#I don’t wanna live here among these snakes

[moonlayl]

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[bonelessghoul]

The Lion and the Snake

Summary:  “Hi! i’d like to request a Tom Riddle x Gryffindor reader please :) she’s also a pureblood but Tom and his posse loves teasing & taunting her because she’s from their rival house but nonetheless she also happens to be the only girl that doesn’t follow Tom around like a lovefool while most girls in Hogwarts do yet she it’s as if she’s immune to his good looks & charm and this annoyed the hell out of Tom, she’s also really smart and always in a competitive match to see who gets the top of the class–  Sorry ran out of wordcount, what if one day Gellert Grindelwald manages to broke into Hogwarts and he suddenly looks for her in the great hall like “Is someone with the name of y/n Peverell here?” (yes that’s the twist, she’s a Peverell descendant) and Tom is shock to find out how significant her standing actually is in the wizarding community & her 3 ancestors are rumored to be the inspiration of tale of the 3 brothers, making her the heir to deathly hallows. Thank you!”

Note: Once upon a time on a blog that was hacked but I still have access to, this little short was written. I had that blog for like 10 years so I kinda scroll through it and read through my old stuff sometimes and this was one I wanted to bring back! hope it picks up among you all as it did long ago. This was requested by @ queenofmankind so I don’t wanna blow up their @ til they reach back out to me bc idek if they remember this request :D 

Part Two

December 1943, Hogwarts 

A mahogany red scarf with evenly placed golden stripes and the hint of crimson in your long robe was enough to set you from the crowd like a lion in a room of snakes. Not only do they not belong together, but one boldly and obnoxiously stands out more than the others. Well, perhaps it depends on what one would fear the most.

That was how YN felt in her sixth year Potions class.

Sitting straight in your seat, you ignored the pesky glares of the Slytherin boys that surrounded you, murmuring about you and a few other Ravenclaws nearby.  There was one particular look you were concerned about though and it was right next you on the face of the very famous Tom Riddle.

This was not for lust but instead, a strongly embedded competition between the two of you since you stepped foot in Hogwarts. 

Both of you were among the smartest in the school, every other month replacing each other at the top when it came to who brought in the most house points with their immaculate reports. But there was nothing more to your relationship with him than mere academic rivalry. 

Riddle revolted you, unlike the rest of the girls in the school who fell at his feet. Even the boys and the professors did.

Tom was ghastly, but undeniably sat tall with a strong face that was dare you even say chiseled in the slightest. Every movement he made was so sleek like it had been rehearsed or perhaps he was an animagus as a black cat. Either way, it was suspicious. Even the way his hair curled at the top subtly falling over his forehead seemed way too perfect.

What unnerved you the most was his little following.

Upon return for your sixth year you could not help but notice the little band of misfits seeming all the more exclusive this year. They were the same loud and rambunctious boys you grew up fighting (well, it was more so being bullied and tormented by Malfoy and Rosier) but there were more whispers than laughs in the past few months.

“Today, we will review the Draught of Living Death. I like to give this as testament to what you all have learned before the winter holidays.” announced Professor Slughorn.

“Sounds a lot like you.” you whispered towards Tom, grinning smugly to yourself.

Tom inhaled through his nose. “Watch your tongue or I’ll put it in your wretched orange juice at breakfast.”

“What is your problem with orange juice?”

That was how most classes went. Occasionally, the two of you would laugh at the others wit and that’s how the other knew they had won for the moment before the next battle struck again. You would have taken it as friendly banter when you two were alone, however, Malfoy and others followed him like leeches and they were more harsh.

Professor Slughorn rambled on. 

Of course, the two of you already studied excessively for this the night before.

“I don’t have a problem with it, I just don’t understand how you don’t get sick of it every morning.” Tom muttered, rolling his eyes. “Regardless, I do hope you enjoy finishing after me.”

“That’s assuming you could even brew it in the first place considering your failure with the love potion two weeks ago.” you scoffed.

But there were times of pure frustration in the heat of a race of who could get theirs done first that made you want to hex him to death. Within not even ten minutes, the two of you had your sleeves rolled up, eyes strained on the task before you, moving like mirror images as you sped through the lesson and already far ahead of everyone else. But there was a draw. With the two of you side by side and the other Slytherin boys around your table, you all struggled with the Sopophorous bean.

Most people had either given up or nearly blew their faces off at this rate.

“Bloody hell, YN, if that comes near me one more time I’m dumping your head in this damn cauldron!” Abraxas seethed, dodging the bean that had flung from under her blade.

She winced slightly as she reached for another one.

“Aw don’t threaten her mate, she’ll cry again until we lose house points.” said Dolohov from beside him.

You glared, now suddenly positioning the bean and your knife so that when you pressed down it went directly into his direction. Tom watched idly with amusement as the boys around her erupted into laughter. 

Except, it went in the completely wrong direction and hit Tom in the face.

“Oh, shit…”you quipped, suddenly holding your breath as you tensed up to the equivalent of a stone wall, trying to stifle a laugh while his friends nearly fell from their seats.

The laughter ceased and when he abruptly turned towards you with a grimace, your entire body flinched away like it knew he were a monster ready to pounce. But you were left staring while your blood pulsed, watching as his face ran through several emotions before you calmed.

“You’ll regret that later, Peverell.” Tom snapped, throwing the stupid little bean back at her without even looking.

With ease, you caught it. Being a Quidditch player gave you some qualities you were glad to have.

You didn’t say a word after that.

It seems that class would end in a draw today.

~

Later that evening, a Hogsmeade trip was taking place.

It was the last one of the year so you and your friends gathered quickly for it.

Tom and the boys, the Knights of Walpurgis in particular you overhead one day, idly stood by at one of the corners as all the holiday hustle and bustle rampantly took over the cobblestone streets. Music played in the distance, lights were strung everywhere you looked, and occasionally a highly decorated Christmas tree larger than life filled where there was space for it.

But aside all the obstructive scenery, Tom’s eyes lingered on YN.

YN lived for the evenings out where she could dress in a nice skirt and sweater, running around with her friends to grab all the sweet holiday treats. They were looking for dresses in particular this evening for the Winter Ball the Headmaster allowed despite this war ravaging times. It was taking its toll on everyone, but it was a nice celebration considering most people were staying at the school.

Adis and Margot, your two best friend stood by you as you tried on several different dresses. Adis was in Ravenclaw and Margot was in your own house. 

But house differences aside, all of you were clearly growing frustrated with the stress of shopping and you believed nothing feeling right on you. To make it worse, the moment you found one you were pulled away from the allure of it when several boys knocked on the shop window and began shouting insults your way.

Of course, it was them.

As much as your blood boiled, your heart seemed to tighten as well at how personal this attack felt.

They really knew how to poke and prod the right places.

“Don’t listen to them, YN.” Margot said, giving them the finger as she shut the curtains.

Tears stung your eyes as you looked at your reflection. You had no idea what made you so stressed lately. Normally, you were always so composed when it came to them. But after going through a dozen dresses on an empty stomach, you were bound for frustration.

“Yeah, they’re just jealous you’re prettier than the other pigs of Slytherin.”

Snickering, you then sniffled and rubbed your eyes, rubbing away some sleepiness as well.

“Tom was probably behind it. They follow everything he does.”

The girls glanced at each other and back at you as you finally regained yourself from that stressful moment, taking a seat upon the velvet cushions by the dressing rooms.

“No way. Tom adores you more than any of the girls that fall to their knees for him.” Margot chuckled.

Leaning back, you nearly laughed with disgust. The mere thought of it made you wriggle in your own skin like you had touched something slimy. 

“I’m sure if he did it was merely a tactic of his to distract me or use me in some way. I’m his only competition here. There is nothing but twisted motives behind whatever he does. Plus, I hardly noticed anyway.”

“Suit yourself.” The girls said at the same time, shrugging as you shook your head at them.

When the time came to pick a dress that you gratefully found, there was only enough time to grab some food before returning back to Hogwarts. Knowing your father loved some of the treats from the candy shop, you told the others you would catch up with them while you ran in.

New rules had been put in place with Grindelwald reigning terror on your world. It was a miracle this place was even open. After picking up a bag of sweets from, you walked out to catch up with the girls.

But to no avail, you managed to walk straight into the back of someone else while your eyes searched for the girls.

“Oh, I’m sorry—oh, it’s just you.” You frowned, watching as Tom Riddle turned around to meet your eyes.

That brief moment you two met each other’s eyes, there was a split second of adoration that nearly pulled you in. They were strikingly green. Everything about his face struck you deep in your chest where knots were forming as you spoke. You were especially flustered when you remembered the conversation with Adis and Margot earlier. 

But taking a deep breath, you hurried around him.

“Wait!” he said urgently, catching your elbow.

Grinning without an ounce of humor, you spun back and threateningly looked up at the boy.

“Let go of my elbow or I’ll scream.”

Tom’s face mirrored yours and his eyes didn’t leave you as he released his hand, that touch alone leaving a cold space.

“What do you want? Still mad about earlier?” you scowled, walking ahead of him when you noticed the crowd of students were far ahead of you two. “It is quite a concern of mine that we’re about to take the trail back through the forest while all the students are out of earshot.”

The forest was filled with a strong chill enough to silence the air around you, only able to hear the sound of Tom’s footsteps catching up with yours. You knew it would snow soon, piling another layer upon the blanket of white that covered the ground around you. With the sun setting, mere remnants of pinks and orange guided your way, lighting the shimmering snow as the night was coming on the other side and here you were, walking in the middle of it with Tom Riddle.

“Why did you flinch earlier?” he asked.

Your face scrunched up. “I don’t know? Perhaps because we used to fight in our first year and I was half expecting you to hit my head with a book? I wouldn’t have put it against you not to.”

When you looked over at him, his eyes were straight ahead. He never failed to keep his chin up and you rolled your eyes, wondering how he could hold himself to such a standard even when it was just the two of you. It’s not that you felt comfortable with him but there was a weird common ground that was shared with your rival.

“You were scared?” he asked again, more pressing this time.

“As if.” you scoffed.

“I was just a bit surprised, thinking you had done it on purpose.”

Raising your brows, you looked at him. “Why would I want to bother you on purpose? Well, I do that every day. But not to that extent.”

Tom grinned. “Well like any other girl at this awful place, they think taunting me is the best way to get my attention and I merely assumed you were following their tactics.”

Even you had to laugh out loud when those words came from his mouth.

 “Please, spare me! I never thought you could make me laugh but you are absolutely a joke. You think I’d ever think of you that way? The person I literally hate the most?”

Tom shrugged, seeming all too confident for someone who just completely shattered the expectations he had for your response. Inside, he was writhing. Your laughter had once been a mere nuisance, one you could tolerate and sometimes even be relieved to hear but now, it had made his blood boil. You two continued in silence for a moment.

But he couldn’t believe you were being a hundred percent honest. Tom had no idea where the question came from, but his mind worked too fast for him to catch up on, and now he regretted it, knowing it was a foolish question anyway.

“I refuse to ever adore you, let alone the ground you walk on like everyone else here does, Riddle. I had my moments where I thought we could be friends. It amazes me how I can see right through this little façade you put up. You are the loneliest person I know for someone who has the whole school chasing after you.”

“Lonely?” he chuckled darkly, narrowing his eyes at her. “You think you know me because you’re not blinded by some infatuation?”

Shrugging, your mind wandered to your earlier years when you had almost been caught up like everyone else. But you knew your drive to be better than him would always win.

“That’s exactly what I think.”

The school was nearing up ahead. It pained you to think you would miss this conversation. This only happened once or twice a semester with you two outside the classroom banter.

“Then why bother fighting me, YN? If not for a silly crush, then for what?”

Tom was angry and he didn’t know why. He should have never opened his mouth and pretended like he could care less of your presence. But the way you flinched at him today left him reeling, wanting to know more about why your mind worked the way it did. How could you have been so briefly terrified by him and not even know what he has done in the past year? What made her so pesky and defensive all the time if she had no clue what he has been building for himself?

“Believe it or not, Tom, I don’t have to have feelings for you to enjoy the never ending competition we have.”

Ah, so you were as clueless as he presumed.

A pureblood with no interest him or his horcruxes or pursuit of the dark arts. Just a pawn. Barely even that.

“Why did you even have to ask that tonight? I thought you’d send your boys to laugh at me as I picked a dress in the shop and be done?”

Tom’s head whipped towards her. “They what?”

You chuckled grimly, shaking your head at him. “Never mind.”

To your relief, the school’s warmth was already touching the tip of your nose. You were feeling suffocated by his questions. Conflicted at your own stirring chest, you quickened your pace.

“Let’s pretend we never had this conversation, Tom. If you were trying to drive me away and dim down whatever friendship we had to some stupid crush so you could painfully reject me, you failed miserably.”

Once you were inside, Tom was left standing there, lips slightly parted open as he stared in your direction. Even after you walked away, the coldness consumed him, numbing whatever thoughts he had tonight and wishing to forget them. He was hoping it could be something pathetic so he could discard you, getting you off his mind for good. But Tom realized that was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

YN was never going to be ridded of his thoughts.

~

One Week Later

The Gryffindor common room could be heard from your chambers where you remain alone in the strong candlelight, staring at yourself in the mirror.

For the Winter Ball, most girls would wear dresses the represented their houses colors. It was tradition. But when your eyes fell on this dress in Hogsmeade last week, you knew you would escape your stiff mind with the message it would send for it was no color at all. The white, sleeveless gown fell to your feet, sticking close to your body while a lighter piece of fabric of the same design bellowed out behind you from your shoulders. It was hardly white, more ash, with little intricate designs of vines and branches all tangled in one with shimmering little details in between.

The very idea of sticking out with your attire at such a highly anticipated night made you sick to your stomach and you hadn’t stopped fidgeting all day, ready to start dry heaving over the sinks. 

“YN, are you almost—!” Margot shouted, rushing into the room with another friend of yours, Ada.

Your eyes met theirs through the reflection, and the girls jaws nearly hit the floor.

“That is beautiful.” Adis gasped.

Once more, you began poking at your hair which was tucked back in a bun with stray pieces falling in front of your face and they rushed over to swat at your hands. The makeup on your face suddenly felt heavy. 

“I don’t think I want to go anymore.” You groaned, turning to face them now.

The two girls wore dresses of the same deep crimson color, nearly matching in style as well. It was often the three of you that would attempt at matching but it was clear this night was not the case and it made you feel uncomfortable in your own skin.

“Why? Afraid the school is going to see you shine in something other than a school or Quidditch uniform?” Ada chuckled, still ogling at you in the mirror.

Smiling, you shook your head, looking down at the sheer fabric that covered your arms and the silver décor it sported. At first, you truly had never felt more beautiful. But the more you thought of it the more your mind wandered to all the possibilities of what could go wrong. Every nerve in your body tensed at the idea of walking down the steps towards the Great Hall alone.

“I promise you, YN, you will turn heads for all the good reasons.” Margot said, taking your arm, followed by Ada who linked yours with hers.

“And we won’t let you fall!”

Laughing your stomach knots away, you allowed your friends to drag you through the common room. Already you were receiving appraisal from the people in your house and when you had your larger group of friends walking with you, it made you ease up instantly. The humor and charisma of the Gryffindor house was unmatched and you were extremely relieved to have it.

You had a great support of friends in this house, especially because of how involved you were, and to say the least, everyone was astonished at your gown. 

But a wall came crashing down when you reached the grand staircase leading down to the open floor just before the Great Hall’s entrance. Every voice became clear and every mingling face did too as they glanced up at the Gryffindor crowd as they descended the stairs.

In a sea of red, your cheeks were beginning to match it as you strolled down behind the group of friends in your ashy white gown. Falling behind was a mistake, and now, you just kept your eyes on the next step in front of you.

“Just breathe, YN.” You heard one of your friends say through the ringing of your ears.

Instead of doing that, your hand slid down the stone railing while the other lifted the front of your dress a few inches. Breathing became impossible when you made eye contact with the shadow in the corner of the room that was Tom Riddle.

You cursed under your breath, hating that he was the first one your eyes fell upon.

The boy had ben standing there among his loyal followers and their dates, knowing this night was a small celebration for themselves as well as the entire school. 

Having made a horcrux already and on the quest for another, Tom was willing to allow himself to pause one night. The endless nights reading and searching for more could be at ease. That didn’t mean his thoughts weren’t racing constantly with all that came with his aspirations.

He thought it would be impossible to let them cease until the group before him started murmuring and turning their heads towards the stairs.

Tom, his face void of any interest, had followed their gazes and immediately spotted YN.

The moment he hesitated, the very moment his chest tightened he realized he was unwell, and just as he caught his lips turning upward, Tom had reeled himself back into a painful reality, quickly turning his head away. It nearly took the breath out of him and he was heated to allow it to happen in the first place.

When you saw his head immediately turn away, your heart sunk, The day you felt disappointed from Tom Riddle not looking your way, you were sure hell would freeze over. But here you were, forced to walk into the Great Hall like nothing had even happened.

At least the sight of it was enough to take your mind off of your troubled emotions. It was a winter wonderland in its purest form with snowflakes trickling down from the cloudy ceiling. Three Christmas trees that were as tall as the gaping windows stood at the front of the room, frosted and covered in ornaments the size of your head. All of the floor and walls were covered in an icy white color, making it feel like you weren’t even in Hogwarts anymore.

The feast arrived and once you had something in your stomach, you could ignore the fleeting glances you and Tom had shared since you walked in.

They were keeping your cheeks flushed at least.

Headmaster Dippet made his short and sweet introduction before all the students and professors mingled on the dance floor. Live music played and your friends dragged you to dance even if your dress had taken up too much space. But the more you did so, the more lighthearted you became in your movements and quite literally undid the stiff person you felt you were.

Of course, the Quidditch captain Daniel and other boys from the team snuck in flasks of firewhisky so it surely helped ease your nerves.

Other students from different houses and even some of your teachers complimented you to your surprise.

But when the music slowed, you watched all of your friends pair up to your dismay, immediately sinking your shoulders. Adis, Margot, and Ana were nowhere to be found as your head turned like a swivel.

“Hurry, join in!” Margot chuckled, waving you to step in with her and her date from the Quidditch team.

You opened your mouth to protest, ready to rest your feet and take a seat at the table, but a finger had tapped your bare shoulder, causing you to spin back around, facing the last person you would think to see in this moment.

“Need a partner?” Tom Riddle asked.

The words were caught in your throat, foolishly standing there with your lips slightly parted as you tried to comprehend his offer.

“Unless you would like to sit down?”

“N-no. I would love to dance.” You stammered, watching his lips curve.

Your heart began hammering against your chest when you stepped closer to the boy, a knight clad in his black and shining armor that enamored you once you were too close to it. There was no stepping back when his hand grabbed yours and the other rested on the small of your back. The ability to breathe slipped through your mind as you stared up at him, looking down at you like he had won.

“Of all the girls in this room that probably want to murder me now, you choose to dance with me?”

Tom shrugged slightly, seemingly guiding you with ease while you nearly stumbled.

“Afraid to dance with me, YN?”

While your nerves were shot, you couldn’t help but mirror the subtle grin on his lips.

“I’m not afraid of anything, Tom Riddle. Part of me believes you’re dancing with me so that, in fact, these girls could murder me.”

Something turned his grin wider and you rolled your eyes.

“Maybe the only person to ever to be my academic match just may be the only suitable dance partner as well.”

With the last conversation you two had, you didn’t expect this to go so easy with him now. You didn’t dare bring it up and ruin this brief moment of common ground you two stood on. When you looked up at him there was only him and not even the stares burning into the back of your head mattered.

“And shortly when we return from the holidays, we will be back to the competition just like that.” You mused.

“Just like that.”

A million questions wandered through your mind. If only you could know what was going on in his.

For the first time it seemed, you wore a genuine smile on your face when you looked up at him. Even Tom, who had too been alone, wondered what it was about tonight that made him act so out of character. He would have gladly hung in the corner of the room, but the moment he saw her alone, something rash had unleashed inside him.

It seemed his thoughts were visible to you, because while you tried to look anywhere else as his gentle touch paralyzed you, you couldn’t help but notice his quizzical face.

“I hope you’re not having second thoughts, Riddle.” you chuckled, one misstep away from his toes and one away from letting the firewhisky talk.

“I was thinking about when I trip you and make a run for it.” he mused, his eyes drifting up to the ceiling.

“That’s nicer than what I imagined.”

The numbing comfort it brought was fading, and your skin begin to feel every inch of fabric to an annoying degree. You constantly chastised yourself for your sheer awkwardness and you knew that this dance was only making it worse despite how much you secretly enjoyed it.

“So, are you staying here for the winter holidays? I know Professor Dumbledore made an announcement the other day saying students were welcome to stay. I considered it.” you rambled on.

Something in his demeanor changed at the mention of the holidays though.

“Yes, I will be staying here.” he had said briskly, the sudden change making you sink internally.

“I’m sure it’ll be a thrill to stay here without the worry of studying for a couple weeks. I know I’m relieved.” you tried to tease. 

He raised an eyebrow at you. “You’re not going home?” 

You shrugged, pondering the decision still with a few days left to make it. 

“My family probably won’t be home to be quite honest. I still have a few days to make up my mind. I would simply like to get through tonight first.”

“Oh, something bothering you, Peverell?” Tom asking mockingly.

Suddenly, he had leaned back to twirl you under his arm and the breath had simply left your lungs as he pulled you back in, an unwavering and almost goofy smile on your lips. You laughed at him, knowing very well he knew the right buttons to poke.

But the second you opened your mouth to speak, the sound of glass shattering from all angles had filled the room and there was a split moment of silence before the sound of startled screams filled in for the music that abruptly stopped. Instantly, you ducked ever so slightly, watching as the room dimmed and glass flew with the cold air that rushed in. 

As if you weren’t frazzled enough, something kicked in when you looked at Tom.

“What is going on?” you asked to yourself, scanning the room for your friends.

But everyone was whizzing by and you backed into Tom as your head began spinning. With the chandeliers extinguished of their light, you had squeezed his hand as the moving crowd had pulled you two into the same direction.

One of the professors had called out a spell, lighting the chandeliers once more and someone was trying to order everyone to an exit.

Suddenly, the doors of the Great Hall opened faster than you’ve ever seen them move in years and not a single soul moved. Standing on your heels, you tried to peak your head over the crowd of students that started backing away and worriedly looked up at Tom whose eyes were slightly widened now. Glancing back, you finally caught sight of a white haired man and your blood immediately ran cold.

Gellert Grindelwald entered the room and as did two aids of his all dressed darkly, wands pointed at the crowd of students even as the Professors all came to their defense at the front.

You wanted to be with your friends. You wanted to hold them knowing very well this might be the last time you see them and yet, that fear could not be felt now as you had gone entirely numb. The only thing you had was Tom’s hand still gripped in yours.

“How lovely!” Grindelwald boasted. “A welcoming party just for me?”

“You are not welcomed here, Grindelwald.” You heard a voice boom back.

Was that Professor Dumbledore?

The professor stepped forward, just yards away from Grindelwald. 

People around you whispered the horrific things about him. His rise to power was almost insurmountable with his pure blood motivated agendas.

“I was only visiting. I don’t wish to harm the little brainwashed minions you have called your students. Hogwarts has done that enough, brainwashing them to believe they are safe from the world around them.” He chuckled darkly, immediately straightening his face only a second after.

Tilting your head, you couldn’t help but be curious to see the most dangerous man in the world standing before you with his quirky character. He seemed more like a jester than a monster. It didn’t seem real.

“What business do you have here?” the Headmaster demanded.

“Is there someone of the name YN Peverell here?”

Nothing could have prepared you for the moment Gellert Grindelwald called out your name. Your knees nearly buckled beneath you when heads started turning towards you. The room had gone so silent that in the midst of it all, your heart was like a drum. The few people who met your eyes you wanted to burn, not wanting to be seen or heard, shaking your head as tears swelled in your eyes.

But it was your fault the moment you shuffled back, colliding with Tom Riddle who was frozen like a wall.

“Oh, that wasn’t so difficult.” said Grindelwald.

Before you knew it, your body was not your own and you yelped as you were pulled forward by an invisible force. The students you had surrounded yourself with were no longer around you, leaving you cold and exposed as your unmoving body was now just a few feet away from the Gellert Grindelwald.

“Leave her be, Gellert!” shouted Dumbledore. 

The tears you had no control over streamed down your cheek. You were terrified, staring into the piercing blue eyes of a monster who was looking at you like prey.

“Are those your friends?” he asked, tilting his head, then looking at them. “I hardly think they are given how quick they were to give your identity away.”

Shutting your eyes was the only thing you could do. Before you knew it though, a force had pried them open and you let out a soft whimper.

“You see, I do not wish to harm her for she is more valuable than even you know, Albus.” Gellert said, walking around you now. “I have been quite interested in her family for some time, but they weren’t the easiest people to find so I figured their youngest daughter would be a place to start.”

No matter how much you tried to move, you didn’t budge. More tears streamed down your face and the only thing you could control was your breathing. If your lessons had taught you one thing, it was to keep a clear mind and steady breath. If all else had failed, listen to yourself.

But how could you? What did he want with your family, let alone you?

“Gellert, you let her go. Now.” Dumbledore said, his voice unwaveringly terrifying.

“The name Peverell has been a name I thought did not exist anymore, but here we are.” He announced, throwing his hands in the air. “She is the sole connection to the Deathly Hallows, therefore, I cannot simply just let her go. Surely you understand?”

Your brows furrowed.

That stupid children’s book? Your mind raced back and forth, wondering how that was even possible. With how old that story was, it would be impossible to even figure out how your last name somehow matched the that of the three brothers.

But your memories betrayed you when you thought of all the times your parents read it to you as a child.

There was something there, something that you knew was important but couldn’t quite remember just yet. It was hard to think past your body being paralyzed and your heart in a frenzy.

“She’s just a child, she has nothing to do with such a thing!” one of the female professors pleaded.

“On the contrary, she does.”

“Well I’m afraid there is no time to figure it out.” Dumbledore threatened, withdrawing his wand.

Grindewald glanced back for a brief moment, and with the wave of his hand, your body was free to move but you were tossed aside in the air, holding your breath and squeezing your eyes shut as you tumbled to the glass covered ground. As you rolled, your body was scratched but your blood rushed so quickly you couldn’t be bothered by the stinging. You tried to gather yourself, watching as a powerful rush of lights passed between the Professors and Grindelwald’s gang.

With the tables just behind you, you glanced at your friends who were all being ushered away in your direction yet they were not close enough to you. Looking at the fight that ensued before your eyes, filling in for the lights that had previously disappeared, you started inching back towards the tables for cover.

“Ah ah ah!” Grindelwald cynically laughed, waving his finger at you. “You’re not going anywhere, Peverell.”

For some reason, you thought you could escape and the second you jumped to your feet to make a run for it, you heard the words, “Crucio!”

A synchronous gasp came from everyone around him when Grindelwald shouted those words though and Tom nearly sprung forward towards you. But like everyone else, he stood there in shock.

It didn’t register. There was no time to even think as your entire body was consumed by a white hot pain that ripped through every little vein in your body. You dropped as quickly as you stood, so submerged in pain you could not breathe let alone scream as you began trembling, writhing away as if you could escape the unsurmountable burning that tore through you. But when you finally released your breath, a scream so bone chilling escaped your lips and you didn’t even hear it as your ears rung from the feeling itself.

Tom Riddle had never been so caught off guard in his life. He had never felt so moved by anything until he heard your scream. He had tried to push forward, but the professors were pushing back, getting everyone to safety.

A synchronous gasp came from everyone around him when Grindelwald shouted those words though and Tom nearly sprung forward towards you. But like everyone else, he stood there in shock.

“Cease your fire and I will let the girl go. But be warned, she will not be safe from me.” The white haired devil announced.

Every professor ceased their movement and Grindelwald released his hold on you.

Even when he did though, just that short minute of time your body experienced such trauma, you were sobbing as you still felt it streaming in your blood. Your vision went blurry as you rolled over, feeling your stomach churn as you stared at Grindelwald in the moonlight. As your ability to think returned, you wondered when you would be dead already.

Instead, he disappeared and you could finally breathe again but instead, you quickly fell to the exhaustion.

Grindelwald left, apparating through the windows into the night, leaving an eerie silence in the Great Hall.

Everyone rushed over to you but Tom Riddle stood by still reeling from the scene that unfolded before him. Abraxas remained at his side, looking quite horrified actually.

“YN bloody Peverell.” Malfoy said in awe. “I thought that whole lineage stuff was a myth.”

Tom’s eyes could not be broken from your sight. He was compelled to follow, but he stood his ground, knowing his impulses were getting the best of him too much already tonight. Another student picked your body up and he narrowed his eyes, watching as you were carried away.

“It seems we are among probably the most important Pureblood in the world now.” Tom observed. “And Grindelwald won’t stop til he has her.” 

In a moment where possibilities should be surging through his mind now though, all Riddle could think of was finding you because there was something about you no longer being in his sight anymore that made his chest tighten. That alone made him want to destroy the entire room.

[waynes-multiverse]

Rehab – Prologue

Series Summary: Thanks to Soldier Boy, the CIA was able to develop Project Bloom under the fierce leadership of Grace Mallory: a final cure to Compound V and a hopeful end to the supe epidemic three years after the explosive incident at Vought. A secret rehab facility in Upstate New York is supposed to help former heroes find their way back to humanity. The catch, though? Soldier Boy has never fucking agreed to any of this shit and is surely not happy about being powerless for the first time in his goddamn long life.

Pairing: Soldier Boy/Ben x Female!Reader

Warnings: +18, language, general angst

Word Count: 778

A/N: Welcome, friends! I’ve missed writing for Soldier Boy, and I’m so happy to have this dirty, ol’ gramps back. Be aware, tho, that some topics are of a darker nature and it doesn’t necessarily have the happy ending y’all are imagining 😉 That being said, enjoy this prologue and lemme know if you wanna be on the series tag list for this story!

Feedback is my fuel 🖤

Main Masterlist || Series Masterlist

Prologue: rehab

“How are his latest test results?”

“Looking good, ma’am. His body is behaving exactly like we wanted it to. The Compound V is gone from his system after the third dose, and he’s recovering as expected. His vitals look very promising.”

“Good, good.” Grace Mallory nods at the young doctor in a white lab coat, a smirk playing across her thin lips as she looks at the unconscious fallen hero through the glass of his cryopod. “Wake him up and move him to the facility Upstate with the others,” she orders.

And so it happened that Soldier Boy was no longer a threat, the once most dangerous bomb on the planet defused, rendered harmless and impotent. These days, the former venomous snake was no more frightening than a toothless blindworm.

Y/N’s head lifts from the backgammon board in front of her and drifts to the commotion streaming in from the hall as the high-security metal entrance doors of the facility fly wide open. Curiously, she rises from her lounge chair, abandoning her winning match against her companion, and stalks closer, leaning against a concrete column. Three CIA agents hold down and wrangle with a furiously screaming man – broad-shouldered, longer sandy-blond hair, and neatly trimmed beard. They push him inside with all the strength they can muster while the guy in agony fights tooth and nail against the restraining arms around him.

“LET ME GO! I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU ALL! NO! NO! GET ME THE FUCK OUTTA HERE! YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME! NOOOO! DON’T YOU KNOW WHO THE FUCK I AM?! YOU FUCKING BITCH! I’LL FUCKING END YOU FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO ME!”

Y/N, however, is not so surprised by that circumstance. After all, the guy’s not the first person that has ever tried to fight his way out of supe rehab. It happens all the time. In fact, she might be one of the few that actually came here willingly. Her brow significantly raises, though, as Grace Mallory strolls in behind the four men. Officially retired from the CIA but still in charge of Project Bloom, she only comes along for the special cases, the big fish, and as Y/N squints her eyes and takes a closer look at the newest arrival, her heart completely stops and drops to her slippers on the ivory linoleum.

“Is that–” She stumps, not daring to say the supe’s name aloud.

“Ben, yes,” Mallory nods and smiles, enjoying the struggle a little too much, her eyes practically fixated on the green-eyed man. “Of course, you might know him only as Soldier Boy.”

Y/N’s breath hitches in her throat. So it really is him. The sole reason why she’s here, the greatest superhero that ever lived who was captured and brainwashed by the commies – or so Vought claims. She’s never met him personally before today, but Soldier Boy’s surely been on the news a lot in recent years – the radioactive hero and his killing sprees. Whispered rumors among supes even say he fathered Homelander, which, if true, is just a blatant crime against humanity in and of itself.

“Do me a favor, Y/N? You’re our most experienced patient here – take him under your wing, make sure he adjusts and stays out of trouble,” Mallory says, albeit it’s unmistakably meant as an order. The CIA doesn’t do nicely phrased requests.

“Alright,” Y/N nods resolutely, hoping the former CIA deputy director doesn’t notice the thick swallow that drips down her throat. Her eyes swerve back to the man in question, one of the doctors forcefully ramming a needle into his jugular as the hero screams at the top of his lungs before his bowed legs give in. The violent green eyes lose their fight and close, and he succumbs to the linoleum with a loud thud worthy of his massive stature. “Is that really necessary?”

Y/N always hates when they sedate someone. After all, the clinic is supposed to help people, not necessarily torture them, albeit the CIA often shares a different view than her.

Mallory just scoffs darkly. “It is. Trust me. He’s a handful,” she notes condescendingly and rolls her eyes. “You have your work cut out for you with this moronic bastard. Don’t fall for his charm, and if he becomes dangerous, shoot him in the head. I trust your judgment.”

Y/N’s stomach churns at her words, watching as the former hero’s lifeless body gets dragged down the hallway into a room, the door locking behind him. And while she knows Soldier Boy is no innocent angel, she can’t help the sympathy that permeates her heart.

What do you see when you look at me? Don't cover my scars, let them bleed

Chapter 1: maybe

Mallory’s clearly not a Soldier Boy stan like us 😂 Hope you enjoyed this little intro, peeps! 🖤

Tag Lists:

Everything J (Prologue & Chapter 1 only): @extraterrestriali @this-is-me19 @writercole @awkward-and-indecisive @eevvvaa @panicking-outside-the-disco @globetrotter28 @imherefordeanandbones @dean-winchester-is-a-warrior @xlynnbbyx @jassackles @maggiegirl17 @perpetualabsurdity @deans-spinster-witch @deandreamernp @foxyjwls007 @roseblue373 @lyarr24 @deanwanddamons @deanwithscissors @mrsjenniferwinchester @justrealizedimmascifygurl @akshi8278 @flamencodiva @chriszgirl92 @wittyboldsoul @djs8891 @leigh70 @snowlovespie @b3autyfuldisast3r @ladysparkles78 @muhahaha303 @mimaria420 @creepzeyecandy @iamsapphine

Rehab Series: @eevvvaa @deans-spinster-witch @iamsapphine @jessjad @suckitands33 @ladysparkles78 @spalady26 @zepskies @syrma-sensei @muchamusedaboutnothing​

Note: Wanna be on the series tag and don’t see yourself yet? Lemme know! Everything J won’t be tagged anymore after Chapter 1.

[limetameta]

Not a day goes by that I don’t think about the difference in Tom Riddle aka Lord Voldemort's characterization depending on a) pairing b) his sexuality in said story and c) the form he takes (snake or basic)

I spoke in length about the way authors who write Tom Riddle or Voldemort in Older Tom or Voldemort /Hermione stories absolutely write this power fantasy masculine fellow who's like the ideal dark mysterious and incredibly absurdly straight bordering on never had a gay thought in his life romantic partner who quite naturally isn't really allowed any hobbies outside of being a manipulative sex god who is going to plunder through dark tomes and a taming of the shrew and or submissive hermione granger (but she doesnt wanna admit it ofc so they have to have this long and exhausting song and dance until ultimately she is changed for the worse by the power of dark lord cock) (Ron Weasley bashing mandatory)

Though typically these stories never depict a snake voldemort. Could be in fact because this category of volmione shipper is deeply invested in writing some sort of dark lord bridgerton fantasy. Plus it doesnt quite manage to overlap with monsterfuckers who a) delight in the macabre b) know what a hemipenis is and c) forked tongue rights

The snake voldemort dark lord who is typically either unhinged in the same way a person with a gun who happens to also deal with dementia is tends to generally not fancy Hermione. In part because Hermione is never Hermione in Volmione stories - she is always in actuality meant to be the Reader or the Author living out her sexy boudoir fantasies. And these authors don't like snake voldemort.

Now who likes snake voldemort? Based off of my reading experience hot damn the harrymort portion of the fandom goes crazy for this man. In part because this is a gay pairing and we all know how much gay queer etc folks go crazy for monsterfucking and loving because if someone can love this monstrocity then theres love for me out there too. More eloquent people have written on the phenomenon on monsterfucking and the correlation between queer people and it. I am here to talk about the fact that Snake Voldemort characterization compared to Basic Tom Riddle characterization even in Harrymort is vastly different (depending on author, position, au, etc etc) BUT. These are the main things I have noticed from my unfortunately extensive reading and interaction:

Snake Voldemort is typically a) asexual b) harrysexual because thats his horcrux c) rapist (suppose this is yet another way to generally show what a monster voldemort is. if there isnt a muggle raping orgy among the death eaters, are you really writing the death eaters?/ sarcasm )

This man does not have any thoughts of his own other than harry mine mine, global domination, murder, death, nagini, hiss hiss, hemipenis

There are, of course, outliers where they write Voldemort as a 3 dimensional being and I love them to bits, though they are outliers, perhaps even exceptions that prove the rule of preferred fandom characterization.

Older Tom Riddle in harry pairings kind of dips his foot in the older tom riddle volmione characterization but dips right back out before submerging in a dark bodice ripping fantasy characterization. They keep the manipulation and this continues to be a fantasy where there is a naive younger partner who needs to be shepherded by a stronger hand. Harry and Hermione both are meant to just give in and be shown the wondrous world of a) orgasams and b) a slight type of bimbofication where oh voldemort knows better so you should just do as he says and not think . Depends on the story! Not a rule, but a majority.

Seme and uke dynamics were popular and or mandatory in harrymort or tomarry pairings and we all know what a limiting and rigid dynamic those were.

These days more and more people are writing a multidimensional lord voldemort for all pairings and I gotta say its very nice. Good to sometimes open up a story and see the man have a hobby or not be too homophobic to take a cock up the arse.

As for Bellamort - kind of the same as Volmione but the sex is much more graphic. Haven't read enough to actually talk about.

[lillax-writing]

Street Smarts: Chapter 28

The finely cleaned halls of the safehouse stand ominously silent, with not a soul strolling through its brightly lit corridors; that was until a small shadow slithers out from around the corner. Lurking from the other side of the corner be the sound controlling psychic, Sunny peeks around the corner for any sign of others who could be wandering the halls; the young boy silencing his footsteps as he stealthily makes his way across the corridor.

When the echoes of audible footsteps reach his ears, the kid is quick to quietly dash into one of the nearby doors and slam it shut, muffling the loud noise that the door makes to a complete silence.

From behind the other side of the doorway does Sunny stand completely still as he waits quietly for the adjacent footsteps to pass on by; the boy watching the shadows sliding across the doors bottom as he hides.

Upon hearing the footsteps slowly fade away, Sunny cracks open the door to peek out for anybody else that may come along; slipping his way back into the hall as soon as the coast was clear.

Yet the moment that Sunny shuts the door behind him is he alarmed to find the air solidifying psychic waiting on the other side; Tuesco’s stern glare revealing his suspicion against the boy.

“Ah! How...how’d you know I was in there?” questions Sunny.

“I saw you’re aura, kid. Just cause I can’t hear what you silence doesn’t mean I can’t see it.” the former officer informs.

“Oh…”

“Now you mind telling me what you’re doing skulking around here like some kind of snake sneaking?” asks Tues.

“I was going around and uh...Trying to find a way outta here.”

“Any particular reason?”

“Well, its been a while since I’ve seen natural sunlight. Starting to get a little nuts being in here everyday.” claims Sunny.

“You know why you gotta stay in here, right?”

“Yeah, I know. Evil psychic mobsters wanting to kill us. It ain’t like I’m asking for much though, just a couple hours out is all. Pretty sure they couldn’t know where we are in just few short hours.”

“Still, I don’t think its something we should risk. Til all this mobster stuff blows over, you need to stay put.” affirms Tuesco.

“What? But...but I...Ngrrr!” the kid growls before stomping furiously away.

Among the aftermath of the argument does Tuesco let out a disheartened sigh, shaking his head as he wonders aloud:

“What are we gonna do with that boy?”

“What do you mean?” he then hears somebody unexpectedly respond to him with.

Glancing back is he greeted with the site of the lively psychic coming out from one of the rooms spread across the hallway; Tues continuing to explain how:

“Ah, its just Sunny. Kids been acting pretty antsy lately. Said he wanted to go outside for a couple of hours; stormed off when I told him no.”

“Hmmm...You know where he stormed off to?”

“Uh, yeah. Around the corner. Why?”

“Let me take a crack at talking to him. See if a more gentler demeanor can get him to open up.” claims the lively psychic, strolling off in the direction where the kid had stormed off.

“I can be gentle.” Tuesco comments under his breath.

From the other side of the corner does Sat find one of the doors left open a crack, with only the faintest of light escaping from within the room.

The door lets out a sharp creak as the lively psychic slowly peeks inside in what seemed to be one of the safehouses bedrooms; the first thing she notices being the lump hiding under the bed sheets.

“Go away!” she hears Sunny demand from the bed.

“Relax, Sunny. Its just me.” she assures the boy, coming into the room.

“Heard you shouting at Tues back there. You wanna tell me what’s got ya so pissed?” Satette asks, sitting on the bed beside the boy.

“Nothing.” he at first denies.

“Come on. We’ve all seen you acting all flustered lately. Clearly somethings going on in that head of yours.”

“Mmm...you gotta promise not to laugh.”

“Sunny, we’re not dicks...Well, most of us aren’t dicks. You ain’t gotta act all tough around here. Just say what’s bugging you.”

“Well, before all of this happened. I used to hang out with one of the kids in my neighborhood. Playing games, sleepovers, watching movies. We might as well have been best friend. I didn’t get the chance to see him when I went back to my neighborhood. And the worst part is that today is his birthday, and I promised him I’d be there.

With everything we were doing, I almost forgot. That’s why I wanted out of the safehouse for a bit. Even if I don’t have a present for him, I still wanna go and let him know I’m alright. Is that too much to ask around here?”

“...No…” the lively psychic mutters, holding back her tears.

“Are...are you crying?”

“Tell ya what, Sun. I say to hell with the fraudulent risks, you go out there and you give that kid the best birthday of his life.”

“Really!?” exclaims Sunny, bursting out from underneath his sheets.

“Course, we’re gonna need somebody to chaperon you. Can’t just let you loose out in the streets for the mob to pick off. Question is who?”

To this end does the lively psychic wonder who exactly would be best fit to watch the boy while maintaining a respectable cover, picturing how her friends would do in these scenarios.

Frida would probably act cool and nonchalant at first, but that would likely be a problem when she feels comfortable showing her pieces off; girl loves her guns.

Thursotte might be alright, course he’s so young. People are gonna ask way too many questions than he can keep up with; might accidentally panic and cause a catastrophe.

And Wedsle?...No, just...God no. He shouldn’t even be an option here. Jesus Christ.

I can’t go. I promise Janna we’d cuddle later. So I guess that only leaves…

“You can’t be serious.” Tuesco denies.

“Just think about it for a minute. Sunny hasn’t had the chance to be a kid since he got swept up in all this. Besides, if it weren’t for him, we’d all be horribly maimed down under Decembers torture dungeon for shits and giggles. I think if anybody deserves a break here, its him.” Sat elaborates.

“But why me; can’t anybody else watch him?”

“Tuesco, you’ve been with us for how long? You should’ve figured by now that you’re the only one around here that closely qualifies as a functioning adult.”

The psychic of solid air lets out a small sigh upon this statement, failing to counter it while admitting:

“I guess I can’t really argue with that.”

“So you’ll take him?”

“If I’m escorting him straight to the birthday boy, I gotta lay down some ground rules here.” he then claims.

“I’m sure that I can get the kid to follow you. What you need going is some drip.”

“Drips of what?”

“A disguise. Some clothes to throw off mobsters in case they’re skulking around.” Satette clears up.

“Okay, fine. But I get to pick what to where.”

“Long as it’s inconspicuous, it don’t matter.”

“I said inconspicuous, not contentious.” she corrects.

With a frustrated glare, Satette beholds the get up that Tuesco had so maliciously picked for this simple children’s party; a big black overcoat paired with a black folded fedora to match.

“You said to pick something closed and concealing. What better than a big detective overcoat and matching hat to boot?”

“Literally anything else. You’ll stick out like the thumb covered in splinters and sores. You might as well paint a glowing target on your back.”

“Relax, I doubt anybody’s gonna second guess a man in a fedora.”

“I...what-whatever.” Sat brushes off, wandering over to the door beside her.

Knocking on said door, she shouts to the other side:

“You almost done in there, kid?”

“Just about.” she hears Sunny claim on the other side.

Stepping away from the door, both Sat and Tuesco behold the kid of the hour march out from the bedroom to present his freshly donned clothes gotten just for him. A purple beanie with musical notes stitched in front; a blue tee sporting a microphone and speakers, and lastly to top it all off is a pair of green camo cargo pants draped over his legs.

“You lookin real snazzy, Sunny. How ya feel?” compliments Satette.

“You know, I never thought I’d be happy to get clothes as a present. Compared to that torn up coat and pants I’ve been wearing, these feel fricken fresh.” the kid assures.

“Where did you even get them from?” Tuesco is compelled to ask Satette.

“Thurs and Frida got them when they went grocery shopping. Kid was overdue for some new drip.”

“Drips of what!?” Tuesco again questions.

“You ready to go, kiddo?” Sat asks the boy.

“I’m...a bit nervous. I haven’t seen my friend in a real long time. I don’t know what he’ll say when he sees me.”

“If he’s really the pal you built him up as, I’d say he’d be ecstatic to see you regardless.” the air solidifying psychic claims, pulling out a red key out of the safe house from his overcoat.

“Yeah. I guess you’re right.” Sunny admits, joining Tuesco’s side as he jams the key into one of the hallway doors.

As the wooden hall door begins to transform, Tuesco takes the moment to kneel down to Sunny’s level and reviews:

“So, you know the ground rules right?”

“Uh, yeah.” he snidely responds.

“Run them over for me?”

“Don’t go wondering off. Don’t steal things from strangers. Stay in site. Don’t talk to strangers. Only use my powers for emergencies.”

“And?”

“And uh...Oh yeah, keep my living situation a secret.”

“There we go. No need to have some...justifiably concerned parents call CPS and make more of a mess for us.”

Upon the door in front of them fully morphing into one made of steel does the psychic of solid air escort the young sound controlling kid out from the safehouse and into whatever may lay behind; Satette behind them waving the two goodbye as she goes:

“Have fun.”

The moment that very door closes and transforms back to normal, Sats upbeat demeanor slowly drains away as she lets out a worried breath.

“Enjoy it while you can.”

Once stepping out of the safe house, the two close the door behind them to have it return to its previous mundanity; that normalcy blending in well with the urban neighborhood they find themselves in.

“So, this seem right to you, kid.”

“I think so. My mom drove past here a couple of times, so the house should be right around here.” the sound controlling psychic claims, venturing out down the streets ahead.

“Hey, hey, hey! Slow down.” pleads Tuesco, following after him.

Pursuing after the ecstatic young boy around the street corner, Tuesco finds find him rushing over to the front door of a home planted right in the middle of two apartment buildings; Sunny leaping onto the porch before he screams:

“Jamie!”

“Kid, hang on a sec-”

“Jamie!” the boy again screeches, shouting directly into the window.

“Jamie!” Sunny screams, his magenta aura flaring as his voice grows louder.

“Jamie!” he then shouts as loud as he can, the reverb of his loud calls shaking the building.

“Ow! What did I tell you about your powers?” reprimands Tuesco.

“Sorry, I’m just excited to see him after so long.”

Upon saying this does the abode’s front door finally open up, revealing a young man on the other side with his other hand clasping at his ear; the guy letting out a hiss before going:

“Ah, Jesus. The hell is your guy’s problem!”

“You’re not Jamie’s dad!” Sunny then accuses.

“What?”

“What the boy is trying to say is that we came here looking for somebody else. We didn’t expect anyone else to come answer the door.”

Its then that Tues kneels down to Sunny’s side and whispers:

“This is the right house, ain’t it?”

“Yeah. Jamie Somerton. Lilac lane, 4408.” he confirms.

“Somerton? I think you guys are lookin for the people that used to live here. They moved out a couple months ago.” the home owner than informs.

“What!?” the boy shouts.

“Yep. Packed up and left cause of the house fires going on across the block. Didn’t wanna risk being the next one, so they just bailed.”

“And you moved in because?”

“Listen, buddy. With how screwed the housing market is nowadays, you be lucked to find yourself in an apartment. Sweet place like this is a steal.”

“Well, do you at least know where the previous residence went?” Tuesco then attempts to ask.

“Sorry, couldn’t tell ya even if I wanted to. They kept that info private; probably didn’t want people finding out where they were moving after all the fires. Sorry.” the man concludes before shutting the front door on them.

Left disheartened from his humble quest having been thwarted so soon, the sound controlling kid sits down on the steps of the home’s porch and starts to sulk; the boy’s crushed ambitions prompting Tuesco to sit down next to him and attempts to comfort with:

“Hey, it ain’t the end of the world. I’m sure Jamie will have plenty of other birthdays you can go to.”

“But I promised him that’d I be at his party today. Now, he’ll just think I’m a bailing liar. He’ll never talk to me again.”

Watching how utterly disappointed the boy was with this unexpected roadblock, the former officer lets out a small sigh before claiming how:

“Well...There might be some records we could check out. Maybe something we could find over in the whatever moving company is set up around here-”

“Great, lets get moving.” Sunny springs back up with, dashing out through the streets ahead.

“Whoa, whoa, wait!” demands Tuesco as he races after the boy.

“So, lemme get this straight.” says the receptionist working at the counter of the moving company’s main building.

“You want me to just give a couple of strangers the address of a family that we helped moved?”

“Yes, please.” Sunny sincerely responds.

“This has to be some kind of joke. You know why we can’t just give that sensitive information out, right? Compromising that sort of stuff would be bad for business.”

“Well. I’m sure that would be appropriate for just any shmuck skulking around for scraps of information. But I suppose it should be known that I’m not just any kind of shmuck. I happen to be working undercover on a case here.”

“Phfft, really? Mind if I see a badge then, detective?” the receptionist sarcastically asks for.

“Of course, its just right...just...just right...um…” the former officer begins to claim, his words sputtering as he feels across his black noir overcoat.

No matter how deeply or how meticulously he tries to reach for his expired officers badge, Tuesco fails to find the small metal anywhere on his person; a fact of which starts to make him sweat.

“Where did…” he whispers.

Its among wondering where he had stowed his old NYPD badge that he suddenly realizes that he it was still buried in the pocket of his old pants he left back in the safe house.

“Uh…”

“Lemme guess. You don’t got it on you?”

“Just tell me where my friends house is!” Sunny then demands lunging up to grab the receptionists shirt collar.

“Jesus!”

“Whoa, Sunny!” Tuesco exclaims, pulling the boy off of the man.

“Get the hell out before I call security!”

“Yeah, sorry to waste your time sir. Have a nice day.” the former officer departs with the boy in his grasp.

Outside the moving company building, Tuesco is obviously quick to chastise the young boy with:

“What’s the matter with you, boy. You should better than to do that to people.”

“Shh.” Sunny then demands, his hands over his ears.

“Don’t you shush me. Put your hands down and pay attention.”

“Tuesco, I’m trying to listen in. Please keep it down.” the boy again requests.

“What do you mean listen in. There’s nobody out here but-”

Its upon realizing what exactly the kid means that he gazes into the offices window, discovering traces of Sunny’s magenta aura coursing across the receptionist, the sound controlling power crawling up his head to blanket his ears.

“Ooh...You were just...Oh okay.”

“Egh. Fucking kid.” the boy hears the man curse, listening in like a planted microphone as the receptionist ventures to the back room.

“Swear, people these days don’t discipline them enough, thinking they can get away with that shit.”

“Jeez, what crawled up your ass, Ethen.” another voice then chimes in with.

“Don’t start with me, Jebb. Bad enough I gotta work overtime, dealing with the maniacs that come in here.”

Alright, alright. I get it, its tough out there. How bout getting your mind off it helping me carry the latest folding boxes in.”

“Man, gimme a break.”

“Naw, naw; it won’t take much time at all. Got the truck parked and the back door unlocked, we just gotta carry them in.”

“Umm...Fine. Might as well get my smoke break out of it.”

“The back door, they said its unlocked.” Sunny then claims his chaperon.

“If we sneak inside, we could find out where Jamie moved to.”

“Break into a moving office? Absolutely not.” Tuesco protests.

“Come on, please. This could be the only way we find out where Jamie is.”

“He might not even be in New York anymore for all we know. I’m not gonna go breaking and entering just on a hunch.”

Yet the former officer commitment is put to the test when the boy peers up towards them with wide, begging eyes; Sunny’s pleading gaze clashing against Tuesco’s unwavering commitment.

Against his broken commitment and judgment, Tuesco slowly opens the back door leading into the office to peak inside, finding not a sign of an employee anywhere among its small halls; he is swift to take the opportunity to sneak into the moving office while the coast was clear.

Can’t believe I’m doing this; breaking and entering in a private business. Kid’s lucky he’s got a good heart and wide eyes. Its fine though, I’m not really in here to steal anything, just gonna sneak in to check someone’s private information. Its practically a victimless crime, the arguably most harmless kind of crime.

To the first open door he comes across, the former officer dressed in the black noir outfit peers within to find waiting on the other side to be nothing but office supplies; no signs of documents or a computer to access anywhere. Venturing over to the room next door yields just as little results, discovering where the facilities break room is; not a single filing cabinet or computer anywhere inside.

Door after door does he continue to search, bathroom, offices, more closets; his search for any information starts to feel like nothing more than a fruitless endeavor in wandering through the moving building.

But just when he was about to forgo any hope of finding a trace of information, the very next door he opens reveals to be the managers office; set with a finely polished wooden desk holding some supplies and a PC at the end.

Finally, something to work with.

Letting himself in, he hops right to the other side of the desk and wakes the office computer right up; the desktop the screen shows depicts a family of four with a litter of puppies; Tuesco helpless but to coo at the heartwarming site.

Putting this little tender moment aside, the former officer immediately gets to work in search through the computers documents for any addresses that they might have stored? it shouldn’t be that far fetched they would keep the moving addresses of who they moved, right?

Taking notice of the sticky note set along the bottom of the screen, he finds it depicting a set of numbers and letters; no doubt the password to access the very computer it was stuck to.

Jeez, rookie mistake here. Any shmuck passing by can just type their way in and mess around with whatever they want. Had to learn that lesson the hard way when it was April 1st at the station and the boys thought it be funny to put incriminating evidence on my laptop.

Huh…

Putting this morbidly jest memory aside, Tuesco quickly types in the password to may his way in the PC, immediately snooping over to the documents page for any sort of info relating to what he seek.

See here; taxes, inventory, management, payment...Customers! Here we go.

Clicking on the file at hand, he soon finds a whole slew of names rain down from the list of documents; each one pertaining to the recipients of the moving company’s services.

What was the kid’s last name again? Someron? Something along those lines.

Pondering of Sunny’s best friends last name, he begin to scroll straight down the list before coming upon the S’s; slowly crawling across the list for the name he searches.

Sammy, Sanso, Seth, Sepbrack, Silige, Sodle, Som-Somerton? Somerton, that’s it! Had to be something like that.

Its upon clicking the name that an entire slew of information presents itself to the air solidifying psychic; a document depicting an abundance of business credentials, far more than he thought there would be to comb through.

Oh, oh wow, this uh, this is a lot. Might need a good minute here.

Unfortunately does it seem that he might not even get that much, for its from the other side of the door does he hear a set of voices and footsteps approaching the office; one of them mentioning how:

“Hang on. Left something in the boss’s office.”

With little time to spare, Tuesco is swift to hop over the desk and erect a barrier of solid air against the door; the haphazardly made slab of crystallized oxygen proving enough to keep the door to the office close as those on the other side fail to push their way in.

“Come on, open!”

“Maybe its just locked?”

“The knobs turning. Its jammed on something. Help me get it unstuck.”

Realizing time is of the essence, Tuesco is urged to run back around onto the computer to immediately start search throughout the customer document, picking through every bit of information presented on the page for wherever the family had moved to. All the while on the other side of the office door, he could hear the other employees attempting to barge their way in, tackling at the door with their entire bodies.

“Ah, my shoulder! The hell’s going on in there?”

“Stand back, I got this.”

Payment option, credit card number, truck rental...Blood type? Why would they need...Focus Tuesco. Departing address...Arriving address! This has to be it. 40 Crucible lane, Auburb, NY 12749. That has to be where they moved to.

Though he was successful in finding the address of Sunny’s best friend, Tuesco’s small accomplishment is compounded by how feverishly the employee’s outside attempt to break their way in; the door beginning to break apart from being repeatedly bashed into.

With a means of escape is in order, the former officer takes a quick moment to peer around the office for any means of a way out of this sticky predicament; a miracle presenting itself in the form of a window perched just beside him.

Tuesco is swift to lunge right for the window and bust it open with but a single swift strike, all while using his powers to keep its glass from crumbling apart; the noir dressed man then simply pop the glass pane right out.

Once he crawls his way from the office and outside, Tues leans down to reach at the glass panel held together by invisible solid air; the psychic is careful to place the window right back where it was with almost no sign of break in.

Absconding from the scene of the crime, that leaves the barricade keeping the door closed to disperse and finally let those on the other side in; a couple of the buildings employee’s relieved to have made their way in.

“Finally, Jesus. Got the damn door open.”

“Wonder what was jamming it shut?”

“Don’t know. Seems like it just got stuck.”

“Got more than stuck here. Just look at it.” the other employee claims, bring attention to the fractures and cracks in the face of the door.

“How the hell we gonna explain that to the boss?”

“Um…”

Out from the blue does the solid air holding the broken window together dissolve away; the pair of employee’s spooked when the windows glass suddenly crumbles apart.

“I don’t think we can.” one of them estimates.

Having secured the new address of Sunny’s friend, the two hop onto a bus heading straight for that part of the city; Sunny refusing to sit still as he fidgets with excitement.

“Take it easy, kid. You’re gonna tear the seat up.” Tuesco tries to calm him down with.

“I can’t help it. Its been months since I’ve seen him. What do I even say?”

“Just say that Child protective services took its sweet time and that I’ve been assigned to chaperon you. I’m sure it’ll be enough for him and his parents.”

“But what if he gets mad at me that I haven’t talked to him in so long?”

“Sunny, with everything you went through, I’m, sure he’ll understand. He should appreciate you coming over.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Its in the midst of their conversation that the bus they ride makes another stop, queuing some of the passengers to get up from their seats to depart; Sunny himself prompted to get up when Tuesco grabs his shoulder to stop him.

“Aren’t we supposed to get off.” he questions.

“Arburb is near the next stop. Still got one more to go.” Tues answers.

Out from nowhere does Tuesco then feel the tail end of his noir like overcoat shift about, gazing down to discover the tail end being sniffed at by a big dog wearing an orange vest; the sizable mutt being pulled way by a harness held by a man donning pitch black shades.

“Oh, sorry about that. Diasna here just gets a little curious with people sometimes.” the man apologizes for.

“Hey, think nothing of it. Its what dogs do.” Tuesco accept.

“Wait, I thought pets weren’t allowed on the bus.” brings up Sunny.

“Normally, yeah. But with me heavy cataracts, they made an exception here for Diasna here.” the man claims.

“Caterwhat?” Sunny wonders.

“It means he’s blind, kid.”

“Oh, he’s seeing eye dog.”

“Yep, wouldn’t know where to go without him. Speaking of going, this is my stop.” the blind man states, strolling off towards the bus doors, the small interaction leaving the two of them oddly warm and fuzzy.

At a door of a local residence, a hand knocks on its wooden face to tell the people inside of a visitor; a moment or two passing before the door opens to a woman on the other side; the lady gazing upon the two visiting her abode for a brief second before she recognizes the kid between them.

“Sunny?” she say aloud.

“Hi, Mrs. Somerton. Its Jamie’s Birthday today, right?”

“Yeah, but...how did you-”

Before the woman could question why or even how they had shown up to their recently moved in home, a ginger haired boy shows up out of them blue to exclaim: “Did you say Sunny’s here!?”

The boy’s shock immediately turns to wholesome joy when discovering the site of his best friend waiting for him on the porch; Sunny himself lunging straight for the birthday boy to give him a big old hug.

“Where have you been man? I thought I never see you again.”

“Dude, its such a long story. I’m just glad I actually made it.” claims the sound controlling psychic.

“There’s still a lot of cake left, you want a slice.”

“Heck yeah, I do!”

“Come on.” the birthday boy tells them, both of the boys rushing right on inside.

Still left baffled over Sunny’s unexpected arrival, the only thing the mother could really do was peer towards the man accompanying him; watching as he adjusts his coats collar.

“Who are you?” she wonders, a question which Tuesco was more than prepared to answer.

“I see. So you’re his caretaker with Child protective services.” the mom recounts, setting a freshly brewed cup of coffee on the dining table where she, Tuesco, and her husband sit.

“Yeah, pretty much. Got assigned to look after the little guy after he lost his parents. Poor kid was living on the streets until we picked him up.”

“That’s terrible. I can’t imagine what he was going through before then.” the husband sympathizes.

“Yeah well, I’m glad we managed to find him when we did. Little trooper might’ve not lasted much longer if we didn’t.”

“I’m just glad he seems to be in a better place now.”the dad cheers, gazing out in the backyard party where Jamie and the other kids play.

Fluttering through the air like a wandering hummingbird, a flying drone scurries above the homes backyard as Sunny and a handful of other kids chase after it like a butterfly; the small device controlled via remote held by the birthday boy himself. Though his little birthday gift hover just out of the other kids reach, Jamie dares to make his toy ascend higher and higher overhead; rising up above the home itself and towards the power lines

The birthday boy’s hubris gets the better of him when he attempts to then lower his toy back down, only for all the built up momentum to carry it crashing into the hanging power lines, its propellers tangling around the several wires.

“Aw…” the children moan.

“No!” shouts Jamie.

All of the children gather below the powerlines and gaze up to the fresh new gadget suspended within the electrical wires; the propellers struggling to free themselves from the tangled black lines.

“Dang it! That was my best birthday present.” laments Jamie.

“Can’t we just get someone to get it down?” one of the children suggests.

“And my parents see that I already got one of my new toys stuck already? They’ll lose it.”

“Maybe one of us can just climb up and get it.” another child suggests.

“You wanna go up there and get shocked, be my guest.”

Though the other children are left stumped on how to retrieve the suspended drone, Sunny on the other hand starts to wonder if he could do so safely.

“I’ll get it down.” the sound controlling psychic then claims out of the blue.

“How? There’s no way any of us can get all the way up there and grab it.”

“And that’s if we don’t get fried.”

“I don’t have to. Just watch.” Sunny then states, approaching the power line pole.

When right in front of the hard wood pole, the noise bending boy tucks his leg back before delivering a hearty kick right against its base; the reckless kick causing Sunny to hiss from the pain coursing through his foot.

“Wow, what an amazing idea. Its bound to get unstuck doing that.” one of the kids sarcastically says.

“Wait look!” another then exclaims.

Their attention guided back to the toy dangling above, they notice the power lines beginning to quake all on their own; the vibration coursing through them growing stronger as the wires entangled around the gadget loosen up. Its after a few more moments under this intense shaking that the propellers are finally freed from the power lines grasp and start to plummet back down to the backyard.

Dropping down from the black power lines, the toy ends up landing right into Sunny’s very hands; a feet of which the other children are amazed by.

“Wow!”

“Amazing.”

“It didn’t even look like you kicked it that hard.”

Ignoring other kids praises and cheers, the sound controlling kid simply strolls over to give the birthday boy back his precious present; going:

“Here ya go, Jamie.”

“Thanks man. Ho-How did you even do that?” he wonders as he takes back the toy.

“Don’t worry about it, man. Lets just keep playing.” Sunny then requests.

“Okay…”

Brushing off the strange occurrence of how Sunny had dislodged the fancy toy out from the clutches of the power lines, the kids resume playing with the gadget as they start to take turns controlling and chasing it.

Yet there remain one hidden among them that refuses to simply forgo noting this phenomenon; the shadow of a man and a dog eerily watching the homes backyard from the other side of the street.

“You know, its funny. You don’t seem like somebody from CPS.” Jamies mom then claims.

“I mean, most people in your field would be wearing some kind of suit or something.”

“Yeah, well. I like to think that the coat and hat give a more fancier Nior sort of style. Looks more dignified.

I mean, if any thing, Sunny seems to like it.” Tues defends, loosening his outfits collar.

“Well, I’m glad there’s people like you out there willing to stick their necks out for kids like him, even taking him all the way across the city to show up for a birthday party.”

“I have to be honest, I was kind of against going this far out for just a party. But then I realized that he deserves to have some fun and be a kid again after all he went through. A little break from all the chaos.”

“Sounds like you’ve taken a bit of a liking to poor Sunny.” the dad then state.

“Well, after everything he’s been through, I can’t really lie and say I’ve haven’t been getting attached.”

“So, what are you planning to do next?” the husband then question.

“Huh?” the noir dressed psychic utters, again adjusting his collar. “With Sunny. Got anywhere permanent he can stay, somebody to adopt him?”

“Oh...Well, to be honest; we’ve been busy with so many other stuff that we hadn’t had time to think about it.” Tues admits.

“I imagine.” the mother then chimes in with.

“What?”

“The city’s pretty big, lot of kids out there in need of better homes. We’re just glad you’re work is actually making a difference.”

“Yeah, I guess it is.” Tuesco claims with a soft grin.

Yet interrupting this warming moment does Tuesco again feel the cloth of his suits collar harshly brushing against his neck, lightly choking him to the point of heaving.

“You doing okay there.” the father concerns.

“Yeah, just a little chafed around the neck. Which way is your bathroom?”

“Down the hall to the left.”

“Thanks.” Tues appreciates as he hurries towards the restroom.

“You know something. That coat he’s wearing...it is pretty stylish.” the husband comments.

“Oh honey.” the wife then chimes in with, resting her hand on the man’s shoulder.

“You stupid bitch.”

Shutting the bathroom door behind him, Tuesco lets out a discomforting sigh while venturing to the sink; the solid air psychic splashing a bit of refreshing water onto his face before stare at his own reflection in the mirror.

Jesus, can’t seem to shake how uncomfortable I feel; what the hell’s getting to me? It couldn’t have been that long since I talked to other people, could it? Can’t be, the parents don’t suspect anything. Plus, we didn’t run into anybody strange on the way over here. So why can’t shake this tightness I feel in my chest?

Its in wondering this that Tues start to notice small glimmers reflecting off the top of his coats collar and reaches over to pull back on the neckline; his anxious worry turning to terrible dread when discovering the glints being stripes of yellow hue coursing through the inside of his noir styled coat.

Is this psychic aura!? Doesn’t look like mine or Sunny’s; never seen one this color before. So that has to mean somebody planted it on me while we we’re getting here. But who could’ve-

Just as he ponder who might have sown the seeds of this aura upon him, the collar of his coat starts to rapidly tighten around Tuesco’s neck; his breath slipping away as he feels every fiber of his jacket shrink against his body.

My coat, its strangling my entire upper body! I can’t even so much as breath.

Try as he may to strip the coat off with his bare hand, its fabric already holds such an overwhelming vice grip against him, it felt practically glued to his body.

Dammit, its too tight! I can’t get it off. I gotta risk it and get the parents in here.

But the solid air psychic’s effort in calling for aid prove utterly fruitless as his efforts to scream only come out as quietly strangled whispers; his skin beginning to turn red as the coat tightens further across his upper torso.

I can’t even shout for help in this coats, its got me locked in a stranglehold. Its way too tight now to use my powers on; I gotta find another way to take this thing off before it ends up killing me.

Frantically thinking of how to tear this deathtrap off his body, Tues’ eyes first dart to the bathroom sink’s drawers for an escape, immediately crouching down to open the drawer and dig inside.

Had to be something here that can cut through this! Razors, electric trimmers, anything!

Its in ravaging through the drawer that he finds a bit of hope among this rapidly escalating situation, pulling out a pair of scissors tailor made for hair cutting.

Hope these folks sharpened these things.

Opening the pair of scissors in hands, Tuesco wedges one of the sharp blades right in between his coats neckline and starts to squeeze the pair of scissors; his consciousness slipping away as his breath runs deathly short.

Its after a few more moments of snipping at his collar that he finally grasps for air; the sharp scissors cutting through the stylish black coat to free his neckline from its strangling grasp. Air returning while he starts cutting the rest of his body out from the clutches of his own coat.

The ripped up tatters of his black noir coat laying on the bathroom tile, Tuesco does the same as he briefly rests against the bathroom tub to catch the rest of his breath; his struggles leaving him with nothing but his torn undershirt to cover his chest.

That was too close, nearly slipped for a moment there. Any longer and I’d have been a dead man. But still, I can’t think of who we may have ran into that could’ve planted that aura on me.

Among regaining his breath does Tuesco begin to come to a terrifying realization, something which urges him to pull himself off the floor and reach for the door.

Whoever tried to choke the life out of me has to be close by, somewhere they could easily spy on us. If I stay here with them watching, who knows what else they might try. Best thing I can do right now is drawn them out and away from the party.

Coming out of the bathroom, the first thing that Tuesco see’s is the mother waiting at the door; the concern in her face clear to see when she ask: “Everything okay in there. I heard some weird noises.”

“Yeah, uh. I’m fine. Just struggled doing business, you know.” Tues fibs.

“Oh, okay. Wha-what happen to you’re coa-”

“Hey, I just remembered something I gotta go do real quick. Think you could watch Sunny for me while I take care of it real quick. Thank you, bye.” the air solidifying psychic hastily request as he sidesteps the wife.

After watching Tuesco swiftly make his way out from the hallway, the mom peaks inside the bathroom he had just so hastily came out from, discovering the torn remains of his black noir overcoat spread across the floor; its fabric having shrunken to below half the man’s size.

Making his way out the front door, Tues hears the sound of the birthday party from the other side of the home; immediately hurrying to behind the house in planning to grab Sunny and go.

Yet when reaches the other side, he peers across the backyard to find the sound controlling kid in the middle of playing with the other children; the joyous laughter Sunny shares with the other kids as he plays making the solid air psychic think twice.

Just look at him actually having some fun for once. Haven’t seen Sunny smile like that for a good long while; taking the moment to actually enjoy being a kid after all this ugly mob stuff he’s been swept up in…

Seeing how happy the boy was in the moment, Tues decides to retreat from the edge of the backyard in favor of simply venturing out towards the rest of the urban neighborhood on his own.

Dammit, I can’t just go dragging the kid away while he’s enjoying himself. Maybe I can draw the psychic away from the party and work things out from there.

In the midst of playing with his best friend and the other kids, Sunny himself briefly peers back to the edge of the backyard, wondering if he saw anyone standing there a moment ago.

“Hey Sunny, want some cake.” he hears Jamie ask.

“Um...yeah.” the boy follows, brushing off whatever he saw as he returns to the party.

Tuesco remains vigilant whilst out in the public urban neighborhood, searching for any hints of psychic shenanigans connected to his close call in the bathroom only moments ago.

The way that aura caused my coat to shrink so rapidly, its obvious their power is changing the size of whatever it touches; a potentially devastating ability in the right circumstance.

Its while wandering throughout the streets that the air solidifying psychic begins to manifest a shield and a baton made from crystallized oxygen; though the pieces themselves can’t be seen with the naked eye, the aura they exhume is bright enough to be witnessed by any other psychics.

But all the potential in the world won’t make up for lack of foresight; drawing them away from the party and dragging them exactly where I want like a pig to a carrot on a stick.

Though the other passerby’s don’t realize it, the tension Tuesco feels slowly escalates in determining where or when their mysterious assailant may strike, keeping a keen eye out for any glimmers of yellow flashing anywhere in site.

Out from nowhere does a massive slab of metal suddenly crash down onto the streets mere feet before him; Tuesco swiftly backing away from what nearly flattened him, only to discover something strangely familiar about the piece when the dust settles.

Its cut rounded to a rigid perfection, its dirty copper finish, the visage of a man decorated on the face of the bronze slab; all these weird details making Tues realize what had nearly crushed him on the spot. What crashed in front of him was a penny, a massive penny ballooned to such unbelievable scale similar to the size of a giant manhole cover.

That overblown cent wasn’t the only coin that he nearly hits him, for another penny ends up plummeting down just a couple of inches to his left; another close call of which draws his attention to the rooftops above. Scattering out from one of the apartment roofs drop a pocketful of small quarters, nickels, and pennies rain down; a hue of yellow power expanding the small and simple pieces of currency into descending slabs of hefty metal.

Propping his solid air shield above his head, Tuesco manages to protect himself from the colossal cascade of heavy metal as he attempts to flee from their rain; the giant cents clanging against the slab of crystallized oxygen with loud thuds and bangs.

Soon enough does the constant rain of metal finally come to an end, leaving Tuesco to glare back to the damage done by the shower of cents; entire chunks of the walkway and roads broken off by their impact. Those that have bear witness to the bizarre assaulting rain were completely frightened to the point of fleeing the scene, one man running past the solid air psychic in hopes of escaping.

“Out of the way!” the man screams.

“Wait!” Tuesco tries to warn, his call falling of deaf ears as the guy races down the street.

Among watching the pedestrian try to run from the scene, Tues looks above to discover a small dime falling from the top of the adjacent building the man runs towards; the small piece swiftly growing into a hefty slab of silver that threatens to crush the innocent bystander.

Acting fast, the air solidifying psychic throws out his nearly invisible baton towards the descending dime and strikes the cent right out of the air, sending it slamming into the side of the building to save the fleeting man’s life.

Watching the escaping bystander, his life unknowingly having been sparred, flee the scene, Tuesco’s blood boils as he lets out a vindictive growl.

Son of bitch doesn’t even care about hitting innocent people. I can’t fight this bastard out here in the streets, I gotta draw him away so that no one gets killed, but where?

Answering his prayers do his eyes then lay upon the site of a partially constructed small office building, left baron of any construction workers to continue for the day. Maybe for the weekend, maybe as a strike; either way, its an opportunity for Tuesco to face his assailant head on with no fear of casualties.

A destination in mind, the air solidifying psychic makes a break towards the construction site as the bombardment of change continues to rain down from the buildings above

Cent after cent crashes down around him as he races to shelter as he props his invisible shield right over his head; the solid air barrier strong enough to take a couple of hits before beginning to crack.

With the threat of an entire torrent of enlarged change descending upon him, Tuesco leaps for the office buildings entrance moments before the cascade of cents plummet; the torrent of crashing slabs of metal stacking against the front door and effectively barricade the air solidifying psychic inside.

Knowing this little detour bought him a few precious moments, Tues takes the reprise to catch his breath from the chaos, all the while he begins to wonder what his next move should be.

With no one else here, I’ve given the son of a bitch less to work with. Ain’t know way they’ll think of holding somebody hostage just to get to me when there’s not a soul around. Still, I can’t relax yet; I doubt this guys gonna just quit after the first attempt. He might already be making his way here right now; thinking he’s got me cornered.

Well, guess what? That just means they’re marching right where I want them.

Breaking away from his moment of reprise, Tuesco immediately parts from the lobby and on towards the rest of the office; the unpainted halls he ventures through standing uncannily quiet. Even when among the still silence, he could sense something prowling close by, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.

That chance comes much sooner than he expects when something suddenly breaks through the wall, a long and sharp spear podding out from the drywall just inches away from where he stands; Tuesco hastily steps away from the thick pillar as the dust swiftly settles, astonished to find what nearly skewered him.

Its long uniform like sides, the 2 engraved against one of its faces; the long sharp led point. What had nearly plunged into him was finely sharped tip of a standard Nu.2 pencil, having been enlarged to fifty times its normal size to rival the full length of a spear.

Jesus, as if the pointed end wasn’t enough of a threat. That poisonous led tip so much as scratches me and I’ll be a dead man walking.

Its in the midst of realizing this that he soon finds another of these widened writing utensil suddenly bursts out from the hallway wall; and then another, and then another, and then another.

Dear god, they’re using a whole pack!

Realizing the death trap he was stuck in the middle in, Tuesco sprints towards the end of the hall as countless more sharped pencils breach the wall beside him; the solid air psychic sliding right under and leaping right over the writing utensils stuck out in the wall as several more nearly stab him.

When one of them breaches out right beside him, the psychic is swift at the shield manages to block the pencils poisonous led tip from jabbing him; the sharp tip sliding across the crystallized oxygen, allowing him to slip unharmed.

Yet from this close call does Tuesco’s shield end of shattering to pieces from the sheer force of the pencils jab; forcing the solid air psychic to simply hurry down the rest of the hall.

More and more gigantic led pencils prod out from the wall as an elevator at the end of the hall lays in site, with some of them ripping through pieces of his nior outfit as he sprints faster and faster; some pencils bursting out from the corner of the hallway to attempt and trap him.

The psychic of solid air makes a bounding leap for the elevator just as the pencils were about to close him in, Tuesco slipping through in the nick of time by the skin of his teeth.

Quickly, he pushes the elevator button to close the doors before any more gigantic pencils could prod their way in; Tues letting out an exhausted breath when the doors finally close. His clothes left in tatters, but his body thankfully unscathed.

God, I’m getting to old for this.

Tuesco can only get but a few brief moments of respite however as the elevator soon stops at its destination; the steels doors sliding open to a rather strange site. What stood before him a part of the building having not yet been completely constructed; with only steel beams and wooden planks to walk across the floor with.

What...Which floor did I…

Glancing back to the set of buttons beside the door, Tuesco found that he had end up pressing the one leading to the 3rd floor in his haste; a fact of which he decides to roll with as he steps out onto one of the girders.

At least things are a lot less claustrophobic up here and down there, better chance to catch the perpetrator with so much open space.

While the air solid psychic ventures through the partial remains of the 3rd floor, a figure emerges from atop one of the pillars standing at the corner of the building; their silhouette cast blindingly against the evening sun. Staring down upon the wandering psychic does the figure make their move and leap down from the top of the beam to descend down towards their target, preparing to strike them down from above.

To Tuesco’s perspective does he discover a shadow spread across one of the wooden planks rapidly growing, a sure sign of something dropping. He quickly crystallizes the air around him to conjure another shield of solid air; raising it over head to block what may plummet upon him. Yet to his surprise does he discover this not be another freakishly enlarged object, but a person; one that Tuesco had seen not to long ago.

Bouncing right off the face of Tues’ invisible shield, this assailant flips through the air before landing on the same girder he stands on; the twilight reveling them to be the blind man from the bus they had ran into earlier.

“You?”

“Yes. Its always the last person you would suspect, isn’t it, detective? How unassuming a man can be before he reveals his true colors. With that, it was easy to catch you off guard.”

“Maybe. But that little statement can be spun the other way around. You thought you were backing me in a corner, but I led you exactly where I want you. No more surprises, no more traps. Just face to face with nobody else around. The way real men fight.”

“You think so? It leaves little to interfere as we snuff out your life.”

“...We?”

The sound of racing footsteps rapidly approach from behind, Tuesco quickly turns back to discover a swift beast lunging for his ankles; the solid air psychic managing to sidestep out of the monsters way right before it could clamp down.

Upon the mysterious monster sliding to a stop next to the blind assassin, its found it to be the mans own seeing eye dog; its previous unassuming cute stare overwritten by an aggressively keen scowl, as if preparing for another assault.

“Aw, the dog too?” Tues disappointingly jeers.

“Indeed. Disana here is capable of so much more then simply leading me through everyday life.” the sightless assassin claims, patting his canine companion on the head.

“Didn’t seem to have much trouble stalking me all the way up here. Do you even need him?”

“More than you realize.” the blind fighter claims, pulling out a small whistle from his coat pocket.

With just a single blow to this whistle, the canine beside the sightless assassin lunges forth along side its blind master, Tuesco opting to race away from the duo as he attempts to make formulate a plan.

The attack dog the swiftest between them, it is the first to reach the fleeting former officer and dart out to strike; the air solidifying psychic leaping towards the beam across the constructed chasm in evading the dog.

Constructing a hook from the air itself, Tues latches onto the girder as he swings across to the flooring on the other side.

Yet to his dismay does he witness the blind assassin waiting for him on the other side, wielding a power drill the size of a sledge hammer; the spinning tip aimed directly against him as he falls. With no other recourse to avoid the drills tip, Tuesco can only block the oversize tool with but his shield of solid air; the slab of crystallized oxygen affording him a few precious seconds to move out of the way as it crumbles against the drills might.

With the shard of his shield scattering across the site, Tues side steps and evade his foe’s slashes and jabs at him with the giant drill. The blind assailant then lift the drill up before attempting to drive the tip down against Tuesco; the solid air psychic leaping back as the tip of the drill burrows into the solid floor they stand on.

Its while still holding onto the drill that the assassin makes the handle spin about and swing him right towards his target, managing to deliver a harsh kick straight to his side and sends Tuesco hurdling against the support beam.

Though when the assassin uproots his deadly drill out from the floor, he finds the tool refusing to work no matter out much he pulls its trigger; growing concerned when hearing Tuesco let out a small chuckle. Its in feeling up the bottom of the tool that he realizes why it ceases to work; the battery having been pulled out in between the exchange.

“Told you your little warning could be spun the other way. What goes around, comes around, am I right?” the solid air psychic taunts, rising back on his feet.

Before Tuesco could make his charge against the blind assassin, his lunge is interrupted by the assailant canine companion as Disana sinks its teeth into his arm; the former officer veering aside as he tries to shake the dog off him. No matter how much Tues shakes his arm, the dog’s chompers refuse to loosen; the former officer forced to conjure a rod of air in between the maw of the beast. Twisting the crystallized rod, the jaws of the canine are pried off of his arm, leaving behind nothing but marks of the bite.

But when the assassin leaps towards him to continue their double team assault, the assailant is unexpectedly caught off guard when he suddenly feels a blow right to his stomach; Tuesco having conjured a pillar of solid air right below him.

Following up this surprise does Tues then clutch his foe’s neck via the hook of solid air and start to heave the guy over, breaking the blind assassin straight through the floor with a nasty overhead swing.

As the assailant plummets down the rest of the constructed small office building, he throws out something up after the former officer; the mysterious object plunging it directly into the front of his neck.

Though at first shallowly pokes into him, whatever he threw quickly starts to burrow its way into Tuesco’s throat, glancing down to realize what the assassin had just stabbed him with. The teeth of a chainsaw tear into Tues’s skin; the gas powered tool having been shrunken down to the size of a pocket knife.

The powerful blade threatening to cut into him, the solid air psychic acts fast as the tool burrows right into his wind pipe; crystallizing the oxygen in his own windpipe to keep the chainsaw from cutting further in.

Holding onto what breath he has, Tuesco quickly pulls the miniature chainsaw right out from his throat and puts his hand to the wound it had carved; conjuring a small brace for his neck to keep the air in his windpipe from leaking out.

The wound covered, he disperses the solid air in his throat before taking in a much needed breath of air; the brace around his neck keeping the air going through his windpipe from escaping.

But before the solid air psychic could collect himself from the close call, the assassins dog again charges into him, latching into Tues’ back as it constantly scratches and bites at him.

Dammit, I barely have anytime to think with these two relentlessly on me. Its bad enough I’m outnumbered, they’re constantly flanking me too. I need to figure out how to take them out, else they’ll be gunning for Sunny once they’re done with me.

The sounds of the strife echo all across the neighborhood; countless passerby’s and neighbors alike reeling from the reverberating clangs and crashes as their ears all take them to the direction of the construction site.

Even those among the birthday party Sunny attends are all taken aback by the unexpected bangs, with the noise bending boy among them worried the most in realizing his chaperon may be caught in the middle of the trouble.

Understanding how hairy the situation is turning, the birthday boy’s parents start to direct the other children back inside as Jamie looks over to his best friend and insist that: “We better go inside.”

“I can’t.” Sunny denies.

“Why?”

“Because...somebody needs me. I can’t just hide anymore.”

“So you’re leaving? When will you be back?”

“I...I don’t know if I can ever come back.”

“What do you mean? Why can’t you?”

Ultimately reluctant to reveal how deeply entrenched he was in with all the psychic mobster business, Sunny simply peers back to the one best friend he had had for most of his life til that point; tears quickly welling under his eyes realizing this may be the last time he’ll ever see them.

“Bro, what-what’s wrong?”

Unable to get across how he feels with meager words, the only thing the sound controlling psychic could do was give his friend a heartfelt hug as tears start rolling down from his cheeks; Jamie left baffled by the unexpected embrace, yet returning the favor by wrapping his arms around his friend.

“Thanks for everything, Jamie.” sobs Sunny, tightening his arms around the boy.

“Sure man…” the birthday boy returns, still left perplexed by the sudden display of deep affection.

Upon breaking their embrace, Jamie’s attention is then drawn back to his home when he hears his mom go:

“Come on, Jamie. Its time to go inside.”

“One sec, just let me say goodbye to-” the boy claims, when turning back.

But Jamie is left utterly surprised to find his friend he was talking to mere moments ago having disappeared without so much as a single peep; having complete vanished like a soundless specter.

Searing flames spreading across the partially constructed floor, the blind assassin wields a blowtorch strapped to a can; grown to such oversized proportions, the very flames it spews from its nozzle spew with the terrifying force akin to a flamethrower.

Against the spreading inferno is Tuesco left only to distance himself with walls and walls of solid air; his sightless assailant only growing closer and closer as the flames he spreads start to surround him.

Yet the solid air psychic is not as trapped as the blind assassin may realize, for Tues begins to crystallize the very smoke that rises up from the ring of flames, letting the psychic simply rush across the blocks of smoke with ease.

Failing to expect such a turnaround, the blind assassin aims the tip of his torch directly against the approaching psychic; yet is mystified over how little the blaze slows his approaching foe down.

While he shields himself against the terrible inferno, Tues reaches out to crystallize the burning gas blowing out from the neck of the torch to plug the flames; the solid air stopgap causing the pressure inside the can to rapidly build. The metal cylinder holding all the gas starts to tremble in the assassins hand as numerous cracks start to form; an obvious sign of how it was moments away from blowing.

In trying to evade the expecting explosion, the assassin ends up tossing the overgrown can of gas straight at the solid air psychic just as its ready to blow; the transparent shield Tuesco wields managing to take the brunt of the fiery explosion as he is flung across the partially constructed floor. The same could not be said for the blind assailant as he’s left eviscerated by the erupting flames and broken shrapnel of metal inflicted against him, as if being hit by the fury of a military grenade. Blown back by the force of the boom, the blind man is sent hurdling straight off the edge of the floor to plummet down to the ground below; his fiery body hitting the concrete with a meaty thud.

Needing a couple of moments to get back on his feet from his brief careen, Tuesco lets out a pained groan as he places his hand to his back; the former officer hissing as takes a few moments to rise back up.

Augh...man, that was rough.

Upon standing back up does the solid air psychic venture over to the other side of the construction site and gaze down the chasm his foe had plummeted, finding the blind assassins burnt corpse riddled with shards of sharp metal.

Well, I guess that solve half the problem.

Wait a second, if he could change the size of things, then why didn’t he shrink the can when it was about to blow; probably would have survived at the least. Unless…

A foul feeling sinks into the pit of his stomach when Tues peers back to the rest of the floor and discovers the assailant seeing eye dog still left standing among the chaos; the sultry yellow power used to expand and minimize emanating from the canine’s very body.

You gotta be kidding.

Its shortly after this realization that the elevator doors then slide open to the sound controlling kid; Sunny left surprised and perplexed when finding on the other side his chaperon in the midst of fending off the psychic canine’s expanding pursuit, witnessing the dog leap up to a suspended set of pipes before growing them to the point of falling. The hefty pipes drop down all across the partially constructed 3rd floor with such force, that parts of the framework bend against the crash; what temporary flooring that was made for the floor threatening to collapse.

In the midst of fleeing from the dangerous dog that Tuesco finally notices Sunny watching these events unfold from the sidelines; the former officer left tensely worried over the kids unexpected appearance as he shouts to him:

“Sunny!? What are you doing here!?”

“I heard the fight from Jamie’s backyard and knew I had to help.” the boy answers.

“You shouldn’t even be here! Take the elevator back down before the dog notices you!”

His pleas for the boy to flee are too late however as the psychic canine then makes a daring lunge towards Sunny, swiping a hammer right off the ground with its mouth as its approaches. The beast leaps into the air as he enlarges the tool in its mouth to rival that of a sledge hammer; this display being what convinces Sunny to flee from the dog, narrowly evading the tools head as it bashes through the floor.

“Ahh! Isn’t that the dog we saw on the bus.” exclaims Sunny, bolting away from the beast.

“Yeah, the blind guy blew a dog whistle and it started coming at me!”

“If it listens to a whistle, can’t we blow it to make it stop?”

“Maybe, but I don’t think we’re gonna be blowing it any time soon.”

“Why?” the kid questions, racing away from the assaulting canine.

Recalling the blind assassin put the whistle away in this coat pocket and he had been caught in the fiery inferno of the grown gas can, Tues figures in between the flames and shards of shrapnel that the whistle that commands his canine companion is likely thoroughly destroyed.

But with little time to explain this, the air solidifying psychic rather races to the boy’s side just as the canine throws out a screw driver; the tool swiftly growing as it hurdles towards Sunny. Conjuring a slab of solid air in his hands, Tuesco lobs the fresh piece of crystallized oxygen at the enlarged screwdriver hurdling toward Sunny, striking the handle of the giant tool to veer it away from the boy.

The sharp head of the tool missing the sound controlling psychic, it careens right off from the third floor to plummet down towards the road beside the building, burying itself in the hard concrete.

Its lobbing assault thwarted, the size changing canine returns its attention to the solid air psychic; Tuesco watching intently as the beast leaps up to the top of the support beams.

“Forget finding the whistle. Just distort your voice to sound like one.” Tues then suggest.

“What’s it supposed to sound like?”

“I don’t know, a high pitched hissing noise? Just do it.”

With a jump off from the top of the beam does the psychic dog land atop a suspended set of girders held in the air by a thinly harness; the canine using its powers to enlarge the thick pieces of metal too big for the harness to hold. Just as the overbearing weight snaps the suspended board holding them all up, the canine that enlarged them leaps away while all the girders plummet down to the psychic of solid air.

While his chaperon darts away, running from the descending pillars of hefty steel, the sound controlling psychic puckers his lips together as he tries to let out a whistle; modifying the way it comes out to an incredibly high pitch. Despite the boy whistling out as hard as he could, Sunny finds the dog still on the offensive as it continuing to race across the site.

Fleeing from the raining bevy of giant girders, Tuesco sees one of the plummeting right over his head and quickly erects a shield right above himself to stop the pieces of giant steel from crushing him; the solid air psychic however left pinned against the girders excessive weight.

Another breath blowing out from his lips, the noise controlling boy again attempts to quell the canines wrath with a higher pitched whistle; the psychic dog still left unaffected by the echoing sound.

Pinned in place while forced to keep the oversize length of steel from quashing him flat, Tuesco is left trapped to the mercy of the approaching canine; the beast barring its teeth as it begins to close in.

One more time does Sunny let out a loud whistle between his lips as he raises it to such a high pitch where no human ear could catch it; the high frequency of the sharp sound finally enough for the psychic dogs ears to pick up. Upon the silent echoes of Sunny’s psychically modified whistle reaching the canine’s acute hearing, the dog finally stops its aggressive assault and comes to a complete standstill; its tense standing fur relaxing as the beast sits to rest.

Pushing himself out from underneath the gigantic girder, cautiously does the air solidifying psychic then approach the calmed canine; his guard still raised and ready as he nears.

It isn’t until the psychic dog looks up to him with the innocent and joyous gaze a man’s best friend is known for that Tuesco finally relaxes.

After the tension finally simmers down, Sunny race over to his chaperon and cheers:

“Finally got the right one down.”

“Yep, just in the nick of time too. Not sure I could’ve kept up with this pooch or it have buried me.” Tues admits, the dog wagging its tail gleefully.

“So...what do we do with him now?” the sound controlling kid then asks.

“I’m not too sure, honestly. With the kind of stuff this dog was trained to do, there’s no way we can just leave him. Can’t take him with us either; July’s allergies would flare up with the dog shedding everywhere.

I’m afraid the only merciful thing we can do for this little guy is...well...we’ll have to put him-”

“No!” Sunny the staunchly objects.

“Sunny. We can’t just leave him out here.”

“Yeah, but killing him!? That’s horrible. Its not like he chose to be this way. Poor dog probably was swept into all of this without even knowing it, practically forced to do everything he’s told, no matter how wrong it is.”

A sigh passing through his lips, Tuesco rises back up on his feet and looks to Sunny as he continues to explain how:

“Look, I get what you’re saying, kid. But just leaving him out here the way he is just asking for trouble. What if he’s set off by another whistle, huh? It’d be a disaster.”

“Hmm...I wonder if I can…” the boy contemplates, leaning down to the canine in question.

“Sunny, what are you doing?” Tues worries.

“Just trust me with this.”

Kneeling down to the dog, the sound controlling kid places his hands upon its ears and begins running his power through the canines head; the dog confused over the funny power surging into him.

After a moment or two of using his psychic powers on the dog, he retracts his aura from it and stands back up; Tues left wondering:

“What did you do?”

“I just changed the way his hearing works. Now he’ll never hear another dog whistle every again.”

“You can do that?”

“Only one way to find out.” the boy claims, putting his fingers to his mouth.

“Whoa, Sunny wait!”

Blowing out in between his fingers does Sunny let out another silent whistle; one so potent and high pitched, that every dog in the neighborhood starts barking like crazy upon hearing it, all except for the very canine sitting before them, simply sitting as calmly and as happy as ever.

“Hey, it works!” Sunny cheers, a small sigh escaping from Tuesco.

“Well, I guess that solves one half of the ordeal. But still, where you think we’re gonna keep him.”

“Glad you asked, I know just the place.”

“Mom, I just left one of my presents out here.” Jamie claims.

“Just come back inside when you find it, okay.” the mother insists.

“Right I know, just gimme a sec-” the birthday boy then claims, his speech cut off when opening the door and staring out into the backyard.

“Uh...Mom.”

“What is it, sweetie, why’d you-” the wife wonders, coming out the backdoor to share in what her son had found.

Sitting in the middle of the backyard be the lovable good dog both Sunny and Tuesco had just rescued from the hand of the blind assassin; a sign draped over its back reading out:

“Happy birthday, Sunny. Meet your new best friend.”

“Oh my god, a puppy!” Jamie cheers, racing over to the canine.

“Jamie wait!” the mom tries to stop her son with, though fail to reach him as the boy sprints over to the dog.

Though at first deathly worried over the strange dog appearing in their yard from outta nowhere, she begins to calm down when seeing the canine play with her son; its demeanor proving friendly and kind enough as it runs across the backyard with her boy.

Its then that the father then comes out of the home while wondering:

“What’s with all the noise?”

Despite clearly being shocked over the appearance of the mysterious canine, his wife growls as she questions:

“How could you just give him a dog without going over it with me first.”

“I didn’t even...I-I didn’t know we we’re getting him one.”

“But then where did it…”

Despite pondering of the surprise dogs origins, peering back do they find their son frolicking in the yard with it; their son left more ecstatic and happy than ever. Seeing the birthday boy filled with so much joy over the dog, both of the parents simply decide to shrug off the dogs mysterious origin, opting to just keep it anyway.

Across the street from the home, Sunny and Tuesco are left heart warmed over finding this poor stray a new forever home, one free from the horrors and strife of this psychic crime scene; Tuesco jamming the red key back to the safehouse into the door behind them.

A bright red flash in the corner of his eye, Jamie glances back to find not a soul standing on the other side of the street, yet still hears something brush against his ears; a faint whisper of a familiar voice leaving him with the departing words: “Bye, Jamie. Happy Birthday.”

[bonkusdonkus]

I like bunny people! I grew up on series like Redwall, so woodland creature people have always had a special place in my heart. So when when rabbitfolk were announced as an official race, I was thrilled!

And I think WotC did a decent job, they’ve got some cool abilities, but they didn’t really give them any background or lore, or… Really anything, to be honest. If I recall correctly, the official flavor text more or less boiled down to “they’re bunny people from the Feywild who like freedom.” And that was basically it. Which is… Not particularly flavorful.

Still, I think the Harengon/Rabbitfolk have a lot of potential, so here’s a bunch of headcanons, ideas, and homebrews that I’ve got floating around my brain! Feel free to steal any you like for your own games, if ya wanna! Or don’t! It’s your call!

(Also, just a fair warning, I will probably be using Harengon and Rabbitfolk interchangeably, just so you know. They mean the same thing, just figured I’d say so so that people don’t think I’m sliding in a random sub race or something.)

Everybody knows that the Harengon have sharp hearing, those floppy ears aren’t just for show, but a lot of people fail to realize exactly how sharp. Most Rabbitfolk can easily hear through walls, pick out individual voices in a crowd, and hear the heartbeats of other beings. Some can even identify people by their individual heartbeats and breathing patterns, if they know the person well enough.

Harengon are native to the Feywild, and while many of them have left for more mundane places for one reason or another, a little bit of Fey weirdness tends to follow them wherever they go. Maybe they plant a rose, and then when it grows up it turns purple, maybe all the stray cats in their neighborhood are unusually friendly towards them, maybe when they hum a tune, if you listen closely you might hear someone playing along with a flute. Just, minor, harmless, magical weirdness. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it, it just happens sometimes.

Rabbitfolk live for hugs. They love hugging and being hugged. If you are friends with a Harengon, you will be hugged, sometimes with great force. Because these guys hop and jump everywhere, and sometimes they see a friend in need of hugging, and decide that the fastest way to achieve that goal is by jumping at them. So yeah, flying tackle hugs are very much on the table.

Much like Elves, who also originated from the Feywild, Harengon have an extended lifespan, about 500 years or so on average.

Despite being rabbit shaped, Rabbitfolk are not herbivores. Or at least, not completely. They have no problem eating animal products, like milk or eggs, and they have no problems with fish either, but red meat like beef or pork makes them very ill, and poultry isn’t much better. Weirdly enough though, they have no issues with reptile meat, and in fact even crave it. Lizard and turtle are beloved staples at many a Harengon table, and snakes? Oh, they LOVE snake! Grilled Python steak is considered a delicacy among Rabbitfolk, and deep-fried Adder meat is a must have treat at county fairs and festivals. Scholars have been scratching their heads for centuries over this bizarre biological phenomenon, but as is the case with many oddities from the Feywild, the best they can do is shrug and say “Eh, it’s fairy stuff, don’t question it.”(Side note, many Harengon call snake meat ‘sneef.’ I couldn’t think of anywhere else to say that, but I had to say it, so there you go.)

Speaking of food, Rabbitfolk have a high metabolism, so they tend to eat a lot more than most folk. Which might be a major reason why food is so important to their culture. For starters, the Harengon are always on the lookout for an excuse to throw a feast, even if it’s only with friends or family. Birthday? Feast! Just finished finals? Get the good silverware out, it’s time to eat! Just got back from a dangerous quest with your party? Celebrate still being alive by stuffing your face! Basically any excuse is a good excuse to eat a lot and have fun. Another big role food plays in their society is a display of trust and friendship. Buying/making someone a drink or a meal without payment or recompense of some kind is a big deal among Rabbitfolk. It’s a statement, both to the recipient and anyone who happens to be watching. It basically means: “This person is important to me, I care about their well being, and anyone who wants to get to them, will have to deal with me too.”

While they are exceptionally cute, the big floppy ears of the Rabbitfolk can be a bit bothersome during strenuous activity, flopping around and getting in the way. So a lot of folks tie them back with something like a hair tie or scrunchie when they’re out and about. Some Rabbitfolk with a bit more coin to sling around might have custom made hats, hoods, or veils to do the job and look a bit fancier while doing it.

Rabbitfolk culture takes things like oaths, promises, and commitments very seriously. Most scholars believe it’s a hold-over from their Feywild origins, where words have a frightening amount of power, and one slip of the tongue or misjudged phrase could spell disaster. Regardless of why, Harengon are raised to weigh every big commitment heavily before making a choice, examining every angle and detail, and when they finally make a decision, they are committed. When Harengon marry, it’s for life! If they sign a contract, they will carry it out the letter if it’s the last thing they do! If they promise to be your friend till the end, they aren’t being hyperbolic, they are by your side hell or high water, ride or die! So yeah, these are some very dedicated hippity hops. Mind you, they aren’t throwing around these promises all over the place, like I said, they’re very careful about it, and will call out anybody trying to swindle them.

Because of their sharp hearing, Rabbitfolk tend to be very in tune to the people around them. They aren’t full on empaths, but their generally pretty good at reading people’s emotions by paying attention to their breathing, heart rate, posture, etc.

Unsurprisingly, given their advanced hearing, Rabbitfolk love music. Since they can hear on a level that most humanoids couldn’t even imagine, it’s an almost euphoric experience for them. Imagine being able to see additional colors in a painting that no one else can, or see a beautiful sculpture in 4D. It’s a bit hard to describe, but I think you get the gist of it. Musicians are highly prized in their culture, and a lot of Harengon become Bards because of it.

Generally speaking, most Harengon don’t mind being called cute. They consider it a complement, really. But sometimes people assume ‘cute’ means ‘not worth taking seriously’ and that Rabbitfolk do take offense to, very much so. They especially hate being treated like dumb children, or even worse, baby talk. There is no phrase in all the planes that pisses off a Rabbitfolk faster than “Wittle Bunny Wabbit.” Some get so harassed, that they develop a little bit of a Napoleon Complex.

[dokifluffs]

Dada’s Home | Kenma, Iwaizumi

Pairings: Kenma X Reader (female), Iwaizumi X Reader (female) 

Genre: softest haikyuu domestic fluff omg 

Author’s Note: get fed BUT also, kenma’s isn’t really him coming home from somewhere unlike the other’s so- 

Dada’s Home | Ushijima, Tsukishima // Dada’s Home | Oikawa, Atsumu 

Warnings! All post time skip! Spoilers to manga end for Iwa! and also they have kids 

Kenma:

Confetti and a bright fanfare sounded into his headset as he yawned as bright light graphics strobed into his eyes 

Kenma let out a deep sigh as he leaned back into his game chair, thankful he figured out the ideal design for Bouncing Ball to sell

He read through the comments, quietly reading out the donations and comments from his viewers for his twenty four hour charity event 

so many told him to sleep with a mix of others with the same typical comments about saying hi to wherever they were from 

“Uh,” he squeezed his eyes shut before rubbing them back open as he reached to the side for his glasses. “Thanks onigiriman45 for the $100 donation, that’s very generous of you. He wrote: ‘It looks like there’s a little someone behind you trying to join your stream, also great games man, been watching you since the beginning, keep it up. I love watching after a long day,” he read 

“Ah, thanks for watching man, really appreciate it,” he smiled. 

“Little someone?” He turned in his seat as he looked back, the back area of his gaming room dark with LEDs strung up, lining the corners of the vast room 

you were fast asleep on the couch bed set in here for the nights you didn’t want to sleep alone in bed but you were cuddled into the blanket which covered your face 

but there his sub was right 

there was a little someone who sat on the bed who sat up with a little drool on her chin as she looked tiredly to her dad 

“Aw, D/N,” he didn’t miss a beat as he slipped off his cat headphones as he shuffled from his seat. “what’re you doing up, kitten?” he lifted her up just the slightest bit above his head as he stretched himself out 

“You need to sleep,” he said ironically as he sat her on his forearm as he made his way back, sure to leave you undisturbed

“Actually wait,” he paused as he stepped out of frame with his daughter in arm, the sound of the door sounding onto the stream 

there was a pause on the stream as a few new viewers joined the stream, asking where he went and whatnot

more donations and subs and gifts being given 

“Alrighty,” Kenma stepped into frame as he sat down, putting his headphones back on 

He scrolled up a bit through the comments, adjusting a strand of hair that had fallen into his face before his chat blew up once again 

“It seems you all noticed that I have a guest joining me,” he smiled as he glanced down to his baby girl cuddled against his chest in her carrier 

“Alright, let’s keep this train going,” he clicked to the next game, preparing the next hour or so for among us games 

The chat adored this new side of the Kodzuken 

his little girl leaned into him as he sat leaned back in his chair, easily playing the game whether he was doing tasks or pretending to be the impostor 

he every now and then looked down, adoring her sleepy little face, cheek pressed against his shirt, her small hands clinging onto him 

“good luck kiss,” he whispered, pecking her a small kiss to her cheek or beanie before he started the next game

Iwaizumi: 

He hauled his luggage through the door in a swift motion as he stepped in, his entire body exhausted and jet lagged yet to his surprise, he found the kitchen lights on while the living room lights were dimmed

He let out a low groan as he stretched, loosening his stiff muscles after a twelve-hour plane ride and then an hour and a half shuttle/ taxi ride home

But this was what he had to do as a trainer for the Japanese olympic team

The house was still and quiet with the lights on, giving him the illusion that you were awake but as he walked quietly over the carpeted floor

And there you two were

The stars of his life

You slept comfortably, fast asleep wearing one of his hoodies, laid on your back

On top of you, your baby girl as she laid on her tummy, cheek pressed on your stomach with your hands resting on top of her lower half

With her little mouth agape, her chubby cheeks squished on your stomach, she looked so precious to iwaizumi, his heart melted seeing her after so long

Her dark hair that matched his own was growing out, still very short but it was getting there

He knelt down beside the couch, resting his chin on his arm, tilting his head to the side to take a closer look at her

She was so small

He reached up with his other hand, nuzzling her plush, rosy cheek with the back of his index finger, the entire room silent

But being this close, he could hear her little breaths as she slept on you, as still as a log

Seeing her sleeping this close, it occurred to him he hadn’t seen her like this ever since she was born

He could remember that night so vividly as it it was only about a couple weeks ago

Yet a few months had already passed

A natural smile pulled on his lips, a rosy blush tinting his cheeks as he leaned even closer, his nose inches away from his

He closed the distance, rubbing his nose to hers, waking her from her sleep

But instead of normal cries from a child, her eyes slowly peeked open, a yawn escaping her as her hands closed around the fabric of the hoodie of his you wore

“Hey, baby,” his voice was low from his own sleepiness, the familiar sound even waking you too

His baby girl’s eyes pulled into thin lines as she smiled, cooing seeing her dad

“Sorry for waking you,” he knelt closer to you, pressing soft kisses to your cheek, mumbling repeatedly how much he missed the two of you into your skin

You brushed your fingers through his hair at the back of his neck, smiling as he pecked repeated small kisses to your lips

But as he did this, there were clear objections

“Don’t worry, dada’s gonna show you some love too,” he scooped his little girl into his hold, supporting her with his arm beneath her, the other resting on her back as he peppered small kisses all over her face, amusing her

“Let’s go up and sleep, hm?’ He glanced back to you as your daughter’s gaze was locked on her father’s, one small hand over her mouth, the other holding onto his shoulder

“Okay,” you let out a deep breath, your voice barely audible as he pulled you up, carrying his daughter securely in his arm

You couldn’t have asked for a better life than this one with Hajime. “Welcome home,” you snaked your hand around his waist as the two of you went up, leaving behind the dark ground level

~~~~~ Thanks for reading! Masterlist for more! Please do not repost anywhere else!

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[haikyuu-appreciation-club]

•When You Fall Asleep On Them w/ Oikawa, Kenma, Atsumu, Terushima, and Tendou•

warnings: a few curse words

genre: fluff

characters: oikawa, kenma, atsumu, terushima, + tendou

•Oikawa•

your exhaustion was clear on your face as you slumped down against the wall of the gym, settiling your tired body on the floor

you loved the seijoh boys to death but they really wore you out sometimes

to be fair, they weren’t so bad most days you guys had practice

but every so often they had you so drained by the end of the day you could barely keep your eyes open, like today for example

“Y/N-chan!”

you recognized the sweet voice meeting your ears but to acknowledge it would require energy you just didn’t have

oikawa slid down beside you, hair still damp after rinsing off his post practice sweat

he knew how exhausting everyone could be and honestly he was surprise that you hadn’t quit the position, but he was glad you decided to stick around for so long

an arm snaked its way around your shoulder before giving your arm a few gentle rubs,

“I think everyone worked really hard today, don’t you?”

to tired to respond, you opted for a simple nod before leaning your head on oikawa’s shoulder

he was suprised at first, not really used to this side of you, but a smile found it’s way onto his face as he felt your warmth slowly take over him

eventually, your breaths slow to a steady rhythm, signaling to oikawa that you finally stopped trying to fight the exhaustion that had plagued you

he maneuvered your figure so that you were lying in his lap, eyes fluttering ever so slightly as you subconsciously allowed yourself to adjust to the lighting change

affection was the only thing written on the boy’s face as he watched soft breaths flow in and out of your parted lips

a few moments later, the rest of the team started filing out of the gym, confusion quickly filling the air as oikawa smiled down at your sleeping form

iwaizumi seemed the most agitated with this development,

“What the hell did you do to them, shitty-kawa?”

“Hm? Me? I didn’t do anything at all. If you wanna put the blame on someone it should be on all of you, poor y/n-chan has to deal with so much.”

“Cut the crap, they have to deal with your sorry ass the most.”

a light laugh escaped his lips before he peered down at you once more, brushing stray hairs away from your forehead

“I guess you’re right, in that case i’ll lock up and walk them home when they wake up. I wanna let them rest a little while longer.”

iwaizumi sighed and reluctantly threw him the keys to the gym before leaving with the rest of the team

as soon as the door to the gym was shut, oikawa took a quick glance around to make sure there was no one remaining before leaning down to place a soft kiss on your forehead 

he knew that tomorrow he would never hear the end of this, but in that moment he couldn’t care less, he was happy just being there with you

•Kenma•

you loved spending saturdays playing video games with kenma, it was your favorite activity to do after such a long and stressful week

even so, by the end of the week you were drained, and sometimes you got sleepy

especially when kenma began playing a more lowkey game and his sighs of frustration and mumbled strings of curses became absent 

silence tended to fall over the room when that was the case, causing your brain to shut down faster then you wanted it to

you sat next to kenma and peered over at his switch, watching with lidded eyes as his character moved about the screen

the colors began to swirl together as you were dragged deeper into sleep

kenma was too focused on the task at hand to notice your sleepy state, let alone the way your head fell ever so gently on his shoulder

after a while he returned his character home and paused the game, handing the switch to you,

“Here Y/N, it’s your turn.”

still feeling the device heavy in his hands he peered down at your sleeping figure, just now realizing why the atmosphere seemed quieter then usual

he froze and a soft blush crept on his face before he set the switch aside

you had fallen asleep on these days before but never so close to him and now he had no idea what to do

he didnt want you to be uncomfortable but he also didnt want to risk waking you up and ruining your much needed sleep

eventually his body moved for him as he crossed one leg under the other and gently moved you so that you were lying down on his thigh

he scrolled through his phone while you slept, mindlessly running his fingers through your hair as his eyes danced along his screen

he knew when you woke there would be a string of apologize falling out of your mouth but he didn’t mind the soft snores that escaped your lips 

besides, the two of you had the rest of your lives to play video games together

all he cared about in that moment was that you were taken care of

•Atsumu•

you and atsumu had ate lunch on the roof every friday since the two of you had become friends in middle school

it was a long standing tradition, one that the two of never missed no matter the circumstances

it was peacful, no one else but your friends ever knew so the two of you were never bothered

and it was always a nice way to relax and enjoy each other’s company without having to worry about the twin’s fighting, kita lecturing you about table manners, or suna just being a plain instigator

the two of you typically spent the period laughing and conversing but that particular friday, you lacked the energy to even keep your eyes open, let alone act so lively

your exhaustion was plain to see and definitely gave atsumu some room to poke fun at you,

“Sleepy, aren’t we Y/N? I mean, I can see your under eye bags from here.”

you angrily mumbled something under your breath at the statement before rubbing your eyes in attempt to wake yourself up more

atsumu ruffled your hair and laughed at your antics, throwing a few more snarky comments at you

he returned to his lunch soon enough, continuing the story he was previously retelling before you could throw a fit from your lack of sleep

as he was reaching the end of his tale, he felt his legs being tugged at, jumping a bit at first before he realized your hand was the one attached to his ankle

“Whatcha doin there Y/N?”

you ignored his question, choosing to pull his legs until they were lying straight and settling yourself down to lie in his lap instead

“Tsumu, wake me up before we have to get to class, please.”

as you began to slip out of consciousnesses, atsumu felt his eyes begin to water

if anyone else saw him, they would’ve made fun of him but he couldn’t help himself, he felt so happy that you trusted him enough to be this vulnerable around him

he knew he could be a pain in the ass sometimes but he never felt like a bother when he was around you, you loved him for who he was

it was a miracle you had remained friends with him for so long but as long as you did, he would do his best to make sure that pretty smile always returned to your face

before he could wake you up with his cries, he cleared his throat and began to softly rub your back and he stared out among the trees,

“No problem Y/N, you can count on me.”

•Terushima•

you had practically got on your hands and knees and begged terushima to help you study for your upcoming exam

he was one of the smartest people you knew and with how awful you were with the subject the test was on, it would’ve be a crime not to ask him for help

luckily for you, when you timidly asked for his help, he agreed to take some time out of his day to tutor you this week

which is why you felt awful once your thoughts beginning to haze and your eyes began to grow heavy

you couldn't even pay attention to the anxiety that had previously been gnawing away at you, let alone whatever the hell terushima was going on about

in your defense, school was absolutely exhausting today and you didn’t expect yourself to be this out of it by the time you arrived at terushima’s house

he noticed your fatigue right away, he way your head swayed back and forth as if you were in a daze was hard to miss

his first instinct was to laugh at how adorable you were but he chose to take a more gentle approach to the situation,

“You alright there, baby? We can take a break if you need one.”

you shook your head and gripped your pencil tighter, trying your best to copy down notes without falling face first into your text book

he smirked and playfully rolled his eyes before sliding more notes in your direction, 

“Suit yourself.”

not even ten minutes after you expressed your determination to the boy, terushima felt a weight fall onto his shoulder

he let out a chuckle at your unconscious state, knowing that this was soon to come 

he wrapping an arm around your shoulder and carefully pulled you down onto the bedroom floor with him, comfortably repositioning you 

in this new position, your head was on his chest, one of his arms wrapped around your torso while the other sat comfortably behind his head

“If you were tired, you could have just told me.”

although he knew you could hear him, the words left his mouth in a whisper before pulling you close and closing his own eyes

in all honesty, he didn’t mind this series of events, just happy to have you here with him

and besides, this gave him an excuse to schedule another study date

•Tendou•

carnivals and fairs came to your town quite often and every time they did, tendou loved to bring you along

the two of you had loved to go ever since you were little kids so the memories it brought back was enough of a reason to blow your money on tickets and food

it was a chance of the two of you to forget about any worry or zees and just let yourself be kids again

and to tendou, it was always worth seeing the smile on your face as you glanced around at the scenery, eyes gleaming under the flashing lights

as much fun as they were, he knew how much they tired you out 

every time the two of you ran off to one, he always ended up taking you inside at the end of the night and helping you through your nightly routine, but he didn’t mind this in the slightest

he was happy to help and besides, you were the clingiest when you were on the brink of sleep, which he found absolutely adorable

“Y/N, did you have fun tonight, hm?”

he took a glimpse of you in the passenger seat before returning his eyes to the rode ahead, one hand on the steering wheel and the other settled comfortably on your leg

mind clouded with sleep, you took the hand that sat on your knee and held it in yours, examining the polish you had painted on them earlier that week through blurry vision,

“Mhm.”

tendou took another glance at you before grinning at your tired state,

“I’m glad, i had lots of fun too! We’ll have to bring Ushiwaka next time, he’s never been to one of those-“

before he could finish his sentence, he felt his hand being hugged to your chest

turning his head to the side once more, he realized you had curled up on the passenger seat and were now fast asleep, cuddling his arm as if it was a stuffed animal

a laugh escaped his lips at how quick you were to drift off to your dream land

as his eyes focused on the dimly lit pavement, he admired how sweet your display of affection was, feeling your love spread throughout his entire body

he slowed his speed, careful not to hit any bumps or holes on the way home in fear of waking you

once the two of you got to his house, he gently carried picked you up and carried you inside, setting you on his bed as soon as he stepped though the door

before he could grab a blanket and head to the couch, your arms found their way around his torso as you buried your face into his chest before drifting back into your deep sleep

a smile spread across his face before placed a kiss on the top of your head and carefully lying down next to you, allowing himself to close his eyes and enjoy this moment with you

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[caramelcal]

His Favorite Secret.

“I’m tired of being your secret.”

You can find the rest of the prompts here.

i really took this and ran with it huh...IT’S 4.3K WORDS

warnings: mentions of sex, gangs, alcohol, bondage

kinda obsessed with this gang!luke idea. also, i’m not sure if i wanna make “bambi” the reader or an oc, it works as either i believe? bambi is a nickname btw and i honestly feel like making more parts based on this concept tbh 

kinda wanna make another part LMAO idk what i’d do it on though </3

Luke was better to her than anything you could possibly expect. He was surprisingly gentle when it came to her, hugging and caressing her that seemed impossible for the way he was and the life he lived. People saw Luke as the 6-foot-odd man that could rip you apart without an issue, without even breaking a sweat but he was so much more than that.

He was so much more than the leather jacket-wearing gangster that everyone depicted him as; heartless and stoic. He was a great lover if he let people in, and she had never been loved that way with anyone before. Surely though, with his life, there were complications to their relationship.

He was different from other people, more violent, more dangerous. The gang, which was run by Luke and three of his closest friends, Calum, Ashton and Michael, was well-known and feared among many, but they were left alone by the police. The police were aware that they existed, but they didn’t do anything about it. There were more cons to arresting them than there were pros.

Luke’s life made everything very interesting. He was rich, of course, and after a while of them dating she had moved into his condo. It was massive, bigger than any house she had ever lived in before and it was just for the two of them. It was a luxurious life that she had not experienced before, and she was still getting used to it.

If there was one thing about Luke that she had learned, it was that buying her things was his love language. He never had been great at the romantic side of their relationship considering he hadn’t had a girlfriend in a long time and normally just had one-night stands, but he tried his best. That didn’t meant that he ever softened up during sex, though. 

Another thing about his life that made stuff interesting was that Luke had to drop things for work. Sometimes stuff would go wrong on a run, or other gangs would try stuff with them and he would have to leave. It was understandable, but still frustrating for her, especially the one time where an emergency had occurred right in the middle of them having sex.

Luke had been very busy the past few weeks, having to deal with numerous issues with the gang and barely having enough time to spend with the needy girl who craved his attention. There had been issues in the club, that was what he had said, but he didn’t go into much detail on the matter, he never did. He liked to keep his relationship and gang life very separate from one another. 

A lot of the mornings this week she had woke up alone, void of the warmth she liked to cuddle into in the morning. At least she was getting him all to herself this weekend, she thought. After barely spending anytime with her that weekend, Luke had promised they would spend the weekend together, even if the club was set on fire. Calum, Ash and Mike will deal with it. 

“Bambi?” The nickname fell from his lips when he stepped in the front door. She brought her eyes up to look at him, happiness filling her features. She hadn’t been expecting him home for another few hours, but she definitely wasn’t complaining.

Running over to him, she jumped, knowing full well that he would catch her as her arms wrapped around his neck. Her head snaked into the nape of his neck, comfortingly taking in the scent of her favorite person, his arms holding her protectively close to his body. They were alone, thankfully enough. After all, she really hadn’t thought out her jumping hug because her short skirt had ridden up, showing off her underwear which Luke most definitely would be furious if anyone but him saw.

“Welcome home,” She whispered into his neck, hand coming up to play with the hair on the back of his neck. Her eyes fluttered, eyelashes tickling the skin on Luke’s neck as he rubbed her back, taking in the comfort of having the smaller girl in his arms.

He walked forward so that he was fully in the house, using his leg to kick the door shut behind him before walking towards the middle of the room near the couch. He slowly lowered himself until he was sitting down on the plush cushions, the girl now in his lap, still being held closely.

“Bambi?” Luke started, making sure that the girl was listening, to which she hummed into the side of his neck, not willing to move just yet, “I know you wanna hug and kiss and stuff right now but we don’t have much time to pack your bags, you have to stay at the safe house for a few days.”

Almost immediately, the warmth of her face was gone from his neck, and her hands were no longer playing with his hair. She was still held tightly on his lap, mostly because he held her there with a semi-firm grip, her looking up at him with furrowed eyebrows and sad eyes.

This wasn’t the first time this had happened. In fact, it had happened quite a few times and each time it made her rather frustrated. She had to remove every single piece of evidence that she even existed in the apartment, and get hidden away in a safe house for the entire weekend, on the edge of town, where she wasn’t allowed to leave until Luke got her himself.

She hated the safe house.

“But you said-”

“Bambi,” Luke cut her off rather firmly, sending her a look which she knew meant that there were no arguments in this. She almost wanted to whine, to argue with Luke and tell him that he said this was going to be their weekend together, just them, no gang stuff, but now she wasn’t even going to get to see him at all this weekend, “I need to have a few low levels over to go over plans, and they’ll be over tomorrow which means we can’t let them know you’re here or that you exist. They still can’t fully be trusted yet, which means that they could be moles and I’m not putting you at risk for that.”

His speech was ended in a soft tone, looking down at her with a small amount of sadness for the girl. His hand comfortingly raked through her hair, piercing blue eyes looking at her but her eyes stay looking down. Slowly, without saying anything, she climbed off of his lap and started to retreat to their bedroom.

“Bambi? Where you goin, baby?” He called out, looking at the girl who stopped in her tracks, looking over her shoulder.

“I’m packing. That’s what you wanted me to do, was it not?”      

Not many words were exchanged afterward with the girl silently packing away every aspect of her life into two duffle bags. She wasn’t even allowed to properly live in her own house, no decorations, photos in frames, nothing. Everything she owned had to be easily removable so it looked like she didn’t even exist in her own home.

Luke watched her from the bedroom door, leaning against the frame coolly as he analyzed her movements. He knew she was frustrated, but she had to know he was doing this to protect her, she should have anyway. Rather harshly, she finally zipped up the duffle bags, throwing them over her shoulder and walking straight past Luke without acknowledging him.

He understood that she was frustrated, but was she really angry at him?

She was quickly at the door, grasping at the handle when Luke had snapped out of his thoughts, walking over to her quickly with ease, taking a grip on her arm.

“You okay?”

“Dandy,” She replied bluntly, looking away from the slightly concerned man, almost as if she was itching to get away from him. Normally, even if she wasn’t happy about being sent away to the safe house, she still gave him a goodbye kiss, but it appeared that he wasn’t going to get one of those tonight, “Gotta go. Wouldn’t want to keep Jacob waiting, would we?”

She walked out of the apartment without another word, but Luke’s eyes were on her retreating figure, “We’ll speak about this on Sunday, okay baby?”

He barely even seen the nod that she sent him before she disappeared down the hallway.

. . . “Please, Jacob,” She pleaded with the driver, with puppy eyes and everything but he tried his best to remain stony-faced. Jacob was the only driver that Luke trusted Bambi with, he had grown up with the boys too, childhood friends with Michael apparently, who Bambi had never even met before.

Jacob was the leading driver for the gang, one of the getaway drivers for bigger and more important heists or events, but normally he just got called in for private transport of any important members of the gang. He, as well as practically anyone who had ever met the girl, had a soft spot for her, and she knew that.

“You do realize if I take you there that I am directly disobeying orders of the leader of one of the biggest gangs in California?” He asked ridiculously, shaking his head with his hands placed firmly on the wheel.

“Jacob-”

“No,” He replied firmly, looking at the girl through the rearview mirror, seeing her begging eyes and sad face.

The man knew that everything was frustrating for the girl, especially when she had to get up and move out of her own house just so that Luke could host meetings and debriefings for the gang.

“Please, Jacob. I’m going to be cooped up in a safe house for three days without talking to anyone, at least let me go to Anna’s for a few hours. She’s been my best friend since I was three, she’s trustworthy.”

The black-haired man didn’t reply for several moments, and a frown fell onto the girl’s face before he started to signal off the highway. It was a familiar road, the one that she had taken many times before to her best friend’s house, and honestly, she had never been happier to see it. At least she would get some enjoyment this weekend.

“Thank you so much, Jacob, just tell me how I can repay you,” The girl said once she was out of the car, bouncing lightly in excitement while she stared at the man who was still inside the car.

He gave her a small smile, one that showed he knew how much appreciation she felt towards him before his eyes turned to the door behind her, “Just enjoy yourself and make sure he doesn’t fire me for this.”

“Consider it done.”

It was nice to see Anna again, it had been two weeks since their last meet up and they had both missed each other greatly. Anna was drinking alcohol, but the smaller girl wasn’t. It wasn’t like she was afraid of what Luke would say if she did, because she certainly wasn’t afraid of Luke, but even though she was angry she didn’t want to disappoint him.

Not that she had exactly abided by his rules anyway, considering she was with Anna right now instead of locked inside the safe house. The safe house had slowly become the girl’s own personal prison, it was bare, bland, and had nothing for her to entertain herself, and there was no company. That’s what she hated most about it, the lack of social interactions she could have while she was in there.

“-we were talking about the weather and shit right? Then he asked to see my tits! I was like are you being serious right now?” Anna rambled on, talking about another failed love interest that had been using her for her body. Anna never seemed to be lucky in the dating apartment of life, but she was a successful girl, and a beautiful one at that, she would get there. 

“Was he?”

Anna scoffed, taking another drink of her alcohol, “Yeah! He blocked me after I sent him pictures of minecraft chests and asked him what ones were his favourite.”

The smaller girl let out a laugh, looking at her best friend who had a sly grin on her face, trying to hide it with the glass in her hands. 

“Speaking of guys though, how’s Mr. Hemmings then?” Anna jokingly asked the girl, cocking an eyebrow with a smirk on her face, swaying to the music that was loudly playing in the background.

“He’s good, I mean he’s doing good,” The smaller girl quickly corrected herself before her dirty-minded friend could make a joke about their sex life or ask about it. Anna hummed lightly, still smug and still swaying to the music, “I was supposed to be going to the safe house, but I’m here instead, I don’t think he’s very happy.”

“Girl, you’ve been here for nearly two hours!” Anna cried out in shock, eyes wide at the clear defiance that the small girl had for her 6-foot-odd gang leader boyfriend.

“And?”

“He’s bound to know by now! He’s not going to bust through my doors with his gang and shoot the place down is he?”

The girl shrugged lazily in reply, letting some of her hair fall in front of her face as she smiled at her friend, “Yeah he does know, he’s been blowing up my phone for an hour and a half.”

Anna fell dramatically against the back of the couch, hand still tight around her glass of lemonade and pink gin. Her free hand was laying across her forehead with her eyes shut, “Oh please tell me you’ve replied.”

“Nope.”

“Oh come on, I really like my door, believe it or not, I don’t want him or any of his gang members kicking it down!” Anna cried out, giving her best friend a pout to which she just laughed lightly in response.

“He won’t knock your door down, he probably won’t even come. He’s too busy debriefing his gang to even spend time with me and instead shipped me out of the house. Why does he care whether it’s yours or the safe house?”

However, she couldn’t have been more wrong because less than ten minutes later they heard a roaring engine speeding down the road. Anna, who shared a quick look with the smaller girl, got up and looked out the window, seeing no other than Luke gets out of his very expensive sports car and towards the house, “Guess you were wrong.”

He threw the door open, thankfully not breaking it down, his eyes quickly landing on the small girl, grabbing her and pulling her off of the couch, planting her by his side. His grip was tight on either side of her hips, almost as if it was a warning to stay by his side and cooperate for once in her life.

“Anna,” His accented voice wrung through the room as he gave the blonde a curt nod. She waved back awkwardly, maybe too hazed by the alcohol in her system to stay anything intelligible back, and Luke seemed to realize this, “don’t stay up too late, get a good sleep, okay?”

“Aye captain, yes sir,” She saluted him back with a smile on her lips, almost diffusing the tension in the room but it was barely a second later where Luke’s grip retightened on his girlfriend’s hips.

“Okay, good night.” He bid her farewell, walking out of the house with his slightly anxious girlfriend behind him. It seemed as if suddenly she was filled with regret and guilt, especially after seeing how angry Luke was with her.

“It isn’t Jacob’s fault I-” She started when the door shut behind them, the cold wind of the night surrounding her.

“Don’t,” He spoke gruffly, turning around to look down at her with angry blue eyes before grabbing onto her wrist and dragging her over to his car.

Luke hadn’t even locked his car when he had rushed inside to Anna’s house, not that he would be too bothered anyway, it wasn’t like anyone was going to steal the gang leader’s car, especially not in this neighborhood. He didn’t speak another word to the girl as he took her around to her side of the car, letting her get in before he leaned over and strapped her in, closing the door without a single word and getting in his own side.

He started the car up and the only noise heard in the car was the engine as it roared to life and they began to speed down the street. His blond hair was messy, jaw ticking with his eyes glued to the road, never once straying to the girl in the passenger’s seat. Her eyes, however, never strayed from him, picking up every sign that he was furious with her. His posture was rigid, he was impatient, breathing loudly and not even acknowledging her existence beside her; he was seething.

She wasn’t sure if they arrived too fast or too slow to the safe house honestly. Luke still didn’t utter a word, getting out of the car and slamming the door behind him. She knew not to move already, she knew that Luke didn’t want her to move and honestly she didn’t want to aggravate him further.

True to her belief, Luke opened her car door, undoing her seatbelt before pulling her out of the car. His eyes didn’t stay on her as he stormed into the house, a tight grip on the smaller girl’s wrist. She tried to get his attention, for him to say anything to her as he entered the house but it appeared he wasn’t in the mood to talk.

The main room was still dark, but just the feeling of being in here makes her feel sick. She wasn’t overexaggerating when she said how much she hated the safe house. It felt as if she was defeated, back where she didn’t want to be, somewhere she hated, and with her boyfriend furious at her.

In the time that she had been thinking of how much she loathed the building she stood in, Luke had let go of her wrist and wordlessly made his way towards the front door again. The thought of him leaving her here, frustrated and alone all weekend made annoyance bubble in her stomach and before she can help herself she’s shouting over at him, “So that’s it? Are you just going to lock me in here and leave again?”

Luke stilled, but he doesn’t bother to reply or even look at his girlfriend, just standing there like a statue. She can’t find it in herself to regret the words that come out of her mouth, especially after she awaits the nonexistent reply, causing annoyance to bluster in her stomach. Her eyes roll and her arms flail slightly before they slap against her thighs with a low scoff falling out of her lips, “Typical.”

“Excuse me?” Luke turned around, his voice hard and powerful, one that would normally make her shake, make her look up at him with wide eyes unsure of what to say. Their eyes meet, his blue piercing into hers. He took a step forward, tilting his head slightly with an eyebrow raised, almost as if he’s encouraging her to repeat what she had said moments before, “What did you say, Bambi?”

Her mouth was agape as she stuttered lightly, any feeling of bravery that she had mere seconds ago fizzling away into nothingness. Her eyes darted from one of his eyes to the other, looking at the expectant and slightly smug face as he looked at the stuttering girl in front of him. She tried her best to find the right words to say but she had, ultimately, been rendered speechless.

“Come on, if you’re so big and brave, baby, why don’t you speak up a little? Tell me what you said.” He walked towards her until he’s right in front of her, chests barely ten centimeters apart. Two of his fingers make their way under her chin, pushing her face up until she had no other choice but to look him in the eye, holding her face in such a way that she can’t move easily.

Silence filled the room once more, simply with the two of them staring at one another. Luke stared down at her with a slight smugness and with her looking up at him still frozen almost. When he does talk next, he muttered quietly, almost condescendingly with anger trailing in his voice, “You ruined an important meeting tonight all because you couldn’t follow a simple instruction-”

“Well, believe it or not, I don’t like to be locked up in a house for days on end like a caged animal,” She doesn’t even register that she’s speaking until she’s finished, the words flowing out of her mouth cutting off Luke’s lecture.

“This house is to keep you safe,” His grip on her jaw doesn’t loosen at this point in time, blue eyes swimming with rage. In all of their time together, he doesn’t remember his Bambi giving him this much attitude or a time where she’s tried to argue with him like this. Sure, there were times where they had disagreements or times where there had been a little bit of attitude but he had quickly sorted that out.

“I was safe at Anna’s and I was happy. Isn’t that what you want? For me to be happy?” Her voice is quiet, bottom lip threatening to quiver. She hated how she cried whenever she got frustrated, and right now she’s barely holding back from her eyes becoming glassy. She’s frustrated and annoyed, but she doesn’t want to look like a baby right now, especially when this was her first fight with Luke.

“Don’t try and guilt trip me now, Bambi. It isn’t going to work tonight.”

“I hate it here! I hate constantly having to move into this stupid fucking house where I have nothing to do and no one to talk to! It doesn’t even fucking have wifi or anything! It’s dumb and all because you’re paranoid!” After she finished shouting, she ripped her head out of his hold, standing back and away from him, back coming in contact with the marble counter of the kitchen island.

Her arms are crossed over her chest, and as Luke processed her words, he shook his head. His next words are low, like it’s a warning, “Don’t shout at me like that.”

“I’m not-”

“Listen here, doll, because I’m only going to tell you this once,” Luke doesn’t even let her finish before he’s talking. His voice is forceful and strong, something he normally reserved for when his men do something stupid like ruin a drug run, “You don’t call the shots here, I do. I’m in a gang and there are a lot of people that would put a bullet in your pretty little skull just to get to me,” He pressed a finger against her temple, hard enough for her to feel the pressure but not enough for it to hurt her, “People die in this lifestyle and I send you here so it doesn’t happen to you. Don’t tell me that I’m paranoid because I’m trying to keep you safe.”

“I get it, I do-”

“Then why won’t you just do what I say?”

“Because I’m tired of being your secret.” She whispered, looking up at Luke’s blue eyes sadly, tears gathering in her own eyes. His head dipped a little, shifting his weight onto his hands which are on either side of her, trapping her against the kitchen’s island counter.

It took Luke a few seconds to finally muster up words, and just from his tone she can tell that he’s disappointed, maybe in himself, maybe because of how she thought of their relationship, “You aren’t my-”

“Then why have I never met Cal? O-Or Mikey? Why is the only time I’ve ever met Ashton an accident? And why do you constantly send me away even if it’s only people you trust going to be there? And-”

“Bambi,” Luke groaned lightly but got cut off straight away when the girl continued to rant, barely even realizing that he had tried to cut her off.

“This was supposed to be our weekend and you just sent me away. I was so excited to finally get a whole weekend of you to myself but no, I was shipped off to this shithole again-”

“This was all because you just wanted me to yourself?” Luke asked incredulously, an eyebrow raised at the girl whose eyes snapped up to meet his.

“That’s what you want, Bambi? You got it.” Luke said, his eyes staying on hers, never wavering as he commanded. He pushed back, hands off the counter and now standing at his full height, towering over her with his eyes never leaving hers, “Hands out. Now.”

“Luke what-”

Her eyes frantically search his face, eyebrows knitting together in confusion. She can feel her heart rate pick up, beating loudly in her chest.

“No, Bambi. You’ve done plenty talking tonight. No talking unless I ask you a question, got it?”

She nodded her head, gulping down the thickness in her throat as a thick leather wrapped around her wrists, constricting them. Her mouth parted slightly, she hadn’t even seen or heard Luke take off his belt, but now she can’t even part her hands anymore.

His head dropped to her neck and she can feel her stomach flutter simply by his breath fanning over the skin on her neck. His hand made its way up to the nape of her neck, grabbing a handful of hair and yanking on it so her neck is fully exposed to him, “You’ve me all to yourself tonight, Bambi. And you’re all mine.”

[takemealivelh]

midnight city || gang!luke

gang!luke, rival gangs, mentions of drugs, alcohol and violence. smut. 2k. part 1.

feedback is appreciated

he wiped the blood off his knuckles. the feeling of beating the shit out of someone is a rush of adrenaline. it’s like getting high on coke, but he doesn’t deal with that shit. he’s known many people who do hard drugs and then end up in trouble, or dead. he appreciates his life so much. luke likes being the leader of the diamond forsaken. a mafia that dedicates its time to drug transactions and occasionally prostitution. luke doesn’t fuck with that either, at least not recently. he met this girl in a bar and he’s been thinking about her for over a month. they’ve been on a few dates, and the sex has been great. she has a great sense of humor and he can tell she’s got street smarts, which he likes. he couldn’t fathom the idea of being with someone who gets scared about his job.

“you good, bro?” ashton, luke’s right-hand man, looks over at the bruises and leans against the sink of the bathroom, lighting a joint. their day is done and it’s time to go party. luke beat the shit out of a dude who didn’t give them their money and he threatened to go to the police. there was no way they would let him leave the storage unit without a warning. luke choked the man and broke a few ribs. he’s used to the job. it’s not like he was always like this. he used to have big dreams about forming a band and become a good musician. but he fell into the wrong crowds, and now here he is. dealing drugs and other sketchy businesses. everyone in la who knows about their mafia, knows not to fuck with them. they would end up dead. the police don’t do anything, they know how dangerous they are.

luke dries his hands with a paper towel and runs his fingers through his golden locks. “yeah,” he says. he’s never walked out of a fight with anything more than a few bruises. he does boxing on his free time, so he knows how to throw a lethal punch, and knows how to avoid poor kicks.

“i heard the grey lilies will be there tonight. i swear to fucking god those girls... i would bang every single one of them, but... you know...”

the grey lilies were a girl gang. they dealt drugs, too. that’s why they were a rival to the diamond forsaken. they never got into a physical fight, but there were many times they were about to. having the best clients was a problem for the male gang, but at least they had more people wanting their goods. but still, luke was pissed that they had a quality over quantity problem. he’d grown accustomed to the luxurious lifestyle. a good place to live, the most delicious takeout, and fancy cars. 

“for real?” luke looks over at his friend. he hides his excitement. sure, the grey lilies were trouble. but their top dealer, jackie, was the most fascinating creature he’d ever seen. their dates had been fun, exciting, thrilling. the idea of a secret hookup with their enemy was another rush of adrenaline. one that he actually preferred, if he was being honest.

- 

it’d all started at one of the parties. luke knew jackie, or at least he knew her face and what she did for a living. he was jealous she did so good with clients. she was charming as fuck. they didn’t mean to show up at the same place at the same time, but sometimes the gangs coincided. “did you get the dresnners?” she’d asked him as she took a seat on the stool next to him. her caramel-colored hair was in a ponytail and her eyeshadow was pastel blue. she wore ripped jeans, an oversized white t shirt, and high-heeled boots. the look suited her. she looked like the vocalist of an 80s inspired punk band.

luke scoffed. he knew what she meant. they had been fighting over the dressners for weeks and they decided to go with the grey lilies. that night, the diamond forsaken got blackout drunk. “no, but you did.” he finally said, looking down at the glass of vodka in his hand. 

“yeah,” she chuckled and ordered a beer. luke had always thought jackie was pretty interesting, but they’d never talked. not much, at least. just a few words here and there, mostly passive-aggressive shit. but the bickering was also part of the job. that night, though, that night neither felt like fighting. they were already buzzed. jackie took a swig of her beer and looked at him. “you wanna go outside? i got a joint. it’s legit shit, this.” she smiled.

it’s not like he frowned, but something among those lines happened. but fuck it, he thought. “sure. lead the way.”

they went to the terrace of the bar and lit up the joint. luke coughed a little and she laughed.  “i told you it was legit.”

-

luke and ashton walk into the club like the kings they are. everyone stops to look at them. but shortly, they resume their activities. which mostly consists of getting drunk and high. the two men make their way towards their usual booth. michael and calum are already there. calum’s with his girl. a black beauty who gives incredible head, his words. luke takes a seat and drinks the beer in front of him, swiftly drifting off the conversation to look around. he hasn’t seen the grey lilies, but he hopes they get here soon. bathroom sex sounds good right now.

“how was the guy?” michael asks as he throws a couple of fries into his mouth. ashton tells him that luke did a good job in silencing the motherfucker. “three ribs? man, that’s dark. but cool.” he laughs.

everyone seems to stop talking again, and luke shifts his gaze towards the door. the grey lilies have arrived. they look like a grunge band. their leader, lea, wears combat boots and net tights. but his eyes are focused on the girl whose moans keeps him up at night.  she looks gorgeous in that oversized that jacket that seems to swallow her whole, but still barely covers her ass. he wonders if he looks okay, sexy. he didn’t have time to change, and he hasn’t shaved in a few days. his motorcycle jacket has a few stains, but at least they’re not blood.

jackie finds him staring and she puts on a smirk. she pats the pocket of her jacket to let him know that she’s got weed on her. they rarely ever not get high together. that makes her wonder if this, this between luke and her, is just a side effect of the drug. but she doubts it. she actually likes him, even if she despises his friends. they all seem idiotic to her. luke notices the action of her hand and he immediately looks down at his drink. “imma go to the bathroom.” he announces, even though no one is hearing. they’re too into the story about the miami trip calum and his girl took last weekend.

luke stands up from the booth and snakes through the crowd. he catches a glimpse of jackie, who’s making her way towards her regular booth. “meet me outside in five,” he texts her. he watches her check her phone and smile down at the screen. 

-

“they’re gonna kill us if they see us together,” jackie says as she pulls out the joint from her pocket. she knows the grey lilies hate the diamond forsaken. they think the other gang are all egocentric assholes. she used to think that, too. but she met luke. and he’s actually a sweet guy. he’s really smart, too. the strategy they use to get more clients astounds her. but it’s nice to know that the grey lilies have the better clients.

luke watches her light up the joint and he leans against the wall outside of the club. it’s dark outside and the air is cold. there aren’t many people in the terrace, but he doubts anyone will say anything about them being together. getting high together. “then we’re just gonna have to keep it a secret.” his smile is shy, and jackie thinks he’s the most adorable man. even if he has bruises on his knuckles from probably beating up some shady guy. she passes the joint and luke takes a drag. “you wanna come to my place later? i got some cds i wanna show you.” they’re both big music nerds, and he loves that. they sit on the floor of his room, high out of their minds, and they listen to oasis, jane’s addiction and red hot chili peppers. 

“i don’t know. lea wants to do some kind of after party tonight. and i kinda want to be there.”

luke nods his head, he’s sort of disappointed, but it is what it is. he knows the gangs come first. it’s all about loyalty. that’s why he’d be fucked if anyone of the diamond forsaken members came out right now. but he knows they don’t smoke, except for calum occasionally -rarely, actually. so he’s not worried. 

“come here,” jackie smiles as she plays with the zipper of his jacket. they’re incredibly close and she can feel the smoke coming out from luke’s mouth. she kisses him softly, licking his bottom lip. with eyes closed, luke feels stars bursting inside his lungs. he really likes her. “give me that,” she orders and he hands her the joint.

they keep smoking until there’s nothing left and they stare into each other’s eyes. jackie isn’t one to maintain eye contact, but she feels safe with luke. even if he’s forbidden fruit.

-

the men's bathroom is empty. they had to sneak in so the others couldn’t see them. luke made an excuse about going to the bar to get more drinks even if the counter was crammed. jackie said she was going out for a smoke. it’s all hands and sloppy kisses as they lock the door of one of the stalls. luke bites his lower lip as his back is pressed to the white door and jackie drops to her knees. “you gonna make me feel good?”

“imma make you feel so good, baby,” she grins and unzips his pants. he’s already hard from all the making out in the terrace. so it’s not surprise that his cock springs up as soon as his briefs are pulled down to his thighs. jackie licks the tip and he shudders. he’s gotten a fair amount of blowjobs in his life. the first one from one girl that attended his school and she thought he was going to be a musician one day. but nothing compares to jackie’s mouth. her tongue slides down his length and he closes his eyes, letting out a shaky breath. she’s ecstatic that she can make him squirm in front of her. she likes being in control, even if it doesn’t always happen. luke can be pretty dominant in the bedroom. taking her from behind roughly and choking her. jackie puts his cock in her mouth and she starts bobbing her head to the rhythm of the loud bass coming from the other side of the bathroom door. luke appreciates the little detail. his senses are heightened and it feels like she’s one more instrument adding to the song.

“fuck,” he curses under his breath as he feels the tip of his dick hit her throat. she takes him in so good. she’s an angel. luke looks down and he sees her eyes staring up at him, a subtle smirk on her lips. “you’re- you’re-” he’s trying to say something but his brain doesn’t work. the pleasure is too intense. he hits his head against the door and closes his eyes once again. he’s about to cum. exactly at the same time he hears someone come into the bathroom. fuck. “stop, stop,” he whispers to jackie and cups her face to get her off his dick. she looks through the slit of the door and sees someone she recognizes washing their hands.

“shit,” she mouths. “michael.”

-

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[encyclopika]

Animal Crossing Fish - Explained #199

Brought to you by a marine biologist and yet another moray...

CLICK HERE FOR THE AC FISH EXPLAINED MASTERPOST!

Yes. Again. Animal Crossing has quite a few true eels in its lineup, including 2 garden eels, a freshwater variety eel, and mostly species from Muraenidae, the moray eels, such as the Ribbon eel, Kidako moray, and Zebra moray. And, I get it. Moray eels are quite striking and diverse, with about 200 species. Today’s fish is the White Ribbon Eel, or Ghost Ribbon Eel.

This fish appeared in Pocket Camp in January of 2022 for Fishing Tourney 46, which was all about ice, because winter. Now, I get wanting to include white fish for such an event, and that clearly matters more to ACPC than being true to the real animal. White Ribbon Eels live in the tropical and warm-temperate parts of the Indo-Pacific, typically among coral. So, like, not ice.

Despite the name, it’s not as closely related to the ACNH Ribbon Eel as one might suspect, in that, they belong to two different genus. You can tell in the face - the White Ribbon has more of the rounder, blunt face than the (blue) Ribbon Eel. It’s actually in its very own genus all by itself, its binomial name being Pseudechidna brummeri . Like all morays, this animal is carnivorous, eating crustaceans and small fish it is able to chase into small crevices thanks to its long, thin body.

Now, it’s pretty interesting to see many different fish species converge on this elongated body plan. For that, humans established what eels are and then call anything that looks this way an “eel” when they aren’t. As I’ve explained a bunch of time, only the fish in Anguilliformes are the true eels - everyone else is a poser. For example, the cusk eel is actually a Gadiform, so related to cod and not eels. Famously, the electric eel is named so when it’s actually a knifefish. The list goes on, but this body plan remains a very good tool to have when you live in a habitat with a lot of structure - like coral reefs, rocky bottom, flooded forests, etc. - and your food thinks it can hide within those crevices. For a lot of predators, that’s a huge problem, but not for eels. 

So, how do they get this elongated body? There are two major ways for vertebrates. One way is to make the vertebrae themselves longer, so you don’t increase the number of vertebrae at all. This is the case with a giraffe neck - they have the same number of neck vertebrae as we humans do - 7 - but they’re stretched out. Another way to do it is to just add vertebrae to the column, which is what eels have done, but they actually did it in 3 different ways! An eel can add vertebrae either to its precaudal area (general body), caudal area (tail), or both equally. Anguilliformes does it all three ways in its three major groups - the snake eels, moray eels (like today’s fish), and conger eels (like our garden eels), respectively. Which means moray eels have longer tails than their cousins, and you’d never know it because they’re so damn good at being long and skinny.

If you wanna read more about elongation in eels, read this journal article I found when researching for this entry!

And there you have it! Fascinating stuff, no?  

[quickspinner]

Snake in the Silk

Written for the @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers Sprint Challenge, using the @mlweeklyprompts Next Door Neighbors. The fic is supposed to be 45 minutes plus "editing," but I kind of doubled the length in editing, so...oops.

I received a lot of prompts for my 500 follower celebration that I never used (although I did end up writing a surprising number of them eventually, when I looked at the list), and I was sharing them with the sprint server as possible future prompts. One of them involved Luka getting an exotic pet, which collided with the neighbors thing in my brain, and thus this fic was born.

As always the irrepressible Dingo King belongs to Verfound, who's kind enough to let me use him.

Rated T, mostly for innuendo and language 

Find it on AO3

“I hate you,” Luka fumed, keeping the phone pressed to his face as he kicked his door shut behind him. “I hate you so much right now.”

“Not true,” Dingo said cheerfully over the phone.

“I’m serious, you jackass, I can’t trust you with anything!” Luka threw his bag in the corner with probably more force than he should have, and then winced. He set his guitar case down more carefully. 

“Also not true,” Dingo said, a little sheepishly this time. “Buuuuuuut I’ll grant that maybe you shouldn’t have trusted me with this.”

“I didn’t have a choice,” Luka snapped as he stomped through his apartment. “Juleka was with me, and Evan’s a freaking pansy, and—” Luka stopped dead and sighed as he stared at the empty cabinet—the cabinet he had personally, carefully refurbished and remodeled to be as escape-proof as possible. Not that any of that did any good, with the door sitting ajar. Luka swore and only barely resisted the urge to kick something. “If anything happens to him,” Luka warned his best friend, “I will murder you, do you hear me?” 

“Fair,” Dingo sighed. “Look, Lu, I seriously am sorry, and I would never have left except I had to work, and as soon as I can find an excuse to bail I’ll—”

“No,” Luka gritted out. “No, it won’t matter if you’re here or not. Don’t lose your job over it. I’ll figure something out.” 

“It’ll work out, Lu. That stupid snake adores you, he won’t stay gone for long.”  

Luka made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat and grit his teeth around the things he wanted to say. “I gotta go,” he finally managed to grind out. “I’ll deal with you later.”

“Right.” Dingo laughed nervously. “I’ll bring takeout and beer and then we’ll turn your place upside down looking for the little bugger.” 

Luka hung up without saying anything else, and jammed his phone in his pocket. He put his face in his hands and screamed quietly, then dragged his hands down his face and surveyed the empty enclosure again—as if Sass were just going to show up and slither right up his favorite branch and flick his tongue out like ‘Sup . 

Okay, he needed to think. It wasn’t the first time Sass had taken a little pleasure jaunt. Think. How many places could a four-foot corn snake find to hide in a small apartment like this? Luka didn’t even have that much stuff, so he shouldn’t be that hard to find.

If he was even still in the apartment. Luka swallowed hard. That had never been much of a worry on the Liberty, since while there were about a billion little crannies that a snake could crawl into, most of them were unpleasant for a cold-blooded reptile, and at least he couldn’t escape the ship entirely. But here, who knew? And this was the first time he’d escaped since Luka had moved into the apartment, so Luka didn’t know what his favorite places were likely to be, and— 

And standing here panicking was not doing anything to find his beloved pet. For all that Sass was a little shit of an escape artist, Luka had raised him for years and he loved the quirky little snake and his stupid little snakey face with those bright black eyes and— 

“Come on, Sass,” Luka muttered, looking around helplessly. “Don’t do this to me.”

Okay. First things first. Luka swung the front of the cabinet open wide, so that if Sass did decide he preferred his (very comfortable, Luka thought with a little pout, he had done a lot of work to make sure it was) home to whatever random, dusty corner he’d managed to find, he could get back in. Probably if nothing else, Sass would come back when he was hungry, if…

Luka sighed, and took Sass’s little pool out of the bottom of the enclosure to dump it out and refill it with fresh water. He made sure the heating mat was at the right temperature, and checked under the substrate and poked around among the various hides—damnit, he’d worked so hard to make this habitat, and that stupid, ungrateful little—

A muffled but clearly audible scream broke into his thoughts, and Luka froze. There was a second, yelping shriek— from the apartment next door, he suddenly realized, and he ran for his apartment door, knocking over his guitar case in his haste to get it opened. 

He’d barely had time to turn from his door to the next door down when it burst open and a young woman stumbled out of it, eyes wide in panic. She collided with Luka and he grabbed her arms on instinct. 

“Are you okay?” he asked stupidly, as she looked up at him. 

“I—there was—” she panted, clearly still panicked. “A snake in my panties!” 

Luka stared at her for a moment, uncomprehending as he took in big blue eyes, pink cheeks, and a soft mouth that was opening and closing without saying anything, and then she balled her hands into fists and closed her eyes and shrieked, “There’s a huge snake in my underwear drawer!” 

Understanding hit him like a lightning bolt. “Oh thank God,” Luka sighed, and the young woman gaped at him as he moved her aside and went into her apartment. 

“Wait, what are you—” she spluttered. “Where are you going? Hey!” 

Luka halted about four steps into the apartment, abruptly realizing that he didn’t know where he was going, and she crashed into his back in her rush to follow him.

  “Sorry,” Luka said, turning and holding his hands up placatingly. “Sorry, it’s just—my friend was watching my flat, and he let my pet snake out and I’ve been frantic to—find...him…” It struck him all at once that the young woman currently staring at him had wet black hair hanging around her shoulders, and a red and black polka-dotted silk robe wrapped haphazardly around her very nice body. It was still sticking to her in places and he suddenly felt like his tongue was glued to the roof of his mouth.

“That thing is yours?” she demanded, pushing her wet hair back and gripping her robe more tightly closed with the other hand. “I don’t know whether I’m mad at you or just relieved the whole building isn’t...infested or something.” She looked around nervously. “So there’s no more? Just the one?”  

“No,” Luka laughed, burying the fingers of one hand in his hair. “No, no, no infestation, just one irresponsible best friend and my freaking Houdini-wanna-be pet snake. I’m so, so sorry he scared you, but if you show me where he is, I’ll get him out of here and you can get—uh, get on with your day, um….Miss.” 

“Marinette,” she sighed, tugging the robe around herself a little self-consciously, her cheeks turning an attractive pink. Shit, she was cute, and this was really awkward. Ugh, Luka was going to kill Dingo, and maybe Sass too for good measure. 

“Luka,” he said, offering his hand. “I live next door and I promise I don’t let my snake out all willy-nilly.” 

Marinette snorted and covered her mouth with one hand as Luka blinked at her, feeling his face slowly turning red. “I can’t believe I just said that,” he muttered under his breath, and Marinette laughed aloud.  

“Come on,” she giggled. “This way. Um, watch your step...I’m still getting unpacked and all and...okay that’s a lie, it’s always this messy, but it’s organized, I swear—”

“Hey, I’m not gonna judge your housekeeping choices, trust me,” Luka told her absently as he followed her down the short hall. “I don’t think I’m in any position to judge you at all, given the situation. Even if I did that kind of thing. Judge people, I mean. I—I don’t, or I try not to, at least—” He paused and took a deep breath, trying not to let it out as a frustrated sigh.   

Marinette pushed open a door and edged into the room—her bedroom, it was immediately obvious. She stayed pressed up against the wall. “It’s, um, over there,” she said, pointing to a pink and black chest of drawers, the top drawer of which was hanging open. “I just opened the drawer and there it was and I—” She fluttered her hands. 

Luka went over to the drawer and surveyed the contents. “I don’t see him,” he sighed. 

“What?” Marinette’s voice jumped several octaves. 

“It’s okay, he probably just—” Luka reached out, and stopped just before he touched anything, hand hovering over the rumpled pile of silk and lace in the drawer.  “Uh…” Luka looked back at Marinette. “I mean, do you mind if I…” he gestured weekly at the drawer full of underthings. “See if he’s underneath this stuff?” 

“Oh,” Marinette blushed again, but waved a dismissive hand, shifting nervously. “Go ahead. Do what you need to do. I just want you to find it.” She cracked a small smile. “Thanks for checking, though.”  

“Sure,” Luka grunted, carefully lifting a pair of lace edge panties from the top of what had probably been a neat pile before Sass decided to rummage it into a nest. He shifted things aside carefully, trying not to look too hard at any of it. “Come on, you little shit,” he muttered. “You’re killing me here.” 

“Um, could you actually, uh...maybe hand me a pair of those?” Marinette said, and Luka glanced back at her in some surprise. She was still pressed back against the wall and her face was red again, and she was clutching her robe tight around her, fingering her wet hair as she fidgeted— oh . 

“Oh, yeah, uh...any particular...color?” he asked weakly. She seemed like the kind of girl who liked to match. Which was such a weird thing to be thinking right now. He was definitely going to kill Dingo. Slowly . Maybe feed important bits of him to Sass before he murdered his beloved pet, too. 

“Anything’s fine,” Marinette replied, with a slightly hysterical sounding laugh. 

Luka lifted another pair, trying not to think too hard about which pair he grabbed and what it might say about him. He tossed the panties to her, and then quickly turned back to the drawer.

“I’m just gonna step outside for a minute,” Marinette muttered, and Luka swallowed as he heard her bare feet pad away. 

“This is the weirdest fucking day,” he muttered under his breath, carefully moving more underthings aside and trying not too hard to think about what other kinds of things a lady might keep in her underwear drawer. Ugh, why did the damn drawer have to be so deep—wait, was that—

Luka picked up a distractingly pretty blue pair decorated with black ribbons, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the familiar tip of Sass’s tail sticking out. “Got you, you little shit.” 

“You found him?” Marinette said behind him, and Luka jumped. She was wearing shorts and a t-shirt now, and she’d pulled her wet hair back into a ponytail. She stood on tiptoe to look around him, though she still kept back behind him. 

“Yeah, now I just have to get around to his head and get him out without spooking him,” Luka said, reaching into the drawer again. “The last thing I want is him musking all over your things because I grabbed him too quickly and startled him.” 

Marinette wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know what that means, but it sounds gross.” 

“Trust me, it is,” Luka said, removing another pair of Marinette’s underwear and adding it to the pile he’d been making on top of the dresser. “I am really, really sorry about this. I shouldn’t have trusted Ding—my friend. He’s got a good heart but he’s a little loose on details.” In the drawer, Sass shifted, and lifted his head, tongue flicking out curiously, a pair of teal, scale-patterned panties draped over his head. Luka bit back a laugh. “Hey, buddy,” he murmured, moving his fingers near Sass. Sass’s tongue flickered once, and then again, scenting, and then he moved forward, sliding out from under the pile of panties to glide onto Luka’s hand. “There we go.” Luka brought his other hand forward to move under Sass’s body, and finally, carefully, lifted the pile of snake out of Marinette’s underwear drawer. Far from looking stressed, Sass seemed as relaxed and laid back as ever, gathering his nearly four-foot length into Luka’s hands like nothing was amiss. It kind of made Luka want to shake him, but that would have been really dumb, so he didn’t. He sighed with relief instead, feeling his shoulders go slack as Sass poked his head up towards Luka’s elbow. 

“I wasn’t imagining it,” Marinette murmured, keeping behind him, but still leaning on his arm to peep curiously around him at Sass. “He really was that big.” 

“He’s pretty near his full growth,” Luka agreed, and lifted Sass up to eye level. “Which is why I built you that nice, big habitat and made it so comfortable, so that you had room to be you. I can’t believe you just bailed on it.” Sass swayed forward, bumping his snout against Luka’s face. “Yeah, it’s me, you little dummy.” 

“Does he bite?” Marinette asked, and Luka snorted softly, moving his hands to keep the snake supported as Sass began to slither up his arm. 

“Not usually. Sometimes he bites me just to make a point, but not enough to hurt,” Luka told her, “For the most part he’s well socialized, and friendly. Really, he’s harmless to anything much bigger than a rat. I promise, you were never in any danger from him. I’m sorry he gave you such a scare, though.”

“Can I...can I touch him?” Marinette asked, as Sass slithered across Luka’s shoulder and extended his head out a bit, tongue flickering. Luka grinned at her.

“Yeah, sure. Here, let’s just...” He backed up a step and sat down on the edge of Marinette’s bed, then reached up and took Sass off his shoulders to gather him between his hands again. Apparently no longer inclined to stay put after his little panty-nest nap, Sass began to slide up his arm again as Marinette set down next to him. She reached out a tentative finger to stroke Sass’s body as the snake moved up towards Luka’s shoulder. “Oooh, that’s so weird,” she said, but she was grinning, and Luka chuckled. 

“I’ve had him since he was a baby about the size of my hand,” Luka told her, closing one eye as Sass poked his snout into Luka’s cheek. “I was freaking out, thinking that I’d lost him. I’m sorry we interrupted your day, but I’m grateful you found him, and didn’t hurt him.” 

“Hurt him ,” Marinette laughed. “ He just about gave me a heart attack. I just moved in, you know, and—well, I’d seen a mouse a couple of times so I was already a bit jumpy, and then I saw that and suddenly I was sure the whole place was crawling with pests. Which was maybe a dumb thing to think, but I...it’s my first time living on my own and I guess I’m a little paranoid.” She shrank a little, reaching up to tug at her still-dripping ponytail. 

“I don’t think there’s any reasonable reaction to finding a snake in your...er, unmentionables.” Luka coughed as Marinette snickered.

“Unmentionables,” she snickered. “You sound like an old man.” 

Luka laughed with her, only a little self-consciously. “I, um... don’t think you’re going to have a mouse problem anymore,” he commented, stroking a swollen place in Sass’s belly. “I guess that’s why Sass ended up here. He probably smelled it.”

Marinette eyed the lump in Sass’s otherwise sleek form with a conflicted expression, but she only sighed. 

“If it’s any consolation, I’ve been here a few months and I haven’t had any pest problems,” Luka continued.

“I don’t guess you would,” Marinette laughed, looking at Sass. “They can probably smell him and stay away. Maybe I should borrow him sometimes.”

“Well, clearly I could use a better babysitter,” Luka chuckled. “So if you’re interested, we can definitely work something out.” He turned his head to look at Sass, who was draped along his shoulders again. “No more hunting, though. That mouse could have messed you up, you little jerk.”

Sass yawned, tongue flickering, and then stuck his head down the collar of Luka’s shirt. Luka rolled his eyes. “I should let you get back to your day,” he said, standing up. “And I should get this guy back into his cage.” Sass slid further into Luka’s shirt, and then reversed course, his head peeping back out. “What are you even doing right now?” Luka asked him. “Missing your heat rock?” 

Marinette giggled. “He’s kind of cute, actually. He’s very pretty, with those markings...wait, is that him?” She caught the edge of Luka’s sleeve, lifting it slightly to reveal the top of the tattoo on his upper arm. 

“Yeah,” Luka grinned, shifting so she could see it better. “I love that one. They made him look amazing.” 

“They really did,” Marinette said admiringly, and then her eyes widened slightly and she dropped his sleeve, moving back as her face reddened. “Um, sorry.” 

“No worries,” Luka chuckled. She was really adorable, and sweet when she wasn’t screaming. She’d certainly warmed up to Sass quick enough, too, so he gave her points for courage and open-mindedness. 

“Well, it was very nice to meet you, Sass,” Marinette said to the snake, bending down slightly to be eye to eye with him. “Next time I’d appreciate it if you’d wait for an invitation, though.” 

Sass slid up and away from Luka, stretching out toward Marinette as if planning to explore her shoulders next, but Luka put a hand under him and lifted away. “None of that, Casanova,” he told the snake, redirecting Sass back to his own shoulder. “Let’s get you home.” 

Marinette walked them to the door, and when she opened it, Luka paused on the doorstep. “Um, thanks again for being so understanding,” he said, trying not to stare at her too intently. “I’m glad to have met you, Marinette. If you ever need anything, well.” He gestured vaguely. “I’m right next door, and I owe you.” 

Marinette smiled at him, pink tinging her cheeks, and his stomach did a little flip. “Thanks, Luka. I’m glad to meet you too. I’m sure I’ll see you around.” 

“Yeah, definitely,” Luka smiled back, and then practically fled back to his own door. “See you.” 

She gave him a little wave before closing her door, and he was grinning widely when he opened his own. 

He took Sass straight back to his enclosure, and Sass eagerly slid from his hands, beelining for his favorite warming spot. “I’m really mad at you,” Luka told him. “I was worried. I’m definitely still killing Dingo.” He couldn’t keep his face stern, though, a smile twitching his mouth. “I might owe you big time, though. That was a hell of an icebreaker.” Luka sighed, and shut the enclosure, making sure it was securely latched. 

He went back to the door where he’d dumped his bags, and picked up his guitar case, leaving the suitcases where they were for now. He got out his guitar and settled down on the couch with a sigh. 

He lost track of how long he’d sat there, playing a soft tune that reminded him of blue eyes and giggles and silk. When his phone buzzed in his pocket and brought him back to himself, he could see sunset colors through the window. 

“Oi, mate,” Dingo said when Luka picked up the phone. “I finally escaped—ooh, poor choice of words...I mean I’m off work now. I’ll grab some takeout and meet you at your place so we can—”

“I found him,” Luka interrupted, wincing a little. He probably should have texted Dingo hours ago to let him know. 

Oh well, the bastard deserved it.

“You did?” Dingo repeated, obviously relieved. “Yes. Good. Okay. Welp, cancel that then—”

“Oh, no,” Luka interrupted him. “You’re not getting out of bringing me dinner. I still need to kick your ass.”

“Not exactly incentivizing, mate.” Dingo sighed. “You want your usual?’ 

“Actually,” Luka said, thinking fast. “I’ll text you my order in a minute.” He hung up before Dingo could protest, stuck his phone in his pocket, and went out the front door.

“This is stupid,” he muttered to himself, rubbing his palms on his jeans before he knocked on Marinette’s door. 

She opened the door and her curious expression morphed into a smile. “Luka.” She was fully dressed now and made up to boot, and just as cute as he remembered. 

“Hey,” he managed to get out, and hoped his smile didn’t look too manic. “Um, my asshole best friend is bringing me takeout to make up for being a dummy, and I’d really like to buy you dinner to make up for earlier.” 

“Oh,” Marinette’s expression shifted into uncertainty, and she bit her lip. “I’d hate to intrude…” 

“If you’d rather, I can just bring your food over when it gets here,” Luka offered. “But you definitely wouldn’t be intruding, I’d love for you to join us. Totally your call, though. You don’t even have to decide now. Do you like Thai?” He pulled out his phone to show her the menu.

“I love Thai,” she admitted shyly, taking the phone he offered her. “Um...but you really don’t have to…” 

“I want to,” he told her sincerely, and the smile she turned up at him made his heart rate kick up a few beats. 

“Okay,” she said, and he nearly stopped breathing as she pulled up his contacts. “How about I just add my number and you can text me when he gets here, and...I’ll come over for a little bit, if you guys really don’t mind.”

“Y-yes, yeah, definitely, go ahead,” he said quickly. 

Smiling to herself, Marinette did just that, and then sent herself a text before she handed him back the phone. “I’ll text you my order, it’s a little complicated,” she told him, “and then I guess I’ll see you in a little bit.” 

“Yeah,” Luka smiled at her. “Looking forward to it. I’ll text you in a bit.” 

He managed to make it back into his own apartment without cracking, and then he had a (very quiet, since she was still next door) freakout in his living room as he texted Dingo both of their orders and hit send. He found himself in front of Sass’s cage, trying to slow his pulse with some deep breathing. Sass was looking right through the glass at him, and if Luka didn’t know better, he’d have thought the little bastard looked smug. 

“I’m still mad at you,” Luka insisted, but the grin splitting his face probably wasn’t very convincing. “Don’t look at me like that.” He sighed. “Dingo’s never going to let me hear the end of this. If she’ll even speak to me ever again after she meets him.” 

Well. That was a problem for future Luka. Present Luka just got the number for the hot girl next door, and she thought his snake was cute, and—

“Yeah, this dinner with Dingo is going to be a disaster,” he laughed helplessly, flinging himself down on the couch. 

[astxroiid]

What It’s Like

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ ･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Fandom: YouTube

Pairing: Ethan Nestor x Reader

Word Count: 1,623

Warnings: a short moment of angst, crying,

Summary: Y/N invites Ethan, her roommate, to come play Mario Kart and eat takeout with her after his Twitch stream.

Author’s Note: This is just a quick little thing I thought about the last night! Am I procrastinating to keep from writing those series? Yes. Yes I am. [thank you @soft-haas16 for proof reading and giving me feedback! Ur the best <3]

Tags: @bigdickdaddysatan , @staxryskxes , @soft-haas16 , @cas-loves-pizza

Masterlist // Read Before Requesting

(GIF NOT MINE)

Ethan sat in his gaming chair in front of his monitors spinning side to side as he read the chat that was gliding up one of his screens.

“Spidie-cents, thank you for the bits!” He calls, eyes still following the words coming in.

He’d had an average day, nothing too outstanding and interesting about it. So why not spice things up with a surprise stream?

“When am I playing Among Us again? I don’t know. Hopefully sometime soon. I’ve been trying to get a lobby going with Seán, Corpse, Chris, and the rest of the usual bunch.”

He takes a sip of his water and checks his phone real quick. Nothing. He sighs and sets it back on the table, looking up at the chat.

“Are me and Y/N dating?” 

Ethan becomes visibly uncomfortable at the question. “Uh, no. We just live together. Not dating.”

Chat goes wild, teasing him and asking a thousand more questions.

Ethan struggles with reading while the chat is going so fast. Only making out different ship names and heart emotes.

“Guys. Guys. Calm down. I can’t read chat.”

There’s a soft knock on his recording room door. “Yeah?” Ethan calls out. You step in, looking slightly shy and nervous. The stream can’t see you, which your thankful for. But they can see the way Ethan is looking at you. Smiling with loving eyes and excitement running through him.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Oh, am I interrupting?” You ask, concerned.

“Oh. No, your fine. What do you need?” He reassures

“Well, I was gonna see if - when your stream ends - you would want to come play some Mario Kart with me? And maybe order some takeout?” You’re fidgeting with your hands, trying to maintain eye contact.

Ethan smiles warmly and nods enthusiastically. “Yes! Totally. I’m ending my stream in about an hour,” he checks his phone for the time, “is that okay?”

You grin. “It’s perfect. Thank you. I can’t wait.”

Ethan expresses the same feelings before you both say goodbye and you leave the room, giddily preparing to order food.

✩ ✩ ✩

Ethan comes downstairs after his stream, excited for a game night with you.

You’re sitting on the couch, scrolling through your phone. You’re wearing a pair of dark grey sweatpants that you might or might not have stolen from Ethan, a black spaghetti strap shirt, and a silver chain necklace Ethan had gotten you for your birthday last year.

He smiles at the memory of you opening the box he’d been holding behind his back, gasping and giggling and completely at a loss for words.

You struggled for a few minutes trying to find a way and thank him for such a beautiful piece of jewelry.

You look up from your phone and smile wide. “Hey,” you greet, “whatcha smiling about?”

Ethan looks into your eyes. “Nothing, just thinking about your birthday present I got you.”

You absentmindedly reach for the chain resting on your chest and play with it, smiling.

“Thank you, again.”

He shakes his head, grinning, and saunters over to the couch. Ethan flops down beside you, placing his arm behind your shoulders on the back of the couch.

He slides down slightly, spreading his knees and rubbing a thumb on your shoulder bone opposite him.

Chills cover your body at every little gesture Ethan does. Especially the way his arm is around you and his thigh is pressed flat against yours. Your cheeks heat up and you pretend to focus on your phone.

“U-uh the food should be here soon. In ten minutes maybe,” you look over at Ethan.

He looks back at you, a goofy smile on his face. “Nice,” he squeezes your body against his with his arm and rests the side of his head on top of yours.

You start to get ready for a round of Mario Kart, choosing your characters and load outs and then moving on to which cup you should play.

“What cup do you wanna play?” You look over to Ethan.

“Well, I believe there’s only one good answer - the greatest cup out of the entire game.”

“The Star Cup.”

“The Bell Cup.”

You both blurt at the same time.

“What?” You ask incredulously.

“Star Cup?!” Ethan looks at you, shocked.

“What do you mean ‘Star Cup’? It’s the best one! It’s got Dolphin Shoals - which is hands down the best map in the game, Mount Wario, and Sunshine Airport. That’s the big three all in one cup!” You flop your hand to your thighs for dramatic effect.

“No. No. No. No. See, I hate to break it to you - but that’s where you’re wrong.”

You raise a questioning eyebrow and cross your arms over your chest.

“The best map on the game is Wild Woods, but the rest of the maps on the Crossing Cup suck. So that leaves Ribbon Road, Super Bell Subway, and Big Blue which are a trifecta of greatness.”

You shake your head. Before you can retort - there’s a knock on the door. The food has arrived. You thank the delivery person and grab the food, taking it to the living room and sorting out your’s and Ethan’s food.

“At least we can agree that Bowser’s Castle is the absolute worst,” you say, setting Ethan’s box in front of him. He nods his head, agreeing.

“Yes. Definitely.”

You both decide on Ethan’s Bell Cup first, eating your food and goofing the whole time.

✩ ✩ ✩

Halfway through the night Ethan realizes that he’s losing. In a desperate attempt to redeem himself; he snakes an arm around you and begins to tickle your side.

You jolt upward, almost throwing your controller while trying to fight him off.

“E-Ethan!” You cackle. “St-op!”

While you’re distracted, Ethan manages to send a blue shell your way and slowly crawl his way up to first.

You press the pause button and catch your breath. You both set your controllers on the coffee table and look at each other.

You’re panting and smiling at the goofy man next to you. “That... was so... unfair,” you accuse breathlessly.

“You never told me to play fair,” Ethan states like the five year old he is, smiling like a dork.

You roll your eyes and get up to throw your box of food away. Before you can get to it, there’s a hand gently in yours, pulling you towards him.

You crash into Ethan’s lap, giggling. “Lemme put my food in the trash,” you look up at him.

“In a minute,” Ethan looks down at you, pulling you closer to his chest - hugging you. You bury your face into his shirt, inhaling his scent. Your body relaxes into him and you smile to yourself.

This is all you could ever want in life. You and Ethan, holding each other, at peace. Then reality sets in. And you realize that you couldn’t be truly happy like this. Just friends.

All this is - is one friend holding another friend. And that’s all it’ll ever be. No ‘I love You’s. No kisses. No holding each other in bed every night. Just friends being friends.

You feel tears welling in your eyes and you try and hold them back but before you can Ethan pulls back to look at your face, smiling.

His face falls at the sight of yours, being replaced by fear and concern.

“Hey. Hey, what’s wrong? Did I do something?” He grabs your face, looking into your eyes.

A tear slips down your cheek and you shake you head but Ethan knows better. “No. Talk to me. What’s wrong?” He asks again.

You take a deep breath and move his hands from your face. “I—” you start but decide against it. Having no idea how to tell him. And do you really want to ruin your friendship?

Ethan’s eyes plead with you and there’s no way you can refuse him.

“It’s just,” you take a deep breath. “I don’t think I can do this,” you admit gently.

“Do what?” Ethan asks, concerned.

“Be just friends with you. It hurts too much to keep going,” another tear slips out. “I see you every day and I’m filled with this overwhelming sense of loss. And the pain in my chest everytime you look at me is so overbearing and I can’t keep putting myself through this every single day,” you look away from him, closing your eyes tight.

“Especially when I know you don’t feel the same. That’s the worst part about it, Eef. Knowing you’ll never feel the same,” you collapse into his chest, crying.

Ethan places a hand on your back, moving the other to the base of your skull and kisses the top you your head.

“Hey,” he says, softly. “Look at me.”

You look into his eyes, your own red and puffy.

“Who said I’d never feel the same?”

“What?” Your face contorts in confusion.

“Y/N, I’ve felt that exact way about you for so long. You have no idea...”

Your heart melts and you smile. “Really?” You wipe a tear from your cheek.

Ethan uses his thumb to wipe away your other tears and smiles. “Yes. Really.”

He slowly starts to lean in and you grin. “I think I do have an idea of what it was like.”

Your lips connect and move together in a sweet dance of love and tender longing.

You pull away and giggle, pressing your forehead against his.

You wrap your arms around his neck and pull him to the side, laying with him on the couch. You kiss him for longer this time with more intent.

“Can I go throw away my food now?” You almost whisper.

“As long as you take mine with you.”

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ ･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Ty guys for reading! And for 300 followers!! Ahh words can’t express how thankful I am for you guys <3333!

[chierafied]

Do I Remind You of Somewhere You Wanna Be - Part 6 (FIN) (SKW2021D6)

Day 7 - Purple / Free Day

--

Previous Part

--

I Could Get Used to Your Company

--

He'd woken her up with kisses. Slow and languid, until the connection between them had sparked and the mood had surged to an urgent need.

Now, an hour or so later, Kagome was sitting at the kitchen table, a teacup in her hands. Sunlight was streaming in through the paper screen wall and she was snuggled up in a borrowed purple kimono that smelled like Sesshoumaru.

She felt loose and sated, her muscles sore in the most delicious way. And she couldn’t help but grin every time she caught sight of the lovebite on Sesshoumaru’s neck. Which was fairly often, as she was watching him putter around the kitchen with rapt attention.

For one, it was curious seeing him both navigate such modern contraptions like the coffee machine and toaster and be engaged in such a domestic task as putting together a breakfast. The fact that he was only wearing a pair of grey sweatpants didn’t hurt either, his broad back a wonderful display of lean muscle.

Kagome sipped her tea, thinking that she could get used to mornings like this. She didn’t know what this thing between her and Sesshoumaru really was. She knew that her feelings towards him didn’t run as deep as his did towards her. She knew it was much too soon for her to speak of romance. But the potential was there, so tangible she could almost see it shimmer in the air between them.

She was also half-in-love with Sesshoumaru’s house. It was old, built in the traditional style. Just big enough, it had a bright, fully modern kitchen. A spacious bathroom complete with an old-fashioned wooden bathtub and a proper shower. A big Japanese style room in which they’d slept on a futon last night, as Sesshoumaru didn’t own a bed. A small tatami-matted study, where on a traditional low table sat a very high-end contemporary laptop.

Done with the breakfast preparations, Sesshoumaru walked over to the table and set down a serving of toast and fruit and miso soup. Kagome met his eyes and smiled. Just like this moment here and now, the house itself was a perfect blend of the past and the present.

And while that connection to the past was a welcome comfort, the ache was gone. For the first time in a very long time, Kagome didn’t yearn to be anywhere but here and now.

With Sesshoumaru.

He sat down across from her and offered her a smile. It was brief but sweet and it took Kagome’s breath away to have him gaze at her with such unexpected tenderness.

Even with everything that had happened between them in the last twelve hours, it was hard to fathom that Sesshoumaru could have been harbouring feelings for her for such a long time. But now, she was starting to believe it. How could she not, when he sat there, smiling at her, his youki snaking in the air to brush against her spine.

They focused on their breakfast, eating in companionable silence. He had a steady, calm presence, his was a company Kagome felt no need to fill with chatter. With him, she could simply be.

Finally, as she was sipping her second cup of tea and he was finishing his coffee, Kagome spoke.

“So… do we have any plans for today?”

“Nothing in particular. My schedule is very free. Is there anything you want to do?”

“Not really. I was just wondering.” Kagome took a sip of her tea, then tilted her head. “So what do you do exactly? Do you have a job?”

Sesshoumaru shrugged. “I read a lot. Go out on walks. I like to cook. I don’t have a job as such, but I fiddle with finance.”

“Finance?” Kagome echoed. She wondered why she was so surprised by that.

“Yes. I managed a few investment portfolios, including my own.”

“I suppose you like maths,” Kagome muttered into her tea, caught between exasperation and amusement.

“Immensely,” he replied. “What do you do?”

“I help out at my family’s shrine and work as a tour guide at one of the more famous shrines in Tokyo.”

Sesshoumaru’s grin was so wide his fangs gleamed. “A miko in truth.”

“I guess so,” Kagome said, the corner of her lips curving up in reply.

“Well, as we are on the topic of shrines, should you wish to do something today, we could go and visit Inariyama,” Sesshoumaru suggested. “That was your intention originally, yes? Before we got… sidetracked.”

Sidetracked, indeed!  Kagome shook her head at his smug tone. She’d forgotten all about Inariyama shrine and Marutomi-san.

“It was, yeah. That’s why I came here, to begin with. To meet Marutomi-san.”

Sesshoumaru’s youki flared and he stood at attention.

“Marutomi-san?”

“Yeah, he’s an old friend of my grandfather’s. We’re… penpals of sort. He used to correspond with my grandfather, and I kind of took up the mantle of letter-writing after my grandfather passed.”

Sesshoumaru blinked. Stared at her long and hard, his golden gaze steady.

“The kitsune has been corresponding with you? And knew your grandfather?”

Kagome’s heart skipped a beat or two, her breath stalled in her lungs.

“Kit– Marutomi-san is a youkai?! A kitsune?!”

Sesshoumaru shook his head. “No, Kagome. He is your kitsune.”

“My…?” Tears burned in Kagome’s eyes as she clutched her chest with a trembling hand.

“He goes by Marutomi Shichirou, currently, but the kanji he uses have not changed, though he’s made some additions,” Sesshoumaru explained, his expression wry. “Such as borrowing one of my own.”

The world blurred as the tears started to spill. And then she laughed. A sound that was one part a sob and all parts incredulous.

“Shippou. Marutomi-san is Shippou.”

Sesshoumaru nodded.

Kagome reached across the table, grasped his hand in hers.

“Can we go? Please?”

“Of course. We can go right now if you wish.”

Kagome wiped her tears away with shaky fingers “Thank you. Yes, I’d love to go.”

“Before we do, there is one thing you should know,” Sesshoumaru said.

“What is it?” Kagome asked. Nothing would keep her away now, knowing that Shippou was alive and well.

“Inariyama is not truly a shrine. It is more of a gateway,” he told her.

“A gateway to where?” Kagome asked, intrigued.

“To a sanctuary. A community where youkai who cannot or will not live among humans reside in secret.”

Kagome bit her lip.

“Will I be able to visit?”

“Of course.” Sesshoumaru squeezed her hand, then brought it to his lips and pressed a soft kiss over her knuckles. “You will be fine with me.”

Kagome’s heart swelled. Tears threatened again, though this time for a wholly different reason.

She slid her hand from his, then jumped from her chair and walked around the table. She wrapped her arms tight around him, buried her face into the crook of his neck, her nose brushing against the lovebite she’d left on him.

“I know,” she breathed against his skin, as Sesshoumaru’s warm hand settled on her hip, as his fingers soothingly stroked her sleep-tangled hair. She tilted her head to meet his eyes, to give him a brilliant smile.

She did not know what the future would bring, what feelings might still develop. But she knew that she was looking towards the future now, no longer stealing yearning glances at the past. And most importantly, she knew where she wanted to be – and with whom.

“I’ll be fine with you,” Kagome agreed, the simple words a promise.

--

The End.

[mysticalmusicwhispers]

lovers’ dreams

Summary: “A day fit for a spring dream.” And then he kisses Roshan, and they become lost in each other.

Characters: India (Aditya), China, Iran/Persia (Roshan, genderfluid). Human names used. Indran, Churan, and Indchu for ships!

Notes: 100% distilled surrealism! This was supposed to be a writing exercise that ran away from me rip. There are many footnotes that explain Many things. Enjoy!

also on AO3! (there are bonus thoughts and explanations there for anyone who’s interested or slightly confused 😅. everything necessary for you to understand the story is here too but I ramble about my thoughts going into the piece on AO3 lol)

———

The willow’s drooping branches hide Yao’s face like a beaded curtain, a bride’s sheer red veil. The spring breeze snakes through the tree, and the sound of wedding suona—sorna rings through the silence. A flutter of phoenix wings brushes past their ear, a whisper on the wind. Roshan walks languidly until they are in front of Yao; it takes a minute—it takes a month. Yao’s face is sharp and his eyes glint, like the jade in his belt. But the kiss is soft when they take his lips in theirs, and it tastes of the rose’s tender petals. The clean sweetness of flowers is warm against Roshan’s face and the fragrance of tea drifts into their nostrils. 

Yao pulls away, and Roshan opens their eyes to polished jade thorns sprouting up from the earth around them—crisp green, sharp-tipped; elegant, dangerous. So these are the fruits of our love. It is fitting. They lean to kiss Yao again, and this time, a laugh peals through the air when they part. It is not Roshan’s, and it isn’t Yao’s. But it is clear as spring water and tinkles like a bell, a joyous sound, and it makes Yao smile—a smile that is gentle, calculating; sweet, dangerous. A copper coin hides in the corner of his lips. “A day fit for a spring dream.” And then he kisses Roshan, and they become lost in each other.

When Roshan opens their eyes again, Yao is gone. They are standing in nothingness, a shell of a dream. A liminal plane. A wedding song echoes in the empty space, loud and cheerful, although there are no musicians to be seen playing the dohol, the sorna. Then sprung from the air, a mirror of fate, Aayeneh-ye Bakh, with its customary candelabras flanking it, and with their dots of golden light—miniature suns, sparkling stars. Its face shimmers, clear and gleaming: a pond on a full moon night—and in it, Yao stands, his reflection bright, splendid robes shimmering like gold scales and fine silk. Roshan reaches out a hand, and pulls him into a kiss.

“Welcome back, my dear.”

———

It is sunset, and a chill brushes past Yao’s shoulders and winds through his hair. The sky burns red, and fork tongued flames lick at the sun. A world bathed in fire, on the cusp of night. A lotus pond sits before him, and a figure is at its edge—Aditya, adorned in gold, the perfect figure of a prince. He, a dream of glittering palaces and beady emeralds, bright against the glow of the setting sun, sharp against the bloody sky. He holds a lotus blossom out, and Yao takes it. It is pure, tender in his calloused hands. A drop of blood drips from a petal. He lets it float into the water, and Aditya watches with him as the peach pink petals drop before their eyes—the lotus head balloons, then falls with the weight of seeds; it withers, a shell of its fruit. Divine beauty is short lived—seasons turn with the winds of change.  

Aditya loops an arm around him, bare skin on bare skin, the warmth of the sun hanging around them like a curtain. Their lips meet. The kiss is long, and lingers even after Yao pulls away; it is slightly bitter, but how could it not be? Aditya’s eyes are like black tea, and Yao tastes acrid lily bulbs. The sky has faded into burnt orange, the aftermath of a blaze. Autumn leaves fall from ginkgo trees, golden yellow, bright with memories of the past. Aditya closes his eyes, and Yao watches him sink into a dream.

The scene shifts before his eyes. The lotus pond morphs into a giant chessboard, and they are on opposite sides. Aditya plays white. Cream colored pawns meet chocolate brown knights, and they watch as kings rise and fall, as steady as the spinning of the world. Chariots race and elephants trumpet; the cavalry fight with long swords and bows, and the peasants use polearms, raised fists. Yao meets Aditya’s eyes, warm but gleaming with an ambition that has never gone away. He nods to his neighbor to the west, to his rival, lover, partner, equal. Aditya smiles.

“So we meet again.”

———

It is afternoon, and the sun is warm on his face. Roshan sits on a bench in the courtyard, holding a cup of coffee in one hand, a pomegranate in the other. Aditya nestles into their side, and they give him a feather light cheek kiss, gift him a wisp of air. They hold out the pomegranate, offers it, and Aditya takes a bite. Roshan takes the other half. They watch as the fruit regrows, seeds become jewels, glittering rubies in folds of red fabric. Roshan holds one up to the light with a critical eye. They spread tawny wings, amber eagle eyes alight with the pride of the past present future. A lion and the sun. The wings disappear—a trick of the light, reality fallen away. Then they hold up the cup of coffee.

“For you.” Aditya smiles, and offers a cup of black tea in return.

We have shared many things, and fought over equally many. How will it be in the future? He takes a sip, and falls through the cup.

A cemetery of swords surrounds them, a memory of things gone by. Afternoon sunlight filters through the trees, winds into Roshan’s hair. Idly peaceful. Flowers sprout through the earth; wither; climb up the rusted metal once again. A vine of roses twists around the hilt of a ceremonial spear, supple and full against cool, glinting steel. The leaves flicker, green yellow dead green again. Its blossom is still fresh red, like passion, like their love, pooling around them like a million memories, a still night in the river of time. Aditya looks at Roshan, different yet the same, a reflection of what they once were. Familiar, always, despite the changing tides and shifting dreams.

———

Notes

this part might actually be longer than the fic itself rip 😔 reminder that there’s extra rambling on ao3 lol

Suona/sorna: suona (唢呐) is a traditional wind instrument often played at wedding and funeral processions in northern China! (also used in Southeast China + Taiwan) It’s very loud and has a super brassy sound, but personally I think it sounds alright! The instrument came from Central Asia and is also used at weddings in Iran (where it’s spelled sorna/sarna), where it’s played with a dohol, a large cylindrical drum.

Phoenixes: wedding imagery in China, where a dragon symbolizes the groom and the phoenix the bride. There’s also an analogue to the phoenix in Persian mythology, a simurgh, which is a benevolent creature that is said to purify the land, roosts in the Tree of Knowledge, and apparently has seen the world be destroyed 3 times. Can symbolize healing, divinity, wisdom, and life. (the simurgh symbolism doesn't have much relevance to the fic but I thought it was incredibly interesting to read about lol)

Spring dream: very loosely referencing the Chinese phrase 一场春梦 (yi chang chun meng), which literally translates to an episode of a spring dream. It means the feeling that past predictions or events were actually totally wrong and fruitless, like you expected something (probably really good), but then woke up to reality not being up to your expectations? I can’t translate 😔

Mirror of Fate: In traditional Iranian weddings, a large, elaborate table with flowers and food and different spices is set up (sofreh aghd). A mirror of fate and 2 candelabras are also placed in the center of the table. The mirror represents how fate brought the bride and groom together, and the candelabras represent light and fire. The mirror is there so that when the groom looks into it, the first thing he should see is his betrothed's reflection.

Lotus blossoms: in China and India and many other parts of Asia, lotuses represent purity (they grow from dark mud but the flowers are pure white/pink), the divine, elegance, spiritual promise, the good part of humanity. so, a lotus with a drop of blood in Yao’s hands would be interesting.

Lily bulbs: this is purely self projection but lily bulbs (baihe) are used in Chinese medicine and I despise them. They're not super bitter but they taste starchy, bland, and off. Also lilies and lotuses are pretty similar and I thought that would be interesting :>

Chess: idk if I need a note for this but chess originated as an Indian game called Chaturanga and spread over to China and Iran, among many other places in Asia.

Tea and Coffee: nothing really special about this besides that Iranians Really Like tea. Decided to make India drink coffee instead for contrast; realistically he’d also be drinking tea lol

Eagle eyes: the Iranian/Persian symbol of the Faravahar, from Zoroastrianism has wings that are supposed to be eagle wings (I think? correct me if it’s just unspecified). You’ve probably seen it; it depicts a man with spread wings, half kneeling in a side view. Nowadays it’s also a symbol of Iranian culture, history, and national pride, besides being representative of Zoroastrianism.

Rose: national flower of Iran, and obv I don’t need to explain the other rose connotations. Also I’ve fully adopted the hc that Roshan and all their stuff smells like roses so that’s there too.

Lion and the sun: getting lazy with the explanations, but the short version is that it was a very important Iranian national symbol for many reasons, moreso tied to the state than culture (imo); it was also on the national flag up till the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Although I’m still debating how much Roshan is associated with the state, I also think sun and lion imagery fits them (glory, golden days, pride and courage). It’s super interesting, go search it up if you wanna read more!

This whole fic was somewhat inspired by this one, and the indchu bit was also somewhat inspired by this fanart.

If you made it down here, you have all my gratitude. Feedback is welcome and appreciated! Thanks for reading <3

[nuoyi-writes]

[02:46]

<< P: NCT Kun x fm!reader | WC: 1.1k | G: fluff | TW: cursing, like the reader refers to someone with degrading terms at some point LOL >>

tag list: @channoticedmeuwu​ 

networks: @ficscafe

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @kiri-ah​!! I hope you don’t mind me including you in this cringe af fic-

“Please, Dejun would make a better project leader than that old geezer”

You were talking Kiri, one of your old friends you hadn’t seen in a long time because her profession required her to travel frequently, about recent (and very nonsensical) changes that were made at the company that had hosted the party you were in. Twirling the half empty glass of wine in your hand, you let you eyes flit across the faces in your view, momentarily revising their names and positions in your head for when you interact with them later.

“I get why I don’t see her often, but you literally have no reason to not drop by our house once in a while”, you deadpanned when Kunhang arrived with Kiri’s drink.

“You talk like you live in a nursing home”, he retorted as his hand slid behind his wife’s waist and she leaned into him, making herself comfortable in his arms. His eyes momentarily softened at her notion and the feeling of home that invaded him.

“Oh my god ew. Stop”, you faked a gag at the sight in front of you, receiving an eye roll from Kunhang.

“Seriously, what generation are you from?”, he asked, shaking his head in feigned disappointment.

“Shut up, I’m 25″

“You don’t act like it, that’s exactly why we don’t visit you”

“Sicheng visits us”

“Only when he needs to renew the Netflix subscription”

You furrowed your brows, lips parting from the realisation that he really did only visited when he needed to renew his subscription. That snake-

“Who’s that beside Kun?”, Kiri interrupted your banter, eyes trained on something behind you. Kunhang and you followed her line of sight, only to be met with a disturbing image of some woman you’ve never seen before attempting to seduce your husband. Anger hit you faster than a freight train and you let out a string of curses as you watched her practically throw herself on him.

Wanna-be-mistresses, always looking for a rich married man to fuck, then leech off of by threatening to expose the affair. To them, finding someone like Kun, someone who looked like he was sculpted by Greek Gods themselves, among these old geezers was like winning the lottery, not to mention they all assumed your marriage was devoid of love because you and Kun weren’t touchy in public like your other friends that went through with an arranged marriage.

The loud clicking of your heels caught the attention of Kun and the woman beside him, relief flooding into the former when he realised you were coming over to save him, but it was soon replaced with confusion by the hint of playfulness you were radiating. Based on how the woman looked nothing but annoyed by your presence, you quickly realised she didn’t know you.

“Qian Kun”, you batted your lashes as you planted yourself right next to him, the back of your hand grazing his own, and Kun fought the tiny smirk making its way onto his lips when he understood what you had in mind.

“And who are you?”, the woman in front of you narrowed her eyes as you placed your glass on a table near you before looping your arm through his.

“Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there”, you turned to face her and dramatically faked a look of surprise, eyes widened and fingers hovering over your lips.

“I’m Y/n”, you replied in your sweetest voice as you pretended to not have noticed her rude tone.

The unchanging look on her face made you realise that this bitch didn’t even bother to find out the name of her target’s wife.

“You’re touching a married man”, she sneered, your confident gaze and posture agitating her.

“You yourself were all over him before I came here”, you stated, sweet tone and formal smile not faltering the slightest bit.

“Exactly, I was here first, and you were the one who rudely interrupted our conversation”

Your friends, now very entertained by the scene unfolding before them, moved closer while trying their best to maintain stoic faces. You felt Kun, who didn’t find the whole ordeal very amusing anymore, nudge you lightly with his elbow, pleading you to not make a scene, only to be ignored. This wasn’t the first time someone made advances on him knowing he was married; but it was the first time you wanted to publicly expose someone.

“What is your name?”, you asked her, baiting her by increasing the volume of your voice and gaining the attention of more people.

“Lin Daiyu, you must be knowing the Lin family?”, she gloated, ego coming into play as she proudly stated her family name. Although you were pleased with the fact that she had given away her last name as well, you realised you didn’t want to hurt the rest of her family for a mistake she was making, especially because you knew some of them to be genuinely good people.

“Yes, I do”, you answered calmly as you untangled your arm from Kun, mind clearer now that you were aware of the repercussions of carrying out your initial plan.

“And what is your family name?”, she attempted to stare you down, sure that you couldn’t possibly be from a bloodline as prestigious as hers from your change in stance.

So she wasn’t a wanna-be-mistress- just had the hots for your husband- but that didn’t justify any of her actions; from trying to seduce a married man, to speaking to you so rudely.

Tone low but strong, you answered her question, watching as her eyes widened in horror, and stepped closer to her, lips only inches away from the tips of her ears.

“And I’m his wife”

Face as pale as a ghost and cheeks dusted with heavy embarrassment, she spun around and walked off, and you would say that was the most sensible choice she had made since you've laid eyes on her.

Kun let out a sign of relief, glad that you de-escalated the situation in time, and felt proud when he saw a group of onlookers silently praising your course of action. When his eyes landed on your satisfied grin and the snickers of his friends faded into the background, he slipped his fingers through yours and squeezed your hand, bringing you to meet his eyes.

“You’re not leaving my side tonight”, he spoke softly, tugging your hand and pulling you closer to him. You nodded your head slowly, both of your smiles growing wider with every passing second inside the tiny bubble you’ve built for yourself.

“Oh my god ew. Stop”, Kunhang faked a gag at the sight in front of him, Kun and you throwing him the strongest glares you could muster.

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