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duskspring · 6 months

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Cared For - Dewdrop Fic

Based on these posts by @cirrus-ghoulette. I'd like to also thank them again for beta/ sensitivity reading. Everyone go check out their posts!!

Summary: Dewdrop hasn’t really gotten used to the chronic illnesses he gained after his transition into a fire ghoul didn’t go according to plan. Luckily, his friends are there to support him.

Content (please tell me if I forgot anything): Chronically ill Dew, kinda angst, kinda hurt/comfort, friendship

Word count: ~2.2k words

[Read on AO3]

One, two, three, four…

Dew counted the tiles on the wall.

Five, six, seven, eight…

They were all plain white.

Nine, ten, eleven, twelve…

He had to really focus to not have them blend together in his vision.

Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen…

A hard enough task, with the constant stabbing pain in what felt like every last joint in his body.

Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty…

This was far from the first time he’d counted those tiles.

Twenty one, twenty two, twenty three, twenty four…

There wasn’t much else to do in between people’s visits.

Twenty five, twenty six, twen-

“Afternoon, Dew.” Aether announced his presence. He sounded happy, but subdued, as if being too happy would break his friend. Like it could get any worse.

The sudden noise caused the, now, fire ghoul to look away from the tiles, losing where he was and causing him to give up the monotonous “game”.

“Hey,” He answered back, his voice way weaker than he would have liked.

“How’s today been?”

“Same old, same old.” It’s not that Dew didn’t wanna talk. In fact he was desperate for any kind of distraction and interaction. But truly, what was there to say to a question like that? “Just counting tiles.”

Aether still smiled as he walked to his friend’s side, though it looked a lot more pitiful this time.

Dew hated that. He hated being looked at with that pity. It was bad enough that his transition into a fire ghoul backfired, a transition he was hesitant about to begin with, but to now only be viewed as someone to feel bad for hurt him perhaps more than anything.

“Don’t look at me like that.” His voice was a lot more agitated than he intended.

Aether sighed, himself also unsure of how to deal with what had happened or how to best support his bandmate, “How about we go out for a bit?”

That caught Dew’s attention. He nodded, the motion way smaller than he wanted it to be, considering his neck was quite achey.

After a moment, Aether looked at him expectantly and he knew exactly why. He was waiting for him to get up. And he tried, he really did, but his body simply didn’t respond. The most he got was a twitching in his arm and another sharp jab of pain through it.

His friend noticed when he inhaled sharply, seemingly in the know of what was happening. He wordlessly looked to the corner of the room where a wheelchair was sat waiting, then looked back at Dew questioningly.

The fire ghoul thought he might burst into tears. How could he, the one that once ran and stomped and worked his way over the stage be reduced to this? Someone who couldn’t even sit up on his own? He’d been told in the past not to think of himself this way. To not focus too much on the negative, but truly, how could he not on days like this?

He gave a deep sigh and nodded wordlessly again. Aether speed walked to the other side of the room to get the wheelchair. Before delicately lifting his friend into it, he made sure to help him dress up in some warmer clothes. Something that suited his personality way better than the standard infirmary pyjamas.

“Wait,” Dew said right before he was about to get wheeled away. He looked back to his bed and made a grabbing motion to the pushy there. It was a little stuffed dragon named Dio. It had been a gift from Secondo of all people, as a kind of apology or sympathy gift for the failed transition. In the past Dew wouldn’t have been caught dead carrying around a stuffed animal, but at this point he was beyond caring. Dio made him feel more comfortable and nowadays he deserved that feeling wherever he could get it.

Aether smiled and handed him the toy, before situating himself behind the wheelchair, “Onwards we go! The gardens are really pretty this time of year.” Aether said excitedly, trying to raise Dew’s spirit a bit.

The smaller ghoul was admittedly looking forward to some time outside, or really anywhere other than the infirmary that started feeling more and more like a prison each passing day.

Silence fell over the room once the two friends were out the door. It was surprisingly neat and cared for, mostly at the courtesy of Mountain coming in every other day to dust and clean. He wasn’t gonna let his friend waste away in a dirty space.

Speaking of the earth ghoul, he nearly jumped off the couch when he got the text from Aether ‘He’s out. Be quick.’.

“Alright, guys, it’s go time.” He didn’t wait for his other friends before grabbing the bag he had prepared and half jogging through the Ministry.

Today hadn’t been the first day Dew had complained about the inherent boring and monotonous life in the infirmary, so his friends, his current and former bandmates, had all come together to hatch a little plan.

With tools and some of Dew’s belongings in tow, they were gonna make that infirmary a home.

The crisp fall air woke Dew from what had felt like a week’s long slumber, although it might’ve been longer than that.

Though his friends were great at trying to keep him entertained and happy, the moments where he was alone, when everyone had some other business to attend to, he almost felt like he ceased to properly exist. Like he was stuck in a purgatory of pain and waiting for anything that would make the day stand out from those that came before it.

He didn’t recall the leaves being as yellow and red as they were now the last time he went out and it only further messed with his perception of time.

“Dew?” He snapped up at Aether’s mention of his name.

“Sorry, what?”

“I asked if you wanted to sit out on a bench somewhere.”

“Yes please.” Anything to spend more time outside.

Siblings of sin greeted him kindly when he passed, though most with that same pitiful look in their eyes.

Right as Dew was about to roll his eyes, “There he is!” Zephyr’s voice served as the perfect distraction.

The air ghoul was in a wheelchair as well, but he was able to wheel himself forward without help. Dew somewhat envied him for it.

“Good to see you got out today, it’s finally sunny again. Or maybe that’s just you.” Zephyr winked, getting a genuine smile, albeit a sarcastic one, out of Dewdrop, even if he tried to not let that be known.

“I guess the transition worked after all then.” He replied. Zephyr chuckled at that, and so did Aether, only after taking it that that reaction was acceptable.

“I’m glad you can still laugh. Stealing my quintessence bank from me, you prick.” Zephyr joked, referencing his own past with Aether’s assistance.

“As if Omega didn’t immediately replace him. If you want Aether back so bad, by all accounts, go get worse.”

“Don’t challenge me like that, you never know what my body might pull.”

It was nice for Dew to be able to talk with someone who had similar experiences, even if in many ways he and Zephyr were completely different. Although of course he wished the air ghoul all the best, it was good to know he wasn’t alone. Surely Zephyr in a way felt the same after being the only chronically ill ghoul for as long as he was.

“You wanna sit down somewhere? I know a good spot. And if it’s already taken we’ll just play the pity card.” Zephyr suggested, pouting exaggeratedly.

“Oh Satan, please not even more pity.” Dew did roll his eyes this time, genuinely so.

“Yeah, I hate to break it to you, but that’s never really gonna change.” The air ghoul said as he made a U-turn with his wheelchair leading his friends over to the seat he had mentioned before.

Being outside had been absolutely wonderful and part of Dew wished he could’ve stayed there forever. The other part of him, however, was exhausted and he knew that wouldn’t get any better.

After bidding Zephyr goodbye, Aether started making his way back to the infirmary Dew hated so much.

“Aether, I’m telling you right now I might just be asleep by the time you get me up there.” It was in part a jab at Aether’s extra slow walking speed, ever so delicate with his friend, and partially a genuine heads up.

“And we can’t have that can we?” No, they couldn’t. Dew needed to be awake for his surprise, “Off we go!” Aether put a good bit of strength into suddenly accelerating the speed at which he pushed Dew forward.

The fire ghoul took a surprised breath, but couldn’t help the smile on his face that came paired with this adrenaline rush.

“Aether, what the fuck. You’re gonna kill me!” He laughed, genuinely laughed, as his friend raced him through the halls.

“As if you've ever cared about safety.” The bigger ghoul retorted as he rounded a corner, “Sorry!” He then yelled back at a few siblings he nearly hit, causing Dew to only laugh harder. He hadn’t felt like this since the last time he was on stage.

He cheered and whooped as Aether caught his breath at the door, smiling at his friend’s enthusiasm.

“You’re still awake.” He noted victoriously.

“Alright, I’ll admit it. You win this time.” He knew it would be a matter of minutes before the adrenaline settled and he was back to exhaustion, but that didn’t matter right now.

Aether knocked on the door as he waited behind Dew for it to open.

Well, that obviously didn’t make sense. They had left the place empty, “Why the fuck-“

Before the question even left Dew’s mouth the door indeed swung open to reveal a proud looking Mountain.

“When you said ‘be quick’, I honestly expected worse.” He mentioned before stepping aside so Dew could be wheeled in.

One of his eyebrows was raised in confusion, but his expression quickly dropped to surprise as he took in the room before him.

There were a lot of people in there, more than he had seen together in a while. From faces he knew all too well like Ifrit and Terzo, to those he had only recently been introduced to like Copia, Cirrus, Cumulus and Swiss.

But what really caught his attention was the sheer amount of stuff that was in there. It barely felt like the infirmary anymore. The walls were lined with band posters, covering up those stupid, stupid tiles. Knickknacks, including his precious little statuette of Baphomet covered every shelf and windowsill. A rocking chair had been put in place of the uncomfortable plastic one he usually sat on when getting medical infusions. His guitar was hung up right next to his bed, a bed covered in his own bedsheets and a brand new blanket he could smell his pack mates’ scents on all the way from the doorway.

He accidentally dropped Dio to the ground in shock.

“Tadaaaa! Whatcha think?” Terzo gestures around with his usual showmanship.

Dew didn’t know how to respond. It was almost like he was unable to, rendered completely speechless.

Aether walked around to his front and crouched down to wipe away the few stray tears on Dew’s cheeks, “I hope it’s to your liking.”

The fire ghoul sniffled, “It could’ve been better.” He had meant to say it with his usual deadpan, but simply couldn’t help the smile and sob that involuntarily left him.

Aether moved a little closer and hugged him, even if Dew didn’t have the energy or strength to hug him back.

“This is only step one,” Ifrit smirked, “Everything has been miserable enough.”

Dew nodded solemnly, though the smile never left his face.

“Thank you,” He whispered, looking around the room.

“Absolutely no need for that.” Cumulus said.

“Yeah, man. We’re all here if ya need anything.” Swiss winked, a small callback to the secret weed smoking sessions he’d take Dew on some days when the pain got really bad. Well, maybe ‘secret’ was an overstatement. It was more so something Omega and Aether let slide.

Dew wanted to speak his thanks even more, to be able to get up and hug everyone, but he couldn’t help the weight of his eyelids. In a way that almost ruined his mood, just wishing he could enjoy everyone’s company. But he refused to let his mood be soured now. He only felt grateful for everyone’s effort.

“I think it’s time to go.” Cirrus noted quietly to the rest.

“Want me to stay tonight?” Aether asked Dew as the rest started gathering their stuff.

“Yes, please.” Dew’s head nodded, both in affirmation and sleepiness.

When everyone had said their goodbyes the quintessence ghoul helped his friend back into the infirmary sleepwear and laid him down carefully in bed.

Dew immediately clutched the new blanket to himself as much as his body allowed him to, taking in a heavy breath of his pack’s scents. His muscles relaxed into the bed as he settled in with Dio next to him.

Aether stayed by his side as promised, making himself comfortable in the new rocking chair and thanking Lucifer that he wouldn’t need to sleep on that old plastic seat anymore.

“Thanks again for today,” Dew mumbled barely audibly.

“No need. We’d do anything for you.” Aether smiled.

It was weird; even if his joints still hurt like hell and he wasn’t in his own bedroom, for a moment Dew got to feel like he was ok. Safe, happy, cared for. Some things really didn’t change after he did. And he couldn’t be more grateful for those.

[My masterlist]

#the band ghost fic #dewdrop ghoul #ghost fanfiction #sodo ghoul #the band ghost #nameless ghouls #ghost bc

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pro-mammonologist · 11 months

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HEAR ME OUT ON THIS

mammon accidentally going into the wrong hole but finds out you actually like anal a lot 🫣

Auoooop

Firstly, I will indulge however,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, he gonna need more than just Mc’s wetness to fuck but okay lemme see what I can doooo

He was panting, holding your hips up as his cock hammered inside of you, making you cry out his name repeatedly. He was in a daze, his only purpose right now being making you cum and making himself cum. He fucked harder and faster and—

“Ow! FUCK!”

He pulled out immediately as you yelled in pain. “Shit, what’s wrong? Did I do something?” He looked down to see your other hole slightly more stretched and he realized. “Oh did I—“

“Yeah…” You had tears in your eye and you looked back at him. “It hurt but it was okay.”

“So you’re okay to continue? I can keep fucking? Do you need me to stop?” Mammon was frantic, worried that he might’ve hurt you too bad.

“No, baby, you can keep going… actually… I wouldn’t be opposed to you fucking my ass. If you want.” You said, matter-of-factly. He looked at you, dumbstruck. He blinked a few seconds before responding.

“But—uh—well. You like that?” His thumbs traced circles on your ass cheeks.

“Yeah. Do you?”

“Pfft. Obviously, I’ve been fuckin longer than you’ve been alive. I will happily fuck your pretty little ass. Lemme get some lube.” He patted your ass and reached to your box of supplies. He pulled out his own lube. “I usually use this on myself when I bottom but, I think you get the luxury of feeling it now.”

It was cold and it made your hair stand up. You shifted slightly as his fingers traced around the entrance before pushing one in. You winced as his finger pushed inside and then pulled back out. “You okay?” He asked, prepping to add another.

“Yeah.”

He pushed in another and tried to scissor them apart, stretching you to the best of his ability. Then he added a third. His hands were nice and warm, especially the one that gently massaged your asscheek, working at the flesh. “Mc… you ready?”

You could feel your heartbeat quicken, especially as his fingers were now replaced with just the very tip, not even pressing in. “Yeah. Go ahead. Go slow though.” You told him, gripping at the sheets.

He pushed slowly, watching and feeling your every reaction. “Tell me you’re okay.” He said softly, his eyes half-closed as he felt the tightness of your hole clench him, pulling him further in. “‘S really good.”

“I’m okay, go all the way in, Mammon.” You could feel his skin press up against yours again, his cock now fully inside. “Mm.” You hummed, feeling his balls press against your wetness.

“Tell me to fuck you.” He said, his voice more assertive now. “Tell me you want me to fuck your tight ass.”

“Mammon…” You had a hate love relationship with this side of him. It was simultaneously so hot to see how cocky he was but also so embarrassing to make you ask for what you want. Even if he knew, he wanted to hear it, to hear you ask. To hear you beg a little bit. “Mammon, please fuck me. Fuck my tight hole.”

“Atta human… you love to please me, don’t you?” He moved slow, still wanting to make sure you’re okay. “You wanna cum from me fucking your ass, yeah.” His lace quickened as he felt you loosen up. He smacked your ass and you yipped.

“Mm! Uh huh!” You gave him an answer, even if it was weaker. “It’s good. Your cock is so good.” He loved how you whined under him, the way you sighed and moaned.

“I wanna cum all over you. Paint those pretty—“ he smacked your ass with each word “sensitive—“ his hand continued to hammer itself down “cheeks—“ it was ruthless but not painful “with all my—“ more smacks, now each cheek at the same time “fucking cum!”

“Fuck yes!” The sting was incredible, it was eye watering but oh so good. You craved more of him, but you weren’t sure all that you could handle. You didn’t expect for anal with Mammon to be this good… this incredible.

“Ah! Mc!” He was whining in-between his thrusts. “I’m getting close!”

“Fuck! Me too! Don’t stop. Tell me more!”

“More?” He sounded amused. “Like how fucking—ah ah—tight your ass is? Fuck, it’s good!” He leaned over on top of you and repositioned his knees so that they pressed onto your calves in a doggy mating press. “I’m gonna cum, Mc. I need you to cum. Your pretty ass is almost too much for me. I can feel how close you are, cum for me!” His hands were now on your sides, enveloping you. You could feel his hot breath on your ear.

“Mammon! Please, don’t stop. I’m cumming!” You cried out as your orgasm washed over you, only increasing enhancing Mammon’s as he reached his peak.

“Mc!” He pulled out and came all over your ass in streaks, his cum dripping down your ass and your legs, even some dripping down to your wetness, mixing with it.

You both caught your breath and he reached for a rag to wipe himself and you off. He didn’t give a shit how messy it was after he came or the lube everywhere, he could clean. But he couldn’t help but snap a picture of your pretty ass covered in his cum, presented before him like a trophy.

“Good?” He said.

“Good.”

#obey me #obey me shall we date #mammon x mc #mammon #mammon smut #obey me nightbringer

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shamrockqueen · 7 months

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Father figure

Pairing : Best Friend’s Dad Bucky x Reader

Warnings : Angst, Bad friends, Older man younger woman Dynamic, (age references removed and reader is recounting it as an adult)

Word count : 2167

AO3 page Link

Chapter 1 link

Chapter 2

Things stayed quiet, but at least they kind of got better. It had been a week or two since you’d welcomed Becky and her family back into your life.

A pounding at your window around 12pm woke you from an already uncomfortable sleep. You looked over at the drawn curtains, waiting for the sound again.

A *Knock knock knock* at the window of your ground-floor bedroom.

You pushed out of bed, readjusting your messy t-shirt and shorts as you groggily walked to the curtains. You weren’t surprised to see Becky on the other side of the glass, her dark hair nearly blending in with the night.

She didn’t look very happy, and her frustration was even more evident when she tried to jerk open the locked window. It wasn’t a new sight to see an angry Becky trying to force her way into your room, a popular choice of hers for when she had been out doing something she shouldn’t have and needed a place to hide before absconding by midnight.

"Open up!" You could hear her through the glass before you finally unlocked the window and pulled it up, and she immediately crawled past you.

"You can’t be yelling this late at night; you're gonna to wake my mom up."

"Whatever!" She stomped towards your bed before throwing herself onto it and grappling at one of your teddy bears.

You have a huff before shutting the window and locking it again.

"What’s wrong?" You slumped back onto the other side of the bed as you tried to find what made her mad this time.

"It doesn’t fuckin matter." A classic Becky move, but you’d played this game before, and with enough prying, you’d get her to talk instead of sulking into one of your old teddy bears.

"Clearly it mattered to you because you were here at almost 1 in the morning instead of asleep."

"Shut up!" She turned and tossed the bear at you, clearly choosing to act more like a child than her actual age.

"Keep your voice down. You wake my mom up, and she’s gonna kick you out again." You seethed before throwing the stuffed animal back at her, only to miss and hit the wall beside the bed.

Becky dropped her arms from above her head to her sides, hitting the bed with a thump. "Everything’s just so stupid; it fucking sucks." She grumbled, but at least she made an effort to keep her voice down.

"What happened?" You ask tiredly, rubbing your eyes as you wait for an answer.

"I called my mom today." She answered meekly. Conversations with her mom often brought out the worst in her, making it unsurprising that she’d snuck out to blow off steam.

"What’d she say?" You asked worriedly, not waking to try to break the already weak foundation that Becky stood on.

"She said I couldn’t visit her this summer. She said that she and STUPID Mason and their STUPID kids already planned their vacation, and that she can’t just change her plans at the drop of a hat because I want her to."

You just laid beside her, silent in the dark, as a sob cut through the air, and you turned to see streaks of tears training down her face. Becky had such a complicated relationship with her mom, especially when she often thought she had to compete with a new family.

"Why do you want to visit her anyway? You hate the twins, and you hate your stepdad." You say this quietly as you sit up to look at your friend. "Every time you visit, you call me to tell me how snotty they are and how crappy they treat you."

He huffed a small laugh before answering, "I know, but…it’s just that she doesn’t call anymore. She doesn’t visit. She doesn't care." She hugged the pillow as her voice grew weaker.

"That can’t be true; all moms have to care at least a little. I mean, you're her kid; she can’t just forget about you." You always tried to reassure her, but her face just continued to fall.

"It feels like she’s trying to."

"You still have your dad." Your words rang in your ears just as you said them. The memory of that night is still heavy in your mind. Just the way his psyche must have shattered to propel him to do what he did made you shudder a little.

"There’s something wrong with him." Every word added a little more weight to your heavy heart as she spoke. You feared how much she really knew and who she would be mad at the most.

"What do you mean?" You didn’t turn to look at her as you spoke, not wanting her to catch a glimpse of guilt in your eyes, even in the dark.

"He’s just been acting really off lately, like…he won’t talk to me, and it just feels like he’s trying to avoid me now. Ever since that party, he’s just shut off."

You could feel your stomach knowing together as she spoke. You have a very good idea why he’s acting so uncomfortably, but it’s not something you could tell her.

"He just doesn’t want to see you get like that. I mean, he is your dad; stuff like that is going to upset him."

"It’s not the same. He’s never been this upset before. It’s like he’s shut down or something." Her eyes start to tear up as she continues, "Maybe this time I finally made him snap."

"No way. It just has to be a lot of stress on him."

"I don’t know. Something’s just wrong."

The crack in your nerves deepened painfully as she spoke. You knew very well what was wrong and why. Something was wrong, very wrong, and there was nothing you could do to fix it now. You just stared out at the ceiling, waiting for her to talk again.

Instead, she seemed to nod off before you found the ability to even find sleep. No, you were still so shaken by the new knowledge you had found that you lay there motionless instead.

A small light lit up beside you. A notification beaming out into your room from where Becky’s phone sat on your charger.

You leaned out of bed as your eyes adjusted to the new source of light to see Mr. Barnes’ picture blink across the screen as the silent call fell to Becky’s voicemail.

You look back at her and then back at the phone, just tapping the screen to see the number of messages her father left her.

She sneaks out a lot, but she more than often ends up sleeping off her night on your bedroom floor. This gave Mr. Barnes at least some peace of mind not to go running out into the night for his daughter, but he was still her father and had desperately tried reaching out to Becky.

The first few times Becky had snuck out, it had caused a lot of trouble, and he’d come speeding through the neighborhood trying to find her.

Now, he could easily drive by and spot her bike propped up against your mailbox, giving him some peace of mind to at least know she was somewhere safe.

You let her phone screen fade before letting your eyes readjust to the dark to find your phone next to hers. You unlock it and tap on your contacts icon to dig up her father’s number.

His contact photo lights up the screen. A happy photo from when he’d taken you and Becky out to see Jurassic Park. An undone blue button-up, a white tank top, and a pair of shades making him seem so much more striking than he was before. Even the loose bun that held together his once shoulder-length hair brought new definition to his smiling face; it made it seem like more and more of a shame that he’d since cut it short.

Shaking the thought away, you tuck your phone to your side before looking back at the still-sleeping Becky and slipping out of bed and snuck towards the door. Becky still snored on the other side of the room as you ducked into the hall and towards the bathroom.

The hallway is just as dark and more eerily quiet as you looked over at your mother’s room, which sat only a few feet in the other direction. You let your eyes fall on to the lightly colored wood, turned to a gray hue under the heavy blanket at night.

You quietly and carefully cross through to the bathroom before letting yourself lean onto the sink to take a quick and nervous breath. You pulled your phone from where you kept it clasped to your chest and tapped in your password to open it again. His picture lights up the screen once again before your thumb slides over the call button.

You held it to your ear as it rang for a spell. Each extra ring made your heart beat just a little slower as you waited for him to pick up the phone.

When the voicemail popped up, a heavy breath you hadn’t realized you’d been holding onto escaped past your lips, and your heart sank into your stomach.

You ended the call without leaving a message, and you just leaned there before sitting back heavily onto the shaggy cloth toilet seat cover.

You took a few seconds before opening the phone back up and clicking the call button again.

The phone rang once, then twice…then it stopped abruptly, replaced by the sound of the other line being handled before a familiar voice filled the phone.

"Hey. Sorry, I uh…missed your call." You heard him take a deep breath before continuing with, "Is everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah. I just wanted to let you know Becky’s here. She’s still asleep right now." You spoke in a whisper, making sure not to wake up anyone in the house.

"Oh, thank God. How long has she been there?"

"I think she came straight over. I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner."

"No, it's fine. Thank you for letting me know." His voice didn’t seem fully relieved before he continued with, "D-did she tell you why she left?"

It was a question he hadn’t asked you before. He’d long since lost hope in understanding his daughter's misbehavior, but something in his voice seemed more fearful than before.

"I…um…just some drama with her mom, and…she." You almost couldn’t get the last few words out, as they choked up in your throat.

You stared at the tiled floor beneath your feet before finally finishing your sentence. "And she said that something seemed off. That you didn’t seem like yourself, I guess."

You could hear him swallow over the phone, taking a deep breath afterward before leaving an air of silence over the call.

"I am so sorry." He spoke so quietly that it almost couldn’t be heard over the phone. His voice was broken; it was so painful to hear it.

You opened your mouth to answer, but nothing came out. Your throat seemed to just close up as your fingers tightened around the phone until it shook a little in your hand.

"I…I can try to get her home after school tomorrow, Mr. Barnes." It’s all you could think to say. Anything to avoid discussing what had happened, how it had made you feel, and what the consequences would be.

"That would be a great help, but I can take care of it. Thank you." There was still something off with his voice, like a deep crack forming on what was once unbreakable glass. "Just make sure she gets to school, alright?"

"Yes sir."

"Thank you; now just get some sleep, ok sweetheart?"

The term of endearment made your heavy heart flutter for a single second before you answered, "Okay, goodnight, sir." And the call ended with a quick click.

You hold your phone back to your chest as you take a shallow breath, remembering all that had transpired between you and Mr. Barnes. The memory still made you feel an odd but warm sensation along your body, as well as a deep ache at the thought of the same memory causing him misfortune.

A knock at the bathroom door startled you. Making you jump back and hit the tiled wall with the back of your head.

You panic and flush the empty toilet beside you, trying to create an alibi and not wanting either person in the house to know about your phone call.

You quickly tuck your phone into your shorts pocket, switch on the sink, and start washing your hands.

"Hurry up." Becky’s voice through the door made the terrible feeling in your stomach curdle even further.

Finally, you open the door to Becky’s tired face before she pushes past you with a grunted "gotta pee."

You speedily walk back to the bedroom as the bathroom door clicks shut behind her.

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aspd-culture · 1 month

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What’s the difference between remorse and shame?

So remorse is inherent to having had done something wrong. While getting caught/the risk thereof, if someone got hurt emotionally or otherwise, the potential for social consequences, etc can *add* to that remorse, none of that is what causes it. Instead it is a societally built instinct that becomes an uncontrollable part of brain development quite early in life, though as we see in pwASPD it can be removed entirely or diluted by circumstances that make it useless, dangerous, or otherwise cause a child to believe other people don't feel that way. That instinct defines a bad and good and if you do something bad you feel this itch to make it up to anyone involved, to tell people what you did, to try and get forgiveness and atone for whatever it is you did, and even after all of that there will still be that feeling of remorse. It is this thing in the pit of your stomach nagging you about what you did wrong - not because of any effect it may have on you, and it occurs even if there is 0 chance it will affect you in any way - and not letting you forget about it.

Shame is a different social response, and in typical development, comes from perceived risk of social consequences (if people found out they'd hate me, so I must be bad and I shouldn't have done it) and a hit to self-esteem/self-worth on the basis that they did whatever they did. It can also come from PTSD as a trauma response, or OCD. As a trauma response, doing something that may have caused a valued adult or caregiver or even a friend that was taking a somewhat caregiving role for you will cause this shame as you risk falling out of favor with someone who is safe. You don't want them to see you in a negative light because their opinion of you directly affects how you feel about yourself. As an OCD obsession it can come from being either labelled as bad as a child and your brain taking that in and becoming extremely paranoid about good vs evil and which side you stand on, or for someone who is kind and caring and "good" by social standards and values that, as an attack on something you value most - as that is what OCD does by definition. Shame is a part of the anxiety needed to keep humans in packs back when we were surviving in small groups in the "wild" rather than in established towns/cities/civilization of any sort. If a human were to be cut off from the pack due to distaste towards them, it would be the end of them almost certainly. Humans were weaker to the elements, starvation, dehydration, and predators at the time, so you needed the protection that came in numbers both for the ability to keep food/water/shelter around and for the fact that animals were less likely to attack a group of humans than a single one. It was literally life or death if people liked you enough to keep you around, and so there is a very strong response built into humans' brains to keep social favor towards them - that's what we call shame.

So shame has something to do with how you view yourself or how others view you (and the potential consequences thereof), while remorse is an instinct that does not care about consequences, whether anyone knows, your opinion of yourself, etc. Remorse just is because of the fact that you did the thing. It's considered disingenuous to apologize or attempt to make amends exclusively on shame, and remorse is a large part of the social dance expected when someone knows you did something wrong. In fact, perceived remorse is a large part of court proceedings and legal decisions such as parole/probation vs jail time, length of sentence, etc. "You should be ashamed of yourself" is a bit of a misnomer, because really what they want is for you to feel an instinctual suffering as a result of having had done something wrong.

I hope this made sense; as always anyone is welcome to send in another ask for clarification if it didn't.

Plain text below the cut:

I hope this made sense; as always anyone is welcome to send in another ask for clarification if it didn't.

#aspd-culture-is #aspd culture is #aspd culture #actually aspd #aspd #aspd awareness #actually antisocial #antisocial personality disorder #aspd traits #anons welcome

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beginningofwonderland · 2 years

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One on One - Wooyoung

Your training partner Wooyoung is an insufferable brat who has made it his personal goal to turn your life into hell. But in a heated fight between you two you discover more than hatred for him.

Pairing: WooyoungxfemReader

Gerne: Smut and only smut (MINORS DNI!)

Word count: 4.2k

warnings: fighting sports au, fight between the two, name calling (babe, darling, slut...), unprotected sex (don't do this folks), public sex, pretty unsanitary place to have sex, sassy Woo, marking, degradation, spitting, pretty rough, mirror sex

(Not gonna lie I'm kinda proud of this one. It's filthy as fuck)

@underworldnet 👍🏻

"You're still too fucking slow," Wooyoung taunted you as another hit landed on your arm. You were sure that you were littered in dark spots by now as he didn't hold back whenever he landed a blow.

"I know, idiot. I'm fucking exhausted," you spat back dodging another one of his attacks, barely avoiding his fist.

"Well you'll be exhausted in a fight as well and your opponent will care about you even less than I do. So get yourself together."

At this point the only thing keeping you going was your pure hatred for Wooyoung and your pride stopping you from giving up to him.

When your trainer had told you that you would get extra lessons by Wooyoung to prepare for the nationals, it was the first time you had ever spoken up against your teacher.

"Please let me train with anyone but Jung Wooyoung," you had pleaded and your trainer had perked up in surprise.

"I don't see a reason why not. He's the best fighter on the entire team and everyone I put under his care has improved significantly. I really don't know what's your problem with him. I will schedule a time for you to train together."

And from that moment on you had to endure the most annoying, nerve-wracking brat of a partner twice a week for training. Jung Wooyoung had been a menace to you ever since you hadn't responded to his flirtations back when he joined your club.

To everyone else he was the charming 4-times national champion, bringing fame to your sports club. He flirted left and right with everyone at the studio, having them all wrapped around his pinky finger with his sweet words.

But when you hadn't gone along with his attitude, he quickly changed up on you. Wooyoung then made it his goal to make your time at training as miserable as possible, humiliating you in front of the others or dropping sassy remarks about you at every opportunity he got.

By far the worst were these personal lessons your trainer had so generously arranged for you. Wooyoung made you go on and on without breaks to your absolute breaking point. You were able to take a heavy training session but his constant condescending remarks took a toll on your concentration and your mood. You found yourself lashing out at him out of pure anger and he only thrived off of the way you reacted to him.

He aimed another kick at your side and you stepped out of it's way in time, countering with a weak blow to his stomach which he blocked easily.

"You're getting even weaker and I didn't know that was physically possible," he chuckled at your attempt to hit him.

He was right, you had absolutely no strength left in you after doing cardio in the morning and now this two hour session with Wooyoung. Your lungs were burning and your entire body moved on instinct only. And the worst thing about it was, how much energy he still had left. His steps were light and a shit-eating grin covered his handsome face as he circled you.

Oh, how you hated how attractive he looked with that grin and the sweat running down his defined jawline. Wooyoung was your very personal definition of the devil, menacing personality and temptation all in one. It was even worse, now that the lighting in the studio was dim due to the late time of your training and you two were the only ones left in the studio.

Wooyoung had no mercy on you. He followed you up with a series of punches and as you struggled to dodge them, he was able to back you up against the wall of the studio. He landed his fist on the wall behind you only centimeters from your face to show you how you messed up. His hot breath hit your face as he grinned down at you with triumph in his eyes. His body was way too close for your liking and you couldn't keep a clear head anymore as you stared up at him blankly.

"Are you that afraid of me, babe?" he asked tauntingly and the teasing tone of his voice made you finally snap.

"Get the fuck off of me, Wooyoung," you spat at him swatting his arm to the side.

To your own surprise, he let you go and watched you walk to the side of the fighting area.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked in a warning tone.

"Let me drink some fucking water before I'll pass out, will you asshole?" You felt like you hadn't had a sip of water in a week when you slumped onto the bench and chugged down half your bottle. When you looked at the ground for a couple of seconds to avoid Wooyoung's stare, small black spots started appearing in your vision.

Fuck.

"Get your ass back up here, we're not finished yet."

Anger was rising inside you, once again sending adrenaline through your burning body. You really fought with yourself. You knew you were at your limits and that you should ask him to stop, but your pride couldn't handle the thought of saying that to his face. You dragged your own body up from the bench ignoring the dizziness that hit you immediately.

"Then fucking finish," you said to him as you fell into a fighting stance once more, approaching him slowly. "I bet you don't last two minutes outside of the ring." You cocked your head in challenge and a smirk sneaked its way onto your face.

Wooyoung's eyebrows shot up in surprise at your remark. He wasn't used to you making such low blows but he was definitely up for the challenge.

"Oh you wanna find out that bad?" he cooed at you as he came closer, fists raised just like you.

He attacked you again immediately. The hit went to your head but you dodged in time, countering him with a blow to his ribs. You were to exhausted to realize that was exactly his intention. Wooyoung knew you would counter like that, your fighting scheme obvious to him after hours of training. He blocked your arm and grabbed onto it right after.

You noticed it too late to retract in time and before you could blink, he had your arm twisted behind your back, his other arm around your neck, keeping you in a tight chokehold in front of him.

This wasn't normal training anymore: chokeholds weren't even permitted in the fights. This was a personal matter. You struggled in his arms a little but soon noticed he was holding on too tightly. His body was hot on your back as you were pressed up against him and you could feel the chuckle that erupted from his chest.

"Don't provoke me, darling," he warned you, his mouth directly next to your ear. The low tone of his voice sent shivers down your skin and you hated him for it. But what you hated even more was how you reacted to him.

He let you go to restart the fight, but if Jung Wooyoung could play unfair, so could you. You pretended to rearrange your shirt with your back still towards him before spinning around and hooking your leg behind his knee. With your arms pushing at his shoulders, he fell to the ground, surprise breaking his smug expression.

You followed his fall, straddling his waist and pressing your forearm into his neck until you could feel him swallow.

"I won't provoke you if you stop getting on my fucking nerves," you retorted. His eyes mirrored the same fire in yours as he stared back at you. The air between you two was uncomfortably tense.

When you removed your arm to get up, Wooyoung suddenly lifted one side of his hip, effectively tipping you over before he reversed your position. He grabbed both your wrists, pinning them above your head before getting close to your face once again.

"Don't act like you don't like it when I treat you like shit. Getting all worked up over how I talk down to you. I bet you think about me before you go to sleep."

The complacent grin on his face channelled all energy left within you and you would have punched him right in the face if he wasn't holding you down. Your insides stirred in what you believed to be anger.

"Get your dirty hands off of me," you hissed through clenched teeth.

Wooyoung only laughed at you, his dark strands falling into his eyes as he shook his head. You never realized how handsome he looked from this angle.

"Look at you all helpless. You're all bark and no bite. Admit you like the way I talk to you and I might let you go."

You didn't want to give him the satisfaction but your arms buckled up once against his tight grip; to no avail. You were quite literally trapped.

"I can't believe you are big-headed enough to think I want to hear even one more word from you."

"Then why do you keep looking at my lips like that?" he asked you back with a chuckle and you found yourself startled.

Fuck. Did I really look at his lips?

You hadn't even noticed. But now upon his words, your eyes flitted to his plump lips like they were on autopilot. Of course he noticed and his grin only widened.

"If you wanted to make out instead of train you could have just said so. Would've spared us some trouble."

"Fuck you, Wooyoung." You couldn't think of anything else to say. Anger and some other indistinct feeling mixed in your stomach as you glared at him from beneath.

"Say it or I won't let you go."

He shifted his hands around so that one arm was free and the other one holding down both your wrists. With his free hand he grabbed onto your chin harshly, fingers digging into your cheeks as he spoke.

Now what neither you or Wooyoung had expected was the small moan that escaped your throat as his fingers grabbed onto your face. Immediately, your eyes widened in shock and you could feel hotness rush over you in what was sure to be a dark red blush.

Wooyoung's eyebrows rose in surprise at the noise you made but as realization hit him you could practically watch his entire stare go dark. He hovered even closer to you, his face only inches from yours as he watched you in amusement.

"You know what?" he asked in a husky voice. "I'll take that as an answer."

And before you even knew what was happening he squeezed your chin once again, lifting your face up a little before crushing his lips onto yours.

The kiss was harsh and messy. Your lips crashed against one another as if they were fighting and soon his tongue entered your mouth. The feeling made your eyes flutter and as if taking revenge you bit his lip in return.

This time it was Wooyoung who couldn't hold back a small groan and the sound drove heat through your whole body down to your core. Why was he making you feel like this?

It was like you were taking all that build-up frustration out on his lips and it somehow worked a lot better than fighting him with your fists.

Wooyoung released your wrists to attach his hand to your waist. Because your shirt had ridden up in the fight, he was touching your bare skin, sending shivers along your spine. You had touched Wooyoung thousands of times during practice, but this was different. His hand on your skin and his soft lips on yours made you dizzy in a different way than your fatigue ever could.

Now that your hands were freed you wound one into his messy locks, making him groan as you pulled on it slightly. The other hand couldn't help but wander over his tight muscles. You knew exactly how fit he was, having experienced the strength of his attacks first-hand. But you never had an opportunity to just marvel at the sheer beauty of his stature before.

Wooyoung also noticed your wandering fingers and smirked into the kiss:

"Said you wanted me off of you and now you're hands are all over me. You're such a slut."

You whined shamelessly at his words. It felt like all rationality and sense had left your body. I hate Jung Wooyoung. That was the mantra you repeated in your head over and over as your lips pressed onto his with more fervour. As your hands frantically grabbed onto his sweaty skin to draw him closer.

His body gave in to your desire pressing his upper body onto yours, hips still straddling yours. God damn his flexibility. You could feel the heat of his skin burning you through your shirts and wanted nothing more than to get rid of it.

As your hands started wandering to the hem of his shirt he understood and broke the kiss shortly to pull the piece of fabric over his head. His tight muscles glistened in the dim lighting of the studio and you let your eyes wander around his honey skin.

"I knew you were down bad for me as soon as I saw you, babe. But you don't have to be that obvious," he chuckled.

"Shut up, before I regret this."

"Oh, I'll make sure you won't regret a second of this, darling," he replied smugly before devouring your lips once again.

When he pressed his body up against you this time, you could feel his hard on press against your core through both your pants. The feeling made your hips roll into him in response as you released a small moan into the kiss.

The sound had Wooyoung going crazy, grabbing frantically for the hem of your shirt and quickly pulling it off you as well. His hands laced into your already messy hair as your teeth clashed in the intense kiss that followed. You wanted to kill and fuck him all at once. It infuriated you that he had this effect on you but he was just so damn attractive.

As he started rolling his hips into yours repeatedly, you lost all self control.

"Please, just fuck me," you breathed out in between two kisses.

"Begging already, I see."

Wooyoung grinned widely as he pulled your sweatpants down in an instant. Your bare skin hit the coldness of the training mat beneath you and made you realize you weren't exactly at a private location.

Your mind was drawn back to Wooyoung as he pulled on the hem of your panties and let them snap back onto your skin. The slight sting only turned you on more and your hands worked fast to pull at the strings of his own pants. The both of you were only left in your underwear soon.

"Do I need to finger you first or are you already dripping through your panties?" Wooyoung asked cockily.

"Just fuck me already, I'm sure I can take it," you replied impatiently.

"Oh baby, you keep overestimating yourself," Wooyoung chuckled as he ripped down your panties harshly.

When he took his hardened length out of his boxers, you had to keep yourself from swallowing hard. Maybe he was right. Maybe you did overestimate yourself. He was bigger than you had expected and you hadn't taken anyone his size before.

He let the tip of his cock run through your folds, collecting your liquids with a devilish grin on his face.

"Were you this wet the whole training session or only since I choked you?"

"I think it started when I had you pressed down on the floor," you tried to save yourself but Wooyoung saw right through your attitude.

"Oh baby, don't try pretending that you're dominant. I can see your eyes begging for me to destroy you."

You bit your cheek, knowing quite well that he was right. You wanted that idiot to fuck your brains out. To finally have him shut up and rail you into the floor until you forgot how insufferable he was.

As he slowly pushed himself into you, your eyes rolled into the back of your head and you moaned as he filled you up. He was stretching you out quite a bit, but you were worked up enough for it not to hurt too much. The pain wouldn't compare to all the bruises on your skin anyway.

Arms propped up beside your head, Wooyoung started thrusting into you harshly. You found yourself spreading your legs for him on instinct, so that he could have better access to you. But that wasn't enough for Wooyoung who grabbed onto your thighs, pressing them into your upper body to thrust into you at the deepest angle possible.

When he sped up his tempo you were moaning at every thrust he gave you, losing your mind at the way the tip of his cock hit your sweet spot every time.

"You're so pathetic. Saying I won't last two minutes yet here you are almost crying over how good I fuck you already."

You whined at his harsh words. He was right. You felt pathetic yourself. But fuck being pathetic if it meant getting railed this good. You started kissing messily once again, your hands latching onto his flexed biceps for some support. When he pounded into you particularly deep, you unconsciously scratched the skin on his arms.

In response Wooyoung quickly grabbed your hands, pinning them back over your hand.

"I'm the only one marking you up here, darling." As if to prove his point he latched onto your neck sucking harshly to create a dark purple mark on your skin.

You hated him for it. Hated that the sign of him fucking you would be with you for days now. And you hated how fucking good it felt.

"Fuck, Wooyoung..." you moaned as the pleasure in your core started building up.

"You love having me use you like this don't you, slut? All covered in bruises and hickeys by me. What will you tell the others at training tomorrow, huh?" He relished in the way you turned a whimpering, needy mess under his words.

He knew exactly how much he was turning you on by the fact that you were clenching around his dick desperately. As you got closer to your orgasm, your eyes fluttered shut and you just gave in to the feeling of him fucking you into the ground. You had never had anyone fuck you that harshly but it was undoubtedly the best sex you'd ever had and you hadn't even come yet.

"Open your mouth for me, darling."

You opened your eyes first while processing his request. The way he looked down at you with raised brows, breath heavy as he kept thrusting into you almost made you come. When you didn't obey quick enough his hand suddenly wandered to your clit, drawing firm circles into it.

Your mouth fell open in a loud moan, which was all Wooyoung wanted.

"There you go," he said before spitting into your opened mouth. That was it for you. As the warm liquid trailed down your tongue your legs started shaking with your hitting orgasm. The black dots spotted your vision again as your high completely shut off your body. It was the most intense orgasm you had ever had and Wooyoung knew with the way he watched your features contort with a smug grin.

He fucked you through it before pulling out of you.

"I'm not done with you yet."

He flipped your half limb body onto your stomach before pulling you up on your knees.

By this time you felt just how exhausted you were. Every single muscle in your body was tired and sore and you were even weaker after your orgasm. Wooyoung noticed how much you struggled to hold yourself up so he rested your body against his, your back supported on his chest.

Only then did you notice that he had placed you in front of the big mirror that spread over one wall of the studio. You watched yourself in it every single day at training, correcting your posture or fighting stance. But now you could see yourself falling apart as Wooyoung entered you again.

Your head fell back onto his shoulder as he started thrusting into you once again, his arm tightly latched around your waist to keep you upright.

"Come on, look at the mirror for me again, pretty. Want you to see how beautiful you look for me."

You didn't know why you listened to him at this point and lifted your head again to watch the mirrored image in front of you. You had to admit that there was a certain kind of beauty in the way he held you in front of him. It looked like you were melting into his body. The two of you gave a prettier pair than you thought you would.

"So pretty all covered in my marks," Wooyoung whined, voice strained as he slowly neared his own high.

And indeed your body was littered with bruises and hickeys. His eyes wandered over them in a hazed expression. He looked almost drunk on the sight in front of him.

When his hand wandered back to your clit you couldn't do anything but whimper under his touch, your mind too dizzy to form words.

"Can you come one more time?" Wooyoung asked you through heavy breaths.

You hummed and nodded in answer. Your core was burning but the way his fingers pressed into your sensitive bud already made you near a second orgasm.

"I'm close too, baby. Where should I come?"

You noticed how he spoke softer to you now. Maybe it was because he was beginning to fall apart as well. Or maybe he actually noticed just how exhausted you were and was trying to be more gentle. But you couldn't quite believe that.

"Please come inside me," you whined with all the strength left in you. You hated to admit it but you wanted his cum in you so badly. Wanted him to mark you up.

Your confession drew a deep moan from Wooyoung and you felt him shudder beneath you.

"Fuck darling, you'll be the death of me."

And with that he sped up his fingers on your clit, desperate to make you come one last time before he reached his own high.

Every single one of his thrust dragged so deliciously at your walls and he applied just the right amount of pressure to your sensitive spot. You moaned shamelessly in Wooyoung's grip and he couldn't hold back his own groans as well.

"I wished somebody would come in right now to see me fill you up, baby," he whined and the thought drove like electricity through your body.

"Wooyoung," you cried out desperately before coming undone for him one more time. This time you truly felt like passing out, losing all sense of your body. A ringing sound filled your ears and without his arm around your waist you would've surely broken down immediately.

As you clenched around Wooyoung he finally came deep inside of you. You could feel every twitch of his cock as he pumped his hot liquid inside you. When you slowly gained consciousness again, you could already feel some dripping down your thigh.

Both of you stayed like that for a while. Heavy breaths being the only sound in the hall as your sweaty bodies supported one another.

When he had somewhat recovered, Wooyoung carefully pulled out of you, his arm still holding you tight. His cum dripped out of you in an instant, covering your thighs and the training mat.

"Fuck you did so well for me, baby." Wooyoung said gently as his thumb started drawing soft circles into your waist. "Let me help you get cleaned up."

You looked at him in surprise through the mirror. You had expected him to drop you and leave you for yourself to recover. But instead he picked you up bridal style carrying you to the changing room showers.

He must've noticed your expression as he chuckled gently.

"Don't look so scandalized. I'm not that much of an asshole."

"Then why is this the first time you're being nice to me?" you weakly replied.

"I'm an asshole at training and I know that. But that makes you improve the most."

"That doesn't justify your bitchy attitude towards me," you complained as he slowly put you down, leaning your body against the cold shower tiles.

He started to run the shower waiting for the water to get hot.

"No. That's just because you look so freaking hot when you get mad at me," he grinned and you looked at him in disbelief.

"You're telling me making me despise you was your way of flirting with me?"

"It worked, didn't it?" You wanted to punch that smug grin off of his face more than anything but there was no energy left in you.

Also there was this warm feeling bubbling up inside of you that made you want to hug him more than continuing the fight.

"You're insufferable."

"I know, baby," he said as he pulled you under the hot stream of water.

His arms around your body and the warmth of the shower soothed your aching body as he pulled you into a kiss.

You couldn't keep yourself from smiling a little.

#ateez x reader #ateez fic #ateez fanfic #ateez smut #beginningofwonderland #smut fanfic #ateez fanfiction #wooyoung smut #wooyoung fanfic #wooyoung x reader #wooyoung x y/n #wooyoung x you #kinktober 2022 #ateez kinktober

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office-to-fantasy · 3 months

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[A part 3 that I don’t remember if people asked for? However, I wrote it anyway! I hope you all enjoy!]

Part 1 Part 2

Shu Sakamaki x Fem!Reader

The pain shot through your body once again, Shu’s arm reaching out to hold you up. It had only been a few weeks since you became pregnant. Shu still stood by your side, every day working to earn your forgiveness despite him even believing he didn’t deserve it.

You held your much bigger belly gently, wincing through the pain and gripping Shu’s strong arm. He looked at you with a concerned look, hardly feeling your squeeze on his arm, focusing mainly on keeping you up on your feet.

“Do you want to sit down?” he asked, gently taking a hold of your other arm.

You shook your head, determined to keep moving forward despite the pain.

Shu frowned. “You don’t need to be forcing yourself like this. You can rest,” he said firmly.

Your mood swung faster than you could think and you glared at him. “I’m tired of sitting around, so how about instead of continually lecturing me, you help me!”

Shu’s expression didn’t change. “Stubborn woman.”

“I’m pregnant!” you defended. You yanked your eyes away from him with a pout. “Sorry,” you grumbled.

His expression softened and he held your hand gently. “Still in pain?” he asked.

The pain had slowly faded during your small outburst, and you shook your head.

Shu nodded and only held your hand, continuing to walk with you down the corridor. He had become so good at understanding your mood changes and the pain you were in. You hated to admit it, but he was being as perfect as you’d ever imagine for him to be.

The baby was growing at a rate that no one could understand. Your body had slowly been getting weaker with each passing day. The fatigue was becoming too much sometimes and being able to be held up by Shu was something you couldn’t live without. He was making the pregnancy so much easier to get through.

It was difficult at times — knowing you hadn’t, or more likely couldn’t, forgive him for what he’d done — while falling more in love with the way he’d been acting throughout it all.

Shu was tender with you, letting you use him as a body pillow while you slept in the most odd positions. He’d play with your hair to lull you into sleep when you couldn’t do it yourself. At times, you’d wake up and his head would be on your chest, a hand placed against your pregnant belly.

Perhaps the thing you couldn’t resist the most was how easy it was to love him when he’d listen to your heartbeat. While you slipped slowly to sleep, his fingers would softly tap your palm, one matching your heartbeat, and the other matching the baby’s.

It was so easy to love him… so easy to forget what he’d done to you. So easy to remember again, and the sight you’d seen when you walked past those doors. Your heart broke all over again just thinking about it.

Why did he have to do what he did…?

You daydreamed about it, about how your lives would have been if he’d never done what he did. Perhaps you’d be able to kiss and love him without restraint, and he’d do the same for you. He’d kiss you to help you forget the pain…

But that wasn’t the case anymore.

Shu had noticed the far off look you’d have when bedtime came near. A ghost of a smile would always appear on your lips when you had that look. Your heartbeat was at its calmest when you’d suddenly space out like that, and the baby was easily more relaxed.

He was so eager to know what you’d been thinking about.

Shu shut the bedroom door behind you and then gently led you to the bed. He didn’t move for a moment, thinking more rationally about how he’d ask you what that look in your eyes was. He pulled up the chair at the bedside to face you before sitting down, his eyes holding yours.

You couldn’t help the small skip your heart made when he looked at you. Your eyes focused on his beautiful blue ones before only cracking the smallest of a smile. “Thank you.”

His brows seemed to pull in more, thoughtful as he sat up straighter in his seat. “I noticed you spacing out a lot,” he began. “Why?”

Your cheeks flushed slightly, and suddenly you weren’t fully sure of how you should act at that moment. Telling him the truth was never something you ever thought of doing in that instance, and yet, he’d noticed and was now asking you to tell him.

He watched you intently.

“No reason,” you said simply, moving further back on the bed to get more comfortable.

His eyes didn’t move from yours as they looked away. He knew better than to take that as an answer, if any. He continued, “You get this far away look at times. What is it?” he asked, a bit more demanding than before.

You frowned, thinking of whether you should or shouldn’t tell him. Throughout your entire time together, never once did you ever feel a need to lie to him about anything. Whether it was about your thoughts, feelings, or anything at all, lying to him was not something that came easy. Being truthful and honest with him was what came so easily to you for him, so your lies practically meant nothing.

But you could always refuse.

“I don’t need to tell you anything,” you defended.

His brows pulled in, upset by your refusal to say it. “You’re the one who taught me about communication, and how important it is.” He looked down, remembering how it was such a huge milestone when you’d both perfected the art. “Why is it different now?”

Your heartstrings felt like they’d been pulled, and you too remembered. The day he’d expressed his true feelings about something to communicate with you was like a breath of fresh air. And to simply disregard all that progress felt… wrong.

You shifted in your seat and then turned to him again. “I think about how things could’ve been,” you said, your voice in a wavering whisper. “I think about how things would’ve gone if you hadn’t done what you did… and I…” you stopped yourself, milliseconds away from expressing your true feelings about all of this.

“You miss how things were,” he spoke lowly, a pained expression on his face as he finished your sentence. He’d become so good at that, at being able to read your words and expressions like a book.

He knew your spacings were about you two, and he tried to deny it was something that closely related to his mistake.

But it wasn’t a mistake. It was one decision after the other despite the lack of thought behind them.

You couldn’t see it as a mistake, even now.

He suddenly appeared in front of you, his face inches from yours and your eyes locked. His cold hand cupped your cheek so gently that it could easily be your imagination. He spoke his next words so gently that it felt like a caress to your ears, and it made your eyes grow wide. The dedication and love in his voice had your heart racing, but your mind tried fighting it…

“I will do anything to regain your trust, even if I die trying.” His hand softly touched your grown belly. “I will love you both eternally.”

#request #shu sakamaki #sakamaki shu #shuu sakamaki #sakamaki shuu #diabolik lovers #dialovers #diabolik lovers shu #diabolik lovers fanfiction #oneshot #fanfic #OftoFa

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inkblackorchid · 7 days

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What the hell happened with Crow: an autopsy (Part 4)

*Deep breath* Okay, everybody. Let's do this one more time.

First off, hello, or welcome back. Let's get the introductions and disclaimers out of the way, shall we?

This is the fourth and final instalment in my very, very long-winded attempt to analyse the character writing of Crow over the course of the entirety of yugioh 5Ds. For everyone who hasn't read the previous parts of the analysis, you can find part one here, part two here, and part three here.

This post, and my analysis as a whole, is neither meant as a Crow hate post, nor as a manifesto to convince people who don't like him that they're wrong. It's as genuine an attempt to simply look at and dissect what the show gives us about him as I can make, though I admit to personal bias because I do like Crow. That said, I'm trying to stay as neutral as possible, because the aim of this entire post tetralogy is to look at the writing decisions made for this character and how they impact him—and how they possibly influenced the audience's perception of him.

My previous three posts all reference this as well, but since I still see these things parroted all across the internet to this day: Please don't read this post under the assumption that any of the 5Ds production rumours are true, especially not the ones surrounding Crow. Because, to make this as short as possible, every popular theory as to why certain characters were mishandled during the later parts of the show fails to line up with the production timeline of said show. Chiefly among those theories, the idea that Crow was meant to be a dark signer and that his popularity correlated to his cards, and the idea that Aki, specifically, had to give up her screentime for him because her VA got pregnant, which both lack any basis in reality, as you can read in the posts I linked. (One final shoutout to @mbg159 here, who compiled these incredibly comprehensive posts and can also be found here on tumblr. Huge thanks.) So if you can do me one favour, please just let the 5Ds rumours die already and read this analysis without the hope of seeing any of them confirmed. I'm so sick of these crackpot theories at this point that I can hardly find the words for it. And while we're on the topic, I also don't want to see this post used as a means to pit Aki and Crow against each other in any way—both have good reasons to be well-liked and both deserve their spot in the narrative, all right? All right.

And now, at last, let's get down to business. The last time I got on a virtual soapbox and yelled about Crow, I covered the entire WRGP, murder-duel-robot induced break included. That means that for this, final stretch, we'll be looking at everything from episode 137 onwards—the Ark Cradle arc. (A side not for dub aficionados here: Episode 136 was the last episode that got an English dub. In other words, everything I talk about here never even made it into the English version. Because 4Kids, I guess.) As we've done before, we'll take a look at what exactly Crow gets up to during the final stretch of the show (and, notably, the epilogue), then see whether any of it needed improving, and if so, how it could have been improved.

You'll find all further yelling below the readmore, and I'll leave you with the other, usual warning here, as well: This will be long. Even if the Ark Cradle arc, relative to the rest of the show, isn't, this post most certainly will be. So get some snacks and perhaps don't start reading this late at night unless you're good at knowing when to stop and reading stuff in bursts. (I'm not.)

As I concluded at the end of my last post, the WRGP ended up being a bit of a mixed bag for Crow. He's there, he duels, but at the same time, despite being positioned as an equal third of a protagonist trio, he's notably less important and arguably also weaker than Yusei and Jack. Moreover, where the plot is concerned, he sure didn't get too much to do—not to speak of the fact that the writers didn't grace him with any meaningful interactions with a certain character who'll become very relevant here.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, the preamble.

With the end of the Team New World duel, the final arc of the show drops the by this point unexpected arrival of the Ark Cradle right on our heads. So, what does Crow do here, at the start, other than be shocked? Well, not much. A lot of the first episode that introduces the Ark Cradle focusses more on the imminent threat said structure poses to New Domino City, and we flash back to our protagonists mostly to ascertain that things are, in fact, going to shit. Even once that focus on the city evacuating shifts again, the episode concerns itself more with Yusei than with Crow. However, meagre as it is, we do get the first interaction between Crow and Sherry during the Ark Cradle arc in this episode.

(Uh.... at least they're technically talking to each other?)

And frankly... It's not much. Unfortunately, up until the duel where he faces her, the Ark Cradle arc continues a trend regarding interactions between Crow and Sherry that we already saw in the WRGP: They barely get to interact, and even when they do, they never have anything so much as resembling a meaningful conversation, mostly because Sherry basically never addresses Crow directly, nor seems very interested in him, while Crow is usually there only to react to what she's saying, rather than actually talk to her. While digging through my mountain of screenshots, I found that latter part to be especially interesting, because as it turns out, this is a trend not just in Crow's interactions with Sherry, specifically. Many moments that probably contribute to the nefarious "screentime" (I've explained my gripes with this term in part two) some people like to accuse Crow of hogging have him only be part of a scene so he can react to what happens in it, to the point of him sometimes feeling like a stand-in for the audience reaction the writers might be hoping for. The above is a perfect example, because as far as character writing is concerned, Crow's "interaction" with Sherry here is utterly devoid of meaning. He's just there to communicate his disbelief over the ominous prediction that Yusei is guaranteed to die if he goes to the Ark Cradle, which feels like exactly the kind of reaction the writers probably wanted from the audience. After all, it's a bold, shocking statement to make. The protagonist, dying? In a card game anime geared towards twelve year-olds? It's downright preposterous. And Crow seems to agree with that, if his dialogue is anything to go by.

This one and other scenes (mostly the kind that contain plot elements that Crow doesn't actually interact with) got me thinking, though, and after having gone through so much of the show with a fine-tooth comb now, I think I've come to a conclusion, so permit me a tangent here: I believe the choice to let Crow, specifically, be a character who often only reacts to events or interactions after the DS arc, rather than contributing much himself, is deliberate. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's the only character who is frequently put in this position—Aki, the twins, and even Bruno, especially when they're on the sidelines in the WRGP, also often only seem to be there to react or comment on things, perhaps partially to remind us viewers that they still exist, despite not being in a position where they contribute anything to the plot. With how much the twins and Aki got pushed to the side after the pre-WRGP and the Unicorn duel, respectively, and with how toned-down Bruno's entire character is until the very end, as not to spoil his tragic antagonist status too much, Crow in particular ending up as an often reactive, rather than active character stands out a bit more, though. And I think this has everything to do with his personality, because it contrasts that of Jack and Yusei. Think of it. Sure, Crow is shown several times to be just as cool and competent as the other two, but what he has that the other two crucially lack is the ability to freak out like a normal person. I'm being hyperbolic here, of course, but I do genuinely believe this, because when I think back to the show, Jack and Yusei, due to their character writing, only ever seem to be allowed to lose their cool during pretty specific circumstances, and only in very specific ways. Jack, for example, only ever gets to freak out either when a scene paints him as the butt of the joke (like during his infamous, dramatic outburst over cup ramen), or when the freakout is caused by—and expressed as—righteous (or not so righteous) fury (like when he storms off angrily after catching everyone watching his old duel with Dragan). Meanwhile, Yusei is played so straight that we barely ever see him lose his composure at all, outside of intensely dramatic, high-stakes situations (think his dark signer duels with Kiryu, his confrontation with Roman, his initial failure to accel synchro). Hell, the closest we get to ever seeing him be mildly upset about something like a normal person, as far as I can recall, is when he gets embarrased by Martha calling him out on his perceived crush on Aki. That's it.

Crow, though. Crow's allowed to do something the other two aren't: He's allowed to react to the world around him like your average guy. Jack blows through their household money for expensive coffee. Crow gets upset. Understandable. Crow gets injured right before his big debut in a turbo duelling tournament and is upset to the point of snapping at his friends over it. Understandable. Seeing Yaeger's kid cheering his dad on and knowing that this kid will cry if his dad loses makes Crow relent and throw the match. Understandable. Sherry predicts Yusei's imminent death due to hocus pocus and Crow calls bullshit. Understandable.

Do you see what I'm driving at? With how the show treats the other two Satellite boys, I'd argue none of the moments above would have worked anywhere near as well if the writers had tried to make Jack or Yusei take Crow's place in any of them. Because while Yusei and Jack, I feel, were certainly written to be the coolest characters (at least to the target audience), Crow seems like he was written to be the most relatable. He's the guy who takes on a delivery job when they need money. He's the guy who complains about his cranky landlady. And he's the guy who reacts to insane nonsense happening around him a little more realistically than his defeated-an-ancient-devil-to-absorb-its-power brother, his shouldering-the-guilt-of-a-cataclysmic-event-decades-ago other brother, their mutual previously-violent-psychic-who-was-part-of-a-cult friend, and the one-of-us-can-see-spirits-and-we-share-a-weird-kind-of-magical-bond twins. As such, it doesn't feel too out there to me to claim that in many situations, they made Crow the stand-in for the audience, because he has a less iron composure than Jack and Yusei, is readily available in many scenes by virtue of living with the other two, and happens to be the guy who has the arguably most normal backstory out of the signers. (Save, perhaps, for Rua, but I've already addressed before why the writers barely ever pulled Rua centre stage for anything. And they certainly wouldn't have pulled him centre stage for this, either.)

Now, as far as character writing is concerned, assuming I'm at least halfway correct with my hunch above, I feel that whether or not this decision is good or a shot in the foot on the writers' part depends largely on every audience member's individual perception of Crow after the DS arc. If you liked seeing this scrappy guy introduced during the DS arc, of course you would have been happy to see more of him! Even if he's only present in scenes to comment on what's going on and doesn't actually get to do anything meaningful. If you didn't like Crow that much, though, I can see how him popping up so often only to yap a bit and contribute essentially nothing could have grated on you. And as I said, I think this is where the "screentime" discussion comes in again, because yeah, Crow is very much on screen in all these little-bit-of-nothing scenes. He doesn't get to do much and his character isn't fleshed out or reinforced in any way, but he sure is there. For better or for worse.

And this—this is where I can finally get back to him and Sherry. Because in his interactions specifically with her, it is for worse, due to the fact that all the scenes that contain both of them before the Ark Cradle duel are pretty much exclusively these kinds of little-bit-of-nothing, reactive scenes. Crow doesn't get to interact with Sherry meaningfully, and he never—and I need to empathise this—, not once gets to interact with her one on one, not until the end-of-series duel both of them take part in happens. What makes Crow's lack of meaningful interactions with Sherry even worse is that his later duelling partner against her is Aki, of all people, who by contrast gets to interact with Sherry a whole bunch, most notably during her duel against Yusei. Not only that, but Sherry is also shown to actually be interested in Aki, which cannot be said for Crow. Yet, still in the same episode I was describing above, while the Ark Cradle begins its descent, it's not Aki, but Crow who is entrusted with this card by Mizoguchi/Elsworth:

(I'd like to point out that the dialogue following this moment doesn't make it clear whether Crow even knows what Sherry's connection to this card is. For all we know, this could be the first time Crow sees it, without being aware of any of the context surrounding it.)

You know, the card that's essentially a symbol of Sherry's attachment to her parents and her commitment to revenge. The card that basically her entire character revolves around. For a single piece of cardboard, this thing comes with a lot of narrative baggage attached, yet canon doesn't even take the time to assure us that Crow knows what Z-ONE means, other than it being a memento of Sherry's parents, as Mizoguchi explains. And frankly, this all feels like a rather ham-fisted attempt to get some last-minute setup for the later confrontation between Crow and Sherry in. It's like the writers desperately wanted to feel the emotional moment in the duel later to feel earned; they wanted to have their cake and eat it, too. There's only one problem: They didn't even bake the damned thing, the ingredients are just sitting around, untouched, as if staring at them long enough will magically make a cake manifest.

But, well, since I'm already talking about this, I may as well get into the actual meat of the matter, because frankly, it's not like Crow gets much else to do at the start of the arc. Yusei takes off because he at first wants to go to the Ark Cradle alone (like an idiot), leading to the signers coming after him (and telling him he's an idiot). Joining this effort and assuring Yusei that they won't let him die alongside the others is as much as Crow gets to do before the inevitable three-way duel starts.

(That said, while it doesn't accomplish anything, I've always appreciated this little moment while Yusei still tries to pull his stupid kamikaze plan—Crow would know more shortcuts in the BAD area than he does. After all, he lived there for a good while!)

After that, everyone gets up to the Ark Cradle and, as we all know, the signer group is forcibly split up by Z-ONE before deciding to go to a Yusei gear each in order to shut down Ark Cradle's negative Moment. (Top ten sentences that wouldn't make a lick of sense to anyone who isn't up to their neck in 5Ds lore.) And the very first duel on the menu in this final stretch of episodes is also Crow's final duel in the entire show.

(Drumroll please.)

Here's the thing. I love this duel, actually. I get extremely hyped every time I rewatch it. BUT. But. I do not love it so blindly that I couldn't see that it has not one, but several issues. Not only that, but those issues don't just rest on Crow's shoulders, they sadly rest on the shoulders of all three participants in this duel, because frankly? Alongside the four-way Jack/Rua/Ruka/Aporia duel, this duel is one of the Ark Cradle arc's desperate attempts to tie up loose ends. Because as much as I enjoy this arc, that's exactly what it is: A race to the finish line, an attempt to tie as many loose ends as possible up in as little time as the show could get away with. To make clear why I think this, let me just list off all the things this arc resolves or at the very least tries to tie up with a neat bow:

It reintroduces Aki's psychic powers, which we were previously led to believe she'd lost. Notably, we didn't get a reason for why they disappeared and don't get a reason for why they reappear, either. It also turns them into healing powers in an attempt to establish a reason for why she later studies medicine.

It explains what happened to Sherry and what actually drives her revenge. Furthermore, it releases her from her narrative fridge-prison in order to actually let her duel Aki (yes, Aki, specifically), which is a confrontation that was subtextually implied several times previously.

It resolves the question of Bruno's identity by revealing him as an antagonist.

It finally reveals Life Stream Dragon, who was at this point teased over seventy episodes ago.

It also finally rewards Rua, who was teased to possibly become a signer during the DS arc, with an actual signer mark. (As short-lived as it may be.)

It actually explains Iliaster's real plan, which is Z-ONE's hope that the 5Ds gang can actually save the future.

Speaking of which, it actually explains who Z-ONE is and why he's a big deal. (Remember, this guy was first teased a good while ago at this point in time.)

Alongside Sherry, it dusts off several protagonists who didn't get an opportunity to duel on-screen and lets them duel one, final time. (Notably, Aki, Rua, and Ruka, who at this point haven't been seen duelling since the early WRGP or even pre-WRGP.)

You may notice that none of these bullet points contain Crow. They do, however, contain Aki and Sherry, both of whom went into this finale with several unanswered questions as to their characters. Crow, not so much. But let's just put a pin in that for now while we actually jump into the duel.

*Cracks knuckles* Aki & Crow VS Sherry. Here we go at last. Fair warning, the character writing of all three participants of this duel overlaps a fair bit here, so expect to hear a bit of a mishmash about our revenge trio.

So, how does this duel start? Firstly, with Sherry waxing poetic about why she's even opposing Team 5Ds now.

(A dramatic switch of sides that sadly doesn't hold a candle to Bruno turning out to be Antinomy. Which, funnily enough, might be why this duel is front-loaded and Bruno's comes later.)

I won't dig into this too much, but I just want to point out the one thing this moment gives us: It establishes character motivation. Sherry claims she can no longer get revenge and has thus lost her purpose. (The reason why she can no longer get revenge, if you're interested, is because Moment Express, her final lead, vanished in its entirety, as far as canon is concerned.) Thus, she took the bait when Z-ONE offered her a new purpose, and, more importantly, a reward. Now, Aki and Crow at this point in the episode don't get to hear what that reward is, but for our analysis, it's important to keep in mind: Z-ONE promised Sherry he'd alter the timeline so she would get her parents back if she helps him. And I think this is immensely important because this is not only Sherry's goal in the present, I think it's actually the core of her character from the very first moment we meet her. In classic, tragic-avenging-type character fashion, she claims to want revenge when what she's really doing is trying to numb the pain of the awareness that she'll never get her parents back. (Though I'll admit this may also be my generous read of her as a person who likes revenge-obsessed characters.) And then, Z-ONE dangles the actual thing she wanted all along before her. Of course she took the bait.

This brings us to the start of the duel itself. As we know, Sherry employs some tactics that feel quite different from what she previously did in this duel. First and foremost, she messes with the mechanics of the duel itself by using the field spell Ecole de Zone, creating an illusion that confuses Aki and Crow into duelling not her, but each other at first. Sherry, meanwhile, takes a very passive role, clearly intent on letting the two destroy each other while she sporadically activates card effects to accelerate this. What makes all this stand out as even more unusual for her is that she sets this up by lying. At the beginning of the duel, she tells Aki and Crow that there's two of her, and that each duellist will fight one copy of her on a seperate field each, but this is a misdirection to make the two signers duel each other instead of her. And, look. I don't need to tell you this is out of character for Sherry. Canon literally does that for me.

(Case in point.)

It's only after Crow and Aki catch onto the fact that something's wrong and after Aki destroys the field spell that Sherry uses her "real strategy", switching to Soul Binding Gate, which inflicts real damage every time a monster with less attack points than her life points is summoned, in order to whittle away at both other duellists' life points. This is also the point where she reveals to her opponents that she's doing all this to get her parents back. While she does that, we get a bit more back and forth in terms of cardplay, until Aki sets the field up just right so Crow can land a very high-damage hit with Black-Winged Dragon to end the duel. And that is pretty much the gist of it on the duelling side of things.

So what's going on on the narrative side of things, then? Well. Let me front-load something I've noticed on the narrative end: This duel heavily interacts with Crow's and Sherry's characterisation, but barely at all with Aki's. I'll make clear what I mean by that below. For now, let's just get an overview by going through the character moments as they occur in the duel. Why go through all of them? Because most either interact with Crow in some way, or set up a later interaction in the same duel that he's a part of, that's why. I'll get into the nitty-gritty of what this duel did well and what it didn't after that. (Mostly. You may have noticed I like tangents and rambling excessively.)

So.

The first moment belongs to Aki and Crow in equal measure, and happens just as Ecole de Zone is destroyed—which Aki accomplishes by using Crow's monster to synchro summon Black Rose Dragon, as well as prevent that synchro summon from being negated through the same monster's effect, so she can use her dragon's field wipe to get rid of Sherry's field spell. When Sherry is surprised by this, Aki and Crow explain that they memorised each other's cards as part of a strategic effort as a WRGP team.

(Friendship is, in fact, magic.)

Not only does this explanation make perfect sense, it's also an excellent little tidbit to tie Aki and Crow together as a tag-team here, as it strengthens the connection between them. The only gripe I could possibly see with this is that it feels like this didn't necessarily need to be a surprise, end-of-the-show reveal. Frankly, it could have been pretty cool to see this much earlier, to have members of Team 5Ds realise what their teammates were getting up to during the WRGP duels, for example. (Instead of so often having the other signers react just as shocked as the announcer to their teammates' plays—I'm side-eyeing the infamous "a trap from the graveyard"-moment in particular. Like, Aki, sweetie, if you memorised Crow's deck, why are you surprised that he has a trap he can activate from the graveyard? I digress.) Moreover, this could have built anticipation for this particular duel, as viewers would have been excited to see what Aki and Crow would come up with to defeat Sherry as a team. So this moment is not bad, really. Just a bit underutilised, at least to me. (The word "underutilised" might become a trend in this post.)

Every other character-driven moment from here on out is shoved into the second duel episode, 140. Speaking of which, this episode starts with Aki and Crow getting the reveal of why Sherry is helping Z-ONE, where she admits that she joined the bad guys because she wants her parents back. She even goes as far as stating that because Z-ONE showed her the future, she has no hope that it can be saved and thus at least wants her lovely past back so she can have some solace before everything goes to hell for humanity. But we already went over that above.

Next up, albeit this moment should probably be considered more of a running theme than just one self-contained thing, we have Crow's struggle with Soul Binding Gate. Remember, the effect of this field spell causes all players to take damage every time a monster with less ATK than Sherry's LP is summoned. And at this point in the duel, Aki is barely above 1000 life points, so Crow worries about triggering the field spell's effect and hurting her, which leads to him playing suboptimally because he's more concerned about his friend than about winning the duel. Notably, Aki calls him out on this.

(She has a point.)

Outside of providing an internal conflict for Crow to grapple with, this isn't much to write home about. (Side note: I do find it interesting that they introduce the fear of physically hurting someone in a duel specifically in connection to Aki here, though, given that through her psychic powers, she had to grapple with this exact issue many times in the past. I have no idea if this was intentional, though.)

Between this and the next moment, there's a nice bit of interplay between Crow and Aki again, where he activates a card to refill her life points just in time so she doesn't drop to zero through Soul Binding Gate, while Aki uses a defensive trap to protect Crow in return.

(This is just here because it's a money shot to me. The juxtaposition of their faces and their life points, showing that while Aki may have the lowest life points, she still has the coolest head in this duel, and while Sherry technically has the upper hand, she's beginning to falter because she didn't anticipate the other two to work so well together. It's chef's kiss. Mwah.)

What follows after this, is, of course, the Big Moment. Where Sherry tries to convince Crow to forfeit so she can win and have Z-ONE change the past. And this is the one I really need to dig into.

With Sherry's earlier admission that she's on Iliaster's side because she wants her parents back acting as setup, she begins her attempt to sway Crow by telling him that if he had the opportunity to change the past, he would do it, too. And while Crow initially protests, Sherry challenges this, then proceeds to show him what Z-ONE's power could accomplish, and we get a lengthy sequence where Sherry, through weird cyborg-techno-magic-shenanigans that are never explained, takes Aki and Crow to a dreamlike space where Crow sees the orphans he used to take care of being happily reunited with their parents. Sherry also ominously tells him that this is "what he desires deep in his psyche" before promising him that if he surrenders the duel, Z-ONE can give him a world where Zero Reverse never occurred and all the kids can have happy lives with their real families. (I wanted to post most of this sequence in screenshots, but while I have them, I've realised I'm only a few images short of tumblr's limit already, so forgive me because I will need those remaining image spots.) This moment proceeds to introduce some serious doubt on Crow's end. Aki, meanwhile, remains steadfast, telling him not to fall for Sherry's manipulation, which leads to her giving an almost Yusei-style speech. In a moment where Crow wavers, both because he's genuinely considering whether taking Sherry's offer might be the wiser choice, and because he doesn't want to hurt Aki by triggering Sherry's field spell effect, Aki calls out to him and tells him to snap out of it by reminding him of how Yusei reached out to her during their second duel. This speech is a bit, um. Clunky, I feel. (At least if the translation is correct. If it isn't, then that may be the issue.) See, she tells him that Yusei "saved her from the darkness of her psychic powers", that "he wasn't concerned about his own safety and risked his life to persuade her", that, because her psychic powers are now gone, she's "renewed" and that this somehow brought her to the epiphany that as long as she believes in her own potential, she can change the future. This is lifted almost verbatim from the scene, by the way. Leaving aside the fact that half of this feels like a mild to severe misrepresentation of Aki's character arc during the DS arc (don't talk about it, don't talk about it, I need to make this another post of its own, damn it), I, personally, can't exactly follow how she ended up with that final epiphany from the circumstances she listed. But lucky for us, Crow apparently gets what she's driving at, because he quickly echoes her statement and they both conclude that Crow's kids also believe in the future and fight to live, that they're not sad about their lives the way they are right now, even though they don't have parents. Thus, Crow catches himself, echoing Aki's sentiment and telling Sherry that he, too, believes in the future. And through the power of Friendship and Believing in the Future, he manages to use Aki's cards to land the final hit, nicely mirroring how she used his to destroy Ecole de Zone.

...Phew. Okay, look. First off, that above, large section is basically several character beats stacked on top of one another. On Sherry's end, we have the intriguing fact that she's specifically trying to manipulate Crow, not Aki. In fact, she doesn't so much as try to sway Aki, as though she knows it's no use. Then, on Aki's end, we've got her pulling a real Yusei, staying level-headed almost the entire duel and reaching out to make sure Crow stays on track. This moment also ties back to her own conflict with her powers again. (Which, unfortunately, I will talk about, and yes, I'll be chewing drywall the entire time I do it.) Finally, on Crow's end, we've got a nice, proper moment where he doubts himself and, by his own admission, nearly makes a terrible mistake because he wants nothing more than for the kids he used to take care of to have good lives.

Now, before I go over what worked about this moment and what didn't, let me just chew through the rest of the actual duel itself, too, then circle back too highlight some things. In other words, time for me to chew some drywall.

*Sigh*

At the very end of the duel, there are two more character moments that are noteworthy.

First, right before the final hit, we get Sherry desperately defending herself against Aki and Crow's newly strengthened belief that the future can, in fact, still be saved, which she does by (rather heartbreakingly) asking what's so wrong about wanting her parents back, about wanting their love and warmth back. It's at this point that Crow's allowed to get back at Sherry by challenging her beliefs, telling her that people "work hard to live because they only get one chance at life", and that there's no point in trying to go back to do things differently, that the only way to keep going is to believe in the future, regardless of whatever painful and sad events one has had to live through. I'd say this sentiment certainly fits Crow, character-wise, especially given his rough Satellite background. It does partially fall flat because it feels a bit weird for him, specifically, to now be acting like he knows Sherry inside and out, much like she did with him earlier, but again, this is simply a matter of setup and I'll try not to belabour that point again. The horse is already dead, no sense in beating it. It's after this speech and the final attack that Sherry finally realises her error.

Buuut this leads us right into the next character moment. Because as the duel ends, Sould Binding Gate physically falls apart, pelting all three of our duel participants in debris and threatening to crush them under it. While everyone does briefly fall over (and Sherry gets a moment to realise that her father wanted her to live strong, not accept seemingly inevitable doom and die weak), they soon realise they were not, in fact, buried under rubble, though. Because guess what! Black Rose Dragon to the rescue. Black Rose Dragon, who can suddenly physically affect her surroundings again. You know, that thing we were led to believe Aki could no longer make her monsters do because she lost her powers completely out of nowhere. And there's more! Because not only does Black Rose Dragon take care of the debris for the trio, as she disappears, she also heals all three of them, and in response, Crow gets a line that I unfortunately cannot for the life of me discuss without bias because it kills me every time.

(Crow. Crow, please. You're killing me. I beg you.)

This line out of Crow's mouth feels extremely weird to me, and in the process of typing up this post, I've been trying to find the reason why. Here's the conclusion I've come to: Firstly, it feels a bit out of place from him, somehow. A line hypothesising about what psychic powers can or can't do—this is something I would have expected out of Aki's mouth, but not out of Crow's. I believe what makes it feel so out of place, though, isn't necessarily that it seems a bit odd for him, specifically, to theorise about this, but that when I hear it, I don't feel like the character is saying it. Instead, in this moment, moreso than in some others that suffer from the same issue, I hear not Crow, but the writers speaking. I hear them telling me "look, we know we made it seem like Aki's powers are super gone and like they were super, irredeemably bad, and like she and you should be happy that they're gone, but here, see, this is what they're really like. Don't you think we came up with something clever here, to set her becoming a doctor later up nicely? No, this isn't because we needed to backpedal on our decision to make her lose them and be happy about it at the last second, why do you ask?". And yes, I concede this might just be me. (So feel free to disregard this in terms of analysis, I just have some weird kind of vendetta against this line.) But still, even without my personal issues hampering me, this line of dialogue out of Crow's mouth is just plain odd. After all, how would he know what "real" psychic powers are? Since when is he the expert, especially considering we've never so much as seen him comment on Aki's powers before? (And for the record, this line would have seemed just as weird had any other character other than Aki said it imo. It just has that unmistakable "writers trying to justify something at the last second"-tang to me.)

And do not. Do Not get me started on the fact that the writers, despite going to such great pains to paint Aki's psychic powers as an exclusively negative thing especially during the WRGP arc, decide to reintroduce them here, suddenly as a good thing that can also heal people, which directly contradicts every choice they've made when it came to Aki's relationship to her powers ever since the Team Catastrophe duel. While crucially also lacking the one thing this entire duel is practically begging for: Fucking. Setup. But at this point, the handling of Aki's powers, specifically, really needs its own post, so I'll hold off on any further comments here and come back to that another time. I feel like I'm beginning to talk in circles, anyhow. Setup. Setup, setup, setup. This duel wishes it had it, because then the ideas presented here—which, in a vacuum, are compelling—might have worked smoothly.

But, with that. We have finally made it through the duel itself. Sherry, at the very end, gets her change of heart and at last cements herself as a good guy, and that concludes the first duel in the finale, and also both Aki and Crow's last duel in the entire show.

And good lord, was this duel all over the place. Though I think my meandering scene-by-scene breakdown of it showed as much. Now, onto the proper evaluation of what worked and what didn't here. First, let's get the good these two episodes do out of the way, shall we. (Because there is a lot of Bad I need to yell about, unfortunately.)

By virtue of being one of the final duels, this is Aki and Crow's last chance to shine, and shine, they do. Both in the duelling department and in the character department. Aki makes two major plays that upend Sherry's strategy and Crow's perfectly in sync with her, showing that the two truly are teammates, and paying off all the character moments they had specifically in the Team Unicorn to Team Catastrophe section of the WRGP. Their friendship and cooperation is believable and entertaining to watch. Then on the character side, Aki's growth is (somewhat) paid off—where she used to be a character that doubted herself and was afraid of hurting people, she is now the one who can keep a level head and help others fight their self-doubt. Meanwhile, Crow gets to show off his unfailing dedication to community and family again, both by watching out for Aki and by selflessly desiring not for himself to have a better life, but for the kids he used to take care of. And Sherry, who was previously removed from the narrative in such an unsatisfactory way, finally gets to duel again, gets to explain why she actually does what she does, and gets to join the heroes at the end, permanently joining the ranks of the good guys instead of the villains. Happy endings all around.

Ehem. And this is where I'm gonna be less nice about this duel. Because the problem is, due to the specific constellation of characters involved in this duel and how they previously interacted in the show, there's a lot of stuff here that doesn't work nearly as well on a second watch as a first watch would like to make you believe.

First, a broader issue on the card game end of things: The way this duel feels, it's very much more Aki's duel than Crow's, which is also kind of confirmed in the card plays being made. Though it's Crow who's first shown to catch onto the fact that a third party is activating additional card effects out of nowhere, it's Aki who fully solves the mystery, uses Crow's monster to synchro summon Black Rose Dragon, then activates her dragon's effect to get rid of the illusion for good. And while Crow gets to land the final hit, it's Aki's setup and her trap, Synchro Stream, that make it possible for him to win for both of them. And yet. On the dialogue- and character-interaction side of things, this duel is made out to be much more Crow's than Aki's. Because, perhaps surprisingly to some, Aki doesn't waver one bit in this duel. She's got her head in the game the entire time. She's here to do business—that business being defeating Sherry—and by god, does she do it. Moreover, unlike Crow, she has much, much better setup to be duelling Sherry than he does. And this comes right back around to the main thing this duel suffers from, which I've already harped on about: Crow and Sherry, up until this point, have not interacted in a way that would make the connection between them seem in any way significant. Unfortunately for this duel, though, Aki and Sherry have.

From the first episode where we're introduced to Sherry, she's shown to be interested in who Aki is and what she can do. During the duel between her and Yusei, she comments on Aki's powers. Later, when Aki is getting her turbo duelling license, Sherry watches on with interest. At some point while Aki's training, Sherry drops by to speak with her and Yusei again. My point here being, of course, that Aki, unlike Crow, got several scenes where she interacted with Sherry or had Sherry meaningfully take note of her existence before this point. Yet, whatever dynamic the writers may or may not have been aiming for between these two is, at best, underutilised in the final duel, if not completely ignored, at worst. Instead, the writers shift their focus to Crow and try to make us believe that Sherry, a character who has barely acknowledged his existence thus far, would know him well enough to consider him the better target for her attempt at manipulation. (And don't get me started on how the hell Z-ONE's weird robot magic is supposed to expose what Crow "desires deep in his psyche". That is simply a chasm the show expects us to suspend our disbelief over.) And look. The thing is, I don't think the Big Moment where Sherry tries to convince Crow to forfeit is terrible in isolation. Like, they could have made this work, had they given these two setup, had they given us, the audience, reason to believe Crow could be swayed like this (which they, notably, also didn't), and had they given us the impression that Sherry knows Crow well enough to pull something like this. What hurts the scene immensely, however, is that it's preceded by everything before, starting from the WRGP, where there is no setup between these two, no reason to believe Crow could be convinced to forfeit a duel against a major antagonist, and no meaningful interactions to support the belief that Sherry knows who Crow really is at all.

What also stands out to me is that Crow really doesn't feel like the best character to parallel Sherry, here, either. Parallel in the sense that she tries to get to him by expressing a desire she believes they both feel—getting a certain, nicer version of the past they never had back. Because the thing is, Sherry and Crow hardly feel like they have very much in common, and there's certainly no previous hints to make anyone believe they would have this in common. (So for all we know, Sherry could have just been taking a shot in the dark by trying to convince Crow.) You know who could have made for an excellent character to mirror Sherry, though? Yeah. The third person in the room during this scene. Aki.

See, here's the thing about these three as characters, in relation to what this scene tries to accomplish (getting a protagonist to waver by having the antagonist appeal to certain emotional similarities between them): While Crow may perhaps be more relatable to the audience, he isn't all that relatable to Sherry. He comes from dirt poor origins, she from rich ones. He doesn't even remember his parents, she defines herself by the memory of hers. She's a lone wolf, he's incredibly community-focussed. The only parallel you could have drawn between these two, up until this duel, is knowing what it feels like to want revenge. (Sherry with her parents, Crow with his kids back in the DS arc.) But guess what, unfortunately, Aki knows that too, what with her past as the Black Rose Witch and wanting to make people pay for ostracising her. And to make matters worse, she has a lot of other things going for her that parallel Sherry much, much better, too. They both come from well-off families, both have had major, traumatising events in their lives revolve around their parents, both left their initial family structure by way of drastic changes in their life, both are intimately familiar with the desire for vengeance, and, most damningly, Aki knows what it's like to stand on the side of the bad guys—like Sherry is doing in that very scene—because you feel like it's the only place that gives you hope/meaning. Not to speak of the fact that Aki, given her turbulent past with her psychic powers, would probably know exactly what it feels like to want a past you never had back. There would have been so much to work with there, and it makes whatever they were gunning for with Crow look... lacklustre, to put it mildly, by comparison.

The worst part is, I think, that the blame lies neither with the characters nor with the scene concept here. Solely with the execution. Because I truly think they could have made this work. They could have made the entire duel work, big character moments and all. But the keyword is and always has been setup. Setup, which the writers, at least in part, strangely gave to Aki, but not to Crow, which is what hurts particularly his portion of this duel, and, arguably, his character writing in general. Because—and this may be a small thing in the grand scheme of things, but permit me this—while Crow wanting a better future for the kids he used to take care of over a better future for himself feels perfectly on brand, the idea of him forfeiting a duel against a major antagonist, while the threat of the entire city being destroyed is hanging above his head... doesn't. Like, yes, I've talked about the fact that Crow is the only character in 5Ds who ever actually loses duels on purpose. What you may remember, though, is that both occasions we've seen him do this—against Lyndon and Yaeger, respectively—were much lower-stakes duels than this. Not to speak of the fact that it also feels a little odd that Crow, of all people, would buy into the idea that Z-ONE's genuinely powerful enough to just give those kids their parents back, given how liberally he called bullshit on pretty much any and all supernatural mumbo-jumbo claiming that fate is inevitable, or that the gods have this-and-that power, or what have you the entire show. (Also, doesn't he strike you as the guy who'd wonder why Z-ONE's not using his fancy powers for better things, if the extent of them is so great? Or is that just me?) It's a moment of character doubt that tries to sell itself as believable, even though we've never been given any hints that this kind of temptation, specifically, could work on Crow.

Ultimately, Crow & Aki VS Sherry feels like a very hot-and-cold duel. On the cardplay side, the teamwork between Aki and Crow is well done, yet the duel does feel like it skews more towards Aki than towards Crow. Sherry, meanwhile, plays tricky and mean like a proper antagonist, but does so at the expense of sacrificing all her previous tactics and monsters (and, arguably, some of her character, though this is probably on purpose, given her transformation into an antagonist). Then, on the character side, we've got Aki in an interestingly Yusei-ish role, which, while it feels like a good way to show how she's matured and learned, wastes her character dynamic with Sherry. On the other side, Crow and Sherry interact in several personal ways throughout the duel that leave you wondering when exactly these two got to know each other so well, because the show certainly didn't give us a visible progression of their dynamic. The only dynamic that leaves nothing to be desired is that between Aki and Crow (stilted speeches aside), because it excellently showcases their friendship and teamwork. Very weird decisions made in the writing here all around.

We'll get into the nitty-gritty of what changes I would have suggested to improve this duel below, but first: What happens after this duel? Well, two more Yusei gear duels, Aporia briefly standing up to Z-ONE, and then, the final, big clash between Yusei and Z-ONE.

Given that Crow isn't even present for two of these duels and then barely gets more to do than stand on the side and react during the final two, I will dare to skip all that, though. Because really, Crow's occasional comments and the play-by-play he sometimes joins the others in giving when spectating a duel don't exactly contribute anything to his character. They're just there so he gets something to do and doesn't fade into the background entirely when a duel that doesn't involve him is going on. This includes the moment where he, much like the other signers, gets to give Yusei Black-Winged Dragon for the final duel, as well as the later moment when Yusei uses it, chanting in tandem with Crow as BWD arrives. And other than that and the tear-jerking moment when he later reacts to Yusei returning despite all odds, he really doesn't get any noteworthy scenes.

In other words, we are skipping straight to the end. So, where do we find Crow there?

(Oh, y i k e s.)

There's a popular post circulating around this site that goes something like "the worst thing you can do to a character is make them a cop during a timeskip". And, look. I don't think I need to tell anyone that becoming a sector security officer is an extremely jarring character choice for Crow. Crow, of all people! The guy with the face full of markers, who used to be part of a duel gang, who was introduced in the show gleefully stealing from security Robin Hood-style, and who has every reason to despise law enforcement! (Leaving aside the obvious logistical issue that Crow in no country in the world could have completed his police training in the few months between the Ark Cradle debacle and this scene. But given that 5Ds generously brushes realistic concerns like this one aside on multiple occasions, this is, funnily enough, the thing I'm also more willing to overlook here. The character dissonance, however, less so.)

I'll try to be generous and guess that the writers were aiming to convey a message somewhere along the lines of "even someone who's done bad things in the past can become an example for others" or something like it. The problem is just that Crow didn't need any such message because he was already the good guy while he was still actively stealing from security. He was the lovable rogue to a T, damn it! But this, in particular, is a surface scratch hinting at a bigger issue, I think—namely, the issue of the show's complete pivot when it came to the depiction of law enforcement after the DS arc. Because when we think back to that part of 5Ds, good security officers were the exception, rather than the rule. And this is exactly what makes Crow of all characters becoming one even weirder. He would know, would remember how security used to treat him, his kids, his friends, his brothers. And if the idea here was that, well, he's trying to improve sector security by joining it and changing it from the inside, so to speak, then guess what was missing again: Our good, old friend setup. I'm starting to feel like a broken record. So yeah, I don't think a ton of people, whether they like or hate Crow, would disagree that this is a supremely weird position to put his character in.

As we find out through 5Ds' epilogue, however, his sector security job isn't quite what Crow actually wants, though. (And thank god, because that would have been such a bizarre position to leave him in.) Instead, we're shown fairly quickly that several duelling leagues are apparently trying to scout Crow out, and that he's tempted to accept one of the offers and go into pro duelling. This is at first shown in a short scene where something like a league scout follows Crow, then later, when the whole group—sans Jack, at first—is getting together and everyone starts discussing their futures. Aside from complaining a bit about his job and upsetting Aki without meaning to, Crow doesn't get much to do here, either. For what it's worth, at least him feeling tempted to ditch the security job feels more in line with the original Crow we got than with whatever strange twist the writers were going for after this shorter timeskip.

What follows is the very last duel of the show, the long-awaited Yusei VS Jack rematch, of course. And while he doesn't get to participate in this one, Crow, much like Aki and the twins, spectates the duel and ends up having an epiphany about what he wants to do. This epiphany ends up being that he does want to turn to pro duelling, and as a reasoning, canon provides us with this:

(As is known, intense card games are the only way to make children smile.)

Personally, I wouldn't say this is a terrible or out of character reason for Crow to decide to go pro. But there's more to that I'd like to discuss. First, though, let's take a quick look at where we find Crow after the second, bigger timeskip, which is inserted right in the middle of Yusei and Jack's final duel.

(Okay, yeah, I'm a sucker for the bullet earrings.)

The quick scene Crow gets here makes it unmistakably clear that he did go into pro duelling, just like he decided during the duel in the past, and not only that, he went into tag-team duelling and apparently managed to reach world champion status with his teammates. The above scene, however, is the exact same moment he decides to leave said team, so he can instead go solo and (presumably) try to beat Jack.

Now, we can discuss this in a bit more detail. Personally, I'm extremely in two minds about Crow being one of three characters, total, who ends up becoming a pro duellist after canon. Jack seems obvious, especially given the pivot back to his more Fortune Cup-esque persona the writers did around the Red Nova episodes. Rua also makes sense, given that Jack was his idol from the start. Crow, though, feels a little more complicated. The thing is, like so many things surrounding Crow in the Ark Cradle arc, the writers gave us no indication pro duelling is something he's really passionate about before this point. Worse, they didn't even really tell us what reason he saw to participate in the WRGP with his brothers beyond "could be fun". So there isn't really a connection here. The same thing goes for the fact that he specifically talks about teaching his teammates above, which is also something he wasn't associated with all that much previously. Though this one is admittedly less egregious, because at least Crow was seen briefly coaching Aki as she prepared to take his spot during the Unicorn duel. Still, while I wouldn't go as far as saying it's an out of character choice for Crow to go pro, it still feels a little odd that he went down the same route as Jack. Personally speaking, it feels like the writers didn't quite know what to do with him. Because as I said, Jack is obvious and Rua also makes sense, and I'd say the same goes for Yusei. Then there's Ruka, who is treated about as in-depth in the epilogue as she was throughout canon, and Aki, whose "setup" for her timeskip self was done extremely hasty and last-minute, but at least it was there. Between all of them, Crow occupies a weird spot where it doesn't so much feel like he ended up on the wrong trajectory for his life, as it simply feels like there were choices the writers could have made that would have fit him much better. What with his theme of legacy and community, trying to make Pearson's dream of a place where disenfranchised children can learn good life skills a reality would have been a good fit, for example. Especially considering his close ties to the Satellite orphans he used to take care of, which, funnily enough, are reinforced one more time as canon flips back to present day and Crow is seen bidding his kids goodbye.

("Come back"? When, precisely? And what part about "literally saved the world twice" doesn't qualify you as a hero to a bunch of kids ten times over already?)

Considering canon seems hellbent on making sure we know the signers went their separate ways and that they aren't anywhere near each other by the very end of the show, though, my guess is that Crow had to end up doing something like pro duelling, in order to get him out of New Domino City and away from the friend group whose shenanigans we were so accustomed to following by that point. Of course, there's also the argument to be made that Crow staying in NDC and getting a more community-focussed ending would have also been significantly less cool than making him a kickass pro duellist with bullet earrings, which circles back to how the writing interacts with its target audience.

The only thing that follows after this, then, is the big goodbye, and with that, ladies, gentlemen, and other lovely 5ds nerds, we have successfully followed bird boy's path throughout the entire show. And what a ride it was. (I did not think this analysis would end up stretching over a whole four posts.) Time for some closing thoughts before I do my thing and suggest some rewrites that could have made all this feel more coherent one more time.

Crow's character arc, if it can even be called that, feels about as hot and cold as his and Aki's final duel with Sherry over the course of the show. His introduction is fast-paced, he's made to be likable quickly, and his integration into the main protagonist group is as quick as everything else about his narrative. Between the way he shows up out of nowhere, briefly disappears without fanfare, and is then reintroduced with even more importance before slipping into the signer group like he's always been there, it truly feels like his entire inclusion in the narrative was a last-minute decision by the writers to include that one, additional character concept Kazuki Takahashi had originally created after all. If there was one way to describe his whole arc, it would be that it's a rush. At the start, the writers are in a hurry to make him likable, then they're in a hurry to make him a signer, then they're in a hurry to give us a whole backstory for him, then they're in a hurry to give him a believable character dynamic with Aki, and at the end, they're in a hurry to pay off a character dynamic with Sherry they didn't properly set up with him. You may notice that leaves significant gaps, and the lack of balance between those gaps and the rushes surrounding them, I believe, are part of why he's such a polarising character.

Crow is integrated so thoroughly into the signer group at the end of the DS arc that, much like Aki and the twins, he gets stuck in the position of being a character that cannot simply be removed from the narrative for a longer amount of time. And this, I think, ends up biting him in the ass, because in the gaps where the writers don't rush to do something big with him, it often feels like they don't quite know what to do with him at all. So, he instead gets relegated to small side tasks, like inane duels that don't affect the plot, or becomes the person who reacts to unfolding situations in whatever manner wouldn't fit Yusei or Jack. He feels like he's the third portion of the protagonist trifecta only in theory—the status of an equal third player seems to be what the writers had in mind, yet, looking at the show, it feels like an honorary title, at best, because the writing choices made for him don't convey anywhere near the same amount of thought and effort as those of Yusei and Jack. Crow's backstory doesn't intersect significantly with that of his brothers, his dragon is introduced way too late and never given an upgrade, he never gets to clash with Iliaster until the Team New World duel, and throughout the entire WRGP and Ark Cradle arc, there isn't a single duelling victory that's solely his. People who prefer other characters over Crow like to harp on about how much screentime he gets; I argue that this is exactly what showcases how poorly the writers took care of him in many instances. For as much as Crow is plastered onto the screen and given the aesthetics of an equal player in a protagonist trio, his many appearances are as much of a curse as they are a gift, because too many of them aren't spent setting up anything meaningful or developing his character in any way. Speaking of character development: There is none. Crow exits the show pretty much exactly the same as he entered it, brief security stint aside. And, look, this need not necesarily be a bad thing. Static characters exist and they have their place in stories. It's just that in Crow's case, his utter lack of development feels like another damning indicator of the writers' cluelessness when it came to utilising him, given his weird, sort-of-elevated-protagonist. Aki, who is so often weighed against him, gets significantly more development than he does. And though Jack also ends up in almost the same place at the end of the show as he was at the start, at least he had a dip in the middle where his character was somewhat malleable and not set in stone. Crow didn't.

What we end up with, then, is a character whose concept is perfectly fine on paper, but whose execution proceeded to turn him into the one and only favourite for some, and the embodiment of piss poor writing for others. Having now looked at pretty much his entire run in the show with a bloody microscope, I end up somewhere in the middle, myself. He's a good character and much of his writing is confusing at best, utter dogshit at worst. As for what decisions in the writing room led to him turning out like this, I'd still pay good money to know them. For what it's worth, I've tried my very best to make an educated guess as to all of them.

And now, for the final time, allow me to do my very best to suggest how the issues of the Ark Cradle arc could have been addressed in order to make Crow's part in it less messy.

In previous posts, I've split up my rewrite suggestions depending on one circumstance: Whether or not Crow stays a signer. However, this time, I will deliberately forgo this, for one, very simple reason—Crow's status as a signer doesn't matter one bit for the Ark Cradle arc. Regardless of whether he has a mark or not, his duel with Sherry remains unaffected, and so does his later timeskip-self. Thus, pick your favourite, both versions work for the Ark Cradle.

Now. Onto the elephant vengeful Frenchwoman in the room. Let me repeat my favourite word in this post one more time. What the dynamic between Crow and Sherry needed, more than anything else, in order to satisfyingly be paid off during their Ark Cradle duel, was setup. There was so much time Crow spent on screen doing fuck all, and some of that time could have so easily been allocated to him interacting with Sherry in a meaningful manner. (I'm side-eyeing especially his pre-WRGP duels. Those did nothing to add to his character and could have easily been replaced with episodes where he actually gets to talk to Sherry one on one.) And if not that, then the writers could at least have done themselves the favour of letting Aki talk to Crow about Sherry, which would have arguably set up their three-way clash even better. Moreover, show us how the hell these two characters parallel each other and how they differ, damn it! The main issue with the big moment Sherry and Crow had in the duel was that Crow's faltering and his sudden, deep understanding of Sherry came completely out of nowhere. So what if they had shown some of that earlier, then? What if they had shown where the lmits of Crow's resolve lie, what could get him to doubt himself? What if they had drawn the parallel of Sherry and Crow both supposedly being characters that sometimes wistfully think about a past they never had earlier? It would have done so much to make that duel hit exactly the way it was probably meant to. As a bonus, if we had gotten Aki and Crow talking about Sherry, too, the scene of talking Sherry out of helping Z-ONE could have been a team effort, just like their card playing was. Both of them would have reasons to know different aspects of Sherry each, and both could have brought up good arguments. And this is really all this duel woild have needed to be better on the story end, I think: A solid, narrative foundation to make it obvious to us why it has to be these three characters duelling, why it could have only been this setup, why it made the most sense to let these three bounce off each other. Crow only needs that extra step to slot in better with the girls here.

As for the epilogue, I don't think anyone will be surprised to read that I would have never made Crow a cop, not even temporarily. The depiction of law enforcement 5Ds gives us during the DS arc is too damning for that. However, given the way the ending is structured, he does need some sort of occupation that feels like it's not quite the right thing so he can later change his mind about it, of course. Here, though, is where I, purely in service of Crow's character, would suggest a change that probably doesn't work with the ending's final aim of separating the 5Ds gang by hundreds of kilometres each. I would let Crow go into pro duelling first, then let him figure out that's not what he actually wanted. Crow, to me, is a character who is so intrinsically tied to community and family that turning him into a solitary pro duellist—even if he claims to do it to make the kids back home smile—feels off to me. Thus, from a character standpoint, I would let him pivot back to wanting to take care of those kids. Either through what I suggested above, letting him carry on Pearson's dream, or, which also feels fitting to me, by letting him help out Martha again and setting him up as the guy who'll take over when she can no longer run the orphanage. It's not the cool, glamorous end the show gave him, but it's what feels more like the family-focussed guy we first met in the show. It doesn't gel with the idea of permanently separating him from the other signers, though, unfortunately. To do something like that while keeping his community theme, one would probably have to send him away to shack up with Brave or something, to help orphans in other countries. But this, I think, nicely showcases the dissonance between what Crow's character writing would suggest he might do at the end, and what the show demanded he needed to do so he'd no longer be close to the others. Because my focus, as always, is only on character here. And Crow, with his personality and his writing, feels like the character who chafes the most against the idea of striking out solo, abandoning his ties to the community he was so invested in previously. To that extent, the above suggestion is the best I can provide with what we were canonically given. If we wanted to keep the canon ending he gets and actually make it make sense why he suddenly wants to be a lone wolf pro, the only thing I could suggest would be more setup for that. (Ah, there it is again. One final time.) Show Crow having some actual competitive drive, show him enjoying the whole tournament thing more than he thought he would during the WRGP. Just give us something that shows why he would want to go down this path, and why some other things that were previously important to him might not be a priority anymore. It all comes back to setup.

*Deep breath*

So, here we are, then, and this is it. This is all I could make of Crow's character writing in the entire show. To everyone who read this post in its entirety, a heartfelt thank you. To everyone who read the whole series of posts in its entirety, I'm so glad you're as insane about this show as I am, it makes me feel incredibly appreciated. Hope you enjoyed the ride, more meta posts will come eventually, just about different topics. In the meantime, see ya.

#yugioh 5ds #crow hogan #ygo 5ds #5ds #sherry leblanc #yugioh meta #IT IS DONE #HOLY SHIT IT IS DONE #I can't believe I've reached the point of my life where I do gratuitous media analysis for fun #this was such a ride god damn #but I completed it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#I'm sticking a gold star on my forehead as a reward #anyway hope you enjoy this last part #feel free to yell at me (enthusiastically) about it #orchid rambles

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igotanidea · 1 year

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Side Effects: Morpheus x reader

Request based on prompts list:

Hob: I brought you your coffee (128)

Morpheus: why does she need one, it's the middle of the day?

Reader: Oh I haven't slept in 4 days (132)

Morpheus: Run (130)

Midterms are a pain the ass, forgive my language. When the times comes, twice a year, for 2 weeks I become a hermit working 24/7, limiting contact with friends and family and acting like a living zombie. Thankfully, there are just a couple of people who are not afraid to see me in this form, with messy hair, sleepy eyes, barely controlling myself and snapping at every negative or sarcastic comments. If I were to be absolutely honest, I would say that I’m not the person you can easily get to, but Hob and Morpheus were an exception to a rule. And Matthew, of course. Hob were constantly checking on my mental an psychical help, his smile and attitude making surviving a bit easier even if I never explicitly showed that, he just knew. As for Morpheus his lack of knowledge about humans and life in general made it complicated. He couldn’t understand why I spend my time poring over books instead of joining him in his Realm and it took joint effort of me, Hob AND Matthew to stuff his head with the importance of education in modern world.

“You know, Dream, in XXI century girls are allowed to study and gain knowledge on the same terms as men….”

“But…..”

“And that is exactly what I’m going to do”

“But…..”

“No buts.” I shook my head in disapproval “I’m not asking for your permission or anything like that.”

“I don’t mind your studies.” He muttered

“Don’t you?” Hob smirk “Last time you mentioned something about missing her and …..”

“Stop it!” Dream’s voice turned stone cold, his glistening with anger and embarrassment gaze focused on the man.

“Just saying the truth” Hob raised his hands in surrender “It’s not my fault you don’t like it.”

“Guys, quit it, please. As much as I enjoy the show you put on I don’t need it now, ok? Can I get any support in my approach to schooling? Matthew?”

“Yes?”

“Were you even listening to what I was saying?”

“Barely, sorry” he looked down.

“I hate you, you know.” I stood up with anger on my face “for a beings of many, many years old you should at least try to understand it. Hob, you disappointed me. Given your experience with changing times I expected more of you. And as for you Dream ….. “ I shook my head “It’s just sad, you know. I’m gonna go.” Grabbing my backpack I didn’t even listen to their voices calling after me as I left and walked straight home. Back to my books.

“Look what you both have done.” Matthew cawed

“What did WE do?” Hob’s eyes widened “you weren’t even listening to her”

“Maybe, if I were I would absolutely support her.”

“I never said I don’t stand on her side. This one did” Gadling pointed towards Dream being absolutely sure that the Dream Lord would never hurt him, even after such offensive assumption.

“Quiet!” King of Dreams got impatient and his companions immediately went silent “why is this so important to her? This … education?”

“Really, boss? Are you serious?”

“ I’m not known for joking around, am I? Now, speak”

“She is smart, ok? Like really smart. And today’s world is not exactly welcoming towards the smart women. They are constantly undermined, limited in their attempts for more, believed to be weaker than men and way to often judged only by their looks. Nothing strange in her wanting more. Education is important and helps you in life.”

“From every being in the universe you should know the effect of ignorance of existence, first-hand Dream” Hob mocked him once again and this time Dream Lord did not let it pass.

“That is enough, Hob Gadling. One more word and I will send a nightmare after you”

“No you won’t “ Matthew and Hob said in unison, knowing better.

***

Did I mention I only let a few people (and a talking Raven in)? Yes, I was angry with them all. Yes, I felt like they treated me unfair. But on the other hand I was also aware that because of being tired my reactions were a bit … exaggerated. So, the next day I decided to take a quick trip to the New Inn and grab myself something to drink, tea perhaps since too much caffeine was bad for my nervous system. It seemed, however that someone knew me better and therefore my walk was postponed.

“I brought you your coffee” Hob was nonchalantly leaning on the doorframe, widest smile on his face reaching towards his eyes, handling me the biggest cup I’ve ever seen.”

“Appreciate it” I took it looking down and biting my lip “look, Hob I’m sorry for….”

“Hey, it’s ok. I get you are under stress, so no worries. Besides, I like this edgy and feisty side of yours.”

“Do you?” I raised an eyebrow “Well, that makes me happy. I enjoy our bantering and sarcastic relationship. You wanna come inside?”

“I thought you were studying?”

“ I was heading for a break, so might as well ask you.”

“Well, who am I to refuse a girl?” he grinned happily and moved to walk past me. Unfortunately, he did it a bit clumsily, hitting me and causing a bit of burning hot coffee to spill on me.

“Ouch, Hob!” I yelled and rushed towards the bathroom to clean the T-shirt and avoid stains and burning sides on the skin.

“I’m sorry!” he followed me quickly but bounced off the door I shut in front of his face “I did not mean to.”

“I know, but it hurts now!”

“Please let me in so I can help you!” he banged on the entry.

“In your dreams!” I spit desperately trying to clean the stain

“What happened here?” third voice came on the stage.

“Darn! What are you doing here, Morpheus?!” I opened the bathroom forgetting I was only in my bra “what?!” I yelled noting their gaze on me “Oh…. Right, just a second” covering my chest and stomach I moved towards the bedroom, grabbing first clean shirt and putting it on before coming back on sight. “What are you doing here?”

“You called my name.”

“I called…. Oh, shit! Me mentioning dreams had nothing to do with you.”

“I see.”

“Are you going to go back to Dreaming?”

“No.”

“Why?” I whined “I need to study.”

“Just a minute ago you said you were in need of a break” Hob pointed out

“Well thanks a lot Hob!”

“What? I’m just saying the truth

“Yeah, you have an annoying habit of doing that!”

“What. Happened here? Why are you hurt?” Dream interrupted us before we rushed into each other throats.

“I only brought her coffee.”

“Why does she need one? It’s the middle of the day.”

“You know Dream, for a lord of the sleeping realm you are uncharacteristically oblivious, to put it lightly” I tapped my forehead “I haven’t slept in four days. And you two are making me angry so let me tell you this is a dangerous zone you are entering.” I took a step forward, clenching fists.

“You what?”

“You heard me the first time.”

“Dream? You got paler than before. I never knew that was even possible” Hob examined the other man’s face, surprise and a bit of fear in his tone.

“Hob?”

“Yes?”

“Run.”

@somest1 @pinksirensong

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annab-nana · 1 year

Note

“You would make the perfect father/mother.” with eddie please

omg yes please! here you go babe :)

warnings: eddie being so cute with kids and just overall endearing, not proofread

❀ masterlist ❀

"you're cancelling on me, aren't you?" he guessed when he saw your face as you walked up to his locker sadly first thing in the morning.

you nodded. "not because i want to. mrs. kim called and asked if i could keep sarah and theo for the weekend. her husband was doing better for a little bit, but he took a decline this morning and the hospital here can only do so much. they're moving him to indianapolis right now. if it wasn't so urgent, i wouldn't, but she doesn't have anyone else," you explained with a sigh.

eddie understood, but he couldn't say he wasn't bummed. "don't worry about it. we can reschedule."

you leaned back against the lockers. "i know. i just hate that we can't go on our fun weekend trip anymore." you and eddie were growing tired of hawkins so you two were going to venture outside of it before the weekend. there really were no plans other than to get out, but still, you were excited for the change of scenery.

"yeah, but we can still have fun though. i can grab some movies that we can watch after the kids go to sleep. we'll just have to be quiet," eddie offered.

"i don't know if you've ever taken care of an eight-month-old and a four-year-old for an extended period of time, but when they go to bed, so do i. they're tiny, but exhausting."

"oh," eddie stopped for a moment to think, "well, i've never been around little kids since i was one, but maybe i could help. it could be fun and we'd still get to spend the weekend together."

"you want to?" you didn't think kids were eddie's thing, but as you'd learned from him time and time again, the boy was full of surprises.

"yeah, why not?" you lunged yourself at eddie and wrapped your arms around him. he was caught off guard but held on to make sure you didn't fall.

"have i ever told you how much i love you?" you asked when you pulled away to look at him.

he shrugged. "you may have mentioned it once or twice."

you had theo in the kitchen on your hip as you made his bedtime bottle, shaking it in your hand as the tuckered-out eight-month-old rested his little head on your shoulder. you sat your head atop his teeny one and walked with him to the nursery while still shaking up his bottle in your other hand. "i know, theo. i'm tired too."

taking a seat in the rocking chair, you situated theo so that he could drink comfortably and let him hold the bottle in his own hands like he liked to do. he eyed you curiously as he sipped on the bottle before you watched the poor boy's eyes grow heavy. his grip on the bottle started to become weaker so you swooped in and grabbed it before it could hit the floor. with a little continuous rocking and soft humming, theo was out. you quietly placed him in his crib and shut the door as softly as you could.

on your way back to the kitchen, you stopped when you heard eddie's voice coming from sarah's room. the girl had been glued to him the entire day ever since you introduced her to him and told her he was your boyfriend. at the beginning, she asked eddie nonstop questions about you, wanting to see what you were like outside of when you babysat them. she loved love stories so she wanted to know yours and eddie's so the boy shared all the pg stuff. sarah had eddie wrapped around her little finger and she knew it, using it to her advantage as she did now.

normally, you only read one book to her, but when you peeked into her room, you could tell based on the two books that sat to the side that they were on book three. he still wore the tiara she'd put on his head earlier for a princess tea party and eddie wore it proudly. he sat on her bed with an arm around her as she laid back against his chest. you could see her eyes were closed, but eddie continued to read the book in his animated dungeon master voice which was perfect for the fairytale he was reading.

you watched on as he finished the story, placed the book to the side, and very carefully moved so he didn't wake her up. he didn't notice you standing by the doorway until you spoke when he approached it. "you would make the perfect father, you know?"

"pretty good for a first-timer?" he whispered while shutting the door gently behind him.

"very good for a first-timer," you responded with a weary grin, "you tired yet?"

"exhausted," he shared, chuckling lightly. "but i had fun."

"thanks for helping me," you said, voice sweet and soft as you wrapped your arms around his waist and pressed your face into his chest. "i really appreciate it."

"anything for you, princess," he mumbled before pressing a kiss to the crown of your head.

you giggled into the comfortable material of his t-shirt. "i think you are actually the princess with your gold tiara on and all."

"it doesn't match my other jewelry, but it'll have to do," he complained sarcastically just to get you to smile.

"you should feel honored. that one is her favorite."

eddie took off the tiara and examined it. "sarah has good taste. i must protect this with my life."

you rolled your eyes playfully at the boy and pulled him in the direction of the guest bedroom. "come on, silly boy. this princess is tired."

eddie pulled you back to him and kissed you passionately for a minute before breaking away, his eyes dancing between your own in admiration. "my sleeping beauty."

"my charming prince."

remember to support writers & reblog :)

turn on notifications for @annab-library to be notified when i post something new!

#stranger things sleepover #stranger things #eddie munson #blurbs #eddie munson blurbs #eddie munson x reader #anon #❀ nonnie ❀

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rockybloo · 6 months

Note

Hows Bitterbat as a ruler? We know he's going to becomes to king of Umbra in the far future with Sweetheart ad his side, what type of king Is he going to be?

Bitterbat is already the king of Umbra, it's why I keep referring to him as the King of Monsters. The second Lord Vile, Bitterbat automatically took over the throne as there were no other heirs save for Bitterbat (thanks to Lord Vile's picky ass).

And Bitterbat is a good king. Though some Monstrums raise objections to his frequent visits to the Human realm that often outnumber the days he's even in Umbra. He's much better than Lord Vile and that's what really matters.

Bitterbat takes being a king very seriously. Otherwise he wouldn't last a second. Due to Lord Vile's brainwashing and overturning of Monstrum traditions, many Umbra residents struggle to survive due to "Survival of the strongest" mentality he forced upon everyone. The stronger Monstrums and those already in power thrive but the weaker ones have a difficult time getting by and Bitterbat focuses on helping them as he tries to bring back the old Monstrum way of "The strong protect the weak" and general community.

Due to Bitterbat being the strongest Monstrum in Umbra, it's quite easy to get people to listen to him as those that try to oppose or even attack him are made quick work of. He doesn't quite kill them as Monstrums are MUCH more durable than humans but he def leaves them with some scars to live by. He hates his father with a passion but those lessons about using fear to rule helps sometimes. It's the biggest reason why, during his long absences away from Umbra while he's in Decking City, nobody really pulls any dumb stunts. Because everyone knows when Bitterbat comes back, he's going to know something is out of place and he won't hesitate to punish the troublemakers and make them an example for anyone else who wants to disturb the peace.

In the far future where Sweetheart officially is crowned as queen (there is a big ceremony that has to take place for her to be truly recognized by other Monstrums), she helps him set things straight as well as work on a plan to get rid of a monarchy so they can get Monstrums to coexist without the need for some king to rule over them all.

This is mainly because Bitterbat doesn't want to risk another Lord Vile situation where they get a ruler in the future that fucks everything up again...also being a king takes up the free time he could be spending with his Sweetheart.

#ask #ask: glitter and guilt #ask: bitterbat

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stealthily--nobody · 1 month

Text

Mine

Summary: Curufin in the aftermath of Nargothrond and the betrayal that follows him to his death.

Prompt: Oaths (and loyalty)

Also on AO3

It only sunk in when they had finally made their way from Nargothrond to Himring and were accommodated by his brother’s people. He sat on the stout bed in the small room and stared at the narrow desk. Nelyafinwe’s attendant had placed a pitch of water and two cups on the desk beside the weathered quill and ink tray.

Two cups. Because only Tyelko would be visiting - not Telperinquar. Because Telperinquar was not here. He had left them.

His son had abandoned him.

Kicking a table had never felt so cathartic and so duplicitous. Watching that stupid pitch fall and the two glasses shatter felt vindictive. Not that he would ever hurt Telperinquar. Telperinquar was his son and always would be. Disownment meant nothing. Because Telperinquar was his, his blood, his son.

No matter how unfilial his brat was, Telperinquar was his in a way no one else was, not even Telptalote belonged to him the way Telperinquar did. Telperinquar was his but would no longer follow him.

What had gone wrong? When had the child decided he knew better than Curufinwe? Did he not realize how much Curufinwe did for him? Everything that Curufinwe did was for one of two people: his father and his son. And Telperinquar had the audacity to throw that back in his face?

Why, if Telperinquar wasn’t all the way in Nargothrond, Curufinwe would teach that brat a lesson in paternal fealty. Did he not realize that Curufinwe’s work in Nargothrond was all to make their lives better? To protect the people from Findarato’s folly? The Arafinwion had already proven himself to be an incapable ruler. Curufinwe had been doing the city a favour by appointing himself as their ruler.

“You’re in a good mood.” Was Tyelko’s greeting. Curufinwe spun to find his elder brother leaning on the doorframe with his typical smirk settled on his features. “Whatever did the table do to you?”

Curufinwe huffed and returned to his bed, refusing to answer Tyelko’s question. “And so are you, despite the lecture Nelyo undoubtedly gave you.”

Tyelko only shrugged before crossing into the room and letting the door slam shut behind him. He righted the chair that had fallen over in Curufinwe’s previous rage and positioned himself across from Curufinwe. “It’s nothing I haven’t heard before. Doriath already hated us, so what’s a little more ammunition.”

“I heard their princess became mortal,” Curufinwe snorted as he reached into his pack for the wine he’d snatched from Findarato’s collection in Nargothrond. “Good riddance to her and her paramour.”

Curufinwe didn’t even wait for Tyelko to retrieve cups before he tipped the bottle into his mouth and took a hearty swig. Tyelko growled at him, but Curufinwe rolled his eyes as he passed the bottle over. What was the point of pretending to have manners when there was no one else around?

Tyelko accepted the bottle and as he took his own generous sip, Curufinwe continued, “The only issue is their little party trick got them a Silmaril.”

“I warned Beren the consequences of his quest,” Tyelko said as he passed the bottle back to Curufinwe. “It would not surprise me if our next target is Doriath. Melian is a weaker foe than Morgoth by far.”

Curufinwe only drank again, deeper this time. They two passed the bottle back in forth as Curufinwe allowed his anger to flow to the surface and guide their conversation. Tyelko kept pace with him with his own aggression and easy confidence.

It was odd, Curufinwe couldn’t help but think as he continued to gripe. Tyelko did not belong to him as other people in life did. Tyelko was not Telptalote or Telperinquar, he was Curufinwe’s brother: a much more tenuous tie when they were two of seven brothers. And yet, of all the people in his life, Tyelko alone was the one who stayed by his side. His father had died and left them with a painful Oath; his other brothers had scattered across Beleriand and rarely sent missives let alone visited; his wife abandoned him the moment he could not provide her with the wealth and luxury she thought he, as a prince, should be able to provide; and his son had left him due to ‘conflicts in moral codes’.

Tyelko was wilderness itself. All through Curufinwe’s childhood, Tyelko was rarely around - gone on long excursions with the hunt. But he always returned with enthusiastic greetings and tales. Even in Beleriand, Tyelko could not control his wanderlust, but he returned to Curufinwe when no one else did.

How strange that the most fickle of all Curufinwe’s brothers would prove the most loyal.

It was a loyalty tested time and again as Tyelko proved correct and the remaining sons of Feanaro stormed Doriath in the wake of Luthien’s death and her son’s failure to return the Silmaril to their rightful owners. Tyelko stood at Curufinwe’s side and supported him as he argued with Nelyafinwe in favour of the attack. Thingol and his get had already proven themselves willful and egotistical. Why would now prove any different?

Of course, Nelyafinwe eventually relented and Tyelko was once again at Curufinwe’s side as they charged the Sindar with their full might. Even in the ensuing bloody violence and chaos, Curufinwe was always aware of Tyelko at his side, paring blows aimed at his blindspots and throwing himself at the most dangerous opponents.

Together, they two fought their way deep into Sindar lines and found themselves staring down Luthien’s barely grown son. He was beautiful, yes, but also ugly in all the ways that truly counted: deceitful and condescending and Curufinwe hated him instantly.

Curufinwe snarled and threw himself at the newly crowned king, trusting that Tyelko would be following in his wake. The false king was skilled enough but young, much too young to deal with Curufinwe’s wealth of warfare knowledge. It was an easy fight.

Or it should have been.

But as he swung his sword down, it was parried by another. Curufinwe looked up at Luthien’s son’s protector and froze.

It was Telperinquar.

His son stared back. Or no, that wasn’t his son he realized a moment later, only an elf with very similar features. But where Telperinquar held the light of the trees in his eyes, this elf’s eyes were dark. And the more Curufinwe stared, the more he realized how different this elf appeared. His ears were sharper and his shoulders narrower. He had a nose that jutted too much from his face and his cheekbones were shallower.

How long had it been since he’d seen his son if such a fleeting similarity made him pause?

It was a thought train that didn’t reach all that far as in his confusion, he’d lost sense of the battlefield - the battlefield which he was yanked back to when he felt a sword swing through his lower abdomen.

The child-king stared him down with a snarl and Curufinwe could only be disappointed in himself. How could he lose his composure and allow an amateur to spear him through? He knew instantly that it was a fatal wound and dropped to his knees.

So his son would be the death of him as he often complained. Strange that even in his absence, Telperinquar could still betray him.

In juxtaposition, Tyelko did no such thing. With his sword felt high and his teeth bloody, Tyelko charged forward and skewered the child-king with his sword.

Good. Curufinwe thought. At least he was avenged.

But it was a vengeance that would not last long as the child-king’s wife struck Tyelko across the back and so too did his brother fall.

What true loyalty, Curufinwe thought, his mind growing hazy. Not only did Tyelko avenge him, but so too did he fall with him. These qualities should be prized in his most loyal: his Tyelko.

#curufin #celegorm #silmarillion #c+c week 2024

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gogolstoelicker · 2 years

Note

Twisted wonderland dorm leaders and vice leaders with a mc who is like a childe from genshin impact?! Like they do some shady stuff, wants to fight everyone and everything, is a walking wallet and name they introduced themselves with isn't even their real name

Dorm leaders + Vice dorm leaders with a Childe!MC

note: the things i wrote for the characters might be short KSKSKS im sorry😭

You're a manipulative individual that enjoys fighting and improving yourself. You're feared on the battlefield for your skills and unpredictable behavior. You also took pride in your skills in the battlefield and often see the people around you as weaker than yourself.

Despite that, you're a straightforward person who enjoys the most simple things and is not into complex schemes of manipulation. You're a family person and have a protective side to your family, mainly siblings.

Riddle:

collared u every. single. time.

well it may have stopped the hydro vision or electro delusion(?) but it won't stop these fists‼️

that sentence sounds familiar for some reason. pls do forgive me if i accidentally copied someone

literally watched u beat up pelple with the collar on ur neck

if he could, he would collar u a second time

but he can't so he settles on giving u other punishment like chores etc

Trey:

finds out how good u are at household stuffs and go🤨⁉️how the hell🤨⁉️

oh well i mean

at least you're good at smth other yhan fights?🤔🤔he supports this side of u very much

he smiles and walks away

he does not wish to be apart of this

*5 minutes later*

he is now apart of this:(

he didn't even mean to. u just randomly saw him and dragged him into the fight

for no reason really, u just wanna be a menace

so now he's dragging YOU to stop fighting and all the way to the heartslabyul dorm

Leona:

why heartslabyul u may ask? bc he can watch u better than way

probably bonded abt siblings

he have sibling, u have siblings

he's the big bro, you're the big sibling too!

listens to u rant abt ur siblings excitedly and he just go :) /pos

probably made u help with him chores LMFOAOAOAOA

being his friends comes with a helping with chores package, sorry not sorry🙏

Azul:

picked a fight with each other💀

you know the thing in book2 where leona was abt to knock our teeth out? yeah u were probably excited when he picked a fight with u

Leona seeing ur excitement: what the hell🤨⁉️

probably what made him lowkey hesitate bc what sane person would be excited abt getting their teeth knocked out?

probably didn't like him as much for his schemes💀

which he told u to just suck it up bc nrc is not for goodies two shoes

which makes u sulk💀lmao u big baby

Leona doesn't care❌that's what u get for falling into a world full of villains‼️

you're one of the 11 most powerful in ur job back in ur world??

and you're... rich?

practically giggled like a schoolgirl and ran up to u with a contract in hand

its nothing bad do not worry😘he would never do anything bad /lies

u seemed to be the type to hate how he's not being 100 honest with his intentions when making a contract

he sometimes go🤔at that bc uh, you're not being completely honest yourself either??

look at the name u introduced urself with😡yeah thats right fucker, he got u now huh

Jade:

doesn't really care that you're picking fights left and right, as long as it's not in his lounge, u can pick fights as many times as u want

Kalim:

probably didnt like him as much either LNFOAOAOA

jade doesn't really care

you're bland anyway🙄like u magicless??? damn how bland can u get

damn jade no need to be so harsh</3

but he quite enjoys seeing u beat people up with that... hydro blade of urs?🤨polearm🤔?

as long as u don't pick a fight with him, hes fine with anything u do

probably lowkey encouraged u to fight people for shits and giggles💀

two menace in a room, what could go wrong?

everything.

i sure do hope the school is at least prepared🤔

Jamil:

sweet kalim will never get into ur bad side

and you're more than happy to spend time with this guy just bc of how he's so clear with his motives and is so genuine and u really love that in a person!!!!!

bonded over ur siblings together too

he have MANY sibling and you have MANY siblings too

literally two big siblings talking to each other with fondness in their voice abt just how cool their younger siblings are and just how cute they are and how much yall missed them

now the whole nrc sees u two hang out most of the times and if trey isn't busy, he'll join

as the big siblings committee‼️

and honestly? kalim lowkey encouraged u to fight people too HELPPP

but he helps the people u beat up AND u after to the infirmary🙏

in this house, we stan and love kalim💞

Vil:

probably didnt like hin at first too

he himself doesn't like u at first

at least the feeling is mutual yes⁉️

u don't like how sneaky he is and he doesn't like how troublesome u are

so now yall have this tension😡😡

which quickly got resolved by Kalim bc he just wants his new best friend to get along with his other best friend that he grew with

now y'all have to act like yall like each other for kalim

no hesitation in making u help him with the chores around the dorm every time u went to visit

which, may he add, that you're really helpful in

and he is very thankful bc hey!! he finally got some rest:D!

so ty to u ig:D?!

believe it or not, u guys got along quite well

vil likes the way u always look for ways to improve urself

even when it's mostly for battles, he really likes and respects that

he himself thinks that its important to improve yourself everytime u had the chance to

Rook:

idk when did i turned serious but i think im slowly turning into a vil stan that im being this serious

actually gave u tips on self-improvement on anything u asked for

beauty? physical strength? maybe even ur emotions? HE GOT U🙏‼️

on the other hand, he sometimes warned u not to get into TOO many fights

well its like one thing going into ur right ear and left ur left ear bc just as he said that, u got into a fight 5 mins after

he scolded u

its ok he offered to clean up ur appearance‼️

IN THIS HOUSE, WE ALSO STAN VIL💞‼️

(insert french words), YOU'RE JUST SO ADMIRABLE😍

loves watching u

its not creepy he swears💞

Idia:

he just LOVES your passion for the battlefield that he needs a chance to see it upclose all the time!💞

u probably know he's there and actually surprised him by doing an uno reverse card

like he was supposed to stalk u but what is this? u disappeared? where have u gone to-

"hey! i noticed you've been watching me for a while!" u said from behind him

now its like love at first sight with rook💞 /JOKE

u can never get rid of the french man now

he is always lurking with full of admiration😍💪‼️

you're one of the reasons he avoids going out

nope. NOPE. he is NOT going to be associated with someone like u

Malleus:

NEVER.

*got involved with u anyway

he now stare at himseld in the mirror everyday asking what had he done wrong for him to accidentally be involved with u

and then he looks at ur cat in his lab(?) and goes yeah💀i did this to myself💀

experienced fighting with foul legacy u

he got the first row ticket and he surely was not having fun

i mean come on⁉️u grew in size and ur skills kind of improved⁉️

and how come u suddenly use electro now🤬🤬why is the world making hik fight against a UR character⁉️

challenged him to a fight the moment u heard hes THEE malleus draconia

him, who's just there to watch a performance: :)?

Lilia:

the people around u hearing u challenging him to a fight: D:?!

u: ›:)

more than happy to fight with u and is actually greatly entertained

and kind of relieved and happy bc hey not only do u not fear him but you're also bold enough to ask him for a duel💔he may just cry on the spot

he won but u seemed to be happy and declared to challenge him to another duel after u improved urself

and he lets u be bc yey!! new friend that he can spar with without fearing he'll accidentally kill them?! count him in!

u can rant abt ur siblings during ur nighty outings! and he will rant abt gargoyles in return:D!!

probably challenged him to a fight and failed miserably

at first lilia was ready to see u go 😫😓🍃 bc u lost

but all he got is u looking at him like 😃✨🤩and declaring you'll get stronger to beat him one day

lilia is amused, he's more than happy to play around with u

the way u fight on the battlefield is quite fun anyway💪💞

and he is more than happy to have someone be on par with him since it's been a long time since he had a great battle with someone

so he quite literally encouraged u💀

like yeah mc!! go train harder so you'll get stronger and beat him one day!! he's waiting for that day!!

he may even gave u some tips just bc of how eager u are to surpass him^^!!

also listens to ur rant abt ur siblings over tea

he may even share his own stories after yours:D!

not abt his siblings ofc, i dont think he have one🤔

#twst #twst wonderland #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #riddle rosehearts #trey clover #leona kingscholar #azul ashengrotto #jade leech #kalim al asim #jamil viper #vil shoenheit #rook hunt #idia shroud #malleus draconia #lilia vanrouge

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doubledgesword-2 · 2 years

Text

The Girl in the Grass Bully! Muzan x Reader (Modern Au)

It's been a while, I'm not taking requests at the moment until I gather enough muse to finish the ones in my inbox. In the meantime enjoy this lemongrass tea!

WARNINGS: drugging, sort of kidnapping, non con kissing ( nothing else happens)

“Who did it, hm? Who did this to you Tanjiro?”

“It’s ok, I’m alright, Y/N please”

If you don’t tell me who did this to you I will find out and after I beat them I’ll beat you. Who did this?”

Tanjiro let out a heavy sigh and you nodded sarcastically.

“Ok” you stormed off away from the group, Zenitsu holding back inosuke trying to go and fight with you.

You walked down the halls cutting through the crowds of students like a hot knife through butter. Then you spotted him. Muzan, kibutsuji Muzan. With a scoff and a growl under your breath you made your way to him and the small group of idiots he called followers.

“He tried to stand up, to me? Pl-“ he felt a light tap on his shoulder. Annoyed at the interruption he turned slightly but couldn’t even see you as your fist connected with his jaw.

Caught off guard Muzan stumbled backward. His group of friends were about to engage you and you were ready but he signaled them back.

Swiping at the red spot where he was hit, Muzan straightened up and glared at you.

You were so mad you were almost hyperventilating. Your tense and easy stance told him you wouldn’t back down just like the idiot he beat up not too long ago.

“You come near Tanjiro again, and a bruised jaw would be the least of your troubles. Do you understand?”

He raised a fine eyebrow judging your speech between stupidity or bravery. No matter the outcome he has to admit you had guts. He was the richest kid in the school and quite handsome. Everyone said yes to him even the teachers. He was by far the smartest and would beat into submission anyone who tried to rise above him. He had to be the perfect man.

“Are you deaf? I thought I just punched your jaw, or is your perfect brain still computing the words?”

He scoffed and smirked at you. “So, the brat had a girlfriend. What boyfriend lets his girl defend him”

“You don’t strike me as the smartest person in this hallway right now. I asked you a question I thought answering was what you were good at. Besides, what I am to Tanjiro is irrelevant. I could be his damn mother for all you care. Stay. Away.”

You turned to leave. “And what if I don’t?” He taunted.

You didn’t even turned just side glanced at him with your iciest glare, “Keep coming and you’ll find out.”

With that you kept walking leaving a smug Muzan behind. He was intrigued.

That was the first time you had caught his eyes directly. But no matter to him you were easy. If you were really that brats girlfriend then he wouldn’t have no trouble at all getting you all to himself like another conquest.

He huffed in amusement.

“Do you want us to take care of her?” Kokushibo asked behind Muzan.

“Let her be. I’ll take care of her myself” That was a promise.

You on the other hand went about your merry way to Tanjiro and your friends. After patching him up, you walked him and his sister to their dorm. The three of you have lived next to each other and have been childhood friends. You were there when his father sadly died, when his single mother had Nezuko and your parents helped her with everything they needed. So when he started getting bullied by a spoiled rich kid, you jumped in front of him and stood up to the guy and his group of good for nothing brats. You hated to see the amusement and gleam of sick excitement they got from beating those lesser than themselves.

Everything had been going smoothly, you had all started your first year in college and thought you were past these stupid castes and bullies. But it turns out college made it worse. You had all protected each other’s backs and those who were smaller and weaker. That is until the spoiled rich kid transferred and all hell broke loose. In front of the professors and RAs Muzan kibutsuji was the perfect gentleman, smartest student and the most diligent of all. But when the classroom doors closed, his aura shifted and he made 180 turn to his personality. With his red cold eyes and constant scowl he owned the place. Girls were always on him, left and right, but he swore he had a beautiful girlfriend, one he most certainly was cheating on with the pretty girl in his gang.

Bit by bit he started “recruiting” people to his masses, until he had a group of 7 assholes who benefited from his money and influence. Of course he was no idiot, and the people in his group were diligent and precise, not like him, but he believed they could be.

Your group of lone rangers were the only ones tough enough who could stand up to him and his goons. Not to mention the occasional upperclassman who was willing to help.

After decking his jaw, you turned a bit paranoid at the prospect of what they might do to you if they found you alone in the halls. So you all stuck together and waited for each other’s classes to be done to walk back to the dorms.

But that evening Tanjiro was called to work an extra shift on account of the person getting sick, Zenitsu had a date with Nezuko and Inosuke had to stay behind at the library with Rengoku for an extra help session with his math class.

You were alone on every front.

But you kept on an air of indifference and pure idiotic bravery as you exited the library with Inosuke’s screams in the background. You held two big tomes from your history, rolling your shoulders back in discomfort. It had been a hellish week and you were ready to lay down on your bed the minute you reached the dorms.

Your eyes saw the flicker of movement in your peripheral vision yet you kept walking as if you hadn’t seen anything at all. You reach the bus station and side glance the two guys who had been following you all this time. You had never seen them around campus and they didn’t look like Kibutsuji’s goons for friends. Still they reached the bus stop and were lingering around you. You kept a serious face, brows almost scrunched up in anger at the absurdity of the situation, while pretending you didn’t notice how one of the guys went close behind you. Your hands gripped the tomes as if they were your only lifeline.

Suddenly you felt the shift in the air as the guy made an attempt to hug you from behind. Your hand swung one tome hitting the guy in the face. You stood on the bench and kicked the other one square in the chest. Your hand swung again hitting the first guy with your remaining tome as you jumped over and ran.

You weren’t a runner but the adrenaline pumping through you was making you go faster than you had ever run before.

Your chest and side hurt from not breathing right but the footfalls behind you were a telltale of what would happen if you slowed down for even a second. Up ahead there was an nterception and as you placed one foot on the white pedestrian lights, the light turned red and the cars proceed to pass. Your hands turned to fists and you turned down another way close to the passing cars.

Suddenly there was a honk and a door opened.

“Get in” the man screamed. Your frantic eyes didn’t even glanced up to see who it was and you jumped into salvation closing the door behind you as the car sped away.

You panted and hyperventilated until a hand came down on your shoulder making you jump.

“Eeek!”

“I didn’t think I would see the day when you would look this scare” the teasing deep voice brought you back and your eyes looked up to meet two crimson orbs. Muzan.

You gasped hands reaching the door out of instinct.

“Hey, don’t be rude, I just saved your pathetic life from whatever it was you were doing back there,” His hand motioned you nonchalantly.

“Just leave me here I’ll be fine” you didn’t like the idea of sharing oxygen with the man you threatened two weeks ago.

“Why? So that you can get murdered and then the blame will fall on me? I don’t think so. I’ll drop you off at your dorm after I make sure your fine and nothing can be blamed on me. I have an image to maintain, after all. Besides whoever was running with you might know where you live. Did that ever cross your brilliantly stupid mind, hmm? You can come with me to my penthouse and after sometime I’ll drop you off.”

You had opened and closed your mouth like a gaping fish while he talked. Unable to find a flaw in his argument, you opted to stay quiet in a silent agreement. The worst thing was that his argument had the perfect amount of logic to make sense and deter you from doing anything stupid.

“Fine” you grumbled looking out the window.

“Lovely. Now don’t move and don’t speak, I can smell your sweat from here and it’s not pleasant” you turned beet red and wanted to beat him but he was holding the wheel of a moving vehicle.

After a couple of minutes you had reach his apartment complex, the place looked uninhabited from the outside but the lighted windows gave it away. Muzan led you into the lavish lobby like a gentleman insisting on holding your arm on his. The place looked straight out of a rich vintage magazine, all decorated with black marble and gold indents everywhere. Even the bellman knew him and gave him a smug look that made you scoff. You weren’t one of his conquests and couldn’t believe he didn’t correct the man.

The elevator took the two of you all the way up to his penthouse. Luxury couldn’t begin to describe the amount of wealth he had and how he displayed it. The place was big, decorated to look as expensive as it was, sparing nothing to the imagination.

Yet there were no servants around like you had been expecting. There was no one but the two of you.

“Where’s the entourage of servants willing to cater to your every need?” You had asked, tone voicing actual confusion as you sat down on his leather sofa.

He chuckled “Well as presumptuous as that sounded, I might as well satiate your stupid curiosity. I’m independent and can actually make my own food and all.” He answered sarcastically handling you a glass of water with a cynical smile.

“I see” you eyed him suspiciously but your parched throat couldn’t bear any longer and the water looked fine so you gulped it down in one sitting almost asking for more.

“Now in what pathetic little problems have you entangled yourself in to be chased like that, was it that you threatened someone else beating your boyfriend?” Muzan sat in front of you, smiling at your white knuckles gripping the glass hard.

“Actually, I was minding my own business and they were…going to grab me” you whispered the last part and with it came crashing down the weight of your exhaustion. It was now that you realized the real danger you had been in and how close you came to be a victim of whatever sick games these people were playing.

Your hand stopped gripping the glass as you set it on your lap looking at it as if it was the most interesting thing in the room.

“They tried to gr-grab me. I-I don’t know w-why- how? I-I don’t know what was going o-on” Muzan saw the shaking of your muscles and his eyes softened for a moment.

“You’re safe here” he said, the tone of his voice was the softest you had ever heard “How about you take a shower and I’ll get something started, hmm? I believe that would be the best thing to do now, what would you like?” You were flabbergasted and were doubting you had actually gotten in the car with Muzan. The Muzan Kibutsuji who had made Tanjiro’ and your’s childhood a nightmare. The Muzan who had bothered you even now in college and you were sure he had transferred just to make your life harder.

The same one who had given you a big pair of pajamas and underwear, telling you to not ask questions as he ushered you into the lavish bathroom to shower. The one that asked you what you would like to eat and was ready to prepare it.

You were pondering everything under the warm spray of water on your back.

After dressing up and patting your hair dry you walked slowly towards the kitchen, footfalls masked by the sound of the extractor.

“You did well, yes. But need I remind you I only asked you to scare her away not traumatize her… Are you telling me I’m wrong? I was quite clear with what I asked of your pathetic existence” Your blood froze and you were retreating back to the bathroom, eyes trained on the light of the kitchen.

Your back collided with a strong chest and before you could even gasp there was a pinch on your neck. You huffed, hand coming to hold the spot on your neck as you slowly turned to see a pair of rainbow eyes gleam with the kitchen light like prism rainbows. The blond gave you a small wave giggling as your eyes flickered between consciousness and limbo and your frame was tilting to the side.

“Cute” was the last thing you heard before succumbing.

Douma held your body close to his, sniffing your hair freshly washed. He couldn’t help admire your sleeping self in his arms: it was almost as if you belonged there.

“Douma” a deep voice called from the end of the hall making him look up.

‘Muzan-sama!” He replied in delight “You gave all of us the needles just in case and she had heard you…” he explained

“Douma” Muzan called once more glaring at the blond’s grip on your frame, his eyes then flickered to his rainbow ones and he softened his features “You’ve done well. Come you can share meal with me. Take her to my room.”

Douma swore he could feel the excitement in every cell of his body.

Muzan had dismissed Douma and the rest of his “friends”, who lived throughout the apartments, after dinner, wanting to be alone for dessert as he called it. He opened the double doors to his room seeing you laying down on his four poster bed, completely oblivious to his red gaze. You had changed into the outfit he had given you but he was sure he could get you to undress if he used enough of his charm. He will never know now.

Muzan straddled you taking off both your shirt and his as he lowered to your neck kissing it and sucking on the skin intentionally leaving marks. He wasn’t planning on doing anything. Just making you think you had given yourself to him willingly to have leverage over your head. The moment his lips touched your skin you squirmed a bit. Muzan continued leaving open mouthed kisses as he moved from one side of your neck to the other.

“…jiro” you quietly moaned. Muzan straightened looking down at you with a raised brow.

He lowered once more kissing and sucking on the spot.

“Tanjiro…” you moaned a little louder making him scoff an incredulous laugh. The circumstances couldn’t be better and he thanked his stars his phone was closed by.

You woke up groggily and with a pounding headache like you had slept too much. You tried to turn on your side but a pair of arms weren’t letting you. With wide eyes you attempted to jump away only landing as far as the border of the bed and letting gravity do the rest.

“You’re awake? Did I not do a proper job this time? I thought you were going to be too satisfied to wake up, isn’t that what you said, dear? you froze.

“W-what?”

“Ahh was the drink too much? I didn’t know you were a lightweight”

“What are y-you talking about? You drugged me, you-your little goon” you stood angry, pointing at him like a toddler explaining why they were right.

Muzan looked at you unimpressed and shirtless holding the covers close to his waist.

“Your blond goon drugged me and you-you planned the whole kidnapping thing, didn’t you?”

“Do you have proof?”

“I heard you in the kitchen, right before you drugged me”

“Tsk, so annoying. Make up your mind was it me or my goon?”

“You know what I mean” your eyes glinted in anger. Muzan removed the covers and stood nonchalantly “And put something on I don’t wanna see t-that” You turned away from him.

“I’m not undressed. You are” you looked down to see you were in your underwear and immediately grabbed the blanket off the bed to cover yourself.

Muzan grabbed his phone and made his way closer to you.

“Step back” you hissed.

“But I need your undivided attention to listen to my proposal?”

“P-proposal?”

“Yes. You see, you threatened me in a crowded hallway surrounded by the majority of students who worship the very ground I step on. When they saw the way you talked to me they thought they could do the same and let’s say some of them are still picking up their teeth from between the community park’s blades of grass” you shuddered, skin prickling with anxiety and fear.

“It was your fault what happened to them, but I couldn’t let that disrespect go unanswered. After all these years you and your little boy toy have always stood in my way no matter what it was I wanted.” Muzan smiled to him himself as if he were reminiscing “Back then I didn’t know what I truly wished for. But now…now I know. So here’s my proposal, I want you to be my girlfriend and distance yourself from your little group of miscreants, in exchange I won’t beat your boyfriend and his friend to an inch of their lives”

“You’re insane” you told him with clenched teeth and tears in your eyes. The grip on the blanket hardened until your knuckles were white and you could feel your nails dig into your palm through the fabric.

“What if I am, darling? What if I am? That’s not the answer. Think harder this is a yes or yes question, dear. Otherwise…” he unlocked his phone and showed it to you, red eyes smugly looking into yours as his thumb pressed play.

“…jiro” You heard yourself moan as Muzan kissed your neck. Your hand went to your mouth in shock. Tears finally sprung from your eyes rolling neatly down the apple of your cheeks.

Muzan chuckled darkly in the video laying down besides you and recording himself as well “it’s amazing what a couple of kisses would do” he then grabbed your chin pulling your face close to his as he kissed your cheek and you whimpered nuzzling him. In the video he eagerly nuzzles back and you two look like big cats.

The video paused.

“I have so many contacts in this phone but….” Muzan clicked a couple of times against the screen of the phone and then showed you once more “I think he would love to see this the most, don’t you think?”

The video was set up to be sent and the sender was none other than Tanjiro himself.

You cried silently and harder as your knees buckled and you fell to the ground. Your hands went to your neck trying to feel the hickies he had left on your skin.

Muzan stepped closer to your shaking form and kneeled in front of you. His fingers came under your chin and he lifted it to meet his eyes.

“Choose” he said firmly.

“I-I’ll…Hah, I-I’ll be your girlfriend” you had sealed the deal with trembling hands.

“Good” your heart felt squeezed but relieved “But just for good measure, I wouldn't want to send the wrong message. After all we just got together” you heard the tap against the screen. Your eyes widened as you saw the message had been sent. Muzan dropped the phone in front of you and you grasped it desperately, trying to undo the message. He stood leaving you frantic and went to the doors of the room.

“Ahh and one more thing, no one needs to know about this deal” he held one finger over his lips in a shushing motion while he smugly looked down on you.

“If anyone asks…you’re taken and I don’t share what’s mine” with that he left you in his room, a mess.

#fanfic #muzan x you #kimetsu no yaiba muzan x reader #muzan imagines #muzan x reader #kimetsu no yaiba muzan #yandere muzan #demon slayer muzan #lord muzan #muzan kibutsuji #muzan x y/n #kny douma #tanjiro kny #tanjirou

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