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johannstutt413 · 2 years

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(New event = new waifu = words pour out like water from a broken faucet, you know how it can be)

“Good morning, Doctor! Was it me you wanted? Or were you looking for Enya?”

‘Oh, it’s certainly you I want,’ the Doctor said to himself as he waited at the threshold. “May I come in?”

Kjera beckoned him inside. “Of course you can, Doctor. Are you hungry? I would offer to cook for you, but I don’t have the utensils I need in this dorm…Although I do have some leftover fried fowlbeast in the fridge?”

“I’ll take some water, but I’m not very hungry.” As if to directly contradict him, his stomach growled.

“Ah, but your body says otherwise. Warm or cold?” She beamed at him, only hesitating to get it because he hesitated in answering. “Doctor?”

He sighed. “I’m not sure. The last time I had leftover fowlbeast, I used the microwave, and it wasn’t great.”

“I can turn on the oven?” The maid had gotten used to the modern age’s variation on a hearth quicker than some might’ve expected-

“No, that’s alright. I’d like to try it cold.” He smiled to himself beneath his hood. “As long as it’s not completely frozen, that is.”

She grabbed the bucket and brought it out to a short coffee table in front of a couch; the pair sat together on it, each taking a piece at a time until there was only one left. When neither of them reached for it for a minute, and the silence they’d held while eating had no excuse, Kjera spoke up. “You’re thinking very intently about something.”

“I’m not sure if it’s really ‘thinking’ that has me so preoccupied.” No reason to deny it, the Doctor certainly had something distracting him.

“Hmm.” The maid watched him for a moment, contemplating on his contemplation. “You came to talk to me about something, though, yes?”

If he could find the words, yes. “I did, but I’m not sure how to ask what I want to ask…Not all of the questions I have, anyway. To start with the easier ones: I know you’ve said in the past it doesn’t matter whether or not you are actually Kjeragandr, but you do answer Enya’s prayers in a matter of speaking?”

“This is one of the easy questions? But yes, I am the one who answers, and she is my priestess as much as she is Hers.”

“I didn’t confuse myself on that, at least, then. Good.” He slid a hand through his hair, though not enough to push his hood aside. “And you’ve enjoyed your time here?”

The goddess smiled at him. “I have seen things working with Rhodes Island, experienced the wider world, in a way I never could have otherwise. When it’s not something to be endured, it’s a joy.”

“But you still belong to Kjerag wholly and completely?” The Doctor’s tone was one she’d never heard him use, or anyone she’d interacted with for that matter.

“I belong to Kjerag, certainly,” she agreed, “but completely?...Hmm. The longer I spend outside her borders, the more I wonder.”

So she was saying there was a chance? It was enough for him to continue. “You wonder?”

“Ultimately, what I can do her Kjerag is more limited than her people believe. I can cause and dispel storms, no doubt about that, but beyond that, I’m not much of a miracle worker. You’re not the only one who’s burnt food in the oven,” Kjera admitted with a bittersweet smirk.

“That does make me feel better.” This time he let his hood fall back as he ruffled his hair. “And you trust me, at least enough to rely on my help with healing the SilverAsh clan’s quarrelsome relationship?...What?”

She’d been watching him before; now, she was fixated. “Those scars are like nothing I’ve seen before.”

“Oh…Right. They’re from the machine I was placed in for…something.” It was only a partial obfuscation - he wasn’t entirely sure what’d transpired, or what purpose that machine had had, only that it’d been what kept him alive in Chernobog until Amiya awoke him that day.

“A machine did this?” Almost unconsciously, the goddess halfway traced one of the raised rings of scar tissue before pulling her hand away. “I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

The Doctor didn’t move, although his pale cheeks gained a bit of color. “No, please…feel free.”

“You don’t mind that I’m cold?” For some reason, that possibility concerned her at that moment. She couldn’t entirely place why.

“Not at all.” He turned to look at her directly, although he didn’t quite manage full eye contact. “On the contrary, I like it about you.”

Then, with his consent given, Kjera gave him a pat on the head. “Oh, your hair is softer than I thought it’d be.”

“Thanks.”

“Not that I thought it’d be coarse or unwashed, I just-” Just what? “I’ve just thought about it sometimes.”

A light clicked on behind his eyes when he heard her say that. “You’ve thought about my hair before?”

“I wondered what you looked like under your hood. It’s surprisingly good at concealing your face, even against me.” Not that the goddess held some kind of grudge against it for that, although when worded that way-

“Can I?” The question was half-baked as it left the Doctor’s mouth, so he tried again. “Can I touch your hair, too?”

She scooted closer so he didn’t have to stretch his hand as far. “Go ahead. I don’t think anyone’s ever- oh.”

“Oh?” It was like passing his hand through a glacial stream, and it was wonderful.

“You still have a difficult question to ask,” Kjera continued, “but I think I know what it might be now.”

Maybe he wouldn’t have to ask it in so many words, then. “Do you have an answer?”

“I don’t want to assume that I know how you’d take a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ just by how I’ve phrased it in my head.”

“Right.” Shit. “...Kjera, have you ever been attracted to someone?”

As it’d turned out, the goddess hadn’t gotten the question right. “I’ve found people interesting, but you mean something a bit more specific than that, right? Enya used to talk about Ensia’s ‘crushes’ when she read her letters. That’s more what you mean, isn’t it?”

“Probably?” He wasn’t a SilverAsh, after all. Couldn’t be completely certain.

“You want to know because you feel that way about me?” She’d hit the nail on the head; the Doctor’s eyes told her that much. “And if I feel the same way about you…Oh, dear.”

The light in his expression was buried under a foot of snow. “I see.”

“I don’t mean to turn you away, truly, I just…I don’t think I’ve ever thought about it before. I’ve enjoyed our time together, and I’ve wanted to see your face, and now that I know I can, I want to see it more often. Is that attraction? What is it you feel when you think of me?” It’d been a few weeks since something had prompted so many questions in Kjera’s mind, and the first time in months she absolutely needed to hear an answer. Maybe this was what it felt like to be one of her faithful as they prayed for her aid.

“Well, I was worried about coming out and saying it plainly,” he admitted, “which is why I’ve been so hesitant, but when I think of you, I wonder if you’re wearing anything under that dress.”

A goddess’ wrath was one thing; a goddess’ flustered realization was another. “Ah. Doctor, you’re the first person I’ve met who’s admitted to wanting to know.”

“Like I said, I wasn’t sure-”

“It’s not an idle curiosity, though, I imagine.” At this point, Kjera was more or less thinking out loud. “Like when I wanted to see your face, I wasn’t asking because I just wanted to know what you look like; I wanted permission to pat your head, to hug you when you’re frightened or despairing, to be able to comfort you with my presence. It’s not quite the same…but I’m closer to understanding, I think.”

The Doctor couldn’t stop himself from saying, “Adorable.”

“My talking through these things? You have a way of making me consider things I never have before…I find that attractive about you, I think.” She was still working through that, honestly.

“Holy shit,” he mumbled, “this is going so much better than I thought it would.”

Do goddesses giggle? Kjerag’s certainly did. “If there is someone who can teach me what attraction means, I believe you’re the person who I’m closest to feeling it for...Would you like to see now?”

“Would I what?” This operation had been the Doctor’s idea, but-

“I suppose that’s already an answer,” she admitted, “but if you want to know what’s under my dress, I’m willing to show you.”

Fuck, now what? “And if that makes me want you to show me other things?”

“Or touch them?”

“Yeah.” That was already happening to an extent, but regardless. “You’re okay with that?”

Kjera studied him for a moment. Once, Enya had asked her why Kjeragandr portrayed herself as, well, a ‘her’ in the first place. At the time, she hadn’t had a good answer…Now, if her priestess asked her, she’d have one to give. “I want to learn more about these feelings, Doctor, and I want you to teach me. Whatever that might involve.”

“Then we’ll take it slowly…I’m not very experienced, either.” As far as he knew, at least.

“Certainly. Whatever you’re comfortable with.” The goddess gauged the distance between them, as small as it was, and asked him, “Can I come closer?”

The Doctor opened his arms to her. “Come as close as you like.”

She plucked him like a grape from a vine and squeezed him against her, and he immediately felt gratified for his choice of words.

#arknights #arknights fic #kjera (arknights)#she's not a Liberi but you could've fooled me #and while she's certainly pretty good at interacting with people #i think there are some things she just never would have learned #just the aura i get from her #hence this

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rosethornewrites · 2 years

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Saturday-Tuesday NR, E, & M reading

The usual

Finished

Not Rated:

Everything Precious is Vulnerable, by EmBlu (IcyDeath)

Lan Wangji lists Wei Wuxian down as his emergency contact and forgets about it. One day, he gets into an accident.

As the sun burns brighter, by EuphoricRed (2 chapters)

As a child, he had been looked at with awe. His eyes were silver; so bright, wide, and knowing. He looked at you as though he knew the darkest secrets you dare not utter. He showed great talents, and having formed a perfectly stable golden core at the age of 4 without any training. Having known this—it’s probably why Wen Ruohan took the Wei child in… Other than being his nephew and all.

Or, Wen Ruohan finds 7 year old Wei Wuxian promising for forming a core at 4 years old only to realize that he picked up his sister’s child… Thank god no one else picked him up. Chaos ensues and he just drops the idea of taking over the world to ensure Wei Wuxian doesn’t destroy it before he does.

Silver eyes meet gold, by EuphoricRed

Life bathed in gold is not as bad as he'd thought, maybe life would get better.

Or, Madam Jin brought home Wei Ying instead.

Explicit:

And these are all for you, by Deastar

His body has always been stupid. But this is a message it should have gotten twenty years ago. When he gave up his core, he knew he was giving this up, too: the chance at being Lan Zhan’s mate. A chance that had seemed so real, so graspable; he’d been winning Lan Zhan over, they were a true match, equals—

And then it was gone, and he knew it was gone, but his dumb hormones hadn’t understood that. His dumb hormones had looked at his wreck of a body, the ruined void where his golden core used to be, the dangerous resentful energy constantly coursing through him, the bouts of inedia edging toward real starvation, and thought: Yes, this is absolutely a worthy thing to offer the mighty and virtuous Second Jade of Lan. This disaster who can barely keep himself alive can be trusted to provide for the illustrious Hanguang-jun, pearl of the cultivation world.

Lan Wangji's Big Dick Agenda, by raitala

This fic came out of a conversation with wwxsays_er around the idea that Lan Wangji is terribly conventional and rule-bound, right up until the moment any of those rules and conventions get in the way of him getting to fuck Wei Ying. Then there is only one thing on his agenda.

Lan Zhan does not like Wei Ying (Wei Ying thinks), but they are study partners. Lan Zhan is way hornier than anyone would suspect. In the quiet of the library things get a little frisky.

Eating For Two, by Liebing (6 chapters)

Surrogate Wei Ying is so very hungry and the only thing the baby wants to eat is whatever his hot neighbour is cooking…

More to Come, by ghostofweiwuxianspast

“W…Wei Ying?” He stuttered stupidly.

“Yes.” Both of them answered expectantly, one a high tenor and the other a lower.

“It’s been a long time, Lan Zhan.” The Yiling Laozu smiled devilishly. “Well, since you’ve seen me like this.”

Lan Wangji getting double Wei Wuxian for his birthday.

Introduction to Floating, by cupofwater

Wei Wuxian is settling in for a boring night at a Cultivators' hostel when Lan Wangji shows up with a sex curse. What kind of terrible friend would he be if he didn't offer to help?

Mature:

Somebody, Please Stop Them, by pupeez4eva (3rd in a series, 3 chapters)

His brother was carrying a child, and neither he nor Wei Wuxian seemed surprised that he was there. Lan Xichen felt mounting dread build up inside him.

“Xichen-ge!” Wei Wuxian called out, waving cheerfully. “Xichen-ge, guess what? We’re parents now!”

(Wherein a time-traveling Wangxian have absolutely no self-control, and everyone else is just slowly losing their minds).

Unfinished

Not Rated:

Making The Best of a Bad Situation, by pupeez4eva (4th in a series)

Jiang Cheng glanced at the scene in front of him — Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, practically lost in each other’s gazes, still hugging each other, Wen Chao’s slaughtered body lying on the floor only a short distance away, the whole place reeking of resentful energy, and the pristine Hanguang-Jun looking like he wasn't bothered by any of it — and quickly walked away.

(Wherein there are many moments that a time travelling Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji could have been thrown back to. Regardless of what they are, they sure as hell aren’t letting that get in the way of confessing their love).

Wabisabi, by Nikolai_Anastasia

Wabi - sabi

(A concept)

The Japanese art of finding beauty within imperfections of life and accepting the natural cycle of growth and decay. Celebrating cracks, crevices and all other marks that time, weather and love leave behind.

It's been thirteen years since the famous Yiling Laozu has been killed by his adopted brother Jiang Cheng. No one in the Cultivating World has seen him or heard from him. For once everyone feels they can breathe without being in fear. Things in Cloud Recesses has changed too as one of the Twin Jades Lan Zhan has gone missing seven years ago from the world. No one knows why or how he left but there is no trace of him anywhere. That's until the famous Yiling Laozu appears again but this time different and right besides him is the lost Lan Zhan, the Ghost General Wen Ning and those who have been wronged by the Cultivating World.

Finally back from the dead Wei Ying is ready to show the Cultivating World who he really is and what he is really made of. If the world truly saw Wei Ying as the monster they all feared that's exactly what Wei Ying will be to them. The worst monster they seen in years and this time there's no one that will stop him.

Why a notebook slightly hidden under the bed?, by lilpuffs3

Lan Xichen had always believed that his brother had a great life.

He was the second in command of connected and firm enterprise, and had a long good life ahead of him.

Of course, he knew that his brother did feel lonely, and tried again and again to introduce him to people he could like, but it seemed like Lan Wangji simply wasn't interested.

So, what was a highschool notebook, that clearly wasn't Wangji's, under his brother's bed?!

Aka, the one where Lan Zhan and Wei Ying go to the same highschool but loose contact when Wei Ying is disowned by the Jiangs. So, Lan Zhan keeps his notebook, and maybe also his feelings for him.

The Untamed: To Walk in One's Shoes, by YenGirl

It turns out that that old adage of 'To walk a mile in someone's shoes' proves to be the most effective way for three siblings to understand one another. Too bad there's a wedding involved.

The smell of Sandalwood, by sanlangsteponme

Wei Ying can only climb into Dage's lap and let's the alpha scent him. It feels so safe. Like he's being held by family, a brother. He falls asleep before a-sang is back home.

"What happened dage!? Is he okay?"

" He's fine now a-sang. Those Jiang's are still after him it seems. Wei Ying is exhausted. His state of being scares me a-sang."

Nie Huaisang only gritted his teeth and went to prepare a-ying's bed. He'll deal with those bastards later.

Wei Ying gets kicked out after his first heat and the Nie brothers look after him.

Lan Zhan is drinking vinegar in the corner.

You took my face in both your hands, and looked me in the eye, by enbysaurus_rex (2nd in a series)

The follow up to "But to be loved like a song you remember, Even when you've changed" in which we watch them fumble their way around the logistics of building a new domesticity while they solve this case

The Oubliette, by Ruixx

Wei Wuxian never thought being a spouse could be a valid career path. Now married to to the mysterious, quiet Second Jade of Lan he has to learn to navigate through the notoriously strict Gusu Lan clan and make himself home. Unfortunately war looms on the horizon and his enigma of a husband doesn’t seem to have much of a plan other than screwing him senseless. He’s not complaining, really.

Explicit:

The Communication Effect, by draechaeli

If only there was more communication, or the right kind then everything would be all right. Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi might be bad when it comes to talking to each other about the important things, but they are still leagues better then the older generation that use communication like swords: concealing, revealing, and striking as they please for their own gain. From apologies, to misunderstandings, to sieges, to rumours and gossip, to cold wars, to lies, to civil wars, Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi navigate the world together once their brothers make sure they’re engaged before the classes at Cloud Recesses are finished.

This fic is finished at 186k in 37 chapters + 3 extras

Heart of the Beast, by WaitForTheSnitch

“Wei Ying?” Nie Mingjue prompted him gently. “Where are your parents?”

“They went on a night hunt,” Wei Ying said, a bit evasively.

“Your parents are cultivators?” Da-ge asked in surprise. “Did they leave you here while they hunted? When did they go on their night hunt?”

“Four summers ago,” Wei Ying said a bit uncomfortable.

“Four summers ago,” Nie Mingjue repeated. “What are your parents’ names?”

“My mama is Cangse Sanren and my baba is Wei Changze,” Wei Ying told him, and recognition registered in Nie Mingjue’s eyes.

“Wei Ying,” Nie Mingjue said, sounding a bit regretful, “Your parents aren’t coming back.”

Or, Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang run into Wei Ying while in Yiling and decide to bring him home. And it changes everything.

most barren peak and bleakest winter, by WhatTheOwlHears

He drank. Set the cup down. “I understand Wei Ying would not choose to behave that way ordinarily.”

Well that was certainly true, but it felt like a lie anyway. “Haha, yeah.” Wei Wuxian put his elbow on the table so he could put his face in his hand. “Definitely would not normally make attempts on the virtue of my dear dear friend Hanguang-jun.”

Discarded, by teawater

Children in Cloud Recesses are succubming to a dark curse. There's one person who may be able to help.

Show me all the stars, by Lanwangjisnights

“You decided on a different disciplinary action.” Lan Zhan states, “The Lans are adaptable.”

Wei Ying takes another step back. His plan fires grandly in an entirely wrong direction. He also hopes he heard wrong, and Lan Zhan hadn’t just offered sex in exchange for copying lines. “What?” he asks dumbfounded.

Or:

Wei Ying slips a gay porn magazine into Lan Zhan’s hand to get out of detention.

His plan fails. Greatly.

Or alternatively:

Wei Ying falls into an emergency heat he doesn’t realize until it is too late, with Lan Zhan being the only one capable to save him from death.

In the circle around broken glass, by Cycliph

Jin Guangyao wishes for the sect leader's position, thus he must clear out the obstacle known as 'Jin Zixuan'. Anything for fame. So he frames Yiling Patriarch for the death of Lan Wangji's unborn child. It was a miscalculation as he didn't expected Wei Wuxian to be the father of Wangji's child! How could Zewu-Jun keep something like that from him? He's hurt!

Mature:

I whatever you, I will stand by your side, by Lizziewriter07

Wei WuXian almost died during Jin ZiXun's trap. He would have retaliated with all his might if it weren't for A-Yuan being terrified and right behind him and Wen Ning. Instead of killing Jin ZiXuan, he was hit by a fatal arrow in the heart while trying to protect the little boy. After disappearing from the cultivation world for five years he was... "invited" in a rather peculiar way to help two great sect leaders in a problem with their sworn brother.

Or,

Lan XiChen knew his younger brother like no one else. He knew him well enough to know that seeing Wei WuXian again after all those years of not knowing anything about the young master would make WangJi do something extreme. In order to be aware of what would happen and to help, ZeWu-jun proposes a sort of alliance with Wen Qing. Together, they come up with a well-crafted excuse to leave them alone for a while.

By the river, by Anonymous

Heed the tags. Nothing explicit, but mature rating for the nature of the subject matter.

___

Wei Wuxian is sexually assaulted while on a night hunt, but believes he cheated on Lan Zhan.

Angst ensues.

Head and the heart, by Janelle24601

(This story moves away at some point from the canon story)

Lan Zhan loses his memories after an accident at fighting the Wen’s at Nightless City. He can’t remember the last few years. The war, being indoctrinated and humiliated by Wen Chao, and most importantly for his brother and Uncle he can’t imagine ever meeting Wei Ying. Lan Zhan never fell in love with the most unsuitable cultivator possible, he can now live a life more suitable for his station without being dragged down by the YiLing Patriarch. It seems too good to be true. Maybe it is! Meanwhile without the balance of the Lan's the cultivation world has been aiming their hatred at both Wei Ying and the Jiang Sect, forcing Wei Ying to make some hard choices. By the time the Lan's and the cultivation world need Wei Ying's help once again will all this time apart without Lan Zhan’s guidance and support mean the new Wei Ying still feel anything for Lan Zhan?

If Plan A won't work, there's a Plan B!, by SplitGirl28

Since discovering the truth about his Dage's death, Nie Huaisang was pissed and dug into Jinlintai considering his brother's unusual hatred of Jin Guangyao that warranted investigation. He discovered schemes that also led to a former classmate's death, his best friend's cornering and murder via weaponized stupid idiots by the Jins...all to have access to Demonic Cultivation in Jin Guangshan's bid for power.

It was then he discovered through his spies that Mo Xuanyu, a boy who resembles Wei Wuxian except for eye shape befitting a Jin, and a rounder face, was yet another of Jin Guangshan's spawn. Taken to Jinlintai a year after his best friend's murder and made to research Demonic Cultivation as he had no aptitude for orthodoxy yet very proficient with it. He spent years befriending the boy on the sly...and made plans.

One won't give him his brother back even if he gets revenge...the second plan will get him what he wants at a huge cost. And this young boy will help him!

#the untamed #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #cql #chen qing ling #untamed fanfiction

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wexarethewalkingxdead · 2 years

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👼 - babysitting //🍛 - cooking //💃 - dancing //🍻 - tolerating alcohol //😠 - managing with their temper //📝- planning and following their plan //🎤- singing //🙊 - keeping secrets // 😂 - telling jokes //⌚- keeping track of time //🔪 - melee weapons //🔫 - ranged weapons //💞 - expressing their feelings //😓 - acknowledging mistakes //🎺 - playing an instrument // 🎁 - making gifts //✊ - keeping promises (Sophia)

ask muse how good they are at.. - @secondhandmckie

👼 - babysitting

Sophia is good at keeping kids engaged with crafts and distractions so I'd say she's a good babysitter. She's not overly fond of always being relied upon to do it though. She'd prefer if everyone chipped in and didn't just assume she'll be okay doing it if someone needs help with their kid.

🍛 - cooking

Sophia loves cooking. She's been climbing in a chair to help Carol for as long as she can remember. She prefer baking to cooking, but she can absolutely do both very well.

💃 - dancing

Sophia loves to play around and dance, but as far as having any real skill for it, she has none.

🍻 - tolerating alcohol

Sophia doesn't like to drink. She saw what it did to her father when he was still alive, so it just leaves a sour taste in her mouth. She's tried it, but her thoughts and feelings on the matter didn't change.

😠 - managing with their temper

Sophia doesn’t have much of a temper. She’s pretty level headed and can usually use her words to win any kind of disagreement.

📝- planning and following their plan

Sophia doesn't like being the one in charge of a plan, but she'll follow through with any plan that is put before her so long as it was planned by someone that she trusts.

🎤- singing

Like with dancing, she likes to sing for fun. She can hold a note and sing okay, but she mostly does it for fun and only for fun.

🙊 - keeping secrets

Sophia is like a locked vault. She will go to her grave with any and all secrets that have been told to her.

😂 - telling jokes

Sophia has the same sense of humor that Carol has so she knows when and where to tell a joke. She is even good at coming up with her own material to fit a moment.

⌚- keeping track of time

Sophia has always been good at keeping track of time. She knew when her Mama said to be back at a certain time when she was a kid that she had better be back at that time. And since she's been lost in the woods, time keeping is very important to her.

🔪 - melee weapons

Sophia is good with melee weapons. She’s been learning them since she was twelve. And she’s gotten even better in the years since. She’s not afraid to be told she needs work on certain weapons and her technique.

🔫 - ranged weapons

Sophia is good with range weapons as well as melee weapons. She's been learning them right along with the melee weapons. Daryl insisted that she learn them together like that because there would be use for all kinds of weapons now that the world had fallen apart.

💞 - expressing their feelings

Sophia's face usually tells her feelings quite well so even if she doesn't say them outright, most people know how to read her face.

😓 - acknowledging mistakes

Sophia can and does acknowledge her mistakes and tries her best to make up for them. She's not perfect and there are some that might take longer to own up to, but she always does in the end when it comes right down to it.

🎺 - playing an instrument

Sophia isn't adept at playing any instruments.

🎁 - making gifts

Sophia loves making gifts for those she cares about. She's got a lot of books on homemade crafts that she relies on and works hard at learning the right techniques to improve them as she goes along.

✊ - keeping promises

Sophia is very good at keeping secrets so long as they won’t hurt anyone or the person telling her the secret.

#.maildrop [sophia]#.headcanon [sophia]#secondhandmckie

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lazysimp · 3 years

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Normal Again /// Bakugou x Fem Reader (18+)

✧Click HERE to read Male version ✧

Rating: Explicit

Summary: A sequel to fine. You never expected recovery to be easy but you never thought it would be nearly impossible. In the weeks since your torture things between you and Bakugou had only grown more strained. Will you be able to save your relationship or is it a lost cause?

Word count: 8.7k

Warnings/tags: TW: Self hatred/violence, degradation (not in a sexy way), Angst, Explicit sexual content, Oral sex (giving and receiving), Anal play, She/Her pronouns, All characters are adults, SMUT 18+ Only

masterlist┃AO3

A vicious laugh filled the air as Bakugou’s boot connected with your cheek sending your body flying towards the ground. His deep red eyes were full of glee watching you spit out blood from your busted cheek. He crouched down, looking at you as if you were filth.

“Look at you,” he sneered. “Just lying there taking it all. You are pathetic, honesty how did I ever see you as more than an easy fuck.”

“Stop it Bakugou,” you beg weakly. You could not bring yourself to understand how such cruel words could come from the same mouth that used to worship you.

His boot connects to your head once more sending blinding pain shooting through your skull. “Did you really think you were going to be with me forever? That I would tie myself to someone who can’t even stop themselves from getting kidnapped by a B-ranked villain.”

His boot rests on your face, its thick rubber sole indenting its print into your cheek. “The only reason I kept you around this whole time was that you spread your legs whenever I wanted. You are easy, too easy and the whole office knows it. They all laugh at you, at how much of a whore you are.”

Tears begin to leak from your eyes as he brought to light all your insecurities. You would rather he kept beating you than continue to torture you with his taunts. After every night of the same torture you had grown numb to the physical pain but no matter how hard you tried you could not escape his words.

“If it wasn’t for you I would have already climbed my way to the top. All you can do is hold me back from my dreams with your constant failures. You make me despise you.”

His heel digs into your temple creating an agonizing inescapable pressure. You were helpless to stop his merciless assault and you were not sure you even wanted to. All you really wanted was for all of this to stop. The constant pain and guilt had worn down your spirit, it was as though you had nothing left to even lose.

“Look at you just lying there taking it. Why don’t you fight me you pathetic bitch? Why don’t you ever fight?” He screamed, emphasizing each with a blow to your head. You reach up to cover your ears not wanting to hear anything else but your arms were trapped down at your side, held by some invisible force.

You try again to lift move your arms and then your legs but a warm tight hold tightened even further. Needing to escape the suffocating warmth you thrash around, lashing out at the invisible force.

“Shh, baby it is ok,” Bakugou said above you his boot still on your head. “This is all just a dream.”

You slam your eyes closed needing to escape the glaring red eyes that only brought you pain.

“Mimic is dead and will never hurt you again I promise,” Bakugou’s voice grows closer to your ear. This was your chance! You manage to free one arm and reach up, blindly scratching at any body part you could reach.

Your nails scream for mercy as you drag them viciously down his arm, their gliding made easy by blood. Despite the pain you know you must have caused, the invisible hold only tightened, trapping both of your hands.

“Please baby open your eyes, you are safe I promise.” Bakugou’s voice cooed softly trying to pry you away from your own mind.

You shake your head not trusting the voice, after all, it was the same one that had just been hurting you. With both your hands held still you are left with no choice but to use your teeth. You bite down on one of the arms holding you, sinking your teeth deep into the flesh until a rusty taste fills your mouth.

“Open your eyes my beautiful girl please,” Bakugou’s voice grew clearer, the malice you had been expecting surprisingly absent.

Reluctantly you relax into the warm hold and crack one eye open. A sweet smelling black tank top was the first thing you recognized. You blink your eyes a few times to clean them and get a better look around.

The cold dark room you had been in only moments ago was gone, replaced by a soft bed and warm blankets. The tight suffocating grip that had held you earlier is now a warm embrace.

You look at the strong arms holding you to your fiancé’s chest and wince. Deep red scratch marks littered his muscles and an already bruising bite branded his shoulder. With you no longer resisting he released your hands and started to run his fingers up and down your back. Despite his mask of relaxation, you could tell he was shaken up.

“I did it again didn’t I?” you ask weakly already knowing the answer.

Bakugou let out a sigh, “Yeah, it took me nearly ten minutes to get you back this time.”

Overwhelming guilt filled your mind for the second time tonight. You had hurt the man you loved because of some stupid dreams. It had been months since your rescue and still every night without fail you dreamed about it happening. It was like the torture never stopped.

“It is getting worse,” Bakugou says, continuing to pet down your back.

You nod weakly. He was not wrong. Neither of you had gotten a full night’s rest since the incident. No matter what pills you took without fail you dreamed about Bakugou. Logically you knew it was not Bakugou who had been the one to hurt you. He was your hero and his reward is you flinching from his touch and attacking him in your sleep. None of this was fair.

Bakugou’s lips softly pressed against your forehead as he pulled you in even closer. You ignored the spike of fear being close to him caused and tried to remember this was your Bakugou, not the sick twisted version Mimic created.

“We can’t keep going like this baby,” he says weakly. “I think I need to leave for a little bit.”

Absolute panic grips your heart, “No! Please don’t leave me. I’ll get better I promise. I will find another sleeping pill that one doctor prescribed worked for the first couple of weeks. We can figure this out, please don’t-”

“Shh,” Bakugou pulled you in closer. “Right now I am not good for you.”

You open your mouth to protest but he places his hand finger over our lips. “Baby you flinch every time I look at you.”

You wanted to deny his claim but remember how his eyes felt on your skin and shutter.

“My face, my voice, hell my smell are all triggers for you. I am hurting you by being near you. I am causing you pain by serving as a living reminder of your pain and I can’t do it anymore.”

Hot tears start to fall from your eyes. You hated how everything he is saying is not wrong. He is a walking trigger for the memories of that night and you had no idea how to get over them.

“So this is it,” you say, defeated.

“No, baby god no. You and I just need some time apart until you are ready to see me again. I am planning on staying at Deku’s for a bit, the nerd offered me his spare bedroom.”

Despair was the only thing you could feel. All of this was your fault and he should hate you for it but he doesn’t. Why doesn’t he hate you like you hate yourself? He should be screaming at you for causing all of this. The blame is yours and yours alone. If you had been just a little stronger you would never have been taken in the first place and none of this would have happened.

“Until I can get you to talk to me about how you are feeling I can’t help you. All I am doing is making this worse.” His arms started to loosen their hold around you and for the first time in weeks you wanted them back.

His arms pulled away completely, taking his warmth. “This is not permanent,” he assured. “It is just until you are ready for me to come back and I will wait as long as you need.”

You start to reach out for him, to beg him to get back in bed but the silhouette of him above you sent a chill down your spine. You wanted to rip everything apart, every time you made progress there was something dragging you backward.

You watch helplessly as he quickly dresses and leaves the bedroom, not looking back. You can’t blame him, you want to be free of yourself too. You could hear the front door to the apartment open and quietly shut, the lock clicking into place.

Life moved slower when you did not have your angry gremlin by your side. It had been a few weeks since he left and you had never been more miserable. At first, you had agreed to the separation, after all, he was a giant trigger but you were quickly realizing it was worse without him.

The anxiety of being alone at night had you reaching for your phone nearly every night, wanting to call him. It was a miracle you had managed to resist. With you not there to bother him maybe he would finally be getting some sleep.

The only communication you had gotten from him was a couple of texts letting you know he was still alive. You know he was trying to give you space but the longer he was away the more you wanted to drag him back home.

Your therapist had still not cleared you for fieldwork so the only thing you could to distract yourself was binge a couple of shows and try some cooking. Of course nothing you made tasted half as good as Bakugou’s cooking. By the end of the the first week your life consisted of sleep, tv, and takeout.

Your glazed-over eyes half focus on the tv in front of you as you are lost in your thoughts. You hear a knock on the door and rush over to open it. Could he have changed his mind and come back? For the first time in a long time hope filled your chest but it was quickly shattered as you look through the peephole. Uraraka stood still outside your door holding a few grocery bags.

You try to plaster on a fake smile and open the door. Uraraka did not wait for an invitation and barreled her way into your apartment.

“Hello to you too,” you mumble, closing the door.

She sets the floating bags onto the counter and releases her quirk. “Whew, you would believe the line at the store this morning. All the old ladies were fighting their way into the store for the 20% off sale. Of course none of them could beat me from being first in line.”

You snort, no matter how many brand deals and hero contracts Uraraka had she never stopped being frugal.

“How was your morning?” She asked, unpacking the many goods from the bags.

You shrug, “Same as always, watched some tv and pretend my life isn’t falling apart.”

Uraraka pauses and gives you a look of understanding. “You know he hasn’t forgotten about you, not for one minute.”

You look away, “What does it matter, our relationship is practically over. I have not seen him in weeks and even if I did see him I would make everything worse with my stupid fear.”

“You fear is not stupid, you went through something traumatic and need time to heal.”

You scoff, “I have had time. But every time I make any progress something triggers me and I fall right back down to where I started.”

“That is normal though! It took me weeks to even look at Deku without crying. You are both being too hard on yourselves.”

“I am tired of waiting!” You yell, finally letting your anger out in the open. “I miss him so much it hurts. I miss how he would hold me every night after he helped me bathe because I was too sore to even lift my arms. I miss how he would pack my lunch every day because he could not stand watching me go hungry. I miss my Bakugou.”

Uraraka wraps her arms around your shoulders pulling you in tight against her chest, letting you sob. It was the first time in weeks anyone had touched you. Her soft hands traced up and down your back, trying her best to soothe the pain.

“I miss him so much,” you cry between hiccups.

“So why don’t you call him? I am sure he would be happy to hear your voice.” Uraraka pulls out her phone and starts to dial his number.

“No!” You snatch the phone from her hand and toss it over your shoulder. You wince as you hear the phone connect with the hardwood floor.

The hand on your back stills, “You are going to replace that you know.”

You nod, a worthy expense if it meant you did not have to confront reality just yet. At least with him gone you could pretend your relationship was not over.

“Stop saying that! Your relationship is not over. What the two of you need is a good conversation.”

You must have said the last part out loud. “What does it matter, even if we have a conversation and he moves back in I will end up having nightmares and keep him up for weeks. It is not fair for him to suffer through that for me.”

“Ugh!” Uraraka shoves you off her chest and stands. “Both of you keep pushing each other away based on some convoluted idea that you are actually protecting each other. It makes me want to pull my hair out!

You cross your arms over your chest, “Well I am protecting him.”

She rolls her eyes, “Sure.”

“Hey, don’t make me regret teaching you sarcasm. I’m being serious, my nightmares were getting so bad I started to attack him in my sleep.”

“No offense but Bakugou can handle you with his hands tied behind his back.”

“But he shouldn’t have to! It is not fair for him to have to worry if his fiancé will attack him in his sleep every night.”

“News flash, life is not fair. It was not fair when I watched the love of my life get skewered in front of me. It was not fair when I could not look at him for weeks without crying. And it was not fair when Mimic tortured you. None of this is fair or just, it is all shit we are given and sometimes it is more than we can handle.”

She holds your chin in her hands, “The only thing you are doing wrong is pushing away the person who you need the most.”

“But I hurt him when he is close,” you argue weakly.

Uraraka’s eyes softened, “You hurt him more when you push him away. His quirk is not mind reading, he has no idea how to help you, how you can both help each other.”

You knew she was right, that what you were doing was not working. But you were stuck, unsure how to even start talking to him again. Even so, you had to try.

“Alright, I will try giving him a call-”

Behind you, Uraraka’s phone rang, its piercing ring tone cutting you off. Your heart sinks, that ring tone only went off when a hospital was calling. Without a word, Uraraka bends down and picks up her phone from the floor.

“Hello, this is Uravity speaking,” she said into the phone.

You watch her face for clues and your heart grew even heavier as worry danced in her eyes.

“Are you going to transfer him to the Hero’s hospital in Tokyo?”

Your breathing stops. No, the world could not be so cruel. Your hearing grows fuzzy making it impossible to tune into the rest of Uraraka’s conversation.

“Hey,” someone said in the background. “Hey, I need you to focus. Bakugou is hurt, I am not next of kin so they won’t tell me anything about his condition. I am going to drive us over to the hospital, he should already be there by the time we arrive”

You nod, too stunned to speak. He was hurt. Your Bakugou was hurt and you were just standing around. Ignoring the pain in your chest your mind finally snapped into action.

Wordlessly you and Uraraka rushed down to her car below. The drive to the Hero’s hospital was short, only a few blocks from your apartment. The front entrance was already packed full of reporters trying to catch a glimpse of your injured hero.

You bite your tounge to stop yourself from cursing the reporters out. Those nosy assholes wanted to broadcast Bakugou’s pain to the public for a quick buck. Luckily disappeared from your sight as Uraraka drove past the and into the private parking lot.

Uraraka had not even put the car in park when you shoved open the door and ran to the sliding doors. You could hear her yell to wait behind you but you kept running until you found the front desk.

You skid to a stop in front of a shocked receptionist and slam your palms down on the counter, “Where are they taking Hero Dynamight?” You ask, holding your hero license out so she would know you were not a reporter.

The receptionist winced, “I am sorry but only allowed to disclose information to the family of the patient.”

“Well I am his wife and I am demanding to know where he is.” You retort, not caring about the implications of the claim.

“Dynamight is not married, his paperwork states he is a single but nice try.”

“Listen here you-” your rant was cut short by a soft hand on your shoulder.

“It was a private ceremony, they have still not made it public yet so there is now paperwork. I know that is not protocol but won’t you please let it slide this once ” Uraraka smiles sweetly trying to play cute to get what she wants.

The receptionist shook her head, “ I am sorry but I cannot allow anyone who is not documented family to visit any patient.”

You open your mouth to yell but Uraraka beats you to it.

“That is fine, thank you for doing such a great job protecting our heroes.” She gently grabs your bicep and pulls you away from the desk before you could say another word.

“What are you doing she is our only way of figuring out anything about Bakugou.” You hiss trying to pry yourself free from her hold.

“No she’s not,” Uraraka turns her head to look at you and smiles. “I spent a few weeks coming in and out of this hospital while Deku was recovering. Going through the main entrance is the easiest way but there is a locked side door. With enough force, it can be wiggle open.”

“Won’t it have an alarm?”

“Of course it has an alarm this is a heavily secured building. Luckily they have a well-trained hero there to investigate the disturbance,” she winked.

You laugh, being a hero did have its perks. It only took a few more turns before she found the small door.

“Now when I open this door a blaring alarm will go off and two security guards will come rushing from either end. I will handle the one on this side but you will be on your own for the other. Try not to hurt them too much.”

With that Uraraka wraps her hand around the door handle and pulls, her arm muscles bulging from the effort. You stand still, stunned to watch your friend pry open the solid steel door.

The door finally gives sending out a blaring alarm but you had already made it past the first couple hallways, hiding in a small doorway as a guard runs past. You wait another minute to make sure the coast is clear besides casually walking down the hallway until you found a nurse’s station.

“Excuse me,” you say, trying to sound as polite as possible. “The front desk told me to ask you which room my husband is in.”

The oldest nurse looked you up and down skeptically, “What is your husband’s name?”

“Bakugou Katsuki.”

“Uh-hu sure, wait here a minute for me while I go find his nurse.” She turned and disappeared into the room behind the station.

Fuck, she was onto you. You slowly walk backward away from the door’s line of sight and rush down the hallway looking desperately for Bakugou. He had to be here somewhere but the hospital was a maze of hallways and doors with no names on them.

You could not yell out for him that would only alert security to your position faster. You spin on your heels looking frantically for any sign of him but the more you look, the more lost you become.

“Hey! You cannot be back here,” A security guard yelled, a taser already armed in his hand.

You put your hands into the air, looking to your side for an escape. You could handle one petty security guard but you did not feel like explaining to the commission why you beat a guard. Sucking in a deep breath you run towards the officer who was too shocked to pull the trigger on the taser. Sticking your leg out you kick his feet out from under him sending his back to the floor.

Without looking back you run down the hall taking as many turns as you could to find a hiding spot. One of these rooms had to have no camera in it.

In your frantic looking, one door stood out. It was off to the left in a dead-end hallway. It had to be a good enough hiding spot as any. You sprint to the door and swing the door open into a pitch-black room.

You felt bile rise in your throat at the thought of entering the darkness but you had no choice, security was hot on your heels. You close your eyes and step into the darkness, closing the door behind you.

Your back rests against the door and you listen to the guards run past the hallway. For now they had no idea where you were. You let out a sigh of relief and feel around the wall for a light switch.

Mercifully, you find it and switch it on. The room looked like any other hospital room except for one thing. There was someone in the bed and they were about to look up.

Shit! You duck under one of the tables in time to hide from their view.

“Oi, I thought I told you people to leave me alone! I already took the damn pills and agreed to stay the night.”

Your breathing stops at the deep rough voice of Bakugou. You found him; he is not in a coma fighting for his life. He is in bed resting safely just feet away from you. A sob of relief climbs your throat, and you have to slap your hand over your mouth to mute it.

The rush of blinding fear to find Bakugou suddenly turns into fear about seeing him. What if he did not want you to visit? Fuck you should have thought about this more before you left.

“I can hear your breathing! Don’t make me get out of bed or I will kick your ass.”

Not wanting him to hurt himself by standing you relent and force your weak knees up. You keep your eyes to the floor not daring to look at his face, “Surprise,” you tease weakly.

“W-what?” Bakugou said, his voice high and full of confusion.

“I-I heard you got hurt, no one was telling me anything, so I decided to come and check up on you myself. But I see you are fine so I will leave you alone. I am sorry for barging in.”

“Wait! Don’t leave,” Bakugou winces as he sits up in bed, his abdomen covered in bandages. Instantly you rush to his bedside.

“Don’t move that fast you will hurt yourself!” You lecture, gently pushing him back down to the bed. Bakugou looks down at your hands with shock, you had not touched him caringly since the incident.

You quickly realized your hands were still on him and snatch them back to your side. You stand there awkwardly, unsure what to do. It was like the months of being together had been erased since he had left.

“W-what happened?” You finally ask to break the silence.

Bakugou looks down at his hands, “Some stupid kid ran out in the middle of the fight and almost got themselves killed. I didn’t have enough time to get them out of the way, so I had to shield them instead. Damn villain managed to shoot me.”

“You got shot!”

“Yeah, pathetic asshole knew he could not take me without a gun. Lucky for me he had terrible aim and managed to only graze my side. The only reason I am still in this stupid bed is because Rescue Girl is on vacation and refuses to come in and heal me.”

The heavy weight on your heart lifted slightly knowing he was not seriously hurt but you still worried about his current condition. Bakugou was not one to sit around until he felt better. In the time the two of you had been together he only got sick once and it took tackling him to the ground and tying him up in bed to keep him from working.

You knew him and Deku were on good terms now but dealing with a hurt Bakugou was a full-time job. “How long did the doctor say you have to be off work?”

Bakugou scoffed, “She thinks I have to wait at least a week even with Recovery Girl. As soon as I can escape this bed I will head back to the office I have a villain to hunt down.”

You put your hands on your hips, “Oh no you won’t. If the doctor tells you to wait a week you will wait a week.”

A mischievous grin spreads across Bakugou’s face, “Oh, and how are you going to enforce that?”

Blood rushes to your face making your cheeks feel like they were burning. To keep him from fighting his restraints the last time he was sick you had to fuck him until he was too tired to care he was chained up. By the time he had recovered from being sick you could barely walk and he had to be the one to take care of you.

“Don’t look at me like that when you are hurt.”

“Then answer the question, how do you plan to keep me from working this week.”

“What are you five? Do you really need an incentive to be good?” You taunt.

A wolfish grin spread across his face, “Yes.”

You throw your hands up in the air, “Ugh, you are terrible!”

His hand reaches out and grabs your wrist to pull you in closer to the bed and for a second fear flashes in your eyes. All of the teasing had made you forget your fear but his touch brought is all back.

Bakugou sensed the change in your demeanor and opened his hand to free you from his touch.

“Wait, don’t move your hand,” you suck in a deep breath. “Just give me a second.”

His warm long fingers wrapped themselves back around your wrist, holding still as you try to calm your heart. You were stronger than this fear. You could do this.

“Baby, you don’t have to push yourself, I understand-”

“No!’ You yell, taking a step closer to his bed. “This is ok, I will make this ok again.”

You avoid looking at his face, needing to build up your strength before testing your limits. Being separated from him had helped your memories heal some but it was still difficult to see him.

Forcing the tight fear in your chest down you intertwined your fingers through his and pull them up to your lips, gently kissing his knuckles.

“It is easier when I control where you touch,” you mumble to him, trying to follow Uraraka’s advice.

“What?” Bakugou asked, unsure what you meant.

“When you are the one controlling the touching, it makes me nervous because I don’t know what will happen next. It makes me feel like I have no control and that is when I start to freak out.”

You look down to where your hands were joined, “When I am leading the touch I have some idea of what will happen next and it is easier to not feel scared.”

“So you have to be in charge?”

“I don’t have to always be in charge, I just need to know what you are thinking, what you are doing before you do it or I need to be guiding it.”

Bakugou smiled, “So if I told you to sit on my face would that work?”

A few incoherent words fall out of your mouth as you try to process what he just said.

“Well, maybe, but you are hurt and need your rest. Besides, you should not be thinking about that while you are lying in a hospital bed. When you are discharged, we can try something like that.”

Bakugou sat up straighter, “Oh no you don’t. I have gone without your taste on my tongue for too long. You are going to get that sweet ass over here and sit on my face.”

“No, Bakugou. Look at the state of you. I could seriously hurt you.”

That was the absolute worst thing you could have said, in seconds his teasing eyes filled with fiery determination. The last time he gave you that look was when you rejected going on a date with him. A week later he had your legs wrapped around his waist.

He lifts his finger and points to you and then his face, “Come here.”

You stubbornly shake your head, “This is not happening Bakugou. You could tear your stitches and have to stay in the hospital even longer.”

He shrugs, “Fine with me as long as you are here.”

This damn man must be suicidal. “We need to talk more about our relationship before we dive right into sex.”

“Your mouth will be free and clear to talk.”

“This is an awful idea. What if I get freaked out in the middle of it all?”

“That’s easy, we stop,” he gently pulls you in closer his face now only inches away.

“Please baby I have missed you; I promise I will stop if it gets too much.”

You were conflicted. Neither of you were in a state where you should be fooling around. But the feel of his hand on yours was so calming and warm that you wanted more.

“Alright,” you whisper. “But If you are in any pain you need to let me know.”

“Yeah, yeah, I promise. Now get that pretty ass up here,” he pats his shoulders.

“This is such a bad idea,” you mumble to yourself as you slip off your pants while Bakugou lowered the head of the bed. This could go wrong in so many ways but the longer you thought about his tongue on you the less you cared.

“Fuck baby,” Bakugou groaned, “Climb up, you won’t hurt me.”

You toss your pants to the side and do as he said. Climbing up onto his bed and carefully lowering yourself over his face. Your face was burning at the thought of what all he could see. Needing support, you grab ahold of the headboard. After all you did not want to hurt him. Bakugou was not having that. He wrapped his arms around your thighs and pulled you down until you had no choice but to rest your weight on his face.

“Wait, you could hurt yourself,” you protested breathlessly.

He only laughed, his hot breath teasing your aching cunt. He sat still under you for a few minutes letting you get adjusted to the feeling of his touch, and it let him soak in the sight of you above him.

“Such a pretty pussy,” he mumbled against the soft skin of your thighs. Not wanting to move too fast he first places a few sloppy kissing along with your inner thigh, giving you ample time to mentally prepare for his mouth on your cunt.

You try to stop yourself from shaking but it was impossible. It had been months since someone had touched you and to have Bakugou beneath you, ready to worship your body, was almost too much for your brain to process.

Bakugou’s mouth teased your other thigh before settling on your already soaking wet pussy.

“That’s my good girl, already wet for me. This pretty pussy knows who it belongs to, but does its owner?”

“Bakugou stop talking to my pussy and get to work,” you growl.

“Tsk, when did you become so greedy?” The hands on your thighs shift around until they were able to spread open your sex giving him complete access to you.

“You are lucky I miss this just as much as you do or I would tease you for hours. Tie your ass to the bed and not let you leave until neither of us could move.”

You rock your hips trying to egg him on, “Sounds to me like you are all talk.”

The hands on your thighs tighten forcing you to put all your weight onto his face. You try to pull yourself up, not wanting to suffocate your boyfriend but he refuses and goes straight for the kill. His soft wet tongue drags a straight line up the slit of your cunt, gathering up your juices.

Your hands abandon the headboard and thread through his hair. Bakugou groaned, settling into feasting on your cunt. His soft lips slide through your folds, looking for your hidden button.

“Ah please Bakugou,” you beg, “it feels so good.”

You could feel his smile against your skin before his mouth latches onto your throbbing clit, dragging it into his mouth.

While his lips teased your clit, one hand left your thigh to snake around under you. You lurch forward as two thick fingers slip through your folds, wetting themselves in your slick before they gently press at your entrance.

Your hips buck away from the combined sensations fearing to be too much but Bakugou was not having it, he strengthened his hold on your thighs and pushed you down on his fingers. You sob at the feeling of being stretched, it had been so long the burn was more intense than normal.

“Fuck baby you are so tight around my fingers, I can’t wait to have you wrapped around my cock,” he groaned.

“Bakugou,” you whined. “You can’t just say things like that.”

He releases your clit with a pop, “Like what? Like how I want to feast on this pussy until you are all I can taste for weeks. Like how by the time I am done with you, you will be a sobbing mess that I will have to take care of. Just listen to this sloppy pussy take my fingers. Fuck baby people would kill for even a sliver of this cunt but too bad for them it is all mine.”

You shove a fist in your mouth to stifle a loud moan. The last thing either of you needed was someone barging in.

Bakugou pulled your aching bud back between his lips and got to work. The two fingers inside you started to pump, curling to hit your sweet spot each time they were inside you. His delicious tongue flicked up and down on your clit driving you mad.

Trusting you would not run away he releases your other thigh and reaches under your shirt. His large hand stroked up your stomach, caressing the skin there before latching onto one of your nipples. He pinches the soft peak between his fingers, rolling it until it pebbles. You arch your back into his hand and start to rock your hips wanting more.

Bakugou moans into your cunt, able to tell you were growing lost in the pleasure. He loved it when you were too engrossed with feeling good to care about anything except him.

Looking down in between your legs you could see his light blonde hair peeking out from the apex of your thighs and had a devilish idea.

“Bakugou stick out your tongue,” you order.

He releases you from his mouth and looks up, his chin soaking with your juices, “What?”

“Stick out your tongue, like this,” You show him with your own mouth.

A spark of recognition flashed in his eyes and he smiled. Good, he liked the idea too. With no delay, his tongue stuck out of his mouth. You reach down and spread yourself open, settling back over Bakugou’s eager tongue. His fingers abandon you in favor of holding onto your ass while you dig your fingers into his hair.

With both of you settled you slowly begin to rock your hips, riding his tongue. You start off slowly, watching closely for any sign Bakugou was not comfortable but judging by his growl of pleasure you would say he is just fine.

A red hot warmth started to grow in the lower half of your body, slowly spreading its tingle to your lower belly. Fuck, the image of Bakugou beneath you, letting your ride his face was almost too much to process.

“Oh god Bakugou,” you moan. “Please, it feels so good.”

He could only groan in response, his mouth too busy bringing you to your peak. When you looked down at him between your legs you could only see his bright lust filled eyes. They were intensely watching you fall apart.

White spots started to grow in your vision and you increase the speed of your thrusts. The fingers in his hair tighten, now holding onto him for dear life. It only took a few more rocks of your hips before the white spots grew into a blinding white light.

Overwhelming waves crashed into you, sending glorious pleasure pulsing through you. Your body was not your own as the electricity ran through you making every muscle grow taunt and release in a never-ending cycle.

Bakugou redoubled his effort, not letting you even finish your first peak before he was building you up to another. The idea that you would feel that pleasure again was enough to make you mad.

His fingers slipped into your clenching entrance and curled forward, teasing your sweet spot. His lips returned to your clit, sucking it gently into his mouth and lashing at the tender bud with his tongue.

You release his hair, afraid you will rip it out, and hold onto the headboard as all the clenching tension finally releases, sending you spiraling. Loud wanton moans ripped from your throat and you could do nothing to stop them.

Bakugou toyed with you until you could no longer hold yourself upright. Only then did he gently lift you off his face and down onto his lap. You slouch over and rest your forehead on his shoulder. The world around you was fuzzy, your mind still reeling from how hard you finished.

“Wait, Bakugou you are not supposed to be lifting anything!” You yell when your mind finally returns to reality.

“Tsk, I already told you I am fine.”

You fought the urge to slap him, “You idiot what if you had busted open your stitches!”

“You did not seem too worried about that when you were rubbing your cunt on my tongue.”

“Well, obviously I was not thinking straight,” you mumble. Damn him for being right.

Bakugou gives you a sly smile, “You know I am feeling a little sore.”

Regret slams into you, “Damn it Bakugou, I was worried this would happen. Where are you hurting.”

His hips thrust upwards forcing his rock-hard cock against your ass. “Right there baby.”

You flick your finger against his forehead, “I was really worried you asshole.”

“But it aches, won’t you make it feel better?”

“You are lucky you are hot,” you whisper into his ear before carefully descending his body. You settle in between his legs, pulling down the blankets to free his cock.

You have to stop and stare at it. Everything about your boyfriend had to be perfect. His cock was long and proud, resting on his stomach with a small tuft of blonde pubic hair at the base. His cock had one large vein running up the length of it, pulsing with each heartbeat. God, you wanted to trace that vein with your tongue.

Reaching up you wrap your hand around the base of his cock. He was so warm on your hand, like your own personal space heater. You shuffle your body to get your mouth a little close to his cock and then before he could say anything bring the head of his cock into your mouth.

His reaction was instant, his hands shot down to grab at the sheets beside your head. You could feel his hips flex under you as he fought the urge to thrust up into your mouth.

Feeling emboldened by his reaction you relaxed the muscles in your jaw and took more of his length into your mouth. His salty flavor spilled across your tongue as he started to release pre-cum. Your poor baby had gone too long without any attention.

Redoubling your effort you bring up your free hand and wet it with your spit. Reaching under your busy mouth you slide your finger down until you find Bakugou’s tight entrance.

“Hey, what do you think you are doing?” Bakugou growls, grabbing your wrist.

You let his cock fall out of your mouth and look up innocently, “I am making you feel good baby, just lay back and relax. I promise this will feel good.”

He looked conflicted but slowly the iron-clad grip on your wrist loosened enough to set you free. Not waiting for him to change his mind you begin to circle his hole with your wet finger. Before you could even try to push your finger forward you needed him to relax. You return to teasing his aching cock with your mouth, sucking on his tip just the way he likes all the while circling your finger around his hole, waiting for him to relax enough for you to slip it in.

As you take another inch of him into your mouth you could feel him relax enough to slip your finger slip past the tight ring of muscle. You could feel Bakugou tense so you did not move the finger forward, giving him time to adjust to the intrusion.

With your tongue on his dick it was easy enough to distract him as you slowly inch your finger in. Once you went in far enough you twist your finger around, looking for a soft spongy spot inside him. A sharp thrust up into your mouth signaled you had found exactly what you were looking for.

“What the fuck,” Bakugou groaned, his hands going to hide his face. You smirk, finally, you were the one driving him insane.

You benign to move your hand and mouth on his cock in time with your finger in his ass. Small pathetic whines were leaving Bakugou’s mouth and you felt like a god. You were so engrossed in bringing him pleasure you had no time to think about anything else.

You could hear his breathing begin to grow more labored and his cock grow even harder in your mouth. “Fuck, baby I am going to-” Was the only warning you had before his cum shot to the back of your throat.

You swallow his release down, making sure to ease your hold on his cock, now only gently pumping your hand and finger to lengthen his orgasm.

Slowly the pulsing of his cock stopped and you released him from your mouth, wiping the spit on your chin off with the back of your hand. You could not help but smile as you watched Bakugou slowly come back into the real world with a beautiful dazed look on his face.

He slid his hand under your chin and lifted your head to meet his eyes, “Where the fuck did you learn that?”

“Being away from you for this long made me desperate so I watched a couple of videos to make it easier.”

“Right,” he said breathlessly, “You need to show me that shit later if it taught you that.”

You laugh, “Gladly. Now lay down you need your rest.”

Bakugou tilts his head, “What the hell do you mean rest? I have not been away from you for too long, I can rest later. Now I am going to get my cock into that tight pussy.”

“Bakugou you just finished.”

“So,” he thrusts his hips up, rubbing his already erect cock against your ass.

“How?” You ask in amazement.

“I have been fantasizing about fucking you for months baby. Did you really think once would be enough to satisfy me?”

Without waiting another minute his hands grab into your hips and lift you up. Lining your entrance up with the tip of his cock. In a flash you involuntarily tense your body, the memories of that night rushing back into your head. No, no, no, not now, not when you were so close to being one with Bakugou again.

His bright red eyes meet yours as he feels you tense. Fuck, why did you always mess everything up, this was all your fault. Why could you not just be normal, that is what he deserved a nice normal happy girl.

“Hey,” Bakugou whispered softly. “Talk to me, what is wrong.”

You wanted to keep your lips shut, to pretend that everything was fine but that would be lying. You never wanted to lie to him.

“I can’t stop thinking about Mimic. One minute I am fine and the next he is all I can see.”

Bakugou’s eyebrows furrowed, “You were fine with what we did earlier? What triggered it?”

You shake your head, “It is different every time. It is just hard for my mind to differentiate from my Bakugou and the one Mimic made.”

“So call me Katsuki.”

“Huh?”

“If you are having a hard time with there being two Bakugou’s, then try calling me Katsuki. That way there is at least one easy way to tell me apart from him.”

“You want me to call you by your first name?”

His eyes softened, “Yeah baby, I want you to call me by my first name.”

“Katsuki,” You test his name out, loving how it feels on your tongue. You watch his face to see his reaction and see lust fill his gaze. Oh he liked it.

You start to whisper his name over and over again, like a prayer to remind yourself you were no longer under Mimics thumb. You were with the man who would kill anything that tried to hurt you.

“If you keep saying my name like that baby I am going to fuck you,” Katsuki growled into your ear.

Oh would he now? You wiggle your hips, teasing the head of your cock with your dripping slit. Pulling him in close you whisper one little word, “Katsuki.”

“You asked for it,” He laughed, hauling your hips back up until they hovered over his cock.

The hands on your hips gripped down with bruising force and his cock slipped into your entrance. All the play from earlier had left you more than prepared enough to take his length. The familiar burn started as his cock sank deeper inside you, opening you wide for him.

“By the time I am finished with you, this tight cunt is going to be fucking dripping in my cum. I am going to fill you to the fucking brim.”

A low groan was your only response he bottomed out inside you, his cock leaving no space unfilled. You could damn near feel him in the back of your throat. Normally he would be the one to initiate thrusting but you were growing too impatient.

Bracing your hands on his chest, careful to avoid his bandages, you lift your hips up until only the tip of his cock was inside. Then you slam your hip down, marveling at the feel of him entering you again.

His cock was perfect for hitting all the sweet spots inside you. Not wanting to be left out Katsuki grab ahold of your ass and uses his own strength to strengthen each thrust.

You look down to where you both were joined and almost came on the spot. The sight of his cock pistoning into you was mind-shattering. He looked like a god beneath you. His large muscles building with effort, the thick veins in his arms standing elevated.

“Look at me,” he ordered, his bright red eyes filled with determination. “Right now you are mine, that means the only thing you are allowed to think about is me. About how good my cock feels splitting you open. Is that clear?”

You weakly nod your head, too overwhelmed to speak. A soft smile spreads across his face, “That is my baby, so good for me.”

His praise felt like a caress on your skin. You needed to distract yourself or this would end too soon. You lean forward and press your lips onto his. His tongue glided along the seam of your lips, demanding entrance. You happily opened your mouth allowing his tongue to slip inside. The taste of his spit was mixed with your own flavor, and you still had some of his taste on your tongue. The combined flavor was so fucking lewd and hot.

The familiar tingled started to grow in your pussy, you were not going to last long. The muscles in your legs begin to tremble making your thrusts grow sloppy. Katsuki was not having it. His hips rose to meet yours, forcing your body to endure even more pleasure all the while he toyed with your mouth.

It all became too much, the different sensations all worked together to drive you up, higher and higher you were climbing until it was hard to even breathe. Then, just like that, all the pressure released sending you spiraling.

Your pussy clamped down on his cock, forcing Katsuki to erupt. The thought of him filling you only lengthened the brutal pleasure filling your mind. There was no room in your mind for anything but him. You had no care in the world but him just like he ordered.

As the pulses of pleasure slowed you were able to finally catch your breath. You both laid still in each others arms for a few minutes, letting you come slowly back to earth. Of all the times the two of you fucked this definitely had to be in the top three. Though they did say that makeup sex was the best.

“How are you feeling?” Katsuki asked, his voice rough.

You rest your ear against his chest, listening to his heartbeat, “I feel good.”

He places a soft kiss on your forehead, “Do you think you are ready for me to come home?”

You take the time to think about it. Having him back in your life did not set off fear like it used to. Instead, it made you feel warm inside. You looked forward to going to bed with him instead of dreading it.

“Yeah,” you smile. “Yeah, I am.”

The arms around your waist tighten pulling you impossibly closer to his chest. You snuggle in closer, getting comfortable. Katsuki would never admit it but lying here with you in his arms safe and happy was one of the happiest moments in his life.

Neither of you was healed from what had happened but you refused to push him away again. You will get past what happened and you will do it with him by your side.

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backtobackbakubabe · 3 years

Text

Speak Easy Part 14

Dabi x Reader , Bakugo x Reader

Words : 6689

Masterlist

Reader has a siren quirk and has spent the past several years of her life as a captive being experimented on by “heroes” Now that she’s out she needs protection and safe place to heal. Who will be the one to put her pieces back together.

Words with ‘this’ is dialogue written in her journal rather than said out loud and and words with ~this~ is dialogue said in sign language rather than out loud.

********************************************************************

It had been three weeks since Dabi left and in those three weeks you hadn’t heard a peep from him. True to his word he never called you. Shoto seemed to be getting vague updates from Katsuki but nothing that could settle your nerves.

You threw yourself into working out to distract yourself. You refused to ever be weak again. Every day you got up early and hit the home gym that you built with Dabi’s money in his absence. You were surprised how good it felt to spend his money without his permission. You knew he had enough to go around, but it was almost like payback for him leaving you here without him.

The gym was simple. A treadmill, some free weights, and a punching bag.

The guys took turns coming to check on you. Shoto more than the others, which was fine with you considering he was the only one with the balls to spar with you. You didn’t know if they were scared of you, Dabi, or Katsuki. But whoever it was, they were keeping their hands to themselves. And that’s how you ended up here now pinned underneath Shoto’s knee.

“I told you, stop thinking so hard. Your moves are predictable, I can read your every move before you do it. You need to relax and trust your instincts.”

You shoved him off of you and sat up, putting your elbows on your knees.

“I knew I’d be rusty… but I didn’t think it’d take this long to get back into shape.”

Shoto handed you a water bottle and sat next to you. “Well you’ve always been good, but you’ve also relied on your quirk pretty heavily up until now. You’ll get there, just takes time.”

You sat for a while in silence. That’s another thing you appreciated about Shoto. His ability to find comfort in shared silence. He never forces a conversation or pushes you to talk about things you don’t want to.

“So how long can you stay this time?”

His mismatched eyes met yours with a guilty look. “Honestly I’ve already been here a little too long. My shift starts soon, and I have a long drive.” He sighed as he screwed the cap back onto his water bottle. “Last I heard from Bakugo there wasn’t really much change but they’re both still alive and well. I’m supposed to be hearing from him again sometime in the next few days. So, I should have a better update the next time I see you.”

You followed him to the front door, feeling your heart sink as you went. You hated this part. The part when they left. There wasn’t exactly a schedule, they just came and went when they could. It was incredibly lonely when it was just you and you were already getting anxious thinking about it. “I wish he’d just come home already. I hate being here alone…”

Shoto sighed with his hand on the door. “I can only imagine… I’ll see what I can do about getting you some better company. Maybe we can rework our shifts or something… I don’t know, but we’ll figure something out.” He reached a hand out and gently pressed it to your shoulder, “Don’t get into trouble while I’m gone, and for the love of god follow my idiot bothers laws.” His eyes twinkled, “Oh! That reminds me…ware your fucking collar… his words not mine.”

Your eyes bulged. Those where the first words you’d gotten from him since he left. Your fingers darted to your bare neck, “I-It’s charging… the battery doesn’t last forever.”

Shoto chuckled, “Well according to him you haven’t worn it for two days. He interrupted my last call with Bakugo just to tell me.”

“I guess I should have known he’d be watching the stats like the creep his is.” You rolled your eyes and tried to suppress the blush that was threatening to break out across your cheeks. Of course he was watching. Watching the tracker to make sure you were where you were supposed to be. Watching your vitals to makes sure you were staying healthy. Watching your call log to make sure you weren’t doing anything you weren’t supposed to be doing.

For the first time since he left you felt an odd giddy feeling. It reminded you of the feeling you’d get when you were in school and a boy you had a crush on liked one of your pictures on social media. It wasn’t direct interaction, but it was a reminder that he cared.

Shoto gave you a quick hug before leaving, reminding you to lock the door as he went.

As soon as you heard the security system signal that is was on, the empty feeling returned. You were alone again. By yourself. With only your thoughts to keep you company… how awful.

You dragged yourself over to the where your collar was charging and put it back on. Your fingers brushed over the familiar material. A warm feeling started to push through the empty feeling in your stomach as you thought about how Dabi was probably checking on you every chance he got. The least you could do was reassure him that you were okay.

Despite being able to talk again you had decided to keep up with the sign language. It was a good distraction and also something really helpful to know. You learned from Shoto that Izuku had learned sign just in case Katsuki went deaf, and he ended up teaching Shoto. So it seemed it could definitely come in handy down the road.

You also spent a great deal of time watching cooking shows and trying to learn some things.

You were never that great with cooking before, hell you didn’t even really know how to efficiently shop for groceries. You were rarely home, and when you were you were ordering in or letting Katsuki cook for you. But now that you were home alone for days at a time, you decided it was time you learn.

Tonight, you watched a video on how to sign different colors and numbers as you attempted to make rice balls. The chef made it look so easy in the video you watched earlier. But so far you were finding it to be incredibly difficult.

You were trying to take this time alone to improve yourself. Now that he wasn’t here it was easier to see how much you had relied on Dabi. You wanted him to come back to a new and improved you.

You sat down to dinner with your pathetic looking rice balls and fought to push down the empty feeling in your stomach once again. The loneliness killed your appetite, you could feel yourself sinking into a funk. Every day it got harder to convince yourself that eating was important, that getting out of bad even mattered, that working out was worth it.

But then you thought about what Dabi would say if he found out you weren’t taking care of yourself. He’d probably bend you over his knee and spank you for even thinking about skipping a meal.

So even though your depressed brain tried really hard to convince you that you weren’t hungry, you shoved bite after bite into your mouth. He’d be livid if you so much as lost a pound while he was gone.

You thought about the way he loved to worship your body. How he groaned when his hands gripped your hips. How his hands traveled up your thick thighs and around to your ass before giving it a squeeze and… great… now you’re working yourself up.

There had been several times your needs had riled you up to the point where you had tried to take care of them yourself. But no matter what you did or how hard you tried, you hadn’t been able to get yourself off. Your hands were no comparison to Dabi’s.

You let out a frustrated growl as you dropped your plate into the sink.

Once again you had this burn in your core that was spreading and you were already frustrated knowing there was nothing you could do about it. You didn’t even have any toys to help and there was no way you could ask one of the guys to bring you one the next time they came. You flushed at the image of Shoto or Izuku handing you a vibrator.

With the ache between your legs only seeming to grow worse, you skipped to your bedroom, well Dabi’s bedroom, but you guess it was yours now too.

You were sweaty from your workout and was in desperate need of a shower which gave you the perfect idea.

You quickly stripped your clothing and stepped into the hot spray of the shower you quickly washed your hair and body before turning the hot water down a little to a nice room temperature.

With nervous hands you pulled the shower head down from it’s spot and played with the settings. You switched between them until you found one that seemed… promising?

The shower head slowly roamed from your neck to your chest, to your nipple. You sucked in a breath as you closed your eyes and tried to pretend that it was something or rather someone else. Your breathing picked up as the spray slowly moved further down until it reached the spot that was giving you all the trouble.

Suddenly a jolt of pleasure ran through you and you had to put a hand on the wall to keep yourself from falling over. A low moan fell from your lips and you rolled your hips against the pressure. “Oh god. Oh shit. YES!” It had been weeks since you last orgasmed and you could feel everything that had been building coming to a climax… literally.

Your breathing became erratic as you imagined rough callused fingers rubbing your clit while wet, sloppy lips mouthed at you neck. Your head swam with desire as you felt the familiar clenching in your core.

Then out of nowhere you felt your pleasure snap as your first orgasm in weeks washed over you in heavy waves. “FuUuck!” Your legs wobbled and almost buckled underneath you. Your orgasm seemed to go on way longer than any one you’ve had in recent memory. It just kept going and going till the point that you thought you couldn’t breathe.

Your legs crumpled underneath you and you fell as your orgasm finally finished.

After a few minutes you used your foot to turn the water off as your breathing finally started to even out.

Your heart practically leapt out of your throat as your collar started beeping with an incoming call. You answered it immediately in the hopes that it was Dabi.

“H-Hello?”

“Y/N!? Are you okay?”

That voice didn’t belong to Dabi but it was probably the second best option.

“Kats? Y-yeah I’m fine. W-why do you ask?” You sucked in a huge breath to help yourself come back down from your high.

“Dabi said he got an alert that your vitals were at dangerous levels. Apparently, your heartbeat was erratic… You workin out or somethin?”

You blushed and cleared your throat, “Or something.”

There was a brief silence on the other end before you heard a muffled curse. “Fuck, okay so you’re more than good.” You could almost hear the blush in his voice. “Sorry to interrupt… have a good night…”

Before he could hang up you panicked and shouted, “WAIT!”

“… Yeah?”

“How are you guys?” You hated how weak you sounded. How desperate you sounded for any update on their progress.

“We’re alive and making good progress. That’s all I can really say right now.”

“Good okay… hey uh Kats… please be safe. Both of you.”

“We’ll try… I gotta go now. Good night y/n.”

Before you could respond you heard the beeping, indicating that he had hung up.

Groaning you picked yourself up and made your way to the big comfy bed that just felt too big now that it was just you. You pulled one of Dabi’s shirts on that dwarfed you and queued up a movie on the TV.

Sleep didn’t take long to take you and your last thoughts were of how monotonous your life was now. You go to bed, wake up, work out, work on Sign Language, watch cooking shows, cook dinner, rinse repeat.

You just needed something to mix it up.

And your wish would be granted not even two days later when Kirishima showed up at your door with pointy toothed grin. “Hey Y/N! How’s it going? Gone crazy yet?”

“I think I went crazy years ago bud.” You giggled as you stepped to the side to let him in. Instead he just stood there looking at you funny. “So are you coming in or did you just drop by to stare at me and leave?”

“Oh! Right? Hold on… close your eyes! I have a surprise.”

You narrowed your eyes but complied with a sigh. “Kiri I swear if this surprise is a wet willy, I will hypnotize you and make you pee yourself.”

He was quiet as he tiptoed away quickly. Only moments later you heard the pitter patter of him trying and failing to sneak up on you. You knew he was next to you now, but you kept your eyes closed anyways.

“Kiri what are you—”

You shrieked as a wet tongue licked you from your chin to your ear. “WHAT THE FUCK KIRI!”

Your eyes bolted open to see a crying Kiri holding a puppy. He was laughing so hard you were scared he was going to drop the dog.

You reached out and yanked the puppy from him and could immediately feel yourself sinking into its soft fur. “Oh my goodness! Who is this sweat baby?”

You nuzzled into and started rubbing its soft ears.

“He is your new guard dog. Well he’s more of a guard puppy, but you get the point.”

He started to walk back towards his car, “Wait? Are you leaving already?”

He gave you a regretful look, “Yeah sorry princess, I only had time to come drop off your new friend. I have to go pick up my kid from school, but I think I’m coming back soon. I’ll leave you two to get acquainted.” With a wink he hopped into his car and sped away.

You were only sad for a brief moment before you scurried back inside with your new friend.

You plopped yourself down on the couch with the puppy sitting in your lap. He was a little ball of fur with big ole paws and floppy ears. From what you could tell he might be an Australian Shepheard. “What are we going to call you huh?”

The little furball cocked his head at you and started chewing on your fingers.

“Hmmm what about Buddy? No that’s cliché. Ajax? He was the strongest warrior in all of Greece.” You watched as the “warrior” in question sniffed his own butt. “Hm maybe not. What abouuuuut… Bravo?”

He looked at you and gave the cutest little “woof”

You smiled and scratched behind his ears. “Okay then Bravo it is. Welcome to your new home sweet boy.”

Bravo was exactly what you needed in order to break out of your slump. You could feel your serotonin rise every day as you bonded with him. He was keeping you company and also keeping you very busy. Between poddy training and teaching him basic commands he was a handful. He loved to follow you everywhere you went and nip at your ankles until you paid attention to him.

It was amazing how quickly Bravo was becoming the most important thing in your life. Since Dabi left you had frequent nightmares that often led to anxiety attacks once you woke up. But now you had a fuzzy four-legged friend who not only woke you up when you cried in your sleep but also laid on top of you until you calmed down. You almost laughed thinking about how Dabi would react when he came home. You knew he’d find a way to be jealous of a dog.

Bravo settled into a routine with you and he never let you out of his sight. He really had the potential to be an excellent guard dog. He was extremely smart, picking up new tricks and commands easily. He was perceptive. And most importantly he didn’t hesitate to attack any of the guys, in his cute puppy way, when they came to visit. He was one hundred percent a Mamma’s boy.

Today had been a weird one. It was officially a month since the boys left. You stayed in bed a little longer than usual but you had responsibilities now and Bravo wasn’t going to let you be sad all day. He decided growling and pulling on your blanket was the best way to get you attention.

“Bravo, no. I know you want to play, just let me be sad a little longer, and then we’ll go outside.” You knew he didn’t understand you, but it felt so nice to just talk to him even if he can’t respond.

Bravo continued to jump and bark at you obviously trying to get you play with him. You rolled your eyes as you threw the blanket off of you. “Alright, alright, I get it. Let’s go outside.”

You rolled out of bed and pulled your hair into a bun. It was cold out now, and it even looked like it might snow soon. You used to love the snow, but the older you got the more miserable it sounded. You pulled a pair of sweatpants and a baggie hoodie on and started to drag your feet towards the back door. “You couldn’t let me wallow for even a couple hours huh?”

You slid the sliding glass door open and Bravo took off into the backyard.

The sky was a dark and depressing shade of grey. You could see your breath escaping you and it made you shiver. “Okay Bruno let’s make this quick! It’s fucking cold…” You shoved your hands in your pockets as Bravo sprinted from one side of the yard to another before stopping to sniff a spot on the fence to pee. “Good boy Bravo… let’s go in now. Eat some breakfast, how does that sound?”

Snow started to fall and before long you could feel it soaking through your hoodie. “BRAVO! You little shit, come on it’s cold!”

He ran towards you like he was going to listen before turning at the last second and running off to the side. You groaned. You loved the dog, but it was times like this that reminded you how frustrating taking care of another living thing could be.

You took a couple steps towards him and he just stood there wagging his goofy little tale. You leapt towards him just for him to run off again in the other direction. “I swear Bravo, if you love me at all you will come to me right now!”

You tip toed towards him slowly, “Come on dude. It’s too cold.” You were so close now, you just needed to scoop him up. You jumped at him but again he leapt out of the way except this time… your foot slipped on some fresh snow on the concrete surrounding the pool… and in you fell.

The ice-cold water cut through you straight to your bones like a million needles. You gasped which was a huge mistake as you sucked in water into your lungs. Now the panic was setting in. The last time you were in this pool you drowned. And this time there was no Dabi to resuscitate you. There was no one here. You could die here, and no one would even know for days.

No, no, no, this was not the time to have a panic attack. You had to think. You had to get out of this pool. But you couldn’t, the only thing you could think was how cold you were, how painful the water in your lungs was, how the cold water felt like you were being stabbed. You vision was blacking out, your limbs were becoming numb, you finally started to try and swim, but your muscles were so sluggish. It was agony trying to get your arms and legs to cooperate. Were you going into shock?

You felt yourself sinking and there was nothing you could do. Your baggie hoodie and sweatpants were only getting heavier on your limbs. It was like you had forgotten how to swim. Or like one of those dreams where it doesn’t matter how hard or how long you keep swimming you never make it to the surface. You expected your life to flash before your eyes, but it didn’t. Instead all you had was fear. Fear and regret. And those almost weighed you down more than your soaked clothes.

You have unfinished business. You had a corrupt hero system to dismantle. You had a life to reclaim. You had… people who loved you, and you couldn’t leave them behind just yet.

You pushed as hard as you could now. You refused to give up. Just before you blacked out your head broke the surface. You struggled to stay afloat as you managed to get yourself to the ladder. You gripped it with all your determination. Your breathing was getting shallow but you didn’t know if it was the panic or the cold.

You screamed as you tried to pull yourself out of the pool. It hurt so bad. Your muscles sched and it was almost like they stopped working all together. You could hear Bravo barking as he paced the side of the pool. As soon as you got your upper body on the concrete Bravo took your sleeve in his mouth and tugged. It wasn’t enough to pull you out on his own, but it definitely helped.

Your body was wracked with shivers. You were shivering so hard it hurt. Your collar was beeping but you couldn’t bring your fingers up to push the button to answer. You were literally frozen… from the cold, from the fear.

The beeping just continued, and tears flowed down your cheeks. All you had to do was move your hands, you just needed to push the button, and you could answer, you could ask for help. You knew Dabi had to have been alerted that you were in danger by now. Someone had to be coming for you.

Bravo laid on top of you licking your face as you lost your mind. The beeping from your collar kept going, and you don’t know what possessed you, it must have been one last surge of adrenaline, your bodies last effort to save yourself. But your fingers crawled towards your collard and clicked the button.

“Y/N! Thank god! I’ve been calling! Are you okay?” It was Kats again. You were quiet for a while as you tried to cough up some water. “Y/n? Are you okay? Or is this another… false alarm?”

You sniffled, “I-I-I F-Fe-Fe-ll I-In T-The-Pool.”

“Uhm Okay? Are you okay? Did you hit your head or something?”

A sob left you, “No! I-I’m Not O-Okay. I-I”

There was a muffled sound on the other end of the call, "Y/n, baby I need you to breathe. I know you’re scared. Can you get inside?”

“Dabi?” His voice filled you with the warmth you desperately needed, but it wasn’t enough to get your body moving. “No. I-Its t-too C-Cold. I-I-“

“Stop talking! Conserve your warmth. Shoto’s already on his way. He’ll be there soon baby. I’m going to stay on the phone with you until he gets there, but I need you to stay awake. Can you do that?”

Bravo curled up next to your neck and nuzzled into you while whining.

You don’t remember passing out. But when you woke up you felt like you were in an oven.

Your eyes slowly opened to find that you were under several blankets with Shoto sitting next to you with his hand on your forehead. “She’s still asleep… but I’m worried she’s getting sick. I’m pretty sure she has a fever.” He was on the phone with someone, “I keep going back and forth from trying to warm her up to cooling her down… Well what do you want me to do I’m not a doctor… Do you know anyone we can trust?” Whoever he was talking too was obviously not happy. “How do you suppose we do that?”

Your eyes closed and sleep claimed you once more. You tried to stay awake, but it seemed impossible. You didn’t even dream, you were just sucked into the black abyss.

The next time you woke up there was a cloth on your forehead and two voices whispering by the door.

“She probably needs an IV at this point. She’s been in bed for three days and she hasn’t eaten anything. Shoto this is more than just a cold. She’s really sick.”

You knew that voice belonged to Izuku. He sounded stressed out. Had he really said there days. There’s no way you had been sleeping that long.

“I agree, but where would we get one? Do you know how to set one up? No? Because neither do I. I swear all of you are crazy. First Dabi rips me a new asshole over the phone about how I was supposed to keep her safe, then Bakugo gives me shit for not being able to find her a doctor, and now you. I’m doing my best!”

You wanted to sit up and tell him you were fine. But you couldn’t because once again sleep was calling you back. The black abyss sucked you back in.

The next time you woke you felt slightly better, your head definitely hurt a little less.

“I can’t believe you idiots where hiding this from me? Did you not trust me, or did you just think you could dismantle the entire system on your own?”

When the fuck did Aizawa get here?

“You’ve been retired for years… we didn’t want to drag you into this.”

A brief silence passed, and it sounded like he was standing up from a chair, “Well I’m glad you did. She was in rough shape. The IV will help. Let me know if you need anything else. And I mean anything. Like you said… I’m retired now so I have a lot of free time.”

You managed to open your eyes, but had to squint at the bright light. “Was that Sensei?” Your voice sounded rough and foreign, but it was unmistakably yours.

Shoto’s mismatched eyes filled your vision, “Oh thank god you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

You tried to clear your throat but if felt like sandpaper, “Like shit…”

He climbed into bed next to you, “When I found you, you had hypothermia. I warmed you up but then you got really sick. I finally caved and had to call Aizawa. I don’t know how he knows how to set up an IV or how he even got his hands on all this medicine and medical equipment. But I’m not going to question it either.”

You leaned on him. “That was nice of him…” Your muscles still ached, and you you’re your skin was so sensitive. You just wanted to pass out again and wake up when all of this was over. “Where’s Bravo?”

At the sound of his name you felt a weight near your feet shift. He got up and made his way to you putting his head on your chest. His big fuzzy head was making you all warm and cozy. “I think I’m going to take a nap.”

“Y/n no, come on I need you to eat something. Seriously, it’s one of your laws, you have to eat, so you need to stay awake.”

You hugged your blanket to you. “I’ll eat when I wake up… promise.”

This time when you slept you had dreams waiting for you. They were all weird and generally involved your time at UA. You dreamt of sports festivals, hanging out with your friends, and training with Sensei. But for once you didn’t have a nightmare. Which was a blessing.

“Wake up… you need to eat something… open your eyes baby.”

You stirred and found that you were laying on top of something, or rather someone. A hand was wrapped tightly around your waist while the other was brushing your hair out of your face.

Your sleepy brain was desperately trying to figure out if you were still sleeping because this had to be a dream.

“Are you really here?”

A kiss was placed on your forehead, “Yes baby, I’m really here. And I really need you to eat something so you can get better.”

His words had your stomach growling, making your groan.

Your eyes opened to find his blue ones staring back at you. The amount of concern in them was startling. “I must look like shit if you’re looking at me like that.”

Dabi didn’t so much as crack a smile at your humorless joke. “Well by law I can’t lie to you… so yeah. You’ve definitely looked better.” His thumb brushed your cheek, “Nothing that can’t be fixed with a shower and a good meal though.”

He helped you sit up and fluffed some pillows behind you. “You don’t have to do all this. I’m feeling better now. I can do it myself—”

Dabi cut you off with a glare. “Does it look like I care. I’m sure you could take care of yourself, but when will you accept the fact that you don’t have to anymore. Stupid girl.”

He reached next to him and picked up a bowl of soup. “This will be easy enough on your stomach. You are going to eat every last bite, and then we are going to take a shower.”

He didn’t leave anything up for debate. It was a demand. “We?”

“Yes we. You’re not leaving my sight for the foreseeable future.” He held a spoon full of soup up to your mouth. You wanted to protest that you could at least feed yourself but quickly thought better when you saw the look he was giving you. He wasn’t to be challenged or questioned.

So, you accepted it and swallowed, your eyes never leaving his. You continued on like that until the spoon scraped the last bit of soup from the bowl. You could see the tension in Dabi’s clenched jaw. He was upset, possibly even mad.

Your eyes averted to your lap, “I’m sorry.”

“For what? What do you have to be sorry about?”

You played with hem of your shirt. Trying to look anywhere but at those intense blue eyes. “I fucked up. I was careless and I… I fell into the pool.” Your fists clenched, “It wouldn’t have been so bad if I wasn’t so fucking weak. I panicked, and it put me in danger. I’m sorry.”

His fingers intertwined with yours and pulled them to his lips. “You have nothing to be sorry for, and you are most definitely not weak.” He kissed the tip of your nose, “Look at me please.”

It was so rare that he said please. It sent butterflies through your stomach. You raised your eyes to his once more, but this time they were much softer. “Your panic is totally understandable. If anything, it’s my fault because I’m the reason you have fucking PTSD.” He pressed his forehead to yours, “I feel like no matter how hard I try, I just end up hurting you. Even when I’m not here, my actions still have consequences.”

“Well you know what I think? I think I wouldn’t be here right now if it weren’t for you. I think you have saved me in so many ways, and you have been there when it matters most. Like right now.” You tucked yourself under his chin and hugged him until you felt the tension bleed from him as he relaxed into your hold.

You felt his chest rise and fall as you both just sat there holding each other.

Finally, he pulled back and sighed, “Okay as nice as it feels to hold you again… you kinda stink… can we go shower now?”

You frowned, “Hey! I’ve been sick. It’s not like I could bathe myself. Did you want Shoto to do it for me?”

He growled and threw you over his shoulder. “You’re lucky. If I wasn’t worried about nursing your sick ass back to health, that comment would have gotten your ass in trouble.”

It wasn’t until Dabi was stripping you down in the bathroom that you remembered Bravo. “Hey! Where’s Bravo?”

Dabi froze, “Who the fuck is Bravo?”

You rolled your eyes, “My dog asshole. Bravo. Where is he?”

He growled, “That little shit wouldn’t let me near you, so I threw him out.”

You pushed his hands away from you, “Excuse me… You WHAT? It’s cold outside. Go bring him inside right now!”

He grabbed your flailing hands and held them down at your sides. “I said I threw him out, not outside. If I had to guess the little runt is probably sitting outside the door to the bedroom, waiting to sink his teeth into my ankles the second I open the door. Relax.”

He let go of your hands and continued to undress you, and then himself. “You be nice to him. That little ankle biter is my new best friend.”

“Hmmm I don’t think so.” His arms wrapped around your now naked body. He picked you up like you weighed absolutely nothing and walked you over to the shower. “I think I’m your best friend.”

You smirked as you wrapped your arms around his neck, “Oh you think so huh? So we’re friends now? That seems like a demotion to me…” You kissed his chest before pulling away. “Last time I checked friends don’t shower together… so I guess I’ll just get out and wait my turn—”

“Don’t you dare step out of this shower.” His fingers dug into your hips. “I haven’t seen you in a month, and I had to come home to find you sick and skin and bones.” He leaned in and you could feel his breath on the shell of your ear, “You are mine. I don’t think you truly understand what that means.” He kissed the side of your head, “You are my best friend.” He kissed your forehead, “My responsibility.” He kissed your cheek, “My confidant.” He kissed the tip of your nose, “My lover.” He kissed you jaw. “My partner.” His lips hovered over yours for a brief moment, “My everything.”

His lips smashed onto yours and you could feel all of your little puzzle pieces fit together again. The emptiness you had felt the past month evaporated. You felt whole once more.

There wasn’t anything overly sexual about this kiss. For the first time since you’ve known him, this was the first time Dabi had ever kissed you just to kiss you. And so you let him. You just stood under the water with him and kissed until you started to get lightheaded.

He must have felt your shift because he pulled away from the kiss and pulled you to lean on him. Without another word, he ran a washcloth over your skin and cleaned you up.

You remembered back to the days he’d help you bathe when you couldn’t walk. He’s taken such good care of you without asking for anything in return. So much as changed in the past few months, but there was something about this moment that felt permanent. Like no matter what happens Dabi will always be there to clean you up afterwards.

Dabi could feel the stress and the worry that had piled up over the last month melt away with every rise and fall of your chest. You were safe, you were okay, you were alive, you were in his arms.

Something almost broke in him when he heard the fear in your voice that day. When Bakugo called you after you fell in the pool. He had never felt so fucking helpless. He had a constant eye on your vitals after that. Calling his brother every single time there was even a tiny change. He’d never tell you this, but for a brief moment when Shoto couldn’t get your temperature down he panicked. He couldn’t lose you. Somewhere deep down he knew it was irrational to think you were going to die. But he couldn’t help it. You were sick, and only getting worse and he was thousands of miles away.

There was a constant nagging at the bag of his head of what if he didn’t get back in time. What if he didn’t get to say goodbye. What if… what if…

No. He’s fine now. You’re fine now. He had freaked out for no reason. You’re here, you’re safe, you’re alive, you’re his.

You had eaten the soup, showered, and taken your medication without even a hint of protest. You were being such a good girl for him. Doing everything he asked, never leaving his side.

It was obvious you missed him, and for some reason that made him feel… pride.

Now he had you curled up with him on the couch eating ice cream as you showed him all the things you had trained Bravo to do. You had a glint in your eyes as you commanded the furball to sit, lay down, roll over, and whatever the fuck else you had taught it.

Dabi had this weird feeling settle over him. Sitting here with you in his lap, as you ate ice cream and played with your dog. It felt like you had become… a family.

Family… was never a word that had inspired positive feelings for him. He had terrible memories of his old home life. He had a few fond memories of his siblings, maybe even some of his mother. But everything was overshadowed by the hell his father put him through.

But now he could feel that frozen heart of his, start to thaw out. He still struggles convincing himself that he doesn’t deserve you, and sometimes he still thinks you might be better off with Bakugo. But for now, you were his, and he was going to enjoy every second of it.

His hand snaked down and spread out over your stomach and his chin rested on your shoulder. He watched Bravo hop into your lap and had to admit he was a little jealous of the little guy.

“Aw who’s a good boy? Who’s mommy’s good boy?” You squished Bravos cheeks together and kissed his nose.

“Okay enough with the dog. You’ve been loving on the dog since I got home. It’s my turn.”

You scoffed, “Please don’t tell me you feel threatened by a puppy.”

He flipped you over so you were chest to chest with him laying on top of you, caging you to the couch. “Of course I’m not threatened… but I’ve been gone a while and the mutts hogging all the attention.”

You giggled as he nuzzled into your neck demanding that you love him. “I can’t believe big, bad, who’s your daddy, Dabi is jealous of a little puppy.”

Your hands moved, one to his hair and the other snaked under his shirt and scratched his back. He hummed as his lips pressed a quick peck to your jaw. “I missed you…”

Your hands continued to trace patterns up and down his back. “I know. I missed you too.”

His breathing started to slow and he squeezed you closer to him. He started mumbling things as he slipped into the first peaceful sleep he’s had since he left.

“What was that? Dabi you’re mumbling honey.”

He let out a huge sigh and mumbled again only this time slightly louder, “Said ‘m gonna putta baby in you.”

*************

*The Laws* 1. No fucking shrugging 2. No drugs 3. No saying sorry for something that isn't your fault 4.We work on communication every day 5. Wake up whenever the hell you want 6. No locked doors 7. We eat three full meals a day 8. No means no, no negotiations 9. We work on exercise every day 10. Ice cream must be kept in stock at all times 11. Accept help when it is offered 12. No lying 13. I will not initiate the sexy time without written or verbal consent.

************

Tags: tags: @falling4fandoms @wifunozomi @here-in-never-land @whore-for-anime @klecksstorys @aurorahoneybuns @theunknownrandom @insane-without-delirium @frenchsfryys @officiallydarkgeek @neofixcs @music-is-all-i-need @katsuki-bakubabe@unadulteratedtastemakerpoetry@dabislittlemouse@aimee1602@pinkhatlizzy @kunaigirlx44 @nii-sanfucker@bestgirlb @silver-stardrop@bakubby99 @squichymochi @sarahschance

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crystalninjaphoenix · 3 years

Text

The Winter Solstice

Fantasy Masks AU: Chapter Seven

A JSE Fanfic

Well after last week’s brief foray into writing for a different fandom, we return to the septics once again. The FM!septics to be exact. It’s the winter solstice, meaning there are holidays to celebrate! Chase, Jackie, and Henrik have a great day that totally doesn’t become suddenly serious near the end haha nope just fun times all around with some world building and character development :) Enjoy :)

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The day dawned cold and snowy, but nobody at Wyvernlair cared. Not when today was the winter solstice. This was a time for celebration! And with all the people in the camp, there was bound to be a big party. Preparations had been ongoing for the past few weeks. Food was made, games were planned, and time was set aside for those honoring the various holy days. When the day itself dawned, normal duties were put on hold so that everyone could join in.

Chase woke up at sunrise. He had a quick breakfast—light, since there would be a lot of food at the feast planned for that night—and strolled about, taking in the changes. Everyone was bustling about as usual, but now they chattered with excitement. Some people had hung decorations outside their tents: replicas of snowflakes made from white-painted sticks, candles with carved designs set on the ground, pine branches and snippets of other winter-blooming plants scattered about. Combined with the white layer of snow, it was quite beautiful.

Yet, Chase felt a pang somewhere deep in his chest. Last year, he’d spent Longest Night with his family and the rest of the village. There’d been town celebrations in the square. He helped Quentin carve his first candle. And now? Now, he didn’t know where his family was.

“Chase!”

He was snapped out of his melancholy thoughts when he heard someone call his name. In the middle of turning to see who it was, that ‘someone’ barrelled straight into him. “Oof!” He was about to respond, but found he couldn’t, because he’d been wrapped in a tight bear hug.

“Sorry, did I knock the wind out of you? Sorry!” Jackie was too full of energy to notice he apologized twice. He gave Chase one last squeeze before breaking off the hug.

“It’s okay, just give me more warning next time.” Chase took a minute to catch his breath. “Well. Happy Longest Night, then?”

“Happy Longest Night, then!” Jackie repeated. He whirled his cloak around dramatically. It was still red, but slightly nicer, with a fur lining. His wolf mask was pushed back, sitting on his forehead. “You know the plan, right? We’re having games all day. War games, dice games, card games—a few strategy games, too, the ones we have the boards for in storage. Then there’s the feast later, and the Dark Vigil tonight.”

“Yea, I understand,” Chase said, a faint smile on his face. He couldn’t help it; Jackie was contagious. “How many people will be at the Vigil?”

“A fair share. Schneep won’t; he does something at moonrise instead.” Jackie shrugged. “Are you planning to do any of the games? What about archery?!”

Chase laughed. “No, no, I’m not good enough to compete in a war game. I’ll probably just drift around and join in where I can. Do you think anyone will be playing Luck of the Deal? I’m very good at that.”

Jackie rolled his eyes. “Everyone’s good at Luck of the Deal. That’s the whole thing about it, it’s luck.”

“You don’t know that. There’s skill involved, too,” Chase insisted.

Jackie patted his shoulder. “Whatever you say, Hunter. It’ll be some time before everything really gets going. Anything you want to do before that?”

“Umm...” Chase thought about it. “Well, is there anything I can do to help with the feast preparations? That’s usually a community thing, isn’t it?”

“Well we already have a lot of volunteers for cooking. They’ve already gotten started, in fact.” Jackie thought about it. “But if you want to help, you could put your hunting skills to the test in the surrounding woods. Always good to have more food than less, on these occasions. People would eat their plates, if it was possible.”

Chase laughed. “Oh, I know that. Amabel would eat us out of home on Longest Night. She must’ve gotten her appetite from Stacia’s side of the family.” Saying their names, the melancholy threatened to return.

“Honestly? I have a confession.” Jackie leaned closer. “I’m one of those types, too.”

“Oh? Somehow, that makes sense.”

“And somehow I’m offended.” Jackie gave him a playful shove. “If you want to go ahead, you know where the shortbows and arrows are. Oh!” His eyes widened as he remembered something. “But try not to shoot any pigeons. Those are important.”

“Important?” Chase put the pieces together. “You mean...messenger birds?”

Jackie nodded. “I don’t expect anyone to send messages on the solstice except for an emergency, but there might be some arriving that were sent a fews days, or even a week, ago. It takes a while to fly across the island.”

“Got it. I won’t shoot any pigeons.” Chase shook his head, a bit in awe. “Messenger birds.” He’d heard of them, but never seen them in use. Somehow, they seemed almost as magical as actual magic. Getting letters sent across the kingdom in a matter of days? That was amazing. “I’ll just head out, then.”

“Good luck, Chase!” Jackie said cheerfully, waving as he turned to leave. “Be back before noon, that’s when the fun will start!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If possible, it was even colder out in the forest, away from the magic heat of the dragon bones. Chase clutched his jacket tighter and made sure his hat was securely on his head. He doubted that he’d find any animals out here. By Longest Night, most of them were hibernating. But it was worth a shot.

Snow crunched under his feet, so he slowed down, carefully placing every step so it wouldn’t make too much noise. There wasn’t a lot of foliage to hide behind in the winter, but he had made sure to grab a white jacket from storage to help him blend in. He’d also turned his hat inside out so that the red ribbon around it didn’t show. After a while, he found what he thought was a good spot to wait. So he settled down, nocking an arrow so it would be ready to fly at any moment.

The world became very still. The only sound he heard was his breath, accompanied by the small puffs of mist that breath caused in the cold. He made sure not to move a muscle.

Until there was a sudden sound. Footsteps, very light, being pursued by much heavier ones. His eyes darted towards the sound. The bare branches of a bush rustled, and suddenly a streak of brown fur dashed out in front of him followed by something much larger—

Chase reacted, letting go of the bow string and loosing the arrow. It shot through the air and landed solidly in the brown furry something. Shocked, he laughed in the rush of actually shooting something moving that fast. But then a voice cried, “I knew it!”

“Wh...?” And Chase finally noticed what the large something pursuing the small animal actually was. He looked up from his position near the ground to see...Lukas. It took him a moment to recognize him without his usual fox mask, but once the brown-auburn hair and tall longbow registered, his heart immediately sank with dread. “What are you doing—”

Lukas took an arrow out of the quiver on his back and nocked it, aiming at Chase. “Did you think you could take me out when nobody was looking?! Claim it was an accident?!”

“What in the world?!” Chase stood up. Slowly, of course, he didn’t want to get skewered by that massive arrow. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t try to play dumb, you just tried to kill me!”

“I was shooting the rabbit!” He pointed at the small animal, which was, in fact, a rabbit.

“A likely cover story.”

All of a sudden, Chase felt hot rage rise up his throat. “I know you hate me but you don’t have to be an idiot about it!” he burst out.

That seemed to take Lukas by surprise. He blinked, and lowered his bow slightly.

“I don’t know what kind of trust issues you have or where they come from, but I’m sick of you always acting this way! I’ve been here for almost a full season now, and you still act like I’m about to stab you in the back the first opportunity I get! I know, you’re probably thinking something like ‘he’s playing a long game to get everyone to trust him,’ but let’s be honest, you’re just looking for any justification to be like this. I wouldn’t trust someone like me in your position either, but I wouldn’t be so obvious about it. You don’t have to like me, you don’t have to trust me, but elders be damned, you don’t have to stir up this much trouble for Jackie and Henrik and everyone else here!” Chase ran out of breath and was forced to stop. He waited silently for Lukas’s reaction.

For a while, there wasn’t one. Lukas just...stared at him. Then he lowered his bow fully, putting the arrow back in its quiver. “What are you doing out here?” he asked in a carefully-neutral tone.

“We have some time before the real celebrations start, so I thought I’d help out by trying to find more food for the feast,” Chase explained. He walked past Lukas and picked up the rabbit, trying not to feel sad. Something about shooting rabbits made him feel guilty. Maybe he respected how hard they worked to stay alive, running so swiftly. Or maybe he thought they were cute. “What are you doing out here?”

“The same thing,” Lukas answered.

Chase snorted. “And you decided to bring that monster of a bow for hunting?”

“It’s more powerful than yours,” Lukas retorted.

“Yes, but it’s also heavier and more cumbersome. I remember my second day here, Holly said that big bows like that were more suited for long range, while shortbows—” Chase waved his bow as an example. “—are better for mobility. Look at all these trees. Do you think you’re able to shoot long range in a forest? Not to mention if you miss, you’ll end up burying your arrow in a tree with all the force you need to fire it. That’ll just be a pain to pull out.”

“I know all this,” Lukas said irritably. “But I’m most familiar with this style of bow. I can make it work.”

“Maybe if you weren’t stomping around the woods,” Chase muttered.

“Excuse me?”

“You were running after the rabbit. Bad idea; you’ll never catch up with them. It’s better to wait and let the animals come to you. If you have to move, be quieter about it. And slow. Conserve your energy; animals get tired faster than humans.” Chase glanced downwards. “You’re wearing heavy boots, I see. Those will make a lot of sound no matter how much you try to be quiet. And your clothes stand out, too. Especially that red band on your wrist. It’s bright and you have to hide it. Like I did.” He turns his cap right-side out again, letting the red ribbon show.

“Hmm.” Lukas eyed him. He did that quite a lot, but somehow, it felt different this time. More...respectful. “Well. I’ll keep that in mind.” He turned away.

“Um...right.” Now that Lukas was leaving, Chase felt the sudden energy that had filled him starting to fade away. “I’ll...see you at the celebrations, then.”

Lukas didn’t say anything, but he raised his hand in acknowledgement, not stopping as he headed back to camp.

Well...that wasn’t too bad, all things considered. Lukas clearly didn’t think worse of him. And he had managed to shoot a rabbit, something he’d rarely done in all his years as a hunter. Though he’d only done that because the rabbit was too busy running from Lukas to notice him crouching nearby. So really, he should thank him.

Maybe later. For now, Chase headed back to camp, ready to join in on the festivities.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time Chase returned to Wyvernlair, the festivities were starting to get underway. Games, mostly. People gathered in circles playing cards, or in threes playing dice, or in pairs playing board games. Others clustered around the players, watching the game and shouting encouragement. Some food was already prepared. Plates of sweet buns and meat pies were passed around. Chase grabbed a couple buns as he looked around.

But though the camp inside the circle of dragon bones was crowded, most people were out on the combat field. That was where the war games were set up. Chase decided to stop by for a moment. Even if he wasn’t going to participate, he wanted to see how things were going.

Targets were set up for archers to test their skill. People had grabbed close-quarters training weapons and were sparring, onlookers cheering on their favored winner. Someone had dragged over a rock and a large branch, setting up a makeshift see-saw that people were standing on top of, trying to knife-fight without losing their balance. Chase shook his head at that particular event. He himself had some scars on his hands from knife-fights as a young man; they really weren’t worth the bragging rights.

There was an especially large crowd gathered around one particular sparring match. Chase stopped, edging his way into the mass of people as he tried to see what was going on. Wait a minute...was that Jackie?

Indeed, Jackie was one of the sparring participants. And he was easily outclassing his opponent. He easily danced around jabs and swipes, not striking for a while, then jumped forward and hit his opponent on the side with his wooden practice sword. The crowd cheered, and the two participants backed away, shaking hands as they parted. Chase could’ve sworn he saw money change hands among the watchers.

“Anyone want to go for another round?” Jackie called to the crowd. “Doesn’t have to be to the first contact. What about to the ground?”

At that, a tall man grabbed a practice sword from a nearby rack, stepped forward, and announced, “I accept the challenge!” The crowd cheered again. “To the ground!”

Jackie grinned. “To the ground! Someone give us a count!”

In unison, the crowd started chanting, counting down from five as Jackie and his opponent started circling each other. Chase joined in. “Five!...Four!...Three!...Two!...One!...Clash!”

The two men immediately started going at each other with the practice swords, jabbing and backing up, swiping and dodging. The new opponent tried to make use of his height advantage, but Jackie was just too fast. The sparring lasted a few minutes and the crowd was enthralled for every second. Until Jackie managed to get behind his opponent and knock out his legs, making him fall to the ground. The crowd cheered. The opponent got up, looking no worse for wear and in good spirits. He shook hands with Jackie before leaving. Now Chase was sure he saw people exchanging money.

“He’s got skill, doesn’t he?”

Chase looked up, and saw Holly standing beside him. “Oh. Yea, he’s really good.”

Holly laughed. “That’s an understatement. You know he trained at Fíornear Field?” Chase nodded. “Well, so did I. But he could beat me in a fight nine times out of ten.”

“Really?” Chase asked, interested. “That many times? I thought it would’ve been closer between you two.”

“Everyone does. I say it’s the size difference. But what Jackie lacks in height, he makes up for in practice and sheer determination.” Holly watched as Jackie started sparring with another opponent. “Anyway, Chase. Come to watch or try your hand?”

Chase laughed. “No, no, just watching.”

“Well. In that case.” Holly leaned closer. “Care to try for chance?”

“You mean betting? Don’t tempt me.” Chase shook his head. “Besides, I can tell that betting against Jackie is a waste of time and money.”

“Doesn’t have to be at this spar. There’s many more war games to be had. I hear there’s axe throwing.”

“Axe throwing?” Chase perked up. “Alright, I have to see that. Lead the way.”

Holly laughed, and the two of them left, heading towards a set of targets. Indeed, some people had taken up throwing axes at these targets. Not competing against each other at the moment, only themselves, and also showing off for the passersby. Chase watched as one of the axe-throwers hit the center of her target. Then, surprisingly, he recognized the axe-thrower. “Nemet!” he called.

Nemet turned around, smiling at him. “Hello, Chase! How are you?”

“I’m doing fine. What are you...uh...I didn’t know you threw axes.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Is it so unexpected?”

Chase shrugged. “Well, you’re a doctor.”

“I am. I am a doctor who likes to throw axes.” Nemet picked up a throwing axe on the ground beside her. She held it back, paused to aim, and threw. It landed right next to the last one she threw. Holly and Chase clapped, impressed.

“Wanna shoot something, Brodyson?”

Chase yelped in surprise at the voice that came from behind him. He spun around to see Tripp grinning up at him. “You did that on purpose,” he accused.

“Maybe,” Tripp said. He was tossing a rock back and forth between his hands. Getting bored of that, he threw it to the side. Magically, the rock curved around, shooting for the target, where it bounced off the handle of one of Nemet’s axes. “Ah, almost a bull’s eye. Anyway, wanna shoot something, Brodyson? We could have a triple competition, axes versus arrows versus sorcery.”

“Hmm.” Chase considered it. “You know I had only planned to watch, but...that doesn’t sound too bad.”

“Don’t let him pressure you if you don’t want to, Chase,” Nemet said.

“No, do let him pressure you, I want to see this!” Holly insisted.

Chase laughed. “Alright, fine. Just a few rounds.”

Though as the afternoon passed, those few rounds stretched out into many. Chase had never been one for war games, but somehow, he didn’t mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eventually, of course, came the main draw of the winter celebrations: the feast. The people who’d volunteered to cook had been preparing food all day, and shortly before sunset, declared it ready. Instantly, a good half of everyone dropped what they were doing and headed over to the cooking fires.

Chase wasn’t sure what to expect from the feast. Wyvernlair didn’t use tables for food, so would everyone be standing around with plates? But it seemed as though they’d found tables, if just for today. Probably borrowed from storage. Some of the meat stayed on the skewer, roasting over the fires to keep it hot until someone wanted it. But most food was lined up on the tables, free to take. Sweet buns and meat pies, of course, but also preserved fruits that had been kept for a special occasion like this, and tarts covered in sugar, and pumpkin pie, and roasted potatoes, and more than could be counted.

Everyone ate until they couldn’t anymore, washing down the food with water, juice, and ale. Chase savored it, mingling and talking with the other Phantoms. And for once, he didn’t feel out of place here.

Time passed. The sun set. And as the feast died down, most people began talking about the Dark Vigil, the ceremony used to honor the Elder of Dark and thank them for protecting humankind from the shadows. Chase yawned. They’d be holding that in the center of camp, where a spot had been cleared specifically for that purpose. But it would be some time before everyone was ready. So, Chase decided to slip out. He headed towards the outside of the skeleton, away from the noise and bustle.

The stars were beautiful tonight. It was clear, without any clouds fogging the view, and the moon was nearly full. Chase leaned back against the bone and stared upward. He hadn’t really had the opportunity to appreciate the world lately. It was all busy, working with the Masked Phantoms. But it was nice to slow down for a moment.

Some minutes passed in silence. Then, he heard footsteps approaching. And then, a small thud, the sound of stumbling, and a muttered “Shiesse!”

Chase looked over towards the sounds, already grinning. “You doing alright there, Henrik?”

With a huff, Henrik emerged from the darkness. “I would be better if I know no one heard that,” he muttered.

Chase laughed. “Anyway, how’re you doing? I haven’t seen you all day.”

“Ah, I am fine.” Henrik leaned against the bone next to Chase. “I have been stuck in a dice game for most of the evening. I almost missed the moonrise.”

“I see. Jackie told me you had to do something around then. Is it like the Dark Vigil?” Chase asked.

“Similar, in ways. Different, in others.” Henrik looked up at the sky. He pointed upwards, at the moon. “She is beautiful tonight, yes? I never understood why your Elders never come from the sky.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Well, I understand there is the Winged Elder One, but they are for more weather, yes?” Henrik kept his eyes fixed skywards. “None of them are for the heavens.”

“Well why would they be?” Chase shrugged. “The sky’s beautiful and wonderful. But it’s so far away. We live on the earth. Shouldn’t we be more concerned with what’s down here?”

“Hmm. Perhaps.” Henrik sighed. He reached down his belt, removing his flask and taking a drink.

“Oh—” Chase started to say something, then stopped. It would probably be rude to ask, wouldn’t it?

Henrik looked over at him, and guessed what he was about to say. “Yes, I am still taking the medicine. It is...not something that goes away.”

“Sorry,” Chase mumbled. “I shouldn’t have—”

“Is okay,” Henrik said, giving him a small smile. “You are polite about it, so I do not mind.” He returned the flask to his belt. “Ah, though I am afraid I must change the subject now. I just remembered. We managed to get the materials for more plaster this week. So you can finally have a mask of your own!”

“I can?” Chase repeated.

“No need to sound so surprised,” Henrik chuckled.

“I did? I didn’t mean to. It just seems a bit...unreal.” Chase had left his borrowed mask, the hedgehog one, back in his tent. Most people had—or at least he assumed they had, since most of them were walking around without them.

“Yes, I understand.” Henrik nodded thoughtfully. “Do you want to wait?”

“Wait no, I didn’t say that—”

“I am just making sure.” Henrik playfully nudged his shoulder. “You will need to choose an animal, you know. Do you have anything in mind?”

“Oh right. I forgot about that part.” Chase thought about it for a moment. “What about...a deer?”

Henrik raised an eyebrow. “A deer?”

“Is that not allowed? I mean, Tripp’s mask has those ram horns so I figured antlers would—”

“No, is not that, I just suppose I did not expect that.”

Chase shrugged. “I like deer. They’re good animals. Um...do I have to make the mask myself, or...?”

“You can if you want, but if you’re not artistically inclined, someone else could do it easily enough. It’s not that difficult if you are...” Henrik trailed off. He was staring out into the trees, eyes fixed on a point. “Chase. Is something moving there?” And he pointed.

“Hm?” Chase peered into the darkness. Indeed, he could see the faint movement of shadows. “Oh, yea. It’s probably just an animal.” He paused. “That’s...getting closer?”

They looked at each other, but unsure what to do with this information, just turned back to watch the animal get closer. And closer. It was too small to be a threat, but Chase felt Henrik tense anyway. Eventually, the animal got close enough to make out what it was. “A...cat?” Chase asked, confused.

“A cat,” Henrik agreed.

“What’s a cat doing all the way out here?”

“I am not sure...” Henrik said slowly, brows lowered as he thought through the possibilities.

The cat continued its course, walking in a straight line up to the two of them. Chase crouched down and held out his hand. “Here, kitty.” Once it was close enough, the cat sniffed his hand. Then, satisfied, butted its head against it. Chase laughed. “Y’know I haven’t met that many cats. When I was young, maybe about twelve, Pastor Cait had a cat. We joked about that, since her name was so similar, ha. But it’s gone now. I don’t think the town had another cat since then. A couple dogs, but no cats.” He reached out and petted it. And after a few seconds of that, scooped up the cat and stood. “Does someone here have a cat?”

“No, there are no animals in camp,” Henrik said, still puzzled. “Does it have a collar?”

Chase checked. Difficult, given that the cat clearly didn’t like being held and was wriggling a bit. “Yea, right here.” He pointed to a braided leather collar around the cat’s neck. “No name, though. For the cat or its person.”

“Well. It is cold and snowy, and even with that fur, I don’t think the cat enjoys being out here,” Henrik stated. “Maybe we should take it into camp? We have that fire set up in the skull now, that could warm it up.”

“Good idea.”

The two of them headed back, passing between the dragon bones and into the main body of Wyvernlair. By now, the festivities were starting to die down. Games were ending, and a lot of people were getting ready to attend the Dark Vigil. Chase and Henrik walked quickly by, since the cat was really struggling against being held by this point. Luckily, it hadn’t used its claws yet, but Chase could already feel them digging into the fabric of his jacket.

They reached the skull soon, passing through the gap where it joined the rest of the bones and ending up inside. It was almost empty here. Except for two people and several birds. Chase blinked a bit at the surprising sight, but then remembered what Jackie had told him that morning. So these must be messenger birds, then. There were about seven of them, pigeons in a variety of colors; white, gray, brown, spotted. Actually, Jackie was here, too. Along with Ana, who Chase had figured out by now was the head of organization at Wyvernlair. They both seemed rather impatient, quickly putting away documents. Probably heading to the Vigil like most others.

Ana looked up, noticed Chase and Henrik, then turned to Jackie and said, “It’s your best friend and his best friend. They have a cat.”

“They have a what?” Jackie spun to look at them. “Oh elders, you have a cat. Where’d you get a cat?”

“It just wandered up,” Chase said. “We thought it might like to get out of the cold—ow!” The cat dug its claws into his skin, managing to pierce the jacket, and Chase instinctively opened his arms. Of course, the cat landed on its feet, and trotted over to the side of the fire, which was slowly dying but still giving off a lot of heat.

“I’ve never seen a cat like that before,” Jackie muttered. “That’s a really unique pattern, isn’t it?” The cat was mostly a brownish off-white, but its ears and tails were dark gray, almost black, and the tail had rings of lighter gray. Its legs were striped with light brown, and it had markings on its face of the same color. Big blue eyes stared up at the strange people.

“Oh!” Henrik’s eyes lit up. “I had not noticed outside! It was fairly dark. Oh, you are a pretty kitty, aren’t you?” He slowly approached the cat, and when it didn’t run away, bent over and started petting it.

Meanwhile, Ana was bored, and anxious to leave. She looked at Chase, and her eyes lit up with a strangely sly expression. “Hey, it’s Chase, isn’t it? Do you mind helping me open this?” She held out a small tube made of metal and leather. “I’ve been trying for a while, I think it’s stuck.”

“Um..sure,” Chase said warily. Was this going to be a joke of some kind? He took the small tube and turned it over in his hands. There was a door on the side of it, and after some effort, he figured out how to open it. Out fell three items. Two folded pieces of paper, made of pressed wood pulp and therefore pale brown, and a rolled-up piece of vellum tied with twine. “What’s this?”

“Messages,” Ana said, grinning. “Can you see names written on them?”

Chase looked down at the items, sorting through them. There was writing on the folded papers, but...well, it could just be his lack of reading skills, but it looked like absolute nonsense. “These are names?” he asked doubtfully.

Jackie and Henrik looked away from the cat, noticing the exchange between Chase and Ana. “What do you mean?” Jackie asked.

“These words written here, these are...names?” Chase shook his head. “I’ve just never heard names like this before. Um...here, I-I’ll try to read them. Uh...” He squinted at the writing in ink on the two papers. “This one is ‘Ee-uh-oo-koh’ and this one is...um...‘Ffssehffmuh.’ I think? The handwriting could be—”

Henrik’s eyes widened. Suddenly, he was right next to Chase, grabbing his arm and squeezing it tightly. “What is it?! The two papers?! Which one is—that one, can I see that one?”

“Whoa, hey, calm down!” Chase leaned back. “You mean this one?” He held out the paper with the ‘Fsefma’ name on it.

“Yes!” Henrik snatched it up, then retreated, unfolding it.

Jackie leaned over his shoulder, then grinned. “Oh, I see. Vsevna sent you a little letter, didn’t he? What’s it say? Is he confessing his love?”

“Shut up, Jackie,” Henrik said, holding the letter far away from him so he couldn’t read it. “Is just another report.”

Jackie laughed. “Yea, with your name on it. Come on, Henrik.”

“That does not mean anything.”

Chase, listening, raised an eyebrow. “So...I don’t know everything that’s going on, but I think I can figure out that this Fsefna person—”

“Vsevna,” Henrik corrected.

“...Vsefna—”

“Vsevna. It is important that you voice those sounds.”

“He’s the person you’re pining for, huh, Henrik?” Chase pressed on.

Henrik was slowly turning red. “I say nothing.”

“Right,” Chase said, grinning. “So, who is he?”

“He’s another one of the Phantoms,” Jackie said, sensing that Henrik wasn’t going to answer. “He and Yuko—that’s the other name on that second paper. Last we heard, they were in the Southern Moors with the rest of their crew. They said they’d scout it out for a bit more, then move on. These are probably their reports. Or...Yuko’s is a report, at least.”

“Shush,” Henrik muttered. He retreated a few steps away from the others, clutching the letter. As he passed Ana, he shot her a glare. “You make Chase open that on purpose.”

Ana just smiled. “Same results, right? Anyway, that’s the last capsule. Do you mind if I head out now?”

“No, go ahead, Ana. Send Harrison to take care of the birds,” Jackie said. She nodded, and left the skull. He then looked at Chase. “Uh...can I have the other two things?”

“Oh right.” Chase forgot he was still holding the other paper and the vellum scroll. He handed them over to Jackie, and the metal tube as well. “I’m surprised. That’s a lot for a bird to carry.”

“Well these guys are trained for it.” Jackie gestured at the pigeons, now strutting around the table. “Especially Mokin here, who had this stuff.” He patted the wings of a particular pigeon, mostly white but with brown wings, which had strangely curly feathers. “They all deserve the best seeds before we send them out again. Anyway.” Jackie unfolded the paper with Yuko’s name on it, scanning the words written there. At first, he looked excited to get a letter from this person. But the more he read, the more serious his expression became. “Henrik.”

Henrik looked away from his own letter, picking up on the tone in Jackie’s voice. “What is it?”

“I...read this while I open this scroll.” Jackie passed Henrik the letter, then began working on the twine knot holding the vellum shut.

Henrik read the letter quickly, and soon his expression matched Jackie’s. “Oh. Oh, Schwestern. Oh, no.”

Chase started to back up, feeling he shouldn’t listen to something like this. But Jackie noticed him leaving and said, “No, it’s fine, Chase. We should tell everyone this, anyway. Tomorrow, maybe.”

“What is it?” Chase asked anxiously.

“Well...you remember we told you about Marvin, right?” Jackie said slowly. “About how he went out on his own and we sometimes get reports of him?” He waited for Chase to nod before continuing. “This...was a report about him. Apparently, he was in the Moors. But...he didn’t just cause chaos and leave. He’s been...caught.”

“Caught?” Chase repeated numbly.

Jackie managed to untie the twine, and unrolled the vellum, scanning what was written there. He nodded grimly. “Yep. You know what this is?” He turned it around so Chase could see.

“That’s...a royal declaration, isn’t it?” Chase asked slowly. He recognized the format, and the royal seal in the corner. “Um...‘The King...announces a...mighty...triumph.’”

“You do not have to keep going, Chase,” Henrik said bitterly. “There are better words to read than that.” He took the declaration from Jackie, glancing at it for just a moment. “I see. Marvin is accused of attempting to kill the King and some other nobility. They caught him in the act, and now...they plan to execute him. Four weeks from now.”

Jackie looked over at the cat, now sitting and licking its paws, and gasped. “Henrik. You don’t think that’s his cat, do you?!”

“What? I suppose perhaps. But if it is, how did it get all the way up here?” Henrik sounded puzzled. “It takes a week or two to get to the Moors from here, and that is for humans on horseback. For a cat...”

“Wizardry?” Jackie guessed. “I don’t know, it was just a thought, since he likes cats so much.”

Everyone fell silent. Henrik looked back at the royal declaration, reading it slowly, taking in the information. “So...how are we going to do this?”

“Do what?” Jackie asked.

Henrik stared at him in surprise. “Well, we have to rescue him, of course.” Jackie didn’t say anything. “Do not tell me that you’re going to let your grudge stand in the way!”

“No, it’s not that!” Jackie protested. “It’s just—you read the letter, right? Yuko said that these declarations were sent everywhere. Since when has the King announced his next move like this? Everything he does, he does in secret. I mean, damn, the Phantoms are just rumors, and we’ve been taking serious action for years now. He’s hushed up so much, why wouldn’t he just make Marvin...you know, disappear? Why a public execution?”

“You think it is a trap,” Henrik stated.

“Well...yes,” Jackie admitted.

“That is fair, but if it’s a trap, who is he planning to catch? If he wants information about us, he could get it from Marvin.”

“But Marvin hasn’t been part of the group for a year now! His information would be out of date.”

“This does not change the fact that there is no guarantee it’s a trap in the first place. Perhaps he wants to strike fear into the population. Given his actions, it seems likely.”

“If it does turn out to be a trap, though, we can’t afford to lose anyone!”

Chase coughed awkwardly. Jackie and Henrik jumped, then turned to him, looking embarrassed to be fighting while he was still there. “You know...I don’t know if I have any place in this. I mean, you two are in charge, after all. But...I think you should try to get him back.”

Henrik and Jackie looked at each other, then back to Chase. “Are you trying to say something?” Jackie asked.

“I just...” Chase paused for a moment, searching for the words. “I don’t think...you should leave someone behind. He was still part of the Phantoms, right? Didn’t he help create it? A-and weren’t you three...Well. You don’t have to talk to him after we rescue him, but it just doesn’t seem right to leave someone behind in this situation. I know you had your fight and all, but maybe...this could be...you know.” He paused. “Also, I want to know if this cat is his or if some random cat just wandered by.”

Jackie laughed. “Yea, that would be good to know, wouldn’t it?” He sighed, and his expression fell, becoming serious as he was lost in thought.

Henrik leaned closer to him and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Jackie. Chase is right, this does not mean he is rejoining the group. You do not even have to go. But...we should do it. Marvin does not deserve this.”

After a moment, Jackie nodded. “You’re both right. Of course. Even though he was an ass last time we talked, that doesn’t mean I want Marvin dead.” He took a deep breath. “But we should prepare for the possibility of a trap. Just in case.”

“Of course we will,” Henrik assured him.

“...Hey. Chase.” Jackie gave him a smile. “Thank you. I-I don’t know what it is about you, but you know what to say. It’s really easy to talk to you about stuff like this.”

“It’s not a problem,” Chase said, returning the smile. “But, um...I think the Vigil is happening soon, so if we want to go—”

“Shit, I almost forgot about that!” Jackie gasped. “Henrik, I don’t want to leave the cat alone, can you look after it or something?”

“Don’t worry, I will take it to my tent,” Henrik said. “You two go and...is it alright to wish you fun? In a ceremony like this?”

“Come on, Schneep, you’ve lived here for over a decade, don’t talk like it’s so strange to you,” Jackie chuckled.

“I think it’s fun,” Chase said.

“Well, you two go have fun, then,” Henrik said. “I will see you later. Tomorrow, if not tonight.”

“Thanks, Schneep.” Jackie gave him a quick one-armed hug, then headed towards the skull entrance. “Let’s go, Chase. We don’t want to be late.”

They almost were. The Dark Vigil was about to start when they arrived, shuffling into the crowd. Everyone stood in a circle around a set of candles, one blue and the rest black, which were in turn set in a circle around several smooth, round pieces of black onyx. Three people stood inside, lighting the candles.

After the candles were alight, everyone sat on the ground, clashing a bit as they all tried to make room. Then once everyone was sitting with their legs crossed, the three in the center started the Vigil. They spoke the traditional lines, describing the Elder of Dark—their vague appearance, their actions, their history with the other Elders—and finished it by thanking them for their guardianship. Everyone joined in on the final part: “As you stand and watch vigil, so shall we this night.” And then silence fell.

During the silence of the Dark Vigil, each individual offered their thoughts about those who needed protection. In the past, Chase had asked for his family to be alright. For them all to stay healthy and happy. Today, he asked for that again. He wished, silently, desperately, for them to be safe. And not just them, but everyone else who had disappeared from his town, as well as all the other mountain towns that had been destroyed. He thought about Henrik and Jackie and all the other Phantoms he’d met here, and wished for them to have luck in this fight against the King. He thought about Marvin, someone who he’d never met but who was dear to his friends, and wished for them to be able to rescue him.

As Chase stared at the candle flames, he thought he saw...something. He wasn’t sure what. A shape in the smoke. The shape of a four-legged animal, with...antlers. A deer.

Then as was the tradition, the candles were extinguished, and the night was left in darkness.

#jacksepticeye #jacksepticeye fanfiction #jacksepticegos #jacksepticeye au #septic egos #septic egos au #chase brody #jackieboy man #dr schneeplestein #brigid writes fanfiction #fantasymasksau

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moonshade7 · 3 years

Text

Little Nightmare HCs Go Brrrrrrrrrrrr

Spoilers? Yep.

VLN:

-Kids are kidnapped and taken to the Nest by an unknown monster.

-Six got kidnapped while in the forest

- The Pretender's dolls have tape on their neck with the name of the kid they represent.

-RCG loves makeup *hint hint*

-RCG ends up becoming the Pretender in order to save her skin. That's her place in the loop.

-The Butler is paralyzed like the Craftsman, explaining why he doesn't walk anywhere and floats instead.

-The Craftsman likes sculpting but clay is too fragile for dolls so he works with wood instead.

-The Craftsman makes Porcelain dolls for the Teacher

-Six looks up to RCG and sees her as a Sister.

-Up until RCG locks her out of the barn

-Then Six loses trust in her until RCG saves her from falling off a cliff

-RCG's "death" hurt Six so much that she vowed never to trust anyone else again

Fair warning this get's REALLY long

LN2:

-Six comes back from the Nest but gets trapped in the school for a few weeks. She resolves to violence to survive there. There Six learns to get her stomach of steel.

-When Six escapes and goes back to the Hunter's shack she sees that the Hunter (Her father most likely) is not the same.

-The Hunter chases after Six thinking she's just another kid. (Which is why he shoots her when she's running away in the comics)

-When Six sees Mono he just escaped from that place (orphanage? Different school)

-They feel a connection but aren't sure why.

-When the Hunter sees Six he realizes who she is and takes her back to the shack, giving Six her old music box.

-The Hunter takes care of her (even if he is corrupted by the signals) and feeds her.

-Six starts feeling safe until Mono breaks in to "save" her.

-Six not wanting to get hurt again tries to run from Mono and then the game continues.

-The Hunter only wants to keep Six safe with him hence why he shoots Mono.

-When they got stuck in the shack six doesn't want to use the shotgun but Mono insists that its the only way (and e's right but still)

-Six leaves the shed quickly trying to run from the sick feeling in her stomach.

-Six introduces herself to Mono for the first time on their way to the school.

-Before they enter the School they play in the playground

-Some of the bullies in the school are actually nice and just want to stay out of trouble but are often peer pressured into bullying their peers.

-While in disguise Mono actually befriends a few of them briefly.

-Mono tries to break up that one fight between the three bullies but nearly gets his "head" knocked off so he just leaves.

-Throughout the entire School level Mono is inwardly panicking and blaming himself for letting Six get caught.

-When Mono saves Six she finally breaks down. Mono hugs her and hums the tune of her music box to make her feel better.

-Six jokingly suggests they chop the Teacher's head off and is surprised when Mono agrees.

-They play in the rain for a while until Six gets too cold and starts getting sick.

-Six puts on the raincoat as a homage to RCG and because it's raining.

-Mono has spare paper bags (and his head is probably cardboard :/)

-In the Hospital Mono and Six play with the X-ray and Stuffed animals for a few hours.

-Mono lets Six keep her duck but Six leaves it behind.

-Mono breaks down after the mannequins and Six (having the social skills of an agoraphobic lobster) repeats what he did for her as best as she can

-After seeing how badly Mono reacted to the Mannequin hands she grabs one and tortures it as revenge.

-Mono: Pogchamp Six. Pogchamp

-Mono burns the doctor alive because in his eyes the Doctor forced these people to be horrific abominations. Also for petty revenge

-Mono and Six warm up by the fire and take a good long nap.

-Six gets scared every time Mono goes into the TV's because she's afraid he'll go in and never come out.

-When Mono released the Thin Man Six tried her best to try and bring her with him but he kept fighting her every time she touched him so she left him in tears.

-When the Thin Man is released, he is "freed" from his form of escapism and tries to kill Mono but takes Six because she looks familiar

-When Six realizes Mono has the better hiding spot she tries to run to him but trips and calls out his name desperately.

-Six has flashbacks of RCG abandoning her like Mono.

-When she screams when she gets caught, she's screaming Mono's name.

-Mono traverse's alone blaming himself and at one point nearly jumps off the roof.

-Mono huts himself repeatedly because of his cowardice. Leaving a bunche of bruises on his face.

-The Thin Man walks toward Mono in an attempt to seem non-threatening because he's gotten over his initial anger and is now trying to save Mono from the world

-When Mono breaks his ribs on the train Shadow Six appears and tries to encourage Mono and make him feel happy again

-In the fight between Mono and the Thin Man, the Thin Man speaks in a different frequency that Mono can't hear.

-Mono literally, twists and bends the Thin Man to death (as in he snaps every bone and breaks every vertebrae).

-Monster Six is blissfully unaware of what she turned into but remembers Mono.

-She acts like a shy puppy around him

-Mono cries and blames himself for what happened to Six.

-They stay there for a while as Mono figures out what to do to get Six out (She doesn't want to leave but he doesn't realize that)

-Mono breaks the Music Box out of desperation

-When they run away Six is processing everything that happened, feeling the same rage the thin Man felt.

-We were safe here. I was safe here and you ruined it. You ruined everything

-Six drops Mono on impulse and immediately regrets it.

-The Eyes act like caretakers for Mono, trying to distract him from remembering Six and raising him to be a gentleman.

-Mono's ideal escapism is one where he can't feel pain.

-But to avoid pain you must also avoid happiness.

-Now Mono doesn't feel anything at all.

-Mono turns into the Thin Man and when Mono releases the Thin Man all those emotions basically sucker punch him in the gut (So he's pissed off and depressed at the same time.)

-Six starts feeling hungry because of all those years stuck in the tower OR because her soul is out of her body

-Shadow Six glares at Six but realizes they both need to survive to come back and save Mono. Shadow Six gestures to the picture of the Maw...

LN:

-Since the Lady has everything she wants the Mirror Monster tortures her by showing her what a monster she is.

-The Lady speaks only Japanese and doesn't like loud noises (which is why she almost never leaves her residence)

-Roger cares for the kids and tries to take care of them the best he can but he's blind is kept in the dark of what happens in the Maw.

-The Twin chefs both have problems. One can't taste and one can't smell.

-If the Twin chefs were humans (or could leave) they would try and start a cooking show.

-The reason the Twin Chefs cook/kill Six is that they think she's a rat. (Can't see very well with those masks)

-The Bellman isn't seen in the game because he's loading the Guest's suitcases into their rooms.

-The Ferryman brings kids to the Maw because he wants to save them from the world outside.

-The Maw only starts using kids when they begin to run low on supplies. The Lady doesn't care though. She used to at one point...

-Six hugs the Nomes because they remind her of when Mono wore the Nome cap.

-Six starts forgetting more and more of her life, only remembering vague things.

-The kids around the fire are all eaten by leeches or caught by the Janitor

-Shadow Six is Six's soul/child spirit. She'll want to play with the Nomes and she resents Six for dropping Mono.

-When Six's hunger gets worse Shadow Six starts dissipating more and more.

-Six never learns that RK becomes a Nome and doesn't know they're human.

-Six stopped and listened to the Lady's humming for a moment because it sounded familiar.

-When Six eats the Lady Shadow Six is at her weakest state.

-Six kills the guests so that she can free the other kids. But realizes the Maw is the safest place for them.

-Six hires a blind Janitor without even looking at how he looks and the Bellman has to clean up the mess she left behind.

-Six starts forgetting more and more of her past. Until she wakes up one day and sees a child. She turns them into a Shadow kid to feed her hunger.

-Shadow Six is nowhere to be seen at this point.

-Six pisses off the Mirror Monster and he starts torturing her.

-Then Six starts putting on a mask that she felt looked...familiar.

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mythicmalasada · 3 years

Text

sayu + kazuxiaobenlumi dynamics (because she’s adorable and i love her) under the cut ↓

kazuha

the second one she manages to warm up to, kazuha has a certain, natural way with kids that leaves the others’ heads spinning

he’s gentle with her where lumine is motherly and bennett is fun and xiao is brotherly; he sings her lullabies and finds her pretty flowers to put in her hair, he calls her beautiful and helps her sew her tail back together when it gets tattered in a fight, he combs her hair and he holds her hand when they walk through the busy inazuma square at noon, lifting her up onto his shoulders when it gets too crowded with the threat of sweeping her away

its in these moments that sayu feels like she’s on top of the world, as if that growth spurt she so desperately craves has finally come true

he relates to her the night she cries telling him about her past, her master who had abandoned her and how lonely she felt being out there all alone. he gets it when she paws wildly at her vision and sobs about how she hates it and loves it still because it makes her strong, but it makes her a bad person in the eyes of the shogunate. sayu doesn’t want to be a target, a villain; she wants to be loved. if nothing else, kazuha understands that feeling completely.

kazuha is patient, yet smart, keen and diligent; out of all of them, he’s the best when it comes to finding sayu in her little games of hide and seek

he’s also the best at reading her. lumine is a workaholic, yet kazuha knows when it’s best to stop and smell the flowers, to bask in the sun; if lumine recommends an expedition, he’s the one to catch the droop of sayu’s shoulders and suggest a nap on a warm rock

likewise is kazuha the chef of the group, the most meticulous one when it comes to cooking food and cooking it well; more often than not, you’ll catch him giving sayu a special plate of onigiri with a small smiley face on it decorated in seaweed, or eggs served in the shape of tanuki

xiao

through all of his years, xiao has never liked children. not in an outwardly malicious way, he’s just conditioned himself to be so thorough with violence and darkness and death that he does not enjoy the thought of a child being in his presence

he initially thinks this when he meets sayu, though after learning about her past (as is with the anemo users), he lightens up a bit

never in all his time alive has anyone ever managed to sneak up on him, xiao, the yaksha guardian adeptus. the first who happens to manage is the little mujina ninja, sayu

they’re having a party at lumine’s teapot with all their friends, and the clatter from the kitchen is too much. xiao goes to sit on a rocky hill outside and eat his slice of cake in silence

he’s staring at the sunset when a small “hi” sends him flying about 20 feet into the air, fumbling with his spear and flustered

he turns, pointing his jade spear at her and breathing heavy, and demands “how did you do that?!” to which sayu replies, “that’s the last slice of cake. can i have it”

sayu sits next to him on the hill and he numbly hands her over the plate, patting her head hesitantly as he tries to shake himself out of his shock

“listen, um. sayu. what happened when you came up here... no it didn’t. i did that on purpose, okay? to make you feel better. you didn’t startle me.” “...right, mr. xiao”

xiao is begrudging to admit she’s adorable and he wants her around, because in all honesty, he thinks it’d be safer if she stayed far away. he worries about her when he figures they’re overworking her (after all, it is hard to match pace with 4 seasoned adventurers), but he’s also learned not to underestimate her

there’s been times when he thought sayu was behind him, holding his hand out to the side and walking backwards saying “ive got you” before looking up and realizing she’s already out there kicking ass

once she catches him training and xiao pretends as if he doesn’t notice her watching, going through his attack movements slowly so sayu can mimic him

when they’re walking back from late night commissions or quests and sayu’s eyes get heavy, xiao’s the one that picks her up and leans his head against hers as she drifts off, holding her tight to his chest even when lumine looks at him all smug

bennett

he tries so, so hard to get sayu to like him. he tells her jokes, he gets her presents, he offers to hang out with her whenever she’s alone, but that bennett luck kicks in and for some reason sayu seems... scared of him for the longest time

(she probably saw him trip over himself and set their camp on fire and figured that was scary, and that she should avoid him. for good reason)

i mentioned in this post that bennett and lumine often sleep in the same sleeping bag/bed at the inn in order to soothe lumine’s touch-hunger, and when sayu comes along, the girl doesn’t think anything of it when she follows lumine into bennett’s bed at night, of which leads to bennett with an armful of both lumine and sayu

he and lumine lay on their sides, bennett’s forehead nudging against lumine’s, sayu laying between them with her head against their chests. and when sayu’s lil hands reach up unconsciously in the night to grasp onto bennett’s, he has to suppress a squeal so as to not wake the girls up

sayu once mentions how people make her perform as some sort of act at festivals as a cutesy form of entertainment and how degrading it feels to herself and her art, and bennett bursts into tears both because it’s sad and because he’s been feeling the exact same way since he was a kid. singled out and used for the betterment of others, at a cost to yourself

bennett reads to sayu, almost every night, sometimes even on the road. xiao, lumine, and kazuha say nothing as bennett and sayu trail behind reading aloud because admittedly they too are interested in the plot

they probably get around to reading xingqiu’s book one day, and the day in which they stay over at the commerce guild, xingqiu comes in to say goodnight and overhears bennett reading to sayu what sounds an awful lot like his own writing

they attend a festival once that has a small band of musicians. bennett pulls sayu into a dance, smiling and festive as the band rattles off folk music and bennett twirls her around and around and she laughs

lumine

sayu sees lumine as the mother figure she never had, the most innately comforting of the four that she can fall back on at all times. from the moment they meet there’s barely a second of foreign distrust before sayu leans in to lumine and immediately trusts her

lumine had reservations about taking sayu into her team when they first met, but upon realizing that everyone she’d ever gotten to trust had abandoned her, she decides that her and her team are the best way to help mend that broken heart. kazuxiaobenlumi together is lovely

the others are very, very jealous of just how easily lumine got on sayu’s good side

lumine loves doing sayu’s hair!! braiding it, threading the flowers that kazuha gives her into it, putting it up in lil buns

sometimes lumi will spend 10 mins doing her hair just for sayu to come back 30 mins later with it purposefully mussed up just so she can have lumine’s fingers carding through her hair again, and lumine can’t find it in her to be angry

sayu is often found trailing lumine around

they stop at the kamisato estate to speak to ayaka about something, and one of the guards laughs and gestures behind lumine, saying “looks like you’ve got a shadow” and it’s just sayu following her

sayu uses her ninja art to sneak into all the places she shouldn’t in order to follow lumine; ie, the kamisato estate, beidou’s ship, the golden house when she goes for a childe rematch, even the knights of favonius headquarters when lumi goes to speak to jean

lumine and sayu hugs are so so good and wholesome

lumine always manages to keep an eye on sayu during battle, making sure she’s alright. she let sayu into the team, but she’d be crushed if she ever got hurt

sayu can’t sleep at night unless she knows lumine is nearby

sayu is hard to find when she hides, but she comes out easily when she knows lumine is looking for her

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joongieboos · 3 years

Text

Colder.

Genre: Angst, might make you cry. (I cried)

Trigger warnings: character death, car accidents, police mention, first responder mention, food warning.

Pairing: Huang Renjun x Lee Donghyuck, college AU.

Word count: 2k words.

Plot: Donghyuck doesn’t come home one day, and Renjun doesn’t know what to do anymore.

Tags: @sombreboy @spacebikerateez @armysantiny @heckydizzle @bisoo @poprock204 @hyunmintae

•·················•·················•

“A seven-car pileup that’s stopping traffic on the freeway has now erupted into flames due to one of the vehicles being a tanker truck transporting gasoline. First responders are on the scene and attempting to stop the fire from spreading. We’ll keep you updated.” A reporter states from the helicopter from above, capturing the whole thing on camera. The news always played at home, and it would be on as white noise. There’s always something that’s going on, and he liked to be in the know. There he stood in front of the counter, chopping vegetables as he would do normally, the pans heating up for dinner as he waited for his fiancé to come home. The table was set, the candles lit, and the merlot poured in his glass, his fiancé’s glass still sitting empty on the table.

Sirens fill the air as the fire blazes, police, paramedics and firefighters fighting to save the people in the pile of blazing cars. There hasn’t been an explosion from any of the cars just yet and everyone fighting to save the people involved knows that no one will survive the explosion once one car decides to give up. First responders work diligently to get the cars sorted and sated of the flames, the police rerouting the people onto the off-ramp, paramedics on scene waiting for the firefighters to get those affected out, and the firefighters spraying the wetting agent onto the cars to try to subdue the rapidly charring metal. One of the cars, though, was already sparking into the fuel line, causing the fire to roar, the fuel line leading into the tank.

From his perspective, the liquid leaking out of the truck that was flipped beside him was his first indication. He felt himself grow colder on the inside, shivering as he tried to move to get himself out of the burning metal can. Few thoughts ran through his head, ultimately leading him to think about his fiancé who would be listening to the news at home, not paying any mind to the background noise. It had been a year that he got to know his partner better than he knew himself, and with those thoughts, he looked over to the passenger seat, this car bringing the memories of him singing with his fiancé, the countless dates and road trips that they had been on together. He felt the flames grow closer and he only grew colder, his chest filling with regret as the flowers he was bringing home to his fiancé laid on the ground, the upside-down position he was in making the cherry blossom flowers the sole thing he could focus on.

He shut his eyes once more and brought himself back to the first time he had met his fiancé. How he could remember it like it was yesterday, he could remember the sweater his fiancé was wearing, he could remember the colour of his hair at the time, what time they had met, where, and how they met.

Renjun was sitting in the small café beside their campus, the smaller boy on break from his current shift. This was his final year and he had made his way to go to one of the most popular and prestigious schools in the country. His brown apron bunched on his thighs as he brings one leg over the other. The smaller boy had his coffee and book, finally able to sit and finish this last chapter so he can start his final essay for one of his creative writing classes.

The bell at the entrance of the café made a little ding and a group of rowdy boys walked in, the volume of the building increasing exponentially. ‘Great…’ Renjun mumbles to himself, the only reason he took his break was the peace and quiet so he could read.

‘Might as well go back to work…I can’t leave Jisung alone to deal with these orders.’

He sighs and gets up, his feet moving hastily so he can get back behind the cash and help the group of loud boys. “Hi! Welcome to the Teaspoon! What can I get you today?” He fakes a smile and a customer service voice, now taking the orders of the three boys before one of them. The one going last smiles and it lights up, a small hum coming from him as he goes over the menu situated on the wall above the smaller baristas head, a plethora of machines behind him.

“Surprise me, yeah?”

The smaller barista is taken aback and smiles back to him, nodding.

“Alright, any allergies?”

The other shakes his head.

“Perfect, we’ll get your order made right away.”

The other male smiles down at the barista and pays the difference, now going over to the group.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, it’ll be done in about five minutes.”

The smaller barista quickly gets to work, now working on all the beverages for the group. For the last drink, he had decided on an iced passion fruit tea lemonade. Making the decision to give him a nickname, before finishing the drink, he goes and writes something fitting, something easy to remember. The barista passed all the drinks out when they’re all finished, his hand covering the nickname. He lets it go and goes to help another customer who’s lined up and takes her order.

The boy with the tea smiles at him before leaving the café and noticing the nickname. He grins, one of the boys in the group now noticing and asking what he’s smiling at.

“The sun.”

He smiles, another tear dripping off his face.

‘The sun.’

A nickname that was given to him for his smile and bright personality that could light up whatever room he went in.

Coming back the next day, the boy with the smile like the sun came looking for the barista he was so intrigued by. Though, unbeknownst to him, the barista was off for the next few days due to the copious amount of schoolwork he had to do. This didn’t stop the sunshine boy from coming in daily, waiting for him, ordering the same thing. He would come in and use the excuse of wanting that barista to make his coffee for him, claiming that he made it better than anyone else.

Four days later, the boy had come back and was greeted by his favourite barista.

“Welcome to the Teaspoon! What can I get for you today?” The barista says with a smile, his entire demeanour changing when he sees the sunshine boy from a few days ago. “How was your drink a few days ago? It was you who asked me to surprise you, right?”

The sunshine boy smiles, Donghyuck laughing slightly. “That was me, I couldn’t decide but what you made was delicious. Do you wanna surprise me again? It was probably one of the best drinks I’ve had in a while.”

The compliment makes the barista grin, and he tries not to show the pride that’s blooming in his chest. “I’d like that, did you want a coffee or a tea, today?”

“Your choice.”

“Bold of you to trust me.”

“You haven’t failed me yet.”

“I don’t plan on failing you.”

If only they knew at the time that he said that, that the sentence he had spoken would stay with the sunshine boy for the rest of his life. And it was true. Renjun wasn’t one to fail others, especially those he cares about.

Looking back to the first responders, Donghyuck had felt an array of emotions; anger, sadness, regret, longing, remorse, and what hurt the most was the acceptance that he had come to when he knew he wouldn’t be able to be saved. He had noticed the quiet sound of air flowing out of a hose, and with that sound, everything drowned out. He was pulled back into the memories of him and his fiancé, and the time that the two of them had spent together. His eyes shut and the air from the hose got louder, a single tear slipping down his face as he trembled, his final words dripping from between his lips.

“Huang Renjun, I will always love you,” He had whispered, the puddle of gasoline igniting beside him.

With that, time was up.

The cars erupted in a magnificent roar, the only people to survive being the first responders who weren’t anywhere close to the vehicles which were now charred.

Renjun had been cooking, and hours had passed, the worry that was building in his mind, he had sat at the dinner table. He sat, looking at the empty seat in front of him and had finished the bottle of wine that was sitting on the table. With a sigh, he had gotten up and brought his plate to the sink, the food untouched as he put everything he had made into containers for leftovers. While cleaning, a knock on the door had pulled him out of his trance and his legs brought him to the door; there stood two police officers whose faces were stoic but showed some semblance of regret.

“Mr. Huang Renjun, may we come in?”

His voice was as stoic as his face was, and Renjun had let the two officers in, a pit in his stomach growing into something that felt like it was eating him alive. The two officers had him seated back in the kitchen and he had been staring into nothing, the words that the officers had just spoken breaking him from the inside out. He looked over to where his fiancé would sit, the silence in the room deafening. Everything eventually started spinning and his ears started ringing. The room went cold, the previously warm and loving home he and his fiancé had built for each other now crumbling and breaking down into the frigid and abandoned building. Looking towards the police officers, his face went blank, and tears streamed down his face. The police officers had taken this time to leave a few brochures and escort themselves out.

This house had so many reminders of the love of his life:

The candle on the table, the shirt Renjun was wearing, the ring on his finger, the shampoo that they had both used just that morning, even the day. Their anniversary. Renjun needed some time to think, think about what’s happening, what’s coming next, what he would do. The male sat in silence; the door unlocked after the police officers showed themselves to the door. What was the smaller male to do now?

The news hit him with a wave of exhaustion, him now being in the same spot as he was. Was he to love again? No, surely not. He was promised to his twin flame, his person, his everything. He got up and wandered around the house aimlessly, his hands fumbling with each other as the ring he had on his finger twists. “Donghyuck… baby it’s time for dinner, it’s time to eat, and I made your favourite…” he calls out, his voice cracking and his heart breaking when he looks to the door. “Donghyuck, welcome home, my love… happy anniversary, my sun.”

This is the sentence that makes him break, finally dropping to his knees, his sobs loud and coarse. After a little while, his sobs exhaust him and he lays where he dropped down, his body aching as he tries to shift in his spot. Renjun can’t be bothered to move, his entire reason for existence now gone. He manages to shift onto his back, eventually just falling asleep in this spot.

The next morning he gets up and manages to stand, being faced with photos all around his home of him and his fiance. His body seemed to move by itself, bringing him to their shared bedroom, the room untouched. He looks around, feeling his heart shatter all over again.

“Life seems to be much colder now that the sun is gone…”

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captaincravatthecapricious · 3 years

Text

I Thought I Could Trust You- Prompt Fill

CWs: panic attacks, mental health issues, suicidal thoughts kind of? (Jon wishing that if someone is going to kill him that they would just get it over with), paranoia, insomnia, season 2 Jon and all his issues. Yes basically same as last chapter. Oh and Food and asthma.

This is basically a follow up for It Was My Job to Protect You

For Someone on Ao3 whose name escapes me because I haven’t slept well or recently and I am so sorry. If it’s you please let me know!

LAST BINGO! FINALLY. I am taking "things you said" prompts, come drop me one of those prompts for Jon, Martin, or Tim! I am very tired and can't remember if I proofread, so sorry in advance, or in past tense I don't know anymore time is fake and so is the order in which we perceive events. Have a lovely stretch in your existence. Card by the wonderful @celosiaa! Also very much inspired by @janekfan

Jon can hardly keep his eyes open. The stairs were almost too much for him. Wavering before his eyes and pulling on his heavy limbs, aching and shaky from his earlier panic attack.

It’s not like he can ask for help. And even if he could, Martin is just as badly off. And Tim... Tim scares him.

Tim is loud. Tim is angry. Which is Jon’s own fault. If he hasn’t been following Tim, Tim would be boisterous, not shouting. Jon wouldn’t have learned to flinch when he talks. To flinch when he moves.

And he wants to trust him but he’s afraid. And if Martin didn’t kill Gertrude, that makes it all the more likely that Tim did.

But no. No. Tim is his friend, right? Was his friend.

But all worry of letting him into his flat vanishes when the climb steals his hard-earned air from his lungs. Leaving him swaying and gasping on the landing.

Tim’s speaking and Jon flinches away. Almost teetering down the stairs, before he’s caught. By Tim.

“Oi, steady on, boss!”

Almost drown out by his breathing. Narrow chest heaving with effort and none of it reaching his brain.

“Hey Jon, could you maybe hold off on passing out on me until you give me your keys?”

Is that what Tim had been talking about?

Keyes, he can do that. Right?

But enervated fingers fumble with them in his pocket and he can’t grasp them. To his unending shame, he feels tears on his cheeks.

At least Martin is too out of it from his own panic attack earlier to notice. Much as the comfort would be welcome. It would also be stifling and even more embarrassing.

“Jon?” Still too loud. Tim’s too loud too close still steadying him physically which is still sending him further off balance. “Never mind, I’ll use mine.”

Because right. Tim had a key. Which Jon has been regretting because too loud too angry Tim could slit his throat while he sleeps but he doesn’t have it in him to change the locks so he’s been putting wedges under all of his doors. Ugly old wooden things that scuff the floor but that’s fine if it keeps him alive a little longer. Warns him early enough to arm himself. Although. Dying quickly without any fuss sounds... like a luxury.

Tim guides an overly pliant Martin to Jon’s understuffed and threadbare sofa. He tries to guide Jon to the bedroom before Jon’s knees buckle but Jon doesn’t want to be put to bed. He doesn’t want Tim in attended. He wants to trust Tim. But he can’t.

Much as Jon wants to sink into his bed and make up for all the sleep he’s missed over... well over the course of his whole life, he can’t leave Tim alone. Unsupervised.

Can’t let Tim kill him. Or poor, exhausted Martin on the couch. Or risk some other person breaking in and killing them all.

Jon isn’t sure if it would be better to be killed by someone he knows and once called a friend.

He isn’t sure.

But when Tim goes to the kitchen to make them all some food which Jon’s lackluster supplies, Jon follows.

Jon can’t keep his eyes open. Hyper vigilant to the sounds of the kitchen. But he can’t keep his eyes open. And… it might be welcome if Tim’s curry ends up killing him. So long as the poison does its work quickly.

He doesn’t want to die, not really. He’d very much like to survive, but surviving is exhausting, and maybe he wouldn’t mind too much if he just… wasn’t. He doesn’t want to be a mystery, but he doesn’t want to be afraid anymore… to Hurt anymore. And he is so exhausted that he does Hurt. Endlessly. Not to mention the ragged holes in his skin, still inching ever closer to being ugly scars… or they would be if he could stop worrying them… making them bleed.

But as tired as he is, it doesn’t stop him from being afraid. Afraid of dying? Or maybe just the fear of not knowing When the end is coming. If he only knew, then he could relax until it was actually imminent. Not just remaining alert every moment.

Christ he wants to sleep.

And… he does… in a way. He dozes while Tim cooks.

But he’s afraid that it’s poisoned. He is afraid Tim will be angry if he can’t make himself eat it for fear… then again it probably won’t be dangerous because Tim and Martin will presumably also be eating…

He wakes up to a clatter of something. He wakes up with numbed arms and a pounding pulse. He wakes up with Tim too close holding a knife.

And later he can parse out, Tim is only too close because he is picking up the cutting board that fell off Jon’s cluttered and diminutive counter, but all he sees is Tim with a knife, Tim cursing loudly. And he can’t even scream because his chest is too tight.

This is it. This is the end of Jonathan Sims.

He’s going to die. He is certain he is.

He shrieks. And aborted, choked off sound. Pathetic.

And he almost thought he could trust Tim. He almost thought he could trust him. Almost.

When Tim drops the knife and makes his posture as non-threatening as possible, Jon hates himself. Still unable to draw a full breath, and he Hates himself.

He’s broken Tim’s trust again by not trusting him. Again. Not even the first time today. He wants to tear himself up from the inside out, flacking little bits of old and poorly preserved parchment. Wants to make those lines appear and send tiny flakes of paper and dust flying and have no more of himself. Nothing left. Just this gaping chasm. Which is all he deserves really. Leaving nothing but a mess, just like always. Horrible… wretched… selfish… guilty… pathetic… What is WRONG with him. This is Tim. Tim. His first friend at the institute. Tim who has always been there for him. Until Jon went and Fucked it up. Properly fucked it up, with no way back. And.. And… FUCK.

He’s crying again. Making a proper fool of himself.

“Jon?”

He can’t look at Tim. Can’t catch his breath. Catching and wheezing in a way that is pitting the asthma against the panic and making them both all the worse.

Tim isn’t as gentle as he can be when he shoves the inhaler at Jon for the second time today. But Jon’s been sitting at the edge of a panic attack for weeks, and this time, it had been his fault. Not his fault that Jon’s been a jumpy paranoid wreck, but his fault for being loud and angry and threatening and waving a knife around in front of the nervous wreck that used to be his friend.

“Jon, you’ve got to use the inhaler. If you don’t breath, I’m gonna wake Martin from his nap. And he’s gonna be pissed at me, and if he gets pissed at me, I’m gonna get pissed at you, and you don’t want that.”

Probably a mistake to threaten the person afraid of you, but he can’t fix his anger in one day. Not until Jon puts in the work too.

Okay he gets it. Jon can’t exactly help being paranoid. He isn’t gonna shame Jon for having shit mental health. That would make him a bloody hypocrite. But… Jon did not handle it well. You’re supposed to reach out if you’re having a breakdown! (Yes he knows… he’s still a bloody hypocrite but Less of one). So… Jon’s gonna have to make an effort, and Tim… will try to be less …threatening? Loud? Big?

Jon stops stalking him, Tim takes a good snoop around his flat, they take turns keeping watch for monsters so maybe they can get some goddamned sleep. Simple enough!

If Jon can stop having a panic attack while he’s trying to cook!

No… No. Not gonna be angry at Jon for having another panic attack. Hardly even came down from the last one. Still too paranoid to leave Tim alone in the kitchen, stubborn bastard. And what kind of an idiot only has a few withered vegetables in his fridge?

(The kind who is too paranoid to eat non-packaged food, Tim does NOT think to himself).

Still. Jon should have reached out. should have said something before it got this bad! This isn’t Tim’s Fault. He didn’t help, sure, but it isn’t his Fault! And he isn’t going to apologize and he isn’t going to forgive Jon. (At least for now).

Jon has to be better. Try to be better. Tim will meet him halfway, but Jon has to make the first step, and use the goddamn inhaler. But the threatening just made it worse.

Jon looking frail and skinny and tired, hands over his head again, bracing for an attack. Just like in his office, just like on the stairs. Crumped up in such a way that even if he weren’t having an asthma attack and a panic attack, it would probably still be hard to breathe.

“Boss, you’ve got to breathe. We did this earlier, I didn’t kill you then. Not gonna kill you now.” Tim moves slowly so Jon isn’t surprised, and guides him a little straighter in his chair, holding the inhaler for him, as Jon’s finger tips (and lips) are going blue.

And Jon’s still fighting him, although quickly losing what little strength he had to begin with.

It takes some soothing before Jon lets him near enough to get the inhaler in his mouth. “That’s good, boss. That’s it, bud. Now breathe with me.”

He has a hand on Jon’s narrow chest now. Sticky with cold sweat, heaving unevenly. And Tim can’t believe how fragile his friend(?) has become.

But as soon as Jon has breath in his body, the apologies start flowing out.

“Hey, now. None of that now. You can apologize until you’re blue in the face once you’re not, ya know… literally blue in the face. I do want those, but not until you’ve gotten some sleep and you eat some of this damn fine curry that I am somehow making from your truly pathetic supplies. I’ll take the first watch, then we can talk about it, and you can actually start doing better. Because that’s what I want. I want you to stop hiding from us. I get it, you can’t trust right now. Fine. But what you’ve been doing isn’t okay. You don’t trust me. That’s …well not fine, but I get it. I do. But stalking us, and yelling at Martin, and hiding from us isn’t how to deal with that. You don’t trust us, so tell us how to help. How can we prove to you that we aren’t gonna hurt you? So you can’t help being a paranoid wreck, that’s understandable, but you can’t take that out on us. That isn’t okay. So first curry, then sleep. Then we’ll talk. Okay?”

And Jon nods. Allowing himself to be helped to the couch while Tim finishes dinner.

#the magnus archives #tma #jonathan sims #tim stoker #timothy stoker #tma fic #cw food #cw panic #cw paranoia #cw panic attack #cw mental health issues #cw suicidal ideation #cw insomnia #my writing #my fic #hurt/ comfort #cw strained friendships

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aetherarf · 3 years

Note

Hi, if it's not to much to ask I would like to requests a hurt comfort fic for Diluc and Aether.

Instead of Aether being able to recover on the beach with Paimon, he gets kidnapped by the fatui(or general bandits if you'd prefer that). Paimon tries to help but has no luck.

Years later(when Aether would have actually been recovered) Paimon gets help from Diluc and they find Aether.

Problem is is that he's in the same shape Diluc was after he was drugged, only he's had to endure it for years. Because of this Diluc decides to try and help him recover mentally after he gets physically healed.

If the prompt I confusing or something else, I can resend it.

So... yes and no I'll do this request?

This is a lot of scenes to stitch together and WAY TOO BIG for a normal request. Outside of a very rough draft styled post, anyway. I just ended up really finding the idea interesting, so... I'm basically just going to outline a lot of stuff below, it's not a fic but it's good enough.

Paimon had been the one to find Aether--whatever she was doing, well, it wasn't important enough that she wouldn't be there for the odd, blonde-haired traveller. She did her best, but she wasn't exactly the most skilled. He's sick, and weak, having been beaten and half rotten away on the inside. He shows her how to make a fishing rod, and the basics of fishing [Paimon wants to sob, seeing how he cannot even carry the stick and string, but she knows better], and in turn, she teaches him the local language.

She tries to fish, it's never much, and she tries to forage, too... But the plants are not regrowing fast enough. The warmth of summer is fading. Aether still cannot walk, not more than a few steps. Should she go to Mondstadt, and beg for help?

She doesn't know, honestly, gathering some berries for Aether. She ate this morning, she'd be okay.

But when she gets back, Aether is screaming and fighting, his old rusted sword breaks in twain as he's grabbed.

"He's important." "Why?" "I don't know, it's not our job to know why."

Paimon tries to fight them, with the broken blade Aether can no longer wield, but she is thrown to the water, and the world goes dark as the water fills her lungs. She can only see how Aether is hit, once, and collapses like a corpse in a strange person's arms. In terror, she thinks he died.

...

When she wakens, she's wet and alone and sick. The sand is not even marked with footprints anymore. Only Aether's blade, the broken iron, remains.

She takes what she can, and she heads to Mondstadt.

Softly, she pleads Wagner to fix the blade... There's only so much he can do, and it's more of a dagger, but it fits in Paimon's small hands.

She learns to fight.

She feels lonely. Aether was so kind, and for some reason, the idea of not being beside him breaks her heart in two. She misses him.

[ Is this why, she idly wonders, why he was looking for his sister? Lonely, and longing family? ]

She wanted her family, too. He was as close as she'd ever get.

If nothing else, she wanted to find what was left of him, so the grave she long since dug, the grave now filled in with stone and sand, could have a body. It was the least she could do.

Much later, she learns about the Fatui. Instead of foraging, [ after all, she's not so skilled that she can get all the Mora Aether could of ], she treats herself to a meal at Good Hunter. Some odd people with masks are fighting with Sara. Paimon, terrified, recognizes them. She hides until they leave, and asks about who they are.

Fatui.

That means the Fatui took Aether.

... Whether he's alive or not, it's a start. A true path for her to follow, a light to guide her. She tries to sneak into the hotel they've been residing in, only to be tossed out. It seemed she was completely forgotten as a worthless pixie. She tried to become friends with Viktor, but he didn't seem amused.

On a particularly frustrating night, she cries in the rain, until a red haired man finds her. She hugs him and cries, she's so tired, she feels so small and weak...

Not willing to let her sit in the cold alone this night, he brings her to the Winery. Hearing of the Fatui, kidnapping a person... Oh, it had been a year, two, three since then?

...

Maybe it wouldn't hurt to look into a little bit. If the Fatui want something, they probably shouldn't have it. They were not to be trusted.

It seemed they were curious about someone who was, innately, powerful. No vision, but cryo at their fingertips, and soon Anemo and Geo and Hydro, every element was at their grasp... But he wondered, who was this person?

Paimon, upon discovering, asked where... where this information was coming from. Diluc was unsure...

A long hunt, they found the Fatui returning to that very beach, a poor, beaten black and blue form, dressed in fluffy Fatui clothing had sat on his knees, staring up at the one who yelled at him, motionless... exhausted.

They wanted to know where he came from, but he had no answers for them.

Luckily, Paimon was not the only one there, and with brutality, Diluc had gotten the small party who dragged the poor soul there to either lie in the grave Paimon dug for Aether, or to run in terror, gathering him in his arms...

Paimon tried to cry out for him, to express her joy at his safety, but he only looked at her, dazed and apathetic.

It was far too similar to a thing Diluc had once experienced himself. He tried, he tried, to reassure Paimon he was just in shock...

But it seemed that it wasn't getting better so soon.

Aether had a room in the Winery, and he was monitored every moment of the day. If not by Paimon, then by Diluc, if not by Diluc, then by Adelinde.

He had been examined and healed, and apparently he had suffered horrific abuse-- he may have been powerful, but numbers overwhelmed. And so he could only take whatever they wanted to do, no matter how cruel or corrupt, and after awhile, his mind had been hidden within, gone and untouched. He no longer felt what happened to his body.

Diluc and Paimon had made it their mission, to try and help him. To help bring his mind out of its terrified hiding, hiding from the terror in their mind. Its not a life worth living, living as a mindless husk. For awhile, there's no progress. Aether will eat, drink, sleep, and follow basic tasks, 'Go over there', 'hand that to me', but there's no light in his eyes.

Paimon tries reading to him, and he doesnt seem to react at all.

Diluc will have him near when he's doing paperwork or cooking, trying to do anything he can to elicit a [Positive, of course] response, but he only emotes when spoken to.

Paimon begins to sleep beside him, head on his bed, rest of her on the floor, holding his hand. She wants to let him know that she'll be there.

On a particularly cold night, when Aether was shivering, Diluc had brought both Paimon and Aether to his bed, holding both of them... and he tried to not react as Paimon softly wept, believing both were asleep.

When she cried herself to sleep, Aether looked at Diluc, his eyes shining in the dark.

"Crying hurts."

The words are broken, but Diluc is shaken.

... it's a start.

Once again, there's very little change... but it seemed that Aether began expressing preferences.

Some stories Paimon would read were met with a dazed but wandering gaze. Others met with intense focus.

Aether wouldn't be as quick to get up when sleeping in Diluc's soft bed, and more than once was caught curled up in those blankets when Paimon was too tired to stop him.

And when they all sat together, reading together, Paimon long since asleep, Aether nuzzles into Diluc's chest, and sighed softly.

... he was recovering. Slowly, but surely, his mind was healing, and he was beginning to feel again.

#genshin impact #diluc #aether #aeluc #bark writes #// eh?#anonymous #paimon #// paimon bebey #angst #angsty bark #hurt and comfort

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ofstoriesandstardust · 3 years

Text

whole-Luther Hargreeves

a/n: if you’re new to my blog, I’m asexual and I’ve been feeling pretty down about it lately so I wrote this to make myself feel a little better. this is entirely self indulgent. yes, this is a asexual!reader x luther but the hargreeves siblings are here for moral support.

masterlist | prompt list

warnings: post season 2 (no Sparrow Academy), Ben is alive, food, coming out, references to Sex Education, swearing

word count: 3,857

The first person you told was Klaus. It only made sense; you were the first person he came out to, you could trust him. He wouldn’t reject you or scorn you or laugh at you or tell you you weren’t valid. Still, your heart pounded as you thought about what you planned to do as you unlocked the door to your apartment, Klaus following you inside. The two of you had decided to have a night in, with you teaching Klaus how to make pasta from scratch. You didn’t think he’d really learn, but he’d been binge watching cooking shows and had practically begged for you to teach him. You agreed, because pasta wasn’t really that hard and it gave you something to do with your hands while you thought about what came next. You moved your hair up into a ponytail after setting the groceries down. “Klaus, grab the eggs out of the fridge would you?” You asked as you wiped the table down. He nodded, pulling them out and sidling up next you. You took a deep breath as you spread the flour out of the counter, showing Klaus how to set his up. Breathe. Just focus on the pasta. You could do this. The whole process went smoothly and turned out a very nice meal. Klaus had even momentarily distracted you from your thoughts as he took a strand of pasta, draping it over his lip as some sort of mustache and you had laughed so hard you almost started crying.

You gripped your fork as the two of you ate, and you felt so close to throwing up your food. “....and then, Five said ‘Well Diego-”

“Klaus.” You said and he stopped, looking at you. Your eyes flitted up to meet his in a panic and you were certain your dinner was going to resurface. You sighed, setting your fork down, and put your face in your hands. “I’m asexual.” You mumbled out but you didn’t feel any better.

“Sorry, love, didn’t quite catch that.” He tugged your hands away from your face, moving to set next to you from his place across the table. “Want to try again?” You sighed as Klaus tucked a stray piece of hair behind your ear, still holding on to your hands.

“I’m... asexual Klaus. I’m asexual.”

“Oh darling.” He said softly, practically pulling you into his lap as Klaus only knew how to show his love through physical affection. “Thank you for telling me, I’m sure that was very hard.” He said genuinely and you looked at him. “I’m proud of you.” He whispered and you tucked your head into his shoulder, trying to ground yourself from the tears that were threatening to overwhelm you.

“Thank you.” You mumbled, picking at your nails.

“Does... does Luther know?” He asked. The sweet blonde had been your boyfriend for only a few short months and you were not ready to tell him. The fear that had gnawed at you was now back.

“No. No and you can’t tell him.” You said, eyes wide, lifting yourself off Klaus. “Please don’t tell him, I’m not ready for him to know yet-”

“Hey hey hey, I won’t tell him, okay? Secret’s safe with me. Promise.” He said sincerely and you nodded.

“Will you finish telling me that story while I eat now that I don’t feel like I’m going to throw up?” Klaus nodded, letting you slide off his lap to finish eating as he resumed his story of the latest Hargreeves family dinner.

The next was Ben. You’d been watching Sex Education at the recommendation of one of your college friends, and you had talked Ben into watching it with you. You watched as Jean told Florence “Sex doesn’t make us whole. And so, how could you ever be broken?” You felt your throat close up as you thought about all the ways you had doubted your self worth based on your sexuality. You could feel the way Ben looked down at you. The episode came to a close and Ben turned the TV off. The two of you sat in silence as you mulled her and Klaus’ words over in your head, debating if you should tell him.

“Ben.” You said softly, and he shifted ever so slightly to make eye contact with you. “I’m asexual.”

Ben raised his eyebrows and then smiled. “Thank you for telling me.” He responded, soft tone matching yours.

“Do you think Luther will break up with me?” He remained silent for a moment, taking time to choose his words. He ended up shaking his head.

“I don’t think so, no. He’s crazy about you, and this is a part of who you are, there’s not any reason to like you less.” You nodded, tears pricking at your eyes. “You want a hug?” You nodded and the boy pulled you in. “Your sexuality is a part of who you are, but it doesn't define you. And there’s nothing to be ashamed of, you do know that?” You looked up into Ben’s sincere eyes and nodded. Maybe you weren’t ready to tell Luther just yet, but telling the others didn’t feel as such a daunting task.

Then there was Vanya. You hadn’t planned on telling her, at least, not when you did, but it had just sort of... happened? Vanya lived across the hall from you, and from some reason, you’d gotten some of her mail by mistake. You’d gone over to return it and she had invited you in to catch up real quick. You were showing her a picture of a celebrity you both liked when she blurted out, “I’m bisexual.” You looked up at her. “I don’t... know.. if you knew that.” She said uncertainly.

“I’m asexual.” You responded, without really thinking. She began to laugh which prompted you to laugh.

“I was so worried over what you were going to say but we’re both just struggling.” You laughed harder at her words. “Oh shit, my popcorn!” She exclaimed, running over to the microwave to get the now burning popcorn. You laughed even harder. “Wait, is this why Klaus has been going around explaining sexualities to everyone the last few days?” You straightened up. “Something about how to be accepting when someone you care about comes out to you.”

“I’m gonna fucking kill him. “ You responded. “What the hell, he wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.” You responded, rubbing your temple. She sighed as she put a new bag of popcorn in the microwave.

“Well, I don’t think Luther or Diego has caught on if that’s what you’re worried about. I don’t even think they pay attention.” Vanya’s door opened and Ben walked in, followed by Diego and Klaus.

“Speak of the devil.” You muttered. Diego reached over to give Vanya a hug and you grabbed Klaus by his jacket as he went towards the living room. You pulled him close and got near his face. “What the fuck Klaus? You promised not to say anything.” You hissed.

“Well, technically, I didn’t tell anyone anything-” He said shrugging, feigning innocence. Fortunately for Klaus, Five and Allison, along with Luther walked through the door and you quickly let Klaus go. You stood up from your chair and Klaus moved back.

“Okay, well, thanks for the nice chat Vanya, but I have to go call my mother.”

“How fun.” Allison teased and you rolled your eyes. You gave Luther a quick kiss and hugged Diego. Ben pulled you in for a hug as well.

“I’ll keep an eye on him.” He whispered.

“How did you-”

“I grew up with him. I know what he’s like. He won’t say anything but I’ll make sure he doesn’t until you’re ready.” You nodded, squeezing him. You pulled away, and headed towards the door. “Have fun.” You called, shutting the door behind you. God, that just confirmed to you needed to tell Luther, and soon.

The next had been Allison, and accidentally, Five. You stood in the Academy’s kitchen with Allison as the two of you talked over coffee. The two of you had been good friends since Diego had introduced you to the family and you were both busy catching the other up on your lives. “So, how are you and Luther?” The girl asked as she sat back in her chair. You smiled slightly at the mention of the sweet boy and shrugged. As happy as the thought of him made you, there had been quite the cloud hanging over you with the looming decision to be honest with him about your sexuality.

“We’re good.” You responded quietly. She quirked an all-knowing eyebrow and you turned your head back to your coffee.

“You don’t sound good.” The two of you sat in silence for a moment before she spoke again. “Cmon, telling me what’s going on.” You sighed, straightening up in your chair and faced the girl. For the millionth time, you felt like you were going to cry once again. “(Y/N).” She said seriously and you finally met her eye. “He’s my brother, but you’re also my friend. What’s going on?” You shook your head, trying to get the words out without breaking down.

“I.. have to tell Luther something and I’m just.. scared.”

“So practice on me.” She responded.

“What? And pretend you’re Luther?”

“Well, sure. Why not?” You stared at her. “I’m serious. You can practice on me, whatever it is, and then you’ll feel more confident telling him.”

“If I do, you have to promise you won’t tell him. I’m not quite ready for him to know yet.” She nodded and you sighed.

“What do I even say?”

“Just.. whatever you want to say, say it to me.” You sighed and nodded. You looked down at your hands, playing with your cup. Boy, you shouldn’t have had two cups of coffee, your heart was racing.

“Well, I guess.. there’s something I want you to know. And I guess.. I haven’t wanted you to know because I wasn’t ready yet, but I am now. And I guess... okay, well, the thing is... I’m asexual.” You spit out.

“That’s all?” You jumped in your chair, hand clutching at your chest, as you turned to see Five standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

“Oh my God Five, you scared the shit out of me!” You exclaimed. The boy smirked, shrugging. “And you weren’t supposed to hear that!” He turned to face you as he poured himself a cup of coffee. He took a sip of it as he seemed to contemplate your words.

“Let me ask you something. Why are you so scared to tell him?”

“How do you...”

“I’ve been standing in the doorway longer than you realized.” You swore under your breath as he continued to wait for your answer.

“Well, I just... it’s stupid.”

“It’s not stupid.” Allison assured you, the first words she had spoken since your confession.

“Clearly not for you to be so distressed over it.” Five added, sitting down next to you. “So again, why are you so scared?”

“I just... In the past... I’ve had... really bad reactions. Well, not terrible, but I did have a family member tell me I wasn’t valid and then one my room mates in college thought I was hitting on her, not to mention all the boys that have left me once they found out I wasn’t a quick fuck or planned on sleeping with them.. really ever, and I know Luther’s not like that, but I just... worry.” Five looked at you and then stood up from his seat next to you.

“You should tell him. He deserves for you to be honest with him.” His words seemed to deflate something inside of you. He moved towards the door and then stopped and looked back. “But don’t worry about it so much. The boy looks at you like you hung the moon and stars all for him. It’ll be fine.” He left the kitchen and you turned back to Allison. She laughed.

“Well, I don’t say this often, but for once I agree with Five. Telling him won’t change things the way you think it will.”

“Yeah, but...”

“But what?”

“Diego doesn’t even know.”

“Diego doesn’t know? How does Diego not know?!”

“Allison-”

“He’s your best friend (Y/N), how does he not know?!” You looked back at her and something in your face must’ve tipped her off because she softened. “Holy shit, you’re really scared, aren’t you?”

“I’m terrified.” You whispered. “You take the two most important people in my life, and it shouldn’t change anything, but I’m so fucking scared I’ll lose them.” She shook her head.

“You won’t lose them. They care about you too, and they care most that you’re honest about who you are and that you’re happy.”

“You really think so?” She nodded.

“And, for the record, I’m glad you told me. But you need to tell them. Your experiences make sense; your concerns are valid. But I promise, they won’t have a bad reaction.” You sighed and nodded. Diego first, and then.. and then Luther.

It was Diego’s turn to learn the truth. You had texted him early in the morning, just a few days after speaking to Allison.

Can you come over today? I need to talk to you. It’s important.

It was all you could manage without losing your nerve but also conveying how important this was to you. He hadn’t texted you back which was a bit of a concern because he was usually an early riser. Your book and Cheerios sat in front of you, long forgotten, as you bit your lip, staring at your phone. You sighed, moving off your chair to clean up and get ready for the day, when keys jingled in the door, as Diego strode through. You turned to face him and he stopped short, taking you in.

“Okay, you don’t look like you’re dying. Is someone else dying? Friends house burn down or something?”

“Do I need to be dying for you to come over?” You asked, setting the now empty bowl in the sink for you to wash later.

“No, but you don’t usually text me things like ‘I need to talk to you’ at,” His eyes looked up towards the clock on the microwave. “At 6:30 in the morning.” You shrugged as he moved closer to you. “What’s going on (Y/N)?” You sighed, wringing your hands together.

“I have to tell you something, and you can’t tell Luther, because he doesn’t know yet, and I’m not ready for him to know yet, but I’m going to tell him, I promise, but you can’t freak out, and I don’t think you will, because you’re my best friend but-” The boy grabbed your hands, effectively cutting off your falling and rambling.

“You can tell me.” He said softly, looking at you honestly. And you could, because he was your best friend and the two of you had seen each other through much worse.

“Diego, I’m... I’m asexual.” You whispered. He let go you, taking a step back, and began to... laugh? You sighed, shooting him a look.

“That’s all?” he said, chuckling. You reached out to smack his shoulder, which he easily dodged. He pulled you into a hug, despite your resistance, your shoulder leaning up against his chest.

“Diego.” You whined, pout very present on your face.

“What? You nearly gave yourself an anxiety attack over telling me; you really think I was going to run for the hills just because my best friend doesn't want to sleep with anyone?” You looked up at him and he pulled away. “Holy shit, you did, didn’t you?” You shrugged. “For how long we’ve been friends, I’d really think you’d know me better than that.” He said seriously.

“I’m sorry Diego. It’s not that I don't trust you but I just- I’m so tired of being told I’m not valid or that there’s something wrong with me and I just... I was scared.” He sighed and pulled you back into his chest. You wrapped your arms around him. “Luther’s going to hate me.” You whispered and for a moment, you weren’t sure he heard you.

“He’s not going to hate you. According to Five, he looks at you like-”

“Like I hung the moon and the stars for him, yeah I’ve heard.” You said laughing.

“He won’t be mad, I don’t think. And even if he is, I’ll beat him up for hurting my best friend.” You laughed, nudging him. Diego let you go from him, leaving you with a few words of encouragement. You sighed as you picked up your phone to text Luther. You could do this.

You had asked Luther to come over for dinner that night and he had agreed, letting you know he’d pick up takeout from your favorite Thai place on his way over. In the meantime, you decided to call a room mate of yours from college (not the one who thought you were hitting on her) to keep your mind off of it. But of course, it had all come out while you were on the phone and she’d been adamant you tell Luther. However, talking to her could encompass many different topics and you ended up losing track of time as you talked. “All I’m saying is, it’s not hard to understand where the conspiracy about Diana’s death comes from.” You laughed as you agreed. However, Luther knocked on the door, and you walked over to let him in.

“Hi.” You said, smiling up at him.

“Hi?” You friend said back in confusion. You sighed, looking down at the phone as you shut the door behind Luther. He set the bags of food down on the counter, looking over at you.

“Not you, stupid. My boyfriend is here.”

“WAIT!” She yelled. “Wait wait wait, is this the new one you can’t shut up about?”

“New one? How many boyfriends do you think I have?!”

“Whatever, the one you always talk about. The blonde one.” You nodded.

“You want to say hi?” She nodded and you moved over, angling the phone to show Luther.

“Luther, this is my room mate from college.” He waved awkwardly.

“He’s cute.” She said, and you looked back up at Luther as he blushed. “He’s definitely your type.” She added and you looked down at her.

“What does that mean?!” You exclaimed, causing her to laugh.

“Nothing, nothing. Just can’t believe you’ve been dating for almost six months and this is the first time I’m meeting him.”

“Well, you’d have met him a lot sooner if you came out to visit me once in a while.”

“Yeah, but if you came out here, we’d be able to go on that road trip we’ve been talking about.”

“Yes, but it’s much more convenient to have you come out here.” She laughed. “Well, I have to go but I’ll call again soon.”

“Wait, (Y/N).” You stopped and looked down. “You need to tell him.” She stated seriously. You sighed.

“Okay, I’ll call you later.” You quickly hung up, moving towards Luther, giving him a quick kiss. “Sorry, that was one of my good friends from college.” He waved.

“No worries. She seems nice.” You nodded.

“She is, but... well, she’s a bit like Klaus, quite chaotic at times but I love her anyway.” He chuckled, pulling your food from the bags.

“So... tell who what?” He prompted, raising an eyebrow. You sighed.

“Yeah... that. Do you mind... can we go in the living room before we eat and talk? I have something I need to tell you.” He nodded, but you didn’t miss the confusion and panic that settled on his face. The two of you walked over to the couch and you sat down, facing him. “So... I’ve been keeping something from you and I’m sorry for not telling you sooner. I’ve just been scared about how you might react.” He grabbed your hands and you squeezed them gratefully. “So... I’m asexual.” It was the most confident you had felt saying it, but there was a still a twinge of nerves behind your words.

“That’s great! I just.. I don’t know what means.”

“Oh! Well... it means that I don't experience sexual attraction. To anyone. I’m not really interested in the whole sex bit.” He nodded slowly.

“So... does that mean you want to break up?” He asked tentatively.

“What? No!”

“Well, Klaus was just talking the other day about people who don’t want to be in relationships with other people, but I’m not entirely sure what he meant...”

“Oh, he must’ve meant aromantic people. They don’t experience romantic attraction to anyone, they don’t want a relationship. Some people are asexual and aromantic, and some are like me, and are only one. Sexuality is fluid and I could explain it to if you’d like but I feel like we should address the elephant in the room first.”

“Which is?”

“Well, just that, I’m very happy with you. But I don’t know if that changes anything for you. I mean, if you want to break up with me, I’ll understand.” You said softly.

“Why would it change anything?” You shrugged.

“I don't know.. I just don’t know if that's something a priority for you s’all.” He shook his head.

“I’m guessing Klaus has never told you the story of the rave then.” you looked up at him.

“No?” You said, laughing out of pure confusion. “Should he have?” Luther was quick to shake his head.

“No, no, and don’t ask him to tell you. It’s just... that’s not something that’s a priority for me. And I’d never want to make you feel pressured or uncomfortable, so I appreciate you telling me. Just... I’m going to need you tell me what’s okay and what’s not? I don’t want to push anything.” You nodded. “I like you because you’re you. Short of you killing one of my siblings, I don’t think you could do much to change that. This won’t change anything.” You smiled and nodded. You leaned over, hovering just above his face.

“Well, I can tell you one thing I like.” You whispered. The boy didn’t respond, just pulled you somehow closer without actually connecting your lips.

“Can I kiss you?” He whispered and you nodded. It was sweet, but short. You pulled away, sitting back on the couch.

“That.” You said, laughing slightly. He smiled and you patted his knee. “Well, the Thai food smells amazing, so let’s eat shall we?” He nodded and the two of you headed to the kitchen. He kissed you the cheek swiftly as you grabbed drinks from the fridge. “What was that for?” You asked. He shrugged, smiling at you. You laugh, smiling to yourself. The butterflies that boy continued to give you...

As the two of you cuddled on the couch later that evening, you felt a smile grace your lips as you fell asleep in the arms of your boyfriend. For the first time, you really began to feel whole.

#luther hargreeves #luther hargreeeves imagines #luther hargreeves fic #luther hargreeves imagine

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