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absolutepokemontrash · 3 years

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MC is Half Demon and They Look Awfully Familiar

(Lessons 1-5!)

Part 1 Part 2 Lessons 5-6 Group Retreat Lessons 10-12 Lessons 13-15 Part 3 Part 4

So we obviously know that things would run a little differently with L!MC instead of a normal human MC, but just how differently do things go?

No Mammon, you are not allowed to babysit!

Unlike in canon, Mammon needs to be kept away from MC at the start. Why? He’s known this kid for less than a day, he’s gonna try and use them for scams.

Everyone else in the house? Well, they’re of... observing MC. This is a first, a half human kid just wandering around the house...

MC and Lucifer, despite their amicable meeting, were in this really awkward beginning stage where they didn’t really know what to do with each other.

“So...” MC resisted the urge to twiddle their thumbs as they followed their father through the halls of the House of Lamentation. This was their home for the next year. It was very grand... and also very creepy in some places. “Where’s my room?”

“Right here.” Lucifer stopped suddenly in front of a door in the hallway, nearly causing MC to crash into him. He opened up the door, the room was very very pink. “Asmodeus decorated, you can redecorate as you see fit.”

MC popped their head in and looked around, there were approximately a thousand pillows scattered around the bed. It was the perfect amount! The very pink colour scheme was... okay. Maybe they’d be able to switch some of it out for a nice blue.

“It’s nice! Thank you,” MC was about to say Lucifer, then father, then just shut their mouth. What were they supposed to call him? They had known each other for like... an hour. He seemed like the type to want to be called father, he was too posh to be ‘dad’ or ‘pops’, and calling their father by his first name seemed way too casual as well... Parental Figure..? Guardian? Sir..? Should they call him sir???

The fact that MC ended their sentence like they were going to continue it left the two in a very awkward silence. A+ job at conversation.

“Anyway,” Lucifer finally broke the silence. “If you need time to settle in, we can pick up the tour later.”

“N-no, it’s okay! I didn’t really bring anything so...” MC was in the middle of mentally cursing themselves out, they thought they had successfully avoided falling into the awkward middle schooler stereotype! “We can keep the tour going.”

“Alright then.” Lucifer turned and motioned for MC to follow. Wow... he was very... curt? Was that the right word to use? MC hoped this was as awkward for him as it was for them.

The next stop was the portrait staircase, Lucifer explained each one down to each minute detail, MC listened in rapt attention.

“We received that one from a painter from the sixth layer of the Devildom, it was quite a rare find.”

“How many layers are there?”

“Nine, we’re in the centre most layer. This is the most highly defended part of the Devildom.” Lucifer explained.

“Oh,” MC smiled. “Cool, so it’s like how Dante described it in the Divine Comedy?”

“Mostly, some changes have been made since that time.”

“Ah, okay.” MC nodded, a thought came to them which made them clear their throat to suppress a giggle. “May I ask a question that might bother you?”

Lucifer turned and raised an eyebrow at them. “You may ask one such question.”

“Why did Dante say you were frozen in an ice lake?”

Lucifer looked around, once he was sure that no one was listening, he turned back to MC, his voice was slightly lower when he answered. “I was ice skating with Lord Diavolo, I fell through the ice and into the lake right as Virgil and Dante arrived. Of course, Dante had to embellish or I’d smite him, if only he left out the ice part.”

To MC’s credit, they didn’t laugh, but they weren’t doing a very good job of hiding how hard it was to not burst into laughter. “Oh my... how upsetting...”

Lucifer rolled his eyes. “I’d tell you not to tell anyone but,” his lips quirked up into a smile. “No one would believe you if you said anything anyway.”

MC gasped, but the gasp ended up releasing the laugh they were holding in.

The half demon noticed some of the other portraits on the wall, each of the brothers had a portrait, there were two demons that MC didn’t recognize. So that was their family... they wondered if their picture might be on that wall one day...

“Who’s he?” MC pointed at the portrait between Mammon’s and Satan’s.

“That’s Leviathan, the third eldest, the Avatar of Envy, and the Grand Admiral of Hell’s Navy.”

‘Oooo, so he’s a military guy!’ MC thought to themselves. ‘And the third most powerful brother? Wow... he must be crazy scary...’

“What about him?” MC pointed at the seventh and final portrait.

It may have just been MC’s imagination, but they swore they saw Lucifer’s expression sour slightly.

“That’s Belphegor, the youngest and the Avatar of Sloth.” Lucifer explained. “He is currently in the human world as an exchange student.”

“Oh,” MC studied the portraits a bit more. “Cool! I hope he’s having a good time up there.”

“As do I.” Lucifer replied. “Now we should move on to the Underground-”

“LUCIFER!” Asmodeus cried. “MAMMON’S BEING STUPID AGAIN!”

Lucifer sighed and dragged a gloved hand down his face. “We’ll continue this tour later, MC. Feel free to explore some more, try not to break anything.”

“Because the things might be cursed?”

“That and the things are old and expensive.”

MC spends the rest of the day chilling in the house with Asmo, who peppers MC with ALL the questions.

They does their best to answer... but it’s clear Asmo was hoping for something a little more interesting.

“So, do you run the human world?”

“No. No I do not.”

Finally, Mammon escapes whatever punishment Lucifer’s got him caught up in and tried to get MC involved in something that’ll probably make them lose their money.

Mini HC! A demon’s wings, tail, or horns might pop out randomly if they aren’t paying attention! The demon doesn’t even need to be in their true demonic form for this to happen. It happens more often with younger demons like MC!

Mammon stops his little scheme when he notices that MC’s wings have popped out and left a few stray feathers lying about... he can hear the CHA CHING sound already.

Our favourite dummy tried to Mission Impossible his way into MC’s room but MC caught him trying to make off with some loose feathers after they came back with a dustpan to clean them up.

Eventually, it was dinner time, and Levi was still camped out in his room. Mammon got sent to get him out, and he decided to drag MC along with him.

“I don’t think we should bother him-”

“Sh! We gotta get him out of his stupid room or he’s gonna stay in there until the exchange year’s over.” Mammon snapped, stopping in front of Leviathan’s door.

“I still don’t think we should-”

Mammon rudely interrupted poor, aghast MC by slamming his fists against the door. “LEVI! GET UP! DINNER’S READY!”

The only response was someone increasing the volume on whatever show was playing behind the door. Wow, petty. MC suppressed a snort until they realized exactly what they were hearing.

Was that...

“Is that the Sailor Moon theme?” MC turned to Mammon and asked. The moment the question left their lips the pair heard someone practically bolt to the door. It swung open and hit Mammon right in the face.

“MOTHER FUCKER-”

“You!”

Ah, so this was the Grand Admiral of Hell’s Navy. MC didn’t know that track pants and headphones were a part of the uniform.

“You like anime?!” Levi asked, MC slowly nodded.

“Y-yeah..?”

Quick as lightning, MC was pulled into the room, and Levi slammed the door shut, tragically, the door hit Mammon again.

“LEVI YOU ASS-”

Leviathan didn’t seem too interested in Mammon’s chorus of curse words and angry knocks, he was grabbing some figurines off shelves and showing some to MC.

“Do you know who this is?!”

“That’s White Blood Cell from Cells at Work. What about Mamm-”

“How about this!”

“Violet Evergarden from the show of the same name, now Levia-”

“Whose this?!”

“LEVIATHAN!” MC stomped their foot and pointed at the door. “Mammon said we need to go eat dinner.”

“Don’t interrupt me, human!” Levi hissed, MC rolled their eyes and snorted.

“Nice to meet you, by the way.” MC crossed their arms and let their wings appear and puff up behind them.

“...w-whu-WHAT?!”

“We have to go to-” MC was cut off yet again by Levi passing out. Wow... what a day...

Mammon was still pounding on the door, MC rolled their eyes and opened it.

“He passed out, can you carry him?”

Mammon was decidedly not careful with his dear little brother when he dragged him out of his room and into the dining room. When Levi finally woke up, he got an earful from Lucifer, and tried to kill Mammon.

Apparently money was owed that Mammon wasn’t about to pay.

So yeah, MC and Levi’s alliance did not stem from desperation, it stems from otaku-camaraderie.

MC and Levi planned their credit-card hostage situation over a fun evening of watching anime.

Mammon never knew what hit him...

“Okay Mammon, pay up or your credit card gets cut up.” MC playfully opened and closed the scissors before poising them to cut up the helpless credit card. Mammon let out a shriek and shook his head.

“NONONONONO- don’t do that!” Mammon put his hands up and let out a nervous laugh. “MC... wh-what’s with all the animosity..? We’re buddies, right?”

MC snorted and rolled their eyes. “Buddies don’t try and make money off each other’s feathers.”

“You heard them, Mammon.” Levi snickered. “Pay me back the money you owe me!”

“I don’t have the money right now!”

MC shook their head. “Pity... oh well, bye bye Goldie-”

“The money’s in my sock drawer- just please put the scissors down!”

They slowly lowered the scissors. “What do you think, Levi?”

“Hmmm... you have two minutes.” Levi said, Mammon took off in a sprint out of the kitchen.

“Nice job Agent L!” MC chirped, holding their hand out for a high five, Levi looked positively elated and gleefully hit his hand against MC’s.

“We did it! I’m finally going to have enough money to go to the live show! Couldn’t have done it without your help, Agent Near.”

“Wait- why am I Near?” MC asked. “You get to be L and I have to be Near?”

Levi crossed his arms and huffed. “Would you rather be Mellow?”

“No! I want to be Light! We agreed that I’d be Light!” MC hissed. Levi, literally hissed back.

Rude.

Anyway, Levi got paid, and everyone had a very entertaining breakfast. Well, Mammon didn’t have a very good time, but boo hoo he should have paid Levi back sooner.

I think MC felt legitimately bad for Mammon, all the insults and jabs being aimed at him made MC feel a little guilty...

MC took care to be extra sweet that day, and it made Mammon feel a bit better. You know what made both of them feel amazing?

Screwing with the dipshits that were talking crap about the two of them.

MC didn’t need super-hearing to notice that some of the demons at RAD found it to be peak comedy that Mammon got slapped with babysitting duty.

“...do you want to mess with them?”

“What?”

“Too late, I’m doing it with or without you.”

Mammon was totally in, obviously. A little magic to move some of the lesser demons’ things around and voila! They were all at each other’s throats and Mammon and MC got to enjoy a fun lunchtime show!

The Purgatory Hall crew got to meet MC too, of course!

“And this,” Lucifer gestured to MC. “Is the other human exchange student.”

MC popped up from behind one of the rows of desks and gave the three newcomers a toothy grin. “Nice to meet you!”

Simeon’s calm and serene expression dropped almost immediately as he quickly looked from Lucifer to MC. The latter just gave him an innocent smile and tilted their head.

“Is something the matter?” MC asked, through the corner of their eye they saw Lucifer smirk slightly.

“N...” Simeon snapped back to reality. “No, nothing’s the matter, it’s nice to meet you, MC.”

“You awful demons!” A much younger voice yapped. “You brought a human child down here?! Shame on you!”

Lucifer rolled his eyes. “I’m overwhelmed with guilt, put me out of my misery.”

“Oh!” MC gasped. “You’re the chihuahua!”

“Wh-what?!”

“What?” MC shook their head and shrugged. “What’s the matter with me being a kid? You look like you’re ten.”

“I’ll have you know that I’m well over-”

“Am I just going to go ignored?” The third and final stranger asked, a cheeky/very suspicious looking grin on his face.

“Right, you.” Lucifer sighed. “This is Solomon, another human exchange student.”

“It’s nice to finally meet the other... human exchange student.” Solomon offered a nod.

“Likewise.” MC pretended not to notice the pause before he said human.

The first bell that meant “haul your ass to next period because if the cleaning staff finds you skipping class you will be maimed” sounded. MC slung their bag over their shoulder and brushed past their fellow students.

“Have a nice rest of your day, everyone!” MC chirped as they and Lucifer headed off to their next class.

“What do you stand to gain by pretending you aren’t my child?” Lucifer asked.

MC snickered. “It’s funny! Didn’t you see their faces?”

Lucifer half smiled and shook his head. “Perhaps.”

—————

“That kid is Lucifer’s.” Solomon said the moment Lucifer and MC were out of earshot.

“Oh thank heavens someone else saw too... I thought I was going crazy...” Simeon sighed in relief.

“Hey! We’ll be late to class if you guys don’t hurry!” Luke called from down the hall.

Solomon chuckled under his breath. “This whole year just got way more interesting...”

A lot of MC’s time got devoted to getting to know their newly found family.

Satan was proving to be very... polite? Almost weirdly so? He’d address MC like he would address a formal acquaintance, not like one would address a family member... or even a roommate.

MC tried the delicate dance of trying to respect his boundaries and trying to get him to like them...

Once the glasses incident happened everything kinda caved. MC had been quite rudely shunned by Satan and they were quite done trying to be his friend! Hmph!

...hmph :(

At least Beel was nice... despite MC being a little intimidated by his size and resting bitch face, MC soon found out that Beel was a massive cinnamon roll.

In return for all the snacks Beel shared with MC, they introduced him to at least five human world cooking shows.

“MC, why is the music so dramatic? They’re just revealing the cooking supplies.”

“It’s a reality TV thing... everything is 10 times more dramatic than it needs to be. The music’s doing its job though, I’m very impressed by that pie dish.”

Overall, MC’s first week at RAD was pretty decent! Until... well... until Friday.

MC could only hide their demonic side for so long...

“That’s them?”

MC slowed their steps and turned to look for the source of the voice.

“Yep.” A second voice confirmed. “Human kid, like I said.”

Ugh... of all the times to have needed to stay late after school... the hallway MC was in was completely empty and they had no clue where anyone they actually knew was-

“Boo.”

MC whirled around to see the two gossiping demons standing right behind them. They instinctively took a few steps back before the taller of the two demons grabbed them by the wrist and yanked them forward.

“Geez, are all humans this tiny?” The taller one asked as he slowly lifted MC off the ground. MC fixed him with the nastiest glare possible, he tried to scowl back, but ended up looking away and laughing to the shorter demon. “Look at them, barely enough for a snack, no wonder Beel hasn’t eaten them yet.”

Turning to the shorter demon, MC gave them a similar glare. “Put me down.”

“Tsk, quiet.” The taller demon snapped, he turned back to the shorter demon. “So if we just nab them now, how much do you think someone’ll take for their soul?”

“I-uh...” the shorter demon couldn’t pry their gaze away from MC’s as they tried to sputter a response. “I don’t think we should...”

“Why not? The exchange program’s still in its trial phase anyway, we kill this human and they’ll just bring in another one.”

The way he was speaking about them made MC’s skin crawl. How dare he? How dare he talk about them like they were just common trash? Who did this... person think he was?

An old familiar feeling bubbled beneath the surface. It had always been there, the intense, sometimes overwhelming desire to let the whole world know that they were better. The feeling coiled its way up MC’s spine and wormed its way into their head where it settled.

“You can’t be spoken to like that.”

Every single time this feeling had flared up, MC had done their best to suppress it. They didn’t know what would happen if they gave in, and frankly, they didn’t want to know.

“Let them know you’re not to be trifled with.”

The burning desire to crush the two demons like ants was almost impossible to ignore. MC felt their hands twitch and sparks snap between their fingertips.

“I’m not going to tell you again,” MC growled. “Put. Me. Down.”

“Human,” the taller demon turned back and cooed, his mocking tone made MC want to rip his throat out. “I said be quiet.”

His grip on MC’s wrist tightened until a sickening crack echoed through the empty hallway.

Bile immediately rose in MC’s throat as they let out an earsplitting scream. Their wrist seared in pain and their heart began to race hammer against their ribcage.

The desire to give in only grew and became harder to control, MC could feel themselves slipping. The feeling only had one simple question to ask, one that MC knew the answer to.

“Are you going to let them get away with that?”

Their face morphed into a cheek splitting grin despite the pain, their head tilted to the left as they stared down the two demons.

“No.”

Horns twisted and burst out of their skull as they dug their rapidly sharpening nails into the demon’s arm. Their teeth grew and sharpened while formerly hidden fangs burst through their upper gums. The agonizing pain of their bones growing, snapping, and shifting in and out of place as their demonic form took hold for the first time numbed as MC revelled in their new power.

Through the reflection in the taller demon’s horrified stare, MC could see their pupils stretch into almost catlike slits. He dropped them onto the floor while he and the shorter demon backed up. MC’s impossibly wide smile only grew as they watched the realization dawn upon the lesser demon as he stitched together what he had just done. The human he had decided to bother wasn’t quite so human after all.

“Oh?” MC cooed as their wings split through their back and unfurled behind them. “Where do you think you two are going? We haven’t even gotten started yet.”

—————

Lucifer was jolted from his conversation by a sharp blast of blue light and the sound of screams from a nearby hallway. He instinctively rolled his eyes.

“Lord Diavolo, pardon me but I need to go deal with a disturbance in the halls.” Lucifer said, Diavolo sighed mournfully on the other end of the call.

“Alright, if you must, but make sure to come over later! There are events that need to be scheduled.”

Lucifer knew full well that Diavolo was making half of the school events up as an excuse for basic social interaction. Oh well, it wasn’t the time to think on his prince’s social woes, he had a problem to solve.

How many times did he have to tell some of those idiotic students to take their petty squabbles outside?

Lucifer made his way over to where the fight was happening, he wasn’t walking with particular urgency, a fight on school property wasn’t too unusual, until a massive shockwave spilled through the hallways and slammed into him.

The Avatar of Pride felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up, that was his magical signature... wasn’t it? No, it was just different enough...

“Dammit.” Lucifer doubled his pace, when he reached the end of the hallway, the sight was just what he feared.

MC stood straight in the middle of the hallway with their back to him, two other demons were lying in crumpled heaps on the ground, one was next to an incredibly dented row of lockers while the other was lying next to an almost completely broken drinking fountain.

Lucifer’s own true form was out in a flash as MC turned to look at him. their eyes glowing a shining blue. Their lips curled into a snarl as they let out an otherworldly growl.

“Go away.”

“MC, calm yourself down.” Lucifer said slowly as he approached them. “Return to your normal form.”

The half demon bowed their head slightly and took a few steps back as he stepped closer. Lucifer almost patted himself on the back for such a show of authority, until MC paused and looked up defiantly. The glow in their eyes doubled as any sense of fear left them completely.

“I said, GO AWAY!”

They lunged at him, which he easily sidestepped, only for MC to quickly turn and latch their claws into his arm.

The child packed a surprising amount of force into their strikes, but he was able to block and redirect almost every single one. If this were any normal fight, Lucifer would have just swatted them away and have been done with it, but this wasn’t any ordinary opponent.

MC was his child, the exchange student, and going through their first transformation. They weren’t exactly rational or directly responsible for any of their actions at that moment.

During a first transformation the demon is almost completely relying on base instincts to function, they’ll go completely ballistic for a while, trying to tear through anything in their way until they run out of energy and pass out. Which is why during a demon’s first transformation usually happened much earlier in their lives under the watchful eyes of parents or guardians.

It was clear to anyone with even casual knowledge of demons that MC had fully given themselves over to their pride and wouldn’t stop trying to prove their superiority until they passed out.

Even though Lucifer was blocking and avoiding most of the blows, MC had managed to get in a few good scratches.

They snapped at Lucifer’s right hand, narrowly missing it and aimed their elbow at his jaw. Almost casually batting the hit away, he hissed in frustration.

“Damn it... MC, control yourself!”

MC snarled and sloppily lunged forward, only for Lucifer to use his wings to bat them to the side. They slid across the floor, their glasses falling off and skidding away from them. MC lay still for a few moments, their chest rising and falling rapidly.

Lucifer stood in place, waiting for any sudden movement. For a few moments, the hallway was quiet, save for the massive gulps of air MC was taking and the occasional groan of pain from one of the demons on the floor. MC slowly sat up and blinked a few times, then looked from side to side.

Something important dawned on Lucifer, he didn’t know just how blind MC was without their glasses.

MC’s rapid breathing began to slow as they continued to squint and search the area around them for their glasses. Lucifer almost audibly sighed in relief as the blue glow in his child’s eyes began to dull.

“MC.” Lucifer allowed his demon form to disappear as he slowly moved towards them, making sure MC could hear him approaching.

The half demon stopped scanning the area for their glasses and looked up at him, they awkwardly covered a yawn with their hand as their wings sleepily fluttered behind them. It would have been much cuter if MC wasn’t spattered with blood.

Lucifer slowly offered his hand, which MC eyed suspiciously. “Come on, let’s go.”

MC blinked a few times, then yawned again and awkwardly accepted his hand. “Mmph... m’tired...”

“That’s good,” Lucifer said quietly. “Everything’s okay.”

MC half nodded and awkwardly stumbled as they tried to find their footing. Lucifer tried to help steady them, but it proved ineffective as MC collapsed into his arms. Sighing, he picked them up and began to walk back to the House of Lamentation.

Just before leaving the school, Lucifer passed by Simeon and Solomon, who looked from MC, who had curled their wings around themselves and was sleeping soundly, to Lucifer, who had a few scratch marks on his face and whose hair was a complete mess.

“Ah, you two, one of you do me a favour.” Lucifer said as he brushed past them. “One of you go to the biology hallway and pick up MC’s glasses.”

Simeon and Solomon nodded and mumbled out an affirmation as Lucifer left the school with MC. Hmph, it seemed MC was right, their confused/shocked faces were quite funny.

MC woke up the next morning with the worst muscle pain they had ever and hopefully would ever feel. On the bright side, their wrist wasn’t broken anymore :D

They had literally built their true form. Their skeleton just stretched and rearranged itself, horns grew out from their cranium, their wings broke through their back and a new set of fangs decided to break through their gums... and then all of that new stuff was gone as MC lay in bed in their normal form like a deflated beach ball.

Not wanting to seem like a wimp, MC dragged themselves to breakfast, and everyone was all: “MC, go back to bed, you can’t do anything when you’re like this.”

“Quiet, I’m fine.”

“MC, if you’re fine, then give Beel a high five, make sure it makes the slap sound.”

“Alright then, Beel, come here.”

Beel didn’t exactly think to take MC’s shorter stature into account when holding up his hand for a high five. He’s tall, okay?

MC then proceeded to grit their teeth and try not to scream as they lifted their arm to weakly hit their hand against Beel’s.

“It made the noise..!”

“No it didn’t, I didn’t hear it.”

“Fatherrrr!”

“Couldn’t hear it, go back upstairs.”

When MC trudged upstairs, Asmo practically squealed and pointed out that MC had called Lucifer father for the first time. It’s a shame no one took a picture of happy/surprised Lucifer.

Side note: after the whole event calmed down, Lucifer was crazy proud that his kid kicked the asses of two grown demons.

Funnily enough, this incident is what kickstarted MC and Luke’s friendship! Luke heard MC got into a fight and brought over get-well cookies! Sure... Beel, Mammon and Levi stole most of the cookies but they were still good!

At school on Monday... hooooooo boy... the two demons that tried to kill MC had lived to tell the tale thanks to MC getting distracted by Lucifer, and now the entire student body knew NOT to fuck with MC.

A few weeks into the exchange year, things had settled into a somewhat normal routine... until one really shitty night in particular.

MC was curled up in bed, their new comforter and sheets were a pain to put in, but they suited MC’s taste much better than the pink that had been there previously. Sighing in contentment, MC felt themselves drifting off to sleep-

Mother fucker who was texting at the ungodly hour of 10:30 pm on a Sunday? ‘Twas the lord’s day and the lord of the house stated that everyone needed to get their asses to bed at a reasonable hour.

MC picked up their phone and put on their glasses. After being blinded by the light of the phone for a brief moment, MC read the text.

Not-Rich Uncle Pennybags 💰🕶: Oi! MC! U want a snack?

Not-Rich Uncle Pennybags💰🕶: I’m in the kitchen! Get down here!

After debating whether or not to throw Mammon to the wolves and rat him out, MC decided that they did in fact want a snack and hopped out of bed to go to the kitchen.

“Hey kiddo!” Mammon said through a mouthful of something in a container, a loose note hung limply from a piece of tape that was stuck on the Tupperware. “Next time, hurry it up, got it? Ya can’t keep me waitin’ like this!”

“Mm...” MC grumbled, rubbing their eyes and looking around the kitchen. “What are you eating?”

“Custard!” Mammon smiled brightly. “Ya gotta try this!”

Oooo, custard! MC grabbed a spoon and practically skipped over to try some. Right before they were about to try a bit of the heavenly deliciousness, MC paused and finally caught a glimpse of what the note said.

‘Property of Beelzebub, you eat it, you die.’

Uh oh-

———————

Okay, the next few bits of this WILL come out in order, I promise! Kinda... not really... eh... but it matters not! I hope you all enjoyed this! I didn’t leave you with a cliffhanger this time considering Lessons 5-6 are already out ^_^

So uh- wanna fight the demons that tried to hurt MC? I’m bringing the pitchforks, who’s driving?

329 notes · View notes

dmc-tings · 3 years

Text

The Boys with an s/o on her period

(Female s/o, obviously)

Dante:

Little to no experience here

So when you wake up in the morning covered in blood, HE lets out a screech

And jumps out of the bed, looking at you like your dead

But honestly, he's really scared you ARE DEAD

"Who-" "D, calm down. I just started my period."

"Oh.... your what?"

You dont say anything, just getting up and going to the bathroom

Still confused, Dante starts to clean up the bed

You come out, surprised to see the bed with new sheets and blankets

And a very awkward Dante. He sat in the middle of the bed, looking at you.

You crawled in, and he settled himself behind you (big spoon)

You gave a light humm, (the man is a furnace and it's most welcome)

You lightly explained what was going on with you

"OOHHH!!" It finally clicked, your big dummy finally got it

He (vaguely) remembered all of the others trying to tell him something about it

He listened carefully to you

The next day, Doofus, had all of the things he thought you might need or like

Cakes, heat pads,(not that you needed them, you had him), pads, chocolate, ice cream, you know the works

But hes really attentive, and even more sweet (as if that was possible)

When he's on a job, it's finished quick so he can snuggle you

If your really emotional, he's not letting you go until you feel better

He'll even call Trish or Lady if he's having trouble with thinking for himself, especially when your hurting.

But mostly, he's a sweet boi

Vergil

Probably the one that knows the most.

He reads alot, and had come across several books about this....

So, in theory, anyway, he knows what you NEED.

Not necessarily what you want

He's so shitty at reading bodily cues (unlike his brother)

So be vocal, it really helps him know what you want

"Verg.... snuggles..."

He makes a face but abliges, wrapping you in his arms and a blanket

"Your warmer than your brother...."

"What." Its not a question, more of a demand

You explain that you and Dante are friends and sometimes you hug to show affection, and point out that Vergil is slightly warmer.

He lets out a hummm, he was going to "talk" to his brother

Vergil won't give into your odd cravings

Mostly makes you tea's that help your cramps

If you whine enough, he'll give you what you want

He'll say it's to get you to shut up, but you know it's cause he loves you

Blood isn't a problem for him, he basically comes home bathed in it

Your pain is something he doesn't like

Your cramps are an enemy he CANT cut up...

It makes him feel useless as a boyfriend

But your mood swings? He can handle your verbal abuse

He's heard it all. Just don't swing at him, he'll put you on your ass

As long as you TALK Vergil will wait on you hand and foot

Nero

He's very much like his uncle

Very attentive and patient (with you anyways)

He had to help Kyrie deal with hers, so he knows what you need and want

Quick to the jump when he hears you gasp in the morning/night when you start it up

He gets you up and into the bathroom

"Nero, lemme-" "Nah, I got it. You clean up."

Such a sweet boi

The bed is all clean but hes gone to the store

"Aye, what size yo pussy?" Is the text you get

Followed by, "what snacks you want? Drinks? Pain pills?"

Very sensitive to your cramps

ABSOLUTELY HATES to see you hurting and will stay with you all day if needed

Really the moment your start to show pain, he's right next to you

Though he's not as warm as his dad or uncle

So he gets all the heaters in the house and will set them on full blast in your guy's room

Cause he not smart

"Idiot, I dont need ALL the heaters..."

"Oh..." he cuts them all but one off, and leaves the others in there just in case.

Really the sweetest put of the bunch

Nero tends to give you everything you want anyways, so no worries there

The sweetest on the list, really.

He knows nothing about what's happening, but listens to your every wish

Too sweet for his own good, and does everything you ask

Calls you in the phone

"Pads? What? Oh. I see them. Do you need them all? There are so many... just the... ah. Alright."

He keeps you on the phone, while he walks around the store.

He takes his time, so he can remember everything for the next time

While he was at the store, Shadow kept you company

Once V got back he had a everything you asked for

Sadly, he's like a ice box

So snuggling is a bit worse for you

But V makes up for it by buying lots of thick fluffy blankets for you both

And (like Nero) he gets some heaters, but unlike Nero, he puts them around the house/apartment, so you can walk around wrapped in your blanket

Tends to also walk around in a blanket, so that you don't feel self conscious about it

Will carry you around, you have to ask politely tho

As said before, you can ask V anything, as long as it's polite, and he'll do anything for you

#dante devil may cry #vergil devil may cry #nero devil may cry #v devil may cry #dante x y/n #dante x reader #vergil x y/n #vergil x reader #nero x y/n #nero x reader #v x y/n #v x reader

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bradtomlovesya · 3 years

Text

𝐉𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐲 𝐏𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

Sooo, @brad-is-my-dante and i, wrote this together and we hope you like it!!! 🥺💙. I love you so much bestie. We will write one more in her profile so... wait for it :)

Summary: You and Brad are together and you go with him to a party. A guy starts flirting with you and of course Brad doesn't like that so he shows you who you belong to.

Word counter: 4,5k +

Warnings: Possessive, angst, Smut +18, submissive reader, kinky, bad language, orgasm denied. Read by your own responsibility.

Being in a relationship is hard, but being in a relationship with Bradley Simpson it’s ten times harder, and it’s not because of him, it’s because of the pressure of a lot of people watching your life.

But there was one great thing about it all, the intimacy with him was surreal, amazing and totally exhilarating. As innocent as that man's face might look, he was wild.

“What are you thinking about?” He surrounds my waist with his hands behind me.

he was talking about a little party he was going to have after the concert, not that i didn't like parties, but i was afraid of some inconvenient fan

"Maybe…" I turn and look into his eyes "Why do you want me to go? Couldn't we stay at the hotel?"

“You told me you will go with me, love” he sighs. “I don’t want to be there

without you” he begs. “Pretty please?"

"What do I get if I go?" The innocent eye lies and I could see his eyes turn a darker color. It was like I heard him purr

“It’s not what you will get if you go. Is what you will

get if you don’t go” he cocks his head. “I told you to be a good girl, don’t you dare disobey” his raspy voice is my weakness.

"O-okay babe" my voice shakes. That was the effect he had on me. "I will..."

He takes my purse and my coat before opening the car’s door “Let’s go then” he smiles. I bet he knows the power he has on me.

"Promise we won't be long?" In the car, on the way to the pub where the party would take place, I ask him.

“We will just take some drinks with my band mates, thank some producers and that’s all. After we get back home, I will be all yours, I promise” he takes my hand and leaves a soft kiss on it.

"Okay, bear" I give him an understanding smile. I love this man so much.

After he parks the car, we start walking inside. no more than five seconds pass and Tris is already heading to us.

“Hello, Hello” He says, hugs my boyfriend and then looks at me “How are you, Y/n?”

"I'm fine, and you?" then I give him a high five and the taller one smiles

"I'm fine. Come sit with us, we just need you to arrive" he says happily as he starts walking towards a big table with several bottles of drinks on top and Brad's other bandmates are already there with their girlfriends.

It wasn’t as boring as I expected. Lucee and Kirstie are completely angels and they understand what being girlfriend of a celebrity is, so we have that in common.

“Love?” Brad says, looking at me. “My mom is calling, it must be important. Would you mind waiting here while I take the call?.”

"Of course my love, go there. Send a kiss to your mom for me" I speak gently and he plants a little kiss on me. I could see him disappear into the crowd heading towards the exit.

"So y/n, wanna go dancing?" Kirstie asks me excitedly

"We're all going to the dance floor, come on, it's going to be fun" Lucee adds

"I think it's better not. I'll stay here waiting for Brad" I answer them trying not to look rude. I know Brad very well, he would not like to see me dancing without him.

“Okay… but if you change your mind, we will be there” he points at Kirstie who is already on the dance floor and I just nod in response.

After a couple of minutes, a guy I've never seen before takes sit next to me.

“Hey… I’ve never seen you here before. First time?” He gets closer and speaks in my ear so I can hear him without the interruption of the loud music.

"Um, no... I'm not from around here" I say loudly because of the music and step away from him feeling uncomfortable.

"And where would you be from, sweetie?" he asks approaching again. oh no, he used the nickname that Brad uses for me.

“I don’t think you will know where i’m from” I step away, again.

"Don't play hard to get, I've met girls like you before" he lets out a sloppy laugh and I could feel the breath of vodka. Shit, he doesn't know who he just messed with, if Brad had seen this, he would have kicked him already.

“I don’t want to be rude but you’re making me uncomfortable. Can you please just go?” I sigh and turn my head from side to side looking for Brad.

"Oh I'm sorry sweetie" he gives me a crooked smile "can you at least give me your number?...Or maybe a kiss?" He starts to lean in but soon a shrill, dominant voice makes him stop.

"No, she can't." It was Brad. He was standing with his arms crossed and looking deathly at the inconvenient guy. "didn't you hear her say? get out!"

"And who do you think you are, shorty?" the boy sneers at Brad and I can soon see his jaw strain with rage

"I'm her boyfriend!" Brad hits the table hard, startling the boy and me. "And you can be sure, I may not be tall, but I have plenty of strength to break that horrible face of yours" He looks steadily at the boy "I'm her boyfriend because I have character and a lot of potential. With that personality of yours you wouldn't even catch a bitch." I see anger in his eyes "Now get out of here before I break you!"

quickly I could see the boy almost run out of fear. After that I don't think he would ever go near a woman again without knowing if she had a boyfriend or not

"Can't I go out for 10 minutes that already have motherfuckers after what's mine?" He sits down beside me and I can already see his revealed neck vein and his furrowed brows. oh my god he was sexy

"I'm sorry, my love…" I take my hand and intertwine it with his looking at him gently "but it was better for me to have stayed here waiting for you, than to have gone out on the dance floor with the guys and something worse happened"

"In a way, you're right..." he lets out a loud sigh "I hate it when they try to take what's mine, you know?"

“But… are we okay?” I ask shily.

“Okay? No, we aren’t. There’s a lot of sons of bitches trying to get what’s mine. All - The - Fucking - Time” He looks at me with lust in his eyes. “I think i will have to remember you who your owner is” he takes my wrists.

“But-” he doesn’t let me speak.

"No 'but'. You come with me" he gets up and pulls me by the wrist

"W-won't you let the staff know? They might be worried" I ask him as I'm pulled out.

"Then I'll text them. Now I have to take care of you." he says firmly.

“Okay…” I gulp. I know what’s coming. Drinks, night, and jealousy aren’t the best combination for Brad. Or maybe they are… But not for me.

“Don’t worry, honey” He helps me get into the car. “I will give you just what such a bratty like you deserve”

"Y-you'll be kind… won't you?” I ask him apprehensively as I see him get into the driver's side slamming the door making me jump.

"Do you think you deserve kindness?" He laughs darkly "After I heard that bastard call you my favorite nickname, I'll have to punish you"

with these few words I could already feel a small puddle forming in my panties.

“I will behave,” I murmur.

He puts his hand on my tight and strokes it a little while driving “I hope so, darling. It’s your punishment, not mine”.

The rest of the road was really quiet, none of us said something but his fists were holding the steering wheel so hard making it go white. I saw his chest go down and up with his heavy breathing, I could also see his erection marked in his jeans.

It was a frequent consequence of Brad. He got angry about something and always ended up taking it out on sex. Was he nervous? sex. Was he jealous? sex.

"let's go" he said as he opened the car door for me after having parked the car in front of the hotel

We walked calmly through the hotel lobby, but because of the marked erection, I think the few people there already knew why we were going up to the room.

After the elevator doors closed I could feel my back against the cold metal of the elevator and my hands up. Brad kissed me harshly but passionately.

“Brad… there’s cameras on the elevator” I murmur between kisses.

“Do you think i fucking care?” He bites my lower lip.

“You should, you’re a public figure” I stop him.

“You’re annoying me” He rolls his eyes.

“I’m sorry” I bow my head and the doors of the elevator open.

“Shut up and walk”

I don’t say anything, I just do what he wants. I don’t want the punishment to be worse.

Once inside the room, he locks the door and looks at me in a dominant way. "Take off your clothes and get into bed. I'll be right back" I obey him and then he leaves towards the bathroom, where our bags were.

slowly taking off my clothes I could already imagine how hard he would be on me. I can't deny it, I love that part of him that only I know.

He came back after some minutes with handcuffs.

“A-And th-that?” i stutter.

”It’s for you, sweetheart” He walks towards me “On your knees”

I put on my knees on the bed.

“No,” he denies. “On the floor, now”

"Y-yes sir" so hard to do as he orders and get down on my knees on the fluffy floor mat

"Put your wrists on your back" so I do. He puts the handcuffs on my wrists causing a shiver over my body from the icy metal "You can't move until I speak, ok?"

"O-ok sir" he strokes my hair lovingly

"you're going to suck daddy's cock" he lets out a breath and unzips his jeans making his gray Calvin Klein mark his big erection even more "but when I ask you to stop, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to stop..." I say shyly

"You go what?" he grabs my chin making me look into his lust-bright eyes "Say it! you know what I want to hear"

"I'm going to stop Daddy!" I could already feel tears welling up in my eyes. He was being aggressive, I don't know if I don't like it or like it.

“Now…” he takes a deep breath “Open”

I do what he tells me to. I open my mouth in a big “a” with my eyes closed waiting for his dick to enter in my mouth but it doesn’t so i open my eyes

"I want you with your eyes open, looking at me" he lets out a long breath as he pumps his beautiful cock with an already reddened tip of sensitivity "If you were supposed to keep your eyes closed, I would have blindfolded you"

"I-im s-so sorry daddy" I say pleading through the eyes. At this point, if I did anything he didn't like, I know he would be able to hook up a vibrator to my clit and leave me without an orgasm for hours.

“No ‘Sorrys’. Open your mouth” I do. He takes my face in one hand and spits on my tongue “Swallow” He orders.

Now I'm just his toy. I’m here to please him, not the other way around.

“Good girl” he smiles when i do “now be more good and suck it all”

“Okay” I whisper and introduce his huge cock in my mouth. I try my best to let it in completely but it is too much for my little mouth.

"Do like this my little girl" he moans heavily "picking up daddy's dick so well, isn't it? such a good little girl to me, and just only for me"

looking into his face, I could see his eyes close in pleasure along with his mouth shaped like a perfect "o" and his furrowed brows.

Picking up my hair and pulling it into a ponytail, he started fucking my face like never before. with each thrust i could feel the veins in his cock pulse making me feel wetter and eager for him in me.

"Yeah little girl. Oh fuck, that mouth is just mine," he speaks heavily between moans "and no idiot can kiss or have his cock in her but me. I'm a lucky guy"

“Who do you belong to?” He takes his dick out of my mouth.

I gasp for air and he just grabs my hair harder.

“I asked something, sweetie. Answer”

“You” I answer breathing heavily.

“Me what? Use more words” He pulls my hair hard making me look at the roof.

“You, daddy” i cried out “I belong to you and only you”

This is hard, this is rough and I never thinked about Brad like this but… Is it bad to say I'm loving it?

"That's how I like it. Daddy loves when his little girl is obedient..." he lets out a long sigh "Dad was just really disappointed in one thing..."

Oh shit. What do I say wrong?

"You know baby, when I saw you call it sweet, my blood boiled with rage" he caresses my cheek “Did you see the way he was looking at your legs with that tight dress of yours? You use that dress for me. Only for me”

"S-sorry, daddy" I look at him feeling guilty

"Don't you remember what I said? No 'Sorrys'." he scolds me with the look "that bastard at least wouldn't know how to eat you." he rolls his eyes "get up slowly, your knees must be hurting"

I slowly stand up and feel my legs go weak but Brad holds me by the waist

"I warned you. Now I want to change the positions of the handcuffs, turn around" so I do and feel him release the handcuffs "Lie on the bed on your back"

"Yes daddy" I walk to the bed and lie down doing what he asked me to. Soon I can see him taking off his shirt and fully removing his underwear

"It's rude to stare honey" he chuckles softly as he notices my gaze on his dick "but I know, my dick is amazing and it's yours only"

he climbs on the bed and stays between my legs

"hands on the headboard" he asks and I do. So he holds my hands on the headboard rail.

“You remember our code?” He looks at my eyes and I just nod. “Words, darling. I won’t do anything without your permission”

“Green, keep going. Yellow, slow. Red, Stop” I bite my lip.

“That’s daddy’s girl” he lowers his hand until it ends where i need him the most. “Look at you” he laughs darkly “You’re dripping and i haven’t touched you yet” He slams my ass with his other hand. I know that will leave a pink mark. “Say please” He parts my folds but doesn't touch my clit.

“Please” I murmur.

“Please what?” He slams again. “Say it louder!” he orders.

“Please, daddy. Please fuck me with your fingers! please fuck me with your mouth! ” I close my eyes, feeling the pain. "Show me you're better than that bastard"

"Do you think it's going to be that easy?” He chuckles softly in my ear "Love, I'll make things difficult for you" I let out a whimper of disappointment

I feel his hands travel down my body and stop on my sensitive nipples. He quickly captures my right nipple with his mouth making it hard

"Oh, p-please daddy" I begged him. stop don't stop, never stop.

With one of his hands I feel him pinch the other nipple as he nibbles the other with his teeth. His free hand goes down to my wet pussy and touches me placing and taking his finger from my clit

"Um, little girl" he takes his mouth off my nipple "Tell me something" he licks the valley of my breasts "Who makes you so surrendered?"

"You daddy! You!" I close my eyes in an attempt even though I'm doing something so dirty, beg for god to change Brad's mind.

"Tell me…who makes you so wet?" He runs his index finger into my wet hole "huh? tell me"

"Oh my God! You daddy! You Bradley!" he totally stops with the movements

"what did you say?" I open my eyes and find a totally wild face "What did you just say?! Say it again!"

"You B-Bradley" I already knew that was it, I had never used his full name.

"You can't" He takes his hand out of my pussy. "You can't call me like that" I inhale deeply feeling the emptiness he left in my hole.

"I'm so sorry, daddy" i start crying again "please…"

"No 'please'. Now, i won't let you cum on my fingers 'cause i told you to be a good girl and you didn't"

I could feel my pussy throb for the lack of his touch. I just wanted him anyway, but he was making things difficult

"You know... I could call it a bitch, since that bastard stole my favorite nickname" he presses my cheek with one hand

"N-no, please. You promised you'd never call me bad names, remember daddy?" I beg him

it was a deal we had, no bad names for him and me. As hard as he would be on sex, the way to call me, he would be sweet.

"fuck… You teased me so much, little girl." he takes the grip off my cheeks and starts smoothing "the way you looked at me today as I sang to the crowd… you know how to tease daddy, don't you?"

this time I knew he didn't want an answer. His eyes looked wildly at me, I could see his pupil dilated because of the pleasure and love he felt for me.

"Do you know what naughty girls earn?" he whispers in my ear making me shiver and I shake my head "a good hard fuck… if you're good daddy will let you come. Ok?"

"O-ok daddy, I promise to be good" he nods his head

"What's the code?" he positions himself between my legs as he pumps his cock with his hand

"G-green…" I let out a sigh seeing him position himself at my entrance.

"You still on the pill?" I nod "good girl" when he finishes talking, he enters at once without giving me time to adjust. a loud moan comes out of my throat and I feel a burning

"It doesn't even look like I fucked you this morning. So tight for daddy, huh?" he moans with his eyes closed

"Only for you, daddy. I promise" I gasp, squeezing my eyes. My hands were still in the handcuffs but I needed to touch him "Can I touch you… please?"

"Do you think you deserve to touch me? huh?” He pinches hard one of my nipples making me scream "I'll only let you go when I think it's necessary, weigh it again and you won't enjoy it. did you hear me?"

"Y-yes daddy" throwing my head back in pleasure I could feel him change the angle

now my legs were over his shoulders causing him to reach deeper into my core, suddenly hitting my G-spot

"Daddy! Oh my God!" I moaned desperately as I felt my orgasm start to get closer with every thrust he did.

"Are you going to cum?" He says between moans.

I nod no trusting in my own words.

"I don't think so" he starts moving slower. I feel the burning in my stomach disappear and a sigh of frustration leaves my lips.

"Keep calm, baby girl" he kisses my forehead. "Just keep being good and you will get your reward" He enters deeper in me with just one thrust. his fingers dig into my waist with force making me scream at the top of my lungs.

"Who is making you feel this good?" He kisses my neck.

"You, sir" I moaned, feeling him hit that spot again.

"Don't talk with those son of bitches when you have everything with me" he speaks heavily yet deposits a big smack on my ass making me scream "Did you hear me? I want an answer!"

"Yes daddy! I b-belong to you! only to you!" soon I could see a smile break out on Brad's pleasurable face.

"Perfect." it hits that point of mine again going faster this time "Can you let daddy come first?"

"Daddy, I can't h'hold back a-anymore" he clicks his tongue

"You're being selfish little girl" he sighs "you know I can easily leave you without coming, don't you?"

"I'm s-so sorry, daddy" I whimper from the pleasure. Jesus he can't stop it

"I'll release you, don't touch where I don't allow" I nod with a smile and he leans over and lets go of my hands "give me your hand, you know what to do with it don't you?" I nod "fine, no squeezing just stroke"

he brings my hand up to his balls making me caress them. with this act he gains speed inside me hitting my core hard and moaning in an animalistic way

"You know very well how to treat daddy." he groans through clenched teeth "Moan for me love. I want to listen to my baby while I fuck you hard"

"Daddy! D-don't stop…" His movements become sloppy and soon i feel jets of hot semen in my core.

"Bloody hell!" he grumbles before collapsing on top of me and I bring my hands up to his hair and stroke it. "Such a good girl for daddy... made me come so hard, i think someone deserves a reward" he kisses me with love

"P-please, daddy" I beg softly.

"What do you want me to do, sweetheart?" He leaves kisses all over my face.

"Fuck me with your fingers… pretty please?" I say in a submissive tone. I know he wants to keep control even when he is already finished.

"Oh my love do you want me to fuck you with my sperm?..." he takes a hand to my core and incites two fingers "Like this?..."

"Oh! Yeah daddy!" he bends his fingers at me hitting my spot again "P-please, D-don't stop…"

He gives small kisses down my neck following my collarbone and stopping at my breasts. With his free hand he starts massaging my left breast "You are so perfect, it was made exactly to my size. They fit in my hand"

"Oh, Fuck!" I scream feeling the burn in my stomach.

"Cum for me, babe. Cum on my fingers" He speeds up his pace.

I'm sweating and moaning like never before. I'm tired but I don't want him to stop.

He puts his thumb on my clit while keeps fucking me hard with his other fingers and that friction was last thing i needed to realease in his hand screaming his name.

"Oh my God! Thank you daddy! Thank you!" I breathed heavily while shivering and Brad gave me little kisses on my neck

"You're very welcome, babe" He caresses my hair. "Now let's take a shower to clean you up"

"I don't feel my legs" i laugh a little "you left me without the possibility of walking"

"Sorry, honey. But you search for it" he takes me in his arms and walks with me to the bathroom. Once we are in, he lets me sit down on the bathtub.

"I'm going to turn on the hot water love, it'll help ease the pain between your legs" he said turning on the tap and coming to give me a kiss "I'll get the robes, I'll be right back" he goes out the bathroom door and I take the opportunity to admire that one beautiful round ass.

feeling the water rise higher and higher, I relax and close my eyes. I can feel my core on fire. As much as I was punished, I loved how affectionate Brad became afterward.

"Hey love, you're not sleeping in the bathtub are you?" I hear Brad's laughing voice and open my eyes to see him put the robes over the sink

"No. I'm just relaxing" he walks towards me totally naked. This man is perfect in every way

"Space me" he asks and I lean forward feeling him fit behind me "Hmm but I think I tired my girl, didn't I?"

"You did" I let out a small laugh and he follows me

"I didn't hurt you, did I?" He kisses my neck "I couldn't bear to be too rough with you, the pain I give you is always to give you pleasure"

"Be calm Brad" I link one of my hands in his "I'm just feeling a burning sensation, nothing too different from other times"

"Are you sure?" He whispers fondly in my ear and then nuzzles my neck.

"Yes babe I'm sure" I rested my head on his chest closing my eyes and soon I felt him take a sponge and rub my breasts and stomach.

"Time to take care of my baby" he kisses my head "I love you so much y/n"

"I love you too, Bradley bear" my breath calms down enjoying the feeling. "Can I ask you something?" I look at his chocolate eyes for a moment.

"Whatever you want to" He answers with a cute smile.

"Why did you get that jealous of that guy?" I giggle.

"Being honest… you're one of the best things in my life right now and just the think of losing you for just one dumb guy drives me insane" he says in a lost and sad voice.

"You won't lose me..." I kiss him gently "I've been waiting for you for so long, it will always be you, and for you"

"But I'm still afraid of losing you... I waited so long for love and you showed up" he sighs and I can see tears in his eyes and i caress his cheek "you are the most precious thing in this world" a lonely tear leaks from his eye and I wipe it away with my thumb.

"You are also the most precious thing in the world Brad. I love you so much" I plant a little kiss on him "well I think we should go to bed, I'm really tired"

"true my love, can you get up?"

"Yeah babe" I get up out of the tub and grab one of the robes "Will you stay there?"

"No" he gets up from the tub and repeats my movements and I look at him mischievously

"I doubt you can reach me... softly" when I finish talking I run towards the room leaving him behind

"y/n! come back here!" I hear him scream before he comes after me

Who knew dating Bradley Simpson would be so exciting…

#bradley simpson smut #brad simpson imagine #bradleywillsimpson #bradley simpson #connor ball #brad simpson #brad simpson smut #bradleysimpson #tristan evans #the vamps #the vamps smut #the vamps imagines #fanfic #one shot #oneshot #kinky girl

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harlot-of-oblivion · 3 years

Text

Sowing the Seeds of Lasting Love (Part 10)

Vergil helps you with a flowery dilemma before the wedding.

The big day is finally here! Hope you enjoy! 🌹😘🌹

Chapter 1: White Heather

When Nero first told his father about the wedding, he explained that they wanted to keep it nice and simple, only inviting family and close friends to the ceremony. But now that the big day is upon them, Vergil notices that the ceremony is still nice but definitely not simple. And it seems they’ve decided to invite all of Fortuna going by all the numerous names he hardly recognizes in the guest log!

But there’s one name that he knows very well on the very first page…your neat yet bubbly handwriting is indistinguishable among the cursive chaos.

Vergil smiles but then remembers himself as the hustle and bustle of people whiz around the venue’s entryway. He quickly closes the guest book before striding away from wandering eyes, seeking refuge from the morning mayhem before the wedding. But you always manage to wriggle your way back into his mind, occupying his every thought…especially now that he’s confessed his feelings and tasted your kiss. Just the mere memory of your velvety lips parting for his tongue make his cheeks burn with a slight blush!

The lovestruck devil shakes these desirous thoughts out of his head as he approaches one of the designated dressing rooms for the wedding party. He quietly slips in and examines himself in the three-way mirror, checking his appearance and immaculate suit for any obvious flaws. The refined paisley pattern of his dark blue wedding coat contrasts well with the silky black lapels and matching blue vest. He wrings the black bow with a grimace, wishing it were an elegant cravat instead as he adjusts it around the stark white collar of his shirt. Then, he scrutinizes the rest of his suit, noting the pristine matching dress pants and spotless black formal shoes with an approving nod.

This well-tailored ensemble will surely bring that endearing blush to my beloved rose’s cheeks, he muses with a confident chuckle while raking his fingers through his silvery white hair.

The thought of you creeps into his mind again, but he allows himself to reminisce in the privacy of the dressing room. He didn’t have much of a chance to let the events of the previous day fully sink in until now; the time between storming out of the shop and arriving at your doorstep is still a bit hazy. But the warmth of your humble abode, the steaming hot water of your shower, and the comfort of your soothing lullaby and tranquil heartbeat as he fell asleep in your embrace…now that he remembers quite well!

Vergil also recalls how he swallowed his pride before baring his soul to you, practically pouring every ounce of sincere fervor from within his heart as he revealed his true feelings. And despite hearing all about his past trauma and doubtful hesitancy in matters of romance…you still accepted him with unconditional love, releasing the mounting tension between both of you as he finally gave into his desire by capturing your lips with a passionate kiss. The cadence of your soft gasps and lingering moans, the thorough strokes of your tongue, and the feel of your body beneath him…it all felt so good.

But it’s not enough.

He wants more…he needs more…

A sudden shriek of distress from outside interrupts his amorous ruminations. His eyes widen in alarm as he rushes out the dressing room door, following the dreadful tone of your voice all the way to the venue’s kitchen. And he’s not the only one to come running to rescue; a couple of the staff and Dante burst in with a look of concern. But you barely notice their presence as you continue to stare into the large walk-in freezer with a horrified face.

“What’s going on, Buttercup?”

“Are you hurt?”

Both brothers slowly approach as you turn around to face them. You meet each of their eyes for a moment…then, you take a deep breath and scream at the top of your lungs:

“FLOWER EMERGENCY!”

Your enraged declaration bellows through the kitchen, making some of the staff jump as you dash towards a countertop. You unpin the delicate flower crown upon your head, being mindful of the white heather blooms and bleeding hearts flowers. Then, you carefully remove it and place it on top of the counter before tying your hair into a low ponytail at the nape of your neck.

Dante lets out a low whistle. “It must be really bad if the flower crown’s coming off!”

“What happened?” Vergil asks while giving his idiotic brother a warning glare.

You turn back around with an exasperated sigh. “I told them to NOT put any peonies to the freezer under no circumstances!” you exclaim, angrily marching into the frigidly cold room with both brothers in tow. “But now look! Almost half of the centerpieces have wilted!” you bemoan while pointing at a group of flowers in fine crystals vases.

Vergil inspects the various peonies in question and immediately understands why you’re so distraught. A vast majority of their petals have shriveled up and turned brown, completely ruined just before the wedding. The sight of you biting your lip and pulling your hair in worry wrenches the growing prickling knot within his chest.

“Is there anything I can do?” he inquires, gently grabbing your shoulders while staring down into your glistening eyes.

Your brow furrows in thought. “I might be able to salvage some of them with fresher blooms…but they’re all back at my garden’s workshop!” you inform while glancing down towards his waist. “Could I borrow the Yamato for a bit?” you implore sweetly as your lips curl into a charming grin.

Vergil smirks at your hopeful plea. “But of course.”

You beam up at him a grateful smile, unwinding the discomforting knot in his chest as you instruct the staff to haul all the half-frozen flowers into the kitchen. Both brothers stay out of your way while sharing intrigued glances, clearly impressed with your command over a highly stressful situation. Your eyes squint at the withered half of the centerpieces, mentally weighing how many more flowers you need to fix them.

“Hmm, we may need to take one more person to haul all the flowers back in one trip.”

Dante perks up with a wide grin. “I can tag along!”

“I’m more than capable of carrying all the flowers without assistance,” Vergil boldly claims with a determined nod.

“Oh really? I see…” Dante trails off while giving him a knowing grin. “You just wanna be alone so you can put your tulips togeth- WHOA!” he exclaims as multiple spectral swords surround him. “Hey! Don’t ruin the suit, big bro!”

A low and irritable growl emanates from Vergil’s throat. “Cease your prattling and go help Nero,” he demands while relenting to his foolish brother’s request, calling off the summoned swords from shredding his black and red suit to pieces.

Dante lets out a disappointing groan as he stalks out of the kitchen, grumbling under his breath about how all this waiting around is boring. Vergil rolls his eyes and shakes his head before directing his attention back to you, paying no mind to the staff’s slightly perturbed faces while offering his arm. You wrap your hand around the crook of his elbow with an amused giggle and follow him out of the kitchen.

Vergil heads to the closest room with enough space before summoning the Yamato with a flick of his wrist. He insists that you stand back before unsheathing the blade and slicing the air with two intersecting slashes. Then, he sheaths the Yamato with a loud click of the hilt as the portal opens with a bright blue flash. You grab his hand and run through its threshold, popping up just outside the back gate behind your cozy home.

You quickly undo the latch and dash towards your outdoor workshop with Vergil hot on your heels. The overwhelming perfume of your impressive garden brings a fond smile to his face as both of you run down winding paths between lush flowers and trimmed bushes. He pulls ahead a little when you get closer to the workshop, reaching out and opening the door with a courteous nod as you enter with a sigh of gratitude. You flip the light switch before scurrying off towards a large cold case full of fresh blooms.

Vergil enters the workshop as you begin counting out the number of flowers you have on hand. He shuts the door and lingers close behind you, patiently waiting for your next directive while taking in your pleasing visage. But you seem to not notice his blatant gaze, diligently focused on taking inventory as you take out a step stool to count the flowers on the top shelf. His eyes wander down your dainty body, admiring the delicate flowers embroidered on the lovely pink dress that brings out your natural charm and radiant grace.

Your pensive hum breaks him out of his adoring stupor. “Looks like I have plenty of yellow peonies but not enough white ones,” you inform with a disheartening pout.

“Can you substitute them with another flower?” he suggests, recalling your lesson on improvising a bouquet when he helped you arrange one for a customer.

You ponder for a moment. “I do have some white hydrangeas!” you exclaim with a victorious grin while turning to look at him. “Can you- Ah!”

Your feet wobble as you let out a startled squeal, losing your balance on the step stool before tipping over towards the ground. But Vergil surges forward and catches you within his protective embrace, wrapping his arms around your small frame.

“Oh snapdragons,” you murmur while clasping the lapels of his coat.

Vergil smirks at your stunned exclamation. “Are you okay?”

Your lips curl into a gracious. “Yes! And it’s all thanks to my darling devil!”

“You should be more careful, my beloved rose,” he murmurs while looking down at you in concern. “It pains me to see you hurt,” he admits as the gravity of this intimate situation takes control.

Vergil bows his head as you raise yourself up onto your tippy toes, slowly drawing closer and closer until your bated breath caresses his starving mouth. Then, he gently presses his lips against yours, letting out a pleased hum when you return his tender kiss with enthusiastic passion. You let out a delightful sigh as he withdraws from your lips with a warm smile.

“I’ve longed to do that again since yesterday morning.”

“Me too,” you agree. “We didn’t have much of a chance to talk more at the rehearsal dinner either,” you remind while averting your gaze with a coy smirk.

“Between the chaotic run-through of the ceremony and our rushed practice session,” he recalls, nuzzling your face until your lips brush his eager mouth. “What a most inconvenient time to confess.”

“Since when has love ever been convenient?” you muse with a playful peck. “We’ll have more time to talk after our performance,” you pause as he presses a soft kiss above the corner of your mouth. “And during the reception,” you finish before capturing his lips with your needy kiss.

Vergil growls as his tongue brushes against your lower lip, silently requesting for entry as you wrap your arms around his neck. You part your mouth for him, softly moaning while meeting every stroke of his questing tongue. He basks in your intoxicating scent, so flowery and arousing…the devil inside him clamors to claim you as his own. But he’s able to clamp that instinct down, prolonging that inevitable need when the time is right…which will definitely be later since the door of your workshop bursts open with a loud crack.

“Fiddlin’ Firs!” you exclaims, hastily jumping back from his embrace as the spectral form of his devilish side peeks in with an expectant look.

“Be at ease,” he soothes you with a swift peck against your brow. “It’s only my doppelganger.”

You squint as his phantom form points at the white hydrangeas it collected just outside your workshop. “But he looks so much different than you!” you note with a curious tilt of your head.

Vergil chuckles at your subtle suspicion. “Remember what I told you,” he whispers close to your ear, “the power of Sparda is vast and you have yet to see an ounce of its potential.”

You shiver as he kisses your neck. “Does the power of Sparda include sweeping sweet gardeners off their feet?”

“I’m not certain,” he remarks, “but it does include…how did you put it?” He tilts his head in thought. “Ah! Charming the petals off of a lovely rose,” he reveals with a smirk while meeting your ardent gaze. Your cheeks grow pink as he dips back down for another kiss…but his doppelganger stops him from indulging in your velvety lips again with its impatient scratching at the door.

You stifle a giggle as he growls irritably at his spectral self. “We better head back with these flowers,” you reason with a sweet smile. “Don’t wanna be late to your own son’s wedding!”

Vergil reluctantly withdraws from you with an agreeing nod. He helps you collect all yellow peonies and white hydrangeas into several flower trays. You manage to pick up a few of them as he opens up another portal with the Yamato, silently commanding his doppelganger to carry as many flowers as possible before following them back into the venue’s kitchen.

A chorus of various shocked gasps and cries from the astonished staff greets them, but they all scamper away as the monstrously tall spectral devil enters the room. You put the flower trays down on a nearby table with a sigh of relief, softly hoping that this sliver of peace and quiet would last as you fix the ruined centerpiece in a timely manner. Your lips curl into a pleased smile when you turn to see his doppelganger wagging its tail proudly next to all the flower trays it dropped off by your makeshift worktable.

The sound of rushed footsteps gets their immediate attention just as the wedding planner enters the kitchen with a worried grimace. You explain the current state of the flowers but assure her that you have everything under control now. She nods her head with a relieved smirk while side-eying the spectral devil standing next to you, clearly curious but not commenting on it as she informs Vergil that the groom’s party is taking their place at this very moment.

“You’re certain that you can do all of this without any assistance?” he inquires as the wedding planner leaves the kitchen.

“Of course! Just be-leaf in me,” you reply with a cheery grin before giggling as he scoffs at your ridiculously bad pun. “Buuuut I wouldn’t mind if you let him stay and help!” you suggest while pointing at his doppelganger, who is currently helping you arrange the assortment of flowers on the table.

Vergil ponders for a moment before nodding his head. “Very well…but you better be on your best behavior!” he instructs his spectral self with a suspicious glare. You laugh as his doppelganger shrugs its shoulders defensively while shaking its horned head.

“And I’ll meet you backstage as soon as I can before our performance,” he softly affirms, swiftly pulling you in close for a quick kiss before heading out of the kitchen.

It only takes him a few minutes to arrive at the designated place outside on the beach. Many of the guests are already in their seats along the elegant runner leading all the way down to a modest arch wrapped in white silky ribbon with sunflowers and blue delphiniums. He can hear their excited murmurs over the soft crashing of the nearby surf as he makes his way towards his assigned spot on the groom’s side.

Nero is already standing in front of the arch, shifting around nervously while adjusting the blue dahlia boutonniere pinned to his crisp white suit. He looks up as his father approaches him and immediately pulls out a matching boutonniere from inside his coat pocket. Vergil gives him a gracious nod while pinning the delicate bloom to the lapel of his coat.

“Is everything alright?” his soon-to-be wedded son asks with a soft whisper as classical music starts playing over the ecstatic chatter of the guests.

“It’s nothing for you to be concerned about,” Vergil assures while looking out into the gathering crowd of unfamiliar faces. “Everything is under control.”

Nero nods with an anxious swallow. “Yeah…okay.”

Vergil quirks a brow at his son. “Nervous?”

“What? No!” Nero exclaims in a hushed whisper. “Well…maybe a little,” he admits while scratching the back of his head.

“Don’t sweat it, kid!” Dante exclaims as he pops up behind both of them. “You’ve got this!” he adds with an encourage pat on his nephew’s back.

“I must agree with your fool of an uncle for once,” Vergil avows as everyone begins to quiet down.

His son responds with a grateful smile as the ceremony starts with the wedding officiant taking their place in front of the arch. The music gradually swells as the bridal party walks down the aisle with their beautiful dresses and lovely bouquets…except Nico, who proudly struts down in her black suit. She grins while taking her place as the Best Woman, cheekily wiggling her eyebrows at Nero when everyone stands up for the bridal march.

The crashing waves in the distance grow quiet as Kyrie slowly makes her way down the aisle, leaving only the collective gasps of the guest’s to accompany the sweet melody of her march. She clutches her bouquet of sunflowers below her chest as her pure white dress flutters softly in the sea breeze. Her lips curl into a sunny smile beneath her tulle veil when she sees Nero staring in awe at her warm and graceful beauty. But he snaps out of his amazed daze as soon as his soon-to-be wife reaches the arch, reaching for her hand with a small smirk before facing the wedding officiant together.

An array of emotions fills the salty air as the ceremony commences; one moment there’s silent admiration with some light laughter in between the simple rituals of matrimony, but then there’s plenty of soft sniffling and happy tears as the officiant guides them through their vows. Even the Dark Slayer isn’t immune to the palpable emotions surrounding him, unexpectedly getting misty eyed as they exchange rings and promises of eternal devotion.

Vergil happens to catch sight of you lurking behind the guests, seemingly watching the ceremony but mostly staring at him with a smitten smile upon your lips. He suddenly finds himself pondering about the prospect of marriage while blinking away his unshed tears. The image of his beloved rose dressed all in white drifts across his mind and he can’t help but to smirk at the thought of settling down with someone like you.

Your eyes widen when you finally notice him staring right back at you with his affectionate gaze. You look away bashfully while your flushed cheeks glow as red as the bleeding heart flowers upon your head. His lips curve into an endearing smile as the officiant allows Nero and Kyrie to seal their blissful union with a kiss. And as everyone showers the newly wedded couple with periwinkle petals, he realizes just how lucky he was to come upon such a lovely rose among his briars.

🌹🌹🌹

Tagging: @drusoona @bettybattaglia @exsultry @thedyingmoon @veenus-ow @meowykittenn @fandomhell97 @vergilsangel @thenightgazer @cherryvane @yesno18 @diabeticsugarush @queenmuzz @mary-v-o-n @tinamalee @a-midsummer-nights-odyssey @ancientwhitefire @agentdedf1sh @divinity-deos @shiranyaaww @skarlet-red-rose @lucinalu219 @superluckystar

#vergil #vergil x reader #devil may cry #dmc #a rose among the briars #Sowing the Seeds of Lasting Love #IT'S FINALLY HERE YAYYY #this is the first out of three chapters for this part 👀#hope ya'll enjoy all the shenanigans and sweet kisses!#harlot writes

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rodeoxqueen · 3 years

Text

Stuck Thinking About You-Dante/Reader

TheLastCrusader Requested: Dante or Vergil gets immobilized in some embarrassing or inconvenient way during a job and then (Y/N) pays them company until they can be freed. How about they have a crush on (Y/N) and they don't know it is returned until the end?

Vergil’s Part: Coming Soon.

Read it on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28187496

Warnings: Fluff, Romantic Comedy, Taking Care of The Twins, Vulnerability, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Characters Call Out The Writer for Her Lazy Writing

Dante was the Legendary Devil Hunter, a tried and true hunter with the might of hundreds of men. And here he was, paralyzed by a venomous demon. During a hunt, it had a lucky shot and hit him with a dart. It would have killed a normal man three times over, causing the victim to lose muscle function and die. Since Dante was not a normal man, his body would metabolize the poison in due time. It’s just too bad he was stuck in his current form, arms to his side and stiff. He was lucky to be able to talk anyway.

Nero had laughed at his predicament and dragged him back to the van by the boots, throwing him onto the spare seat like a sack of potatoes. His brother had smugly walked alongside his son, entertained by how Dante complained about his now immobilized situation.

“Laugh it up. When I can move again, I’ll be kicking your asses.” Dante threatened, face down on the cushion with his sword strapped to his back. He sounded muffled and Nero laughed at him again.

“Wait until (Y/N) found out you got shot in the butt by a demon.” Nero jeered. Dante groaned.

Oh God forbid you found out, his crush. The gorgeous and funny (Y/N). He’d be a laughingstock.

You had been working on the Devil May Cry paperwork when the red devil was carried in looking like a cardboard cut out of himself. The red devil was incredibly displeased and had a sour look on his face.

Nero and Vergil dropped him onto a couch, dusting themselves off and high-fiving.

“What happened to Dante?” You ask, seeing how Dante was unnaturally still.

“My brother was unluckily poisoned. The toxins shall wear off soon, although he will be stuck like this for the meanwhile.”

You see Dante attempt to move with his grunts and groans, yet to no avail.

“Yeah, he’s gonna have to wait for it to wear off. You should’ve seen him, he gets jabbed and he just drops like a dead body!” Nero wiped a tear of laughter off his face.

“Anyways, I gotta go back to Fortuna. Call me when he’s back to normal.” Vergil nodded as his son left the door.

He turned his gaze to you.

“I am going to retire to my room. Please let me know when he can move again.” He said as he exited the first floor.

You put your hands on your hips seeing the devil still face down on the couch.

“Um..Dante?”

“Yeah?” He said, slightly muted by the cushion.

“Are you alright?”

“Can’t move. Stuck.”

“..Do you want some help?”

“Nah, I’m alright.”

“Well, are you sure?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

There was a pause. You could hear Dante trying to breathe with the leather of the couch right up on his nose.

“Would you like to be face up?”

Dante stopped for a moment.

“Yes.” You grinned, getting up from your seat to help out the red devil. Rolling up the sleeves of your sweater, you began by pulling on his side at the innermost of the sofa. You grunted as you put all your might on him.

He was literally built like a brick house, and he sure as hell weighed like one. You broke a sweat getting him to be perpendicular to the couch before gravity helped out and you tipped him over. He fell back on the couch with a resounding thump.

“Thanks (Y/N).” He flashed his charming grin, a bit of a struggle as his face muscles were slightly numb.

You smiled at him. You saw how his veins were slightly darker, and he was quite pale. His body must be working overtime to detox itself.

“Do you want anything while you’re trapped like this?” He made an effort to try to shrug.

“I’m good.” Dante was not good. He was freaking out. You were used to touching him, punching him when he said a joke too cheesy, and those grazing touches he’d freak out internally over. You had such nice hands. His side where you pulled him up had tingled.

You made your way back to the desk, Dante’s eyes on your rear.

You went back to work, typing up reports, and examining payments from clients. Music played from your headphones, leaving Dante in silence.

The sounds of you typing, scratching down notes on a notebook, and humming lull him to sleep. Maybe when he wakes up, he’ll be up and running again.

You were half an hour into your work when you heard snores. Looking up, you see that the younger Sparda twin was fast asleep, probably sleeping off the toxins. An endeared smile crept up your face, seeing how at peace he was.

Dante was an attractive guy, he was nice and funny. He seemed to always want to hang out with you and make you laugh. What a nice half-demon who was your boss.

The veins around his neck seemed to pulse, forcing the blood to withdraw the demonic toxins within it.

You admired the white-haired male, before going back to the papers.

Dante woke up a few hours later.

He tried to stretch, only to find his limbs were still stuck to his sides.

“Ah shit.” He mumbled, yawning. His jaw popped in several places and he tried turning his head to see you.

You answered the phone tucked by your ear as you rapidly typed out more reports.

Once you had hung up the phone, you saw that the sleeping man had awakened.

“Hey, Dante. You’re up. How are you feeling?” Dante sighed.

“Still can’t move.” You frowned. Even with his metabolism?

“Aw, that sucks.”

“Is that all my paperwork?” Dante asked, seeing the mountain of papers on the table. You slapped the yellowed papers.

“This bad boy can fit so many missing payments.” You joked, quoting a car commercial you saw. Dante rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, let’s all make fun of Dante.” He said.

You went back to check a few things. Dante peered at the clock. Crap, he always forgets to fix that clock. It’s been 4 o’clock for three months now.

Dante coughed. He hadn’t had a sip of anything for hours now and napping always made him wake up with a desert-dry throat. He also wanted to rub his eyes but once again, can’t move.

There was a knock on the door. You grabbed your wallet and got to the door. An amazing smell hit Dante’s nose.

You came back into his line of sight when you came back with a plastic bag

“You hungry?” You asked, opening the box of pizza you had ordered. You hummed with approval when you saw no olives.

“Meh, not really.”

Just when Dante wanted to be low-key, his stomach made the loudest noise. It was like a damn whale call. Mind you, he was starving after his nap. He flushed with embarrassment but tried to play it off.

You laughed. You made your way over to Dante.

“It’s fine, I got enough for the two of us.” Setting the pizza box on the ground, you sat next to his still paralyzed form.

“Oh man, you totally didn’t have to-” His stomach made a louder noise at the amplified smell of baked goods.

You laughed at his expression.

“It’s not like I can just move and take a slice right now.” He groaned. His eyes widened when you held up a fork of sliced pizza. You absolute angel.

“I know.” You winked.

“Now say ah..” You teased. He smirked, opening his mouth to be fed.

Dante felt the warm cheesy culinary creation hit his tastebuds. He reveled in the lack of olives, something he always got on his slices whenever he ordered.

You helped yourself to your own slices between feeding Dante.

He swallowed wrong, and coughed. He had already hid his dry throat from you, not wanting to be needy. He continued coughing like a madman. A straw hit his lip and he simply sipped it, doing whatever he could to counter his fit.

The familiar sweetness of cola soothed him and he let out a small burp.

“My bad.” He smiled as you laughed. His eyes darted to the can of soda you put back on the floor. Holy shit. You were drinking out of that. You gave him your straw. You were cool sharing drinks with him. That was an indirect kiss. Dante was ready to implode. Before you could notice his shock, he quickly made a diversion.

“Where did you order this? It’s a lot better than the place I order at.” He asked after another forkful. You shrugged.

“It was this new place that recently opened up. It’s close where I live. Thought I’d spice things up a bit and pick a new joint.”

“Have you been there before?”

You shook your head no.

“Yeah, I haven’t. This was my first time ordering there.” Maybe next time Dante could take you there.

“Feeling bold aren’t we?” You asked smugly at his mumbled sentence. Shit. He did not mean to say that out loud.

“Uh. Yeah. I am.” He sputtered. You chuckled at the devil’s sudden bashfulnes.

Dante wished he knew when to shut up. This was one of the times he wished he could.

“Yeah. I like you a lot. You’re really nice to me, you’re real good looking too. This is totally not how I wanted to ask you out but here I am. This is really awkward for me. You can totally say no. I’m not going to be mad. I’m also your boss so that might be weird-”

“Tell you what-” You quickly gave him another piece of pizza.

“Once you can move again, I’ll take you on that offer.” You winked. Dante almost choked again.

“I like you too, if you haven’t noticed.” You added, looking away for a moment.

He laughed. You angel.

Once the slices were cleared and the drink finished, you cleaned up. Dante saw through the window a completely dark night.

“Whoa. It’s super late. Are you sure you want to go out that late?” Dante asked, genuinely worried.

You shrugged.

“I mean, it’s not too bad. I don’t live that far-”

“I can teleport you home.” Vergil called from the stairs. The older twin came down with his book in hand.

“Oh Vergil. Nice to see you again. I saved you a couple slices of pizza.” You pointed to the box that lied on Dante’s desk.

“No need. Although the gesture was very kind of you.” Vergil quickly took out the Yamato, slashing through dimensions.

“Well this is oddly convenient plot-wise. Totally lazy writing. The writer definitely gave up with the conclusion. This is outrageously well-timed.” You said, hands on your hips. Vergil gave you a look.

“What?”

“What.”

“Anyways. I’ll see you soon. Call me when you’re back to normal.” You say to Dante. He winks at you and makes a click noise with his mouth. He’d do the finger guns too but again, he can’t freaking move.

You left promptly, waving at Dante and thanking Vergil.

The older twin turns around to see his shameless brother.

“So, how long were you upstairs waiting for her to leave?”

“Too long. I’m surprised she took overtime just to take care of your sorry self.”

“I’m the one with a hot date, Mr. I Got Laid Once.”

His brother scowled.

“If it were not for the fact that you are not a fair match in your current condition, I would have slaughtered you by now.” The Yamato was pointed in his direction and Dante blew a raspberry at him.

“Whatever.”

“I’m going to bed. You can stay on the couch, you dolt.” Vergil snipped, going back up the stairs. The lights were shut off, leaving Dante in darkness.

Dante smirked, closing his eyes. He can’t wait to wake up tomorrow and plan out a date with you.

#dante x reader #dante imagine #devil may cry imagines #devil may cry imagine #devil may cry #devil may cry 5 #nero is here i guess #vergil shows up last minute for plot relevance #so many meme references

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prophetparadox · 3 years

Text

DMC OC Week Day 1: Introduction

(I made this image in a picrew, so it’s not totally accurate to her design but it’s the best I could do with limited options)

It’s officially midnight so fuck it, time to make my first post for this prompt week! I may have just gotten into this series, but I do have an OC and since I plan on writing a fic soon I figured participating in @dmc-oc-week was a good way to start! So it’s time to meet my girl Kay! So I’ve filled out an infographic for her, and wrote up a little drabble to go along with this, get ready to learn more about her as the week goes on! Though if you read my stuff on AO3, you’ve probably already seen her a little bit, but let’s get this ball rolling!

Name: Kay [Real Name REDACTED]

Age: Mid-20’s (24-26) (as of DMC5)

DoB: September 26th

Race/Species: Human, mostly...

Height: 5’6”/167 cm

Weight: 117 lbs.

Appearance: Kay has medium length brown hair that goes just above her chest, her left eye is brown but no one knows what her right eye looks like as it’s covered by a dark purple eyepatch and hidden further by her hair covering her right eye. She wears a purple sleeveless top, black capris, a gray hoodie that is usually tied around her waist, light gray boots, and fingerless fishnet gloves.

Personality: Kay is a cheerful albeit socially awkward girl, but she has a stubborn side and isn’t afraid to say what’s on her mind. Emotion wise, she wears her heart on her sleeve and isn’t good at hiding how she feels unless she bottles it up. She tends to be optimistic, but there might be something darker lying deeper... She’s very affectionate towards the people she cares about. That being said, Kay is also rather secretive. She doesn’t open up about her past, being vague and only bringing up as little as possible. It’d take a lot of trust for her to open up about such things. Due to being around Dante for so long, she’s developed a bit of a sarcastic attitude.

Quick Facts/Abilities: Kay primarily wields her axe Fenrir, a Devil Arm, in battle, but she does have firearms training courtesy of Lady and carries around a pistol. Despite her right eye being covered up and hidden, she doesn’t seem to be handicapped by this and behaves as if it weren’t hidden at all. She has a good sense of intuition, being able to know if someone is trustworthy or has demonic power.

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

It was always strange when the office was quiet. If it wasn’t a song blasting from the jukebox filling the space with noise, it was the chattering of its employees. Even more rare was when the quiet wasn’t because the power had been shut off. But today seemed to be a rare moment where the power was on but not a sound could be heard. But in all honesty, that didn’t really bother the sole occupant of the office at the moment.

Sitting down on the couch with a book in hand was a young woman known simply as Kay. Without any “work” to do, she had time to finish yet another book she’d had on her long pile of things to read. And with the others still asleep, she could enjoy the peace of the lazy April morning. Though admittedly, she was having trouble focusing on the words. Perhaps it was too quiet? Or maybe it was because she hadn’t eaten breakfast yet? She wasn’t sure. All she knew is that the peace and quiet had quickly lost its appeal. Maybe Dante would wake up soon and then they could-

The phone on Dante’s desk began to ring, sounding louder than usual thanks to the deafening quiet. The sudden noise made her nearly fall off the couch. Quickly stuffing her bookmark into the novel, she leapt up from her seat and dashed for the phone. No one else was around to answer, and it might just be a job! She had to take this chance. She picked up the phone, holding on to the possibility that this would be big.

“Devil May Cry!” she answered, as she had many times before. She listened intently to the person on the other end, unable to hide the grin on her face when they gave the password. “Alright, I think we can help you. What’s the issue?” she asked, grabbing a pen and piece of scrap paper so she could write down the details. This was perfect! She could take this job and-

“I’ll be taking that, thank you!” The voice behind her and the sudden stealing of the phone from her hands snapped her out of her good mood. She didn’t even have to guess who it was, she knew that voice all too well.

“Dante, what the hell?!” Kay shouted, turning to face her “boss”. From the looks of it, he’d just tumbled out of bed and was woken up by the phone ringing. He didn’t bother answering her, simply giving a cocky grin in response.

“Sorry about that, mind repeating what you said there?” he said, responding to the client on the phone. Dammit, he was gonna steal the job for himself! She seethed in silence as Dante attentively listened to the client. “Alright then, I’ll be there asap, we’ll discuss payment afterwards,” He put the phone back on the receiver and grabbed Rebellion. “Duty calls, Kay! You know the drill, hold down the fort while I’m gone!”

“Of course you won’t let me come with,” Kay sighed, sitting down in the chair already aware this would be a losing argument. But it was still worth a try, maybe he’d come around for once? “I don’t see why, this assignment isn’t that tricky.”

“Which is why you’re staying here. Besides, someone needs to hold off Lady and Trish if they come knocking! And if there’s anyone I trust the office with, it’s you.”

She knew that was meant to be a compliment, but she’d heard it too many times and was getting tired of it. “Come on, Dante, I’m not a kid! I can handle myself out there, you’ve seen it with your own eyes!” she argued.

“Sorry Kay, but my mind’s made up. This is a one man job, you wouldn’t be able to do much if you came. They’d all be dead before you could swing your axe,” He leaned down to tousle her hair, earning him a groan of annoyance from her. “I’m sorry, but I have my reasons. You’ll understand one of these days. Just trust me, would ya?”

There it was, the excuse he always pulled. He always had his reasons that he never explained and one day she’d totally understand it all. That was usually a sign the conversation was over. “Just go already.” she said with the wave of her hand at the door.

“I’ll make it up to you, kiddo. I’ll treat you to something when I get back!” he said as he walked towards the door, trying to make her feel better. It was hard when by treating her he meant they’d get pizza from a fancier joint than usual and she’d be the one stuck picking it up.

“I’m still not your kid, Dante! I’m a grown woman!” she called out as he made his way out the door. Once again, she was left alone in the office.

Kay stood up and made her way over to the kitchen, unable to ignore her hunger and resigned to eating alone. She was so tired of being left behind with no explanation. She’d been fighting demons long before she met Dante, but he just seemed content to make her watch the office and pick up pizzas or coffee. She was getting tired of this, she wanted to see some action again! Go out in the field and kick demon ass! But noooooo, she was stuck here.

Maybe one day she’d be able to head out there again, prove to Dante that she was just as capable as him or the girls, take down demons like she used to. But clearly that wasn’t today. But soon, something had to happen soon. They’d get a job so big that he couldn’t leave her behind and then he’d see! Or at least that’s what she kept telling herself.

But for some reason, she felt as if that hope would become reality soon enough. She could just be getting her hopes up, but she wanted to believe her intuition was right. If only she could see the future and know for certain… Until then, she’d just stay here and hope that someone would walk through the door or dial their number and change everything.

#Prophet posts #Devil May Cry #dmcocweek

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avaantares · 3 years

Text

Some random DMC things

I looked up one of the Special Edition cutscenes because I wanted to pull an exact quote for a CotFA author's note, and the video I happened to find on YouTube had the English voice track but the Japanese subtitles. While I've played the standard edition in both languages, I've only played through Vergil's mode once, so I hadn't had a chance to compare the scripts.

Nothing earth-shattering here, but I was amused by the language differences in this exchange:

(English audio)

Dante: Wow, this thing [the Qliphoth] got real big. You compensating for something? Vergil: Yes. Your incompetence.

(Japanese subtitles)

Dante: This grew really big. Did you take up gardening as a hobby? Vergil: Shut up already.

You can tell Nero (Mr. "Do you do parties?") inherited his sass from his uncle. 😉

Also, I may have said this before, but I have a really hard time reading certain characters in whatever that squirrely Japanese typeface is. Like... my brain just DOES NOT recognize the hiragana na for some reason. I don't know why, because the strokes are all there, but somehow my Roman alphabet-tuned brain wants to make that into some other shape. (I'm sure the English subs are equally difficult for non-native readers, though, since they're in the same kind of wonky handwritten font.)

I also noticed that when they drop into the underworld, Dante hits the ground with his right knee down, while Vergil lands on his left. (Which I think is the opposite of what their sword styles would normally indicate? But I'm certainly not an expert; the only formal sword training I've had is foil fencing, which is a completely different animal and probably not much good at killing demons. 😅)

Anyway, just random stuff I noticed today. Whenever I get more time (*sob*) I'd like to do a full Japanese playthrough of Vergil's mode, though with only a couple of cutscenes, there's probably not much script difference. Might be fun to listen to his Japanese taunts, though.

#devil may cry #dmc #dmc5 #devil may cry 5 #dmc5se

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astralaffairs · 4 years

Text

voltaire to versace 03 | thomas jefferson

title: voltaire to versace 03

pairing: professor!thomas jefferson x reader

words: 16.4k whups

warnings: sex jokes n references again, dolley simping for james again, but probably more this time, implied sex except dolley’s having it instead of mc, maria and angelica are girlfriends, lafayette is basically everyone’s plug for weed so like,, drug references and alcohol references??, very much sexual tension

desc: from francis bacon to foucault, descartes to dante, your political philosophy seminar doesn’t promise to be a blowout — and yet, one mysterious stranger and a risqué evening later, your burberry-clad professor gives you the feeling it won’t be quite the snoozefest you’d expected.

tags: @lunariasilver @tinywhim @nyxie75 @wreakhavoconmacroissantdiggs @checkurwindow @katierpblogg @cubedtriangle @lunariasilver @lexylovesfandoms @fanfic-addict-98 @stephyra17 @notebookgirl30 @exorcisms-with-elmo @kmsmedine @itshaileyn @honeyand-roses — let me know if you’d like to be tagged in future parts!

"Wait, so you're going to do it, right?"

It wasn't until Friday morning that Y/N told Dolley about Thomas's offer, both of them seated at a corner table in the coffee shop in the middle of campus. Y/N shrugged, taking a sip of her latte.

"I dunno, Doll. It seems like it could be... risky."

"How so?" Dolley set down her cup, squinting at her skeptically, and she pursed her lips.

"Listen, he's a good professor, and he and I have a good relationship or whatever, but I'm not sure what a great idea it is for me to be with him too much more often."

"Is your self-control already waning?" Dolley gave Y/N a look of disbelief, and she answered it with a sigh.

"I'm not gonna make a move on him; I swear," she said, expression dead serious, but when she continued, her voice dropped just a few decibels. "But... if I had the chance to sleep with him again, I wouldn't hesitate to take it. And I really can't have that happen."

"How the hell do you think becoming his TA is going to turn into sex?" Dolley asked incredulously. "You know I adore you, but I do not adore when you're self-sabotaging."

"I'm not self-sabotaging," Y/N insisted, and though she'd hoped the statement would sound reasonable, she just came off as defensive. "I'm being careful. I know myself, and I know that early January was some of the best sex I've had in a while."

"Sounds to me like you're pent up." Dolley raised her eyebrows, giving Y/N a pointed look, at which she scowled. "Just fuck someone from Alpha Phi Omega and then take the TA position."

"You don't get it," Y/N groaned. "Half the time, his office hours are just like some mildly awkward run-in with a one-night stand. It's casual enough that there's no real issue, but there's always just a little bit of... discomfort."

"That's called sexual tension, dear." The look in her eyes was knowing. "And it doesn't go away when you turn down positions that will look good on grad school applications."

A beat passed in silence, and finally, Y/N sighed.

"You're right. That's kinda my point, though." She pursed her lips; the nod she gave looked resigned, both disappointed and on edge. "It also doesn't go away when I do take those positions. And I don't wanna fuck up and make everything even more awkward."

"Y/N. I believe in you." Dolley took one of Y/N's hands in hers, picking it up from where she'd rested it on the table as she slumped over in her fit of angst. "You're strong. You can work with a man without fucking him."

Y/N scowled. "Well, when you put it like that, you're making it sound like I'm some kind of sex fiend."

"That's what you're acting like!"

"Fuck off, Dolley; no, I'm not." She folded her arms, pushing her mug and saucer to the side of the table. "My most recent one-night stand turned out to be my professor, and now he's asking me to be his TA. I'm allowed to be a little hesitant."

Dolley pursed her lips. "You might have a point."

"Thanks, I'm thrilled to hear it," Y/N responded dryly. "But... I'll figure it out. I doubt it could really turn out all that badly. I can handle myself."

"That's the spirit." Dolley did not sound enthusiastic. "But you really need to..."

Dolley trailed off with wide eyes, her gaze apparently having caught something across the café. Y/N eyed her skeptically, raised an eyebrow. "... Dolley? You still with me?"

She waited a moment, watching to see if her attention would recover, but when it didn't she waved a hand in front of her, trying to break her stare, but it was apparently locked elsewhere. "Hello? Anybody home?" Another moment of quiet, and eventually, Y/N snapped her fingers in front of her face. "Dolley!"

"Hm?" Her eyes snapped back to Y/N's almost too quickly, and Y/N raised an eyebrow.

"What are you looking at?"

"Oh... um, nothing. I just spaced out." The smile that had begun to split her expression said otherwise, though.

"Oh, really?" Y/N's eyes narrowed, shifting in her chair to glance back over her shoulder. "What's back there? Did you see someone? Are you— Oh!" She stopped speaking abruptly, her eyes widening, and when she whipped back around to face Dolley, her grin was sheepish. "That's James, isn't it?"

"Shh, not so loud!" Dolley said, shoving her arm. The giddiness written across her face didn't help her case as she attempted to scold Y/N. "Yes, that's him. Yellow sweater, grey coat."

"He's cute," Y/N commented, taking another less-than-sneaky glance over her shoulder at him, before she turned back to Dolley with an expectant look. "So? Are you going to go talk to him?"

"Right now?" At the question, Dolley's smile dropped. It seemed as if she'd been blindsided, as though upon seeing the man she'd been sleeping with for weeks on end, Y/N was going to encourage her to ignore him.

"Yes, right now!" Y/N was just watching her with disbelief. "What's the issue?"

"I... I don't know," Dolley said softly. Her tiny, dopey grin had been restored, but it was now tainted with anxiety. "I really like him, but..."

"... But?"

Her sigh was heavy. "I'm worried he and I don't have much in common. He's, like, the strong and silent type, y'know?"

Y/N pursed her lips, biting back a wince. "That's so clichéd, Doll."

"I know, I know," she groaned, plastering on a pleading pout. "Just bear with me. Please."

There was a skip, and Y/N was eyeing Dolley warily. "You know I'm always here to listen. But if you get too self-destructive, I don't wanna hear it."

"I won't!" she defended, and a grin was stretching across her face at the whole situation, making Y/N's contempt soften to skepticism. "I just don't know what I want, okay? And worse yet, I don't know what he wants."

"I promise, no one's expecting you to turn into a mind reader. Least of all James."

"I know," she sighed, drawing out the words in the midst of her apparent (or perhaps dramatized) emotional exhaustion. "But he's quiet. He doesn't say much, and you know that always freaks me out a little."

"So I hear."

"But... we get along well. He's nice to be around. He puts me at ease."

"Aww, Dolley, are you falling for him?" That time, it was Y/N's turn to pull on a contrived pout, squeezing Dolley's forearm lightly, and though she rolled her eyes, Dolley still looked as though she was the least bit absent, her head still coming back down from the clouds. "That's sweet."

"I know, I know," she said, biting her lip in a weak effort to hide her smile. "But... you know me. I'm not the quiet type. Quite the opposite."

"That might even be an understatement," Y/N muttered, breaking her gaze briefly, and Dolley scoffed.

"Oh, shut up! I already know that, and I don't wanna hear it." She gave Y/N a pointed look. "But he and I are so different, and I'm worried that I'll end up being too much for him. I don't wanna be overbearing."

Her final sentence was quiet, and Y/N could hear her insecurities weakening her conviction. "You're not overbearing, or overwhelming, or 'too much,'" she assured her, and Dolley covered her hand with her own, squeezing it lightly, affection in her eyes. "And if he's right for you, I'm sure he agrees. You're excellent; don't try to change for him. It won't make you happy."

"You're right, as usual," she sighed, "And... I do want to talk to him, something you know very well. But who knows if he wants to talk to me?"

"Well, he keeps glancing over in our direction," Y/N said matter-of-factly, and Dolley's eyes went wide.

"He is? Wait, where is he?" Her gaze began to dart back and forth, and Y/N couldn't help her light laugh.

"He just got back from picking up his drink, and now he's at the table a few behind you," she said, dropping her voice before adding, "And I've already made awkward eye contact with him too many times, so now if you don't talk to him, I'm gonna look like a total creep."

"Y/N!" she scolded her, but the laugh in her voice betrayed her indignance. She glanced back over her shoulder, and Y/N saw James nod to her when he caught her gaze, the corners of his lips quirking up into a shadow of a smile. She offered him a shy wave.

Quite frankly, Y/N had never seen her like that before, not in all her years of knowing her. Dolley's baseline tended to be everyone else's two-ecstasy-pills-deep, and usually, other people in the mix just fueled the fire of her perpetual enthusiasm — Y/N had never seen a man make her timid, though, of all things.

She couldn't help but think it was kind of cute.

Dolley held his stare another moment, before he finally decided to stand, beginning to make his way over to where they were sitting, and Dolley spun around in her seat, her wide eyes meeting Y/N's. "He's headed over!" she whispered, but the panic in her voice wasn't quite authentic; more of it than Y/N would've expected was simply excitement.

"So I see," Y/N said, wry amusement coloring her tone. She glanced up to her right a moment later, taking a sip of her coffee, before saying, "It's James, right?"

Dolley let out a surprised squeak when he walked up on her left, almost flinching in her seat, and his smile was subtle.

"That would be me. And you are?" He raised his eyebrows at Y/N, taking a sip from his to-go cup.

"I'm Y/N. Dolley's roommate," she nodded to her with a grin. "I'm glad to officially meet you, after hearing about you for weeks on end."

"Y/N!" Dolley murmured, urgency thick in her voice, her accusatory stare what she seemed to think to be covert. As though James couldn't hear her from a foot away.

"I've been mentioned?" James looked pleasantly surprised, but there was no ego in his smile. Y/N nodded.

"Oh, yeah. More than a couple times," she assured him. "I can't seem to stop hearing about you, really."

He chuckled, and Dolley's gaze softened. "I should hope that's a good thing."

"I can corroborate," Y/N said. "So you're a PhD candidate?"

"That I am. Studying economics."

"So, what, you want to go into business? Accounting?"

"Public policy, actually."

"Oh, really?" Her eyebrows shot up, and her smile widened into a grin. "I like you already."

That time, his laugh was still quiet, but it was warmer, more robust. "Consider me flattered. Dolley speaks very highly of you, as well."

"Aww, Doll!" Y/N plastered on a pout, reaching across the table. "I knew you'd been secretly in love with me this whole time."

"You shut it," Dolley replied, and though she gave Y/N a pointed look, she was biting back a laugh.

"Really? You still don't wanna go public with our relationship?" Dramatized dismay permeated Y/N's voice, and anyone would've had to hand it to her - the hurt look she wore almost seemed authentic.

"Oh my God, Y/N," Dolley huffed. "That's about enough, thank you."

When she glanced back up, Dolley bit her lip once more; thankfully, James didn't look put-off by the interaction, only amused. A beat passed in silence, and Y/N shifted awkwardly in her seat, not sure what to do with the heavy, prolonged eye-contact taking place across from her. It wasn't until she picked up her mug and saucer, the ceramics clinking together, that they seemed to regain a sense of awareness.

James's eyes were wide as he glanced back at Y/N. "I... won't intrude on your coffee date any longer, but truly, it's been a pleasure, Y/N."

"Oh, no, no, don't go." She waved off his farewell, scrambling to pull her backpack onto her shoulder, picking up her dishes as she did so. "I have a meeting to be at that, really, I'm almost running late for, so please, stay. Keep Dolley company."

She gave him a bright smile as she stood, pushing her wooden chair out behind her as she collected her used napkin and mixing spoon, but Dolley looked hesitant. "Oh, that's not necessary, really. I'll be just fine—"

"Relax, Dolley. I know you deal with crippling loneliness in my absence; it's really nothing to be ashamed of," Y/N reassured her, her voice mockingly gentle. Dolley rolled her eyes; the sound that escaped her was all but a snort of laughter.

"Oh, of course, dear. Because what more could I want than to spend every minute of my day with you?" she replied sarcastically, and Y/N grinned.

"I know. It's a blessing and a curse." She took a few steps back, though, nodding to her abandoned seat as she started on her path toward the counter. "Seriously, though, James. Please, sit."

She saw him raise an eyebrow at Dolley before she turned to discard her dishes into the basin by the end of the counter.

"May I?" he asked. When Y/N glanced back over her shoulder, she caught just a glimpse of Dolley's sheepish smile.

"I'd like that."

Y/N took the back exit out.

___________________

"Are you sure I was included in that invite?" Y/N's voice was skeptical as she crossed the green toward Thomas's office, hours later. Apparently, hours that Dolley and James had ultimately spent together, taking a walk through the city for much of their afternoon. (When Dolley told Y/N that the two-mile loop near the Lincoln Memorial had taken them two hours to walk through, she had a sneaking suspicion walking wasn't all they were doing. Hopefully, they'd at least escaped the watchful eye of our oversized 16th president.)

"Yes, I'm certain you were," Dolley insisted from the other end of the phone's line. "He said it'd be great if I brought you."

"... This sounds suspiciously like a pity invite."

"It isn't a pity invite!" Y/N could hear the indignance in her voice.

"Dolley, why, exactly, would he want me there if it wasn't a pity invite?"

"... Because you're my best friend, and he's decided to make an effort to get to know you better?"

She laughed. "As much as I appreciate this idealized James Madison, I have a feeling it was more to the effect of 'I just saw your roommate and feel obligated to invite her'," Y/N corrected her. "But go to the party without me! Don't let me hold you back from having your fun, alright?"

"Please come? It wouldn't be the same without you." Dolley's voice was high, containing traces of what almost smelled like desperation. "It'll make me much more comfortable to have you along."

Y/N groaned. "So when you and James go make out in the bathroom, I'm supposed to, what, play truth or dare with all the other PhD candidates?"

"Why not?" Dolley's tone was mild, which made Y/N roll her eyes.

"No offense to James's friends, but I'm not sure I want to spend an evening making stunted small talk with them."

"You're such a warm person, though! You'd be quite alright."

"It'd be awkward!"

"Please, Y/N? I'll beg you if that's what it'll take."

She scowled at how soft, forlorn Dolley's voice had become. As far as she was concerned, this was akin to emotional manipulation. "Does it really mean that much to you?"

"Yes. I like him so much."

She sighed. "I'm gonna say yes solely because I have somewhere to be and can't deal with this argument anymore. But you owe me."

Y/N could almost picture Dolley's sappy smile. "Thank you so much, dear. You're too good to me."

"Yeah, yeah, what else is new?" Her words elicited a laugh from Dolley, and Y/N continued, "But you know I'd do pretty much whatever you asked if you asked it in that I'm-about-to-cry voice, so I'm not sure this relationship is healthy for me anymore."

"Oh, of course; I'm truly a parasite," Dolley sighed. "Taking you into my house and home, paying for your meals — how evil of me."

"I pay half the rent, and we literally only eat ramen," Y/N defended, but the words were lighthearted nonetheless. "Next time you give up five perfectly good hours of a Friday night so that I can get laid, we'll call it even."

"Don't make any calls about Friday just yet. You haven't even seen James's friends." Dolley's voice was just teasing enough to placate Y/N. "I may not be the only one having some fun."

"Have you even seen James's friends?" Y/N asked dubiously, and Dolley's silence told her all there was to know. "That's what I thought. He's an econ student, so it's probably gonna be about eighty percent entitled rich men attending school on family money."

"Or they could all be just your type," Dolley reasoned, but by then, any efforts to talk Y/N out of her convictions were futile. "Tall, hot, and older."

"First off, I don't have a type, and second, just because you're dating an 'older man'," — The final two words were said mockingly — "doesn't mean that his older friends aren't still douches."

"I hate to have to be the one to break it to you, but that is absolutely your type."

"Based on what?"

"That professor of yours?"

"Dolley!" Y/N scowled, turning down the volume on her call just in case some passing pedestrians were notorious gossips with super-hearing. It was certainly possible. "Can you please stop talking about him like that? Don't make it a thing," she murmured, jaw tense.

"Oh, we're well past that, dear," Dolley said matter-of-factly, and Y/N could only roll her eyes. "But if you've agreed to the party, I won't push my luck."

"Smart choice," she muttered bitterly. "Anyway, I've gotta go. Talk to you later tonight?"

"Of course."

With that, she hung up the phone before Dolley could take advantage of her giving mood and start making further outlandish demands, tucking it into her coat pocket as she pushed open the door to Melos Hall. Unfortunately for her, the elevator was broken, and Thomas's office was several flights of stairs above her.

After at least eight long pauses for her to catch her breath, heaving as she leaned against the railing in the stairwell, and three stomach cramps, Y/N knocked on his door. "Anybody home?"

"C'mon in." His voice was soft, muffled through the door, and she opened it to find him all but slumped on his desk, resting his head on his hand as he graded papers he appeared to be rather cross with, and with more of said papers covering the entirety of the desk's surface (and much of the floor). He glanced up when she entered, and a soft grin split his expression. "Hey, I thought that was you."

"I'm in absolute awe of your pattern-recognition skills, really," she replied, tone dry as she let the door fall shut behind her, and despite the playful smile she wore, Thomas rolled his eyes.

"You actually here for anything, or am I gonna have to kick you out?"

She laughed. "I'm not here to derail your work, I swear." He raised a dubious eyebrow. "I was just stopping by to let you know that, assuming it's still on the table, I'd love the TA position."

"Oh, yeah?" His smile widened almost imperceptibly at her words, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "'M glad to hear it. Could've just shot me an email, though."

She shrugged. "I was headed this way anyway. Figured I may as well stop by."

"I'm not complainin'." She let out a soft huff of laughter at the words, but she could feel heat beginning to creep up the back of her neck. "'S good timing, anyway. Intro to IR just turned in an essay on Kant."

The soft groan she let out only served to amuse him further as she surveyed the wreckage of his office. "That's what all this paper is?" He nodded in confirmation, and she scrunched up her nose. "I'm not sure if I feel worse for the freshmen who had to write them or for you having to read them."

"Well, I should hope it's the freshmen," he said matter-of-factly, sitting back in his chair. The smile he wore was concerningly self-righteous. "'Cause, now, readin' these is your job, too."

Her eyebrows shot up; the dread in her gaze was the furthest thing from contrived. "... Is it too late to rescind my application as a TA?"

He shook his head. "Mm-mm. You're welcome to abandon ship."

She didn't like the satisfaction which grew in his gaze as she weighed her options; they both knew she wasn't considering turning down the position in earnest — that simple fact left Thomas unnecessarily smug. Another beat passed, and she sighed. "You're lucky this is going to look good on my grad school applications."

He laughed. "Sure am. I could use all the help I can get, right now."

"I can see that," she replied, voice laden with amusement at the state of his office.

However, Thomas said nothing more, and she shifted on her feet, uncomfortable with the drawn-out silence. He raised an expectant eyebrow, and it took her a moment to grasp his intention. "Wait... d'you mean, like, right now?"

"Unless you're busy." He shrugged. His gaze was hopeful as she eyed warily the small stack of papers she'd spent the past few minutes trying not to crush under her boot. She sighed.

He grinned when she bent over to pick up the papers that'd floated to her side of the desk. "As depressing as it feels to say, I've got nowhere else to be on this fine Friday night."

"That's the spirit." He winked, and though she rolled her eyes, her amused smile was deep-set. "So, you're gradin' for accuracy and watchin' out for grammar, of course, but the points are really earned for analysis. The paper's on changes in the international system. They've gotta connect 'em back to Kant's maxims."

She let out a low whistle as she took a seat across from him, plucking a red pen from his cup and dropping her bag onto the floor. "That certainly sounds pretentious."

He laughed lightly. "You really tellin' me you didn't have to do anything like this as a freshman?"

"Oh, I wish I could say that, but unfortunately, my professor was apparently every bit the pseudointellectual you are." She nodded sadly, and Thomas rolled his eyes.

"Hilarious, sweetheart, really." In the dry sarcasm of his tone, the casual pet name didn't seem to register with him, but Y/N couldn't help but notice, and her breath caught. "Here, lemme get you a copy of the rubric. 'S nothin' too complicated; go easy on 'em. Got some STEM majors in the class who're just takin' it for the graduation requirement, so I'm not expectin' much."

She pursed her lips. "Are the essays that bad?"

He deadpanned as he turned back to her, sliding the rubric across the desk. "At least as bad as I'm makin' 'em sound."

Y/N let out a long, dramatic huff, rubbing her temples, and Thomas looked thoroughly entertained at her reaction.

"I'm in for a long few months, aren't I?"

______________________

Thomas texted her the next day, too — she'd been the one to ask for his number, its utility obvious considering she was now going to be working with him, but he didn't give it up without teasing her just a bit for asking. When she opened it, she found that his request was just for her to drop by and pick up as many more essays as she was willing to grade by Monday, but when she arrived at his office, it quickly became clear to both of them that she was in no hurry to leave.

She showed up around eight, a decision that had everything to do with her having been out all afternoon running errands and nothing to do with the unfortunately appealing idea of being in his office late into the night — or so she told herself. It was hesitant both when she offered to stay and work on them with him and when he accepted. As she'd cautiously anticipated, her new role felt like walking an impossibly fragile line, and it'd hardly been twenty-four hours.

Subliminal tension remained in the air, hanging heavier than either of them would've claimed, but the hours flowed by easily. The hills upon mountains of student work they had to dig through didn't feel like the burden they were, either, not with the light atmosphere they'd managed to create, cracking jokes and swapping input.

She couldn't place when it'd become so comfortable for her to be around him.

"Hey, can I get your take on this?" Y/N held up what must've been her twentieth paper of the night, red pen between her teeth, and Thomas glanced down from where he was standing beside the desk, sorting the finished papers for his classes.

"Mhm, what's up?"

"Personally, I kind of hate this kid's analysis, but I'm struggling to determine whether there's anything actually wrong with it or if I'm just biased." She pursed her lips. "Here, come look at this third paragraph."

He set down the essay he was leafing through and walked around to join her, resting one hand on the back of her chair and the other on the desk beside her. He wasn't looking in her direction, his lips pursed as he scanned the page. However, her heart rate had begun to pick up in the immediate proximity, and she was on edge, able to feel his body heat radiating off of him from just inches to her left. Her breath hitched when he spoke. "This essay's a mess."

Despite the tension in her body, she let out a surprised laugh. "My thoughts exactly."

"Which part are you strugglin' with?"

"Right here." She turned the paper slightly, its words now directly facing him, and tapped on the sentence that'd given her pause. "It's not a great interpretation of the quote he used, in my opinion, but it's one I've heard in academic circles time and time again. It's defensible, but since his organization is fundamentally nonexistent, I'm not sure how well he's defended it."

Thomas raised an amused eyebrow. "How much of your free time are you dedicatin' to discussin' Kant?"

Y/N only rolled her eyes, ignoring the thrum of her heart against her ribcage as he turned his head to face her. He was only inches away. "Oh, shut up; I'm not dedicating any." He eyed her with disbelief, and she could tell he was still stuck on her first sentence. "I took a class focused on this book in high school, alright?"

"What kinda high school did you go to?"

"The class was through a local university." She shrugged, and he looked rather impressed. The small smile he wore wasn't helping her spiking pulse. "What? I was hoping to graduate from college early. I would've, too, if I hadn't spent a year traveling to figure out my life."

"And your plan for gettin' college credit was to take a philosophy class, of all things? Does that even fulfill a credit requirement?" Despite the disbelief in his voice, he seemed somewhat fascinated with the idea, was watching her like she was some sort of a puzzle.

"Anywhere I went would've made me retake core classes," she said mildly, and he cocked his head to one side. It wasn't lost on her how he hadn't withdrawn even a centimeter; she could feel traces of his breath on her skin. "It was just another credit toward graduation."

He gave an obliging nod, a half-shrug at her words. "Guess so. You surprise me sometimes, though."

"It's also made your class a breeze, but that's just an added bonus," she added, and he laughed, breaking his deliberative demeanor.

"You really think my class is easy?"

She shrugged, wearing a self-contented smile. "My grades speak for themselves, don't they?"

"I seem to remember a couple nights of office hours that'd contradict that." He raised an amused eyebrow, giving her a pointed look, but her grin broadened.

"Listen, if you gave clearer instructions, I wouldn't need to show up here twice a week to ask you what the fuck you were talking about, alright?"

He gave a skeptical hum. "Now, why aren't you askin' your questions in class, then? 'S awfully selfish; I'm sure your classmates would benefit from hearin' the answers, too."

"I think they'd benefit more from you actually doing your job."

"If you aren't askin', how am I supposed to know what isn't makin' sense?" He shrugged, and the playful glint in his eyes had her gaze locked onto his. He didn't think a single second further before he continued; over the past few minutes, his mind had reverted to its setting from one fateful January night spent in the speakeasy on 4th Street. "Or, maybe, you've just been comin' here at night lookin' to get me alone."

She inhaled sharply; her stomach turned, and at first, neither of them broke the eye contact. When Y/N finally did, it was because her stare had trailed down to rest at his lips, and she swallowed roughly at the smug smile he wore. Her gaze jumped back to his — he raised an eyebrow. Apparently, her wandering eyes hadn't gone unnoticed.

Something about it was intoxicating, whether due to the musky scent of his cologne or to the wild, forbidden temptation of it all. Y/N was certain that, were this the Garden of Eden, she'd fare no better than Eve.

It was her nerves that saved her, ultimately. She was terrified to push that boundary, and despite his usually-lighthearted teasing, Thomas had resolutely decided where lay the line he couldn't cross. Thus, neither of them moved for another moment, but Y/N drew in a shaky breath, turning her head back to the paper before them.

"So, what's your conclusion on the essay?" Her voice was small, and it was only then that Thomas seemed to have remembered where they were. A shudder ran through his spine; it almost looked to be shaking him back to the present, metaphysically knocking some sense into him.

The silence was heavy as his eyes ran over the paper, muttering the words under his breath as he read and re-read the paragraph. He'd shifted further from Y/N, his adamant decision being that the more space there was between them, the less likely he was to forget himself, and his brow was knit as he stared down at the words. "This interpretation's full of shit," he huffed. "Think this kid plagiarized it; doesn't seem like he understands it. From what I can tell, he pulled half the language from other authors."

He picked it up with him when he drew back from Y/N, returning to his side of the desk. It was then that her breathing once again leveled out.

"So should I assume he's not getting the complexity point?" The expression she contrived was intended to be lighthearted, but it was laden with tension.

"'S doubtful. 'M gonna have to meet with him sometime this week. Just hopin' I won't have to report it as some kinda case of academic dishonesty." He folded it in half, pulling his briefcase onto the desk and tucking it in among his many other loose papers. "But for now, 's gettin' late; I need to head out. My roommate'll be wonderin' where I am pretty soon."

He didn't meet her eyes for another moment, instead focused on getting his office in order as much as it could be for the evening, and Y/N plunked his red pen back into its metal cup. She stretched as she stood from her chair wordlessly, letting out a light yawn. "Yeah, that's a good call. I think we're both a little out of it; probably not the best for grading essays right now." She offered Thomas a conciliatory smile when he glanced over at her. He nodded.

"I think you're right." A moment passed in silence as he dug through one of his folders, dropped something into one of the drawers of his desk. It almost seemed offhanded when he asked, "Any chance I can offer you a ride home? Your place is on my way."

"Oh, um..." She blinked as she trailed off, looking back at him in surprise as she picked up her bag. When she didn't continue, only eyeing him warily, he sighed.

"Don't look at me like that." He shrugged on his jacket. "I don't have some ulterior motive, alright? If you don't wanna accept, don't worry about it; I won't be offended. Just wanna make sure you're gettin' home safe."

"I dunno..." She paused, seeming to have corrected herself midsentence when she finished with, "... Professor Jefferson. I'm not sure it's the best idea."

"Your call," he said, and he hesitated for a long moment before continuing. "For the future, can I ask you to just tell me straight out if I'm ever makin' you uncomfortable? Wish I could pretend this was just any other circumstance—" He gestured between the two of them. "—but it's my first time spendin' a semester teachin' a student who I slept with before, and I'm really tryin' not to overstep."

How matter-of-factly he spoke made Y/N laugh, a genuine, albeit surprised, laugh. "Don't worry. I'm not uncomfortable; I just don't know if it's smart for me to keep testing my self-control."

He watched her skeptically as she spoke, pulling her own coat back on. "... Alright, but I'm serious. Don't hesitate to bring it up if I'm toein' a line."

She looked back at him, amusement thick in her gaze. "Thanks, but I'm not sure your untarnished intentions are going to stop this from being weird once in a while. It's also my first time having a professor who I've screwed, for the record."

He smiled. "I figured."

"But if I really minded," she continued, buttoning up her jacket. "I wouldn't spend so much time in your office hours, and I certainly wouldn't have agreed to be your TA. Seriously, relax."

He sighed. "That's... reassurin', actually."

"I'm glad."

"But what was that about you testin' your self-control?" He raised a teasing eyebrow, and she laughed outright.

"See, you say you're trying to respect my boundaries, but when you go down that path, I have to wonder exactly where you think those boundaries are."

"I'm drawin' the line where it stops just bein' talk, Y/N," he said, and she rolled her eyes. "Honestly, though. 'S why I need to know your boundaries. You've gotta talk to me; I don't wanna push it 'n make you feel unsafe."

"You're a good guy for even asking this, Thomas," she said, and he didn't even react before she corrected herself, "Sorry; Professor Jefferson. But I mean it, you've never once made me feel unsafe. Please don't stress over it."

"Alright. Lemme know if that changes." He eyed her with a certain degree of worry. "As long as we're talkin' about you bein' unsafe, though, 'm still waitin' to hear exactly how you're plannin' to get home tonight."

She gave him a soft smile. "Is the offer for a ride still on the table?"

____________________

James's house party was exactly a week from that night. It'd been all Dolley wanted to talk about ever since they were invited, and Y/N couldn't help her consistent, underlying, low-level dread as she anticipated the event. She wasn't intimidated by the prospect of an apartment full of graduate students; that much was genuinely the truth. The real issue she had was with being in an apartment full of strangers while her only friend present was off being wooed by the grad student she'd now had her eye on for months.

She kept repeating to herself that it was only a few hours, and then she'd be able to hold it over Dolley's head until the day they were both six feet under.

"That's what you're wearing?" Y/N raised an eyebrow at Dolley's cable-knit sweater and black jeans, and she furrowed her brow.

"What's wrong with it? We're dressed practically the same."

"But I'm not going there tonight looking to getting laid," she pointed out, and Dolley huffed.

"If I change, you have to change. I can't look like I made more of an effort than you did; it'll make me seem out of place."

"Come on; this sweater's comfortable," Y/N groaned. "I've already agreed to go with you; I feel like my contribution is finished. I'm not trying to look hot; I'm trying to blend in."

"What if one of his econ-student friends is hot?"

"Then I'll wait until the night's over and never see him again." The look she gave Dolley very clearly read 'duh,' and Dolley scowled.

"Come on, you don't even have to wear anything flashy," she pleaded. "If I change, can't you just put on a tank top? Or something tighter? Or a skirt? Something?"

Y/N eyed Dolley's expression dubiously; she'd figured the emotional manipulation would've ended the week before when she agreed to come to the party with her, but apparently not. Ultimately, she sighed — even these past few weeks had been the longest amount of time she'd seen Dolley attached to the same guy. She could make an exception. "Fine."

Dolley squealed, pulling her into a hug. "Alright; go change quickly. Grab the nice vodka and meet me in the car."

"Wait, we're bringing the nice vodka?" Y/N called after her, incredulous. "Hang on, we spent almost twenty bucks on that! We can't bring it to share!"

Dolley didn't respond, and Y/N let out a sigh of defeat.

___________________

"James, hey!" When they arrived at his apartment, Dolley didn't waste a moment before pulling him into a hug. They hadn't even passed the doorway. While it seemed to have caught him by surprise, it only took him a second to process her sudden action before his arm fell to the small of her back.

"Hey, I'm glad that both of you could make it," he said, nodding to Y/N with a smile as she stood awkwardly behind them. Dolley finally pulled away. "Can I get you two something to drink?"

"That would be excellent." Dolley flashed him a wide smile as they walked in, Y/N pulling the door shut behind her.

"Actually, where are the drinks?" Y/N asked, hands tucked into her pockets as she surveyed the space. The apartment was cute, bigger than Y/N would've expected that James could afford on the budget of a student, and it was, as expected, littered with James's other friends, slumped on his couch, laying on each other, seated on the floor — wherever they could fit, really. The three who'd all slotted themselves into the same armchair were passing a blunt back and forth, and Y/N wondered how difficult it'd be for her to get in on that. "We brought a bottle."

James raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

"Mhm. Doll, it's in your purse, right?"

"Yeah, hang on a minute." Dolley's words were all but absentminded as she pulled her purse from her shoulder, unzipping it and beginning to dig through her mountains of knickknacks.

"Well, that's nice of you, but it was awfully unnecessary." James gave her a warm smile. "Let me show you both to the kitchen."

"Thanks, James," Y/N responded; Dolley seemed preoccupied with her purse, though, her brows knitting more and more tightly by the second as she overturned her empty lipstick tubes and discarded keychains. Y/N nudged her with her elbow. "Everything alright?"

She let out a heavy sigh. "We left the vodka in the car."

"You're kidding," Y/N groaned. "I was looking forward to breaking that open."

"I'm sorry, dear," Dolley said, lightly squeezing Y/N's forearm. "Let me just run out and get it. I'll be back in a moment."

"No, you're fine. I'll grab it," Y/N said quickly, plastering on a smile before Dolley could move. "I'd rather leave you two to your own devices. Can I borrow your keys?"

Dolley rolled her eyes at how Y/N wiggled her eyebrows; she even coaxed a laugh out of James. "Of course. Remember to lock the car, and be back soon."

"You've got it." Y/N sent her a wink as she caught the keys Dolley tossed her, turning swiftly on her heel toward their door.

_______________________

The walk back to the building's parking garage was cold; Y/N was grateful the concrete walls were there to stifle the chill of the wind, but she regretted letting Dolley talk her into that tank top.

She'd left the bottle in the glove compartment, apparently, something Y/N only found after digging through the trunk and the backseat. She didn't mind how long the expedition ended up taking her; the longer she could stall returning to the party, the better. The night would inevitably be painful, as she saw it; she had no desire to third-wheel James and Dolley for hours, so her best hope was to find someone to get drunk or high with.

Almost a half-hour had passed before she once again found herself at James's apartment door, still shivering from the cold spring night and, that time, armed with 750 milliliters of Absolut Citron Vodka. She was almost grateful for how long the walk up had been. By then, she could hear the bass booming from whatever music they'd set up; the sound of heavily overlapping chatter was muffled through the door yet still notably prominent. She rang the doorbell with hesitant fingers, wondering for a moment whether or not Dolley would even notice if she spent the remainder of the night getting drunk and playing Angry Birds in her locked car.

The click of the door unlocking broke her musings.

"Hey, so I got the vodka; do you know where Dolley—?" She cut herself off midsentence when it was swung entirely open. It'd taken her a moment too long to process who was standing before her, no longer in the slacks and button-down she'd gotten used to, but instead wearing a tight, v-neck t-shirt and jeans. She held Thomas's wide-eyed stare with one of her own. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here, last I checked," he said. Her eyes widened. "What are you doin' here?"

She eyed him dubiously for another moment, unsure whether she could've just been losing her mind. He just watched her tentatively, and ultimately, she let out a halfhearted, breathy laugh. "James invited me. Do you know his friend Dolley?"

"I've heard of her," he responded mildly, and Y/N nodded, an amused smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"Well, I'm her roommate." He didn't respond at first, still seeming hesitant to respond one way or another, and her shadow of a smile broadened to a cheeky grin; she extended her hand for him to shake. "Y/N. It's nice to meet you."

Another beat passed without him knowing quite how to react, glancing down to her outstretched hand. "... Are you serious, right now?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" She raised an eyebrow. "...and you are?"

His skepticism didn't subside for another moment; the next ten seconds were akin to a standoff, and Y/N didn't let up with her cheery front. Finally, he let out a breathy laugh, raking a hand through his hair. "Thomas. 'M James's roommate." He shook her hand obligingly, and she looked beyond self-contented at the entertained glint in his eye. "C'mon in."

She followed him inside, self-satisfaction building in her chest, and he glanced back over his shoulder to her. "So, almost everyone's in the livin' room, and drinks are in the kitchen. Help yourself to whatever."

"Thanks. You've got a nice place," she replied, perusing the rooms as they crossed through them. "D'you know where James is, by chance?"

"Not sure; why?" His voice was raised over the racket flooding in from all sides.

"Because wherever he is, I'm sure Dolley isn't far behind," she said, voice low and bordering on sour, and Thomas grinned.

"I saw them goin' to his room a little while back, so you might not have a lotta luck." She groaned at his words, and he laughed quietly, looking to her with tentative eyes. After a moment of hesitation, he nudged her arm. "Here, c'mon. Let's get you a drink, and I'll introduce you to my friends."

Her eyebrows shot up. Quite frankly, she'd expected to be on her own for the evening, spending the next couple hours sniffing out the stoners who could help her make the time pass a little bit more quickly. Thomas's expression was wary at her reaction. "That okay? You're welcome to go it alone."

His gentle tone eased her livewire nerves. She offered him a small smile. "No, no, a drink sounds excellent. Thanks."

He grinned. "Alright, sweetheart. C'mon." Her skin jumped under his touch when his hand came to rest at the small of her back, leading her through the tightly packed crowd alongside him, but he didn't seem to notice. Though she could feel heat rushing to her cheeks, she followed without hesitation.

The pair emerged just a few short minutes later with two red Solo cups. Y/N appeared to be substantially less bitter than she had been, whether the smile she wore was because Thomas had managed to placate her with his advanced mixology skills (he'd never give away his elusive vodka Sprite recipe) or because of, for once, how relaxed he seemed with her, his arm having fallen to her waist as he gave her the 411 on everyone she'd soon find scattered on the couches.

Part of her couldn't help but be surprised, though she didn't let that ruin her relaxation. She supposed it must have just been the change in environment, but the difference in attitude between this Thomas and her Professor Jefferson seemed to be night and day. Gone was the cautious air of professionalism, the guarded front he carried when he discussed with her their most recent unit.

It may have just been because he was already two beers deep into the evening, but no matter.

Upon reaching his living room, Thomas was greeted enthusiastically by a few different (incredibly attractive) people, including the three she'd seen sharing a joint earlier on.

"Thomas!" one of the women shouted. "Come sit with us! Where have you been all night?"

"Oh, hey, Maria; 's nice to see you, too. I'm great, thanks for askin'," he said sarcastically, offering her a contrived smile, and she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, whatever. I just don't like being avoided, Jefferson," she replied, giving him an unamused look. "So are you joining us or not, hm? Time-sensitive offer."

He cracked a grin. "Yeah, yeah, alright." He glanced down to Y/N and raised an eyebrow, a silent ask as to whether or not she wanted to stay, and she gave him a small smile, a short nod.

They both took seats on the couch opposite Maria, Thomas nonchalantly greeting the man on at its furthest end who he called 'Monroe.' Y/N didn't bother to question it — quite frankly, she never expected to be in any sort of situation meeting Thomas's friends, and she certainly hadn't seen it coming when she was leaving home that night. She shifted in her seat, feeling rather self-conscious and out of her league on this.

"And who is your pretty friend, hm?" The man sitting beside Maria turned to Y/N with a bright, curious smile. "Where 'ave you been hiding 'er from us?"

At that, she laughed — his buoyant manner eased her nerves, if only in the least. "I'm Y/N."

Before she could determine exactly how to explain her knowing Thomas, Lafayette cut in, eyes shining. "Ah, you are ze TA, non?"

"Oh, um..." Her eyebrows shot up. "Yeah, that's me. You've heard about me?"

"We cannot seem to stop 'earing about you, chérie," he drawled, wearing a wry smile. "Although, I do not believe zat someone told us you would be 'ere tonight." Though he gave Thomas a pointed look, taking another hit of the lit blunt he held lazily between his fingers, and Thomas only rolled his eyes.

"James invited her, actually," he said. "Y'know his girl Dolley? Y/N's her roommate."

Y/N mentally archived his words; she was sure Dolley would enjoy hearing she'd been referred to as 'James's girl.' Lafayette raised his eyebrows. "What a twist of fate," he mused. "If not for James, we may 'ave only ever been able to 'ear your stories about 'er. It is lovely to meet you, Y/N."

"Yeah, you too." She offered him a timid smile, adjusting the straps of her shirt. "So what's Thomas told you about me, then?"

The woman sitting beside Maria on the end of the other couch, legs draped over her lap, interjected, "Just about everything, honey. I mean, first, all the gossip about him accidentally having slept with a student, of course."

While Y/N was thoroughly entertained, Thomas rolled his eyes, but how he was shifting in his seat betrayed his air of nonchalance. The woman continued, "And since then, you've been an ever-growing saga. My favorite story is still you going to his office just to yell at him." The look in her eyes was amused as they flickered between Y/N and Thomas. "Personally, I find it more entertaining than the grumbling about not knowing how to teach a student he's fucked, especially when the sex was so—"

"Alright, that's about enough, Ang," Thomas cut her off, looking more exasperated than annoyed as he shot her a warning look, and she wore a wide grin.

"Oh, come on, I was just getting started," she complained. "Not my fault you can't keep things to yourself. I just don't think it's fair to keep poor Y/N here in the dark."

"Yeah, really, Jefferson," Maria piped back up. "Don't you think she should get a say?"

She raised her eyebrows at Y/N with a playful smile, and she couldn't help the grin she wore that threatened to broaden. However, Thomas scowled.

"Remind me to get friends who aren't gonna rat me out, next time." He took a sip of his drink, eyeing Maria and Angelica dubiously, but neither of them wavered. Y/N raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, so you're owning up to it?"

He looked over at her with an irked gaze, but the corners of his lips were quirked up. "You stay outta this."

"Hey, that isn't fair!" she protested, knocking her elbow into his, and he pursed his lips. "This is all absolutely my business. I feel like my privacy as a student's been violated, professor."

"Oh, so now you'll call me 'professor'?"

Despite how skeptically he was eyeing her, his smile grew, and she shrugged innocently. "I've been doing my best."

"'M sure you have."

"You don't sound too sure," she countered, taking a sip of her drink. "I don't like having my integrity questioned. Shouldn't you be able to trust your TA?"

"Maybe I will once you prove yourself worth trusting." He shrugged, taking another sip of his drink. She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, please. If anything, you're the one who's proved you can't keep a secret." The side of her thigh rested against his as she cast a pointed glance back at his friends. "I guess, next time, I'll have to be sure not to sleep with such a gossip, won't I?"

He grinned. "Good luck finding someone better."

He looked beyond self-satisfied as her eyes widened; her heart jumped to her throat. Despite everything, the air between them was charged, and Lafayette raised an eyebrow.

It took Y/N a moment to break his heavy gaze, not having noticed the silence stretching on throughout the group. Angelica and Maria exchanged a glance. It wasn't until he met Lafayette's skeptical stare that Thomas cleared his throat, cracking the atmosphere.

"I'm gonna go get myself another drink," he said, pushing himself up off of the couch. He glanced down at Y/N, and then turned to the rest of his friends. "Try not to traumatize Y/N while I'm gone."

"Oh, no need to worry," Lafayette said, his gaze alight, and Thomas narrowed his eyes skeptically. "We will take very good care of 'er."

________________________

Thomas returned later than he'd planned to — the couple broken bottles and failed keg stand he found in his kitchen were an unfortunate detour — but when he did, Lafayette had taken his seat, and Monroe had split. Y/N sat all but leaning into his side, giggling at whatever it was he was saying as they passed his joint back and forth, and in turn, Thomas took the now-empty seat on Y/N's other side.

She'd just finished shouting something over at Maria when Thomas spoke, breaking her focus.

"So I see you two got awful close while I was gone," he said, tone dry as he glanced between her and Lafayette, and Y/N only seemed to notice just then that he was even there. She turned to him with a mellow grin.

"Hey, Thomas, Lafayette was just telling me all about how you went to undergrad together." A hardly-contained giggle was concealed in her voice. He raised an eyebrow.

"That so?"

Y/N nodded, absentmindedly taking the blunt back from where Lafayette held it out to her. "I hear you were just as uptight then as you are now."

"Oh, I'm uptight, now?" When she shrugged unapologetically, he didn't meet her gaze, instead leaning around to look at Lafayette, who looked beyond pleased with himself. "So by 'take care of her' you meant you were gonna get Y/N high?"

Lafayette shrugged, wearing a lazy smile. "You did not ask me to elaborate on it, mon cher."

Thomas's deadpanned expression didn't change, but Y/N snickered at Lafayette's words before taking another hit. She leaned back onto his shoulder as she turned in her seat to face Thomas, scrutinizing the whole of his stature, and he winced when she inadvertently blew smoke into his face.

"What, are you jealous?" she drawled, her tone taunting, and Thomas raised an unamused eyebrow.

"'Jealous'?" he repeated, almost in disbelief, and she shrugged.

"Mmhmm." Her hum of agreement was drawn out dramatically. "Why do you feel the need to judge me for it? Y'know, if you wanted a hit, you could've just asked." When she extended Lafayette's joint to him as if it were an olive branch, watching him expectantly all the while, he hesitated, unsure if that was the candid conclusion she'd drawn. Her conviction didn't waver; he could only laugh.

"Alright, sweetheart." He leaned forward, and she looked pleased when he plucked it from between her fingers. "I think you've had about enough of that."

However, moments later, he put it out on a coaster, and she whined. "Hey. Don't be an ass." She plastered on a pout, kicking his calf halfheartedly, and she slumped back onto Lafayette, looking up at him with disappointment. "Looks like you were right about 'uptight.'"

Lafayette matched her frown, shifting so his arm was resting at her waist as they both faced Thomas. "And to think zat I paid good money just for zat to go to waste."

"Stop being a spoilsport, Thomas," Maria shouted, eyeing him with contempt. "You're not Y/N's mother; let her live."

"I'm not actin' like anybody's mother," he scowled, throwing a pillow in her direction, and missing by about a foot.

"Could've fooled me," Angelica muttered into her drink, and while Thomas glared at her, Y/N laughed.

"Oh, loosen up." Thomas's eyebrows shot up when she pulled her legs up into his lap, now fully laying on Lafayette's torso. "We aren't in class, professor."

He eyed her skeptically. "Y'know, if my friends didn't seem to like you more than they like me, I'd have started tryin' to kick you outta here by now." Despite his dry tone, the words held no bite, and she laughed.

"Well, I'm James's guest, not yours, so I don't think that's quite within your jurisdiction," she replied frankly, wearing a wide, sly smile. "Besides, you're just bitter I'm stealing your friends."

"She makes an excellent point," Lafayette interjected, wearing a playful smile, and Y/N giggled as she leaned back to look at him. However, Thomas only rolled his eyes.

Though no retort sat on the tip of his tongue, his focus instead on how his stomach turned as Lafayette's arm looped around Y/N's waist, pulling her close, any chance he had to respond died the moment the brief rapport between Lafayette and Y/N was interrupted, both their voices light.

"I'm glad to see that you've all made yourselves comfortable." Everyone turned, though at different rates, toward the voice at the other side of the couch. There stood one James Madison, looking as cool and collected as ever, Dolley at his side. However, she didn't so much hold up the composed air; her hair was mussed, though she'd obviously tried to push it back into place, if only hastily, and her cheeks were still flushed pink with James's arm around her.

"Hey, haven't seen you two in a while," Y/N said, wearing a sly, lazy smile. "What have you been up to back in James's room, huh?"

"We were just talking," Dolley defended timidly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, but her wide grin betrayed her bashfulness.

"Oh, I'm sure," Y/N replied, voice saturated with sarcasm. "And a prerequisite for that is obviously locking yourselves in his bedroom."

Dolley didn't respond, just pursed her lips, only meeting Y/N's gaze, but James laughed good-naturedly. "In any case, we've returned. I trust everyone's made you feel welcome, Y/N?"

She shrugged, glancing to the group around her. "More or less. Would've been better if someone hadn't decided to play bad cop and restrict any 'illegal or dangerous activity,'" she said, tying together all the haughtiness she could manage into her voice as she gave Thomas a pointed look. However, he only shrugged unapologetically.

Lafayette took that moment to pipe up, though. "And, now, why did you not bother to tell anyone zat Y/N would be joining us after we 'ad all 'eard so much about 'er?" His tone was accusatory, but James didn't quite seem to follow, his brow furrowed.

"What do you mean 'after we had all heard so much about her'?" he echoed, but his gaze drew back to Y/N and then to Thomas, and he raised his eyebrows, seeming to have connected the dots. "Hang on, is this your Y/N?"

Y/N couldn't have explained why she felt her skin begin to heat at the words, but she certainly wasn't about to protest them. Thomas scowled. "She's my TA, assumin' that's what you mean."

"That was not what I meant, but it answers my question regardless," James said, but as he spoke, Dolley's face split into a grin.

"So I take it you're 'Professor Jefferson,' then?"

"Thomas," he corrected her with an easy smile, extending a hand for her to shake. "And where've you heard about me?" He glanced to Y/N with his words, a teasing eyebrow raised, and she huffed.

"I see that IR degree you like to flaunt must not have tested your inductive reasoning skills." Her scowl didn't hide her unease, and he grinned, lightly squeezing her calf where her legs were draped over his.

"No need to be so hostile, sweetheart."

Dolley's smile was knowing as she glanced between the two of them. "In any case, I've been told quite a bit about you. Though, you're much bigger in person."

That one genuinely had him confused. "Bigger than what?"

"That faculty profile picture on the university website that a certain someone keeps showing me?" she explained, and he laughed outright. In the meantime, Y/N had managed to weasel Lafayette's drink from his hand and drain the cup in one fell swoop, claiming that 'she needed it far more than he did.' He didn't put up much of a fight.

However, Thomas was far from done. "Oh, really, now?" he said, lips pursed to stifle his entertainment as he looked over to Y/N, meeting her wavering glare. "Wonder who that could be."

Y/N didn't respond, didn't trust her voice enough to try to when Thomas's hand rested on her knee, and she could feel her cheeks flare. "I don't know how I'm expected to make it through tonight without weed," she grumbled, shifting where she sat against Lafayette, not meeting Thomas's eyes. Dolley's grin mirrored Thomas's, then.

"Aw, is everything okay, dear? Did I say something wrong?" she asked mildly, and Y/N's withering gaze turned to her.

"Oh, don't you start," she said, accusation heavy in her voice as she jabbed a wavering finger at Dolley. "You're really gonna throw me under the bus like this after I came here just so you could fuck James?"

To Y/N's dismay, Dolley looked far from ashamed at her words, her playful expression holding firm. "I think that perhaps you're just jealous."

Y/N hummed noncommittally. "Mmh, don't give yourself too much credit, babe. You're not that good in bed."

While Dolley could only gape at her for another moment as she passed Lafayette back his empty plastic cup, something he didn't seem to mind, James looked thoroughly entertained. "Is there something happening between the two of you that I should be worried about?"

"Nah, don't worry." Y/N shifted in her seat to turn, looking back at him now. "You're more than welcome to my sloppy seconds."

"Y/N!" Dolley all but recoiled, seemingly incredulous at the claim. When Y/N only shrugged in response, she turned to James with wide, pleading eyes. "Believe me, she and I were never together."

"Oh?" he asked, turning to Y/N, who sighed.

"Alright, alright. I don't wanna push it, so I'll confess: I broke it off with Dolley before it could ever get that far," she drawled, having contrived a forlorn facade. "Her loss, really."

"Oh, I'm sure it is," Dolley said, rolling her eyes, and when a grin split her friend's expression, Dolley turned to Thomas, meeting his amused gaze. "Would you care to corroborate?"

Then, it was Dolley's turn to be entertained. Thomas was only glad they couldn't see the blood drain from his face at the point-blank question, though his surprised unease was obvious in his wide-eyed stare. He tensed, and Y/N could feel it as the fingertips of his hand resting on her lower thigh tightened around her leg. "Excuse me?"

Y/N bit back a smile. She glanced between the two of them, and Dolley's expression was a duplicate of her own hardly-suppressed laugh, but seeing Thomas's obvious discomfort, she could only sigh.

"My buzz from Lafayette's weed is wearing off," she said, the words directed at no one in particular, withdrawing her legs from their place on Thomas's lap and pushing herself up from where she sat against Lafayette. She turned to Dolley when she stood. "I'm gonna grab myself something to drink. You wanna come with me?"

She swallowed her grin. "I'd love to."

Y/N looped her arm through Dolley's as she began to pull away from the group, dealing out a fleeting apology to James for stealing his girl. Once they were out of earshot, had reached a quiet lull with the crowd in the kitchen, Dolley turned to Y/N with an arched brow.

"You and Professor Fuck-Me were getting pretty friendly back there, weren't you?"

"'Professor Fuck-Me'?" Y/N repeated with a snort. "Creative."

"I'm entirely serious, dear," Dolley said, wearing a teasing smile as she nudged Y/N with her elbow. "I faintly recall saying something about James's friends being just your type. Was I wrong?"

"Oh, come on, don't do this," Y/N groaned. "We've long since agreed that nothing's going to happen. Him being James's roommate doesn't suddenly change the fact I'm an undergrad, for fuck's sake."

"Well, if he and James are around the same age, he isn't much older than you and I. So if I can get with James, why would you and Thomas be so illicit?"

"Because James doesn't work here, Dolley," she said, looking at her seriously as she reached for the vodka they'd brought (and she'd tucked out of sight behind the toaster next to the fridge). "Thomas, a professor, getting with me, a student, could end his career. You do realize that, don't you?"

Dolley sighed as she dug through the cooler in front of the counter, ultimately withdrawing a Fanta, and Y/N quirked a brow. Dolley was either preparing to be their designated driver, or she was trying not to get so buzzed that James wouldn't fuck her, and Y/N could only hope it was the former. After a moment, Dolley responded, "Yes, I know it's futile, but isn't it a nice thought?"

"...Sure." Y/N looked skeptical.

"Oh, please, you know it, too," Dolley reasoned, dismissing Y/N's hesitation with a wave of her hand. "You're clearly attracted to one another, and I'm dating his roommate. It would be—"

"Can we stop talking in impossible hypotheticals?" Y/N cut her off. "I get that you think it'd be fun, but I'm both his student and his TA. It's not like that. He and I are friends." The added emphasis on her final word did little to dissuade Dolley, but Y/N had something of a point. Why hope for what you can't have?

Before Dolley could respond, Y/N went on, "But, hey, can we go back to the fact that you and James are dating now? Since when? Why didn't you tell me?"

She bit her lip to keep back her smile. "Oh. Well, it's not... official, really, but he asked me on our first actual date just a couple of hours ago. We're doing dinner and a movie next week."

"Dolley!" Y/N exclaimed, swatting her arm. Her jaw was slack, her awestruck expression mildly contrived, but her excitement was entirely genuine. "That's so exciting. I'm really glad for you. Seriously."

"Thank you, but we've yet to see how the date actually goes," Dolley said. Y/N didn't appreciate her dismal tone.

"You already know him pretty well. And you already know you like him," Y/N pointed out. "I think you'll have a good time, but you can always text me if you need me to call you with a horror story about how my spleen gave out and I desperately need you to drive me to the emergency room."

"I appreciate the offer, dear, but shouldn't you call an ambulance instead?"

"Under this healthcare system?" Y/N eyed Dolley as though she was losing her mind. "I'd sooner Uber."

"How lovely to hear that you'd die if I weren't around to take care of you," Dolley said dryly, finally cracking open her soda. "I can only imagine what you'll do after graduation."

"Get health insurance, ideally," Y/N huffed, the sound akin to a wry laugh, but her heart wasn't in it — even with all the hot-for-teacher jokes she'd been making for the past few weeks, that was her least believable quip. She took a long sip from the fresh, new, shiny Solo cup she'd poured herself and nudged Dolley. "Hey, when we go back, you've gotta stop making jokes about me screwing Thomas. They're cute behind closed doors, but you're just making him uncomfortable."

Dolley didn't meet Y/N's eyes as she started back toward their living room. "Alright, but only because I love you. I wouldn't want Thomas to take my place in your heart."

"Aw, Doll, he could never!" Y/N called after her, "You know I've only got eyes for you."

"You'd better." Dolley sent her a wink as they reached James and company.

When they finally turned, breaking the playful eye contact, they found Lafayette and Maria crouched on the floor beside their coffee table, laying out a hoard of plastic cups. Y/N assumed they weren't looking to try their hand at speed stacking. "Are we playing beer pong?" Dolley asked, glancing between the pair.

"Yeah, you in?" Maria asked, raising an eyebrow as she held up a ping-pong ball between two fingers. Dolley grinned.

"Absolutely." When she turned to James, though, Y/N was mildly offended; she folded her arms as Dolley offered him a hand. "Care to join me?"

He joined her wordlessly, giving a shrug, but he wore a wide smile, and Y/N scoffed loudly. "Excuse me?" James looked taken aback at her combative tone, turning swiftly on his heel to face her. Nevertheless, Dolley wasn't taking her too seriously, and for good reason. "You sleep with one grad student, and suddenly, years of winning beer pong together mean nothing to you?"

Dolley rolled her eyes, glancing between her and Thomas with a sly, growing smile. "No need to be jealous, dear. I'm sure you can find a perfectly suitable graduate of your own."

When Dolley met his gaze, watching him expectantly, he looked her up and down, a dubious eyebrow raised. "What're you lookin' at?"

"Oh, sure, act as if you don't know," she said, stare turning skeptical. "Y/N, you may want to find yourself a more perceptive professor in the future. I'm not so sure about this one."

Y/N laughed when she turned back away from the table to see Thomas's bewildered expression. "Oh, c'mon, lay off of him." Y/N tugged Dolley back over to her by the arm, and as she finally joined her, giggling, Y/N stole a fleeting, amused glance back at Thomas before looking to Lafayette with a smile. "You need a partner?"

The man in question folded his arms, eyes shining and his brow raised. "Are you offering?"

"Only if you're willing to accept." She shrugged. "After all, I just got dumped by my old partner," —she gave Dolley a pointed look to which she responded with a wide, unapologetic grin— "so it looks like I'm back on the market."

Neither noticed Thomas eyeing them dubiously from the couch just off to one side.

"Alright zen, Y/N," Lafayette responded, a smile lurking at the corner of his mouth. "Welcome to ze winning team. You 'ad better not tarnish my perfect record." He threw an arm around her shoulders, and obligingly, she went alongside him to the far side of the table. Thomas knocked back the rest of his drink in one heavy sip.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Y/N said, her gaze dragging over the elaborate (and precarious) setup on the low-set coffee table — she pitied the rug beneath it; it almost certainly didn't know what it had coming. When she looked up, Dolley and James had taken their positions across from them. However, while Dolley looked like she meant business, eyeing the scene before her, brow knit as she rolled a ping pong ball between her fingers, James looked slightly perturbed.

Y/N glanced back to Lafayette with a teasing look. "But you'd better be able to keep up."

"Mm, I make no promises, yet with zat attitude, you may 'ave just met your match." He looked her up and down appraisingly, and when she caught sight of the mischievous glint in his eyes as they stalled toward her hips, she swallowed hard.

"We'll see about that," she replied, and despite the confidence she tried to inject into her voice, the words came out meek under his heavy gaze. He grinned at the sudden timidity of her smile; when his arm came to rest at her waist, pulling her back around to look at the table before them as he promptly began talking strategy, heat rose in her cheeks. Her mouth was dry.

And Thomas was nowhere to be found.

_______________

The night didn't come to a close for hours, which was saying something considering how late it'd begun, and several (entirely successful) games of beer pong later, the crowd was just beginning to dwindle. James and Dolley seemed to be attached at the hip, something which had Y/N feeling more conflicted than she'd have liked to — she was glad to see them happy, certainly, but her own Dolley deficiency meant that, for the most part, she was on her own in navigating her novel state of limbo with Thomas, as confusing as it was exhilarating. She could only pretend to mind it, though.

She'd latched onto Lafayette at some point among their continued victories; she'd liked to have chalked it up to his friendly, outgoing nature, making her feel easily welcome, but she couldn't pretend that it wasn't in large part due to the tight tank top he wore and the circumference of his arms. And she made sure to tell him so, too, as the night went on and she sank deeper into the setup of what was sure to manifest an impressive hangover come morning. Lafayette's breezy laugh at her proclamation put her at ease. Neither took the interaction too seriously.

At the end of the day, her easy willingness to fall into the mellow atmosphere he dragged alongside him had less to do with him and more to do with her desperation to stop focusing on how Thomas had hardly said five words to her since Dolley had earlier been sure to tell him how utterly enamored Y/N was with him. That was also her motivation to throw back whatever liqueur came her way, and while those two impacts may not pay off long-term, for the time being, they only meant getting drunk with an unreasonably attractive Frenchman. Y/N sleeping with her professor may have been off-limits, but no one said anything about the touchy-feely exchange student with the blinding smile and the sharp tongue. She couldn't help but briefly wonder what else his tongue was good for.

As the party finally came to a close, and as people began to say their goodbyes, the remaining attendees were scattered around their apartment, far more sparse than they had been.

Y/N stumbled out of their bathroom bleary-eyed and with her phone's flashlight on. Dolley had long since withdrawn back into James's bedroom, and Y/N couldn't even complain — she was just relieved that she couldn't hear whatever they were up to from where she stood.

She kept a hand on the wall to her right as she unsteadily navigated the straight hallway, much more of a challenge than it should've been, all the while her thoughts oscillating between her internal turmoil over Thomas's sudden aloofness and how in the world she was supposed to get home five drinks closer to the end of the night than she'd begun. With her mind elsewhere, she didn't process her flashlight catching the silhouette of the lumbering figure who'd suddenly emerged from the doorway just before her until it was a second too late.

He noticed the moment he entered the hallway, however; he didn't have enough time to stop it short.

Y/N yelped as she stumbled forward, tripping over his shoe and grasping desperately at his clothing in her desperate bid not to end up on the floor with a carpet burn all the way down her chin and an ache in her chest.

"Woah, woah, woah." He turned to her frantically, the panic in his eyes fueling his actions to be just quick enough. It didn't stop her from falling — he was no miracle worker — but she fell instead into an unsurprisingly strong chest, large hands finding her waist. She dropped her phone somewhere in the havoc, and he winced as the flashlight shone directly up into his face; despite this, his expression eased when he saw the smile she wore upon catching sight of his face. "You alright, there?"

"Thomas, hey." Her eyelids drooped in her tired enthusiasm. "Where have you been all night? Missed you. We all missed you." The heavy pout she wore with the claim just made him chuckle, and she took in a deep breath, stifling a yawn, as she tried to pull herself up from her hands on his shoulders. "And when were you this tall?"

He laughed, helping her back up to a standing position, but back on her feet, she was still relying heavily on him for a crutch. "I've been around, sweetheart. Guess you just didn't notice me."

"Or you've been avoiding me," she accused as he helped her back toward the living room. Her staggering steps were far from steady, and her voice was reduced to a weary drawl as she stumbled over her own feet.

Thomas raised an eyebrow, though. "Not my fault you've been so focused on Lafayette all night."

"Not my fault he was the one being nice to me," she grumbled, but almost the moment the words left her mouth, she looked up at him with apology in her gaze. He didn't even have time to react. "Not that you haven't been nice. I didn't mean that you're not nice. You're so nice, too. You're too nice. I don't—"

"Relax," he cut her off, his voice soft and eyes glinting with amusement. "No offense taken."

"This is what I mean by too nice," she said, words slurred. She jabbed a finger into his shoulder even as they walked. "Too forgiving. Learn to be meaner."

"So you'd rather I did take offense."

"That's not what I said," she protested with a huff, the sentence sounding as childish as her intentions felt. She sniffled. "Stop twisting my words. I was so happy to see you before; can we go back to that? Meanie."

He quirked a brow. "I'm mean again, now?"

She scowled. "No. I wish you were mean, 'cause then I wouldn't just have to blame myself for being bitter, and it's not fair, either, and I'm just moping 'cause you haven't been around all night. When I walked in and saw you, I thought my night might be okay, asshole. Didn't know I'd hardly see you."

"You've seen plenty of me," he countered, and she grinned.

"Oh, yeah? In more ways than one, right?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, and his deadpanned stare only made her burst into a fit of giggles. He couldn't help his small smile. Despite her protests of his not having been around all night, this was the most attention she'd paid him since being introduced to Lafayette, and he couldn't say he minded the paradigm shift.

"Somethin' like that. How much have you had to drink?" he asked, and her shrug with her shoulder pressed into his side was halfhearted.

"Lost count. I'm gonna regret it in the morning, but not so much I'm gonna spend four hours throwing up." She grinned, trying to nudge him, but her elbow just brushed against the front of his shirt in a feat of hand-eye coordination. "So I obviously did perfect."

"'Obviously'," he echoed, looking down at her dubiously. Her footsteps stalled as she reached down to pick up her phone, struggling to find the button to turn the flashlight off. She struggled to stifle a yawn as she reached around to put it in her back pocket.

"Too bad you didn't have tequila. Then I might've gotten less conscious. If you weren't so fucking nice, I might be pissed," she said matter-of-factly. He just hummed passively. "Where's Lafayette?"

"How would I know? You're the one who's been hangin' onto him all night." There was a certain gruffness in his voice that hadn't been there before, but Y/N was too addled to pick up on it. She frowned, slumping against his chest. "You shouldn't be tryin' to go home with him after this many drinks, anyway."

"I wasn't trying to go home with him," she pouted, but when her steps stuttered, when she struggled not to trip over her own feet, Thomas wrapped an arm tighter around her waist, and she didn't stop him. "I was just gonna ask him for a ride home, 'cause who knows what Dolley's up to with James by now. You don't have to be so protective, y'know. I'm an adult."

"Hey, I know," he said softly, and although she wouldn't have readily admitted it, his gentle tone went far to placate her. "'M sorry."

"You should be," she huffed. "Saying I'm just here to fuck your friends. Can't believe it's what you think of me."

"It's not; that's not what I was sayin'," he defended, but when he looked down at her with a frown, she refused to meet his eyes, gaze fixed firmly on her own feet. "C'mon, sweetheart. You can't really think that."

"You promise?" He couldn't help his pang of guilt when she looked up at him with a wide-eyed, trusting stare, on the brink of tears. He offered her a soft smile, squeezing her side lightly.

"Promise," he confirmed. "Now let's get you out of here; you're wasted. I'll call a cab."

She groaned. "No, don't. I don't wanna get in a car alone with a stranger when I'm this smashed. That's not safe."

Thomas chuckled lightly at her words, raising a surprised eyebrow. "How's your judgment better when you've had a little too much to drink?"

"Shut up," she grumbled, and though she tried to shove him by the shoulder, he wasn't all too dissuaded. "Are Maria and Angelica still here? Think they'd wanna carpool? They seem nice. I could probably convince them."

"I'm sure you could, but they're both long gone."

"So who's still here?" she whined, "I'm too tired to walk home. I don't wanna."

"Y'know, I do have a car," he pointed out. She scowled.

"Yeah, congrats."

"And I can drive you," he added, looking down at her expectantly. She shifted in his grasp, letting out a noise of reluctance.

"No, Thomas, you can't," she said, her voice watery. "You're really, really sweet for offering, and I really appreciate it, but no, I can't ask you to do that when you aren't already leaving anyway. But that's thoughtful. Thank you."

"Seriously? I'm offerin'." Worry was clear in his eyes as she dragged herself forward, clinging to his shoulders. "You don't have too many options, now."

"No, no, it's fine." Her words were slow, the syllables dragging on as she buried herself further in his embrace. "I'm gonna find someone. What about your friend Monroe? Isn't he gonna have to drive himself outta here?"

"'S there somethin' wrong?" She could hear his frown in his voice. "Or d'you just really not want me to drive you that badly?"

"Everything's okay, I'm fine." She let out a short huff as he slowed to a halt, still propping her up. "I do want you to drive me, but I also don't wanna ask you to drive me after you've been avoiding me all night, but I wanna hang out with you. And I know the feeling isn't mutual, and I don't want you to feel like you've gotta drive me. 'M sorry."

"Hey, what're you sorry for?" He nudged her softly. "I haven't been avoidin' you. I dunno what makes you think so."

"It's okay; don't worry. I get it," she assured him, and her smile looked slightly dazed as she rested a hand on his chest. "It's weird that your roommate invited your TA who you fucked to the house party you threw. I know you're just trying to respect my boundaries. And you're such a nice person for it. Honestly. Seriously."

"I'm bein' serious, Y/N," he defended, despite her sappy tone. "'M not avoidin' you."

"You don't gotta defend yourself! It's okay." She gave him an understanding smile, but as her bottom lip pushed out, it was closer to a pout. "I'm lucky you're so careful and sweet about everything that's happened. With us sleeping together, and all."

"I got the implication," he said, a trace of a laugh in his voice.

"Okay, well, I wasn't sure," she defended. He chuckled. "I'm just saying, I'm lucky it was you. It coulda been someone who wanted to exploit this weird dynamic. I'm not sure if you've realized, but you've got a lotta power here."

He furrowed his brow. "I'd never do somethin' like that."

"I know," she agreed softly, and the look in her watering eyes was doting.

She inhaled shakily when she broke his gaze, trying to continue to his living room, but again, when she proved to be a little less steady than she'd thought, her center of balance not quite where she expected, she let out a surprised squeak.

"Woah, there," Thomas laughed, catching her before she could fall any further. She hung desperately onto his arms. "Alright, let's go. Let me drive you home."

She hummed reluctantly. "This is exploitation. You know I'm too tired to be pretending I don't want you to since it'd be so much more trouble for you, and I know you're too nice to insist after I tell you not to. How am I supposed to say no?"

"You ever consider that you aren't?"

Her huff was halfhearted, and she still wore a wide smile. "Alright, alright. You win. Bully."

He grinned. "Mmh, I'm really the worst."

___________________________

Getting her out of his apartment and down the stairwell to the garage was quite a process, but twenty minutes later, they were pulling out in his Bentley because of course he couldn't just drive a Subaru like the rest of us. They drove the first few minutes in a warm silence, Y/N still mildly addled with fatigue and vodka.

Thomas stole a glance at her to see her leaning her head back against the chair, her eyes shut, and her soft smile elicited his own. "You have an okay time tonight?"

She hummed, not opening her eyes. "Yeah. I really, really liked your friends. They were all so sweet. It was so nice of Lafayette looking out for me all night. He's nice."

She didn't see Thomas's lips quirk down. "Yeah. Lafayette's really somethin'."

She cracked a eye open to look at him; the tension was clear enough in his voice that even she couldn't miss it. "You okay?"

"Fine."

She frowned. "I know I didn't see you much tonight, but... you know I wasn't actually mad when you took Lafayette's weed, right?"

The question caught him off guard, less for the question itself than for what she was reading into the sudden hostility in his demeanor. "Seriously?"

"It was no big deal," she said softly, tapping her fingers on his car's central console. He laughed. "I know how good your intentions were. You're just... such a caring person." Her huff was quiet, and she put on a small pout. "You're too sweet sometimes, and I dunno what to do with it. Sorry if I made you feel like you weren't. You're such a good person, Thomas. I'm sorry."

Her voice broke with her final sentence, and she took a deep breath, sniffling and pursing her lips, and Thomas looked over, a concerned eyebrow raised. "Are you... tearin' up?" She didn't respond, only nodded, trying to hold down the tears building in her throat, and his gaze melted. "Aw, sweetheart. Hey, relax. It's ok."

His hand covered hers where it sat on the central console, squeezing it lightly, and she looked over at him with a sentimental smile. "'M not—" She inhaled shakily. "I'm not sad. I just really appreciate you. You're so nice. You're always worrying about making sure I'm safe. If you weren't around, I probably would've been abducted, like, probably twice by now."

"I'm not sure tryin' to make sure no one kills you is the height of altruism."

"Yes, it is," she insisted, threading her fingers into his. She didn't see his small smile. "You've called me definitely at least four Ubers by now, and this is the second time you've driven me home. And this gas isn't cheap."

He shook his head, amusement shining in his gaze. "Well I'm not gonna let you pay for your own Ubers. I know how tight money is when you're an undergrad."

She groaned. "Stop being so thoughtful. It's insufferable. You're just reminding me how obnoxious everyone else is 'cause you're always so fucking kind."

He stole another glance in her direction, noting how tired her smile looked, but her gaze was soft despite her facade of exasperation. "I dunno about that. You did think I was avoidin' you all night."

"Yeah, but you didn't wanna make things weird because of our weird history, and I get it! It's probably right. But..." She turned her head, still resting against the back of her seat, to watch him. "Thanks for not making it weird or just acting like I'm some kid who you don't wanna be around. I really liked meeting your friends. Thanks for introducing me." Her thumb brushed across the back of his hand, and her thoughtful gaze fell to where their fingers were interlinked. "I was dreading tonight."

"Oh, yeah?" He gave her a concerned look, and the corners of her lips twitched up. Her warm gaze was a comfort.

"Mhm. I didn't wanna come and I wouldn't if Dolley wasn't so into James, but she really likes him so much," Y/N said, her lazy words running together. "I even put on my good jeans for her 'cause she was worried about being overdressed. Love her so much. But I thought this night was gonna be such a big sacrifice and, like, hours of misery."

"I'm glad it wasn't," Thomas said, and her smile broadened as she met his soft eyes.

"Yeah. Me too. Thanks for treating me like we're friends."

"Aren't we friends?" He raised a hesitant eyebrow at that, at the quiet notice he took of the bittersweet trace in her voice. Her eyes widened.

"I... are we?" She blinked hard, turning toward her door as he took a left turn, as she was afraid her eyes were again beginning to water. "I didn't think you thought we were. I didn't think you wanted to be friends, since you're always keeping me at arm's length, I guess."

"I'm drivin' you home from my apartment at one in the morning," he said matter-of-factly. "I dunno if there's still any degree of removal, there."

"You didn't want me at your apartment in the first place, and you don't have to defend yourself." Her gaze caught on a passing streetlight. "I just didn't think you wanted to be friends."

"I'd like to think we're friends," he said quietly, and she squeezed his hand lightly. He didn't comment on how absurd it was that she thought this was how he treated all of his acquaintances.

"Me too." She sniffed again, reaching up to rub at the corner of her left eye.

"And I'm sorry if I've been holdin' you at arm's length," he added. "I'm just tryin' to keep the fact that we slept together the first night we met from havin' some kinda outsized importance. Don't wanna make you uncomfortable."

"You're so respectful. Fuck. Thanks, Thomas," she murmured, squeezing her eyes shut to hold any tears at bay. "Thanks for everything."

He smiled. "'S been my pleasure."

___________________________

When they arrived at her building, he offered to walk her up to her apartment, and she didn't put up even a moment of resistance. She knew just as well as he did that trying to make it all the way up to her floor alone would be a losing battle.

They'd been waiting for the elevator for about a minute when she began monologuing an overly-emotional apology about when she went to his office to yell at him, which turned into one about how she wasn't even halfway through the papers he needed to be graded by Monday, which turned into one about how she was exploiting him as a Google Translate substitute for her French class. (She swore she wasn't using him as a means to an end.)

Her eyes were teary when they reached her floor, and he led her down the hall with an arm around her waist as she continued to gripe about how unreasonably kind he was.

"But I'm serious, Thomas, if you weren't so fucking nice all the time, you wouldn't be so easy to exploit, and I wouldn't feel so guilty," she whined, "I can't believe it sometimes."

"Sorry?" he said hesitantly, fighting back a smile at her indignance. She scoffed.

"Why're you apologizing?" she asked, plastering on a pout. "I'm calling you nice, asshole."

He had to laugh, then. "Sure you are, sweetheart."

"I am!" she huffed, folding her arms and looking up at him with wide, watering eyes. "I swear."

"Alright, alright, I believe you," he assured her, and as she sighed, he could feel her shoulders relax against him. He looked back up, then, gaze scanning the walls of the apartment building. "Now, remind me which one of these rooms is yours?"

"566." She sniffled, still watching him as he walked her down the hall.

"Okay. Only a little further."

"Thanks for walking me up, Thomas," Y/N said, the ghost of a yawn stifled in her voice. She reached up to rub the sleep out of her eyes. "You're so sweet."

"Y'know, I think you might've mentioned," he replied, tone playful, and she groaned, dropping her head against his side.

"Shut up," she grumbled. "I'm being serious. Don't appreciate your sarcasm."

"I'm only playin', alright?" He squeezed her side as he tugged her along, and she wore a soft, reluctant smile. "Now, are you gonna be okay tonight? There anything you need before I go? Are you gonna need anything for your hangover? I can pick up some ibuprofen."

"No, no, that's okay," she said, her eyes drifting shut. She was too sleepy to do anything but trust that he wasn't about to lead her astray. "Just wanna sleep. That's all."

"Okay." She nearly tripped when his footsteps stopped rather abruptly, her grip tightening around his arm to hold herself up. "Looks like we're here."

"Shit. Right. Gimme a minute to get the door." She withdrew her apartment key from her purse with little trouble, but unlocking the door was a different story. She put a hand out against the wall as she stepped out of Thomas's embrace, fumbling with the lock above the doorknob, and she'd scratched three different parts of the wood finish when Thomas's hand ghosted down her forearm.

"Wanna let me help you with that?"

She smiled when she turned to see him watching her with a brow raised. "Yeah. Okay. Thanks."

She passed off the key, and his other hand fell to the small of her back as he gently pulled her aside. "There you go." He turned the knob about a minute later, handing her back the key, his gaze soft. "G'night, sweetheart."

Though she dropped her key into her purse without protesting, before she went in, she looped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug. "Night. I'll see you," she murmured, but when she pulled away, she still hung off of his shoulders, wearing a demure smile. "Unless you wanna come in?"

His eyebrows shot up. "Y/N, you’d better not be serious." When no sign surfaced that she may have been joking, he sighed, but his hands didn't leave where they'd dropped to on her waist. "You know I can't. Even if I weren't your professor, you're well past drunk. Go to bed."

"Well, I won't tell," she sang, blinking innocently. "Who's it hurting?"

"You're not lucid right now, sweetheart. You don't know what you're saying."

"Uh-uh. I know exactly what I'm saying." She dragged a finger down his chest, biting her lip. "You know it'd be fun. We had a nice night last time."

"Y/N," he sighed, and with how hopeful she sounded, guilt was building in his chest. She frowned.

"Fine. I'll just call Lafayette," she scowled, and vindication flashed in her eyes at the way Thomas tensed at the words. "I'm sure he'd be down for a good time."

"Stop. Don't talk to me like this," he warned, voice hard, and she raised her eyebrows.

"What's the problem, professor? I thought you liked Lafayette. Aren't you two friends?" she asked, drawing out the syllables of her words. She wore a small, egoistic smile. "Maybe it isn't too late for me to give him a call."

"No. Don’t you dare." He raised his eyebrows at her and nodded toward the interior of her apartment. “Get some sleep.”

"I dunno about that," she drawled, reaching up to brush her hand across his stubble. He grabbed her wrist before she could, eyes ablaze. "I think I might go get some sleep with someone else. Thanks for the ride, though."

"Y/N," he scowled, taking a step forward, backing her through her doorway. Her eyes flashed with vindication. "Stop talking about fucking Lafayette. You know what a bad idea this is."

"Aw, why? Is someone getting a little jealous?" she mocked him, pulling him toward her. He gritted his teeth. "It was obvious earlier; you weren't fooling anyone. Did you think I wasn't gonna notice?"

“Let's not do this. This isn’t a game you wanna play." His stare was conflicted as she grinned, flipping on her living room light and taking a step further back into her apartment. He took a reluctant step forward with her with her arms wrapped around his shoulders. "I'm not jealous."

"Then what's your problem with me calling up Lafayette? You don't own me," she said, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

“That’s about enough,” he said, his voice low as he fixed her with a warning look. She shrugged.

"I can make my own decisions, Thomas. I can do whatever I want."

"Not right now, you can't.” His grip tightened on her waist, and the look in his eyes was sharp, frustrated. She grinned, pressing up against him.

"Then what are you gonna do about it, hm?" she teased, weaving a hand into his hair. He sucked in a deep breath, self-control waning. Her gaze shone with satisfaction. "How do you plan to stop me?"

A moment passed in anticipatory silence, tension heavy in the charged atmosphere, and Y/N firmly believed she'd won. When he pulled her closer, her eyes fluttered shut, and she leaned in toward him; there was a skip, but she only wrapped her arms more tightly around the back of his neck, tilted her face up toward his. She didn't quite get what she wanted.

His lips brushed against the crown of her forehead, and she furrowed her brow, re-opening her eyes. Despite her small frown, he reached up, taking her face in one hand, and brushed a hair out of her face as he eyed her with a gentle gaze. He took a small step back, wearing a remorseful, weak smile. "Goodnight, sweetheart. Get some rest for me, now."

Before she could protest, try to pull him back in, he was out the door, swinging it shut behind him.

She was too stunned to move for another minute.

That night, the apartment felt empty.

167 notes · View notes

solartranslations · 3 years

Text

AF2 Donna 1/1: The Masquerade Begins

The heroine has made a critical decision. Meanwhile, an unexpected visitor arrives at the governor’s mansion…

~*Scene: Nordia Bar VIP Room*~

Felicita: Huh? Where’s Ash?

Liberta: He left late last night

Nova: Nobody saw him go

Pace: I think Agata sent him off though

Debito: She probably found him while she was out drinking as always. Does she even sleep?

Luca: I don’t think you get to criticize Agata over that

Debito: Shut up

(*knock knock)

Attendant: You have a visitor. May I we come in?

Felicita: Yes

??? (Dante): It’s been a while

Pace: Who’re you?

Debito: Uh, does anyone know him?

Nova: He seems familiar…

Luca: No way, that’s…

Felicita/Liberta: Dante!?

Dante: Yeah, it’s me. This must be a shock

Pace: Why do you have hair!? And you’re so young! Is this real!?

Debito: Show us some proof

Liberta: Um, actually I think Dante looked like this when we first met

Luca: Yes. This is definitely the old Dante

Nova: What in the world happened?

Felicita: We’ve all been worried

Dante: Yeah, sorry for that

Dante: And thanks for saving me. I really made quite the blunder. Vir also told me what happened

Dante: It’s thanks to you that I’m free. I can’t help how I look now though…

Dante: And are you alright, Ojou-san?

Felicita: Yeah, since everyone was with me

Dante: You sure have grown, Ojou-san

Debito: You done now? Then explain why you look like that

Pace: Yeah!! I’m so used to your head looking like it could befriend a deep sea octopus!

Nova: I don’t know about that, but did Vir do something to you?

Nova: Do you feel unwell?

Dante: Thanks, but I’m fine. You should all know anyway in case you get into a similar situation too

Dante: After parting ways with Liberta in Nord, I ended up having to face Vir on my own

Dante: With no other option but to use my Arcana powers, I used The Emperor on him

Dante: But it turns out, he’s the creator of the Tarocco who’s been alive for over 400 years

Dante: As “punishment” for using my powers against the creator, I was returned to my former self

Luca: “Punishment” …When we fought him, he also said we would be punished if we used our powers against him

Dante: Yes. You would have ended up taking some kind of penalty like I did

Dante: The “punishment” is different depending on your powers. There’s no telling what could happen, so be careful

Pace: Yeah, but it doesn’t look like anything bad happened to you?

Debito: Well you lost your ruggedness, but now you got your hair back

Liberta: I liked how you looked before, but since this is the old you, it’s still you!

Dante: What do you mean “still me”!

(*whack) Liberta: Ow!

Felicita: You were asking for that one, Liberta

Nova: I agree

Nova: But this sure is concerning. Did you lose your lifespan for every year of youth you regained?

Luca: Yes, it’s likely. This might be a bit personal, but Pace, I think you’re the one who needs to worry the most

Pace: Huh!? Well, I guess so

Luca: Ojou-sama, you really made the right choice to work on not using your powers

Luca: There’s no telling what would happen if you read his heart. So please be careful

Felicita: Yeah

~*Scene: Governor’s Mansion Bedroom*~

(*knock knock)

Felicita: …Yes?

??? (Giorgio): Ojou

Felicita: That sounded like…

(*door opens)

Felicita: Giorgio, it is you

Giorgio: It’s been a while, Ojou. Have you been well?

Felicita: …Yeah, I have

Giorgio: That didn’t sound very convincing

Felicita: You came all the way to Nordia from Regalo just to say that?

(*smile) Giorgio: You’re just as usual, well or not then. I brought some news for you

Felicita: News…about Mama?

Felicita: If you came all this way…is it bad?

Giorgio: Oh come on, Ojou. Are you sure it isn’t the opposite?

Felicita: Then…

Giorgio: Don’t worry. Mama’s recovering slowly but surely

Felicita: Really? Mama and Papa aren’t making you say that?

Giorgio: No need to be suspicious. They know you’re worried about them so they wouldn’t lie about this

Felicita: Okay

Giorgio: And first off, it wouldn’t make sense for them to send a Court Card out here just to lie

(*phew) Felicita: Right…

Giorgio: So? What about you? Mama’s been worried that you might be blaming yourself to much to make proper decisions

Felicita: I’m fine. Everyone’s here, so I haven’t lost sight of myself

Giorgio: …

Felicita: Besides, if I was always worrying, that would just make Mama and everyone sad

Giorgio: As long as you know that. When do you think you can come home?

Felicita: We’ll have to stay for another ten days at least…

Felicita: But we’ll be bringing Vir back with us. He’s the key to everything

Vir: Vir…the advisor’s orders, I see. Anything you want to tell him?

Felicita: Tell Jolly that everyone’s doing as he ordered. And…

Giorgio: Understood. I’ll report what you told me to the advisor

Felicita: Thanks. I think he’ll hear it from Ash too though…

Giorgio: Ash is headed to Regalo?

Felicita: Yeah, he left last night

Giorgio: I see, alright then

Felicita: Giorgio

Giorgio: Yes?

Felicita: …Thanks for coming all this way. I’m glad I was able to talk to you

Giorgio: Come home safe. Everyone back home in Regalo is waiting for you

Felicita: …Yeah

Giorgio: See you

(*door closes)

Felicita: […Hearing some good news was a relief]

Felicita: [I’ll still worry until I can see her, but I’ll come home to Mama with a smile]

~*End of Scene*~

(Continue to Common Route January 10)

(Back to Directory)

#donna #arcana famiglia #arcana famiglia 2 #january 1 #solar translations #psp game #translation #releases #donna route has a bunch of extra lines #and the ind. routes all have a unique scene #so each version of this event will get its own post

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dongiovannaswife · 3 years

Text

Family matters and hopeful wishes; the Giovanna’s.

!! twin’s birthday piece!!!! :D

CW: pregnancy mentions, talk about abuse (psychological; had to add this because not only helps with my mental health, it also adds to the storyline uwu ), brief mention and consumption of alcohol. Aside from that, happy moments!

July 13, 8:05 PM. Giovanna’s mansion.

With a satisfied sigh, Lena places the notebook in the coffee table, leaning back into Giorno’s hold —he hums in the same tone, settling in with his wife in his arms, bringing her closer.

“We’re all set, it seems?” Mista stretches his arms out, humming in the process when his bones crack and his back straightens with the action. “I wanna see their little faces —they’re gonna love this!”

Giorno nods, smiling. “That’s for sure: it’s their first birthday party,” he looks at his wife, eyes softening. “We wanted to make it extra special.”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Westwood joins in. “Dude, the only thing that kinda bothers me, in a good way, it’s that uh… They will want me to be the other bear.”

Lena laughs, shaking her head. “I mean, we knew that from the start, didn’t we? But they love this show, so… Someone will have to be the third bear.”

Giorno chuckles, “After all, you introduced them to it.”

Westwood laughs, dropping his hands into his thigh. “In my defense, Vittorio and Lorenzo watch it regularly —I just knew your mini Giogio’s would love it.”

“Aha,” Lena smirks, “And now you’ll be the third bear, right?”

Rising his hands in playful defeat, Westwood nods multiple times. “I’ll watch a marathon of it before the party —gotta be in character.”

The couple laughs and Westwood chuckles, looking down at the invitations on the table; the theme chosen by his bosses had been the boys’ favorite show, We Bare Bears. At the moment, the invitations laid in the table wrapped up and ready to be delivered to the respective families and friends. Underneath the notebook, the boy’s outfits for the day were ready and carefully displayed to show off: with their personalities starting to show and differentiate them from the other, Giorno and Helena had been quick to notice their preference.

Jovi, quiet but curious, had developed an interesting liking for Ice Bear, trying to mimic his talking. Of course, he was still his own person: he had no problem with trying to communicate with those around him, and would join his brother in his moments of excitement.

Dante, bubbly and friendly, would jump and agree (with little nods) with each decision Grizz expressed in the show, laughing hysterically. He’d start most of the conversations with his brother, would call for his mom when she’d tried to kiss his dad before him and his brother; a little jealous but always a loving and warm little boy.

Both of them were, in Westwood’s eyes, little Giogio’s: they could show some of Giorno’s personality, basked in Lena’s warmth and kindness. They truly were their parent’s blend; not just physically.

“Hey hey hey hey.” Mista interrupts just when Westwood’s about to ask for a costume shop, “If they love the show so much and you know they’ll ask for someone to be Panda then why don’t you give them a sibling? You know,” he raises his eyebrows multiple times, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Double the fun.”

Giorno shakes his head, smiling; Lena, trying to hide her blush, can only clear her throat and look around.

Westwood snorts, looking at his friend with a wrinkled nose. “What makes you think another baby would be ready around this time, Mista? Besides, do you remember that time we went out looking for horchata and elotes at four in the morning?”

Giorno’s laugh starts to fill the room, making Mista look back.

“Guys, please.” Giorno speaks up, smiling and letting his voice show how funny the conversation is. “I wouldn’t mind going out looking for those cravings —but right now, even if we do plan on giving them a sibling, we’ll take our time.”

Mista snorts now, “Okay, too much information.”

Westwood shakes his head, “You started it, Guido.”

Lena joins in after a moment of composing herself. “But seriously, we’re kinda worried about their stands so… While we see how they do, we’ll wait.”

The room goes silent for a second before Westwood asks back.

“How are you so sure they will be stand users? I mean, both of you are born stand users, yeah, but… Bocelli has said that’s not, like, the ultimate factor.”

Giorno hums, twisting his head when his wife shifts on her seat to plant a firm kiss into her forehead —her anxiety would sometimes manifest with her inability to keep herself under control; while it didn’t always happen, he could recognize the situation as a high stress inducing one.

He takes a deep breath before he replies, “Ever since we knew we were expecting, our stands have been there: first, when Gold Experience recognized their presence a few days after we both knew we were expecting twins. The day they were born, he was there, and so was Wire. From the moment we noticed they started to look around them, they’d always stare at the spot we knew our stands were.”

Westwood gulps down. “The boys have always sensed them.”

Lena hums. “They’re starting to see them now.”

Both Westwood and Mista look at each other, with Mista nodding multiple times. “That’s reasonable. I mean, waiting for another baby.”

Westwood cracks for the first time after the serious moment. “Dude, what if you end up having another set of twins.”

Mista shakes his head frantically, face contorting in fear. “Shut the fuck up, Carvelli! Four kids can’t be a good thing!”

Lena smirks —her smirk wide enough to show the row of white teeth, “I mean, if that bothers you, we can always try for another one.”

Giorno, sensing her change of demeanor in the way she leans into him, all relaxed and warm joins into her joke. “She’s right. Does five or six kids sound good to you, uncle Mista?”

Mista shakes his head rapidly, standing up. “You know what? I’m gonna go now, too much information about someone else’s babies.”

The couple laughs; between peals of laughter, Lena still speaks up. “Just kidding, Mista. Please stay for the night, it’s late.”

“Only if you promise I won’t hear anything more about this —just don’t.”

Giorno shakes his head, “You won’t. We were joking.”

Mista sits down again, huffing. “I just hope you end up with three kids and not four.”

Westwood facepalms. “Dude, shut up. Just do it; these two will keep teasing you.”

July 25. 8:09 AM.

Walking around the garden, hand in hand and coffee on the other hand, the couple makes sure every little detail is set before the boys’ party starts; the balloons hang around, held down at a reasonable height by the tables, where food and drinks are already set.

The chef, a man who owed Giorno a favor, sets the last details to the food, making sure to set the two themed cakes (although one could be enough, they wanted to make them feel equally special) in the middle.

Stopping by the cardboard cutout of the stack of the three bears, Lena sips her coffee, looking up at her husband. “I can’t believe they’re turning one-year-old.”

Giorno holds the cup from the lid after taking the last sip from it, looking down at his wife. The softest of smiles pulls at the corners of his lips, accompanied by the soft green of his eyes; pupils dilated from the sight of the woman by his side. “Yeah. So much has happened since they were born.” He looks back, off into the distance. “They truly are our blessings.”

Helena hums, setting her cup on the table besides them before she comes back to her husband. Passing her arms around his waist, she takes a deep breath before looking up, finding his eyes already on her. “Here’s to hoping they grow up healthy and happy.”

Giorno nods, closing his eyes for a second —praying to whoever who’s above; praying to anything that controls the world, that his little boys grow up better than he and his wife did.

And then he’s looking back at her, hope renewed and resolve shining through. “Let’s make it happen, then.”

Helena smiles, nodding. “Kissy first.”

He laughs, leaning down.

July 25. 10:54 AM.

The guest’s cars gathered outside the Giovanna’s mansion in a line, waiting for their turn to go through the security measurements: every car had to be scanned so no weapons of any kind would get in, even if all the guests had been selected thoughtfully: mostly friends and Lena’s closest family.

Once the cars passed through security, the next stop was Westwood, who took the keys from the guests and parked them in the underground parking lot. With Vivienne finally leading them into the mansion’s garden where they would be greeted by a waiter who’d give them a drink of their choice. Alcohol free, of course.

Standing by the entrance, with Giorno holding Jovi and Lena holding Dante, the small family greets the guests.

“Hellowww!” Dante grins, offering a bracelet with the date and a bear’s face in the front to Matteo, who stops right before him.

“My, my, look at you, aren’t you a little gentleman?” He smiles at the little boy, taking the bracelet from him. Next he looks at Giorno, who’s grinning down at his son. “Glad to see you again, Giogio,” he looks back at Lena, giving her a nod. “Mrs. Giovanna, thank you for the invitation.”

Helena smiles, returning the nod. “Please call me Lena, it’s okay.” She looks down at Jovi when she feels him shift in her hold. The little one now holds a bracelet with another design; instead of it being a panda, it has a polar bear’s face in the front.

“Hellowww, siwr!”

Matteo melts, laughing as he takes the bracelet from him. “Thank you, Jovi. You’re so kind.” Ruffling the boy’s hair, he takes a look from afar, leaning back slightly. Noticing something, his mouth hangs open for a second, directing his words to the twins’ parents while his eyes go between the toddlers. “Hey, what do you feed them? They’re so big! Can they walk?”

Giorno snorts, “We feed them the usual, Matteo —but I guess it’s all genetics; we both come from families with tall people, so… It might be that.”

“Mhm.” Lena joins in, nodding and chuckling when Dante mimics her nodding. “They’re starting to walk, but we wanted to greet everyone together.”

“I see,” Mateo nods to himself, smiling gently at the couple before him. “Do you think we could help them walk around? We can keep them around so they greet everyone but…” he rubs the back of his neck, turning around to make sure no one’s waiting to come inside. Once he’s sure no one but Angelo is there, he turns back to Giorno, eyes shifting to Lena in the process. “It’s hard to say this, and I understand if it comes off as weird but… Gio, when we met… You were just a kid and now… Getting to see you like this, a gentleman with a family, I just feel like these boys are my grandsons.”

Giorno gulps down, blinking rapidly to try and process Matteo’s words.

His wife, sensing his astonishment, replies first. “Thank you, Matteo. I believe you’re part of this family… So, it’s okay to me. Will Angelo help you?”

Before he can reply, Giorno reacts.

“You know I grew up without a father, right? You are saying that… After everything you did to keep me safe… I just can’t say no. I’d be honored if you help them walk around for a bit.”

Matteo nods, gulping down —words are caught up on his throat, too much emotion makes it hard to speak. But as he takes Jovi from Giorno, both men relax, feeling the boy connect them.

Angelo steps in, muttering a whispered thank you to Lena as he takes Dante from her.

“Okay, friend, where do you want to go?” Setting him down, Angelo almost melts when Dante looks up at him; the picture is just too much. Dressed in a bear onesie and grinning with innocence in his eyes, Dante soon points at the center of the garden, where the fountain and the birds are.

“Okay, here we go.” Standing behind the little one, he places his hands on his upper arms, helping him maintain a standing position; like this, he makes a small movement, like a mimic so he gets the clue —and as soon as the boy senses it and realizes what’s going on, his little feet start moving fast, making him walk up to the fountain.

Lena smiles from her spot, holding onto Giorno’s arm: then, both turn to look at Matteo, seeing him do the same with Jovi, but instead of going up to the fountain, his destination is Lena’s brother.

“Gio, are you okay? He just said something quite strong.”

Giorno hums, looking down at her. Almost like she grounds him, he gets lost on her for a moment; her dress, of the same color as his eyes, makes her skin stand out, even if she looks paler, he thinks it suits her. The Giovanna’s family crest hangs from the necklace Ariel and Rohan made —she looks calm, ready to help him out.

“I’m okay.” He finally speaks up, slowing down when she blinks slowly, mesmerized with the sharp trace of her eyeliner. “It’s just that… A father figure was never present… To have him saying that… It hits home. Especially because I never met him.”

Dio Brando. The tales told about him would put a scowl on Giorno’s face, bring tension to the Joestars’ he knew, but to him, thinking of him as his father was strange: even more with the fact that, biologically speaking, he was the son of two men and one woman. Joestar and Brando blood ran through his veins: sometimes, when he had to stain his hands, the thought of his Brando side slipping further than the predominant Joestar one would terrify him.

Not to say that both Matteo and Bocelli seemed to think of him as their son —then again, it seemed curious but overwhelmingly heartwarming.

“Yo, Gio!” Josuke’s voice brings him out of his thoughts as he and Krys walk up to the entrance. Lena squishes his arm, giving him a loving smile that ends up grounding him as they turn to greet the couple.

“Kryyys!” Lena grins, letting go off him to embrace her friend. They sway from side to side between giggles before pulling apart. When Krys gives her the bags with the twin’s gifts, Lena turns to the table, taking a bracelet for her.

“Thank you for coming, Krys! I know you’re both busy, but we’re truly happy to have you here today.”

“It’s nothing, really.” Krys looks on, seeing Giorno and Josuke seize their strength in the way men always do —grinning now, she looks back at Lena. “We’re so happy to be here —where are the birthday boys?”

Lena nods, turning to gesture at both boys from their spots in the garden. “Ever since they took their first steps, all they want is to walk more. Of course, they still need help.”

Krys squeaks, “Can I help them, too?”

Lena chuckles, “Of course, I’m sure you’re not the only one: everyone has said the same.”

“In our collective defense, they’re just too cute.”

Helena smirks, tilting her head to the side as Josuke waves at her, trying to make Krys follow him in his excitement to greet the little ones. “I know.”

“Well, look at you, proud parents of twins, aren’t you, Giovanna?” Rohan Kishibe speaks up, walking up to the garden’s door with his arm around Ariel’s shoulders: in her arms, Ellie takes a nap, grasping at the blanket draped over her.

“Kishibe.” Giorno nods acknowledging him, a smirk tugs at his lips; playful. “What can I say? I’m sure your little girl makes you weak too.”

Rohan chuckles, shaking his head. “You have no idea.”

“Ariii.” Lena mutters as she gets closer, careful with her approach so Ellie doesn’t get startled by her sudden presence. Greeting her friend with a kiss on the cheek and a small squeeze to her forearm, Lena leans over, looking over Ellie with the softest of looks.

“She’s so cute, Ari.”

Ariel hums softly, looking down at the baby in her arms —the calm and love that radiates off her is magnificent, pure love at its finest. Looking up at her friend, Ariel blinks back tears, “I know, thank you.”

“Come inside, yes?” Lena murmurs her response, taken aback by Ariel’s reaction. Guiding her inside, she makes sure Ariel takes a seat, bringing a glass of water and her respective bracelet with the bear’s face. “We’ll start soon, yeah? I’ll send Rohan to you.” Winking playfully in an attempt to cheer her up, Lena goes back to Rohan and Gio.

“Han, I think Ari needs you.”

Looking back at the table she’s in, Giorno hums in approval. “Yeah, man. I’ll talk to you later, yeah? We can reserve the boxing for tomorrow if you decide to stay over.”

“Yeah, we’ll see.” Rohan waves off, walking up to Ariel as fast as he can —not without noticing the twins walking around: Lena’s brother helps Jovi and Pietro helps Dante.

Rushing to their table and shifting his chair to sit directly next to her, Rohan passes an arm over Ariel’s shoulders, eyes full of concern when he searches for her eyes. “What’s wrong, love? Did she—”

“I’m okay,” she wipes a single tear with her thumb, carefully so she doesn’t pick her eye or skin. “Just got emotional.”

Rohan nods, leaning to kiss her forehead. A lingering kiss that makes her sigh.

“Helloooooww!” Dante almost runs up to them, making Pietro sweat nervously as he tries to keep the little boy safe.

“Baby, it’s Dante!” seeing the boy greet them, Ariel’s mood lights up, eyes shining when the boy tries to walk up faster. Rohan, seeing the desperation in his little face, stands up quickly, meeting him halfway.

“Hi, little friend.” Exchanging a look with Pietro, both agree on letting the mangaka take care of the little one.

Taking Dante in his arms and walking back to Ariel, Rohan sits down again, helping him sit on his lap.

“Hi, Dante, how are you?” Ariel murmurs as soon as he’s settled down, eyes softening when the boy grins up at her., nodding in affirmation.

“Bidday!” he signals himself, grinning from ear to ear: his green eyes seem yellow for a moment as the sunlight hits them when the wind blows, lifting the canopy enough to let a small ray of sun pass through. As soon as it happens, though, the canopy’s fabric goes back to its place and Dante’s eyes look green again.

Mesmerized but keeping it together, Ariel grins, speaking up. “Yeah, it’s yours and Jovi’s birthday! How old are you turning?”

The boy shrugs, searching for his parents —turning around, he soon finds his dad. Giorno is not facing them, busy welcoming someone from the Foundation, but he seems to recognize him and, pointing at him, Dante looks back at Ariel with big question eyes. “Dadda?”

Rohan speaks up this time. “You want to ask your dad?”

The boy nods, looking up at the mangaka.

Rohan softens, combing his hair carefully. “You’re turning one-year-old.”

Dante’s mouth hangs open as Rohan holds up a finger to explain to him, wrapping his hand around his —then, he giggles just as the sound system comes to life, keeping a happy tune at a comfortable volume as the microphone comes to life too.

“Thank you for joining us today.” Lena’s voice comes through the speakers and Dante looks on, trying to see his mom. “We’re here to celebrate our boy’s birthday, we set a variety of games —food will be served soon. Enjoy and again, thank you for your presence.”

She gives a smile to everyone, turning off the microphone and setting it at the table where Pietro is already taking care of the controls for the sound system.

Giorno walks up to the Kishibe’s table, Jovi in one arm.

“Ari, Han. May I take my little man over there?”

Ariel smiles, nodding multiple times. “Of course,” she waves at the little one as Rohan gets him closer to his father, “See ya, little one!”

Holding both boys, one in each arm, Giorno walks back to the center of the party, where the first game is already set and ready. Jovi fiddles for a moment, holding onto Giorno’s deep purple shirt, but let’s go soon when his mom shows him the cardboard cutout of his favorite character.

Sitting them down at the center of the game zone, in the white blanket, Giorno soothes both boys as Lena walks up to the game.

Hidden under a white blanket, she soon pulls the fabric aside, revealing three cardboard figures standing before them, with sectioned body parts: the goal in the game is to complete the bear in question.

“Anyone volunteer?” Giorno asks the crowd, grinning when some adults seem to go back into their childhood, raising their hands.

“’Kay, ‘kay, two volunteers then; Lorenzo and…” he looks around the crowd, laughing when Mista jumps from his spot, arm raised high. “Mista.”

Both Lorenzo and Mista rush to the front, each kneeling besides one boy.

“Okay, friend, who do you want to do?” Mista mutters, watching the boy grin and clap his hands. Throwing up his arms in excitement, Jovi replies with a high-pitched tone. “Panda!” he points at Westwood, who stands nearby, “Uncwe Wes’!”

Mista laughs at Westwood’s face, helping the boy walk up to the cardboard box. “Let’s do this, buddyyyy!”

The evening goes by between games, food and finally, after the cake, the boys crawl into their parent’s laps, hugging them and sinking into peaceful slumber.

“Well,” Rohan chuckles, looking at the couple. “I guess they’ll open their presents later.”

Ariel nods, chuckling low as she looks back from under the blanket draped over her shoulder, making sure Ellie’s correctly latched. “They’re just one, dear, they might be full of energy, but you know… Kids tend to get all worn out soon.”

“Mhm,” Rohan hums, lifting his glass to his lips. Settling it down, he reaches for Ari’s glass, offering it to her. “I guess you’re right.”

“Look.” She calls, taking her glass. Following her eyes, Rohan looks back, just in time to see the beautiful scene evolve before them.

Giorno and Helena had never been the type of couple to kiss publicly. Never a fan of PDA, but the few slow kisses exchanged between them were proof of just how comfortable they felt surrounded with the people in that party.

It felt good to see them let go of the stress for a while.

“Should we imitate them?” Ariel murmurs and Rohan looks back at her, confused at first; but as soon as he locks eyes with her, the way she blinks so slowly and calculated makes it all come together.

Humming low, Rohan leans closer, lips barely an inch from hers when he whispers, “I love you.”

In the back, slow music starts to play: a moment for all the couples there to dance and embrace each other in the orange sunshine from Naples’ sunset.

Leaning onto his chest with Jovi in her lap, Helena’s eyes shine when she tilts her head back, finding Giorno’s gaze already on her. Even when he’s keeping Dante’s plush there so the boy doesn’t wake up in case it falls off, his gaze still holds all the attention and love he has for her; his arm, draped around the backrest of the couch, drops slowly until it rests around her shoulders, bringing her closer —his hold around her unifies the small family physically. With the boys sleeping in their hold, Giorno and Helena look down at them, leaning into each other when the boys sigh happily.

It’s only when Giorno leans into her ear to murmur something that Matteo pulls out his phone, pointing the camera at them carefully, his eyes show only pride: happy to have saved and have helped that little boy back then, just to get to see him turn into the man he’s looking at now.

Leaning closer, Giorno’s eyes go between her eyes and her lips, seeming to take her in before he steals a slow first kiss; pulling back, a goofy smile takes over him when she chuckles into his lips, stealing a kiss of her own now.

Matteo snaps a picture just when both smile into each other’s lips. Now, the boys look up at their parents, seeming to sense the change of atmosphere around them, their little faces full of wonder when their parent’s love radiates off waves from them.

“Whatchu doing, dude?” Mista murmurs, taking a seat in Matteo’s table. He, silent, points at the couple with his eyes. Soon after, when Mista’s already seeing the commoving scene, his phone is out and recording.

“Mamma, dada!”

The couple pulls back, looking down at their sons.

“What’s wrong, buddy?” Giorno asks, combing Jovi’s hair. The boy, grinning from ear to ear, shifts on his mother’s lap until he’s standing in her lap with her hands on his waist supporting him. The little one laughs before he’s hugging his mom, shoving his little face onto Lena’s —only to get smothered in little kisses afterwards.

Giorno laughs, turning to Dante just in time for him to stand up on his lap, and throwing his arms around his neck, the little one rests his head on his shoulder, humming happily.

From behind the camera, Mista sighs, ending the recording. “Dude, those boys are... My heart, I can’t take it.”

Matteo nods, snapping another picture, one so perfect it shows all the members of that family grinning from ear to ear. For a fraction of second, an image flashes before his eyes.

There's a third kid, a girl. A girl with light brown curls and gems as eyes.

He smiles to himself —his stand did it again: showed him the future.

“Trust me, Guido.” He looks back at the gunslinger, nodding when the younger man looks at him. “They’re full of life.”

Mista nods, but as soon as he looks back at the couple, his smile turns into a slight scowl.

“Uhm, not for so long… Her mom is asking Gio something.”

Giorno’s eyes shot forward, directly into Mista. Almost like he knew he was looking the whole time; when Lena’s parents leave, Mista reacts.

“Holy…” the gunslinger stands up quickly, impressed with the Don’s action —as soon as his surprise comes it goes away as he walks up to the Donna, taking the sleepy boy from Giorno. Matteo, sensing Lena’s discomfort with the sudden event, walks up to her, standing by her side.

“Whatever it is, I’m sure he can handle it.”

Lena looks up at the older man, eyes full of worry. Her voice reduced to only a whisper: Matteo can barely hear her.

“That’s the issue, you never know what will happen with them.”

Matteo gulps down, seeing Giorno follow his parents in law. The way he walks makes him know Giorno’s guard is up… And he doesn’t like it.

“¿Qué pasa?”” ‘what’s wrong?’ Giorno asks as he gets in the kitchen from the back door, the one that leads to the garden.

Helena’s mom, a short woman with jet back curly hair crosses her arms under her chest, standing in the middle of the kitchen. Her father, a tall man with light brown hair slicked back, leans on the counter, eyes fixed on him.

He had heard his stories multiple times: a former soldier who kept the look. That look they’d carry during work. He had seen it in the eyes of one of his men. He knew it by now, and it didn’t have an effect on him.

“Comprendo que están molestos, pero si no me hablan no podré hacer nada.” ‘I understand you’re upset but if you don’t talk to me I’m afraid can’t do anything about it.’ Crossing his arms over his chest too, Giorno stands before them, chest puffed out and back straightened to stand to his full height. It’s an involuntary movement, but as soon as he finds himself in that position, he knows there’s no way back.

The woman before him is smart, knows how to intimidate with her voice. But he’s having none of it. Two can play a game.

And so he waits for her to talk; his silence says more than a million words.

After a moment of silence, María speaks up. “No tienen idea del daño que le están haciendo a esos niños; no saben cómo criarlos.” ‘you have no idea of the damage you’re infringing into those kids; you don’t know how to raise them.’

Giorno arches an eyebrow, voice perfectly calm when he replies back; his accent slips for a brief second, but it soon goes back to a neutral accent. “Con todo el respeto que me merece, pero no creo que usted sea la indicada para decir eso. Además, ¿quién nace sabiendo cómo ser padre?” ‘With all the due respect you deserve, I don’t think you’re the right person to say this. Besides, who’s born knowing how to parent?’

María huffs, dropping her arms to her sides in exasperation. “No me hables así, Giorno. Lo único que dije es que están malcriándolos. Te repito; no saben criar a un niño.” ‘Don’t talk to me like that, Giorno. I only said you’re spoiling them way too much. I repeat; you don’t know how to raise a kid.”

Giorno’s façade falls right there, letting his bottled up rage escape: all the nights he stayed awake, holding Lena and hearing her talk about all the things this woman had said and done, all those times he had to reassure her it was okay to feel, to be human.

All the times she had asked if they had enough money, all the times she wondered about overworking herself. He wasn’t mad about losing sleep or wiping her tears; he was mad with her. With them. All those times, all he could feel as sadness and rage: at that moment, his rage was about to escape; and he wasn’t going to let them go away without giving them a piece of his mind.

And so Giorno scoffs, looking around the kitchen. Disbelief falls into his eyes when he looks back at the older woman. His accent, now a mix of rough and soft vowels and consonants, comes off stronger as his emotions start to blend in. “Ah, ¿estamos hablando de cómo no criar a un hijo? Entonces permítame cuestionarla, María. ¿Qué clase de madre insulta a su hija? Mejor aún, ¿qué clase de padres tratan a su hija como la terapeuta familiar? ¿Por qué hacerla sentir como una máquina, presente sólo para servir y no sentir?” ‘Oh, are we talking about bad parenting? Then, let me question you, María. What kind of mother insults her daughter? Better yet, what kind of parents treat their daughter like the family therapist? Why making her feel like a machine, only there to serve and not feel?’

He looks between the couple before him, a dangerous smirk settling in. “¿Por qué se burlaron de ella cuando lloraba? ¿Por qué traumatizarla?” ‘Why did you mocked her for crying? Why did you traumatize her?’

The woman laughs, bitter and venomous. “¿Qué tanto te mintió? ¿Le vas a creer?” ‘How many lies did she tell you? Are you gonna trust her?’

Giorno doesn’t stutter, frown increasing when he looks briefly at the older man before him; the way he looks at him makes him know the conversation is a win for him. “Sí, le creo. ¿Sabe por qué? Porque por mucho tiempo la vi llorar y sufrir por eso.” ‘Yeah, I trust her, wanna know why? I saw her crying and suffer about everything for a long time.’

The door to the kitchen opens and Helena steps through it, lips in a tight line; expression unreadable. Giorno can sense her empty calm from his spot.

“¿Por qué sigues criticando todo lo que hago? ¿no te fue suficiente con lo que hiciste hace años?” ‘Why do you keep criticizing everything I do? Wasn’t it enough with what you did in the past?’ She walks up to her mom, stopping before her. When the older woman moves slightly to step back, she quickly puts distance, coming to a stop besides’ Giorno, where she reaches for his hand.

Giorno’s hand envelops hers in a second, squeezing slightly to make her know he’s there, ready to step in.

“Sólo decíamos que están criando mal a los niños. Se van a lastimar, ¿qué no tienen dinero de sobra como para comprarles lo que necesitan?” ‘We were just saying you’re rising them the wrong way, don’t you have enough money to buy them what they need?’ her father interrupts, looking between her and Giorno.

Lena shakes her head, “Él ya les explicó. Si de criar mal a un hijo se trata, entonces yo no debería recordarte a ti insultándome ni a mi papá ignorando necesidades económicas. Y antes de que digas algo más, no tengo ganas de seguir discutiendo esto; por favor, ya saben dónde está la puerta.” ‘He already explained it. If it’s about how not to raise a kid, then I shouldn’t remember you insulting me or dad ignoring economic necessities. And before you say anything else, I’m not in the mood to keep discussing this; please, you know where the door is.”

The older woman turns red, turning around and storming out of the kitchen, followed by her dad, who makes sure she’s looking at him so he can shake his head disapprovingly.

The silence in the kitchen barely exists with the music still in the background. But as she turns to him with a trembling lip and a prominent frown, Giorno can hear in the silence of her lips the pain of her soul.

“Perdón.” ‘sorry’ she murmurs, blinking back tears so she doesn’t ruin her makeup.

He, along with the rage of his soul, can only squeeze her hand. Voice dropping a few octaves; accent rougher. “No es tu culpa.” ‘it’s not your fault.’

The door opens again and this time, Ariel and Rohan show up —the latter keeps Elllie in his arms, cradling her closer as they step into the kitchen.

“Is everything okay, Gio, Lena?”

Giorno shakes his head, trying to dismiss his anger for later; to try and find a simple explanation to what just happened. “Some people never change.”

Ari presses her lips together for a second, noticing the way Lena’s still shaking, hand clasped around Giorno’s in an attempt to ground herself to the present as her eyes stare at a point in the ground, filled to the brim with tears that don’t fall. Stepping closer, she makes sure to let her know she’s there, “Hey, let’s get your makeup fixed, should we?” extending a hand out, Lena takes it quickly, letting go off Giorno’s hand automatically as Ariel starts to lead her out and into the bathroom upstairs.

“Man,” Rohan leans into the counter, looking down at Ellie with sad eyes. Giorno’s silence starts to get terrifying as time goes by. “I’m really sorry. Had we know this would happen…”

“We thought they were changing. We wanted to give them an opportunity.” Giorno gestures at the door their wives just crossed. “But as you can see, now she’s having…” he passes a hand down his face, huffing in exasperation. “If it wasn’t for Ellie I would be cursing in languages I don’t even speak. And I don’t even… Curse.”

Rohan sighs. “Should I use Heaven’s door on her so she forgets about this for a while?”

Giorno shakes his head. “Sadly, that won’t work. Every time she remembers that exact moment, when her mother insulted her for the first time, it… Just breaks her. I’ve tried to help her sort through it, but it’s a traumatic memory we haven’t found a way to make her get over.” He throws his hair back with his fingers, pulling slightly at the ends so the pain of it grounds him. “I… knew they’d end up doing something like this soon, but not today. She was so excited for today.”

Rohan sighs again, feeling his throat close. “I could always rewrite that part of her, you know? Make that memory have another effect. Something that doesn’t leave her on the edge.”

Giorno looks at him for the first time, “Thank you. I’ll let her know. Right now…” he looks around the kitchen, walking up to the highest cupboard. He opens it, watching inside of it without even having to stand on his tiptoes. Reaching inside, he retrieves a bottle of tequila and a shot glass. He sets both in the counter before Rohan. “Sadly, she always feels better after something strong, like this one —grounds her completely.”

Rohan frowns —while not opposed to it, he’s weirded out by the way Giorno just pours the shot in the small glass. Not more, not less. “The… lime, the salt?” he asks, seeing him get the bottle back into the cupboard.

Giorno shakes his head. “She likes it pure. Interesting right? Most Mexicans I know drink their shots without the lime and salt; they’re just… like that. It’s a strong taste, I admit, but… The way it burns your throat and tongue definitely feels good.”

Rohan squints when Giorno just leans on the counter, eyes closed and muscles tense.

“Are you okay, Gio?”

Giorno sighs. When he looks back at Rohan, all his pain seems to have gone somewhere else; maybe, and just maybe, he’ll save his tears for later. Rohan could understand the pain from seeing his wife hurt, he had seen Ariel and the effects her family had left after years of abuse… And seeing Giorno react like this, fierce and overprotective, made him know he was not the only one wishing to fix it all. All because none of them wanted to see their wives suffering.

“Yes, just… Sometimes you need to use the pain… And make it your motivation.”

“You mean your fuel?”

“Hmh. One just can’t go around letting feelings take over easily. Sometimes the solution falls somewhere else.”

Rohan hums. Opening his mouth to speak, he’s cut out when Ellie starts getting fussy, moving around and smacking her lips.

Giorno walks up, standing beside Rohan and reaching out, he pulls Ellie’s blanket aside to see her face clearly. “Seems like someone’s hungry… And needs a change.”

Rohan chuckles, grinning up at the Don. “Sixth sense, Giovanna?”

Giorno nods, walking up at the door Lena and Ari crossed a while ago. “Fatherhood changes you, Han. You’ll see it soon: the pregnancy part was just the start.”

Rohan opens his mouth to reply when Giorno reaches out, opening the door for Ariel and stand beside it while he holds it open, seeing his wife come in behind Ariel.

“Lena,” he calls, closing the door and walking up to his wife. Putting his hands on her shoulders just when he’s before her, he waits until she looks up at him. All trace of her tears gone, but the sadness in her eyes still remains. Deeply and longing.

Pressing his lips in a tight line, he takes a deep breath before asking. “I poured you a shot of tequila —we can sit outside so you can drink it.”

She hums, “Yeah, that’s okay. Besides, it’s getting late. The guests will start leaving soon.”

Rohan and Ariel fiddle for a moment with Elli until she whimpers, uncomfortable.

“Ari,” Lena calls out, pointing at the direction they just came from. “You can change her in the bathroom or a guest’s rooms: please, make yourself at home.”

“Mhm, thank you, Lena. Will you be okay?”

“I will, thank you.”

Ariel and Rohan walk up to the bathroom, ready to change Ellie and probably set her down for a nap.

As they go back to the garden, sitting on the couch they were minutes ago, Matteo and Mista stay there, surrounding them as Lena gulps down the shot, exhaling so the strong liquor doesn’t burn her throat.

In Giorno’s eyes, it looks like she just drank water.

“Thank you, Mista. Matteo. Could you leave us alone?”

Both men nod, settling the boys back into Giorno’s arms so Lena can take a moment to rest.

The guests are still dancing, unaware of what just happened.

“Gio.”

“Yes?”

Settling down the empty shot glass, she twists around to take Jovi from him, laying him down on her torso: as she does, she leans back so the baby sleeps comfortably. Only when she settles down and Dante moves until he’s comfortable in Giorno’s arms, she speaks up.

“Gio,” she repeats, almost like she’s unsure of her next words. “I’m scared to be like her. To put them,” she looks down at the twins, eyes softening. “To put them through all that.”

Looking on, Giorno takes a moment to see their guests dance, taking said moment to think.

“The circumstances are different, tesoro.” He starts, looking over at her with kind, calm eyes. “What you went through was the result of a marriage that lacked communication and commitment. I think you mean you don’t want to reflect your insecurities on them; you don’t want to hurt them like she did, you don’t want them to take on the parent role at a young age; and while you and I know that won’t happen because we are different, you don’t want to end up overprotecting them.”

He takes a moment to think again about his next words, seeing her look up at the night sky, thinking about what he just said; her face shows it.

“But guess what, you’re letting them explore without falling into the overprotective side. That says enough… We just, you know, gotta keep on like this. And I know it’s hard, because I don’t want them to be alone, but I don’t want to end up being intrusive with their personal space or their thoughts just because I grew up alone.”

Lena speaks up now, slow and holding a hint of realization. “We’re balancing it all.” She grins now, looking back at her husband: the glint in her eyes is back, and Giorno can see life running through them once more.

“We’re doing it just right.” He confirms, nodding and grinning when she scoots closer with the baby still in her arms —trying to do it fast, but slowing down due to Jovi. Holding Dante with one arm and draping the other over the backrest of the couch, she’s back in his arms, basking into his warmth.

“I’m so glad… I didn’t realize until now.” She murmurs into his lips, leaning on his bicep.

“Well, now you know it.” Mumbling back, Giorno tilts down his head, just enough to steal a kiss and lastly, whisper. “Let’s enjoy the rest of the party, shall we? I believe it’ll end soon.”

“Thank you for coming,” Giorno bows his head at Angelo as he walks up to the door, receiving his car keys shortly after. “You’re invited tomorrow —they’ll open their gifts.”

“Oh?” Angelo smiles, lighting up. “Really?”

Lena nods, swaying slightly when Dante hums, almost awakened with the sound of Pietro’s laughter in the distance. “Yeah, we know you all put a lot of effort into their gifts, so… Yeah.”

Angelo nods in excitement, grinning from ear to ear. “I’ll be here —which hour?”

“Eleven.” Giorno replies this time, receiving a pat in the back from Matteo as he puts his hat on. “We’ll be here, Giogio. Count on us.”

“Thank you.”

Matteo and Angelo get into their car, waving one last time.

“Don’t fucking take our gift from them, Giovanna.” Another voice joins in, rough and pissed, but masking something underneath the tone.

Leone Abbacchio mumbles something to Mar as both come to a stop before the Giovanna’s.

With a smirk, Giorno nods, replying; “Good night for you too, Leone.”

Abbacchio huffs, rolling his eyes much to Mar’s dismay.

“Sorry,” she starts, patting Leone’s arm rather hard. “Thank you for inviting us; if the invitation for tomorrow is still up then we’ll be here gladly.”

Lena chuckles, amused. “Of course it is, thank you for coming.”

Event; the boys will open your gifts!!

#i feel like this is not my best work :/#The Giovanna twins #GioLena #i am this close )( from revealing their stands but idk yet aksjdksldj #q

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