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kopawz · 10 months

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what up my dudes it is wip wednesday hope you like funny oc moments before we go talk to kale holed up in his hospital room

The eighth floor was always something of a delicate subject in Vandelay's largest hospital.

To the general public, most aren't allowed anywhere beyond the many doors past the information desk. It seemed like a regular floor meant for cybernetic repairs and rebuilds– until you went beyond them... That was the real eighth floor. But of course, very little information, if any at all, slips through the cracks of those heavy metallic doors.

Until today, apparently.

An indignant and absurdly loud shriek of disbelief rang out in beyond the elevator as the doors chimed open–

"HE'S ALIVE?!" Chai nearly spilled the drinks in the carrier he was holding, and the bag 808 held in her mouth almost fell from its grip in her jaws.

NUR-53 units passing by couldn’t help but flinch, before resuming their work.

“SHUT UP–” Peppermint shouts, shushing him as if that would take back the loud noise. Stepping out of the elevator, she led a stunned Chai towards the information counter, turning to face him. Her voice dipped into an aggravated whisper, "I *just* said NOT to freak out.”

She leaned on the counter, waving to get one of the hospital staff’s attention, "Just be cool, act natural. Technically, I'm not even allowed to tell anyone about this."

He whisper shouts, mildly alarmed, "How come you're bringing *ME* up here then–!? Aren't you going to get in trouble for doing this–?"

"–Don't worry about it,” Peppermint patted his back, and kept snapping and waving to get the receptionist’s attention, “We can talk more about it once we’re in. It'll be like we were never here."

She turned back to the LU-C1LLE that had rolled over, smiling at them–

“Hey, could you page Technician Buffet for me? If he’s not too busy.”

The LU-C1LLE that responded rolled their eyes on impulse, “Sure. Another Vandelay visit, I'm guessing." They sigh, reaching over to the intercom.

The technician in question probably was busy at the moment, but knowing him, that ridiculous man would drop whatever he was doing whenever anybody made the effort to summon him.

“Buffet,” LU-C1LLE's voice rang off over the speaker as the receptionist held a button down, “Buffet to the main desk, please. You have visitors.”

…Shuffling in place in front of the main desk, Peppermint waits, idly tapping her foot to the easygoing song breezing out of Chai’s music player. Chai himself stared at the two cups they picked up on the way to the eighth floor. He was tasked with the job of carrying the drinks, because it gave him something to focus on. The feeling of warm drinks emanating from the carrier into his hands helped.

So, looking at the orders, Peppermint had firstly ordered: A classic cortado in a tall paper cup.

Evidently, that one must be for Kale. So he can still drink! …And he’s alive.

That’s the most surprising thing here. He lived through exploding. And he’s been here the entire time, not dead. Instead of being completely obliterated in a smoldering heap from the battle beside Vandelay towers all those months ago… He lived.

That’s…? Chai isn’t 100% sure how he feels about that. It’s weird. He *should* be angry about that, right? This guy SUCKS! This guy– that’s basically responsible for so much of the crappy things that are still affecting him and everybody else– is alive, and that should suck! But…

He feels conflicted– About WHAT?! There’s nothing to be conflicted about! No part of him should be even remotely happy about this! And yet…

His sock rhythmically tapped against the tile to the cheerful tune.

…There’s this anticipative feeling where an angry ball of nerves ought to be.

He looked over at Peppermint, leaning on the counter and typing something into her tablet while waiting for the person she summoned to arrive. She seemed relaxed for a likely more normal reason: familiarity. She’s definitely visited Kale a bunch of times before, then.

It stung a little that she didn’t say anything about this until now…

She noticed him staring, and paused her typing, “Hey.”

He flinched, “Hm?”

“You’re kinda looking at me like a kicked puppy. What gives?”

“Oh– um.” He shuffled in place some more, “You… really couldn’t tell anyone about this?”

Instead of looking at him, Peppermint just lowered her eyelids, and continued pecking at her tablet, “...Sorry. We can talk about it more once we’re in there.”

She glanced over, “You can ask as many questions as you want once we do, I promise. I think it’ll be a good idea to have this conversation with him. Just trust me on this.”

He stared and nodded, “I never said I didn’t.”

…Man, Chai is going to have a *LOT* of questions once this tech guy shows up.

Alright… Second of all, the second order: A sweet barley tea, and a blackberry muffin which 808 was holding onto for the time being. Peppermint smacked his hand when he tried grabbing the muffin in the elevator– So, it certainly wasn’t for Chai, that’s for sure.

"Ah!" Some tall man wearing a pale coat made a noise, noticed them all standing there as he opened a pair of large, metal doors.

He quickly walked over, pleasantly surprised. This technician seemed to have been pulled from the middle of something, attempting to stuff various wires and connectors to fit sloppily into his already overflowing pockets.

Large, complex goggles that resembled headphones with a camera sat over most of his face; only the bottom of his nose and lopsided grin were visible.

The strange device snug to his face was doing its best to hold down medium-cut, auburn, frazzled hair. His confident stride that he carried himself with (almost) made the man seem distinguished–

Because everything else about this guy screamed anything except professional.

He had a tiny pin of the hospital’s crest affixed to the dark green t-shirt that was stained with… oil? It smelled like oil. Just standing here, Chai could already tell this man smelled like the inside of a car. …Are those fingerless gloves? Okay, maybe this guy was a little cool.

Leaning forward to get a better look at them, his employee I.D. pass hanging from his neck jangled against his torso,

"...Miss Mint! Never not good to see you and your robo-kitty companion! But… Something seems different today,"

“First of all, I don’t usually get summons on weekdays! That, and, well–" Reaching up to flicking the panel on his goggles upward with a small click, he peered through the rectangular hole at Chai with deep black eyes.

They were slightly obscured from the shadow of the goggles’ interior, shadowing his features; very hard to read.

He wore a subtle, confused frown for a few silent moments.

Yet, he still notes with piqued intrigue as he leaned back, flicking the goggles closed again with a pop– "...You brought an additional something with you, I see!"

He crossed his arms, “Certainly, we don't plan on leaking confidential information about what we do here on floor eight," He quirked a brow at Peppermint, "Do we?" …But he was still smiling wide like there wasn’t any real issue.

It was difficult for Chai to tell if his warning was genuine, or just some weird inside joke between her and the technician. Maybe both?

"Heyyyy, Buffet," Peppermint scratched the back of her neck, apprehensive, "I know nobody's supposed to know about who you have up here, but–" She stuffed her tablet back into her pocket, gesturing towards Chai and 808,

"I was hoping you could help me smuggle someone else in this time?"

Buffet hummed, looking again at Chai’s perplexed, tired expression. He did so with a zoomed in goggle lens. 808 reached out a paw to playfully bat the ocular scope.

…So *this* was the ambassador in the flesh?

So much talk of this peculiar man, who seemed to be a frequent topic of conversation whenever Peppermint would visit Buffet's patient. And always spoken of, with such an air of familial fondness! Recently, spoken of with regret and remorse. Her way of making up to her friend for the whirlwind of recent current events, maybe?...

Chai whispered beside himself when Buffet hadn't moved an inch from his thoughtful posture for an entire fifteen seconds, "Why is he staring at me–?"

Peppermint quickly shushed him, "–He's thinking about it! Do you want to be let in or what?"

…Buffet supposes he can fiddle with the visitor registry a bit, to let this oddball accompany her and her cat. It would be comical, really! Especially considering that this young man was the entire reason this long, complicated build project began in the first place nearly a year ago.

He hummed, un-zooming his goggle lens', "I'm afraid to admit, my spitfire friend, that I can't find anything peculiar about your visit to the patient in our careful care today."

"What–?" Chai spoke up, "But, I'm not supposed to–"

"All *I* can see," Buffet interrupted, and spoke matter of factly, "Is that you've brought two service animals to our humble floor, instead of the typical one! Interesting…" His voice faded as he walked away from the information counter.

He returns, holding three bracelets, "Miss Mint, 808, unassuming third party that I am barred from naming for hospital confidentiality reasons– could see your wrists?"

"Thanks," Peppermint snapped the pink barcoded bracelet around her wrist, "For doing this, Buffet. I thought it would help."

"Don't mention it, literally." He grins, swiping the sweet drink and muffin from Chai and 808, downing the entire paper cup in a few chugs.

He launches the empty paper cup into a trash bin, "It is good to help others, isn’t it? You help me remember the wonders of breakfast, and I help you with matters of the heart!– …So to speak."

Peppermint rolled her eyes, walking past him into the hallway, “Maybe try remembering to feed yourself, instead of relying on cheap cafeteria food.”

Turning over the yellow bracelet on his left wrist that matched the one fastened to 808’s tail, Chai was given a different barcode that seemed to capture his attention more than Peppermint’s rapport with the technician.

His bracelet held a minimalist symbol of a dog, which read– “Service animal?” He noticed there was additional text beneath a smaller warning label, "...Nervous?" He mumbled, squinting at the words.

Buffet snapped his finger to summon a small holographic screen beside himself, musing over the schematics of a familiar robotic body as he walked onwards.

His speech was muffled, on account of him having a blackberry muffin lodged in his jaw, "Let's do our best to make this visit brief, for both our sakes, Miss Mint."

Peppermint gave a small smile, "We'll try." She started moving down the hallway to follow the technician, gesturing for Chai to quickly follow them.

#hi fi rush #hi-fi rush #oh buffet roxanne is gonna kill you if she ever finds out you're doing this buddy

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ninnodesu · 3 years

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“Can I See You?” ch 2 || Modern!Thomas

Well. People apprently wanted more of modern!Thomas, so naturally, my brain conjured up a continuation. GUESS WE HAVE TWO LONG STORIES NOW, FRIENDOS

I AM GOING TO TAG EVERY CHAPTER OF THIS FIC AS CICU IN CASE YOU WANT TO BLOCK OR FOLLOW!

TWs: - Mentions of rape - Broken bone - Mentions of cannibalism - Mentions of murder - Murder

He could see in your eyes, how the tears welled up and streamed down your face that you’d recognize him and he left. He couldn’t look at you at this point, couldn’t look at you cry because of him. He heard you cry behind him as he turned to go into his basement bedroom, his heart stung in his chest as he heard you beg and scream in fear. Closing the bedroom door, he proceeds to lean up against it, back pressed hard to it, eyes shut closed. Some kind of desperate way to make your panicked begging go away.

I can't, I can't, I can't, his inner voice chant like a mantra. His anxiety gets the better of him and he starts pacing, the wood under his feet already marked with a worn-out pattern left by his heavy boots after years and years of anxious pacing. A fierce battle erupts in his mind.

- I can't kill her - You have to, and you know it - No, I won't - Come up with one good reason to fistfight the old man about this - He would die and I wouldn't have to do this fucking thing anymore - And what? You'll live happily ever after with this woman? - I… - She would never accept the truth

Returning to his original place with his back to the door, he slowly sinks down to sit on the floor, one leg sprawled in front of him, the other resting under it. He's lost, he doesn’t know what to do. If he lets you go, you'll go straight to the police. If he kills you, he'll never hear from you again, he'll never see your face again, a sudden wave of intense nausea hits him at the thought of keeping the skin of your face to make a new mask. No, no he can't do that.

This is the first time since he had to butcher his first human that he feels genuinely lost.

He's mad at his uncle for wasting the low amount of money they do have on ugly hookers and booze, having Thomas resort to this way of living. He never truly did want this. The first time Charlie, or Hoyt as he wants to be called now - although Thomas never really did care about his apparent name change and still called him by Charlie to piss on his ego - talked to him about this, he threw up minutes after being left alone.

He still remembers the first time he got forced into butchering a person, just like it was yesterday, even though it’s nearly four years ago.

That day, he was on his way home from work, ending the day with bashing his old boss’s head in with a sledgehammer. The old man had disrespected his family, something Thomas wouldn’t stand for. Knowing that the security cameras were already turned off, he swung the hammer out of anger. He was mad that they were closing the slaughterhouse and he was hurt by the words that had been spoken. No one disrespects his family and gets away with it. Killing his boss didn’t wake any regrets. He believed the old man deserved it. The afternoon sun was still blazing down at his already sweaty form, propping his headphones on his head, he turned the music on full blast and lumbered home with no care in the world.

His right hand carried a memento of his old work, the slaughterhouse’s chainsaw.

As he had come out from a few trees up on the gravel road, a police car was parked by the side of it, the harsh blue and red light blinking to get his attention. Figuring he was caught, he took the headphones off, letting them rest around his neck and stopped in the middle of the road. His hair blew in front of his face as he took heaving breaths, waiting for the piercing pain of a bullet.

Bang! Thud.

What greeted him instead of searing pain, was Charlie standing behind him, brandishing a shotgun and looking down at a police officer with the head blown off. Everything after that is a blur. Vague memories of Charlie talking to him about the plan, the body was laid out on an old table in the basement. He’d never seen this side of his uncle before, so he tuned out. Words like “ do it”, “no money left”, “can’t afford”, “ butcher him ”, “don’t tell mama” and the worst sentence he’d heard in his life; “ you have to do this, Tommy. For the family. We need meat to survive, boy.” echoed in his mind.

A loud bang coming from outside woke him from his memories. When he just seconds later heard your voice in a shrill pitch, he almost jumped off the floor and hurried out only to see you laying on the floor with half the table over you, the other half leaning against the metallic sink.

Jesus christ…

Being left alone again, your thoughts start racing and your heart along with it.

Where did he go? Why is he here? Does he live here? Is he going to kill you? Rape you? Keep you as a hostage? Was that his family? What? Why? Where?

It’s quiet, but you hear a faint shuffling coming from somewhere close to you. All you can do is lay there and look up at the ceiling, and to your left or right.

On your left you see what looks like a workbench, an apron rests on a hook next to it. It looks well used, stained with a dark and muddy hue of red. There's a sink and dirty towels hanging off the edge of said sink. The sight to your right, however, makes your stomach flip and turn on itself. There’s cleavers, knives, hooks. Huge bins stained with the same red hue as the apron. Putting all the puzzle pieces together, your breathing increases, teetering on the edge of hyperventilating. Thomas, your Thomas. The Thomas you’ve gotten to know, the one you’ve missed for these two weeks, the one who made you all giggly when he sent you the first full-face selfie of himself… a murderer.

As the adrenaline starts shooting through your body, you try wiggling a bit to see how bolted down you are. Your fastenings are tight and they burn as you try pulling your hands out. The metal just digs into your skin resulting in nasty burns.

Fuck…

That’s when an idea - or rather a small glimpse of hope - blooms in your head. Hopefully, the table is not bolted down. It’s a stupid idea, and you know that if Thomas doesn’t kill you, the table most likely will. But rather the table, than the man you’ve slowly started to fall in love with during the months you’ve talked. Getting killed by Thomas’ hands would haunt you more in the afterlife than anything else.

Gathering all the remaining strength, you throw the entirety of your body not bolted down to the side, doing your best to ignore the burning in your wrists and ankles. The first attempt yielded nothing major, the table moved, yes, but not to the extent you wanted. So you do it again, this time, the table goes down, and you with it. You feel the bone in your leg crack before you feel the brutal pain that explodes through it.

Your scream is high to the point where you feel your vocal cords strain and your voice slowly becoming lower, raspier. The pain is enormous, the throbbing pain in your leg thrumming together with your rapid heart. But - thankfully - your scream summons movement, footsteps, and voices. The most prominent footsteps, heavy ones, belong to Thomas as he’s the first one to your side. Even if you can’t see him, you see his clunky boots and grayish jeans, at least you hope that’s Thomas and no one else. All you do is sob onto the floor, your tears pooling under your chin at the pain radiating from your leg… and the burns around your wrists. It takes a full minute before you see big fingers curling around the edge of the table, a grunt coming from above you before your vision starts flying. He was lifting the table up. A loud, hoarse cry escapes your dry throat as the table thuds back into place, jolting your broken leg.

You're about to scream again when your brain catches up to the cleavers and knives hanging to your right but quickly after the first raspy pitch leaves your throat, a hand clamps over your mouth. The rasping sound is muffled under the big hand and you can feel it moisten due to your breath, but all he does is put a finger to his lips in a shushing motion and plead with his eyes for you to stay quiet. Which you don’t, you rasp out a hoarse scream against his palm and keeps shooting daggers at him. My god, are you pissed right now.

Who the fuck are you, and what have done to the Thomas I know, you fucking animal!

You don’t quiet down until you hear that sliding door slide open again and an angry voice rings out. "Thomas! What the fuck is that racket?!"

Thomas jerks his head up as he hears Charlie's voice. He's not sure what to do, his uncle’s footsteps thud down the stairs and soon enough, Thomas sees him in full and exchanges eye contact. "This bitch is still alive? Why haven't you taken care of'er yet, ya idiot?".

Shit uh…

He glances down at your dagger filled eyes while trying to figure how to keep you quiet and talk to his uncle at the same time, needing both hands to do so. He can't sign to Charlie if his hand is clamped over your mouth. Letting out an annoyed grunt, he grabs the nearest towel and shoves it into your mouth as quickly and deep down he can without choking you, making sure you can’t spit it back out. Seeing you so shocked, and angry and… some other kind of emotion he couldn’t place, he got the urge to show you some kind of affection. Resulting in him patting your cheek, his huge hand basically engulfing half your face before walking over to the stairs.

"Well?", Charlie spits out his venomous words. Thomas' hands fidget a bit, nervousness taking a hold of him.

'I know her' The same signs that he kept on repeating earlier, annoyance building inside him knowing that his asshole of an uncle refuses to learn more. Making it almost impossible to have a normal conversation with him. "Listen, Tommy, I. Don’t. Care.", the looks between the men are like venom. "You were 'sposed to get to work on'er before mama gets home. You know damn well how much she hates when the cattle scream." Thomas really can’t help the smirk hiding beneath his mask when he hears that. He glances up the stairs before checking the time on his wristwatch before shrugging, pointing to it, and slowly signing two words he knows Charlie can decipher.

'Fifteen minutes'

That's when Charlie grabs the neck of Thomas' shirt and yanks him forward, the only reason he's able to is that he manages to catch him off guard. His breath reeks of alcohol. A clear cut sign that he’s drunk. "Listen here, you bastard. I've had enough of your defiance today. If you ", he stabs a finger in Thomas' chest at the last word, "don't take care of that girl, I will . And you know damn well I ain't going easy on'er." Charlie releases Thomas with a shove, making him stumble backward slightly. The final words from Charlie’s mouth before leaving the basement stings in Thomas’ heart. "I don't want to see your ugly ass upstairs until she's done for."

Thomas watches him leave and turn towards you, who’s still crying silently on the table.

His heart stings more and more the closer he shuffles to you. Sure, he had had nights where he dreamt that he would meet you. But not like this. Never like this, never here. He did not want to see you on his butcher's block. At the same time, he moves to remove the towel he makes the same shushing motion towards you, with the same pleading eyes as earlier. This time, she nods. And Thomas lets out a sigh of relief. As he removes it, you’re panting, breathing sounding almost more like wheezing squeaks. He goes to rinse the towel under some lukewarm water to pat clean the bloody gash over the eyebrow that got hit to knock you out before getting here. All the time, he feels a burning gaze on him, from eyes that are seemingly watching his every move.

You wince when the damped towel touches your eyebrow, a wound you didn't know you had greeted you with a sting, a small hiss leaving you. Your eyes are glued to the giant man, making sure you see his hands at all times. You want to speak, but your throat is dry and hoarse, figuring out that your earlier screaming has annoyed your vocal cords to a great extent. So all you do is watch him. He, on the other hand, is doing his best to avoid making eye contact with you. And it pisses you off, but at the same time, it relaxes you and makes your heart hurt.

Why the fuck are you avoiding me?!

The thought makes your eyebrows furrow. He’s seen you naked, yet can’t fucking look you in the eyes? You try thrashing a bit with your shoulders to try and get his eyes to yours, but to no avail. His tender way to clean your wound surprises you. This huge killer, this murderer, and straight-up deranged man are making sure not to hurt you, and you can't help but breathe out a laugh.

That's when he - apparently - seems happy with his cleaning and turns his back to you, he turns the water on and it sounds like he's rinsing something. Shutting the water off he moves out of your line of sight. A slight panic arises in your chest at the thought that he might have gone off to fetch whatever tool he seems fit to end your life. You hear a rummaging sound close by, and then he's back above you, looking down at you. This time, you feel a large hand on your head as he slowly and carefully tilts your head back, your eyes are met with harsh light and you shut them. That overwhelming want and need for him to look into your own eyes die down. Now, you don't want to look at him when he slits your throat.

But he doesn't.

You hear what sounds like a paper wrapping open. Two fingers press on either side of the gash over your eyebrow, a small whimper escapes you at the pinching pain, and then something sticky is attached to you. A band-aid. He had put a bandaid on the cut of your eyebrow. It isn't until you feel his hand leave your head that you open your eyes. And at that moment, your eyes are met with his blue ones. The way he's looking at you makes a tiny bit of your anger and hurt, and fear goes away. His blue eyes are filled to the brim with hurt, and sadness, and confusion. It almost looks like he’s about to burst into tears. He looks broken down.

Thomas fiddles a bit with the paper wrapper of the bandaid after making sure it's secured on your eyebrow and proceeds to look down into your beautiful eyes, your eye color popping in the harsh light. Something in them reflects his own emotions. He doesn’t want this, he punishes himself for not responding to your text messages the past weeks, or that he didn’t reach out to you. What he’s looking at is clear cut torture for him. He wants to cry.

I'm so sorry…

He hears the familiar clacking of his mother's shoes above the both of you, a sigh of relief escapes him. Patting the pockets of his jeans, he makes sure he has his phone and the keys to the basement before he heads over to the stairs. But he stops right before ascending them and looks over to you.

He pulls his phone up, unlocks it swiftly, and goes to his text-to-speech app, making sure the volume is put on high before typing out two words and hitting the speech button. A male voice rings out through the basement.

"I'm sorry"

#thomas hewitt #thomas leatherface hewitt #modern!thomas #modern au #thomas hewitt fanfiction #CICU #can i see you

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keiscait · 3 years

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hey hey hey! omg your house looks so cozy so i couldn’t help but request a living room boy haikyu matchup!!! (i think this is the right place, but if not let me know so i can resubmit it right!!)

alrighty, so i go by marz!

• pronouns: she/her

• appearance: 5’4, dark brown hair mid back length with athletic build, brown eyes

• personality: slytherin, istp-a (assertive) 5w4, aquarius(sun), virgo(moon), taurus(ascending), tri type 584, alignment: chaotic neutral (from dnd but pretty cool)

• traits: adventurous, independent, creative, witty, book smart, (common sense? who’s that?) logical/problem solving, competitive

• faults: independent (double edged sword), lack of emotional intelligence, slightly insensitive and unempathetic(im working on it :’)) sarcastic, blunt (both double edge swords aswell), indifferent

• in-depth: at a glance, i can seem a little intimidating and cold. i hate small talk and i’m not very emotional, its not that i am shy (if need be i can summon social skills but lets face it in general i am socially awkward) i just am not much of a talker to most. (i’ve been told i’m enigmatic?) if you do know me though i tend to be louder, chatty, and more chaotic but not to extreme extents, i would say I’m pretty chill most of the time. i really value personal space and independence (the hermit life sounds really appealing(with a few cats too? sign me up.)) so i need someone who doesn’t need someone clingy or is dependent on me 24/7. on top of all that i am very blunt and sarcastic so i need someone who doesn’t get offended easily and knows that i’m not trying to be mean, it just comes out that way sometimes.

• other facts:

- i am vegan!

- hobbies: art (I’m in art school), video games (mainly stuff on switch like zelda and splatoon), table tennis (my skills have sky rocketed due to quarantine)

- i love thunderstorms

- i have a fear of boats/ships (the only thing i can handle is canoes)

- favorite anime: dorohedoro, cowboy bebop, and jjba, tales of earthsea (ghibli movie)

- i’ll listen to about anything (except country, the bane of my existence) but mainly rock/heavy metal, alternative/indie rock, jazz, classical

-i love to read (same as music, i’ll read anything you throw at me but my favorite genre is fantasy/dystopian)

- i love math (i think numbers make more sense than words) and science and despise history

that’s about it! thank you! <3

—————————————————

Submitted by @haikyuhell

Hello and welcome, my dear Marz! Thank you so much for your kind words and for trusting me with your matchup. I’m glad you’ve been cozy! Let’s head over to the living room! ٩(◕‿◕｡)۶

We have a wonderful guest here!

Kuroo Tetsurou! (Runner up: Tsukishima Kei)

Kuroo here is a very complex character. He comes off as chaotic and rowdy, but he’s loved by even the most closed off individuals. He has a talent for winning people over without losing his own personality in the process. He’s incredibly understanding and caring, and this does not change no matter the circumstance.

- Okay so like

- Hear me out ok

- Kuroo will ensure that his presence is felt in your life, no matter how closed off you are

- If you’re indifferent towards him at first, he’ll be like “tsk tsk this won’t do, I gotta make an impression”

- In other words, he’ll get on your nerves on purpose if it means you’ll notice him more AHAHA

- He is, after all, the Provocation Expert™️

- That, or he’ll completely orchestrate situations that would force the two of you to interact

- scheming bastard

- Yes I feel an enemies to lovers vibe going on here

- Although don’t worry, Kuroo would never go too far as to pushing you away

- The reason I feel like Kuroo would be great at winning you over because I noticed you’re very similar to Kenma, with the cold and unreactive exterior and logical book smarts

- He’s been that shy, withdrawn kid in the past, so he understands you really well. And even though he was able to come out of his shell, he does not want or expect you to change this part of yourself, because he knows there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it

- Will try any and all ways to win you over - whether it’s being a complete dork or letting out his more intellectual side. Man is pulling out all the stops here

- He’d be SO taken with how smart you are, especially since he’s a science nerd himself

- As soon as he gets to know your more chaotic side, he’ll feel like he’s finally struck GOLD

- He’d be your # 1 confidant and support system. He’d come over to your place just to play video games and geek out about whatever books you just read

- Whenever your unempathetic, blunt habits come out, he’ll be able to balance you out. Would probably explain the situation in a way that would help you understand better, without making you feel bad about your colder side

- Since he’s so used to Kenma, he knows not to invade someone’s personal space. He understands that you’ll be needing a lot of time for yourself, so he wouldn’t smother you with neediness. This just makes him treasure every moment he gets to have with you

- Kuroo is competitive himself!!! He’d revel in your interest in table tennis, and would take it as an opportunity to both bond with you and learn a new sport

- He’d know how to keep dates interesting. Museum dates? He’ll take you to Science Museums. Stargazing dates? He’d make it a small astronomy research session. Just staying in because of a thunderstorm? He brought all the coolest video games, movies, and books for you guys to consume

- Despite his confident and persistent attitude, he would 100% ask permission before initiating any kind of affection to make sure everything’s alright with you 🥺

(- also did you mention cats? HEHE Papa Kitty is here)

People often get upset when they hear thunder crashing from afar and the rain starts pouring. But not you.

You were bundled up in blankets burrito-style, working on your completionist journey for Breath of the Wild. This was your most peaceful state - every worry you had was drowned out by the sound of the downpour, and you were nestled safely in your bed, allowing yourself to immerse in another world. Today, that world was the kingdom of Hyrule.

The bliss of being in your element was near overwhelming, so much that you had said yes to your boyfriend when asked to come over. Kuroo was the only person allowed to disturb your peace. He doesn’t always ask for it, and when he does come over, he makes sure not to suffocate you with his presence.

You heard his footsteps coming up the stairs, paired with the rustling of paper bags of the food you had delivered. He came through the door singing a wordless melody, imitating trumpets during a grand entrance.

“Pa pa pa pa pum pa pa pa puuuuum. Lunch is served, your grace,” he jested with a small bow.

“Thank you, kind sir. And what is it exactly that you ordered for me?” You attempted a regal-sounding accent while unwrapping yourself and sitting up in bed.

“Chicken parmegiana.” He looked you dead in the eyes with a ridiculously serious look, waiting for some kind of reaction from you. You simply rolled your eyes.

“I could easily kick you out, you know that?” He knew better than to make an insensitive mistake about what you eat, especially since you’ve already been dating for quite some time.

“Falafel wraps,” he blurted out, pulling an innocent expression. It wasn’t often that he got to have you alone like this, so he doesn’t try to push your buttons for much longer. You raised an eyebrow at him, making him hold his hands up in surrender, “No cheese.”

“Perfect,” you praised. He shot you his killer smirk, making you yearn for him a little. He started unpacking the food. “Shall we watch something while eating?”

He scoffed, “You just want an excuse to cuddle, dontcha.”

You felt the blood rush to your cheeks, but you decided to feign toughness. “That was a one-time offer, Kuroo Tetsurou.”

He groaned in protest and immediately jumped on you, making the two of you fall over on the bed. “NO! Please spare some cuddles!” he yelled playfully, keeping up the grandness in his voice, then nuzzled into your neck. You couldn’t help but laugh at his childishness.

The two of you were silent for a few breaths. You could tell he was basking in the moment, since it was rare that he got to hold you this closely. You didn’t mind - his warmth kept the chill in the air at bay.

“I’m happy you’re here, Tetsu,” you quietly admitted.

He made space between the two of you so that he could look at you, eyes pooling with tenderness. “So am I.”

He intertwined his fingers with yours, and you gave in to the calm that currently existed for just the two of you, wonderfully undisturbed by the rest of the world.

I hope you enjoyed that, darling! So sorry for the long wait. Please feel free to drop by again sometime, even just to sit and have a chat with me!

Thanks for stopping by! (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ

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catharrington · 4 years

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@harringroveweekoflove day 2: magic au

Special Responsibility.

Magic wasn’t for the weak of heart. Steve learned that the hard way after his heart was shattered by one Ice Princess. But even with a broken heart and a desire to never practice his mother’s old spells again, Steve still found himself jumping at the call to protect someone. Especially if that someone is Billy Hargrove.

(2.2 k words. Sorry I’m a little late on the day. I might have started writing today while on the clock at work whoops. This is a short one slightly inspired by The Craft but mostly inspired by my wish to see Billy feral.)

***

Steve had balled up and thrown away all his occult things years ago. All the candles and dried flowers, chalk and bleached bones, mushrooms, crystals, even his book that his mother gifted to him first day of high school.

Her long fingers rested over its dark bound cover like a birds claws around a tree branch. “Are you sure, Steven?” She asked without disappointment in her voice and somehow that hurt worse.

“It’s just not...,” Steve wanted to say his cup of tea but that was immature. More than anything he wanted to be mature, and wise and powerful but in time he realized he didn’t need his mother’s blessings or spells for that. “I am sure.” He steadied his eyes with her and for a moment her slim fingers looked like the claws of a demogorgon but only for a moment.

She simply nodded. And walked away.

Now Steve was walking alone down a gravel covered drive way to a Halloween party he didn’t want to attend. But Nancy had just gotten off the phone with him and the collar tight on his neck still pulled for her.

“I didn’t know who else to call. Who else to ask?” Her words turned up like a question in a cute way. She quickly explained that she went to the party for the live band, Jonathan was a big fan, but something didn’t seem right. The air was static charged. She felt in her bones the same way she felt that day in the woods she accidentally crawled into another dimension.

Cold.

“I didn’t know who else.” She repeated again. “I’m sure Chief Hopper would just shut the whole place down. And the kids? What? There’s alcohol!” She scoffed at Steve’s question.

“Sorry I asked,” Steve dragged his words and his hand over his face. Then he agreed to be there as quick as he could.

At the end of the road there was a barn holding up against the will of nature. It’s red wood melted to one side asymmetrically and it’s roof was missing on the other side. That hole allowed the glowing lights of the party to dance across the sky. They flickered and Steve’s grip on his bat tightened in his hand.

Nancy and Jonathan were standing outside They were wearing matching lab coats and bright blue face masks pulled down to their gaunt collar bones. Steve could laugh at the idea of them in matching surgeon costumes but he held it in. “Doctor,” he greeted cheekily.

“Steve,” Nancy was happy to see him. “We have another problem.”

The two surgeons rattled on about all the quirky things that happened at the party. Steve wasn’t fully listening as he held his bat hard against his shoulder. But the last part about a certain Billy Hargrove made his ears perk up.

Nancy explained how he was on stage playing the drums actually decent, part of the band, I know I was surprised too, then he just wasn’t. Only Nancy would notice something that small. But Billy Hargrove was never one to let his presence be small. Jonathan explained that he tried to go into the back to look around but it was locked up tight. Very suspicious.

Steve did agree it was strange, but it wasn’t otherworldly. Nancy pulled his collar again.

“I felt it.” Her words were cryptic but serious. “The same quietness, the same gross feeling. It was like it was just beyond that door.” Her thin fingers worked hard at the material of plastic gloves being wrung out in her hands.

It went unspoken. The upside down.

“And you want me to what? Knock down the door?” Steve watched them. Their joint yes also went unspoken.

Inside the party was loud, painfully so. Steve kept his bat pulled tight to his side as he snaked behind Nancy and Jonathan. The door was in the far corner to the left of the stage. Before Steve even got to it he could feel the energy pulsing from its heavy metal frame.

This wasn’t the same upside down energy, however, this was far more familiar. This was a black ink staining everything it touched. This was candle smoke heavy in the air rolling out from under the door like a wet bog. Steve thought he had given all this up.

“I’m going in alone.” He demanded before he even considered the words in his head.

Nancy was aghast, “No!” But she didn’t last long under Steve’s half lidded eyes.

He walked up and pressed his hand against the cold metal door. It was locked, but that didn’t mean much to him. With a little prayer they didn’t notice, Steve casually lifted his finger and the heavy latch unlocked on the other side of the door. He pushed it open easy then closed it softly behind him, blocking out Nancy’s endless questions.

A narrow hallway lead into darkness. Steve held forward his bat as he followed it all the way down to a cellar. The walls were still mud, freshly dug, and the music of the party was still loud. But from center of the cellar steady moaning hung like a lure on the water.

Steve’s eyes adjusted to the soft light of a few candles burning in a circle around a blackened spot. Steve didn’t need his eyes to completely adjust before he realized what he was walking into.

“This isn’t happening.” Was all he could gasp.

In the middle of the cellar was a painted white circle interwoven with spirals and intricate ruins. Candles dotted along each ruin, black as the inky darkness, and burning red hot. Inside the circle stood a locked cage and inside the locked cage stood a man. Steve felt his breath catch in his throat as he found Billy Hargrove.

Another needy groan ripped the cold air and caused Steve’s cock to give a kick. Billy was standing up and holding the bars of the cage with both hands, his forehead pressed between them, those golden curls darkened from being dripping wet. Steve noticed he was once wearing a shirt and now it was rags torn around the belt at his jeans. Cuts and lettering criss-crossed his tanned glistening skin, Steve didn’t need to come closer to know what they were. But he stepped closer.

Steve walked cautiously into the drawn circle. Billy gave another long moan as if he could feel the other getting close. Lifting his open hand to the cage bars, Steve felt the energy coming off in tendrils, thick and wet, like the lines of drool going down Billy’s chin to his chest.

That mess of blonde hair lifted and Steve had to stop a gasp as he saw once bright blue eyes turned a ghostly white. Teeth opened from a heinous snarl and they were a matching holographic glow. Steve let his fingers press against Billy’s wet cheek, and trace softy to his wet lips where pressing into the skin returned him a growl. Billy turned slightly to try and bite his finger but was much too weak.

“What are you doing here, Harrington?” A voice rang out in the darkness, but Steve already knew he wasn’t alone.

Two cold pairs of eyes stepped out of the shadows to glare into Steve. A boy and a girl and they held a heavy bound book between them. “Thought you out grew us, Harrington.”

His family name was a mockery on their lips.

“Let him go, please.” he said simply. Steve kept his palm on Billy’s cheek.

The boy laughed from the darkness. “Right when the fun was staring? No. This is our night. This is what we can take.”

Steve shook his long hair. “You can’t take this.”

“Why! Why do you get to tell us what we can do!” It was the girls turn to speak. Her voice was shrill and other worldly. “You left us to rot for your fucking Princess Nancy! You can’t lead us anymore!” She swallowed hard and shook out her head of tight curls. “Enslavement is the word I summon!”

Steve turned his head sharply. He saw the two right outside the candles with lights illuminating their cowardice. Tommy and Carol wanted to kill Steve, and sure they had a right to try, but they had no right to touch Billy.

Billy who was quickly loosing a battle of wills inside a metal cage.

Billy who’s mane of California curls was limp from sweat.

Billy who looked right at Steve but couldn’t see him.

Billy who moaned for Steve but couldn't speak to him.

Billy who had done a lot of shit and talked more shit but didn’t deserve this shit.

Steve didn’t think as he moved his palm from Billy’s cheek to the heavy lock on the cage door. He pressed against it and the metal gave way obediently. Billy let go of the bars and fell hard to his knees.

Steve wore a sharp glare as he spoke. “This ain’t right and you two assholes know it. Magic isn’t a game.” He pulled his eyes from the positively burning pair to Billy’s snarling face. He had become like a wolf, crouched low, his fingers dug into the mud and his teeth were still glowing. Rabid almost, he struck out and bit at where he imagined Steve’s hand was. So Steve knelt down softly and hovered his hand above Billy’s carved up chest as he started.

His mother’s written words fell out of his mouth easily, like he hadn’t gone years without practice. A foreign langue once not foreign at all that held so much power. Especially powerful from the tongue of a Harrington. Carol was almost screeching from the distance and he heard the telling slam of a book into the dust.

Steve could remember his mothers voice as she gave him his book first day freshman year. “With our name and power comes a responsibility. How you balance it. How you use it. All up to you. But know everything comes back around in a circle. Magic has a reaction, Steven. We who use it have this special responsibility.”

And that’s why Steve threw away his magic. He had seen the darkest side of it, the cruelest side. A white haired man who stole little girls from their mothers and ripped monsters from the walls. Steve knew the physical way a failure of that responsibility would manifest into a creature with elongated arms and a mouth for a face who hunted the blood of teenagers for food. From that day he had thrown away his magic and swore to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves.

Billy was looking right up into Steve’s eyes now. One of his hands had wrapped around Steve’s thigh, pulling heavy on the fabric, and ripping it.

Then, as quick as a blink, the blue in Billy’s eyes was back. He looked around wide eyed and without understanding. Confusion looked really good on him, Steve thought fondly.

“Hear me,” Steve’s voice was low and casual as he spoke. “What is done cannot be undone. With my power I lay claim. Protection is the word I summon. Protection.”

Billy shook the cobwebs from his head. He was never one to take long to recover, but he allowed himself the small weakness of using Steve’s arms to brace himself as they stood.

There inside the circle of black candles Steve held his new responsibility in his arms.

Only for a moment, however, before he stepped away and demanded answers to where he was. What was happening to him. “Pretty boy?” He leered in a reassuringly familiar way. “You rip my shirt off?”

Steve just rolled his eyes and looked away. Thankfully the room was dark and the designs carved into his skin were already disappearing. “Yeah,” he responded. Pointing down to his thigh where the denim was ripped back and bloody. “Just a little pay back.”

They didn’t notice how Tommy and Carol ran from the room or how the noise of the party seemed to dissolve. Steve lifted his bat again and shrugged as Billy’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

Outside Nancy and Jonathan we’re sitting on the hood of his car. The party was cleared out by an electrical failure and even though Nancy swore it was the upside down, and what was going on behind that metal door, they had to flee with the crowd and wait like good teenagers in safety.

She lifted her head from her hands as Steve casually emerged followed by a shirtless Billy. Standing to run to them she wasn’t as quick as the glare on Billy’s face, or the way he turned and walked away from Steve before she even got close.

Stopping by Steve, Jonathan in tow, she was filled to the brim with questions. Just boiling out her ears with what she wanted to investigate. But Steve just waved her off. Silly, gross party games he explained shortly. You wouldn’t be interested. He held his former status over her head like a cat reaching for a feather on a string, then he kept walking. Not in the direction of his parked car. But in the direction of a steel blue Camaro roaring to life.

Nancy noticed but she kept her mouth and fists tightly clenched. Questions for another time.

#harringrove fic #harringrove #harringroveweekoflove #my fic #steve/billy #tw blood

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fic-for-fic-sake · 5 years

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Gorgeous, Loki x reader

A/N: Yes I realize that this is a Taylor Swift song, no I don’t care because it fits and I like it. Also this fic is 100% for me because it’s my birthday so let me live. That being said, hope you enjoy. With seven minutes left in my birthday I think this post is well timed.

Word Count: 4K (Whoops)

Well, it was that time of year again, your birthday. The date was quickly approaching and everyone seemed to be more excited about it than you did.

“Hey kiddo, what do you want to do for your special day?” Tony asked one morning about a week before your birthday.

“Eh, nothing really.” You responded mundanely.

“Why the long face?” Steve questioned over his bowl of oatmeal. He’s been in the 21st century for almost a decade now, you’d think he would eat something other than oatmeal.

“I don’t know, I mean I’m only turning 22. I feel like the next major birthday after 21 is 30. So why should I make a big deal out of it?” You asked.

“I agree with Lady Y/N,” Thor chimed in, “On Asgard, the birthdays that fall between each hundred years do tend to seem a bit uneventful.”

“Yeah I’m gonna side with Thor on this one doll,” Bucky added from his seat on the couch. What was with everyone being in the living area at the same time this morning? Usually everyone was scattered throughout but the second your birthday is mentioned it’s like flies to honey. “So many birthdays passed me by and I don’t think I even blinked once.”

‘Yeah but Buck, you were a super soldier for Hydra, doesn’t exactly count as the same thing. Y/N, I think you should celebrate each birthday you have, I missed out on about 70 years of them in the ice, I know how precious time can be.” Steve said with a supportive pat on your thigh.

“Okay okay, if you guys really insist on doing something for me, at least make it simple, nothing too extravagant.” You said as you gave a pointed look to Tony. He threw his hands up in a defensive gesture.

“Who me?” He feigned ignorance, “I, my dear, am the /king/ of casual. I think the one you should be worried about is reindeer games.”

You could feel your cheeks heating up at the thought of Loki. Did he know that your birthday was coming up? Would he be there? But more importantly, would he even care? With a huff you brought your coffee mug to the sink and cleared your throat.

“I’m gonna go train now.” You announced as you headed for the elevator.

“Was it something I said?” You heard Tony joke as you exited the living room. You needed to get out of there. It was bad enough they were making you think about your birthday but then they had to go and drag Loki into it. Sure you and Loki were friends but if you were being honest with yourself you felt a slight shift in your relationship as of late. He would give you more lingering touches. Nothing much, just an arm brushing your waist whenever he would walk behind you, a hand on your thigh for a second longer than necessary.

You weren’t sure if it was really happening or just your mind playing tricks on you. Making you feel things that you wanted to feel. You really needed to punch something, and fast. Once you made it to the training room you put your headphones in and headed over to the punching bags. You started the music and remembered the combinations Steve had taught you not too long ago.

Of course the first song on shuffle was “Gorgeous” by Taylor Swift. This was quite possibly the perfect song to describe how you felt towards Loki.

You’re so gorgeous,

I can’t say anything to your face

Cause look at your face.

And I’m so furious

At you for making me feel this way

But what can I say?

You’re gorgeous.

You continued to punch the bag as you thought about his stupid perfect face. The way his raven hair cascaded down his shoulders and how he sounded like he was crooning whenever he opened that ridiculously beautiful mouth of his. You kept attacking the punching bag like you were attacking Loki himself. Furious at him for making you feel these things, damn him. You would’ve continued to punch but you heard someone clear their throat. You stopped punching and pulled out your earbuds, now you could hear the sound of you panting and trying to catch your breath.

You looked up to find the person who interrupted your storming thoughts only to come face to face with the god in question. Fuck, he wasn’t even trying and he was being sexy, it wasn’t fair to you. He had his black locks pulled into a messy bun and he wore a skin tight black shirt and black joggers that hung low on his hips.

“Sorry to interrupt your...session. But I thought perhaps you could use a sparring partner.” Loki spoke as he walked closer to you. He said it as though he had been watching you for a while.

“How long have you been standing there?” You inquired.

“Long enough to admire the view.” He retorted, letting his eyes wander over your figure. It was right about now that you regretted wearing your zip front gray sports bra and maroon mesh leggings.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” You jested back at him.

“Oh I have quite the memory, don’t worry darling.” He responded in a husky voice that made your throat dry. Fuck, did he know what he was doing to you? How worked up you were getting. It was probably written all over your face at this point. You cleared your throat before you spoke again.

“Um, so you said you w-wanted to spar?” You choked out, getting tripped up on the words because how he was looking at you was quite distracting. He looked like a hunter who had honed in on a target and was waiting for a sign of weakness to pounce.

“I did, hope you don’t mind.” He replied as he used his magic to conjure his twin daggers.

Using the mystic arts that Dr. Strange had been training you in, you summoned your staff, immediately feeling a surge of power wash over you.

“Ah, I see you’ve been practicing with that charlatan.” Loki commented, his voice laced with just a hint of jealousy.

“You’re not, jealous, are you?’ You teased him as you began to twirl the staff in your hands.

“Y/N, I don’t do jealous, I’m simply saying I could teach you more than that pretender ever could.” Loki replied as he suddenly hurled one of his daggers at you, which you easily deflected with the staff.

Suddenly, the sparring session was on. Loki couldn’t deliver any close hits to you because your staff wouldn’t let him. You made wide passes at him and managed to land one blow, he let out a huff of air as he doubled over.

“Shit, Loki, are you okay?” You called out, lowering your staff as you walked towards him. When you got close enough, Loki ripped the staff out of your hands so you were now weaponless. Suddenly you heard Loki’s voice coming from behind you.

“That’s your problem pet, you care too much. That’s when you let your guard down.” His illusion in front of you flickered out of existence and suddenly you felt the cool metal of a dagger at your throat, Loki had you beat. You could feel his breath coming in heavy bursts as his chest expanded and fell on your back. He had one hand at your throat with his dagger while the other was wrapped around your waist, keeping your arms pinned. His fingers gently skimmed your bare stomach as his feet tapped yours in a silent command to part them.

You should think about the consequence

Of your magnetic field being a little too strong

“Any last words darling?” Loki whispered, his mouth just inches from your ear. You couldn’t speak, couldn’t focus on anything but the goose bumps that were forming where he was touching you. You wanted to scream for him to keep touching you more, for him to take you right here in the training room, but you didn’t. He sensed your hesitation and chuckled.

“Better luck next time Y/N” He said as he removed himself from you and sauntered out of the training room like nothing happened at all.

That afternoon, Loki had left for a mission and you weren’t sure when he would be back. When the day of your 22nd birthday came around, he still wasn’t back, making you a little bummed to say the least. The team left you to your own devices for most of the day which you were grateful for. You were just sitting in bed reading when there was a knock on your door.

“Come in.” You announced to the emptiness.

“Ooh whatcha reading?” Natasha asked as she plopped down on your bed. Reluctantly, you dog-eared the page and handed the book over to the redhead. “Really Y/N, Othello?”

‘What?” you exclaimed, “It’s really good!”

“It’s a tragedy.” She deadpanned.

“Yeah, a really good tragedy. One of his most famous actually.” You defended as you tried to grab the book back from her.

“No, you’re not going to sit here, on your birthday of all days, reading Othello. You’re coming with me.” Nat announced.

“Where are we going?” You questioned as she practically dragged you out of bed.

“No questions, just go take a shower and come back out when you’re done.” She said as she shoved you in the general direction of the bathroom.

When you came out of the shower you saw the outfit Natasha had laid out for you. On your bed were a pair of high waisted blue ripped jeans, a black strappy bra, and a see through crop top with stars on it. You practically laughed at it.

“You can’t be serious.” You scoffed at Natasha.

“Oh but I am.” She countered.

“Where did you even get that bra? I don’t own any like that.” You retaliated, waving your hand over the aforementioned piece of fabric.

“I bought it for you today, think of it as a birthday present.” She joked back.

“Fine, I’ll wear it.” You grumbled, more to yourself. You knew it was useless to try and argue with Natasha, she always got what she wanted. “But let me put it on in peace, I’ll meet you downstairs.”

“Fair enough.” Nat replied, “But if you’re not down in ten minutes I’m coming to find you.” She warned as she left your room, shutting the door behind her.

You paired the outfit with gold adidas and pulled on a leather jacket. You tied your shoes and zipped your jacket up definitely. If you had to wear Natasha’s outfit, you would wear it your way.

A few minutes later you were walking down the stairs into the main room.

“There’s the birthday girl!” Tony announced as he came over and gave you a hug. “Happy birthday kid!”

“Thank you!” You replied as you went around the room and were greeted with hugs and smiles from everyone, that is, everyone except Natasha.

“Really Y/N, a leather jacket? In August?” She questioned with a roll of her eyes.

“What? You said I had to wear it and I am, it’s just, under the jacket.” You said with a gleam in your eyes. You could tell she was a little pissed and that gave you more joy.

“What are you two talking about?” Sam questioned, sensing the tension between the two of you.

“Oh nothing,” Natasha waved him off, “you’ll see soon enough.”

“Anyway…” You tried to divert attention, “where are we going and why is everyone dressed nice? I thought you said it would be subtle.” You sighed as you shoved Tony playfully.

“It is, it is, will you relax? We’re taking you somewhere very special that I’m sure you’ll love.” Tony reassured you as he gestured for all of you to make your way outside and into the car. Tony made you wear a blindfold so you didn’t know where you were going, which you thought was a little extreme but also sweet.

“Okay Y/N, you can take the blindfold off now.” Natasha announced as she moved you out of the car.

You took off your blindfold to reveal your favorite karaoke bar that you were always telling the team you wanted to go to. You don’t know how long you’d been bugging them but they never seemed interested. You felt your face light up.

“Guys!” You gushed as you turned around to look at their smiling faces, “I can’t believe we’re here! We never come here! But I thought it would be more packed.” You said in a flurry of excitement.

“Yeah about that…” Tony rubbed the back of his neck nervously, “I kinda rented the whole bar out for us tonight.”

“I guess ‘small’ isn’t in Tony’s vocabulary.” Steve joked as he wrapped his arm around you and kissed you on the forehead affectionately.

“I guess not.” You replied as you wrapped one of your arms around his waist. “So what are we waiting for? Why don’t we head in?”

“Ahem.” You heard someone behind you clear their throat, you turned around to find Loki standing in the parking lot. You suddenly dropped your arm from Steve’s waist and tried to focus on your breathing. Loki looked gorgeous tonight in his perfectly tailored black suit, despite it being the middle of August in New York.

“Loki, you made it!” You exclaimed, you tried to move but your feet were rooted in place.

“It appears I did.” He responded curtly, you could see his annoyed expression as he looked between you and Steve. He saw his arm around you and his jaw clenched.

“Alright, now that the gang’s all here let’s head in.” Tony broke the tension, opening the door and leading the way for everyone.

Not only had Tony rented out the whole bar for you, but he also invited more people as well. All of your peers from the Bleaker Street house were there as well, including Steve Strange himself.

“Master Strange, I didn’t know you would be here!” You called as you went over to him.

“How could I miss an event honoring my star pupil?” He responded as he conjured something and gave it to you. “Happy Birthday.” He responded as he enveloped you in a hug. Your cheeks were starting to hurt from the amount of smiling you were doing. You opened it and found that it was a crimson red ribbon.

“I don’t understand.” You commented as you looked at the ribbon in the box.

“That may look like an ordinary ribbon but in fact it is much more. These are the seven ribbons of hathor. Just say the words and they will enchant themselves to bind even the strongest of enemies.” Strange replied.

“That’s fantastic! Thank you so much!” You exclaimed.

“May I?” He gestured to your hair and you nodded as you turned around. You felt his fingers wrap the ribbon around your ponytail and tie it into a neat bow.

“Y/N, get over here!” Natasha called from the other side of the bar. You gave Stephen an apologetic look as you made your way through the bar to where Nat was waiting for you with two shots.

“Take these while I order you a vodka soda.” Nat commanded.

“Both of them?”

“Yes, both of them. You’re not drunk enough.”

“I’m not drunk at all.” You reminded her.

“Exactly! So drink up.” She ordered as she called the bartender over and asked for two vodka sodas, you hoped those both weren’t for you as well.

You downed the shots as the bartender slid one of the drinks over your way.

“Good, now drink that.” Nat said as she turned and started walking away.

“Natasha! Where are you going?” You shouted after her but she simply dismissed you with a wave of her hand. You chuckled to yourself and sat on a barstool, content with sipping your drink in peace. That is, until he sat next to you.

“Hi.” Loki murmured so only you could hear.

“Hi.” You breathed out in response.

“Are you enjoying your party, darling?” He questioned, gently placing one of his hands on your thigh.

You tried to remember how to speak, you took another sip of your drink to try and quench your rather dry throat. “It’s crowded. I’m not much of a fan of large crowds.” You managed to squeak out.

“I beg to differ.” Loki mused, moving his hand a little higher on your thigh, “large crowds can be rather fun. More chances to sneak away.”

And you should think about the consequence

Of you touching my hand in the darkened room

You choked on your drink a little as the implications of what he said hit you. Getting closer in proximity, if that were even possible, he played with the red ribbon in your hair.

“I don’t remember you wearing this outside.” He said in a quizzical voice.

“Oh, Stephen gave it to me as a birthday present.” You replied nonchalantly as you took another swig of your drink. You knew it would rile Loki up but good, you wanted him to feel as riled up as you were.

“Oh, so it’s Stephen now, is it?” Loki choked out through gritted teeth.

You put your hand up, indicating to the bartender that you would like other vodka soda. “I thought you didn’t do jealous.” You quipped as you grabbed your drink from the bartender and walked away from Loki. You felt buzzed but from the alcohol or the remark you left Loki with you weren’t sure.

You managed to find Nat, standing around a table with Bucky and Sam. You made your way over and placed your drink down as Nat gave you a smile.

“Well look who finally found us.” She announced, giving you a quick wink.

“Sorry, I was caught up.” You said as you let Nat follow your eyes to the bar where Loki was still sitting.

“Ahh, how did that go?” She asked.

“I don’t wanna talk about that. How are you guys doing?” You changed the subject, looking at Bucky and Sam expectantly.

“We’re good doll, just wondering when you were going to grace us with your presence.” Bucky joked.

“Lucky for you Barnes your wait is over.” You winked playfully at him and he just smiled back. Bucky was crazy hot but you two were just friends. Didn’t mean you two didn’t enjoy flirting with each other, much to the annoyance of everyone else.

Trying to forget about Loki you downed the rest of your drink as Sam started telling a story about how he saved a cat last week. You had already heard this story three times but let him tell it because it made him happy. While you were listening to him you realized you were getting rather warm and decided to take your jacket off, completely forgetting what was, or rather, wasn’t, underneath.

“So I have the cat in my hands and then...woah.” Sam stopped talking as he looked at you wide eyed. Soon, Bucky was doing the same.

He wolf whistled at you, “Damn doll, you really went all out tonight didn’t you?” He examined as he eyed you up and down. Your confusion didn’t go away until you saw the knowing smile on Natasha’s face. Fuck. The shirt. You were about to put your jacket back on but then you felt a pair of eyes burning a whole in the back of your head. You whipped around to find Loki drinking in your appearance and clutching his glass of scotch like his life depended on it.

In that moment you had realized why Nat had picked this outfit out for you, that sneaky bitch. She knew Loki would show up and she wanted to make the reveal as dramatic as possible.

“Nat made me wear it.” You said defensively to Sam and Bucky.

“Hey, I’m not complaining.” Bucky retorted.

“Of course you’re not. Hey, eyes up here soldier.” You teased back.

He was about to respond when suddenly the lone microphone on the stage gave a loud

whine as someone tapped it.

“Is this thing on?” Tony said into the mic. “Right well, we’re here tonight for Y/N’s 22nd

birthday. I thought we should finally get the karaoke part of the night started off and who better to go first than the birthday girl?”

You rolled your eyes and flipped Tony off until you heard Natasha start to chant your

name. Soon enough the whole bar erupted in a chant.

“Y/N! Y/N! Y/N!”

You slowly meandered your way through the crowd to get to the stage. People were whistling and clapping your back as you went up.

“Have fun,” Tony whispered in your ear, “You have an audience.” You followed his gaze to Loki, whose eyes were now locked on your form. Taking a deep breath you remembered the last time you saw the god. More importantly, you remembered the song that reminded you so much of him. You were buzzed enough to think this was a good idea. With a grin you went over to the DJ and made your selection.

You should take it as a compliment

That I'm talking to everyone here but you

And you should think about the consequence

Of you touching my hand in the darkened room

If you've got a girlfriend, I'm jealous of her

But if you're single that's honestly worse

'Cause you're so gorgeous it actually hurts

Ocean blue eyes looking in mine

I feel like I might sink and drown and die

You're so gorgeous

I can't say anything to your face

'Cause look at your face

And I'm so furious

At you for making me feel this way

But what can I say?

You're gorgeous

The whole time you sang it was as if the rest of the bar faded away and you were just singing to Loki. You could tell he was as affected by you as were by him. When the song was over you waved to the crowd and walked off the stage and into the bathroom, splashing water on your now heated skin.

“I have to say, that was quite the performance you put on.” Loki mused as he wrapped his arms around your waist. You gasped as you turned around to look at the god of mischief in the face.

“Loki, what are you doing in here?” You whispered in surprise.

“Oh, I think it’s perfectly clear what I’m doing here darling. Or was this not the intent of your song?” He husked as one of his hands traveled down your back, along your backside, and to your thigh when he promptly wrapped it around his waist, making you gasp.

“Do you feel what you’ve done to me Y/N?” He questioned, as he pressed his erection into your clothed core.

“Good.” You responded darkly, turned on by his actions, “Now you know how I felt last week.” You finished as you wrapped your arms around his neck and played with the hair at the base of his neck.

“You wanton little creature.” He replied as he moved his hand to rub your cheek with his thumb. “I should’ve taken you right then and there.”

“Why didn’t you?” You whispered lustfully, fire coursing through your veins.

“I was waiting for the perfect moment.” He replied slowly, as he tilted your head up with the back of his hand, so your lips were perfectly aligned with him. If you moved your head just the slightest bit forward, you would be kissing.

“And when is that?” You retorted.

“Now.” He said as his pupils dilated with lust. He made quick work of connecting your lips with his and you moaned your approval. He ground his hips more forcefully into your own. He patted your other leg in a silent command to jump. You happily wrapped both legs around the god’s waist as you opened your mouth for him, letting his tongue explore its every crevice and claiming it as his.

You moaned as you ground your hips into him, craving more. He sat you down on the counter while he continued to kiss you forcefully. He broke the kiss only for a moment, while his hands tore your shirt off your body.

“That fabric is hardly a shirt. You knew what you were doing to me when you revealed that didn’t you?” He questioned as he kissed along your jaw and down your neck. You nodded as a response, too drunk on Loki to make any coherent kind of sound.

“Use your words Y/N.” Loki commanded harshly as he pulled back your ponytail and forced you to look him in the eyes. His face was slightly flushed, as were his lips. His pupils were dilated from lust so that only a thin rim of emerald surrounded the blackness.

“Yes.” You breathed as you brought Loki back down for another kiss.

“So naughty, pet. I wonder what other trouble we could get into.” Loki murmured against your lips as his hands splayed themselves flush against your newly exposed flesh. You raked your hands through his onyx locks and tried to savor the taste of him. You could taste the scotch from earlier on his tongue mixed with winter mint. You heard a sound in the background but was too lost in bliss to care. That is until the sound cursed.

Turning your head away from Loki you looked at your intruder and came found Natasha’s eyes staring at the pair of you.

“Shit, sorry guys.” She apologized as she let her gaze linger on the pair of you. Hot and bothered. Loki however, wasn’t stopping on account of Nat. He continued to kiss your neck and jaw until he pecked you on the lips again and then, still standing between your legs, arms wrapped around your waist, made eye contact with Natasha.

“What is it Romanoff? Can’t you tell we’re in the middle of something?” Loki huffed, annoyed.

“I just wanted to tell Y/N that everyone’s asking for you, we got you a cake.” She said, her voice void of its usual mirth.

“Right, okay, yeah I’ll be out in a few.” You replied, silently begging her to leave as soon as possible. Lucky for you, she got the message and retreated back through the bathroom door.

“Looks like I gotta get back out there.” You said awkwardly to Loki.

“Oh I’m not done with you yet.” He husked, he reclaimed your lips again in a sweet kiss. Not as needy as the last, but just as passionate. “Happy Birthday Y/N” He said as he pressed his forehead against yours.

“Thank you Loki.” You replied, still breathless from the encounter.

Letting you hop off the counter and put your shirt back on, Loki took your hand in his and led you outside to the waiting crowd. Much to your embarrassment everyone erupted in whistles and claps as they saw the two of you emerge.

Loki sat the two of you down in a booth as Tony brought the cake to rest in front of you. Loki wrapped one arm around you and flicked his other hand in front of your candles, lighting them instantly.

“Happy Birthday darling.” Loki whispered into your hair, “Make a wish.”

You smiled as you blew out the candles and leaned a little bit more into Loki. Maybe 22 wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Permanent: @lokixme @drakesfiance @lokilvrr

#loki fanfic #loki x reader #song fanfic #loki x you #birthday fic #loki laufeyson #avengers fanfic

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essekknits · 4 years

Note

idk if the prompt things still open but... dragon peter nureyev? or more ben lives au bc that was so good

Okay, listen. You can’t just drop such a perfect prompt on me and expect me not to write the absolute shit out of it.

I love it so much this became a full fledged multi-chapter story I am planning to continue.

And here’s the link to it on AO3, if you want to follow!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22684750/chapters/54219535

***

He didn’t know what he expected when he heard the clunking of metal, but a young knight in a beat up armour collapsed at his door wasn’t it.

Usually the knights that came to face him were older men, muscular and loud and full of brash courage and pompous self importance. This one wasn’t any of that. He was young and short, his armour and skin smeared with blood. He was also very, very unconscious.

What can one do when faced with a man like that besides helping him? He was intrigued, after all, and if there’s one thing dragons aren’t very good at it’s leaving the things they want.

You see, there are some misconceptions about dragons and their dwellings that people don’t seem to be able to get out of their heads.

First, dragons aren’t some mindless beasts. They aren’t the brutal, thoughtless disasters they were painted as in human culture. They were clever. Smart and quick and cultured. They had their own traditions, their music, their cultures. They were scholars, learned in magic and history and fighting. From a very young age they could shift their forms to more resemble those of humans, until they were able to hide among them.

Second, dragons didn’t live in musty stone caves filled with piles of gold like most would imagine. In fact, most dragons would be insulted at such thought. Dragon dens were the epitome of luxury, carved rooms in the inner caves covered with carpeted, decorated walls, bookcases, trinkets and knickknacks tastefully organised all around, with the brunt of the treasure in rooms properly made for that purpose. Dragons did love gold, but they also enjoyed beauty and comfort, and their dens reflected that.

The young dragon who was named Nureyev (or Peter, as his adoptive father used to call him before his death) picked up the young human in one clawed paw, clutching him close to his chest as he limped into the den. He charmed into existence a bed, human sized, complete with plush pillows and a soft, warm blanket. He lay the battered human in the bed, shifting into a more human form. He then grabbed some clean cotton and a bowl of water, and began cleaning his wounds, humming as he worked.

~~~

Juno didn’t expect to wake up feeling this warm. In fact, he didn’t expect to wake up at all. He hoped for a painless death, and instead got life and a dull ache where he should’ve felt the sharp bite of the steel that cut his skin and flesh. He kept his eyes shut, trying to get a feel for where he was. He fell unconscious at the mouth of a cave, and now… he could hear roaring flame, and soft steps, and the rustling of fabric.

“Good morning, sir knight. I hope you are feeling well.” A voice called, soft and deep and melodic. It was a voice Juno wouldn’t have minded waking up to every day, and wouldn’t have minded dying to either. The stranger already knew he was awake, so what did he have to lose?

He opened his eyes, and was stunned.

On a first glance, the man in front of him looked fairly normal, if extremely beautiful. He was tall and slim, with high cheekbones and dark hair. His clothes were a deep red fabric, heavy and rich and velvety, and he wore golden jewelry adorned with precious gemstones, mainly rubies and garnets.

But on a second glance, you started noticing that things weren’t as they seemed.

His eyes had an alarming colour, like molten gold, shining even over his extravagant jewels. His skin looked slightly more golden than was natural, like it perpetually captured the glow of the sunset. But it was his teeth that gave him away. Just a bit too sharp to be human, he had a smile that made him seem like he was happy to see him, and like he would be just as happy to kill him.

Luckily for Juno, this was not his first time meeting a dragon. Growing up, one of his best friends was a dragon, living in hiding among humans after their whole tribe was destroyed. But Sasha was very different from this man. She was cold, quiet and serious, with black hair and black eyes and small obsidian jewelry she could easily hide. In her dragon form, Sasha was still small and black, her dark scales shimmering in the light and her sleek form built for speed, like she was born to pierce the sky.

“What’s that, sir knight, lost your tongue?” The man chuckled, gracefully sitting on the bed besides Juno. Because it was a bed he was on, and he was covered with a soft blanket. This was… more comfort than he ever had, more or less. His wounds also seemed to have been bandaged, and he was stripped of his armour and left in his underclothes, a loose linen shirt and a knee length braie. He would be embarrassed if not for the immediate threat that was the dragon in front of him, expecting an answer.

“Uhhh, no. You didn’t get that lucky.” He retaliated quickly, earning a delighted chuckle from the dragon. “Thank to you. For your help.” Juno pulled himself up, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I was simply curious about the mysterious stranger who passed out at my door. May I know your name, now?” The dragon raised an eyebrow, and Juno barely hesitated to answer. He wasn’t a good enough liar to trick a dragon. Not to mention that he didn’t even really want to lie. Again, he didn’t have anything to lose.

“Juno. Juno Steel.” He answered, and the dragon chuckled.

“A beautiful name for a beautiful knight. My own, I’m afraid, isn’t quite so unique. Rex Glass, it’s a pleasure.” He licked his lips, eyeing Juno in a way that wasn’t all unpleasant. “But where are my manners, I forgot to even offer you water!” He laughed, charming a mug of water in front of Juno’s stare, offering it to him.

“Neat trick.” Juno took the mug, suspicious. He hesitated to drink.

“Oh please, I didn’t poison you, Juno. I took you in when you were unconscious, didn’t I? Dressed your wounds, looked after you… if I wanted you dead, you wouldn’t have woken up.” Glass rolled his eyes.

“Not why I was hesitating.” Honestly, Juno wouldn’t have minded. “Just wondering if this is a transmutation or a summoning. Or something else entirely. Every person has a different way of getting the same thing done, and transmutated water tastes like dirt.” He put the mug to his mouth, drinking it all in one swig. He was really thirsty.

“Oh? A knight who dabbles in magic? This is something I haven’t seen yet.” Glass tilted his head, and Juno shook his head.

“Not much of a magician myself. Not much of a knight too, if we’re talking about it already. But thanks for the water. Definitely not transmuted.” He gave him a half smile, thinking of the people who he first learned of magic from. His thoughts briefly went to Sasha and her instinctive, meticulous magic, but they soon turned away from her, to his twin brother. Benzaiten’s magic was art, just like his dancing. Juno’s smile faded from his face, before he caught himself, shaking his head and returning his eyes to Rex. “So, how did you do it?” He asked, genuinely interested even if he was a bit distracted.

“Would you believe me if I told you that I just… willed it into existence?” The dragon’s teeth showed again in his smile. He was clearly dramatic, and loved a good story.

“Yeah, actually. I’ve seen magic do weirder things.” Juno shrugged, his voice distant, and the dragon frowned.

“Are you feeling well, Juno? You do seem a bit ill.” His head was tilted again, and his voice seemed genuinely concerned.

“Me? Yeah, I’m fine. Really. Just… injuries, you know? Got hit over the head, that kind of stuff leaves you all spinning sometimes.” Juno ran his fingers through his hair, careful or the area where a bandage covered it.

“I see. How about you go shower? There is a spring not far from here, and when you return I can check on those injuries.” Juno nodded, agreeing to be lead to the spring. Rex left a change of clothes with him, made of simple and comfortable cotton.

Juno couldn’t understand the situation. What does this dragon want? What could he possibly want? He took Juno in when he was injured, dressed his wounds, welcomed him in his den (because that was a dragon’s den if Juno has ever seen one. Which he hasn’t, but he heard the stories Sasha and her parents told). But dragons didn’t do things for no reason. What reason could this dragon, a being powerful enough to just will things into existence, and whose magic pulsed through the whole cave system, vibrating through Juno’s body with every breath, have for trying to help him?

The springs were naturally hot, located in a cave with high ceilings. The stone itself had veins of gold in it, and the light he carried with him shone on it, reflecting back and forth. If this was a human settlement, they would’ve ripped this mountain for its gold already. But this was a dragon’s den, and dragons had value for gold even when it was still in the vein, solely for its beauty and magical qualities. As Juno showered, he could feel his exhaustion peeling off with the grime and blood, magically disappearing. While this particular spring was quite small, Juno could hear larger ones in the depths. Maybe large enough for the dragon to soak in in his true form.

The dragon walked into the cave again once Juno was in his underclothes, this time not as overly dressed as he was before. He wore a white cotton shirt that seemed fitted for his measurements, and dark red pants the same colour as his previous attire. He knelt near Juno, summoning bandaged and some sort of ointment.

“Why are you doing this?” Juno asked quietly, not looking at the man who was currently bandaging his wounds. He tried to tell him he can do it himself, but Glass wouldn’t budge.

“Well, why not? You’re injured and tired, Juno. It would be irresponsible of me as a host to let you go untreated.” His voice was quiet and professional. “Now sit still and let me finish. Then we can go eat.” Juno let him do as he wished, then got fully dressed and followed him back to where they came from.

The food was all on a low table, surrounded by large cushions. Juno wasn’t used to so much food in the same place. This kind of plenty, in general, wasn’t something he was familiar with. But still, he sat at the table besides Rex, they ate, and the conversation flowed. Rex was… charming. His eyes were hypnotising, and he had a certain scent to him, like spices from a far off land, that’s Juno couldn’t quite put his finger on but couldn’t get enough of. Juno thought… he might be okay with it. With being here, with this dragon.

~~~

“So, would you tell me what brought you here, Juno? I am curious.” Nureyev asked, lounging on a pillow and comfortably leaning toward Juno.

“Let’s just say the knights don’t particularly like me.” He sighed tiredly. “I hit the head knight in the face. Tried to expose his corruption, but even though I brought evidence, nobody cared. So they kicked me and started threatening to kill me if I don’t shut my mouth.” He shrugged, like he didn’t care, but his eyes said otherwise.

“That sounds cruel, Juno, I’m sorry for this.” He put a hand on the knight’s, gently tracing his bruised knuckles with his thumb. Everything about this human was fascinating. Usually he didn’t care for humans much. They were there to be exploited or ignored or fought. Nothing more. Nothing like… like this knight, open and hurting and quick witted and with so much sadness in him.

“Well, it is what it is.” He shrugged again, adamantly avoiding Nureyev’s gaze in a way that was almost amusing, and Nureyev took as a challenge.

“So, what will you do now?” He asked, tilting his head at Juno as he put a grape in his mouth, letting it burst between his teeth.

“I… I don’t know. Probably run somewhere else. It’s pretty clear that if I stay around, they’ll kill me. The only reason I survived was because I know the catacombs well, and no one else would go in them.” Juno’s eyes were cast aside, ashamed and tired.

“Well… life can wait one night, can’t it? Come here, Juno.” Nureyev smiled softly at the knight, eyes hooded and posture inviting. He didn’t even need to charm him magically, but Juno looked… almost compelled. He closed the distance between them, and Nureyev pulled him in for a kiss.

This human knight tasted of mead and honey and blood, and fit so easily in his arms that it just felt right. Like it was meant to be, and Juno Steel was always supposed to end right there, in his arms. Like it was only a matter of time, and they would do the same thing in every universe out there.

“Don’t you get tired of pretending?” Juno murmured against his lips as they pulled away, and Peter looked into his deep brown eyes that seemed so warm and so sad.

“What do you mean?” He tilted his head to the side, curious. There was no way he could know. Nureyev was very good at disguising himself, at appearing like a rich, slightly eccentric human. There is no way a knight in his early 20’s would uncover his disguise.

“Pretending to be human.” Juno pulled away just a little further, pinning him with his gaze. He didn’t look like he was running away, though, and that was unusual. “Cut the games, Rex. You’re not the first dragon I met.” His voice was dull and distant, like he wasn’t all there. It wasn’t a knight bragging about the amount of dragons he killed. It was just… acknowledgement. He didn’t look like he was going to attack.

“That… does seem familiar, yes. I must admit, you are not reacting with as much… violence, as I’ve come to expect from a knight.” He confessed, not making any move toward or away from Juno. This was it, either the knight runs, or attacks him, or… well, Nureyev didn’t want to entertain the last option too much, not wanting to be burned by false hopes.

“Why would I react with violence? Hell, you’re the first person I met in days that didn’t want me dead.” Juno sounded a bit sad about that, but only faintly.

“Isn’t this what knights do?… slay the beast?” Nureyev asked carefully. His own parents were killed by knights, or… or so Mag told him. Then again, everything else the man told him was a lie, so why would this be any different? He was still bitter and hurting.

“Even if they do, I don’t care about that. I don’t do this. One of my childhood best friends was a dragon. She lived in hiding in the city. I don’t… I don’t fear dragons more than I should.” Juno’s eyes were cast down, and Nureyev didn’t know whether he wanted to ask him for further clarification or just fight him. Luckily for him, asking for more clarification appeared to be a sure way to start a fight.

“And how much should you fear dragons, sir knight?” He asked, head tilted and tongue as sharp as his teeth. He sounded dangerous, and that’s exactly what he was going for. Slowly, he let more and more inhuman features grow on him. His teeth sharpened even more, the pupils of his eyes turned into vertical slits, and deep golden scales surrounded his eyes and dusted his cheeks. Horns started growing back from his head.

“A lot, but not enough that I’ll attack someone who was kind to me and never tried to hurt me.” Juno’s voice cooled down considerably too. Up until now, he was still using that soft, vulnerable tone, deep and golden and warm. Now his voice was rough, jagged steel. defensive like a wounded animal licking its wounds, lashing out at anyone who would come too close, whether friend or foe. Nureyev almost regretted riling him up like that, He was beautiful like this, but there was pain in the way he carried himself now, sitting up stiffly instead of leaning comfortably on the pillows.

“You are welcome to stay or leave as you please, Juno. I will not hold you captive.” Nureyev eventually said, met with only a small nod from this human knight. He knew the human would leave, deciding to leave a note for him to find in his bags.

While we didn’t separate on the best of terms, my offer to you still stands.

I do hope to see you again, Juno Steel.

signed, yours truly,

Peter Nureyev

#fic #fanfic #my fanfic #my writing #the penumbra podcast #tpp #penumbra podcast #juno steel #peter nureyev #jupeter

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the-delta-42 · 5 years

Text

Marinette and Cataclysm

Based on @lenoreofraven‘s ask response

No one exactly how it happened. Some think that she was the intended target. Others thought she was just collateral damage. The day itself started normally, with everyone talking to their friends about their weekends, how their parents embarrassed them and what they did. Caline certainly struggled to stay awake. Mendeleiev often looked at her younger, newer colleague with growing concern. Caline had only been in the job for a couple of years and still had much to learn about students.

The young woman was on her fifth cup of coffee when the first Akuma attacked, from what she heard it was another teacher who had been fired after an inappropriate relation with a student came to light. Caline’s first instinct was to get her students away from it, only stopping after Alya, Marinette and Adrien had vanished. Alya was the creator of the Ladyblog, while Marinette was the Class Representative and Adrien was a model for his father’s brand. They managed to make it to the courtyard, before the Akuma crashed through a wall, flinging Ladybug around like a ragdoll. Chat Noir received the same treatment seconds later.

Nino spotted Alya behind the Akuma, filming the attack. He quickly ran and tackled her so that the Akuma didn’t spot her.

There was a yell of ‘Cataclysm’ and Chat Noir jumped back into action, Ladybug following suit. They clearly expected for the Akuma to go down, they didn’t expect the Akuma to grab hold of Chat’s wrist and slam his hand into Ladybug’s chest. The Heroine lost all momentum and balance, quickly falling to her knees and started to cough up blood. Chat Noir quickly ran and grabbed Ladybug and ran off to a secure location.

The Akuma just ran around Paris yelling his student’s name, until Ladybug and Chat Noir arrived again, Ladybug looked as if she had seen better days, with pain scarring her face and exhaustion living in her eyes. Roger remembered with a jolt that under the suits, they were just children.

After the Akuma had been dealt with, the police quickly arrested him, namely due to his inappropriate relationship with a student and how he missed a court summons.

After Ladybug threw the lucky charm, a giant paper clip, the pain that was drawn onto her face vanished and her eyes gained life again. Everything that happened at that point had gone as well as it could have gone for Caline’s class. Adrien had been called away for a photoshoot, so Marinette could focus on the board and Lila and Chloe could be quiet. Caline considered confiscating Alya’s phone after she spotted it out on her desk.

Everything was quiet, the lesson ended, Caline told Alya to keep her phone away in class. Alya shamfully bowed her head, before Caline laughed. Everyone then went for lunch, Caline joining the teacher in a corner of the courtyard. Everything was calm, nothing unexpected

Then Chat Noir came crashing through the window, another Akuma floated into the room. Caline blanched, recognising her as the Student in the unfortunate relationship. Everyone was in shock, watching on as the Akuma slowly made her way towards Chat, before she grabbed Chat’s throat and held him off the ground, her other hand going for his ring.

“Soon, I’ll have what I need to make the world see that he and I meant for each-” The Akuma was cut off by a rather thick and heavy looking textbook collided with her head. Chat hit the ground and coughed and hacked as he took deep lungsful of air. Everyone looked toward Kagami, who pointed across the courtyard, at Marinette. The Akuma ignored the book and lifted Chat up again, this time a bottle was thrown at the Akuma, followed by a loud yell of “PUT. HIM. DOWN!”

Marinette held onto, what looked like a rounders bat. The Akuma swung out at her, making the girl duck and slam the bat into the Akuma’s knee. Everyone flinched at the sound of a kneecap shattering.

Everyone watched at Chat scolded Marinette for jumping in, Marinette responding that he was at risk and he is her friend. Chat called upon Cataclysm, before charging at the Akuma. Almost as if history was repeated itself, the Akuma grabbed Chat’s wrist and slammed the hand with Cataclysm into another object.

That other object being Marinette’s head. For a second there was nothing by silence that came from it. Marinette’s face screwed up in pain and screamed. Chat kept apologising, watching as Marinette writhe in pain. Kagami and a few other quickly grabbed Marinette and demanded to be taken to the nearest hospital. Chat dealt with the Akuma, keeping the butterfly/moth in a jar until he met up with Ladybug again.

News from the hospital came, Marinette was making a full recovery, she was fortunate that the Cataclysm didn’t reach her brain, but it did take on her eyes and the ear of the impacted side. Marinette later developed red scars when she had been hit Cataclysm. For a time, Marinette was home schooled. Michael Dupain arrived shortly after that, Caline knew Michael from her time in University, apparently Michael remembered her, as he was unable to look her in the eye whenever they spoke.

One day Alya asked the unspoken question, “Are you and Marinette related?”

Michael froze, his silver/grey eyes looking at Alya, while he faced Caline’s computer.

“Yes, she’s my younger sister.” Michael replied, his tone clipped, “She’s the youngest of four.”

“Marinette has siblings?” Mylene blurted out, her hand immediately covering her mouth.

“Yes, Toby, Skye and myself.” Michael started glaring at the machine, “Skye is in England and Toby is in the States.”

“What do they do?” Nino asked, Caline internally sighed, throwing her lesson plan metaphorically out the window.

“Skye is a lawyer and Toby is an…” Michael paused, his face scrunching up in a scowl, “entertainer.”

“Ooh,” gasped Rose, “Does he know TDC?”

“Something like that.” Muttered Michael, internally grumbling about the computer that somehow had a ton of viruses on it.

“I know TDC,” Bragged Lila, “I’m best friends with his sister, he even let me design a poster for him.”

Everyone went from asking Michael questions, to asking Lila questions, not noticing Michael look at Caline and mouth if this was a frequent occurrence. Caline nodded.

“When’s Marinette coming back?” Adrien asked, making the room go sombre.

“When she can cope with being outside her comfort zone.” Said Michael, looking at the boy, “Coming back here, for her, would be like visiting a place you almost died. Which, from what I heard, is actually what happened.”

Adrien looked down, making Michael wonder what Adrien was so guilty about. Adrien couldn’t keep eye contact with Michael after that, not when he just heard about Marinette’s family and the fact he almost killed her.

For the past few weeks, since Marinette had been discharged from the hospital, Chat had been trying to contact Ladybug.

No response. Chat didn’t know where the Guardian was, so couldn’t ask him and Plagg was being unusually quiet.

For Adrien the rest of the day passed slowly, and that wasn’t counting his photoshoots, where Vincent gave up after Adrien failed to pull off a thoughtful pose for the seventh time in a row. Adrien did not look forward to that conversation with his father in the slightest.

Without a single word to anyone, Adrien went straight to his room, started playing piano music on his phone, transformed into Chat Noir and left through his window. Chat was halfway to the Bakery, when someone hit him from the side.

Chat hit a rooftop with a hard thud, he started to get to his feet, when a broadsword imbedded itself into the spot where his hand used to be. Chat looked at the source of the sword, which flew into the hand of a man with a grey trench coat with a hood and what looked like a metal mask over the lower half of his face. The man’s eyes were a golden yellow colour that seemed to pierce Chat’s soul.

“If you are one of the Heroes of Paris, I believe everyone should be worried.” Said the man, his voice in a light growl, “Chat Noir, I presume?”

Chat nodded, making the man hold out his hand, “Timber Wolf, head of the War Circle.”

Chat nervously shook Timber Wolf’s hand. Timber Wolf looked towards the Bakery.

“I’ve noticed that you have gone there every night, but you have yet to make yourself known.” Said Timber Wolf, “I suppose you have a reason.”

Chat immediately looked down, unable to look at Timber Wolf.

“I-I almost killed her.” Said Chat, his voice cracking at the end.

“I believe that it would be best for you both, if you made yourself known to them.” Said Timber Wolf, “The girl needs you more than you know.”

Chat took in a shuddery breath, “I-I don’t suppose you know where Ladybug is?”

“Ladybug is currently out of commission until the Earrings are repaired, The Great Guardian is already repairing them.” Said Timber Wolf, “He has the best healer I know working with him.”

Timber Wolf went to leap across to another roof, but stopped, “However, when we get to the Bakery, you will receive a shock, and Ladybug will too.”

“What do you mean?” Chat asked, his head tilting to the side slightly.

“You and your lady will know who each other are, Adrien.” Said Timber Wolf, before he jumped across to the roof opposite.

Chat stood there with his mouth open, before following.

The two quickly arrived at the Bakery, dropping into a side alley. Chat heard a mutter of “Wynnter, Fangs Covered.” And a light blue light shone through the alley and in Timber Wolf’s place, stood Michael Dupain-Cheng.

Michael opened the door and let Chat into the Bakery, before leading the cat upstairs and into the living room.

“I managed to wrangle him into coming inside.” Michael said, as he stood aside to reveal Chat.

Chat could only stare at Marinette, her left eye, once a warm blue colour, was now grey and sightless, her left ear looked as if it was burnt in a horrific fire. Chat could see the lines stretching across Marinette’s face and travelling down her neck and disappearing under her clothes.

“C-chaton?” Marinette whispered, making Chat move forward.

Once Chat was close enough, Marinette grabbed hold of him and held onto him as tightly as possible. Within seconds both Marinette and Chat were crying. Later that evening another Miraculous user arrived with the earrings.

Everyone was saddened to find out that since the wounds were old, the Miraculous cure didn’t affect them very much, only restoring Marinette’s hearing in her left ear. Other than that, nothing changed.

A week later, Marinette decided to return to school. Two weeks later, Lila made the biggest mistake in history. Alya overheard Lila insulting Marinette and how Adrien would never look at her because she was damage.

Lila never saw Alya’s books coming. After that, Marinette started to grow her hair out, using a long fringe to hide the worst of the scars.

It turned out that Timber Wolf was there to stay, which, for Chat Noir and Ladybug, was a welcome relief.

#miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #caline bustier #lila rossi #ladybug #chat noir #delta writes

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etlunainmorte · 5 years

Text

✒ P.S. I Love You ✒

***

A few moments later, V found himself back to the door of (Y/N)'s room. He half expected that something would happen once more but, the way things were going, with all the spy cameras scattered about the place and Nico's close watch with them, he knew he wouldn't see anything this time. He opened door, stepped inside, and closed it once more,...

"Lady (Y/N)!"

"Wait a second!" That sweet and familiar female voice called as V found himself plunged once more into (Y/N)'s past. But, this time, he noticed a change in the atmosphere: it was much livelier, and he could feel the excitement going about the place.

Then, to V's utter surprise, the girl, herself, came out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel draped around her body. She ran hysterically towards the rose wood cabinet and practically threw the doors open in search of something decent to wear.

And as he fully expected, (Y/N) removed her little towel and let it fall on the ground next to her feet, revealing her naked form in all its breathtaking glory.

With a wildly racing heart, wide dilated eyes, and an uncomfortable feeling of warmth that was rapidly building on his crotch, he quickly turned away from the lovely sight. But, the sound of soft fabric grazing against her skin and the overwhelming scent of her favorite floral liquid soap tempted him and lured him to look once more.

And when he couldn't resist it anymore, he gave in to his desires and human needs and laid his eyes onto her beautiful form.

For a few moments of pure torture and ecstasy ( mostly caused by the sudden hardness in the middle of his pants ), he watched her as she put on some clothes: a (F/C) dress that was most probably all the rage in the late 1800s and a pair of matching shoes. She, then, went over to her vanity table with the ornate mirror and sat down on the chair. And as she took her brush and began going through the tangles in her (H/C) hair, V could not help but stare at her and be closer to her.

With gentle eyes full of adoration, he watched her as she carefully brushed her hair and put on some very light makeup. He even felt his body relax as she sprayed some perfume on her neck, its floral scent filling both the pastel - colored room and his nostrils. She looked truly mesmerizing.

And when she got up, he followed her, and it led both of them outside the room.

"Mister Sandman! Mister Sandman,..."

V heard a familiar song in the distance but, unfortunately, he unintentionally ignored it as he saw the huge change in the second floor. The once dark and dusty hallway was now very much alive with the red carpet that adorned the floor and the colorful paintings that hung on the wall, not to mention the lights that illuminated the place and made everything bright.

(Y/N) turned to her left and started walking.

"W - wait! P - please,..." V stuttered as he held out a hand towards her. Almost forgetting that she couldn't hear him, he just followed her downstairs where a group of people has already gathered for some nice talks. He tried his best to follow her but, this place seemed to make his body feel heavy, and it terribly slowed him down. He saw her navigate her way through the crowd of formally - dressed ladies and gentlemen, and V did his best to catch up to her. "(Y/N),..." He called once more. "Please,..."

"Mister Sandman! Mister Sandman,... "

She made her way towards the library and music room where more people were gathered. However, V noticed that most of the guests here were female. As she stood on her toes to try and see through the crowd of excited females, V craned his neck to see what's the fuss all about.

Standing next to the grand piano was a single male who was surrounded by blushing females of high fashion who kept asking him questions but, he couldn't hear his voice, at all, due to the sea of excited chatter by these females, and some disgruntled noises coming from a few group of men who seemed jealous of the man in the middle of it all.

"(Y/N), why are you late?!" A dark - haired female, who was as short as (Y/N), shoved a few blushing teenage girls who wore too much rouge that made their cheeks look like overripe apples and made her way towards her at the back.

"Daniella! How long have you been in here?" (Y/N) screamed in response so she could be heard.

The girl named Daniella just rolled her eyes. "I'm a simple girl. I get wind of a celebrity visiting my best friend's house and I immediately run to get there to meet him. Anyway, let's get you there! He must definitely see you! These simpletons are killing me!" She grabbed (Y/N)'s left arm and they both made their way through the crowd as she shoved more ladies aside to make way for the both of them.

"Mister Sandman! Mister Sandman,..."

V made a huge effort to go after the two girls, and as he got closer and closer to the mystery guest, he felt his body getting more and more heavy. And then, he heard it,...

"Mr. Blake, are you related to that English poet, William Blake?" A curious gentleman, who got weird looks from the ladies around him, asked the guest.

"I' am pretty sure I'm not." Mr. Blake answered.

"Mr. Blake, can you, please, quote something from William Blake?" An excited lady beside the curious gentleman requested.

V heard him chuckle as he was getting closer. He, then, heard the man as he cleared his throat and began reciting through memory alone.

"I curse,… my stars in bitter grief,... and woe,... that,... made my love,... so high,...and me,... so low,..."

"Oh, my God, that seductive voice! He's such a charmer!" Daniella breathed her admiration. She turned to her friend and dragged her once more as other ladies started requesting Mr. Blake to recite more poems. "Come on, let's get going!"

"Mister Sandman! Mister Sandman,..."

"Can you quote another one, please?"

"Of course, my fair lady. As the air to a bird,... or the sea to a fish,... so is contempt,... to the contemptible,..."

"How about a poem of love?"

There was a moment of silence from the man, and as he was about to speak, Daniella bravely called his name.

"Victor!" She called. "Victor Blake!"

And then, V finally saw him as he turned.

Wavy shoulder length hair as dark as the night. Gentle, and yet deep and intimidating, eyes that gleamed like a pair of emeralds. Hollow cheeks that formed dimples when he opened his mouth in awe of what he just saw.

It was him.

The supple lips of the poet named Victor Blake formed a mischievous, and yet endearing, smirk as he left the group of women who was barraging him with a lot of requests and questions to make his way closer to where V, Daniella, and (Y/N) were.

And as he playfully twirled a familiar - looking metal cane with his long and slender fingers and made his way to them, he began quoting.

"The modest rose,... puts forth a thorn,... the humble sheep,... a threat'ning horn." He recited, his voice pure honey to everyone's ears. "While the lily white,... shall in love delight,... " He, then, stopped right where (Y/N) was as he looked down at her. " ...nor a thorn nor a threat,..." The women squealed in delight while some snickered in envy as Victor Blake kneeled before (Y/N) and gently took her dainty hand in his huge and calloused ones. " ...stain her beauty bright." And as he ended the poem, he placed a chaste peck on the back of her hand, making her cheeks red and her eyes widen.

"Mister Sandman! Mister Sandman!"

"WAKE THE FUCK UP, V!"

V's eyes flicked open as he felt a jolt of electricity run through his body. He realized he was lying on the floor while Griffon was flapping his wings hysterically above him.

"F - FINALLY!" The demonic bird practically screamed at him, his voice seemingly cracking. "Now, ah, I know it won't be too much of a bother but, CAN YA DO SOMETHIN' 'BOUT THAT DAMN WOMAN 'CAUSE SHE CAN'T BE FUCKIN' KILLED?!"

V looked ahead just in time as he saw the horrifying face of the blonde bride he saw last night who was now crawling towards him like a huge demonic spider in pursuit of its prey. He drew back in terror as his eyes widened in terror at the look on her face: murderous, distorted, and outright unspeakable. He held out his cane in an effort to summon Shadow but, she just won't come out!

"THE HOUSECAT WON'T COME OUT NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES I CALL HER! THAT WON'T FUCKIN' WORK!" Griffon shrieked as the woman came closer and closer.

And then, V remembered,...

"And don't forget! In case of emergency, don't hesitate to push the button."

He felt the radio in his right hand and held it up. And with the last ounce of strength and bravery he had, he pushed the red emergency button and waited for something to -

"I'm lying alone with my head on the phone, thinking of you ‘till it hurts. I know you hurt too but what else can we do, tormented and torn apart?"

V cringed with the obnoxious sound that came out of the radio, and it startled both Griffon and the woman.

"I wish I could carry your smile in my heart for times when my life seems so low. It would make me believe what tomorrow could bring when today doesn't really know, doesn't really know! Ooh!"

V stood up and held the radio before the horrific woman like a Priest wielding a cross in front of a possessed maiden, making her stumble and cover her ears in fright of the horrible voice coming from Nico's gadget.

"I'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you. I know you were right believing for so long. I'm all out of love, what am I without you? I can't be too late to say that I was so wrong!"

The woman opened her mouth and shrieked at V and the abominable thing in his hand and finally scrambled away from them in fear. Like the spider - like thing that she was, she crawled back to the room she came from and the moment the horrible singing was over, the hallway went back to normal and they saw the first glimpses of the early rays of sunrise peeking through the windows.

And as everything went back to normal, V collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Griffon swooped down close to him to assist him.

"You okay, V?" His now calm familiar asked him.

"I' am." He simply answered. And just when Griffon was about to help V on his feet, they turned to their left and saw Nico making her way towards them as she ascended on the stairs. Her hair looked frizzier than ever and her clothes were torn in many places like she just escaped some maniac who was trying to kill her.

"What happened to ya?" Griffon asked her as he finally helped V up to his feet. "Ya looked like ya just went to hell and back!"

Nico sighed and pushed the rim of her now broken glasses to the bridge of her nose. "Don't ask." She said, then took a bent and worn - out looking cigarette from her pocket and tried to light it. And when she finally had a smoke, her body relaxed and her shoulders slumped. "What time is it?"

"How should I know?" The bird replied. “And who was that singin’ that horrible song on the radio?!”

“That’s Nero.” Nico confessed nonchalantly. “I recorded him while he was singin’ in the shower. Thought his singin’ might scare off the rats in the orphanage. Guess I was wrong. It scared off somethin’ much bigger.”

Nico looked around her, her bloodshot eyes roaming around the now bright area. She sighed once more and gestured for them to come down with her.

A few moments later, she placed an old wooden box on the table in the kitchen.

"And that is?" V mildly asked her.

Nico opened the box and what's inside it surprised all of them. There were a lot of old photographs,...

... of (Y/N), and,...

"V?! Is that,... you?!" Griffon questioned as Nico took the photos out of the box, scattering them on the table one by one.

"I stumbled upon these when I was hiding in a cupboard somewhere in this floor." She picked up the picture that the bird was referring to and showed it to them. "What can you say about this, V?"

The poet took the photograph from her hand and took a good long look at it, albeit hard.

And there's no use denying it. From his hair, to his face, from his posture, to the way he held his metal cane.

It truly was him.

Victor and him,...

... were the same person.

And that cane he was holding onto? That one he stole from an antique shop a month ago and used to kill off Demons?

It was the same cane on Victor’s grasp.

The cane in V's hand,..

... once belonged to Victor Blake.

And (Y/N)? She seemed to have fallen for him in that very recent vision he had.

Just like how he was beginning to really feel something truly unexplainable about her,...

***

✒ @la-vita and @micaelagua . ✒

***

✒✒✒

***

#devil may cry 5 #vitale sparda #p.s. i love you #v x reader #v x you #chapter 9 #victor blake

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kickdownthewalls · 5 years

Text

TOP 20 ROCK/METAL ALBUMS OF 2018

This has been a year of surprises and disappointments in pretty equal measure. Judas Priest blew me away with their latest record (and tour) and Immortal made one of the most triumphant comebacks in metal history. On the other hand, Voivod’s new one felt strangely by-the-numbers, as did the latest from Riot V and Monster Magnet. Still, the sheer amount of releases out there, just in the traditional metal and thrash scenes, is somewhat mind-boggling, and there were plenty of excellent albums to be found.

(Countries represented this year: Italy, UK, Sweden, Norway, Germany, USA, Canada, Switzerland, Portugal, and Denmark).

20. BURNING WITCHES - Hexenhammer

Switzerland is a tiny nation, but they have given the world some of the most creative and diverse bands over the years, from Krokus to Celtic Frost to Samael and beyond. Burning Witches combine elements of melodic thrash and classic heavy metal for a sound that works quite well and is perfectly suited to Seraina Telli’s powerful vocal delivery. The album has its ups and downs but the title track and “Open Your Mind” are both flat-out brilliant.

19. PERPETRATÖR - Altered Beast

This is how I like my thrash metal: fast, evil, dirty, but still well-played and composed. Perpetratör hail from Portugal and this is only their second full album, but it is a scorcher. Songs like “Extreme Barbarity” and “Terminal Possession” are brutally fast in the vein of the early Germans, but the band explore some more mid-tempo riffs here and there as well. Like all my favorite thrash bands, these guys sound like they are playing just on the edge of what they can get away with and the effect is electric.

18. ARTILLERY - The Face of Fear

These Danish thrashers are one of those bands that has always had consistently quality releases but, for whatever reason, never really made the impact others in the genre have over the years. While the line-up has changed over time, the current incarnation has done three albums together now and sounds quite comfortable here. The drum sound is a bit ‘bonky’ for my tastes, but the quality of the tunes rises above it. Bonus points for the variety of songs on offer, too, from speedy, complex thrash, to power ballads to straight-ahead heavy metal.

17. LUCIFER - II

Lucifer’s brand of retro doom rock is both obvious in its influences and original in its assembly of said influences. The jazzier side of early Sabbath is the most prevalent element at work here, with riffs that range from heavy and evil to mournful and atmospheric. Despite some line-up changes, the sound is pretty consistent with the excellent debut from 2015, with perhaps a bit more clarity in the production (though nowhere near polished-sounding, fear not).

16. WITCHING HOUR - ...And Silent Grief Shadows the Passing Moon

The number of excellent bands with ‘witch’ in their name is strangely high this year and Germany’s Witching Hour are another to add to that list. This is their third full-length and displays a great deal of maturity and talent for writing complex yet compelling songs. Elements of black and thrash metal abound, but there is a lot of other stuff going on here, too, and lots of melody. The bass playing is particularly impressive and really adds a whole extra dimension to the music, while the vocals are a potent mix of plaintive and grim and complement the dark, intricate songs beautifully. This was a late-year release and, given some more spins, it will likely rise on this list.

15. SATAN - Cruel Magic

It is rare that a band can pull together their classic line-up the way that Satan did in 2013, let alone one that can then proceed to release three albums back-to-back that fall right in line with their old material. Cruel Magic is the latest of these and has all the hallmarks that made Satan great: finely-crafted heavy metal that is speedy and complex, organic production, and an overall sound that is truly their own. They may have only caught the tail-end of the NWOBHM but damn if they weren’t one of the scene’s best and it is heart-warming to see and hear them continuing the legacy 35 years later.

14. ABYSMAL GRIEF - Blasphema Secta

Abysmal Grief are Italian doom masters that create a sound that is heavy, gothic, creepy, and relentless all at once. Most songs are in the 8-9 minute range and are usually centered around a few core riffs, but the way the band build them up and vary them throughout really pulls the listener in. Keyboards are used quite a bit and to great effect, while the vocals range from mournful to menacing. The band has kept a very consistent style since day one, with only the production getting a little better with each release, and Blasphema Secta sounds both heavier and cleaner than anything prior.

13. STRIKER - Play to Win

Been following these stalwart Canucks since their debut EP a decade ago and I’m glad to see that they have continued to evolve and refine their sound with each new album. Play to Win is probably the most ‘commercial’ release to date, with tons of melody and big choruses, but there is still plenty of heaviness on tracks like “Heart of Lies” and “Summoner” to keep a nice balance. Striker has gotten really good at writing distinctive songs that aren’t just a collection of riffs but actual, well-constructed tunes.

12. BULLET - Dust to Gold

This Swedish quintet has been bashing it out for 15+ years and still manages to release an invigorating collection of hard rockin’ metal tunes. Stylistically, Dust to Gold covers a fair amount of ground, from heavy metal in the vein of Accept and Grave Digger to more upbeat rockers ala Krokus and AC/DC. The common denominator throughout is a sense of fun that is missing from entirely too many albums these days.

11. LEATHER - II

Leather’s powerful voice was always the thing that raised Chastain from a good band to a great one and I’m pleased to report that she sounds just as good in 2018 as she did in 1988. The opening track “Juggernaut” is one of the best speed metal songs I have heard in a while and the rest of the album is consistently good, too. Shades of Dio and Priest color the wide range of tunes here and the band turn in some excellent, spirited performances. Glad to see Leather back on the scene and, as much as I enjoyed the Chastain reunion records, I think this one is even better.

10. HAUNT - Burst Into Flame

Although I enjoyed the first Haunt EP, the full-length debut really takes it up a notch. This is classic, old-school heavy metal that reminds me a bit of the first couple of Cauldron albums, with some wonderful dual-guitar work thrown in for good measure. The vocals are clean but remarkably restrained compared to some of the screamers out there, making for a nice change of pace. Songs “Reflectors” and “Burst Into Flame” have a haunting (ahem) timelessness to them and the album flows really well from start to finish.

9. THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA - Sometimes the World Ain't Enough

Despite featuring members of Soilwork and Arch Enemy, this is a long, long way from death metal, melodic or otherwise. Although the band’s first effort had a distinctly late-70s hard rock vibe to it, each record since has taken the listener deeper into the world of 80s AOR. Unlike a lot of the sterile, radio-friendly acts from that actual era, NFO bring a warmth and heartfelt approach that really brings the music alive. This is the band’s fourth album and probably their weakest, but it still stands well above the average album of 2018. Songs like “Turn To Miami” and “Pretty Thing Closing In” are immediate, timeless classics.

8. THE CROWN - Cobra Speed Venom

Although Deathrace King is still one of my top 5 death metal records of all time, The Crown never really were able to duplicate its genius. Cobra Speed Venom, however, comes damn close. It has all the brutality that the band is known for but brings back a lot of the punky/thrash energy and memorable riffs that have been missing for a while. The first three songs might be the best start to any album this year; just relentless, mayhemic brilliance. Top it off with one of the coolest and most original album covers I’ve seen in a while, along with three bonus tracks that are actually worth adding, and you have one hell of a return to form.

7. SAXON - Thunderbolt

Saxon certainly made some missteps in the late 80s, but I can’t think of another band that has remained as true to form over the years, while also consistently putting out quality albums and touring relentlessly. Thunderbolt is no Wheels of Steel or even Call To Arms, but it is still a solid record that is as good or better than the last couple. From the melodic timelessness of “The Secret of Flight” to the moody “Nosferatu (The Vampire’s Waltz)” to the raging “They Played Rock and Roll,” there is also a diversity rivaled only by Priest on this list.

6. BLACK OATH - Behold the Abyss

When it comes to true, epic, soul-crushing doom metal, Black Oath have become true masters. I have been following this band since the Portrait of the Dead single back in 2010 and am pleased to say they just keep going from strength to strength. Behold the Abyss balances a lush production, clean vocals, and plenty of melody, with dreadnought riffage and blissfully dark, esoteric lyrics. A rich, dynamic work of black art.

5. SIGN OF THE JACKAL - Breaking the Spell

This amazing Italian band has created a style that is equal parts early 80s Warlock and late 80s Judas Priest. Great, driving metal tunes that sometimes border on speed metal with plenty of screaming solos and hooky choruses. The recording, the mix, the energy, everything about this record is incredibly old-school and authentic, right down to the 32-minute running time.

4. AUDREY HORNE - Blackout

Ever since these Norwegian rockers abandoned all pretense and went full-on retro with their Youngblood album, I have been hooked. They compose hard-hitting rock tunes with tons of hooks and Lizzy-esque harmonies that give a nod to metal and punk without really being either. The first three songs - “This is War,” “Audrevolution,” and “Blackout” - are all perfectly built and give a great cross-section of the band’s diverse sound. Toschie’s vocals are as unique as his fashion sense and, as much as I loved the last two records, I think this one may be their best yet.

3. BRAINSTORM - Midnight Ghost

Brainstorm has long since perfected their style (as far back as Soul Temptation, some fifteen years ago), and each new release is really just varying levels of execution. As good as Scary Creatures was a couple years back, Midnight Ghost is truly brilliant and may possibly take the title as my favorite Brainstorm outing. All of the usual plusses are in place - great production, top-notch musicianship, catchy tunes - but the songs themselves are just a tad bit more finely honed and memorable. “Ravenous Minds” and “When Pain Becomes Real” in particular are killer and there is nary a dull moment here.

2. IMMORTAL - Northern Chaos Gods

My first Immortal record was At the Heart of Winter and it is still my favorite black metal album, hands down. The combination of raw, icy riffs with the mind-blowing drumming and just enough melody to keep it all together was/is intoxicating. Immortal has never done a bad album, but some are definitely better than others and Northern Chaos Gods is one of the best ones. The ferocity is up there with Pure Holocaust and Demonaz’s vocals, while not quite as distinctive as Abbath’s, fit the music perfectly. The band wisely took their time to put this record together and the results speak for themselves.

1. JUDAS PRIEST - Firepower

Priest has been one of my favorite metal bands since I first got into them back in ’82 and they are still right up there with Sabbath, Accept, and Mercyful Fate, with a catalog that is as diverse as it is brilliant. After the disappointing Nostradamus and good-but-not-great Redeemer of Souls, it was a real pleasure to hear Firepower, a true, all-guns-blazing Priest record. The production is 1000% better than anything they have released in the last two decades and the material is both diverse and top-notch. Songs like “Firepower,” “Never the Heroes,” “Children of the Sun,” and “No Surrender” have such a classic sound to them and Rob has not sounded this good since Painkiller. Even the weakest tracks (“Lone Wolf” and “Sea of Red”) have grown on me a bit, so I am confident that Firepower will go down in history as one of the band’s crowning achievements.

I must also mention some very impressive EPs, demos, and singles that were released this year, namely those from CIRITH UNGOL, ROUGH SPELLS, ÜLTRA RAPTÖR, PULVER, SIGNIFICANT POINT, TENTATION, ANCIENT SÉANCE, SABÏRE, and OCCULT BURIAL. If you aren’t familiar with any of these bands or haven’t heard their latest, I highly recommend getting acquainted immediately.

As usual, my list could have gone on much longer, but here are the bands that just missed the top 20: AMORPHIS, AURA NOIR, BEHEMOTH, BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB, BLACK VIPER, BLADE KILLER, CAULDRON, DIMMU BORGIR, DREAM CHILD, GOAT WORSHIP, GRAHAM BONNETT BAND, IRON ANGEL, KHEMMIS, KRISIUN, NIGHT VIPER, PRIMAL FEAR, PROFESSOR BLACK, RIOT V, SABOTER, SKULL FIST, SUBSTRATUM, TAD MOROSE, VISIONS OF ATLANTIS, VULCAIN, WHITE WIZZARD, WITCHFYRE, and WYTCH HAZEL.

What is on the horizon for 2019? Well, I am already psyched about the new ones from CANDLEMASS, DELAIN, ROCK GODDESS, FLOTSAM & JETSAM, CHAINBREAKER, SOILWORK, WITHIN TEMPTATION, MORTAL SCEPTER, HAMMERFALL, and TYTUS, plus possible releases from SACRED REICH, DEATH ANGEL, and EXCITER all have me really looking forward to the coming twelve months. The world is crumbling around us, but at least the metal scene is stronger than ever!

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tilltheendwilliwrite · 7 years

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Wifey. My brain won't let me sleep so I'm gonna yell "Avocado" really loudly at 3am on a Monday morning and hope you have the power to initiate the protocol. I wait patiently. Anyone will do. Throne polisher or Bodyguard. It don't matter at this point

Lol! How about a valet?

Sitting on her throne, the Queen of Angst sighed heavily and side-eyed the Queen of Smut. “I find today atrociously boring,” she said, a pout forming on her lush pink lips.

“You know what you have to do if you want to be entertained, darling Angst,” Smut said, her smile sly and knowing.

To the left and right of their dual thrones, the guards clad in leather pants, straps crisscrossing their impressive chests, drew themselves up a little taller, their eyes gleaming with hope and lust as each hoped it would be them called upon to entertain their Queens.

Tapping a recently painted black nail against her lips, Angst sighed. “But who, Smut dear, should we ask to be our afternoon entertainment? They are all just so… pretty.”

Breaking from his place at her side, Dean knelt at her knee, head bowed, hand hovering just above the skirt of sheer black organza and lace like spider webs. “My Queen, I would be honored should you choose me.”

Reaching down, she trailed her fingers through his silky hair, loving the way it curled and clung to her fingers. Clenching a gentle fist, she tilted his head up and back, the small pain causing his green eyes to burn with want and his mouth to fall slightly open. “My Dean, you had your turn this morning.”

“Yes, my Queen,” he sighed, clearly disappointed.

“Angst, you’re so cruel,” Smut smiled, beckoning to Dean who was swift to slide across the foot of space where his chin settled on his knee. “Poor baby,” she simpered, running her long red nail down the bridge of his nose, over his plush lips, and down to lift his chin. “Do you need me to kiss it better?”

“Yes, my lady,” he sighed, tilting his face up.

Laughing softly, she leaned down to press a chaste kiss to his mouth.

“You make your own guard jealous, sweet Smut,” Angst snickered, amusement clear to see.

Waving Dean away, back to the side of his Queen, Smut lifted her hand to Steve, the sheer fabric of her red gown splitting, falling from her arm as she leaned away from Angst, the red lace like roses falling to bare her legs to mid-thigh. “He knows he holds my heart, don’t you, Steve?”

His blue eyes shone with adoration when he knelt at her feet. “As you hold mine, my Queen.”

Cupping his chin, Smut bestowed a passionate kiss upon her champion’s lips, one which made him shudder, hand hesitating above her thigh before a gentle purr had him lowering it to her skin.

Pouting again, Angst huffed, “You are of little help, dear sister!”

Licking Steve‘s lips, Smut pulled away with a shrug, continuing to run her fingers through Steve’s hair as his thumb rubbed back and forth on her skin. “Apologies, my darling Angst. He is just such a, hm, sweet distraction.”

Crossing her arms, Angst sighed, knowing well her sister’s propensity for a sinful distraction. It was in her nature, after all. “Well, if you could contain yourself for a moment, we could both have fun.”

Flicking her wrist, Smut complied, though she kept Steve where he was. “You have your choice, love. You’ve already rejected the guards,” she pet Steve’s hair when he sighed, disappointed, “There are the stable lads, Thor or Logan, or the valets, Loki and Bucky.”

Angst had a shiver of desire streak her spine and center between her thighs with the final name. “Bucky,” she sighed, the sound one of anticipation.

“Then do it, Angst darling. Ring the bell.” Smut turned her attention back to Steve. “So impatient,” she scolded, his hand having drifted much higher, but pleased to be able to focus on her champion since Angst had chosen one of hers.

While they weren’t stingy about sharing, Steve, Loki, and Thor belonged to Smut, calling her their Queen, while Angst was their lady. The reverse being true for Dean, Bucky, and Logan. For them Angst would always be Queen, while Smut was their lady.

It worked well for the two sisters, inclined to share, and happy with the arrangements.

A servant girl appeared at Angst’s side with a bell sitting upon a silver platter. Giving it a swift ring, the aforementioned men appeared quickly before the thrones.

“My Queen, my lady,” they said together, bowing to the respective throne each showing excited anticipation.

“Bucky, darling… avocado,” Angst said, a smile growing on her face.

The man with the long hair and metal arm smiled victoriously as the others groaned in disappointment, leaving with dragging feet, Loki and Thor casting jealous looks Steve’s direction.

Catching the glares, Smut only smiled, knowing well the competition she could instigate between the two brothers at a later time before returning her focus to the wandering fingers of Steve at her knee.

Bowing deeply, Bucky made his way to the center of the room where the long narrow pole awaited. He undid the button on his black coat, the only button he was permitted to undo before his performance began. The music for I’m Sexy and I Know It began to play when he wrapped his metal fingers around the pole.

Angst settled back into her seat, eyes bright, twirling a length of red hair around her finger.

His hips thrust and gyrated, he rode the pole with skill, swung and climbed with his strong arms and thighs.

It was highly… stimulating.

The jacket was discarded with a flick, his overly thin white shirt tore open with the straining of his muscles, giving Angst a pleasing view of his sculpted chest. Holding himself up with his thighs alone, Bucky looked directly at her, his body sliding slowly down the pole as he stripped the shirt teasingly from his body.

She licked her lips, cast a glance at her sister, smirking to find Smut just as affected, her Steve temporarily forgotten though he worked to regain her attention when his mouth pressed to her sister’s thigh.

Bucky’s feet hit the floor, and when he turned to slide his back down the pole, spreading his knees and cupping himself with his metal hand, Angst licked her lips, the sheen of glitter over his chest and abs showing he’d been prepared for this, anticipating her summons, as they always were. He bit his lip, gripped the thin fabric of his trousers and jerked, tearing the fabric from his thighs swiftly and easily, the seams opening as they’d been designed to.

“Oh,” she sighed, dragging her nails down her décolletage when the song rose to its culmination.

The large package of the dancing man was encased in a barely there pink thong, the bulge straining, protesting it’s confinement. He turned into the pole, rode it with vigor, his face showing his bliss, his heavy lids barely allowing the glimmer of his steel grey eyes to show through when he kept them on hers.

At the song’s finish, he pulled himself up the length of shining metal, swung hard and leapt from it to land at the base of her throne. When only silence remained, he crawled up the steps, breath panting, eyes begging, to bow at her knee. “Did that please you, my Queen?”

“Yes,” she replied breathless and burning for the delicious specimen of male prowess on his knees before her. “So much, Bucky.”

His hands lifted, hovered above her knees, lowered to settle on her gown with barely there pressure. “Might I please you… more… my Queen?”

Leaning forward, she caressed his cheek. “You may,” she said with a smile, rising to her feet as he did, accepting his hand when he offered it to her. “Sister,” she smirked at Smut, looking well and truly dishevelled while Steve looked exceptionally pleased with himself.

“Sister,” Smut grinned, giving a little wave. “Steve and I will be… engaged for quite some time.”

“As will Bucky and I. Dinner?” Angst, sighed when Bucky brushed her hair from her neck so he could place his lips there instead.

Smiling wickedly, Smut murmured, “Dessert!” as she made her way down the stairs.

Laughing, Angst nodded to Dean, who sighed with his dismissal. “Dessert it is,” she said to Bucky, vowing to wipe the sad puppy look from Dean’s face at a later time, along with the scowl from Logan’s. Her scruffy wild man looking a little put out, but she had no time to think of that now, not when Bucky swept her up over his shoulder, making her laugh, and slap his bare ass jiggling nicely in the pink thong as he made his way to her bedroom.

And this is why you and I should not have late night conversations! Lol

#wars with dre #this is the weird shit we talk about #omg I cant believe I wrote this

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subasekabang · 7 years

Text

Title: Anything To Make you Stay, Chapter 7 Rating: T Word Count: Total: 15,761, chapter: 2,647 Characters: Joshua, Neku, Shiki, Eri, Beat, Rhyme, Hanekoma, Kariya, Uzuki. Pairings: Josh/Neku. Warnings: Suicide, Major Character Death, Depression, semi-detailed depiction of dead bodies, mentions of ableism, one minor allusion to transphobia Summary: Joshua and Neku have been best friends since they were 11, but their friendship starts to fall apart after Joshua goes missing for a week, soon after his 14th birthday. Lies corrode the bond, and Neku’s vivid nightmares of finding someone’s dead body does not help. A year and a half later, they hit the boiling point. Always look before crossing the road, kiddos. Author’s Note: Autistic Josh and Neku! Afab demiboy Josh! Agender Rhyme! Usage of sign language! This was a fun fic to write please enjoy it.

Chapter 7:

The heavy air, weighted with the shouts from earlier, explodes with a scream that tears from his throat. Tires screech as the driver tries to break, and the smell of burned rubber permeates the air. There’s going to be skidmarks there, both on the road and on his heart.

Joshua makes a dash into the road, fueled by the crimson staining the asphalt and the body lying where the truck slammed into it, purple headphones crushed to bits, like the shattered bones in Neku’s body.

He knows this is fatal, there’s no way to sew the body back together, to heal the wounds inflicted. Not by any normal means, and this is no place for a miracle. Even so, he kneels down, shaking Neku, begging him to stay alive.

The driver has pulled over, mouth agape and horror splayed on his face. Some grotesque corner of Josh’s mind says serves him right, he should see this nightmare he has created by hitting Neku, but he knows it wasn’t the man’s fault, not really.

A sob bubbles up from his chest, and tears streak down his face, hot and wet. What a sight he must be, covered in blood and guts and crying over a body that resembles roadkill more than it does his friend.

A thought freezes his despair. The Game. If Neku wins, then he can come back to life, no miracle needed. Some law-breaking required, if he wants to ensure that Neku has the best shot of winning he can.

After all, it’s hard to lose when the Composer is your Partner, and doing all he can to get you a win.

With rigid motions, he conjures up a Player Pin, placing it on Neku’s chest. Joshua takes a step back from the scene of the murder and his emotions, letting them fall away into blank space. He can deal with the distraught panic later. For now, face blank, he walks away, vanishing into the UG as he rounds a corner.

He has a Game to prepare for.

Joshua oversees Neku’s entry into the Game himself. He can’t afford to leave this up to anyone else. He makes sure Neku has the standard knowledge of the Game that all Players should have, before it’s time to take the Fee.

He pauses, sighs, and knows exactly what he’s going to take. Threads of Music wind away from Neku’s body, laid out in the Room of Reckoning. He bundles up the memories into an orb, sealing it away. Maybe a Neku who doesn’t remember him will be easier to deal with in the Game, given their last encounter.

He repairs Neku’s headphones, placing those around his neck. It’d be rude leave Neku without part of his signature look.

The first Day is a blur of activity, as always. He’s quick on his feet once Neku wakes up, offering up a Pact, and then they’re fighting the Noise together. It’s only frogs, for now, but Joshua can feel that pulse beneath the surface as they do battle, Music thrumming in the air, as he and Neku take down the enemies. As the battle ends, Josh lets out a laugh, he hasn’t felt this alive in ages.

Neku takes off, heading for 104 immediately, of course, and no, that won’t do. Players don’t last long if they don’t bond with their Partner, and while Josh knows everything about Neku, feels their old bond on top of the Pact, Neku doesn’t have any of that.

So he drops hints. Between this isn’t my first Game, I’m here by choice, and the mention of his original Fee (he didn’t take one from himself, this time around), he hopes Neku has more than enough material to ask him about in the future. Mentioning languages helps too, nothing like multiple shared languages to bring people together. It might be needed, if either of them go nonverbal, anyway.

Like on Day 2, when he wakes up with acid clawing at his throat, bile building up in his stomach. Neku is dead because of him, None of this should be happening. Neku was never supposed to learn about the Game, he was never supposed to die. Joshua should never have killed himself, should never have jeopardized their friendship in any way, because look where that’s gotten them.

When Neku wakes up, 10 minutes later, he takes one look at Josh, and raises his hands. [Bad day?]

Josh nods. [Bad day. Bad thoughts. Bad memories. If you want, you can speak, but my throat isn’t going to do words.]

“Alright,” Neku says, which Josh responds to with another nod.

Both of their phones beep in unison, and they each grab their own.

^Set the cursed sculpture free. Fail, and face Erasure. You have 60 minutes - The Reapers^

[Hachiko,] Josh fingerspells, before Neku can say the name out loud. [Has to be. Cursed sculpture.]

“That’d make sense. This is the Underpass, yeah? So Hachiko should be that way,” he says, pointing. Josh nods. “Let’s get going then.”

Nothing is ever that easy, because there’s a wall to take down, but luckily the mission is just to take out a bit of Noise.

“What’s up with those guys in red, anyway? You said something yesterday about Reapers?” Neku asks, as they walk out of the underpass.

[Reapers are part of the Game. They test Players, whether by creating enemies, as the Harriers do, or by issuing challenges, like the Wall Reapers do. At the end of a Game week, if a Player survives, they have the option of becoming a Reaper. It’s a fresh start, a way to escape their life, if it was bad, but in order to survive, Reapers need to either Erase Players or continue to issue challenges, depending on if they’re a Harrier or Wall Reaper. If they don’t score points, they’re the ones that get Erased.]

“That’s rough,” Neku says, and it looks like he’s going to say more when a big loud shouty guy comes running up to them.

“Gotchu punks now!” says the guy. Daisukenojo Bito, Josh thinks to himself. Nickname Beat, Partnered to his sibling, Raimu, aka Rhyme.

“You got us good yesterday, but today I’ma crush you, yo!” he continues, and Josh sighs.

“What are you talking about? Who are you?” Neku asks, and he has every right to be confused about a person he’s never met shouting at him like this.

[He probably thinks we’re Reapers. You can’t scan Reapers, and Player Pins make it so you can’t scan other Players, either,] Josh signs to Neku, right as Rhyme points this out themselves.

“They’ve got Player Pins. Players must not be able to scan each other. Remember? You couldn’t scan me either,” they say, and Beat deflates.

“… Oh. Yo, sorry I jumped to conclusions.”

[It’s fine,] he signs, but that makes Beat scrunch his eyebrows together in confusion.

“Yo, whatchu doin’ with your hands?”

“He’s speaking in sign language,” Neku says. “Sometimes verbal language can be hard, we happen to both know sign though. He just said it’s fine.”

“That’s neat! Maybe you could teach us some signs!” Rhyme says, flashing a smile. “Oh! We should introduce ourselves. I’m Rhyme, and this is my Partner, Beat.” Something flickers across Beat’s face, and Josh recalls his Fee as Neku introduces the both of them. Rhyme’s memories of him. He feels a pang of sympathy, knowing intimately the heart-stabbing pain of the most important person in your life forgetting you.

He decides to brood, letting Neku talk with the other pair about phones and Reapers and the mission. It’s not like he can contribute much to the conversation without having to go through Neku.

Then Rhyme is suggesting they work together, and Neku looks at Josh, the question he’s asking obvious by the raised eyebrow.

[Sure. Our odds are better if we have more people working to solve the problem.]

Neku raises his hands to reply. A silent, secret, conversation then. [Can we trust them, though? What if they’re Reapers? I can’t scan them after all, could be a ploy.]

[They aren’t. If you don’t trust them much, then that’s fine, but working together benefits us all. You can suggest we split up to cover more ground.]

Neku nods, and turns back to Beat and Rhyme. “Sounds like a plan. We should split up, we can cover more ground that way.”

The others agree, and off they go.

His brain is fog today, so he contents himself to drifting by, letting Neku figure things out. The battles they fight help to clear the air, but he’s moving through jello, and this headache keeps pounding away. Josh hasn’t kept his vibes tuned down for this long in a while, and he hopes that his body will get used to it, because acidic brain fog is not a fun experience.

Neku can tell that something’s up with him, and once the Moyai is cleared of its Noise, he asks, “Hey Josh, is everything alright?”

[Fine. Just thinking. Don’t worry about me,] he signs, and before Neku can ask anything else, he walks off, heading for Hachiko.

He already knows how to solve the missions this week, of course. He had a hand in creating them, so it’s easy to point out how Hachiko is looking dirtier than usual, less friendly, and they get to polishing.

The Garage Wolves that spring out of Hachiko are easy to take out. The Metal Corehog that Uzuki summons is easy too, but it seems Neku doesn’t feel the same. When the next swarm is summoned, Neku looks ready to pounce on Uzuki instead.

“Please tell me you’re not planning on fighting me? Ha ha ha ha! How stupid can you get? You’ll never win against a Reaper! But all right. I’m game. I was getting bored anyway,” she says, and Josh can only sigh.

Leave it to Neku to challenge a Harrier on day 2.

The fog in his head is blown away by the coming challenge, and he feels his throat open up. Finally. “Neku, Harriers aren’t going to be as easy to beat as Noise.”

Neku spares him a glance, surprised at his voice, no doubt. “She’s just going to keep throwing more at us. Take the problem out at the source.”

“Ha! As if a pair of Players on day two could even stand a chance! You got guts, boys.” She’s laughing and them, and Josh wonders where Kariya is, because he should be here keeping her in line. They balance each other well.

“If you fight with us, it won’t be us who end up Erased, Uzuki Yashiro,” Joshua growls. He lets some power leak, eyes taking on a faint glow, as the wind picks up around them all, his hair flowing in it. He’ll pass this off as a trick of the light, later, but the intimidation works, and her stance falters.

“Hmph, you’re boring. I know, let’s have some fun! A special bonus challenge, just for you, orangeylocks! If you pull it off, I’ll let you out of the Reaper’s Game!”

“Bullshit.” Josh cuts her off, rolling his eyes. “You don’t have the authority to do that.”

“And how would you know? Awfully knowledgeable about how us Reapers work for a Player. Here’s your mission, Erase your Partner here, and you’re out of the Game!” She’s got a smug grin on her face, and Josh frowns, seeing Neku waver.

“I have my reasons for knowing what I know, and I promise, Neku, I will tell you them. Don’t listen to her.”

Neku doesn’t have time to decide on who to listen to, because Kariya, followed by Hanekoma, come swooping down to the rescue. Koki gives a nod to him, and projects a thought, We felt the surge of power, figures that she’d be at the center of it. I’ll keep her off of your back.

Josh sends a quick Thanks, to Kariya, watching as he tries to herd Uzuki away.

“Leave the kids alone, you owe me a bowl of ramen, girl. I bagged more Players yesterday,” he’s saying, grabbing her hand and tugging her off in the direction of Ramen Don. Josh can’t help but laugh at the sight.

Once the pair have gone, Josh turns to grin at Hanekoma. “I see you brought in the cavalry to get her off my back this time. Hopefully Koki keeps her from bothering us much more.”

“You should know better than to egg her on, Josh,” Mr. H replies, and Josh can see how annoyed he is, from his hair sticking up to the barely-concealed splashes of color on his skin. Stress-painting again, he figures. He’ll have to apologize for this fit of anxiety later.

“She started it. Anyway, she’s gone now, so it’s time for introductions. Neku, this is Sanae Hanekoma, he runs the WildKat cafe on Cat street. Mr. H, this is Neku, my Partner.” He doesn’t need to add on anything else, Hanekoma knows all about Neku.

“Nice to meet ya, ‘phones. You’re gonna be in for a long week with J here as your Partner. I’ve known him since he was a kid, always had a knack for getting into trouble.”

“You had a knack for getting me out of it.”

Neku looks between the two of them, eyebrows raised, before he takes a deep breath, and sticks out a hand to Hanekoma. “Nice to meet you. How are you connected to the Game?”

Hanekoma shakes the hand. “Think of me as a sort of…guardian. I watch the Game, to make sure shady types don’t start bendin’ the rules.”

“Alright… And how did you two meet?” He gestures to Josh and Hanekoma.

“I visited his cafe, he caught me staring out the window at things I had no right to be seeing. I’ve always been able to see the UnderGround, the Game, and he saw me flinch when some of the Players were Erased. Took me aside, told me all about what I was seeing. First time in 10 year I heard that what I saw was real. Everything about the Game I know, I learned from him.” He’s nonchalant, as if revealing his sight was no big deal.

“Josh here is a trouble-maker, I’ll say that, but he’s a pretty good kid. You’re lucky to have him as your Partner. There’s only one way to stay alive in this Shibuya. Trust your Partner! Especially you, Phones. I saw you considering the offer.” Josh chuckles as Hanekoma goes on one of his speeches, he’s heard them all before.

Josh lets Hanekoma answer Neku’s questions. A better teacher than he could ever be. When Hanekoma lets the title Composer slip, Josh raises an eyebrow, but says nothing. He’ll fill Neku in on that more later. Once Hanekoma tosses Neku the fusion pin and explains it, he departs, and Josh gives Neku a little smile, before everything goes fuzzy.

“Why the hell did you stop me? I had those two in the bag!” Uzuki says, pouting at Kariya.

“Trust me, you didn’t. The orange-haired one, maybe, but the other? Don’t mess with him, if you know what’s good for you,” Kariya says, and she’s always thought that his laziness was a facade, but never is it more obvious than here.

“Who is he?” she asks.

“A kid I met a while back. You know how those people who have some sense of the UG are stronger in the Game? He’s always been able to see it, hear it, and he’s Played before. I’m a little surprised you don’t remember him, honestly,” he says, and he has that knowing look in his eyes that pisses her off.

“Oh, and why is that?”

“The last time he Played was about a year and a half ago. His name is Joshua. If you’ll recall, that was the name of your Partner.”

#fanfic #submission #TWEWY #TWEWY Bang 2017 #composerwithashotgun

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dreamxng-forever · 7 years

Note

1-96 sar

Oh Jesus Christ

(1) Do You Sleep With Your Closet Doors Open Or Closed?I don’t have a closet so???

(2) Do You Have Freckles?Not really

(3) Can You Whistle?Nope

(4) Last Song You Listened To.No More by Natewantstobattle

(5) What Is Your Favourite Colour?Purple

(6) Relationship Status.Married to fictional characters

(7) What Is The Temperature Right Now?70 degrees Fahrenheit

(8) Did You Wake Up Cranky?No. I never really wake up cranky just unable to make my legs work until I’ve been on my phone for at least 5 minutes.

(9) How Many Followers?107

(10) Zodiac Sign.Aries!

(11) What Is Your Eye Colour?Brown

(12) Take A Vitamin Daily? Haha nope only when I’m sick and eat vitamin c

(13) Do You Sing In The Shower? Sometimes? I mainly plot

(14) What Books Are You Reading?None currently. I need to finish The Stolen Throne though AND the Calling.

(15) Grab The Book Nearest To You, Turn To Page 64, Give Me Line 14.“The King summoned his whole court together, soldiers and everyone else who was there, and asked who had set his daughter at liberty, and killed the Giants?“ —Grimms Complete Fairytails.

(16) Favourite Anime?Magi: The Labryinth of Magic

(17) Last Person You Cried In Front Of? I’m pretty sure it was @krazykacie2000 even though they probably didn’t know I was crying.

(18) Do You Collect Anything?Not really

(19) What Did You Have For Lunch?A crappy turkey sandwich

(20) Do You Dance In The Car?If headbanging counts as dancing then yes. And sing really loudly when I’m alone.

(21) Favourite Animal?FUCK I CANT CHOOSE

(22) Do You Watch The Olympics?No

(23) What Time Do You Usually Go To Bed?11pm during the school year and 12-2am on holidays

(24) Are You Wearing Makeup Right Now?What the fuck is makeup

(25) Do You Prefer To Swim In A Pool Or The Ocean?Ocean gives me anxiety and sand gets everywhere so pool

(26) Favourite Tumblr Blog?@princetheirins cause they’re awesome? I love them a lot and their oc’s give me life (they are also a very talented writer)

(27) Bottled Water Or Tap Water?Bottled water

(28) What Makes You Happy?My friends, writing, and listening to my FAVORITE songs that make my hearts do little flips.

(29) Post A Gif Of What You’re Currently Feeling Right Now.I don’t not have the ability to post a gif at this moment but right now I am that gif of Obi-Wan Kenobi happily flying while the world burns around him.

(30) Do You Study Better With Or Without Music? I don’t study

(31) Dogs Or Cats?DOGGOS

(32) If You Were A Crayon What Colour Would You Be? Purple

(33) PlayStation Or Xbox.Most of the time Xbox

(34) Would You Swim In The Lake Or Ocean? Both?

(35) Do You Believe In Magic? Yes. And the supernatural. I just believe they’re on another domain from us? Or something like that. It’s hard for me to explain.

(36) What Colour Shirt Are You Wearing?Grey.

(37) Can You Curl Your Tongue? No

(38) Do You Save Money Or Spend It? I try to save but then something I desperately love comes and and just WHOOPS I suddenly got it.

(39) Is There Anything Pink Within 10 Feet Of You? YES MY STUFFED NUG (an animal from dragon age) THAT I GOT FOR MY BIRTHDAY

(40) Do You Have Any Obsessions Right Now? Ha…haha…ha…no? (Lies. I’m obsessed with motionless in white and I’m getting sucked back into jak and daxter. Also mass effect andromeda)

(41) Have You Ever Caught A Butterfly? No

(42) Are You Easily Influenced By Other People? Yes? I think so?

(43) Do You Have Strange Dreams? Oh dude hellz yeah my dreams go from fucking terrifying to silly to what the fuck is going on. Like the other night I had a dream that I was working in a museum or something? And everything fucking came to life and for some fucking reason Sheldon from Big Bang Theory was there and I asked him to keep an eye on the exhibits so I wasn’t loosing my fucking mind then suddenly I fucking became Harley and was with Joker? It was really really REALLY weird.

(44) Do You Like Going On Airplanes? I haven’t gone on them enough to really get an honest feel but I get minimal anxiety going on them just cause of the “what if“ factor. But i don’t mind going on them.

(45) Name One Movie That Made You Cry. Okay see you can’t do that to me cause I’m an emotional person and so many movies have made me cry okay.

(46) Peanuts Or Sunflower Seeds? Neither.

(47) If I Handed You A Concert Ticket Right Now, Who Would You Want The Performer To Be?MOTIONLESS IN WHITE

(48) Are You A Picky Eater? Fuck yeah my friends hate me for it

(49) Are You A Heavy Sleeper? Sometimes? It depends on how tired I am. But most of the time no.

(50) Do You Fear Thunder / Lightning? Yes. Okay yes I have a terrible fear of it and I’m sorry for my friends who have to deal with me crying and shaking whenever there’s thunder storms near me.

(51) Do You Like To Read / Write?I LOVE writing. It’s my passion. And if the story is interesting then I love reading.

(52) Do You Like Your Music Loud? *has volume on max constantly*

(53) Would You Rather Carve Pumpkins Or Wrap Presents? Pumpkins

(54) Put Your Music On Shuffle, What Is The First Song That Came Up?Oh guess what it’s my favorite song: Eternally Yours from Motionless in White

(55) What Season Are You In Right Now? (Weather)SUMMER

(56) What Are You Craving Right Now? I’m craving my ps2 games jak and daxter that I no longer have. I really want to play jak and daxter okay.

(57) Post A Screenshot Of Your Tumblr Feed.Do I have to?

(58) What Is Your Gender?Female

(59) Coffee Or Tea?Fucking neither

(60) Do You Have Any Homework Right Now? If So, What Is It About?I have homework for myself and it’s called WRITING and APPLYING FOR A JOB

(61) What Is Your Sexuality?Asexual panromantic at your service

(62) Do You Make Your Bed In The Morning?Fuck no

(63) Favourite Pokemon?Charmander

(64) Favourite Social Media?YouTube

(65) What’s Your Opinion On Instagram Stories?I mean I like watching them

(66) Do You Get Homesick?Sometimes? It’s not even for my home though it’s for my dog and video games most of the time

(67) Are You A Virgin?Yes and I will forever be a virgin (hopefully)

(68) What Shampoo And Conditioner Are You Using Right Now?Pantene Color Enhancer (or something like that? It keeps the color in my hair in longer)

(69) If You Were Far From Home And Needed To Sleep For The Night, Would You Choose To Rent A Crappy Motel Room For $60 Or Sleep In Your Car For Free?Fuck man the back seat of my car is fucking comfy I could live back there.

(70) Are Both Of Your Blood Parents Still In Your Life? Yes

(71) Whats The Next Movie You Want To See In Theaters? DARK TOWER

(72) Do You Miss Your Ex?HAHA yes. I miss him a lot. It’s a little pathetic

(73) What Is Your Favourite Quote Right Now?It’s between “you can always rinse the surface, but the stains will remain“ and “if you mean it, you’ll make it“

(74) What Eye Colour Do You Find Sexiest? Anything that’s like really vibrant.

(75) Did You Like Swinging As A Child? Do You Still Get Excited When You See A Swing Set? I still love swing sets are you kidding me

(76) What Was The Last Thing You Ate? An ice cream sandwich

(77) What Games Do You Have On Your Phone?I don’t have any games on my phone

(78) Would You Give A Homeless Person CPR If They Were Dying? Why Or Why Not?No cause I don’t know how to give cpr. But I’d ask someone for help.

(79) Been On The Computer For 5 Hours Straight? I’ve been on my Xbox for 5 hours straight

(80) Stalked Someone On A Social Network? Not really?

(81) Do You Like Meeting New People? I’m a very shy individual but sometimes I like getting to know a new person

(82) Do You Wear Rings? If You Do, Take A Picture Of Them.

I don’t really, just my purity ring that I don’t feel like taking a picture of right now.

(83) Do You Sleep With Your Bedroom Door Open Or Closed?Closed unless my dog is in my room. Then the door is cracked.

(84) What Are Three Things You Did Today? Played red dead redemption, updated a few of my boards on pintrest, and watched jak and daxter playthrough’s

(85) What Do You Wear To Bed? Mainly a shirt and undies

(86) List All Of Your Different Beauty Products You Have Right Now.What

(87) Are You A Day Or Night Person?Night mostly

(88) List All Of Your Video Games On Your Phone, Console Etc.Do you wanna be here for hours?

(89) Tell Me About A Dream That You Had And When It Happened.I had a dream last night that I was getting my “off to Neverland“ tattoo but it wasn’t working and the lady kept getting the size wrong so she had to stencil it like five hundred times

(90) Favourite Soda Drink?DP

(91) What Sounds Are Your Favourite?Waves

(92) Do You Wear Jeans Or Sweats More?I wear shorts. Shorts for dayz

(93) How Do You Look Right Now?Tired

(94) Name Something That Relaxes You.The song City Lights

(95) What Tattoo Do You Want?I want several. I want “Off to Neverland!“ with peter pans hat on the ‘O’ on my forearm, “wonder“ on my left wrist and “land“ on my right wrist, “I’m with ya till the end of the line“ on my left forearm with a star resembling Bucky’s metal arm, “if you mean it you’ll make it“ on my left wrist, and Eternally Yours on my right wrist. I also want a tattoo of The Iron Giant. Those are my only concerte ones but I know I’ll get more ideas from more of my favorite underrated movies

(96) Favourite YouTuber?Markiplier. 100% Markimoo. He makes me laugh.

#m'husband #my prince

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