#[ triple culprit au ]

[maraariana01]

(modern AU)

i've waited all year to make this joke

[solarisensun]

Tainted Love

Yandere! Gojo Satoru x Reader (Modern/Mafia Au!)

- Billionaire Gojo brainrot <3 

Right, Gojo Satoru doesn’t believe in love. But you make him happy, so unbearably happy that it scares him how afraid he is to wake up one day and find you gone.

Warnings: Yandere themes, mentions of gore/violence & guns, ‘NSFW’, ‘smut’, dark themes (slight mentions of past abuse, suicide & cheating), extreme possessive/obsessive behaviour

-----

The first time you meet him, he tries to buy the last strawberry sliced cake that you were both eyeing for triple its price. 

“Hey, I saw that first.” A youthful voice, clear and bright as day, echoes by your ear.

The tongs you’d had, hovering carefully over the sliced cake freezes. It nearly slips out of your fingers when a hard body jostles against your elbow and you blink in surprise at the sudden force before righting yourself in annoyance. 

How rude.

Silently, you turned to face the culprit. A dark blue baseball cap and a pair of dark tinted sunglasses perched on the elegant bridge of his nose that shields his gaze. He’s absurdly tall, enough so that you had to crane your neck up in order to look properly at his face. You swear you catch a hint of silver that gleams teasingly underneath the shadows of his cap. 

You blink again and he clicks his tongue. “Are you going to take it?” 

“Would you take it if I didn't?” You said, pondering your next words. Your curious eyes flicker over his outfit, he’s dorned in black from head to toe, leaving only a silver of his sculpted collarbones peeking out the collar. 

It’s the silver watch on his slender wrist that you linger on. Nothing too flashy, just a simple piece that somehow catches your eye. Tick, tick, tick, its elegant pearly white hands moved across the bold numbers. 

He sighs, blowing through his nose in annoyance and one hand worming into his pocket where he digs for his wallet. “I’ll pay you double- no, triple the price if you let me have it.” Confidence oozes into his tone, the corners of his mouth lifting up in a slight smirk. You wonder if anyone has ever told him the word no.

Probably not. 

Kids these days. 

You don’t realise you’d said it aloud until his lips twists down in a furrowed scowl and the hand in his pocket stills. “I’m 18 you know? It’s not as if you’re that much older than me.” 

He’s right. But you certainly weren’t about to give him the satisfaction of admitting that. 

You huff distastefully, reaching out with your free arm to pick up the strawberry slice none too gently and placing it on his tray. “Well, you should at least be more respectful to your elders.” You retort with a roll of your eyes when his pale brows rise upwards in surprise. 

“Keep your money.” You give him a dismissive wave of your hand, giving the pearly cream covered cake one last look before heading to the cashier to make your payment as your retreating back shrinks in his glasses.  

When you push open the door, the dainty wind chime tinkles in your wake. It’s then you manage to place a name to the watch like a puzzle piece clicking in place. A news article you’ve read on the papers about the watch being specially crafted by a dying famous brand as his last trademark work, only 15, (18?) available pieces in the world. 

Damn, maybe I should have taken his money after all. 

----

The second time you meet Gojo Satoru, you have absolutely no idea that the brash teen has grown into, well, Gojo Satoru - current CEO of Gojo industries which happens to be one of Japan’s multi billion dollar conglomerates. The name Gojo alone is prestigious enough, a proud clan rumoured to be direct descendants of the infamous shoguns themselves. Now, those four bold letters single handedly carry Japan’s rising economy on their shoulders. 

The envy for every man, the dream for every woman. And maybe he’s both to some. 

Everyone is abuzz in whispers upon the knowledge that he would be visiting the club. Your boss finally hires proper cleaners to polish the floors until they shine and snaps at everyone to be on their best behaviour. He’s even in a suit and tie rather than that yellowed polo t-shirt he usually dorns. 

The girls giggle amongst themselves, making sure their lips are extra pouty, hair extra shinier, skirts a little shorter. It was common news that Gojo Satoru was a… generous man. The countless heated scandals he’d gotten into over the years from A list actresses to billboard models were only a peek into his glamorous life. How many times had you walked past the stores to see his smiling carefree face plastered all over various tabloid magazines? 

What’s even more glamorous are his gifts. The latest edition Hermes bag, outrageously priced heels months before their official launch, a flashy new Lamborghini (in crimson red) for the foreign Russian model that everyone was so sure he would marry until they had a dramatic break up last month. 

“Why is he here anyway?” You ask, in the midst of curling your hair as you accept a pin to secure the curls in place from your friend across the tiny vanity table. “There are much better clubs around town.” 

“Who knows.” She shrugs, “I think he just wanted to check out this place? I heard he just purchased the prefecture for investment purposes.”

“This area?” You chime in quizzically. Sure this area was still a part of Tokyo, but one would consider it to be less...desirable. It was no secret that beneath the glittery dazzling charm that Tokyo held as one of the world’s metropolises slumbered a far darker side to it that everyone seemed content to ignore in favour of upholding their facade. 

Every year, hundreds flock to Tokyo in hopes of fulfilling their dreams. A fashion designer longing to see her clothes on the billboards, an eager business man hoping to be promoted for his hard work, a wide eyed artist and her worn down guitar. And when these dreams fizzle out, they turn to somewhere else instead. 

The streets here are darker (with only an occasional light flickering weakly on the good days), drunken men stumbling down the uneven alleyways back to their cramped apartments, the sound of wails and vicious threats echoing late at night that people pretend not to hear. This prefecture was not a place for the rich and lucky, it was nothing but a place for the poor and unfortunate. A place where people would do anything to scrape by for another day.  

“What do you think of my lashes?” She grins mischievously at you while batting them, eyes twinkling under the harsh light due to the many bejewelled fake gems lining her eyelids. “Enough to seduce a billionaire into getting me a new apartment so I can finally move out of this shit hole?” 

You laugh aloud, “Definitely.” 

-----

His eyes are so much bluer in real life. 

The pictures you’ve seen across tabloid magazines don’t quite manage to capture the multi shades in those magnetic orbs, shimmering iridescent crystals that reflect the dim light each time his sharp gaze shifts. Long lashes frame those blues, brushing against his haughty cheek bones almost silver in colour that they look dusted in fine glitter. 

He walks as if he owns the world in the palm of his hands (and maybe he does) and everything about him yells different! The barely distinguishable lift of those broad shoulders and the cocky smile painted on his lips that differentiate him from his entourage even when they are all dressed near identical. It’s his hair that has you captivated. As white as freshly fallen snow. 

Maybe it’s because you’re too staring at his hair that you miss the faint flicker of recognition that crosses his face when he catches sight of you across the room. 

You may not recognize Gojo Satoru the second time you meet him, but he certainly does. 

-----

Gojo Satoru doesn’t believe in love. 

Not with the shitshow his parents had potrayed throughout his teens. It was no secret that his father was always a little too touchy with the company’s secretaries and maids, always coming back stinking like perfume because work ran late. You’d think he would at least have the decency to wipe off the pink lipstick stain on his crisp white collar. 

His mother on the other hand, took her anger out on her husband’s many mistresses. How many times had he caught her screaming at the mansion’s maids, clawing her french tipped nails over their cheeks as their pleas of innocence fell on deaf ears. On the worst days, she’d turn her anger on her own son too. Gojo remembers clearly her the shaking of her frenzied pupils, the sharp bite of her fingers digging into the meat of his cheeks to hold him still with a cruel unrelenting hand. “What did your father tell you? Has he been sleeping with that office wench again? You should at least know that right?” 

Gojo remembers crying, screaming at the top of his lungs to escape her iron grip as pain slices along his face when blood spills. Begging and begging for someone to get him away (but no one did), cursing himself for being born under the Gojo name. 

He’d learn very quickly that tears would not help. 

The day his mother flung herself off the highest window in the mansion was the day he stopped fearing. 

The featherlight touch of your cool fingers tracing over the faint silvery half-crescent scars on his cheekbones snap him back to reality. He doesn’t open his eyes, as much as he longs to see your face, maybe if he stays like this, these seconds will melt into a standstill. An eternity with your comforting weight draped across his bare chest, the sheets still warm from the sun and the two of your bodies, the rhythmic rise and fall of your chest by his side. Maybe if he doesn’t open his eyes, everything will stay just as it is. 

Right, Gojo Satoru doesn’t believe in love. But you make him happy, so unbearably happy that it scares him how afraid he is to wake up one day and find you gone. 

The way you look at him makes his heart skip a beat (or more). Even if he knows that you’ve probably looked at every other customer as if they hung the stars in the sky.  It’s the only thing he wants, to see your bright eyes filled with nothing but him. And Gojo Satoru has never longed for anything more than you. 

only you

You never ask him about the scars marring his face though Gojo can tell that you want to. And he’s glad that you don’t ask because it’s a story he’s not ready to tell. Instead, you hum quietly, long hair falling into his face when you lean down to peck his cheek. 

“Morning sleepyhead.” You laugh, “I know you’re awake.” 

“Ah,” He blinks, taking a few moments to adjust to the sudden brightness that floods his vision. “And here I thought I fooled you with my Oscar worthy acting.” 

You grin in response, eyes crinkling at the sides- a smile that he’s grown hopelessly addicted to. 

“It’s already 10 Mr. Satoru.” You untangle yourself from his arms, stretching your body across the king sized bed and Gojo’s gaze follows greedily over the long clean lines of your bare limbs under the strong light, barely concealed by the white sheets draped across your naked figure. You look adorable, blinking up at him. You have no idea what it does to him when you look like that so warm and adorable and perfect. 

He can’t help but wonder absentmindedly if you’d look better with a diamond necklace draped around your slender neck when he fucks you senseless. Better yet, one with his name carved on it. 

But you’ve never asked, and it irks him to no end at how stubborn you are when it comes to being independent. He’s used to providing by now, a thousand red roses on Valentine’s day for his first girlfriend, giving his second girlfriend free access to his master black card when she threw a screaming fit (that got featured over the cover of every single tabloid magazine) after he ran late from his meeting. 

Then again, those were different, it’d felt obligatory to please them; more of a necessity than out of love. With you, he wants to shelter and care and provide, he wants to shower you with everything in the world and more. Why would you continue living in that shabby place when you can pick a new one that he’d pay for without hesitation? Why continue working when he can provide you with a comfortable life by his side? 

When it comes to you, Gojo Satoru finds that maybe there are things in the world that money can’t buy. 

“Don’t you have a meeting to attend?” You continue, propping your head against his shoulder, wide round eyes blinking at him and he resists the urge to kiss you silly right there and then. 

Right, his memory seemed to be failing him these days. Not that it really mattered. 

“I’ll cancel it.” 

 “I can’t help but wonder how on earth you manage to run a business with that attitude of yours.” 

Gojo wriggles his silver brows with a mischievous grin, “It’s all in the charm and looks baby.” 

His reply earns him a pillow in the face and he lets out a muffled yell of indignation as you pummel him with it before he catches your wrists. “Do you not believe me?” Gojo pouts and you snort at his wounded look. 

“The secret to business,” Gojo pulls you back down to his chest, resting his head on yours, “Is a few sweet words.” His hand dips under the blankets to trace invisible circles on your bare skin. “And I get anything I want.” He blows a puff of air against your ear and your tiny fist strikes against his chest as you wriggle in his arms.

He flips you over in a swift motion, pining you underneath his muscular body and it’s absolutely endearing to watch the way your expression morphs into one of bashful mortification as you squeal in surprise. It’s a sight he can never get tired of. Gojo pushes your legs apart, ignoring your weak protests. 

“Since the meeting is now cancelled.” He grins at you from between your parted legs, fingers digging into the meat of your thighs to keep your from squirming as he gives you a smile dripping of pure sin and sex. “Don’t you think I deserve breakfast in bed?” The sight of your pretty pussy completely exposed to his sight already has blood rushing to his groin. He could satisfy himself, but your pleasure brings him pleasure too. 

Your back arches at the first touch of his tongue on your slit, fingers scrabbling for purchase in his white hair. “Wa-wait!”

A light suck on your sensitive clit has his name falling like honey out of your mouth and Gojo watches from beneath his long lashes in shameless admiration, utterly entranced to the way you fall apart beautifully under him. Right, you may have had other men before but he’s determined to be your last. 

and he will be no matter what

“I-I’m still sen-sensitive from last night!” You slur unconvincingly, head thrown back against the pillows when he slides a long finger into your soaked heat and crooks it just right. “Don’t lie,” he purrs when your hips buck upwards (nearly riding his fingers) in an effort to get him deeper. “Your pussy is making such a big mess over my fingers already.”

“I’ll let you pick princess.” He hums, watching your cute hole clench desperately around nothing “Do you want me to use my hands or my mouth?” 

“Gojo!” Your voice falls out as a breathy plea instead of a stern remark. Your face is utterly flushed by now and he licks his lips to savour your arousal, waiting eagerly for your answer. 

“...both.” You mutter.

“What was that?” 

“Ah, I said both!” You scream, burying your face in your hands in absolute mortification. 

“See, that was easy wasn’t it?” Your mouth opens to retort something else but everything you're about to say dies down the moment Gojo dips his head down again like a starving man and the sensation of his tongue in you makes you keen sharply. 

He laughs, a deep melodic rumble that shoots right through your body as your thighs close around his head. If eternity allows it, he thinks when your sweet taste floods his senses and he’s rewarded with another one of your broken mewls, he wants to spend it with you. 

he wonders if the other angels fell as sweetly as you did. 

----

Going out with Gojo feels more like a fever dream than reality, as if you were dancing along the edges between present and illusion. It feels unreal, to see his name blazed across one of Tokyo’s highest skyscrapers when you cross Shinjuku street, the countless stories of private jets he posted on his public account. Or that one time he rented out an entire restaurant so that he could have some peace and quiet. Or how he has a ridiculous sweet tooth and an insatiable appetite for all kinds of cake and candies. 

Gojo Satoru, it’s hard to believe that he was the man you were cuddling just two days ago. 

It was a breath of fresh air, to finally have a ridiculously good looking customer that respected your values and didn’t treat you like a slab of meat. He was nice, a little too loud mouthed at times but at the end of the day, you can’t help but wonder just why on earth was he still coming back? 

You’d think a man of his caliber would be bored of you by now. But the one single night drags to weeks and Gojo, ever the persistent man, calls for you each night and persuades you to stay with him even outside of work hours. Your boss is more than ecstatic to welcome a customer like him each night, looking at you with those wide hopeful eyes that practically screams ‘Make sure he comes back!’ each time Gojo sweeps you out of the establishment with his hand pressed firmly against the small of your back each step of the way. 

He takes up most of your time these days. And when he’s not around, the gifts start pouring in. They start simple enough, a dainty silver bracelet, diamond earrings that would get you mugged if you ever wore them out, a necklace dripping with silver to match the entire set. 

It’s not uncommon to receive gifts from your customers. But Gojo takes things to a whole new level unreachable by anyone else.

He sends you a new phone first, claiming that he wants to see your face clearer when the two of you facetime while he’s away on a business trip and refusing to take it back all the times you protested. Of course, you don’t have to know about the neat little tracker that’s installed in it, do you?

Then comes the expensive garments delivered in velvet lined boxes that look utterly out of place propped against your shabby apartment door. Gold letters are emblazoned on the box in a language you don’t understand (French maybe?) and a simple google search on the internet has you slamming down your laptop in horror.

He sent you a dress that’s worth an entire year of your rent. And there are more waiting patiently to be unwrapped. 

After the dresses comes a car. 

You nearly trip backwards when he twirls the key in his hands, languid body splayed across your tiny couch that’s clearly not meant to accommodate someone his height and size. 

“It’s just a surprise gift.” He smiles, unbothered by the fact that your face has taken a total 360 turn. He bought you a car? It made sense if the two of you were dating but he’s your customer, things were anything but official in your relationship. 

Sure, you’d probably mope around if he disappears one day but the feeling wasn’t mutual between the two of you right? At the end of the day, you were sure that Gojo Satoru merely saw you as a pretty shiny plaything for him to spoil. It was only a matter of time before another A list actress or model tumbled into his embrace again as you are discarded.

right? 

It takes you several moments before you find your voice and it comes out shaky, “Sa- Satoru I can’t accept this.” 

He cocks his head to the side, blinking at your stuttering. “Why not? I even got it in your favourite colour. You like blue right?” 

Gojo jerks a thumb out of your window and you follow it where a shiny sleek blue Bentley is perched neatly along your apartment street. You’d thought it was merely another one of many cars when he showed up in it (it was a miracle no one had tried to mug him the many times he showed up at your apartment). 

Not for the first time, the large chasm yawns darkly before your feet, segregating you from the snowy haired man on your apartment couch even when he’s barely a metre away. It’s an inescapable feeling, it was these moments where the sheer difference between the two of you really shows its true colours. How were you meant to keep up with him when he lived in a totally different world? A world where everything spins on its axis around Gojo Satoru. He can snap his fingers and captivate the entire of Japan if he wanted to. 

It’s overwhelmingly suffocating. And you are reminded of your place beneath him, you know better than to fall for him. 

Sensing your sudden change in mood, Gojo’s face softens, the arrogance lining his handsome face melts into one of slight concern. 

“Are you alright?”

You sigh, crossing the room to straddle his lap, letting your fingers play the hem of his shirt as you think of your answer. “I don’t need a car Satoru.” You rest your forehead against his, staring into his mesmerizing crystalline blues and he drops the key unceremoniously with a loud clatter (you fight back the urge to wince) to wrap his large hands around your waist. 

“But I want to give it to you.” He argues, bright gaze holding you captive. You smile lightly at the frown across his forehead, talking to him was like calming down a grown child from his tantrum sometimes. 

“I don’t want it.” You say firmly, soothing a thumb over the furrow between his brows. “You know I don’t need these kinds of things Satoru.” Something you can’t quite decipher flashes across his face. 

Whatever you're about to continue  is cut off by the sharp buzz of your phone and you draw back in surprise, reaching for your phone at the same time. The lightness of your new smartphone still surprises you each time you pick it up and with your head bent, you miss the gleam of satisfaction in Gojo’s eyes when he sees his gift in your hands. 

“Who is it?” 

You hum nonchalantly, wriggling around to lean your back against his chest. “It’s just my old customer, he’s asking if I’m free this week.” 

His grip around your waist tightens convulsively. 

“What did you say?” Gojo keeps his tone light, almost neutral though his sharp eyes zone in like a hawk to the name on the top of your messages as you purse your lips in thought, fingers flying across the screen as you type out a reply. 

“I told him I’ll think about it.” 

“Stop using your phone and pay attention to me. Today is one of the rare days Nanamin hasn’t bugged me to attend my meeting.” He whines, nuzzling into the side of your neck. 

“You bought me this phone.” You remind him but set it aside anyway. 

Your hands, so much tinier than his move to cup his face, tilting his chin up. “Happy now?” 

“You should move in with me.” 6 simple words with the full force of a punch in the gut. 

You draw back as if he’d scalded you and something ugly rears its head in him at your expression as he captures your fleeing hands in his.  “What...Satoru...what?” 

“Move in with me.” He repeats his words, all traces of earlier childishness had vanished as if a cool mask had settled in place over the elegant planes of his face instead when his lips press into a straight line. You can’t help but wonder if that’s how the actual Gojo Satoru looks, unnaturally quiet yet calculative as his cold blues study every little flicker of expression on your face. 

Like he was seeing through you, peeling back each layer until you were exposed and completely left to his mercy. 

You laugh nervously in a pitiful attempt to clear the stifling air that clings to your suddenly heavy body. 

“I…I don’t think I can commit to such a big step yet.” You say slowly, choosing your words carefully. 

“Why not?” Gojo presses on ruthlessly, “I can provide you with everything, you wouldn’t have to work-” His lips curls into one of barely concealed disgust, arrogance dripping from each word. “There anymore.” 

Fury blazes through you, made even more painful by the sharp stab of disappointment because it came from him as you push yourself off his lap stiffly, snatching your hands out of his grip. “Why I’m sorry.” You say, voice dripping with venom and hands balled into trembling fists at your sides. “I didn’t know you had such high standards Gojo, but have you forgotten that I’ve been working at that place for the past 2 years?” 

“Or the fact that you yourself visited one?” 

“Get out,” You hiss, snatching his jacket from the couch and hurling it at his chest with as much force as you can muster when Gojo rises to his feet. “No point spending your time with someone you find revolting am I right?” 

His face crumples into one of frustration at your glare. He moves towards you, almost tripping over his own feet in haste- Gojo Satoru, who never stumbled, who’d never looked anything but perfect and glamorous. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it please.”

“You did.” You say, words almost soundless, barely a whisper. 

“Right,” Gojo said, “No-no, you-you’re different. You don’t belong there, don’t you see it? I can give you everything you deserve.” A small muscle jumps as the side of his mouth, his eyes were dark, dark enough that you could see your own reflection in each of his blue pupils, a miniscule image of your face inside his gaze. Suffocating. 

“You can’t expect me to drop everything just for you! Who are you to tell me where I-” You stop yourself, the sharp sting of tears brimming in your eyes. “Please- just go.”

His hand, millimetres from your cheek halts in its tracks, the warmth of his fingers barely brushing your skin as your treacherous heart does a slow somersault even when your throat tightens painfully. “Go home.” You repeat softly, turning away from him. 

And he leaves. Because if there’s anyone that Gojo Satoru listens to, it’s you. 

----

You don’t get very high in the hierarchy being a goody two shoes. 

Gojo’s hands have been covered in blood the moment he pulled the trigger for the very first time 3 years ago. Even today, he swears there’s a layer of rust that clings underneath his nails if he squints hard enough. 

But he’s not a brute. At the end of the day, it’s simply because his charm and looks don’t quite work on everyone and the blood that pools around the edges of his expensive leather shoes seems to be unavoidable. 

Gojo doesn’t enjoy lying to you but sometimes, it’s better to tell you half truths than the cruel reality of how he  actually handles his business when things are in a rough patch. 

It’s fine, he reassures himself against the dark storm brewing in his head, it was natural for arguments to occur. He’ll ask you out later in the week, bring you- 

“It’s just my old customer, he’s asking if I’m free this week.” The flash of reckless anger bursts back to life at the sudden recollection. 

And right now, there’s not a trace of pity nor remorse in his body except the insatiable itch to vent his frustrations out in a bloody mess. 

“You shouldn’t be doing this here,” Nanamin, leaning against the wall says in a deep rumble.

He knows Nanamin is right (or more accurately, Kento is never wrong), he shouldn’t be beating the man into a bloody pulp in the middle of his living room where the stains were beginning to seep into the walls and this would take an unholy amount of bleach to be removed. But he’d been too impatient to wait any longer, not with the sight of the man below his feet that has the audacity to ask you out. 

He’d made it very clear to the boss the moment he came back for you the second time. You would be reserved for him only, any other customer seeking would be turned down and any loss in profits would be covered by him in triple the amount. Gojo was planning on purchasing the entire establishment too. 

It makes his vision cloud red. 

The sickly wet coughs from the man below makes him click his tongue in annoyance. It’s pathetic really, Gojo had expected him to put up more of a fight. 

“Pl-please, I’ll do anything.” The man scuttles away like a dismembered crab when Gojo approaches him again, one bloody hand propped against his chest and his eyes wide with maniacal fear. 

At that, Gojo’s face broke into a grin. It was an unsettling grin, less a flash of amusement and more of the wicked gleam of an unsheathed blade.

“Me? Needing something from you?.” He drawls, eyes narrowed into bright half slits as if holding the sheer force of the blazing lightning in them. “Do you think I dragged you here because I want you to give me something?” Gojo squats down to eye level, grabbing the man by his cheeks and digging his cruel fingers into the broken skin hard enough that shrill wails pierce the air. 

“I don’t need anything from you.” He says softly, “But, you made me mad. Very, fucking, mad.”

Confusion flashes in the man’s eyes at his words and Gojo can see the gears turning in his head as if trying to dig up any shreds of clues to save his own life. But it’s too late, Gojo had never planned for him to leave this place the moment he made up his mind. 

Or more accurately, he would leave this place with a hole through his head.  

“Hey, hey.” Gojo taps his finger impatiently when the man’s desperate gaze flickers to Nanamin, “Don’t look at him, he’s not going to save you.”  

Nanamin snorts, fingers readjusting his yellow tie but otherwise remains silent. He’s seen his fair share of Gojo’s outbursts through the years and he’s definitely no stranger to blood, but there was no denying that something about the white haired man seemed much deadlier than usual. 

For the first time, Nanamin sensed a deliberate urge to kill from his boss. 

“I’m going to give you a clue.” Gojo says calmly over the loud whimpering like an adult explaining something trivial to a child. “And you can make a lucky guess alright?” 

At the sound of your name rolling off his tongue, the man’s eyes widen almost comically. “That woman? She- she’s nothing! Just one of those escorts! I can bring her for you! Just give me an hour, I’ll bring her here-”

Gojo cuts off his frantic rambling with a solid fist connecting against the side of his head so hard that the man drops bonelessly to the floor with a sick thud. 

Before the man can push himself up in a choked wheeze, Gojo slams his head back down to the marbled floor with a heavy merciless stomp, pining him in place. He’s thought that doing this would quench his frustration, but the mere thought of the disgusting trash landing his grubby fingers on you has him planting another kick to his jaw and a loud crack fills the air. 

How dare he even think of going near you? Don’t you see? This is exactly why you don’t belong there, where men like him wouldn’t think twice to sacrifice you for his own pitiful life. 

Ah, he can feel his blood pressure rising with each passing minute, maybe this wouldn’t help with his agitation. The warbled distorted screams from the man due to his broken jaw grating his ears don’t exactly make things better either. 

“Nanamin, will you be kind enough to hand me my gun?”

The weight of the metal is comforting in his hands, Gojo doesn’t enjoy murdering people but it’s what his hands have been molded to hold since he was born under the Gojo name. It’s what he’s come to accept, to hide every dark gritty thing beneath the facade of a carefree billionaire. 

Until you came along like a beacon of light. And Gojo finds that maybe, just maybe, his hands too are capable of tender touches and love instead of destruction and havoc.  

Love. This is love right? He supposes it is, maybe he’d fell in love the moment you placed the cake on his tray, maybe he started loving you the moment he opened his eyes with your tiny body snuggled tightly against his chest and his heart beats a little easier when you’re simply there. 

If he’s willing to do anything, everything for you. It’s love right? 

The sudden realisation has him pausing, crooked finger just a hair's breadth away from pulling the trigger. 

“Is something wrong?” Nanamin asks at the hesitation.

“No,” Gojo answers, pulling the trigger. 

A blood curdling scream fills the room. 

The moment Nanamin curses lowly under his breath, Gojo is already whirling around with his gun poised to fire before it slips from his grip to clatter uselessly on the floor. 

It’s you. Your face painted a perfect mask of horror and your trembling hand slapped across your mouth. You stare at him; backlit by the chandelier dripping off the ceiling and the crimson splattered over him, his hair was more silver than white. And he’d never looked more terrifying.

The loveliest angels make the cruelest demons. 

Right, he’d given you the code to his mansion. 

“You can come visit me anytime. I’ve added you to my guest list. They will let you in no matter what.” He recalls the conversation as clear as day, his phone, propped against his ear to better hear your voice as Gojo shuffles through the endless pile of paperwork on his desk. 

He’d been so ridiculously happy that you called him first, lips tugging upwards until his face hurt from smiling the entire call. “Aren’t you scared that I’ll steal all your riches?” You piped back and Gojo can see the mischievous grin on your face blazed across his vision even when he’s thousands of miles away. 

“But you’ve already stolen my hea-”

“Oh stop!” You laughed, “I’m going to be so creeped out if you finish that sentence.” 

A different time, a different place that has passed by and over. Back when things were so much simpler. 

Gojo’s gaze flickers down to see his jacket (the one he’d left in your apartment) cradled in your arms.

“Sa..toru.” Your voice is barely above a whisper, eyes as wide as moons and Gojo can see your shoulders shaking. 

Behind him, Nanamin takes a heavy step forward and you flinch back. “Stay down Kento.” He snarls. How much did you see? He sees your fearful gaze dart to the gun, to the cooling corpse behind him and finally, to him. 

The answer comes to him the moment your gaze locks with his. 

“You- you killed him?” It ends in a question, as if you were still somewhat hopeful that he hadn’t been the one who pulled the trigger.

He wants to say no. 

“Yes.” Gojo says evenly, taking a step forward and you stumble back immediately. 

“Don’t come near me.” Your voice pitches upwards, face pulled tight with fear when Gojo comes closer. 

“Listen!” He winces when the desperation makes his tone harsher than intended. “Listen,” Gojo says again, forcing his tone to settle into something more delicate (but he’s never been delicate), “I did it for you, for us.” 

“No,” You shake your head, backing away even more, hands pressing against the sides of your head as if to stop it from splitting apart and the sight of you in pain makes his chest ache. “No-no, no, no, you’re insane.” 

One more step. One more and he’s closer enough to catch you in his embrace. 

As if sensing his thoughts, you bolt. A large hand latches onto your arm just when you round the corner and you find yourself falling into his arms. 

“Let me go! Let me-”

“Stop.” Gojo growls into your ear, the blood on his skin seeping into your shirt and sobs begin to wrack your body. You flail and scream, struggling in his arms until your voice grows hoarse and the energy drains out of your limp body. All the while, Gojo holds you in his embrace, strong arms keeping you captive until the fight drains out of your body and you’re slumped against his chest as silent tears track down your face. 

“I did it for you.” He murmurs into your head, each puff of air rustling against your hair. A mockery of a lover’s embrace. The smell of cold iron makes your head spin dizzily.

Lies. You don’t want to listen, want to clap your hands over your ears. 

“I love you. I love you, I’ll take care of you.” Gojo says lowly, feeling the steady rise and fall of your chest in sync with his own steady heartbeat. “You don’t need to work there anymore, you don’t need to worry about men like him.” 

“Shh, shh.” He wipes away the tears on your face and presses a gentle kiss to your forehead. Bloodstained fingers caressed your jaw, he pretends that his fingertips won’t be scorched into the notches of your skin, pretends that his hands are gentle. 

“I’m only doing what’s best for you.” He sighs, taking your silence for compliance. “I love you don’t you see? No more lies, I promise.” 

“...let me go.” 

Gojo sucks in a breath of air, the resolve in him hardening at your defiance as the fury cools from its blazing fire into something sharper, deadlier. He’d sunken his nails in you and there was no letting go. “For every step you leave.” 

“Blood will cover the path you choose to take, every man, every woman, every child.” Gojo’s voice is soft, yet carrying a force behind them that makes your blood run cold “I’ll kill anyone who even looks your way.”

You bite back a rising sob of bile. Maybe, in his own twisted fucked up way, Gojo Satoru really does love you after all.

———

check out my Masterlist for more works <3

[merakiclosed]

Confess to me

》 Pairing: Namjoon x reader

》 Summary: Maybe Jimin is right, maybe your crush likes you back... Right? 

》 Genre: Fluff, college/university au, rated PG. 

》 Word count: 1.3k

》 Notes/Warnings: none 

Masterlist is in my bio - tumblr doesn’t like links >:(( | All messages and requests are open <3 | All rights reserved © Merakiiverse. Do not repost, translate, or claim as your own. 

Hushed voices and gentle footsteps create a sense of calmness, the towering bookshelves that are filled with inky treasures adorn the room. The smell of fresh books makes you feel relaxed. This was, without a doubt, one of your favourite places; The library. With a singular brown sofa in the back corner of the room, you had the perfect view of the front desk where you could see the cute, clumsy boy who worked behind it. The bitter words of best friend circulated around in your head, you didn’t want to be just best friends with him, but you knew he was too good for you. 

It’s a vivid memory the first day that you met him at the young age of 7, the both of you being the only children in the playground with a book for recess. With the sun beaming down, together you sat as strangers under the oak tree in the shade as the other children screamed and played in the background. The both of you being too invested in the worlds that the books pulled you into to talk. And even though neither of you spoke, it was as if you had found comfort within each other. From that day, the both of you had been inseparable. Namjoon would pull you into the outside world, showing you all of the cute and mysterious creatures that he could find, with his favourite being tiny crabs. It would be a Saturday night and the both of you would stay up until the sun rose, talking about anything and everything that came to mind. A fond smile plays on your lips as you reminisce about your childhood; he’s changed a lot now that he is in college but the little things from the dimples on his cheeks to his favorite animal has never changed. 

You watch on as Namjoon serves a customer, his soft voice traveling just enough to hear him give directions to a certain section. Books and notes are scattered messily around the table, giving the impression that you’re actually getting work done and not stare at your best friend and crush. After all, you did come to study but anyone with eyes and brain would be distracted by the tall, clumsy boy. 

Unfortunately, you can’t go a day without one of the boys disturbing you, “Y/N” A loud whisper catches you off guard, making you jump in your seat. Turning to look at the culprit, you see a grinning Jimin slide into the chair next to you, “When are you going to ask him out?” 

Heat rises within you as you shake your head, avoiding eye contact with him as you pretend to be reading the open book on the desk - something about the developmental stages of speech. “Oh, c’mon Y/n, I know you like him.” He sings teasingly, ducking his head to try and meet your eyes. 

Keeping your gaze on the book, you can see in the corner of your eyes the sly smirk he wears on his face making you huff, “He doesn’t like me anyway. We are just friends and that’s all we'll ever be.” 

“Oh please, I see the way you both look at each other. You even cuddle every single time on movie nights.” He scoffs, slowly sliding the book from you and closing it. 

Finally looking up at him, you whine, “Okay Jimin I get your point but he doesn’t see me like that.” You pause, “He’s - He’s amazing; he’s smart, handsome, and kind. It's like a triple threat! And – and I’m just me. I’m not smart, I'm not pretty. He could do way better.” you shrug, voice trailing off softly. A pit forms in your stomach at the thought of confessing and embarrassing yourself. You would never be able to go back to being best friends if you ever did that and you’d rather be friends with him than not have him at all. 

Jimin’s eyes soften when he hears that and puts an arm around your shoulder, pulling you into him, “You're my best friend. Who is also amazing, talented, beautiful. And gosh, Y/n if you could see the way he looks at you, he looks at you like you are his entire universe. He only ever sees you in a room of people, he is so head over heels in love with you. He doesn’t shut up about you!” He says, rubbing his hand up and down your arm in comfort. If only Jimin could give you his set of eyes, you’d see just how much Namjoon is in love with you. He truly does understand where the nerves and doubt comes from as he has been in this situation before, with a certain someone in the friendship group. However, at the same time he wants to smack the both of you in the head for giving him a headache.  

You look up at him with tears threatening to fall from your eyes, you never expected for something like this to happen today. With a soft smile, Jimin brings both of his hands up to wipe away your tears, “Now, I'm going to have to ask you to girl up and get ready because he's about to come over right now.” 

You whip your head around to see Namjoon darting his head back and forth, seemingly trying to find something or someone. Starring wide at him for a second, the both of you make eye contact and instantly his face lights up, walking faster towards up as you can faintly see the tips of his ears go red. Gosh how is he so handsome but so cute at the same time. 

As he gets closer, you remind yourself that if you don’t do this now you will never be able to do it.- And Jimin will definitely kill you. Internally freaking, you turn in your chair to talk to him, but he’s gone...

“Hey Y/n.” The familiar voice is quiet but it sets off fluttering butterflies in your stomach. 

“H-hey Joonie.” You stammer, making you wince at yourself. 

“Wait. Have you been crying?” he brings a hand up to wipe a stray tear as his face contorts to one of concern. Shaking your head with a soft smile you answer quietly, “I'm fine.” 

“But if something is hurting you then it’s not fine” he whispers, cupping your face in his big hands. This in turn, makes you look at him properly and up close, you can see his famous dimples more clearly, and the way his brown hair is tangled from running his hands from it. This man was going to be the death of you. If you didn’t say anything now, you would regret it in the future. 

Closing your eyes, you take a deep breath, “I like you” your voice is almost inaudible. Almost.

With your eyes still closed, you miss the way his eyes go wide, not knowing that his heart is beating as fast as yours. If his eyes could, they would be heart shaped like in cartoons, his thumb stroking your cheek tenderly, “I – I like you too, of course I do” 

“No. Namjoon. I - I like like you.” 

A single second feels like forever as you wait. Everything is silent, yet you can hear pen on paper, you can hear hushed voices and muffled footsteps. And then you can feel his lips on yours. Soft and slow, as his plump lips move against yours, filled with love. It was short, but you can feel yourself moving into him more to kiss him again. The second kiss is a mess, full of smiles and giggles as you’re already addicted to him and his taste. 

Pulling away slightly, you can feel the way his breath ghosts over your lips. You can’t stop smiling, his eyes squint as he beams at you, you were so adorable. He comes closer again and peppers your face in tiny kisses. One to the forehead, two for the cheeks, one on the chin and lastly, one on your lips.

“I like like you too.” he whispers, a smile never leaving his lips.   

[secretshinigami]

Tangle

Author: @hazblogs For: @beyondplusultra Pairings/Characters: Near/Mello/Matt Rating/Warnings: G Prompt: “mello with even longer hair, braided in some cool style” + “mello x matt x near college AU shenanigans (can be ship or gen)” Author’s notes: ok so you have no idea how hard i hand flapped when i saw your prompt - and then your name. aka i wrote a thing for you last sse which was a very very perfect companion piece for the one i’m gifting you rn. lots of love <333333333

————————

“Matt. Are you trying to tell me something ?” Mello asks.

“Me ? Communicating ? I’ll have you know that hasn’t happened since the great fire of the library of Alexandria. I was devastated and vowed to never speak again, which I would have fully respected had you not decided to spawn a few centuries later to torment me.”

Mello is tempted to chuck the pair of scissors to his face, but that would probably be dangerous. They are adorned with a little bow and a note that says “Put them to good use !” in tidy, loopy letters.

A snicker rises from the then-two-now-triple bed, a small white head emerging from under the blanket. “I see you’ve found my present.”

“Near, I’ll ask this once and once only: why in hell would you ever think I’d cut my hair ?”

They’ve been growing it out very, very patiently ! It took months ! After the incident and the fact that the hospital had to shave most of it off, adding to the fact there’s now a bald scar patch on the side of their head, Mello tried really really hard to gain a sense of… self-love ? Looking at their face in the mirror was never a chore before.

Feeling the wind blow through their now quite long hair had been amazing.

“It goes into my mouth when we sleep,” Near answers. “I’m tired of waking up and having to spit it all out.”

Mello has half a mind to tell him that if he doesn’t like it that much, he just has to not cuddle up to them in his sleep, but that’s unfair - and also unwanted. Mello quite likes waking up to Matt and Near snuggled up so close to them that they feel loved in a way only kids can feel, with their utmost certainty in the good of this world. It’s a nice warmth, spreading from their chest to their toes.

“Ugh. Fine, I’ll tie them up.”

“What ?” Matt almost yells from his place on the floor, a true cave troll. “I’ve been trying to make you do that for months and you always said you hated it ! And Near doesn’t even have to ask ? I haven’t lived that long to be disrespected in this way. I am appalled, I am betrayed, in my own home-”

“You don’t even go to this uni,” Mello usefully provides.

“Fiend. Rascal. I’m looking up hair braiding tutorials right this instant.”

“Oh, let me join,” Near asks, and soon enough, the two friends are completely ignoring Mello’s fuming, too busy looking at EveryDayHairInspiration videos on Youtube, her chipper voice filling the room with detailed instructions.

Nothing more comes of it. Or at least, that’s what Mello thinks, because they haven’t been jumped on and tied to a chair, where Matt’s deft fingers - and Near’s less deft fingers but keen memory - will wreak havoc on their admittedly finicky strands. They have thin, blond hair, though they know not who in their family passed on those genes. The woes of being adopted. It is almost impossible to comb, in spite of their best efforts and the KeraCare Hydrating Detangling Shampoo that Matt surreptitiously bought and sneaked into the bathroom, but that does not deter them.

Nor does the ever growing “Mello’s hair collection” that Matt keeps, like a creep, “So I can sell it when you become a best-selling author of course !” Mello thinks it’s for doll-making purposes, should he take offence to something they did and want to stab them in a more discreet fashion.

In any case, it’s been a few weeks when Mello comes back to the dorm room to find it in a state of upheaval it hasn’t known since Near arrived. There’s at least three cans of hairspray, a million and a half elastic ties of various shapes and sizes, and an office chair. Mello has been complaining about not having a chair to be able to work at the table, but Matt had always whined that it was “unnecessary, and would take up too much space”.

“Mels ! You’re here !” says the obvious culprit. “I borrowed Mikami’s chair, I hope he doesn’t mind.”

Incredible. The chair isn’t even going to stay !

“Will you come in ?” Near smiles, absolutely delighted at Mello’s crumpled features. “We’ve set up the hair salon.”

“Wow, you two have ambition,” they mock. Mello does feel a little bit of terror at the twin gleams in their eyes.

Near simply ushers them towards the seat, detangling lotion ready, and he begins applying ungodly amounts of it while Matt combs through their hair with vigour. It does feel quite nice, Mello muses, to be pampered like they’re worth it. The amount of sappiness can be felt in the air, the love pouring from their friends right onto them making them feel giddy.

“You okay, Mello ?”

They don’t even know who said it. They startle awake, wondering when they even started to doze off, and Matt laughs heartily at their dazed-out face.

“Oh my god, Mels, you look like you’re in heaven.”

“Mrrgh,” they muster the courage to say. 

“Eloquent.”

“Shut up, Near…” 

The energy isn’t quite there, though.

A few moments pass by while Near and Matt keep twisting their hair in weird ways, the tingling sensation on their scalp never nearing pain with how careful they are. And then-

“Ta-da !” Matt says, happy as can be.

“We did good work,” Near concurs. “Wait, I have a mirror.”

Mello sure hopes so. Truth be told, they’re quite curious to see what the other two managed to do. Matt makes them close their eyes, spinning the chair for good measure, and Near laughs airily in the background, hands flapping a little.

“Open your eyes !”

They do. At first, they almost don’t see it - their hair is gathered on their right side, as usual. But then they notice the subtle ways in which their hair glows under the light, a small black hair tie at the bottom keeping it together.

Somehow, they manage not to let those annoying tears flow.

“They like it !” Matt whoops.

Near relaxes - he seemed unsure of their reaction, but Matt knows how to read them perfectly, and he knows, he just knows. The force of habit.

The braid stays on for about two days. Mello keeps forgetting it’s there and running their fingers through their hair only to have them tangled in the braid, or turning too fast and flinging it in someone’s face. Near eventually undoes it when they whine about washing their hair, though it returns soon after. He cuddles closer now - Mello feels their heart jump each time they wake up to their two loves, if they can say the word, and they remember that moment throughout the day when they play with the twists.

[midnightprelude]

WIP Wednesday

I hope you all are well! Tags below the cut, but feel free to pick up the tag and tag me back or ignore it!

Dorian and Rilienus are babysitting Lyanna Lavellan's twins. <3

There were two bassinets in his old bedroom, soft yellow ducklings newly painted on the walls. And inside them…

Tiny humans with tiny, wrinkled hands, a girl with dark auburn hair and a boy with fire-red curls. The tips of their ears adorably pointed. Wiggling on their backs, grasping at the air.

He wasn’t upset Lyanna had remodeled his room for the babies. It wasn’t as though he’d used the place in the better part of a year, not since he’d gone to Kirkwall with Ril and came back with a handful of rings. Just strange to see it filled with stuffed animals and fuzzy blankets and-

A sharp, earthy smell filled the small room and he glanced back at Rilienus as he wrinkled his nose. “What do we do with them?”

Rilienus hummed under his breath, chin resting on the edge of one of the bassinets as he peered down at the little girl. “Do?”

“And what, by the Maker’s light is that ungodly scent?” Dorian grimaced, glancing between the two innocent looking babies, unable to discern the culprit. “Don’t they realize how unsanitary it all is? One would think that after thousands of years, humanity might’ve progressed past letting their offspring soil their clothing where they sit.”

“What would you suggest?” Rilienus chuckled, lifting the girl with no apparent cause and carrying her over to the changing table. He kissed her nose as he lay her down, deftly unfolding the diaper. The scent tripled as soon as it was released directly to the air. “You don’t need to sit in it for long, do you? No, you do not. You are a princess,” he cooed as he plucked a fresh cloth from the bin. “You are far too pretty and too wondrous for this world.”

Ril might be a rockstar in this AU, but he's also got dad energy, hehe.

Tagging forward to: @kemvee| @cartadwarfwithaheartofgold |@ashalle-art | @jentrevellan | @zuendwinkel | @lavellanvibes | @dalish-rogue | @hollyand-writes | @dismalzelenka | @enigmalea | @kunstpause | @elveny | @thefoxinboots |@blarfkey | @charlatron | @a-shakespearean-in-paris | @wardenari | @queen-kass-the-writer | @blarrghe | @nug-juggler | @johaeryslavellan | @laniardraws | @faux-fires | @noire-pandora | @ramonadecember | @decimdraws | @dragongeek1

Please let me know if you'd like to be added or removed from my tag list!

[paynomindtotheinsanity]

Vampire Dib AU: Your Eyes are Red

I’ve been working on this on and off. ADHD is a bitch - can’t get anything done around here, lol. Anyway, here’s a little snippet of the first chapter if anyone would like to read it! Dib shows up to school one day and isn’t feeling all that great. Zim, being his usual, obnoxious self, has noticed a strange smell on the human and is determined to figure out what’s going on...

I walk out of the nurse’s office and lean against the door frame in exhaustion. Yeah...fuck this. I’m not going back to class.

“Dib-thing?”

Zim’s voice startles me. I look up to see him sitting on the bench across the hallway.

“Were you...waiting for me?” I ask. His eyes narrow and he crosses his arms.

“No! I’m here for my own purposes.”

I stare blankly. “Which are?”

He throws his hands up and snarls. “Which are of no concern to you, human! Now, tell Zim what the stink-nurse wanted with you.”

I glare at him for a moment as my fever continues to rise. I didn’t expect the Tylenol to do much, but I hoped it would do something to stave off this awful heat.

“I’m going home, Zim. I’m sick.”

 I start hobbling down the hall toward the exit. Zim hops off of the bench.

“Zim will accompany you.”

Oh, god. “That’s…” too much, annoying, suffocating, obnoxious, please leave me alone “not necessary-”

“SILENCE!”

I cover my ears and snap. “Why the fuck are you being so loud today?”

He ignores me. “Zim will decide what is necessary since you have fallen ILL with some disgusting human disease. Your sad worm brain has been compromised and therefore cannot be trusted with the decision-making.”

I groan in unison with a new rush of heat. “Fine, whatever Zim. I don’t have the energy to argue with you anyway.”

“Good!” he shouts, flashing a grin of pointy teeth as he passes me. “You still have some brain cells left. Now come along, Zim will escort you to your filthy human hovel.”

The room doubles. Triples. My feet feel strangely cold as I trail miserably behind the Irken.

“Hey…” I spy my bag clutched tight in Zim’s weird finger-claws. “Did you go through my stuff?!”

He glances over his shoulder and sneers. “Zim is helping. Yes, you’re welcome. I was trying to find the culprit of your...unusual stench today, but it doesn’t seem to be from your bag. Must be something rotting in your home. You should take extra baths today, Dib-stink.”

I swallow down the urge to vomit again and push past the little imp, putting both hands on the door leading to the front of the school and shoving it open--

The screech of metal rips through my ears. I stumble forward, down the steps, missing one, two, three in a row before I fall on my side on the stained concrete. The sun is blinding. Every fiber of my body is screaming, aching, bleeding - the breath has been ripped from my lungs.

I grimace, clutching my head with one hand, fixing my glasses with the other, and I see that the door I just pushed open hangs on one hinge, crushed into the side wall. Zim stands at the top of the steps, staring intensely at the busted door for a moment before his wide gaze narrows and moves to me, a crumpled mess on the ground below.

My thoughts scramble. What the fuck just happened?

[tundrainafrica]

Title: A Tale of Two Slaves (5/17)

Summary:  “Soulmates don’t exist. Fate doesn’t exist. Everything is a choice.” At that moment, Levi could only watch as she made the choice for him.“

Reincarnation AU. Levi remembers everything from their past life. Hange doesn’t.

Note: Feedback is very much appreciated.

Other Chapters: 1 2 3 4 6 7 8

Link to cross-postings: AO3

The stitches on Levi’s knees had been removed long ago. A scab formed soon after though --- or to be specific--- a bunch of small scabs from the smaller wounds that had formed conglomerates on his knees.

Levi was tempted to pick at them. The nurse had mentioned something about infections and had explicitly ordered him not to do just that. His coach rode on that theory soon after and Levi found himself spending a good amount of energy just keeping up the self control.

Some had fallen in time but what remained where parts of the scab that were embedded more deeply into the wounds and the beginnings of ugly scars on both his knees.

Most days, he could ignore it. In fact, he had forgotten they existed for a good long while, especially when he had more important things occupying his mind: Hange’s research, school work and the upcoming track and field season.

The upcoming season was the biggest problem at hand. And that was the one problem that had brought the glaring wounds in his knees back to the spotlight. Levi had been too preoccupied with Hange to have even noticed that during the weeks following his injury, his coach had given him a lighter regimen.

It was late afternoon on Sunday, a few hours after he had arrived back on campus from Hange’s place. It was just him and his coach in the middle of the oval and his coach looked more than ready to whip Levi into shape.

They had just gotten the schedule for the season and their first event was the high jump. As expected, his coach had assigned him to that event. He was the record holder last year after all.

That was last year though. Levi thought to himself as he slowly got up after his eighth failed jump of the night. He was sure he was not out of shape. In fact, he always spent more time in the oval when they were on their off season. It wasn’t supposed to be so hard to reproduce the championship winning jumps he was lauded for being so consistent in.

That night, Levi could not clear it. He was shorter than most high jumpers and it was expected that naturally, he would not get a good height above the bar. He never did anyway, usually just missing the bar by a few centimeters or even millimeters. Regardless, he consistently cleared heights despite the lack of distance he was able to generate between him and the bar. And that consistency was the reason why Levi never considered the height a problem until it was right in front of him. He should have known though that if there were only a few millimeters separating him and the bar, then any small detail could be enough to throw him off.

His mind was racing when he considered the culprit. Was it the exhaustion that was slowly creeping into him? It shouldn’t have been that. Levi had found ways to work past it before. Was it the nervousness? The pressure? Then why had he performed so well before?

Levi went through the movements again, that time not focusing on how to clear the height but on the different sensations that coursed through his body. As he positioned himself to jump up right next to the bar, he picked it out. It manifested as dull pain at first, something he would barely have given a second thought to if it were any other day. As he launched himself up, it protested painfully the quick extension of his knee.

Was it the scab?  Levi landed painfully on the bar that had dislodged from its place. That was definitely going to leave a bruise.

“You okay?”

Levi felt his coach’s hand on his arm as he was guided gently into a standing position..

“That’s enough for today.” His coach’s tone was light yet slow and careful. Levi sensed the disappointment in it.

As Levi went for his bag, he went through the different motions of walking a little more slowly, taking note of any restrictions in his movement. The main one turned out to be the scab, that would protest as he extended it. It was not too much of an issue when he was still going through the lighter drills. The two meter bar was his newest challenge and in a few weeks he needed to be able to clear it easily.

He had considered telling his coach about the wound, quickly shooting down the idea when he realized he would rather not lighten his training load soon with the first event of the season just a few weeks away.

That night in bed, he allowed himself a few minutes to look over the scab. It was brown and ugly. As he ran his hand through it, he was surprised to find out that although it was particularly thick, pushing it further aggravated the pain. Levi made a few experimental scratches on it before realizing that it was still too connected to the wound beneath. Not wanting to risk any infections though which the nurse and his coach had so conscientiously explained to him, Levi sat back on the bed and distracted himself browsing whatever was on his phone.

He did a quick google search on it. The scab should fall out eventually. He opened his messages on Instagram to see Hange had replied to the video he had sent with a video of her own.

Kostornaia Triple Axel.

I like Axels better

Levi ended up watching a video on basic figure skating jumps before even replying to Hange. For some reason, he didn’t want her to think he was ignorant.

Hange was right. The axel jump was impressive. The only figure skating jump with a forward take off. Levi found himself going through the mechanics the next morning when he was alone in the oval 30 minutes before training was supposed to start.

The jumps definitely required momentum from the glide, similar to the moment he would get running towards the bar before a high jump.

The axel is one of the hardest jumps in skating because it is difficult to get the rotations from a forward take off.

The force from the twist is generally a good source of momentum. Probably one of the reasons why most high jumpers jumped the way they did. In high jump events, jumping from a forward position was generally allowed but most high jumpers launched themselves from behind due to the higher amount of force that could be channeled from that. As a little experiment to placate his own curiosity, and maybe to even give Hange something to ponder on, Levi jumped forward, similarly to what he had seen in the axel video.

As expected, within a few seconds Levi was face down on the ground, next to the bar he had snagged on the way down.

The fall was as painful and probably a little more embarrassing than his own falls the night before, even with his coach watching then. Levi could not even imagine how ridiculous he looked.

At least no one was there to see him fall. Levi allowed himself a long look at the sky above him as he went through the movements in his head. He could easily just repeat the same jump. He eventually decided against it though as he realized it caused unnecessary pain, it was an injury risk and for sure it would be embarrassing if one of his teammates caught him in the act of reproducing a figure skating jump on the field. The forward take off was far from efficient but somehow it felt nostalgic. It felt inefficient yet intimate, an incompetent old friend.

In his dreams, Levi was taking off, flying forward in a similar pattern. It was a mixture of possibly cables and gas that had kept him afloat then. How exactly the gas and the cables work, he couldn't completely understand. For sure there was nothing similar where he lived, maybe the closest was a plane.

Either way, it was flying and Dream Hange and Real Hange were right. It was fun.

That burst of energy was what got him attempting the high jump again over the two meter bar he had set. He was aware of the whispers as the oval started to fill up with his own teammates.

He could not make out what they were saying but the confusion and possibly disappointment in their tones and in their whispers could only point to one thing. One glaring reality. Levi was unable to clear the two meter jump without dropping the bar.

He did it before. In fact he had cleared a 2.3 meter jump. That achievement was what broke a record and lead the team multiple collegiate championships in the first place.

That training, his coach had decided to focus on other athletes. Levi used that respite to focus on other events: the hurdles, the sprints. The whispers eventually died down as others went to focus on their own regimens. For a while, Levi wondered why he was self conscious in the first place. Before that, he had never really bothered with what everybody else was doing in training.

It's amazing. The amount of balance, core strength and body control to keep your body flexible enough not to hit the bar. The amount of leg strength needed to jump that high. You really must be superhuman.

His best event had always been the high jump. That was why Hange had wanted to work with him in the first place. As Levi reflected on it, he started to realize everyone being disappointed was a painful reminder that with his inability to break his previous records, he would also be disappointing Hange.  

As usual, Levi stayed thirty minutes after practice to attempt the high jump multiple times, finding solace in the fact at least that everyone had left for their first classes that day. After failing every single time, Levi walked back to the bench. He deliberately put more weight on his right knee, a silent yet angry protest against the scab that had made it impossible to completely extend his knee.

He checked his phone. 8:30. His first class was at 10.

Below the time, he saw Hange had left a few messages, all pictures and links according to the banners on his phone. Levi went to settings and turned off the notifications.

A mini game and a well-deserved punishment for himself.

If I can’t meet her expectations, I won’t talk to her until the weekend.

That weekend was when they were slated to meet again. He had five days to jump it.

                                       A Tale of Two Slaves        

He didn’t last long.

By the next morning, Levi had given up already on leaving the notifications off. He ended up checking her messages anyway even with the notifications turned off. Declaring that move in particular redundant, Levi turned on notifications and read through all the messages Hange had sent.

They were links to different jumps, the lutz, the toe loop, the salchow, the axel, the loop and the flip. They all looked the same to Levi. The only one that looked any different was the axel he had tried in the oval a few days ago. The rest of the messages were just a long explanation on  different figure skating jumps. It was a long rant, with too many terms that even Levi wasn’t aware of.

That was when Levi realized, she may be hard to forget but she was easy to ignore. Especially since he had better things to do than listen to her rant, like train or study.

Levi moved the goalposts of his little game. I’ll open Hange’s messages but I won’t reply until I clear the jump.

By Friday, things were starting to look a little more hopeful. The scab on his knee was starting to peel off. The skin underneath looked a little raw but not at all alarmingly discolored. As he prepared for training that night, he did a few experimental bounces and a few warm up stretches. The raw skin underneath was still resisting the stretches.

“Looks like your wound is looking a little better. You ready to show me your jump?” Greg spoke from behind him.

Was he even ready to jump? Although he had busied himself the past few days practicing it, it was far from something he would be ready to show his coach. In fact, he had not even cleared the two meters at all.  As his mind raced for excuses or just the best possible answer to that question, Levi was also reminded of the dull aches and pains all over his body.

He had busied himself that week jumping six hours a day, three hours early in the morning and three hours at night. Exhaustion was something that he was easily able to brush off having grown up an athlete. Fatigue was a different story. Fatigue is a specter that haunts, no matter how healthy, well trained or toned its victim is.

Maybe that was where the hopefulness came from. His body had somehow gotten a little numb and insensible to aches and pains that when the scab had finally fallen enough, he had assumed he would be able to fully extend his leg when necessary. As he ran towards the bar and launched himself up in the air, the scar tissue underneath fought, pulling against his leg. The scar tissue was tight, it was taught and as Levi fell back on the cushion, the bar next to him, Levi could only slam his hand on the bar in frustration.

“Hey, if you’re having trouble we could lower the bar first.”

“No. I just need time to get used to it.” Levi said. A straight-up lie but at that point, Levi didn’t realize it himself.

He did not expect his next few jumps to be chaotic. The bar was falling down next to him more violently every time. A few times it rattled. One time it flew a few meters away. Levi only ever allowed himself a split second to watch the bar react to the force of his jumps before he mechanically got back up again.

His movements had to be mechanical. His head was spinning, his mind was racing. At that moment, he could have attributed his inability to clear it to anything. His stomach was turning. His legs were screaming, his body was aching from constantly hitting the cushion at full force.

He found himself having to catch his breath as he stepped back into the starting line. From his peripherals he could see Elijah running towards the adjacent bar. As soon as he jumped though, Levi had to look away. As guilty it made him feel, Levi still hoped he would hear the sound of metal on metal and the bar clattering on the ground.

Silence, the sound of a body hitting the cushion then cheers.

Levi glanced at the bar Elijah just cleared to see it was set at two meters as well. He found himself dashing towards his own bar before getting his bearings.

He had gone through the same positions for as long as he could remember. It should have been easy. Ironically, Levi found himself more self conscious about how he was supposed to be running as he pictured the speed and the movement at which Elijah had done it from his peripherals. Elijah was a foot taller than him and somehow he knew he had to compensate. He ran faster than necessary, jumped higher than necessary and he curled his body towards the ground at a more dangerous angle as he landed.

The last part was the most dangerous part of the jump.

“Levi!”

Levi only had a split second to react as his head was falling straight towards the ground at an alarming speed. The reflexes that had gotten him to every training and the intuition that had built over the years was enough though and Levi was able to curl his upper body forward, enough to avoid breaking his neck. The speed at which he fell on the cushion though and the way he had bounced and skidded violently on the cushion beneath him brought about an exploding pain on his back and for a second Levi actually thought he broke his back.

As much as he wanted to forget everything and focus on the sky above him, he knew he had to take stock of his injuries. That was the first time he had ever fallen like that. Hell, that was the first time he had ever feared the worse from an injury.

He tested them one by one. His legs were moving like they should. His arms too. Most importantly, there was no pain as he moved his neck from side to side. The pain was all over his back though and Levi was sure that at the least, he had bruised his back badly.

“You’re done for the day.”

“I can try one more.” How many times did he jump? Levi was sure at least not ten. He could have done at least twenty more.

“I said you’re done for the day.”  His coach’s tone was something new, the sound of someone scrambling for authority and yet it succeeded.

Levi could not argue. As he walked painfully back to the bench he started to notice the crowd that had gathered next to his training area. He wondered how scary the fall must have looked for a crowd to have gathered nearby and for his coach to have spoken to him like that.

As he sat on the bench, the world started to spin. Levi rested his hand to his forehead only to realize his hand was shaking.

“Hey. Will you at least let me look over your bruises? I just want to make sure nothing is broken.”

Levi found himself fighting back tears. Her voice came as a pleasant surprise yet at the same time, it was the last thing he wanted to hear.

“Why are you here?”

"I just wanted to make sure you were still alive." Hange joked. "You didn't reply to any of my messages."

"I was busy."

"Looks like it."

She went behind him. Levi felt a shudder spider through him as she put her hands on his shoulders.

"Does it hurt?"

Levi could only shake his head. It wasn't pain. Was it surprise? Embarrassment? Either way, it was enough to make Levi sit up a little straighter.  

“You cleared the bar at least," Hange said.

"I did?" If Levi wasn't too surprised at the sudden revelation, he probably would have noted the pain as Hange ran her hands around his upper back. At any rate, it was light enough that Levi completely forgot it as he focused on the untouched bar.The one he flew over only a second ago.

Levi allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction, small enough that if anyone saw it, he could easily pretend it never happened.

"Looks like there's nothing broken. But it feels like there's some bruising. Make sure to ice it."

"When I get back to the dorm," Levi answered. He stifled a wince as he felt her fingers climb up his shoulder.

"You have some friction burns around your upper back," Hange explained. "Hey, if you're not up to doing the tests tomorrow, it's fine."

"No, we're pushing through with tomorrow."

"But you're not looking so good. Something tells me that was the only jump you cleared this week."

Levi did not answer.

"Your movements were wilder, chaotic, uncoordinated. Not like the Levi who jumped in the championships." Her tone was playful but to Levi, it sounded like she was mocking him. "Maybe if you read my messages, it would help."

Levi unlocked his phone and opened her messages. He had cleared the jump at least and that was his prize.

"Do you see it?" Hange asked after a few minutes.

Hange's rant was long enough to make Levi's phone lag. Levi blacked out in frustration, not bothering to close read beyond what was right in front of him. A long winded list of the differences between skating jumps and why Hange liked the Axel in particular the best then the Lutz, then the Loop.

"Just say it."

"I noticed when we did the preliminary testing that you get most of your power from your legs." Hange sat next to Levi and look pointedly at his legs. "You're lucky they're strong enough to carry you over the bar. When you're doing a two meter bar, and your legs are slightly injured though, I'm guessing a lot can throw you off. Especially since you generally don’t get much height over the bars when you clear them.

"What does this have to do with skating jumps?"

"If you read why I like the Axel so much as a jump you'd know." Hange looked at him expectantly.

Her eyes were like that of a two month old puppy and Levi felt utterly trapped. Trapped enough at least to read what she had sent him.

An axel jump requires one of the most complex coordinated movements. It's a forward facing jump with no support from a toe pick and little support from a backward rotation.

"So where do you get the power from?" Hange continued.

Levi tensed up. He hadn't noticed that Hange settled on the bench right next to him, having leaned close enough to look over his shoulder and at his phone.

"The hips. The arms. I actually just realized it yesterday but you don't utilize your arms much when you jump, or your hips when you twist. If you did,  it could add more power to your jump. Maybe that could fix your jumping problem..."

"Maybe." Levi answered half heartedly, too occupied by the videos Hange had sent to even come up with something more responsive. He had heard what she said but had found it difficult to comprehend from explanation alone. It turned out he had needed something a little more visual and watching the Russian skater in a purple dress go smoothly through the motions of a triple axel made everything much clearer.

He was a track and field athlete and she was a figure skater. But somehow the basic movements were the same, pushing the hips back before thrusting them forward. Moving the hands back before jumping up. Those were the body equivalents of pulling back the leather pad a slingshot before letting go, to further amplify the force of the leg as it pushes the body up and into the air.

And Hange had picked up all the similarities without ever playing any of the sports. It was amazing but at the same time amusing.

"What do you think? Should we try it?" Hange asked.

Levi paused for a moment, taking stock of his situation. His legs were aching and his body was going numb from what could have been exhaustion. He was even starting to reconsider the preliminary tests scheduled for the next day. "We could try it next week." Levi suggested.

It was odd when Hange had stopped talking but Levi did not really think too much about it. That was until he looked up at her. Hange's face was frozen in awe and wonder, as if she was in a daydream. Her eyes were shining yet at the same time, concentrated on one particular object.

Levi only had to follow her line of sight to realize what it was. Picking it out among the crowd of students in the oval was easy. After all, all the athletes had their attention on Elijah who was already picking himself up from the cushion by the time Levi had followed her line of sight to that point.

The crowd exploded into applause. Levi looked back to see Hange was clapping herself, her eyes not moving from the center of the track.

Levi was quick to change his mind after seeing just that. "Hey, four eyes. Let's try it out after training."

It was not odd at all for Levi to stay after training. He was used to it. That night though, he had to sit back and wait for the field to clear before he went back to the place where his bar stood. He waited thirty minutes just in case.

Hange did not have to explain much. She helped polish his form but Levi had his own instinct and his own experience to fill in the gaps.

He did a few light test jumps with the bar set lower, taking note of the freedom of movement that came with the extra thrust of his hips and the extra burst of force which came with having his arm movements pull the jump further upwards.

"Just one jump," Hange said, a worried frown on her face.

He did not need to guess what Hange was seeing. His legs were aching and he was struggling to take deeper breaths.

Last jump of the night. Levi assured himself. He then promised his body one weekend off if he made it. He stood on the starting point again for a few seconds, starting long and hard at the bar set two feet high in front of him.

The arm movements and the hip twists were not unfamiliar. Just like the sensation of launching himself up in the air, the tightening of his muscles and the bending of his back to get over the bar, they were all muscle memory. Where exactly Levi had gotten it, he did not know. Either way, he had won championships with leg power alone. With a lack of opponents, there was no need to improve his technique and he had stuck to using his legs.

Somehow, Hange's suggestion had awakened a new facet of his muscle memory.

Levi ran towards the two meter high bar, making sure to take note of the sensation in his hips and the untapped power in his arm. He positioned himself to launch in the air and in that split second, he did not need to consider where the power came from. Running towards the bar had contributed its own share of momentum and as Levi positioned himself for the jump, his arms had gone mechanically behind his back for a second.

That's where the power is from. Levi realized. He jumped up and noted the thrust of his hip as he twisted himself to a position where his back would be facing the bar. That was where the power from the hips came into play.

Levi was flying. At the same time, he was speeding up.

It should have been a perfect jump. In fact Levi had made some good height between him and the bar below him. If he were going any slower and had the luxury to look to the side  he could have seen Hange's look of awe, her mouth agape and her eyes shining in pure excitement.

Levi though had other thoughts. His body was too preoccupied with something else.

Only less than an hour ago, Levi had almost broken his neck with a jump of a much lower speed and a lower height.  Although Levi had quickly forgotten it, his body remembered. And when he was a good two and a half feet up in there his body decided to remind him of that particular memory of less than an hour ago.

Suddenly, Levi was terrified. He found himself fighting for some kind of control mid air. The sound of crash of metal hitting flesh then an explosion of pain.  

That pain could have been accompanied by another as Levi landed awkwardly on the cold hard ground of the track. Everything he had felt up there in the air though was overwhelming enough and Levi found himself unable to isolate the pain or even trace its origins.

With the little energy and control he could muster, Levi turned his head to look above him. He didn't break his neck at least.

The dark blue sky stretched out in all directions and somewhere above him, he heard the distant screaming from a voice he had come to know so well.

Levi! Can you hear me… I can't deal with this on my own. I'm gonna have to call for help.

[unadulteratedkr]

4, 8, 18 for the meta asks?

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

Jaime… I- I cannot save you. She is so brave to say this, and Jaime is shattered by her solemn confession. She looks scared this will chase him away; she looks so determined to ensure he knows she is just as human as he is. He lets out a half laugh, half sigh of relief as he looks upon the woman in front of him, standing tall, still only half dressed.

This is from my exchange fic from last year, (let it be for nought except for love’s sake) and it’s one of the best things I think I’ll ever write? Do I love that these two are honorable past the point of sense when it comes to other people? Yes. Do I love that they can be deliciously flawed and human with one another? Also yes.

OH. I’m also going to forever be proud of managing to make an acrostic message in cylch y Tylwyth Teg, the fic I wrote last year for @brynnmck‘s birthday. I thought it was gonna be easy, up until the moment I had a dictionary open to figure out how to start a sentence with the letter A for the gazillionth time 😂😂😂

8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?

Oooooo, interesting. There’s some definite cross-over, for sure! I know I write a more amorphous combo of book and show characterizations because I just pick and choose what I like from both to make a hybrid demon of my own, but I will read strictly book or strictly show fic and enjoy them equally. I know in my writing, consent is key, and that is something I really need when I’m reading things too. (It’s no surprise to me that @kurikaesu-haru‘s Ella Enchanted AU I hyped into existence is currently murdering me in the best way with all the consent about to happen. I’m vibrating in my chair just THINKING about it.) (Also psssst, go read what she’s shared so far. It’s EXCELLENT AND DEVASTATING: A Way With Words)

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

There are a couple of my WIPs that turned into BIG WIPs because I realized I wanted to expand the plot-lines I kept coming up with. The biggest culprit is my eventual exotic dancer verse where Jaime is a male stripper who teaches Brienne how to dance so she can use actually learning burlesque as part of her thesis on women’s sexuality which just started as “hey how about Margaery drags Brienne to a club and she sees Jaime in a gold thong and hornt happens as a result”. And then I wanted there to be more. And more turned into me researching what goes into writing a thesis. And learning about burlesque. And male stripping. AND SO MANY OTHER THINGS.

The first version of “let it be nought except for love’s sake” had a LOT less plot and was much more just “ehhh, feelings invade smut” and had a moment where Jaime broke down in Brienne’s arms.... and then I went, “Wait. Why is he breaking down?” And then I decided I had to invent a new reason, somehow ended up tripling my original word count to create a canon-divergent world where Jaime had been banished to a war-ravaged Stormlands, and I cut the original moment where Jaime broke down WHICH WAS WHAT MADE ME CREATE THIS WHOLE NEW STORY IN THE FIRST PLACE. 😂

meta asks for writers!

[randomidiocyncrazies]

going into more detail about the P2/P4/P5 Persona Q idea, I’m thinking of breaking the cast into the following chunks:

P2 IS: Tatsuya, Lisa, Eikichi and Jun (separated from Maya in Xibalba)

P2 EP: Maya, Ulala, Baofu and Katsuya (before Tatsuya officially joins the party but after the P1 party member leaves?)

P4: entire IT (cultural festival like in PQ, or after fighting the culprit)

P5: all PTs (before Casino heist like PQ2)

Having the P2 cast all come from the EP timeline with Lisa, Eikichi and Jun getting accidentally involved & regaining their IS memories works too, but the storyline would have to revolve around that + Tatsuya’s reaction to justify introducing that plot element imo, cause it’s A LOT to deal with. Also if the overarching plot is centered on P2 (particularly the IS party members), then why are the P4 and P5 casts involved? Also while I think it’d be interesting to re-introduce Philemon and Nyarlathotep to the Persona setting and have them play a bigger part—especially since Nyarly isn’t banished until the end of EP—their involvement might skew the plot too heavily towards P2? (although I admit the “nobody remembers this adventure” ending of PQ games would work especially well for Lisa, Jun and Eikichi here) 

tbh PQ had quite a lot of nods to P2 IS (the clock tower, school mysteries + moving statue urban legend on P4-side, and the true form of the main antagonist). I kinda like the idea of the setting being a fake school like PQ, with details of the school influenced by the persona users when they arrive, but the story might have to be tweaked a bit (different final boss probably, and maybe bring in more themes in P2/4/5). 

potential themes

I liked that PQ and PQ2 had plots that were ultimately about the new characters, since it justifies their inclusion (and i think it’s a bit unfair if the game focuses too much on the cast of a particular game). I have mixed feelings about some of the execution of PQ and PQ2, but I do appreciate the intent behind it. I do think reinforcement of the games’ themes could help make the overarching story more cohesive, so here are some potential themes with P2, P4 and P5 in mind:

rumors, gossip and the role of mass media are important in all 3 (4) persona games here: P2 antagonists manipulate various media to generate rumors, and in turn manipulate rumors to bring about the end of the world; the Midnight Channel in P4 reacts to local gossip and it’s about the casual dehumanization of individuals through media (mostly TV); in P5 people’s perception of the PT is literally a plot point, and the game reminds you of the PT approval rating almost constantly

(distorted) memories is primarily a P2 thing (”worse than death\ forgotten”, Nyarlathotep’s manipulation of Jun and Philemon’s deal to the IS kids, Tatsuya’s ‘sin’) but it could work with the mystery aspect of PQ games. Distorted memories arguably lead to distorted self-perception (P5), and uncovering the truth is P4′s jam

as mentioned in the previous post, the tension between P5′s teenage rebellion and P2 EP’s adult guidance could be really fun to explore and incorporate into the plot. Persona games are about coming of age, but with EP there’s also a secondary theme of guiding the younger generation and fully grappling with adulthood—the heroines of PQ and PQ2 are quite young, but I can potentially see the new character(s) being a little older here (maybe 17-18?)

stroll ideas

Of course the reason why this idea exists in the first place is all the potential interactions between everyone! There’s just so much potential with all the different dynamics and topics they can discuss :3 Here are a few ideas:

Stomping Grounds: P2/4/5 discuss where and how they bust Shadows. P2 “we had to sleep in dungeons sometimes!!!” is incredibly envious that demons aren’t running around the real world for the others. P2 and P4 are jealous of P5 for not having to repair/replace ruined clothes (”you just think about cool clothes and they appear on you?!” “man we should try that in Xibalba...” “it’s really not that simple! Morgana can explain it better, but basically it’s our mental image of rebellion” etc etc).

Lisa’s Brutal Makeover Corner: Teddie gets jealous when Lisa demonstrates her makeup skills on Jun and wants to get dolled up too—he won the Yasogami cross-dressing pageant after all! He has to be the prettiest!!! 

Butterfly Effect: several P4 and P2 characters try to use P5 cast’s knowledge to their advantage, but is stopped by the detective trio to prevent potential time paradoxes

Say It With Flowers: Jun and Haru (and Yukiko?) discuss flower language, share gardening tips, and swap demon/shadow intimidation tactics. Everyone around them is slightly afraid of their enthusiasm on the topic...

Fashion Gurus: Eikichi and Yusuke have a discussion about ~aesthetics~ and comment on their companions’ styles. Kanji is roped into the argument

Fashion Gurus Strike Again: Ulala, Ann and Rise discuss latest fashion trends and comment on the others’ fashion choices

The Audiophiles’ Alliance: Futaba and Yosuke chat about headphones and the greatest bops (with Futaba lamenting she can’t make him eat his words because the song she’s thinking of doesn’t exist yet in his time). Eikichi—aka the great Michel-sama—senses a prime opportunity to get some new fans... 

Strangers in a Familiar Land: Lisa and Ann get into how people tend to act... weird about them due to their foreign looks; Teddie, on the other hand, loves the attention his human form gets from the people around town (and the girls conclude that Teddie would probably get into trouble in a big city)

Everybody Loves Kung Fu Fightin’: Makoto, Ulala, Lisa and Chie show off their moves and swap training tips. Lisa and Chie talk about their favorite martial arts movies and convinces the others to check them out

Big Bro’s Worries: Katsuya and Yosuke complain about their younger brothers, while P4 and P5 protags are slightly smug that they don’t get that much trouble from their sisters, especially P4 protag 

Velvet Room attendants

Since P2/4/5 all have multiple Velvet Room attendants, they’re gonna double up on some jobs to avoid over-crowding:

P2: Demon Artist: he’s in charge of the Workshop. Unlike the other attendants he’s human, so Margaret and the twins are probably intrigued/unsettled by him and Marie might also be curious as someone else who also stays at the Velvet Room but isn’t really an attendant

P2: Nameless & Belladonna: they handle the healing service. They can sense something unusual with the P2 cast due to the split timelines, but it has no bearing on the plot. I’m on the fence whether to include a healing service at all, but if there is one I think it suits them, since their music is supposed to put guests at ease

P4: Margaret & Marie: like their PQ and PQ2 roles, Margaret manages the Persona Compendium and Fusions, and Marie handles skill cards

P5: Caroline and Justine: the twins handle the quests, since Margaret does the fusions. Caroline enjoys ordering the persona users about

[you can find more on this AU tagged under PQ Triple]

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 17

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 12,131

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

Day three of Operation Boyfriend But Shh Not Really and so far, so good.

Though the thought of this triple date had my inner recluse curling up into the fetal position, I'd manage to convince myself it actually was a good thing when you really thought about it. One, it gave me more practice for trying to do this whole couply… thing I was trying to do. More practice meant I'd eventually, hopefully be more comfortable with it all, as well as less chance for screw-ups in front of my parents when the dreaded but inevitable weekend with them at last came. Two, we were trying to maintain this image of being boyfriend and girlfriend in front of everyone else at the mall. And boyfriends and girlfriends went on dates. What better way to be seen going on said dates than by going out with other actual couples? And three, we couldn't forget about the person the Duke had hired to tail Anna originally and could quite possibly still be keeping tabs on me now. If they were still out there lurking, it was important that they, even more so than anyone else,see me dating.

It was still kind of weird to think about - that an actual, real life PI or whatever had been surveilling me constantly for who knows how long and I'd had no idea. It felt so surreal. Unreal even. But the Duke was absolutely that crazy and I wouldn't put it past him to still have someone keeping an eye on me, looking for any cracks in the story, any slip-ups or mistakes. I'd have to start paying attention more when I was out and about, see if I could figure out who it was, spot any faces that seemed to always show up everywhere I went.

But then, even if I did identify a likely culprit, I would have absolutely no idea what to do with that information once I had it. Even if I marched right up to them and told them their cover had been blown so they may as well scram, the Duke was just insane enough and rich enough to keep hiring new people to do the job instead.

...jeez, I was really starting to sound paranoid now, wasn't I?

With my luck, it'd turn out the Duke no longer had anyone following me after he'd confronted me in the food court.

Best not to think about it too much, because honestly? It'd get me nowhere.

Sighing, I banished the thoughts from my head as I watched the buildings blur past my window from the backseat of Riku's silver Ford Focus. The three of us were on our way to the restaurant now and Lea, Kairi and Sora were going to meet us there. My hand anxiously smoothed out the creases of my outfit - a dark magenta sheath dress with long sleeves and a hemline at the knees. It had a tastefully low v-neckline and a double layered skirt, the top layer made of a shimmering gossamer material. Nice, but nothing too fancy for our "nothing too fancy" date, to use Kairi's words.

Per Lea's request, I'd also worn his leather jacket. It made sense, after all. Nothing screamed "dating" more than one half of a couple wearing their other half's clothes, so it certainly helped maintain the facade. His boy scent still lingered on it, even though he hadn't worn it in a couple of days now, given it had been in my possession. The smell was somehow both soothing and butterflies-in-the-stomach inducing at the same time. It was an odd mix of emotions, to say the least.

I felt a buzz in the jacket's pocket. Pulling out my phone (gosh, it was so weird having one again after going so many weeks without) I checked my notifications to discover I'd received a text.

Well, speak of the devil.

Still cant believe u didnt lemme come pick u up

Shaking my head with a small snort, I tapped out a reply to Lea.

It just made the most logical sense for me to ride with Riku and Rayne since we were all coming from the same place.

Rayne suddenly cried out happily, drawing my attention to her as she clapped and bounced in the front passenger seat. "Ahh, I'm still just so excited for date night! Good food, great company, hot hubby," she slyly pinched Riku's cheek, which he endured with dignity as he drove. "What more could a girl ask for?"

He chuckled as he shifted the car over into the turn lane. "You make it sound like I never take you out."

"You know that's not what I mean!" she playfully smacked his shoulder. "But with the baby on the way, I don't know how many more of these I'll have! This is one of my last chances to enjoy freedom! Jesus take the fucking wheel, hallelujah!"

I felt my phone vibrate in my hand again and I looked down at it.

I know not this logic u spk of

I felt a tiny smile pulling at my mouth as my thumbs typed.

Don't worry about it. Tis beyond your mortal ken.

"I just hope no one's drinking tonight," Riku snerked as I watched those three dots bounce at the bottom of my screen. "Don't need you dancing on any more tables, thank you very much."

"Your face dances on tables!" Rayne shot back, sticking her tongue out at him.

"That doesn't even make any sense."

"You don't even make any sense!"

Rude. Ill have u know I had half a mind 2 drive ovr n get u NEway, logic b damned

My smile turned a touch wicked.

I'm impressed. That's half a mind more than you usually have.

"Here we are!"

My head shot up as I heard the engine shut down. I hadn't even realized we were in a parking lot. I hadn't even realized the vehicle had stopped moving.

As I looked out my window again, I heard Rayne saying, "Have I mentioned how happy I am we're doing this?"

"You may have said something about that once or twice." I could hear the smile in Riku's low voice.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her leaning over towards him, her hand coming up to run slender fingers through his long, ashen strands. "Yeah, but maybe I should show you."

"Maybe you should…"

And that's when I, being the absolute clueless, blissfully naive little fool that I was, chose to turn and fully look at them, just in time to get a front row seat to their little game of tonsil hockey. I blushed, threw up a hand to block my line of sight and made a tiny noise of disgust in my throat. "Ugh! You know you're not the only people in the car, right?"

Rayne pulled away to smirk back at me. "Well, other people can shoo," she flicked a dismissive hand in my direction before grabbing Riku by his collar and yanking him over for a deeper, more passionate kiss. Ding, ding, round two!

Squeaking, I fumbled with my seatbelt until I heard the click release, threw my car door open, stumbled out and slammed it shut behind me with a huff.

Oi, that was the main drawback to this group date plan. We were going to be around actual couples, and actual couples actually, ahem… snogged. Rayne and Riku were going to be bad enough, but let's not forget Sora and Kairi were along for the ride too and I'd seen firsthand how gross those two could be as well. Mark my word, this night was going to have more than its fair share of uncomfortable moments with those four around, being all besotted and smitten and other such rot. But I would survive this and make it through to the other side. Somehow.

Sweeping my braid forward over one shoulder, I glanced up at the building before me now. It bore a colorful banner over its entrance that read Fuente Del Oro. A local, family-owned Mexican restaurant, or so Rayne had told me. I could already tell this was going to be a very different experience from the types of restaurants my ex used to take me to for our dates. Those restaurants had all been about the look, the prestige… you didn't go to any of those places for the food, you went there to be seen, to give off an air of importance. Those places were… dull. Lifeless. This place before me now, on the other hand, was… nice. Colorful. Vibrant and full of character. Not elegant or frilly, but warm and inviting. And the aromas that I could smell coming from it, even all the way out here? Delicious.

I was actually kind of looking forward to this.

Phone still in my grasp, I looked back down at it and frowned.

No message back from Lea yet.

A giggle suddenly echoed out across the parking lot and my eyes snapped towards the source. It didn't take long to spot Kairi a few vehicles over, squirming and laughing in Sora's arms as he hugged her from behind, blowing raspberries against her neck. They were standing with a very familiar redhead who was leaning against a very familiar black muscle car. Said redhead had pulled his hair back into a ponytail again and was dressed in a snug, black tee with a second shirt on underneath, red and black horizontal stripes running down its full-length sleeves. His slim, dark jeans made his already long legs seem even longer and he was sporting his bright red Converse. He had his phone in hand in front of him, but it wasn't the phone he was looking at. Our eyes met and a grin tugged at one corner of his lips.

Suddenly, whatever boldness that I had felt behind the safety of text on the tiny, glowing screen in the palm of my hand had abandoned me and I felt a small pang of anxiety pierce my chest.

But I rallied.

Alright, Elsa, pep talk time. You can do this. You've been mentally and emotionally preparing for this since yesterday. Let him throw at you whatever fluffy, sappy moves he decides to today, all in the name of pretending to be your boyfriend. You can take it.

Shields raised and at full power, captain!

Inhaling and exhaling slowly, I pocketed my mobile and started making my way over to those three. Probably hearing my footsteps against the asphalt, Kairi and Sora looked over at me as I approached and greeted me with waves. I gave them a shy smile and returned the wave as Lea held his phone up, turning the screen towards me and showing the last message I'd sent him as he tsked, "Brutal. You wound me, madame."

I stopped a few feet away from him, my smile twitching wider. "You like it."

"True. What can I say, I've always been a bit of a masochist," he hummed a low chuckle, slipping his phone into the back pocket of his pants. His head tipped to one side and he stared at me for another second, then his eyes crinkled as he stretched a hand out towards me with a soft, "C'mere."

I bit my bottom lip, hesitating for a heartbeat before moving another step forward to take his offered hand.

"Lookit you," he whistled, closing his fingers around mine and leading me into a little twirl. "Digging the look." He then gently pulled me against him, drawing my arms up to hug his neck before slipping his hands beneath the jacket to wrap around my waist, enveloping me in his cinnamon scent. "Didn't get a chance to say it the other day, but my jacket suits you."

I rolled my eyes up at him, doing my best to be impervious to our sudden closeness. I wasn't succeeding. "Not really. It's too big."

"Yes really," he insisted, bowing his head slightly towards mine. "It looks way better on you than it ever did on me."

"Where's Riku and Rayne?" Sora interjected and I turned my head to look at him.

"They-" my words tripped over my tongue as Lea pressed a tender kiss to my temple.

Critical hit, captain! Shields down to thirty percent, but holding!

Ignoring the heat rushing to my face, I did my best to regather my scattered thoughts. "They, uh… they're back in the, uh… the…" Drat, what was the word again? "...car! They're back in the… the car."

Sora pulled a face. "Swapping spit, no doubt."

"Oh-ho, we'll see about that! C'mon, Sora!" Kairi cackled with an evil gleam in her eye, slipping free of her boyfriend's hold to instead grab his hand and pull him behind her as she ran off towards Riku's car.

"Seriously," Lea spoke up again, his voice hushed as I slowly returned my gaze to his. "Pretty sure I've lost all claim to that jacket. It belongs to you now."

My eyelids drooped. "That's not how that works."

"Sure it is." He rested his forehead against mine and I could feel his thumb rubbing light circles against the fabric of my dress just above my hip. "You don't choose a leather jacket, it chooses you. And trust me, that one has definitely picked you over me."

I gave a soft snort. "I'm giving it back to you after tonight."

"Don't you dare," he chided, his breath warming my lips. "You'll hurt the jacket's feelings."

"Stop anthropomorphizing the jacket." I was fighting a smile now.

"Make me," he murmured, something in his voice causing my insides to do that whole warm, fuzzy, squishy thing.

And the academy award for best leading actor in the role of Elsa's boyfriend goes to this guy right here.

But had to say, I thought he might be overdoing it a bit. I mean, Sora and Kairi weren't even around anymore to hear any of this. And if we were being monitored by someone under my great uncle's payroll, they certainly couldn't hear it either. I suppose Lea just… really liked getting into character?

Clearing my throat, I unclasped my hands from behind his neck and shifted them down to his chest in an attempt to push myself free of his grasp as I whispered, "We, ah… should probably go speak to the hostess now."

However, his hold on me didn't loosen, his arms remaining firmly secured around my waist. He didn't say anything, just continued to grin down at me. His eyes became hooded as they flicked down to my lips now, making my heart skip a beat.

What was he-?

A sudden loud yelp ruptured the air around us.

Rayne.

Followed by an annoyed yell of, "Goddamnit, Sora! Kairi!"

And that would be Riku.

The two delinquents in question blurred past us and towards the restaurant's front doors, whooping and snickering and razzing their tongues back at their victims climbing out of the Ford Focus. "We'll grab us a table!" Sora called quickly at the same time Kairi shouted, "See ya inside!" Then they both disappeared through the entrance with Rayne and Riku hot on their heels.

I heard Lea sigh. Or maybe he didn't. It was so soft that it was fully possible that I imagined it. Then he released me, slipping one hand into mine and jerking a thumb towards the restaurant with a lopsided smile, "Shall we?"

I stared at him, feeling the night air cool my warmed face. Then I gave a tentative nod and let him lead me inside.

The others hadn't made it far past the doors and we stepped in to find Riku doling out Sora's punishment: death by a thousand noogies. Sora was smacking his cousin's arm and trying to wriggle free, but to no avail. Apparently Kairi had gotten off with only a warning for she was standing off to one side with Rayne, both cracking up as they watched the boys. I looked past them, taking in the restaurant. Strings of fairy lights hung from the ceiling intermixed with strings of multi-colored papers, each bearing cutouts depicting various imagery. The walls were painted with murals of fantastical, mythical creatures of various shapes and sizes with wings and prismatic fur, feathers and scales. This place was absolutely beautiful.

Once the roughhousing had finally settled down, we all approached the hostess, an extremely tiny, extremely old lady wearing a name tag that read Coco who seemed far more interested in napping than greeting new customers. However, she woke up long enough to squint at her list and find our reservation before calling over a man to seat us. He led us through the restaurant and to a large booth in one of the back corners, leaving menus, chips and salsa on the table before flashing us a warm, genuine smile and saying he'd be back to take our orders in a minute.

I started shrugging out of the jacket, feeling Lea assist me before folding it over his arm and gesturing towards the booth with bow and a, "Lady's first." Smiling at him, I took a seat and scooched towards the middle. Lea wasn't too far behind, sitting close enough for our knees to bump against one another. He tossed the jacket on the back shelf of the booth before draping his arm across the top of the cushioned seat behind my head. Rayne took the spot to my left with Riku of course beside her, and on the other side of Lea sat Kairi and Sora. The waiter came back after giving us a little time to peruse the menus and he gathered our food requests before dashing off again.

"So Ray," Kairi piped up, popping a heavily salsa-laden chip into her mouth, "how's the preggers-life treating you?"

"Really well," she nodded contentedly, one hand going to her tummy. "The jellybean's happy and healthy so far and I've just started barely showing in the past couple weeks. No weird food cravings yet, thank god, but those are supposed to be right around the corner."

Sora leaned forward, propping his chin in both hands and beamed, "Do we know yet if I have a lil nephew or niece on the way?"

"We're cousins, Sora. Nephews and nieces would only be if we were brothers," Riku corrected with a wry curve to his lips.

"We don't know yet," Rayne shook her head, "but I'm about four months along now, so hoping to find out at our next appointment."

Lea had shifted his hand to dangle down so he could idly twiddle my braid between his fingers. I could also sense his gaze on me, causing a bit of a flutter in the pit of my stomach. Reminding myself he was just playing a part and it wasn't real, I resisted the urge to squirm and instead pretended not to notice, directing all my focus into reaching for a chip to dip into the salsa.

"Well whatever the wee monkey turns out to be, you can bet Auntie Kairi and Unkie Sora will be here to shower it with all the love and kisses!" Kairi cooed.

Riku twitched and frowned. "I just said that isn't how it-"

"Shush, hon, they're just teasing you now," Rayne poked his cheek with a laugh before looking back over at Kairi. "And you? How's the new gig over at Mickey's going? You've been there, what? About a week now?"

"Mm-hm! It's been a lot of fun working the jewelry counter. Oh sure, there's the occasional asshole customer, but turns out I'm really good at killing them with kindness."

Riku kicked Sora's foot under the table, "What about you, ya freeloader? Any prospects yet?"

He shrugged with that big smile he seemed to always have permanently glued to his face. Just looking at it was starting to make my cheeks hurt. "Couple of interviews coming up, so we'll see!"

Smirking, Riku said, "Can't wait to hear how you screw them up this time, knucklehead."

"Hey!"

Kairi turned to look our direction now. "So what's new and exciting with you two, hm? Lea, you just had that big test, right?" Silence was her answer as I went for another chip. "Lea? Hello, earth to... ah-ha, there!" She rocketed up to her feet, slamming one hand down on the table and pointing the other right in Lea's face. "Lost puppy look!"

"Hm, what now?" he jolted, his hand jerking away from my braid to lay across the booth backrest once more. "Lost pup-? Bah, I told you already, there's no lost puppy look. You need to get your eyes checked, princess."

She scoffed, plopping heavily back down into her seat and smugly take a sip of her soda. "Please. You were bad at hiding it when you guys were dating in secret, and you're even worse at it now that it's all out in the open."

"What's the deal there anyhow?" Sora cocked his head at me. "There's all sorts of wild rumors flying around the mall, like that you're runaway royalty from some far off country just living off the lam now."

"What?!" I blanched, gawking in disbelief. Doing my best to recover with a tiny, awkward laugh, I hastily said, "No, nothing quite so, ah… dramatic. My parents, they're… well off, to be sure, but certainly not royalty. And not from so far away either. Just Arendelle, which is only about an hour north of here."

Chewing on her straw, Kairi eagerly leaned in closer, "I'd love to hear the story of how you two met!"

I stiffened.

Fudge.

Welp, add that to my ever growing list of things I should have thought about in advance but failed miserably to do so. I fiddled a chip between my fingers as I tucked in my bottom lip. Shoot, what was I supposed to tell her? It's not like I'd gotten any better at lying in the past few days since my visit with Father. In fact, I'd been mostly skirting by since then by dodging questions and letting people fill in the blanks for themselves so I didn't have to. Heart thudding in my chest, I opened my mouth, not quite fully sure yet what was going to come out.

"Last summer," Lea was quicker. "In another city."

"Oh, during that big cross-country road trip you took?" Rayne asked him as she leaned into her husband who slung an arm around her shoulders.

Lea tapped his own nose, "That'd be the one, Raindrop."

Kairi gasped, "You two met in a foreign city? How romantic! That's the dream!"

"You have to leave the country in order for it to be a foreign city," Riku shook his head.

"Cram it, you knew what I meant!"

"It was like one of those scenes straight outta a movie," Lea planted an elbow on the table, rubbing a curled finger over his smirk as he watched me out of the corner of his eye. "There I was, just strolling along minding my own business, smack dab in the middle of a jam-packed city street. But then the crowd parted and there she stood. The most gorgeous creature to ever walk the face of this or any other planet in all the cosmos."

Cue my face turning all new shades of red never before witnessed in the history of human eyesight.

Jeez, laying it on a bit thick there, Lea, don't you think?

"So whatdja do?" Kairi pressed, eyes bright and on the edge of her seat. "Sweep her off her feet right then and there?"

He snerked, "Shit no, I walked headfirst into a lamppost."

I smothered a grin behind my hand as the rest of the table erupted into laughter. Sora reached over to punch him lightly in the arm, "Smooth, ya stud. What city was this anyway?"

"Corona," I was the one to answer, surprising myself. Suddenly self-conscious with all eyes turning to me, I quietly added, "I was there for part of my vacation last year."

"By yourself?" Rayne quirked a dubious eyebrow at me. She knew this story was as made-up as my current relationship status was. I could only assume she was trying to poke holes in order to help us solidify this little tale that was being spun so we'd be more prepared for the next time we had to tell the lie.

The thing is, the best lies have a grain of truth to them. I really had been in Corona last summer. "No, I was taking the trip with Anna. We were actually staying over in Traverse Town, but had planned to visit Corona for the day to enjoy a festival there, since it was only a short train ride away. However, Anna disappeared with a guy before we could go. I'd really been looking forward to this festival though and didn't want to miss it, so I took the train over on my own."

"Wait," Kairi slapped both hands down in front of her, eyes widening. "Are you talking about that big lantern festival they do every year?" At my nod, she squealed. "Lucky! Punzie has shown me pictures in magazines, it looks so goddamn pretty! Oh man, I've always wanted to go! Hint, hint," she shouldered Sora, who just chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

"It was actually right as they were launching the lanterns that I saw her," Lea said, folding his arms atop the table now. "She was wearing this cute sundress. White with a lil diamond patterned hem. Split sleeves that were all flowy. Hair down and dancing in the slight breeze." Wow, he was really selling this. He'd even nailed that whole far away look in his eye, like he was seeing something the rest of us couldn't. "And the way those lanterns lit up her smile as she watched them float up, I knew my lowly mortal self was in the presence of a goddess. Knocked the wind right outta me."

"As did that lamppost," Rayne sniggered.

"As did that lamppost," he agreed with a chuckle.

Totally enthralled now, Kairi breathed, "So what happened next?"

"Yeah, what did happen next?" I grinned over at him, the barest note of a challenge to my tone. To the others, it probably just sounded like I was teasing him since obviously I was already supposed to know this story. But now I was almost as invested as Kairi and was genuinely curious where he'd go with it next.

The corners of his eyes crinkled as he looked over at me and he leaned back, propping his elbows up on the back rim of the booth and once more slipping an arm behind my head. "Well after the lantern bit was over, I watched her get onto her train heading back to Traverse Town. So I did what any self-respecting, red-blooded, utterly bewitched male would do: I followed her."

"Stalker," Riku singsonged.

His wife smacked his leg, "Hush, it's sweet!"

He snorted, eyelids drooping, "Yeah, so sweet, the dumbass left his car behind in Corona."

"Psssh, I just took the train back for it later," Lea brushed off. "Anyway, when I found her on board, I sat across from her and worked up the nerve to strike up a conversation."

Rayne looked at me. "You? Talk to a handsome stranger on a train?" She squinted, repeating for emphasis, "You?"

"Heh… what can I say? He can be very charming," I smiled down at my drink, swirling the ice with my straw.

"Even with all of my roguish charm and devilish good looks though, it wasn't easy," Lea laughed. His hand had drifted down to start toying with my braid again. "But she warmed up to me eventually. By the time we arrived at Traverse Town, I was completely smitten. A total goner. She still needed more convincing though, so I managed to persuade her into joining me for a night out on the town. Luckily for me, Traverse Town has a very active night life that goes on for hours long after most other cities have gone to sleep."

"Yeah? Like what?" Sora burbled out around a mouth full of chips, making Kairi giggle as she put a hand over his face to hide it.

He pursed his lips to one side, looking up at the ceiling, "Oh, nothing too exciting. Few odds and ends here and there though… wandering around a record store… a café with a palm reader… a street poet at one sidewalk corner, a belly dancer at another, some stargazing in a park…" Now he smirked over at me, "A carnival with a kiss at the top of the ferris wheel."

A mock gasp from Rayne, "Scandal! And you with a fiancé, young lady!"

I looked away, suddenly feeling guilty and flustered over something that hadn't even really happened. "...ferris wheels can be very enchanting."

And my streak of helping the lie along while not actually lying myself successfully continues!

"And then, and then?" Kairi insisted impatiently, just eating this whole bit of fiction right up.

He chuckled and shrugged, "Just mostly a lot of meandering the streets and talking. We were out all night and watched the sunrise together. Eventually, she had to go meet up with her sister so they could move on to another city for the next leg of their lil vay-kay. But I didn't let her leave without agreeing to meet with me again in a few months."

Kairi was slackjaw now as she whispered, "And did she?"

"Mm-hm!" he hummed happily. "And from there, we kept meeting up, our little get-togethers getting longer and more frequent over time."

"Then what?" She was relentless.

A wolfish curl tugged at one side of his mouth. "What else? I slowly seduced her until she fell helpless into my bed, hungry for the pleasure only I could give her," he waggled his eyebrows.

Of course I'd chosen that exact second to be taking a sip of my drink. And of course I promptly spluttered and choked on it. "Excuse me?" I coughed, laughing incredulously as I elbowed him in the gut.

He gave a pained grunt, but grinned and snagged my hand before I could retract it, pressing a kiss to my knuckles. "I mean that in the most gentlemanly and respectful way possible, of course," he winked at me before looking back over at Kairi. "From there, I convinced her to run away from her family and ditch her two-bit, loser fiancé to be with me. And the rest, as they say, is history!"

"Wow!" she sighed dreamily, slumping back and fanning herself. Then she blinked, "Wait…" A gasp. "Oh my god! You swore off dating about a year ago, which was last summer! Was it cuz that's when you two met and it was love at first sight?!"

"Huh. The two certainly seem to line up perfectly, don't they?" he chirped. He'd rested my hand back down onto the table, his on top of mine, threading our fingers together.

Our waiter popped up again just then. "Your food will be just another moment. In the meantime, please allow us to entertain you with some music." He then turned, clapped his hands twice and called out, "Miguel!"

Out charged a boy in his early teens wearing a red hoodie and lugging a guitar that was white, etched in swirly patterns, and nearly as big as he was. He flashed us a smile huge enough to rival one of Sora's and without further preamble, started strumming away and singing. The kid was actually really good too!

Kairi clapped in delight and Rayne cooed over how adorable he was. Sora gaped in awe at the boy's obvious talent while Riku just grinned, digging into the chips. As I watched him perform, I couldn't help but feel Lea's eyes on me once more instead of on our little musician. I shifted in my seat, slipping my hand free of his and bringing it up to tuck some bangs behind my ear, hiding the growing warmth I felt in my cheeks behind my fingers.

At this rate, I didn't know how I was going to survive fake dating this guy for the rest of the evening, let alone for two more weeks.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Lea's hand closed around mine, stopping me in my tracks. I glanced over my shoulder at him, then back towards where Rayne and Riku were climbing into their car across the parking lot. "With them?"

"Ahhhnt," he made a buzzer noise, grinning. "Wrong! Would the contestant care to venture another guess?"

I gave him some side-eye, feeling one corner of my lips turn up. "...with you?"

"Bingo!" He started walking towards his car, gently tugging me along with him. "I was already so rudely denied my god-given right as the boyfriend to pick you up from your place. No way am I missing out on giving you a lift over to the movie theater. Same goes for driving you back home later tonight, so better make your peace with it now. It's happening."

I felt my smile twitch a fraction wider as I fell into step beside him. "I suppose being my chauffeur is quite the honor and privilege. Wouldn't want to take that away from you."

"Glad that's settled then," he gave a chipper nod, unlocking the front passenger door of his vehicle and holding it open for me as I got in. As he then jogged over to the driver's side while I buckled in, there was a loud meep meep of a car horn and I looked up just as a hot pink Jeep blurred past where we were parked - Kairi and Sora, it seemed, going on to the cinema ahead of us. I waved at them just as Lea had settled in himself and started the engine.

"So," I began once we were on the road, resting my temple against my knuckles with my elbow propped on the window sill, still grinning as I watched him out of the corner of my eye, "you took a road trip last summer?"

He gave a low hum of confirmation, reaching over to turn down the volume on the rock oldies station coming through the radio. "Decided to have one last big adventure before I really buckled down and started taking school seriously. Did a lil soul searching, that whole shtick."

"Ah." My gaze focused on the road ahead once more and I hesitated for a second, gnawing on my lower lip. "...that was a nice story you told. About how we met."

Lea chuckled, leaving one hand on the wheel while moving the other to lay atop the headrest of my seat. "Liked it, didja?"

"Oh definitely." Now I hid my growing smile behind my hand, trying to keep a straight face. "Though I have to admit, I think I was a bigger fan of the original movie adaptation."

I watched him visibly stiffen. "The…?"

Tapping a curled finger to my chin, I muttered, "What was the title again? Before Sunrise, I believe?"

He snerked, then broke out into a full laugh. "Crap, ya caught me. Yeah, I may have borrowed from the plot there a tad."

"Just a bit," I shook my head at him. "You're lucky Sora and Kairi haven't seen the film."

"Kinda surprised you have," he turned the car down a road that would take us towards the mall. "Pretty sure it's older than you are."

"Nothing wrong with old movies," I shrugged before wrinkling my nose at him slightly with a tiny smile. "Kind of sappy though. Wouldn't have thought that'd be your kind of movie."

Looking my way, he smirked, "What can I say? I'm a sappy guy. And hey, at least I didn't steal everything from that flick."

"True. The stuff before the train was all you."

"You helped," Lea pointed out as he pulled up to a stop sign. He then tapped his index against the steering wheel a couple times. "...outta curiosity, why'd you say Corona? Out of all the other places you must of visited on your trip, what made you pick that city?"

As the car accelerated once more, I tilted my head in thought. "Don't know really… I guess I just felt it would be a nice place to meet someone new in. That'd it make for a good story." I paused, watching some tail lights streak past us. "...the lantern festival really was beautiful. Have you ever seen it?"

Lea shook his head as he glanced up at the rearview before shifting lanes, "Nah. Had plans to on the road trip, but something else came up."

"A shame," I sighed wistfully. "You missed out."

"Wouldn't say that," he murmured, a warm flicker in his eyes. "'Sides, there's always next time."

"Suppose that's true," I nodded. "Nice touch, by the way, describing the dress I was wearing. I think I might even own one that's pretty close to it." Don't think I'd been wearing it in Corona though. But I couldn't really remember. It had been over a year ago after all.

He laughed again, fingers combing his scalp before returning the hand to my seat, now on a spot next to my ear. "Well, I did help you pack your clothes from your old condo just a couple days ago. I probably saw it then."

"Good point." That made sense. It would have been too much of a coincidence if that'd actually been what I'd had on that day. But now… should I be worried that I hadn't really been in that dress? What if someone found out the mismatch in the story? No… no, that was just me overthinking things again. Even if the tale ever reached the ears of the Duke's goon, it's not like they could go back in time to fact check. "Just one more thing now." My eyes narrowed at him, at odds with my grin. "Might want to edit the ending a bit."

"Which part?" he asked a touch too innocently, already turning us into the Dusk Town Center parking lot. "Running away to be with me? Hasn't that been the story all along?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Try a little before that."

Wouldn't have thought it possible to both purse one's lips and smile at the same time, but Lea proved me wrong in that moment. "Hmm… oh! Well, figured wooing you over the course of months sounded more believable, but if you think it works better as weeks or even days, then-"

"No no. Little after that."

"Well then, now you got me stumped cuz I know you just couldn't possibly be talking about the absolute masterpiece that was the slow seducing, helpless bed falling, pleasure hungry part."

A snort. "Why yes, actually, I could be talking about that and in fact am."

"But that's the best part!" he protested, turning to park in a space right next to a familiar Ford Focus. "It's the heart and soul, the very essence of the story! The pièce de résistance, the crowning glory."

With a good natured scoff, I unfastened my seatbelt as the car shuddered into powering down. "Well decrown it because you're dropping that bit."

He lifted his chin slightly and gave a dignified sniff, "I am a storyteller, El. An arteest. You wouldn't ask Leonardo da Vinci to remove the smile from the Mona Lisa."

Well someone had a high opinion of himself. Which honestly came as zero surprise. I fixed him with a dull stare. "Drop it or your jacket gets a giant, sticky stain before the night is out." And with that, I opened my door.

Lea scrambled out of the car and rushed over to join me on my side just as I slammed the door shut behind me. He had the decency to only spend a couple seconds looking mildly miffed at having been denied the opportunity to open and hold the car door for me before his frown melted into a smile once more. "Jeez, blackmail? Never thought you'd stoop so low. But eh," he shrugged, "jacket's black, it'll be fine."

"You're failing to see the big picture here," I crossed my arms as I waited for Rayne and Riku to get out of their own vehicle. My guess was they were probably going for another round of Seven Minutes in Heaven in there. Smirking at Lea, I elaborated, "Because then I'll wash it."

"Egads," he mocked gasp, splaying a hand against his chest, "the horror."

My smirk curled wickedly. "In a washing machine."

As my roomies finally vacated their car (faces flushed, I might add), Lea actually paled. "But it's dry clean only!"

"That's right," I said smugly and turned to walk away. "So nix that line or the jacket gets it."

"You fight dirty," he muttered as he caught up to me, slipping his hand into mine. However, he was grinning.

Huh. That wasn't what I'd been expecting. IE the face of a man who'd just suffered a crippling defeat by my hands.

I narrowed my eyes up at him. "You certainly seem pretty happy about the impending, inevitable demise of your jacket."

Now the grin was joined by a dimple as we walked. "Well, it's just that in order for you to make good on your threat, you have to take my jacket hostage. Meaning you're gonna hafta keep it after all." His head dipped down closer to mine as he swung our hands slightly. "I count that as a win for me."

...well crud.

Score one for Lea there.

Shrieks and giggles suddenly erupted behind us before Sora tore past us towards the mall's entrance with Kairi riding piggyback. Rayne laughed and tugged Riku into a stumble behind her so they could catch up while Lea and I continued to take our time, bringing up the rear.

We made our way through the food court and over to Cinema XIII. The manager with long, silver hair that I'd seen there last time was present again, off to one side where he was setting up a huge cardboard display for the latest Star Wars movie. I watched him scowl and fiddle with the lifesize lightsaber cutouts as our group purchased tickets from a blonde chick with a weird hairdo that kind of resembled antennae. As we'd approached, I could have sworn I'd seen her boredly cleaning her fingernails with a small knife, but there was no sign of the blade by the time we'd reached her register. Perhaps my eyes had just been playing tricks on me.

Tickets for our whodunit comedy flick in hand, we then moved over to concessions which was being worked by that same teen with the emo haircut that I'd also spotted here a couple weeks ago. He hardly glanced up from the book he was reading as Riku and Rayne ordered snacks and drinks from him, Sora waiting in line behind them with Kairi still latched onto his back.

"Alright, whatcha want? My treat," Lea asked as he watched the flat screens hanging behind the counter scroll flashy ads for crisp, buttery popcorn and fizzing, bubbly soda.

I blinked. "What?" Then I frowned at him. "Oh no, not happening. You already paid for dinner despite my multiple protests. I'm not letting you buy me candy too."

We were only fake dating after all, and I wouldn't even want to make a real boyfriend pay for everything!

"But it's my right as-"

I put my finger to his lips, silencing him as my eyelids drooped. "Enough with playing the boyfriend card already. You're having too much fun with that."

He puckered up and planted a tiny peck on my fingertip, sending a small jolt straight to my heart as I quickly jerked my hand back. He chuckled, "Just tell me what your fave candy is."

"Shouldn't you be able to guess?" I arched an eyebrow, stubbornly ignoring the way the tip of my finger still had a slight tingle. "Isn't that like your special gift or whatever?"

"Only with ice cream," he lightly corrected.

"Right," I crinkled my eyes at him. "How's that coming along again?"

His shoulders bobbed up and down. "It's a process."

"My turn!" Sora suddenly proclaimed loudly in front of us, dropping Kairi off his back and spinning around to get behind her.

His girlfriend gasped, "Sora no!"

"Sora yes!" he cackled, jumping onto her back, arms hugging her shoulders tight and legs wrapping around her waist as her hands automatically shifted to grasp beneath his knees. To her credit, she managed to stand for three whole shaky seconds before collapsing beneath her boyfriend's weight into a tangled heap on the floor with him.

Ah, to be young.

Never mind the fact that I was pretty sure I was only like a year older than them.

With a soft snort through my nose, I glanced back at Lea. "Well, while you keep processing, I'm going to go find our seats."

I turned to go, but he pulled me back with the hold he still had on my hand. "C'mon, just lemme buy ya something small," he insisted as he hopped over the Sora/Kairi knot that was still trying to disentangle itself, forcing me to gingerly step over the two of them as well.

Shaking my head with a sigh, I said, "Why won't you just let it go?"

He beamed. "Cuz what schmoopsie-poo wants, schmoopsie-poo gets."

Oh no he didn't.

"Uh-uh, no. Veto. You are not calling me that," I jabbed a finger into his chest.

There was a sly gleam to his eye. "Tell me what candy you want or I won't stop."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Wanna bet?" he flashed a toothy grin as we stepped up to the counter now that my roommates had stepped off to one side, already munching away at their newly purchased sweets. "You'll think you died and went to schmoopsie-poo heaven."

I gave a small huff and looked away. "Small price to pay. Not budging on this."

"Fine. You've forced my hand." He turned his head to the concession worker, slapping his palm down on the countertop and proudly declaring, "I'll have one of everything, my good man!"

"What?! No, no, stop, he's joking," I hastily told the cashier, who froze mid-ringing the order up as he gave us a flat look with the one blue eye not hidden behind bangs. To Lea, I whispered, "What do you think you're doing?"

He shrugged, grin not faltering. "Figure ya gotta like at least one of 'em."

I stared at him. Then my shoulders slumped and I hung my head, grumbling, "...Junior Mints."

"You heard the lady," he chirped to the theatre employee. "And throw in a small popcorn and large Kupo-Kola too please!"

Once the junk food was acquired and paid for, we moved out of the way to join Riku and Rayne as Sora and Kairi bought their own goodies. While we were waiting, I opened up my candy and reached inside, retrieving a minty, chocolate-coated treat and popping it into my mouth.

"Can I have one?" Lea asked beside me.

I gave him a blank look. Then I glanced down at his hands, otherwise occupied with a full soda cup and a bag practically bursting with popcorn. Digging another Junior Mint out and holding it up between us, my gaze met his once more. "Say ahh."

Face brightening, his lips parted wide.

I inserted it into his nostril.

He blinked a couple times, then snorted which had the byproduct of dislodging the Junior Mint. "Okay, guess maybe I deserved that for being a lil pushy about getting you the candy."

"You most certainly did," I said matter-of-factly, eating another one. A pause while I slowly chewed before swallowing and mumbling, "...but thanks for doing it anyway."

"Heh. Don't mention it."

Kairi and Sora rejoined us then, arms piled high with sugary delights. Jeez, all that on top of the gigantic Mexican dinners they'd both devoured less than an hour ago? One had to wonder how the two of them managed to stay so skinny.

It didn't take long for us to locate our theater and when we entered, all the lights were dimmed for the trailers that had already started to play. We quietly found our seats close to the middle of the auditorium and we settled into them, Lea to the right of me and making up one end of our group while Rayne took up my other side, the rest of the gang to her right. It seemed the cinema had recently renovated with new, barely-used cushiony sofa seating, the kind that reclined.

As I pushed the button that popped out the chair's footrest and made myself more comfortable, I caught a glimpse of the others. Half way through a strand of red licorice, Rayne flinched when Riku was suddenly in her face and chomping down on the other end of the candy. Grinning, he took a few more bites, bringing their lips closer together until he could give her a smooch before pulling away, looking quite pleased with himself as she blushed and snerked, giving his shoulder a light shove. Kairi was tossing Milk Duds towards Sora's open, awaiting mouth and rewarding him with little kisses every time he successfully caught one.

Worrying my lower lip between my teeth, I glanced towards Lea out of the corner of my eye as he crunched away on some popcorn. Should we be acting all… couply right now? Like the others were? I mean, it was a dark theater… did we really need to keep the act up in here too? Would anyone really notice? Then again, I'd noticed our friends being all sickeningly cute and I hadn't even been trying to, my eyes had just wandered. So maybe it wasn't such a stretch to consider the two of us were also possibly being observed, even in here.

My gaze flicked down to the armrest I shared with Lea. It was wide enough for both our arms to lay on it side by side, elbows touching. He wasn't holding my hand at the moment, instead just resting his about an inch away from mine. Which, now that I noticed, actually felt a bit weird, oddly enough. I guess I was starting to get used to it. But perhaps I should look at this as an opportunity for some more practice. An exercise in me being the one for once to initiate a display of affection. I seriously couldn't get away with him being the one to start it all the time, right? Surely, I had to act like I liked him too.

Which, to be fair, I kind of did.

Even if it was a secret.

But now I had to wonder how does one go about, ah… what was the term? ...making a move? I'd never had to do it with my ex. I'd never particularly felt the urge, nor had he ever really encouraged me to have more initiative in that area. He'd always been the one to take charge and that seemed to be the way he'd liked it. It seemed to be what was expected of our relationship, by him, by my family, by the world of upper society that I had lived in for so long. But I was no longer in that world. Things were different here. I was different. And I needed to show that to my parents. And one way I could show that was by doing this.

So then… exactly how do I do this?

...well I suppose I could start by moving my hand in the general direction of his. Seemed simple enough… right?

Gulping and holding my breath, I slowly, oh so very slowly started reaching for his hand. As my fingers crept closer, the pounding in my ribcage grew louder and louder. A hairbreadth away from skin contact, I hesitated, what little courage I'd mustered already dwindling. But after a second, my face hardened. I needed to do this. For the sake of Operation Boyfriend But Shh Not Really. For the sake of a continued future free from my parents' control. With a newfound resolve burning in my chest, I pushed on.

My pinky barely brushed against his knuckle.

Nope! No way. Mm-mm, not happening!

I snatched my hand back, blushing furiously.

The blush of a failure. Pathetic.

However the touch, no matter how light and brief, hadn't gone unnoticed. Lea glanced my way, his head tipping slightly. Then he smiled, shifting his popcorn out of his lap over to his right while moving the soda from the cupholder between us to the one on his other side. Then he lifted the armrest separating us, folding it back between our chairs before slinging an arm around my shoulders and pulling me close so my head was pillowed by his chest.

I tensed for several seconds before relaxing against him, clearing my throat and, if possible, blushing even harder.

Well then.

Guess I no longer needed to worry about us not looking couply.

Even if I hadn't been the one to initiate.

...tomorrow. I would do a better job tomorrow.

As the last of the trailers ended and opening credits for the movie began filling the big screen, Lea ducked his head down next to mine. I could feel him grinning against my ear as he whispered, "This boyfriend model comes equipped with all the latest technology, including hilarious movie commentary. Would you like that feature enabled now?"

I leaned my head back a bit as I turned to look him in the eye. He cocked a playful eyebrow at me. Feeling one corner of my lips tug up, I whispered back, "Commentary on."

"You got it."

I was not disappointed.

"Is this really totally necessary?"

"Oh absolutely. Your uncle's spies could be anywhere, ever vigilant and watching at all times."

"Even here? In the parking lot for my own apartment?" I frowned dubiously.

I could feel him nodding against my hair. "Especially here. I'll have you know I've seen at least three cars pass us already, each one more suspicious and shady than the last."

Date night had been a rousing success, if I did say so myself. We'd had a good time with friends, dinner was amazing and delicious, and the movie had been excellent. But as everyone knows, all good dates (even the fake ones) must come to an end. And at the end of every date, some sort of goodnight ritual is often at the very least customary, if not absolutely essential. Traditionally, this usually takes the form of the infamous goodnight kiss. However, since I'd already taken any sort of liplock completely and one hundred percent off the table, Lea had instead opted for a hug.

One… extremely and uncomfortably long hug.

...okay, that was a lie. It wasn't uncomfortable at all. In fact, was actually quite nice. Pleasant, even. Ten out of ten, would recommend.

We stood next to his car at the moment, my apartment building just a few yards away. After he'd parked and we'd both climbed out, he'd pulled my arms up to wrap around his neck, his hands once again finding their way under the leather jacket to encircle my waist, hugging me close as he'd rested his cheek atop my head. And so we had remained for quite some time now.

Kairi and Sora were no longer with us, having parted ways back at the mall, but I could see Rayne and Riku off to one side near their own vehicle, enthusiastically taking part in some cuddle time themselves while they waited for me. Which actually I really appreciated. Without their added presence here, I'd probably be getting a lot more awkward a lot more quickly about The Hug That Would Not End.

That said…

"We've been at this for at least five minutes now. Wouldn't you call that a bit, er.." I shifted my feet, resisting the urge to squirm, "...excessive?"

His hold on me didn't budge. "Gotta be convincing. 'Sides, we're obviously still in the honeymoon period of our relationship. You know, when the couple takes forever and a day telling each other goodbye a thousand times before actually leaving. Otherwise known as the No-You-Hang-Up-First phase."

My brow furrowed. "I thought that was only made-up for TV. Real people don't actually do that, do they?"

"Yup," I felt another nod. "Trust me, I'm an expert. I know these things."

I squinted off into space. "...haven't you only ever done one night stands?"

"Shush, I said trust me on this," he murmured.

And shush I did. I suppose I could look at this as a sort of… endurance training? Get me more used to his hugs so I'd be less awkward about them in public? Make them seem more natural? Yeah, okay. This might be good for me. Let's see how long I could keep this up.

...answer? Not long.

Tentatively trying to pull away, I began, "Alright, maybe we should-"

"One more minute," he insisted, squeezing me tighter and shifting his head down now to instead nuzzle against my neck. His nose was cold and his breath tickled against my skin, making my cheeks warm. Welp, so much for not squirming.

Huh. He really seemed to be taking this whole pretend boyfriend thing very seriously. This was some extreme dedication to the role.

And there my insides went all over again, doing the whole warm, fuzzy, squishy thing. Alright, just breathe. Deep, calming breaths. Remember: Conceal, don't feel.

...maybe just focus on the concealing part. The not feeling part was already a lost cause.

"Ya know," Rayne's voice suddenly piped up nearby, causing me to jump, "maybe you two don't have to say goodnight just yet." Lea straightened up, loosening his grip on me just enough for us both to turn our heads to see she'd joined us. Gracing us with a sly smirk, she said, "I mean, if you want to really drive this date home for any eyes that might be prying, Lea could always, ya know..." her eyebrows bounced as she leaned in closer to whisper conspiratorially, "stay the night."

"What?!" My face erupted into blistering heat, the likes of which would've put the Sahara Desert to utter shame. "N...No! Absolutely not! How could you possibly even-"

She laughed, her finger booping my nose. "Relax, you silly goose. Of course he'd only sleep on the living room sofa! S'not like your grunkle's minion would have x-ray vision into our home."

Oh.

That's what she'd meant.

Well of course that's what she'd meant. It's not like she'd ever really suggest…

Actually, no, this was Rayne we were talking about here. I honestly wouldn't have put it past her.

She elbowed Lea in the arm, "So whaddya say, stud?"

He smiled, removing one hand from my waist to rub at the nape of his neck. "Well, I'd planned on getting some reading done for my classes tonight. But I do have my book bag in the backseat, so I suppose I could just as easily read here on your couch." His gaze shifted back down to mine, "That is of course, as long as you're okay with it!"

My face still recovering from its abrupt and devastating heatwave, I looked down and muttered, "Well, I… I suppose, ah… sure. Okay. I mean, just to keep up appearances… " My eyes flicked back up towards Rayne, "Thanks. I guess that's… actually a pretty good idea."

"Of course it is! I came up with it!" she beamed, planting her fists on her hips and puffing up her chest. Then she turned back to her husband, pressing her lips to his cheek as she linked her arm in his and led him over to the building entrance. Lea at last fully released me, but only long enough to unlock his car and pull out a messenger bag that looked heavy with textbooks. Kicking the door shut, he slung the strap of the bag over his head to hang across his chest before slipping an arm around my shoulders, grinning down at me as we followed the other two inside.

Once in our apartment, he removed the arm while Rayne pulled some spare pillows and bed sheets from the closet, tossing them onto the longest couch for Lea. Then grabbing a water bottle from the fridge, she unscrewed the cap and held her drink up high. "A toast! To Lea's sleepover! May it be the first of many!" she declared before tossing her head back to chug half the bottle.

Riku just snerked, shaking his head while Lea scratched his cheek with a weak chuckle and walked over to drop his bag on the sofa next to the blankets. I squeezed my eyes shut, pressing my fingers between my eyebrows with a soft sigh. Still, she had a point. I suppose it was only natural for my "boyfriend" to stay the night with some amount of frequency. Oh gosh, I hope this wouldn't be too much of an imposition on Lea.

As Rayne recapped the water bottle and put it down on the kitchen table, Riku stepped up to her, taking both her hands in his and pressing their foreheads together. "Hon, why don't we head to bed early tonight?" he asked, tone low and eyes hooded.

"Mmm," she breathed him in, smiling up at him through lowered lashes and nodding, "sounds good." As he pulled her towards their bedroom, Rayne glanced back at us. "Good night, you two! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" she winked and waved before disappearing through the door, closing it behind her.

Silence followed. It felt strangely sudden and almost deafening.

I slowly turned to look at Lea.

He looked back, giving me a tiny smile.

That's when it struck me.

This was the first time in two full days I'd been alone with Lea. Like, really alone. Not in public, not where we had to put on the boyfriend-girlfriend act. Even when it'd just been the two of us in his car earlier tonight, even then we'd still had kind of been in the relative safety of pretend date mode. Besides, driving around in a car was completely different from being alone with him here, now, in my apartment late at night. Now that there was no more reason for all the hand holding, forehead kisses, and other little touches, things felt… well I wouldn't exactly say wrong per se, but more felt just kind of… off?

Panic was beginning to set in.

My mind was drawing a total blank.

I… didn't know how to be around him now. Not when we didn't have to fake a relationship anymore.

I'd forgotten how to act normal.

I think he could sense it too. The weirdness that had suddenly popped up out of nowhere. His eyebrows knit together, his gaze shifting about for a couple seconds. Then he opened his mouth to say something.

"Good night!" I loudly blurted out first.

Then I was in my bedroom so fast, you would have thought I'd spontaneously developed the power to teleport.

I slammed the door shut behind me, pressing my spine flat to it, eyes wide and taking shallow breaths through my nose. A few seconds passed where I just forced myself to inhale and exhale slowly a few times, trying to calm down. Then I winced, lightly banging the back of my head against the door.

Good job, Elsa. Way to make things mildly awkward. And for no real reason at all, you useless, hermitic dope!

With a small scowl, I shrugged out of the leather jacket and tossed it onto my bed. Then I unzipped my ankle boots, kicking them off and started pacing the length of my room back and forth, my hands twisting at my braid.

I couldn't just leave things like that. I had to talk to him. I had to toughen up and find an excuse to march my butt back out there. But what excuse?

My feet paused mid step as I glanced around my room for a minute before landing on one of my walls. Not just any wall. The one I shared with Riku's and Rayne's bedroom. Then I lightly tapped one fist into my palm. That's it! I quickly moved to my nightstand, opening the top drawer. Amongst its contents was a plastic baggie of earplugs. Digging out a pair and dropping the bag back into the drawer before closing it again, I then stepped over to my door. I took a second to take a deep breath and gather myself, standing up straighter and flicking my braid back behind me. Then with a firm, determined nod, I turned the knob and pulled, walking back out into the living room.

Lea was sitting on the couch that would be doubling for his bed tonight, arms splayed out wide to either side atop its backrest while he read the textbook that laid open in his lap. He'd pulled his hair out of its ponytail so his crimson locks were once again wild and free and he'd taken off his long-sleeved undershirt, now just wearing the tee.

Looking up at me, he all but leapt up to his feet. "El! Hi! I-" he grunted as the book he'd apparently forgotten was in his lap crashed down hard onto his foot.

I sucked in a tiny breath through my teeth with a frown, taking a step forward and reaching a hand out, "You okay?"

"Fine," he groaned. "I didn't need that toe anyway. It was only holding me back. Just dead weight." He laughed it off as he picked the textbook up off the floor, tossing it behind him onto the cushions before crossing his arms, "So, was there, ah… did you forget something?"

"Yes," I took a little step towards him, then frowned, glancing away. "Well, no…" I started to take a step back before catching myself. Wrong way, dork. "That is to say, sort of… er, I just...hm…" I thrust one fist forward, opening it palm facing up to reveal the earplugs, "Here!"

He stared down at them blankly. Then at me.

"Oh!" I gasped. "Right! Some sort of explanation would probably help." I gave a nervous heh. "So… uh… you know, those two," I gestured with my chin towards my roommates' bedroom door, "well, they just… the look they were giving each other before they went to bed, it's… well, it's a look I'm very familiar with from them. You know the look, the kind that should come with its own Marvin Gaye soundtrack. And those two… when they get going, they can really rattle the old headboard, if you know what I mean." A beat. Then I blanched. "Of course you know what I mean! Right, moving on. So uh… they are not quiet about it and they're definitely not quick. And these walls? They're thin. I'm talking like tissue paper thin. And not even the good Kleenex Deluxe kind of tissue, more like the cruddy, two-bit kind you'd get at the dollar store that just disintegrates if you even so much as breathe on it." Great, now I was just plain babbling. "These walls may as well not even be there for all the sound they block. Or rather, don't block. Then again, if they weren't there, then we'd not only hear but also see-" Wrap it up, girl, wrap it up. "A-Anyway! So just… just take these. You'll thank me later, believe me."

His eyes crinkled and he nodded, plucking them from my hand. "Alright, I'll take your word for it. Thanks."

Good. Okay. Yes, this was going well.

...huh. Though… slight hitch in the plan…

What now? I hadn't exactly thought this far ahead.

Maybe this was enough. I could now just make a graceful exit, leaving things in a better place than where I had previously. Yeah, that sounded good.

I gave him a tight-lipped grin, inching backwards as I pointed towards my room. "Okay then, I think I'll just…" But as I turned, my eyes landed on Rayne's and Riku's door again and I froze and grimaced. "Ah, shoot," I hissed under my breath.

"Problem?" I heard Lea ask behind me.

I shook my head, "I meant to ask Rayne to unzip my dress before she went to bed since the zipper is just where I can't reach and-" I blinked, then glanced over my shoulder at him sheepishly before fully turning to face him. "And why am I even telling you this? Forget I said anything. It's nothing, I'll figure it out."

"I can do it," he tossed the ear plugs onto the coffee table between us before stepping around it.

Waving my hands rapidly back and forth in front of me, I said, "No, it's fine. Really, you don't have to-"

"Don't be silly, just let me help you," he came to stop in front of me.

I tucked in my lower lip. Maybe I was just being silly about this. I mean, what was the big deal? Really? "...o-okay," I sighed, turning my back to him once more and sweeping my braid forward over one shoulder, running my hands down its length a few times. At least my old nemesis, The Blush, had the common courtesy to wait until I was no longer looking at Lea before creeping its way up into my cheeks.

I could sense him taking another step closer to me, could hear his gentle breathing as I felt his fingers undo the clasp at the top of the zipper. One of his fingertips incidentally grazed my skin and I couldn't stop a tiny shiver. Then there was a pause. Like… a long pause. I frowned straight ahead, uncertain. Nothing seemed to be happening. I turned my head slightly, stopping just short of actually being able to look back at him. "...everything okay?"

"Uh… yeah, the uh…" he cleared his throat, "...the stupid thing just got stuck for a sec there, but it's all good now." At last, the sound of the dress unzipping reached my ears. "There ya go, you're all set!"

My hand darted to clutch at the back of my dress, holding it together as I whipped around to face him. My blush? Only seemed to be growing in strength. I started backing away, "Th-thanks… for that. That was really… something. Nice! That was nice. Of you. To do that… for me. I-" I crashed into my door frame and stumbled. "Oops. Heh. Who put that there? Um… anyway…"

And on that eloquent and fully formed note, I dashed into my room, banging the door closed. Then I puffed out a breath, slumping down to sit on the floor as I pinched the bridge of my nose.

Great. Just dandy. I hadn't left things mildly awkward this time. Oh no, I'd only left them mega, ultra, super awkward now. Progress! Superb. Just perfect.

That's it. It's decided. I'm not fit for human contact. I was just going to barricade myself in this room and never come out ever again. Ever. Period. The outside world would be better off without me anyhow. Good bye, people. Hello, sweet sweet solitude. I-

I heard a muffled buzz and my head snapped up. It'd come from Lea's jacket on my bed. I squinted at it for a second. Then it clicked. My phone! I half crawled, half scrabbled over to it, digging into the pocket and pulling it out, swiping the screen.

There was a new text from Lea.

2nite was fun

I blinked, looking over at my door. Then back down at my phone, pursing my lips to one side. My thumbs hovered over the keyboard for a second. Then slowly I began to type.

I thought so too.

I waited as those three little dots hopped in a row.

We shud totes do it again sometime

A huff of amusement escaped through my nose, the tension starting to leave my body.

I'd really like that.

Then I tipped my head to one side, grinning slightly as I tapped away further.

I'm paying next time though.

The dots were dancing on my screen again.

Aight, if u insist. But b warned, Im not a cheap date

Now I actually laughed.

I can live with that.

Perhaps I'd been a bit too hasty. Maybe there was no need to barricade myself in here. Not just yet anyway. I'd hold off for a bit.

At least long enough to see what tomorrow would bring.

Author's Note: Anyone else notice Lea's shirts seem to be getting tighter and tighter every new excuse he has to see Elsa out of his work clothes? I think he's subconsciously putting on a courtship display to present himself as a sexually viable mate xD Ahem, moving on… Fun Fact 1: Fuente Del Oro is a real, Coco-themed restaurant over in Disneyland Park in Paris! Google translate says the name means "Gold Fountain", oooOOooo pretty! I really hope Coco makes it into one of the future KH games eventually! Fun Fact 2: Elsa's dress this chapter is inspired by her purple dress from when she sings Into The Unknown in Frozen 2! Just picture it shorter and more cocktail-dressy. And I know in the movie, that purple dress is a nightgown, but shhh, we'll just forget that part. And the dress Lea described in his "how we met" story? Loosely based on Elsa's Show Yourself dress - again just picture it shorter, more practical and more sundressy xD Also if you haven't heard of it, Before Sunrise is a real movie, not to mention a real SAPPY movie. Kind of slow, but cute. I'd actually never heard of it until I started writing this chapter - saw a gif go by on tumblr of the lead couple from the movie doing something adorable that made me go "oh gosh, that's SO Lea and Elsa!" and had to watch it xD I'm kind of happy it came along when it did though, cuz it gave me inspiration for Lea's "how we met" story :)

Next chapter, what new challenges will Elsa face in her adventures in fake dating? Will she ever be able to work up the courage to initiate a display of affection herself? Just how much of a "not a cheap date" is Lea really? What about his shirts? CAN they get any tighter? Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

[kyudomearchive]

Apartment empty. Two men enter the girls' apartment with intent to destroy. Kagome's bedroom in the back was their destination. They tear pillows and blankets, throw all her belongings around the room. Scattered valuables paint the floor as photos dispersed'; ripped and the girl's face carved right out. Her vanity is destroyed, bedroom window shattered. They leave before anyone can return home to catch view of the culprits. (Yakuza AU )

🍓 ; no face ! ( ft. @daikusedai, @chxmpionofjustice, @dokusedai )

𝚊 𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 meant kagome was exhausted at this hour. not because she didn’t love spending time with him, she did, truly. but because there was always so much to do and they spent so many hours talking. it was nice and now she was content to come home, flop on her bed, and disappear for awhile beneath soft blankets. usagi had mentioned she’d be with her cousin and sango was sango, kagome could never really pinpoint where she might be at any given time. this wouldn’t be the first time she’d spend the night in the apartment alone. with that in mind, walking in and slipping her shoes off was one thing, but the unsettled feeling at the pit of her stomach tripled and she was left unable to quite catch her breath.

had she not been lost in thought, she might’ve realized the door was unlocked, even if closed. the apartment is quiet, too quiet, and dread drops like a bomb down into her gut.

panic doesn’t truly set in until she’s back towards her own room, door left ajar. even here, she can see the way clothes hang out from the door and the feeling of wrong solidifies. it turns in on itself and she’s barely able to swallow down the need to vomit. kagome nudges the door open with her foot only to see the torn out photo of her face pinned to the wall with a blade. that’s her focal point in the destruction.

             anxiety is a jackhammer pressure in her chest as she stumbles back out of the room, hands shaking as she pulls up his name. it rings once and his voice anchors her against the wave of nausea and fear. ❝ it’s late, i know. i - i need you. something happened. someone was here. can you please come? ❞

that’s all she says and the call ends, but she grabs a knife from the drawer in the kitchen and situates herself outside, back pressed against a wall with the immediate view of her obstructed by wall and shrubbery. 

she calls sango. no answer. she calls usagi. no answer.

a text is sent out to both in a group message.

[ group txt. 2:34:09 am. ;                 usagi. 🐰 // san. 🐯  ]

                                                 ⸤   are you okay? call me when you get this. 

[maraariana01]

(Modern AU)

Mamemomi purposely making Shamspeare and Drebber say Certain Words just to hear them say it in their stupid british accent. they fall for it almost every time lol

[marythegizka]

Bodyswap AU - Part 9 (links to parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

Vader’s jaw went slack.

The old man stood agape, blinking at Aphra like she was growing another head, arms hanging at his sides.

Aphra waved at him.

“Hello? Sir?”

The man blinked again.

Aphra raised her middle finger.

“Sir, how many fingers am I holding up?”

The man kept staring, his face nearly turning green.

“Nope. Looks like you broke him.”

Vader’s face went red, heat rising to his ears.

“I?” he burst out. “I broke him? You could have told me he was your father before we landed at his doorstep!”

“I didn’t know you’d call him ‘sir’!”

“And what was I supposed to cell him?” he shouted. That was the most pathetic excuse he had ever heard, and he had experience in the department.

“Dad. That’s your dad. Come on, Doctor, you cannot possibly be that drunk.”

Vader shot her a death glare. How dare she?

“I. Am not. Drunk.”

Aphra elbowed him in the ribs.

“Of course you are.”

Vader held back a grunt. Bloody elbows.

“What on Malachor do you think you’re doing?”

“Improvising. Clearly, you’re in no condition to do the talking. Now if you would please…”

“What is going on?” the older man cut her off.

Aphra opened her arms in exasperation.

“Finally. We’re looking for the Fortress of Rur – or, well, anything pertaining to the Ordu Aspectu, really – and we thought someone might as well tag along and urgently join us on an urgent quest of the utmost urgency.”

The man knitted his brow.

“Chelli?” One blink. Two blinks. “Get out of the silly suit.”

“Yeaaah… I don’t think you want me to do that.”

“Chelli. Lona. Aphra. I am your father and I…”

“Will probably kill me if you take this thing off my face so the ‘silly suit’ stays on.” She paused, raising her index. “And what makes you think I am Chelli? That is awfully bold of you.” She turned towards Vader. “Isn’t that your first name, Doctor? My, my, what a family!”

Of course. Of course she had to say that. Well, for lack of academic credentials in archaeology, Aphra certainly had mastered the art of digging herself deeper.

“You think I wouldn’t know my daughter if she hid behind a mask? You could turn into a wookie and you’d still be my little Boop.”

Vader’s eyes went back and forth between the two.

“Boop?” he asked in a whisper.

“Don’t ask.”

“Besides,” the scholar continued, “few people are actually aware that the Ordu Aspectu…”

“Is your prime subject of interest?” she interrupted. “Oh, I’m pretty sure that’s the first thing you told every non-mummified sentient being you met in the past three decades.”

“I was going to say ‘had such a strong focus on out-of-body preservation of a being’s essence’ since it appears to be so relevant to your… case… And I do remember telling you about that.”

“Yes, well, you told me a lot of crazy stories. Doesn’t mean I remember them all.”

“All the same. Does that mean you’re going to help me?”

 “Hm, let me see. No, Dad, I came all the way here to show you my brand new leather suit. I’m sure you must be scandalized. Yes, Dad, of course I’ll help you.”

A grin cracked the man’s face.

“I knew you’d come around some day.”

“Yes, yes, nothing like a good old out-of-body experience to reconnect with your loved ones.”

Before they knew it, Vader and the Doctor found themselves squeezed tight in the professor’s arms, staring at each other in awkward silence. A few seconds went on before Vader finally spoke.

“If he talks, he’s dead.”

The professor recoiled, casting his daughter a pleading look.

“Fine,” she said.

“WHAT?! The man all but choked. “Chelli… your own father…”

She shrugged.

“I try not to think about it.” There was a moment of silence. “But, if that’s any comfort: if you talk we’re all dead, Dad. All three of us. Or, well, you and me for sure, and Vader… probably. So don’t talk. Don’t talk and we’ll be fine. Oh, and no papers either.”

“But… what value is the quest for the Ordu Aspectu if its teachings remain secret? Shouldn’t we strive to make the Force for all a reality?”

Vader scoffed. ‘The Force for all’. Sweet buttery huttling. And there he thought Obi Wan had been delusional…

Aphra laid a hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Not now. Maybe after the war’s over. If we live to see it end…. And if you still believe it’s worth it.”

“I… I don’t…”

His eyes had become wet, Vader noticed, and his breath was starting to catch.

He closed his eyes and sighed.

“All right, Chelli. I won’t.”

Aphra gave him a brief hug.

“It’ll be fine. Now go pack you things, because you’re getting out of this hole.”

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Her nose wrinkled as the smell of burnt metal rushed into her air vents, and her eyes quickly settled on the blaster tracks that now adorned the bulkheads.

“Who the hell is burning holes in my ship?” she eructed, waiting for the culprit to come forth.

“It already had a few.”

Aphra pivoted on her heels, wagging her index at Vader.

“This is slander.”

A sharp beep came from the bedroom, and Triple-Zero appeared at the door.

“Well, we had to defend ourselves, Mistress!”

“No, no, no,” Ahsoka protested, coming out from behind him. “You stole my lightsaber.”

They did what now?

“You were not putting it to good use. Such a simple weapon, and yet the possibilities are a delight to my circuits…”

Oh. Of course.

“All right, Trip. Give it back.”

“But…”

“Give. It. Back.”

An outraged beep followed.

“Quite right, Beetee. Quite right. Ah… there you go, Jedi.”

If her father had only paid limited attention to the conversation, his excitement went through the roof at the mere sound of the word.

“You’re friends with a Jedi?!”

“That’s one way to put it, yes.”

She led him into the room.

“Dad, meet Ahsoka. Ahsoka, this is Dad.”

“Dad, as in… Dad? That’s your dad?”

“Why does everyone act so shocked? I was conceived in the most conventional way, by means of…”

“Okay, okay, I get the picture. Nice to meet you, Mister…”

“Aphra. Professor Korin Aphra.”

“Well, Professor, where do you suggest we begin?”

“Yavin 4. Several manuscripts suggest the Ordu interacted with the Massassi shortly before its decline, and there is one temple in particular that I’ve been meaning to explore. See, I may have part of the map,” he said, gesturing to a bag full of crystals, “but without the proper tool to decode it, I am in the dark. Now, all we have to do is figure out how to position these crystals, and pray the Great Massassi Temple delivers.”

“The former Rebel base is a restricted area,” Vader warned. “Consider yourself fortunate that I am at your side.”

“The Rebels set base on Yavin 4?”

“Oh, for kriff’s sake, Dad. The battle of Yavin 4? You know, when they blew up the Death Star? And did you also miss the memo about Alderaan?”

Her father titlted his head.

“The Death Star was real?”

This time, Aphra could swear the collar was the only thing keeping her lower jaw from falling off.

“I… You need to get the holonet.”

“Oh, Chelli, you know what I think of that rubbish.”

“Yes, well, there’s a rubbish screen in the kitchen, and you have some catching up to do.”

“But…”

“Do it. I’ll be in the cockpit. And stay seated during takeoff.”

Vader and Aphra took their seats, both a little stunned by the sheer absurdity of the day.

“You’ll need to request clearance before landing near the temple.” Vader switched on his datapad, quickly going through his files. “It appears the garrison is currently supervised by Captain Magna Tolvan, former head of security on Eadu. Commonly referred to as ‘quite the piece of work’.”

He handed her the datapad, displaying Tolvan’s file.

“Oooh, in that case… wouldn’t mind working the both of you.”

“You… WHAT?”

“You know what.”

“Take off.”

“Fine, fine, sorry. Although in all honesty…”

“Take. Off. Now.”

Aphra ignited the engines, putting full throttle on the repulsorlifts.

“Did I mention that my dad has hyperspace sickness?”

“Lovely.”

[bolbianddolanhouse]

Book 2 FAQ!

Book 1 FAQ Beginning of Book 2

Dang y’all, 14 chapters done for Book 2! It’s been a little bit of a struggle to hash them out on time BUT I deliver. I’ve asked, y’all keyboard smashed in my inbox...let’s get INTO IT!

4 KIDS?!

Yep. And all 4 of them are full of personality! I guess I dreamt them up to convey all of the unspoken parts of the My Hero universe (canon or not). 

Are the kid’s names in relation to their abilities?

No unfortunately, they’re names are based on their personalities/the major event that happened around the time they were born (no spoilers about it tho! Gotta read book 3 to know why!). Lili Perla is based off of Pearl from Steven Universe and their character type. Iwata El Roca is a nod to Luchador’s names and a character that passed away in the AU to honor them. Tensei Oro is a play on their family position, Tensei was the first born twin and his uncle was the first born, Oro is spanish for ‘gold’ and it’s a play on being first (ya know, because they give gold medals for 1st place!). Hanaka Rosa is a double trope name, Hanaka (Japanese: hana- flower, ka- power) is a nod to the tough girls with flower names in anime and Rosa (spanish: Rose) is a name used in telenovelas as the woman that causes all the romantic tension. I did the whole Japanese first name, Spanish middle name because thats what I want to do when I do have kids.

Why did Mineta have to be in this AU?

I hear you! The thing is that I DREAMT it like this. He’s the slightly incompetent teacher that gets dunked on by the parents. Good news is that he’s single and isn’t as gross in this part of the AU. He’s this AU’s punching bag if you will.

It was weird when you wrote in hate-crime/dorm incident bc I didn’t think about it that way...Why did you decide to explore it?

That part felt important to me to write. Yes the canon shows like actual crimes of different intensities, but not nessatreily hate-crimes done in schools. As you know, being LGBTQA+ in grade school is a terrifying thing to express if don’t want to stand out. The constant fear of peers judging you, bullies hurting you and teachers that seemingly don’t care about you if you come out is enough to silence anybody. Imagine that but in a hero school?! The hate-crime would be a villainous act and the culprit would have to do desperate measures to make sure nobody rats on them to maintain a clean image/record. Plus on the flip side, any ally that stands up for their oppressed peer is hailed the hero but they wouldn’t have to stand up for them if there were real consequences and punishment for the bullies. So in the AU, I wrote it how I’d want such hate-crimes to be handled. Not only justice but also accommodations for the victim.

The Mcdonalds order cracks me up! What is your Mcdonalds order?

I throughly enjoyed the Mcdonalds order part too. It’s a nod to the proposal in Book 1 when they went to Mcdonalds before the peer over. I wrote it to show that the family goes every now and then. My order is: Triple Cheeseburger, Large fries, Large sweet tea, 2 sausage and egg McMuffins & a cone. And yes, there will be a Mcdonalds order for every child because it drives the plot.

Will there be more interactions with the pro heroes from the canon series?

YES! Though old, theres more interactions planned with them. Of course, it’s all in Book 3 (trying not to spoil anything!).

Is it spoiler if you tell us if your kids (or one of them) becomes a villain?

I’ll tell y’all right now....NONE of my kids becomes a villain. It might look like one or two of them might from the way I wrote them but they’re just latina.

Will one of your kids be the next Ingenium?

Yes but I won’t tell you which one. But I can’t wait to reveal it to y'all!

I see all the call-backs to your self insert character’s past...Is it alluding to the conclusion?

I dreamt it as such and I fixed it in writing as a way to come full circle. Notice that Lili didn’t get any of her mom’s past from her mom? It wasn’t until when she confronted her on the couch in chapter 13. Even then, it wasn’t the full story nor did it fill in all the cracks and time skips after her mom’s time at UA. In Book 3, we explore more of the past. The conclusion is yet to be revealed.

How big is that house?!

It’s a little hard to explain? I want to say its big but parts of the house are disproportionate. It’s a two story house with no attic nor basement, 3 bath room, Master bedroom, 2 large bedrooms, office space, guest room, full kitchen, dining room, large living room, three car garage and a decent size backyard. What I’m trying to say that it’s big enough for that chaotic ass family.

Where’s Aizawa?!

Let the mans rest! He’s alive but he’s busy being a grandpa and taking naps. 

Canon villains OwO?

Y’all ate UP the Dabi surrender in Book 1 and his little mention in Book 2. But in this AU (not to spoil anything to anime only and manga dabblers) the League of Villains are still rampant but dispersed. In Book 3 (and part of Book 4) they pop in to drive the plot from a canon storyline. In the series, the rookie Hawks has been seen as a double agent and exposes a corrupt Hero Society. Same concept but in this AU, Hawks has gone missing when he failed to kill Best Jeanist. Here’s where the kids go into play BUT more on that as the plot progresses!

I really want to see art of these OCs! I wanna see how Iida’s genes transferred over to his kids!

I hear y'all! I’ve slid into DM during commission windows and have the means to pay for some line art at least...but with no responses. I’ve got my self insert character done in this post if you wanna check it out plus the artist was super sweet during the whole process. I may commission them again when they got a window of commissions open. But I may do a lineart of the kid’s faces in the near future.

What if....hypothetically....Shinso stayed?

Oh boy, okay so the Shinso stans have BOMBARDED my asks since the last arc of Book 1. So what if Shinso stayed...obviously I wouldn’t have 4 kids, just the one that we were gonna have. We wouldn’t be married and overall just be loveless the more we see our friends get married and start families. The company would still be there but delayed by 5 years or so. Our son would grow up to convince me and Shinso to separate when they get at around High school age. Tenya still wouldn’t have said anything but done the reunited part differently. I would’ve considered cheating but morals would’ve stopped me. Eventually, when our son decides to move out, we’d stay as housemates and basically die alone....aren’t you glad this AU isn’t such a downer?! Luckily things are patched up with my self insert and Shinso, because he comes into play in Book 3!

Eri Nurse! In your AU!

Yup! I’ve actually read some NurseEri! AUs on twitter and Tumblr (btw, some of y’all that like my posts have good taste in fics!) and it manifested in my dreams and created UA Nurse Eri. She shows up a few more times in the AU, so don’t fret if Eri is your fave.

Is it okay if I follow you on a different platform? Do you have another social media that I can follow you on?

You can follow me on Twitter (@oketsusama). It’s my personal twitter that I repost memes and get my news from. So it’s not as poppin as my Tumblr, but at least it’s AU free over there lmao.

What’s you favorite rare pair in the My Hero canon storyline?

Oh! and DON’T hate me, but I stan the Sero x Iida rare pair! There’s crumbs of the pair on twitter and here but the ones that I did read got me in tears. If you haven’t seen this tag on twitter and Tumblr, DO IT! The one on twitter had a lot of angst in it and it got me HOOKED on some of that goofball with their geeky partner energy.

Not a question, but I like your //Palma-sama Speaks in the tags. They’re funny and makes your posts that much more personalized.

I will cry! Thanks for reading that far! I like doing the ‘talking in the tags’ thing to basically point out the callbacks to new readers that stumbled upon that chapter of the AU. 

How long is this AU?!

It’s quite long BUT the ending is marvelous, trust. 

============================================

Thanks for reading! That’s all the asks for now, keep asking them! I love reading them. Next is the finale of Book 2! Everything will still come out 2-3 days of each other until further notice. Stay safe, drink water!

-Palma-Sama

[byunnct]

suck it up [yuta nct]

pairing: nakamoto yuta x reader

summary: vampire!au. several things fall apart at once but yuta.. is yuta

a/n: my second request!! :D i got a bit stuck on ideas for this so i used a prompt from here :) OH also happy bday to johnny

There’s a reason Yuta has never been allowed to visit your apartment. Well, it’s not that he isn’t allowed but more it’s for the better if he never visits, much to his chagrin.

He’s whined and complained, stomped his feet in frustration and attempted several times to subtly (not at all subtly) follow you right to your door, in hopes he could slip in behind you without you noticing. You notice, of course, and every time gently push him out whilst he pouts with a, “See you tomorrow, Yuta.”

You feel guilty every time this happens. You know it must be confusing for him, you tell him nearly everything about yourself and let him into your life figuratively, but you refuse to physically let him in – into your house, yet you know it’s for the best. Even when he breaks your heart by once asking you, “are you sure you’re happy with me?” and when you overhear him telling Taeyong that he worries you don’t feel for him what he does for you, you know what you’re doing is good for him.

You’re not sure how’d you even attempt telling him you’re a vampire.

Things get a bit complicated when you lose your job at the city’s blood bank - your easy source of food now disappearing. It seems people began noticing that bags were vanishing with no explanation and it somehow came back to you and, even though they caught the correct culprit, you had hoped your manager would let you off with only a warning since you were such a good employee.

Instinctively Yuta is the first person you call when you’re sat in your car, a box of your belongings from work in the seat next to you. You keep the conversation simple since you’re not ready to divulge all the details, promising to explain later (when you think of a cover story) and tell him that your date that night should go on as planned.

Two hours later, when you’re in the middle of deciding what ice cream flavour to have as your pity party treat, you receive a message from Yuta.

[01:27pm, YUTA<3] where are you?

Your eyebrows furrow and your heartbeat quickens in panic. This text doesn’t sound like Yuta – no excessive use of emoticons or hearts, no overbearing number of kisses, no persistent buzzing due to Yuta sending you a minimum of eight messages at once. A single text, three words, that come across so.. un-Yuta that the melodramatic part of you worries that it isn’t Yuta texting you.

[01:34pm, you] on my way to my apartment now. are you ok???

[01:34pm, YUTA<3] k

You try not to feel offended by the fact that you were just ‘k’ed by your boyfriend and shove the ice cream back in the convenience store freezer, speedily walking to your car and getting in as quickly as you can.

-

When you reach your apartment complex, you can’t help but anxiously look at your surroundings every five minutes – something feels weird, off, like something glaringly obvious is wrong and you’re the only one blind to it. As if someone is watching you, the prickling of your skin and butterflies in your stomach making you incredibly uncomfortable.

Someone’s in your apartment.

You can tell from the thin shine from under the door and the noises of breathing and skin rubbing against skin you can hear. You never forget to turn your apartment light off, always triple checking to make sure everything is switched off before leaving, and you make sure to triple check your door is locked. You don’t have a spare key hidden under a doormat, or under a plant pot, and there’s only one person who has a copy of your key and, despite making him promise to essentially never use it, would go against your wishes and use it to kind of break into your apartment.

Yuta is sat in your living room, staring straight ahead with blank eyes.

There’s no emotion on his face, almost as if he’s sleeping with his eyes open, but his hands move frantically – they’re constantly rubbing over one another and occasionally he pinches at his skin unconsciously, the only sign he’s feeling any emotion other than… nothing.

“Are you okay?” You ask, stepping into his field of vision.

“Did you get fired because of the blood bags in your fridge?”

Shocked by his blunt question, you take a step back from him, mouth opening and closing several times before you decide to keep it shut.

You’re not sure how to approach this. You know exactly what he’s talking about, the hundreds of blood bags hidden in your fridge are your easy source of food, rather than taking it from the source. Drinking from a person involves much more effort and sometimes costs money and, of course, the guilt – stealing blood bags is the best decision you’ve ever made. But, alas, it’s all caught up to you now and you mentally berate yourself for not having some kind of explanation pre-planned.

You realise that Yuta is correct that you lost your job because of the blood bags in your fridge, but as far as he’s concerned, this means that you’re just a thief, right? He’s dating a thief that steals blood bags from their job at the blood bank for some reason unbeknownst to him.

With this knowledge, it would make sense to go along with that idea and hope that he believes you’re very unusual and leave it at that with no questions asked. But you’re on defence mode, Yuta has seen a part of you you’re not quite ready to share with him yet, so you deflect.

“Why are you in my house?”

He’s surprised at your sudden question, and the harshness in your voice, “I- I wanted to make you some food. Since you’re sad, right? It’s what I should do, comfort you. I wanted to make you a meal to comfort you.”

His eyes are bright and stare up at you with an air of innocence and your heart breaks. He has no idea what’s going on, what you’re going to have to break to him and you have no idea how he will handle the information and what he’ll do after.

“Is there something you want to tell me?” He whispers.

Yes, you think.

You swallow harshly and sit down next to him. You reach for his hand resting on his bouncing knee before stopping yourself.

Taking a deep breath, you level your eyes with his and say as calmly as you can, “I’m a vampire.”

-

Yuta doesn’t believe you at first. He laughs, all teeth and squinted eyes and beauty, but it falters when he notices you’re not laughing with him or nudging him in the ribs with a, “got ya!”

When you continue on, explaining the details of your life and how you got here and debunked the myths that plague your life, he stares at you with the same blank look you found him with when you first entered your apartment. He stays in that exact position for five minutes straight and then shoots up, quickly patting himself to make sure he has his keys and wallet before heading for the door.

You tried to stop him, tried to grab his wrist as you asked – begged – that he doesn’t leave and hears you out for a little longer, a little longer so that you can explain even more than you already had. But it’s like he doesn’t hear you, the world is blocked out as his rips his arm from your grip and looks around your apartment in distress, disbelief, looking for all signs or indications that you’re a.. a vampire.

-

A week later, there’s a knock on your door as you’re scrolling through your phone.

You calmly walk from your bedroom to the front door, opening it without checking to see who is the other side, and the first thing you see is a bouquet.. of blood bags.

At least twenty bags bundled together by some kind of fabric, the liquid sloshes around like a red sea as the person holding the bouquet sways slightly on their spot. To make it look like an actual bouquet there are your favourite flowers shoved in the gaps between the bags, some already dying and others not having blossomed yet; a beautiful mix of red and other vibrant colours.

The bouquet is held by familiar hands and as if on cue Yuta slowly lowers his gift and gives you a bright smile over the top of some stray flowers.

“I don’t know how vampires work but obviously you like blood, so here!” His voice dips slightly when he says vampires but his cheerful voice never falters, thrusting the bouquet towards you. When you take the bundle, his smile begins to dwindle, “and I’m sorry.”

You make eye contact with him then, and you see sadness in his eyes, as well as guilt. You had initially left Yuta alone to process all of the new information, several days where you had to restrain yourself from contacting him out of respect and empathy for his situation. But as the days went by you got restless and worried, texting Yuta every so often just to see if he was okay. It reached a point where all you wanted was to know that he was alive, that he was safe and didn’t disappear off the face of the earth like it had seemed. Still, he didn’t reply, not even leaving you on read, and left you overthinking more than you already were.

You decide, however, to let all the anger and bitterness go. Yuta didn’t intentionally force you into inner turmoil and just like you were moping you’re sure he was experiencing much more confusion emotions, so you let him in with a smile – which feels odd, considering this is the first time you’ve deliberately let him in.

“I have a lot of questions.” He says casually, flopping onto your couch, already making himself at home.

As you place the few flowers from the bouquet into some water (and put the blood bags in your fridge) you answer the questions Yuta throws at you as calmly and honestly as you can. He asks you a lot about vampire history with a lot of what would happen if… and, in perfect Yuta style, leaves you dumbfounded with the scenarios he comes up with to try to catch you out.

“So,” He looks at you, much more relaxed than the week prior, “When did you last feed on a person?”

He doesn’t know whether your silence means a very long time ago or very recently and, honestly, he doesn’t know which answer he’d prefer.

“What does the silence mean?” He asks, becoming a little quiet himself. Despite the fact that he’s the one that has had an entire new world dropped on his head, he patiently waits for you to speak.

You lean slightly away from Yuta, tentatively fiddling with your hands, “In my defence, the dude was an asshole.”

“So not that long ago?”

“Nine months. At least nine months ago, I’m pretty sure.”

Yuta mumbles an ‘oh’ and seems to be processing the information, deciding what to make of it. You can see the cogs turning in his head and whatever he’s thinking must be positive because he gets a mischievous smirk on his face, his eyes sparkling.

“What?”

“Does it hurt when you feed on people?”

You roll your eyes as you watch Yuta stifle a giggle, “Sometimes. It depends on the person, the place, the context. Whether I want to hurt them or not, that sort of thing.”

Yuta nods as nonchalant as he can and turns his body to completely face you on the couch. “Bite me.”

“No.”

“What?! Why?”

You move to the kitchen quickly, trying to avoid Yuta, but he follows and stands far too close, where you can feel his warm breath tickle your neck.

“Why do you even want me to.. you know.” You mumble.

Without missing a beat he says, “I read somewhere it can be quite sensual.”

You whip around and lightly hit his chest, a shocked expression on your face. “You’re dirty!”

“It could be fun to experiment!”

He continues to follow you to your bedroom, and you regret walking in there when Yuta pulls you to a stop by your waist right in front of your bed.

“Feeding from someone can be really serious, Yuta. Not to mention dangerous.” You distance yourself from him just a little, but have to stop when your legs hit your bed.

“I like dangerous,” He jokes, wiggling his eyebrows whilst approaching you again, “I also read it can be a great bonding experience for lovers, which we are, so I’d like to try it. If you want to.”

You begin to mull over the idea, irritated that Yuta is so handsome and persuasive and makes everything that could end horrendously sound like a good experience regardless, when he faintly speaks again.

“And I trust you.”

This makes you look at him, a faint red hue on his cheeks and a delicate smile on his face. There’s a mixture of excitement, mischief, probably curiosity and.. trust in his eyes. It warms you from the inside out and you feel yourself falling in love with him all over again.

Giving in, you wrap your arms around his neck and lean closer to him, “You really did your research, huh?”

“I sure did. I’m dedicated to my vampire girlfriend.”

You both smile at each other before leaning in and connecting your lips, Yuta’s hands tightening around your hips as he hums.

You’ve never bitten someone with the intention of pleasure before, you realise, but you’re glad you’re doing it with Yuta and that, finally, Yuta knows everything about you.

[kingminie]

blazing arrows [jimin feat. jungkookie]

❝The majority calls me Cupid, but, you can call me Jimin—I believe I owe you some debts for a mistake now long overdue.❞

⌲ genre: fluff, angst, future smut, & supernatural, au.

⌲ member: jimin feat. jungkookie

⌲ word count: 4891

⌲ warnings: future mature content & shit tons of swearing.

↠ description: Stuck in what seemed to be an unrequited relationship with Jeon Jungkook who just so happens to be in committed relationship with someone else as well, your heart was fragmented beyond any repair. So what exactly happens when you wake up at 3 in the morning to find the culprit of your hellish misery, nonchalantly counting his gold-tipped arrows on the foot of your bed—wings outstretched and all?

part one | part two | ongoing

"Has your mouth become dysfunctional from all the day-to-day shit you've been spewing or something? Because frankly speaking, loser, seaweed mustache does not really suit you—most especially if your heading to your girlfriend's place in less than an hour."

Pausing his outrageous assault on the pack of seaweed snacks you had bought for yourself—huge emphasis on the statement that it was supposed to be your face being stuffed by the heavenly seaweed snack, but no, he just had to flipping snoop through your stuff like an isolated monkey seeing bananas for the first time after being intentionally deprived of it—he actually had the audacity to flash his annoyingly perfect set of teeth and straight up laughed.

"Unless of course, she digs that," you snorted, "Who am I to judge?"

His hands—which were disgustingly tainted with seasonings and seaweed stains—let go of the empty snack bag and without any further hesitation pinched your cheeks firmly, your skin feeling the residue of the lumpy granules that were now, no doubt, strewn all over your face; his high-pitch laughter unveiling its existence as he relentlessly catered his own amusement from your resigned torment, his delight fueled in its maximum when you scrunched your nose up in disdain, causing him to squeeze your cheeks a tad bit tighter. He then leaned closer towards your face, a wide smile on his face that you became afraid his cheeks would stay frozen, "She'll dig me however I am."

Jungkook bent down to retrieve his trash he had previously thrown, leaving you to roll eyes in utter exasperation as you blew off the residues of the snack from your face, "You're a nuisance in my life. Seriously, why am I putting up with you?"

He chuckled, "You know you wouldn't have it any other way." He returned to stand in front of you and you hurriedly took a step back in surprise at the sudden close proximity between you. You stayed silently still as his hands hovered above your face, hands tightly clenching the back of your shirt as the tips of his fingers gently wiped off the rest of the particles that dusted your face, "There. Now everyone can clearly see your ugly face."

"Are you sure we're not talking about your face?" You snorted as you push him back, walking around him, heading toward the cotton candy stand that you had been eyeing the second you both had set foot on the fair grounds. "I swear, if you take even as much as the tip of my cotton candy, I will end yo—oof." You felt as if your lungs had been pulled out right underneath your chest as your air circulation suddenly took a hit as all of Jungkook's weight was poured all over your own when he jumped on your back, his arms wrapping around your shoulders as he clung to you for dear life it seemed, leaving you to try and carry both your weights in both legs.

"Get off, asshole!" You were supposed to be angry with him, really, but the hint of laughter coating the end of your protest seemed to gave the hilarity of the situation away. "My god, I hate you."

Your fingers fastened underneath his thighs, pushing him a little bit higher on your back as he continued to giggle like a middle-school boy, a wide grin spreading over your face as his laugh echoed throughout your ears. He rested his chin on your shoulder, his smile glowing in your peripheral vision, "Love you, too, dork." Then his lips were momentarily on your cheeks that you had to suddenly turn the other way around—away from him—in hopes that he won't be able to get a glimpse of the fiery blush that had spread like wildfire all over your cheeks. Jesus, the fuck is wrong with you?

"Excuse me," a soft-spoken voice from the side got both your heads turning the other way. A girl timidly stood, rocking on her heels back and forth as she smiles apprehensively, camera in hand, "Is it okay if I take your picture? I really apologize to disturb you like this but it's just, you look really adorable and I really just want to film genuine photos like th—"

"Go ahead," You feel Jungkook shrug behind you, flashing her his adorable bunny-like smile before whispering in your ear, "See? Everyone digs my seaweed mustache. Now, go forward, peasant."

When he noticed that you weren't moving, his gaze moved towards your phone where Taehyung sent you a text and you barely typed in a response when your phone was plucked out of your hands by the caveman clinging on your back—which was on the verge of breaking—and he literally whined his ass off, "I want cotton candy."

"Then get off my back and buy it yourself, you freaking brat." He pouted but got off you nonetheless, giving you the breathing room your lungs incredibly longed for. Ruffling your hair, he wrapped his fingers around your wrist before dragging you towards the cotton candy stand.

Your mouth nearly watered at the dozens of cotton candy wraps being hanged on the top wire inside the truck. Variety of flavors ranging from pink vanilla to blue bubblegum were piled on a sinful triangle behind the smiling vendor—a boy around your age that was clearly ogling on Jungkook whose eyes were feverishly jumping from one pack of candy to another, what seemed to be a fixed giggle on his throat as he skipped back beside you, coiling his arm around your own as he started to jump in place. The fuck is he, eight? "Weirdo."

"Can we get all?" Why do you feel like a mother taking his son out for the first time? "I want bubblegum—no, I want the watermelon, oh my god, no, I want the cherry one."

"We'll get two triple flavors, please," You tightly smiled at the person behind the counter who was pursing his lips to conceal his laugh at Jungkook who was biting his lower lips in utter excitement while you what seemed to be a ethereal grunt was evident on your face. "Bubblegum, watermelon, and cherry on one and vanilla, bubblegum, and raspberry on the other. How much is it?"

"That'll be four and fourty."

He handed the bags of heavenly confection to you, Jungkook not wasting another second more when he ripped the bag open, immediately stuffing his face with the sugary sweets, nearly ripping the middle of his pants when he suddenly got into a squatting position in front you, his back facing you, all the while inhaling the candy. "Hop on."

Grinning, you wrap your arms around his broad shoulders, crossing your knees in front of his torso once he stood up, walking around the fair. "This is good."

"What is?" He chuckled, "The cotton candy? Or us finally hanging out?"

"Hm, both." You pushed his head a bit, just enough to acquire a grunt from him, "You seem to be really busy these days."

"Try getting yourself a boyfriend and you'll see why." The suggestive tone lacing his voice was enough to put a ridiculed sneer on your face—and maybe, a little bit of coated sadness underneath your veiled mask. "Actually, no, don't get one yet." You see his face scrunch up in disdain, his lips turning down in a frown and his nose adorably scrunching up. "I'm still not ready to see you all grown up, child."

"You hypocr—" Whatever insult you wanted to throw his way was suddenly cut off by the shrill ringing of his phone. As he went to retrieve it from his pocket, you rest your cheek against your arm that was on top of his shoulders, eyes simply trained on him as he spoke.

"Hey, babe." Oh my god, did someone shoot you? Because you were sure the pain you were feeling was from the hole that your heart was currently catering. "You're here? Really? Where are you?"

As he looks around the local fair, you gently tapped his arm—the one which was steadying you on behind him—motioning for him to let you off his back. You dusted yourself off once your feet once again touched the ground, a sigh escaping your mouth as you did so. These days, you rarely had time to spent with Jungkook and once you did, his girlfriend always seemed to find a time to swoop in. Not that you didn't understand her, because really, you did. You had once tried to put yourself in her shoes and honestly, if you had Jeon Jungkook as your boyfriend, you wouldn't him away from you for too long too. But seeing the fact that you were just the best friend, you really had no right to intervene as she was the girlfriend, even if it meant that what once was yours and Jungkook's routine of spending the whole day together in the autumn fair with no distractions was cut short.

"Yeah, of course she's okay with it." Jungkook sent you an apologetic look, his fingers running back and forth through his lower lip, mouthing a quick apology as he scratched the back of his head, "No, no, we're on our way to you. I'll see you in a while, yeah? Yeah, bye baby, I love you too."

Trying to paste a smile on your face, your nose twitched as you pressed your palm against his lips when he opened his mouth, no doubt but to apologize to you once again, "If you apologize once more, I'm going to kill you. It's okay, no worries, really. Now, let's go. Wouldn't want her waiting for long now, would we?"

You turned around to walk ahead of him when his hands caught your wrist in a steel trap, enabling you to walk away any further. Biting your lip as if to control your rambling and actually have the courage to face him, you try to grin once more the moment you turned around. His mouth was set in a hard line of a distinguishable frown, "I'm really sorry. I know I promised to actually hangout with you with no disruptions but I..I let you down—"

"Kookie, I understand." You gently pried his hands off yours and patted it before letting go, "And as I have told you earlier, it's fine. It's completely fine so you don't really have to worry about letting me down because frankly, you didn't. I enjoyed this day riding rides, eating whatever we can, and the time I got to spend with you. Everything's okay, okay? Don't beat yourself up for over something so small." And because if you continue to apologize, I'll actually breakdown and ruin everything I've tried too hard concealing.

"You're really the best." He muttered, pulling you to his chest in a tight hug, and now, you were actually feeling the tears spring up to break out of the dam so you had no choice but to laugh it off and push him off with a harsh punch.

"Let go, you moron. And get this off—" Webs of cotton candy stained the skin that surrounded his mouth so you rolled your eyes as you picked it up from his face, "It's either you really have a dysfunctional mouth or you're just a complete and utter pig."

After that, you walked ahead of him, leaving him to trail behind with a smile on his face as he texted his girlfriend away on his phone, not realizing that it was the identical smile you have on your own lips the whole day you have been spending with him. What a fun life, right? Not.

Sometimes you wonder if you were really just that unfortunate or if life simply despised you enough to throw all miserable circumstances your way, making your life a straight up Friday the 13th movie every single flipping day—where not a day goes by that no unfortunate mishap happens to yourself. So, here you were, seated on the corner of the restaurant booth, silently sipping your milkshake to yourself, waiting for your unlucky mishap to happen since today had been running smoothly. Too smoothly for your own good. Or maybe, it was already the fact that right in front of you, was Jungkook and his girl friend, gag-worthily feeding each other along with the annoying and childish sounds that came out of their mouths whenever they did—this was the kind of Friday the 13th worth you whole existence, so you wouldn't be too surprised if no other unfortunate events may happen because this was enough to scar you your whole life.

[6:48 P.M.] Yoongi: you look like you're ready to hand yourself willingly to the grim reaper lol.

Almost dislocating your neck at the rate your head snapped up from your phone, you look around the diner for the familiar black-haired friend who you were sure was now catering his own amusement from your unending torture from the disgustingly sweet couple in front of you. And sure enough, in the opposite booth not too far away from your own, Min Yoongi was dressed in his signature black ripped jeans, red and black cardigan worn over his graphic tee, choking on his own drink as he observed you. You hastily made your way over his table, fucking unnoticed by your best friend and his girlfriend that were too engrossed with each other.

"Are you on a date?"

"Fuck no, couldn't a person eat here just because he's hungry?" Yoongi rolled his eyes, stuffing his face with the french fries. "You just look really ecstatic back there, don't you?"

You plopped yourself down on the seat beside him, stealing a piece of fries from his own tray, receiving a not-so-amused glance from Yoongi, "Why am I so unlucky?" Yoongi's eyes widened when your head dropped from your hand to the table with a loud thud.

"Jesus, what the hell is wrong with you?" He sunk further into his own seat, eliciting an exhausted laugh from you as you observed him sipping his drink. "Don't look yet but Jungkook is looking like a lost rabbit looking around the place for y—what the fuck, I clearly said don't look yet."

You met Jungkook's eyes who were now focused on you as he breathe a sigh of relief with the way his shoulders moved, his eyes traveled to Yoongi and giving his friend a nod of acknowledgement, a grin gracing his features when he nudged his girlfriend before the both of them stood up with smiles on their faces, slowly walking towards Yoongi's table. "Why the fuck are they coming here? Shit, shit, shit, sh—"

"What's up, man? Why don't you join us?" Yoongi motioned towards the available seats across the both of you and you grit your teeth in annoyance, forcing a smile on your face as your hand slowly closed in on Yoongi's thighs underneath the table, pinching as hard as you can.

Jungkook's eyes narrowed a fraction when Yoongi covered what was supposed to be a shrill wail with a sharp gust of air through his gritted teeth, his hand clamping down on yours before lowering his lips near your ears, "What was that for?"

"Yeah, why don't you?" You were sure your laugh sounded pained and forced as you motioned, like Yoongi did, towards the chairs across you. "We eat can togeth—we can eat together."

"So, Ji Eun," Yoongi started, just as the two took their seats, "Seems like Kookie has been keeping you from us, I haven't seen you around lately. How've you been?"

She laughed and you clearly notice how Jungkook stared at her as she did—like she was an angel he's seeing for the first time—and you didn't how you handled seeing that without breaking down into tiny little pieces that were as small as her pearl earrings, "Did you, babe? I've been great, thank you, Yoongi."

Holy hell, you're in deep shit. Because out of the billions of people currently residing on the planet, it just had to be him—it really just had to be freaking Jeon Jungkook, someone who clearly saw you as nothing more than a best friend the day you met more than half of your existence ago, someone who had a girlfriend that was as good as the best could ever get, and someone taken and so out of reach you just had to go and one day fall for. You wanted nothing more than to hate him so that these useless feelings would be thrown away to the side, hopefully forgotten and never mentioned, but no, he just had to be your best friend—which clearly entails that he would never ever go away from every aspect of your life unless you ended your friendship with him, which can only happen the day after hell freezes over.

Realizing that the strings had been attached to Jeon Jungkook had been hands down the most complicated and toughest thing to ever happen in your life, and that's saying something from the daily mishaps that had happened to you from your grotesque everyday life. It was a rainy day back in high school and you had been both on the way back from school, stupidly forgetting your umbrellas on your school desks so you had to trudge under the rain. It had been on a sidewalk, waiting for the bus ride home when your eyes took notice of his lips, suddenly looking so enticing and how your heartbeat raced when his hands clasped your own to drag you up the vehicle—you knew then and there you were utterly fucked because you knew you had fallen for him and once you did, there really was no backing out of the endless abyss of feelings for the stupid brat no matter how much you try to pull back the strings that had already been attached. Now up to this day, these veiled feelings had been harshly pushed down underneath the smiles of motivation and support you had been giving him and his girlfriend.

"Stop that," Yoongi hissed in your ears, an exaggerated stretch of smile across his lips as he pinched your side—just enough to get you out of your worthless stupor, "It seems like you're really seeing the grim reaper and it's deadass scary, please stop."

"Sorry." You laughed, eliciting a disgruntled grunt from him when you hastily pulled his drink from the table and taking a mouthful of soda. "Thanks, Yoongi."

Jungkook laughed softly, pushing his glass of milkshake towards you with his knuckles. You flashed him a small smile before shaking your head in rejection of his generous offer, "Thanks though."

A frown laced his features for a second before it was quickly replaced by an excited smile. You follow his line of sight which were focused on the stage—a stool and a microphone situated in the middle. You opened your mouth in protest but he was already halfway through the diner, talking to a server who smiled and nodded eagerly from whatever Jungkook had requested.

He grinned at you from the stage, waving a bit and you slowly sunk down on the booth.

"Good evening, everyone." He tapped the microphone, "My name's Jungkook and I'm giving this a try tonight as much as my best friend doesn't like me too. Enjoy your food, guys."

Your heart dropped to your stomach when the opening melody started. It was the song you had danced to back in your room one night, the very night that your feelings and your miserable fate had been sealed. With his arms wrapped around your waist and your head on his chest, doing nothing but slow dancing in the middle of the room—it had been a night you'd pay whatever price it takes to be brought back.

"This song is dedicated to someone I truly love." He cleared his throat before sending a smile towards your table, "Lately, I've been thinking, thinking about what we had..."

He looked like an absolute angel and right then and there, you had the sudden urge to jump on the stage and hug the soul out of him. As the chorus got closer, he removed the microphone from its place before slowly walking down the stage, your eyes widening in exchange while he did so. The fuck is he doing?

"There's nothing like us," For the third time that day, your useless heart had dropped to the ground into little fragments as he knelt in front of Ji Eun, a huge smile on both their faces as they looked right into each other, your heart feeling as if he had actually ripped it right from your chest, before ripping it in half in front of you. How could you have been so stupid to actually think that it was for you when his flipping own girlfriend was right in front of you?

Maybe it was the small sliver of hope that still shone through around him that you kept on holding on to even though you that slightest bit of hope wasn't enough to have him for yourself. Maybe it was because you had been so incredibly stupid to actually think there was hope when in the first place, there was none. Or maybe, it was the simple fact that you had been so wrapped up in your own cloud of imagination with high hopes and impossible daydreams that there would actually be a day where Jeon Jungkook would actually be for you and not for her, not for anyone else. But sadly, whatever maybe's there would be, the outcome wouldn't be any much different.

"I know you can hold it in, you always do, so please don't let them fall now." Yoongi's hand grasped yours tightly underneath the hardwood and you can see him glancing at you from the corner of your eyes as he muttered under his breath.

"Maybe right now I can't stop them, Yoongi." Your vision went blurry and before either of the couple could notice, Yoongi has pulled you into his chest, awkwardly laughing to make it seem like you had just been disgusted at the too-cheesy novel-worthy actions of your best friend, "I think I have to get home before I fully breakdown and confess my feelings for him here. I have more class than that."

"Yeah, you go do whatever you got to do."

"Thanks, Yoongi." You gave him a full smile before you clear your throat, gaining the attention of the couple who were now laughing together. Jungkook raised an eyebrow, a blooming grin on his face as he awaited what you had wanted to say, "I'll have to go ahead. I forgot to feed my dog, Kisses. Silly me, huh? I'll see you around, Ji Eun. It's nice seeing you again, Yoongi, I'll text you soon. Bye, Kooks." You see Yoongi's what-the-fuck face and you immediately smacked yourself inside your head.

Then you were out the restaurant, trying hard to remain your cool and tried to hold yourself together just until you reach your house, where your pillows waited for another batch of tears that they seemed to be welcoming a whole lot lately.

"The hell is 'Bye, Kooks'?" Jungkook muttered to himself as he stared at your rushing figure, a small smile of amusement on his face when you literally ran straight into the door that clearly said pull. His eyebrows pulled together in confusion as a thought sunk into his mind that told him there was something wrong.

Because he knew you didn't have a dog named Kisses but he was certain you had a cat named Hershey.

[2:34 A.M.] Kookie: At least tell me what's wrong. Did I do something? :(

[2:39 A.M.] Kookie: Whatever I did, I'm so sorry. If this is about our hangout cut short today, I'm really sorry.

[2:41 A.M.] Kookie: You've got your read receipts on, I know you've read my messages and the fact that you're not answering me is proof enough that I've done something wrong. At least answer my calls, please :(

It wasn't his fault and you knew fully-well it isn't because all this mess was entirely made by you and your reckless decisions that always seemed to push you off the cliff of peril.

You hated how the typing bubble kept on floating from his side as you stared at the phone screen for the longest time before disappearing for a while and resurfacing the next second. You hated the fact that you knew he was restlessly lying on his bed, thoughts swarming his head on what he had done wrong, clutching his phone above his bed as he nibbled on his lips while he anxiously waited for a single reply from you. You hated the fact that you knew him well enough to know what he would be doing. You hated how you knew that he was blaming himself when in fact, not a sliver of whatever this mess is was his fault—no matter how much you wanted to blame someone else.

[2:51 A.M.] (Y/N): You didn't do anything wrong. I'm going to sleep now. Good night, Jungkook.

You see his contact resurface on the screen and you hastily rejected the call, throwing it on the opposite side of the couch, a deep sigh escaping your lips as you threw your head back on the couch, counting the lines on the ceiling in hopes to get your mind off everything else. I hate this, you thought to yourself.

You realized that the night seemed to be full of ceaseless sighs and unshed tears as you head towards the kitchen, ridding your living room of all your garbage when you went on the binge—countless wrappers of junk foods and chocolate wraps in one hand and the box of leftover pizza on the other.

You had been on the first step on your staircase when your phone rang once again on your hand and you groaned in frustration at Jungkook's persistence, "(Y/N)'s not here. You can call again tomorrow."

"Who is this, then?" Even though he sounded tired at first before amusement coated his voice.

"This is her twin she didn't tell you about who's on her way to sleep," You rolled your eyes as you continued to walk towards your bedroom.

"Let's be serious now," Jungkook sighed on the other side of the phone, "Is there anything wrong? Did I do something?"

"Jeon Jungkook," you huffed, "You stubborn kid." Your hands paused on your doorknob, a smile forming on your lips.

"I just want to know if I did something wrong. And if I did, tell me how to fix it." Warmth spread all throughout your chest at his tone that was genuinely confused.

"Honestly, it's not you. I was just having an off day and—what the hell?" Surprised, your phone slipped past your grip as soon as you had opened your room, almost falling off the railing when you took a sudden step back. Jungkook's faint frantic voice echoed and you quickly pulled your phone to your that was near your feet, "I'll call you later." Then, you hang up.

If it weren't for the fact that you were scared out of your wits that you became mentally and physically frozen, you would've taken notice how absolutely gorgeous and beautiful he was but the fact that his eyes also widened at the sight of you, his wings briskly standing in surprise behind him—hitting the ceiling with a loud thump so forcefully that it literally cracked—posture as stiff as a rock, his hands stopped throwing what seemed to be a long glistening arrow that were piled up on his feet, his lips in a perfect 'o' shape as he realized he had been caught in surprise. He released the arrow he's been holding with a sheepish smile and a quiet clink as it hits the pile, his fingers reaching up to scratch his nape.

You were literally frozen in actual shock, not moving a muscle—hell, you weren't even breathing—when he slowly walked forward before stopping right in front of you, his wings fluttering behind him in a slower pace. Just before you could open your mouth to ask who the fuck he was, his lips quirked up in wide shy smile that his eyes turned into nothing but tiny little crescents on his face and right then and there, you nearly died.

"The majority calls me Cupid, but, you can call me Jimin," he—as much as you detested saying it—adorably grinned that it reminded you of a squishy small child, before a slight blush dusted his cheeks, his hands reaching up to cover his eyes, only to peek at you the second after, "And I believe I owe you some debts for a mistake now long overdue."