I miss the water. The way it glides past my skin. The way I sink or float on a whim. How weightless and free. The closest thing I have to flight. I am never truer than when I am swimming beneath the surface. I miss it so much.

Mer!Hawk/Chubby!Reader “Just A Little Kiss~”

(Unedited) (Mer!Hawk,Fluff,Kissing, Making-Out Underwater)

“I don't really know about all of this, what if we get caught down here?” Reader said as she chewed at he inner cheek. Her nerves starting to finally get to her. The entrance of the cave was long and dark, the only thing abominating the place was the waterway. The bio-luminous lights of the algae give off a blue glow. It shinned around the right cave.

Reader’s stomach flipped as she walked farther into the cave. Hawk follows close behind in the water. His body and long tail glide through the top layer of water. His bright blue eyes glanced over at her, scanning her up and down. She was timid and he knew that from the moment he met her.

But it's what drew him in.

Someone so shy and sweet was willing to take chances with him. Hawk knew he wasn't the pick of the litter. He never had been and never would be. At first, he was too shy as a guppy, but now he was too rude and brash. To him, there was no winning.

Then there was Reader who worked her way into his heart from the moment they first meet. He still remembers the first time he saw her on the beach. In a cute little bikini on the shore, sticking to the shoreline. Dipping her feet in the cool water that washed up. She smiled as it tickled her toes.

She has the prettier smile he has ever seen.

“Hawk?”

His mind was pulled away from his thoughts by her voice. He looked over to the clearly nervous girl. She fiddled with her fingers as she walked. A nervous habit of hers. He smirked as he swam a little faster.

“Don't worry no one comes out this way at night, not even the party kids that like to wreak the beach every now and then during the summertime. It's just us tonight.” He looked back at her as he neared the end of the cave. The blue lights from below lit up her face so beautifully.

Her eyes widen as she enters the very back of the cave. Lips parted in pure awe as she looked around the dark end. At the very back of the cave sat a large pool of water, hundreds of feet deep. The blue pulsing algae seemed to help keep that hidden as it lit up not only the empty room but throw off the deepness of the pool of water. From above you couldn't tell how deep it really was.

From the top of only looked a few feet maybe even shallow to some.

A tunnel of bright blue. The bright blue lights bounced off the dark cave walls and served as the only light the walls ever saw. It was truly breathtaking.

“Hawk this is beautiful!”

Hawk smiled a little before swimming into the pool of water in ahead. He dived down for a split second before resurfacing. Laughing out loud at her shocked reaction, he flicked his hair away from his face as he looked up at her. He bobbed around in the water as he watched her take everything in. Her eyes flickering between the walls and the illuminated pool. He cocked his head when she finally focused back on him.

“So you like it?”

“Hawk I love it! Do you come here a lot?”

“Kinda, sometimes I hang out in here during the daytime when I come to the surface. There is a waterway system below this pool that I use to swim a tight up into the pool so I don’t have to use the entrance. Don’t want to get caught by any humans while I’m up here you know.”

She giggled, knowing that he said that because she was the only human that caught him while going to the surface.

The cave was silent for a few minutes at the two took in their surroundings. The sound of water dripping tapped against the floors and walls. The occasion splash from Hawk. His tail steadily kept him afloat from below. Swishing back and forth to help him stay upright.

A few minutes passed in silence before Hawk coughed into his hand. With a gruff voice he said “So you coming in or what?” Reader looked at him before slowly nodding. She was slow to start taking off her top. Letting her curves free, her soft belly on full display for him. Her full tits practically trying to spill from her bikini top. He had to bite his lip to hold back his approval. He wanted to just run his hands all over her, to feel her soft skin.

He could tell she was getting a bit flustered as she looked away from him.

She shimmied out of her shorts and exposed the tiny bottoms she had on. Her thick thighs jiggled as she stepped out of them. She was quick to toss all her belongings to the side. They sat in a hazardous pile near the back of the cave wall.

For a moment she hesitated, dipping her toe into the lukewarm water. Hawk noticed and swam over to her. Sticking a hand out of the water he silently encouraged her to step in. She slowly took his hand as he helped her slower herself into the water with the lip of the pool. Her body dropped hard into the water. She kept herself up with the lip.

She suddred as she was engulfed by the water. Kicking around to get use to the new body of water which felt a little different then the normal ocean water outside. She wondered if it was due to the cave system messing with the water a little.

“Nice right?”

Hawk swam around her with a small smirk on his lips. His tail tickling her feet as he moved around het. Trying his best to get her to move around with him. He knew she was a good swimmer.

Reader slowly pulled away from the lip of the pool and stated to follow the merman around. Growing use to the water and the body itself. She smiled as she swam around with the boy. Hawk was so much fun. He always seemed to try and get her to go out of her comfort zone and try new things. The stuff she was once shy over became normal and fun with his help.

“Hawk this is so much fun! Thank you so much for inviting me to come. I love this.”

“Do you want to see the best part of the cave?”

Reader slowly nodded, trusting the mer.

Before she could say or do anything he was pulling her down into the water.

She could only take a short breath before she was completely submerged into the deep water. She gasped as her head dipped down into the water. For a split second, she was petrified.

The salty water stung her eyes as she opened them just for a moment. Her vision meeting Hawk’s in the clear water.

It truly was breathtaking.

The blue lights in the clear water flashed over him like a blanket. His handsome features are on full display. His blue eyes almost matched the light the algae gave off. It spread over his skin highlighting his whole being. His tail shinned in the light as it flickers and creses her bare legs. Her toes curled at the action of his fins brushing against her.

Moments later, warm lips pressed against her. Kissing her deep as a sudden rush of air passed through her. It filled her lungs like a lifeline. She sucked in the air with a small gasp. Surprised and taken aback but not disappointed. His lips where warm and soft as they made contact with hers. The motion is slow and sweet as their lips moved together. It was like they were synching.

The kiss grew long and deep as he passed more air through the kiss.

Readers hands gripped at his shoulders before she wrapped her arms around his neck. Hawk’s hands gripped at her fatty hips. Palms smooth against her ass cheeks. He played with the fabric of her bikini bottoms. She whimpered at the good touch. He swallowed up her sounds as they started to make out.

They only stopped when Hawk ran out of stored air to pass to her. He was quick to swim them both backup to the surface.

Their heads broke through the surface of the water with a loud splash. Reader gasped and sucked in a deep breath of cool air. She panted and gasped for a moment as she collected herself. Hawk taking in just a few gulps though his gills, just enough to store more air. He smirked as he watched her get even more flustered than before.

With a shocked gasp she said, “What was that!?” Her eyes wide as she looked back at him.

“Umm just a little kiss.”

“That was not little!”

Hawk chuckled at her reaction. He wrapped his tail around her waist and brought her closer to him. Bring her body into his. His tail grasping at her fluffy waist and squeezing. She gasped for a minute as their eyes meet. Their faces are inches apart. Hawk smirked even bigger than before.

“Fine then this time we can surface kiss, but I still like kissing you under the water. It's cute when you get all scared for a split second.” he bit his lip before diving back into her lips. She rolled her eyes before relaxing.

Falling into the new rhythm that was all Hawk.





Kinktober #17: make it hurt: Hawks

In which Hawks pays you a late visit. 

Characters: Takami Keigo (Hawks) / f!Reader

Warnings: smut (18+ please!), begging, needy sub!hawks, soft dom!reader, bondage, edging, teasing, vaginal sex, angst, a little bit of aftercare. 

Notes: Today’s prompt was ‘Begging.’ It got feelsy. I’m not even a little bit sorry. Not even a tiny bit. 

Kinktober Masterlist

There’s something different about him when he comes to you tonight.

The gentle sweep of his feathers against your bedroom window stirs you from sleep. At first, you don’t realize the culprit, and you turn blindly onto your side, searching for the soft orange display of the digital clock on your bedside.

There’s a shadow looming beyond it, though. Initially your body seizes, electric fear sparking every muscle. But the silhouette is unmistakeable, and as he moves into the light cast over your balcony, you take a deep breath and scrape a palm across your chest to cool your stalled heart.

“Kei,” you gasp, slipping out of bed. The sliding glass door that opens up to your balcony takes all your strength to open, and as you do, he practically falls into your arms.

He’s still wearing his hero clothes-dirty and damp. All of him is damp, you realize as you wrap your arms around him. You take one palm to the back of his neck- his hair’s wetted down with sweat, and he holds you, just a little too tightly.

“Kei,” you whisper one more time. “Baby, what happened?”

You realize, as your body settles into his, that he’s trembling. He doesn’t say anything to you. Instead, he grabs your chin and crushes your mouth to his. He snags you by the upper arms, shoving you hard against your closet door.

“Keigo,” you plead quietly. You brace your hands against his chest- barely awake and wholly unprepared for such an onslaught. He’s come to you in the middle of the night before, but never this desperately.

Finally, you snap.

“Keigo, stop,” you growl. You shove him hard, and he stumbles back a couple of steps. But he shakes it off like a bad punch and starts forward again.

“No.” You bark at him this time, planting your hands on his shoulders and keeping him firmly at arm’s length. He snarls at you. His eyes flash. But his cheeks are flushed, and the way his wings open up behind him suggest satisfaction- not predation.

You understand immediately.

“Back off.” Your voice stays crisp and double-edged, and this time, he listens. Though his body is pulled tight like a drawn bow, he takes a few tentative steps backward.

“On your knees for me, baby.”

Your gaze softens as he slowly listens, lowering himself to the rug at the foot of your bed. In the quiet, you can hear his breathing- laboured, shallow, uneven- so you close the distance and cup his cheek, tilting his chin to pull his gaze to yours.

His tawny eyes are fathomless. His jaw is tight. As he looks up at you, his trembling feathers droop. Something’s happened. Something big.

“Breathe with me,” you croon. Slowly but surely, he matches his breathing to yours. You breathe deep and intentional, in, two, three, four, out, two, three, four. Five, six, seven, eight. His wings rise and fall with his slowing breaths.

“Better,” you praise. His eyes are shut by now. In the dim, silvery light of your bedroom, even all caught up in his own fear, he’s beautiful.

“You ready to tell me what happened?”

It’s like you touched him with a live wire. His nerves sing to life all over again- so hard you can see it happen- and his gaze snaps open.

“It’s… I… I c-c…I can’t-“ It’s the first time he’s tried to use his voice, and it comes out broken and shallow. Your heart begins to race. He’s scaring you.

“Alright.” You smooth your hand over his flaxen hair. “You with me, Kei?”

He nods. Your boundaries are always clear, and you have a complex set of symbols to help enforce them. But sometimes you can’t help checking in anyway.

“C’mere.”

You ease him over to the bed, helping him out of his clothes piece by piece. Once you’ve got him stripped down to just his trousers, you let him sit carefully on the edge of the bed. You straddle his lap, and his hands twitch by his sides, but they don’t move.

He knows the rules.

“Go ahead,” you whisper. “You can touch.”

Instantly, he slides his palms up the sides of your thighs. His fingertips toy with the hem of your t-shirt- his t-shirt- that you were sleeping in.

“Tell me what you need from me,” you murmur. He answers, but he’s mumbling, and you don’t catch it.

“Speak up, honey.”

“Make it hurt,” he whimpers. He clutches tightly at your hips and buries his face into the crook of your shoulder. You slide your hand to the back of his head, tangling your fingers in his mussed hair once more. His bare skin is sticky and ripe with the scent of clean sweat, but he knows what he needs.

And he knows that you’ll give it to him.

“Okay,” you soothe, turning your head and pushing your lips against his temple. “Okay.”

You hold him there for another few moments, but you’ve got your orders. You take a deep breath and climb off the bed, settling your hands on your hips.

“Take off your pants,” you begin. “Then, lie down on your back.”

He gets right to work, scrambling to his feet and fumbling to get his work pants undone. When he does, he shucks them right to his ankles. You can see the excitement building in his body already, his cock beginning to swell in the tight confines of his black undershorts.

You resist the urge to lick your lips. He’s delectable like this.

Keigo gets flat on his back, and you get to watch the way his throat bobs as you circle the bed. You tug the top drawer of your nightstand free and fish out a pair of leather cuffs, lined in soft satin.

He swallows harder.

“You want these?” You whisper, holding them between your pointer fingers and stretching the silver chain taut.

He lets a strangled whine from his throat, nodding eagerly. He holds his hands out to you, palms facing upward. Your smile grows. You smooth a hand up the center of his chest and bend between his outstretched hands to lay a tender kiss on his forehead.

“Uh-uh,” you chide, shaking your head. “Not that way. You know better.”

You take one of his hands- his elbow bends pliantly against your hold- and kiss his palm. Then you buckle him lovingly into one side of the cuffs, running a finger under its edge to make sure it’s not too tight.

You loop the chain through the rungs of your headboard and buckle him into the other cuff.

“Comfy?” You murmur against his cheek.

“Yeah,” he croaks, and when you pull back, his gaze follows you like watched prey. He doesn’t know exactly what you’ve got planned- you’re not sure, either- but he knows it’s going to be good.

You push a knee into the mattress and swing the other over his hips. As your weight settles over his, he gives a soft little grunt, but his eyes rove over your form. You let him look, watching him watch you. Carefully, you dance your fingers across the hem of your t-shirt and lick your lips.

“You wanna touch me, don’t you? Just like this.”

You slide your hands underneath the shirt, pushing it higher as you glide them up your ribcage. He likes touching you beneath your clothes almost more than he likes taking them off of you, and his hips twitch beneath yours as he’s forced to watch you do it instead.

He’s getting harder now- you can feel the firm press of it beneath one thigh- and you give your hips a tiny rock as you pull your hands out from under your shirt and the material falls back down around your body.

“Baby,” he croons, and you give your hips a sharper jerk that makes him yelp.

“Try again.”

His lips purse together- he knows what he’s supposed to call you, but he stumbles over the word.

“M…my lady,” he gasps. Your heart swells.

You love to watch Hawks parade around the city all day long, feathers puffed, head held high. You love the confident air he oozes in interviews and PR campaigns. You adored the cocky speech he gave at the last hero ranking ceremony.

But what you love even more is that he comes home to you, gets down on his knees and calls you his lady.

There’s no other person in the world who gets to see him like this. Even you had to break him down- unpick every stitch, until he tore apart at the seams and showed you his barest, most vulnerable self.

That was when you truly fell in love with him.

Now, you’re in far deeper than you’ll ever know.

“Better,” you purr.

You climb off his lap, crawling down between his legs. He fusses and strains against the cuffs, trying to get a better look at you. His wings are spread neatly behind him, but you can feel the way they twitch and sweep across the mattress in indignation.

He’s getting impatient.

You curl your fingers in the elastic waistband of his undershorts and tug them down to his knees, loving the way he gasps and shudders, lifting his hips as you scrape the fabric out from underneath him.

He’s strong but slender, fine-boned like a raptor. His bronzed skin is dusted all over with golden hair- a dense trail of it leading you to the groomed patch above his flushed and ready cock.

“My perfect man,” you croon, tracing your lips along one thigh. “So pretty. So good for me.”

His eyes fall shut again. You watch his teeth sink into his lower lip. You give the tip of his cock a bare little lick, and he gives you a responsive huff of pleasure.

After that, you don’t waste any time.

You dive in, swallowing his shaft down eagerly. You suck and lick and bob your way along the entire length of him, wrapping a hand around his base and loving the way he keens and moans for you. All the while he calls you as he should, milady falling deftly from his lips between gasps of sensation.

You can read his body like a novel, and when his thighs start to tense and his voice pulls up into his throat, you know he’s getting ready to cum.

You give him three more good sucks. Then you stop. He’s expecting it, but that doesn’t make him ready for it, and his hips buck desperately up as he whines in indignation. His shoulders are taut and grooved as he strains against the cuffs, aching to touch you, finish himself off, anything but this torment he subjected himself to.

But this is why he comes to you.

You’re the only one who can take him to pieces like this.

You lead him to the brink twice more, sucking and licking and stroking selfishly at him, and pulling away at the last available second. It’s the third time you leave him keening and gasping for more that he lets out a little sob, and one word you’ve been waiting all night to hear.

“Please,” he whimpers, and you press your lips to the hollow of his groin. He’s so sensitive now, all drawn up for you with tears streaming down his face. But he’s far too caught up in his desire to be concerned with the things that brought him here to you.

“What was that?” You whisper, tracing your finger along the tip of his flushed cock. It’s scarlet and weeping against his belly now, the skin of his shaft still slick and shiny from your ministrations. His cock bobs with his near-constant squirming, and his shoulders tremble against the pillows as he settles himself and tries again.

“My lady,” he pleads. “Please let me cum. Please, I need it so bad. It hurts, milady, please.”

This is what you’ve both been waiting for. You sit back on your heels, but he’s still trembling and squirming, fussing fitfully with his restraints.

“P-lease,” he persists, his voice breaking in the middle. With a wave of sympathy, you slip out of your t-shirt and lay your bare skin along his, wrapping your arms around his torso. His wing curves instinctively around your body, and he tries to twist his hips to press his cock against you- any form of friction will do.

“Okay,” you whisper, pushing your lips against his jaw. “Don’t worry, baby, don’t worry. I’ll take good care of you. You with me, Kei?”

You stroke his scruffy chin and his eyes flicker open. They’re still filled to the brim with golden desire, but he focuses on you and gives a taut little nod.

“Good.”

With another kiss to his forehead, you straddle him again. This time, it’s with purpose, and you part your slick folds with one hand while bringing the tip of his cock to your entrance with the other. Keigo gasps and tries to thrust into you, but you back off with a stern look.

“Patient.”

He settles.

You try again, easing yourself slowly onto the length of him. He’s been through hell tonight, and he deserves this pleasure. If you had any idea why he needed it like this, you might have been better prepared.

But the blissed-out expression he wears as you bottom out proves that you’re prepared enough.

“Move with me, honey,” you breeze. You ride him slowly, letting his cock pump steadily in and out of you, and he matches your rhythm diligently. Despite the flush that’s crawled all the way down to his chest, and the tension that you can still see pulled tightly across his shoulders, he waits.

You reward him soundly.

All at once you shift your rhythm, pounding yourself up and down with the resounding slap slap slap of your thighs against his. He can’t hold it in any longer and groans, deep and long in his chest, forcing his hips up as yours push down to double the intensity of your undulating bodies.

“Milady,” he pants, and his thighs are starting to tense again.

“Don’t worry, honey,” you promise. “I’m not going to stop this time.”

You reach between your legs to find the swollen nub of your tender clit, rubbing tight circles in time with your thrusts. You’re determined to reach your peak soon after he does, if you can’t get there with him.

When he finally reaches the breaking point, you can see the worry building in his body. After a few rounds of edging he’s nervous, not trusting the sensation of his impending orgasm. But you make good on your promise, forcing him over the edge.

When he finishes, he howls. He throws his head back against the pillows, crying out and pumping his hips wildly up into you. His thrusts are spurred on by the cum that he pumps into your body, and it’s not long before you reach your own tight peak and collapse on top of him, spent.

When your senses return, you unbuckle his hands from each cuff, rubbing his wrists to soothe the memory of restraint. You curl up behind him and wrap your arms and legs around his body. His wing drapes over your shoulder, a quiet act of devotion from your healing lover.

You rub his chest and kiss his shoulder, holding him until his breathing slows and his pulse evens. He falls asleep in your arms without another word.

In the morning, you’ll get the whole story from him. Tonight, you’re just glad to see him resting.

Tonight, you’re just glad that he’s found you.

13-A. work tech or hunter. Please OwO 🌲

“13. kissing under a mistletoe” +  “ A. that leads to sex/nsfw”

Pairing: Hunter x fem!Reader

Warnings: 18+, nsfw, fluff, reader is a slight dom! in this one

Tags: @thegoodbatch @bad-batch-of-fics @sunburstcody @justalittlecloud @clonewars-headcanons @savagesbonergarage @a-dorin @fallenrepublick @gabrielewolffe @clonesandmoans @grand-admiral-luna

I’ve very proud of this one and y’all will see why~ *wiggles eyebrows*

           Todays was a particularly cold day to go tree shopping, but you insisted to do it today since Hunter never gets a day off. The tips of your fingers burn from the frosty air slowly sucking all the warmth from your body. As you and Hunter walk hand-in-hand down the many row of trees, you pull your heavy scarf over your nose to prevent it from becoming more painfully numb.

           Hunter’s toasty grip on your hand suddenly disappears as he walks towards a tree, leaving your fingers to defend for themselves against the icy bitterness. You mentally curse yourself for not wearing thicker gloves.

           “This one.” He turns around and motions towards the baby tree beside him, no more than a few feet tall, and waits for your response.

           “It’s adorable, and a perfect size for our apartment!”

           After giving the owner your shipping address, you and the sergeant widow shop for a bit since the evening was still young. The holiday lights decorating the stores glow against the sidewalk, making the humming town feel magical as the sun begins to quickly disappear into the horizon. Since it was becoming increasing colder, you suggested to stop by a local coffee shop to combat the cold.

           The cup of hot liquids in your hands radiates a cozy heat into your gloves. Holding the cup closer to your body, you delightfully sigh in relief as it defrosts your poor fingers. Hunter chuckles at you, which makes you pout under your scarf.

           “Oh, hush! I get colder—” you notice Hunter looking upwards with a smirk tugging his lips “—what is it?”

           When you tip your head backwards to see what your lover is looking at, your eyes go wide. There is an innocent mistletoe staring back down at you and your cheeks instantly flush with searing blood. Hunter looks down at you and grins, eyebrow quirked. You quickly advert your eyes.

           “Well?” Hunter tilts his head.

           You muffle a low excuse that your nose if too cold for you to pull down your scarf. The sergeant shakes his head and huffs a small laugh, white breath clouding into the night air. His thumb and index finger grip the thick fabric covering your face and gently slide it over your nose and off your chin, exposing your lips to the icy breeze. Gradually, Hunter leans down closer to your face. His impossibly warm lips press against your cold ones and both of you share this innocent moment under the mistletoe. When Hunter’s tongue darts forwards, your lips part and allow the wet muscle to enter your mouth. You breathe heavily through your nose as the kiss deepens and the sergeant, hands on your hips, pushes your body closer to his. His gloved fingers dig into your hips through your dense jacket which makes you moan into his agape mouth. You finally break apart and stay close to each other’s face.

           “Seems like you don’t need that scarf anymore to keep you warm now.”

           You swat Hunter’s arm while holding back an embarrassed smile

           “We should go home,” you suggest quickly before continuing down the sidewalk.

~

           Back at your apartment, you find yourself crushed against the wall, mouth being assaulted by the man in front of you. You coo into Hunter’s mouth as you both desperately cling to each other while yanking and stripping the layers of clothes off each other’s bodies.

           “I would love to open my Christmas gift early this year,” he growls, kissing the curve of your jawline.

           Somehow, without tripping over the multiple items of disposed clothes, you push the sergeant onto the bed and straddle his hips. He squeezes the soft tissue of your ass as you hump the protruding tent in his boxers, getting a groan to escape his chest. Your hands travel down his bumpy abs before delving into his underwear.

           Hunter hisses, scratching his fingernails down your back, when you grip his cock and fist him roughly. Sitting up, you lean over to grab a condom and a bottle of lube from your nightstand. You drizzle some of the lube onto your hand and get to work massaging his cock until he’s hard and upright. The sergeant’s breathing becomes shallow and uneven as you pump the shaft faster. The feeling of his cock gliding through your hand sends a pulse of arousal to dampen your inner thighs. Hunter’s bated whines become harder to control as you continue to jerk him into a blissful orgasm. With one loud curse, head flying backwards into the pillow, the head of his cock spurts a long string of pearly cum onto his taut stomach.

           After you wipe up eat the cum off Hunter’s stomach, it does not take long to rip open and pull a condom over his slippery cock. You situate yourself over it and sink down with a broken, satisfied moan, mouth making an ‘o’ from how good he feels splitting your walls open. Thrusting deeply into him, loud pants exhale from your throat as your hips find a steady pace above your lover. You ride Hunter like this for a while until you both perspire from the heat of sex.

           “That’s it. So pretty riding your Alpha like this,” Hunter purrs, hands guiding your hips as you steadily bounce towards release.

           The lewd smack of wet skin echoes through the air. Hips rolling faster, your walls clamp around the cock diving in and out of your squelching folds. It is not long before Hunter tenses, fingers indenting your ass, while you finally come with a loud cry and fall apart.

           In your post-bliss state, you lean down, pull Hunter’s hair, and expose his neck for you to assault and leave some revenge hickeys (which he will no doubt sport confidently around the boys tomorrow). The sergeant just smiles and playfully smacks your ass as you continue to turn this “early Christmas gift” into your own.

Happy Birthday @pon-ee​ ! I know we’re giving you your gift a whole day early but... LOL shenenagians. Here’s to another year of discord friendship. @soraofskye and I collaborated to put this together- I’m sure you can figure out who did what... and if you can’t, then it’s a mystery.

In celebration of your birthday and the birth of Ume, please enjoy the drawing and story of Siren Ume and Sea Monster Levi. ------

“I told you not to touch Ruri-Chan!” Leviathan exclaimed, his anger clearly showing as his second brother’s hand ran across his display of figurines. “Don’t touch anything on the shelf! I don’t want your filthy hands on it.”

Mammon rolled his eyes, “It’s just a toy, Levi. You can get another one.”

Leviathan stamped his foot in frustration. These normies just did not understand, “This is a limited edition figurine that I waited 5 hours in line for. DO. NOT. TOUCH.” 

Of course, Mammon, The Avatar of Greed did not want to listen. No one tells THE Mammon what he can or cannot do. Grabbing the figurine off of the shelf, Mammon dangled it in front of Leviathan’s face, “Whoops, my hand slipped.”

And that was all that it took for a fight to break out. In a quick flash, the other brothers were in Leviathan’s room, holding Mammon and Leviathan apart from each other. Lucifer sighed and shook his head, “One day of peace… that’s all I ask.” Then he looked up at the both of them, “Both of you, OUT. Until you’ve cooled yourselves down, do not come back.”

Now Leviathan found himself walking towards the outskirts of Devildom without a destination in sight. The quiet night did nothing to calm the anger that was buzzing through his mind. Leviathan sighed and shoved his hands into his pocket. Stupid Mammon. It was all his fault, why was Leviathan blamed in this? If Mammon had only listened, he would’ve still been at home playing his newest game.

Walking around aimlessly, Leviathan found himself staring into the depths of the ocean when the cold water hit his feet, shaking him out of his thoughts. “Maybe a swim will help me calm down,” Leviathan murmured, mostly to himself. He closed his eyes and summoned his demon self, a sense of relief flooded through him as he felt his horns and tail emerge. 

Leviathan sunk into the cold water, stretching himself out, allowing the water to flow seamlessly along his scales on his body. Yes, this was what he needed. Diving deeper, Leviathan allowed his eyes to adjust to the dark waters. In his true form his amber eyes seemed to glow along with the purple scales on his tail. The other fish in the sea started swimming in the opposite direction, as if they sensed a stronger presence around them. That didn’t bother Leviathan. He usually enjoyed swimming alone; it allowed him to clear his mind. 

Diving deeper into the ocean, Leviathan started swimming towards the forest to his favorite spot. It was a secluded spot a few miles away from the shore. Not many demons knew about that area. Leviathan swam slow, humming his favorite song while gliding through the ocean. A few moments later, Leviathan emerged to the surface, moving towards the rocks on the shallow end of the shore that started to come into focus. The lower half of his body rested in the water, as he propped himself up against the rocks. Leaning back and looking up at the night sky, Leviathan was already in a much better mood.

Leviathan sighed. Eventually he was going to have to go back home. It was still so unfair. He groaned, sinking his face back into the water in frustration. Leviathan pouted underwater. He folded his arms across his chest and took a deep breath and began counting. 1… 2… 3… 4…

His meditation was cut off when he heard a soft voice in the distance. Opening his eyes curiously, Leviathan’s head turned the direction of the sound that was coming from deep within the forest. Who was out there? No one knew about this place but him. 

The words he heard sounded foreign. Gliding closer to the sound, he focused on the lyrics on the words.

Follow the siren’s song To face this empty cycle Searching the darkest nights Searching the silence

Leviathan’s eyes widened as he slid behind the tree trunk. Sitting on a rock ahead was a siren. The moonlight shining down on her body. Beautiful green eyes staring up at the moon, with pink hair flowing down to her waist. Her tail was a magnificent dark blue, with long fins, that swayed under the waters. As she continued singing, Leviathan found himself entranced with her voice. Unable to look away, he stayed; mesmerized by her beauty and drawn in by her voice. No wonder why they say sirens are dangerous creatures. 

Leviathan shifted himself, causing the water to ripple through. Noticing the movement the singing stopped. The siren glanced over at Leviathan’s direction, “W-Who’s there?” She asked hesitantly, slowly moving her body back into the waters.

“Sorry,” Leviathan grumbled, turning a slight red from being caught, “I didn’t know someone else was here. I just heard you singing.” He moved from his hiding spot and swam out where the siren would be able to see him. 

The siren blushed, “Well, this is embarrassing,” she let out what sounded like a frustrated laugh. “My name is Ume.” She offered, looking at Leviathan. 

“Leviathan, but you can call me Levi.”

Ume gave a small smile, “So… do you come here often?”

Unable to look away from Ume, Leviathan shrugged, “Sometimes, when I need to get away from my brothers. They can be annoying.” 

Ume chuckled, but it sounded bitter, “I know what that’s like.” She sighed, “I needed to get away from my sisters,” she confessed, “And when I stumbled upon this place I thought it would be perfect.”

Leviathan nodded, unsure of what to say next. An awkward silence filled the air between them. Think of something to say! Leviathan cursed silently at himself.

“I’m supposed to be working right now,” Ume spoke again after the moment of silence, “But… I’m nervous and I ended up coming here instead.” Her voice trailed away with a twinge of regret. 

Curiously, Leviathan looked at her, completely mesmerized by the beautiful green eyes that looked back at him, “What’s your job supposed to be?”

Ume giggled, she found him endearing. A little awkward, but very endearing. “I’m a siren,” she said thoughtfully, “So I should be in the human realm with my sisters right now, seducing men and dragging them into the depths of the ocean.”

“Somehow you don’t sound excited to do that,” Leviathan countered, noticing the sadness on her face.

Ume sighed, “I’ve never done it before,” she said quietly. “What if my voice isn’t good enough to draw in attention? What if I let the person get away?” She blinked quickly, almost as if she was forcing her tears back. “My sisters… They’re all good at being sirens. They’re seductive, enchanting… and they get the job done. What if I... can’t?” 

“You managed to seduce a sea monster and you’re doubting that you could seduce a human?” Leviathan muttered under his breath. His face turned a bright red when he realized he spoke loudly enough for her to hear. 

Ume blushed, holding her hands up to cover the small smile on her face, “... D-Do you really mean that?”

Leviathan nodded, his eyes gazing around at anything but her. Ume smiled, her gaze at Leviathan softened, “Maybe… You can come and help me practice.” She said quietly.

“Help?” Leviathan asked quizzically. “How would I help you?”

“I wouldn’t mind having more practice singing… and maybe we could role play what could possibly happen if I went out to the human realm.” Ume suggested, “Maybe that would help me out.”

Did he just manage to score a date with a siren? Leviathan nodded, not trusting his words. Ume smiled brightly at him, “Great! I’ll see you back here tomorrow, same time! Thanks Levi!”

Waving at him, Ume dipped down below the waters and began swimming the other way. Leviathan watched her leave, his heart pounding loudly in his chest. 

—-

And this was how Leviathan found himself anxiously waiting for the days to end so he could leave the house at the same time every night, swimming over to the secluded forest where he would find Ume.

Every night she would be there, greeting him with the biggest smile on her face, “Hi Levi!” And he would listen to her singing. She never failed to capture his attention, her voice, her smile, her movements underwater… Leviathan found himself looking forward to these meetings every night. 

“Levi, if you were a human… would you come during my song?” Ume asked one night. She was laying down on the rock, playing with some seaweed that was tangled up on her tail.

Leviathan nodded, “Absolutely.” He swam around, folding his hands and resting his chin on the space next to her. He gazed up at her, a soft smile playing on his lips, “It would be like one of the anime’s that I have watched… a human hears a siren sing and he just can’t help but go towards her. And when the siren pulls him down the ocean with her, he leaves with no regrets.”

Ume beamed, reaching over to tuck a strand of his hair away from his eyes, “Thanks Levi. Practicing with you makes me feel like I could actually do this.”

Leviathan blushed, “Want to practice again?” He quickly asked, wanting to avoid the embarrassing feelings that were threatening to spill from his heart.

Ume nodded enthusiastically. Leviathan swam over to the other side of the lake. Aside from listening to her sing, they practiced every night. They would role play a scenario where Leviathan would pretend he was a human taking a swim in the ocean and would eventually be secluded by the siren he came across.

Ume began to sing, her voice steadily filling in the quiet night. It’s strange, Leviathan thought to himself. No matter how many times he heard her song, it always felt like the first time. He was mesmerized, enchanted, addicted to her voice. Maybe even addicted to her; her voice was like a drug that kept drawing him in. He felt his body flow naturally, swimming over towards her gently. It took no effort at all. It seemed as if her voice called for him and his body had no choice but to respond.

As Leviathan approached Ume, she leaned over to him, reaching a hand up to caress his face. His heart thumped wildly as his head leaned into her touch. Leviathan allowed her siren spell to take over him. Gazing into her green eyes he felt like he was in a trance. One that he never wanted to leave. Maybe this was why the victims of sirens left with no regrets. The feeling was euphoric; Ume could sing to him everyday and he would never tire of it.

Ume caressed his face, noticing how soft he felt against her hands. Her eyes interlocked with his amber ones as she noticed a passion burning in them. Ume felt her cheeks grow hot, but continued her song. She leaned in closer, drawing his face closer to hers. Their foreheads touched, and without breaking eye contact, Ume continued to venture, pulling him closer and closer. Both of them moved in so slowly, Ume gasped, realizing how close their lips were before pulling away. She blushed, unable to look at Leviathan who was conveniently looking the other way.

“T-That was good,” Leviathan broke the silence. “Y-You’d definitely be able to seduce a human.” 

“Thanks,” Ume murmured back quietly. She snuck a glance at him, heart beating quickly at the sight of his flushed face and the sincerity she felt from him. “Do you think… you could come with me to the human realm tomorrow?” She mumbled..

Leviathan finally looked up at her, “What do you mean?”

Ume took a deep breath, “I think… I’m ready to give it a try…” Then she turned and looked at him, “But I was hoping you could be there with me. After practicing with you… It’s made me more comfortable. I was hoping that you could kinda be there as… support?”

Leviathan nodded. Of course he would be there for her.

“You are the best,” Ume gushed with relief lacing her voice. “I’ll see you back here tomorrow and we can swim over together.” Gathering up the courage, Ume swam over and gave Leviathan a soft kiss on his cheek, “Thank you,” she murmured, before diving down and swimming away.

Instinctively, Leviathan reached up and touched the cheek she had kissed. A little dazed by what just happened, Leviathan stayed in place, watching her swim away. A wide smile began to form on his face as the heat began to spread. 

He couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come. 

Y’all know that horrifically angsty fic that I’ve been talking about and preemptively apologizing for the last few days? I finished it 

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25965787/chapters/63401863

Content warnings: major character death, grieving, brief but somewhat graphic description of violence, blood.

___

At the end of the day, it’s just...bad luck.

Bad luck that Teba’s still unsteady on his horse, and the focus he has to devote to staying upright in the saddle takes away from the careful eye he’d typically have on their surroundings. Bad luck that the skies open up and send down upon them a light mist, urging their little party into a canter in a futile attempt to reach the nearest stable before they’re all soaked through. Bad luck that Revali and Link insist on bantering the whole time, because of course they do. Bad luck that thanks to this precise combination of factors, none of them hear the low thrum of galloping horses, off to the left side of the road, far away but approaching fast.

Bad luck that Link turns to face Teba at exactly the wrong moment, and the arrow that had been about to hit him in the shoulder instead lands square in the middle of his throat.

It’s over in less than a minute. Revali immediately leaps off of his horse, summons an updraft, soars into the air, and in one fluid movement takes his bow off his back, nocks an arrow, and shoots down the bokoblin as it waves its bow in the air in triumph. Teba is half a second behind him, taking a moment to assess the situation— two more bokoblin on horseback, one wielding a club and the other a spear— before springing into action, unslinging his own bow and knocking the club-wielder off its horse with an arrow to the chest. He turns his aim to the other just as Revali dives down upon it, talons digging into its shoulders, pulling it off of its horse and dragging it viciously across the ground until it goes still. Teba lands and does a quick once-over. As soon as he’s certain that they aren’t in any more immediate danger, he sprints back over to the horses, panic building rapidly in his chest. 

Link lies sprawled out on the side of the road, eyes closed, and for one long, hysterical, hopeful second, Teba thinks he might sit up and cough and wipe the blood from his tunic and give him that ridiculous little grin he puts on every time Teba frets over one of his wounds. But he doesn’t move, and his face is so white, and there’s a ragged hole straight through the middle of his throat and so much blood and a horrible weight starts to settle itself in Teba’s stomach.

This can’t be his Link. His Link is always moving, fidgeting, full of nervous energy. His Link is rosy cheeks and a smile like the sun and only ever just enough blood to make him worry. His Link is alive, and this limp, pale thing lying in front of him is...not.

Behind him, Revali screams.

Teba knows he should feel...something. Shock. Anger. Grief. Guilt. But they don’t come. All he feels is the weight. In a daze, he stands and walks over to Link’s horse, which is tossing its head and shuffling about, clearly spooked. She quiets as he approaches, and he rifles through her saddlebag until he finds bandages and Link’s cloak. 

He starts by dressing the wound, wiping away the blood as best he can and carefully wrapping bandages around Link’s neck. As he works, Revali collapses next to him, laying his head on Link’s chest as he weeps. Once Teba finishes and the ugly gash is hidden but for a small red spot in the front of the bandages, he takes Revali by the shoulders and pulls gently. 

“Revali,” he says quietly, and his lover looks up at him, eyes desperate and deeply, impossibly sad. Teba tugs at him again, and this time he comes, wrapping his wings so tightly around Teba’s chest that it nearly knocks the wind out of him and letting out a ragged wail. Teba holds him close, awkwardly patting his back in some vague, wholly inadequate attempt at comfort, and Revali buries his head in the crook of Teba’s neck, breaking off into quiet, choked sobs.

They sit there, on the side of the road. Time passes. The rain passes. Travelers pass, too, but they pay them no mind, and the few that dare to approach wither rapidly under Teba’s glare. Revali clings to him, head tucked underneath Teba’s beak and eyes tightly shut, as if he could fight off the crushing reality simply by refusing to acknowledge it. Teba just stares. He stares for so long that he very nearly convinces himself that he’s used to it. As if he could ever accept this image of Link, pale as death and motionless in a puddle of his own blood.

Eventually, Revali opens his eyes and disentangles himself from Teba. He draws in a deep, rattling breath, leaning into Teba’s side for support. 

“We should bury him,” he mutters, and Teba furrows his brow in confusion.

“What?”

Revali gestures toward Link. Towards Link’s body. “We should bury him,” he says again, louder this time, and he sounds as empty as Teba feels. “That’s what...that’s what Hylians do with their—” 

He cuts himself off before the last word, and Teba puts a wing around his shoulder. With their dead, he thinks. Link is dead. 

He doesn’t say that. Instead, he says “we don’t have a shovel,” because maybe focusing on these kinds of petty material concerns will help the both of them turn their minds away from the horrible pit of darkness rapidly opening up beneath their feet. Another thought occurs to him, and he grabs onto it with all the desperation of a drowning man to a rope. “Shouldn’t we bring him to the castle? We’re nearly at Tabantha Bridge, and it’s only a couple days’ travel from the stable there.”

Revali shakes his head, and Teba notes with relief that he seems grateful for the distraction. “He wouldn’t— I don’t think he’d want all the ceremony. I suppose we could bring him back to the village, but…” He trails off, sagging a little, and Teba tightens his grip on his shoulder. “I can’t bear it, Teba, the thought of...of fucking carting him around for a whole day, I just can’t.”

“Yeah.” The telltale sting of tears pricks hard behind Teba’s eyes all of a sudden, but some ridiculous urge to hold himself together, for Revali’s sake if nothing else, has him blinking them back. “I...I could fly over to the stable, see if I can get us a shovel.” He sees Revali’s eyes widen in alarm, and he quickly amends the statement. “Or you could, and I’ll wait here. You’re faster than me anyway.”

“OK.” Revali exhales shakily and bows his head. “OK. OK, I can do that,” he says quietly, and it sounds more like he’s trying to convince himself than anything. Teba squeezes his shoulder once more before letting go, and he reluctantly pulls himself away from Teba’s side and to his feet. He takes in a deep breath, crouches, summons another updraft, and spirals off into the sky.

Teba watches him glide away, until he’s nothing but a small speck on the horizon. Then he turns his attention back to Link. He carefully slides one wing underneath his neck and the other behind his knees, ignoring the sickening feeling of blood soaking into his feathers, and lifts him up, cradling the limp body to his chest. Leaning down, he presses his forehead to Link’s, gently rubbing his beak against Link’s nose as he had used to do every night as they settled into bed. The thought hits him like a ton of bricks. Had used to. He would never say goodnight to Link again.

“I’m sorry, love,” he whispers into Link’s ear, and the last of his composure crumbles. He dissolves into tears, clamping his beak shut and rocking back and forth, trying desperately to swallow his sobs until it’s too much and they burst out in short, painful gasps. The weight in his stomach vanishes, replaced by the awful, vertiginous feeling of free-fall, spiraling down and out and his wings are slick and wet and saturated with red and bile starts to rise in his throat and—

“Oh, Teba,” is all he hears Revali say, before the shovel clatters to the ground and the dead weight in his arms is carefully lifted away and placed gingerly on the ground. He collapses forward, into Revali’s wings, feels his lover rest his head on his shoulder and feels his tears fall softly onto his neck. Revali says something else, inaudible over the blood pounding in Teba’s ears. He just shakes his head, pressing his face into Revali’s chest and wills himself to find his composure again, to ground himself, to save this debilitating grief for nights back home.

They fall into autopilot, eventually. They take turns with the shovel to dig a shallow grave, and Teba wraps Link in his cloak before lowering him into the fresh, damp dirt. He watches numbly as Revali slowly covers him, staring at his face, trying to affix every last detail of it in his mind before it’s covered up as well. Gone forever. No sign left of him but a pathetic little mound of overturned earth.

At Tabantha Bridge Stable, Revali returns the shovel and turns in their horses. They rent a single bed, a good foot and a half too short for Teba, but he spends the night curled around Revali anyway because letting him out of his sight for even a moment is utterly unthinkable.

In the morning, there are no words, just despairing glances and blinked-back tears. They fly back to the village, and by some unspoken agreement land not there but at the Flight Range, which is mercifully empty. It’s saturated with Link’s absence, more than anywhere in the village proper, but it is their sanctuary and nothing, not even this calamitous emptiness, can take that away from them.

Teba cooks dinner. He burns the fish to hell, and neither of them have any appetite anyway, so he just throws it away. They sit and stare at the fire, Revali’s head in Teba’s lap. Link sits across from them, a ghost neither of them thinks the other can see, and his smile is worth all of the words he can no longer say.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Teba says quietly, and Revali sits up. He wraps a single wing around the back of Teba’s neck and pulls him in close, pressing their foreheads together, and gently rubs their beaks together.

“I know,” he responds. “Me neither.”

Can you please write a jungkook smut with a tongue piercing!!! 💦💕

yall love long hair jk so much so this is also a tribute to that. we never got the manbun 😔 i wrote hard to make up to all the shitty drabbles ive been making lately

[[MORE]]

“I did something,” the air smells so much more like him, and he speaks as if his lips are a broken seal. He holds a breath two seconds too long. “I was in my scene element. And drunk. I don’t hate it, but I need your judgement ‘cause it’s the best.”

“I missed you,” is what you muster.

“Were you listening?”

“I missed you.”

“I’ll kiss you then you’ll know,” he nods. You’re a bit puzzled over it, but no consequence can amount to the mention of something you’ve craved. His hair’s a tad bit longer now, too.

“Please.”

And just like that, inside, it’s utter devastation. An urge to go full homicidal on everyone but him, bittersweet, painstaking I-missed-you-so-much kiss, and he spans his hand against your back so he can kiss you harder. His lips are heavily balmed. That’s the first thing you discern, the first taste that glides against your tongue, and you don’t feel the second thing coming. He’s feverish, insisting, and your eyes bulge at the feel of a miniscule bead that pokes at your mouth.

Can’t be food. It’s hard, and your lips slow before he pulls away entirely.

He bites his lip, and you can’t shake away the way you know they taste like you. You have seconds too few to process.

“Your tongue. Pierced?”

He sticks his tongue out. There it is. Silver, shiny against the uneven soak of his muscle. Like a hard pearl on a soft bed. Something about it ticking something in you. Maybe it’s a reminder that you know Jungkook’s father would never approve of it, that the body is a temple, and it shouldn’t be vandalised. Then that’s a reminder of when Jungkook confessed his utter obsession for you, spoken in tongues and slurs of pleasure and how his body is your temple. And yours his. You pull his face to yours, and he jumps in fright. Softens when he figures out what you’re doing. Turns molten gold around his edges.

To him, this is your judgement. And without feeling obligated to, he longs to reward you for it, kicking shoes off, almost stumbling over himself. Fluid of love upon love on his tongue, and you’re not sure if you can catch up, but you make up for it with bane tugs on his shirt, exhaling hard on his face like he’ll feel how still the air’s been. He has you against the wall.

“So you like it,” he muffles against your neck, wet smacks, and his fingers already tugging at the band of your shorts.

“Uhuh,” you try to meet eyes, but he keeps your head perched up while he leaves roses on your skin. “Shirt off, baby.”

He’s quick to listen, pulling from the back, fabric static running against the long hairs on the back of his head. It’s your mind, but you like to think you feel all that charge rush through you. Descending where he kisses you. He keeps shoving you against the wall when you can’t be pushed any more so you feel the solid frame of his body, his heat.

You can bleed on your diary. Stroke every word that describes how much he makes you so engrossed. His manner. When he lifts every crease of fabric from your clothes just so you can feel his direct kiss on your skin. It’s warm and tingly and all kinds of afflicting.

“Jungkook,” you whine, keeping your fingertips on him like he can slip away any second. He kisses your womb just as he tugs your garments down, pulls it hurriedly off your feet. “Jungkook.”

“Yes,” his mutter is low, enough so it makes you think you just hear it in your head.

“W-Want you.”

You see his pupils dilate under his windowing bangs, growing a darker shade than his hair so that’s how you notice. There’s an attitude to it. Almost possessive, just as addicted, the way he presses his lips tight together that it draws lines on his cheeks, flexes his jaw when he takes in the scent of your prey. He hikes your thigh on his shoulder, keeps you on your toes. Against the wall meters across a bay window too far for the sunlight to reach you, where all you can see is Jungkook crouched under your heat, the span of his back and pull of his muscle under the milky skin. You comb his hair back, watch the way his eyes buzz every time you pull and then fixate back on your every ministration. He’s taking notes. Then he kisses your pulse, where you’re throbbing. Makes you forget at that second but instantly remember when he licks up to your clit, the piercing a direct, own pierce to your nerves.

“Oh—Oh,” you respond, nearly jumping on your toes. He groans back at you with your soft tugs on his hair. Already sweating.

He softens you with kisses, warm, and his lips feel like flower petals. Making your cheeks feel sluggish and your thigh on his shoulder tense. “Thought about this every day I was away,” he mutters. You mewl, shallow, slow breaths. “Made me so hard all the time, I had to do something about it every fucking day,” he buries his face between your thighs, extending his assault longer than you can bare, tongue running quickly over and over where you’re pulsating.

“Hah—ah, Jungkook—,” your head curls to your side, eyes shut like it can make you handle it. There’s a filthy image in your head, of him keeping the shower running just to muffle the restrained noise of his throat and his hand on his cock. He slows again. The fatigue is heavy.

“Does it feel good?,” his breath is scalding, bait and your fingers are lured, nails scraping his scalp just to bring him closer again. The growl in his throat is more of a low hum.

“It’s so good,” you’re breathless.

He muffles a cocky Yeah? against your pussy when he dives in again, a quick pace against your clit, and you swear you want to combust right at that second.

“Sogood—Jesus, fuck!,” you pull too hard at his hair; your eyes shoot open, just to see the crimson of his blood under his skin. A teased, lust-driven man, reeking of pride and an ever-living will to make his girl fall apart right above him. He’s so, so handsome. It’s not long before you’re squnting again, body writhing at the indecision to where you’re putting your weight. He isn’t stopping. You’re out of breath. “Ah, fuck—ah, god.”

Jungkook doesn’t see himself halting. He likes the way you’re burning, exasperation hanging over your head, but it feels too good to crash down, so you squirm and keep yourself upright where you can feel his tongue. He hums another self-congratulatory moan against your cunt, makes sure you feel it in your soul.

You can’t open your eyes, and your ears refuse to hear anything but the pair of you.

Then he slows again. Before your mind can even comprehend it, your body’s already pleading, fingers reaching for his face, tugging in desperate need for a finish, and your tongue—already curled in a series of Pleases he chuckles to.

“You’re fucking—,” he kisses hard against your heat, cools down the throbbing and the red of your chest. “Can’t stop tasting you; I don’t wanna stop,” he makes it sound like a sweet, when it’s the threat of an ever-living assault on your pussy. One that’ll make your legs and mind fucked out jelly to the next day.

You’re taken aback, but your mind’s quick to register his fast tongue against you yet again, gliding quickly over your clit and repeatedly making you thrash. You let your body swallow it, your pussy clenching and unclenching around nothing, and your cries are the best fucking music he’s listened to. Cleaning you up, finishing you. “F-Fu—ahshh—shitshitshit,” you hold his head firm for him, make the feel of his piercing feel more like a stab in your guts. You let it wash over you until everything’s nothing but white noise, and Jungkook has practically came a bit in his pants. You don’t know why, but you want to cry.

He has your weight around his waist, your back against the wall, breaths thrown over his shoulder. He kisses in to your neck, listening to you soften, because if he can’t pick the way you scream as his favourite sound, it’s the sound you make, or the lack thereof, when your heart is swelling.

Unintended Consequences

Fandom: Hermitcraft

Ships: None/gen

words: 2434

Warnings: self-blame, suffocation/inability to breathe, blood (that makes it sound so much worse than it is)

Ao3: Here!

Grian tossed the carved glass idol back and forth between his hands with a frown. "Still not feeling anything." He held it up so the sunlight refracted through the cyan crystals. "It’s pretty and all, but not magical."

Scar huffed and took the crystal back. "What's making you different from everyone else? The only other immune person is Mumbo, but he's a null." Scar went silent for a moment. "You aren't a null, right?"

Grian laughed. "Nope, not a null. Magic still affects me like normal." 

Scar scowled and paced for a moment. "What am I missing? What makes you different?"

Grian grinned and shrugged. "I guess I'm special." He leaned against Larry's shell and crossed his arms. "Why are you so worked up about this? So I'm not affected by the crystals, which I'm still not convinced are actually magic? What's the big deal?"

Scar shook his head and began putting the small bits of rainbow back into the mess of shulker boxes outside his base. "It doesn't add up. Mumbo's a null so of course, they didn't affect him. Everyone else had notable reactions. Some were stronger than others, yeah, but there was always something."

Grian snorted and tightened the straps on his elytra. "Sure, dude. Either they aren't magic or I'm special." He walked forward and punched Scar's shoulder. "I have my base to work on, but let me know if you want me to hold a different piece of pretty glass."

"Of cour- Hey, they're not just glass!" Grian laughed as he flew over the treeline and out of view.

Scar sighed and turned his attention back to cleaning up the shulker boxes from his latest improvements to his magical village. 

What was the missing variable? They'd already confirmed Grian wasn't a null. But if magic affected him, then the crystals should as well. 

He furrowed his eyebrows and stared at the cyan statue Grian held earlier. If he focused, he could feel the faint pulse of magic within the glass, but it felt off somehow. Not necessarily wrong, but different. Slightly to the left. Warmer but sharper than the normal cyan statues. It took a moment to place, but it had the same energy as salt. Huh. That’s not normal.

Scar frowned and shoved the crystal into his ender chest. He needed to look into that as soon as possible.

**********

Grian flew over the top of the jungle, grinning as the wind buffeted his skin. He may be known for building, but the sky was his true domain. No one could match him in elytra dexterity nor enthusiasm for avoiding the ground.

He scanned the forest canopy and zeroed in on a small black frame on top of one of the tallest trees. With a flutter of adrenaline, he flattened his wings to his back and went into a dive.

Blood roared in his ears as his speed built. 

Faster and faster in freefall, anyone less foolhardy would have pulled out by then. Grian prided himself on not being most people.

He flared his wings at the last second and landed in a roll in front of his nether portal. He hopped to his feet and walked through, only to take off once more.

Grian smiled breathlessly as he glided over the nether ceiling to the shopping district. He wouldn't trade flying for anything.

**********

Grian was bored out of his skull. He ran out of dark prismarine for the roof of his base. His chest hurt. He felt like generalized garbage. A good prank would get him feeling back on track. 

He chuckled and took off with a shot of fireworks. It didn’t take long for Iskall’s Omega Tree of Fun and Happiness to appear on the horizon. Grian adjusted his angle and landed gracefully on a branch. 

When he didn’t immediately find his quarry, Grian floated down the trunk in a lazy spiral and scanned the interior.

Iskall wasn’t in the center, nor any of the little cave things. Grian groaned and flopped onto the grassy floor. He didn’t want to run all over the server, he could be anywhere and while Grian wasted a lot of fireworks, he didn’t want to buy more so soon.

... They both have communicators. Oops.

Grian: Iskallllllllll

Iskall85: what’s up?

Grian: I’m so bored

FalseSymmetry: oh no.

Grian: Where are you?

Iskall: I’m camping the button. Don’t expect much entertainment from me

Grian: okay sure :)

Grian grinned and shoved his communicator back into his pocket, ignoring any other pings from it. He dashed over into Iskall’s portal and jumped inside.

Acrid, dry air hit his lungs like a thousand needles. Grian gasped and doubled over in a coughing fit. He shook it off after a moment, but nagging worry nestled in the back of his mind.

Grian took off towards the button. He didn’t plan how he would mess with Iskall, but something to fill his time would be better than wandering around the jungle or the shopping district doing nothing.

As he neared his target, Grian’s chest tightened. Panic grew as his flight faltered and he choked on air.

He landed on his feet but crumpled to the ground behind the button throne. His throat burned. He struggled to push himself into a sitting position. 

“Grian! Are you okay?” Iskall ran over and kneeled in front of him, Mumbo on his heels. Iskall slung an arm across Grian’s shoulders and pulled him upright. Grian’s breath hitched. He coughed into his hand. When he drew it back, his fingers were splattered with warm blood.

Iskall cursed and picked him up bridal style. He yelled something to Mumbo, but Grian couldn’t hear. Everything sounded far away. Black spots overtook his vision. Grian fainted.

***********

Grian just coughed up blood. Blood. Something was very wrong with this picture, and it was the color red.

Iskall clutched a shaking, unconscious Grian to his chest and stood up. “Mumbo, can you-“

“Already on it.” Iskall glanced over his shoulder. Mumbo typed a message on his communicator. “We need to get him out of the nether.”

Iskall nodded and started running towards the shopping district portal. It was at least a central location. They could plan better from there. The communicators pinged again. Iskall didn’t stop to check.

Mumbo did mid-stride. He read out the message with a shaking voice. “Change of plans, reroute to Scar’s base! He says he knows what’s going on.”

Iskall didn’t have time to question. He changed his angle and arrived at the new portal.

***********

Scar clenched his hands tighter around his communicator to keep them from trembling. Horror pooled in his stomach as he read the latest message.

MumboJumbo: Grian coughed up blood and passed out. Can someone meet us in the shopping district with healing potions?

Scar punched in a response before anyone else could.

Goodtimeswithscar: Bring him to my village. I think I know what’s going on.

For once, the variables fell into place. Grian and the idol were in a positive feedback loop of magic alterations. He changed the idol; the idol changed him. People’s auras reacting unexpectedly to the crystals wasn’t even unprecedented. Grian had a delayed reaction.

A tendril of guilt twisted around Scar’s mind. He made no attempt to refute it as he walked out of his base wearing a stoic mask. He had no time for a pity party.

With a stack of dirt from his inventory, he built a shallow wading pool into the lake by Larry. He placed the last few blocks as Iskall and Mumbo stumbled through his nether portal.

Scar jerked his head up, and made contact with Iskall’s fear-filled eyes. No time to waste. “Bring him over!”

The two of them dashed over. “What’s the pond for?” Mumbo asked.

Scar neglected to answer as Iskall shifted Grian’s weight to his arms. His breath was weak. His skin was sallow. Scar lowered him into the water and removed the dull sweater swamping his scrawny frame.

Hundreds of pale beige scales interlocked over Grian’s torso and down his arms. Large gill slits crossed his sides. They fluttered delicately as Grian began to cycle water.

“Oh my goodness,” Mumbo said. “When did...?”

Scar didn’t tear his gaze away from the person he’d hurt. “Recently,” Scar said. “In the past week, at most.” Scar screwed his eyes shut and hauled himself out of the waist-deep pool.

“I wanted to know why he hadn’t reacted to the crystals.” He scowled and the dirt. “Turns out he did. Just very slowly.”

*************

“Are you saying this is your fault?” Iskall asked, voice low and dangerous. Mumbo jerked his head up from staring at Grian’s prone form. Iskall glared daggers at Scar, who raised his hands in a placating gesture.

“It’s not like I could have seen this coming!” Scar gestured at Grian. “Only Ren and Cub had serious side effects, but it still wasn’t anything like this!” He looked helplessly to- “Mumbo, you get this, right?”

“I-”

Iskall’s hands balled into fists. “Grian passed out because of something you did.” Scar flinched at the words and wrung his hands together. Iskall took a step forward. “I hope that you have a plan to fix this.”

Mumbo grabbed his shoulder and squeezed. “Iskall, control yourself. Getting angry won’t solve anything.” He turned and met Mumbo’s gaze. The aggression in his eyes faded as fast as it appeared. His shoulders slumped as if drained of energy. Scar relaxed in turn.

“Sorry, sorry. I’m just worried.” Iskall groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “This isn’t how I expected my day to go.”

Scar laughed humorlessly. “Don’t I know it.” He turned towards Larry and gestured for Iskall to follow. “Come on, I have a few ideas for a reversal.”

Mumbo shooed the two of them off and took a seat by Grian’s pool of water. He drew up his legs and rested his chin on his knees. Grian almost looked peaceful. With his head resting on the dirt and his eyes closed as if sleeping, Mumbo could pretend nothing had changed, even for just a moment. As his gaze drew down to the glinting scales and gills, Mumbo scowled and knitted up his eyebrows.

If there was one thing Mumbo hated, it was not understanding. Magic had always been beyond him. He recognized the principles on an intellectual level, but magic was inexact and variable. Given that he couldn’t interact with it without potions or an enchanting table, it’s not like he studied it for himself.

Mumbo looked back to Grian’s face and prepared himself for hours of waiting. “Please,” he whispered. “Be okay.”

***************

The world came back in stages. First was Grian’s sense of touch.

Warm water cradled his limp form like a down blanket. A zap of soreness jolted down his neck, which lied out of the water at an odd angle. Humid wind brushed against his dry, fluffy hair and moved it off his face.

Sound was next. Parrots chittered off in the distance along with the chatter of villagers. Leaves rustled overhead and the breeze wove amongst the branches. Waves lapped at his chest and made small splashing sounds. The tranquility almost lured Grian back to his dreamless sleep.

Last was everything else. Grian’s memory slammed into him like an anvil and his eyes shot open. His gills flared as he shoved himself up. Muscles in his torso protested, but the adrenaline was enough for him to ignore it.

The gills thing, on the other hand, was the source of the adrenaline and couldn’t be rationalized away as easily as waking up in the water. Since when did he have scales or gills? When did this happen? Who did this to him?

“Grian!” Mumbo’s shout yanked him out of his spiral. He turned to him, eyes wide with fear.

“What’s happening to me?”

***********

Grian downed the bottle of viscous vanilla liquid, the latest attempt to turn him human again. His three friends watched expectantly as nothing happened.

“That one tasted better than usual, but I doubt it’ll do much.” Scar groaned and hit his forehead to the spellbook in his hands.

“It’s been four days, and this is going nowhere.” Mumbo and Iskall shared a glance and murmured an agreement.

Grian snorted. “Says people not stuck in a kiddie pool.” He spreads his arms and gives them a dead look. “You think what you’re doing is tedious and boring?”

Scar cringed and shook his head. “It’s not that it’s boring, It’s that...” he trailed off, chewing his lip. Grian looked back and forth between the people before him and scanned their expressions for hints. Mumbo fiddled with his tie and stared at a very interesting pebble on the ground. Iskall glared off into the distance at nothing in particular.

“It’s that what...?”

 Scar sighed and sank down in front of Grian. He held his head in his hands. “I’m worried that if we don’t get a solution soon, you’ll be stuck like this forever and it’ll be my fault.”

Grian pulled up his shoulders and grimaced. The thought crossed his mind. His base was on land. So were the shopping district and nether portals. And his elytra. Despite everything- “I’d manage.” He rests a hand on Scar’s knee. “I don’t blame you for this.”

“But you should!” Scar burst out. He tangled his hands in his hair and gripped like his life depended on it. “I should have done more baseline analysis before jumping into tests, or done more careful observation, something! I caused this, I should be able to fix it! I-”

“Scar,” Iskall cut in, kneeling next to him. Scar’s voice died in his throat. He looked to Iskall. “Please dude, shut up.” Scar recoiled, confusion drawn all over his face. “I shouldn’t have blown up at you. You didn’t see this coming and I shouldn’t have expected you to. You’re doing your best to fix it and that’s what counts.”

He pulled Scar to his feet and gave him a weary grin. “Let’s try again. There are a few combinations we haven’t tried yet.” The two of them returned to Larry, leaving Mumbo behind with Grian.

Grian met Mumbo’s pitiful gaze. He nodded. A message passed between them. An ‘I’m sorry’ went one way. A ‘thank you for trying’ went the other.

**********

Grian built a new megabase in the warm ocean off the jungle coast. He scattered conduits all around the structure so hermits could come to visit.

It’s not the same, and it never would be like before. But with a riptide trident, Grian almost didn’t miss his elytra.

Almost.

Plans for “Sparkling Water!”

“Free! Iwatobi Swim Club But With College-Age WLW, Starring My OC Rhona Aequor.”

———

(The pools all across the area are initially closed because of a breakout of mysterious water-born bacteria in the area.) ———

The still water surrounds and envelopes my body... My heartbeat, in sync with the ripples... Secluded, within the vast blue yonder... I am once more in a sober repose, my quiet home beneath the waves... Rhona Aequor opened her eyes. She looked up from her notebook with a sigh that echoed off the walls. Immediately, she was plucked right out of her aquatic wonderland, and was now back in her cramped college dorm bathroom, in the tub, on a sweltering day in June. The nostalgic, summery sound of cicadas chirping from outside the window filled her ears... It was so utterly annoying. So far, her summer writing project was half-way done. All Rhona’s poems, however, were about the same thing. Something she yearned for, that she just couldn’t get off her mind lately... Water. Sitting in the narrow, shallow bathtub with her swimsuit on to remedy the fact that all the local pools were closed, Rhona wanted nothing more than to dive into a big pool and swim to her heart’s content, drowning all her troubles away in cold and slightly stale chlorine water... Rhona put her notebook aside, filled the bathtub with even more cool water—as high as it could go without spilling over the edges, and submerged herself in. It just wasn’t the same. Rhona brought her face out of the water to find her current roommate and friend since high school, Isabel, greeting her. She had a dark complexion, yet slightly lighter than Rhona’s, dark wavy hair, and a round face. She preferred to be called Isa. “Rhona, how long are you going to sulk in the bathtub?” Isabel said. “We only have one bathroom, you know!” Rhona didn’t answer. She was close enough with Isa to know that she knew what she was thinking. “You’re pretty funny, you know, Rhona?” Isa began to laugh. “You’re like a mermaid or something.” Rhona briskly shook her head, drops of cool water flinging off her short hair and onto her face and every surface. It was a sensation she loved. Beads of water splashed on Isa in the process. “Hey!” Isa said, her shirt now damp. “Well, how about this, Rhona? If you want water that badly, there’s supposedly a secret indoor diving well somewhere in the abandoned part of campus.” Rhona’s intense blue eyes grew double their size at Isabel’s words. “Rumor has it that it’s twenty feet deep, and very broad, for both diving and swimming laps. It would be perfect for you, Rhona, since you love to dive under!” Isa looked at Rhona, whose aqua eyes were now sparkling. She could tell how excited Rhona was about the vast 20-foot-deep secret pool. It amused her to see. “But there’s just one thing...” Isabel continued. “It’s said the diving well was closed down because it contains a curse!” Rhona cupped her hands in eagerness. “What sort of curse do you mean?” Rhona asked. “I don’t really know, but it sounds exciting, doesn’t it?” Isa exclaimed. “How about you get out of the tub and we’ll go and look for it together!” Rhona normally refused to follow along with Isabel’s outlandish and eccentric ideas of having fun. The ideas would range having a ketchup packet fight in McDonald’s at midnight while dressed in panda onesies and filming it, to simply buying twenty boxes of macaroni and cheese and leaving them in random places around campus (like in urinals.) But this was an idea that Rhona agreed with. A mysterious abandoned pool? To Rhona Aequor, a pool was a pool. And if it was a pool, she had to be in it. ——— (They meet Luana there alone, who claims the pool is her secret hangout...) (Luana challenges Rhona to a 10-lap swimming race using only freestyle... and whoever wins can swim there. Things get oddly intense.) (Luana had always thought she was the top swimmer on campus... until she witnesses Rhona, the mysterious low-profile expert of all things relating to water.) (Luana is impressed at Rhona’s swimming skill, her speed, and graceful form as she glides ahead of her. Luana gets flustered, but has to hide it to maintain her tough persona. Luana starts getting oddly competitive and showing off the power of her strokes.) (Rhona defeats Luana by several seconds. Isabel, who was watching, says Luana’s speed was impressive as well, but her form was suffering a bit. She may have been faster if it were more like Rhona’s.) (Luana officially declares Rhona as a rival... says some vague threatening cartoon-villain-like things and heads off, vowing to one day get revenge. Isabel comments on it as strange. Rhona says that Isabel shouldn’t be talking, considering how weird she can be herself.) (Meanwhile, Luana’s older sister Oliana finds out that Luana impulsively lost the secret hideout to some random girl named Rhona who allegedly “swam with the grace and power of an orca.” Oliana is in disbelief, she always thought her sister Luana was a fierce shark in the water, with the speed of a torpedo.) (Drama unfolds... slowly but surely.) (Chapter 2) (Rhona is working part-time as a lifeguard and saves a timid girl named Nagisa from drowning in an unexpectedly intense wave pool. Nagisa was accidentally by herself at the deep end.) (Nagisa Onda has always loved the ocean, but is scared of being in deep water. She is nervous, but signs and shows up for the club on a whim because she felt emotional that Rhona saved her and was inspired from watching Rhona’s graceful swimming form afterwards. She wants to learn to swim because it looks so liberating, like flying, and because she feels it could make her brave for once.) (Eventual chapters) (Rhona sets up the Swim Club, but the pool ground needs serious cleaning, and water from a different source, so that it won’t contain the bacteria. Rhona and her friends put in the work. Nagisa does her best to help and works really hard to clean the pool and bring clean water as well.) (Once Nagisa realizes how tough it is to start swimming lessons from nothing, she gets discouraged. But Rhona patiently offers to teach Nagisa how to swim and encourages her to do her best. This touches Nagisa deeply. Over time, she becomes a strong swimmer.) (Umiko joins the swim club to attempt to teach the members the “arcane profundity” of “artistic swimming.” Umiko is an artist who loves the aesthetic appearance of water, and swimming as an art form... but not as a competitive sport. She feels that speed-swimming competitively isn’t how swimming is meant to be, despite being a skilled swimmer herself. She is also a prolific high-diver. Umiko is pretentious and a bit snobby. She has a badly-hidden crush on Luana the slob, who also annoys her. They argue very often.) (Soon, Marina joins. Marina is a nerdy girl obsessed with sports-themed manga and light novels. She is a novelist who is deeply inspired by the fighting spirit, determination, and teamwork and friendship in many sports-themed works. She watches the Swim Club from afar and has a secret yet passionate crush on Rhona. However, Marina cannot swim at all, and is afraid of water. She is also ironically terrified of playing sports. One day, Marina slips an anonymous letter of admiration in Rhona’s locker... and gets caught by Luana! At this point, Luana isn’t a part of the swim club yet, but she encourages Marina to join... by threatening to tell Rhona about the letter if she doesn’t join! Just what are Luana’s intentions? Marina shows up to the next meeting and embarrasses herself... but surprisingly, everyone is very patient with her. She even starts crying out of happiness because of how for the first time, she’s actually feeling the emotions she’s only read and written about for so long. She decides to become a permanent member of the Swim Club, as she feels she’d be able to write a much better sports novel with first-hand experience.) ——— (Nagisa’s backstory with Amara unfolds. Nagisa and Amara were best friends growing up in Chile. Nagisa’s family eventually moved to the United States when Nagisa was 10 years old.) (Nagisa and Amara kept in touch. One day, Amara called Nagisa, telling she is going on a cruise. A few days later, there is news about a cruise ship wreck in the South Pacific with many casualties. After this period, the calls and texts from Amara stop coming. Every time Nagisa calls or texts Amara’s cell phone, she doesn’t answer. Nagisa and her family sadly conclude that Amara’s and her family must’ve died tragically in the wreck.) (However, the reason Amara and Nagisa lost touch is because Amara had lost many belongings in the shipwreck, including her cell phone. Amara and her family eventually move to Spain. She eventually receives a new cell phone with a new number, and knows Nagisa’s number by heart. She texts Nagisa to get back in touch with her. However, Nagisa got her own number changed as well recently. They could no longer call or message each other.) (Nagisa still believes Amara is dead, and that she succumbed to the depths of the sea. Ever since then, she has had a fear of water and the ocean.) ——— (Eventually, Rhona uses her skills in marine biology to identify the bacteria in the water, and the Swim Club to help clean pools and install filters using a solution Rhona made to kill the germs in the town’s pool water reserves. The other members of the swim club help her as well. They end up saving all the pools just in time for National Water Park day! All the kids are happy, thanks to Rhona and her friends’ love and perseverance. Even in a mundane way, Rhona and her friends helped save summer for everyone!) ———CHARACTERS——— The Swim Club- Rhona Aequor- Stoic and determined leader of the Swim Club. Though strong and mysterious, she has a kind and caring heart. She is very supportive of Nagisa, the newest member of the club who just learned how to swim, and encourages her to try her best. Aims to be an Olympic swimmer in a few years. Rhona also loves the ocean, is passionate and knowledgeable about it, and aspires to be a marine biologist and diver as well. Often scuba dives and snorkels. The ocean is her playground. Rhona however isn’t good at expressing her emotions, and can be very awkward. She becomes an Olympic swimmer in the future. The third or fourth-tallest girl in the club, tied with Oliana. Black/African-American. Signature stroke: Freestyle. Theme animals: Whale Shark, Surgeonfish Nagisa Onda- Can’t swim at first, shy and has low-self-esteem. Naive and sheepish. Meets Rhona and the others in college. Nagisa has always loved the ocean, but is scared of being in deep water. She signs up for the club on a whim because she was inspired by watching Rhona’s graceful swimming form as she saved Nagisa from drowning one day at a wave pool. Nagisa feels so inspired to be a swimmer. Once she realizes how tough it is to start from nothing, she gets discouraged. But Rhona patiently offers to teach Nagisa how to swim and encourages her to do her best. This touches Nagisa deeply. Over time, she becomes a strong swimmer. The second-shortest girl in the club. Japanese-Chilean. Signature stroke: Breaststroke. Theme animals: Spotted Seal, Spotted Jellyfish Isabel- Rhona’s childhood friend since high school. Isabel is energetic and bubbly. She is a track and field star who recently took up swimming because she wanted to be a triathlete, which requires a swimming skill. Isabel is often laid-back, though becomes passionate when it comes to her dream... and food. Becomes an Olympic triathlete in the future, but doesn’t do very well... Mexican (Latina.) Signature stroke: Backstroke. Theme animals: Dall’s Porpoise, Nudibranch Umiko Shinju- Loves painting, playing violin, and making art pieces inspired by the ocean. Can swim, but not too fond of it. Was coaxed into joining the club by Luana, her new friend in college. Kind of pretentious and dramatic. A nervous wreck who often makes herself look silly. Underneath her flaws is a very pure heart. Meets the others in college. She learns to love swimming with the others. Japanese. Signature stroke: Butterfly stroke. Theme animals: Bottlenose Dolphin, Sea butterfly Luana Kai- Wild and spontaneous. Very competitive. A very strong swimmer. She prides herself in being “the best” at freestyle swimming. When she sees Rhona, whose freestyle swimming technique rivals hers, she becomes aggressive and determined to out-swim Rhona. She claims Rhona is her rival and they often bicker. However they are very good friends deep down. Likes to talk like a pirate. Becomes an Olympic swimmer in the future. Tongan (Pacific Islander.) Signature stroke: Freestyle. Theme animals: Great White Shark, Parrotfish Oliana Kai- Joins the swim club a bit late, despite being an older student. Becomes an Olympic swimmer in the future, but doesn’t do very well... She also gets an injury early in her career. Luana’s older sister. The third or fourth-tallest girl in the club, tied with Rhona. Tongan (Pacific Islander.) Signature stroke: Backstroke. Theme animals: Orca Whale, Striped beakfish Marina- A nerdy, awkward girl obsessed with sports-themed manga and light novels. She is a novelist who is deeply inspired by the fighting spirit, determination, and teamwork and friendship in many sports-themed works. She watches the Swim Club from afar and has a secret yet passionate crush on Rhona. However, Marina cannot swim at all, and is afraid of water. She is also ironically terrified of playing sports. One day, Marina slips an anonymous letter of admiration in Rhona’s locker... and gets caught by Luana! At this point, Luana isn’t a part of the swim club yet, but she encourages Marina to join... by threatening to tell Rhona about the letter if she doesn’t join! Just what are Luana’s intentions? Marina shows up to the next meeting and embarrasses herself... but surprisingly, everyone is very patient with her. She even starts crying out of happiness because of how for the first time, she’s actually feeling the emotions she’s only read and written about for so long. She decides to become a permanent member of the Swim Club, as she feels she’d be able to write a much better sports novel with first-hand experience. The second-tallest girl in the club. Mixed, Black/African-American and Caucasian. Signature stroke: Butterfly stroke. Theme animals: Humpback whale, Coraline- The shortest girl in the club. English and French (Caucasian.) Signature stroke: Breaststroke. Theme animals: Sea lion, Clownfish Tanya- The biggest and tallest girl in the club. Northern European (Caucasian.) Signature stroke: Freestyle. Theme animals: Blue whale, Azura- Becomes an olympic swimmer in the future. Indian (Bengali.) Signature stroke: Butterfly stroke. Theme animals: Blue shark, Moon jellyfish Other characters- Amara Mendez- Nagisa’s long-lost friend. They reunite one day... ()- Amara’s friend. Sapphire- Established young olympic swimmer. Rhona’s idol. Emerald- Budding young olympic swimmer. Azura looks up to her. Carmine- Budding young olympic swimmer who Luana and Oliana look up to. Claudia- Swim Club coach. ()- Swim Club coach. ()- Swim Club coach. ()- Swim Club advisor. ()- Swim Club advisor. ———

Isabel: When you hit the water, what stroke do you start doing on instinct? Rhona: Freestyle. Coraline: Doggy paddle. Marina: A hemorrhagic stroke.

Another commission for a lovely customer who requested a man who gets desperate at the waterpark with his girlfriend! Thank you so much, and I hope you enjoy it!

Read it on Ao3

“Are you having fun, babe?”

Alex grimaces, doing his best to smile as he turns around in the pool, ignoring the way the cool water brushes up against his chest. He’s been at the waterpark with his girlfriend Nadia for four, maybe five hours now--it had been her idea, as a final end-of-summer activity before the two would have to return to their last year of university together--and for the first three and a half or so, he’d been having a great time. It’s sunny out, the perfect weather to go to the beach or the pool or a waterpark, they’ve already knocked all of their summer homework out of the way, and he’d just turned twenty-one earlier in the summer, meaning he’s finally legally allowed to drink.

Nadia has made sure to celebrate that last part over the course of the day, always ushering him back towards the bar at the far end of the park to grab more drinks. They’re not trying to get drunk--Alex is pretty sure he’ll want to remember what happened today when he wakes up tomorrow, and with his past experience with alcohol, anything past a few beers will probably make it so that he won’t remember a thing--but Nadia had been so convincing, always offering to pay and promising that she’ll stay sober enough to drive home without getting pulled over by the cops. And besides, it is their last week of summer break before school starts again. Doesn’t he deserve to live a little, get a little tipsy and have some fun?

That had been his mindset two hours ago, anyway, when he’d drank with no precautions. Now, he’s not thinking about having a good time before school starts. Now he isn’t thinking about anything that isn’t the throbbing ache coming from his bladder, reminding him every second of exactly how much beer he’d had throughout the day. Four big, viking-worthy glasses, probably closer to half a pitcher than a mug, plus the water he’d insisted on having alongside it to keep himself from going too far too fast. God, no wonder his need is so strong. He can’t even remember when it was he last went to the bathroom, either--was it all the way at the beginning of the day, so many hours ago?

“Alex?” Nadia sing-songs, snapping him out of his trance as she swims closer to him, pressing a hand to his chest. “Are you having a good time?”

“Of course,” Alex says automatically, squeezing his legs tight together under the water. They’re situated roughly in the middle end of the wave pool, where they’ve been wading for about a half an hour, diving under the water and chasing each other around, having races to see who’s the faster swimmer. (Alex, being on the swim team in high school, usually won, but sometimes he let Nadia win just for fun.) The waves are turned off right now, but he’s pretty sure they’re gearing up to come back any second now, as they’ve been coming and going in fifteen minute intervals since they arrived.

It’s fairly easy to move around right now, too; the water is calm, the floaties and foam toys spread around the pool are all at a standstill, and there aren’t many children darting around in the shallow end, blocking the path to get out. It would be a perfect time to excuse himself to the bathroom and take care of his rather pressing need, which is pretty much the only thing he wants to do at the moment.

But Nadia is here, smiling up at him happily as she treads water (it’s cute that she’s so short she can barely stand in the deep end, but he can’t focus on that right now) with an expectant look in her eyes. She’s having fun where she is, in the pool with him, and the last thing he wants to do is ruin it for her over some silly need he should have more control over as a twenty-one year old man. He can hold it for just a little bit longer, if it means she’ll have a few more minutes of fun.

“I bet I can beat you to the deep end!” Nadia exclaims, her mouth curling into a little grin as she pushes her dark hair, sleek with water, over her shoulder. “Come on, before the waves start up again!”

“What are you, five?” Alex laughs tightly, even though he’s the one in the childish situation. He feels more five than he has in a while, all thanks to the urges coming from his abdomen. There’s no way he’ll be able to race her again without making himself seriously desperate, but he doesn’t want to flat-out say no to her. (Saying no to Nadia is probably his least favorite thing in the universe, and it shows.)

“Scared you’ll lose?” Nadia taunts, eyes glimmering with mirth as she does so. “Come on, it will be fun!”

And it’s that sight, the look on her face which she’s given him a thousand times before, that finally makes Alex put aside his uncomfortableness and agree. “Alright, fine,” he sighs, playing along with her challenge. “Last one to the deep end is a rotten egg.”

“Yeah!” Nadia crows triumphantly, before running a hand across the surface of the pool towards Alex, splashing him in the face with drops of cool water before she takes off. Alex laughs, diving into the water and chasing after her, putting all his strength into kicking beneath the surface with his muscular legs.

Fuck . If he’d thought treading water with a full bladder was hard, it’s nothing compared to actually swimming. With each kick he feels like he’s about to leak, his legs spreading apart and muscles growing tired with every stroke. Having his legs forced apart over and over again is borderline painful, and since his arms are busy propelling him forward in the water, there’s nothing left to keep the pressure on his crotch from the outside. God, he can feel the pee just sitting there, begging to be let out.

But he can’t pee in the pool! There are so many other people there, enjoying their family vacations together in the same body of water that he’s in. It would be more than rude to contaminate the water they were swimming in with his body’s own type of water, regardless of whether anyone else could tell or not. And besides, he wouldn’t want to be swimming in it, either.

“I win!” Nadia cries as he surfaces, his hands shooting up to hold onto the wall when he wishes they could shoot down to hold his penis instead. He settles for crossing his legs under the water and moving his hips back and forth as gracefully as he can, hoping that the wave of pressure he’d just felt goes away as quickly as it had come. “You know what that means. Loser buys another round of drinks!”

“Ah,” Alex pants, glancing warily towards the bar as he continues to fidget underwater. “More drinks? I’m not really thirsty, you know…”

“You don’t drink beer because you’re thirsty,” Nadia points out with a pout. “You drink it ‘cause it’s fun. Besides, it’s hot out! Don’t you want to stay hydrated?”

I’m plenty hydrated enough, thank you! his mind protests. I don’t think I could put more liquid in me if I tried!

“I’ll buy something for you,” he reasons instead, hoping his voice doesn’t give him away. “I’m already feeling buzzed enough.”

Nadia’s pout deepens, but she moves on fairly quickly as the water around them shifts. “Oh, the waves are starting again!” she exclaims excitedly as the pool around them begins to fill with movement. “Come on, let’s swim back to the other end so I can stand!”

With that, she turns around in the water and kicks off from the wall, gliding through the waves effortlessly, like some kind of Grecian goddess. Her long, dark hair trails behind her, clinging to her back when she resurfaces, but Alex doesn’t have the capabilities to appreciate his girlfriend’s figure right about then.

His entire body is frozen against the wall as his head fills with the sound of water splashing against water, crashing upon the sides of the pool and lapping at his chest. All of a sudden the only thing he can hear is dripping, churning, running water, and the noises seem to be going straight from his brain to his bladder.

God, he hadn’t realized how seriously bad he needed to go until now, with waves upon waves of liquid moving around him. His bladder feels so full and heavy inside of him, like a water balloon that’s overfilled and ready to pop at any second. All those beers, all that water… It’s all still inside of him, and he’d bet that there’s even more still traveling down from his kidneys into his bladder, ready to overinflate it even more than it already is.

He sucks in a deep breath and presses the front of his body further against the wall, trying his best to create pressure against his crotch. He doesn’t dare grind down--the wall of the pool is rather gritty, and he’d prefer not to harm his genitals in any way if he can help it--but it’s a tough battle to fight. He wishes the water weren’t so clear so that he could reach down and grab himself without anyone there to judge him, but the waterpark is so crowded, and he’s sure he wouldn’t be able to get away with it. (Oh, but holding himself sounds absolutely heavenly right about then.)

Nadia, who had already swam a few feet away, turns back to give him a questioning look. “Aren’t you coming?” she asks, thankfully not noticing his strange body language, his hunched shoulders or gritted jaw. “Come on, my legs are getting tired.”

“C-Coming,” Alex says, thrusting his hips forward against the wall one more time before pushing off towards the shallow end. He doesn’t dare front crawl his way over this time--that would be much too much for his poor, swollen bladder to handle. Instead he doggy paddles towards the shallower side of the pool, trying his best to appear normal in front of the families that are watching him.

Inside his body, his bladder throbs agonizingly, demanding that he release its contents as soon as he can. He sucks his lip between his teeth as he paddles over, clenching his sphincter muscles as hard as he can until he makes it far enough that he’s able to stand. As soon as he does that, he crosses one leg over the other and bobs up and down in the water, breathing heavily as he shifts his hips from side to side. He needs to get to a bathroom as soon as possible or he’s going to get wet in an entirely different way (one that will be much less fun for everyone involved).

Reluctantly, Alex uncrosses his legs and moves forward, but every step sends tiny vibrations up his legs and across his abdomen. He gasps as a strong urge hits him, bending forward at the waist and locking his knees together under the water to fight against the throbbing pressure. His hands ball into fists at his sides, nails digging into the skin of his palms as he does his best not to let them fly to the front of his swim trunks. If he was worried about people seeing him in the deep end, there’s no way he’d be able to go unnoticed in the shallow side.

He’s just deep enough for the waves to crash straight against his abdomen, water licking at his bladder from the other side, tempting it to release without his permission. “ Ah, ” he gasps, grabbing the front of his thigh and hooking one knee over the other in an attempt to keep himself from going right then, right there. He needs to get himself under control, and soon, before his desperation reaches uncharted levels. Unsteadily, he staggers forward, only to suck in a sharp, pained gasp as his lower body leaves the water.

If he thought his need was bad before, it’s absolutely nothing compared to what he’s feeling now. It feels as if another pint of beer has just been dumped straight into his bladder, filling it to the brim and stretching it to its utmost limit. He realizes with a start that the water from the pool had been the only thing keeping him on the safer edge of desperation--it had made the gravitational pull on his bladder feel lesser, creating a buoyant effect on the poor organ without him noticing, and now that the pressure of the water isn’t on him, gravity is catching up.

His hands begin to fly to his crotch, only to flutter away at the last second as he uses his last bit of willpower to keep them at his sides. Insteadhe sucks his lip between his teeth and stifles a moan, half-falling back into the water around him and sighing with relief when the agonizing pressure goes away. He can still feel hot, throbbing pain coming from his abdomen, but now that he’s surrounded by the pool water again, he doesn’t feel on the verge of exploding anymore.

Still, he needs to get to a toilet as soon as possible, and it’s not likely that he’ll be able to hold it if he lifts himself out of the pool again. What is he supposed to do now? The nearest bathrooms are on the other side of the waterpark, and there’s no way in hell he’d let himself be seen hobbling around a family gathering area with his hands between his legs like some kind of pervert. Besides, he isn’t even sure he’d be able to make it to those restrooms without completely losing control along the way. He’s so desperate, he can barely think straight, and he knows for sure his face must be all red and twisted up in pain by now.

As much as he hates to admit it, he’s pretty sure that he’s only got one option left: he’s going to have to pee in the pool. It’s something he’s never done before--even as a child, he’d always held it in long enough to get to the bathrooms, even though he’d thought they were pretty gross. (And doing that had sure given him some close calls, and a few extra wet spots on his swim shorts, but hey, it’s probably best not to think about those right now.)

So, he’s going to contaminate the pool with his own bodily fluids. It should be easy--the sound of roaring, splashing water surrounds him, teasing him with the premise of relief every second, and the pool water itself is cool enough that it’s making his bladder more than a little uncomfortable. But it’s hard , trying to consciously pee where he’s not supposed to, when he knows it’s taboo, especially for a full-grown adult such as himself. He sighs again, squatting down in the shallow water and doing his best to relax, unclench his muscles, and think of the promise of relief he’s only seconds away from…

And at last, he feels a dribble of urine escape from his bladder and trail through his urethra, creating a tiny spot of warmth in the pool water at the head of his dick. He sighs, letting his head fall back and his arms float to the surface of the pool as his stream picks up, his bladder just starting to become a bit less swollen, a little bit emptier. He can feel the water around him, still rocked by waves, growing warm with his own piss, and… To be honest, it’s a little bit hot. He’s always been a bit of a stickler for the rules, but now, doing something so naughty as peeing in a public pool, without anyone else knowing that he’s doing it… He’s just starting to enjoy the feeling when he feels a pair of arms wrap around him from behind.

“Ah!” he exclaims, jumping forward, but the arms around his middle stay secured. His body freezes, locks up again, the stream of urine stopping abruptly as he stiffens up under the touch, and immediately he misses the relief he’d only just begun to get. His penis throbs, aching in time with his abdomen, and he hisses in pain as the arms around him tighten.

“Alex,” Nadia whines, pressing her front side against his back, molding herself to him. “What’s going on? You were just standing there with your eyes closed.”

“Nadia…” Alex breathes, shifting his weight from foot to foot underwater. He’s uncomfortable, he’s so uncomfortable , seconds away from peeing full-force into the pool again, but he can’t, not with Nadia so close to him.

“Aren’t you having fun?” Nadia asks, and he knows her so well he swears he can hear the pout in her voice. “You seem so stiff, babe. What’s wrong?”

With that, she tightens her hands around his waist, pulling him closer to her body… and subsequently squishing his bladder under her fingers. Alex gasps sharply, curling in on himself and finally letting his hands fly to the front of his swim shorts to hold onto his crotch. Even with the added external pressure, he can feel the water around him growing warm, the pressure on his bladder far too much for him to handle.

“Stop, stop!” he pants, but doesn’t dare push her away. Even if it cost him his own life (or in this case, his dignity) he would never even consider pushing Nadia away. Instead, he shifts his hips from side to side, leaning forward so far his chest touches the water and hooking one leg over the other, bobbing up and down urgently as he does.

Thankfully, Nadia picks up on the problem quickly. She loosens her arms around him, keeping one hand pressed to his chest while the other sifts through the water in front of him. “Oh?” she questions, and this time Alex is sure he can hear mischief in her voice. “What’s this? The water’s all warm over here…”

“I-Is it?” Alex repeats, keeping his hands glued tight to his crotch as he stems off the flow. (It hurts, he’s still so desperate, but now that he’s been caught, it just feels morally wrong to keep going.)

“It is…” With that, Nadia lets her hand trail down to the front of his stomach and pushes down once again, just once. Her other hand comes down to cup over his fingers as his breath hitches and he lets out a short spurt of pee. It takes an immense amount of effort to cut himself off once again, and his bladder protests with a series of agonized pulses, but he refuses to let himself continue to go.

“I see what’s going on,” Nadia says coyly, and Alex thanks the heavens when she removes her hand from his stomach to glide around to his other side. “Alex… You’re being a bad boy, aren’t you? Doing something like that in a public pool?”

“I-I couldn’t help it,” Alex stammers, biting at his lip until it turns red.

“Couldn’t help it?” Nadia repeats teasingly. “Couldn’t help but get all of us in here dirty? The waves are on, you know. That stuff you’re putting in here is gonna spread.”

“I’m s-sorry,” Alex gasps, hooking his knees together and bobbing up and down once again. “I just- I needed to go, and-”

“No, no,” Nadia shushes him, sticking a pool-slick finger to his lips. “No excuses, babe. You’re a grown man, aren’t you? Shouldn’t you be able to hold it until you get to the bathroom?”

“But I-”

“Shh… Come on, you know I’m right.”

Alex inhales shakily, his whole body still tense and rigid from desperation. The warmth of his piss has been washed away by the waves at this point, but he can still feel the urine inside of him pushing to get out. “You’re right,” he says, hoping that she’ll leave it at that and finally allow him to finish what he’d started.

“Did you let go completely?” Nadia asks, her gaze dropping to the area just above his swim trunks. “Are you empty now, you little rulebreaker? It certainly doesn’t look like you are.”

“I- I’m not,” Alex admits, his voice going high-pitched as another wave of need overtakes him. He whimpers, clutching his dick tighter between his hands and pressing the front of his left thigh into the back of his right with all the force he can muster. “I still need to go, bad .”

“Well,” Nadia says, sounding all too pleased. “I certainly can’t allow you to keep going here , of all places. You’ll need to make it to the bathroom if you want to finish relieving yourself.”

Alex jerks his head up to meet her gaze, his eyes going wide. “But- But-” he stammers, a protest half-formed in the back of his mind, but one look from Nadia has him biting his tongue instead of continuing his sentence. The game is afoot now, and no matter how much pain and embarrassment it might bring him, he knows he’s going to play along anyway, for her sake.

Still, it doesn’t make the idea of walking to the bathrooms any more appealing. He already feels like he’s on the verge of spurting again, and if he gets out of the water and forces himself to walk normally, he’s sure he’ll have a full-on accident within the next minute.

“Isn’t there any other way?” he asks shakily, staring off in the direction of the restrooms. If he were in his normal condition, it would probably only be a three or four minute walk, but with the ball of hot, acrid piss inside of him controlling his every move, it’ll probably take at least double that to even reach the other side of the park. And what if there’s a line? Is he supposed to stand there and wait when he’s on the brink of pissing himself for all to see?

“Do you see any other bathrooms around here?” Nadia challenges, raising an eyebrow at him. “Come on, come on! The sooner you get out of the pool, the sooner you get to go!”

She grabs him by the arm and pulls him just a tad too roughly towards the shallow exit of the pool, where the water is just beginning to settle down from the waves. Alex reluctantly lets go of his crotch, and immediately lets out a strangled groan as he experiences the effects of gravity on his body for the second time that day. He wonders how the hell it feels exactly the same as it had before he’d “contaminated” the pool, despite how much he must have let out. Is his last beer hitting him already?

“Nadia, can you… slow down a little?” he manages as his girlfriend struts ahead, beads of water dripping down her body from her one-piece swimsuit. Normally, Alex would take this opportunity to stare at the amount of skin she has on show, but he’s too distracted with his own body. Every muscle he has is clenched tight, his arms and legs stiff and rigid, thighs pressed close together with every step. It’s absolute torture, having to walk like there’s nothing wrong, when it’s all he can do not to grab himself and dance around like a little kid.

They’ve made it maybe ten steps, and each one has sent extremely unpleasant vibrations up through his leg and straight into his core, jostling the liquid inside of him each time his foot lands on the ground. He winces, keeping his eyes trained on the floor to avoid any strange looks people might be shooting his way, and attempts to take a larger step to make it to the bathrooms as fast as he possibly can.

His foot lands on a particularly cool puddle of water, and all of a sudden he feels a hot jet of pee squirt out of his dick and onto the floor. He freezes in place, eyes going wide as he draws his legs in quickly and presses his thighs against each other, doing everything he can mentally to keep himself from breaking out into a full-out dance of desperation. Warmth runs down his legs from inside his shorts, and he barely manages to cut off the flow this time, so paralyzed by fear that he can barely get his body to listen to him.

“Nngh… Nadia, ” he hisses, eyes squeezed tightly shut. “I can’t…”

He hears footsteps pad back towards him through the shallow puddles on the floor, and then a hand comes to rest gently on his shoulder. “Come on, babe,” Nadia says, half-encouraging, half-commanding. “You can make it. Do it for me, okay?”

“But-”

“I’ll be so happy if you make it all the way,” Nadia says, her hand reaching around to curl at the back of his neck. “Won’t you at least try? Just for me?”

And fuck, if that doesn’t strengthen Alex’s resolve just enough to keep him going despite the raging need overtaking him, he’s not sure that anything will. With a muffled moan, he straightens up from his twisted, bent-in-half posture, takes a few shallow breaths, and opens his eyes. The sight of water flowing all around him does nothing to help his current situation, but he determinedly fixes his eyes on a dry spot on the wall and takes a shaky step forward, ignoring the wetness beginning to cool and become sticky on his legs.

He will make it to the bathroom, if only just to get far enough to wet himself somewhere private. If Nadia asks him to make it, he’s determined to do as she says, no matter if he thinks it’s within his capabilities or not. Even though his bladder is straining out from the waistband of his swim trunks, sending urgent messages increasingly quickly that he needs to let go now , or else. Even if he feels five seconds from exploding on the spot, so filled with beer and water that he isn’t sure how in the world he’s still hanging on. There’s nothing he won’t do for Nadia--he’s sure of that.

Another jet of hot, wet piss escapes him, but he grits his teeth and clenches his sphincter muscles together with a groan that gets lost in the sounds of the waterpark, and cuts it off once again. He can’t help but pause mid-step and shift his hips around in small, quick circles, and wish as hard as he can that he could put pressure on his crotch, even for just a few seconds . Any outside help would be much appreciated at the moment, but he knows if he lets himself grab his dick now, there’s no way he’ll be able to let go without losing the battle entirely. So instead he clenches his fists at his sides and bites down hard on his lip, taking another step towards the bathroom, a step towards release.

“That’s it, baby,” Nadia encourages him, her voice dropping low and smooth as she guides him through the crowd. “Just a little longer, and then you can pee to your heart’s content.”

“Ah… Ahh… ” he pants, eyes fluttering as they pass another section of the park. This one he’d noticed when they first walked in--it’s the kid’s area, complete with a wooden play structure and several buckets that fill to the top before tipping out onto the ground and the children below it. Were he in a better state, he’d compare his bladder to the buckets, as full as it can get and seconds away from wobbling over and spilling all over the ground in a loud rush of warm, sticky urine, coating his legs and his feet and spreading into a huge puddle on the ground.

“ Mmh !” he gasps, catching himself on Nadia’s shoulder as he bends forward. His knees turn inwards, locking together like magnets as he curls an arm protectively around his stomach, squeezing his eyes shut tight as he tries to rid himself of the mental image. Thinking about relieving himself, wetting himself at that, is a definite no-go right now. His body surely won’t be able to handle thoughts like that while battling a bladder this full.

“You have no idea how good you look right now, Alex,” Nadia says breathlessly, close to his ear. He feels her breath ghost over his cheek warmly, and raises his head just enough so that he can look into her eyes.

I’m doing this for you, he thinks passionately, too unsteady to trust himself to speak. It will all be worth it, when I make you proud…

“Come on,” Nadia says again, lower this time. “Let’s get moving. I want to get there as much as you do, you know.”

It’s a strange sentiment, but Alex can’t bring himself to think much about it right now. Instead he hobbles forward, taking smaller, more delicate steps to keep his bladder from being jostled around too badly. “Okay,” he agrees hoarsely, his voice shaking from want. Nadia smiles at him, secretive and seductive, then turns back around and continues on towards the bathrooms, her hips swaying back and forth as she moves. Alex stumbles after her, keeping one hand wrapped around his stomach. Maybe if he looks sick enough, people will move out of his way and leave him alone, and he’ll be able to get there faster.

They’re maybe a minute’s walk away from the bathrooms now at the rate he’s going. Every step is torture, feeling the slickness of tiny puddles under the pads of his feet, and hearing the rush of water, seeing it splash and flow everywhere he looks, but the look in Nadia’s eyes when she turns to check on him keeps him going. He’s not sure why, but he feels like she’s promising him something, if he can make it all the way there.

He counts the seconds to keep his mind from turning traitor on him, and just when they’ve reached fifty-two, he raises his eyes and almost starts to cry from relief. There, right in front of him, is the sign pointing to the bathrooms, located just around the corner. Finally! he thinks, a smile melting across his face. I can finally go! I’m so close! I just need to round the corner, and then I’ll finally be able to…

Oh.

No.

As he turns the corner, his eyes land upon the men’s bathroom, just a few feet down the hall… And the line that trails out of it. His bladder screams in horror as he takes in the dozen or so boys and men who are waiting patiently for their turn in the bathroom in varying levels of discomfort. He can see a few young boys shifting their wait around awkwardly, and even one or two of the men have uncomfortable grimaces across their faces, but none of them seem to be in the state of pure, anguished distress that’s wracking through him at the moment.

“No…” he whimpers, eyes beginning to water as hope seeps out of him. He’d been so close , so close to relief, to finally being able to empty himself… Now there’s no way he’ll be able to make it into the bathroom with his dignity still intact. And here, far away from the roaring water of the pool, everyone will be able to tell if he lets go and re-wets his swim trunks where he isn’t supposed to.

“Don’t worry,” Nadia says, and then a cool hand is sliding around his arm and pulling him in a different direction. “I have other plans for you, baby. Come with me.”

At peak desperation, Alex has no choice but to follow limply. His eyes light up as he notices where she’s dragging him; he can make out a sign proclaiming Single Stall Family Bathroom further between the walls of the park’s end, and if the little green tag on the door is anything to go by, it must be vacant. His bladder practically gives out the second she throws open the door, his eyes immediately hooked on the toilet in the corner of the room, and he can’t help but reach down to squeeze himself with all his might to keep the flood at bay for just a few seconds longer…

But before he can rush forward and whip himself out, Nadia is closing and locking the door behind him, and immediately pushing herself against him, locking her lips with his as she presses him into the door with a bang . “ Oh ,” Alex moans, eyes fluttering as he clutches himself through his shorts. “ Oh, Nadia, stop… I’m going to wet myself, I’m going to have an accident! ”

“No, you’re not,” Nadia says in a voice that screams sex. “Here, I’ll help you.”

With that, her hand dives down and joins his at his crotch, her fingers brushing up against his penis through the saturated fabric of his shorts, and the sensation of his girlfriend’s hand on him combined with the unbelievably urgency of his bladder is almost too much for him to handle. He lets out a cry of need, louder than he’d ever want to in a public space, and bucks up into her touch frantically, searching for more, more, more .

“Nadia, please,” he begs, a tear forming in the corner of his eye. “Please, I need… Oh… Ahh!”

“Shh,” Nadia shushes him, her other finger coming up to press against his lips as she continues to fondle him delicately. Her hand slips around his dick, fitting it within her fist as he starts to fill out despite his body’s needs. “I know just what you need, baby. Let me give it to you.”

“ Mh… Ah- Ah! ” Alex moans, surprised to find that he’s actually becoming quite hard. He’s never really tried to get hard while he’s desperate to go before; normally, Nadia has him hold it for her, and then they have sex. He’s also surprised to find that he kind of likes it, the experience of being full to the brim, bursting at the seams, and being touched like this at the same time.

“That’s right,” Nadia coos, then presses her lips to his again, fitting her body flush against his and grinding her leg against his crotch. Alex manages to tear his hand away, if only to get more friction from his girlfriend’s thigh against his cock. He doesn’t even care that there’s a toilet less than five feet away from him… He’s so turned on that the need to pee has come second in his mind’s ranking of what’s important right now.

In fact, he can feel himself start to lose it once again, his bladder rejecting the urine it’s been forced to store for so long. He moans hotly into Nadia’s mouth, and she clenches her fist tight around him, cutting off the stream as soon as she can feel it on her hand.

“Who said you had permission to go yet?” she murmurs seductively, her lips brushing his. “Come on, babe. You know better than that.

“S-Sorry,” Alex pants, eyelids fluttering as Nadia trails her fingers up his body, stopping at his bladder. “Please, no… If you do that, I’ll-”

“Don’t worry,” Nadia whispers, “I’m not that cruel. But I do think you need a punishment for letting go without permission.”

“Wh- What?”

“Hm…” Nadia taps her finger against her chin a few times, before her eyes light up once again. “I know,” she says decisively, and begins to move even closer, pressing her body against his. His hardness slots between her legs perfectly, the insides of her thighs warming the tented fabric of his swimsuit. She must be standing on her toes to get this angle on him, and even through the haze of desperation and arousal, he can’t help but find it cute.

“Wh- What are you d-doing?” he manages, but Nadia doesn’t reply. Her body is molded to his, chest pressed against him, legs squished up against his. Her weight settles lightly on his bladder, and he flinches back further against the door, but she doesn’t put any more pressure on it than she’s putting on the rest of his body. For one holy second, he wonders if he’s safe from her teasing, if maybe his “punishment” isn’t going to be so bad after all.

That’s when he feels the wetness start to collect in his swimsuit.

Alex gasps, his hand flying down to the front of his shorts to clutch himself, cut off the flow of hot, golden piss that’s somehow escaping him--only it’s not . It takes him a second to realize that he isn’t the one who’s peeing; Nadia is. Crushed up against him, with his dick between her legs, she’s the one letting go, getting her fluids all over the floor of the bathroom, and all over him. He lets out a strangled moan as the sound of splattering fills the room, as urine soaks the fabric around his incredibly sensitive penis. His bladder contracts harshly, and he can’t help but add his own little burst of piss into the mix, but being as hard as he is, it’s not as easy for him to let go as it might have been a few minutes ago.

Somehow, despite being the worst kind of torture he could possibly imagine, the idea of Nadia releasing herself onto him is almost… kind of hot, as well. He’s never really been into this kind of stuff the same way that she has, but something about her giving him a punishment for disobeying her command reminds him just how much he wants to please her, to make it up to her. He sucks in ragged breaths of air as she continues to go, pressed against his body so that the urine runs down both of them, and squeezes his eyes tightly shut, biting his lip against the need to relieve himself with her.

It feels like the moment never ends, and yet within half a minute, Nadia’s stream is tapering off, and she’s pulling away from him, using her pointer finger to trace a line down his cock, which is still straining hard inside of his shorts, oversensitive to the touch. He’s pretty sure his erection is the only thing keeping him from losing control of his body entirely, making him needy and desperate in a different way from before.

“Keep going, please ,” he pants, lip caught between his teeth as his eyes flutter open to meet Nadia’s. She smiles at him sweetly, and for a split second he’s sure she’ll indulge him just this once, but instead she steps back a few paces, drawing her hand away from his body and towards her own.

“I would,” she starts coyly, “but where’s the fun in that? I mean, what kind of reward would that be if I didn’t even give you a challenge?”

“ Nadia ,” Alex groans, reaching down to stroke himself without thinking. He’s so hard, so painfully erect, and combined with the fullness and sensitivity of his poor bladder, he’s pretty sure he won’t last another minute without coming or peeing, or both.

“What about this?” Nadia grins wolfishly at him, and he just knows something bad is coming. He can see it in the way her eyes sparkle mischievously, in the curve of her smile. “If you can make it back to the car, I’ll give you something even better than a handjob. You know what I mean?”

She winks, adorable, terrible, and teasing. Alex whimpers as she reaches out to remove his hand from his penis, where he’d been stroking it up and down almost without meaning to. He’s so overstimulated, he feels like he’s going to combust if he doesn’t come soon… But the idea of having sex with Nadia sounds all too tempting in the moment…

“C-Couldn’t we just do it here?” he asks shakily, eyeing the all too inviting toilet over her shoulder. He’s pretty sure he’ll start pissing the second he’s allowed to come, and he’d prefer to have somewhere to go nearby for when that happens. Plus, he really isn’t sure he’d be able to make it to the car--the parking lot is just outside the waterpark entrance, which is on the other side of the park. Walking past all that splashing, flowing water again… He shudders violently just thinking about it.

“Absolutely not,” Nadia says, mock offense in her voice. “There’s not enough privacy here! What if some family is standing outside right now, waiting to use the restroom, and they hear somebody moaning and panting from inside?”

“B-But-”

“It’s either in the car or not at all, Alex,” Nadia tells him firmly. Her voice has that kind of subtle command to it that most people don’t notice, but most people aren’t Alex. He’s had years to learn all about Nadia’s subtly voiced commands, and he’d consider himself an expert on this tone in particular at this point.

He must be absolutely insane, to give up the chance for the release he’s been craving for almost an hour and a half now, just to chase a different kind of release he hadn’t even wanted up until five or ten minutes ago. Any sane person would have kindly declined, let their body decide which need was more important, instead of letting what’s between their legs think for them. But Alex is so incredibly turned on right now, hard and straining visibly through his swim shorts, and every breath makes the fabric brush up against his dick so tantalizingly… He doesn’t think he can handle not taking Nadia up on her offer.

“Okay,” he pants, completely out of breath. His face feels flushed redder than a ripe tomato, and he’s sure he looks like a total wreck, even to people who don’t know he’s seconds away from exploding in more ways than one… But he doesn’t have it in him to care anymore. Even if he has to clutch himself all the way to the car, even if he has to stop every few seconds to dance around like a little child… He’s determined now more than ever to make it through the parking lot, and get his reward.

Nadia draws closer, leaning up on her tiptoes to press her lips against his one last time, before she pulls him away from the door and latches onto the handle, holding it open and swinging herself around to the other side. Alex takes as deep a breath as he can, trying his best not to squish his bladder any further, and casts one long, wistful glance back at the toilet sitting mere feet away from him, practically calling his name. He must be insane… But if there’s anything that sounds better than pissing his need away right now, it’s having the hottest sex of his life with his girlfriend.

With his mind made up, he turns and exits the bathroom once again, his bladder absolutely screaming in protest as he once again denies it the release it craves. He glances down and catches sight of the gentle swell of his bladder poking out from his stomach, as well as the not so subtle tent at the front of his shorts. He grimaces at both sights, hoping no one will pay him much mind as he hobbles out into the passageway behind Nadia. They must seem suspicious, a young couple walking out of a single-stall bathroom together, one with a clear erection and the other with an air of satisfaction about her. It’s crazy that they seem like that before they’ve even had a chance to have sex.

Alex has never been much of an exhibitionist; usually, his logic prevents him from doing anything as risky as this, but he finds that he doesn’t have it in him to care at this very second. Half of his mind is focusing on not coming in his shorts, the tantalizing brush of wet, saturated fabric against his most sensitive area a kind of torture he’s never known before. He’s pretty sure he’s never been this hard before, never needed sex so urgently. He feels the same way actors pretend to feel in cheesy pornos, where they beg and plead for their partners to let them come this very minute , or they’ll simply explode.

The other half of his brain is having relatively similar thoughts, although these are coming from his bursting bladder rather than his raging erection. His mind is occupied with keeping every liquid he can inside of his body, denying himself even the tiniest of leaks. He feels seconds away from losing the battle and flooding the floor around him with warm, golden urine, creating a pool of his own and at last feeling comfortable and empty again. The thought is so tempting that he feels himself spurt, despite his hard on, and has to bite his tongue hard to keep him from gasping out loud.

Uncaring of what anyone else thinks anymore, he shoves a hand into his crotch, squeezing his cock as hard as he can and hooking one leg over the other, making low whimpering sounds in the back of his throat as he tries to regain control. It feels like he’s holding back a literal ocean, and he’s reminded once again of the pints and pints of beer he’d ingested earlier, without ever once considering the desperate state they might leave him in. God, he can’t imagine that there’s even an ounce of space left in his poor, overfilled bladder. What if all of the beer hasn’t made its way inside yet? Can he possibly fit another drop?

He doesn’t ever remember being this desperate before, and there have been plenty of times when he’d lost control from less. Nadia likes to make him hold it at home, although she usually drags him into the shower with his clothes still on before he reaches this level of need. And even before he’d met her, there had been times when he’d been too busy at work or studying to get up and take care of his situation, which had left him feeling plenty full. Still, he doesn’t think he’s been this bursting in his entire life, in all twenty-one years of existence.

“Come on, babe,” Nadia says from above him (he must have hunched over at some point, because she’s usually about a head shorter than he is). “You’ve gotta keep going if you want your reward. Don’t worry, I’ll walk fast. I want to get there, too, you know.”

Alex can’t decide if it would be better for her to walk fast, and get him to the car quicker, or walk slow, and give his overworked body a break. He settles for clamping his mouth shut and hobbling after her, half-bent over and with a hand clutching his penis through his shorts. With every step he takes, the friction from his hand and swimsuit drive him crazy, and he feels tiny drops of urine escape from the head of his dick at the same time. Positively sure he can’t stop them, he settles for clenching his jaw tight and praying that the little dribbles don’t become a stream anytime soon.

They’re almost at the entrance to the park, and Alex is starting to regret letting his dick do the thinking for him. Sure, he’s still incredibly horny, and slipping inside his girlfriend would probably feel like heaven right now, but he’s pretty sure wetting himself in front of a thousand strangers at a kid-friendly waterpark would kill any erection he might have had before.

And oh , is he close to wetting himself. His abdomen feels like it’s been filled to the very top with water, and it’s all racing to get out, filling out his dick both with blood and with a thin stream of pee. He feels a longer jet escape and moans embarrassingly loudly, letting his other hand join his first clutching at his penis as he bobs up and down on one leg. He feels like a little kid, forced to hold it until he has permission to go, with a tiny bladder and a one-track mind. (Well, he supposes he’s a little more evolved than that--he is focusing on both not peeing himself and not coming, after all.)

With his hands between his legs, bent over forwards with his legs locked together at the knees, he presses on. People must be giving him the strangest looks, but he doesn’t pay them any mind, intent on getting to the car and finally taking care of his still raging erection. His eyes focus on the shape of Nadia’s body as she leads him out through the gates and into the massive parking lot, trying to keep his mind off of his bladder and think about his incredibly sexy girlfriend instead.

His foot hits the pavement, and immediately he’s hit with a gust of cold air as his body leaves the walls of the waterpark. Alex feels a full-body shudder and gasps as his bladder contracts sharply, eyes widening as he feels a long, three-second burst of piss explode past his sphincter muscles and re-wet his previously cold bathing suit. His legs, already sticky from half-dried piss, wobble under his body, and he moans once again, clutching himself as tightly as he can to get the flow to stop.

  “Nadia, Nadia !” he whisper-shouts, eyes practically crossing with the power of his desperation. “I need to go, I- I need to pee , now! I- haaah- can’t hold it!”

Nadia turns around, one hand on her hip, looking thoroughly unimpressed, yet he can tell from the spark in her expression that she’s still just as turned on as he is. “What, you can’t make it to the car?” she challenges, raising an eyebrow at him. “We parked so close to the entrance, though. It’s only what, thirty or forty feet away?”

“I can’t ,” Alex cries, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. “I- I need to go so bad , I- haah, I have to go!”

Nadia steps forward and reaches down, pressing her own hand against his penis, and Alex moans again, torn between wanting friction and release. “Come on, baby,” she says, her voice low and sultry. “Don’t you want me? You know you can only have me if you make it.”

“I’m trying , b-but I’m so full ,” Alex gasps, panting, eyes rolling up to meet Nadia’s. “ Please, just let me-”

“No,” Nadia says. “You don’t have permission. You can’t go yet.”

With that, she removes her hand with a single upwards stroke, sending Alex’s mind into overdrive once again. Shakily, he takes a step forward, and feels a long gush of pee burst into his shorts and splatter tellingly onto the ground. He takes the shallowest breaths he can, feeling as if anything deeper than a short huff of air will cause him to burst on the spot.

He should have just taken the opportunity he’d had before and pissed in the family restroom when he’d had the chance. Now he’s out in the open, holding himself for dear life and mere seconds away from disaster. He’s not even sure if he’d be able to have sex with Nadia in his current state, no matter how aroused he is. What if he really does piss himself in front of everyone, all the innocent kids and judgemental parents? How will he ever live it down?

He supposes there was a reason why Nadia wanted to come to the furthest waterpark away from them, after all.

Another step sends another burst of pee splashing down onto the ground, and for all that Alex has leaked and spurted, he certainly doesn’t feel any better. He has to pause, bring one leg up off the ground to press his thighs together and bob up and down, shifting his hips this way and that as he makes quiet little panting noises, doing his best not to moan and sob out loud. He’s so full, he’s much too full , and he knows he won’t be able to last much longer at the rate he’s going.

But Nadia wants him to keep going, to push himself further than he has before. She’s fixated on him, he’s sure, even though it might not seem like it right at that moment. He can tell from the little looks she shoots him over her shoulder as he stands behind her and squirms frantically, and he knows the only thing on her mind right now is him.

It’s this thought that motivates him to untwist himself from the human pretzel he’d become and inch forward, trailing after his girlfriend with a string of pathetic, embarrassing whimpers and gasps falling from his lips. He thanks the stars that they actually did park relatively close to the waterpark’s entrance, only a few rows away from the gates. It gives him at least a little peace of mind, that he won’t have to stagger through the entire parking lot with two hands on his dick, vigorously avoiding eye contact with confused children and their scandalized parents as he goes.

He’s panting now, from the strain and effort his body is putting into staying upright, standing normally, and clenching every muscle he has control over. His body is shaking all over from the stress he’s putting it through, and his jaw is clenched so tightly that it hurts, but he hardly notices. All of the focus he has left is spent putting one foot in front of the other, and over, and over again, until he catches sight of the car about twenty feet away, just one row over.

He’s sure now, that he won’t be able to make it through sex. As painfully hard as he still is, the tiny part of his brain that’s still thinking rationally reminds him that he’s still leaking every few seconds, and that the pressure sex would put on his bladder would ultimately be his end. His new goal is to make it to the privacy of his car’s row, where he’ll be hidden between 

Finally! he thinks, relief washing over him all at once. Finally, he’s at the car, the final destination, the last goal for his tired, tortured body to work through. Soon he’ll be there, hidden amongst the tightly packed cars, and he’ll finally have the privacy and time he’s been denied for so long, he’ll finally be able to relax, let go, and let it all out…

It’s the thought of relief after hours of holding in so many pints of beer and glasses of water that ultimately proves to be too much for him, the final straw on the camel’s back--or rather, the last drop to make him overflow. He lets out a startled cry as he feels his muscles weaken for just a second, and a long, forceful stream of piss is suddenly flooding his cupped hands and splattering onto the ground noisily.

“ Ah! ” he gasps, squeezing his dick as tightly as he can and dancing about wildly, lifting his left leg to curl around his right and hunching over as he rotates his hips in frantic little circles, but it’s no use. As soon as he thinks he has the first stream under control, a second, longer spurt re-wets his hands and continues to puddle around him.

“Nadi- nngh, Nadia!” he exclaims, hunching over as more piss splatters onto the ground. “I’m- I can’t h-hold it anymore! Ahh, haah, I have to go!”

“Wait!” Nadia commands, whipping around and darting forward, one hand outstretched like she wants to help but can’t. “Alex, we’re in public. Don’t you want to make it back to the car?”

“I-I can’t ,” Alex sobs, letting out a shuddering breath as his body convulses. He’s too full, too filled, there’s too much water inside of him and it needs to get out now , or he’s going to explode.

He clenches his muscles as tight as he can, cutting off the third stream, and pain spikes through him from his abdomen into his stomach. Gasping, he falters, and urine gushes out of his cock like a faucet’s been turned on. “No, no no no ,” he pants, eyes wide as he crushes his cock between his hands, doing everything he can to stop the flow of pee from coming out. But it’s no use. His body is too tired, too overworked to even entertain the idea of holding it in for another second .

With a final pang of agony, his bladder contracts once again, and this time there’s no stopping the torrent of piss from splashing out of his still hard penis and onto the ground below him. He lets out an absolutely devastating moan of pleasure as his legs give out beneath him, landing on his knees on the rough pavement of the parking lot as urine pours out of him in buckets. The relief he feels is absolutely overwhelming, whiting out his brain and making him forget where he is, forget that people might be looking at him, forget everything that isn’t him focusing on the all-encompassing pleasure wracking his body.

He’s never felt this kind of release before, never experienced something so intense and mind-numbingly good . Even some of the best of his orgasms have never felt as wonderfully pleasurable as this moment, pissing to his heart’s content after over two hours of holding it in. He feels his flagging erection start to grow harder once again as the relief hits him head-on, leaving him loose-limbed and with an almost high feeling as he goes. Somewhere in the back of his mind he registers Nadia’s hand on the back of his neck, her hip against his shoulder as she stands in the puddle forming around him, but he can’t bring himself to open his eyes and apologize just yet.

After what must be over a minute of him going and going and going , his stream begins to weaken. Alex sighs, squeezing experimentally to get the last few drops out so he knows he’s completely and blissfully empty, and one by one his senses come back to him. The first thing he feels is rapidly cooling, sticky wetness from the crotch of his shorts all the way down his legs, pooling under his feet as he kneels in his own bodily fluids. The next thing he realizes is that he’s kneeling not only in a puddle of his own piss, but also in the middle of a public parking lot, with families and couples all around to see his shame.

His face flames red as his eyes fly open, and he makes horribly embarrassing eye contact with one or two shocked waterpark goers before his head turns to meet Nadia’s gaze. She’s smiling down at him, looking somewhere between exasperated and pleased, and that expression alone makes up for all of the embarrassment he’s suffering at the moment. She strokes his sweat-damp hair back from his face and bends down to press a kiss to the corner of his lips, but she pulls away when he chases after her for more.

“Not yet,” she tells him in the same sultry voice from before. “You’ve been bad, Alex. Bad boys don’t get any rewards, now, do they?”

“N-No,” Alex replies, eyes darting down to meet his own gaze in the reflection of the pool of piss. “I’m sorry, Nadia. I really couldn’t hold it any longer.”

And he really had wanted to please her, too. He’d tried so hard to hold on just for her, to be a good boy and do as she asked him to. He’s disappointed in himself that he couldn’t make it just the littlest bit longer, just to make her happy.

“It’s alright, baby,” Nadia whispers, brushing her fingernails against his cheek. “You’ll just have to try again once we get home, won’t you?”

“Try again?” Alex repeats, perking up just a little bit. Nadia giggles and reaches out a hand to help him to his feet. Cool urine rushes down his legs and he shudders from the feeling, as well as from Nadia’s touch against his chest as he rises.

“It’ll be even better when we’re at home,” she says lowly. “I’ll be able to make you hold it for as long as I want to, and we won’t have to hide from anyone anymore. You’ll be able to squirm and dance and moan as much as you want to… Doesn’t that sound nice?”

Despite the ache in Alex’s abdomen, and the overall bone tiredness throughout his body, he feels his dick react just the littlest bit at her words. His face is still flushed with embarrassment from having an accident in front of so many people, and he’s still sore and exhausted from coming down from such a long, tiring hold, but surprisingly enough, he finds that the scenario she’s describing sounds rather nice.

“Y-Yeah,” he agrees shakily as Nadia leads him to the car, a promise on her face. “Sounds good.”

Now he really can’t wait until they get home.

The Quarry

This piece is actually part of a larger fic I did a while ago (fic on AO3 is called Quarried Depths, which @kleeklutch helped with during the beta process), but I thought it capable of standing alone as a one-shot. It takes place between “2.3 Meet the Frogs” and “2.4 Hazeapalooza”, when Nursey and Dex... didn’t have the best relationship; this piece specifically takes place right after that scene where Nursey spilled the cereal and milk on Dex (and in this case, on Dex’s laptop as well). It also explores a bit of how Dex looks up to Ransom.

Warning: There’s a first-person depiction of an anxiety attack, as well as unintentional self-harm via scratching.

Anyways, hope y'all enjoy.

---   ---   ---

“There are eight d-men on this team,” I breathe through clenched teeth. “Eight. Coaches could have paired me with any of them. Instead, I have to. Put. Up. With. You.” I punctuate the last few words by prodding a trembling finger into his chest.

I don’t give a damn if Nurse gets the message or not, but a distant tendril of satisfaction blossoms within me when he flinches back. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that something crumples behind those dollar-green eyes of his.

Not bothering to wait for a further response, I turn back and continue on my way.

Nurse doesn’t bother following.

I don’t go back to my dorm. In all honesty, I don’t know where I’m going. I just need to be somewhere without people. Without judgement.

As my feet carry me on my way, the haze of rage begins to ebb and the thrumming gradually quiets. With that ebbing, my brain plays catch up and clarity is restored. With that clarity, two things hit me.

The first is the fact that I had wandered out of campus and into Samwell Park. Not only that, but judging by my vantage point and surroundings, I went past the dam and past any defined trail. I really am in a spot where I won’t be bothered, even with the university visible across the Pond’s surface.

The second thing that hits me is the full weight of what just happened. The possibility that my computer will not survive this. The fact that this fight between me and Nurse was probably the worst that has happened between us. The fact that this blow-up happened in front of the team and much of the school.

That weight settles into my stomach and pulls my insides down with it.

Did you really think you’d make it? He’s right. You don’t fit here. You don’t fit with them.

Did you see their faces? They hate you. And why shouldn’t they? You never say the right thing. They were just being nice before. They were being generous. And now you’ve really blown it.

My skin pulls taut and, as it tightens, it constricts my chest and sends a familiar damn itch all over. Shedding my backpack does nothing to ease that.

Now they are going to tell Hall and Murray. Now the coaches are going to kick you out. Then where are you going to be? Where’s your scholarship going to be? Gone. All that investment. All his investment for you. It’s all going to be gone. You’re going to lose a scholarship and a laptop. All within one semester.

Just because you have to be Billy the Blunder.    

Gasping for air and clawing at my arms, I finally collapse and curl in on myself to weather the storm.

Because that’s what you’re good at. Weathering.

It’s all you’re good at.  

I don’t know how long I lay where I fall. Could be seconds. Could be minutes. Could be hours.

Whatever the case, the storm finally ebbs, and as my breaths slow and even out, I unfurl and lift myself off the forest floor.

All things considered, it was probably one of my worst attacks. I don’t even have to look at my stinging arms to know that I’m going to have to keep my sleeves down for the next few days or so. Easier will be not showing my hands so that nobody can see the little bloody crescents gouged into them.

Just to be sure, I sit on a rock that juts out over the water and go through some of the breathing exercises taught to me. It doesn’t banish completely the tight feeling in my chest, but little by little it loosens things up.

As things loosen up, I take stock of the setting: The clear sunny day with just the a slightest cool breeze. The extreme clarity of the water suggesting that turnover hasn’t happened yet despite the time of the year. The shore terminating in a rocky drop-off with no bottom beyond.

It dimly occurs to me that this spot most likely was a quarry once.

Feeling back in control and getting a good gauge on my surroundings, I get an idea.

I place my laptop in a shaded location where I can see it, strip down to my underwear, use my clothes to make a nest around the computer, inhale a deep breath, and take a leaping dive off the rock.

The briskness of the water is like a sledgehammer to my lungs. It’s a familiar pressure, however, and not unwelcome. As my momentum slows, I release just enough air to allow for a steady descent. The cloud of shimmering bubbles clears to reveal a sight before me. Shafts of dappled light from the noonday sun dance around the pale surroundings and occasionally illuminate the blurry forms of various fish gliding and hovering around in the distance. Unlike the majority of the Pond, which is shallow enough to walk through for a hundred feet without the water reaching your neck, here I’m rendered tiny by the cliff-like wall plunging down to indiscernible depths.

If anything, and despite the very real danger it can pose, the incomprehensible nature of the environment that dwarfs me is a source of comfort. It doesn’t judge. It doesn’t spurn. It doesn’t give a flying fuck where I come from and who I am. It just is and offers a familiar presence that supports and embraces even as the mild protests of my lungs signal for me to kick back up to the surface. That embrace relaxes me in full, and the breath I take upon breaking the surface reinvigorates my body.

I should do this more often.  

As I swim around the surface, the sound of crunching leaves and snapping twigs breaks me out of that state of calm, and it gives me cause to press close to the edge and reach for a small rock. That is, until the crunching is accompanied by the grumbling of a familiar voice and the flash of a white cap.

“Over here.” I punctuate my call by lobbing the rock into a leaf pile in front of me and pushing off the rocky wall so that I can be seen.

Ransom jumps straight up and lets off a high-pitched yelp — city folk… — before he whips around, does a double-take, and finally focuses on me. After taking a few steadying breaths, he gingerly picks his way towards the edge of the rocky bank. I doubt those loafers, which probably cost as much as everything I had on half-an-hour ago, are made for going through anything rougher than cobblestones. “You’re fucking hard to find, you know that right?”

“Wasn’t planning on being found,” I counter. “How’d you get this far?”

“Left breakfast early, and I saw you stomping southbound along the Pond. Wasn’t too hard to follow your trail — if I had to ask some random witnesses that you passed — until the damn path withered away to nothing after I crossed the bridge by the waterfall,” he grumbles while looking around. “This really is the fucking Forbidden Forest.”

I can see how he may have that impression. The vegetation here’s likely secondary growth, but considering how well-established it is in general and how thick the trees are, it’s really old secondary growth. Perhaps old enough to be non-virgin primary growth. Don’t know the age of Samwell Pond, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s at least a century old. The quarry itself was probably abandoned long before it and the surrounding land was flooded when the dam was built.

“Anyways, took me a while, fuck you very much, but here you are.” He looks me up and down with raised eyebrows. “Didn’t expect this.”

I’m just glad that he didn’t find me while I was having the attack. Still, I scowl back. “What’s so strange? Students play in the Pond all the time, and last I checked the park has a ‘swim at your own risk’ rule.” Then I realize that the water’s clarity means that he can easily see my briefs as I keep afloat. “Also what I have on has nothing on the stuff, or lack thereof, idiots have worn around town.”

Ransom mulls that over and shrugs with a chuckle in acknowledgement. “I’m more meaning that it’s the middle of fall.”

“It’s a nice day.” Possibly the last nice day in a while if the forecast’s correct. “Isn’t Toronto supposed to be around the same temperature?”

He snorts. “You picture me going out for a Halloween plunge in Lake Ontario?”

To my own surprise, I bark out a small laugh. “Guess not.”

Satisfied with my swim, I climb out, shake myself off, and hop back onto the sun-warmed rock to lie down to bask and dry off. I don’t miss that Ransom’s staring at my arms and hands, which I keep balled up. While he thankfully doesn’t say anything specific, he still asks, “Are you going to be alright?”

I give a shrug of my own. “I’ve had worse.” Guess it’s already time to face the music. “So when do I need to clear out my locker?”

“Don’t be dramatic, Dex,” Ransom huffs while kicking his shoes off, plopping down on the ground next to my rock so that we’re eye level, and swinging his feet over the edge. “So you two got in a little tiff. Okay, a major tiff. Still, you should have seen some of the tirades Jack meted out. Especially at Bitty. They got pretty epic.” For good measure, he pops those last few syllables and kicks at the water to send it upwards into a sparkling arc.

“Sure, but I bet they weren’t regular. Let’s face it: there’s no way Nurse and I get along, the other D-men are already paired up, and the team clearly likes him more. Hell, I know I’m good on the ice, but I’m certainly not spectacular like you or Holster. So if I were in charge and had to trim things down,  I’d  bin me first.”

Ransom widens his eyes at my admission, and even I’m a bit surprised how easy it is to say that.

Maybe I really don’t belong here.

“Fuck,” Ransom breathes as he squints at me, “you’re serious aren’t you.”

I just shrug at that. “Don’t want pity, if that’s what you think.” I really don’t. I wouldn’t mind if people here actually managed to see things from my perspective, but there’s no point in being broken up about them not understanding.

That doesn’t mean I’m going to be a doormat if shit’s thrown my way.

Minutes of silence pass between us. Silence that Ransom breaks first: “Two weeks.”

“What?”

“Give your partnership with Nursey two more weeks.” He holds up his fingers for emphasis. “If you both truly think this pairing is a disaster, then I’ll talk to Jack and the coaches to see if we can work something out.”

That’s more than cutting it close if they think something can be worked out before the season really starts getting into the swing of it. I squint up at him. “You really think two weeks will make a difference?”

Ransom shrugs. “It might. Better chance than if we don’t try anything. And seriously…”

“Yeah?”

“You two fit together better than you think.” Ransom doesn’t acknowledge my scoffing but instead holds his hand out. “So do we have a deal?”

“That assumes he wants to stay partners with me.” The image of Nurse flinching back from me plays on repeat, and for some reason my stomach clenches at it.

“I’ll talk to him.”

Like it will do any convincing. Whatever, it’s two more weeks. “Don’t get your hopes up,” I mutter as I shake the offered hand.

Deal settled, the two of us continue staring out at the Pond and university itself in silence once more.

And once more, Ransom disrupts it.

“Dex?”

To my surprise, Ransom’s voice now sounds stilted and hesitant. When I look at him, his face is a neutral mask except for a clear twitching tension within his jaw. Considering the air of confidence he always shows in his casual banter and poise, the unease that he’s radiating makes me sit up and turn towards him. “Yeah? What’s the matter?”

“What did you mean when you told Nursey that he’s ‘given everything’?”

That’s what he’s so conflicted over? “What do you think I meant? Just because Nurse has been swaddled in luxury doesn’t give him the right to lord it over me.” As I’m talking, it dawns on me why Ransom was so apprehensive. “Wait, I don’t have a problem about you and the rest of the team being rich. I don’t have a problem with him being rich. If I hated rich people, I wouldn’t—”

Ransom holds his hand up to stop my rambling. It doesn’t escape my attention the massive exhale that he releases. “It’s okay. It’s o—“ The words die as his brows pinch together. “Wait, no, it’s not okay.”

The backtrack puts me at a loss. “What are you talking about?”

Ransom stares at me, opening and closing his mouth as if he’s ready to say something but holding back. Ultimately he shakes his head and looks away. “Nope. Nah. Not doing this.”

What. “What?”

“Even if I didn’t have a meeting later in the afternoon, I’m not putting myself through this. At least not right now.” I try to ask him to clarify, but he just continues: “Go to the library. Talk to someone willing to discuss with you. Except for Shitty; he’s smart and a great guy with great intentions, but…”

“No fucking kidding…” Nurse is obnoxious enough, but I don’t know what I’d do if Knight was a D-man I had to be paired with. I've been civil and deferential all this time, but I’m not going to go out of my way to be chummy with that lefty-than-thou blowhard.

Ransom must have heard my muttered statement, as he lets off another sigh and pinches the bridge of his nose. “See, it’s shit like that why the team… nevermind.” He shakes his head. “Look, all I’ll say is that Nursey probably didn’t think you were yelling at him for being rich, and remembering some of the stuff he talked about may help you figure out what I mean. Also there’s a term that I recently learned that might be useful to you: ‘Intent versus Impact’. If you think you got it figured out and want to make sure, then we can talk.”

“But you’re barely giving me anything to figure out!” It’s fucking ridiculous. Why should Nurse get any sympathy from me if I don’t even know what supposedly bothers him?

My protests are answered with a snort. “Like you’ve been forthcoming about yourself.”

Ransom’s disdainful scoff feels like a slap in the face, and I can’t help but reel back a bit.

He must notice my reaction, as his voice softens. “I don’t want you to think I’m unwilling to talk if there’s anything you need help with. But William?” Both the use of my first name and the plea in his voice makes me look up at him. Really look at him to see lines of worry etched into his face. “We’re a team. I’m not saying that you should bare your soul. But we can’t have your back if you shut us out.”

A stiff breeze makes me pull my knees up to my chest.

I don’t need anyone to have my back. I’ve already said what I’ve needed to say. No reason for anyone to go out of their way for me. I did alright before, and I’ll do alright now.

Still, I humor Ransom: “I’ll take that into consideration.”

His raised eyebrow makes it obvious that he doesn’t believe me, and he looks ready to call me out on it. Ultimately he just shakes his head before glancing at my clothing nest. “Anyways, I was just coming to check to see if your computer’s alright.”

At least that’s something straightforward I can talk about. “I need to wait for it to dry first. Then I’ll check if there are any issues.”

“Well, I hope there aren’t any…” That air of pensive awkward settles over him again.

This time, I huff, “If you have something to say, just say it.”

Ransom allows for another minute or so before speaking: “You can’t afford a replacement, can you.”

Is he just figuring that out? “Well technically, I have enough money to buy one…” Really don’t want to elaborate beyond that.

I don’t have to. Ransom wide-eyed stare and the sharp exhale tells me that he's read between the lines. I’m still baffled that he didn’t know, but I’m also beyond thankful that he’s not showering me with platitudes or falling over himself with guilt.

“If it’s truly busted, I’ll see if I can rally the guys to help you replace it.”

“I don’t need your charity,” I growl. I’m completely sincere when I say that I don’t mind that my teammates are rich. But like hell I’m going to let them pay their way into my good graces or buy themselves a pat on the back because they are oh-so-generous. And like hell I’ll let Nurse buy himself out of the mess he made.

Ransom sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose again. “Then don’t think of it like that. Think of it as a team expense to make sure that things run smoothly. After all, the last thing we need is for the loss of your computer to put your academics at risk, which would put your athletics at risk, which would disrupt team dynamics,” he notes while ticking off each stage of the scenario with his fingers and waving them in my face. “So it’s not just about you.”

Well, when he puts it like that, the last thing I need is to be a burden on the team.  And if they— fuck dammit, he’s good.

I take a deep breath. “If, and only if, anything needs to be replaced, it will probably just need to be a part and not a full replacement.” Not to mention that I would need to figure out how to repay them.

Hopefully it won’t come to that. It better not come to that.

For once, Ransom is satisfied with my response and relaxes fully to pipe, “Sure thing! Just let us know.”

“Also… do you think you can refrain from mentioning this spot? I’m not saying to keep it top secret, and I know it’s public land anyways.” Hell, for all I know, people come here all the time, and I just caught a lucky break today. “But it’s nice to have a quiet place, just in case.” Not to mention that the last thing I want is for this patch of forest and pond to become sullied by a kegster crowd.

For one reason or another, understanding dawns behind Ransom’s eyes even though he keeps his tone light. “I don’t think you have to worry about crowds of people here.” He scowls at the surrounding vegetation with suspicion. “But how about this: I’ll keep it on the lowdown if you help guide me back to civilization. Deal?”

“You do know that I practically came here by accident, right?”

He shrugs. “Even if you did, I trust you to find a way out. Faster than me for sure.”

I blink. I mean, I’m not exactly surprised at the assertion that’d I would be better at navigating a forest than most of my teammates. Haven’t made it secret that I hunt, after all. But that one trusts me to lead him out catches me off guard.

Once I get my bearings straight, I murmur, “Deal.”

Ransom flashes one of his trademark smiles and holds his fist out, and his smile widens when I bump it.  

He has a really nice smile.  

The Leviathan

[Breakaway]

TW: Drowning, blood

———————

The first time Maria encountered the thing was early one morning.

The sun had barely began to rise, but even its fresh golden rays couldn’t cut through the thick, impenetrable wall of grey that had settled over the ocean. The water below was roiling, waves crashing and clapping loudly against the ship. Something in the sea seemed agitated- Maria could feel it. Perhaps it was because of the oncoming storm.

She leaned against the railing at the very back of the boat, watching the water and taking in the serene silence of the early morning. And that’s when she had seen it.

It was a mere silhouette in the fog, an outline of a large head and a long neck that slid down into the depths of the ocean. Despite it being at least a hundred meters away, Maria could see it as clear as day.

There was something out there.

And it turned to her.

The pointed snout turned and looked in her direction.

Looked at her.

Maria couldn’t see its eyes, but something told her, deep down, that this thing was looking at her.

And it’s stare bore right into her very soul.

Then, it was gone. Maria blinked and the figure had disappeared. She only saw the fleeting flick of a tail before fog encompassed everything again.

———

The second time Maria saw the thing was when she was snorkeling.

The activity was offered on an island called Cozumel, which was probably Maria’s favorite stop so far, mainly due to her Spanish heritage. It was a nice change of pace from all the European stops, even if they were just as amazing.

She, the queens, and the other two ladies in waiting, along with a few other tourists, were taken out on a boat to the middle of the ocean, where they then got to snorkeling for several hours.

And it was absolutely magnificent. Maria ended up ditching her snorkel to dive into the water and swim alongside fish colors she’d never seen before. And, while she was doing so, she noticed that they were going somewhere, not just flitting around aimlessly. They were going deeper into the ocean, down a sandstone cliff face and into a dark crater carved into a sandy plateau several meters away.

Something compelled Maria to follow.

She paddled slowly along the surface, careful as to not get caught by any of the monitors on the boat. Then, she took a deep breath and dove. Down, down, down, she swam, brushing by the drop off. Her ears popped, but she could hardly care. She was too enamored by the petrified forest of rainbow coral and sparkling stalks curling out of the sand along the plateau.

Fish were gliding down into the crater- tiny fish, large fish, long fish, fish the color of ebony and fish that looked like the sunset. They were gathering down there for something. And Maria wanted to know what it was.

A blobby indigo octopus goggled at her from the brambles of a jagged reef. Maria does a double take- was it normal for octopus (octopi? octopuses?) to be in such shallow waters? Sure, it was probably twenty feet deep, but still...

The octopus gawked at her face in the diving mask before lazily stretching one of its slimy limbs and clambering across the coral thicket. It seemed to be going down to the crater, too. Along with an emerald green sea turtle that took Maria by surprise when it glided over her head and a small, soft grey shark that brushed right against her foot without a care in the world.

Maria quickly went back up for air, but went back as fast as she could. She returned to the paralyzed forest and grappled onto one of the pieces of coral. A washed out red lobster blinked at her from another cluster, bristling its whiskers and snapping its pincers, like it was judging her for touching such an ancient and fragile piece of aquatic flora with her oily human hands. She let go quickly and it skitters away.

She paddles closer to the crater, feeling the chill of the depths embrace her tightly. It isn’t long before she needs to get more air, but she returns just as fast, kicking and pulling herself through the water until she got to the perimeter of the crater. Her flippers gently touched the sand as she crouched awkwardly- it wasn’t the best position to be in, as she was slowly floating off of the ground, but she managed.

Intense water pressure pressed uncomfortably against Maria’s temples, practically forcing her eyes into a wince. It was slightly difficult to see, but she dealt with it and looked into the crater.

The hole was illuminated by bioluminescent pink and purple jellyfish and violet and maroon glowing plants that almost looked like mushrooms. Skeletons of multicolored reefs twisted from the incline that dipped to the bottom, along with sun-colored tentacles of kelp and plum-streaked ferns and waving green fans, which almost acted as seating for the abundance of aquatic creatures down there.

Fish of every color were peering out from sparking anemone- some had beaks like parrots or big ogling eyes or long tails or bristling spines along their backs. A few deep green and dark grey eels had their heads poked from holes in the crater side, gaping their jaws open like they were witnessing the meaning of life itself. Sea turtles bobbed patiently above the forest and sharks in various sizes moved slowly through the reaching limbs of coral. Crabs and lobsters scuttled through the sand, stingrays glided on their bellies around the sides of the crater, something large and yellow was lying flat against the seabed, and that blobby octopus from earlier was attached to a zigzagged piece of coral. And, among them, there something very big.

In the middle of the crater was a jagged pillar of limestone surrounded by orange clusters of coral. Atop it, stood the thing.

It was too dark to get a clear view of it, but some details stood out. Like the whiskers that waved lazily in water around what was very clearly its snout. And the long tail that curled around the spire like a jungle snake. And the glinting green talons gripping a knob of limestone. And the fins bristled on a body part that couldn’t be made out.

Whatever it was, it was big. Or, well, long. Very long.

What kind of creature was this?

A strange vibration filled the water. It was a deep, rumbling sort of coo that sends shockwaves and ripples through the ocean, shaking Maria to her very core...but not in a bad way. No, it almost felt...peaceful.

And then a sharp sting sears in her chest like a hot knife.

Maria springs off of the ground. The sand sinks in and sucks greedily for her feet, but she manages to get enough momentum to return to the surface on time.

She bobbed up with a gasp, sucking in deep breaths of air. Once she regained her bearings, she was about to go back down and try to get a closer look when one of the monitors on the boat yelled at her to come back, that she was too far out. The option to ignore him or pretend like she didn’t hear and go back under arose, but she gave in and began paddling back. But not without stealing one last glance down to the crater.

From the sunlight filtering down into the water and the faint glow of the jellyfish, she swore every fish, lobster, crab, turtle, eel, shark, and octopus were looking back at her.

A deep green stare branded itself in her mind.

———

The third time Maria saw the thing was on a paper.

The next day while waiting to perform, she doodled a few shapes on a piece of paper at her makeup table. These two shapes turned into orbs and these orbs turned into great big eyes.

That thing’s eyes.

Maria crumbled the paper and threw it away quickly.

———

The fourth time Maria saw the thing was when she was at the beach.

The cruise had docked on an island she couldn’t remember the name of for a few hours, allowing patrons to explore the land and do the regular tourist things. Maria had decided to go to the beautiful beaches on her own and was able to find a rather secluded strip of shore after a quick hike through some trees. It was perfect.

She swam for a long time, looking at all the shells and aquatic life and colorful fish. But then the amount fish started to get smaller and smaller. Sure, it was normal for them to swim away from people, but there has been dozens just half an hour ago.

Confused, Maria decided to swim out a little further. She was thinking back to how all the animals had gathered in one area when she was snorkeling and was hoping she would see something like that again. But, instead, she just got teeth in her leg.

Maria wasn’t exactly sure what was biting her, she just knew something was biting her. She could feel its razor sharp teeth sink into the delicate flesh on her right leg. Blood hazes the water to terrible hues of murky red. It mixes horribly with the tang of salt when she opens her mouth to scream.

She thrashes and struggles, clapping her arms against the surface of the water before she’s yanked back down. A scream is choked back by an overflow of water that rushes down her throat. She coughs and cries out at the same time as darkening clouds of crimson billow around her.

Was this how she died?

Would her body be found half eaten by something or would it never be found?

The ocean is getting darker, and not just because of her blood. Consciousness is slipping away with each pull on her leg. Faster and faster and faster and—

There’s a guttural roar that simmers the water. The sharp, unbearable pressure on Maria’s leg disappears and she hears something heavy slam into a rock formation, but her eyes are already rolling to the back of her head before she can swim to safety...

Maria awoke on the beach after an unknown amount of time passed. She shot up with a sharp gasp, expecting a waterfall of water to be pouring out of her mouth, but none came. She only spit lingering salt from her mouth a few times.

She looked down and saw that her right leg was wrapped tightly in several slimy pieces of seaweed. She doesn’t need to untie them to know the wound was still present- she could feel the ache it caused whenever she bent her knee. Somehow, though, the kelp was easing the discomfort, because surely she should be in much more pain than what she was feeling.

How did these makeshift bandages get on her leg, anyway? She may have blacked out, but there’s no way she could have done this. And how was she safe on shore? Did she coincidentally get washed up there?

After looking around, Maria noticed something. Footprints in the wet sand.

Footprints with five splayed, webbed toes and claws.

———

The fifth time Maria saw the thing was on paper once again.

She had decided to buy herself a proper sketchbook from one of the cruise shops, along with pencils (colored and regular), markers, and pens. What came out was a diagram of what she thought the creature she’s been encountering looked like.

It was long- that was its main trait. Its body in her drawing resembled that of a Chinese dragon. Two sets of whiskers flowed from the cheeks on its big head, which had large, finned ruffs on either sides with small ears right above them. Fins ran down the spine- she didn’t know what color but she went with green. The webbed talons were green, too, while the rest of the body was an iridescent silver color. The beautiful tail on the thing was perfect for propelling itself through the water. She wonders if that’s what it’s used for.

———

The sixth time Maria saw was late in the middle of the night after a terrible nightmare. She dreamt of a young girl from court, a maid in waiting, a mere child named Elizabeth Blount. Bessie for short.

Several people in the show said Bessie was going to be one of the four ladies in waiting that were reincarnated, but either they lied or something happened because Bessie never showed up.

All the happiness and joy that Maria had felt while waiting to see her precious girl again left her in a flash at this revelation. She was cold without it—just like how she had been cold after the exile.

If anyone deserved a second chance at life, it was Bessie.

So why wasn’t she here?

She just wanted to hold her again...

Maria couldn’t bear to go back to sleep after her horrible nightmare of watching that little girl get gruesomely executed for an affair she had no choice in. She wandered out to the deck and braced herself against the railing, watching the boat split the sea as it moved along.

She wasn’t stupid enough to actually ever do anything bad to herself, but sometimes she wondered what it would be like to jump off the ship- to let the front of the vessel pierce her body, to let it run her over, to let the propellers shred her into tiny, bloody pieces, to let the black water claim her. Would that be enough to make up for her not helping the abused child Henry had imprinted on as his mistress?

Would exchanging her life be enough to give Bessie a chance to live?

Maria yanked off the necklace around her neck- a pendant given to her by Aragon. She doesn’t know why she’s let it linger on her for so long. What gave her the right to wear such a thing? Especially when it had been given to her by the woman who took the greatest blessing in her life away from her.

She angrily threw it as far away from her as possible, hearing it splash distantly in the water. She hoped it could be taken as an offering of sorts as she began to pray- pray for her to have her girl back, pray for her to see her, pray for her to be alive and there.

This process was then interrupted by something hitting her forehead.

Maria tottered backwards with a yelp, rubbing her head and hoping a bruise wasn’t left. She looked around for the offending item and saw her necklace lying in a small by her feet.

She picked it up gingerly and found small claw marks on one side of the gold pendant. She gasped in fright and it slipped from her hands, falling back into the water below, this time getting tread on by the boat.

And yet it’s thrown back up to her in mere seconds.

Maria watches the necklace fly through the air and clink on the ground several feet away. She waits for a moment, then picks it back up and throws it in the water again.

This time, it’s only a second before the necklace is thrown back up, hitting her in the chest with a bit more force and aggression. She grips the cold golden chain tightly as she carefully crept over to the railing and looked down.

Big green eyes peer up at her from the black water. Something about those eyes was so familiar, like a person is staring out of them.

“Bessie...?”

———

The seventh time Maria saw the thing wasn’t really visual, rather audible.

She was laying in her bed after a long two show day when a beautiful noise hummed through the air. It sounded like a cross between a howl, a coo, and a purr.

She quickly got up and pushed open one of her windows, sticking her entire upper body out. She scans the water, noticing it rippling several hundred yards away. The noise sounds again, this time in a tune of sorts, pauses, then goes once more.

High, low, high, low. That was the pattern of the pitch.

Maria wasn’t much of a singer, but she tries to sing the tune anyway. The possibility of being heard by someone didn’t cross her mind at the moment.

Silence. Maria thinks she might have scared the creature off with her unpracticed singing when it replies with the its tuned cry again. Maria laughs and replies to it with her own. It was slightly altered: Low, high, low, high. The creature copies enthusiastically.

Maria smiles and gets on her knees, leaning against her window sill, singing with the creature.

She never wanted to stop.

———

The eighth time Maria saw the creature was on a stormy day.

She didn’t know why she ventured out into the rain- something was just compelling her to go out to the back of the boat and lean over the railing. She watched the water bubble and splash and roil relentlessly for a long time, then she looked up with a new fire in her eyes.

“Are you here?” She called out. Her voice was soft, but something told her that it could hear her.

She could hear her.

Maria swallowed a lump in her throat. She wasn’t realizing she was shaking until that moment, and not because of the chill from the rain.

Slowly, she reached her hand out over the edge of the boat.

Rain starts to fall harder, pattering loudly against the surface of the churning ocean. The water was bubbling below the ship. The waves were crashing violently thanks to the gales whipping through the cold air, riling them up into towering shapes before they end up crashing back down with piercing claps. Lightning ignites the dark grey sky, thunder cracks loud enough to make it seem like the boat was ripped in half, and up comes the Empress of the Sea to touch Maria’s hand with her nose before diving back down into her deep sea kingdom.

Deep Blue Sea, Ch. 19

<<<Chapter 18 | Chapter 20>>> [wip]

Chapter 19: The Aurora Subnautica/JSE Egos Crossover

hiiii it’s been a while oops- I have a new hyperfixation, so working on Ego stuff has actually gotten pretty difficult, but I’ll do my best to update this whenever I’m motivated to do so!

Warnings: Swearing, Arguing, Knives Characters: Chase Brody, Marvin the Magnificent, Second Officer Keen, Jackieboy Man (briefly), Dr. Schneeplestein (briefly) POV: Chase Brody

“Warning: Local radiation readings suggest the Aurora’s drive core has reached critical state. Quantum detonation will occur within two hours.”

“…Hey, Chase. Remember what you said yesterday? That thing you were so confident about? What was it you said again?” Marvin asked as he glared down at his PDA. His diving mask was pushed up on his forehead while he treaded water with his free arm.

The repairman’s groan was muffled by his mouthpiece as he ducked his head under the surface to avoid his companion’s glare. That had to be literally one of the worst things to be wrong about.

A hand on his suit dragged him back above the surface, then moved to pull his mask off. “C’mon. What did you say?”

“…That the Aurora won’t blow up.”

“That the Aurora won’t blow up, right! And what’s about to happen?”

“…The Aurora’s gonna blow up?”

“The Aurora’s gonna blow up!” Marvin grumbled something under his breath, then with the flat of his palm smacked the water with a curse. “Just great! Wonderful! Let’s get back to the goddamn habitat.”

Both men pulled their masks back down over their faces and began the swim back with the materials they’d gathered to add to the growing collection. Chase could feel the dread in the pit of his stomach the whole way there, the worry, the “what ifs” lingering in the back of his mind. He was a repairman, not an engineer. Hopefully the damage wouldn’t be as severe as the warning made it sound…

When they entered the habitat, the drainage system seemed to take ages before they were finally able to push the bulkhead open. Both Seaglides were tucked out of the way along with the supplies, then Chase cast his eyes around the too-cramped room.

Jameson, already on his feet and moving to start putting the new materials away in their respective lockers. Henrik, tending to Jackie’s injury again while cussing him out over something. Keen, rubbing at his chin while he scowled down at his PDA’s cracked screen. It wasn’t long before his eyes shifted from the device, up toward Chase and Marvin. He pursed his lips, then, “Quantum detonation. We don’t know the shape that will leave the ship in.”

“And?” Marvin asked.

“And, for all we know, it could take out the computers that the data package was sent to.”

“Well…actually,” Chase interrupted, “detonation’s gonna be in the drive core, right? The drive core and some of the major computer systems are pretty damn far from each other. Multiple walls between ‘em—hell, they’re even on different levels, and the computers get their power from multiple places throughout the ship just in case one or more of its sources goes down. Long as the entire ship doesn’t decide, ‘Hey! Fuck this shit!’ then the package should be okay, even if I can’t repair the drive core.”

“Okay… How’re you so sure while Keen’s worried, thought?”

“Hey, no offense to Keen, but I’m the repairman. I’ve been on every level and in every room of that damn ship to fix shit no one else could be bothered with. He was one of the highest ranking officers there. Doubt you even set foot in the engine room or JJ’s cafe, like, ever, did ya?”

“…He’s right.” Keen nodded, tucking his PDA away. “Brody likely knows the layout of the ship better than anyone, save the engineers who built it. It you believe the main computers will be safe, I’ll take your word for it, then.”

One hour ticked by. He, Marvin, and Keen were now sticking close to the habitat as they gathered materials. Going inside during detonation would probably be the safest bet, right?

Fifteen more minutes. Marvin had already gone in to start getting more power cells and batteries crafted, leaving the officer and Chase to continue scavenging just a little while longer.

At half hour to detonation, they both made their way back into the habitat to join the others. Time seemed to stretch for ages as they sat around in tense silence—Jameson was chewing his nails, Marvin played with his hair, Chase couldn’t help the anxious tapping of his foot.

All six PDAs gave a warning beep that had Chase jumping even as he’d been expecting it. They echoed one another in an eerie monotone, each survivor moving away from the window as the words droned from their devices.

“Emergency: A quantum detonation has occurred in the Aurora’s drive core. The reactor will reach a super critical state in T-minus ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five—” Chase closed his eyes and scrunched his fists into the fabric of his dive suit, “—four, th-three-ee-ee, t-t-two-two…”

Even underwater, even inside the habitat, he could feel the shock wave from the explosion rip through the water around them: The way it threw sand up at the window, the habitat creaking, lights flickering, projectile shrapnel from the ship itself clanging as it hit the shallowly submerged habitat hard enough that in one spot off in the corner if even started a leak.

Then, it was over.

Just like that, everything went quiet as the survivors took a collective breath. So quiet, Chase grimaced when their PDAs chirped again with, “For your convenience, the radiation suit has been added to your blueprint database.”

Chase actually found it in himself to snort. “…At least one good thing comes outta that.”

“I’m almost scared to see the ship, now.” Jackie’s voice, through gritted teeth, as he winced with every step toward the window. Not like looking out of it would do any good. Not with the sand disturbed. It would be a while before the water was clear again in their shallows. “I mean, that had to be some explosion, right?”

“Doesn’t matter. I’ve gotta go and at least try to repair the drive core.”

“Well, I’m goin’ with you.”

“To hell you are!” Henrik scoffed. “You can barely stand and the water is no good for your injuries, Mann!”

Marvin shook his head even as he gathered up supplies from the lockers for the new blueprint. “Like hell am I going anywhere near the ship. I’m not dealin’ with a Reaper again.”

“I’m not goin’ alone! Someone’s gotta watch my—”

“I’ll go.” Keen was already at the fabricator that Marvin had put the supplies on, letting it read his PDA so it could get the sizing for the new suit correct. When Chase opened his mouth to protest, the older man simply put a hand up to stop him there. “I slept through the night and most of the morning—I’m rested and my injuries were minor. I’ll accompany you to the ship.”

The suits were heavier than their previous ones, but not n a way that hindered them as much as Chase had expected. The only downside was that the flippers were smaller—stiffer—but he supposed that would be good for when they got onto the actual ship and couldn’t take the flippers off unless they wanted radiation poisoning. Regular ones would have had them falling on their faces on dry land. The helmets also had a wider field of vision from the masks or rebreathers, and no mouthpiece so they could speak while keeping them on—another plus.

“One of you should take the Seamoth, and the other use a ‘Glide,” Marvin said as he handed both of them fully-charged Seaglides. “The ‘Moth’s a bigger target, but also a lot faster. If the Reaper goes after one of you, it’ll chase whoever’s in that, and it’ll have a better chance at escaping. Then the one with the ‘Glide can get past safely.”

“With any luck, we won’t run into one of these ‘Reapers’ at all.”

“Heh. Be nice if somethin’ goes our way for once, huh?”

A final nod to their companions, one last supply check (survival knives, extra batteries, laser cutter, scanners, first aid kit, repair tool—all accounted for), and they pulled the bulkhead open, waited for the teeny little corridor between it and the hatch to flood, then left the habitat.

Keen was the one to take the Seamoth, leaving Chase to trail behind. Smoke still rose from the ship as they approached, there were pieces of the hull that looked like they were barely held on by a few bolts, and the water was so murky from the disturbed sand that he couldn’t see his own hand in front of his face and could barely tell which way was up when completely submerged.

It made the knowledge that there was a massive creature, somewhere out there, all the more terrifying. It could be swimming inches away from them and they’d never even know it.

The first time Chase heard the Reaper’s cry, he could have sworn his blood turned to ice right then and there. His breath caught in his throat, even as he realized the sounds were from far off. So far, it seemed the last few hundred yards to the ship would go without incident.

That didn’t change the fact that it was the most terrifying sound he’d ever heard and didn’t dare duck his head under the surface.

Ahead of him, the Seamoth sped up slightly before falling back again (hesitantly) so he could actually keep up. Keen had heard it, too.

They hugged the side of the ship when they finally reached it, searching for any points of entry that may have been torn into it. It didn’t take long to find one: The entire front half of the Aurora had been ripped apart by the explosion, and Chase’s stomach twisted. He really hoped they wouldn’t find any bodies once they got on board.

“Warning: Ship’s structural integrity is low. Fire suppression equipment and laser cutters may be required. Exploration is conducted at your own risk.”

“Thanks, PDA…” Great. They’d forgotten fire extinguishers. At least they’d been plentiful on the ship—they had a good chance of stumbling across one in their time aboard.

Keen parked the Seamoth as shallowly as he dared on a sloped piece of metal that would have to act as their ramp into the ship. They both hauled their Seaglides up under one arm, survival knives in the other. There were Cave Crawlers everywhere… A part of Chase told him that human bodies would probably be nonexistent with those things on board, and it took everything he had not to gag at the thought.

“Don’t let them rip your suit,” the officer demanded as he used his Seaglide as a bludgeon on one that lunged at him. It fell stunned at his feet, only for him to kick it off into the water. Chase would have snorted if not for the unease that settled over him as he got a good look at the smoldering remains of the ship, at twisted metal, at collapsed floors that used to be rooms and command center.

The repairman swallowed, holding his knife close as they continued up the “ramp” that he was starting to recognize as the floor that should have led straight to command.

“What do you think we’ll find on board?”

“…I don’t know. Let’s just worry about the drive core first.”

“Right. Yeah, okay.”

It was easy to find, once they got past all the crabs and into the ship, once they helped each other clamor over too-heavy crates that had fallen in the way of one of the corridors. H eknew the ship’s layout from bow to stern, after all. Now…

Now Chase could only frown as he looked down into the water that had flooded the drive core room. There were…things in there. Swimming about, attacking one another…

He pulled his scanner from his hip when one came close enough to the platform—the scanner dubbed them “Bleeders”—and then glared at all the damage he could see from where he stood. They kind of reminded him of cuttlefish. It wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be—he even figured it should be fairly easy to repair from what he was seeing—but if those Bleeders tore his suit..?

When he turned to Keen, the older man had his hands on the railing, eyes fixed on one of the creatures as it circled near them, clearly trying to figure out how to get at them. “They’re like leaches,” he said without looking to Chase. “Had one attack me when I left my lifepod. Don’t let them latch on.”

“Think you can keep ‘em away from me while I repair?”

“I believe so.”

They set their Seaglides near the door to keep them out of the way of feet and tools and knives and Chase got to work on the damage he could reach from the platforms, first.

Without looking away from his work, Chase asked, “So… What’re we gonna do about that Sepse guy? Just…leave ‘im here when we leave?”

“I hate to say it, but yes. He’s been here alone for too long and attempting to get him on a ship off world would just put anyone involved in danger.”

“Fair enough.” One spot finished, he moved on to the next. He’d have to go in the water soon. “Got another question for ya: The rest of Sepse’s crew. The Mongolians? Any idea how they ended up here? Marv thinks they were looking for habitable planets.”

“Why they were here, no.” Chase could tell by the sound of his voice that Keen had his back turned to him to watch the Bleeders beneath their platform. “It… But it’s why we’re here.”

When he spun around to face the officer, he about caught his own finger with the repair tool. “…What do you mean by that?”

Careful with the knives, Keen crossed his arms with a sigh and shook his head. “The Degasi went missing a decade ago. To improve relations with the Mongolian settlement, Alterra gave the Aurora a secondary mission: To find out what happened to its crew. This system was its last known location, and we came close to the planet in an attempt to scan. That’s the only reason we were equipped with diving gear and appropriate vehicles.”

“So this…this…” Chase went to pinch his nose but only bumped the glass on his helmet. So instead, he threw his hands up, nearly catching Keen with his still-active tool. “Why didn’t the rest of us know about this?! Some…secret fucking mission could be what kills us all!”

“It was meant to be a simple scan. But something happened, Brody. And I have a feeling what happened to us is what also brought down the Degasi.”

“Doesn’t fucking change the fact the rest of the crew should’ve known. That Mongolian emissary—Khasar?—that’s why he was on board, wasn’t it? So you could figure out what the hell happened and he could tell his people. Why the fuck would that be kept from the rest of us, man?”

“Because nothing was expected to come of it! If something was discovered we would have sent people down while the Aurora continued on its course to set up the phasegate. This—” he gestured at the flooded room around them, “—was never supposed to happen.”

“Awesome. Good to know we’re stranded ‘cause someone was curious about a crew that went missing ten fuckin’ years ago.” He shouldered past Keen to move on to the next spot that needed repairing.

Curiosity killed the cat, Chase thought bitterly. He reached a hand up for the pendent at his throat, could feel it under the thick fabric of his suit. Someone else’s curiosity could be what never let him see his kids again, dammit.

“…Did Doc know? He keep this shit from us?”

“No. Schneeplestein was too new to the crew. He was one of the few ranking officers who wasn’t informed.”

Chase shook his head and muttered under his breath, checked the battery on his repair tool—

“Brody—”

“Can it.”

—and stepped off the platform into the water below. The nearby Bleeders immediately went after him but the super-heated end of the repair tool worked even better on them than he’d expected. It wasn’t long before Keen was there with the knives so Chase could use the tool as it was actually meant to be used, however. Just focus on the job at hand for now, he told himself. Repair the drive core so you don’t have to worry about the radiation.

It took a lot of time—a few hours, by Chase’s estimation—before he was finally positive every leak in the core was repaired. Or…“repaired” since it wasn’t like it would ever run again anyway. At least now the leak was stopped.

When they surfaced again, Chase was the one to take the leader after they’d snatched up their Seaglides.

“When we get back, you better fuckin’ tell the others about the secret little mission that killed over a hundred people. Got it?”

He didn’t give Keen a chance to answer, instead storming off for another part of the ship.

To the computers then, he thought. Let’s see what that package is.

Ranmaru + 18

For smut prompt “I’m still mad at you” with Ranmaru x reader.A very, veeeery late birthday present for @ranmarukurosakis. I’m so sorry it took so long, but I hope you enjoy it.

“30 minutes until we are live, Kurosaki-san.”

You were jolted from your thoughts by the loud rapping on the door, followed by a man’s muffled warning of Quartet Night’s impending interview. You glance over to Ran, hardly fazed, still fussing with himself in the green room mirror. 

“I really hate these damn things…” he groans, straining his fingers through his hair one last time to get it to that perfect level of rocker chic. “Hopefully they will talk to the other guys more than me. Maybe a drink or two would help. What do you say?”

Ran turns his attention to you, the bottle of whiskey in hand. The tiny smirk melts away when he sees the frown still plastered on your face from earlier. 

“H-hey…are you okay?” The usual gruffness of his voice had dissipated entirely. 

“I’m still mad at you.” You shift your weight back, bringing your knees close to you. Staring at a crumpled wrapper on the ground seemed to be the more viable option than looking at his face knowing you would soften immediately. 

“Look…I’m sorry about earlier.”

“I know you are. But it still hurt.“ 

“I know I say some dumb shit sometimes.”

“Oh?" 

Ran squeezes the back of his neck, hesitant with his next words. 

"Oi…okay a lot.” he confesses, punctuating with a sigh. Arms folded, he digs a heel into floor, waiting upon your next response. 

Truth of matter you didn’t want to dwell on it any longer, but your stubbornness was putting you at a standstill and not wanting to forgive him just yet.  Unfortunately, Ran caught the small snort in response to his admission, and you try to cover it up immediately with a cough and more pouting. A poor attempt.

“Guess I gotta earn your forgiveness."  A conniving grin spreads across his face as he unfolds arms and glides over to you. He leans into you with one knee to your side, pinching your chin between his fingers and jerking your head up towards his. 

"You know if you keep making that face there’s no way I’m going to just leave you alone.” He lowers his face to yours, eyes dark and intense. A hand wraps around your neck, shoving your body against the back of the couch. Before you could even come back for air, your lips meet in a searing kiss, his tongue slipping between yours to take over, tasting quite sweet. Any lingering negative thoughts you had dissolved into an exchange of wanton moans, your eyes closing to absorb yourself in his touch and scent. 

His wandering fingers find their way underneath your shirt and bra, cupping your breast and rolling your nipple between his thumb and finger. Your body clenches at the sudden intrusion, the whimpers muted with kisses so deep and greedy it felt like he wanted to consume all of you. You come back to your senses for a split second, grabbing his shirt and pushing him off of you.

“Ran.” You had to take another gulp of air before you could finish, eyes darting to the clock hanging on the far wall. “You have less than 25 minutes.”

“Tch! You think I don’t know how to get you off by now?" 

You roll your eyes. "I would rather not risk.. .GAH!”

Ran interrupts you when he yanks you down by the ankles, landing you on your back with a thud. He tugs repeatedly at your belt, undoing it with a clank and tossing your pants and underwear onto the floor before you can argue. He dives between your legs, inhaling your scent with a faint growl, his ashy hair tickling the inside of your thighs as he nips at them.

“Heh." 

Bemused, Ran runs his thumb along your folds, gathering the wetness already forming and licking it off with a smirk. 

"Looks like I already had you going.”

He wasn’t wrong. The sudden rush of his mouth and hands all over you made your body hot and craving it elsewhere.“That’s not the point Ran, I don’t want you being….ahhhh, fuck.”Your hips jolt when he plays with your clit, flicking it with his tongue and sucking hard on the sensitive nub, relishing the sight of your squirming hips underneath his ministrations. 

“Fuck you taste amazing. Open up more for me.”

His hands wrap around your thighs, demanding you keep them spread wide, latching his mouth over your entrance. He knew how to put his tongue to good use, wriggling it about inside, darting in and out of your cunt, watching your every reaction like a ravenous wolf. Ran never was the type afraid to get a bit messy, evident by the slickness covering his lips and chin. Two fingers ease inside of you, curling up and pressing into your g-spot as he vigorously thrusts into you. His lips wrap around your clit again, sucking in perfect marriage with the thick digits buried in your gut. Every stroke of his fingers made your legs shaky and weak, yet you wanted nothing more than squeeze your thighs like a vice around him. You glance back over to the clock. Really was a shame it couldn’t last. 

“15 minutes Ran,” you warn between shallow pants, the fabric of the couch noticeably wet underneath you.  You loved the way his fingers filled you, but your body was aching for his cock to be buried inside of you.

“Guess it’s time for the main show huh?  A shame ‘cause I could eat you out all damn day.” 

You hear the grind of the zipper, shifting his hips enough to free his straining cock, his fingers still knuckle-deep in you. He plants a single kiss on your swollen clit before moving on, dragging himself up between your legs and joining you in another kiss, the entire weight of his body pinning you down. You swipe your tongue across his lips, cleaning your own juices off for him. 

“Dirty girl.” he groans into your mouth, grinding his cock against your clit. 

He slides his cock between your folds several times, lining it up at your entrance. He moves his hips forward, pushing inside, the flared head of his cock stretching you out by every inch. The heat rises to your cheeks as he fills you to the hilt, clenching around him when the initial shudder passes through you.

“Always so tight for me.” Ran pulls back, thrusting inside again with strained words. “Even after everything we did to you last night.”

You scoff. “You know I don’t break that easily.”

“You sure about that? I seem to remember you saying how you ‘couldn’t take anymore’ a few times…”

Your face starts to burn from ear to ear, frustrated there was no hiding your embarrassment from him. It only served to make him beam harder. 

“…shut up and fuck me already.”

“Heh, I love a woman who knows what she wants." 

Ran raises one of your legs back, obeying your demands without a fuss and slams harder into you. You grab at his shirt for leverage, arching your back with every crash of his hips against yours, swearing every time he somehow buried further inside. It was getting harder to contain the noises coming from you, biting the back of your hand to keep your voice down. It felt like he was trying to make you falter. 

“You still mad at me?”

“Maybe a little bit.” you tease, reaching for his tie. Twisting it in your hand, you jerk him towards you, lips locking in a rough kiss. 

Playfully, you thread your fingers through his hair, his hips slowing as the new sensation of you scratching and kneading takes over. But the sadistic part of you lashes out when you hit the base, grabbing a fistful and jerking his head back to expose his neck. Ran spits out a loud moan at the sudden pain surging down his back and you trace your tongue along his Adam’s apple, sensing every muscle tense in his lean figure. 

"You like that, huh?” you purr, a smirk creeping across your face as your teeth graze across his neck. 

Ran snatches you by the wrists, pinning both of them with a single hand with ease. 

“You keep doing that shit and I’m definitely going to miss my interview.” Ran growls, fire burning in his eyes. He angles your hips even higher, driving himself even deeper into you with a manic thrust. If it weren’t for a swift hand slapping over your mouth, the yelp that flew out of you that instant would have indubitably exposed the two of you. 

“Hey Ran Ran…you alright buddy? We’re going to be on in about ten minutes.” Reiji knocks a couple times, waiting upon confirmation. 

“Ran Ran? Oh…”

Ran didn’t miss a single beat, ignoring his band mate who stood mere feet away as his cock tore you in two. He was too close to stop now, and he knew you were too. He buries his face into your neck, biting down and kissing the red spots beginning to bloom. It was a welcomed pain. His grip loosens on your wrists and migrates to your hands, his long fingers entangling with yours. 

“You know he’s still out there right?” Ran reminds you between strained groans, his breath hot against your neck. “You should let him know we’re just about finished." 

He was right. And the image of Reiji standing outside, listening in on every moan, every cry, every slap of flesh against each was enough to shove you over the edge, your mind hazing over when your body finds its release. Your legs begin to shake uncontrollably, Ran holding your hands tighter with every wave he felt pass through you. 

"Let it all out. I wanna cum with you." 

Head thrown back, your hoarse cries become unfiltered, no doubt being heard by the party that stood outside. His own body starts to tremble, his breaths shallow and hips erratic in their movement, dancing right at the edge himself. He ruts himself inside you one final time with a deep growl, his cock twitching as he pumps load after load of cum into you. Sliding his arm around your neck, he embraces you tight, peppering your face with kisses between pants. 

"I love you. Don’t you forget that.”

His face and chest were flushed a light pink, accented by a sheen of sweat that already had formed across his face, looking so vulnerable yet tranquil even as his heart still pounded away. 

“I love you too.”

He presses his forehead against yours, savoring the moment. It was pretty safe to say you weren’t upset with him anymore. 

“SHIT.”

It dawns on Ran what time it was, and he leaps up from the couch to fix his himself up. He checks the mirror, surveying the damage, especially to his hair, running his hand through a couple times to try and fix it, with no avail. It just would have to do at this point. Despite his usual calculated appearance, he would have to chalk this one up to bedhead. 

Even in his rush, he found a few seconds to spare, rushing over to you for a chaste kiss as you struggle to fix your own clothes. 

“Make sure you keep it all in there for later when I can properly fuck you.” Ran whispers, sliding his hand between your legs for a moment before running off again. 

He swings open the door, leaping back when he sees Reiji standing there. Reiji peeks over Ran’s shoulder at you, shit-eating grin plastered on his face, and then looks back at Ran. 

“That’s a good look for you Ran Ran. Does onii-san gets a ride after the interview too?" 

"Oi! REIJI!”

“Mengo mengo~!”

Ran barges through Reiji, nearly knocking him over. Reiji starts the shut the door and whine something about him being mean, but stops immediately when your eyes meet. 

“Guess we’ll be seeing you later.” Reiji winks, closing the door behind him and running after the grumbling rocker. 

Ch. 1 - The Eventide Tower

Theme Song: Etna - Boris, Sunn 0)))

-

“The High Bramble had been much thicker than expected on the east slope of the hill and now broken thorny twigs clung to my clothes like spider’s web. Pushing through the bramble by force had proven less frustrating than clearing it with what modest equipment I had brought. My legs, forearms and face were streaked with my own blood by the time that I reached the ridge.

I set down my pack and rested on one knee. Thankfully, when I turned the pack over in my hands, I found it had not torn; though there were small holes, scrapes, and frayed patches all over. I grabbed my water skin from within and took several swigs before splashing my face to clear the sweat and blood. The web of hairline cuts across my forehead and cheeks all stung anew and I clenched my face tightly to push out the pain. I exhaled, slapped myself a few times, and reopened my eyes.

The exposure of the ridge kept it mostly clear of the tortuous plants below and I made good progress southward from then on. However, with no shade, the late noon sun soon beat upon my back like the horse driver’s whip and I could feel the sting of sweat dripping over the cuts on my neck and legs. On the north slope of the hill and further down towards the ghostly river Reo, there extended a vast forest of Calin Trees. I longed for the shade of their limbs and the cooling drops of late dew held in the Kausim Brush beneath, but I could smell the bitter odour of stagnant Swamp Sod: patches of seemingly solid ground which would give way and bury you alive in thick swamp muck. The cave hermit I'd met the day previous had said a vengeful river spirit had captured these woods from the Dryads and would take any who entered. Only the shallow rock of the ridge could guarantee quick passage and safety.

I hiked for half the day. I stopped occasionally to rest and more than once I had to scramble against spontaneous flows of gravel which threatened to pull me down into the forest like an ocean tide. All the while, the sun travelled with me and sagged in the sky as my exhaustion grew.

After hours of careful walking upon the rough stone and gravel, my feet were thoroughly sore and cramped. The soft soles of my boots had failed me and I was forced to stop. I made a precarious camp on a slightly broader stretch of the ridge and lay facing the river to watch the Sternidae wheel in the sky and dive for the thin fish swimming below.

While chewing dried meat and massaging my feet, I watched as the sky turned pink and the sun fell to the tops of the hills. The tips of the trees glowed with the glancing light and the forest became like a million flickering candles. I remembered the memorials at my father’s chapel and lighting candles for my mother and brothers.

As the birds settled onto the water to sleep, the pink sky turned deep red and an evening mist began rising from the river valley. For a moment, I thought that I saw the faint smoke plume of some distant campfire coming from a large island which split the river, but when I searched for the source it was not obvious. What I perceived as smoke was too uniform in darkness, and when I concentrated, I could tell it was unaffected by the breeze. I lay upon my side on the coarse gravelly ridge and watched the strange patch of dark air until the sun dropped behind the horizon and the sky turned deepest black.

As the sun had fallen, the darkness had swiftly become more opaque. The emergent shape had been strange and the light of the setting sun had seemed to completely ignore it, so that no detail could be seen upon its surface. There had been only a monolithic silhouette against the red sky and a far-reaching shadow from its base. The pure black of this thing had been so palpable, so solid, that I found I could not look away. Its true size and true depth were hidden by its blackness, but I had felt it looming over me even though my camp was a full day’s journey distant – it was a massive tower.

As the sky had dimmed, the black of the void form had merged with the coming night and the candelabra forest was doused. A panoply of stars had filled the heavens and the silver light of the moon had adorned the distant hills. For some time, I had been able to make out the silhouette still, but soon the stars and moonlit horizon had appeared within its gloom. Shortly after, the dark shape had disappeared completely.

I blinked and I became aware of myself, the present, and my surroundings again. The drone of night creatures from the Calin forest below crashed upon me and shattered the apparent silence that I had felt while entranced. I was wet with sweat and I found that my palms were bloody and pocked with gravel from where I had been pressing them firmly into the ground as I watched the dark tower.

I had not made a camp fire, but I was too exhausted to bother. I lay back and fell into a deep sleep while flat upon my back.

I awoke with the strange sensation of having dreamt, but I could only remember darkness. It was early and the sun was reaching over the horizon. I scanned the shadowed landscape to see if the monolithic silhouette might manifest for the morning sun, but it did not. Whatever magic I had witnessed was only awoken by the coming of dusk.

As I had slept, plum-sized Rozmyrn Scarbadae had sequestered themselves into the folds of my cloak and when I rose they tumbled out and rolled down the hillside like sapphire marbles. Their clicking chirps called down a gang of Passerids which swooped along the slope and plucked their breakfast before nesting below in the morning damp Calin.

I stretched my awfully stiff limbs, packed up my gear, and headed off along the ridge once more. Provided I could find safe passage through a short stretch of the forest somewhere up ahead, I thought that I could make it down to the river in a matter of hours. The thought of fresh fish for lunch gave me renewed vigour and thankfully I made good pace. Just as the sun was reaching its zenith and the heat was becoming unbearable, I slid down a low spot in the hill and delved into the forest below.

In the shade of the Calin and the aura of the Kausim, it was actually kind of chilly. Though I had found an area which seemed more dry, my boots still occasionally sunk down into cold muck and my feet soon throbbed from the cold. What had been refreshing at first quickly became worse than the heat. The shear difference in temperature was astonishing. I was not surprised people assigned magic or divine power to this place.

With careful probing of the ground ahead using a long stick, I managed to avoid any sinking sod and I made it to the shore of the Reo with little issue. The cool breeze from the forest and the river combined with the heat of the high sun was magnificent. After catching a couple of fish, I lay down on the gravely beach and napped until the sun was lower in the sky.

I rose with the evening fog and found myself immersed. It had not looked so dense from the ridgeline on the previous night, but now, at the edge of the forest, I could hardly see my own feet. The river ran on quietly nearby within the mist and I could hear the splash of leaping fish.

I startled violently as I noticed a shadowed form lurking only feet away. Rocks slid out from beneath my feet and I fell. Part of the form snapped upright and a broad pair of polished antlers stood clear of the fog ceiling. They flickered brilliantly as the creature bounded back into the forest. I suddenly felt anxious. This place was unfamiliar to me even in the clear light of midday, but only then did I realize how alone I actually was.

I picked myself up and waded across the Reo to the island. If I was going to find my way to the grounds of the eventide tower I’d seen last night, I would need to hurry. The rising fog would soon make navigating the swampy terrain nearly impossible.

The sun seemed to fall terribly quickly then. The shallow rays cut sharp red lines through the fog and yet again the tips of the trees seemed to blaze. The dense fog spread the sunset across the ground and wrapped me in vivid hues of the dying light as though I walked among the clouds. Even amidst the terror of becoming lost or becoming the evening meal for some beast, I stood awestruck more than once.

I was in a fit of panic when I found the tower. I had completely lost any sense of direction and was simply running to find the river. Though my arms probed ahead wildly, the fog obscured the shear wall of black ahead and I ran face first into its cold surface. I felt the bones in my nose crunch together and a warm stream of blood ran down my mouth and onto my collar. The pain sent a jolt through my spine and my head reeled back.

The tower rose from the ground directly in front of me and cut a perfectly rigid swath across the orange sky. Even from up close the surface of the structure was pure black. The effect was as though I looked into it rather than at it and I felt a strong sense of vertigo as my legs became weak. I reached forward and placed a hand on the blackness to steady myself.

Though no detail could be seen, I felt an incredibly complex texture on my skin. As I slid my hand from side to side, my fingers traced series of flowing lines which spun like the ridges of a fingerprint. It felt cold and smooth like metal, but carried no sound when I wrapped my knuckles upon it. My excited breath swirled the fog around my head.

I worked my way slowly around the large perimeter of the tower while allowing my hand to glide along the surface. The air was frigid and I could hear nothing, but my breathing and my own feet squelching in the grassy muck. I guess it was about half-way around the tower when my fingers slid into a small gap which ran vertically from the ground to a point higher than I could reach. I pushed gently at first and then much harder when the surface clicked, but didn’t move. It took considerable effort, but eventually the surface on either side of the gap that I had felt began to swing inwards. Scentless air from within poured outwards and cleared the fog around me. The doors parted slowly to reveal pitch blackness equal to the outside, and yet it somehow felt infinitely darker. This blackness was not solid. If I stepped inside, it could consume me. Yet, that is what I did.

My curiosity outweighed my terror and I stepped forward into that frigid void. My damp and muddy boots slapped and squished against the floor. The sound travelled slowly to my ear and was muffled as though cotton were pressed into my ears. The floor shunned even the dim light from the threshold and my eyes saw nothing in all directions. The colours and sparks you sometimes see when closing your eyes for sleep soon began flaring up to fill the void.

I took a few steps further and felt a sickening feeling building inside me; nausea in my throat and an ache in my head. I could hear my blood pumping in my ears.

I don’t know what I hoped to find by walking into this place. My eyes were useless, and though my curiosity had brought me here, my hands now clung tightly to my side for fear of rubbing against something in the dark which surrounded me. Though it was only a few strides away, when I looked back to the door I felt a shock of terror at how far I’d walked. I quickly turned my gaze back to the void.

I regained my composure and leaned down to touch the floor. It was the only thing I could sense yet in this place and I needed more information. It felt identical to the wall I had touched outside. Again, a complex texture of intermingling ridges flowing in groups and swirling around each other. I allowed myself to focus fully on the sensation of touch as I dragged a finger through one of the ridges. After crawling for several metres I still hadn’t found an end to the ridge and I stood back up.

As I rose, the hood on my cloak fell forward and I felt a small object brush past my head before falling to the ground. A moment later I heard muffled clicking and chirping as a hidden Rozmyrn Scarbadae rolled frantically away from me, likely stuck to the path laid out by one of the countless grooves. Its carapace ground against the floor and sounded like the wooden tankard of a passed-out drunk rolling along the bar top. I followed it with my ear as it got further and further away and slowly it became too muffled to hear. Just when I thought I had lost it, I heard a faint click. This click was followed quickly by another, and another, and another, each in a descending rhythm which soon took the sound out of earshot once more. Somewhere in the darkness was another deeper and darker void where the floor gave way. Somewhere ahead was a stairway which plunged further down into even deeper darkness.

I felt my legs grow weak again as I imagined the potential scale of this space and that I could right now be standing on the edge of a hole which pierced down into eternity. I sat down hard on the ground and the metal pans in my pack rang out moments later.

The clang and clatter was swallowed by the void, but this time something else came forth: a light tapping sound reach me, but it was very hard to tell where it was coming from and how far it might have been. I sat still and listened. It was definitely getting louder, and at first, I thought it might be the chirping Scarbadae slowly working its way back towards the light of the door. However, the tapping grew quickly into more of a slapping noise. It was rapid and familiar, but not exactly rhythmic.

Even before I understood what I heard, I stood up and started backing towards the light. I began to shake with icy terror. My eyes were stretched painfully wide, probing the dark, and the sound of dozens of naked running feet grew ever closer. I turned towards the fading light of the doorway and saw that it was beginning to dim. I have never run harder in my life. For every footstep I heard, I realized the sound was likely several paces behind. I felt as though at any moment the groping hand of some monstrosity unseen should grasp me from the abyss and pull me into blackness perpetual. I heard no shouts or yells, or any evidence of some humanity that should sooth my fear. There was only the frantic run of this nocturnal horde.

I reached the diminishing threshold and turned with great speed to slam shut its darkest doors. I swear to you that I heard perhaps one hundred beasts clamouring towards me as the two doors shut, but only one made it through.

The creature was as pale as the moonlight which now shone through the tower’s fading silhouette. This creature had skin like paper and wore rags of stained clothes which hung loose from its gaunt form. White eyes looked out from a bald and bruised head.

I leapt back and swung my pack in front of me, but the creature froze immediately outside of the door - as though in shock.

As I watched, the creature crumpled in on itself and fell into a limp pile on the ground. It shrieked and squealed as its muscles wasted, blood poured out, and its pale skin turned gray while shrivelling against crumbling bones. Before I could even exhale, it had fallen completely to a pile of bones and dust.

I remember screaming. I don’t remember for how long. When I reached a hand out to steady myself against the tower I found that it had vanished along with any trace of daylight. I sat down in the muck of the swamp and stared into the pile of bones. A human skull sat lop-sided staring back with darkness in its eyes.”  

Dear Lover,

A/N: This lil story was inspired by the Little Mix song, Dear Lover. If you haven’t heard it already, I really recommend it, such a beautiful song but it’s sad af! :( But, none-the-less, I hope you enjoy this!

Warnings: Couple uses of strong language, alcohol consumption, sad and angsty times ahead.

Pain. Anger. Sadness. You were feeling all three at once, in a miserable cocktail. But the last thing you expected, was to see those feelings completely mirrored, in another broken soul.

‘I’ve seen some places, and so many faces. But you look like home tonight’

You walked into the bar, feeling jaded toward the world around you. This bad habit of coming to crowded, alcohol fuelled dives; with a mission of numbing as much pain as possible, was a regular occurrence for you recently. With liquor already laced on your lips, you wanted another drink, and you wanted to forget. 

You slipped between sweaty, faceless bodies. You’d seen so many of them these past few weeks. Blurred shadows passing through. They filled the place with heat. You made it to the bar and ordered a drink. Straight Vodka, yeah, that should do it. You knock it back, and order a second for good measure. You take your drink, and decide to head towards the shadows. Maybe one of them will show you a little attention, if they’d drunk enough, one usually did. It made you feel validated. Sad, isn’t it? But you did say you wanted to forget, and until you sobered up, it usually worked.

That’s when you saw him…

Despite the Vodka, you couldn’t help but see him. His heart was in pieces, just like yours. The air around him was mournful and dark. The longer you looked at him, the more you were drawn in.

He was sat at the bar, turning his almost empty glass of whisky round in circles. He stared down at it, eyes glazed over. Even you could tell that a face like his would usually radiate sunshine. That light had been extinguished by something, or someone. 

You did something you weren’t expecting to do that night. You walked toward a beautiful broken heart.

‘You crave attention, and I need affection. So let’s walk the silver line’

You brazenly placed yourself next to him, telling the bartender that you’ll have two of whatever he’s having. He darted a quick glance at you. Confused and curious. You took the leap and looked him in the eyes. Those sad eyes. They were guarded and so sadly serene, they almost moved you to tears. This guy didn’t deserve what he’d been through. 

The drinks were placed in front of you. After passing one to him, you couldn’t help but think of your intentions for the evening versus his. You thought maybe, they weren’t much different. He wanted someone. Someone to give him the love he so longed to give them. Were you kidding yourself? You got all this from just a moment’s gaze?

‘I’m sorry,’ he spoke out of the blue, taking you by surprise. His voice was like gravel, but with a hint of sweetness. He was still in there somewhere, he wasn’t completely lost.

‘May I ask what for?’ You were staring ahead now, taking a swig of your drink. 

‘I don’t want to give off the wrong impression. I’m not exactly in a social mood.’ He looked at you, his features already softening. He seemed exhausted.

‘Coming to a crowded bar on a Friday night just to be alone? Maybe we’re more alike than you think?’

You’re now looking at each other, both of you holding the gaze. He doesn’t seem 100% convinced, but he’s listening, so you might as well continue. 

‘You know, it’s funny. Thinking you have it all mapped out. Great job, nice apartment, the so called ‘soul mate’. You think that you’ve finally got it right, this is it, my life. Awesome. Then, one day, this person that you’ve planned all your hopes, dreams and your whole LIFE around, is gone. The one you could always trust, would never let you down. The one that made you feel like home, no matter where you were. They decide that, they don’t love you anymore. They think maybe, they might love, someone else now…’  

Before you can even think about crying, you gulp down the rest of your drink. Shit, this is strong. Thank God.

‘Well, fuck,’ is all your new friend could respond with. He was coming back piece, by tiny piece. He finishes his drink and orders two more.

When they arrive, after passing a glass to you, he raises his slightly. You mirror him.

‘To you needing these drinks as much as me.’ You physically can’t help the corners of your lips turning up into a smile, and you swear he does the same. How has this guy made you feel more human than any other person has in the last three weeks?

He didn’t have anything to add to your sorry story, but he listened. That was enough. You felt a bizarre sense of comfort. Despite the shell he was becoming, the connection of loneliness between the two of you was palpable. You desperately hoped you’d made him feel more human. You saw a scary amount of yourself in him. Could he see that too?

‘I’m incapable of saving your heart this time. But if you wanna, I’ll pretend to be your hero for just tonight’

The night descended into ruin. You both fell onto the bed of his apartment, a mess of long limbs in an alcohol induced catastrophe.

You looked at him, this time, really looked at him. His hair was jet black, his fringe just touching his dark lashes. His skin was smooth, a perfect porcelain. His fingers were long and gentle. They gracefully traced delicate lines all over you. His heart was heavy, but his body was like air, moving around you like the most natural element on Earth.

Your bodies were entwined, your breaths were heavy and the mood was desperate. You were loving each other the way you wished others’ had. He was so, so beautiful, but so damaged. Just like you. But you wanted to make him feel  like there was hope. There’s a sun out there that would shine on him again. For you, you weren’t so convinced.

You’d forgotten what it was like though, to kiss someone with that much want. You’d forgotten what it had been like to be touched that tenderly. Most importantly, you’d forgotten the past. Until morning…

‘You’ve been believing, there’s more to this feeling, and I swear I wish there was’

You woke up just before the Sun. You looked to your left, and saw a soul that was slightly less shattered than yesterday. He was sleeping so soundly. His breathing was shallow and peaceful. He looked so serene, like nothing in the world could be wrong. 

You had such a desperate urge to glide your fingertips over his cheek, kiss his forehead and curl back up against his chest. And, for a second, you really thought you were going to.

He’d asked you to stay with him last night. You knew it was a bad move, but you had to, you just had to. You were not going to dim the shine that had only just begun to flicker again. You were not going to break his heart. Not like they did. How could someone do that to him? As he’d started to fall asleep, he cradled you, keeping you close. After everything, he still had love to give. 

But you couldn’t stay, you couldn’t go through this again, you weren’t getting hurt anymore, no.

‘When the moment is over, we’ll walk away closer. Maybe that’s good enough’

It only took you ten minutes to slide out of the bed, put on last night’s clothes, grab your things and go. You had to do it quickly, or you’d change your mind.

Just as you reached his front door, you noticed some mail on the floor. Instinctively, you pick it up. You see the name it was addressed to, Minhyuk. Of course that name belonged to him. A name that means sensitive, bright and luminous. It was perfect for him. 

You suddenly realised what you were doing. You drop the mail where you found it, and leave. The cold, crisp morning air was more than sobering. You took a deep breath and forced your feet forward, beginning your journey home.

He woke up as sunlight started to trickle through the blinds. He felt the right side of the bed…nothing. Well, nothing but a piece of paper. He picked it up and brought it to his face.

They didn’t deserve you and neither do I, but know whenever I see the sun shine, I’ll think of you. Y/N