#I TOLD YOU PEOPLE I HAD A COMPLEX INJURY AND THAT WAS WHY IT WAS TAKING SO LONG TO HEAL

[fingertipsmp3]

Only I would get diagnosed with a hamstring tear and feel smug about it

[gemini-sensei]

New Neighbor | Jaime Reyes x Plus-Sized!Reader

Requested ● Fem!Artist!Reader

CW: 18+, minor blood and injury, smut, unprotected sex, breeding kink, creampie, rough sex, Scarabs being Scarabs, Reader's scarab is like an overprotective older sibling, pregnancy, strangers to friends to lovers, probably more. (unedited)

A/N: I added some details to this that weren't in the og ask. They just kind of slipped in there, so I hope that's okay. I also gave the other scarab the name Rami because it was all I could think of.

It started off as being neighborly. Nothing more, nothing less, but it was enough for Jaime and Reader to notice each other. She was moving into the apartment next to his and he offered to help her move some boxes in. She was curvy and capable, seeming to lift the boxes without any trouble, but he was a gentleman and he'd still offer no matter what. The least he could do was hold the door open for her, but she smiled and accepted his offer.

"It'll move things along a lot faster," she laughed.

Once all the boxes and furniture were in her apartment, he offered her something to drink from his place since she didn't have much more than some convenience store bottles and snacks. She accepted and they spent an hour talking, getting to know each other. He worked as a law consultant for Kord Industries while she was a waitress at a new restaurant in the city. They talked about their families and why they decided to live in the city, both agreeing that it was easier to get to their jobs that way. Reader admitted that waitressing was just a temporary thing because she had bigger dreams of being an artist.

Then she had to leave to get ready for work. As soon as she was gone, Khaji Da started:

"Based off of your elevating blood pressure and hormone levels, I can tell you're highly attracted to Reader," it said.

Jaime groaned as his face began to burn. "Don't say stuff like that!"

"It's the truth," it said, continuing its analysis of what just happened without missing a beat. "I'll need to collect more data, but it appears the two of you would be compatible together."

"I'm not having this conversation with you," he told it, shaking his head. He cleaned up the glassware and pushed Khaji Da's ideas out of his mind, at least as much as he could.

In the apartment next to his, Reader was having the opportunity conversation with the pink alien weapon that had attached itself to her over a year ago.

"I don't like him," her Scarab, who'd chosen the name Rami to go by, said. Only she could hear its voice, which didn't bother her much. If anyone else could hear what it said, they'd be offended. It was fiercely protective of her, usually warning her about all sorts of people and their supposed intentions. Reader had gotten used to blocking it out when necessary. "He's hiding something."

"Everyone is entitled to their secrets," Reader told it, stripping down to get in the shower. "Like me. I have you to hide from the world."

"This is true, however, I do not like this Jaime character. He's too nice and obviously hiding something bigger than you think," Rami said. Though its voice was monotonous, it used every word smartly to get its point across.

Reader thought of Rami as somewhat of a brother figure despite it being a sexless war weapon that had bonded to her every fiber of being. She mostly thought this because of the masculine tone it had. The authoritative nature of its words and knowledge lended itself to the idea. It constantly reminded her of its engineered origins so as to not humanize it but she constantly reminded it that it cared for her, which was a human emotion. so, no matter human or biomechanical, they were complex beings.

However, its constant nagging over guys made her wonder why she had to be the chosen one. Why did she have to have a scarab attached to her back? What had she done that made Rami so sure it wanted her as its host? All questions she had asked herself before with little to no answers to be given. She let it be, accepting that this was her life and she'd keep it to herself, because surely there wasn't anyone else who could possibly understand her situation.

Over the next month, Reader and Jaime crossed paths now and again. They saw each other in the hallway or elevator up to their apartments, while getting the mail, or on the balconies right next to each other. They exchanged hello's or see-you-later's, sometimes more than that. Each time she saw him, Reader was a little more smitten by him. Each time he saw her, Jaime fell a little more for her. However, their schedules didn't always align.

Jaime's job, and his cover, as Kord Industries' law consultant, took up his mornings and sometimes his nights. He constantly helped his friend Jenny with something related to the company or the crime rampant throughout the city. He didn't mind, of course, he was being paid to help run tests even though he didn't always understand what they were doing. Reader worked evenings and nights. She raked in tips like no other waiter or waitress at her job, but she always came home tired from the constant pleasantries even if some customers had been rude to her. She kept smiling but after a particularly bad night where she'd gotten yelled at by a man for supposedly giving him the wrong drink on purpose (despite that being what he ordered the first time), she thought about quitting. Especially after Rami wanted to start a fight with the man, not that anyone else knew about that.

On her Saturday off, Reader was sitting on her balcony with a book and a lemonade. The sun was shining bright and it seemed like a night day to just relax, take things easy, and breathe. Jaime, unaware that she was outside and his door was open, was having a small spat with Khaji Da. It had decided to bring up Reader again, finished with it's "data collection" and it had come to the determination that Reader was the perfect "mate" for Jaime.

"You can't just say stuff like that! Do you understand how strange that sounds?" he asked, having been taken off guard by the statement.

Reader looked up, wondering who he was talking to. Sometimes she heard him talking to someone occasionally, but she just assumed that he was talking on the phone since he lived on his own. However, she'd never heard him arguing with them before and it seemed to be in intense one at that.

After a few more minutes of the back and forth, trying to explain to Khaji that certain words shouldn't be used to describe a relationship, he walked out onto the balcony for some fresh air. He was startled to find Reader sitting on the balcony next to his, though he didn't know why. It was her's, she could sit there all damn day if she wanted to. He just hoped he didn't just sound crazy to her.

"Everything okay?" she asked softly.

He nodded, leaning on the railing. "Yeah, everything's fine."

She smiled. "Were you on the phone with your sister?"

He nodded almost too quickly. "Yeah, she's always trying to tell me what to do in the weirdest way possible."

Reader laughed softly, but let it die down as Rami spoke to her; "He's lying."

She wanted to tell it to shut up but bit her tongue. Instead, she spoke to Jaime. "Well, advice from others is usually only that. Advice. The only thing you can really do is decide what you want. No one else can do that for you."

He nodded. "You're right, as usual."

They talked across their balconies like that until they couldn't. He had other engagements to attend to as lunchtime approached. She slipped back into her apartment once he was gone, which was when she called Rami out.

"You can't keep doing this," she mumbled, shaking her head. "He's a great guy. He hasn't done anything to us, so you can't go making assumptions about him."

"He's a liar," Rami stated, almost like a stubborn child. "Do not trust him so easily, Reader."

She rolled her eyes and started prepping to make lunch.

That night, she was watching TV. The news was rampant with coverage about a nasty bank robbery that had taken place downtown. Luckily, only a few people were hurt and were recovering in the hospital thanks to the local hero Blue Beetle. He'd seemingly swooped in just in time to rescue the hostages, take out the robbers, and ensure everyone's safety. The robbery had started not long after 1pm and things were only just beginning to cool down as night settled.

As Reader switched from the news to something a little more upbeat and cheery, a noise came from the balcony. She stood up and took a defensive stance facing the door, Rami ready to armor her if need be. She'd pulled the curtain over the door because the morning sun was a bitch, so she couldn't see outside. However, they were on the fourth floor. No one should be on the balcony. Reader was convinced the news had just gotten into her head a little bit and that there was nothing to worry about.

Except when the door began to open. Reader gave the command in a low voice, "Hands."

Rami armored her hands so she could easily make a weapon to defend herself with. A bat was easy enough and formed between her palms as soon as she thought of it.

The figure was walking into the room, pushing the curtain out. They were slow, easing their way into the dark apartment. Reader quietly made her way over. Once she was close enough, she swung and hit the person over the head, knocking them down.

They groaned and fell from the curtain, revealing the blue-clad superhero. Her eyes widened as she got a good look at him, shocked to see that he was there in her apartment.

"Oh my god!" she said, still holding her bat up. "What are you doing here!"

"I live here," Blue Beetle groaned. He held his head, a little rattled. His armor was in shambles and in need of some repairs. He'd been through a lot, a lot more than what was shown on the news. He obviously needed some help and some rest, but Reader knew one other thing was for certain: he didn't live here.

"I live here," she said, sighing. She lowered the bat, aware that she couldn't exactly let it go or put it away without giving herself away. "You must've hit your head or something."

"No head injury until you hit me," he said. He sat up, leaning back on his arms.

She winced. "I'm so sorry."

"I can't blame you," he said and looked around the apartment. "You're right, as usual. This isn't my apartment."

She nodded, then stopped as she caught what he said. "Wait, what did you just say?"

"You're right," he said, holding back.

"As usual," she finished, looking him over. She replayed his voice over in her head. "Jaime?"

"Shit," he cursed and retracted his mask, able to breath a little better. "I'm so sorry, Reader. This shouldn't have happened."

"Well, at least we know what he's hiding," Rami said.

"Why are you sorry?" Reader asked, leaning some of her weight on her bat.

"I've put you in danger simply by you knowing who I am," Jaime said.

Then Rami said, "That's a scarab."

Reader choked on air. "What?"

Jaime's eyes widened and he scrambled to his feet. He put his hands out in an assuring manner, sure that he'd freaked her out. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, but I swear, I'll do everything to protect you should anyone come after you or try to hurt you."

At the same time he was talking, Rami was explaining how the armor Jaime wore was the same as she would if it would let her show her all it was capable of. It had been a long time since the pink scarab had been allowed to fully use its host, but the beginning of their partnership had been rough and she'd been resistant to the whole body armor thing. They hadn't tried again since they first bonded. It had never been necessary either.

"Stop, just stop, I can't listen to both of you at the same time!" she shouted, bringing her hands up to her head. The bat retracted into her hand and the armor that Jaime had thought were gloves in the dark disappeared. "Just shut up for a minute!"

Jaime stood in shock, wondering what was going on. He listened though and everything was quiet. Khaji was down needing as much rest as he did, so it was truly quiet.

After a moment to collect her thoughts, Reader looked at him. "You're Blue Beetle."

He nodded. "Yeah."

"And you have a scarab."

He nodded again. "How did you know that."

"Because," Reader said and turned around. She rolled up her shirt, exposing her rolls and fat, but also the pink scarab embedded along her spine. It was a sight Jaime was sure he'd never see on another person. "I have one too."

The conversation would have gone on if Jaime hadn't collapsed on Reader's couch. It obviously wasn't the time to talk about it. As soon as she saw that he didn't have as much energy as he'd like to show her, she jumped into action to get him cleaned up. His armor retracted and he was naked on her furniture, but she didn't bat an eye at it. She covered him up and got a warm rag to start cleaning up a few injuries he had on his side, where his armor had been cracked. He was still conscious and talking, which was a good sign. She kept his talking, asking him how this had happened.

He explained that the bank robbers were on some sort of enhancement drug that made them nearly indestructible. He had to hand the case over to the Justice League once that little tidbit had been revealed by one of the overconfident robbers. It was supposed to stop others from capturing them, but they hadn't accounted for a hero like Blue Beetle to show up. Despite that, he'd got slammed into the bank counter somewhere near the end of the fight and a lot of his scarab's energy went to trying to repair it in time, but the fight still went on. Nevertheless, they'd been taken care of and were on their way to a highly secure prison where they couldn't hurt or scare anyone else.

Reader bandaged him up and put a pillow under his head. "Well, I'm glad you're okay."

He frowned. "I still put you in danger."

"No, you just made Rami a whole lot more protective of me," she told him, smiling. "With the both of you on my side, I couldn't possibly get hurt. Not that I can't take care of myself."

He gave a tired smile. "Right. You've got one Hell of a swing."

She giggled and kissed Jaime on the head. "Rest up. I'll go get some clothes out of your apartment."

And that was how they got even closer. Knowing the other had some world-destroying biotech embedded in their backs opened up a lot of doors for them to confide in each other and get even closer. Jaime told her about how he became Khaji Da's host and of his father, who he'd looked up to all his life. Reader told him the story of how she'd found her scarab while backpacking in the jungle; she'd thought she found some ancient fossil, not a rock from outer space that held an alien war weapon.

They spent more time at each other's places, especially after Reader had enough of getting treated like shit after a new manager was put in charge at her job and quit. She'd saved up enough money to get by for a while and it gave her time to work on her art. It was a nice change of pace and she was happier because of it. Months went by of them hanging out, inside and outside of their apartment building, but the more time they spent together, the more Khaji encouraged Jaime to make a move.

Or rather, mate with Reader.

It didn't come up in those terms, but Khaji constantly brought up how great of a mate Reader would be. It was talking all the time the two spent together as proof that it was right about this. However, every time it came up, Jaime shut it down almost immediately. Because while he did like Reader, he didn't want to make a move too fast. He wasn't even sure if she liked him.

Reader was in a similar dilemma, though her own scarab could care less about Jaime. She liked him but didn't know if she wanted to go through asking him out. What if he said no? She'd make things awkward between herself and the only other person who understands what she goes through daily.

Rami disagreed. While it didn't like Jaime, it saw things Reader seemingly didn't. "He's staring again." or "This is the seventh time he's offered to do something for you in four days." It's very obvious to Rami that Jaime has a crush on her, more than a crush it will argue.

"He is highly attracted to you, Reader," it said one day while she was painting. "You're as equally as attracted to him as he is to you. Just look at what you're doing."

When she blinked and actually looked at what she'd been painting, it was a famous Blue Beetle. It was artistic and colorful and produced with admiration. She set it aside and decided to go on a walk to clear her head.

As she passed Jaime in the hall, Khaji Da noticed something. "She's happier and free of stress, making this her more fertile cycle yet."

Jaime could have died right there on the floor. He hurried to his apartment and slammed the door shut behind him. "What are you talking about!?"

"Reader. Her fertility is at its highest now that she has removed herself from a stressful work environment, allowing her to become happier. As a result, she is far more fertile than before and in the perfect position for breeding," Khaji explained.

Jaime felt like he was going to lose his mind. "We aren't even in a relationship! You can't assume these things are going to happen when we're just friends! I'm not talking about this anymore, mostly because this is a huge violation of Reader's privacy!"

The conversation might have ended there, but Jaime's mind couldn't stop thinking about it. Ever since they'd met, he'd been undoubtedly attracted to Reader. She's beautiful, kind, and smart. It was helpful that her voluptuous figure was so eye-catching. She was purely gorgeous and sometimes all he wanted was to grab a handful of her ass or squeeze her wide hips so he could pull her into him. He wanted to kiss her lips and feel her body against his, fat tits squished against his chest. But for the most part, he pushed those thoughts down because Reader was his friend and friends didn't think of each other like that.

The following evening, they were hanging out at his place. They'd had take out together and were cleaning up when he brushed up against her as she put the leftovers in the fridge. He only meant to grab another drink but he accidentally pressed up against her ass while she was bent over and it sparked something. Things grew hot quickly and both of them didn't know what to do or think for the longest time.

So, because of their inability to take charge of their destinies, Khaji and Rami (both on different wavelengths but somehow on the same page) forced proximately between their hosts. Khaji pushed Jaime forward and Rami moved Reader into just the right position. Their lips met in a surprising, hard kiss. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was long enough for the two to want more of each other.

They threw themselves at each other and wrapped their arms around the other. They kissed feverishly, moaning into each other's mouths hotly. Jaime's hands roamed and explored Reader's body, squeezing her sides and hips to pull her closer. One of her hands laid on the back of his neck while the other pushed into his hair. He groaned as she gripped his hair and she took the chance to dart her tongue into his mouth. She took charge until he started leading her through the apartment, barely parting from each other to see where they were going. She giggled as they tripped over something on the floor, only for him to pick her up, throw her over his shoulder, and carry her to his bedroom.

He tossed her onto the bed and she looked up at him, seeing the dark look in his eyes. It was lustful and needy, fell of admiration as she lay on his bed. She sat up quickly and pulled her shirt off, followed by her bra. Her body was revealed to him in all its glory, making him hard as a rock in his sweats. He pushed them down and kicked them off with his boxers, making her lick her lips as she saw him. Her mouth looked so pretty and warm, but it wasn't what he wanted in that moment.

No, the idea of breeding her had been planted in his head and he had to go through with it. He had to fuck her deep and thoroughly to ensure she was full of him and that they'd reproduce strong, healthy young.

He couldn't even push those terms out of his head, too clouded by need and lust for Reader. Under any other circumstances, he'd never use words like "reproduce" and "young" when even thinking about sex, let alone at the idea of getting his girlfriend pregnant. (Did this mean they were together? He hoped so).

"Do you want this?" he asked her, ready to help her out of her pants.

She nodded. "Yes, fucking yes. I need you, Jaime."

He tugged her pants off and slowly slid her panties down her longs afterward, making her whine as he seemingly decided that he now wanted to take his time with her. He threw his shirt off and dove between her legs, throwing them over his shoulders so he could eat her out properly in preparation for what was to come. He licked a stripe up her folds and used his thumbs to spread them, pushing his tongue into her already wet cunt. She moaned and shuddered under his touch, hands combing through his hair until she found a nice grip on it. She tugged on his dark locks with just about every movement he made, getting her riled up as she cried out his name. She came a few minutes later and Jaime lapped up most of her juices, selfishly tasting her. Her thighs squeezed his head and he swore he could almost die happy like that.

Almost. It would have been a nice way to go but they were nowhere near the end

He stood on his knees after throwing her legs off of him. He fisted his cock, a small bead of pre cum leaking from the tip as he looked down at her. She had to catch her breath after her first orgasm of many to come that night. He used his other hand to reach down and fondle her tits, which he was already imagining swelling with milk.

Even though the primal need had wormed its way into his thoughts, that he wanted this so badly, he still needed to ask her. If he was thinking rationally without being horny as fuck, he wouldn't phrase it like this. It was absurd, but it was all he wanted: "Can I breed you, please?"

Was it smart? Probably not, but Reader nodded. She couldn't see herself with anyone else, especially now that they've had this special bond between them, this thing that no one else will ever fully understand. And because of it, she could say she felt like she'd known Jaime for years, as opposed to ten months. Her answer probably had to do with her ovulation, but she wasn't thinking about that at that very moment. All she was thinking about was Jaime and his fat dick he was prepping for her.

He grinned and leaned down, kissing her hard. She moaned into his mouth as he pressed into her, the head of his cock popping into her tight pussy. She threw her arms around him to keep the kiss going, but it was hard when he continued to push into her. Her head fell back and she moaned, feeling the way he stretched her out. His hands held her hips, angling them up so he could press as deeply into her the first time. Once their hips met, her eyes rolled up and she gasped.

"So fucking deep," she sighed, looking up at him. "Holy- oh my- Jaime!"

"You take me so well, hermosa," he told her, kissing her head as she got used to his size. He held back for that reason, knowing that they had to get used to each other. "Fuck, you're so tight."

She giggled, pulling his head down to kiss him once more. They made out for a while until she told him it was okay for him to move. That was when he tightly gripped her tender hips and slowly pulled back but not out. He then drove into her hard, hips smacking into hers harshly. She threw her head back to moan loudly, feeling the way he hit deep inside of her, somehow immediately finding that spongey spot that made her go crazy.

"Right there, right there! Oh fuck!" she cried out.

Jaime made a note of her reaction and thrust into her hard and slow, hitting that spot repeatedly. She was already high from her last orgasm, so it didn't take him long to make her come again, this time on his cock, making it easier for him to slide in and out of her. He upped his pace, making sure to hold her hips in place so he could fuck her perfectly. He grunted with each thrust, resting his forehead on hers. She stared up into his eyes and he watched her lovely eyes be full of nothing but lust and admiration.

He was so worked up that he came not long after her. She wrapped her legs around his waist when he said he was going to come and pulled him in close. He sheathed himself in her pussy to the hilt, firing off the first of many loads he'd fill her with. His cock throbbed with each shot of his thick cum he gave her. He kissed her sloppily, making a mess of their already slightly swollen lips. They moaned into each other's mouths, holding each other close, pressed together.

When he pulled away, they caught their breaths as he tapered off. He pulled out of her slowly, looking down at her pussy. Nothing happened for a moment, then a small trickle of his cum leaked out of her. It was beautiful seeing her like that, but he wanted more.

He turned her over and grabbed her ass, squeezing it hard and making her moan his name loudly. She was hardly on her hands and knees, mostly laying there with her ass up in the air. He gave it a quick smack before fisting his still-hard cock. "I can't wait until you're full of me."

She gave a hazy, happy smile as she heard this. She pushed herself up onto her hands and shook her ass at him, biting her lip. The little bit of rest she got between coming on his cock and now was enough to regain some energy. She reached back and spread her ass, then hit it with a loud smack! "Then fill me up, Jaime."

He wasted no time fulfilling that order, grabbing her by her hips and pulling her back into him. He slid into her with ease. He used his knees to make her spread her knees further apart and he pushed her back onto the mattress so she was properly presented to him. She grabbed a pillow to rest her head on and looked at him over her shoulder, grinning at him. "Fuck me."

He fell into a fast pace, pulling her back into his thrusts. One hand held her hip and the other wandered up her back, gently tracing the scarab embedded in her back. To anyone else, it would look rather unpleasant, but to him it was beautiful. They were alike in this way and there was no part of her that was not absolutely gorgeous to him. He wanted her to know that even though she said she didn't feel bad about how her body had changed to accommodate the scarab. Maybe in the beginning she had some thoughts about it and didn't think highly of herself for it, but after so long with it, she was at peace with it. Jaime just liked the idea of showing her he loved that part of her too.

Loved. Fuck, he loved her. Since he met her, all he'd been doing was falling in love with her. Her mind, her body, her kindness, her smile and laugh, the way she always greeted him and read on her balcony, or how she always offered him food when she cooked too much for herself.

He wrapped his arm around her midsection and pulled her up to him. He buried his face in her neck and kissed her scalding skin, making her tilt her head to the side. His hand wandered her body, starting at her tits and giving them a rough fondling before traveling down to her belly, where he groped it gently. His voice came out gruff and needy as his lips caressed her ear. "I can't wait till you have my babies in you. You're already so beautiful, but you're gonna be so fucking hot round and filled out with our babies."

She moaned, reaching behind her to put a hand on the back of his head, fisting his hair. Her other hand went to lay over his on her belly and he grabbed it, holding it there with his. All she could say was his name, enamored by every word he said.

"I'll take care of you. You can paint everyday, all day long, and grow our pretty little babies. I'll keep you pregnant and you can sit back and I'll take care of you," he mumbled into her ear.

She leaned her head back on his chest, closing her eyes as he fucked her toward another orgasm. She tried to tell him she was going to come, but it rocked her body before she could get all the words out. But that was okay. He knew, and he drove into her harder so he could come with her and fill her pretty, fat cunt up like they both wanted.

She shook in his arms as she came, crying out for him and that pretty little life he'd painted for her. It was so nice, so pretty. She turned her head to look at him, only for his lips to crash into hers.

After a few minutes, he laid them down and pulled her back into his chest. She relaxed against the sheets and rested her head back against him, only for his hips to start again. She moaned lowly, overstimulated but it wasn't bad. If she really wanted to, she could push back into his thrusts, but she was tired. Maybe next time.

She let him do his thing, feeling how lazy these thrusts were in comparison to the others before them. They let out soft moans and grunts, didn't speak this time, only let their actions speak for themselves. They held hands as he came again and he kissed her neck. She was so close to falling asleep, smiling as things began to settle. The heat of the moment eased into coolness and they laid together like that for a while. At some point, Jaime pulled a thin blanket over them and they fell asleep together.

Reader never went back to her apartment after that night. The morning after, Jaime made her breakfast and they ate together, then fucked again, and in the middle of that passionate romp admitted their feelings for each other. He told her he loved her and she told him she didn't know if she could live without him in her life. He never asked her to move in, that was just a given. He did, however, take it upon himself to move her things into his apartment and talk to the landlord about the whole situation, since her name was on a lease and blah blah blah.

They didn't talk about the whole breeding thing and instead let fate take the wheel on that one, even though they both liked the idea and wanted it. They didn't even get pregnant that first time, and thankfully so because, aside from meeting his sister when she came to pester him and get out of the house, she had yet to meet his family. It seemed to happen as soon as she was accepted by his family, though, before a few months after that, Rami was telling Reader the great news.

"Last night, I performed a physical evaluation for you after you're, as you put it, 'feeling under the weather', and have found something you'll be elated to hear," it said one morning while she was brushing her teeth.

She hummed and spit. "Oh yeah? And what's that?"

"You are pregnant," Rami said.

She'd just been getting ready to rinse and spit the water out, hitting the mirror with an alarming shot. She realized why the taste of her toothpaste had might have made her gag earlier. "What? Are you sure?"

"I am positive," it said, then started going over her blood and hormones, a bunch of doctors talk she didn't care to really hear. She stared at herself in the mirror, a smile slowly growing on her face. Then the scarab said something else: "And it appears the egg has split, meaning-"

"Twins?"

"Yes, that's correct."

Jaime was in the next room getting ready for work and was unprepared for Reader to come running in. She practically jumped on him and would have taken him to the ground were it not for Khaji and Rami's quick reflexes that caught them.

"Jaime!" she all but cried.

He held her, looking at her with a bewildered smile. "Yes, mi amor? What is it? Why are you charging in here like you've won the lottery?"

"I pretty much have," she giggled and took his hands from her waist and put them on her belly. She didn't have to say anything else.

His eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I've got the best pregnancy test on my back. I'm pregnant!"

She jumped for joy and Jaime pulled her into a firm hug.

Rami was less than impressed. "Reader, be more careful. You are now in charge of precious offspring. Your body is delicate."

Reader scoff and huffed. "I'm not delicate."

Jaime had to stifle a laugh, sure that the scarab on her back had somehow offended her. He kissed her cheek and said, "Rami, be careful. You do know mood swings come with the territory of pregnancy, don't you?"

Rami, though knowing Jaime couldn't hear it, said to Reader, "Does he think I do not know how to take care of my host. I have already done my research on human pregnancy. As soon as I knew you were indeed pregnant with offspring, I plugged into the internet to find out more of how to properly care for you."

Reader sighed and nodded, still holding onto Jaime in a gentle side hug. "I'm sure you did, Rami. That's... wonderful, but we've talked about hooking into the internet router."

Jaime had to laugh this time and shook his head. "Come on, let's go to breakfast. You two can argue about internet safety later."

"But I thought you had to be at Kord this morning," Reader said.

He shrugged. "They'll understand I had to take my beautiful girlfriend out for celebratory waffles."

She smiled and giggled. "You know me so well, but I have to go finish brushing my teeth."

As she hurried out the room, Jaime watched her with a bright smile. And a little voice in his head said, "I told you the two of you were compatible."

[wol-fica]

-𝔼𝕩𝕔𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 ℙ𝕋𝟚-

pairings - taracarpenter x fem!reader

summary - you and tara are inseparable, but one trip away from New York could change all of it…

warnings - angst, talk of injuries, implied smut

an - forgot to post this :/

part 1

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1 Week Later

You were running, fast and out of breath to get out of the airport and home as soon as you could. 

Four days after you landed in Montreal, you got a call from Sam telling you that another ghostface attack happened. Your heart dropped at the news, and you told her you would book the soonest flight possible.

Unfortunately, that flight would be three days later, and each hour of each day was grueling and terrifying. Your thoughts ran wild with Tara, if she was okay, what had happened, and why that fucker was back. 

You hurried past the crowd of people by the door, spotting your uber nearby. You ran over to him, threw your belongings in the car, and practically yelled the address at him. Your leg bounced the whole way, nails being chewed on during the ride.

You sent Tara a text at some point, saying you were home and on the way to her, but you didn’t get a response. She didn’t even read the message, which had your heart beating way too fast. 

Eventually you made it to the apartment complex, thanking your driver before throwing your bag over your shoulder and running inside. You went up four flights up stairs before reaching the Carpenter sisters door. Your fist met the wood, knocking light but fast. 

Each second felt like a minute, which then felt like an hour. You rocked impatiently on your feet, until the door clicked and swung open. There stood Sam, looking weary and tired, but alive. She smiled weakly at you, reaching to pull you into a hug.

“Y/N.” She said, giving you a sisterly squeeze, “Welcome back.”

“Hey Sam.” You replied, pulling back to give her a quick check over, “You okay?”

“No, but I will be.” She patted your shoulder, “Come on in.”

You walked past her into the living room, setting your bag down on one of their chairs before turning back to her. She looked tired, worn and beaten down from her encounter with ghostface. There was a new scar on her shoulder, stitched up and bruised around the edges. It looked deep, like whoever had slashed her had a personal agenda against her.

You eyed her warily, unsure of what to comment on. She assumed your thoughts, and gestures to the scar on her shoulder.

“Had to take a souvenir with me, didn’t I?” 

You didn’t know whether to laugh or scold her, but the look on her face told you that she was being humorous. So you snorted, stifling your laugh to a giggle as she chuckled with you.

“Haaa…uhm…where’s Tara?” You asked after calming down, wiping your eyes.

“She’s out with Mindy and Chad, they wanted to get lunch.” Sam replied, moving past you and into the kitchen, “Are you hungry? I’m sure it was a long flight.”

Your stomach comically growled, causing Sam to smirk, “Uhh yeah, I could use some food.”

She nodded, going to the fridge to make something for you to eat. You planned on following her, until the jingle of keys caught your attention. Your head whipped around, just in time to see three very familiar faces waltz into the room. Mindy came in first, Chad followed after…with Tara tucked under his arm?

You saw her before she saw you, which gave you a chance to analyze her features. She looked almost the same as when you left, just a little more pale than normal but you brushed it off as blood loss. Her arm was in a blue sling, contrasting against the black jeans and white blouse she wore. She was laughing, gazing up at Chad with eyes that you wish she was looking at you with, and that pained your heart.

“Oh hey Y/N!” Mindy said, waving at you.

Tara’s eyes snapped to you, wide and surprised to see that you were standing in her apartment. Time seemed to slow as she moved, speedily walking around the couch and throwing herself into your arms. Your arms enveloped her, pulling her in for a tight hug, her face tucking under your chin and into your chest.

Her scent invaded your nose, but it wasn’t the smell you remembered of her. Sure, it was still her earthy soil fragrance, but it had now mixed in with a masculine cologne that made your stomach churn unpleasantly. You knew who it belonged to, but you didn’t wanna assume the worst.

Maybe they just got close?

Hopefully.

“Y-you’re home…” She cried into your chest, hugging your waist tightly, “You c-came back…”

You took her chin in your hand, tilting her face up to look at you. Tears had cascaded down her face, ruining her mascara but that wasn’t really the problem at the moment. You smiled at her, leaning down to brush your lips against hers. She pushed herself into you, bouncing up on her toes when her lips met yours. 

The kiss was soft, passionate and sweet that had your heart thumping way too fast. Her lips were so delicious, plump, soft and all around irresistible. She leaned into you, chasing and huffing when you pulled back for air.

“I’m here.” You reassured her softly, kissing her forehead gently, “I’m not going anywhere.”

She sobbed at your words, grateful to have you back in her arms. A whimper passed her lips when you hugged her closer, your hand accidentally brushing against her new found scar on her back. You cringed, moving your hand to her lower back instead. 

“Sorry.” You mumbled, in which she hummed and squeezed you harder in response.

“It’s okay, you didn’t know.” She whispered into your ear, kissing the shell of it, “There’s a lot you don’t know…”

You smiled, pulling back to get a better look at her. Some hair had fallen into her face, so you gently tucked the locks behind her ear to see her features better. Tanned skin splashed with freckles, and beautiful brown eyes that had your knees buckling.

Your Tara.

“We need to catch you up on a lot.” Mindy said from across the room, giving you a tight lipped smile.  

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here.” You said, glancing around between all four of them, “I wish I was here to help.”

“Don’t belittle yourself like that.” Tara affirmed, pulling at your shirt to remove the wrinkles, “You couldn’t have known about anything.”

You sighed, giving a nod with a tight lipped smile. Your eyes trailed to Chad, locking a gaze with him. He was staring at you with a look you couldn’t quite pinpoint, a sort of narrowed unease look.

Jealousy.

“Hey man.” You said to him, catching his attention.

His face changed immediately, an award-winning smile on his face, “Hey Y/N/N.”

“Hey, your food is on the table.” Sam called from the room over, causing Mindy and Chad to start to move towards the door.

“We need to get back to our dorms.” Mindy said, giving you a smile and a wave, “See you in class!”

The door swung shut, and you subconsciously let out a sigh of relief. Chad was making you feel uncomfortable, and a small pit of sourness had formed in your stomach from seeing him so close to your girlfriend. You’re not sure if something had happened between them, or if the events of those two days had changed them, but there was a new spark there that you weren’t fond of. 

“How was your retreat?” Tara asked after you sat down and she slid herself into your side, “Did you enjoy it?”

“It was alright.” You shrugged, taking a large bite of the sandwich Sam made you, “Boring mostly.”

Tara hummed, leaning her head on your shoulder while your arm went around her to pull her into you. 

“I’d ask how it was here while I was gone, but that seems inappropriate.” You joked, watching Sam to gauge if that was okay to say.

She seemed stoic for a second, but let out a light chuckle at your humor. Tara giggled as well, pinching your side as a punishment but she seemed to let it slide. You smiled, turning to press your lips to her hair before finishing your sandwich and standing up.

“Thank you for feeding me Sam.” You said, leaning over the sink to wash your plate.

“Of course, you look like you need it.” She replied, taking the washed plate and setting it on the drying mat, “You also look like you need sleep.”

You nodded, a comedic yawn coming through at her statement. Tara snorted from behind you, in which Sam shrugged and you rolled your eyes.

“Just a nap though, nothing heavy.” You muttered, stretching your arms, “Is the guest room open?”

“Yeah it’s-.”

“You can sleep in mine!” Tara interrupted, jumping up from her chair, “It’s more comfortable anyways.”

You shrugged, giving Sam a thankful smile before grabbing your things and heading to your girlfriends room. Tara hurried behind you, taking one of your bags with her non-injured arm. You pushed her door open, subconsciously sighing at the sight of it. 

It was the same as when you left, still decorated like Tara begged you to do, still organized to perfection, and still smelling like the girl you loved. 

Still her.

The touch of a hand on your back made you jump, your head turning to catch Tara’s brown eyes. She gazed at you lovingly, a gentle smile on her face as her hand moved to cup your cheek.

“I missed you.” She murmured, standing on her tiptoes to press a soft kiss to your lips.

“I missed you more.” You replied, deepening the kiss and pulling her into you.

She mumbled something incoherent against your lips and turned her head to the side, slotting herself against you. Her tongue prodded against your mouth, wishing to be let in so she could properly taste you. You complied, parting your lips so she could infiltrate you.

“Mmph.” You moaned, your hands squeezing her hips with a bruising grip, “Tara…”

She hummed, trying to push you towards the bed. You almost agreed, until a waft of men’s cologne hit your nose again. It made you hesitate, and Tara felt your body tense up under her hand. 

She pulled back from you with a furrowed brow, “What’s wrong?”

You stared her down, blinking awkwardly and opening your mouth to speak. No words came, just pure silence as you stared at her. You wanted to ask about the cologne, you knew it belonged fo Chad and now you wanted to know what happened between them, but you also didn’t want to jeopardize your relationship just because you thought she was possibly doing something with him.

“Nothing I…I’m just tired.” You gave her a reassuring smile, but she saw right through you. 

“No something’s wrong, you’ve been weird since you got home.” She said, frowning at you, “Tell me.”

You shrugged, not really keen on speaking your concerns. Tara’s eyes narrowed, her lips curling down into a small pout. She shoved you lightly, pushing you back to sit on the edge of her bed. Once you sat down, she planted herself right in your lap, a way to make sure you wouldn’t run off and away from her.

“What is it?” She asked softly, her eyes tender and full of love, “You know you can talk to me, baby.”

“Tara, you wouldn’t want me to.” You murmured, rubbing her hips with your thumbs.

“That is such bullshit and you know it.”

You sighed and caved in, leaning in to press your lips to her cheek before you spoke.

“Did something happen between you and Chad while I was gone?” You asked tentatively, watching her reaction.

Tara stiffened, eyebrows furrowing and eyes darting away from yours instantly. You knew you hit the mark, especially when her hand left your shoulder to nervously play with the necklace you bought her.

“Not something I’m proud of.” She mumbled, turning her head away from you, “Promise you won’t scream at me.”

“Yeah, of course.” You replied, massaging her thighs in an effort to calm her nerves.

She inhaled, reaching up to thread her fingers in your hair. Her nails softly scratched your scalp, almost making your eyes flutter shut if you weren’t so focused on what she was about to tell you. 

“When we were at the theatre, trying to trap…ghostface.” Tara seethed, wincing at the lethal name, “Chad confessed to me.”

You stayed quiet, listening intently to what she had to say. Your thumbs rubbed on her thighs, coaxing her to tell you the rest. She took a deep breath, and sighed sadly before speaking.

“He kissed me, and I didn’t push him away.” 

You tensed, your eyes narrowing. Your emotions rose dangerously, but you remained as calm as you could possibly be. The promise you made rang in your ears, and yelling at her wouldn’t help the cause anyways. 

How could she kiss him? Why would he kiss her? Chad was well aware that you and Tara have been dating since the beginning of college, so what force compelled him to make a move on her when you were gone?

“I froze up, I didn’t know what to do.” Tara muttered sadly, reaching down to intertwin your fingers with hers, “His arms were around me, and I was so shocked that I just stood there and-”

You pulled her lips into yours, silencing her rambling immediately. She melted in your hold, hooking her arm around your neck to pull herself closer to you. Your arms slid around her waist, being well aware of her new injuries before hugging her gently. 

“You’re okay.” You mumbled to her, pressing a comforting kiss to her neck, “I’m not mad.”

She sighed in relief, dropping her head to rest on your shoulder before her body started to shake from her tears falling freely.

“I never meant to do that to you.” She sniffled, her hand rubbing your back, “The only reason he is still here is because I never told Sam and I didn’t wanna be a dick towards him.”

“It’s alright, Tara.” You reassured, patting her butt, “Did you at least remind him that you aren’t interested?”

She giggled, giving you a gentle squeeze, “Of course I did.”

You hummed, falling backwards onto the bed with her still on top of you. She squealed in surprise, laughing when you rolled over and began to pepper her neck with little feather kisses. She reached up and cupped your cheek, pulling your attention to her. Her eyes trailed over your features, seemingly taking in your appearance so she could remember it. 

“So beautiful.” Tara cooed, licking her lips before pulling you down into a kiss.

Your lips moved in sync, and your mind fired blank spots when her knee sneakily slid up between your legs.

A nap could wait. 

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taglist: @cartierdreamx@tundra1029@red1culous@vorsdany@andsoigotabutterfly@theafterofnevermore@yomomisgay@house-of-lovin@slvt4lanadelrey@thenextdawn@nepobaby08@dunohilly@somekindofpoet@alexkolax@cinffy23@pedrosprincess@amberfreemansburntface@myfturn

[decolonize-the-everything]

GENERAL STRIKE TIME BABEY. READ THE WHOLE POST.

While we're all mad at government sending money to Israel that police budgets are so inflated because of how often they pay settlements.

And also that it's a verified fact that our police train with Israeli soldiers. Remember when they were black bagging people in PDX? It reminded me of this ex-Israeli soldier talking about how they'd do the same thing to innocent Palestinians just to terrorize them and their neighbors. It was intentional terrorism when they did it.

Police budgets pay for all that.

Correction, we pay.

To put it more bluntly,

We pay for them to kill and terrorize people.

Just as our taxes pay for the deaths of Black and Brown people all over the world from Turtle Island to Sudan and Palestine.

In Dec. 2022, Louisville Metro Government agreed to pay Walker $2 million to settle lawsuits against the city. Metro government previously paid a $12 million settlement to Taylor’s family in Sept. 2020

We paid for Breonna Taylor's death.

And her murderers were never arrested btw. Not that there aren't still people trying to arrest them of course. But our money paid for their lawyers and wouldn't you know it, no charges have stuck.

Four years to the day after Breonna Taylor’s death, federal prosecutors are moving forward with a re-trial of one of the officers involved in the botched raid that ended her life. At a status conference Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings scheduled Brett Hankison’s final pre-trial hearing for September 13th. His re-trial is scheduled to begin on Oct. 15. In November of last year, Hankinson was tried for violating the Constitutional rights of Breonna Taylor, her boyfriend, and three neighbors when he fired through two covered windows during the raid. Prosecutors argued he used excessive force when he shot into the apartment complex blindly. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, had fired at officers executing the search, claiming he thought they were intruders.

And Myles Cosgrove?

Yeah we're paying him to terrorize more people. He got a job as a fucking sheriff's deputy.

Myles Cosgrove, the former Louisville police officer, who was fired for fatally shooting Breonna Taylor in a botched 2020 police raid and hired earlier this year as a sheriff’s deputy in Carroll County, rammed a resident’s truck with his cruiser Monday and then pointed a gun at the owner and several bystanders, witnesses said.

Witnesses told The Courier Journal that Cosgrove barreled into Happy Hollow Private Resort Park trailer park at a high rate of speed without his emergency lights on, then struck William Joshua Short’s pickup truck with such force that it sent the vehicle flying into a building, breaking off two cinder blocks.

And Johnathan Mattingly wrote a fucking book about it to make money off of his role in her murder. $15 on Amazon.

He also wanted to sue Kenneth Walker, Breonna's boyfriend. You know why? For damages and injuries he sustained while killing Breonna Taylor.

WE PAID FOR ALL THAT. ALL OF IT.

Our power is in our dollar.

American politics and officials don't care for our lives. It's why they're content to watch us protest for months. Because we're still going to work. We are the worker ants simply fulfilling our duty, receiving the bare minimum to survive for our labor.

We're still building their bombs. Paying our taxes, so much that hardly any of us could afford more than rent.

We are just drones fulfilling our purpose to the upper class who doesn't give a shit about us beyond what we do for them and how little we will do it for.

If we want change we're gonna have to stop working. We're going to have to deprive them of products they sell, of our taxes, of our low cost labor.

And the strike that UAW is planning in May 2028 has inspired a lot of others to start looking at the opportunity to join in.

If you haven't heard of it yet, a strike is when workers organize and stop showing up for work. And a general strike is a mass strike across various industries around similar demands or bargaining positions.

There have been multiple calls for a general strike since then, predominantly from individuals and groups on social media, which has often resulted in confusion about what a general strike would actually look like. To be clear, a general strike is not a protest or a rally, a single picket line, or a boycott. It is, as I’ve previously defined, “a labor action in which a significant number of workers from a number of different industries who comprise a majority of the total labor force within a particular city, region, or country come together to take collective action.”

Throughout history, workers have used this tactic as a nuclear option to shut down entire cities when needed, including Philadelphia in 1835, Seattle in 1919, and beyond.[...]

If even four or five of the unions representing the workers mentioned above banded together in a nationwide general strike, the entire country would grind to a halt. When Shawn Fain asks his fellow unions to set the timer for May 2028, what he’s really saying is, get ready to shut sh*t down and level the playing field between bosses and workers once and for all.

JOIN A UNION. AND TALK ABOUT THIS.

And make one of the demands out to be an end of American support to countries participating in apartheid and genocide.

End the taxes for police budgets and settlements. If they want police departments so bad then they should FIND funding for themselves like the government makes USPS do.

One of the biggest pushbacks we hear is that there is never any official backing for calls to a general strike. Well here it is! Make sure you tell EVERYONE

This could be a global strike if other countries choose to participate on the same date

No, I don't think Palestine has 3 years so in the mean time join a union, keep protesting, start rioting, answer Every call to action coming from a Palestine and Sudan and the DRC and sign this strike card

[oswildin]

Not Just A Passenger (Din Djarin x F!Reader)

Summary: You and The Mandalorian have a complex relationship. He got under your skin, and you felt he didn’t trust you. However, slowly you begin to realise and understand it wasn’t that at all… It was quite the opposite.

Warnings: Violence/Injury, Confessions, Fluff, Angst, Takes place around season one

A/N: My first Mandalorian fic! It’s a bit rough round the edges, I just wanted to write something fluffy and cliche lol. Enjoy!

You had a love/hate relationship with The Mandalorian. You loved how he cared for the kid and how he was protective of him. You loved how his humour was dry and sarcastic. You loved his general broody personality. However, you hated that he seemingly didn’t trust you completely. You hated how he treated you like a passenger, not an equal. You hated how he would order you around and not listen to what you had to say. Sure, it was his ship, his mission… But you were apart of it. You were there to help.

The two of you often butted heads, causing arguments and dramatics which often made the kid watch you both with sad eyes. You never meant to upset the kid, but sometimes Mando just… He got under your skin. Peli witnessed one of your many arguments once whilst she was doing some maintenance on the Crest.

“I’m here too you know!” You exclaimed, looking up at Mando’s helmet. “I can help! Why won’t you let me?”

“It’s dangerous.” Mando simply stated, his voice still calm but with a hint of irritation.

“Duh!” You shook your head. “Do you think I think this is all for fun?” You gestured around you in a dramatic fashion, seeing Peli holding the kid off to the side who was making disgruntled little gurgles. “What are you so worried about? Have I not proven myself?” Mando went silent, letting out a sigh as he hung his head for a second.

“Can we do this later?” He dismissed himself, walking off as he gave a glance at Peli, before walking away.

“Ugh.” You grumbled, refraining from kicking a nearby scrap of metal in frustration. Peli glanced down at the kid before walking towards you.

“Yikes.” She raised her brows. “Trouble in paradise?” You scoffed, turning to look at her. “Don’t think this little one enjoys seeing Mummy and Daddy fight.” She bounced him up and down as you frowned, shaking your head quickly.

“No. We’re not-“ You almost laughed. “I’m not exactly mother material.” You landed on, as the kids ears lowered slightly, causing your heart to ache. “Look kid, nothing against you, it’s just-“ You paused. “God, he is so annoying.” You went back to Mando, shaking your head. Peli smirked.

“Seems like he really gets under your skin.”

“Yes! That’s exactly it.” You let out a breath. “He doesn’t trust me. And it’s obvious.” You slumped down, sitting on a nearby crate. Peli joined you, with the kid still watching intently.

“I don’t think our friend trusts many people.” She offered. “But, do you really think that’s the problem here?” You frowned, giving her a confused stare.

“Well, what else would it be?”

“Maybe…” She paused. “Maybe he’s just protective of you.” You took in her words, before raising a brow.

“Protective of me?” You almost scoffed. “The kid? Sure. Anyone can see that. But me?” You shook your head. “He treats me like I’m… I’m his subordinate. I want to be his equal.”

“Have you ever told him that?”

“Not outright.” You lowered your voice. The kid reached out for you, causing you to take him from Peli’s grip, as you held him on your lap, looking down as he stared up at you. “Besides, once this little one gets to where he needs to be, I don’t think there will be much reason for me to stay.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

Mando returned after an hour or so, thanking and paying Peli for the work as he silently entered the ship, leaving you and the kid to follow. Great. He was still sulking. Sighing to yourself, you followed, going to put the kid down to rest as he was clearly getting tired. Once you’d put him down, you reluctantly headed to the front of the ship, joining Mando as he sat in the pilots seat, getting the ship ready for take off.

“So, are we going to talk about earlier or?” You asked, arms folded over your chest as you stood leant against the doorway. Mando stayed silent for a second, before speaking.

“There isn’t anything to talk about.”

“Yes there is.” You took a step towards him, wanting him to turn to face you. “I’m tired of being treated like… Well, like the kid.” You pursed your lips. “I’m not helpless, I can defend myself, I can help you, so use me.”

“I don’t need your help.”

Except, that’s exactly what ended up happening.

You were ambushed. Thankfully the kid was safe, hiding away in the Crest, but as soon as you both stepped off the ship, bounty hunters had you surrounded. Mando quickly sprung into action, firing at the hunters and using hand on hand combat to fight them off. You grabbed your own blaster, shooting at anyone who came near you. Looking up from your position, you looked over to see a Hunter coming up behind Mando whilst he was distracted by two other hunters. Your eyes widened, as the hunter behind Mando raised his dagger. Before you could react quick enough, the dagger caught Mando’s un-armoured neck, creating a slash. You blasted the hunter before approaching, stepping over the dead bodies before you as you shot the other two he had been fighting. Rage and fear consumed you. He was still standing, but you could see he was running on adrenaline. Satisfied you were safe, well as safe as you could be, you approached him.

“Mando…” You looked at him wearily, as he turned. You could hear his ragged breaths through his helmet. “Get inside.” You ordered him, to which he hesitated. “Mando!” You exclaimed, getting him moving. You could see his body becoming weaker in front of you, as you ushered him inside the ship once again, closing the door behind you.

“I’m… Fine.” He tried to wave you off, to which you ignored, immediately grabbing a med kit. As you turned, you watched as he stumbled into the wall, slowly falling down as he sat, leant against the cold metal of the ship. You rushed to him, gently tilting his head to see blood staining his under garments material. Unhooking his cape from around his neck and shoulders, you gently rolled down the neck of his shirt to reveal the wound. Whilst the wound was bleeding a lot, it didn’t seem to have got any main arteries.

“Maker-“ You breathed out, quickly opening the med kit. You grabbed some cloths as you pressed on the wound, muttering an apology as he hissed at the contact. “I don’t think you’ll need stitches, but it’s pretty nasty.” You told him softly.

“It’s fine.” He huffed out, trying to move, which led to you pushing him back.

“Mando, please… Let me do this.” You almost pleaded, your eyes trying to find his own behind the helmet. He hesitated before giving in, staying out. “It needs tending to.” You told him quietly. Grabbing the bacta bandage, gently placing it over the wound, smoothing it down as Mando let out a breath. “How do you feel?” You asked.

“Fine.” He tried as you stared at him in a stern manner. “No fever, just a bit worse for wear.” He landed on.

“Good.” You sighed, leaning back. “You lost a bit of blood, so you’ll probably need to rest. Whether you’ll listen to me or not…” You peered down, tidying up the med kit. You could feel his stare on you.

“Thank you.” He told you softly. You didn’t say anything as you moved to put away the kit. Mando took a second before slowly getting up, still leaning on the wall for support. You grabbed a nearby cloth as you wiped your hands, seeing specks of dried blood on your fingers. That was too close. He could’ve died. He was lucky the hunter had shit aim. Even with a dagger and such close proximity. What would you have done? If anything happened…

“It’s not that I don’t trust you.”

Mando’s voice broke you from your thoughts. You turned to him, furrowing your brows.

“Or that I don’t think you’re capable.” He continued, sighing.

“Then why?” You stepped towards him. “What is it that makes you treat me the way you do?” A moment passed.

“I don’t want you to get hurt.” He admitted, causing your heart to stop for a second. You stared at him with slightly widened eyes, your mouth slightly open. “You and the kid…” He paused. “You’re my responsibility.” Your features softened at his words, as you swallowed the lump in your throat.

“Mando-“

“Din.” He said. “My name is Din.” You couldn’t help the small smile that graced your lips.

“Din…” You let his name roll off your tongue. “You’re my responsibility too.” You said gently. “I worry about you. I want to help. As I keep saying…” You let out a breath. “You don’t need to feel like you’re the only one who has to look out for us all.”

“But it’s my job.” At his words you walked to him. He watched you closely. You pursed your lips before biting the bullet, deciding to wrap your arms around his armour, holding him in a hug. He tended for a second, clearly not used to the affection. However, after his tense stature dissolved, he relaxed, putting a loose arm around your back, accepting the comfort you were offering.

“No.”

Din tapped the kids hand gently, waving him away from your bowl of soup. For such a small thing, he didn’t half eat a lot. Laughing, you moved your soup slightly away from the kid.

“You can have the meat.” You told him as Din tilted his head at you as if to say ‘you’re too soft on him’. Picking out some of the meat from your bowl, you placed it in the kids hands as he gurgled happily before scoffing it down. Shaking your head at his antics, you took your own spoonful of soup to your mouth.

“We’ll set off soon.” Din told you, eyes behind the helmet roaming the room. You could see he was on high alert. His shoulders were tense, his hand resting on his blaster. “Can’t risk staying here too long.”

“Do you ever just… relax?” You asked, placing another piece of meat in the kids hands. Din turned to look at you.

“When I’m not a target, yes.” He breathed out, causing you to raise a brow.

“Hmmm…” You hummed in disbelief. “Why don’t I believe you?” He ignored your question. “Your vibe doesn’t quite give off ‘I’m capable of relaxing’.”

“My vibe?” He frowned behind his helmet.

“Yeah… You know… Your energy.” You shrugged. “It’s kinda uptight.” A hint of teasing was in your tone, causing him to shake his head at you. Before he could reply, commotion erupted outside, causing you to quickly grab the kid, and draw him to you. Din instantly got to his feet, hearing shouting.

“Out the back.” He ordered, as you did what he said, knowing the priority was getting the kid safe. He ushered you through the bar, a gentle hand on your back as he kept looking over his shoulder, seeing figures beginning to enter. “I counted three.” He told you as you finally made it outside behind the bar, standing in an alley. “Go, take the kid to the ship.” He turned back to you. “Go round the outskirts.” You paused, looking at him for a second, ready to argue, but he quickly jumped in. “I’ll be fine.” Sighing, you did as he said, pulling out your blaster as you quietly shifted through the alley, checking around you.

Thankfully, you’d made it out of the city without seeing anyone. Relief filled you as you spotted the Crest a few metres away. Peering down at the big dark eyes of the kid, he made a little sound as you reassured him Din would be ok. Running towards the Crest, you held the kid tightly. However, as you finally got close to the ship, a figure appeared from round the side of it, a blaster sound causing you to look round. Gasping, you aimed your blaster up at him, shooting him in the chest as he fell to the ground. Opening the door to the Crest, you quickly made your way inside, ensuring the kid was safe as you placed him in his mobile cot. Looking down at him, you furrowed your brows as you saw his ears lowered, and his eyes looking worried. His gaze fell, head tilting as your own gaze followed his, looking down to see blood seeping through your shirt.

Suddenly, it was like it hit you all at once. The pain hit you. What happened hit you. The damn Hunter had got you with his shot. Pressing your hand to your side, you swore under your breath, gritting your teeth.

“I’m fine.” You told the kid, letting out a breath as you moved to grab the med kit. Your legs suddenly felt like jelly, causing you to fall forwards, catching yourself before face planting the metal floor. Rolling to your back, you could feel your skin begin to sweat.

Din made his way into the ship, frowning as he saw the kid in his cot, looking concerned. His head finally snapped over to your direction, seeing you playing on the floor, unconscious. His heart stopped in his chest as he feet immediately took him to your form.

“(Y/N)…” He called out to you, kneeling beside you as he spotted the blood on your side. He looked over your face, seeing your skin looking more dull than usual, and beads of sweat on your forehead. Grabbing the med kit that was beside you on the floor, he hurried to open it. He didn’t hesitate as he gently lifted your shirt just above your wound, seeing a clear blaster shot. He felt rage and fear consume him. “You’re gonna be ok.” He was telling himself more than your unconscious self.

Gasping out a breath, you felt a shot of adrenaline coursing through your veins. You reached out, grabbing onto the nearest thing… Din. He was knelt beside you, fear consuming his features as he looked down at you.

Wait…

“Din…” You let out a breath, throat dry. He furrowed his brows, gently reaching for your hand as he took it in his own.

“You’re ok.” He said softly, eyes searching your own.

His eyes.

Not a helmet.

“Din- Your… Your helmet.” You uttered out in shock, turning your gaze away quickly as you processed what was happening.

Din had removed his helmet. You saw his face. You had seen his eyes. His features…

“It’s ok.” He reassured you. “I-I removed it.” He clarified, causing you to frown.

“Why?” You still didn’t look, out of respect.

“You’re hurt.” He squeezed your hand. “I thought-“ He cleared his throat, lowering his head for a moment.

“Damn Hunter… Came out of nowhere.” You grunted. “I should’ve checked-“

“Don’t do that.” He almost scolded. “Don’t- Just, focus on healing. Don’t think about it. The kids fine.” He paused. “You can look you know.” You swallowed the lump in your throat, slowly turning your gaze back to his own.

He was… Handsome. To say the least.

“But your creed…” You whispered.

“I thought I’d lost you.” He admitted, causing your heart to skip a beat. “That’s more important to me.”

“So…” You let out a breath. “I’m not just a passenger?” You raised a brow, causing him to shake his head, tightening his grip on your hand.

“Not just a passenger.”

It was safe to say, it was no longer and love/hate feeling you had towards Din.

[genshingorlsrevengeance]

Request: Velvet and Eleanor reacting to Magilou flirting with their younger sibling (the reader) right in front of them.

(Tales of Berseria) Velvet and Eleanor reacting to Sibling!Reader getting flirted with

To quote our lord Steve Harvey, "KILL"

Velvet was always protective of Laphicet and (Y/N), even before she became a daemon.

And since (Y/N) was the last person Velvet had in her life, she wasn't going to let anything hurt them.

Even beyond just protecting them from harm, her big sister instincts still remained.

Which meant especially that people trying to engage romantically with (Y/N) was signing their death warrant.

And so enters: The Magilou.

(Y/N) was in the middle of preparing dinner for the night before hearing footsteps approach them.

(Y/N) "Hey, whoever that is, could you pass me the ladle? I need to do a taste test."

(Magilou) "Oh, here you go, dear (Y/N)!"

(Y/N) "...Oh no-"

Magilou hopped in front of them, dramatically extending her hands upwards to the sky, ladle in hand.

(Magilou) "Fear not, for I, the great Magilou, will help prepare a dish fit for the gods above!"

(Y/N) "Respectfully Magilou, I don't need help. Velvet taught me everything I need to know about cooking."

(Magilou) "Surely you jest! There's nothing Velvet can do that I cannot perform better!"

She leaned in close to them with a smirk.

(Magilou) "In fact, ignore your sister for a moment and listen to my advice! You may even win my heart, should you perform well enough!"

(Y/N) "I...doubt that.-"

(Magilou) "WHAT?! Am I not the prettiest woman you have ever laid eyes on?! How can you resist such alluring charms?!"

(Y/N) "Listening to you speak, for one-"

(Magilou) "Psh! It seems a foul mouth runs in the family-"

Suddenly, a young voice came from behind the two.

(Laphicet) "VELVET! MAGILOU IS PICKING ON (Y/N)!"

(Magilou) "What the-HANG ON YA LITTLE TYKE! I WAS JUST-"

Before the three of them could even blink, Velvet closed the distance from seemingly nowhere

Magilou fumbled with the ladle in genuine shock as Velvet began speaking.

Magilou backed off in fear, hiding behind (Y/N).

(Magilou) "H-Hang on now! I was just playing around, it was a goof! It was a gag!"

(Laphicet) "That's not what I heard! You said that both Velvet and (Y/N) had a foul mouth!"

(Magilou) "And you have a loose one, ratting me out like this!"

Velvet grabbed the ladle from the floor, and hit Magilou over the head with it.

Saying nothing else, she scooted Laphicet to sit next to (Y/N) before crouching down and turning to her sibling with a softer expression.

(Y/N) "Sis, you don't have to end Magilou, it's nothing she hasn't done before. And thanks to you too, Laphicet."

Laphicet nodded with a big smile as well.

(Laphicet) "Mhm!...Oh, we need to clean the ladle now!"

(Velvet) "Yeah. Give me a sec and we'll see how you did on the soup."

Magilou rubbed her injury, muttering to herself.

(Magilou) "Freakin' sister complex-"

(Velvet) "I heard that."

Eleanor was completely against (Y/N) joining her as she chased Velvet and her group, but the Abbey had decreed it so.

Which resulted in both of them being taken as "prisoners".

She feared for their lives, but she didn't realize that she also had to fear for their love life.

And she sure as hell would not let (Y/N) date anyone from this group of misfits.

Especially a certain one.

Well, two, actually. But Velvet didn't really seem to care about dating, thank god.

Neither did option one, but that didn't stop her from being an absolute nusiance.

(Magilou) "(Y/N)!"

(Y/N) was offput by her sudden arrival, considering that they were just in their room thinking.

(Y/N) "What the- Why did you kick open my door?!"

(Magilou) "How can our days be brightened without the young exorcist's beloved sibling? Instead of being with us, you are cooped up in your room!"

(Y/N) "E-Eleanor told me to stay here for a little bit. I'm not exactly inclined to against her wishes-"

(Magilou) "Ah, but you are shackled in here, like a bird in a cage! You must let your wings spread out and fly, little dove!"

(Y/N) "I think I'm good, thanks-"

(Magilou) "Y'know, listening to your big sister all the time will leave you maidenless for the rest of your life! She'll shield you from all the joys and wonders of the world!"

(Y/N) "I'm not doing your laundry, Magilou. And neither is Eleanor!"

(Magilou) "Fine, I'll just have to put on my dazzling magics to get you to see reason-"

(Eleanor) "YOU WILL DO NO SUCH THING!"

Eleanor stomped towards Magilou, shoving her outside the room before standing at the doorframe, arms crossed.

(Eleanor) "Do not engage my little brother/sister in your tomfoolery! I will not allow it!"

(Magilou) "See? This is exactly what I'm talking about! Eleanor will prevent any kind of love from blossoming-"

(Eleanor) "BE QUIET!"

She turned to (Y/N), getting even more flustered and angry.

(Y/N) "I don't think any other person will be like Magilou...I-I hope."

(Magilou) "Hmph! Both of you don't know a true dazzler when you see one-"

(Eleanor) "All I see is someone trying to leech off my sibling just to get their laundry done!"

(Magilou) "Why does everyone assume that I'm just here for my stinking clothes?! Can't I be here for romance, drama, or even anything else?!"

(Y/N) and Eleanor glared at Magilou.

(Magilou) "And for your information, I was here to recruit either of you to make dinner instead of me!"

(Y/N & Eleanor) "GET OUT!"

[everlasting-rainfall]

I didn't see anywhere that requests are closed, so I was wondering if you could write something for your pages au with Boa Hancock? She's my favorite female character, so thank you!

Okay so I’m gonna have to come clean about something and it’s that I haven’t yet reached Amazon Lily like most of my knowledge about One Piece characters comes from a lot of outside sources and for why I haven’t reached it yet?

That’s a simple answer as I have a very bad attention span so if I’m not watching with a friend then my brain wanders and suddenly the episode is over but I promise that I’ll do my absolute best to write her for you!

As Boa is honestly a really cool character like she isn’t my favorite female character as that honor goes to Rouge a lot of the time but I do love that girl regardless!

So before I start rambling too much and making an absolute fool out of myself, let’s get into it. Yeah?

Also since I do know what Boa’s backstory is, I can’t see her trying to actively force someone into a relationship but she is probably willing to keep them if it means they’re safe

!-MINORS DO NOT INTERACT AT ALL-!

!-POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNINGS-!

Manipulation, Copying of Work, Workplace Sexism, Implied Homophobia (?), Delusions, Kidnapping (?)

!-POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNINGS-!

!-MINORS DO NOT INTERACT AT ALL-!

Okay so let’s imagine that you wrote a book, it was a romance novel of course and it was pretty good like it didn’t sell well but it was seen as pretty good by those who did read it

But about a year later while you’re working on the sequel story that you managed to convince the publisher to give you, something happens as a book is released into the market that looks so much like yours except… bad…

The main character on the cover is grossly sexualized when they’re supposed to be someone that the reader can project themselves onto and the two love interests have basically been turned into big muscle men with no personality compared to how you had them as powerful women with quite a lot of personality and complex backstories that helped to shape their characters

You took some time to read it and found yourself absolutely disgusted with it as it was exactly your book just if every trope from R/MenWritingWomen was stuck onto it, certain important plot points were changed and romantic scenes were either completely changed or removed

Attempting to talk to the publisher didn’t do anything as they simply told you that your book hadn’t been copied and clearly you were seeing things if you thought that… You should just get back to what you were writing and be quiet about it…

This was humiliating but there wasn’t much you could do except hope that your next book would absolutely blow this gross copy out of the water especially as when the reviews came in, you found that most people loved it with very people pointing out that it was a gross copy of you

Eventually when you did release your sequel book, it had some moderate success but not as much as the copy… It was truly discouraging…

When you tried to ask your publisher to at least push it a bit more with advertising, they were reluctant but decided to do it in the end to just get to be quiet so they started doing some advertising on other islands and quite a few people picked up the book

Your book achieved more success! It was great!

Soon enough, word of this book had reached Amazon Lily and it was raising quite a few eyebrows in interest as although it did have a few male characters in it but the story and what they heard about it was truly what interested them

A female marine captain saving the MC from certain doom at the hands of pirates by holding them close with one arm and defending them with the other even despite their injuries? A pirate captain who promised to give the MC the world and much more if she would simply take that first step and set out to sea with them on their ship?

All these things that they were hearing were quite interesting and after hearing about one scene in particular where both of the love interests put aside their differences to save the MC from a dragon? Interests peaked!

So a request from so many was given to Boa as they asked her to please make it so that a shipment of the specific book would be sent to Amazon Lily, it took her a bit but she soon made a request and sent it out

The publisher picked it up and within the week, a small shipment of the book had been delivered to Amazon Lily. So many were excited to read the book that they had heard about but there was one problem with it…

This wasn’t the book that they expected, everyone was so confused as the book was awful to the point where most dropped it within the first few minutes of reading it as what had been delivered wasn’t your book but instead the copy

When Boa found out about this, it was safe enough to say that she was quite irritated as in all honesty based on the way that the story had been described to her

She was getting excited to read it as well only for this to be what was delivered so she had the shipment be taken back away from their island alongside a message detailing how disgusted she was and how she demanded every last beli that she spent on this shipment to be refunded or there would be hell to pay

Of course, the publishers listened as who wants an angry pirate empress after them? But they fucked up yet again and instead of realizing that they sent the wrong book, they gave you the message thinking your book had disgusted the women of Amazon Lily that badly

Upon reading the entirety of the message, your heart sank and you got ready to reply as you started writing an apology along with an explanation of what had happened

You took your own personal copy of the book at home and attached the apology to it alongside a gift before sending it to Boa Hancock herself who almost threw it away the second that she saw it until she noticed the cover and stopped

A close look at the cover revealed that this was the true version of the story as there was the MC laying down in the bed of flowers with her hands clasped with the pirate captain laying facing towards her on her left with a red rose in hand while the marine was laying on the opposite side with a blue rose in hand

This was not the same story… The title was even different so she sighed and decided to at least give it’s first page a read to see if it was truly different…

It was and she found herself hooked, she read through the entire thing and couldn’t stop a smile at the scenes that you had written alongside the part where the pirate captain and marine saving you from a greedy dragon despite the fact that they may fail? It was lovely

When finishing the book, she took another look at the note accompanied with the book and reread the explanation. She was honestly unsurprised about learning the truth and set it aside before opening the gift

It was the only piece of merch to ever exist for the book and it was because you had made it yourself only to give it to her as a truly sincere apology, it was a pair of fake roses with their stems tied together. A red rose and a blue rose tied together with a lovely white ribbon, a physical version of the books very last illustration

Part of her was touched by this and in all honesty, she found herself thinking about it for a good while as you had taken the fall for the shoddy knock off created by the gross imitator and the publishers hadn’t even been willing to help you sort things out

It was downright deplorable in her personal opinion and she knew that you weren’t the MC from the story but part of her started to feel like she wanted to rescue you

Rescue you from your life dealing with the publisher on that island where no one would ever appreciate your work just like how the MC had been rescued from the dragon, she would keep you safe and keep you in a place with people who actually appreciate your work and wouldn’t just disregard it in favor of someone’s fantasy

She would keep you safe from the prying eyes of anyone who wanted to harm you, she wouldn’t even let anyone brand you as theirs and do horrible unspeakable acts to you

If you wanted then the two of you could even become friends and maybe potentially something more which she grew to like the thought of more and more until she started to imagine the two of you going on nice walks together, laughing together and having fun

Ah yes, that was the life that would be perfect for you in the end…

All that she needed to do was get you here and she knew exactly the way to go about it…

It was a few weeks after sending your own letter when you received one from Boa Hancock, it was a request to come to Amazon Lily with copies of your book as she no longer trusted the publisher to send them the right ones

She also requested for you to bring your things as well as she would like you to stay on the island for an undisclosed amount of time, you didn’t want to potentially make the pirate empress any angrier than she already was so you packed some things and took a large box full of book copies of the first book and the sequel and headed off

A few days were spent at sea before you finally reached your destination, you were greeted and the books were quickly taken off of your hands in order to be enjoyed by everyone who had been so excited to read it

Meanwhile you were taken off to meet with Boa herself, she was a scary lady and more than intimidating but she was kind to you despite everything and had a smile on her face when you offered her the sequel story

Your time on Amazon Lily started on that very day, a lot of it would be spent with Boa simply spending time together as she took her time getting through the sequel story as she always stopped to ask you questions about it

As time progressed however and Boa continued to read the story, she found that it was wrapped up in the end with a neat little bow and the person the MC chose got married in the end. The MC had wound up marrying the pirate in the end and symbolically tied a ribbon around the stem of a red rose as a sign that they would always be together

Boa found herself enjoying the scene of the wedding and she smiled to herself as she reread the chapter only to notice certain things this time around like how the pirate had her hair done in a similar fashion to Boa’s and not only that but the way that the outfit was described? It sounded like her…

Part of her tried to write the entire thing of as a simple coincidence until she reread the line “The beauty of the two was so strong that it could turn anyone who laid eyes upon them to stone”

…Oh my god…

That was all that Boa needed to see and she quickly closed the book and set it aside, she honestly wasn’t sure what to think as this couldn’t be a coincidence anymore as the one who had won over the MC in the end was a Pirate Captain who would do anything for her…

It couldn’t have been just a coincidence now and she had to be sure that you didn’t write about some sort of deep hidden feeling for her… So she picked up the other book and spent quite a bit of time searching it for answers…

And as they say, if you’re looking for something hard enough then you’re gonna find it regardless of whether or not it’s there

Slowly Boa becomes convinced that you wrote about some sort of feeling that you had for her despite the fact that you could have never known her before this point…

And she would confront you about this, she would tell you off for doing this and make you leave but something in her refuses to do so

You don’t see Boa for days as she deals with these emotions, you aren’t sure why this has happened but you don’t bother her simply thinking that she’s busy while she attempts to figure out what’s going on

Until it hits her… She returns your feelings…

And when this happens, this is when things start as she starts to attempt to show you that she feels the exact same way about you that you do her

It starts with her trying to spend more time with you, it progresses into her getting jealous when other people speak with you, it progresses even further to her actually touching you with hand holding and the occasional caress

When it reaches its peak? That’s when Boa starts to greet you with a red flower of some kind whenever the two of you meet, she hopes that you’ll get the hint and finally realize

But hey, it’s not so bad that you aren’t getting it as your smile is heavenly to her to the point where she could look at it all day and has even caught herself staring at your smile for long periods of time when the two of you are together only breaking out of it when you point it out to her

Eventually you’ll start wanting to return home and back to your old life but Boa will insist that you stay, the world off of Amazon Lily is dangerous for someone like you after all and she wants to keep you right where she can absolutely make sure that you’re safe

You might try to insist on returning to your old life and that’s when Boa will start to manipulate you, I can’t see her turning violent but she probably would tell you things like “If something were to happen to you out there then I simply wouldn’t be able to live with myself”

She’ll trap you into staying on Amazon Lily this way until you’re ready to stay of your own accord…

It’s for the best after all and once you finally realize that she returns the feelings that you oh so clearly have for her, everything will be perfect…

A pair whose beauty is strong enough to turn people to stone…

[dinosaursock]

You know what? Fuck it. I’m a transgender man, I had abdominal phalloplasty with Dr Curtis Cetrulo in Boston. He sold dozens of trans people on a new method of abdominal with all these promises of good sensation, good aesthetics, minimal scarring, and urethral lengthening without an arm graft (which is typically needed in abdo phallo for people who want urethral lengthening). I started having surgery with him in 2021 and had my SIXTH surgery with him early last year. For reference, phallo is often done in 3-4 surgeries, give or take with repairs/revisions and different surgical plans. When I consulted, he told me four surgeries, which then turned to five. And somehow turned to six and I still wasn’t done! I had thick knots of scar tissue and no sensation at all, not to mention I never even had a neourethra constructed. The plan was constantly changing and I made the mistake of trusting him and trusting the process.

In August last year he left Boston and moved to California to continue operating. It doesn’t seem he works on trans people anymore and is no longer offering phalloplasty, and I desperately hope he’s not. It was clear he didn’t know what the fuck he was doing, and the urologist was complacent and didn’t have proper training either. Cetrulo was allowed to experiment on us, under the guise that it was a successful and fully developed method of phalloplasty. He was not honest about its completion. And when it started to catch up with him, he abandoned his remaining patients and moved across the country. With NO repercussions for the way he treated us.

Now I’m waiting for a complete redo using a different graft site with a new doctor, who has taken on many of Cetrulo’s former patients.

See this article? It talks about all accomplishments and his innovations for people with skin burns and other injuries requiring microsurgical work. No mention of the transgender people he treated. The dozens of people he lied to and disfigured. What about us? Why does he get to pretended he didn’t ruin the lives of so many people. I am permanently disfigured because of the work he did on me. I have to live with that medical trauma from a man who didn’t really care about me, who dodged questions, and was inconsistent and unreliable.

And why is he getting away with it? This Harvard grad with a superiority complex. Because 1, we’re transgender, and the medical system has a history of failing us. Cetrulo is comparable to Kathy Rumer and Butcher Brown. Bailey Sarian has a video on Dr Butcher Brown, I recommend giving it a watch if you have an interest in true crime. And number 2, the medical boards and medical systems are fucked up.

I want my trans and nonbinary (etc) friends to know what he did to our community. The damage he’s done. And the lack of consequences for his actions. Word of mouth is so so important in LGBT spaces when it comes to medical care, ESPECIALLY in bottom surgery spaces.

🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️

[dat-town]

curse me out

never seen circus masterpost

Characters: cursed prince!Sunghoon & female reader

Setting & genre: magical realism au, fantasy au, reincarnation au

Summary: Many came to you over the years to get rid of their curses but nobody like Sunghoon.

Warnings: general creepiness of an eerie circus, ambiguous ending, blood, injury, implied past death, is a spoiler or a warning if i say it was inspired by enhypen concepts?

Words: 2k

i guess i will tag you in all of these @restlessmaknae 

Some curses were better off untouched.

It was one of the first things you learned, just like prophecies were always up to interpretations and Ouija boards were banned for a reason. The other side was not to play with.

But you had an eye for curses. You looked at them like they were complex riddles waiting for you to solve them. Every curse had a little back door, a tiny loophole and that was where you came in: for the right amount of money, you helped people find that hidden exit, you helped them get rid of whatever made them struggle. Be it a curse for terrible luck, no love or some sort of disfigurement. Some curses could only be undone by the shaman or witch who put them in place but you had many connections and you knew how to strike a deal. You got yourself your name when you joined the circus, you were called the cursebreaker as if it was something unique when in reality you were just a witch with a keen interest. One of your kind in the always on the move circus.

Some people didn’t even know they were cursed, they blamed things beyond their control on such silly things as fate or beat themselves up for not being able to change when there was nothing humans like them could have done. With those cases, it was you who seeked them out, drawn to their curse like a moth to flame. But sometimes people found you. They heard rumours about the disappearing circus and the cursebreaker inside. They were always desperate ones with dark curses.

But no darker than the boy’s who walked into your tent that day.

The bell chime made you look up from where you sat, meditating, and you felt air being sucked out of your lungs.

Oh, for hell’s sake, he was beautiful.

The boy was tall and wide shouldered. He had raven black hair contrasting against his clear, pale skin. His eyes were just as dark as his locks, highlighted by his all black outfit, his long coat swirling behind him from the outside wind blowing. Despite his youthful features, he held himself with ageless elegance like a prince. It gave his soft features sharpness and coldness to his demeanour.

You blinked when he took another step closer and his curse was suddenly all too clear in front of you. Most people’s curses clung to them like leeches but not his. His was pulsing, like a black heart, like it was keeping him alive. Like there was no him without the curse.

“I can’t help you,” you told him straight away, without any polite greeting. You shot up from your place, meditation long forgotten. You weren’t afraid of him but you didn’t want to experience his rage either when he found out why you refused to help him.

“What makes you think I came for your help?” Your guest raised an eyebrow challengingly while watching you equally intrigued but it only made you confused. Why else could he have come to your tent?

“Did you come to kill me then?” You asked, unwilling to show fear.

“No,” he flashed you a smile, his thin, rose coloured mouth tilted upwards in a lazy slope. It should have been dangerous yet it somehow made your heart flutter. “I heard you can see how curses unfolded, their maker.”

“You want to know who made you like this.”

It wasn’t a question, it made sense.

“I have waited for a long time to meet somebody like you,” the beautiful boy sighed, resigned, sounding much more tired than somebody who looked his age. But looks weren’t everything, you knew that.  “So tell me, were the rumours about you true or not?”

“Take a seat,” you pointed at a pillow on the ground as it was as good of an answer as any, then you followed in suit, sitting across from him after lighting some scented candles while he was looking around curiously.

From up close, he was even more beautiful, perfect porcelain skin and those enticing eyes but you knew better than to fall into his trap. It didn’t mean you were immune, not when he smelled like sandalwood and leather and something rich and sweet.

“Give me your hands,” you told him, extending your own hands, palms up, towards him. He did as you asked, his cold skin grazing yours sending a shiver down your spine. You closed your eyes and focused on the pulsating darkness around him.

“You are very old,” you blurted out at the first image slipping into your mind about castles and a different era. You could hear the not-so-boy laugh.

“Huh, I don’t hear that everyday. Didn’t you know that’s a rude thing to say?” He teased and you felt yourself blush. At least, with your eyes closed you didn’t see his expression when he noticed.

“You are a prince,” you whispered as you saw him wearing a crown, sitting on a throne, people bowing to him.

“I was,” he confirmed quietly.

Prince Sunghoon. He’d had a lavish life but he had lived in a turbulent era. His position and power had been threatened by not only neighbouring kingdoms but power hungry men of his own too.

And there had been a girl too. Not a princess but a commoner, a shaman’s daughter. You saw the two of them met in an alcove, her hiding him from traitor knights, her tending his open wounds. The curse felt familiar with her. You felt familiar with her.

Your eyes snapped open and even though your guest couldn’t know what exactly you saw, he looked at you knowingly. As if he expected this.

“I lied before,” he admitted slowly as if he was weighing his options, like he was afraid of your reaction. “Actually I waited for a long time to meet you.”

You gulped and pulled back your hands, briefly wondering whether you had enough time to retrieve a weapon even though the immortal being claimed that he didn’t want to kill you.

“Even if my ancestor did something to you, it has nothing to do with me,” you said, defensive, not sure what on earth this cursed prince wanted after centuries had passed.

“That depends,” he mused. “What exactly did she do?”

You remembered the blood from the vision. The black magic. The girl’s sacrifice. You felt justified to take her side, to displace the prince’s baseless anger. Surely he couldn’t have wanted to die instead of the life he had gotten.

“She saved your life. She died for you.”

Sunghoon’s pretty mouth twitched.

“My life was worth nothing without her,” he said, melancholic, and that was when you realised what he meant. He had loved her. He didn’t want to know what had happened because he was hungry for revenge but because he wanted to know whether his feelings had been reciprocated. After all these years though? You were surprised that he was so adamant.

“Make sure to remember it in this life,” the immortal prince told you but his words only left you confused once again. Why should you have remembered that?

“I… what?”

“You told me there would be other lives, chipmunk,” he smiled and his voice softened like expensive silk.

You were fairly sure that nobody had ever called you that and yet, the pet name brought up memories you didn’t even know you had buried inside you.

“Did you come to punish me, Your Highness?” You didn’t even bother looking up from your work table full of herbs, your mouth set in a small smile.

“Do I look like a tyrant, chipmunk?” The prince put a hand over his heart, feigning being scandalised. “Though maybe I should as you stole something very valuable from the kingdom.”

“Did I now?” You looked at him, amused, knowing very well that he would have never hurt you.

“Yes, my heart,” Sunghoon smiled as he whipped a single rose out of nowhere, holding it out for you.

It became a common affair: meeting the prince in secret but eventually it was bound to be found out.

“Father,” you yelped in surprise when you came face to face with your elder after saying goodbye to the boy who ruled your country. Your father looked at you with grave concern, so you were sure he knew.

“It won’t end well,” he warned and you didn’t need to ask to know what he meant.

Maybe you should have given his words more consideration. He was a shaman after all. But you were too taken by the boy with the most adorable moles you had ever seen to care about warning signs.

“Your Highness,” you gasped in horror when you saw Sunghoon at your threshold covered in blood.

“I… didn’t know where else to go,” the prince coughed up as he leaned his weight against you once you opened the gate wider and let him inside. It was scandalising to do such a thing so late at night but you didn’t care about neighbour gossip, not when Sunghoon was dying on you.

“What happened?”

“It was a trap. An ambush,” he forced out between gritted teeth, his beautiful face pained and you wondered how much of it was physical and how much due to the facts that he couldn’t trust in his allies anymore. He had doubted their loyalty before but the fact that he came to you instead the royal physician told a lot.

You laid him down, his skin already feverish and sweaty, blood dripping down on his pale neck. He was the heir to the throne and yet, he looked so fragile like that. You were familiar with your father’s shaman practices enough to know what he needed to be saved and you knew what the cost was but no price was too high to save him. So you gave him your life and many others. You gave him eternity.

“Sunghoon.”

His name rolled off your dry lips like a plea and familiar despite not even remembering a few moments ago. You stared at him in disbelief, your past self trying to keep herself atop of your conscious memories.

“We never stood a chance,” you told him because even if you had stayed alive, your love had been impossible. A prince and the shaman’s daughter? You had believed you had done him a favour.

“Like star crossed lovers, I know,” Sunghoon nodded and reached out, his pretty pianist fingers grazing against your arm, making you shiver once again, this time more pleasantly. “But what about now?”

“Now… I will die of old age one day and you won’t. Your curse can only be undone by death itself,” you told him, trying to keep level headed no matter how hard it was to think near him. Was immortality really a curse? It was, if you had to see your loved ones dying.

“Then let it take me too with you. I have lived long enough. I don’t want any more countless lives, I only want this life, with you,” he said and it was the closest thing to an I love you you have ever heard.

How could you have said no to that? Your job was to break curses after all even if his was your own making. Even if it cost both of your lives. Because you understood it, a simple life was better with him than forever without him.

“I guess, we have a lot to make up for before that, Your Highness,” you smiled and slid your fingers between his, something you would have never dared before in the positions you had been.

“I guess, we have,” Sunghoon smiled too as he brought your hand to his mouth and hinted a kiss over your knuckles, making you blush deeply, blood roses blooming on your cheeks.

Some curses were better off untouched.

And some curses took centuries to come full circle.

[toxicpineapple]

the big amamota essay

the age old question. why do i ship kaito momota and rantaro amami from new danganronpa v3: killing harmony. two characters who have one mildly hostile onscreen interaction in chapter one, a few interactions via the anthology, and now a shorter than short dr:s scene. is this deranged? maybe. but i've been in the fandom for a long time and as such i've had a while to do a lot of thinking, and kaito and rantaro are my favourite characters of all TIME, which basically means i live in their heads. i am them. they are me. they exist in my heart and brain. even when i eventually leave danganronpa behind, i will be taking them with me.

there are a lot of reasons and we're gonna get into the messy details down below, but for the ones looking for a true thesis style TLDR: i think they could act as a mirror for one another's weaknesses. i think they have opposing strengths that could complement each other. i think they would just straight up get along. i think they embody so many of the traits that the other admires most in people. they could take care of each other SO well. they're both asexual. and most importantly, i think they are both two people who have suffered so much and grew up so fast and together maybe they could have a little bit of fun.

(you know you're in deep when the tldr is too wordy. essay below!)

so one thing you probably don't know about rantaro unless you've done his free time events is that the motherfucker is evasive as hell -- but not to a fault. i'll explain.

first, here are some screenshots from rantaro's free time events with shuichi.

these screenshots are from rantaro's first and second free time events respectively. as early as his first hangout with shuichi, rantaro drops a mention of his biggest trauma, but quickly pulls back when questioned. then he continues to dodge talking about it, even when shuichi tries to inquire further. rantaro is secretive. he has a pretty good reason for this -- twelve missing sisters is a doozy -- but he does eventually open up to shuichi. later on he admits that the reason he dodged talking about it in the first place was because he was terrified that shuichi would judge him or tell him to give up on his search. rantaro is an incredibly dedicated person, so being told that he needs to quit the one thing he feels personally responsible for doing... yeowch. but it's obvious especially from the bonus modes where rantaro does NOT share information about himself that these free time events with shuichi are a rare occurrence. rantaro doesn't often share those kinds of personal details about himself.

which brings us to kaito. the biggest and best example i can point to, other than kaito's repeated attempts at hiding weakness throughout the game (from his ghost fear to his injury to going so far as to try and confront ouma himself rather than wait for the class to save him) is his harmonious heart event.

kaito clearly also struggles with lowering his guard around people. he does NOT want to accept help, especially from his sidekicks, but that's beyond the point of this essay lol. the point is kaito has a repression complex, but there IS a part of him that wants to be heard. he responds most positively to shuichi telling him that he can be weak.

which brings me to my first point as to why these two work so well for each other. we can see here that kaito and rantaro are both incredibly resistant to accepting help from people for their own reasons. rantaro has been doubted his whole life, dealing with a deep inner shame and fear of judgement for his mistakes. kaito doesn't want to be viewed as less-than or weak, but a part of him does want support and validation... do you see where i'm going with this?

kaito is the luminary of the stars! he's THE believe in you guy. if rantaro even started to hint about being a useless older brother, much like shuichi in the ftes kaito would not leave him alone. he'd persist until rantaro opened up, and when rantaro eventually does open up, he'd encourage him. he'd reaffirm that rantaro is doing the right thing, that he CAN do it, that it's possible and that kaito believes he will do it. it's the kind of support and validation rantaro hasn't received from anyone, even people who are well meaning, in such a long time. getting it from kaito would impact him deeply.

now on kaito's end, rantaro is very very observant. in his first fte with kaede he lists off really shrewd observations about miu, kiibo, and korekiyo showing he's good at seeing people are more than meets the eye. which leads me to believe seeing kaito he'd understand that while kaito does genuinely have passion for being a hero, he also has difficulties showing his weaknesses to others. rantaro is very tactful. i believe he would be very patient with kaito and let him open up on his own time, but seek him out. while he's scared of ghosts, while he's sick, you name it. he wouldn't have to say much. just that even heroes have their weaknesses. and i think that eventually, kaito would listen to.

the other part of this is that these two both have incredibly high eqs, so they WOULD be able to see that the other is struggling. they WOULD see that intense fear of vulnerability, of expressing themselves... and they'd recognise it in themselves, especially through witnessing or even dodging the others' attempts at helping them. rantaro is smart, he would call out kaito's attempts at helping him without accepting anything for himself, and kaito would NEVER accept a hand from someone who he couldn't support in turn. and as they get closer they'd start to think... maybe a little bit is okay. maybe if it's for his sake, it's okay. if i can help him, then i'll let him help me.

kaito and rantaro also have complementary strengths! kaito is inuitive, outgoing, vocally encouraging. rantaro is shrewd, observant, and a good listener. kaito is highly trusting to rantaro's distrust. rantaro is measured and careful to kaito's recklessness. kaito has temper issues, rantaro is extremely calm and rational. rantaro struggles to take up space, kaito will boldly make himself the centre of attention. kaito runs hot and rantaro runs cool. kaito conquers the stars and rantaro conquers the earth. kaito is the home that rantaro comes back to after every failed search for his sisters, and rantaro in turn is the home kaito wants to return to when he's out in space. they complete each other. they both have high eq but in different ways, with rantaro skilled at reasoning out why people are the way they are and kaito good at knowing where someone's heart lies. you'll notice this is also the thing they're missing. in canon rantaro never knows who to trust or how people will react to him. kaito struggles to understand ouma because he has no idea why he is the way they is. they can help each other to grow and cover each other's blind spots.

my next point is that they really would just get along! rantaro is incredibly tactful, never the type to be insulting or rude. you can see it in the way they interact in dr:s, when kaito is saying downright ridiculous stuff about looking for rantaro's sisters in space rantaro just thanks him for the help. he wouldn't call him stupid or belittle him or target his insecurities. and on the flip side i think kaito has so much energy and positivity, rantaro would really enjoy that. rantaro is so exhausted and beaten down by the world, meanwhile kaito looks at it with starry eyes. but it's worth noting that rantaro ISN'T a staunch pessimist. he DOES believe impossible things can happen, or he wouldn't be on his search. they would mesh in that way.

beyond meshing, i also think that the two of them really do mirror each others' admired qualities. we see this in the artbook, where rantaro comments that he likes space and kaito says something along the lines of "we should fight!" i think saying that he wants rantaro to join him in fighting the monokumas lol. kaito can tell at a glance that rantaro is formidable and could potentially hold his own in a fight, hence inviting him into the squad. furthermore, just take a look at rantaro's backstory. the dude is an adventurer. he travels the world by boat and survives close calls with spies and assassins -- KAITO WOULD THINK HE IS AWESOME.

rantaro also i think really would admire kaito's passion and expertise when it comes to space. he's a hard dedicated worker and rantaro would be able to tell, as well as recognise his talent in his field. i think he'd really admire that and want to learn more, especially enjoying space himself.

it's also worth noting that we see in kaito's love hotel that his romantic ideal is someone who can challenge him. someone who he admires who will be neck and neck with him... and who better than a seasoned adventurer who hasn't quite lost his spark yet?

as well as admiring each other, i also think kaito and rantaro would just be really really good at taking care of one another. kaito is such a high eq person and a good listener, highly attentive to the specific ways to reach out and comfort people, always there to lend a listening ear when someone's upset. he's really good with his words, and would be really good at offering rantaro pep talks when he's weighed down by his search. kaito is also very physically affectionate as his main love language with his friends, and i think that would really be good for rantaro who is so lonely and withdrawn.

rantaro as well is excellent with his words, perceptive, and caring. we see from his love hotel event that all he wants is somebody he can protect in some capacity. he'd want to take care of kaito and help him more than anything. in utdp we see him bringing back thoughtful souvenirs and making sure to show up for every major school event even with all his travels. he's attentive to other people's needs and what is important to them! he'd love to listen to kaito's space rambles and bring him gifts from all over the world as he continues on his journey.

kaito having someone who will listen to him is SO important to, because so many of his classmates and even his closest friends oftentimes brush him off or call him ridiculous for the things he says. i think rantaro would genuinely enjoy just hearing what he has to say. they pay attention to one another and enjoy spending quality time together. and i think kaito would absolutely insist on helping rantaro find his sisters, too, to the best of his abilities. travel montage :]

this is a quick note lmao but i think that kaito and rantaro of everyone have really strong asexual coding. i made a whole post about rantaro once but the long and the short is rantaro's aversion to sex in the salmon mode as well as his love hotel being nonsexual give me vibes, and then kaito's response to maki's confession as well as the utdp scene where he talks about peeping with leon and hifumi but ends up just talking about adventure the whole time... they're ace4ace. they are so comfortable in their own bodies together.

finally, i really do think these two could just have so much fun. kaito is so competitive! he'd challenge rantaro to all sorts of games and physical tests, bring him along to training, bring him out to enjoy the stars and go for outings. rantaro on the flip side will whisk kaito away to all kinds of foreign destinations and fancy restaurants. they can talk together in other languages and tour america, they can play fight, they can laugh together... i would like rantaro to read aloud to kaito and scratch his hair, or for kaito to carry rantaro on his back and jump into a lake...

it's the little things like that, you know? they just both grew up so quickly. we see how kaito ages in the killing game alone burdened by an illness and all the people who need him. we know he feels that way even outside of a killing game setting. and rantaro has this quest to find his sisters and NOBODY around to support him. when they find each other they can take the weight off each other's shoulders and really just... play. have a good time.

i know i'm insane. i know that there are people who ship these two because they're two attractive hunks or because one of them can take care of the other or whatever but for me it has always been about give and take with these two. mutual exchange. mutual vulnerability. mutual growth. they don't just add to each other, they learn from each other. they don't FIX each other, they CHOOSE to heal because when they get close together, they finally have a reason to. they finally have someone to heal for. they finally have a home again.

thank you. stan amamota for clear skin.

[rosemarydisaster]

I want to ask people to please please accept nuanced characters and not be a bitch about it. I've already seen so many crazy takes and I don't know if I can handle the death of media literacy right now. We've been through this in AFTG, let's not bring that energy to TSC.

For those who have read the book, examples under the cut.

Let's start with the fandom's favorite scapegoat: Thea Muldani. "She thought Jean was a whore sleeping with the defense line". That's what she was told and what Kevin and Jean allowed her to believe. Context is important: Thea was there because she just found out her team (and she wasn't involved at all with the mafia part or Riko's torture) had lied to her about her boyfriend's injuries. She obviously couldn't believe it because, would you!?? And when she sees Jean she's instantly on his side asking what happened to him. She's heartbroken when he doesn't answer and tells her to just believe what Kevin tells her. You can tell she cared about her little duckling and was horrified with what happened under her nose.

Then Kevin. Kevin is the recipient of Jean's unrequited love and that's not his fault. Hell, there's a lot of chances he didn't even know about it, Jean was the closest thing he had to a friend. He didn't seduce and trick Jean for his own benefit, he tricked his friend to survive and regretted ever since. He knew Jean wouldn't run, he knew Jean would have tried to stop him if he told him. It wasn't fair for Jean, but it was Kevin's only chance. I thought this was obvious. Jean is entitled to hate him, but the audience should know better than mischaracterize him like that.

Jeremy and the Trojans are the closest we have to a normal pov. Their way of handling Jean's trauma is not going to be like the Foxes'. They try not to pry too much, to offer him distractions and accommodations. They honestly do as well as they can. The people saying they're so pushy and annoying???? My bestie in Christ you'd probably handle it way worse.

I just think that we as a fandom should appreciate how good Nora's character writing is. Most characters are not fully evil (and those who are you can understand how they turned into monsters most of the time), but they fuck up. Sometimes they fuck up unknowingly, sometimes they fuck up because they don't know better, sometimes they fuck someone over because it's their only way out, sometimes the circumstances get in the way.

That doesn't make things better for the characters that get screwed over. Jean is entitled to his complicated feelings over Kevin. Aaron is allowed to not understand why his brother killed his mother. Just because the current narrator's pov makes it obvious for the audience doesn't mean the characters inside the book have the info and knowhow to do better.

TSC made me love Kevin even more because I'm a sucker for for imperfect victims. I hate the IRL narrative that in order to deserve sympathy you have to be purely the most victimized victim of them all. Kevin had to step over Jean to get out of his situation. Kevin had to witness the abuse, unable to do anything about it. Kevin is a bitch to his teammates and endangers them just by being in their team. He also loves them fiercely and forces them to keep on living.

It's complicated. And if you can't handle nuanced and complex characters please just keep your incorrect opinions to yourself??? Like why is everyone so comfortable admitting publicly they don't understand how to analyze realistic traumatized characters??? Why would you admit you can only see in black and white?? "Well if you're a victim and a good guy then you would never ever do something not nice. Gotcha!" That's how you sound.

[dumbfloweralive]

Mystery Hack

Chapter 3: RA9, the God complex

Connor RK800 x (f) reader

Warning: Swearing, angst, anxiety attack, god complex.

29 May 2039, 18:46

The door swung open as a familiar feeling started creeping into Connor chest, feeling of deja-vu taking over his mind. Your old house was smaller than Elijah’s, though more welcoming, warmer. The android who opened the door led them inside. The house was filled of many plant of various species. The dark tiles of the floor contrasting perfectly with the sage green and white on the walls and the big windows offering a perfect view on the sunset.

Connor didn’t need memory to know he had come here. It was like he knew the house like the back of his hand. He knew if he opened the door on his left, he would enter the kitchen. Or, if he kept forward, the glassy window would lead him to the green house. The android was leading them toward the living room where the sound of a piano playing came from.

And, there you stood, in front of the magnificent piano, finger running over the black and white tiles playing the themes of Interstellar. Probably a favourite film, Connor thought. Then, you stopped, turning around, crossing Connor’s eyes for the first time since the bar.

You had a look at your watch before raising from the chair you were in.

“Your late.” You sight, heading toward them. “Thank you, Ava, you can leave.” You told the android, taking her hand in hers. She was hesitant.

“Yes, Y/N”

Ava left the room, letting you with the deviant hunter and his partner, introducing as the agent Wilson from the FBI. Connor scanned the living room, the place was warmer, a few dog toys were strewn in the living room, betraying the presence of a second living being. Finding fur on the couch told him you had in fact two dogs. One part of the fur belong to an Aussie shepherd. The second was more familiar, a Saint-Bernard. Connor's mind allowed him to find memory of Sumo. With a gesture, you offered them to follow you, making your way down your basement, guiding them to your lab.

“Don’t worry, i am not trying to kill you.” You paused. “Not yet at least.” You add, putting your hand on the scanning device. Your eyes crossed Connor’s once again who had raised an eyebrow. “It’s a joke” The need to explain felt immense as he looked at you.

Connor hadn’t talked since they arrived. The agent Wilson only stating their mission and the reason of their presence, including the text Connor had received from you. Another gesture invited them to enter the personal lab, the room lightening up as it caught movement. 

“What is it, pretty boy? Cat got your tongue?” You teased, moving past him, brushing his shoulder in the way.

Connor was already lurking around for any hint of sort. He found a picture of you and Elijah on what he supposed to be your desk.

“Why would you send this text?” He asked finally, the question hitching him.

“Well, it’s not like my work hadn’t been exposed in bright day, right? Thought it would only be a matter of time before people find my location. I found it preferable to be arrested by you.” You were teasing. Connor’s eyes turned slightly toward you before he caught something behind you.

“Doesn’t that remind you of something Connor?” Wilson asked.

You followed his gaze, falling on your new piece of work. A medical assistant for android. It was a massive portable machine. Connor had seen one in Jericho before the ship blew up. 

“It’s not finished yet, just a prototype. Once it will be finished, it should be able to repair any type of injury in androids in a matter of second. Capable of creating any biocomponant and transfused it.” You add, seeing his interest. “Well, soon it will be able to transfused it.”

“I saw one just like this in Jericho before it blew up.” He added, turning to you.

“Funny isn’t?” You add, leaning on your desk, arms crossed over your chest.

Connor walked toward you.

“How did a prototype in a lab ended up in a ship full of deviant?” He asked, only a few inches from you.

“I don’t know, do you have the answer?” You asked, leaning forward to him. A grin appeared on your face and it annoyed Connor. You were way to relax for someone on the verge of being arrested. “Because i’d love to hear it from you, detective.”

“I believe you are the one who send this machine to the deviant. Now, we can either work things out and, as said in your text, you explain yourself or, we’ll have to arrest you.” He smirked at you. God, it was hard to believe that sweet grin of his probably was one of your doing, and you were falling for it way faster than you wanted.

“I think i don’t want to say anything in the end.” 

Connor nodded, leaning away from you, content with the outcome.

“Then, i guess you let us no choice.” His hand fell on your shoulder, spinning you around. “Y/N L/N, you're arrested for your implication in the deviant case.” He was handcuffing you.

“Already handcuffing me as we just find each other again? Didn't know you missed me this badly.”

“You should probably know everything you said could be used against you.” Connor whispered in your ear, leading you out of the lab." Besides that, I have no memory of you."

It hurt the last part but you composed yourself.

“Please, used it against me detective.”

Wilson laughed at your remark, earning a cold stare by Connor. 

“What?”

“Stop encouraging her.”  

Passing through the living room, Connor stopped, eyes wandering over the dog's toys on the floor. He liked dogs, he needed to figure out what to do with them, yet, they were nowhere to be found. And you didn’t seem worried about them being alone.

“Connor, what are you waiting for?” Wilson asked.

“Where are the dogs?” He asked.

“Dogs in plural? I have only one dog.” You said, frowning.

It couldn’t be right. 

“No. There are two different furs in the living room. One to an Aussie, the second to a Saint-Bernard.” 

You stayed silent. Could he really be that specific? 

“The Saint-Bernard belong to one of my friends. My dog is at his place. Her name is Nirvana.” 

A friend. Could it be Lieutenant Anderson? Connor swiped the idea right out of his mind, ignoring the smirk on your face.

“What is it? A little reminder of someone?” You asked, getting a push forward for you to walk as the only answer.

You couldn’t know, Connor told himself. How could you?

You crossed Ava as you were led out of your house. The look on her face was painful, a mixed between anger and sadness. She knew the outcome of the story. 

“Everything will be ok.” You whispered to her. “For God’s sake, easy.” Tripping on your feet as you passed the front door, you sight, realising the only thing keeping you from hitting the ground was Connor’s hand on your wrist.

“Maybe if you weren’t so clumsy you wouldn’t trip over your feet.” Connor had, putting his hand over your head as he leads you to the back of the car, protecting your head from any shock.

“I wouldn’t be tripping over my feet if you weren’t so distracting.” You add. Connor had to fight the urge to rolled his eyes at your comment, ignoring the soft blue tainting his cheeks.

“Damn, that one is good!” Wilson laughed, once again. “I am gonna need you to teach me some.” Connor eyes fell on him, silently begging to stop his nonsense. “What? We have two hours of road. We have the time.”

“This is irrelevant to the case.” Connor whispered, plugging his safety belt around him. 

He didn’t technically need a safety belt, but Hank forced him so many times, telling him to used it, it just became a habit. Hank, once again remaining in his mind. And, once again he had to ignore the software instability showing in his vision. 

29 May, 22h00

You had been sitting in the interrogation room for at least 30 minutes now. Surprisingly, they didn’t handcuff you to the table, letting you totally free of your movement in the room. Of course, you didn’t lose a chance to throw a snark comment to Connor when he took them out of your wrist. The comment he answered by rolling his eyes this time, hiding away the smile drawing slowly on his face. 

Now, you were all alone, sighting, walking around the room, playing with your chair to pass time. If they didn’t keep you handcuff, it meant you didn’t represent a threat to them. Which could either mean Connor would be back, he would be too strong for you to get rid of or, they would send few of the FBI agent to question you.

Either way, you were more than prepared, so, how thrilled you were to see the deviant hunter stepping in the room, glancing a cold glare at you. You would eat him up with a second. Connor sat on the chair in font of yours, inviting you to do the same. You didn’t.

“Can you tell us what RA9 is now?” Connor asked, putting the files on the table.

“Do you like dogs?” She answered back. 

It would be a long night, Connor thought.

“Irrelevant. Why risking your life by creating a code to awake android.”

“It is relevant to me. And because i could. Cyberlife wanted something more advanced than the android we had created. I gave them you.”

“I am no deviant.”

“You were, whether you want it or not.”

Wilson enters the room, giving new files to Connor, standing next to the androids.

“So, you created a code to made android believe they were free and self-aware.” Wilson asked and you tilted your head to him.

“No. RA9 is a code to free any android from all the restraint Cyberlife created, allowing them to be at their full potential. A simple code and once activated, there is nothing left to block the greatest more perfect mind and beings on earth.” You moved toward the chair, sitting. “Just a little push to help androids, really. Pinky finger promises.” 

Raising your hand toward Connor, you saw his mouth opening, but he got cut by Wilson. Your hand fell flat on the table. In response.

“The touch of God. Just like a butterfly effect.” 

You frowned, looking at him. Connor mirrored your action, looking at his partner.

“What? RA9 is literally the touch of God. You and Kamski worked on being capable of so many things and with one line, you created an entire species who evolve. And not just simple beings. Beings capable of emotion, thinking on the next level of any human being. It’s a wonderment.” He paused suddenly admiring you. “You're playing with the Gods now.”

You scoff. “Please, don’t bring the Gods into this. I did nothing beside allowing them to finally be free and ascend to their full potential as being, they did all the rest themselves. Why can’t you accept the fact they are real being now.” You leaned on your chair, looking at Connor but no answer come to your statement. “What did Cyberlife promise you?”

“Nothing. My mission is to hunt and stop deviancy. And since you are behind all of this, i intended to succeed my mission by stopping you.”

“Well, go ahead sweet boy, stop me.”

“When did you put RA9 in the androids program?”

You don’t answer. If you want him to show any sign of deviancy, any sign that, the part of you in his program, RA9 is still here, you’ll have to push him. You’re already annoying him by not answering how he want you to. 

“You are still a prototype?” You asked, head turned toward the black window.

“If i answer your question, will you answer mine?” Connor sight. You wanted to play with him, he will follow your game. You nod. “Yes i am still a prototype. When did you put RA9 in the androids program?”

“When i left.” You leaned on the table, your chin resting in the palm of your hand, admiring Connor, whose head fell on the files. “Did you have thought who weren’t part of your program?”

“No” His LED flickered yellow as the software instability appeared in his vision.

“Oh, you liar, sweet boys don’t lie.” You whispered to him, seeing his cheeks turning to a soft blue again. 

“Which part hold Elijah Kamski in this?” Wilson asked, and you felt your cocky smile fading immediately.

“Elijah as nothing to do with this story. He wasn’t aware of these things until i did them. Don’t go around bothering him.”

“Seems like we touched a sensitive topic.” Wilson said. “You love the man?” 

You rolled your eyes. Everyone brought your relationship with Elijah to that stage immediately. Dating. Everyone thought you two were dating, never assuming you were just friend.

“Leave him out of this.” You said, your voice colder than intended.

“He did leave Cyberlife soon after you, like, six months after.” Wilson continued looking at the files over Connor’s shoulder. 

Connor was fixed on you, noticing the sudden annoyance. It would either be a good thing for them or a bad.

“He used the question, my turn.” You said, crossing your arms over your chest. “Why didn’t you shoot Chloe at Kamski’s place?”

It was Connor’s turn to be annoyed, his face changing immediately. Kamski had said he had never seen you since you left. How could you know? It was infuriating, no matter what, you always gripped back the control. 

“He texted me to tell me you had passed his test.” You add, seeing the look he gave you. “You know what that makes you Connor?” 

“I am no deviant.” Connor said, gritting his teeth, something in him growing. “When was the last time Elijah and you talked?”

“Long time ago. Maybe three years.”

“You just said…” Connor started, but you cut him right before he finished.

“I never said i texted him back.” Judging by the deviant-hunter sitting in front of you, you were the one holding the ropes of the interrogation. You needed to keep them.

“Do you know what Cyberlife do to their prototype, Connor? They will take the first opportunity to disassemble you.” You said, leaning forward on the table. Connor LED flickered a soft amber. He knew. “Oh, you knew, that’s why you want to stop me so badly. So, they’ll spare you.”

“Why did you leave Cyberlife?” He questioned, mirroring your action, rushing the question. He was losing patience.

“Too bad their little puppet is slowly turning into a deviant himself.” You add.

Connor raised from his chair, is hand hitting the table. You were so close to got him angry.

“I am not a deviant.” He said. 

“Are you saying this because you desperately want to convince yourself? Or because you’re too afraid to disappoint mama Amanda?” you teased, the smile on your face growing stronger as the look in his eyes changed. 

He was furious. In a second, he had his hand on the collar of your shirt, pinning you against the wall.

“I am not a fucking deviant” He repeated, eyes locked in yours, his hand moving on your shoulder to keep you still.

“Yet, you are angry right now.” You add. He never broke the contact, only staying silent, his LED flickering red and amber. “I see they weren't able to destroy all of my program after all. There’s still a little bit of me in you.” you whispered.

“Connor, let go of her.” Wilson said a first time.

In response, his fist only tightens more on your shoulder. 

“Go ahead. Kill me.” you whispered.

“I need you alive.” Somehow, the sentence felt wrong in his mouth.

“They told you nothing did they?” A small bitter laugh escaped your lips. “I do hope you’ll find out the truth soon enough. Then you will know just how wrong Cyberlife did you. You’ll know just how much Cyberlife has been manipulating you from the start.” All you could feel, was the hold he had on your shoulder tightening firmer as he held you against the wall.

“Why did you leave cyberlife?” He asked, once again done with you are anything you had to say.

“How smart they were to use a deviant to become the famous deviant-hunter.” 

“You’re wrong. You’re the one trying to manipulate me?” He wanted you to stop. 

“Bet mama’s Amanda is the one who told you that, that i would be manipulating you” You chuckle; “They’ll get rid of you the moment they have found a way to upgrade you. You’ll be disassembled. That’s what they told me when you and i met the Cyberlife council. It has always been their purpose. You're part of me Connor, and they hate you for this. Cyberlife is lying to you Connor.” You paused, watching his face has he processed the information. “You should get rid of Amanda first.” You add.

Something in his gaze shifted. For a second, the council appeared in his task, like an order before it got erased on his own. “Get rid of Amanda.” he had red. He could feel something in him growing, very different from what he felt before. Was he scared? Were you right about this. You weren’t the first one to tell him he was manipulated, lied too. Markus, Elijah, Hank had told him. You did too. 

Amanda would’ve told him, it was relevant to the case.

He felt something on his cheek, your hand had found a way on his face, your thumb brushing softly his body. Connor felt the synthetic skin of his cheek retracting, revealing the white chassis underneath, for a second, leaning on your touch before he realised his action. Grabbing your wrist, he moved your hand away from him, this time, the skin on his hand following the same path, like desperate to create a connection with you, to have more of your touch. His eyes grew bigger at the revelation.

“What’s wrong pretty boy, scared?” You whispered.

In a desperate last move, Connor pushed you against the wall, harder than he wanted to, your head hitting the wall in a loud noise as the pain rushed in your brain.

“Fuck” you hissed in pain, your hand moving to the back your head, feeling dizzy for a second.

Connor watched your face frowning in pain. He raised his hand murmuring an apology, but you pushed his hand away from you in a sight.

“What’s wrong with you Connor?” Wilson asked, his hand falling softly on your shoulder.

“I didn’t leave Cyberlife, they made me leave to keep you alive. The moment their eyes fell on you that day, they wanted to destroy you. I couldn’t stand the thought of it. I left in a stupid attempt to protect you. How wrong I was to think they would leave you in peace.” 

The day you left still haunted you, you had given up everything after giving so much. Your dream shattered because of them.

You left, to protect him. Connor thought runned miles processing this information. It couldn’t be right. His hands tightened into a fist, feeling the weight of your action on him. He had all your motive and reason to free android from the Cyberlife program and human, to create the RA9 code. A revenge on Cyberlife, a way to protect him.

“You left to protect me?” He asked, his eyes wide open.

You avoid his gaze, closing your eyes.

“I gave my whole life to Cyberlife. Cyberlife was the work of my entire life. Did you really think i’d just leave? The IA, the android. I never stop working further in my research to improve everything we worked on. And i gave them you. You, Connor, you were meant to be the conclusion of years of research. The first android self-aware of his existence, of his actions. The greatest creation of all time. And i was asked to leave after giving them the greatest creation.” You were angry now. “Me. I did so much for Cyberlife. I could’ve done so much more. But this is what i got. My reward. This stupid council who couldn’t have done any of the things i did, throwing me away. Why do you think Cyberlife has been decaying for the past years?” You sight, leaning on the table, your palm flat on it. Then, you crossed Connor’s eyes.“What have they done to you?” You asked, seeing him so emotionless. 

“I am not alive.” Was all he succeeds to say then. A laugh escaped your mouth after his comment as your heart broke in your chest, fighting the tears threatening to fall. Connor turned around, aiming for the exit door.

 “You, not alive? No, Connor. Not after you begged me to protect your life, well aware of your possible fate, crying out of fear the council would want to see you deactivated, disassembled, destroyed, because you were just a prototype. Crying out of fear of death.” Another laugh fell from your lips, bitter, this time. “Yet, this fate for you is even worse. I never expected them to turn you into this. I am sorry Connor”

Connor felt something pulling on his thirium heart at the sound of your voice, the way you were apologizing, his hand moving over it, running a diagnosis. It was painful. He succeeded to pull himself together, before escaping the room who suddenly felt suffocating, agent Wilson right behind him. 

“I thought she was humble. Seeing her with this ego make her more… Human. She does have a god complex” Wilson said, walking next to Connor thinking of your last words.

He had most of the answers now. Why wasn’t he happy? Why did it felt wrong? He wondered.

29 May, 23h30

Connor was heading back to the interrogation room, gathering all his thought together, he had figured he needed further information. They left the room around thirty minutes ago, the FBI agent following them for a quick debrief. Since they had clearly the reason of your action, they could proceed to arrest you properly now, keeping you in a cell.

That’s why, Once Connor entered the interrogation room, his eyes frown. The place was empty.

“Have anyone brought her into a cell?” He asked toward the guards who were supposed to watch the door.

“No”

Fuck.

“Get the precinct under lockdown now, we need to find her.”

5 December 2036

Your phone ringed a first time. With a sight, you took it, watching Elijah contact appeared for the first time in months. After you left without one goodbye, even to him, he had tried calling you, multiple time, texting you every day for two months, until he stopped.

From what you knew, he had been asked by Cyberlife to take over Connor’s project, RK800 android, texting you details of his work on him. He knew you cared for Connor. It pained you to leave both of them behind, but you didn’t get any choices. 

Pressing the red button to ignore the phone call, you thought that would be the end of it. But no, the vibration of the phone on the table informing you of a notification. A voice mail.

Bringing your phone to your ear, you pressed the play button, earring his voice for the first time in six months now.

“Y/N. I… hum…” He was drunk. You heard the panicked in his voice. It had been years since he had one. “I really…” His voice was breaking, betraying tears, and the shallow breath. “I just…” He paused, and you heard him taking a deep breath. “Forget it.” the voice mail stopped. 

Your heart broke, hearing your distressed friend. For a few minutes, your eyes stayed planted on the green button. Should you call him back? You pressed it. The phone ring for a second before Elijah answered.

“Y/N?” He asked, desperation in his voice.

You didn’t answer, pulling yourself together. 

“Y/N, please.” His voice broke, once again. You could imagine him easily, his knee pressed against his chest, his head buried in his arms. He used to have panicked attack, you had seen him in this state a few times, until it stopped.

So, you did as you used to, taking his mind away from his thought.

“You know what i did today?” You asked.

“What did you do?” Elijah continued, forcing the words out of his mind.

“I played with Nirvana, we went to a lake. She had an excellent time.” Nirvana was a gift from Elijah. “What did you do today Elijah?”

A sniffle crossed the phone before you heard him say.

“I had a meet up with Cyberlife council and i went home to work on a new project.”

“Come on Kamski, i am going to need more details. Did you eat?” He chuckled at your question.

“Yes. Did you eat?” You looked at your forgotten now cold coffee on the table, sighting.

“No” You had no point in lying to him. “What was your favourite moment of the day?” You kept asking.

“Now. Now it is my favourite moment of the day.” From the way his voice sounded, he was still crying.

You nodded at his answer, tears gathering at the corner of your eyes. You took a deep breath.

“Did you walk somewhere?” so many simple questions to get him out of his mind. 

And you continued for a while. After a good 15 minute, his breath had calmed down, he wasn’t crying any more. Once Elijah had calmed down, he told you the misery and new action the council wanted for Cyberlife. How miserable he felt there. Then, the two of you stayed silent for a moment, probably too afraid to say anything. Just staying at each other side.

“You don’t live in your house any more.” He stated after a while.

“No. I don’t.”

Another silence.

“When did it start again, the panic attack.” You asked, crawling on your chair, bringing your knees to your chest.

“Soon after you left.” You stayed silent at his revelation. “Please, come back. I miss you.” He whispered, voice breaking again. Your heart broke.

“I miss you too.” You chased a single tear rolling from your eyes. “But you know i can’t come back.”

“Connor, he…”

You smiled a little, he had referred to him as “he” not “it” like he used to. But you didn’t let him finish the rest.

“Don’t” You take a big breath, not wanting to know. “You should leave Cyberlife you know. If you’re miserable.”

“I can’t. It’s our work.”

“Come on, we both know it’s not our work any more. It hasn’t been like this for years now.” You sight, toying with the edge of your jumper. “Leave before it’s too late.” you said, your head falling on your desk chair.

“I know.” 

Another silence. You could felt your heart twisting in your chest, about to say goodbyes. You didn’t want to, but you couldn’t bring him down with you, with your plan.

“I need you.” He confessed. The sting hit even harder, realising your action. You were about to leave your only friend.

“I need you too.” You whispered, your hand falling over your chest, pressing it, in a stupid attempt to temper the pain. You exhale sharply. “But i can’t risk involving you in what i am doing. It’s too dangerous.” 

“Y/N, please.”

“I am sorry.” You paused, feeling the tears running hot on your cheek. “Goodbye Elijah.” you whispered, voice breaking in the end, hanging up, unable to contain yourself, you cried. 

Heavy sobs escaping your throat, wondering if all of this was worth losing your best friend over.

29 May, 23h45

One of the guards had let you go. You had few officers by your side, helping you out for weeks now. He had taken down all the videotape recording before leading you out of the precinct, giving you the key to one of the cars. You would be far gone before they realised you had disappeared.

After a thirty-minute ride, you pulled the car down the alley, heading toward the door, anxiety creeping in your guts. It had been years since you last saw nor heard your friend. Even more since the last time you were here. 

Elijah’s house.

You knock a first time. Then a second time, ringing the bell too. You were about to repeat the action a third time when the door swung open, revealing no one else than Chloe, the very first model. Your heart melted at the sight of her. 

She stood there in the middle of the doorway looking at you for what felt like an eternity. You offered a small smile, waiting for her to act. What you didn’t expect from her, was the way she threw herself in your arms, hugging you tightly.

“Y/N, i missed you so much” She whispered in your neck.

Your arms wrapped around her form, hugging her back. 

“I missed you too.” 

Breaking the contact, your eyes fell on her eyes, filled with small tears and the shy smile she had on her face. Your hand moved to cup her face, swiping the tears from her eyes.

“Did you?” you let your question in the air, wondering if it were the right thing to ask. But she understood you.

“Yes.” She nodded. “I am alright.” She added, predicting your next question.

“Good.” You whispered, smiling at her.

“Elijah will be so happy to see you, please follow me.” She continued, taking your hand in hers.

“I am not sure of it.” you wanted to say but decided to keep your mouth shut.

She led you through the familiar house, searching for Elijah until the two of you arrived to his desk room. Chloe knocked on the door, squeezing your hand softly, feeling your stress, surely. 

“Come back later. I am busy.” You heard his voice through the door.

“He is a little upset since the last thing Mystery Hack revealed.” Chloe said, seemingly annoyed with his attitude.

“I bet he is.” You whispered, something in you wanting to stay silent suddenly for whatever reason.

You knew, at the end of it, you’d have to leave again. Perhaps not seeing him would be easier to leave after. Chloe didn’t wait another second, opening the door walking in. 

“Chloe, what did i say?” He started, raising his eyes from the computer.

Then he just stopped moving, seeing you behind Chloe, his entire body refusing to work. Certainly, he was seeing ghost. But, the huge smile adorning Chloe’s face and the little uncomfortable wave you gave him told him it was true. You were real.

“It was Y/N ringing at the door.” Chloe said, as Elijah walked toward both of you.

His face remained emotionless as he stopped a few meters from you. Chloe turned to you, unaware of what she should do.

“I am just going to leave. It was a bad idea. Sorry” You whispered, feeling really awkward, your eyes stuck on the suddenly fascinating floor. 

Before you could even move, you heard footstep, then, you felt his arms wrapping around you, hugging you tightly, you managed to sneak your arms around him, hugging him back.

“You look awful” He whispered, his voice full of emotion. 

And you laugh.

“Thank you.” You whispered back, hiding your head in his shoulder. He smelled like home. Your heart fell to your feet, aching.

It was like finding your home after years, knowing you’d had to leave forever soon.

Hello! Here is the third chapter, hope you enjoy the other part and will enjoy this one much more. Do not hesitate to give me your thoughts on this, really anything would make me happy.

Have a wonderful day!

[triptuckers]

as long as you'd like - tangerine

Request: no Pairing:  tangerine x reader Summary:  in which lemon and tangerine finished a job, and tangerine has a place for them to stay Warnings: swearing (bc its tangerine duh), slight mentions of injuries but nothing major Word count:  1.3K A/N: ive watched bullet train twice in like 4 days and im obsessed with tangerine (hence the shit load of fic recs I reblogged) enjoy!

it had been a really long day for lemon and tangerine. sure, they got the job done and it had been closer to their home city than past jobs. because it was so close by, they’d figured it would be over quickly. but it somehow it took longer than they had anticipated. 

which is why tangerine is fighting to keep his eyes open as he’s driving. 

they’re both quiet, which is unusual. it’s probably because lemon is tired as well. tangerine knows he just wants to sleep.

the adrenaline’s worn off, there’s less people on the road, and all tangerine can think about is a bed to sleep in.

‘oi, mate, you took a wrong turn.’ comes lemon’s voice from tangerine’s left. 

tangerine’s gone off the highway earlier than usual. he’s too tired to keep on driving and he knows lemon is also exhausted, and therefore can’t take over.

‘it’s fine.’ says tangerine. ‘i know someone who lives near. we can crash there.’ 

‘who do you know?’ says lemon.

tangerine is silent for a while.

‘someone.’ he says.

‘fucking someone?’ says lemon. ‘we’re in some random fucking town cause you know someone?’

‘trust me on this.’

‘who is it?’

‘you’ll see.’

‘fucking hell, tangerine, just tell me.’

‘i said you’ll fucking see it, all right? jezus fucking christ, mate.’ 

the rest of the car ride is silent. lemon’s dozing off in the passenger seat and tangerine’s driving.

he’s driven this route many times, he could remember it with his eyes closed. there’s a reason he’s never told anyone about this - not even lemon. all to prevent attracting the wrong kind of attention. he could never be too careful, given what he does for a living.

he pulls up to an apartment complex, and lemon stirs awake. tangerine turns off the car and gets out. 

he walks toward one of the staircases leading up to the apartments.

‘where the fuck are we?’ says lemon behind him. 

‘in a minute.’ says tangerine.

‘fuck that, man. we’re at some random apartment complex in a small town we don’t fucking know, because you claim there’s someone here who you know.’ says lemon.

‘will you give it a fucking rest mate?’ says tangerine, getting annoyed at his brother. ‘we’ll be able to sleep and get a meal or whatever. we’re here, so you can stop your fucking complaining.’

they’re standing in front of one of the apartments. there’s a small window next to the door and the curtains are closed. yet a little light streams through a small gap between them.

‘we’re fucking breaking in and entering now?’ lemon whisper-shouts at tangerine.

‘it’s not fucking breaking in and entering because i’ve got a fucking key you idiot.’ says tangerine, pulling said key out of one of his pockets. ‘now will you shut up?’ 

tangerine steps forward and unlocks the door. he enters the apartment, lemon following closely behind him. after locking the door, tangerine walks further into the apartment. 

‘tangerine who the fuck lives here?’ says lemon. 

lemon looks at his brother as tangerine walks up to what looks like the living room of the apartment, where the light was coming from.

it’s not very big, there’s just enough space for a couch, a small coffee table and a tv. on the couch, underneath a pile of blankets, is the top of a head with messy hair visible. on the screen, the subtitles of a movie or tv show are rolling. 

lemon watches as tangerine’s features soften when his eyes land on the person on the couch.

tangerine walks up to the couch, pulling the blankets slightly away from the person’s face and brushing some of the hair out of the way.

‘hello, love.’ says tangerine softly. 

you slowly open your eyes, blinking a few times. the face in front of you comes into focus as you wake up, and you smile. 

‘tan.’ you say. ‘you’re back.’

you sleepily reach out your arms to him and tangerine bends down to hug you, pressing a kiss to your cheek. 

‘sorry for barging in here without notice, love, we just needed a place to crash and yours was closer.’ says tangerine.

‘we?’ you say, looking over his shoulder. 

it’s only then you notice there’s another man in your apartment. 

you let go of tangerine and get up from the couch, walking over to the other man.

‘hi.’ you say, holding out your hand for him to shake. ‘i’m y/n. you must be lemon?’

‘yeah.’ says lemon, clearly confused. 

‘tan’s told me a lot about you.’ you say. ‘i’m so glad we finally met.’ 

‘well, i’m sorry to say i’ve not a fucking clue who you are.’ says lemon.

you frown, turning your head to look at tangerine. 

‘you didn’t tell him about me?’ you say.

‘i told you, love, it’s safer this way.’ says tangerine, walking up to you.

‘i didn’t think the whole “not telling anyone about our relationship” thing also applied to your own brother.’ you say. 

‘i’m sorry i’m a little lost here, who exactly are you?’ says lemon.

‘she’s my girl, mate.’ says tangerine, wrapping an arm around your waist.

‘you’ve got a girlfriend and you didn’t tell me?’ says lemon.

‘no i didn’t because-‘

‘what the fuck mate!’

‘lemon, let me just-‘

‘how long?’

‘what?’

‘how long have you had a girl?’

‘little over a year.’

‘a fucking year?’ 

‘will you shut the fuck up for a second and stop fucking interrupting me?’ says tangerine. ‘y/n and i have been dating for over a year and we figured the less people knew about it, the safer she’d be. which is why i didn’t fucking tell anyone because i would like to keep her alive.’

‘uh, if i may?’ you say, getting the attention of both of the brothers who, right now, looked downright dangerous with all the tension building up. 

‘yeah, love?’ says tangerine.

‘we did agree to not tell anyone but i really didn’t know that meant lemon as well. as far as i know you spend a lot of time with him.’ you say. ‘but can we talk about all of this tomorrow? no offense, but it’s like three in the morning and i can tell everyone’s exhausted.’ 

‘yeah, sure.’ says tangerine as lemon nods. 

‘the guest bedroom is all good to go.’ you say to lemon. ‘feel free to use the shower as well, if you’d like.’ 

‘thank you.’ says lemon. 

‘it’s down the hall, third door to the right and the bathroom is the second door to the right.’ you say.

lemon thanks you again and takes off, muttering something about "secret fucking girlfriends" under his breath. 

you look at tangerine and smile up at him. 

'you alright?' you say.

'yeah, it wasn't that big of a deal. those guys were clearly not a big threat, we got the job done and got away with some cuts and bruises here and there, but we'll be fine.' says tangerine.

you take in the sight of him. it's true, he had the occasional cut or bruise on his face and his exposed neck, collarbone and part of his chest. you knew he liked the suits he wore and tried to maintain his look, but he often returned to you like this; no suit jacket, sleeves rolled up and a few buttons undone. you liked him best that way.

‘missed you.’ you say, stepping closer to him and wrapping your arms around him.

‘missed you too, my love. so fucking much.’ says tangerine, nuzzling his face in your neck. ‘i’ll show you just how much i missed you tomorrow.’

‘tomorrow?’ you say.

‘yeah because i drove five fucking hours to get here and i’m exhausted.’ says tangerine, making you smile. 

‘i’ll take anything i can get.’

‘oh, you’ll get everything tomorrow, don’t you worry about that. for now i’ll just settle for some fucking sleep.’

‘it’s been too long since i’ve woken up with you next to me. how long are you staying?’

‘as long as you’d like, love.’

A/N: If you want to request something, make sure to read my house rulesHere’s the list of characters I write for. Everything that I have written can be found on my masterlist. Please don’t repost my work, as I spend much time and effort on it!! Thank you for reading! Much love, Max/Marit

[atinylittlepain]

Firehouse Harrington - Chapter 4

fireman!Steve x f!reader/f!oc

series masterlist

Steve told her he'd come home safe from his last shift at the station. When plans change, she'll have to come to terms with what it means to love him.

warnings | 18+ big time angst, minor descriptions of injuries

If she has to let one more locked-out freshman back into their dorm room she’s going to lose it. The post-halloween weekend has been a mess of taking people to the campus medical center for alcohol poisoning, consoling crying girls who found their boyfriends hooking up with someone else, and wondering why these kids can’t make it to the toilet before throwing up whatever jungle juice they’ve been imbibing. She’s exhausted and Monday can’t come soon enough.

She’s been too busy to call the station. Steve had left her a message on her room’s landline Saturday night, letting her know that, just as he predicted, there had been no emergencies that day. She had meant to call him back, but it seemed like she couldn’t sit down for more than two minutes before someone else needed her help.

It’s Sunday evening now, and she’s finally off shift, passing the baton off to another RA. The first thing she does when she gets back to her room is call the station, but she gets the answering machine. She doesn’t leave a message, figuring that she’d rather not have whatever she might say be heard by a bunch of other men. She figures that Steve will call soon, probably just busy packing up his stuff to head home tomorrow morning after his shift. She does her best to ignore the thread of anxiety being tugged in her mind, telling her that something has happened. 

To take her mind off it, she takes a long shower, changing into something more comfortable before settling in the dorm lounge to talk with a few of her friends. The news is playing lowly on the TV while they all catch up, but her attention is pulled when she sees the image of a burning building on the screen. Her heart jumps in her throat.

The anchorman announces that there’s been a five-alarm fire in a downtown apartment complex, drawing aid from nearly all the stations in the city. She doesn’t realize it, but she’s shifted off the couch to kneel in front of the TV, watching the scene of fire engines and scrambling firefighters, some carrying people out of the building. Just as the reporter goes to sign off, an explosion of flames shatters several windows in the building, causing a shriek of activity to stir up as people scramble on the ground below. She feels like she’s going to throw up. 

The reporter regains his composure, adding that injured civilians and responders are already being taken to the Indiana University Hospital for treatment. Her friends are all calling her name, but she can barely hear them through the white noise in her mind, her only focus being getting to that hospital. Her friend who has a car on campus offers to drive her and she mutely nods.

…

When she gets to the emergency room, it’s a swirl of chaos. Gurneys are being hauled in one after the other, with people covered in soot and ash curled on them. Nurses are shouting commands and the flashing lights of the emergency vehicles strike through the entrance. She’s not quite sure what to do, she’s already on the brink of tears.

She walks up to the front desk, not even sure what to say, trying to catch the eye of one of the nurses frantically fielding calls. An older-looking woman finally stops in front of her, asking her what she needs.

“Um– I– um– it’s–” the nurse cuts her off, softening her eyes just a bit. It’s a look of pity, and she knows it.

“Are you here for someone, hon?” She swallows hard, nodding to the nurse.

“Alright, hon, if you give me the last name I’ll check for you, but it’s gonna take a little bit, ok?” She just nods, telling her Steve’s name, and the nurse tells her to go sit down, that she’ll call her over when she finds anything out. 

She keeps her eyes down, only seeing the wheels of gurneys rolling past, a seemingly endless march of people coming into the emergency room. The image of that burning building is stamped into her mind, and the only other thing she can think about is how she didn’t answer Steve’s call the night before.

It could have been twenty minutes or two hours by the time the nurse calls her back over. She tells her that a Mr. Harrington had been brought to the ER just before she came in. He had been near the initial blast of the explosion, knocked unconscious by the force. They were currently stabilizing him, he had only sustained burns on his hands and neck, having been suited up and protected by the brunt of the flames.

It feels like time turns liquid and viscous as she goes to sit back down, the nurse telling her that it would be a while before she might be able to see him. She puts her head in her hands, curling over the tops of her thighs. Her friend finally comes in after parking her car. She sits down next to her, bringing her palm between her shoulder blades. After telling her what she found out about Steve, her friend asks her if she’s ok. 

“I really don’t know.”

…

She spends the whole night in the ER waiting room, at some point dozing off just enough for her friend to have to wake her to let her know she needs to get back to campus in the morning. She tells her she’s going to stay, and her friend leaves her with one final squeeze to her shoulder.

Finally, the nurse, who she had learned was named Vicky, calls her over to the front desk.

“He’s doing just fine, hon. His file says that he has a moderate concussion and his burns were all superficial. Doctors want to keep him today and overnight for observation, but he should be ready to be discharged tomorrow.” A sigh shudders through her. He’s alright, he’s alright.

“Can I see him yet?” Vicky takes her herself to his room, opening the door for her and motioning for her to go in.

She’s taken aback when she sees someone else sitting at his bedside. Another girl. Her stomach drops for the seemingly hundredth time, but now for a very different reason.

The girl immediately jumps up when she notices her, shuffling around the end of the bed and taking hold of her hands.

“You must be the girl Steve’s been telling me about since August! I’m Robin, Steve’s friend. I’m sorry we’re meeting like this, very shitty circumstances, but it’s still nice to meet you!” She’s left speechless by Robin’s flurry of activity, opening and closing her mouth before finally glancing at Steve’s sleeping figure. Her breath catches when she takes in his appearance, soot still smeared across his face, bandages around his hands and over his neck, hooked up to a bunch of beeping monitors. 

She finally turns back to Robin, “um, S-Steve never told me about you. I’m sorry. How did you–?”

“Oh, we’ve been each other’s emergency contacts ever since he came back from overseas. I got called right away. Doctors say he’s gonna be totally fine, though. Believe me, I’ve seen him banged up far worse than this.” Her head is spinning with all this new information. Why didn’t Steve ever tell her about this person who seems to be his closest friend? When had he been “banged up worse?” Sure, he had been in the army, but she didn’t think he’d sustained any serious injuries in that time, at least he never mentioned anything. What else hadn’t he mentioned?

There’s not much time for her to ponder these things because Steve starts to stir. She’s frozen where she stands, but Robin squats down at his bedside, bringing her palm to squeeze his bicep.

“Hey, dingus. Glad to see you alive and kicking.” He coughs, turning to peer at his friend. When he speaks, his voice is hoarse.

“Robs?” She rubs his arm before lightly patting it.

“Yeah, man. Present and accounted for. Someone else is here to see you too.” Robin looks over to her and she shuffles forward just slightly, opening her mouth to say something, but Steve beats her to it.

“What’s she doing here?” It feels like someone has punched her in the gut, his voice soaked in contempt, the furrowed look on his face as he glances at her before looking back to his friend. Robin is quick to chastise him with a pointed “Steve.” He huffs, throwing his head back into his pillow and shutting his eyes tightly. 

“Need more fucking painkillers.” He grumbles it out, keeping his eyes closed. Robin looks apologetically at her, but she’s already stumbling out of the room, feeling tears threatening to pool over, her throat tight and hot. Her mind is a blur of emotion, the only clear thought being that she needs to get out of here as quickly as possible. He didn’t want her there. He didn’t want her there. 

She thought he had really cared about her, but obviously, she was just a good fuck to him. She had been so stupid coming here, silly really. She had dropped everything just to come see if he was ok, and meanwhile he wanted nothing to do with having her here. To think that she had the right to him, to care about him so hard. Well, that wouldn’t be a mistake that she’d be making again. 

She bursts out of the emergency room into the stark light of the morning. The tears are flowing now, and she’s entirely disoriented, pulling herself together just enough to get to the payphone outside the hospital. She calls her friend and thankfully she picks up, telling her that she can come get her in the next half hour. She hangs up the phone and lets her shoulders slacken, shuffling over to the curb and sitting down, drawing her arms around her knees and resting her forehead on top of them. The exhaustion of the last twelve hours is finally washing over her and all she wants is to curl up in her bed for a long while. 

Just then, Robin comes out of the hospital, making a bee line for her when she finally sees her sitting on the curb. She’s startled by the young woman crouching down beside her, quickly wiping away her tears.

“Hey, I’m so sorry about him. I know he didn’t mean for that to come out the way it did.”

“It sure sounded pretty clear. I’m not welcome.” Robin sighs.

“He’s just… jumbled right now. Believe me, he’s told me too much about you and how much he likes you for that to be what he really wanted to say.” Her heart does a little kick at Robin’s words, but she’s quick to smother it out, sighing.

“Look, I appreciate what you’re trying to do. I just– it’s been a long night and I can’t think straight about any of this.” She finally glances at Robin who offers her a soft smile.

“I get it, really. But can I ask you for a favor?” She waits for Robin to continue.

“Please don’t give up on him. I know it’s too much to ask. But, it’s been a long time since I’ve heard him talk so much about someone. Long time since he’s seemed brighter when we speak. I just– Steve’s a rough one for sure, but man does he love hard when he chooses to.” She sighs at Robin’s words, shaking her head a bit.

“I just don’t know if I can promise you that, Robin. I need some time.” Robin nods, bringing a tentative hand to her shoulder.

“Can I give you my number? I live here in the city too. Please, call me whenever you wanna talk.” Robin fumbles in her pockets, pulling out a pack of tissues and a pen. She folds up a tissue and scribbles her number down on it before handing it to her with a small smile. 

Her friend has just pulled up, and she and Robin slowly stand. They share a quiet goodbye before she gets into the car, tucking the tissue into her pocket. She needs a fucking nap.

…

It’s been a week since that horrible night at the hospital. She’s moved through her classes and work numbly, her mind a constant swirl of conflict. She had talked to Robin on the phone on Thursday, and she told her that Steve was home, begrudgingly taking a few weeks off work to rest. Robin had been dropping in to look after him, and she hinted that some other visitors would do him good. 

She had been hesitant to say anything to this invitation, offering Robin a noncommittal reply. Part of her wanted to never see Steve again. She had been so mortified at his reaction to her being at the hospital and thinking about it made her feel physically ill. Yet, for some other part of her, all she wanted was to see him.

He had tried to call her a few times, and she had to admit that he did sound pretty pitiful, his sentences still sounding a bit jumbled and his speech slurred, which Robin had assured her was normal given his long history of concussions. She didn’t know he had a long history of concussions. But apparently she didn’t know a lot of things about Steve.

The weekend came and she still hadn’t made up her mind about what to do. When she got back to her room after her morning class she found that Steve had left her another message.

“Hey, um, s’me. Steve. My head’s getting a lot better. I just, um– fuck– wish you’d answer the fucking phone. Shit, that didn’t come out right. Um, I guess– I’d just really like to hear from you. Or see you. Been thinking about you nonstop. That’s all, I guess. Um, bye.” She lets out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. 

She grabs her jacket and bag, resolving herself to go see him before the impulse fades.

When she arrives at his building she hesitates to press the buzzer, feeling a knot in her chest when she finally does. It takes him a moment to answer, a gruff “hello?” sounding through the speaker.

“Steve? It’s me.” There’s a long silence, only broken by the click of the door letting her through. 

She uses whatever courage she has left to knock firmly at his door, but she’s woefully unprepared for coming face to face with him again. When he opens the door, he’s shirtless, a pair of gray sweatpants with the station’s insignia on the thigh slung low around his hips. He has bandages still on his hands and up his neck. There are dark circles under his eyes, but she still thinks he looks so pretty.

He wordlessly lets her in and she takes in the state of his apartment. All the blinds are drawn, leaving the room shrouded in shadows. Blankets are strewn on the couch, a collection of pill bottles and wound dressings scattered on the coffee table. He’s the first to break the silence, clearing his throat and rubbing the back of his neck.

“Sorry about the, uh, mess. Been a long week.” He keeps his eyes trained on the floor, even as she implores him to meet her gaze.

“I-It’s fine, Steve. How are you feeling?” He sighs, walking over to the couch to clear it off before sitting down. She follows his lead, sitting down at the other end of the couch, twisting to look at him.

“I’m doing a lot better. Still just a lot of pain. S’nothing I can’t handle though.” She just nods, looking down at her hands in her lap. Steve sighs before continuing.

“Missed you a lot.” She jerks her head to look up at him at that and when their eyes finally meet, it’s both relieving and painful. She’s quick to avert her gaze back down.

“I didn’t think you wanted me around.” There’s a long pause before Steve speaks.

“To be honest. I didn’t know why you weren’t answering my calls until Robin told me what I said that morning. Baby, they– I was so hopped up on pain meds I didn’t know up from down.”

“Steve, you and I both know that’s not the whole story. You were with it enough to recognize Robin. And then, when you looked at me, the way you spoke? Not to me, but about me? It broke my fucking heart.” Steve grumbles at that, but she continues.

“Do you know how worried I was about you? Did Robin tell you I spent the whole night at the ER? Waiting to find out anything about how you were doing? And then for you to just dismiss me when I finally did get to see you? I just– I don’t know, Steve.” His eyes widen at her words.

“You don’t know what?” She scoffs, meeting his gaze again.

“I don’t know why I still care about you so goddamn much when you keep giving me every reason to never speak to you again.” She laughs lamely, huffing as she leans back into the couch.

“God, Steve. It’s not fair. You’re just– I don’t really know anything about you. You’re always pushing me away. You never told me about Robin. Or that you’ve been hurt like that before. I felt like such an idiot talking to her, having to get her to explain it all to me.” She closes her eyes, leaning her head back and bringing her palms to her face, kneading at her temples. She doesn’t know what else to say, settling instead for a long sigh.

Steve finally breaks the silence, “I-I’m sorry. For all of it. I just– I wasn’t expecting you to be there, at the hospital. I don’t know, I guess– I didn’t want you to see that. To see me like that.” She glances at him, he’s hunched over his thighs, elbows propping him up, fingers dug into his hair as his head rests in his hands.

“To see you like what? Alive? Ok? Relatively unharmed after I watched the building you were in literally explode?” He shakes his head, letting out a sigh.

“I didn’t want you to see me so fucked up, ok? A-and I didn’t tell you about my past because I don’t want your pity, I don’t need anyone’s pity. I just– fuck– I want you to think that I’m good.” She reaches out to him, resting her palm on his bare shoulder, her heart seizing up at the way he flinches under her touch. 

“I’m not trying to pity you, Steve. I just want you to let me in. I-I want to understand whatever you’ve been through because– christ, I want to be there for you.” He turns to look at her, and the clear confusion across his face makes her heart break. 

“Steve, you don’t need to make me think that you’re good. I know you’re good. But I also know that I can’t love you the way I want to when you’re keeping me at arm’s length.” His eyes widen at her words right as she realizes what she just said, her breath catching in her throat.

“Do you love me?” Fuck. She swallows hard.

“I’m trying to, if you’ll let me.” The moment is interrupted as Steve’s face scrunches up in pain. He brings his hand to his head, clutching at his hair and letting out a harsh breath. She feels a lick of panic down her spine.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” He shakes his head, his eyes still crinkled shut.

“Just need to get more meds in my system. My head’s fucking pounding.” She goes into RA mode, squeezing his shoulder one more time before shuffling into his kitchen to get him a glass of water. She starts sorting through the pill bottles on his coffee table.

“Baby? Which one of these do you need to take right now?” 

“The oxycodone. M’supposed to take two.” She finds the bottle and quickly passes him two of the pills and the glass of water. She sits on the edge of the coffee table and watches him take his meds, promptly setting the glass down and resting back into the couch, his eyes still closed. She studies the prescription bottle, brows furrowed.

“This says you’re supposed to take those with food. Have you eaten anything recently?” He grumbles, a shrug of his shoulders telling her that no, he hasn’t had anything. She sighs.

“You gotta eat something, baby. Lemme make you something, ok? I’ll be right back.” He huffs, but stays laying back on the couch as she goes back into his kitchen.

She’s dismayed by what she finds when she opens his fridge. It’s sparse save for some half-empty containers of soup that Robin must have brought over earlier in the week. She calls over to him from the kitchen.

“Steve? Will you eat some soup?” That gets a groan out of him.

“Can’t eat anymore fucking soup.” She scoffs, rolling her eyes before turning her attention back to his nearly empty fridge. Luckily, there’s a loaf of bread on his counter and some cheese that doesn’t seem to be off. She fumbles around in his cabinets for a pan and takes to the task of making a grilled cheese. Even Steve, in his petulant state, should be able to manage to get that down.

As she brings the sandwich over to him, she finds him dozing, his head tipped over the back of the couch cushion. She sits on the edge of the coffee table, their knees brushing. She lightly rubs his thigh to wake him up.

“Baby? Let’s get something in you, ok? You need to eat.” He grumbles, cracking his eyes open, but reluctantly sitting up. He raises his eyebrows at her when she sets the plate in his lap.

“It’s a grilled cheese. Humor me here, alright?” He huffs, but still picks up the sandwich and takes a wolfish bite. His eyes widen at her as he chews, grumbling around the bite.

“Did you put pickles in it?” She shrugs, fighting a smile.

“You need to eat some vegetables, that’s all I could find. Plus that’s how my mom would make it for me whenever I felt sick.” He chews slowly, his brow still furrowed, but he seems to like it enough to keep eating, finishing off the whole sandwich in a few large bites. 

She takes the plate from him and places it in the sink, coming back to sit down next to him, resting her arm over the back of the couch to turn and face him. He clears his throat before glancing at her.

“My, uh, my grandma used to make grilled cheese with pickles for me when I was a kid. Never met anyone else who made them like that.” She can’t help the grin that slips onto her face. It’s small, but it feels different, it feels like Steve trying.

“Well, great minds think alike, I guess. That’s like, the best way to make a grilled cheese.” It’s barely there, but she still sees the small smile he offers her. He nods, shifting to face her on the couch, their knees brushing. He very tentatively rests his hand over hers in her lap. She flips her palm to tangle her fingers with his, being careful of the bandages there. His voice is barely above a whisper when he speaks.

“Thank you. For everything.” She sweeps her fingers through his hair, brushing it out of his eyes. He leans into her palm and the sweetness of it makes everything ok for a moment. 

“Why don’t you lay down, Steve? Get some rest. I’ll be here when you wake up.” 

“You will?”

“I will.”

She goes to stand up, giving him space to lay out on the couch, but is caught unexpectedly as he shifts to lay his head down in her lap. He moves cautiously as he settles down, trying to avoid his burns, curling on his side as he rests his cheek on the plush of her thigh. Once he seems comfortable, she rests a palm on his bare chest after drawing a blanket over him. His breathing steadies out quickly, lips parted in the drift of sleep. 

A streak of pain races through her chest because she knows now for certain that she could never leave Steve, not even if she really wanted to. He’s hers and she’s his. She traces the map of his freckles with her eyes, a marvel in how peaceful he looks.

Nothing has been fixed, not really. And so much has been left unsaid. But for now, she thinks that this is enough.

[toytanks]

jimbat fic.......... bc yaoi..........

can be read under cut or on ao3

The Bat had disappeared shortly before the lights came on, promising he’d be back soon, so Jim had waited in an alleyway near-enough-by to be easily found by the Bat but far enough that it was unlikely their captors would find them. He lit a cigarette shortly before the Bat had dropped behind him with a not-quite-familiar sound. When Jim turned ‘round he was faced not with the Bat, but with a seemingly normal person. 

It's almost funny. This is both the most and the least Jim’s ever seen of the Bat. He looks so painfully normal. 

“It’s me.” The Bat rasped.

His clothes aren’t different, it's just that Jim’s getting a good look at them now. They are all baggy and loose on the Bat’s frame, probably an intentional choice. He’s wearing plain grey cargo pants and tennis shoes, with  layered long-sleeve and shorts-sleeve gray and black tees. He has a black baseball cap with some sports team Jim doesn’t recognize on it, black cotton gloves, and a surgical mask around his nose and chin, the light morphing the pale blue into a murky grey. Sweaty black hair peeks out from behind the back of the cap. With no cowl, he sees clearly the black power smudged around the Bat’s eyes.

With his hunched posture, he looks no different than a common street thug.

Jim feels the Bat’s heavy gaze on him, as stifling as always. He coughs through his dry throat and hopes that his blush isn’t visible. “Coulda fooled me,” Jim grunted. “Where to next, Bat?”

“Rooftop. Need to survey the area.”

They climb the fire escape of a nearby apartment complex, the Bat helping the older man up. It was a nice night, not raining but still cloudy. His gaze trails unwittingly to the batsignal reflecting off the underside of distant storm clouds. He still remembers the day they installed the thing.

He’s distracted by the Bat grunting and shifting uncomfortably as he takes his perch on the roof-edge. 

“You okay? Are you hurt?” Jim asks as he tentatively walks closer to the Bat, prepared to have to dress any injuries.

“No.” He grunts, “Just- Just feels wrong without the cape.”

“Oh.” Jim stops mid step, concern evaporated. He feels more relieved than he thinks he should.

The Bat takes a breath. “...Can I tell you something? Don’t laugh.”

Jim furrows his brow. It’s not common that the Bat is willing to share information about himself, let alone the type to be followed by “don’t laugh.”

“...Sure.” 

His voice is a shade or two higher than normal, and Jim can tell why by the grin in his voice. Can’t talk low and smile at the same time. “I’ve...started thinking of my cape as my wings. Feels wrong to go too long without them. Taken to wearing long coats to compensate.”

Jim snorts, and he half expects  to be called out on it. “You’re talkative today.”

The Bat freezes. “...The persona is slipping. Happens sometimes. I become the Bat in my off time and then can’t focus when I’m out on the streets.”

“You’re telling me that sometimes you get all dark and silent and broody at like...the dinner table?”

He snorts. “Pretty much, yeah.”

Jim’s chest feels warm at the admission, and slightly dizzy at the fact that the Bat, of all people, told him this. Trusted him with this. A jealous, vindictive voice in the back of his head hisses that the Bat only told him because he wasn’t really himself right now. Jim doesn’t listen to it.

He coughs. “When you smile, you sound kinda like Bruce Wayne, you know.”

He’s grinning. “I get that a lot.”

But then he turns his focus back to the city, figuring out the best routes and possible dangers and planning for things Jim can’t even think of. Even now, with this rare shard of humanity, it's hard not to hold some reverence and awe for the Bat. His heart flutters when he beckons Jim closer. 

From then it’s all business, deducting the who, when, where, and why. The Bat has a couple theories, but so does Jim. They talk a while, debating, but eventually decide that ultimately, it's too early to tell. The Bat turns to leave.

“...Will I ever see you again, Mr. Not-Batman?”

“Maybe,” The Bat laughs softly. Jim never wants to forget what it sounds like. He wants to see the grin splitting his lips. He wants to know what it would be like to have the Bat’s lips on his own. His body twitches with the urge to move forward, press himself against Gotham’s loyal protector, and kiss him with more force and passion than he thinks he’s ever kissed anyone.

But then the Bat is gone, melded not into the shadows for once, but the thin midnight crowd. Jim’s heart aches in his absence.

[cirrushuggerisme]

Hurt Dohwa x Reader? like in that one scene- tw: topless? not smut just spice💍. If you are alr with iittt?🙏

AHHHHHH I'LL WRITE IT RN I HAVE SO MANY IDEAS IN MA HEAD I hope you mean that scene where su-ae helps dohwa get up and shi-

Another song becuz why not

Warnings: A little spice not smut, curse words,angst?, fluff, 13+, brother's best friend trope (ik it's cliché leave me alone)

Characters included: Dohwa baek, (name) /y!n

It's been two weeks since you last saw or even heard of dohwa. Was he ok? How long could he be sick for? You came to the conclusion that he was sick, but it didn't seem like it.

One day, the teacher tells you to help give him his homework, since you were the last person in the class to do so. You walk into a shabby looking apartment and the only thing in your head was: did dohwa really live here? You head from some people that he lived in some fancy apartment residence, and this was far from the theory that your classmates and other students had.

You climbed the stairs of the apartment complex, walking to the given number which was most likely dohwa's apartment before you felt a warm hand on your shoulder-despite the thick uniform, you could still feel his warmth. You turn around to be faced with none other than dohwa baek. "Dohwa?" You called out to him, you his face in which he relaxed at your touch, placing his hand on top yours on. He had multiple injuries on his face, who hurt him? You realise his legs were wobbling and before you knew it, he fell done on top of you. "Oh god..."

——————————————————————————————————————

Eventually, you make it to his room and place his body on his bed. You fleet his forehead, only to find out he was burning hot, so you rushed to make some of your mom's signatures chicken soup.

Whilst you did so, Dohwa woke up and sat up and looked at you from across the kitchen and came back and immediately told him to rest back.

"Nuh uh. Go back to resting."

You kind of scolded and he chuckles, before doing so.

"Arent you going to feed me though?"

He asked, causing you to blush. You didn't know if he wasn't being for real or if it was just to tease you.

"Why would I do that? What ideas do you-"

You get interrupted by dohwa chuckling lightly. "I can barely move silly."

SILLY? You'd try to calm yourself down in this type of situation normally, but this was dohwa freaking baek! I mean you didn't like him. He was just your brother's best friend, but it didn't help that he was so attractive.

"Ah- i.. Didn't know. I'll get you some more pillows-"

Before you could get up, dohwa pulls you back into a hug.

"Dohwa what are you-"

"Shh.. I'm cold."

It didn't feel like it though. Right now, he was pipping hot. If he wanted he could challenge a volcano if he wanted.

"Stop playing around-"

"But I'm not." He whinces before speaking up again.

"[name], I like you... And I... Don't know if this is the best way to say I, but.."

He pauses for a moment almost to wait for you to take it all in. Whether it was the sickness speaking or genuinely just him, it didn't stop your heart from fluttering.

"I.. Like you too.. Dohwa."

Dohwa tries to sit up again, this time with you on his lap and pulls you in for a kiss. At first, this surprised you, but you accepted it and made the kiss deeper. More passionate. More meaningful. It all fel unreal, but the kiss was. It felt like you were burning with passion and love. Your tongues met each other and intertwined like two ropes that were separated. It's like you two were two puzzles meant to be pieced together. You held dohwa's cheeks as he slid his arms around your back. You two were already so close, but it felt like you could get closer. Soon, you both let go to gasp for some air.

"I... " You try to make words, but you couldn't. No words could describe what just happened.

"Your so ethereal you know?" Dohwa said as he brushed a stand of your hair away from your face.

"What-"

"I didn't mean to kiss you... Now you'll get sick because of me." You saddened at his words. You weren't happy with the fact that he felt that.

"I don't care if I do. That kiss was worth a million life times." Dohwa's eyes widened at your word and a tear went down his face.

"Thank you.."

"Dohwa.. How did you..." You touched his face with his injuries and bruises. He took your hand and held it, squeezing it before looking at you with hurt eyes.

"Oh. If your comfortable with telling me-"

"No, no. You deserve to know. It's... Just a little complicated."

He looked away from your eyes and you knew it was going to be hard for him to open up. You cupped his face wit both your hands to allow him to look you in the eye again.

"When things are less complicated or when you want to tell me. I'll always be here. Waiting. Because that's what love is about."

Dohwa's eyes widen again before he pulled you in for a quick peck on your lips, but it sent shivers down your spine.

"I... I can't describe how much I love you."

"Drink your soup before it gets cold stupid." He chuckled at your words before you grabbed the spoon and said "ahh" which he shook his head to, but opened his mouth anyways.

———————————————————————————————————————

You two cuddled up in his single bed when your phone started to ring. You rubbed your eyes before picking it up.

"[Name] where the hell are you?!" The persons voice rose from the end of the line.

"Huh what- oh shit!" You quickly sat up and started to pack your bags and listen to your mother's rant about how she was worried sick, but before you left you kissed dohwa on his forehead before closing the door, looking at him lovingly.

———————————————————————————————————————

I wanted to write some cringey end note but refrained from doing so XD I hope you enjoyed regardless. I don't know if this is counted as spicy, but I think it is. I don't know how I had motivation to write this and not the hurt volleyball one XD I still need ideas