#these guys are up to some fishy business | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

teabutmakeitazure · 3 months

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Pinprick in the Backdrop

The background is something you should always pay attention to.

>Yan! Chrollo x Fem! Reader

>Warnings: not specified to avoid spoilers. please proceed with caution.

>Word count: ~15k (slow burn)

>a/n: proofread to the best of my capabilities. if there's any spelling error, pls ignore

There are always some people you see everyday without fail on the train. Some you find on your way to the station and in the train, some on the train, and some when you step out of it. Most of you have never talked to each other, but you recognise them. Even if the middle aged lady who always sits near the door of car 7 changed her hair colour completely.

You can still recognise them. Seeing their face isn’t a requirement. It’s their existence that matters. It’s especially funny when you call the teenagers by name on Halloween despite the costumes they’re wearing.

Perhaps you missed a great opportunity to go into criminology or become a detective. Maybe even a spy. However, what’s done is done. You can’t say you hate your job, so you suppose it’ll do as long as you’re able to live a comfortable life and send some money back home to your parents.

Speaking of money, your boss - or should you say the man who also overlooks the finance department - has been absent from work for two weeks. It’s the main reason why your salary this month hasn’t come in yet. Why they decided to not pay you all is a mystery, but why your boss has disappeared is a bigger mystery. The money you have left in your account isn’t enough for the entire month, so they better pay you all soon.

The penitence of innocents always baffles you. There was nothing you could have done, nothing you could have changed, so why? Why does the human conscience produce these feelings of guilt? Maybe it’s because you unconsciously recall times when you were cruel or times when you had ignored to cherish the moments.

At the end of the day, it’s puzzling feelings like these that make you human. Black jacket hugged closer to your body, you head back to your desk, shaking the mouse as you try to wake up the monitor. Your boss is dead. The reason why it took so long to confirm was because he died in a different country and his cell phone was destroyed.

Another mystery is why he flew to a different country on a weekend, and that too for just four days. He didn’t even have any family there. They all live here, so imagine their surprise when they find out his ‘business trip’ was actually a personal one. You don’t question why they didn’t bother to contact his workplace when he didn’t return.

Quite a lot has happened within the span of a few days. First there was the news of your boss being pronounced dead. That was followed by the memorial they had in the office, and lastly, your salaries finally came in. You can refresh your savings now.

Still, the radical change in circumstances you cannot get over. Your boss, the half bald guy whose biggest transgression was making jokes in poor taste, dead? The information you all were given is vague. He left for a different country, somewhere in the Mimbo Republic to be specific, from Yorbia, where you are. It’s not your job to dig into people’s business, but this seems too fishy because his family also refuses to utter a word.

Thus, like all women trying to find information on a man they are interested in, you turn to the internet. Scrounging through news articles of accidents and injury and deaths, you finally find a few noteworthy ones from the day he supposedly passed away.

The darkness in your bedroom adds to the suspense, light solely coming from your backlit keyboard and the open window. It doesn’t help that it’s past two in the morning, almost three, but you’re determined as you scan through descriptions of a ‘buy and sell’ gone wrong.

Two hundred people. That is how many died at that event.

To be fair, the entire administration and security also kicked the bucket, and the attendees were around one hundred according to the article. None of this still makes sense. Was your boss among those people? If yes, why would he be at such an event?

Scratch that, his family definitely knows something.

After spending a little less than an hour snooping around, you finally shut down your laptop and go under the covers. It’s understandable when sleep doesn’t come easily.

The commute to work was the same as usual. The only difference was that one of the girls in your neighbourhood was nowhere to be seen on the train. Maybe she skipped school today. Despite the ordinary day, you are in no mood to entertain when familiar footsteps grow closer and closer to your desk.

“Hi, [Name]!”

You wish you left the building for lunchtime after all.

“You’re not going out for lunch?”

With the most uninterested face you can make, you shrug, eyes not leaving the monitor. If he gets the hint, he leaves. If he doesn’t… you’ll just excuse yourself and leave.

“So you’re not eating?” He’s behind you now, eyes fixed onto your monitor as he tries to make sense of the gibberish. “Your work requires a lot of thinking. You should eat something.”

“Not right now,” you sigh. “I have a whole hour left. I’ll eat when I feel like it.”

You know what this guy is doing. His engagement recently went wrong when he found out his ex-fiance was cheating on him, and now he’s seeking out someone to fill the hole. Quite literally in his case, but whatever. Perhaps you would have given him the time of day if he wasn’t so obvious and desperate… or if you ever bothered to remember his name.

It’s worse when you remember that you didn’t recognise him after the break-up. Chills. That’s what you felt. It’s best to keep your distance. He isn’t the same guy who gushed about the love of his life 24/7. There’s something unstable around him.

“Well, whenever you feel like it, just shoot me a text.” His hands grab the edge of your backrest, just millimetres away from touching your back. “I want to treat you to lunch.”

Closing the tab and opening another one, you voice your response. “Sorry, but I brought food from home. I’ll be eating that.”

“Oh.” he sounds disappointed. “No worries. I’ll treat you some other time then.”

Note to self. Bring lunch from home everyday from now on. If that’ll help keeping him off your back then so be it.

It has now been two weeks since your boss’ memorial was held. His replacement has already been hired, but you can’t bring yourself to bother too much. Some of your coworkers have started cozying up to him and buttering him up which is intimidating the poor man. Workplace politics is something you could never have prepared yourself for.

Another thing you couldn’t have prepared yourself for is adulthood. Why is it so hard to choose what to eat? You can’t live off of takeout because it’s not healthy, and whenever you fail to finish eating the fruits you got before they go bad makes you feel like more of a failure. Thus, with great determination, you end up buying half a dozen apples.

If you eat one daily, you’ll finish them all in under a week. More items are added to your trolley and when you finally exit the self-service checkout, you roll your shoulders, readjust your backpack, manoeuvre the plastic bags into a more comfortable position, and begin the walk home.

It’s nighttime, just one hour away from the shops closing. You know you’re safe because almost all of the people you are familiar with. There are only some here and there who you haven’t seen before, but they’re all normal. It’s evident from the way ‘it’ is stable around them. ‘It’ is light and calm.

After a fifteen minute walk, you’re at your apartment building. Unfortunately, you wasted too much time walking around after you got off work and now you’ll have to eat dinner late. Well, it’s not like your sleep schedule is fixed anyway. Another day of sleeping late shouldn’t hurt. It’s the weekend now anyway.

It is on this wonderful Saturday afternoon that you realise you don’t have friends. Clarification. You don’t have friends where you live.

After graduating, all of your friends either stayed in the same city or moved away somewhere else entirely. None of them came here, or anywhere in Yorbia for that matter. It’s realisations like these that force you to ponder over your future. What are you going to do? What’s your aim?

Before, it was to graduate and get a decent job. Now that you have that, what now?

With the lack of ice cream in your freezer, maybe you should start with procuring dessert. What about takeout as well? You could go for an evening walk, watch the sunset and get food for dinner altogether. That sounds nice.

Laptop turned on, you type in the address of a shady website and start browsing through the movie catalogue. Today, you will relax. Having hours of screen time isn’t a good idea, but it’s the weekend. Mistakes don’t count.

Maybe I should get mama and papa to move in with me after papa retires. That’s your thought when you head to the supermarket to get ice cream with takeout in hand. Getting food before ice cream wasn’t the best idea since it’ll be cold by the time you get home, but what’s done is done.

Life is lonely here. Sitting at home, alone, eating takeout and ice cream out of the tub while shows you’ve rewatched more than five times play on the TV. Maybe you should make some friends, but where?

Your workplace doesn’t have anyone, let alone any girl, your age. You also haven’t met anyone you wanted to be friends with. They’re all blended into the familiar background.

Paying with your card, you leave the self-service checkout counter and ready yourself for the walk back home. It’s more fun when you’re leaving the house for a walk, not the other way around.

Still, you take in the people around you like you do all the time. Most people you know, you recognise. You’ve been seeing them for so long. There are always a few who are a little odd as ‘it’ is a little unruly around them, like your notorious coworker. However, ‘it’ is still light and faint but most importantly familiar. That’s the most comforting thing about it. The familiarity is what’s important.

So imagine the surprise and utter shock you feel when ‘it’ is as dark as the night sky around a stranger you have never seen before.

The darkest you have ever seen is something similar to how dark yellow is compared to pure white. So seeing something as contrasting as jet black to white, you can’t help it when the bags fall from your hand and onto the ground.

You’re frozen on the spot, mouth hung open as you stare wide eyed at the stranger who stands just a few metres ahead of you. He doesn’t notice at first, too busy speaking over the phone to pay attention, but when his eyes fall onto you, they’re slow and knowing, like he’s been aware of your gaze since you saw him among the others around you.

A few deep, trembling breaths, and you grab the bags off the ground and dash by him as fast as you can without it seeming too obvious you saw something. This time you do not pause to soak in the familiarity of the surroundings. Your only goal is to get home.

Bringing lunch from home is starting to get tiring. You have to wake up earlier and pack leftovers as well as make sure you have leftovers or cook something the night before in case you don’t. All because some weirdo who’s hung up on his ex can’t take a hint. To be fair you don’t have the guts to outright say no as well.

Maybe you should work on that.

Today, you decided to take a walk on the pier near your apartment building. It’s also a fifteen minute walk away since it’s close to the supermarket. Nevertheless, you sit down on a bench and just watch the water.

It’s soothing, being idle like this. God, you really need a break.

Families and couples who you usually see around walk about the area. There’s something so special about this. This comfortable bubble you’ve created. Sure, you’re lonely with most of your social interaction being the neighbourhood kids or the teenagers on the train, but it’s all so comfortable.

It’s warm. Maybe you should ask your parents to visit. They’d like it here. The accessible sea and half middle aged or above population would be something they’d like.

The sun has gone down now, and the moon has started to become visible. So, with reluctance to let go of the passing time, you get up, backpack once again on your shoulders, and start the walk back home. Maybe you should also get an actual bag instead of using the one you did in university. You know, something that’s more feminine.

Regardless, as long as this one works, you’ll use it. No need to get a replacement if the thing isn’t destroyed yet. Wait, scratch that. Should you get more ice cream? Brownies maybe? The supermarket is right here and they have a section for freshly baked items. The brownies were amazing when you last got them.

You abruptly turn on your heel, completely determined to get what you are now suddenly craving. One step forward and you collide with something, getting pushed back a few steps from the force of whatever kind of brick it was. Barely are you able to regain your balance. Had you fallen, your laptop would not have survived.

You raise your head to look at what it was you walked into, ready to curse while there are no children around, but are completely frozen when you see him again. ‘It’ is large, so much more prominent and stronger than what you have seen in all the years you’ve lived. It’s like it’s protecting him, gently swirling around him like a protective layer.

It’s menacing, to say the least. You have no strength to utter a single word when the stranger steps closer to you, tilting his head as he inspects you for any injuries.

Or at least that’s what you think he’s doing.

You’re absolutely horrified at how ‘it’ seems to dissipate as he steps closer, the presence of it almost completely gone. It’s now as noticeable as it is for everyone, but you can still see the darkness of ‘it’. No way does it help that you can now also feel the mancing aura it has.

“Are you alright?”

Blinking at him, you come back to the present situation, the background noises coming back to invade your senses. Your tongue feels like lead in your mouth, and your chest feels extremely heavy. Why is it so hard to breathe?

“Ah, it seems like the collision stunned you. It’s okay. I apologise for bumping into you.” The stranger smiles, and it causes bile to rise up your throat. You don’t like how he’s still looking at you like that. Like he’s looking for something.

“Hello? Are you alright, miss? Really, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he chuckles. You, on the other hand, fail to see what’s so humorous.

It takes a few more seconds to compose yourself, but your heart still beats loudly, spelling out the letters R-U-N in bold capital letters. However, social etiquette forces you to take a deep breath, bow, and voice your apology.

The stranger fails to get another word in before you awkwardly fast walk away with the nagging memory of the bandage covering his forehead and dark bangs messily falling over them.

Today, you walk home from the train station as fast as you can. The encounter yesterday has shook you to the core, and until you don’t see this stranger for a month straight, you will not cease the hurried travel back home.

Whoever this man is, you do not want to be within even a 10 metre radius of him. Something is definitely off about him, and in your experience the darker ‘it’ is, the worse person they are. You just don’t know what ‘it’ as dark as his means.

Nevertheless, fate likes to throw a pie on your face and laugh at you because he’s standing right outside your apartment building.

Fuck. That’s your only thought. Maybe you’ll hang around the neighbourhood or walk on the pier until he leaves. Yeah. better make yourself scarce. Unfortunately, fate throws another pie because when you turn your back and start quietly walking away, he notices you and calls out.

The bastard calls out to you.

Oh fuck me, you think. So much for not wanting to see him again. What does he even want? Does he want to know why you look at him like you’ve seen the man murder people countless times before?

“Ah, I’m sorry for disturbing your evening,” he says as he jogs up to you. How he noticed you while you were literally a building away you do not know. “I saw you leave this building in the morning, so I figured you live here. I’m sorry for intruding like this.”

‘It’ is still barely there like yesterday. That doesn’t mean you can’t feel the suffocating aura he has. Awkwardly, you sputter out a greeting. “Oh uh, h-hi.” The bandages aren’t there today, but those Godforsaken earrings are still there and his forehead is still covered by a hat. Does he have a receding hairline he doesn’t want to show?

He’s smiling at you, and you’re now noticing how wide and innocent looking his eyes are.

“My name is Chrollo,” he says. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Again, I’m sorry about the collision yesterday.”

You look at him for a few more seconds, heart beating erratically in your chest. “[Name]. And it’s okay. It was an accident on my part as well.”

Chrollo tilts his head slightly, eyes fixed on you and giving you his full attention. “Ah, that’s a lovely name. A lovely name for a lovely lady.”

You have never cringed this hard in years. Still, you force yourself to awkwardly laugh just to be polite and attempt to cut the conversation short. There’s no reason you should stick around. It’s utterly pointless and risky considering how his mere presence makes you feel.

“Excuse my forwardness,” Chrollo says, “but I was wondering if there are any good restaurants here I can try. I’m staying here at a hotel nearby until I find a proper accommodation, so I was hoping you could give me some recommendations.”

You open your mouth to say something just to stop short of any sound exiting your mouth. What comes next is an apology. Be useless to him. Don’t give him any reason to seek you out again. “I’m sorry, but I haven’t lived here long enough to know.” Wait, that makes it sound like I just moved here which makes me an easy target if he’s a serial killer. “No- what I mean is that I’ve lived here for a while but I usually cook, so I’m afraid I haven’t explored the food here. I only get takeout from the restaurant behind the supermarket nearby.”

Grey eyes blink at you, the gaze attentive. The corners of his lips are still turned upwards, and his lips slowly part to allow him to speak. Everything seems more detailed. You can’t wait to shrug him off.

“If I may, I’d love to explore the food here with you.”

Fuck. Did I just get asked out? No no. Be realistic. He just needs someone to cling to in this new environment or he’s a serial killer trying to make you lower your guard. You sigh. Whichever it is, you refuse his offer regardless. “I’m sorry, Chrollo.” The fall of his smile is instant. It’s almost creepy. “I don’t plan on eating out too much. I enjoy cooking, so I’d like to stick to cooking as much as I can.” Seriously. What is it with men and taking you out to eat? “Thank you for the offer though. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d love to get ho-”

“I don’t mind cooking together as well.”

“...” What? There’s no way he just said that to you.

“If you prefer cooking, I have no issues with cooking together.” He’s still looking at you, expectantly this time, and you feel like the ground beneath your feet is crumbling away. Why can’t men take a hint?

“Ah, I really should get home soon. Isasmo must be waiting for me. I promised him I’d be home early.”

“Isasmo?”

“Mhm.” You’re shaking your head now. The presence of a man awaiting your return or curious about your whereabouts always works. “He gets very worried if I don’t get home on time. I don’t want him to worry, so if you’ll excuse me…”

Chrollo chuckles. Closing his eyes, he gently shakes his head. The loss of his gaze is short lived, but when it’s back, it cuts through your being. “Sorry for keeping you. I didn’t know you had someone waiting for you at home.”

Like earlier, your heart starts beating in your ears. How he’s keeping you on edge you have no idea. It’s maddening. “Alright. I’ll be heading home now.”

He smiles. “No ‘see you later’?”

Because I don’t want to see you later! “Goodbye!” With that, you dash past him and quickly enter the comfort of your apartment building without looking back. Honestly, you should start coming home at different times. Just to throw him off in case he swings by again.

Today, you discovered that your other coworkers are ‘talking’. Due to your sad lack of friends, you have no way of getting in on what’s going on, so you’ve resorted to hanging around corners whenever you hear someone talking or walking around with headphones on so that people think you can’t hear them.

Oh you can definitely hear them.

After a few days of gathering information you have learnt that the coworker who has still not given up on his pursuit of taking you out for lunch is acting a bit weird. Honestly, you called it way back. The day his engagement broke, he started acting differently.

You know because you can see with your own eyes at a glance instead of having to rely on long term observation. It also doesn’t help that ‘it’ has become slightly darker. It’s no way as dark as Chrollo’s, but it is noticeable enough to be discernible.

Speaking of Chrollo, why is he at the pier? No, scratch that. Why is he looking at you?

Quickly, as to not make it seem suspicious, you grab your phone from your pocket, press it to your ear, and start acting like you just accepted a call. With that legendary tactic that got you out of countless social interactions in university, you turn on your heel and start walking in the opposite direction.

When confirmed that he isn’t following after you and is nowhere to be seen, you pocket the device and continue on your merry way. The wind is chilly, the moon is hiding bashfully behind a cloud, and a tub of ice cream has been picked up.

Goods in hand, you arrive at your apartment. It doesn’t surprise you that midnight comes quickly. It is only after the clock shows 12: 30 am that you release the unhealthy snack for the night from the freezer and sit in the extremely poorly lit bedroom and stare at your laptop screen.

This time, however, you aren’t gaming, only browsing through more than eleven opened tabs (you lost count after eleven) and growing more puzzled by the minute. The incident that may have led to your boss’ death is gaining attention, especially on the conspiracy theory websites. Some say that the entire thing was a result of the mafia’s activities, while some claim that a notorious band of thieves did that to steal everything.

You have no evidence or trails that your boss died while participating in that ‘buy and sell’, whatever that means, but it sure does make you suspicious because you recently found out one thing. His body wasn’t recovered.

The more you think about it the worse it gets. Despite not wanting to, you’ve doom scrolled for so long that you’ve ended up on a five year old conspiracy theory post claiming that a group called ‘The Phantom Troupe’ goes around the world stealing stuff. The comments are mostly people confirming it, some even claiming to be hunters and saying that it’s true and common knowledge among hunters.

If they’re that dangerous and destructive, why doesn’t the Hunter’s Association take action? It’s all just a bluff or an exaggeration.

Lights all off, you get up to place your laptop onto your desk, but catch sight of something moving in the corner of your eye. It was barely there, something black or dark, but knowing that you left your living room window open, you simply sigh.

It’s completely quiet. So quiet, in fact, that you can hear your own breathing. Setting aside the fact that the awareness forces you to have to manually breathe, you slam the window shut but rest your forehead against the cool glass. Eyes stare down at the empty neighbourhood, and you start wondering how you got here.

It sometimes feels like a dream. Highschool feels like just a few weeks ago, and yet here you are. It’s surreal.

Five minutes of reminiscence are all you allow yourself, hands promptly grabbing the deep green curtains and drawing them just to freeze when you catch sight of something shining right behind you for just one moment. Turning your head around at an unholy speed only gives you neck pain because there’s nothing there.

Curse you conspiracy theorists. You will be extremely mad if you have a nightmare or lose sleep.

Your coworker didn't show up today. It almost makes you feel sad because you can get lunch from outside without having to deal with him. Ah, but the food you brought…

Nevermind. You'll eat it at home. Shoving the lunchbox back into your bag, you grab your wallet and head to the elevator. Headphones are on like usual in hopes of catching any stray gossip from around you.

Oh and do you catch a big one. Your coworker isn't replying to any texts or calls. He's ignoring everyone. The guy from accounting said in the elevator that he might be hungover since he has a drinking habit. Honestly, you should try and advance your relationships with these people from simple greetings. They’re better information sources than the news.

Nevertheless, you breathe a sigh of relief, merrily heading outside the building to head to the little hole in the wall restaurant you've been eyeing for a while.

The streets are busy as usual, almost everyone's lunch hours overlapping at this particular moment, so it isn't a surprise that you bump into a few people while trying to make your way. Although… it is a surprise when you bump straight into Chrollo.

Headphones are promptly pulled down to hang around your neck, and you brace yourself to visually deal with the pressing feeling that’s constricting your chest. ‘It’ is there but the comfort of the crowd allows you to deal with it with less effort.

You still don’t know why he’s like that. You don’t know why ‘it’ is like that around him.

“I’m sorry,” he apologises, “we should really stop bumping into each other.”

It’s the middle of the day and he’s dressed like he’s going to a funeral. Long black coat, black hat extending over his forehead, black button down, black dress pants, black-

What the actual hell are those shoes? Is that big yellow thing a nail that was screwed in? What the fu-

“Is something the matter?” Head tilted to meet your downward gaze, Chrollo’s expectantly looking into your eyes. There’s a moment of silence between you both, but you fill it with action as you move to the side to not take up space on the street.

With a very noticeable deep breath, you sigh. “Nothing’s wrong.” Something is wrong. His thing around him is creeping you out and making you uncomfortable. “I’m just a little tired.” Make yourself seem uninterested. You don’t particularly like this guy, remember?

He nods. “I see.” A pause and the dreaded question is voiced. “Do you work somewhere around here?”

“Yes,” you reply simply.

“Is it your lunch break?”

“Yes…” you hesitate.

“Perfect.” Like how your luck with the male human specimen has always been, Chrollo proceeds to utter the most undesirable string of words. “If you haven’t eaten, I would love for you to join me for lunch. I found a restaurant and was heading there just now.”

Despite knowing it’s hard to get out of this, you still try. “Ah, actually, I only came for a walk. I brought food with myself.”

“It won’t go bad,” he negotiates. “Please. Just this once at least. I promise you’ll have fun.”

Chrollo’s voice is light, cheerful when he says that. You are tempted, but still want to go where you were originally heading. Maybe you could sneak to the restaurant you wanted after shaking him off somehow. But before that, just to confirm what he has in mind, you ask him where.

And being the joke that your luck is, it decides to practise its humour right now because he took the name of the restaurant you were heading to. It also doesn’t help that your eyes widened and Chrollo commented on it, saying that he ‘caught you’. Screw luck. Screw having your way. Life is just a horrible comedy show with dad jokes and shitty puns coming one after another.

A while later, you are seated across from a man who has broken the record of most uncomfortable you have ever been. This time, however, ‘it’ isn’t what’s making you uncomfortable. It’s the way he looks at you like he knows something or is trying to know something.

You hate to admit it but after spending more than five minutes in his presence, you’ve gotten used to the suffocating feeling.

Even if you would rather not be desensitised to it.

It’s quiet between you both, Chrollo choosing to observe you shamelessly while you try your utmost best to avoid looking at him or showing that you’ve noticed his blatant gaze. It’s not busy in here, so that doesn’t help either. Phone in your hand, you scroll through social media apps, tapping away countless stories of people out and about.

The silence got comfortable, but he opened his mouth.

“I forgot to ask,” he says, voice low, “what do you work as?”

Your eyes briefly flit up to meet his but return to the screen immediately. “Data analyst.”

“Data analyst? You must be quite intelligent,” he chuckles.

“If crying through eight semesters of school is smart, then I suppose so.”

There’s a smile in his voice when he speaks. “You got through it though. I count that as smart.”

Is he trying to flatter me? “Is that so?” You close the app and open a different one, indifference dripping from your tone. “What about you then? You didn’t say anything about yourself. For all I know, you could be a serial killer.” Fuck. Did I really just say that?

To your surprise, he laughs. The bastard laughs. “I’m afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you. I’m not a serial killer. I am, however, a fan of the arts.”

You remove your eyes from your phone screen, looking up at him even with your head tilted downwards. “You don’t look the part.”

“I could say the same about you.”

“Those in STEM are all weirdos,” you state. Eyes move back to your phone, and you’re briefly reminded of the awkward lunches and dinners you went through during freshman year when you didn’t have friends. “The arts ones are pretentious. You look sophisticated, more like a theatre kid.”

Forearms now resting on the table, Chrollo leans towards you, an action you do not notice. “I’m quite sure that sophisticated and pretentious are synonyms, and even if they aren’t, they’re similar enough to be.”

You sigh. “‘A pretentious person works at the appearance of things. They want the appearance of substance, while either not understanding or not caring about actual substance. Sophistication, on the other hand, implies an authentic accumulation of knowledge and/or experience, and the ability to apply those things in advanced ways.’”

“...”

“That’s what an internet search says.” You look up, eyes slowly rising to meet his, but are startled when you see him considerably closer than earlier. He’s leaning forward, and out of instinct, you lean backwards. “So,” you continue, albeit nervously, “you’re wrong.”

Unfazed, he chuckles. “That means you think I have ‘authentically accumulated knowledge’. Why, I’m flattered.”

Again, you physically cringe with a crinkled nose at his smile and tone. “I’m only stating my observation. There are no intentions behind it.”

“Still,” Chrollo smiles, “you did think positively of me-”

“Food’s here!” He stops speaking immediately at your interruption, only shaking his head a little when you start eating. There’s not much time left for your break, so you’d rather get done with it and get back as fast as you can.

Not having the luxury of savouring the food to your desire is sad, but you don’t think about it. ‘Next time for sure,’ you tell yourself. The fact that Chrollo didn’t let you pay for your portion just makes you want to get takeout next time. At least you won’t stare at him in horror again.

Even if slowly being desensitised to ‘it’ isn’t a preferable outcome.

Good news is that you haven’t seen Chrollo for a little more than a week. Bad news is that you haven’t seen your coworker for a little more than a week.

If you had a jenny for whenever a superior at work disappeared for more than one week, you’d have two jennys. That isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice. There’s got to be some kind of haunting going on. First your boss, then him? Another coworker? Another superior?

Sure, it’s been more peaceful without him here, but you don’t want another person to end up missing just to be pronounced dead. Neither is it good for the company’s reputation, nor is it good for the work environment. There’s already been word spreading around that they’ve started looking for his replacement.

Maybe that’s smart. Maybe… because not even the police have found any leads on his whereabouts yet. His entire apartment is just as it was, dirty laundry in the laundry basket, his phone and wallet still on his nightstand, bed not made, food left to cool still on the kitchen counter…

It’s a little eerie if you think about it.

Scratch that, it’s downright creepy. Where could he have gone? They even found half drunk bottles of different alcoholic drinks on his dining table. Did he get drunk and run off somewhere? Where could he have gone? Did he… get killed?

You have no idea of what’s going on. That is why you, being the detective that you are, have your laptop open in front of you at 1 a.m. as you scrounge the internet for any missing persons cases from this town. So far nothing noteworthy is coming up, the most being missing girls but nothing about a grown man disappearing to never be heard back from or seen again.

An hour or two of more searching bears no fruit and an additional hour of trying to sleep is rewardless. With great annoyance, you get up and throw on the biggest coat you own, something dark grey that almost reaches your ankles. Grabbing your keys and phone, you make the most foolish decision to take a walk at what you think is probably four in the morning.

The pier is silent. The only person you saw was a police officer on his bike drinking a hot cup of coffee.

It’s empty too, and cold. Is the nighttime really so serene? Hands are shoved into your pockets and your feet bring you to your destination on their own. It feels like walking on cotton, yet it doesn’t feel bad. It somehow feels soothing.

The empty pier’s cool wind blows through your hair. Enjoying this kind of loneliness is somewhat of a liberating experience. Did your missing coworker seek out something like this before he went missing? Did he want to feel the kiss of the cool late night wind on his cheeks? You lean over to look at the waves below, hair cascading around your face. You are met with the reflection of the starry night sky, and it isn’t long before you pull back.

Fifteen minutes of waddling around are all you allow yourself before pulling yourself back home. The keychains jingle when you turn the key in the keyhole, breathing a sigh of relief when you are finally back inside. Your feet immediately take you to your bedroom, hands grabbing the coat and throwing it to the nearest surface, and you immediately jump under the covers.

Face meeting something pink and smiling, you sigh again. “Goodnight Isasmo.” The pink axolotl’s smile remains and you cuddle the plushie before snuggling into the bed’s warmth. You hope sleep comes easy.

Three weeks. It has now been three weeks since your coworker has been missing. He has now been promoted to ‘missing person’ and his face, along with his cinnamon(?) hair, is now on every other newspaper or screen. It has also been three weeks since you last saw Chrollo, but you aren’t bothered by that. It’s actually a good sign. Never seeing him again is a favourable outcome.

Regardless, your coworker’s name is now permanently etched into your memory. Raaz Olen. That's his name. He has no direct family left, parents having passed away around a decade ago, and the only sibling alive is an older sister who wants nothing to do with him. It's a sad background if you think about it.

You sigh, turning off the computer screen before rubbing your eyes. Life has been uneventful these days. The most exciting thing you recently did was video chat with your old friends. Your best friend, the one who is about to replace your position in her life, suggested downloading a dating app because according to her you need some ‘action’. Were the eight semesters of action not enough? What’s so wrong with peace?

Yet in a moment of weakness, you caved into the idea and committed the act. A cropped group photo to show your arm awkwardly cropped out was uploaded and now there have been quite a few messages and matches. This unfortunate experience has only further proved why you say you have bad luck with the male human specimen. Their first move is to ask about your past relationships, and being salty over their shamelessness, you recount in detail just how agonising it was to be in love with what only hurt you back, to pine after what only reduced you to tears.

You deliberately left out the part that the object of your desire was your degree. At the very least, their uninterested replies were entertaining. Ah, such laughable insecurity. The app will go when you’ve had your fun. Until then, you suppose you’ll use it as a last ditch resort for entertainment.

If you do end up scoring a free dinner… well, no. You would rather not risk a date with a serial killer or worse, someone who wants a second date. The chances are slim, but never zero.

Another notification from the app dings, and you briefly check your phone to see a notification from someone who matched with you. There’s a “Hey! You’re very pretty,” as his message, and you almost scoff at the repetition. The amount of times you have been called ‘pretty’ by strangers on this app is laughable. Did they fall short of words? Maybe that’s just the standard compliment in the world of men.

You end up placing your phone face down, ignoring any following dings, and get back to work. There is only one hour left until you get to go home, and you would prefer not to leave this task for tomorrow to complete.

An old lady you see everyday on the train on your way back passed away. Despite having only exchanged greetings with her a few times and carried her bags for her at least a dozen times, you felt oddly sad when you heard of her death. Yes, you only knew her name and that her kids, her three sons, never called after moving away, but you felt like something had been taken when you heard.

Not something big but something small. Something you would not be bothered with by being gone but something you would definitely notice and feel the absence of. You took a day off to attend her funeral since it was hosted by the old age home she was living in, yet you ended up taking a day off after that as well.

Three boys, three men, lost a mother that day and none bothered to show up.

“Okay mama. I’ll pick you guys up from the airport. No, I don’t own a car. We’ll get a cab- it’s perfectly safe here! You’re not going to get mugged on the way from the airport, relax!”

More fretting comes from the other side, and you simply continue stirring the soup. The worries aren’t what annoys you. It’s the panic.

After around ten more minutes of reassurance, the call is disconnected and your soup is ready. It’s been a month since Raaz went missing, yet you cannot say you have moved on. It bothers you that a man like him can just vanish. Also, seeing his replacement walk around the office simply makes it worse. You prefer a person who would make you uncomfortable with interactions because of how ‘it’ seems to be rather than a person whose eyes wander where they aren’t supposed to.

Alas, on this fine Friday evening, soup has been cooked and a plan for your parents to visit you at the end of the year has been made. Your father agreed to use his annual leave to come visit you, and the only thing left is for the tickets to be purchased. If they like it here, you could convince them to move here! Maybe even look into your father working at the same place as you.

All is going according to plan! Now what to do about the guy who keeps pestering you to meet up…

You switch apps on your phone to see that he’s sent another few messages, mainly asking if you’re free this weekend. If you consider the sleep you need to catch up on and the show you want to binge, then you have no free time. Besides that, you really don’t feel like going out on a date. Should you just uninstall the app? Messing with the people you matched with has gotten tiresome. Perhaps you should.

Thus, with a few taps to your screen, your account on the application is deleted and the application itself is uninstalled. Honestly, you consider that a job well done. That calls for a reward; the reward being a coupon that can be redeemed anytime which grants you permission to do one stupid thing.

You know you would do the stupid thing regardless, but having a sort of system like that makes you feel less guilty when facing the consequences.

Being pulled into an alleyway with a hand firmly planted onto your mouth is not what you ever could have expected to happen to you on this Monday afternoon. Maybe your condemnation for toying with all those men on the dating app has caught up or maybe it’s one of those men here to force you to accept his advances.

Either way, you did not expect to start crying first thing when in a situation like this.

A hand strokes your arm, attempting to soothe you, as the other remains over your mouth. You can feel your assailant’s body heat and his breath over your ear when he leans in to whisper in your ear. “Be quiet and it’ll be painless for both of us,” he says.

You furiously nod, sensing the threat, and he immediately lets go. Legs promptly spring to run, but the hand grabbing your arm renders your efforts futile. It is when your struggling ends in you falling onto the ground and him twisting your arm behind your back painfully that you relax, repeatedly tapping the dirty ground with your palm to show that you give up.

There are no faces that come to mind when you think of who you could've angered to this point, so the surprise that floods your blood vessels when you see Raaz’s face under the black hoodie makes you almost dizzy. His hair is dirty and unkempt, facial hair clearly not maintained as he was always clean shaved, and there’s a wildness to his eyes. You try your best to not pay attention to how ‘it’ is darker than before. You liken the difference to how dark brown is compared to beige, but you realise that ‘it’ is more menacing than it ever was.

Raaz is clearly unstable, yet you yourself can’t stop shaking from the lingering adrenaline.

“Stay quiet and listen to me,” he orders. “I need a place to hide. [Name], you have to help me. You will help me.”

Hide? What does he need to hide from? You dust off your clothes as you stand, a groan leaving your throat when the soreness in your arm makes itself known. He immediately grabs it again, afraid you’d run, but let’s go when you angrily shrug it off. “What happened to you?” you ask. “Everyone thinks you’re dead.”

“I will be if you don’t help me.”

Taken aback, you try to think over the situation. Raaz, someone who you always thought was or had the potential to be unstable, is here, clearly frazzled and on the run from something or someone, and wants you to help him hide. What does he want? To stay at your apartment? Risk your life for him?

“I-if it’s that bad,” you start, voice already shaking, “I can’t help you.” The betrayal on his face makes ‘it’ stronger, and you freeze, barely able to get your words out. “If you’re not able to hide in such a big city, I-I don’t- I don’t think you’ll be safe anywhere I can keep you.”

Raaz grits his teeth, his hoodie now pulled down to reveal dirty cinnamon hair, and takes a step forward. Out of fear, and to maintain distance, you take one back but panic when you’re unable to lift your feet. One glance down and you see something shiny protruding from the ground wrapped around your ankles. It broke pavement to crawl around your feet and now they’re stuck to the ground.

You gasp when two arms settle on your shoulders firmly. With a shaky breath, you gather the courage to look up into Raaz’s crazed eyes, all colour draining from your face when his hands grab your face instead. Nails dig into your cheeks, harshly tugging it closer to his. When you retaliate by clawing at his wrists, he simply grabs your hair instead.

Tugging the strands, your head is pulled back, neck exposed. You can see him breathing heavily, ‘it’ growing more erratic and frightening. Like all rabbits stuck in a trap, you thrash, attempting to free yourself from his grip, to miraculously free your feet and be able to run into the safety of the public street.

“You-” he pauses, eyes widening. Your hair is immediately let go of, and he whips his head at record speed, looking over his shoulder. The panic is oozing from his countenance, hands shaking and lips trembling. You think you’re looking at a man running away from death just to be caught up with at every corner and turn.

Curses spill from his mouth, and he turns completely. You feel the grip on your feet loosening, and taking the opportunity, you pry your feet out of the grip. Raaz has still turned his back to you, head moving as he searches for something. When he does not react to your escape from your restraints, you run.

A hand barely grabs your hair again, but you are out of the alleyway before his pursuit is successful. Feet hastily take you back to the office building, and the first thing you do is run to the nearest bathroom. No one is inside, and you take the opportunity to catch your breath, letting all tears escape from your eyes before you wash your face and fix your appearance. The adrenaline is still in your system, and you’re left not knowing what to do.

How the hell is Raaz still alive? And what is he running from? Why does he have a target on his back?

You do not know him beyond a coworker who was not over his relationship ending. Who knows? Maybe his ex-fiance did what she did because she found something out and didn’t want to risk staying with him.

Either way, you can’t get the look he had on his face out of your mind.

Embarrassment is all you can feel when you exit the police station with a ‘call emergency services if you see him again’. Why don’t they understand that you might not be alive to call emergency services if you see him again? Bitterness is in your mouth as you hop on the train to get home. It’s dark now, and you would be lying if you said you weren’t scared.

You honestly don’t know what you did wrong to have gotten caught up in all that. Regardless, you’re looking over your shoulder as you walk home from the station, adrenaline coursing through you as you make your way through. It’s when you’re home and have checked all the rooms and windows that you breathe a sigh of relief.

Whatever the hell happened, happened. You’ll keep emergency services on speed dial and try your best to dial them if anything happens again.

If only sleep comes easy after all this.

It’s been a week since your encounter with Raaz. Today is Tuesday, the previous week’s Monday being the fateful day. You’ve since been bringing lunch from home like before and find it a little funny how Raaz is the one who’s making you bring leftovers again.

Anyway, to the matter at hand. Someone’s been inside your apartment.

You can tell because you left a pencil lead in the gap between the door and door frame of your closed bedroom door. It was still closed when you got home, but the pencil lead was broken and on the floor which is something that could not have happened unless someone opened the door with the lead still in the gap.

You had been doing that ever since the incident with Raaz and today is the day your paranoia proved to have grounds. Now what are you supposed to do? Live with the information that someone has been inside your home?

Isasmo stares at you from under the covers, his dopy black eyes peeking out. You’ve checked the rest of your apartment and other than Isasmo and you, there is no one. Or at least no one you are aware of. Maybe you should look into moving.

Should you inform the police? Maybe you should, but what would you say? “I was paranoid so I put pencil lead in the gap between my door like a psychopath and guess what? It was broken when I got home! I’m being stalked!” They might laugh at you or place you under observation, the latter of which is preferable.

You end up sucking up the courage and going to file a report, a picture of the broken pencil lead on the ground being your only piece of evidence. It’s an uneventful walk, one where you are completely alert and looking over your shoulder as you get to the nearest station. After being ridiculed for being ‘delusional’ and ‘overthinking’, they agree to file a report and ‘look into it’ when threatened to find your dead body in your apartment one day. Seriously, what does a girl have to do to be believed? Die?

You shake your head on the way home as you think over your conversation at the police station. The older officers ridiculed you but thankfully a younger one got them to at least file a report. Though you’ve been told you’ll be contacted if their investigation yields results, you doubt there will be one to begin with. Well, at least the pencil lead was intact when you got home. That is a relief.

It’s been a little more than a week since you filed a report at the police station and none of your pencil leads have been broken again. You would have thought the first one to break might’ve been done by something else had you not noticed that you’re almost out of pencil lead. You had counted 7 in the package just this morning and now there are 4…

Who’s messing with you? Do they think it’s funny? What if you’re paranoid? Are you sure you counted properly?

A sigh leaves your lips as you drop backwards onto the bed. Is this really what you have been reduced to? Curse whoever is doing this. The police have not contacted you again, so you went there yourself today and they said they didn’t find anything. As if they actually searched.

It makes you mad, yet you can’t do anything. Since there hasn’t been anything besides the pencil leads in the closed doors’ gaps, you chalk it up to suspicion. Whether you are delusional or the authorities, only time can tell.

Work has been slow lately, and you are reminded every single day of how boring your life has become. There has been no new gossip circulating and your attempts at making any new friends have not bore fruit. Your old friends have also started contacting you less as they’re busy in their own lives. Sure, you hardly have time yourself with how your job takes up two thirds of your day but you also don’t have a social life. That’s why you basically have nothing to do besides work and binge watch stuff.

Goodness, are you turning into your father? The temptation to download the dating app again whispers into your ear sometimes, but you fight it. You will only do so when you are seriously looking for someone, not when you are looking for fun.

Bag on your shoulders, you pocket your phone and head to the elevator. Despite the fact that there isn’t much work, it’s dark when you’re done. Maybe you’ve gotten slow, not work.

The elevator doors open and you promptly leave, heading straight for the train station. It's an uneventful journey, and you choose to fill the silence by plugging in your earbuds. You step out of the train station, adjust your bag again, and head for the supermarket. The grocery list on your phone is pulled out, music flowing into your ears as you go about getting groceries.

Now with two plastic bags in hand, you make your way home. If you had restocked milk earlier - and not gotten lazy - you wouldn't have to haul two heavy plastic bags back home. Delivery is an option, but you won't be at home during the day to receive them. If only they offered delivery during the weekend.

Your phone rings, but you don't check who's calling. It's probably your mother, and it would be inconvenient to stop and drop the bags to pull your phone out. With a sigh, you continue walking. However, your trek is cut short when a hand grabs your wrist in a crushing grip, and pulls you closer. The music is still blasting in your ears, and you start sucking in a breath to scream only to stop when the grip turns almost bone breaking.

One look and you see Raaz's face under the black hood. He narrows his eyes at you and pulls you with him, bags still in hand and earbuds still in. When at his desired destination - a random alley like last time - you are pushed in front of him and you almost fall face first. You brace yourself and end up staggering but the bags fall and slide in opposite directions.

“Bad news, [Name].”

You barely hear him, hands reaching to pull out the earbuds and pocket them. Turning on your heel, you face him. He doesn't look any better than last time, only worse. ‘It’ is quieter, but you can sense how erratic it is. It feels like he's hiding how unstable he is only to do a poor job.

“You're going to go down with me,” he smiles. “Since you refused to help me hide, you now have a target on your back too.”

Disbelief contorts your expression into one of disgust. He's bluffing. He has to be. “Stop lying, Raaz. I'm not stupid and I'm not going to help you.”

He laughs, loud and sad. “That's what your mistake was. You never said yes to lunch and then I… then I ended up drinking again because another woman I love didn't want me.” A hand runs through his dirty hair before it slides down his hood. “I drank so much I bumped into the devil I was running from. And then… ah, fuck. I ended up telling him who I was thinking it was just another guy at the bar.”

Raaz looks you in the eye, and you take a step back from the sheer intensity only to find your feet restrained to your ground like during the previous encounter. It baffles you, but before you could question it or let alone panic, he's talking again.

“Now you're going to go down with me unless you help me. I'll let you go. I-I’ll get over you and Liza if you help me. You won't be harmed… probably.” He shrugs at the last part, and you find yourself not believing him at all.

Still, you prod further in hopes of making a false promise and being able to get away. There's no need to reason with him to go to the authorities. If it could've been helped, he would've gone there himself. “And just what,” you ask, “are you asking of me?”

“Money,” he replies instantly. “I burned all my savings trying to run. I need money so I can get a ticket and get the hell out of here.”

“I don't even know what you're talking about. How do you expect me to trust you?”

Your question makes ‘it’ flare up for a second before calming down, and Raaz doesn't miss the way your eyes widened for a minute. “I suspect you can see things. I'm right, aren't I?”

“Answer the questi-”

“Your legs,” he deadpans. A finger raises to point at your feet, and he continues. “I restrained them. Do you know how?”

You gulp, but humour him anyway. “How?”

He smiles. “I can manipulate metal.” A beat of silence passes before he talks. “That's why I'm like this. Someone wants me dead for this and I know he can do better but he's too busy fucking with me to make it quick.” Raaz inhales sharply, running a hand through his hair again. “I don't even know what he wants by dragging it out, but I'm going to make sure he regrets it.”

“You aren't even sure I'll be okay if I help you,” you state.

However, he just smiles at your complaint. “When someone's too busy chasing the big fish, they ignore the little ones.”

“Fine,” you concede. If it’ll get this psycho off your back, you'll give him money. “How much do you need?”

“Half a million jenny,” he says, clarifying when your jaw hangs open, “and I'm being generous. I'm going to have to fly illegally and it's going to take money.”

“I… I don't have much.”

“You're a data analyst, [Name]. You'll get your bonus after two months. Do something, anything.”

You suck in a breath. Maybe you could take some out of your credit card and some as a loan. You really don't want to pay interest, but you'll have to if you want this problem solved. “Okay.” The deal is sealed and you are sent on your merry way with an address typed into your notes app.

You can't believe you just agreed to that.

It's dark and quiet. The taxi dropped you off a few blocks away, leaving you to walk to the warehouses that once used to be rented by people for storage. The people running the business sold it off to someone who never bothered to continue it. Now you're here, cold and scared as you stand outside the dilapidated structure.

The garage door opens on its own, Raaz's face peeking from the darkness inside. His eyes light up at the sight of you. “You're here.”

You're ushered inside despite your protests. All you wanted to do was throw the bag of money to his feet and be back on your merry way but you just had to be pulled inside by a freaking metal pole of all things. Now you're here, standing with your feet restrained to the ground as Raaz counts to make sure you brought as much as he asked.

The only problem is, he's now talking on the phone and he just mentioned how he's got ‘both the girl and the cash’. Oh, and now there's something that's restraining your hands and despite how much you wiggle and pry your hands apart, it doesn't budge.

When Raaz glances your way from staring at all the money inside the bag, he just smiles. “I'm sorry for dragging you into this, [Name], but a man's gotta do what he's gotta do.”

Anger is the first thing that makes itself known because you took out a loan with interest for this dunce and he goes ahead to stab you in the back. Maybe you should've told the police about him. Shit. You shouldn't have been so stupid. But it is also the police's fault for never taking you seriously. If they had, you would've actually sought them out a third time.

“What are you doing?” Your voice grows louder, angrier and more desperate. “Let me go! You said you wanted money and you got it so let me go!”

Raaz clicks his tongue, and what he says next makes things clearer. “Don't get me wrong, someone has been after me but if I do as the boss says, he'll get me out of Yorbia safely.” Something fades in his eyes as he continues. “It's not like it's my first time. If I didn't have this side gig, I wouldn't be alive right now. There are too many people after you when you're like this.”

Something hard and solid slithers up your body and covers your mouth, cutting short any words from your mouth. Raaz stands, the light behind him hitting his back to make him look more menacing. “You'll be taken soon. I asked them not to hurt you and sell you immediately. Though cruel, it's a small price to pay for my own protection.”

You can hear an engine rumble outside, and a buzz in his pocket is all he needs to start stepping towards the garage door behind you. He moves while looking at you, hand awkwardly reaching behind him to pull up the garage door as his eyes remain fixed on your body. “Tie her up quickly. It'll wear off if I look away so make it-”

Thump.

Something heavy drops onto the ground and immediately the metal grip on you loosens a little. You can hear footsteps and a kick before the sound of the door closing. It's agonising, being forced to be still and helpless while something happens behind your back that is definitely not in your favour.

More footsteps and a figure in black stalks towards the bag of money only to ignore it entirely and head for the door in the back. You take the opportunity to fight against the restraints, wiggling and trying to move your arms but it's metal and you only end up exhausting yourself. You hear a sigh from the other room and freeze.

When the person is back, you are more confused and helpless when you see Chrollo's face. This time, there is nothing covering his forehead and you see something black covered by his bangs. It's when he steps closer that you make it out to be a tattoo of some kind.

“Your involvement was a surprise, but a welcome one,” he says. ‘It’ is calm and his voice is even calmer. He steps even closer, now standing just two steps away. “I had thought you were working with him, so imagine my surprise when it turns out he was using you. Or trying to, at least.”

You make a face but the metal wrapped around your mouth stops you from being able to convey it properly. Chrollo smiles at the display, the corners of his lips curling upwards out of amusement. “Do you need help?” His question only makes you grimace. “I'll free you if you tell me about your ability.”

You have no idea what the hell he's talking about, but you nod anyway, desperate to have the rigid metal wrapped around you gone. Chrollo steps forward and you expect him to reveal a chainsaw or some other tool, so it's perfectly reasonable when you shriek as his hand grabs the metal and literally rips it away from your body. As he pries away the last of it, you end up gaping at him, mouth wide open as you stare at him in disbelief.

Hands hanging by your sides, your features contort into one of fear as soon as he stands. Chrollo is now looking you in the eye expectantly and you have no idea what to answer him. Thus, you take a deep breath, confidence coming from the fact that ‘it’ is still calm and not threatening at all. Your lips part to speak and you briefly catch a hint of satisfaction is his grey eyes. “Do you… come here often?”

Chrollo blinks, once then twice. He raises a brow. “Pardon me?”

“You know… do you hang out here frequently?”

Confusion grows on his face, but he quickly recovers. “No. I don't.” A few moments of silence pass and he speaks up with a sigh. “You're completely clueless about the circumstances, aren't you?”

Embarrassment heats up your cheeks and you look down at your shoes as you nod. Nervousness makes you bite your lip. You were about to be who-knows-what by Raaz before Chrollo strolled in casually. Speaking of, where's Raaz? You turn around, eyes falling onto Raaz lying on the floor and a hat discarded next to him. A realisation hits you, a hand on your shoulder disturbing your thoughts.

“What do you make of this situation, [Name]? What do you think is going on?”

You carefully eye him. Not sensing a threat, you voice your thoughts. “Raaz… was involved in illegal activities. It's why he disappeared. He was running from someone too and the people he worked for promised that he'd be safe as long as he did what they asked.”

Chrollo hums. “And what did they ask of him?”

“A woman to sell off…?”

“You sound unsure,” he smiles. The hand on your shoulder slips down to your wrist, thumb massaging the skin. “He was involved in human trafficking,” Chrollo reveals. “His fiancé didn't cheat on him. She was trafficked.”

Your eyes widen in surprise, more pieces of the puzzle coming out of nowhere. Nevertheless, the most surprising thing is how Chrollo is here. The hand circled around your wrist is wiggled out of, and the question on your mind is voiced. “How are you here?”

Chrollo tilts his head at you. “I could ask you the same.” When you raise a brow at him, he chuckles. “I'm here for your coworker over there. He told you about someone who was after him. That would be me. However, I'm not after his life.”

You raise your brow higher, prompting Chrollo to continue. “You’re a Nen user, right?” When you ask him what he's talking about, he grows more confused. “You're a Nen user without the awareness of being one? Interesting.”

A hand finds its way to his chin, but Chrollo is lost in thought for only a few moments. “What do you suppose I should do with your coworker? He used to ask you out, correct?”

“Yes? Does that matter?”

“Perhaps,” he smiles.

You gulp, sensing a kind of game he's playing with you. “Don't hurt him. Hand him over to the police. They'll… they'll know what to do with him.” Your request is heard, but Chrollo does not seem to care for it because he clicks his tongue and pushes his hands into the pockets of his black trenchcoat.

Crouching down in front of Raaz, he grabs his hand and you look away. A moment later, you look again and Raaz's palm is flat against the cover of a book in Chrollo's hand. Where the hell that book came from, you have no idea.

“Now that that's done,” he says, now moving to stand, “what to do with you…”

Your blood runs cold at the question. If this situation is anything to go by, Chrollo is not any better than Raaz. In fact, he may be infinitely worse. Regardless, you still do not feel any kind of threat from him, ‘it’ being considerably less suffocating than it was the last time you had met him. Perhaps it is the lingering adrenaline that makes it seem so, but you are not afraid of him at the moment. Thus, being the person that you are, you try at making him spare you.

“Maybe,” you start, “you could, you know, let me go home. I'm not going to say or do anything. I couldn't be bothered about this. I'll take the jenny I was scammed out of and go home. Or you could keep the money if you want! As long as I get to go back home.”

Your negotiation attempt makes Chrollo think. He spends a few moments pondering over the situation, eyes still focused on you. When he parts his lips to speak, you have already prepared yourself to not be let go. “I'll let you go if you agree to meet me tomorrow evening. I suppose I can think over what to do with you in the meantime,” Chrollo says.

The offer makes you take a step back. “Really? You won't scam me like Raaz did?”

“I can make a promise if it eases your mind.”

You bite the inside of your cheek. He's smiling at you teasingly and you in no way are feeling any sense of danger from him. Begrudgingly, you agree. “Fine. Where should I meet you?”

“Give me your number. I'll send you the location.”

You make a face at the request, but surrender when he pesters you with promises of no ill will. An hour later, you are at your apartment, the bag of jenny still with you as you start planning to immediately pay off the loan you took out.

It is 7 pm. You stand somewhere to the side where Chrollo had asked you to come, the man in question nowhere to be seen. He asked you to come around 7 pm and you ended up getting here at 6:36 pm. It’s been 24 minutes since you’ve been standing here in wait.

Though you’ve been waiting alone with your thoughts for so long, the dread starts settling in now. It does not help that you can feel a familiar suffocating aura before you turn to look at its source casually strolling up to you on the busy street. It also does not help that your alarm had been explicitly painted on your face as soon as he was within a 6 feet radius.

“I was expecting you to not come,” he says. “This is certainly a surprise.” Chrollo smiles at you again, the curve of his lips somehow more menacing than the darkness around him. There’s a hat covering his forehead like before, you note. It seems that he certainly wants to hide the tattoo in public.

“I suppose my life is on the line. I would rather not walk around with another target on my back. You don’t seem like someone I would want after me, if Raaz’s condition was anything to go by.”

“An excellent deduction. I’m not someone you would want coming after you, at least not for your life or ability.” You gulp his clarification, proceeding to ask what he concluded for the course of action he must take. Chrollo chooses to let a few moments of silence pass, listening to the bustle on the busy street before replying, “I’ll tell you in due time. First…”

That is how almost half an hour later you are sitting at a restaurant, Chrollo across you, and a menu in front of you. What the hell is going on, you have no idea. You came here to find out if you’re going to be kidnapped or killed. Not to be taken out for dinner. When asked what you’d like to have, you insist that you aren’t hungry, something that Chrollo makes it a point to ignore as he ends up ordering for you. It is even more disorienting when it ends up being something you’ve had multiple times for lunch during the workdays.

“So,” you start, nervousness seemingly dripping from your countenance, “I suppose the final verdict will be given for dessert?” When Chrollogives no answer, you continue. “At least give me a hint. Death or imprisonment?”

He blinks at you. “It’s a surprise.” With that simple statement, he is back to observing you, one hand on the table and tracing the rim of the glass tumblr in front of him. “I hope Isasmo isn’t worried about your circumstances.”

Ah shit, he remembers. “Nope. He doesn’t know.”

“You hid everything? I suppose that’s reasonable. An axolotl wouldn’t be able to help in any way.”

Your eyes widen, heartbeat picking up. “You… how do you know?”

Chrollo’s response is simple, but it isn’t any less chilling. “You talk to him everyday.” He’s still watching you, eyes crinkling at the corners from his amused smile. It’s maddening having to be on the receiving end of this. When you do not grace him with a response, Chrollo does not say anything further as well.

The silence is excruciatingly painful. Chrollo's gaze, however, is more uncomfortable than being called out in class for an answer and not knowing it. Thus, a bright idea pops into your mind, a legendary question that easily makes any conversation better. “So,” you start, bracing yourself, “you like jazz?”

The only reaction you get is speechlessness before Chrollo clears his throat. “Not particularly. You?”

You shake your head. “Not my style.”

Resting your face in your palm, you look away, eyes anywhere but him. The surroundings seem more interesting, the two couples and a few lone people in the background having more to tell than the person you thought was going to end up hurting you. Well, it’s not your fault you got caught in the crossfire of whatever was going on.

“What,” Chrollo says, perking you up, “was your relationship with Raaz?” He’s tracing the rim of the glass again, something that bothers you because of the discrepancy between the action and his expression. Regardless, you answer truthfully. There is no guarantee he already knows and is simply testing your truthfulness.

“He was my coworker. He used to ask me out for lunch numerous times. That’s all.”

“And did you go to lunch with him?”

You shake your head. “No.”

Chrollo simply makes a thinking face before he’s back to normal again, hands sliding underneath the table. Silence once again hangs in the air, the tension thick enough to be cut through with a knife. You are completely unaware of Chrollo’s aims and motives, yet he knows you more than you could have ever thought.

Which reminds you…

“Chrollo.” He perks up at the call of his name instantly. You continue. “Someone was most definitely coming into my apartment during my absence. Was that you?”

The smile he gave you told you everything. A groan comes from your throat, the annoyance over being paranoid and doubting yourself while being sure that something was amiss catching up. “And just why were you breaking and entering?”

He clicks his tongue. “I thought you were working with Raaz.”

“Yet when you didn’t find anything the first time, you still persisted.”

“New evidence can pop up anytime,” he shrugs.

How someone can be so nonchalant over something like this, you have no idea. Sure, you were worried at first but annoyed later on, but still!

“So have you decided what to do with me?”

After a moment of contemplation, you are given a smile and a promise to be informed of your inevitable outcome after dinner. Yet after dinner you are taken to a nearby pier with no sign of the final verdict being given anytime soon. Now settled on a bench next to Chrollo, the little distance between you both resulting from your death glares whenever he slid close to you, you decide to enjoy the cool breeze before asking him again.

And you do. You ask him again what he’s decided to do with you, and all you are given before the knowledge of your inevitable end is a smile and a tilted head. This is when you notice how long Chrollo’s hair is.

“I was considering an… ‘arrangement’,” he says. The words cause your heart to start beating faster. “I wouldn’t harm a hair on your head or your family if you agree.”

He pauses, gauging your reaction, and you start praying he does not turn you into some kind of personal slave. “If,” he continues, making you start fidgeting with your hands out of nervousness, “you agree, you’ll live comfortably without a care in the world.” Another pause and the anticipation grows. The sound of chatter in the background is completely mute and the wind has already stopped blowing.

“What I’m proposing is… well, you allow me to court you. I will take the necessary steps, and you simply have to accept.”

The minute Chrollo utters those words, you freeze. A reply is on the tip of your tongue, and you know it is not a wise idea yet you open your mouth anyway. “If you wanted to ask me out so badly, you could’ve just walked up to me and asked instead of threatening to kill me or my family.”

All you receive in response is a shrug before he formulates a reply. “Would you have said yes if I asked under normal circumstances?”

“No.”

“Then my point has been proven.”

You bite the inside of your cheek. Maybe you should test the waters. “And what if I said no? What then?”

Chrollo leans back on the backrest, now more comfortable before he continues his negotiation with you. “Was Raaz’s predicament not enough of an example?” The wind blows again, and he leans forward, eyes on the water. “Not that I would prefer that, but you understand what I’m referring to.”

And you do understand what he’s referring to. You understand because you saw what became of Raaz. Nevertheless, you need more information to negotiate. Perhaps you might be able to find a way out during his ‘courting’. “Are you a homeowner,” you ask. “And do you live in the house you own?”

Chrollo looks at you from the periphery of his vision, suspicion making him more alert. “No, but I can purchase a home anytime.”

“Alright,” you nod. “And do you have a stable income?”

“As long as the world has treasure and resources, I will.”

“I see.” You pause, thinking of more questions to ask. “What about family? How much family do you have? Any siblings?”

“None,” he replies, “Any other questions?” He’s looking at you directly now. “Or would you like to leave some things to be discovered later on?”

You purse your lips at the comment. So he has money and no family. Sounds mighty suspicious or concerning. Depends how you look at it. You’re looking at it both ways. Silence settles once again as you think over what to say next. Chrollo seems content to leave you with your thoughts, as he doesn’t make any move to break the silence.

But when the silence is broken, it is broken by your capitulation. Chrollo is pleased as expected, yet there is no sign of relief or contentment on your end. Perhaps you could purposely make the relationship fail, and then he might let you go. At the very least, this arrangement is better than having your parents and yourself hunted down by a criminal.

It has been 3 entire weeks since you accepted Chrollo’s conditions. Your job is going fine, boring as usual, and seeing Raaz’s replacement still reminds you of the feeling of cold metal restraining you and keeping you in place.

It’s maddening, having to relive that feeling everyday. However, what’s worse is seeing Chrollo inside your apartment numerous times a week, mostly when you come home from work. He hasn’t made a move to stay the night yet, always excusing himself to ‘work’ or saying something along the lines of you not being ready for that step. It’s not that you’re ungrateful for it, but you don’t like being indirectly told that he pulls the strings and holds the power.

That’s why you’re here. Everything in the past several weeks has led to this and the tension and stress of those weeks has boiled down to reveal someone very tired and just a little spiteful. You knew he was someone to stay away from, and you did stay away from him. Or tried to at least.

“You said you wanted to speak to me about something?”

The devil has voiced your intentions, and you are now obliged to jump straight to the point. Having just got off work, you’re tired and a bit annoyed due to the lack of proper sleep. Despite that, you suck in a breath, continue strolling with him in the park, and give your response.

“We should break up,” you say, a sense of finality in your words that conveys your message that you shan’t be swayed in your decision. “Or stop this, considering this isn’t a normal relationship.” You had refused to hold his hand today, saying you want to keep them shoved into your pockets since they’re cold. They are currently sweating. “I don’t love you, and I don’t feel any bit comfortable. Continuing this would just make the both of us miserable.”

The break up dialogue sounded better in the TV shows you’ve watched, but you let it slide and continue. “Let’s just… see other people, okay? You’re probably just lonely. You said you have no family, and I can’t be the replacement. I don’t feel it working. I don’t feel loved and I sure as hell can’t love back.”

There is silence before Chrollo stops in front of you. He turns, facing you, and you are suddenly reminded of the children playing nearby and your bag being on his shoulders. “Is it because you remember the circumstances? If that’s the case, I can make you forget them.”

“What? No, that’s not what I meant.” You flex your sweating palms inside your pockets, nervousness skyrocketing. “I just… it’s not working Chrollo.” There is desperation in your voice now. “You may find this arrangement fulfilling, but it’s not the case for me. I don’t even know what you do for a living! I don’t know your last name and-” You cut yourself off. You’ve gone off-topic.

“What I’m saying is,” you continue, “I’m certain this isn’t working out. We should go our separate ways.”

Silence once again settles, but it is soon broken by the sound of footsteps. With your head down, you see Chrollo’s shoes when he walks up to you. A hand on your chin raises your head to meet his eyes, and you gulp out of nervousness when his lips part to speak. “The condition was that I would court you and you would accept. There was no room for rejection to begin with.”

He pauses, looking for any reaction on your face. When he fails, he continues. “If you don’t feel loved, you should communicate instead of breaking up. A relationship thrives when both parties communicate, right?”

You brush off his hold, lips twisting in slight disgust. “You aren’t getting my point-”

“Explain it to me then.”

“I just did.”

“Your argument lacks claim and reason. It isn’t even an argument to begin with.”

A frustrated groan and you bring your hands out of your pockets. With a few slaps to your cheeks, you try again. “I don’t like you and I can’t stand you. If this wasn’t something that came as a result of what happened to Raaz and I met you as a stranger and ‘it’ wasn’t as creepy as it was, I might’ve given you the time of day but none of it happened!” Chrollo looks at you like you’ve grown two heads during your outburst, but you do not care. “Chrollo, you creep me out and I don’t like you. I can’t accept you and fall in love with you. What more do you not understand?”

He blinks, once then twice, before grabbing your shoulders. The action makes you freeze, the suffocating feeling from ‘it’ growing and becoming more visible and menacing now prevailing. “Elaborate on ‘it’.” The grip on your shoulders slides down to your arms but you do not feel any less threatened. Maybe that’s why he never stayed the night. You’re too frightened at times.

“There’s… something around you.” Revealing this feels wrong, but you know you have no choice now. “It’s dark, the darkest I’ve seen yet on any person. It’s scary and overwhelming and I don’t like it. Sometimes it’s calm and tolerable and sometimes it’s huge. It doesn’t have anything to do with emotions, or that’s what I think.”

Chrollo hums, letting you go. ‘It’ does not simmer down until a few more minutes pass, and he only speaks after it does. “It’s your Nen ability. You cannot see Nen, but your ability is an exception.”

“What do you mean?”

Chrollo glances around before stepping closer. He points to his right palm with his eyes and in a moment, a book suddenly just appears in his hold. Any questions on your end are silenced with the excuse of being in a public space. The only answer you get that evening is that the book is Chrollo’s ability.

Any further probing is told off immediately. Chrollo does not wish to say anything further, changing the topic promptly and continuing to converse like you did not just attempt to break up with him. The lingering fear from his threats slowly starts seeping in, and you once again grow bewildered over how your circumstances have changed.

You're in the kitchen when Chrollo says you need to pack your bags. He had gotten up from the living room sofa and strolled into the kitchen when he broke the news. Now, as he stands in front of you, your back to the counter, and recounts the essentials you need to pack, you blankly nod. Everything is a blur. You cannot control your actions, only watch them like a third party.

He turns his back to you now, sighing at your silence, but before he can take a step forward, you plunge a knife into his back. The silence is deafening, but when you pull out the blade to see your handiwork, you are greeted with only a handle.

The blade sits in Chrollo's palm, and he's looking directly at you.

All your muscles are frozen, and you cannot discern whether the ringing in your ears is from the adrenaline or from being stared down. Minutes pass this way, and it is only when you throw the handle somewhere to the side that it subsides.

“Pack the essentials,” Chrollo says, his voice cutting through the silence. You’re now noticing the TV is turned off. “We’ll leave tomorrow.”

You just noticed Chrollo’s palm is unscathed. How odd.

#yandere chrollo lucilfer #yandere chrollo x reader #yandere chrollo #chrollo x reader #chrollo lucifer x reader #yandere hunter x hunter

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luviemax · 4 months

Text

get him back! (begin again p2)

a/n: part 2!!! woohoo!! inspired by this song -> oscar piastri x fem!reader, mentions of ex!carlos sainz, reader has no faceclaim warnings: none really tbh

part one

part three

masterlist

private chat: oscar pastry

you: so... let's get this straight, you want us to fake date to make carlos jealous?

oscar pastry: bingo.

you: sounds crazy... let's do it!

yourusername has posted!

liked by oscarpiastri, landonorris and 81,239 others

yourusername: shoelaces and pastries...

oscarpiastri: 👟 -> yourusername liked this comment!

landonorris: where's my invite??? -> yourusername: you're unwanted. your presence is disturbing. -> oscarpiastri: i second that -> landonorris: THIS IS BULLYING

logansargeant: call me now. -> yourusername: 🥸🥸

user1: Y/N SOFTLAUNCH???? HELLO????

group chat: ROOKIES ON TOP!!!

logan 🦅: Y/N??? logan 🦅: please explain yourself???

fredrick bestie: wait what's happening fredrick bestie: i am quite lost

logan 🦅: Y/N softlaunched some guy on her instagram 😨

fredrick bestie: WHAT

phone call

"Hello?" Logan answers the phone, slightly puzzled by the abrupt call. "Hey mate," The familiar Aussie accent of Oscar Piastri flooded the speaker. "Let's chat. Are you free?" "Yeah, absolutely. Bring it on." "So..."

"So you're telling me that you and Y/N are going to fake date in public to get back at Carlos? But you secretly like her and this is all just a ploy for you to get a step closer to actually dating her?" Logan repeats the details of the half an hour long phone call that he just unwillingly participated in. "Bingo." Oscar replies. "That's wild man," Logan laughs, "Good luck with that."

oscarpiastri has posted!

liked by landonorris, logansargeant and 193,31 others

oscarpiastri: break's almost over, ready to get back on the track! ⚡

landonorris: oscar you're my idol please reply -> oscarpiastri: shut up -> landonorris: meanie :(

yourusername: hi i like your ducks :) -> oscarpiastri: thanks! they have names: tati, james and jeffree :)

user1: OSCAR WHO IS THAT GIRL????

user2: @/yourusername also 'coincidentally' posting a softlaunch... seems fishy to me... -> user3: is it any of ur business tho -> yourusername liked this comment!

#oscar piastri #oscar piastri x reader #op81 #oscar piastri x you #f1 x reader #carlos sainz #carlos sainz x reader #cs55 #carlos sainz x you

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marlynnofmany · 3 months

Text

Food Choices

Normally when I’m in a room with the entire crew of the courier ship, it’s either for an important debriefing by the captain or because of some emergency. We’d never all been at a restaurant together before. I kept having moments of worry that the ship was unattended, and having to remind myself that it was fully locked. Any of our biometrics could unlock it, and no one else would get past the hatch. It was fine. We could celebrate how good business had been — with the captain paying for everyone’s food — and there was no need to fret.

It was still bizarre, though. Almost as bizarre as some of the food I’d seen on other tables as we made our way to this one. The city was a cultural hub like few others. (Well, probably like many others, but they were very proud of themselves on that count. And this restaurant was a fine example.)

“The server will bring appetizers first,” said Captain Sunlight, scaly hands folded on the table in front of her with infinite dignity. “There’s no charge for these, and the server will likely decide for you what you want. They were pretty good at guessing last time I was here.”

“We shall see,” Zhee said with a flick of his antennae. He sat on an angled mat instead of a chair, since the restaurant had seating accommodations for all body types, including praying-mantis-shaped bug aliens. The mats were even adjustable, which was good because Trrili was taller than he was. She sat on the other side of the circular table — whether that was for more elbow room for the pinchers, or to make a maximum tripping hazard for people walking past, I couldn’t say. Either seemed in character for her.

“What’s the panel in the floor for?” Paint wanted to know. She sat next to the captain, scales a shiny orange to Sunlight’s yellow. I think she polished them before leaving the ship. She pointed now at the seam that I hadn’t noticed: a smaller circle inside the open center of the table.

Captain Sunlight said, “That’s the server’s entrance. They bring the food up from the kitchen downstairs.”

“Oh, nice!”

At my left, Mimi the mechanic grumbled about what an unnecessarily flashy choice that was, and how the restaurant had better keep on top of their maintenance. He gestured with his tentacles as he talked, sounding like he spoke from experience. “Anything that moves can stop moving, and usually at the worst time.” He also sounded like he gargled with engine grease, but he always sounded like that.

Fast-moving tentacles from further down turned out to be Wio and Mur, who’d discovered a game I didn’t recognize on the digital menu panel set into the tabletop. They were slapping away at something with competitive speed, and Mur seemed to be winning. Which was probably nice for him, given how often he lost at card games against the captain.

On my other side, Blip wrinkled her fishy nose. “I was about to say something smells good, but…”

“Then you smelled that?” asked Blop. “What is that?” He turned to look at neighboring tables, nearly elbowing Coals in the head and immediately apologizing. It was a good thing he’d missed, since that much muscle would have hurt.

“No harm done,” said Coals with his usual calm. I don’t think I’d ever seen the little lizardy guy upset. Which was probably for the best, given that he worked on translations with Trrili, and that had to be an exercise in patience.

Eggskin sat on his other side, similarly scaly and calm, but with far more opinions about food, since they were the ship’s cook as well as medic. I was only catching snatches of conversation from where Eggskin discussed the menu with Kavlae, but it sounded like a lengthy explanation for something. Kavlae didn’t look bored, though (head frills waving with interest), so it was probably good information. As a pilot, she didn’t spend much time on food prep.

I’d helped Eggskin in the kitchen plenty, both as part of the assistance rotation and because I found it interesting. The crew ate a range of foods, and most of it was edible for humans, though there were a few dishes that I wouldn’t touch on a dare.

A gentle chime sounded. Before I could ask what it was, the trapdoor sank down an inch then slid aside. A column rose into view that turned out to be a Waterwill, the gelatinous aliens that followed very few biological rules that I was familiar with. This one had less murky innards than most, with a bunch of things floating in there that could have been organs, recent meals, or personal belongings. The voice sounded vaguely male, and it hardly burbled at all.

“I hope you are all having an excellent day/night cycle! May your experience here only improve things.” He kept raising up, then when the platform cleared the floor, it folded out into a ring of serving dishes. The Waterwill sank back down in the center and everything locked into place. “Now, whose idea was it to dine at our fine establishment?”

Everyone pointed at Captain Sunlight.

“Ah, then I will serve you first!” The Waterwill didn’t turn, since he didn’t have visible eyes or even a mouth to be talking with, but somehow I got the impression that he had focused his attention in that direction. A stubby armlike shape reached out to set a bowl in front of the captain. “Our finest Heatseeker cuisine. And for you as well, madam. Also you, and you; don’t think I missed you over there.” Several arms passed out similar dishes to the other lizardy members of the crew.

I tried to peek around Blip and Blop for a look at Coals’ food, but couldn’t get a good angle. Might have been pasta and meatballs; might have been worms and worse.

“And!” announced the Waterwill, turning back to Zhee, “I hope this will be to your liking. And yours as well.” Goo arms set identical plates in front of the two Mesmers, and I could see from a distance that they held dead animals with the heads removed.

Zhee’s antennae were doing a complicated dance, but I couldn’t figure out if he was pleased or not before the server moved on.

“Only our best for the Frillians present!” He set festive arrangements of shrimp-things in front of Blip, Blop, and Kavlae. Really artistic; good presentation. The variety of colors and sizes made the plates into works of art. I hoped they tasted as good as they looked.

I murmured, “Ooh, fancy,” as the server came up with three more dishes.

“The Strongarm special!” he announced, laying them out in front of the three tentacle aliens to my left. Meat and plants of some sort; I couldn’t tell what.

Then he was back in front of me, and I realized I was the only one without food yet.

“Last but not least,” he said, “Featuring ingredients straight from Earth, we have a meal our chef has named the ‘Mother and Child Reunion.’”

The plate held a chicken breast, a hardboiled egg, and a pile of corn.

While Captain Sunlight thanked him generously, I stared at the plate with my hand over my mouth. When the server had packed everything up and disappeared back into the floor, I still didn’t know what to say.

Mimi spoke up from my left. “All right, why is it called that?”

I pointed. “This is the unhatched young of that species. And this is food they eat.”

Mimi tilted his octopuslike head to get a look at whatever expression I was making. “Isn’t that a weird thing to name it? Aren’t humans famous for pack-bonding with animals?”

“Yes and yes,” I admitted.

His rough voice was gentle. “Should we get you something else?”

“No, it’s okay,” I said, forcing a laugh. “It’s just a name. This is human food; I just wasn’t used to thinking about it like that.”

“If you’re sure.”

I looked around the table, expecting to find the rest of the crew enjoying their food. To my surprise, there were complaints.

“They overcooked the worms and the fruit!” Paint said. “And these beetles aren’t even shelled. Who eats something with that many spikes straight?”

Wio grumbled, “How do they know enough to pick out shorebirds and air lettuce, but not enough to know what an insulting assumption that is?”

“Right?” Mur agreed. “No self-respecting Strongarm would choose something from the shore when there are inland foods available just a little farther away.”

The pair of them griped about the species’ history of walking out of the sea, and everything that meant to them, while Mimi added murmurs of agreement.

Zhee, meanwhile, was complaining louder. “They took out the good parts! What nonsense is this? Did they mean to put the intestines in a separate dish and forget?”

He looked across the table for agreement from Trrili, and found her scooping paste out of a jar that had come with the meal. She dumped the last of it onto her plate and spread it around while Zhee sputtered. “Really, Trrili? That much? Would you like some fursqueak with your sauce?”

“Soursauce is the only reason to eat fursqueak,” Trrili retorted. “If you don’t want yours, pass it down.”

Zhee exclaimed that the brains were everyone’s favorite where he came from, which was clearly more cultured than whatever backwater moon she was hatched on, and they bickered across the table.

I peeked over my shoulder at the other restaurantgoers, hoping they weren’t glaring at us. I found a pair of elderly Heatseekers watching with interest, for all the world like they had been hoping to get dinner and a show. Their plates held something that looked like green popcorn.

Next to me, Blip heaved a sigh. “I’m actually kind of tired of shrimp.”

Blop laughed. “I know what you mean. It’s great! The best food out there! But… I don’t know, I guess I was looking forward to something more exotic.”

I eyed the fancy plates. “Ever tried chicken?”

They both looked at me. “No,” said Blip. “Does it have a strong flavor?”

“I wouldn’t say so. It is good, though. Popular on Earth for a reason. Here, I’ll trade you a bit.” I separated a chunk and handed it over while Blip put a bright pink jumbo shrimp on my plate.

“Can I try the egg?” Blop asked tentatively. “Is that okay? It looks so different from fish eggs.”

“Sure!”

Captain Sunlight caught sight of what we were doing, and loudly asked if Wio wanted to trade seabird for worm jerky. She did.

After that it was a cheerful chaos of swapping and sampling. Mur thought Zhee’s fursqueak was tasty, if tough; Zhee happily cracked open Paint’s spiky beetles; Trrili found that her favorite sauce was also good on shrimp; Eggskin and Coals both liked the corn. Kavlae said that a wrapping of Mur’s air lettuce elevated her shrimp from tasty to god-tier.

By the time the server appeared again to take our orders for the rest of the meal, we were all ready. I have never seen a Waterwill look that surprised as when he heard some of our choices.

~~~

(The meal name comes from the Paul Simon song, which was apparently inspired by something on a Chinese restaurant menu.)

Anyways, these are the ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book. More to come! And I am currently drafting a sequel!

#my writing #The Token Human #humans are weird #haso #hfy #eiad #humans are space orcs #culture clash #in spaaace #food #it can be a gamble no matter where you're from

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purplecoffee13 · 10 months

Text

Dangerous Love*

Summary: You know Harry’s dangerous, but isn’t that what makes it all the more exciting?

Wc: 5.3k

Tropes: POSSESSIVENESS, mafia!harry, friends-with-benefits-to-lovers, forbidden love

Warnings: degradation, slight BDSM, daddy!kink, edging & overstimulation if you squint

A/N: Yeah… about this one. I- I’ll just be in the corner, thinking about my actions…

THIS HASN’T BEEN PROOFREAD, I’LL DO THAT LATER!!!

#####

You had sworn off Harry months ago. When you found out he had been participating in some... illegal activities, it was over.

Your family was powerful, important, and most of all very clean. Harry Styles had been trying to make it in the real estate business as well, but there had been talk going around, talk of odd situations and fishy circumstances.

Your family had told you to not interact with him or any of his family on a voluntary basis, and to not hold the conversation on too long if confronted with his family anyway.

Now, you were never one to listen to your family. You had always advocated against prejudice and you firmly believed that one should never judge a book by its cover. And out of all people, you really didn't expect Harry to be the person to prove her wrong.

In the months that you had gotten to know each other at events, it had become clear that you were attracted to each other, so you two set up a relationship. A friends with benefits relationship, that was. Knowing that anything else would be too complicated, this was the best option.

It was thrilling, doing something that was wrong, while feeling so right.

But when one day you found a huge stash of coke in Harry's basement, you retreated your entire relationship with him. You couldn't have the demolition of the family weighing on your shoulders, purely out of sexual needs.

You had held up this attitude on for quite a while. It had been three months. Sure, you hadn't shared the bed with anyone because you were secretly afraid that no else would ever live up to Harry, but that was besides the point.

It was besides the point that he knew every one of your kinks and the perfect way to play into them. And it certainly didn't keep you staring at him during the entirety of this charity gala that was held at his mansion tonight.

Nope, didn't bother your at all

Despite what you had seen, Harry had built legitimacy in the last months and people had started to slowly learn to trust him. Your parents were still skeptic about him (rightfully so), but the rest of the community had already warmed up to the Styles family.

It hadn't been easy to keep your eyes off Harry, especially with him dressed in that all black suit of his. It was certainly a sight to see and you had almost spilled champagne on yourself the first time you got lost in his eyes. You didn't miss the way his mouth quirked up. He knew.

The entire evening went slow, and you tried not to look to disinterested when your date, a guy that your parents had tried to match you with, asked you to dance. You politely accepted and did your best not to yawn as he talked about some 'impressive' business deal he made.

Then, suddenly, someone tapped on his shoulder and asked to borrow you for a dance. Naturally, your date accepted the request from none other than Harry, and soon you found yourself dancing with him.

You'd tried your best to keep your distance, but it was really hard, mainly because he had a really tight grip on your waist. His face was leaning against the side of yours, and you heard him inhaling your perfume. You didn't dare close your eyes, you were afraid someone would see how much you were secretly enjoying this moment.

When the dance came to an end, Harry whispered something to you.

"Meet me in my bedroom in ten minutes."

Without another word, he kissed your hand and let you go, walking away to entertain some guests. You returned to your family, who asked if everything was alright and you confirmed that it was.

After five minutes of eagerly waiting, you excused yourself from your family, claiming to visit the ladies room and then step outside for some fresh air.

Instead, you took a different route and quietly headed upstairs until you had reached the bedroom. You sat down on the king sized bed and waited in agony, but soon enough the door clicked open.

For a second you were afraid it was someone else, but those worries flew out the window the moment you saw Harry's satisfied grin at the sight of you sitting on his bed.

"I knew you'd come." He stalked towards me. "You'll always come back to me."

You just looked up at him with big eyes, waiting for him to make the next move. You still weren’t sure what you were doing here, all you knew is that you needed to see him again.

"Did you come here with a date?" He asked in a soft tone, caressing your cheek as he leaned down to be on eye to eye level with you.

You didn't say anything, simply leaning your head into his hand and closing you eyes. There was no one to see you now, so it was safe to enjoy his touch.

"Answer me."

"Yes... I did."

"And yet, you're here. Sitting in front of me, knowing what I'm going to do, now that I have you to myself." He kept his tone sweet, but the contradiction of his dominant words made your heat throb.

"Harry–"

You were cut off by his hand flying to your neck, slightly choking you before you could finish your sentence.

"I don't remember that we agreed on that name, now did we?"

Dramatic ass.

"Sir... please. I've missed you, I've felt so empty without you." You immediately began to plead, automatically playing into his sexual preferences. Harry liked to be in control and you liked to give it to him. There was no one who could do it like he could.

"Poor little thing, have you been so deprived?" He rhetorically asked, to which you immediately started to nod. He gave a little squeeze with his hand, tightening his grip around your neck before resuming to the looser grip it had before. There was no stopping the whines that fell from your lips, they just happened.

"Yeah, you fucking did that to yourself, didn't you? When you walked away from me." Harry's tone had lowered and he sounded very frustrated, he sounded angry.

"Didn't you?"

"I did, sir." You complied, your submissive side taking over completely. It was very easy for you to give into him, especially because you knew what you'd get in return.

"So?" He pushed further, wanting you to apologize to him for making the both of you suffer for so long.

"'M sorry, sir." Your doe eyes met his blown pupils, and you felt yourself getting wetter with every passing second just from the feeling of his rings against your neck. Harry chuckled at your apology, and you could have expected the words that came out of his mouth next.

"I don't think you’re sorry, darling." He smirked at you, letting go of his hold on you and walking to the chair in the corner of the bedroom. He sat himself down, spreading his legs wide open and rubbing over his thighs.

"I am!" You turned your head towards him, annoyed with the fact that he was discrediting your words.

"Then take off your dress, get on your knees and show me you're fucking sorry."

You couldn't have possibly been quicker to take off your clothes. Harry leaned back in his chair with lit up eyes as you sank to the ground and got on hands and knees. There was no missing the bulge that grew more painful with every inch that you came closer.

You loved these kinds of moments, those were you knew you affected him just as much as he did you.

He simply waited as you un-did his belt and unbuttoned his pants. Only when you pulled his pants down a little bit did he shuffle along to get in a comfortable position. His cock sprung out of his underwear, and from the looks of it he was painfully hard.

You had missed his cock. You had missed the way it felt in your hands, in your mouth, in your pussy. The ragged sigh that fell from your lips was one of desperation. You couldn't wait to have him inside of you again, but you knew you had to work for it.

With a desperate expression on your face, you darted your eyes up to Harry, waiting to see if he had any instructions you should follow. You practically melted at the way when sat there, leaned back with his head resting on his palm.

"Go ahead." He encouraged, and that was enough for you to spit on your hand and start stroking his length. Harry's jaw clenched in an instant and his body shifted just a tiny bit at your touch, but you noticed it nonetheless.

A breath of relief came all the way back from his throat, and it induced every bit of your confidence to see him crumble at your touch. You kept stroking him for a bit before you decided that enough was enough, you needed him in your mouth.

Reaching closer, you softly planted your lips against his throbbing erection, and heard him gasp at the feeling of it. You spent the first few moments focusing on his sensitive tip and massaging his balls before pulling away from his hard shaft completely.

He had only opened his eyes halfway when you licked a stripe all the way from the base of his cock to the tip, and then took him in your mouth. His sudden body spasm caused his cock to dig deeper into your mouth, reaching the back of your throat. You moaned loudly, knowing you'd be completely drenched through your panties if he'd repeat his actions.

Harry hadn't missed your extremely loud and arousing reaction to him accidentally shoving his dick further up your throat. He had always just let you suck his dick. Out of the many things you'd tried together, he had never fucked your face before.

He was satisfied to hear you yell against his cock when he did it again.

"Do you like choking on my cock, sweetheart?" He questioned, bucking his hips when you squeezed his balls a bit. In retaliation, he gathered your hair together and wrapped it around his head.

"Let's see how well you can get me off, huh?" He grinned before pushing your head down on his cock. You focused on breathing through your nose as he used you as if he was using his own hands, and you loved it.

The noises that came out of your mouth were desperate and almost embarrassing. You looked up at Harry, who had his head thrown back as he went crazy with working himself up to an orgasm.

"You're such a fucking desperate cock slut. J-Just for me..." He talked to you, but mainly to get closer to his orgasm. You kept on touching his balls and let him use you to work himself to his high.

"Ah, I'm gonna cum– Fuck!" In the middle of his sentence, Harry's tight grip on your hair loosened and you felt the first spurts of his cum shoot through your throat. Your eyes fluttered shut, feeling proud of yourself for making him come so fast.

He pulled your head away from his cock and stroke his hand over your hair until it looked slightly less messy.

Without so much as a word, he put on his pants again and got out of his seat. He grabbed your wrist and guided you to his bed, where he ordered you to sit with your back leaned against the bed frame.

You patiently waited as he rummaged through his drawer and turned around with two ties in his hand. You tried to hide the grin that formed on your face, you knew this meant you were going to have great sex.

Whenever Harry did anything that involved bondage, it meant that you were going to have a great orgasm. You both got so turned on from it, and you had no idea why.

You obeyed him sweetly when he ordered you to hold your hands up, and looked at him with fond eyes as he tied your to his bed and blindfolded you. After the knot was secured, you heard his footsteps walking towards what you assumed to be the end of the bed.

"You look so pathetic, totally at my mercy. Be a good girl and stay still for me until I'm back." He bragged, drenching your core with his dirty words, until you realized what he was saying.

"Until you're back–" You couldn't even finish your sentence before the door slammed to interrupt it.

You couldn't believe it. Was he going to make you wait here? Tied up and blindfolded? What a fucking dick.

The wait was excruciating, especially considering your lack of knowledge about when he'd be back. It felt like hours, even though you knew it wasn't, maybe one hour. Nonetheless you suffered as you waited until Harry was choosing to come back to make you feel good.

You did realize how wrong it was to be so aroused by the fact that he used you like a rag doll, but you were also aware that your kinks didn't define anything about you in your day to day life. It was a sexual preference and it didn't say anything about you as a person.

The relief was insane when you heard the bedroom door open and a pair of footsteps graced the wooden floors.

"I got your phone, love." You heard Harry's footsteps stalk towards you. "Texted your mother and said you went home early because you were feeling sick."

"Thank you, sir."

At this point, you'd do and say anything for an orgasm, including thanking him for everything he did.

"Such good manners, darlin'. I think you should put those to use and inform your little date that you're not interested anymore, or ever were in the first place."

You hummed in agreement. You had never liked Dylan, and this was a good excuse to get him out of the way. Harry took your blindfold off, and though the soft light was harsh on your eyes, you were glad you could finally see him.

What you hadn't expected, though, was for Harry to actually call Dylan with your phone and lay the device next to you. You instantly started freaking out.

"Right now?!" You exclaimed, stressed and hoping Dylan wouldn't pick up.

"Yes." Harry answered like it was the most logical thing in the world.

"But–"

"Tell him or I won't let you cum." He barked, and just as he finished his sentence, Dylan picked up, and Harry went down.

His mouth touched your heat the second you heard a 'hello' through your phone's speaker.

"Dylan, hi!" You said breathily.

"Hey, I've been looking for you everywhere. Where are you?" He asked. The worry in his voice made Harry roll his eyes. He might have thought you couldn't see it, but during sex you would never keep your eyes off of Harry for even one second, and that included today.

"Oh.. I-I went home early. 'M not feeling so good!" You shrieked when Harry suddenly started to kitten lick your clit. The fucker really wanted you to slip up.

"Are you okay?"

"No! Yes! I mean, I almost tripped but I'm fine." You quickly made up an excuse. You couldn't tell if your cheeks were red from extreme embarrassment or plain arousal. Probably both.

"Okay. D'you want me to come over?"

As soon as those words left Dylan's mouth, Harry pulled away and spanked your clit, making your hips buck and let out a yelp.

"Hello?"

"N-no! I wanted to talk to you about that..." you said, and the whiny tone in your voice sounded like you were getting emotional over it, when in reality you were just frustrated with Harry teasing you so much. "I don't think we should date anymore."

"What? Why not? Did I do something?"

"I just–" I looked down at Harry, who raised his brows at me, which meant 'go on, tell him'.

"I'm... with somebody else."

"Wait what?" The aggression in Dylan's voice made Harry stop in his tracks. He got off the bed and sat next to you before slipping in two fingers without warning. You let out a gasp, quite literally crumbling at his touch, but he was focused on the phone call, a deep crease between his brows as he listened to Dylan.

"Why didn't you fucking tell me that three dates ago?"

Harry's eyes darted towards you, waiting for your answer. It seemed like he was genuinely curious about what you had to say.

"It's complicated, okay? I just– I can't date you anymore, I belong to someone else now."

You couldn't bring yourself to keep your eyes open as you answered Dylan. It was true, you did belong to Harry. You could pretend all you want but at the end of the day he was right, you'd always come back to him. Dylan could listen for all you cared, you just needed Harry inside of you.

"I don't think it's complicated, I just think you're a slu—”

Suddenly, the phone call stopped.

Your eyes shot open, and you were met with the sight of Harry throwing your phone on the chair next to the bed.

With a bit of tension in your stomach from the words you'd uttered just before, you watched as Harry pulled his fingers out of you and made his way back to his former position, with his head between your legs.

He didn't say anything, he just put his tongue on your clit and started flicking mercilessly while simultaneously shoving three fingers inside of you. You screamed out at the sudden motion, giving your wrists a hard tug against the knotted tie around them.

Your back arched as you felt your high nearing. You didn't think you would have the ability to wait until you got verbal permission from Harry to come, but the way he was attacking your clit seemed like permission enough.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck... I'm gonna cum, 'm gonna– oh my god! Please!" You rambled on and on, feeling the need to beg for a release anyway. It was like your body didn't allow you to do anything unless he said so.

"Please, please... daddy, please!" The desperate cries made him moan out, the vibrations on your clit sending shocks through your body. He ripped his mouth away from you and replaced it with his finger which rubbed dizzily fast circles on your clit.

"C'mon, soak my fingers baby."

His taunting voice was the last thing you heard before a high pitched ringing took over, and you could've sworn you blacked out for a second. The pulsating waves of pleasure took over your entire body from head to toe, and soon enough you realized what was happening.

You had just squirted all over the bed, and Harry.

Your entire body felt exhausted from this orgasm alone, and you found yourself wondering how the hell you were going to survive tonight because you knew it wouldn't be the last one.

"Fucking hell." Harry breathed a soft chuckle of pride, taking off his now wet dress shirt. "I've never been able to get you to do that before."

"I've never been able to do that before, ever." I laughed along, flabbergasted at how good that felt. Harry just smiled, a real smile, before he crawled over you and undid the knot that tied you to the bed. He threw the tie to the side and leaned forwards to cup your face before kissing you. You instantly wrapped your legs around his waist, pushing him against you even more. As your tongues circled around each other, Harry slowly switched positions until he was laying besides you .

The kiss lasted a while, and it held a newfound passion to it that you hadn't experienced in your previous times kissing Harry. When he pulled away, he kept himself quiet, scanning every feature in your face while his thumb stroked your cheek.

"Did you mean that?" He finally spoke up.

"What?" You slightly tilted your head, confused with his soft tone all of a sudden. You weren't used to this version of him.

"That you're mine."

"Harry, I—"

"Because I want you to be. I want you to be mine, and I want to be yours, if you'll have me." He confessed, and you could've sworn you felt yourself melt into the bed.

Your parents were going to disown you. You were going to get kicked out of the house and have nothing left but the words of an unpredictable man.

There had never been a clearer, better answer for this, and yet you found yourself still wanting to say the exact opposite.

"My parents hate you, Harry. And for the right reasons. Your life... it's dangerous. I shouldn't be getting sucked into that." You began talking, and saw the way he lost hope for a positive answer.

Suddenly, you rolled over so that the both of you were flipped, and you were sitting on his lap. He laid there, eyes a bit wide at you suddenly taking charge. He was obviously curious to see where it was going, otherwise he wouldn't have let you.

"I know all of this..." You leaned forwards stroking your hands through his hair. "And I still can't keep my hands off of you."

With those words you pulled at his roots, making Harry wince under you. His jaw was slacked, and he felt confused with how arousing this was. Harry had never been in any other position than the dominant one, nothing else had ever turned him on before, except for this, for you.

"I know I shouldn't, but I still can't stop myself from craving your big, sweet cock." You continued, taking off your bra and smirking at the way his tattooed chest rose up and down quickly sight of your bare breasts. You lifted yourself up a bit, getting your pussy in line with the tip of his cock.

"And I can't help but–" you cut yourself off with a loud moan as you sank on his hard and long shaft. Slowly but surely, you began to grind back and forth, getting comfortable with his length again as it had been a while.

"Oh! Mmm, fuck!" You cried out.

"Look at you—" Harry leaned on his elbows, looking up at you with fond eyes. "fucking yourself with my cock. Does that feel good, baby?"

"Mm.. ah– it feels so good sir." You were panting now, overwhelmed with how good it felt to have him inside of you again. You started bouncing yourself on his dick to get some tempo into it.

"Such pretty tits." He mumbled, fondling them and pinching your nipples. "All mine, baby?"

He couldn't help but ask, you didn't finish your little speech after all because you were too desperate for his cock.

"Tell me." He encouraged, spanking your ass with his right hand, which made you sink down on his cock very swiftly. "Are you mine, now?"

You moaned and cried and whined, but still managed to conjure a slight smirk on your face as you looked at him.

"Make me yours, daddy."

That was enough for Harry, and before you knew it, you were pulled off his cock and thrown on the bed, laying on your stomach.

In an instant, you felt your lips being lifted up and his cock being sunk into you again. Harry leaned forward to grab your worst and hold them on your back, before nearly pulling out and then ramming himself into you at an ungodly pace. It caused a high pitched scream to leave your mouth, something which did not happen often during sex for you.

"That's right, take it." he kept his quick pace steady as you gasped from under him. "Whose fucking pussy is this, hmm? I wanna hear you say it."

Your sounds were slightly muffled by the pillow and therefore incomprehensible, so he leaned over and grabbed your neck, choking you as he pulled your head up.

"C'mon, who owns you?"

"You do! Fuck! You own me, daddy, I'm yo– oh! 'M yours!" Your answer came out like it was word vomit. You couldn't stop saying everything he wanted to hear, and he loved it. He got off on your submission to him, on the way you let him be in control. He'd never admit it, but the main reason he took such a liking to it is because it showed that you trusted him despite what you knew about him.

He kept pounding into you, and smirking when he felt your core clenching against his cock already.

"You gonna cum already?"

"Mm.. yesss!"

"Pathetic little cock slut... you just love getting used, don't you?"

When you didn't answer, he spanked you, hard.

"I do! I do, sir!" You quickly replied, your ears ringing from the stinging pain on your bum.

"You know you're nothing more than a hole for me to use at any time I want. My filthy little whore. All mine, forever." It was now Harry's turn to start rambling, and he almost lost himself, but quickly regained traction. He wasn't done with you, and he couldn't permit himself to cum yet.

You did cum, though. The moment the word 'forever' left his mouth, you exploded, in every way possible. You entire body was spasming and Harry slowed himself down as you creamed his cock. The sounds of your intercourse become more adamant now that there was more... liquid involved, and hearing Harry's cock in your pussy was the definition of arousal for you.

Harry didn't exactly let you ride out your high, instead pushing you fully down on the bed and flipping your body so you were laying on your sides. He held his hands firmly on your hips as he went to lay down behind you.

You were quite surprised with the position, it was something you two had never done before. Harry always deemed positions like that to be too intimate, so it felt out of the ordinary for him to have you like this, but now that you were being really intimate it also felt way better.

The groan leaving Harry's throat when he pushed himself inside you again confirmed that he was thinking the same thing. Your jaw was slacked, euphoria shooting through your body at the feeling of the new angle and a certain spot he managed to hit very easily.

"O-oh my..." The half-sentence escaped your lips before you could even think about what you were saying.

"Did I hit your sweet spot, baby? Is that right?" Harry taunted. His body was entirely pressed up against yours, and you could hear him panting against your neck.

"Yeah— Fuck!"

Your response was interrupted by Harry, who decided that it was the perfect timing for him to get in an extra hard thrust. Solely that action had almost made you come, and while you felt it slowing down quickly afterwards, it didn't take long to rise again when he started kissing your neck.

You turned your head around with the energy you had left, and pleaded for him to kiss you, to which he happily obliged. The taste of him against your lips, the feeling of him inside of you and the sound of his skin slapping against yours proved too much for you to bare, but you desperately wanted to try and come undone at the same time. And so, you pulled away from Harry's soft lips to whisper some dirty words right back to him.

"Harry, baby..." you said in a whiny voice, causing him to moan. You knew he wouldn't approve of you just calling him Harry between the sheets, you were taking a risk with this, but luckily he didn't mind.

In fact, he was going mad. Those words sounded so good coming from your mouth, especially now he knew that they were directed to him.

"Wh-what is it, darling?" He tried to keep his composure, almost exploding at the mere sight of you looking so fucked out.

"I want you to cum, daddy... with me. Please? I've been so good." You requested, putting up your best puppy eyes. Harry winced at your words, knowing there was no holding him back now.

"I'll fill you up, baby. Get yourself there again, then." He managed to say, rocking into you more slowly, but with more impact. It was easier to keep up at least some rhythm this way.

You guided your hand to your sensitive clit and started rubbing it ferociously. You're were aware of the fact that Harry wasn't going to be able to hold it in for much longer. With how aroused you were, you didn't think it to be much of a problem. Harry's right hand had traveled to your tits in the mean time, massaging them harshly while he resumed rocking into you. And just like clockwork, you were getting dangerously close to your orgasm again.

"I'm gonna cum, daddy! Ahh!!" You screamed out shamelessly, unable to stop yourself from rubbing your clit. It was as if your fingers were glued to your vagina, you couldn't deny yourself from this orgasm. The way your pussy was pulsating was also noted by Harry, who was growling like an animal. He became more and more aggressive with how hard he was fucking into you, the entire bed shaking from the impact.

"Jesus fuck— I'm coming, I'm— argh!" the string of incoherent words left his mouth as your body bounced along to his slamming thrusts. Soon enough, you heard some exhausted moans coming from Harry as he fucked himself through his orgasm. The beautiful sounds from your now-boyfriend were the final thing that brought you to your third climax of the night.

You screamed out in ecstasy, as the pulsating waved of pleasure took you away for a second. It felt like all your sense had shut off for those moments, and that there was nothing else but immense pleasure.

Harry came inside you, filling your walls with his cum. It felt too good to be true, especially combined with the guttural grunts coming from the back of his throat as he buried his head into your neck. When you noticed the grip on your hips had become less firm, you knew that he was slowly coming down from his orgasm. You both were both still panting, and kept silent as Harry carefully pulled himself out of you.

The empty feeling you had was made up for by a ton of kisses to your neck and your cheek, which made you chuckle a bit.

"Are you okay, baby?" Harry asked. No matter how many times you guys shared the bed, you would never not get butterflies from his attentiveness after the sex. He'd do everything you asked. Hell, he'd run around town looking for everything you need if he had to.

"Never been better." You turned your head to look at him; you wanted him to know that it wasn't some sarcastic comment. In fact, you were ecstatic with the fact that whatever was going on between the two of you was now settled.

"Can't believe you're mine now." He sighed, his face painted with a smile so big that you could see his dimples from miles away. He planted a kiss to your swollen lips and ran his hands through your messy hair.

"Yeah, you're stuck with me forever." You teased, your hand now also finding his brown locks.

"Hmm, best life sentence I could ask for."

#harry styles #Harry styles smut #Harry styles one shot #oneshot #one shot #Harry styles smut one shot #Harry #styles #fanfic #fanfic one shot #mafia!harry #Harry Edward styles #fanfiction

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chlorinecake · 5 months

Text

🎙️ star-crossed lovers 【薄幸な恋人】 ⛦

summ✩ry Forbidden sparks fly between you and Enhypen’s main dancer upon dorming together, but what happens when your bandmate threatens to expose this reckless romance?

p✩iring idol!niki x popstar!reader ✩ EPISODE 1

genre band au, fluff, secret romance cw swearing, slightly suggestive, mild bullying, kissing, girl drama, reader is younger than Niki wc 4.5k

"Where were you last night?” Haerin asked with a whisper, removing the tape-seal from her container of apple slices.

It was early in the morning when you, your bandmates, and the Enhypen members got up for breakfast in the Hybe cafeteria.

Getting up early proved to be a challenge, especially considering your late night adventures with Niki and unbreakable inability to sleep in beds that aren't yours.

You couldn't help but wonder how much better you would've slept if Niki stayed next to you-

"W-what are you talking about, Rinnie?" You stuttered unintentionally, taking a sip from the coffee you prayed would help you get through another busy day in Korea.

"Don't play dumb, ____. You know what I saw," she sighed, meeting your nervous eyes, "You really shouldn't be disobeying the curfew rule, not to mention how dangerous sneaking around a foreign country is."

"I appreciate your concern, Haerin, but I promise, you have nothing to worry about," you said with a smile, "I just wanted to get some extra practice time in, that's all."

The sound of approaching footsteps cut your conversation short, the Enhypen boys and your bandmates finally joining you two at the table.

"Ooo, are you guys telling secrets? I wanna hear," Jade cheered, placing her food tray on the table.

Apparently you and Haerin looked a lot more suspicious than intended, but then again, two girls whispering always looked a little fishy.

“Hehe, no secrets over here!” Haerin covered, shoving her mouth with apples to avoid anymore questions.

"Riiiight," Jungwon smirked, revealing his soft dimples, "Anyways, how’re you all enjoying the roommate pairs?”

"I’m actually quite pleased with our group, right boys?” Heeseung joked, exchanged high fives with Jake and Jay to which Sunghoon rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sure you guys took a while to get used to each other," he mumbled sarcastically, "What do you think about us, Serenity?"

"Hmm," she began in thought, "wellll, Sunoo's kinda vibey. He has a lot of fancy skincare products that he shares sometimes, so that’s been nice. Sunghoon's also really easy to look at so..."

"Easy to look at, huh? Is that your way of calling me hot?"

"Heyyy, I never said you could use my stuff," Sunoo blurted out, interrupting Sunghoon's attempt at flirting.

"Moving on," Serenity chirped, redirecting the convo, "What about you, Mr. Leadernim?"

Jungwon took a bite of his scrambled eggs before answering, "Honestly, Jade and Haerin remind me of my sister. We get along pretty well and they're not too troublesome, I guess."

"Yeah, Jungwon's pretty cool, too... aside from his tendency to hog the shower," Jade teased back.

“Okay, now what about you two?” Heeseung started, sending Niki a funny look that made him choke on his water.

“Alright, you can answer ____ while he keeps drowning,” Heeseung chuckled, passing Niki a napkin to wipe the water from his now shiny lips.

You still couldn't believe that he actually kissed you WITH THOSE LIPS-

“Uhhh,” you began nervously, trying to think of something normal to say, “N-Niki... w-well, he's uh... Niki, he's—”

“My GOD, the look on your face right now makes it seem like you’re in love with him or something,” Serenity gawked rudely, dramatically throwing her hands in the air as she successfully got everyone’s attention with her big mouth.

“I mean,” Niki started with a plain expression, “its not like I’m entirely against the idea of having a girl fall for me...”

“Yeah, happens all the time to guys like us,” Jake winked, immediately cringing at his own words.

Step, step, step, signaled Miss Kim’s signature black booties across the tiled cafeteria floor, “Good morning, my little minions. Now what’s going on over here with all this chatter?”

Turns out Miss Kim only worked as an activity assistant for Enhypen, though, she always had a way of waltzing into every room like she owned the place.

“Not much,” Jake answered, “We were just discussing our practice schedule for the day.”

“Mhm, so that means the few of you are well updated on your instrument rehearsals this evening, yes?”

“Instrument rehearsals,” Jade repeated yet asked.

“Exactly. Jade, Serenity, and Jay will play a guitar riff during one of the stages, so you’ll meet in the recording studio at 4pm today.”

“Sweet,” Jay smirked, playing air-guitar while mimicking the Karma instrumental.

“Also,” Miss Kim continued, “I can’t really remember, but which of you here is struggling with the choreo?”

Everyone’s eyes turned to you as you raised your hand shyly.

“Oh, ____,” she said, dragging out your name, “perfect! Niki, you’ll be skipping vocals today to help ____ catch up in the dance studio.”

You couldn’t hold back the smile that grew on your face at her words: maybe some extra dance practice wouldn't be too bad after all.

“Alright, I'm headed to the fashion department to check out your stage costumes. Heeseung and Jungwon, please make sure everyone follows today's schedule accordingly.”

“We won't let you down, Miss Kim," Jungwon nodded as the stern lady turned on her heel, beelining to the cafeterias coffee counter a few feet away from your table.

"Alright guys, you heard the boss lady. Let's wrap up breakfast and meet in 10," Heeseung said, getting up from his seat first as the rest of you followed shortly after...

To Room 10: Hybe's indoor gym and workout center.

The intense exercise routine left you feeling pretty worn out.

Your mind was mostly focused on getting all your reps in without passing out, ignoring the overflow of sweat that kept seeping from your pores. You all had just finished the last part of the workout: a mile outdoor run around Yongsan Family Park.

"And you're telling me we still have rehearsals after this?" Serenity huffed, taking yet another large gulp from her jug of Gatorade.

"Yes," Sunoo answered plainly, taking the blue drink from her hands and pouring it into a nearby bush.

"Dude, what the hell?" She yelped, backing away to avoid the splashes, "Don't tell me you're still mad about that 'skincare' thing."

"If you had any idea how many added sugars people put in that stuff, you would've poured it out yourself," Sunoo replied in a sassy voice.

"Well if it wasn't obvious, I couldn't care less about whatever you just said," she sighed, sadly watching as the blue liquid trickled past the leaves, soaking the soil, "you totally owe me a drink after this, by the way."

"Hey, that's actually a pretty good idea! We should go out for drinks tomorrow night," Jake cheered, using the back of his hand to catch his sweat, "everybody down for splitting the bill?"

"Yeah, but we can focus on that once we get back up this hill," Jay replied, encouraging the rest of you to keep on treading.

▶︎ ၊၊||၊|။||||။‌‌‌‌‌၊| • • •

Later in the rehearsal studio, practice started off a bit slow with a warm up session before actually breaking down the choreography.

Apparently, the official dance composer for the upcoming stage changed a part in the performance for you and your group to follow, adding a trick move with Haerin and Jade.

Meanwhile, the Enhypen boys were working on perfecting their routines, as they had already memorized the whole thing a lot quicker than the Riot Grrlz.

The main practice session lasted close to two hours before the talent supervisor called for a break, sending the other members off so you and Niki could have the studio to yourselves.

Finally.

"So what was that all about earlier?" He asked, kneeling down to stretch his legs.

"In the cafeteria this morning?"

He nodded in response, guiding you to the floor to help you stretch with him.

"Well, Haerin said she saw me last night... Sneaking out, I mean. She didn't say anything about you, but..."

You couldn't help but giggle at the way his face dropped.

"What the? I could've sworn everyone was asleep when we came back last night," he said with an awkward smile, holding onto your wrists as he pulled you toward your feet on the ground, "what'd you tell her then?"

"I told her not to worry about it, but I avoided mentioning too many details," you said, squeezing your eyes at the painful stretch you felt in your hamstrings.

"Welp, all that means is we'll have to be more careful when we sneak out again tonight," he winked, finally letting go of your wrists so you could relax.

"Tonight, huh? I'm surprised I've got you hooked so fast. What's it been, like three days?"

"Four, actually. But I'm surprised by your sudden confidence. You could hardly form a coherent sentence about me, earlier," he teased, offering you his hand to help you up from the ground.

"That had nothing to do with you and everything to do with the way you almost died while drinking water," you returned before dramatically reenacting the way he struggled, pretending to choke on the air, "I was nervous... for your safety, of course."

"Mhm. I'm sure you would've saved me though... Nothing a little mouth to mouth can't fix," he smiled, looking at your lips before looking away, trying to maintain his focus, "You remember how the choreo starts, right?"

"Uhh," you started, scratching the back of your head, "With the little arm-move-thingy?"

"Sure, you could call it that," he chuckled, "Now just follow my moves like we did at the skate park. I'll go slow at first and speed up as you catch on."

"Okay," you said, watching his movements in the mirror as if hypnotized.

It amazed you how even while practicing the moves in slow motion, he still looked effortlessly talented.

"Good!" he encouraged, observing how much you improved with the footwork compared to day one, but there was something about your hip movements that he thought looked a little stiff.

"Okay, hold on," he started, walking up to you and placing his hands at your waist, "Try to be a little more fluid with this step, otherwise it looks kinda awkward."

"Like this?" you asked, keeping his hands in place as you rolled your hips in front of him, trying to follow his instructions.

You didn't even realize how close his body was pressed against yours until a loud slam startled you both.

Niki's gaze immediately darted to the source of the sound, seeing none other than Serenity barging through the studio door, marching in with a cattiest look on her face.

"Ummm, how can I help you, officer?" Niki asked playfully, stepping away from you and crossing his arms.

That's when Sunghoon and Sunoo ran in behind her, trying to catch their breath while spitting out a few words, "We tried to stop her," Sunoo started, "but she wouldn't listen."

"Aha! I knew there was something going on between you two! Don't try to back away now, Niki! I guess you couldn't wait to loosen up each other's buttons again, huh?!" Serenity rambled, making an utter fool of herself.

"We were rehearsing the choreography, genius. Like Miss Kim told us to," You retorted, not being in the mood for her games at the moment.

"Mhm, without leaving room for Jesus, I see! Speaking of Miss Kim, just wait til I tell her about this!"

"What are you two doing here?" Niki asked the two frustrated boys, trying to redirect the conversation.

"We were in Room 10 doing our cooldown when Gossip Girl over here started interrogating Haerin," Sunghoon sighed, "One thing led to another and before we knew it, Serenity was bolting out of the gym like a crazy person."

Your eyes went to meet Serenity's frame, who stood with her hands on her hips and eyes narrowed as she wrestled with whatever angry thoughts ran through her brain.

"Ren, please don't tell Miss Kim. This was obviously a huge misunderstanding," you pleaded with her, trying to be mature about the situation.

"No… little kids like you need discipline. Though," she paused, twirling a strand of her chocolate brown hair, "I might consider keeping your little secret if you resign from being captain over the Riot Grrlz."

You scoffed at her offer, "You're delirious. And for the last time, there isn’t any secret for you to spoil, anyway."

"Fine,” she grinned, a little too wide, “I tried to be nice about this, Niki, but your girlfriend has left me with no other choice but to come clean about this matter.”

Flipping her hair, she marched towards the door, looking back as if waiting for you all to follow her, which you did, all the way to Miss Kim in the fashion department.

▶︎ ၊၊||၊|။||||။‌‌‌‌‌၊| • • •

To no one’s surprise, Miss Kim wasn’t happy to see the five of you crowding her during her shift, especially not when you were given specific instructions to follow the schedule while she was away.

After Serenity expressed that their was “a breach of the rules” between you and Niki, Miss Kim summoned all of the Riot Grrlz and Enhypen members for a disciplinary meeting.

"Oddly enough, my disappointment doesn't fall on Jungwon and Heeseung, even though I put you two in charge of everything," the lady began, holding her hands behind her back as she paced around the table you were all sat at.

"Serenity has brought to my knowledge that some of your are struggling to follow the strict rules in place here. Are there any witnesses to this claim?"

Serenity kicked Haerin's leg from under the table, trying to get a word out of her, but she remained silent thankfully. You couldn't help but feel guilty though at the sight of Jungwon and Heeseung hanging their heads in shame.

"Very well then... and are any of the accused parties willing to come clean about the alleged incident?"

Niki peeked at you for a second as if waiting for you to say or not say something first.

"I..." you began timidly, "I did stay out past curfew last night, but only to practice."

This was a partial lie, but you had no intentions on bringing Niki down with you. After all, it's not like he forced you to sneak out with him, as you most definitely wanted to.

Miss Kim's eyes widened slightly at your sudden choice to speak, "Go on," she said, stopping in her tracks.

"And about what Serenity saw in the rehearsal studio... It was nothing. Me and Niki were only trying to practice like you said."

She hummed at your words, "I appreciate your honesty, ____. And Serenity, it would bring me much joy if from now on, you would focus more on working than running after silly rumors."

"Soooo," Jake started, "are we free to go now?"

"Not just yet," Kim answered, clearing her throat before continuing, "From now on, your curfew will be pushed back from 11:00pm to 8:00pm."

A loud groan filled the room at her words, but a satisfied look remained on Serenity's face until the next part of Kim's rules were announced.

"A piece of blue tape will be lined at your bedroom doors, so anyone who tries to leave after 8 will have a tough time hiding it once the tape is torn. Also, expect to be waken up extra early tomorrow for exercise. No breakfast."

"But Miss Kim," Jade began, "Maybe you can give us another chance, there's no proof, anyway."

"Proof or no proof, my rules will stand in place until further notice. And for the record, this is not a punishment."

"Yeah, more like a freaking detention center! I knew it from day one," Serenity whined, the taste of her karma unfortunately falling on the lot of you.

"If that's what you wanna call our home to multinational superstars, so be it," Kim retorted, making her way to the office door, "hopefully there will be no more disruptions for the day."

Slam.

The door was closed, and with that, your busy schedules re-open and waiting to be completed.

"____," Haerin spoke quietly, shyly meeting your eyes as she walked up to you, "I'm really sorry that I brought that up this morning, Serenity must've overheard us talking."

"It's okay, Rinnie. This isn't your fault," you smiled, patting her head gently to cheer her up.

"Mhm, well that's sweet. Thanks for getting us on probation, lovebirds," Jay sighed, getting up from his seat and walking out of the room.

"Yeah, so much for stopping Serenity and her big mouth, you guys," Jake said, giving Sunghoon and Sunoo a look before walking out too.

"Guys, Miss Kim said this wasn't a punishment. Like ____ said, this isn't anyways fault," Jungwon said, trying to convince everyone to see the situation in a more positive light.

"Whatever, I'm gonna join Jay in the instrument room. Don't take too long in here, Ren," Jade sighed, running a frustrated hand through her hair before also leaving.

"Cool, I'm gonna go get lunch because I don't work well when I'm hungry," Heeseung huffed, walking past Niki and towards the door, "I taught you well, brother, but please, stay out of trouble from now on."

Serenity's initial pitiful look returned to the sassy one she wore before, watching as Jungwon, Sunoo, and Sunghoon followed after Heeseung, closing the door behind them.

And then there were three.

"Miss Kim thinks that some silly tape and a bedtime will stop you two, but just know that I'll be watching for myself," Serenity threatened, staring you and Niki down from her seat.

"Got it, officer," Niki teased, walking up to you and taking your hand in his.

"And where do you two think you're going?"

"To complete our schedules? Now we've all had enough with your Nancy Drew act. It's time to put your working face back on," you replied, mirroring her cattiness, "You're gonna be late for your rehearsals with Jade and Jay if you don't hurry up."

"Gosh, you two can be so annoying sometimes," She exclaimed, fixing her hair before marching out of the office, leaving you and Niki alone again.

With your hand still in his, he turned your body to face him, taking your face in his hands and looking at you with the most loving expression.

He just can't get enough of you.

He reached for your wrist, drawing your attention to the bracelet he gave you the other day, "You still trust me, right?"

You couldn't help but look away from his face for a second. If he held that intense eye contact with you for any longer, you're sure you were gonna explode.

"Stop, you're too shy," he giggled, turning your chin to face him one more time before kissing you on the lips, a pink hue raising to his cheeks. You got lost in his touch for a second, hardly remembering that this reckless romance is what got you in this room in the first place.

"Niki!" You yelped, suddenly feeling his hands tickle you under your shirt, "You never answered my question, silly," he chuckled, backing away as you tried fighting him off.

"I trust you, stupid, now stop tickling me before someone catches us," you sighed, trying to catch your breath from all your laughing.

This boy was making your heart do things you're sure it's never done before. Backflips, cartwheels, splits, you name it!

"So does that mean you're still down to hang out with me later tonight," he asked, pouting at you playfully, "unless, you don't think it's worth it."

▶︎ ၊၊||၊|။||||။‌‌‌‌‌၊| • • •

Your evening ended on par with Miss Kim's revised schedule, everyone completing their assigned tasks before showering and heading to bed at 8 o'clock sharp. And to your surprise, she wasn't joking about the blue tape thing either.

You and Niki waited til an entire hour had passed before initiating your escape plan, just to make sure that everyone was asleep.

Dressed in the best "incognito" outfits you could find, Niki tied a few bed sheets together to make a rope, tying it to your bunkbed for you to climb out the window with.

He went first because you were too scared.

"Alright, you're coming?" He whispered from the ground, watching you shyly peek from the window.

"You look tiny from up here," you giggled, pointing at him playfully.

"____, stop stalling and get down here," he chuckled back, motioning with his hands as if encouraging you.

Sticking your right leg out the window, you said a small prayer as you gripped onto the makeshift rope, climbing down with your eyes closed to keep yourself from chickening out.

"That's it, there you go!" Niki cheered, clapping for you as you finally made it down... the 10ft wall.

"What if someone sees the rope just hanging here?"

"They won't."

"Well... what if a little raccoon were to get cold out here and sneak into our room for comfort?"

"Come on," he smiled, taking your hand in his as he skipped from the building, adjusting the sunglasses to his "costume."

He wanted to show you around the city of Seoul, taking you to one of his favorite Japanese food stands to get filled taiyaki's because they're his all time favorite. He ended up doing most of the talking while ordering, thanks to the language barrier.

You both wanted chocolate filled, so you ended up just getting one large taiyaki to share.

He tore a piece of the fish pastry's head before putting it in his mouth, careful not to get any chocolate on his face.

You took the snack from his hand before taking a small bite yourself, surprised by the initial crunchiness of the pastry that soon melted into a softer texture, coupled with an equally delightful taste.

Now you see why Niki likes these so much.

"This is crazy, you know that?" You said, taking in the beautiful city scenery that made up your surroundings.

"Of course, especially with everyone reminding me all the time. But what was that you said again? About breaking rules as long as it's worth it?"

Both of you started to walk a little slower, not really paying attention to where you were going, just enjoying each others company, "You're never gonna let me forget I said that, are you?"

"Nope," he smiled, looking into the distance, "because those are the exact words that got us here in the first place."

"And where is "here," exactly?" You challenged, going for another bite of the snack before handing it back to him.

"Alone, outside, past our curfews, holding hands in this beautiful park while dressed up as anonymous wanderers..."

You giggled in between his rambling-

"...Waiting for the right moment to kiss each other again."

A certain feeling of butterflies ran through your stomach at his words.

Was risking your career really worth all this? You'd vote one hundred and ten percent yes.

🎆 Pop!

The sight of fireworks bursted into the night sky before you two, shattering into a glittery shower of colorful sparkles.

"Oh my God," you jumped in shock at the loud noise, making Niki chuckle at your startled reaction.

"Jeez, you're gonna draw attention to us if you keep jumping like that!"

"Ahh, how was I supposed to know they were going to be fireworks tonight?"

"We're just outside of Yeouido Park. The officials here are probably rehearsing for the upcoming firework show," he said before filling his mouth with yet another bite of taiyaki.

From the looks of it, a few more people started to crowd the area, pulling out their cameras to take pictures of the occasional fireworks that splashed into the clear night sky.

"Maybe we should get going now," you said shyly, adjusting the silly scarf you wore around your neck to keep yourself undetectable.

Confused at first by your initial prompt, Niki took a look around before now seeing a few photographers pointing cameras at everyone.

"Yeahhhh, you're right, let's go before we get caught," he smiled, picking up the pace of his steps as he turned around, beelining back to the Hybe building with his hand still in yours.

The time had just hit somewhere around 10 o'clock, so you and Niki got a good hour to yourselves after your long day of work.

Luckily, his makeshift rope was still hanging outside your dorm room window when y’all got back, and once again, you successfully snuck out together undetected.

Or at least, that’s what you both thought until the morning came…

▶︎ ၊၊||၊|။||||။‌‌‌‌‌၊| • • •

There was a certain news feed circulating around the web, originating on that same Korean Pop media website you were stalking before your trip.

You weren’t surprised to find Serenity with her bright blue eyes practically glued to her phone screen, announcing the blog’s title out loud as you and Niki came down together for warmups in Room 10:

Young Stars Spark Romantic Rumors After Photos of Them Kissing in Yeouido Park Circulate the Web.

Oh no, this can’t be good.

Niki had already informed you a few minutes ago about the post popping up on his phone, "There's no way we got caught. I made sure we blended in with the crowd,” he said, not being able to hide the worry growing inside him.

“And besides,” you replied while whispering, “we didn’t even kiss.”

But as to be expected, Serenity was having a field day rubbing the news in your faces.

“Starting mess at work again, I see?” Sunoo pointed, rolling his eyes at her words, but she ignored him.

“Ren, did you even look at the pictures going around?” Haerin offered as she adjusted her workout clothes, “Those people look nothing like Niki and ____.”

“Let me see,” Jade said, reaching for Serenity’s phone and scrolling past the title to analyze the pictures that revealed two older idols who didn’t even match you and Niki’s heights.

The fear boiling in your stomach suddenly disappeared.

“Oh, and their names are right here!” Serenity pointed out before zooming in, “Nevermind, I can’t even pronounce that.”

“Great, so that means we can get back to practice now, yeah?” Jungwon said, trying not to sound as annoyed as he truly was.

You and Niki just bust out laughing.

“What’s so funny,” Serenity scowled, obviously dissatisfied with the reality of the situation.

"Just the fact that you genuinely thought we'd go against Miss Kim's rules… Besides, how would we have even gotten out last night?" Niki tried, kneeling down to tighten his shoelaces, “I’m sure you checked the blue tape by our door. It stayed intact the entire night.”

“Mhm,” she hummed, obviously not wanting to engage in the conversation anymore, which you were thankful for.

The fitness coach started explaining the workout to Jake so he could translate for you and your group, outlining that the session would start with some intense weight lifting before cardio, a.k.a, a 2 mile run around the park.

Great.

Heeseung encouraged you all with his bright smile, “Alright, guys, let’s get moving!”

And that’s exactly what everyone did for the next three hours, keeping a shared goal in mind to follow Miss Kim’s activity schedule perfectly: Day five’s schedule outlining an in-person fan meeting that evening.

🎙️ For my baby, @microwvdstrawb3rri3s, and the lovely 🐥 anon ~ Episode 3 coming soon 💕

⛦ Tags: @squoxle @ashgonedash @nikimeows @nikipedia07 @3ngene--frvr @illymontyshit @filmofhybe @whoslug @nikiiitties

🎙️ Feel free to check out more fun reads on the pinned post at my home page ~

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khoipyan · 1 year

Text

ResidentEEL Business

After Yuu gives up your dorm as collateral, Floyd invites you to stay in his room instead. Given the housing circumstances, how could you possibly refuse?

gn!reader (you/your), reader is NOT yuu (+ yuu is a seperate character, is referred to using they/them), reader lives in ramshackle, book 3 spoilers ig??? still gonna put a warning just incase... 1.3k+ words

characters; floyd leech

notes; haii hello i decided to write another fic, hehe ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡ i have floyd favouritism....

“You’re WHAT?”

Jade smiled, “If you want it in a more simplistic way for you to understand,”

“We’re taking your house for three days — and maybe even more — if you guys don’t complete that contract in time, Lil’ Fishy!” Floyd grinned.

This was quite the dilemma. Yuu smiled awkwardly at you, while Grim frantically rushed to fetch his things (would tuna really count if that’s all he might be saving?).

All if this had came to be a surprise. To think that you were just taking a nap, when suddenly you opened the door to two big eels, one cat and a Yuu. Since when did they get to make all the big decisions, exactly?

“Better get packin’, Shrimpy. You too, Fishy!” Floyd said, “Otherwise, we get to keep whatever you have lying around once the contract is over.”

As if there was anything of interest for him to keep. Still, rather than deciding to argue, you decided it was best to gather your things. However, this wasn’t even the main problem at hand—

For the next 3 days (and hopefully not any longer), where would you even stay?

“Look, I’m really sorry,” Yuu sighed, helping you pack up a box. It was basically all you really needed, seeing it was just your clothing, school supplies, and a few personal trinkets. I mean, it’s not like you could pack up your entire bed into a cardboard box.

You shrugged, “It’s fine, but couldn't you have at least called me first?”

“Next time, I promise.” they nodded.

As Yuu finished sealing up the cardboard box with some frail tape, they surrendered it over to you. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t so heavy. They took one last look at you before they left your room, leaving you alone with your thoughts and the semi-vacant room, just for a bit.

You flicked off your room lights and took one good look at your room. It looked only a little less bare than before, but it still looked like your room, nonetheless. You’d miss sleeping on the slightly terrible mattress of your bed, or the floorboards that creaked in the middle of the night whenever you got up to get a glass of water.

If you could, you would reminisce all night about the tales of your dorm room, but that wasn’t possible. In fact—

You felt two pairs of hands slam down on your shoulders, and a breath on your ear as a loud voice shouted:

“Boo!”

On instinct, you dropped the box and screamed, stumbling away as your body tensed up. It took a few deep breaths and even fewer moments to realize that there was no threat: it was only Floyd.

Floyd laughed, “Gotcha! C’mon, we don’t have all night, Lil’ Fish. You gotta get out sooner or later. Shrimpy and Baby Seal already left ya, y’know.”

Groaning, you picked up your box of items and clutched it tightly to your body, slamming the door to your room behind you. You internally grimaced as you heard the door reopen gently, footsteps trailing behind as Floyd followed you.

“That wasn’t very nice, Fishy. What’s wrong?” Floyd walked beside you, escorting you out of your own home with a casual grin on his face.

‘Everything’s wrong,’ you wanted to say, but you didn’t. Where would you even go? That question struck your mind again as the two of you dragged on your mini—stroll around Ramshackle Dorm. “It’s nothing.”

“You don’t have anywhere to stay, do ya?” Floyd caught you by surprise.

You shook your head, “How did you know?”

“I mean,” he continued, “It’s written all over your face. Besides, Shrimpy has the same problem too!”

You didn’t reply to him afterward, nor did you plan on going to; it was too tiring to carry on a conversation at the moment. The hallways only seemed to get longer as both of you walked beside each other, floorboards creaking with each stride you took. Only, Floyd’s steps made heavier creaks than yours did.

Floyd decided he had enough of this silence, interrupting the awkwardness between you two: “Say, you can stay with me if you want, Lil’ Fishy.”

“You know I don’t have that kind of money, Floyd.”

“No, no! Fishy’s got it all wrong,” he smiled, “I want you to stay in my room, and you play with me for a bit in exchange.”

That sounds a bit… fishy, if you will. What choice did you really have, though? It was either search for a nice empty room (which they might not even have) in another dorm for 3 days, or stay with a menacingly tall eel—mer.

Sometimes it would help if your options were more open, huh?

“Do I really have a choice?” You asked, looking at Floyd. Did he always have this nice pair of mismatched—coloured eyes?

He shrugged, “I dunno, do ya? It’s not like I’m forcin’ you, right? So I’d say yeah!”

As you both reached the entrance (or, exit) to Ramshackle Dorm, you couldn’t help but to make up your mind so suddenly:

“Fine. Hopefully only for 3 nights, though.”

Floyd beamed as he held the front door open for you, “We’re gonna have so much fun together.”

As soon as both of you had arrived in Floyd’s bedroom, he seemed to be much more… burnt out? The moodiness from him was so sudden as he flopped on his bed, face digging into his pillow. He must be tired.

It seemed both the twins shared a single room, which was slightly awkward given your circumstances. By the looks of it, Jade wasn’t currently there, and thank goodness for that.

“What’re you waitin’ for? Turn the lights off and go to sleep, keep the lamp on if ya want.” Floyd grumbled, lifting his face from his pillow to look at you so sullenly. What happened to having ‘so much fun’?

You put your box of things down in a corner of Floyd’s side of the room neatly, and look around the floor for a nice place to… get comfy. Maybe you should have packed your pillows and blanket.

However, Floyd seemed to take notice and shot you a look of confusion, “You gonna sleep on the floor, Fishy? Just come sleep on the bed with me, I don’t mind.”

“No way,” you shook your head.

“Why not?”

“Well, isn’t it awkward to share a bed?”

Floyd grinned, “I already said I don’t mind. What, scared I’m gonna bite ya in my sleep?” He narrowed his eyes, “or are you gonna sleep with Jade or somethin’?”

You frowned, “I’m not sleeping on anybody’s bed!”

Rolling his eyes at you, he shuffled around the bed. “Fine, but I gotta show you something…”

Curiously, you flicked off the room lights and walked a bit closer to him, “What is it?”

“Closer,” he smiled.

Everytime, each step you took closer to his bed, he kept telling you to come even closer. You were practically standing over him by now (which is kind of funny, considering how tall he is), crossing your arms. What could he possibly want?

“Bend down,” Floyd smiled.

As you did, it was almost as if your life flashed before your eyes. Floyd had taken the opportunity to grab you and pull you into his bed. Even while you struggled, you were definitely no match for how much he squeezed you.

“You’re kinda silly, Lil’ Fishy! I didn’t think you’d fall for that so easily,” he laughed.

You huffed, “You’re kind of squishing me.”

Floyd only shrugged as he hugged you even tighter. His grasp wasn’t bone-crushing or suffocating; it was quite warm. Somewhat gentle, surprisingly.

It was quiet, silent, but peaceful. All your thoughts wandered as you were being used like a human body pillow; to Yuu, to Grim, to the contract— it was all so odd.

Before you spent the whole night reflecting even more, you decided to get comfortable and get some rest instead.

Closing your eyes, you took one deep breath in, and one deep breath out.

“Good night, Floyd.”

“Night, Lil’ Fishy.”

( due to be edited at anytime )

#scrib.bles🫧#twisted wonderland #twst #floyd leech #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #floyd leech x reader #floyd x reader #octavinelle #floyd #twst floyd leech #twisted wonderland floyd leech #twst floyd #book 3 spoilers

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haruharuz · 7 months

Text

*smacks hands together* alright guys since I started cracking the code to finally getting shit together imma give it to you. It’s not some 60 day fix your life hardcore butthole burner 3000 challenge. It isn’t gonna magically take your fucking depression away.

But listen, listen.

Put floss in a visible place— floss picks work fine. Start flossing before or after you brush your teeth.

Stretch in bed at night before you sleep. Two minutes is better than no minutes— butt up, crack your back, touch your toes or calves or something.

Start doing a “closer” on your room / home every night. Even if you’re exhausted. All you need to do is pick up the dirty clothes and put them in a hamper. Pick up the trash and throw it away. If you have a dishwasher, shove dishes in it and turn it on. If you don’t, do the easiest dishes you can. Wipe the counters down.

Sleepy time tea by celestial seasonings helps the skin because it’s got spearmint and helps anxiety because of the chamomile.

Comfort water bottle, 16 oz or more. Drink up.

Fill your water filter to the TOP every night before you sleep, now you have lots tomorrow and won’t avoid it as much.

Underwater aquarium ambience with fishies is great to watch and relax to.

Read fanfiction as a reward for doing something tough. Write one or use some shit like CAI to help you cope.

Organizing is hard. Get organizing shit from dollar tree and you’re done.

Have a hard time eating veggies? What’s your favorite veggie? Make that the majority of the veggie on your plate and the rest of the veggies aren’t as many. Huzzah.

Dino nuggets + tater tots + carrots is a perfectly fine meal. Eat.

ACCOMMODATE DONT IGNORE. I ignored and pushed neurodivergent things + chronic symptoms away for years. It did nothing. ACCOMMODATE IT.

Structure your week in hard days Vs easy days. Monday is my busy day, I do as much of the annoying cleaning as I possibly can on that day. I have my groceries delivered. I have lots to do. Tuesday is more relaxed but I finish shit on my to do lists. Other days are easier, because I don’t have to spend all damn day cleaning.

Do your fuckin stretching and cardio and whatnot in your pajamas. You don’t even need pants. Literally just do it naked before your shower if you want.

#sunny rambles #resources #motivation #harusclass #self improvement

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incorrect-riordanverse · 7 months

Text

finally reading tsats here are my live thoughts (spoilers, obviously):

i’m so excited because some pages are darkly decorated and its so cool. still don’t vibe with the title though (the sun IS a star and its peeving me)

why are we talking about dating darth vader 😟 where are we rn (anakin is a yes, but DARTH VADER???)

maybe i’m too old but the jokes are not funny 😭

“this whole place feels like my soul. empty and dark. dark as the pit of the underworld.” <- i don’t care if he’s joking nico would never say thissss 🙏😭 we’re only 10 pages in but please stop butchering my fav character he’s not himselffff i am cringing so bad

i know i’m being dramatic but if they do nico dirty in this book i’m going to end it all

oh my god i don’t think i’ve thought about the words “significant annoyance” in so long. bringing back good memories for sure.

i can tell which parts were written by riordan and which parts were written by oshiro. i don’t think their voices are blending very well together…

also, maybe it’s because it’s the start of the book and they’re trying to familiarise new readers quickly with the characters but it feels like they’re making nico the caricature of ‘emo and shadow and ebony darkness dementia raven way 🥀⛓️🖤’ and will the caricature of ‘happy and sunshine and blonde and flower gleam and glow ☀️🌈🫧’ and i usually like this dynamic when it’s not blatantly pointed out every other page. i have faith they’ll show more complexity than this later on though. future yan will let me know by the end. (future yan here, im not at the end but the characterisation def does get more complex thank gods)

oh ok so it is bob the titan

since when was nico’s actual name niccolo??? how did i forget this detail??

“you have to listen if not you’ll share my fate.” “ominous much?” <- ok he’s finally himself again guys it’s all good

the one-sided beef nico has with percy will never not be funny

“cookie monster appeared over the mouth of the jar, reached inside and gobbled up nico like the chocolate-chip cookie he was.” <- nevermind i’ve gone back to hating this book again

“what was one straight boy when you spent your whole life longing for the impossible?” <- i’m reminded of that time a few years back where everyone made ‘having an unrequited crush on percy’ nico’s whole fanon personality, so i’m glad they addressed this somewhat. this boy has been through so much and people really thought crushing on percy was the biggest thing to focus on about ‘nico angst.’

“we made a mistake. you have to fix it.” <- call me a red flag but if i was nico i would do anything and everything to not go. i would medicate myself so highly on sleeping pills that i can’t dream (doctor bf can go kick rocks). i would track percy and annabeth down and haul their asses into tartarus instead to do it. and if i had to go i would only go in to kill bob myself for sending me those traumatic ass nightmares. no thx. bro willingly jumped in himself and now wants me to save him. nuh uh.

not cupid being will 😭 its like his aphrodite 😭 i am not well.

they always have a really good and emotionally moving scene and they ruin it with a dumb joke. let it be heavy 👏👏

something’s really fishy and i have a feeling that it might not be bob calling for him

if this whole “grumpy ball of darkness” thing continues i will actually lose it

you can’t tell me the percabeth pep talk was actually needed. i will forgive it because i miss them though

im sensing tension in the gap between nico’s connection to the underworld and his relationship with will and i’m here for ittttt. give me the dramaaa

who is the gorgyra girl and why is she in their business sm?

oh shit a will solace pov??? christmas came early 🙏

nevermind that whole nightmare sequence was so fucked up 😭😭

somebody HELP HIM i never thought we would get will angst (nico angst fs, but will???)

DONT JUMP IN THE STYX PLEASE

SOMEBODY TELL HIM HE’S HELPFUL OMG

nico strangling epiales in his sleep is so fucking cool he’s literally HIM he’s literally THAT GUY

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writingseaslugs · 1 year

Text

Lilia Vanrouge, Silver, Sebek Zigvolt: I can sit here? Deadass?

I’m sorry, but if a student pops up, upside down at lunch, and says I can join their table…imma do it. I don’t care about consequences. Imma make me some weird friends and nobody can stop that. Also, I have no idea if my beta fishies got to this. Nobody signed off so I'm just crossing my fingers. If there's errors, I do apologize.

Disclaimer: All characters in this series is aged up. For more information about my version of this world and the type of reader you can expect, please do a quick read of THIS post.

Lilia Vanrouge, Sebek Zigvolt, Silver: I Can Sit Here? Deadass?

“Are we not all students at the same academy? We at Diasomnia will always welcome you with open arms.” Lilia Vanrouge said, your first meeting with the man was already a strange one. You had almost spilled your lunch all over the table when he appeared out of nowhere. You and your new friends looked over at the table, and noticed a few Diasomnia students. Two, in particular, stood out. Both had very serious expressions, but you swore the one with silver hair was five seconds from passing out in his food.

“Those guys over there don’t look like they’d be very welcoming…” Deuce muttered, but you were now intrigued. You had been in this world for such a short amount of time, and nothing was going to stop you from meeting new and interesting people. This wasn’t like your old life back home, oh no, this was an opportunity you were planning on taking.

You heard Lilia laughing, “Apologies for dropping in on your meal. Until we-“ You didn’t mean to cut off Lilia, but you kind of just thought of what you said what you needed before thinking it over.

“Deadass?” You asked, turning to Lilia. The boy…no man stopped as he stared at you. He had a curious smile on his face, “Like deadass, they wouldn’t mind if I just got up and joined the table? No cap? Legit? We doin this?” You asked, causing Lilia to chuckle, covering his smile.

“What an interesting little human…why don’t we head over together and we can make proper introductions?” Lilia said, not expecting anyone to actually take the offer. Still, if you were willing to meet them, then who is he to say no. His sons needed more friends, and you were in the same year as Sebek.

“You’re talking all weird again…” Ace commented, but Cater was too busy snickering at the interaction. Ace then turned to Lilia, “And how did you understand half the things they just said?” You kept forgetting that some of the terms you used weren’t known here. Well, sucks to be them.

“Aight, let’s go.” You said, standing up from your table. Grim made a small, annoyed noise before turning to your food then back to you, “Yes Grim, have at it.” You said, deciding you’d rather follow Lilia. The short man chuckled again before guiding you over to the table. You swore, you could feel eyes on you as you approached the Diasomnia table. When you finally got there, right in front of the two interesting students you spotted earlier, you smiled.

“Silver, Sebek, I’d like to introduce you to the Ramshackle prefect.” Lilia said, waiting for you to give a proper introduction. You perked up, smiling wildly once you noticed how confused the two boys seemed at this new turn of event.

“Hello!” You said, introducing yourself properly by giving them your full name, “It’s a pleasure to meet you two!” You said, taking a seat. Lilia sat down next to you as the two men looked you over, wondering what was going on. The tired looking one was the first to respond.

“My name is Silver, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He said, giving Lilia a curious look. He was wondering why his father decided to bring you over here, but Lilia looked like a proud cat right now, having just caught the largest fish ever. The angry looking crocodile finally snapped back into awareness as he stood up and put a fist over his chest.

“I am Sebek Zigvolt, one of Lord Malleus’s guards!” He shouted, and you knew the entire cafeteria could hear. What an interesting bunch, the overly loud one, the sleepy one, and the mischievous one.

“It’s nice to meet you two…so you’re a guard of…Malleus?” You asked, trying the name out. Sebek sat down and slammed his hands on the table. Lilia went to make a motion for him to calm down, but Sebek was in the zone now.

“How have you not heard of our Lord Malleus, the next in line for the throne in Briar Valley?” Sebek shouted again and you smiled.

“Well, I’m not from this world, so I don’t know who Malleus is, or Briar Valley.” You admitted and Lilia hummed at the thought.

“Briar Valley is where the three of us come from, it’s our home. Fae live over there, under the protection of the Queen of Roses. It’s a sight to see, perhaps some day you could visit.” Lilia said and you were more interested in another part.

“Fae?” You asked curiously and Sebek seemed even more miffed you didn’t know this. Lilia was just amused, having acknowledged you didn’t come from this world and therefore knew absolutely nothing about it.

“Yes, the fae, we’re different from humans.” Lilia explained, “If you’d like, I can give you a full history.” He inquired.

“I’d love that…wait so are you fae?” You asked, having noticed the sharper teeth and pointed ears earlier in the introductions. Silver seemed to be human, just like you, but Sebek seemed to be…on the cusp. He had unnaturally colored eyes, and his ears had the starts of a point, with sharper teeth. He still seemed more human when compared to Lilia though.

“I am, and Sebek over there is half-fae.” Well, that cleared up your suspicions, “Now where to begin? I guess we should start with exactly what a fae is, and then discuss Briar Valley.” And thus began the most informative lunch you had ever had. You only felt a bit bad for leaving your boys to figure out the Riddle situation themselves. You could catch up in your next period together…this Diasomnia group was far more interesting though.

Are you a fan of Diasomnia like me? I bet you are if you read my content (we love the boys in this household). Want to support a visual novel that will feature Diasomnia dorm, has multiple routes and endings, as well as some spicy visual scenes? Check out @twstfournights and if you want info, check out their announcement post!

#Twisted Wonderland #Twisted Wonderland x Reader #TWST #TWST x Reader #TWST Wonderland #Twisted Wonderland Disney #TWST Disney #Lilia Vanrouge #Lilia Vanrouge x Reader #Lilia x Reader #Silver x Reader #TWST Silver #Twisted Wonderland Silver #Sebek Zigvolt #Sebek Zigvolt x Reader #Sebek x Reader

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shiftingparadise · 1 month

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I don’t know if your busy rn but there is a shortage in FEITAN x readers books and ya girl is dying. I know your inbox is like huge probably but anyways.. IF YOU DO TYSM AND IF YOU DONT TYSM FOR READING ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️😻😻😻🥲🥲🫶🫶🫶🫶

Sorry it took so long. I hope you like this :) In this story, Feitan is similar to my others works. So he isn’t particularly very kind in the beginning. I’m working on your requests now, so if you have one don’t be afraid to send me a message or to ask one! Keep in mind that I have a couple left to do, so I’m only asking for some patience :3.

If you enjoy my stories it would be really great if you could buy me a coffee with the link in my bio 😇. HOWEVER DON’T FEEL OBLIGED TO DO SO. I’m only saying this because someone did a week ago and it felt really nice 🥹. I really enjoy writing for you guys either way 🤍✨

PS: I wanted to write another part of this, let me know if I should :)

Warnings: smut and angst.

Word count: 3455

“Be careful, don’t let your heart fool you”, my father took another sip from his coffee, “You’ve got to be sure he isn’t after our money”. “How can you say something like that?”. “I only want what’s best for you. You know that”. “I know him. He would never do anything to hurt me”, you slowly stood up. For some reason, your father’s office never seemed so small before. “Fine”, my father sighed, “Invite him over for dinner”.

You closed your eyes, tears streaming down your cheeks as you remembered the conversation with your father. You didn’t know. You really didn’t. How could you know that he was a Spider? That he was only playing a part? Right, in hindsight everything did seem a little fishy. The way he was suddenly there when you needed a shoulder to cry on. Or the way his name didn’t seem to truly ‘fit’ him. Jacob. He didn’t look like a Jacob at all. How could you be this dumb? Life isn’t like the fairytales and you were an idiot to think it could be.

“Where is she?”.

You couldn’t help but shiver. That voice used to be so familiar. So warm and soft.

“Boss told us to keep her in here”, the blonde that stood in front of the door answered. “It’s nice in there, Fei. She has a nice bed and lots of books”, a misguidingly soft voice answered.

The girl seemed so sweet, with her big glasses and her soft eyes. You couldn’t understand how she could be part of a gang like this.

“I don’t care”, Feitan coldly replied before walking past his comrades.

Your stomach started to turn. You couldn’t look at him. You wanted to keep your memories clean from any stains; to remember him the way you knew him. Kind and soft-hearted.

“Look at me”. “No”, you softly answered as you kept your gaze locked on the ground. “I said look at me”, his hands roughly grabbed your jaw, forcing you to look at him. “I don’t want to”, you almost whispered as you tried not to cry. “Look at me”.

You flinched as you felt the tip of his knife against your cheek. The same place he used to kiss you before wishing you goodnight.

You looked up at him with glossy eyes, not daring to say anything. “Are you scared?”, his cold eyes pierced through your skull. “Yes”, you softly agreed while studying his face. He was nothing like the man you used to know.

His facial features were so cold and distant. As if he was frozen in ice for hundreds of years. You couldn’t see half of his face, as it was covered with the coat he was wearing. It was decorated with a skull, making him even more morbid.

“Good”, he roughly pulled away as he lowered his knife to your throat. “Why are you doing this?”, your chin high. “Why?”, he repeated the question while once again lowering his knife. Letting the cold metal rest just beneath your collarbone. Your breathing got heavier as fear’s grip tightened around your body.

You didn’t know he wasn’t the head of this organization, that this wasn’t his plan. To you, he was the man with all the answers. The one who planned this whole scheme.

“If you want money-“, you were cut short by the back of his hand. “Only speak when I tell you to”.

He wasn’t that tall, but the way he hit you made him seem like the devil. Even though you couldn’t see, you knew there was this cruel grin on his face. You could tell by the way his eyes narrowed.

“Too hard”, his thumb grazed over your cheek. “Or you’re just too fragile”, he lowered his collar to lick up the drop of blood on his thumb. “Don’t cry”, he kneeled before you, “We’re going to have a lot more fun than this”. “Fei?”, the sweet-looking girl suddenly stood next to him. “What, Shizuku?”, Feitan sighed before standing up again. “Boss said not to hurt her, remember?”, her finger resting on her lip. “Tsk”, he clicked his tongue before leaving. “Don’t worry”, the girl cheerfully smiled, “We only need some kind of code. I’m sure your father will give it to us soon”. “Code?”, your eyes widened, “H-he won’t give it!”, you hastily got up from the bed you were sitting on. “Huh? He won’t?”, the girl widened her eyes.

You knew your father. He would never risk the nation’s, no the world’s, safety. Not even for his own daughter.

“You’re after the code for the nuclear weapons, right?”. “I guess… I don’t remember to be honest”, she looked down at the ground. “Listen, my father will never give that code. J-just ask our president-“. “But only your father knows that code, since he’s head of security”, the girl happily smiled, causing you to shiver. “Yo, Shizu”, the blonde angrily yelled from the door. “Huh?”, she looked behind her. “Shut up before you tell her our whole plan”. “Oh right”, she giggled before leaving.

——

“Get the girl, Phinks”, Feitan coldly sighed from behind your door.

You tucked your knees even tighter to your chest. You didn’t know what was going to happen. Were they going to kill you? Torture you?

“Get up”, Phinks roughly grabbed your arm and pulled you from the bed. “Let go!”, you tried to struggle, to break free from his grip. “You want me to get Feitan?”, he gritted his teeth. A threat he didn’t have to make twice.

You hastily stopped struggling, now following him into the main room of the abandoned building. The stones underneath your feet felt exceptionally cold, and the nightgown you were wearing didn’t really help to keep you warm.

“She’s freezing”, a voice too soft now greeted your ears, “Put this on her”.

You looked up to a tall figure. His hair was pitch black and there was this kind of cross tattooed on his forehead. He was an exceptionally good-looking man, but somehow his skin was just as cold-looking as Feitan. It didn’t match his kind voice at all.

“Here”, Phinks threw the coat at your feet. “I said put it on”, the dark-haired man smiled, “She can’t put it on when her hands are tied, can she? “Tsk”, the blonde picked up the coat before throwing it over your shoulders.

You scanned the room. There were about 10 people in the room. Some of them just looked evil, but others looked as innocent as a child. Especially a blonde-haired guy with big, green eyes.

“Your father won’t give us the code. Do you-”, the soft voice broke through your thoughts. “Who are you?“.

“Huh?”, you froze in fear as Feitan’s knife was once again pressed to the soft skin of your neck. You didn’t see him move. It felt as if he had just teleported to you.

“Tsk”, his eyes found yours, “How dare you interrupt boss?”. “Come now, Feitan”, the man now walked towards you, stopping before you. Without any warning, his fingers glided over your cheek, “You couldn’t contain yourself before, but you have to now”. Feitan immediately stepped away from you, discontent hidden in his eyes. “Feitan has a hard time holding himself back from… Fun”, the man smiled, “But it seems he did his best with you. I rarely get to see a hostage without any cuts or broken fingers”. “Lucky me”, you sarcastically answered while holding eye contact. “Yes, but keep in mind that luck doesn’t last forever”, he chuckled. “I’m Chrollo. Head of the Spiders”, he walked back to the stairs he was sitting on earlier. “My father isn’t going to give up the code. Not even for me”. “Yes, he made that very clear”, Chrollo replied. “Let me go and I promise my father will give you a generous reward”, your heart racing. “We have more than enough money. Besides, we can’t let you go. You know all of our names. Well… you’ll get to know them”. “What does that mean?”, you took a step back. “Feitan wanted you as a reward during this mission. So whether we’ll get the code or not, you’re not leaving”, Chrollo’s eyes glittered in the dark. “I-I don’t want to”, you started to panic. “Don’t care”, Feitan’s voice was only fuel to your fear. “From now on, you belong to Feitan”, Chrollo signaled Phinks to free your hands. “Keep the coat. I don’t think Feitan cares if you’re cold. You’ll be at least warm that way”, Chrollo spoke as if Feitan wasn’t there. “Right”, Feitan smirked. “At least get her some proper clothing, Fei”, Chrollo coldly looked at his Spider before dismissing everyone.

——

“Here”, Feitan threw a couple of bags on your bed the next day. “Proper clothes”, he leaned against the door.

After Chrollo dismissed everyone, Feitan took you with him to the house he was currently living in. It was a big and luxurious house. It wasn’t really decorated with furniture, only the necessary things like a couch, a dinner table, some paintings on the wall… And the room you were staying in was just as empty. There was a bed, a luxurious bathroom, and a big, walk-in closet that was empty of course.

“Proper clothes?”, your brows pulled together as you pulled a dress out of one of the bags. “This is a Prada dress?”. “I want you to look pretty”, Feitan looked up at the ceiling. “I’ll get you clothes every week. They won’t last long anyway”, his eyes now darted to yours.

Your stomach turned. You could only imagine what he was going to do to you.

“Wear this one for now”, Feitan slowly walked to your bed before handing you another bag. “For dinner. Hired some chef”. “I’m not hungry”, you clenched your jaw. “I don’t care”, he once again grabbed your jaw, “You’ll do as I say. Got it?”, his lips hovering next to your ear. “I’ve been kind until now, haven’t I? I behaved, so you’ll behave too”.

You didn’t answer, you just nodded in response.

“Good. Now put it on”, he leaned back. “N-now?”, you looked up at him with fear in your eyes. “Yes, want to see your body one last time before I have fun with it”. “What do you mean?”, you tried to keep your voice steady. “Put it on”, his cold gaze let you know his patience was running thin.

With shaking hands, you pulled out the nightgown you were wearing from when Feitan kidnapped you. You weren’t wearing anything underneath it, but that didn’t faze you. Feitan had seen your body many times by now. He used to place kisses all over it, making you feel like no one ever had before.

“This one?”, you covered your breasts with your arm. “Yes”, he got closer. You pulled out a beautiful, black dress from the back.

It wasn’t especially short, but it wasn’t long either. The fabric ended just above your knees. It was a tight dress until your belly, where it opened up like a flower. It was a beautiful dress, no doubt about it.

“I’ll close it”, Feitan guided you to a mirror before his hands glided along your waist.

His touch didn’t seem rough at all. It felt just as before.

“You like it?”, he took a step back when he zipped up the dress for you. “Hm”, you nodded in agreement. “Dinner’s at 7”, he cleared his throat before leaving you again.

——

You couldn’t eat. There was this lump in your throat that made it feel like you’d throw up if any kind of food entered your mouth.

“I thought sushi was your favorite”, Feitan was sitting on the other end of the table. “It is”, you hastily picked up some food, fearing what might happen if you didn’t eat. “It’s really good”, your eyes widened.

You didn’t realize how much your body needed some kind of fuel. You didn’t eat for at least 2 days now, and you only realized now how hungry you truly were.

“One of the best sushi chefs”, Feitan looked at the kitchen behind him where the chef was preparing more food. He seemed in distress, probably because Feitan made sure he wouldn’t tell a soul you were with him.

After dinner, Feitan guided you back to your room.

“Can I go to sleep?”, you softly asked as you sat down on your bed. “Sleep?”, he tilted his head, “No, it’s time for me to have some fun”. “Fun?”, your breathing started to fasten. “Fun”, his eyes lit up before roughly grabbing your arm and pulling you to another room.

There was nothing in the room except for a chair and a bed. Without any warning, he threw you on the bed and tied your wrists to it.

“What are you going to do?”, your eyes already glossy. “Whatever I want”, a knife in his hand as he slowly crawled on top of you. “I’ve wanted to take you like this since the first time we met”, his nose taking in the scent of your hair. “You know how hard it is to hold back when you’re this pretty? It was almost hard for me to finish at times because you were so boring… Always begging me to kiss you, to take you slow, … I hated it”.

You didn’t answer. There was nothing for you to say. Even when he showed some kindness earlier, you should’ve prepared yourself for this.

He swiftly cut the straps of your dress with his knife, causing it to slide down just beneath your breasts. “Stay still”, his knife firmly pressed against your throat as he noticed you were starting to kick your legs. “Please”, tears streamed down your cheek as he licked up a drop of your blood. “Don’t worry, you’re going to like this”, he looked into your eyes before cupping your cheek, “I’ll be rough, but I won’t be a monster. I know you’re body and when it’s ready for me. Even though you won’t admit it, I know you’ve been craving my touch. I saw it earlier when you were undressing in front of me… Your legs were rubbing against each other when I zipped up your dress. You only do that when you want me”.

Yes. No. Maybe. You knew he was right. Earlier… You wanted him, but you tried to push those thoughts away as much as you could. He wasn’t the man you knew. He was a psychopath, how could you want someone like him?

“Now, stay still”, his nails dug into the soft flesh of your waist as he pulled up your dress with the other. “Feitan, please”, another tear was streaming down your cheek. “Say it. Tell me you want me to stop”, his knee pushed your legs open as his digits hovered over your most sensitive spot. “I’ll stop if you do”, a devilish smirk in his eyes.

But you didn’t want him to. You didn’t care if he was going to be rough, or if he was even going to hurt you. You wanted him.

“See?”, he chuckled at a lack of answer. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you? You’ve never been this wet for me”, he softly bit on your shoulder. You closed your eyes as you were still trying to fight yourself. “I asked you a question”, his hand wrapped around your throat as he bit your shoulder again. Only harder this time. “S-shit”, you cried out in pain. “I’m going to cover you in bitemarks for ignoring my question”, he loosened his grip around your neck while his fingers slowly entered you. “Fuck”, you arched your back as he left bite marks on your body.

You couldn’t deny it any longer. He made you feel good, better than he ever did.

“Tsk”, Feitan frowned when you came undone around his fingers, “Wasn’t expecting you to enjoy this”. “I-I’m not”, you avoided his gaze as your cheeks turned red. “Liar”, he softly hummed while undressing himself.

Your eyes were glued to his body. Now it was clear why he never took off his shirt.

“Who did that to you?”, you quietly whispered as you noticed his scars. For a second, his eyes widened while his lips were slightly parted.

There was this short-lived moment in his mind where he wanted to let you in and where he wanted you to care for him. An unwilling memory of your arms wrapped around him flashed before his eyes.

“Shut up”, his eyes went dark again, “Don’t talk”.

Afraid of being enchanted by your warm voice again, he thought it better not to hear your voice at all.

He didn’t ask if you were ready for him. It was unnecessary. By now, your legs are already wrapped willingly around his waist. “Feitan”, your eyes closed as his forehead was pressed against yours. “Don’t”, Feitan grunted as he got even rougher, “I don’t want you to enjoy this”.

That was a lie. He wanted you to, more than anything. It wasn’t his intention for you to enjoy this, and he surely didn’t want to leave you so perfectly. In his mind, he wanted to hurt you, to make you bleed, just as he did with all those before you. That’s what he enjoyed. Torture. Not this. This wasn’t like him, and it made him mad but there was nothing he could do. He didn’t want to hurt you, more so, it would even make him feel bad about himself.

“Sorry”, your lips pressed against each other as a whisper left your chest. “Fuck”, he grunted in agitation.

He didn’t know what to do, but this didn’t feel right.

“Tell me”, he clenched his jaw at the realization of how soft he had gotten for you. “W-what?”, you looked to the side. “Tell me you want me, please”, his eyes were glued to a bitemark he left.

He couldn’t lie. The bruises looked so good on your body, but only because you enjoyed it. If he did something like that while you were crying, begging him to stop…

“I want you, Feitan”, your soft voice melted something inside him as if a fire was lit inside his heart. “Even now? Even when you see who I truly am?”.

“Even now”.

Without thinking twice, he cut the rope that was holding you down.

“Touch me. Like you used to”, he softly grabbed your wrist before placing your hand on the back of his head.

You obeyed as you softly tugged at his dark hair.

“I don’t want to take you slowly like I used to, Y/N”. “You don’t have to”, your legs tightened around his waist.

That was all he needed to hear. Without any hesitation, his lips crashed against yours.

“You feel so good”, your breathing got heavier as you could feel he was getting close. “Yeah?”, his voice low, “Want me to breed you?”. You hastily nodded as you could feel yourself getting closer to your own climax. “Really?”, he chuckled, “You never let me come inside you before. Always crying about being scared to get pregnant”. “P-please Feitan”, you arched your back. “Don’t worry. I’m going to fill you up this time, whether you want me to or not”.

Your legs now started to shake as you came undone around him.

“That’s it. Good girl”, Feitan grabbed your jaw, “Now look at me and beg”. “P-please Fei, want you to come inside me”. “Want me to put a baby in you? Making you mine forever?”. “P-please”.

Feitan couldn’t contain himself any longer. With heavy breaths and low grunts, he let his head rest against your shoulder.

“Never felt so good”, he slowly pulled out, before placing a soft kiss on the bitemark he left on your shoulder. “Hm”, you happily smiled.

He didn’t know why he decided to act cold again. Honestly, he hated himself for it, but there was something inside him. A feeling he never felt before. Was it fear? Was he scared that you were going to leave him? No. You couldn’t leave him. He kidnapped you and you had nowhere to go. It was something else. He knew you weren’t going to leave, but he was scared you were going to hate him for what he did. Or rather, for who he was. You didn’t know the real him.

“Don’t think this will happen again”, he coldly got up, “You won’t enjoy this next time”.

You lowered your eyes as you watched him put on his clothes.

“Can I-“.

“Go to your room and shower. I don’t care what you do for the rest of the night”, he clenched his jaw before leaving you alone.

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s1x-foot-deep · 5 months

Text

FINALLY i have ALL these drawn up.... umm anyways heres designs for a prohibitedwish-centric au where prismo(& "friends") work at/run a roller rink, aka the Time Room, & scarab is an auditor suspicious of how the place even stays open and is obsessed with shutting it down<3 more rambling abt it under the readmore

ok. so basically:

starts in the 70s when the Time Room is doing alright, popularity-wise and financially. it contains an arcade room with a prize counter, a snack bar, a back office, restrooms Obviously and of course, the rink, for skatin'. here there are many events to be seen: parties for holidays, rollerblading contests, birthdays, etc etc...

in this time, pretty early on in the 70s actually, prismo meets Jake(not yet designed 4 the au but i'll get 2 him), who ends up being pretty much his best friend, and stirring up feelings prismo doesnt quite understand himself.... scarab, is assigned to do an audit on the Time Room and notices a name he recognizes, unfortunately. of course, it's prismo, there HAS to be something fishy going on here. so instead of doing his job like normal, how he should, scarab disguises himself and snoops around the rink himself for evidence of anything suspicious.... and of course, skate. can't go to a rink without skating right? it'd look suspicious. its definitely not because he's taking the opportunity to have fun & hang out in the crowd that'd usually shun him. he's not HERE for fun, you know.

in the background all the while, life & death have a budding romance, a beautiful lil opposites attract story... and lich is. well. lich is there and intimidating, and... friends with life? kind of? he doesnt think theyre friends, just that he doesnt hate Life, and they share music and horror movie recommendations. otherwise he loathes to be perceived

timeskip to the 90s, the Time Room is in a decline. less people show up, it looks run down, and prismo is.... not doing his job. he's busy mourning his best friend, who he only now realizes he loved, and he is NOT coping well. hes more apathetic than he was before, nihilistic one could even say, and even his pal Cosmic Owl doesn't know how to help.

during this time, scarab's also dealing with the consequences of someone passing. namely, his Unnamed, Unseen Sibling, who left behind a girl scarab now has to care for. he has mixed feelings-- he was never close with his family, nor does he like kids, but now he has to figure out how best to care for this child he barely knows, but thinks the world of him, for whatever reason. when scarab goes to the time room to keep investigating, like he's been doing for around 20 YEARS now, he's taking Chrysina with him as he can;t really get a babysitter or anything, nor would he trust one. and well, once he sees the sorry state prismo's in, it doesn't feel as great trying to ruin his life. sure, scarab feels a little vindicated to see the time room so dilapidated and empty, but now this mission just feels like kicking an old dog.

prismo, wallowing in his grief and poor coping skills, takes some sort of interest learning how much scarab despises him. people tend to like prismo, why doesn't this guy? he honestly doesnt even care if the guy finds something to shut the place down at this point, so long as he comes back.

ok i typed way more than i meant to here ok thats all for now bye

#adventure time #adventure time au #prismo the wishmaster #cosmic owl #death #life #the lich #scarab the god auditor #uncle scarab #chrysina #jess scribbles #scopophobia//#smoking//#drugs//#alcohol//#time room roller rink au #idk. do i even have a better name idea for it? no. no i dont #long post//

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bokutosbiceps · 11 months

Note

KENGAN ASHURA: any characters you’d like with a s/o who has a business and is a business person who’s part of the Kengan tournaments but they have another fighter.

ohma, raian, gaolang, agito (separately) x CEO!s/o

warnings: cursing, death threats, violence

a/n: i didn’t do any kengan omega characters since it clearly says kengan ashura even though i love my boi koga 🥺anyways, i hope you enjoy !! oh, also, i used gn pronouns for the reader (when necessary) since it seemed like that’s what you wanted in your request :3

tokita ohma would be incredibly jealous. like extremely jealous. he doesn’t understand why you’d ask someone else to be your company’s fighter when you’re literally dating him. he is always around whenever you’re strategizing with your fighter + he’ll make little quips like “i’d knock em out faster” or “i could beat the shit outta you so easily”. whenever you’re not around, he’ll make death threats toward your fighter to try to get them to back out so he could take his rightful place as your fighter. you have to set some very serious + clear boundaries w ohma so he can chill out. you’d have to explain that the main reason you don’t want him as your fighter is because you don’t wanna subject him to injury just for your benefit, even though he’s told you many times that he’d gladly go to battle, and die, for you. i could see him becoming fast friends w your fighter if they’re competent + laid back. he’s still jealous that you didn’t choose him, though. he has kind of pure intentions…but we all know the bastard just wants to fucking fight + even better, fight for you.

kure raian is going to be so fucking petty about it. he immediately starts bitching + whining to you. when that doesn’t work, he will seriously try to scare the shit out of the fighter you chose. i honestly don’t see him stopping at killing your fighter. if that happens, you realize you pretty much have to let raian be your fighter or else. if he decides against killing your fighter, he’ll make their life a living hell. and yours. he is around you + your fighter ever waking moment you spend together. first, he makes sure nothing fishy is going on. two, he makes sure that your fighter knows that they’re dead w a single wrong move or loss. your fighter might end up running away out of fear for their own life. raian will probably end up becoming your fighter one way or another. it’s completely unavoidable.

gaolang wongsawat likes that you’re strong willed + doesn’t really mind that you didn’t choose him to be your fighter. you guys keep your relationship + goalang’s job v separate, so he truly has no problem with this. he will, however, do a little bit of training w your fighter for both his + your benefit. it’s nice to have someone to spar w him since they’re always around but he also wants to make sure that they’re a competent fighter. he trains them super well + he helps your fighter bring you massive success. he wouldn’t hold back while fighting in a real match, though. sorry, but he’s going to put your fighter in the ground + not even feel bad about it. in the back of his mind, that’s kinda what you deserve for not choosing him to be your fighter. you know he’s more than capable. but again, he likes that about you. you make your decisions for yourself + he’s ready to stand behind whatever decision you make.

kanoh agito is surprisingly okay with it. he trusts your judgment + while he knows he’s stronger than 99.9% of the world, he lets you make your own decisions. plus, he knows he’s legally obligated to fight for metsudo so he wouldn’t be able to fight for you. that doesn’t mean he won’t help tho. he’ll even offer to spar with your fighter to make sure they’re actually strong enough to bring in success for you. you appreciate his help + he does everything he can (inside of his contract w metsudo) to make sure that you will be successful w this fighter. he’s also v aware of the fact that you may have a fighter who’s not him for official kengan matches, but your true protector will always be him. he wouldn’t entrust that job to anyone else as long as he’s alive. not ever.

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quinnkasih · 1 year

Text

Kitty Cat

chapter 3 - "the internet cafe's loyal customers"

cat!scara x collegestudent!fem!reader

SYNOPSIS

You are just an ordinary college student, having friends, hard projects and surviving on a low budget. Every week, or saturday to be specific, you would come by your favorite cafe in town, Fatui Cat Cafe. It is such a calming and lively place for you after a busy week as a student. In the cafe, there's one cat that despises everyone, except you.

A/N :

i add a little change to the story. Before, it was Teyvat's Cat Cafe. But I changed it into Fatui's Cat Cafe, due to some stuff. Who knows? Maybe you'll know the story if you match it with the harbingers' actual lore..~

MASTERLIST - previous | next

It was dark outside. All shops were closed, some of the are still open. But only a few. The scenery was lonely. Lonely streets were lighted by street lights that light up during the night time.

Next to Fatui Cat Cafe was a dark alleyway, they throw out their garbage and leftovers there.

It was quiet, too quiet. Until there was the sound of a door opening from the dark alleyway.

There was a male coming outside the door. He looked fishy, wearing a cap and is hooded with a black hoodie and is wearing jeans. He has indigo colored hair.

He was busy fixing his attire. When he was about to leave, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey comrade! What are you doing outside at such a late time?" Taunted a guy with ginger colored hair.

"Back off, dont call me that. And dont be so stupid, you know what im outside for" Said the hooded man coldly, not bother turning to look at him.

"Hmm? Let me guess..~"

"It's neither you going to the internet cafe you usually go to or the 24 hour convenient store" Guessed the guy.

"What? Who told you about this?" Asked the hooded man furiously, turning to look the other man.

"Ahaha! Dont act all surprised Scara, everyone literally knows you leave the cafe every night. Signora saw you walking out of the door" Explained the ginger man, giggling.

Scara just glared at Childe harshly, not answering.

"So? What brings you here then?" Asked Scara again, hands crossed against his chest.

"Hm? Whats wrong with me being outside? I mean, you are even outside yourself" Childe answered and scoffed.

Scara just answered with a "ok" and started to leave him.

"H-hey!! Wait for me!!" Childe shouted from afar as he ran towards Scara.

...

They stopped by an internet cafe, it was usually crowded. But since it was midnight, of course it isnt.

"Its up to you whether you want to rent or not. Also, Im not paying your bill." Scara exclaimed, opening the door.

"Huh??! What do you mean?? I thought you are paying me?? How do even have money??!" Childe asked, surprised.

"I stole it from the cashier" Scara confessed, not feeling any guilty of doing it.

"Hey! You stole it?! I'll report you to master Tsaritsa!!" Childe warned.

"Pfft why should I care? Go on and report it to her, I really dont care. And also, you sound stupid calling her master Tsaritsa." Scara mentioned as he payed for the billing, 1 hour.

As Scara was heading towards the computer he always used, Childe kept on complaining.

...

"Hufff, what do you even need to rent a computer anyways?" Childe sighed and stretched in his seat.

Scara did not answered anything. He countinued on to type on the keyboard for something. On his screen, showed a search bar. He was searching his own name, his intend was to know his reputation on the internet.

The loading took awhile, but it had finished anyways. He clicked his own hashtag, #scaracat.

The very first post on the top, which is the most popular and recently post, was a video. He hovered the cursor to the play button and clicked.

The video started, it was a video of a girl crouching to a black purple-ish cat, she is stroking the cat slowly. The place was familiar, it was the Fatui Cat Cafe.

After a moment of watching he finally realised its him, in his cat form.

He was surprised. Since when did he started to be gentle to someone? Why is he so calm and enjoying the girls touch in the video?

At the end of the video, he woke up suddenly and bit the girl's hand that was stroking him and the video was cutted off.

"Oohh, thats the video from yesterday's feeding with customers event" Childe commented as he saw the screen.

He remembered again the warmth and affection he received in his sleep yesterday afternoon. He thought it was just him feeling things. Well, it sure isnt him.

He scrolled down to the comments and checked, it was all positive comments.

The comments were just dry, like "aww cute!! 🥰🥰🥰😍" or "aww🥺🥺". He expected to meet a comment or two like, "man wish that was me" or "hey women move‼️‼️ my turn❗" or basically just simp comments. But who would simp for a cat??

He still expects like a comment like so, he countinued to scroll down the comments.

He the came across a comment, saying "the girl in the video is @/y/nn". He clicked the tagged user and the page loaded.

Childe on the other hand who was watching the same thing as Scara, is very interested in this girl.

@/y/nn is actually just a normal typical girl who does dance videos or vlogged her day with her friends, nothing special.

Her latest video has many views than her usually views on other videos, maybe because she recently got famous due to being one of the persons to calm him.

The video that got most views was a video of her dancing the newest trend, Casey dance. She isnt like most girls that really showed off their curves with the dance, she still kept her image well and kept her curves covered with baggy and oversized clothing despite the slight explicit dance.

(For those of you who dont know the dance, here's the video)

"Mannn, y/n is pretty~" Teased Childe beside Scara.

Scara only kept on looking on the screen with a slight blush on his cheeks. His cat ears which are hidden and blocked by his cap and hood were twitching to rise up, a sign of him being flustered. His tail was also itching to wag a little.

Childe only looked at him with a smug smile plastered on his face.

...

Eventually their rent time for the computer has ended so they left.

Childe insisted on buying some snack or stuff at the 24 hour convenient store with some money he found on the computer desk he was sitting on, Scara agreed.

TAGLIST

@dee-zbignuts @cr4ftingtable @lxry-chxn @cherricoladrink @scrmgf @ember-is-clueless @butterandbeans @lilias-spouse @wisteriaflowersss @sukunasin @nemesis1ofdark @crinklypink @louise-rosita-leroux @thetwinkims @koi-chairowo @grimreapersscythe @eimuros @kaoyamamegami @meowlumi @crazypriestess @g0re-h0und @ssilentblackyt @blurr3db3rry @blvdmrcnry @toriiee @lycheemouse @valiryyz @nejibot @pheebbbs @lovely-scaramouchie

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undercovergamer · 4 months

Text

✨Klee’s Friendly “Monster”✨

(Requested by an anonymous user)

It’s a busy day in Mondstadt, and none of the Knights have enough time to watch Klee. However, luckily for them, a certain oni just so happened to be in Mondstadt because ✨lazy writing✨, so not all hope was lost. Itto ends up babysitting and playing games with Klee, as per Kaeya’s recommendation.

‼️This fic is strictly familial, do not interpret otherwise /srs or I’ll eat your knees. /neg‼️

⚠️Also contains tickles so if ur not comfortable with that, do not read more than like… half, ok?⚠️

Anyway, I’m so sorry for the wait and enjoy this wholesome family fic 😛

I better not despawn again or istg :((

Word Count: ≈4157

It was a sunny day in Mondstadt. Master Jean needed someone to watch over Klee for the day while she took care of some important work. She’d asked Kaeya for help with this, but he had other plans this day. Of course he didn’t mind playing with Klee, but he was too busy to watch her properly. Hmm, what to do…

Jean sighed, trying to come up with solutions. “What should we do then? Maybe… maybe Lisa could watch her?” she suggested.

“I’m afraid she’s fully booked at the moment.” Kaeya replied with a slight smirk, making Jean narrow her eyes. “But, I do have another suggestion.”

“Go on.” It seemed as if everyone was busy, who could he possibly suggest?

“I’m sure you’ve heard about that new guy in town. Y’know, tall, white hair, red horns..?” Kaeya explained, hoping Jean knew about him already.

She looked at him in disbelief.

“You can’t be serious…” Surely he of all people was not the most responsible choice…?

“Of course I am. I’ve gotten to know him quite well, actually. He already gets along great with Klee.” Kaeya said confidently.

“I’d argue his grandmother is a better choice. I mean, if she can handle Itto, she could handle anyone.”

“Aw, come on. Give him a chance, he’s an adult! I’m sure they’ll be alright.”

Jean wasn’t too enthusiastic with this idea. Especially not since Itto had already caused trouble, despite being in Mondstadt for just over a week. Two days ago, he had refused to leave the Cat’s Tail after closing hours, arguing that the cats wanted him to stay. And a day before that, he and his gang were caught placing posters around the buildings and walls without legal permission. If it wasn’t for Kaeya taking a liking to him and his granny, he’d be in jail by now.

It took quite a while, but after some back-and-forth, Kaeya finally managed to convince Jean to let the oni babysit.

“Ok, fine! But you will also be held responsible if they cause any trouble.” She said, still a bit anxious about the idea.

“He’s responsible when he wants to be. Please trust me on this.” Kaeya reassured with a confident smirk.

After their conversation, Kaeya went to look for Itto so he could tell him the news. He was already hanging out with Klee, who was showing off her cool witch outfit, so it didn’t take long to inform the two. Already besties, they happily agreed to the idea, so Kaeya decided to let them wreak a little havoc on their own for a while.

Eventually, the two sillies left the city to play in Windrise instead. Klee sat on Itto’s shoulders and used his horns to steer him in the right directions. Once they arrived, Klee helped him explore the area so he’d know where everything was before hanging out around a nearby fishing spot.

“This place is pretty chill. It’s so peaceful here!” Itto said, looking at the little fishies swimming around. He thought they were pretty cute.

“Yes! This place is the best!” Klee exclaimed, happily jumping up and down.

“Hahaha! You have good taste, lil’ dude! Er… dudette! What’cha wanna do now?” Itto had plenty of ideas already, but he wanted to know Klee’s thoughts first.

“Klee wants to show you how to go fish blasting! It’s lots of fun, and we get delicious fish at the same time!” Klee exclaimed, getting ready to throw some of her signature dodoco bombs.

“Ah, er- how about we play something… less explosive? You know, like Jean said, we can’t blow anything up…” He’d been told to keep her safe, after all.

“But-! Aw… ok…” Klee said sadly, looking down in disappointment. How can grown-ups be so cruel?

“Aww, why the long face? It’s ok! We could play tag instead! Or how about hide-and-seek? Whatever you want!” He tried to suggest some other fun activities to cheer her up.

“Ooh! Yes! Klee loves those games! Let’s play both!” It worked like a charm as she looked up at him with a beaming smile.

“Ooh, both? Like at once? … Oh! Then maybe we could add new rules and stuff, right?” Itto suggested with excitement, curious to see what they could come up with together.

Klee gasped. “Yay! We can make our own game!” she cheered. She loved making up games with her friends, so this idea was perfect!

“Yeah!! Exactly! So what do you wanna add? I think we could go with regular hide-and-seek rules, but the hider can run away and change spots ‘n’ stuff…” Itto was more than ready to cook up some rules, but he quickly realized he’d have the upper hand…

“How about this: You hide, and run, I guess, while I seek! It’s more fair that way since you’re tiny.” Itto said with a chuckle, feeling proud of his idea and giving Klee a playful pat on the head. Winning too easily would be boring for both sides, after all.

“Ooh! Okay! But Klee wants to play pretend, too! How about you play as a big, scary monster? It’ll be fun, teehee!” Klee suggested, feeling excited about her idea. She wanted to be a witch that could cast spells to protect herself from the “mighty beast” before her.

“Hmm, good idea, little witch! We could have different safe spots too, like that tree! So basically if you touch it, you’re safe and I can’t get you.” Itto explained, looking around to decide on some other areas too.

“Yes!! Let’s go find more safe spots!” Klee exclaimed, excited to expand their play area.

After lots of planning and walking around to mark safe spots and barriers, they put their heads together to imagine where exactly their play area was. Klee had two spells at her disposal: one to freeze the monster in place, and one to turn herself invisible. They last ten seconds each and give her more control over the game, making it more fun and exciting. The different safe spots were marked with little rock piles and sticks. How cute!

Once the planning had finished, the sillies went back to the lake to officially start their game.

“Alright! I’ll count to 20, right? Heh, I won’t go easy on you, so you’d better find a good hiding spot!” Itto said playfully, covering his eyes to start counting.

“Eeee! This is so much fun!” Klee cheered, jumping up and down with excitement. She could barely wait for the game to start!

“Hehe. You ready? One… two…” Itto started counting, and Klee quickly ran off to hide somewhere… The games had begun!

“18… 19… 20! Ready or not, here I come!” He called out, looking around himself just in case the little witch had hid nearby. “Where did you go…?” he said playfully, searching around the area.

He checked behind a tree… but no one was there.

He checked in some bushes… but no girl was found.

He checked behind a large rock…

“Aha! There you are!” …and found little Klee crouched down behind it!

“Eep! Oh no! Hehehe!” She quickly got up, making some dramatic motions with her hands before shouting “Freeze!”

“Ack- noo!” Itto dramatically acted as if he got frozen in place by her magic.

“Hehehe! Can’t catch me!” Klee taunted playfully, running away to hide somewhere else.

“J-Just you wait!” Itto stuttered, pretending to feel cold from the “spell.” After ten seconds had passed, he shook himself off and sprung back into action, searching once again.

He checked near some trees, looking behind them.

“Where could she be…?” he asked himself, but then.. he heard a giggle coming from some nearby bushes. He could’ve sworn he saw a little red hat sticking out! So, he got an idea.

“Oh noooo, where did she goooo~? Ah, she’s too good at hiding! I’ll never find her at this rate~!” he said, louder than necessary in a silly voice to make Klee laugh.

“Pfft- hehehehe!” she tried to hold it in, as to not reveal her brilliant hiding spot, but Itto was simply too funny. He grinned and moved closer to the bushes, hearing the giggles increase.

“Oh? Who put this giggly bush here? That’s so strange…” he said, pretending to inspect this mysterious bush. But then…

“BOO!!” Klee suddenly jumped up, scaring the mighty “beast” before her.

“AAH!!” Itto actually got spooked and stumbled backwards, making Klee laugh.

“Hehehehe! Are you okay, Mr. Monster?” Klee asked, giggling at the oni’s dramatic reaction.

Itto cleared his throat and composed himself, nodding at her question. “Hahaha… y-you little rascal! Just you wait ‘til I-”

“Wooosh! I’m invisible!” Klee interrupted, casting her little spell and giggling as Itto pretended to lose track of her. He seemed so confused, looking around dramatically.

“Wha-?! Huh?! Where did you go?“ he said, turning around to look elsewhere. “Little witch? Come back!” he called out, being a master actor.

“Hehehe!” Klee ran around him, poking his sides suddenly, which made him jump.

“EEP! Hey! Wh-?! Who did that?!” Itto exclaimed, turning around, but Klee wasn’t behind him anymore. She giggled and ran around him, poking and tickling him for the funny.

“Ack- pfft- h-hehehey!” Itto giggled, trying to shield himself while pretending not to see the little witch poking him relentlessly.

“Hehe! Tickle spell!” Klee said, poking and tickling every time Itto looked away from her.

“Th-Thahahat’s n-not a spehehell!” He said, trying to step away from the little attack without squirming too much. “Y-You m-mahahade thahat uhuhuhup!”

“Hehehe! The monster is ticklish! You’re funny!” Klee said, giggling at the revelation and giving him a playful hug.

Itto quickly composed himself after that adorable attack. “Eheh… y-you know you’re not invisible anymore, right?” he said, smiling playfully and looking directly at her.

“What..?” Klee looked confused, but then remembered the ten second rule. “Oops..!” Oh no, he could see her now!

“Heheh, imma getcha!” Itto said, getting ready to capture the mischievous little witch once and for all!

“Eek! Hehehe!” Klee playfully ran away, running towards a safe space.

“Ohohoho! No you don’t! Get back here!” Itto said playfully, making his voice a bit deeper to fit his role.

Klee ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, giggling with anticipation as she was about to reach the safe space in front of her. But then… she tripped, barely missing it, and fell to the ground with a thud causing her hat to fly off. Itto gasped, catching up and quickly crouching down beside her.

“Whoa! A-Are you alright there, kiddo?” Itto asked, carefully helping her stand back up. She looked up at him with big, teary eyes. Oh no…

“Aw… hey, are you hurt? You ok?” he asked softly, checking if she’d scraped a knee or something.

“Th- *hic* That was so scary!!” Klee sobbed, sniffling and covering her eyes.

“H-Hey, don’t cry… you’re ok! It’s ok! C’mere, lemme give you a big ol’ monster hug!” Itto said, grinning playfully to lighten the mood. Klee hugged Itto, getting herself lifted into the air in a playful bear- I mean- monster hug.

“Hey, you okay, little witch?” Itto asked, patting her head softly.

“Mhm… Klee just got scared…” she said, wiping her tears and smiling a little, hugging her not-so-scary monster friend.

“Aww… it’s okay, little one! Uncle Itto is here to cheer ya’ right up!” Itto crouched down to pick up Klee’s hat, gently placing it back on her head.

“Hehe! You’re the best!” Klee said, smiling and hugging him tight.

“So whaddya say? You wanna keep playing?” he asked in a playful tone.

“Hehe! Yes!” Klee said, smiling happily.

“Alright! One sec.” Itto said, clearing his throat. “Rawr! I got you now! Mwahahaha!” he said, getting back into his role instantly and playfully holding the little witch in his mighty monster hug.

“Eek! Oh no! Hehehe!” Klee started giggling, but hugged him back tightly anyway.

“What will you do now, hm? There’s no escape from the almighty Arataki ‘Playful Tickle Monster’ Itto!” He kept his speech dramatic to make their game more immersive and fun, sitting down to lean against a tree, with Klee in his lap.

“Hehehehe! Freeze!” She exclaimed, giggling lots and flailing to escape that playful trap.

“Heh, nope. Sorry, little witch, but your spells don’t work on me now!” Itto said smugly, pointing back at the tree he was leaning on.

“Oh no!” It was one of the safe spaces they’d marked! Klee had lost the game!

“Hahaha! Brace yourself, kiddo! Cus imma getcha!” He teased, playfully wiggling his fingers above her. “You alright with that?” Itto asked with a playful grin, making sure Klee was still having fun.

“Hehehe! Yeah!” She exclaimed, playfully giggling as the tickly hand came closer.

“Alright then! Stop me whenever, ok?” He said before playfully tickling her tummy, keeping it gentle since she’s so tiny.

“Kitchy kitchy coo~” he said in a silly way.

“Eep! Hehehehehe!! That tickles!” Klee squeaked, giggling happily and playfully squirming. Itto wasn’t holding her or anything, so she could escape whenever she wanted to.

“Tickle tickle~” Itto said playfully, giggling along with her. She was so cute!

“Ehehehehehehe!! Eek!!” Klee squealed and pushed his hand away.

“Haha! You alright?” Itto stopped for a moment, being careful not to overwhelm the kid.

Klee panted a bit. “Hehehehe! This is so much fun!” She exclaimed.

“Really now? Guess you’re in for more tickles then!” Itto said, playfully tickling the little witch.

“Eeeeee! Hehehehehehehe!!” She had the sweetest little smile on her face, and she was having an absolute blast!

“Ehehehehe! Help! Help! It’s the tickle monster!” Klee squealed for dramatic effect, playfully trying to squirm away.

“Hahaha! You having fun, kiddo?” Itto stopped tickling again to let her catch her breath.

“Hehe… Yes! This is fun!” she said, happy to take a little break now.

“Hehe, alright! Just lemme know when you’re ready, m’kay?” Itto said, making a funny face at her.

“Hehehehehe!” She thought it was funny and gave him a hug again. “You’re the best!” she said, melting his heart. So cute!

“Aww, you two are getting along quite well, I see.” A familiar voice was heard, as a man walked towards them.

“(Gasp) Kaeya!” Klee smiled and sprang up from Itto’s lap, happily running towards him.

“Haha, hello there, little one!” Kaeya crouched down to hug her while smiling softly as she ran into him with open arms.

“Oh hey man! What’s up?” Itto asked, standing up to greet him as well.

“Ah, well, I just came check on you both. You should tell me where you’re going next time. Though, I figured I’d find you two somewhere around here.” Kaeya explained.

“Ohh, right. Haha! Sorry, I totally forgot!” Itto said sheepishly, chuckling a bit at his error.

“Kaeya! Please join our game! It’ll be lots of fun!!” Klee chimed in excitedly, tugging on his shirt.

“Oh? Well, what are the rules?” Kaeya asked.

“Hehehe! You have to protect me from the tickle monster!” Klee said, giggling and pointing over at Itto, who chuckled and made a “scary monster” pose, grinning at Kaeya with a playful expression.

“Ah. I see.” Kaeya had already guessed what the game was, and he didn’t need a detailed explanation. He simply chuckled and accepted Klee’s request. “Very well, then. I’ll keep you safe!” he said with dramatic effect.

“Yay!” Klee cheered, bouncing up and down.

“Aw yeah! Let’s get this thing started!” Itto chimed in, excited to have Kaeya join.

Soon enough, round two began as the little witch ran away, laughing happily.

“Eek! Hehehe! Help!” Klee giggled, running around the field.

“Grr! Imma getcha!” Itto said playfully, laughing and trying to avoid Kaeya as he playfully chased after her.

“Not to worry, little one. Cavalry Captain Kaeya is here to rescue you!” Kaeya replied, taking his role seriously and blocking Itto’s path once he caught up.

Itto was failing to maneouver around properly as the knight kept grabbing him and spinning him around, back to where he started every time he slipped past. It almost looked like they were dancing.

“C’mon, man! Get outta the way!” Itto protested, trying to act fierce despite the silly smile on his face.

“Nope. As Klee’s personal guard, it is my duty to protect her.” Kaeya replied with a smug look.

“Tch. Guess I’ll just have to capture you too then!” Itto said, trying to wrestle Kaeya instead. But, after a few seconds of their playful scuffle…

“Freeze!”

…Klee said the thing, causing Itto to freeze in place with Kaeya stuck in his arms. Oopsie. He had no choice but to follow the rules of the game.

“H-Hey! No fair!” Itto complained, arms wrapped tightly around Kaeya.

“Oh? Oh my.” Kaeya couldn’t help but laugh softly as Klee used his catchphrase like that. It was adorable.

“Oh no! Kaeya, I froze both of you by accident!” Klee said in shock, gasping with a dramatic look on her face. How could she have done this?

“Ah, how unfortunate. Haha, does that mean we’re stuck here?” Kaeya asked, unsure of what to do now.

“Yup! But only for ten seconds.” Itto said, as Klee started counting down from ten.

“… sooo, this isn’t awkward, right?” Itto asked Kaeya.

“Heh, no, not at all. I think it’s quite pleasant for friends to hug each other like this. Even if we’re frozen.” Kaeya replied with a chuckle.

“Oh, phew! I’m just glad you’re not uncomfortable or anything.”

“Hehe, I don’t mind this at all, actually.”

“Wooosh! You’re free!” Right as their conversation ended, Klee was done with the countdown and the two men were freed from their icy prison, except…

“Oh no! Kaeya!”

… Kaeya was still stuck in Itto’s hug, and Itto started tickling him.

“Pfft- ahahahahaha! Hehey! L-Lehet goho!” He wasn’t too surprised with this turn of events, but had nearly forgotten he was ticklish.

“Nah-uh, you’re my nearest target~ hahaha!” Itto replied with a grin, hugging the squirming man in place while tickling his waist.

“Ahahahahahaha! Kleehehehee! Hehehelp!” Surely one of her spells would do the trick…?

“Um… Klee can’t cast that freeze spell yet. Sorry! Hehehe!” Klee said, giggling at the scene. It was funny to see them both play like this, and certainly quite rare for two adults to act so silly.

“Ahahahah-AH- pfft..! H-Hey…!” Itto brushed over a rather sensitive rib area, making Kaeya yelp.

“What’s wrong, weak spot?” He tried finding it again, making the poor man laugh more.

“Tch-.. bh- bahahAHAHA! AhahahAHAHA!” Kaeya squirmed in failed attempts to escape, and he slowly made his way to the ground.

“Tickle tickle tickle…” Itto found it hilarious how much this man could squirm and laugh. Who would’ve thought Kaeya would be so ticklish?

“AH! Ahahahahaha!! Stop! StohOHOhop! I- I yield!” The knight felt a bit embarrassed to get overpowered so easily, but thankfully Itto listened to his plea and stopped tickling him.

“Hehehe! You’re so funny, Kaeya!” Klee said, laughing at the goofy tickle fight before her.

“Hahaha! Who would’ve thought someone as tough as you could be so ticklish, huh?” Itto teased, helping him sit up.

“Ha ha, v-very funny, Itto…” Kaeya replied, chuckling a little while he caught his breath.

“So, uh… do I win? I mean, I got both of you already, so…” Itto asked, a little confused on the rules.

“I guess so… but it was so much fun!” Klee said, smiling brightly at the two of them, hopping up and down.

“Heh, indeed it was.” Kaeya said, totally not planning his revenge already.

“Hehe! Let’s play more!” Klee cheered, running up to them.

“Yeah!” Itto said, still full of energy as always.

“Good idea, Klee. Hmm…” Kaeya already had an idea. “Hey, would you like to help me get some playful revenge?” He asked the little girl.

“Huh?!” Itto wasn’t having it.

“It’ll be funny, I bet.” Kaeya said with a smug glance at Itto.

“Ooh, hehehe! Yes! He’s ticklish too!” Klee said, smiling up at Itto, who now seemed rather nervous.

“Whuh? Me?? No way! That’s just sillEEHhehe! Hey!!”

“Oops. My hand slipped.” Kaeya teased. He definitely didn’t slide a tickly finger up Itto’s side or anything. And he totally didn’t do it on purpose to make the man yelp.

“Pfft, as if! I’m not ticklish, I was just surp-prihihised! Hehey! Hahahaha!”

“Tickle spell~! Hehehehe!” Klee unleashed her tickle attack upon his tum, making him laugh again.

“Hm?” Kaeya noticed her words, seeing an opportunity…

“Stahaha-! That’s not a thihing!” Itto protested, and he tried tickling her back. But before he could, he felt Kaeya grabbing his arms with his own, rendering him unable to move or defend himself.

“Not so fast. It’s our turn to win now.” Kaeya said, as he proceeded to join the little witch in an act of silly vengance. “Get him, Klee! Time to defeat this tickle monster.” he says with a playful tone.

“Wh- Huh? Wahahait!” How dare they do this? Two on one isn’t fair!

“Hehehe! The tickle monster is ticklish too! You’re funny!” Klee said, giggling as she tickled and poked his tum and ribs.

“Pfft- hngh…” Itto didn’t know what to do at this point. He held back his laughter due to embarrassment, but at the same time he didn’t want to escape and disappoint little Klee.

“Hmm… Itto, are you going to laugh? Or do I need to help her?” Kaeya asked, smirking deviously.

“Pfft- eheh- pffwahahahahaha!!” He had no choice but to give in after that threat, and he couldn’t squirm very far anyway with Kaeya holding him like this.

“Hehehe! Tickly tickly!” Klee said, smiling as she played him like a piano.

“Ahahahahahaha!! Nohohoho!” It wasn’t that bad actually, but he was being dramatic anyway for the fun of it.

“Great job, Klee! I’m sure he’ll surrender in no time.” Kaeya said, chuckling as he tried to prevent the oni’s squirms.

“Nohohohoho! Never!! Hahahaha!”

“Oh, come on. You’ll have to yield eventually… right? Otherwise I’ll have to join…” Oh, he’s just mean.

“Hehe! Klee will lend her spell to you too, Kaeya!” Klee said, giggling at the nervous expression on Itto’s face.

“Really? Why, thank you, little one.” Kaeya said, but once he let go to shift his grip, he didn’t have enough time to tickle before Itto tried to escape.

“This is so unfair!” the oni cried, failing to squirm away as Kaeya pushed him down.

“Sorry, buddy. I’m not quite done with my revenge just yet…” The captain said, before tickling his ribs.

“Ahahahahahaha!! Yohohou ahahahahahass! Hahahahaha!!” Itto laughed and squirmed, but he also tried to hold still so he doesn’t accidentally squirm into Klee.

Kaeya gasped. “Itto! Language!” he scolded, tickling harder and faster as a punishment. How dare he say such a word in front of a child? Unacceptable! Tsk tsk tsk.

“NahahAHAHAHAHAHA!!” Itto’s squirms and laughs involuntarily increased, but Klee had already moved back to a safer distance, laughing at his dramatic reactions. He’s so silly!

“Hehehe! What did he say?” Klee asked in a playful tone.

“Oh, nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Kaeya replied, casually murdering the poor oni below him. It was no use though. Klee knew exactly what Itto had said and found it hilarious.

“STAHAHAHAHAP!! I’M SOHOHORREHEHEHEE!! Plehehehehehehease!!” Itto pleaded, curling up and laughing loudly as Kaeya kept tickling him mercilessly.

“Hmm… I dunno. Klee, what do you think?” Kaeya asked, easing up on the tickles to a more gentle and playful one to keep him giggling.

“Don’t be mean to him, Kaeya! He said he’s sorry. That means he’s friendly!” Klee said, moving closer to the two of them to pat Itto on the head.

“Whah..?” He seemed confused, covering his ribs with his arms to make Kaeya go away.

“Ah, I suppose you’re right. My apologies.” Kaeya said, chuckling as he released and stopped tickling Itto.

“Ehehe..! You meanie…” Itto said with a playful tone and smile, making Kaeya chuckle.

“This is fun! Let’s play more! Klee wants to be the tickle monster now! Hehehe!” Klee exclaimed, giggling at their banter.

“Oh dear. I suppose we’d better escape then, right?” Kaeya suggested.

“Ah, well… she never said I couldn’t also be a tickle monster, sooo…” Itto replied with a menacing grin.

“Ah…”

Oh dear, someone’s in trouble.

“Hehe… ready, Klee?”

“Hehehe! Ready! Raaawr!”

“Ah- ahahahahahaha!”

Needless to say, the knight fell victom to their “vicious” attacks as the two sillies tickled him playfully. It didn’t last too long though, since neither party wanted the other to suffer. As the day went on, the three kept playing games together until it was time to head back to Mondstadt. They had a real fun time together that day, becoming best friends forever!

#my private twashcan #genshin tickles #genshin impact tickles #ticklish!itto #ticklish!kaeya #ticklish!klee #tickle fluff

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