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dark-night-hero · 11 days

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「We found love」 Kamisato Ayato

↳ In which as fate lead the two of you together, an unfamiliar yet strangely warm feelings starts to grew on both of you leading you two to find something that you had never felt before. But then again, what could fate possibly lead you two when you are leagues apart.

Ayato was bored, annoyed and is quietly disgusted. The smell of body odors and the strong smell of flowery fragrance that tried to hide it was unpleasant to his nose. The constant shattering around him that makes the corner of his lips thug down if it was not for his good sense of control in his facial expression. He constantly, though not in anyones watch, shift on his seat. He does not like anything here at all, if it was not such profitable deal he would not have come here at all. And now that the deal have finally been sealed, there was nothing left but to enjoy the presence of the courtesan that entered the room as soon as the deal was done.

Ayato never liked it on brothels. In the first place, he rarely went into one, and even if he did, that was because of his retainers choosing it as a meetin place, in which never happened again by the way. And some for importsnt meetings like this that he cannot refuse. Ayato never saw nor think of any reasons to go to one. Recalling the constant reminder of his late father not to be involved in such things. There is nothing good that would come into him if he were to get involved and get into brothels. A place where nothing but temporary temptation and pleasure there is to come that might drove someone into their own demise once out of control.

Ayato was just about to leave, seemed to be done for today as he stood up when he was grabbed by the wirst of his hand by his business partner. It took him all of his facial muscles to keep the smile on his face as we asked, "What's the matter?" The man just smiled at him, his free hand warping around the oiran, considered to be a high rank courtesan, and bringing her close to him. "Don't leave yet, Mr. Kamisato. The main show is just about to start." Just as Ayato was about to refuse politely, the door opened gently, and the first thing that Ayato noticed was the smell of spring filling the room. It was not that strong smell of flowers that he had smelled earlier but the smell of spring, the smell of blossoms, the sweet and air smell of perfume fills the air.

The second thing he noticed was the sparkly ornaments all over the hair and elegant kimono that they were wearing. And then the kitsune mask that they were wearing, hiding away their face from anyones sight. "Ren Sakura?!" The man beside him utter in disbelief as the figure elegantly walks in, in their hand was a string instrument. She walks in a stead phases of that of a noble, no, perhaps she walks even more of a noble than by far all the nobles Ayato have seen. Ayato watches with curiosity, eyes never once looking away now that you have caught his interest, watching you sit down gracefully and set up your instrument to your liking. "Apologies our dear guest, Hanahime, my beloved oiran could not make it tonight. In return, I hope you would not mind me filling in on her behalf."

In that split secons, Ayato felt like the two of you looked at each other. "Of-of course! Who would dare rejects to be in the presence of you, a tayu, Ren Sakura?!" A tayu? As far as Ayato could remember, oiran was considered a high courtesan, and right above that was a tayu, the highest class courtesan known to entertain only the nobility and emperial court, in short, the almighty shogun. "I'm glad that is the case." The masked tayu giggles, "Then, I shall play a familiar piece befitting for tonights gathering." Once again, Ayato felt like his eyes met those that were behind the mask.

Ayato thought it was a bad idea, after all. He does not like brothels. The place, the smell, the people in general. It would be the last place you would ever expect him to be found. And yet there he is, asking for a familiar name that seemed to be coming out of everyone's mouth but only a few get to really see. Ren Sakura, Ayato knew it was not their real name. Most of the courtesan in here has a name that they use and not their real name. And for someone who rarely went and vowed not to long ago that he would never set foot in here again, he was quite knowledgeable. Even he does not fully know why he was here, whether it was the smell, the mask, the way they played the instrument or even the way they giggle, Ayato does not know which one to choose.

But if there is one thing for sure is that you have caught his interest and nothing could stop himself from finding more about you. Though one of the main reason why he chooses to go back in here was to prove to himself that nothing good would come out of here. It was just a passing interest, it would not last long, right? Once again, the door slide open and the scent of spring enters the room. With no hint of hurry, Ayato raise his head to look at you who was quietly and gently entering the room. Once again, you were wearing a kitsune mask. "It's a pleasure to meet you again, Mister." You bow to him, raising your hands together along the process as you bow your hands. "Is there anything you would like me to do?"

Kamisato Ayato was honestly the last man you would expect to be your client for the night. But then again given his status in life, it would not hurt his pocket to afford you for the night. Still, glancing at him underneath your mask, his beauty was just like what you have heard from your fellow courtesan. He looks a lot like a gentleman, his aura radiating of that of a highest noble but his fake smile tells something else. Just what does this guy want from you? You doubt he was the kind of person who actually comes into a brothel for pleasure, in the first place, you bet many female nobles would actually wanted to be- to die just to be in the arms of his man right in front of you. "Do you know how to play shogi?" He asked and you halted for a moment. "Yes I do, I shall go and set up for us."

"I... lost." Ayato utter in disbelief, back straightening as he looks at the board pieces with wide eyes before looking at you. You who was smiling underneath your mask after managing to finally defeat him after five close matches of shogi between the two of you. "If you have not make a mistake during the first five move then perhaps I wouldn't have beaten you Mister." You chuckle, once again setting uo the pieces back in their starting place, once again serving the commissioner another cup of tea in which he gladly took a sip. "You gave yourself a little credit. Not to brag but no one has ever come close into defeating me and you actually did that five times and really did beat me one match." This time it was his turn to chuckle.

When the Kamisato Ayato left that day, you never thought to see him again. But you did, once in a while, you did. And you are not sure fi you are glad he did. Maybe it was the sense of boredom that you are feeling due to the lack of customers that were actually availing you for their entertainment, then again, you could only have your price to blame for being so expensive that it might even cause them half of their yearly income for you to be on their presence.

Kamisato Ayato, or Ayato like he told you to call him when the two of you were in each other presence was quite an unpredictable young man. There were times were we would came in the brothel only for you to watch him sleep, playing the flute for him as a lullaby. In most of the cases, he would be in here to ppay shogi with you, bringing over some unique beverage and foods that is tasting weird most of time. But there would also be one of those rare days where he would just bring his leftover paperworks to the brothel and do it there, leaving you to fill up the tea cup that he has just consume and sometimes, he would let you handle some of his paperworks, entertaining the basic questions of the papers that he had assigned to you. Nevertheless, for someone whom rarely set foot out the brothel, you only have to thank him for the things that he would often get to you. If there is one thing that remains the same though would be the fact that Ayato has never seen you without your kitsune mask.

"Will there ever be a day where I get to see your face?" Ayato asked out of the blue as he lay his head on your lap as you hummed a lovely tune underneath your mask. And then by his question, you stop. "Did the madam not tell you?" You asked him. "If you're willing to pay the price, that is." You chuckle when you felt his finger traces all the way from the back of your ears down into your chin. You halted for a moment, before you relax. The feeling of your beating heart in yor chest was getting harder and harder to ignore the more time you spent with him. It was actually dangerous.

You always warn yourself not to get too attach with your clients. In the first place there is any room for attachment because you knew they only want something from you. The way they would look at you with such lustful eyes always leave a bittersweet feeling on your tongue, so you only have yourself to thank that you manage to price yourself up as a tayu. Whom unlike oiran is not for the work of pleasure. You are mostly for entertainment. Then again, due to your high price, only those with the highest class individuals get to afford you to be in their presence. And even if they did, you were only to attend gathering to perform. Unlike Ayato who seemingly spent his free time with you and you do not know how to make something out of it. You felt like there is something going on between the two of you but you yourself was quite afraid to accept it. Because somewhere deep in your heart you alreay know that you had fallen for him. But you also know that nothing good will come out of it.

Ayato on the other hand has his mind in the midst of chaos. Ayato was in love with you. That was truth. It's been over a year ever since he irst met you. And he could still remember the day he realised he was in love with you. You see, Ayato was a meticulous, cunning and a mysterious person. A man who would do anything to achieve his goals and eliminate anything that were to stand in the way of his family. The same man who once in a while would felt a huge amount of fatigue. Maybe it was all due to his paperworks or maybe because of during those times the conflict of opinions between his retainers just would not subdued. Or maybe the fact that his parents death anniversary was approaching. He just felt tired and exhausted.

That night, all those months ago. Ayato find himself on his way on the familiar path to the brothel, just like usual, wearing his robe that hide away most of his figures underneath, in the night of his parents date of passing. That night, Kamisayo Ayato find himself seeking to be in your arms. You have quite the wit, and your intelligence was second to none. Ayato have never seen your face, but to be honest that is something he cared about. That night, Ayato just remained in silence as he listen to you playing the string instrument. He just sat there staring at you in silence that is when you sense that something was wrong. "Is there something bothering you?" You asked, setting the instrument down as you stood up and approached him. "It's okay, you don't have to talk about it if you do not want to talk about it." You utter as you sat down beside him.

That night, the two of you just sit there on silence, your hand above his as he lean in head on your shoulder. It was nothing but an act of comfort, yet that simple act seemingly touched the depths of his heart as he cane to realize one thing before he fell asleep in your arms that night. "Take a rest hmmm Ayato." As fatigue slowly takes over him, he felt himself being gently laid in the mattress and in those split moment, his lavender iris met with a pair of (eye color) ones before everything went black. In the following morning, Ayato find himself all alone in the room, feeling new as ever. Still he felt like something was missing, so he woke up and was about to leave when something caught his eyes. It was a letter saying. "I have told the others to prepare you a breakfast before you leave, but feel free to leave if you're in a hurry." Then he laugh, he laughs then fold the paper and kept in the pocket right within this chest, close to his heart. Right, the moment when he felt like you were his one and only solace, he knew he was in love with you. He knew you were the one for him.

And yet he was contemplating which is only natural. He was a man with noble bloodline, he is the current head of the Kamisato clan, and the current commissioner of the Yashiro commission. He was one of the faces of Inuzama. A well known bachelor and is expected to be wed with a fellow noble blood, one of the prettiest and elegant among the rest. What would his retainers- the citizens say if he were to be fall for someone like you. Although you were the highest along the courtesan, in most cases Nobles only see courtesan as their pass time and play thing. Ayato knew you were different, you are not just a courtesan in his eyes, you are more than a play thing to him. Ayato wanted you, he was in love with you after all. But if the price of his love would cause such scandal, such ruin in his- their image. Would his love remains the same?

Ayato find himself visiting the brothel less and less, telling you advance he would be busy and would not be able to visit for a while. You would reply at him with a laugh, joking letting him now you would not be having someone too entertain you for a while. Ayato knew you were rarely seek out due to your high price. Maybe that was the reason why he was so relaxed. He knew that no matter what, you would be in there, waiting. Be waiting for him to come. Even if you do not love him, he might be a friend at least to you, right?

Weekly visits turn into trice a month, then turn into monthly visit. This visit started going less and less until he visits you twice in every three months. Ayato thought that that would lessen the feelngs he felt for you. But no, in fact, it grew stronger. His longing for you intensified and yet you remained the same, giving him the same enthusiasm and welcome wheneverhe come back. He does not know it he should be hurt of revealed.

And then one night, you started being affectionate than you usually do. Dropping hints here and there. Being all over touchy. And man, he was barely hanging on a thread. And so he pulls away, grabbing your hand that was inside his shirt. "Wai-" "Do you not want this?" You asked, masked still in face. "I-" Holding your hand, he realised that you were trembling, your hands were trembling. Suddenly he became aware of one fact, you were holding back too. And is ready to withdraw with one single word from him. With a moment of silence he opened his mouth, "Do you, want this?" He asked, letting go of your hand as both hands fell to his side. And when he say you nod. His hands unconsciously went towards your mask. You did not move, you just let him pull the string that is holding your mask before it falls off the ground.

There his eyes widen as he got to take a look at your face for the first time. Your (eye color) eyes looks more mesmerising than he imagined it to be, those lips, those lips that were curled up into a beautiful smile. Without thinking much about. Ayato grabbed you on the nape of your neck and pull you into a deep and hungry kiss. It was as if he was starving, starving for a very long time in which he did. He might not have admit it but he was waiting, fantasising for this night to come. It was night full of unsaid words and feelings and yet the way the two of you hold each other says it all. "Stay for the night?" "I will."

Ayato was the one who left first when the morning come. To him, that night was not a mistake, at the same time. It was a night that is to be buried on the back of his mind. It was the same night he, the two of you realised that the two of you were leagues apart. A love that could only be kept in the dark, away from the world to see. In a coincidence, Ayato was not able to visit the brothel in the following days and weeks due to the following festival to come at the time. Thus it is only natural that he was unaware of the things that were happening within the brothel.

"Have you heard? A high ranking courtesan has been bought from the Hōkōtei?" Ayato did not mean to eavesdrop, but was not that the name of the brothel you work ay? "Huh?" "Yeah it's true, they have been bought a month ago but the news were just spreading because an official tried to spend a night with them recently but it turns out they were long gone from the list of courtesan from the brothel." "That sounds impossible, just how rarely were they were-" "It's Ren Sakura! Of course only a few coould afford Ren Sakura! Do you know that the cost of spending a match of shogi with themm would cost a yeat of our earnings? What more was a night with them?! Argh! Just how much were they b-" "What did you say?" "Huh- oh! Yashiro Com-" "What did you say?" "Hu-uh?" "Tell me everything. Now."

Ayato never run. He was a man with elegance, you would never see him run in which dishevelled manner. And yet here he was, sweat rolling down his chin, clothes dishevelled, hair in a mess as he pant heavily in front of the familiar brothel, people who seemed to recognise him started whispering with each other and yet he did not give a damn about every single thing instead, stromed inside the brothel, to be specific, into the room of the owner, the madam. "Where were they?" He asked as soon as he saw the familiar madam who was casually smoking with a pipe in hand and then his lavender ones met with a pair of violet ones. "I'm afraid I cannot disclose the location of my client, Yashiro Commissioner." She laughed as if mocking him. "Where-" "They waited for you for years, at being said, I suppose its natural that if you won't make a move, someone else would. Do you think that they would just sit still and wait for you every single time?" His lavander iris tremble upon the madam statement. "In the first place, you were never interest in buying them. Why are you getting so worked up like they were stolen from you?" "You never plan to take responsibility for my child because you two were leagues apart, they were just a courtesan and you're a noble. The two of you were never meant to, isn't that right?" Every words that left her- the madam's mouth felt like a dagger stabbing his heart. Because it was true.

"Get out of my pavilon and never set foot in here every again." "Mada-" "Do I have to drag you out myself? Kamisato Ayato?" Her piercing violey eyes bore before him. "You brought this upon yourself, stop looking like you just lost the love of your life when they surely meant nothing to you and oh- here. Wear this and this." He felt numb, whether it was his heart of his body. He felt numb. So following the madam words, he left upon wearing the robe that was given to him. He felt like his body was moving on its own, his mind was foggy, he wanted to cry at the same time he could not. "My lord- are you alright?" "I'll be in my room, Thoma. Thank you."

Inside his room, Ayato sat in front of his shogi board and started playing alone, moving the pieces by himself doing the moves you would often does. In the end, he find himseld loosing in his own game. And so he laugh, he laughed as tears roll down his cheecks. Teeth grinning as he felt mad, mad to himself for lying, lying to himself. For being selfless, for losing the love of his life so easily. He angrily throw away the shogi board to the side, scattering its pieces all over this room as he stood up. He then proceed to remove his robe that was given by the madam back in the brothel. He was about to trow it too when his hands was pierced by something. On the robes pocket was a hair piece ornaments. But then again, he mad. About to throw the piece of ornaments into the ground with his bloody hand until he realised how familiar looking it was and his eyes widen. It was your hair ornament. The one he have seen you often wear. "This.." Then he found a letter.

It was not that long until silence once again field the room followed by sobs. "I'm sorry." He cried. "I was a fool, I'm sorry." The letter was slowly crumbling on the palm of his hand as he pull it closer to his chet as well as the piece of ornament. As if doing such thing would bring you close to him. "I love you." He utter in helplessness. "I love you..." He cried. But it was already too late, for you have already went away. Far within his sight to see, far within his arms to reach.

My Ayato,

Funny how you're "my" Ayato when you're not.

I thought we found love.

But perhaps that was just me, for the moment when I woke up in the morning, you were no where in sight. It was such a shame. I thought we had something. Turns out I was just being delusional. After all, how could a noble like you fall for a mere courtesan like me.

Still, I am grateful for the times we have spend together. I will treasure those moments deep within my heart.

I am glad that my first time was with you, my one and only love.

Come to think of it, I never told you my name, no? Then again, what would be the use when we sould never see each other again? But still, I still want you to know it.

My name is (First name). I doubt you'll remember it though.

Then, I apologise that I have to leave without saying anything I am afraid even if I did, nothing would change. If it wasn't the case, you have long take me away from this place. But you never did.

Your Lovely courtesan, Ren Sakura.

[ⓒdark-night-hero] 2024°

: late na ko fuck, bye.

#dark night hero #genshin impact #genshin imagines #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact fanfic #genshin impact angst #genshin angst #genshin oneshots #ayato angst #ayato imagines #ayato x you #ayato x reader #ayato kamisato x reader #kamisato ayato x reader #kamisato ayato #genshin x y/n #genshin x reader #genshin x you

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differenteagletragedy · 2 months

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Another thing about 40-year-old Cove (take me away, horny police, this is a confession) ...

You've been together at least like 15 years at this point, probably more, so he knows exactly what you like. He can read you like a book in every sense -- a consent king, to be sure, but he also knows you so well that sometimes, he's just going to throw you over his shoulder or push you down against the table and take care of business.

Ok ok so you go to the beach one weekend, the old one back in Sunset Bird -- your favorite! There are some guys there, maybe they get a little flirty with you. You're not interested, of course, not when you have your gorgeous soulmate love of your life husband, but you get a fun little idea. You glance at Cove, maybe toss him a little wink, then turn up the charm to the flirty boys. You could twirl your hair a little, give out some coy giggles, a hand on one of their shoulders if you're feeling particularly bold.

After a little bit, you feel Cove's hand slip into yours. Or, well, that's a tender way of putting it -- he grabs your hand firmly and gives you a look. You know what's coming, it's what you were aiming for, so you politely excuse yourself from your admirers. But instead of him taking you to the car and driving you home, or even having a quick makeout there, he walks straight past the car and towards his father's house.

"What are we doing?" you ask. "Your dad's car isn't here, he's not --"

"We're not here for a visit," he interrupts, his voice a bit lower than usual, and not nearly as soft.

Cove used to be shy and reserved when it came to physical shows of his love, but you'd never know it to look at the man before you now. Keeping your hand in his, he pulls his keys from his pocket and unlocks the door, then all but shoves you inside. He would never be rough with you, but you couldn't exactly call this gentle, either.

He knows you, so he knows what you were doing, that you were trying to get a rise out of him. "Take off your swimsuit," he tells you, closing the door behind him with one hand while his other hand goes to the drawstring on his trunks.

"Make me," you answer.

He makes a noise at that, something between a moan and a growl, and his long legs bring him to you in a split second. He usually always has a tender smile for you during moments like these, when you're about to make love, but he doesn't now, which makes sense, because you know this isn't going to be a tender moment. It's going to be rough and raw and passionate and hard and he's got you stripped naked before you can finish the thought.

He yanks his trunks down as an afterthought, and just before he spins you around and bends you over the back of the couch, you see how hard he is.

"We left our new friends for this?" you ask, bumping back against his erection. "Couldn't wait until we got home?"

If he was just a little meaner, he would have told you to shut up then -- you know you're teasing him a little too much, but you can't help it, it's too much fun. But even if he won't say the words, he very much expresses the sentiment when he grabs firmly ahold of your hip and then guides himself into you all the way to the base in one swift thrust.

Any words you may have said, any further teasing is pushed from your mind as he sets as quick, rough pace. He fucks you relentlessly, as if proving a point -- which, of course, he is. His hands move from your hips to your shoulders to your hair, looking for the place where he can grab the hardest and push into you the deepest. He leans over occasionally to place kisses along your back, coupled with rough sucks, hard enough to leave little bruises, but for the most part, he's standing tall, feet firmly planted and driving himself into you as hard as he can.

It's not that he's a jealous man, not really. And it's not even that he's seriously upset with the stunt you pulled at the beach. It's just that sometimes you can be a little brat and he needs to fuck some sense back into you.

You can always tell when he's getting close, even when he's in this kind of mood -- he starts getting whiny and grasping at you like he's terrified you're going to drift away. You reach a hand back to place over his as he digs his nails into your hips, and after another deep thrust, he stills and lets out a deep gasping groan, and you feel him filling you up.

After taking a moment, pausing to press a few more kisses into your neck and shoulders, he pulls out and takes a small step back. When you turn, you see he's flushed and sweaty, panting and looking at you with a mix of love and ... something else.

"Let's go back to the beach," Cove says, reaching down for his trunks.

"All right, I'll just hop in the shower --"

"No, we'll go now."

Before you could protest more, he kneels down in front of you. He grabs your bottoms and holds them out, and you step into them. As he pulls them up, he stops to deliver one more kiss, this one directly between your legs. When you let out a pleasured sigh, he pulls the bottoms up the rest of the way and stands.

"Ready?" he asks, once again holding out his hand.

As always, you take it.

#our life beginnings and always #our life #olba #cove holden #cove x mc #cove x reader #cove x you #cove holden x you #cove holden x reader #cove holden x mc #cove holden smut #cove holden thirst hours

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steddieas-shegoes · 1 year

Note

For the requests: Steve has a good relationship with his parents & when they come back from wherever & someone (Nancy/Robin) tells them about the UD & his parents react by calling out every single adult involved. Maybe he got badly hurt, & they were called in & upon finding out they call out Joyce, Hop, Owens & Murray for the way no adult inthese kids lives had any clue about what their kids were going through. Nor were their parents given notice esp bc having underaged kids sign NDAs is not legal nor legally binfing (Maybe all the parents of the party kids are there and get all the info just like the Harrington's)

MY DARLING! LIGHT OF MY LIFE! HONESTLY this one hit different. You know how much I love making Steve suffer and when he has good parents, a lot of his suffering disappears. But it was nice to branch out a bit. Also finally some common sense! KIDS SHOULD NEVER BE SIGNING AN NDA THEMS THE FACTS! Steve's parents are here to fight for everyone so WELCOME TO THE CHAOS OF STEVE'S OVERPROTECTIVE LAWYER PARENTS! - Mickala ❤️

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Steve Harrington had managed to avoid the hospital for years. Not because he shouldn’t have gone, but because he refused to go.

But this time, he was unconscious, which means he didn’t have a choice.

And now, staring at his parents’ shocked and appalled faces next to his bed, he realized he wished he’d just died, actually.

“This happens…often?” Anne Harrington asked Dr. Owens, who looked like he wished he was also dead.

“It does happen more often than we like. But it appears to be fixed now! Steven has been a wonderful asset to us, which is why we want to make sure he is comfortable and all his medical expenses are paid.”

He handled that well, Steve thought.

“And this is the first time anyone has bothered to call us?” Richard Harrington asked much too quietly.

That was his ‘I’m about to lose my shit’ voice and Steve didn’t have the energy to deal with it.

“I do apologize, we had to deal with enough NDAs as it is,” Dr. Owens replied, not realizing that he was speaking to two lawyers who were about to ruin his life.

Steve let his head rest against the pillow of the hospital bed, sighing.

“At what age did Steve sign his first NDA?”

“I believe he was 16.”

“And did he have a lawyer present?” Anne didn’t wait for a response before continuing. “I can tell you he didn’t. We’re his lawyers and we were not even called. Are you the one in charge of this shitshow?”

It wasn’t often Anne Harrington said a curse word. Steve only ever heard it a handful of times, usually after hanging up with a client who would lose their case.

“I am one of the people who is tasked with this, yes. But if you don’t mind, I need to check in with a few people before I can truly devote time to this conversation.”

“Oh, please. Continue on with your day. Don’t mind us sitting next to our son in the hospital.”

Dr. Owens sighed, knowing this fight was barely even starting, and left the room.

Steve’s parents turned to him.

“How many concussions have you had?”

“Why didn’t you call us?”

“Who else knows about this?”

“Will this happen again?”

The questions were too much, and Steve’s head was pounding. He couldn’t do this right now.

“Hopper.”

“Jim Hopper? I thought he died.”

Admittedly, his parents had been out of town for a while. They didn’t know Hopper was back as of a few months ago, and probably didn’t realize he’d taken over as chief again.

“He didn’t. He’s around here somewhere.”

“He knew about all this?”

“Mom, I love you, but my head is splitting down the middle. I need to stop talking.”

Anne slowly brushed her hand through his hair, planting a kiss on his forehead.

“Of course, honey. We’ll be back soon. Do not sign anything without us here, okay?”

“Okay.”

His dad briefly touched his shoulder before they both left the room.

Finally, some peace and quiet.

Until he was woken up by yelling.

Not just any yelling. Richard Harrington yelling.

If he wasn’t chained to the bed by an IV and blood transfusion bag, he would be up and in the hallway.

Apparently, he didn’t need to worry, though.

His mom came into the room, leaving the door open to the hallway so he could hear everything.

“I’m glad you’re awake, honey. We have a lot to talk about.”

“Who is he yelling at?”

“Every adult who didn’t bother to take care of you the way they should. Not just you, but all of these kids,” she said, tone more annoyed by the second.

“I don’t understand.”

“Honey, you’ve been protecting these kids in ways you never should have had to. All these adults who were involved never told any of us what was going on. They let you keep standing in the line of fire, getting hurt, seeing things you shouldn’t have to and never even bothered to call us. You signed NDAs with the government without parents or lawyers present. That alone is illegal, do you understand that?”

“So I’m in trouble?”

“Oh, honey, no. You’re not in trouble. Your dad’s having a few words with the chief and Dr. Owens.”

Steve tuned in to what was being said in the hall.

“I cannot fathom what you’ve done. Expecting these children to save this town, the world, and not even have their own parents know? Who are they supposed to turn to? You? And what have you done to help them? As far as I’m concerned, you should be arrested and imprisoned. If I have anything to say about it, you will!”

“Mom, can you please get him to stop? I know he’s upset, but Hop really protected us a lot, okay? And Dr. Owens was just doing his job.”

“A lot of people have just been doing their jobs instead of considering that maybe children shouldn’t be responsible for defeating actual monsters.”

Well. Yeah, she did have a point there.

“Where is everyone?”

Anne sat on the edge of his bed, holding his hand, running her thumb along the back of it.

“The Munson boy is in the room next door, he’ll be okay. Robin is home with her parents. Most of the kids are now with their parents, but that Sinclair boy is still being watched for concussion symptoms.”

Steve sighed with relief.

No one was lost. Everyone had pretty minor injuries. Maybe he was able to protect everyone.

“That Dustin boy is relentless,” Anne said with a smile. “He really looks up to you.”

“Yeah, he’s like a brother to me.”

“His mom didn’t know about any of this either, did she?”

Steve thought about it.

Honestly, she probably had some idea. Maybe not of the real details, but she had to know Dustin was involved in something he couldn’t talk about. Same with most of the parents.

But Steve’s parents were gone a lot. Their main office was in Boston, and they would often have to travel around the country for their clients. He was used to not seeing them, only getting to talk to them on the phone once or twice a week.

It’s easy to hide shit over the phone, and when they did manage to make it home, the Upside Down monsters were safely tucked away underground.

They had no way of knowing anything was wrong. He did it on purpose, just like all of the kids did.

Even without signing the NDAs, he’s pretty sure they wouldn’t have told their parents.

“I think we just thought we were protecting you guys.”

“Honey, it’s not your job to protect us. It’s our job to protect you.”

She looked so sad.

Steve didn’t want her to be sad.

“Mom, you couldn’t have done anything. And we’re all safe.”

His dad walked in the room, face red. He closed the door behind him and ran his hand over his face.

“Doctor said Steve can go when the nurse comes to disconnect him from everything soon,” he said, coming to sit in the chair by his bed.

“That’s good news. We’ll get you home and settled. We canceled our flight out so we can stick around for a while and make sure you’re okay,” Anne said with a smile.

“You guys don’t have to cancel your trip. Your clients need you.”

“Not as much as you need us, son,” Richard said, giving him a soft smile.

“I’ve handled it before, though.”

“And you shouldn’t have. Trust me, this town, the government, they’ve got a shit storm coming and I’m leading it,” his dad huffed.

A knock interrupted Steve’s response, the door opening slightly before they answered.

Eddie.

“Steve? You okay?”

Steve’s parents looked at the door, then back at Steve, who was doing his best to hide the fond smile on his face.

It wasn’t working though, not when he saw the way Eddie was trying to take inventory of his injuries from across the room.

“You can come in, Eds.”

“Who’s this, honey?” Anne asked.

“This is Eddie.”

“Oh! You poor thing. I heard all about what you’ve been through. Let me just say, if we had caught wind of it earlier and knew you were Steve’s friend, we would’ve been representing you in court,” Anne rushed to say, her hands fluttering over Eddie’s when he got next to the bed.

Eddie’s wide eyes would have been amusing if Steve didn’t worry that he might run for the hills at the care his parents showed.

“Uh. Thank you?”

“Do you need anything right now? Do your parents need anything?” Richard asked, sitting forward in his chair, business face on.

“Um, just me and my uncle, but no. I’m heading home, but wanted to check on Steve before I go.”

“Of course! You guys are close friends?”

It was an innocent question. His parents just liked to know who was in his life, that’s all. But Eddie looked at him with panic written all over his face.

Steve gave him a small smile, then turned to his parents.

“Actually, he’s my boyfriend.”

They were quiet for a moment, which Steve expected. No matter how well he thought they’d take it, he knew it would be a shock.

But his parents didn’t let him down.

“How long have you been together, Steve?”

“Since March. Four months?” He watched as Eddie started to back away, probably expecting the worst.

Anne smacked Steve’s arm, forgetting for a moment that he was in the hospital for a reason.

“Sorry,” she said before crossing her arms. “You’ve had a boyfriend for four months and didn’t tell us? We could have come back and arranged dinner to meet him. I’m so sorry our son is rude, Eddie. He wasn’t raised that way, I assure you.”

Eddie’s jaw dropped.

“Um. What’s happening right now?”

“We’ll be home for a while to make sure Steve is alright. We’d love to have you over for dinner soon. With your uncle if you’d like,” Richard added as Eddie just stared between them.

“What do you like? I just got a new cookbook that has so many European dishes I want to try. Are you a fan of Polish food? You know what, no, what about Greek? We haven’t had good Greek food in so long.”

Steve was laughing, he couldn’t help it.

“Steve, what the hell is going on here?”

“Eddie, that’s my mom, Anne, and my dad, Richard. They’re kind of the best, and apparently they want you and Wayne to come for dinner. Think you can find time in your schedule?”

“Uh.”

“Oh dear. Do you have a concussion? They should monitor you kids better,” Anne worried, moving her hands up to cup his cheeks and look in his eyes. “Should I get a nurse?”

“No, mom, he’s okay. He just expected you two to freak out.”

“About what?”

“The fact he’s a man.”

“Oh! I do suppose that’s a reasonable concern.”

“Eddie, let me ask you this: do you make Steve happy?” Richard asked.

“I think so.”

“And he makes you happy?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then it sounds like we have no reason to be upset. Now, dinner? Maybe tomorrow night?”

“Okay.”

Steve laughed loudly.

“Eds, come here,” Steve gestured for him to come closer.

Eddie moved next to the bed, his arm bandaged, and a new cut with stitches in it on his forehead.

“Closer.”

Eddie leaned in.

Steve leaned up and kissed his lips. Just a quick peck, just enough to get the point across that this was really okay and really happening.

“Tomorrow at 6?” Steve asked before he pulled away completely.

Eddie nodded.

“And please bring your uncle, we need to discuss our plan for a lawsuit on behalf of all of you,” Richard spoke up from his chair.

“Oh. Yes, sir.” Eddie pulled away from the bed, nervously playing with his rings.

“Richard is fine, son.”

Eddie was blushing, which Steve was absolutely going to make fun of him for later.

“See you tomorrow, then?” Eddie asked awkwardly.

“Love you, Eds.”

“Oh. Uh. Yep. Love you too, Stevie.”

He raced out of the room, leaving Steve and Anne laughing quietly.

“Poor boy. Didn’t know what to do, did he?”

“No, I think he isn’t used to a positive reaction when people find out about him.”

“His uncle knows about you two, though, right?”

“Yeah, Wayne’s been great.”

“Good. Well, I’m going to find a nurse so we can go home. You should be comfortable in your own bed.”

“And I am going to make a quick call to my buddy in Chicago to see if he can pull some information on this Owens guy. We have a lot of work to do.”

Steve was used to this. For some kids, maybe this wasn’t good parenting. Maybe his parents being gone for a lot of his life had a negative impact.

But Steve never doubted how much they loved him. They still came home for every birthday, every Christmas. They still managed to take a family vacation every year. They gave him everything he needed and most of what he wanted. They supported him through everything, the proof right here in front of him now.

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #the party #steve harrington has good parents for once!!!#and they're about to fuck shit up!!!#ficlet #request

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firefirefruit · 5 months

Text

Steel in Her Veins, Chapter: Four

Table of Contents | Next Chapter

Characters: Fem!Reader x Roronoa Zoro

Chapter Four: A Cyborg, A Skeleton and A Lot of Limbs Walk Into A Shop…

You’ve always liked early mornings. Those moments where everything remains silent, untouched, and it feels like only you can drift across the earth like a ghost. You love to be the first witness of the sun stirring from its own slumber, where you can sit down and think and think and think and know that the day still hasn’t started yet. You’re relieved because you know you’re not wasting your day. This is just the entrée to the main course.

With a cup of coffee pressed against your red-hot palms, you lay against your workbench and admire the mild light that filters through the door. Your eyes slightly drift across your studio, taking in the heap of unrestored mess made from yesterday. You let out a pent-up sigh... Well, at least you’re getting some help with that.

From a distance, you pick up on the faint form of Gramps ambling towards you, making you almost smile in greeting – almost. Because as you strain your eyes harder, you realise that there’s another person who’s towering beside him, silently listening to the excitable one-sided conversation made by your old man.

Much to your unsurprise, it’s him.

You observe him silently, tapping a thoughtful finger against your mug.

Huh. He’s still wearing those hilts by his hip, you notice. Any other wielder would opt to throw those empty carcasses away by now.

Somehow sensing you, the marimo cocks his head and his eye naturally falls onto yours. His golden earrings dance in the morning light like a flickering flame, making sound only gold can elicit from a breeze. The light brushes across his closed eye, uncovering the deep white scars of his history, and for a split second, you begin to wonder about them.

From a distance, he narrows his piercing gaze with a questioning brow, and undeterred as you are, you stare straight back at the green-head.

Without breaking your gaze, the two men near you, and Gramps being as oblivious as ever is still completely lost in his own line of conversation.

“And that’s why Kotetsu, from eons ago, favoured the ores from the Rippling Ground rather than the—"

“Good morning,” you interrupt, deciding to offer relief to the marimo from your babbling old man.

Gramps beams at you, waving a calloused hand in greeting. He turns to the marimo, having to dramatically crane his head up to look at him. “I told you she’d be awake.”

“I haven’t started on the swords, if that’s why you’re here…” you curiously state, cocking your head at the samurai.

As Bull-Head opens his mouth to reply, Gramps interjects giddily.

“I invited him here.”

Oh, well that figures. You know your Gramps sees something in this guy, but you don’t really get what it is.

You take another long look at the scarred marimo, which he returns with an expressionless countenance.

“What?” He gruffly snaps.

You smirk a little, walking towards your forge. “Did you fall out of bed? Your hair’s sticking up.”

You don’t need to turn around to see it happen – you hear the man hiss to himself as he pats over his head aimlessly.

“I met the others by the dock,” Gramps Sukiyaki informs with a little grin on his weathered face. “Funny bunch, they are!”

You can’t help but smile at his elated demeanour; it seems like the Straw Hats are definitely improving his mood in these days. You can’t help but like the fact that they’re all most certainly clinically insane.

“Raya!” Nami shouts from the field, jogging with Chopper on her shoulder. “We brought a few more of us than expected, I hope that’s okay!”

Chopper apologetically grins at you as they enter through the wide door. “More like - we couldn’t stop them from coming…”

You push off from your stool and smile at the two, shaking your head. “That just means more helpful hands!”

Three odd figures begin to file in after Nami and Chopper, excitedly looking around the studio with freshly intrigued eyes.

“Woah! Luffy wasn’t lying about this place,” the metallic man exclaims wildly, stomping through your workspace like a kid in a candy shop.

“Yo-ho! This energy…this soul - I can feel it in my bones!” The…speaking skeleton…grins, clambering along inside with the robot.

Clang! Rattle!

“Don’t just fucking walk in before introducing yourselves!” Nami yells, her hand steaming from a fresh beating.

“Hello, I’m Robin.” The dark-haired woman smiles at you, gazing at the rack of freshly made weapons besides her. “Wow, you’re very talented.”

Disoriented from the bombard of stomping guests, it takes you a second to register her words.

“Oh…uh – thank you. I’m Koz—” You immediately halt, swearing intensely at yourself at the blunder you were about to make. “I’m Tenguyama Raya.”

In an instant, Robin’s eyes widen for a fraction of a second before she tries to compose herself.

Shit. Shit. Shit, you think. Did you accidentally ruin your cover just now?

“Nice to meet you,” the cyborg weakly interrupts, a robotic arm clutching at his swollen back. Nami hovers behind the two wounded crewmates, animalistically breathing against their necks. “I-I’m Franky.”

The damaged skeleton sweats anxiously, side-eyeing Nami who’s growling at him under her breath.

“I-I’m Brook.”

All of this sounds like some kind of joke: A cyborg and a skeleton walk into a shop…

“We heard you needed some extra hands,” Robin explains, crossing her forearms in the formation of an ‘X’.

Consecutively, an army of limbs sprout up from the ground like baby tree saplings, slowly taking shape as pale, wriggling hands.

“What the fuck?” You shout loudly, jumping away from a hand that crawls past your feet.

Robin laughs at your reaction. “I ate a—"

“Yeah, I can see that!” You excitably exclaim, crouching down to watch the assembly of hands picking up your scattered belongings. “This is so efficient for make-shift manufacturing assemblies! Not to mention the amount of work you could do at the same time…I’m envious…”

A skeletal hand slides in front of your eyes, making you yelp out loud and lose your footing.

“What the fuck?” You repeat again, arms fearfully flaring up with fire, about to kick whoever’s zombie-ass that was.

Brook yelps like you do, putting his hands in front of him.

“Ho-ho, I’m surprised I wasn’t the one who scared you first!” He flashes his teeth in a forced grin, making him look more constipated than friendly.

“I’m so sorry -- you took me off guard,” you stammer, frantically looking around at the crazy bunch of people who’ve entered your shop. You thought Luffy was too much too handle, but it seems like his whole crew is, too.

As you begin to stand, your eyes accidentally brush past the skeleton’s hip on your way up – wait, what is that? A purple cane? But… its makeshift tip looks similar to of a hilt…the grooves, the slight contour line that divides the top from the rest of its body…

You wildly point at the foreign object, the words not able to come out of your mouth.

Everyone looks down and gapes at what you’re gesturing at.

They gape up at you in bewilderment.

“What is that?” You finally demand, completely taken by this cane.

“Ah, this?” Brook points at his purple cane.

With a quick swish and twang, his bony fingers curl over the hilt and he unsheathes…. frankly, a masterpiece.

His glinting sword hums in the most harmonious, bone-chilling tone you’ve ever heard from a blade before as he proudly presents the sword to you.

“I call her the Soul Solid – my grooviest instrument yet.” Brook dramatically poses and flashes his cane-sword hybrid in the air.

“It’s…It’s…” You stutter, your eyes shining in admiration. “It’s a work of art.”

It’s so wacky and so groovy, and it harmonises with the wielder so perfectly, and you just love it.

“Hold on, you like that skeleton’s walking stick more than my blades?” The green-head marimo stomps over while growling, looking completely pissed off. “Just what type of swordsmith are you?”

You ignore him, bashfully moving closer to Brook with your palms stretched open.

“May I hold her?”

“Hey, don’t ignore me!” Marimo yells, flaring his nostrils furiously.

“Of course…but…if only I could see your panties first, Miss?” Brook replies sweetly, fluttering his empty eye-sockets at you.

Crack! Rattle!

“Didn’t I make things clear enough before?!” Nami yells, karate-chopping Brook on his vulnerable skull.

“I-I’m sorry…” Brook whispers and hands you his sword, fading into the background of his crewmates. Chopper anxiously follows him with a carton of milk clutched in his hoof.

“Amazing craftsmanship! I wonder who made this, this handiwork doesn’t ring any bells…” You say more to yourself than to anyone in particular, observing the make of the metal and the customised grooves on the hilt. “She’s in perfect shape.”

“Cool. Whatever. Who cares. When are you going to remake mine?” The marimo hisses, making Nami hiss back at him like a cat.

Suddenly, you hear Robin gasp like she’s being choked. All of her helpful hands wilt and merge into the floor, smashing all of the items that were safely in their grasps.

“Robin! What are you doing?” Franky shouts, lunging forwards to catch a glass orb before it shatters from impact.

You swivel your head around to look at Robin, and almost immediately, anxiety consumes your chest like wildfire.

“Robin, are you okay?” Chopper exclaims, running towards her.

Robin’s eyes are consumed with shock, her mouth slightly open. She turns to you, a new hand blossoming in between where you two are standing.

The hand morphs and flutters out like branches on a tree, but instead of holding leaves, it's holding--

“How…do you have this?”

The glossy cube glints in her graceful grasp. Obsidian and violet in shade, the text is only half-way crafted across its surface.

It's your poneglyph.

Immediately, Gramps Suki draws out his blade.

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anundyingfidelity · 2 months

Note

Hi!! Congrats on reaching 400 followers !! 🎉🎊 For the drabble request, can I get something dark and smutty with Lee Pace?(if you feel comfortable about it of course) Also I broke my phone like 5 days ago and now that I'm back I see all these booping around 😆, can you tell me what is that about and how can I play?! xoxo😗 💞

thanks a lot aaaa 🩷🩷 ! this is the first request i receive for lee and i'm happy because there aren't a lot of fics about him uggghhh i love him!! i'm sorry about your phone OMG the boops were for april fool's, it was a special stuff for that day only, it was fun 😭 hope they can bring it back tho! ps: LOOK AT THAT GIF THAT HE'S SO HOT, MY TURN NOW, I WANT TO GET SLAPPED TOO lol

event guidelines ✮ event masterlist ✮

☕ if you like my writing, support me with a ko-fi !

WORKOUT — Lee Pace x female reader

Word count: 530 (oops again lol).

Genre: dark stuff, smut.

Warnings: dom!Lee Pace, p in v smut, blowjob, cum swallow, manhandling, use of word 'whore'.

“I love the way your body takes me,” Lee purred against your ear.

His thumb pressing between your lips as he rolled his hips lazily, his cock buried deep inside your pussy. You rolled your tongue, taking his finger on your mouth, sucking on it like it was his hard cock. You hummed as he split you open, pounding into you harder.

How did you end up here, with him between your legs and ripping your clothes off and fucking you in the gym? Well, you worked for some time together and the tension was inevitable. None of you said a word, besides occasional flirting and teasing, but not going further than words. But today, seeing him working out, sweaty, and building up muscles for his new role made you feel things you were not supposed to, since you were part of his publicist team. When you gave it a try, he sensed the lust on your eyes and excitement coming from you. Then a sloppy kiss happened, and now he had you pinned down against a yoga mat on the empty gym floor, half dressed, fucked out and moaning his name over and over.

“I've wanted to do this since forever,” he growled, pulling out his thumb from your mouth.

His big hand moved down, caressing the sweat coated skin on your neck. “You’re so fucking perfect, made to fit me.”

His praise earned whimpers from your lips, your pussy clenching around his cock when his big hand wrapped around your neck, cutting some of your air perfectly to make you shiver. Lee grinned wickedly.

“You like it rough?” he teased, giving you a couple of hard thrusts, reaching that sweet spot that made you see stars as your eyelids closed harshly.

You nodded as best as you could. The sensation down your belly became too much to handle, and you soon found yourself coating his cock with the juices of your release, as he moaned with that beautiful, deep voice of his, not stopping his hips at all. Fuck, just by this session he was getting addicted to your pussy. He was fucking close too, but he had another plans for you.

Lee suddenly pulled out once you came down from your high, forcing you on your knees with his incredibly strong body. Standing before you, he grabbed a fist of your hair, pulling you closer to his cock.

“Be a good girl and suck me off,” he ordered. He was extremely pleased when you took him in your mouth, humming and tasting his precum mingled with your own release like a starved whore having her last meal, until he released down your throat. He forced your head so you couldn’t pull him out. “Swallow. All of it.”

And you did as told. When you swallowed completely, he backed up pulling out his softened shaft and locking eyes with your own. You opened your mouth sticking out your tongue. He grinned, satisfied with your work.

“I don’t think we can remain professional any longer,” you said, catching your breath, and looking at him with innocent eyes.

He was glad about that though. His dirtiest dream was barely starting.

#lee pace x female reader #lee pace fanfiction #lee pace x reader #lee pace imagines #lee pace imagine #lee pace scenarios #lee pace smut #lee pace #400followerstag!

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fiction-box · 4 months

Text

Blood From A Stone

Blue Lions Boys X Fem!Reader

Hello, my lovelies! I wrote this in an attempt to psyche myself up for these next few days as I will be traveling for a job interview. I hope you all have been staying warm these past few weeks (the temperature has been consistently negative where I am now). I will attempt to start working on my inbox once I return. This work was not originally going to go this far in-depth, but this is where the story wanted to go. Nonetheless, please enjoy!

Requests are open. The story will continue under the cut.

After what might have been a ten minute walk, Professor Byleth halted her Blue Lions in the middle of the woods surrounding the monastery. You felt the warmth of the late spring sun shining through the trees; an experience made more pleasant by the soft breeze rifling through your hair.

You and Ingrid had been speculating what exercise you might be coming outside to do, taking an opportunity to make conversation during the walk. Each Friday, the professor enforced some group activity - shopping relays in town, competitive hunting, blindfolded sparring matches - to let everyone better learn the strengths of their classmates.

Sure enough, you watched the former mercenary pull the infamous blindfolds out of the satchel sitting on her waist. A hefty exhale resounded next to you.

“Aw, come on! Not this again…” Annette whined.

No one could blame her; Dedue had hit her uncharacteristically hard in the confusion of his blindness during their match. She might even still be sore from last weekend.

“Now, now - repeating the same exercise two weeks in a row wouldn’t be much help to us. This is meant to build our sense of camaraderie, not our dread for the end of the week,” Byleth corrected. “Line up, please.”

You did so, shuffling into a spot between Annette and Ingrid as your teacher scrutinized the class.

Dimitri caught a green bandana in the same second Dedue was handed a brown one. Green for Ashe and Mercedes, brown for you and Annette.

“Teams,” Dedue noted.

“Please tie them around your foreheads. I’ll explain in a moment.”

A brown scrap of fabric landed in Felix’s palm, the bluenette bringing it to his forehead before Ingrid and Sylvain received their green cloths. Silently cheering, you watched Professor Byleth fix the final brown textile to her own head.

“Today’s activity focuses on both stealth and strategy. Everyone received a color responding to their team. Your objective is to steal all of your opponents’ headbands - the first team to lose all of which will lose.”

Immediately, Sylvain reached over Ashe’s head to pull Felix’s bandana off his head, dangling it in the air.

“One down, everyone!”

“You know damn well we haven’t started yet!” the swordsman snapped.

Dimitri grinned, “I must say Felix, I never saw you as someone to be so easily caught off your guard.”

Ingrid hardly held back a snicker, Ashe’s body practically trembling with a similar sentiment as he reflexively moved out of the way of the two nobles.

Felix clenched his hands into fists, “I’ll tear that cloth into tatters while it’s still wrapped around your insolent-”

“That’s quite enough.”

Professor Byleth eyed Sylvain, prompting him to quickly return Felix’s band. Not without receiving a moderate punch to the arm in retaliation, of course.

“The forest will be split down the middle in regards to starting positions. Those with green bands will begin on the east while brown will start on the west. Each team will be given one minute to conceal themselves, come up with a plan, and do anything else they see fit before I sound the whistle.”

“Your opponents’ accessories can be taken by any means necessary. While use of stealth is encouraged, feel free to use weapons and other advantages as you see fit. The goal is to win, first and foremost. Once you are eliminated, you are to return here until we finish.”

“Prepare to sit on your ass for fifteen minutes, boar.”

You couldn’t help the sound that came out of you at that. Dimitri’s eyes flashed over to discern your reaction before his face promptly flushed a light hue of pink.

“Wh- Sylvain took your headband, not me!”

The redhead frowned, lightly ghosting his hand over his new injury, “Throwing me to the wolves so quickly, your Highness? Maybe-”

“Oh, enough already,” Byleth huffed. “Off to the woods with you all. Right now. Sixty seconds!”

Newly motivated by the time constraint, everyone shifted to group up before rushing to their respective sides.

You weaved between the trees, Professor Byleth following close behind as you trailed Dedue and Annette. Not long after you reached a central-western location, Felix instantly pulled the two in front of you aside.

“...-ce at the northern end of the forest where the dirt is…”

A bit confused, you shifted your eyes to meet those of your professor. Apparently, neither of you were invited to this strategy meeting.

That meant you weren’t needed then, right?

It was all the same to you. Better than the same, actually; an archer flying solo on a stealth mission in the woods didn’t sound like a terrible assignment in the least.

To top it all off, Professor Byleth on her own elsewhere in the forest at the same time? The anticipation would surely kill you. Maybe you would even see her skills more personally than you had on the few traditional battlefields your class fought on so far.

You were brought back to the present as your professor turned to you in real life, nodding at you before slipping into the shadow of a thick tree.

Sticking around just a little longer, you gathered enough snippets of Felix’s conversation to understand his plan. He wanted to make a hole in the ground on the northern side large enough to hold as many members of the opposing side as possible. It sounded a bit ambitious, but you supposed that was nothing new concerning the second son.

In any case, your team seemed to masquerade as the better part of a mess. You wondered how things were with Ingrid…

…45, 46, 47…

After a moment, you strengthened your resolve. The best way to see what the other team was up to would be to go see for yourself, right?

Swiftly working your way counterclockwise around the forest, you snuck over to the eastern side, crossing over only upon hearing a shrill note knocking against the trees. It was now imperative to stay hidden in whatever darkness would conceal you. Having a bow certainly made this easier in terms of mobility since you could just sling it across your body.

Even the animals seemed quiet. Accordingly, you were on high alert. Your movements became more careful, more deliberate as your heart began to race in anticipation. No stepping on branches or leaves; just grass and dirt. No bumping against the trees or sudden movements; just liquid flow and shady cover. Soft, swift, and silent.

Once you believed yourself to have rounded the terrain far enough, you stopped, climbing the tree with the best vantage point in the area and scanning the shady path where your opponents must have started. That is, if the ruined leaves on the ground served as any clue. Prepared for action, you took your bow off your back and pulled an arrow out of the slim training quiver you had been given. Patience was a game you were sure to win, especially in such a good position.

Nothing happened, though. You detected no movement, no flash of colors, and you eventually concluded that the other group must have had a similar idea. After all, most people are right handed, so they might have felt more comfortable countering on the northern side than from the south.

You were somewhat discouraged at your failure to help, but it was no big deal. Especially not when you heard the sound of branches snapping back the way you came. Felix’s strategy must have worked - there was nothing else you could imagine that might make that kind of sound. It must have been effective, too; you recalled an offhanded comment he made about Leonie teaching him something about traps.

Resigning yourself to picking off any stragglers that might have strayed from the group near Felix, you lowered yourself from your tree. Perhaps enough time remained for you to return to your side and assess the damages to see who was left.

Progressing back the way you came would be simple enough. Although you were intent on remaining undetected, you heard several branches snapping and some shouting up ahead.

Felix must have really gotten to them.

You grew close enough to the commotion to recognize Dimitri and Ashe’s voices as the ones yelling, but it made no sense. You had hardly moved a few paces past the tree you were in, and you were still circling the southern side of the forest.

Why were they being so loud? Did they lose, or did they forget this was meant to be a stealth exercise?

But that didn’t make sense, either. They were the best listeners in Professor Byleth’s class, barring Annette; there’s no way they would slack off now of all times.

Silently, you crept toward their shouts until you were brought to a wall of greenery. If you went through…

You didn’t have enough time to hide before they came barreling through the bush.

“Woah!” an ambush? And you fell for it, no less?

Ashe’s eyes widened, his natural agility allowing him to dodge you just in time. Dimitri, with no such skill, slammed into you. The two of you crashed into the ground, the prince scrambling to the weapon you knocked out of his hands as Ashe pulled you onto your feet.

“Come on, get up!” the archer begged you.

Dimitri frantically shot off the dirt while Ashe started to guide you in the direction they were running. You didn’t have a moment to collect your thoughts or ask questions.

The crown prince’s longer legs carried him past you before he grabbed your left arm with his free hand. Your right hand still connected to Ashe, the three of you formed a chain for a moment as Dimitri lent you his momentum.

A terrible roar emanated from the bush where the boys appeared, prompting you all to detach and pick up the pace. The sounds of three sets of feet slamming against the dirt bounced off the trees in the forest.

Two crest beasts barrelled through the shrubs, snapping branches in their pursuit of you and your friends.

“How?” you pleaded, your legs moving impossibly faster with the new adrenaline rush.

“No clue,” Dimitri weaved between the trees, his breath heavy, “where they came from.”

A wave of terror pulsed through you. All you felt were eyes on your back, on your friends, and there was nothing you could do about it. They approached, so much larger and covering so much more ground.

Naturally, your smaller size and unfamiliarity with the area caught up with your group. The demons pursuing you could simply demolish the forest in their path, but Dimitri could only get so far before his height forced him to fumble through a group of low-hanging branches.

Unable to slow down, you crashed into him, sprawling to the forest floor. Ashe had once again been attentive and agile enough to change course, but you and the prince lied prone on the ground.

A sound of anticipation came in the form of an unearthly squeal from one of the monsters trailing seconds behind you. If you did nothing here, you would surely die.

Upon noticing Dimitri had again dropped his lance in his fall, you snatched it and flipped over to face one of the beasts, contesting a well-timed snap of its jaw by holding the weapon up and angling it to act as a pike. It worked just well enough to force the creature’s mouth open…

…until the beast’s maw clamped down on the training weapon, struggling over it with you before it splintered and snapped.

Knocked backwards, your shoulders never got the chance to hit the ground. Dimitri had been given enough time to stand, placing his hands under your arms and dragging you back while Ashe shouted from another direction.

The archer’s cries were enough to split the horrific hunting party, though the only thing you and Dimitri did was continue running.

This is hopeless. All our weapons are meant for training, Ashe is on his own, there are no other fighters with us…

“We can’t keep running,” you breathed, looping around a tree to throw the monster off your trail, “something has to change.”

…Felix…

You curved around the forest, switching to head back to your group, “Follow me.”

The two of you determined that zig-zagging was the best way to outrun the monster, though if you slowed down, you would no doubt be back on the ground again.

Intuitively, you followed the path you were fairly certain Dimitri’s teammates must have taken to get to the western part of the forest. All the while, you silently prayed that your legs would continue to carry you at a pace fast enough that the beast wouldn’t gain too much ground.

Not that it could be helped; you took two strides for every one of the beast’s.

“Felix! Felix, where are you?”

“Felix!” Dimitri followed your lead.

A figure appeared in the distance, his fair skin and blue hair giving him away, “Why the hell are you two-?”

The shriek from the beast trailing you and the prince drowned out the rest of his sentence.

“Felix, where’s the trap?!”

“Shit,” he cursed, though you couldn’t hear. “This way!”

Pushing yourself just a bit further, you forced your mind to ignore the screams of protest from your body. Felix sprinted just ahead of you, his lack of fatigue allowing him to match pace with your adrenaline spike before he rounded a bush.

“Get the professor!” your teammate ordered someone you couldn’t see.

Dimitri rushed past you to follow the bluenette. Upon leaving the beast’s line of sight, however, he was yanked into the large shrub. You recognized Felix’s hand wrapping around your arm before you stumbled into him, entering the branches as well.

“Thank you, Dedue,” you heard Dimitri’s voice next to you, the phrase uttered out between gasps for air.

It was in the split second before the beast rounded the shrub that you turned your head and recognized the trick. The covering on the pit was placed in the path next to the bush you four were in. If someone hadn’t known to stop and take a route through the hedge, they would have fallen through the dirt.

And upon seeing Professor Byleth appear at the other end of the pit, creator sword drawn to lure the crest beast toward her, you recognized how smart your teammates really were.

The pit wasn’t big enough to hold a crest beast by any means, but it certainly did the trick to immobilize it as the monster lost its footing. A well placed strike to the crest stone on the back of its neck shattered the source of its power. You could only stare at the crumbling animal, its bony limbs reduced to dust. The only thing lying in the crater at the end was…

“A person?” Dedue balked.

You moved to get a closer look before realizing Felix still had his arm around you.

“Um…”

Absentmindedly, he released you, throwing an apology over his shoulder before going to examine the woman lying dead in what very much could have been her grave.

Unbeknownst to you, your body was beginning to shut down. Running all that way left you exhausted, and having done so at a sprint certainly didn’t make matters any better. Yet the second you sank to the ground to truly catch your breath, you remembered.

Ashe.

“P-Professor,” you coughed, “...Ashe-”

“...What?”

“Damn, we left Ashe in the forest!” Dimitri agonized.

Byleth’s eyes sharpened, “Understood. I’ll go find him.”

“I’m coming, too.”

“What?” Felix questioned. “No, there’s no way - you’re way too tired.”

“Dimitri and I are the only ones who know where he is!”

At this, the prince attempted to rise from his position bracing on his knees “Then I’ll go.”

“Are you kidding me? You’re a worse candidate than I am - you’re still bleeding from the trees!”

“Bleeding? I’m not-”

“Your highness,” Dedue cut him off, “your chest.”

Certainly, his uniform was ripped in places, blood pooling out from the cuts he received when he scraped himself on the branches, earlier.

“You must not have felt it due to the adrenaline. We should get you to Mercedes.”

Sure of yourself, you began to walk backwards in the direction you came from, “Professor, there’s no time! You have your sword, so if push comes to shove, I’ll be fine. Ashe doesn’t have a proper weapon, though, and he must have been running for a long time!”

Professor Byleth wasted no words, “Fine then. Lead the way.”

As the two of you picked up the pace, she turned to call out, “Be sure to clear that girl out of the pit! Get her to Mercedes!”

The dull ache in your legs became impossible to ignore once you ran back into the forest. Still, through a mix of retracing your steps and following the sounds of roaring and trees snapping, you managed to get close to where you and Ashe had parted ways.

Sure enough, several trees had been reduced to splinters and fallen trunks. The damage created a small clearing, through which you could see your friend. He looked really out of it, the forest around him a mess from the beast’s rage.

“Ashe! Over here!”

The professor hit the creature a few times with her sword, extending its reach to divert its attention to herself. Recognizing her attempts to hurt it, the beast reared its head and focused its efforts on Byleth.

She had provided enough of a distraction that Ashe could make it to you. Allowing himself a moment’s respite, he braced himself on his knees similar to how Dimitri had earlier. Breathless, the two of you watched your mentor’s skills at work.

The creator sword would wrap around the wild creature’s neck; Byleth’s obvious attempt at trying to break the stone. Each time, the tether was countered by a snap of the beast’s teeth, or her attack missed entirely. The angle was impossible from where she was standing.

“Fall back, you two - I’ll be right behind you!”

Ashe began to protest, “But-”

“You’re both tired, you’ll need whatever headstart I can give y-ngh!”

Her opponent had grown impatient, swiping its claws at the chain of her sword before her next attack could connect. The weapon was yanked to the side, knocking the professor off balance for a moment and sending the weapon flying out of her hand.

“Just go! I promise I’ll be right there!”

Willing your legs to move, you grabbed Ashe’s wrist and pulled him up, guiding him the first few steps of the way. Once he managed to find his footing, you took a position to lead him back to the group in the west.

You didn’t think you would be able to do much of anything tomorrow, after this. The taste of blood stained your every breath, your throat felt dry to the point it hurt, and you were surprised you could even lift your legs anymore. The adrenaline had worn off by the time you left Dimitri with Dedue.

The noise increasing behind you cut off your train of thought. The pounding of paws much heavier than your own feet thundered against the forest floor. Leaves crushed so loudly you could have sworn they were snapping logs, and the veil of the safety you thought you still had was quickly torn away.

What about Professor Byleth? She should have been on her feet, should have caught up to you and Ashe by now if-

“Keep moving!”

The voice next to you startled you almost enough to make you lose your footing, but a steady hand at your back and the sight of a flash of green hair at your side kept you upright.

“Over here, Professor! This way!”

Annette waved her arms over her head, signaling a new location nearby. They must have created a separate trap in the time you had been away.

But why…?

A snap at your backs inspired the three of you to round this new shrub at record speed. This time, you were ready when Dedue pulled you into the bushes.

“Woah!”

You supposed you had forgotten to warn Ashe.

Sure enough, everything else was the same story, just with different people. The Professor pivoted out of Sylvain’s hold in time to pull the sword she retrieved from her hip. The beast fell in the trap upon rounding the hedge, giving her a more advantageous angle to properly fracture the stone, reverting the creature to the body of a young man.

“I don’t understand,” Felix’s brow furrowed, Ashe ducking out of his hold and falling to the ground to finally breathe.

You were beginning to feel similarly. Were it not for Dedue, you doubted you would be standing. Your classmate seemed privy to this knowledge, as well.

“I will bring you to Mercedes.”

A nod was all you could muster while Dedue bent to put an arm beneath your legs, lifting you off the ground. The air you were practically drinking filled your lungs with more oxygen than you thought they could hold, and your resulting breaths sounded almost raspy. Respectfully, you ensured that your head was turned away from Dedue (though it was also to ensure you could get as much air as possible).

Even still, you managed to catch the final words of those behind you.

“Why didn’t you just take that girl to Mercedes and reuse the last trap?” Professor Byleth wondered.

“Well…” Sylvain, “there wasn’t really a point...she was already dead.”

“...then…this boy…?”

You tried not to focus on the silence that followed her final question.

A few paces later and Dedue had made it to the outskirts of the woods. It was where you all met at the beginning of the exercise.

Mercedes approached the two of you before you cleared the trees, guiding Dedue to set you down on a patch of soft grass in the shade next to three green scraps of fabric. She must have anticipated your arrival.

“Will she be alright?”

“Oh, yes,” Mercedes assured him, though her light tone didn’t match the furrow of her brows. “She’s mostly dealing with fatigue, but the strain on her lungs should be soothed before she tries to go anywhere.”

A moment of silence.

“Where is his Highness?”

The glow of soft magic hovered over you before you felt inclined to close your eyes. You tried not to focus on the strange feeling coursing through you - you still weren’t used to healing spells, yet.

“He and Ingrid went back to the monastery to consult Lady Rhea about all this.” She sighed, and you felt a pause in the flow of her enchantment, “I don’t really understand everything that happened today. It all feels so wrong.”

“I agree. There should not have been any crest beasts this close to the academy. The knights should have noticed.”

Another pause led to a stronger wave of magic passing through your lungs; it was all you could do to focus on breathing next to this weird feeling, but you opened your eyes just to make sure you were still okay.

“I will head back to the monastery as well.”

The healer nodded, “I’ll let the professor know.”

“Let me know what?”

It seemed the rest of your class made it out of the forest. Professor Byleth approached at the lead, followed close behind by Annette, and finally by Felix and Sylvain supporting a pale and winded Ashe.

As Dedue filled your teacher in on everything, Mercedes abandoned you to go help Ashe. Annette replaced her, kneeling where her friend sat just a moment ago to continue her work. Fortunately, you didn’t feel like there was much left to do.

“Right. You can head back. Take some of the training weapons with you, please - I have a feeling everyone else will have their hands full by the time we head back.”

Dedue removed the brown band wrapped around his forehead, adding it to the pile lying about a meter away from your feet. Picking up the discarded wooden lance, bow, and sword lying in a pile closer to the woods, he turned and wordlessly took the path leading back to Garreg Mach.

“My bow…” you remembered, testing out your voice from your position on the ground, “I think…I dropped it somewhere in the forest?”

Felix scoffed, “With the amount of trees those beasts managed to fell, I don’t think a bit more wood lying around would hurt anyone. The Church can just buy a new one. They replace training weapons all the time.”

“Take it from Felix, they’re used to broken weapons,” Sylvain grinned. “Repairing a broken bow can’t be much different than replacing a missing one.”

A small huff of air came from the swordsman’s nose at his classmate’s remark. Rather than respond, however, he just turned back to you.

“How the hell are you still awake after all that? I expected you to have passed out by now.”

“Me? Shouldn’t you be more worried about Ashe? Whatever running I did, he ran and then some.”

“He did pass out.”

Turning your head to where Mercedes knelt, you found your friend sleeping on the grass, uneven breaths heaving from his chest.

After everything he went through by himself, you could only think that he deserved to rest.

“Professor? What is it?”

Annette’s inquisition immediately led your mind to drop the subject, turning instead to see Professor Byleth lost in thought.

“I’m just…trying to understand something. Those people that came from those monsters - did I kill them, or were they already dead? How did this happen so close to the monastery without anyone coming to help us? And…”

No one knew what to say. You hadn’t recognized the people that died, not their clothing or their faces.

“Nevermind. We need to head back in case anything else unexpected is looking to find us.”

“That should be just fine, Professor,” Mercedes agreed. “I’ve made sure these two are stable. The best thing for everyone now would be to rest.”

“Very well,” your teacher began circling around to everyone, collecting their headbands to place in the bag she had left here earlier.

Annette extended her hand out before Professor Byleth made her way over to the two of you. Taking it, you attempted to get up only to be frustrated by the fatigue of your legs. A sharp inhale followed by a hiss of pain accompanied the feeling of Annette lowering you back to the ground.

“Yeah…might not be ready for that yet…” you gritted your teeth.

Byleth walked over, tugging the brown textile off your head in a fluid motion, “Sylvain, please help her get back to the monastery. Felix, you can carry Ashe.”

“What?!”

Sylvain barely contained his laughter, approaching you with easy footsteps and lifting you off the ground bridal-style.

“You’re sure you want Sylvain of all people carrying the woman that can’t walk? Or fend for herself right now, for that matter?”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty of experience with this sort of thing.”

“...with carrying people?” you raised a brow.

Sylvain winked, “...with carrying women that can’t walk.”

Professor Byleth hit him on the back of the head so hard that Sylvain dropped you on the ground.

You landed, reeling with a small squeak and a light curse. Your breath came labored through your teeth from the incidental blow to your legs. Not that it could have hurt as much as whatever she just did to Sylvain.

“Agh- What the hell, Professor?!”

“You and Felix have done an excellent job of changing my mind. I think we would all feel better if you volunteered to carry Ashe back with us, instead.”

Now it was Felix’s turn to fight a smirk, though he was hardly trying. After making sure you were okay from your slight fall, he picked you up in much the same way Sylvain had mere moments ago.

Meanwhile, Sylvain seemed to be making a point to carry Ashe over his shoulders.

The seven of you headed back to the monastery together, Professor Byleth calling off her lessons for the beginning of next week just to make sure everyone was well rested. Annette tried to reason that taking the weekend off would be plenty of time for most of the Blue Lions. After all, you, Dimitri, and Ashe were the only ones that really suffered any fatigue. Your teacher countered that if she were holding class, you three were the most likely suspects to insist on attending regardless, no matter how badly you were injured.

Perhaps you left too good of an impression on the professor today for her to think such things of you. Regardless, you agreed with her, if only to save Annette from the pointed glares of Felix and Sylvain at the idea of rejecting a day out of class.

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try-set-me-on-fire · 10 months

Text

Tagged by a buncha folks for fuck it Friday! Thanks @devirnis @butchdiaz @anxieteandbiscuits @alyxmastershipper @rewritetheending! I’ll post scraps form a few things…

Their first actual interaction in nurse Eddie au

In bed eight there are blue eyes and a birthmark and Eddie says “Buck,” out loud, because he’s an idiot.

“Do I… know you?” Buckley (Eddie seeks safety in the formality of a last name) tilts his head a little, eyes searching Eddie’s face for familiarity.

Saying something like You’re usually unconscious when we meet would be creepy, probably. Sometimes I feel like you're my dead wife doesn't even make sense, Eddie can't even explain it to himself. Shannon died and you didn't sounds too accusatory, and he's not sure if he wants to mean it that way or not. You saved my son's life except Eddie still isn't thinking about that, is still actively trying to forget. So Eddie says “I’ve seen you in here before,” like that explains a nickname he has no right to know.

Some sap from take you in and make you mine chapter two

Bed head, all sticking over everywhere. Buck will touch his hair, later, Eddie will let him touch his hair. Loose gray LAFD shirt, possibly Buck’s, one of the ones without a name printed over it. Buck spends a few minutes fascinated by the way the fabric folds around warm skin that maybe Eddie will let him touch later, too. Boxers, sweatpants shed for being too warm. Buck should check for fever, maybe, make sure he’s recovering okay, but his arm and hand and ankle don’t feel overly hot. He doesn’t have any blanket on him, either, it mostly migrated onto Buck in the night, and then mostly left him behind as well to rest half on the floor. He’s breathing steady, back rising and falling slowly with it. Buck glances at the bedside table. It’s early, not even 6 yet, though the room is already halfway sunny here at the height of summer. There’s one granola bar wrapper and a mostly drained water bottle from when he’d woken up starving and parched in the middle of the night, but the others remain untouched. At least that means Eddie slept through the night, probably. Rest is good, important for recovery. There’s a little twitch of pressure on his hand and Buck turns back over to watch Eddie come awake.

He does it in stages. First he holds Buck’s hand tighter (Buck hides his face in the pillow for a moment, burying his smile), then makes a grunt so annoyed and dad-like that Buck has to bite his tongue not to laugh. Then his head starts to move, looking around at the room before finally dragging his face across the pillow to blink at Buck. He looks tired, and ruffled, and beautiful.

And here’s Shannon and Eddie coming out to each other from quilt shop au

Christopher wanders towards the yarn shelves and Shannon turns to him, scratching a nail along the outer seam of her jeans the way she always has when she’s nervous. “I know I usually have him Saturdays but I was wondering if you’d be willing to- watch him, or swap days, or- or I could drop him off in the afternoon, maybe?”

“Uh-“ Buck is coming in on Saturday, Eddie was going to show him how the long arm works so he doesn’t have to keep rolling up whatever secretive larger project he’s been working on to fit in his little domestic machine. But Shannon is not generally a worried person, these days, and Eddie doesn’t like the way she can’t quite make eye contact. “He’ll have to hang out here for a while, but yeah, of course. What’s up?”

“I…” She glances at him, glances away again. Eddie keeps folding the pile of fabric on the cutting table, keeping his movements steady and calm, and she watches the slide of the colors and patterns for a minute before she takes a deep breath. “I have a date.”

Eddie makes a sound something like Oh, but without really forming the word. It’s been awhile. Shannon had tried dating much quicker and much more frequently than Eddie had after they’d split. Jealousy only lasted so long- Shannon is still one of the loves of his life, even if that love isn’t what he thought it was when he was 18 and she was the prettiest girl he’d ever seen. Eddie had sunk into the role of supportive best friend with a kind of relief he thinks nobody looked at too closely, and he’d been the shoulder she cried on when things didn’t work out, and the last few times things hadn’t worked out so spectacularly that as far as he’s known she’d been single for going on a year. “Who’s the new guy?”

Shannon makes determined eye contact, and her voice shakes only a little. “New girl, actually.”

Eddie absolutely cannot help the startled laugh that knocks out of him. It’s not funny, fuck it’s not funny, and her face is pinching up in embarrassed anger that he feels terrible about, but- it’s just kind of funny, is all.

“Jesus- Fuck you, Eddie-“

“No! No, no,” he catches her hand and waist as she spins away, like how they used to dance, like how they still dance, sometimes, when they find a bar with a hoedown night or when they’re lonely in this city that can feel so far away from where they grew up. “Shannon, no, it’s not-“ He remembers the last time she’d had her heart broken, how he’d held her on his abuela’s couch as she’d asked What’s wrong with me? and Why do I never feel right? and he hadn’t had any answers for her because they were questions he tried not to ask about himself. He laughs again, helplessly, and she looks more confused than angry and Eddie wants to spin her around and around because finally, maybe they both finally- “There’s a boy,” he says, and her eyes get wider. “And he’s tall, and he’s got blue eyes, and- and I love you so much but, baby, I don’t think we were ever going to work out.”

And then she laughs too, throwing her head back with it like Christopher does. “You’re- you’re fucking with me.”

“I’m really not,” he says, face aching with the smile splitting it in half.

@shortsighted-owl @bigfootsmom @rogerzsteven @kitkatpancakestack @burins @ anyone else who has stuff to share!

#fuck it friday #tag games #er nurse eddie au #quilt shop au

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oneweirdbookaddict · 8 months

Text

Whumptober day eight!

Time has timeline angst and Wars is an older brother despite being younger.

872 words.

No warnings. Let me know if there should be.

He’s up early, as usual.

He blames the strict military routine. He can’t seem to shake it, even if he’d like to sleep in for once in his life.

But he sighs, rubbing his eyes, sitting up and pulling his overtunic on. Glances around at his sleeping teammates, carefully navigating around them as he walks to the fire.

“Morning.”

Time looks up at him, giving a nod. “Good morning, captain.”

“Can’t sleep?” He asks, sitting next to the leader.

“Ah, bad night, I guess.” Time admits, to his surprise.

Time… never admitted that.

The man had tried to walk off a stab wound, for the love of Hylia.

Something’s up.

He waits, seeing if Time will offer more.

The leader does not.

“Is it about… the sailor’s little revelation?” He asks finally.

Time takes a long moment to respond. Then- “I split the timeline. His world suffered because of me. Not just once, there’s another. There must be. It’s the only way that makes sense.”

“It’s not because of you, Time-”

“Maybe not directly, but you can’t tell me I didn’t cause that.” “You didn’t know.” “I didn’t know a lot of things. You all- you all were just as inexperienced as I was, some of you even younger, and none of you managed to-”

“None of us where in the position you were in, Time.”

Silence.

“I can’t imagine how disheartening it was to hear that,” He says gently. “But it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know that was going to happen. No one did.”

Time sighs. “It feels like it was all for nothing. Everything… and people still suffered.”

“You didn’t go through all of that for nothing.” He says quietly, looking Time in the eye.

Time gives a rueful smile. Raises an eyebrow at him.

“How can you say that? Everything you’ve done… all the people you’ve saved… they’d disagree. You saved them. You saved them all. It was for nothing? Not for them.” He shakes his head. He understands the feeling, but… no matter how hard you try, you can’t save everyone. “And look at Wind. Legend.” Time says quietly. “My failures… ask the people from their timelines how much it was worth. The timeline where I left? Or the one where I failed? Th-”

“Time, if anything, it shows how much more it meant-”

“It doesn’t!” Time snaps, hand raking through his hair. “It shows how pointless it was- all the people I saved, yes, but what about the ones I could do nothing for? The countless people that died because of me, because of my failures-”

“Time, you had no idea until three days ago that happened.”

“That doesn’t change anything.” Time says quietly.

“And neither will feeling guilty about it.”

Time falters at that, looking up at him.

“You really think you’re the only one that’s failed? Goddess, Old Man, I thought you were smarter than that. You didn’t even fail in this timeline and you’re feeling bad about it. Look at Wild. Hylia above, Time, look at me. You know all the ways I screwed up. Yes, I have my regrets, but at the end of the day? You’ve got to move past it. You succeeded in the end, didn’t you? Ganon’s gone. Hyrule’s safe again. That’s what matters. That’s what everything was for, wasn’t it? Don’t say it was all for nothing- that’s horseshit and we both know it.”

Time opens his mouth, but he keeps talking.

“Wild died. He straight up died. All his friends are dead, his Hyrule is empty, and none of us think that kid any less of a hero because of that. He still defeated Ganon. His Hyrule is thriving. No one thinks he should’ve… I don’t know. No one thinks anything less of Wild. All the ways I messed up? I lost battle after battle after batte- thousands of men died because of me. Even in battles we won. You think any less of me because of that? Or Twi? Or Leg?”

Time looks away. “Of course not.” The old man says quietly.

“Exactly. They’re still heroes of courage, same as you. None of us have flawless stories- we all made stupid mistakes we can’t take back. And yet we’re all still heroes of courage. Wear that title with pride, Old Man. You risked everything for your country- for the sake of good. No one cares that you accidentally split the timeline or whatever you did. And you’re not any less of a hero because of it.”

It’s quiet for a long while.

Time watches the fire, but he looks much more… contemplative. Not weighed down anymore.

“Thank you.” Time says quietly after a while.

He has to smile. “Anytime, Old Man. Happy to help.”

A small nod.

He slowly drapes the end of his scarf over Time’s shoulders, hand lingering on the leader’s shoulder. Time’s shoulders slump a little bit in a rare moment of vulnerability.

“You can get some rest. The others won’t be up for a while yet.” He says, and Time nods.

Slowly stands, sighing slightly and moving over to where his bedroll is still set up.

“Sleep well.” He says when Time glances back at him, and gets a smile in return.

~~~~

#whumptober2023 #no. 8 #it's all for nothing #linked universe #fic #time lu #lu time #time linked universe #linked universe time #lu wars #wars lu #lu warriors #warriors lu #linked universe wars #wars linked universe #warriors linked universe #linked universe warriors

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heyiwrotesomethings · 1 year

Note

Saw you wrote for chainsaw man! In that case, may I request Quanxi and her fiends (if you can, if not Quanxi is just fine) with a female reader where she has to literally knock herself out in battle every time in order to use her devil contract? The devil she has in particular is the nightmare devil, and in order to summon it (could look like whatever horrifying thing you want) she has to literally make herself unconscious. This can either be forcing her to fall asleep mid battle (kind of like Zenitsu) but if there’s too much adrenaline, she’ll literally take a rock or any hard object, and smash her head in order to knock herself out.

Of course, having reader unconscious throughout the entire battle is super dangerous because she’s literally just laying there. So I thought it’d be funny if during battle, Quanxi and her fiends have to protect your sleeping body or play hot potato with you as you fight.

Nightmare Relay

Quanxi and The Fiends x She/ Her Reader

A/N: I love them so much. I wish we got to know more about their day to day and back stories so I could flesh out the characters some more. I loved your hot potato idea. I wish I could have executed it a little better to make it sound as exciting as it looked in my head, but I’m not good at writing fight/ highly choreographic sequences. I gave it my best shot though! Some violence and suggestive themes because it’s Chainsaw Man. Hope you like it! Word Count: 2,262

“This devil is so tedious!” Pingsti sighed resting her head against Quanxi’s shoulder. “I want to go home already!”

“Halloween!” Cosmo seemed to agree, ducking back out of sight of the tantruming devil.

“I know,” Quanxi murmured, mildly annoyed herself.

Did they really have to get out of bed for this? As tiresome as dealing with the Telekinesis Devil was, it should have been someone else’s job. However, the intel was that there might be a piece of the Gun Devil within it, so it only made sense to put the infallible Quanxi and her entourage of girlfriends on the case.

“Does anyone have eyes on (Y/n), Long or Tsugihagi?” She asked, absently studying the sharpness of one of her swords as another earth-rumbling crash nearly swallowing her words.

“Not yet…” Pingsti pouted, her hair swiveled to look over the crumbling wall they were stationed behind, searching for any sign of the other half of their group.

Quanxi hummed in acknowledgment. (Y/n) was probably trying to summon her contracted devil. It would certainly be helpful to have something intangible that the Telekinesis Devil could not blow away by simply looking at it. Hopefully Long and Tsugihagi hadn’t been split up from her so they could assist.

They had gotten separated pretty early on due to the devil’s apparent hatred for city architecture and love for throwing people around in every which direction to watch them splat gruesomely against the walls. Best wishes to whoever’s job it would be to restore any of this mess.

Meanwhile, a couple blocks away, (Y/n) groaned in frustration. Don’t get her wrong, Tsugihagi’s thighs made a wonderful pillow and Long’s gentle stroking of her face felt comforting, but she was very clearly not going to fall asleep on her own with all this chaos going on. Usually, she was pretty good at restricting the amount of sleep she got to make it easier to summon her contracted devil, but after being put through the wringer by her girlfriends the night before, she slept like a baby for several hours.

“Tsugihagi,” she prompted.

The Fiend understood exactly what she was looking for and squeezed down hard on her neck, right over where her carotid arteries laid. The sudden and bruising pressure knocked (Y/n) out almost instantly.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a familiar foggy forest. Spindly tentacles slithered towards her feet from every direction like heat-seeking snakes. They stopped just short of (Y/n), lapping the air near her ankles. Then she heard a noise like a death-rattle, somehow wet yet dry like desert sand and several circular black eyes reminiscent of a spider’s emerged from the fog next, watching her, waiting.

“Hunt.” (Y/n) ordered, stretching her hand outward.

The tentacles quivered faster, excited, they seemed to be if (Y/n) had to guess. The Nightmare Devil seemed oddly canine-like, eager to please, but for a price of course.

Ugh, the nightmares and hallucinations that would plague her for the next several days were going to suck, but hey, devils’ got to eat and this one fed off of fear and paranoia much like any other, just more literally. All in all, it was a small price to pay compared to some of the other possible devil contracts out there. She had her girlfriends to help her through the worst of what would come.

The devil’s eyes receded into the fog, followed by the tentacles, leaving (Y/n) alone once more. Now all she had to do was wait and hope she would wake up after all of this. If the Telekinesis Devil found her body and killed her before Quanxi made the killing blow, she’d have to get used to this bleak purgatory being her eternity.

***

“Halloween!” Cosmo alerted, bringing Quanxi and Pingsti’s attention to the thin, worm-like tentacles wiggling between the grates of a nearby storm drain.

“She’s out.” Quanxi confirmed, standing up, “Let’s move.”

The two Fiends followed Quanxi’s lead into the fray, ready to use the assistance of the Nightmare Devil to their advantage.

They heard the Telekinesis Devil squeal unhappily and followed the sound. The tentacles became as thick as jungle vines, but passed harmlessly though their bodies the further in they went.

“Give meee, give meee!” The devil shrilled, various objects and bodies flying around as she tried to find the devil hunter responsible for these ghostly shackles she could not shake. If not for the power the piece of the Gun Devil gave her, she wouldn’t be strong enough to move.

When the devil finally found (Y/n) laying in a nearby alley, locking onto her form in Tsugihagi’s arms. When Tsugihagi felt (Y/n) begin to be tugged away from her, she swiftly shoved her into Long’s arms and blocked them from view as Long ran off with (Y/n) in her arms.

“Oouuuut of myyyy wayyyyyy!” The devil warbled. She could not manipulate what she could not see! All she wanted was to snap that human’s neck and rid herself of this annoying devil!

She mentally took hold of Tsugihagi and slammed her against the brick wall, fighting against the constricting tentacles to follow where Long had gone.

Thankfully, being a Fiend, Tsugihagi could handle a little rough treatment without any long lasting effects. She slowly began to free herself from the brick wall she had been embedded in and met Quanxi’s eye as she came into view with Pingsti and Cosmo from across the street. She tilted her head in the direction Long had taken (Y/n) and Quanxi nodded in understanding.

They were going to have to kill this devil while tossing (Y/n) betwixt them. Not an unusual occurrence, but again, it could be a tedious affair and they would all much rather be in bed with a bunch of takeout right about now.

“Pingsti, Cosmo, assist Long, please.” Quanxi asked, twirling her swords in her hands.

“Happily!”

“Halloween!”

The two Fiends rushed away and Quanxi helped Tsugihagi the rest of the way out of the wall.

“Come with me.”

Tsugihagi didn’t need to be asked twice. Someone always needed to be available to pull Quanxi’s arrow if need be, though it probably wouldn’t be necessary here. Together they ran after the retreating devil, slowed considerably by the Nightmare Devil’s tentacles.

Long was steadfast as she ran. Ducking behind everything dumpster and turning down every alley in the maze-like debris. As she screeched around yet another corner, she felt a tap against her shoulder and turned to find Pingsti smiling at her, arms ready to receive the precious cargo.

Long carefully deposited (Y/n) in Pingsti’s arms before dragging a corpse from the rubble to use as a decoy. With a final nod, she continued on while Pingsti hid with (Y/n), her hair nuzzling the sleeping woman as she waited for the devil to stalk past their hiding spot to continue pursuing Long.

Unfortunately, the corpse she had been holding had been quite thoroughly crushed and the jostling from her running caused its head to flop off.

“Uh oh…” Pingsti quietly sing-songed as the devil quickly lost interest in Long and began back tracking.

Pingsti tried to slink away with (Y/n), but her foot kicked up some loose gravel and the devil’s head swiveled in her direction. The Nightmare Devil’s snare was becoming more encumbering by the minute, but the Telekinesis Devil had them in her sights now, quickly she took hold of Pingsti in an attempt to get a two for one, but Pingsti pressed a chaste kiss to (Y/n)’s cheek and tossed her away.

“Eep! Cosmo, it’s all you!” Pingsti called, struggling in the devil’s supernatural hold before being carelessly thrown through the air as Long ran after her to ensure a safer descent.

Cosmo jumped from a nearby dilapidated building, springing into action. She could see Quanxi readying herself for a clean maneuver that would surely take the devil back to hell. She shuddered at the thought of that awful place and scooped (Y/n) up, darting away.

The devil screamed in anger, trying to tear at the constricting tentacles only to have them slip through her fingers like mist. She. Would. Not. Lose. Not like this. Not when she had just acquired a piece of the Gun Devil! She was stronger now and she would prove it!

“H-Halloween?” Cosmo gulped as her feet suddenly rocketed away from the ground. She held on to (Y/n) for dear life as the ground grew further and further away.

“Die!” The devil cackled, sending them rocketing back towards the ground at such an intense velocity, that it would certainly cause them to splatter into an unrecognizable puddle.

The devil watched with glee, all too absorbed in her cruelty to notice the disruption of air behind her until it was much too late.

“Don’t!” She warned uselessly, trying to twist out of the way of the imminent strike, but the Nightmare Devil held fast, giving Quanxi just the opening she needed to slice the Telekinetic Devil to ribbons.

Long and Pingsti had regrouped with Quanxi and Tsugihagi during the chaos. The three Fiends jumped and scaled over the crumbling buildings, trying to reach Cosmo and (Y/n) and adjust their trajectory before the ‘splat’ could occur.

Even as Quanxi carved the Telekinesis Devil up, the devil still tried to stop the Fiends from saving the two women still falling from the sky.

Whenever someone tried to make a jump for them to change their trajectory, the devil pushed them away with an array of mental gymnastics. Even if she was going back to hell today, she wanted to at least take one more human with her.

The Nightmare Devil was flinging around her chopped-up body parts like a giddy toddler and she was nearly out of blood, but the Fiend and the human were nearly ready to violently kiss the ground. She would get her wish—

“Ah!?”

The devil blinked sluggishly and Quanxi had seemingly manifested below her speedily falling lovers. Had she been a normal human, she’d probably end up just as dead trying to catch them like this, but she hadn’t quite been normal for some time now.

Quanxi reached up and caught the pair in her arms, spinning with the force of it all. She had hooked her arms behind Cosmo’s back and knees, while in Cosmo’s arms, hugged tightly, (Y/n) still slept, oblivious to the world.

“Halloween.” Cosmo sighed, relieved, nuzzling Quanxi’s bicep.

Quanxi smiled a small, yet no less adoring smile.

“Damn youuuuu…” The Telekinesis Devil cursed with her final breath, then stilled.

The Nightmare Devil grew bored of its no longer wriggling toy and slowly, the tentacles slithered back into the sewers.

“Look, Quanxi!” Pingsti cheered, pressing up against the devil hunter’s back. She presented a small, metallic, fleshy ball. “Look at what the Nightmare Devil rolled to me! A piece of the Gun Devil was here after all!”

“Good job.”

Not wanting to be left out, Long and Tsugihagi joined the impromptu hug, albeit a bit awkwardly, but they were all rather odd and loved all the same.

“Let’s get our money for this so we can go home.” Quanxi murmured, letting her fiends hang off of her as she walked away from the carnage, (Y/n) still sleeping in her arms.

***

(Y/n) awoke with a scream clawing at her throat. Her body coated in sweat and hands all around. She threw a fist up, but it was easily caught in a calloused hand and her other hand was quickly pinned back as well. He legs wouldn’t move either, an unidentifiable weight on each thigh and her chest.

“The Nightmare Devil was just visiting. You’re okay.”

(Y/n)’s eyes shot to the side and when she saw Quanxi in the soft glow of their bedroom, she managed to untense just a little.

“So we… we didn’t fail the job? Everyone is still alive?” Everyone only referring to the people she cared about, of course. The Nightmare Devil really knew how to mess with her head.

“All accounted for, cutie!” Pingsti cheerfully shared, nuzzling her face against (Y/n)’s hand.

(Y/n) moved her head in an attempt to adjust her position and found one of Long’s horns resting against her throat, looking further down, she saw Tsugihagi and Cosmo perched on either leg.

What a relief.

(Y/n) groaned, Quanxi let her slip her hand out of hers to rub at her face.

“No matter how many times I do this, it feels so real every time. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to watch you all die.”

“Halloween.” Cosmo pouted, falling over Long to rest on top of (Y/n) as well, the warmth of her brain radiating near (Y/n)’s cheek.

Tsugihagi stared, unblinking, before slowly descending upon the pile as well and Pingsti, not one to be left out, curled up by (Y/n)’s head with her hand still clutched to her chest.

The warmth and weight of the Fiends was so sweet and comforting, (Y/n) could feel sleep beckoning her once more, but then a firm fingers grasped her jaw and she opened her eyes to see Quanxi hovering over her.

“You only just woke up, don’t go back to sleep. Especially when the Nightmare Devil isn’t through with you yet.”

“Mmm, but I’m tired.” Those nightmares could be so draining…

Quanxi’s eye lit up and a small, sly smirk formed across her face and the Fiends seemed to pick up on her energy and perked up.

“If you think you’re tired now, I can’t wait to see how tired you’ll be in a couple hours.”

#chainsaw man x reader #chainsaw man oneshots #csm x reader #csm oneshots #quanxi x reader #quanxi fiends x reader #csm quanxi #requests #anonymous

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kimpossibly · 3 months

Text

beneath the ice (peter prior)

pairing: peter prior x fem!reader

summary: sometimes following a lead can be a deadly pursuit with unforseen circumstances. especially in ennis.

wc: 4k

warnings: situations of peril (description of a near drowning), swearing, blood, hospitals, peter and kayla r separated and getting a divorce sorryyy, kissing/making out

author's note: HI SORRY I DISAPPEARED FOR FOREVER HI HELLO HOW ARE YOU. i started college last fall so i guess i just got caught up in the swing of things and really lost my game, but here i am! can't promise i won't disappear again as i still do have to finish up the semester (and i may be writing an original novel *winky face*) but i just HAD to come on here and rant because the true detective brainrot is real guys. so so real. i was literally looking for content after the first ep and i was like wait...it doesn't even exist yet which is SO CRAZY because usually i write for/obsess over characters with so much content already out there so like. i guess i gotta make the content this time??? let me know if you want more peter fics because the brainrot is REALLLL. okay, love you! hope you enjoy!

"This is a bad idea."

"Yeah, probably."

Y/N had had it up to here with Peter's complaints. They stood at the edge of the frozen lake, their flashlights beaming over the glassy surface. It was around three o'clock, the sixth day of dark. Y/N still didn't feel fully adjusted to the constant darkness, especially with the case of the Tsalal station in full force. Sleep was a rare commodity nowadays, and she usually relied on that sleep to keep her sense of night and day in check. She wasn't getting any of that now.

"We're not going to be able to see anything from here," she muttered, squinting out at the lake. She took a tentative step off the snowy edge and tested the ice, putting half her weight on it to see if it would hold.

Peter saw what she was thinking before she did it, and he was going to do his damned best not to let it happen. "You're not going out there."

Y/N looked back at him. "I used to be a dancer, remember? I'm light on my feet."

"You were a tap dancer."

"Same difference."

She put one foot on the ice, taking a step forward. There was a little creaking sound as the ice adjusted to her weight, but it held. Peter caught her arm before she could take another. "Y/N."

She pursed her lips. "You can come with me if you want, but it might only hold one of us. Your choice."

"We'll call someone. We'll call Danvers, or—"

"We're here now. We might as well get out there and start looking."

He didn't like this idea. He did not like this plan. But Y/N had, seemingly, set on it. There wasn't much he could do now to stop her. He couldn't beat her, and joining her would probably make things worse. All he could do now was watch her. "Stay close to the edge."

Y/N grinned. "I knew you'd come around."

She turned and aimed her beam of light at the glassy ice, taking a few, slow steps forward. She could see straight through the glass now, to the rocky bottom below. If her lead was right...something would be here. Awena Lake. Something was here.

She traversed farther and farther onto the frozen surface, the wind whipping her hair around her face. She was far. Too far, in Peter's opinion. He was about to call out to her when suddenly she stopped, staring down at a place in the ice.

What he didn't know was that she was staring down at a face.

She whispered something her voice quiet, terrified. Then, a scream. Y/N fell to her knees, punching at the ice, trying to break through.

"Y/N!"

She heard Peter calling her name, but she could only focus on breaking through that ice. Punched and punched and punched until her knuckles split and suddenly the ice below her was getting painted with blood every time she brought a fist down. She was almost in a trance, beating away at the solid glacial matter that just wouldn't break.

But then, of course, it did.

It happened so quick that Peter couldn't missed it if he blinked at the wrong moment. One second he was taking slow, cautious steps onto the ice, heading to get Y/N before she did something really stupid. The next second there was a sound like breaking plaster and a splash, and Y/N disappeared under the ice.

She felt hands grasping at her, trying to pull her down. And a voice—there was definitely a voice. She couldn't quite make it out. She opened her mouth to scream back, and as the cold water rushed into her lungs, her lips formed one question: what happened to you?

Her vision went black before she got an answer.

Music. The first thing she noticed when she woke up was the music. And the fact that she was warm, when the last thing she remembered being was really f-cking cold. Her eyelids stuck together as she slowly blinked open, the dim lighting of the hospital room slowly coming into focus. She tried to flex her fingers and found them stiff as ice (no pun intended). She saw the white bandage wrapped around her hands, purple bruises around her wrist and near the tips of her fingers. Jesus. She'd done some damage on that ice.

The fucking music. It was some oldie—70s, probably. It was playing softly from the corner, and she turned her stiff neck to see Peter slumped in a chair, staring down at his phone. What a loser. She cleared her throat to test her voice.

"If you're on TikTok right now, I'll fucking kill you."

Peter jumped at the sudden sound, his phone clattering to the ground. Y/N laughed, though it quickly turned into a wheezy cough. She sat up, a bandaged hand covering her mouth as she continued to choke. Peter rushed to her side, filling up a paper cup with the water pitcher on the bedside table. He handed it to her and she waited for the coughs to dissipate a bit before taking a gulp of the cold water. She sucked in a breath and found her ribs fighting back against the stretch. Everything was sore. Which, she reminded herself, was her own fault.

"Do you want me to call the doctor?" he asked, dragging the chair closer to sit beside her.

Y/N shook her head. "Nah. M'fine."

He gave her a look, and she clarified, "As fine as I can be."

Peter looked like he wanted to say something for a moment, but held it back. Y/N noticed a manila file on the other side of her and raised an eyebrow, reaching for it. Even leaning over caused her ribs to scream back in pain, but the snatched the folder anyway, flipping it open to see her own medical chart. "Hypothermia, boxer's fracture in both hands, ventricular fibrillation...Jesus. Okay, so I did some damage. My bad."

"What the fuck, Y/N?"

She looked up from her file. Peter had a look on his face she couldn't quite parse. Anger? Pity? Whatever it was, it was heightened by the fact that his under eyes were darker than she'd ever seen them. He stood up, pacing a bit. "Can you stop treating this like it's some fucking joke? You fell through the ice. I had to call Danvers and tell her you almost got yourself killed following some shit lead. You know what she said?"

Y/N stayed silent, fearing that whatever she said would make things worse.

"She asked me why the fuck I didn't stop you."

Y/N wanted to bite back, to yell that it wasn't his responsibility to tell her what to do and what not to do. But, she reminded herself, he probably knew that. It didn't matter. If Danvers said he should've stopped her, he should've stopped her. At least, that's probably how it went in his mind.

She said nothing. Eventually Peter shook his head, muttering something under his breath before going back on his phone. Y/N stared at her own hands, dragging her finger over a little spot of blood that had begun to peek through it. She tried to shift herself a bit and a pain shot through her ankle. She grimaced, hissing lightly at the sting. She pulled her blanket aside and looked down, her stomach twisting when she saw a purple bruise surrounding her right ankle. Almost like a hand.

"Geez. What, did you drag me out by my ankles?" she said to Peter.

"What?" he replied, not looking up, "no, I grabbed your hand."

"Then what the hell is that?"

She pointed, and Peter's eyes followed where she was indicating. "Maybe you kicked something," he offered, "you were trying to swim back up to the surface."

Y/N frowned, something nagging in the back of her mind. "No I wasn't."

"Yes, you did. I saw you."

"No, I was dragged."

Peter shook his head, as if trying to make the words coming out of her mouth form a logical sentence. "What?"

The memory came flooding back to Y/N. The moment just before she started punching at the ice. The face. "I saw her."

"Saw who?"

"Annie."

Peter stilled, his jaw loosening ever so slightly. He looked at Y/N, and for a moment he wondered if the hypothermia had gotten to her brain. "What?"

"Annie K. I saw her under the ice, so I tried to go down and get her."

"Y/N, Annie's-"

"She's fucking dead, I know," she snapped. "But I saw her, alright? I wouldn't start punching solid ice for nothing."

And now Peter was left in a conundrum. On the one hand, Y/N wouldn't lie about something like this. He trusted her that far at the very least. But what she was saying she saw...that went beyond reasonable explanation. He looked at her hands, remembering how they looked just after he pulled her out of the ice. Raw and bloody and bruised. He saw the way she was punching at that ice. It was desperate. No logical person would fuck up their hands like that for a lie. She was really reaching for something. For someone, if that's what she says.

There was still one issue: Danvers wouldn't hear it. They saw how far Trooper Navarro got when she tried to bring Annie's name into the equation. Zero tolerance. They couldn't expect any more grace from the chief.

"You don't have to believe me-"

"I do, Y/N. I do."

She was a little surprised at that. She'd expected Peter to tell her she was crazy. Nevertheless, she could take his belief and run with it. "Then help me," she said, her voice stern. "Follow this lead with me as far as it can go. We don't have to tell Danvers, and if it leads nowhere it leads nowhere. Just don't make me do it on my own."

Conundrum #2: Does he stay on the sidelines or jump through that ice with her?

Fuck it. It's gonna be cold either way.

"Fine."

Y/N's lips turned up into a small smile. Before she could respond, though, one of their co-workers, Lissy, popped her head in the door. "Hey, Prior. You're relieved of L/N duty."

Y/N sat up in bed, giving Peter a look. "L/N duty?"

He gave a sheepish shrug. "Would it help if I said I volunteered?"

"Get out of here. Smartass."

Danvers came eventually to swear at her and ask what the hell she'd been thinking. She gave Danvers the real, honest answer, which was that she wasn't. She'd probably take that better than a lie.

But eventually, of course, she had to.

"And what the hell made you start punchin' that ice?"

Y/N paused. "I thought I saw something, but it was—it wasn't—"

"Well, what?" Danvers snapped. "What was it? Wasn't it?"

"It was nothing, okay? It was a false lead."

That was hard to say, even if it wasn't true.

The highlight of the whole situation was that, at the very least, Y/N's circadian rhythm had gone back to somewhat normal. She looked over files until around eleven o'clock at night when she couldn't keep her eyes open for more than ten seconds at a time. Trying to sleep was a battle for a moment, what with the sore everything and the hands that could barely grasp at the blankets to pull them up to her chin. But eventually exhaustion won out, and she fell asleep to the gentle hum of the hospital's heating system.

And though she never really had in her life, she dreamed.

She dreamed that she was back under the ice, the rocks beneath her feet, crystal clear water swallowing her hole. And there was Annie, beckoning her further and further out. She swam for her until her muscles burned. The further out Annie took her, the darker the water got, and the colder and colder she felt. It got so dark and so cold that she couldn't see Annie at all. It was only when she squinted that she could see her hands in front of her face, and she watched in horror as frost crept over her skin and nipped at her blood.

When Y/N jolted awake, it took her embarrassingly long to realize she was standing on the roof of the hospital. Her bare feet were buried in the snow, the tips of her toes hanging over the edge, five stories above Ennis. A yelp tore out of her mouth before she could stop it, her balance wavering for a single, terrifying moment.

She stepped down from the ledge as soon as she got her bearings, the wind blowing right through her hospital gown and stinging her skin. She stumbled back into the hospital, arms wrapped around herself as she tried to recover from the intense cold, all the while wondering how the hell she got up there.

There was seemingly only one answer: she brought me there.

Peter's kitchen table was littered with crime scene photos. Darwin toddled on the floor, playing with his stuffed elephant, while Peter brewed a fresh pot of coffee. Y/N was so focused that she didn’t notice as Darwin stood and reached his little hand up, grasping for the photos. His fingertips found purchase and he started to pull a particularly bloody photo off the table. Y/N snatched it out of his grasp just before he could be scarred for life and Darwin let out a little giggle.

“Close call, little man,” she said, “that would’ve taken a lot of therapy to unsee.”

Darwin stuck his tongue out at her. She stuck hers out back.

“Kayla should be on her way to come get him. She's trying to beat the storm,” Peter said, scooping Darwin up and carrying him safely away from the photos. They sat down between the couch and the fireplace, and Y/N, suddenly craving a break from the blood and gore, got up to go meet them.

"You guys doing okay?" she asked as she sat cross-legged beside Darwin. "You and Kayla?"

She could tell immediately that she hit a nerve. Peter's eyes darted away from Darwin instantly, his gaze instead setting on the fire. He didn't answer for a moment, and for a moment Y/N thought maybe he was acting like he didn't hear her. "We, uh...we separated."

Y/N frowned. "What?"

"Two months ago. Maybe two and a half."

He picked up the fire poker and stoked the flames—not because they needed to be, but because if he didn't have something to do with his hands he'd go crazy.

Y/N didn't quite know what to say. She remembered when her parents separated, but she was too little to do much about it. Too young to think about comforting them.

"I'm sorry," she said.

Peter just shook his head and shrugged like it was no big deal. "It was coming eventually. We just finally owned up to it."

"Still. It sucks."

"Yeah."

They sat in silence for a moment. Darwin handed the elephant over to Y/N to make way for his sudden interest in picking out the fuzzies in the carpet.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm becoming increasingly concerned that my ice plunge gave me walking pneumonia."

That didn't make it better, but it did get him to laugh.

They played with Darwin and generally avoided the topic of work until there was a knock at the door. A hush seemed to fall over them, reality setting back in. Peter got up, taking Darwin with him, and Y/N went back to the kitchen table. She made herself busy (or, at the very least, she made herself look busy) with files.

Peter opened the door with Darwin in one arm, Darwin's weekend backpack in the other. Kayla stood there on the other side. She grinned and cooed as she took Darwin, but the grin faded when it became clear that she had to interact with Peter.

Look at the files, Y/N. What's happening at the door is none of your business.

Ugh, but eavesdropping would be so fun.

"What's she doing here?" she heard Kayla say. Both she and Peter looked over to where Y/N was sitting.

Well, at least I don't have to eavesdrop.

Y/N looked up, raising an awkward hand in greeting. "Hi Kayla."

"Hi Y/N," Kayla replied. She wasn't cold, but it was clear that Y/N wasn't her favorite person in the world.

Peter said something about work, but Y/N couldn't decipher it. She went back to work, trying to block out the distant sounds of what seemed to be a heated conversation. Eventually the door closed (not slammed, luckily) and Y/N looked up. Peter stared at the wooden door for a few seconds after it had closed, like he thought it might open again. Y/N rushed to look away as he finally turned and headed in her direction. She tried not to shift as he took a seat on the side of the table closest to her, taking his own stack of files and beginning to sort through them.

After a moment, she spoke. "Aaaaare we gonna talk about that?"

"No we are not."

"Got it, got it."

They studied crime scenes. They looked at the facts. They asked a lot of wrong questions and maybe a few right ones. They got so deep into the case of the Tsalal men that they didn't realize when the clock struck three in the morning just as Peter was about to brew a new pot of coffee.

"Huh," was all Y/N could manage to say when she saw the time.

"Huh," Peter agreed.

She looked outside, which at this time of night was a greyish blur of falling snow moving at too many miles per hour. This was the type of storm Y/N's mother told her to watch out for. People who drove out in these either ended up wrecked or freezing to death before they made it home. "Mind if I stay the night?"

Peter nodded. "'Course."

Ten minutes later, Y/N was curled on the couch with a down comforter draped over her to block out the chill (with the help of three layers of clothes and another blanket on top). The lights were out and all she could hear was the sound of whistling wind as she drifted off to sleep.

And for the second time in years, she dreamed.

She was back under that water, cold seeping into her bones. She saw the surface just a few feet above her head, close enough to touch. She reached up, but before her frozen fingers could make contact with the frozen sheet of ice she could use to pull herself up, a hand seized her ankle and dragged her down. She screamed, but only bubbles escaped her mouth, the sound absorbed by the freezing waters that enveloped her. She rushed to suck in a breath and the water flooded in to meet her screaming lungs.

She was dying.

She looked down at the one who was dragging her, and saw someone she knew to be dead.

"Y/N..."

"Annie?" Y/N said. More bubbles. Annie just looked at her, and somehow she knew: Death was coming.

"Y/N!"

Peter's hand landed roughly on her shoulder, enough to shake her out of the dream and make her realize that she was standing outside in the swirling snow, which was getting worse by the second. She turned, and their faces were so close that their matching frozen, red noses were inches away from touching.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Y/N made no reply, trekking back towards the house as quickly as her bare feet could take her. Annie’s eyes were still flashing across her mind every few seconds, as if trying to come back to the surface and consume her again. She wouldn’t let that happen.

As soon as the door shut behind her, the wind howling and doing its best to pry it back open again, she collapsed against it, trying to stave off cold and paranoid visions. She vaguely heard Peter mutter No, come here, as he pulled her up from the floor and guided her to the fireplace, which he promptly lit. He draped a blanket around her, then two, then three. She must’ve looked like a floating head with all the fabric covering her from the shoulders down as she curled on the floor, knees drawn up to her chest. He sat down beside her after he was satisfied she had enough to warm her up. She was shivering slightly, but the horrified look in her eyes made him wonder if that was totally from the cold. He didn’t ask. He sat, staring straight at the fire with her. That was all he could do.

“It was Annie,” Y/N said finally, her voice hoarse. “She took me out there.”

Peter didn’t respond—he was sure the explanation she would give, if she gave any, would go entirely over his head.

Y/N swallowed hard before continuing. “She’s involved in all this. I don’t know how, and I don’t know why. But something about Annie is still alive. Because what happened to her? That’s what happens when men get angry. But when women get angry? You end up out in the snow in the middle of the night with no idea how you got there.”

Silence.

“She’s angry. We just have to figure out why.”

Peter looked at her, color starting to bloom in her previously purple lips. She stared intently ahead as she talked, almost as if she were in a trance. When Peter reached out and took a lock of her hair gently between his fingers, she didn’t flinch. She glanced over at him, her eyes illuminated by the fire he’d set.

“Your hair froze,” was his only explanation.

Y/N looked down and saw that he was right. Little ice crystals had formed in patches of her hair. She wondered how long she’d been out there in the cold.

She wasn’t sure who leaned in first, or when the images of Annie disappeared from her mind, but in an instant Peter’s lips were on hers, and all visions of Annie floated away, replaced only by the feeling of his lips and hands.

It was only a moment before he pulled away, his eyes shut in a way that suggested he fucked up. For the second time in a week she’d nearly found herself in a life-threatening situation, and here he was playing with her hair and kissing her like a besotted middle schooler. She would be mad—she had to be.

“Sorry,” he said quietly.

“Don’t be,” Y/N said, pulling him back to her and kissing him again.

That was all the okay Peter needed. He pulled her to him again, this time a bit rougher, but still careful not to accidentally push any blankets off her. It was Y/N who eventually shed them, pulling him onto the couch with her. It was still too cold inside for either of them to remove any more layers they already had on (which they both found extremely unfortunate), but that didn’t stop Y/N from crawling atop him and straddling his waist to better kiss him.

After what felt like hours (but was probably only twenty minutes), they wound up that way, with Y/N laying her head on Peter’s chest, his arms wrapped tightly around her to hold him to her. Her heart rate was just starting to slow down when Peter spoke.

“You know I’ll help you see this through, right?”

Y/N looked up at him. “Yeah.”

He ran a soft hand through her hair and she laid back down.

“This is a bad idea, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, probably.”

But, funnily enough, neither of them cared.

#peter prior #peter prior x reader #true detective night country #true detective

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doodle-pops · 1 year

Text

Egalmoth SFW Relationship Alphabet

Request: Hello~ First of all: thank you for your hard work! You’re doing amazing and I have literally spent days on this blog (to the point where I’ve survived the last couple of days by reading your writing 💙) Do you still do SFW alphabets? If so, would you do one for Egalmoth?

A/N: I forgot that I had to post this. I'm so horrible 🙂

A is for Affection – how affectionate are they? how do they show affection?

Egalmoth is highly affectionate, and it is shown through his love for physical touch and gift-giving. He believes that through those acts, you will see how much he values and cherishes you — there is no other willing to spoil unconditionally like that. Not a day goes by when he doesn’t smother you in hundreds of kisses or hugs and you cannot leave his side without returning the gesture with equal vigour as he did. Alongside those love languages, he enjoys slipping in words of affirmation and it goes both ways between you both.

B is for Best friend – what would they be like as a best friend? how would the friendship start?

He’s one of those friends who annoy you every second of the day with his odd sense of humour and sass you because your sense of humour and fashion sucks. The eye rolls and quirky remarks, he makes the simplest issue an entire dramatic play. Egalmoth type of friendship comes off as an older sibling type of bond, but the one who doesn’t spare you any sass. At the same time, he’s the only person who gets to tease you while defending you like his life depended on it. No one else gets to annoy you like he does and if someone did, Egalmoth is ready to fight. Being a person who prides himself on appearance, it’s most likely that the two of you met at a festival or ball and you complimented his outfit, or he criticized yours and you both got into a fashion argument.

C is for Cuddles – do they like to cuddle? how would they cuddle?

Good luck getting out of his embrace once he has snatched you up and wrapped every limb around you. You are locked in for life until he decides when it’s time for you to be released. Being an extremely affectionate person, cuddling is an important act for Egalmoth, and it is done during any emotional state he experiences. When he decides it’s time to seek you out and cuddle, he wraps and latches his entire body to yours and clings. He acts as the little spoon and demands that you give him unconditional love and affection. Stroke his hair, give him kisses and words of encouragement, and he will return the gesture.

D is for Domestic – do they want to settle down? how are they at cooking and cleaning?

Egalmoth is all for settling down with you; make no mistake about that fact and his undying love for you. As for displaying domesticated traits, not really. He’ll whine and complain about you wanting him to get messy and sweaty to cook and clean and opt for the workers to make you both a meal of food instead. He’s accustomed to the lavish lifestyle, and he enjoys it sincerely, so wanting to abandon some of those benefits to bask in domestication isn’t exactly Egalmoth’s cup of tea. If you wish to, he wouldn’t complain but you’re not going to find him cooking and cleaning in a domesticated manner (it doesn’t mean that he does not know how to cook and clean).

E is for Ending – if they had to break up with their s/o, how would they do it? why would they do it?

I don’t exactly see Egalmoth breaking up with his s/o, but if they had to split, it would be during their time in Sirion when the third kinslaying happened and he lost his life. That would be the only way he and his s/o would be separated, through death.

F is for Fiancé(e) – how do they feel about commitment? how quick would they want to get married?

Of course, we all know that Egalmoth is an awfully confident person, so events like confession and proposal would not be an issue for him, and neither is settling down. He’s more in the middle of being excited to marry you immediately and also wanting to properly get to know each other before making that huge leap. Since elves live for eternity, he had the world of time to court and decide when it was the right moment to make the final step. Of course, this doesn’t mean he’ll wait fifty years before proposing. Give him a year to two before he is ready to pledge his vows to you.

G is for Gentle – how gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?

As mentioned in his general headcanons, he doesn’t like being emotionally vulnerable sole fact of not wanting others to worry about his problems. He doesn’t want you to bare his burdens, hence his reasons for not speaking about them; he is closed off on his traumas and negative emotions. When it comes to expressing his positive emotions, Egalmoth is all for spewing symphonies, poems and songs for you all day every week. Love is his all-time favourite emotion since it is associated with happiness which means he is ecstatic to express himself. For the physical aspect, he is all for PDA; showing you how much he adores you is all he lives for.

H is for Hugs – do they like hugs? how often do they do it? what are their hugs like?

This elf is a cuddle bug, so hugging is natural. You are not easily escaping his grasp anytime soon once he captures you. Whether it is in public, behind closed doors, with his friends or at a ball, if Egalmoth wants a hug, he’s getting a hug. His hugs are playful, warm and fill you with raptures of love. Your automatic responses to his hugs are always giggles and a returned hug with your nose buried in his clothes or neck. Egalmoth smells like lilies which makes sense why you’re always planting your face in his chest.

I is for I love you – how do they say the l-word? when do they say the l-word?

‘I love you’ is an all-time beloved phrase of his to express his contentment. It isn’t said all the time or whenever you randomly do something. To him, it is a meaningful phrase that is not to be taken lightly. When expressed, he likes to hold you close and litter a few kisses before they gradually turn into passionate ones. There, he’ll stop to look into your eyes and stroke your face or cup your cheeks and whisper those three beautiful words to make you melt.

J is for Jealousy – how jealous do they get? what do they do when they're jealous?

A bit too confident to experience jealousy, but should he ever sample a taste of it, gone is the friendly and approachable Egalmoth. It isn’t a death sentence or anything violent, but his presence is terrifying when he’s glaring at the other person. All he needs to do is glare at the other person for them to get the hint that they have overstepped their boundaries. When that is complete, you have to deal with a clingy Egalmoth who is going to grumpily complain about what that person was doing. He is all over you demanding attention and when you turn away from him for a second, he’s whining about the lack of attention for an important matter at hand. He’s something like a man-child (elfchild).

K is for Kisses – what are their kisses like? where do they like to kiss you? where do they like to be kissed?

Egalmoth’s kisses are playful and passionate. Either you are sitting on something to meet him at his level, being held in his arms, lying down or craning your poor neck to meet him. And to him, he enjoys all those positions he sets you up in just to swamp your smaller frame with his larger one and take control. His kisses feel like a cold glass of water on a hot day for the passionate aspect and a cool summer breeze on a warm day for the playful. You can’t have enough, you always want more, and he enjoys seeing how whiney you get when he pulls away. When ending his kisses, the last place he’ll kiss is your nose.

L is for Little ones – how are they around children?

He enjoys being around children, he has no issue with them, but he hates getting his clothes messed up when they require him to play rougher games. Aside from that, you can find Egalmoth teaching them archery or how to sword fight, even making flower crowns with them. By the time he’s finished, he’s wearing fifty crowns and more of them don’t even match his outfit, but he doesn’t care; it looks like a garden throw-up on him.

M is for Morning – how are mornings spent with them?

Mornings with him are quiet, filled with soft snores and messy limbs wrapped up with yours. His face is buried in your neck as he’s pressed against your body from how much he has rolled during the night. When he wakes, he remains curled against you and whines about getting up because he doesn’t want to leave the warmth and you. On mornings when he had training or meetings, you can expect Egalmoth to return to have breakfast with you. He holds that aspect of his mornings dear to his heart.

N is for Night – how are nights spent with them?

They are spent dancing and drinking away by the fireplace. Soft laughter echoes across the dining hall as you step on his feet due to your intoxication and stumble. Egalmoth’s face is bright from how much he is laughing and enjoying the little moment. The both of you are just twirling around, not particularly dancing anymore, and humming some incomprehensible tune that would make Ecthelion or Salgant cringe. If you two aren’t dancing, you’ve crashed for dinner by one of the other Lords and are laughing the night away.

O is for Open – when would they start revealing things about themselves? do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?

Most of his life is already on display for the world to see from the countless wars he’s fought and all the events from the rebellion to the building of Gondolin. He doesn’t exactly have to tell you the events he’s experienced because you know, but he’ll withhold the specific details. You don’t need to be terrified by all the chaos or trauma he has experienced and witnessed. If you wish to learn other personal aspects of his life, he will slowly reveal them. Most of his life without the wars is awfully simple and quiet.

P is for Patience – how easily angered are they?

He does have a temper and hates when he isn’t being taken seriously. He rarely feels angry towards you since he places a tremendous amount of trust and respect that you don’t do anything to disrespect the relationship and his confidence. When he does become angered, he rants a lot. While he doesn’t get loud, his voice deepens, his eyes darken and his entire aura changes to seriousness. When he becomes like this, he hates to direct this display towards you because he understands how terrifying it is.

Q is for Quizzes – how much would they remember about you? do they remember every little detail you mention in passing? or do they kind of forget everything?

He barely forgets anything about you since he enjoys teasing you so much, every memory about you is stored deeply in his mind. Whenever he sees or hears a specific topic of conversation, you immediately flash across his mind and a grin appears. Sometimes he would break out into a burst of slow laughter due to the severity of the memory. In the event of your passing, Egalmoth drops everything for the outside world to not learn that he’s grieving. He puts on the façade that everything is alright, and he isn’t suffering because of his memories. Like most elves, he drowns himself in alcohol to ease his agony.

R is for Remember – what is their favourite moment in your relationship?

You wanted to surprise and show him how much you adored and admired him by dressing up as him one day. Adorned in his notable house colours and patterns, the only thing you were missing was his sigil, you presented yourself to Egalmoth and to say he was blown away was the most straightforward response he produced. He was starstruck by your attire and couldn’t believe his eyes; here you were dressed up like him and proudly wearing his colours. At that moment, he had a little futuristic episode where he envisioned you as his spouse.

S is for Security – how (over)protective are they? how would they protect you? how would they like to be protected?

Egalmoth is a silent observer when it comes to protecting you. He might lack a lot of muscular physiques like the others and have a lithe body, but that doesn’t mean he can’t get down and dirty to defend you. He’s already tall and will become taller and bulkier before the perpetrator or the threat. He does have a temper and wouldn’t hesitate to get into the face of the person or face the threat head-on. Might attack first and not wait for a response since in his mind. He is not the type to have guards patrolling your sides 24/7, but should you feel threatened to that extent, he would even company you himself. He would even ask you to stay on this estate until the situation eased up.

T is for Try – how much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?

He is ostentatious, thus everything he prepares for you will be over the top and you will see and feel the great lengths he is willing to go to make your wishes come true. Egalmoth does not play when it comes to quality and effort. He does his best to ensure you have the best in life even if it’s something as simple as a book. You want a hardcovered book, he’s ensuring that it’s of the best quality and the latest edition. One day you ask to swim in Ecthelion’s fountain, the next week you’re strolling in to find a pool under construction.

U is for Ugly – what would be some bad habits of theirs?

He is similar to Ecthelion when it comes to appearances and who judges your style of fashion if you show a lack of interest. Your appearance does say a lot about an individual and he would nit-pick your appearance if it doesn’t show any hint of effort. However, as his lover, he will be kind in the manner he informs you about your lack of sense of fashion and instead, drop suggestions on what you should wear that would suit you (of course, if you can’t afford to dress to high degrees of fashion, he isn’t going to judge).

V is for Vanity – how concerned are they with their looks?

If Gondolin could be covered with mirrors to check himself out whenever he walked by, I believe that Egalmoth would make it happen. He and Ecthelion have a running steak on who’s the better-dressed Lord. There is never a bad-dressed day in Egalmoth’s life; if that were to happen, he’d suffer a heart attack.

W is for Whole – would they feel incomplete without you?

Egalmoth would feel empty without you and resort to a cold exterior. His usual proud personality would gain an extra trait of coldness to mask his loneliness. Snaping when people question whether he’s alright because he doesn’t enjoy the pity people are feeling towards him. It’s a constant reminder that you’re no longer at his side. He is between isolating himself and searching for company because he hates the loneliness that creeps in. The lonelier, the more memories of you slip through the cracks and break him.

X is for Xtra – (a) random headcanon(s) for them

He’s a middle child. His two siblings are sisters which explains his great sense of fashion since they used to turn him into a doll whenever they played dress up as children. He later remembers all their fashion tips when styling himself to ensure he lives up to their presentable standard. From them, he learned how to be sassy and a diva.

Y is for Yuck – what are some things they wouldn't like, either in general or in a partner?

You not having a proper sense of fashion, and not in the sense of wearing high-quality clothing, but in the mind of attiring yourself with pride. He would appreciate it if you had pride in how you outfitted yourself and put effort into dressing well.

Z is for Zzz – what are some sleep habits of theirs?

Egalmoth is a small spoon while sleeping and enjoys cuddling you throughout the night. It doesn’t matter if you roll to your right or left, he’s rolling to search for you and returning to his position curled under you. You can’t move that much from his grip on you and sometimes you want to because he also fights in his sleep. You have received a few combos from him, and complaining about it is pointless because he has no idea that he sleeps fights.

Masterlist

Taglist: @eunoiaastralwings @noldorinpainter @ranhanabi777 @spidergirla5 @lilmelily @someoneinthestars @mysticmoomin @aconstructofamind @floraroselaughter @the-phantom-of-arda @rain-on-my-umbrella @singleteapot @wandererindreams @asianbutnotjapanese @justellie17 @justjane @silverose365 @bunson-burner

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theminecraftbee · 2 years

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Hey bee! I’m sure you’ve gotten this ask before, sorry, but I am leaving the dream fandom due to being very uncomfy supporting him re:the recent situation. I’m planning on focusing on the other side of Minecraft YouTube for now and was wondering if you had blog recs for third/last life and hermitcraft?

hey! welcome to the hermitcraft fandom! we're a cool place to hang out i think personally. uh, be warned that i'm often bad at recs because i have the memory of a squirrel, so if there isn't someone on here that isn't because we aren't friends/aren't cool mutuals/i don't like them, it's because i am naming the first people i think of, which is not always people in a sensible order. also i tried to stick to hermitcraft guys more than traffic or empires guys here because i did not realize you said third/last/double life when i first read this ask WHOOPS.

also i saw the other list i was tagged in by @griancraft, i am EXTREMELY flattered, that list is here, and i have tried not to put any names that are repeats from there. i am vouching in general for a lot of the people on there though.

ALSO also before we get into the names: GO FIND YOUR OWN FRIENDS! one of the ways i do this personally is that i just... browse through the hermitcraft tag occasionally and stick a bunch of stuff in my queue and if i see a person crop up a lot i follow them because clearly i like what they're doing! sometimes also when i was a smaller blog if someone showed up in my notes a lot i'd also show up! uh, just in general, find other 'smaller' guys too! i have, as i said, tried to stick to people i thought you weren't already going to be following, but let it be known that i have no sense of scale anymore so i don't know who is considered "big" or not on here the scale may be WILDLY out of proportion. FIND YOUR OWN PEOPLE it's very fun to find people yes yes.

@dmwrites and/or @simplydm (her main) does very cool writing. i am a big fan of all of her ficlets. if you are following me for the writing let me direct you that way to ALSO get a lot of good ficlets.

speaking of other cool writers in the fandom. @mawofthemagnetar writes eldritch horror keralis and a bunch of other fics that are cool. also one of the people on my dash who is an xb understander, you know?

@fluffy-papaya and @betweenlands wrote dog at the door and a bunch of other stuff i like (plus fluffy's art is very cute). also i know solar and solar is cool... albeit. mostly not a hermitcraft blog at this point. but still. deserves to go here, be wary they will get you into a minecrafter you've never heard of. i still need to watch secret rivals. soon,

also on the cool writer list is @sixteenth-days, who writes hermit archives and also a bunch of other cool things!

@redwinterroses is someone i originally followed from more of the traffic side of the fandom but i recommend following her, she's pretty chill.

someone who i like a lot as both an artist AND a writer is @silverskye13. still need to catch up with monsters splitting hairs, love the artstyle, all their hels takes are good.

another cool artist and writer is @kiwinatorwaffles, lots of good xisuma, evil x, zedaph stuff over here from what i've seen.

@quaranmine runs the absolutely necessary @mcyt-cats blog. has the watcher grian takes i tend to actually trust, haha. she's pretty cool as far as general hc/mcyt blogs go.

@luigra does REALLY cute art i love the colors she uses and her style it always makes me feel soft and happy. also, of course, a fellow joe hills enthusiast. always important, us joeguys stick together like this.

speaking of fellow joeguys. @12u3ie probably knows more about joe than me. has been around here longer. fellow joeguys represent.

one last joeguy. hi @concorp. e does cool art and has a lot of good general hermitcraft stuff going on. also, as mentioned: fellow joeguy. also they do @badlydrawnhermitcraft and have been a guest on joe's show before!

@shadeswift99 feels like a pillar of the community to me. they run the @hermitcraftheadcanons blog, if you haven't been there before. they also do writing good and tend to know a lot of people who have been around a while. cool person.

i like @closet-thing's art a lot. tends to be somewhat horror-focused if that isn't your thing but if you, like me, DO like horror stuff, then you're in for a treat.

i am also a big fan of @jestroer's art. it has a very... i don't know the word for it but the style is very distinct and i like it. fluffy? if that's a bad word for it. i am sorry. i don't know how to describe art. anyway recommend.

@bdoubleowo is a good general mcyt blog! she does very nice art as well. the sexy fish animatic is scott smajor approved, you know.

uhhhh last one for now @girltimeswithscar has such good character designs. i am in love with how they draw skizzleman. also their mumbo. also their bdubs. also just their takes about bdubs in general. bdubs takes good.

as i said before... if a name isn't on this list it's because i don't have object permanence if you are not in front of me RIGHT NOW i do not remember you are there. i have MANY OTHER COOL MUTUALS AND BLOGS I'M FOLLOWING AND BUDDIES AND STUFF, and THERE ARE MANY BLOGS THAT ARE COOL. THAT I DO NOT FOLLOW YET. this fandom is full of so many cool and creative people! go! seek them out!

#answered #guessimherenow #discourse #<- barely. mentions the dream thing discusses no details #(for the record. please do not send me asks about it or bring it up. we are not talking about that here because it makes me feel like shit)#however my desire to talk cool people up has totally beaten the fact that i Do Not Want To Talk About Dream #so here's me talking some very cool people up! :D tried to go with people i thought you might have not already been directed to

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its-elvie-innit · 1 year

Note

oh we're putting dsmp on stage? sweet my stage craft knowledge finally comes in handy for a fan project <33 (<- i do costumes mostly and a little bit of lights + set/props) (i haven't interacted with this fandom in months)

so first things first. storytelling through costumes is fucking imperative here. also rip to the actors in advance they're gonna have so many layers

early dsmp we need pristine clothing. armour is perfectly shiny with minimal to no scratches. any form of white clothing is white. wrinkles do not exist. hair is styled to perfection. etc etc. any make-up should be very subtle; this is the very beginning of... everything. there hasn't been any time for people to make pretty much any sort of mark on this world. (or it back) hand in hand with this, set pieces should be minimal. there should be a general idea of wide open space, without (m)any buildings just yet. lighting should be simple but bright, cheerful.

when l'manberg is created, things have settled in a bit more. set should still be minimal (stage split somewhere for van? rotating set piece?), lighting still bright. i would keep costumes pristine too, but things like 'dirt smudges' or small rips should/can be incorporated. (excluding dream. he needs to stay as unaffected as possible for as long as possible.)

l'manberg war this all goes out the window. rips, tears, hasty patches, fake injuries, the white spots on the uniforms should be still recognisable but like... not really white anymore. (again, not on the dream team really.) when we enter the control room, i want no set. the lighting here can really be used to emphasise how claustrophobic the whole thing is. honestly, the whole war should have stark, dramatic lighting. the duel especially.

post-war, we have this shift. costumes should be... slightly to the left of what they were before. whites are off-whites, patches are trying their hardest not to be there but aren't quite fitting in, shoes are caked with dirt. there's a sense of... fakeness about how neat everything is trying to appear. this should be the most obvious on wilbur. make-up-wise, we're looking at slightly more accentuated eyebags, cheekbones. everyone looks just a little more tired. sets are minimal.

until. (except.) the election. (schlatt.)

the election podium should be tall. imposing. larger than life. a single spotlight hovers on wilbur when he's up there. when schlatt is elected, it's backlit. casting his shadow across the stage. (when tubbo is up there, the lights are almost blinding. and then the lights goes dark. and on stage there is an explosion of colour.)

pogtopia still minimal set, but lighting and positioning of props and what set there is are what should convey scale. tommy and wilbur's costumes should be rough. techno should look Out Of Place, glittering and shiny and still new. tubbo even more so for very different reasons.

manberg should be suffocating in the complete opposite sense. set pieces should be large and swallow up the characters.

when wilbur gives monologues the stage around him (lights) should shrink more and more each time until his world is just him. and the button. (when philza arrives, he should bring light with him. not a lot. but more. the lights widen to reveal the signs on the walls. when wilbur hits the button, the lights should blast open to the whole stage. this part with the set is all about the levels. no one should be standing on equal ground when/after the explosions go off.)

and i'm leaving this ask here because it's stupidly long and also the 16th should be the end of act 1 peace and love <33

OH my gosh, progressing from a simple set with no marks, the bright lighting, I never thought about the space on the stage. Like, yeah, duh, nothings been done yet. It's all green pastures and sunsets of course there's open air. I love dream being unaffected because yeah. And the immediacy of everything breaking down!!!!! All of a sudden they become torn and shallow, still people, still coiffed to perfection, but like, a little bit less so. And The Injuries hshhshhsh.

Schlatts podium..I absolutely agree, tall and imposing, I also think it should have a cartoon-ish curve to it though so there's forced perspective. At the very tippy top there should be that yellow concrete box, I feel like the shadows would be very imposing. I adore the lights-away thing for tubbo- and I feel like to keep in with techno killing so many people there should be little bursts of light accompanied with screams of everyone he killed. Tommy and wilbur could be on short buildings to the side, hiding! Then he winds the enderpearl back and the lights go out during technos shoot. That's suuuuch a good idea it's so perfect...

You've done so much with the set I have no comments...mwah mwah so perfect..tubbo w the bandages seeing techno in his pristine costume..owy

But the wilbur light thing!!! Yes!!!!!!! I don't think you understand how much I love this, murmuring about the presidency fading out above him, the circular spotlight in a pitch black theater, slowing, growing smaller and closed in around wilbur where hes hunkered over, nearly hitting the button against his wrist until BAM! A circle around phil!!!!! Wilbur is awestruck, and the circles start to merge when they talk, wilburs fluctuating back and forth, back and forth, smaller-bigger-smaller-bigger and then BAM. MY UNFINISHED SYMPJONY PHIL! You hear a scream, SCREAMS, Phil's light goes off with wilburs, his world is gone, you hear a sudden fizz of Redstone right before, a gunshot (ITS CHEKOVS) then the curtain shoots open in the pitch black where we had done the button scene opens and the lights go back on to reveal the destroyed lmanburg, tnt explosion sounds still reigning over the scene, niki and tommy across the gaping chasm, wilbur kneeling before it with a boisterous smile on his face, wild eyes, he grabs the hilt of his dads sword (kill me phil!!!!! Kill me!) And we get a front row seat to the lights turning red as soon as it hits him, blurring into that same world-owning circle. The last scene before you see the stage go dark is philza kneeling to gather up his son in his arms, burying his face into wilburs bloody jacket.

So valid and real with the 16th ending act one.imagine intermission that shit is gonna be CRANKED

#mcyt #dream smp #dsmp #tommyinnit #wilbur #dsmp play #lem!!#save #you magical tech guy genius.

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justimajin · 9 months

Text

The Profit & Love Statement » Pt. 10

↠ Pairing: Seokjin x Reader

↠ Genre: Fluff, Comedy, Angst

↳ 4.2k / Office AU (lowkey E2L vibes)

↠ Summary: The workplace isn’t for everyone. It can be mundane and repetitive, with some describing it like a nuisance and others as a blessing. You’re the kind that leans more towards the latter and while it does make you an ideal candidate for many things, nothing could have prepared you for the whirlwind that is the new employee.

↠ A/N: The chapter is split into two parts; starts with the past and then ends in the present.

GIF credit.

↠ Next Update: Friday, September 8 (series masterpost here)

–note: the beginning of this chapter takes place in the past

“Kim Namjoon!”

There’s a young man with glasses seated at one of the cubicles, adorned in a simple white dress shirt and black slacks. At the call of his name, he scrambles out of his seat.

“Vice President Kim.” He straightens his back up at the sight of the older man.

The superior before him grins, eyes crinkling. “I see you’ve been adjusting quite well here.”

“I’ve only started a month ago, Sir.” Namjoon meekly replies, “There’s still much for me to learn and do.”

The Vice President chuckles, patting his shoulder lightly. “Always the hard-working type.”

He sheepishly smiles at the compliment, dimples arising at the corners of his cheeks.

“You’re a very bright young man, Namjoon. I can easily see you going places.”

“T-Thank you, Mr. Kim.” He’s filled with nothing but gratitude for the man. During the process of his interview, the hiring personnel hadn’t hesitated in their decision to recruit him, but on his way out he had abruptly bumped into him, not realizing who he truly was. It was only afterwards that Namjoon finally realized, but by then he was already in the man’s good books without even trying.

“On that note.” The older gentlemen swivels, gesturing to the man standing a few steps behind him, curiously gazing at one of the offices.

“Seokjin.” The man’s daze breaks and recognition hits him as he makes his way over immediately. He’s dressed in a similar fashion to Namjoon, his dark hair neatly brushed down and a pair of round glasses sitting on the rim of his nose. Save for his outer appearance though, the one feature that has Namjoon bewildered is the striking similarity he shares with the Vice President.

He places a hand on his shoulder, a fond smile on his face. “This is my youngest son, Seokjin.”

Namjoon’s irises widen and his vision darts between the two. “Y-Your son?”

The Vice President nods, “This is Kim Namjoon, the man I was telling you about.”

Seokjin nods, raising his hand out. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Uh, yes!” Namjoon quickly extends his own hand, not wanting to seem rude from his cluelessness. “Same to you.”

Seokjin kindly smiles and Namjoon notes how naïve and polite he almost seems, but those are thoughts he decides to keep to himself.

The Vice President turns to him and the abrupt introduction beings to make more sense.

“He’ll be working in the office starting today through an internship.” He states, “I was hoping you could help him to understand how we run things here.”

Namjoon’s eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets. Not only did he not know that the Vice President had a son, but he was also going to be tasked with the very same man’s training.

It’s incredibly daunting and all Namjoon can sputter out is a– “O-Of course.”

“Thank you.” He says, turning to Seokjin. “I’ll be seeing you around. Let me know if there’s any issues.”

After the Vice President departs, Namjoon is left alone with the man. He’s almost caught up in a daze from the chain of events, but then Seokjin blinks naively in his direction and it finally dawns on him that instead of lingering around the fact that he needs to train a Superior’s son, he should just cut straight to it.

Snapping out of his astray thoughts, he begins to walk into the workplace. “Please follow me.”

Seokjin obliges and Namjoon takes him to his cubicle that’s to the far right and next to a wide window. It’s a tad bit messy, and he’s completely flustered.

“U-Uh sorry, I didn’t know you were going to be here otherwise I would have cleaned up more and–“

“How many plants do you have?”

He freezes, thrown off from the question.

After a moment, he attempts to think logically and keenly eyes the greenery, counting the number that are littering his desk.

“Uh, about six.”

“Are you sure?” Seokjin’s brows are raised as he glances around in disbelief, “Dude, you have a whole jungle in here!”

Namjoon stares wistfully at his plants, not quite realizing the abundance. He found that employees at nearby cubicles always kept things important to them, like pictures of family and friends, which is understandable. But for him, having some plants around to tend to was calming for the most part.

But he can also understand the reaction the leafy sight would cause.

“I suppose you’re right…” He murmurs thoughtfully. Seokjin lets out a sigh, plopping onto a nearby chair and stretching his arms out behind his back, lazily leaning his head against them.

“So what are you going to teach me? How to file stuff? How to use a basic computer?” He springs up in his chair and Namjoon jolts. “Ooh, I heard there was going to be a party for someone’s birthday on the third floor!”

“Ah, yes. I think Hyunwoo is turning thirty-five this week.” Namjoon contemplates, wondering if the suggestion was even appropriate. “I guess we can go… but later on in the evening, after we’re done work.”

Seokjin is inspecting one of his plants, staring at the fuzz on one of the branches. “Sounds like a plan.”

Namjoon blinks wide-eyed, caught completely off guard with the individual before him. He seemed so reserved and well-mannered when they were introduced in front of the Vice President, but it’s like within that time span he went through a complete switch.

It’s actually quite refreshing to see in the office, Namjoon has to admit.

“The Vice President asked me to show you around.” He sits down in his chair, “Remember to stay with me so you don’t get lost somewhere.”

“Don’t worry…” He turns at the sound of Seokjin’s snicker, only to see the man holding up one of his plants. “I promise not to leaf!”

Namjoon has an expression akin to a deer in headlights as Seokjin cracks up, squeaking laughs slipping from one. At the sight of Namjoon’s face, he waves his head.

“It’s okay, I was just pollening your leg.” His shoulder’s shake with his laughter this time and Namjoon could have sworn he heard him whisper something similar to ‘Man, I’m hilarious’.

Yet strangely enough, despite the chain of horrendous jokes, Namjoon can find the corner of his lip lifting.

***

“This is the printer room, and over here is where we can photocopy as well–“

Namjoon gyrates, pointing out said things in the room. Seokjin follows him around curiously, hands stuffed in his pockets.

“There’s a printer. Some photocopy machine.” Seokjin hums, “Got it.”

Namjoon raises a brow, “Did you though?”

“It’s a printer!” Seokjin scoffs, pressing one of the buttons, “How hard can it be?”

The machine lights up and whirrs, whisking away one of the sheets and printing a set of numbers onto it. Seokjin’s eyes widen, and without another second to spare, another sheet prints and comes shooting out.

He stares at Namjoon in horror. “What did I just do?!”

“It was set to photocopy and you pressed print.” He takes the paper that was ejected. “Thankfully, I just needed two more copies of this.”

Seokjin hesitantly nods and Namjoon turns off the machine after a couple of minutes, grabbing the remaining sheets.

He smiles and gestures to the door, “Come on.”

Seokjin follows behind him, and he heads back to his cubicle. It’s been a handful of days since he was initially introduced to the young man, quickly learning that he was quite literally the definition of appearance versus reality.

He stops at his desk, “I want you to start creating reports on the monitor. It should be simpler with all the training you’ve had.”

Seokjin hums and plops down onto the chair, typing in on the keyboard. Namjoon organizes the papers in his hands, glancing over every so often.

After a moment passes, Seokjin exhales. “This is kind of boring.”

“It’s a little redundant.” Namjoon understandingly remarks with a wince, turning back to his file. “But it shouldn’t be too tough. Remember to just try your best and focus where you can.”

Although there’s a crease in between his brows, Seokjin hums again. He attempts to work on the computer, but the numbers run right past him, and he can’t seem to grasp onto what he was typing despite Namjoon’s constant reassurance.

He whirls around, “Hey, is it time for a break?”

“But we just got started ten minutes ago.” Namjoon mentions. “Keep going, you can definitely do this.”

“Right…” Seokjin mumbles, letting out a sigh. He straightens up his back, narrowing his eyes onto the screen.

Namjoon is almost done with his task, moving over to look over the latter’s work. But that’s when–

“Namjoon!”

A co-worker of his rushes forward. “I think I’m missing some numbers for my report. Do you mind just looking it over?”

“Oh– of course!” He spins around, noticing Seokjin still focusing on his monitor. “Just give me one minute–“

“Seokjin!” The man’s head upturns and Namjoon jogs over. “I’ll be gone for about ten minutes. Do you think you’ll be okay?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Seokjin mutters, “I’ve got this…sort of.”

“Good.” Namjoon encouragely nods, “Just keep at it!”

With that, he departs. Seokjin attempts to take his advice to work, filling in the various computations before him. It’s only until he finally finishes one that he glances at the clock behind him, realizing it took him a solid fifteen minutes to do.

He lets out an exasperated exhale, the work in front of him giving him not but a sincere headache. Darting his eyes back and forth, he realizes there’s barely anyone in sight, save for a couple of workers far from his cubicle and a group returning back with coffees in their hands.

The lingering thought echoes in his mind.

It wouldn’t be so bad, right? Just a quick break, and he’ll be back to work in no time.

A small smile quirks on his lips and the computer before him is turned off.

Namjoon is in a complete frenzy.

The work his associate needed ended up being much longer than he would have anticipated, but luckily he managed to finish it within twenty minutes. Upon checking the time, he had raced back to his cubicle, only to discover that it was empty.

He initially assumed it was just a bathroom break, but after realizing the computer had been shut off, he has an inkling of what could have possibly transpired.

He races around the office, asking coworkers if they had potentially seen the man who was with him anywhere. All he gets are shakes of head and shrugs of shoulders, not until he bumps into a certain someone.

“Woah, woah, slow down there!” The man approaches him, a charming glint to his eyes. “Can I help you in any way?”

Namjoon speaks in a ramble, his breath quickening. “Yes, you can! I’ve been training Vice President Kim’s son, Seokjin, and I think he might have disappeared somehow.”

“Really?” He blinks, “Well, that’s no good.”

“I know, he doesn’t seem to be too interested in the office much and I can get that, but it’s just take time and–“

“Namjoon, slow down.” The man chuckles, placing a hand on his shoulder with a warm smile. “Seokjin’s probably somewhere around here. He would have just needed a break from all this.”

“Right…” A lightbulb goes off in his head, and he narrows his eyes, “And who are you?”

He fondly smiles, “I’m Seokjin’s older brother.”

“WHA-?” At hearing his own loud tone, he pipes down. “I-I can’t believe y-you’re–“

“Don’t worry about it.” He waves it off, “I’m pretty sure he’ll be back, so you can relax.”

“I’ll try.” Namjoon chuckles underneath his breath, “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem.” He begins stepping back and it’s only now Namjoon notices the file in his hands, perhaps something he was transporting. “It was nice meeting you, Namjoon!”

He weakly waves back with a sheepish smile, letting out an exhale of relief. First, the Vice President, then Seokjin and now Seokjin’s older brother. He wonders who’s going to appear next.

“Namjoon?”

Eyes widening, he whips his head around only to see Seokjin standing with two cups of coffee in his hands. At his surprise, he cheekily smiles and raises them.

Namjoon lets out a deep exhale.

***

His arms are crossed as he leans against the desk.

“You can’t do that again.”

“I know.” Seokjin wistfully says, turning on the monitor before him. “It just gets so boring here. That, plus the work is so mundane.”

“Then why did you choose to come here?”

“I’m the Vice President’s son.” Seokjin remarks, turning his head to him knowingly. “Why do you think I did?”

Namjoon quiets down. “It’s not just me, either. My brother’s around here somewhere too.”

“O-Oh, I know.” He sheepishly scratches his neck, “I bumped into him.”

“You did?” His eyes sparkle with the mention, a smile curving on his lips. “What was he doing? Organizing a bunch of stuff?”

“He was carrying a file in his hands….”

“He’s working for my dad then. Makes sense.” The computer lights up, but Seokjin doesn’t move forward to type anything. “My father’s been working towards becoming the CEO and with that, sooner or later one of us will have to follow his steps.”

“You think it’s you?”

“Oh, god no.” Seokjin spins around with wide eyes, “You think I can do any of this?! It took me ten minutes today just to do one computation.”

“And you put it in the wrong section.” Namjoon points out, grimacing at Seokjin’s confounded expression. “Sorry.”

“No, no, you’re right.” He shakes his head. “Seokjung’s the one that should be here, not me.”

Namjoon watches as he intensely furrows his brows, concentrating onto the screen before him. Although he can understand the sentiment, he finds that the words are laced with a tad bit too much of doubt.

“It takes time…and a lot of practice,” Namjoon brings up. “I understand that certain things can only work once you’re passionate about them, but that doesn’t mean it’s not completely doable.”

“So you think I should eventually work here?” He genuinely ponders.

“I just think you should give yourself more credit.” He states. “Regardless of who steps into your father’s shoes, you should know that you’re both equally capable.”

A moment of silence takes over and Seokjin turns around, staring at Namjoon intently.

“I think…you’re right.” He nods, “I’ll try my best, Namjoon.”

A giant grin breaks out onto his features and he claps his hands together, shuffling over to the monitor.

“Then we can get back to work!” His eyes flicker, “But no taking random breaks anymore!”

“Oh, come on!” Seokjin protests, grabbing onto one of the cups. “I even got you a coffee.”

Namjoon frowns, “Does it have milk?”

“Two packets and a layer of whipped cream.”

He furrows his brows, reluctantly grabbing onto the cup. “Fine, but you have to ask me first before leaving!”

Seokjin raises his hand and salutes him. “Aye, aye, Captain!”

Namjoon shakes his head in amusement, sipping down on his drink with a hum.

He marches down the elongated hallway.

A wide smile lines his lips, his cheeks puffed out and eyes crinkled. There’s a couple of sheets of papers in his hands, ones that Namjoon had asked him to photocopy and print for him.

However, just as he turns around the corner and reaches out for the door knob to the room, a string of low hushes and whispers enter his ears.

“He’s so responsible and organized, Mr. Kim!” A gruff voice states. “I’m sure your son can easily earn a position here at Kim Electronics.”

His irises twinkle, and he abandons his position in the front of the printing room, opting to move closer to the source instead.

Another voice speaks out. “I have to agree with you, Mr. Choi. He’s truly a capable young man.”

He hears a low chuckle from his father on the other end. “I’m glad you’ve all been appreciating my son’s efforts.”

The smile on his features softens, and he’s included to raise his hand to gently knock on the door.

But then– “Of course! Seokjung is sure to follow in your steps!”

His lids flicker, the smile adorning him withering as quickly as it arose. More chuckles spill out from his father and his feet begin to back track.

But the following words forcibly anchor him back.

“I have to be honest though, Mr. Kim.” Another man brings up. “Your second son doesn’t seem as qualified as the older one.”

He harshly swallows, pressing his ear closer to the wood.

“He needs some time. Everyone does.” His father softly says. “It will only be a matter of time until Seokjin improves, I’m sure of it.”

“Whatever you say, Sir.”

He stands there for a couple of minutes, conversations about the company and numbers resurfacing that run completely over his head. He stands there as his mind whirls, a chain of thoughts echoing.

The expectations are incredibly high. It’s obvious.

But his dad is right. It takes time.

And there shouldn’t be a problem in trying to fulfill them.

Right?

The broad room is deafeningly silent, not a single word spoken. There are a set of five eyes glued to his form, one of them resembling his own.

“Mr. Kim.” One of the men steps up, nearing his father’s age. He plasters on a smile, eyes crinkling. “You’ve been here for a couple of months through an internship.”

He solemnly nods, already aware of the fact. “The question that arises now is if you will continue to stay with this company.”

He hums.

“Going based on your work….” The man glances in his father’s direction with a remorseful smile.

He snaps his gaze back to Seokjin. “I’m afraid you will not be granted a position. Your work is lacking in several places and you haven’t completely grasped any of the company’s logistics.” He winces. “I’m very sorry.”

The words cut deep, like daggers sinking into his skin. Yet all he can do is simply smile in return, as strained as it is.

“I understand.”

He stands up to pack up his belongings, not failing to miss the look of disappointment that crosses his father’s face. However, one of the men lean over to another, a whisper echoing that seemingly haunts him as he leaves.

“It’s such a shame he doesn’t share the same capabilities as the older one.”

The door shuts on his way out and Namjoon’s eyes light up, scrambling out of a nearby chair in an instant.

“How did it go?” He quickly asks, only to be rendered utterly speechless from the distressed expression he holds.

All he can really do is offer his past mentor a stiff smile, walking away at a quickened pace.

***

Will he ever get a chance like this again?

Of course not.

Will he ever fit in here?

Definitely not.

Will he.…ever be enough?

He stuffs his belongings into a bag, barely paying mind that Namjoon’s plants are nearby as the zipper is tightly pulled. He hitches it onto his shoulder, collecting his coffee in his hand and strutting towards the door.

He’s tired – tired of meeting his father’s businessman and watching the way they brag about their kids with no end. He’s tired of never meeting the expectations, always falling short somehow.

He’s just so tired.

And he knows already. He knows that he doesn’t fit into the workplace. He knows that he won’t ever come back here and heck even if he does, he’ll probably have to be dragged back.

A sigh slips his lips, and he plants a hand against his forehead, pressing against his temples.

“Woah!”

He falters at the person that knocks straight at him. Quickly balancing the cup in his hands, he steadies himself and reaches out to balance them.

“I’m so sorry, are you alright?” His eyes downturn. “I should have been paying attention…”

“It’s okay, I’m fine!” The man says, dressed in similar attire to him. He presumes that he works nearby in one of the departments.

However, the man’s features scrunch and he stares at Seokjin with squinting eyes.

“Say….aren’t you the Vice President’s son?”

Brief surprise spreads over him, but it’s soon replaced with a forced smile with a nod.

“Wow, this is incredible!” He says astounded, “I never knew Mr. Kim’s son was so handsome!”

Seokjin’s forehead creases as his brows knit together, head snapping up.

“I’m sorry…what did you just say?”

“That you’re handsome!” He grins, giving him a thumbs up. “Very good looking, if I do may say.”

Seokjin stares at the man confounded, a small spark gleaming in his eyes.

“I have to get going now, but it was great meeting you!” He says and Seokjin blinks, breaking his daze. The man departs with a smile and a wave, something that he can barely return.

Walking down the hall, he catches a reflection of himself through glass in a meeting room.

He’s never really thought much of his features before, but there is a certain softness yet sharpness to them. They’re physical qualities he would imagine an actor perhaps would have, someone who would have the natural confidence to exclude them.

His eyes widen and a giant smile tugs on his lips.

“Hello?”

The man lid’s are squeezed shut.

“Hello?” He reaches over and shakes his shoulder, “Hello!! Mr. Soon-To-Be Ceo!!”

Seokjin’s eyes snap open and he bolts upright in his chair, nearly giving Taehyung a heart attack. He glances around, wondering how on earth he ended up in an office.

“Finally!” His gaze falls on Taehyung, who plants his hands on his hips. “Do you know how long it took to wake you?!”

“What....?” Seokjin mumbles, rubbing his sore eyes.

“Why are you here anyways?” Taehyung points out, “You’re supposed to be in the Sales and Finance Department.”

“I’m pretty sure he came to see me.”

Taehyung turns at the sound of another voice, seeing the CFO of the company standing at the door. He straightens up his back, words coated with honey.

“Of course! Please continue!” He quickly turns, heading towards the door.

He departs, leaving the two of them in the room alone.

Seokjin lets out a yawn and Namjoon raises a brow, placing a file on his desk.

“I never took you for being one to sleep in the office.”

“It’s the jet lag.” He mumbles.

“You came back three days ago.” Namjoon ponders, sitting down on a chair. “And that flight wasn’t even that long.”

He waves it off. “I haven’t been sleeping too well.”

“You know…I heard from someone that the CEO made an appearance at the product launch event.”

Seokjin snaps his head around. “You were there?”

Namjoon hums and turns to him. “They made it known to the public, didn’t they?”

“Yep…” Seokjin sighs, “I knew it was coming but now it’s official…”

Namjoon nods understandably. “It’s become even more daunting.”

Seokjin hums, “Your training has been coming along well, no?”

“Y/N said I’ve been improving.” He chuckles, “She also believes I can take up the position.”

Namjoon smiles. “She’s not alone on that.”

He places a pondering finger under his chin, “If you’re already improving with her training, it seems like her methods must be a lot better than my own.”

“Hey, you were a pretty good mentor too.” Seokjin protests. “To this day, I’m careful around printers!”

Namjoon laughs whole-heartedly, eyes crinkling as Seokjin smiles.

A knock resonates through the room.

“Come in.” Namjoon announces.

You push against the door, smiling in his direction and lightly wave. “Hi, Namjoon.”

He waves back and you lean against the wood, directing your gaze on Seokjin with crossed arms.

“Taehyung tells me you fell asleep?”

Seokjin scoffs, “For like five minutes!” He glances at the man to his left, “Right, Namjoon?”

He stumbles for words. “U-Uh I-I…”

“Just take naps during your break time.” You protest, “When you’re working, you’re with me and getting stuff done. Not diddly-dandling in other places.”

Namjoon widens his eyes at the tone you use, flickering his eyes over at Seokjin. “I wasn’t diddly-dandling, I just wanted to say hi to someone and fell asleep by accident!”

You narrow your eyes suspiciously. “Uh-huh.”

Seokjin stands up, “Look, I’m not trying to break the terms of our negotiation. It was just an accident.”

You stare at him for one moment longer before humming. “Fine – but don’t make me come searching for you again.”

Seokjin laughs at the accusatory finger you point in his direction and you smile, shaking your head.

You turn your attention to Namjoon. “Sorry, you had to see that.”

“No, no, please.” Namjoon chuckles, a bit taken aback. “If I only had as much strength as you did with his mentoring.”

Your mouth falls agape. “You were Seokjin’s mentor?”

“It was a long time ago.” Seokjin states, ushering you out. “Now come on, let’s get back to that work you’re so desperate to get done.”

“I’m not desperate!”

“Says the person that was offended by me taking a five-minute nap.”

“Five minutes is a lot of time, okay? You can do full on negotiations during that time.”

“Psh, very funny.”

Namjoon fondly smiles as he resumes his work, your mixed voices pitching through the office door long after it’s closed shut.

25 notes · View notes

iggydabirdkid · 11 months

Photo

Almost done! This is my 5th drawing for Pride Month!

When The Passenger was still just the demo version I must have played it 100 times over. I just love the whole concept of the game, and anything with Eldritch Horror like themes is just my sort of thing.

So here’s a little something I did for my MC Amara Newman and her love Fiama Brandle.

+++++

I think I could do this forever

You wake up first of course. You always do. You don’t need much sleep, at least that’s what you tell yourself even when you constantly yawn halfway through the day. You open your eyes to the pale ceiling above you only visible thanks to the moonlight coming in through the window opposite the bed. Still dark. Too early. You let out a sigh and slowly sit up, being careful not to wake the sleeping form to your right. She’s facing you and you smile as you look upon her face, so serene when she’s asleep and you quickly slip out without disturbing her. Bare feet hit cold ground and you shiver as you look around for your pair of slippers, finding them finally half-hidden under the bed. You stretch, yawn, and tie your hair half up before you pad from the room.

Your stomach growls at you and so you head into the kitchen to grab something to eat and you spy the clock along the way. Ah. Not too early then. Just up before the sun, which, is not uncommon. If you were at your mom’s you’d probably have gone back to sleep to save yourself from the potential outcome of being asked question you couldn’t, and didn’t want to answer. But here? At Fiama’s? You don’t have to hide anything from her or Bruno. Not anymore. You allow yourself a smile as you open the door to the fridge and bend over to take a gander at its contents. You know for certain that there’s some leftover spaghetti in here, and you’re sure Fiama won’t mind if some of it goes missing…

“Amara?”

The flash of the kitchen light turning on and the tiny voice behind you takes you by surprise and you jump, smacking your head on the fridge and hissing out a quiet curse before pulling back and turning around.

“Kiddo!” you laugh as you rub the back of your head, “Did I wake you?” You ask to which he shakes his head.

“I was already awake. What are you doing?” he asks.

“Getting some food,” you turn back around, grab the bowl of spaghetti, and shut the fridge, “Want some?” you grin as you shake the bowl. You see his eyes light up and you chuckle, “Alright, go sit down and I’ll make you a plate. But be quiet!” you tell him as he scampers off, “We don’t want to wake your mom!”

-----

You sit at the table with only the light from the kitchen to illuminate your night time feast. You watch Bruno stuff his face as you readily enjoy your own meal and the only reason you aren’t actively shoveling it into your mouth as fast as you can was that you promised Fiama you’d try to teach Bruno some manners. Be a respectable role model. Well, as much as you can be anyways. And as you watch Bruno enjoying his meal you think you could just about do this forever, be a part of something like this. It wasn’t something you ever thought you would want but emotions can be fickle (as you have come to find out), and now you can’t see yourself continuing this life any other way.

Bruno must be able to sense you staring because he looks up at you and you wonder if he would be happy with you around for him as he grows. The answer comes to you as transparent visages split left and right of him and as his mouth stretches into a wide, food-filled grin, those to the left of him grin at you also. You shake your head, the images fading and you chuckle.

“Nobody likes see-food,” you tell him and he frowns.

“Sea food?” he questions. You grin and spoon some spaghetti into your mouth before opening and sticking your tongue out.

“See? Food!” He laughs at that, food spraying from his mouth and you have to lean to the side to avoid getting any on yourself. You watch as he claps his hands over his mouth and looks up at you. You swallow your food and snort a laugh but then you realize he’s not looking at you, but past you. You freeze and tense up, your shoulders bunching up to your ears as you slowly turn in your seat to see Fiama standing in the doorway.

“You two enjoying yourselves?” she crosses her arms over her chest and quirks an eyebrow as she looks at Bruno before finally settling her eyes on you.

“We were hungry?” you shrug and give a sheepish smile and she shakes her head as she laughs softly and walks to Bruno’s side.

“C’mon kid, lets get you back to bed. And you,” she turns her head to look at you as Bruno hops down from his seat, “Make sure you get all the spaghetti from the table okay?”

“Yes Ma’am,” you grin as you push your chair back and get to your feet. You lean in to give her a quick kiss on the cheek and then you head back into the kitchen to grab a cloth.

+++++

“Sorry about eating all the spaghetti.” You murmur into Fiama’s hair as you lay together in bed a while later. The sun is up now, its light bathing the room in a soft golden glow. She laughs and snuggles up closer to you. You half sit up to wrap your arms around her and pull her close into your chest.

“That just means you’ll have to help me make more,” she replies and you smile as you lean back and look out the window.

“I’ll be happy to.” You give her a brief squeeze and feel her grab one of your wrists and gently wrap her fingers around your skin.

“I know you would baby.”

You both lapse in a comfortable silence and the warmth of the encroaching day threatens to lull you back to sleep. But a thought is stuck in your head, one that’s been there for a while but stirred more into awareness since you woke up this morning.

“Fiama?” You’re uncharacteristically hesitant and you know she hears it as she tilts her head to look up at you with a slight crease in her brow.

“Amara?”

“I was thinking…” You trail off a little, unsure of how exactly to word what you’re thinking, “I feel like I could do this forever. Being here with you and Bruno, being a part of this small family and I… I want to make it more official. As much as we can do and I know I’m not great with words or feelings but this here? Here and now? It feels good. It feels safe.”

You see her eyes water and for a moment your stomach drops and you think you’ve said something wrong before her mouth splits into a grin and her grip on your arms tightens.

“Amara Newman,” you hear the waver in her voice as she wipes the tears from her eyes, “I would love nothing more.”

“Good.”

You’re smiling now as well as you bend slightly to kiss her on the forehead before you wrap your arms tighter around her and lean back against the headboard.

“Good.”

#i just love this game so much #just an eldritch being #being soft #Amara Newman #Fiama Brandle #tp fiama #The Passenger #the passenger game

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