#idk what her name would be - do i bother going for another rock name because aquamarine does sound lovely eee
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ngl,, i have considered making an actual fan kid for stevaide a daughter but would icy blue hair look nice on her,,,,,,,,,
#she wont be canon since ive written a lot for ruby to fit in perfectly with stevaide but but but but#big brother ruby..... kuya ruby... guys listen to meeeeee 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺💚💚💚#he would baby his little sister so much 🥺🥺 he would make her the prettiest princess (sister claims the title).......#we do a criss cross with their designs... ruby has his eyes and her hair and the daughter has his hair and her eyes oouuuh...#hghmmmm so many thoughts#idk what her name would be - do i bother going for another rock name because aquamarine does sound lovely eee#and then maybe i go to ahhhh to ahhh cedar and hazel fankids (theappleshippingkidsAUUUGGOOOO WHO SAID THAT‼️‼️) fhgnngk papa red listen to#~ rambling#M SORRY MAYBE BEING A MOM IS A CUTE THOUGHT 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔 BEBES
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Can I get a kiss, please? —ft. Suna Rintarou.
cw: wc 1k, college au? idk but they are not in high school, there’s a little bit of cheating kinda, friends to lovers, suna is deeply in love and he has a breakdown because u wear his tshirt.
Suna hates many things. He hates getting up from bed in the morning, hates small talks, hates when practice gets extended, he hates when the shop close to his dorm is out of jelly fruit sticks and the list could go on forever but what he hates the most at the moment is you. He hates how comfortable you got with him during your years of friendship because now you’re standing in front of him, after taking a shower in his bathroom and wearing nothing but his tshirt on top of your underwear, urging him to move and give you some space to sit on the couch. You’re so comfortable with him that you sit right next to him, so close your knees are touching. Your hand on his thigh as you lean in to show him pictures on your phone, fingers grazing the hem of his shorts, so close he can only smell the scent of his shampoo in your hair. You’ve gotten too comfortable. He’s not even sure what you’re talking about, he’s trying to listen to you, he wants to listen to you, but you’re too close. He’s trying to paying attention to whatever is showing on the screen of your phone, but you in his tshirt smelling like his shampoo is just too much. Your touch sends sparks through his body and he can feel something in his stomach, it twists and burns and it makes him want to scream or maybe cry. He hates that you don’t notice what you’re doing to him.
You tap your hand on his thigh, ‘Look, look!’
He gets brought back to reality and a laugh escapes his lips as you show him a video of Atsumu tripping on a rock.
You put away your phone and turn to face Suna, giving him your full attention. He swallows, he’s having trouble breathing.
‘Sunarin,’ you say and he waits for you to say something else but you don’t. You’re just looking at him. He can feel that thing in his stomach move all the way to his spine and he can’t move.
‘Is everything alright?’ You ask, looking a little worried.
He nods, not daring to open his mouth yet.
‘Are you sure you don’t have a fever or something?’ You bring a hand to his forehead, ‘You’re a little weird.’
He scoffs and pushes your hand away, ‘I’m not weird.’
‘Mhm, just a little,’ you smile and turn back to your original position. You switch on the television and brows through netflix looking for a movie to watch.
Without your eyes staring into his soul, Suna feels like he can breathe a little bit easier.
‘Tell me about Yuki,’ you say tapping your fingers on the remote.
‘What about her?’ Suna could not care less about any other person when you were with him. You would occupy every single one of his thoughts. It was actually the same even when you weren’t with him too.
‘You know, how’s it going? Is she nice?’
Suna also hates the way you’re not at all bothered if he dates other people, you’re actually curious about it.
‘She was alright I guess,’ he extends a hand to you, he grazes your arm, he doesn't want to talk about other relationships he only wants to stay with you, ‘We went out like twice then I broke it off.’
Suna was always like that, there were plenty of people who asked him out but no one ever lasted more than three dates. Not when every time he would kiss someone he imagined it was you. After a while you just stopped asking him why he would not put in the effort.
‘I’m thinking of breaking up with Haruto,’ you say suddenly.
Just the sound of that name is enough to make Suna feel nauseous.
‘Thank God,’ another thing that Suna hates is Haruto. Not because he’s jealous, no, but because the guy is actually a shit boyfriend to you, ‘What happened?’
‘You know, the usual,’ you drop the remote and turn to Suna again, ‘We fought again because he’s jealous of you, says I spend more time with you than him,’ you roll your eyes, ‘He thinks I’m cheating.’
Suna can’t help the smirk forming on his lips, knowing you want to break up with your boyfriend because of him does something to him. Maybe he’s a little selfish and maybe he shouldn't be so happy about it, but he thinks it’s alright for this one time.
‘I don’t even know why you stayed with him for so long.’
You lower your gaze, ‘It was nice, he was nice,’ you say, ‘When we didn’t fight.’
‘He’s right though,’ Suna says.
‘What?’ Your eyes lock into his, feeling betrayed.
Suna shrugs, ‘You do spend more time with me.’
You jokingly punch his shoulder, ‘Shut up!’
‘Are you sad?’ Suna asks you turning serious.
‘About Haruto?’
Suna nods and waits for your answer.
You furrow your brow in thought before shaking your head, ‘He was an asshole anyway, but if it means you’ll comfort me,’ you smile, ‘With cuddles and forehead kisses...’ you sigh and put a fake pout on your face, ‘Oh, I’m so sad Sunarin.’
You’re slowly killing him, he’s sure that’s your goal for the night. Slowly stabbing him with every word and every look you’re giving him. You’re looking up at him and you’re just too pretty as you ask for his attention.
He sighs, ‘You know there’s no need to act,’ he pulls you closer and with a newfound confidence he lets you sit between his legs as you face each other, ‘If you want hugs and kisses you just have to ask.’
Maybe he didn’t think that through, because now your legs are around his torso and your skin brushes against his back where his tshirt is slightly lifted. You’re way too close now. He doesn’t know where to put his hands, definitely not your thighs though. He opts to just lazily put his arm around your body.
‘Okay then,’ you run your fingers through his hair, ‘Can I get a kiss, please?’
With that, the thing in his stomach returns and it stretches to his throat making it impossible for him to talk. He’s sure you can feel the way he’s slightly shaking and the sound of his heart pounding in his chest. He thinks of asking you to repeat, but he heard you right and he doesn’t want to risk you changing your mind. He leans in as one of his hands make its way to the base of your neck. He can feel your breath on him. Your fingers still in his hair. Your noses are touching. He feels high, maybe a little dizzy. Just a little closer and your lips would be touching. You’re not running away, you want this too. It feels like you’ve been in this position for hours, the wait is agonizing. He wonders how your lips will taste, maybe like the blackberry chapstick you always wear. He wonders if your lips are as soft as they look.
‘Stop joking around,’ you break the silence.
His other hand grazes your cheek and then his thumb traces your bottom lip, ‘I’m not.’
‘Rin, please,’ you whisper.
Oh, how he loves the desperation in your tone. If only you knew for how long he craved this too. Just when you think he’s finally closing the gap, he gives you a quick peck at the corner of your mouth.
‘I can’t, Y/n,’ he says lowering his head, ‘Not when you’re not mine.’
He hugs you, thightly, burying his head in your neck.
‘I’m sorry,’ you say, ‘I shouldn’t have asked for that.’
You can feel him shaking his head lightly, ‘I wanted to,’ he says.
You wanted it too, more than anything you ever wanted.
Suna can feel the thing in his throat threaten to leave his body through his mouth, ‘I love you,’ he blurts out and shocked by his own words his head jerks up, ‘I—’
‘Sunarin,’ you stop him and every thoughts that was starting to form in his mind, ‘It’s okay,’ you cup his face, ‘I love you, too,’ you lay your forehead on his, ‘I’ll make it up to you.’
He hugs you again, ‘You’ll be mine?’
You hum and nod your head.
Now that you knew of his feelings, that thing in his stomach, in his spine, in his throat, is gone. He still doesn’t dare to touch your thighs, though, and the smell of his shampoo on you still makes him weak at the knees. Next time you’ll see each other you’ll be his and then he will kiss you. He can imagine how it will be, he imagined it so many times before. He smiles as he gets comfortable in your arms.
#haikyuu#haikyuu x reader#haikyuu x you#suna rintaro x reader#suna rintarou#suna x reader#suna x you#suna rintaro x y/n#suna rintarō#sunarin#haikyuu x y/n
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So I, like everyone else, am shaking the bars of my cage trying to understand what the hell 4Dawgz is DOING
We've gotten a couple of wild facts for her character this episode and last weeks:
1) absolutely hates Riz SPECIFICALLY for some reason, despite him consistently being the most respectful towards her (he actually tries to say her name proper)
2) she has a lot of anger towards the Bad Kids (and Riz), and
3) she was very casual killing Buddy Dawn, even though that doesn't immediately help her... admittedly, it does threaten the Bad Kids by removing revivify, but homegirl saw Gorgug soloing a purple worm, Adaine being untouchable, Fig smiting as if she's been a paladin for years, and The Ball absolutely rocking this fight, Fabian was there, all while Kristin was being pretty conservative and prioritizing heal spells, so KipKettle has no reason to believe the Bad Kids are in true mortal peril.
What does this all mean?
Well, idk about you, but Kipper's absolute inexplicable rage, combined with a bunch of other weird minutia, has me pondering the Time Quangle again, and the fact the Bad Kids DID do some minor chronomancy pre-shrimp jump, I think we have more time shenanigans to go... ESPECIALLY since that girlfailure found the rogue teacher at 8:01 am, I agree with some of the theories I've seen suggesting she's stuck in a time loop.
I think she hates Riz because he is consistently the one realizing, connecting the dots, and ultimately the driving force that thwarts her in her scheme, forcing her to do another loop. Her complete contempt might look unreasonable, but maybe she's been trying to complete her task for YEARS, stuck in highschool because some random hot goblin kid can't ever mind his own business.
I've been sympathetic to the "BLeeM would never have such a blatant BBEG like this, there has to be a twist" crowd, and I think FishFlower RedPan callously murdering her party cleric DOES NOT negate this - as far as she's concerned, he might be the 57th Buddy Dawn she's met, so why would she care when this loop will probably fail again?
If this theory is anything substantial, she literally has nothing to lose, because she can just start over again? Anyone would appear irrational and be incapable of seeing an unbiased perspective, so of course she would claim things aren't fair: she's witnessed the same group of clowns dunk on her repeatedly in every iteration. Why bother doing unique adventures that are unpredictable when you can be the RatGrinders and have the same base slate with less chaos to try and enact your grand plan?
#fhjy#fhjy spoilers#dimension 20#this is my first unique post after leaving reddit sorry if format is bad#possibly shes just tryna pull an aguefort and no clip into heaven with Buddy Dawn#love the theorycrafters being proven right with the concerns that Buddy was a sacrificial lamb tho because yikes#still no idea what her motives are for this but like idk#still hope we get flaming gay Buddy Dawn becoming a cleric of Ankarna when he gets over being dead#time quangle
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hey maddy have a nice day so
shinobu x FEM reader thats like sanemi {he backstory I mean)
(shinobu and her dont get along at first but after shin found out what happened to her, after visiting her hometown for a mission and talking with the people there<gossip gossip> she went to find her but when she did she was Infront of her family's graves, the reader knew shin was watching but didn't say anything about it until after a hashira meeting where she snuck into shins room/lab you choose and she almost screamed because she didn't hear them but she silenced her and confronted her about watching her in the graveyard where shin apologizes (maybe friends to lover after idk up to u
anyway sorry it's VERY specific but I know you'll do great byeee 💜💜💜
Chipping Down a Wall
Shinobu Kochou x She/Her Reader
A/N: Heyyooo 💜! It kinda got a little rushed in the end, but I hope you like it! If anyone doesn’t want to have a general idea of what Sanemi’s back story must have been like, maybe skip? Like I didn’t completely use his story, but the message is there. Another note, some swearing ahead. Anyway thanks for reading! Word Count: 3,223
“What a sleepy little town,” Shinobu mused, taking it all in, “so unlike a cold and brutish someone I know.”
When Shinobu had received an order to complete a mission in the hometown of one of her fellow Hashira, she immediately knew she was going to collect all the embarrassing dirt that she could on her.
It all started last year when (Y/n) had first joined their ranks. Shinobu had tried to be welcoming, asked her questions to get to know her better, but she had quickly learned that (Y/n) was not interested in being friendly.
She had snapped at Shinobu, probably hoping to scare her away, but that had only pissed Shinobu off and made her go out of her way to bother (Y/n) constantly in the months to come. With her persistence, she did manage to eek information out of (Y/n) from time to time. One of her biggest successes was when she had tricked (Y/n) into telling her where she was from. It had only really counted as a success to Shinobu because of how angry (Y/n) had gotten when she realized what she had told her, but now that information had become relevant to her once more.
It was such a small town, surely Shinobu would have no trouble finding people who knew (Y/n). Since she had finished off the demon the night before, she had all day to nose around.
“Ah, excuse me,” Shinobu put on her friendliest smile as she approached an old woman, rocking in a rickety chair next to a weathered medicine shop, “have you lived here long?”
The woman tilted her head downward, peering at Shinobu through her spectacles with one eyebrow raised.
Shinobu would take that as a yes.
“Would you happen to know the (L/n) family?”
“Mm.” The old woman subtlety winced. “Haven’t heard that name in quite a few years now… it’s nearly taboo to talk about.”
“Oh?” Shinobu’s interest had been piqued, but not in the way she had expected. Why was the woman so somber? Was Shinobu stepping into something she shouldn’t?
“I helped deliver almost every baby in this town for nearly three generations. I helped bring the parents into this world, and their children as well when the time came. Yes, I knew that family quite well. Such a warm and hardworking lot they were.”
Were… Shinobu’s smile dimmed, but her morbid curiosity did not. The Demon Slayer Corps had no shortage of unfortunate tales, but she had never really felt the desire to pry into those awful stories without someone bringing them up first. Not until (Y/n), it would seem.
“What happened to them, if it will not upset you to tell me, that is.”
“Killed. The whole family.”
“The whole family?” Shinobu restated. She knew that wasn’t completely accurate, unless (Y/n) had a fake identity. Shinobu wouldn’t put it past her with how closed off she was.
The old woman sighed, agitated, and adjusted the blanket over her lap needlessly, “No, not the whole family,” she spoke almost tersely, “There was one survivor. The girl did what she had to do. Poor thing.”
Shinobu waited for her to settle and continue. This was obviously hard for her.
“I know what you are and what you do, young lady. So I will be very straightforward with you. Do not ask the other townsfolk about this matter of your curiosity because they did not understand it then, and they don’t now.”
Shinobu stood a bit straighter, fully invested.
“The father was turned into a demon and lost himself. I doubt you need any more details than that to get the picture, but somehow one child managed to survive and she was found bloody and beaten on the ground next to the house that had become consumed by fire.” The woman pointed her chin at something behind Shinobu.
Shinobu turned and saw a hill. Years of time for the earth to heal had passed, but the scorched trees still stood to serve as a reminder. Shinobu turned to face forward once more.
“Others would be happy to gossip with you and tell you that she had started the fire to purposely kill everyone inside, but I know every child in this village as if they were my very own, and I can tell you if she could have sacrificed herself to the flames for their lives to continue on, she would have.”
The old woman patted the blanket, then began to fold it neatly.
“She’s a good girl, even if she pretends not to be. She’s just trying to protect herself. No family, no home, the only things here for her are old neighbors who demand her head.” With a grunt of exertion, the old woman stood,
“But then again, I’m just a senile ol’ bat. You’ll believe what you’ll believe,” she slid open the door to shop and looked back at Shinobu over her shoulder, “but if you see little (Y/n), tell her to come visit me at some odd hour if she’s feeling brave. The winter months are coming, and I’ve made her a haori. I’m sure the old one is all tattered strings by now, but my, how she gets attached to some things.”
Shinobu smiled knowingly, picturing the ratty haori in question, though her expression was overall subdued,
“You have no idea.”
The old woman snorted quietly and gave a crooked smile before closing the door behind her and leaving Shinobu alone.
Fun thoroughly trampled, Shinobu’s logical next course of action would be to pay her respects to the fallen family. If (Y/n) was perceived as a wanted criminal in her hometown, she probably couldn’t visit the cemetery as often as she would like. And being the sole survivor of her family, the upkeep of the grave probably suffered as a result.
So she bought some supplies and followed the shopkeeper’s instructions to the cemetery. She went down each row, looking for the correct surname, then paused when she realized their was someone a few rows ahead of her.
It was (Y/n). Shinobu wasn’t sure why, but her heart leapt in her chest. It was probably because of (Y/n) saw her there, she’d kill her, but threats of bodily harm never gave Shinobu pause before, so now shouldn’t be any different. Regardless, Shinobu slowly lowered the bucket of supplies to the ground, possibly for (Y/n) to use if she saw fit, and quietly backed out of the cemetery, believing that she had gone unnoticed.
***
Shinobu was fully absorbed in her work, writing detailed notes on the results of her latest experiment. It hadn’t gone exactly as she hoped, but it was a more promising result than her last attempt. She was so engrossed in her thoughts and the scratching of her pen that she failed to notice someone striding into her lab with purpose.
“Just who do you think you are!?”
Shinobu found herself spun around with a hand over her mouth before she could even scream. Which worked out just fine for her. It would have been embarrassing to scream, her pride wouldn’t have allowed her to forget it and (Y/n) probably wouldn’t have let her forget it either if she didn’t look the most enraged Shinobu had ever seen her.
“Did you follow me? Thought you’d come for a free show? Well? Was it everything you ever dreamed it could be— UGH! Gross!” (Y/n) pulled her hand away from Shinobu’s mouth and hastily wiped her palm on her pants.
“Did you just fucking lick me?”
“Well, were you just going to keep asking questions, or did you want actual answers to go with them?” Shinobu stepped back to give herself a little more space. Her damn heart was pounding again. It had been a long time since she had been startled like that.
“I am going to answer you now and I’d appreciate it if you stayed quiet until I’ve caught up.”
(Y/n)’s eye twitched.
“Firstly, I was in the area due to a mission. Yes, I did recall you grew up in that town and so I wanted to do a little looking around, but—“
“And so what did you find?” (Y/n) interrupted bitterly, “That I’m a murderer that needs to be turned in to the authorities? Or perhaps forget that and have me tried through the Corps? You’d love that, wouldn’t you?”
Shinobu slowly released a breath, trying her best to remain patient.
“I know you aren’t a murderer, (L/n)-san. I had spoken to an old woman there, who sends her regards and wants to give you something by the way, she told me everything.”
“Tch—“ (Y/n) crossed her arms tightly over her chest, “why would you believe her? Maybe I did do it on purpose. That would make sense for someone like me, right? Just let them all burn.”
“You didn’t.” Shinobu casually refuted. She wasn’t in the mood to feed into any negative nonsense. “You aren’t a bad person. I’ve known that much since I first met you.”
(Y/n) scoffed.
“I’m serious,” Shinobu held (Y/n)’s bitter stare unwaveringly. “Did you know that most of the time when you end up in my infirmary, it’s because you took a hit for someone else?”
“They got in my way.” (Y/n) snarled.
“I also heard about that new public library and literacy program that was constructed near your estate. Funded all by a single anonymous donor. Oh, and public vegetable gardens and fruit trees as well.”
“Could have been some rich old fucker.” (Y/n) hissed growing more uneasy.
“Except that district is apparently notoriously known for its poverty. No lord would consider investing in such a place. They probably aren’t even aware of its existence, nor care to know.” Shinobu stepped back into (Y/n)’s personal space, smirking inwardly when (Y/n) moved backward and bumped the heavy table behind them.
“You are a good person, (L/n)-san. Perhaps even a better one than me,” She spoke softly.
(Y/n) couldn’t seem to speak and Shinobu continued,
“I went to the cemetery because I thought your family plot might need a little maintenance since you are technically on the lamb. I didn’t know you would be there, but I’m sorry that I intruded nevertheless.”
It was quiet for a minute. Then (Y/n) looked up from the floor and gave Shinobu a sideways glance before looking anywhere else. Her frown deepened.
“Sounds like something a good person would try to do for someone.” She grumbled. Then she slid out from between Shinobu and the table and marched out the door, scaring a couple Kakushi that happened to be walking by.
Shinobu moved to leaned back against to table, finding herself suddenly exhausted. At least she was still fully intact, and though it had been a rather intense talk, Shinobu felt like she had a better understanding of who (Y/n) was as a person.
***
It was somewhat awkward between them for a while after that. Shinobu had been making an effort not to tease and poke at (Y/n) as often, which in turn gave (Y/n) no reason to lash out.
Shinobu was surprised at how quiet and fidgety (Y/n) was when there was no reason to snap at anyone. Especially around Shinobu was when she seemed the most restless. As if Shinobu was going to tell everyone that she was a soft philanthropist who loved reading and graciously accepted lovingly sewn haoris from elderly women.
Shinobu subtly rolled her eyes. As if that would be the worst thing in the world. But she kept it to herself anyway. It was strange, but being one of the only people to know what (Y/n) was like when she thought no one was watching felt special and it allowed her to do things she never would have bothered with previously.
Things like going out to eat together after a joint mission, or showing up at her estate with little gifts and making small talk. Eventually (Y/n) began to drop by her place as well to do similar activities. They were getting along very well. Until they didn’t.
A few months later, (Y/n) suddenly stopped coming around and when Shinobu tried to visit her, she either wasn’t around or not answering on purpose. Shinobu let it slide the first couple times, but on her most recent visit when she knocked on the door and received no response, she decided to let herself in.
She roamed the halls, eventually happening upon and open side door. Resting with her back against a wooden support beam and one leg dangling off of the side of the engawa, (Y/n) was absorbed in a book.
“You should really learn to lock your doors.”
“Holy fuck!” The book in (Y/n)’s hand tumbled to the ground as her hands kept to her chest.
“Oops,” Shinobu smiled, “I didn’t mean to frighten you. I apologize. Let this be a lesson in locking doors in the future. However, if you keep avoiding me once you pick up the habit, I will break a window.”
“Shut up!” (Y/n) groaned, sitting back up, “I’m not avoiding you. I’ve got a life outside of doing dumb stuff with you, you know.”
“Oh? Like sitting by yourself for several days like Tomioka-san? What a full life. I’m so envious.”
Shinobu walked over to sit beside (Y/n) and when (Y/n) tried to put more space between them, she followed.
“Get out of my personal space, Kochou!”
“Hmm?” Shinobu leaned in and overtly studied (Y/n)’s body language, causing the other girl to feel increasingly nervous and agitated.
What Shinobu hadn’t noticed during the time that they became friends, was that (Y/n) had developed a crush on her. Not entirely surprising since Shinobu had become a big constant in her otherwise shut-off and icy existence.
But (Y/n) couldn’t possibly give Shinobu the chance to figure out her feelings! She couldn’t afford to be that vulnerable, it spelled disaster for sure! So, instead of having Shinobu figure it out and stop talking to her, (Y/n) broke away first. Obviously it didn’t have the intended effect and now her heart was hammering because Shinobu went through all the trouble of coming to see her when she could have gone on without her as she did before.
(Y/n) felt the intensity of Shinobu’s stare on the side of her face and dared to turn her head back to glare at her, but when her nose had been close enough to brush against her own, (Y/n) quickly jerked her head back, hitting the back of her head hard against the wooden support beam.
“Son of a bitch!” (Y/n) hunched in on herself, clutching the back of her head tightly in her hands. “Could you just fuck off?!”
Shinobu was not so easily intimidated, she never was. Instead she placed a hand gently over (Y/n)’s.
“Let me see. I’m surprised you didn’t collapse the roof on top of us with that amount of force.”
(Y/n) didn’t move her hands away fast enough for Shinobu’s liking, so she pulled them away herself. Then she angled the other Hashira’s head to rest against her chest and she inspected the back of her head. (Y/n) stiffened against her.
“No blood at least. You’ll have an awful bump though, I can already feel it I think,” a mischievous grin crossed Shinobu’s lips, “But maybe I could give it a kiss to help the pain go away.”
“Don’t you fucking dare.”
“You aren’t pulling away though.”
Before (Y/n) could get too far, Shinobu renewed the strength of her hold to keep her close.
“You are the one not letting me go!”
“It seems that I am. And I will continue until you tell me why you have been avoiding me.”
“My life doesn’t revolve around you! It’s none of your business!”
“Oh, (L/n)-san, your pulse seems to have jumped.”
That’s when (Y/n) noticed Shinobu’s fingers resting above the pulse point of her neck.
“Ooo, another jump. Careful (L/n)-san, your heart just might burst.”
“You are three seconds away from having a broken nose!”
“Why won’t you just talk to me?” Shinobu asked, more testy now than playful, “Did I do something wrong? I thought we had moved past this.”
“No.” (Y/n) replied tersely.
“Then what is it?”
(Y/n) pursed her lips, intent on staying silent.
Shinobu sighed, “As one emotion bottler to another, talk to me. I promise I won’t laugh unless it’s really, really funny.”
“You are the worst.”
“Come on, talk to me… don’t be so stubborn.” Shinobu poked at her until she squirmed, but she still didn’t let her go.
(Y/n) was still quiet, and Shinobu was almost ready to wring her neck, but when she heard a muffled reply, she held off.
“Could you say it at a volume that I can understand? I know you know how to yell.”
“I said I have a crush on you!” (Y/n) finally jerked free from Shinobu’s arms, “Happy? Now go home already!”
(Y/n) got up and before she could slam the door shut in Shinobu’s bewildered face, Shinobu wedged her foot in the door.
She clenched her jaw tightly to try to offset the pain shooting up her leg. That was going to bruise.
“Are you an idiot?!” (Y/n) ineloquently asked. She was worried she had just broken Shinobu’s foot, but of course an, ‘I’m so sorry, are you alright?’, was not the first thing that would come out of her mouth.
“No, but I could make a pretty convincing case on your behalf. Who tells someone they have a crush on them and then slams a door on their foot?”
“That last part was your own fault!” (Y/n) flustered. “Leave!”
“You don’t want to hear what I have to say?”
“I already know what you’re going to say!”
“Obviously not, otherwise I don’t think you would be crushing my foot right now. Could you please open the damn door?”
(Y/n) complied, only because she had never heard Shinobu swear before and Shinobu slowly slid her foot back. Yeah, definitely going to bruise.
“Now, about your confession— don’t say a word! My turn to talk, you listen.” Shinobu warned.
(Y/n) shut her mouth quickly. Shinobu was looking a little ‘stabby’ and she did not want to see where that would lead if she pushed too far.
“I think I understand why you were afraid to tell me this. You are afraid of getting hurt. You’re afraid of being alone. I understand, but you don’t have to hide from me because I like you too.”
“…you do?”
“I do,” Shinobu nodded, “so if you have doubts in the future, talk to me first before you talk yourself into building your walls back up. I worked too hard breaking them down to begin with.”
(Y/n) looked down in embarrassment which only got worse as Shinobu came up to coddle and tease her about how cute she looked like that. When she finally relented Shinobu laughed and took (Y/n)’s hand.
“Well then, let’s go into town. I’ve been wanting to go to your library and you promised you would take me, remember?”
“It is not my library!”
“What are the latest edition medical texts that you carry?”
“How should I know what they have, I’m not a librarian!”
As annoyed as (Y/n) may have seemed, her hand never left Shinobu’s once as they walked.
#demon slayer oneshots#kny oneshots#demon slayer x reader#kny x reader#shinobu kocho x reader#shinobu kochou x reader#shinobu kochou#shinobu kocho#requests#alexkolax
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I don't even if that was meant to be just a random comment or if you really wanted people to ask you about it, but if you REALLY have thoughts the epic of gilgamesh as a teen musical romcom PLEASE TELL ME BECAUSE EVER SINCE I READ YOUR TAGS IT'S ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT
anon i am kissing you on the forehead. i was dearly hoping someone would ask
so our story begins at Uruk High, with an opening number sung by an ensemble of girls
(note: this is one of them things where teenagers are played by twentysomethings. deal with it)
and they're singing about this guy Gil. and at first it sounds like they're singing his praises--he's a star quarterback, named Handsomest by the yearbook three years running, yadda yadda yadda
but then it gets to the chorus and it turns out they hate him. because he's a serial sexual harrasser and just all-around douchebag
and it ends with them praying for help to this framed photo in the girls' locker room--ok you know that teen girl squad ep where cheerleader says something about "mindy cred" and it cuts to the cheerleaders worshiping a picture of someone called mindy? it's like that. some legendary former student. they're praying to her for help in dealing with the menace that is Gil
their prayers are answered in the form of a new student named Enkidu (unlike the other names i am leaving his alone. because of reasons) who rides in on a motorcycle, all black leather and long hair and sexy dangerousness
the girls immediately ask him to kick Gil's ass but he can't be bothered
and then Shayna, the school slut (not derogatory; a title bestowed in reverence) is like "i got this" *puts on lipstick*
so she seduces him (while singing a fun vampy song) and completely rocks his world and he's like "yeah ok i'll do whatever you want"
the next day at school, Enkidu sees Gil being creepy at yet another girl and charges at him
cue Fight. which is probably another musical number
it ends with Enkidu on top of Gil on the floor. they breathlessly stare into each other's eyes for a moment
And Then They Kiss
from that point forward, Gil and Enkidu are the new power couple. Gil stops being a douche and the two of them get up to all sorts of shenanigans
there's gotta be a ballad about how devoted they are to each other. naturally. that's our act 1 closer i think
act 2 begins with the lads embarking upon their most epic caper yet: a plot to kidnap the mascot of rival school Cedar Forest High
said mascot is a fucking bobcat
so they arrive at Cedar Forest and you know that part where they take turns getting scared and giving each other pep talks? that happens. and it's a song and it's cute
so they get the bobcat (easier said than done, blah blah use your imagination)
and then there's a roadtrip to take it to an animal sanctuary some distance away, and that's where we do some Trippy Dream Sequences
they return home and are hailed as conquering heroes
in the ensuing swell of admiration, Gil gets propositioned by a certain School Board Milf (she's been established as a character somehow before this. idk)
he turns her down, like "uhhhhh even if you WEREN'T twice my age and if i DIDN'T have a boyfriend, every dude you've ever banged has ended up royally screwed over, so...no thanks"
this does not go over well. School Board Milf, in her wrath, enlists the help of one of her boyfriends, a certain Police Sergeant Bull
some kind of dramatic confrontation happens between Sgt. Bull and the boys, and the ultimate fallout is that Enkidu is sent to jail
so in the source material, this is Enkidu's death. but this is a COMEDY, so we gotta have a happy ending
that said, Gil is making a big emotional deal out of this as if Enkidu were actually dead
there's a scene of him weeping alone in his room and singing a sad reprise of their romantic ballad from earlier
BUT THEN! a car horn sounds from outside. Gil looks out the window and what does he see but a car full of The Ensemble of Girls!
"GET IN LOSER WE'RE BREAKING YOUR BOYFRIEND OUT OF JAIL"
and then Jailbreak, and Shenanigans, and we end with the happy couple riding off into the sunrise on Enkidu's motorcycle (maybe they literally fly away like in Grease. why the hell not)
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and u know what im ready to make my full statement on MENG MEI QI too. the situation is so crazy to me, basically now in 2023 some ujung wont even type out her name because 1. cheating scandal (WHERE SHE WAS THE 3RD PARTY, WASNT EVEN THE PERSON TO CHEAT ON SOMEONE) and 2. doesnt mention wjsn ever and to me that is literally HILARIOUS like, god its just soooo funny to watch everyone pile in with the loudest most popular opinion and not do personal critical thinking, or hey, maybe they did and what mmq did really WAS too much for them to still support her but in that case i raise an eyebrow because idk… a lottt of yall are the same people who will get online and write about loving evil women and letting girls be shitty etc etc and she literally gives you what you asked for on a silver PLATTER, like doing nothing cancellable just giving us a good wholesome woman being evil and selfish and obsessed w herself and everyone turns on her!!!! sorry shes not fucking chuu lmao!? (ilu chuu no hate but there is space for good AND evil girls in my heart😇) im sorry im SO unbothered by her being the other woman in a cheating scandal like i cant imagine something mattering less to me and it actually made me super happy to confirm she fucks even tho the guy was ugly😇 but i said kinda most of this already so SECOND OF ALL about her not mentioning wjsn and shit… another thing i literally have NO problem with?? again, like…… no one was more distraught than me at what happened to ot13 but these are REAL PEOOLEEEEEEEEEE?!????!??? i’ve said this before too but i think its worth mentioning, i think my perspective on WJSN has always been a certain way because i grew up playing soccer on a team of the same ~18 girls for over 8 years and im very familiar with, idk, “team dynamics” in groups of girls growing up together? so i understand what its like to be in a larger group dedicated towards this ultimate, performance based goal together and while not everyone out of those 18 girls is one-to-one best friends and lots of people have pretty significant differences, none of that matters “on the field” or when you’re “working”, and its actually lowkey beautiful hiw such different people can unite together to make their dream happen AND develop really long lasting strong relationships w each other when they would otherwise might not have. so ive never had illusions that wjsn as a group has this monolithic motivator or reason for being in wjsn or being an idol, they are all super different personalities and have different interest areas like acting, musicals, song production, MCing etc! so its really impossible for me to feel upset or bothered in any way when i hear complaints about mmq’s behavior in this area because im like ? she obviously has/had this solo career (that i have to believe she had way more control and stylistic direction over than with wjsn) in her home country where she gets to embrace her personal style and concepts instead of matching wjsns, shes clearly separating from that past image and going in a different direction w her career! it does make me bummed that shes not getting 13 stars tattooed like xiao did but again what am i gonna do, be mad that this artist who i really care abt as a person is going off on their own path and direction? cujung is a ROCK of this fanbase its not like a mmq wjsn mention is going to create millions more ujung and album sales? just never added up to me, IM not gonna feel some type of way about it because stan twit fucking tells me to, like how it feels a lot of ujungs react to everything! that one thing going around that was like “wjsn are coworkers not friends” was sooooo funny for me to watch ujung actually get mad about because like,,, they ARE coworkers? AND FRIENDS?! there are 13 of them? each person has a unique individual and complex relationship with each other person? ah idk why i even bother with these essays the avg kpop stans iq is literally 65 yall love being spoonfed parasocial relationships simulated for ur consumption so much u completely block out the fact they are real people
#and a lot of people who have the most to say about it like literally dont go outside and have lives and group activities to be a part of so#sorry if im being haterish but like they started it#getting mad at what mmq says and doesnt say about her old job and who she fucks is giving incel its giving i like to control women#giving the type of people who freak out and kts over their idol reading a feminist book or dating someone#sorry women are autonomous beings not morally perfect objects u can glorifyingly put on a pedestal and tear down just as maliciously when#something they did doesnt add up to this unrealistic un-human image u created of them#i honestly think some of u get more out of tearing at and hating someone than u did supporting them its like fun for u to sit behind a scree#and judge their lives meanwhile havent washed ur greasy ass hair in days and when was the last time u called ur grandmother? what the longes#lasting friendship you’ve ever been able to maintain? huh???#damn i cant find out how to do a read more on mobile sorryyyyyyyyyy#long post#ANYWAYS *pulls out comfort photos of teen mmq smoking cigs*
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Someone was dumb enough kind enough to get me pokemon violet this christmas so i guess i am gonna be playin it and gettin the 'inside scoop' on the pokemon companys latest game. For clarifications sake the last pokemon game i really bothered to sit down and complete was oras and thats only because oras was a remake of gen3. otherwise the last mainline one ive gone out of the way for is xy.
thoughts!
i appreciate the effort to cinematography, it helps breath a bit more life into the affair then there might otherwise have been
on the other hand the game runs like ass, which you could arguably say is a good indication of the ambition the pokemon companys going for this time... but i would argue back that its just the game being poorly optimized cause overall well its all rather ambitious i havent seen anything that feels too far outside the switches capabilities so far.
nemonas a treat, shes got that slight edge of barrys insanity but its a bit more balanced with calmer moments so that she doesnt feel quite as overwhelming as barry could
is catching easier in this game? cause it feels real easy so far to catch in this game, practically nabbed the whole lot of pokemon in the 'tutorial area' before hitting the school
i appreciate the game introducing terrestalizing the way it does, having nemona use it against you before letting you enjoy it. it helps demonstrate how well its quite the powerful new gimmick to use, its not invincible and can be beaten if ya play it smart
that said the ai for battles is feeling particularly rock stupid this time around. hopefully that'll change when things go on, but if nemonas response to having her pokemon wake up on red health with already 3 workups behind it, is to go for another workup as ralts erases it from existence immediately afterwards... im not confident itll get much better from there.
neither penny or backpack boy leave much of an impression so far. cant even remember backpack boys name.
it definitely feels like theres some form of response to criticisms of pokemons previous outings going on here, how a lot of the gens after xy were seeming to get increasingly hand holdy to the point of gen8 having the player around as a side piece to its actual plot. here the reins are taken off pretty heavily even just in the tutorial section and they really wanna emphasize how its 'your choice' on what ya do.
that said, the fact that theres 8 gym challenges but only 5 star bases and 5 titan pokemon makes me irrationally angry cause they arent all 8 apiece. hopefully they still all feel substantial enough that it doesnt become an actual problem...
the tutorial section as it were both lasts too long, yet feel too short in my opinion. cause mechanically you can get all the stuff the game teaches ya here out in a much shorter timeframe/area. but on the other it doesnt feel quite as immersive as i think they were going for to draw me in?
i like that even in the school setting child endangerment is just the accepted status quo of things. turns out even if red and blue were in school they'd still have a better then 0 chance of being killed by super powered monsters.
idk, maybe its the abysmal expectations i had going in but im digging this more then i thought i would. if the game ran more consistently and didn't... glitch out in a lot of places i'd probably be even more hooked into the experience.
they shoulda given you a cylcazar as a 'ride slave' instead of the box legendary to start with, especially if were just gonna keep the legendary out of battle 'till yer tough enough' regardless. that way you could have the legendary as a reward for say, completing the titans quest.
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For the st concept (the jane doe thing) it's really cool! Im invested too 😭😭 i do have a few questions:
(1) is the fic gonna be set canonwise or are u gonna do it outside of that(-canon, battle, dark stuff)? (2) And how would the characters react to the reader's existence?(i feel like they'd be bothered and surprised but "hey a headless, talking, human? Isn’t the weirdest thing we've encountered")
(3) how tall/big are they? Are they the size of a doll? (Im sorry idk what/who jane doe is 😭) (4) how old is the reader?
And for name suggestions, Hiram would fit bcs the reader borrows the head of a doll, and "hiram" is a word in filipino which quite literally means "borrow", But it would depend on if another character would be the one to give them a name.
And for their relationships with the other characters, i think it would be cute if they were all someone protective of the reader.(But at first they are obviously freaked out.) For love interests, i think it would depend on the age of the reader. Buuut i think a found family trope would fit a little better? Steve’s the mom, of course. Nancy's the dad (who teaches reader about all kinds of stuff, and scolds anyone who is scared of/insults the reader) and el would def be really curious abt the reader, and protective, too :P overall ur idea is so cool and cute i love it
ahhhhh omg yes hi im so glad ppl r loving this like i am !!!
under cut is a bit of season four spoilers bc im discussing when it might be set ! <3
(1) i was thinking its set season four because that has the dynamics between certain characters which i like, things like steve isnt awful and we have robin & eddie etc. ive been leaning towards moving away from canon and having less of the plot with the upside down/vecna/etc. (id also be fine with season 3 just bc id love for everyone to hang out at starcourt together)
but i was also thinking it would be cool to involve reader in all the events, and reader could end up helping them. im going to this with the idea that reader doesnt stick around in the end, and hopefully finds out who they are, which now im thinking about it could in some way be via being vecna'd, i dont know the specifics on how that would work for reader but its an idea that could be cool !!
so to answer the question im happy with leaning either way, id loooove to do it with everyone all happy and everything so we get cute dynamics with everyone hanging out together, but sticking with canon for the most part could be rlly interesting so yeah !! im open to both sides atm i havent decided
(2) i feel like at first their reaction would be like 'wtf am i seeing' honestly bc yeah theyve seen alot, i think it depends on when its set, bc if its set in s4 i bet at least a few ppl would be like 'thats wild am i being vecna'd rn?' lmao. but yeah i dont think most of their worlds would be like rocked or anything bc atp theyve seen so much they cant be toO like terrified
(3) im giggling at the thought of reader being doll sized omg /pos
these are some photos of jane in the show (shes the blonde one just so theres no confusion lol!) she has doll-like make-up and such, and she also moves a bit robotic like a doll. i would ofc describe reader far more vaguely for appearance so everyone can read this and see themselves in it, but this is the girl who inspired this whole idea :D !!!
in ride the cyclone, jane doe is normal human sized, and her doll is normal doll sized (its a porcelain doll but like where are we gonna find a porcelain doll in hawkins lmao so thats why i went w some sort of babie or other day). in ride the cyclone its kind of just one of those things no one explicitly brings up, someone gets a lil creeped out by jane's headless doll but thats about it, so its one of those things without like a full explanation, but i think its such a cute way to give them a head.
so reader would be like normal human size and everything, and the doll head and the fact that reader might talk to the doll is something everyone is kinda just like 'ok yeah i dont have the energy to unpack whatever's happening there'. ooorrr we could always add some sort of explanation if we wanted to which i wouldnt be opposed to :DD
also above ties into that this isnt going to be 100% serious dark angst etc, ride the cyclone itself could be quite heavy if it werent for the fact that its a funky lil comedic thing as well, and i think thats a fun vibe that ill probably try to stick to a lil with this as well
(4) for age my original idea was that reader is around robin/steve/nancy/eddie/etc's age, early 20's or like 18-19, this is bc id like the dynamic between reader and other characters if reader was around this age. and also i dont want this to be like a shot-for-shot remake of when the gang found el in the woods, so making reader like dustin's age is less appealing to me.
omg i love that name idea and i loovveee how it ties back to the doll bc ik the doll wont actually talk back but i think its such a cute thing to include so i just gotta. so far ive been suggested gn variations of jane doe, but i also love this definitely putting it on the list for name options !!
and for relationships yess i agree !! i asked what people thought for romantic bc i was interested in what ppl thought but i am leaning towards stuff like yeah found family !! i cant explain why but i would loooove nancy and reader's friendship in this just soemthing abt it i love !! and omg yes ofc dad nancy and mum steve .
also i can totally see reader and el bonding over how el can relate to reader not rlly knowing anything about the world and how things work and such !!
for context, jane doe in ride the cyclone can speak and all (which i might alter a bit for reader bc depending on how long reader's been alone/in a purgatory kinda place in the upside down then they may be a bit out of practice with speaking) but doesnt actually know what most things are, bc she learnt what they were during her life, which ofc she does not remember, so yeah !
#ahhhh this all makes me so happy im so happy w ppl's feedback on this idea !!#im having so much fun fleshing out the idea tysm everyone#stranger things x reader#steve harrington x reader#jane doe rtc#jane doe ride the cyclone#← not rlly for reach but also so i can find this on my blog in the future lol !!#but as long as we can hear that little blue bird — my rambles
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16: Bread
Date: 7-31-2020 IDST
Snape: *in the corner at a makeshift desk, brewing a potion* *looks up from his work and scowls at Dukermin* Are you aware that the latent magical energy in your house is out of balance? It's a wonder that I was able to make that simple fertilizer for that plant you had. *has a bunch more plants waiting to be revived*
Dukermin: *shamelessly looking over his shoulder as he works* Yeah I tried to do a feng shui thing a while back and completely screwed it up and haven't gotten around to fixing it. Maybe if I had real furniture instead of rocks it would be a little more spiritually aligned in here.
Snape: *makes some noise of acknowledgement and continues working* Where is that plant that I revived? Perhaps I could use it to know how to adjust my formula... *seems to be throwing things in the mix at random*
Dukermin: I'll get it, it's in the "dragon" den. *goes to fetch plant* Here he is! I named him Ziggy FYI.
Snape: ... This plant has legs.
Dukermin: yeah he actually ran away a while back, but he loved me so much he returned. Just last night actually! He brought his begonia girlfriend with him!
Snape: ...
Dukermin: Anywhooo... How are you liking Erscoga?
Snape: ... *hasn't left the house because it's the most similar thing to his dungeons that he's seen so far in his journeys with the Erscoga folks* *continues working*
Dukermin: You know, you should get out more. See our beautiful and very organized world! You could join a quidditch club! Or start a quidditch club!
Snape: I cannot imagine a world, even this one, in which I would start a quidditch club of all things, up there with the likes of James Potter.
Dukermin: It doesn't have to be a quidditch club, maybe a... culinary appreciation club? Or a.. idk cool cape club? What are you into?
Snape: *isn't going to bother answering* *scowls and jumps away as another cauldron explodes due to the magical energy in Dukermin's house* *cleans it up*
Dukermin: Yeah I gotta get that feng shui fixed. *helps clean it up*
Snape: *Evanesco-s the last remnants of the potion*
Dukermin: You have cleaning magics! That's so cool, you should start a cleaning club. I guess that's just a maid service but... like fun.
Snape: *glares at her* Do I look like a house elf to you?
Dukermin: No you look like a grumpy wizard man. I'm just trying to help... If you want to you can just chill here but like its damp and unaligned... Gotta get that sun vitamin you know...
Snape: *pointedly ignoring Dukermin as he rummages around in his pockets for more ingredients, coming up short* *frowns* Perhaps it would be prudent to gather more wormwood.
Dukermin: Is that a thing you dig out of the ground? I have a shovel! *excitedly runs to grab a shovel* Maybe Nalitie wants to help us find herbs!
Snape: *isn't going to mention that she doesn't really need the shovel, instead sheathing the dagger from his table and pocketing it* Is she the one who launched herself off of the school roof before you brought me here? *also has some vague feeling from another story in another life*
Dukermin: Yeah probably, sounds about right. Let's go! *off to Nalitie's house*
Snape: *following, because he'd have no idea where he's going otherwise*
Nalitie: *inside her house, reading to Lisa, Leonarda, and Erscoga Tobias*
Dukermin: *knocks on door with shovel, it's one of those plastic beach shovels*
Snape: *feeling uncomfortable being out in broad daylight, because he's spent the last 16 years working in the shadows and also being a spy, kind of, not consecutively*
Christine: *opens door, AE Tobias on her hip* Oh! Hello, Dukermin!
Dukermin: Hey everyone! We're gonna go find some wormwood, anyone wanna join?
Nalitie: *finishes the page she's on* .... Wormwood....?
Christine: I'm afraid I have rehearsal later this afternoon; I don't want to risk missing it, or I would come with you.
Nalitie: *setting down the book and picking up all three babies somehow* I'll come with you! Lemme just drop these guys off at Hope's house over on Aeuton, first.
Dukermin: Alrighty!
Snape: *impatient and wants to be doing this alone, but has no idea where to even find an environment suitable to grow wormwood, or if wormwood exists in Erscoga*
Dukermin: *to Snape* So uh yeah this is nalitie's house. Anyway, we'll probably go to Bensel to find wormwood.
Nalitie: *wants to wave, but is carrying three children simultaneously* Hello again! That other lady was my housemate, Christine.
Dukermin: Wanna lunchbox to Aeuton? *preps lunchbox*
Snape: Lunchbox?
Dukermin: Yeah it's the most common form of planet-to-planet travel in Erscoga.
Nalitie: It's.... Maybe like a portkey? Except you go into it, instead of just touching it.
Dukermin: Yeah, Nalitie, you should go first, just so Snape can see what's up.
Nalitie: *goes into lunchbox headfirst, clumsily with her extra load*
Dukermin: Yeah so you just do that but more gracefully *motions for Snape to jump in*
Snape: ... *copies Nalitie, minus the babies*
Dukermin: *hops in after*
Nalitie: *moves out of the way as they come through* *gestures around to the town of Sugar Bunting, which is visible from the hill they're on* Welcome to Aeuton! It used to be its own small world/country maybe? That we upended and rolled into a ball, and now it's here!
Dukermin: Yeah the people here are really chill with it tho.
Nalitie: Well, uh, they are now.
Snape: *a tad disoriented from the portal travel, but probably not as much as other newcomers and definitely not as much as when they were travelling via music*
Nalitie: Anyway, Hope's house is just down here, by Vella and her family. *starts walking, surprisingly normal*
Dukermin: *rolls down the hill*
Snape: *perturbed, but retaining the appearance of apathy* *walks down the hill as well, feeling slightly out of place because Aeuton is very colorful, not magical, and still a lot nicer than his hometown*
Dukermin: *shouts hello to people as she rolls by them*
Nalitie: *reaches Hope's door and kicks at it because her hands are full* *not bursting into the house like she normally would, for fear of giving the babies concussions*
Snape: *standing awkwardly behind her*
Dukermin: *rolled into some bushes and is now freeing herself* Are we here?
Nalitie: *nods back at her*
Hope: *opens the door* Nalitie. *sees Dukermin on the ground and Snape standing there looking like a bat* *confused*
Dukermin: *jumps up* Oh hey, I was just inspecting your bushes for routine maintenance... You got an A+ tho!
Hope: That's... nice.
Nalitie: Christine and I were wondering if you could babysit for a bit? She's got rehearsal later on and will probably be bringing the other Tobias, cause Steven is visiting his mom, Willy's out at a business conference--something about food safety standards, I guess--and Dave was going to go argue with his grandma's landlord.
Hope: I would love to take the kids. *takes the two that are not in the carrier and gestures for Nalitie to bring Tobias in the other room*
Shay and Rocky: *at the table, rewiring a Hexipal*
Dukermin: * goes over there* What are you trying to make it do?
Rocky: We wanna program it to do a different dance, one we saw someone doing over on Termata!
Dukermin: Oh I think I know the one you're talking about, it's quite popular over there. Try connecting that one to that one *somehow knows about electronics*
Rocky: *attempts it*
Hexipal: *starts waving its arms around in the air wildly, clicking its tiny heels together*
Snape: *has come into the house finally* *frowns* What is that?
Dukermin: It's called "The Man on Fire".
Nalitie: No doubt originating from one of my many VR house fires.... Those miniseries episodes got pretty popular on AETV, you know?
Dukermin: Yeah apparently they're renewing it for an eighth season!
Nalitie: Oh no, wait--I don't have any material planned! What the heck has Mettaton been doing with my VR room since he got his body back...? I was wondering where my small cult following came from.
Snape: *uncomfortable at the wording and hopelessly confused, because this is not just normal Muggle television being discussed, and it also isn't 1996 anymore*
Dukermin: Anywhoo... we're gonna head out to Bensel. Hope, do you guys need anything from there?
Hope: No, we just bought produce from Isole the other day, but thank you.
Dukermin: Alrighty, well, shall we? *starts heading out*
Nalitie: Heck yeah! *follows*
Snape: *nods at Hope and Shay and Rocky in goodbye* *leaves with them*
Dukermin: *preps lunchbox*
(And so they were off to Bensel!)
Dukermin: *appears there* So uhh... who's farm should we roll up to?
Nalitie: *lands on her face, untethered by children*
Snape: *lands rather ungracefully this time*
Nalitie: Definitely not Old McDonalds. He tried to sue me the other day for disturbing his corn at Christmas. I might be queen, but that doesn't mean I have money... or that Erscoga itself has a currency...
Dukermin: I mean if anyone's going to have weird herbs it'll be 7even but I'm not sure she's home right now...
Nalitie: *shrigs* Worth a shot. Otherwise we can raid the land around her house, I'm sure that's fine. We made the planet.
Dukermin: Yeah we can do a steal.
Snape: *squints suspiciously* What precisely do you mean, made this planet?
Dukermin: I mean, we kinda made all of this. You didn't know that? I mean, who in their right mind would just allow us to be queens if we didn't contribute drastically to the universe...?
Snape: Forgive me my ignorance, but I didn't exactly choose to come to your world, now did I? *won't speak of the fact that he has actively chosen to not leave the house in the last 2-3 months*
Dukermin: Oh yeah I forgot that you're kind of a hermit in my house. It's okay tho, you're helping my poor plants.
Nalitie: It's not like we really gave you a tour before now, anyway. Dang. Usually we're so on top of that when new people come to Erscoga.
Dukermin: Yeah. Welp. This is Bensel! The farm planet sorta thing!
Nalitie: Literally all that's on here is farms. And 7even's house, which might also be a farm. I'm not sure. We haven't gotten that far.
Dukermin: Idk she wants to be a witch doctor last I talked to her so...
Snape: *chooses not to comment on that wording, unsure if the distinction exists for the Wizarding World™*
Nalitie: I think the last time we did development for her was back last spring.
Dukermin: Well, if she doesn't have wormwood we can try Isole maybe...
Nalitie: Farmer Joe's pretty neutral. We might have to pay him, though.
Dukermin: I have some Pocket Lint™ that I can pay him with.
Nalitie: Sounds good.
Snape: *offers Dukermin a largish gold coin* This should be worth something, regardless of world. In any case, most Muggles are particularly transfixed with gold at all times, so unless your world is any different, it won't matter that this currency is invalid here.
Dukermin: Well... we can try it but.. One of our planets is... hard to explain. Gems and precious metals aren't nearly as rare here as they might be elsewhere. You know what is rare... French breads.
Nalitie: Dang. Maybe I should be selling bread to make some actual money. *pauses* No. That would ruin my integrity. I hate bread.
Snape: ...
Dukermin: *considers bringing up that toast is even rarer but decides against it* We can try it tho, the barter system is good.
Nalitie: *considering* *turns to Snape* Hey, you're good at making things. Would it be possible to make... breadless bread, for those who are intolerant to the real stuff?
Snape: *scowls* Are you truly that stupid?
Dukermin: I dont know. Maybe just throw some beans and rice in there...
Nalitie: Maybe without the yeast....
Dukermin: yeah! Snape, can you magically make bread rise??
Snape: I suppose you could use the Bread Leavening Charm, if you want to run your kitchen like a middle-aged wizarding housewife *thinking of Molly*. *looks at Nalitie* Although I don't suppose you would possess the magical skill required for even that.
Dukermin: Yeah so I'm learning that and making a bread company for sure. And it will be named Breadless Bread™ .
Nalitie: My kitchen is blissfully void of snails right now. Maybe once we're done here, we can go test that Bread Leavening Charm.
Dukermin: Yeah let's do it! ANYWAy wormwood.
(You've been standing in 7even's front yard for a while now. She's not home, but she has some bushes around her house that look suspiciously wormwood-like, and her herb garden is watering itself around the side of the house.)
Dukermin: Hey is that wormwood? *wields shovel and heads over there, tip-toeing, ready to do a steal*
Snape: *strides over there, plucking the shovel from Dukermin's hands on the way* If you dig up that plant, not only will it be more obvious to the homeowner, but you run the risk of severing the roots as well.
Dukermin: Dang maybe I just wanted to look cool, I had a whole aesthetic going on... *pouts*
Snape: *methodically cutting a few sprigs of wormwood, trying to make it not look obvious that any is missing* *placing them in handkerchiefs and placing them delicately in his robe pockets*
Dukermin: I'm lookout *pulls out a pair of binoculars*
Nalitie: *checking out her herb garden*
Snape: *notices another interesting plant and goes and takes some cuttings*
Dukermin: Ooh what did you find *uses binoculars to examine the new plant*
Snape: Dittany. I've been running low, no thanks to escapades of Potter and his friends last year. *scowling at the memory*
Dukermin: *fake low voice* If it wasn't for those meddling kids, bleh bleh bleh. *back to normal* But yeah you can probably take whatever you need, i'll leave some pocket lint as payment when we leave.
Nalitie: Plus, you have, like, unlimited time to do whatever you want here, there's no Voldemort or Harry Potter here!
Snape: *hisses* Don't say his name in my presence.
Dukermin: Ah... good ol' Voldy. Don't worry, if we ever were to encounter him we'd toss him on the scary prison planet. Plus, all his really scary magics are banned here anyways.
Snape: Hmph. Well, if you're done blithely insulting one of the two most powerful wizards of our age, I have what I came here for. Perhaps it would be better to offer your friend actual monetary compensation, if you wish to leave any trace of our presence at all.
Dukermin: Whatever you say, Dad. *leaves the gold coin* We should go do something productive with you since you're around. Maybe we should go see Alphys?
Nalitie: Oh! Yeah, since we're doing the tour for you kind of now, we should FIGHT you to see what your SOUL's like!
Snape: Excuse me?
Dukermin: We'll do that on Pluto. *prepares lunchbox* *hops in*
Nalitie: *tries feet-first this time*
Snape: *carefully enters lunchbox*
Dukermin: *somersaults onto Pluto* What's up everybody!??
(Pluto is looking a tad better than when you were here before. The barricades around the Best Western have been taken down. Undyne's house is pretty much rebuilt. Sans and Papyrus have started to rebuild their house. Alphys's lab is STILL buried in the ground. Chara and Sans eye you warily from their box.)
Dukermin: *shouts to the few monsters out and about* I love what you've done with the place!
Gert: IT'S YOU!!! THANK YOU FOR SAVING OUR PLANET!!! YOUR FRIEND LOOKS REALLY MAD AND ALSO KIND OF COOL! I LIKE HIS HAIR! MOM WON'T LET ME GROW MINE OUT BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE ANY.
Dukermin: You're welcome, my guy! And you know what, bald is beautiful!
Snape: *glaring intensely at Gert because he is a child and also he has never seen a monster child before??? But this one is getting on his nerves for sure.*
Dukermin: Gert, meet Snape. Snape, meet Gert!
Gert: WOAH!! I'VE NEVER MET A SNAPE BEFORE! THAT'S AWESOME!
Snape: *wishing he was back at his makeshift work station in Dukermin's house* What precisely did we come here for?
Dukermin: Uh lots of things actually. We needed to check up after the war and tragedy and stuff, we need to FIGHT you, we need to see Alphys... and I feel like there's something else that maybe we're not supposed to know about yet...
Nalitie: Yep. Sounds about right. *to Dukermin* Shall we start a FIGHT?
Dukermin: Sure thing! *to Snape* Put up your dukes, old man!
Nalitie: *starts the encounter*
(You're in the alternate dialogue now!)
(Snape stands across from you. You don't see his SOUL anywhere, but he's outlined in faint shades of purple and cyan.)
(You see the bullet box with Dukermin's multicolored SOUL and Nalitie's slightly desaturated blue one. It's Snape's turn.)
(He doesn't know what he's doing.)
Dukermin: Oh interesting, you don't have like a normal SOUL, which makes sense. The colors are definitely there tho.
Nalitie: Yeah, that's weird. If I didn't know better I would probably say you didn't have a SOUL, but that would be silly.
(Snape asks what you mean by "doesn't have a normal SOUL.")
Dukermin: So, you can see that we both have SOULs...
(Dukermin points out the two SOULs)
Dukermin: They're like, little heart things. I've got a bunch of random colors because... weird things...
Nalitie: And mine's not very heavily colored because DETERMINATION. Actually, neither of us is a very good example for what a SOUL is supposed to look like. Anyway, it's your turn, Snape. Just pick a button.
(Snape CHECKs Dukermin.
Dukermin - LV2 - She has a lot of SOULs because Candle Grandma is also inhabiting her body.)
(It's your turn!:
*| Fight
*| Act
*| Item
*| Mercy)
(Dukermin CHECKs Snape)
(Severus Snape - LV 6 - He's a wizard with specialties in potions and Dark magic.)
(Nalitie SPAREs Snape.)
(Snape accepts the spare, and dialogue goes back to normal.)
(Meanwhile, on Bensel)
*7even comes back to her house after looking for her lost frog pet and sees a golden coin. After searching around her house, she realizes there are some herbs missing. She wonders where they possibly could have gone, and decides to try and contact Nalitie to ask, as she is still relatively new to life in Erscoga.
*Ring ring*
(Somewhere back on Pluto...)
Nalitie: *jumps when she realizes her phone is ringing* *to Snape and Dukermin* Hang on a sec, this looks important. *answers phone* Hello?
7even, still on Bensel: Hello, I'm so sorry to disturb you, but I was wondering if there are any thiefs or something on Bensel, as far as I know is only me and my neighbor?
Nalitie: .... *suspiciously* Uh Old McDonald is a pretty shifty character if I do say so myself. He sued me a few weeks ago for trespassing in his corn.
7even: Potentially, my only suspicion of that is that he is, in fact, very territorial, and seems to respect other people's property as long--is someone there?
Dukermin: *viciously mouthing to Nalitie* Who's on the phone??
Nalitie: *covering the... the microphone bit?* 7even. I think we've been caught. *to 7even* Uhhh we're... orienting a newcomer to Erscoga. We're on Pluto, so there's a lot of post-war construction.
Dukermin: *loudly whispering* ask her if she wants to join us!
7even: Newcomer! Oh that's wonderful!
Nalitie: Yeah! His name is Snape--or uh that's his last name, we don't believe in first names here apparently--and we've been showing him the ropes over on Pluto if you want to come join us. I think I left you with a Lunchbox?
7even: Yes I still have that. And I would love to. I need to replenish my supplies anyway, and the coinage is the perfect amount to supply most of them.
Nalitie: Awesome! We'll wait here for you and also move out of the drop zone. *not going to mention the coin because it totally wasn't her and Dukermin who left it there*
*7even finds the lunchbox in her storage, pushes the pluto button, and jumps in. She tries a little flip to be cool, but unfortunately does not land it well, and falls next to Nalitie, Dukermin, and Snape.*
Dukermin: 7even! Cool "flip"
Nalitie: :D IT'S YOu!
Snape: *raises an eyebrow at the person at his feet*
7even: You must be the newcomer, welcome! Im 7even!! *extends hand as she brushes off dirt on pants*
Dukermin: Yeah that's Snape. He lives in my house and never leaves so we forced him to go outside.
Snape: *warily shakes hands with 7even* You say that as if I'm a hermit. I simply had better things to do than "explore" your world.
7even: *to Dukerman* a bit cautious is he? *to snape* That's probably a good thing in some situations! But I promise I won't do anything bad.
Dukermin: *nods to first bit*
Snape: ...
Nalitie: Uh anyway, yeah, this is our new guy, and we were just trying to analyze his SOUL because that's important here and he's weird.
Dukermin: We already did the fighting thing... What more do we need to do with that? Visit Alphys?
Nalitie: Yeah probably. We can go see if she's in her lab.
(Nalitie points at the big rectangular building that's half-buried in the ground.)
7even: while we are there, do you know, by chance, if she has any herb supplies. There is a specific plant that I need for luring purposes.
Dukermin: What plant? What are you luring?
7even: Well you see, from my exploration of Bensel, there is an elusive....animal? I've been tracking it and it seems to respond to a supply of a plant called Grotsel. And Ive, unfortunately run out. It's a bit hard to find.
Dukermin: We can definitely ask, if Alphys doesn't have any...
Snape: *mouths under his breath* What the hell is Grotsel...?
Dukermin: *looks to 7even* uhh...
7even: It's a new subspecies of herb I've found that resides in unknown places. I don't mean to sound suspicious, but there is very little known about it. I feel like the animal may hold some answers.
Dukermin: I mean it doesn't get much more unknown than Erscoga. Yeah we'll ask, herbs aren't alphys's expertise but she may know of someone.
Snape: *suddenly realizing the extent to which this world is different than his, and also how weird it is*
7even: Then off we go!!
*to the lab!*
Dukermin: *sees the door is like perpendicular and finds a big hole in the side of the building* uhh. Knock knock?
Alphys: *had been watching anime or something* *almost doesn't scream this time* *looks over? Back? At Dukermin + co.* O-oh! Hello!
7even: Hello. You must be Alphys. We haven't met yet. Im 7even.
Alphys: *looks over at 7even* A-alphys. *sees Snape kind of outside of the hole* O-oh... did you bring another, um, another whole s-society here again...?
Dukermin: Not a /whole/ society. Just one person as far as I know... This is Snape.
Snape: *hiding under his mask of apathy again because what the heck is going on*
Alphys: Oh! S-sorry, I just, uh, assumed b-because there were two of them...
7even: Well, I don't exactly know fully our business here, but it seems we have another SOUL for you to inspect? *Looks to Nalitie and Dukermin*
Dukermin: OH yeah, a couple of things apparently. First off... This guy *gestures to Snape* has kind of an interesting SOUL, and maybe you want to take a look?
Alphys: O-oh, sure? Um, what kind of, uh, w-weird should I expect?
Dukermin: Well, the SOUL is present, but it's not so much... a SOUL as like... an Aura? Idk you'll see...
Alphys: ???? *starts an encounter with Snape*
(You encountered Snape!
|* FIGHT
|* ACT
|* ITEM
|* MERCY)
(Alphys CHECKs Snape.)
(Severus Snape - LV 6 - He's a real, live wizard.)
(Snape SPAREs Alphys and the encounter ends.)
Alphys: !!!!!! W-Wait. You guys didn't tell me he was a-a wizard! L-like, uh, l-like a real one!!!!
Dukermin: Oh yeah he's definitely that. Cool, right?
7even: Fascinating. *To Snape* After this is over, I have a couple of questions to inquire of you, if that's all right?
Snape: *looks at 7even appraisingly* If they are not too obnoxiously intrusive, I suppose.
Alphys: *to Dukermin* N-no, y-you guys don't get it. Wizards, real, true wizards w-went extinct in my world when The Barrier was created.
Snape: !!
Dukermin: Oh. Welp. Now you get to meet one! It's okay, he's kinda chill.
7even: Also a bit cautious haha.
Alphys: B-but that would explain the SOUL t-thing. Wizards, uh, they're kind of b-between monsters and humans??? I-I mean, obviously they're human, b-but they're special b-because their SOUL and their, uh, magic... Um, instead of manifesting as a--as a separate entity of sorts? The SOUL you're all used to? It, uh, it's interwoven into their body, their blood, their DNA. It's, uh, actually really interesting! A-and that's why they need incantations and wands, b-because physical matter--namely the human body--is a r-really bad conductor for, uh, magic.
7even: What, potentially, would happen if a regular human tried to conduct magic like that?
Alphys: Um... like, do you mean using w-wands and stuff? Nothing would, uh, happen really. Regular humans... their S-SOULs are separate enough from their, uh, physical matter that it's p-possible to pour magic out directly from the SOUL, so to speak, like, uh, like monsters but a little weaker, b-because they're impeded by being a human. That's why S-SOUL magics, l-like you use in encounters, aren't really effective for humans like they are for monsters.
7even: Amazing! I'll definitely have to do some research on this topic at some point.
Dukermin: I guess that kinda explains why it's so difficult to place "spellcasting" into the power cap. Because it encompasses so many things and hasn't really been much a part of our world before...
Alphys: Y-yep! Oh, uh, and also, in the case of, uh, wizards, s-some of their spells don't fit into the Spectrum of Magical Chroma. N-not like the kinds of magic you and Nalitie and, uh, 7even, was it? can use. L-like, uh... the cosmic p-powers you used to use, Dukermin? T-those were s-sometimes similar to regular monster magic or a v-very watered down blue magic. B-but I know there's some kinds of m-magic wizards can use, certain s-spells that go beyond the S-SOUL or r-really even anything we've slotted into E-Erscoga's system.
Dukermin: That's really cool... But... So we wanted to start a bread company right, and the only way that it can be done with integrity is if we find a way to remove the yeast component. Is it possible for us to learn spells? Or would it look a little different for us? This is very important.
Alphys: U-uh... Well, er... y-you wouldn't get anywhere just, um, just copying Snape if he does a spell. Um... I guess it would depend on the spell??? Maybe if, uh, if you showed it to us we could see if it has a color? *mutters* Sans is better at Color Theory than I am...
Dukermin: It's a bread leavening charm? Snape, can you show it to us?
Snape: *raises eyebrow* ... I could, if there was actual bread dough in front of me. What do you expect me to do, leaven your friend? It wouldn't work, by the way.
7even: I'm so sorry to interrupt. But why do we have to remove the yeast?
Nalitie: *bursts in through the crowd, blazing with passion* French bread is valuable and I don't have any money, but I can't just make and sell bread! I hate bread, it would ruin my moral code! But Log_Lady tested it for me and decided that yeast specifically is what makes bread bread, and gives it its flavor and stuff, so if you remove the yeast, you have breadless bread. *to Snape* And no, its not a stupid idea!
Dukermin: But bread simply isn't good if it isn't fluffy. *under breath* this actually sounds kind of like a scam but... i mean there are lab grown diamonds so...
7even: Ah, I see. Well I have a few bread ingredients at my home, but unfortunately not the type for french bread, so I am not of much help. The only ingredients I have is a starter for sourdough *to Dukermin* Lab grown diamonds? Cool!
Dukermin: Yeah it's an Earth thing! But i mean if there's no yeast in the starter, that could be useful. We just need to test it...
7even: I'm not sure if it has yeast. Farmer McDonald left it on my doorstep as payment for some seeds I lent him
Nalitie: *hisses at the mention of Old McDonald*
Dukermin: Oh, you know who would definitely have basic ingredients? Toriel. We can all just pop over there and see if we can use her kitchen.
Nalitie: HEck yeah, that's right! *already pushing past the crowd again to the outside world*
7even: One thing before we leave. *to Alphys* I have been trying to gather some information on a plant called Grotsel, but am having some trouble. Do you happen to know where I would find some information on it? Perhaps a book or something?
Alphys: *frowns* U-um... I don't think I've e-ever heard of it, b-but maybe on one of the native planets s-someone might know? N-no one's really sure what's on, uh, Lux or D-dunkel yet? O-or the war planet...
7even: That's all right. And thank you for the tips! Let's head out to...Toriel, you said?
(To Toriel's house!)
Toriel: *outside, searching for snails and humming*
Asgore: *probably still living in his own house, since his therapy with Sophia was cancelled temporarily due to the war*
Dukermin: *waves* What's up, Toriel? *looks for snails as well*
Toriel: Oh! Hello, my child--*sees the rest of the group*--children!
Snape: *narrows his eyes at Toriel, because he's not a child and she's too much like Molly Weasley for his liking*
Dukermin: Oh, this is 7even and that cranky man there is Snape!
7even: *Waves with large smile, she seems to like that same characteristic Snape dislikes so much*
Toriel: It is very nice to meet you both! If Asgore were here, he would offer you tea, but seeing as he is not here, perhaps I could extend that offer instead?
Dukermin: Oh yeah! *heads inside* *stops and knocks on the door before just walking in*
Snape: *despite everything, is always down for tea*
Toriel: *to Dukermin* It is open, my child. Asgore is back in the castle right now.
Dukermin: Eh, habits *walks in*
7even: *follows, as she follows, she looks excitedly around at the house, loving the cozy aura of her surroundings*
Toriel: *follows them in, leaving the basket of snails on the counter and washing her hands*
Nalitie: *sits down at the table*
Snape: *standing there in the kitchen, feeling hopelessly out of place*
Dukermin: *had found two snails in the garden* *has named them Seth and Sarah and will be keeping them forever now*
Toriel: *preparing tea* *to Dukermin* Thank you again for helping us with the war, my child. It was certainly a Plutonian problem, but we appreciate the knowledge you brought to the table.
Dukermin: Oh no problem! *under breath* kinda feel responsible because it was my body that was used to... whatever what's done is done. *To 7even* So I have a super powerful SOUL kinda sharing my body... it's complicated but yeah she went on a vacation gone wrong...
7even: That sounds awful. I hope you are okay now.
Dukermin: Oh yeah it was fine, apparently it was a very fun time until they accidentally brought a super evil lady to Pluto...
7even: Yikes, sounds like a lot of stuff happens on Pluto. I'll stick to my home base haha
Dukermin: This is true.. Yeah Bensel is much more peaceful. Anywho...
Nalitie: Oh yeah! Hey Toriel, you have baking ingredients, right? We want to make bread.
Toriel: Oh! Of course, my child, although I must warn you that I have run out of yeast. I made bread for Asgore and Frisk before the war and did not have the chance to buy more.
Dukermin: Oh well what luck! We're hoping to make bread that doesn't contain yeast but is still light and fluffy! With wizard magics!
Toriel: *startles, nearly dropping the tea cups she was serving* Wizard, did you say?
Dukermin: Yeah it's a whole thing. Don't worry about it tho.
Toriel: Apologies, my child, but I did not realize wizards were common in your world--they went out of existence in the War of Humans and Monsters in ours. I suppose we have not explored this world very much since coming here...
Dukermin: I wouldn't say they're common... there's really just one...
Nalitie: *points somewhat accusingly at Snape*
Snape: *scowls*
Toriel: *gently admonishing her* It is rude to point, my child.
Nalitie: *stops and mutters* Sorry Toriel...
Dukermin: heading over to the baking supplies* So uh, that's a yes on borrwing your kitchen...?
Toriel: Of course, my child, after all it would be remiss of me to deny you permission when I use Nalitie's kitchen so often.
7even: And of course we can reimburse you for the ingredients used. I have a coin :D
Dukermin: Oh good, cuz I'm fresh out of Pocket Lint ™ .
7even: *looks confused for a second* Pocket lint....hm. Weird. I think I have some, don't know where I got it
Nalitie: Remember, Erscoga doesn't have a currency yet... Pocket Lint ™ is temporary until our bread economy takes off. *pulling out the flour and putting some warm water in a bowl with sugar, but no yeast*
7even: Oh, well if there is no need for currency, I will find a different use for this coinage.
Snape: *over in the corner, sipping his tea and trying not to draw attention*
Nalitie: *also pulling out measuring cups* Sounds good. We've got like a lot of different currencies on each planet that are literally worthless in the grand scheme of Erscoga.
Dukermin: Ooh can I mix?
Nalitie: *pouring flour into her bowl of water* Heck yeah. I've got a spatula for while its still liquid but we'll have to knead it eventually.
7even: *intently watching* I actually don't know how to make bread. I was going to learn with my starter, but this is good too.
Dukermin: Sweet! You can try kneading it then, we'll show you how.
Nalitie: *sprinkling salt into the mixture because she forgot that* *blithely adding random measurements of flour, going by appearance rather than recipe* You guys can go ahead and mix or knead or whatever, I'll add as we go.
Dukermin: *mixes it up*
Nalitie: *pouring flour over Dukermin's hands as she mixes* It's probably going to be good soon.
7even: When will we need that charm?
Dukermin: Before or after we knead it? *has never made bread before either*
Nalitie: Uhhhh *looks to Snape*
Snape: After, if I recall Molly Weasley's explanation correctly. *obviously does because he's Snape and remembering things correctly is an important character trait of his*
7even: Perfect. Is it time to knead it?
Nalitie: *nods enthusiastically and moves out of the way*
Toriel: *watching and smiling, sipping her tea* *slides over to make small talk with Snape*
7even: *starts to knead, a lot more violently than would be expected, but obviously having fun*
Dukermin: *starts doing the dishes because that's a nice thing to do*
Nalitie: *putting away the flour*
Snape: *trying to move away from Toriel without seeming obvious*
7even: Hey guys, I think it's ready!
Dukermin: Okay, I'll give Alphys a quick call and see if she's still available to check the color *ring ring*
Alphys: *answers* *is breathing heavy, like she's running* I-I'm sorry!!! I hadn't, uh, hadn't realized y-you guys left!!!! I'm on my way!!!!
Dukermin: Oh it's chill, see you in a bit! *hangs up* She's on the way!
7even: Wonderful! We need her to check it or something?
Dukermin: Yeah, precisely. To check the color and see how it works, ya know...
(There's a knock on the door. Toriel goes to answer it, and in runs Alphys)
Alphys: A-alphys is here! U-um, I mean, uh, I'm here! *takes out the device she uses to examine SOULs, which has been recalibrated to just look at Color Signatures* O-ok, go ahead and t-try it.
Snape: *walks over to the bread dough and pulls out his wand* Ortum panem! *the bread begins to rise, as it would if you let regular bread dough sit for a while*
Dukermin: Oh wow! It's working! I smell capitalism and wealth!
Snape: *frowns* Of course it's working, I'm not an incompetent first year.
Toriel: *unhappy at Snape's attitude, but too polite to correct him in front of company*
7even: This is wonderful. I'm sure they didn't mean it as an insult, more like a congratulations and a thank you.
Snape: Hmph.
(The bread has risen wonderfully, and is ready to be baked. Of course, we didn't shape it into loaves of french bread, so it will have to be baked as one big lump.)
Alphys: *messing with her device, pulling up the hex codes for any colors that might be there*
Dukermin: *puts bread into oven, which we definitely remembered to preheat*
(Soon, the smell of baking bread fills the kitchen.)
Alphys: O-okay, um... So the composition of the spell looks like it's a really similar color to, uh, Dukermins' old c-cosmic magic, but in, uh reverse. It l-looks like it's got s-some Integrity aspect, w-which is at a r-really low s-saturation, it says th-that aspect is #e0f1ff, b-but it's got a lot of k-kindness in it, s-similar to healing magic--#54ff68. S-so it's not wizard specific! But s-since you can't really c-cast the spell like Snape, you'd have to, uh, play around with b-base magic compositions and, uh, color mixing, and intent, and really S-Sans is better at t-this stuff than me...
Dukermin: Oh, we'll have to pay him a visit then, I guess? At some point for sure.
7even: Well you guys do that. I'm going to head back to my home to do a bit more research. Keep me updated on the bread. And thank you so much for bringing me along!
Nalitie: Definitely, we will start a... a bread empire, I guess. You can take the bread if it's done. Otherwise we'll mail it to ya.
7even: Sounds wonderful!! *7even takes out her lunchbox and presses the planet Bensel, waves goodbye, and decides to not flip into it* *disappears*
Dukermin: Goodbye! Let's get this bread!!
Nalitie: *waves goodbye until she's gone* *continues cleaning up Toriel's kitchen*
Dukermin: Okay, so we're gonna go talk to Sans then?
Nalitie: Yeah, I think so. *is writing down the hex codes for the colors, now that the kitchen is clean*
Dukermin: Cool, i feel like I've been standing here for months. Off we go! *drags Snape with*
(And so they went outside to the Callie/Sans box. Mr. Face Man stands outside of it, writing on his whiteboard. Callie is confused. Sans is less than enthused.)
Dukermin: *draws a cat on the whiteboard*
Mr. Face Man: *look of annoyance, as much as his face will allow, as it is stuck in one kind of default smile*
Dukermin: *also copies the hex code onto the whiteboard* We want to make bread.
Mr. Face Man: *writes in the corner* ✋︎ 🕈︎✌︎💧︎ ❄︎✌︎☹︎😐︎✋︎☠︎☝︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎
Dukermin: This is more important though. Here's the hex code for the spell we're trying to learn. We need to avoid using yeast for personal reasons, so a bread-leavening charm is the only option. It's urgent.
Snape: *noise of disdain*
Dukermin: *noise of acknowledgment of disdain*
Sans: ... what exactly do you need our help with? or mine, i guess. i dunno. i just got up, i'm not bready for this yet.
Dukermin: Nice. We just want to be able to do this spell ourselves, we have the hex code so I guess we need to play around with the base colors some to get it to work.
Sans: *looking at the hex codes* ... hm. well, i guess this spell, or whatever you'd call it if it's not actually performed by a wizard, has a primary kindness trait. that's not too hard, just some regular ol' green attacks. the integrity part's a lot weaker, so you can't really throw my bro's blue attack at it and call it a day. if i was doin' it, i'd be able to mix the magics before i even throw the attack, but for you, it might be easier to have one person make the green attack and have the other person throw some good ol' blue magic at it. the SOUL kind, not the attack kind. oh, and you gotta mean it, too, that you're trying to get bread rise specifically.
Dukermin: So... I do have access to green magic, and you can do the blue magic thing... It'll just be a matter of getting the proportions right... right?
Sans: *finger guns* you got it, kiddo.
Nalitie: And getting more dough. Forgot that step. Also, we can only use those magics inside of an encounter so... does that mean we have to fight the bread?
Dukermin: Yes!! This is a dream come true!
Snape: *looking at them like they're crazy, since this magic system is gibberish to him*
Dukermin: So... back to Toriel's kitchen for a bread-making montage?
Nalitie: Back to Toriel's kitchen!
(and then they made a bunch of bread dough, knowing they were gonna screw it up a few times)
Dukermin: Okay, let's initiate a fight with loaf A.
(You encountered Loaf A!
|* FIGHT
|* ACT
|* ITEM
|* MERCY)
(Dukermin conjures a beam of magical energy and tries to hold it steady... but she lost control!!)
(Nalitie attempts to perform a blue SOUL mode on the beam of energy, missing a little and only getting some into the beam.)
(The bread turns invisible! It may have risen... but it's hard to eat bread when it's invisible...)
Dukermin: Maybe you should start this next one Nalitie.
(You won...? Earned 0 G and 0 EXP.)
Nalitie: Okay.
(You encountered Loaf 2!
|* FIGHT
|* ACT
|* ITEM
|* MERCY)
(Nalitie attempts to make solid blue magic.... But Integrity magic only manifests itself as a SOUL mode, which isn't physical.)
(Loaf 2 launches into the ceiling! -XX HP!)
Dukermin: Okay, so that didn't work. Probably be best if I started, huh...
(You won! Earned 5 G and 1 EXP!)
(You encountered Loaf e!
|* FIGHT
|* ACT
|* ITEM
|* MERCY)
(Dukermin manifested a ball of green magic and actually held it steady for a while!)
(Nalitie carefully turns the attack blue.)
(The bread starts to cry.)
(Dukermin SPAREs the bread)
(You won! Earned 0 G and 0 EXP.)
Snape: You two are actually more dunderheaded than the first years I teach. How such a simple charm can be outside your grasp is beyond me.
(You encountered Loaf △!
|* FIGHT
|* ACT
|* ITEM
|* MERCY)
(Dukermin very carefully makes a small bean of green magic)
(Nalitie attempts to turn the attack blue, but it's too small for the SOUL mode to take hold.)
(The flour in the bread begins to turn back into wheat. Now Toriel's countertop looks like a small farm.)
(You won? Earned 0 G and 0 EXP.)
Toriel: *walking into the kitchen* *didn't know they'd come back* Oh! What is this? It is, erm, a lovely addition to my home, but what on Earth are you doing?
Dukermin: We're trying.
(You encountered Loaf 5!
|* FIGHT
|* ACT
|* ITEM
|* MERCY)
(Dukermin does the green thing.)
(Nalitie sees the insurmountable amount of bread dough left, and accidentally leeches some Perseverance magic into her blue SOUL mode as she casts it.)
(The bread hardens into stone -- a wall of morality.)
Snape: *raises an eyebrow* How is it that you can manage so much accidental Transfiguration, but cannot perform a simple household charm?
Nalitie: We're doing our best, shh.
(You won, maybe. Earned 0 G and 0 EXP.)
(You encountered Loaf F'!
|* FIGHT
|* ACT
|* ITEM
|* MERCY)
(Dukermin flavor blasts the bread before Nalitie has a chance to realize what's going on)
(Nalitie pouts.)
(The bread comes to life. It goes to comfort the crying bread. What a nice moment.)
(You won! Earned 3 G and 0 EXP.)
(You encountered Loaf G(x)!
|* FIGHT
|* ACT
|* ITEM
|* MERCY)
(Dukermin is getting frustrated. She blasts the bread again.)
(Nalitie complains about not being able to do her thing. She catches the tail end of the blast with a blue SOUL mode.)
Loaf G(x): *is conscious* Space? Space space space gotta go to space. SPAAACE.
(Loaf G(x) has left the building.)
(You won! Earned 0 G and 0 EXP.)
Dukermin: Next time you can blast the heck out of it with me. It feels great!
(You encountered Loaf EIGHT!
|* FIGHT
|* ACT
|* ITEM
|* MERCY)
(Dukermin does the spiderman pose thing and decimates that bread with green magic)
(Nalitie casts a blue SOUL mode directly on the bread's remains.)
(Loaf EIGHT shatters and its molecules spiral apart, becoming pure magical energy and transcending our plane of existence)
Snape: *frowns* I would have liked to study that.
(You won? Earned 0 G, 0 EXP, and 15 Experience Points.)
Dukermin: Okay, time to chill out. I think I've got it figured out.
(You encountered Loaf !
|* FIGHT
|* ACT
|* ITEM
|* MERCY)
(Dukermin steadies herself and conjures up a reasonable looking green attack)
(Nalitie applies a blue SOUL mode to the attack, if a bit heavy-handedly.)
(The bread begins to rise! But... sideways?)
Nalitie: Dang. That was my fault, I think.
Dukermin: We'll get it next time.
(Loaf wins!)
(You encountered Loaf X!
|* FIGHT
|* ACT
|* ITEM
|* MERCY)
(Dukermin makes up a green attack and gets hit with a strange feeling... like she doesn't actually know what she's doing... like this is all a manifestation of something outside of her control...)
(Nalitie does... something.)
(The bread begins to glitch out. The world around it seems to tear apart and reveal a reality that none of the citizens of Erscoga are prepared to face.)
Loaf X: *takes in its surroundings* I believe it is time for me to leave this Google Doc now. *flies out of your computer screen, just over your left shoulder and out into the horizon*
Dukermin: ... That wasn't it.
Snape: *has the chilling feeling that he's nothing more than a crude pantomime of who he's supposed to be, and that he's not supposed to exist in Erscoga at all* *shudders*
(You encountered Loaf 11!
|* FIGHT
|* ACT
|* ITEM
|* MERCY)
(Dukermin makes a very similar green attack as the one she used on Loaf )
(Nalitie places a blue SOUL mode on the green attack. But calmly.)
(Loaf 11 begins to rise! The right way this time!!)
Nalitie: Heck yeah!!!!
Dukermin: We did it!
(You won!!!! Earned nothing but the satisfaction of finally getting bread to rise.)
(Dukermin leaves the fight)
Dukermin: So now we bake it, right?
Nalitie: *nods enthusiastically*
Toriel: *cleaning up some of the more interesting loaves and trying to coax the crying and other conscious ones outside*
Dukermin: *places bread in the oven we totally preheated*
(The bread bakes like a normal loaf of bread! The crying loaf cries harder, mourning its friend as it's so cruelly incinerated at 350 degrees.)
Oven: *dings*
The previous loaf of bread we forgot to take out of the oven: *is but a pile of ash*
Loaf 11: *is a perfectly healthy bread specimen*
Dukermin: Are you ready to try our magic bread that's gonna make us rich?
Nalitie: *peers at the bread suspiciously, reminding herself it's Breadless Bread* Indeed.
(The bread is delicious and fluffy in spite of a lack of yeast)
Loaf e: *sobs harder*
Dukermin: We should find a home for the Loaf e and Loaf F'.
Nalitie: *cleaning up the remains of the bread on the ceiling* I can take them for now, if you'd like. I'm sure the kids will get a kick out of them. Maybe Loaf F' will make a good babysitter.
Dukermin: That would be nice. *chucks the stone bread into the garden*
Nalitie: *tosses Loaf * *takes Loaves e and F'* Alrighty. Thank you again Toriel! *has forgotten about Loaf A sitting invisibly on the countertop*
Dukermin: Yeah, thanks! We'll make sure to cut you in for 15% of the profit.
Snape: *surreptitiously eating some of Loaf 11* *is more impressed than he'd ever admit*
Toriel: Oh, that is nice. Please feel free to come visit whenever you would like!
(The end! ... for now.)
~•*•~
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hii love, love your fics so I just had to request again! Could request a Kaz andd reader where he says something mean to her without meaning it but shes really sad an stattes crying to jesper and he gets angry and tells Kaz to apologise? Angst with a happy ending,please!! Thanks a ton darling💗💗
Forgiveness (Kaz Brekker x Reader)
thank you for requesting again! school has been kicking my ass, so sorry for how long writing this took, but I hope you like it! :)
Warnings: mentions of catcalling, (small) injury, idk?
Genre: angst to fluff
Word Count: 1910
To say you’ve had a shitty day would’ve been an understatement.
Heading to the White Rose to see Nina, you’d been catcalled multiple times. Maybe you were being dramatic, but the comments felt more scathing than usual, and it had gotten under your skin quicker than you thought it would. You didn’t want to use Kaz’s reputation to scare them off, but it wouldn’t have mattered. You’d still be viewed as a possession, just one that didn’t belong to them.
You had snapped at the last stranger who’d given their perverse ideals of you, and that altercation had left you a lovely slash on your arm from defending yourself. You had temporarily wrapped it up on a scarf, but you knew you would probably have to wrap it with gauze on it when you returned.
When you had asked the clerk where Nina was, he said that he’d seen her leave, but she said nothing to him. Which meant the entire journey here was a waste, and that you’d have to head home without her guaranteed cooperation with the plan your boyfriend was creating.
“Kaz, she’s not there. Clerk said she went out, but he didn’t get where. It was a waste of a trip,” you sigh, throwing down your cloak on a random chair.
Kaz sighs, lowering his head as he writes out another part of the plan. “Really, Y/N? You couldn’t go out and look for her? She told us a couple days ago that she was going to start taking trips to the market at this time. You could’ve found her there.”
“I’m sorry?” you scoff quietly, but try to adjust your tone at the icy stare he gives you. You could’ve said that nicer, sure. “I didn’t think to look for her there because I didn’t know that, Kaz. Are you sure she told us that?”
“Yes, she did. Were you not paying attention?”
“I don’t think I was there,” you refute. “I would’ve remembered if she told me.”
“I don’t have time to talk to people who can’t do their jobs,” he mutters. “Just get out and waste time for now. Let me finish what I’m working on and we’ll find her together later.”
“The hell you mean I can’t do my job?” you protest. “I did what you asked. I went to go look for her, and she wasn’t there. I thought your instructions were not to stray from my path, because you wanted me home quickly and safely.”
“If you had any shred of common sense, then you’d know that I’d only say that because I’m supposed to care about you. I’d take information over your safety.”
You still. What?
He’s supposed to care about you? Does that imply he doesn’t? He would take information over your safety.
Does he want to break up?
Stop being dramatic. Kaz doesn’t play implication games with something like that. He’d tell you outright.
But he wouldn’t care for you if he got what he wanted.
“I-um, oh,” you take a shuddery breath. Your chest feels tight and your eyes are going to water. Kaz hates dealing with over-emotional people. He needs people who can keep their cool, people who can think their way out of things. You need to get out of here before he looks up at you. You’re useless, you’re an idiot, no wonder he said you couldn’t do your job properly.
Too late. He looks up at you, frowning at your silence, but you quickly turn away, still trying to hide your face.
You laugh, and even you can tell that it’s not genuine, just an attempt at trying to hide your wavering voice. “I’m fine, Kaz. Uh- yeah, yeah! We’ll go out later and-” your throat catches as you swallow harshly. “We’ll go out and look for Nina later. See you then.” You quickly brush your tears out of the way, opening the door and stepping out.
Your steps echo down the hall, and you try and find your way to your room through the tears that now stream down your face.
I’d take information over your safety.
You still don’t know if he means it. He’s angry, but- Kaz was usually extremely candid when he was upset.
He might’ve meant every word.
You don’t notice Jes in front of you, and as you pass him, he catches your arm.
You wince, his fingers land right on the slash, and he hastily lets go, looking at you with concern. Everyone was usually about as emotional as a rock in the Barrel. What made you cry like that?
“Y/N, you okay? What happened? Why did you flinch from me? Did I do something wrong?”
His face resembles a kicked puppy, and your heart constricts with slight guilt.
“No, no- it’s not your fault, Jes- your fingers landed right on a slash I got, that’s all.”
He looks at his hands, covered in slight blood. You tug at your soaked-through scarf and look at it, and it looks even worse than when you first got it. Your grimace. So much for getting him to worry less about you. “It looks a lot worse than it actually is.” Your words are frantic and stuttered, but you hope he gets the point.
“How did that happen? I thought with Kaz’s reputation, you would be untouchable. Why isn’t he taking care of you?”
You smile sadly. The mention of Kaz tightens your chest again. “Guy scrapped with me for a little while after catcalling me. I didn’t want to use Kaz to defend myself- me, with him? He’d be even more of a target. And Kaz is a bit upset with me right now. He doesn’t know what happened.”
“Why the hell would he be upset?”
“I didn’t get the information he wanted,” your voice is small and weak. “And he said he’d rather have the information more than my safety.”
“Which is why you’re crying.” Jes’s face has a look of understanding.
“Yes,” you affirm quietly. “Today’s just been a bad day. I’ll be alright, though, really. I know Kaz doesn’t like dealing with weak people, so I thought I wouldn’t bother-”
“You’re not weak.” His voice gains a complete new edge, and his face is determined. You suddenly get a bad feeling. What’s Jes going to suggest you do? “We’re going to go confront him. Right now.”
“Jes, I look like I’ve been crying. I’d at least like to compose myself a bit.”
“No.” He makes sure he’s grabbing your other arm, before leading you back to Kaz’s office. “He needs to know how much he’s fucked up. He’s smart, but really,” Jesper sighs, “He’s an idiot. And you deserve better than that.”
Your heart warms at his words, but you’re still nervous as he leads you down the hall, and you’re definitely panicking when he opens the door without knocking.
Kaz looks up, and a brief look of surprise is in his eyes as he looks at Jesper. Why didn’t Jesper knock? And why would Jes need him, especially at midday? Wouldn’t he be out gambling?
Kaz prepares himself to hear something stupid. He doesn’t notice you standing behind him, and his attention drifts back down to his plan.
“What do you need?”
“Apologize.”
“For?”
“For being a bloody idiot and hurting your girlfriend.”
Hurting you? He looks back up to him, and this time, you’re standing next to Jesper.
“I didn’t-” Kaz starts, but your appearance makes him go silent.
Your expression is blank, but tear streaks clearly stain your face, and you clearly look like you don’t want to be confronting him. Jesper had put you up to this.
Were you too afraid of him to do it yourself?
What did he do for you to look like that?
“You didn’t do anything?” Jesper’s voice is incredulous. “She went to the White Rose to try and find Nina, and then you come home and treat her like she’s useless because she doesn’t get what you want. She’s your girlfriend, not a goon. Have some respect for her, yeah? She followed exactly what you said, to try and get home quickly and safely, and even then, she still gets hurt. Did you even notice the bleeding gash?”
“Jes,” you whisper, “it’s fine, really-”
He doesn’t listen, and grabs at your wrist to lift your arm, pulling down the scarf and revealing the bloody cut. Kaz blinks, concern and guilt briefly flashing on his face before he smooths back his expression.
How didn’t he notice? How did that happen?
“Y’know how she got that? Men were harassing her, and she fought one of them because she didn’t want to use your name as her shield. She was trying to prevent painting an even bigger target on your back. And then you go as far,” Jes laughs angrily, “as to say that she’s not worth more than information for your fucking plan? And through all of that, she leaves you alone because she doesn’t want to be an inconvenience to you. Your girlfriend thinks her emotions are burdening you. Get your fucking head out of your ass. Either you apologize to her, or she’s breaking up with you.”
You and Kaz are both left standing still, both watching as Jesper stalks back toward the door, opening it and slamming it shut.
The sound echoes through the silent room.
You don’t know what to say. Part of you feels vindicated, Jesper did the hard part for you, but part of you feels guilty- Jesper also made it a lot bigger than it could’ve been.
You let the guilt win out.
“I’m sorry, Jes’s wording was a bit harsh, I’ll take my leave, it’s really not that big-”
“Stay,” Kaz interrupts. “Please.”
You sit down on the chair next to his, and he turns to you, pulling out gauze and alcohol wipes.
“I can do it myself,” you say hurriedly. “I know-”
“You’re not a burden to me.” He avoids your gaze, he doesn’t want to see your reaction, in case he really would lose you after this. “Let me help you.”
“Okay.”
You hiss through your teeth as he cleans the gash, a small “sorry” escaping him as he continues. There’s still a silence hanging between both of you. He wraps it carefully, looking up at you when he’s done.
“Not too tight?”
“No,” you answer quietly. “Thank you, Kaz.”
There’s another silence between you.
“I care about you,” he says suddenly. “I wouldn’t trade your safety for anything.”
You know it’s his way of saying sorry.
“It’s okay,” you give a reassuring smile. “I know. I’ve just had a bad day, that’s all.”
“It’s not,” he argues. “If you ever need to defend yourself, use my name if it’ll get them to stop. I don’t care if it paints whatever sized target on my back.” You open your mouth to interject, but he continues. “I’m already a wanted criminal in Ketterdam. However much you increase the target by doesn’t matter, so long as you come home alright.”
“Okay,” you nod. “I will.”
“I love you, darling.”
Your eyes widen at his words. He doesn’t say it often, he knows that you already know that.
Jesper must’ve really shaken him.
“I love you too,” you reply softly. “Thank you.”
It’s his turn to look surprised. “For?”
“For caring,” you respond. “For being you. For loving me.”
A faint smile etches on his lips. “I always will.”
#shadow and bone#grishaverse#six of crows#six of crows x reader#soc kaz#kaz soc#soc x reader#kaz x reader#kaz brekker x reader#kaz brekker imagine#jesper fahey#thank you for the request!#request
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CHAPTER 20
- fuck it, i know what’s coming and i’m doing another set tonight, let’s GO
- Violet being a shit to Cyprian gives me life.
- “the sensation of coming home, as though they knew each other.” hnnnnnnnnnnng alkdjfghkfg
- “we could rub mud on him like we did with the horses.” i cannot tell you how much money i would pay to see this happen. someone please draw me art of Cyprian covered in mud and scowling fit to shoot lasers with Violet laughing her ass off in the background. pLEASE.
- Cyprian and Violet bickering, Will like ‘i will turn this car around, so help me!!!”
- gawd, Devon recognizes him as the Dark King reborn immediately, what a shock that must’ve been. for Sarcean himself to just come wandering in off the street and claim he’s looking to buy some ivory. like wtf. but also, “i am your servant.”
- “for all we know, this was the last.” as the last of his own kind that was hunted for his horn, this whole thing is very macabre. idk how he can stand to work in a shop like that.
- such an interesting back and forth, Devon testing Will to see what he knows/remembers and what his goal here is, and Will having no idea.
- “‘for a lady?’ ‘he knows.’” Dark King and his Lady, YEAH he knows!!! do you? does Will genuinely understand here that Devon has fully recognized him as Sarcean? the hand scar is mentioned, ya know, that one that’s representative of his mother trying to kill him for what he is.
- yeah, he totally knows, gosh. but also, the narration claims he was planning for Devon to tell James who he was. he obviously didn’t, by the end of the book James still doesn’t know the truth of it. was that Will’s plan? did he expect Devon to tell James the whole truth, or to keep up the pretense that everyone else believes? I CONTINUE TO HAVE QUESTIONS.
- on another note, the fact that he went in there with a coin purse full of rocks to make himself look wealthy enough to pay attention to is, for some reason, really funny to me.
- James coming in with violence and a snappy one-liner, like the icon he is.
- the description of James’ magic is uuuuhhhh something 👀 intimate, like his own hands. i’m not surprised that i’ve already seen it used in smut, even with only 16 fics existing for this fandom, adlfghjk.
- James literally uses his magic to undress Will, cAN YOU BELIEVE
- James says Will is no match for the Dark King, and Will laughs. the irony, of course, but also the truth of it. the futility of fighting against fate, of thinking that he can overcome his nature, that he can be something good. (also Violet is there with a blunt instrument, but i’m thinking broader terms here, lmao.)
- their plan really was to knock him over the head with something heavy and hope that worked, and it DID. sometimes simplicity is key, ya know? don’t bother overcomplicating things. just whack ‘em. 100% success rate.
CHAPTER 21
- the thrill Will gets from having James contained and subdued is a little chilling, with knowledge of the Collar later on.
- i want more of James & Cyprian so badlyyyyy. they grew up together!!! they know each other!!! Cyprian functionally took James’ place!!! Cyprian is what James would’ve been, if not for his previous life!!! Cyprian is everything James wasn’t given the opportunity to be!!!
- i’ve said before and i’ll say again: i’m a SLUT for characters who use provocation to cover up vulnerability. the world is going to hurt them anyway, so they might as well give it a reason. if they ask for it, then they can at least pretend they had control over the pain.
- is St Clair the name James was born with? is it Jannick’s name? Jannick St Clair? did his adopted sons take his last name? Cyprian St Clair? these are absolutely crucial questions that i need answered immediately.
- “HELLO, FATHER.” -record scratch-
- everything about this hurts. because James doesn’t even remember his past life. all of this for something he doesn’t even remember and isn’t necessarily beholden to. how different he would’ve turned out if they hadn’t written him off. “that thing is not my son.” i mean, damn. that fucking stings.
- it says the box with the unicorn horn is the length of a walking cane now, but i’m pretty sure last time it said the horn was the length of both Will’s outstretched arms cuz i remember remarking that that would be like 6 feet long 😅 maybe i’m just dumb, i should go back and check, but also i’m lazy. i’ll do it later.
- the horn is representative of James himself, beauty and innocence desecrated in the pursuit of its possession, in this essay i will -- (i mean Will draws this parallel too, but he’s missing the deeper level of it, beyond his superficial beauty. he doesn’t know yet that James’ betrayal was never willing, that he was stolen and subjugated. that even in this life, he wasn’t given the opportunity to retain that purity. it was taken from him. it’s always taken from him.)
- the juxtaposition of the horn and its purity, “a hero’s weapon”, and the violence required to use it, god it makes me FERAL (but not as feral as the rest of this scene jfc aldfkgjh)
- James spreading his legs and challenging Will to stab him is literally so homoerotic that my brain is melting out of my ears.
- James tells the truth when he says no one can stop the Dark King’s rise. he’s already here.
- HAND ON THROAT, I’M LOSING IT
- James only truly fights when it comes to the Collar, his own last chance at freedom, he fights so hard afdjhg
- James pivoted (attack as defense) to reveal the Stewards’ hypocrisy, to hamstring the entire group by fracturing their trust in each other. god he’s good.
- “‘i’m not Simon’s lover.’ ‘i didn’t ask.’” the second, maybe third, time that James has denied the accusation. unprompted this time. i find that so interesting. there are some accusations he’ll accept and even own, but not this one. especially not to Will, though he doesn’t know why yet.
- “you could stick it in again.” sir pls i’m already dead aldfkgjh
- Will undressing James, at his behest, the same way that James undressed him in the street earlier to get at the medallion. idek what to do with this kind of threatening intimacy.
- i am so utterly fascinated by the relationship people with super-fast healing have with pain, both incidental pain and pain inflicted on them deliberately. serious injury fleeting and unimportant, something to be shrugged off as an inconvenience, grit your teeth and it’ll be over in a moment. but also, being gaslit by his own body. evidence of trauma gone before the mind can even begin to process that it happened. “nothing to show for the violence that had been done to him.” how many times was he branded? he doesn’t even remember. he has no way of knowing. did it even happen? was the pain real? was the trauma of it real? did it count? how bad could it have been, if it didn’t leave a mark? James is surprised that Will seems to care that he was hurt.
- but also the question of......does Will care, in the sense of compassion for James essentially being tortured? how much of it is possessiveness? someone else trying to brand what he knows, deep down, belongs to him? Will knows the mark is his own, but Simon’s actions are clear. Will doesn’t like it.
- Will’s true motive rears its ugly head.... and then Will throwing a lifeline, giving James the hope to be something other than dark. giving him the chance the Stewards didn’t. what you were is less important than what you could be. you choose your own path, we all do.
- “a golden hero, full of righteousness like Cyprian. or a hapless boy unready for the fight.” like Katherine?
- no one has ever asked James if he remembers. all these years, all this fuss, and no one has even bothered to ask him if he remembers the previous life he’s been condemned for.
- god, this is one hell of a chapter.
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reconnected
pairing: shawn mendes x reader
request: “hello. i was wondering if you could write where y/n and shawn met at school or on vine or idk at a coffee shop. both of us were young new artists and bonded over that. as both of us start getting popular we lose contact. a few years later we decide to collab on a song and that rescinds a spark of friendship and maybe something. but of course, I wanted to at a bit of drama. while you try to catch up on, you know life, the paparazzi are sure you two are together, shawn's ex is stringing up trouble and all your friends and family keep on bothering you two about each other” - @iwishiwasyuri
word count: 2.7k
It had been a peaceful day. You had woken up early and started a day of productivity. You were currently drinking a cup of tea and replying to a few business emails.
It was peaceful. Birds were singing outside. It was early, and it felt like the world was not awake yet. This moment of serenity almost felt like the calm before the storm.
Then, your phone buzzed and shook your desk in the process. You were taken out of your thoughts.
You glanced down at the lit screen. You noticed a text message had popped up on your screen.
Woah.
You hadn’t seen that name in years.
Shawn.
Shawn Mendes.
You and Shawn had known each other for years. You both bonded over being singers and the rest was history.
You two had a beautiful story, much like a fairytale. The way you both met felt like a page out of a novel.
You had been at your local coffee shop, way before you had become successful in the music industry world.
It was back when you uploaded videos of yourself singing covers on YouTube. It was simple and seemed mediocre now, but at the time you loved it. You were singing all the time and it was your dream, even though you made virtually no money. You still loved it.
You jumped up into the seat at the high table. You pulled out your laptop to edit your most recent video. You sipped on your warm latte. It made you feel warm and cozy, as opposed to the freezing weather outside.
You plopped your headphones over your ears and started to edit the video. Within seconds, you heard a voice talking over your shoulder.
“So you’re a singer?” The voice asked. You jumped, almost managing to fall out of the chair. You felt a pair of strong arms catch you and keep you from falling.
Finally, you got a chance to look at the source of the voice. You had been prepared for it to be some creepy guy, but you were wrong.
So wrong.
The guy was cute and had the most perfect smile. You were speechless. You froze, and your brain shut off.
“Hi, uh sorry about that. I’m Shawn. It’s just, your headphones are unplugged. I was going to tell you and I realized it was you singing. I’m sorry I scared you” he said, kindly. You had to pinch yourself to realize this was all real. “I...uh hi. I’m Y/N. I was just zoned out, it’s not your fault. But hi, I’m Y/N” you rambled.
His smile made your stomach do flips. You felt like you were on a rollercoaster.
“Yeah, you said that already” Shawn said, chuckling. It was endearing. He wasn’t laughing at you, he was just amused by the cute girl who was stuttering over her words.
You didn’t know it then, but he thought you were adorable.
You thought the exact same thing about him.
The story went on. You two became great friends. You never got the courage to mention your little crush on him, but time went on.
As you both got busier, you started to drift apart. Eventually you just stopped talking. Any time you heard his songs on the radio or saw an article about him, it just pulled on your heart strings.
But now he was texting you.
Hey, Y/N. I know it’s been a while, well maybe longer than a while. It feels like forever. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to meet up and talk. I really miss you
You were stunned. You could barely comprehend what you were reading.
It felt like a crazy dream, and you were about to wake up any second now.
You picked up your phone and tried to come up with a reply. It was harder than you thought it would be. How did you put years worth of feelings into just a few sentences?
Hi! It has been forever, I miss our late night runs for ice cream. I would love to hang out and catch up. I want to hear about all that I’ve missed. I hope you’re doing well!!
You pressed send and your heart leaped out of your chest. You could hear your heart thumping in your ears.
As you sat there waiting for a reply, it felt like years. In reality, it was probably five minutes.
Then, your phone dinged.
Awesome! You want to come over to my place in like an hour?
You almost jumped out of your chair. You couldn’t believe you were finally going to see Shawn after all these years. You sent a quick reply and then headed to your closet to get dressed.
You grabbed some clothes to change into and then proceeded to change your outfit four more times. Finally, you had settled on the best option. You checked the clock and saw that it was time to go.
You grabbed your phone and your keys and then headed to Shawn’s apartment.
You found yourself outside his front door, unable to move. You wanted to pick up your hand and knock on the door, but you couldn’t. Every time that you got close, you chickened out.
It had been years since you had seen Shawn. What if he changed? What if he didn’t like you anymore? What if you embarrassed yourself?
Every time another one of thoughts popped in your head, it became harder to try to knock on that door.
You took a deep breath and tried to still your shaking hands. You felt a small moment of confidence. Before it went away, you quickly knocked on the door.
Your pulse quickened. You felt the extreme urge to just run away. Before you could do that, the door opened.
There he was.
He looked different in person. Magazines and social media had been the only place you saw him for years. Now, three feet in front of you, you were almost shocked that he was three dimensional.
“Hi” was all you get out.
You were absolutely frozen.
“Hey” he said, slowly. He seemed to also be at a loss for words.
You looked him up and down, taking in all of his features. His hair was longer now. His shoulders were broader and he was so much more muscular now.
You were almost drooling over his arms in the tight shirt. Your lingering gaze left his body and you met his eyes.
Small smiles appeared on both of your faces. He grabbed your hands and pulled you into a hug. His tight embrace was comforting. His strong arms around you made your heart swoon.
After a while, you both pulled away. Once again, you couldn’t get rid of the grin on your face. “So how have you been?” He asked, looking into your eyes.
You started to tell him about major changes in your life that he had missed. While you were talking, his hand naturally slipped into yours. He gave your hand a reassuring squeeze as you spoke.
Your heart was racing at the speed of sound. It felt like a dream. There was no way you could really be standing in front of Shawn after all these years.
“It’s so good to finally see you again. I’ve actually been wanting to ask you something” Shawn said, after you finished talking. You were immediately intrigued, but also worried.
“And what is that?” You asked, rocking back and forth on your feet. “I was wondering if you would want to collab on a song sometime. I really love your music, and it would awesome to work with you” he told you, honestly.
You were taken aback. “I would love to. Is that why you invited me? To use me for monetary gain?” You teased him, giggling. He chuckled and shook his head. “No, that’s not why I wanted to see you again” he said, with a certain sparkle in his eyes.
You started gazing into his eyes, and it became harder and harder to stop. You didn’t notice, but you both started to step closer together. What you did notice was Shawn carefully placing his hand on your waist. He did it so lightly that you almost thought you imagined the lingering touch.
Before you both started to lean in, there was a loud commotion outside the front door. You both quickly jumped away like teenagers caught doing something mischievous.
Shawn sighed and headed towards the door to check who it was. He looked through the peephole and then quickly backed up. You were confused by his urgency.
“Who is it?” You asked, curiously. He didn’t answer you right away. He walked over to a wall and quickly closed the curtains. “The paparazzi are here” he said, walking back over to you.
“Well then I guess you’re stuck with me until they leave” you said, smiling as you walked over to the couch. You plopped down on the couch, and Shawn joined you seconds later.
“So do you want to watch a movie because you’re going to be stuck here?” He asked you, grabbing the remote.
You nodded and leaned your head on his shoulder. He didn’t expect you to do it, but he leaned into your touch. He pressed play on a movie and then put his arm along the back of the couch.
Slowly, as the movie continued, his arm moved from the couch to your shoulders. The way he transitioned was so natural, like he was used to having his arm around you. It felt good, and was definitely something you could get used to.
The movie became dull, and you glanced up at Shawn. You found yourself admiring his features as he watched the screen.
Then he caught you.
He looked down into your eyes. You felt your cheeks heat up as you were caught. “Hi you” he said, sweetly. You just smiled and then cuddled further into his side.
“Hey wait. I wanted to ask you about something?” Shawn said, pausing the movie.
You looked back up at him. It was hard to not smile. You always felt happy when you were around Shawn.
“So, I know that we haven’t seen each other in years, but there’s been something I’ve always wanted to tell you. Since the day we first met, I have—” Shawn started to say before he was interrupted.
Your phone loudly started ringing. It distracted you from what he was saying. You glanced down at your phone. It was your mom calling.
“I’m so sorry. It’s my mom, I have to take this” you said, apologetically setting one of your hands on Shawn's. He nodded. He was always so understanding.
You quickly answered the phone. Before you could say hello, your mom started interrogating you.
“Are you and Shawn finally together?” She asked, very quickly. You were taken aback by the question and also how fast she had asked that. “Uhh...no. Why would you think that?” You asked her, confused.
“The pictures are everywhere. It’s you walking into his house, and there’s a picture of you two hugging. All the tabloids are saying you two are together. I know that I shouldn’t trust tabloids, but I’ve always wanted you two to date. You are both so great together. Plus, he’s very handsome. So, you have good taste” your mom rambled, only stopping when she ran out of breath.
“Woah woah woah. Slow down. I promise you, Shawn and I are not dating” you assured your mom. Only then, Shawn started to listen to what you were saying. He had been trying not to listen or eavesdrop, but you were right next to him.
He just smirked at you. You saw it and rolled your eyes at him, as you tried to hold back from laughing.
Eventually, your mom said she believed you and hung up the phone. “I’m sorry about that. She started listening to the tabloids” you explained to him. He chuckled as he looked at his own phone. “That’s okay. All my friends are texting me about it too” he told you, smiling.
“Well then I guess you’re stuck with me as your fake girlfriend” you said, sticking your tongue out at him. He put his arm around you and then you leaned your head on his shoulder. “I’ve missed you” he said, softly.
You started to trace shapes on the back of his hand. “I’ve missed you too” you said, at the same volume.
You felt Shawn kiss your temple and you felt the heat rush to your face.
“So what were you going to ask me before?” You asked him, giving him your full attention. Just as he was about to tell you, there was a loud knocking at the front door.
Shawn groaned and then stood up. He walked over to the door. He looked through the peephole and just sighed.
“Hang on a minute” he said to you. Then, he opened the door. You couldn’t see the door from where you were sitting. “Hey there sweetheart” you heard a girl say, and your blood ran cold.
Did Shawn have a girlfriend? You had never even brought it up. You felt so stupid. Of course he had a girlfriend. It had been years. You had been sitting here hoping he would make a move, but he was taken. He was gorgeous, any girl would be lucky to date him.
“Ashley. What do you want? We broke up. Stop acting like it didn’t happen” Shawn said, sternly. It threw you even farther off guard. You didn’t want to get your hopes up, but it seemed like Shawn was actually single.
“I just saw on Twitter that coffee shop girl was here before. If you are dating, I want you to know that you can do better. I’m still single and you know I’m hotter than her. Just come here and kiss me so all those paparazzis will know you’re mine again” you heard Ashley said.
You felt disgusted listening to her talk. She was being really rude to both you and Shawn. “Goodbye Ashley. Go ruin somebody else’s day” Shawn said, closing the door.
He walked back over to you. He looked defeated. “So that was...?” You asked. “My ex-girlfriend. I know, bad idea” he said. You didn’t know what to say.
Shawn cursed under his breath. He looked furious. You stood up and walked over to him. “Hey it’s okay. It’s no big deal. We’ll just move on. You don’t have to worry about it” you said, trying to console him. You didn’t know why he was so upset of all a sudden.
“No, it’s not okay, Y/N” he snapped at you. You jumped away from him. You visibly flinched. His eyes softened when he saw you back away. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have shouted, it’s not your fault” he said, hanging his head low.
“It’s just— I’ve tried to kiss you three times today, or at least just tell you how I feel. Every time that I try, something gets in the way. I haven’t seen you in years and I just want get this off my chest. I feel like we have something special. I don’t know if you feel it too, or I’m just crazy. I really just want to kiss you, but I’m afraid something will get in the way if I try” he confessed.
You were shocked. This was the last thing you expected him to say. You had always wished that your connection was more than just friends, but you had always second guessed it. You always assumed that you were just making it up.
“Well, there’s nothing stopping you now” you said, coyly. He quickly looked up to meet your eye contact. He looked unsure, so you made the first move.
You walked towards Shawn and placed your hands on his chest. “What are you waiting for?” You asked him. That was all the clarity he needed.
He instantly connected your lips and wrapped his arms around your waist. It felt perfect. That sounds cliche and unrealistic, but the mixture of years of feelings and yearning made the perfect combination.
You both pulled away and couldn’t look away from each other’s eyes. “I guess I should call my mom back and tell her I lied” you said, giggling.
taglist: @laurakirsten0502 @miraclesoflove @nathaliabakes @millipop18 @azghedaheda @shyinadarkplace @ashwarren32 @impossibleapricotlampbat @lukes-orange-beanie
Let me know if you want to be added to my taglist for all my imagines or for a specific character/fandom!!
Requests OPEN
#requested#shawn mendes x reader#shawn mendes#shawn Mendes imagines#shawn Mendes fanfiction#shawn Mendes reader insert#shawn mendes fic#shawn mendes request#requests open#taglist open#fanfiction requests#shawn mendes fluff
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im sorry but otis and maeve exacerbate the goodness and badness both in each other and this makes them special and more connected with their glimpses, gestures and inability to stay away for longer. unless ur telling me there are other superior ships too but the ending of s3 ep7 was so so special. Otis and Maeve's ending lines in the rain scene is pretty PRETTY indicative of who at least should be with whom, when its always been them in each others mind. Now idk what would writers do or make of it in s4 and cliffhanger like ending, but all love interests added were poorly added and gave us false hope for both characs to be with someone else like isaac/ruby thing, however the entire thing as eric says too, "happened bcs of otis and maeve coming together with special diff traits and bonds to form the best clinic that offers pretty feasible and amateur like opinions which in turn polished otis' skills of helping people more and also for maeve who was already pretty smart and bright ahead of her times, in her speech and tastes" and this was entire reason and beginning of the best season which led to clinical education, awareness for teenagers while otis and maeve also navigate through each others lives and troubles and love and ways of communicating since both have a different way of communicating and both adhere to each other and also give each other space more, (or maybe bcs i do prefer that ship more than others, im just so hyped at every scene and moment). However the best moment for me wasn't the bus scene kiss moment in france but when otis and maeve were both kicked out of sexed class for open and different opinions against or anti to whatever prude and harsh concepts Hope was instilling in people, a lot of ppl and characters owned up to their sexuality and rebelled but Otis and Maeve rejecting the idea and challenging and arguing but then also being kicked out of class is very special moment and a parallel between them that so many perhaps don't notice, It also tells how differently in choices, they are so connected in thoughts, Maeve never shrugged off otis and he doesn't bother her only and until they both knew they couldn't really stay away and he made an effort even after f_cking up to stay in his life, and apologized and competed rather foolishly with isaac but all this bottled down again to ruby and isaac just used for story development and then removed from scenes but in a way i think, it is best for them since otis and maeve are both confused about each other & overall relationships, i think they both would take things v slowly and they are that kind of patient couple if they are a couple.....which i cant see hope of. It all actually just started from them too, which led to graffitis and sexual topics to be embraced and accepted more, bcs idk if someone also noticed how otis has so much of jean in him, and even if he is embarrassed by his mother sometimes, the genes just reflect in him. He is good at articulating and smooth and i think maeve picks it up quickly, they don't even guess when they are together, and they both have innate desire to help ppl esp maeve under that hard rock shell of an exterior, she is the most selfless and forgiving person, maybe too much, and lets go of a lot of stuff, always looks forward to future and is quite pragmatic even but in sense of otis, they both are always inexplicably drawn and held together to each other by some bitter false or sweet ripe memory of their previous days and its so funny or adorable to see them actually cling foolishly to their past encounter messages, moments, talks, and dreams/jokes of having a clinic. We see eric as bestfriend of Otis rooting for them too, and so does Aimee (which is weak evidence or parallel since writers are putting hints like this always but it is always jeopardized somehow in the end too so im not hoping or keeping too high hopes on anything).
The rain moment in s3ep7 is the most heart-warming because maeve now doesn't push otis back and neither does she falls back on isaac somehow, and she welcomes his opinion again, only this time they actually confess in pretty open words & expressions which is more meaningful and rigorous and sparkling than the RainmomentInFrance which i think was, meaningless or maybe just a way to bring them close together.
You cannot tell me this is excellent dialogue exchange and yet so simple with breath your name by Sixpence playing in the BG,
Otis: "It was never about the clinic, it was to be close to you – and even if we aren't romantically together, id like to see you everyday, Nothing feels right when you aren't here"
This is more about companionship and soulmate-ism too than just a sexual relationship or deep crush situation. Even if they aren't together romantically, and still wanting to be close to her is big big thing & detail for at least something good and warm for them in future, because he hasn't confessed this to anyone or ruby even which was initially a casual relationship even. This explains pretty well that even if they aren't together or intended to be together, - the staying close + together or near each other is enough to make day.
Maeve: "It wasn't about the money for me, it was also to be close to you too
Maeve doesn't say much but a) smiles when he says we can be team and due to nearness to her he wanted to work on further and b).she exclaims and rebuts his claim that she was in it for money only when she has never been lucky in family/financial dept and wanted to be close to her too, but also how this was method for her to earn money too so like double benefit because maeve does need money and we cannot reduce her to romantic person only but the hardworking intelligent and practical persona she carries and embodies! and wants to rise academically and also does it selflessly, doesn't obstruct or infringe on someone's rights like most people do. But she also does admit at the same time it wasnt just for the money. With the background music score this moment might be the best cliché end or romantic confession even if in future it doesn't mean much because words...are winds and fade away, but i cannot deny the canon visible goodness these both characters bring out in one another, its like they do compliment and fit each other which i always find quite evident from s1 until s2 made their friendship too sour but its about what they bring in each other and only think abt themselves in each others presence. When they are with someone else they think about other things clouding their mind yet sometimes when they talk to each other, its like they both do comfort each other or it wouldn't have pained the writers to show how visibly hateful they are if they were. Perhaps the abortion moment in s1 was also very warm and changed my mind so much abt them, its like how otis is always there in worse situations for maeve along with aimee too ofc, and sometimes its childish to see him try so hard and desperate to be there but she eventually lets him in.
#sex ed meta#sex education netflix#sex education spoilers#sex ed s3#sex ed season 3#sex ed 3#sex education#sex ed netflix#sex ed#maeve wiley#otis milburn#this isnt pro ship discussion either but how they bring the best in each other regardless of shortcomings and#dick like attitude of otis initially which almost every charac had#but the chemistry in this one isn't in s3 only it was always there and it just got dim and buried#i feel most excited when i see them#and thankful to writers for not giving us enough screentime for them huh so...#maeve x otis#otis x maeve#sex education s3
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waitwaitWAITTT I got an idea👹
sOoo
a hc where Levi / Eren / Armin / Mikasa ‘s S/O was reported missing on an expedition—and about a week (or something idk) later, their S/O came back.
THAT WAS ALL I HAD IM SO SORRY ANYWAYS UHM HI ILY TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.
HIII how are you? and i hope you’re taking care of yourself as well pls ily. here you go kitten :D
- “get off of me! i told you! i told you something was wrong!” tearing and prying against his fellow scouts. multiple people needed to hold eren down, he was determined to go find you himself. there is no way you’d just not come back with the group, something was wrong.
- warning him multiple times to stay out while a group went out looking for you after getting separated from the group. he was a rabid animal, not stopping until measures had to be taken.
- he ended up being handcuffed so he wouldn’t turn into titan for to jump over the wall himself and look for you, screaming at anyone who came close to him to unlock him.
- day by day eren turns more and more mad, breaking the handcuffs and escaping, prying open the door they were keeping him locked behind.
- soon a week goes by, your boyfriend won’t leave his bed, eat, shower, he doesn’t talk to anyone as he believes that you’re dead- eaten up by a titan.
- he cries almost all day, stuck under the blankets in his room as he refuses to accept his own reality. he doesn’t even know how he can make it through the day at this point.
- the day a group goes out to try and locate you, you find yourself speeding down a trail on the back of your horse, blood all over you, clothes torn, dirt in every crevice of your beaten and bruised body.
- eren’s door swings open, he doesn’t bother moving, you cry out to him and he’s jumping out of bed, arms engulfing you as you finally reunite with eren.
- eren a crying mess, his bones still week from the cuffs, and then not moving at all, he could pass out from seeing you again, like you came, swooped him up and saved his life.
- pacing back and fourth around the room, his hands ripping at his scalp as hes hyperventilating, realizing you were well over your mission time. you should’ve been back.
- no one attempts to talk to him, knowing he will not reciprocate.
- brainstorming on where you are, how long you can go without water, food, are you with your horse? are you hurt?
- he didn’t sleep, constantly on his feet, meeting with levi and some more cadets, he needed to save you as soon as possible.
- although he tried to keep alert, his head was spinning, he didn’t even know if he were really blinking or not, was he even awake?
- day by day, no sleep, repeat, no sleep, repeat, his hands trembling as he imagines the worst, you were gone.
- you fought like hell, trying to avoid titans as you huddled under trees or behind rocks, drinking and eating what you could get your hands on, only knowing what and what not to eat because armin taught you everything you needed to know.
- you were staying strong for armin, but it was hard. no way to get back home because your horse had been hurt, gear demolished, no weapons, a missing shoe.
- only moving at night, you knew that’s when armin would come. if he ever planned on it. you walked silently across a field, shivering, half asleep, praying someone would help.
- armin along with your friends are looking for you, a week later and they execute a plan check the nearby areas to make sure you weren’t dead.
- he sees you first, screaming out to you, horses charging towards you, you begin to sob, seeing armin jump off his transportation and run towards you, picking you up off the ground.
- her body flinging over the wall, no one able to tell her otherwise as mikasa is off to look for you.
- you were gone for a day now, mikasa determined that you were alive, you’re so strong.
- alone, she’s off to search for you, her stomach in twists as she held back tears. she searches high and low, she couldn’t protect you. she wanted to scream.
- this was her fault, how could she not be here for you? why didn’t she come searching earlier?
- she tried to get some sleep when the night came, but as the slightest snap of a branch she was up and awake, not able to sleep. she walked through the trees, trying to look for any human existence out here.
- she beat herself up, every day she was out here alone to think about how much of a fuck up she was, it was her job to protect you and she failed. she needed to find you. now.
- “i’m so stupid. so fucking stupid.” she repeated over and over- every day until she saw that you were close. you were alive.
- another day, nearing closer and closer to you, her stomach begging her for food, how long had it been? mikasa was ready to drop from exhaustion, but she couldn’t. you were too fucking close, you could be alive.
- seeing your enitials carved into the tree, mikasa nearly jumped out of her skin.
- calling out your name until she saw you running towards her, immediately running into her arms, she repeatedly told you that she would never leave you. ever.
- “do not rest until you find her!” levi shouts, scouts on scouts dispersing into groups to search for you.
- an hour after he noticed you were missing, he was sending everyone out, he could not lose you. not you.
- pleading with god- if there was one- to please keep you alive.
- he would check behind every wall, abandoned house, making sure he wouldn’t miss you.
- his mouth dry, commanding orders left and right, the search crew was not to sleep until they found you. there was no way he was going to lose you. not with levi in charge.
- he was far from tired, his eyes and face beat red from the harsh slapping of the wind.
- day and night, they were looking for you. you didn’t know where you were. all you knew was you were huddled behind a rock, fainting in and out on consciousness with no awareness around you.
- around the 4th day, you heard hooves, tons of them, you couldn’t make any notice, but you knew this was when he would find you.
- “y/n! y/n! fire it, Jean!” Connie’s screaming, the green signal flying towards the sky, people surrounding you as you dozed off.
- “where? where is she?!” levi’s shouting, leaping off his horse to head towards everyone, Connie holding you as he’s meeting outside the line of trees, shoving your weak body into levi’s shaking arms.
- “it’s okay. you’re okay, don’t worry y/n.” he kissed youre forehead, thanking god he didn’t lose you, he wouldn’t know what he would do if he lost you, the love of his life.
#attack on titan headcanons#headcannons#attack on titan eren yeager#attack on titan#mikasa headers#levi ackerman#shingeki no kyoujin levi#armin arlert#aot headcanons#eren jaeger#eren jaeger headcanons#todoreplies#send in requests
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Enemies-to-lovers!(demigod)Hyunjin
request: Hey :) I just really want to read something about Hyunjin if that's fine with you. I'm kind of a sucker for this whole enemies to lovers thing too lol but it would also be super cool if it could be something with fantasy. I don't really know 😅 I think if you're going to write it it would be good anyway.
genre: enemies-to-lovers!au (kind of, i feel like it wasnt that extreme but more of a dislike-to-lovers lol), demigod!au (fluff, slight angst? its rly not much, a lot of confusion on reader’s part)
pairing/s: Hyunjin / Reader (fem) (ft some skz, nct and got7 members!)
word count: 18k+
tw: mentions of blood and (sword)fighting
a/n: thank you to anon for being so patient again...its really taken me really long to think of something for this haha i kind of wanted to tap on Hyunjin’s like personality a little more for this like the side of him that’s very like in tune with his emotions or whatnot but idk if i emphasised that a lot but thats just a fun fact lol anyway there was a whole lot of thought exposition in this but this was very much a mix of information based off my existing knowledge of greek gods and the percy jackson series but i hope i explained it clearly enough so even if you’re not familiar with it you won’t be too confused while reading!
You wondered if you should’ve been scared when you’d awoken to the sound of your friend Jeongin waltzing into your cabin, the echo of ‘love is a many splendored thing’ coming from his lips as he meandered his way around the much more intimidating daughters of Ares in your room.
“Didn’t know they still allowed you in here,” you huffed, rolling your eyes but not without the small smile playing at your lips as you rolled over, sighing into your pillow and making space for Jeongin to flop belly-down onto your bed.
Ignoring your comment (not without sticking his tongue out at you for good measure), Jeongin’s smile had only grown as he supported his head with his hands.
You huffed, bringing a hand up to rub at your eyes, not being able to find it in you to be annoyed that he’d interrupted your sleep, “are you just gonna smile at me or are you gonna actually tell me what happened?”
Jeongin wrinkled his nose slightly, “guess,” he whispered.
“You...” you frowned, rolling over onto your back, hugging your pillow closer to your head, your eyebrows knitting into a thoughtful frown, “finished your painting?”
Shaking his head, Jeongin hummed, “better.”
“Better?” you echoed, “did you get elected for something... or something?” you yawned, trying your luck at this point, having close to no idea what he was so smiley about.
Jeongin rolled his eyes, though his grin remained, a small giggle leaving him, “give up?”
You nodded, “yeah, give up.”
“Someone’s back in the Poseidon cabin for the summer.”
You figured you might as well milk it while you could, pretending to not know who Jeongin was referring to as you pouted, “Who? Chan?”
Jeongin rolled his eyes, again, “don’t play dumb, you know who i’m talking about.”
You sighed, stretching your arms out above your head, dumping your act of ignorance (acting was never your strong suit anyway), “and what do you expect me to do about that?”
“You don’t have to do anything, technically,” Jeongin shrugged, “he’ll probably approach you first.”
You made a face, not liking Jeongin’s implication at all.
Jaehyun was just a friend you’d made from a few years before. Sure, he was friendly, and Jeongin did always point out the fact that he’d always somehow end up in the same area as the both of you, but you never read into it, having never felt anything romantic towards him at all in your time knowing him. After all, even if you wanted to, the last you heard (if the Aphrodite sisters were to be trusted for gossip) was that he had a girlfriend back home.
“Not funny, Jeongin.”
Jeongin scoffed, “who said I was trying to be funny?” he tried, failing to hold his expression of feigned offence as a bout of giggles escaped him, “okay, fine, maybe I was, but still, you have to admit that you know it’s gonna happen at one point.”
“What’s gonna happen?” you said with a scoff, sitting up in your bed as you let out another yawn.
Jeongin narrowed his eyes at you, “you know what i’m talking about,” he shrugged, making you groan. Trust him to be specific.
Getting out of bed, you brought a hand up to rub your shoulder, rolling your shoulders back with a wince, “I didn’t think he was gonna come back, honestly.”
Jeongin shook his head insistently, “think about it, if he already graduated... he’s probably only back because...” Jeongin gestured towards you, his eyes wide and full of implication.
“Shut up, Jeongin,” you couldn’t help the laugh that escaped you in spite of the part of you that was very much averse to his implication.
“Anyway, what are your plans later?” you asked him, eager to divert his attention elsewhere, earning a long hum from him.
You turned to see him fiddling with the corner of your bed sheet, frowning at the faint sound of rock music he could hear coming from the other rooms.
“Haven’t decided,” he sighed deeply, “might go back and finish up my painting... you?” You’d walked around your bed, “probably go and train or something,” you shrugged.
Jeongin made it a point to yawn loudly, “shouldn’t have expected anything else. Why don’t you join me one of these days after the game’s over?”
“Yeah, of course I will, I just wanna get... used to it before the game. It’s been ages since I touched my sword,” you made to pick up your things to freshen up, Jeongin deciding that would be his cue to leave, bidding you goodbye (but not without a smothering hug).
Don’t get you wrong, you were thankful for Jeongin. A son of Hebe, he’d been at the camp longer than you had, and he’d taken the liberty of befriending you after a particularly amusing run-in during a game the previous summer where you’d accidentally torn a hole in his pants with your sword at a pretty unfavourable area.
Not to mention how the boy was one of the few that dared to tread within Ares grounds. Being the son of the goddess of youth, you should’ve figured it was natural for him to be so personable to others (not to mention the fascinating way he looked so youthful), but you were thankful for it nonetheless. Not many people considered it a want to look past the barbed wire and screaming red motifs that seemed to surround the children of the god of war.
Though a part of you wished you could’ve joined Jeongin for a peaceful morning doing art while overlooking the lake, you were a little glad you didn’t, because as you sparred, you remembered just what felt so freeing about being in the field, a sense of anticipation building within you as you thought about the first capture-the-flag game of the summer coming up in a few days.
“Did you hear?” Yuta, another son of Ares, had asked you while the both of you practiced your archery.
You sighed, rolling your neck back before narrowing your eyes at the target again, “hear what?”
“Wait, look, look there, the new Aphrodite kid. Heard he was claimed a few days ago,” Yuta nodding his head towards the direction of the mess hall, and you spotted a small group of boys and girls making their way towards the mess hall.
It wasn’t hard to tell they were Aphrodite’s children, from the way they dressed so elegantly, to the way they carried themselves, as if nothing in the world could shake them or put a single hair out of place.
Something about the effortless nature of it all seemed so unreal to you, especially since you were stood there with your flyaway hair sticking out no matter how much you tried to keep it in place.
“Can’t say I didn’t see it coming, something about him was always more... mesmerising,” Yuta continued, with yourself busy observing the group of them.
“That one? Wasn’t he already here for a while already?” you gestured to one of them who was walking in the middle, rolling the sleeves of their shirt to their elbows with a sheer grace you couldn’t understand, his hair slightly longer than you’d remembered seeing it the previous summer.
Hyunjin was his name, if you remembered what Jeongin said correctly. Who were you kidding, of course you remembered.
The daughters of Ares in your bunk talked about him all the time, even if they didn’t show it. Almost every day you’d hear new things about him, as if it was your daily dose of the news. Something about him being a dancer, or something about a song he was listening to, even what movie he watched recently, none of which you bothered to actually commit to memory like they did.
Widely admired, was the term to describe it. You guessed you could understand why, his looks were pleasing to the eye, but there wasn’t much else you could draw from his personality, so you figured that was it for you. After seeing his sisters, and how... lovely they could be at times, you didn’t think there was much else to figure out.
“No, idiot, the other one walking at the front, he’s basically glowing,” Yuta clicked his tongue in annoyance, and your eyes had landed on the boy, shorter and definitely younger than Hyunjin, but no less beautiful. Looking even closer, you realised he was glowing, unmistakably a very Aphrodite way of claiming him as her son.
You frowned, turning back to Yuta, “that’s a lot prettier than how Ares claimed us, isn’t it?” you laughed, “why are you so interested anyway? It’s not the first time you’re seeing someone get claimed,” you dismissed him, drawing another arrow and firing it at the target, a small smile of satisfaction on your face when it hit the center.
Yuta shrugged, his hand coming up to flick his hair away from his eyes, ��dunno, just thought it was cool. Since that means he’ll be on our side for the games too,” he explained, clearly having abandoned his archery practice with the way he’d let his bow hang loose next to his side, swinging it as he stood next to you with a hand on his hip.
“I don’t have very high hopes for that,” you murmured, shooting another arrow at the target, Yuta letting out an impressed low whistle at the thud, “they don’t strike me as the... fighting type.”
Yuta rolled his eyes, “are you done soon? I’m hungry,” he frowned, “and by the way, I'd be careful what I say about Aphrodite’s kids.”
You flashed him a tight-lipped smile, sceptical about his insistence, “what are they gonna do, smolder me to death?”
Yuta rolled his eyes, a scoff leaving him, “well they probably could. Look, if anything, I'm more afraid of their powers than Poseidon’s kids.”
You couldn’t help yourself from the face you made at the mention of the water-wielding demigods, earning a small grunt of amusement from Yuta, only then realising what he could’ve gotten from your expression.
About to interject, Yuta had continued, “I’m guessing you heard Jaehyun’s back?”
You sighed deeply, recalling your conversation with Jeongin that morning, nodding as you made your way back to the Ares cabins with Yuta strolling calmly next to you. Keeping your footsteps brisk, you dumped your armour onto the floor next to your bunk while Yuta did so with his as well, meeting him back at the door and leaving the cabin just as quickly as you came, still having not found an answer to Yuta’s question.
Though as you were busy forming a response to him, you felt yourself getting annoyed, or heavily annoyed for that matter, turning to Yuta with a scowl.
“Stop doing that,” you scolded him, making him raise his hands in a shrug, feigning nonchalance.
“What? You didn’t answer my question,” he defended, making you narrow your eyes at him, relieved when the feelings of anger and annoyance had diffused out of you within a matter of seconds.
“Thank you,” you sighed.
If you had to choose, that was one of your least favourite amongst Ares’ gifts. Sure, being skilled at fighting and the strength you had was a pro, of course. But being able to manipulate someone’s feelings of rage and fear was not something you found very necessary.
Unless you were Yuta, of course, and used it for the sake of getting someone’s attention.
“Why does everyone keep telling me about Jaehyun?” you blurted eventually, making Yuta shoot you a pointed look.
“He’s a legend, it’s basically our duty to talk about him,” Yuta snickered, grabbing your hand to pull you towards the mess hall as if deciding that your speed wasn’t fast enough for him.
“What’s so exciting about him?” you scoffed, letting Yuta lead you to a table where you saw your friends already seated, not missing the way Yuta had shoved you aside with his hip in his attempt to be seated closer to Ten, one of the sons of Aphrodite.
Seeming to have forgotten about Jaehyun, Yuta had focused on his conversation with Ten, leaving you to eat in peace.
“Hey, just came from practice?” you heard Seungmin ask you, taking a seat facing you while you tried to ignore the way Hyunjin had taken a seat next to Ten at the same time, his proximity making it harder for you not to look at him.
Turning to the said son of Athena, you nodded (albeit distractedly), earning a soft smile from him, “same here. Are you excited?”
Assuming he was referring to the games, you offered him a small shrug, “I guess, kind of curious to see how the new Ares kids handle it,” you tried your best to remain nonchalant even though you could hear Yuta asking the newer Aphrodite kid what he liked about being one of Aphrodite’s sons.
Seungmin nodded thoughtfully, “yeah, I saw some of them just now at the arena, but I doubt you’d have to worry, you could take half the Hermes kids on your own,” Seungmin laughed, making you wave him off.
Seungmin had seemed to find Ten and Yuta’s discussion interesting as well, turning his head to listen in as you brought your cup to your lips, frowning as you tried to pick up on what they were talking about.
You couldn’t help yourself from letting your gaze flicker between Ten and Hyunjin, hearing Ten cut in and explain something about acting cute and effortlessly getting people to do what you want them to do, all while you saw Hyunjin turning to ask one of Apollo’s daughters next to him if she had a tissue, the girl seeming almost compelled as she stood up and made her way to the far end of the table to grab a small packet of tissues for Hyunjin.
You had to refrain from scoffing, turning back to Ten with a sweet smile, your tone as lighthearted as it could be, “guess people just do things for you if you’re pretty, right?”
Ten seemed to have no qualms in agreeing with you, nodding at you with a smirk, “exactly.”
Hyunjin heard you of course, not knowing if that was a hint of spitefulness he detected in your tone, and you didn’t miss the way he’d looked up to meet your eyes, something about his gaze almost making it hard for you to look away, but you did. Scanning your attire, Hyunjin couldn’t help the small huff that left his lips.
Daughter of Ares, he should’ve figured abrasive words would’ve come with the package.
Deciding to dismiss it, Hyunjin turned back to Chan who was seated in front of him, rejoining whatever conversation they were having about swimming in the lake with ease. He would just forget about it, it wasn’t like picking a fight with the war god’s child was part of his agenda for the day.
Well, of course, that was until the time came to play capture-the-flag and Hyunjin found himself so unfortunately partnered with you to guard the flag. He should’ve just stayed with his sisters to cheer on the players.
You didn’t try to hide the fact that you were displeased, shooting a wide-eyed look at your Head Counselor Jaebum, who had simply dismissed you with a wave when you’d pulled him aside with a very annoyed glare on your face.
“Why can’t I guard with Yuta? I thought Aphrodite wasn’t playing,” you murmured harshly, fixing your armour roughly as you gripped the handle of your sword tightly, your heart sinking when you saw the way Jaebum had simply smiled, reaching his hand out to shove your helmet onto your head, flicking the red hairs that stuck out from the top with a laugh.
“There’s no time for you to complain, trust me, Hyunjin’s good,” he dismissed your hesitance, waving you off as he began to head elsewhere with the rest, “you’d better guard it properly,” he warned before leaving with the rest, the clinking of their shields against their armour growing softer the further they went.
Grabbing the flag from the floor with a huff, you’d started heading towards the lake, shoving the flag harshly through the pebbles to secure it in the ground, a small huff of annoyance leaving you as you squinted up at the sky, the summer heat annoying you even more.
Not being able to find it in you to relax, especially with the knowledge that Hyunjin was here, you paced around the flag, your hand placed protectively above your scabbard, the other hand on your hip as you eyed your surroundings.
Hyunjin on the other hand, seemed unaffected, and you heard the rustling of the pebbles as he sat down, his sword next to him and his hands behind him supporting his weight. To anyone else, he would’ve looked completely at ease, his head lifted to face the sky, his eyes closed as he enjoyed the warmth.
Though his ease didn’t last for long, the constant crunching of the pebbles and the annoyed scoffs that left your lips every now and then drawing his attention back to you.
Hyunjin never really liked Ares, he momentarily wondered if you were similar in the aspects he disliked as well, since the behaviour you were displaying right now was very...not typical of an Ares.
“Are all Ares demigods as high-strung as you?” Hyunjin furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance, “your pacing’s gonna give us away.”
Your head whipped around quickly, scoffing at him, “yeah, well, excuse me for feeling responsible for the flag,” you huffed.
Hyunjin didn’t understand why you took the games so seriously, (frankly you didn’t either), but you both figured it was the streak of Ares in you that made you feel competitive, but nonetheless, Hyunjin wasn’t amused.
“It’s not just your responsibility, you know. Jaebum literally asked me to guard it with you.”
You let out a half-hearted laugh, your words coming out in choppy bursts as if there were a million other things in your head that were fighting to be said, “yeah, well, I guess you could say that’s why i’m even more on edge.”
Hyunjin narrowed his eyes at you, wanting you to look in his direction but you didn’t seem to be giving him the time of day, your eyes still searching the woods in front of you for any sign of someone else.
“Look,” Hyunjin felt himself growing annoyed, “I don’t know what you have against me but now’s not exactly the time to be angry at me.”
You hadn’t realised, but your agitated state had been unconsciously manipulating Hyunjin’s feelings, making him more annoyed the more he saw you pace.
“Jaebum’s being stupid. He shouldn’t have put you here with me,” you sighed, more to yourself than to Hyunjin.
“You don’t trust me,” Hyunjin murmured, his tone giving away his surprise (or lack thereof), already moving to stand up, dusting the dirt off of his pants as he kept his gaze fixed on you.
You turned to face him, unaffected by his presence unlike the other day, now, Hyunjin noticed your gaze was much firmer.
“Yes, I don’t,” you told him, “forgive me for saying this but, you and your siblings don't necessarily have a very good track record when it comes to combat.”
Hyunjin rolled his eyes, folding his arms over his chest, “yeah, well, ” he mimicked your tone from before, “brute force isn’t the only way you can win, you know.”
You narrowed your eyes at him, wondering for a moment what exactly were the gifts that aphrodite had bestowed on her children to warrant such confidence from Hyunjin. You figured he was just trying to divert your attention from the fact that they really weren’t one to fight.
“So, i’m right? You don’t fight?”
You wouldn’t usually have been so... annoying, maybe it was your annoyance at Jaebum making itself known to Hyunjin, and in turn making Hyunjin annoyed at you as well.
Hyunjin took a small step closer to you, holding himself at arms length as he got a good look at your eyes.
Pretty, you thought, but probably not what you should’ve been focusing on at the moment.
And you really shouldn’t have, because you surely hadn’t expected Hyunjin to pull his sword from where it was on the ground abruptly, pointing it right at your throat, the slightest of smiles on his face, almost as if he was curious to see if you’d really lived up to what people said about you.
“I don’t know who you heard that from,” Hyunjin had an amused smirk on his face, something about him wanting to prove himself to you for some reason. The idea of protecting the flag already pushed to the far back of his mind.
You glanced down at the blade before you, pulling it ever so slowly out from its scabbard as you met his gaze again, something about it hardening when you could practically feel him challenging you.
There wasn’t a single sound between the both of you other than the sound of the wind blowing the trees and the lake flowing beside you. Clenching your jaw, you’d brought your sword up to push him out of the way with a grunt, seeing him dodge deftly when you swung it at his arm.
As if you weren’t already angered enough, you were shocked at how well he had been going against you, not paying much attention to what you were doing at this point, casting mindless swings and driving your elbow down on his shoulder, a small grunt leaving Hyunjin.
Swinging his sword at your back, you’d caught it with your sword, pushing back against him with as much force as you could muster, your swords coming in between the both of you, stuck there with the sheer force you were both applying.
Hyunjin had to admit that you were definitely stronger than him, almost giving up but too stubborn to do so, his other hand coming up to grab at your forearm, pushing your sword out of the way before his hand with his sword came up towards you.
Grabbing his hand quick enough, you’d shoved him away from you, bending to avoid another swing before turning, roughly bringing your sword to swing at him, hitting his chest and causing him to stumble back slightly, though what surprised you was how determined he was.
Regaining his stance quickly, as you dropped your shield angrily, he’d swung his sword just as you did, your swords colliding loudly as he brought his other hand to your hand, ripping your sword from your hand quicker than you could process and tossing it aside, his own sword coming to your throat once again, his other grand gripping onto your free hand firmly.
With how focused you were on fighting each other, the both of you hadn’t even realised Jaebum’s presence there, the said head counselor quietly observing you as Hyunjin tried to use his charmspeak on you. Being one of the (very few) children of Aphrodite that had this ability, Jaebum couldn’t help but be curious as to how this would play out.
You contemplated trying to summon your sword back, but as you were about to, he’d spoken up, distracting you.
“Pick up the flag,” he told you, in what you assumed was the most enchanting tone you’d heard from him, moreso with the way he was looking at you.
Hyunjin’s face was mere inches away from you, gripping your wrist even despite the gash you’d made on his palm, too absorbed in his motive to pay any attention to the pain. Something about his gaze had unsettled you, the pleasant smell of his perfume almost seeming out of place with the strong demeanour he was showing you now, making you curious as to what else there was about him that you were getting wrong in your head.
And he waited, he waited for your eyes to glaze over and for you to obediently walk over to the flag and pick it up without a single bit of defiance like how everyone else did. Except you didn’t.
His request had caught you off guard, making you furrow your eyebrows as your lips parted in confusion, “why the hell would I do that?”
Shoving his hand holding his sword away from you, you huffed, turning to see Jaebum and a few of the newer Ares and Athena kids standing there in shock. Well, at least most of them were in shock, Jaebum’s expression was all-too-amused.
Hyunjin stood, dumbfounded at the fact that his power hadn’t worked on you, turning to face Jaebum with his lips in a pout as Jaebum cleared his throat.
Ignoring the annoyed furrow to your brow, Jaebum brought a hand up to rub his exposed arm over his tattoo, “we... won...” he stopped to let a small laugh escape him, “you guys can bring the flag back.”
You huffed, moving to pick up your sword, shoving it into your scabbard, still confused at the fact that Hyunjin had just asked you to pick up the flag for no reason after what he did.
Turning back to Hyunjin, you saw him about to open his mouth, wanting to ask if you were going to take the flag with how he gestured to it.
Shaking your head as you were already making your way back, you said, “take the stupid flag, I don’t want it.”
It was only when you were with the rest in the amphitheatre did you realise Hyunjin had made an impression on you in more ways than just through surprising you.
You were making your way through the crowd to find Jeongin when you’d spotted Jaehyun, his hair messy and slightly damp with perspiration, giving you a friendly smile as he lifted his glass to you.
You saw him making his way over to you, his armour long discarded as he stood in his long sleeved t-shirt and cargo pants, pushing his hair back only to make it even messier.
“Hey, it was a good game just now, where were you?” he asked.
“Oh, I was just guarding the flag.”
Jaehyun nodded, a hum of understanding leaving him. Bringing his cup up to his lips, his gaze darted to your arm, his eyes widening as a sharp hiss left him, “hey, that’s a pretty bad cut, how’d you get that?”
You frowned, your eyebrows raising, a hum of confusion leaving you. Only realising when Jaehyun had reached a hand out to grasp your elbow gently, lifting your arm gently to draw your attention to the gash on your arm, the blood having gotten onto your shirt without you realising.
“Oh,” you hummed, shaking your head in dismissal at Jaehyun, “no it’s fine, it doesn’t hurt. I’ll just get Jeongin to help me patch it up later.”
Jaehyun’s forehead creased slightly as his eyebrows lifted, “really? I can help you with it now, if you want,” he offered, a soft smile on his face.
Turning to look over at where Jeongin and Yuta were seated at one of the steps of the ampitheatre, you tried not to let their knowing smiles fluster you, turning back to Jaehyun with a shake of the head.
“It’s fine, don’t wanna trouble you, but thanks for offering,” you assured him.
“What brings you back?” you asked, your curiosity getting the better of you, seeing his smile widen, giving you a shrug.
“For fun, honestly. I’m on break at university anyway, so I figured I might as well.”
Your lips parted in realisation, nodding slowly, “your girlfriend didn’t mind you leaving?”
He shook his head, “yeah, she was going back home to visit her family anyway,” you nodded, sighing in relief with the knowledge that he still had a girlfriend so whatever Jeongin said was baseless.
Jaehyun glanced behind you, spotting Yuta and Jeongin sitting at the steps, pressing his lips together so his dimples showed, “shouldn’t keep you any longer, your friends are waiting. See you later,” he had a hand gently on your shoulder, pulling it back to give you a small wave before you’d left to join Yuta and Jeongin at the steps.
“Ouch,” Yuta hissed, eyeing your arm, “who did that?” he nodded his head towards your arm, drawing Jeongin’s attention to the wound.
You huffed, gesturing towards the group of Aphrodite’s children gathered closer to the fire, “Hyunjin,” you offered half-heartedly.
Jeongin’s eyes widened, “Hyunjin? But why? Wasn’t he on your side?”
Yuta’s attention was still searching the group of them, observing the way Hyunjin had a little bit of bandage peeking out from the arm of his sleeveless shirt, a small scratch on his cheek and his palm wrapped with a bandage as well.
“Are you sure it wasn’t someone trying to get the flag?” Jeongin prompted, as if trying to wrack his brain to recall anybody from his side to making it that far over to your side.
“No,” you shook your head, leaning back in your seat with a sigh as you brought your cup to your lips, “just him.”
“What? Why would he do that, though?” Jeongin hummed. You knew he was friends with Hyunjin, so his confusion was catching you even more off guard.
You shook your head, “I’d rather... not talk about it right now,” you sighed, “can you help me with this?” you turned to Jeongin, gesturing to your arm.
You missed the look Jeongin cast Hyunjin’s way, nodding at you as he stood up, probably going to get the first-aid box he kept in his cabin. Yuta cast a brief glance in your direction before letting out a snort.
“I can feel how annoyed you are,” Yuta drawled, jokingly, of course.
You drew your gaze away from Hyunjin, turning to look at Yuta, “I’m not annoyed, ” you murmured, “just... surprised.”
Yuta quirked an eyebrow at you, “pleasantly surprised?” You waved him off, “don’t get too carried away.”
Daring yourself to look back at Hyunjin, you’d surprised yourself when you noticed he was looking in your direction as well, drawing his gaze away with a certain calmness to his gesture that made you almost unable to look away. Something about it still felt so... unsettling to you.
From what you knew, Aphrodite was the goddess of love, of beauty, but what you saw from Hyunjin was a whole other side of that, beauty with a certain kind of strength you weren’t used to witnessing. An almost unassuming kind of strength, something about it only making you more curious about him.
But after your interaction with him today, you weren’t so sure that you wanted to cause more problems for yourself. You figured if you just stayed out of his way, you would probably still be able to ensure yourself a peaceful summer. That was the plan, at least.
===
What you didn’t realise was that camp half-blood was a lot smaller than you thought it was, especially with how often you were running into Hyunjin after that day.
You were on your way to The Forge, since you’d come up with a plan to forge a sword this week, feeling in need of something that suited your own tastes more. In other words, you were bored out of your mind.
However, on your way to the place, you’d bumped into Hyunjin as you were making your way past the mess hall, unconsciously frowning at the sight of him, making him scoff, walking beside you with that same air of elegance he always carried himself with (a contrary to you who was trying to walk faster than him in your own unspoken petty competition).
Hyunjin wasn’t sure why he was entertaining your competition, also trying to walk quicker than you, his hair bouncing lightly atop his head as he walked briskly, making you realise halfway how stupid the both of you probably looked, halting your footsteps halfway to turn to him with narrowed eyes.
“Stop,” you told him firmly, making his eyes widen, his hand raising to point a finger at himself.
“Me?” Hyunjin scoffed, “you started it first.”
You opened your mouth to speak, closing it quickly, curious to why he was heading in the same direction as you, “stop following me.”
Though your question came out in a rather roundabout way, you figured that was the extent your pride allowed you to go to for now.
Hyunjin folded his arms, unsure why you were so proficient at bringing out the petty side of him, “you stop following me, ” he shot back, his height making him look more intimidating despite his expression showing nothing but child-like stubbornness (similarly to yours).
“I’m not, I’m going to The Forge!”
“I’m going to the Stables!” He shot back at the same time as you, as if it were even a competition to answer first.
Hyunjin hummed, so you were going to The Forge.
The information made Hyunjin curious as to what you were planning on making or fixing there, though he didn’t want to pursue it, still upset that the wound you inflicted on his hand made it hard for him to ride the pegasi.
Whereas you had to stop yourself from thinking about what an elegant thing riding pegasi would be, especially if it was Hyunjin doing it.
Pushing the thought to the back of your head, you huffed, leaving him to continue on your way to the Forge, his footsteps behind you barely audible until you’d both parted ways.
And so it continued. You would alternate between joining Jeongin to do some painting or sculpting and working on your sword, yet somehow you would always manage to run into Hyunjin one way or another.
For a moment, you thought this was some sort of punishment from your father for calling him a whiny bitch, warranting Hyunjin’s presence wherever you went.
It was either on your way to the Forge, or even when you would turn while painting to stare at the lake only to spot Hyunjin sitting at the corner of the area sculpting something with clay, it seemed as though wherever you went, misfortune in the form of a certain Aphrodite-born boy would follow.
What irked you the most wasn’t the way he would make even spilling paint look graceful, or the way his contagious laugh would echo loudly around the area, or how his silver ring would clink against the glass water jar distractingly to the beat of whatever song he was listening to as he worked. Instead, it was his response (or lack thereof) whenever you would meet eyes, how he didn’t have the same reaction everyone else did. How instead of looking away he would keep his gaze firm, yet gentle. How he didn’t seem... scared.
Hyunjin knew this too, how everyone tended to stay away from Ares demigods in general due to their tendency to make people feel angry or upset and result in fights between campers, but Hyunjin was curious. He couldn’t help himself. He’d tried his powers on other Ares children before and they worked, so why were you the exception?
He was down at the Lake, his usual spot he would go to whenever he wanted to relax or clear his mind, since no one else really came here in the night, trying to clear his mind of thoughts of you, having been tormented by them for the whole day as he tried his charmspeak on different people just to make sure he wasn’t broken or anything.
Though it seemed even the lake was no exception to you, something in him feeling as though he wasn’t the only one there, and being proven right when he’d lifted his head from looking at his journal, turning to see you sitting not too far from where he was. Except this time you looked a little... different.
Hyunjin wasn’t sure if it was the softness of the moonlight, but something about the way you looked now with your hands supporting your weight behind you as you looked at the water sloshing around in the lake, moving your foot right and left lazily with your hair flowing freely with the wind and a serene expression on your face. Something about it was very different from the picture of a daughter of Ares that he’d painted in his head. If he didn’t know who you were, he would never have guessed your father was the angry, aggressive, battle-driven god among the olympians, finding something about it awfully refreshing.
Hyunjin had averted his gaze quickly, his hand coming up to grasp at his neck, wincing at the pain from turning his head too quickly.
Drumming his fingers on his journal lightly, Hyunjin slid it into the pocket of his jacket, not knowing you’d already seen him when you came here. He’d contemplated on starting a conversation with you, wondering if it was worth the energy since it’d probably just end up in another petty fight between the both of you.
Deciding against it in the end, Hyunjin stood up with a small sigh, his hand coming up to run his fingers through his hair as he trudged through the sandy ground before he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket, walking past you when you’d spoken up.
“Didn’t they tell you?” you murmured, a slight teasing lilt to your tone, though it was sleepier than Hyunjin was used to hearing it.
Hyunjin turned his head to face you, his eyebrows raised in question, and a part of you just sighed at how unlucky you were that you had run into Hyunjin here too of all places.
“Tell me what?” he asked.
Hyunjin had a feeling you were about to crack a joke, with the way you tried (and failed) to contain your smile as you turned to look at him, a certain softness to your smile that came with sheer relaxation.
“You can see your reflection in the lake better in the daytime,” you grinned, making Hyunjin scoff, though he couldn’t help his amusement.
He shook his head at you, a forced laugh leaving him, “very funny, but i’m not Narcissus.”
There was a small pause that fell between the both of you, your arms coming up over your head in a stretch, a small yawn leaving you. Hyunjin hadn’t left yet, making you wonder if it was because he was surprised to see you here.
“I didn’t follow you here,” you added, “if that’s what you’re wondering.” You know, just for good measure.
Trust you to be straightforward, he thought.
Hyunjin figured he’d might as well take the opportunity to tease you as well, hoping it would help him regain whatever upper hand he thought he had in the exchange.
“Yeah, sure,” he drawled, turning and walking away before you could see his satisfied smile at your yelp of protest.
===
You were a little more excited than usual today, it’d been two weeks since you’d started forging your sword and today would be when you would be able to take it back and use it, the summer sun having started to set by the time you were done.
You were proud of it, frankly. It may have looked like any other sword, but the way it felt was different, it was less prone to wear during rough use as compared to your previous sword, the blade made to be sharper and sturdier. Not to mention how the handle was a perfect fit for your hand. Though you wished you’d had the power of conjuring up a weapon like some of the other children of Ares did, your powers were rather limited to just summoning your weapons and manipulating their material.
It was as if Ares knew you weren’t the most careful with your things.
You’d spotted one of the sons of Hermes, Minho, making their way into the armory as you were leaving, not bothering to greet him as you crossed paths. You knew who he was very well, and what a reputation he had for pranks in the camp, though you’d fortunately never been at the brunt of any.
But that didn’t change the fact that you were feeling just the slightest bit hesitant, at first, something almost prompting you to bring it back to the Cabin first before you went for dinner but eventually you figured it was fine. It was only for a short period of time anyway. You doubted people would want to steal swords in a place like this.
Meeting your friends at the mess hall for dinner, Jeongin eyed you suspiciously when he’d caught you smiling at your soup for the fifth time that meal.
“Something good happen?” he asked, making you nod eagerly.
“Guess,” you told him, seeing his lower lip jut out in a thoughtful pout, his hand coming up to touch his chin before his eyes had widened, his smile growing.
“Jaehyun—”
“No,” you narrowed your eyes at him in warning, making him burst into giggles, his hand raising in surrender.
“Okay, fine, fine...” he hummed, “oh! You finished your sword?” he asked, earning a nod from you.
“Just finished it this afternoon, it’s in the workshop now but i’m gonna go get it later,” you told him, biting into your food with a satisfied sigh.
Jeongin made a sound of awe, his excitement written all over his features, “can I go with you? I wanna see it.”
You nodded, “yeah sure.”
“Is Yuta coming too?” he asked, earning a shake of the head from you.
“Nope,” you told him, “he’s going over to the Aphrodite cabin for some party,” a small giggle leaving you as you recalled how excited Yuta was to hang out with Ten.
“Aphrodite cabin, huh,” Jeongin snickered, making you nod knowingly.
“I know,” you sighed, bringing your cup to your lips to finish the rest of your drink.
Jeongin tossed his used tissue onto his now-empty tray, “well I’m ready to go, you?” he asked, glancing at you for confirmation.
Giving him a nod, you’d both cleared your trays and made your way out of the mess hall, though as you were on your way out, you couldn’t help but notice the stares you were getting from the other campers as you made your way past the cabins. You’d dismissed their stares quickly, thinking nothing of it until Jeongin had let out a small hum of discomfort.
“Is it just me, or...” he grimaced, clearing his throat, “are they staring?” he asked you, twisting his ring around his index finger.
You nodded, giving him a small shrug as you brushed your flyaway hairs away from your face, the wind blowing it haphazardly around.
“Thought so, but it’s alright, I mean. As far as I know we’re fine ‘cause Jaebum hasn’t summoned us anywhere yet,” you huffed, already nearing the workshop when you’d seen a small group of people gathered there, one being Minho, who was currently crouched over something you couldn’t quite see.
“What’s that?” Jeongin murmured, more to himself than anything.
You watched as Minho had slowly emerged from his crouching position, looking at you with pleading eyes and his hands waving in front of him almost as if in reassurance, a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach.
“Y/N, I can explain, I’m really sorry I don’t know what happened I was just doing my own thing and I didn’t know that I was actually—”
“What happened?” you cut him off, his rambling only making your anxiousness grow. Looking at him with confusion written all over your features, you hoped dearly that your suspicions would be proved wrong.
Jeongin watched with horror in his wide eyes as Minho had pulled out what looked like your (now cut up) sword.
Furrowing your eyebrows, you looked back at Minho You were sure your sword wasn’t as hard or brittle enough to have broken like this, you would’ve known, you’d consulted the many sons and daughters of Hephaestus that had come and gone from The Forge while you worked and researched on what would be best for your sword. You were sure they, the sons of a blacksmith of all people, extremely skilled at crafting, wouldn’t have allowed you to make a sword that could get damaged so easily.
“How... did this happen?” you asked him, oblivious to the way the people there were looking on curiously, eager to see if you would live up to the typical Ares tendencies and go into a fit of blind rage.
“I thought this was my sword and I was gonna melt it down to cut it but then I realised too late that it wasn’t mine,” he admitted, his tone sounding too remorseful for you to be more angry at him.
Now that, you could believe.
You looked back at the sword and back at him, not wanting to look at your sword any longer as you inhaled deeply, hearing someone murmur that you looked as though you could kill Minho.
Jeongin heard it too, felt it even, the sheer anticipation from the crowd that you would prove them right that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. They didn’t believe you were capable of controlling your temper, not when all your other siblings couldn’t. And you were glad you realised it, that if you acted on your anger right now, you wouldn’t be doing anything other than perpetuating their image of you as someone that so predictably craved war.
A silence fell between you and Minho, aside from the hushed whispers and murmuring that could be heard from the other campers around you, feeling Jeongin’s hand touch your shoulder gently.
You shook your head, hoping you came across as more reassuring than wanting to kill Minho, a small murmur of an ‘okay’ leaving you before you’d turned away from him, leaving with Jeongin without another word.
Of course, your reaction came to the other campers as a shock, none of them having seen you display such an eerie calmness before. They were sure if the same thing had been done to Yuta, he wouldn’t have held back on showing just how upset he was, but you’d reacted in the least typically Ares way imaginable.
And Hyunjin thought so too.
He had been bored out of his mind waiting for the sons of Dionysus to show up with the drinks, sitting leisurely on the plush sofa in the big living room as he fiddled with his hair, glancing at the door every now and then as he pretended to be interested in whatever gossip his sisters were divulging amongst themselves.
“Did you hear?” one of them tapped on Hyunjin’s arm incessantly, making him turn to them with a bored expression, his fingers touching his ear absently as he prompted them to continue.
“Minho just had a run-in with Y/N,” she told him, her eyes beaming with excitement as though the information she shared was life-or-death, in a very entertainment channel kind of way.
Hyunjin frowned at the mention of your name, already trying to picture how that would’ve gone down, wondering if you’d pummeled Minho and had been the reason behind his absence at the party.
Well, that was until Minho had walked into the Aphrodite cabin looking absolutely unscathed, and Hyunjin decided that maybe he did want to know what happened.
“What happened?” he shifted in his seat, trying to appear nonchalant with his hand supporting the side of his head even despite his bubbling curiosity.
His sister had wasted no time in telling the story, “Minho broke Y/N’s sword because he thought it was his sword, and then when she was going to go get it he told her about it and she looked really angry,” she told him, nodding gravely.
“You were there?” Hyunjin asked, his frown deepening, wondering for a moment what he was doing during that time. Probably lazing on his bed, he figured.
His sister’s mouth had shut quickly, her gaze darting to the ceiling, “well... no, I wasn’t, but that’s what I heard from Ten, who heard it from- okay, nevermind, the important part was that she looked angry, okay?”
Hyunjin knew about Minho’s... penchant for pranks, usually not bothering about them since they were pretty minor. But even he thought this went a little too far. You’d been working on that sword for what... a little more than two weeks? If Hyunjin were in your position, he was sure he would’ve been upset too.
“So... did she like... fight him or something?” he asked his sister, earning a shake of the head from her, which had only surprised him even more.
Hyunjin’s eyebrows raised, “really,” he mustered distractedly, glancing over at Minho who had looked absolutely unaffected, laughing at something Ten had just said.
“She just... left?” Hyunjin asked for confirmation again, not being able to wrap his head around the unpredictability of your reaction. Nothing about you seemed predictable to him, so far.
Maybe your offhand comments, or your skill with weaponry, sure, that was predictable, but even from that day playing capture-the-flag, Hyunjin knew there was something in you that was very much Ares, and very much not.
He wouldn’t have expected such a reaction from someone as strong-willed as you, but then again, as he thought more about it on his way to where Minho was, he thought that maybe he should have expected it. There was something akin to a quiet strength about your reaction, to him.
“Oh, hey,” Minho greeted Hyunjin with a nod in the kitchen as he poured himself another drink, Hyunjin letting out a deep breath he hadn’t even known he was holding.
“Why’d you do that to Y/N’s sword?” he’d asked abruptly, shocking himself with the imperative nature of his tone, and Minho didn’t mask his shock either, the boy looking at Hyunjin as if he’d grown another head.
“Look, I don’t usually give a shit about your pranks but... don’t you have to admit that was a little too much?” his tone had calmed down considerably, maintaining his calm exterior as he gave Minho a small shrug.
Minho let out a snort, nodding slowly, “dude... you know I didn’t actually destroy it, right?”
Hyunjin’s lips parted in surprise, his tongue peeking out to wet his lips as he ran his fingers through his hair again, the whole situation proving to be very unnecessary to him. It seemed, whenever it came to you Hyunjin always found himself feeling emotions he wasn’t used to feeling, things like defensiveness, annoyance, though nothing about it was unwelcome to him, strangely. That part, he had yet to figure out fully.
“Then why’d you do it?” Hyunjin wondered out loud.
Minho shrugged, “wanted to see if she was as temperamental as the rest of them. Think about it, she’s never really...lost her temper like the rest of them.”
“Why do you care anyway?” Minho continued, “I didn’t recall anything about you two being friends,” Hyunjin was caught off guard by the implication.
Looking elsewhere, Hyunjin let out a small scoff, “I don’t, okay? I just... felt bad for her,” he tried to reason, “she worked hard on that sword.”
Shrugging, Hyunjin let out another huff of disbelief, removing his jacket with how stuffy it started to feel in the house.
“Whatever, why am I even explaining this to you,” he muttered, “where’d you put the actual sword?”
Minho eyed Hyunjin curiously, shaking his head with a small smile on his face as he gestured outside the house, “it’s still in the workshop.”
Sighing deeply, Hyunjin rolled his eyes at his own expense, giving Minho a firm pat on the shoulder before he left, his mind a swarm of reasons why he shouldn’t have been doing this, even stopping himself in front of The Forge to just be absolutely sure he was going to go out of his way to deliver a sword to someone he wasn’t on the best terms with.
But he did anyway, and that was what ended Hyunjin up holding your sword in its sheath and grimacing non-stop along with his annoyed mumbles on his very hesitant path towards the lake where he figured you would be.
Sure enough, Hyunjin had sighed in relief when he’d spotted you sitting at your usual spot, your knees propped up closer to your chest and your arms folded and resting upon them, your back facing him.
Shaking whatever hesitance there was left in him, Hyunjin cleared his throat, sighing when you hadn’t turned around.
You weren’t in the mood to have another bickering session with Hyunjin, as a matter of fact, already upset enough at the fact that you not only had to make another sword for yourself, but that the other campers probably just viewed you as some sort of ticking time bomb that they couldn’t wait to set off.
About to take another step towards you, you’d sighed, one of your hands going to pick at the hem of your pants, “shouldn’t you be busy shooting love arrows or something?” you huffed.
Hyunjin’s eyes widened, freezing in place behind you, “how’d you know it was me?”
You shrugged, not wanting to admit that it was the same pleasant floral scent that brought back your memory of that day playing capture-the-flag that had let you know it was him, the scent being somehow unmistakably Hyunjin that your mind seemed to have automatically associated the two together.
“And again,” he huffed, “just because Aphrodite’s my mom doesn’t mean i’m cupid.”
You hummed patronisingly, “what do you want?”
Hyunjin sighed, making his way in front of you, holding your sword out in front of you, your eyes narrowing at him as you took the sword from him slowly.
“It’s yours,” he murmured, “it wasn’t actually destroyed.”
If Hyunjin had expected to receive an appreciative expression of thanks, maybe he should’ve gone to someone else.
You stood up abruptly, a small gasp leaving you.
“Were you the one behind all of this?” your brows furrowed in annoyance, pointing your sword at him with its sheath still on, making Hyunjin step back slightly.
Hyunjin’s eyes widened in shock, a scoff leaving him despite his hands finding their way beside his head in a gesture of surrender, “why are you getting mad at me? I didn’t do anything, I was just returning this to you,” he defended himself.
Maybe Hyunjin was just unlucky, he thought, if only you would have reacted this way to Minho instead of him.
“How do I know you weren’t the one that planned all of this?” you’d almost moved to jab your sword towards him, Hyunjin having anticipated your move and grabbed your sword by it’s sheath, his other hand coming to your wrist and pushing it away from him, ripping the sword from your grip and holding it over his head.
“Excuse you, I left a party just to go and get this hunk of metal and return it to you,” he narrowed his eyes at you, “and this is how you thank me?”
You frowned, confusion prominent in your features as you dropped your hands to your sides limply, “why would you do that?”
Frankly not knowing the reason either, Hyunjin opened and closed his mouth as he fumbled for an answer, tilting his chin up in defiance when he scoffed eventually.
“Fine, if you don’t want this I can just go throw it in the lake or something—”
You stopped him quickly, a yelp of protest leaving you as your hand found its way around his wrist.
Hyunjin hadn’t missed the pleading look in your eyes that flashed for just a second, his grip around your sword loosening as he let you take it back, slightly amused at the way you’d let out an annoyed huff, holding your sword protectively next to you.
“You’re so annoying,” you mumbled grumpily, “didn’t know someone that came from the goddess of love could be such a pain in the ass. ”
Hyunjin raised an eyebrow at you, something about him finding your expression akin to that of a child as you sulked, not being able to help himself from prodding you further in retaliation.
Taking a step closer to you, Hyunjin licked his lips as he tried to think of a response, taking his lower lip between his teeth and letting it go with a slowness that had only served to heighten the tension of the silence.
“What about you, then? I’m sure you live up to what they say about Ares children craving fights and anger, right?” You couldn’t help but feel as though he were challenging you, as if he wanted you to prove him wrong, a feeling in his gut telling him that you would. He was confident in that, (also because he kind of hoped you would).
You’d met Hyunjin’s gaze, his words seeming to have struck a chord with you, a small pause ensuing before you’d shook your head slowly, averting your gaze from him, your gaze unconsciously flickering to the sky as a brief thought had crossed your mind on whether Ares would be angry at you for saying what you were about to say.
But you didn’t think you really cared.
“I don’t... fight without reason, okay?” you cursed yourself mentally for the way your words came out as a mumble, missing the small hint of a smile playing at Hyunjin’s lips, something making you want to look up at him.
Hyunjin nodded at you, liking the answer you gave him for the first time, “good. Me too.”
You’d met his gaze, finally, the sloshing of the lake behind you and the coolness of the summer night almost drowning out your next words.
“Good,” you murmured, “let’s... not give each other a reason, then.”
Shocking you with his reaction, Hyunjin had nodded, turning away as he tried to stifle his smile, his hand coming up to run his fingers through his hair again, only to have it fall softly back against his head.
“Go,” you murmured, not being able to tolerate the tension any longer, “join back your party.”
Hyunjin quirked an eyebrow at you, though he nodded nonetheless, a strange feeling within him after the interaction you’d just shared.
Leaving without another word, you turned your sword around in your hands, thankful to Hyunjin for doing something like that for you even though you’d been nothing but unfriendly to him recently, figuring that this could have been a peace offering of some sort.
And just for a moment, you thought, maybe he wasn’t as bad as you thought he was.
===
And maybe you were right about the whole peace offering thing, since after that day, it was safe to say that Hyunjin and you hadn’t bickered like you did before, tolerating each other’s presence whenever you would both be at the lake at the same time in the night, greeting each other with curt nods when you would walk past each other.
You were having dinner at the mess hall before another game of capture-the-flag that would start at 6 o’clock. Jaehyun had found his way to your table and seated himself next to you, so you were seated in between him and Jeongin, with Chan, Yuta and another son of Ares sitting in front of you.
Hyunjin was seated next to the newer Ares kid, minding his own business as he ate his food, his sisters on his other side talking about the pegasi riding lessons as Hyunjin tried his best to pay attention to the conversation you were having.
You’d been talking about some sort of event the camp was holding in the amphitheatre soon, something like a movie night. In other words, simply an excuse for the older kids to ask for dates to watch a movie with them.
“Are you gonna ask anyone?” Chan had asked Jaehyun, making Jeongin give you a look that was a little too obvious for your liking.
You weren’t able to see Jaehyun’s reaction, since you were seated next to him, not that you cared much about it anyway since you knew it wouldn’t have meant anything.
Choosing to keep your gaze fixed on your food, you prodded at it with your fork as you waited for Jaehyun’s response, almost sighing when he’d cleared his throat, shrugging, “dunno, I guess.”
You missed the way Hyunjin’s gaze wandered from Jaehyun to Jeongin, to you, his mind running wild with possible reasons why Jeongin looked like Jaehyun had just told a joke instead of the response he just gave.
He recalled hearing from his sister the other day that Jaehyun had broken up with his girlfriend from back home, something stirring in him when he’d considered the thought that maybe Jaehyun had his eyes set on you. Not that Hyunjin was in any position to have a problem about it, of course, Jaehyun was free to like whoever he wanted, but something in Hyunjin almost wished for a moment that the feeling in his gut would be wrong for once.
Dismissing the thought quickly, he’d averted his gaze from Jaehyun, focusing on finishing his drink instead.
You looked up briefly to cast a glare at Jeongin, thankful to Yuta who had spoken up, uninterested in the topic of who Jaehyun’s choice of date was.
“Who says we have to bring dates? Why don’t we just go as a group of friends?” Yuta shrugged, Chan letting out a small giggle in response.
“That would be cute, I don’t mind that,” he agreed, Hyunjin nodding in agreement.
“Can I join? I’d rather not let my sisters try to matchmake me again this time,” Hyunjin grimaced, making you unintentionally perk up at the mention of matchmaking, wondering who they had in mind that would be a good fit for him, running through your mental list as you continued to prod at your food.
“Oh yeah, cause you guys are like children of cupid or something, right?” the boy snickered, something about his tone striking a nerve with you.
Did he really think a god as unpredictable and destructive as Ares was any better?
You had to refrain from rolling your eyes, “Aphrodite,” you quipped sternly, “it’s not that hard to remember.”
Jeongin had to stifle his laughter, and you continued to prod at your food, missing the small smile on Hyunjin’s face when you went back to eating as if you didn’t just say what you said.
The boy had immediately quietened down, afraid that he would warrant another chiding from you if he made another mistake, Jaehyun nudging you with an amused smile on his face.
“Go easy on the kid, he’s not familiar with how it works here yet.”
You huffed, unsure why you had felt so defensive over it as well. It wasn’t as if you hadn’t teased Hyunjin about it before. But maybe that was what irked you about the boy’s statement, how his tone sounded mocking almost, as if it wasn’t something to be proud of to be born from Aphrodite.
Sighing, you’d stood up, ready to get ready for the capture-the-flag game, turning to Jaehyun and scrunching your nose in distaste, “he’s gotta learn at some point.”
The sun was already beginning to set when you’d started the game, the sky growing darker the more the both of you made your way through the forest, keeping your footsteps as quiet as you could as Hyunjin walked with you.
Hyunjin and yourself had been on a separate path to find the other team’s flag, the both of you having been split up from the rest after being bombarded with a group of Hermes’ children.
“Should we go that way?” Hyunjin asked, pointing in the direction of the lake, making you shake your head.
“No, they probably have a bunch of Poseidon’s kids standing by there, and I don’t know about you, but I really don’t wanna end up fighting Chan.”
Hyunjin let out a small huff, halfway to a giggle, a small pause ensuing as you stepped over a branch, turning to gesture to the branch as a warning to Hyunjin, hearing him murmur a small thanks to you. Something between the both of you felt more comfortable now, less hostile definitely, but something about it still felt tense, you just couldn’t exactly place the cause of the tension.
“Can I ask you a question?” Hyunjin asked, pulling you from your thoughts, his voice soft but loud enough for you to hear.
You nodded, “what?” you prompted, turning when you’d felt a movement, relaxing when you realised it was just a dove.
“You’re not very fond of your dad, are you?” he asked, making you inhale deeply, huffing through your nose.
You turned to him with a sceptical look on your face, “are you? ” you scoffed.
“So, i’ll take that as a no?”
You paused, giving him a small nod.
Hyunjin hummed softly, reaching a hand up to push the overhanging leaf out of the way before it could hit your head without you realising.
“Can I ask why?” he hummed, his footsteps delicately treading on the ground softly in contrast with you who were simply walking normally.
You shrugged, “guess it never really felt like I fit into the ideals he wants in his children? You know? Like all that... destruction and aggression without reason, it just didn’t feel right to me,” you shrugged.
Hyunjin hummed, as if prompting you to continue, slightly distracted when he contemplated if he should offer his helmet to you since you didn’t have one.
“It felt kind of weird, to be honest, when he claimed me,” you shared, thankful that Hyunjin made you feel as though you could share these things with him without being attacked for not respecting your father. “It kind of felt like it was wrong.”
Hyunjin let out a small giggle at that, a small sound of disagreement leaving him, “I wouldn’t say totally wrong,” he offered, making your eyebrows raise in question, curious to hear what he had to say.
“You know, you’re strong-willed, passionate about what you want, good at combat,” he told you, making you huff in your attempt to suppress the strange feeling within you at Hyunjin’s words. Hyunjin himself felt as though such words were foreign to him, or maybe it was the intention behind the words. He wasn’t sure.
“Thanks,” you murmured softly, the way your voice had come out as a mere squeak making you scrunch your nose up in distaste.
“What about you?” you asked, hearing a confused hum leave him.
“Am I fond of my mom?”
You turned to nod at him, seeing him shrug, “yeah, I guess. I guess the only downside I can think of is how we’re not the most... skilled at combat.”
You didn’t see it, but Hyunjin had to stop himself from letting his smile grow too big, especially because he knew his words had struck a chord with you.
Your breath hitched, feeling almost guilty hearing his words, not being able to help yourself from turning to him, stopping in your tracks in the middle of the path you were on.
“Sorry,” you told him, seeing him tilt his head at you, an expectant smirk on his face.
“For what?”
You shrugged, averting your gaze as you knocked your shield against his gently, embarrassment taking over you at the awkward gesture, “you know, for... underestimating you.”
Daring yourself to meet his gaze, you were surprised to say the least, when he’d simply smiled at you, his tongue moving to graze over his canine, “apology accepted.”
About to move forward, Hyunjin had stopped you abruptly, his hand on your wrist with urgency in the gesture, his voice dropping to a whisper, “Jaehyun.”
You wrinkled your nose in dismay, shaking your head, “probably means we’re near.”
You heard footsteps growing louder, not having expected Jaehyun to be alone, but you should’ve known he wasn’t, especially when you’d heard footsteps behind you, spotting Chan with Jaehyun, and the flag not far behind them.
“I’ll take Chan,” Hyunjin told you quicker than you could react, already wielding his sword as he proceeded to duel with Chan, while Jaehyun made his way slowly over to you, gripping his trident (a gift from Poseidon himself, he was very proud to inform whoever ) and using it to smack against the ground with small thuds as he grew closer.
“Fancy meeting you here,” he gave you a grin, his dimples showing cutely.
You rolled your eyes, not being able to stop yourself from smiling.
“Yeah, Jaebum didn’t put me on flag duty today, but I see you didn’t get so lucky?” you murmured, already pulling your sword out, the sound of Hyunjin and Chan fighting behind you making you wonder just where everyone else was, having expected them to reach the flag before you and Hyunjin could.
Jaehyun scoffed, “hey, I love flag duty.”
Already going into your ready stance, you wanted to laugh when Jaehyun had done so as well, not being able to take him very seriously from knowing him for so long.
And so you swung your sword, managing to nick him on the arm before your sword collided with his trident, though you tried to ignore the intimidating sharpness of its prongs as you continued to try your best, to dodge his swings and use your difference in size to your advantage. It was a blur to you, the whole process, like it usually was.
You figured it was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing, where you would get lost in the fighting that you wouldn’t even have time to think before you acted, your body seeming to move naturally with its one goal of getting your opponent out of the way.
Maybe you’d thank Ares for that detail.
After you realised Hyunjin had stopped fighting Chan, you’d let yourself get distracted by wondering how he’d managed to get Chan to give up so easily, giving Jaehyun the opportunity to deliver a particularly strong blow to your shoulder.
Stumbling back, your back hitting the tree behind you as Jaehyun brought his trident up, your hand grasping the spear tightly as you tried to pull it away from your neck, though Jaehyun had an advantage with his stance, holding it against your neck and caging you in place, the tip of one of the pointed ends nicking you just below your jaw when you’d moved particularly abruptly.
Hyunjin had noticed of course, but after he’d managed to get Chan to leave with his Charmspeak, you realised he was free to go get the flag.
So when you saw him coming behind Jaehyun, you used your hand to gesture to the flag, Hyunjin thankfully having gotten the hint and making a break towards the flag, more people having gathered as Jaehyun had let go of you finally, watching with a smile as Hyunjin had claimed the flag, looking at you with a dazed smile on his face.
Jaehyun helped you up from where you leaned against the tree, “he’s pretty good, isn’t he?” you heard him say.
“Who?” you frowned.
Jaehyun nodded his head towards Hyunjin, who was gracefully accepting the praise from the other campers as he made his way towards where you were.
You huffed, nodding, “yeah,” you murmured, “sure is.”
You were too tired to join for the celebration after the game, finding your way back to the Lake. (With how much you went there, people would have thought you were a daughter of Poseidon if not for the red motifs on your attire).
Having asked Jeongin if you could meet him later on after you showered for him to help you clean up your cuts like you would both usually do, you heard soft footsteps behind you, sighing in relief that Jeongin was finally here.
Only when the smell of that distinct flowery scent had grown stronger did you realise that was definitely not Jeongin, your suspicions proven when you saw Hyunjin seat himself down next to you, his hair wet and in a new change of clothes, having freshened up as well, glancing down to see a first-aid box in his hands.
But not any first-aid box, you realised, when you spotted the little stickers on the side of the opening, Jeongin’s first-aid box.
“Hope you don’t mind, Jeongin said he had to get something done,” Hyunjin’s hands came up to pull the neck of his white shirt higher, his bracelet sliding down on his arm, “may I?” he asked, your mouth still sealed shut in your uncertainty on how to respond.
You nodded belatedly, seeing him already taking out some antiseptic cream from the box with a small cotton bud, “oh, uh, no yeah, that’s fine.”
You took the liberty of taking an ice pack from Jeongin’s box, pressing it against the area where your neck met your shoulder, sighing softly, and maybe even cursing Jaehyun in your head for practically ramming your back into that tree just now.
“I didn’t know you were still injured,” Hyunjin murmured, looking at your neck and then back down at his hands, “thought you would’ve just asked Jaehyun to heal you or something.” His voice came out in mumbles as he concentrated on getting the tube open.
Hyunjin figured with how comfortable you looked around Jaehyun that you wouldn’t have hesitated to accept his help, especially since no one liked to live with their injuries if they could help it, but Hyunjin had to dismiss the thought quickly when he started to think about how closeby the Lake was to the Poseidon cabin, wondering if that was the reason behind your constant presence here.
Pursing your lips, you shook your head, a small laugh escaping you, “I don’t really wanna do that unless it’s super serious,” you began.
Hyunjin hummed, “sorry can you like, look there a little?” he gestured to your right, making you turn to your right, side-eyeing Hyunjin at the little giggle that left him.
“No, like,” you’d tensed up when you felt his hand reach forward to tilt your chin up gently, exposing your cut better to him, wincing slightly when the cotton bud had touched your cut.
“You were saying?” Hyunjin prompted you, making you hum in confusion before realising he was referring to the whole healing thing.
You shrugged, “I don’t know, I guess when you’re a demigod and even things like healing can be done just like that, everything can become really... instantaneous,” you explained, “guess it’s nice to have slow moments like these that kind of feel more like, normal and stuff,” your laughter came out in a small burst, feeling strangely embarrassed to be telling Hyunjin something that felt so stupid when it came out of your mouth.
“Scarring?” Hyunjin laughed, making you shoot him a pointed look, “I'm kidding. I get it.” he smiled, not knowing what came over him to decide to continue, “besides, if Jaehyun healed you, I wouldn’t get to be here right now,” he huffed.
You turned to him, trying to decipher what he meant by that yet at the same time feeling as if you knew, Hyunjin’s gaze fixed on your neck as he placed a small bandage over your cut there, his fingers grazing over the skin there in a way that made you freeze in place, something about his movements and gestures feeling as though they were balancing on the line between intentional and unintentional.
Hyunjin’s gaze shifted to your eyes, offering you a small (and slightly belated smile) before his gaze fell to your forearm, sucking in a sharp breath when he saw the wound, grimacing.
“I’m starting to think I should’ve let you fight Chan instead of Jaehyun,” he laughed, beginning to apply the cream with gentle touches to your arm, his neck craned over your arm, his hair falling over his eyes in a way that made you want to reach your hand out and run your hands through it to push it back, shocking yourself at your thought.
“It’s fine, it doesn’t hurt,” you assured him, making him shake his head.
“Kind of think it would’ve been more for myself than for you,” he huffed, once again confusing you with the implication behind his words.
Pulling out a medium-sized dressing for your wound, he’d pressed it against your wound, securing it before his hands returned to his lap, Hyunjin almost forgetting himself for a moment with the tension he was feeling.
“All done,” he gave you a small smile, his shoulders relaxing as a barely-audible sigh left his lips, about to put the supplies back into the first-aid box when you’d stopped him, not knowing why your body seemed to be moving against your rational thought.
Your other hand came up to take the box from his hands slowly, shaking your head at him, “you’re injured too,” you pointed out, seeing his eyes widen and his lips part, a small scoff leaving him.
“It’s nothing,” he assured you, though his tone didn’t sound very convincing, a part of him simply refusing for the sake of refusing, “you don’t have to,” he tried again, knowing once again that his charmspeak didn’t work when you’d shook your head insistently.
“It’s something,” you dismissed him, though a small smile found its way onto your face as Hyunjin had wordlessly tugged the sleeve of his shirt up to expose the cut on his arm to you.
Hyunjin had to admit being in such close proximity to you was definitely making him more tense than he was used to being, especially more so now that he knew he couldn’t depend on his abilities to make himself seem more likeable to you. Though Hyunjin would argue that it was refreshing, since sometimes he found that he would say things offhandedly and end up using his abilities on accident, but he couldn’t lie that it made him very, very nervous.
“You came out pretty unharmed,” you murmured with an impressed hint to your tone, “considering you went against Chan.”
Hyunjin shrugged, flushing slightly, masking his shyness with an exaggerated yelp when you’d touched the cotton bud to his wound, flinching back and making you laugh.
“Don’t be dramatic, you were fine when I did it the first time,” you scoffed, seeing him calm down from his act but the smile had lingered on his face nonetheless.
“Yeah, well... I was just lucky he didn’t have a trident too.”
Hyunjin pressed his lips together in a firm line, not having noticed whatever you were doing to his arm because he was too busy looking at your face.
You couldn’t pay too much attention to it, continuing to ramble to take your mind off of how much Hyunjin’s presence made you nervous, especially with the way you could feel him looking at you.
“How did you do that, by the way?” you asked, remembering how you’d seen Chan walk away from Hyunjin halfway when they were fighting, something about the image having popped into your head when you were treating his cut.
Hyunjin raised an eyebrow, “do what?”
You touched the skin above his cut on accident, seeing him flinch back slightly, “sorry,” you gave him a sheepish smile, “I mean, you know, he just suddenly... left halfway, like he just stopped fighting you.”
Hyunjin’s lips parted in realisation, a hum of understanding leaving him, “it was uh... my charmspeak.”
The frown on your face must’ve adequately expressed your confusion, since Hyunjin continued.
“I guess you could say it’s one of the gifts from Aphrodite? That I can sort of like... hypnotize someone into doing what I want them to do.”
Your eyes widened, not having realised Hyunjin was capable of such a thing, starting to understand why Yuta had mentioned fearing their powers more than those of Poseidon’s children.
“That’s... cool,” you hummed, “I was surprised you even used it, you know, considering you were already taking him on pretty well even without the uh... hypno powers,” you waved your hands in front of your eyes for emphasis, making him wrinkle his nose, not seeming to be very convinced.
You scoffed at how modest he was being, shaking your head, “no, seriously. Jaehyun said so too,” you told him, “you’re a good fighter.”
Hyunjin pursed his lips, hoping the moonlight wouldn’t give away the heat creeping up on his cheeks, unsure why he was so flattered by your comment, especially since it wasn’t the first time he was hearing it. Maybe since it was his first time hearing you, of all people, saying it.
“Thanks,” he murmured, a small smile playing at his lips.
“You know, since Aphrodite doesn’t usually play in the war games,” you continued, “I have to admit it was kind of... nice,” you glanced at him briefly for a reaction, the slight quirk in his eyebrow making you rush to continue, “you know, not saying it was nice to fight you but like....nice to fight with you.”
“Thanks,” he murmured finally, making your shoulders relax unconsciously in your relief, “I uh, thought it was nice too.”
You pressed your lips into a firm line, taking a bandage from the first aid box and scooting closer to Hyunjin just slightly, wrapping the bandage around his arm carefully, Hyunjin’s other hand on his lap as he observed your movements carefully.
You thought about how you would’ve never expected yourself to be so comfortable with Hyunjin, figuring one thing that helped you get to this point was since you’d been spending majority of the summer around each other, thinking back to how you felt like your dislike towards him had started to dissipate after that day he’d returned you his sword. A part of you did still feel bad for not thanking him properly for that.
“Thanks, by the way,” you mumbled, “for that day, when you helped me get back my sword.”
You weren’t sure why you were feeling so drawn to him. You were supposed to be strong for crying out loud. Everything about your interactions with him had just felt so new t o you, and they did to him too (though he was better at hiding it than you were). You couldn’t understand why all Hyunjin had to do was just sit there and that was all it took to make you anxious and too nervous to look him in the eyes.
But finally, you’d mustered whatever courage you had within you to do just that, after you were done wrapping his wound up, watching silently as he brought his sleeve back down, refraining from reaching over to grasp your hand before you could withdraw it. Though once you’d met his gaze, you’d felt trapped, almost, something in you not being able to look away.
“You’re welcome,” he told you, his tone gentle and melodic, something so him that you couldn’t find a better response but to nod.
You saw his gaze flicker to your lips just briefly before looking back at your eyes, making you unknowingly do so as well, the silence between the both of you feeling almost suffocating and making you tap-out first.
Turning away quickly, you’d picked the first-aid box off of the floor, pretending to be interested in closing it as Hyunjin regained his composure, standing up and dusting off the dirt on his pants.
Hyunjin debated on helping you up, wondering if you would accept his hand if he were to offer it, his mental back-and-forth making him lose the opportunity quickly when you’d simply stood up on your own, dusting the dirt from your pants. Hyunjin pressing his lips together in a firm line to hide his disappointment at himself.
“I’ll uh... walk you back to your cabin?” he asked, earning a small nod from you.
You could still hear people nearby in the amphitheatre celebrating, thankful that they were either too drunk or too caught up in their conversations to notice you and Hyunjin walking towards the Ares cabins.
Once you’d reached, you turned to Hyunjin, giving him a small smile, and he wondered how you could look so out of place standing in front of the deep red cabin in front of him with its barbed wire perimeter and the intimidating Ares brothers that were eyeing Hyunjin suspiciously from the window, yet somehow managing to look right at home. And he was growing to like that.
“What?” you asked, a slight furrow in your brow when Hyunjin had let his gaze linger a little too long without saying anything.
Hyunjin gave you a soft smile, shaking his head as he tucked his hands into his pockets, “nothing. Bye.”
You narrowed your eyes at him, though you couldn’t help the smile from your face as well, nodding slowly, “bye.”
===
Things between you and Hyunjin after that day were... different to say the least. It’d almost been an unspoken thing for the both of you to meet at the Lake in the evening and talk about whatever it was that was in your minds before he would walk you back to the cabin.
Jaebum loved to situate himself at the front porch to ‘read’ whenever it would be time for you to come back, his knowing smile always serving to unnerve you.
Hyunjin was a good friend, you came to realise. Talking to him was different, different from talking to your Ares brothers who were so insistent on putting up a tough front all the time, (aside from those days Yuta would show up in your room wanting to watch a sad movie), or talking to Jeongin because your conversations would usually revolve around mindless things or become all too philosophical to be discussed while sober.
But Hyunjin, talking to him felt balanced, in a sense. Something about how his personality brought out a side of you that you never really paid much attention to, the part that freely loved things and appreciated the nowness of things without always anticipating what was about to happen next or what you had to prepare for. How just being at the lake with him had made your nights feel longer and allowed you to relish in it, not having to be caught up with the activities of the day when you were there with him.
You figured another reason could be because talking with him didn’t feel like he was just waiting for his turn to speak or give his opinion, it was very clear to you whenever he had those days where he’d simply wanted to listen to what was weighing on your mind and help you through that, without you having to ask him first.
And maybe it was that which warmed your heart, because as the days passed, you felt yourself starting to see Hyunjin differently. How you would find yourself looking out for him without even realising, getting the feeling of wanting to make him happy, or observing little details about him that you wouldn’t have bothered to notice about Yuta or Jeongin.
It was one particular day at the mess hall that made you realise just how in trouble you were.
You were all back on that dreaded conversation topic of the movie night, hearing that someone had tried asking Jaehyun to go with them but getting turned down instead, the information seeming to stir childish scandal amongst your friends as they all tried to tease information out of Jaehyun as to why this was so.
“C’mon, why’d you say no? It’s not as if you were gonna ask someone else, right?” Chan laughed, Hyunjin perking up when Jaehyun had laughed, rolling his eyes.
“Yeah? Says who? What if I wanted to ask Y/N?” Jaehyun gestured to you, bringing his drink to his lips nonchalantly.
You knew he was just using you as an example, but Hyunjin didn’t.
Looking at you with his eyes wide in surprise, his gaze flickered between you and Jaehyun as he tried to make sense of what was happening, something in him almost deflating at the thought that Jaehyun could have been interested in you.
You couldn’t help but glance at Hyunjin in a small panic, hoping he wouldn’t misread what Jaehyun said. Why were you even worried about what he would think?
As calmly as you could, you let out a small scoff, “forget it, I wouldn’t go with you even if you asked,” you stuck your tongue out at Jaehyun, Hyunjin not knowing whether to take it as a joke or not, but he didn’t have much time to think about it before Chan had turned to him.
“Didn’t someone ask you too?” Chan asked, having recalled seeing one of the daughters of Poseidon approaching Hyunjin the day before when he was conducting a pegasi riding lesson at the stables.
You looked at Hyunjin with evident surprise in your features, since he’d definitely excluded that little detail when he told you about his day the previous evening, surprising yourself even further when you’d pictured the scene in your head, wondering how he would’ve reacted.
Hyunjin cast you a brief glance, meeting your eyes and averting his gaze just as quickly to fixate it on Chan, nodding with as casual a shrug as he could muster, “yeah,” he answered simply.
You couldn’t help yourself, “and?” you blurted before you could stop yourself, catching Hyunjin off guard with the expectancy of your tone.
Jeongin eyed you suspiciously, though it went ignored by you as you focused on waiting for Hyunjin’s answer, watching as he let go of the tissue he was holding in his hands, bringing his drink up to his lips, almost raising his hands in surrender (but thankfully not doing so).
“Said no,” he shrugged, taking a long sip of his drink, eyeing you for a reaction over the rim of his cup.
You nodded slowly, a short hum of understanding leaving you as you turned back to Jeongin, making eye contact with the boy who was looking at you with a look that said he definitely was going to ask you about this later.
And he did, soon enough.
Lying on your bed on his back, Jeongin was busy pulling his knee to his chest in his attempt to do some ‘yoga in bed’ that he’d come across online.
“What’s up with you and Hyunjin?”
“What do you mean, ‘whats up with me and Hyunjin’?” you huffed, hoping he wouldn’t read into your flustered expression as you turned away from him, concentrating on folding your freshly done laundry.
Jeongin rolled his eyes, letting go of his leg before pulling the other one towards his chest with a small grunt, “I mean, what’s going on with you and Hyunjin?” he said again, making sure to enunciate his words pointedly.
You shrugged, “nothing, we’re friends,” you told him plainly (though not plain enough to please Jeongin), “that’s what’s going on.”
Straightening his leg, Jeongin lowered it down, stretching his hands over his head with a yawn, “then what was with your face when Chan said someone asked him out?”
You let out a high-pitched hum, making a wrong fold on your shirt, “well aren’t you an observant little thing,” you cooed, re-doing the fold.
“Don’t avoid the question,” Jeongin laughed, straightening up in his seat and looking at you with wide eyes, “why are you being so weird about it?”
You sighed, bunching up your shirt in your hands as you looked at him, “I don’t know what it is, okay? It’s just that... these days whenever i’m with him I keep thinking about how nice he looks or how good his stupid flower perfume smells or how he just, I don’t know, chooses his words so well,” you frowned.
“It’s weird, like, even I think it’s weird, because I don’t usually pay attention to things like that, but suddenly when it comes to him—” you inhaled deeply, stopping yourself short as you looked at Jeongin in desperation. “If it’s not some kind of magic, I don’t know what to make of it.”
Jeongin snorted, giving you a shrug.
“I’d love to just say you’re losing it, but I heard Aphrodite kids have a reputation for that, you know?”
You frowned, standing up to make your way towards where he was, “for what?” You slumped down on your bed next to him with your arms stretched out above you, rolling over until your shoulder was against his hip, a tired sigh leaving you.
“You know, the whole like... love voodoo shit,” Jeongin prompted, your confused expression making him groan, “it’s like what you guys can do with anger and fear but they do it with pleasant feelings instead.”
Your frown deepened, not having realised Hyunjin was capable of doing something like that.
“I thought it was only the charmspeak?” you frowned, seeing Jeongin roll his eyes.
“You say it as if Ares only gave you guys one ability.”
You snorted, “wouldn’t have put it past him,” you shifted your body to support your head with your hand, “has it happened before?”
Jeongin hummed, nodding matter-of-factly, “yeah, duh. ”
“Then, do you think that’s what’s happening to me?” you wondered out loud, bringing your legs up to hug your knees to your chest with a sigh, trying to wrack your brain for reasons why Hyunjin would manipulate your feelings like that. Did he not trust you?
Giving you a shrug, Jeongin laid back on his back, “dunno, maybe you can test it out or something. See if what you’re feeling is heightened when you’re talking to him, you know?”
You hummed, nodding slowly. You still didn’t know what would compel Hyunjin to do something like that, wondering if you weren’t on as good terms as you thought you were, deciding that for now, observing him was your best bet to figuring out just exactly what he wanted from you.
Hyunjin was stressing himself out too, but not quite over the same reasons that you were.
While you were trying to come to terms with the fact that you were finding him a little too pleasant to be normal, Hyunjin had been trying to come to terms with the fact that Jaehyun probably found you as pleasant as he did (or something along those lines).
He’d already passed the point of figuring out whether or not he liked you. He knew that for sure.
Whether it was because he was more in tune with his feelings of love or just him tending to trust his feelings more, he didn’t really pinpoint a specific cause. All he knew was that he had found himself completely enamoured with you, drawn to you in ways that made him question if his mother had a hand in this.
What he was more concerned with now, was coming to terms with the fact that you may not have felt the same way.
It was in the small things, like how he would let himself read into the looks or the inside jokes that Jaehyun shared, or how he couldn’t help but feel as though you would feel more comfortable with Jaehyun judging from your conversations and how naturally they flowed. Not that his conversations with you didn’t feel natural as well, Hyunjin just couldn’t help but worry.
And this was new to him, these feelings of heightened worry or anxiousness that somehow you managed to bring out in him, though Hyunjin had to say that it wasn’t that bad, because with the anxiousness, he realised just how much he liked you. But nonetheless, as previously said, he really couldn’t help but worry.
Even now (or especially now), as Hyunjin was seated behind you in the amphitheater during the movie night, watching some sort of pirated romantic movie that, if anything, only made him more anxious about you, he couldn’t help the glances he would steal at Jaehyun every now and then. As if by some unlucky stroke of fate, he would always seem to turn to look at you at a part where Jaehyun would be whispering something that would elicit a laugh from you, something about the feeling of helplessness mixed with just a tinge of jealousy making Hyunjin’s stomach churn.
But what Hyunjin didn’t know was that you weren’t actually as amused as he thought you were.
What he didn’t see, past the giggling and inside jokes, was that your leg was bouncing incessantly in your seat, how your eyes were dead fixed on the movie playing but not being able to focus on anything other than the fact that even the way the male lead dressed had reminded you of Hyunjin.
You were trying your best, to ignore the sounds of agreement or giggles that would leave Hyunjin whenever Yuta would hum about the beauty of the leads, or the way Hyunjin would lean forward every so often to ask for another handful of popcorn. And he wouldn’t just ask, he would make sure his lips were barely centimeters away from your ear and that his voice was as enchanting as it was in the forest during your first encounter with him.
And then the scent of his perfume would flood your senses and your mind would be practically yelling at you that all you had to do was just turn ever so slightly and your face would be right in front of his.
But the keyword was trying.
You couldn’t ignore it, with every instance, you were growing increasingly convinced that this was just Hyunjin’s way of messing with you and manipulating your feelings for reasons unbeknownst to you.
And as time passed, you were getting tired of feeling so strongly towards him when you frankly couldn’t do anything about it (it wasn’t as if you could just turn around and kiss him now, that would be too much implication and too little reasonable explanation on your part).
But your tipping point was a particularly tense scene in the movie when the lead couple had shared a moment, looking into each other's eyes and the male lead saying something stupid that you couldn’t bring yourself to remember, before sharing a deep kiss.
And of all moments, Hyunjin had chosen that moment to lean forward for what you felt was the thousandth time, “Y/N,” he whispered, “can I have the—”
You shoved the popcorn box behind you into his hands, a deep sigh leaving you, “here. Take it.”
Jeongin shared a look with Hyunjin, the younger boy’s hand coming up to stifle his smile when you stood up abruptly, deciding that what would do you good right now is some fresh air, or just... air where you could focus on anything other than Hyunjin.
Your sudden decision had caught Hyunjin off guard, frowning at you in confusion when you declared that you ‘needed some air’, stalking off in what Hyunjin assumed was the direction of the lake.
Turning to Jeongin, Hyunjin was about to speak when Jeongin had beat him to it, a definitive ‘yes’ leaving him.
Yuta let out a chuckle when Hyunjin had only looked more confused.
“‘Yes’ what?”
Jaehyun turned to cast a knowing smile towards Hyunjin, making him even more confused to begin to process it.
“I’m guessing you wanted to ask where Y/N was going, but then I think you already know the answer to that,” Yuta pressed his lips together in a poor attempt to contain his smile.
“So, the next question would be whether to go after her, and my answer is yes,” Jeongin finished simply, Hyunjin’s lips parting and closing.
Scoffing, Hyunjin shook his head, “who said I was gonna ask about her?” he folded his arms, even though he had already begun to stand up, making Jeongin giggle.
Jeongin brought his hand up to shove Hyunjin out of the way, “dude, just go. You’re gonna make me miss the rest of this movie.”
===
You were sitting down closer to the water, thankful for the sound of the rushing water that managed to soothe you, running your fingers through your hair in a half-hearted attempt to tame it from being blown about by the breeze, giving up at one point and simply huffing, staring at the rocks as though it would give you an answer to why you were so riled up.
But what irked you even more was that even here, you seemed to be so wrapped up in your thoughts of Hyunjin that you swore you could smell that same flowery scent even here. Cursing him mentally that whatever love voodoo he was doing was strong enough to make you think of him even when you were trying everything in your power not to.
Well, that was until you heard someone clear their throat gently behind you, a soft, “hey,” leaving them.
So the flowery scent was real.
You huffed in annoyance, “whatever you’re doing, you have to stop it now.”
Hyunjin frowned, making his way closer to you, “I’m not doing anything,” he told you, standing in front of you now, crouching into a squat so he could be at eye-level with you.
“Don’t play dumb, just undo it,” you tried again, not understanding how even when you wanted to be annoyed at him now, you couldn’t help but find the confusion on his face more than just a little endearing, your gaze softening for just a brief moment when you caught a good look at his face.
Hyunjin shook his head, his hands coming up beside his head in surrender, “I really don’t know what you’re talking about,” he insisted, making you groan.
“Jeongin told me, okay? That you and the other Aphrodite children can manipulate feelings of love, I need you to stop making me feel like this,” you told him plainly, your eyes searching his face in desperation hoping that he would at least take pity on you and stop playing dumb.
Hyunjin’s eyes widened, his forehead creasing slightly when he frowned, “that’s... not possible.”
You scoffed, seeing him rest one of his knees on the ground to balance himself, “what do you mean it’s ‘not possible’? Of course it’s possible, if you can do it, you can undo it, right?”
Hyunjin wanted to laugh, a small exasperated scoff leaving him, unsure what to make of this entire situation, “I mean,” he struggled to contain his amusement, having passed the point of exasperation, “it’s not possible because it doesn’t work on you.”
Your frown had deepened, your lower lip unknowingly forming a pout as your eyes searched his expression for any sign that he may have been joking.
“Doesn’t work?” you panicked, unsure what to make of his words, “That doesn’t make sense, what do you mean it doesn’t work? How can it not work?” your lips parted in confusion, Hyunjin getting tired of squatting and sitting before you instead.
Hyunjin couldn’t help but smile, shaking his head, “I’m just as confused as you, okay? I really don’t know, maybe Ares gave you a thick skull too,” he raised his hands in defence, a small bout of laughter leaving him, seemingly satisfied with his own joke.
Scoffing, you folded your arms, a small silence ensuing, somehow not being able to wrap your head around your newfound information, “explain.”
Hyunjin tilted his head at you, his elbow on his knee to support his head as he looked at you with an expression you couldn’t place, “do you remember? That first day we played capture-the-flag and I told you to pick up the flag?”
You nodded, remembering that moment very well, how firm his gaze was, how sweet his tone sounded, how his proximity made you feel as though you couldn’t move, “I remember.”
“That was me trying to use my charmspeak on you, and failing.”
You remembered the confusion you felt when he’d asked you to pick up the flag, your annoyance overpowering you and possibly being the reason why his abilities hadn’t worked.
“Ever since then, I realised it was never going to work on you,” he murmured, “and believe me, I would’ve known if it did. Which is why i’m telling you now,” he told you, his pace slowing down as his gaze stayed intent, enunciating his words clearly for you to hear.
Hyunjin leaned closer to you, taking his lower lip between his teeth with a small pause before letting it go, his lips curving into a small smile, “that whatever you want me to undo, I can’t undo it.”
Only then did you realise the gravity of the situation, that whatever you were feeling towards Hyunjin was all coming from you, and that as much as you should’ve known, you still couldn’t help the wave of relief that washed over you at the knowledge that it was real.
Hyunjin had taken in a deep breath before you, patiently giving you the time you needed to process whatever he’d told you, amused at the fact that you looked as though you wanted to hide.
“I don’t really... know how to explain this to you,” you admitted, seeing Hyunjin bring his hand up to cover his mouth, stifling his smile while trying to maintain a serious expression.
Hyunjin shook his head, “you can explain it however you want, you can not explain it too, if you want.”
You frowned, figuring he’d probably felt embarrassed for you, standing up and pressing your lips tightly into a firm line, a silent way of telling him that you’d wanted to leave, Hyunjin giving you an understanding nod.
Deciding that you just needed to regain your composure, you nodded, giving him an apologetic smile before you left.
===
You’d obviously consulted Jeongin in the time between that and your next meeting, the said boy claiming that he would never have seen it coming if you’d asked him a month before. Though he was no less supportive, the other daughters of Ares seemed to agree with him as well, all of them singing praises to you about Hyunjin and why you shouldn’t ‘miss this opportunity’.
Which was what ended you up at the Lake again that night, hugging your jacket closer to yourself to protect yourself against the cold breeze.
Staring at Hyunjin’s back, you took a deep breath as you made your way towards where he was seated at your usual spot, dressed in a simple shirt and sweatpants, not looking bothered at all by the cold.
“Hey,” he murmured, hearing the soft crunching of the pebbles under your shoes growing louder, a small smile on his face as you took a seat next to him, something about him not feeling as nervous as he’d expected himself to be.
Mustering a small hum in reply, you gulped, taking in a deep breath as you thought of where to start.
“Had a good day today?” you started, missing the way Hyunjin had quirked an eyebrow at you in his amusement.
He nodded, “average. Didn’t see you at dinner,” he mentioned, turning his head to look at you, silently questioning your sudden politeness.
“Yeah... wasn’t hungry. Was with Jaehyun and Jeongin at the arena.”
At the mention of Jaehyun, Hyunjin pursed his lips, his smile slowly disappearing as he nodded slowly in understanding.
“Does he like you?” he blurted abruptly, his words making your eyes widen. Once again, Hyunjin found himself wishing that Aphrodite would give him more confidence for once, especially in a time like this.
You shook your head, his words having shocked you into laughter, “oh, no, he doesn’t. He’s dating someone back home.”
“Really? But I heard from one of my sisters that—”
You couldn’t help the laugh that escaped you, “your sisters? I heard it from Jaehyun himself. Trust me. He’s not interested.”
Hyunjin had visibly relaxed, “oh...” his tongue peeked out to wet his lips, “good.”
Turning to him, you’d raised an eyebrow at him, “good?”
He nodded, a small huff of laughter escaping him, “yeah, good. Honestly, I don’t think I'd stand a chance if he was involved.”
“What makes you say that?” you couldn’t help but laugh, in disbelief that he sounded almost threatened by Jaehyun.
Shrugging, Hyunjin shifted in his seat, bringing his hands behind him to support his weight, “you know, everybody loves him.”
You had to refrain from scoffing, “I think everyone loves you too.”
Hyunjin didn’t bother stopping himself, saying the first thing that had come to mind.
“Including you?” Maybe Aphrodite heard him.
Your head whipped around to look at him, lips parting in shock as you met his gaze again, something about it exuding a kind of certainty that you weren’t used to being on the receiving end of, something about the fact that it was coming from Hyunjin making a warmth spread through your chest, once again reminding you that as delicate as the thought of Aphrodite was, Hyunjin never failed to show you that where there was beauty, there also came a lot of strength.
You gave him a firm nod.
“Including me.”
A smile played at Hyunjin’s lips, “I’m glad you decided to meet me here.”
You huffed, “I had to,” you told him, “I had so many things I wanted to say to you, but now that i’m here it’s like... nothings coming to my head.”
Hyunjin’s smile grew, and it was such a Hyunjin thing to see. How he didn’t bother to contain his happiness, especially now, “what about you say the first thing that comes to your mind right now?”
You didn’t hesitate.
“I would say I’m thankful that whatever i’m feeling isn’t just because of magic,” you averted your gaze briefly, daring yourself to hold his gaze no matter how foreign your words felt as they left your lips, “because it’s the first time it’s ever felt so... you know, real. ”
Hyunjin nodded, “I know i’m supposed to be like... familiar with love and everything but,” Hyunjin paused, finding his gaze lingering on your lips a little too long.
“Me too,” he finished.
You knew you weren’t hallucinating when you’d seen Hyunjin leaning closer to you, his hand behind him supporting his weight as he drew closer to you, your eyes slowly closing as Hyunjin’s lips were barely next to yours, being able to feel his breath just ghosting over your lips, something about it almost sending shivers down your spine.
Your heart wasn’t beating fast, your chest didn’t feel tight, this wasn’t like anything you were used to reading about it novels or witnessing in movies, or even hearing from your friends, no. Something about this moment had felt so comforting, that with each second it had only managed to draw you in even more.
“May I?” his voice came out as barely above a whisper, your breath hitching at the way you’d felt as though you were hanging from a string, the anxiety from not having done this before but the urge to just go ahead with it because it had felt so natural.
And soon enough, you’d felt his lips press gently against yours, sighing a breath you hadn’t realised you were holding as you let yourself follow his lead, feeling his hand move to touch the side of your head gently, the warmth from his hand flooding into your cheeks as you felt his hair brushing against your forehead with a featherlike pressure. It was as if every tiny detail was making itself known to you with the sole purpose of making you feel as if you were in some sort of perfect situation.
Almost deepening the kiss, Hyunjin stopped himself, pulling away almost reluctantly as his thumb grazed over your lower lip gently, his eyes looking dazed and unlike anything you’d seen before.
Feeling breathless and hazy, Hyunjin had let out a small huff, a smile making itself known on his face as he caressed your cheek softly, pressing another soft kiss to your lips, standing up as if nothing had happened, though you didn’t miss the way how this time he’d held a hand out for you to take.
Accepting his hand, he helped you up, but he hadn’t let go. Instead, he’d stepped just slightly closer to you, interlocking his fingers with yours as he turned to give you a smile, his eyes forming cute crescents and exuding pure relaxed happiness, something you were glad to have grown so accustomed to seeing and experiencing with him.
“What?” you asked, not being able to help yourself from feeling shy under his gaze.
“Walk you back to your cabin?”
#hyunjin#hwang hyunjin#skz#stray kids#stray kids hyunjin#skz hyunjin#stray kids au#stray kids scenarios#stray kids fluff#skz au#skz scenarios#hyunjin au#hyunjin scenarios#enemies-to-lovers!hyunjin#demigod!hyunjin#stray kids imagines#skz imagines
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Lmao I saw that post of Sansa being too classist for Westerosi standards. Infact in that thread, Idk whether it was the same user or not they also said that AGOT Sansa even makes Theon look like a saint 😂.
I agree with you all characters in ASOIAF are classist to varying degrees even smallfolk POV like Davos have internalised it to some extent.
LOL, that’s so funny. Honestly, the OP was clearly letting off some steam and wasn’t thinking about everything they were writing. Like, there’s a reason why you keep your diaries private - because sometimes you’ll write in them when you’re mad, and you’ll say really stupid things. So I’m going to give OP the benefit of the doubt and assume that if they could reevaluate - they honestly won’t think that AGOT Sansa is worse than ACOK Theon who,
- Raped Kyra
- Was complicit in the murder of two smallfolk children
- Treated the Capitan’s Daughter dismally; not bothering to learn her name, using his position to take advantage of her sexually, and making light of the fact that her father is going to punish her for sleeping with him.
- His limp body was being dragged from the surf when Theon returned to his Sea Bitch. The masts of his longships stood outlined against the sky along the pebbled beach. Of the fishing village, nothing remained but cold ashes that stank when it rained. The men had been put to the sword, all but a handful that Theon had allowed to flee to bring the word to Torrhen's Square. Their wives and daughters had been claimed for salt wives, those who were young enough and fair. The crones and the ugly ones had simply been raped and killed, or taken for thralls if they had useful skills and did not seem likely to cause trouble.
Like, Theon is a great character and Alfie Allen’s portrayal of him is tremendous - but he did some pretty messed up shit! Now, whenever or not he is capable of redemption is another question. I mean, rape and murder are pretty unforgivable and the only people who could forgive Theon for that, are dead. This is what makes Theon’s Dance arc so compelling amongst all the horror and despair. Theon can never erase the worst things he ever did, but his rescue of Jeyne Poole shows that he can do some good by putting someone else first.
And getting back to Sansa.... honestly, how is Sansa too classist “even for Westeros” when she’s been a hostage and then masquerading as a bastard girl, and thus without the power of people like Tywin, Tyrion, and Tyrells? I’m sorry, but Sansa wasn’t the one who demanded that a woman be stripped naked and made to walk the streets because she wore her mother’s jewels. Would Sansa be angry at her father’s mistress wearing something that belonged to her mother? Yes, of course, she would- all the Starklings would; Arya IMO would take it particularly badly. But both Sansa and her siblings lack the sadism that drove Tywin to this; to assert his power over someone with none.
I can do this because I am the Lord of Casterly Rock, and you are nothing but a lowborn woman who was simply lucky enough to catch my foolish father’s eye.
Tyrion resents the smallfolk because they don’t consider him a hero. Some of his resentment is justifiable because a lot of it is the consequences of ableism, but at the same time though - the smallfolk are the ones suffering because of the war. In contrast, Sansa was almost raped by some smallfolk men but we never see her hating them for it. At 12-14, she’s able to understand the desperation caused by the famine.
In both the book and show Sansa says if she had bread, she would have given it. Essentially, if she could help she would. This brings me to the Tyrells. So, the Tyrells closed the Rose Road while they were still allied with Renly, thus leading to the famine in KL. To give you a reminder of how bad it got-
What little produce he did see was three times as costly as it had been a year ago. One peddler was hawking rats roasted on a skewer. "Fresh rats," he cried loudly, "fresh rats." Doubtless fresh rats were to be preferred to old stale rotten rats. The frightening thing was, the rats looked more appetizing than most of what the butchers were selling. On the Street of Flour, Tyrion saw guards at every other shop door. When times grew lean, even bakers found sellswords cheaper than bread, he reflected.
Afterwards, when the Tyrells and Lannisters decide to hook up, the Rose Road is opened up and wagons of food is sent up in Margaery’s name. If there’s one thing the Tyrells are good at, it’s PR. It undoubtedly makes them look like heroes, as Sansa and Tyrion both observe-
Sansa had watched from the castle walls as Margaery Tyrell and her escort made their way up Aegon's High Hill. Joffrey had met his new bride-to-be at the King's Gate to welcome her to the city, and they rode side by side through cheering crowds, Joff glittering in gilded armor and the Tyrell girl splendid in green with a cloak of autumn flowers blowing from her shoulders. She was sixteen, brown-haired and brown-eyed, slender and beautiful. The people called out her name as she passed, held up their children for her blessing, and scattered flowers under the hooves of her horse. Her mother and grandmother followed close behind, riding in a tall wheelhouse whose sides were carved into the shape of a hundred twining roses, every one gilded and shining. The smallfolk cheered them as well.The same smallfolk who pulled me from my horse and would have killed me, if not for the Hound.
"No. She's coming, though, and the city's mad with love for her. The Tyrells have been carting food up from Highgarden and giving it away in her name. Hundreds of wayns each day. There's thousands of Tyrell men swaggering about with little golden roses sewn on their doublets, and not a one is buying his own wine. Wife, widow, or whore, the women are all giving up their virtue to every peach-fuzz boy with a gold rose on his teat."They spit on me, and buy drinks for the Tyrells.
The thing is I personally can’t imagine having the audacity to present myself as some kind of hero to someone because I gave them food, knowing full well I was the reason were starving in the first place.
#sansa stark#theon greyjoy#asoiaf#a song of ice and fire#anti tyrion lannister#anti tywin lannister#anti house tyrell#not bothering to tag anti theon because like i dont think its necessary lol#asks
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