#but drew a few guys w bigger chests and it was just kind of a moment | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

buckyownsmylife · 3 years

Text

hold up - andy barber fluff

The one where Andy gets you pregnant but you’re young and haven’t been dating for long.

Warnings: Age gap (Divorced!Andy w/ College!Reader, so she’s legal), pregnancy, light angst, supportive!Andy, mentions of abortion, fluff, mentions of smutty thoughts so I don’t think I advise minors to read this, AU! where Jacob is alive and in college and Laurie and Andy are divorced, minor medical scare from Andy’s confusion, miscommunication that leads to slightly asshole!Andy but it’s quick A/N: Special thanks to @navybrat817 and @angrythingstarlight for helping me choose this collage. This fic was requested a while back. I ended up focusing more on the fact that the reader was younger than Andy (which wasn’t even part of the request) than on the fact that they hadn’t been dating for long, mostly because in my mind, this was happening in the same universe as this fic. Hope you guys like it and respect the reader’s decision to keep the baby the same way you should respect it if she decided to abort it or give it up for adoption.

Andy’s P.O.V.

Another day, another case, another headache. Working in law gets more tiring every day, and yet I persisted. Even through a divorce and its subsequent complications, I persisted. Sometimes, I forgot why.

I missed the days I remembered why I got into law in the first place. Those idyllic mornings, when I still thought I could change the world. Now all I wanted to do was to get home and eat my girlfriend’s pussy until she passed out from pleasure.

Just the thought of her sweet cunt had me licking my lips as I drove back to my place, wishing I could stop by hers instead. It still weirded me out that I was now in a relationship with someone that was my son’s age, someone who was still in college, but then I remembered all the moments we shared and was overcome with the realization that I simply didn’t want to let her go.

I knew it was selfish of me, but I believed I deserved at least this good thing in my life after my separation. As long as she wanted me, I wouldn’t let her go. And I was pretty sure that if she decided to leave me, I’d still fight for her to stay.

I loved her. I loved her enough to get through the hazard that was coming clean about our relationship to Jacob. I loved her enough to dream about a future together, even if it looked too far away for now.

Still, I’d caught myself daydreaming about coming home to her more and more these days. It seemed that the more exhausted I was, the more I wanted her to be waiting for me when I crossed the apartment’s door, and I found myself thinking about buying a ring too many times for someone who had gone through such a lousy divorce and was dating a girl who still had college exams to worry about.

I knew our future together - if there even was one - was still too far, but I couldn’t help but want it now. Like, right now. So the fact that I wouldn’t be able to see her for another week or so while she prepared for finals was the closest thing to hell I could go through right now.

Which only made the sight of her by my apartment’s door that much sweeter. “Baby girl, what are you doing here?” Not even giving her the chance to explain, I pulled her into a needy kiss, desperate to taste her again.

I didn’t even notice that, in my eagerness to have her in my arms once more, I had dropped my briefcase and coat on the floor, opting to pay attention to the girl I held in the middle of the hallway.

I only saw the tracks of tears in her beautiful face when I released her, too. Immediately, my heart started to pound against my chest. Could something bad have happened to her? Was she hurt?

Cradling her face in my hands, I automatically started to wipe away her tears. “What’s going on, sweetheart? Why are you crying?” For whatever reason, my words only served to cause her crying to become more frantic, her sobs breaking out of her chest freely now.

My heart felt heavy at the sight of her that desperate. The urgent need to do something, to help her, but not knowing what could be done made my throat feel like it was closing. So I did the first thing I could come up with - I picked her up, not caring about my personal belongings at all as I managed to open the door and take her to the couch with me.

“Shh… It’s alright, baby girl. I’m right here with you. Just tell me what happened, I’m sure I can help you somehow.” Again, it seemed like it was the wrong thing to say. My words took her to the verge of a panic attack if her breathing pattern was anything to go by, so I bit my tongue and focused on what I knew I could do at that very moment to help her, even if it was very little. I pulled her even closer to me, so her head was resting on my chest, and softly cradled her while rubbing her arm with one hand, while the other played with her hair. “I love you,” I repeated, over and over again. “You’re okay.”

It took some time, much longer than I hoped for, but at last her sobs started to come in bigger intervals, her breathing becoming deeper again. Slowly, she started to calm down and focus on me, and I waited until she was ready to speak, terrified of making her start crying again by pushing her to share what had caused such a terror.

“I went to the doctor today,” she started, and if at first my mind drew a blank because I had in no way anticipated this to be the start of her explanation, my heart quickly started to pound against my chest when I managed to process what she had said.

Was she sick? I knew she had been feeling a bit under the weather recently, even throwing up some mornings, but I thought it was a bug that had been going around. She was in college, after all, and those environments were filled with bacteria, just waiting to spread any sort of illness they could provoke.

Was it something serious? For her to be that way, it had to have been. My hands started to sweat at the prospect of losing her. Automatically, I held her tighter, in desperate need to hear more but terrified of what was coming our way.

But she didn’t seem able to say it, whatever it was. Her eyes that had finally connected to mine since she started crying, suddenly fell down to her own hands, and her sniffles warned me that she had started to cry again.

“Y/N…” I begged, covering her hands with mine. “Princess, please, please talk to me. I’m going crazy here, sweetheart. I feel like I might pass out any second now.” Surprisingly, that granted me a giggle, and then, through sniffles and tears, she finally looked up at me again.

Y/N’s P.O.V.

I didn’t know how to drop this bomb on Andy. How do you tell your much older boyfriend, who already has a child who’s your exact age, that you’re pregnant with his kid? I was terrified. Terrified that he wouldn’t want anything to do with me anymore, that he would try to force me to get an abortion.

Terrified that I would have to do this alone.

But I had to tell him. Of course, I had. So taking one last deep breath, I squeezed the hand that was holding mine before confessing, in the bluntest possible way, since it was the only one I could come up with right now, “I’m pregnant.”

I don’t know what I was expecting. I hadn’t actually had the time to figure out how to tell him the news - hence my blurting in the simplest possible way - but that also meant I hadn’t really imagined any outcome for this. I had a lot of fears, of course, but no actual expectation. Still, Andy’s reaction managed to catch me by surprise.

At first, there was nothing at all. He just sat there, his huge hands still covering mine as he stared at me with a blank expression in his face. My heart pounded in my chest, and I could even hear it, amidst the silence in the room. Then, out of nowhere, he pounced on me, effectively knocking me back on the couch when he captured my lips with his.

I couldn’t catch my breath as he enthusiastically devoured me, his hands cradling my face and caging me in as he forced me to make out with him on his sofa, like two teenagers after school. Andy was such a great kisser that it was hard for me not to melt against the soft cushions, instinctively opening my legs further so he could fit perfectly between them.

The way his strong body made me feel when it was covering mine was precisely what had got us in this mess, in the first place.

“Andy…” I tried to speak and push him away, but he was still kissing me desperately, opting for quick pecks around my face since I didn’t let him deepen his kiss again. “Andy!” I admonished when he continued to ignore me, choosing to suck tiny little bruises from my jaw down to my neck, instead.

“Baby, I’m terrified over here. Can you please stop trying to distract me and tell me what you’re thinking?” That caught his attention. He finally reduced his kisses, slowly going back to his seating position on the couch and bringing me with him, laying me over his lap again.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. It’s just… I’m so fucking relieved. First, I thought you’d break up with me. Then, since you talked about going to the doctor’s, I thought something was wrong with you. I was desperate, baby girl. Desperate. I figured, one way or another, I was going to lose you. And I don’t want to lose you.”

Hearing what was going on through his mind while I struggled to figure out how to explain what was happening made my heart feel heavy with guilt. I guess that, in the state I was in I kind of thought he would have realized what I was going to say, or simply not anticipate any sort of information whatsoever, so to hear that his mind jumped to these worst-case scenarios was heartbreaking to me.

“You’re not gonna lose me,” I assured him, reaching out for his hand and squeezing it in a small show of support. “I’m right here. But we need to figure out how we’re going to do this.” Andy blinked a few times before managing to voice his confusion.

“Do this what?” And then it was my turn to be confused.

“This… kid. What are we gonna do about this?” I watched as his nostrils flared, his grip on me momentaneously hardening, before he managed to get his emotions in check through a long exhale.

“You’re not seriously considering aborting my child, right?” The question - the tone - was like a slap to the face. In all honesty, that option had never even crossed my mind, but the way he was saying it, like I had no say in the matter, killed me inside.

“I’m gonna give you the time to figure out what the hell is wrong with you. I know that this is a pretty overwhelming situation and I just sprung this on you, but that is no excuse to address me in such a manner. Especially if you consider just how much I’m the one who’s really going to have my entire life turned upside down because of this.”

Andy’s P.O.V.

I groaned as I watched her leave the room in the direction of the bathroom, knowing this was her way of letting me know I shouldn’t look for her until I was prepared to apologize. But I was already ready. I knew how terrible my words had sounded, but it came from a place of love and happiness with the situation other than possessiveness.

So, with that in mind, I rubbed my face before getting up and following her, just in time to find her reentering my bedroom. “I’m sorry, princess. I-I just didn’t know how to react when the thought of you getting an abortion popped into my mind. It’s not like you’re a fucking one night stand or a fling to me, but you’re absolutely right. It’s your body and you should do what makes you comfortable. I just ask you to keep in mind that I would love to have this child with you. I’d support you - I’d support the both of you unconditionally. I know we’ve only been dating for a few months, but I’m serious about you. I’m serious about us. I’d marry you tomorrow if it’s what you need to know how serious I really am about this. And yeah, it’s gonna be hard, but I’m here for you. I’m always gonna be here for you, every step of the way.”

By the time I was done with my speech, she had tears in her eyes again, only this time, I knew what it was about, so I only chuckled. “Come here, sweetheart.” I pulled her to me, hugging her close to my body as I caressed the back of her head. “We’re gonna be okay, one way or another.”

“You sure you’re not just gonna abandon me with a small child?” I knew that her question came from a place of insecurity, but I still couldn’t control myself as a growl escaped my chest, my hands tightening around her, as I reminded her, “You’re mine, baby girl. I’m never gonna leave you. Don’t even think that.”

Slowly, she stopped crying, until only a few sniffles were heard every once in a while. “Okay,” she mumbled in a small voice, clearing the bedroom from what was once a silent atmosphere.

“Okay?”

“Okay, let’s do this. Let’s… Let’s have a baby together.”

A huge smile slowly took over my face as I cradled hers in mine to make sure there was no trace of hesitation in her eyes. “We’re gonna be parents?”

“We’re gonna be parents,” she confirmed, accepting my hug again. “Well, you’re already a parent.” The reminder had me chuckling to myself.

“I can’t wait to tell Jacob about this. He’s going to flip.” The mischievous tone in my voice earned me a playful slap on the shoulder.

“No teasing him more than necessary, Andrew. He’s already going to be pretty affected by this.”

“Can’t make any promises.”

#my fics #andy barber fluff #andy barber angst #angst #fluff #andy barber #andy barber fiction #andy barber writing #andy barber writings #andy barber fanfiction #andy barber ff #andy barber reader #andy barber oneshot

756 notes · View notes

calumrose · 4 years

Note

“Yeah… Huh? Oh, sorry I was just thinking about my girl/boyfriend.” w cal please 🥺

I feel like this should not have taken me as long as it did... But anyway here we are! Hopefully you enjoy it as much as I did writing it! It’s currently very late here so I’m posting this right before I go to bed so please let me know what you think and I’ll read any responses/thoughts in the morning!

Prompt – “Yeah… Huh? Oh, sorry I was just thinking about my girl/boyfriend.”

The sun beat down on the city, the scorching heat sizzled against the pavement, dozens of pedestrians littering the streets as they ventured out to enjoy and take advantage of the weather. Chatter filled the open air, laughter being exchanged by the couples who sat together in the small cafes that were scattered along the street, a hurried rush of commotion brushed by as the group of young teens sprinted past to meet with their friends. The city was alive with the heat that the weather provided, and everyone was taking advantage of the bliss. I mean, they were crazy not to.

The groups of people that were scattered around the street caught your attention from where you sat, your palms gently wrapped around the cool glass of lemonade that you had ordered earlier, providing a cooling sensation to your skin to battle against the heat that battered against your exposed skin as you sat outside.

You watched as the scenes of interaction unfolded in front of you; admiring how the elderly couple sat just a few tables in front of you were sharing a sundae, the soft smiles on their faces causing a light flutter of your heart at the sweet affection they shared, and even the sight of that young child – you assumed them to be around two or three – sat proudly in a high chair, hands tapping excitedly against the plastic table that was attached to their chair, giggles and bright smiles being shown towards the older gent who sat with her, her bright eyes growing bigger when he spoke to her.

You felt your heart soar at the loving interaction, your chest almost feeling as though someone was clutching it tightly as you felt yourself slowly begin to feel as though you were almost floating due to the warmth of the sun mixed in with the sweetness of the amorous exchanges you had witnessed.

The blue of the sky was something that belonged in a painting; bright and vivid – almost deemed to be a figment of your imagination. The golden cast of the sun shone down, dark shadows casting over from the shelter that was provided by umbrellas and canopies that painted the street with black triangles and rectangles, providing a brief moment of cold to the shoulders of those who passed by before they exposed themselves to the sun once again. The colours were mesmerising, strikingly beautiful, much like the man who sat in front of you.

Your eyes did not catch his brown as you looked around, your exploration of the new city taking a full grasp of your attention and withholding it from being shared with anything or anyone else. The upscale buildings and luxurious structures of the city wowed you, the architecture and detailing in every wall showcasing the delicate talents of those who built them.

It was a beautiful city — one that still held so much to explore.

You were so lost in your thoughts, in your own wonder of the place you found yourself in that you didn’t even hear the voice calling out for your attention, the warm melody of Calum reaching a dead-end, the sound practically falling off of a cliff edge as it rang out to silence, reaching the gateway of your ears before it faded away.

You didn’t mean to ignore him — you simply just didn’t hear him. Your mind, body, and soul too captivated by the wonders that surrounded you, the sweet smells filling your nostrils, as the beauty and culture intrigued you and clouded your senses in every way that they could.

“Babe, are you listenin’?” His voice seemed to finally break a wall, the sound clear and strong as it reached your ears. It drew you out of your thoughts, your eyes finally tearing from the passing street and settling on the sight of the man who sat opposite you at the small table you had claimed for the past hour or so.

Your lips curled into a smile at the sight of his matching one across the table, his full lips curling into an amused upturn as he caught the glimmer in your eyes as the sun reflected against the gentle colour. You couldn’t help but watch how he glowed as he sat there, back resting against the chair, elbow placed comfortably on the table as he held his glass in his hand, taking a gentle sip of the iced coffee he had ordered.

Calum was radiant – both physically and spiritually – and it showed in the way he smiled, in the way he spoke, in the way he presented himself to strangers passing by. He flashed a kind smile towards people who passed by, exchanging an almost silent acknowledgment of ‘have a nice day’ as they carried on their way. Calum was a warm character, he had a comforting nature that drew people in, he made them feel at home, he made them feel valued, and that in itself was a beautiful thing.

“Yeah… Huh? Oh, sorry I was just thinking about my boyfriend,” You blinked quickly, shaking your head ever so slightly as if to shake the brief daydream out of your head, bringing your full attention back to the event at hand – your lunch with Calum. It was not surprising that you got caught in your head again – not in the slightest – and it didn’t surprise Calum either. It was something that intrigued him about you, always coming to wonder what you were thinking about when you became lost in your thoughts, silently slipping in a little world of your own as you looked around and found a new focal point that would be the prime star of your latest vivid journey. “You probably don’t know him; tall, very handsome, has blond curly hair – although it’s fading a little bit, and he’s thinks he’s really funny when he’s anything but,”

Calum raised an eyebrow at your remark, his smile slowly transforming into a smirk at the acknowledgment of your slightly teasing tone that snuck into your voice halfway through your sentence, his tongue poking out to briefly glide along his bottom lip as he nodded in your direction before responding, “Oh, is that so? Sounds like a pretty interesting guy if I’m honest, I’m sure he is funny, I’ve heard that tall, handsome blonds frankly have a really good sense of humour.”

“Why don’t you enlighten me?” You crossed your legs beneath the table, arms resting folded over one another against the cold metal table you were sat at, leaning forward ever so slightly as you lifted the glass of lemonade to your lips and took a small sip. The liquid tingled against your tongue, the little popping bubbles of gas tickling your taste buds as they mixed with the sweet sugary drink and left you pleasantly satisfied. Although there was another form of satisfaction that was starting to crawl up your back, the thought of that need slowly distracting you once again but this time, even though your brain was venturing, your focus remained solely on Calum. Your eyes glancing down at his lips as he let them separate ever so slightly, his tongue poking against the inside of his lip, the flesh bulging out slightly as his eyebrows remained raised in a mischievous glint.

Calum could see the cogs in your head turning, watching how you tilted your head slightly to the right as you rolled your lips into your mouth. You knew exactly what you were doing as did he. You both knew exactly what game had suddenly just been started, and neither of you were willing to give up until you had completed the invisible quest.

“Oh, love, I’ll do more than just that.”

---

Send me a soft/blush prompt & I’ll write a blurb for it! :)

191 notes · View notes

is0gild · 4 years

Text

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 23

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 11,552

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

"Sorry, did I miss a point back there where my car transformed into a submarine to cross the Atlantic Ocean?"

I turned my head towards Lea, knitting my eyebrows together. "Pardon?"

"Well I just don't see how else we would have ended up at freaking Buckingham Palace," he muttered, keeping one hand on the steering wheel while the other tipped his aviators forward for a better look at the mansion at the end of the long, extravagant driveway he was currently cruising his car down. He gave a low whistle, "Shit, all it's missing are those dudes in the highschool band uniforms and big fuzzy hats."

Rolling my eyes, I snorted softly. "Oh come now, it's not that big."

He scoffed, "'Not that big' is something girlfriends say about their exes to protect their insecure boyfriends' fragile male egos. It's not what you say about the Taj Ma-fucking-hal here."

The dreaded weekend was upon us at last.

You know. The Weekend. Capital T, capital W.

Aka, the visit with my parents.

Operation Boyfriend But Shh Not Really was about to be tested to the extreme limits.

The chateau in question (maybe villa would be a better word? Or manor, perhaps? Really, it wasn't big at all, Lea was just exaggerating) belonged to my parents. This was the home I'd grown up in. It was weird coming back here now after all that had happened. Was still in the process happening, I suppose. My fingers fidgeted with my braid as the mansion loomed ever higher the closer we got.

Actually… now that we were more up close and I was really seeing it again… oh gosh, it was rather enormous, wasn't it?

...had it somehow grown in size since last I-?

Shush, now, don't be ridiculous. That was just the anxiety talking.

Of which I was in no short supply of. I still had no clue what was in store for this weekend. Anna seemed almost just as much in the dark as I was, which was strange seeing as how she still lived here. Then again, I was pretty sure she'd been spending a lot less time around home lately in favor of staying over at her new boyfriend's place. A man I still surprisingly knew absolute zilch about, but I was hoping Anna had invited him to join us for this weekend as well. That way, I'd get to meet him and maybe even have a little of the attention taken off me. Long shot, I know, considering he was only Anna's still relatively new beau whereas I'd skipped out on my own wedding and shamed my whole family (apparently), so this guy was kind of small potatoes by comparison. But hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

It was actually Friday evening right now, so we were going to be in for more of a long weekend - in every sense of the word. Lea and I had both worked early shifts today before going to our respective homes, getting changed, packing bags for staying over for two nights and then finally heading up. Not knowing what this weekend was going to entail was wreaking no small amount of havoc on my nerves. That said, it could have been worse. Pretty sure I'd actually been more nervous for the audition a couple days ago than I was for this. Maybe that was because the audition had just been so last minute, whereas I'd been preparing for this little get-together for a couple weeks now. Even I had to admit that Lea and I made a pretty convincing couple at this point. Sure, I still got a bit awkward with PDAs, but I was no longer anywhere near as bad as I had been the day I'd seen father at my old condo.

...then again, doing the whole relationship act around the mall for the past couple weeks was one thing. Trying to pull off the same charade in front of my parents now, not to mention the Duke as well? Probably was going to be a lot more complicated.

I really had no idea what was going to happen the moment we passed through those ornate double doors leading into my parent's home.

But I was about to find out.

Whether I liked it or not.

"Alright, we made it," Lea announced as he parked the car next to the big fountain in the middle of the circle driveway, shutting off his engine. He shot me a grin, "You ready for this, my lil sötnos?"

I blinked over at him, then narrowed my eyes. "Do I even want to know?"

"It's a Swedish term of endearment. Its literal translation is sweet nose. And if yours ain't the sweetest, I dunno what is," his grin twitched wider as he reached over to tweak said nose.

"Sweet n-" I groaned, swatting his hand away. "Veto."

"Aw c'mon, I thought that one was cute!" he gave a little whine. I just drooped my eyelids at him and he sighed, stretching over to open his glove compartment and pull a black marker from it. "Guess America's just not ready for the sweet nose," he grumbled, pulling the cap off with his teeth and marking something off on his palm.

I frowned. "...what are you doing?"

"Regrettably giving up on what is arguably the greatest pet name of all time, that's what."

"No, I meant with your hand." I snatched his in both mine, yanking it over in front of my face to discover a small list written on the inside of his palm, located at the top of which was sötnos with a line struck through it. "...are these... more terms of endearment for me?"

He smirked as he leaned in closer to stare down at his palm alongside me. "Yup! Since the big weekend's here, figured I'd best come prepared. This is important stuff we gotta nail down!"

I squinted at the words before me, reading, "Kruzynko…?"

"It means breadcrumb."

Scrunching up my nose, I stole the marker from him and crossed that one off. "No. Bogárkám?"

"My little bug," Lea supplied, sounding more confident in this one.

A snerk. "Nope," I popped the P. And another one bites the dust. My tongue tripped uncertainly over the next one, "Blodyn tatws?"

"Heh… potato flowers?" he asked hopefully.

"Oh wow, I love that one."

He perked up, "Really?"

"Absolutely... not," I said flatly, looking him dead in the eye as I drew a line across it as well.

"Aw man, not cool!" He pouted, then pursed his lips to one side. "Hey, is now really the best time to be doing this? We, uh…" he chuckled sheepishly, holding up his second hand to reveal a whole other list scrawled on that one too, "...might end up being here all day."

I stared blankly at him. "Just how many more of those do you have?"

"I'd show ya, but that'd require me going a lil more half monty than you'd probably prefer I'd get in your parent's driveway."

My brow furrowed and I leaned away slightly, eyeing him up and down. "...where…?"

He waggled his eyebrows at me, "That's for me to know and you to find out."

I let his hand drop from my grasp, "I'm good, thanks." As he snickered, I looked away, rubbing my fingertips over one of my (now brought to a low simmer) cheeks. "Can't you just stick to El? It's simple. Nice… I like El."

"You do?" I heard him ask and I directed a furtive sideways glance in his direction. A slow smile was curling his lips, "Alright… El it is." But then he was peeking down at his palm again. "...and also krúttið mitt."

Biting back a grin, I swat his shoulder. "How would you like it if I kept calling you some weird pet name in a foreign language all the time?"

Lea beamed, "I'd like it very much actually."

"Really? Fine," I took up his hand again, scrutinizing his palm, "...mo chuisle it is then."

His eyes lit up, "Ooo, that one's spicy!"

Oh dear, why had I thought this was a good idea again?

"...what's it mean?"

He bent towards me, eyes hooded as he purred, "You just called me your pulse."

I've made a grave error this day.

"Ah-ah!" he chirped, pressing a finger to my lips as they began to part. "Too late! No take-backsies!"

I huffed, unbuckled my seatbelt and got out of the car, slamming the door shut behind me.

Lea looked far too smug as he climbed out himself, retrieving both our bags from the backseat of the car on his way out and slinging them over his shoulder. He removed his aviators, hooking them into the collar of his black, fitted v-neck shirt as his eyes took in the mansion before us once again. He'd reclaimed his leather jacket to wear for this, accompanied by snug jeans tastefully ripped at just one knee and a pair a black, heavy, steel-toed boots. He'd blinged out a bit as well, sporting a small sun medallion that hung from a chain down to his mid-chest, along a few strappy leather bracelets and a couple of rings decorating his fingers. His winged guyliner was somehow even darker and bolder than usual and his hair had been pulled back into a half-tail.

Not going to lie, my traitorous fingers practically itched to pet that little red tuft at the back of his head.

Instead, I settled for fussing with the necklace that rested against my skin just above my collarbone. The pendant was formed of three blue, almond-shaped gemstones gathered together at one point. A present from Rayne to wish me luck on this trip. I was a much bigger fan of her good luck charm than I had been of the one Lea had "gifted" me with for the musical tryouts. I wore the small charm with a classic little wrap dress in a soft lilac. Off the shoulder of course - it was me we were talking about here, so you can probably guess it before I even say it at this point - and with the hem of the skirt flaring out around the knees.

Needless to say, looking at him and me side-by-side right now, it was clear one of us was either severely over or underdressed. Considering it was my parents' door we were about to knock on, one guess as to who was what.

"Try not to scratch the paint, chief!" Lea chipperly called out as he was suddenly tossing his keys at one of the staff under my parents' employ who just so happened to be walking past us in that second.

Eyes widening, the man fumbled to catch them. As Lea turned to head towards the front door, I followed, quirking my eyebrow at him. "What was that?"

"I'm blending in," he flashed a cheeky smile, shoving a hand into one pocket of his jacket. "Whatcha think, do I sound like a rich asshole or what?"

I tipped my head to one side. "...actually, you kind of sounded like my ex."

A snort escaped through his nose. "I'll take that as a yes then."

We walked a couple steps in silence. Then, "That wasn't a valet, by the way."

He froze midstep, looking at me sharply. "What?"

"That was a gardener. My parents don't even have a valet."

"Oh." Lea glanced back over his shoulder, frowning. "...maybe I should go get my keys back then."

I hid a small grin behind my fingers. "Maybe you should."

Waiting politely, I watched him jog back towards the worker to do just that, along with offering what looked to be quite the humble apology. "Got 'em!" he declared once he'd rejoined me, flinging them up into the air before catching them again to slip into his pocket. "So even a proper gent like your old man feels the need to prove what a hot, young stud he still is, eh? Wouldn't of thought him the type."

"What?" I blinked a couple times. Where'd that come from?

He tossed his chin back towards his vehicle. More specifically, at the few other cars he'd parked next to. "I recognize Anna's Porsche over there, but that blue Ferrari reeks of midlife crisis."

"...that's my car." Then I grimaced and amended, "Rather, was my car."

"Huh?" he looked taken aback. "You drive? Since when?"

I gave a small shrug, "Since always."

"Then why're you always having me n' your roomies chauffeur you around? Not that I mind..."

"I don't have a car or the funds to purchase one." He wordlessly jerked his thumb back towards the Ferrari, face blank. I sighed, "My parents bought me that. It didn't feel right keeping it after… everything. Not with me trying to separate myself from them and make it on my own. No, I plan to buy my own once I've saved up enough."

"Shit, still shoulda kept it," Lea said and I gave him a dull look. He hastily waved a hand in front of him, "Even if ya didn't want it, you coulda sold it and made bank before giving all that munny away to charity. Ya know, just so you could really stick it to your folks."

Shaking my head with a soft chuckle, I started walking towards the entrance again. "Let's just get on with this."

"Aye aye, Capitaine," he gave me a two-fingered salute, catching up to me with his long strides.

Feeling my chest start to constrict as we drew nearer to those doors, I blew out a soft, slow breath. "I hope we're not late. I shouldn't have let you talk me into that salon visit after we got off work."

"What, you needed something to help ya relax and a quick spa day was just the ticket! 'Sides, I wanted to make myself all pretty for this! Whaddya think?" He stretched his arm out before us both, fingers wiggling to show off his fresh coat of black nail polish. "If this doesn't impress your folks and tell 'em what a man of sophisticated tastes I am, I dunno what will!"

I snorted. "I think my father is more of a mauve man himself."

"Really? Crap, you shoulda said something! I'd have asked for a matching color so he and I could be twinsies! Shucks," he snapped his fingers, "missed opportunity."

Coming to a stop on the doorstep, I reached for the bell, but my fingers hesitated.

This was so strange. I'd lived here. Spent my childhood here. I'd never had to use the doorbell before.

...why did the idea of doing so now seem so hard?

A sudden warmth enveloped my other hand. I looked down to discover Lea was holding it. He gave it a small squeeze as he said softly, "Hey. Whatever happens in there, just know I'm here for you."

I felt a small stutter in my chest as a tiny smile tugged at my lips. "...thank you," I murmured, squeezing back before looking to the doorbell once more. Taking a deep, calming breath, I pushed the button at last and a heavy chime could be heard within.

While we waited, a glimmer of something at Lea's waist caught my eye and I turned to see what it was. A crease formed between my eyebrows. "...is that… a wallet chain?"

How had I missed that thing until now?

"Hm?" he followed my gaze. "Oh! Yup! Heh, thought it might really pull the whole look together! Do I look like a punkass bad boy now or what?"

"Or what," I fixed him with a deadpan stare. "You look ridiculous."

He splayed a hand against his chest in mock offense. "Rude. Can't believe you'd talk to your pulse like that."

Face warming, I hung my head. "...I'm never going to hear the end of that, am I?"

"Nope!" he grinned wickedly.

"Would you just take that silly thing off?"

"No can do, sweetcheeks! Boys like to accessorize too, ya know," he sniggered, giving the chain a little twirl. "Just be grateful I left the spiked choker in the glove compartment."

"Spi-?!" I spluttered over the word before managing a scoff and crossing my arms. "Oh, trust me, I am. The point is to get my parents to back off, not to send them into cardiac arrest!"

...huh… Lea in a spiked choker…

"You're trynta imagine what I'd look like wearing it now, aren't ya?" he'd hunched down beside me to whisper into my ear with a smirk.

My cheeks burned so hot, you could have roasted marshmallows on the damn things.

"...am not."

I was almost grateful when the door swung open just then. And also a little surprised, because the face that greeted me wasn't that of my parents' house maid Gerda.

No, instead it was that of a pale, wide-eyed, huffing and puffing Anna.

(With Gerda right behind her, looking quite harried and put out by the fact that my sister had stolen her job.)

"Elsa!" she cried out in relief. "Finally! What took you so long?!"

Furrowing my brow, I began, "Anna? What-?"

"No time! Get." She lunged towards me. "In here." Her hands seized my shoulders. "Now!" I was forcibly yanked inside.

I heard the door booming shut behind me and could only hope that Lea had managed to slip in himself in time as well. Gripping my sister's arms, I tried again, "What's going on? We couldn't be more than a few minutes la-"

Her hand suddenly shot out to squeeze my cheeks together between her thumb and fingers, squishing my face and effectively silencing me. "Shush! No talkie! Only listen! Oh, it's bad, Sis. Really, really bad! It's him! He's here! Like, here here! Right friggin' now!"

"Who's here?" I asked, tugging my face free of her vice-like grip and working my jaw. I knit my eyebrows together at Gerda, who was frantically circling us as she kept trying and failing to get a word in edgewise. "The Duke? I already knew-"

"No! Not the Duke! Of course not, he won't be here until tomorrow! Gah! You know, Sis, sometimes you can be really-" Anna cut herself off in a tiny snarl, fingers curling in front of her to strangle empty air. "Ugh! Anyway, it's- I didn't- It was just- Out of nowhere- Mom and Dad, they- He- His-"

"I think she's trying to tell us something. What is it, Lassie? Timmy trapped in the well again?" Lea snerked as he let our luggage fall to the foyer floor beside his boots.

Ignoring him, I gently rubbed my hands up and down Anna's arms. "Breathe. Calm down. Take a minute to gather your thoughts."

"People!" she suddenly blurted out, startling me a bit. "Lots of them! Loads of them! So many people!"

I frowned. "People? Where? You mean here, now?"

She shook her head rapidly, "No, no, no, no! Not now people! Future people! Tomorrow people! And… and caterers! And musicians! And decorators and, and, and him! He's- Right now, he's- just down the hall, he's- he's-"

"Who, Anna? Who?" I insisted.

Her hands violently shook me, "Him!"

Right. Thanks, Sis. Big help you are.

Why was she like this?

The maid finally managed to pipe in, "What Miss is trying to tell you is that your-"

"Got it, Gerda, thanks!" Anna huffed out with a tiny scowl. Then she took in a deep breath, preparing to say something.

"Crap, I think that dude just robbed us," Lea chimed in first.

Holding a finger up to Anna, I whipped my head around to see what he was talking about: an older gentleman in a black suit walking briskly away with our bags. "Oh, that's just Kai."

Lea cocked an eyebrow at me, "The robber's name is Kai?"

"No, the butler's name is Kai."

"Why would the butler rob us?"

"He's not robbing us, he's just taking our things up to our room." I blanched. "Rooms." Plural. As in more than one. My parents would never, not in a million years, have put Lea and me in the same room under their roof… right? Oh gosh, why was the possibility only just now occurring to me? "He's, uh… he's p-putting them where we'll be staying. Separately. As in, not together. Completely and one hundred percent apart," I (overly) clarified, fighting that blush I felt creeping up my neck now.

Anna suddenly grabbed my head with both hands and forced me to look at her again, grounding out through her teeth, "You're. Not. Listening to me!" Then with a grumbling sigh, she snagged my hand in hers and started dragging me down one of the many corridors that branched off from the foyer. "Come on, we better hurry, they're probably wondering what's taking so long."

Gerda squeaked and scurried after us. "Right this way, please, and I'll see you to the Marigold Room where your hosts await your presence!" she awkwardly trilled, trying to maintain some semblance of performing her duties despite Anna's continued interference.

A whistle from Lea confirmed he was following as well. "Lemme guess. The Duke in the conservatory with the candlestick."

"Wha-?" my voice faltered as my feet tripped trying keep up with Anna, only barely managing to keep myself upright.

He grinned down at me as he strode along, shrugging. "This whole place is a legit, life-sized Clue board. Just trynta play the game here."

I stumbled again. "Ow, Anna! Not so hard. What is the rush?"

Not slowing down, she glanced back at me over her shoulder. "Come on, Elsa, think! What day is it?"

"Uh…" Was this a trick question? "...Friday?"

A low, agitated noise emitted from her throat. "No, what day?"

I squinted up at the ceiling in thought. "...the seventh?"

"Yes!" she spun around to tap her nose excitedly, her feet still moving backwards. "Which would make tomorrow…?"

"The eighth." Lost by this line of questioning? I know I was.

"Of?" she pressed. "What month, Elsa?"

"The eighth of… oh!" It finally clicked and I staggered again, my eyes growing round. "...oh no. It's his birthday. Oh gosh, he's here?! Right now?!"

"Yes! Finally! Thank you!" Anna cried out in exasperation.

"Who?" Lea asked, both eyebrows shooting up his forehead at my sudden change of attitude.

"It's-" I began, but that one word was all I got out before Anna took a sudden sharp turn, yanking me into the Marigold Room with her and bringing us face to face with-

"Grandfather!" I breathed, feet faltering as Anna brought us both to a sudden and jerky stop before him.

He cut an imposing figure, my grandfather. Tall, like father, and with the same red hair too that had been passed down to Anna. His however bore prominent streaks of grey at his temples - really the only sign of him getting on in years as he otherwise looked remarkably good for a man of his age. Still fit as a fiddle, barrel-chested, with a strong, square jaw and a sharp, piercing gaze.

A gaze that was so cold right now that I didn't know how I wasn't frozen into solid ice on the spot.

Anna had been wrong.

This wasn't bad.

This was catastrophic.

Because my grandfather? Not exactly the nicest person. Remember what my father had been like? Well, just think - he'd had to learn it from somewhere. And next to Grandfather, my father seemed warm and cuddly. Like sunshine and rainbows. Heck, Father was as friggin' teletubby by comparison to the man who'd raised him. Grandfather was cut from the same cloth as his brother, the Duke. The epitome of old fashioned and proper etiquette. The thing was, where the Duke was all bluster and tantrums, Grandfather just got quiet when he was angry. Like... really, really quiet. An ominous kind of quiet. A bone-chilling kind of quiet. Whenever Grandfather stopped talking, that's when I really got scared of the man.

No, scratch that. That was when I got petrified of the man.

So the fact that he was just staring down his nose at me right now, eyes narrowed, lips set into a grim, disapproving line, and not uttering a single word? Would have been enough to turn my hair stark white if it weren't pretty damn close already.

And to make matters worse? Mother and Father stood not five feet behind him looking rather unamused with me themselves.

Oh gosh, this wasn't going to be some pleasant, little family gathering.

This was going to be an execution. Mine, to be exact.

Gerda suddenly appeared off to one side, panting to catch her breath and making a hasty curtsy towards my parents and grandfather before announcing, "Elsa and her guest have arrived."

...thanks, Gerda. I think they figured that out already.

I watched as she turned and hurried to make her exit before reluctantly returning my gaze to Grandfather. Still, he said nothing. Just arched one bushy eyebrow at me and waited.

Oh fudge, he wanted me to be the first one to speak? Where do I even begin? What do I even say? Could I even talk right now? I don't think I could, not with how heavy my tongue suddenly felt, like it had turned into solid lead. What was I supposed to do here? How-

Suddenly, I felt it. A hand. Lea's hand, slipping across the small of my back and coming to rest on my hip, pulling me gently into his side. "Aren'tcha gonna introduce me, babe?" he asked, voice low and sugary-sweet as he grinned and pressed a kiss to my temple.

Grandfather's thick mustache gave a little twitch.

That's all it took for me to know. Not thirty seconds into this and there was absolutely zero doubt in my mind.

Before this weekend was out, Grandfather was going to murder Lea.

Inhaling and exhaling, I wrung my hands together and somehow figured out how to do this thing called 'talking' once again. "F-Father, you've already had the, uh… the pleasure, but Grandfather, Mother… this… this is…" I screwed my eyes shut, trying to steel myself.

Come on, Elsa, you can do this. Just one word. Just one measly, little word.

"This is my boooooo-" What was this? What was I doing here? "-oooooooooooooooo-" Why was I stretching the syllable out so friggin' long? What, had I gotten stuck? "-oooooooooooooo-" Dear god, how was there this much oxygen in my lungs? "-oooooooooo-" I didn't think there was even this much oxygen on the whole planet, much less inside my lungs. "-oooyyyyyyy-" Oh good. Progress. At this rate, I'd complete the word sometime this century. "-yyyyyyyyy-"

Anna, my divine saviour and blessed angel of mercy, jabbed her elbow into my gut.

"-friend!" I finished at last with a cough. "Boyfriend. This is my...my boyfriend. Yes. This is he. He is this." A beat. Then, "Lea! By the way. His name, that is. Yup. Lea the Boyfriend. My boyfriend. That's right, Lea is my boyfriend. My boyfriend is-"

"I think they get it, Sis," Anna hissed quietly out of the corner of her plastered-on smile.

Gee, I was getting so good at this whole lying thing, wasn't I?

"Pleased to meet ya, Gramps," Lea stretched out a hand towards him.

Grandfather didn't take it. Instead, he just stared long and hard at it. At the black nail polish and rings adorning it. Finally, he lifted his chin with a sniff and straightened his already ramrod posture even further. "That'll be Sir to you, young man."

"Oo, how formal. Whatever you say," he retracted his hand with a smirk, "Sir Gramps."

This had been a mistake, using Lea as my rent-a-boyfriend.

Actually… no, mistake would be an understatement. This was a powder keg and Lea was a goddamn burning match.

Pushing past my now rigidly stiff grandfather, Lea approached my parents next. "Pops, always a pleasure. Ma'am," he took my mother's hand in his to politely press his lips to the back of it, "lovely to make your acquaintance."

She looked slightly taken aback, blue eyes widening. However, Mother recovered quickly, delicately plucking her fingers from his grip to smooth at the tight bun her brown hair was currently up in before primly folding her hands together just below her waist. When she smiled, it was gracious but tight. "As it is yours," there was a briefest of pauses before she tacked on a hesitant, "Lea. Please, take a seat. Dinner should be ready shortly, but would anyone like a drink prepared while we wait?"

I was relieved to hear Lea answer with, "I'm good, thanks." Because a return of Wine Tipsy Lea was by far the very last thing this situation needed right now. As I declined as well, a quick look around brought to my attention the fact that we were the only two not partaking as it seemed the others had already started before we'd gotten here. Mother and Father were sipping at what looked to be some sort of dark red cabernet, while Anna retrieved her own glass and moved towards the mini bar to refill it - most likely with something sweet, fruity and potent enough to bring down an elephant, knowing her. On the low table around which all the seats gathered was a sturdy glass full of ice and an amber liquid. Probably Grandfather's. Probably bourbon.

I shifted over towards the sofa opposite the table from my parents and all three of us took a seat at the same time. Lea joined me soon after, slipping his arm around my shoulders as he flumped down into the cushions beside me. Grandfather, however, hadn't budged from where he stood since we'd entered the room. Not one inch. "Father," was all my father said to him - partially warning, partially pleading.

Grandfather's mustache twitched again and his left eye ticked. But then he moved to sit down in the armchair in front of the bourbon, snatching up the glass and sullenly nursing it.

Dear lord, this was a nightmare. No, this was Hell. That had to be it - I'd died and was now in my own little corner of the Underworld specifically designed and crafted to torture me in the cruelest way possible. I could already feel the stress burning an ulcer into my stomach and no amount of Lea's fingers lightly trailing up and down my arm would calm me down.

There was no point in putting it off, right? I should just do it now. Bring up the thing that was on all of our minds but no one was talking about. You know, the thing. The wedding thing… or rather, the whole lack of the wedding thing. I should just get this over with. Rip the bandaid off. Getting it all out in the open now had to be better than this. Anything had to be better than this… right?

Hands fidgeting furiously in my lap and this close to dislocating a finger, I licked my dry lips and managed to find my voice. "Perhaps now… we should discuss what exactly h-happened on… on my-"

"That is a topic that would be best saved for later," Father talked over me, his stern voice cutting me off. "Let us speak of other things right now."

My head rocked back at that, my forehead wrinkling. I flicked my gaze over to Grandfather briefly - who was still stewing quietly over his drink - then back to my parents. "But I thought-"

"Now's not the time, Elsa," Mother insisted firmly. "This is not a discussion that will be brief, nor will it be suitable to have over dinner. Besides, your father and I will have our hands full preparing for the party tomorrow evening, so this is a conversation that will just have to wait until the day after."

A frown tugged at my lips. "You're hosting a party?"

"For Grandfather's birthday," Anna plopped down onto the sofa beside me, freshened drink in hand. "Since, ya know, it's such a huge one. The big seven-oh. The whole family is going to be there to celebrate. And I mean, the whole family," she shot me a pointed look over the rim of her glass as she took a swig.

Oh. So that's what she'd meant earlier by "tomorrow people."

Why couldn't she have been this articulate when she'd greeted me at the door?

Mother added, "You are, of course, invited to attend the celebration as well, Lea. I know Father would be thrilled for you to join us."

Uh-huh. Sure. Grandfather looked positively pleased as punch over there at the very prospect.

"Sounds like a blast, count me in," Lea grinned.

Alright so… the birthday soirée would be tomorrow, then The Talk™ would be the day after. Roughly two days… forty-eight hours of waiting and worrying and dreading and- oh dear, I had to wonder what the world record for longest sustained panic attack might be. Start the timer, I was about to shatter that sucker.

A hush fell over the room, with the only sound coming from the clinking of the ice in Grandfather's drink accompanied by the ticking of the ancient but well-kept longcase clock in the corner. The ticking seemed to get louder with each passing second.

After one painfully long minute, Mother was finally the one to break the silence. "So Lea," she began, her eyes intent on him, "please… tell us a little about yourself."

"Where to even begin? Lessee here." Uh oh. I didn't like that little gleam he had in his eye as he rubbed a curled finger over his chin. "Well, I guess ya could say I had the kinda childhood every lil tyke dreams about: full of joy and love and the foster system." It was probably a good thing I hadn't gotten a drink because I'd probably be choking on it right now just like my parents were with theirs. "But I mean, with a druggie dad who bought the farm and a druggie mom who split outta my life first chance she got, where else was I s'posed to go?

"As for the rest after that, let's just give ya the highlights." Now he started ticking off his fingers, "College dropout. Ride a motorcycle. In a hardcore death metal band. Smoke ten packs a day." For the love of… he did remember the part about not giving my parents a heart attack, right? "Just got my thirty-day chip from AA - hey, fifth times a charm, right? Oh, I'm also a wanted felon in three different states. Wait…" he squinted one eye, pursing his lips to the left, "...make that four. Always forget about Connecticut. Which reminds me, I need to check in with my parole officer."

"He's joking!" I said quickly with a tiny, nervous laugh.

"Or am I?" he leaned forward in his seat to whisper conspiratorially, eyebrows bouncing. I pinched his arm, forcing a soft tch from him. "But let's not forget the most important thing ya need to know about me: how completely," he kissed my pinky, "and totally," another one for my ring finger, "head over heels," three more, one for each word and each remaining finger, "I am for your daughter."

Alright, you need to cool your jets, cheeks. This was all just part of the show, after all.

A show that was possibly being performed a bit too well. Grandfather's knuckles had gone so white around his glass, I was surprised the poor thing hadn't shattered into a million pieces yet.

Lea tapped his index to his lips now, "Hmmm, what else? Oh! Got a pretty cool story about this gnarly scar my half-brother gave me with a-"

"Anna!" I suddenly burst out, turning towards her at the same time I snagged Lea's hand, keeping him from lifting the hem of his shirt. She froze mid-sip, glancing at me out of the corner of her eyes. "What about you? What's new with you? You have that new boyfriend of yours, right? What about him, will he be joining us this weekend?"

Who me? Trying to change the subject? Psh, I would never!

She winced, averting her gaze and lowering her drink as she traced a finger around the rim. "Oh jeez, my…? Well... he, er… he was going to make it for dinner tonight but… something… unfortunately came up! But he should definitely be here in time for the party tomorrow, so… don't worry! Heh… I- oo, little cheeses!" she cried out excitedly as Gerda abruptly appeared once more to place a small platter of hors d'oeuvres on the coffee table. Anna immediately proceeded to stuff her face with them before pointing at her bulging cheeks and shaking her head, signaling she could no longer talk.

A crease formed between my eyebrows.

Huh… was it just me or was Anna acting kind of weird?

Maybe the tension around the room just had us all on edge, even her. Yeah, that was probably all it was.

"And you, Elsa?" Father's cool tone snapped my attention back to him. Each word that followed was slow and measured, as if he were picking them very carefully, "Tell us how you have been keeping yourself occupied during these past several weeks."

"Oh!" I gnawed on my lower lip, my fingers already tugging at my braid before I'd even realized it. "Well, I've… reconnected with an old friend - you remember Rayne from when I went to summer camp? Well she's married now with a baby on the way, can you imagine? And… and I've gotten myself a place to live and have found a job and-"

-and auditioned for a musical.

That was what I'd been about to tell them. However when I tried, the words got caught in my throat.

I knew they'd disapprove. That they'd probably scoff and wonder why I was still wasting my time on such childish, useless things. But it wasn't childish or useless, at least not to me. To me, the audition had been so important, had brought me so much happiness. I didn't want to give my parents the chance to belittle and ridicule it. I didn't want them to take this thing that was so special away from me.

So instead I released my braid and folded my hands in my lap, sitting up a little straighter as I simply said, "...and that's it really."

I could sense Lea's eyes on me. I think he knew what I'd purposely omitted. Thankfully, he kept his mouth shut about it.

"So… Lea…" Grandfather spoke up suddenly, his voice dangerously low and making me flinch. "I hear you're in the…" his lip curled in a slight sneer, "...pizza business? Is that right?"

Smirking back, he slouched a bit more comfortably into his seat. "That's right. I sling dough at a lil pizza joint in the local mall food court. Great place by the name of Pizza Planet… you ever been?"

His jaw clenched ever so slightly. "No, can't say that I have. But this... Pizza Planet," he said it like those were the two most offensive words in the english language, "...is that where you see yourself working for the rest of your life?"

Lea chuckled, his hand batting the air, "Nah, that'd just be silly! No, I won't be selling pizza forever." His mouth curved into a cheshire grin, "Instead I'll be selling ice cream."

"He plans to own his own business, Grandfather," I hastily clarified.

"His own business… selling ice cream," he growled, pointer finger incessantly tapping against his glass now. "And this is how you would plan to provide for and take care of my granddaughter."

"Pardon me, Sir Gramps," there was a hint of an edge to Lea's voice now, despite his unwavering smile, "but I was under the impression that your granddaughter was her own person fully capable of taking care of herself."

You know that chilling, goosebump-inducing, hackles-raising energy you can feel crackling in the air right before a devastating storm strikes and ravages the land?

That was exactly how it felt right now in the space between Grandfather and Lea.

Luckily, Gerda appeared in the nick of time to divert the tempest by announcing, "Dinner is ready!"

"Thank you, Gerda," Mother had stood in the blink of an eye and was already making her way over to Grandfather. "If you would be so kind as to escort me, Father?"

His hard, unblinking gaze was still on Lea and for a second it seemed like he hadn't even heard her. But at last he tore his eyes away with a harrumph and put his drink back down on the table with a sharp, audible clink. "Of course, my dear," he said evenly as he rose from his own chair, offering her his arm and leading her out of the room.

I turned to Anna, but before I could say anything she'd already bolted up and around the table to grab both of Father's hands in hers. "C'mon, Dad! Walk me to dinner too!" she yanked him up, startling a soft grunt out of him as he staggered to his feet. Then she was hooking her arm through his elbow and all but dragging him out of the room with her.

What the…?

...maybe Anna was just super hungry?

"I think that went really well!" Lea chirped, giving me a thumbs up.

I merely drooped my eyelids at him and said nothing.

Later that night found me in my old bedroom. I'd deduced this was where I was expected to sleep, seeing as how this was where Kai had deposited my luggage. As suspected, Lea had been set up in one of the guest rooms further down the hall, so it was just me alone in here now.

It felt odd being back in this room. Just like it'd felt odd returning to my parent's home or going back to my old condo. I don't know, I guess I just didn't feel like I... belonged here anymore. Like I was some piece that everyone else was trying to force into the wrong puzzle, even though my edges didn't fit and the picture didn't match at all.

Sighing, I shifted in my chair to face the mirror on my vanity once more - this one a lot nicer than the one we'd scrounged up for my room back at the apartment I shared with Rayne and Riku, as you might imagine. Having just finished combing out my hair, I set my brush aside and my fingers idly went to work on rebraiding as my thoughts began to wander.

Dinner had ended up just being the sequel to drinks in the Marigold Room. My parents had continued to try and maintain some semblance of being hospitable hosts while keeping up strained conversation. Grandfather had continued to be a seething ball of barely-held-in-check fury and I don't think he'd said more than two words for the rest of the evening. Lea had continued to… well, be Lea. And as for my sister…

I quite honestly had no idea what was going on with her. Maybe it was just my imagination but it seemed every time I'd tried to talk to her, something else had always gotten in the way. Like I'd open my mouth to speak but before I could so much as make a peep, she'd already engaged Mother or Father in some new topic. Or I'd ask her a question only to have her look at me, lips pursed shut against a mouth full of food and shoulders shrugging. There was even one time where all I'd said was her name before she'd accidentally knocked over her drink. At least, I thought it'd been accidental… unless...

Could it be that she was... purposely avoiding talking to me? Had I done something to upset her? I couldn't even begin to think what. Last I'd seen her a week ago, she'd been fine. Everything had been normal between us. What could have possibly changed since?

...maybe I was just reading too much into it. It was probably just a lot of coincidence and poor timing. In fact-

There was a knock at my door just then.

Ha! Bet you that was her now. See? Nothing to worry about, I'd just been overthinking it all. Tying off my completed braid, I rose to answer the door.

And indeed, it was a redhead that I found waiting in the corridor on the other side.

Just not the redhead I'd been expecting.

"Lea?" I frowned, both my eyebrows rising.

He snerked, "Yeesh, don't act too excited to see me."

"What? No, I'm- You're just not who I-" I pressed my lips shut, heaving a small sigh through my nose. "...nevermind. What brings you here?"

"Brought ya something," he grinned and for the first time, I realized he was hiding his hands behind his back. "May I come in?"

My head tipped to the right. "Uh...sure," I opened the door wider, my bare feet stepping off to one side as I absently smoothed at my dress - the same one from dinner. Lea had arrived just before I'd been about to change for bed.

He was still in his earlier clothes as well, though he'd left behind his boots and jacket. I couldn't help but notice he hadn't taken that cute little half-tail out of his hair yet. I also couldn't help but notice the way he carefully managed to keep whatever he had behind him out of sight, even as he walked past me into the room. I closed the door and when I faced him, he hunched down to my eye level, "Ya ready?"

I crossed one hand over my abdomen and gestured with the other for him to continue.

"Ta-da!" he brought one hand forward now, revealing a little black strip lined with sharp, metal points dangling from the clasp pinched between his fingertips.

That's right. It was the spiked collar.

...whatever I'd been expecting, it hadn't been this.

My eyes blinked once. Then twice. "...you were serious? You actually have one of those?"

"Course! What, didja think I was lying? I'm offended, madame," he hmphed, putting his free hand to his breast.

I snorted with a roll of my eyes, "Well no, not lying, but more so just joking."

"I never joke about studded leather," he waggled his eyebrows at me.

Nose crinkling, I delicately poked a finger into one of the spikes. "Alright, so why exactly are you showing me this?"

Lea smirked and shrugged. "Your curiosity just seemed so piqued when I mentioned it earlier."

I gave him a flat look. "It was not piqued."

"Keep telling yourself that," he chuckled then paused, eyes crinkling. "...so you wanted to know what it looked like on me, right?"

Cheeks lightly toasted now, I scowled, "I never said-"

He wrapped the thing around his neck, holding it in place with a hand instead of fastening the tiny buckle in back.

Oh.

Oh, I see.

...it was, um… hrm, it was… interesting.

Damn it, face, be cool. That goes double for you, heart! Don't go thinking I can't hear that racket you're making down there!

"Well, I guess that's one mystery solved," was all I said as I glanced away, hand coming up to cover one cheek in a vain attempt to hide the growing blush.

"Glad I could be of service," he murmured as he (mercifully) removed the collar from his throat once more.

"...why do you even own one?" I asked, hesitantly reaching for the accessory now.

He let me take it from him. "Just a relic from my pissed-off, rebellious juvenile delinquent days that I managed to dig up again recently. What a punkass lil poser I was back then, huh?" he hummed a tiny laugh as he looked down at his feet, lightly scuffing one against the carpet.

Intrigued by it now, I turned it over in my hands as he spoke before taking it over to the mirror on my vanity. "I suppose we all try to find different ways to express ourselves when we're young. Just a part of growing up and figuring out who we are," I said distractedly as I watched my reflection bring the choker up to encircle her neck, tilting her head slightly to the left with a thoughtful frown.

"Well I guess that'd make me a-" whatever quip he'd had locked and loaded was forever lost as he made a sudden strangled, choking noise.

I looked over at him sharply, brow furrowing as I lowered the spiked collar once more. "You okay? What happened?"

His fist thumped his chest as he fought for breath, which was making his face red. "N-nothing," he wheezed, rapidly shaking his head. "Just oxygen, man. That shit'll kill ya, am I right? Heh."

I squinted at him dubiously.

Lea was such a weirdo sometimes.

He averted his gaze now, rubbing at the back of his neck. "You, uh… that choker looked good on ya. Like really, really good."

"You think so?" I frowned down at where it rested in my palm before holding it out to him, "I'll just have to take your word for it."

"Keep it," he grinned, pushing my hand back towards me. "Ya never know when you'll need one for an impromptu angry goth phase."

I smiled at that, "I think I'm in the clear. Isn't that more of a teenager thing?"

"Please. Angry goth isn't an age, it's a state of mind."

"If you say so," I snorted, but put the choker down on my vanity. I had to wonder what my parents might say if they ever discovered it in here with the rest of my things.

"So," he piped up once more, pulling my attention back to him, "this is the bedroom that sweet lil El grew up in, huh?"

As I watched Lea take a few steps further in now, it suddenly occurred to me... this was the first time a boy had ever been in my bedroom. And not just any boy - this was my crush.

Wow… it felt so highschool when I put it that way.

To be fair though, this wasn't an experience I'd ever got to have while I was actually in highschool.

Better late than never, I suppose?

I only wish it didn't make me want to squirm so much as his eyes roved over everything in here, from the big, purple, gauzy canopy bed to the embellished, oversized wardrobe and matching dresser set. From the cushy, inset bench beneath a grand window in the unique shape of a triangle to the tall, antique shelves of neatly arranged novels and DVD cases of old musicals and plays. From the small sitting area in one corner furnished with plush red chairs to the vintage Broadway posters hanging from the walls in expensive frames.

The room was not small by any means, but him being in it somehow seemed to make it shrink. Like here was this big guy that had somehow found his way into a cutesy little dollhouse room. The comparison did not make me want to fidget any less.

Trying to take my mind off it, I began, "So… earlier at drinks and dinner, did you really have to be so…" I bit down on my bottom lip, trying to find the right word. "...just so, ah…"

"So much of a grade-A jackass?" he suggested brightly. Not exactly the word I would have used, but still, I gave a slow nod and he laughed. "Remember, the whole point was for me to be a total hooligan so they didn't just think me some pushover they could boss around or scare off. Think they got that message loud and clear. 'Sides, pushing every last button of the girlfriend's folks is kinda a hallmark of being a classic bad boy."

My fingers found their way to my braid, running up and down it. "But there's a big difference between pushing a few buttons and having a deathwish."

"Aw, how sweet, you worried about lil ol' me, El?" He paused briefly in his casual perusal of my room to glance my way, flashing me that cursed dimple of his, "I'm so flattered."

I shook my head, "I just think you didn't have to go to such extremes or be quite so-"

"Gotta question for ya," he interjected, coming over to stand in front of me. "Say I had showed up on my very best behavior. The perfect gentleman, minded all my P's and Q's and was just the saintliest boyfriend to ever saint. Do you think your family would be singing my praises right about now?"

My eyes shifted about and I tried weakly, "...well… maybe if-"

"Do you truly, honestly believe that your family would ever accept a white trash lil nobody like me dating their precious princess of a daughter?" he pressed quietly yet firmly.

I tucked in my lower lip, hesitating for a long moment before a tiny grimace twisted my face and I mumbled, "Probably not, no."

Lea gave a little smile that almost seemed a touch sad before he turned away once more, returning his attention to exploring the bedroom. "Thought so. I was screwed the second I so much as dared to breathe the same air as your gramps. So if they're all gonna hate my guts whether I play the part of boy scout or hoodlum, might as well go with door numeros dos and at least have some fun while I'm at it," he chuckled.

"Fine, I see your point," I crossed my arms with a frown. "But still, you might want to tone it back just a smidge. Grandfather has munny and connections. He can seriously make you disappear."

A snerk. "I'd like to see him try. I'm one tough son of a bitch to get rid of," he muttered as he neared my bed now, reaching out a hand to poke some of the draping aside as he peeked in, "Trust me, no one axes me that easily, got it memorized? He's in for one rude awakening if he thinks he can just- gah!" he stumbled back in surprise, blinking a couple times before shifting the canopy again for a second look. "The fuck is that ugly lil bastard?!"

I rushed over, snatching up the stuffed plushie sitting atop my neatly made bed and hugging it close as I glared at Lea. "It's a snowman and shush, he's cute! Cuter than you anyway!"

His horrified gaze darted from me to the doll and back. "Dear god, I hope not!"

Sitting down on my mattress, I spun the little guy around in my lap for a better look at him - it'd probably been at least four-some-odd years since I'd last seen the plush, after all. And okay, sure, I could admit he probably wouldn't be winning any beauty contests any time soon, but give the poor, stuffed snowman a break! I had had him since I was a baby and he had had to endure more than one stitch repair job, especially with what a destructive little toddler Anna had been. Despite all that, I still thought him rather handsome with a unique, quirky charm to him.

Giving Lea a flat look and hitching my chin, I said dryly, "My statement stands."

"Wow, guess it's true what they say, beauty really is in the eye of the beholder," he grumbled, narrowing his gaze on the plushie as I snuggled it close to me once more. But then one corner of his lips quirked up and he bowed down to look me in the eye, tipping his head to one side as he murmured, "Hope I at least rate a close second."

Resident cheeks be advised: flash fire warnings are now in effect.

I held my tongue and just glanced away.

The corners of his eyes crinkled as he straightened back up and shoved his hands into his pockets. "So… about that big party tomorrow…"

Thank goodness, a new topic! "What about it?"

Shrugging, Lea said, "Just wanna know what to expect."

My fingers idly stroked at the snowman's head - the fabric still felt soft after all these years, even if it had taken on more of a dull gray color by now as opposed to its original pristine, snowy white. "Well… it'll probably be held in our ballroom-"

"This small palace has a freaking ballroom too?" He shook his head with a snort, "I was kidding before, but this place really is just one big damn Clue board."

Rolling my eyes, I continued, "And it'll probably be packed with all our relatives. Believe me, there are a lot of us on both sides of the family. Acquaintances too. Honestly, it'll most likely all be rather boring. Just a whole lot of mingling, maybe a speech or two, and an over abundance of food accompanied by music."

"Music…" he repeated, frowning up at the ceiling now as one hand went to the nape of his neck, tugging at the little hairs there. "So that mean there'll be dancing? Like… the fancy kind?"

I cocked my head at him. "Are you worried about having to waltz?" Resting my stuffed doll against my pillows, I stood up, "I can teach you if you'd like."

He blinked at me, expression unreadable. Then, "Alright."

I stepped over to stand before him. Now that I got close, I was reminded of just how freakishly tall the man was. My stomach did a little somersault at that and I was already regretting this decision. But it was too late to turn back now. Beating the blush back, locking it up and throwing away the key, I schooled my face into seriousness.

I was going to handle this like a professional, damnit!

"It's fairly simple really, and you've probably seen more than your fair share of it in those sappy movies you like so much. Our hands come together, like this," I joined my right with his left, holding them up to one side. "While your other hand goes…" gingerly taking his wrist in my grasp, I tentatively guided his palm to rest on my hip, hoping the action didn't seem as awkward as it had felt, "...right there." Finally, I settled my left hand on his shoulder and looked up the few inches that separated us.

Big mistake.

Jeez, having eyes as green and beautiful and heart spasm-inducing as his should've been illegal!

And being surrounded by his warm, cinnamony boy scent was not helping matters one bit.

I hastily broke eye contact, opting to look down at our toes instead. Toes are nice. Toes are safe. "It's, uh... it's very easy. You just take steps in the shape of a square. Watch my feet and follow along, I'll go slow. Forward with your left foot first," I took a step back and he moved with me, "then to the side with your right… now bring them together… Good. Then back with your right… out with your left… and together again." I took him through it a few more times without issue. "See? Simple. You're already getting the hang of it."

"I just must have a really good teacher," he said in a low hum.

"At this rate I'll soon be the one following your lead instead of… wait," my forehead wrinkled, "...you are already leading." I looked up at him suspiciously. "Did you already know how to ballroom dance?"

He smiled sheepishly, "Heh… guilty?"

"You brat, why did you tell me you didn't?" I laughed, trying to step away from him.

"I said no such thing," his hand shifted from my hip to the small of my back, not letting me escape. To be fair, I didn't try that hard. "You just assumed I didn't know how. And you know what they say when you assume," he teased as he continued to lead me in our little dance.

I scoffed in spite of the upward tug I felt at one side of my mouth. "Where did you even learn to waltz?"

"My lil secret," Lea winked. "But you know the deal. I'd be willing to give it up for one o' yours."

"You want me to give you a secret?" My eyes darted to the left. "I'm not sure I even have anymore…"

He snerked, pulling me ever so slightly closer to him. "Now I know I don't believe that. You must be able to think of at least one."

...actually yes. There was… at least one more I could think of…

That of certain feelings I was having for a certain redhead.

Sensing a small, familiar heat creeping up into my face, I cleared my throat and shook my head, still not meeting his gaze. "No… no I don't think so. Pretty sure I'm all tapped out."

He dipped his head down next to mine and I could feel him smirking against my ear as he whispered, "You wouldn't be lying to me now, would you?"

His warm breath tickled and I had to suppress a shiver. Conceal, don't feel. Don't let him know. I finally looked at him with a small, playful smile that I hoped didn't betray my hammering heart. "Come now… does this look like the face of someone who'd lie to you?"

Lea bit back a tiny, crooked grin as his eyes hooded, his thumb tracing small circles against the fabric of my dress. Then his lips parted, about to speak.

That was when, for the second time that night, a knock came at my door.

That must be Anna. Smile widening as I continued to stare up at Lea, I called out, "Come in."

I heard it open followed by a soft, "Oh!" that caused me to pale and my feet to stumble.

That wasn't the sound of my sister's voice.

My head whipped towards it as I stammered, "M-Mother!" This time when I attempted to break free of Lea's hold, he let me.

She stood there, posture perfect and hands clasped together in front of her. "Sorry, I didn't think you already had company."

"S'okay, I was just leaving," Lea said before pressing a tender kiss to my forehead. "Night," he told me, voice low as his fingers tucked some of my hair behind my ears. Apparently, he couldn't just depart without giving me one final whammy of the warm fuzzies. Jerkface. "Ma'am," he nodded to my mother as he walked past her towards my door, closing it behind him on his way out.

My gaze followed his exit before drifting over to my vanity right beside the door.

More specifically, to the spiked collar still resting on top of it.

Fudge. Had I wondered what my parents' reaction would be if they ever discovered it in here? Yes. Did I particularly need to find out the answer to that little question this very night? Hell no!

Luckily Mother hadn't seemed to notice it on her way in and her back was currently to it as she said, "That young man is… quite the character."

Funny. That's what Father had said. Almost verbatim. I wondered if my parents rehearsed these things.

"He, uh…" I sidled past her, putting myself between her and the choker, blocking her line of sight to it. Then I forced an innocent smile and a weak chuckle, "...he makes me happy."

If she thought my movements strange, she was good at hiding it. "And he seems very fond of you."

"Ah… yes, I suppose so." I casually leaned back against the piece of furniture and slipped a hand behind me, discreetly moving the offending item into one of the vanity's small drawers.

Whew! Mission Hide The Goth Contraband was a success!

The small feeling of victory swiftly waned however and I frowned. "Mother, I…" I began, only to find I had no idea what to say to her.

I hadn't had any idea for years now.

It had not always not always been like this. In fact when I'd been very little, I'd felt like I could share anything and everything with her. She'd been my biggest supporter in all things, especially in my love of the performing arts. As I'd always been such a shy child, she'd gone so far as to even encourage the activity, perhaps in the hopes that it would build my confidence and make me more outgoing.

But as I'd grown older, our relationship had changed. She became more aloof and distant. I suspect she and Father had hoped my interest in theater was just a phase, one I'd grow out of eventually. But when it seemed I wasn't going to - not on my own anyway - she'd started taking a sterner approach with me. That's when she stopped being my friend. That's when it became harder to talk to her. And it'd only gotten harder and harder with time. Things were never quite the same between us after that.

She watched me now, patient for me to continue. Worrying my bottom lip between my teeth, I finally settled on, "Why are you here?"

"I would think the answer should be obvious." Her small, gentle smile caught me off guard, but not nearly as much as her now stepping forward to take both my hands in hers. "I wanted a little time alone with my daughter. Away from your father and grandfather... just the two of us."

My breath hitched, my chest constricted, and before I knew it I was blurting out, "I auditioned for a musical."

Her head reeled back slightly and I winced.

Welp. So much for not letting that cat out of the bag.

I swear, mouth, I can't take you anywhere.

Waiting with bated breath, I searched her wide-eyed gaze for any clue as to what she might be thinking. Was she angry? Annoyed? Disappointed? I couldn't tell as her face gave away nothing for several long seconds. Finally though, she tipped her head to one side, "...did it go well?"

I blinked, a crease emerging between my eyebrows. "I, uh… yes, I think it did. But they won't announce casting until next week."

"I see. Well," and here she was smiling again as she leaned in closer to whisper, "we can just keep that our little secret, hm?"

...who was this woman and what had she done with Mother?

I stared at her before slowly nodding. It was all I could do. Words abandoned me at the moment. I hadn't been prepared at all for this.

And I was even less prepared for what came next.

Mother's gaze softened as she brought her hand up, cupping her cool fingers to my cheek. "That must have taken a lot of courage. I'm very proud of you."

My throat tightened and I swallowed past the lump I felt forming in it. I blinked away some tears, my voice hoarse as I somehow managed to get out, "Th-thank you… Mother."

Had I entered some sort of Twilight Zone? If so, I never wanted to leave.

She regarded me kindly for a second more before her expression turned to that of concern. "You look tired. Have you been sleeping well?"

Honestly, I hadn't. The last good night's rest I'd had was the unplanned sleepover in Lea's room. Every night since then was one night closer and closer to this weekend and whatever unspeakable horrors awaited me. Every night had been less and less dreams, replaced by more and more tossing and turning. I'd actually spent all of last night wide awake, just staring up at my ceiling until the sun had at last arisen.

So, naturally, my answer to Mother was, "Yes."

Her quiet tsk said she didn't believe me. "Come here," she turned away, walking towards my bed and lowering herself down onto it. I hugged myself, feet rooted to the spot as I stared after her, bewildered. Sitting back against my pillows and tucking in her legs, her hand patted the spot on the mattress beside her, "Cuddle close, scooch in."

Instantly I was transported back to when I was a little girl. Back to the last time I'd heard her say those words to me. My response was automatic and before I'd realized it, I'd already curled into her side and was resting my head against her shoulder.

She started humming a familiar lullaby. One she had used to sing for me all the time when I was small. It was from my favorite musical, the same one that the song I'd sang in the tryouts had been from.

This was nice. It wouldn't put me to sleep, but still, it was... nice. Comforting. Nostalgic. Her hand was lightly stroking my arm, my hair, my cheek. Then she was trailing the tip of her pinky down the bridge of my nose slowly before bringing it back up to do it again. An old trick she'd used to use to get me to pass out. Cute. That may have worked when I was a child, but I was an adult now. There's no way it could still possibly have the same effect on me now, not in a million-

Within minutes I was out like a light.

Author's Note: Ah, it's finally here! The dreaded weekend with (dun dun dun)… The Parents (TM)! Elsa's spent most of the story in Lea's KH universe, now it's his turn to spend a few chapters in her Frozen world xP Let me tell you, when I was writing outline notes for this whole story, I had very little planned for this arc at first. I had a smattering of a few vague ideas, but hardly enough to fill even so much as one chapter with! But thankfully, Frozen 2 was released, coming to my rescue and giving me a whole new host of Frozen characters to include xD Then the ideas started flowing, thank goodness! Soooooo, more F2 characters to be introduced in the chapters to come! Fun Fact: Elsa's dress this chapter (complete with lil necklace) is loosely based on the dress she wears at the beginning of F2 for the Some Things Never Change song, just picture it shorter (cuz apparently I just want to do that to all her dresses) and with a maybe slightly poofier skirt.

Next chapter, what new trial and tribulations does The Weekend (capital T, capital W) hold in store for our couple? Is there something up with Anna or she just being her normal oddball self? Was there a reason behind Mother's unexpected show of affection? Will there be trouble brewing at Gramps' bday shindig? Just who REALLY is the cuter cutie to ever cute: Lea or Elsa's wonky snowman plushie? Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

14 notes · View notes

franklyshipping · 5 years

Text

An Unorthodox First Date ~ A Markiplier and Crankgameplays Ego Fanfic

This is from a snazzy prompt from the AWESOMELY snazzy @amazingmsme AND I CANNOT WAIT TO WRITE THIS CUTE TICKLY ROMANCEY THINGY WOOO LET'S DO IT!

Blankgameplays couldn't deny that he was nervous, but he was also filled with excitement. Bim Trimmer also couldn't deny that he was nervous....in addition to being incredibly excited. Bim Trimmer had mustered up the confidence to invite Blank to be a guest on ''Hire My Ass'' wherein Blank would be pretending to be going for Bim's assistant position and would have to answer silly trivia questions, all in the name of simple good fun. You may be thinking of course, why would Bim have to muster up confidence simply to ask Blank to be on the show? Now....that is where it gets rather sweet. Bim had rather strong feelings for the strong, silent, edgy young ego....but little did he know that Blank harboured the same feelings for him in return.

This was going to be wonderful.

Blank had accepted when Bim had asked him, but had had to refrain from jumping for joy, he wanted to play it cool with Bim....he wanted him to think he was cool and enticing. Bim was so cute and charismatic and confident....and Blank just adored him, he was so bright and gorgeous in so many ways, and being able to spend more time with him was something that Blank was never going to pass up. So here he was, being sat in his official contestant seat in Bim's studio by one of the production team...and as his gaze went across the set, there he saw the charismatic man himself....staring right back at him.

Bim's breath caught in his throat when he saw Blank's eyes on him....those beautifully unique, sharp eyes that made Bim feel like Blank was seeing right into his soul. He nibbled his lip nervously as a technician touched up the blush on his cheeks in preparation for the cameras and studio audience; Bim was never usually nervous for a recording....but this was special, he had someone in his midst who he actually wanted to impress and make happy. Bim couldn't wait to be bold, to be playful....and to be a little flirty too. Bim sent Blank a soft, reassuring smile though, just as a subtle sign to tell him that he could back out if he wanted to; the last thing Bim wanted was to bring Blank into an uncomfortable situation.

Blank though, of course smiled back. He trusted Bim, and he was excited to see what was going to be in store. With that, they both took a giddy breath each before Bim went to his mark in front of one of the cameras on stage, and cleared his throat whilst fiddling with his shirt cuffs; seeing Bim in his tight suit, especially from behind, made Blank feel....a few things. He fought a smile though and drew his gaze away from Bim's ah, behind, as the curtains were opened to reveal the studio audience....and Bim began the introductions.

'Ladies, gentlemen, gentlefolk! Welcome to another episode of Hiiiiire Myyyy AAAAAASS!!'

Bim raised his arms with a wide grin as the crowd cheered, and he backed up on the stage until he was standing adjacent to Blank, who he now gestured to as he continued.

'IIII'm Bim Trimmer as you all know, but tonight my guest is fresh on the screen people, iiiiit's Blankgameplays!'

Blank smiled sheepishly as he gave a little wave to the audience, and he felt a warmth inside him when he saw people smiling and waving so kindly at him....I suppose Blank had always associated this sort of loud, glaring scenario as something overwhelming, but now he was here it didn't feel like that. Seeing the crew smiling at him from behind the cameras along with how kind the audience were....made Blank feel so much more comfortable.

'Heya.'

Blank spoke softly, smiling a side-smile as he then mustered up the courage to look at Bim.....oh jeez he was handsome. I mean, he was handsome constantly, but seeing him on his own stage, excited, enthusiastic, and doing what he loved, just seemed to make him more beautiful. Bim smiled, his heart was pounding so fast, but he kept his cool.

'So my dear guest, how are you today?'

Blank smiled more....but he didn't want to reply so simply. He'd chickened out so many times when it came to flirting with the guy he had feelings for, and he was NOT going to chicken out this time. He looked up to Bim as he replied in a soft, purred tone.

'I'm good thanks. I would ask how you're doing but ah....you look pretty damn good to me.'

Blank made a point of looking Bim up and down, and giggled a little when he heard a few whoops from the audience. Bim's jaw nearly dropped, and he thanked the lord that all the stage make-up was covering his real developing blush.....Blank had just flirted with him....this was the best day of his life. Of course though, Bim defined professionalism....and besides, it would be rude not to reciprocate.

'Mmm, I bet you say that to the countless handsome men begging for your attention.'

'Are you counting yourself among them Mr Trimmer? Only, I don't see you on your knees.'

Numerous hushed, whispered 'oohs' echoed out from the crowd as they eagerly observed the flirtatious quips between Blank and Bim....this was definitely going to be an episode viewers weren't going to forget in a hurry. Bim and Blank did have to swiftly get back to business, since there was a show to run after all. After painstakingly refraining from engaging Blank in a verbal war, Bim straightened up, and let the show begin.

'As much as I love this game of ours, there is a bigger one that must be played. Apparently you want to be my esteemed assistant, but of course, I don't accept just anybody....so you're going to answer some questions for me. Get them right and you win....get them wrong however and ah.....well, you'll see....'

Bim winked at Blank slyly, which gave Blank chills as he tried to wonder what Bim had planned. Soon though, Blank had to refocus....maybe, just maybe, if he got everything right he could avoid whatever Bim's cryptic punishment was. Maybe.

'Blank....are you ready to play?'

Blank nibbled his bottom lip, then looked at Bim from beneath the hood of his black hoodie, a confident grin in place as he replied.

'Bring it.'

The audience cheered, excited to see how sassy and confident Blank was, his kind of attitude was what they craved. Bim was equally as excited, and he had to hide how giddy he was at seeing Blank coming out of his shell like this, it was gorgeous; Bim wasted no more time, and began. He grinned and snapped his fingers, making a large screen mounted on the wall light up with life and display text as Bim spoke it.

'Very well. Your first question is this: The ''Cairina moschata'' is the scientific name for what bird? A) The Sebastopol Goose, B) The Muscovy Duck, or C) The Cattle Egret?'

....Blank was so thankful that it was multiple choice, because now Blank realised that these questions were going to be practically impossible to answer! If Blank had just read that query on the screen then he couldn't have even known how to BEGIN pronouncing the phrase in italics! He took a breath and focused though, he wasn't going to let himself be rattled. He flicked his eyes over the options as he fiddled with his sleeves....well, the italics phrase had complicated words, and ''Sebastopol'' sounded pretty complicated too....so that was the logic that Blank ran with.

'Okay.....okay my answer is A) The Sebastopol Goose.'

The room was so quiet that you could have easily heard a pin drop. Bim was quiet, no doubt increasing the tension in the wake of Blank's answer as he paced around his attractive contestant. Their eyes met...and Bim smirked, inhaling in a hiss.

'Ohhhh I'm so sorry.....but I'm afraid that is incorrect.'

Before Blank could react, he felt metal cuffs clamp around his wrists at the arms of the chair, as well as at his ankles at the chair legs. He was trapped, immobilised....vulnerable. Blank gulped and gasped, tugging fruitlessly as he heard the audience gasp excitedly....they and he were thinking about Bim's earlier alluding to punishment for incorrect answers. Bim chuckled, smiling down at Blank as he purred.

'The answer we were looking for was actually B) The Muscovy Duck. Now, I know you must feel disheartened at getting something wrong so early on....but don't worry....I have just the thing to motivate you to get the next questions right....probably.'

Blank shivered.....seeing Bim so gleeful with glinting eyes really made his cheeks heat up....Blank couldn't help but feel that Bim was particularly attractive when he behaved like that. Before Blank could ask what exactly this motivation was to be though, all became clear. Two metal appendages unfolded from the back of Blank's chair, both wielding soft, fluffy feathers....which now danced at the sides of Blank's neck. Motivation indeed.

'W-Wohoah w-w-wahait wh-whahat the fuhuhuck?!'

Blank squeaked and descended into stammery giggles, twitching and trying to scrunch his neck as he heard the audience gasp and coo in delight at his predicament. That wasn't all Blank heard though. Bim was chuckling with cheeky glee at it all. Bim had known Blank was ticklish thanks to a few reliable sources, and had been dying to see how truly sensitive he was....Blank was already cute beyond measure in his eyes, but seeing him like this just put him in a whole new league of cuteness!

'Ah ah! Language! We ah, don't have the funds to bleep out naughty language and ah....I wouldn't want to gag you.'

Blank's cheeks got hotter as he spluttered with embarrassment, but he was the sort of person who fought back harder when he was embarrassed. As he struggled in his bonds, he glared up at the attractive asshole and retorted.

'Fihihight mehe Trihihimmer!'

Bim let out a dramatic gasp, putting his hand on his chest as he turned to the audience.

'Why how RUDE!'

The audience laughed at Bim's dramatics as Blank kept giggling his heart out, feeling so damn flustered. He couldn't believe Bim was doing this to him, making him lose his composure and blush so much, it was so mean....and yet, Blank didn't completely dislike it. Either way though, Blank figured that being rude wouldn't exactly help him in this situation.

'W-Wahahait Ihi-....I-I dihihidn't mehehean ihit!'

Blank tried to resist tossing his head so he could look up at Bim with big apologetic eyes, making Bim hum softly in thought....but Bim couldn't resist that sweet, cute pleading expression. Darn his loved up heart.

'Mmmm....well, given that you're under duress, I think I can believe that.'

Bim reasoned audibly, before snapping his fingers which spurred the feathery tools to fold away like they were never even there. Blank giggled residually, filled with after-chills from the feather tickling; his eyes flicked upwards to Bim, despite his bashfulness, as he whispered.

'Th-thahank yohou....'

Bim Trimmer's breath caught in his throat....wow he was cute....Bim do not melt I repeat do NOT MELT.

'You're more than welcome....ready to carry on?'

Phew. Blank nibbled his bottom lip, thankful that he'd managed to recover from that onslaught....but flustered at the fact that he was still restrained; he knew that there was more to come....which made him more excited to continue than ever.

'Y-Yeheah....I don't give up easy.'

Blank grinned up at Bim, who laughed and turned to the audience with a charismatic smile.

'Well THAT is what we like to hear!'

The audience cheered once more, before Bank straightened up in his chair in the wake of the second question popping up on the screen.

'Your second question is this: ''Testabantur Inflictam'' is the Latin translation for what word? Is it A) Instantaneous, B) Inspection, or C) Infatuation?'

Blank's mind whirred at this....okay, he didn't know Latin, but maybe he could try and figure it out? I mean....inflictam sounded kinda like inflict, agh but then there was fricking testabantur....wait....test-abantur. Inflict....test....I mean, to inflict a test could be seen as an inspection, right? Blank broke out into a smile, thinking he'd figured it out.

'Uhh....okay uhm....I'm gonna go for B) Inspection.'

Silence reigned in the studio once more for that sweet dramatic effect, with only the subtlest whispers emanating from the audience. Blank looked to Bim excitedly, thinking he might have gotten his first win....but his face fell when he saw Bim smirking deviously.

'I'm so very sorry, but that's not the answer we were looking for. The correct answer was actually C) Infatuation. It seems like your mind is not yet motivated enough....but I think we can fix that.'

Bim purred, winking playfully to the main camera. Honestly, if Blank didn't know any better he would have thought that Bim actually WANTED Blank to get all of the answers wrong! Meanwhile, metal appendages unfolded from Blank's chair once more, but this time from the arms of the chair....and this time bearing two very soft, supple blusher make-up brushes rather than feathers. Blank's eyes darted between the two tools as they got closer to his torso, and he hurried into stutters.

'C-C'mon c-c-can't we talk about th-this?'

Blank looked up at Bim, who had sauntered over and casually leant against Blank's chair, grinning as the brushes slip under Blank's t-shirt.

'I think it's a little late for that.'

Bim giggled when Blank squealed and threw his head back as the fluffy brushes fluttered up and own his lean sides at an impossible speed.

'Nohohoho plehehease notmytorsodammit c'moHOHON!'

Blanks giggles got louder and louder, since it seemed that the very dips of his sides (where the brushes were now swirling about in) were particularly sensitive. Blank was wriggling from side to side like he was attempting a salsa whilst his cheeks became a wonderful dark pink.

'Ahahaaawww, isn't he cute everybody?'

Bim cooed, flashing a smirk to the audience who, to Blank's embarrassment, cheered and cooed to Blank too. I mean, one person is somewhat manageable, but a whole audience full of people wanting to tease you? That was just unfair!

'SHUHUHUSH IHIT!'

Blank wailed amidst his hiccup filled giggles, jiggling desperately as the fluffy brushes fluttered over his tummy nice and softly. At Blank's wail though, Bim gasped! He and the audience were simply admiring his cuteness, and yet Blank had the audacity to order them to shush it?! The nerve!

'Why how rude AGAIN! I have half a mind to just let you be tickled for the rest of the show!'

Blank hiccupped even more as he replied particularly quickly, and particularly cutely, to that particular threat. Oh I wonder why.

'BUHUT Y-YOHOUR OTHEHER HAHALF IS MEHERCIFUL AHAND LOHOVELY!'

....Bim huffed. Dammit, that retort was too good and too adorable to dismiss! Also, getting a compliment like that from Blank made Bim feel very warm and fuzzy inside; yes people he is hella smitten. He snapped his fingers, thus making the tools retract away, before waggling his finger at Blank with a playful, purse-lipped smile.

'You're lucky that I like you!'

Blank caught his breath, and felt a little butterfly jitter inside him tummy as he looked up at Bim.

'Ihi like yohou too.'

Blank was soft spoken and softly smiling, and Bim felt his cheeks heat up even more under his make-up; for a moment he was frozen, but then remembered that they had many, many eyes upon them.

'Oh, y-you're too sweet! A-Ahem uh, Question Three!'

Bim hurriedly looked to the screen, and Blank giggled to himself; though Bim had make-up on, he could guess what was hiding at his cheeks....and that made Blank feel pretty good.

'What makes the gestation of seahorses different from all other animals? A) The males carry the offspring, B) Seahorses spin in a continuous counter-clockwise motion whilst gestating, or C) Seahorses remain entirely stationary during the complete gestation period?'

....now however, Blank's eyes were wide with panic. First off, what the frick was gestation?! This most certainly wasn't good, I mean, the previous two questions hadn't been good either, but this one was ESPECIALLY not good. Blank could only stutter as he re-read the question again, and again, and again.

'U-Uhh....uh it....uhm....'

Bim smirked at his stuttering, goodness he was cute.

'Time's tickling Blank-oh sorry, I meant ticking!'

Bim chuckled amidst his ''accidental'' error of wording, which got giggles from the audience and a flustered whine from Blank.

'I need an answeeeer!'

Bim continued, raising his eyebrows at Blank....and Blank figured that if he didn't give an answer, any answer, then the repercussions would not be good. So he hurriedly just blurted out his reply.

'B! I-I choose B!'

His frantic reply spurred the audience to ''ooh'', wondering whether luck would be on Blank's side for this question. Alas, Blank already knew he was wrong before anything was even said....Bim's feral grin told him all.

'....oh Blank....this really isn't your day is it?'

One snap of the fingers later, and the audience gasped as Blank squeaked....because somehow, his legs were moving. It was quite the clever contraption in the chair, you see Blank's ankles weren't actually tied to the chair legs, they were actually tied to extensions of the chair that just LOOKED like the chair legs. Now though, those extensions were straightening out so that Blank's feet were facing the audience. As soon as the manoeuvre was completed, Blank gulped when Bim sauntered over to his feet with gleaming eyes.

'May I?'

Bim didn't wait for an answer before he started taking off Blank's shoes and socks; as you can imagine, the young emo was rather spluttery and embarrassed.

'N-No you may not!'

Blank's voice was as high pitched as it had ever been, but alas it came too late, for now he was completely barefoot. Blank's and Bim's eyes met, the flustered and the mischievous, and the latter purred with a chuckle.

'Oops....too late.'

Bim raised his hand, winked, and snapped those fingers. Two metal appendages unfolded once more....and bore the finest, softest looking paintbrushes that you have ever seen. Blank's pale feet scrunched up tight in anticipation....but as soon as those soft fibres flicked and stroked up and down his soles, Blank just went ballistic.

'EEEHEHEHEE NOHOHO NOTTHEFEETNOTTHEFEETNOTTHEFEET!!!'

Bim's eyes lit up....had he actually found Blank's death tickle spot?! His lips were parted in adoring awe as he watched Blank writhe and laugh wildly...he was so gorgeous.

'Not the feet huh? Are they your big bad tickle spot?'

Bim teased in a breathless, teasing tone, making Blank nod frantically as the evil brushes flicked into his tight wrinkles with ease. Blank already had mirthful tears in his eyes as he cried out.

'YEHEHEHES AHAHA MAHAKE IHIT STAHAHAP!!!'

Blank thrashed in his restraints as he laughed and laughed, his face burning from seeing Bim's awe and glee, as well as from hearing the audience calling out babyish teases to him. To make it all worse, Bim ended up being inspired by the audience too.

'Awww poor baby has tickwish footsies!'

Bim cheekily skittered a few of his fingertips over the tops of Blank's feet as the brushes tried to worm their way under Blank's toes; lemme tell you though Blank was NOT going to have that. He had his feet scrunched as tight as they could be, and Blank's face was scrunched as he used every ounce of will to keep those brushes out.

'NOHOHO TEHEHEASE BIHIHIM! PLEHEHEHEASE!!!'

Blank writhed and tugged, and if the chair hadn't been affixed to the stage then Blank would have absolutely made it topple over by now. Blank was letting out desperate whines through his laughter, which spurred Bim to smile down at him fondly as his finger snap echoed through the studio.

'Mmm, I suppose I can't let you break just yet, we do have one question left to go after all.'

Blank gasped and softly sniffled as the tools retracted, folding away elegantly as the young man went a little limp in the chair. Blank blinked a few times....if he hadn't been unkempt before this all stared then he certainly was now. His hood was down, revealing his jet black mop of hair that had started to stick to his forehead in a way that made Bim certainly feel particularly attracted to the young man; in this state he looked even more ruggedly handsome than usual. Blank meanwhile was feeling a) sweaty, and b) flustered, which resulted in this very whiney, half-hearted retort.

'Bihite meheee....'

Bim giggled, then slipped closer to Blank so he could whisper and wink.

'Perhaps we should wait until the cameras are off.'

Blank giggled as a happy shiver went down his spine, and he even winked back. They'd both been skating around one another with their flirting and so-forth, but now they were skating together, so to speak. Blank jerked his head to get the hair out of his face as Bim excitedly grinned and turned back to the audience, his arms wide open as he spoke like the wonderful showman he was.

'Now, it's time for our final question!'

The audience clamoured with applause as the climax of the show approached....and the final question came on-screen.

'Which weather condition is well known to NOT be ideal when making caramel based products like spun sugar? A) Freezing Weather, B) Dry Weather, or C) Humid Weather?'

Bim kept his eyes on Blank as he read the question....and couldn't help but giggle when Blank let out the lightest, and yet the most dejected, whine in the world.

'Aww what's wrong?'

At Bim's query, Blank looked up at him with his bottom lip pointedly sticking out; which did make the audience aww at him because he was an absolute cutie pie.

'All these questions have been so mean!'

Blank huffed softly, to which Bim merely shrugged innocently.

'I don't choose them Blanky, they're generated at random by our quiz system!'

That made Blank narrow his eyes up at Bim. He was narrowing his eyes in a way that said that he knew that was an absolute fib and that SOMEHOW Bim had orchestrated this to make him lose and get tickled into oblivion! He was smart not to say it aloud though, so he merely let out a little grumble before looking back to the question. This turned out to be less of a quiz game and more a guessing game.

'....I choose B) Dry Weather....'

....at this point Bim honestly just wanted to fib and say that Blank was right with how much he was pouting and, still, panting....but Bim's evil side was taking precedence. He simply loved tickling Blank too much. Bim inhaled with a light hiss as he turned to the audience, who had started to giggle in excited anticipation.

'Dear....oh....dear....'

Bim snapped his fingers.

'I had such high hopes for you Blank, but fate decided it was not to be. Now you must face the consequences.'

As soon as Blank had known he was wrong, he'd started to wonder where he'd be targeted next, his armpits maybe? His knees? It was a no to both those theories though....when all the appendages from the previous rounds with all their dastardly tools reappeared....and attacked all at once. Feathers at his neck, blusher brushes at his sides and tummy, and fine paintbrushes at his feet. They were all in action and all driving Blank to hysteria.

'AHAHAHAHA NAHAHAHA BIHIHAHAHAHAAA!!!'

Blank legitimately thought he was going to go insane, he couldn't believe all his tickle spots were being attacked at once! He was scrunching his shoulders and feet desperately from the flicking feathers and brushes, whilst trying to somehow curl up his torso to hide his tummy from more evil, fluffy fibres. None of it helped though. Plus, hearing the crowd cheer so gleefully at his demise just made it all so much more torturous.

'I regret to say that with your results, you won't be receiving the position as my assistant. I'm so sorry Blank, I was really rooting for you y'know?'

....Blank oh so badly wanted to yell 'Oh really? Then why do you look so fricking HAPPY?!' but ah, coherency wasn't really on the cards for Blank right now. All he could do was endure the tickling and the teasiness of Bim's nonchalant words, all while wishing that he could curl up into a ball and hide.

'PLEHEHEHEHAHAHA NOHOHO MOHOHOOOORE!!!'

Bim hummed at Blank's wild squeals for mercy, grinning as he saw paintbrushes swirling over the pads of his toes, evidence of a blusher brush dusting his tummy, and feathers fluttering behind the crooks of his ears. He took a moment to admire his mirth and ticklishness, before grinning and swivelling to face the audience, before hollering.

'What do you lovely people think? Holler if you think our sweet guest deserves some mercy!'

For a second, Blank was expecting silence to ring out....but he vastly underestimated how much Bim's audience adored him. No sooner had Bim's words left his mouth, Blank almost felt deafened by the sudden increase in volume of cheers, whoops, clapping, and general clamouring from the audience. The people obviously loved seeing him being tickled, but they were very lovely people and could tell when someone deserved mercy.

'AHAHAHAHA THAHAHAHANK YOHOHOU!!!'

Blank cried to the audience, which made Bim smile fondly before he snapped his fingers for the final time. All the tickle tools retracted, and the restraints binding Blank's wrists and ankles snapped open, thus leaving him as a properly free man. As Blank giggled and cutely curled up in his chair, Bim skipped to the centre of the stage and clapped his hands together with a grin.

'Well aren't you lot a sweet little bunch! You've all been so great tonight, give yourselves a big hand!'

Blank wiped his eyes a little as he smiled at the audience, he never thought that a vibe of screaming people could be so pleasant. Then though, he developed a bashful smile as Bim gestured to him dramatically .

'Aaaaand let's give a big hand to our sassy, sweet guest....BLAAAANKGAMEPLAAAAYS!'

Blank bowed his head a little with a smile at they cheered once more, giving the crowd a little wave....honestly, he just couldn't stop smiling, he was so happy from all of this. Then, Bim turned to fully face the audience once more, spreading his arms so wide that it looked like he wanted to hug the whole audience at once.

'And now finally, this has been Hire My Ass, with me your host, Bim Trimmer! Goodnight everybody!'

After a few moments of Bim waving to the audience and blowing them kisses as the curtain closed, and after a countdown from the production manager, the cameras were off and it was all done. As soon as that happened, Blank smiled to see Bim hurrying up to him. Bim was still himself of course, he never faked his love for showbiz or any of that, but without the eyes of all those other people he himself was a tad more bashful.

'H-Hey a-are you okay? I'm s-sorry I didn't tell you a-about the tickling beforehand, I-I-I didn't go too far did I?'

Bim had just put his spectacles back on and was adjusting them nervously as he looked over Blank's curled up form; Blank thought he was going to melt when he saw Bim's serious, genuine concern for him. Blank decided to stand up from the chair and un-crease his hoodie and jeans, giving Bim a soft grin as he replied.

'I like to think I'm made of tough stuff Trimmer....as for you though...'

Blank had started off with a soft purr, to let Bim know he was really okay....before descending into a growl and grabbing the lapels of Bim's jacket and pulling him close. In public, Bim was confident and Blank was meek....but in private it was a whole different story.

'Do you have ANY idea how much you affected me? How flustered I felt from every smile and stare you sent my way?'

Bim squeaked at the sudden man-handling, but couldn't help but smile at hearing how much he'd affected Blank....he had so hoped that his flirts and such-like had worked and made Blank feel nice things. Bim's eyes flicked up to meet Blank's as he whispered.

'....well....i-it w-was somewhat my i-intention....'

Blank blinked, taking in a quiet gasp of air as he processed what he was hearing. Bim...meant to flirt with him. Just like Blank had hoped to flirt with him too.

'....fuck subtlety.'

Don't get him wrong, Blank had enjoyed the flirting and the entire playful setting....but ah, he certainly was NOT going to wait around for the guy he liked to just drop into his lap, he was going to claim him....and Bim seemed pretty happy with that notion. So, Blank kissed Bim, and Bim kissed Blank back, whilst both subconsciously agreeing that their next date would have less Latin, gestation, and spun sugar....but maybe just a little infatuation.

HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE THIS FIC WOOOO LEMME KNOW IF YA DO WOO LUV YOUS XX

49 notes · View notes

geekydane · 6 years

Text

More than a machine - Connor x reader - part 10

Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5 • Part 6 • Part 7 • Part 8 • Part 9

You didn’t go home before the march. You went to a small café near the meeting place for the start of the march and collected your thoughts. It was a long time since you had sat down and relaxed with a cup of coffee like this, but it was only peace before the storm. In an hour would this street be turned into a historic place – hopefully the good kind? The fact that Markus choose to keep it all peaceful had made some people believe that androids should have rights and be able to live like humans, but it was still taboo to say out loud. If more human saw this march and join the androids, maybe there wouldn’t be so much to discuss in the White House.

You didn’t know how long you sat there staring down in your empty cup but the sound of people getting up from their chairs caught your attention. You looked out the window of the small corner café and realised that the deviants had arrived without you noticing. They were as they said – peaceful and were just walking down one of the main streets without muttering a sound. Not even a buzzing of small talk between them. You threw your empty cup out and while all the café guests were looking at you in shock, you walk out to the deviants. One even called out that they might be dangerous, but you just snorted in response. Markus who was in the front of the march greeted you as you had to jog to catch up with them. He took your hand and you gave his a little squeeze of insurance. This had to go well. Many eyes were on you already. You didn’t walk 200m with them before the first news drones were hanging over you and following your every move with a curious camera glued to the bottom.

More and more deviants join them from the side streets and when you passed an android store it was like every single android in there woke up at once and started to walk out the shop. Markus stopped and let go of your hand to greet the newly turned deviants. You smiled at the sight and you saw that the angry android woman North, that had attacked you before, were smiling too. You knew that this wasn’t her idea. She was more violent in nature, but she looked at Markus with pride in her eyes.

“We are alive!” Markus shouted out to the crowed all of the sudden and they all screamed out loud to support the statement. As you started to move further down the street it started to be a chant for you and the deviants. You yelled it as loud as possible to support them and threw your fist in the air. Some people started to run away from you but most stood on the sidewalks and looked at the growing crowed of freedom fighters. No humans joined you though. You went on and turned the corner to the next street when you saw the first few police cars stop at the end of the road. Some of the chanting died out and when you looked around you saw the fear in the androids faces. They had heard about the last incidence and you had experienced it yourself… but you were also the reason for them to stop shooting the last time. More and more police cars arrived at the street and made a defensive wall to block you off. You all stopped not more than hundred meters before the police cars. A roar of machines sounded in the distance. It was a sign of bigger and more powerful vehicles coming your way which wasn’t good.

“What are we going to do?” North said out loud to Markus that was standing near you. A look of concern on his face showed that he might be out of ideas. This was not how this was going to go again.

“We came here to demonstrate peacefully and tell humans that we are living beings!” Markus called out but non of the police men reacted to what he said. The moment after two heavy military vehicles rushed in from each their sides in front of the police cars and a dozen of heavily armed soldiers, like those you had seen the last time, jumped out and formed another wall of defence towards the innocent androids and you.

“We have to attack! There are more of us. We can take them!” North hissed at Markus that was silently looking at the horror scene on front of him.

“This is an illegal gathering. Back up and spread out. If not, we will open fire.” Called out one of the officers from the iron wall.

“We will start a war if we attack! He have to stand our ground and show that we will not harm anyone!” The android names Josh said. He was always near Markus and was always on his side. Even now when they were standing there, looking death in the eyes.

“Do you think they will shoot? Do you think they know I’m human?” You asked Markus. He looked at you for a second before focusing on the armed men again.

“They won’t be able to see anything on this distance.” He mumbled.

“Maybe if I go closer? I can do it alone and maybe it will..” You were about to move forward when Markus grabbed your arm.

“That’s too dangerous. You will not survive that.” He only just said that as the first shot was fired towards you. You screamed out as a reflex before shielding your head with your arms. The shooting stopped after hitting 5 androids and were now lying on the street bleeding. You straightened up again and looked around you. A number of androids had jumped to their aid but with no use. The Thirium was colouring the street and the light in their eyes were gone before anyone could help them.

“I repeat, step back or we will shoot!” You already did, you idiot, you thought to yourself as you looked to Markus to figure out what to do next.

“We have to stay here. No matter what! We have to show them that we are serious about this.” Josh said again and looked both Markus, North and you. You agreed with him but you needed Markus to take the last decision. He was their leader.

“Please Markus, we can’t let them slaughter us without fighting back!” Marth pleaded but Markus react to what she said.

“We are not moving!” He called out before stepping forward. The exact same thing he said that you shouldn’t do. Was he crazy?

“Markus!” You scream but it was too late. The shooting started immediately and Markus was hit. Hell broke loose as more and more androids feel around you. A few androids charged towards the armed men to save Markus so you did the only thing you could do at that moment. You ran after them. North was right behind you as you ran into the chaos of shots, blue blood and screaming. You reached Markus just as the android in front of you dropped to the ground. You took Markus by the arm and pulled in him. North took his other arm and you dragged him out of the warzone. You were walking backwards and could see it all happen while you backed up. That meaning you could see the guy right in the eyes, as he aimed at you and in the same time realized that you weren’t an android. That didn’t stop the bullet though. It was like it happened in slow motion and you just barely got to close your eyes when an extreme pain shot through your upper arm that didn’t hold onto Markus.

The adrenaline kept you going until you got Markus up on his feet. He stumbled and grabbed on to you which made you hiss in pain. Markus caught on to that but stayed quiet. He let go of you and help himself up against North. You all had to get back to Jericho. Those who survived needed help to be repaired and you had to look at your wound even though you feared how it looked. You decided that it could wait until you got in safety. Fainting in the middle of the street at that moment was a stupid idea.

“Spread out. We can’t have them following us!” Markus barked as you all ran down the streets. Without answering the androids scattered out in different directions. You stayed with Markus and the others as you ran the same way down the street as you came earlier. The café you had stopped at before starting the demonstration was now empty and the sign in the window was turned to closed. They had known what was coming and so did you when you thought about it.

It took a long time for you to get to Jericho. Half of you were hurt and started to break down. You were hissing with every step you took even though you tried to keep your arm still. In this exact situation you envied the androids. They couldn’t feel pain the same way you did. But you all had one thing in common. You were all scared.

Lucy was already treating some androids along with some of the unharmed androids. People were running around getting some of the supplies they still had to repair their friends and you sat down on the first unoccupied bench you could find and tried to stay awake. You didn’t know how badly your arm looked and if you needed to go to the hospital. It sure felt like you should but after what just happened you were not sure if you could. You closed your eyes and the sounds in the busy sanctuary blurred out for some time until you were sure someone said your name. Josh kneeled in front of you. You were holding your arm over your chest to keep the pressure off the wound. Josh looked concerned and didn’t look you in the eyes but straight at your wound. The yelling that he produced the second after made you dizzy. People came running to you. You weren’t able to think clearly. When the faces came in sight all you saw was model numbers. He’s an AP700. She’s AX400 and she’s having trouble with a fuse so her grey robotic colour was showing through in some spots in her face.

“Why didn’t you say you were hit?” Someone said angrily somewhere but you didn’t get to see who it was. Someone pressed something into or onto your wound and the pain was too much for you to handle. You blacked out within seconds.

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

You wish you could say that you woke up to a clean sheet and no pain, but it was the pain that woke you up again. You drew in a sharp breath before opening your eyes wide open. It was a very dim light around you. Lucy was sitting next a few meters away from you with a metal rake in one hand. The end of it was pressing against an open wound on the back of a female android. She was still wearing the clothes that all androids are wearing when you buy them from new, so you guessed she was pretty new. The glowing orange metal rake made a wheezing sound as it melted the synthetic skin and closed the hole in the woman. You could think about at least 5 other ways to close the wound in an android without making scares in their skin. But maybe the scares just made them seem more human and alive? You tried to look down at your own arm that was still burning with pain but it was tied up so you didn’t have to support it yourself. That made the pressure on it much smaller and the pain much more bearable but still very strong. It was too dark for you to actually see how your arm looked like but you trusted that the androids had managed it in the best way it was possible in Jericho at the moment.

“I will get to you in a second, y/n.” Lucy said without removing focus form the android woman. She finished up and the women left without a word. Lucy then finally turned to you with a weak smile.

“Is the pain bearable y/n?” She asked with a pedagogical voice. She was an old model LK900 and was made for social care, so it was something that was in her program.

“Define bearable? I can definitely feel it, but the sling is helping a little.” You explained.

“The bullet went all the way through. So I guess we can say that you are lucky despite the circumstances. It didn’t ruin anything that will give you a permanent handicap. As long as you rest until it heals up nicely.” She lifted the sling slowly to take a look. It was too dark for you to see your arm but the android could of course see in the dark. A model like Lucy often worked nightshifts; the shifts that the human didn’t want. It was only practical that she could work in the dark, so the patients wouldn’t wake up by anyone turning on the light.

“Can I see it?” You asked. You needed to get closer to some of the fires that were lit around the place.

“It would be better if you just relaxed a little.”

“I really want to see what state my arm is in. I can’t see it here. It’s too dark. Please.” Lucy did one of the most human things you could imagine and sighed. It was a nice sound even though it meant that she disagreed with you. It made Lucy so much more alive. She supported your back while you sat up. You hissed as you moved your arm a little in the process. You counted to 3 with Lucy before you stood up completely and it blackened for your eyes a moment. The blood was rushing in your ears.

“For how long have I been lying here?” You asked as you regained your vision slowly. Like when you stood up too fast.

“Almost 24 hours, I’m afraid.” Lucy said as she walked behind you to make sure you were okay. Androids were scattered around the place. Some were sitting around the burning barrels, others were sitting in the dark. Overall the mood was very down.

“Did anything happen while I was out?” You asked Lucy in a whisper.

“No. We are still recovering from yesterday. No one has found us yet. We have tried to repair as many androids as possible but we down have any more supplies. Some of the strongest are out finding more, but it is too dangerous to go out in bigger groups. People will notice.”

Lucy was quiet when you reached one of the barrels. Some of the androids looked in your direction as Lucy started to move the sling to the side and removed the bandage. They gave you a small smile which you felt was very brave at that moment. The fact they didn’t hate you because you were human was overwhelming. That only told you that they did have a heart.

“We had to rip off your sleeve.”Lucy explained as you looked down on your wound. You wanted to gag at first but it looked much nicer than you had imagines at first. It was a clear shot. A perfect round hole in your arm that was dark red from the solidified blood. It was clean around the hole but there was a huge splodge of blood on your shirt on your stomach.

“It actually stopped bleeding rather quickly. But I still want to stitch it up when they come back with supplies. Maybe we can avoid a scar.” Lucy said taking another look at the wound.

“I wouldn’t mind a scar for this course. It just meant that I stood up and did something.” Lucy smiled at that comment and so did some of the other androids.

“We are grateful that you are here to support us. I think Markus would like to say that as well. He’s up there if you feel like you can make it up there now.” Lucy pointed to some stairs that led to the wheelhouse.

“I think I can make it.” You were about to walk to the stairs but you had to say something to Lucy first.

“Lucy. Thanks for patching me up. I am as grateful for all of you here. When we are on the other side of this, I will repair every single one of you. Especially you, Lucy. You are a wonderful person and you deserve the same respect as any human nurse.” Lucy smiled sweetly at you and shushed you off towards the stairs.

It took you a lot of time to climb the stairs. Your arm was thumping with pain and you took several breaks on your way up. When you stood outside the door you stopped to catch your breathe again. You could hear the mumbling of voices inside. Voices that was… too familiar… You stepped closer to the door and rested your ear towards its surface to hear.

“I have been ordered to take you alive.”

NO. It couldn’t be…

“…But I won’t hesitate to shoot if you give me to choice.”

Connor. It was Connor’s voice.

“Connor NO!” You screamed as you burst through the door into the wheelhouse.

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

tags: @vda-writes @mundane-cup-noodles@superanonymousreader @aya-fay @dragonempress123@talle-2002 @jamiethenerdymonster @i-resent-this-hellsite@i-do-wat-i-want @syrinxgm @queerfandomtrash @missjayi @belleknows @veerniks @dylan-o-yumm @wonderlustedchild@cliche-female-protagonist @omegachizu @black-and-white-eyes

84 notes · View notes

pandoraimperatrix · 6 years

Text

After Office Hours

NaruHina | Mature | Romance | 2k | Read on AO3

Summary: Naruto is lonely after Sakura and Sasuke left the village to travel together, he keeps leaving the office later and later, things start to change after one night when his secretary Hinata and him share a couple of vending machine beers. In this AU Naruto becomes Hokage a lot earlier than in the manga and The Last never happened.

Part One

Part Two

“Hinata?”

She jumped awake and stared horrified at his kind smile, missing instantly the weight of the hand that rested briefly on her shoulder while he tried to wake her.

“I'm s-sorry” she felt so ashamed, she couldn’t believe she fell asleep on her table like that. “I know it’s no excuse, b-but think I didn’t sleep well last n-night and-“

“Slow down'ttebayo!” He let out a throaty laugh. “I’m not here to accuse you of anything. To be fair, I’m really surprised you are still here. It’s almost one a.m., I thought there was only me here.”

“Oh... I was...” She hid a yawn behind her hand. “I was waiting for you.”

“Hinata...” He frowned as she nervously started gathering her things from the table. “You really shouldn’t. Your family must be worried...”

She stood up and smiled softly without looking at him directly.

“They are not. Did you... Did you finish? I will help you! I mean, if I can, I should had been helping you all this time, shouldn’t I? That’s why you are here until this late, because your useless secretary can’t even do her job.”

Her cheeks were red and puffy as she stared at him with a glint of maniac despair in her eyes. To think she was asleep moments ago, some energizing nap that was, he repressed the urge do smile at her antics.

“Wow, Hinata, just, wow! Are you ok? Why are you being so hard on yourself? You are the best secretary anyone could ask for, none of your said is true at all. Actually, I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have you and Shikamaru with me. And to be true, I wasn’t working... Not really... I was just avoiding going home and I took a nap on my table too for a little bit.”

She deflated like a balloon filled with sadness instead of helium.

“I'm sorry...”

Now he couldn’t help smiling, and put a hand over her shoulder.

“What are you sorry for?”

“I don’t know, I just...”

He have seen that before, how she retracted inwards like a wounded snail when feeling insecure, he wasn’t having that tonight.

“Hey, are you hungry?”

“What?”

“I’m kinda peckish. Do you think we can find anything open?”

He glanced over the window.

“I... I think there’s a new food machine on the corner of the street.”

He beamed.

“Great!”

***

“Are you sure your family won’t be worried for you staying out so late?” He asked with a mouth stuffed with dry ramen noodles. “I'm quite expecting some sort of super scary Neji-like guy coming to get you.”

She lowered her head to hide a little smile.

“No, no I don’t get those anymore.”

“Why not?”

He offered his cup of raw ramen to her, but she declined choosing to keep munching her M&M's.

“Since I resigned from my ninja career and got an office job I was invited to leave home and the Hyuuga clan actually, but I can’t, I have the byakugan and I am well... My father’s daughter... So I’m still Hinata Hyuuga for now, I haven’t been sealed, for now, but I don’t get bodyguards anymore and I can stay late as much as I want.”

“Oh... I didn’t know any of that. How didn’t I know any of that? You are my friend, you are my secretary, I’m the Hokage!”

“It’s not something you should be concerning yourself with Hokage-sama, you know how my clan is we don’t like to make a big deal of things...”

“You are a big deal for me, Hinata! W-well everybody on this village is... But you should have told me.”

“I’m sorry, Hokage-sama.”

“Like before, you have nothing to be sorry for... I’m the one in the wrong here. It must had been hard to you.”

“I bit. I guess.” She played with the plastic package of her candy. “But I also feeling unburdened for the first time in my life.”

“Yeah, you family is a piece of work, I remember from the chunnin exams. Boy, that was ages ago. Do you remember how young we were? And I was such a brat!”

“You were not...” He didn’t expect the found in her expression, her face turned forward, away from his as she looked at their shared past. “And...” her cheeks were redder than before and not just because of the weather or the couple of beers they drank each “I looked up to you a lot”. She giggled and the sound made his belly feel weird, like there were bubbles inside him instead of the snacks and the alcohol they got from the machines. “Before you were the village's hero, you were mine...” she took a sip from her beer and then realizing what she just said she choked “I mean my hero, not m-m-my.”

He chuckled, she was so cute.

“But Hinata, I was a loser then.”

“But you were a proud one, you never let anyone bring you down, you never gave up, you just kept fighting, and look at you now!”

He stared at her for a few moments, and to his surprise she held the gaze, her expression fierce, her cheeks redder than ever. She was drunk, and after just two bottles, a lightweight drinker. She would remember none of this tomorrow.

And that's maybe why he did it.

He closed the space between them and kissed her.

It was a closed mouth kiss, and it was meant to be fast because he knew that was wrong milliseconds before touching her, but when he did. When the felt how bitter and sweet from the beer and snacks she tasted, and how so, so soft she felt, he stayed and, surprising him another time, so did she.

When he drew back, an apology on the tip of his tong, she still had her eyes closed, and she sighed. He swallowed the apology and it made bubbles even bigger on his stomach. She opened her eyes, they looked like half-moons floating in the dark ocean of her lashes. She licked her lips, he swallowed again, then opened his mouth to say something, but gave up and just leaned towards her again, his hands cupping the nape of her head, her lips parting to receive his, her hand snaking to his arm, the click of the empty bottle rolling to the floor.

He woke up in a bed that definitively was not his, it was too clean and the sheets had no obnoxious print on it, also the mattress as softer and the air smelt like flowers.

“Oh... You are awake. G-good morning.”

She was half-ready for work, but she was still suffering from a serious case of bed hair that became even more obvious now she wore it short again, she also was wearing a pair of fluffy slippers and there was a huge mug in her hand.

“Good morning’ttebayoo... What time is it?” He raised his upper body noticing as the comfort fell and exposed his naked chest that he was wearing nothing beneath it.

“Almost seven and a half.”

He noticed how her face went pink as her eyes wandered over his exposed chest and images of the night before flooded his head, specially those in which he found out the extent of her body through that pinkness spread.

Then he noticed his other morning companion. Oh noes.

“I... I think it's better if I leave first. I'm almost ready to go anyway.”

“You should have awakened me earlier, Hinata.”

Hinata who used that morning to memorise every freckle of his sleeping face didn’t agree and didn’t respond to that.

“I’ve left some coffee and rice in the kitchen, and the spare key you can put under the flower pot. I'm leaving now.”

He tried to get up to reach her but then remembered he was naked. A voice inside his head commented that she had already seen everything, but he ignored it and just firmly held the flowered comfort.

“Hinata, can we talk about this?”

She didn’t turn to him.

“Y-yes. Later.”

And then she was gone.

Work went normal. When he got there, almost one hour late from doing her dishes and hitting home to change clotting, she was sitting at her usual place working, and greeted him with a soft “Good morning, Hokage-sama” as if nothing had happened between them. It burst some of the bubbles in his stomach.

The day was so utterly ordinary that he almost forgot the night before. The weird conversation under the lamp light, the beers they shared, the sweetness of her lips and the tangy of her folds as she crushed his head between her tights. Well, maybe he didn’t forget it at all.

Finally, the work day was done, not that he did actual work that day at all. He kept looking at the door, whishing he could see through it and finding ridiculous excuses to go outside and walk past her, he went to de bathroom seventeen times and bought instant ramen five times, at end of the day he was feeling nauseous and he couldn’t say if it was pure tension or just too much food. He was just glad that Shikamaru was out on a mission and didn’t see that. He was also sorry for the same reason because he could use the advice, an at the same time he felt like he couldn’t talk about what happened between him and Hinata with anyone. It was so weird, he never felt so nervous after sleeping with anyone before. Maybe it was because of how his last relationship ended. If you could call that a relationship.

It was almost nine o’clock when she entered his room, her eyes focussing everywhere but him.

“You s-said you wanted to see me.”

He got up from his table, his hands on his pockets, he walked towards her in silence.

“I want to apologise. I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you last night. I was sad, you were drunk. It wasn’t fair dattebayo… And if you don’t want to work here anymore, I’ll fully understand.”

“You didn’t.” Was what she finally said after a long silence that made his guilty grow so big it almost crushed him on the spot.

“What.”

“You didn’t t-take advantage of me. I… I wanted that. I was the one to invite you to my house, remember?”

Well, that was true.

“But still… Hinata…”

“I wasn’t that drunk. I’m actually usually much a heavier drinker than I was last night. I know what I was doing.”

Well, that was some interesting information.

“But if you want me to find a job somewhere else I will understand, but can I stay until then? It will be hard to pay rent otherwise…”

“Hey, Hinata, you don’t have to go anywhere if you don’t want to! I just thought… If you felt uncomfortable…”

“I’d like to stay if it’s possible then.”

“Of course’ttebayo! Actually, I was very worried that you would want to go, where would I find such a good secretary?”

He gave her his trademark Uzumaki a thousand watt smile, she smiled back and they shared a little moment, until her eyes doped from his to his lips, he followed the gaze and swallowed hard, remembering how the night before she bit and sucked his bottom lip so much that he still felt it a little sore.

Unconsciously he stepped forward, almost invading her personal space. But she was the one to talk first.

“Why were you sad?” She whispered.

“I don’t wanna to talk about it right now.”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t snoop in…”

Her eyes dropped to the floor and she threatened to leave, but he stopped her by putting a hand on her waist.

He could feel the goosebumps going through her skin.

“Hinata… I…”

What was fucking wrong with him? He had just apologized for this kind of stuff!

But she was giving him the half-moon look again.

“Tell me if this is ok.”

She crossed the imaginary line between them, there was now only a thin layer of air separating their bodies.

“It is.”

And next thing he knew, she was laying in his table, most of the important papers on the floor with pens, scrolls and empty ramen cups. His hands holding hers to the shaking table, her teeth biting his shoulder and his hips been held by the firm grip of her legs pushing him closer and deeper.

#naruhina #hinanaru #nh fanfiction #nh fanfic #see AO3 for the tags #my fic

16 notes · View notes

clanwarrior-tumbly · 6 years

Text

Incubus!Chase Brody x Magician!Reader

I saw a post that had the idea of Chase being an Incubus so I got inspired.

This story will not have anything explicit or any major NSFW content (only v minor talk about intercourse will occur throughout since we are talking about an Incubus here).

So w/o further to do here we go-

After what seemed like an eternity, you’ve finally figured it out.

You now knew how to summon any sort of demon you desired. Each one had their own special pentagram that must be drawn correctly and precisely before you could light the candles.

Even though your brother, Marvin, strongly advised against you tapping into demonology and the dark arts, you went ahead anyway to satisfy your curiosity.

Once you had finished drawing the pentagram that would summon a demon called an “Incubus”, you took a step back to make sure the image in your book matched the one on the floor. You also checked to see that the candles were in the right positions.

What compelled you to choose an Incubus out of all demons is beyond you, although you knew how to keep him at bay should he…..try anything.

Using levitation, your book hovered beside you, showing you the page with the summoning spell. You pulled out your small ritual knife from your cloak pocket, removing one of your gloves.

Taking a deep breath, you looked at the bolded words and began to speak them slowly and clearly. “Lilith, sweet Lilith, I ask that you hear my call. I ask that you send onto this earth one of your sons. And I shall allow him to fulfill any desires he wishes. Please, take this offering.”

Then you carefully sliced your palm with the knife, watching the small stream of blood trickle onto the center of the pentagram.

It was then you felt a sudden chill rush through you and then…..a portal opened up in the circle as the candles blew out at the same time.

You held your breath as a clawed, black hand emerged from it moments later. The creature slowly rose up from it, standing on his…..hooves?

Titling your head to the side, you gazed at him. You blushed slightly at the rather revealing outfit he had on, although you expected no less from an Incubus.

A devilish tail swayed gently behind him, and only his arms were black, the rest of his upper body sporting a pale complexion.

But strangely enough he had the lower body of a satyr and….some kind of snapback hat you’ve seen teens wear all too often. It was then you began to wonder if you made a mistake somehow-

“Like whatcha see, baby~?”

You blinked in surprise as the Incubus spoke, smirking as he leaned against the wall. Then he looked down at the pentagram and candles, skipping over them. “Lucky me to be summoned, eh?” He chuckled softly, his glowing blue eyes gazing into your [e/c] ones curiously. “What’s your name sweetheart?”

“[Y/n],” you replied to him, your heart pounding a mile a minute. “And..yours?”

“Chase. Short and simple.” He grinned, flashing his sharp teeth. “Wanna see what I can do?”

Already you were having second thoughts, but since you’ve made it this far you knew there was no going back. So you nodded. “Alright..but-”

However, a ball made of smoke appeared in his hands. Then he turned and went to shoot it into your trash can on the other side of the room. He missed, though, so he conjured up another one and shot that, this time making it into the bin.

“WOOO~!!!” Chase jumped with joy, spinning back around to face you with a childlike grin. “Did ya see that?? I made the shot!!”

“…..is that really your method of seduction?”

His smile faltered. “U-Uh…yeah, pretty much…look. I’m whatcha call a “lower tier” Incubus. See?”

He removed his hat, revealing to you the pair of small, nubby black horns that were almost hidden in his messy, fluffy grass-green hair. “The bigger the horns, the stronger our seductive powers and lust…..meaning I’m kinda…..very weak in those categories.”

“I’ve read about that,” you nodded in understanding. “So..you wanna just hang out and I can tell you about myself?”

Chase looked at you, surprised. “Really? But I…um..thought you summoned me..to uh…y’know….” A slight blush rose to his cheeks.

“Well I mean…I just picked a random demon to summon since I’ve never done anything like that before. Besides you..don’t seem comfortable with doing that.” You gave him a gentle smile. “And I understand since we only met not even a minute ago.”

“B-But..” He stammered. “I mean..I’m a-an Incubus. That’s my..m-my purpose. I-I have to…I…I need to-”

“Hey.” You took his hand into yours, giving it a squeeze of reassurance. “It’s okay, Chase. You don’t have to force yourself upon me or anything like that. I don’t mind if you wanna wait until later when we know each other better. We can always just…cuddle if you want at least some kind of intimacy going on.”

After giving it some thought, the Incubus sighed in relief, relaxing his shoulders. “A-Alright. Thanks, [y/n]...I...appreciate it.” He smiled at you.

“Of course. Consent is always key as they say.” ………

Over the course of a month, Chase pretty much became your demonic roommate. You had erased the pentagram you drew on the floor when it became apparent that he had quickly grown attached to you.

No, you two didn’t engage in any sexual activities whatsoever. Instead you simply told him about your life as a magician and how you branched off into other forms of magic besides silly card tricks.

And he was there to….simply fill that lonely space you’ve had in your heart for quite some time. You were always cooped up in your house studying spells that you’ve lost touch with many of your friends.

But with Chase being there for you…you did feel a lot better.

Cuddling became an all-too common activity for you both. At first it was awkward, considering that he refused to change his outfit or put on something less…revealing, so you were basically hugging an almost completely naked guy.

Thankfully, though, he was okay with a blanket being over him.

Whenever you two were laying down, he liked to curl up and bury his face into your chest for the most part. But he was an Incubus, so you weren’t too surprised that he wanted to use cuddles as an excuse to get close to your breasts.

He would still try to “seduce” you with more of his silly trickshots, even though they just made you laugh more than anything.

Oddly enough, despite it being an entire month and the moments of intimacy you two shared, his horns barely grew an inch and he never really lusted after you.

There were hugs, cuddles, and kisses, but never….anything beyond that.

You were okay with that, and you never tried to force him into doing anything he didn’t want to just so you could be pleasured.

You were more than happy with the sort of relationship you maintained with the Incubus, and it seemed that he was, too. ……..

“Chase? Honey? I have a really cool spell I wanna show you~!” You grinned giddily as you made your way to your room, spellbook in hand.

Although when you reached the door, you noticed that it was closed, which was strange considering you had it open before.

But then…you could hear soft whimpers and sobs on the other side.

“Chase?” You opened the door to see the Incubus on your bed, curled up in the very corner and hidden underneath a blanket. His tail was the only part of him sticking out.

Worried, you walked in and climbed onto the bed beside him, wondering what got him so upset. “What’s wrong?” You removed the blanket, only to find him with his face buried into his knees.

After a few moments of crying, he stopped and looked at you, his once vibrant blue eyes now dark and rimmed with tears.

“M-Me..”

You blinked in confusion, shifting closer and wrapping your arms around him. “Honey..” Your eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean by-?”

“I’m…wrong [y/n]. I’ve…I-I feel like a-a disappointment….br-broken..…bu-but I don’t…I didn’t....w-wanna…” It was obvious he was having a hard time speaking, so you hushed him and held him close.

“Shhh, don’t keep it in. Just cry it all out.” You coaxed as you removed his hat and stroked his head. And he did just that as he shoved his face into your warm chest, sobbing uncontrollably as he wrapped his arms tightly around your waist.

With a soft sigh you ran your gloved fingers through his hair, your hand glowing with a pink, calming aura. It was something that automatically activated whenever you were close to someone feeling distressed. You gently kissed his horns as well.

After about a minute, the magic did its work and Chase calmed down, his sobs ceasing as he sat up slowly. “Th-Thank you...sorry a-about the stain..“ He mumbled, glancing down at you shirt.

“It’s fine.” You waved it off, the pink glow vanishing. ”I-”

But you were cut off when he then grabbed the end of your cape, bringing it up to his face to dry his tears and blow his nose into it.

‘Eww..’ You grimaced slightly. ‘And I just washed this, too..’ But you shook away those thoughts, knowing that whatever reason he was crying was more important than snot on your cape.

“So what do you mean you’re “wrong”, Chase?“ You cupped his cheek, wiping away any stray tears. "Is it because we haven’t...made love yet?”

“N-No..it’s… m-more than that..” He sniffled, placing his hand over yours and nuzzling your palm. “Honestly I...I-I was never fond of being summoned just for sex.”

You blinked in surprise, before you came to the realization as to why he said he was “wrong” and “broken”.

Because he was not like other Incubi.

“I know I was created to..lust after humans and nothing more,” he continued. “But I....I wanted to know what it was like to actually love one for their..personality and not just their body. I wanted to just do things like cuddle, and talk about life, and eat snacks, and watch movies like...normal human couples.”

A tiny smile grew on your features as he spoke those words. You almost forgot that this was a demon from down below and not an angel sent from above.

“And you got to experience that, didn’t you?” You asked softly.

“Y-Yeah,” Chase nodded slowly. “But...o-others who have summoned me simply....sent me back when they realized I-I didn’t want to...f-fulfill their desires right then and there.” His eyes filled up with tears. “And my mother...w-would be waiting for me...so disappointed..and my brothers w-would laugh at me. I-I keep promising them I’ll do it....but-”

“I won’t send you back.”

He gave you a double-take, eyes widening. “What...?”

“It’s obvious that you’ve been a lot happier here,” you elaborated. “So I don’t see any reason why you should go back. Besides I’ve already erased the pentagram if you hadn’t noticed. And it was incredibly hard to draw out...so I don't plan on doing that again anytime soon”

For a few moments, he stared at you, shocked. And then his face lit up with a smile as he hugged you tight. “Th-Thank you so, so much, [y/n]...I..I-I love you..” He kissed your shoulder. “I love you so damn m-much.”

“I love you, too, Chase.” You returned the hug. “But just remember, those things you said don’t make you any less of an Incubus. You’re not “broken” or anything like that, you’re simply friendlier and sweeter than most Incubi. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, understand?”

Chase nodded, nuzzling your neck and kissing it a few times, his scruff tickling your skin. “I-I understand..I’ll stay with you....on one condition.”

“And what’s that?”

“That I show you more of my latest trickshots. I think I’m getting better at ‘em.”

“....alright. But, I also have one condition you must agree with.”

“What would that be, babe?”

“We gotta get you out of that stripper outfit so I stop having nosebleeds every other day.”

“.....fair enough.”

#chase brody x reader #incubus #female reader

80 notes · View notes

demialwrites · 7 years

Text

False Start Ch 2

Link to AO3 Page

This makes some references to the first chapter, and it’s been a while, so here it is. This is basically Reader’s first time, and they have it with Genji. ^^

Props to those OW imagines blogs who can write shit similar to this and not fucking blush and almost die. I have respect for you.

Genji didn't push you after the first attempt to try again. Some time went by, and he did bring it up once. He asked if you wanted to make another attempt. You expressed concerns about whether or not he would fit, because he didn't last time. He wiggled his fingers at you and said, "Let me know if I can be of assistance with that."

Then he grinned at your embarrassment and wrapped his arms around your torso, gently pinning your arms to your body, rocking you back and forth. You automatically bent your elbows upward to wrap your arms around his.

Genji always showed a lot of affection, more than you could ever need. And it was always careful and gentle. It was as if he wasn't sure at what point any roughness from his cyborg body would hurt you, and he was constantly trying to avoid finding out. Perhaps he felt a little guilt from hurting you during the first attempt at sex months ago.

Nonetheless, the way Genji was with you came off as very tender. One could call it loving. It had the side effect, intentional or not, of quickly nurturing some strong romantic feelings. Before you knew it, you started to wonder if you had stronger feelings for him than he did for you. You'd never been so happy to see or touch someone in a long time. He always made time for you, so you guess he felt the same.

It didn't help that Genji looked at you with a strong, unidentifiable emotion in his eyes sometimes. He took his visor off more and more, the more often you both spent time together. It was overwhelming trying to hold his gaze when that happened. It seemed to make things worse when you looked away. When you did that, he just moved in to be close like he was doing now, which seemed to increase the feeling and making you a little flustered.

Something occurred to you, and you had to ask.

"I'm happy it turned out like this, but what made you think that what we did wasn't going to be a one night stand?"

Judging by the angle of his helm, he seemed to be staring into space before. He lifted his chin and observed you before answering.

"I made the assumption that you were not that kind of person. I'm glad I was right," he replied, the smile evident in his voice.

His answer made something click and slide into place inside you.

"Maybe we could...maybe you could help me now."

"Really?"

He sounded hopeful.

"Yeah," you replied, forcing some confidence into your voice. You were okay with this; you were just nervous.

Genji didn't move, however.

"Right now, right now?" he asked, as if he didn't believe what he was hearing.

"Yes," you insisted, expanding your arms from your body and his fell away in turn, "Now, before I lose my nerve."

Genji took your hand and led you back to your room. You couldn't help but be reminded of the time he followed you back to your room after that particular mission.

Once while inspecting Genji's hands, you made an offhand comment that he should wear a condom over them while fingering you, in case he pinched your insides with the knuckle joints. You were sure that you were worrying over nothing, so you never brought it up again. But Genji had condoms and lube ready.

"Genji, I was kinda joking," you told him, while taking your clothes off and tossing them haphazardly on the floor, out of the way. Genji had no need to take anything off, the lucky man. He merely removed the plates covering his face and sat on the bed.

"No, I think it's a good idea. I have not touched someone like this since I got this body."

"But you have...had sex?"

For some reason, it embarrassed you to ask.

"Oh? Yes. At the time I was surprised they wanted to - have sex with a cyborg, I mean - but I have accepted it now."

You wanted to argue with him, but he would probably consider you biased. You loved his body, and maybe he didn't.

"Anyway, I am worried you will be reluctant to try anything more involved if I hurt you with my fingers."

You wanted to tell him it wasn't true, but he was being sweet. So you held your tongue and instead sat facing Genji on his lap. You were still a tiny bit nervous, you admit.

"Before we get started," he began, running his hands up and down your hips, "there was something important we didn't do the first time. No foreplay."

There was that intense look again, softened only slightly by a sly smile.

The warm up was sloppy. Genji intended to rub your clit, but you couldn't help pressing the entire area to his palm. The material it was made of felt fantastic to grind against. All he had to do was apply pressure. You hungrily pressed your open mouth to his, and he returned your desperate enthusiasm. Genji's free arm hugged your lower back, and you explored the interlocking parts of Genji's back with your fingertips.

It was embarrassing how soon your mind hazed over, pressing down harder on Genji's hand. He held it steady and firmly rubbed. Seems you had both been waiting for this moment. You moaned into his mouth in lieu of saying his name. Eventually, you broke the kiss and pinned him with a heated stare.

"Finger me," you demanded.

His smile was lazy and his eyes clouded with lust from the makeout session. The sight drew you closer. He slid his bottom lip, slick with saliva, through his teeth. You were so close to pressing your lips to his again, despite your demand for a change of pace.

Genji flopped back on the bed, and you fell forward on his chest with a surprised noise. Genji chuckled and grabbed a condom and the tiny bottle of lube from behind him. You both sat back up. You rested your cheek on his shoulder while he carefully applied the lube to you. He caressed the back of your neck with his free hand.

"That should be enough."

You couldn't help raising an eyebrow when Genji does slide a condom onto his pointer and index fingers.

"I am not taking a chance," Genji insists.

He's being so careful, that your cheeks get warm. You shifted on your knees, getting comfortable and giving Genji permission with a look.

"Hang on to me, if you like," he says, ending the sentence with a quick smooch to your lips and a happy smile. It does comfort you to rest your hands on his shoulders, pressing a few fingers on his round vents.

Your mouth drops open, ready to gasp in anticipation of the pain, but his fingers slid in to the first knuckles no problem.

"It feels really weird," you said. Not surprising, considering it was two artificial fingers shoved into a condom.

"But it does not hurt?"

"No."

He watches your face while pressing his fingers in to the second set of knuckles. There was a sudden burning pain, and you flinched, your eyebrows tightening together. He stopped and pulled back a bit.

"Too far?"

"Yeah, but we're here to do that, aren't we?"

He looked unconvinced. You were worried he would suggest you guys should stop, so you squeezed the part of his shoulder near his neck, for what it's worth. He's never told you to stop touching his body, so perhaps he can feel it in some way.

"What if I took over? You stay still," you suggested.

"If you say so. We could always-"

"No," you shooked your head, "I'm comfortable now."

You closed your eyes. You tried to remember to breathe from your stomach to relax your body. It's working. It burns still, but not too much that you can't work my way down. Then Genji's finger involuntarily twitches and brushes against something extra sensitive. The little bit of pleasure feels like a relief compared the uncomfortable stretch, and it makes your eyes fly open in surprise. He corrects the bend of his fingers, thinking he did something wrong.

"No, don't stop."

"Hm?"

Genji must have figured it out, because he curled his fingers further, gently petting the swollen node inside. This time you squeezed Genji's shoulders because of the burn from the movement of his fingers. You bit your lip, powering through the pain.

Genji inclined his head.

"It's fine," you assured him.

It was worth it, as you had fantasized numerous times about Genji's unique hands pleasuring you. That made this extra intense, and you had the greedy feeling of wanting more than you could have. Eventually, the good feeling deep inside outweighed the pain. And then the pain disappeared altogether.

You closed your eyes and leaned forward, resting your forehead between his chest pieces. Just enjoying the feeling of Genji's fingers inside you, and the fact that you were comfortable with it. That felt like a win. You let out a deep, relaxing breath.

"You know," Genji began, and you could feel a faint vibration in his chest while he spoke, "this is about my size. Maybe a little bigger."

You lifted your head in surprise to look at him.

"W-we don't have to," he quickly added, his fingers still making the gentle little movements inside.

He looked a little guilty for having even suggested you try the real thing today. You seriously considered it for a second before smiling and agreeing.

Genji quickly withdraws his fingers with a ridiculous wet sound and a suppressed smile.

"Come, come," he says, patting the middle of the bed.

"Missionary is just fine for your first time. I think you'd agree."

Your agreement is to lie back on the bed, resting your head on the pillow. Genji crawls on top, supporting his weight with his hands on either side of your shoulders. He gives you a reassuring kiss.

"Hey. You are doing well."

You nod.

Genji leans back to sit on the bed. You let him arrange your legs on the bed to his liking. He asks you if you're okay while removing the black cover on his crotch. His eyes close and there's quiet sigh of relief when his cock flops out, fully hard. He looks up at you, and you can tell with the wider eyes and barely noticeable downward curve of his mouth that he's worried about what you'll think of the state of the skin on his length.

"I'm fine," you laugh nervously, remembering to answer his question. Because he's been really sweet this whole time, you can't help but try to lighten his mood, "It...matches!"

When he realizes when you're referring to the scars on his face and his dick, he makes an "oh" face. Then he breaks into loud laughter that he can't seem to stop. There's a few tears. You're not sure if you should be offended or laugh with him. When his laughter dies down to giggles with quivering shoulders, you can't help grinning along.

"I love you...but that was awful."

You're shocked, and he looks horrified. It's his turn to have a rosy blush and look away this time. This is something you haven't seen on him before. If it wasn't awkward for him at this moment, you would have told him how cute he was.

"You love me?!"

You're ridiculously happy. You weren't sure Genji felt as strongly as you did. Now that you knew, you wanted to hear it again. The three words sounded beautiful in his voice, distortion and all.

You're up on your knees in front of him in a flash, grinning like an idiot. You take his chin in hand, grasping at the metal encasing it, and you turn his face firmly towards yours. Thankfully, he doesn't resist.

"Hey," you almost whisper, in case, for some silly reason, being too loud scares him off, "I love you, too."

He looks into your eyes for a few, long seconds. It's nerve-wracking; maybe you didn't say the right thing. Then his facial expression softens, and he leans forward to give you an equally soft kiss, maintaining his stare and dragging your bottom lip with his lips before letting go.

"Lie down," he requests.

He crawls back on top, intending to get started. Because he's not down there to see, he finds your entrance by with gentle pats of his fingertips. He goes nice and slow with the next part, the actual insertion. He holds the head of his cock at your slick hole, and it feels better than you thought it would. You can't help biting your bottom lip again and spreading your thighs for more. He pressed the forehead of his helmet to yours, so that you had no choice but look to look into his soft brown eyes. They sparkle with amusement, as if each of you exchanging declarations of love was a shared secret.

"Relax," he reminds you, "I'm here. We can stop at any time."

Genji closed his eyes and distracted you with kisses as slow as the speed at which his length slides in. He stops once to ask if the angle is okay. You nod again.

"There's a little bit of stretching, but I can handle it."

In fact, it's feeling very much like it's worth it. Your clit is starting to pulse and demand more attention. Arousal seems to make things easier, so you reach down between the two of you to touch yourself. Genji groans softly and stops kissing you to drop his forehead into the pillow next to your head.

"Let me enjoy how tight you are."

You wondered if it felt as good to him as it felt to have him inside you. Warm and with a kind of satisfying fullness you'd never experienced with your own fingers.

"Ready to start?"

You hummed your agreement, and he began to kiss down from your cheek to your neck.

"If it hurts, I'll distract you."

He continues to kiss your neck, and his hips start to move slowly. He slides in and out with shallow thrusts. He goes as slow as he can. You release a breath when the painful stretch begins again. It's minimal, and Genji starts to nip at my skin, little bursts of pleasure shooting down my spine, so it's easy to concentrate on the feeling of his mouth on your neck.

"Genji," you begged with a small voice.

He hummed and pulled on your ear gently with his teeth. He sped up his thrusts, and by now, the pain had passed. You could let go of the last bit of tension you didn't know you were feeling and let your legs drop open some more. You could really enjoy the feeling of Genji inside you. Being filled and the resulting feeling of being connected to Genji on a very intimate level. You wrapped your hand around the back of his neck to trace the metal links of his artificial spine.

You lifted your head to glance at the sight of Genji rolling his hips, pumping in and out of you.

"It feels so good," he said, pressing a kiss your mouth, "to be inside you."

It was at this point that all you could do was continue to touch your clit and lie back on into the pillow. Your thighs opened further on their own. Genji whispered encouragement into your ear, each sentence punctuated by kisses to your neck. Each supportive word helped build the sweet pressure inside your lower stomach.

"You are so tight. I don't think I can hold on any longer..."

You could guess that Genji was very close, because he stopped kissing your neck and buried his face in your neck. Despite that, he still paused all movement to ask if you were okay. At this moment, that was more frustrating than sweet.

"Genji, please don't stop," you begged again. You sounded pathetic, but you were lost in the moment and didn't care. You wrapped your legs around his waist to keep him close, even though he wasn't going anywhere.

Genji leaned up, shifted his weight to his elbows and wove his fingers through yours. Genji resumed thrusting, but you didn't know if he did anything else besides that. It was just you and the pleasurable tension building inside you, until Genji interrupted with strained words.

"Y/n, I love you. Cum with me."

By some miracle, that works. All the tension building in your lower body is released, and your hips lift really far off the bed. It forces a small moan out of your mouth. Genji is quiet when he cums. He whispers 'yes,' to himself a few times and then silence. His whole body shudders afterwards.

"I almost didn't..."

He didn't bother to finish the sentence and instead rolled over to lay next to you. You didn't realize how sweaty you had gotten until now. You wanted to get up and do something about that, but Genji was still holding one of your hands. You remained, melting into the bed and letting the good feelings make your heart sing.

#genji x reader #female reader #smut #fluff #my shit

21 notes · View notes

triptaech · 7 years

Note

Number 1 and college!Yoongi 🤔

✎ things you said at 1 am ✎2.2k words ; fluff [ pg ]

a/n: i’ve been procrastinating my other works so i might as well continue my drabble 3 :^) this is all just soft yoongi and finals week blues

When you feel the sting of your reddened eyes, a consequence of staring at your laptop screen for too long, and feel the exhaustion straining on your muscles as you attempted to shift into a more comfortable position, the last thing you wanted to deal with was someone as obnoxious as the guy with his arms crossed over his chest, glare aimed straight at you.

You blinked curiously at the sudden presence of a stranger, one who apparently had something against you considering the way he was tapping his foot on the carpeted floor with a curl of his lips. The outline of his figure was smudged into the background, you squinted to focus your hazy eyes on him.

“This is my room.”

Finals week always took its toll on everyone. With the library being filled to the brim with students from all years, struggling to get an acceptable grade to complete their degrees, it was hard not to fall into the same depressing ritual. The dreary atmosphere had even the best of you feeling a little down, a little bit more dead than usual.

You didn’t have to look outside the window to know that the sun had set hours ago, hours you had spent locked in the confined room, book open, nose stuck in it, cramming whatever medical jargon you could fit into your brain. The clock ticking directly above the man’s head indicated that it was a little over one, yet your mind was running on adrenaline alone to get your cramming over with.

Then there was this man with his platinum blonde hair, a color much too blinding and too pretty to complement the scowl on his face.

“Excuse me?” You raised an eyebrow, lifting your gaze away from the blurry passages about surgical procedures on muscle tissue.

“Look, I’m always in this room.”

“I don’t know what your problem is but, as far as I can see, there are five other chairs in the room.” You frowned right back.

“I don’t like studying with other people in the room.”

You’ve got to be shitting. You swallowed the spiteful words on the tip of your tongue and sighed, “Look, dude, I get your frustration but it’s pretty packed outside if you can’t see. Just share the room, it’s not that hard.”

His eyes narrowed, the corners of his lips tipping downwards even more, but he begrudgingly sat down, grumbling the entire time. Even through your earphones, you could hear him mutter over and over, “Out of all the rooms” or “why is she such a pain.”

What was he, five?

You opted to be the bigger person, ignoring his incessant mumbling and focused on your textbook instead. It was getting increasingly difficult to concentrate when he started to drum his fingers on the table, pencil then tapping repeatedly against the polished wood. You yanked out your earphones and glared at him, “What the fuck is your problem?”

“You.”

“Seriously, you’re such an ass. It’s a study room, I reserved it first. The fact that I’m willing to share it with you is already a generous enough gesture so why not show a little appreciation?”

His eyes narrowed. You had a gut feeling that he knew he was in the wrong this time, but was too prideful to admit. He looked like that kind of man. Prideful, that is. “It just really bugs me that you’ve never once stepped foot in this room and yet here you are now.”

“I usually come in during the day,” you shrugged. You were far from a night owl, choosing sleep over anything else. “I had work so now I have to do all my studying at night, so please for the sake of my sanity, leave me be.”

The man looked as if he wanted to say more, but he clamped his lips shut, plugged in his earphones, and drowned out the world.

ii.

Curse your group mates, just curse them all. If it weren’t for one of their mishaps, you could’ve finished that presentation hours ago, but no. One of them just had to fuck up and delete the entire first draft, which prompted all of you to redo all your parts.

Fuck.

And there you were, with the clock ticking tauntingly in the wall, your heart heavy and tired and close to tears, with no seat in the blasted library. The fight for a spot in the quietude of the building was always a battle, urging people to come earlier and earlier to save their seats for the night. You wandered around the floor, quietly padding down the carpeted floors, seeking an empty room or seat, which was basically impossible at that time of night.

However, you spotted the familiar man with the hair too bright for his dark bitterness. He sat in the room, headphones on and eyes focused on the screen in front of him.

No one else was in the room.

Chewing on your bottom lip, you figured that risking getting eaten alive by the man couldn’t be any worse than failing your last final of the semester. You took a deep breath and knocked lightly on the door, peeking your head in. He looked up from his work, eyebrow raised at you as he pulled his headphones off.

“Can I help you?”

There was a bite to his words that had your already weakened heart cowering. You winced and whispered, “Um, would you mind if we shared the room? I came a little late and now there’s no space outside and I really don’t mean to intrude but—”

“Go ahead. Just don’t bother me.” With that, he slipped his headphones on and ignored you the rest of the night.

iii.

There wasn’t a certain moment that you could distinguish from the rest in which an unsaid agreement settled between the two of you. The two of you never spoke to each other but you learned that his name was Yoongi (thanks to one of his friends bursting in and calling him a stick in the butt) and that he was taking a course on music production that was “driving his balls to the pits of hell” (his words to said friend).

With the remaining week dwindling down to the last few days of hell, you found yourself sitting in the same room in a sort of mutual, peaceful arrangement with the boy. The two of you acknowledged each other, but never once uttered a single word to the other.

The ruckus outside drew both your eyes towards the window where a few boys were actually playing a movie out loud. They probably had a death wish. Your glance flickered over to Yoongi, your lips pursed into a thin line and he just rolled his eyes at you, shaking his head.

After a little while, you stretched your arms above your head, your tense muscles slowly unwinding to the ache between your bones. It was probably a good time for a coffee break so you slipped quietly out of the room, entrusting the man to protect your belongings.

As you stood in front of the vending machine, you wondered if it would be awkward to get him a can as well. It wasn’t as if you two were friends but you had been grateful for his courtesy to share the room with you.

The man was still staring at his computer screen when you returned, his eyelids drooping to signal his strong desire to sleep. You drifted towards him silently, placing the can next to his laptop with a soft tap.

He looked up, brown irises lighting up in surprise.

“Thought you could use it,” you shrugged, drifting back into your seat and letting your soul once again escape your body so the shell of you could continue to work on your final paper.

Yoongi, for a little while, didn’t say anything, but then he reached for the can and popped it open, allowing the bittersweet liquid to flow down his throat. It was like an eye-opener, he felt the effect of the caffeine buzzing in his brain.

Unfortunately for you, coffee never really did have much of an effect. You felt yourself nodding off, mentally chiding yourself whenever you did. Yoongi’s chair scraped on the floor and you looked up to find him packing his things, shoving his laptop into his bag and putting it over his shoulder.

Before he passed you to walk out the door, he seemed to halt his steps. You turned only to find him shifting awkwardly next to you. “Uh,” he started, sticking out his hand. “I’m Yoongi. Just kinda weird that we’ve been sitting here together and not know each other.”

“Yeah,” you laughed. “I’m ____. Nice to meet you.”

“And thanks,” he held up the empty can. “For the coffee. It helped for the last push.”

“No problem, I think we could’ve all used that.”

For a second, he seemed to hesitate, hovering in front of you and worrying his bottom lip. “Do you—I mean, would you like to go out for coffee sometime after finals? J-Just so I can make it up to you, uh, I don’t really like being indebted to people.”

In your drowsy state, you thought that it was a little endearing to see the boy with the permanent scowl look almost uncomfortable, nervous. He scratched the back of his neck, eyes looking everywhere but you as he awaited your answer.

“Ah,” he began again. “Of course, you don’t have to. I-I don’t want to put you in an awkward position, I just thought it’d be nice and I wanted to pay you back for the coffee.”

You tilted your head, a smile on the corner of your lips. “Did you want me to say yes or no?”

“W-What?” He sputtered, taken aback by your question.

“You don’t seem sure about asking me out for coffee, just wanted to make sure you’re not just feeling guilty about this and pressured into taking me out for a drink.”

His eyes widened, his mouth opening and closing like a fish before his brows puckered ever so slightly. “Uh, I mean, I think it’d be nice if you said yes.”

You remained quiet, unsure now of what to say.

“I just think you’re, um, sort of cute? And I mean, finals are coming to an end and we probably won’t see each other until after break or ever really, I don’t know. So I thought I’d take the opportunity to—”

“Yes.”

He blinked, lips parting. “Wait, so yes?”

“Yeah, why not? I think we could both use some downtime after finals.”

“Ah, yeah, that’ll be great.”

“Can I have your number then?” You took the initiative this time, picking up your phone from the table. “So we can set up a time and all.”

“Sounds perfect.” With that, you had saved Yoongi’s number into your phone, the reminder burning in the back of your mind that this was happening.

You didn’t notice it before, maybe because your sleep-heavy eyes were too busy stressing over your exams to actually pay attention to the light-haired boy, but Yoongi really was adorable in the softest kind of way. He had such delicate features in spite of the engraved frown on his face, his eyes curving when he smiled, and his teeth and gums showing the cutest of grins.

“I’ll see you around then. Good luck on your paper, work hard.” Yoongi looked as if he regretted his choice of words, probably scolding himself for being so stiff.

But you just nodded, “Thanks! Good luck on your last finals or papers.”

Then he walked out and you heard the sudden burst of cheers behind you. Turning around, you found a group of guys hugging and patting Yoongi on the back. One of them, the one that had popped in here before, was cackling loudly, shoving the shorter boy much harder than he should. “Way to go, hyung! You did it!”

“Fuck off, Hoseok.”

And in that moment, you found yourself smiling again.

iv.

Yoongi cursed his fucking studio class, holding him back until the early hours of the day—aka one fucking am because Namjoon had fucked up one of the tracks for the finals and they had spent the entire night cleaning up the sound and adding more backing vocals. Thank God for that brat Jeongguk and his soulful voice.

He glanced at his phone for the time to spit out even more profanities as he broke out into a run, heading straight for main campus again. When he passed by the window, he found you sitting there, sipping on a cup of coffee and flipping through a book.

Woe was he.

Sheepishly entering the café, he immediately bowed when he approached you. “I’m really, really sorry I’m late. Something happened to my final at the studio and I had to—”

You giggled, “Don’t worry about it. It’s been nice, the peace and quiet. Plus, finals really messed up my sleeping schedule so I’m not even tired.”

He breathed a sigh of relief, slipping into the seat across from you only to freeze up, realization dawning on him as he groaned.

“I was supposed to buy you coffee.”

You found too much amusement in his despair, patting his hand on the table. “Maybe we can arrange another coffee date then?”

And maybe Yoongi had just found the perfect person for him after all.

#bts #yoongi #armiesnet #sonyeondannet #bangtanwriters net #btswriters #bangtan bookclub #kwritersnet #bts writing squad #yoongi fluff #yoongi scenario #bts fluff #bts scenarios #drabble 3 #mine #anonymous

151 notes · View notes

transformationstuck · 7 years

Text

anonymous shitposting loses a bit of steam when it all comes out as 'moo'

Lucky for Tavros, once Sollux and Equius had heard about the ecto tubes in the bowels of their floating sanctuary in space, they were able to mold the programs and machinery to repair Tavros’s damaged body, highest priority being his legs. His profile was already in the database, and Sollux sat at the computer as the room was bathed in a green glow. He had removed the prosthetic legs beforehand and was fascinated as inch by inch his legs began to form back. He couldn’t stop walking for what felt like weeks, he was so glad to have his lower half back.

Months pass.

Over time, Tavros found himself missing his lusus more and more. He felt partially responsible for bringing the apocalypse and killing them all. So, Tavros walked down to the lab one night to try to find his lusus on the terminals downstairs. Maybe he could have the machine make a copy of his childhood caregiver.

Unfortunately, he didn’t see his Lusus anywhere in the file base. There went his dreams of reuniting with his guardian. He shouldn’t’ve put so much faith into this, anyway.

Tavros sat in sullen silence for a few moments more before turning back to the computer. His profile was still on the recent file history. Curious, Tavros opened the file. It was a bit freaky how in depth all of it was. From which arm was a bit longer to the faded scar he had on his right hip. He continued to browse through the archive in another window in case he wanted to look at his profile again. \

An hour of random browsing found himself under a folder marked ‘animals’ for the world he had helped to create, he saw a familiar species in one file’s thumbnail. What looked like his lusus was marked under ‘Bovine’. Curious, Tavros opened it.

The bovine creatures of Earth were considerably larger than those that looked the same on his world. They couldn't fly and didn't have wings, however, so Tavros considered that a fair trade off. He turned back to his profile for another look at what else it had on him.

more browsing passed and Tavros yawned. He figured he might as well go to sleep soon. He wanted to get back to this file easily, though, so he looked for a way to save it for easy viewing. Under a drop-down window he found an option marked ‘save’ and ‘save family with’.

‘Cool, I can save both files at the same time.’ Tavros thought to himself and selected the other open window to save both of them to what he thought was a ‘bookmarks’ tab. He quickly closed a pop-up window, too disinterested to really read it.

Had Tavros bothered to look at it, he would see the window stating that saving these two wouldn’t change the species since it was being altered with a single person’s file. Instead it would change all relations to that user to adapt to the new file.

Once Tavros exited the program he lifted his arms above him to stretch. He froze when the lights in the room glew a familiar green. The console in front of Tavros opened a different program. Tavros took a step towards the exit to leave before anything bad happened. As soon as his foot left the ground, Tavros stopped and braced himself on the giant contraption. This definitely didn’t feel right.

Tavros gently brought his leg back down to the ground. His toes went numb and the tile became harder to feel under him. He looked down to find his toes grouped closer together minus the gap between his three smaller toes and the two bigger ones, that one seemed wider.

The waistband on his boxers went taut against Tavros’s waist. The stretching feeling continued and Tavros’s shirt was stretched against his body. Looking around, he could feel his body growing slightly taller. As the shirt stretched up his body, Tavros brought his hands to his exposed stomach.

Tavros was never that fit, and was actually a bit pudgy for a troll. The familiar weight on his torso was gone, however. His hands traveled on his stomach to feel his chub recede and leave himself with a flat stomach. A moment more, and a slight definition appeared on him. Nothing too major, just enough to make him look fit. His felt ecstatic rubbing his hands all over him to feel tight muscles underneath his fingers.

His hands continued to rub the new skin under them but wavered as he felt his chest began to grow hairy. Tavros lifted his shirt off, both for a better view and to relieve his body from the now uncomfortably-small shirt. It wasn’t just his chest that was sprouting new hairs. From his head to his feet hair began to pop out, thicker and thicker. It formed a nice coat around him and his hair tinted to a brown color, lighter on his belly. Tavros was able to make out his mohawk was still on him in the reflection of a nearby monitor. It had remained black, funny enough.

As Tavros admired his hair, he could feel something shifting in his mouth. He felt around with his tongue to try to find what that was, only to realise it was his tongue. The tongue in his mouth felt incredibly swollen. Suddenly his tongue fell out of his mouth, now too long to be confined in his small mouth.

As suddenly as his tongue left his body, he found his mouth changing too. His jaw pushed out along with the area up to his nose to meet and retrieve the end of his longer tongue. As the protrusion grew out his lips thinned to basically nothing. The teeth in his mouth shifted with the new mouth, growing and flattening. His nose flattened on the end of his new snout and the two holes moved to either side of the protrusion. Looking in the monitor, he could see his ears were now the kind his lusus had. In fact, Tavros’s head looked like a combination of his own and one of those ‘bulls’ he had looked up.

Tavros had been shifting his legs the entire time his face was changing. His legs kept shifting and his feet felt like they were going through growing pains all over again. Not to mention, his toes were now completely numb. He took some careful steps back to admire his new set of legs.

He was incredibly calm looking down. His feet had elongated to the point where he was more comfortable standing on his toes, which had morphed into hard hooves. His legs had also shifted and changed to allow him to walk in his new form. Tavros held his arms in front of him, feeling a familiar feeling on his hands. Fingers morphed together to form three hard digits on each hand. For some reason, this all felt right to Tavros.

Tavros suddenly grasped at his backside, gasping. His boxers had ripped and something was poking out of them. Tavros used his new hands and held onto a long, thin, furry object he soon recognized as a bull’s tail. Tavros dropped his hands and looked over his shoulder to view the swaying new appendage.

Beeping blared on the first monitor, and Tavros stumbled towards it, not used to his new legs.

** BATTERY AT 0%. NOW SHUTTING DOWN **

Well damn, Tavros thought as the monitor turned a sickly blue and then turned off to a black screen. His new face looked back at him in the monitor’s reflection. At least he looked really good looking. He smiled at himself, feeling a bit more confident.

A door whooshed behind Tavros and he looked over his shoulder to see who it was. Great, Karkat. No way he’d like Tavros’s new form.

“Hey fucker, I hope you are extremely overjoyed at causing that power surge upstairs. I was finally beating Terezi at that stupidly random orange juice game and now my claim to juice princedom is ruined forev…” Karkat’s rant stuttered to a stop. He stopped upon spotting the incredibly hot guy in front of him. Those horns…

“Hey Karkat,” Tavros said and smiled at him.

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

Somewhere else off in space, Tavros’s distant relative Rufioh woke up in his bedroom. He stood up groggily as he usually did and stepped towards his mirror to fix any bedhead he had. Upon reaching the mirror, instead of starting the day normal and tired like all the rest, the image before him shocked him fully awake.

“Gah, What the fuck!” Rufioh shouted and stumbled back.He fell on weak legs and landed his backside against the bottom of the foot of the bed.

A giant mound of flesh on his stomach drew Rufioh’s amazed gaze first. He had always slept naked and had a full view of his body in front of him. His stomach had extended outwards and had grown three sets of long nipples. Rufioh reached out to touch it but drew his hand back upon seeing it.

His hand was no longer that of a troll’s. Instead of 5, Rufioh found his hand to only have three digits, all black and hard. His arm and hand were all covered in a brown coat of fur. His eyes followed his arms to all around his upper body to see the same coating of fur all over his body, though lighter on his belly-side and thinner on his stomach. His eyes then found the snout he had first recoiled at in the mirror.

Rufioh brought his deformed hands up to his face to feel all the changes. He felt the longer face and new ears, and was a bit happier that his hairstyle had remained. He went back to full panic as the bed behind him moved as Horuss stirred awake. Rufioh shrank back into the side of the bed as he heard his boyfriend walk around to the front of the room to get dressed. He stopped on seeing the person sitting at his bed.

Rufioh jumped up, but lost his balance and fell forward into the sleepy troll. Horuss grabbed him and help him up. Rufioh looked up at the troll.

“Uh, Horuss, it’s me, Rufioh, I, uh, kinda woke up like this,” Rufioh said. He looked down at the floor, partially to hide his face and partially to look down at his legs to see why he had tripped. His legs were no longer his own. His deformed legs supported his feet, which were so elongated he had to walk on his toes, which had also morphed together to create two bigger, hard digits.

“Well…” Horuss started. He wrapped his arms around the former troll in a hug. “Although this is highly unexpected, I’m sure we can work through this somehow. Are you sure you don’t know what happened to you?”

“I don’t, I swear I just woke up like this and,” Rufioh felt his stomach and shifted its weight a bit to relieve some pressure. “I think I need to be…. milked. Soon,” Rufioh blurted out. He sniffled and a bit of white drops began to dribble out of his udder, forming a small puddle of milk under the two.

#transformationstuck #tavros #lactation #bull tavros #mod sb #also answers an ask we had for lactating rufioh #title taken from�� King Green on the discord

12 notes · View notes

silvermp · 7 years

Text

Flock Together - Part 3

(part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4) (part 5) (part 6)

After catching a small, harmless little snake and tearing it to tasty ribbons, Kuroko didn’t get much further than the ‘First a meal’ plan.

The sun had already begun to set in earnest, and her eyes - no matter how much chakra she poured into them - were not built for the night. It was too overcast to fly by moonlight, and she was already anxious from the idea of being on her own. The world just seemed so much bigger than she wanted to really think hard about.

Also, owls were nocturnal assholes.

As night fell, Kuroko found herself in the nest she was born in, hunkering down in the familiar curve of woven branches. She guiltily tucked her head down, resolving herself to setting out early in the morning to make up for time lost.

She couldn’t help but try to tune into the shadows, listening to the murmurs of familiar croaking voices, all calling out to each other in the night.

Sometimes she thought she could hear Kokoro’s decisive call.

After dawn broke, and Kuroko set out in earnest, she had come to realize that “As the crow flies” should not be a measure of straightforward distance. She didn’t know what crows that person had been watching, but it seemed suspicious. Between the wind, natural updrafts from warm spots in the forests, and the weird turbulence around the many rivers of Fire country, there was no way in hell she was traveling in a straight line.

Still headed generally ‘West’ though. Good enough.

Before the sun had even reached noon, her wings were already starting to get tired. Even her neck felt like it was going to cramp into knots.

Sue her, she’d never just straight-up marathoned before. Did her mother expect her to just fly straight there, or was taking a break okay? How long was that, anyway… 4 hours? 5? She was supporting her entire body weight on just her wings, and balancing in the turbulent air on top of that.

Screw it.

Kuroko landed with a thumph in a pile of thick river grass, laying in blissful relief for a few glorious minutes. Her chest and shoulders throbbed in time with her heart, wings sprawled across the flexible stalks. Moving after that felt almost sinful, but she managed to drag her overworked body to the edge, dipping her beak in for several long gulps.

Yeah, that was good.

She absently pecked up a spider as it crawled through the grass beside her, crunching it with the tip of her beak before tossing it back in a little gulp. She kept an eye out for any frogs. Those were tasty.

Something moved out of the corner of her eye, and she tilted her head hopefully. She almost missed it, until a slight movement betrayed a forked tongue. A thick brown snake was sitting still, neck coiled up in preparation to strike. Bright yellow eyes stared her down, deep pits on its nose ringing several alarm bells.

Nope.

Nopenopenopenopenoepnope nooope!

She burst upward in a flurry of feathers, ignoring her muscles screaming pain in favor of not dying, thank you very much . She looked back, once she was safely in the skies again, but the snake had already vanished into the long grass.

Right.

Crows aren’t exactly apex predators.

She took a deep breath, pushing through the ache and trying her best to ride currents for a while. She trudged on westward, wondering exactly how long she was expected to fly.

Hours later, that question had grown from a weary comment to an incredulous repetition, as each beat of her wings brought her lower and lower to the treetops.

This was insane.

She landed clumsily, letting her wings hang uselessly on the branch as she sucked in gasping breaths. Apparently her stamina sucked. A curling growl in her stomach reminded her that she hadn’t exactly eaten much, aside from breakfast and a random spider. Her body was not used to going without.

Using Chakra to enhance her ears only made the hunger worse, but it allowed her to pinpoint the shrill peeping of some baby birds in a neighboring tree.

…. No, she wouldn’t….They were babies… and birds. Wasn’t that cannibalism? Should she even have morales about eating another bird? She’d never done it before - surely, her mother had the opportunity.

A few moments later, she was perched on the edge of their nest, looking down at the wide red mouths and eager little peeps, wondering if she had ever looked that lumpy and useless. (Yes, yes she had.) Thank goodness there was no swelling of maternal instinct. They were just birds. Noisy, limp baby birds.

She clacked her beak, not sure where to start. Mice always seemed like straightforward prey. They ran, you caught them. And then ate them. These little guys…

They continued to peep, reaching up toward her. They trusted her.

Damn.

Quite suddenly, her vision snapped sideways, and pain bloomed in her neck and the back of her head. Her ears were filled with the furious scream of an angry songbird. Her stomach growled, and the sparrow wheeled around for another run at her head.

Screw it.

She grabbed one of the babies in her claws, swooping away and dodging a very angry second songbird parent in its murder-dive. She pumped Chakra into her chest, sprinting through the air with her squishy prize. The sparrows eventually lost the determination to hunt her down, and she was able to land to eat it.

She couldn’t tell if it was still breathing, or if it was her own pounding heart warping her sight, but she was quick to snap its neck, just in case.

For all that effort and angst, the flavor was disappointing.

In the middle of rubbing bits of gore off her beak, Kuroko paused to grip her branch a bit harder as the forest seemed to rumble. A plume of dust rose above the tree line, buffeted by an unusual sweep of wind.

Since when did wind blow straight upward ?

Kuroko waited for a few long minutes, the active ache in her wings fading to a persistent tiredness. Good enough.

She flapped up into the sky again, heading toward the plume with no small amount of curiosity. She blinked open Chakra-enhanced eyes, scanning the leaves as she flew over the site. A flash of silver caught her eye.

Her wings almost missed a beat in surprise as a column of fire raced through the trees, swirling bright and fierce across the trunks. They were moving too fast for her to follow, but she caught the moments when they paused. Someone screamed, and she turned slightly to see someone falling dramatically to the ground, blood spurting in an arch as a long sword pulled out of them.

Someone leaped at the swordsman, but fell to the ground after their head jerked sideways with a gleam of dark steel. (Holy shit they were fast)

Several spikes of rock shot up, and one unlucky person didn’t get out of the way fast enough.

Fire consumed the area.

Kuroko felt herself buffeted upwards from the rising heat, and flared her tail to keep balance, closing her eyes against the bright flames. “Dual-core Humans may not be the majority, but they make up for their small numbers by sheer power and bullheadedness. They take the demon half of their heritage and use it to harness powers meant for our kind. Creative, but power-hungry and self-destructive.”

When she opened them again, the fighting had stopped. Only the green-clad people remained, walking around. She couldn’t see the detail on their outfits from this distance, but she definitely noticed when one of them looked up at her.

She quickly averted her gaze, carefully keeping her wings at a steady pattern.

I’m just a bird, flying around. Nothing suspicious here, ignore the perfectly normal crow, la de da~

Her thoughts were strained, forced lightheartedness belying the jolt of adrenaline racing through her veins. If they decided to hunt her down, she’d be officially out of luck.

A few minutes later, she still hadn’t been struck down, and allowed herself to relax a hair.

Up ahead, the forest parted to reveal a wide dirt road.

East to road, then north to follow it. Thank goodness.

She angled her tail, gently curving to begin following the dusty tan slice through otherwise endless green forests and shining rivers. (and the occasional battle, apparently) There was a faint updraft from the heated earth, and she thankfully used it to glide between wingbeats.

When the sun was just starting to set, and there was no river - or unusual pine - visible from the road just yet. Or maybe she missed it, and was screwed. Who knew?

So many possible bad endings with just… flying around with vague instructions to a final destination she’d never visited before.

A generous berry bush, a small nest of voles, and several grasshoppers later, Kuroko tucked her head under one wing and hunkered up next to the trunk of a tree with particularly thick foliage.

Before she fell asleep, she had a sudden, certain realization.

My body is going to hate me in the morning.

----

She woke in the morning with a low groan, resigned to the fact her prediction had been 100% correct.

Kuroko lingered to eat roadside bugs a bit longer than strictly necessary, opening and stretching her wings until she was sure it really wasn’t getting any better. A familiar cawing drew her attention, and she was in the air in a heartbeat.

Her heart lifted at the sight of wide black wings, and she hurried to head off the familiar bird.

”Have you heard anything about the Southern Roost? Or Kokoro? She’s my mother, I-” The bird wheeled away, cawing reproachfully at her.

Kuroko opened her beak, but the bird was already flying down into the forest again.

Oh.

“Just a normal crow…” she murmured, trying to ignore the way her heart sank, a bitter taste on her tongue. She didn’t realize how much it had been weighing on her, until she brought it up again. The way Kokoro had been favoring her leg - She had been injured, hadn’t she?

How long had she been traveling to the roost, before that day?

Since before I was born?

A small part of her wondered why she cared so much. She’d only been alive in this body for what, Four months? Maybe? How long did it take crows to learn to fly, anyway? Four months was nothing. Kuroko exhaled, focusing her eyes forward and keeping pace alongside the long road. It’d be pointless to insert herself into danger. Living day-by-day had kept her alive and well. She was just a bird…. If her mother wanted her help, she just had to ask.

The ache in her heart said otherwise.

A demon, Kuroko thought. With shadow powers. That’s something, right? I could help… somehow.

At long last, she spotted a pine tree sticking up out of the regular variation of trees, and the glint of a river close by. She wished she could be more happy for making the journey, but her worries and aching muscles weighed down her mood.

The branches were uncomfortably prickly to land on, and hard to get into without getting poked to hell by blue-green needles. Still, she managed, settling down to wait for a fox to arrive and bring her to the next stage of training.

And waited.

She flew off for a meal, and circled the tree before returning to her perch, beginning to feel a prickle of unease. Was she too late? Was she too slow? Was she supposed to have the stamina to just fly straight here, and the foxes got bored of waiting and abandoned her?

Kuroko fluttered down to a fallen branch, looking around from ground-level.

She settled down, deciding to wait a bit longer before freaking out in earnest.

A faint crackle caught her attention.

She turned her head, perking up at the sight of a fox’s broadly furred face staring at her from the underbrush. She checked, and could sense the ‘presense’ of it. Thank goodness.

“I’m here to learn from the Foxes.” She called out, eager to get introductions over with. Her mother hadn’t really told her any sort of etiquette things, so she wasn’t quite sure why she wasn’t getting an answer. Was she supposed to introduce herself first?

“My name’s Kuroko?”

The fox prowled closer, shoulders moving smoothly under its thick coat. Kuroko shifted uneasily, the copper eyes focused with an unexpected intensity.

“My mother sent me - Kokoro - I…”

A presence behind her.

She sucked in a breath, launching herself into the air and flapping hard to get up into a nearby tree with a distressed squawk.

She whipped around, heart racing, mind whirring with the idea that this was a trap - that she was going to be stranded here, or hunted like an animal.

Wait, she was an animal.

The second fox chuffed a laugh at her, sitting primly while the young crow bristled angrily and hissed .

“Aren’t you going to introduce yourself first, little one?”

Kuroko swallowed her hiss, watching the first fox lick a black paw.

“My name’s … Kuroko.” She had already introduced herself, was he being dense on purpose?

“Kuroko, huh? It suits you. I’m Shun.”

She dropped down a branch, hopping a bit closer to the fox, but still wary about actually landing on the leaflitter. Shun seemed to notice, and flicked an ear in clear amusement.

“Paranoid little bugger, aren’t you? Slow, too. Kokoro contacted us days ago.” Well, that answered the ‘Fly straight there or not’ question.

The fox stood up, curling her tail and trotting away, the silent fox close on her heels.

“Come on, then. We’ll get you situated, and figure out a schedule so I don’t have to wake up so goddamn early all the time.”

Kuroko blinked at the sudden swearing, but figured her own mind was probably filthier.

Still, there was a sweeping feeling of relief, that she wasn’t actually abandoned.

Or maybe she was just relieved to have someone order her around again.

Neither dependency boded well for her.

----

Apparently, foxes in general were not pleased to wake up before sunset.

Several slinked out of a large burrow, squinting at the sky and retreating to slightly-darker patches of underbrush as the rest of them came out.

Shun slipped out from the burrow, two more foxes on his tail, and addressed the small gathering.

What was a gathering of foxes called, anyway? Crows were a ‘murder’... wolves were a ‘pack’. An Intrusion of cockroaches….

Where did she learn that one?

She decided to call them a ‘pack’, just to be simple. That’s what Koharu had called them, it was probably fine.

“This is Kuroko, daughter of Kokoro. She’ll be staying with us until she learns to shift her form.”

Oh? That sounded promising.

One of the foxes flattened their ears, speaking up with a note of incredulity.

“Why doesn’t she just go to a Roost?”

“Because the Southern Roost is being attacked” Shun replied smoothly, not even batting an eye. “Kuroko needs to learn the shadows before returning.”

“It’s not like here is any safer.” another murmured, but ducked their head away when Shun turned to them.

“It is what Kokoro has asked of us, and so we will proceed. Of course, since the lady sleeps at night, it’ll be up to you to wake up early.”

What…. What was the weird emphasis for?

Kuroko lowered her head as the foxes began muttering amongst themselves, clear expressions of resentment flickering across their sharp faces. The one who had spoken up in the beginning, especially, looked outraged.

She had a bad feeling about this.

Shun dismissed them, and ignored the groaning and huffing that the foxes didn’t try to hide as they returned to their burrow. She turned to Kuroko, stepping lightly around fallen leaves.

“Since there’s still plenty of daylight, are you well enough to begin, or should we stop to get something to eat, first?”

The fox perked up her ears and smiled in a canine sort of way.

Something about it… seemed fake.

She couldn’t tell how exactly, since every movement of the sleek fox practically glowed with friendly helpfulness. But… something about her… voice, or the quickness of her support, didn’t sit quite right.

“N-no, I’m fine. We can start whenever you’re ready.”

Shun nodded her head, still smiling that slightly-off smile, and turned to pad down a well-walked little grass tunnel through the underbrush.

Kuroko took a few hops after her, before taking flight and just following the fox from above. Copper eyes flashed up at her, and Shun broke into a quick trot, matching the speed of her slow flight through unfamiliar branches.

Her stomach grumbled at her, but she didn’t mention it.

They ended up at the edge of the river, in a shallow area that acted more like a quickly-cycled wetlands. Patches of long grass were interspersed with tall reeds, and wiry trees growing despite the waterlogged soil.

Shun hopped between the grassy little islands, before sitting down by a particularly calm patch of water.

“Your mother wants you to learn how to travel by shadow. Apparently, knowing how to shift your form around a bit helps with that, and there’s no better shifter than a fox.”

She wished she knew fox body language a bit better. That tail flick probably meant something, but Shun’s face and voice gave nothing away but pleasant conversation.

“So we’ll start with the basics.” She tilted her head toward the slowly-moving water. “You’re going to look at your reflection for a while. Get a good picture of who you are, What you look like, what you believe in.” That tail flick again.

“Feel free to let some of your shadows leak out, I’ve heard that helps. Let me know when you’ve got all your edges identified.”

The what does what in where now?

Shun gave her a nod, and slinked over to flop onto some grass. Copper eyes turned to her, and Kuroko hopped over to get a look at her reflection. Yeah… those instructions weren’t confusing at all.

Please note the sarcasm.

Her reflection was as-expected. A black bird, with a thick beak and black eyes. Black legs, black claws, black everything. Just like her mother, some of her neck feathers gleamed green, and her eyes seemed a little grey when the sunlight hit them just right. She’d seen her image hundreds of times before, drinking from little puddles or the slow-moving creek on the edge of her mother’s territory. Nothing new.

Shun yawned, a tiny whine escaping the back of her throat before she plopped her head down on the grass.

Kuroko took a deep breath, and exhaled.

She pushed some chakra around, not really sure what difference she was supposed to see. After a few long, awkward minutes of this, she spoke up.

“What did you mean by ‘Shadows leak out?’”

A slow blink.

“Mmm...No clue. Ask your mother.”

“She’s not here right now.” Kuroko stated, trying to contain the building frustration.

“I can see that.”

She couldn’t help the irritated bristling of her neck feathers, but exhaled slowly, smoothing them back down after the fact.

“I know what I look like.” She muttered, looking down to glare at the sharp-beaked reflection looking up at her.

Shun jumped to her feet.

“Great!” She chirped, “Onto the next step!”

What the fuck?

“Here, check out your reflection over here.”

Kuroko obediently hopped over, looking down at the distorted ripples that only sometimes formed a crow.

“Now, that’s still your reflection, right?”

Kuroko shot her a look, but nodded.

“So if that reflection is ‘You’ and the other reflection is also ‘You’, what’s different?”

That weirdly sweet teacherly voice was definitely starting to rub on her nerves.

Or maybe she was just hungry.

“Water pressure?”

That damn tail flick again.

“Hmmm~ Almost, not quite, but close. It’s the movement of the water, yeah, but also the light bouncing off of it. If you twist the surface a bit, the image changes. Both the reflections are ‘you’, but the real you doesn’t have four heads, does it?”

Kuroko was silent, waiting for Shun to get to the point already.

“Get it?”

Fuck you.

“Yes, I get it.”

“Good! Now you just need to let your form twist around a bit. It’s still ‘you’, but different!”

Oh, that’s all, huh?

“Ohkaaaaaayyyy?”

Shun didn’t take the hint, or ignored it, and trotted back to her grass.

“Well, get to it. Keep an eye out for hawks. I’ll be taking a nap ‘till you get it right.”

Get WHAT right? You haven’t explained anything!

Kuroko exhaled slowly again, digging her talons into the grass and staring down at her rippling reflection. How on earth was she supposed to spontaneously become something else?!

Maybe it was about visualization?

She tried imagining herself as a fox. Probably all black, with nice white teeth to growl with. She wondered what it would be like, to have proper teeth. The sharp beak and talons were nice, but the wolves just seemed so effective with their jaws.

She blinked, trying to concentrate on the rippling reflection.

Boredom picked at her mind.

She looked at Shun, who looked convincingly asleep.

This… was going to take a while.

---

And it did.

She was getting pretty good with those predictions, she really ought to stop predicting such pessimistic futures.

The sun set, with still no idea what she was supposed to be doing. As crickets started chirping in earnest (and frogs - she was definitely going to eat one of those) Shun woke up from her ‘nap’ and asked if she had made any progress.

At her negative response, the fox didn’t seem surprised.

“You’re probably just tired. Go get some rest back at the den.”

Kuroko sighed, obediently heading back, and finally grabbing a bite to eat before nestling herself in a tall, white-barked tree.

The next day was no different. Three different foxes sleepily watched her glare at her reflection, basically repeating Shun’s words back at her whenever she asked for help.

You’re still you, just give up the outside and look like something else, Right, she’ll just DO that.

With zero progress and mounting frustration, Kuroko slept the next night a bit closer to the ground, tucked almost petulantly against the pale trunk.

#naruto #smpwrites #fic rec #third mizukage #FlockTogether #Fanfiction #Naruto fanfiction

1 note · View note