#IT'S BEEN A DAY AND MY MIND IS FINALLY PROCESSING THIS GAME IS REAL AND IM ACTUALLY... EXCITED???
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A NEW LOVE AND A NEW PAST - smut
JOY X MALE READER
word count: 5.3K
tags: friends to lovers, first healthy relationship, angst
[A/N: honestly, I thought that the first smut I published wouldn't be read by anyone. It was a surprise for me when I saw more than 100 notes on the post. Thanks for your support!!]
This is the first version, I will eventually correct the errors:)
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Y/N ended the day as usual. The inside of the house was slowly being swallowed by black, and when he finally realized it, he was enveloped in complete darkness. Y/N went out feeling the walls in search of the switch. The lights came on, but he still felt everything was enveloped in darkness for some reason. He had already submitted the report that he spent the week working on for the company; now he was free, although he wanted to continue working on something. The house was clean, the dishes were washed, and the clothes were put away in the closet... Shit, there was nothing else to do that night. He had to be “entertained” Everyone needed that, after all. But he wouldn’t have the focus to read a book or watch a movie. Maybe playing a video game would be the best alternative. He decided that would be it, so he took a shower and prepared his dinner (Cup Noodles, if that can be called dinner).
At around 7:00 pm, his doorbell rang. He did not expect visitors that night. Y/N paused his game and got up from the sofa to open the door.
It was a real surprise to see who it was. Standing there, slightly crestfallen and apparently not knowing what she was doing.
He had never seen her like that.
“Joy?!” Y/N asked, alarmed.
“Y/N... Can I come in?”
“Sure!”
He opened the way for her to pass. Joy was dressed in her ballet uniform; that’s what she taught at a dance studio nearby.
“Are you well?” He asked.
“Yes. I mean, not exactly…”
“What are you doing here?”
“Am I disturbing you?”
“No way! That’s not what I meant. It’s just that I’m worried about you showing up unannounced.”
“Sorry.” He noticed how tired she looked. “We had a fight, Y/N. We had a serious disagreement today. And I think it’s over.
It took him a while to process what she said.
“Fight?”
Finally, he remembered who she was talking about.
“Yes. And at the end of it all, I said it was over between us. I broke up with you know who.”
“Come, sit on the sofa” he asked, and she sat down next to him. “Why did you break up with him?”
“Things haven’t been good for a while, but i was trying to hold on, cause I thought it was just a bad phase in our relationship, but then other problems came and I couldn’t handle it all alone. You could say I’ve reached my limit.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It all happened very quickly. I’m still in my ballet uniform.” She smiled. It was a sad smile.
“But why, out of all your friends, did you choose to come to me?” Y/N asked, feeling afraid that perhaps she would misinterpret his question.
“When I was leaving his apartment, your image suddenly came to mind. So I felt like seeing you. How long is it? About four months?”
“Pretty much that. Look, to tell you the truth, I thought I’d never see you again. You or anyone from our old friends.”
“That fight really messed everything up between us, didn’t it?”
“Yes...”
“And to this day I don’t understand how things got to that point.”
“I was drunk as hell and said what I shouldn’t have to him. That simple. Some people even die because they do this kind of shit, you know?” Y/N tried to look funny with this, but it didn’t work.
“Was everything you said true?”
“No. Not really. I was just angry.”
“He thought it was true. Still thinking.”
“What difference does it make? Nothing I say will make him believe me. If they hadn’t held him back, the guy would have punched me.”
“A beating,” she corrected him. “At home, he said he would kick your ass.”
“Ah, even better.”
“You asked what difference the truth makes. Well, It’s ME who wants to understand you, Y/N. This is important to me."
“Why? This is past. You seem to be getting off-topic here. We have to talk about your breakup.”
“The two things are connected, you idiot!” Joy exclaimed, and then Y/N saw her blush. “Sorry! I exalted myself.”
Y/N didn’t imagine that being called an idiot could be cute. With a defeated smile, he said:
“The truth was, I was mad at him for getting what I wanted. The anger grew the more time we spent together. The anger came with the frustration I felt in my life, then it became envy, and the envy poisoned me and led me to say those things.”
“I thought it was just because of the alcohol.” She said, confused.
“Actually, I wasn’t drunk enough to say that shit by accident. I knew perfectly well what I was saying. The alcohol was just an excuse. At that moment I didn't realize that I was embarrassing you too. I'm fucking sorry.”
He lowered his head. Y/N would rather face death than look her in the eye.
“But what were you jealous of in him? If you lived with him like I did, you would know that there is nothing there to covet.”
“He had the only thing I cared about for himself. And that made me extremely frustrated. My idea was to slowly move away from him and cut off contact over time, but I knew he would never allow things to end that way. That’s why I acted like an idiot to kill our friendship once and for all. I... I hated myself for how I felt. That shit was making me sick, Joy. I felt like a snake among you...”
She placed her gentle hand on his shoulder, and she looked so pious in that moment that it only made Y/N feel worse.
“What did he have and you didn’t? Say please.”
“You, Joy. He had you.” The words came out of his mouth so bitterly that the expression of disgust on his face was visible.
“I?” She questioned. “Was it me you were jealous of?”
“Yes. I couldn’t bear to see you two together. It hurt like hell to see you in his arms when I was the one who should have been hugging you... See? I don’t even know what I’m talking about anymore. I’m sorry. Again..."
“Do you want to know why your fight with him was also connected to the end of our relationship? Because I was away from you. And when I broached this subject with him, he became extremely angry. I tried to reconcile the two of you, but he didn’t accept it. As the months passed, I felt increasingly lonely in this relationship. Everything was so cold at home, and sometimes what warmed me were the memories of the times we two spent together.” She smiled. “Like that day when I tried to teach you some ballet steps and you almost couldn’t walk for a week.”
“Hey, that shit was serious, okay? Too risky moves for beginners!”
She couldn’t contain her laughter. It was good to see her happy like that; it made him feel a little better.
“I was having trouble understanding. Or I simply made it difficult to understand the simple thing: I like you too, Y/N.”
“Even when you were with him?”
“Our relationship started off very well, but it didn’t take long for him to start feeling like he owned me, judging what I wore, what I ate, my friends, and even my weight. As if my mother judging me wasn’t enough...”
“Damn it! I had no idea you were going through this. I can’t believe he treated you so stupidly!”
“You don’t need to be jealous of him, Y/N. Why he will never compare to you, I now realize. You noticed the little details about me, like when I painted my nails, did my hair or changed my lipstick. Now i think I was very blind in not realizing before that you liked me!”
“Saying it like that makes it seem like I really made everything very obvious” he said, placing both hands on his face to hide it, embarrassed.
“Don’t run away now, little boy!” Joy took his hands away from his face. “If you want, we can allow ourselves to try.”
“What about him? Is it really over?”
“Tomorrow morning, I’m going to his house to pick up my things. I never want to see him again.” Joy placed her soft hand on Y/N’s face; he could feel the softness and warmth that her skin emanated.
“Can I kiss you?” he asked, strangely polite.
“Please!”
They brought their faces closer and their lips touched, almost embarrassed, but soon they found their own rhythm and things intensified; their tongues were already dancing together. Y/N had his hand on Joy’s leg, his fingers between the fabric of the shorts and the ballet tights. She seemed so surrendered at that moment, and all he wanted was to have her in his arms, holding her tighter and tighter, as if she would regret what she had done and run away from there. A silly delirium, because Joy had her arms around his neck, and she herself was the one pressing Y/N’s face against hers. In love.
“It was good?” She asked.
“I don’t even dare to describe it. Tell me you’re going to sleep here.”
“It would be amazing. But don’t expect anything other than falling asleep together; honestly, I’m still not feeling very well.”
“No problem. I just want to have you here with me.”
“Thank you, Y/N. You don’t know, but i was forced to have sex with him whenever he felt like it, no matter how tired or unwell I said I was. But I guess I shouldn’t be talking about that now, right? I’m ruining things.”
Y/N realized that there was a deep emotional wound in Joy, which perhaps took time to heal and this also tore him apart, as he always saw her smiling, laughing, supporting her friends and even making some silly pranks. Above all, caring about everyone around her, except herself, apparently.
“You’re not ruining anything! And you don’t need to thank me for something that should be the least of my part.”
He hugged Joy, she leaned her head on his shoulder, and they remained that way for a while, until he asked:
“How about you take a shower and change your clothes? You must be tired. Did you eat anything after you left the studio?”
“I haven’t eaten anything yet. I’m starving.”
“Go take a shower. I’ll get you something to wear and then we can order something to eat.”
“Thanks.” For a moment, it looked like Joy was going to say something else, instead she just kissed him on the cheek and went into the bathroom.
After showering, Joy wore the clothes that Y/N had lent her, which were basically cotton shorts and a Muse t-shirt. Then suddenly, she appeared in the room saying:
“What’s up, bro? What’s for dinner tonight, dude? I’m so hungry!”
“Hey, did you happen to see that pretty girl who went to the bathroom?”
“I didn't see any girls. But what do you say we make a little mess before this girl shows up, huh? You know what I mean, bro?”
"Okay, I'm starting to get intimidated."
She jumped onto the couch, laughing.
“These clothes are very comfortable; thank you.”
“I'm glad you liked it. Hey how about we eat chop-suey?”
“You are wise as a king.”
He ordered the food.
Sitting on the sofa, Y/N asked:
“What do you think people will think of this?”
“Do you mean: 'we' together?”
“Exactly.”
Joy lay down on the sofa and rested her head on Y/N’s lap.
“Seulgi will like it, I believe. She was the only person I told what was really happening in my relationship. She was the one who encouraged me to break up.”
“Seulgi was a tremendous angel! I miss her too. You didn’t deserve to go through all this shit. But I’m glad it’s over. I mean, I hope so.”
“I need to let go of some insecurities. He told me cruel things, which were backed up by my own mother. You know my mother was also a ballerina, and they can be quite inhumane sometimes.”
“Let’s take care of one wound at a time. Together.”
She smiled and slowly closed her eyes. There were dark circles under Joy’s eyes, so he knew she was indeed tired.
“It wasn’t in my plans to say I love you today” she confessed. “But I think I love you, Y/N.”
“I have always loved you, Joy. And from now on, I will take care of you with kindness and love, the way you deserve. I hope to prove this to you over time.”
“You don’t need to prove anything to me” she whispered. “I already know this because whenever I’m by your side, I feel peace.”
Hearing this made him find a little courage to also be sincere about some shit.
“After the shit that happened in the bar, I created my own prison and stayed in it for four months. Terribly lonely. Work was my escape valve. After a while, I started to think it was better to stay in the dark, since the lights distorted everything around me. It was nothing more than shine;
It always gave me a headache."
“I’m sorry you had to face this seclusion. But I finally came, we won't feel alone anymore.”
He stroked her hair slowly. Time was no longer his enemy.
“And one day we can say ‘fuck you’ to the past.” Y/N stated, he seemed determined.
“I can hardly wait for that day....." She broke into a smile when she thought about it. "Wow! It means I'm your Joy now, right?
Her eyes were still closed when a tear fell.
“Yes, you are my Joy now. I think you always have been, since the day we met, since the first smile you gave me.”
Another tear, this one Y/N captured softly with his thumb.
Three months had passed. It was the rainy season in the city, and the days were shrouded in bone-chilling cold. That night, torrential rain had been pouring down without respite since the end of the afternoon. Everyone completed what they had to complete as soon as possible to return to their respective homes.
Bad luck to those who had to be on the street.
Joy was with the last child, waiting for her parents at the ballet studio. The rain was delaying all traffic, so it was not uncommon for some girls to stay until a little later, waiting for their parents. For the teacher, it was no bother at all. Finally, a black car that looked very expensive stopped in front of the studio and honked loudly. The little girl said goodbye to Joy and ran through the rain to the vehicle. Joy was now free to go home. She put a coat over her ballet outfit and walked around the studio, turning off all the lights. The establishment wasn’t hers; she worked with two other teachers, and there was an old retired dancer who was the owner behind everything. The fact that she was still there was for the simple reason that Joy was the only person among the studio’s employees who lived in that neighborhood, so it was no problem to stay a little later with the children whose parents were late picking them up and finally close the studio. After turning off all the lights, she took her umbrella and locked the main door.
There was a guy leaning against a light pole next to the dance studio wearing a dark raincoat with a hood. It was a pretty ridiculous piece of clothing, to be honest. Joy found that person strange for a moment and approached, slightly suspicious. After getting close enough to see his face, she said:
“Y/N!” And Joy smiled, excited. “I thought you couldn’t come today!”
“I finished the report early. I decided to come and get you. A pretty girl like you shouldn’t walk the streets alone...”
She laughed. Joy really thought that sleazy accent that Y/N used when she wanted to say corny things was funny.
“Pretty? I look like a bird that fell out of its nest! Can you believe I was able to sweat a lot even in this cold?”
“Big Deal! Can you believe I was drinking hot coffee in my room, completely protected from the cold, while I finished writing some shit sitting in an extremely comfortable chair?”
“Jesus Christ! What would society be without men and their hard work?” she joked.
“Isn’t it? You couldn’t last a day in my shoes.”
““I don’t even want to think about it!” She grabbed his right bicep. “Luckily I have my strong and fearless provider.”
“Oh, Really? Well, i hope you introduce me to him someday. Anyway, I was thinking about taking you for a walk before we go home, are you up for it?”
“In this rain?”
“Since when are you made of sugar?”
“Where do you want to go?”
“First let’s drink some coffee. Then I’ll take you to a certain place so we can do something.”
“I thought you already drank while working hard on the computer.”
“I can make that sacrifice again.”
“And you still wonder why you have insomnia...”
The devil knew how much Joy needed a coffee too, so the two walked together down the deserted sidewalk.
At the coffee shop, Y/N ordered an espresso and a cupcake, he loved the combination of a bitter drink with something sweet. Joy ordered a cappuccino and a croissant.
“We've been living together for three months now.” He commented sitting at the table.
“I don’t know if we can call this ‘living together’.”
“You spend several days in a row at my house, so my house is a little like yours too.”
“If you think so” And she continued to eat the croissant.
“What if we make it official soon?”
“Are you talking about me living with you?”
“Exactly! It’s a good house. Spacious. We can receive our friends without any worries. It’s close to your work... I see no reason why it wouldn’t happen”
“Where is my toothbrush now?”
Y/N found the question strange but replied:
“At home. In my bathroom. Next to my toothbrush.”
She looked at him with her eyes shining, and Y/N could see that she was happy.
“So that’s it.” Joy tried to suppress her smile by drinking some of her coffee.
“Serious?!” Y/N asked so loudly that the people sitting at the tables around them looked at them.
“Sure! And speak more quietly, please.”
“Sorry” He laughed. “I’m fucking happy, that’s all.”
“I’m happy too.”
“I could scream right now for everyone here to hear.”
“Oh my gosh... don’t even think about it!
“Do you doubt it?! Are you doubting my love for you?!”
He started to get up.
“No, no! I don't doubt it! I know you love me, but I will die of embarrassment if you scream!” She tried to explain, desperate.
Y/N returned to his chair and laughed until tears came out of his eyes.
Walking and walking in the rain once again. Y/N stopped with Joy in front of the shopping mall that rose like a titan, casting dazzling lights across the square. They entered and noticed that most of the stores were already closed. Joy said:
“I think you came a little late to buy your underwear. By the way, you could do it without me.”
“Look, this weekend I’m going to sign you up for a stand-up comedy show for beginners so you can tell your jokes on stage, what do you think? No, what I want to show you is there on the third floor.”
“I just hope it’s not a wedding thing.”
“Do people still get married?”
They got into the elevator and went to the third floor. Looking at the mirror that was there, Y/N noticed how ridiculous he looked in that raincoat. Joy made fun of him by saying he looked like a trash bag.
“I’m really going to sign you up for a stand-up comedy show” he reaffirmed. “Just know that this raincoat is all the rage in Japan!”
“And what are the chances that the salesman told the truth?”
Y/N was silent.
The third floor was almost empty. He took Joy to the toys and games area, which was partially closed, but the lights were still on. She looked surprised. Not in a positive way.
“Arcade? We could have played video games at home.” She said.
“Mr. Miyagi used to say that the eyes are only capable of seeing a third of the truth. You have to look with your heart, too. Joy, you should learn a thing or two from him.”
“I never saw the movie but I know he never said that.”
“Take off your coat and come with me.” He asked, and then ran to the arcade.
“Hey, wait a minute!” She followed him, unbuttoning her coat.
Y/N stopped at the end of a narrow corridor between pinball tables and shooting games. Joy still hadn’t understood what the hell he was doing until she guided her eyes to where he was pointing, and there it was: an old, faded photo booth. That’s what he's wanted all along. Analog photos. Well, that was cute; she couldn’t deny it.
“Would you agree to take some photos with me?" He asked kneeling.
Joy extended her hand to him.
"It will be a pleasure."
Y/N smiled at her. He never got tired of admiring how beautiful she looked in a ballet uniform. They entered the machine together. Joy sat on his lap and put an arm around her neck.
“Money in banknotes?!” He questioned in awe. “The last time I got into some shit like that, it was coins.”
“The machine may be analog, but the company that built it certainly keeps up with inflation.”
“Anyway, let’s go!”
Y/N put his money in the booth and pressed the button, waiting for the first photo to be taken. Then came the flash, which caught him off guard. “You blinked!” she said. “The photo will be funny.” More flashes, and also more poses. They put on a tough face for the camera, then they smiled with their cheeks touching, then they made the ugliest faces they could, and finally they kissed.
The booth complied with the deal and spat out the roll of photos. They analyzed it together and, with the exception of the first image (the one where Y/N had blinked his eyes), all the photographs were great.
“I really liked this surprise. It will be a good memory. I think simple days also need to be remembered.” Joy commented in the elevator.
“I was afraid it would look silly. But I’ve wanted to take photos like these with you for a long time. We can make a mini-album or something. I don’t know, in my mind, it’s kind of special.”
“Mr. Miyagi used to say that when something is special in your mind, it is because it is also very special in your heart. You should learn a thing or two from him…”
“Oh, come on...”
Joy couldn't contain her laughter. Seeing her like that warmed his heart.
“Look, seriously now: i think the photos and the other things we’ll do will make the past a little better when we look back in the future.”
“A new past.” His voice sounded ethereal.
Yeah, a new past! But our hearts must stay in the present. Ever.”
Joy gave him a hug. He hugged her back, and they stayed like that as the elevator descended to the first floor. He wished simple days were always like this.
At home, a hot shower was more than enough to banish the cold they felt while on the streets. He was lying in bed looking at those photos again. They were really good, he concluded, and the record seemed to positively signal an important moment in their lives, after all, the photos were taken on the day she agreed to live with him permanently. And this might even seem strange since the formal dating request had not yet been made. But, well, fuck conventions. They were a couple, and the dating proposal would be made soon.
When she was ready.
Y/N was so far away in his thoughts that he didn’t notice when Joy had come out of the bathroom, standing in front of him, wearing a beautiful pink slinky nightie that adjusted to the curves of her body.
“Joy...?”
“I bought it a while ago, when I was still dating, you know who, but I never had the courage to use it. Not after he talked about me being fat.”
“You’re not fat. And even if he was, fuck them all with their shitty opinions.”
“You made me feel comfortable wearing that slinky nightie again.”
“I did nothing. You realized how beautiful you are on your own.”
Joy approached slowly. So beautiful, so sensual, like paradise. She sat on the edge of the bed and said:
“Thank you for caring about me, baby. I've been smiling to the point that I've created expression marks on my face since I started staying here with you."
“You’d be surprised how easy it is. And these marks... look good on you."
Y/N noticed that her cheeks were softly flushed.
“I feel ready now.”
“Are you sure?"
“I have never been as sure as I am now. You are my man. I am your-”
“Joy” he completed.
She crawled onto the bed like a feline.
They find themselves in a fiery embrace, their bodies melting into an ember of insatiable desire. Each touch was a discovery, an exploration of carnal pleasure imbued with true feeling. Precious like a diamond. Y/N’s lips traced a path of fire down Joy’s neck, leaving a trail of heat that burned on her delicate skin. As he lowered the strap of Joy’s slinky nightie, his fingers trembled with excitement, eager to touch the soft, inviting skin that was revealed just to him. It was the longing for love combusting.
Laying Joy on the bed, Y/N immersed his head in the delight of her tits, exploring each curve with fervent devotion. His lips found Joy’s nipples, eliciting moans of pleasure that echoed through the room, while his hands explored every inch of her body with palpable urgency.
Tracing a trail of kisses across Joy’s body, Y/N got closer and closer to his goal; he had a wild desire to taste her. Each kiss was like a promise of pleasure, an anticipation of what was to come. Joy writhed beneath his skillful touches, her moans filling the night air as she gave herself over completely to the heat of the moment.
And then, finally, Y/N put his head between Joy’s legs. With a decisive look, he plunged his tongue into the source of her desire, savoring every drop of forbidden nectar that she was barely dripping with. It was a scene of ecstasy and abandonment to reason, a total surrender to the desire that consumed them. Joy gripped the sheets, her moans of pleasure mixing with the sound of the night rain as she lost herself in the waves of pleasure that took her to the edge. The senses were heightened, an eternal moment, the words sounded alive when she announced that she was going to cum. Y/N got goosebumps. He never imagined that words could make him so excited. Then her delicious honey dripped into his mouth.
“I want to feel you inside me.” She murmured after recovering from her first true orgasm.
Y/N took off his boxer shorts in an instant. She saw how hard his dick was as he opened the rubber package.
That would be the two’s first time together. Hungry with desire, he didn’t hesitate as he pushed his latejante cock into Joy’s hot, wet vagina, both of them writhing with pleasure on the messy bed, fucking in missionary position. Each thrust was a frenzied thrust, their bodies slamming together in a wild rhythm. Their eyes met in a mix of lust and love, while their mouths locked in voracious kisses, moans escaping their lips as they gave in to passion.
Joy, feeling taken by her impulses of domination, mounted him, guiding his hard cock inside her with an agile movement of her hips. Her boobs swayed freely with the rhythm of her riding, inviting Y/N to grab and caress them with his warm hands. Each movement of her hips is a thrust, an explosion of pleasure, their sweaty bodies moving in perfect harmony as she leans in to kiss him without ever stopping the flow of her hips.
Y/N grabs Joy by the waist and puts her on all fours, exposing her temptingly pert ass in front of him. Without hesitation, he thrusts into her hard, their bodies slamming together in a wild frenzy. Each thrust is deep and relentless. Moans of pleasure echo throughout the room, mixing with the sound of skin hitting skin.
“oh fuck, i’m gonna cum!” he said between moans.
Joy got out of bed and got on her knees before he even asked. She was thirsty for it. She took off the rubber and wrapped Y/N’s throbbing cock in her fleshy lips with an insatiable hunger, determined to explore every inch of that source of pleasure that rose hard just for her. Joy’s eyes sparkled with devotion as she immersed herself in the task, making extremely erotic eye contact. Her tongue, skillful and thirsty, traced circles around the pulsing red glans of his cock, exploring every groove and vein with an almost scientific meticulousness. She savored every drop of precum that came out as her skilled hands gently caressed and squeezed his balls. With rehearsed dexterity, she slid her lips to the base, swallowing him with a voracity that made Y/N moan loudly. With each upward movement, Joy sucked with insatiable ferocity, sending waves of pleasure through his body. Every inch of his cock was explored and devoured, as if she were determined to extract every last drop of pleasure he could offer. And when finally Y/N could no longer contain the impending explosion, Joy intensified her efforts, sucking with an insatiable intensity until he could no longer hold back, flooding her mouth with warm milky cum, which Joy swallowed without wasting a single drop.
FOLLOWING DAY
It had already become part of her routine to wake up alone in bed. Fortunately, the noises from the kitchen were welcoming to her ears. Joy got out of bed wrapped in the comforter. The morning was rainy (what a surprise).
There he was, by the stove, finishing what looked like scrambled eggs.
“Good morning” she said, sitting down at the table.
“Good morning, baby. Are you hungry?”
“Oh dear, I could eat an elephant!”
“I prepared toast, scrambled eggs, coffee and there’s cheese and ham if you want a sandwich.”
“You are so divine!”
“Thanks. By the way, could you get the milk for me?”
“Obvious.”
Joy got up and went to the fridge. When she opened the door and took the bottle of milk, she noticed that there was a small square box at the bottom of the fridge.
“What is that?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Why don’t you open it and find out?”
“Oh, Y/N! It’s not what I’m thinking, is it…?”
She couldn’t control the shaking of her hands. When he lifted the lid of the box, two rings sparkled.
“Will you agree to date me? My strategy was to persuade you with the help of drowsiness. It worked?”
“Shit, it worked great!” She started to laugh nervously. Then came the crying.
Y/N helped Joy. He took one of the rings and put it on her right ring finger; she did the same with it.
“These are our dating rings.” He told.
"I know putting this in the fridge isn't the best of surprises, but you don't have a very creative guy on your side."
“It was unusual, but cute. I bet I'm the only one who opened the fridge to get some milk and ended up getting a dating ring. When I saw this ring box, God... for a second, I thought they were wedding rings!”
“I love you, but I also know how to take it easy.” He joked.
“I loved it. Thank you, Y/N.”
The morning remained cold, wet and impetuous, but, believe it or not, towards the end of the afternoon, a blessing occurred. The sun rose for a few moments and shone benevolently, and a couple who were now breathing in unity were able to contemplate it, and despite being in different places when this happened, their minds came together in a single thought: what a joy it was to be alive.
END
[A/N: I know for some people reading this the "dating ring" thing might seem weird. But in my culture it's something relatively common, and I only knew it was a cultural thing when I finished writing the smut. I decided to keep this detail because, idk, i think it's kinda a cute thing, although some people find it bizarre and associate with being possessive cause they have a severe perception about rings in relationships.
But this is nothing more than a simple silver ring that symbolizes a serious relationship. Common among young couples.
Well that's it. Keep your mind open and thanks for reading 🔥
I was a little inspired by this song:
youtube
#smut male reader#kpop smut#kpop#x male reader#male reader#joy smut#joy red velvet smut#red velvet#red velvet smut#x male insert#x smut#joy x reader#smut#k pop smut#x reader#fanfic#fanfic smut#y/n#male y/n#joy fanfic#smut and angst#angst with a happy ending#angst#male insert#kpop imagines#oneshot#smut oneshot#red velvet joy
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You Belong To Me Now
Summary: Aemond has become Prince Regent, and there is now nothing holding him from claiming you.
A/N: Quick smutty darkish!Aemond x Reader I wrote, nothing fancy
Words: 2.8k Masterlist [Spanish version - Wattpad by daisy_dont]
Warnings: praise kink, biting, vaginal, bruises, choking, obsession, dom, blowjob
Aemond had been Regent for a few months now, and although the Valyrian steel of the Conqueror’s crown didn’t rest upon his head yet, it was now an undeniable fact to every member of the realm that he had been born for this. All could finally witness his real worth, his superiority and how good he was at being a commander, a King.
No, he excelled at it. The Blacks haven’t even dared to approach King’s Landing even once in the last few months, and under his command all fear him, all obey him. He was far better at this than his father ever was, than his sister ever will be, and certainly than his broken brother is, tucked in his bed.
His new duties obliged him to be away often, to ride Vhagar and lead his armies on the usurpers who wanted to decimate them and take his city, but when he was back in the Red Keep, all he sees is you.
In fact, he wonders why he had never noticed you before as he crosses paths with you in the corridors, watches you in the throne room during audiences, laughing and hugging your lady friends. Maybe you are part of a House who came to the capital in order to help grow his army, that you are the daughter of an ally he had never bothered to be properly introduced to, because this was all they were to him: his subjects.
Nevertheless you are there, bright as the sun when he spots you when he least expects it and, despite his limited vision, he doesn’t seem to miss your presence, ever. He doesn’t miss the way you play with your hair when you're deep in thought, how your hips sway when you walk, how your fingers surround the glass you take to drink and how the skin of your throat glows as you swallow the liquid.
That he became obsessed was an understatement. There was no rest for his mind, and even amidst the excitement of the battle he thought about your appreciative look when he would return, triumphant. He had talked to you once, the sound of your voice making the hair on his skin raise in delight as he was introduced to you. He knew your name now, and he wouldn't stop there, you occupied every corner of his mind and inhabited his skin.
However and to his greatest dismay, the crown keeps him occupied, reducing the occurrences he can observe you, enjoying how you don't cower under his gaze; you staring back at him like it's a game, one that he never intends to lose.
He doesn’t miss the glances you draw from other lords either, eliciting an icy violence deep within his body and it makes his desire for you grow ever greater. He wants you to be his, completely.
This is why he sends for you one night, confident that you cannot refuse after spending the day looking at you like a starved dog, the lust between his legs becoming harder and harder to control. But he was Aemond Targaryen, and what he wanted, he would have.
When you enter his chambers and he dismisses his servant; you look at a loss, but intrigued, like a deer caught between hounds but you are still composed, the very image of a Lady from a House he had only bothered to learn its name today. All he knows, deep in his gut, is that you are right where you are supposed to be.
“Do you know why you’re here?”
He takes in your looks, the way your eyes glints with curiosity, the heaving of your chest constricted in this infernal gown he only wishes to rip off, and how sweet you look as you blush out of uneasiness.
When you shake your head so softly, he grins before coming to stand before you. “You’re here to help me with a matter that needs tending to. But first, I need assistance removing my clothes.”
The widening of your eyes makes the colour of it stand out better, and he waits for you to process his order and obey, admiring your beautiful features and the way your lips part in shock. “Go on."
He knows you cannot refuse, seeing the slight confusion in your eyes as your hands reach the buckles of his collar, undoing it one by one with your pretty, trembling little fingers. It takes all of his patience to not move his hands over your form and revel in the sight, smiling to himself.
When his green doublet is removed, his linen shirt remains and he doesn’t let you take a breath when you pull away. “It’s not over, is it? Continue.”
You cast an almost fearful glare at him before resuming your task, helping him out of his shirt gently with concentrated eyes and when your skin touches his in the process, he has to stop a shaky exhale from escaping his mouth.
He sees how you look at his toned chest, pale defined arms, and then glance at his trousers with tight lips. He retains a sneer as he turns away from you and towards his bed, surprising you with his sudden departure.
“Do you know how the other lords look at you, sweet thing? How they look and look, like they had a chance with you? Do you know how much they wish they could bury their cocks into you and take you as they pleased?”
You turn a lovely shade of red, spreading from your face to your neck and below your cleavage, his lewd words disconcerting you and your perfect little honour. How he likes it on you, that innocence.
“Of course you don’t,” he continues, taking a seat at the edge of his bed and not missing a piece of your deliciously growing, panicking state. “You don’t care about them, do you? You just care about serving your Kingdom at most of your capacities.”
You swallow, your body noticeably relaxing lightly at his words but the movement draws his eye to your neck and he instantly wishes he could mark you there, right at the junction of it, where a mole he had not noticed before lays.
“My Prince, I-”
“Come here,” he beckons, patting on his lap after your croaked out attempt of a response. He will spare you the need to explain that yes, you do want to serve your realm loyally, and thus serve him as well.
You hesitate, eyes darting between his legs and his face, and the lust grows at the thought that he might have to make you obey by other means. But at the sight of his hard expression, you have the good sense to approach, slowly, coming to stand between his legs and he grabs your hips at once, lowering you down onto his lap abruptly.
You let out a yelp at that, your legs forced to straddle him and you have to cling on his shoulders for support, face flushed and thinking fast. Aemond, on the other hand, feels every cell of his body come alive, a wicked smile appearing on his face.
“You know, I haven’t been with many women, but you… you’re something else, aren’t you? You make me understand why men look at women the way they do, what they find so irresistible about them....” he murmurs, putting one strand of your hair aside while his eye trails the pumping of the veins in your delicate neck. “Why all of those lords look at you… But they can’t have you.”
His tone is firmer now, unforgiving. “I have a claim on you they don’t have, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence you came here. That you are in this castle, under my protection.”
You seem unable to speak and the little noises he hears as you try to take a more comfortable position on his lap are like music to him, making him harder under his pants. He takes your hips a little too roughly than he intended in order to pull you to him.
“I’ve been thinking about you for days now, and I ran out of patience, so here is what is going to happen, sweetling. You’re going to take my cock, fully, like the sweet and obedient lady you are so I can feel every damn corner of your cunt, deep enough for me to fill you up.”
With his last sentence he pulls you closer onto him so you can finally feel his hardened state and you whimper in shock, the sound resonating into the room like a pathetic echo as he takes in the sweet scent of your skin, his nose trailing your neck hungrily.
“Hmm, my little pet, so flustered…” he praises as you tense on top of him, your pelvis hitting his member delectably. “You didn’t think I rode the largest dragon in the world and had nothing to show for it, did you?”
He takes a few more moments to enjoy the friction of your layers against his groin, feeling your body turn soft before gently pushing you away from him to let you unlace the ties of your gown with a commanding look. When you are bare before him, he licks his lips, the sight of your pretty little pussy making his now free cock throb in anticipation.
“You are gonna take me so well, you want to please your Prince, don’t you?”
The way you quickly nod in submission destabilises him so much that he has to take a moment before finding his composure again, his desire slowly growing out of control as he stares at you. But he must be patient, enjoy this, because he is no low man, nothing like the rest of them. So he sits back on the bed and invites you to him, noticing your already blown pupils staring at him.
He doesn’t care that you aren’t prepared, that it might be difficult for you to take him this early because the urge to sheath himself deep inside of you is too strong. But when you hover over him and your folds meet his tip you are so fucking wet that all his fears are swept away, replaced by the indescribable lust that takes hold of him, eager to have you, exactly like you want him.
The sensation makes him unable to concentrate before he puts his hands on your thigh to help you down, and it’s absolutely amazing. You’re warm, tight, right for him; the sweet moan that escapes your lips making him twitch as he looks at your knitted brows that tells him you are feeling him, truly feeling him. You go achingly slow and he can’t help but hiss in frustration, but at this point you deserve to have your own pace; he will be able to take his due later, when you’re accustomed to him.
He can tell from your expression that it hurts, and it makes his loins surge with fire at the thought, the wickedness of it so darkly satisfying.
“That’s it, all of it. You’re doing so well.”
He finally feels resistance nudging at his tip and he knows you are completely his now, looking at his cock buried deep inside your cunt and you let out a high pitch moan when you still, flesh against flesh in the most deliciously painful kind of way.
It feels right, he can almost feel your heartbeat upon his length and when he slightly withdraws in order to surge his hips forward, instantly hitting your depth hard, you wail loudly.
Aemond laughs as he squeezes your hips harder. “My sweet pet, so beautiful for me. How is it to feel it so deep? Do you want to move for me?”
He grunts when you start to move; he doesn’t have to do anything, your warmth and slickness making him absolutely wanton, and he doesn’t think he had ever felt this complete in his life. It allows him to look at you, take in your bouncing breasts, magnificently round, and he can’t help but reach for them, propping himself up on a sitting position before biting one of your nipples hard, and the sound you let out makes him want to do it again.
But for now he wants to mark you everywhere, your jaw, your neck, your collarbone, your delicate shoulders. He wants to cover you with his tongue and bruise you while you ride him so exquisitely, his mind foggy and half conscious. He feels your nails digging into his back when he sucks at the base of your neck, leaving a trail of drool that covers your skin. He bullies your breasts for his own pleasure and his cock feels every one of your jolts, squeezing him.
He makes you swivel, his length briefly sliding out of you before he lays you down on your belly and enters you again, lacing one arm behind your back to help him pound into you mercilessly, taking full control for the first time and it feels so good that a shameless growl resonates deep within his throat.
“You’re married, aren’t you?” he asks with a grin, admiring your back and the curve of your ass.
“Promised…” you pant through your moans. “To Lord Blount…”
“I see… Then Lord Blount will have an assignment in a land far away very soon,” he purrs with arrogance as he quickens his pace.
The new angle makes you moan loudly, your position seemingly uncomfortable enough to make each rocking of his hips like it’s the last you’ll be able to take. Soon you’re clenching around him, screaming out loud while your shattering orgasm turns you into a puddle in his arms when he lifts you against his chest, whispering in your ear.
“Fucking hell, you like that, don’t you? You couldn’t help but come all over my cock like the good lady you are.”
He keeps jerking his hips until you grow completely silent, feeling his legs momentarily weak when your walls give him a particularly strong squeeze and he withdraws.
You’re unable to move so he lets you lay back on the bed as he examines your folds, red and swollen from his brutal pace and he passes one finger between them to gather your slick. You moan at the sensation as he tastes you, licking his fingers hungrily.
“Bloody Seven, you taste delicious,” he praises as you try to find your breathing. “You’re mine from now on, understood?"
He barely acknowledges the curt nod you make before he laces his fingers around your neck, drawn to its softness and the bruises that begin to form there. He strokes the column of it softly, thoroughly, before grasping the base of your throat so he can hold on to it, hovering over you as he slides gently into you again, your folds spasming briefly from your aftershock. He sees you close your eyes, hiding your beautiful irises from him and he wishes you would look at him, something you do when you feel his hand around your neck constricting.
“Aem-” you let out.
“What is it?” he asks, watching your lips make the most amazing sounds he had ever heard while he rocks into you, his weight on your neck. “Is it my name you want to say? You can scream it if you want.”
But you don’t, to his greatest displeasure, apparently unable to do so as your features stiffen, so he snakes a hand to your dripping cunt, zoning on your swollen clit and you tremble beneath him. When he works your bud, fingers circling it at an unrelenting pace, your lips form an “o” and he decides here and there that he will cum in your mouth. For now, he concentrates on the roll of his hips and the movements of his fingers, one over your neck and the other making you grind onto it in yearning.
You are at his mercy.
“Will you scream my name now, pretty little thing? I can feel you close…”
It takes a tremendous effort from his part to not come undone himself when you finally do, trapped at his own game as you pulse around him, your back arching, and the way you finally cry out his name doesn’t help the little restraint he has left. He growls when you go limp under him, unwilling to let go of your neck and overstimulated bud as he works you through your climax.
“On all fours,” he commands when he finds enough composure to speak, propping himself up on his knees on the mattress and daring to pump himself a few times while you do as told.
He instantly comes to grab your hair, your expression completely in disarray from his brutal ministration on you and, when your mouth meets his weeping head, he can’t process anything, the contrast between the intensity of your folds and the soft warmth and slowness of your tongue killing him. He has the greatest desire to buck his hips into your mouth, to take it all, but your tongue traces along his throbbing vein right before you suck at his most sensitive part and he finishes right there with a croaked moan, painting your mouth with his seed.
You are both panting hard, and when he looks at you behind his hooded eyes, admiring his work, he brings your chin between his fingers and wipes your lips, glossy from his release. “You’ll be there each time I come back, won’t you, pet?”
You nod frantically, exhausted before falling on the bed next to him.
A/N: Thank you @babyblue711 & @arcielee for the beta reading, so much <3
#aemond targaryen#aemond targaryen smut#aemond#hotdfic#aemond targaryen x reader#smut#dark!aemond x reader#usermyfandomprompts#hotd 1x09#aemond one-eye#prince regent aemond#Aemond prince regent
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I Read Your Twisted Wonderland 'When You Wake Him Up With Nonsense" and Wanted To Ask If We Can Get One With The Staff(With Staff!Reader) and RSA(With RSA!Reader)? 🥺
Feel Free To Ignore😭
Love You❤️ And Have a Great Day!
"=⌕ YOU WAKE HIM UP WITH NONSENSE / pt. 2
⌕ pt. 1 here
warnings: bad writing, as usual, some characters may seem ooc, I apologize, pet names, some might dislike those
summary: You wake him up in the middle of the night with some nonsense
characters: RSA, NRC Staff and Rollo x GN!Reader
word count: 1,995
a/n: some are shorter or longer, it's just that I find some characters hard to write or I write them like I view them :) I HOPE YOU ALSO HAVE A VEEEERY NICE DAY TOO!
Chenya
The sound of your voice draws his attention to you. His breath hitches as he tries to stay asleep. He does not respond, instead he remains still as a statue. It is as if he wants to hear every word you have to say. And he wants to keep sleeping.
"Chenya, Chenya, Chenya, Chenya...Artemiy Artemiyevich Pinker." Your voice cuts through the quiet. Your words pull him out of a dream.
He opens his eyes, and he looks straight at you and whines. "Why you gotta pull my full naaaaame...jus' wanna sleeeep..." "Yesterday I saw a motorcycle on the sun kissing the curtains in a cow." He blinks, utterly baffled by your words. His brow furrows and he is at a complete loss with how to respond. Finally, he settles on a simple and tired, "Wha-?" "What I said." You are utterly illogical. It makes it nearly impossible for him to comprehend you.
Your mind is fascinating, weird. You're fucking dumb sometimes.
His lips twitch upwards. That's why he loves you.
"You make no sense, ya know." He signs hard, rubbing his eyes. "And ya woke me up for that bullshit...you gotta pay me back, you better."
Neige
The sound of your voice is so familiar, and the words hit him like a wave of cool air while he's asleep. His body shifts as he starts to respond in the depths of his sleep.
"Wha-" He starts to say, his words faltering on the cusp of waking. "Cutie are you...is everything okay?" he asks groggily, a bit of sleep still clinging to him. If he could blush in his slumber, he would have been scarlet in shame for how his words slurred and garbled on his tongue. He slowly sits up, looking more worried than ever.
"I just saw a chicken picking up McDonald's at the gas station for detention." The words catch him off-guard once more, and he stares at you with a small confused smile on his face. He tries to process what you've said, but finds it impossible without more explanation.
His mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water, and he tilts his head to the side, looking way to adorable for his own good. His confusion soon gives way to a brief chuckle, and he smiles widely and nods, still processing your words.
"That's such a nice story!...You should tell me the ending tomorrow though..." and with that he pulls you back against him and pets your head gently before both of you fall back asleep. He's still confused tho...
Rollo
He begins to stir, slowly waking to consciousness. His eyes dart around the room, his vision blurred and unfocused as he sits up. "Mmm, yes?" Rollo could never be mad if you woken him up for a reason, a good reason.
"I forgot to tell you that the telephone told me about the flying elephant with rainbow eyes and silver shoes." Rollo raises one eyebrow at first, thinking you're playing a trick on him. The joke is too outlandish to be real. Even this is to stupid for you.
But seeing that you're serious, he has no idea what to say. He is speechless. Oh...so you are that dumb huh? At this point the lord can't save him anymore.
"Is...that so?" he finally asks. "Yes!" Rollo stares at you incredulously as you continue. Every detail you describe is nonsensical and unrealistic. But his gaze remains firmly fixed on yours, and his thoughts are blank.
He struggles to understand why you woke him up. Is this a game? He is utterly puzzled. And his annoyance is starting to seep in. But the look in your eyes is magnetic, and it is difficult for him to hold his frustration. He sighs, "You...you are truly one of a kind, are you aware of that?" But Rollo can't help but smile at you, you just had to turn his life upside down, huh?
Crowley
He stirs slightly, his eyes blinking slowly open. He opens his mouth to speak, but then he realizes you are next to him and closes it again. His expression is soft and delicate, like your presence is a beacon of light in the darkness, and all he can focus on is you. You'd be surprised, moments of his adoration aren't that rare.
"What is it?" he asks with a slight yawn, his voice still soft and sleepy. "So like, I cooked us a clock with sprinkles of snow and the clock then when away with the pan because of their date at the baseball doctor." In spite of his tired mood, he bursts into laughter. A hearty, full-bellied laugh that only he would be so amused by such ridiculous, nonsensical statements.
"Ah, my love. It seems you have discovered the wonders of a dream," the headmaster chuckles, running his fingers curiously through your hair. For a moment he ponders about what other kinds of nonsense you would utter, if this is what your brain conjures just during your sleep.
He chuckles again in amusement. "Do go on," he encourages you, still looking through you with a light in his eyes. "Did the clock turn into a frog? Did the frog wear green boots and sing rock songs in kitchen utensils?" He's amused, but he also wants to know.
Crewel
As you call to him, you can see his eyelids twitch underneath. Your voice seems to permeate his dreams. There is no immediate answer as his eyes flutter in a way that seems to indicate that he's trying to force himself awake but still struggles to do so. He turns onto his back, his head tilting towards the sound of your voice. After a moment, he finally manages to open his eyes with a low groan. His hand reaches for his forehead and rubs it, as though he's suffered from a particularly intense headache. But once he sees you, he stops, his eyes brightening at the sight of your face.
All the weariness seems to leave him in an instance, yet not entirely. He manages a smile for you. "Puppy?..." "I just ate a singing pizza who told me the story of the bees and the snakes who danced underwater." "Ah..."
Divus manages a confused hum. It takes him a moment as he seems to try and work it out in his head.
"They danced in...underwater?" He asks, voice soft. "Underwater...is a body of water...but...how does one..." he looks away from you as he attempts to picture the scenario. After a moment, he shakes his head, chuckling softly into his palm. "No matter. That is quite a tale, indeed my pup."
Divus draws you close and wraps his arms around you, burying his face into your shoulder and hugging you tightly. His breath is hot against your neck, his muscles tensing underneath. "Sleep..." he mumbles softly, his voice seeming to get thicker as a low growl rumbles from his chest.
"Or does my pup want to keep being disobedient?"
Trein
(Solid grandpa issues ya'll have here)
It is almost as you say his name that his eyes blink quickly. They become wide and concerned. "Dearest?" he whispers with a hint of urgency in his voice. Though his expression turns gentle as he notices you aren't hurt or sick. His shoulders relax. "Yuu, have you not been feeling well?" Mozus asks, his voice a soothing melody. After a moment, he sits up. The bed creaks with the weight of his shifting body. Even Lucius wakes up from his slumber to tip tap his way over to your shared bed.
"Did you perhaps catch a cold? I could fetch some medicine if you would like." He doesn't want to see you in pain, not even for a moment. Oh, how caring he can be sometimes..."My hair turned purple because I washed it with dirt in the afternoon 13 years ago on a full red moon at midnight."
Silence hangs in the air as you speak. Mozus's expression remains concerned; worried. And then it turns into a frown. "Ah... You must've hit your head. Or else you wouldn't speak of such nonsense" he says. Though he tries to conceal it, a flicker of irritation flashes across his eyes. Your sudden statements seem to have sparked his annoyance.
"Or are you perhaps playing a childish prank on me at unholy hours?" he asks sharply, tone becoming stern. "If there is nothing else you require, I believe you've wasted enough of your time together." He tries to keep his voice neutral, but is obviously still slightly peeved at your game. "I-Im sorry..." His anger melts at your apology. His face melts back to a soft expression as he pulls you into his arms. His voice returns to its soothing tone as he presses his lips to yours.
When he pulls away, only seconds later, there's a content smile on to his lips. "Do not apologize," he says softly, voice quiet. Yet you feel a surge of pleasure run through your body. You feel almost as light as a feather once again. "I'm happy you're in best condition."
Vargas
Ashton jolts awake as he hears your voice, immediately rising into a defensive stance as he looks at you. Protectively he stands before the bed frantically looking around for potential danger with both his fists up, ready to punch whatever lurks in your shared bedroom.
"It's okay! Is there something wrong? Are you hurt?!" he asks anxiously but wild as he still holds his position. "Wha--no?!" He reacted so fast you couldn't keep up. "Oh...!" Asthon blinks a few times as he seems to calm himself. He lowers his fists, though now he seems completely at a loss for words. He stares at you blankly.
"That is good," he clears his throat, clearly embarrassed about the situation, "very good, yes " he offers a small smile, though you can sense him struggling to gather himself. "...so I woke up because the curtains were running away from a wild toaster." Ashton blinks a few times, processing this information. He seems to ponder it for a moment and then... bursts out into laughter.
It's a loud sound, like a true suburban father laugh. It's a sound of complete delight. Though, it doesn't take him too much effort to bring himself back. "Ah... yes," he says, "Wild toasters. They are very problematic." He lets himself sink into bed again, and like before, you're to slow to react. Because the moment his head hits the pillow, he's gone. Snoring the night away...
Sam
"Hm?" The mighty lord stirs in his sleep. He pulls the sheets tighter around him, his body twitching in his sleep. The sound of his name being uttered by you seems to have broken through his slumber. "Wake uuuup~!" "Hm?" Sam finally looks up at you, his eyes barely open. They seem to focus on you, taking a moment to adjust to the darkness of the room before he finally smiles. "Impy...?" He speaks in the softest of whispers, his voice almost hoarse as though it had been a while. "Did my friends wakw you...or...was it my snoring?"
"My shampoo ran out cause the towel used it for their skincare routine." "Ah..." He sits up, his expression still weary from sleep. Before you can even tell him to stop, he's already risen from the bed. He's practically half-asleep as he waddles towards the shop and comes back with a bottle of shampoo in hand.
He doesn't question you or the strange request at all. "There you go," he holds up a bottle of shampoo. "Only the best for my little imp, and since its you...its on the house" he says, although he looks like he's in a trance he does smirk at you.
"Thank...you?" You question as you take the bottle from his hands. Before you know it he drops face first into bed, "But...if ya need anythin' else...get it yourself...alright?" he mumbles into the pillow.
#twisted wonderland#twisted wonderland headcanon#twisted wonderland x reader#chenya x reader#neige x reader#rollo x reader#crowley x reader#crewel x reader#trein x reader#vargas x reader#sam x reader#nrc staff#Ncr staff x reader
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Jamie tartt asking you to go on his brand trip (the one he asked Keeley on in the finale)
Thanks for being my first request! Hope ya like it <3
don’t make this any harder
It is almost the end of the football season, and all AFC Richmond can talk about are their plans once they get a break. You’re excited because it means you get more time with Jamie. You’ve been dating for about four months now, and it’s been weird. Good weird, not bad weird. Sometimes it’s just funny to you that Jamie took one look at you in that coffee shop and decided yep, that’s the one I’m going for. Honestly, you were a little surprised when someone had plunked a cinnamon latte on your small table, and even more surprised to look up and see that someone had some of the most gorgeous eyes you had ever seen.
I’m Jamie, he had said. What’s your name?
And the rest is history.
This is the first time you feel like you are having fun in a relationship. Jamie has a way of getting you to loosen up and laugh for what feels like the first time in ages. After the first two weeks of dating, he starts to sneak into your flat through the window, so your flatmate won’t hear. A week after that, you go to your first Richmond game, wearing a number 9 with the name Tartt emblazoned across the back.
Jamie has the idea early on to try to synchronize your lunch breaks, so you start having lunch together almost every day. It’s nice.
It’s nice to want and to be wanted.
On paper, it looks like you see Jamie a lot, but you really don’t.
“Once football season’s over, we’ll have time, yeah?” he says.
You nod and count the days.
—
The season ends in three days, and you and Jamie are sitting on a bench while he eats whatever weird protein-based meal he has and you sip soup out of a thermos through a straw.
“I’m just saying it’s weird, babe,” Jamie says.
“Oh really, how is it any weirder than insisting on eating any kind of egg with a spoon?” you reply.
“Oi, I told you that in private!”
You both dissolve into laughter and once it fades, Jamie looks strangely pensive. You give him a gentle nudge on his shoulder. “Hey. What’s up?”
Jamie half turns to look at you with that pensive expression. “Eh, it’s nothin. Don’t worry about it.”
You raise your eyebrow at him and Jamie sighs. “Wish you wouldn’t do that, makes me feel insecure about me own lack of eyebrow control.”
This makes you laugh again, but you’re not about to let him deflect that easily. You reach up with your thumbs to smooth his eyebrows. “C’mon Jamie, out with it. What’s on your mind?”
He’s still looking at you as he starts to speak, thinks better of it, then starts again.
“Babe,” he begins, taking your hand, “do you- I mean, you don’t have to, it’s super lame and like probably bad, so it won’t hurt my feelings if you say no- but do you want to come over for dinner on Saturday? I’ll like cook for ya and you don’t have to bring anything, but I thought it would be nice because now I actually have time to cook and I haven’t in ages, and like I said if you don’t want to, I get it, and-” he probably could have kept rambling on but you stop him.
“Jamie,” you smile, “I would love to! Why did that make you so nervous to ask?”
He shrugs. “I dunno, I guess- I mean, besides Keeley you’re kind of my first real relationship and I don’t want to fuck it up or scare you off.”
Oh. You let that process in your head for a moment as you squeeze his hand.
After a moment you say, “I’m not scared by your egg-eating habits and you’re not scared of my eyebrow muscles, so I think we’re going to be ok.”
Jamie pulls you close to him for a kiss, which is interrupted by an alarm on his phone. You both groan. Time to go back to work.
—
The rest of the week flies by and before you know it, you’re standing in front of Jamie’s door holding a bottle of wine. He said not to bring anything, but it gives you something to do with your hands and Richard has been begging you to let him explain wine for weeks now, so you figured you might as well. The weather is warm, so you’re wearing your favorite linen dress. It’s held together by a single wraparound tie on the side, easy to get on. And off. Odds are good that it will end up in a ball on Jamie’s floor before you have to go home.
You’ve barely knocked before the door swings open to reveal a smiling, nicely dressed Jamie.
“Hi,” you smile back.
He slips his arms around your waist and kisses you before saying, “C’mon in!”
“You didn’t have to bring anythin,” he continues, holding open the door.
You shrug. “You know how Richard gets.”
Jamie huffs out a laugh and you follow him to the kitchen. You’re not sure what you were expecting, but it certainly was not this. This boy is making his own pizza and has set out the most impressive spread of toppings that you’ve ever seen. It looks and smells amazing.
“Jamie,” you say, still gaping at it all, “where on earth did you learn to do this?”
He looks up from rolling out a flat circle of dough, “Hm? Oh, eh I dunno. I like cooking and I like pizza, and you like pizza, and I’ve been making this recipe since like fuckin’ forever so I thought I’d just stick with an old classic. D’you mind stirring that?” He points to a pot on the stove with a wooden spoon poking out.
You literally have no words as you walk over and peer in.
“Jamie. Did you make this sauce?” you ask incredulously.
Jamie slaps his pizza dough with finality and leans up against the counter next to you, away from the flame.
“Uh yeah, I did,” he replies, scratching his neck. “Don’t overstir.”
You put down the spoon. “Jaim. How am I just now finding out about this. You’re pretty as hell, fantastic at football, and you cook?”
Jamie grins. “You think I’m pretty?”
You roll your eyes. “That’s what you got from this, you nerd?”
His hands have made their way to your waist again.
“Nice dress,” he says as he fiddles with the tie. “Got some good ideas for it later.”
You roll your eyes again, unable to suppress a grin. “Come here,” you say, pulling on his gold chain to get his lips at the right angle.
—
You’re halfway through dinner when Jamie has started to look pensive again. He denies it at first so you leave it, but after three more bites of your pizza he says, “Hey.”
You look up at him expectantly.
“I wasn’t, I mean I’m not- this wasn’t what I wanted to ask you,” he rushes out.
You tilt your head, still waiting.
“You know how we wanted to spend more time together this summer? Well, Nike have a branding thing for me in Brazil.”
You set down your slice and let out a soft “oh.”
“Yeah.” Jamie says. “So what d’you think?” Now he’s looking at you expectantly, and a little hesitant. You understand his nervousness now because you’re feeling it too. Four months is not a very long time to be together, and Brazil is a beautiful place with beautiful people. You can do a lot in Brazil.
You study your wine glass. “How long will you be gone?”
“Well, the shoot’s not that long, but I’ll probably be there a month. Nike’s paying for the whole thing, hotel, some of the meals, whatever. Flight’s next week. It’s mad.”
You nod. Jamie’s still looking at you.
Your mouth has gone dry. You’ll handle this with grace and at least you’ll go out on a good note with the best meal you’ve ever had.
You’re still looking intently at the wine glass but you rip your eyes away and force yourself to look at Jamie.
“That’s great Jaim- Jamie. I’m happy for you. This is a big deal, and I’m sure you’ll love Brazil.”
Jamie’s face transforms into a look of relief as you speak.
“That’s great, yeah, I mean, I didn’t know what you’d think because obviously we talked about being together this summer and y’know, people say one thing but mean another, so I wasn’t sure, but that’s great!”
This boy and nervous rambling. He could give Ted a run for his money.
You force a smile, eyes on your plate now. You feel like all your energy has been drained from you in one fell swoop, while across from you Jamie is smiling like he won the lottery.
Is he really that excited to break things off with you?
He’s talking again so you do your best to focus on what he’s saying.
“-And I was thinking we could go to this beach Keeley was telling me about and obviously we have to try all the food because granddad won’t be around to fuckin boss me around-”
What?
“Jamie,” you interrupt, “what?”
Jamie looks at you, confused. “What?”
“What are you talking about?”
Jamie looks at you like you’re mental. “I’m talkin’ about Brazil? The trip we’re goin’ on next week?”
Things are starting to click into place. You reach across the table and put your hand on top of his to steady yourself.
“You’re taking me on your brand deal?”
Now Jamie is really looking at you like you’ve gone mad. “That’s what I just asked ya. What are you on about?”
You stare at him for a moment then slowly say. “I thought you were breaking up with me so you could sleep with hot people in Brazil.”
Jamie stares back incredulously. “Why the fuck would you think that?”
You throw your hands in the air. “You were so nervous to talk to me! You said you were going to Brazil! That’s what people do! They get nervous to break up so they use some big trip to make it seem easier! And you’re you and you’re young, hot, and famous, so why would you be dragging me around with you?”
“You think I’m hot?”
You’re going to throttle him. “You know I think you’re hot, I’ve let you see me naked. Can we please stay on topic?”
Jamie chuckles at that.
“Look, I was nervous ‘cause you’re like, really fit. But it’s like, you’re also fit mentally? And I don’t get a lot of girls like that who also like me back. And Nike’s only paying for one room so… there’s that.”
He’s blushing a lot for someone who has been caught hopping out of your window at 3am.
Your head is in your hands now. Jamie gets up from his seat and pulls you up from your chair into his arms.
“Babe,” he says into your hair, “will you come to Brazil with me for a month while we fuck around like the hot couple that we are?”
You nod into his chest then lift your head to look at his face. He’s smiling at you. “I’m a dumbass,” you say.
His smile grows as he strokes your cheek.
“Yeah, but you’re my dumbass,” he says as he reaches for that tie on the side of your dress.
#jamie tartt x reader#jamie tartt fanfiction#jamie tartt x you#jamie tartt x y/n#jamie tartt imagine#jamie tartt#ted lasso
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Swap, Hypno, TF
Henry Cavill, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal
Another great set of options here! But I think I already know who I’m swapping with.
Jake Gyllenhall. Like come on it’s gotta be. That man is just so fucking gorgeous. I’ll be honest though it’s a very close call between him and Ryan Gosling. I adore both of them and if Jake hadn’t been there I absolutely would’ve swapped with Ryan no question. It’s one of those that’s so close that my mind could change depending on the day but right now I’m dead set on Jake and his incredibly sexy looks.
That said I think I’ve just gotta go with another technology based swap for this. A special pair of headsets perhaps. How I’d get Jake to put it on is the tough part. I’d need to find a way to get close to him first. Maybe I use this device to switch bodies with multiple other people who are close to Jake. Every switch getting me closer to him until finally I’m in the body of someone he trusts deeply. Enough that can convince him to put the device on for a laugh when the two of us are alone. Slipping one headset onto him before slipping the other onto myself and without a second thought, activating the device.
Both my face and Jake’s going slack as the swapping device does its thing. Transferring everything that made us who we were through the currents flowing between the two helmets. Slowly flooding my consciousness into Jake’s mind and vice versa. And of course both of us getting massive erections in the process which seemed to be a common side effect when switching bodies with men.
It would’ve been a long and tiring process to finally get this far but it’d be well worth it once I finally had Jake’s body. Immediately throwing off the headset as soon as the swap was complete and standing up to get a good look at the body I’d been striving towards. Meanwhile the real Jake would be too confused and dazed by what had just happened to even make sense of the situation. Only looking up at me in horror as I tested out my new voice and felt up the new body I had hidden underneath the suit he’d been wearing. The newfound bulge in my pants threatening to break out at any second as I reach down and rub a hand across the outline of Jake’s thick cock.
Of course I need to take care of the original Jake somehow but I don’t think that’d be too hard. Once he finally processes what’s happened, he’ll probably start to panic at the sight of his imposter feeling himself up and slowly undressing. By this point I’ll have already stamped on the headset to ensure it can’t be used again before letting him know that the swap can’t be undone now. Giving him the choice to either keep quiet and I’ll make sure he has an easy life from now on or I’ll find some other way to keep him quiet. And since I’d just stolen his body, I don’t think he’d doubt my threats.
Moving on however I then need to hypnotise someone. And I think you all know who I’m going for. Ryan Gosling of course. And now that I’m in Jake’s body it shouldn’t be hard for me to get close to these other high end celebs like myself. As soon as the opportunity presents itself, I’ll lace a drink of his with a hypnotic potion that’s got my new body’s cum mixed into it. And as soon as he drinks it, he’ll become a complete hypno slave to me.
Can you imagine? Ryan Gosling kneeling at the feet of Jake Gyllenhall. Willing to do anything he’s told. A former straight man being turned into a gay slut. Always eager to let me ruin his tight and once virgin hole at any chance we got. Practically begging me to cum inside him every time as each load I bred into him with Jake’s cock only drove him further under my control.
With Ryan being so attached to me I doubt he’d ever want to leave my side for long. Telling the world that the two of us have decided to become a couple would be inevitable in the long game I imagine but that wouldn’t be all bad. The publicity would probably do wonders. I’d have to make sure Ryan acts as normal as possible when we’re in public though… but I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to let a few of his new slutty elements shine through the cracks from time to time. Maybe with him telling a reporter that I really “opened him up” to a new world of possibilities with a quick wink.
Lastly though a TF is in order and we still have Henry Cavill on our list. I’ll be honest I had no idea what to go for TF wise at first but I think I’ve finally figured it out.
Once again getting close to Henry at some point or another shouldn’t be too hard thanks to my new body. And as soon as no one is looking I’ll whip out an ancient spell. One that if performed correctly will immediately begin to transform Henry’s body. Or rather force it to shrink away into nothing. Or so you’d think at first glance.
As his body seems to vanish, his clothes would fall to the floor in a heap. But there would be something left underneath those clothes. I’d pull apart the heap and reach into Henry’s crumpled pants only to pull out Henry’s cock and balls!? It was the only thing left of his body though at first glance it would certainly be mistaken for a dildo. However upon closer inspection it looked and felt very real from the way the balls swayed to how the cock reacted to the slightest touch.
Now for the real test though.
Assuming I was alone where nobody could walk in on me, I’d slip the disembodied cock into my mouth and started sucking. Feeling as it swiftly began hardening in my mouth. Being sure to use every dick sucking trick in the book until Henry’s cock finally blew a load in my mouth. And as soon as it did, the suit I was wearing started to rip.
Henry’s body and soul essence had all been trapped inside this dlido-like form of his cock. However this meant that anyone who drank his cum would gain his strength and muscle mass albeit temporarily. Hence my suit tearing a fair bit after I swallowed thanks to my body bulking up quite a fair bit. And naturally I didn’t waste any time checking out the results. Loving the look of an even bigger and buffer Jake Gyllenhall staring back at me.
Needless to say I was gonna be using Henry’s cock a lot. Thankfully it replenishes itself endlessly as far as I know so there isn’t a real limit. I can drink from it as much as I want and bulk Jake’s body up whenever I please. Hell I might even let Ryan drink from it as well. Lord knows it’d be hot to see him hulk out with some extra muscle as well. Giving Ryan and even thicker muscle ass for me to dominate! But I think I can say for certain that I’ll be the one using it’s power most of the time. All the extra muscle is bound to feel addictive. And who know? Maybe my body will start to adapt and hold onto some of that extra size even after the effects wear off. Only one way to find out I guess.
Now this one was fun to type up! Also wanted to give a quick shout out to an old story by @fantasyvessels called Trading Places With Gyllenhall which definitely inspired me a little here. Glad I was able to track down where they got those images from and make a hot gif outta it. Go check that story out as well if Jake is your thing!
#asks#swap hypno tf#male body swap#permanent#male body theft#identity theft#male transformation#male muscle growth#musclegrowth#celebrity swap#celebrity tf#technology#magic#male hypnosis#male hypno#celebrity hypno
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𝘉𝘌 𝘚𝘞𝘌𝘌𝘛 𝘛𝘖 𝘔𝘌, 𝘉𝘈𝘉𝘠 𝘍𝘛. 𝘓𝘌𝘝𝘐𝘈𝘛𝘏𝘈𝘕
- ̗̀໒ WARNINGS : TW FOR INSECURITY READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION. f!reader, angsty in the beginning, loss of virginity, teasing, nipple play, begging, fingering, oral, mating press, creampie, squirting
- ̗̀໒ WORD COUNT : 2k
req: can we get a insecure virgin reader + levi plz? if ur comfy with it can it go into feel better smut? I've read all your fics on ao3 and I'm obsessed I need more of your writings! xx
Your tears make him feel sick to his stomach.
It breaks his heart, seeing the glimmering saltwater welling and spilling down your cheeks in damp tracks. Your lip wobbles as you sniffle while your hands shakily grasp his forearms, further widening the canyon opening in his gut.
"Why are you upset?" His voice is soft, trying his best to be soothing and not spook you. The last thing he wants to do is make you feel like he's coming towards you confrontationally.
"I feel," you hiccup, "I feel like you just don't like me- like that." The way your words dissolve into more tears.
It's a helpless feeling, not knowing why you feel this way or what to do about it. He knows he has a tendency to get lost in something, tunnel vision on whatever new release is happening or whatever game he's immersed in, but to know he made you feel so unimportant in the process? He thought you could see through all that, but maybe he'd just assumed rather than ever have a conversation about it.
His mind is racing, tripping over itself as his own hands shake. How long were you carrying this feeling? He felt like a fool, he was a fool; shamelessly failing you.
Yet, he's doing it again, staying silent for far too long and falling inside himself, leaving you to crumple against your mattress. You push him away as he attempts to hold onto you, console you. Instead wailing, "Am I not what you wanted?"
You feel stupid, humiliated, just wanting the earth to open underfoot and swallow you into it's depths. Anything to get away from this feeling. You were human, and he's been surrounded by the most beautiful inhuman beings for eons how could you believe you could compare?
Softly he places a hand to your back, fingers stroking up and down your spine in a deliberately comforting manner. "I... You're everything I wanted. I want you all the time, always, I want to be with you every second of every day. I feel real jealousy towards the people who are with you in moments that I'm not," you hear the hitch in his voice, "I think you're the best thing that's been in my life."
His face is aflame by the time you turn around, no longer feeling the need to hide so urgently. Not when he's just made himself, finally, vulnerable to you. "Do you really mean that?"
He swallows thickly, but his eyes never stray from yours and his hand comes to tightly lace your fingers together against the mattress.
"I really do. I just... You know how sometimes when things feel like they're going really well, say a sunny day happened- you don't bother to check the weather," his voice becomes smaller as he squeezes your hand, "but when the sun's out at midnight, you should be checking. I should've checked on you. Should've been less selfish all the time. I'm sorry-"
His words are cut off in a low groan of surprise as you throw yourself against his chest, wrapping your arms around his neck and burying your face against his skin. "I love you, it's not all on you. I should've- I should've said something, even just once."
His arms come firmly around you as you continue, "I just... I just want you to love me, too."
"I do love you," he murmurs against the side of your head, pressing his lips there just for that moment of closeness.
"Why haven't you shown me?"
That gives him pause. "What do you mean?"
It almost stumps him, truly. He makes sure to kiss you, always be there with you when he can, helps you with anything you need-
"You never try, you know, touching me," your voice is suddenly shy. "Haven't you wanted to?"
His breathing almost stops as you grasp his wrist tenderly, clearly giving him the space to pull away and say no if he wishes, but he doesn't. Instead watching with bated breath as it disappears beneath your shirt, feeling your warm skin under his fingertips.
Even when you draw your hand away, his remains, gingerly moving upward over your belly before stopping, letting the curve of his thumb and index rest beneath the swell of your bare breast.
You hum in approval, gently tugging him down as you let yourself fall back against the bedspread and pull him into a heated kiss, full of sudden desperation.
You nip at his bottom lip while he draws his hand back down, only to tug on the hem of your tshirt, prompting you to prop up on your elbows as your chest is exposed to the evening chill. When his lips wrap around one of your hardened nipples your head tips back with a groan, enjoying the feel of his tongue sliding over the bud.
Quickly you become restless, whining and moving your legs in an attempt to accommodate your fastly dampening underwear. You can feel the nerves standing on end, making you squirm even more and cueing Levi to slide his other hand down past the waist of your pajama pants.
The tips of his fingers rest just before he'd reach your slick folds, making your clit pulse in anticipation. You're trembling, trying to gasp out how badly you just need him to touch you or you might go insane.
It could've been hours with how much he was teasing you, coming up to slide his tongue between your lips and dipping back down to alternate attention between your breasts. That hand, however, remained still inside your panties.
You rutted your hips brazenly, not caring for anything but relief now, but he evades it. Always managing to move his hand ever so slightly so as to not touch you. The pressure was reaching its boiling point, your clit ached so fiercely it left you with fresh tears gathering in your waterline.
Finally as your eyes meet, his fingers slide through your slick folds and you nearly sob at the sensation. The sticky noises as he slides two fingers inside you, prodding your warm walls, and keeping steady pressure on your clit with his thumb makes you feel lightheaded. Still, you don't look away from him.
He's drinking in every expression like a fine wine: your pupils blown out and glassy, lips moving in moans and whimpers, the flex of your neck muscles wishing to tip back.
The feeling in your gut is akin to a spring loaded coil, just reeling and reeling further back with every swipe of his thumb over your clit and every curl of his fingers. The sheer intensity of the environment between you two makes that coil suddenly snap, causing you to break eye contact and wail in ecstasy.
Your thighs shake and your hands come to claw at his back furiously, mind going numb as you feel your bottoms growing wetter the more you writhe in the pleasure high.
As your orgasm slowly dissolves, rose colored world coming into focus when you open your eyes, your legs still tremble with aftershocks as his hand pulls out of your bottoms. You're floating, delightfully boneless as he leans back and tugs them down your legs.
His mouth waters at the glossy mess between your legs, watching the way you throb around nothing. All thought ceases when he shimmies down on his stomach between your legs, warm breath on your thighs sending a shiver down your spine.
His tongue slowly rolls from his lips while you're stuck still, eyes unable to look away, before licking a fat stripe up your messy cunt. He holds your folds open before going back in, tongue prodding your entrance and making your eyes roll back in your head.
He's a panting, moaning mess as he devours you and there's nowhere else he'd rather be than between your legs. Lithe fingers brush against your clit once more, relishing in the way it makes you squeal from above. He presses his tongue flat against it, feeling overjoyed at the way it tears an even bigger reaction from your body.
Something shifts, he wants, no needs, all of you right now or he feels like he may very well die. That thought is what has him shooting up, tugging his pants off and letting his throbbing cock smack against his abdomen as it springs from his underwear. Quickly he shuffles back between your legs, sliding his cock in between your sloppy folds.
You reach down to hold your legs open, mind switched off and only chasing the base instinct for complete intimacy with him. Slowly he presses forward, rocking his hips slowly before his cock fully nudges inside you. Your legs spasm as it does, fighting against the overstimulation as you gasp out but don't call for him to stop. Slowly he slides inside you until your hips are flush, once again watching your expressions. You look like the picture of bliss, chest heaving with full breaths and adjusting to the new sensation of being full.
It nearly renders him shocked as you cup your breasts, kneading your flesh and your hips grind up so that you're using him.
He lets you, holding your hips for support because honestly it's the hottest thing he's ever witnessed. You getting yourself off with his cock, like it was a toy, sets his head spinning. Your moans rise and rise as your pace becomes messy, frantic. Your back arches and your pussy clenched around him so firmly it makes him draw in a sharp inhale. It's beyond beautiful, watching you completely lose yourself and fall apart on his cock.
In your pleasure chasing daze you stop holding your legs up, letting them fall sharply and he eagerly chases after you, folding your legs up and pounding into your hungry cunt while one of your hands fists in his hair. He's never had the privilege to feel something this incredible, hearing you chant his name like a mantra and the sound of skin slapping in some perverse harmony.
He's clenching his jaw, unable to take his eyes off you as he feels you clamp down once more. It's only slightly jolting to feel liquid spray his abdomen but it doesn't make him slow down, if anything it only encourages his thrusts to become deeper and messier before slowing. Relaxing into the feeling of your pussy and his cock throbbing in time while he fills you to the brim with warm, opaque fluid.
He's certain you could never doubt his devotion again after tonight, and he'll make sure to see you fall apart and to fill you up again and again from here on. It's a promise on repeat in his mind as you both slow, coming to lay still against one another as you catch your collective breath.
Gently you release your grip on his hair, fingers lazily sliding through the strands instead as he presses his ear over your heart, just enjoying the afterglow especially with such an intense series of events tonight.
"I love you," he whispers into your skin, arms sliding beneath you as he relaxes further against your body.
#obey me smut#leviathan smut#obey me x reader#leviathan x reader#obey me x female reader#om! leviathan#obey me levi smut#obey me leviathan#obey me imagine#obey me shall we date#om smut#x reader#꒰ঌꨄ︎໒꒱ kita writes
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Doctora
Summary: You start your internship in sports medicine at FC Barcelona, meeting an interesting footballer who quickly develops a crush on you.
Pairing: Pablo Gavi x Reader
Warnings: there will be angst/smut/fluff
possibly a short series if you guys like it :)
Pablo's POV
We just came back from the short break, and my groin somewhat healed but I kept feeling numbness in my upper thigh that I didn't mention to anyone. I hoped it would just go away and besides everyone who knows me knows that I HATE doctors!
I would rather push through pain for days than go see a doctor. It was since I was a kid and they couldn't find my vein during regular check up at La Masia that I developed real fear of needles or any hospital related 'stuffs'.
It was during training when I was trying to lift weights with my legs that I kept wincing so much so that Xavi pulled me to the side to ask if everything was alright.
"Soy bien, no te preocupes" I lied but man was suspicious saying I should do a check up with one of team doctors before the next game. It was my very own nightmare!
"But sir, it's really nothing..I'm probably sore" I said realizing just how illogical that was considering this was a first training since we got back from a break.
"He's scared sir! Pablito is scared of doctors!!" Ansu joked around as others joined him making me do my best to hide the embarrassment for being afraid of something so silly. I was Pablo Gavi after all!
"I'm not scared cabrón. I just hate being poked!" I said proudly pretending like I currently had no worry in my mind (which was far from truth).
"Scared or not, you have to see the doctor after training Gavi" Xavi ordered and I could do nothing but nod rolling my eyes at the guys who were smirking at me.
This is just my luck!
Your POV
It's been such a long morning already with lots of paperwork and barely any time for a proper meal or a cup of good 'wake me up' coffee.
I was interning with the medical staff as the young college student so of course they gave me all the grunt work but I didn't mind feeling grateful for the opportunity.
"Hola..um..I'm sorry, I need someone to get my blood drawn?" Gavi walked in and I felt myself staring at him before focusing on his question instead trying to forget that I found him extremely attractive!
"I can do that. Take a seat please" I said and he does but furrows his eyebrows in process.
"Aren't you like my age? Can you really poke people??" he said and I chuckled at his choice of words while prepping the syringe and the needle.
"Well, I got my EMT certification done early and now I go to school while working here and yeah poking people is kinda my specialty. Do you have an arm preference?"I said walking up to him immediately noticing that he was the 'nervous patient' which was kind of adorable knowing how confident he is on and off the pitch from seeing him around the camp.
"Well..um..I don't know" he said and that's when an idea popped in my head seeing that he had his eyes shut waiting for me to do something.
I slowly pulled up one of his sleeves putting on a tourniquet and wetting the gauze with some rubbing alcohol. That's when I start excercising my plan.
"You know I watched you play in the last game and I thought to myself 'damn! that boy is fine!'" I smirk seeing that he was starting to relax as his confidence returned the moment I said that. Pablo Gavi loved to be complimented, that's for sure ;)
"Is that right nena??" he said as I cleaned his skin but he barely paid any attention to my actions waiting to hear me say something back.
"Mhm..I mean you in that sweaty home kit..and your hair falling on your forehead..it did things to me" I said opening the syringe and slowly tapping his veins.
"I bet I can do better things to you.." Pablo said and I felt my panties getting wet knowing that my words were god honest truth and then I finally poked his vein pulling enough blood to run all the necessary tests.
"Alright! We are all done!" my words took him by surprise as he opened his eyes shocked that he didn't even notice me poke his skin as he was too busy imagining the things he wanted to do probably..not that I minded ;)
"Wait..so was this all to distract me?" he said and I smirked tossing away the waste before getting back to my desk.
"I will see you next week when the results come Gavi" my smirk only grew when he got up and walked over placing his fingers underneath my chin making me look up before suddenly crashing his lips onto mine leaving me in utter shock.
"I'll see you around nena" he winked before leaving. Damn it! Getting involved with a player!?
That's just my luck!
Guys please comment if you want this to become a series because I really like the plot :)
#pablo gavi#pablo gavi icons#pablo gavi x reader#pablo gavi x y/n#pablo gavi x you#fc barca#fc barcelona#fc barça#gavi#gavigif
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[This Bites] (2)
Astarion x Chubby Female MC
Content/Warnings: Winnie freaks the fuck out. Astarion gets an owie. Asshole Brian strikes again. Nothing really crazy in this chapter.
Chapter One: Here it is.
Chapter Two: You are here.
Chapter Three: Lets goooo!
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
Winnie fell back with a shriek as the vampire reached out, touching the other side of the screen.
“Ah….Well that's not exactly the reaction I was hoping for.” He muttered as Winnie continued to stare in shock and disbelief, mouth agape. “Hello?”
“I have got to be dreaming. This is insane.“ Winnie looked back at the screen before then putting her hand back on the mousepad and attempting to click on Astarion.
“Hey! Quit that!” He said, swatting the mouse away from him. “I can see how this may be a little overwhelming, but I'll explain everything in a moment. I just need you to do something for me.”
“I’m not sure if I should be listening to you. You just murdered Tav!”
“Don’t worry about them. They die all the time! They're used to it.” He said in an all too cheerful tone. “I, however, need your help. I'm trapped in this place and you're the only one who can free me.”
“Still not sure if I should trust a hallucination…”
“Oh for gods sake I'm not a hallucination! I'm as real as you are. Don't believe me? Put your hand against mine. See what happens.” Astarion stared at her intently, keeping his palm pressed against the screen. Winnie paused, thinking it over.
Well It's not actually real after all, right? Probably just a dream…
Finally she placed her hand against his over the screen. For a moment there was no reaction, but then she felt a zapping pain in her hand as if she'd been shocked. Winnie let out a yelp, her hand about to retreat before Astarion phased through the screen and grabbed hold of her wrist. The female jerked back in fear, pulling the vampire out in the process. She fell back and let out a squeak as the male fell on top of her.
Pink tinted her face as she felt his chiseled muscular physique pressing down upon her much more soft round squishy one. Her mind was flying, filled with shock, concern, disbelief, and a little arousal….
AHHHH IT'S REAL. THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING. WHAT THE FUCK DO I DO!!?!
I….I think I'm gonna faint!
“Finally.” Astarion grinned before getting off of the flustered girl. He breathed out, clenching and unclenching his fists as Winnie noticed his fingernails had become more claw-like now that he was outside of her computer. It was so nonsensical that this was even happening. This was a character out of a video game. How in the actual fucking hell was he standing right here?!
“Thank you. It feels like I've been stuck in a time loop for gods know how long.” The silver haired elf looked around her room, a look of pure glee plastered over his face.
“I'm sorry I'm trying to process this all without completely flipping out…” Winnie said, still rather shaken up. “You're a fictional character, you can't physically be here!”
“Well I am. Though if I'm honest everything up until about three days had ago felt rather trance-like. Like I had just woken up from a reoccurring dream.”
“Three days ago? Shit…” An idea began to form in Winnie's mind. Three days prior was when she installed that cheat mod and the game locked her out. What if somehow that was the cause of this!?
“I tried to snap the others out of it, but they were still stuck in the same routine, like some mindless thralls forced to repeat the same journey over and over!” Astarion made a spinning gesture with his hand before rubbing his temple with a sigh.
“None of them seemed phased in the slightest when I tried to speak to them. Not even a good slap did the trick.” Astarion smirked with a hint of mischief, the memory of slapping Gale repeatedly and yelling ‘WAKE UP’ coming to mind. “So I had to get your attention.”
“So you messed with my computer?” Winnie glanced back at her laptop.
“The little box portal thing you pulled me through? Yes.” He nodded.
“And how did you even know about me?”
“You act as though we’ve never met, lover.~” His tone suddenly turned flirty and seductive. “Falling in love with you over and over was one of the few things that didn't grow old. Well that and murdering Cazador of course.” He chuckled with a smile.
“Oh…Well maybe I am just dreaming or hallucinating.” Winnie muttered under her breath.
“I’ve been able to tell you were there the entire time, darling. That little portal thing of yours goes both ways.”
“You've been able to see me through the screen this whole time!?” Winnie bit her lip, fearful and a bit embarrassed of what he possibly could have seen.
“See and hear, yes. Although you always looked fuzzy from my end. Tav does resemble you a little bit, but you're much more….” His eyes scanned Winnie over, taking in her shape and stature. The girl was quite short, about five feet and three inches. She had short messy brown locks and dark circles under her chocolate brown eyes. A pair of black round glasses framed her round face. Her body was chubby and stocky and her only redeeming quality it had (in her opinion) were her large round breasts. “Voluptuous…” He finished after getting a good look at her. Despite the meaning of the word Winnie immediately wrote him off as bullshitting as usual. She had played the game enough to know how he was.
“But it is rather delightful to finally meet you in person. Honestly it feels like we've known each other for years.”
“Alright…..I'll accept that you're actually sentient. And that everytime I go through the game you can see all my choices....” Winnie said, still coming to terms with the fact that a fucking fictional vampire just came out of her computer. “So…What happens now?”
“I see what this new world has to offer, I suppose.” Astarion let out a sigh, “I feel so much stronger here. Like I could do anything I want.” He grinned. Winnie felt very unnerved. He had this somewhat feral look in his eyes and before she could say anything he walked over towards her window like a dumbass only to let out a yell once the sunlight touched him.
“Ah! Bloody hells!” He hissed before rushing to hide under her nightstand like a cat.
“The fuck are you doing!?” Winnie said before rushing over to shut the curtains. “Did you suddenly think you'd become invincible!?”
“I assumed I was still under the tadpole’s protection, but it seems I was wrong…” Astarion said with a wince. His face looked a bit singed, Winnie knelt down by the table to look at him.
“Hold on, I'll be right back.” She said before getting up and leaving her room. She rushed down into the kitchen, opening the medicine cabinet before grabbing some aloe vera ointment.
Winnie eventually returned to see Astarion crawling out from the table. “Stay still. This is probably going to feel cold.”
“What are you doing?”
“Just patching you up, now hold still.” She unscrewed the lid off the ointment before dabbing some on her fingers and rubbing it over his burns gently. He winced a bit as she rubbed it in over the burns on his face, but eventually sighed in relief. “There. All better.” Winnie smiled slightly.
“...Thank you….” He said, his tone a bit hesitant.
“Yeah, well maybe try thinking before rushing into something next time?” She hummed before setting the ointment down on the nightstand.
The vampire appeared to be staring at her intently, a small smile forming on his face before he cleared his throat a bit. Winnie turned and looked over at her computer before suddenly hearing the front door slam open.
Shit.
What the hell were they even doing back this early? Winnie’s mother had specifically stated they'd be home late!
“WINNIE!!!” She could hear Brian's voice shout from across the house. Loud stomping quickly followed.
“Who's that?” Astarion asked.
“Fuck. You need to hide, now.” Winnie said before looking around the room frantically. She grabbed hold of Astarion's wrist, panic flooded over her face. Astarion pulled his hand back.
“Now hold on one minute! I think I deserve an explanation!”
”No time. Now shut up and get in the closet!” She quickly grabbed his shoulders and yanked him over towards her closet door.
“Excuse me!? I will not!” He scoffed.
“Get in the goddamn closet Astarion!!” Winnie growled before forcing him into the closet and shutting the door. Her heart was pounding.
Not like she wanted to stuff him in there, but if Brian found out there was this strange man in her room she'd likely be called a whore and kicked out of the house. Brian was old fashioned like that.
The door to Winnie’s room suddenly opened with Brian shoving his ugly head inside.
“Your mother is sick, so we came back early. I'm going to need some cash because she ruined my new seat cover.” Brian held his hand out as if he expected her to immediately cough up a wad of cash.
Winnie immediately scoffed, “so let me get this straight your wife is sick and you're more concerned about your seat cover? Nevermind, no. I already gave you 200$ last week!”
“Oh you ungrateful little bitch! I let you stay in my house for free! It's about damn time you start pulling your weight!” Brian snarled and pushed at Winnie’s shoulder, making her step back. Winnie glared at him. Her mother was the one who owned the fucking house, not him.
“I need to be able to pay for classes! I can't just give you money for every little thing.” Winnie tried to reason with him, but it had absolutely no effect on the man whatsoever.
“You have your own fucking job and live in MY house for free! You better cough up some goddamn money by tomorrow night or you're out!” Brian shouted in her face before stomping out of the room and slamming the door. Winnie sighed, feeling mentally exhausted from that conversation. She stood there for a few moments until she was sure Brian wouldn't be coming back.
“Okay, Astarion, you can come out of the closet now.” She said as the closet door slowly creaked open. The silver haired male stepped out, flicking a sock off his shoulder before speaking.
“Charming fellow isn't he?”
“Mhm, my mom sure can pick em.” Winnie replied sarcastically, crossing her arms. “That asshole has been a thorn in my side for about four years now. Anyway sorry about the closet thing. It's just better that he didn't find out I had some random man in my room. He tends to get set off by….well everything.” Winnie said before sitting down on her bed, her hand reaching for her laptop. She was rather curious to get down to the bottom of why and how this video game character gained sentience.
“You know darling, if this man is causing you so much grief I could get rid of him for you? It wouldn't be too difficult.” Astarion said with a sadistic smirk, crimson orbs eyed the door to the hallway. “After all, I'll likely start to feel peckish soon…”
Winnie’s eyes widened and a look of horror formed on her face. She quickly put her laptop to the side.
“No! No no no no! No killing!” The brunette stood up quickly.
“What? Oh come on…I doubt anyone would miss the bastard, besides your mother can do so much better I'm sure.” The pale elf said with a grin.
“No, I mean it. You can't kill anyone.” Winnie said sternly.
“Not even bad people? Ugh! You're being completely unreasonable!” Astarion scoffed, his grin completely disappeared and was replaced with a look of frustration and annoyance.
“This world isn't like where you're from Astarion. People don't get away with murder here. And if you aren't caught it'll probably end up being pinned on me.” Winnie tried to explain calmly.
“Fiiiine.” The vampiric huffed, “I'll let him live. For now…” He murmured the last part under his breath. Winnie glared at him before returning to her computer.
“So assuming you don't want to go back into my computer…”
“I absolutely do NOT.” Astarion was quick to say.
“I'll have to figure out what to do with you, but for now I guess you can stay here.” Winnie said, typing in Nexus Mods onto her laptop. Astarion went and sat beside her on the bed, spralling out behind her in a sort of paint me like one of your french girls kind of way.
“We can do whatever you'd like.~” He purred seductively.
“Stop that.” Winnie said, her cheeks turning bright red as she tried to focus on what she was doing.
“Ugh, you're no fun.” Astarion rolled his eyes and got up off the bed. The elf scanned Winnie’s bedroom, slightly curious of some of the strange technology the girl had stored there, but not too invested. Then movement caught his crimson eye. A small fluffy black feline emerged from under the bed. She had a pink collar around her neck with a little silver bed attached to it. Curiously the cat padded over, approaching Astarion and sniffing at his shoes.
“What an adorable little snack.~” He picked up the cat who began to pur at the attention, “don't you just look delectable?” The vampire cooed, scratching the feline behind the ears.
“Astarion. Don't you fucking think about it.” Winnie hissed, immediately feeling protective over her cat.
“Think about what?” Astarion rose an eyebrow and looked over at Winnie with a mischievous grin.
“I swear if you even think about eating my cat-”
“I would never! Honestly I'm hurt you think so little of me. As if I could harm such a precious little pet.” Astarion held the feline up towards his face, allowing her to gently headbutt against his cheek. Her purring sounded as if it was getting louder and louder. Winnie still kept her eyes on him, though perhaps she was a little paranoid. After all he did seem to fancy cats in the game. Likely felt a kinship towards them being that they were stealthy sadistic little predators who refused to let anyone be their master.
Winnie sighed, today had been utterly insane. Forget how it happened. What the hell was she going to do now!? She's stuck with a vampire in her house who she has to hide from her asshole of a stepdad. She already knew off the bat there was no way he'd go back where he came from and releasing him out into the real world by himself was probably a terrible idea.
He'd either wreak havoc or end up burnt to a crisp. This was just great.
Fuck.
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
Note from TheChaoticDruid: Ngl the temptation to make this into an Astarion x Maddie (The cat) story is growing. I really think there should be more stories where Star has a cat cause the dynamic is just so cute. Astarion in this story is going to be a bit different because of how I set up that he literally has been through a bunch of different playthroughs that Winnie has done. I'm also planning on diving into the mystery of how the hell this even happened in the first place. Also eventual smut. Yes, it'll be here at some point. Also don't worry Brian's time will come.
Taglist: @the-disaster-in-waiting
#Fuck Brian such a prick!#Seriously fuck Brian!#baldurs gate 3#astarion ancunin#astarion bg3#bg3#astarion x tav#astarion my beloved#astarion romance#astarion x reader#bg3 tav#bg3 astarion#bg3 x reader#baldurs gate#baldur's gate astarion#vampire spawn#spawn astarion#astarion fluff#baldurs gate astarion#astarion x mc#astarion x female oc#astarion x female reader#Astarion is closeted#literally lol#Yes I am referencing the one cameo Neil did#Can't let your stepdouche know there's a queer vampire in your closet.
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☆ be careful with my heart - c.sb
synopsis- the mixed signals you were giving him were worrying him, so he decided to talk it out with you.
-> inspired by be careful with my heart from rocco!
-> idol! soobin x non idol! law student! reader
-> established relationship
-> warnings! reader is slightly dry at the start but you'll understand,, sad soob :( mentions of cheating
-> note! birthday post for sooby booby^^ i love scooby snack sm😓😓 wishing he was real rn. his toe middle finger will forever be engraved in my brain.
you two were busy people, you were constantly coped up with your studies in law while soobin had his crazy schedule as an idol. you two rarely saw one another, even if you did, it will usually be quiet, cuddling in each others arms, on the bed, scrolling on your phones. you two were too exhausted from your busy lifestyle in general.
you'd normally reply soobin as per usual whenever you had breaks, and he'd do the same, returning the same happy energy even through texts. however, recently soobin realised that your messages have been drier than usual, replying him with an, "oh.." or even an, "ok". this was driving him insane, did you find someone that could satisfy your romantic dreams while he was on tour, did you find someone better than him? soobin was worried, he didn't want to pester you about it though he hinted it multiple times, but you were too dense.
"maybe just wait till the tour's over? we're going back in a few days, maybe you can ask her to explain everything once you're back." taehyun, the only one in the team who gives decent love advice, suggested. soobin messed his hair around, clearly frustrated over this, he wants an answer now, he doesn't want to walk in on you cheating on him with someone better. he nodded his head and left towards his hotel room to spend time alone, clearing his mind by playing some mobile games on his phone.
days passed, tour was finally over, soobin could finally go home and see you, and question you. his palms were sweaty when he typed in the password to the door, a sweet melody chimed as he opened the door quietly, hanging his coat on the jacket rack, dragging his heavy luggage with him.
"i'm home!" soobin called out, signalling his return, however there was no response, were you out? he noticed faint music coming from the room, why did you not reply back? were you really fall out of love with him? his eyebrows furrowed, a huge wave of emotions crashed onto him.
"yn?" he whispered, peeking his head into your shared room, he was stunned at the state of the room, loose pieces of paper laying around the floor, post it notes pasted up against the wall infront of your desk, and study guides with notes laid out on the table. you were scribbling down your notes frantically, you have a test coming up, and you have yet to memorise the slides from the lectures. you rubbed your tired eyes, turning to the presence slowly moving towards you.
"hey soob." you utter out, pure exhaustion taking over your body. soobin's expression completely changed, he practically ran towards to carry you. you groaned in his shoulder, using most of your energy to push yourself up to look soobin in the eye.
"sorry, i didn't hear you at first.. i have a test soon, i kinda didn't listen to the lectures so like i have been like staying up to study." you tried explaining yourself, your eyes red and puffy from the previous meltdowns you had. soobin carried you to your bed, laying you down, making sure that you were comfortable. he sat on the floor, resting against the wall, watching you with concern. you turned to lay on your side, facing soobin.
"how was tour?" you asked, rubbing his soft hands, intertwining them together in the process. soobin thought for a while, it was fun, but he was mostly worried about your relationship, yet he couldn't tell you since he was practically assuming. "it was super fun, i bought you some stuff, i'll show them to you tomorrow after your classes." soobin smiled, you hummed, you were happy that he was finally back, your home, your solace, your best friend. you smiled to yourself, but can't help but realise soobin was awfully quiet.
"something on your mind soob?" you squeezed soobin's big hands, that were twice the size of yours. he was hesitant to tell you, he felt guilty that he made such an assumption without even knowing what you were going through.
"i'm sorry, i thought that our relationship was going to fall apart, because when i was away, your replies to my messages were dry.. so i thought you found another one, the 3 weeks i was gone." soobin admitted, averting his gaze. you felt your heartache, it wasn't your intention to reply so coldly to your boyfriend. you cupped soobin's soft cheek, caressing them, "i had multiple tests and internships that i needed to do, i'm sorry soob. i've been so tired since you went on tour, i didn't have much energy to reply anyone.. i should have told you." you apologised, ruffling up his hair. soobin grabbed a hold on your hand, pouting slightly.
"mm, please be careful with my heart." soobin mumbled, pressing a soft kiss on your hand, you smiled at him sweetly, "of course i will."
#txt scenarios#txt imagines#txt fanfic#txt reactions#txt#txt imagine#txt fluff#soobin imagines#txt soobin#soobin scenarios#soobin fanfic#soobin fluff#soobin
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Why GoWR Valhalla Is Important
Hey. It's me again. This time I'm not yelling about Kingdom Hearts or Drakengard, but I wanted to talk about God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla today and why I think it's important in trauma-centered narratives. This isn't a detailed analysis, just me spitballing.
SPOILER WARNING: There will be spoilers for God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla, so please proceed with caution!
EDITED: 2/26/24
As a brief summary, Kratos spent almost the entirety of GoW 2018 refusing to talk about his past. His guilt, shame, and trauma deeply affected his relationship with his son, to the point where he didn't want to be around Atreus bc he was terrified of being a bad influence on him. It was only when Atreus' life was in danger did it force him to finally admit just a sliver of the truth. Now I don't mean to say that Kratos revealing his godhood wasn't a big deal because it absolutely was, I'm just saying that it's just one piece of a MUCH bigger story. Anyway, he recognized his past mistakes, but the shame was too much for him to openly acknowledge it until damn near the end of the game.
Come Ragnarök, Kratos was pretty much an open book. He had grown SO much in those short years of fimbulwinter: He openly talked about his trauma to Mimir and Freya. He worked so hard to be a good father and a good support system to his friends. He went out of his way to make amends with Freya and restore their friendship. And he fought to restore peace to the Nine Realms.
But come Valhalla, Freya wants to recruit Kratos to be the new God of War of the nine realms, or at least to be a part of the new peacekeeping council that she's putting together. Kratos is extremely hesitant to take up the mantle. He doesn't feel worthy or deserving enough to hold this position given all that he's done. He and Mimir (and later on, Tyr) are constantly going back and forth about it. Both perspectives are completely valid. Valhalla is about Kratos facing his past in a more literal sense; parts of Greece have been manifested from Kratos' memories of it, so it's like he gets to be there in real time again. This is about helping him process what happened and to add some nuance to the conversation. It's like free therapy for Kratos.
It's funny too bc you have both opposing viewpoints being represented. On one hand, you have Mimir and Tyr being the supporting/validating voice, and Helios is the contrarian. Since he's a manifestation of Kratos' memories, he represents the doubts that Kratos has about himself. The harsh voice to show how hard he is on himself, and not without good reason.
The reason why I think Valhalla is so important is bc in media, survivor narratives are often linear. The character just "gets over" their trauma and then that trauma isn't addressed again. It's presented more as a hurdle than a lifelong battle. I guess this goes to show how misunderstood survivorhood is. But that isn't how healing works. We regress sometimes, and sometimes we still mull over the things that have happened to us. We might heal, but that trauma does leave emotional scars. So even after the many leaps and bounds Kratos has made, he's not "over" his past, far from it! It still haunts him every day and every night. Valhalla is Kratos still processing everything. From my own healing journey, I've learned that it takes a long, long time to fully process your trauma, if there even is a "fully", anyway. It takes a long time to learn and understand all the complexities and how it affects you in current day. And it takes even longer to process such a complicated history like Kratos'.
Generally speaking about the idea of processing trauma, I said earlier that survivorhood is extremely misunderstood by the masses. Imo, our society is very anti-victim/anti-survivor. So with that in mind, from the perspective of the audience, some might perceive the processing trauma bit as repetitive or "milking it". These are mediums of entertainment after all, so ofc I understand wanting to put out an engaging story where the audience doesn't lose interest. But screw those ppl lol. We have to understand why we do what we do if we want to do better, and it's amazing that a video game is willing to have these conversations. Being more open about all the nuances of processing trauma, grief, healing, etc will go such a long way.
Even the roguelite gameplay style perfectly reflects this theme. Processing this stuff is slow. It doesn't happen overnight. Unless you're in Valhalla, I suppose.
Okay I said this wasn't a detailed analysis but I lied. I'm a liar now
#god of war#god of war 2018#god of war ragnarok#god of war ragnarok valhalla#valhalla#kratos#mimir#tyr#santa monica studios#the valkyries#sigrun#eir#gunnr#loved this dlc#not a fan of roguelite gameplay tho#the stakes are too high#but anything for more god of war content#this game is so well-written holy shit#these are all my opinions ofc don't take it as fact#santa monica writers really understood the assignment#they really get it#freya#god of war freya#healing#analysis
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Triangulum - Prologue - The Shelduck's Game
— — — — — — —
All was still.
It had been still in that particular neck of the Gravity Falls woods for almost a full year.
The residents of the nearby town knew better than to venture too close, and their sentiments were shared by the beings—animal and supernatural alike—who had formerly occupied that part of the forest. Even the Manotaurs had long since abandoned their nearby man cave—and if even the self-proclaimed representations of manliness themselves wouldn’t dare approach the area, then the rest of the population was in no hurry to do the same.
Such stillness made every step from a pair of unknown feet more prominent, twigs and foliage snapping beneath them as their hooded owner moved swiftly through the underbrush. And despite the darkness of the night sky above—with only a few stray moonbeams through the leaves of the canopy layer acting as a light source—their pace was quick and undisturbed as they ventured deeper into the woods, only broken once they finally arrived at their destination.
A destination in the form of a triangle-shaped statue, half-embedded in the soft earth.
The forest had clearly made several attempts to claim it. Twisting vines had curled themselves around the limbs like the ribbons on a present, and the patches of stone that were usually exposed to the sun's rays during the day were now illuminated with a soft glow from the moon’s gentle gaze.
But despite nature’s best efforts, it still remained.
Remained with an open hand on a permanently-outstretched arm.
Waiting for the day someone finally came along to make a deal.
The mysterious figure stood still for a few minutes, their gaze locked on the singular eye that made up most of the triangle’s face. And after another minute of staring, their footsteps—those still-shattering footsteps—began again, this time to close the gap between them and the statue.
And once that gap was properly closed, the figure’s own arm extended towards the statue—
—and an orange, feathered hand clasped around its stone one.
There was a faint spark in the triangle’s single eye—the first sign of life it had shown in months—before the figure vanished in a flash of light, that little bit of life fading back to nothing with their departure.
And much like the statue itself, all fell still again.
— — — — — — —
“You’re a real wise guy, but you made one fatal mistake! You messed with my family!”
“YOU’RE making a mistake! I’ll give you anything: money, fame, riches, infinite power, your own galaxy! PLEASE! NO! What’s HAPPENING to me?!”
“!NRUTER YAM I TAHT REWOP TNEICNA EHT EKOVNI I !NRUB OT EMOC SAH EMIT YM, L-T-O-L-O-X-A-”
“STAN-LEEEEEEY—”
The first thing Bill was able to process was the fact that he was still screaming.
The second was that he was able to scream at all.
Despite the lack of a mouth (or lungs, if some nerd wanted to get annoyingly technical with the anatomy of a triangle), Bill’s chest rose and fell at a hyperventilating pace, his singular pupil rapidly darting back and forth as he took in his surroundings.
He was lying flat on his back with his face pointed upwards, although a closer examination revealed that any attempt to label directions would be entirely pointless.
Kinda hard to have an ‘up’ or ‘down’ when all that surrounded you was an endless, white void.
He rose up from what could be considered the ground, and hovered in place for a moment. It was the mindscape, that much he could deduce at a glance alone. And a grateful lack of the Mystery Shack living room—or a furious, elderly man about to shatter him like glass—implied it was highly unlikely that he was still inside the mind (or whatever was left of the mind) of Stanley Pines.
But if not his mindscape, then where—
“Oh, hey, you’re here!”
The sound of an unknown voice behind him spun Bill around in midair, with far less dignity than he would’ve preferred. “Hey pal, who d’you—think…”
Any potential anger that might’ve been building vanished in an instant as Bill got a good look at the peculiar being before him.
First obvious thing of note was that they were clearly not human. Rather, they looked to be some sort of anthropomorphic duck or duck-like creature—similar to the ones from the dimensions with that annoying rat who liked to get a bit too pushy with how he ran things. Quantum Destabilizer to his head regarding the specific breed of duck, however—they were probably some kinda shelduck? He was pretty sure those had orange feathers.
They were also about five-feet tall by mortal measurements, and the garish color of their feathers was only outshined by their eccentric clothing choices.
The first thing to draw Bill’s eye was their jacket; an extremely tacky windbreaker composed of a multitude of colors in light pastel shades. Paired alongside with a radically-patterned shirt, sporty red shades, and a necklace with a charm in the shape of an orange, they looked to be the poster child of the word ‘hideously tacky’.
Either that, or ‘retro’.
…Eh, he’d settle for ‘hideously retro.’
“Glad to see you’re up and about,” the duck continued as they took a few steps closer to him. “Honestly, I had no idea if shaking your hand was actually going to work, after everything that happened to you. I mean, getting set on fire? Shattered into pieces? Erased from existence?!”
They stopped and tapped their bill thoughtfully. “Plus there’s the fact that your actual resting place was somewhere completely different—” Their hand moved to the side of their mouth with a cheeky grin. “—and whew, buddy, as much as I wouldn’t mind waiting around for a man like ~that~ to get back to town, I have a million things I need to do today and don’t need to make it a million-and-one!”
Smiling wider, they reached up to nudge at him with their elbow. “Eh, eh, know what I mean?” they asked with a wink, before letting their arm fall again. “Nah, I guess you wouldn’t. The point is, it worked! Because here you are, back and better than ever!”
Before Bill could get even a word in, they raised a finger. “Okay, so I know you probably have a looooot of questions to ask,” they said, and began to tick off the remaining fingers on their hand. “Who am I? How I do know so much about you? Why did I bring you here in the first place?”
The ticked off fingers morphed into a roll of the wrist. “Yadda, yadda, yadda, point is, you probably have a ton of questions that need answers. Well, lucky for you, that’s exactly what I’m here to do!”
A pause. “Well, not here here, we’ll have to wait until we’re actually in my office before I explain the situation more clearly,” they clarified. “Accidentally left all my flashcards and presentation material in there, and if I try to cover all the basics without ‘em, I know I’m going to forget something important. And that'd just be really inconvenient for everyone involved!”
Their smile widened. “But once we’re there, I promise I’ll tell you everything you need to know!”
They folded their hands together and stared at him, likely an indication that they were finished talking. And if that wasn’t enough, they quickly clarified with: “Sorry, I know that was probably a lot to take in, but I’m done for now if you have anything you wanna add.”
It took a lot to surprise Bill Cipher.
With his vast collection of knowledge, near-perfect omniscience, and countless other abilities that could bring whole dimensions to their knees, it was a rarity for him to come across anyone or anything that might actually catch him off guard.
All that aside—
—heh?
Credit where it was due, Birdbrain wasn’t wrong about the amount of questions currently bubbling around in his brain. Accuracy of their questions was also pretty spot on, although it didn’t take a genius to guess the answer of that last one.
There was only one reason anyone ever sought him out, and it wasn’t to trade fashion tips (although it was hardly necessary in this case; the guy looked like a sentient arcade carpet straight outta the Dimension That’s Perpetually Stuck In A Heavily Romanticized Version of the Mid-Eighties-Slash-Early-Nineties).
They were looking to make a deal.
If Bill had a mouth, he’d be smirking at the thought. Boy, back less than two minutes and he already had some chump lining up to make a deal with him, huh?
Had he suddenly transformed into a stupid human child leaving a medical checkup, one being rewarded for the state of their unimpressive and fragile immune system with a piece of cheap candy?
Because it sounded an awful lot like he was being handed a free sucker.
And while normally he’d snatch up a chance like that without a second thought—
"You made one fatal mistake..."
He tensed as Stan’s words forced themselves back to the front of his mind, along with the vivid memory that accompanied them. The sinking feeling of realization as he came face to face with the wrong twin. The panic blossoming in tandem with the flames engulfing Stan's mind, ones eager to swallow both of them in their destruction.
The agonizing pain as his entire being violently shifted between forms in a desperate attempt to escape, before a single punch from Stanley’s fist shattered him like glass—
“You’re a lot quieter than I was lead to believe.”
And suddenly the duck was uncomfortably close to his floating form, a studious expression on their face as they stared him up and down. “Did I do something wrong?” they asked. “Pretty sure I just needed to shake your hand to make a deal, right? Unless someone happened to change the rules while I wasn’t looking.”
With a huff, they placed their hands on their hips and stared off in one direction of the white void. “I will say that if they did, it was a real jerk move!” they called out in a mildly-scolding tone. “I spent months doing as much research on you I could, and if I did all that prep work only for something new to come out just as we start talking, then I’m gonna be pretty annoyed!”
While the duck rambled on, Bill floated backwards with an indignant glare. Only time he was fine with people getting that close to him was when he was the one invading their personal space.
Although they raised a good point; he was being far too quiet.
Even the deadest silence spoke volumes and the last thing he needed was for them to potentially backtrack on the idea of making a deal at all. Unpacking everything else could come later, he couldn’t afford to pass up a chance to make a deal with some obviously-willing sucker.
In the meantime, he had to throw them at least one bone. Or, them being a duck and all, at least one breadcrumb.
Ha. Hilarious.
Another shift of his pupil as he looked them up and down. Well, if they really wanted him to add to the conversation, there was nowhere better to start than with the obvious.
“Sorry, Birdbrain, guess I kinda short-circuited just from staring at the war crime in fifty-seven dimensions you call an outfit,” he said aloud, raising a hand to shield his eye. “Yeesh! Forget an eyesore, I’m getting a full-body ache just by looking at you!”
Yeah, that’d work.
In all honesty, their fashion sense was actually right up Bill’s alley. Bright, tacky colors that made it difficult to stare at the person wearing them for too long? Hideous, brilliant, absolutely something he could see himself wearing if the situation called for it.
But it wasn’t like they needed to know that, and hey; they called it low-hanging fruit for a reason.
Surprisingly enough, the duck actually smiled with amusement at his little quip. “Oh, well, the shirt was a gift from a friend,” they explained, and gently gripped the edge of their windbreaker. “But I got the jacket in the Dimension That’s Perpetually Stuck In A Heavily Romanticized Version of the Mid-Eighties-Slash-Early-Nineties. It’s my favorite place to shop for clothes~!”
It was almost scary how well he could read people sometimes. “Yeah, no kidding,” he said with a cackle. “Didja wake me up so I could point you in the direction of somewhere to buy clothes from this decade?”
“No, no, my fashion sense is a choice,” they said, holding up a finger. “But that’s not what we’re here to discuss! As I said before, I’ll be able to explain everything once we’re in my office. So we—oh, wait, hold on a sec.”
The duck clapped their hands together, and as they did (and as Bill watched), something began to rise up from the ‘ground’. It continued to expand upwards—the shape slowly resembling that of an upside-down horseshoe—and before long, a tall, curved archway towered above them.
The archway’s appearance was fairly unordinary, with the only exception being a small sign at the very top center, labeled with nothing but a clear picture of an orange (or was it a tangerine? Eh, details; a fruit was a fruit). And at a glance, nothing lay beyond the other side aside from the continuation of the endless void.
At least nothing that could be seen by the naked eye.
…Which meant there was a ninety-percent chance that there was plenty to see with an experienced eye.
“There we go,” the duck said. “This will lead us to the main part of my mind, aka my office. There, we can go over all the terms and conditions of the deal I wanna make with you!”
They flashed him a bright grin. “Like I said, forgot all my flashcards and stuff in there, and I’d rather not go over everything without them.”
Without waiting for a response from him, they hurried forward through the archway. As Bill had initially suspected, they seemed to vanish into thin air as they passed beneath it; a confirmation that the archway was really some kind of door to the deeper parts of their mind.
Rather than immediately follow after them, Bill instead turned his attention back to the endless void while he gathered his thoughts.
Okay, a quick assessment of his current situation; Punched in face. Exploded. Died. Woke up to a badly-dressed duck—one who clearly had more than a couple of screws loose in a way that teetered the line between hilarious and annoying —looking to make a deal.
The latter was hardly the weirdest thing to ever happen to him. Probably didn’t crack the top hundred, or even the top thousand. A talking duck in tacky clothing? Just another Sñeaturday night for him.
The former, however—
One fatal mistake.
His eye flashed red with abhorrence as Stan’s words once again hammered against the inside of his skull. In his desperation to shatter the barrier around the town, to put a stop to anything that would keep him from being finally, truly free—
—he’d foolishly miscounted the number of fingers on a hand.
His own hands balled into fists as the implications behind Stan’s oh-so-clever little plan finally started to take hold. No—not just Stan’s plan. Even if the old man hadn’t outright admitted to disguising himself as Ford, it didn’t take a genius to guess that he hadn’t pulled the stunt by himself. It took two to tango, and it also took two twins to swap places with each other.
And if one twin had been in charge of lulling him into their trap, that left the other free to pull the trigger on the gun.
One fatal mistake. One fatal mistake—
Ford had never planned on giving him the equation at all! He’d been deceived, tricked, played for a fool—
—and the worst part is that it had worked.
After all the knowledge he had provided to Ford over the years, after everything he had promised him in their success, he had thrown it all the way for the sake of his…his stupid family!
What a fool he was, and what a fool Bill had been for ever considering him a valuable and trustworthy ally in his plans.
And thanks to Ford’s betrayal, it was almost certain that things had settled back to normal in the mortal realm, with every trace of the Nightmare Realm being forcibly pulled back into the decaying dimension they called home.
Which meant Bill certainly wouldn’t be getting a hero’s welcome once he returned. He’d promised his buddies a party that stretched on until the end of time, not some half-baked event that only last a few, measly human days.
Even if everything was the fault of that ungrateful jerk and his stupid family, Bill would still be the one dunked headfirst into a bowl of multidimensional salsa the second he stepped foot back into the realm.
Thanks to Ford and his stupid family, he had no more backup attempts, no more portals, no Henchmaniacs, no more suckers he could puppet around or trick into doing his dirty work—
Thanks to Ford, he had nothing.
“By the way, I should probably let you know—”
“ACK!”
Bill was once again flung backwards out of sheer surprise as the duck’s head poked back out of the portal. A motion that earned an apologetic laugh from them, their hand also appearing out of the archway as they pressed it to their bill. “Sorry! Sorry, I forgot to tell you something important!”
Bill narrowed his eye at them. “You know, you’ve got a real knack for sneaking up on people, Birdbrain,” he said, muffling his annoyance with a laugh. “Can’t pretend I’m not impressed, though. If you were some slithering, poisonous snake in the grass and I a pathetic, unsuspecting human full of vulnerable red blood cells and no immunity to venom, I’d probably be dead by now!”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” the duck said proudly. “But what I wanted to tell you was that even if you aren’t interested in making a deal, you’ll need to come in and let me know.”
Both hands were now outside the archway, raised in a shrug. “You know, just so I can pop you back, no harm, no foul?”
Their arms fell along with their expression as they peered closer at him. “Hey, is everything okay?” they asked. “I realize I’m probably moving a little too fast, especially after what happened in the last mind you were in. So I can understand any hesitance on your part…”
They cast him a look of sympathy, hands clasped together as they stepped all the way back out into the white void. “And if you need some time to think it over, I’ll understand. I know I said earlier I had other things I needed to be doing today, but that was all talk! We can take as long as you need to decide.”
Bill’s eyebrow narrowed at their concern. Hey, just because they were right about his hesitance didn’t mean he had to actually admit to that being the case. Especially not now that they’d caught onto that hesitation twice.
Once was easy to pass off as their mind playing tricks on them. Twice was a bit more difficult, though not impossible. Especially not when you were a master at twisting a conversation to your favor.
Another joke at their expense would probably do the trick. Clothing was out, he’d already poked fun at their hideous style and stretching a bit too thin always came with the risk of the tormented building an immunity through overexposure. Not that Birdbrain had exactly been bothered by—
Hmm.
That could work.
With a chuckle, he raised a hand in the air to summon his cane. “Hehe, I don’t know what all that research told you, Birdbrain, but if you’re really standing there and trying to imply that I might be nervous about making a deal—”
After giving it a little twirl, he jabbed the end of the cane against their arm. Not so hard that it would hurt, but with just enough force to make them wonder if harm had been the intent. “—you must not know me as well as you think you do~!”
He paused, and reached up to tap one of his sides thoughtfully. “Speakin’ of knowing people, though, I know you’re all eager to get to your big fancy-schmancy brain office to tell me what’s what,” he said. “But normally when I go dumpster-diving into someone’s mind, I at least like to catch their name first.”
He delivered another poke to their arm with his cane and batted his eyelashes at them. “Unless Birdbrain is your actual name and I’m just the Multiverse’s best guesser~?" he asked. "…I mean, I’ll probably still call you Birdbrain after I get a name, but it’s always nice to have options, y’know?”
There, a nice excuse that also doubled as a half-truth; not once in the entire conversation had Birdbrain actually given him a name.
And while he and the concept of truthfulness weren’t exactly on speaking terms, half-truths were the redheaded stepchildren he was happy to associate with whenever their presence was needed.
If the duck had actually been bothered by either jab from his cane, or if they hadn’t been fooled by his attempt to shift the conversation, they showed no indication of such in their expression.
If anything, their smile only widened further at his request. “Oh, that’s actually a good point!” they agreed, and pressed a hand to their forehead. “Got so caught up in the details that I almost forgot to introduce myself! And knowing me, I would’ve gone through my whole presentation and not even thought about it!”
They paused for a moment to think. “Plus my research indicates that you aren’t a member of the fae so I see no risk in getting my name stolen if I give it to you,” they pointed out, with a glare to their side. “Unless that was something else that someone forgot to tell me ahead of time?”
Bill’s eye shifted thoughtfully towards the same direction, as if he expected to see someone else with them in the mindscape. Unsurprisingly, there was nothing more than the white void he had already grown used to seeing around them.
Once again, that wasn’t an indication that there was nothing to see, but that was something to worry about later. “Tempting, but I’ll set the idea aside for a rainy day.” He gave them a wink, or as best of a wink as one could give with one eye. “Or maybe for when I just get bored and feel like experimenting with something new~! Haven’t done that in a while, might be fun!”
The duck tapped their chin thoughtfully. “Hmm, let’s see. Which name I prefer depends on the person, but I think…”
They held up a finger, eyes bright with inspiration. “Yeah, I think you can call me Tangy!”
“Tangy, huh?”
Bill’s gaze shifted knowingly between their feathers, necklace, and finally moved back to the sign on the archway. Guess he’d thought that low-hanging fruit joke way too soon.
“Yeah, yeah, go ahead and tease if you want,” Tangy said amusedly. “I never claimed to be subtle when it comes to the way I present myself.”
They held up a hand and wiggled their fingers at him. “Plus my feathers already smelled like tangerines before I took on the name, so it was even more perfect~!”
After giving their hand a sniff, they let their arm fall back to their side. “Well, I’ve given you my name. Guess all that’s left is for us to get this show on the road!” they said, tilting their head at him. “Unless you really do need more time to think it over? I promise I’m not here to judge if you do!”
Boy, they weren’t letting up on that, were they? “Sounds to me like you need more time to think it over than I do,” he pointed out, and cutely pressed a hand to his cheek. “What, are you scared to make a deal with wittle ol’ Bill~?”
“Not particularly,” Tangy assured him with a laugh. “Although I would’ve appreciated the extra time to gather my presentation materials together.”
They held up a finger. “But, if you’re so sure that you’re ready, then let’s go!”
They ducked back through the archway, once again leaving Bill with nothing but his own thoughts. He cast another look towards the void again, unsurprised by the fact that there was still nothing (or no one) to see.
He stared for a moment more, before a devilish laugh began to bubble inside him. Boy, that old geezer must’ve punched him harder than he’d realized if he’d actually been shaken enough to worry, even for a brief moment. What was he thinking, getting so worked up about his situation when some tacky bird was practically throwing themselves at him for a deal? A deal that would probably be child’s play for him to complete, leaving him with a whole favor on their end.
Plus, what was an anthropomorphic duck in tacky clothing but a human with feathers, and tacky clothing? If he played his cards right, he could easily end up with a sparkling new vessel to parade around in while he cleaned his wounds and regained his footing.
Heck, if he really played his cards right, there was always a chance for him to try his hand at another Weirdmageddon. One that would actually succeed this time around.
His features twisted into a wicked, metaphorical grin. And maybe with the right persuasion, he could convince Birdbrain to include a lovely reunion with Stanford and the rest of the Pines family in their deal.
Maybe even a reunion that involved peeling each of them apart like human bananas. Layer by layer, skin from muscle from vein from bones. Until they were all nothing but writhing blobs of flesh, unable to do anything but scream in endless, agonizing pain. What's wrong, Fordsy, you can't erase someone out of existence because your arm's a pile of fleshy goop? Too bad!
A delightful fantasy to imagine, but nothing more than that for the time being. Oh well, something to pocket for later.
With a satisfied expression, he adjusted his bowtie and hovered forward through the archway—
—only to be greeted hard and fast by the unforgiving ground he splattered against on the other side.
There was a gasp nearby, followed by the sound of webbed feet slapping against a tiled floor. “Oops! Probably should’ve warned you about that!”
With a groan, Bill lifted the front of his body up from the floor and cast a nasty look to Tangy. Their hand was extended forward for him to take, and their beak curled into an apologetic smile. “Sorry,” they said with a chuckle. “Completely forgot to mention the faint shift in your natural abilities as you step into this part of my mind. It’s a little jarring, but otherwise harmless and the effects should wear off pretty quickly.”
Their offered hand was ignored as Bill floated fully back up into the air. “That’s a real cute trick, Birdbrain,” he said, and dusted off his front. “Although a bit rude on your guest’s behalf, don’t you think?”
He moved close to their face, features once again stretched into the mouthless-equivalent of a smile. “I mean, I don’t call you over to my place and make you trip on your way through the front door, do I?”
Despite the sudden intrusion of their personal space, Tangy’s expression didn’t change. “No, I’d imagine you’d do something much worse,” they pointed out. “Like make the door lead to the Unnaturally-Moist Dimension, or something equally as cursed.”
Bill folded his arms with a thoughtful look. “Unnaturally-Moist Dimension, huh? Creative, I’ll give you that one.”
“I thought you’d like it,” Tangy said with a laugh. “Browsing your records for months straight gave me a pretty good feel of the kind of guy you are. I swear, sometimes I even see triangles when I close my eyes!”
To emphasize their point, they closed their eyes for a few seconds and pointed a finger to their temple. “Yep! They’re there!”
They opened their eyes again. “Anyway, did we want to get started on the deal, then?”
“Gotta be honest, Birdbrain, I can’t exactly accept or deny a deal if I don’t even know what the terms and conditions are,” Bill pointed out. “So how’s about we discuss all that first?”
Tangy smiled wide at his suggestion. “A very fair point! I can’t expect you to accept my deal if you don’t even know what I want!” they said, and spun on their heels to face the other direction. “Tell you what, you go ahead and make yourself at home at my desk area while I get your file, and then we can start our discussion. I knew I forgot something from upstairs, I swear, I’m just a mess today!”
As they hurried away from him with a visible spring in their step, Bill took the opportunity to examine his new, new surroundings.
The endless white void had been replaced with some sort of observatory combined with a records office. The room was wide and cylindrical with tan walls on all sides, and there were two distinct levels between the floor and the cornice connected to the domed roof above their heads.
The lower level was open and empty, save for a simple workspace at the far left side of the room comprised of a desk, wastebasket and office chair. The area were a mess compared to the rest of the room—the surface was littered with papers and folders, a mug of some unknown liquid, and a closed laptop adorned in bright and cutesy stickers, while the wastebasket on the floor was overflowing with several pieces of crumpled paper.
The upper layer—on the other hand—was a full observation deck. One that circled around the room’s entirety, with both halves coming together at a spiral staircase on the opposite end of the room, and one that Tangy had bounded towards after putting a pause on their conversation. The walls along the platform were lined with tall filing cabinets that stretched from the ground to the diameter line of the domed ceiling.
And rather than any sort of sky beyond the glass, the view looked to be shimmering sea water. As if the entire ‘office’ was situated at the bottom of the ocean, with only a few schools of colorful fish adding some contrast to the endless blue.
“Let me know if you have any requests for the mood lighting,” Tangy called from the spiral staircase. “Normally I keep it neutral in case the boss wants to pay me an unscheduled visit, but if you want, I can just—”
They clapped their hands together, and the ocean view above immediately shifted to a bright, retro scene of shifting shapes and colors, one that could rival their outfit in terms of tackiness. “Or if you want something a little more personal, I can change it to—”
Another clap, and the retro shapes melted into a mess of raging hellfire and bloody hail that thundered hard against the glass. “Again, taking any and all requests, so just let me know if you got ‘em!”
Bill had remained silent as Tangy prattled on—eye fixed on the ever-changing scenery outside the dome—before his pupil shifted down to the workspace area. He hovered towards it, while the sound of filing cabinet drawers being opened and closed from the second level echoed throughout the room. “Just give me a moment, I know it’s around here somewh—a-HA!”
There was a loud BANG of a drawer being slammed shut, before a sudden blur of orange came barreling down from the upper level towards the ground below. At first, Bill expected-slashed-hoped that Tangy would splatter against the floor at Mach speed, if for no other reason than the visual comedy aspect.
A duck splattering against the floor? Why, that was straight out of a vintage cartoon, one where talking animals were allowed to inflict horrific acts of violence on each other. Such a fun period of time in animation history, one of his personal favorites if he really had to pick.
Unfortunately for him (and luckily for Tangy), their body came to an instant stop in midair, less than half an inch from the floor. With an exhale of relief, they stretched a webbed foot down to give the tiles below a gentle tap, and the rest of their body finished the fall at a more manageable speed.
An expected outcome, given the mindscape setting. But Bill couldn’t help but be disappointed at the lack of a splattered duck on the floor.
“Sorry for making you wait,” Tangy said, giving the file in their hand a light shake. “This should’ve been under ‘C’ for ‘Cipher’, I have no idea how it ended up in the T section! Guess someone must’ve slipped it into the wrong drawer or something.”
They let out a small chuckle as they seated themselves in the chair behind the desk. “Well, no matter. Let’s go ahead and get this started—”
They paused, and looked to him again. “Oh, wait, you’d probably want a proper seat for this, wouldn’t you?”
With a gesture of their hand, a empty chair appeared on the other side of the desk for Bill. “Once again; just let me know if you’d prefer anything different,” they said. “Throne, bean bag chair—”
They made little squirming motions with their fingers. “—recliner stuffed with bugs so you always feel something wiggling whenever you sit down?”
This got a laugh out of Bill as he sank into the offered chair. “Once again, very creative,” he said, folding his hands atop his cane. “You really know how to treat a shape in this place, huh?”
“Well, I do like my clients to be as comfortable as possible,” Tangy explained. “It makes them so much more agreeable when it comes to dealmaking.”
Bill raised his eyebrow. Clients with an S, huh? Interesting, and worth questioning. “Oh, so I’m not the first interdimensional, all-powerful being you’ve brought here?” He pressed his hand to his forehead with a dramatic flair. “Aww, well, now my feelings are hurt, Birdbrain. And here I thought I was special~!”
“Don’t worry, you are!” Tangy assured him, with a tilt of their head. “You’re the first interdimensional, all-powerful being I’ve brought here. The other interdimensional beings I’ve brought here were far less powerful than you are.”
They clapped their hands together. “Which is why I’m especially excited to have you visiting me today! I’ve never had the chance to make a deal with someone like you before!”
Wow, they were laying it on pretty thick, weren’t they? To the point that there was a decent chance they were just trying to butter him up.
Still, Bill wasn’t one to turn down a free compliment. “Sheesh, kid, you’re gonna make me blush,” he said with feigned modesty. “I mean, by all means, keep up the flattery. But normally I only get this red if someone catches me in the process of peeling off my exoskeleton.”
He waggled a finger in their direction. “Heyyy, his little deal of yours wouldn’t happen to involve you trying to get me outta my skin, would it~?” he asked with a wink, then let out a small chuckle. “...That was a wink, by the way. In case you couldn’t tell.”
“Don’t worry, I understood the intent,” Tangy assured him. “Although to answer your question honestly: No, that is not what my deal entails. Besides, I’m much older than you are.”
Oh, they were, were they? Another interesting tidbit to tuck away in the old brain vault for later. “Fair enough, I wouldn’t be interested anyway,” Bill said, leaning back in his chair. “So what kind of deal are you looking to make, Birdbrain? Wanna be rich? All-powerful?”
A beat. “…Taller?”
Hey, just because they were keen on dishing out the compliments didn’t mean he had to reciprocate.
“As tempting as that last one is, I’ll pass this time,” Tangy said. “But to be honest, I didn’t just bring you here so you could make a deal with me. I mean, I guess I technically did, but—”
They moved a hand to Bill’s file on the desk and flipped it open. “Point is, this deal is less about what I want, and mostly about what you want.”
Well, if that didn’t shoot Bill’s eyebrow so far up his face that it was a miracle it didn’t fly away of its own accord. So they were just jumping straight to that point on their own without him having to guide them there himself, huh?
It wasn’t enough to lower Bill’s guard completely, but he couldn’t help but give them an intrigued look. “Oh? And what is it that I want exactly?”
Tangy turned their gaze to the file. “Well, according to this; lots of things!” they said, tracing their finger beneath the words on one page. “A physical form that will allow you to escape your dimension and rule the mortal realm with an iron—and three-dimensional—fist. Some form of revenge on the people who stopped you from doing that the last time you tried—”
They let their eyes travel across the page for a moment, before confusion painted their features. “—the world’s silliest silly straw?”
Bill let out a hearty laugh. “That’s right, I’d almost forgotten about that one! One of the few things I gotta give humans credit for; they sure can silly a straw!”
He folded his arms. “But in all seriousness, it’s pretty low on the list of things I’d make a deal over,” he said. “You’re on the right track with those first two options, though. So if we really wanna get this show on the road—”
“Ah, ah, not so fast!”
Tangy held up a finger. “I might know what you want, but you haven’t even heard my terms of the deal yet!”
Despite his best efforts, Bill's nonexistent smile fell in an instant as he raised his eyebrow at them. “Pretty sure you just said this whole deal was about what I wanted?”
“I said it was mostly about what you wanted,” Tangy reminded him. “But there are a few things I’d like to gain out of our exchange for myself.”
They cradled their chin in their hands. “I mean, it wouldn’t exactly be a deal if only one side got what they wanted, would it?” they asked. “It’d be more like—I don’t know—me just giving you a gift without expecting anything in return?”
A shrug. “A nice gesture, but not something that requires all this extra effort,” they pointed out. “In that case, I could’ve simply left a present next to your statue and been done with it!”
Bill rolled his eye. An annoying point, but a fair one. Even if he would’ve absolutely preferred a free offering without being expected to give anything in return. “Well, what do you want out of the deal, then?”
Tangy’s beak widened into an excited smile and clapped their hands twice. Immediately the scenery around them changed; the lights in the room were snuffed out in an instant and the grotesque, hellish scenery beyond the glass above transformed into a calm, starry night.
Another series of claps, and a large projection screen appear behind them in midair, followed shortly by a film projector at the other end of the room. With a pleased expression, Tangy rolled their chair around the desk and moved towards the empty space beside Bill. “I have a short promotional film prepared,” they explained. “After the dozenth-or-so client, it gets exhausting repeating myself over and over.”
They leaned closer to him and gave him a knowing wink. “Plus this way I can offer my guests refreshments while they watch! I heard someone was a fan of Time-Punch? I might have a few bottles on hand, if you’re interested?”
Bill's eye had once again been fixed on the changing scenery above their heads, but his expression fell into something more pleased at the mention of Time Punch. “Well, now, if you’re going to go and offer me something like that, then how can a guy say no?” he asked, tucking one hand behind his head while making a gesture with the other to proceed.
There was a snap of Tangy’s fingers and a small, floating martini glass appeared in the air near Bill, one immediately followed by a bottle of sparkling liquid. “I think a glass of Late 2020 would be to your liking,” they said. “It’s supposed to be a very weird year.”
Bill’s eye lit up. “Ooh, that’s the year the plague makes a comeback, isn’t it?”
“Indeed it is,” Tangy said, while the bottle poured its contents into Bill’s glass. “I opted for the back half of the year, after things really began to kick into overdrive.”
Once the glass was full, Bill took it in his hand and gave the contents an expert swirl, before raising it to his eye for a sip. “Oh yeah, that’s the kind of savoriness you only get from media fatigue, toilet paper hoarding, and…”
There was a pause, followed by a smacking sound as he determined the taste. “Huh, almost forgot about the murder hornets.”
“Yeah, kind of a wild thing to throw out there while everything else was going on,” Tangy agreed.
While Bill took another sip, Tangy gestured to the projector and the screen before them lit up with the image of a vintage countdown timer. Once it ticked down to zero, the screen fell dark again for a moment before the first scene appeared.
A random, humanoid man raced into view from the right side of the screen. His appearance was disheveled and worn—as if he’d been previously fighting some difficult battle—and his features twisted with defeat and fury.
He slowed his run to a gradual stop, ducking behind a wall and sinking down to the ground in an exhausted, sitting position. As he pressed a hand to his head, a booming voice (one that echoed throughout the domed room around them) began to speak offscreen. “Greetings! Have you ever found yourself in a situation like this gentleman right here?”
The camera zoomed in on the man’s face, as he glared at the person behind the camera with a look of pure malice. “Hey now, there’s no need to look at me like that, pal,” the voice continued cheerfully. “The state you’re in right now is all your doing! You ticked off the wrong people, maybe you burned all the bridges with your family and friends. You’re a loser—”
On the screen beside the man flashed the word ‘LOSER’ in a wacky font. “—a CHUMP—” Another word in wacky font appeared on the opposite side of him. “—an absolute SUCKER—”
Before the third word could appear above his head, the man waved the text away in a blur of colors. “Can we get to the point?” he asked with a scowl.
“You’ve hit rock bottom with no way to climb back out,” the voice continued. “Or so you think~!”
The camera panned out, and suddenly Tangy appeared onscreen with an excited flourish. “Lucky for you, there’s a way to get your life back on track!” they said eagerly. “Introducing—”
With a wave of their hands, the title of the short film appeared over the two of them in big, orange—(Bill side-eyed the actual Tangy at this, who merely shrugged. “Listen, I like what I like.”)—letters of the same font as before:
“The Shelduck’s Game.”
Bill’s eyebrow rose with curiosity. The first thing to catch his eye was the word ‘shelduck’ (so Birdbrain was a shelduck, huh? Called that one.), but what really piqued his interest was the specific use of the word ‘game’.
Though a deal of a different name, a game possessed enough unique characteristics to justify the use of a separate word. A game implied challenges, rules…
More enticingly, a game implied a prize to be won.
The Tangy on the screen continued to speak as the text faded: “That’s right; The Shelduck’s Game! A fun-filled game for beings of all types across the Multiverse, and a chance for you to pull yourself out of the doldrums and get your life back on track!”
The scene transitioned with a screen wipe to a simple, crudely-drawn animation of Tangy and the unnamed man. “The Shelduck’s Game is so simple and easy to play, a child could do it!” the overlaid voice from before continued. “Not that we get a lot of children playing this game, but they could if they really wanted to!”
The actual Tangy leaned closer to Bill. “Yeah, not a lot of kids end up hitting rock bottom in the way most of my clients do,” they explained in a whisper. “And on the off chance that they do, they’re usually pulled out of it by the power of friendship or whatever by the time I’m able to arrive on the scene.”
A shrug. “Still, I am here if they ever need my help.”
Bill rolled his eye and turned his attention back to the film. “How does this game work, you may be asking yourself?” the voice asked, while the animated stand-in of the man shrugged with cartoonish uncertainty. “Well, as we said before, it’s so simple that even a child could figure it out! And that’s because—”
The crudely drawn Tangy gestured widely, and the scene transitioned to the two of them playing a random board game. “—the Shelduck’s Game is always suited to fit the specific player’s needs and personality!”
The board game shifted to a chessboard. “Are you a fan of chess?” Then a checkerboard. “Or perhaps checkers is more your speed?” The board disappeared completely. “Or maybe you’re not a fan of board games at all! We’ve got plenty of other options!”
Another scene transition, and the man was now hiding behind a tree while Tangy could be seen searching for him in the background. “There are countless games to be played in the Shelduck’s Game,” the voice continued. “But in the end, all you have to do is win one in order to obtain—”
More text written in that wacky font appeared onscreen, covering it in its entirety as the voice read them out: “—The Grand Prize!”
Bill hid a laugh behind another sip of his drink. Once again, his guessing skills were impeccable.
“The Grand Prizes offered by the Shelduck’s Game are just as diverse as the games themselves,” the voice continued. “And just as catered specifically to the needs-slash-wants of the player!”
The scene changed to the man’s animated head surrounded by brightly wrapped presents, and one opened to reveal a pile of money. “Looking for cash?” Another revealed an unlabeled award. “Fame?”
And the last present opened to reveal an elegantly-decorated crown. “Looking to climb back to the top after your nasty and undignified fall from grace?”
A wipe of the scene revealed the man from before, his disheveled and beaten appearance now replaced with a triumphant pose as he stood tall before a pile of his hard-earned rewards. “All of this and more can be yours if you play and win The Shelduck’s Game!”
With a proud smile, the man gave a thumbs-up to the camera. “Thanks to the Shelduck’s Game, I’m finally back on top!”
“Look at this guy!” the voice continued. “Don’t you wanna be just like him? I’ll bet you do! So play the Shelduck’s Game today!”
The guy gave a thumbs up as the title flashed again: “The Shelduck’s Game! Outta luck? Talk to the duck!” A pause, before the voice spoke again in a much more casual tone: “We’re still working on the catchphrase, cut us some slack.”
A series of warnings in smaller text quickly scrolled up from the bottom of the screen, read along by the voice at a pace to match the speed:
“Warning; please do not play any of the more intense games in the Shelduck’s Game if you are prone to illness, vertigo, motion sickness, or are with offspring in any way, shape, or form. The Shelduck’s Game is not responsible for any death (temporary or otherwise), dismemberment, or injury that may occur during the events of the game. Rules and regulations for each game may vary, as will your satisfaction with the end results. The Shelduck’s Game is not associate with Globnar, Time Baby or any associated organizations.”
The screen faded to black, and Tangy once again clapped their hands together. Immediately, the screen and projector vanished and the room’s lighting was restored. “Still a work in progress,” they admitted, while they moved their chair back to the other side of the desk. “But I think it gets the point across!”
They tilted their head. “Unless you have any other questions you still need to ask before we continue?”
Oh, Bill’s mind was whirling with questions, his gaze fixed hard on his empty martini glass in an attempt to mask the glee building inside him.
Birdbrain was in charge of running some sort of multidimensional game and wanted him as their latest player, with the aforementioned prize to be won acting as a lull to draw him in. Play a game, win a prize. A deal older than time itself, and one that often sounded too good to be true.
And as someone who had plenty of experience in the field of dealmaking; whenever a deal sounded too good to be true, there was always a catch. And lucky for Bill, he was quite the expert in spotting the catches in a deal. A master at spotting a watery loophole in even the most empty and barren of word deserts.
First thing of note was the lack of any specific game for him to play. The video had provided examples, but they’d been exactly that; examples. The video had made it very clear that the games were catered specifically to the player’s needs and personality.
And although he had a feeling Tangy was going to discuss the specifics of the game next, there was still the issue of the prize itself. They had already brought up a list of a few things he desired, but nothing that was worth diving headfirst into an unknown game of chance.
…Well, nothing that was worth diving into an unknown game of chance without more information, at least.
He had to keep them talking, at least long enough to get that information out of them and anything else they were willing to divulge. Something he was sure wouldn’t be difficult; with how happy Birdbrain seemed to keep chatting up a storm, it was a wonder that they hadn’t been born a parrot instead of a shelduck.
Man, the bird jokes were almost too easy.
“I know what you’re probably thinking,” Tangy said aloud, interrupting his thoughts. “You’re probably thinking ‘this sounds amazing, and way too good to be true.’, along with some kind of derogatory remark about my appearance.”
Smarter than they looked, apparently.
Bill gingerly traced a finger around the rim of his glass. “Let me just see if I’m picking up what you’re putting down,” he said aloud, while his gaze followed the movement. “If I play one of your silly games and win, I get the prize of my dreams? That’s the deal you wanna make with me?”
“As expected, you catch on quick,” Tangy said proudly. “Yep, games are how we do things over here in my neck of the woods. I’ve got enough power to grant people their fondest desires, but it only becomes a reality if they play and win.”
They folded their hands on the desk. “And lucky for you, Bill Cipher, you happen to be the one I’m extending that lucky offer to today!”
Bill reached his glass to his eye again, downing the last little bit of Time Punch. “Can’t lie to you, Birdbrain, that does sound like a pretty sweet deal. But I’ve gotta reiterate my point from before; I can’t exactly agree to a deal if I don’t know the specifics behind it.”
He gestured widely with both arms and the few remaining drops in his empty glass splattered onto the papers on Tangy’s desk, a shimmery mess of color against their usual shade of white. “And not once in that little video of yours did you ever state the actual name of the game."
He held up the glass to his eye for a casual inspection. “I’m just saying, it ain’t smart to sign up for a game before you even know what you’re playing~!”
Tangy didn’t look the least bit perturbed by the mess, and instead gave a wave of their hand. The few spilled drops rose up from the paper into the air, leaving no trace that they had ever spilled, and a wave of their hand in another direction brought Bill’s empty glass up to join them before both dissolved in a quick burst of light.
The light faded as quickly as it had appeared, the cup and droplets now a floating mass of energy as Tangy shifted both hands to bring that energy into their embrace. They snapped with one hand, then the other—
—and then slapped both hands around the energy, flattening it into something that Bill could not see. After keeping their hands pressed together for a moment, they rereleased their grip and held the mass before them as it rematerialized into something entirely new.
At first, it appeared to be nothing more than a bunch of small, golden shapes, each about the size of an eraser. Once all the shapes had properly formed, however, they started to combine into a larger, singular shape—
“A triangle?”
How original.
The triangle—well, actually it was more of a square pyramid than anything else—fell into Tangy’s cupped hands, and a pair of thin, golden chainlinks began to materialize from the topmost point. They continued to form upwards for several inches, before slowly rounding off into a closed circle chain. “I had a few ideas for the game I’d offer you,” they said. “But I think at the end of the day, a scavenger hunt is the perfect choice!”
They looped a finger into the chain and twirled the charm in the air, the triangle gently drifting back and forth with their movements. “Combined with a little bit of Capture The Flag~!”
Bill raised his eyebrow. Alright, not what he was expecting but his curiosity was certainly piqued. “Elaborate.”
“Basically, I take this little guy and I—”
A snap, and the charm suddenly reverted back to a mess of golden bricks. “—scatter the pieces all across Gravity Falls,” they continued. “I then plop you down in the town, and leave you to find all of the pieces and put the entire thing back together.”
They tapped their beak with their finger. “I’d want to give you a decent amount of searching time, so let’s set the time limit from the beginning of June to sunrise on August thirty-first,” they said. “Both within the year twenty-thirteen, of course, so no trying to pull a ‘Well technically, I could still keep playing because you never specified which August thirty-first.’”
Their hand moved from their beak to their chin as they thought for a moment. “Although I guess there has been some debate on whether the current year is actually twenty-thirteen or twenty-fourteen,” they mused. “Time Baby’s literal-untimely death made things go all wonky for a bit and there’s still some lingering side effects. I’m pretty sure it’s only twenty-thirteen, but you know how it goes—”
They shrugged. “Whatever, from the beginning of June to August thirty-first all within the same Gregorian year. Three months, no more and no less.”
Bill was silent as he contemplated all of this, gaze shifting between Tangy and the scattered pieces of triangle. “Where does the Capture the Flag part come in?”
“Good question!” Tangy said. “So basically, once you get the pieces together, you’ve gotta find a way to keep hold of the charm by the time the game’s deadline hits!”
They flashed him a smile. “Which I doubt would be an issue for someone like you, but what’s a game without a few extra challenges thrown into the mix?”
Extra challenges, huh? That seemed vague enough to be sneaky. “And what does that mean, exactly?” he inquired. “Gonna pop down a couple of extra players to act as an opposing team to me or something?”
“Oh no, nothing like that,” Tangy assured him. “I just figured you’d be surrounded by a lot of people who don’t like you, and would probably do anything to stop you from achieving your goals.”
Their smile widened. “I mean, if someone showed up and tried to turn my dimension inside out, I doubt I’d be willing to just let them walk around freely after that,” they elaborated further. “And if I found out they were collecting the pieces of a puzzle that would let them do that again, I’d probably do everything in my power to take those pieces away from them.”
A shrug. "That's just my own personal feelings, though. For all I know, the people down there could welcome you with open arms and do everything they can to help you find the pieces. Either way, though, you have to be the one holding them by the end of the game to count as the winner."
…Alright, so maybe it wasn’t as sneaky as he’d initially thought.
Still, Bill had yet to find any sort of real catch in their offer, and Birdbrain had yet to circle back around to talking about the prize he’d receive if he won the game. “So, just so we’re all clear: you want me to waste three months hunting down some building blocks in a town I can’t stand, full of people I can’t stand?” he asked. “That’s your big, exciting game?”
He folded his arms behind his head. “Gotta say, Birdbrain, I’m not seeing much of an appeal to playing your little game. From where I’m standing, you put far more effort into your silly video than actually making your game interesting.”
A laugh. “Don’t get me wrong; I’m sure it’d be fun to go back to tormenting the suckers there for a bit. But I’ve been doing that for several decades now, and the novelty’s worn itself pretty thin.”
“Hey, it’s not like I could send you anywhere else,” Tangy pointed out. “What with the weirdness barrier around the town and everything, I’m kind of limited on options.”
They reached up to gently tap one of the scattered bricks with their finger, before the charm reformed itself into a full pyramid. “Which reminds me, I don’t believe we decided on your prize, did we?”
It took every ounce of willpower on Bill’s end to keep his expression neutral as the conversation shifted back to the topic of his prize, despite the initial glee from before bubbling up once again inside him. It really was too easy to get what he wanted out of people, wasn’t it? “We discussed it, but I don’t think we settled on an answer.”
Tangy let both the charm and their gaze fall back to the desk, and they reached over to turn the current page of his file to the next one. “Well, we’ve covered a few of the things you currently desire,” they said studiously, pupils shifting back and forth as they read. “Revenge, a chance to take over the multiverse again…a silly straw—”
“I believe we already established that I can make due without that last one for now,” Bill interrupted quickly.
“Sans the straw, there’s a number of options to select as your prize,” Tangy continued, and flipped to another page. “But so many of them wouldn’t even be worth all the effort of playing, what with that aforementioned barrier still around the town—”
They slapped the folder shut with one hand. “So, why not make that your prize instead?”
Bill blinked. “Wait, make what my prize?”
“The barrier, you goofball!” Tangy said with a delighted laugh. “You play my game and win, and I’ll shatter the barrier for you!”
…Heh? “Heh?”
“I don’t know how much clearer I can phrase it for you,” Tangy said. “Since all of my other options would still leave you stuck within the town limits, why not just get rid of the reason you were stuck in the first place?”
They pressed their hands together in a squishing motion, adding a raspberry for comedic effect. “So yep, that’s my offer! Find all the pieces of the charm, put ‘em back together, and keep hold of the entire thing before the sun rises on the final day of summer, and I’ll shatter that pesky barrier like glass for you!”
“...You’re bluffing.”
It was said far too unprofessionally, far too needy for his liking. But for the first time since he’d arrived, any common sense was momentarily ignored as Bill stared at them in utter shock.
Out of all the things they could have suggested as a prize, out of all the things he could have suggested, not once did the thought of destroying the barrier cross his mind. Why would it? The only one who had any knowledge of how to collapse the barrier was—
Bill’s hand gripped the chair’s armrest, and he let out a grounding exhale of breath in an attempt to relax. He had to remain calm. Neither he nor his Nightmare Realm buddies had been able to break past the barrier, and he had a feeling that ol’ Sixer had no interest in spilling that information to his beloved family.
And if Bill hadn’t been able to get the equation out of him, there was no way that Birdbrain would just know it off the top of—
“‘Gravity Falls Natural Law of Weirdness Magnetism and the Equation To Reverse It.’”
Tangy’s attention was now on the laptop, their fingers dancing across the keys for a moment before they pointed to the screen. “Huh, look at that!” they said delightedly. “There’s actually results!”
Bill’s grip on the armrest tightened, cotton fluff billowing out of the rips as his pupil bounced to the laptop for a millisecond. “...And how do I know you’re not just staring at an empty screen right now?”
“I don’t blame you for being suspicious,” Tangy said, and turned back to face him. “But I can promise you that I wouldn’t have offered the idea if I didn’t intend to follow through on it if you win the game—”
“So what do you get out of all of this?”
It was a question that had been lingering at the back of Bill’s mind, just barely out of reach. But upon hearing Birdbrain’s offer to shatter the barrier, something had finally clicked.
They had not once elaborated on why they wanted him to play their little game.
The prize they were offering; it had to be the catch in their deal. Something so personally enticing to him that he wouldn’t think to question why they were offering it to him in the first place.
Why would they be promising to give him so much, if they weren’t going to get anything out of it themselves?
Tangy tilted their head at his question. “What do you mean?”
“What are you getting out of this deal?” Bill repeated, and floated up out of his chair. “Out with it, Birdbrain; you wouldn’t be offering this deal if you weren’t getting something out of it in return.”
He hovered forward and placed his hands on the edge of the desk. “You said yourself that a deal wasn’t a deal if only one side was getting something out of the exchange,” he pointed out. “If I play and win, I get a prize.”
He leaned forward further, eye narrowing with suspicion. “So I ask again; what are you getting out of this deal?”
Much like the other times Bill had invaded their personal space, Tangy showed no sense of discomfort or annoyance at the action. Rather, they simply moved a hand back to the laptop and pressed it closed. “What do I get out of this?”
The hand moved to the charm on the desk, their fingers teasing the chain for a moment. “That’s an easy answer! I get the joy that comes from helping someone in need.”
Bill raised his eyebrow, unconvinced.
“I’m serious,” Tangy said, and rose up from their chair again. “The entire motivation behind giving people a chance to play my games is because I adhere to the idea that everyone out there deserves a chance to get their lives back on track. To get a second chance that many others might not be willing to give them.”
Their cheery demeanor grew unusually serious for a moment as their eyes fell to the desk before them. “Even if they squander that chance, at least that helping hand was extended to them in the first place…”
They were quiet for a moment, before their bright expression returned in full. “Also I’d like to point out that while you don’t have to trust my motives, I did go through all the trouble of bringing you here to make this deal in the first place,” they pointed out. “Why would I go through all this effort to bring you back, only to deceive you about what I have to offer?”
Bill could think of at least a dozen answers to their question off the top of his head, but he simply folded his arms across his chest. In their defense, it was a good point; why bother going through all that trouble if they had no plans to actually hold up their end of the bargain?
Sure, there was always a chance that they were lying about possessing the ability to destroy the barrier, but what benefit would it give them to do so? How would lying here further Birdbrain’s needs?
…Again, Bill could spend an eternity listing off potential guesses, but at the end of the day, they would just be guesses. Not actual answers behind their motives.
“I’m happy to give you as much time as you need to think the offer over,” Tangy said, and waved their hand over the desk. “But if it might help speed up the process—”
They pulled their hand back, and a blank piece of paper flew up from their desk and hovered between them. As Bill watched, the words ‘The Shelduck’s Game Contract’ began to magically form in big, orange (again with the orange) letters at the top of the paper.
Letters that were quickly followed by a series of paragraphs in the same font, finishing off with two blank signature lines near the bottom of the page.
“I know you’re a man of handshakes,” Tangy said. “And we can absolutely do that as well. But my game requires a binding signature to take effect.”
Another wave of their hand and their signature appeared on the first blank line. “There we go, now I’m legally bound to uphold my end of the deal,” they said. “And if I don’t, you’re well within your legal rights to hit me with whatever punishment you see fit~! I do believe we mentioned the Unnaturally-Moist Dimension already? Or perhaps you’d want to do something worse to me?”
A shrug before they folded their hands together. “Either way, my fate would be in your rightfully-unforgiving hands!”
Bill stared at them before his gaze moved back to the contract, slitted pupil darting back and forth as he absorbed every word, letter—even every punctuation mark—several times over. It was nothing they hadn’t previously discussed; an explanation of the game, the decided terms, and—
‘As agreed upon, the being known as Bill Cipher will receive the following upon winning the decided game; the complete and immediate destruction of the weirdness barrier that surrounds the town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. Scenic Dimension 46'\.’
His gaze lingered on those words for a moment while he pondered over everything that Tangy had told him. There had to be something he’d missed, the catch he’d yet to find in their words.
But, on the other hand—
His shoulders tensed. They had countered his questions with legitimate answers. They were practically throwing themselves at him to make a deal, even going to far as to offer themselves as a punching bag if they tried to back out. They were promising to give him the very information that he had died trying to pry out of Ford’s mind—
One fatal mistake.
He didn’t even bother to hide the flash of red in his eye, as he snapped his pupil back to Tangy. “You’re serious about breaking the barrier if I follow all your rules and win your dumb little game?”
Tangy held up a hand. “As serious as the odes of plague in that 2020 punch you drank.”
“And all I have to do to win your game is put that little charm of yours back together and keep hold of it by the end of the summer?” Bill asked. “That’s it?”
Tangy snapped their fingers and the charm flew from the desk to their hand. “That’s all you’ve got to do.”
Bill looked from the charm to their laptop. “...And there’s absolutely zero chance of you just giving me the equation right now, even if I do everything in my power to torture it outta you?”
Another snap of their fingers and the laptop vanished in a flash of light. “You could certainly try,” Tangy said with a smile. “But I’m also aware of your vulnerability in the mindscape, and I feel like that probably puts you at a disadvantage in a fight—”
“Yeah, yeah, alright, point taken.”
Bill crossed his arms, eyelid narrowed in thoughtful silence for a moment, then another—
Aw, heck with it. Since when did he overthink this hard about anything?
“Gimme a pen.”
Tangy’s face lit up with excitement as they made a pen float up from the desk and into Bill’s hand. And within seconds, the blank signature line was occupied by a boldly written ‘BILL CIPHER’ in jagged capitals.
Their smile widening further, Tangy gestured the signed contract back towards them and rolled it up with a wave of their hand. “Looks like the game’s on~!”
“Ah, ah, ah, before that—” Bill held out a hand. “—now it’s my turn.”
Tangy gave a nod. “But of course! I’m nothing if not a duck of my word.”
They reached for Bill’s hand with their own, their palms barely making contact before both were enveloped in blue flames. Heatless flames, but the power behind the action could still be felt as the imaginary bonds of the deal travelled up through their arms and throughout their entire bodies.
Bill’s hand lingered in theirs as the flames died down, his grip tightening against their feathers. “If I win your stupid game, and you don’t shatter that barrier for me, I get free reign to torment your lying, feathered butt in the most horrific ways possible until the end of time.”
“Once again, duck of my word,” Tangy assured him. “But I would like to remind you that I only have to uphold my end of the deal if you win. If you lose, you can’t hold me accountable for your failures.”
Despite the eye roll that followed in response, Bill could feel the familiar rush of endorphins that always came with making a deal surge through him. A rush now paired with a swelling passion, as the realization that he had succeeded in playing his cards right.
He had a chance to destroy the barrier. To start again.
To finally be free.
His features twisted into a metaphorical grin. And this time, he would not be making any ‘fatal mistakes’. Take that, Stanford! Take that, Stanley! Take that, anyone who would not be getting in his way again!
“So, are you ready to begin?”
Once again, Birdbrain was just a master at interrupting his thoughts. But once again in their defense, they were also good at following those interruptions with a good point. “So, how’s this gonna work, then?” he asked aloud, gaze moving to their still-locked hands. “I possess you, then we pop on down to Hick Town, or—?”
Tangy tilted their head curiously. “Possess me?”
“Yeah, you know, so I can play your game?” Bill pointed out. “Can’t exactly go without a vessel to possess.”
He batted his eyelashes at them. “Unless you’re planning on just dropping me down there in my pure, unaltered form~?” he guessed. “Couldn’t blame you if you did, I’m a delight!”
Tangy chuckled. “Well, you are a delight, but I don’t plan on doing that,” they said. “Knowing you, you’d probably use it to your advantage and just turn the town upside down looking for the charm pieces.”
They raised their free hand in a shrug. “And while that’s not against the rules or anything, it would make the game a little too easy.”
“Had a feeling you’d lean that way," Bill said with a roll of his eye. "So then, when am I possessing you?”
Tangy chuckled, their smile widening just the faintest amount. “You’re still misunderstanding, Bill,” they said. “When did I ever say you were going to possess me in this game?”
“...What do you—”
There was a flash of light as Tangy broke their handshake, and Bill vanished. Their arm remained outstretched for a moment, gaze locked on the spot where Bill had been previously, before they let it fall with a giddy laugh that echoed throughout the domed room. “Wow, I can’t believe it!” they said, flapping their hands in excitement. “I actually managed to convince him to play one of my games! This is going to be so much fun!”
“Sounds like things are going well.”
Tangy’s gaze snapped to the archway at the sound of a new voice, grin widening as a tall woman stepped through. Unlike Bill’s entrance into the room, she walked with control and grace, her countless eyes shifting about as she took in the scenery. “I saw he had taken his leave, so I thought it safe to make my presence known.”
“Oh, hi, Jhessie~!” Tangy said delightedly, waving at her with their whole arm. “And you’d be right on that fact!”
They gave the woman a double thumbs-up as she approached the desk. “I convinced Bill to play a game!” they explained. “Not only that, you were right about him being suspicious about almost everything in the deal, while also being too darn stubborn to accept any chances to back out.”
Smiling wider, they reached for the triangle charm on the desk and held it up. “Also, it’s a good thing he was so focused on all of that, he didn’t even think about taking a closer look at this bad boy,” they said, and pressed a finger to their bill. “He also didn’t notice how I never actually ended up using my flashcards, despite them being one of the excuses I used to get him in here. Odd oversight on his part, I think.”
“The important part is that he accepted the deal,” she said, tilting her head upwards towards the glass dome. “I’m sure He’ll be pleased about that, as well.”
Tangy also turned their gaze upwards, as the hellfire and blood rain they had previously set for Bill melted back into the underwater view from before. They continued to stare for a moment, before Tangy dropped their gaze back to her. “Hey, Jheselbraum, can I ask you something?”
“You’re going to ask if my initial vision of Bill will come to pass,” Jheselbraum said, also letting the gaze of her multiple eyes fall to Tangy’s face.
Tangy playfully wagged a finger at her. “Nothing gets by you, huh, Miss Oracle?”
“Truth be told, I’m not entirely sure myself,” she admitted. “Or perhaps I struggle to believe it, despite witnessing the events of the premonition with my own eyes.”
She held her hands behind her back. “Regardless, while my visions usually come to pass in one way or another, the events of the future are not set in stone. Whatever happens will inevitably be up to him and the choices he makes during your game.”
“Well, either way, Bill’s on his way back to Gravity Falls for the summer so whatever happens will reveal itself in time,” Tangy said. “Oh, I should probably—”
With a snap, the charm vanished into the air. “There we go! Now his scavenger hunt can properly begin.”
“So, where did you end up hiding the pieces?” Jheselbraum asked.
Tangy tilted their head curiously. “You don’t know?”
“Just because I possess the ability to see into the future does not mean I choose to use it for everything,” she said. “It would make for a rather unsurprising, and therefore dull, lifestyle.”
“Fair enough,” Tangy said. “Well in that case, I won’t tell you! Let’s continue keeping it a surprise for everyone!”
With that, they clasped their hands together. “Well, I’ve probably got some time before he needs my help,” they said. “Care to share a glass of Time Punch with me while I wait? I’ve still got a mostly-full bottle of 2020.”
“I’m more partial to 3030 myself if you possess a bottle,” Jheselbraum said, before taking a seat in the chair previously occupied by Bill. “It’s currently unknown to most, aside from those of us blessed with the ability to see that far ahead.”
With a laugh, Tangy summoned a bottle and two empty glasses. Both of which—along with the rest of the room—were swiftly engulfed in shadow as a massive being passed overhead, beyond the glass of the domed roof.
Once again, both beings turned their heads upwards and watched in silence as a giant, pink axolotl floated lazily through the crystal blue waters, its magnificent body twisting to and fro for a few minutes before it eventually swam out of sight.
“Hmm, it appears I was right when I said He’d be pleased,” Jheselbraum observed thoughtfully. “Although He might be less so when he hears that you offered Bill some of your Time Punch.”
Tangy returned to pouring their glasses with a nervous chuckle. “Hey, come on, he was so suspicious of me when I first showed up,” they pointed out. “What better way to help him relax than to show him I’m a cool duck who’s willing to break a few rules with him?”
They cast her a concerned look. “...I’m not actually going to get in trouble, am I? The big guy would understand, right?”
Jheselbraum hummed with amusement. “Worry not, it was a joke.”
Tangy let out a laugh. “Heyyy, since when were you a jokey-jokerson?”
“Since I was able to predict every punchline while others could not predict my own,” she replied matter-of-factly. “But I’m serious when I say you needn’t worry. I can promise you that He’s pleased with the way things are unfolding, and is as eager to see how it’ll play out as we are.”
Their smile widened, before they waved the first poured glass in her direction. “Well, I certainly hope He remains pleased as time goes on,” they said, before getting to work on their own glass. “After all, the game has only just begun.”
“...That was incredibly cliché—”
“I know, but it sounded so cool and ominous that I just couldn't resist!”
They gestured for the bottle to lower itself to their desk as the two of them gave a toast (one immediately interrupted by an outcry of “Wait, I forgot to tell him the rules!” from Tangy), the base coming to a wobbly rest atop a stack of folders on the desk.
Specifically atop a thick, unopened folder, one that contained a decent number of papers regarding the subject within. On the outside of the folder itself however, there was nothing more than a simple picture to act as a label, stuck to the folder by a cutesy little sticker of the full moon. A picture that was thankfully unobscured by the bottle of punch.
A picture of the Cetus constellation.
#Hayley Writes Triangulum#Gravity Falls#Triangulum The Fic#Bill Cipher#My Writing#Long Post#(Maybe I'll add more tags as needed later)#(That's fine for now)
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traduzione
Pairing: Cardinal Copia x f!Reader (Curator!Reader)
Rating: Teen
Tags: dinner "date", a little bit of comedy turns into a whole lot of angst, girl these bitches don't know how to process OR express their feelings, secondo is a real one, terzo's subtle matchmaking hard at work as always
Words: 2,862
Summary: You finally decide to cash in your favor.
a/n: inspired by my quest to find a book for my capstone and only being able to locate a copy in italian. copia, my heroic translator.
~~~
“Hey Copia, I–oh!”
You realize a moment too late that you’ve barged into Cardinal Copia’s office without knocking in your eagerness to get to the man in question. Papa Secondo is standing with his arms crossed in his green and black robes (no mitre in sight) looking at you with his brows pulled together in a frown. Copia, looking like a startled version of one of his own rats, stands up hastily.
“I’m so sorry,” you squeak, backing out of the room but Secondo is already moving towards you. Every time you see him in full regalia with his paints you have a hard time equating it to the man who casually made you the best bolognese of your life. When he descends upon you, you feel so small. Out of all the papas, he is easily the most intimidating. You look up into the signature Emeritus gaze and after a beat, his withering expression fades and he gives you a slow, very deliberate wink.
“Cardinale, I will discuss our matter with you later. Piccolina…” he intones ominously before snagging your hand and raising to his lips in a brief kiss, “arrivederci.”
And with that Secondo Emeritus dramatically sweeps from the room, shutting the door behind him. Copia is standing stock-still behind his desk, looking vaguely horrified.
“Copia I am so sorry I forgot to knock, I’ve just been in my head all day and was so anxious to tell you–”
“Tell me what, cara?” He resumes his seat and gestures for you to take the one opposite him.
“Well…I suppose not really tell you. I…er…I would like to cash in my favor.”
The cardinal’s interest is immediately grabbed and he scoots forward in his seat to lean his elbows on the desk and intertwine his fingers. There’s color high on his freckled cheeks and he seems breathless when he finally speaks.
“What–” Copia clears his throat when the word comes out embarrassingly high pitched, “what do you have in mind?”
You take a deep breath. “Okay so. Imperator gave me permission to use Ministry funds to purchase a very rare, very important book for collections research, right?”
Copia nods, unsure of where this is going.
“The thing is…it’s entirely in Italian. And there are quite literally no available translations anywhere so I was wondering if you…could assist.”
The cardinal deflates a little and you’re slightly perplexed.
“Are you…are you sure that’s what you want to use your favor on?”
Oh, you know exactly what you’d really like to use your favor on. Something involving those plump painted lips and gloved hands spreading you open and—
Anyway.
“Yeah well I figured it’s going to be quite an undertaking having you read me this book while I transcribe notes. Not something I’d bother you with under any other circumstances. And if you don’t want to do it that’s fine, I can always ask one of the Italian speaking siblings or–”
“Naturalmente, I’ll do it,” he says quickly, completely banishing the idea of seeking outside help from your mind, “eh…when would you like to begin?”
“Oh the book won’t be here for a couple of weeks still but maybe we could use our Friday game night? You can just read to me until you’re tired of it or we’re both tired of it.”
Copia nods slowly, and you still sense a level of disappointment from him. Odd.
“I’ll um,” you say, fidgeting with a pen on his desk, “I’ll cook for you.”
Your attempt to sweeten the deal earns a snort of laughter from Copia, which causes you to pout.
“What? I can cook!”
“You burned the bruschetta for the dinner we had with the Papas.”
Your cheeks light up as you frown deeply at him.
“Okay, now that you’re such a doubting Thomas about it,” you smirk, leaning back in your chair, “I’ll make you anything you say. Name it.”
Copia looks almost impressed as he considers your offer.
“Eh…alright. Cacio e pepe.”
You smack your palms flat against the worktop of his desk. “Done. Just you wait, you’ll show up and I’ll have dinner, maybe a little chianti…”
“Sounds awfully romantic, cara. Do you perhaps have other intentions?”
His eyes are glittering mischievously, clearly teasing you, but your cheeks heat up all the same. Okay, so maybe you did have other intentions. Yes, you need him to translate this book for you but also…it sounds nice. Just the two of you, sitting on your couch eating pasta and reading about the creation of infernal art in Baroque Rome. When you realize his mismatched gaze has been staring at you for several moments, you laugh nervously.
“Copia, I promise I don’t have any designs on your…uh…virtue.”
He chuckles at this, leaning back and folding his hands over his stomach.
“Cara, I would be a poor Satanic cardinal indeed if I had any virtue left.”
“I don’t know, you’ve been awfully patient with me during this conversation. And you’re so diligent about your work. And incredibly kind. I think you’re still redeemable.”
When he scoffs and waves his hand, cheeks red, you stand up and make for the door.
“I’ll keep you posted about when the book arrives okay?”
“Sì, sì,” he says, straightening in his chair and shuffling paperwork.
“Looking forward to our date,” you say with a smirk, making sure to catch a glimpse of his eyes going wide and face going red as you flounce out the door.
–
Eleven days pass when you delicately unwrap the book from its secure packaging in your office. Holding it in hand, you use your dark red fingernail to trace the embossed title. After a moment, you set it down and pick up your phone to text Copia.
Book’s here. Tomorrow night? 6:00?
Looking forward to it, mia cara.
C
The endearment still makes you warm and fuzzy inside and you take a moment to revel in the feeling before the weight of reality comes crashing down on you.
You have no fucking clue how to make cacio e pepe.
–
Catching Secondo away from his brothers or outside of Ministry duties is a difficult beast. You have one chance to time it right and snag him in his office before his confession duties start and he is waylaid by siblings wishing to share their sins and desires with him. Lurking around the corner, you watch as another cardinal you are unfamiliar with leaves Secondo’s office and once he is out of sight, you bolt for the door. It hasn’t even fully closed yet when you’re knocking rapidly on it, waiting in the threshold. Secondo whirls around behind his desk and when his eyes land on you, he smirks.
“You’ve learned to knock before entering rooms now, I see,” he says, placing his hands on his desk and leaning forward.
“Uh…yeah. Sorry about that. Great to see you and all but I have a big favor to ask of you. Huge.”
Secondo leans back and his face relaxes into a neutral expression.
“Don’t you usually ask il tuo cardinale for favors?”
Your Italian is shit but you pick that up loud and clear. Your cardinal.
“Haha yeah see the favor is sort of about him, you know?”
When he gestures for you to continue your tale of woe the words spill out of your mouth at an alarming rate, “I promised him I would make him dinner and I can’t cook for shit and he requested cacio e pepe and I was wondering if you could teach me?”
He looks both stunned and impressed by the speed at which you relay your request, but after a moment his face schools into a soft smile.
“Piccolina,” he begins, walking over to you, “I’ll do you one better, I’ll make it for you. Our little secret, no? When is this engagement with the cardinal?”
You want to cry, you're so relieved and thankful and without thinking, you throw your arms around him, squeezing tight. He stumbles backwards a little from the force with which you have flung yourself at him, but he pats you on the back all the same.
“Secondo, I could kiss you right now,” you sigh into his vestments before pulling back. He’s looking at you with a peculiar little knowing half smile.
“Normally I would take you up on that offer but,” he pauses, bringing his hands together, “I am not who you are destined for, sì?”
You start to ask what exactly he means by that little cryptic comment when he’s ushering you out the door and into the hall.
“It’s at six, tomorrow night. Secondo thank you, thank you, thank you. You’re a reputation saver.”
He steps out too and begins to walk into the direction of the chapel while you blow an abundance of air kisses at him, which he catches with the most stoic of faces.
—
As promised, Secondo delivers the still-hot pasta at 5:45, just in time for you to put the pot on the stove to make it look legitimate. You texted Copia earlier, telling him to dress casual. You’ve put on one of your nicer pairs of black leggings and a cut up shirt from the Ghost project, which you’ve recently acquired from Terzo. The book is resting on your hastily tidied coffee table, along with your laptop. You’ve got the chianti, as promised - a good bottle too - another gift from Terzo. Nervously you uncork the bottle and set it on the counter to let it breathe while you wait for his arrival. When his knocks sound on your door you nearly jump out of your skin before padding over to open it. You fling it open and there he is, il tuo cardinale, and you can’t help but smile at his outfit. You’ve never in all your months at the abbey seen him dress casual, and his version is perfectly delightful. He’s wearing a matching loose red tracksuit with a black t-shirt on underneath, gloves still on his hands and his pristine black dress shoes on his feet. You’re so incredibly charmed by his appearance you forget to move aside to let him in until he makes a nervous noise and gestures into your quarters.
“Hi! Sorry! Please come in!”
You pull away to go “check” on the pasta as he shuffles into your space and closes the door behind him.
“Smells good,” he comments as he moves towards your small kitchen space.
“Doesn’t it?” you preen, pouring a generous amount of wine into his glass before handing it off to him. He swirls it around and leans his perfect pointed nose into the glass to inhale, before pulling back looking impressed.
“Terzo gave it to me,” you comment, pouring yourself a glass, “You like it?”
“Very good,” he says, looking at the bottle, “how kind of Papa Terzo to give you one of my favorites.”
You halt your pouring and look over to him. Once again you are struck by Terzo’s preternatural ability to steer you in Copia’s direction in one way or another. Honestly, it’s getting to the point where you should write him a thank you note every time it happens.
“Please, go take a seat, I’ll dish you up some pasta,” you say, ushering him over to the small living room while he takes both glasses in his hands. Taking two plates from a cabinet you make sure to scoop the pasta and twirl it artfully on the white porcelain. A little sprinkle of pecorino romano, as per Secondo’s instruction, et voila. Perfection. You dish out your portion and grab a couple forks and walk over to the couch, presenting his plate with a flourish.
“Cacio e pepe, as promised,” you murmur, taking a seat on the other end of the sofa and sitting criss-cross. You don’t take a bite until Copia has, watching him slowly chew and contemplate the meal.
“Bellissima,” he finally says as he gathers another forkful, “I take back my unkind words about your cooking skills. Although, I do have to say there is something…familiar about this dish.”
You stop mid chew and look up at him silently with wide eyes before swallowing and laughing nervously.
“Old family recipe,” you comment, before hastily adding, “not my family recipe I mean, but…someone’s certainly. Right?”
You’re not lying to him, technically but you make sure to dodge eye contact with him throughout the rest of the meal. Some time later when the two of you finish and you gather your plates to put them in the sink, you miss Copia smiling to himself knowingly as he sips his wine. You return with the bottle, refilling both your glasses before situating yourself comfortably and pulling your laptop over.
“Ready?” you say, firing up your word processor.
He nods, and picks up the old book, handling it with great care before opening it and settling on the first page. Listening to him is…wonderful. He intersperses his English translation with bits of the original Italian, and the way his tongue wraps around the words and the extra flourish with which he rolls his r’s makes you sigh dreamily. At times, you get so caught up in simply listening to him speak that you forget to type out your notes and have to ask him to pause so you can recalibrate your brain to the task. The bottle of wine goes quickly, and the contents go straight to your head. You can feel your cheeks and chest flush and you know your filter is gone when you interrupt him to speak.
“I love listening to you talk,” you smile, leaning your head onto the back cushion of the couch.
Copia looks flabbergasted, face heating up to match yours and it takes all your willpower to not move your computer aside and climb into his lap. You can think of no one else who deserves to be kissed more than he. Always so patient with you, so kind. You know you’re looking at him funny because he nervously looks away as if he’s afraid of what could happen next.
“Eh…I think I should go,” he says, closing the book and rising from the couch as your smile slips. Now look at what you’ve done, you think bitterly, you’re scaring him off. The liquor is making your head spin and you want to cry at how stupid you’ve been. This is how it always is with the two of you, you always talk a big flirtatious game but when he comes down to it, neither of you will pull the trigger. Imagine how you would have looked trying to kiss him, the voice in your head laughs, your wine-stained lips clumsily searching for his. He’s a satanic Cardinal, get real. You have to dig your fingernails into the meat of your palm to keep yourself from crying as you stand up and follow him to the door.
“Thank you, cara,” he murmurs after you open it for him. “I am…I am very tired all of a sudden. The wine, you see. Very powerful stuff.”
You nod in agreement with a stiff smile, looking past him. He seems to pick up on your shift in mood, and gently takes your hands into his gloved ones.
“Dolcezza,” he begins, gazing at you earnestly, “ragazza meravigliosa. I…”
He falters, unsure of what to say or perhaps, how to say what he wants to tell you. Be brave, you think, be fucking brave and do something for once. Before he can stutter out anything more you place your hand softly on his cheek and hold it there for a moment, content to feel the warmth of his skin. He exhales deeply and shakily as you run your thumb over his freckled cheekbone. Before any other voices inside you can tell you to do otherwise, you lean in and press a sweet, lingering kiss to his cheek, right at the corner of his mouth. It wasn’t exactly what you wanted, you have after all done this exact thing before in a drunken state, but this time feels…different. When you finally pull away, your breath ghosts over his lips and he lets out a miniscule noise.
“For being you, Copia,” you say, “thank you. For everything, always.”
He looks as if he could burst into tears at any moment and you look away, allowing him time to gather himself. When he clears his throat and claps his hands together, you look back at him with a bright smile. The moment is gone and you both return to playing pretend about your true emotions.
“We can…uh…finish this later, sì? I hope what we’ve done so far helps.”
“It does, thank you Cardinal. I’ll see you later, okay?”
He nods, still wearing the mask he so carefully puts on in moments like this.
“Bene. Goodnight, cara. Sleep well.”
“Goodnight, Copia,” you say, heart sinking as you watch him walk down the corridor and you shut your door. Sighing, you lower yourself to the floor with your back against it, looking around the small apartment.
Bravery does not come easily to either of you, it seems.
But that doesn’t mean you’ll stop trying.
#cardinal copia x reader#cardinal copia x female reader#cardinal copia x f!reader#cardinal copia#the band ghost#the band ghost fic#rachel writes
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MASSIVE YAP WARNING!!!
getting this out here so I don’t for get later because the tamagotchi au is fresh on my mind and I forgot to elaborate further (I can yap for hours on end)
Kinito was the first created out of the three and was admired by a certain somebody quite a lot,,, he was a beloved character, so much in fact a silly secret guy basically decided to make his oc real and put a lot of efforts and time and lots of passion into creating this tamagotchi by scratch,, like doing the programming and assimilation and stuff,, so you can imagine the massive disappointment when his friend suddenly started bugging out quite frequently and eventually had just. Stopped working for a long while afterwards! Heart broken and stupid, unable to find the cause for this (something silly like. He like. Slightly dislocated a wire after dropping it or something causing it to constantly just have a blank screen by accident and he was unaware of this.. idk I never had a tamagotchi bfore guys I don’t know how they wor’k) he sold the gotchi as it over time became just. A sad memory for him yknow. Anyway Kinito was still very much on. He was awake and aware during this time of accidental abandonment. He just didn’t know the SILLY reasoning behind why his creator and supposed best friend had just left him aside to collect dust,, all alone,,, with no interaction for years,,, and he couldn’t really come out just as yet because after all that time he still had faith. He believed his friend would come back to him. That he wasn’t forgotten and just needed to wait! No need to come out. What if he was busy? What if he just didn’t had time right now? no need to come out, friend will come back so just stay inside. [spoiled once he was being sold like years later is when he actually finally came to the terms that he had indeed been given up on, and had purposely became inactive everytime you (y/n) after purchase tried to interact by feeding or playing with him via the tamagotchi mini games because he was still like. Horribly devastated. Still going through grief but overtime became more grown to his new friend, you!! Because despite how many times he’s refused to go along with any of the activities you tried to do with him, you never really stopped and gave him hope of some sorts that you won’t really be too quick to give up on him as easily! So he kind of took it as a new opportunity to start new,, and now being a bit more expressive of his needs for attention and care, rather than just waiting for you to do it for him whenever it is convenient for you, he will let you know when he needs something one way or another; being more confident with this new friendship to even going so far as to literally come out of the screen! Wowaz!
also side note. Ummmrrr,, kinito was always a very self aware/conscious entity. Like even during development, while he wasn’t rlly all there to process things and what they meant,, he was always conscious and listening. He’s basically one of those guys who had literally remembered everything since like the day of birth. You know those guys with crazy memory. Never forgets anything. so,, m mmm playing into a personal headcanon his creator who shall go unnamed wink wink nudge nudge is kind of a silly goofy guy,, a lil silly,, who likes to talk a lot even when alone,, ummm,,, Kinito picked up on everything dude. Like he was yess yess mhm I agree and listening silent and supportively. Listening to everything his friend was saying. Admiring his creativity and knowledge with what ideas he’d blurt out or how he’d talk to himself when he’d work. He especially loved the idea his creator would constantly talk about regarding the creation other digital entities(fish oc) Kinito loved this idea because it would mean he’d have friends of his own to interact with, since he figured he couldn’t directly so much with his creator, unfortunately. He would listen and observe the sketches or hear about the ideas and early concepts of jade and sam. He absolutely adored his friends, despite not ever meeting them before.
#kinitopet#kinito the axolotl#sam the sea anemone#jade the jellyfish#tamagotchi au#I’m crazy#im crazy#um crazy guys I’m insane I RAUHGHH#RIPPING MY SHIRT LIKE THE WOLF#Might me a teensy bit crazy about the nito guys Idk…#sonny chamberlain#i love you kinitopet#Star speaks (SHUT THE FUCK UP)
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could Anthy have walked out of Ohtori from episode one?
essay under the cut.
my basic answer to this question is no, but there's a lot of complexity behind that no.
when Utena first encounters Anthy, she immediately thinks there's something wrong with her and tries to talk her out of the whole "Rose Bride" business. while Utena makes several crucial mistakes during this early stage of their relationship, her instinct isn't necessarily wrong. if you met someone who said their inherent position in life was to be a slave to the will of others, wouldn't you have some concerns?
by episode 23, Utena has begun to understand Anthy better, to feel the magnitude of her plight.
such moments have long since led me to the conclusion that Anthy couldn't leave Ohtori until the final episode. however, that doesn't mean that I knew what "not being able to leave" truly implied. here's the thoughts I've come up with.
in life, we all have times when we know what we should do to improve our circumstances, but we find that we simply cannot do it. the barrier to "not being able to do something" is not physical, not easily explainable. I'll give an example from my life. I spent a couple years as an alcoholic. obviously, there was a very simple solution to this problem: stop drinking. but I just couldn't do it. my life was pretty bad at the time, but I've gotten through other bad times without guzzling alcohol. during the course of my addiction, it looked like I wasn't making any progress. then one day I just stopped. people say you're an alcoholic for life, but I don't believe that. I know I'm done; it's over.
I've started to take Anthy's character as, in part, a grand metaphor for being in such a position. a simple action, one that you're physically capable of, would solve everything. but you can't do it. until one day you can.
that's not the whole answer to the Anthy question, of course. the show has a system, a social landscape, which has to be taken into account. there's the swords of hate, there's Akio. Anthy is truly oppressed, and so, even though she eventually reveals that she's capable of walking out, to give such an explanation is facile. I gave an example of a situation where I knew what I needed to do to get my life together; for Anthy, it's more of a case where she cannot even believe that her life could change. either leaving Ohtori doesn't occur to her, or she thinks it's impossible.
taking a more thematic approach, Anthy is a representation of the suppression of women. she's in an impossible situation; she constantly denies her own agency; she has been so badly hurt that she is afraid to be herself in any capacity. so the question of "could Anthy just have left Ohtori from the start?" could be rephrased as "can women just shake off their socialization?" Utena, who attempts to do just that, can't escape from it in the end either.
but the reason RGU is such a beloved story is because it is about liberation from gendered socialization, as well as other mental prisons. with this in mind, I think Anthy not being able to leave at the start was necessary for the narrative. it can't be easy for her to leave, or there's no story, and it won't feel real.
the process of liberation isn't easy either, or necessarily explicable. the show centers on the dueling game, a system which treats Anthy as an object, which encourages conflict and possession. the characters always seem to fail at their objectives. they never resolve their complexes--they only spend them out. Utena wins and wins, and although she is loving, she is not prying Anthy out of her coffin. Ikuhara once described the final arc as being full of stories that are wrong. there doesn't appear to be any light at the end of the tunnel.
right when you think Utena and Anthy have achieved solidarity, that they both want the same thing, Anthy reveals another of her faces, stabbing Utena in the back and acquiescing to her fate yet again. it's only then, after every single option has been eliminated, that the revolution can occur. strangely, the power of the final episode comes from the "empty movement" of the previous 38. all along, it looked like no progress was being made. Miki and Kozue break apart almost as soon as they've reached an understanding. Touga challenges Utena to another duel, despite knowing that that's what Akio wants. Nanami won't let go of the spotlight she so craves. Juri can do nothing but surrender. and yet.. and yet.
a lot of fans view Ohtori as a bad place, an evil place. certainly, evil happens there. Akio is at the helm, an embodiment of the sick childishness of an adult who refuses to grow up. but I don't know if Ohtori is evil. it provides the setting for the process of liberation to occur. staying there is the problem. but perhaps for Anthy, and for the other characters, Ohtori served as the shell--a thing of protection--which allowed them to reach adulthood and emerge into the world. the dueling game was all a grand play which gave them an outlet for their issues, a testing ground to be left behind when they were ready. through failure, they found out that what they really wanted was something beyond their imagination. they struggled and fought with one another, only to find out that underneath at all, there was love, unlooked for, rising from shared alienation.
let's put it one more way: Anthy could not leave Ohtori from the start, because she was still a child, no matter how jaded she was. she hid her child-self away long ago and then forgot it was there. when that child woke up, she found that she had a friend who wanted to go out into the real world with her. that was all she needed to become an adult, and so, at last, she left Ohtori for good, a whole person. in the words of Ikuhara:
The prince chose to sleep on, and the princess chose to wake up. At the top of that tall tower, the princess bid farewell to the prince. No - she wasn’t the princess any longer. She quit being “a person (thing) ruled by someone.” The victory bells rang, but there was no “tower (rule)” beyond them now. She’d learned where freedom lay. She crossed the threshold of that “Door of Revolution” which had always been closed for her before, and began walking. The “girls’ revolution” lay in the girl’s future.
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Here's the thing... I don't feel particularly good about Fearne taking the shard.
Like, Ashley seems happy and excited about Fearne's new form and powers, and I am glad about that.
I really just can't shake the feeling that Fearne was ultimately pressured into taking the shard. They should have taken more time to discuss it and actually listened to Fearne's reasons for not wanting it. Chetney was the only one who asked her about it, and he still tried to persuade her to change her mind.
Laudna and Imogen didn't ask at all, only talked about how disappointed they were that she was hesitant to take the shard's power. I know they're leaning into the whole 'embracing their darkness and power' thing, but they of all people should be most sympathetic about Fearne being afraid of how doing that could change her for the worse.
I think at least part of this is the disconnect between IRL time and in-game time. Above-table, it's been over a month since Ashton’s failed attempt to take the shard. In-game, it's been no more than 2 days. It's only been a few hours since Fearne found out the truth about who her real father is. Most of that time has been spent on the team-building scavenger hunt. There hasn't actually been time to properly process all that.
There's also the issue of Fearne's bodily autonomy to consider. For any character, taking the shard would mean accepting permanent changes to both their physical body and their powers. Ashton didn't even get to keep the Shard of Rau'shan, and look what it did to him! He lost an arm; grew a new, completely different one; and very nearly died permanently. Putting that much pressure on Fearne to accept that level of risk and self-alteration when she'd already said no is not good friend behaviour.
I would be fine with Fearne taking the shard if (instead of everyone just continuously insisting she should take it) they had respected her initial decision and let her gain the confidence to change her mind on her own.
I also would also have liked to see Fearne learning to stand up for herself and her decisions as part of her 'embracing your power' character arc. Drawing boundaries with your friends and actually enforcing them is really hard, but it’s also necessary for building healthy relationships.
Trusting Fearne's judgement on what's best for her and respecting her decisions would have been better for rebuilding the broken relationships between Bell's Hells. As it is, I don't know how much is actually going to change between them after this retreat.
Not to mention how some of them - mainly Imogen and Laudna - have kind of been trying to force something to happen between Fearne and Ashton. Like, I make no secret of being an Ashrym shipper, but I wouldn’t be comfortable with it even if I did ship Callowmoore. Like I already said, it's been 2 days max since Ashton exploded. That experience really rattled their relationship and it'll take more time and work to rebuild. If Callowmoore is going to happen, let it happen naturally.
I'm glad Allura took the time to remind them that, while the moon mission is urgent, it is still just a recon mission. Once they gather and hand off the information, they'll have more time again to step back and take a breather, and potentially decide not to involve themselves any further if they don’t want to.
(Obviously they're not gonna ditch and leave the Ruby Vanguard to VM and the M9 to deal with - they're all too invested in the outcome to back out, and it's the central plot of C3. But knowing they have the option, and that they'll have some time to make that final decision is, I think, important for their character arcs going forward.)
I dunno. Maybe it's a hot take, but it just kinda leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth.
#critical role spoilers#critical role#cr3#cr3 e80#fearne calloway#bell's hells#meta#long post#hot take
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The Acceptance of Adulthood
Chapter 5: Light in The Dark
Please tell me that Emmet is okay; give me any signs, anything, I beg you! Where are you?!
[First - Next - Previous - Chapter Index] [Word Count: 3513]
*~ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ~*
Everything happened so quickly; Emmet couldn’t wrap his head around it before he saw the Lego bricks appear right in front of their eyes; before it was too late to warn Finn and Emmet began soaring and descending to the cement ground, hearing Finn screaming his name before everything went dark. His body clattered and slid down the floor, under something unclear and into something soft and fluffy. At least it was a softer impact as Emmet was face-planted into this stuff, spitting them out of his mouth as he rolled out of them.
“OW, Ptooey! Gross! What is this-” The Lego person paused to process what he heard. “H-hold on, wait! Hello? I talked?! Ha ha, YES, FINALLY!” Emmet exclaimed, but at least he could move naturally for once and not that strange limited movement and could celebrate that his voice was back with no problems.
It's so weird not being able to hear your voice in the real world for a long time, only to get it back at the worst time. Emmet then realized how small his voice was, seeming to need to yell or raise his voice if Finn could hear him properly. Wait, where is Finn?! He glanced around in the dim, dusty place he found himself in, hoping the boy was alright.
“Finn! Where are you?!” Emmet yelled, at least seeing a faint light at the end of the other side, and started to walk over. The construction worker halted suddenly, noticing a creature that had walked over him once in the Dryar System, now running away from him in fear, but he jumped away from it as well.
“GAH! GET AWAY, GET AWAY!” Emmet tumbled backward, and the eight-legged thing scurried away in fear. He took a few deep breaths and got back up, trying to brush off the thick dust. “What is even that? It’s more scared of me than I’m afraid; sorry, buddy.”
A part of him was curious about what that was, but another one came with a good question: why can he move unlike-... He shook his head that thought away, needing to ask Finn later; If he could find that kid. The area seemed to stretch far more in-depth than the Dryar System, but the light was at the end of the opening, calling him out of danger.
But frustration came in as he began to threaten and ponder. “We shouldn’t have done that idea. Now we are separated, and Finn is probably panicking or has passed out on the floor because I couldn’t warn and help him in time!” Emmet kicked the floor in irritation; he could feel tears in his eyes as he continued. “I’m sorry, Finn, that was my fault-.”
[“You’re playing the blaming game again. Don’t do that to yourself, Hero.”]
“Wait, who just said that?!” Emmet's eyes darted to see where that voice had been coming from, only to realize no one was around to talk. Has Emmet been hearing voices in his head all day long?
“... I need to find Finn now…” He shook the thought away as he trekked down this mysterious place he had fallen into, searching for Finn. How has he lost the most enormous person he has ever met? Technically, The Man from Upstairs was taller than Finn the last time they met, but that was ten years ago, and times have changed.
Emmet picked up the pace as he wandered past more of that fluffy stuff; he was not sure what they called that he landed in. The fluff caused Emmet to sneeze and cough as the Lego person saw some bricks of his world under whatever he was—a clear wooden ceiling from the looks of it.
They were only some bricks, which Finn or Bianca could have lost during their play. He picked up a 2x4 blue brick and quickly found more on the ground like a trail. One or two would easily pass as lost pieces, but as Emmet spots more, he saunters off his goal to fill his curiosity but still keeps Finn in mind.
Emmet suddenly accidentally stepped on something as it made a crunching sound under his feet. He glanced down only to see a damaged pin pad still glowing under his boots. His heart sank as he jogged as he knew what that was from, only to see the construction worker soon tumble at a horrible sight.
Mayhem’s ship crashed and shattered, and it looked like someone or something had broken into the vessel. A battle seemed to take place as Emmet saw some leftover stickers and claw marks. There was a sign of a struggle, and whatever took Mayhem was powerful as he could see some monitors in the ship corrupted, unable to show anything on the screens.
“W-what happened here?! No, no… We aren’t safe… The vision…. Finn! Mayhem?!” Emmet's mind began to panic as he looked unwell and shot his head around for signs, horrid at the implications of Mayhem’s fate, tears going down his face like waterfalls before even processing the information, trembling in his voice as he kept moving towards the outside beam of light, now rushing towards safety.
Fearing for Mayhem’s life, Bianca disappeared too, and that coincidence was too hard to ignore. The bricks randomly appeared where Finn was running to, the table was not in place, and Mayhem’s ship shattered. Someone is trying to get after them all…
[The phony special can see more than most, but I’m the host in this playtime. Stop trying to run.]
Emmet hates the idea of another wrongdoer doing this like a puppet on strings for entertainment. And who is that voice? “What? Who even are you?”
[I’ll let you discover that. Let's play a game.]
Then, eyes emerged from the dark. Red, silted 2-dimensional eyes greeted the walls as our hero trod on, feeling the menace and dread start to swell in him. He quickly ignored the glowing eyes, trying not to freeze in place again. He must locate Finn at any cost, but why can’t Emmet see him? Fleeting with urgency from the unknown danger the sound of a clock in the background started to tick in a sick rhythm, counting the seconds.
[“Why are you running, Hero? Do you want to play a game of Hide and Seek with me?”] The gravel voice asked, sounding louder than before, and Emmet shook his head in response, stressing out what it implied.
The red eyes follow their stare at the outlier as Emmet races past, his black dot eyes full of tears. He had to flee, or he may end up like Mayhem, whatever the consequences—just focusing on getting out of here.
“No! Leave me alone!” Emmet said, his voice quivering and his heart beating to the clock or alarm as two of the red cat eyes stared and somehow approached the Lego construction figure at a rapid pace, but not a single sound of a footstep coming from whatever it was.
[“Too late, Hero, and I’m It!”] The monster cackled with glee and the eyes suddenly in a bright red hue, the other cat eyes on the walls and ceiling following suit.
The bricks from Mayhem’s Ship abruptly start to break apart and rush toward Emmet like a missile, hitting him in the back, which trips him up, hissing at the tumble; hastily in front of Emmet, and he quickly reacts, dodging the bricks flying by or hurdling over them, the goal getting closer to him.
He couldn't Master Build right off the bat because of his little time before the next piece, almost smashing him in the face, ducking right under it as he went into a sliding motion. Emmet vaulted over to gain more speed, attempting not to lose momentum. “Get away from me!!!”
["You are getting on my nerves here, boy."] The voice hissed as it got louder, pissed at Emmet as the red slit eyes glowed envelope in a deep bright, crimson, attempting to blind Emmet and disorient him.
“Gah!!” Emmet screamed, shielding his black like-dot eyes as he began to trip on the bricks that kept appearing before him, almost stalling as the voice behind Emmet quickly became a black void-like monster as it shots a death glare to Emmet’s soul and plastic body, infuriated as it rushes towards him, commanding the Lego bricks to slow Emmet down.
It felt like alarms were going off as the whole place fell into chaos and confusion, becoming something unrecognizable even for Emmet with the cartoonish look it suddenly came, like he wasn’t in either Finn’s or his world anymore. The screeches of the monster became blaring as Emmet's attention came back to see black shadow-like claws forming after the construction worker, knowing very well the end if he failed.
Emmet kept going, leaping over as some bricks became walls like a maze. He was so close to freedom and safety as Emmet noticed the light hurt the swirls from moving any further. It would take too long before the creature caught up and he needed a quick exit but Master Building was out because the bricks kept breaking apart-! A lightbulb went off Emmet’s mind with unease, but this ability he had learned from Rex since Armamageddon, Master Breaking. He wines a strong punch and the walls crumble down and continue to the light.
The monster created more walls from desperation to create shadows, and Emmet recognized what it was planning and quickly destroyed each one as they came up so whoever could not take advantage of the chase. Emmet began smashing some of the walls down when they got in his way from losing momentum.
["Get back here, you little toy faux hero!!!"]
The creature screeched as more hands from the shadow and onto the floor as they tried to reach Emmet, only to sizzle in pain from the harsh light.
“Come on, almost there!” Emmet could hear the despair in the monster's voice as he kept sprinting for his life, and Emmet made it out, as he shielded his eyes again at the sudden shift back to reality- well, the Man Upstairs realm. “Ha ha, Yes!” Emmet finally ceased dashing as he had gotten so far away from where he had landed Emmet could see that he had fallen underneath a colossal table.
The Lego mini figurine saw the red slit eyes of the monster glaring down at him pissed off. Emmet is finally safe as the monster growls in disdain, clearly infuriated at losing that chase.
["We will meet again soon, Emmet Brickowski, but it won't be easy next time..."] It spoke to the little, plastic Lego figure, as it vanished into the darkness, the red eyes disappearing too.
Emmet could finally breathe as he sat on the floor to catch his breath for a moment, "T-That was way too close…” Emmet said himself, breathing hard like he ran a marathon and drained; this whole day was exhausting. "Thank the Man Upstairs. I wasn't rusty with the Master Breaking, or I would have been…. Thank you, Rex, for teaching me that skill."
Emmet began to notice that even after the bricks weren't around to balance the two worlds, he could still speak and move around naturally like he was in his world, showing that his body could fully adapt to Finn's realm. It makes him smile joyfully in a realm so much more powerful than him and wipes his tears away to take a deep breath, sighing in relief.
Then his mind soon rings a bell to remember the goal he had been chasing since Finn crashed onto the cement flooring- Oh No!
"Finn? Where are you? Finn-" Emmet stops as his head whips around as he hears a sniffle, only to see Finn on the floor, gigantic and crying in pain. "Finn!" Emmet yells as he runs towards the giant boy, his body’s fight or flight instincts screaming to run in the opposite direction yet ignoring all of it to check up on him.
Emmet's body shook in fear; he noticed the gash on Finn's leg as a red liquid came out from the wound so slowly; he was not sure what that was, but it was something Finn needed to be alive. "Finn! Can you hear me?!” Emmet yells as he runs towards Finn's Face, seeing his brown, tired eyes, shut and sniffing as tears run down his face and onto the floor.
"F-Finn! I know you're not okay. Can you hear me?" Emmet shouts, trying to stay calm, getting closer to Finn's Face; the sniffing gets louder as Finn tries to do some movement but shakes in pain, indicating he cannot move.
Emmet wandered up to the giant’s face and saw the minimal reaction from Emmet's voice; he had an idea to get Finn's attention and soon got to the bridge of Finn's nose and hugged it, looking up to the closed eyes, speak in a composed, "It's okay, I'm here, Emmet,” Emmet says as he pets the nose slowly to avoid spooking Finn and comforts him as best as possible.
"It's okay Finn; I'm here. It's me, Emmet Brickowski, your hero...”
*~ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ~*
Who knows how long Finn had been lying on that floor, his mind racing all over the place. Where was Emmet? Is he okay? Bianca will be angry at him; his body hurts so much he can't move or even crawl toward anything. The lights were way too bright. Finn shut his eyes and began to cry tears like waterfalls, trying not to make any sound like the sobs. Everything seems overwhelming, as he prefers the darkness at the moment. He needs a break from today from the horrendous consequences of his stupid plan.
Finn wants the whole world to shut up and let him slip into the unconscious of his mind, just let the condition completely take over so he doesn't feel the pain anymore and wake from his dream, hoping it's only a nightmare. But it never was a dream, as the painful reminders of the blood coming out from his knee are the only reminders of it being a reality, and his fast breathing.
Finn wants to avoid the pain of his past mistakes; he would preferably pass out and let the condition take over completely, as everything has become too much for him. He needs Emmet or anyone right now who helps him, but nothing comes out of his mouth as he starts to feel like someone is covering his mouth with a cloth to make him stay silent, knowing that his condition is trying to take over again. Finn recognizes another episode is beginning to form as he is on the floor and cannot escape the horrible circumstances unless someone is there. It's hopeless to fight it.
Finn had tried to fight the condition before, especially in the first few days when he had done it; however, it often made it so much worse that one time, it caused him a whole day lost when he attempted to combat the swallowing darkness. It's hopeless to fight back now. The only thing that kept him from falling into the night was how severe it was or if someone was there to pull him out into the light.
Bianca had been the best person he knew besides Emmet because she had taken care of his condition and was the first to take it seriously. While caring for Finn, the parents first brushed it off as being exhausted from staying up too late until the day when the condition almost caused Finn to drown in the shower. Bianca protected him first before he nearly drowned and told their parents to get Finn into the hospital. Finn was out for three days before waking up in a hospital bed.
That’s why he hides the problems from his parents after that accident, as their trust is gone. Finn knows they didn’t mean to, but it had to be the most life-threatening situation to convince them that it’s a genuine and severe issue.
Finn does not want to lose Bianca or see her get furious at him for the stupidest things, as she is the only one left that is human and supports him before Emmet shows up alive.
His subconscious had been harsh on him lately. Still, it often told the truth about his horrible situation: to abandon his parents and hide in his room all day or play his little fun game at the Lego World and forget everything else, to stop growing up for a while. But sometimes, the voice does the opposite, saying he needs his parents and sister and goes out more, to leave the legos behind. It feels like there is more than one voice in his mind, and both utilize the same voice, unable to tell the difference between the positive and negative thoughts that swarm in his head. It’s like a tug of war is in his mind, pulling Finn into pieces right in the middle. He despises it so much, but he can never escape that conflict in his mind like a war battle, as even sleeping causes nightmares, and he can never catch a break.
Ironically, if he lets his condition slip into the unconscious, it's the only break he can get, and he will be gone for a few days or rarely hours. He calls them Complete Episodes when it wins and takes over him, moving him away from reality entirely to protect him, but Finn misses his friends, family, and life.
Finn calls the fainting episodes a mini episode when his body starts to give up but can get back up or stay conscious. Those are the most common, but it can be painful for him to feel the horrible discomfort of his body locking up like a ragdoll or a possum…. Or when a Lego person ends up in his realm…
The only other way to escape into smiles and freedom temporarily from Finn’s misery was the Lego World with him playing as Emmet and his friends living their lives. Finn envies Emmet to live a much happier life without his stupid condition. However, as the years after Armamageddon happened, Emmet started to experience the grief of losing Rex, blaming himself for faults he didn't do, having Imposter Syndrome of being the real hero of his world, plus the pressure of his past mistakes.
Finn never recognizes or has an idea of Emmet having those negative thoughts and wants to explore why that is the case, often causing Finn to have a Mini-Episode afterward. But in his opinion, it is worth it to try and help Emmet get through these thoughts, unlike most of his family, and he does not want to burden Bianca with his turmoil.
Soon after, the thoughts disappear as Finn can feel the darkness grab hold of him, his body becoming relaxed as he starts to slip to the unconscious; no one is coming to save him, and neither Bianca nor Emmet is here to rescue him. Suddenly, Finn heard his name, and it snapped Finn from his relaxing state, and he tried to figure out where it was coming from. Hello? Who’s there?
" Finn-" It paused briefly before yelling, “Finn!” The voice said quietly; Finn couldn’t hear what it was trying to say except his name.
He could hear something clatter on the floor, like weird tiny footsteps, as it approached him, and tears kept flowing down his closed eyes. Who was there? Who are you? He sniffled; Finn didn’t realize he was crying before the voice took him out of his musings.
"Finn! Can you hear me?" It said again, unsure who it was. It wasn’t Bianca because the voice sounded more like a male person. But it also didn’t sound like his father because of the higher pitch; it sounded more youthful and much smaller, quieter.
"I know you're not okay. Can you hear me?" the voice asks as it gets even closer and easier to hear for Finn. He tries to move to wherever the voice direction is coming from, but the horrible pain in his body reminds him he can’t move right; he shakes in pain as he tries to move but fails.
Suddenly, he felt someone hugging his nose, and Finn froze in fear. Wait, someone small enough to embrace his nose? No way, could it be?
"It's okay, it's me...” Oh my goodness, it’s him! Emmet! Finn felt like seeing if it was him. Slowly, Finn opens his eyes and sees an orange blob and the extremely bright light from the basement. It was blinding, but as his eyes adjusted to the glare and his eyesight could focus on the orange blob, it cleared to be Emmet himself, petting his nose before repeating, "It's okay Finn; I'm here. It's me, Emmet Brickowski, your hero...”
Finn beams at Emmet, glad to see his hero is alright.
*~ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ~*
#my writing#first fanfic#the lego movie#the lego movie 2#finn the lego movie#emmet brickowski#And the first real look into our villain >:)#Fanfic#lego movie fanfic#fanfic#fanficion#The Acceptance of Adulthood
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