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#need new childe content but i refuse to make any so i’ve just been looking at my silly silly gifts from my silly silly friends
salsflore · 1 year
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absolutely itching to post about childe but i have no idea what to say. think i should just blow him up
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demonslayedher · 11 months
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Low-Key Married AU fluff
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Kochou said that I was disliked, so I asked her if she disliked me too. For someone so quick to have a smiling response to everything, she struggled to reply. She was the one who proposed marriage and swayed me, so I had thought that meant she had feelings for me. There would be no other way to read it. However, with as unbothered as she is by my absence, I have to wonder.
It’s been ten days since I had last contact with her. I went home to the Butterfly Mansion, but she had just departed for a mission, so I didn’t stay long so as not to trouble the girls. It may still be a few days before I can return again, but it’s always likely she’ll be busy. She’s incredible in that way, taking on all the care of our injured Corp members in addition to her Pillar missions. It must be in her personality to keep adding to what keeps her busy, like taking me in as though I looked like I needed the care. Although the times we’ve spent together have been nice, I don’t require it. My duties call for me to always be ready for battle, and I’ve always kept my heart steady.
So has she. We are Pillars first, and no amount of affection can sway us—whether an abundance or a lack.
I’m not bothered by lacking something I didn’t deserve in the first place.
Last night again, I was too late to prevent a family from being slaughtered. There were no survivors this time, aside from the eldest child who was still ravenous with a recent transformation. Having to chase him down and keep him from harming anyone else kept me off the trail of the progenitor of demons, who had to have been close by. For centuries, he’s evaded us this way over and over, sacrificing entire families to throw us off his trail. If I were to chide myself over every failure, I would have lost the ability to do anything ages ago. Each time, the anger is something I carry with me, to push myself harder the next time, and the next. Any extent more that I can push myself may be the difference to someone’s survival, no one can afford to lose their life over any of my own lost confidence.
“CAW!! TOMIOKA GIYUUUU! NEWS FOR TOMIOKA GIYUUUU!”
Each time it's a crow I think I recognize, my stomach drops. My mind is already playing the words I dread to hear, as though trying to protect my mind once I someday hear them.
"Kochou Shinobu has died."
Even if I hear them, I'm a Pillar first. That was what we promised each other. I'll always do as I must.
The crow says nothing as it delivers a letter.
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YES, YES, I KNOW, THIS FANDOM HAS TURNED ME INTO SHIPPER TRASH. For this pairing, it was more specifically my own joke AU which later bit me in the back and made me start really, really enjoying GiyuShino (which, for the record, I do not consider canon). Was throwing ideas back and forth with @reicchel again the other day and so here we are with ship content!
Part of the reason I love the Low-Key Married AU (in which it's mostly canon as usual, except that Shinobu and Giyuu have been married for over a year or so, and it's not a secret but they make such little deal about it that many people don't even know they're married) is that it's a frame through which to see every interaction and either make it really, really funny, or very, very, sad. Everything was supposed to be funny, but it keeps hurting, hahaha... aaahhhh.
For instance, in a regular romcom situation, it should be funny that Kanzaburo doesn't deliver all of Giyuu's letters. Knowing these two, who might had started this whole "well, we'll be a couple when we have time" thing by actively writing regular letters, this could had simply given the impression that the other person wasn't writing as much, so they both naturally decreased frequency to match. It's a little lonely, but neither one is going to push the other for more attention.
No!! I refuse to let this post end with angst! Time for omake!!!
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ghost9whore · 1 year
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Lightning’s Reign and Thunder’s Roar V
male oc x house of the dragon
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As she is the realm’s delight he is the kingdom’s pleasure
It’s just a fancy way to say whore
(Caserys’ P.O.V)
“Rayraxs’ training has been more difficult than I thought. He is completely bonded to me and I’ve refused any help from the dragon master and have called them every name under the sun when they tried to chain Rayraxs up and place him into the dragon pit. He’s been growing like crazy he’s passed Rhaenyra’s dragon Syrax and he’s coming up on my mother’s dragon Meleys. The more he grows the more his attitude changes. It’s like raising a child he is clingy but distant. Won’t leave my side but won’t come too close to me. All of his growing and I still haven’t ridden him.”
All of my noises while writing seem to have woken the sleeping dragon next to me. Rayraxs has begun sleeping on the cliffs near my bedroom window. Due to his size he can no longer stay in my room but he still remains close by. Rayraxs now fully awake peaks his head into my room making sure I’m alone. Once he verifies I am he looks at me and makes a small roar sound as if to wonder what I’m doing. I stand up from my chair and try to pet his head but he back out before I could. After that he went back to his area on the cliff and went back to sleep.
“Hmm what do I have to do to change your mind Rayraxs”
“Is there a raven for me?” I asked the raven-keeper hoping for a respond from Daemon to my question
“Only one my lord addressed from the City Watch” he responded
Grabbing the letter I made my way to a secluded spot with Rayraxs in toe where I could open the letters contents privately.
Caserys Velaryon,
The commander wasn’t available to respond to your question but I felt it rude to leave the kingdom’s pleasure without an answer back.
Gross the “kingdom’s pleasure”
In my disgust at the nickname I didn’t notice Rayraxs’ growling as a boar emerged from the treeline. After swiftly killing the boar Rayraxs began feasting but became riled up. I went to try to calm him down but when I touched him he snapped and growled at me in anger. In all of my dragon’s attitude he never growled at me. For the first time I was afraid of my dragon and the man I wanted to talk to about it didn’t want to talk to me about it. The fear I felt quickly turned to anger. I was hurt from Daemon and hurt from Rayraxs. I tried to push past Rayraxs but was met with a towering dragon that wouldn’t let me leave. I was afraid but why was I all he’s ever done was protect me I shouldn’t be afraid. I looked into Rayraxs’ violet eyes and the answer was clear.
Doubt… the more I doubt myself the more Rayraxs didn’t accept me. I doubted myself when trying to train him and I doubted myself again from Daemon’s letter. I needed to remove anything feeling of doubt if I wanted to become Rayraxs rider. With a new found confidence I touched Rayraxs head and he allowed me. I started to laugh at the simplicity of the answer and how Rayraxs’ behavior changed so drastically. He kneeled down so I could climb onto his back. In my euphoria I didn’t think I just reacted. I grabbed the spikes on his back and climbed on I was on his back. It was like we were connected when I was ready to fly Rayraxs began to fly up.
The wind
The smell of the sea
It was all so strong we flew around Driftmark until we began to fly up. Rayraxs was a very fast dragon and no saddle was equipped I held on for dear life. We kept gaining speed until we were above the clouds then we suddenly stopped. Rayraxs kept a slow pace as if to show me the sky. The sun made the clouds look pink almost heavenly. We flew for hours until Rayraxs finally dove down and we landed.
“ Lighting is much faster than fire.”
A/N: this is the final chapter before it’s synced up with the show. I had to do a lot of setting up of relationships.
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celestiall0tus · 20 days
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Paradise - Chapter 24 - Despair and Forsaken
Beginning || Previous || Next
            Zoe and Felix found themselves back in the gauntlet from before. They exchanged glances before they stepped down along the invisible path, witnessing their pasts again. Felix paid little attention to his own and more on Zoe’s past. Repulsion and regret tore through him seeing what she had to endure up to this point compared to him. He chanced glances at her, but her eyes never met his and remained on each of their memories.
            Zoe and Felix walked in silence until they reached the end. Zoe stepped forward while Felix hung back. He watched as Plagg and Silkii materialized, ready to finish this. He grimaced as he looked at her.
            “I’m sorry for what you’ve had to go through, Zoe,” Felix said.
            Zoe paused. A long silence passed between them before she turned and glared at him. “I don’t want to hear anything from a blue blood like you.”
            “Excuse me?”
            “You’re all the same, right to your core. Your little family problems define who you are without ever having to face true suffering. You act as if your problems are the end of the world while the world ends many times over for people like me and Void.”
            Felix sneered. “Hey, I was trying to be nice, brat.”
            “Nice? You think your empty words are remotely nice? I don’t fucking care what you have to say. Your false sincerity means nothing to me, blue blood prick. Why don’t you just crawl back to your gilded cage and sing your pitiful song while you sit in the lap of luxury while you bitch about your trivial problems being the end of the world!”
            Felix bristled. “My problems are just as real as yours.”
            “Oh, I’m sorry that your daddy issues are a real big problem. I’m sorry you’re a little bitch and can’t fight for yourself because you’re daddy’s little bitch! Oh, you’re so unlucky that you have literally everything else except a loving father. Fuck you.”
            “And you should get over yourself. You’re not the only person struggling around her. News flash, tiny tyke, we all have issues, and yours don’t make you special.”
            Zoe tensed up, her eyes widened, her pupils constricted, and her lips curled back into a vicious snarl. “You have no right to use those words against me, blue blood. You have had everything handed to you! You have a home, security, money, a loving family minus your father. You. Have. Everything! And you stand there and have the gall to project yourself onto me?”
            Felix tsked. “I’d never do that. I’d have no reason to project myself onto a child that could never understand.”
            “Never understand? Never understand! I understand plenty! I understand that the world is catered to your kind, blue blood. That people like me and Void are tossed aside and only brought up when you need to use us before you toss us aside again. You live luxurious, content lives while the rest of us scrape by. Have you ever feared you’d lose your home? Have you ever had to go hungry for days before you’d get your next meal? Did you ever feel isolated by everyone and feel like you never should have been born? Did you ever have to fall into the very pits of hell just to survive? Did you have your family that you found ripped away from you just to be used by blue bloods?”
            “No.”
            “Exactly. I don’t want to hear shit from the likes of you, blue blood. I’ve had to fight. I’ve had to survive. I had to sacrifice any sense of normalcy just to ensure I would live. It would have been easier to give up like that failure of a father, but I refuse to. This is my life. I was brought into it by accident, but I won’t let life beat me down. I know what’s of value out there. I know what’s worth fighting for. I know what’s worth living for. Can you say the same?”
            Felix didn’t answer.
            “I didn’t think so. Why don’t you do us all a favor and get rid of yourself like that failure of a father. We don’t need more people like you in this world. Plagg, let’s go.”
            “Do you-?” Plagg started.
            “Yes to everything, so long as you don’t destroy what I value most like that bitch tried to.”
            “You have my word. Even I know the value in keeping what we love, and to destroy anything that would threaten it.”
            Zoe’s face softened. She scooped up Plagg and pressed her forehead against his tiny head. His body dissolved into shadows that enveloped her and she vanished.
            Felix turned away towards the path they came. He saw his memories clear as day while Zoe’s echoed and faded into the darkness. Anger lingered but were overpowered by bitterness and envy.
            “You don’t have to be like this, if you don’t want,” Silkii remarked.
            “It’s all I know how to be,” Felix whispered.
            “Well, you can be like the little woman child, forced to grow up far faster than she should have. Be like what you envy because it’s not you. You can break free and betray those that gave you everything. You can finally take command. It just takes one little word now.”
            Felix sighed. He looked back at his memories of all the time under Colt’s thumb and the small reprieves he was given by Amelie. He didn’t like the idea of going against and betray Amelie, but he could feel it, deep down, he longed for freedom. He wanted to escape his gilded cage for good. He wanted his life to be his own.
            Felix took a deep breath and turned to Silkii. “Yes, to everything.”
            Silkii grinned. She bowed her head as her body dissolved into shadow. It wrapped around Felix and dragged him down into the void.
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sparkywrites25 · 1 year
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An Ackerman Christmas
Summary: Levi brings you to his family for Christmas.
Pairing: Levi Ackerman x Reader
Notes: This is for Rei's "Happy Birthday Levi" event
Taglist: @ladycheesington @levi-supreme
You pull your new coat onto your arm with a tiny groan. Your attempt to muffle it doesn’t go unnoticed by your boyfriend as he picks up his keys from the glass bowl on the island counter. The floor to ceiling windows flood the modern apartment with light along with the sight of thickly falling snow. Levi has his back to all of that as he crosses the space to you, one hand moving to your back at once. 
“What’s wrong?” he asks, his eyes automatically dropping to your growing belly. Anxiety gathers in his tone as he lifts his eyes to yours once again. When he worries, those beautiful eyes are full of grey. You touch his forearm gently.
“It’s just an ache.” you explain, “I’ve been sat down all day.”
His brows furrow as he pockets his keys and brings that hand to hold your hip, his thumb rubbing your side. “You were up and down a lot yesterday. You should have done your wrapping on the couch while I was out getting our groceries.”
You step in close to him, linking your arms around his neck. “I never know how long you’re gonna be though. You could have accidentally walked in on your gifts.”
He huffed. “Better me seeing them than you straining your back by doing too much.” His hands rub over your back experimentally. “Here?” he asks, as his fingers rub into the muscles of your lower back. He smiles, feeling you relax more into his arms at the soothing feeling. 
You nod into his neck with a contented sigh and so he presses a little harder, enough for the ache to ease away. You stroke the nape of his neck in gratitude. 
“Thank you,” you mumble as you snuggle into him some more. “That feels so nice.”
Levi’s fingers move in tender circles. “You need to take it easier,” he advises you. “Let me do more.”
“I draw the line at you wrapping your own presents,” you insist, nuzzling his jaw. “You do plenty for me as it is. Besides, I doubt I’ll be exerting myself that much for a while,” you remind him. “Thank God, Christmas is an annual thing only.” You smile into his skin at how Grinch-like you sound. You love Christmas a lot but at the other end of the season, you’re thankful for the next eleven months off from the manic sales, the endless spam of Christmas emails, the smell of Christmas pudding and the taste of mince pies. Although, this year, you’ve had next to no mince pies since the baby appears to have decided that mince pies are the devil’s food.
One of Levi’s arms moves up to wrap around your shoulders. “Let me,” he whispers against your temple. “I want to look out for you. You’re the one growing our child inside you.” He kisses your forehead and you melt even more. 
“Mmm,” you reply. “I just don’t want you taking on too much.”
“I’ll be fine. I’d rather we didn’t take any chances. You need all the energy you can get for nurturing our baby.” Levi drops a hand down onto your bump again with a loving caress. You watch his face as he stares down at your child. He’s going to be such a good dad, you think with utmost certainty. 
“Okay, I hear you,” you promise. “I’ll be careful,” you assure him, “within reason.”
He touches his lips to yours briefly but the touch is full of love and your fingers caress his neck again. “Come on.” he says after a moment, “we can beat the traffic if we go now.” he points out. 
You nod and allow him to help you with the rest of your coat. After making sure you’ve got everything, you leave the apartment behind.
****************
It had been agreed that Christmas dinner would take place at Levi’s mother’s house this year. 
Last year Levi had hosted the dinner and Kenny had spent hours antagonizing Levi by making messes and winding Levi up about his clean freak nature. Levi outright refuses to attend the celebrations at Kenny’s house due to it being a “cesspit of the lowest standards” according to Levi. The desire to not annoy or upset Kuchel would be enough to restrain both Levi and Kenny from arguing too viciously and it was a good compromise. Not to mention the fact that she had more space. Yours and Levi’s apartment was currently being occupied by various deliveries for the nursery (which Levi was still decorating and refused to put the boxes in there for now). 
You do manage to avoid most of the traffic on the drive from Karanes to Stohess. You arrive at the Ackerman house - well, actually, it’s more like a small manor - just before midday. Levi carries the bag of presents (most of them for Kuchel with a couple of bottle of liquor and cigarettes for Kenny) while you walk ahead. 
It was between Kenny and Levi’s efforts that they managed to secure this manor house outside the city centre for Kuchel. Painted sunrise yellow with light-coloured borders and rooftops, it boasts a circular drive that, in the sprint, is surrounded with colourful flower bushes and fruit trees. In the winter, the greenery is replaced by bare wood and fallen leaves merging together after a great deal of rain. Colourful Christmas lights are strung across the blankets, lighting the trees in some cheerful brightness once more. Floor lamps light the pathway in various colours as well, which you admire as you walk down the main pathway. 
A small set of stairs leads up to a wraparound porch and a pair of double doors that are already opening. You’re greeted by a smiling Kuchel who hurries down the steps to greet you, arms outstretched, her grey eyes falling to your stomach. The last time you saw her, you were barely showing. Her smile grows as she hugs you.
“Merry Christmas!” she tells you with a kiss on the cheek. You hug her enthusiastically. She smiles of apples and pastry and your stomach rumbles at the thought of the dessert. A welcome response compared to the morning sickness that has only just abated in the last week or so. “You look so beautiful,” Kuchel tells you as she pulls away, cupping your face and gazing over you, her eyes dancing over your face and then back to your stomach. Another welcome thing to hear after worries about how bloated you look have been creeping in. “You feeling okay?”
You nod warmly. “I feel great, thank you. Merry Christmas!” You pull her into another hug and she welcomes it, rubbing your back. It’s nice to feel a mother’s hug again. 
It’s been about twelve years since your own mother walked out, on Christmas Day no less. The thought of doing that to your baby makes you feel ill. You’ve prayed to whatever deity might be listening that your mother was struggling with some mental illness or went into witness protection or some other reason that would make sense to you as to why she’d disappeared. But over time you’d come to accept that she had just turned her back on being your mom. 
As soon as she releases you, she sweeps Levi into her arms, giving him just enough time to put his bag down and wrap her up in his embrace. “Happy birthday, baby,” she says, her hand stroking his hair and the other rubbing the back of his shoulders. You enjoy the slight tint of red in his cheeks at the endearment, “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, Mom.” Levi kisses her on the cheek. “You doing okay?” he asks, his eyes flicking towards the house. 
“I’m good,” Kuchel assures him with a hand on his arm. “Kenny’s behaving himself,” she adds, moving aside so he can pick up the bag again.
“For now.” Levi mumbles.
Kuchel smiles at him. “If either of you know what’s good for you, we won’t be having a repeat of last year.”
“Hell no,” Levi agrees with a glance at your stomach. “Besides, mother and baby don’t need the stress.”
“Exactly,” Kuchel agrees firmly and returns to you, sliding an arm around your shoulders, guiding you into the house. “How’s the babba doing? Do you still have morning sickness?” 
“The baby’s really good. I had a scan last week and the doctor is really happy with things,” you tell Kuchel as the three of you walk into a light foyer, painted with a strip of alternating flowers and leaves in a strip running around the middle of the walls. Cabinets holding up pictures of Levi, Kuchel and Kenny fill most of the wall space. In the middle of one of them you see the photo of you and Levi sat on your couch holding up the scan photo. You smile as emotion bubbles up in your throat. “Plus the morning sickness has finally gone,” you add, grasping onto the conversation again.
Kuchel leads you all into the lounge, a cooling space colour-wise with grey walls with silver patterns along with blue sofas with silver cushions. Already occupying an armchair and a beer sits Kenny, his hat perched on the corner of the head of his armchair. He fixes you all with a crooked smile and raises his glass to you.
“Happy Holidays y’all,” he declares then takes a swig of his drink.
“Merry Christmas,” you tell him politely. 
“Kenny,” Levi acknowledges before carrying the bag over to the table in the middle of the room and setting it down next to it. “Still sober I see. Impressive.” He removes his coat and then takes yours, carrying them both back into the foyer. 
“Ain’t it just?” Kenny retorts, eyeing his sister with an exasperated look. 
“I don’t know why you’re bothering with that look,” Kuchel shrugs and marches over to her brother’s chair. “For god’s sake, Kenny. I have a coat rack you know?” She snatches his hat and marches off with it. 
Kenny chuckles. “Why bother when I know you’ll just come and do it?” he drawls. 
Levi’s fists clench as he returns and your hand moves to his wrist, your thumb stroking the inside of it. “You better not be leaving Mom to do all the cooking you piece of shit,” he groiwls. His other hand moves to cover yours, giving it a gentle squeeze. 
“Wouldn’t know where to begin being that kind of useful in the kitchen,” Kenny scoffs, throwing back another swig of his drink. “I just finance the takeaway industry instead,” he adds with a wide grin that shows off his yellowing teeth. Your stomach churns in disgust. 
“I’m amazed you’re not the size of a house,” Kuchel grumbles as she crosses the living room and gestures for Levi and you to take the couch. She sinks into the armchair opposite her brother. 
“Ah see I keep plenty of it. There are plenty of ladies out there to exercise with.” 
Kuchel scowls at him. “You’re disgusting.”
You feel Levi’s arm move around your shoulders, squeezing it. “You can’t pretend you’re a halfway decent human being for one day?”
Kenny shrugs. “Hey if Missy here is gonna be joining our family - she may as well get to know the real me, you know?”
“She is already part of our family,” Kuchel insists, giving you an encouraging smile which quickly drops. “I can only apologize,” she says to you, “for saddling you with this idiot,” she adds with a glare towards Kenny. 
You raise your hand with a short laugh. “It’s okay.”
“See, she’s got a sense of humour. She’s gonna need one to deal with us.” Kenny eyes you with a bemused smile before lowering his gaze to your stomach. “Whoa-boy, you’re getting big now, huh? You’ll soon be waddling around all Mama Duck, eh?”
“Kenny!” Kuchel fumes.
Levi’s shoulders have gone rigid and his teeth grind together. He leans forwards, his hands closing into fists. You grab his hands quickly just as Kuchel speaks. 
“You’re a disgrace.” she snaps at Kenny. “Speaking to a pregnant woman like that.”
“Hey, I didn’t say she wasn’t attractive,” Kenny defends himself. Levi’s eyes flare up with rage and he lifts his hands out of yours. “Or that Mama Ducks aren’t cute.” Kenny adds with an exaggerated wink at you. He holds his hand up again when Levi rises from his seat. “Oh come on, kid, give me some credit. It’s a freaking joke!” Kenny barks. “I’m not about to hit on my nephew’s woman, am I? You’re way too easy to wind up.”
Levi scrutinizes his uncle with a glare so intense that you’re worried that he may actually start a fight with the older man. However, he unclenches his fists as he steps forward, leaning over Kenny with an expression of distaste. “Keep pulling that shit and see what happens.”
“Levi.” Both you and Kuchel speak at once. You sound pleading but Kuchel sounds irked. “That’s enough,” she insists. “No more of this. We’re going to sit down together and we’re going to act like a goddamn normal family even if it’s just for one day.”
Kenny lowers his beer onto a side table and raises both hands. “Fine, fine! I’ll behave or whatever.”
Kuchel looks disbelieving but drops the subject, Levi, however, keeps glowering at his uncle. 
****************
Thankfully things settle down as drinks are served, your cushion is fluffed twice by Levi, and conversation about what everyone’s been up to begins to flow. Kuchel updates you all on some plans for the following summer with her friends and yet she is determined to be around lots for the new arrival. Levi encourages his mother to take the vacation and even Kenny tells Kuchel to go for it. He advises her to avoid certain parts of Marley and is particularly encouraging about the area known as Liberio. 
Surprisingly you find yourself engaged in that conversation with him as you admit that Liberio is on your list of places you want to travel. Kenny cautions you about certain areas as he has personal experience of discovering some of the seedier neighbourhoods. This time, when he talks about them, there’s less perversion in his tone and more objective judgement. However he doesn’t do a complete u-turn and so he still makes a few jokes about the women there and mocks some of the men in bar fights. 
Although Levi keeps an eye on your conversation with Kenny, he also takes the chance to talk in-depth with his mother. 
Before you know it, it’s been two hours and Kuchel gets up to work on dinner. Despite Levi’s protests, you insist on helping since you’ve been sitting for a long time and want to move around a bit. Kuchel assures her son that you’ll be fine with her and soon the pair of you are cutting vegetables together in the kitchen. It’s a spacious room with white walls and grey furnishings. The half-wall windows on one side of the room gaze out onto an enormous garden with paths winding around a firepit, a fountain, a small pond and a vegetable patch. The garden looks fairly bare without the bloom of colourful bushes and thickly covered trees, 
You can hear Kenny and Levi talking from the other room although what they’re saying is unclear. 
“Well they’re not fighting so that’s a good sign,” Kuchel smiles as she peels a potato and tosses it into a pile.
“Yeah,” you frown uneasily, remembering the earlier tension. 
“They’ll be fine.” Kuchel assures you. “You just worry about yourself.” 
As she continues with her work, you pause in yours and stare across at her, feeling a sudden desire to open up about something you’ve been worrying about. But would it be weird to do so with Levi’s mother? Your gut says no but your brain doesn’t fully agree. You lower your knife and grip the counter thoughtfully. 
“You okay?” In a second, Kuchel’s hand is on your back. “Are you in pain?”
“No. I’m fine,” you promise with a sheepish smile up at her. She’s significantly taller than her son. She has the kind of height you’d have liked to have although you have a few inches on Levi. But Kuchel has that graceful, long-limbed, willowy figure. “I wanted to ask you something about parenthood though. If you don’t mind.”
Kuchel lowers the knife that was in her free hand. “Of course, sweetheart. Ask me what you’d like.”
You bite your lip and take a small breath. “Were you scared? When you were carrying Levi?” you question. “Did you worry about the pain of labour? About being a good mom? About being able to be what your child needs?” All the questions tumble out of you, turning your cheeks pink.
Kuchel surprises you with her lack of hesitation. “Absolutely. All of the above and more,” she tells you instantly. She places her hand on your shoulder. “It’s natural though. This is your first experience with pregnancy and it’s a heavy weight you carry, bringing another person into this world. It’s like the first time you do anything. There’s that feeling of not really knowing what to expect, isn’t there?” When you nod, she touches your other shoulder with her other hand. “You’ll be fine. You’re going to be a great mom.” 
“How can you possibly know that?” You ask as your voice wobbles. “My mom…”
“I don’t know what happened with her but you’re not her.”  Kuchel assures you. “Worrying about this sort of thing is a good sign. It shows how much you care.” She wraps you in her arms. “It’s daunting, I know. You’re always welcome to talk to me about anything. Day or night, just call me if you don’t want to talk to anyone else. I’m always on the other end of the phone.”
That kindness washes over you like a powerful wave, knocking you off balance. You cling to her as your eyes become blurry. You didn’t realize how much you needed to hear that until Kuchel came out and said it. 
“Thank you.” You murmur the words into her shoulder and she cradles the back of your head in her hand as you sniffle. “Damn hormones.”
She chuckles. “Tell me about it. I’ve cried over much less than that when pregnant,” she chuckles, still holding you close. “It’s an emotional journey, but you’ll be fine.”
You stay clinging to her for several minutes, quietly working on regaining some control back over yourself. All the time she rubs your head and back, snuggling you. Your heart aches with tenderness and a slight burn of envy that you lost the chance to have this at twelve years old.
“What’s wrong?” Levi’s voice cuts through the silence. You pull away from Kuchel as your boyfriend crosses the room and takes you into his arms, his eyes searching yours. You internally begin to panic about how to explain all this again but Kuchel steps in. 
“She was having a moment. Emotions got a little on top of her but she’s all right now, aren’t you?” Kuchel directs the last part to you. 
You nod, grateful for the chance to answer non-verbally for now. 
The worry in Levi’s eyes softens but it doesn’t leave entirely. “You sure?” he asks and you nod again. He brings you closer to his body, tucking you against him, his arms cradling you similar to the way his mother was moments ago. “You’re okay,” he murmurs, kissing your temple. 
“Having some food should help,” Kuchel tells him. “It’s almost ready - oh!” she snaps her fingers. “I got you some pregnancy vitamins,” she tells you, stepping over to a cupboard and rummaging through bottles and pots. “Since you said your local one keeps running out of most of yours.”
“Yeah,” you grumble. “I swear there must be mass pregnancy going on back home or something.”
Levi is still holding you. “I have set up an order for you but it will be a few weeks before the first delivery arrives.” He nods gratefully at Kuchel. “Thank you.”
“It’s no problem. Some people don’t put a lot of stock in these but I found them very helpful,” Kuchel says as she brings out a pharmacy bag of tablets. She holds it out.
“Thank you.” You take the bag and lean against Levi’s chest, holding the bag to your own. “I appreciate everything.”
Kuchel closes the cupboard. “Remember what I said. If you want to talk to me about anything, please just call.”
You manage a shaky laugh. “You might regret that offer.”
Kuchel chuckles quietly. “No, I really won’t.” She eyes her son. “And you, I want you to talk to me too, if you ever feel overwhelmed.”
Levi tucks you into him as close as he can. “I’m not like him.” You didn’t have to ask to know who he meant. His biological father. The man who had learned of his existence and then ran out on Kuchel. “I won’t leave my family.”
“No, you won’t,” Kuchel agrees. “But parenthood is tough on both parents and you have a tendency to take too much on,” she adds, folding her arms and fixing her son with a firm, knowing stare.
“I’m fine-” Levi instantly objects but you pull away and join Kuchel in the folding of arms and intense stare. You accompany it with a small cough.
“What was I just saying this morning?” you ask.
The tips of Levi’s ears turn red and you watch, with satisfaction, as the colour spreads over both ears fully. “Ganging up on me, huh?” he grumps. 
“Damn right,” Kuchel softens and steps forward to take Levi’s face in her hands. “Because while that may be your baby, you’re mine.”
“Mom…” Levi protests but Kuchel kisses his cheek anyway, leaning her head against his for a few seconds. 
“Let your mother have this,” Kuchel gently chides, “and make sure you call if you need me.” She glances over at you. “Will you do it? Call me if he’s taking on too much?”
“Absolutely,” you assure her. You’re met with your boyfriend’s scowl. 
“”Traitor,” he murmurs as he pulls you into his side. You giggle against his face and kiss it as your arms wrap around him.
“Oi,” Kenny interrupts loudly. The three of you whirl around to see him leaning against the door frame with his beer in hand. “You all throwing a party in here or what?”
****************
It feels good to actually be able to eat Christmas dinner without feeling nauseous - something you’d resigned yourself to right up until your morning sickness had finally stopped. Kuchel has you all helping with dinner preparations (although in Kenny’s case she relegates him to setting the table). You prepare the vegetables while Levi takes over preparing the meat and Kuchel is then freed up to prepare dessert. 
The dining room’s theme is green surrounded by warm brown borders. The dark wooden table has been draped with a green Christmas cover, topped with silver place settings and napkins folded into deer which you coo over for about a minute. 
Dinner itself is not quite as chaotic as you had expected. Despite his bears, Kenny carves up the turkey pretty well and makes sure everyone has generous portions (not without a remark at Levi that he still looks like he could use a decent meal). Kuchel ladles plenty of vegetables on people’s plate (especially Kenny’s with a pointed look at yet another beer sitting beside his meal). Levi glances over at you a lot during the meal and you know he’s checking for any signs of nausea or distaste. Under the table, you link your foot around his and that seems to reassure him somewhat. 
Kenny’s behaviour shifts. Whether it’s because he’s trying to appease Kuchel or because he’s bored of being an ass, for the most part he’s pretty civilized. There’s still the odd joke among conversations about post-Christmas plans, new “investments” which translate to gambling, and questioning Levi about his cleaning business (not without some mocking tones). Talk inevitably turns to the baby and, to Levi’s dismay, his own baby years as Kuchel becomes nostalgic.
“He had the chubbiest cheeks ever,” Kuchel sighs, hands clasped in front of her. “and he had the bluest eyes as a newborn. Ah, I could have eaten him.”
You chuckle as Levi stares down into his wine, his entire face flushing now. 
“I’m pretty sure eating children is against the law, Kuchel,” Kenny chuckles. His sister flips him off and he shot her a grin. “He was a feisty little thing though. I remember when he grabbed my finger. Very strong grip for a kid who’s 12 hours old. Then came the mouth on him.” He smirks over at you. “And now you get to put up with it. Congrats.”
“I save the best for you, Kenny,” growls Levi.
“As it should be. It’d hurt my feelings if you gave it worse to anyone else,” Kenny slaps a hand over his chest with a mocking pout. 
“I don’t know anyone lower on that chain than you.”
“Aww you say the nicest things, nephew.”
“Come on now.” Kuchel says although she is still smiling. “Play nice.”
“Pretty sure this is us playing nice,” Kenny chuckles and swigs from his beer. 
Kuchel rolls her eyes and smiles at you, only to frown when she sees that you’ve gone still, staring at your belly. She says your name but you don’t respond.
All your thoughts are entirely focused on the strong, clear movement you felt inside your womb - that of a tiny limb stretching out. Your face breaks into a slow smile as the movement repeats, stronger this time, as though less experimental. She place your hands on your stomach and bite your lip joyfully. 
Kuchel seems to realize at once. “Is the baby kicking?”
You can only nod as a huge rush of love washes through you at once. This is it. This is your baby saying hello. They’re really growing strong in there. 
Levi’s arm wraps around you and his hand gently touches your stomach. “Does it hurt?” he asks, eyes flicking to your face. They immediately snap back to the baby bump as you feel another kick. His jaw drops a little. “That…”
“It doesn’t hurt,” you assure him. “It feels… amazing.”
Kuchel brings both hands up in prayer in front of her mouth, her eyes watering with tears. “This is the first time?”
You nod again. “Yeah…” A few tears stream down your face as you cradle your bump. “Hello little one.”
Levi begins to caress your stomach. “They’re so strong,” he murmurs, watching as your stomach bulges slightly from another kick. He kisses you gently on the mouth. “It really doesn’t hurt?” he checks. 
“I’m good,” you promise. 
Kuchel scoots sideways on her seat a little. “May I…?” 
You reach for her hand and place it on your bump. For a moment or two nothing happens and you see Kuchel’s smile begin to falter. 
“Maybe they’re asl-oh!” she gasp. “Hello baby!” she beams. “Grandma can’t wait to meet you.”
You giggle and stroke your bump again, your hand brushing against Levi’s over and over. 
“This is my favourite Christmas present.” you admit to them all, your smile wide and your eyes still dripping tears, “This, right now.”
“As it should be,” Kuchel rubbed the bump. 
There was a short period of silence where your bump receives more affection than you can ever remember it having and then Kenny clears his throat. 
“Mind if the great uncle has a go?” To your surprise, Kenny speaks with some restraint.
Levi looks around at him uncertainly. You’re sure he’s about to say no but given Kenny’s been making an effort, you don’t mind if he feels the baby kick. You reach for his hand and his eyes meet yours, questioning. You smile and nod so he exhales and looks back at Kenny with a nod of his own.
Kenny rises up and moves to stand by your side. His hand. surprisingly carefully, lands on your bump and is instantly met with nothing happening. He waits for a minute or so before his brow furrows. “Kid’s probably having a nap now,” he mutters. 
“Or they’re avoiding you,” Levi mumbles.
Kenny’s retort is cut off when he’s met with a kick from the baby, a particularly hard one. “Whoa there, kid!” he declares as you wince a smidge. “That’s a strong kick you got there, kid. Trying to take a swing at me already?”
You laugh and pat your belly affectionately, while Levi snorts. “They’d be a fool not to try it.” He tells his uncle. You thwack the back of his head gently 
Kenny grins and ruffles his nephew’s hair who immediately bats him away with a grumble. “Get your filthy hands off me,” Levi grunts. 
As the men bicker, you and Kuchel share grins and laugh again as the baby kicks enthusiastically several more times. 
“This is your family, kid,” you tell the bump. “You’re gonna meet them soon enough.”
Kuchel nodded tearfully and reached to grab a glass. Kenny stepped away from Levi and did the same. You and Levi pick up your glasses too. 
“Let’s raise a toast then,” Kuchel beams. “To the newest member of our family who so graciously decided to say hi today.”
“And who has a hell of a kick,” Kenny lifted his beer. “Kid’s gonna be a toughie.”
Levi squeezed his arm around you, gazing down at your unborn child. “To our baby,” he says quietly. 
“To our baby,” you whisper back to him. 
“To baby Ackerman!” the four of you say. 
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polar-stars · 4 months
Note
I know it’s been SO LONG since I’ve interacted with your Food Wars content, but the Eizan brainrot’s still going strong💀 I just wanted to get your take on Eizan’s relationship with his parents, if you’re willing. You drew them a while back and you ATE. To me there’s just no way you can look at a creature like Eizan and reasonably assume he has a healthy relationship with his father. LOOK AT HIM. I’ve always leaned more towards an unhealthy relationship all around, Bojack Horseman type thing. You ever heard Beatrice telling Bojack that he was born broken and that a lifetime of unhappiness was his birthright? YEAH.
Hey 👋
Yeah, sure…! I can share some headcanons I have in regards to Eizan’s parents (sorry in advance if it might end up a bit messily worded)
Also…. ⚠️ ‼️ Potential trigger warning for parental emotional neglect
Kosuke:
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* Kosuke was brought as a kid of new money, as son of a man who invested blood, sweat and tears to stomp a respect-worthy company out of the ground. A man who was determined to rest knowing his company would be kept afloat, which is why he drilled his son the idea into his head that the company always stands above all else and yeah, this is how Kosuke operates.
* Kosuke is primarily occupied with his business and its reputation (and fighting the “New Money”-stamp that’s still latching onto him ever since he was a teenager). In his incredibly busy schedule there’s not much time for spending time with his wife, making amends with his little sister or taking care of his son. The latter is therefore often handled by staff he organises.
* Kosuke’s son Etsuya is front and foremost a heir in his eyes. And as a heir, Kosuke needs Etsuya to be flawless in his role. This is why, while being seemingly blind to anything Etsuya genuinely achieves (as in: Kosuke isn’t one to dish out much praise to him but more on that in a follow up point), he will be on the phone INSTANTLY as soon as Etsuya does anything that, in Kosuke’s eyes, could rub off a bit of bad reputation.
* As a child, Etsuya, naturally, yearned for both of his parent’s attention. He’d always ask the house staff if his parents would be there for the weekend, or the holiday, or his birthday - and while the house staff, not having the heart to bring the young boy down often tried to assure him that ‘they were surely going to try their best to be there’, Etsuya was usually set up for disappointment. At some point, he did notice that he’d get some of their attention whenever he misbehaved. So, this is how he developed a bit of a tendency to break stuff once in a while or lash out.
* As a teen, Etsuya has internalised to not expect much from his parents. To sort-off ‘stick it to his old man’ in particular, and also because he doesn’t want to rely on him so much and yearning to make his own money already, he started his whole ‘underground consultant’-thing (planning to later transfer is clients into the company, but only once he takes over). This is also why Kosuke refuses to praise Etsuya much for any of his achievements in the business world, because he hates how Etsuya is ‘going behind his back’, and ‘how ungrateful’ that is. (Note that Etsuya was emotionally neglected, but what needed [or wasn’t needed] to be bought for him was still done by his parents)
* Overall, Kosuke and Etsuya don’t get along very well and since they both have their ill temper, it usually doesn’t take long with the two of them in a room, for a yelling match to start. Etsuya is much closer to his aunt Yuzuki, Kosuke’s little sister, which also grates on Kosuke sometimes.
* But yeah, Etsuya has this whole delinquent aesthetic to him, which is why I could easily see him not having a good relationship to his folks. Delinquents, in media, communicate some form of ‘rebellion’ usually - and quite often (not always of course), the rebellion in question goes especially against the parents. But yes, a little more about his mom, Shizuka is going to follow (though you’ve seen some of her mixed into here as well because Shizuka and Kosuke share some behaviours)
Shizuka:
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* Shizuka’s whole deal is that she keeps her emotions at bay while also no one ever really asked her what she even wants and how she’d like to live her life.
* Shizuka’s parents, who are part of a larger, rich family, are Japanese but they moved to America when she was about 8 years old.
* In her youth, she wanted nothing more than to be an actress. During her early adulthood in the states, she has even starred in smaller roles - but was essentially still waiting for her ‘big breakthrough’, hoping that it would be around the corner someday.
* However, before that could happen - she suddenly found herself married to a guy named Kosuke, an entanglement arranged by her’s and Kosuke’s father. And they moved to Japan.
* She does have a thing for acting, as I said, so in public, she is more or less able to put up the role of the dedicated wife, and later on, the mother. But, in private, her heart’s not in it.
* Shizuka is mostly wallowing in reminiscences of the past and thoughts of what maybe could have been if she had stayed in the states. Deep down, she feels very much robbed and it makes for a lot of bitterness. But because a good reputation still matters to her, she keeps herself controlled and makes sure not to expose her dissatisfaction to anyone. It makes for an overall incredibly emotionally unavailable woman.
* She gets a long okay with Kosuke actually. They never genuinely loved each other, but they arranged themselves over the years. (But also, again, Shizuka keeps all her frustrations pushed deep, deep down).
* The only times when she becomes more alive is during parties - which is why her main profession is to organise those (she’s also part of several commitees and social clubs - and often takes over the event planning for those), which also keep her rather busy.
* She likes glamour and flashiness (and Zebra prints) and always keeps eye on press, tabloids and what they’re writing.
* Outside of the spectacles of the parties she often hosts, Etsuya knows his mother as a woman who keeps on staring out of the window with a look on her face as if she really wanted to be somewhere else right now.
* She’ll occasionally tiredly but strictly tell him to be “on his best behaviour” for this event or that, but just like with his father, he doesn’t see a lot of her. And when he does, he was never quite sure if she was in fact really there.
* He does not really fight with his mother, like he does with Kosuke. His feelings for her often felt more complicated to him, and like he can’t put them accurately into words. But yeah, clearly it is not very positive either.
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🌟2023 Wrapped (Gillian's Verison)🌟
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Okay! Positive vibes only! This year is going to be big. Here’s to hoping we actually get something out of that Netflix deal… and come the second half of the year I might be able to say that I’ve finally met Gillian Anderson. (I obviously wrote that at the start of the year FYI)
January
So in December, Gillian said she had two things she was working on this month… 🤞hopeful🤞 so I’m thinking that this month is going to be slow in terms of new content but big in terms of future stuff being announced 
Pale blue eye was released. So nice to finally have new content. It was good. I’m not really into those types of movies and only really watched it for Gillian so I don’t have anything more to say. With this being realised, it now drops her to be released projects to 2.
She also mentioned in an article though that she does have tv and film stuff slated for her Netflix deal and would describe her upcoming stuff as entrepreneural-like… so you know maybe that g-spot drink really is real. (December 2023 me is reading this feeling like an absolute clown). 
Gillian’s hairdresser posted her a pic from her latest hair appointment… and it’s all looking awfully similar to a one Stella Gibson Miss Anderson.
White Bird a Wonder Story got a new release date of august (lol)
As January comes to a close, there is still no announcement of those 2 things she said she was doing this month… I see the unemployment era is still strong but then she announced that she would be a new ambassador for war child UK
And then the month ended with someone steeling my bank card from mail box and taking all my money so yay for me. 
All we have to look forward to at this point is white bird and sex education which should be both out by the end of September… it’s about to get painfully slow. Like, when most people do a clean sweep at in an awards season, don’t the get offered a heap of really good roles???? Gillian…… what are you saying no to this time????
February
And so with Gillian’s second announcement of the year, I died! It’s a fucking dear Gillian project where she wants you to write her letters about sex and it will be published. Like whattttt. It definitely took me out for a bit. I’m so excited to have it on my coffee table. Though… everything she’s announced over the last year has been very much entrepreneurial; the podcast, Netflix deal, dear Gillian… and of course the un launched g spot drink. 
And so for anyone interested in me, and remembers how my life fell apart last year, all of that has done a complete 180. ( last year my acting boss pretty much told me I was shit I should not be in leadership positions for something i catagoricly denying doing, to my main boss now telling me to forget any of that ever happened and that he wants me stepping up)
And so remember that thing last year that I refused to talk about. Well holding is hands is pretty hard evidence and a first so what ever makes her happy makes me happy and we will leave it at that. Doesn’t mean I like him but I think that they actually do work.  Also… just an fyi… most things on the dailyfail have been proven to be staged and if you look back to all the previous incidents in relation to this topic it’s pretty darn obvious that this is their way of saying it without saying. 
AND THEN FINALLY! A new role! Gillian was cast in the lead in Scoop. I had seen something before it was announced and thought yeah right as if that’s true but it’s true. And what I mean by that is that it’s mainly about that Prince Andrew interview which I thought why do we need a film about that. But hey! New content and it’s a lead! A little disappointed that this doesn’t fall under her Netflix deal. 
The final episode from her podcast was released. Love that she finished it off talking about orgasms. That’s just very her. To be honest, it’s been great having something to look forward to every 2 weeks but I’m glad to cancel that subscription 
I turned 25 and didn’t cry which is a first! I now find it weird watching season one of the x files and knowing I’m the same age as Gillian 
Gillian changed her bios and I’m not about it. 
March
How is it March already! You know… the last time Gillian was on a red carpet was December … just saying. The last 12 months with so little Gillian content has been painful, to say the least, and that’s exactly how March went to a tea… the content is so dry that Connie has resulted in posting videos from over 10 years ago. But Gillian came in last minute with photos of her and Gigi the cat which Piper first posted pictures of in January. Not sure who she actually belongs to but as a cat mum I’d be so down for cat content
April
Honestly, at this point, I’m waking every morning and grabbing my phone desperate to see new Gillian content that’s just not coming. It was then leaked that the Crown asked Gillian to reprise MT for the next season but she can’t because of a scheduling conflict. Seems a bit suss if you ask me. Flash forward a couple of days later and she retweeted one of the articles saying it was a ���refusal” stating it was “absolute bullocks”. So….. either she saying the whole story is not true or just the refusal, which I have some things to say. Is she not supposed to be back with PM? So wouldn’t he know in advance if she could do it? And could this possibly be his team leaking it? Because let’s be real, there is history of that. Either way…. She posted it on his 60th birthday. So I guess you could read it both ways. So now Netflix is saying that she was never intended to return which differs from the original story of the crown producers saying she either refused or had a scheduling conflict. This makes me more want to lean to some rouge person who works on the crown having this idea which is shut down so they decided to make it into a thing.
Any way, she posted like 3 times over the easter weekend so one can only hope that this is an online come back
2 years pasted since the latest photographic proof of gillovny…. I’m living off bread crumbs at the moment okay! And I thought last year was slow. 
So… G-spot is real. I had been following the company updates closely just prior to the offical launch was announced and to be honest it scared me the more paperwork that was being submitted about it. Interestingly, some 22 year old called Robin Morgan is running it with her? And Piper is also a stake holder. And one of peters company’s is involved to. So it’s a family business?? How this all came to be baffles me. Peter and Gillian did break up at the end of 2020; we have confirmation of that. I do believe that they may have gotten back together in early 2021 but were definitely not together at the Emmy’s (the both looked uncomfortable) but I *think* that was the turning point. G spot was started in early 2022 so things would have definitely had to turned around by then. 
Look, it’s a little weird and I worry about the long term effects of it, but hey at least we are not living off bread crumbs. But the problem was that they tried to soft launch it on Instagram which last a whole 48 hours before it was taken down. They got it back up 48 hours later but was took down again less than an hour. The account was back up a mer two days before launched but then back down the day before and then back again. 
So when G spot finally came out, it wasn’t as bold as I was expecting. But when I’m in the UK later in the year I’ll definitely be trying some. 
But before that, Gillian and Peter went to the crown wrap party. And have I not mentioned before that she gets paped and then published by the daily mail every time she’s got something coming out??
G spot probably also gives an indication about Constellation Content and the Netflix deal which ends in a year. I say we will probably get something from it late in the year and unless they extend the contract, I can’t see much coming out of it which is kind of like what’s the point. But what I’m thinking is that the Netflix deal was supposed to be through her Fiddlehead products company but maybe there was a hick up or something went wrong with that so she created constellations?? Maybe?? The deal could have been extended and we haven’t been told either. Just a thought. 
May
G spot continued its launch. I wish she did more in-person stuff for it though like interviews and Instagram lives. It feels like it’s been ages since she actually did anything that wasn’t pre-organised if that makes sense but maybe that’s to come. 
Anddddd I had my clown mask on thinking G would go to the coronation because everyone else was… turns out she was in Amsterdam. 
Gillian was cast in a new project called The Salt Path… nothing to do with her Netflix deal though but is giving off award-season vibes. I don’t even think she has the time for the Netflix deal anymore. 
And May ended with Gillian… well G spot joining TikTok 
June
So, if history is repeating itself and sex education is coming out in September, we *should* start seeing content this month. I’m hoping for a late September or early October release because I will actually be in London then.
So a recap (not that anything has actually been happening), G has 4 projects to be released (sex ed, white bird, scoop and the salt path), that book thing and the ongoing launch of G spot (international shipping when?????). 
G started filming the salt path
And so it was on the 11th of June, Gillian posted a shout-out to Mr DD on the release of his new project. Gillovny lives on, and David, take note. 
On a side note, they are obviously still close considering she felt the need to do this. Which means… he has probably tried G Spot 😂 don’t be shy David, promote it!! 
G spot finally became available internationally, but between the $7 a can, $30 shipping and the dress she wore I really want… I think I'm just going to sit on the idea for a bit. I am going to be in London in September so I could just try it then. Part of me does not think I could wait that long though. The current prices are a bit too expensive for my liking and that could change over time. If it wasn’t a drink I might be considering it more serious, like I did by her tote bag which lots of people like to remind me was way too expensive for what it is. 
The end of June saw the office end of Gillian’s unemployment era with other project announced, The Abandons. This one is a Netflix project too
This actually makes her really booked. G Spot, white bird out in August, Sex Ed the 2nd half of the year, scoop, the Salt Path, dear Gillian and this season. And if anything comes out of the Netflix deal
And I missed out on getting eras tickets and spent the weekend crying whilst watching sad Kate Winslet movies. Moving on
July
The Sex Ed season 4 trailer and date finally came out. And it will be the last one. Two cute little clips of Gillian. I couldn’t really process it all due to my personal life just being a mess and erasing the work I’d put in over the last 2 years thanks to one text but anyway, it was all over as quickly as it started, and you would think after 5 years of putting up with this same man I would have learned my lesson by now but nope
I’m loving all the shots coming in from Gill filming the salt path. I’ve ordered the book which should hopefully be delivered before my trip to read. 
G reposted a pic of David with a fan at the writer's strike, and girl, I get it (he left her on read again). David, step up your game. 
The salt path finished filming and G posted a cute little video. 
White bird got pushed back thanks to the writer's strike. Feel like we are never going to get that movie. 
August
Have I told you how much I love August? One, it’s one of my favourite TS songs, two it's Gillovny month and three it’s the end of winter. Really looking forward to seeing Gillian get publicly left on read. 
And so there was radio silence on David’s birthday. Look, I was really hoping for a little something but anyway. But to be fair, she only posted a picture of Stella for her own birthday so it was all a flop. But then a video a couple of days later. 
Anyway, things from here might be a bit all over the place because I had a really significant death in my family a week before a 2-month trip around the world and I was a hot mess
Fingers crossed I cross paths with Gillian when she’s filming in Canada but thanks to the writer's strike, might not happen. 
And so august ends, with no Gillovny moments and me constantly thinking about them as I walk around Vancouver 
September 
Sex Ed comes out this month. Thank god! Though due to travelling I’m not sure when I’ll get to watch it all. I started September off in Los Angeles. I had the biggest smile on my face seeing Gillian’s star!! And just being in Hollywood. I’m such an award season person so being there was really special. 
Then I got stuck in New York and had to sleep in the airport thanks to bad weather. 
G spot put out new promotion stuff. The 30th anniversary of the x files passed with radio silence. Not really surprised but disappointed I guess. I think the actors strike probably had a bit to do with it as well
Gillian went holidaying in Italy. The new Netflix show she has signed up for is supposed to be filming in Calgary where I am but has been pushed back because of the sag strike. 
G Spot came out with a new flavour. 
The new season of Sex Ed came out. I was still in Canada at the time so I didn’t get to watch it like I normally would. To be honest I skipped through a little bit of it so I could try and watch Gillian’s parts without getting too many spoilers. Annoyed that because of the strike, Gillian didn’t post anything about it but I’m sure she will at some point. I can imagine that she has a heap of content and some good bloopers. I did like this season a little bit more than last year and Gillian had a good amount of time. I think it ended fine too. Gillian’s last scene had me in tears, one because it was so freaking cute and two because it was the last one.
So now at this point, we are stillllll waiting for white bird, a trailer for scoop and the salt path and for the abandons to start filming
At with that I ended September in London trying to find Gillian and G soot 
October 
For me, October kicked off in London. I really really really loved London and didn’t want to leave. I couldn’t find G spot in London which is ironic. And Gillian remained in hiding the whole time I was there too. 
I missed London so so much when I got back to Sydney. If it wasn’t for the fact that it’s so far away and expensive, I would be planning my next trip. 
Anyway, so it’s at this point I’m thinking we should be getting an announcement on constellation content or even a small little bit of progress seeing it’s coming up to a year since it was registered. But who knows. Especially with the sag strike. Really looks like that Netflix deal is going to be pushed under the rug too. 
Gillian attended the launch of Planet Earth 3. Annoyed that she went to something only after I had left London. Like if this was a week earlier, I would have run from my hotel in Soho to where she was. Anyway, she took all three of her kids with her too which was pretty cute. 
G did a cover story for net a porter. First one in a while. So annoyed because I legitimately walked past her doing the interview. She did very briefly mention her production company. 
Gillian pulled out of that ridiculously expensive tech talk thing she was supposed to do in November. She pulled out for decent reasons but I felt like it was one of those things she said yes to without knowing anything about. Like yes, it was more for G spot… but G spot isn’t as big as it’s currently being made out to be. I spent two weeks in London and couldn’t find it because you still can only get it online and at very very selective places. But anyway, I’ve seen a lot of heat about it and to be honest, so was right for pulling out and anyone who thinks otherwise kind of needs to view things from a more neutral and broad standpoint. She even released a statement about it that still went over so many people's heads
On a side note, I’m so heart broken about Meryl and Don. Back in the day I was a streeper first so I found this news really really hard. Especially knowing it happened 6 years ago I had thought that we hadn’t seen him for ages and I thought maybe it had something to do with old age. 
On a very unexpected notes, Squadron 42 is finally almost ready to be released after absolutely years in post production. 
And on another side note, for someone who doesn’t relax, she has certainly been on a few holidays this year. 
November 
Ah November. How did we get here?? The crown has its final premiere this month… 
Considering they have been back together for over a year and it’s the last one, my money is on that they will do the red carpet together…. But I’m not totally convinced either. And it all obviously depends on if the strike is ongoing. 
Something I didn’t see coming, Gillian’s production company is being striked off. I am not completely surprised seeing nothing has come out of it and the Netflix deal but I thought they would wait a little longer
Really hoping for an in-person Gillovny moment with David on tour in Europe. I’m almost certain that they will see each other, just hoping they will share it with us. But then maybe not with the crown about to drop. 
The strike finally ended. Excited to see what unhinged stuff Gillian posts that she couldn’t. Also excited to see her head off to Canada for filming.
Gillian joined tick Tok 
No Gillovny moment… publicly at least 
So there was an LA premiere which it doesn’t look like she was at. Strange there was no London one but I guess with the strike just ending there might not have been enough time to organise it. Maybe they might do one in December before the whole thing drops. I haven’t really been following the lead-up to this season but it all seems a bit quiet? Especially considering it’s the last one. 
Gillian attended letters live. This was held at the Royal Albert Hall which I fan-girled over because I did I private tour of the hall when I was in London. 
December 
We’ve made it! Gillian went to the London Fashion Awards at the Royal Albert Hall and omg. Loving her hair being more honey-coloured and the way it was styled.  And the dress!!!! Don’t ask how many times I zoomed in on it. 
And of course, she went to the London premiere of The Crown, the next night too! She looked stunning. Surprised but not surprised. She did an interview as well where she spoke about Peter being her partner so there you go. 
And look, if she’s happy then I’m happy. I’m not really sure how someone like her could put up with his behaviours but who knows what they are actually like behind closed doors. He is pretty much now her longest relationship and I think that the fact that they are both successful determined people has a lot to do with it. I do find it interesting that her and David were interacting more when they were separated. I can’t see David getting along very well with Peter and vice versa with Gillian and Monique. 
White bird now has a release date of oct 4 2024 which is just ridiculous and makes no sense. 
I’m not really sure what happened from here till the end of the month as I found myself getting caught up in an unexpected romance that has me smiling like an idiot and forgetting how to function and is going to end in me being a mess because it’s such a difficult situation….. anyway!
And do y’all realise that you have practically bullied Gillian off Twitter???? For something that most of you actually don’t understand?
And that’s a wrap! 2023, you were what I needed! Whilst Gillian didn’t really do much, which was mostly out of her control, 2023 served! For me personally, it was a big one. I lost my great-grandmother a week before I left on a trip of a lifetime. Travelling solo through North America and the UK was huge and totally eye-opening. It was hard but I loved and appreciated every minute of it. Everyone said to me that I was silly for doing it on my own, but life’s too short to wait for the right person to do stuff like that with. But in saying that, I unexpectedly reconnected with an old flame, which has been pleasantly nice but is now definitely over. Gillian, I’m blaming you for getting back with Peter for that one. But then I'm ending the year trying not to fall for someone who has been right in front of me for such a long time.
I really haven’t been super active on social media either this year which is something I think I’ll continue 
So keen for 2024….. fingers and toes crossed for something big happening to me in Feb but even if it doesn’t, I’m ending this year genuinely happy and in a good place for the first time in a long time. 
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Plans and Actions
Pia could barely keep still, and while not fidgeting exactly, the small endless movements verged on a restlessness he found unbecoming.  Follet glanced at her, watching long thin fingers alternately stroke the sable fur over her shoulders before dropping to smooth the velvet nap of the limo seats with the same slow gesture.  Without thinking, or even noticing how her hands drifted like feathers in still air, her touch would stray to the heavy silk of her gown, to the smooth cashmere of his suit, to trace the curl of her hair and back again, her eyes fixated on the cityscape outside the windows as they made their way to Elysium.
He had gloved her once.  Made mad by her endless caressing and her inability to obey, she had been made to wear gloves to deaden whatever need it was that compelled her to touch everything -and everyone - around her.  Pia had cried to be punished in that way, so desperate for any titillating sensation she would drag a bare wrist over whatever surface could accommodate.  She claimed she couldn’t bring him the secrets he wanted if she couldn’t sense feeling and thought through her inquisitive touch.
Perhaps she had been right.  Her intelligence gathering had waned during that time and he had punished her for that too. But she had worn them for a month until she had earned the right to remove them.  He still kept them in a drawer in his desk, and just the sight of those heavy black cotton gloves, suitable for a lady about town, was enough to make her capitulate.
When her hand moved to his sleeve a third time he brought a heavy hand down on top of it, as if capturing a slow bird.  She jumped, broken from whatever simple thoughts distracted her, tearing those bright eyes from the window to turn on him.  Follet smiled, watching her glow in his attention.
“My dear, you’re restless.”
“Its the first time I’ve been out in a while.  I’m just excited, that’s all.  I didn’t mean to bother you.”  She tugged very lightly on her hand and when it was clear he wasn’t going to let her go, she subsided, content to be held.
“I have a job for you tonight.”
“Oh?” 
The innocent surprise on her face was endearing.  “There is a new member to our city and I want you to find out why he’s here.”
“Of course, my love. Anything for you.  What’s their name.”
“Nicky Giovanni.”
Her eyes and face went blank and she had the audacity to pull her hand from his.  “No.”
“No?  No? Childe, you don’t tell me no.”
“There’s nothing you need from the Giovanni, my love.” Pia’s tone was as flat as her look and she folded her hands into her lap.  “They do their own business.  Wait a few months and he’ll be gone.”
“You will do as I say,” Follet hissed, perplexed at her sudden withdrawal but not going to lower himself to ask for anything.  “He is a threat to this city and I want to know why he’s back.”
She did look up then, smooth brow furrowed with confusion. “He’s back?  You know him?  Then why - ”
“I forget how young you are,” Follet muttered, watching her flinch at his disdain.  “He’s been gone for almost a half century and now he’s back.”
“It Giovanni business and nothing to do with us,” Pia said again.  “I don’t want to get anywhere near another Giovanni after you sold me to Lucio - “
Follet grabbed her arm and forced her to look at him.  “I will not tolerate your refusal nor will I tolerate you believing any lies told to you by the Giovanni.”
“Their elder said - “
“Their elder lied!” he remained firm, seeing the doubt in her eyes.  “You didn’t read the letter he sent.  You don’t know the truth of the matter.  You ran off with Lucio and Lucio paid for his dalliance with my woman with his life.”
“No,” Pia stammered, shaking her head.  “That’s not how it happened. They - ”
“It did and I welcomed you back despite your treachery.”  She was confused now, mouth working to find a defense that wouldn’t manifest and he pushed relentlessly on.  “You got their cousin killed.  The only thing that will keep you safe is finding out why Nicky is back and how we can get him to leave.  Understand?”
She was still shaking her head when the care pulled to the curb outside of the museum.  
“That’s not what happened.  You wanted me to go with Lucio. You wanted his family’s magic.  You wanted me to learn - “
She stopped when the door opened, two of his childer there and waiting to escort them inside.  Pia knew better than to argue with him in front of his family.  If she dared raise her voice at him one of his childer would slap her down before Follet could even give the command that she be chastised.  Meekly, she allowed herself to be handed out onto the waiting red carpet that led up the shallow marble stairs to the Field Museum.
The lot of them gathered on the pavement and ready to enter Elysium, he took Pia’s elbow in one large hand, bending down to whisper into her ear.  “Time to be a good girl now, Pia.  Let’s go inside and do what you’re told.” 
The Toreador nodded, smiling brightly and laughing in delight, as if he had whispered some endearing secret.  Good.  She would get him what he wanted. 
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missmentelle · 3 years
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Why Smart People Believe Stupid Things
If you’ve been paying attention for the last couple of years, you might have noticed that the world has a bit of a misinformation problem. 
The problem isn’t just with the recent election conspiracies, either. The last couple of years has brought us the rise (and occasionally fall) of misinformation-based movements like:
Sandy Hook conspiracies
Gamergate
Pizzagate
The MRA/incel/MGTOW movements
anti-vaxxers
flat-earthers
the birther movement
the Illuminati 
climate change denial
Spygate
Holocaust denial 
COVID-19 denial 
5G panic 
QAnon 
But why do people believe this stuff?
It would be easy - too easy - to say that people fall for this stuff because they’re stupid. We all want to believe that smart people like us are immune from being taken in by deranged conspiracies. But it’s just not that simple. People from all walks of life are going down these rabbit holes - people with degrees and professional careers and rich lives have fallen for these theories, leaving their loved ones baffled. Decades-long relationships have splintered this year, as the number of people flocking to these conspiracies out of nowhere reaches a fever pitch. 
So why do smart people start believing some incredibly stupid things? It’s because:
Our brains are built to identify patterns. 
Our brains fucking love puzzles and patterns. This is a well-known phenomenon called apophenia, and at one point, it was probably helpful for our survival - the prehistoric human who noticed patterns in things like animal migration, plant life cycles and the movement of the stars was probably a lot more likely to survive than the human who couldn’t figure out how to use natural clues to navigate or find food. 
The problem, though, is that we can’t really turn this off. Even when we’re presented with completely random data, we’ll see patterns. We see patterns in everything, even when there’s no pattern there. This is why people see Jesus in a burnt piece of toast or get superstitious about hockey playoffs or insist on always playing at a certain slot machine - our brains look for patterns in the constant barrage of random information in our daily lives, and insist that those patterns are really there, even when they’re completely imagined. 
A lot of conspiracy theories have their roots in people making connections between things that aren’t really connected. The belief that “vaccines cause autism” was bolstered by the fact that the first recognizable symptoms of autism happen to appear at roughly the same time that children receive one of their rounds of childhood immunizations - the two things are completely unconnected, but our brains have a hard time letting go of the pattern they see there. Likewise, many people were quick to latch on to the fact that early maps of COVID infections were extremely similar to maps of 5G coverage -  the fact that there’s a reasonable explanation for this (major cities are more likely to have both high COVID cases AND 5G networks) doesn’t change the fact that our brains just really, really want to see a connection there. 
Our brains love proportionality. 
Specifically, our brains like effects to be directly proportional to their causes - in other words, we like it when big events have big causes, and small causes only lead to small events. It’s uncomfortable for us when the reverse is true. And so anytime we feel like a “big” event (celebrity death, global pandemic, your precious child is diagnosed with autism) has a small or unsatisfying cause (car accident, pandemics just sort of happen every few decades, people just get autism sometimes), we sometimes feel the need to start looking around for the bigger, more sinister, “true” cause of that event. 
Consider, for instance, the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II. In 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot four times by a Turkish member of a known Italian paramilitary secret society who’d recently escaped from prison - on the surface, it seems like the sort of thing conspiracy theorists salivate over, seeing how it was an actual multinational conspiracy. But they never had much interest in the assassination attempt. Why? Because the Pope didn’t die. He recovered from his injuries and went right back to Pope-ing. The event didn’t have a serious outcome, and so people are content with the idea that one extremist carried it out. The death of Princess Diana, however, has been fertile ground for conspiracy theories; even though a woman dying in a car accident is less weird than a man being shot four times by a paid political assassin, her death has attracted more conspiracy theories because it had a bigger outcome. A princess dying in a car accident doesn’t feel big enough. It’s unsatisfying. We want such a monumentous moment in history to have a bigger, more interesting cause. 
These theories prey on pre-existing fear and anger. 
Are you a terrified new parent who wants the best for their child and feels anxious about having them injected with a substance you don’t totally understand? Congrats, you’re a prime target for the anti-vaccine movement. Are you a young white male who doesn’t like seeing more and more games aimed at women and minorities, and is worried that “your” gaming culture is being stolen from you? You might have been very interested in something called Gamergate. Are you a right-wing white person who worries that “your” country and way of life is being stolen by immigrants, non-Christians and coastal liberals? You’re going to love the “all left-wingers are Satantic pedo baby-eaters” messaging of QAnon. 
Misinformation and conspiracy theories are often aimed strategically at the anxieties and fears that people are already experiencing. No one likes being told that their fears are insane or irrational; it’s not hard to see why people gravitate towards communities that say “yes, you were right all along, and everyone who told you that you were nuts to be worried about this is just a dumb sheep. We believe you, and we have evidence that you were right along, right here.” Fear is a powerful motivator, and you can make people believe and do some pretty extreme things if you just keep telling them “yes, that thing you’re afraid of is true, but also it’s way worse than you could have ever imagined.”
Real information is often complicated, hard to understand, and inherently unsatisfying. 
The information that comes from the scientific community is often very frustrating for a layperson; we want science to have hard-and-fast answers, but it doesn’t. The closest you get to a straight answer is often “it depends” or “we don’t know, but we think X might be likely”. Understanding the results of a scientific study with any confidence requires knowing about sampling practices, error types, effect sizes, confidence intervals and publishing biases. Even asking a simple question like “is X bad for my child” will usually get you a complicated, uncertain answer - in most cases, it really just depends. Not understanding complex topics makes people afraid - it makes it hard to trust that they’re being given the right information, and that they’re making the right choices. 
Conspiracy theories and misinformation, on the other hand, are often simple, and they are certain. Vaccines bad. Natural things good. 5G bad. Organic food good. The reason girls won’t date you isn’t a complex combination of your social skills, hygiene, appearance, projected values, personal circumstances, degree of extroversion, luck and life phase - girls won’t date you because feminism is bad, and if we got rid of feminism you’d have a girlfriend. The reason Donald Trump was an unpopular president wasn’t a complex combination of his public bigotry, lack of decorum, lack of qualifications, open incompetence, nepotism, corruption, loss of soft power, refusal to uphold the basic responsibilities of his position or his constant lying - they hated him because he was fighting a secret sex cult and they’re all in it. 
Instead of making you feel stupid because you’re overwhelmed with complex information, expert opinions and uncertain advice, conspiracy theories make you feel smart - smarter, in fact, than everyone who doesn’t believe in them. And that’s a powerful thing for people living in a credential-heavy world. 
Many conspiracy theories are unfalsifiable. 
It is very difficult to prove a negative. If I tell you, for instance, that there’s no such thing as a purple swan, it would be very difficult for me to actually prove that to you - I could spend the rest of my life photographing swans and looking for swans and talking to people who know a lot about swans, and yet the slim possibility would still exist that there was a purple swan out there somewhere that I just hadn’t found yet. That’s why, in most circumstances, the burden of proof lies with the person making the extraordinary claim - if you tell me that purple swans exist, we should continue to assume that they don’t until you actually produce a purple swan. 
Conspiracy theories, however, are built so that it’s nearly impossible to “prove” them wrong. Is there any proof that the world’s top-ranking politicians and celebrities are all in a giant child sex trafficking cult? No. But can you prove that they aren’t in a child sex-trafficking cult? No, not really. Even if I, again, spent the rest of my life investigating celebrities and following celebrities and talking to people who know celebrities, I still couldn’t definitely prove that this cult doesn’t exist - there’s always a chance that the specific celebrities I’ve investigated just aren’t in the cult (but other ones are!) or that they’re hiding evidence of the cult even better than we think. Lack of evidence for a conspiracy theory is always treated as more evidence for the theory - we can’t find anything because this goes even higher up than we think! They’re even more sophisticated at hiding this than we thought! People deeply entrenched in these theories don’t even realize that they are stuck in a circular loop where everything seems to prove their theory right - they just see a mountain of “evidence” for their side. 
Our brains are very attached to information that we “learned” by ourselves.
Learning accurate information is not a particularly interactive or exciting experience. An expert or reliable source just presents the information to you in its entirety, you read or watch the information, and that’s the end of it. You can look for more information or look for clarification of something, but it’s a one-way street - the information is just laid out for you, you take what you need, end of story. 
Conspiracy theories, on the other hand, almost never show their hand all at once. They drop little breadcrumbs of information that slowly lead you where they want you to go. This is why conspiracy theorists are forever telling you to “do your research” - they know that if they tell you everything at once, you won’t believe them. Instead, they want you to indoctrinate yourself slowly over time, by taking the little hints they give you and running off to find or invent evidence that matches that clue. If I tell you that celebrities often wear symbols that identify them as part of a cult and that you should “do your research” about it, you can absolutely find evidence that substantiates my claim - there are literally millions of photos of celebrities out there, and anyone who looks hard enough is guaranteed to find common shapes, poses and themes that might just mean something (they don’t - eyes and triangles are incredibly common design elements, and if I took enough pictures of you, I could also “prove” that you also clearly display symbols that signal you’re in the cult). 
The fact that you “found” the evidence on your own, however, makes it more meaningful to you. We trust ourselves, and we trust that the patterns we uncover by ourselves are true. It doesn’t feel like you’re being fed misinformation - it feels like you’ve discovered an important truth that “they” didn’t want you to find, and you’ll hang onto that for dear life. 
Older people have not learned to be media-literate in a digital world. 
Fifty years ago, not just anyone could access popular media. All of this stuff had a huge barrier to entry - if you wanted to be on TV or be in the papers or have a radio show, you had to be a professional affiliated with a major media brand. Consumers didn’t have easy access to niche communities or alternative information - your sources of information were basically your local paper, the nightly news, and your morning radio show, and they all more or less agreed on the same set of facts. For decades, if it looked official and it appeared in print, you could probably trust that it was true. 
Of course, we live in a very different world today - today, any asshole can accumulate an audience of millions, even if they have no credentials and nothing they say is actually true (like “The Food Babe”, a blogger with no credentials in medicine, nutrition, health sciences, biology or chemistry who peddles health misinformation to the 3 million people who visit her blog every month). It’s very tough for older people (and some younger people) to get their heads around the fact that it’s very easy to create an “official-looking” news source, and that they can’t necessarily trust everything they find on the internet. When you combine that with a tendency toward “clickbait headlines” that often misrepresent the information in the article, you have a generation struggling to determine who they can trust in a media landscape that doesn’t at all resemble the media landscape they once knew. 
These beliefs become a part of someone’s identity. 
A person doesn’t tell you that they believe in anti-vaxx information - they tell you that they ARE an anti-vaxxer. Likewise, people will tell you that they ARE a flat-earther, a birther, or a Gamergater. By design, these beliefs are not meant to be something you have a casual relationship with, like your opinion of pizza toppings or how much you trust local weather forecasts - they are meant to form a core part of your identity. 
And once something becomes a core part of your identity, trying to make you stop believing it becomes almost impossible. Once we’ve formed an initial impression of something, facts just don’t change our minds. If you identify as an antivaxxer and I present evidence that disproves your beliefs, in your mind, I’m not correcting inaccurate information - I am launching a very personal attack against a core part of who you are. In fact, the more evidence I present, the more you will burrow down into your antivaxx beliefs, more confident than ever that you are right. Admitting that you are wrong about something that is important to you is painful, and your brain would prefer to simply deflect conflicting information rather than subject you to that pain.
We can see this at work with something called the confirmation bias. Simply put, once we believe something, our brains hold on to all evidence that that belief is true, and ignore evidence that it’s false. If I show you 100 articles that disprove your pet theory and 3 articles that confirm it, you’ll cling to those 3 articles and forget about the rest. Even if I show you nothing but articles that disprove your theory, you’ll likely go through them and pick out any ambiguous or conflicting information as evidence for “your side”, even if the conclusion of the article shows that you are wrong - our brains simply care about feeling right more than they care about what is actually true.  
There is a strong community aspect to these theories. 
There is no one quite as supportive or as understanding as a conspiracy theorist - provided, of course, that you believe in the same conspiracy theories that they do. People who start looking into these conspiracy theories are told that they aren’t crazy, and that their fears are totally valid. They’re told that the people in their lives who doubted them were just brainwashed sheep, but that they’ve finally found a community of people who get where they’re coming from. Whenever they report back to the group with the “evidence” they’ve found or the new elaborations on the conspiracy theory that they’ve been thinking of (“what if it’s even worse than we thought??”), they are given praise for their valuable contributions. These conspiracy groups often become important parts of people’s social networks - they can spend hours every day talking with like-minded people from these communities and sharing their ideas. 
Of course, the flipside of this is that anyone who starts to doubt or move away from the conspiracy immediately loses that community and social support. People who have broken away from antivaxx and QAnon often say that the hardest part of leaving was losing the community and friendships they’d built - not necessarily giving up on the theory itself. Many people are rejected by their real-life friends and family once they start to get entrenched in conspiracy theories; the friendships they build online in the course of researching these theories often become the only social supports they have left, and losing those supports means having no one to turn to at all. This is by design - the threat of losing your community has kept people trapped in abusive religious sects and cults for as long as those things have existed. 
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sukirichi · 3 years
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black magic [01]
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REQUEST. arranged marriage + enemies to lovers (sukuna is a simp and lowkey a housewife)
CONTENT/WARNINGS. some suggestive scenes, but overall fluff and romance! slight crack fic, I guess? I was laughing when I wrote this lol
NOTES. I NEED A HUSBAND! SUKUNA I’M GOING TO CRY GOODBYE THIS HAS ME SOFT. also anon i’m not sure if you wanted something with more ~sexual tension~ since this is kind of just comedic, but I hope you like it anyway!
part one | part two (nsfw)
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“This is new,” you comment with a glare, your ankle propped on Sukuna’s knee.
“Shut up,” he rolls his eyes, pushing your skirt aside to clean the wounds you attained through exorcising curses. You’ve taken a particularly strong curse today and you’re caught off guard, barely finishing the mission unscathed. Limping all the way back home isn’t easy especially since you live on top of the darned mountain, but if Sukuna’s going to kneel in front of you like this...maybe it wasn’t too tough a journey. “You should stop going to missions you’re not ready for. Look at you, all wounded and bloody.”
“You sound like you care.”
“You’re my wife,” he huffs while dropping the bloody towel on the floor. Sukuna wraps the bandage around your ankle and carries you bridal style even though you’re perfectly capable of walking, but he shoots you a silencing glare. You’d have knocked him in the face any other day, but he’s particularly warm and smells nice today – plus you’re beat – that you bury your face in his chest, ignoring that stupid fluttering in your stomach. “Of course I do.”
You snicker, mind tracing back to your earlier years of this dreaded marriage.
It definitely wasn’t the best – the memories blurring between strangling each other to making out as if breathing was never a thing – and it felt like forever ago when you first met him.
You’d never say it out loud, but... you don’t regret this arranged marriage. Not when Sukuna is tucking himself beside you on the bed, your head above his muscular chest a place similar to home. He covers both your bodies over with a blanket, pulling your body closer to him with a strong arm, his lips pressing onto the crown of your head.
Ugh, you think to yourself, giving in to the need to cuddle your husband after a long day of work. You still refuse to say it out loud, though, and you irk him further by muttering, “That’s not what you said two years ago.”
“I wasn’t in love with you then.”
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 “I refuse to be married to you!”
Sukuna fights back the urge to cover his ears. Ever since your clan decided to visit his land and started exorcising curses one by one, his life has been nothing but hell. Not only are your relatives the most arrogant people ever with a consistent god complex, they just had to let their little mortal child be in charge of taking on the stronger curses. Seriously, what were they thinking, sending you – who’s barely even out of their training bra years – to deal with curses like him?
Everyone knows Sukuna is a no bullshit man. He won’t hesitate to cut your head off the moment you came raging at him, but then he sees how young you are and decides to send you back to your family.
Expecting that everyone would just call it a day and he’d get offerings for his unexpected mercy, Sukuna is beyond stupefied when they send you back to his temple, all dressed pretty with a basket of fruits and flowers braided in your hair. He remembers growling because you look adorable, but that’s easily wiped away when you open your mouth, your voice scratchy against his ears as you stomp your feet like the young mortal you are.
Sukuna pushes a thumb to his forehead to ease the impending headache, and that’s just from your presence. Something inside him tells that you’re going to be a bigger pain than you look.
“You don’t have much of a choice. You should’ve thought of that before deciding to run rampage over my land,” he reminds, turning boredly to his lone servant from above his throne. Sukuna isn’t impressed, to say the least, especially with your clan’s audacious proposition to gain his favour just this once. “Is this really the woman you bring me – the one they insist to be my wife?”
“She is their best fighter, my Lord.”
Well, he can’t disagree to that. You did, after all, single-handedly give him a cut on the cheek. “She’s feisty indeed.”
“Don’t talk as if I’m not here!”
“Mouthy too,” he mumbles to himself, but your sorcerer senses are sharp and easily picks up on it. He sees you flush angry again, looking immensely adorable with your tiny fists clenched like that and he snorts, waving a hand in the air. “Whatever. Get the wedding over with,” he nods to his servant, his sigh loud and tired as he makes his way to you.
You don’t stiffen at each haunting step, his eyes only glimmering harder with entertainment. It’s rare to find a mortal that doesn’t quiver at the sight of him, the urge to break you only growing stronger.
Even as he cups your face, making sure to not let his claws dig into your precious skin, Sukuna smirks. You’ll be entertaining indeed.
So Sukuna makes a promise, four eyes surveying the way your body is starting to fill in curves at the right places, the swell of your flesh just perfect in his hands... He chuckles to himself, daunting you further as he leans down to your ear, taking pleasure in the slight way your breath hitches. “Maybe then I’ll get to teach you a lesson or two.”
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You’re definitely something else, taking advantage of each presented opportunity and not wasting any time before you make your move. Right after the wedding and everyone’s left, leaving you alone with your new husband behind closed doors; you push him until he’s on the ground, legs straddling each side of his hips while you growl above him – the sound similar to a battle cry.
Sukuna merely smirks, barely moving a muscle as his large hands come up to rest on your hips to steady you. “I’ve imagined countless ways you’d be on top of me like this,” his eyes light up with humour upon feeling the cold blade on his skin, “None of them included a knife on my neck though.”
“Shut your mouth. I will kill you myself,” you warn, pressing your knife harder until it draws a slight tinge of blood.
You hardly look threatening above him like this, dolled up to look the best in your wedding with this cursed being. If anything, you look more divine than deadly, and Sukuna thinks that perhaps your beauty could be your best weapon. You are bewitching, after all.
“I refuse to be your Queen and sit next to your throne.”
“Then why didn’t you stop the wedding?”
“I—”
Sukuna’s teasing grin grows wider when you pull back, trying so hard to not trip over your words. It takes all of his self-restraint to not take you right then and there, but he does a good job of holding back, enjoying this view above him instead. “Could it be you’re attracted to me after all, hm, little one?”
“Do not test me, Curse. I’m more than capable of exorcising you myself.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt that. You’re the strongest in the Gojo clan, are you not?” he prompts to appease you, “I don’t even want to see what you’re capable of, but maybe, just maybe...” just as his eyes darken, the edges of his lips turning up into a smirk, Sukuna digs his claws into your thigh in a possessive show of ownership, a painful reminder that you’re his now. “...You could put on a little show for me?”
“I hate you!”
Experienced and strong as you are, you’re nothing compared to a thousand year old curse who’s killed a lot more people faster than you could blink. Sukuna immediately notices the animalistic way you draw your blade, arm swung back with rage written all over your face. Before you could so much as bat an eye, he easily switches the positions until you’re under him, using only one hand to pin your arms above your head, your blade effortlessly thrown to the other side of the room.
“As I thought, you’re a lot prettier under me like this,” he observes, roaming his eyes shamelessly over the fabric clinging prettily to your body. You’ve fallen silent at his unconcealed attention, your compliance enticing him to lean closer just to inhale your intoxicating scent.
“Not so feisty now, little one? Where’d all your hatred for me go?” Sukuna pulls back with widened eyes, “Oh? Am I hearing it wrong or is your pathetic human heart beating so loud right now?” You refuse to look at him, wriggling your hips in an attempt to leave, completely unaware that the mere movement is hypnotizing the curse above you. Sukuna grips your hips in warning, not wanting to destroy you – not now, anyway. “You know all you need to do is say it. I’d gladly take you right here and then.” His words spoken with that deep, throaty voice immediately sends a wave of heat down your core, but you turn away from him, breathing hard and nervously; something Sukuna picks up on in an instant. “Little one...have you never had a man hold you like this before?”
“N-no...”
“I see. Pure and innocent behind that ferocity, huh?” He surprises you by pulling away, smoothening his white robes down as he leaves you panting still on the floor. “Fine. I won’t touch you unless you ask me to.”
“I’d rather die before that ever comes out from my mouth.”
“We’ll see about that,” he smirks, winking at you before he shuts the door. “Little one.”
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There’s a lot of weird – and utterly inconvenient things – about being Sukuna’s wife. The man eats everything, absolutely everything, and it doesn’t help that he sucks at hunting too. For a man so huge and burly, he sure is lazy, preferring to do the laundry in the riverside instead while you go out every day to prepare your meals.
You actually don’t mind, but it’s very fun to complain around him.
You’re on your way back to the temple when Sukuna grabs at you, making you drop the freshly caught birds onto the ground. Your brows furrow, about to scold him for being too eager again when Sukuna stares at your arm, his lips pressing into a thin line.
Following his line of sight, your lips form an ‘o’ shape. There’s blood trickling down your forearm from his claws accidentally cutting you, guilt written all over his face. Another weird thing about Sukuna is that he babbles a lot when he’s emotional, and you’re too tired to hear him beat himself over it that you just drag him inside your room, sitting his ass down before taking a clipper.
Sukuna scoffs when you start cutting his nails. It irks him that you don’t even bother wiping the blood off first and he tsks, eyes narrowed at you. “You should have thicker skin.”
You roll your eyes as you file his nails; you’ve been married to him long enough to know it’s his way of saying sorry. Not wanting to let him wallow in guilt any louder, you pad kisses over his knuckles before swiping the black ink off your desk, using a pen brush to colour your nails instead. Sukuna hovers behind you, head tilted to the side as he watched you. “Are you painting your nails black?” he utters in disbelief, trying to ignore the fact he feels...proud and even a little smug. “Not so fitting for the angelic sorcerer now, isn’t it?”
“I’m only doing this so you don’t feel left out.”
“Maybe I’ll add markings to your pretty face too,” he cups your jaw to make you turn to him, landing a solid kiss flat to your lips which makes you sigh, pretending to be annoyed but leaning over for another peck anyway. Sukuna laughs and pulls you onto his lap, kissing your neck this time around, a little annoyed that you don’t stop in brandishing your nails. “Wife, what do you think?”
“I have work, Sukuna. You flirting with me doesn’t change the fact I need to go.”
“Come home safe for me, at least?” he breathes down your neck, his touch sending shivers down your spine. You’ve definitely changed since the first time he’s met you, starting from a mean (although he stands strong that you are still mean to him sometimes) temperamental little one to a mature, stronger sorcerer who’s secretly weak for his wife.
Unable to resist him as always, you turn around once you’ve finished painting your nails, rubbing your nose over his until your strong, scary husband is turning into putty at your hands. “Of course I will,” you peck his lips one last time, Sukuna’s eyes closing as he dives in for a deeper kiss. “I’ll always come back home to my handsome husband.”
If anyone were to ask how it’s possible that the King of Curses is actually very soft for his sorcerer wife, everyone would claim it’s impossible and a heresy – but if you ask Sukuna, it’s probably just black magic doing its wonders.
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realcube · 3 years
Text
saying things they don’t mean during an argument
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 navi | masterlist | taglist 
thank you to anon for this request <3
characters ♡ msby black jackals (hinata, sakusa, atsumu, bokuto)
content warning ♡ angst, hurt to comfort, fluff, swearing, crying, adoption  (sakusa’s) & suffocation (?)
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kōtarō bokuto 
♡ you sighed, crossing your arms over your chest - you knew he was a bit boyish sometimes but you never expected him to be so childish in regards to a simple request
♡ ‘bokuto, i have so much on my plate!’ you cried, tightly gripping the sheets underneath you, ‘planning the wedding, going to work, doing almost every chore in this damn house and filing all our fucking taxes!’
♡ you momentarily paused to look at him, expecting a look of sympathy but instead getting an eyeroll which prompted you to continue, ‘and all i am asking for is you to run a few errands! that’s it! why are you so opposed? i thought you enjoyed grocery shopping?!’
♡ bokuto pulled his night-shirt over his head as he stormed to his side of the bed, ‘it’s not fun without you!’  he whined childishly, plopping himself down next to you and gasping when you had the audacity to shuffle away from him
♡ ‘it’s not supposed to be fun, bokuto!’ you yelled, completely fed-up with him at this point, ‘a few errands, that’s all i ask of you!’
♡ bokuto notices how your voice shook and your lashline glistened; he didn’t want you to cry so he begrudgingly gave it, but with a strong comment to go along with it so you knew that he really didn’t want to 
♡ 'fine! i don't need you anyway!'
♡ then proceeded to dramatically pull the duvet over himself and pout, averting his gaze to the wall opposite 
♡ in this context, he hoped that you’d understand his comment and not take him too seriously but since you were already on the verge of tears, this simply pushed you over the edge
♡ you buried your face in your hands and hid under the blanket in hopes he didn’t realise you were crying but his senses are just different when it comes to you so try stifle that sob all you want, he’s still going to hear it and he’s still going to instantly pull you into his arms while frantically apologising 
♡ ‘please don’t cry, (y/n)! i really didn’t mean it- i do need you! i love you so much, my life wouldn’t be the same without you! you do so much for me and i am so sorry for not showing you how grateful i am! like you’re so pretty and kind and talented and smart - only geniuses can do taxes - so i’m just so lucky to be with you and i can’t wait until we’re married. please, don’t leave!’
♡ eventually his praise slowly became pleas as he begged for you not to leave/hate him
♡ he does not want to lose you bc of a silly comment he made-
♡ eventually his endless pleas started to become more than background noise to your sobs, so you finally hugged him back, whispering, ‘i can’t wait to marry you too, kō.’
♡ this action lifted a massive weight off his chest and he let out an audible sigh of relief, his grip on you loosening, ‘mhm, and of course, i’ll run the errands, babe. i suppose, it’s the least i could do.’
♡ you hummed in agreement, glad that a part of your mental stress had been relieved, allowing you to finally relax in his arms and perhaps doze off in his loving embrace 
♡ ...
♡ ‘mm, you smell like marshmallows, (y/n)- can i add marshmallows to the shopping list?’
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kiyoomi sakusa
♡ he spoke as if you were making some crazy, otherworldly request but in reality, all you were asking was for him to take paternity leave to help you care for the baby 
♡ you’re not really a baby-expert so you thought that sakusa would be happy to stay home and learn how to care for the child with you - as a couple, as a team 
♡ but he was extremely opposed to the idea, spewing out a much of nonsense as to why he needs to go to work, but a part of believed that he just didn’t want to deal with his child - or maybe, he didn’t want to deal with you
♡ ‘sakusa, how do you expect me to raise a whole baby on my own! they need a lot of attention - i don’t think you understand how big of a commitment this is, you can’t treat it like a hobby!’ you cried, having long before burst into tears because your mind told you the worse - that he didn’t actually love you, he lied about wanting a kid, he lied when he said ‘i do’.
♡ usually during arguments when he notices that you’ve started to cry, he’ll drop everything he was doing to shuffle over to you and wrap you in arms, then whisper sweet-nothings into your ear until you feel better but today, he showed little consideration to your emotions as he continued pacing through the living room while you bawled your eyes out on the couch
♡ ‘i thought you loved (c/n)! you were so gentle around them but it turns out you’re not even willing to take a paternity leave to help take care of them!’
♡ ‘what happened to the man i married?’
♡ ‘kiyoomi, you need to revaluate yourse--’
♡ you wouldn’t allow him to get a word in, which was probably for the best considering he had nothing good to say 
♡ but you were forced to cut yourself off when heard the sound of shattering so you immediately search for the source of the noise and there stood sakusa, his hand resting on the decorative table in the place your framed wedding photo once was - now, it was laying smashed on the ground surrounded by it’s own glass shards
♡ he pushed it off like the petty bastard he was
♡ while you sat stunned, staring the mess he just voluntarily made, he quickly turned on his heel and strolled away at a leisurely pace, 'my life was a lot easier before you entered it.'
♡ that was the last you heard of it for the next three days - you were giving each other the silent treatment 
♡ you couldn’t have any sort of grain for three whole days bc they are all on the top shelf and you usually make him grab it for you but you refused to talk to him- 
♡ you were the first one to break it though as you noticed that he hadn’t went to work for the last three days and curiosity got the better of you 
♡ ‘kiyoomi.’ you called out to him from the kitchen but he didn’t even look up from his book - ‘parenting for dummies’ - causing you to scoff, ‘why aren’t you going to work? did something happen?’
♡ finally, he sighed and shifted his gaze off his book but only to shoot you demeaning look, as if you were stupid, ‘paternity leave, duh.’
♡ the corners of your lips twitched into a smile, which you quickly forced away when you recalled the events that occurred three days ago and the hurtful things he said, instinctively looking over at the decorative table to remind yourself of what he did 
♡ but to your surprise, the picture was no longer laying on the ground, pooling in shards of glass but rather, it sit on the table with a brand new frame - which had both of your initials engraved onto it along with the date of the ceremony
♡ you didn’t need to choke out an inquiry as sakusa noticed your stunned expression and answered on his own, ‘i bought a new frame. i hope you like it.’
♡ of course you liked it; this one was a chic black with silver decals which matched your living room aesthetic way better than the other, tacky blue one did - plus, this one was customised which made you love it even more
♡ ‘i do. i really do. but i don’t like your attitude lately.’ you muttered, shaking your head as you waddled over to the couch 
♡ sakusa was quick to wrap his arms around your waist and pull you down next to him, ‘i’m sorry, love.’ his voice cracked slightly as he whispered in your ear, ‘i cannot put into words how much harder my life would be without you. i just..hope you understand.’
♡ it’s not that sakusa was bad with words; he was just too emotional and overwhelmed to produce a long, coherent sentiment for you so he just prayed that you recognized that everything he said on that day was meaningless
♡ ‘i love you, (y/n).’
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atsumu miya
♡ you rolled your eyes, ignoring him and continuing to type your essay until atsumu slammed your laptop closed
♡ ‘please, (y/n)! you know how much this means to me! i’ve been waiting for this festival for years!’
♡ you scoffed, folding your arms and patiently waiting for him to move his filthy hand off your laptop, ‘i do and i’m proud of you. but i have a lecture that day and my exams are just around the corner - and you know how much my education means to me.’
♡ atsumu had to take a moment to suppress a gag at how sickening and condescending your tone was, ‘it’s just one lecture, (y/n)! you’re not going to fail your exams because you missed one lectu--’
♡ ‘you don’t know that.’
♡ atsumu blinked twice, a unimpressed expression painted on his face as he let out a sigh, realising there was no possible way he’s going to be able to get through to you - i mean, he’s been trying for the last 20 minutes to no avail
♡ he ran his hand through his hairs, turning on his heel, heading towards the door and left
♡ but not before peering over his shoulder to shoot you a nasty glare and spitting, ‘you’re so selfish. you can’t even do one thing that’d make me happy - you never can.’
♡ that was the final thing he said to you for the next....20 minutes 
♡ that’s actually a new record for him - usually he storms out of the room, sulks for a minute or two then renters to beg for your forgiveness 
♡ but not today. he was so mad that he needed 20 whole minutes to cool down and come to his senses
♡ but once he did, when he came back into the room, he expected to see you typing your essay or studying as usual since his words don’t usually effect you too much 
♡ so of course he was shocked when he slipped back into your shared bedroom to see you with the duvet tossed over your whole figure, faint sobs coming from underneath 
♡ his immediate reaction was to pull the blanket away and offer himself as your source of heat, so he wrapped you in his muscular embrace, ‘b-babe.’ he stuttered, eyes-wide as he never would’ve thought you’d take his words seriously, ‘are you okay?’
♡ he knew that was a stupid question but he simply asked it to determine how sad you were - and considering you weren’t able to babble out a reply, that wasn’t a good sign
♡ ‘you’re not selfish.’ he reassured you while rubbing circles on your back, ‘if anything, i was being selfish- and nothing makes me as happy as you do, (y/n). i- i really didn’t mean it.’
♡ he paused only to place a kiss on the top of your head, ‘i love you- and to show you how much i love you..i’ll drop you off at your lecture on that day, and take you to the festival afterwards; does that sound good?’
♡ you were finally able to choke out a response but only to explain how unachievable his idea was, ‘my lecture finishes at 5 and the festival ends at 7, and there is a 45 minute drive between the two- you’re only going to be able to spend a little over an hour there.’
♡ ‘and i’ll have a blast in that time!’
♡ you sighed, your lips twitching into a small smile as you buried your face into his chest as you really couldn’t look him in the eye, ‘and why can’t you just go without me again?’ 
♡ ‘who the fuck am i going to play dance dance revolution against if you don’t come?’
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shōyo hinata 
♡ you crossed your arms over your chest, internally regretting ever opening your mouth to try calm down fiancé as now, not only is he even more angry, but also most of his anger with now directed at you rather than manager, like it was previously 
♡ eventually, you started to develop a headache from all his screaming and shouting so you politely asked him to calm down, to which he replied, ‘calm down?! you’re the one who made me mad with your rude-ass comment and now you’re telling me to calm down?!’
♡ you preferred it when he was demanding for you to say ‘butt’ instead of ‘ass’ because now that’s he spent more time with bokuto, he’s started swearing more often and to be honest, it’s scary when a 5″4 ginger sunshine is yelling at you, calling you a ‘rude-ass’
♡ ‘shōyō, if i’m completely honest, i have no idea why what i said was so mean and i have no idea what’s going on- why are you so mad at your manager?’
♡ suddenly, he twisted his neck to look at you as if you had just been possessed, ‘what?’ he inquired in a hushed tone, his voice hoarse and oddly sinister  
♡ you quirked a brow, too tired of his constant bitching to pay attention to his tone of voice, ‘yeah, you speak too fast, shōyō.’ you said with a shrug, checking your nails to ensure that he knew that you truly did not care about how he scowled at you, ‘plus, i just don’t understand why this gets you so worked up - i try, i really do, but i guess your volleyball problems just go over my head.’
♡ hinata clenched his fist, realising that he wasn’t going to make any progress by complaining to you. he whipped his head away before storming off, not even sparing you a final glance, ‘you just don’t get it; you don’t understand anything i say and you don’t even make a fucking effort! you just think you are so much better than everyone - well, you’re not! try coming back down to reality with the rest of us, and then we can talk.’
♡ followed by a slam of the door which rattled through the whole apartment
♡ you really had never seen hinata so angry before in your 6 years of being together 
♡ the words he said were far from pleasant and a part of you wondered in he genuinely meant them, perhaps he had been supressing those thoughts for ages and now that he was finally mad, he could let it all out
♡ though you tried to reassure yourself that everyone says things they don’t mean when they are angry, but the tears started flowing on their own
♡ hinata didn’t plan on seeing you for another few hours as he had the idea of heading over to bokuto’s, have a drink and cool down but when he hopped out the shower, he realised he had left his phone in the bedroom - where he left you. 
♡ begrudgingly, he slid into the room with the intention of grabbing his phone then leaving but that went to shit when he noticed that you were bundled up under the blankets, and he could hear distant sniffles coming from underneath
♡ and hinata only has four moods: mad asf, happy asf, loving you & volleyball...asf
♡ so upon seeing you in such a state, presumably because of what he said, elicited his mood to change from ‘mad asf’ to ‘loving you’ 
♡ he pounced on you, causing you to fall sideways and squeal but he simply did not give a fuck
♡ ‘baby! i am so sorry! i didn’t think what i said would make you cry!’ he blubbered, or at least, that’s what it sounded like since you couldn’t actually see him due to the fact he had trapped you under the blankets, ‘i don’t know why i even said that! you’re not like that at all- i don’t think of you like that!’
♡ he paid little regard for your pleas of mercy as you squirmed frantically under the blanket, trying to escape his grip and body weight. he simply continued babbling on about how sorry he was and how amazing you are, ‘you are down here with the rest of us - i just said for no reason. please don’t be mad! you are - what does bokuto call it again? - oh! a humble--’
♡ ‘shōyō! i’ll forgive you if you get off me right now - i can hardly breathe!’
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Text
The Brothers and Side Characters Play the Sims
I don’t know what possessed me to make this but WHATEVER. I’ve been playing the Sims since I was a wee little girl, and I’ve seen my fair share of weird Sims stuff that I feel would fit these bozos perfectly.
My Sims have a Functional Family Life Because I Don’t (Lucifer)
God dammit Levi’s obsessed with another game... ugh.
Spends 5 minutes in Create-a-Sim and hops into a starter home.
Lucifer’s the type to start with all the average stuff and then build their stuff up as his sim gets promotions.
It’s just... so peaceful...
...he’s adopting a dog.
Look at his new little virtual family... his sim-kids are self sufficient and getting A’s in school, his Sim spouse MC or Diavolo take your pick loves his Sim-self, his sim-dog-
WAIT NO- THE DOG’S AN ELDER?!
AAAAAAAAAAAAA-
...
He’s fine. It was just a virtual dog. *sniffle*
He’s now spending his free time drinking Demonus and playing the Sims.
What’s a mod? Levi why does your sim have gun?
Behold, My Gorgeous Home... It’s a Box (Mammon)
Mammon, like the rest of the HOL, is mooching off of Levi’s Origin account.
“AW SHIT! This house looks awesome! I’m gonna build it for Sim-me to live in!”
Mammon proceeds to build a box with rooms. Yay...
He just picks the funnest sounding job if he picks any job at all for his Sim. That’s how he ended up making 9 dollars an hour in the criminal career.
Didn’t stop Mammon from buying that solid gold bathroom set from Get Famous... a box with solid gold bathrooms.
His Sim is broke send help-
“Leviiiiiii my sim needs money... the people my sim kidnapped and is forcing to paint aren’t making enough money...” “Ugh... press control shift C and type ‘motherlode’.”
...Levi made a mistake.
“FUCK YEAH! MOTHERLODE!”
His sim’s life is so chaotic, he has a piranha pool that his sim has almost died in twice, the sim is carrying on several torrid love affairs, his sim got struck by lightning, his sim has nearly died in a grilled cheese making accident twice... in the same day.
At least once Sim-Mammon and Sim-MC get married things calm down a little.
Mammon finds out what custom content is and proceeds to download EVERYTHING HE CAN FIND.
And now he’s asking Levi why his computer is running so slow.
Expansion Pack King (Leviathan)
He got into it back when the Sims 2 was new, he’s a veteran fan.
“Bro remember when Agnes Crumplebottom would show up and whack the shit out of your sims if they were flirting?”
“Remember when that witch would show up randomly on the lot you were on if you had Makin’ Magic?”
“Remember when Bella Goth was abducted by aliens and we just... didn’t question it?”
He whines about the Sims4 and how crappy it is but still buys every expansion pack, game pack, and stuff pack.
This boy watches like 40 hours of built tutorials and ends up sobbing over his weird roofs.
“WHY DOESN’T IT LOOK AS NICE AS THE ONE I’M LOOKING AT?! THIS ISN’T FAIR!”
The mod folder is so full istg-
Levi gets custom content for the sole purpose of making his favourite fictional characters.
This is why Henry and the Lord of Shadows are married and Ruri-chan and Sim-Levi are roommates.
Oh my god they were roommates-
Levi also added his brothers to the world and uh... Sim-Mammon died in a tragic pool accident F.
Levi then proceeded to befriend the Grim Reaper.
He’s anxiously awaiting the release of Paralives.
Wait Gameplay? In This Build Simulator? (Satan)
Satan’s here to build and leave. Gameplay who?
Our favourite bundle of rage is a master architect and the amount of followers on the Gallery he has shows it.
He takes up those build shell challenges and always ends up making them look positively perfect.
Asmo’s always using his houses, and Satan often takes requests when he gets bored.
No Mammon, he reserves the right to refuse to build a golden castle for you- YOUR SIM HAS 40 SIMOLEONS-
No mods, no CC, he’s building with what EA gave him.
...and EA gave him debug objects, and he’s not going to explain how to get them.
The one time he did actually play with a family... it was one sim and seven cats.
He tries to play without cheats... and ends up getting frustrated and turns on cheats.
All hail the Pets Expansion Pack.
Custom Content Soap Opera (Asmodeus)
Asmo spends 5 hours in Create a Sim then just... clicks out of the game.
That’s how it goes most of the time, buuuuuut when he gets super invested in a family he’s made, boy howdy is he INVESTED.
Sim A is carrying on an affair with Sim C who’s in love with Sim B who’s married to Sim A but Sim D wants to kill Sim A and C even though they’re the illegitimate child of Sim C-
When Asmo realizes that in the Sims 4 he needs to manufacture all the drama himself and he can’t just sit back with a glass of wine and watch the fireworks, he switches to the Sims 2 and 3.
“...why is this old lady beating up my Sim..?”
He immediately recoils in horror upon seeing how ugly the Sims are pre Sims4.
HE NEEDS TO FIX THIS-
Ah, there we go, perfect. Custom Content to the rescue!
He ends up remaking the entire world just so he doesn’t have to look at weird looking Sims.
Asmo is the only one to have finished a proper Legacy Challenge, but it gets crazy chaotic after gen 3.
“My sim just got abducted by aliens and now he’s pregnant- WHAT?!”
He has about 40 saves and only two he actually plays.
Just a Big Ol’ Happy Family (Beelzebub)
Beel found the game, proceeded to make everyone in create-a-sim to the best of his abilities, and made everyone get along.
That’s why Sim-Lucifer and Sim-Belphie are on a swing set together, they’re friends :D
“Hey Luke do you think you can make this?” “I-is that a cake shaped like a hamburger?” “Yes. Please make.”
He took one look at the cooking options and decided to max out his Sim’s cooking skill to unlock all the options.
Beel proceeded to drool all over his keyboard. Gross...
Boy howdy did he have some crazy dinner suggestions!
Overall, very wholesome Sim-life, except for the time Sim-Levi died because the toilet caught fire, don’t worry, Sim-Beel knows how to make ambrosia.
All is good in the Sim save...
...until Sim-Beel ate pufferfish nigiri and fuckin died-
Wait Did I Not Pause- (Belphie)
Huh, this game looks fine... I’ll play for a little- *SNORE*
Belphie makes some sims, plops them into a starter home, plays for an hour, then falls asleep.
He wakes up five hours later to absolute carnage.
Three sims have died because someone decided to make Mac and Cheese and the oven caught fire, the kids were taken away by social services, and the dog ran away.
“...heheh, holy shit everyone look.”
He doesn’t play often, but when he does, death occurs. He has found out every death method for every game from Sims 2 to 4.
And that INCLUDES the Sims Medieval! You guys remember that game?
Sometimes it’s not intentional, but Belphie got bored with the totally normal life his sims were living and decided to spice it up.
“Why are the ghosts breaking my showers..?”
Help There’s a Bug- (Diavolo)
The Crown Prince started playing when he noticed Lucifer was playing it.
He was immediately obsessed.
Dia mostly plays the Sims Medieval because he likes the feeling of achievement after completing a quest!
“Barbatos... why isn’t my Sim completing their task? The icon won’t show up.” “My lord it appears the game is bugged.” “:(“
No one thought to tell Diavolo that EA doesn’t plan on offering bug support to a game made in like... 2009
This doesn’t matter! Look at how great his kingdom is doing- oh no his hero has the plague-
He plays through the Pirates and Nobles expansion and manages to get the peaceful ending, he’s so proud of himself.
“MC! Look! My Monarch’s sword is permanently on fire and I’m fighting an evil wizard!”
When he does play the other Sims games he’s pretty basic, though, he does a great job at furnishing!
Dia gets crazy sad when his Sims die... he turns off aging.
Builder no. 2 (Barbatos)
Barbie doesn’t have time for this... but when he does, he builds.
No create a sim.
No playing the game as intended.
Just builds.
It’s relaxing, okay? A nice little suburban house he’s never going to play in, maybe a treehouse, maybe a big Hollywood Mansion...
The only time he actually plays the game outside of build mode is when someone needs his help to fix something in-game.
He does download custom content build items if he feels bored by the current selection.
Oh Crap What Am I Doing?! (Simeon)
Help him. Please.
He’s so confused.
“Luke, why is my sim upset?” “He’s hungry, Simeon.” “Oh, how do I fix that?” “...Simeon-”
There’s a toilet in the middle of the living room.
The fridge is facing the wall.
There’s no bathtub or shower.
The house is on fire- there is no god- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-
Okay, once he gets the hang of it he’s sitting pretty. His sims have good jobs, the kids are getting good grades, everything’s fine.
...
But Simeon won’t forget the nightmares.
What Even is This Save? (Solomon)
Solomon’s save is the definition of chaos.
One sim’s a vampire, the other is a spellcaster that really wants to fight the Callientes for some reason, there’s one normal sim that’s always sick for some reason,
It gets weird, confusing, and horrible.
Just how Solomon likes it.
His house makes no sense, like, what even is architecture?
Money cheats are needed because Solomon‘a goal of chaos and confusion is proving to be kind of expensive.
Square up Mortimer Goth, Solomon’s sims are here to steal your weird knight statue that’s worth a shit ton of simoleons for NO REASON.
He joined the scientist career for the sole purpose of getting to the alien planet and kidnapping adding an alien to the household via cheats.
The vampire ended up dying on their wedding day because Solomon forgot that he gave them the sun weakness.
Oh well, the ghost got added to the household! VAMPIRE GHOST!
The Child (Luke)
Before you say Luke’s too young to play the Sims, you should know that I was nine when I first started playing, and I turned out fiiiiiiiiiine.
He’s just happy to be playing.
Look, his sims are gardening :D
Look, two of them are getting married :D
Look, they had a baby :D
Look, his sims are building a rocket ship :D
Look, his sims’s rocket just crashed-
The concept of death hit the little angel right in the face that day.
“*sniffle*... my sims...”
Don’t worry, with tears in his eyes, Luke quit without saving and everything was fine!
Speaking of My Sims, Luke played MySims Sky Heroes and that was when Luke had his first bout of gamer rage.
MC came over to hang out with Solomon and Simeon, and in the distance they could just hear:
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY TIME WASN’T FAST ENOUGH TO CONTINUE THE STORY!? I’LL SHOW YOU FAST ENOUGH TIME!”
Okay, maybe Simeon should take the game away... just for a bit... he should take heed not to be bitten by the incredibly angry chihuahua.
Bonus:
MC: Why are our Sims married?
*Insert Boy Here*: Uh... that’s weird... I have no clue why they’re doing that...
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rrickgrrimes8 · 3 years
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hi! i was thinking if you could write an imagine of reader being rick and lori's daughter and sister to carl, rj and judith. i don't have a specific idea in mind, but just her before and after the time jump, struggling with being there when lori and carl died, and looking for rick with daryl, her relationship with her siblings and michonne, maybe maggie and hershel too (i was thinking since carl was 10 when it all started, she was 7 so now she's 17) thank you so much, and btw i loved your imagines i've read so far 💞
Being a Grimes ~ Rick Grimes x Grimes!reader
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thank you so much for requesting i really enjoyed making this one. i also have a series kinda like this about Jacey Grimes which i’m currently making a book two for.
warnings: alluding to sexual assault or rape, suicide, death, gore (lemme know if i’ve missed anything off here)
sorry if there is any mistakes please tell if there is and give me feedback i’d love to here back from yall
masterlist
request guidelines
request are open
It was strange for y/n. This world would be strange for anyone really. But she was different. At only a mere 7 years old when the world went to shit she struggled as did many others. With the recent loss of her father - one she didn't entirely understand - still protruding through her heart, it was hard - so hard. 
When it happened she was at daycare. The teaching assistant tried and successfully ate the teacher in front of her. She was next and was so close to being eaten until Shane rushed in. He kicked Ms Twune and grabbed y/n. Her mom sobbed at the sight of her, covered in blood and the tears smothering her daughters face. Carl was shocked too. He wanted nothing more than to protect his little sister. His dad always used to tell him that that was his duty - his job. And he hated how he had failed in this moment. 
They made it to the quarry soon after. Y/n thought the group was nice - well mostly. The Dixon brothers scared her was what she told her brother or any of the children she had befriended. But she was lying. Yes, she was scared but only of Merle. He was creepy and mean to anyone he saw. Daryl was somewhat the same but he always found himself being nicer to the young child. And often kept her company when Lori and Shane went for a ‘walk’ in the woods. Glenn was another she found herself drawn to. He unlike Daryl happily invited her company. Glenn was sweet and funny. He never failed at making her laugh till she felt like she was going to pee. They were good friends which came to a fault when he had to go on runs. She’d scream and cry and refuse to let go of him because she was afraid that what happened to her father would happen to him. 
That’s what happened earlier that morning. Glenn and a few others were going into Atlanta, despite her dismay. Glenn assured her he’d be fine, which she didn't believe and continued her tantrum. 
“Can yer’ shut that damn baby up?” Merle spat covering his ears. 
Shane shot him a threatening glare while Glenn stayed preoccupied with the distraught girl. “Hey, it's okay. I’m coming back,” He insisted holding her tightly at his hip, “I promise you, sweet girl.” 
“No, b-b-but dada promise too a-a-and h-he,” She stopped herself, sobs erupting from her small body. 
“I know sweet girl, I know. But I’ll be back I know I will.” Glenn placed her on the back of the RV, “I tell you what I’ll bring you back some of your favourite sweeties, huh? Would you like that?” 
Giddily she nodded at his proposition, “Yes! Yes!” 
“Alright, then I’ll bring back some for you, okay?” She nodded smiling cheerfully, “I love you, kid.” 
“I luv you too, dumbass,” y/n giggled. 
Glenn looked around cautiously hoping no one heard that “Hey sweet girl you can't say that.” 
“W-what? Why?” the child began to cry again, “Y-y-you say it.” 
“I know b-but its adult words okay? Not y/n words. When you're older, alright?” She nodded her head again kissing his cheeks softly and hugging him. “Thank you, sweet girl. I’ll see you soon,” He kissed the top of her head and started towards the car smiling as she shouted, “With sweeties!”
The group returned hours later bearing a new man instead of Merle. Y/n waited patiently for Glenn and the aforementioned sweets. "Gen!" She screamed happily still unable to say his name fully. The man sprinted over to her, pulling her into a much-needed cuddle after the day he had. 
"It's Glenn, sweetheart," He chuckled while correcting. 
"Oh sorry Gen," She wrapped her dainty arms around his neck. 
"That's okay, sweet girl. I missed you." 
"I missed you too," She whispered before letting out a longwinded 'ew', "You stinky, Gen." 
The man smelt his shirt and nodded as the potent smell of walkers reached his nose. "I know yucky right?" 
"Yucky!" Y/n buried her face in Glenn's shirt ignoring the stench and just enjoying his company. She always became clingy like this after coming home from a run. He loved it. On runs, if he ever encountered a life-threatening situation - like the one today - he always finds himself realising how much she means to him. Glenn saw her as a little sister - one almost replacing the ones that were cruely ripped from him when this began. 
"How was it?" She inquired. 
"Not fun, sweet girl. But I got your sweeties and a nice man helped us out. Saved us," She beamed. 
"I like the good man. I'll give him two kisses when I see him. Maybe even one of my sweeties," Glenn chuckled. 
"Why two kisses, y/n?" 
"One for saving you. Two for bringing you hom," Glenn grinned contently and kissed her forehead. 
"Its home bubs with an e on the end." 
"Oh," She mumbled burying herself again. 
"Oh my God," Someone muttered as they exited the van. 
"Dad! Dad!" Carl screamed causing Glenn to snap his head in their direction. Carl came running towards the man, Rick, who had saved them in Atlanta. Y/n hadn't moved yet as she feared it was only a dream. That her dada wasn't really here. 
"Sweet girl," He pulled her out of his neck, "Look it's your dad." The child gazed over to where her brother had run to. Sure enough, it was her dad. He held Carl as he cried, looking to Y/n wanting to hold her too. 
"Dada!" She screamed jumping out of Glenn's arms dangerously. The girl scraped her knee on the way down but continued throwing herself into the hug. 
"Oh, Carl! Y/n!" She kissed all over his face childishly, "I luv you, dada." 
"I love you too, baby girl."
~
The years hadn't been kind to Y/n. She lost so much. Too much in fact that it had driven her to the depts of insanity and made her do things to herself, to others that she more than resented. The first loss was her mothers. She wasn't there like Carl was but the grief burned through her still. Y/n was too young to understand it really. Just how she was when Rick supposedly died. Y/n couldn't understand where her mom had gone she just knew she had a little sister now. One she swore to protect. 
She thought she had failed that when the prison fell. The young child was on her own. Injured and lost. She wandered through the woods for days until she stumbled across a group. The group were mean and despite her resistance wouldn't let her go. They hurt her in ways she didn't and wouldn't speak of it even now. But that all changed when Daryl showed up. He protected her - stopped them from hurting her. And eventually led her back to her family. Where for the first time she began to fear her father. 
Terminus was next. The people there snatched her from her family. She was forced to watch from afar as they were guided into the crate. Rick fought against them, Carl too but it was to no use. They had sectioned her off in a playroom. Every once in a while an older woman came in to fed and played with her. She hated it. Being in this world for more than a year now she knew that people like them didn't just want to play even if she did. She learnt that from the Claimers. 
Carol found her. Although having never have been all that close to the older woman - the only relation being the closeness between y/n and Sophia - seeing her after so long made her cry out of joy. Carol was happy too as she rushed out of that place to take her to safety. The pair ended up in the woods. Carol had stopped a moment ago to clean the dirt from her face, "lemme help." 
The girl sat up from where she was put down and cupped some water splashing it on Carol's face. Carol flinched as the water hit her, "Uh thank you." 
"Welcome," She looked away getting distracted by the nearing sound of footsteps. 
"Get behind me, y/n," Carol ordered to which she shook her head. 
"No it dada," She ran away from the woman and towards the group. 
"Y/n come back here!" Y/n continued ignoring Carols pleas and crashed herself into the back of Rick's legs. 
The father shot around and began to cry as he saw the child he thought he lost at his feet. "Oh, baby!" He collected the girl in his arms. Carl rushed to them too happy to see her alive after Gareth claimed he killed her. "Oh y/n, never leave me again, okay?" He looked directly into her matching blue eyes, "Promise me." 
"I promise, dada." 
Later Carol led them to Judith. Y/n was over the moon and refused to let her out of her sight, which was exactly what Rick was doing too. They found the church a while after. There they had some semblance of peace. She was glad to have Glenn back - Maggie too. Along with the new people although Eugene was a bit weird. 
At the church was also when the questions started. Daryl had told Rick about the group they were with and regretfully had to inform the father how she was there before him. Rick asked y/n - begged her - to tell her what happened. But she refused. She couldn't say what happened. What they did, which just made Rick fear more. Eventually, she spoke a little about it. She was vague and could barely string two words together without crying. He hated it. He hated how this was a reality for his daughter. He saw the bruises they left. And he couldn't understand how someone could touch his child. Or how he could be so powerless to stop it. 
Bob died. She didn't really know the man but it still upset her. Beth too. Although she was a lot closer to her. Beth was one of her only friends and was someone who would look after her when her father couldn't. They bonded and now she was gone. 
After Beth's demise, they spent lots of time on the road. They suffered, almost died countless times but they prevailed. They got stronger - she got stronger. And they eventually found Alexandria. There everything was good again like how it was at the prison or even before this hell. She liked it there and didn't understand why the others were so sceptical. 
Though that didn't last for long. Y/n began to hate the place when Carl got shot. Alexandria almost stole her brother from her. So she despised it. She refused to leave her brother's side as he adjusted to his injury. Yes, he found it annoying how she wouldn't leave him be and he often snapped at her. But she was there when he needed her. Despite the age difference and the many years of memories they had lost to this fight, she understood his pain. When he saw himself as ugly, a monster even, she made him think otherwise. She kept him afloat, which he was eternally thankful for. 
Glenn was next. 
She didn't believe it even after she was forced to see it with her own two eyes. She was next to Glenn in the lineup. She had to watch up close. Y/n had to be mocked by that man. She had to stay the whole night with her best friends brains on her face. After that night she blamed herself. She told herself that if Negan was just one person off she would be dead and he would live. He would get to see his child born and grow old with Maggie like they had spoken about. She wholeheartedly believed he deserved to live over her. 
The war with Negan shook her to the core. At the time his face filled her nightmares. He just looked so normal. He looked nice even. Yet he hurt and he hurt and he hurt. 
He killed her Glenn. And then Carl. It wasn't Negans fault although she did blame him. Carl had gotten bit. Y/n held his hand as he died in that tunnel as the home they had built above them fell. She got a letter too - even though she would rather have preferred to have her brother back. In the letter, Carl told her how proud he was of her - how thankful he was to have her as a sister. He told her to protect Judith, their dad and Michonne, who she had recently begun to call momma. 
After Carl's death, y/n shut herself from the world well everyone except her father. For days she would cry until she couldn't anymore. She would scream and scream until her voice was gone. She just didn't understand why it had to be Carl? Why mom? Why Glenn? Why Beth? Why was it never her? The following weeks she found herself wishing it would be her next. She could never bring herself to say it out loud but with any battle, any fight, anything, she wished it would be her. 
So when she lost her father her whole world fell apart. He was her consistent so why did he leave her? She was at the bridge that day. Daryl held her crying frame as Rick set off that final shot blowing him and the walkers off the bridge. Y/n Grimes' father was dead. 
She stayed in Alexandria for a while afterwards. For the sole reason to protect her siblings. Yes, siblings - plural. Somehow through all the bad some good came from it. She just wished her father and Carl could've seen it. RJ Grimes came into this world 9 months later. And he was perfect. For months she would assist in taking care of him as Michonne wasn't doing the greatest without the love of her life. Truth be told neither was y/n she was just better at hiding it. 
Until one night it all became too much. Y/n didn't know how it happened but she found herself balancing on the edge of her window. She wanted to jump - to end it. But she just couldn't will herself to do it. And when Daryl showed up she knew she couldn't. "Hey step away from ta window, alrigh'," The man ordered as he saw her shaking frame rocking back and forth. 
"I-i can't," She sobbed. 
"Ye' ya can. Jus' step back I'll catch ya," Daryl moved closer but paused when she shouted to stop. 
"I can't, Daryl. They're all gone. They're all dead," The tears clouded her eyes. She shut them tightly picturing her families faces wanting so badly to join them. 
"Please jus' step back, y/n. Yer' not alone. I'm here," He croaked the tears floating down his cheeks, "Don't jump." 
"I love you, Daryl." 
"I love ya too, okay? So step away from the window," He watched as she turned her head slightly catching his eyes. 
"I love you but I can't. Tell mom, RJ and Judy I love them as well." 
Suddenly she went to fall forward but Daryl reacted quicker. He gripped her waist pulling her into the room unwilling to release his grasp. "Yer' not leaving me," He told her as she cried into his shoulder, "Yer' cant leave me." Overhearing the chaos, Michonne entered her daughter's room to see the window wide open and the two of them crying. Daryl looked at her. The look telling her all she needed to know. Michonne began to cry herself and joined them on the ground. 
"Y/n?" A small voice called from the door frame. 
"Judith go back to bed, okay?" Michonne told her but Judith continued towards her sister. The girl said nothing as she wiped her sister's tears and held her hand.
It was 5 years later now. After her attempt, she left Alexandria with Daryl in search of her father. She didn't believe he was alive despite everything inside her wanting to. But Daryl did and after what happened they became a lot closer. He was happy she joined him. Even though the act of being out there was gruelling at times he was glad he could look after her. And if something would've happened to her while he was gone he could never have forgiven himself. Understandably Michonne was angry that y/n decided to leave. Y/n was her daughter and Michone her mother. They needed each other but she was willing to let Y/n leave to figure that out. It brought her peace looking for her father. 
The silence was her favourite and as Daryl wasn't much of a talker she got lots of it. They got a dog too, which Daryl cleverly named Dog. Everything was a messed up version of okay but it was still good. Being out there made her find her purpose. She went home a lot more than Daryl did, which pleased her siblings and mother. It was always for a few days never longer as she feared she'd stay forever and she couldn't. As much as Alexandria is good it also drives y/n to a dark place. One she was in that night. She lost so much there. And staring at those four walls drove her insane. It didn't help how Negan was imprisoned there. Just thinking how close he was made her skin crawl. She knew how Rick visited him when he was alive that he believed Carl was right about the killing. That it had to stop. Y/n knew he was right too but she could never bring herself to one admit or two face Negan. 
It felt like a story she read as a child when the Whisperers showed up. Like Negan, they scared her. So when she was told about his escape she only assumed the worst. The Whisperers took so many from them. Like Enid for example. Her story was cut short because of them. The two never really spoke but she understood how she and Carl felt for each other at a time. So ultimately it felt like she lost her final piece of Carl when she died. Y/n wished she had spoken to her when she could've. She wished she could've heard the untold stories they shared. She needed to know about Carl's final years with her. But now she's gone too along with those memories. 
The war with the Whisperers took everything from them. The Kingdom. Hilltop. Alexandria. Along with the lives they lost in the process. With the group separated she found herself protecting Judy and RJ. Michonne had gone. Where she had gone to, y/n had no idea. For a messed up reason, she began to prepare herself for her mother's death before it was even announced. That was until she got the call. She was okay and... apparently so was Rick. 
Disbelief was what hit her first. She couldn't hear his voice nor see his face so how could she know it was true. Michonne didn't know either she couldn't if he was really there, still alive. That night of the call she left. Without hesitation, she kissed RJ and Judith's heads, told them she loved them and told them to tell everyone else that and left. She left in the direction Michonne had told her. 
She left to find her father. And she knew she wouldn't return until she did. "I'm coming, dad."
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bestiesenpai · 3 years
Text
Youtuber Nanami
We’ve never seen Hanse and Nanami in the same room before...I’m just saying, the chances of them being the same person are higher than 0...gender neutral reader and no content warnings for this :) 11.8k words
(s/n) = nanami’s screen name
Nanami Kento wasn’t what usually came to mind when one thought of Youtubers. He was a salaryman, wearing pristine suits and going to work at ungodly hours. He had a stern face and rarely spoke about himself unless asked, preferring to keep most conversations short and to the point.
But Nanami didn’t think of himself as a Youtuber. He liked to refer to himself as a home cook who just happened to make videos and post them to Youtube. He had amassed a good two million followers and he didn’t show his face or hands, not even speaking as he cooked.
All Nanami dreamed about when he was at work was coming home and filming his next project. As an avid foodie, he was constantly thinking up new recipes to make. At first, filming himself had been a way of documenting his skills and keeping track of recipes without having to write them down, but as time went on people seemed to become enthralled with him.
“It finally came.” Collecting the mail on an early Saturday, Nanami’s smile was hard to contain as he grabbed the box that was waiting for him. He’d put in an order almost a month ago for this item and as he speed walked back to his apartment, his heart thumped with joy at getting to use it.
“It’s beautiful.” Holding up the cat bread mold, Nanami was itching to get to his kitchen and put it to use. Grabbing his camera, he began to prep his filming space. He was lucky to have such a large east facing window that his dining table could sit in front of and get the perfect light for his videos.
Making sure everything was perfectly positioned, Nanami pressed record and started to add ingredients into his mixing bowl. It was perfectly silent in his apartment, the most ideal environment to film in. Nanami didn’t add any background music to his videos, preferring to let the natural acoustics of his actions shine through.
Waiting for the dough to proof, Nanami flicked through some comments on his Youtube videos. He didn’t really care about what people had to say about his content, he only did this for himself, but sometimes it was nice to see what other like-minded individuals had to say. And he’d be lying if he said the comments about how aesthetic his videos were didn’t make his ego swell a bit.
When the bread was done and popped out of the mold in a perfect cat head shape, Nanami had to bite his lip to stifle a pleased sigh as he turned the camera off. He’d made it a point not to reveal his identity, refusing to let even his whole hand be in a shot and he wasn’t about to let it slip now with a hint of his voice.
“Kento you’ve really outdone yourself.” Biting into a slice of toasted bread with strawberry jam, Nanami smiled fondly at his creation. There wasn’t anything that could ruin this moment for him, not even the sudden knock on his front door.
It was a good thing Nanami was so good at setting up and taking down his cameras and lights, he didn’t want to explain to whoever was on the other side what exactly he did in his free time.
“(Y/N), hello.” As soon as Nanami opened the door and saw you, his next door neighbor, a light blush painted his cheeks. You’d moved in about six months ago into the corner unit next to his and Nanami had been smitten ever since.
“Hi Nanami.” You seemed equally as bashful, waving with a few fingers before tucking your hands behind your back. Meeting his eye for a moment, you let out a nervous giggle. “I was wondering if you’d gotten any mail addressed to me? I was supposed to get a letter from my grandma but I think the mailman might have given it to you instead.”
“Let me check.” Nanami had been so preoccupied with his bread mold that he didn’t bother to check the other mail he’d gotten. Taking a step away from the door, he was about to go further into his apartment but stuttered to a stop. “Would you like to come in?”
“Sure.” Slowly stepping in and shutting the door, you rocked back and forth on your heels. Nanami was glad you couldn’t look him in the eye otherwise you would have seen the blooming blush going across his cheeks.
He’d wanted to invite you in for a cup of tea and a slice of cake when you first moved in but he wasn’t able to gather the courage and by the time he finally felt ready nearly four months had passed.
“I actually do have it, (Y/N).” Coming back into the lounge room with the letter in hand, he quickly spotted you standing by the dining table looking at the bread he made in awe.
“Oops, sorry Nanami, I didn’t mean to be nosy!” Shuffling back, you took one last look at the bread before turning away. “I just saw the cat shape and got curious!” Taking the letter from him, you looked like you wanted to say something more, but held your tongue. “Well, I’ll be go-”
“Would you like to have a piece?” Nanami blurted out, holding out a hand to stop you from walking away.
“Really, you’d let me have some?”
“Sit down, I’ll pour you some tea.” Pulling out a chair for you, Nanami disappeared into his kitchen and gripped the countertops tightly. A sense of accomplishment washed over him that nearly beat out the bread; he was finally getting to have tea with you.
“Nanami, this is amazing!” Taking a bite out of the jam covered bread, your brows rose high on your face. “You really made this?”
“Mhmm. I got the mold this morning.” Taking a sip of his own tea, Nanami had to fight the smile on his face from becoming too big at seeing you enjoy his creation. He never usually shared with other people, either eating it all himself or giving it to the elderly ladies down the hall that didn’t know how to use the internet.
“Do you bake all the time?” Scooting to the edge of your seat, you almost looked like a child with a hopeful gleam in your eyes.
“I do, I quite enjoy it.”
The conversation began to revolve around food that Nanami had made, his favorites and yours, and then to just general cooking. It felt good to talk about this side of his life with someone, especially you, and the both of you quickly lost track of time.
“I should get going, Nanami, I feel like I’ve taken up enough of your time.” An hour later, you were standing up from your seat. The bread had quickly dwindled as the conversation wore on and there were only a few slices left.
“I enjoyed our talk.” Letting a full smile grace his face now, Nanami walked you to the door. Bidding you a final farewell, as soon as the door closed Nanami leaned against it, pressing his forehead into the wood and letting out a deep sigh. “You did it, Kento.”
Patting himself on the back for several days, Nanami looked forward to the next time he could see you. You’d let slip that you really liked cookies, so the only thing on Nanami’s mind was getting the perfect cookie recipe and making a batch for you.
Over the course of the next week, Nanami made a new cookie every single day. He knew what flavors you liked but he also wanted to try and give you something new, impress you with his skills and see that pleased look come over your face once again.
He also filmed himself making the cookies as well, making sure the videos were the most aesthetic they could be. He didn’t know if you watched his videos and even if you did he wouldn’t want to know, but on the off chance you saw them, Nanami wanted you to love it.
Finding the perfect recipe after a lot of back and forth with himself, Nanami was ready to share a plate of cookies with you. Sliding out into the hall with the plate tightly clutched to his chest, he turned to your apartment.
Nanami was happy you lived in the corner unit, it felt like he got you all to himself despite only having one proper conversation with you. There weren’t other neighbors trying to steal your attention away; it was perfect.
Right as Nanami knocked on the door, a sharp scream came from inside your apartment and he nearly dropped the plate in shock.
“(Y/N)?! Are you okay?” Knocking loudly, Nanami’s body spiked with adrenaline. There was silence on the other end, making him consider picking the lock or calling the building manager.
“N-nanami?” Your voice and body trembled as you opened the door. Quickly giving you a once over, Nanami was relieved to see no physical injuries on you.
“What’s wrong? Why’d you scream?” Eager to get the answer from you, Nanami leaned closer. Squirming a bit, you took a step back and opened the door for him to enter.
“Promise not to laugh, okay?” There was a slight pout in your lips as you spoke and Nanami almost cooed at you.
“I promise.”
“A spider came down from the ceiling and scared me.” Panning over to your lounge room, Nanami couldn’t see any spider. The only things he saw were your furniture and a PC setup off to one side.
“Where is it?” Following you to the desk, Nanami quirked a brow at how impressive the equipment looked. There were two monitors, an expensive looking microphone and a ring light that looked like one he owned.
“Right there!” Grabbing his arm, you flung yourself behind him and pointed at your desk. Right in the middle was a large spider, scurrying back and forth. Balancing the plate in one hand, he fished a handkerchief out of his pocket and quickly squished the bug.
“I got it for you.” Folding the cloth back up, Nanami let himself exhale. Having you cling to him had almost stopped him from being able to do anything and he needed all the focus he could get if he wanted to help you.
“You didn’t have to use that, I would have grabbed you a paper towel!”
“It’s alright, it probably would have gotten away if we had waited.”
“Wait!” Grabbing onto the handkerchief before Nanami could tuck it back into his pocket, you gave it a gentle tug. “Let me clean it for you at least.” Nodding, Nanami let it go with no resistance.
Trying not to be nosy, he didn’t dwell too long at your computer, opting instead to follow you to your kitchen. He was pretty sure he saw the title to one of his videos on an open tab and it filled his chest with a flutter.
“What’s on the plate, Nanami?” Your question broke him from his short daydream of talking about his videos with you.
“Huh?” Nanami completely forgot about the plate in his hands, having gotten wrapped up in his own thoughts. Feeling the weight of the plate come back into his consciousness, Nanami cleared his throat. “Oh I uh, I made some cookies for you.”
“You did?” Dropping his handkerchief into the sink, you fully turned to him. Leaning close to the plate, you let out a small hum. “What kind are they?”
“I tried a new recipe out, they’re choux au craquelin with salted caramel cream.” Watching you process the name in your head made Nanami grin. You probably had no idea what he had just said, evident as the dumb nod you gave him.
“Do they go well with tea?”
As Nanami sat at your kitchen table waiting for you to return with some tea, he couldn’t help but look over your whole apartment. It was a simple one bedroom like he had and your furniture suited what Nanami assumed was your taste nicely.
“I almost don’t want to eat one, they look too nice!” Back with some tea, you turned one of the cookies over in your hand.
“If you don’t eat them they’ll go bad.” Nanami teased lightly, taking a bite of one for himself. You let out a little peep and nodded quickly, taking a generous bite of the dessert.
“Nanami.” Gripping the edge of the table, your eyes were blown wide. “This is amazing, I love it!” Whenever Nanami got a compliment, usually from Gojo, he brushed it off and thought nothing of it. But to hear you say that you loved what he made and to see the smile on your face as you take another bite - it made Nanami’s brain overflow with dopamine, a fuzzy feeling tingling the tips of his fingers and warming his chest.
“You really do?” He unintentionally whispers, having to close his eyes lest he stare hearts right through you.
“Mhmm!” Taking a sip of your tea, you giggle a little to yourself. “I feel pretty special too, you made this whole plate just for me.”
You’re special to me, that’s why, Nanami thought in his head, biting the tip of his tongue hard to keep from blurting it out. Looking over at your computer setup once more, Nanami decided to comment on that instead of feeding the blush going up the back of his neck.
“You have a pretty nice setup there, (Y/N). Do you make Youtube videos or something?” Leaning back in his chair, Nanami forced his body to relax and his stomach to loosen up. Now it was your turn to be embarrassed, a sudden shy demeanor washing over you.
“I’m just trying it out, I wanted to see what streaming and stuff was like.”
“Really?” Nanami had to choose his next words wisely, not wanting to seem too excited. “What’s the name of your channel, I’ll follow you.”
“You will?” There was a hopeful lilt to your voice, yet your body language was still hesitant. “I don’t know, I might get too embarrassed knowing you’ll be watching me.” It was Nanami’s turn to join you in being shy. He made a noise in the back of his throat, quickly taking a sip of his tea to cover it up.
“D-don’t be. I want to support you, that’s what neighbors do.” Pulling his phone out of his pocket, Nanami slid it over to you. “Go ahead and pull up your channel, I’ll subscribe right now.”
As Nanami left your apartment, fifteen minutes later and with an empty plate tucked under his arm, he was thoroughly surprised to know you wanted to start a Youtube channel. He wanted to help you, give you some tips and ways to make the algorithm like you, but he wasn’t ready to give away his secret just yet.
Sitting at his desk that night with his laptop in front of him, Nanami pulled up your channel. Seeing your first video, aptly titled ‘introduction’, he clicked.
“Hi everyone watching.” You sounded and looked so timid sitting at your desk, wringing your hands in front of you and smoothing them out on the wood as soon as you realized what you were doing. “My name is (Y/N) and this is my channel.”
“Hi (Y/N).” Nanami answered back, snorting at his own silliness.
“I’m going to be posting videos of my life, like vlogs and stuff, but also fun cooking videos! I really admire so many people on Youtube that can cook, I want to try and recreate their recipes! I especially like this one, it’s my favorite channel.” A few different Youtube channels popped up on screen and right in the middle and the one you gestured to was Nanamis.
He didn’t hear the rest of the video where you talked about potential upload schedules and other facts about yourself. He didn’t even hear you say goodbye or notice that the screen had faded to black. All Nanami could think about was the fact that his channel was your favorite.
Watching the other few videos you’d posted, a couple short ones of you running errands or showing off some clothes, Nanami vowed to watch every single one of your videos. Despite being pretty active on Youtube, Nanami didn’t watch a lot of videos himself, but your channel was at the top of his list.
For the next month Nanami waited for you to post a cooking video and while he waited he put out a few videos with easier steps, things you could follow along with even if you had little to no cooking skills.
A ping on his phone on a Saturday night had him walking briskly to his computer. You finally posted a video of yourself cooking one of his recipes, a dish he had made for Itadori’s birthday: a strawberry crepe cake.
“Hi, welcome to my kitchen!” Nanami was immediately smitten within the first few seconds of the video. The apron you had on was cute and tied around your waist with a bow and there was a large container of strawberries just waiting to be used.
As the video went on, Nanami openly chuckled at the mistakes you made from being so nervous in front of the camera, like dropping the egg shells into the bowl and dumping too much flour in right after.
“I’m so nervous to flip the crepe over!” The camera was over your stove now where a crepe was slowly beginning to burn in the pan the longer you waited.
“Don’t be scared, you can do it.” Nanami whispered to the screen, biting his lip as you attempted to flip it over. Managing to do it right on the first try, you let out a loud yelp of victory.
“Oops, I better be quiet! It’s like 2am right now and my neighbor is sleeping!” Upon your admittance, Nanami suddenly remembers hearing a small shout late at night a few days ago that had woken him up for just a moment. “He actually said he’d watch all my videos, so sorry if I woke you up!” Crossing your fingers in front of the camera, you went back to talking about the cooking.
Nanami felt special that you mentioned him in a video and now he wished he was awake to try your cake. You put way more strawberries than he did on it, and your whipped cream application was a lot messier and spilled down the sides but that only made him want to try it more.
“Okay, I’m all done! Let’s put a picture side by side and see how I did.” Holding up a photo of Nanami’s cake, you whined a little at seeing such stark differences. “Well mine isn’t perfectly aesthetic, but I bet it’ll still taste good!”
Was it rational to be annoyed with himself for not being awake at 2am on a Wednesday night to eat a strawberry crepe cake with you? No it wasn’t, but Nanami still felt it. He would have to tell you to cook at a more reasonable time the next opportunity he got to talk to you so he could try your food.
Deciding to do just that, Nanami grabbed his phone and called you. He managed to give you his number after subscribing to your Youtube channel, stating that if you ever needed help cooking you could ask him.
“Hello?” He could almost hear you on the other side of the wall.
“(Y/N), it’s Nanami Kento. From next door.” How many other Nanami Kento’s could you possibly know? Not a lot, he was hoping. You laughed on the other end and he could definitely hear it through the wall.
“Hi neighbor. What’s up?”
“I watched your Youtube video.”
“Y-you saw it?!” You made a noise in the back of your throat and a soft whine followed. “God I feel so embarrassed.”
“Don’t be, I told you I’d watch your videos and support you.”
“I know, I just- you didn’t have to call me and say it.”
“I don’t like texting.” Nanami smirked, he could just imagine your face right now hidden under your palm.
“Well, what did you think of it?”
“I liked it, you did really well on the cake. But I do have one complaint.”
“What is it?” You gasped loudly, nearly dropping the phone as you wondered what he could possibly have to say.
“I just wish you’d made it when I was awake, I would have loved to try it.” There was a long pause between you and Nanami could hear you flop onto your couch.
“Really? You would try it?” Nanami let out a short hum of approval. “Let me get some more strawberries then.” He could hear the smile in your voice and it made his own lips tug upward.
Ending the call shortly after, Nanami thought about your conversation while he was filming his own video. Gojo had given him a box of fresh peaches as a gift from his recent vacation and Nanami had his heart set on making a peach tart.
Replaying the conversation with you over and over in his head, Nanami wasn’t as careful as he usually was about concealing his identity. He couldn’t find it in him to put on gloves to cover his hands when all he was really thinking about was having cake with you from a recipe he had made himself.
When he was editing, he almost threw out the whole video. There were many segments where his hands were on full display and one where part of his arm poked into the frame as well. But the rest of the video was too perfect to completely toss out and unable to cut out the scenes of his hands, Nanami posted it anyway with a dying hope that his viewers wouldn’t make a big deal out of it.
Waking up the day after posting the video however, Nanami was sorely mistaken. He was used to videos going viral and trending for several days, some even getting articles written about them. But going viral for his hands wasn’t something Nanami thought was possible.
The video alone had gotten upwards of 5 million views in just a day and was still steadily climbing. Despite going on all his social media accounts and muting every single word that could possibly have anything to do with him, Nanami still ended up seeing videos and pictures of his own hands on Twitter, with an article about him breaking the internet as well.
And one of the videos he saw had your face in it. Captioned ‘tiktokers reacting to hand reveal’, he felt the need to click on it. What did you think of him?
“So I’ve seen the headlines but I saved my reaction so I could get it on camera.” You spoke hurriedly, wrapped up in a hoodie and blanket as you sat down on the couch, the camera on a tripod across from you. “Time to see the video.”
Nanami waited with bated breath as he watched you watch his video. There were some obvious cuts in the video from where you skipped forward, and right as his hands came on screen your jaw dropped.
“I- I uh-” You were clearly very flustered, slapping a hand over your face and turning away from the screen. “Why is my face burning over some hands?” Laughing in disbelief, you watched the rest of the video and let out a girlish squeal before cutting it off.
Nanami wasn’t proud to admit that he watched your reaction more than a few times, finding an odd sense of pride take shape inside him. You didn’t even know it was him behind the camera yet he was able to leave such a profound impression on you.
With a new and growing fanbase eating up every single thing he posted now, Nanami found it hard to live in anonymity like he used to. Gone were the days of quietly replying or liking comments on his Youtube channel, he now had thousands of comments on all platforms asking to see more of his hands or for him to possibly speak in his next video.
He was eager to know what your opinion on him was now, what you thought of his online persona. You were still making videos of his cooking, your channel having gotten a boost in subscribers from your reaction video, and you sometimes mentioned his channel name.
On a quiet Saturday at half past noon, Nanami found himself lounging lazily on his sofa with his hair still undone and coffee stains on his sweats. It was uncharacteristic for him to be so lax so late into the day but it was also uncharacteristic of him to stay up past 1am watching the silly little livestream you were doing in your kitchen with muffled giggles he could hear coming through the wall.
Staring at the ceiling and drifting in and out of sleep as the TV filled the silence in the room, Nanami almost missed the subtle vibration of his phone against the coffee table if there hadn’t been a lull in the TV.
(Y/N): hey neighbor are you busy?
The message from you had him suddenly alert and focused, sitting straight up and planting both feet on the floor.
(Nanami): no, I’m not
(Y/N): then…
(Y/N): do you think you’d wanna come over and help me bake something? I’m doing my first Youtube collab and I’m so nervous
(Nanami): I’ll be over in five.
He didn’t even wait for your response before leaping from the couch and bolting to his bedroom. Nanami got dressed and ready in record time, splashing plenty of cold water on his face to wake him up even further before slicking his hair back and doing one last check in the mirror before rushing to the front door.
“(Y/N).” He was knocking on your door exactly five minutes after texting you.
“Nanami!” You opened the door with a smile, a light colored tied around your waist that was stained from previous use. “Come on in!” Ushering him across the threshold, you made a beeline straight for the kitchen.
“So, you’re doing your first collab, huh?” Following slowly behind you, Nanami thought of all the emails sitting in his inbox from brands and other content creators alike asking him to promote their product or work on a video together. He ignored them all in favor of anonymity, but if you were to message him about it, he would answer in a heartbeat.
“Yeah, I joined a discord server full of other cooking Youtubers and some of them asked me to collab with them!” The smile on your face was beaming and the excitement in your voice made Nanami’s heart swell with pride.
“Well then, let’s get started.” Grabbing the spare apron you handed him, Nanami panned over the scene before him. Your kitchen wasn’t a total mess yet, the counters were still relatively clear with just a few bowls out and measuring spoons just waiting to be used. “What’re we making?”
“Ha, well…” Scratching your cheek bashfully, you shrugged your shoulders and looked around your kitchen. “That’s where you come in, I have no idea what to make.​​” Letting out a soft chuckle under his breath, Nanami nodded to himself and took a step toward the cabinets.
“What are the others making?” He asked while idly sifting through the ingredients you had.
“Take a look.” Showing him your phone, you swiped through the messages between all of you. There were multiple different desserts being made, recipe ideas being thrown around, all with a specific theme.
“So, you chose the colors of the rainbow?” Nanami skimmed over the messages where you decided colors and it seems you’d been chosen to do blue. He’d just seen someone else who got red go with a strawberry cheesecake with swirls of deep red mixed in with lighter pink.
“Do you know any desserts that are blue, cause I don’t.” Throwing your head back with a whine, you stared at the ceiling and let Nanami get back to digging through your cabinets.
“What about a blue surf cake?”
“A what?” You parroted, and your owlish blink made Nanami’s lips curl up in a soft smile.
“It’s a blue cheesecake that looks like ocean waves, I’ve made it a few times before and you don’t need to bake it.” He’d actually filmed a video on it about a year ago and it was one of his most proud creations. Quickly typing it into your phone, you pulled up his video within seconds.
“Oh thank god he made one.” Sighing in relief, you watched Nanami’s video with rapt interest. “This is perfect! But I don’t have this stuff, this butterfly tea powder.”
“I do.” He’d overbought for that video and had been stuck with the stuff for ages. Turning on his heel, he mumbled something unintelligible before leaving your apartment and reappearing in less than two minutes.
“You’re just giving this to me?” Raising your brows high in shock, you took the relatively full package from Nanami’s hands and opened it, a small cloud of blue powder puffing out upon its release.
“Yes, I want you to do well on this collab.” Turning away from you, Nanami began to grab the necessary ingredients from your shelves.
“Nanami.” Your voice was a bit low and when he turned around your bottom lip was jutted out into a pout.
“What’s wrong?”
“You’re the best neighbor ever!” Clutching the powder tightly against your chest with one arm, you raise the other one and rest your hand on his shoulder. “Whenever you need help or want some tea and cookies, just ask me and I’ll do it!” You were eternally grateful and Nanami could feel the sincerity in your words and the warmth of your hand melting into his skin.
“I’ll make sure to take you up on that offer, so don’t take it back.”
“Never!” You shook your head, clutching his shoulder tightly. “Now let’s make the best damn blue cake ever!”
Standing off to the side, Nanami watched you film your introduction. He felt almost awkward seeing you talk to the camera and talk animatedly about what you were going to make when his own introductions were quiet and calm, slowly panning across his work space and showing what he would be making with captions dotting the screen.
“I also have a friend helping me make this cake, would you like to wave hello?” You glanced at Nanami, fully expecting him to reject your offer but he surprised you by lifting a hand into frame and giving a very brief wave. A little giggle left your lips and you gave him a thumbs up, turning back to the camera. “He’s really good at baking, so with his help hopefully this cake won’t turn out to be a huge disaster.” Laughing to yourself, you waited a few seconds before turning the camera off.
“Give yourself more credit, (Y/N), you’re good at baking too. I bet you won’t even need me.” Going over the ingredients list one last time, Nanami recounted your videos and couldn’t fight a small smirk on his lips. You’d certainly improved but to call you good was a bit of an exaggeration.
“You’re right!” But you were bolstered by his words nonetheless and your chest puffed up with confidence. “I can do this no problem!”
Maybe it was because he was there, or maybe it was because the words he’d said to you before starting had jinxed it, but Nanami was sure any skills you’d learned had regressed severely.
From the first step to the last, there was a fumble on your part. Adding too many ingredients that didn’t need to be there, adding too little of what the recipe actually called for, snacking on the pieces for the crust of the cake and choking on camera from accidentally inhaling a piece - it was almost as if you were trying to appear inept at even the most basic of kitchen duties.
“It took us so long to get here but we can finally add the filling in!” What took Nanami barely 25 minutes had taken you almost an hour to complete. Your apron and fingers were smudged with blue powder and the kitchen was in noticeably more disarray than when you started, clear proof of the trials and tribulations you went through. Silently cheering you on from behind the camera, Nanami held his breath and watched you pour the mixture into its final pan. “Now time to pop it into the freezer and wait for it to set!”
“Time to start cleaning up.” Nanami mumbled to himself as you turned the camera off. Your cooking style was much different than his, pots and pans carelessly thrown into the sink and dirty utensils left on the counter were not things he was used to seeing.
“Do we have to?” You whined as you set the cake in the freezer.
“Will you clean up after I leave?” He quirked a brow at you, a slow smile coming to his face as you groaned and shook your head.
“Alright fine, we can clean up now.” Nanami was already rolling up his sleeves before you could start to speak and your sulky tone made a chuckle come out of him. Flicking on the sink and filling it with water, he could see you gather dishes out of the corner of his eye. It was quiet in the kitchen now without you narrating your actions for the video and Nanami welcomed the silence, it gave him a chance to think about what to say to you next.
“Really, thank you for helping me.” Coming to stand shoulder to shoulder with him at the sink, you let your arm rest snugly next to his as you started to help wash the dishes.
“You’re welcome.” Shifting just the tiniest bit closer, Nanami scrubbed away in silence. Without the constant action and ever present camera turned off, the scene between the two of you could almost be described as domestic, as if the two of you had just gotten done cooking for yourselves and not a Youtube video and now were in comfortable quiet as you cleaned up the aftermath.
“I should think about what to make for dinner, all that filming made me hungry.” The adrenaline from the collab was still high inside you, making your fingers tremble slightly as you washed off a sudsy dish.
“What are you in the mood for?” Nanami was either stupidly brave or just plain stupid for leaning into this domestic feeling by asking you that question. He could be crossing a line by trying to imply he wanted to eat with you, essentially overstaying his welcome now that he was no longer needed.
“I kind of want pasta, what about you?” Glancing up at him, you were glad he wanted to stay longer and the proof was felt on the tingling warmth prickling your entire body.
“Pasta sounds good. Red or white sauce?”
“Red. I have a great wine to pair it with.”
“You’re into wine?”
“Not really.” You giggled shyly. “I wanted to start a series where I pair different foods with wines but I got too drunk trying to film the first episode.”
“I would love to see that video, (Y/N).” Nanami snorted loudly, a smirk on his lips as he dried his hands.
“We’ll have to have a private screening then.” Playfully bumping your shoulders together, you followed suit and dried your hands.
“Yes, yes we will.”
Twenty minutes later and dinner was prepared and served, both you and Nanami sitting at your dining table with full glasses of beautiful red wine with the bottle sitting not too far off in case you needed more. Eating quietly and making lively conversation, the wine in your glasses never seemed to dip, always being topped up until the bottle was empty and you were shuffling to grab another bottle.
“(Y/N), how much wine do you have?” Nanami chuckled, a drunken blush coating his cheeks as he watched you open your fridge. He could just barely see the bottom of a few bottles from his position at the table.
“Y-you don’t wanna know!” You laughed far too loudly for the situation and slammed the door closed, handing Nanami the bottle as you collapsed in your seat.
“Well, cheers.” Opening the new bottle and topping off your glasses, Nanami held his up and clinked it with yours when you held it up. Letting the liquid drip down his throat, Nanami looked over at you from over the rim of his glass. You were already cute in his eyes, downright adorable even, but to see you giggly and drunk with him made his heart swell even more.
“Why’re you looking at me like that?” Whining slightly, you held your glass up in front of your face while your own face burned horribly.
“Like what?” He chuckled in return, mimicking your gesture.
“Like- like- you know!” Waving a hand around, you turned away from him slightly and took a generous sip of wine. Silence hung between you briefly, words left unsaid on the tips of both your tongues yet the fear of possible rejection - or even worse, regret - permeated your drunken minds.
“I’m just having a good time, (Y/N), is that a crime?” Leaning back in his seat, Nanami laughed to himself. He was definitely embarrassed from being caught looking at you like a fool in love but there wasn’t anything he could do about it now.
“You like having dinner with me?” Quirking up a hopeful brow, you rest your elbows on the table and shimmy just a tad bit closer. Your knees brushed under the table and the feeling drew you closer with Nanami pulling his chair in just so he could stretch his legs out and feel your feet begin to tangle together.
“I do, a lot.” It surely beat eating dinner alone for the thousandth time this year. The conversation quickly died down with both of you just silently looking at each other with a half lidded gaze, drunken smiles pushing your cheeks up without you even noticing it.
Soon the food ran cold and the second bottle of wine was emptied and you had to separate to take care of the dishes. Pushing Nanami towards the living room, you made him promise to go sit on the couch while you set the plates in the sink and put away the leftovers.
“Nanami, I have some ice cream if you-” Slightly stumbling out into the living room with a pint of chocolate ice cream, you stopped short upon finding Nanami dozing away on the couch with his body fully stretched out and relaxed.
Going up to the back of the couch, you leaned over it and close to his face, taking in every miniscule detail and pore that you could. Nanami was always so poised around you that it was a rare treat for him to relax like this, especially enough to go to sleep on your couch.
“Nanami…Nanami…” You whispered, gently shaking his shoulder. The action earned you a tired grunt in response and Nanami pushing your hand away and turning further into the couch. Shaking his shoulder again, you giggled when he swatted you away.
Returning the ice cream to the freezer, you grabbed a spare blanket and pillow, nearly dropping them both as you stumbled through your apartment. Throwing the blanket over his body haphazardly, you gingerly grabbed his head and put the pillow underneath it.
“Good night, Kento.” Whispering above his sleeping body, you felt butterflies in your stomach looking at him. You tried to stamp down the crush you had on him, reasoning with yourself that a man this serious and composed would never go for someone like you, but it never worked. You found yourself daydreaming about him constantly when you should have been working, fantasizing about having him join you for a meal or perhaps an outing to the city.
Taking one last look at his sleeping form, you drug yourself away to your bedroom to get some sleep of your own. The knowledge that Nanami was just a few feet away in the living room while you lay in your bed kept you up, nervous fits of giggles erupting from you as your imagination wandered.
Waking up some time later with a pounding headache and early morning light coming through your open curtains, you listened for any sound of Nanami still in your apartment. Taking a brief glance at the time, you expected him to have crawled home by now and be nursing his hangover with a cup of coffee.
Heaving yourself out of bed, you walked as quickly as possible to the bathroom and fumbled in the drawers for some painkillers. Downing a couple with no hesitation, you splashed some cool water on your face before finishing up and leaving the room.
“Oh, you’re still here.” Your voice was terribly quiet as your eyes landed on Nanami who was still fast asleep on the couch, completely disheveled with his shirt hiked up to reveal the relaxed muscles of his abdomen. Even deep in sleep he still had prominent abs with the dusting of a light happy trail below his belly button.
Reaching out in a trance, you ran your fingers lightly through his hair, just barely grazing his scalp with your nails. Repeating the motion several times, you worked out any knots he may have gotten during the night and further mussed the tresses.
“Feels good.” Nanami grumbled with his eyes still tightly closed. His voice was impossibly low and groggy as he twisted and turned on the couch. Your fingers went to scratch at his scalp when Nanami’s twisting earned him a tumble right to the ground and a surprised shout sounded upon contact.
“You okay?” Leaning over the couch, you gripped the cushioned backing tightly.
“F-fine, I’m-” Clearing his throat and trying to grab his bearings, Nanami ripped the blanket off him and sat up in a huff. “I’m fine.” As he spoke, he winced, clutching at his head.
“Hungover?” You asked with a small grin. Holding up a finger as he nodded, you made your way to the bathroom to grab the painkiller. “Come grab some water.” Motioning to the dining table, your grin got wider watching him struggle to stand.
“Do you have any coffee?”
Ten minutes later, Nanami was sunk into a dining chair with his forehead plastered to the table. He couldn’t even feel any regret for overstaying his welcome and getting too drunk to go home, all he could feel was a sick churning in his stomach and a throbbing in his head. The coffee had done a good job of waking him up, prompting him to fix his clothes and hair as best he could given the circumstance.
“Here you go.” Setting a plate down in front of him, you tried not to groan as you sat down yourself. Peeling his face off the table, Nanami never thought he could be this happy to see a plate of food.
Barely grunting out a word of thanks, he grabbed his utensils and started eating. His pained stomach slowly subsided, the warm food doing a good job at chasing away any lingering sickness in the back of his throat. It was only when his plate was empty did he realize he hadn’t spoken a single word to you.
“Thank you for the food.” Taking a gulp of coffee, he looked over at your own plate and realized he was still hungry.
“There’s more in the kitchen.” Flicking your chin in that direction, you slowly sipped your own drink as Nanami left to grab more food.
“I’m sorry.” He said once his second plate was empty and he’d already gotten another cup of coffee.
“For what?”
“I’ve overstayed my welcome. By a lot.” Grimacing as he looked at the time, he could just imagine the way you were feeling. Had you been able to sleep comfortably last night knowing he was here? You probably locked the door to your bedroom just to be safe, telling all your friends that your neighbor was drunk and passed out on your couch.
“Don’t be sorry, I don’t mind. It’s just like a sleepover.” Finishing the food on your plate, you pushed it away and leaned your head against the back of the chair. It was quiet for a moment with Nanami idly watching you breathe, and then you spoke again. “Do you think the cake is ready?”
“Huh?”
“Don’t tell me you forgot.” Letting out a snort, you peeked at Nanami from the corner of your eye and laughed a bit more at his bewildered expression. “The cake we made yesterday.”
“Oh, yeah.” Letting out a rough exhale, Nanami shook his head to clear his thoughts. How could he forget the entire reason he’d come over in the first place? Did the alcohol really have that much of an affect on him?
“It looks set, what do you think?” Gingerly placing the cake tin on the table, you worried your lip as you looked over the cake for any imperfections. It looked perfect in the pan but who knew what would happen when you tried to remove it.
“Well don’t keep me waiting.” Reaching over the table to take the cake out himself, Nanami yelped when you smacked him away.
“No, don’t! What if it all oozes out onto the table?”
“We won’t know until we find out.” He wanted to reach out again but hesitated as he saw the twitch of your hand. “It won’t ooze all out, (Y/N), the cake is perfect.”
“How can you be so sure?” Your fingers curled around the tin; you wanted to believe him but knowing your luck it would end in disaster. But the longer you looked between him and the cake, the more you felt the pressure.
“I know because you made it. You’re a good baker, (Y/N).” Finishing the last sip of his coffee, Nanami pointed a finger at you. “Now either you take the cake out or I will.”
“Fine!” With trembling fingers you pushed the cake up from the bottom, painstakingly watching for any possible defects as it emerged.
“See, I told you it was perfect.” Nanami couldn’t help but feel smug at being right. The cake was picture perfect, not a lump or bump or empty spot in sight. The sigh of relief you let out was loud and completely deflated your chest.
“Thank god.” Setting the cake back in the tin, you stared at it from above, disbelief washing over you. “I can’t believe I really did it.” Laughing breathlessly, you straightened yourself up and glanced at your camera. “Guess I should start filming the reveal.”
“I think I’ll be going now.” Pushing himself up from his chair, Nanami gathered the dishes on the table and set them in the sink, ignoring the urge to stay even longer. He had to shower and change clothes, gather his composure and prepare himself for the work week ahead.
“It was nice having you over.” You mumbled, pushing in the chairs and slowly leading him to the front door. Neither of you really wanted this time together to end but it had to be done eventually. Gripping the doorknob, there was a slight delay before you opened the door.
“(Y/N)...” Drawing out your name, Nanami’s feet were stuck in place. Looking into your eyes, the longer he stared the less he wanted to step out into the hallway and back into reality. Digging his fingers into the doorframe, Nanami let his eyes begin to close softly, his vision turning slightly hazy as he aimed for your lips.
Time was moving too fast and too slow. With the sudden approach of Nanami, it was something you’d dreamed about for a long while, wondering what his lips would feel like against yours. But the open setting of where you two were, the sudden slamming door down the hall and noises filtering in from the outside world withdrew you from the moment you’d wanted for so long.
“O-oh.” You hadn’t even realized you’d put your hand up to stop Nanami from coming closer until he made contact. Both of you looked down at your hand in confusion and you turned red for different reasons.
“I’m sor-”
“I’ll see you later.” Cutting you off, Nanami kept his head down to try and save face, save himself from you seeing how utterly mortified he was at getting rejected. Taking a generous step into the hall, he made a beeline back to his apartment.
Unable to say much beyond a dejected and nearly silent goodbye, you closed your door shortly after Nanami closed his. Both of you leaned against the respective frames, Nanami cursing himself for being so forward and making you uncomfortable, and you beating yourself up for stopping him in the first place.
It only took a day for you to finish the video and upload it, adding your traditional flair and special touches that made Nanami smile every time he saw them. Trying to ignore the way you two had parted, he focused intensely on the video and every time there was a cut or jump in he recounted exactly what had happened in that moment that made you cut the clip out, be it choking on some crust or dropping the entire mixing bowl on the floor.
“I’m just feeling burnt out from all this social media stuff, I might take a break from cooking for a little while.” That was the last thing Nanami wanted to hear towards the end of one of your monthly vlogs. He’d noticed a slight downtrend in your content output shortly after you posted the collab video and while he hadn’t spoken to you since that fateful night, he hadn’t gotten any hints that you were feeling this way.
“I’ll still be active here and there, I have some other things already filmed and ready to be uploaded and some sponsored stuff for my Instagram but I just…” The heavy sigh you let out as you tried to find the words to articulate your feelings made Nanami frown. Watching the rest of the video with a heavy heart, he took a glance at the time.
“Let me make something to cheer them up.” He mumbled to himself. Yes it was nearing his usual bedtime and he was typically very strict about adhering to the schedule, but you needed him; or at least Nanami hoped you needed him in some way to make you feel better.
Burrowing around in his cupboards, he grabbed random ingredients and placed them on the counter. When Nanami wanted to make something, especially a baked good, he always had a plan on what he wanted to make. But now he was going off the cuff, coming up with a recipe on the fly and hoping it worked. He also grabbed his filming equipment and set it up, hoping that even if the recipe didn’t turn out well you would still find enjoyment in his videos.
It took him nearly two hours to make a chocolate souffle and he didn’t regret a single second of it. His whole apartment was warm and smelled of chocolate, steam rising and blurring the lense of the camera as he presented them. Taking a deep breath that turned into a loud yawn, Nanani felt proud of himself for completing the recipe even if it was an ungodly hour.
He was nearly a zombie by the time he put everything away and uploaded the footage to his computer but he couldn’t find it in him to go to bed just yet. He wanted to edit and upload the video as soon as possible so that you could have something to watch to take your mind off the hard time you were having.
The rising sun was Nanami’s indicator that he’d been up all night without even ten minutes of sleep, but he could proudly say he pulled his first all nighter for Youtube and finished the video right as his alarm went off. Posting it immediately, Nanami rushed around to gather his things and head out the door before he missed his usual train.
Dragging his feet throughout the day, he collapsed on the couch the moment he stepped through the door. He tried to keep up with his work while also checking to see if you’d liked the video or maybe commented but there was nothing from you, not even a cheeky little post on Twitter or your Instagram stories.
Running a dejected hand through his hair, Nanami pulled himself up from the couch and to the kitchen. Thankfully he was meticulous about being clean so there was no mess from last night waiting for him, easing his mind at least a little bit. Making a quick dinner, he ate over the kitchen sink as he thought of what to do next.
It only took a few seconds for him to decide to make another video at that very moment. Shoving the rest of his food in his mouth, Nanami turned to his cupboards once again, quickly deciding to make cookies as his hand landed on a box of chocolate. Ignoring the souffle sitting patiently in the fridge, Nanami set to work making another dish for you with no plan in the foreseeable future of actually giving you any of them.
This habit repeated until the end of the work week when Nanami had quite literally passed out on his couch after the repeated all nighters. None of his videos seemed to have the impact he wanted them to. You didn’t like or comment, your social media posts were either retweets or sponsored content and you hadn’t posted a new video in a while. He could hear you in your apartment sometimes, talking to yourself or playing music and singing along, so he knew you hadn’t run away.
Waking up in a haze well after the sunset, Nanami felt at his wits end. He was doing everything he could to get you to cheer up without having to face you directly and it wasn’t working. He had a fridge full of desserts he was going to give you at some point and a horde of videos up on his channel you could watch but he needed to do something more.
(S/N): hey, I hope you feel better soon
As Nanami prepared for a shower, he wasn’t in his right mind to care about the fact that he’d just messaged you on Twitter instead of through text like he originally meant. Talking to you through his online persona wasn’t something he really wanted to do but he couldn’t turn back now.
Taking a long hot shower, Nanami forgot about the message he sent you, too wrapped up in finally getting to unwind. Doing his nighttime routine and burrowing into bed, he checked his phone one last time.
(Y/N): hearing my idol say this has made my day so much better, thank you so much T_T
“Your idol?” Nanami chuckled to himself, a light blush coming over his face as he sunk into his pillows.
(S/N): you’re welcome. If you ever want to chat about how you’re feeling or anything, I’m open to listen.
Pushing through sleep to send that final message, Nanami tossed his phone onto his bedside table and promptly went to sleep with a small smile on his face.
Generously oversleeping, Nanami woke up in an overheated, messy pile of blankets. Thankful for the weekend, he took his time coming to his senses and getting out of bed. His hand automatically drifted to his phone, tired mind eager to see if you had responded.
(Y/N): I would definitely love to chat!
(S/N): you called me your idol, I take it you’ve been watching my videos for a while?
Nanami had to ask, he needed to know just how much you liked his content. He didn’t have to wait long for a response, just as he poured his first cup of coffee his phone went off.
(Y/N): I’ve been watching your videos since you first started posting!! Your content is the number one reason I started my own channel
(S/N): I’m really touched, I’m glad I could be such a big inspiration for you
(Y/N): you really are! I admire you so much, you’re so serious about your craft
(Y/N): especially the fact that you put out a new video every day this week! I want to be as dedicated as you someday
While your statement bolstered his confidence greatly, it also put a heavy weight on Nanami’s shoulders. As you chatted more and more, Nanami felt the urge to go and make something else to keep the trend of uploading daily. There was a possibility that you were going to start posting again, you’d said so yourself, and Nanami wanted to make it a reality.
Ignoring the food in his fridge and on the counters that still needed to go to you or be eaten, Nanami pushed himself to film two videos that day. It was hard to make sure everything was perfect twice over but he managed and by the end of the day he was sitting at his computer eating flan and editing the videos.
Taking advantage of the weekend, Nanami pulled another all-nighter and filmed as many videos as he could. He ran himself completely ragged between filming, cooking and making sure to message you back consistently. Your conversation progressed naturally, flowing from one topic to another as if you were speaking face to face with each other. Nanami felt the urge to tell you it was him, that your idol was actually your neighbor, but the memory of your rejection still stung and he held off. You probably wouldn’t like him anymore if you learned the truth, so for now he was going to hold off.
By the time Monday rolled around and his alarm went off in the morning, Nanami had gotten a solid two hours of sleep and was nursing a growing headache. Somehow he managed to edit all the videos he filmed, putting them in a little queue to be uploaded everyday while he struggled through the work week.
Zoning in and out for the whole day, it was a miracle that he managed to come home in one piece. Nanami didn’t remember stepping into his office building let alone getting on the train home. Lacking the strength to even eat a proper meal, he stripped down to his underwear and slept on top of his blankets while running a high fever.
Waking up throughout the night in a cold sweat, Nanami knew when he woke up to the sound of his alarm that he couldn’t go to work. With a heavy head and runny nose, just looking in the mirror made him cringe.
“I look like shit.” His voice was gravelly and thick and he had to clear his throat several times after speaking. Leaving a quick message for his boss, Nanami splashed cold water on his face and went back to bed.
The next two days melted into each other and there were several instances where Nanami went into a coughing fit and was sure you could hear through the walls. With only enough strength to feed himself soup and cough medicine, Nanami was left to suffer alone. He heard notifications on his phone go off and every once in a while he would respond to something you sent but for the most part he was dead to the world.
A knock at the door roused him from a deep slumber in the middle of the day, sweating under a pile of blankets but too cold to take them off. He tried to ignore it at first, but the sound refused to stop and through his muddled brain Nanami was sure he could hear your voice.
“C-coming!” Grunting loudly, Nanami’s usually quiet footsteps thumped against the floor. Passing a mirror in the hall, he was glad he at least had an acceptable top and bottom on before he opened the door. Leaning heavily against the doorframe, Nanami sniffled loudly as he made eye contact with you and drifted downwards to the stack of mail in your hand.
“I uh, I have your mail.” Shuffling awkwardly on your feet, you didn’t know where to look. This was the first time you were seeing each other in two months and Nanami hated that he looked and felt absolutely awful. “Nanami? Are you okay?” The concern on your face was outweighing the awkwardness in the air.
“Not really.” He sighed, shrugging his shoulders mindlessly. “I feel like shit.” His brazen statement made you snort. Taking the mail from your outstretched hand, he was about to thank you when you suddenly spoke.
“Have you eaten today?” Your eyes scanned his face and the bad dark circles under his eyes.
“No.” Answering truthfully, Nanami didn’t protest when you made the move to enter his apartment, not that he would have stopped you in the first place.
“Let me make you something, you need to eat properly if you want to get better!” Slapping his mail on the dining table, you pointed to the couch. “Go sit down and relax.” Turning on your heel as soon as you finished speaking, you dug around in the kitchen for something to cook. Dragging his feet, Nanami grabbed a small blanket from his bedroom before returning to the living room and taking residence on the couch like you asked.
“I haven’t- haven’t gone grocery shopping in a while.” Coughing loudly, Nanami ran a hand through his hair. He could hear you rummaging through the fridge and making little noises in the back of your throat.
“There sure is a lot of moldy desserts in here.” Looking over his shoulder and into the kitchen, Nanami chuckled watching you pull out some of the desserts he’d filmed and throw them away. They were unrecognizable from when he first made them, all of them having gone bad and disintegrating in their containers. It was a shame he didn’t get a chance to eat most of them, but he was so caught up in filming as much as possible that the thought of having all the leftover food to deal with didn’t cross his mind.
“Hey, how about we order takeout?” Running hot water over a dish that used to have chocolate cake in it, your lip was curled up in disgust.
“Takeout sounds good.”
Twenty minutes later, Nanami had taken more medicine at your request and had a plate of steaming food in his hands, his first proper meal in a very long time. Putting on the TV for some light background noise, the two of you ate side by side.
“I’m glad I came to deliver your mail, I was worried about you, Nanami. I could hear you coughing at night.”
“Sorry.”
“Why’re you apologizing for being sick? It’s not your fault! Just promise me you’ll get better soon, okay?” Giving his shoulder a brief squeeze, your fingers lingered on his body for a few seconds before sliding off. There was a comfortable lull in the conversation for a moment, the two of you eating quietly and fiddling on your phone. Nanami tried not to snoop, but he could see you silently watching a Youtube video on your phone.
“Do you want to watch that on the TV?” He asked quietly, sliding the remote towards you. Giving him a sheepish smile, you quickly put the video up for him to watch as well. Nanami wasn’t surprised that it was one of his videos you were watching, he still had many queued up to be posted, but he was surprised that he didn’t remember a single moment of filming said video.
“Look at the flowers he made on the bread!” Pointing to the screen, you lightly stamped your feet on the floor. “I’m so jealous, whenever I try to make focaccia bread like that it always turns out so ugly!” Nanami nodded along silently; once he was finished with the video for the bread he ate it all in one sitting and had a massive stomach ache.
Grabbing your phone, you tapped away in the comment section of the video, leaving an abundant amount of emojis along with your praising words. Going to Twitter, you tweeted about his video as well and as soon as you hit send Nanami got a notification for the post. His eyes darted to see if you had noticed and luckily you hadn’t, but soon there was a flurry of little dings on his phone.
“Woah Nanami, someone sure is messaging you a lot.” You chuckled and Nanami nearly grabbed his phone off the coffee table and threw it across the room; there was no way that you couldn’t see all the messages were from you. You even leaned forward a little bit to take a peek at who it was.
“Y-yeah, they are.” Fumbling to grab his phone before you could put the pieces together, Nanami had forgotten about the plate of food in his lap and it slid to the ground, immediately beginning to soak into the rug and stain it. Letting out a string of curses, Nanami forgot about his phone and rushed to clean up the spilled food.
Hearing his phone clatter to the ground, Nanami was torn between abandoning his cleaning efforts and stopping you from seeing his phone. He tried to stutter something out, a feeble attempt to draw your attention away as you clearly saw your screen name on his phone.
“What’s this?” You asked quietly, too quietly for Nanami’s comfort. He was still stammering out some excuses, but as you picked up the phone and read your name out loud, he knew it was over.
“I can explain.” His adrenaline was pumping and it was making him begin to sweat profusely. He could clearly tell there was a blush on his face much deeper than the one already there from his fever. Picking up the ruined plate of food, he tried to buy himself more time to try and explain what was happening.
Looking you over, all the excuses Nanami had were coming apart. Every word he could say was falling flat, not just because of his illness but because he found it less and less appealing to try and lie. Forcing himself to take deep breaths, Nanami turned to face you.
“I...I’m (S/N).” Taking the phone from you, he showed you the Twitter messages between the two of you. As he went through the evidence, his social media pages and Youtube channel, he could see your face changing and he couldn’t read your expression. Worrying his lip, Nanami was afraid to ask what you thought of him now.
“This is insane.” You finally spoke after a few minutes, looking down at your own phone. “Who would have guessed my neighbor would turn out to be my biggest idol, too?” Slapping a hand over your face as you came to terms with the realization, you laughed a little. “Oh god, that means you saw my reaction video to your hands.”
“Yeah, I did.” Laughing along, Nanami let out a sigh of relief. You seemed to be okay with what he just told you and there was something else weighing on his mind. “You know, since I’m already confessing to secrets, there’s something else I need to tell you, (Y/N).”
“What is it?” Tilting your head to the side, your brows furrowed slightly in concern. Forcing himself to make eye contact despite the nerves he felt, Nanami let out one short breath before speaking.
“I like you, a lot.” He was surely running the highest fever he’d ever experienced now, there was no doubt about it. He was absolutely boiling, sweating buckets waiting for your reaction to this news.
“Really?” You whispered, mouth hanging open slightly.
“Really.” Based on your reaction, Nanami was steeling himself for a rejection. He should have known you wouldn’t feel the same way, he was a fool for getting his hopes up and reading into signals that weren’t there-
“I like you too.” Yet here you were, slowly weaving your fingers together and squeezing his hand. You refused to make eye contact anymore, too embarrassed from the onslaught of emotions going through you. Squeezing your hand back, Nanami ran his thumb over your skin.
“Well then, when I’m better I’d like to take you on a date.”
“As Nanami Kento or as (S/N)?” You teased, giggling to yourself as Nanami made a noise in the back of his throat.
“You already know the answer.” Finally able to relax in his seat again, Nanami let a big smile overtake his face when you cuddled into his side. “You shouldn’t be so close, you might get sick too.”
“I’ll take the risk.” Looping your arms together, you suddenly sat up. “Hey, Nanami.”
“Hm?” Turning to face you, Nanami’s eyes went wide as you kissed him. Your lips were soft, a pleasant feeling against his that he wanted to experience again and again. Kissing you back, it was a short interaction as he quickly parted to cough into the crook of his elbow.
“(Y/N), you shouldn’t kiss me, you’re going to get sick.” As much as he wanted to kiss you again, he didn’t want to be the reason you wound up in the same position as him.
“I’ll gladly take that risk.” Giving him a peck on the lips and one on the cheek, you resumed your position cuddled into him. “So all that rotting food in your fridge was from your videos?”
“Sadly, yes.”
“Next time you want to upload a video everyday, call me, okay? I would gladly like to eat your cooking again.”
“Well you don’t have to wait for that, I’ll cook for you anytime you want.”
“Will you cook with me on my channel?” You looked at him hopefully.
“I’ll think about it.” He would have to make sure you didn’t accidentally expose his identity or your new budding relationship.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Giving him a big hug, you fixed the blanket over the two of you. Nanami wanted to protest and reaffirm that he would think about it, but with the way you were pressed into his side, he couldn’t find it in him.
“Alright, it’s a yes.”
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highlifeboat · 3 years
Note
A concept: Bela overhears her sisters talking to her mother about how clingy she is.
Cassandra and Daniela really don’t mean it personally, but their words sound so harsh in Bela’s sensitive ears. Her sisters are just discussing the things they’ve seen with Bela’s neediness, expressing that it’s concerning, and when Alcina reluctantly agrees that, yes, it can be a bit much at times, Bela shatters. Her sisters were one thing, but her mother...
Realizing she had to do something, Bela starts to pull herself away. She doesn’t eat or sleep; she only showers or bathes in frigid water, leaving her skin sore, ashy, and riddled with blisters; she barely leaves her room; and worst of all: she starts talking back to Alcina.
That last thing is what REALLY concerns everyone. And Bela hates doing it, but she feels the need to distance herself from her mother, and this is the only way. It’s better for everyone if she loosened her ties with them.
Eventually, Bela’s attitude gets so bad that Alcina finally snaps at her, and it hurts Bela more than she was expecting. She had been trying to prepare herself for the pain, but it still came to her like a knife in her stomach.
(Hurt no comfort)
She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. It wasn’t something she would normally do. After all, she’d never want her sisters to listen in on one of her private conversations, especially with their mother, and in truth she hadn’t planned to stick around. But when she heard her name mentioned it seemed to make her pause. They were talking about her. Why? What had she done? Was she in trouble? Bela’s mind raced with possibilities, and pressed her ear against the door so she could hear a little better.
“You don’t think it’s weird?” Cassandra’s voice asked. “How… clingy she is?” Bela swallowed. Clingy? She wasn’t clingy. Well, maybe she could be. A little. “How she always wants to be around you? How much she seems to care what you think about her?”
“Yeah, and the lengths she goes just for a pat on the head.” Daniela’s voice agreed. “I’ve seen her go days without sleep trying to impress you with something. It’s not normal.” Not normal? Bela shifted. “And she’s been like this forever! It’s really weird.”
“And a little creepy.” Cassandra added. “Like, I know we were all attention seekers at first but even you have to think this is out of control, right? We aren’t crazy for thinking that.”
Bela heard her mother sigh, her teeth starting to grind together. “Bela can be… overbearing at times, yes….” The blonde sunk her claws into the door as her heart seemed to stop. “And it is a little odd.” Odd? “If I knew how to help her I would.” Help? Mama thinks you need help? That you’re odd? Overbearing? Not normal?
Bela felt tears in her eyes and rushed as quietly as she could away from the door and the conversation on the other side. Her sisters were one thing. Their complaints still tugged at her heart, of course, but they had been teasing her for years. But her mother? Her own mother thought she was overbearing? She didn’t understand, she thought she was doing everything right. Did Mother not like when she went the extra mile for her? Did she not like that she followed everything she said? Bela pulled her hair. No, she had to do something. She would gain her mother’s love back, and show her sisters she wasn’t “clingy”. She could change. Or, at the very least, try to.
That was probably where the downward spiral started.
She started off small. Putting no more into her work than necessary, and slowly lessening the time she spent around her mother and sisters. At first they had seemed a little impressed with her new found ability to say “no” to them, even if it was eating away at her internally. But her sisters were happy with her, and even their mother seemed content with her new attitude. That was all she wanted. But it was keeping her up at night.
When she sat alone in her room, the wind howling outside her window, it felt like torture. Her mind raced, some parts telling her how useless she was becoming, and others reminding her this was for the best. It was nothing but a constant whirlwind of conflicting ideals that rang in her ears no matter how hard she tried to make them stop. She’d even started losing her appetite, the stress of it all twisting her stomach into a terrible knot that refused to keep food anymore. She did eat in front of her family when they were gathered at the dinner table, if just to act like everything was fine, but she always purged it afterwards as if her body was rejecting it. Every part of her body was blistered, and ashen, and terribly raw from freezing showers, even the usually soft fabric of her dress was beginning to feel like sandpaper. Headaches came often, and felt like they lasted for days, and in private she would writhe and cry on her bed from the bouts of pain that were plaguing her being. It was becoming unbearable. But her sisters were happy, and her mother was happy. And that was all that mattered, wasn’t it?
Or, they had seemed happy up until Bela started back talking to her mother.
She didn’t know if it was the constant pain, the hunger, or the fact she always felt on edge, but her mother’s voice was starting to grate on her ears. It had gone from simply saying “No” to certain requests, to sarcastic comments she’d picked up from Cassandra, to down right snapping back at her mother for making comments to her. And it was killing her more than any of the pain she put on herself. The way her mother looked at her. The sadness that turned to concern. It twisted her heart with guilt. But this is what they wanted right? No more clinging to mommy? Bela wanted nothing more than to apologize and hug her mother, but she kept holding herself back. You don’t want to be overbearing. Mother wouldn’t like that. Walk away. Walk away. There didn’t seem to be any way for her to win this internal battle with herself.
And then they had a fight.
She couldn’t remember what had started it. If her mother had simply asked her something, or if she’d made another comment on her recent behaviour, or if she had just looked at her the wrong way. All she knew was that she’d stood from her seat and sparked the argument. She told her mother to stop trying to pry into her life. That she didn’t want her help. That she just wanted to be left alone. That they were all stressing her out. That she hated her sisters. That she hated her.
Bela said she hated her mother. To her face.
Her sisters froze, having come to see what the yelling was about, and the look on their mother’s face made Bela want to dissolve into the floor.
“I-I didn’t-” She jumped when her mother interrupted her.
“That is enough!” She snapped, and Bela’s entire body went rigid. “Young lady, I don’t know what has gotten into you these past weeks, but the way you have been acting is completely unacceptable! I have had enough of your attitude, and I will not be spoken to in such a manner by my own child!” She raised her hand to make a gesture, and Bela thought she was going to be struck. And you would deserve it, wouldn’t you? “I would expect this from Cassandra, maybe even Daniela, but not you!” She crossed her arms. “I’m very disappointed in you, Bela!”
The words cut into her so much worse than she thought they would. Bela had prepared herself for this, knowing her mother wouldn’t put up with her act forever, but to have it actually happen made it feel like her guts were getting ripped out. To be called a disappointment, it took the air from her lungs and strangled her with it. She couldn’t breathe properly, her heart was pounding in her ears. She hates you. Doesn’t want you here. She hates you! HATES YOU! HATE HATE HATE! Bela’s vision started to blur with tears, and, at a loss for what to do, she did the only thing she could think of.
She ran.
"BELA!"
Her mother called for her to come back, but she only ran faster. Through the castle halls, down the stairs, past a group of surprised and frightened maidens, and finally out of the castle’s main entrance and into the cool night air. It burned her skin, but she just kept going, out past the Duke’s cart and into the Vineyard, until her foot caught on loose rock and she fell face first into the hard ground. After that she couldn’t push herself up. Too sore, too tired, too hungry, too cold. So she did the only thing left she could do. She cried.
She cried, and screamed, and pulled at her hair. She curled in on herself, claws sunk into her scalp as if she were trying to rip out her brain. Her mother hated her. Her sisters probably hated her, too. She hated herself. Everything hurt. She just wanted it to stop.
She wanted her mother.
“MAMAA!” The wail tore from her throat before she had a chance to stop it. She certainly had the audacity, didn’t she? Mother wouldn’t rescue her. Not after that horrid display. “Mama….” It felt like her skull was splitting open. She didn’t deserve to see mother. To be held in her arms and cradled. Not after the way she’d acted. “I’m s-sorry….” It was far too late for apologies wasn’t it? Bela choked on her tears as her vision blurred and distorted. She felt terribly light headed. “M-M-Mommy, please… Please help me….”
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bonny-kookoo · 3 years
Text
Mean (JJK x Reader) 💜☁️✴️🔞
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💸 Pairing: Jeon Jungkook x Reader
💸 Genre: Mafia!AU, Single Parent AU!, Angst, fluff, Smut
💸 Warnings: bad language aka cursing, mentions of cheating, mentions of illegal business, manhandling and not the nice kind, tsundere Jungkook, it’s not like he likes you duh, guns, description of violence, restriction of movement and not in a kinky way, protected sex because dude he’s got one kid okay that’s enough, unconventional romance, choking, near death experience, angst did I mention angst
💸 Summary: Jeon Jungkook was kinda cute, you had to admit that- but he was also a massive douchebag with his head up his ass. And a cute kid.
A/N: First of all, I want to apologize to anyone I might dissapoint with this. I've changed up the story concept numerous times- and the first trailer is in no way a proper teaser anymore, since it has nothing to do with this story anymore. I somehow hope you still enjoy the story however. If not- I hope you'll stick around for future content!
Taglist: @drumsofheaven @yzkyzkuniverse @strwberrybtch @kirbykook @teresaisla @park-hera-gi @justzeera @taestannie @bambuzlee (there were several people I couldn’t tag- I’m sorry about that!) 
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Jeon Jungkook was facing his worst enemy.
Now, considering his work and all those rumors going on about him, this could be anything really; from an entire army storming his house, to readying himself for waterboarding. But no, this enemy he was currently standing across from was way more vile and difficult to get under control. The situation was slowly growing desperate on his side- this was a life and death situation.
"Mina, come on now." Jungkook pleaded as the toddler vehemently refused to raise her arms properly so he could slip on her dress for the day. He could understand her, to an extend- he wasn't a morning person either, but he had to overcome this in order to be successful- and she had to as well.
Well, success was not really that important at her age, but getting her to daycare definitely was.
"Mina I have a meeting soon and if you continue to be a brat I can't send you off again properly." He tried, knowing how much she hated him leaving in a rush like usually. He'd promised her the day prior as he'd tucked her into bed that he would, this time, at least stay until her friends had arrived, yet he couldn't have known that this situation would occur the next morning.
Sometimes being a single father was way worse than anything he was facing at his actual job.
"There we go!" He cheered as she finally caved in, pouting a bit before she giggled at the silly face her father was making in order to get her to smile. He hated sending her off in a foul mood, knowing that she could be an absolute devil's child if she felt like it. In a way, she was very similar to him, which was to be expected with her mother not being in the picture. He didn't mind it much, however- a cheating spouse was not really what he wanted by his side, if he was being entirely honest with himself. It was enough already knowing that almost all of his 'friends' and 'business partners' were shameless liars. He didn't need to live and raise a child with one as well.
"Tiger!" The young girl cheerfully exclaimed, as the both made their way into the kitchen. It wasn't just a random comment from her side, because her chubby hand already pointed at the cereal box designed with colorful images on the counter, way too high for her but perfectly reachable for her father as he chuckled, balancing her on his hip as he prepared a small bowl for her.
"No funny business though, young lady." He said, as he sat down with her at the table. "We don't have to hurry, but we can't waste time either." He explained, as he watched her eat her breakfast with a concentrated face. He smiled at the picture, sometimes wishing this would be how his days would always start. Sadly, that wasn't the case- most of the times really, her nanny took her to daycare.
Which was another problem.
Her nanny had recently filed in for her termination, her age getting to her as she finally made the decision to settle down for her last years of life, she'd said. He accepted it without much resistance, having build too much respect for the elderly woman over the course of time by now. It left him with a gaping hole however, one that he knew he needed to fill.
But with who?
He couldn't just hire anybody for Mina at this point in his life. People needed to be fully trustworthy to be even given knowledge of his child at all. Most didn't even know she existed- the public unaware of her relation to him. He kept the facade up that she was merely the child of a close friend, just to keep her out of range of any potential enemies he had gathered over time.
His life really wasn't fit for a child at all, but what was he supposed to do?
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"Y/N!" A small voice exclaimed behind you, making you look around from where you were cutting apples as the small child appeared.
"Mina!" You answered just as brightly, picking her up as she giggled excitedly. "Did you have breakfast yet?" You asked, as another daycare worker came inside.
"Yeah!" She said, and you looked at her surprised. "Daddy and I had breakfast!" She explained, as you placed her back down onto the ground. "He'ven brought me here today!" She said, and you hummed affirmatively,
"That sounds awesome!" You said, as she beamed up at you. "Why don't you go sit at the table, we're almost having our morning snack. You think you can eat some apples?" You asked, and she proudly nodded, before zooming off, stumbling a bit as she missed the slight gap of the door.
"He didn't come inside." Jenny said, as she watched the little girl sit down next to a boy her age. "I saw that he was sitting in his car, but she got out herself." She explained further, as you continued cutting the apples and making some cuts to have them resemble a bunny. "I swear to god-" She started, as you cut her off.
"We don't know what his life is like, Jenny." You said, as she huffed. "It's not our kid, it's not our life. She isn't unhappy, she's healthy, she's not mistreated. Case closed." You explained further as you discarded the scraps of apple unneeded in the trash, before rinsing the knife you'd used. "I'm not too happy about it either, but we're not her mother." You said, as you dried your hands.
Jenny sighed. "I know, but like-" She said, walking over to you to help you place the banana slices and grapes as well. "She's such a sweet kid. I don't know, but he seems like such a dick honestly. Like, have you heard his phonecall last week?" You snorted. Everyone did at this point.
Mina had had a minor incident, when she'd stumbled and fell. She'd scraped her knee, cried a little, but after a moment everything had been fine again. He however, had been livid upon finding out his daughter had been hurt, even though the scratches didn't even need a bandaid. Even though he'd only been on the phone with your superior, he'd made such a scene out of it that it became like local news around the daycare.
"I still don't know what the fuck that was about." Jenny exclaimed, taking a sip of her coffee as she kept an eye on the kids in the main room. "Like, yeah, she fell, but nothing happened." She said, and you agreed.
Shrugging, you grabbed some plates and napkins, and looked at Jenny. "Again." You reminded her. "As harsh as it sounds, you know me." Jenny sighed.
"I know."
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You took back everything you had said this morning.
This prick had the audacity to keep you waiting for more than two hours now, without reacting to any amount of phonecalls you'd done by now. Mina was almost asleep on your lap, and you were angry to say the least. This was supposed to be your last day of work for a week, you were supposed to be curled up on your couch in nothing but underwear and fluffy socks, hidden by a blanket and eating icecream while watching netflix. You were definitely not supposed to sit here at your daycare until even the janitor was about to go home. "Fuck it." You mumble, carefully balancing the young girl on your hip as you grab your bag and keys.
You wave the janitor and cleaning staff goodbye on their way out, and take out your phone for a bus or subway that could drive close to where Mina's address is- but you notice there is nothing in her jacket written that you could use as one. You instead simply call the number written down for emergencies, and wait as it rings.
once.
twice.
"Hello?"
You are a bit taken aback by the voice on the other line, masculine, but clearly not as old as you'd thought he'd sound. "Uh, yeah, this is Mina's daycare, you mind picking her up these days, or not?" You casually say, Mina moving around a bit as to bring her thumb close to her lips. You internally coo at her.
"Shit! Fuck- I, where are you?" He asks, and you furrow your brows. Where the hell does he think you are, or does he seriously not know where his daughters daycare is? Wait, is that even her father?
"I- listen, am I even talking to her father or who is this?" You ask, and suddenly you feel extremely uncomfortable. This was a bad idea, what if this isnt her dad at all? You could loose your job for this!
"Yeah, yes. Listen I'm gonna send someone to pick her up alright? Should be there in an hour or so." He says as if frustrated, and you scoff, making him question you on the other line as if he was just struck by thunder. "Excuse me?" He says, voice low, but you're not intimitated.
"First of all, I'm not convinced. Second of all, and pardon my french, but are you nuts?! It's already way too late for her to be up, and I've finished my shift hours ago!" You complain, and he clears his throat over the line, clearly unhappy about your lack of understanding.
"Jeon Mina has a small beauty mark underneath her lower lip, she hates strawberries for some reason, and her biggest secret is that she is actually scared of unicorns. There, happy?" He grits out, and you chew on your lip. He was good. "Second of all, Miss." He makes sure to pronounce every word. "You're getting paid to look after my kid. If that's all you want I'm paying you extra for the inconvenience-" Oh boy, there we go.
"If I cared about your stupid money I would've called authorities hours ago, S.I.R." You start, careful to tone your voice down as to not wake her up. "And you know what, thats a great Idea actually! Let me just-" You begin, but he cuts you off with a sound that sounds awfully like a door closing.
"Fuck you, I'm there in 20." He says.
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Jeon Jungkook was not too fond of woman.
That much was clear ever since he'd been cheated on and left with a kid, but it had always been like that. It wasn't like he was afraid of them, or didn't like them, it was more like, during his life, woman had been the reason for heartbreak and bad news all along. His mother had been an alcoholic, his dad desperately trying to get her back on track. His sister had been involved into shady business early on, a wild child that would do anything to get on peoples nerves. His aunt, which only ever visited to gain money. Women were bad news.
So his own surprise had been very prominent when he spotted you on the bench with his kid in your arms,her chubby arms clinging onto you like a koala. You seemed to be reading something on your phone, careful not to point the device too close to Mina so she wouldn't be disturbed. You were pretty, he had to admit that, even from far away- and you seemed like a confident person, from what he'd heard over the phone. You suddenly noticed him as he drove a bit closer, car tires crunching the gravel and snow underneath while his headlights shut off, to not blind you both. He stepped out, as you woke Mina up to announce to her that her father had finally arrived.
"Daddy!" She screached sleepily, running towards him with stumbling legs. He picked her up with a smile before he turned around, having every intention to buckle her up in his backseat as you came closer.
"Huh. Mind telling me why I shouldn't inform authorities about this?" You asked, and he huffed out a breath with a roll of his eyes, pulling out his wallet. You simply stood there, arms crossed, not at all fazed by the amount of money he held in front of you- you simply raised your eyebrow. "I mean, if money could talk I'd ask your bills, sure. But that right there isn't an answer." You replied, and he gritted his teeth, jaw clenching. Why were you being so difficult.
"Okay, how much?" He said, and you suddenly moved, shifted, as if absolutely offended by his offer.
"Do I look like a streetworker to you sir?" You said, and he closed his eyes for a moment, until another car seemed to pull up.
"You're getting picked up." He says, ready to step into his car as you look at him with confusion. "You don't know them?" He asks, and you shake your head, having every intention to check as he notices something familiar peeking out of one of the car windows. As if on autopilot, he rips his passenger side open, pushes you in, and runs to get inside the drivers seat.
There are shots fired, Mina is holding her hands over her ears as she simply stares at you, who is absolutely shell-shocked.
What the hell just happened?
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So yeah, that's how you got here-
In a room that looked awfully like the interrogation rooms in your late night netflix crime shows. There was someone sitting in front of you- Mina's father, watching you, like you were going to do anything. But you were as quiet as a mouse, not saying anything.
"So you didn't know them? At all?" He questioned for the second time in the past ten minutes, and you shook your head. "Hard to believe. Then again, why would you ever tell me that your Dad's brother was sentenced to two years for escorting drugs- only getting two years because he snitched." He said, and your eyes widened.
"Okay what the hell-" You started, but he cut you off.
"Oh, I hit a nerve-" But you weren't having it.
"Oh an I'm gonna hit your pretty nose if you don't stop cutting me off!" You said, making him smirk. For some reason, this was quite entertaining to him- the only woman he ever had in here were so keen on keeping up that shy and innocent facade, that you were a breath of fresh air. "Listen, I don't know why you decided to dig up things that happened when I was literally a TODDLER- or how you even got that information - I swear to god I will really break your nose!" You ended as he had tried to speak again, making him chuckle.
If you weren't being held captive after getting your night ruined you might as well would've thought that was pretty hot.
"I was five years old- I had nothing to do with it, and my dad had no contact whatsoever with his brother after what had happened." You explained. "If you can find that, you can also find that I haven't had contact with my family in years either." You said, leaning back, as he spoke.
"I did. Which is quite confusing to me." He said.
You suddenly went stone cold on him. "It really isnt that deep." You said.
"Were you avoiding them?" He asked. "Because of what happened? Or because your dad got involved into something?"
"Because they're dead." You said.
Well. This was something that made him actually stop and think for a second. He did dig into that nasty part of your family, but he never looked further- their death was something he had overlooked. And by your reaction as you said it, the way you said it, he knew that you weren't lying. "Alright." He said. "But you do realize that I can't just let you go like that, right?" He said.
"Figured." You said. "So, should I stand facing against the wall or with my back against it so you can aim better?" You said, and he took a deep breath. Technically, yes, that would be a logical outcome.
"Neither." He said, and you raised your eyebrow. "I have an offering." He said, and your entire body went stiff, arms crossing in front of your chest. A pure sign of whatever he was going to say, your first reaction would be no. "I need a nanny for Mina." He said, and your lips parted, confusion clear on your face.
He almost thought it was kind of cute.
"You what?" You said.
"I need a nanny for Mina." He repeated. "It's a win-win situation for both of us if you think about it. You get to- in a way- keep your job and a bonus in terms of payment, and I will have someone to take care of Mina. And I also don't have to put a bullet into your pretty little head." He said, leaning forward with the last words.
"This isn't really a question, isn't it?" You said, and he laughed.
"You're smart- I like you."
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„But that’s not how daddy does it..“ she wonders, as you tie her shoes for her, before looking up into her eyes. She really does resemble her father. Well, a more innocent version, that is.
„Well everyone does it differently.“ you say, well aware that there were numerous ways to tie a simple bow. „Your daddy probably has learned it from someone who does it like he does. I learned it from my dad.“ you explained as you went to pick up her backpack, carrying it for her as she took your hand.
„yours looks prettier tho!“ she exclaimed happily, a skip in her step as she kept looking at her shoes with a smile. You grinned, a sense of pride filling you. „Daddy‘s always looks crooked on one side-„ she said, before a voice broke through the sweet moment.
„You hurt me Princess. You always said they look nice.“ he hummed from his spot in the doorway, leaned on the frame, looking at you with something you could only describe as unsatisfied, while shooting his daughter a smile.
What the hell have you done wrong now?
This had been something going on for months now. Ever since you started working for him as a nanny, Mina had been nothing but a ray of sunshine- but he, he was not even a raincloud. He was the angry grinch miltiplied by a hundred, ready to piss everyone off twenty-five-eight. Somehow everything you did wasn't up to his standards; the way you cooked for Mina, the way you dressed her, hell, even right now with the way you tied a fucking bow.
You really hoped next time he washed his hands, his sleeves would roll down.
"There's an emergency gun underneath the back-" He started as Mina was out of listening-reach.
"I won't use it." You said.
Jungkook had tried to get you trained at least in the basics of guns- but you practically had an allergy to it, refusing to so much as touch one. He didn't quite know what your problem was, but after a while, he had given up on it- simply sending one of his guards with you whenever he could. By now, you were an easy target as well if found alone, so you had joined him in his place, occupying one of the larger guest rooms. He had said that it was to keep an eye on you, but internally, he simply didn't want you to get hurt.
And yeah, at first that was because he didn't trust you, at all- but by now, somehow, you had sneaked your way into his heart, in a way. Even though he himself would always grumpily comment on it, he loved how you made Mina smile and the entire mansion light up. Things felt a little brighter, a little less tense, and a little less lonely with you around. It felt as if you were an actual family.
And that scared the shit out of him, because in no way was he going to fall for his daughters nanny.
And, after all; you hated his guts.
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If Jungkook knew the situation you and Mina had gotten yourselves into, you don't know if he would be proud of her or kill you.
Turns out that the guard Jungkook had sent you out with wasn't actually following his orders at all, but words from a different person entirely- you imagined they were highly likely the one's out to shoot you back when you first met the tall mafia boss and father. Now, the only thing they definitely did not get right however, was that you were Mina's mother- and someone Jungkook valued enough to give up his safety. This was true for Mina; the young child was his everything, and he'd cut off his limbs just to know her safe and sound- but you? That was just absolutely stupid. Sure, you've been living together for quite some time now, and he stopped trying to mentally push you down the stairs every morning as well. But there was nothing more than a mild case of friend- and partnership. You weren't being emo; Jungkook had, after all, said it again and again that he had crossed out the dating game. He's got enough trouble with Mina and you, he had said.
Well, seemed like one of those issues would solve itself.
"Again, what're you gonna do?" You say, as Mina looks at you from out of the vents above you had helped her into seconds ago.
"Crawl where the nice air is, call daddy- and don't look back." She repeats proudly, but you can see it clearly that she's just as scared as you are.
"Exactly, good job princess." You praise, and she nods with a pout. "Once daddy gets you, you'll be safe." You promise, and she wants to complain- but you don't let her, closing the vent again as you hear her shuffling away. This was fine. Mina would be safe, Jungkook would have one person less to worry about- he could move away, bring her to a different part of the country where no one knew her, and she could simply go to school next year and forget all of this ever happened.
You were just a bit sad that you'd never get to see it.
Of course you weren't her mother- but it was hard not to let her inside your heart, with the way she was. The charms her dad didn't have, she got them times ten. She was just so sweet, and you were around her all the time, it was hard not to somehow grow fond of her. You just hoped she'd be alright.
"Where's the kid, whore?!" A guard yelled after noticing you were the only one left in the room. You simply smiled, not answering, before he grabbed your neck, pulling you up as much as he could as he fumed. "Save that stupid grin for your son of a bitch at home." He barks, and you desperately try to breathe- unsuccessfully so, until he forcefully pushes you back down, the back of your head hiding the concrete floor with a sickening crack. You squealed out in pain, holding onto the spot for dear life as if that would somehow help it- but it didn't. "I knew sluts like you have to be tied up. You're all just trouble." He says, pulling you by your legs as another set of people come in, binding your legs and hands. You can already feel your fingers getting cold from how tight your wrists are tied- but you black out from the kick to your stomach before you can quite dwell on it.
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"Fuck!" He yells, before he gets up, hands in his hair to somehow help himself not punch the laptop on his table. He's seen it, seen it all- from the moments you would shield Mina like a fearless lioness, the second you had lifted her up into the vents even though he knew your shoulder had to be in horrible pain, to the very moment you had faced the consequences of your actions. He hated that he had to wait, that he had to simply sit here in his office like a coward just to watch you take the beatings.
Because here was the thing with Jungkook; even though he liked to portray himself as someone who always takes the upper hand in things and troubles, when it came to his own personal life far away from his criminal business he ran, he couldn't seem to ever make up his mind. It was like a repeat of his past love affair- but instead of his ex-wife cheating and leaving him with a child, there was you, in some way fighting like a true lionness in order to keep said child safe and sound, even though you didn't even had to. Technically, this would've been the perfect opportunity for you to finally get your freedom back in a way. Because without Mina, there was no use for you being in his grasp anymore. Without her, there was no agreement between the two of you.
And yet there you were. And yet again, he simply watched, simply did nothing.
The entire mansion was already on high alert by now; his most trusted friends Seokjin and Yoongi already out to your location- he could wait. He could wait. He could wait.
Everything would somehow turn out to be just fine by the end of this day. He would successfully take his daughter into his arms, Yoongi and Seokjin would get you out of there, and after a good nights sleep and some first aid for you, things would just return to normal.
But what was normal at this point?
He didn't want things to continue like they did currently. He wanted change, for the first time in his life. He wanted to tell you about his inner thoughts, about his desires concerning you and his future. He wanted to tell you that he didn't just want you to be at his home and with him and his daughter just because of some stupid agreement. He didn't want you to stay with him because he forced you to.
His phone began to chime, your face greeting him as the caller ID as he accepts it. "Daddy-" His heart sinks down to the floor as he hears Mina sniffle on the other side of the line. He has to wait, he thinks, repeats like a mantra. He has to somehow calm her down, tell her everything's alright- "They're hurting mommy!" Mina wails, and somehow, those words make him snap.
Fuck waiting.
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In a way, Mina was a smart kid. She had been nothing but understanding when Jungkook and her mother had broken up- divorced, and fought until she eventually left for good. She had been a little sad for a long time, thinking it had somehow been her fault; but he had assured her, and later on, explained, that Mommy simply didn't love Daddy anymore. In Daycare, she was one of the most well behaved kids ever encountered- careful, and calm. Of course she got excited and happy and sometimes made a mess; but she also was very careful who she interacted with, what kinds of friends she made, and how much she talked about home. She never complained, never threw public tantrums.
Jungkook truly was lucky- that the only thing left of his shattered marriage had been her.
He never had relationships after that- never dated, never truly searched for someone. No one, in his eyes, was worth the risk- and even after meeting you, that was his opinion. But as cliche as it sounded, you were quite different from anyone he'd ever met before.
You spoke your mind; always saying what bothered you, never beating around the bush. Yet, you weren't being a bitch about things. No, you actually could be pretty cute if you wanted to be- be it the moments he had caught you and Mina sneak a taste of her birthday cake in the middle of the night, or the one time he had been sick.
You had been such an angel to him.
Helping him towards the bathroom, never even scrunching your nose in distaste whenever he had to throw up. You simply rubbed his back, helping him towards the sink to rinse, just to lead him back into his bedroom. You had aired the room out, made the bed, made sure that he was staying hydrated and at least tried to eat every day- all without any complains.
Maybe that was the moment his perspective of you shifted into dangerous territory.
He had somehow become hyperaware of the things you did. How well you got along with Mina, how easy going you were becoming with him- how confident yet nurturing and sweet you were, gently scolding him sometimes to not overwork himself. You always made sure his kid felt happy and was healthy, never so much as whined about your past friendships lost; you had simply accepted the new situation.
In a way, you were what he silently dreamed of at night.
Because as much as he loved the sight of you holding Mina whenever she had a nightmare and couldn't sleep, he somehow also craved to be held throughout the night by your arms. Just like he held his daughter in that moment after she had climbed out of the vent into his arms. He could make out some of her words as he simply let himself feel her tiny body in his arms for a moment. Just to make sure she was really there, really alright, really out of harms way. She kept on crying out for you, for him to help you, to save you-
So it was only natural for him to jump out of his car and run after Seokjin, Yoongi, and their squad, as they entered the building.
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Sometimes at night, when you got aware of all the different sounds of the room, you heard the blood rush inside your brain.
Just like now; but now, it was so loud that you could barely hear anything else. Things seemed hazy, fuzzy, your ears stuffed with cotton wool drowning out any sounds might happening around you. Your eyes stayed closed, light way too bright for your raging headache- and the stale metal taste on your tongue wasn't helping either. Your hands had started to tingle long ago, and your knees were hurting from being in the same position for this long. But the moment someone touched you next, it wasn't forceful. It was so gentle, and almost- scared?
You couldn't hear, but you could feel. How the rope was cut, blood rushing painfully into your hands and legs again, pins and needles making them hypersensitive as you were suddenly held- moved, carried?
It smelled like home, that was something your dizzy mind was able to properly make out. It smelled like Jungkooks mansion, and a bit like his office- a faint vanilla hitting your senses, making you faintly smile as your hand reached out, unknowingly grabbing his shirt, holding the fabric as tight as you could as you moaned out in pain when he placed you down again, warmth surrounding you.
Maybe you were dying?
Or maybe not.
Because after some hazy and confusing dreams, you slowly came back to your senses. Eyes opening slowly, there it was; the curtains you knew so well, the balcony opened, air crisp and fresh around you as the door opened. You wanted to move your head, but the fear of triggering another headache was too big.
"Y/N?" Jungkooks voice asked, warm, and almost hesitant. You hummed, and he snapped his head around, noticing that yes- after days of sleeping and slipping in and out of consciousness you were actually awake again. He walked into your field of vision, looking so casual; his white button up undone at the first two buttons, sleeves rolled up as he sat down close to you, palm on the blanket covering you as he-
smiled?
"W-" You had to cough a bit before clearing your throat. "Who are you and what have you done to Jungkook?" You said, and he chuckled, sighing in relief- you had, after all, not lost your charm.
"I think past Jungkook had a moment of self-reflection." He said, watching you as his hand placed itself onto yours, warmth spreading over your skin. "I'm glad you're okay." He admitted. "And thank you. For keeping.. Mina safe." He ended, and you smiled.
"That's literally my job." You said, and he got more serious.
"No, and you know what I mean." His voice was deep and rough, yet held no authority like usual. "You had chances to tell them who you were. That you had no connection to me other than through her; yet you didn't. And we both know why." He said, and you looked at him.
"There are more reasons than just one." You said, eyes drifting to his now empty ring finger on the hand resting on his thigh.
"Does it matter which one I mean?" He asked, and you wanted to scoff.
"It does to me." You said, and he shifted closer after a second, properly holding your hand now as he looked at yours- still a little scratched, but nothing that wouldn't heal.
"You did it because that's the reason you live here." He said. "You also did it because you adore her just as much as I do. And you.." He began, but grew unsure.
"And I?" You smiled, and he looked at you with his typical seriousness.
"And you somehow got stuck in an emotional mess." He explained. "You somehow, deep down, wanted it to be true." His thumb moved over the back of your hand as he spoke. "You wished that.. maybe there was more to it than just, partnership." He said, and you still smiled gently.
"Did I now?" You teased, but to your surprise, he was still looking straight at you.
"I know I did." He humms out. "I still do."
"You're stupid." You said, and he laughed bitterly, taking your words the wrong way as he slipped his out of yours.
"I know." He said, getting up to leave but stopped as you spoke.
"Good." You said, chuckling before coughing. "What, no kiss for me after all I've been through?" You giggled as his wide eyes stared at you. "Rude." You said, and he suddenly realized that no- you weren't rejecting him. You were accepting.
You felt the same.
Noticing his own awkwardness, he leaned over, hands supporting his body as he leaned down, properly placing his lips onto yours. You had never imagined what kissing Jungkook would feel like, but you certainly would've never guessed how gentle and absolutely loving it would be. One of his hands moved towards your cheek, holding it, as if you were the most precious thing he'd ever seen.
"Mommy!" Came Mina's excited voice, cries instantly noticable as she jumped onto the bed, burying her head into your chest as you held her, a few tears in your eyes from her jumping.
"Mina baby, be careful okay?" He said. But your words were the reason that he ended up tearing up, at the end.
"Mommy's still hurting baby." You said. "But she'll get better soon."
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Not even during the first few magical months of being together with his past ex, had it ever felt like this.
He was euphoric almost; with the way you felt, moved, breathed. It all felt like so much to him, made him feel so.. He couldn't explain it. He had his hands on your hips, fingers careful not to press too hard, but having enough force to move you back and forth over his lap- his length moving in and out of your heat, making you whine, as he watched your breasts in front of him. You fit so perfectly like this, felt so amazing, managed to make him feel needy instead of the other way around.
He turned you over slipping out of you sloppily as he moved positions, now above you as he spread your legs, entering you again easily. He pulled you by your thighs, holding you in place as he began to thrust again, your eyes closing with every movement of his hips.
He loved the sight of it.
Deep down he wanted to take the condom off; he wanted to fill you up, cum inside over and over and over until your cunt would overflow. Not only just to claim you in a weird animalistic sense, but to also make his family complete. He had cut his ties to his illegal activities by now, had settled down with you- and he knew, there was no other person he'd ever have a child with again than with you. "I want to cum inside." He said breathlessly, making you whine in return. "Hm, you'd like that?" He asked teasingly, his thrusts gaining more strength as if to underline his statement. "Stuff you full of my cum, make you leak it and mess up the sheets.." He continues, hand reaching between the two of you to find your clit. "just to make love to you over and over again. I wanna make you cry." He gritted out, suddenly moving you around face down. He pulled up your lower body, entering you again, gliding in easily with the amount of slick you were leaking. "And you'd take it wouldn't you?" He asks, making you nod and groan out as he grows more desperate, faster, harder- throwing you off the edge but never stopping. "You're gonna take it until I cum, don't you dare move away from me." He scolds, holding you tightly, making you gasp out in overstimulation as he continues on, chasing his own high.
He reaches it with a loud groan, burying himself deep inside as he holds you, peppering kisses onto your spine. "I love you, hm.." He whispers out. "So good, so pretty.. all mine.." He huffs, simply falling onto the mattress with you in his arms, cock still buried inside you.
There was a moment of silence, until he spoke again. "I really do mean it though." He said earning only a tired humm from you. He simply chuckled at that, holding you close as he decided to maybe bring that topic up when the timing was a bit better.
For once, he felt like a normal person. Right next to you, in your arms, as you turned around to pull him close, burying your face into his chest.
Right where he belonged.
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