stand directly in front of the twins, “You both need to remove your gloves.”

That caused a good portion of the audience to tense.

“Wait, what?” Mario asked weakly.

“We need you to remove your gloves.”

“I-Is that really the smartest choice?” Luigi spoke next, “I-It’s kind of the reason we have…control over these powers.”

“Did you not defeat King Boo by removing your gloves?” Gigi commented.

“S-Sure, but I s-still had to worry of hurting someone or d-damaging something.”

“Understand, this is not to make you uncomfortable,” Merri quickly took over, “You need to get used to how the full extent of that power feels flowing through you. We’re just testing for now. The moment it becomes too much, the gloves can go back on.”

From the corner of his eye, Mario saw Wario waving his arms in the air to get his attention. The older brother, quietly, but with very wide and obvious movements, pointedly gave his ‘comment’. Gesturing to Luigi, then Mario, then grasping onto Waluigi’s hand. Who was very unhappy about being roped into Wario’s…whatever this was.

Even with the slight confusion at the beginning, Mario eventually understood. Giving a sharp nod.

If all else fails, Mario and Luigi could cancel each other’s powers out.

“Okay,” said Mario, “Let’s try it.”

“Just be mindful, this is just a test.” Merri attempted to comfort, “We’ll pull back the moment it becomes too much.”

The twin’s both nervously removed the gloves. Both letting out surprised gasps as their powers fully hit them. It had been awhile since they’d felt this. Mario tried to keep himself level as a few flames escaped from his mouth. Luigi unable to hold back his shaking as he felt the energy travel up and down his spine.

“Goodness…” Gigi gasped softly.

“This is much more than what we were expecting.” Merri agreed.

“W-What-” Mario coughed softly at the smoke he tasted on his tongue, “What do we need to do now?”

“Close your eyes and slow your breathing. You need to find your core, your center, where your power is being stored.”

They did as instructed. Both falling into a contented and calm focus. It was honestly a little awkward at first. As they had no idea what they were supposed to be looking or feeling for. The back of their minds holding a small reminder that they probably looked like idiots just standing there.

But they did eventually fall into a comfortable rhythm, slowly feeling something heavy resting between their chest and stomach. A steady pulse, not a heartbeat, but something that beats in tandem with it.

“Found it,” They responded at the same time, eyes still closed.

Wario and Waluigi mentally noticed they sounded as if they were in a trance.

“Describe it to us.” Gigi whispered her request.

“A beat…a pulse?” Luigi replied.

“It sounds like another heartbeat.” Mario stated.

“Excellent,” said Merri, “Now, Gig and I are going to step forward to help. Keep your breathing steady. Keep your focus.”

Neither flinched as Merri and Gigi moved their hands. Having them cup together just below their sternum. Keeping their own hands pressed underneath the brother’s.

“Alright, we’re going to help you on this next part,” said Gigi, “You’re going to slowly call upon your power until your hands hold a small portion of it.”

“We’re going to help you draw it out. To keep in control and so you know what it feels like.” Merri concluded.

“Okay,” the twins calmly replied.

It was the first time, for a while, that the twin’s neutral faces shifted. Flinching in slight pain before brows furrowed in concentration as their powers were slowly pulled out. Mario’s turning into the familiar form of a fireball. Except it was a vivid red instead of the well known orange. For Luigi, Waluigi mumbled out, “Plasma ball? Interesting.” The sphere of energy held small arches of electricity bouncing around it. If it was held instead of floating, it no doubt would have weighed a ton.

The growth of both continued until the power formed to the size of a small ball. At that point, Merri and Gigi pulled away. Mario and Luigi finally opened their eyes. Just barely stopping themselves from falling onto their faces.

The orbs fluctuated slightly before calming once more.

“So, how are you two feeling?” Gigi asked.

“A little strange…but okay.” Mario calmly replied.

“It’s not as…intense as before,” Luigi added, “I think this is the most collected I’ve felt with this before.”

“That’s wonderful to hear! I will admit, your ability looks far different that what I expected,” This comment was directed towards Mario.

“Uh, yeah, I figured. It’s not like a Fire Flower.” Mario nervously chuckled, eyes on the fire he was holding.

“Well, I’m more comparing it to Bowser’s fire.”

“Wait, what?”

Merri, possibly unaware of the stressful situation, casually continued on with, “Oh, did no one tell you this? Perhaps it wasn’t known in this kingdom. The Firebrand ability comes from the Koopa lineage. Lord Bowser is the other being who holds this ability, and with strength equal to yours. Granted, he expels it through his mouth while yours is controlled by your hands. But, still, the similarities in strength is interesting.”

“I…what?”

Now Merri heard the trepidation in the hero’s voice. “Did…no one tell you of this?”

“No!” The three around Mario jumped back as the fireball erupted. Now engulfing both arms.

As if responding in kind to Mario’s panic, Luigi’s own ability snapped. The orb of energy gave out a small pop before charging out. Merri and Gigi darting further away at the ground starting to crack and fracture, the energy breaking it apart.

Wario and Waluigi quickly pulled Peach, Peasley, and Toadsworth back. The rest of the audience scrambled as the cracks crawled further out.

It happened in a span of a few seconds. The dust settled to reveal the twins in a newly formed crater. Luigi having his arms wrapped around Mario in a death grip. Small bolt of energy arching around Luigi’s form. Smoke pouring out of Mario’s mouth.

Taking a deep breath, Luigi quietly said, “M-Mario?”

Whatever stupor the red dressed hero was in broke hearing his name. Mario pulled away with a sharp jerk. Doing his best to squash the broken feeling stirring in his stomach at Luigi’s fearful look. Instead, he tugged his gloves back on as he stumbled out of the crater.

Upon reaching the top, Mario lifted his head. Eyes scanning to find his quickest escape route. Feeling another part of his soul breaking upon seeing the Toads flinching away.

His breathing became ragged.

Unable to stop the smoke billowing out of his mouth.

He reached his lowest point when he saw Peach. Who was being held back by a worried looking Wario. The princess’ eyes wide and filled with…fear?

He couldn’t stay there any longer.

Mario pulled his cap down and rushed out of the training area. Disappearing into the castle proper as Luigi finally climbed his way out. Watching until Mario was gone and then it was his turn to take in the fearful audience. Crossing his arms to hide his hands away, Luigi slowly backed away. Very aware of the eyes following him. Unable to look anywhere but ahead of him, in fear of seeing how everyone was looking at him.

How Peasley was looking at him.

Was he impressed with the uncontrollable power now?

While he didn’t run, Luigi left as quickly as his shaky legs would carry him. Hiding himself away in the surrounding garden.

“Go look after Mario, we got this handled,” Wario whispered to Peach.

Peach gave a short nod and left. Head held high as she passed her citizens and followed Mario’s footsteps.

Peasley stumbled slightly as he was nudged towards the gardens. Turning back with a raised brow to Waluigi in quiet confusion.

“You’re not going to believe me now. But your words are going to hold better meaning than from any of us.” The tallest brother explained.

“...Very well.” Peasley said calmly. Straightening himself out before rushing towards the gardens.

“You two!” Wario called out. Pointing at Merri and Gigi. Who bristled at being addressed so harshly. “We four need to have a bit of a talk. Now.”

Merri sniffed, but nodded slowly. “Very well.”

“Someone…try and clean this up?” Waluigi weakly suggested. Gesturing to the damaged area as they moved away.

_____________________________

Bubbling lava always held a calming effect for him. Even if it was more often seen as a river of destruction, that’s what he liked about it. Something slow moving that people took little notice of. Until it started a fire, or burned down a forest, or cooked something alive. Then they started paying attention and began cursing for not doing so sooner.

How they just assumed they were safe…

“Lord Bowser?”

Fiery red eyes snapped open. Taking in the magma and lava covered land below momentarily before the hulking Koopa form turned away from the arched opening. Turning to find Kamek standing behind the King, holding his wand tightly in his hands.

“Our spies have returned with a rather interesting report.” said Kamek, answering Bowser’s unsaid question.

“Interesting, you say? Do tell.” Bowser said, turning his full attention to his right hand Koopa.

“Representatives of the BeanBean Kingdom have arrived to the Mushroom Kingdom.”

“The self-exiled kingdom? They’ve finally broken their silence, something big must be happening if they’ve chosen now to poke their heads out of the ground.”

“Indeed something is,” Kamek continued with a smirk, “It appears those human heroes have acquired some…special abilities.”

Bowser frowned at that, “I’m aware of their connections to the Power-Ups.”

“Not Power-Up related. An ancient power. One that I have not seen before, only read about. Another that, well, hits rather close to home.”

“Enough of your riddles, warlock, explain.”

“The coward holds the Thunderhand. A rather destructive ability locked in such a weakling.”

“And what of Mario.” Bowser growled.

“Firebrand, my Lord.”

There was a pause.

Then Bowser began to laugh. One that built up until it began to echo loudly in the grand hall.

“Well, what a wonderful surprise! I suppose it would be ill will of me if I didn’t offer my own help. Why don’t we pay the Mushroom Kingdom a long, overdue visit? It would do us all some good, I believe.”

#s-creations #fanfiction #mario #luigi #mario and luigi #wario #waluigi #wario and waluigi #mario luigi wario waluigi #princess peach #prince peasley #mario x peach #mareach #luigi x peasley #luisley #bowser #yellow purple red green #yprg

26 notes · View notes

ryutarotakedown · 7 months

Text

Word count: 2467 Chapters: 1/1 Rating: Gen Relationships: Susato Mikotoba/Haori Murasame, Susato Mikotoba & Kazuma Asougi Characters: Susato Mikotoba, Haori Murasame, Kazuma Asougi, Yuujin Mikotoba Additional tags: Missing Scene, Foreshadowing, An Ungodly Amount of Dramatic Irony, Canon Compliant, (i think), POV Susato Mikotoba, Character Study

Summary:

Hold it! Susato’s hand flies up to her mouth as the gears in her brain finally start to spin. It’s the day — the day they’re about to set out to Great Britain — and she isn’t even done packing yet! “I’ll be right there!” she shouts to her sort-of-brother and her best friend, before dashing towards her own luggage.

Or: In which Susato Mikotoba sets out on her journey to London, featuring complicated siblings, the slow onset of a blossoming crush, and the beginning of a story that will definitely go well for all involved.

Read on AO3 or below!

“Suuuuu!”

Haori’s vocal chords are truly impressive — her voice manages to reach Susato even from two floors below. Susato peers out the window and is greeted with the sight of Haori waving at her from the courtyard.

Susato grins and waves back, then squints. Rubs the sleep out of her eyes. Is that Kazuma next to her?

Yes, it is — he lifts a hand in greeting, mouth ticking up in obvious amusement at Haori’s enthusiasm. In his other hand are several bags, and on the ground is a very large trunk. Susato’s clearly not awake enough for this, because she could swear that trunk just moved…

“I’ll be right there!” she shouts to her sort-of-brother and her best friend, before dashing towards her own luggage.

A few minutes later she’s dragging her two bags down the stairs (one for books, one for everything else) and into the sunny courtyard. Haori rushes to take a bag for her, then nearly doubles over from the weight. “Rookie mistake,” Kazuma murmurs, and Susato can’t help but laugh even as she eases the luggage out of Haori’s grip.

“I didn’t know you were coming,” she says to Haori, who is still massaging her arm with amazement written all over her face.

“What kind of best friend would I be if I didn’t see you off?” Haori smiles at her while Susato tries to hide a wince. She’s only met Naruhodou-sama once, but Kazuma speaks of him often. Why isn’t he here, after Kazuma helped defend him against murder?

Kazuma quirks a reassuring smile in Susato’s direction, like he’s read her mind, and she relaxes. He explains, “Murasame-san insisted on accompanying us to the harbor, so I insisted on sharing our ride with her. It should be along soon.”

Susato nods. She and Kazuma said their goodbyes to Grandmother yesterday — too cruel to force her to wake up at the crack of dawn for this — so that just leaves… “What about Father?”

“Professor Mikotoba’s at the docks already,” Kazuma says. “He wanted to get the paperwork for our exchange student trip in order with the sailors.”

Susato’s still not used to hearing Kazuma call her father — their father — Professor Mikotoba. She understands why, of course: Kazuma Asougi’s adoption into the Mikotoba family is on strict need-to-know basis. It’s secret even from Haori, who comes over to study almost every week; it’s why Father refers to him as Asougi-kun outside their walls and Kazuma-kun within it. But she’s never been able to call him anything but Kazuma-sama, even though on his part —

“Judicial Assistant Mikotoba, could you help me lift this trunk?”

There it is.

“Coming,” Susato calls. Kazuma, she thinks, is deceptively good at facades.

The two rickshaws are waiting on the road already. After Susato and Kazuma heave the trunk into one (maybe she’s still not fully awake, because there’s a sound like a human “Ow!” as they tip it into the compartment) and they pay the drivers, the two of them — plus Haori — squish together on the seat of the other rickshaw, and they’re off.

“I still can’t believe you’re both going to England,” Haori gushes as the cart’s wheels rattle under them. “We’ve read about it so much, haven’t we, Su?”

“We have,” Susato agrees, smiling. “Oh, that’s right — I told Father to give you the Randst Magazine issues that will arrive while I’m gone, so you can keep reading The Bride of Hallow’s Eve.” It’s a time-honored tradition between them: Susato reads every monthly issue from cover to cover (though really the highlight is always The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes), then gives it to Haori so she can read her favorite parts (usually the serialized romances). Susato would hate for it to stop just because of the addition of an ocean between them.

“Oh, thanks so much, Su!” Haori clasps her hands together in delight. “You’re so gallant!”

“Th-that’s not the right adjective for a girl, I think,” Susato deflects. Heat is rising to her face. Kazuma smirks sideways at her but stays silent.

“But there’s no better one for you!” Haori giggles, the smile lines of her eyes creasing, as Susato’s face goes even redder. “You’re like a gentleman in a girl’s body, Susato.”

“Um,” Susato says. Alongside the embarrassment, there’s a confusing, fizzy joy filling her chest that she doesn’t know how to deal with. Susato Mikotoba, gentleman. She could get used to that. “I—”

“Would you look at that, we’re almost there,” Kazuma swoops in. Susato shoots him a grateful look for the rescue. “Judicial Assistant Mikotoba, you remember what to say when we embark, yes?”

“Of course,” Susato says. They had practiced how to get past the expected questions — why Kazuma’s judicial assistant was female, why she was not yet of age, how they had met each other in the first place. “If all else fails, I’ll simply give them my best Susato Toss!”

“And I’ll come running with Karuma.” Kazuma pats the sword that’s always hanging by his side. “Just give me a shout.”

“I will,” Susato promises, as the cart rounds a corner and she first glimpses the hulking silhouette of the S.S. Burya. At least the happiness that buoys her now is familiar. It’s really happening, isn’t it! She’s going to England with Kazuma by her side, and she’ll finally get to practice in an actual court, and she’ll make her father proud and have so many stories for her grandma, and…

“I just wish you could come too,” she tells Haori. Then the tableau in her head would be flawless. “I’m sure you could learn as much about medicine as I could about the law in England.” That was close to what her father had done for six years, wasn’t it?

Haori sighs. “I know… but Su, you deserve this most out of anyone! You studied so hard to go! Don’t hold yourself back because of me!” She leans forward to stare intensely into Susato’s eyes. “You’re the most upstanding judicial assistant I know!”

Susato is fairly sure she’s the only judicial assistant Haori knows, but still she blushes when she answers: “Well, I doubt I deserve it more than Kazuma-sama, but I’ll… try to remember that. Thank you, Haori-sama.”

“There you go talking like an old man again,” Haori laughs, settling back into her seat. Susato immediately misses the weight of her gaze. “Just remember to write.”

“Of course I will,” Susato says, the words as light as air, just as the carriage grinds to a stop near the entrance to the harbor and the driver hollers for them to disembark.

As Kazuma heads towards his luggage (to… sweet-talk it down? She loves Kazuma, but sometimes he really is strange), Susato offers an arm for Haori to step down from the rickshaw. Haori takes it gracefully, and Susato wonders at how easily their hands fit in each other’s. Haori has a singular calluse at the base of her thumb — testament to the years she’s spent writing medical reports, Susato knows — and suddenly Susato’s heart aches.

She’ll miss Haori. For all that her father calls her mature for her age, this realization hits her with all the impossible longing associated with being a sixteen-year-old in love.

(Not that Susato is — not like that — not —)

How long until she sees her again? It’s not as though Susato is anyone special — what if she returns to Japan and Haori has forgotten all about her? What if England tears the memory of her best friend away from Susato and she comes back unrecognizable? What if…

“Su?”

“Judicial Assistant Mikotoba?”

The voices reach her simultaneously and she realizes she’s been staring at Haori for… entirely too long. Kazuma’s trunk is already being carried away by some sailors, in fact.

“Ahhhhh! I’m sorry!” She lets go of Haori’s hand, face burning, and picks up her luggage. “I’ll go put this on board!”

“Susato—” Kazuma calls after her, but she’s already gone.

The sailor she meets doesn’t know any Japanese and Susato doesn’t know any Russian, but they manage to meet in the middle with awkward English. She’s studied enough British law books to at least warn him that the bags are heavy before he takes them, though he’s not convinced until he fails to lift one and has to call another person over. Susato frowns to herself as she walks back to where Kazuma and Haori are. She really needs to brush up on her general English once she’s on the ship…

She spots Haori standing quietly next to her father, who’s discussing ship logistics with Kazuma, when she returns. “Judicial Assistant Mikotoba,” Kazuma says easily as he looks up. “So you didn’t need any violence after all.”

“They didn’t ask me anything,” Susato reports. She’s almost disappointed — she had practiced the right level of friendliness and all. (And the optimal method for a Susato Toss.) “Perhaps they will upon boarding?”

“Perhaps,” Kazuma agrees, then steps aside respectfully as Susato’s father hands her a boarding ticket. She runs a finger over the gilded paper, the excitement rising again despite herself. How thrilling, being on a steamship for the first time! It’s like a scene straight out of the Adventures! Oh, to be carried through the waves and inhale the salty air of the seven seas!

She only barely manages to rein herself in enough to hear her father say, “Asougi-kun, your cabin is on the top deck. Susato, yours is in steerage.”

“Oh.” Susato blinks. For some reason she’d been imagining them in adjacent rooms. “We’re going to be far apart then?”

A split second of conflict washes over Haori’s face before it resolves into determination. “That isn’t right, Professor Mikotoba! Su shouldn’t be separated from the attorney she’s assisting!”

“Yes, it’s quite unfortunate,” Susato’s father agrees gently. “But as I understand it, the other priority cabin has been reserved for someone boarding at… Shanghai, I believe?”

“Shanghai, China,” Susato murmurs to herself. She’s read about it in some magazines as well, but she can still hardly imagine the place. “That’s where our kanji characters come from.”

“That’s right.” Her father sighs. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get you a better cabin, Susato.”

Haori looks downward, a little wistful. “It’s so unfair how they’re making you stay alone…”

“I’ll be fine,” Susato lies. “It’s not as though Kazuma-sama could bring anyone onboard, either. And I need the studying time!”

“Speaking of which.” Kazuma casts a glance at the ship. Is that guilt in his expression? No, it can’t be. “We should probably get—”

The ship’s horn blows. They all jump, Susato clapping her hands over her ears.

“—going,” Kazuma finishes. “I think I have to check in with the sailors guarding the first-class deck as well.”

Susato nods, then turns to face her father and her best friend, trying to conjure up her resolve. “I suppose this is goodbye for now, Father, Haori-sama.”

Her father takes a few steps closer and then, unexpectedly, wraps her in a hug. She buries her face in his shoulder — she’s almost as tall as he is now, she realizes. “Be careful,” he whispers into her ear. “Remember that you’re a young woman in a foreign country. Safety is always the first priority.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Susato says, as he lets go and looks her up and down, like he’s trying to memorize the look of her even after ten years.

“Good.” He turns to Kazuma, doesn’t hug him but does ruffle his bangs affectionately. It’s a dangerous action around someone like Haori who doesn’t know about their family situation, Susato knows, and her throat aches at the sight of Kazuma’s answering smile. “The same goes for you, young man. Be careful. Some things should be avoided even when you’re carrying Karuma.”

Kazuma’s hand drifts to his hip, brushing over the hilt of the Asougi clan sword. He'd fought for weeks to gain permission to carry Karuma onboard, Susato knows. His voice is a little rough as he answers, “I know.”

“Hey Su,” Haori pipes up, and Susato turns. “I, um, got you something. Hold out your hand?”

Susato does. She watches Haori fish around in the folds of her clothing and find something that she presses into Susato’s palm. Susato has enough time to process that it’s small and made of iron before Haori gently closes Susato’s fingers around it. For someone who spends a lot of time in laboratories, Haori’s hands are surprisingly warm, Susato thinks.

“It’s a good-luck charm,” Haori explains. “From the temple near our house — they said it would protect against any natural disasters and sea monsters. I know you’re a scientific person and everything and so am I but I thought you might want one and I wanted you to have it because I’ll be worried about you because who knows what could happen on a steamship—”

“Haori-sama,” Susato says.

“Eep!” Haori stops. “Yes?”

Susato swallows. “I love it. Thank you.”

“You haven’t even looked at it yet,” Haori says, a pink tinge settling on her cheekbones.

“I’d love anything you gave me,” Susato says. It comes out far too sincere, but when Haori blushes harder she finds she doesn’t mind.

The horn blows again, making Susato wince. “I suppose we really must be going now, Kazuma-sama?”

“Right,” Kazuma says. “Thank you for seeing us off, Professor Mikotoba and Murasame-san.”

“Of course,” says Susato’s father. “Ah — Susato, you know your grandmother can’t stand chilly mornings, but she did want me to pass on her well wishes.”

“Tell Grandma I’ll write,” Susato responds.

“We’ll miss you, Su, Asougi-san!” Haori clasps her hands together. “You both have to tell me all about London!”

Susato’s throat suddenly feels tight. Oh no, is she about to cry? She blinks quickly and only just manages to say, “Of course.”

“Judicial Assistant Mikotoba,” Kazuma warns, flicking his eyes towards the Burya.

Oh, and despite how long she’d practiced for this day it’s so hard to leave them. Her father, her grandmother, Haori… Is it wrong of Susato to board this steamship now? To abandon them all the same way that, sixteen years ago, her father —

No. No, she can’t think that way. Susato forces a wobbly smile on her face and says, “Yes, let’s be off.”

And as they walk up the gangplank, as they stand on the deck of the mighty S.S. Burya, as the ship’s horn blows its final warning and they wave to the two tiny figures on the ground — Susato comforts herself: at least she knows that Kazuma will always be by her side.

21 notes · View notes

annachu-cannot-write · 2 months

Text

A Guiding Light

Rating: General Audiences

Category: M/M

Fandom: Hogwarts Legacy

Relationship: Ominis Gaunt/Player Character

Additional Tags: POV Ominis Gaunt, Slytherin Player Character, Slow Burn, Slow Build, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Jealousy, Tragic Backstory, Eventual Fluff, Ominis Gaunt Needs a Hug

Story Summary: Ominis Gaunt has been blind for his whole life, relying solely on his wand to show him the way. But when his wand one day goes missing, he finds guidance in an unlikely place, and soon a whole new world opens up to him.

Chapter 4 - however long it takes (to make you realise)

Word Count: 3342 [published on archive 14/03 2024]

Notes: chapter 4 is finally here, so enjoy!

(i know this one took a bit longer to post, but i'm still playing the game, so from here on it might take longer between each upload)

alsooo down below is a picture (of bad quality, i know, so don't at me) of my MC aka Kieran Everbleed, cuz i thought you might want to know what he looks like (seeing as i can't really have Ominis describe his looks...)

It was Saturday morning and Ominis had just been rudely woken up by the shrill noise of an alarm clock going off. Blasted little bugger, he thought as he stirred in his four-poster. Why would anyone set an alarm on a Saturday? It was totally barbaric.

“Sorry.” someone mumbled to his left - it was Albert Hickling. Of course it was Albert Hickling. For over four years he had tinkered with his own inventions, putting spells on them to make them do all sorts of unimaginable things. Never before, though, had he done anything with an alarm clock.

“It wasn’t meant to do that, I thought I had bewitched it to transform into a duck every morning so I could have it in my bath.”

“What?” Either Ominis was still too groggy from sleep, or it was the silliest thing he had ever heard.

“It wouldn’t be a real duck, of course!”

“Never mind that, could you just make it stop?” he said, because the alarm clock was, in fact, still ringing.

“Oh! Sorry.” Hickling mumbled again, fumbling with the noisy gadget for a good couple of seconds before it finally became quiet.

Ominis rolled his eyes. Idiot, he thought as he dragged the covers over himself again.

It wasn’t until he heard Hickling leave the dormitory a moment later, that it occurred to him that none of the other boys had woken up. Sebastian, he knew for a fact, was a heavy sleeper, and could sleep through most things - though something as loud and obnoxious as that alarm clock would surely have woken anyone up. As for Everbleed, he hadn’t learnt what type of sleeper he was - but even if he was a heavy sleeper as well, there was no reason why he shouldn’t have woken up.

Ominis regretted that he hadn’t asked Hickling what time it was when the clock had rung - if he had, he would have known now, if it was a time in the morning when the boys would normally be in bed.

Lifting himself up to his elbows, he called out for Sebastian but got nothing in response. It was awfully quiet, now that he thought about it. On most mornings, he could hear faint snoring coming from Sebastian, but right now, the room was completely silent.

“Sebastian? Are you there?... Everbleed?” Still no response. Ominis frowned. Normally, he and Sebastian would wake up at roughly the same time, a consequence from sleeping in the same room since they were 11, he was sure of, then Everbleed would slowly start to wake up, and eventually the three of them would go to breakfast together. But now there seemed to be only him here.

A voice in the back of his head told him that the two of them had gone on without him - but he tried not to listen. After Sebastian had talked to him on the bridge last week, Ominis had been under the impression that things had gone back to normal between them - but now he wasn’t so sure anymore.

He let his arms fall to his side and his head was once again reunited with the pillow. He sighed, but found that when he did, his chest ached a bit, so he brought his hand up and clutched the fabric of his pyjamas, right over his heart. As he did so, he thought about how pathetic he was, and that it made perfect sense that Sebastian would want to abandon him.

He closed his eyes shut, hard, and wished that he could just fall back to sleep, but he knew there was no way he could do that now. Not with all these thoughts filling up his entire mind. Things will be all right, he told himself, I will be all right.

...

Sleep had, unbeknownst to Ominis, swept him away an hour later, easing his mind as well as his body. When he came to, it was because he had, for a second time that morning, been woken up.

“Are you still sleeping? You’re going to miss breakfast if you don’t get up soon.”

Ominis could only respond with a sluggish ‘Mm’ for he was too tired to be able to make a, perhaps more coherent, response.

After a moment, he heard his stomach rumble as hunger overwhelmed him, and he woke up more and more. When he eventually sat up in his bed, stretching his arms over his head, the thoughts that had occupied his mind earlier came back and hit him straight in his gut. Breakfast didn’t seem so inviting all of a sudden.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where Sebastian is, would you?” he asked before he even realised it.

“No, but I heard him and Kieran early this morning, talking about Feldcroft. They seemed to be in a hurry.”

The answer threw another punch to his gut and he felt sick. He was sure he would have thrown up, if it wasn’t for the fact that Hickling was in the room.

“I thought it was strange that he left without you.”

‘Left without you’ The words echoed in his mind, taunting him, cutting him. ‘Left without you’ He could feel the bad taste in his mouth as the words only grew louder. ‘Left without you’ He ran out of the dormitory, running like a wild beast that had been let loose. … Then he fell and hit the floor, and everything came all at once - the vomit, the tears, the blood.

...

For a third time that morning, Ominis was woken up. This time, however, it wasn’t whilst lying in bed - but on the cold stone floor of the common room, and not when he had been asleep, but when he had been unconscious.

Everything was a big blur to him. His head throbbed violently and he felt dizzy. He could hear rushed murmurs coming from all directions, but he couldn’t make out any of the words over the ringing in his ears. Someone shook him by the shoulder, calling his name, but Ominis just lay there, unable to produce any sort of response. Then he could feel a pair of arms picking him up, and a warm body against his own. In the state he was in, he couldn’t understand anything that was going on.

...

He felt something soft touch his back and he realised that he must have been laid down. No more than a second later someone’s hand was on his forehead, then at both sides of his head, prodding at him, wiping at his face. He could hear a woman muttering to his side, but her words weren’t any clearer than the voices earlier had been - these, too, were rushed. Then, before he could even register it, his back had been lifted up and something was placed in his hand to hold. Ominis blinked, still feeling very out of it. He heard more muttering, and the next thing he knew, someone grabbed the object from his hand, brought it up to his lips, and then a nasty liquid hit his tongue. He wanted to spit it out immediately, but found that whoever was feeding him this liquid was still pouring it into his mouth, making it impossible to do so.

Whatever it was that he had been forced to drink, he felt an instant effect from it as soon as he swallowed it. The throbbing in his head died down to a level where it was almost completely gone, and his ears no longer rang. The woman spoke to him again, and this time Ominis could hear every word.

“Mr. Gaunt? This is nurse Blainey - you are in the hospital wing. It seems you fell and took a blow to your head.”

As he registered her words, Ominis brought his hand up to his head, and frowned - he couldn’t remember falling and hitting his head.

“It’s best if you stay here for a couple of hours, so I can keep an eye on you. Now, be still, so I can put this on you.”

He didn’t know what ‘this’ referred to, but felt the matron’s hands on his head again, apparently putting on some sort of bandage.

“Do you remember how this happened at all?”

“No.” he replied, his voice coming out slightly hoarse.

“Your prefect, Mr. Hickling, arrived with you in a hurry, just moments ago. He told me he saw you running out of the dormitory looking sick, and that when he heard a commotion in the common room he went to see what was going on. That’s apparently when you had hurt yourself.”

The matron finished wrapping him up and said “You don’t have to remember now, it will all come back to you after you’ve had some rest, so don’t strain yourself. Now, if you would be so kind, Mr. Hickling…”

Ominis hadn’t realised Hickling was still in the hospital wing with them.

“Of course, nurse Blainey. Ominis, I shall leave you now. Hopefully you’ll feel better soon.”

Ominis made his second incoherent response to Hickling that morning, but it was the best he could do - he was still trying to understand why the other boy would have shown him such kindness.

“Oh, I almost forgot, nurse Blainey, Ominis hasn’t eaten his breakfast yet…”

“Why didn’t you say so? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Here I was, giving him medicine on an empty stomach…. Oh well, best call for the house-elves, so they can bring some food up then.”

...

The rest of the morning and afternoon went by faster than Ominis thought it would, considering he was meant to spend it in a hospital bed. He had managed to rest for the most part, albeit shorter periods at a time, and the rest of the time he had spent listening to nurse Blainey moving across the room, tending to other students. At some point Hickling had come back with his clothes and schoolrobe so he could change out of his pyjamas.

Later, when the matron finally came to remove his bandage, she announced that he was free to go, and Ominis felt relieved.

“Be careful not to make any sudden head movements though, and should you feel anything at all, come back and see me again.”

“Of course, nurse Blainey-” he said, and started stepping away from the bed, but realised soon that he was without his wand. “-My wand…”

“Oh, it’s right here, dear-” she handed it over to him, placing it in his hand. “-Mr. Hickling brought it with him when he dropped off your clothes.”

“Ah… thank you.” he managed a smile, and then proceeded to walk away from the bed, and out of the hospital wing.

...

As soon as Ominis reached the Grand Staircase, he was overwhelmed with loud voices. All around him students were chatting away with their friends, talking about what they had been up to during the day, and what they planned to do tomorrow. Some students, further away from him, mentioned being in Hogsmeade, eating and drinking at the Three Broomsticks. A group of girls talked about how they went down to Lower Hogsfield and what a lovely little place it was.

It all made Ominis feel like he had been stuck in a sort of hazy dream the entire day - coming in and out of consciousness, and not really knowing what had been going on for the most part. He had missed out on a whole day he could have spent doing the things the students around him had done. But it was just one day, he told himself, no matter. It’s not like he normally spends his free days visiting Hogsmeade or the neighbouring hamlets, anyway. Nonetheless, a sense of gloominess washed over him as he descended the stairs towards the Reception Hall.

A waft of delicious food reached Ominis’ nostrils as the doors to the Great Hall opened and closed by students coming in and out, and the gloomy feeling turned to hunger. It felt to him like no time at all had passed since the house-elves had brought him breakfast. Here I go, eating again, he thought to himself. All he had done this day, so far, had been eating and sleeping.

...

Dinner had been exquisite. All the things Ominis loved tasted particularly good this evening - the roast chicken was juicier, the sausages fattier, and the roast potatoes crispier than ever. He couldn’t think of a time when he had been this full - not even on his very first day as a first-year.

I wonder if I still have room for some dessert? But it probably won’t arrive any time soon, he thought as he rubbed his belly. Though I might as well stay here for a while, I’m too tired to go anywhere at the moment. He let out a content sigh, but was interrupted halfway.

“You look like you swallowed a dugbog - were you that hungry?” It was Sebastian.

Ominis was just about to give a snarky retort when suddenly there was a strange feeling in his head. It didn’t hurt, exactly, more like it made him a wee bit dizzy. He shut his eyes, but when he did, memories of the early morning came back to him - very fast, and very vividly, and he felt increasingly dizzier. He didn’t even notice nearly falling off of the bench, until a pair of hands steadied him.

“Don’t touch me.” he spat out instantaneously.

He was met with something he could only assume was a stunned silence. Then, whilst still a little shaky, he stood up and began to walk away, bumping into Sebastian on purpose. It didn’t take long, however, until Sebastian’s hand was on his arm, trying to stop him.

“Ominis? Wha-”

“Don’t talk to me.”

“Did something happen?”

Ominis ignored the question at first, just puffing out air, shaking his head in disbelief, trying to convey the message that he was upset. Then he grabbed Sebastian's arm forcefully and dragged him to the side of the hall, where they could have some privacy. There, he answered the question with a question of his own.

“What do you think?” he said through gritted teeth.

“Well, you’re obviously upset, I can see that.”

“How observant of you, anything else?”

“You’re being really snappy towards me.”

“Oh, yeah?”

Sebastian sighed, and after a couple of seconds said “Why are you being like this, Ominis? If I did something to offend you, just say so.”

“Offend me?” he huffed loudly. “I think you would know for yourself if you had done something to offend me.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly what it sounds like!”

“Okay, so I have offended you? When exactly?”

“You haven’t offended me Sebastian, you’ve hurt me!” he yelled out, tears starting to form in his eyes. “Are you really that oblivious?”

“If you’re talking about the Undercroft again, I’ve already apologised for that-”

“That’s not what this is about!”

“Then, what is it about?!”

“Everbleed!” he practically screamed out, tears now streaming down his cheeks.

“What does he have to do with this?”

“Everything! He’s got everything to do with this, can’t you see? You spend so much time with him, you barely have any left to spend with me anymore! And as if the Undercroft thing wasn’t bad enough, you even bring him to Feldcroft to meet Anne? You didn’t stop to think that perhaps I wanted to go meet her again? That I, who happen to actually be her friend, would be happy to hear her voice again? No? Did it never occur to you?!”

He fell backwards against the wall, shaking with uncontrollable sobs, feeling utterly miserable.

“Am I not your friend, Sebastian? Do I mean that little to you?”

Several seconds passed in a suffocating silence, and he thought that this had to be it - the moment he would lose his most dearest friend. He knew that if Sebastian didn’t want him anymore, things would go back to how they were before they were friends, before he got to Hogwarts. He would be on his own again, the only company the one found in solitude. But he didn’t want that, he didn’t want to go back to being all alone, with no one to talk to, or to laugh with, or to create memories together with. But that had already started to happen. It started on the very first day of their fifth year. A tear in a bond that he thought was so strong that nothing could break it, but has just kept on growing.

“Ominis…” Sebastian’s voice was not more than a breath of air, and Ominis could barely hear it over his own thoughts. “I am sorry. I am truly sorry… I didn’t know you felt like this. You know you mean a lot to me-”

“No, Sebastian, I don’t.” he cut him off quietly, and Sebastian sighed.

“You and Anne are the most important people in my life; I wouldn’t know what to do without either of you.”

“Then why didn’t you let me come meet her?”

Sebastian sighed once again, and took a step closer.

“What you have to understand, Ominis, is that there are bigger things going on. War is almost upon us and goblins are terrorising people everywhere. There’s not a single hamlet that is safe anymore, especially Feldcroft. It’s just a matter of time before they curse someone from the village again, and I just don’t want that to be you.”

Ominis closed his eyes. He just didn’t want to hear it.

“You don’t think I can handle my own.”

“That’s not what I said, Ominis.”

“But I know that’s what you meant. You didn’t want me there with you to slow you down, so you brought Everbleed with you instead - perfect little Everbleed who can defeat a whole troll on his own.-” He pushed himself off of the wall, and stepped closer to Sebastian, stopping right in front of his face. “-Isn’t that right?”

A few silent seconds passed.

“You’re being ridiculous.” Sebastian said and moved away. Ominis clenched his jaw.

“I’ll leave you alone then, if that’s what you think. I have no interest in being here anyway.”

He didn’t get very far though, before Sebastian said “Before you go, I want to speak to you about something else, if you care to listen.”

Ominis made no sign of moving, and Sebastian continued “You remember me mentioning Salazar Slytherin’s Scriptorium, right?-”

“-I’ve already told you how I feel about that.”

“Yes, well, I hoped you could give it some more thought. I believe, if we were to enter the Scriptorium, we could find something that could provide us with useful information about a cure for Anne.”

Ominis clenched his jaw harder.

“That Scriptorium means only bad things, and I want nothing to do with the dark magic that lies within it-”

“-Even if it means finding a cure?”

“I will not change my mind on this matter! Anything to do with the Dark Arts should be avoided. It’s too risky.”

“Anything to do with Salazar Slytherin is worth the risk.”

“I can’t agree, and I’ll not say a word more. I’m sorry.”

With those final words, Ominis walked away from Sebastian - his head pounding and his heart aching. He couldn’t even be bothered to care when he realised he had collided with Everbleed, he just wanted to get away from the Great Hall as fast as possible.

...

It was cold in the dormitory, where he lay in his four-poster, thinking hard on everything that had transpired that day - first hitting his head, then spending the day in the hospital wing, and lastly, everything that had gone down between him and Sebastian in the Great Hall. Perhaps he hadn’t lost his most dearest friend that day, but he wasn’t sure how much longer it would take before their bond would eventually break.

He turned onto his side and dragged the duvet over his head, trying not to think, because he just wanted to go to sleep, forget about everything and for this day to finally end.

8 notes · View notes

callsign-bunnie · 11 months

Note

Ever struggled with a lack of Gaz/Soap bromance? Ever felt a lack of cryptic Ghost in your days?

Try Silence is Golden But Consequences Are Red by FeelzMaster on ao3! It's got a healthy dose of drama, Ghost being Ghost, and all the Gaz/Soap bromance moments you could possibly desire! It's an alternate universe with a lot of slow burn, angst, and plot!

Also, upgrade to our exclusive membership program and you can be added to the priority list for receiving Undending Devotion when it releases to the public! It's the perfect fic to satisfy your need for NikPrice, as well as a dash of Monster!AU and a side of Price being the best dad!

*conditions and terms may apply. Release date of Unending Devotion is June 1st. Both have side effects of extreme cute aggression, increased heart rate caused by intense scenes, exposure to violence, and may cause laughter. Please consult a professional before consuming. Don't operate heavy machinery or drive while using. Don't mix with alcohol if you are prone to emotional outbursts.

Sorry I never posted these last week! But since I only got two, I don't feel too guilty, lol!

Silence is Golden But Consequences Are Red (32425 words) by FeelzMaster Chapters: 10/? Fandom: Call of Duty (Video Games) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: John "Soap" MacTavish/Simon "Ghost" Riley Characters: John "Soap" MacTavish, Simon "Ghost" Riley, John Price (Call of Duty), Kyle "Gaz" Garrick, Kate Laswell, Alejandro Vargas, Rodolfo Parra Additional Tags: Slow Burn, Slow Build, Angst and Feels, Fluff, i mean like hella slow burn, Canon Typical Violence, might get spicy later but no smut, Simon "Ghost" Riley is Bad At Feelings, John "Soap" MacTavish Loves Simon "Ghost" Riley, Soap is heart of gold but dumb of ass, Game: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022), Parent John Price (Call of Duty), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Soap is tired, Simon "Ghost" Riley Loves John "Soap" MacTavish, Soap is full on Mark Me Down as Scared AND horny later on, Soap needs a day off, Simon "Ghost" Riley Needs a Hug Summary: "I saw a dead man. A dead man that I killed was standing before me." Makarov made this statement to only a few trusted people after a suspicious attempt to kill him; again. Like wildfire, this news spread all around the world, and the moniker of "Ghost" was given to the enigmatic figure that left only death in its wake. Captain John Price has a secret. And he's willing to do whatever it takes to keep it that way. John "Soap" MacTavish is good at keeping secrets. Keeping other people's secrets and his own. Except for that one secret he thinks he's doing a good job at hiding. In reality, almost everyone knows. Almost. With a name like Ghost, everything is a secret until it is spilled with blood.

The writing style is very consistent which I very much love. I'm a little confused about the plotline, but this could very much be me and my information processing problems

Very canon divergent, but that's never been a problem for me in this world or the next, my gimmick is Aus

One thing that I love that I always have to commend writers for is that the paragraphs are varied in length, making it easier to read. I really love the flow of writing

I like Soap and Gaz's interactions, reminds me a lot of myself and my brother, so that's pretty good!

Laswell and Price's interactions are also very good, a little formal, but I liked how they flowed, the dialogue is believable

Mild spoilers:

Chapter 6, the scene from Ghost's perspective, was pretty gut wrenching, ngl. That last line:

Loved it!

All in all, definitely recommend the fic!

#call of duty #simon ghost riley #johnny soap mactavish #kyle gaz garrick #soapghost #john price #kate laswell #fic rec

23 notes · View notes

argowrites · 2 months

Text

Change the World, Chapter 36!

The airship took off with a jolt that rattled Viktor into Jayce who caught him without comment. The two of them stood, shoulder to shoulder, watching Piltover and Zaun vanish beneath them.

Despite himself, Viktor let out a small cry and pointed to the part of the Pilt where the two cities met. Jayce followed his finger with a quizzical look.

“There! I used to play there,” he said, a little embarrassed at his own excitement.

“Huh. It looks…small,” Jayce said, and Viktor wondered if he meant something else.

“It all looks small. We are up very high now.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Jayce said in a faraway voice before turning to Viktor with a grin. “Think you can see your place from here?”

“Well, I see the Academy, so I presume so. Can you see your penthouse?” Viktor teased.

Jayce had moved into a palatial apartment a few months ago. He’d been a little sheepish about it since Viktor had visited and claimed that his entire apartment could fit in the living room. It was an exaggeration, but not a big one.

“It’s not a penthouse. There’s two floors above me. And not all of us want to live like monks, you know,” Jayce said even as he scanned the city for his building.

“Not all of us need to live like kings either, Man of Progress.”

Jayce did blush at that. A profile in the newspaper had dubbed him that and, two weeks later, it seemed to be sticking.

“Gods, don’t call me that. Ever,” Jayce said, hiding his face with one hand.

“Very well. Shall we find our rooms, Man of Progress?”

Jayce shoved Viktor gently and rolled his eyes. Then he shook his head, leaning back against the railing.

“Can we stay till it’s gone?” he asked quietly.

“Of course,” Viktor replied.

Act III of my Viktor Quartet Series

Fandom: Arcane: League of Legends

Rating: Teen

Chapters: 36/40

Characters: Viktor, Singed, Silco, Jinx, Ekko, Jayce, Mel, Heimerdinger, Caitlyn

Relationships: Jayce/Viktor, Singed & Viktor, Silco & Viktor, Jinx & Viktor, Ekko & Viktor, Jacye&Caitlyn, minor Jayce/Mel

Additional Tags: Angst, Viktor-centric, Author knows a little about League lore, Very Slow Burn

Next time: Viktor catches up with an old friend!

#arcane #viktor arcane #jayvik #jayce talis #fanfic #arcane fanfic #long fic

5 notes · View notes

hxhhasmysoul · 5 months

Note

5, 16, 17 and 28 <3

5. What work of yours got more feedback than you expected?

The Only One, Trapped too. Like I started writing fic a little over 6 years ago. And I wrote for HxH, this fandom is really unfriendly to writers. There are a few big name fans that everyone reads and the rest is ignored. I needed to take a break from writing for HxH because when I posted an update to one fic, the only reaction for the first two weeks was it losing a subscriber (single digit count of them) and later some of my friends commented on the chapter... it was extremely humiliating and soul crushing. When I started writing for JJK, I didn't know a single person in this fandom and people on AO3 just read my fic, just like that. Gave kudos, left comments. It's still shocking to me. The Only One can be even called moderately popular for its tag, which is a first for me.

Also All our Wards Went on Holiday getting any hits and feedback is quite surprising. I was sure only my friend who I wrote it for would leave kudos on it because it's a super rare pair and a crack deep cut, but it can boast 14 kudos.

16. What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag?

I mentioned other tags in my other answer, but I forgot to mention the one tag that's in all 3 of my fics this year: angst. I am a bit embarrassed about that.

17. Your favorite character to write this year?

Yuuji, he's a delight. You can pack so much emotion and trauma into that boy. He's funny, cute and so so damaged.

28. Favorite work you wrote this year?

Honestly I like all 3 equally. They all have a special place in my heart for various reasons.

_________

ao3 wrapped [writers edition]

#answering asks #my trash writing #thank you for the ask <3

3 notes · View notes

drunkonaheistinspace · 5 months

Text

in the tall grass

originally published: December 8th, 2019

reworked: December 3rd, 2023

Pairing: Illinois x gn!Reader

Rating: General Audience

Tags: fluff, friendship, mention of horror movie

"Illi?"

"Yes?"

"I have a very important question and I want you to answer it truthfully."

"OK? What is the question?" You took a deep breath, because you would need it now.

"HOW THE HELL DID WE END UP HERE?!"

You got no answer from the adventurer, which made you believe that he had no answer good enough to satisfy you. And it all started so harmlessly.

You two have decided to just go camping like normal people do. Without looking for any treasures. Without fighting for life. Only the two of you and the beauty of nature. The well-deserved holiday that was due for ages. You found a nice place for your camp, pitched your tents and wanted to explore the area. And before you know it, you found yourself in a large field with ridiculously high grass. In addition, none of you knew exactly where the other was.

"All right, you wannabe Indiana Jones! Before we find the way out, we should first find ourselves! "

"Didn't we have the self-discovery trip last month?" He asked jokingly, and you could not help but roll your eyes.

"You know what I mean!" You called back. "We just have to keep talking!"

"Okay ... um ... do you think I have a chance with that girl from yesterday?"

You stopped. What was the idiot talking about?

"What?"

"Well, the cute girl from the bar! It was clear that she was interested in me! "

"Do you mean the one who poured her drink over you? Then, sadly, I must tell you that she was not interested in you at all. What did you say to her for this to happen?"

"I have no Idea! I just said hello to her and seconds later I smelled like Bloody Mary!"

You stopped again. Earlier, you heard Illinois in front you, but now he was behind you. You ran walked him!

"That will not work! We just walk past each other!" You called in the direction in which you suspect your boss. He groaned only annoyed.

"Other idea!" You suggested. "You stay where you are, and I look for you!"

"Alright!" Came the answer. "Do you know what this reminds me of?"

"What?"

You make your way through the high grass, hoping that fate is still an asshole who insists on making you two walk into each other no matter what.

In your first year, you had actually tried several times to quit and forget about Illinois. That ended with you crossing his path only weeks later and you were drawn into a new adventure. At some point you gave up and now you could not imagine a life without this idiot. For him, you became an important element on every adventure, and he doesn’t know what to do without you by his side. These were his words. Not yours.

"This horror movie we watched last week. It was called ´In The Tall Grass´, if I remember correctly."

"It was completely stupid and confusing!"

You could not say much about the plot, except that it was based on one of Stephen King's countless books and that the guy from Conjuring was in it. The movie bored you and you were about to fall asleep several times. Only the fact that the movie was confusing as hell kept you from entering the world of dreams.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Illinois exclaimed.

"That’s probably because you fell asleep ten minutes into the movie!"

You had never seen him fall asleep so quickly and for a moment you were scarred that would fall of the couch. Instead, he landed on your lap and used it as a pillow for the rest of the night.

"Did I miss anything interesting in the movie?"

"Not that I know of. I did not understand what was going on for most of the time. "

Only a few meters and the two of you would reunite. You continued to fight your way through the green hell and did not notice a stone sticking out of the ground and fate being fate, you stumble upon that very stone and fell into the strong arms of your hero.

"I understand that you have fallen for me. You do not have to demonstrate this every time," joked the adventurer.

You grumble something incomprehensible before you put yourself back in the upright and got some distance between the two of you.

You have found each other, but now what? How are you going to find the way out of here? You did not even know how deep you were in it. Suddenly, you remembered this one scene from the movie, which made sense for once.

"Let me climb onto your shoulders!" You said out of nowhere.

"What?" He looked at you completely confused. If he had not fallen asleep so early, he would understand what you meant.

"Let me on your shoulders so I can see over the grass and find the way out of here!"

Without any questions, he helped you get on his shoulders. You had to admit that it was surprisingly comfortable.

Now you could see across the green sea and see where you were. Luckily you did not go too far into the field, and you were only a few meters from the edge. You navigated Illinois through the field and after a few minutes you were out of the green nightmare. Carefully, you climb off your companion.

"Well, that was fun! Let's never do that again!" The adventurer announced.

You nodded in agreement and you two made your way back to your camp. Unfortunately, fate had other plans, but this was a different story.

#ghost writing #illinois x reader #in space with markiplier #a heist with markiplier #ahwm illinois #iswm illinois #fanfiction

5 notes · View notes

siconetribal · 2 years

Text

The Science of Worth (Part 5)

Tags: @vbecker10 @huntress-artemiss

Pairing: Loki x Y/N

Warning: Fluff and humor

Author Note: I hope you enjoy this last part! Thank you for all your patience and support.

Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, and steadily almost a fourth of the year had gone by. In that time, Loki proved himself to be an invaluable addition to the team with his mastery of magic with a variety of manipulations, from illusions to decoys; conjuring, and telekinesis on top of his natural superhuman abilities. In addition to his on field accomplishments as a combatant, he demonstrated his excellence as a tactician and great intellect.

Seeing him grow and thrive in the compound was a joy Y/N would never trade away. She celebrated his successes and provided comfort in his stumbles, eagerly awaiting his return from his missions to hear the exhilarating details he confided in her. It was lonely when he left, but she knew he would return here and she would be here waving a pennant for him to greet him.

Sitting up from the table she was currently hunched over, she took a deep breath and thought back over the last two years. If someone told me I was going to live with Loki and have Thor visit almost every couple days, I'd say they were insane. If they told me I'd be living here at the Avengers Compound, I'd call the cops or get a restraining order. I know they say you never know where life takes you, but hot-diggity-dog that's putting this all lightly! She glanced around the spacious, and currently devoid of others, workshop with state-of-the-art equipment ready for use. This was every tech and science buffs' dream, and here she was fiddling on an experiment she took up. With a majority of the Avengers busy, she figured now was as good a time as any to start her tinkering project.

That’s enough reminiscing for now, I need this thing set before everyone gets back! She turned her attention back to the work bench in front of her and put her safety gear back in place before starting again. She knew she was no genius like Stark or Banner, but she managed to learn just enough to get what she wanted to be done with their help, them none the wiser.

“That,that making yourself look like someone else shit, I don’t like it.” Tony scowled as they climbed out of the carrier and headed back into the base.

“I'm sorry to say that your like or dislike of my magic is hardly worth mentioning. Without it, we would’ve never gotten into the base undetected.” Loki casually remarked, a cocky smirk tugging at his lips as Tony glared at him as they stood in front of the elevator doors.

“It’s a skill better with us than against us,” Steve physically came between the two as he pushed the call button and verbally interjected to help ease the growing tension. Tony merely scoffed and rolled his eyes as he begrudgingly gave in.

“Look, we all have our things we’re good at. It’s why we’re all here. Let’s just head in and rest before the meeting. There’s a comfy bed calling my name and I, for one, am not going to give it up after being cramped up in one of those bucket seats and in some hole in the corner for the past couple months.” Clint chimed in , walking onto the elevator first, eager to be back at the compound where comfortable accommodations were readily available.

“We've all earned a good rest, I’m sure S.H.E.I.L.D. will be pleased to hear about our success and findings in detail later.” Thor agreed with their comrade and walked on after him. Loki silently stepped on as well.

“We’ll grab the next one. See you in a couple of hours.” Steve nodded his head to them just before the doors closed and waited before calling the elevator back up. Tony turned to complain, but was met with the scolding looking of Captain America.

“Yes, mother.” He rolled his eyes again.

“Really cute, Tony.” Steve sighed and shook his head as the rest of them took the next car down.

Loki left Clint and Thor with a simple nod and sharply turned left. He lengthened the stride of his steps as he powered through the hallway. Was it always this long or had there been some magical renovation that extended just the hallways he chose to take? Finally he made it to the door of his room but he walked right past it. Was he tired? Yes. Did he want to rest? Yes. However, there was one thing he needed to do first. It was of the utmost importance. The first, and last time; he delayed, he was in serious trouble and it took a good few weeks to fix between his missions and training. Yanking open the door to the stairwell, he leapt over the railing to quicken his pace, grabbing onto the railing of the floor he needed, he effortlessly pulled himself up and over.

Finally, he stood before the large double doors after a walk that felt like an eternity. The doors slid open with a gentle woosh, the cool air inside greeting him as he stepped through and quickly made his way inside the large room. Tall shelves neatly towered over him, completely filled with books ranging from history to theoretical. If I'm not mistaken, which I highly doubt I am, it should be right here. He turned into one of the aisles and went down the row, making a right, followed by a left before coming to a small nook where there were two tables with chairs and a sofa. To his surprise, no one was there. "Odd, she's normally here." The corners of his lips dropped into a soft frown which grew little by little as he inspected the nearby aisles. Where could she be?

As he pondered the possibilities in the library, just a few floors above him the person he was searching for stood alone in a conference room with a bit of a problem at her feet. The paper she needed was currently stuck under something and it was not just anything.

Of course my luck wouldn't just let me have it stuck under a cabinet or the paper is just nothing. Noooo, my luck has to have freaking mjolnir on the sheet I really need! She let out a loud groan of frustration and glared at the overturned table. "Stupid piece of junk, why couldn't you just take the stupid weight!?" She gave it a swift kick of vengeance but the sturdy table was not as feeble of a foe as the hammer made it out to be. " Flibbity-gibbets," she yelped in pain, hopping around on one leg as she held her throbbing foot.

"Uh, what now?"

"Holy snickerdoodle ," Y/N jumped at the sound of someone talking behind her, stumbling to keep herself balanced on one leg as she landed, teetering left and right as she hopped around until gravity won. Just my luck, she groaned again at the stinging of her knees. Turning over to sit properly on the ground, she looked up to see Natasha and Clint standing at the doorway.

"Wow, that was, you certainly have a skill there." The Russian spy was clearly trying to be nice but Y/N knew it was abundantly clear that she was not the most graceful of fallers.

"I wouldn't quit your day job any time soon." Clint tried to make light of the situation, but it was obvious the two were trying way too hard as Y/N took the offered hand to get back up on her feet.

"Yeah, well, a certain someone already did that for me. I hope that's more of a one and done situation as well."

"That's right, Loki actually looked like you and helped you resign so you could work here." Natasha recalled, snickering a little as she recalled how angry Y/N was from that little stunt. "Well, so long as you don't change fields, you'll be good."

"The real me has no plans for that, I can't promise what my imposter might feel like doing." She rolled her eyes at this special problem that only she seemed to have.

"So, what are you doing here aside from your little dance number?" Clint raised a brow in question, noting the toppled table and mjolnir. "And why do you have Thor's hammer?"

"I don't have Thor's hammer." She corrected him. "Thor's hammer has my paper." She pointed to the folded sheet currently stuck under it. "I was talking to Thor not too long ago and realized I forgot something in the room. He said you guys were going to have your post mission meeting here so I was cleaning up my stuff since I was using the space. I dropped something and was leaning on the table to try and reach for it without getting off my chair because I'm lazy and well…I guess me plus it was more than to make it fall. As you can see, I was grabbing my stuff but I can't get the one sheet I really need because it's currently being held hostage at this time. I tried to move it, like tip it over on its side, but I'm clearly not as strong as I thought."

"I don't think that's a strength thing." Natasha lightly patted her on the back.

"Why not? I'm not trying to pick it up. How is knocking it over part of the worthy limitations? C'mon, I doubt Odin sat there making sure he thought of every scenario and stipulation." Y/N scoffed. "I'm clearly just not strong enough." She hung her head in defeat and dropped her shoulders. "So what are you two doing here? Isn't your meeting later?"

"They decided to move it up, get it done now so we can spend the rest of the day relaxing." Y/N let out a small "ah" of understanding before looking back at the hammer.

Great, now I'm actually causing trouble! I was hoping Thor would've just come by but why would I need him to knock over a hammer? I know my arms aren't the size of a barge, but c'mon! I do lift weights! She glared at her inanimate nemsis when an idea popped in her head. Maybe I'm not strong enough but I'm not the only one here. She instantly perked up and looked over at the two Avengers that stood beside her with big pleading hopeful eyes.

"Oh no. Not happening. No Y/N, no!" Natasha firmly refused with each bat of Y/N's lashes, her eyes seeming to grow with every passing moment.

"Y/N, c'mon, this is ridiculous. We're better off getting Thor." Clint tried to reason, but was soon met with puppy dog eyes that chipped away at his hardened exterior and called out to his fatherly nature.

"Alright, alright, fine! We'll try!" The infamous Black Widow finally caved, having grown a bit of a soft spot for the civilian that entered their world. "I'm only trying once, if it doesn't go we're just going to get Thor."

"Fine by me!" Y/N happily agreed when the sound of the door opening caught their attention.

"What's going on here?" Tony eyed the trio as Steve surveyed the room, confused by the oddly orderly disarray. "Are you causing trouble?" His eyes instantly locked on to Y/N who put her hands up in surrender.

"No sir, just trying to get my paper that's being held captive against its will." She pointed down to the floor and stepped aside for the two to see what was going on. "Natasha and Clint happened to walk by and are actually going to try and help me out."

"Help you out with that? Good luck, there's not enough bears in the woods to lift goldilocks' hammer." He scoffed.

"I'm with Stark on this one, Y/N. He's the only one who can pick it up." Steve lightly shook his head with his hands resting on his belt.

"That's where I think you're wrong though! I'm not asking anyone to lift the hammer. If someone can just tip it over I can grab my paper and leave and you all can have your meeting. As shocking as it may seem to you, Captain, I'm not that strong. However, the Avengers are clearly stronger than the average bear! So, I suggested they try and just knock it over. Do we really think you need to be worthy to knock it over when it clearly topped the table when all I did was lean on it a smidge? And besides, what's the harm? It's like an experiment. We can test the boundaries of this worthy stuff and see who is the strongest! Friendly competition and I'm sure the great Iron Man with his suit can handle that much or you can see what else you need to do to perfect your suit!"

"You're really not going to let this go, are you?" Steve chuckled at the pitch she was selling and how obvious it was that she wanted to have them all help her. "You could just ask us to help you."

"With all due respect, do I need to ask? I mean it's quite clear I need help. You can ask Clint and Natasha, I was frazzled enough to kick the table and hurt my foot." She pointed to the two who nodded. "You're the Avengers. Your job is to find damsels in distress and help them. I'm a damsel and I'm in distress, but all of you are saying "no". There's no "can do" spirit or even try!" She pouted as she threw her hands up in frustration at the lack of assistance.

The floor looked at one another and then to the hammer in question. The silent debate went on between them as Y/N stood there lightly tapping her foot and biting her lower lip, hoping she managed to successfully earn their agreement. It was only a couple minutes until they came to their verdict but it felt like eons to Y/N.

"Alright, Y/N, we'll give it a shot." Steve was the one to break up the silence. Y/N cheered in excitement, jumping with joy at her saviors' decision. "So, who wants to go first?"

"I'll go, may as well start off easy since we want to see what level of strength is needed right? I'm no super soldier." Clint raised his hand and turned to the hammer. He eyed the weapon for a moment, seeing if there was some sort of loophole he could exploit. Seeing none, he shrugged and grabbed the handle and tugged lightly at first. He tried again, this time with more force. And again now with all his force. Each time gave the same result, no movement whatsoever. Natasha went up next and repeated the same process as her friend, gauging how much strength she needed to use before ultimately failing with all of her strength. Steve was the third to try and decided to follow the other two. The first two tries showed no difference than the other two, but on the third it did move a little. Y/N's eyes widened in shock as she stepped a little closer as Steve gave a fourth tug, sadly her paper was still stuck.

That was close! She gave him a small smile of thanks when Tony came forward.

"Fine, time for the big guns to come out. Don't cry when I prove to you just who the greatest Avenger is." Tony winked, rolling up his sleeve and opening up his briefcase to pull out a glove. "This is a fun way to try out my new toy." He pulled it on and instantly it became metallic and looked exactly like the hand of his Iron Man suit. Walking up to mjolnir, he grabbed on and gave his best tug right from the get go. Unhappy with his results, he tried again and once more like the rest of them.

"Ugh, I can't believe the Avengers weren't able to help me!" She slumped in defeat.

"Weren't able to help you with what?" The group turned to see Loki, Thor, and Bruce standing in the doorway. "You do realize the only person who is able to wield the hammer is Thor." Loki reminded them.

"We know that," Tony scowled. "It's not about wielding it, we wanted to test the boundaries a bit. See if someone can just knock it over and if so, with what strength."

"Knock it over?" Thor's eyebrows knit together in confusion as he looked to Bruce and Loki who were equally perplexed by this.

"I asked them to help me out. My paper is stuck under the hammer and I said we don't need to pick it up. If you just knock it over, I can grab it. No is trying to take it or use it, so I hypothesized that it could be done. Unless Odin sat there drafting a fine print to his little pixie dust spell he put on here."

"Interesting question," Bruce's eyes lit up a bit at her explanation. "No one is trying to pick it up, so in theory it should work and if it does, we would learn how much force is needed to do it. So you're saying none of you could do it?" He looked at the group.

"I was able to make it move a little, but it didn't amount to much." Steve raised his hand at this which shocked both Asgardian princes.

"Hey, Houdini, why don't you give it a shot? We know your brother can do it, why not you?" Tony challenged Loki, wanting to knock the trickster prince down a peg.

"Thank you for the offer, but I'll have to decline. I already know that I won't be able to do any better than you four.

"Aw, c'mon Loki! Give it a shot! If you can do it you can at least have the title of being worthy enough to knock it over!" Y/N quickly jumped in, urging him to try.

"I really don't think there's any need when my brother is right here. We can just have him pick it up and is where you've been all this time? I was looking all over for you." He frowned, shifting gears in hopes to free himself from the unwanted spotlight.

"I didn't choose to be here! I'm stuck, I need my paper! Can you please try, for me? I promise I won't ask you for anything else for like a week! Oh, and if you succeed, I'll finally forgive you for tricking me into coming here!" She clapped her hands together and bowed her head as she pleaded with him to at least give it a shot.

"You will?"

"I promise," she raised her pinkie to him with a large grin. "But you have to give it an honest try!" He stared at her extended digit before sighing and hooking one of his pinkies with hers, a small smile tugging at his lips at the childish way she would promise him things.

But didn't she say pinkie promises were one of the most important ones? You should never break one unless your life depended on it? He chuckled to himself. "I guess I'll give it a go." He stepped around her to stand before the relic that was cursed to be only held by someone worthy. I already know I'm not worthy. He thought back to the stormy night when he tried to lift it from the dirt years ago.

"Brother?" He felt the heavy hand of his elder brother and quickly came back to the present. With a slight shake of his head he assured Thor nothing was wrong and knelt down. He firmly grasped the handle and pulled at it with full force, expecting resistance but instead was knocked backwards as the weight of the hammer pulled him in the direction he was pulling it.

Silence filled the room as everyone stood there eyes wide and jaws dropped. Loki had not tipped the hammer. He was currently holding it, in his hand, as if it were as light as a feather. The color drained from his face as he dropped the hammer and it swiftly fell to the ground with a loud thud.

"What the hell just happened?! What games are you playing?! How could you pick it up?!" Tony instantly launched a series of questions as Thor stood there stone still. The other Avengers quickly broke into a frenzy of emotions trying to understand what was going on as comments and questions were thrown around with no answer to be found.

"I, I, I, don't know! I didn't, I shouldn't! There's no way! It has to be a fluke! I'm sure of it, I've never been able to lift the hammer before!" Loki insisted and to prove his point he reached for it again. "See?" He tugged and it did not give at first but when he stood up, the hammer came with him. He practically threw it and it landed at Thor's feet. He silently reached down and picked up, or so planned to but mjolnir did not budge. The room was in an uproar once more at this sudden turn of events.

"Enough," Thor and Loki both shouted and silenced the group. Reaching out his hand once more, he attempted to summon his trusty hammer to him but it did not budge. The Avengers stood there in awkward silence as Thor tried to call his hammer, but it never moved.

"Thor," Steve spoke up first and stepped forward with Loki. They were going to console their fellow Avenger when he caught the sound of something. "Everyone hit the deck!" He shouted, knocking Loki back just in time to see mjolnir come crashing through the ceiling and into Thor's hand. "Is everyone ok?" He turned to each of his teammates to see when Bruce spoke up.

"Wait, there are two hammers?" Bruce looked to Thor's hand and then to the floor but noticed the second hammer had disappeared. "What happened to the second hammer?"

"Where's Y/N?!" Natasha noticed the one person who was missing as Clint picked up the paper that started all of this.

"The science of worth is revenge? What?" He read aloud, Natasha taking the paper from him to see.

"The science of worth is revenge…thanks Tony?" Everyone looked to Tony who looked as confused they were when his eyes slowly widened and the truth dawned on him.

"That little, she tricked me! She was asking about magnets!"

Magnets, why would she ask about-wait! She's been reading books about magnetism and that's why she's been spending time with Stark! Loki was quick to piece this together as he recalled the weird titles of the books he found with her.

"She made that replica! Damn, that was a spot on replica and she executed the needed strength flawlessly, but still!" Tony reluctantly praised her.

"Why would she make a replica of mjolnir?" Thor frowned at this.

"For revenge," Loki finally spoke up. "She was getting revenge on me. Remember what she said? She'd forgive me if I was successful? She knew I would be successful. I can't say I know how, but she made it so only I would be able to lift it…as well as herself."

"All this time? " Clint raised a brow at this. " Damn, remind me not to get on her bad side."

"It certainly is not a spot for someone who cannot handle her." And here I thought I was the master at playing the long game. There is really no one quite like you, my darling Y/N. Only you could keep me, the God of Mischief, on edge like this. All I've wanted is to monopolize you, fill your head and heart with thoughts of me, but it's you who has me filled with thoughts of you. He chuckled as the all too familiar troubled smile curled at the corners of his lips. He ran from the carrier in search of her, hoping to see her first instead of resting only to be led here and left in the aftermath of her prank. "If you'll excuse me," he turned and headed towards the door.

"Where are you going, we have a meeting."

"To search for the one who is worthy." He vaguely answered and left the room, a smile on his lips. There was only one person who was worthy of him after all.

27 notes · View notes

tiannasfanfic · 2 years

Text

Catharsis: Chapter 3

Adrian Chase/Vigilante x Reader

Story Summary: Based on true events, a reader insert story. An abusive relationship has finally ended for reader, but the ex soon turns into a stalker. While you're trying to deal with it on your own, your coworkers can tell something is up.

Author Notes: I am posting Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 at the same time so it doesn't leave you all on an anxiety inducing cliffhanger. It gets heavy in these two chapters.

Chapter Word Count: 2,345 (Not sure how I managed that one.😆)

Tag List (comment to be added): @pansinspace @uncle-eggy

CW: Psychological abuse and stalking.

Chapter 3: (Crossposted to AO3)

It was a free weekend for the team. The last mission went off without a hitch and had wrapped up nicely, so no overtime to do additional paperwork had been needed. The debrief on the new mission wasn’t for another week, provided nothing came up between now and then. It was a rare occurrence, a free weekend followed by an easy week. Rather than make any plans together, everyone decided to do their own thing. Most Saturday evenings, the team usually went out together to their favorite hangout, O’Rourke’s Sports Bar. You hadn’t started going with them yet since the breakup, though you did plan on it once everything with your ex was finally done and settled. You didn’t go before the breakup because…well, the one time you did go, you learned it was just easier to stay at home. You ex preferred you to be at home so he could ignore you rather than you go out and possibly have fun.

On weekends when there was no team outing, everyone ended up posting to the group chat frequently throughout the day. After your first ninety days were up and you hadn’t run away screaming yet, Harcourt had added you to the 11th Street Kids chat. John explained the significance of it to you since that was before your time with them had started. That was your official herald that you were now a part of the team. Usually, you contributed to chat just as much as anyone else did. Not today though. You had been up ever since 3am that morning due to your ex texting you. Since you were technically always on call, you couldn’t put your phone on silent. He knew this and abused this knowledge. The difference this morning was, he immediately started in about getting his stuff. Not to set a day or time, though. No, of course not. Now it was, if you didn’t let him get his stuff, he would bring out the sheriff to make you give it back. He was working the angle with you now, not just to your friends, that it was YOU keeping him from getting his stuff, not the fact he just flat out would not do it. You spent several hours fighting with him over text about the whole thing. By the time the group chat started getting active as everyone was going about their day, you were silent.

Adrian noticed this. Adrian noticed a lot more than people gave him credit for and he liked to keep it that way. He had been watching you closer ever since that morning at your apartment. He didn’t know what his gut was trying to tell him, but something was off, way off, and he didn’t like it. One day, he had noticed Harcourt watching you closely, too. Harcourt had also noticed him noticing her watching you and gave a small shake of her head in his direction. He took that to mean “just keep an eye on Y/N” and gave Harcourt a thumbs up showing he understood. He had already planned on that anyway. In all reality, Harcourt actually thought Adrian was about to go bug you and was telling him not to. This ended up being a very good miscommunication later on.

After Leota sent some cute pictures of her dogs to everyone late that morning and it got absolutely no reaction from you, Adrian knew for sure something was wrong. You always, ALWAYS responded to pictures of the fur babies and the feathery baby. By the time he clocked out from his mid shift at Fennel Fields, there was still nothing from you in there. So, he sent you a text directly.

Meanwhile, you had managed to fall back asleep around eleven and slept until midafternoon. You still were living mostly upstairs aside from when you slept. That extra security of being on the couch and knowing you would instantly hear it if someone tried to get in was the only way you were getting any sleep now. Though, it had finally dawned on you that you could move your PS4 downstairs to your big TV. You could start enjoying your living room again. But, before you did that, you wanted to clean first. Plus, if your ex really did decide to show up with the sheriff, you figured it would look better for you if the house was clean.

Starting around the tv, you got through the stacks of mail that had piled up easily enough. This was a leftover of your ex’s habits. For whatever reason, he’d drop the mail on the entertainment center and wouldn’t touch it again, yet would gripe if you tried to go through it. You couldn’t even see the glass top anymore, there was so much mail piled on it. So, anything with your ex’s name got thrown away, along with any junk mail. That took care of the bulk of it. The rest of the living room, on the other hand, was a disaster you didn’t even know existed.

When you had started picking up the trash your ex had left around on the tables, you discovered hidden piles of it shoved under the couches. It was an accidental discovery. You had knocked an empty soda bottle off the table, and it went under the couch. That’s when you actually felt under the couch and realized it wasn’t the only thing under there. Empty cans, bottles, snack food packages, even bits of rotting food. No wonder the roaches had been so bad downstairs. While all apartments had roaches and yours was no exception, they had been particularly bad in the living room for months. Your ex had always blamed the neighbors. And it also explained the nasty smell you had been complaining about downstairs for months, the smell your ex also blamed on the neighbors. But no, as it turned out, the neighbors were innocent. You had just been living with a pig this entire time and didn’t realize exactly how trashy he was until now.

It was too much. Too much hit all at once.

You were laying on your bed with your eyes closed when Adrian’s text came in. Your eyes and head hurt after angry crying over the discovery. You no idea how long you had been crying for, but now you were tense and so tired. At first, you were just going to ignore the text, not knowing who it was since it was your generic text tone. Outside of group chat, you rarely texted with any of them one on one enough to merit their own tones. You didn’t especially feel like talking to anybody and intended on possibly laying there until you went back to sleep. While you didn’t like being so far away from the front door, being in the living room disgusted you now. Then another text came in. Then another. You finally looked at your phone out of curiosity and blinked, seeing another one come in, followed quickly by the last one.

“Hey Y/N! I just wanted to see if you were okay since you’ve been really quiet in chat today. You’re usually way more talkative.”

“Not like I was waiting for you to send messages to us or react to anything, which I wasn’t.”

“And I hope you didn’t take Chris seriously the other day. I totally wasn’t hitting on you! I didn’t even know you were single until he said that.”

“Sorry!”

And then the last one was three of the merman emoji. It made you crack a small smile. You let your fingers do the talking without putting any thought into what you were saying. You were too tired to lie.

“I’m not really. It’s been a bad day.”

His reply came within seconds.

“I just got off work. Do you need me to come over???”

Being alone for the evening didn’t sound appealing anymore. Not after your breakdown, at least. You missed just hanging out with people. You had way fewer friends now thanks to all of this unnecessary drama, but it was easy to think at that point you didn’t have any at all. So, you hadn’t even thought to reach out to anyone. But here was someone who still wanted to be around you. For right now, at least. Adrian didn’t think you were a terrible person or some kind of monster yet, so might as well enjoy his company while he still liked you. At this point, your mind was so beaten down you thought that would be the inevitable conclusion. All the good people leave, so you were also starting to think your ex was right and you didn’t deserve to have good people in your life. There was no doubt in your mind that Adrian was a good man. He fell into a dark gray area of morality, yes, but he was fundamentally good. And that just naturally meant he wouldn’t stick around you for too long.

You got up off the bed as you typed your response.

“Yes.”

“Be there in about an hour.”

While you waited on him, you finally went back downstairs and resumed picking up. You hadn’t gotten very far when your breakdown hit, but it seemed easier now that you knew someone was coming over. Your body went on cleaning autopilot. You had one trash bag almost full by the time Adrian got there. It is worth noting at this point that you didn’t use normal kitchen trash bags. While you had a standard sized kitchen trash can, you hated the trash bags that were the correct size. You liked the extra room and durability lawn bags provided better. So, these were the heavy duty, thirty-gallon trash bags you normally see people use while doing yard work. And you had one filled with the trash your ex had had shoved under ONE of your two couches.

Once Adrian arrived, you saw why it took him an hour to get there. Fennel Fields was only about fifteen minutes away from your place, depending on traffic. But he had stopped by his house to change out of his Fennel Fields uniform and grab his Vigilante Bag, plus he also stopped by Little Caesars. The smell of pizza and Crazy Bread reminded you that you hadn’t eaten at all that day.

“Why the Vigilante Bag?” you asked, eyeing it as he was setting the pizza down.

Adrian shrugged. “I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.”

It was sound logic. And you can’t say it didn’t add an extra layer to your relief that his presence currently brought. You knew it wasn’t only his uniform he had in that bag.

“What happened in there?” he gestured out to the living room.

“Leftovers of my ex, apparently,” you said, bitterly. “Guess he thought there was a trash can under the couch.”

Adrian got a very confused look on his face. “That’s a weird place to keep a trash can. Why would he think that?”

“No, not literally,” you said, with a small chuckle. “But he shoved all of his trash under there like there was one. I’ve found all sorts of shit under there. Candy wrappers, cans, food. Everything. Even a half-eaten taco in a Taco Bell wrapper.”

“That’s fucking disgusting,” Adrian said, wrinkling his nose.

While the two of you ate at the table, he told you about his day at the restaurant. It sounded like an average Saturday, but he told you everything in a way that made you laugh. Between that and just his company in general, the stress of the day didn’t seem so bad anymore. When Adrian asked about your day, you glossed over the argument with your ex that morning, focusing on how you were planning on cleaning, getting rid of his bad energy, and retaking back your living room. You were excited at the idea of getting to play games on your nice TV again.

Once you both had finished eating, Adrian wouldn’t take no for an answer when it came to helping you clean. You didn’t protest this time. At that point you were just ready for it to be done, no matter who did it. A little bit before ten, the trash was all bagged and in the dumpster. Between the living room, kitchen, and the downstairs half bathroom, you both had taken three and a half garbage bags of trash out of your house. And that was all trash your ex had just shoved or set in random places rather than throwing it away.

“Headed out soon for patrol?” you asked after you had vacuumed and he helped you move the last of your furniture back where it went. Except the recliner, of course.

“Nah,” he said. “I’m off tomorrow, so I planned on hanging out for a while.”

“Wanna get drunk and watch bad horror movies then?” you grinned. "I kinda want to. You can crash on my couch.”

“Sure!” Adrian seemed excited by the idea.

There wasn’t any alcohol in your house currently, so the two of you walked to the small convenience store on the corner just down the street from your place. It was a nice night, which was why you suggested walking. You used to walk up there all the time prior to being stalked. It was nice getting to do that again, just meandering around outside with no particular hurry to get anywhere. The most either of you could afford was a case of the really cheap beer, but it would still get the job done. Adrian carried it on the way back.

When you both got back to the parking lot outside our place, you noticed a white truck parked two spaces away from the Sebring. When the door of the truck opened and the person inside got out, everything suddenly clicked. You realized what you were seeing, and everything was suddenly in slow motion as your stomach felt like it hit the ground,

It was your ex getting out of the truck, and he was looking at the two of you with a look of pure, unadulterated rage.

35 notes · View notes

bluejaysandblackbats · 3 months

Text

Catch and Release

Fandom: DC Comics, Batfam

Summary: AU where Jason doesn't die in the explosion and he and Tim end up attending the same high school months later.

Chapters: 2/?

Characters: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Sebastian Ives, Jack Drake, Janet Drake

Relationships: TBA

Chapter Two: One and Oh

I'd almost gotten through my first day without a hitch before I got into my first fight in months. I'd just come out of the bathroom when some genius decided it'd be funny to shove the door into me as hard as they could. The force knocked me back, and I hit my head on the tile. I could've walked away from anything else. I know I could've, but that was too much for any human being to take. I feigned laughter with him and all his friends.

The weird kid, Tim, was the only one who wasn't laughing. "Hey, Jason, are you—?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I interrupted, still forcing the same smile I'd been faking all day. He helped me up, and I thanked him before taking my crutch and swinging hard enough to hurt my shoulder and crack my assailant's skull. Then I dropped to my good knee and tried to kill him with my bare hands. Tim pulled me up and held onto me, clutching the doorknobs to one of the locked classrooms so we wouldn't topple over. "How does it feel?" I screamed as tears streamed down my cheeks. I kept screaming it until security came and took me to the office. Tim followed closely behind. I think he felt sorry for me, and I hated him because he felt bad for me.

"Jason, what you did was unacceptable—."

"He might be concussed... Besides, you didn't see what happened, that kid shoved him to the ground, and he hit his head," Tim defended me. I still hadn't stopped crying or shaking. It was the most humiliating feeling I'd ever experienced. I didn't even realize I was bleeding until the EMT came to check the wound on the back of my head. Tim spoke for me, and I realized he'd been watching me all day. I was too distraught about the fight to say anything, let alone accuse him of following me, so I stayed silent. Bruce rushed into the office soon after that as if he'd been in the area all day.

"Jason," Bruce called as he grabbed me by my shoulders and checked my face for bruises. "Are you alright?"

I finally managed a few words, but they weren't helpful. "Is Alfred mad?" I asked. Bruce sighed and shook his head. "Do you want me to go to the hospital?"

"Yes," Bruce answered, "I'll take you... Mr. Ames, I hope we can discuss this once I know Jason's okay. He's not usually—."

"Three days on-campus suspension, and that's only because of the brutality of his response. Most kids I would've suspended for a week, but Jason's had a stellar reputation at this school, and his classmate explained the whole situation," Mr. Ames replied. Bruce nodded and thanked him as he escorted me to the car. I thought Bruce would yell at me, but nothing happened. He didn't say a word.

I still hadn't stopped shaking. "You don't have to go back there—."

"But I can... I might hate being back, but I can't hide at home anymore," I interrupted, "I have to control myself better next time." I chastised myself because no one else would. Barbara would've given me an earful if she could've been there. I liked that she never pulled her punches with me. I wished everyone was more like her.

"Master Jason, what were you thinking?" Alfred asked. His voice was colored with more concern than anger.

I wanted to tell them that I wanted to beat him near death. I wanted him close enough to demise to be both relieved and disappointed. I needed him to feel how I felt every day. I didn't say that, though. "I wasn't thinking, Alfred... I'm sorry," I apologized. Bruce touched my shoulder, and I winced. I almost forgot I'd overextended it when I struck him. The adrenaline rush finally waned, leaving only feelings of exhaustion and pain in its wake.

"Is it bad?" Bruce asked. I shook my head. I wanted to sleep, but that wouldn't be allowed until after my hospital visit. The drive to the emergency room felt endless.

Maybe I would've made a joke under different circumstances. I tried to open my mouth to tell one, but it didn't feel right. The sad part was the fight wasn't enough to quiet my rage. I was a bottomless pit of anger and pain. I woke up drowning in it every day. Bruce took me in, and I explained at the front desk that I'd hit my head at school. The doctors moved me through quickly, but it all felt like an average appointment. CT scans, MRI, bandages, full-body check-up that I didn't want or ask for. It all felt routine. Bruce sat outside for most of it.

He hated taking me to the doctor. Part of me reveled in that small bitter victory. At least I wasn't the only one suffering in silence. I was cruel, but that was all I could do to keep my sanity. I had to have someone to share my pain with, even if it wasn't productive. At least he could return to his life. His lives. I was stagnant. Trapped in an endless explosion. Permanently benched. We hadn't talked about Robin, but I knew. Robin had to die so that Bruce Wayne could live with himself.

I hate to say it, but the man I thought loved me most was memorializing me since before the accident. I saw it every day before I left, and it hasn't changed. He looked through me sometimes like a mortal would look at an apparition. I wasn't supposed to be there, but my presence was a source of comfort and pain.

Before we got home, three hours passed, and Bruce allowed me to fall asleep. I attempted to skip dinner, but Alfred woke me. He let me eat in my room because I had a long day, but he warned me that I wouldn't get off that easy after school the next day. He changed the dressing for my head wound and pleaded with me, asking me to behave myself in the future. I nodded.

Dinner was dull; it wasn't that I couldn't taste it. I was too depressed to care about what it tasted like. I ate quickly and went back to bed. I didn't dream. I preferred not to dream because dreams led to nightmares.

When I woke up for school the next day, I had dried blood on my hands and under my nails. I hadn't noticed the blood on my hands and shirt until then. It must've been frightening for Bruce to see all that blood on me.

I showered, scrubbing the blood from my flesh until my skin was raw. I started shaking again, and my phone rang. I turned the water off and got dressed. "Hello?" I answered. The call dropped, and I stepped into the hall.

"Hi," Dick waved. I rolled my eyes.

"Bruce called you, didn't he?" I asked.

"A fight on your first day? Really, Jason?" Dick asked. "He wants me to babysit you today..."

"Hard pass," I replied as I pushed past Dick and hobbled down the stairs.

"Could you be any more difficult?" Dick asked. "Use the stairlift."

"Only if you use the door," I replied. Dick mocked me.

I grabbed my crutches and headed toward the kitchen. "Alfred, where's Bruce?" I asked.

"Away on business, Master Jason," Alfred answered. Away on business. That was everyone's polite way of saying he was on a case. They all knew how it made me feel. I grabbed my things and rushed to the garage. Dick followed close behind and grabbed a set of keys.

"Jason, you shouldn't bottle your feelings up... You're gonna make yourself sick," Dick whispered.

"Where'd you get your psych degree? Clown college?" I snapped.

"Jason, I'm serious," Dick whispered.

He wouldn't drive me to school until I let him win. "You want my honest feelings?" I asked.

"Yeah, Jason," Dick answered.

I took a deep breath. "I don't have any optimism left... All I can manage most days is rage. I don't wanna live, don't care if anyone else lives or dies, and I'm sick of people telling me I'm lucky to be alive," I replied, "Is that honest enough for you?"

Dick started the car. "Jason, do you ever think about hurting yourself?" Dick asked.

"I wake up in pain every day. I'd never hurt myself... But I sometimes pray for the sweet release of an aneurysm," I half-joked. Dick didn't laugh with me. "You just hate when I win."

"It's not funny, Jason," Dick replied, "You know, we're all worried about you? I get that you're mad, but you don't have to take it out on everyone that tries to be understanding-."

"You can't be understanding! You just can't! You don't know what this feels like, Dick! No one knows what this feels like! So, if I wanna crack a few jokes about wanting to die or be a complete asshole, I should be allowed to! You said you wanted my honest feelings... Well, they don't feel so good, do they?" I lashed out. I just wanted someone to punch back. "You guys don't want me to be honest with you because the truth is, I have nothing but nasty things to say."

Dick started driving in silence, and I turned to stare out the window. All it took was his silence to make me cry bitter, childish tears. Even when he didn't play the game, he won.

#Jason Todd #Bruce Wayne #Alfred Pennyworth #Tim Drake #Dick Grayson #Barbara Gordon #Sebastian Ives #Jack Drake #Janet Drake #angst with a happy ending #fic #batfam #catch and release fic

23 notes · View notes

ungusthebungus · 3 months

Text

Doctor (Kai Chisaki & F OC, Hari Kurono & F OC)

Rating: M

Fandom: MHA

Relationship: Kai Chisaki & F OC, Hari Kurono & F OC

Characters: Kai Chisaki, F OC, Hari Kurono

Additional Tags: Pain, Doctor, Drugs, Chloroform, Not Canon Compliant, Self-Insert, Handcuffs

Summary:

There's a pain in Annie's head. Luckily, her coworker knows where she can go without paying a lot of money.

“Fuck.” Annie muttered under her breath, clenching her teeth in pain.

She knew something was wrong with her. It started as a slight pinging in her head. Thinking it was probably a headache, she took some acetaminophen and brushed it off.

The next day at work, it got worse. The lighting at work made her squint her eyes shut. Even peoples’ voices caused her to groan. Perhaps it was a migraine?

A week later, the pain hadn’t subsided. She had to do something about it or she might lose her job.

Luckily, Annie heard about some back alley doctor from one of her coworkers. Since her job was in retail and rent took a chunk of her money, she didn’t have much money saved up.

Once the day was over, she walked through some side streets until she came across a brick pathway her coworker told her about.

She went past two sketchy-looking guys, ignoring their dirty looks. Finally, she came across a large, metallic door.

“When you get to that door, knock three times.” Annie’s coworker said.

Taking a deep breath, she tapped her knuckle against the door three times. Suddenly, a man wearing a bird mask and white coat answered the door.

“What do you want?” He asked.

“I-I need to see Dr. Chisaki.” Annie replied.

Without another word, he ushered her in. Upon entering, he closed the door. The man then led her down a hallway that seemed to go on forever. After turning a corner, he knocked on a door to the right of her.

“Come in.” Another voice called.

The man with the white coat opened the door and waited for her to go inside. When she got inside, it looked just like a regular examination room. Yes, the wallpaper was peeling off of the walls, but otherwise it was pretty normal.

A figure spun his chair towards Annie, revealing another man in a mask. She was surprised by how handsome he was.

“What’s the problem?” He mumbled through his mask, staring at her with golden eyes.

“I have a, uh, pain in my head. I thought it’d go away, but it’s been a few days. Is there any way you can help me?”

He wrote something down on his clipboard, eyeing her occasionally. Then, he got up and inspected her head, running his finger along it. Instantly, he paused, rubbing at a particular spot on the side.

“Oww!” Annie yelped.

He yanked his hand away, scribbling something onto his clipboard once more.

“Did you find something?” She questioned, reaching her hand up.

What she found shocked her. There appeared to be a large bump on the left side of her head. Where the hell did that come from?

“What the fuck?”

The doctor’s eyes looked back at Annie.

“We need to get that out of you immediately.”

She was so confused.

“Get what out?!” Annie shouted.

He didn’t answer her. Instead, he pushed her to the bed. She heard a clanking sound and tried to squirm, but her arms as well as her legs were cuffed to the bed.

She started to whimper, still wiggling around.

“Puh-please let me go! I won’t say anything!”

All the doctor did was shake his head. The man with the white coat came in again, holding a white rag.

“Don’t, don’t!” Annie squealed.

With a quick hand, he brought the cloth to her mouth and nose. He pressed it against her face for a few minutes. She started to feel nauseous, then dizzy and drowsy. Finally, her eyes shut.

Note: If you liked the story, feel free to give me a kudos! :)

#kai chisaki #overhaul #hari kurono #chronostasis #mha #my hero academia #bnha #boku no hero academia #kai chisaki & f oc #overhaul & f oc #hari kurono & f oc #chronostasis & f oc

1 note · View note

silvaswiftcast · 8 months

Text

FFxivWrite2023 Prompt #8: Shed

Characters: Silva Cataracta and Ricmorn Silverkin (Cataracta)

Rating: Mature (PLEASE READ CW/TAGS!)

Notes: This scene takes place not too long after the start of Heavensward 3.0. Silva and Ricmorn are NOT in a relationship/courtship at this point in time, but they are very aware of the feelings they have for one another. Things are just complicated as they work through their issues.

Content Warnings/Additional Tags: Anxiety, Depression, Dark Thoughts, Hurt/Comfort, Discussions of Xenophobia against Au Ra, Anger, Compassion, Nudity (Non-sexual), Mildly Suggestive Themes (but it leads to nothing).

Silva sat on the edge of the large stone tub, swirling the steaming water around so the special lotions and oil she added would mix and dissolve evenly. A small growl of annoyance slipped past her lips as her skin crawled, fighting the urge to itch at her dry, peeling scales. How inconvenient this all was for her right now.

Today was already rough for her. Now to add shedding scales on top of it? Another Auri trait of hers to be weaponized by the Ishgardians, another excuse for them to call her a dragon heretic or a draconian whore — their favorite insult to throw at her.

If only she and the others had somewhere else to seek protection and aid. Solace and safety.

She didn’t belong anywhere, did she?

A sudden knock on the door to the room given to her to use during their stay in the Fortemps Manor alerted her ivory horns, yanking her from her depressive thoughts. Ah— so he came at her summons, after all, she thought. Gods and kami bless him. She would have to figure out a way to express her thanks for his aid later — if he stayed to help her, that is.

“Come in!” Silva called out after clearing her throat. Blood rushed loudly in her horns as she heard the knob turn, soft footsteps echoing off the stone walls as someone entered her room.

“Silv? Where are you?”

“In here — the washroom on your left,” she answered, heart fluttering. “And… if you could lock the main door behind you before coming in here, that would be lovely. Please and thank you.”

“I— O-of course. Give me a moment.”

The sound of her Warrior of Light counterpart stuttering like that would have usually made her smile. Maybe even giggle. It wasn’t often that she could fluster him like he could do to her — a habit he loved and annoyed the hell out of her. But she was tired and cold and so godsdamned itchy all over the fucking place. Silva just didn’t have it in her right now.

She turned her head toward the open door to the medium-sized washroom as she heard Ricmorn approach, anxiety curling in her belly, steeling herself just in case he shot her request down. And if he did… Well— she would just resort to her other plan: remove what old scales she could and be uncomfortable for the next week or two until the rest fell off.

But something in her heart whispered reassurances he wouldn’t leave her to deal with this by herself. Not after what happened to her earlier in the day.

“Apologies for the minor delay,” he said as he made it to the doorway. “I came the as soon as I got the notice and— Oh.”

Ricmorn didn’t know what to make of it when he received a knock at his door and found a maidservant standing before him, holding a small folded note in her hand out to him. He mumbled his thanks as he took it, curious and confused. It was late, nearly midnight. Who could want him for something at this bell? He didn’t pay attention to the young Elezen as she quickly curtsied and left, leaving him alone as he opened the note and scanned over the words written on the stiff cardstock.

Apologies, Ricmorn — I know it’s late, and this is such an inconvenience. But… something has come up unexpectedly and I need you if you could spare some time. You’ll understand once you come to my room.

Though there was no name scribbled anywhere, he knew who the elegant writing belonged to. And he would do anything for her — no questions asked. Without a second thought, he made his way to her room.

But the last thing he expected to see was Silva sitting on the edge of a bathtub filled with hot water, wearing a short midnight blue silk robe. Several empty and full glass bottles and jars scattered along the smooth stone ledge, as well as a small washcloth, a few different blunt-edged tools, and a small bucket. Items that would have been out of place for anyone who wasn’t an Au Ra.

He already had a feeling of what was happening and why she requested for him to come — the tools almost gave it away. He had similar ones stashed away in his bag. But it wasn’t until he looked down and saw a few of her old scales lying on the ground that his suspicion was confirmed.

Silva gave him a tiny smile when a look of understanding washed over his features. “I didn’t wake you, did I, Ricmorn?” she questioned. “I’m sorry if I did.”

He swallowed the invisible lump in his throat, shaking his head. “No. I was still awake,” he assured her. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t sleep.”

She hummed, empathetic. “Seems that makes two of us.”

“Your scales are shedding, I see.” The lumbering Auri man slowly entered the washroom, his steps hesitant as he regarded her. “I’m surprised you’re not already soaking in the tub. You must be itchy.”

“Considering the temperature difference is massive to what I’m used to, it was only a matter of time before it happened,” she shrugged, her long tail slowly swaying. “Though I will admit, I thought I had a few more months before this shed cycle started.”

“And you want my help.”

It wasn’t a question, but a curious statement. One filled with caution and… a sense of relief? The latter she wasn’t too sure about, but perhaps her coming to him for something so personal and intimate touched him. It wouldn’t surprise her if it were true. While their relationship was sitting somewhere between friends and lovers, he kept his promise from half a year ago that this was all at her pace. That he wouldn’t push her one way or another and wanted her to decide for herself.

Silva met his sky-blue eyes, unable to decipher the emotions shimming in the pretty crystal pools. “If… if you do not mind spending the better part of the night picking off dead scales,” she joked with a watery laugh. “If not, t-that’s okay too! I know it’s so sudden. I-I can deal with what I can on my own and—”

“No— Silv, I don’t mind at all!” he rushed, cutting her off. She fell silent, gazing up at him. The white mage reached to rub the back of his neck, his beige-scaled tail twitching. “If anything, I’m glad you decided to reach out to me for something like this. But I can’t help be ask… why me? Wouldn’t you be more comfortable with another lady helping you—”

She cut him off with a hard shake of her head, a growl rumbling in her throat as the spines at the base and tip of her tail bristled. “I do not trust anyone else to help me with something like this right now! Not after today!” His eyes widened when she abruptly stood up, her hands clenched into fists. “You are an Au Ra — just like me, Ricmorn. You understand how this works. You know that my scales, horns, fangs, and tail do not make me a dragon. They do not make me some kind of monster parents tell their children to run away from when spotted. I. Am Human.” The tears she’s held in for almost the entire day finally fell, blurring her eyes as she fought back sobs. “You know me — know who I am… You know that I’m not—”

The words died on her tongue the moment Ricmorn closed what little distance there was between them and gathered her in his arms. Silva buried her face in the crook of his neck, listening to his soft shushing and gentle, kind words filling her horns. He rubbed soothing circles at her lower back and she melted against him.

“I’m s-sorry!” she cried, guilt crushing her. “I’m so, so sorry! You do not deserve my misguided anger a-and—”

“Shhhh… It’s okay, Silv. It’s okay. I know it’s not at me, I promise,” he whispered, refusing to let her bring herself down. His heart was breaking alongside hers. “You have every right to be angry and hurt by the things people said to you today, and it’s not okay that they did that.” Ricmorn gave her a warm smile when she eventually looked up after a few minutes, sniffling and bright sea-green eyes filled with wet tears. “You are not a monster because you have features that stand out from everyone else — they are beautiful things about you,” he murmured, wiping away the droplets. “If they cannot see the sweet, genuine, courageous woman that you are, then they are absolute fools and do not deserve to know you as I do.”

I will always protect you — always.

A few more quiet sniffles escaped Silva as she let his heartfelt words sink in. They were words she desperately needed to hear, and she would forever be grateful for them and the time he took to speak them aloud.

She was so glad he came.

The smaller Raen carefully rubbed one of her ivory horns against his beige one, taking extra caution not to poke her eye out, before bumping her forehead against his. “Thank you,” she whispered.

It took his brain a moment to understand what happened, and he couldn’t help the pleased growl rumbling in his chest at the affectionate gestures. “Of course, Silva, “ he returned, giving her waist a comforting squeeze. “You’ll always have a safe space to talk about anything with me. I’m here for you for as long as you’ll have me.”

“I… I know. You have no idea how much that means to me, Ric. Truly.”

“Good.”

When he shifted his head so he could rub his horn against hers, one part of him wanted to return the gesture, and the other needed to feel those sparks of levin whenever they touched again, she sighed. He could hear the exhaustion behind it. The lingering heaviness. It’s been that way ever since they settled in this cold, unforgiving city that glared at them with hatred.

And that wouldn’t do.

Ricmorn gave her one last hug, being mindful not to crush her. “Come— Let’s get you settled in the tub,” he suggested, keeping a hand on her back as he guided her. “You’ll feel a little better once you soak and we get these old scales off you. Is that magical teapot of yours tucked somewhere in your bag? Could I fetch it and make us some tea?”

She nodded. “Yeah, it's in the same place it always is. You're welcome to look for it — tea sounds lovely.”

“Be right back.”

Silva waited until he walked away to remove her robe, knowing one reason he went to busy himself for a few minutes was to give her a moment of privacy. Another deep sigh slipped past her lips as she sank into the hot water, immediately relaxing and letting it work its magic on her sore muscles and molting scales.

※

The Auri pair sat in mostly silence as they worked together to remove her dead scales. Not that neither of them minded. Every once in a while Ricmorn would ask if the table needed more hot water when she shivered or if he had hurt her when she would flinch after removing a stubborn scale. Silva quickly reassured him he didn’t, that it just felt good to be free of them.

After another bell of quietness, she decided to speak up.

“Did you mean what you said earlier, Ricmorn?” she asked shyly.

He hummed, curious. “What do you mean?”

Silva waited for him to remove the last dead scale from the patch on the back of her neck before turning around and facing him. She felt her cheeks warm at the same time a bright red flush stained his porcelain skin. His throat bobbed as she lifted herself out of the water, only everything below her navel remaining submerged.

And yet his eyes never left her sea-green ones.

“You said I was beautiful,” she stated, the water sloshing as her tail swished. “Did you mean it?”

Ricmorn wet his suddenly dry lips. He placed the blunt-edged tool down on the tub's edge — without breaking eye contact. His hand gently cupped her face, tenderly brushing his thumbs across the patches of plum-colored freckles decorating her skin.

“May I speak honestly for a minute?”

The amount of love she saw shimmering in those pretty sky-blue orbs took her breath away. “Always,” she breathed, trying to ignore the rush of blood in her horns.

“You, my dear, are the most beautiful woman I have ever set my eyes on, Silva. Inside and out. Especially now — bathed in silver moonlight with stunning iridescent scales,” he grinned. His heart fluttered when she leaned into his touch and felt a happy noise rumble in her throat. “Who wears her heart on her sleeve and can see the good in people — no matter their flaws. Who fights for what she believes in and is fiercely loyal to those who have earned her trust and a place by her side. And I am grateful she considers me as one of those people.” He reached up to brush some of the wet strands of purple and magenta behind a horn. “You… you are an amazing woman. I’ve always believed that — I will never stop believing that. You have my word and my faith.”

They stared at one another for a long time. Eyes never breaking free as they roamed over the other’s face. Neither one of them wanted to pull away and shatter the illusion of this little world of theirs they entered when they started this. There were no Warrior of Light titles and falsehoods hanging over them here.

It was just Silva and Ricmorn. Two Au Ra who found something unspeakable in one another and were desperately clinging to it as they traversed through a land he judged them without merit. Worse come to worse, they would always have each other.

“Stay the night with me?” she whispered once she found the words. “I… I don’t want to be alone right now.”

“I would love nothing more.”

#FFxivWrite2023 #FFxivWrite #FFxivWrite Challenge #ffxiv writing #ffxiv fanfiction #ffxiv #silva writes

1 note · View note