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#like a puzzle for me to connect the dots too
acearohippo · 11 months
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I'm pretty sure Li Ling knows that Tang Yun has a very... Toxic... Thing on his brother. To me it reads heavily as inc*stuous but that's due to all the media I've consumed ruining so many sibling relationships that now I'm uber sensitive to that sort of thing.
Regardless, I think we all can agree that Tang Yun is not in a healthy mindset, especially with how he obsesses over Tang Xuan.
And I put forth this theory that Li Ling is aware of how Tang Yun feels and, as such, is protective of Tang Xuan, who does not- can not- see it.
First of all, it is clear that Tang Xuan and Li Ling talk to each other a lot. Not just in person but on the phone ("communicator") all the time. We have a few stories where, when one is mentioned the other is also brought up or where one is, the other is somewhere near.
For the purpose of this theory, we will focus on the communicator, as we see that Tang Xuan doesn't necessarily text often (probably too busy for it, lmfao) but does use the social app. Li Ling seems to be the first to notice that Tang Xuan is MIA, just by the fact that he doesn't answer his calls.
Look at the time stamps of Li Ling's messages.
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There are huge gaps of time between his first three messages, before Tang Xuan replies to him when he gets his phone back. And, after Tang Xuan responds, Li Ling's message comes in 2 hours later, talking about some "weak ass miramon".
Fine. Sure.
But if you go over to the social media app, you see this post from Tang Yun:
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Lemme preface by reminding y'all this is my personal theory on the order of events, as this app doesn't have any convenient time stamps (:/), but I think we can assume this message comes hours before Tang Xuan gets his phone back.
Two questions pop up:
1. How does he know Tang Xuan is "missing"?
2. Who is accusing him of abducting Tang Xuan?
Tang Xuan then responds to him- maybe after he makes his "I'm not dead!! :P" post, maybe before- and after that is when he gets this message from Tang Yun:
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Again, take note of the time. This is well after Tang Xuan has replied to Li Ling, about 8 hours later. I believe that in between his reply to Li Ling and Tang Yun's text, he posts his "I'm still alive!! Cx" social media post,
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which then alerts Tang Yun that his brother isn't missing which then prompts his text.
Ok, we all on the same timeline now? Good. THEORY TIME.
I propose that Li Ling (Who is accusing him of abducting Tang Xuan?), not receiving any response from Tang Xuan for near 24 hrs, sent him on a warpath to who he assumes is the most likely culprit of the impromptu dissapearance- Tang Yun.
Li Ling and Tang Xuan talk all. The. Time. Li Ling absolutely knows that, in his previous mission, Tang Xuan came face to face with his brother. And Li Ling probably knows about how Tang Yun admitted to how he would monopolise the one he loves' time and attention, keep them to himself. Tang Xuan probably spared no details going through the entire mission.
Li Ling probably picked up instantly that Tang Yun was referring to Tang Xuan as that "someone he loves" and, remember, this mission takes place not even a week after the Crow one, so it's still fresh in Li Ling's mind, the words Tang Yun said about keeping his loved one to himself. And now Tang Xuan is missing...?
Yeah, I think he went straight for Tang Yun, got pissed (and probably a bit relieved) when he realised Tang Yun did not kidnap Tang Xuan, and then went off to try find him himself, taking on hoards of miramon (enough that he would miss a respond from Tang Xuan by two hours) much to the worry of Lewis and their friends. Then Li Ling tried to play it off for a bit, acting like he was just doing normal union things except Lewis explicitly says that he was actively trying to calm "everyone" down.
Lewis?
Calming people down?
Dude gets fired up at the drop of a pin... Except when someone is in crisis mode, and from his like FIVE CAMEOS (freaking dislyte, give us more Lewis pleaaase) we only really see him act level headed when he's with Tang Xuan and Li Ling.
So, methinks Li Ling might've tried to rally the troops to find Tang Xuan, Leora- an obvious choice as she's a living bishoujo heroine- probably got caught up in the dramatics of it, David and Q too (simple minded David just always ready to be there or be square, Q sniffing a potential story) etc etc. So they're all just psyching each other up and/or out so now Lewis has his crisis that he can take charge in and de-escalate.
Meanwhile, Tang Yun now knows that his brother is missing (How does he know Tang Xuan is "missing"?) and I can only guess how pissed off he got, his mental stability taking a swan dive into the Marianas Trench of all the possibilities of where his brother could be and scenarios where he would keep him by his side, so that this could never occur again. Hence the very aggressive threat (promise?) that he would hogtie Tang Xuan for his own good if this were to occur again.
The fact that he uses the word hogtie is very disturbing and, for those that aren't sure what that looks like, here's an as SFW-as-tying-people-up-can-be demonstration I could find of it
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We are going to ignore the NSFW implications, and just focus on the vulnerability this position puts a person into.
This is the kind of messages Tang Yun sends his brother.
This is the kind of imagery he wants to put his brother in.
And Li Ling knows. He freaking knows and is probably one of the few espers who caught on that something was off with Tang Yun.
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And Tang Xuan is
So
Damn
Oblivious ヽ(`д´;)/
Like damn, boy, I understand, he's your brother- that's just NOT something a healthy sibling would ever imagine their sibling would do or think or act. But by golly, could you maybe just focus on what he's saying rather than picking out the most inconsequential, insignificant parts? 😭 Bro is ignoring every red flag and siren.
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gatorbites-imagines · 11 months
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Now imagine this...
What if... Reader were miles spouse right? (Male/gn)
And Prowler miles spouse (reader) died right.and when reader and miles met prowler miles, Would they. A. fight over reader. B. prowler would force reader to be with him and C. they share. (WHICH i highly doubt.)
And prowler is a bit of a yandere (if thtas alright)
What do you think? Can you make either a fanfic/headcanon/scenario? If you don't mind of course :))
-🥚anon
Miles Morales and Miles G x Black Cat Male Reader
Headcanons
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Both Miles are aged up in this scenario, giving miles more time to be Spiderman. I hope I got the yandere part right hehe.
I just love Black Cat, so i had too. Let me know if you guys wanna hear about my Kraven Reader or Venom reader ideas ;3c i have so many ideas about the reader being based on spiderman villains.
You were earth 1610s Black Cat. You had grown up side by side with Miles, and as you grew up your body developed the meta-gene, causing you to gain the ability to affect probability fields to others. Aka, you are able to give people bad luck.
You didn’t quite like using your powers too much, and one of the few people who knew about it was Miles. You couldn’t help but use it on bad people though, like bullies or abusers.
You hadn’t always been Black Cat, but after your parents had a horrible divorce and you were abandoned with your mother with your father leaving with all the family’s money, you turned towards the world of crime.
The Morales family had of course offered to help your mother as she struggled, but she was too proud to accept it. Rio and Jeff ended up helping in ways she wouldn’t be able to turn down, like bringing you guys meals, or giving you Miles’s old clothes.
The new Spiderman hadn’t been around long before you became the Black Cat, and you two developed a relationship similar to Peter and Felecia. Lotsa flirting and chasing each other around the city with games and puzzles.
Of course, neither of you told each other your secret identities, wanting to keep the other safe.
Then one night when you were out stealing an expensive artifact, spiderman hung upside down from his webs and tsked at you, telling you to put the artifact back. Of course, with your relationship being so flirty, you tell him you’ll do it for a kiss.
And to both your surprise and miles’, he actually does it. he pulls his mask up enough to reveal his lips, and you two have a spiderman kiss right then and there.
Its only after you pulls away that you realize you recognize those lips, since you’ve always carried a flame for your best friend. One thing leads to another, and you put back the artifact and have spiderman chase you onto the roof where you take your mask off.
You both end up taking your masks off and revealing your identities to one another. It leads to a very long conversation why you both do what you do, and how it doesn’t change your relationship from what it was before.
That is until Miles ends up confessing that has always liked you a whole lot, both as Miles and Spiderman. When you shyly tell him you feel the same, he doesn’t believe it at first, until you kiss him again.
After that you two start dating, much to your parents joy, as they’ve always known you two had a thing for one another. Of course, Black Cat still steals, and Spiderman still tries to stop him, but if Black Cat starts only stealing from the corrupt, who’s gonna connect the dots?
Then everything with the multiverse happens, except you follow Miles through the portal, thanks to a gadget you’ve created that helps you become invisible and untrackable. You also have a grappling gun you use similar to webbing, so you can swing from the spider alliance.
When you reveal yourself to help Miles escape, a lot of the spider people are shocked, because they have their own Black Cat, that they have a relationship with of some sort. This allows you and Miles a headstart.
During the chase you use your meta powers on the people chasing you as well, making a lot of them trip or fumble, or be affected in other ways by bad luck.
When you end up on earth 42 neither of you realize it, too focused on saving Jeff to notice until its too late. You have a bad vibe, and stay hidden when Aaron arrives, following the two up onto the roof.
Miles G is able to see you even though you are invisible, thanks to the prowler gadgets, so both you and Miles are knocked out, and brought back to Aaron’s apartment since you’re both too distracted looking at the mural, which features both Jeff and you.
You were wearing your mask when you and Miles got caught, so when Miles G unmasks you back in Aaron’s apartment be drops it onto the floor almost immediately.
Miles G doesn’t know how to react to seeing your face again, Aaron has to get his attention because he’s just staring at you, maybe caressing your cheek so carefully with the clawed prowler gauntlets.
Miles G knows you aren’t his version of you, as you never had the chance to become Black Cat in this universe, having died too early to use your powers to start stealing. Your parents still divorced in this universe, but they used your death as the main reason.
Miles G grows a little obsessed with keeping you, as he doesn’t want to lose you again. Aaron just shakes his head as he watches his nephew dress you out of your Black Cat gear and into some of the clothes Miles G owns, because the you of earth 42 always wore his clothes.
Hed place you on the couch in the room, not wanting to lose sight of you, but also to maybe convince you that his doppelganger isn’t good enough, and you’ll want to stay with Miles G.
Miles would wake up first thanks to his accelerated healing, and the scene happens like in the movie where he tries to convince Aaron to free him, and he meets Miles G. That’s when Miles realizes you aren’t there and starts to panic, until Miles G turns the punching bag so Miles can see you unconscious on the couch.
It would lead to anger and fear in Miles, him cursing at Miles G and demanding him to let you go and asking what the hell he did to you. When he learns Miles G undressed you when you were unconscious Miles gets enraged.
You would have woken up by then, but played unconscious, trying to figure out what to do in this situation since all your gear was taken from you. But before you can really cook up a plan, Miles breaks free and the two start to fight.
When Aaron tries to step in, you jump up and kick him unconscious. Thanks to all the running and parkour you do, you have a very strong kick, which knocks the guy out cold immediately.
Using Aarons gun you shoot it at Miles G, since he’s the obvious threat in your eyes, and Miles G looks completely betrayed at you turning on him. He’s convinced himself you’re his and would choose him, so seeing you choose Miles breaks his heart and enrages him.
The fighting would continue, and at some point, Miles G would have you in his arms held against his chest, claws wrapped around your throat and ready to tear it out if Miles tries anything.
Everything is frozen as Miles G kisses at your neck and nibbles at your ear, muttering almost obsessively about you and how he’s missed you so much, how much he loves you, how empty he’s felt since you died.
You can’t help but pity him, because he seems so broken and sad without his version of you around. That doesn’t make you wanna stay though, as you guys need to go save Jeff and go back to your own dimension.
And though it makes your heart hurt to do, you use this to your advantage. Miles Gs guard crumbles when you turn and kiss him, his hands coming up to cradle your face almost desperately, like you’ll disappear if he doesn’t hold on for dear life.
You can feel the claws dig into your face and draw blood, but the distraction works perfectly, and Miles is able to knock him unconscious. Miles might hit him a little too hard, but he would excuse it on adrenaline later.
After you guys tie the two up and you get your Black Cat gear back on, Miles would push you up against the wall and kiss the breath right out of your lungs. Everything that’s happened has him feeling possessive and like he needs to overwrite the kiss you had with Miles G earlier.
Before you guys leave you fold up the clothes Miles G made you wear, and because you heart aches for him since he’s a version of Miles, you kiss the top of his head and maybe even leave a video message on his phone.
Miles isn’t too happy about it, but he also feels a litter flustered because you love him so much you feel for any version of him, even the crazy ones.
After that you two leave the apartment to try and find a way back to your own earth. You wonder if the video message will have any future consequences, but you are too set on saving Jeff that you don’t really think about it.
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solar-wing · 10 months
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⚣ BatBro with his BatBros 🦇
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⚣ 🦇 A/N → Ah, my first full installment of BatBro headcanons. Where does the time go? Anyway, as we progress throughout these headcanons, you can imagine the characters slowly getting older too. By, the time we get to the end, the reader is at least 18 years old making Damian anywhere between 18-19 years old, since he's a few months older.
⚣ 🦇 Summary → Going from the life of an only child, to having 4+ siblings, can't be easy. Especially when most of those siblings brothers, and those brothers come from a family a crime-stopping vigilantes. What was your mother thinking in leaving you with your dad?
REBLOGS are very appreciated! REPLIES to, I love hearing your thoughts 💛
⚣ ENJOY 🦇
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I find it funny that no one has ever thought to take advantage of the fact that Bruce Wayne has created a habit of popping up with a new kid like every couple of years. They could try to offer up their kids to him in hopes of cashing in on the Wayne family's wealth.
And he actively turns away all of them, even if he is tempted a couple of times. At least until he gets to you. Everything was normal until your mom decided one day she was done being a parent and just dropped you off at the front gate and left when you were 9 years old. This is also around the same time Damian ended up in Bruce's care, so you both were now dealing with the fact that you've suddenly got a father you never knew, as well as a brother. Well, brothers, since Bruce did somewhat actually have children before he had you guys. 
She left a note along with your other belongings that said “Trust me. He yours,” with nothing else. Bruce could only stare down at you with that usual grim, but pondering look he had while you just stared back at him. 
“I’d thought you be taller,” was your first sentence towards your dad. One that was vaguely familiar to the billionaire as he rolled his eyes and led you inside the manor.
Obviously, Bruce ran a DNA test and confirmed everything to be true. You were indeed his son, snarky remarks and all. You and Damian must share that quality.
Speaking of, since you and Damian were blood-related, you have a more special bond with each other. Even if he bullies the shit out of you.
Hiding your toys and games all around the manor, stabbing your favorite teddy bears and various stuffed items with his knives and daggers, and I'm just going to throw in that you have a love-hate relationship with Scooby-Doo now.
You love the cartoon, but Damian took advantage of the fact that you may not do well with scary stuff and would make his own costume versions of the villains from the show and chased you around the house with them. They were horrifying and disturbing enough to even unsettle Bruce a little, so you could imagine the early childhood trauma you endured.
People think your fear of clowns stems from the Joker. No, it's from Damian.
It’s always from Damian.
Plus, since you and Damian are around the same age, you both end up in the same grade at the same school. So he always keeps a look out for you and protects you from any bullies, while you teach him how to be more sociable and friendly towards others.
Now, if Damian's closest relationship with another brother outside of you is Dick (who you along with everyone else agree that he is basically Damian's second father), I imagine you have a close relationship with both Jason and Tim for various reasons.
You and Tim connect because you both have very intellectual and detail-oriented minds. You watch Scooby-Doo, so you obviously have an interest in mysteries as well as the Red Robin personality. Whenever he is having a hard time connecting dots to a case or a puzzle, you simply come in, take one look and somehow figure it out. Sometimes, you’ll even just make a random statement that ends up being the key to what Tim is looking for.
Tim and you both have an interest in video games, you a little bit more than him. It was because of you that he even really got into them. Before, when it was just you and your mom, you didn’t have anyone to really play with, besides whatever friends you could find online. So having someone you could play with, especially in person now made you and Tim’s bond that more special.
Also, you’ve made it your responsibility to make sure the guy gets adequate rest and sleep and doesn’t drown himself in caffeine.
“Timothy Drake! It is way past your bedtime. Off the Bat-Computer and upstairs into bed young man.” You yelled, marching downstairs with an amused Alfred towing behind.
Your father and siblings all watched from the sidelines as well, all amused at the sight of your young, tiny body, yelling at a slightly older and taller teenager as if you were his father.
“Um, I’m older than you,” Tim responded while holding on to what had to be his 5th coffee of the evening.
“Do I need to repeat myself?”
“Master Tim, with all due respect, I’d do what the young lad says. He’s already started unplugging and cutting the cords to every coffee and espresso machine in the manor.” Alfred said from behind.
Tim looked at you in horror while you stared at him the look on your face very much communicating a ‘try me if you want to’ message, and that’s when he noticed the pair of scissors in your hands.
“OKAY! I’M GOING! I’M GOING!” Tim shouted, sprinting out of his seat and up to his room. Your brothers were quietly laughing until you turned your head right to them.
“And, what are you three laughing at?! Get to bed right now.”
Now, it was their turn to question you. Cause Dick and Jason were full adults and even though Damian was only a few months older than you, well that was it. He was older than you so he bossed you around, not the other way,
“Woah, there little man. Jason and I, we’re grown. We don’t have bedtimes.” Dick said.
“Yeah, squirt.” Jason voiced right behind Dick with his arms crossed.
“Watch yourself, little brother,” Damian warned.
You raised a subtle eyebrow at them while your father and Alfred both looked at you with curiosity.
Alfred, however, had a little more amusement to his look since he already knew where this was headed.
“Dick, I will never have another brother movie night with you again, and I’ll start going to Jason for brotherly advice instead of you. Also, I’ll tell Kory you were being mean to me.” You threatened your oldest brother.
Dick was both hurt and fearful because how could you even threaten him with something that awful and quite frankly, plain rude and ridiculous. He gave way better advice than Jason! Also, he knew Kory absolutely adored you ever since Bruce brought you to the tower that one time and would not hesitate to put him on punishment as well if she even thought he was being mean to you.
Jason was holding a smug look at your threat toward Dick, that is until your eyes landed on him. “Jason, I know where you keep all of your limited edition books, especially your prized signed copy of Pride & Prejudice. We certainly don’t want that getting in the wrong hands, now do we,” You said, turning to your second oldest sibling. Jason was surprised, and slightly impressed, though also terrified. How could you know?!
You turned to your blood-related brother, who held a bit of an overconfident look as there wasn’t anything you could have over him that would have him actually following your orders. “And Damian, I’m sure you don’t want dear old Dad to know what happened at school last week, now do you?” You said, playing slightly with your fingernails while ‘innocently’ rocking back on your feet as if you weren’t blackmailing your siblings. For noble reasons, of course. They need their sleep!
Your brother was both shocked and angry at your statement. How did you even know about that? The look on his face, well, let’s just say it wasn’t friendly, not in the slightest.
But, to no one’s surprise except your dad, all your siblings silently trudged upstairs without another word.
Bruce looked at you and Alfred with a raised eyebrow as you turned back to face your brooding father, only now you could see his brooding look had a hint of questionable curiosity and amazement. 
“You too, daddio. It’s bedtime, yo.” You rhymed. Apparently, not only was everyone’s sleep tracker, but you had a bit of flow with it too. Someone should get you a record deal. 
You gave your dad a slight hug, your head barely reaching above his waist. You still had growing to do! You’d get there eventually.
Walking back toward the entrance, you also made sure to stop and give the butler a fist bump since he was your secret partner-in-crime. How else would you know where to hit to get your brothers to fall in line? with a slight hug to his side before heading back towards the entrance. 
“Thanks, Alfred,” You said!
“Anytime, Master Y/N.”
Bruce eyed you both suspiciously before he realized what was going on as he watched your small body bounce up the stairs.
“Really? You’re in cahoots with my son, Alfred?”
“Why, Master Bruce, I’m offended. I’d say it was more of a beneficial partnership. Cahoots is for the reckless.” Alfred responded jokingly.
The age-old ending to every mystery novel plays out again, the butler did it.
Though, Bruce was still impressed by how easily your brothers listened to you without a second thought. It takes him a few tries just to get a sentence through their head, and that’s if they were actually listening to him that time.
“Wow, he got Jason to listen to him? I still can’t get Jason to greet me without looking him looking like he wants to punch my lights out.” Bruce commented.
“He has your commanding tone, sir,” Alfred said before backing up the manor himself, “I wouldn’t let Master Y/N catch you back down here, though. I heard he’s got some especially dirty leverage on you.”
Bruce suddenly decided to look at the clock, “Guess it is a little late,” He muttered before rushing upstairs himself.
Speaking of Jason, your relationship with the second adopted Wayne kid had more of a special touch. The Red Hood persona was the brother you really looked up to. You liked and respected how he branched out and followed his own path. Of course, Dick technically did the same, but considering everything Jason went through, he had to be one determined fucker to return to the very life that killed him. And, even though you don't necessarily agree with his 'strategies', you were always standing in his corner.
Though, Jason didn’t take well to you at first. In fact, because Damian left such a bad taste in his mouth after they met; when you two were introduced, he literally ran upstairs and screamed at Bruce about how he was the biggest hypocrite in the world for all those lectures he gave him and Dick about using protection. Richard silently agreed, also remembering his first meeting with Damian. 
Determined to not live with a Damian 2.0, and also thinking he was saving you from a life full of trauma because, in his mind, no one deserved to be raised by someone like Bruce Wayne, Jason attempted to take you down to child protective services. 
Your father was very unhappy when he got a call from CPS later that day and he could clearly hear you sobbing on the other side of the phone just as Jason walked through the front door. He was not the least bit ashamed, at least until you came home and he saw how upset you were.
He apologized and decided to give you a chance, thinking since the whole ordeal actually had you crying, you had to somewhat have a soul, unlike Damian. After some time, you got really close with each other. 
Jason taught you how to fight and defend yourself. He’d read you stories at night from some of your favorite books as well as your own, and he’d always get Damian to back off if he decided to pull another one of his scare antics on you. 
Your second eldest brother was your get-out-of-jail card too, whenever Bruce punished you for something. Though, sometimes, it may have just been better to take the punishment than let Jason pull you into whatever shenanigans he was planning. Considering the fact you and he managed to put an entire city without power for two nights somehow.
"How did you two manage to short-circuit the entire electrical grid in New York?" Bruce asked with you two standing side by side, looking like you just finished sleeping on top of a giant summer barbeque grill.
You both looked at each other before turning back to your stern-looking father, Damian mirroring his expression with his arms crossed and tapping his feet.
"Would you believe us if we said it started over a debate of how to eat fries with ketchup?"
Bruce slapped his forehead to his palm while Damian called you idiots. Tim got that curious look on his face, and Dick couldn't stop laughing for 15 minutes.
Now, your eldest brother, he was definitely someone you could count on no matter what. Being the oldest and having the most Bruce experience out of everyone, he always helped you deal with your Brucie problems or ‘daddy issues’ as you'd like to say.
Truth be told, every kid in this family had daddy issues.
As mentioned before, Dick was your movie-watching buddy, he helped you with your homework and always assisted with any life issues you had going on. No matter how many times you may have threatened the Nightwing persona with such, you always went to him for advice, and there was never really a moment you could think of where you regretted it.
He also helped you learn how to be more agile and light on your feet with your fighting. While your second eldest brother taught you how to use brute force and strength in situations, he gave you the acrobatic style of lessons. Where Bruce and Jason were direct and serious, Dick taught and showed you how to be more of the opposite.
And, whenever Jason wasn't around to get Damian off your back, you'd go to him since he was basically his second dad.
You and Dick together were like two chatty Cathys on drugs. One moment, you could be talking about the movie you were watching, then you’d get into a debate over onion rings vs french fries, somehow landing in politics, somehow ending up in a political debate only to end with the "Are we even real" conversation. And for whatever reason, you swore you could hear Tim itching in his seat whenever that conversation came up.
That boy goes down a lot of YouTube rabbit holes at 2 AM when he’s bored on patrol or not doing anything.
Now, one brother on their own was one thing. Two? Someone was calling the police. Three and you may have to check if your life insurance policy is still good. All four? Pray.
Since you now were officially the youngest, a title Damian was actually happy to pass on despite his warnings to Bruce, that meant you got the most of the teasing, even if it mostly came from your blood-related sibling. But his version of teasing tended to leave you with trips to your therapist so you could do without them.
However, one rule all your siblings and family stuck by, no one, and I mean NO ONE, not even in the Justice League or Titans/Young Justice teams, could mess or pick with you except them.
Everyone in the family was very protective over you. You were surprised to see even Alfred was on that list, though you learned quickly the butler was not one to be fucked with. 
You distinctly remember that one time the Batcave got invaded and Batman made you hide in one of the saferooms, you saw on one of the video monitor screens Alfred whacking the shit outta them with just a rifle.
For that reason, among others, you took a mental note to be careful with how you complimented his cooking in the future.
But seriously, if anyone messed with you, and your family found out, Hell itself would be scared of what would break loose from your home.
A bully from school started picking on you and calling you names and you didn't tell your brothers about it, wanting to handle it on your own. Besides, you could defend yourself. They taught you well.
Until the fateful day you came out as gay, bi, pan, etc., and he called you names that your father wouldn't even repeat, and that man had the title of a playboy.
Well, word spread around the school and got back to Damian, who went back and told your other brothers.
By the next day, Dick had shredded every thread of that boy's confidence. Tim hacked the school files, got his address, and framed him for changing grades in the school. Jason used said address Tim got to pay a trip to the kid's place and shot bullet holes in all his clothes when no one was home. And well, let's just say Damian almost went to jail.
Of course, Bruce was pissed when he found out and had to intervene, but when Damian admitted the reason he nearly got arrested, your father upped his allowance.
Only God could imagine the terror that would unfold the day you started dating.
Oh, and they all call you babybird which you despise.
Don't even get me started on your sisters.
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BONUS:
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☀️ | Bat Family | ☀️
☀️ | Masterlists | ☀️
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bread-tab · 9 months
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okay random 4am rant time, don't take it too seriously, but: people need to recognize there's a difference between "bad worldbuilding" and "worldbuilding styles you personally don't like."
bad worldbuilding is, for example: internally inconsistent, bigoted, or something else that messes up the plot or characterization of the story itself. sloppy. careless.
things that are *not* bad worldbuilding:
minimalism.
i've been thinking about this in the first place because i saw a post about the Murderbot Diaries a while back (don't know who made it, don't care; this ain't personal) saying the worldbuilding in those books is bad and lazy. to me, as an avid sci-fi reader and writer, that is clearly not true. but i understood why they thought this. the series uses extremely minimalist worldbuilding which intentionally withholds a lot of detail, in a way that is consistent with the (nonhuman, robot, depressed robot) first-person POV. this could also be a feature of the author's writing style in general—i haven't read her other works—but i wouldn't bet too much on it.
the signature of intentional minimalism is that there *are* details about the speculative setting—they're just doled out very thoughtfully and sparingly. the intent is to leave you a little hungry for more. it's to make you think very carefully about the details you do have. this is best suited to stories that already have elements of psychological and/or mystery plot types. the worldbuilding you do see should still be believable, internally consistent, and have interesting implications if you think about it a bit. but you are for sure going to have to think harder to get it.
if you're not in the mood, i will concede, a minimalist style definitely comes off as a bit dry. if you are in the mood, it's relaxing.
whimsy.
this is a big one for sci-fi fans in particular. see: the constant debate about whether any particular story is "hard" or "soft" sci-fi, and whether soft sci-fi is bad, etc etc. but worldbuilding doesn't have to be realistic to be good. you're allowed to have Jedi and humanoid aliens and time travel in your sci-fi. you're allowed to have historical anachronisms and astrology and po-ta-toes in your fantasy. whether or not they're silly isn't the deciding factor on how "good" these worldbuilding elements really are.
the key thing is tonal consistency. you've got a serious high-fantasy setting with its own strict, un-Earth-like theology and magic system, and you throw Santa Claus in there? yeah, that's not gonna land well. but C.S. Lewis can get away with that in Narnia just fine. why? because the Chronicles of Narnia are whimsical children's stories with a strong Christian/Western mythological influence already, and their central conceit is a crossover between the mundane world and the magical world. of course Santa can cross over too. it's whimsical, but it's not actually random. (and if you ventured into straight-up comedy, you could get away with random too. as long as it's funny.)
the unreliable narrator.
i don't have a good example for this off the top of my head (maybe Murderbot again? idk, i'm sleepy, fill in your own) but i'll tell you how to recognize when this is done well.
by definition, an unreliable narrator has some key misconceptions about their own world. so how do you tell what's going on as a reader? how do you know the writer isn't equally confused?
you connect the dots. solve the puzzle. in practice this is similar to reading a minimalist setting—but instead of just sparse clues, you also have a boatload of red herrings. you can catch some of these misleading details by comparing them to your real-world knowledge and saying "wait, this doesn't add up." other times, the false clues intentionally trick you by subverting those real world expectations.
the trick is in the consequences. regardless of what the narrator says, their actions should still have logical consequences. there should be things going on that the POV character doesn't know about. the character will be forced to learn and adapt their narrative because of these shifting circumstances. you can catch them in a lie. the inconsistencies themselves tell a story.
...
i'm gonna stop myself there because this post is long and i oughtta be sleeping. just. this is a distinction worth making. is it really bad worldbuilding, or is it simply not the genre you're craving today? learn the difference for your own sake. you'll have an easier time realizing if a story is something you'll find enjoyable to read, regardless of its actual quality.
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lazywriters-blog · 10 months
Text
BAD SON
Warning: DRAMA, forced relationship, just Aqua being the creepy manipulative dork he is, two stalkers playing, sorta friends to enemies? Enemies to menaces. Not really yandere?
Summary: You come to realize your friend had been trying to stab you in the back. Being a skilled stalker works well in these situations.
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In all honesty, he couldn't be doing anything wrong. These were just tricks to get her close, to make sure things went his way and he could breathe easy, every once in a while, he deserves it. For everything to succeed, there's hardships first so if he took the time to brace through the storm, he could have the puzzle pieces.
But perhaps, he underestimated how mentally strong one can be, all the things that are supposed to hurt her and get her to ask for help, resulted in a rather odd reaction. She ended up getting stronger, more independent, and more capable than before.
And she didn't come running to him.
He even made sure to offer help, standing there willingly so that she could see him as clearly as day, spoke to her, and reassured her, however, his plans had holes in them.
She did not ask for help. From him. They did not get any closer than they already were. She even avoided him, building invisible walls, and he had to wonder if she knew he controls the situation to his liking and pushes some to fall in place. A manipulator.
Even though her reputation had been torn down and shredded into bits, she smiles. She smiles.
He could have given up, let her be, let her breeze through peacefully but should he admit defeat so early on? He can't, he won't. How long can a person withstand verbal harassment before breaking down? Not forever, he can be her ally, her best friend.
He had to make himself impossible to ignore. He just had to make her come to him.
"Hey." he approached her sitting at her marked bench, and she hadn't noticed him watching her from a distance, did she like to pretend?
"Hi. Is there something wrong?" she replied, shifting over to make space between them.
"No."
"O... Kay? Then, what's up? Did you find the one behind the rumors? You did say you would but you don't need to worry about it." she grinned, looking away to the ground, anything to not make eye contact. Was she secretly ashamed?
"I don't break my promises," he said, crossing his arms as he leaned back, "you didn't make a promise though." she raised her eyebrows, blinking a couple of times before turning away.
"I appreciate it, but I have a hunch on who did it." she swayed her legs back and forth, maintaining her smile, "I'm not too sure yet."
"How do you know?" he asked.
"Oh, you know, just connected the dots, and boom! I found it, but there were only three people who knew about it, my tendency to play around with anyone sure is troublesome but eh what can I do?" she mused, pouting.
"But you know, I realized an interesting clue. No one who could have spread it is any better than me, so I think it's someone I know but haven't quite yet gotten to know them." she looked at him, stretching her smile wider she kept her gaze on him, "But, yeah like I said, I'm not sure, because I can't care about everybody hehe." she quickly turned her face dropping her smile and softly glaring at passengers.
"You know..." she slowly started, "we don't know each other that much, right? Strange, even though we've been friends for months," she stated, sitting up straight she glanced back at him, "the other day, I'm pretty sure I followed you around, and you didn't even notice me." she frowned, quietly waited for the response she had envisioned in her head.
However, he had nothing to say but his face surely indicated some of the things his poker face couldn't hide.
"I even made sure to call out your name, but at last, you didn't even see me." she sighed louder, "Pity really, we could have been best friends." she got up, staring down at his facade.
"I hope you go to hell." she hissed, disgust was written over her face, and no matter what he said, nothing would change in the slightest, she had already walked away and left him behind.
Maybe he isn't as good as he thought himself out to be, he's let pride rust his brain.
Just as he had ruined her reputation, she ruined his, doing plenty to hurt him in the long run, and he didn't like how it stung, how despite being careful, he wasn't careful enough, she could have been the special tool he could use, but she had more personas than one.
How was he going to recover her?
Who told her he was behind the rumors, did she figure it out herself by following him around? Could she still have dirt on him she could use to threaten him with, when had she trailed him? He couldn't have mentioned anything about his final plan.
He couldn't afford another slip-up.
He had to get her on his side.
A fake love confession seemed to be his only chance if she's got more tricks up her sleeves, then he would have to dig deeper to find her darkest secrets. Her weakest points. He couldn't sit back and let anyone give him what he doesn't want.
The next time they had a project together, he'd get her to come, alone. She wasn't anybody special, and he won't let her top him.
The fun part was, nobody wanted to be partners with him, so by default, pulling some strings to get someone to exchange with him wasn't hard. Since, well, both of them were outcasts at this point.
"Hm... You are one hell of an enemy," she muttered to herself, pushing her face against her palm as she looked outside, "by now, you could have saved yourself, I'm sure people would believe you more than me, but oh well, they sure would be blind then." she giggled.
"I want to meet you after school." he bluntly uttered after ignoring her words, "What a joke, you want to confess to me or something?" she smugly stated, intently side-eyeing him.
"Even if you were sincere about it, you're an actor," she smirked, "you are supposed to fool everyone with your charm and looks, and most of the time, it works." she shrugged.
"Alright, if you insist." he wanted to shut her up anyway, so taking a quick look at their subject teacher, he pulled her face to his and dismissed the shocked face of his classmate when he kissed her. As soon as it began, it ended.
This way, it was sure to spark more gossip. Bring her to him even if she didn't want to.
And it worked, she and he were a thing in the eyes of the people. Even if, she hadn't accepted his confession, he wasn't going to give her a choice. Everything should be going his way.
He's going to make sure she falls in love.
"We should finish this project today." he stopped her by the entrance, grabbing her wrist and making it impossible for her to leave. "I'll come if you want."
"No need," she argued, softly attempting to pull away from him without causing a scene, "It would be better if you let go now. I don't want to report you for sexual harassment and make your career a burning pile of garbage."
"Would they believe you?" he spoke, "I'm the one with connections, not you. So let's make some concessions."
"I don't care, let go! Don't touch me!" she forced her hand out of her grasp and made haste to the exit, and if anyone had paid attention to them, he hopes it makes them think they are closer than anybody else in the whole world. Because the last thing he wanted is for his plans to fail.
She was making it harder for him.
At this rate, he was going to lose her.
With her help, he's sure they can easily overpower his wicked father, he needs this relationship to work. He will make it work.
He will fall in love and so will she.
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rottenpumpkin13 · 11 months
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Do the boys ever interact with Rufus Shinra?
Ah, yes. The incident...
• It started when Zack went to the Turk's floor to pick up Cissnei. She and Aerith had recently become friendly and the puppy was tagging along on their girl's night.
• He goes to her apartment and she says she's finishing up some reports before she retires for the night. Zack's bored and since he can't sit still for much longer, he keeps touching things he's not supposed to and distracting Cissnei from her work.
• She has enough and tells him to leave the apartment for a bit so she can finish up, suggesting he takes a stroll around the Turk floor.
• Zack's cool with this. He knows exactly what to do. He'll go find Tseng! Tseng's his buddy too, right? So off Zack goes toward the offices, and excitedly knocks on Tseng's door.
• After no answer, he tries the door and finds it unlocked. The office is empty with no Tseng in sight....
• But oh??? What's this??? There's a dog! Er...At least Zack thinks it's a dog. It's wagging its tail at least! And it senses Zack's naturally friendly nature.
• Zack is lovestruck by the dog, who immediately comes up and starts sniffing and licking him. He reads the spiky chain collar. Darkstar! That's her name!
• Enchanted by his new friend, Zack starts to feel sad and confused. Why would Tseng lock away such a cute friend in his office? All alone! With no one to love her!
• He wasn't aware Tseng even had a dog, or better: was a dog person. Poor Tseng. He's so busy he probably doesn't even have time to care for his new pet.
• It doesn't matter. Zack will help! But first, he takes out his phone and snaps a super cute selfie of him and Darkstar. He sends it to the last person he had texted: Genesis.
• Made a new friend! :) I'm going to take her out for a walk! #PupandPup
• Genesis had been working late in his office. He was going to finish all these late mission reports by tonight! Goddess be damned. He was going to prove Sephiroth and Lazard wrong! How dare they claim a lame chocobo had better work ethic than him!?
• He's taking a long sip from his coffee when he hears his phone ding. Ugh, he really shouldn't be entertaining social media nor answering texts. But it's okay, he's been overexerting himself. He deserves a little break.
• Taking another sip of his coffee, he reaches for his phone and—
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• Genesis is scrambling. He's throwing open doors, booking it down the hallway and leaping into the elevator.
• He gets to Angeal's door and starts pounding on the door, kicking, screaming, the whole nine yards. Angeal opens it looking bewildered. A concerned Sephiroth is peeking out from behind him. Both men are still in uniform, thankfully, and look to have been in the middle of some drinks.
��� Genesis does a poor job of explaining himself. He's hyperventilating, stomping his foot and pointing down the hallway all while mimicking dying fish noises.
• When Angeal and Sephiroth exchange puzzled looks, Genesis pulls out his phone and shoves the picture of Zack in their faces.
• It takes 0.2 seconds for them to connect the dots and run.
• The three are tripping over themselves, slipping and panicking all as they rush to find Zack. They're just—
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• Meanwhile Zack is enthused! He and Darkstar are having a blast running all over the tower and playing catch with a rubber band ball he'd found in Tseng's office.
• That all changes when a blur of red leather rushes in and tackles him to the ground. Zack is crushed and pinned by Genesis in place. Angeal and Sephiroth have secured Darkstar by her chains. Her tail's wagging, she's excited as she sniffs Sephiroth's hand. More friends, yay!
• Zack: Hey! What gives? Get off me, you weigh like, a thousand pounds!"
• Genesis: ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? DO YOU KNOW WHO THAT BEAST BELONGS TO!?
• Sephiroth: Why is it licking my hand?
• Zack: Yeah! Tseng! He got a new dog and the poor thing was stuck in his office!
• Angeal: Zack! That's Rufus ShinRa's dog!
• Sephiroth: It is now chewing my glove. What do I do?
• Zack: No way! ShinRa Jr. ? I never pegged him as a dog lover.
• Sephiroth: *pets Darkstar* There, there, who's a good.... monstrous abomination?
• Genesis: Yeah, well, he is! And this is his personal guard dog. Do you know how much trouble we'd all be in if you were seen with it!?
• Sephiroth: *continues to pet* You know, the poor creature looks enhanced. This has Hojo's hand all over it.
• Angeal: Look, let's just get this dog back in Tseng's office before Rufus notices it's missing.
• Angeal, Zack and Genesis turn around and—
• .......................
• Genesis: HEY, UH, SEPHIROTH!?
• Sephiroth: Yes?
• Genesis: WHERE'S THE DOG!?
• Sephiroth, looking pleased, points down the hallway where Darkstar is seen running away at light speed.
• Sephiroth: It's free now.
• Genesis: SON OF A—
• The four of them start sprinting after her. The security cameras around that particular area of the tower capture the wild goose chase. Darkstar runs down stairs, into elevators, and finally slows down just enough for Zack to latch onto one of her chains.
• Zack, refusing to let go, is now eating dirt as he's dragged by Darkstar. And Darkstar is only picking up speed.
• Meanwhile, Cissnei is ready to go, and is waiting for Zack at a booth near the Sky View Hall.
• She watches in wonder as Darkstar bolts past her seat with a long chain trailing behind her. Then in comes a screaming Zack being dragged across the ground. Lastly, Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal are seen running after him.
• Cissnei sighs, then takes out her phone. She texts Aerith: I'll meet you at Goblin's bar in sector 8. Zack's not coming.
• Aerith: Why not?
• Cissnei: Because he's going to be arrested.
• Meanwhile, Darkstar leads the party all the way down into a conference room on the 30th floor. Horror starts to sink in as the 1st class trio remember the interdepartmental meeting currently happening in there.
• Oh no.
• Darkstar throws open the door and rushes inside. Heads turn at the long conference table as every single director (Scarlet, Heidegger, Reeve, Palmer, Hojo, Lazard and the president) watches as Darkstar makes a beeline for Rufus.
• Darkstar barks happily and tackles Rufus out of his seat. Zack crashes onto the conference table, slides across it, then falls directly onto President ShinRa.
• Tseng is hyperventilating.
• Director Lazard sees the 1st class trio appear in the doorway looking disheveled. Sephiroth's hair is a mess, Angeal is out of breath, and Genesis is coughing up blood.
• Lazard passes out.
• Zack sheepishly gets up. Heidegger and Reeve run to help the president, who is bright red and nonverbal with anger.
• Rufus sits up. He's laughing as Darkstar licks him and demands attention. "Poor thing. Couldn't keep away from me for two seconds, could you?" He notices Zack and nods appreciatively. "Lieutenant Fair. Thanks for fetching her for me."
• While Angeal and Genesis run to go help Director Lazard, Sephiroth stares sadly at Darkstar. And then his eyes pin Hojo in place and that sadness is replaced by pure, unbridled fury.
• "You," he hisses, and starts towards Hojo.
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rhine-gold-archive · 2 years
Note
Day 56 of waiting for sub heizou studysjsbnsns no pressure seriously I just simp
Sub! Heizou x GN Dom! Reader
A\N: It was tempting to wait full 56 days to write this, but i’m not that petty, I was just busy. Hope you enjoy.
Warnings: nsfw, overstim, slight degradation, spanking, leash play, anal sex, cock stands for strap\cock as usual.
Wordcount: 3k
I don’t think there needs to be a lot of analysis to justify Heizou being a sub, it’s fairly intentionally in your face in both hangout and ahem, birthday “yawning” art, because that’s the most most obvious bottom “O-face” since Gorou’s “moaning and tearing up over the bowl of onions” emoji.
Like in two endings he straight up says out loud his confidence is partly a facade and he’d really love for someone else to sometimes step up and take the charge, but no one does bc ppl think he’s too smart.
”Haha, well, as you might see, I’m a little less confident than people might think.”
“And everyone around me thinks I’m so smart that I should be able to handle every case on my own.<...> But you’re different. Unlike them, you don’t have that kind of prejudice towards me. <...> So I’d like you to decide whether we should expose the truth or not.”
He’s not a pushover and he’s not a pillow princess-y type, but he’s also not a brat. He’ll encourage you to take the lead and won’t criticize your choices, but he will *evaluate them*. 
First of all, on how well you’re keeping up with his hyperactive ADHD goblin nature, and second, he’ll leave the unspoken puzzle and see if you’ll manage to figure it out.
He’s open for experimentation and fairly shameless, but how far he’ll go pretty much depends on if he judges you competent enough for this.
Like, meeting him in the hangout starts with him openly calling Traveler “so dreamy”, and then he lets the Traveler decide what course of action to take, but only divulges hidden information after the Traveler showed that they have a deeper understanding of a situation and connected several puzzle dots themselves. 
His inner conflict is when it’s immoral or not to withhold information and does it depend on how capable a person given this information is. The law does not really factor into this, Heizou will act on his own principles instead.
Like in the hangout case he only tells the Traveler that he will follow their choice (see above) after the Traveler presents him with the evidence and proves they have sound judgment.
So he’d *LIKE* to let someone else make decisions, but he wants to make sure that someone else is qualified. So he won’t like outright lie, but he will withhold context if you don’t show him that you get it.
Then he can get quite clingy, like telling Traveler that he’d love to have them as a partner all the time, haha he’s joking, he wouldn’t want to be so greedy…UNLESS???
In a situation where he does trust the other person’s competence, he likes to feel helpless, overpowered and needy, if you indulge him in it. His ideal situation is where you understand that he’s smart and capable himself and he doesn’t strictly need you to take charge, but would enjoy it.
He wants to have fun without anyone making it too weird, and he wants to know you have a clear head on your shoulders, that’s it.
One day while you’re walking down the street near your home, a group of obvious miscreants runs by and a young man in white shirt and brown shorts follows them. The last of ruffians shoves him while they’re running past you and you catch him to stop him from hitting a corner of a house with his head. When the bandit looks back, you instinctively shield a man in your arms with your shoulder, and the bandit obviously judges it not worth the trouble, runs away.
When you look at the man you’re holding, he’s looking up at you with a wide smile, bright green eyes twinkling.
“Oh, thank you, my savior!”
“I didn’t do anything,” you say, putting him upright. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, sure, I’m fine!” he suddenly pauses, looks you over and says in a weaker tone, leaning into you. “I mean, I’m a little not fine, nothing major, but perhaps if someone could look after me for just a little bit?...”
You take him to get coffee just to keep an eye on him and end up talking for hours. His name is Heizou, he’s flirty, fun and cute, has ruffled mauve hair and little twin moles under his eyes, asks more questions than he’d like to answer about himself, wears a choker and a shirt that leaves his sides bare, and would very obviously love to get dommed from how he talks to you. But you cannot in good conscience take advantage of him now, because his eagerness might be an effect from the shock, so you let him go.
Day later you talk with a neighbor and he mentions how the young detective who from his words meets Heizou’s description just caught a group of pickpockets. 
“Detective, huh?” you ask out loud, and some things that didn’t make sense before fall into place. Like an exaggerated weak affect and how eagerly he pushed himself on you.
Couple of days after you walk into a confrontation in one of the secluded courtyards on the way to your home. There’s Heizou and opposite of him a group headed by the large white-haired oni. It looks incredibly awkward and staged.
“Oh, it’s my savior again!” Heizou says coquettishly, smiling at you. “Hello there! It seems you’re just in time to save me once again.”
“From what?” you say calmly, crossing your arms.
“From being mugged, of course.”
“So these guys need to be arrested, huh?”
A tall oni starts shifting nervously, looking back and forth from you to Heizou.
“Hey, hey, we didn’t agree on…”
A green-haired woman elbows him and he stumbles.
“I mean, you can’t arrest us, we’re big bad bandits, rawr!”
You ignore him, looking Heizou straight in the eyes. He pauses for a second, then pretends to be fainting in your direction. You catch him, rolling your eyes. Green-haired woman punches the oni in his side and they run away with the entire group.
“Oh, thank you,” Heizou says, looking artistically disheveled in your arms.
“No problem, Detective,” you say coldly and he tenses, straightens up.
“So you know…”
“Yeah. And I don’t appreciate being played for a fool.”
“Listen, it’s not like that… It’s just that I... I wanted you to treat me like a sub, but you didn’t do anything after we first met, and I thought maybe if you see me in an even weaker state...”
“I didn’t do anything because you seemed too irrational from shock. If you just told me the truth that you’re detective and were fine, you’d be spread on my bed few nights ago.“
He blushes, but his green eyes light up.
“I would? Oh, I mean, I am fine and we cleared the misunderstandings, so?... Um? About spreading?“
You shake your head, narrowing your eyes.
“Only come to me if you’re ready to drop your bullshit. I’m sure you can figure out how to find me, Detective.“
“Hey there!” he’s bouncing on your threshold a day after with the widest obnoxious smile, and you wouldn’t see the tinge of nervousness under it if you weren't paying attention. “So you said I can come if I dropped the bullshit and um, you can pat me over, including cavity search if you want, to make sure I haven’t got any on me”
You roll your eyes, hooking your fingers under his choker, pull him close and kiss him. He stumbles for a second, but then melts, throws his arms around your neck and presses against you. You can feel him getting hard as you pull him towards the bedroom and then throw him roughly onto the bed. He looks up, his green eyes sparkling in delight.
“Cavity search?” you say incredulously, crawling over him to slide your hands under his shirt and pulling off both of his layers. “That was terrible.”
“I know, I know, I panicked,” he moves his arms to help you get the shirt off, then pulls frantically at the ties of the armguards. “I was going to say you have a search warrant, but somehow it turned into a cavity search.”
“You’re lucky you’re so cute,” you grin against his cheek and pull his pants and underwear off in one smooth motion. He gasps, and when you grab his ankles and forcefully spread his legs, he blushes but looks you straight in the eye, already fully hard and breathless in excitement.
“I am? I mean, of course I am, but do tell me more about it.”
You kiss him instead, roam your hands over his slender body, and he arches under you, moans against your mouth. You slide your hand down, close it over hard, twitching cock and he whines, bucks his hips against your palm.
“Oh yeah,” he whispers feverishly. “Yes... Don’t be afraid to treat me rough…”
“Oh trust me, I won’t,” you grope his leaking cock and balls in your hand, firmly like you own them, and he whines sweetly, looking up at you with excitement in half-narrowed eyes. When you slide your hand down and circle his entrance, he comes immediately, pressing himself against you.
You chuckle, kissing him.
“In my defense, I spent some long nights imagining you touching me, so I’m not taking criticisms on how quick I came,“ he mutters, squirming under you, cheeks blushing brightly. 
 You grin and stand up, moving away.
“Well, you’re not getting away that easily, kitten. I’ll be back shortly.“
When you walk back to the bed, he has finished taking off the last piece of the guard and is waiting for you, naked except for the elbow-high fishnet gloves and a choker.
“I have something that I think you would like,” you smirk, showing him a leash and he gasps, visibly lighting up.
“Have you thought about becoming a detective yourself? That’s spot on.”
“It wasn’t a very hard deduction to make,” you hook your fingers under his choker, lifting him up, and he follows, grinning under the bitten lip. He’s so lovely in how blushing and eager he is while you’re closing the leash on his neck, looking up at you from under the ruffled bangs.
You turn him around, so that he leans against the bedrest and he giggles, settling down on his knees.
“Oh, great, I wasn’t sure how to breach the subject of… consequences of being naughty.”
“You don’t try playing hard to get, do you?” you grin, slide your hand from his intentionally arched back to caress smooth skin of the perky ass, obviously and eagerly presented for you.
“No, why, would you want me to?” he shoots you a sharp glance over the shoulder, analytical even now.
“No,” you say pleasantly and slap his ass, hard. He gasps, shudders, but arches even more, presses quickly reddening, tender flesh harder against your hand. You spread him and run your fingers between his legs.“I like it when you’re being open.” 
“I don’t see the point in denying the obvious,” he says, still sounding mostly collected, if a little breathless in excitement. “And if I don’t show what I want, how will I get it?”
You strike his ass again, several times in a row, until it’s blooming red and he’s whining quiet and sweet, then you stroke it.
“Very logical of you,” you say, squeezing his sensitive ass while he’s squirming needily under your hands, and kiss the sharp curve of his shoulder, move his ruffled hair aside and get to his neck. “Unlike the stunt you tried to pull earlier.”
“Oh well, I miscalculated,” he says airly. “And it’s not as if I was trying to deceive you, it’s that I know that once people hear who I am they misjudge… the way I’d want to be treated. So I just wanted to make sure you get the right impression.”
You tug on the leash, pulling him close, his back against your chest. He gasps, arches his back and rubs his ass against you.
“Or you could’ve just said so honestly, you dumbass,” you run your hand over his chest down, close it over his cock and kiss him, still tugging on the leash. He kisses you back, eager and a little sloppy, rocks his hips, rutting against your palm. 
“Well, taking your advice on speaking openly,” he whispers breathlessly after breaking a kiss, his eyelashes fluttering against your cheek. “I’m close again and I want to come from you fucking me.”
“Good boy.”
You pull him into your lap, over the strap\cock, and he squirms, straddling your knees. You catch his chin, while he’s lowering himself over onto the head of your cock, make him meet your eyes, his own hazy green, cheeks bright in blush, pink lips half-open and taking short feverish breaths. You put your hands on his hips and push him all the way down until you’re fully buried in him, and he moans, shuddering and arching in your arms.
“Ah! Oh yes, yeah, like that, oh fuck…”
He rides you, his hips moving rhythmically and his hard cock bouncing against his stomach, but when you close your hand over it, he whines, digs his fingers into your shoulders.
“Please, no, I’ll come too soon if you touch me…”
You let him go and chuckle, pepper kisses over his neck, chest, lick over his pink hardened nipple, while he’s whimpering pleas and fucking himself on your cock.
“You’re really such a slut, aren’t you?”
“Yes, fuck, I love it, I love how your cock feels inside of me, please…”
You tug on his leash, making him arch, suck on the tender juncture between his shoulder and neck. He comes just like that, screaming, his movements turning frantic. You push him down on his back, roll over him without taking your cock out.
“Can you take any more, kitten?”
“Yes.. yes, please keep fucking me,” he’s trembling under you, but says this firmly, looks you in the eye without hesitation, his ass clenching around you. “Use me like I’m your toy…”
You lift his legs up, pressing his knees against his chest, exposing his ass and thighs, still pink from spanking. You can see his oversensitive red cock getting hard just from being spread and exposed like that, and when you thrust deeply into him, he screams and tries to lift himself off the bed, writhing under you. You grip his hips and fuck him hard, hitting his prostate, until his mouth is going slack and his eyes roll over, his pleas turn into incoherent moans and whimpers. 
You lean down, cock buried deep inside him, kiss the corner of his mouth. He whines, his arms tightening around your shoulders and his hips rolling to take you even deeper.  
“You've been very good, kitten,” you whisper against his parted lips, his green eyes glittering with held tears. “Come for me, baby.”
He comes after a few thrusts, clutching at you, and you fuck him through it until he goes limp. Then you slide out of him, let him curl against you, his chest heaving, trying to catch his breath. You hold him and gently stroke his hair until he stops shivering, giving him time to come to senses before you’ll move to clean up.
“How fast will you want me to leave?” he asks, quietly, but his voice is firm, neutral. “I know I can be annoying in large doses, so if you need me to get out, I can…”
You silence him with a kiss, slow and sweet to calm him down. “It’s okay, kitten, you don’t annoy me. Don’t worry about it, just rest.”
He freezes for a second and then suddenly presses himself desperately against you, clutches at your shoulders. You stroke his hair, neck, sharp knobs of his spine soothingly, whisper sweet nothings in his ear until his body relaxes. He rubs his cheek against your chest and looks up with a cheeky grin.
“I am lucky that I’m cute, huh?”
915 notes · View notes
gold-rhine · 1 year
Text
Sub! Heizou x GN Dom! Reader
A\N: Repost bc my previous blog got shadowbanned.
Warnings: nsfw, overstim, slight degradation, spanking, leash play, anal sex, cock stands for strap\cock as usual.
Wordcount: 3k
I don’t think there needs to be a lot of analysis to justify Heizou being a sub, it’s fairly intentionally in your face in both hangout and ahem, birthday “yawning” art, because that’s the most most obvious bottom “O-face” since Gorou’s “moaning and tearing up over the bowl of onions” emoji.
Like in two endings he straight up says out loud his confidence is partly a facade and he’d really love for someone else to sometimes step up and take the charge, but no one does bc ppl think he’s too smart.
”Haha, well, as you might see, I’m a little less confident than people might think.”
“And everyone around me thinks I’m so smart that I should be able to handle every case on my own.<...> But you’re different. Unlike them, you don’t have that kind of prejudice towards me. <...> So I’d like you to decide whether we should expose the truth or not.”
He’s not a pushover and he’s not a pillow princess-y type, but he’s also not a brat. He’ll encourage you to take the lead and won’t criticize your choices, but he will *evaluate them*.
First of all, on how well you’re keeping up with his hyperactive ADHD goblin nature, and second, he’ll leave the unspoken puzzle and see if you’ll manage to figure it out.
He’s open for experimentation and fairly shameless, but how far he’ll go pretty much depends on if he judges you competent enough for this.
Like, meeting him in the hangout starts with him openly calling Traveler “so dreamy”, and then he lets the Traveler decide what course of action to take, but only divulges hidden information after the Traveler showed that they have a deeper understanding of a situation and connected several puzzle dots themselves.
His inner conflict is when it’s immoral or not to withhold information and does it depend on how capable a person given this information is. The law does not really factor into this, Heizou will act on his own principles instead.
Like in the hangout case he only tells the Traveler that he will follow their choice (see above) after the Traveler presents him with the evidence and proves they have sound judgment.
So he’d *LIKE* to let someone else make decisions, but he wants to make sure that someone else is qualified. So he won’t like outright lie, but he will withhold context if you don’t show him that you get it.
Then he can get quite clingy, like telling Traveler that he’d love to have them as a partner all the time, haha he’s joking, he wouldn’t want to be so greedy…UNLESS???
In a situation where he does trust the other person’s competence, he likes to feel helpless, overpowered and needy, if you indulge him in it. His ideal situation is where you understand that he’s smart and capable himself and he doesn’t strictly need you to take charge, but would enjoy it.
He wants to have fun without anyone making it too weird, and he wants to know you have a clear head on your shoulders, that’s it.
One day while you’re walking down the street near your home, a group of obvious miscreants runs by and a young man in white shirt and brown shorts follows them. The last of ruffians shoves him while they’re running past you and you catch him to stop him from hitting a corner of a house with his head. When the bandit looks back, you instinctively shield a man in your arms with your shoulder, and the bandit obviously judges it not worth the trouble, runs away.
When you look at the man you’re holding, he’s looking up at you with a wide smile, bright green eyes twinkling.
“Oh, thank you, my savior!”
“I didn’t do anything,” you say, putting him upright. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, sure, I’m fine!” he suddenly pauses, looks you over and says in a weaker tone, leaning into you. “I mean, I’m a little not fine, nothing major, but perhaps if someone could look after me for just a little bit?...”
You take him to get coffee just to keep an eye on him and end up talking for hours. His name is Heizou, he’s flirty, fun and cute, has ruffled mauve hair and little twin moles under his eyes, asks more questions than he’d like to answer about himself, wears a choker and a shirt that leaves his sides bare, and would very obviously love to get dommed from how he talks to you. But you cannot in good conscience take advantage of him now, because his eagerness might be an effect from the shock, so you let him go.
Day later you talk with a neighbor and he mentions how the young detective who from his words meets Heizou’s description just caught a group of pickpockets.
“Detective, huh?” you ask out loud, and some things that didn’t make sense before fall into place. Like an exaggerated weak affect and how eagerly he pushed himself on you.
Couple of days after you walk into a confrontation in one of the secluded courtyards on the way to your home. There’s Heizou and opposite of him a group headed by the large white-haired oni. It looks incredibly awkward and staged.
“Oh, it’s my savior again!” Heizou says coquettishly, smiling at you. “Hello there! It seems you’re just in time to save me once again.”
“From what?” you say calmly, crossing your arms.
“From being mugged, of course.”
“So these guys need to be arrested, huh?”
A tall oni starts shifting nervously, looking back and forth from you to Heizou.
“Hey, hey, we didn’t agree on…”
A green-haired woman elbows him and he stumbles.
“I mean, you can’t arrest us, we’re big bad bandits, rawr!”
You ignore him, looking Heizou straight in the eyes. He pauses for a second, then pretends to be fainting in your direction. You catch him, rolling your eyes. Green-haired woman punches the oni in his side and they run away with the entire group.
“Oh, thank you,” Heizou says, looking artistically disheveled in your arms.
“No problem, Detective,” you say coldly and he tenses, straightens up.
“So you know…”
“Yeah. And I don’t appreciate being played for a fool.”
“Listen, it’s not like that… It’s just that I... I wanted you to treat me like a sub, but you didn’t do anything after we first met, and I thought maybe if you see me in an even weaker state...”
“I didn’t do anything because you seemed too irrational from shock. If you just told me the truth that you’re detective and were fine, you’d be spread on my bed few nights ago.“
He blushes, but his green eyes light up.
“I would? Oh, I mean, I am fine and we cleared the misunderstandings, so?... Um? About spreading?“
You shake your head, narrowing your eyes.
“Only come to me if you’re ready to drop your bullshit. I’m sure you can figure out how to find me, Detective.“
“Hey there!” he’s bouncing on your threshold a day after with the widest obnoxious smile, and you wouldn’t see the tinge of nervousness under it if you weren't paying attention. “So you said I can come if I dropped the bullshit and um, you can pat me over, including cavity search if you want, to make sure I haven’t got any on me”
You roll your eyes, hooking your fingers under his choker, pull him close and kiss him. He stumbles for a second, but then melts, throws his arms around your neck and presses against you. You can feel him getting hard as you pull him towards the bedroom and then throw him roughly onto the bed. He looks up, his green eyes sparkling in delight.
“Cavity search?” you say incredulously, crawling over him to slide your hands under his shirt and pulling off both of his layers. “That was terrible.”
“I know, I know, I panicked,” he moves his arms to help you get the shirt off, then pulls frantically at the ties of the armguards. “I was going to say you have a search warrant, but somehow it turned into a cavity search.”
“You’re lucky you’re so cute,” you grin against his cheek and pull his pants and underwear off in one smooth motion. He gasps, and when you grab his ankles and forcefully spread his legs, he blushes but looks you straight in the eye, already fully hard and breathless in excitement.
“I am? I mean, of course I am, but do tell me more about it.”
You kiss him instead, roam your hands over his slender body, and he arches under you, moans against your mouth. You slide your hand down, close it over hard, twitching cock and he whines, bucks his hips against your palm.
“Oh yeah,” he whispers feverishly. “Yes... Don’t be afraid to treat me rough…”
“Oh trust me, I won’t,” you grope his leaking cock and balls in your hand, firmly like you own them, and he whines sweetly, looking up at you with excitement in half-narrowed eyes. When you slide your hand down and circle his entrance, he comes immediately, pressing himself against you.
You chuckle, kissing him.
“In my defense, I spent some long nights imagining you touching me, so I’m not taking criticisms on how quick I came,“ he mutters, squirming under you, cheeks blushing brightly.
You grin and stand up, moving away.
“Well, you’re not getting away that easily, kitten. I’ll be back shortly.“
When you walk back to the bed, he has finished taking off the last piece of the guard and is waiting for you, naked except for the elbow-high fishnet gloves and a choker.
“I have something that I think you would like,” you smirk, showing him a leash and he gasps, visibly lighting up.
“Have you thought about becoming a detective yourself? That’s spot on.”
“It wasn’t a very hard deduction to make,” you hook your fingers under his choker, lifting him up, and he follows, grinning under the bitten lip. He’s so lovely in how blushing and eager he is while you’re closing the leash on his neck, looking up at you from under the ruffled bangs.
You turn him around, so that he leans against the bedrest and he giggles, settling down on his knees.
“Oh, great, I wasn’t sure how to breach the subject of… consequences of being naughty.”
“You don’t try playing hard to get, do you?” you grin, slide your hand from his intentionally arched back to caress smooth skin of the perky ass, obviously and eagerly presented for you.
“No, why, would you want me to?” he shoots you a sharp glance over the shoulder, analytical even now.
“No,” you say pleasantly and slap his ass, hard. He gasps, shudders, but arches even more, presses quickly reddening, tender flesh harder against your hand. You spread him and run your fingers between his legs.“I like it when you’re being open.”
“I don’t see the point in denying the obvious,” he says, still sounding mostly collected, if a little breathless in excitement. “And if I don’t show what I want, how will I get it?”
You strike his ass again, several times in a row, until it’s blooming red and he’s whining quiet and sweet, then you stroke it.
“Very logical of you,” you say, squeezing his sensitive ass while he’s squirming needily under your hands, and kiss the sharp curve of his shoulder, move his ruffled hair aside and get to his neck. “Unlike the stunt you tried to pull earlier.”
“Oh well, I miscalculated,” he says airly. “And it’s not as if I was trying to deceive you, it’s that I know that once people hear who I am they misjudge… the way I’d want to be treated. So I just wanted to make sure you get the right impression.”
You tug on the leash, pulling him close, his back against your chest. He gasps, arches his back and rubs his ass against you.
“Or you could’ve just said so honestly, you dumbass,” you run your hand over his chest down, close it over his cock and kiss him, still tugging on the leash. He kisses you back, eager and a little sloppy, rocks his hips, rutting against your palm.
“Well, taking your advice on speaking openly,” he whispers breathlessly after breaking a kiss, his eyelashes fluttering against your cheek. “I’m close again and I want to come from you fucking me.”
“Good boy.”
You pull him into your lap, over the strap\cock, and he squirms, straddling your knees. You catch his chin, while he’s lowering himself over onto the head of your cock, make him meet your eyes, his own hazy green, cheeks bright in blush, pink lips half-open and taking short feverish breaths. You put your hands on his hips and push him all the way down until you’re fully buried in him, and he moans, shuddering and arching in your arms.
“Ah! Oh yes, yeah, like that, oh fuck…”
He rides you, his hips moving rhythmically and his hard cock bouncing against his stomach, but when you close your hand over it, he whines, digs his fingers into your shoulders.
“Please, no, I’ll come too soon if you touch me…”
You let him go and chuckle, pepper kisses over his neck, chest, lick over his pink hardened nipple, while he’s whimpering pleas and fucking himself on your cock.
“You’re really such a slut, aren’t you?”
“Yes, fuck, I love it, I love how your cock feels inside of me, please…”
You tug on his leash, making him arch, suck on the tender juncture between his shoulder and neck. He comes just like that, screaming, his movements turning frantic. You push him down on his back, roll over him without taking your cock out.
“Can you take any more, kitten?”
“Yes.. yes, please keep fucking me,” he’s trembling under you, but says this firmly, looks you in the eye without hesitation, his ass clenching around you. “Use me like I’m your toy…”
You lift his legs up, pressing his knees against his chest, exposing his ass and thighs, still pink from spanking. You can see his oversensitive red cock getting hard just from being spread and exposed like that, and when you thrust deeply into him, he screams and tries to lift himself off the bed, writhing under you. You grip his hips and fuck him hard, hitting his prostate, until his mouth is going slack and his eyes roll over, his pleas turn into incoherent moans and whimpers.
You lean down, cock buried deep inside him, kiss the corner of his mouth. He whines, his arms tightening around your shoulders and his hips rolling to take you even deeper.  
“You've been very good, kitten,” you whisper against his parted lips, his green eyes glittering with held tears. “Come for me, baby.”
He comes after a few thrusts, clutching at you, and you fuck him through it until he goes limp. Then you slide out of him, let him curl against you, his chest heaving, trying to catch his breath. You hold him and gently stroke his hair until he stops shivering, giving him time to come to senses before you’ll move to clean up.
“How fast will you want me to leave?” he asks, quietly, but his voice is firm, neutral. “I know I can be annoying in large doses, so if you need me to get out, I can…”
You silence him with a kiss, slow and sweet to calm him down. “It’s okay, kitten, you don’t annoy me. Don’t worry about it, just rest.”
He freezes for a second and then suddenly presses himself desperately against you, clutches at your shoulders. You stroke his hair, neck, sharp knobs of his spine soothingly, whisper sweet nothings in his ear until his body relaxes. He rubs his cheek against your chest and looks up with a cheeky grin.
“I am lucky that I’m cute, huh?”
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chrysochroma · 4 months
Text
within your walls (desire, desire, till there’s nothing left of me)
@febuwhump 2024: Day 2: solitary confinement
@badthingshappenbingo : locked in a freezer (card is at the end)
Rating: Teen And Up
Words: 2,367
Fandom: Hermitcraft
Warnings: Kidnapping, Torture, Human Experimentation, Unethical Experimentation, Temporary Character Death
Read on Ao3
the title is from Strangler Fig by the Crane Wives
this is inspired by @aquaquadrant and @lunarcrown ‘s Hels to Pay AU and From Eden by aquaquadrant.
i highly suggest you read that first bc it is both amazing and the context is helpful
this is the link to aquaquadrant’s From Eden master post
this is also inspired by this piece of art by lunarcrown
as well as lunarcrown’s orginal comic
anyways, enjoy some pain and suffering :)
Deep inside the Hels Tek facility, Tango stood, claws dripping with redstone dust, in front of a grid of circuitry.
The machine Dr. Atlas had sent him to repair wasn’t too complicated, in fact it wasn’t much of a challenge at all. It was just as simple as replacing a few components with the ones the circuit required and drawing a few more lines of redstone dust. The mechanism felt reminiscent of a puzzle you might give a toddler—Tango felt that all he was doing was placing the different shaped blocks in their corresponding holes—but he figured that it was just a test to see what he knows, which didn’t surprise him. This was like his entrance exam before being hired to work at Hels, he supposed. It explained why Dr. Atlas always seemed to be just a few feet away, no matter where they were. Tango hoped that that was a good sign.
A voice came from behind him. “Very nice.”
Tango jumped and spun around to come face to face with Dr. Atlas. “Oh! Doctor, didn’t see ya there. I finished fixing this thing for you,” He gestured at the contraption behind him.
Atlas took his eyes off Tango and studied his repair job instead, as Tango continued to talk.
“It wasn’t too hard, a few things were in the wrong places but that’s pretty much it.” He turned around to look back at his work.
“I see,” Atlas responded, somewhat distracted. His eyes had locked back onto the swirling crown of blaze rods floating above Tango’s head, and he reached into his lab coat.
“So, do you have anything else for me to do?” Tango fiddled with a spare comparator as he spoke.
Atlas stepped closer. “I think that you’ll be very beneficial to us here at Hels Tek.”
“I’m glad to hear that, Dr. Atlas.” Tango spoke, still focused on his redstone.
“So am I.”
Tango felt a sharp prick on his neck, and before he could turn to see what it was from, his legs gave out from under him and his vision went black.
A numbing chill spread through Tango’s bones as his eyes slowly opened. His mind was racing but his breathing was sluggish, muscles slowed by the cold. His senses seemed dulled—whether it was because of whatever knocked him unconscious or yet another effect of the raw, sharp iciness he was surrounded by, Tango didn’t know.
He was laying on the floor, staring up at a plain, white ceiling, dotted with glowstone lamps. They cast a warm yellow over the room, providing Tango with a false sense of warmth that he wished was real. He started to sit up, then immediately noticed an unfamiliar weight on his wrists and neck. The deep jangle of chains being dragged along the floor pulled him even further out of unconsciousness.
“Good morning, Mr. Tango.”
Tango’s eyes snapped up to see Dr. Atlas writing something into a small notebook. The pair made eye contact through the wall of glass separating them, and Atlas smiled. Tango tried to push himself up onto his feet, his arms trembling, but nearly fell onto his face instead. (He glanced up to see Atlas watching him fail to adjust to his lack of energy, then write something down.) His arms, his legs, his brain all seemed to betray him as he struggled to stand, but finally, he forced himself to do so. The heavy iron chains that connected to his collar and shackles and kept him tethered to the ground seemed to drag him back down, but he stood and looked Atlas in the eye.
“Hey, Atlas.” He called out. “What is this?” His voice was filled with confusion and frustration, but overall much less fear than there should’ve been.
“Your new assignment,” Atlas responded.
“Uh, no, thanks. What even-“ He looked around for a second, cutting himself off as he stared into the solid white room beyond the glass box he was trapped in. “What is this?” He repeated.
Atlas snapped his notebook shut and tucked it into one of the pockets of his lab coat. “Like I said, your new assignment, where you will be staying. Indefinitely.”
Tango frowned. “Yeah, no, let me out.” He looked down at the new jumpsuit he was wearing. “And where are my clothes?”
Atlas didn’t respond.
“Hey!” Tango raised his voice. “Let me out of-“ He stepped forward and the chain attached to his collar pulled taut, momentarily choking him. Hurriedly, he stepped back, coughing.
Dr. Atlas stepped up to the glass door, then punched a code into the keypad mounted on the wall next to it. The door opened with a click and Atlas stepped inside, followed by two other Hels Tek employees, who moved to stand on either side of him. Tango’s eyes flitted around the room, trying to keep track of all three at once. Then, Atlas nodded, and the other scientists stepped up, each grabbing one of Tango’s arms. Tango’s muscles tensed up—at least as much as they could—and he pulled against the scientists restraining him. Still, they held him fast, not much effort required.
Atlas stepped forward, reached up, grabbed one of Tango’s blaze rods, and yanked. The blaze rod sizzled, leaving a trail of sparks behind it, but it came loose from Tango’s crown and smoldered in Atlas’s hand. He brought it up to eye level to inspect it—golden, shining, smoking, and most of all, valuable.
Tango gasped in pain, but quickly regained his composure and continued to pull away from the scientists, while glaring at Atlas.
“Hey! Stop it! You can’t do that!”
Dr. Atlas tucked Tango’s blaze rod into his lab coat, then looked back at Tango. “Yes I can.”
The two scientists pushed Tango down, forcing him to his knees. He pulled against their grip with all his strength, but couldn’t do anything to stop them as they pushed him closer and closer to the ground, until he was on his stomach, his face pressed up against the concrete. One of them pinned his wrists behind his back, and the other held his neck against the ground until they had him under their control.
“Guys, hey-!” Tango protested.
Atlas leaned down, fixated on Tango’s swirling crown, then plucked each of the blaze rods out of orbit, one by one. Tango felt each and every one of them leave their place, their absence feeling like a pit in his heart.
“C’mon, not another one,” Tango pleaded. Dr. Atlas ignored him.
In the absence of any blaze rods, sparks fizzled up around Tango’s head, but no new ones formed.
Atlas frowned. “Hm. That’s a shame.”
“Atlas, stop this! Just- c’mon-“
One of the scientists forced his head back to the ground, slamming it into the concrete. Tango gasped at the impact. Then, from the sparks, a new blaze rod flared into existence. Atlas smiled.
“You know,” He looked Tango in the eye. “You and I are going to do great things together, Mr. Tango.”
“Atlas! St-“ he cut himself off with a wince as Atlas stole his final remaining blaze rod.
Still smiling, Atlas stood and walked out of the room, the other two following him out. The door slammed shut behind them, pushing another wave of ice cold air over Tango.
Slowly, he sat up, aching and fatigued, shivering. Then he tucked himself into a ball, too tired to fight back. He closed his eyes.
All of Tango’s days seemed to blend together, forming one painful, seemingly endless existence. Except it wasn’t really endless—Tango had died almost too many times to count over that long expanse of time. Almost.
Minuscule thorns like hypodermic needles jabbed into his skin from all angles. They seemed to suck the blood out of him, slowly and steadily, until there was none left. The branches wrapped around his arms and legs bore scarlet red berries, and the droplets of Tango’s blood scattered over the leaves and floor looked just like minuscule versions of them. They brought a constant, throbbing, piercing pain that Tango could never take his mind off of, at least until-
But that was too slow.
Deep red mist seemed to linger in the air, clouding Tango’s vision and filling his lungs. It burned his eyes and throat, adding to the pain swirling around his body. Each time a bottle dropped, he felt as if a portion of his soul was ripped away, claimed by the burgundy flecks that seemed to glimmer in and out of existence. He lost more and more of himself, never given a chance to recover, until-
<Tango was killed by magic>
But that was too effective.
Steam swirled up from the ground, enveloping him in a cloud of warmth. The red-hot, glowing coals were almost comfortable under his feet. The heat was scalding, yet familiar, and almost sympathetic. Tango was hardly surprised when the first sharp sting across his face came. The Doctors needed to have their fun, after all. So, he stood in the welcoming embrace of liquid hellfire and heard his bones snap, and break, and shatter, until-
<Tango walked into danger zone due to AtlasSyn>
But (as much as it was fun) that was too inefficient.
A cold, slippery nothing filled Tango’s throat, invading his lungs and emptying his mind of anything except panic. It was too thin, too slick to get a hold onto as it dissolved into his core, turning his embers into nothing but smoke. It filled him with terror like nothing else ever could. He was surrounded by it, and helpless to do anything to stop it from ripping away his life, his soul, his fire, until-
<Tango drowned>
But that harmed the product.
A prickling, unnatural chill crept over Tango’s bones. It seeped into his skin like salt dissolving into water—slow and gradual, yet present all the time. It seemed to touch each and every one of his nerves, somehow lighting them on fire and enveloping them in numbness at the same time. It sent a shiver down his spine so curious it almost could’ve tickled if it didn’t hurt so much. It ate away at him, bit by bit, until-
<Tango withered away>
It was perfect—slow, constant, enveloping, (painful,) impeccable. And so the experiments began.
Tango sat, unmoving, just like they told him to. He held still, just like they said, as rows of thorns were stabbed into his arms. Both of his arms were completely numb, yet seemed to be flickering with pinpricks of pain. Dr. Atlas himself was there to pluck the blaze rods from his crown, tucking each one into his coat as if he meant to protect them with his life. It was a constant cycle: Dr. Atlas would take a blaze rod from him, another thorn would be stabbed into his arm, and another blaze rod would appear, ready to be stolen once more.
There had once been a bouquet of wither roses in front of him. They were enchanting, almost would’ve been beautiful, if he hadn’t known what it was like to feel their wrath. Now, there was a pile of deep purple, almost black rose buds lying discarded on a table off to the side (they only needed the thorns).
As a scientist moved to place another bud in the pile, a clump of black, dusty pollen tumbled out of the flower and onto Tango’s arm. Almost immediately, it melted into Tango’s skin, turning the surrounding area a bit gray.
Dr. Atlas’s eyes instantly locked onto the still slightly gray spot. He pointed to the scientist holding the rose bud. “Bring that over here.”
They complied, and Dr. Atlas stuck his finger into the center of the rose, then pulled it out. Black dust coated the tip of his gloved finger, sticking to it like glitter. He turned back to Tango, then smeared the pollen across his forearm. Just as quickly as before, it absorbed into Tango’s flesh, this time leaving faint traces of black veins underneath his skin.
A newfound sense of pain rushed through Tango’s arm, pumping through his bloodstream. The sparks above his head flared, and a blaze rod shimmered into existence, taking its place in his crown. Dr. Atlas reached up a hand, then plucked it, a faint smile on his face.
The pollen was better, they’d found. It was more potent, more harmful, more efficient. The once discarded rose buds had suddenly become a treasure trove for the scientists, and Dr. Atlas couldn’t have been more pleased. And so the testing began.
Test #1: Tears welled up in Tango’s eyes as the now familiar prickling numbness drove him further to insanity. That black dust coated his throat and lungs, making him cough. A couple tears rolled down his cheeks as he felt one of his blaze rods get ripped away from him.
Test #60: Slowly but surely, they were tearing him apart. He felt like, as each blaze rod was stolen from him, a part of his fire went along with. His soul was being taken and sold to the masses for nothing but a bit of profit.
Test #157: Tango longed for the sliding metal doors to his blank white room to open. Even when they were there to refill the respawn anchor, trapping him here. Even when they came to empty the hoppers of his blaze rods, using him for their gain. Even when they came to chop off his claws, preventing any resistance. Because it was better than nothing, right?
Test #326: For Tango, crying was a constant. He took some comfort in it—among all of the deaths, all the malfunctions, through the never-ending blanket of prickling numbness, at least he had this. It was enough.
It wasn’t too much of a change for Tango when Dr. Atlas and the others came to move him into his new home. Just one torture chamber in a blank room to another. He could barely even notice a difference (maybe he didn’t care to).
Dr. Atlas smiled at him through the glass. “Welcome to your new home, Tango Tek.”
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wordycheeseblob · 5 months
Text
*Clinks glass with spoon*
I've seen a couple of people so this and wanted to say a few words as well.
Tumblr dot com is the first and only place where I learned online connections can change lives so much or be so genuine. It's never about numbers. Each blog breathes life of the unique person behind it. So many colorful personalities brought together...
And we've been through a lot.. the great bot purge of 20', the AO3 siege, the battle of Halloween on Christmas eve, Auburn shipping wars....
I never knew I could know such friendship. I wish I could tuck in each one of my moots and give you a goodnight kiss, a hug when you're in a dark place, and scream into the void together about our interests (because what am I if not an enabler :) )
You've changed my life in so many ways and you have no idea
My wonderful artist friends, I've wondered how can the same hands that create such disaster (affectionate) manage such breathtaking art @clavissionary-position
And breathe so much life into the canon world with their own enthralling iteration (seriously somebody let him on the Devs team) @devonares I don't see you two so often around here anymore but I do hope we meet again some sunny day
thank you @mllorei for being the ride or die friend i never had, and an amazing talented writer (and artist!) And co-conspirator. Listen, this word count is severely limited for all I want to say (*whispering* like fix your sleeeeep goddamit) @krenenbaker you're a puzzle I will crack some day... A mystery yet to be solved. An evil little box of pandora. A secret mastermind of destruction *squints* but for reals, from what I've seen you're a direct and genuinely good person with a shared passion for historical fashion! (or ARE you...? Hmmm)
@venulus man you're just so iconic I have no words
@dove-da-birb another fantastic writer, I got to know you and @azulashengrottospiano somewhere at the same time. Hehe what the latter doesn't know is I orchestrated most of the shipping wars hee hee :3 and Dove, at first I wanted to bully you a bit with crowleg (please forgive this peasant) but then I think I accidentally adopted you. You, @keithsandwich and Lorei are the best crocheters I know <3
Myara's gold handiwork is honestly out of this world. Also thank you for sending me stuff and thinking of me, I really appreciate that.
@vivislosingitagain and @vioisgoinginsane 's sistership is of legendary status, and I think Vio is like a sister to Vivi. (They're clones they're clones)
Isn't it wonderful how through billions of people on earth, you've found eachother?
@thewitchofbooks my literature loving friend! (And I found out recently, great artist too??!) I hope to see you more this year, I get so happy when we interact you won't believe it...
Thank you @violettduchess for always making me smile and persevering in the face of hardship. You're strong, stand proud. @leonscape I wish you a year full of Leon, don't give up! He may not be everyone's cup of coffee, but he is to you and that's what matters.
Thank you for always being there, I see you around a lot and just wanted to thank you and wish you a new years too! :]
@candied-boys @altairring @otomefreak876 @solacedeer @this-is-war-peacock @here-for-gilbert @dear-sciaphilia @chi-the-idiot @serynhe @katriniac @mymumisasquid @olivermorningstar @caffedrine
@happy-pup you helped me a lot, I will never forget you ^^
And my new friendos here @v-anrouge @saint-garden (the gremlins) @ikemendrew @officialdaydreamer00 @jade-s-nymph @crheativity and @nuttytani I hope to see more of you this year too!
Phew... I hope I didn't forget anyone, that's a lot of people! Even a small act of kindness here has made ripples throughout the world, it reached so many people... Many things will pass but I sincerely hope,
if you're here or not, I hope this new year treats you well. And you continue with a newfound strength into the future
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buckttommy · 1 year
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Okay, this is a novel. Go with me.
I'm not saying anyone's interpretation of canon is wrong, but I've seen some people interpreting the graveyard scene as Buck still trying to be something he's not in order to earn/maintain the love of the people he cares about and I just... don't agree with that at all. Where Buck is now is an in-between state. He's not the same person he was before the lightning strike, but he's also not the person he's meant to be after the lightning strike either. Not yet. So he's tucked in this Magical and Confusing World of Almost, where he's almost figured out all the pieces to the puzzle, and he almost knows who he is outside of people's expectations, and he's almost connected the plethora of dots drawn between himself and Eddie, but he's not there yet.
So when Buck says, "I feel like I have to be the same old Buck, mostly for everyone else," that's not him saying he thinks he won't be loved if he's not the same old Buck. That's him saying he's stuck as the same old Buck because he has no idea who to be and, where he is now, no one else can tell him who to be, just like when he asked Hen if she was "at ease" in 6x02. He is constantly looking for answers that nobody but himself can find or give. But he doesn't want anyone to worry in the interim, especially not when everyone else he knows already regards his death with far more depth and trauma than he himself regards it with. So he remains "the same old Buck." This idea also ties into his conversation with Natalia over lunch.
Buck told Eddie that he, in some way, felt like Natalia saw more in him than he saw in himself, but I'm so intrigued by that piece of dialogue, mainly because we didn't actually see the entirety of their conversation. We saw Natalia's fascination and Buck's intrigue (and, dare I say, discomfort!) by her fascination, but we didn't actually see anything beyond Buck beginning to tell her about his coma dream. So what is it that she sees? I think she sees exactly what he said to Eddie—that he got away with something he shouldn't have.
Natalia treats him like an anomaly because he is. No one else in Buck's life treats him like that.
They know him. They love him. They grieved for him. And when he came back to life and came out of the coma, they celebrated him and his return. But. They don't treat Buck dying and coming back as the anomaly, the rarity that it is. And I think this is a perfect example of a situation in which Buck is struggling to find the happy middle. His family treats his death with all the pain and gravitas inherent to literally seeing someone you love die and hang limply, helplessly, in the air, whereas Natalia treats his death with too much glee, too much fascination. And as much as he loves his family, and as much as he's intrigued by Natalia, Buck doesn't need either of those things.
What Buck needs is for someone to acknowledge both aspects of his death: that it was scary and sad and traumatizing, yes, but also that it was something out of a film. Something that shouldn't exist but did. And I think once Buck finds that? Once he looks within himself and allows both of those realities to coexist and inform his processing and who he is, then he will be on his way to finding the peace he's so desperately craving. But until then, he'll struggle with his voice, with Natalia's voice, with the voices of everyone he loves all saying different things on completely different ends of the same spectrum. Which is hard in ordinary circumstances, but especially in this one, in which matters of life or death are explicitly in play.
Buck is loved by his family. He knows he's loved by his family and, overbearing as they are/can be, he recognizes their love and loves them for it in turn. But in 6x11, Buck finally came to a place where Being Buck was enough for him. Now he has to redefine what that means to him. Which doesn't mean that the current version of himself that he's playing pretend at is wrong or lesser, only that this current version is ill-fitting now and he's struggling to find an identity that's the "right size," especially with several different voices (his own included) telling him how he should feel and respond to life-altering trauma.
I'm not the costume meta person here, that title belongs to the lovely Kym, but I'm assuming Buck's internal struggle also calls back to the wardrobe choices made in 5x14 too. The choice to have Eddie and Buck in the same/similar clothes they wore during their outing to the equestrian center only illuminates to me what we already knew: that Buck's 6B arc is a speed-run through Eddie's 5B arc, in that they both dealt with the nuanced complexities of similar traumas. Eddie dealt with horrendous survivor's guilt following the loss of his team, and Buck, too, is dealing with a similar brand of "left behind" confusion. Eddie was the only one "left behind" in that he's the only one who survived everything his squad went through, but Buck is dealing with it in the sense that death came and robbed him of something, but he's still "left behind" to pick up the pieces.
Both men have struggled immensely with the idea of cheating death, of living on borrowed time (though both concepts are outlined more explicitly in Buck's arc than it was in Eddie's), but the similarities of their trajectories are important to note because they will both, ultimately, lead to the same place—to the realization that cheating death and living on borrowed time means you have to, subsequently, do something with that time. Buck says it himself a the end of the scene: every day, from the point of death onward, is a gift, one that must be embraced before time runs out.
Time is running out for Buck and Eddie, but not in an entirely ominous way. Time is running out in the sense that both are rapidly becoming aware of that fact that days wasted aren't just days wasted; they are gifts that are going discarded without being embraced to the fullest. And when they finally sort themselves out, I believe that realization is going to hit them the hardest. Because it won't be so much the idea that "we could have had this, we could have had each other, sooner if we weren't so afraid," but the realization that "we were happy and we were okay, but we weren't as happy or okay as we could have been," and that's a hard pill to swallow for two men who have lived chunks of their lives playing against the nebulous, overwhelming nature of time.
I'm sure they'll figure it out—both together and individually—they always do. But in the meantime, the slow crush of both of their feelings against each other, and against the audience, is nothing short of agonizing.
Get it together, boys. I'm on my knees begging. Work it out for the sake of your hearts and mine. I can't take this much longer lol
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ghelgheli · 6 months
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17! but also using the opportunity of the ask game to get to know more about the effortless worldbuilding in sff :)
from the end-of-year book ask
17: Did any books surprise you with how good they were?
I think Three Body Problem is the only one meeting this condition this year so I'll have no trouble staying on topic :> but I'm gonna specifically talk about "hard" SF as I conceive of it—I haven't read any analysis so this may just be a jumble of improvised thoughts.
SF, being "speculative" fiction, of course has to take on the problem of speculating and of presenting things that don't (and perhaps cannot) happen. On average this is accomplished thru a healthy combination of scientific grounding and good-natured handwaving: I drop a few sentences about "quantum entanglement" and you go along with my ansible, or you tell me about "positronic circuits" and I agree that you can make a brain with them. This is the compact that makes SF work because you fundamentally cannot expect speculation without, well, ceding ground on reality.
But at least a subset of SF readers are of the kind to really want to grok how it is that this or that scientific feature of the world works or may come about. Every contraption and novel technology is like a puzzle to be riddled out. This is the place where speculation becomes sincere mechanical prediction, and it's why I love hard SF.
This subset of readers can be matched to a subgenre of writers who commit fully to filling in as many blanks in their technological, biological, etc. speculation as possible. The rows of astronomical data can't be left vague—tell me what frequency of light we're dealing with here—xenobiology isn't taken for granted—what is the neurology of your aliens??—and so on. The dots are connected, the rest of the owl is drawn for real, the image is made crisp. Like fireworks for the reader's brain.
When this kind of worldbuilding is executed well imo it looks effortless. Looks, not is, because behind every explanation of near-c travel is hours of research into at least special relativity and time dilation, along with calculations by-hand. Behind every account of an exoplanet's atmosphere is probably a few papers perused on the subject and several articles on scientific american. Peter Watts, in the note at the end of Blindsight, includes a fucking bibliography of a hundred or so references as well as thank-yous to many an academic he split handles of liquor with. And this is only the visible fragment of what has to be a library of knowledge accumulated both passively and actively to make a speculated world feel as concretely plausible as possible.
None of this is necessary for good SF. The aforementioned compact means any author can opt out of this commitment at any time. But it's what it takes to make tightly-written hard SF, where your conceptual hands are kept diligently at your side, waving an idea through maybe once every five chapters when you have no other choice.
So anyway, Three Body Problem is a tour de force in doing this and doing it cleanly. It uses a storytelling device a lot of hard SF employs to make it work: rather than stuffing dense exposition into narration (at which point, just read the source papers) it deploys a cast of characters who more than anything else, really know their shit. We get exposition trickle-fed through experts who are trying, along with us, to make sense of their novel environments and unfamiliar technologies using their knowledge of the present limits of human understanding. This is what Watts does in Blindsight too, by the way: a claustrophobic ship crewed by technical specialists makes first contact, so everyone has something encyclopedic to say about everything and it's only natural.
What astounded me about Cixin Liu's writing is that he made it work just when I least thought he would be able to. I was sure I was being shown things completely inexplicable and necessarily supernatural until he went and explained them in plain terms; better yet, he explained them in ways that made so much sense in retrospect that I was kicking myself for not seeing the answer. This has exactly the flavour of a good puzzle.
The trade-off hard SF makes is that you are often limited in the metaphorical/thematic work you can do through your speculation. I think the contrast between "calendrical science" in Yoon Ha Lee's Machineries of Empire series and Asimov's "psychohistory" illustrates this well.
Yoon Ha Lee has mathematical training, and calendrical science is a speculative field consisting of theorems, conjectures, proofs, etc. in the language of mathematics that stand in for cultural hegemony and power projection. This makes for a great operationalization of soft power: space is filled and distorted by the quantifiable effects of whatever regime is dominant there (the "calendar" here being synecdoche for culture writ large). But obviously he can't fill in the blanks of how a calendar causes spacetime distortions that specifically make one side's weapons more effective, or provide certain formations with shielding effects. This is, I guess, semi-hard (lol) SF—you can see how it's supposed to work, but it's clear that it just won't. What you get in return is pretty politically interesting storytelling.
Psychohistory is the converse: a deterministic-enough lovechild of economics and sociology explained in the Foundation series as using all the familiar methods of linear algebra and differential equations together with unfamiliar innovations of just how to quantify human behaviour in order to make reliable predictions. There are entire chapters dedicated to explaining the conceptual nuance that went into developing psychohistory ("the hand on thigh principle" from prelude to foundation is just about how the theory resolves divergence by reducing insignificant terms to zero) and an entire book to exploring one of its limitations. It's fascinating to read. But you also get little narrative depth out of it, because hard SF, even when done well, is not guaranteed to make a story thematically interesting or politically compelling. This is the Three Body Problem problem too: its political commitments are threadbare and unserious because that's just not what it's about. I couldn't recommend it on those terms, but that's not what I like so much about it. I will say the conceptualization goes a little off the rails in the final chapters, but I think most SF authors were in some kind of string theory inspired fugue state at the time.
What I would love to see (and I'm sure exists) is hard SF that also has interesting politics. Unfortunately that's an intersection of two already-narrow intersections.
ty for ask✨🐐
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clone-anon · 6 months
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Finding a Way
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Pairing: Hevy x GN!Reader
Rating: SFW, we’ll say PG-13
Word Count: 2522
Warnings: Explosion at Rishi Station, some angst but plenty of fluff, description of injuries and healing, kissing, cuddling
A/N: This was written for @sinfulsalutations as part of the @rare-clone-fic-exchange. I hope you enjoy this. It's my first time writing Hevy, but I love him.
Summary: This is a Hevy Lives AU. You're a GAR contractor who takes supplies to various outposts, including Rishi Station. You strike up a friendly relationship with Hevy and are devastated to learn of the explosion, doing what you can to reach out to him once he heals, and getting a lot closer along the way.
Other characters mentioned: Domino Squad, 99, and OC clone medic Shots
Hevy did not like Rishi Station. All that training just to get here? The time passed in the usual way.  You connected via comms, bringing a shipment of cargo in for the squad.  He acknowledged when you asked for permission to land.  Your job had you skipping around to various outposts bringing supplies. Sometimes, you were the only outside face they saw for many rotations. 
You landed and Hevy greeted you as you got off the ship.  Echo confirmed the cargo you brought was exactly what they ordered. Ration bars, dehydrated soup mix, standard issue soap and shampoo, and five sets of spare blacks.  The boys all helped you unload the cargo and Hevy decided to walk you back to the ship. He didn’t have to. He wasn’t sure what propelled him forward, but he thought it would be a nice gesture.
“Thanks, Hevy,” you said, just before boarding.
“My pleasure,” he replied.  He smiled slightly and gave a small nod.  You returned the smile and had a feeling this was going to become your favorite stop on this route.
Every two weeks you would stop at Rishi Station with supplies and every two weeks Hevy would be there to greet you. You got to know Domino Squad well and made sure it was your last stop of the day so that you could take your time without having to worry about where you were headed next. You started including a few things that were not standard issue, just so they didn’t feel forgotten out there. They appreciated the fresh fruit, candy, and puzzles.
“You don’t have to do that,” Hevy said, as he watched his brothers immediately start scrutinizing one of the puzzles, excited for something new.
“I know,” you answered, “I just thought you’d like it.”
“I do,” he said with a smile. “I mean, er, we do. We definitely do.”
He walked you to your ship again, but instead of boarding right away, you stood outside long enough to look at the stars. You didn’t want to stay out too long with the local fauna being what they were, but you loved how clear the sky was tonight and you were really starting to like Hevy. He was strong and loyal to his brothers, but there was a gentleness to him too.  You looked at the night sky together and showed him some of the routes you took, your finger tracing a course between dotted planets. Hevy committed them to memory so he could think about you flying around out there, somehow close even if you weren’t there with him.
“If they ever let me off this moon, can I take you on a proper date?”  The question escaped his lips before he even had the chance to stop himself.
“I’d like that very much,” you replied.  “I live on Coruscant. I’m sure we could find something to do.”
“It’s a date then,” he said, reaching for your hand. You softly clasped his hand in your own, giving it a light squeeze and feeling heat fill your cheeks.  You were stuck staring into each others eyes and smiling when your chrono went off, reminding you that you definitely had to leave.
“I’m sorry,” you sighed.
“I understand,” he said, giving your hand a squeeze in return and letting it go. “Until next time.”
You nodded with a grin and got on your shuttle. He watched you fly away before rejoining his brothers.
There was not to be a next time, though.  You’d never go back to Rishi Station.  Several rotations after you left, there was an attack.  You heard about it from some other troopers on your route and your heart dropped to the floor.  It was another rotation before Echo managed to find you through a GAR database and managed to contact you.  They were back on Kamino with Hevy.  He’d nearly died, but somehow, the side panel on the bomb they made managed to stay intact and push him out of the building, protecting him from certain death.  Still, he was badly injured and the Kaminoans weren’t sure he would make it. If several jedi generals hadn’t intervened, he might not have found himself in a bacta tank. He had massive burns all over his body and a massive concussion along with internal bruising.  The recovery would not be easy.  His armor had been mostly destroyed, but it helped save him.
When you received the message, you read it as quickly as you could, hoping against hope that it wasn’t as bad as it sounded. You started crying when you read that Hevy was alive. Although your heart broke every time you got to know a clone and found out the war had taken them, Hevy was special to you. You gave yourself a moment to let the tears flow as relief swept through your being.  Once you were ready, you read the rest of the message. Hevy was doing poorly, but they were trying to keep him alive long enough for him to heal. Echo and Fives had joined the 501st and Hevy was set to join too, as long as he pulled through.  He was stuck on Kamino in the meantime.  He and Fives wanted you to know, but they couldn’t say more than that.  You immediately asked if you could come and see him, but the Kaminoans didn’t want that.  You didn’t really have a reason to be on Kamino and sneaking you in so you could visit had its risks.  Your heart sank again, but in your correspondence, Fives had an idea.  He asked if you could send a voice recording for Hevy and they could play it to him to try to help lift his spirits. They didn’t know if he could even hear it while in the bacta tank, but it was worth a shot.
And so, Echo and Fives found themselves standing outside Hevy’s bacta tank playing your recording multiple times a day. Hi Hevy. It’s me. I heard what you did and what happened. I’m proud of you and you need to get better. You still owe me a date. Promise me you’ll be there.  When Echo and Fives had to ship out with the 501st for their next mission, they gave the recording to 99, who sat there diligently playing your message at least once a day and keeping Hevy company.  After a couple rotations he started to notice Hevy’s hand twitched when he heard the recording.
Hevy heard your voice and his brain was trying to comprehend where he was. Was he alive? How was he alive? He felt himself floating and could hear 99’s voice after yours. He wished more than anything to see his brothers and to see you.  He promised himself he’d find his way back to you. 
It was only one more rotation and he was out of the tank.  He was greeted by 99, a medical droid, and a clone medic named Shots. 
“Glad to have you back, Hevy,” smiled 99, as the droid and Shots helped Hevy dry off and lay down.
“Glad to be back, 99,” he replied.
Shots and the droid started scanning Hevy and he just rolled his eyes.
“I just woke up,” he protested.
“Yes, but the faster we scan you and confirm you’re fine, the sooner you can leave,” Shots retorted with a grin. 
Hevy sighed and waited, keeping a particular eye on the droid.  There wasn’t a single clone he knew who loved the medbay or wanted to spend more time there than they had to.
“Okay, looks like your burns healed, internal bruises are mostly gone, and you have no signs of concussion,” Shots reported. “We’ll get you a training session to see how that goes, but barring any major issues, you should be ready for duty.”
Hevy was pleased with the news.  99 walked him down to his temporary quarters and told him what happened during and after the explosion. Hevy took in the information and accepted that it just wasn’t his time yet. At least they had been successful in defending Rishi Station. 
“99?”
“Yes?” 
“There was another voice. When I was in the tank. I heard your voice and one other.”  He didn’t want to give too much away, but he had to know.
“Oh yes,” 99 replied.  “Echo left this for you. Something about communicating with a supplier?”
Hevy smiled. “Thanks 99.”
A couple rotations later he passed a physical exam, was cleared to join the 501st, and headed out into battle, but not before following the instructions Echo left for how to contact you.  It all seemed to happen so quickly in your mind.  He nearly died and they were already sending him into battle. In his message, he explained what he remembered and promised you he’d be on Coruscant soon.  You wanted to see him before he headed into battle, but knew that’s not how the GAR worked.
You kept yourself busy in the meantime, still delivering supplies to the outposts and adding a new stopping point. Every time you went past the old route that would have taken you to Rishi, you smiled to yourself. You missed that stop. You missed him.  You were thankful you got to have some text correspondence while he was gone so you knew he made it through each day. He wasn’t allowed to say much about where he was or what he was doing as that was on a need-to-know basis and the army certainly didn’t want to risk soldier’s transmissions being intercepted while communicating with a civilian, but you heard from him and that got you through the day.  Your messages started getting more personal, allowing him to know you and asking questions about him. You told him about a cool plant you saw in the market or the new flavor of ration bar which did not taste as good as was advertised.
On his end, Hevy looked for a new message from you every chance he got. They always made him smile.  He loved reading about life on Coruscant, learning about your friends and the places you liked to go. He loved all the little details too.  He had gotten to know you and really liked you before the accident, but he was seriously falling for you now. He would be on Coruscant soon and felt his heart pound as he wrote, “So what about that date?”
On your end, you had to read the words over and over, just to make sure you still weren’t making it up.  You replied, “I’m ready when you are.”
The day came and your mind was only on him. You didn’t pretend to care about work that day, so much as deciding to take the day off so you weren’t distracted while flying.  Hevy wore a new set of fatigues and stood a little awkwardly at your predetermined meet-up location, but he didn’t have to wait long.  As soon as he saw you he ran to embrace you. It felt like the most natural thing. You held on to his back and shoulders, subconsciously trying to make sure he was really here. You breathed deeply and felt tears coming to your eyes. You pulled away from the hug a little, your hands tracing down each arm and resting on his hands.
“You’re here,” you said, looking up into his beautiful brown eyes. “You’re really here.”
He hugged you again. “I finally made it, cyare.”
There was so much you wanted to show him.  You took his hand and led him through that part of town, stopping at one of your favorite places to eat.  He wanted to try more food than he could possibly fit in his stomach and you told him you’d just have to bring him there back again and again.  Now that he was here you could take your time. Even though the war was still going on, you had this moment right now and you weren’t going to waste it.  Hevy loved walking around with you and held your hand the entire time, not wanting to let go. You walked him through a small festival, enjoying the music while lights shown through blown glass art in every color.  It was beautiful, but it was even better that you were sharing the experience. You chatted well into the night until the festival was starting to shut down. 
“I don’t want this night to end,” you admitted.
“I don’t either,” he agreed.
“When do you ship out next?”
“A week. The 501st boys really needed a break. I just joined them, but they’ve been out there fighting for a long time without shore leave.”
“Hevy,” you retorted with a grin, “You are part of them now and you need a break too. Besides, you just got blown up.”
He chuckled. “Fair enough.”
You looked down and thought for a moment.
“What is it,” he asked. “Is something wrong?”
You shook your head. “I was just wondering if maybe you’d like to spend the night at my place. Nothing more than… I don’t know if that would be too much.”
“I’d love to,” he answered. “I’d also love to kiss you.”
You beamed and leaned toward him.  His lips planted firmly on yours made you both smile. As he pulled away you surged forward just a bit to leave one more little kiss for him.
He took your hand and let you lead the way. You were just one level down and it wasn’t long before you let him inside, suddenly wondering why you hadn’t cleaned up more. Hevy didn’t mind though. He didn’t even notice. He liked seeing where you live and seeing your personality in the little items you had around your home.  After you both took your boots off, he grinned and picked you up, kissing you again.
“Oh! Hevy!” You looked down, a little unsure.  He calmly looked up at you, happy to have you in his arms.
“I carry a Z-6 rotary cannon,” he said confidently.  Then, a little softer he added, “I could carry you anywhere. Just say the word.”
You leaned down and rested your forehead to his, placing your arms on his shoulders and smiling down at him.
You whispered, “For tonight, how about you just take me that way.” You tilted your head and looked down the hallway toward your bedroom.
He grinned, “I can do that.”
You found yourselves in bed, snuggling against each other. While the environment was new to him, because it was you and your home, he immediately relaxed. Right now, the war didn’t exist. Right now, he was with you. He was alive and here and happy.  He settled against the pillow and pulled you a little closer.  You kissed him again.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” you said quietly.
“So am I, cyar’ika.”
You listened to his heartbeat and felt his chest rise and fall with each breath. It was comforting.  It wasn’t long before you fell asleep in each other’s arms, wanting nothing more than to steal away any moment with him you could get.
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amywritesthings · 1 year
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silver underground. / chapter five.
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Pairing: Levi Ackerman x F!Reader (Attack on Titan / Shingeki no Kyojin)
Word Count: 5K
Summary: Day 120 - Also known as the day you finally confront Captain Levi after your dreams begin to connect some dots.
Warnings: Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort, Memory Loss, Eventual Romance, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Flashbacks, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Nonbinary Hange Zoe
( Read on AO3 )
Previous Chapter. / Next Chapter. | Masterlist.
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CHAPTER FIVE.
“Thanks.”
The boy with raven hair speaks the syllable like his voice forgets its function, hoarse and small. In his hands is a small, precious piece of bread. His chin lowers to take a bird-sized bite, chewing slowly to savor the taste.
Looking down, you find that your hands are occupied by a half of a loaf, too — perhaps even the other half of the one the boy has.
You bring the food to your mouth, careful not to bite down too hard.
“Can I… sit?” you ask the boy as he continues to feed.
He nods once, so you nestle into the empty spot beside him.
Rather than floating in the dream's usual nothingness, the bench sits hidden in a closed-off dark room, lit only by lanterns and torches lining its walls. Shouts sound in the distance, but the noises are not scared. They’re… laughing. Howling, even, at jokes and drinking songs.
You can't hear the lyrics no matter how hard you listen.
For what feels like hours you sit beside this strange, quiet boy, happy not to be alone.
However a man shouts louder than the rest, belligerent and shitfaced, catching your attention. The boy never once looks up. You see a hat adorned on his head where long, unkempt hair flies out from the bottom of the hat like wires.
“Is… that your dad?”
You don’t know why you ask.
The boy ignores you for a length of time, picking apart what little is left of the roll.
“Is that your mom?” he croaks in return.
You’re scared to look at him, but you do anyway. Instead of a gnarled face of a woman like before, it’s finally his face: you're met with silver gray eyes, sunken to their sockets and tired, as he stares curiously at you. His right eye is blackened, cheek subsequently swollen, but he doesn’t seem to be in any immediate pain.
“No,” you answer, the syllable shaken. “I call her Mother, but… she found me.”
He doesn’t react — only chews, like every bite may be his last, and swallows. His tongue darts out to lick the crumbs from his busted lip.
You want to ask.
It’s been so many times, you’ve never gotten this far, and you want to finally ask.
“Do you have a na—”
“Levi!”
Bolting right out of bed with a choked gasp, your hand instinctively reaches for your throat. 
Did you just say Levi’s name out loud, or was that in your dream?
It sure feels like it came from your mouth. Pressing a timid hand to your sweat-slicked face, you find your breath and attempt to quell your gasps in the pale light of the moon. You look to your left to see the curtain billowing in the midnight wind.
A dream.
The same fucking dream, over and over.
“What the hell was that?” you ask the air, and no reply comes beyond someone grumbling for you to shut the hell up.
The barracks — you’re still sleeping in the cadet barracks.
Training with the hopefuls ought to be tougher than it is, but you imagine it’s easy because you lived the war they strive to experience: ODM gear training is a breeze. Strategy classes bring a certain feel of home. You’re able to debate military advancements with the book-drawn knowledge to back it up. Running — so much goddamn running — but your training in Trost paid off.
Commander Erwin’s theory — your theory — is proving right.
The cadet training is helpful, because you now see a puzzle piece perfectly clear in your mind’s eye: that sad child’s face, the one you’ve been chasing for the last four months. If given a pen and paper, then you could draw the damn look of it on command.
Slipping out of bed to relax in the night air, you pull your tan cadet jacket over your shoulders, settle into your knee-high boots, and leave your exhausted bunkmates to dream.
(Yeah — that’s one thing you didn’t anticipate: wearing the swords like you didn’t already earn your Wings of Freedom stripes.)
You could seek out the Scouts. If the rumors are true, then Hange should be arriving today or tomorrow with the rest of them to see how you’re doing.
According to Commandant Shadis, there’s no real need to waste anymore time. You’re battle ready, even if your brain isn’t following up with the finite details. Those, he argues, could come later or not at all. At the end of the day, skill is what matters.
Whether they accept you back to the Scouts is another story entirely, yet having Commander Erwin on your side with the help of Section Commander Hange increases your chances exponentially.
Despite the nerves in your belly, you are excited to go beyond the Walls. To see what you must’ve witnessed time and time again in your military career.
Maybe, in a belatedly morbid fashion, you always wished you could one day relive what it would be like to see it for the first time all over again.
The wind at midnight is freezing in comparison to the blazing morning sun. You hug your arms closer to your sides, reliant on body warmth to push you forward in the stroll to clear your head.
Then two Military police officers enter your peripheral.
Realizing you have no jurisdiction after curfew, you search your surroundings for cover. Abruptly you spot a ration barrel and drop to a crouch, hoping they didn’t see you aimlessly walking around.
You stay low, fingertips pressed to the oak barrel, and wait.
Their mumbles turn into coherent sentences with each nearing step. You don't mean to overhear, but their conversation freezes you in your tracks.
“Did you hear about the extra addition to the cadets?” the one with red hair grunts.
The blonde shakes his head. “What about an extra what now?”
“The cadet that’s not really a cadet.”
Oh? Your hands press further into the barrel.
“Not ringin’ any bells.”
“Remember the chick they called Lieutenant? Served under Erwin.”
“Oh… yeah, now that you say Lieutenant, I kinda do,” the blonde answers, slow to start.
“Well, they’ve managed to wake up that dead sewer rat and thought it would be beneficial to send her to train with the cadets. Word is they’re trying to prep her back to the Scouts.”
The blonde huffs. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
“Nope.” The ‘p’ is popped. “Heard the news from Raoul.”
“Wasn’t she in really bad shape? Like… memory screw-y type of bad?”
“Yeah. A coma,” the redhead confirms. “They won’t tell anyone anything beyond hitting her head, but I saw they’re training her here for a few weeks to see what she remembers.”
“Damn, talk about wasting resources.” Your blood runs cold. “That’s about how rodents work, though. That bastard Captain Levi opened up the cellar for the nasty Underground folk.”
Wait.
Captain Levi?
“Can’t believe that shit ever flew with the Scouts in the first place. I don’t know what Erwin was thinking, bringing an Underground brat in.”
Captain Levi was from the Underground, too?
“I thought we got rid of the start of the infestation when they said she died. But you can’t kill that Captain kid. He’s got more lives than a street cat.”
Raven hair.
“Nope — and she’s just as bad,” the blonde laments. “Pretty sure they worked together way before the Scouts, too, if you believe the rumors.”
“No shit?”
“Yeah. Rats stick together. Erwin has a fetish for waywards he can kill under his thumb.”
Sunken gray eyes.
“So we got thugs on the frontlines. Wonderful,” the redhead grunts. “Guess that’s better than the people behind the Walls. Get rid of them first.”
You feel like you’re going to be sick.
Bracing the barrel as they begin to move their post to another section of the training camp, you place your right hand over your mouth.
There’s no way.
Trembling in your crouched space, you replay the conversation over and over in your head like it’ll piece together and make sense. You study the patch of grass under your brown boot, waiting for a rogue tendril to crawl from the earth and drag you back underground.
(Where you belong, according to them.)
Yet you raise your chin to find you’re not alone behind the food barrels:
The little boy in the dream, his messy mop of black hair, stares back at you with a confused expression etched across his malnourished features. His lips part, mouthing an answer to a question you’ve asked him night after night after night.
Do you have a name?
Then he lifts his hand, offering his half of the bread loaf.
When you blink, he vanishes into thin air, leaving you sweating with the very real gravity of the situation sitting heavy at the back of your tongue.
You have to find him.
Tomorrow, you have to find Captain Levi.
.
.
.
.
“They said she’s doing well.”
“Why are you whispering?”
“Because if I speak any louder, I might scream,” Hange confesses in a rushed hiss, fidgeting with their fingers at the mess hall table. “And if I scream, then I’ll be alerting every cadet within a five-meter radius that we’re here.”
“Pretty sure most of the cadets are already aware, Hange.”
“Do you think she’s remembering more conversations?” they ask, flipping the subject he can’t escape from. “Or maybe a past mission?”
Levi couldn’t roll his eyes any harder.
The second the report came back from your temporary superiors is the second this Special Operations squad lost their fucking minds.
Petra hasn’t stopped babbling about how much she missed having you around after dropping you off to the training camp three weeks ago. Hange isn’t much better, but he can tune out their incessant babbling easier than most. Gunther, Oluo, Eld — they all want to know if they’re bringing you home.
Home — like what’s out here beyond the Wall Rose is any home at all.
By sticking you in the pool of cadet shit-stains looking to claw their way into the interior, Erwin inadvertently slashed the hopes and dreams of the 104th. Adding you to their mix only puts them at a grave disadvantage: if they make you stay the entire time, then you’d walk away with top marks from experience alone.
In a way, putting a memory-riddled veteran in disguise as a cadet is fucking hilarious.
“She isn’t a dog ready for tricks, Hange.” Levi brings the lip of his tea cup to his lips. “And her mind’s the only thing fucked, not her muscle memory.”
“Yeah, but she didn’t even go through cadet training when she first came to us. How much muscle memory could there be?”
“Environmental experiences trump cadet bullshit.”
“I suppose so.” Pursing their lips, Hange waves their spoon around aimlessly. “Acing her ODM gear aptitude test makes the most sense. Hand-to-hand combat, another surefire win. Still…”
Levi narrows his eyes. “Still?”
“I wonder how long it should take for her memory to return. Fully, I mean.”
Confliction makes his mouth itch.
On one hand, he’s hopeful that you never do. An honorable discharge from the Scout Regiment may not hold the same weight as a retired MP, but it’s a safer life behind the walls than whatever the fuck they lead as a unit now.
On the other hand, he can’t forget that this is your choice. 
Even in the aftermath of a horrific accident where you’ve lost everything, you’re still choosing to see if you can one day serve and re-join the Scouts.
Clearly Erwin would allow it. Resources wouldn’t be wasted on a half-assed effort.
But can he afford seeing that blank expression pointed in his direction for the rest of his goddamn living days?
It was hard enough to have a basic conversation with you. Factor in the idea that, somewhere in the not-so-distant future, he may work alongside you outside of these Walls again?
He ought to sabotage your training.
He ought to go back to his old ways and lie, cheat, steal, to ensure your failure.
He ought to do something — anything but the one thing everyone expects him to do.
Erwin Smith is playing a game of 4-D chess and Levi cannot see the board or where his next piece may be headed.
It’s infuriating.
“Is he still going to reinstate her even if she’s still fucked in the head?” Levi asks, maintaining a monotone distance from the subject.
Hange pushes some food around with their spoon. “Hard to tell. I don’t think they would waste the resources if they thought it wasn’t a potential win for us.”
Of course Hange iterates exactly what he’s thinking — they’re opposites on humanity’s spectrum yet somehow always on the same wavelength.
“What about you?”
That question, however, is one he doesn’t expect. Levi uncrosses his legs. 
“What about me?”
“Are you okay with her getting added back to Levi Squad if she passes?”
No.
Absolutely fucking not.
(But would he want you reassigned where he can’t follow? Also absolutely fucking not.)
“Let’s see how she’s faring first,” he decides, eyes trailing the entrance of a taller person as Hange stands from the table. He’s about to ask, but then he sees it: Moblit rushes in from the left with several papers rolled into his hands, looking positively frantic and exhausted.
Never a dull moment in Hange Zoe’s life.
“Quitting on me?” Levi teases against the flat of his voice, and Hange’s lips purse.
“Oh, stop it. Like you weren’t about to shut my twenty questions down.” They stick out their tongue as they dismount the bench. “Party pooper.”
“That’s the closest to a shit joke as I’m ever going to get from you.”
A loud ha! escapes their lips while they walk to the door, hounded by Moblit’s anxious babbling until — nothing.
Silence.
The disappearance of Hange, the lack of Erwin, just leaves Levi to sit menacingly in the corner on his own. At other occupied tables, the overspill of injured and traumatized cadets eat their portioned meal for the morning. 
A quiet place away from the noise of the other recruits thriving at the idea of war.
If he squints hard enough, a woman hunched over the table could be you — bruised to oblivion from the collarbone-up, with shaken hands rattling the ceramic plate below.
It causes his own fist resting on the table’s surface to tighten.
Maybe he should — talk to you, tell you, about everything.
Maybe if you learned just how bad it gets out there, then you’ll change your mind.
(There’s still time.)
.
.
.
.
You take off the minute you’re excused from the morning duties to investigate the grounds.
They have to be here somewhere.
Granted, you’re not sure if your current cadet status will get you anywhere in this camp. Revoked and stripped of the Scout title may bring setbacks when it comes to this — remembering, seeking answers — but you’re hopeful there’s a loophole nestled between your alleged seniority and talent.
When you turn a right corner, you see it: The glasses. The messy ponytail. The green cloak.
You yelp the name when excitement takes hold of your throat:
“Hange!"
Because you’re happy to see them walking by the barracks with Moblit in tow. Anxiety buzzes under your skin as they stop in their tracks and turn on their heel.
Instantly beaming at the sight of you, Hange yells into the crisp morning air and waves their hands wildly above their head. 
You take off on a jog to meet them faster.
“James! Look at you! All dressed up— Huh.” Their excitement washes away at the sight of the double-sword badges on your jacket. “Funny, that’s the wrong emblem.”
You drop your chin as they poke an unimpressed finger to the side of your arm, as if a sticker will peel off and reveal the Wings of Freedom instead. The badge stays put.
“They thought it would be too much of a distraction to give me my Scout jacket,” you explain, hurried, before waving to the man behind her. “Hey, Moblit.”
He blanches to a translucent pale, jaw slacked.
Hange squeals in their throat.
It takes a second to realize what you’ve said.
Up until today, you had never met Moblit.
“Oh. My. God!” Hange says from a whisper to a shriek. “Did you hear that? Moblit, you’re the first person she’s greeted by name!”
“Whoa,” he murmurs under his breath, still flushed from shock. “I, uh… Hey, James.”
“This is amazing!” Hange growls, sucking in a sharp breath as both of their hands clamp down on your sore arms. “Of course, when Erwin suggested the hypothesis that maybe training would kickstart things, I didn’t think it would work that well! What else are you remembering? Tellmetellmetellme.”
As much as you would like to fill them in, you know there’s someone else you need to see first.
“Levi.”
You exhale his name like a prayer, and Hange’s expression shifts to one of awe. 
“Oh?”
“No, not like that. I’m— Have you seen the Captain? I need to speak with him. It’s urgent.”
“I—” The syllable gets trapped in Hange’s throat before a finger raises, pointing to the east. “...he was just at the mess hall. He was supposed to visit the stables after breakfast.”
“Thank you,” you deflate, shrugging out of their grasp. “We’ll catch up later, right? I’ll see you in a bit.”
They don’t try to stop you when you disengage.
I have to talk to the Captain.
Because if he continues to avoid you, then there is a chance the outline of this puzzle will never be completed.
.
.
.
.
Just as Hange suggested, you see it: the smaller framed man in the middle of the horse stables just east of the training camp.
Captain Levi wears the emerald cloak over his shoulders, arm raised to give attention to a horse as dark as midnight. It licks at the palm of his hand generously, and the captain doesn’t pull away until its tongue pokes out a third time.
You stand still at the mouth of the empty stables, watching.
Observing.
Because if you’re going to implode the only chance you might have to get this right, then it has to be done with the utmost certainty that what you’re about to say is true.
And despite how your certainty has yet to reach beyond ninety percent, the clues are littered all over him:
The jet-black hair curved in a fresh, precise undercut. The way his eyes always look like he’s tired even after a long night’s rest. The skinniness to his frame that harnesses such ungodly strength. The curve of his nose at his profile.
His image morphs, changes, from glorious emerald to tattered tan shirts hanging off of his torso. Wild and unkempt hair. Same nose, but smaller. Shorter.
Your brain short-circuits at the images colliding.
“It was you.”
The whispered words tumble faster than you can stop them. 
They curl and float through the air until they reach the shorter man in the middle of the stables in an unfortunate echo, and the world seems so much smaller than it was a moment ago.
He turns.
His stare is bone chilling.
At the sight of you Levi stops brushing the mane of his horse, arm still raised in the air. Carefully he lowers his hand to set the wooden brush on a stool, eyes narrowed to slits.
“Hello to you, too.”
“Captain.” You take a step towards him. “Sir, I have something urgent to ask you.”
He looks like he considers for a moment before his attention lulls back to the horse he had been originally tending to. “Aren't you supposed to be busy running drills?”
“I should be. I am.” You take another step. “But—”
“So then why are you—”
“I saw you!” you blurt, loud and certain.
You realize you may sound a breath short of delusional by the way he rips his attention from the horse to stare at you like you’ve lost your mind. Where he usually appears rigid, expressionless, his eyes gleam with palpable confusion.
Levi snorts. “That was a weirdly-worded question.”
“It was you,” you press on, losing your breath, “before all of this.”
Your stare is hopeful. He is devoid of such.
You dare another step forward, hands out to your sides.
“I’ve been seeing things,” you say.
“Sounds like a condition for a doctor, not me,” he flatly replies.
“Memories,” you clarify, fidgeting with your fingers in a failed attempt to soothe your own nerves. “Of this specific place and the people in it. They’re from the Underground City. I must have been… I don’t know, young? Maybe really young, which would make sense since — but…”
The whites of his eyes grow, if only a fraction.
You try to explain faster.
“Everything is in pieces, right? I told you that last time we spoke. Nothing’s really fit together, not really, but whenever I dream about where I came from, I’m always seeing this young boy. He’s got this black messy hair. His clothes hang right off of him — he’s so small, and he sits with me on this bench eating food I offer him.”
Fuck, is he really going to make you spell it out? 
“And I think it might be—”
Wide-eyed confusion twists to an apprehensive sneer. 
“How could you be so sure it was me?”
Your shoulders slump.
“Because he looks exactly like you. Maybe with a skinnier body and a smaller face, but I’m seeing it now. The hair, the— the gray eyes—”
Finally he bites, voice low. “Because small kids with gray eyes are so fucking rare.”
“Don’t act like it doesn’t make sense!” you bark. “Everyone says I should remember you — because you know me better than anyone in the Scouts. And I’m not insane, because the person I keep dreaming about isn’t just a kid, it isn’t just some subconscious shit—”
His teeth clench together. “Careful.”
“And I heard it,” you continue, ignoring his warning. “Last night, I overheard two Military Policemen talking about how Erwin Smith allowed two rats from the sewers to join the Scout Regiment. Captain Levi, who came from the Underground, and a Lieutenant, who lost her memory.” Your eyes narrow. “I may not have my shit screwed on right, Captain, but it doesn’t take many brain cells to put two and two together.”
At the evidence, Levi says nothing. 
All that keeps the silence away in the barn are the rustling legs and raspberry breaths of horses. 
Your shoulders deflate at his unwavering, piercing gaze.
“You know me,” you finish, voice catching on emotion, “but you won’t help me. Why?”
Levi falters for a second, and you recognize the emotion that flickers over his face this time:
Doubt.
He doesn’t mouth off, which is one good thing about this uncomfortable encounter.
In your gut you can feel that this isn’t an unfounded discovery, but Levi isn’t willing to—
“Because you finally have an out.”
It’s the first real thing Levi Ackerman has said to you in four months.
Defeat settles into your tired bones when he disengages and turns his chin back to his horse. In the glow of the morning light from the open windows, he looks hunched — and, if you didn’t know any better, just as defeated as you — like so little was too much to divulge.
“Did we join the Scouts together?” you murmur, softening with hope.
Levi sets his jaw, and when you think the attempt has failed, he speaks:
“No. I joined without you.”
There.
Your eyesight becomes glossy with overwhelming emotion.
You’re not crazy.
(You were always right.)
“When?” you urge under your breath, nearing without realizing. 
He stays put. “Years ago.”
“And when did—”
“Two months after.”
Where you can’t stop watching him, Levi refuses to look anywhere but ahead.
“So I knew you?”
“Yes.”
“Since we joined the Scouts?”
“Yes.”
“And before that?”
In your mind’s eye is a sullen face, exhausted from an eternal night.
He sighs through his nose. “You’re not listening to what I’m saying, James.”
By the time he turns his head, you’re only three steps away.
Hearing the sound of your name on his lips — not icy, not angry, not anything beyond what it is — takes you off guard. 
“Do yourself a favor — continue training with the cadets. Chances are you’ll get Top 10, easy. Top 10 means you can choose where you serve. Most of the brats pick the Interior.”
Your brows fly high. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Interior is a cushy gig. They’re offered real bedrooms, routine meals—”
“Captain—”
“—and the most danger they get into is wiping the King’s ass,” Levi continues, shifting his left boot closer to you. “I heard he’s got one hell of a shit schedule.”
You both stare, eye to eye, as his words of advice settle into the dirt between you. 
“...so you want me to cheat my way into the interior,” you eventually recap, quiet and disgusted, “and forget the Scouts?”
“Forget all of it,” Levi confirms, dead serious.
This isn’t what you were expecting if – and when – you finally spoke to the captain. For someone who is allegedly important to you, Levi sure has a funny way of showing it. Pawning you off to whatever gets you furthest from whatever lies beyond the Walls is a swift punch to the gut. Maybe you barely know you, but you do know one thing: hiding away in the Interior was never an option.
Forget all of it.
“I’m not doing that.” A humorless laugh exits your mouth. “You know I’m not going to do that.”
“I know,” he resigns, monotone. “Worth a try, though, to get through your thick head.”
“You’re an asshole.”
You’re not sure what compels you to snap, but it’s biting. Venomous.
You near him like a predator challenging another in its rank, chin ducked. Levi steps in a half-circle in a subconscious dance.
“You are. I have been asking you, begging you, going so far as to corner you so you can maybe help me out, and all you’re willing to do is run. Every damn time you see me, you turn like a coward and go the opposite direction. I can even see it right now: you’re hoping Hange or Moblit walk in so you have an excuse to defer me to them.”
You sneer, teeth grit.
“Humanity’s Strongest, my ass.”
It’s about the worst ramble you could’ve offered him. With each passing accusation, Levi’s expression grows darker until it’s unreadable. Yet you keep going, choosing violent words over soft pleads.
The latter never worked, so the former just might.
Then something peculiar happens:
Levi’s voice upticks, melodic in what you can only describe as quiet awe.
“You finally sound a little more like you.”
You watch with lips parted. Levi nods to himself, as if certain his assessment is right, before his arms cross under the emerald cloak decorating his shoulders.
“You’re right: I have been avoiding you,” he finally admits steadily. “I couldn’t stand the wide-eyed and bushy-tailed act. It doesn’t wear well on you.”
All the blood drains from your body.
“Commander Erwin’s set on making you a Scout again. Only a moron would think he hasn’t thought this through, which leads me to a shitty predicament.” He pauses. “Lieutenant or not, you were a part of my squad. Am I so much of an asshole that you no longer want to be a part of it?”
You open your mouth, but no words exit.
He stares directly at you, this time with meaning.
“I won’t feed you our memories. I won’t let you speculate where I fit with the hope that I put the pieces together for you. If you want my help, then we start with a blank slate.”
“A blank slate?” you numbly respond.
“A blank slate,” he repeats.
“As if we don’t know each other at all?”
“Besides knowing what I looked like as a kid, do you?” Levi asks then clarifies. “Know me.”
Looking over his face, you want to say yes. You want to say the truth — that you might have known him your whole life — but you can’t.
Might have isn’t as strong as do.
“And if I eventually remember, even if it’s not every little detail, then will you keep shutting me out?” you question, softening your face when an emotion flickers over his. “Don’t shut me out.”
“I won’t.”
“I mean it—”
“I swear it.”
He interrupts before you can finish.
As much as you're afraid to believe it, his statement of conviction is sincere — three words rushed, hissed, with a weight pressing against your wildly-beating heart.
“Okay,” you murmur back. “I trust you.”
Just like that; no more fighting, no more lying, no more doubt. 
His hair flops with the tilt of his chin as he's caught between calling a bluff that isn’t there and the undying truth — three words solemn, slow, with a weight pressing against his heavy-burdened shoulders.
He disputes nothing.
In an attempt to start on the right foot, you hold your hand out timidly between you. Your fingers flex.
Levi’s eyes take a beat to leave yours and look down.
“I’m James,” you introduce softly. “Member of Levi Squad, Lieutenant of the Scout Regiment. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Levi swallows, thick with a hesitance. You’re almost certain he’ll step right past your humble effort to start over — just like he asked.
Then he removes a slender hand from its tucked space at his side and holds it out, hovering fingertip to fingertip.
A beat passes. His hand reaches forward, gliding along your palm to hold your hand.
He squeezes.
You feel it hit, zapping every nerve like a short-distanced lightning strike — warmth floods and envelopes your body with an image you don’t quite have the word for in the moment, but you see it when he opens his mouth.
“Levi Ackerman,” he roughly replies. “Leader of Levi Squad, Captain of the Scout Regiment. Glad to have you on my team.”
(Home.)
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Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who has liked, reblogged, and sent lovely anons about this story before. You're alll such wonderful people. xo
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sparklecryptid · 4 months
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In the Maglor-has-a-son 'verse, combined with both the cousins and the two OC daughters of Maglor 'verses you've come up with - well. It occurs to me that if you toss Celebrimbor in there, you have seven grandchildren of Feanor. (Seven grandchildren. Seven sons. The years roll and the wheel turns, and stories loves a pattern.)
Caladion does not expect to have more siblings. He does not expect for Ruiniel to toss him over her shoulder in front of all the other smiths and carrying out of the designated smithing area to plop him in front of two women and the rest of his cousins and he most certainly does not expect for one of the women in front of him to be silent.
The Song does not join in harmony. It slides off of the dark, curly haired woman in front of Caladion like water falling from a seals back.
It’s annoying. The Song shouldn’t act like that. Everything is a Song. Everything sings.
This woman doesn’t. It puzzles him. It puzzles the ghosts on either side of him. Caladion remains silent and listens.
The table is silent as Caladion and the two women seize each other up.
Caladion makes the first move. A single note breaks through the air and coaxes Song from the woman. She does not speak. The Music does not come from her lips but from her soul as it stumbles and falters and reaches a harmony with the Song around her.
“Oh,” Anordil says and that’s her name, that’s his sister, “What - Why is everything so loud?” She turns toward the silver haired woman with scars on her lips as if to ask for help. “Is it always like this?”
“Most of the time,” the silver haired woman agrees, “You get used to it.”
Anordil groans.
Saeleth can’t help but laugh.
“Aw shit,” she cackles and Huan boofs disapprovingly, “Caladion, what did you do!” Saeleth pauses for a moment and studies Anordil. “Wait I know you.”
“No you don’t,” Anordil’s response is immediate, “You know nothing.”
“You’re the one that brought that stupid mortals keep down around him!”
Calemir and Ruiniel share a look.
Celebrimbor turns his head to the sky and despairs.
Caladion sips his wine with his forge gloves still on.
The other woman - Caladion’s sister the Song swirls around her like a sheathed weapon - shakes her head.
“Was that the time you almost got married?”
“He tried to marry me,” Anordil corrects, “I said no.”
“Rather adamantly it seems,” Ruiniel crosses her arms across her chest as she speaks. She looks mildly impressed. No small feat considering who and what Ruiniel is.
“Linavron brought an entire city to ruin! I think I can get away with destroying a keep or two!”
The table turns their gaze toward Caladion’s other sister.
Linavron sips her wine delicately.
“It was a city of slavers and other such things,” Linavron says with no ounce of regret in her voice, “They deserved it.”
Ruiniel blinks as if several dots connected.
“That city in south-east - Mor - the rebellion that was sparked - that was you?”
Linavron looks Ruiniel in the eyes.
“It was needed.”
Ruiniel tosses her head back and laughs.
Linavron turns her attention to Celebrimbor who doesn’t look uncomfortable but wary.
“I won’t turn your city upside down,” Linarvon says. She pauses a moment before adding. “Unless you need me to.”
“Thanks for the offer,” Celebrimbor says dryly and he reminds Caladion of Curufin in that moment, “I’ll think about it.”
Calemir shakes his head.
“I’m too old for this.”
The table pauses and everyone’s attention shifts to the two women who joined them.
“Who has seniority?” Calemir asks innocently.
Neither of them are expecting Anordil and Linavron to share a look.
Linavron shrugs.
“I remember the Sun rising for the first time,” she offers, “I suppose that makes me the oldest after Lord Celebrimbor.”
“Just Celebrimbor,” the man in question corrects, “We’re family.”
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mrs-monaghan · 1 year
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Hey, since you often catch details and seem like an open-minded person, I want to share what I observed in the last few days. So, I definitely believe in Jikook but that was not always the case. My bias is Jimin and I always mostly focused on him, but once I observed Jungkook more carefully, the truth revealed itself step by step. Now something similar happened since I focused on Taehyung. And it seems crazy, to me as well, but please give it a chance! Watch "Nippon TV BUZZ RHYTHM 02 - BTS Cut" timestamp: 13:55, and watch (and listen to) all of their expressions closely, especially Jikook and Taehyung. Keep an eye on Namjoon, too. Then please look at the lyrics of Sweet Night and really reflect on them. Just as a reminder, there is Taehyung calling Jimin his "one and only best friend" in "Let's BTS" and similarly in Festa 2019, for example. I also am stuck on Jin calling Taehyung very generous and big-hearted in "Special Movie BTS MUSIC JOURNEY" (after the release of Sweet Night) and the others agreeing, their expressions speaking once again. Then finally those compilations where Taekook is apparently jealous of each other. Or Vmin. And now you just have to connect the dots but I did not see any other person who has done so. All those moments, all those compilations make so much more sense to me. All in all, it seems that Taehyung has or had feelings for Jimin. Sounds crazy! Of course we should not assume too much but the connections are there and in hindsight, they seem obvious. You just have to put the puzzle pieces together. I really hope that Taehyung is over it, because unrequited love hurts badly. Taehyung as a person makes so much more sense to me. His actions, his depression, his pain... Well, I guess Jimin did not call himself "Tailor of Chaos" without reason. That situation must have been difficult for him, too. Maybe (just maybe) that is an indicator regarding his state in 2020... And of course on Jungkook. But maybe that is the actual reason why Jungkook and Taehyung seem to be closer now, maybe mending their friendship! Especially, since Taehyung found a partner. And maybe Jikook feel some kind of guilt for causing Taehyung pain... who knows. There is much to think about and honestly, it sounds like pure fanfiction but if I learned something in life, it is that nothing is impossible. Hope you give it a chance, I really would like your opinion on all that. I certainly am feeling very surprised. Have a nice day :)
Yes anon, it takes very little for me to judge people seeing as I'm a lunatic myself 🤭🤭 if I had a shilling for everytime someone called me crazy I would have attended all of Suga's concerts and then some 😂 so u get no judgement from me my lovely 🙌🏽
Except insecure Jikookers, of course. Fuck you! I judge you everyday! 🤨🤨🤨
So! Umm yes. I've seen this theory being thrown around. I have friends who think this might be the case. And one of them is actually really good at analysing and picking up cues and she believes V may have had feelings for Jimin at some point and her arguments make sense.
But for me... idk. Idk anon. 🤔 I have a hard time picturing this. I will share a clip that will be hard for some of you to watch. So brace yourselves
Oh boy. Glad I have my anons off because u guys are already kinda mad at V atm 😂😂
Things to note about the first clip: (I know... I know. It's bad. I recently just discovered it and it doesn't look good, I agree)
a) Point to note number one is that, that is how most people in SK feel about homosexuality. As u can hear V is basically telling Jimin something is wrong with him mentally for liking men. And when u grow up with everyone around u telling u this, of course u will believe it. It also explains why he would keep the company he keeps. (Go Google Bogum and his cult scandal) People in SK don't believe men can be with other men. And those who have seen it happen, think its a mental illness. This was obviously embedded in V for him to have done this not once, but twice. And this is only what we saw on camera.
b) 2nd point to note; Taekook just cannot be real. It's just, impossible. Yes, V has changed, obviously. Hanging out with Jimin will do that to you. He obviously doesn't feel as strongly about homosexuality like he used to. And he loves Jimin and JK which means he has adjusted his mentality. But, this is a guy who used to say basically homophobic stuff to his friend. And as u can see, that clip is from around May 2015 So at what point would V have started dating JK as early as 2013 when this is how he felt about his friend a boy, liking boys?
c) 3rd point to note; Jimin doesn't deny it. I hate how he's just defending himself there repeating over and over; I don't like you that way, so what's your issue? I dont behave that way towards you, why you mad? Anyway, Jimin doesn't once say "no i don't like men." Or "stop lying" he just says "I don't feel that way about you."
d) Last point to note, Jikook is real. Why? Because what triggered V, was Jimin telling JK to sit next to him. And immediately V goes off about how something is wrong with Jimin in the head because these days he likes men. Likes JK.
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Now anon, let's go back to point number 2. I know internalised homophobia is a thing. (Thank you Shameless! You taught me sm!) But it stems from someone hating that they like someone of the same sex and they don't want to be that way, but they are. So saying V used to have a crush on Jimin insinuates he would have had to get over his homophobia and start seeing Jimin in a new light. I mean, it's Jimin and the Jimin effect is a thing that exists. But, still. Idk. I just don't know. Watching that clip tells me that his parents are like this. Him being so close with the WS, tells me he wouldn't have kept them as friends if at any one point he started liking someone of the same sex. Knowing how they feel about it.
V is more accepting now, of course. But Jikook are in the closet and only close knit people know about it. And V definitely isn't divulging that to the WS. Again, knowing how they feel about this topic.
What am I saying anon? I think those V jealous Vmin moments that exist are because he "lost" his bestfiend when Jikook became a thing. He had to share Jimin with JK. And I imagine Jimin tried to be there for both of them but sometimes JK took priority and maybe V didn't like that. They used to be bestfriends. Super close. V even looked after Jimin in school. Asked some people he knew to look after the new kid because that was his friend. They were close. Really close. Then satellite Jeon comes and changes everything.
Now to the assignment you gave me. The question was who's the most romantic
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Suga (what?) And RM say JK. Guess they've seen it first hand. 🤭 Also Jikook both point at Jin
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V on the other hand says Jikook but then changes it to just Jimin
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I also looked at the lyrics of sweet night (he sounds so good) and I'm guessing you're talking about this part;
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Anon, if you ship Vmin, or are suspicious of Vmin, it would be easy to conclude this song is about Jimin. Easy. But if you're like me who believes V is as straight as a ruler, then the first thing I think of when I hear that, is some girl he liked at the time that he was really close to. Someone he dated in the past, maybe. To me V is as straight as they come and I could try, but I cannot see where you're coming from.
But if you listen to sweet night and then watch V jealous compilations, you're gonna be influenced. Because you're going in already thinking the best friend he's talking about is Jimin! But, remember, you don't have to have romantic feelings for someone to be jealous. You can be jealous that your sister is spending too much time with someone else. You can be jealous your bestfriend doesn't make time for you anymore ever since they started dating. You know what I mean?
That's what I think you saw. In my opinion, of course. I could be wrong and way off base but...yeah.
In Conclusion: Vmin isn't real and there was never potential for it to be so.
I appreciate u trusting me with this ask, anon 😘
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