#I just want proper gun knights

[delusionaldoppelsoldner]

Finished art for the discord server and moved on to try my hand with 1500's-1600's inspired troops. Mostly taking inspiration from the Habsburg armies, basically HRE (Germany) and Spain. No clue why I even made these and I am quite intimidated to show the historically inspired unique units from the previous post.

Honestly I am quite tempted to make a low-fantasy isekai fanfiction set in this time period with characters ranging from Tanya Degurechaff, Redeus Greyrat, Rimuru Tempest and Ainz Ooal Gown just to see how well they can play off each other. The politics would allow Ainz to shine with diplomacy if he manages to NOT scare everyone, warfare is just a slower form Tanya is used to and allow her to be Gustavus Adolphus, Redeus will probably be roaming around the place with mercs saving everyone he could from devastation and Rimuru can definetly have fun with all the new toys around for his game of Civ6 before oops Italian wars or wars of the reformation time.

Actually, I may start writing it now and just take the best part of my ship fics and plop it there for safekeeping. Imagining a fool trying to put lead into Slime Rimuru would be funny. Hopefully I get motivated enough to post it. Already havw crossover crackships in my mind I may as well indulge in period pieces.

[vivwritesfics]

No Need To Ask - CS55

Chapter Six - Family Dinner

The Norris' were a notorious crime family in the UK. One of many. With Norris, the head of the family, running operations with his son, Lando, they work to keep Y/N Norris, Norris' daughter protected. Life in a crime family wasn't something they wanted for her.

But with tension with one of the Spanish crime families rise, Norris and his now deceased wife come up with only one plan, offer their daughter to the Sainz's or risk an all out war.

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After their chess game, Y/N felt more comfortable roaming the house. Of course, she limited herself to four rooms. The room that had been given to her, the bathroom, the kitchen and the library. Y/N was still too nervous to take her own food in the kitchen in the unfamiliar house.

Y/N began spending a lot of time in the library. She sat on the plush chairs, reading the few books she could find in English. But her gaze would always be pulled towards the glass doors, distracted as she watched Carlos on his morning swim.

On this afternoon, Y/N had Oscar sitting opposite her as they played chess. “This set is far nicer than the one I have at home,” Y/N said. But a pang went through her chest. This was now the set at home. She didn’t let it show on her face as she stole Oscar’s rook.

Already Oscar had lost four games before Y/N started giving him pointers. Still, she was winning. “Why can I picture you hiding out in here on your wedding day?” He asked, unable to hide that smile of his.

“Osc, don’t,” Y/N muttered as he moved his piece. But she quickly changed where he placed it, stealing one of her own pieces and placing it in front of him. “I don’t want to think about that right now.”

Oscar let out a sigh as Y/N stole his knight. “C’mon. Talk to me about it.”

Y/N’s gaze moved to the doors that led out to the patio. Carlos was out there, sat around the fire pit that wasn’t lit, with his men around him. Y/N could see the gun sticking out of the waistband of his trousers, a shudder running through her. But then his eyes met hers and Y/N quickly looked away.

“I was so scared of Sainz when I was a child. Like, I saw him in my nightmares, pointing a gun at me. And then Lando came to me saying that before my mother died, she had arranged for me to marry Carlos. I accepted it. Like, it’s for the good of the family. How could I say no? And then we had that dinner at the house. Sainz was still so scary to me, and Carlos came across as such a sweet person.”

Y/N swallowed the lump in her throat. “I thought I could do this. I was okay with marrying him. But then we got here. Carlos showed his power as soon as we got to the house and that scared me. But still, I could push through. For the good of the family. And then he attacked you.”

Oscar couldn’t stop himself from staring at her. If he could save her from this life, he would, but there was nothing he could do. He’d thought about it; ever since he first found out about the arrangement.

He looked down at the chess board. “I’m stumped here,” he said, and Y/N moved his piece for him, bringing him just a step closer to winning.

But that wasn’t enough. Y/N used her Queen to get to his king, winning the same. Again, her eyes met Carlos. He was still watching her, like he never stopped. He was leaning forward, elbows on his knees and his arms clasped together. His gaze was so intense, Y/N had to look away.

***

As  always, Oscar was the one to pull open the door, coming face to face with the person on the other side. He expected to see Carlos, he was the only one who had come to do the door so far.

But not. Instead of Carlos was an incredibly large man. He had dark there and a lot of stubble, with not quite enough facial here to be a proper beard. He was tall, Oscar craning his neck to look up at him. “Can I help you?” Asked Oscar, keeping the door partially closed.

The man grunted. “She is to come down for dinner,” the man said with a thick Spanish accent.

“No, she isn’t.”

Suddenly Y/N was on her feet. She stood beside Oscar, just out of view of the man. Her eyes were wide as she watched him, trying to tell him to stop.

“The master of the house would like her to come down for dinner,” the man tried again.

Oscar let out a huff. “Well, you can tell the master of the house that she’s staying where she is and he can f-”

“Please tell Carlos that I’ll be down in just a moment,” Y/N said quickly as she pushed Oscar out of the way. Y/N gave the man what she hoped was a polite smile and shut the door. “Oscar,” she began, her voice full of warning.

“I know,” Oscar immediately replied, throwing himself into the chair by the vanity. “I know, but I don’t want him bossing you about and controlling you. I don’t like it,” he said as he stared at her.

Y/N’s eyes softened as she walked over to him. “Oh, Osc,” she said softly and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Stay here, okay? I’ll make sure they bring you something good for dinner.”

Somewhat reluctantly, Oscar nodded his head. “If anything happens, scream and I’ll come running,” he said.

Nodding her head, Y/N made her way out of her room. She gave Oscar one last look as she shut the door, meeting the big, gruff man outside of her door.

He grunted and began walking, leading her down the hall and down the stairs. “I’m sorry about him,” she said. The man didn’t reply. He was silent as he led her down the stairs and out through the back doors.

The Sainz family, the entire Sainz family, were sat around the table on the patio. Carlos sat beside his mother, with his father at the head of the table and his sisters opposite him. There was one seat left, presumably for Y/N.

The Spanish chatter stopped as the Sainz family looked at Y/N. She swallowed the lump in her throat and walked over on shaky legs.

Before Y/N could get to the table, Carlos stood up and pulled out the chair for her. “I was beginning to think you wouldn’t come down,” he said quietly and softly.

Again, Y/N saw that man from their dinner in England. The one who stuck up for her against his own father. She gave Carlos something of a smile as he sat in his own chair and offered her something to eat. Even though he was being sweet, there was still that edge to him.

“How are you enjoying our country?” Asked Sainz as he looked across the table at Y/N. When Y/N looked at him, she couldn’t help but be scared. He looked the same as he did all of those years ago, when he had a gun pointed at her.

Y/N picked up her throat. “It’s very beautiful,” she answered as she looked past him, at the golfing green. “And very warm.”

Sainz let out something of a laugh. “A stark contrast to your own country,” he said and Y/N let out a small and disingenuous laugh.

“Carlos tells me you enjoy chess,” he continued.

The women at the table hadn’t yet said anything. They looked towards the head of the table, at the imposing head of the family.

Even when Y/N answered him, their gaze stayed on Sainz. It was only Carlos who looked at her. “Yes,” she said, poking the chicken with her fork. Y/N had yet to eat anything, not when Sain was asking her so many questions. “I used to play with my mother, before we lost her.”

“Ah,” Sainz replied and nodded his head. Y/N took a moment to eat something. “Your mother and I were good friends before everything went to shit.”

Y/N’s eyes snapped towards him. she hadn’t expected that. She was too young to remember much before the feud started, but she hadn’t thought her mother was actually friends with Sainz. “We were very sorry to hear when she passed on,” Sainz finished.

“I miss her a lot,” Y/N muttered. Her eyes were watering, but she wasn’t going to cry, not in front of the Sainz family.

They noticed. They definitely did. Carlos’ sisters began muttering something Y/N couldn’t understand, something in Spanish.

Back in Y/N’s room, Oscar did exactly as he was told. He moved the chair away from the vanity and dragged it over to the window. There he sat, watching as Y/N ate dinner with the Sainz. He couldn’t see Carlos or his father, but could see his sisters as they chatted between themselves.

As Oscar watched, he lifted his phone to his ear. Y/N was hardly eating, he noted as the phone rang. When she was in her room she had no trouble eating, he thought somewhat bitterly.

The person he was calling picked up. “How is she?” Asked Lando.

He’d been home for five days, barely able to do any work with how much he was worrying about his sister. He’d wanted to call her, wanted so desperately to speak to her, but he couldn’t, not unless he wanted to upset Carlos and his father.

Oscar released a breath. “She’s… Okay,” he said, somewhat slowly. “Three days after you left Carlos took her downstairs to play chess. She’s taken me down there a few times.”

“You’ve got chess there?” Asked Lando. “She’ll be happy with that.”

Suddenly Oscar sucked in a deep breath. There were things he wanted to say, but it was going to take a lot of courage. But, if he didn’t say it, he’d never be able to forgive himself. “Lando, I want to save her from this.”

“Yeah, we all do, Oscar,” Lando replied, his voice short.

“No, I mean, I want to get her away from this. As soon as possible,” Oscar continued. “I could contact Mark and find out if he could help in any way.”

“And then what?”

Oscar hadn’t thought that far ahead. “I don’t know,” he said. “I was thinking we could get could her away from here, take her to Australia and then figure things out,” he said.

“No, Oscar. If we do that then we’re asking for all-out war,” Lando immediately said. It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about it before. He had, every minute of every day since he left Spain. Lando had even been to speak to his father about it. But if he acted on it, he’d he putting so many people in danger.

Taglist (open): @multi-universe21 @formulas-bitch @gills-lounge @weasleyswizarding-wheezes @carlossainzwho @f1lov3r @samaib11 @charli123456789 @queenofmanydreams @ironmaiden1313 @vellicora @glitterf1 @80sloverry @lightdragonrayne @moonayu @bellsalabanccini @topguncultleader @handsupforamiracle @cmleitora

[genshinemblem564]

Genshin Isekai Headcanons

These can be sagau, but they don't have to be.

• Xinyan is stoked that you love her music, and is excited when you offer to play her some music from your world, but she's confused by some of the lyrics. She understands metaphorical lyrics, like the person described in the song isn't actually a rocket, but some of them don't make sense or feel like they were added just to fill a void. Aside from that, she kinda wants to perform some of these songs, now if only she had some band members.

• Tartaglia doesn't have much to say about the guns of your world. The pyro and hydro fatui agents already use guns of some kind, and the cryo fatui agent uses, um. What would you call an ice based flamethrower? No, what he's interested in is the immense amount of new weapons that Teyvat doesn't have, or they probably do, and we just don't hear about them. Like chain blades, I don't know what else to call them, essentially a flail, but instead of a mace, it's blade. I would write something about axes, but I feel like saving that for my crossover series. A scythe is often seen as a special lance, but you tell him that it's much more complicated than that specifically pointing out the blade, and depending on your own skill, you give him a demonstration. He is way too excited to learn all of these new weapons, like a kid excited about a new toy, you can't help but smile.

• Baizhu is perplexed when he first prescribes medicine to you, as you give him a list of allergies, if any, and are more than willing to go through proper examination to learn how resistant your body is to certain toxins. He's even more surprised when you tell him that his unique practice is actually common in your world, so that's why you don't bat an eye at potentially poisonous ingredients.

• Bennett is rather surprised. When you hang out, his bad luck seems to go away. It's actually just you using a bit of foresight, like checking the date on a flyer before rushing to a sale that had already ended, but seeing that glimmer in his eyes, you decide to let his imagination roam.

• You and Cyno are reference lords. You two reference everything, Cyno, his favorite book or book series, and you, your favorite media source. Now, if only people actually understood them, and yes, you do quote Yu-Gi-Oh when playing Genius Invokation.

• If you're an artist, then you quickly catch Albedo's attention. When he sees your drawings, he is quick to ask what you used as a muse, and your answer will have great impact on his reaction. If you point to an object or animal, his response will be normal. If you draw from memory though, he is astounded, especially if what you drew was a scene of some kind, with people, animals, or what have you. Drawing all that from memory is incredible. If you say it's something you made up, he'll compare it to when he's commissioned for his own art.

• Depending on your own interests, you'll be interacting with several different characters. I can't think of anything in depth for these few, so here's a general basis. Barbara is relieved that you're so open to different views. She knows how cruel people can be when they're closed-minded, and she's happy to teach you about the Church of Favonius and Barbatos. Noelle was lamenting not being a knight yet, which led you to bring up the seven chivalric virtues. Yae Miko and Xingqiu are very interested in the stories of your world. Xingqiu hoping to learn more about your worlds code of chivalry, but he ends up learning about justice's different forms. Yae is simply searching for new inspiration. She often calls on you when her old nemesis, writers block, appears. Nahida takes interest in you right away, wanting to gain knowledge from your world, and you seem fun. She knows better than anyone how dangerous knowledge can be, so she asks you to omit potentially dangerous subjects.

• Mona was shocked when you said that you only wanted to know the bad stuff coming your way, not that she could help you, with you being an outworlder and all. When she asked why, you told her "It's best to be prepared for all the bad coming your way, and if you know all the good coming your way, it takes away from life's natural wonder." Which was promptly followed by you asking "Where did that come from?"

___________________________________________

I'm thinking making more of that last one, like " Characters reaction to reader who is randomly philosophical" might need to work on the title a bit. Also, as stated above, these can be sagau, but can also be normal isekai, so I'll use both tags so they can be found more easily

[moonlight-prose]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I have spent several days drafting this post because there's so much I want to say. 2023 was filled with some big moments for me. I graduated college, met my friend group, went on night time adventures, and actually acted like my age for once. I was chaotic and fun and carefree for the first time since I turned 19. But things have also gone wrong in many ways.

Which is why I write this to you guys. The incredible people on this site. Whether you follow me, are my mutuals, or have seen my blog in passing (or in your notes), I want to wish you a Happy New Year.

While this year might have sucked for a majority of it, the light I found in this community - on this site - is unmatched. I have met some of my greatest friends here. I've cried to fics, lost my mind over characters, and written so much more than I actually expected. It's been a hell of a year and an absolute honor getting to thirst with y'all.

So here's to getting sluttier in 2024! I'm toasting my champagne glass to you guys.

I also wanted to simply shout out some very important people to me. They've made 2023 bearable and I couldn't have been happier to know them through this place. A big massive fucking THANK YOU to my darlings. You're the greatest people I know.

@soulores my queen, my babe, my bestie. it is hard to believe we didn't start officially talking till summer of this year, because i genuinely feel like we've known each other for years. from our sunday morning phone conversations, to our screaming in the dms about these fictional men, and movie days with you. i couldn't have asked for a better friend to meet this year. here's to many many more memories in 2024 (and to finally meeting in person!).

@themarcusmoreno what would be a dedication post without mentioning you! my love i am so so fucking happy we met two years ago. all because of pedro pascal. crazy to think i would have found such an incredible person who happened to love all the things i love! you're the greatest friend and i am so grateful for you. thank you for sticking with me.

@sunflowersteves vic the absolute bad bitch. THE PERSON YOU ARE. i am so so so so fucking happy you and i are still mutuals. after meeting through marvel of all things and then pedro and now top gun. there's so many memories with you i cherish. and i can't wait to make more. and a massive thank you for being such a cheerleader for my writing this year. you and ash have managed to keep me going even when times were tough.

@karasong my first EVER mutual on this site. it's so hard to think that if it weren't for you i wouldn't be writing on here. you followed me two years ago and i flipped out and the feeling hasn't changed one bit. i couldn't be happier you're in my life. from starting up the server with you, to yearning for obi-wan, life with you in it is so much better.

@softanon it would not be a proper dedication post if i did not add you babes. dia you are one of my favorite people to exist. you're effortlessly cool, have the best ideas, and i always feel so lucky that i met you. from our talks about the moon knight bois, to tommy miller, to yearning over din djarin, i have loved every single convo with you. they bring me so much joy. you are an incredible person and i am looking forward to SO MANY more convos about our favorite men!

@saradika to one of the greatest people to exist in this fandom i love love love you. your graphics and the love you show to everyone around is so incredible and bright. we seriously don't deserve you, but i am so happy you are here and that you exist. you've made 2024 brighter just by being here.

@tarrenterror25 the spookiest darling ever! when you showed up on the server it was such a good day! and you brought with you so much fun and joy that the server was never the same. i am sending you an infinite amount of love this new years and here's to more chaos with you in 2024!

to my darlings in the dilf nation server:

@arctvrvs thea babes you are iconic, lovely, and are one of the best people to exist. you made 2023 so much better just by being around to yearn over joel with you. i couldn't be happier to know you!

@fluffyprettykitty selene you are the coolest people who has the coolest fics! the love you share on fics is so incredible, it never ceases to bring a smile to my face. also you're just so awesome i couldn't have asked for a better person to join the server.

@rae-gar-targaryen my fanboy lover in crime. i'm sure i've said it countless times, but you are so cool and amazing and beautiful. you are a goddess in real life. the talent you have is so fucking incredible it haunts me. i love each and every one of your creations and i love you as well!

@mostly-megan you are an absolute sweetheart and even though we haven't talked much in 2023, i hope to have so many more conversations with you in the coming new year. sending you my love darling!

@agirllovespancakes iris you lovely human being. i remember when i was first posting hurt you would reblog the greatest comments. and it made me want to continue, because i looked forward to each one. and now that i know you love tommy too! you're so amazing and i dedicate a new years kiss to you.

@inklore you talented insanely incredible person! i could make a whole list of good things about you. i am sending you SO MUCH love for 2024. i hope it's amazing.

@outercrasis birdie my darling i want to tell you all the things that i cherish about you. from the love you showed on black velvet, to the way we screamed about bruce wayne and even frank castle, i live for our conversations. here's to so much more fun in 2024 and infinite convos about saltburn.

tagging those lovely humans who've made 2023 so incredible. please know i love you so much and i am kissing you when the clock strikes midnight. thank you for making this year so incredible!:

@stargazingcarol, @cregan-starks, @lady-of-glass-and-bone, @fushic0re, @targaryenvampireslayer, @pennyserenade, @flightlessangelwings, @stargirlfics, @goldgilzean, @kalllistos, @flordeamatista, @perotovar, @my-secret-shame, @roamwithahungryheart, @galatially, @eloquentmoon, @starryeyedstories, @oscarseyebrow, @iraot, @zinzinina, @thefact0rygirl, @iamskyereads, @navybrat817, @ifimayhaveaword, @the-godparticle

[deadbydangit]

With a killer from past times discovering new technology

Oni, Deathslinger, Knight

Oni

What is this thing?

It's vibrating and it's so small.

Actually, he's just a big person.

Explain to him what a phone is.

"You can communicate from miles away? Impossible!"

He thinks you're joking with him.

Until he actually tries it.

He's even a little afraid of it at first.

"That isn't possible! It must be some sort of illusion."

He's very set in his ways, so it might take time for him to get over the fear and confusion.

Once he does, he'll start enjoying technology more.

Kazan needs big versions of everything though.

He often crushes things in his hands without trying.

He then doesn't understand why it doesn't work.

"Can you not fix it? You can fix a sword that has broken."

It isn't that simple.

But he really doesn't understand that.

Cut him some slack though.

He's really doing his best.

Whatever you do, do not let him see any modern weapons.

He'll complain about the lack of skill they take, and how a true warrior only needs his wits and swords.

But if he picks up a chainsaw, you're going to have to warn everyone in the general area.

Max and Bubba will be happy with it though.

Kazan loves white noise machines.

Having that on while meditating is a god sent.

Especially since the realm can be so distracting and noisy.

He's so grateful to you.

If it weren't for you, he wouldn't have discovered this whole new world.

Deathslinger

Out of all of them, Caleb is, by far, the most interested.

He's an inventor and has been since a young age.

He knows what lightbulbs are.

But give him a cell phone and he's all over it.

You don't have to tell him how it works.

He's going to figure it out on his own.

And by that I mean he's going to take it apart and put it back together.

He would always do that when he was a child.

So don't be surprised when you come home to your computer in pieces.

Don't worry, he's got this.

But he doesn't.

You're going to have to bribe Adriana to help you fix it.

But while she's doing so, Caleb will want to learn.

The two of them might strike up some odd inventor friendship.

From now on, whenever you come home, you see him working on something.

He refuses to tell you what it is.

It's actually pretty annoying.

Until you come home one day to find that he's not only fixed your computer, but upgraded it too.

He's showing you all the new things you can use it for.

He's super proud of himself.

The enthusiasm in his voice as he introduces you to his newest creation is so cute.

His eyes are almost sparkling in child-like joy.

It makes all the time with computer parts scattered around the room worth it.

Knight

Tarhos doesn't really care.

If it has nothing to do with him, then it doesn't really matter.

Though he does find lightbulbs to be quite nice.

It takes care of the pesky task of lighting and relighting candles.

So if you want to put up some lights he won't stop you.

He'll even help you.

Other than that, don't expect him to be too thrilled.

Until you show him a cell phone.

It takes him and his men a while to understand the concept.

But once they do, it makes trials so much easier.

Proper communication, and anywhere they need to, really proves an advantage for them.

Survivors will start to complain about it.

And the Entity eventually takes away their phones before trials.

Fine, they'll do things the old fashion way.

They're all very smart and as they start to learn of new technology, they pick up on it faster and faster.

Tarhos loves any modern weapon.

Guns and such.

Although he isn't allowed to take those into trials, he still has fun learning about them and how to use them.

Just supervise him when he does.

He'll insist on teaching you how to use some of these weapons.

If he isn't around, he wants to make sure you're safe and have a way to defend yourself.

These training sessions are difficult.

But he's so proud of you.

And very grateful you've introduced him to this new world.

[blingblong55]

All I can think of now is a proper what we do in the shadows! 141 AU, where the gang are a coven of vampires and there’s a documentary crew following them around. 🫧

Price is the oldest, perhaps a famous outlaw from over a thousand years ago. He views his coven as his children.

Gaz has been his companion for the longest. He was a knight or a soldier. Price has fought in a few wars to give himself something to do over the years, but couldn’t stand the thought of his new comrade and pseudo-child Kyle getting killed. He was far too young to die, so Price made sure he wouldn’t.

He met Ghost next when he was running one of his many criminal empires (again, he wanted something to do). Ghost had joined as a low level thug but quickly worked up the ranks to become one of his inner-circle. He was a cold blooded killer with little remorse - or so Price thought. Once he’s come to know of Simon’s upbringing and life, filled with hardship and pain, John knew he couldn’t just leave the lost soul alone. He deserved a chance to heal and make real, lasting connections with people who wouldn’t hurt or leave him, so Price turned him.

Soap and Grim are the newest additions to the coven. One of them probably became his familiar after being dared by the other, and they quickly worked their way into his unbeating heart. Price worried a lot for his two youngest children and they were giving him grey hairs after thousands of years without (how could be not worry with their love of explosives and lack of self preservation?) so he decided that, so he could keep a good eye on them and make sure that they didn’t get hurt, Johnny and R/n should join him and his older children in undeath.

Price was wary of the crew filming this ‘documentary’ about them, but his two youngest just seemed so happy to have new friends to play with, so he allowed it. Ghost would be the most guarded, happily taking care of a few of the crew who got too close, thought it would be funny to come to work with a crucifix in their pocket, or made a snide comment towards one of his family. Gaz is cheeky, friendly, and happy to joke around with them, and probably gives them the most actually useful information. He’s the only reason the documentary can actually be called factual or educational. Soap and Grim are happy to have new people to mess with. They like to jumpscare the crew by flying in their face as bats, appear out of nowhere, hypnotise them and convince them to act silly, and stage nerf gun wars with everyone in the house - cameramen included.

hear me out!

Graves is Simon the Devious (ironic ik)

The cameramen never get used to this, never. Price, oh that poor man, he wishes at times he didn't have a soft spot for his children but then again, this is what he chose

I would also like to introduce the two dumb little young vampires, Johnny and grim, not only did they both dare each other to become familiars but their dumbasses didn't know the other was going to go through with it!!! They end up finding out when Gaz introduces them to each other...

Three days into being familiars, they set off a bomb, nearly kills them but father senses tingle and Price finds them in time.

Five days into being familiars, they nearly die in six explosions, 2 car accidents and one orea choking accident, so that's when Price decides its time to make them vampires, he knows they are unkillable unless they step into the sun, which they almost have....14 times so far-...make that 15 times

[wttcsms]

and i can’t make you stay (in this broken place) ; atsumu miya

pairing atsumu miya x f!reader word count 6.3k synopsis i sin too much to pray for you — no one can believe that one of the most powerful crime lords in the underground world of japan, atsumu miya, is wrapped around the finger of a naive girl like you, but love doesn’t really care about boundaries anyway. content contains yakuza/mafia au, pet names (”baby”, “my girl”), morning sex, cunnilingus, vaginal fingering, gun mentions, mild descriptions of violence, minor/insignificant character deaths, naive/innocent reader

It’s rare for him to be beside you when you wake up in the morning; even rarer than that is you actually waking up before him. But rare doesn’t always equate to never, and proof of this is the fact that he’s lying right next to you, snoring softly with an arm thrown over your body.

It’s funny — even when he’s asleep, he’s still protective of you.

There had been a lot of things about Atsumu Miya that had taken a considerable amount of time to get used to: his overprotective nature, the way he’s always right (because whatever he says goes; if he says the sky is yellow, National Geographic better have that on the cover of their next issue), the way that he treats speed limits as a suggestion…

The hardest thing that you had to learn to deal with, though, is the fact that he’s a businessman first and your boyfriend second. And for the most part, you can handle being second place on his list of priorities.

After all, you’ve only known him for a little over two years. It’s unfair, really, for you to expect him to rearrange his whole entire life over the fact that you entered his… Unexpectedly, if you’re going to delve deep into the details.

You like to think about how the two of you first met. It never fails to make you smile, and you’re smiling (like an idiot, you presume) right now. You were eighteen, then. A freshman at a decent sized university and horribly naive — even more so than you are right now, which is saying a lot.

He — a random junior fresh out of a party — wanted to take you out.

“Like a date?” You had asked, stupidly, hopefully.

“Yeah, like a date.”

(His smile was anything but sweet, but red flags seem like regular flags when you’re eighteen and looking at the world through rose colored glasses.)

The “date” could only be reached, according to the college boy, via a dark alley that just screamed dangerous. You didn’t want to walk through there, but he had convinced you that you were in safe hands.

Those same hands were gripped tightly around your wrists as he led you deeper down this unlitted alleyway. The same safe hands that travelled all over the sides of your body. Even in this damp location, even with the humid summer heat of Japan, even with the humidity making the air feel so thick it was as if it were solid, even with all of that, you were still shaking every time he so much as grazed your body.

The moment his “safe hands” found their way up your shirt, you screamed.

You don’t know this part about the story. Honestly, if Atsumu gets his way (and he usually does), you’ll never know this part. It’s not important, he reasons, for you to know the real reason on why he just so happened to be in that part of town.

(It had been too dark that night, and you were so anxious that you hadn’t noticed the stains on the collar of his dress shirt, and even if you had, you would never even think for a second that it was the blood of a rival yakuza member.)

Of course, the unbiased details of the story have long since been erased from your memories. When you look back at this fateful day, the only proper way (your words, obviously no one else’s) to explain Atsumu’s entrance is to compare it to that of a knight in shining armor. Because that’s how you felt when you saw his tall figure at the entrance of the alley.

You had screamed for help, and he saved you with no hesitation.

After that, it had only made sense to you to keep in contact with him.

For such a shy, scared girl, you were awfully persistent in chasing after him. He’s never saved a girl’s number in his phone before, and he swore that you weren’t going to be an exception.

And then you became an — no, the — exception.

(He tells you, one day when he’s drunk, that he always knew you were going to be The One since the first day he met you. You had been shaking like you were freezing and stuttering over your words, and he didn’t want to see such a pretty girl like you — no, not like you… just you, because you are the only exception, after all — in a predicament like that ever again.

What a walking contradiction he is: vowing to protect you as if your very association with him isn’t the main reason why you’re in a constant state of danger.)

You moved in with him after just six months of dating. He’s your first serious boyfriend, and it’s not like you regret staying by his side, even if he does have some weird tendencies that any other sensible person would investigate. The early morning meetings and late hours that he works “at the office” are suspicious. Sometimes, he’ll come home to you with a different new scar but the same method of brushing off all your questions and concerns as trivial things.

( “Ya worry about me too much.” He tells you, like the thought of you caring about his well being, about him, so deeply doesn’t make his heart grow twice its size.)

You’re not nearly as dimwitted as his coworkers — specifically Kiyoomi Sakusa, the notorious germaphobe and coldest of the bunch — think you are. You know that there’s more to Atsumu Miya than his job as an investment broker. You know that there’s a reason he doesn’t want you to be at his work office. Absolutely no surprise visits — he’s very adamant about this rule. You highly doubt you could even get away with it; the security for his company is insane.

But he comes home to you in one piece, and his cashflow seems nearly endless, and when you’re with him, you feel so safe. So, you don’t question his business, you don’t go digging around, trying to find out where all his money and power come from. At the end of the day, does it really matter?

All that matters is that he’s here with you, right now, for what seems like the first time in forever. You’re so ridiculously happy about this fact that you can’t seem to stop smiling at him as he continues to sleep. You take a hand to reach up and play with his hair, and his eyes open in a flash, almost as if he hadn’t been sleeping just a second ago.

He looks ready to jump into action, but his body relaxes when he realizes that it’s just you.

(That’s another one of Atsumu’s odd tendencies — he’s constantly on his guard.)

He makes a small noise, shuts his eyes again, and snuggles up even closer to you, his grip on your body tightening even more. You continue to run your fingers through his hair.

“Poor baby, longer hours at the office?” You murmur, more to yourself than him. Of course you know that he’s working longer hours — the number of times you fell asleep while waiting for him makes it hard for you to not notice the slight shift in his schedule.

He’s still trying to snuggle up even closer to you, like he can’t bear not having his body pressed flush against yours.

“Mm, I’d feel a lot better if I got to spend more time with my girl.” He says, face burrowed in your hair, muffling his voice. You know this is just supposed to be a sweet morning in bed with your boyfriend, but you can’t help but squeeze your thighs together at his trademark nickname for you — my girl. It sounds even better when it’s said with his morning voice.

“Let’s have breakfast together.” You suggest, your hand moving lower to play with the tufts of hair at the nape of his neck.

It’s not a bad idea. Atsumu knows you like to dote on him just as much as he does for you. The image of you wearing one of his dress shirts and just a pair of panties he bought you while working hard to prepare him a meal is a sight that greets him home at least once a week, and he can never get tired of it. But it’s been a while since he’s been able to indulge in this much free time, and today—

Today Atsumu wants breakfast in bed.

His arm around your waist allows him to squeeze one of your asscheeks before he moves his arm to the front of your body, traveling to the apex of your thighs. You part them without him having to tell you to do so, and he smiles at your easy submission. You really are his good girl, huh?

“‘Tsum—’Tsumu.” You whimper out while he traces the lace of your panties before pulling them to the side to expose your pretty pussy. He leans on his other arm, resting all his body on his left arm, so he can admire you better.

“So early in the morning, and my baby’s already so wet.” He’s smiling as his index finger finds its way inside of you.

You know that your original plan was supposed to be making Atsumu feel good, a treat for working so hard (working on what , you have no idea), but you can’t focus because it’s barely seven in the morning, and he already has you wet and wanton for him and his touch. It’s unfair, really, how just a simple taste of his touch has you keening for more already.

You can’t help but lift your hips up to try to get him in deeper, but he just laughs — a deep, melodic rumble — before adding his middle finger.

One of the things he loves most about you is the effect you have on how he views life. Atsumu Miya’s never been the type of guy to believe in fate; coincidences, sure, but never destiny, y’know? But he supposes even the universe has a heart, because it led him to you.

Sometimes, when he’s feeling extra confident, he reckons that he has the Midas Touch. His hands have explored every centimeter of your gorgeous body; how else would he explain just how golden you are? But that’s just all you; his golden girl long before you even met him. If anything, he knows the real truth: the more time you spend with him, the more time you’ll lose that lovely shine to you. Touches from a man like him only tarnish, are only capable of tainting you.

But he can’t think about that now. Lately, he’s been getting in his head, always wondering when the day is gonna come where you decide to pack your bags and jump ship. It’s why he needs to savor moments like these for as long as they last.

You grind against his hand, trying to get him in deeper as if it’s physically possible. That’s another thing he loves so much about you; it’s easy to get you needy for him. The thought of you being like this with someone else leaves a bitter taste in his mouth, but the little whimpers of his name draws him out of his uncalled for jealous spiral.

Your hands, so much tinier than his, grab onto his arm, nails making themselves at home on the skin and muscle of his biceps. Most of the time, you’re his cute little pillow princess, but then there are moments where you’re just so desperate that you’re willing to put in the work, too.

“Look at you, baby, gettin’ all wet and messy from riding my fingers like they’re my cock.” He coos, watching you use his fingers to get yourself off. You’ll never believe him when he tells you just how pretty you look going stupid as the only thought in your mind is to chase after the pleasure only he can give you. Would you be grinding against the hand of anyone else, clenching around someone else’s fingers as well as you are right now?

No, you wouldn’t be. You wouldn’t be, because it’s his skin that had indentations of your nails digging themselves in there as your movements get even more sporadic. It’s him that’s being granted a front row seat to watch the way your pretty pussy glistens in the morning glow of the sun. It’s his fingers that are buried knuckles deep in your wet heat, his hand that your slick arousal is dripping all over.

“ATSUMU!” You moan out, practically humping his hand as you ride out your first orgasm of the morning. Your cheeks are burning with heat, but it’s nothing compared to the warm feeling you get in your belly before cumming all over your boyfriend’s fingers.

You’re not given a moment to come down from your previous high because when Atsumu withdraws his fingers from your cunt and brings his cum coated fingers to his lips to get a taste of you, all his restraint, all thoughts of taking his time to savor your sweetness, flies out the window.

He’s greedy, he knows it. But he also knows you, so when finds himself with his head between your thighs, licking up the remnants from your previous orgasm, he knows before you even do it that you’ll card your fingers through his hair and push his head down.

He smiles at your needy actions. Honestly, when he’s with you, it’s hard to stop himself from smiling. You just make him so happy — even happier when you make those cute, little noises when he fucks you with his tongue.

He could live in between your legs for the rest of his life, with only your juices to sustain him. Drugs have hardly ever held any interest to him, but as he relishes in the sweet taste of you, he can’t help but think that you’re his drug of choice. With a pussy like pure codeine, and a taste so sweet that he can’t help but drown himself in your essence, you wash away all his worries.

You’re lucky that he’s not tender headed, especially since you always love to pull at his hair when he makes you feel good. The sounds of him eating you out are lewd and mix in with your sweet mewls. He knows you’re close. Your thighs are closing in on him, your grip on his hair is tightening and you’re pulling with reckless abandon as your body squirms and moves sporadically without your mind telling it too. You’re so lost in the pleasure, burning in the heat of the moment.

When he finally sucks on your clit, you scream as your second orgasm has you clamping your thighs. He continues sucking on your clit throughout your release, utterly enraptured at the way you throw your head back with your back arched. He admires the way your pretty lips part to moan out his name, only his name, always his name.

You’re trying to catch your breath, watching as he licks his lips, your juices smeared all over his chin, making the lower half of his face all shiny, slick with your arousal. Your bottom lip juts out as you pout, tears welling up in your eyes.

Immediately, the pleased expression on his face morphs into one of complete concern.

“Baby, what’s the matter?” He’s panicking, worried that he went too hard on you. He’s been rougher before, but maybe his idea of “soft and sweet” is different from yours. He had only wanted to make you feel good, and it seemed like you were enjoying it, but—

“Y-you didn’t give me a-a-a chance—” You sniffle, finding it hard to stop the flow of tears from falling down your warm cheeks. “—t-to make you feel good, t-too.”

His thumb wipes away some of your tears. Look at you, all fucked out with your cute, quivering little hole still clenching around nothing. Nothing is better than seeing your pussy covered in your cum — unless, of course, it’s his cum that’s seeping out your abused hole.

“It’s okay, baby.” He coos, using his free hand to tug at the waistband of his boxers. “I never said we were finished.”

Atsumu Miya likes to play games. Which his right-hand man, Kiyoomi Sakusa, says is going to be the downfall of them all, but Atsumu doesn’t care because he thinks that Omi is too serious for his own good.

To the outside world, he’s the president of MSBY, one of the leading investment brokerages in Japan. That’s what he likes to call himself: an investment broker. A real businessman, y’know? And he looks the part, too: gelled hair, nice watch, shiny shoes, a custom tailored suit that’s been ironed by you.

To the men who dared to go against him, though, he’s the embodiment of death. The building MSBY calls its headquarters is fifty stories tall, but right now, right fucking now, he’s deep underground. On the rare occasions he does allow you to visit him at work, he shows you to his office at the very top floor — the one with the best view in Japan, he tells you, as you stare in awe at the beautiful scene before you — and says that this is where he does most of his work.

He doesn’t like lying to you, but sometimes, lying is necessary. You’re a curious thing by nature; if he told you the truth, the truth being that most of the time, all of his business is handled in the wide basement of this office building, you would ask to see it.

He doesn’t want you to see it, though. Doesn’t want you to see the way he handles business, doesn’t want you to see the men he does business with, and certainly doesn’t want those men to see you .

“Pathetic.” Kiyoomi spits out, leaning against the wall with a cold look in his dark eyes. The black mask he’s wearing obscures the disgusted sneer on his face that Atsumu knows is gracing his features.

The three men whose knees are on the floor, bowing down to Kiyoomi and Atsumu, don’t say anything in reply.

Kiyoomi brought them in because he had a sneaking suspicion that this trio had been breaking the rules, and Kiyoomi’s suspicions are hardly ever wrong. These three men had gotten a little bit too ambitious in their pursuit of money.

“Ya think I would just let the three of ya walk around as free men after what you tried to pull?” Atsumu snaps. “You think I would let anyone get away with tryin’ to sell off girls? The three of you are shit at running drugs, you really thought you could get away with human trafficking?” His voice is raising — he’s not yelling, though, not yet. “I ought to get the whole crew down here, so they can watch you three beg for your lives before I put a bullet through each of yer heads.”

“Pl-please, sir—”

“Close yer damn mouth. The more you talk, the more I want to get this over with.” Atsumu takes a step closer to them. “I was gonna go easy on ya, but then Omi told me somethin’ real interesting.” He nods to Kiyoomi, who finally stops leaning against the wall and straightens up.

“They have a bunch of files on young girls they’ve been scouting in this area. Ones that they think would be easy targets.” Kiyoomi tosses the file that he’s been hiding away in the inside of his suit jacket. “I think the one I left on top is gonna make you—” He pauses, as if he trying to find the right word without spoiling the surprise. He shrugs instead. “Well, go ahead and take a look.”

When Atsumu opens the file, he’s greeted with a candid shot of you. It had been taken last week — he knows so, because he recognizes the frilly white sundress you’re wearing in this photo. It’s the same dress he bunched up to fuck you by the lake the two of you were having a picnic at. The memory is a good one, but the fact that they managed to get a clear photo of you before that angers him.

Attached is a paper with your information filled out: basic things, like your name, age, your city of residence…

Obviously their work isn’t nearly as thorough as it could be, considering the fact that they hadn’t known about your connection to him. It’s almost laughable, really, at how pitiful their attempts to start their own little side business is.

“[Name] [Surname].” He reads out your name slowly, mockingly — as if these men are children who need help sounding out new vocabulary words in a picture book.

“Sir, please! We’ll do anything! We-we can even get her for you, if that’s what you wa—“

A swift kick to the man’s jaw has him shutting up, the impact so strong that a tooth flies out. Kiyoomi looks at it with disgust.

“God, you three are the biggest fucking idiots here, huh? I don’t even wanna know what I was thinking lettin’ ya in.” Atsumu’s eyes narrow at the pitiful sight beneath him. He should feel bad, he thinks. But, then again, they’re just asking for it. Not only did they try to use their weak connection to MSBY to promote their own little business venture, but they failed, miserably. He’d be embarrassed to be them right now.

It’s not just the ignorance and disloyalty that has his blood pressure rising, though. It’s the fact that they’ve been watching you, taking pictures of you, maybe even following you whenever they can, that makes him see red. Them asking him to spare their lives in exchange for you, though, is his breaking point.

Kiyoomi can see that Atsumu’s this close to doing something dangerous, but he doesn’t make any moves to stop him. Not because he can’t, but because he just doesn’t want to. Atsumu’s a big boy who can clean up his own messes (not well, which leaves Kiyoomi with the responsibility to erase all traces that anyone’s ever been murdered down here). Truth be told, Kiyoomi’s bored, and when Atsumu gets mad, things get fun.

He can see the gears turning in Atsumu’s head right now as he plans his next move. The pathetic whimpering coming from the trio of traitors is making Kiyoomi’s ears bleed, so he’s hoping ‘Tsumu can hurry the hell up so he can make it on time for a lunch reservation he set up…

“Since the the three of ya are all gonna be meeting yer maker soon, I’ll let you in on a little secret only the higher ups know about.” He pulls out his phone — his personal one, the one dedicated just for you — while he talks. “[Name] is my girlfriend. So I don’t need the three of you to try to take advantage of her and bring her to me.” He crouches down so he doesn’t have to speak as loud when he explains what’s about to go down.

“As a matter of fact, I think I’m gonna call her right now. Ya know what happened to the last guys that tried to fuck me and my organization over?”

“Sir! We did—“

He gets cut off when Kiyoomi knees him on the side of his head.

“Shut up, and let him finish.” Atsumu can always count on Kiyoomi to help him get his point across.

“The last guy’s last words were tellin’ my girl how pretty she looked. She’s pretty, isn’t she?”

“Y-yes.”

“Ya think my girl is pretty?” Atsumu pulls out his gun, matte black, fully loaded, and presses it against the middle man’s head. “Ya wanna know why that was that bastard’s last words?” He sneers, not waiting for an answer. “It’s because he wasn't even good enough to be looking at her.”

He pulls back his hand, removing the gun from against the man’s temple, and straightens up, standing to his full height.

“But that was too borin’. And besides, I don’t want you fuckers talkin’ to her.” His gun is tucked safely behind his back as he unlocks his phone. A photo of you blowing a kiss at him greets him on his home screen.

“I’m gonna ask her to pick a number between one and three. Whatever number she chooses is the number of bodies Omi’s gonna have to take to the burner.”

“Th-this isn’t right!” One of the men shouts. “Letting your fucktoy call the shot—“

“You can get shot right now if ya like.” The man is silent. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

When he calls you, you pick up on the first ring, just like he knew you would because that’s what you always do.

“Hey, aren’t you at work right now?”

“I’m takin’ a break.”

“That’s good! You’ve been working so hard. Are you sure you can’t bring some of your work home?”

Well, he could, but he’s not sure how you would feel about having a stranger’s blood splattered all over the white carpets you made him buy.

“Nah, I’m fine. Hey, I wanted to call you because I need some help.”

“Really?” He can practically see your wide eyes. “Of course! D-do you need me to come down to the office?”

“No!” He winces when he realizes that his voice is louder than it needs to be. “No.” He repeats, more gently this time around. The difference startles the three men, but Kiyoomi just rolls his eyes. It’s pathetic how much Atsumu babies you.

“I just need you to pick a number between one and three.”

“For what?”

“Can’t say. Just pick, baby.”

“Um…” He can tell you’re probably biting your bottom lip in thought. “Whatever I say won’t ruin the company, right? Like, this isn’t some life or death decision I’m making?”

Atsumu’s smile is a sadistic one. “Of course not! I can’t tell ya what it’s for, but it’s definitely nothing crazy. But you gotta pick now, baby, I’m in a hurry.”

“Okay, well, you know what? You can never go wrong with picking the highest number. I think I should choose number three.”

“Three?” Atsumu asks, just to confirm that he hasn’t gone hard of hearing yet.

“Three.” You confirm, giggling a little bit. “So, did I choose good?”

“You chose perfectly, baby. I gotta go now, but I’ll see you tonight.”

When he hangs up, it’s like flipping a switch. His face is contorted into a cruel sneer as he stares down at the three men. He only looks up to nod at Omi, who’s now pulling out his own gun.

“Hey.” Atsumu taps the toe of his shiny dress shoes on the cheek of one of the kneeling men. It’s the same one who was so adamant that this “wasn’t right”. Pulling back the safety of his gun, the action making a resounding click that echoes throughout this dark room, Atsumu smirks. “How does it feel knowing that my fucktoy is the reason why ya got a bullet through yer head?”

He doesn’t get an answer because dead men don’t speak.

Showing you off, though, becomes a problem — and fast.

Word spreads like wildfire in the underground world, and the hottest news right now is this: Atsumu Miya’s absolutely whipped for some stupid slut, and if you value your life, you’ll leave her the fuck alone.

But there are two sides to a coin, and the other side is this: the best way to fuck with Atsumu Miya is to fuck with you.

Every major and minor crimelord or lone wolf has heard about you. Most of them have seen a photo of you, some of them even have their own. The most direct way of having Atsumu Miya in the palm of their hands is to choke you with it first.

An old rival of his is the first to hear the news about you. Tobio Kageyama isn’t interested in how pretty you are; he doesn’t care that you’re naive and just begging to be taken advantage of; he couldn’t care less about all the lewd comments used to describe you when he’s gathering info. All he cares about is that kidnapping you will have Atsumu doing whatever he wants, and at the end of the day, all Tobio really cares about is how much power he has.

But you don’t know about any of this. How could you? Atsumu’s main goal is keeping you in the dark. You’re not stupid — obviously, he’s into some shady shit, but it’s never been anything that you felt you should worry about. Besides, aren’t all businessmen a little crooked?

The sound of several muttering voices and the slam of a door signals that Atsumu is home, and you peek your head from behind the wall that serves to separate the entranceway from the living room.

“‘Tsumu?” You ask, staring first at your boyfriend, and then at the three men behind him. You recognize the trio — you call them his friends, even though Atsumu knows better. They’re loyal and he doesn’t mind spending time with them, but there’s no room for any real meaningful friendships to take place.

“We have to go. Now.” Atsumu makes his way to you in just three long steps, his hand finding its way to your tiny arm, squeezing tight as he drags you alongside him.

“‘Tsumu, I-I don’t understand. Did I do something? Wh-”

“Kiyoomi, you sure you wanna go alone? Bo could always come with you.”

Kiyoomi scoffs underneath his mask, as if what Atsumu just suggested offends him. “I respect Ushijima, but I’m sure he and I can come to an understanding without any assistance.”

Atsumu speaks to Shouyo and Koutarou, double checking on certain things, and when everything seems to be sorted out, he nods at them before dragging you out into the hallway of the apartment building you live in.

“Atsumu, let me go.”

“I can’t do that.” He says, never easing his grip on you as he walks down the hallway and pulls you into an elevator, taking the two of you down to the parking garage.

“What’s going on, Atsumu?” You try to ease the shake in your voice as you grab at his chin, forcing him to face you. He seems angry at first, but his features soften as he looks down at you.

“I’m not a good person, ya know.”

“Did something happen?”

“The specifics aren’t important, trust me.”

“Trust you?” You ask. “Can I? Should I?”

Now’s not the time for his heart to be breaking. Whether he’s fucking you or not, you always look up at him adoringly, like he’s just the ninth wonder of the world or something. Now, you’re staring at him like he’s a stranger, and the worst part about it is the fact that it’s entirely justified. You brought out a different side to him no one else would ever know existed, but that doesn’t mean you know about who he really is.

“Do you?” He retorts, looking directly in your eyes, seeing his crazed expression reflecting back at him.

A beat passes, and then—

“Of course I do, ‘Tsumu.”

You’re telling the truth.

When he takes you to the safe house, he explains it. Maybe not all of it, and he’s definitely sparing you the gritty details, but you get what you need to know — what you should know. MSBY has one foot in the corporate world, and one buried deep in the ground of the world of organized crime. He’s been prepped and primed for his position since he was a teenager; leaving isn’t an option granted to many.

He gave up his life for this cause so his brother could live normally. Now you know why he never talks about Osamu — it’d leave a bitter taste in your mouth too.

A lot of bad men want to hurt you as a means of getting to him. He can protect you — he will protect you. He just needs time. Time to gather more resources, time to deal with all his enemies, time time time.

He’s been running short of it for quite a while now.

He tells you your limited options: stay with him, or stay with him ‘til it’s safe for you to leave this safehouse, and you can break free from this life. You can pretend that you’ve never even met him. Move on. Meet someone normal. You’d still be under his protection either way.

You cried when he told you this. You’re sensitive, after all. Empathetic, too. His pain ultimately becomes your pain, and he hates himself because the last thing he had ever intended to do was hurt you .

But hurting people comes easy to him. His hands have been molded to hold a gun, not love. He’s not built for tender touches and handling things with care, and maybe he was just fooling himself into thinking that you’re meant to be his.

But all thoughts of how he’s a monster incapable of deserving nice things, incapable of deserving you, leaves his mind when he finds you straddling his lap. You stopped crying, but the barely dried up tear streaks are still on your cheeks, lashes still wet as you stare at him.

You’re pressing your body against his, arms wrapped around his neck, face burrowed in the open space between his neck and shoulder. It’s like you’re trying to steal him of all his warmth — isn’t it bad enough that you’ve already stolen his heart?

Is it bad that he’d give you his all, give you everything, if you just asked?

He’s not sure how long he holds you like this, but it also doesn’t take you very long to start squirming against him.

Even in a life threatening situation, you’re still his needy little slut. You’re grinding on his lap, letting out tiny, cute whimpers as you rub your clothed cunt over his steadily hardening cock.

“Mmm, I-I need you, ‘Tsumu.” You whine out, rubbing your face against his neck, inhaling his familiar scent.

“Yeah? My pretty baby needs me?” He groans out. “I need you, too, baby. I need to fuck your little pussy ‘til everyone knows who you belong to.”

Ridding you of your shorts and panties is an easy task, especially since you’re so eager. Your dainty fingers are unzipping his jeans, and he watches you with half-lidded, lust filled eyes as you hastily pull down, trying to free his cock from its confines.

He fucks you all night, making good on his word. The first time you orgasm is when you ride his cock like it’s the last time you’ll ever do so, pathetically rutting up against him like a weak bitch in heat. His fingerprints are embedded in the flesh of your hips, and he sucks harsh hickies on your neck and collarbone that don’t fade for a week. The second time you orgasm is when he takes you to the king sized bed and properly gets his cock reacquainted with your pretty pussy, thrusting in so deeply that he presses against your cervix despite your whines. Your walls clamp down on him so tightly, clinging to his dick every time he tries to move; he doesn’t have to mold you to him, it’s as if you’ve already been made for him, custom tailored to fit him and only him.

He fucks you rough and hard, with a bruising pace and superhuman stamina. Your throat is sore from screaming so much. You’re nothing but a leaking hole by the time he’s done for the night, vision blurred and limbs feeling like gelatin. You can barely form a coherent thought, nevertheless speak using actual sentences, and so when he pulls you close to him, placing a gentle, almost chaste kiss on your forehead, you can’t tell him what you want to say: I love you, and I won’t leave you.

The hardest part about the life he’s been forced to live is the fact that his priorities will never align. He thinks about this as he tucks you in, brushing back your hair as you sleep. You roll over on your side, grabbing at the spot where he should have been laying, pouting in your sleep as if you know he should be there and he isn’t.

That’s the issue. No matter how much he wants to, he can’t be there for you as much as he would like.

Stupid Kiyoomi warned him about this — “You can’t live a double life.” He can’t run the underground crime world and be your boyfriend. He also can’t put you through this life; can’t force you to stay in a place where you don’t belong.

He brushes his lips against your forehead again, smiling at you as you sleep.

He’ll come back for you, he swears. He just has to make sure that you’ll be safe. Won’t come back for you until he’s certain that all the major threats are gone.

You’ll wake up alone. There will be no way for you to contact him. He won’t go out of his way to speak to you, either. It’s best for the both of you to learn and adjust to living without each other.

In this line of business, it’s just better for everyone in the long run to prepare for the worst.

[professionalscrublord]

Magnetized Joints / Torso Twist

For sick action-figure movement.

Hacked up some minis and affixed magnets in the joints for some movement. Now you can track torso twists physically on the board. And swing the axe arm for shits n' giggles.

Honestly starting was a little nerve-wracking since it's the first time I'd set out to willingly damage a model. Normally I baby them and cringe if I drop them.

Pictured: Hand drill, magnets, wharncliffe knife I'm using cause I didn't bother getting a hobby knife, and a serrated kitchen knife I was using as a saw until I cracked and got the lil Tamiya craft saws on the right.

Here's the poor Axman, after a few rounds of sawing at it and soaking the joint in superglue un-cure, either the glue dissolved enough or the plastic softened enough to where I could twist the joint apart.

Left: Bushwacker with magnets top and bottom, also Axman axe arm taken off. Then Nightstar with the same. On the right: how I kept the magnets + greenstuff to make sure I didn't put them in backwards. Needed dabs of superglue under the magnets to keep them from pulling each other out of the greenstuff.

Hacked off the Bushwacker's triangular shoulder missiles and sculpted on a PROPER X-shaped LRM-5 launcher from MechWarrior 3, *Ahem*. (I'm sure they made the change for ease of plastic casting or something.) Axman got a bit taller cause I misjudged the magnet depth too shallow, filled in some greenstuff to hide the magnet again.

Joints before+after priming Platemail Silver. On the right: the Exterminator's legs are drying held in the assembly stand because his leg/hip joint twisted off before his waist joint did...

KGC-010 mod. Cut off the Large Laser, modeled some flush-mounted particle cannons surrounded with SRM-6 launchers, and spiky cooling vanes poking out the back.

Left: Extra articulation on the Black Knight to make him Monty-Python compatible. "I'll bite yer legs off!" Note the head's Small Laser. Right: BL-6-KNT further modded into a BL-9 "Clanbuster" variant: Cut SL from head and glued to CT, modeled an axe out of greenstuff. Held upside down while the glue was drying and greenstuff was curing, because otherwise it started to droop from the weight of the axe head.

Side note: Apparently the BL-9 has a "Sword-shaped Hatchet". Hatchet according to record sheet, Sword according to lore. This must be some easter egg from the early days of melee weapons before Swords got their own rules or something. I got got. Reminds me of how the King Crab just has bog-standard hand actuators instead of Claws that were only added to the rules way after its time.

KGC's LL reused to create an infantry mortar emplacement, in a ring of sandbags.

One last glamour shot showing all the converted minis twisting. Didn't forget about that triangular LRM-5 from the Bushwacker, did you? Created a stationary defense turret with it to the left of the mortar, modeled some other missiles and gun barrels using greenstuff and a 3d Pen. The one on the right is entirely scratch-built.

Now I have to decide how I want to paint them.

[heliosthegriffin]

Shadow Knight and Magic Girls XVIII

Ao3 Link

Chapter 18

------

In the passenger seat of a beat-up old pickup, Jaune sat quietly. He was bruised and very pissed off, his armor hidden in the backseats under some old coats.

"Look. I may have gone too far with training." Jeremiah began.

Jaune side-eyed his grandfather. "You shot me, my own grandfather, shot me."

"But, you made great progress moving in that armor of yours!"

"Because, you kept shooting at me."

"Hey! Being shot at isn't that bad! I've spent more time being shot at than I've had under the covers with you're grandmama!"

Jaune gagged. "That explains a lot."

"Trust me, you get used to it." He thumped his chest. "Ah, I've got about seven, or so, stuck in me from the Color Wars and the work I've been doing since." He coughed into his hand. "And, I didn't have fancy armor to keep them out!" He smiled at Jaune. "Look, I wouldn't have shot ya, if I didn't think you couldn't handle it, honest, Arc's Word."

Jaune looked at his grandfather, then sighed. An Arc's Word couldn't be taken back. "Alright. I'll forgive you then."

"I'm sure you've been shot at before."

"Yep."

"So, I'm sure you want to keep from getting hit. But, back during the Color Wars, those jackass noble's insisted on they're armor being bullet-proof, and as Nobles of the Land they had some-sort of divine right, that the bullets wouldn't be able to harm them thanks to some sort of supernatural importance."

"Did they?" Jaune's interest piquing.

Jeremiah shrugged. "I'm no scientist, but based on my observation," He paused in thought. "No, not at all. It was damn fine armor, but it doesn't help shit if you're charging across no man's land into a machine-gun nest with a hundred rifles aimed at ya! An entire generation of men and women, of some the oldest bloodlines in history, dead. Armor looked like a cheese graters, and the bodies were so torn apart they oozed out of the holes like a slurry of blood and flesh-" Jeremiah's voice became distant. "Not one of those idiots survived. Others like them didn't learn." He swallowed, his voice dry. "War changed, and they didn't."

Jaune looked at his grandpa, his knuckles had gone white from holding the steering wheel. "You ok? Need me to take over, and drive from here?"

"No." His grandfather shook his head. "I'm fine."

"Did you know any of them?"

"Know? Yes. Liked any of them? Hated all of them. Doesn't mean I wanted them to go like that."

Jaune nodded. "I understand, I think."

His grandpa glance at him. "Maybe." He sighed. "I guess I just wanted to teach you a lesson. One that those asshats won't ever learn. Seeing you in that armor, you looked every part of a noble... I fucked up, didn't think the lesson, through."

"Yeah, a bit." Jaune still felt a enraged at being shot. "But, I won't hold it against you, not forever."

They still had a long-way to go back to Vale. The cab of the truck going silent as they drifted off into thought.

"The first time I saw a Grimm, I was sixteen, and it was my second year in the forces. We were marching through mud and fog. We're made up of a mix of Valean & Vacuoans, about twenty men strong. We're to set up fortifications on shore, and then we're to intercept a invading force of Mantle coming from the north-east looking to establish a hold on Vytal Island."

Jeremiah spoke like he was making a confession, of finally telling something he's been holding back a long, long time. "We're had taken too long, they already establish a foothold there, on Vytal, had sent scouts onto Sanus proper, into the wilderness around the shores of the continent. We found they're camps, then we found they're bodies.

"You've seen what Grimm can do. Imagine my shock, 16 years old, going to war to protect my motherland, I've already seen the horrors of war. I had nothing but a rifle on my shoulder and Crocea Mors on my hip. It brought me no comfort, I had never seen anything like it, it was ... awful."

Jeremiah paused. Minutes passed as he stared at the road, not speaking, merely remembering.

"None of us moved. We're fresh-faced and green, we had no idea what we're looking at it. I think I threw up, or maybe it was someone else, it's so long ago, that I can't remember it clearly. Near the outpost was a cave, in that cave was screaming and sound of gun-fire, and It.

"All sense of kingdoms and the knowledge that we're at war fell apart then and there. A sort of primal tribal instinct arose in us all, that we needed to obey. Another person was in danger, in absolute terror. We went to help them and ... It was a bloodbath. Really and truly, it was. Twenty young men and a handful of Mantle Solider were in there, including me, most of them dying by the twos and three's." Jeremiah paused again, closing his eyes for a brief moment. "Give me a moment, please. It's getting harder to remember."

Jaune said nothing, doing his best to etch his grandfather's words into his mind.

Jeremiah breathed out hard, then continued. "It charged me, I used my gun to block and it broke my gun like driftwood, the force tossed me like a rag-doll. I saw It kill my best friend, Daimon, who had enlisted with me. He was a Faunus and a good one too, he wanted to make a reputation, not for himself, but for all Faunus during the war. To show them that they loved Vale just as much as the humans do." Jeremiah took a deep, shaky breath.

"That thing, it tore him in half at the waist, right above me. All his foulness of inside him falling on top of me. I snapped. It was like I fell into a deep, dark hole and lost myself in there, while my body climbed out and did all the work. Nothing else mattered. It wasn't rage. It wasn't hate. It was just ... "

"A call." Jaune said simply. Empathy in his voice

"Yeah. That." Jeremiah smiled, taking his knuckle and wiping his eye. "I drew Crocea Mors. It was the first time I ever wielded her. My mother had practically forced it into my hands when I went out the door. It had been my fathers, I didn't get a chance to know him. I only knew that he was a good man who died young. It was heavy, I knew that from carrying it on my belt, but I had gotten used to it's presence. I didn't realize that once I drew that, I needed to hold it with both hands. My arms burned and I nearly tore something swinging it.

"The thing, the Grimm, I couldn't begin to describe it, it's been so damn long, and I hadn't seen anything else like it sense. Might have been one of kind, or they're just too scared of me to come back. Heh. Not likely though. It had gotten back to tearing apart my brothers, and I ran at it's legs. I had never had a clean a cut in my life as when I swung her blade. It cut right through it's limbs, cut deep into it's body, it's like there was no resistances at all. I killed it. And, after it was all said in done, maybe five, aside from me, survived it's rampage."

"What happened next?" Jaune asked.

Jeremiah shrugged. "I passed out. I had never been in a fight like that before. Don't get me wrong, I rough-housed with other boys growing up, they thought since I didn't have a daddy I was easy pickings, so I had to school them rightly." He sighed. "When I woke up, the two surviving Mantelians had this look of defeat on them, and we did something, I still don't understand to this day."

Jaune waited for Jeremiah to continue.

"We took them in. Gave them spare uniforms, and said they were recruited rural towns, that they wanted to fight against the invaders. We began the biggest bunch of badasses this kingdom had ever seen."

Jaune looked at his grandfather skeptically. "Just like that? Didn't they have any loyalty to Mantle?"

Jeremiah laughed, long and hard. "Nope! Fuckers were happy to just be alive. Mantle was a shit hole back then, too. One wrong word, and welcome to the labor camps. Some call Atlas authoritarian bastards today, but they got nothing, and I mean nothing, on Old Mantle."

"I'll take your word for it." Jaune said. His grandfather look tired now, and almost fragile. "Thank you, for telling me that."

The temporary weakness passed, Jeremiah shrugging. "It's been so long since I told anyone, It was a much me trying to remember, as telling you." He sighed sadly. "I never had the guts to tell your grand-mama, ya know? I still regret that." The old man's eyes seemed to be looking somewhere far off. A sad smile on his lips, as he remembered other times.

Jaune had never really had the chance to meet his dad's mom, his grand-mama. She had died sometime during his dad's late teens, but she had been a wonderful woman from all accounts.

"Any other questions?" Jeremiah asked after a minute, reminiscing of other times.

"Did you ever report back to Vale, about the incident?" Jaune asked, curiously.

"Yeah, about that," Jeremiah began. "Have you ever heard of The Black Shields?"

"A bit, they're like a rumor- you're shitting me, right?" Jaune saw the smug smile on his grandpa's face.

"Oh, you better believe I'm not." He rolled up his sleeve showing his shoulder, showing a version of Vale's Symbol, except instead of two axes surrounded by a wreath, it was a blackened shield surrounded by a wreath. "The second we reported that shit we all got black-bagged and inducted into the Black Shields." He patted Crocea Mors. "Still a member, too. Even if the organization is mostly defunct. We're a task force of men and women recruited to deal with anomalies, aka Grimm and other wickedness."

"Did they even know what was going on?" He paused. "Or get any cool toys?"

"Hell no, and if they did, they did a damn good job convincing us that they were a bunch of dumbasses wearing lab coats. Not that they didn't try to learn, but since Grimm disappear as soon as they die, it makes it very hard to research them. All they were left with was theory crafting. Other anomalies weren't much better. Like short women who could mess with your sense and then disappear. Floating lights that went after Grimm and destroyed them. All kinds of crazy shit." He sighed. "It was mostly wait till something to reported, go there, interview the locals, debunk them publicly to preserve public order. Then do our own searches to see if there was any truth. Which more often than not, nothing at all.

"But, on occasion, when we found Grimm it was hell on wheels, then we got breakout the big guns. But, sometimes it just weird stuff, objects that could do things. Rods that shoot lightning, a bag that was bigger on the inside, a statue that followed commands. We took what we could into custody, or destroyed it if we couldn't. Or run away, that was sometimes the best option."

"So, what happened to the Black Shields?"

"Funding got cut by someone high up, which limited everything, and those same bastards then started putting stricter and stricter rules on us, till we could barely function. I had enough at that point and could see the writing on the walls, so, I left."

"Sounds like sabotage. They just let you leave?"

"Probably, was. Ancestors only know why. Maybe they started a new project, or other Kingdoms had caught wind and didn't like it, pressured us to stop. I really don't know why." He paused in thought. "Anyway, yeah, they really couldn't stop me, no reason too. I didn't have any records working for Vale after the Great War, and on paper, the Black Shields don't exist at all. Our funding was filed under a different name and buried in other paper-work. So, our agents could be cut off at anytime. As far as the Kingdom was concerned, I was no issue. Any information I leaked, would just look like a damaged veteran's mad ramblings."

"Do they still keep tabs on you?"

"Probably. Though, considering my age, they probably assumed I'm dead at this point. Anybody old enough to have worked there in my prime, is long out of business, unless they got some type of age treatment."

"Victory by endurance."

"Yep. Don't plan on croaking either, so no rest for this wicked bag of bones."

Jaune wondered. Would he too be doing this at his grandfather's age? Still fighting Grimm, and other anomalies? Or would he be dead? He only had so many chances before he ran out of luck.

"You think you have time to stick around? Maybe, give me a few pointers?" Jaune asked. Being shot at was a small price to pay, if it made him better. His grandfather was a survivor, and the best techniques are passed on by survivors.

A worn old smile appeared on Jeremiah's face. "It'd be my pleasure."

-----

"Girls." Ms. Purple greeted the girls in a secluded locations.

"Teacher." White responded, with the others giving a variety of responses, but all with a degree of respect.

"It has come to my attention, that a new threat has arisen in Vale, one that Crimson combated by her lonesome last week." Purple looked at Crimson firmly. "That was irresponsible of you, but I applaud your courage."

Crimson nodded sheepishly.

"As your teacher in the arts of Arcane, it is time I let you five into some deeper secrets of the Night-Side and the Otherworld." Purple said with a very serious tone, but laced with a hint of sadness. "You are not alone in your use of magic, there are beings out there who can rival you on equal footing, and more frighteningly ones could crush you all collectively the same way you might crush the Grimm."

A look of shock went over the girls as they're teacher dropped a revelation on them, except for Yellow and Crimson. Both, thinking back to they're recent encounters.

"The Dark Queen's Seven Generals, one of which you already encountered Crimson, the Four Horsemen, The Queens and Royalty of the Otherworld, Things that Sleep, and other horrors, are just some examples of those entities. That's without even going into things Man has made by themselves." She looked around at her students. "Or the various Relics left behind from previous Eras and iterations of Magical Girls as you call yourselves, or as properly known, Star-fated Maidens."

Purple paused, letting her words sink into her students. Red raised a shy hand. "Why are you telling us this now? Why let us know about this now?"

Purple looked at and past them. "I thought we had more time. Up-till now, I thought the Grimm would be the most of your worries." She bowed politely. "I was wrong. I thought you girls were born into a peaceful era. That thought, is quickly being proven incorrect. I fear that we are entering a new Dark Age." She took out her wand. "So, it is time for the training wheels to be taken off, since there is no telling how much time we have left to prepare. " From behind her, two adults appeared behind her from the shadows. "So, I've enlisted help."

A tall lanky man hooded by a ragged cloak. "Harbinger."

A tall bulky man whose face was hidden by a dragon-mask. "Sun Dragon."

Then a woman fell between Purple and her students. "Briar-Storm!" A woman with silver eyes and mature figure wearing what seemed to be a magical girl outfit.

Purple sighed at 'Briar-Storm', then continued. "Yes, these three will help you train and experience different styles of combat. From attacks from the shadows, frontal assault, and even," She paused looking at Briar-Storm vibrating in place with excitement. "learning how to counter magic."

[susandsnell]

The Batman/Reevesverse Scarecrow Speculation Post

So, with the hope that the Reevesverse Scarecrow spinoff still goes through (what with WB's currently tenuous position under Zaslav), here are some speculation points I've had for a while with regards to how dear Dr. Crane could fit into the Gotham universe of 2022's The Batman --

The Drops Trade: Probably the most obvious thread wherein to integrate him. As some rumours about the Penguin spinoff TV series have hinted that they'll pick up on this subplot (since we do see Oz is involved in it in the movie), and there is apparently already an epidemic in this universe's Gotham City, lacing a new strain with fear toxin would be an easy way to spread it massively through the city. This could easily tie him in with the mob characters (Oz et al), and would work well with the Se7en-esque mystery/detective story approach they're taking to Batman's character, with the inexplicable terrifying effects of this new strain of Drops leading Bats down a trail that ends with a disgraced former professor of psychology. What works against this is that it's argably too similar to the very rapidly abandoned drug dealer Scarecrow plot in The Dark Knight. But given that as with every Nolanverse Scarecrow plot point, that kind of just happened and went nowhere until Crane Barbied his way into a new job, and the fact that the series hasn't shied away from similarities/nods to TDK trilogy, there's still a solid chance for there to be a unique spin on it here.

Riddler leaks: Since this universe's Edward Nashton is big on exposing corruption and has a strong online presence, maybe he - or one of his following, acting in his name - will kickstart the start-of-darkness plot by prompting his firing from Arkham or Gotham University (if he works at either in this continuity) by leaking Dr. Crane's more unsavoury dealings and/or unethical practices and experimentation. Perhaps the Renewal Fund flowed through Gotham University and Crane siphoned from it to finance his fear toxin research? While I love the "this man fired a gun in his classroom to illustrate a point and got extremely mad that there were consequences" origin to death, I can admit this origin might be either considered either too silly or in poor taste for a grounded universe like the Reevesverse that does have at least some social commentary. Points against this route, however, are whether they intend to do much more with Edward Nashton; Paul Dano is reportedly signed on for more entries to the series, but given he had a whole movie to himself, and a prequel comic run, they might not want to saturate us on him. On the other hand, Matt Reeves has expressed an interest in building a full and robust Rogues Gallery, and the most successful visual adaptations that have done this have understood the value of the Rogues' relationships amongst themselves.

Arkham Doctor: A usual starting point for Crane, but nonetheless, we've established Arkham already in this universe, and with named and known characters staying there. There's also rumours of an Arkham Series that could bridge with the Scarecrow spinoff proper, and while Crane experimenting on the patients is rather typical, we do have some interesting opportunities -- a chance he interacts with Riddler and Joker, who are set up to be there, again laying the groundwork for a new Rogues Gallery (Poison Ivy is also confirmed to have a spinoff in the works, so she might be involved also), but moreover, an access to the records on Martha Wayne, nee Arkham, could bring him into the leverage/Wayne family drama, which would be especially fun if he still doesn't figure out Bruce's identity as Batman, he just resents the Waynes. Then again, even though Scarecrow's class struggle angle goes back to the earliest comic appearances, this ground has already been well-trodden with Edward Nashton and Selina Kyle in the first movie, so it depends on whether they want to take a new tack or expand Gotham's class disparity to be a major theme of the series.

anyway, these are just a handful of ideas - would love to hear other thoughts!

[weatherman667]

White Knight:  Instrucyangional

Weiss:  H-hey baby, want me to be your sugar mama.

Weiss:  *awkward wink*

Jaune:  *questioning look*

Weiss:  *looks at her scroll*

Scroll:  Relationship Notes, as directed by Yang Xiao Long

Scroll:  Sexual pun.  Curiously, does not seem to have to make any rational sense.

Weiss:  Check.

Jaune:  *glower*

Scroll:  Highly sexualized posed.

Weiss:  *leans forward, stick out her check*

Jaune:  Huh?

Weiss:  *looks at her scroll*

Weiss:  Check.

Scroll:  Baby-doll eyes.  Not enough information to record proper details.

Weiss”  *skip that one*

Scroll:  Get him to look down my cleavage.

Weiss:  *looks at her cleavage*

Weiss:  *dejected sigh*

Jaune:  Wait:

Weiss:  *gives Jaune a nervous look*

Weiss (fearfully):  Y-yes?

Jaune:  *shyly looks away*

Jaune:  Nothing.

Weiss:  *fearfully looks at her scroll*

Scroll:  Finger guns.

Weiss:  *clicks the video*

Weiss:  *awkward finger guns*

Jaune:  I think I finally figured out what’s going on here.

Weiss:  *stands up properly*

Weiss (hiding her eagerness):  Yes?

Jaune:  Yang’s getting you to pull pranks on me.

Weiss (incensed):  I AM DOING NOTHING OF THE SORT!

Jaune:  Uh-huh?  When’s the last time you’ve done finger guns?

Weiss:  i will have you know that I perform with the utmost...

Jaune:  Huh?

Weiss:  *interrupted from her blush*

Jaune:  What do you keep looking at on your scroll?

Weiss:  If you really must know, instructional details.

Jaune:  From who?

Weiss:  From my instructor.

Jaune:  *steps towards her*

Weiss:  *stares at him with faux confidence, almost faltering*

Jaune:  Who’s that?

Weiss:  *leans towards Jaune, only to find their face dangerously close*

Weiss:  *blushes and leans back*

Jaune:  Alright, now you’re scaring me.

Jaune:  *starts to look around*

Weiss:  What ever are you looking for?

Jaune:  *looks at Weiss*

Jaune:  Probably Ruby?

Jaune:  *looks around again*

Jaune:  Thought, Blake might?..

Weiss (sharply):  By the Brothers, whatever do you expect them to do?

Jaune:  This is just screaming ambush.  Prank ambush.

Weiss:  How could you so harshly spurn my affections?

Weiss:  *gasp*

Jaune:  Wait, what?

Weiss”:  *looks around nervously*

Weiss:  I do not know what you?..

Jaune:  Okay, that makes a crazy kind of sense.

Weiss:  And just what about it would be so cracy?

Jaune:  *leans towards her, steps back and leans away*

Jaune:  I don’t know, maybe all the times you?..

Weiss:  *kneels down*

Jaune (surprised):  What are you doing?

Weiss:  I - Am - Not - Yang - Xiao - Long, nor do I ever expect to be.  I am a lady.  Nay, a dame, and as such, I pledge to you as a dame would.

Jaune:  Uh... huh?

Weiss:  When receiving their accolades, they pledge to yield to none other than their masters.

Jaune:  Huh?

Weiss:  I promise to swear my fealty.

Jaune:  Wait, what?

Weiss:  My honour.

Jaune:  Uh?..

Weiss:  My love!

Jaune:  *stunned*

[penny-the-pissed-poltergeist]

Giving RWBY characters digimon partners part 1: Ruby and Weiss

if your wondering why I'm doing this, I am hyper fixating on digimon RN and i just really like crossovers

Ruby Rose

ROOKIE/CHILD STAGE: shoutmon

So i went with Shoutmon because it's red digimon that's been used by the main character of a digimon series before and it leads well into the evos i want, but i imagine him and Ruby having a fun dynamic, with shoutmon being hot blooded and kinda egotistical and Ruby having to rain him in a bit.

also shoutmon is associated with music and listening to music is the first thing we see Ruby doing the show proper.

(honorable mentions Guilmon, Agumon, Hackmon/Huckmon, Agumon Black 2006)

CHAMPION/ADULT STAGE: GROWMON

i chose him because it's a big red dino dragon, but i also like the juxtaposition between the digital hazard and the sliver eyes, one being this holy gift from the gods the other being a unstable power of destruction.

(honorable mentions Black Growmon, Red Vdramon, Tyranomon)

ULTIMATE/PERFECT STAGE: WARGROWMON/MEGALOGROWMON

bigger growmon with blades and guns, two thing Ruby loves, it leads well into the megas/ultimates, moving on.

(honorable mentions Metal Fantomon, Metal Tyranomon)

MEGA/ULTIMATE STAGE NO.1: CHAOSDRAMON

so here we have a giant red death robot, that has several weapons, is constantly upgrading itself (just like Ruby upgrading crescent rose) and uses guns to maneuver itself in the air just like Ruby. it even has skull kneepads for the edgyness factor, it's perfect!

MEGA/ULTIMATE STAGE NO.2: BLITZGREYMON

yeah I'm giving all the MC's split megas, why because it's common among digi-destined and felt like it. but look at this guy, blood red, made out of guns, he also moves around in the air using his back guns and said back gun look like draconic crescent roses. another perfect mega.

(honorable mentions Rosemon, Dukemon, medieval Dukemon, Rust Tyranomon, Bryweludramon)

Weiss schnee

ROOKIE/CHILD STAGE: HACKMON/HUCKMON

yes i gave the digimon with a literal red hooded cape to someone who isn't Ruby, but this meant to be reference to Nicholas Schee's red cape, and as Weiss aspires to be like her grampa, hackmon aspires to be one of the royal knights, and both the royal knights and Nicholas can morally dubious to say the least. Also both him and Weiss were trained from birth for combat. i see hackmon acting like a armored talking dog and Weiss loving her for it.

And with hackmon kinda looking and kinda acting like Ruby and shoutmon acting like a more cartoonish Weiss, and both Weiss and shoutmon being singers, Ruby and Weiss when they first meet wonder "did our partners get accidentally switched at some point? did something happen?"

(honorable mentions Spadamon, Blucomon, Gammamon)

CHAMPION/ADULT STAGE: BAO HACKMON

just the next stage of hackmon, i forgot to mention that her name hackmon, and we know Weiss has some hacking skills because of the DC movie, so that's worth bringing up i guess

(honorably mentions: Paledramon, Betel Gammamon)

ULTIMATE/PERFECT STAGE: SAVIORHACKMON

yep just the next stage of hackmon... the gem on her chest can represent Dust i guess

(honorable mentions: canoweissmon, Crys Paledramon )

MEGA/ULTIMATE STAGE NO.1: JES-MON

hackmon's final form, a knight just like Weiss's main summon, who has her own summons (their names are Atho, René and Por BTW) and she literally walks around on circular glyphs.

Weiss also has a lot of angelic imagery associated with her (i will leave my opinion on said imagery out of this post) and JESmon is kinda sorta... literally based on Jesus, yes digimon Jesus is very pointy dragon knight who has familiars named after the 3 musketeers... god i fucking LOVE digimon

MEGA/ULTIMATE STAGE NO.2: CRESGARURUMON

if Ruby has a Greymon, Weiss must have a Garurumon, this does feel like a natural evo for savior Hackmon, with cape splitting in half and the gem changing color, and Weiss does love dogs, but we both know the real reason i gave her this digimon...

(honorable mentions: Durandamon, Armaon, Siriusmon, Hexablaumon)

JOGRESS: OMNIMON ALTER S/ OMEGAMON ALTER S

it's the main character and her lancer, you kinda have to give them an Omnimon, and this is the best Omnimon! this also makes up for cres Garurumon being gold by having the entire main body be white.

also jogress digievolution in some continuities involves the tamers hearts beating as one... whiterose shippers take as will.

(honorable mentions: Ragnalordmon)

I'm doing Blake and Yang next... bye

[gear-project]

Annon-Guy: Morality - In regards to Baiken, Bedman? and Delilah... say someone (a well intentioned cop or monk who believe they know better in this instance) wanted to destroy the bedframe (believing it a monster or so Bedman can finally pass on) while trying to take Delilah away from it and Baiken, believing Delilah shouldn't be with them.

How would Biaken and Bedman? respond to this? I don't think they'd like it as they would be taking Delilah's freedom away by doing so.

Despite what it may look like the Bedframe is more durable than it currently looks. Cracked and almost broken, but still hanging in there... I don't think any ordinary person could damage it without getting hurt in the process...

While such a "creature" (to the common bystander) might look like a monster, they are normally taught not to jump to conclusions... especially nowadays in Illyria where Gears now live.

Their first action would probably be to report the incident to the authorities with all haste, and those involved would deal with the Bedframe properly... assuming they knew what they were doing based on their training.

As King Leo says, "American's don't know how to cook a proper Sausage right"... what he means is (translated from his grumblings), there's an order to things.

You don't just shoot at things you don't understand guns blazing... even if that's your first knee-jerk reaction.

But, even if someone TRIED to shoot the Bedframe... it's probably made of durable metals, so it probably wouldn't work very well.

Magic Firearms might do a bit of damage (especially to the mattress), but not too much given its supernatural potential.

Also, it's more suspicious that a small 12 year old girl is interacting with the Bedframe like there's nothing WRONG if you ask me...

Hence why Goldlewis Dickinson's first impression of Delilah was that she got herself an "interesting pet".

If Baiken was tagging along, she'd probably "try" and explain the situation... but Baiken's not really good at "explaining things" so she'd just beat up whoever was harassing them and get them to leave...

Yeah... uh... that's what Baiken would probably do... and just make the situation worse.

Delilah would probably be trying her best to get everyone to stop fighting all this time... though she'd secretly be rooting for her Brother's Bed to win.

Fortunately Illyria's Knights are trained for these sorts of situations (thanks to all amounts of trouble between Ky and Sol in the past), so they can grasp a situation and resolve it rather quickly.

[abyssling]

⚠️DC vs Vampires #12 Spoilers⚠️Random ending feeling talking

So let's talk about the ending. Straight to the point, I didn't really get the purpose of the end. Barbara takes the throne and becomes the new lead, then leave humanity to what… hope? You mean Kara? Ok now it looks like you suppose to write an 800 words essay but you notice the topic after you have done 750 words already, and the topic is "Dawn of DC".

Honestly, I don't know why DC wants to make every elseworlds connected or slightly stick to the prime world. It's not officially said that DvV is connected to the main story, but the ending title "Dawn" gave me the first thought of it. And have a look at the neighbor issue <Dark Knight of Steel>, it is labeled as Earth-118 in <Dark Crisis Big Bang>. Who knows what's next on the menu?

Back to the #12 story itself. As a DickBabs fan, I can not say I didn't enjoy the bittersweet content between my two sweet potatoes. Dick Grayson looks stunning in his dramatic leather coat that we have seen several times and I still wanna thank whoever designed this for him, you did a gods job.😇 Babs on the other hand very predictable, she tricks Dick with a soft point and makes her "feed Grayson anything he never looks what he eats anyway" plans work. To me, it's quite disappointing that the story ends in a lover's way but the family's way. As I said earlier, this story begins with Batfamily. The tragedy caused by Dick's family, it will be perfect if it ends with the family (Damian). That will be the lesson you learn to go with your brain but your kidney.

We have two characters who got their one-shot issues, Harley and Damian. Harley played her character as the poison blood, very important very badass. But what does Damian do? He fights Grayson once and in the end he just… waits downstairs? Damian should be a more useful character in the final battle.

If anyone remembers there are a few interesting foreshadowing such as bringing back Bruce with Lazarus Pit and magicians trying to reverse the vampirism. I was kinda looking forward to those contents but they just snapped.🥲 (You don't even give Bruce a proper burial?? Look at his half and broken body.🥲)

Another unbearable fact, don't wanna be rude but what's wrong with all the guys in this story? Half of them were torn apart with one take, good guys are keep sacrificed for protecting the big guns. Even Superman can't stand till last. (Where the hell did you get the Kryptonite sword? Batcave? And I was hoping Supes will stand by Dick's side or something? That will be cool.)

Let's see the big guns. We got:

Barbara, Kara, Starfire, Harley Quinn, Mary, and Jayna. All girl's power, I'm not blaming anything, but Grayson are you keeping all the badass manpower to yourself but your family and… Green Arrow? What's on your mind?🤔

Let's just say, I will give 6.5/10 for the whole DC vs Vampires arc. The story is twisty, the storyline is brave, and has some not-so-good character personality writing. Mainly because it brings out too many characters at once and can't focus on the group of its skeleton. We got a very handsome (but not so smart) Dick Grayson as Vampire King and let him be taken down by his lover. Old clich but suited for the dramatic. I still kinda want Dick to win the battle. Anyway, it's a good year for Nightwing fans and DickBabs fans already. Thanks for listening to my Ted Talk.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Painted Snow

sorry for late post. I wanted to sleep in since today is a holiday :) I hope the non Americans can forgive my indulgence. 

https://www.patreon.com/empyreaniris?fan_landing=true

https://starr-fall-knight-rise.tumblr.com/post/182501791735/master-post

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jzEIdDAB4omdO2JcQVMObfrhLJ5kX4ONmSsLypM1ks0/edit?usp=sharing.

The creature pulled itself from the ground in a shower of snow and ice sending a shockwave across the clifftop to disturb the hard packed crystal. Snow pelted his helmet and a chunk of ice slammed into his chest before shattering and falling to the ground in a shower of crystals. For its part, the snow crab didn’t take time to inspect the interlopers, instead it took the offensive straight out of the gate.

It screamed, and the entire team covered their ears in pain. The noise was incredibly high pitched, so loud he thought his eardrums were going to rupture, but the sound continued to heighten, until he could no longer hear it. At his back, however, Krill could still hear the sound, all four hemispheres of his brain ringing in confusion. For a moment, it caused Adam to waver in confusion, but then the screaming cut off and the ground began to rumble as the creature charged towards them, its legs slamming into the snow and ice for purchase as it barreled towards them.

Adam and Sunny went one way and the others dove to the other side just as the creature came barreling through. Its legs churned as it attempted to turn towards them, but its vast weight and momentum carried it further down the hill before it was able to slow down.

The three of them were able to regroup.

Etim, for his part, took the safe route, mounting the back of his gun like a small pony, and kicking off the ground to float twenty feet into the air, and hopefully out of range of the crab. Adam could have deployed his jetpack, but with the others on the ground he didn’t want to leave them, especially not sunny.

Before his minds eyes he imagined the crab rushing forward, barreling into her and throwing her bodily off the side of the cliff onto spikes of ice below, where her and their unborn child would expire in the cold. Unconsciously he placed himself in front of her weapon raised.

He was well aware of Sunny’s confused thought process as he did so.

That wasn’t his normal move, and she had to adjust her stance to match him, which took away precious time for her to ready herself.

The crab charged at them again.

The sucker was fast, faster than Adam anticipated, and any thought he might have had for a proper attack fled his mind. Instead he turned to Sunny and tackled her out of the way just as the creature went past. Ramirez and Maverick shouted waving at the creature to come back around. 

Sunny pushed up from the snow as the crab ran towards Maverick and Ramirez.

The two of them did not run but linked arms and fell backwards as the crab charged towards them, falling under its belly just inside its churning legs and fired up into its soft undershell.

The creature screamed.

Sunny snarled and pushed him off, “The Hell Adam. WHat are you doing!”

He frowned, “Trying not to let you get squished.” 

The crab had reached the base of the hill now, and was turning around ponderously as orange Icor spilled out of its belly and onto the snow  from where it had been hit.

“You are behaving strangely!” She shouted, and in her head he got the full picture.

Usually as her battle partner she knew what he was going to do before he did it and vise versa, but today she had no idea what he was going to do, and every time she set herself up for something he got in her way.

“I can’t let you get killed!”

She gave him an incredulous look as the crab began its charge, “You never worried about that before!”

She stood and planted her feet stubbornly.

He gritted his teeth, “Well before I wasn’t worrying about two of you.”

“That’s what this is about!?”

The crab charged them. Adam went one way and sunny went the other. Adam dove into the hard decline and skidded sharply through the snow, narrowly avoiding the pounding legs above him, but the legs were unable to avoid him. He slashed sideways scoring a direct hit on the joint of the middle leg which exploded with orange sudge.

The crab screamed again, but kept running.

Sunny Came out the other side with blood on her spear as well glaring at adam.

“I am not one of your squishy delicate human females, my body was built for combat and if you think I am going to hide and cry at the first space crab we run into, than you don’t know me as well as I thought you did.” She had approached and they were standing toe to toe now.

Adam prodded her in the chest of her armor, “No, I know you WONT which is why I had to intervene.”

“It isn’t even a few months old, behind carapace, muscle and now EVA armor! It’s as safe as it is going to get. Unless my battle partner starts behaving erratically and we both screw up.”

The crab turned again and paused this time trying to decide which one of them had hurt it the most,

It decided eventually that Adam and Sunny were the better targets considering their size and brightly colored nature and began running down the hill at them again. They both glanced up the hill.

“Throw me.” She said.

“What, NO!”

“I swear Adam if you don’t throw me, I won’t speak to you for a millennia in the afterlife after we die.” The crab continued to barrel down at them.

“Now!”

Adam cursed but planted his boots against the ground.

Sunny was bigger, that was true, and logically it should have been the other way around, but Adam had SE armor, an SE exoskeleton, a steel eye leg, and a maker enhanced body. Power thrummed through his limbs and into his suit, the exoskeleton whirred loudly as did his leg, and his suit responded.

The crab plunged towards them halfway down the hill now.

Sunny took a running start adding her momentum to the manuver. She leaped, and the caught her by the hand branching himself against the ground and spinning like he was throwing an anvil or a discus. The mechanical components in his suit roared with power as he threw her into the air staggering back.

Sunny leapt into the sky, outlined against the ice , her EVA armor a pearly blue gem against the white.  And for a moment it seemed as if she was suspended above them, trapped in a single moment.

And then that moment burst and she came plunging down from above straight down onto the creature’s back. Her spear at the ready she drove the point into the soft junction between its head and its shell. The crab screamed again and bucked violently, shaking at Sunny like a cowboy riding a bull.

But with four hands holding onto her spear she was difficult to throw off.

Maverick and Ramirez ran forward together, side by side as Etium sunk towards them aiming up a show at its left set of legs, doing his best to avoid hitting any friendlies .

As they reached the crab Ramirez turned, planting his feet against the ground. Maverick got the picture and raced forward, leaping up to use his chest plate as a springboard. The power of the blow sent him rolling backwards into the snow, and her high into the air, where she flipped once and landed beside sunny, clamping down on the spear and drawing her side arm and jamming it into he crack between head and shell firing once, twice, three times.

The crab screamed again.

Adam dove forward, again under the legs as the crab spun in place bucking and rocking WIth the blade of his spear adam slammed upwards into another junction between the soft shell of its body and ints neck. Warm orange fluid spattered the outside of his armor, but he kept going. The snow at his feet was drenched in orange. Sunny sawed from the top and Adam did the same from the bottom until the entire mountainside was a river of orange blood.

Ramirez ran around the outside perimeter with Etium shooting at whatever leg joints they could.

The back joints went first and the legs buckled jolting everyone as the crab tipped backwards. 

Adam and Sunny continued to saw.

The crab roared.

“Oh shut up!” Etium said and fired a round straight into its open mouth.

There was a short delay before the crab exploded.

Sunny and maverick were sent flying backwards tumbling into the snow.

Adam was blown backwards into a jutting chunk of ice, while Ramirez was able to roll out of the way.

The echo of the blast lingered for a long time as chunks of crab slowly settled into the ground.

Etium hovered above them a look of shock on his face.

He looked down at them, “Sorry, I had…. No idea that was going to happen.”

Adam staggered to his feet and ran towards Sunny, but she ignored him, rising on her own power and pushing him off. She duested the snow from her armor, “Well that was fun.

In her head he could hear

It would have been more fun if Adam wasn’t  being an ass.

He frowned and she looked at him, raising her chin. She knew he could hear her and she certainly intended him to. She didn’t shy away from arguments and was unlikely to be passive aggressive about it. Maverick and Ramirez and Etium hadn’t noticed their exchange and began walking up the hill.

The two of them stayed behind.

“I don’t like the way you are treating me.” She began as blunt as ever.

“I’m not a Drev, Sunny, I can’t just pretend you dying wouldn’t screw me up horrifically especially now that Kazna wants your soul, and the soul of whoever you are carrying. I don’t think I could live with that.”

Cards on the table as they always did it.

“And you don’t think I don’ worry about the same thing. You let Krill cut into your head and poke around in there, and I am supposed to be supportive, but as soon as I do something dangerous its not okay? Are you seeing the hypocrisy?”

“There are two of you.” He pointed out stubbornly.

“I am aware of that, and as soon as I think it is affecting my battle prowess, I will back down. I would appreciate it if you supported my decision, and trusted my instincts.”

There was a silence between them .

Adam could hear everything that the words in her head did not say. She couldn’t articulate some of the feelings, but there was one that caused his face to burn in shame. The way he treated her reminded her of how she had been handled as a child by her mother. 

Incapable.

He sighed

“I’m sorry Sunny, this isn’t a commentary on your abilities, you know I never would….. It's just. WIth what happened to kelly. I am terrified of what might happen to you if….” He took another deep breath and tried again, “I will always trust your abilities in battle, but I doubt my ability to provide you with the proper cover that you need.” 

That was true enough.

She looked him over, “Than stop doubting. Doubt has always been your worst enemy, don’t make it OUR enemy too.” She turned on her heels and began a path up the hill leaving him to stand in the snow for a moment. He sighed and followed after her. At his back he could sense Krill trying not to have an opinion on their argument, but he was having trouble.

Adam blushed.

He forgot Krill was there.

whoopse .

And then, something strange happened. For a moment Adam thought he sensed something. He paused and turned to look at the room behind him, eyes narrowing. For A moment he thought he sensed someone's thoughts brushing against his mind, but there was no one there.

He frowned.

How odd.

Must have been nothing.

So he turned and continued the rest of the way up to the crimson castle.

[bearseungmin]

MURDER FOR HIRE.

when a mercenary tag is hired to protect you from those hunting down your family, you’re stuck with a new roommate that can’t leave your side. changbin, a man that can swing a switchblade or unclip his pistol faster than you’ve ever seen before, becomes your unwilling ally and the center for your survival.

DETAILS — [ 18+ | gangsta | 7.5k ] PAIRING — changbin x gender-neutral! reader GENRES — anime! au, bodyguard! au, supernatural, mafia! au, romance, angst, smut WARNINGS — mature content, violence, supernatural powers, use of weapons (guns, knives, grenades, etc.), injuries (cuts, bruises, deep wounds), (serial) killers, authorities in power but still corrupt, death of the reader’s parents mentioned, mentions of insomnia and loss of appetite, infections and vaccines, major character death SMUT WARNINGS — sexual content, deep kisses, dry handjob, blowjob, skull-fucking, cock-warming, unprotected intercourse, love-making, "master kink"/petname used RELEASED ON — JUNE 12TH, 2022

WARNING!!!: the original show this fic is based on is extremely violent & can be considered disturbing. the contents of this story are equally as violent and disturbing, but not entirely playing off the same plot. please read with caution.

    — spotify playlist: murder for hire —

LAST | MYRIAD SERIES | TAGLIST | NEXT

prologue.

Bullets ricocheting against the walls, glass shattering over your head, and his tense arm pulling you into his chest. Changbin’s skin was drenched, the natural instinct to perspire when stressed showing even within the man that held a stone cold glare.

“Get under the desk!” His voice was hoarse from weariness, the side effects of hours—days of being on guard riddling him weaker. But not entirely under-qualified for his position.

“There’s too much going on—” Feeble was your proper description, the time spent fearing for your life no longer a match for your exasperated bones. He was hired to protect you, to give you the break you needed to get back to being a normal person in society and not the overwhelmed descendant of a multi-billionaire ring—one of which put a bounty on your head the moment you came into the world.

He was what you needed, wanted, and begged for. But with the same people after him, money rising for his head and closing in on the payment for your own—you couldn’t help but be restless over the man you were learning to love.

Cloaked figures moved with every blink, the sunset’s light faltering with their movement and showing Changbin just where they were by the shadow on the wooden flooring. Time was running out, and here the two of you sat, cornered.

“W-Whatever happened to getting out of this mess?” You begged the question in the direction of the man cradling you to his body like a shield, the deep rumble of his chuckle moving through your nerves enough to help you take in a deep breath for the first time in a long time.

The tags jingled against his collarbones, the highest ranking letter “S/0” glaring in the light reflecting off the opposing threat’s rifles as they fired into the run-down office without blinking. Changbin had been a knight in shining armor long before he was hired to keep you out of harm's way. His stories, the legend of the quiet man who startled a generation of enemies into hiding until they could find the light again. There was no one like him.

“I said I’d keep you out of this mess.” One corner of his mouth rose with his words, the sinister appearance of a man with a plan plain on his form. His face was like jagged rocks, glass piercing into his skin but not abrading his focus even for a second. With strips and shards finding their way deeper into him as he pressed you forward and slid you across the wood towards the steel desk like you weighed nothing, you knew just what the smirk was for. “I didn’t say that I wouldn’t get caught in the crossfire.”

For hours Changbin wore that smile so hastily, as if it was a trademark. Any chance you saw it, doom was on its way. In the form of a man, a twilight that had been considered a repercussion of an era that shaped the same society you fought to change or escape all together. Legend says the man you’ve been paired with is one of the greatest killers. Had it been your words: he is just one of the tainted—peraled with a degree in protection.

The sight of the same bandana you had wrapped around his forearm gave you chills, your spine tingling with more than just small marks of the current situation. His hair dangling just over his eyes so that you couldn’t see where he was looking, the handle of the sharp knife being held tightly in his palm, an old but fully loaded revolver in the other, and the smirk rising on his lips for what felt like the last time.

“Remember what I told you?”

“Keep my head down and don’t come for you, even if you call my name.”

“Don’t play the hero, sweetheart.” A glimpse of his eyes, and no matter how scared he truly was down under—they were still soft when looking at you.

“I don’t have to.” Your smile was weak, blood spattering around the room as you watched him stand. Your heart beat thumped loudly in your ears like the ticking of a clock, eyes shutting as you heard him take in a hollow breath. “Because you’re already mine.”

one. 

His knuckles had beat against the door of your studio apartment in a rhythmic of threes, the fourth round halting with your eyes peering through the chained lock. A short frame of a man with dark eyes peering back, he didn’t miss a beat to slide the red card through the open space.

“I was sent here, so don’t think of me as a threat.” His pearled teeth only glistened between his lips for a split second as your eyes left the card and found him again, a shiver going down your spine.

The aggressive click of the door back into its frame didn’t make him leap, the peep-hole showing him standing patiently. But as time went on, a few minutes passing and you doing nothing but staring at him from throughout the small, round glass—he could only chuckle.

“Waiting for me to pull something?”

“What if you do?” Your voice was just big enough to carry through the wooden door, his deep laughter only echoing through the halls.

“Wouldn’t I have had something out already?” His question made you raise a brow, witnessing both of his bare palms raise just high enough for you to see. “Knife in my right pocket and sock, pistol on my waist at the bottom muscles of my back—” His voice didn’t waver, not a single time. “But my hands can do a lot worse when I'm working.”

Your response was limited, the mere sound of the chain pulling from its hold and the door opening to its full gap giving you sight of the man leaning against the door frame. Dark hair over his eyes, black shirt tight around his torso, jeans swelling with the muscles of his thighs as he stood up straight—and the tightening of his fists with the clicks of his bones cracking to show he means purely business.

“Trust me enough to let me in now?” Even the tips of his shoes didn’t press forward through the doorway until he saw your head nod. Moving in at a slow pace, continuing to show you his bare hands as he passed you, his index finger pointed down at the red card he had passed through moments before.

A pass given by the authorities, and a note to you of just who they had sent. His frame moved in the corner of your eye, back leaning against a standing beam within the apartment. It had passed your mind, the light clanks of the metal labels.

“A twilight?” For once in the passing time of your life, your existence was brutally important. The passing of your parents meant all things were riding on you living, filling in their footsteps. And most importantly, meant you needed the best of the best to protect you from the bigger storm heading your way.

“Does that surprise you?” His voice was dark, charred with interest.

“My family frequents the coverage from twilights, but why do I get one personally?”

It was in your line of sight, the label on the necklace he wore. It was war outside, charging in your direction every second that passed. The indented “S/0” meant a very specific title for the man—and the level of danger in your future.

“Due to the lack of police this coming month,” His eyes wandered the apartment, but he had already scanned the space as he made his way inside. “I am the backup.”

“You mean you’re here to stay.” His eyes shot from the rug on the floor beneath the sofa to your eyes, the darkened pupils making your throat swallow only air. “It’s bad this time, isn’t it?”

“It’ll be a lot worse if one of their gangs gets your head on a pike.” He sighed softly. “But that won’t happen on my watch.”

“What’s your purpose?” The question sounded harsh, but he cleared the distorted ask faster than a blink.

“I am a killer.” He nodded, the marks under his eyes glowing in the dim apartment lighting. “Seo Changbin, at your service.”

A killer, it was obvious from the start. Twilights, the supernatural people taken from a normal life and trained to be protective services—and usually worse, serial killers for those with enough cash to make them appear as so. Justice contained in one person and used to keep the peace, that treaty had long broken before you were born when an opposing company of your father’s placed a bounty on your entire family. A fight to the end, an ever-lasting position for you to take at his death, and reality-come-knocking when you got the news not even a week prior to this.

A killer, Changbin must be. His face matched the sketches shown throughout the city, a warning not for the innocent but to the vigilantes. The one in current charge had been placed to watch over you, and yet you still worried about survival.

“Do you understand how I work?” Even with this framing of the sentence, it was like a reworded question on a test meant to throw you off, to force you to figure out what it means.

A life of being the object between a bullet and a big name, twilights had three specific rules that formed the safety of their own lives. Don’t take action against normals, obey your master, and the one Changbin grinned at most when it left his lips—always defend yourself.

“This is—” You stumbled, the red card between your fingers being lifted as the pads of your digits pressed into your temple. “This isn’t necessary. Honestly, I understand the dangers, here. But you—” The man appeared like a dark spirit, no matter what his position was. It was clear he carried baggage. “—I never expected to even meet someone like you.”

“Does this give you an idea of just how bad this is?” Finally, his body tensed with what he spoke of. “Look at yourself.” It sounded harsh, but it was hard to ignore. “When was the last time you slept? Ate without losing your food? Didn’t have to peer over your shoulder when walking down the street?”

It had been so long. Even before your father lost his life you still lived with fear of those who want you dead.

“When was the last time you felt safe?”

“I can handle myself.”

“Give me twenty-four hours. If you haven’t gotten any rest, any sense of purpose, and are still too sure you don’t need me—only then will I be on my way.” His voice was serious, the tainted mind of the twilight at your disposal making a deep breath enter and exit your lungs in a fulfilling way for the first time in a long time.

“You need me now, Master. I promise.”

two.

No matter the comfort of a plush cushion below your form, nothing relaxed each muscle and tendon in your body until it was almost painful like the sensation of sinking into the middle of your bed. Months of rationing out sleep, naps that never fulfilled your body to return to full energy—all settled into the past in a simple minute of time.

"Ah--Ouch—" Your voice traveled towards the couch in the far middle of the apartment, Changbin's sitting position still tight like he wasn't prepared for this awkward situation, either.

"Resting isn't meant to hurt, you know." His voice was slightly gritted, eyes skinny from his head tilted back. In the darkness of night, moonlight seeping in through the windows and giving off no heat like the sun, the man truly did seem uniquely scary.

"Feelings happen without being able to reject them." You laughed softly, head falling back against the pillow as the pounding of your skull finally began to release. "If I could exempt every painful feeling from this lifestyle, all the scars and lonesome emotions—" His head lifted in tandem with your words, glare barely meeting with your own as you finished the sentence. "—I'd be like you."

"Hollow, I guess." His head shook, digits swaying from his pinky to his index finger as a form of communication. "Get some sleep. I'll be here."

"Twilights don't sleep?"

"The way you were just speaking about me sounded like you knew more about us than you led on."

"Only my father had them around. They were actual bodyguards. Had I not questioned their tags growing up, I wouldn't be fully aware you exist."

"Sounds more reality-bitten. Yes, we sleep. But right now, I'm not."

A second turn-of-events to your daily routine—not pacing the night away until dawn approached. Up and down the same rug, around the couch, to peer into the fridge. Anything to mesh the need of sleep so the vitamin D you gained in the sunlight later would melt it away.

But the hushed span of silence was diminished, the sound of a deep, almost sickly cough diverting your resting form until your eyes matched with the man. Changbin's body had lifted from the couch, a possible attempt to leave you before he woke you, the failed motion forcing him to crouch down closer to the wooden flooring. Abrupt inhales between coughs, an unseen splatter of blood into his hand, and his rushing form towards the kitchen to rinse it away still wasn't enough to keep your questions from surfacing.

You followed him, feet tapping the floor much softer than his steel-toed boots. Without even a glance, the blood was removed from his palm but the running water as he sighed.

"Found a flaw in the system."

"No, this one's personal."

The clock was ticking, a matter of six hours already passing—three of which you finally had obtained sleep during—and here you were being let into the tough man's bubble.

"Is it bad?" Your question lingered in the air. His form, wet hands cupping the edge of the sink as his back hunched forward, only regained its stubborn and locked away frame.

"The world outside is much worse than this."

"So death is just—an expense of caring about others more than yourself?"

"Who said I don't care about myself?" His sentence was mocked by the chuckle at the end, eyes shifting to find yours in his taunting position. No matter what he could say, you already witnessed what he hid from most others. There was no pretending it doesn't exist.

"You stay awake all night to protect a stranger, have powers to combat an entire army, and yet you're getting destroyed by something from within."

"Sounds like you've got my story down pact."

"I'm taking notes."

You grinned, his short smile lifting just in time for you to see it for a split second before his head dipped back down. A long stretch, and he was back to standing with his back as straight as a board and an intimidating expression on his face.

"Then I suppose you'll have me figured out before the twenty-four hours are up."

Despite being the beginning of winter, where frost covers the ground each morning and brings a chill to every flat surface around, the sun rises brightly. A glow to his skin, tiredness in his eyes with red lines all around his irises, Changbin stood wearing the same expression as the dark night before.

"The Chief is here." His words brought you to rise from the bed quickly, pulling a large coat over your thin pajamas and rushing towards where the older man stood with his hands crossed.

"I-I slept through the doorbell!? I've never done that." Frantic speech, it was Changbin's taut arm halting you that stopped your words. Out straight, elbow aligned almost at your sternum, he caught you in a small state.

"I've got your back." His brows were knitted almost as if he felt disregarded, like you forgot why he was there in the first place. "I only let him in just now."

"Chief, thank you for coming." You spoke slower, eyes leaving Changbin to show respect towards the same one who sent the twilight in the first place.

"It was on my way this morning." His voice was much different than Changbin's, the few times you met with the Chief of Police always being within the same tempo. Unlike his normal stance, he seemed more determined, almost in the same way he would appear before your father. "I must make this quick in case someone trails me."

Your nod was taken note of, the man taking a deep breath before beginning.

"The opposing team, the ones after you and your family's power, are closing in on your location more each day. And with their amount of imposement, they’re also taking parts of the town with it. People are being held hostage, others are being killed on the streets, all due to the official leader being a human and not a twilight."

Every time you had reality placed before you, it sounded worse and worse. Your father's leading department was meant to protect what needed to be protected: people, money, equipment, anything that would lead to a worsened war if put into the wrong hands. The only factor your father had shaded out was that twilights don't need those things to take charge. And they were learning that, quickly.

"The leader cannot be a twilight." Changbin's voice carried over your mumbled concern from the information, chills across your skin. "It breaks the three principles to be in power. They would have nothing they could do to hold their position."

"But that's just it." The war started with a simple mission statement, long overheard from where the twilights were taken to train. Even Changbin had heard it before, his eyes almost repeating what the Chief said as he spoke it. "The twilights are breaking the principles. They're taking blood, and until you're dead—they won't stop."

What your father had done, instilled into many that were the ones taking life after life outside your safe walls, it was hard to ignore. You had heard the rumors and wanted to pretend your father wasn't such a monster. But no matter how often you covered your ears, you could still read their lips.

"The infection." You spoke in whole, not a single rise or lower of a symbol in the sentence. There was no pretending it didn't exist, Changbin's deep cough being the rising sign of just how much darker and worse bad truly was. "We killed them. Now they're killing us."

Changbin's lip quivered in your peripheral, the visual of you piecing things together making him bite down and turn the skin red.

"You hired Changbin to protect me." Your statement took the Chief by surprise, his brows furrowing and rising at the sudden fact. "Knowing fully well who he is."

"The first twilight to undergo the injection as a way to regain control over his power and make him a servant once more."

"And it's killing him." Changbin couldn't bring himself to look at you, eyes staring down at the floor like it would swallow him whole. Fists tight, the tips of his fingers turning blood red from the tightness of his rings—it was the same blood rushing to his head in anger that held him silent.

"Precisely. It is the same that is going through the districts housing twilights."

It was torture, the mental image of so many people turning ill just as Changbin was a few hours before. Children born as twilights, parents nursing them while just as sick—where was the humanity?

"But we have retrieved a vaccine. It's being placed out as we speak. The death toll has been halved compared to last week."

"They rightfully want me dead as repercussions for what my father started."

"R-Rightfully? You had no place in that decision."

"You gave me Changbin for a reason." Finally, the light hit the dark corner of where Changbin's reality lied. For what felt like hours within minutes, the man's eyes gave you a single glance at the sudden concern for his position. "You're not giving him the vaccine, are you?"

"You are the remaining descendant of your family. There are no children after you, and you're in control of the company now." Changbin spoke slowly, trying to feel out your reaction before you expressed it. "I served beside your father in secret for the last few years when i was given the injection." Like nails on a chalkboard. "My life as a twilight ends with the uprising of my final master."

three.

The spoiled act of keeping what's been handed to you, it was only meant to be followed by the chance of losing it. Changbin had been placed in this position before, life or death just for being what he is. But to punish the ones outside fighting to live another hour, it couldn't be like that.

“Changbin should go to the danger zones and give refuge to those in need.”

“My position is with you.” His eyes grew wide. The Chief stood before the two of you, allowing his jaw to go slack from urgency as he couldn't form words fast enough.

“And I will be fine in the daylight. If my memory is correct, you mentioned that you must follow my orders. This is the first one I’m giving. Go help others who need to be saved today.”

It took all of his might to leave you, Changbin's eyes wandering your form for any sense of regret. "Keep your head down. Don't come for me, even if you hear me calling for you."

Unlike the one he's come to know, he still hasn't learned just where you lie in the world. The destruction your family has caused as equal to those they've helped, and how you've seen it all occur through the shining irises that dilated with every new situation.

You had forgotten the silence of your apartment the second Changbin stepped into it that night. How much the floors creak when you walk, how loud the doors close upon shutting, and most of all—the deafening sound of nothing but yourself in the home.

For as long as you had been stuck inside, you had never felt the rapid heartbeat like you had when the man was in your presence.

Even the Chief knew your idea was for the best, nodding and agreeing with your order for Changbin to go help the current district in dismay. For twilights, it isn't strength in numbers as much as it is strength in who you have fighting for you. The amount of children he would carry to safety, the bullets he'd take to repel them from the mothers, and the many innocent people he would lead to safety—it was all enough to make you trust him more.

But without Changbin at your side, you were left practically defenseless. Just minutes apart from him could lead to the tearing of your soul from your body. As the hours ticked on you felt the reminiscence of emotions—the ones similar to before when you were convinced you were all alone in this.

But the eerie silence of your apartment halted and the swift sound of a window rising somewhere suddenly gained in your ears—you knew you were in danger.

The blunt pocket knife hidden in your clothes drawer wouldn't be enough to cause a simplistic injury to the twilight, let alone give you an escape. As your eyes darted to the distorted light of the sunset against your wall, you carefully made out what time it was. Hour fourteen—and you already managed to make yourself bait.

The man was twice your size, his distinguishable frame moving down the hallway with a taser gun in both his hands and ready to fire. With his reflection only getting bigger in the mirror as you slipped under your bed, fear struck your nerves.

But not as heavily as the cough that admitted from him, the blacked blood spat into his hand just as Changbin had suffered making tears brim your ducts. You watched his eyes widen in surprise, his opposite hand clench at his pained chest, and knew exactly what was occuring.

As the gun slipped from his hold, your body moved faster. Inch by inch, his cough had run frantic in the way your limbs moved. Before he could call out in pain a second time, even adjust to the situation, you were the one holding the taser gun to him.

"Stop...right there." His voice spoke between coughs, the body of a frail human being overtaken by the strength of a twilight. As he pushed back against the wall for support, your finger laid on the trigger in defense. "Don't do anything stupid."

"Why are you here?" Your voice seethed with anger, but he still had the upper hand.

"You're getting ahead of me, here." He was much older, clearly weakened by the infection almost to the degree of Changbin's. But he could still kill you so easily—and that was the danger that the wrong twilights held over all that still had power.

The clicking of the lock startled you just as the cough had done the twilight, giving him enough leverage to kick at your form. With the taser gun falling onto the hardwood flooring, the sound of ringing in your ears was all you could make out. In a split second, a needle was placed at your jugular—the same infection killing twilights now seconds away from being injected into you.

But Changbin was faster, better, and equipt for this situation. A simple draw of his gun and a pull of the trigger was all it took to bring the man to the ground. As much as they wished it was opposite, even a bullet to the brain could stop a twilight in their tracks.

The needle fell from his hand, splattering the injection until the liquid seeped into the cracks between the floorboards. Your mouth was silent, not a scream or word to be made as you witnessed the scene. There normally wasn't much to say about seeing death in its own eyes. Only chills rising on your skin, shaking limbs and chattering teeth the liable evidence of your anxiety.

It wasn't until you felt the heat of his body, smelled the scent of his cologne in your nostrils, and felt the tears falling down your face that you realized you were safe. "Ch-Changbin?"

"I'm here." He spoke deeply, pulling you against his chest in a tight hug as he lifted and carried you down the hall and away from what all had happened. "I'm here."

"How did you know to come back?" It was all you could think as you watched the man return to the space of the incident and nonchalantly lift the dead twilight over his shoulder to carry into the bathroom.

"The district I was in gave word that you had been found. I got back as soon as I could."

It was as if he could sense the worry in your heart, the speed of his following response immediately making your nerves calm back down.

"Everyone is safe there now, don't worry."

"But now I'm the one in danger."

Changbin slowly dropped the body down into the bathtub, the blood running into the drain lessening the metallic scent of it from your nostrils. "Twilights can smell blood for miles." He spoke quickly as he made his way back to your bedroom, two large bags already packed prior pulled from your closet and tossed over his shoulder. "We'll be lucky to make it to where we're going before they realize you're here—without the help of some coordinates."

With the Chief and Changbin inside and out of the apartment, it was no wonder you had been sought out. You knew it was a danger when the a Chief mentioned being trailed, for once the man had spoken nothing but the truth.

"We need to leave, now."

"But where are we going? I mean, everyone has a trace on where my parents have already been. This is the last safehouse we had."

"You don't need a safehouse when you have me." It was quick, the turn of his tongue and the snap of his body. Face to face, his breathing heavy against your skin—you could see the estranged look in his eyes that made your heart beat rapidly once again. "I am your safehouse. This is my job. You are my Master."

His tongue dripped with venom, limbs shaking with every word. "Have I not already given you enough reason to—."

Hour fifteen had struck. "I do trust you."

four.

The stuffy room—littered with dust and scattered files—it was like your own heaven at first sight. A place where the outcome of the man made sense, you stood right inside of it. Your bag slowly slipped from your shoulder until it hit the uneven wood flooring, the creak to the old board making the corner of your mouth lift into a short smile.

Changbin's office, as bare and boring as it seemed, still smelled thickly of his cologne and held subtle objects of his personal items. The loosely tossed graphic t-shirt over the back of the dark green couch, the large desk both evenly organized as it is messy, and an armored wardrobe opened by the man himself that held more weapons than you had seen in a long while.

It made sense of why he brought you here—his need for control in the space and surroundings he knows best. "We might not have much time here. But we have a fighting chance."

The armoury held much more than his singled-out pistol he carried on his person, and a far sharper knife than any of the ones he had hidden in his outfit. Taking a seat on the couch, the gentle feel of another gun hidden beneath the cushion would normally worry you had his eyes not matched your own.

"How are you feeling?"

Your mouth formed a response, but your body moved faster than the words could be released. One deep gash on his arm had gone uncared for, the cut from defending the district making your heart skip a beat. How he didn't notice it, you didn't understand.

His skin was warm at the touch of your fingertips, thumbs pressing into the sides of the cut to test the amount of blood that leaked from the minor injury. "This needs to be cleaned."

Eyes dark, Changbin watched you pull a bottle of peroxide from your bag and run the liquid over his arm. Not even a wince at the sting, a whine at the dab of your red bandana against the wound, or a hiss at the bow you tightened around his arm.

As you went to look away from his limb, his index finger and thumb caught your chin. Mezmorized, you nearly caught the break of his voice as he spoke. "Why did you do that?"

His voice was just above a whisper, a small shake in his hand holding at your face. "Do what? Take care of you?"

The hair sweated down onto his forehead didn't budge with the nod of his head, but you still noticed his subtle response.

"When was the last time you had someone take care of you for a change?"

The sound of his short groan was masked by the gasp between your lips, his mouth matching yours. With nothing but the moonlight emitting inside of the small room, Changbin's hands hooked on your hips to pull you into his form. It was like you were floating, the deepening of the kiss with the taste of his tongue overlapping yours making your head swirl.

He tasted so different from anything else, his grip at your body so rough and wanting. When your lungs finally refilled with air and your lips parted, you could see just how vulnerable Changbin had become right in front of your eyes.

"I find it difficult—" Voice so gravely, his hold on you didn't release as you both sucked in the same air. "to focus on myself instead of others."

Pupils dilating with every inhale, Changbin's face moved in closer. His chest rose and fell with a heaviness to it, body radiating enough heat to make you forget about the bitter cold of the room. His kiss was so feverish, like he had been exempt from human contact for so long. Even the little moan vibrating his mouth was enough to make him hold you tighter, pull you into him until your heartbeats synchronized.

A light patter of rain fell, drop by drop sounding against the sill of the window. Changbin's strong thigh placed between your legs, his arms lifting you from the ground, and the huff of your bodies falling to the couch as it rocked from age.

It was so simple, the main thing that nulled every worry of the future from your minds. The bite at your lip, gentle as to not break the thin skin—enough to make you realize just how much he wanted you.

Changbin, a man so fit for where he was placed in life, could make you feel so protected in such a short amount of time. His dark eyes fluttering closed with the light kisses you placed at his neck. How relaxed he looked—at peace, allowing himself to be given just a moment of release. Now matched with Changbin whispering your name, you felt lightheaded.

"Ahh—" It was as simple as your hand rubbing at him through his jeans, the fabric tightening around him. Changbin's neck lost its strength, his head falling against the back of the couch.

So tempting, the glimmering sparkles in his eyes as your hand undid the button and zipper of his pants. His neediness was personified by the sudden thrust of his hips as your hand wrapped around him gently, a bite of his teeth at his bottom lip his sign of trying to get a hold of himself.

It was his deserving breath, a releasing sound your ears begged to hear—it made you want to give yourself to him completely.

The feeling of him only growing harder against your palm made you smirk, his breath stuttering when your thumb rubbed at his tip to find a bead of precum leaking in arousal.

Changbin never asked for anything from anyone, a stand-alone. But this—you. The sight of you falling to your knees. Pulling him from his jeans and boxers, licking at him so softly until he groaned.

He didn't want to ask, he wouldn't. But he didn't have to. For once, away from all that had been done and said—he got what he wanted without a single word needing to be said.

His fingers clawing at your hair as he rocked in and out of you, skull-fucking you until his groans turned into whimpers. Your hot mouth taking him in until his cum rushed down your throat. The swallowing of his seed only made him want to witness more.

The marks being graded into your skin by his teeth, wet juices coating his length as he dipped in and out of you. An intense glare, half-lidded eyes watching as you sunk down onto him—and nothing like he had felt before.

Sweat dripped down his neck, made his lips twinge from the gentle sting of the lovebites littered on his skin, and was the leading reason for his breath hitching as you held still. No movement, eyes swelling with tears that wouldn't fall, and a gentle call of his name from your mouth.

"Changbin—"

"Master?"

His fingers pressing into the skin of your thighs, pads roughened and calloused from years of holding weapons to protect himself and others. They only pressed deeper as you moved, not to hold you down but to help with your pace. Chasing something so rare, his hips met your own. The sound of rain outside covered the sweet remedy of the love you made, his eyes following your own as they closed. With every harder thrust up into you, an image of what could be with Changbin filled your mind.

Having him by your side forever, it would be paradise.

As your bodies stiffened, your simultaneous release pulled you both from the fog and back into reality. Hot, wet, warm, and fulfilled, you found your voice again.

"This is the final hour."

His face contorted, something you had been wanting to see during your entire journey together finally coming into your sight. Changbin's bright smile, toothy and filled with life.

But as it rose, you could only witness his smile fall. Just as all had been lived through so far, the danger of life slipped back into your world. A little red dot aimed at your chest, aligned with your heart that just finished beating at the same pace as his own—and the final hour officially begins.

five.

The bullets were fired so efficiently that they didn't quite ricochet, but drilled into the walls. Wooden floors squealing from the weight of your bodies dropped down to the floor, your eyes caught Changbin's.

The stray furniture, a couch, table, desk, lamp—they weren't enough of a barricade.

Within seconds of the opposing firing into the second-floor office, glass from the window was shattering over your head.

His skin still glistened with the sweat from your intense love-making, eyes darker than they had been so far, and one thing always remaining the same—the tough look of focus in his pupils. "Get under the desk!" You could hear the shakiness of a weakening man in his voice, but you couldn't bring yourself to comment on it.

The cloaked figures only moved faster, a group of twilights nearing the broken window to get better aim. Although the bullets didn't have an extreme effect and wouldn't slow Changbin down as much as they hoped, they were still useful.

The sunrise draining through the broken glass, small specks littering the flooring like stars surrounding the fading moon in between—your day of reckoning had come.

"W-Whatever happened to getting out of this mess?" Your body was still heated by his own, clinging at the man instead of following his orders to hide under the desk.

His tags clinking together was loud in your ears at such a close proximity, his voice just as calm as it had stayed since you met him. "I said I'd get you out of this mess." It was hard to miss the tears swelling in his eyes from the words leaving his mouth. "You trusted me for twenty-four hours, just as I had hoped."

The span of time had poured in just as his voice found you. Even with enough ammunition shooting into the small room to deafen his soft-spoken voice, you could still read his lips. "I didn't say I wouldn't get caught in the crossfire."

The strength of ten in one man, the power of a machine in his muscled form, and a brain as stimulated and sharp as a genius. All it took was Changbin maneuvering towards the sofa, eyes catching sight of the bullet holes in the floorboards to gauge where to lay safely and miss the firing shots. For his hand to guide the drawer of the small side table open only to return to your sight with a grenade tightly in his grasp.

The highest grade artillery in his companionship—but himself as the most powerful.

"Ch-Changbin?"

Knife in one hand, grenade in his other, and you could feel every bit of oxygen remaining in your lungs leaving with a loud sob.

You felt his pull, the knife barely pricking at your skin before you felt yourself being pushed from him. The heat of his body left completely, the coldness of the room finally returning to your form. An even colder temperature against you, the steel desk he had sat at for years was now your protection from those closing in on you.

Changbin stayed so many steps ahead, your mind hardly keeping track of his ideas or plans. A grenade, something not easily handed out in your city, was a main weapon used against twilights due to the mass destruction it can cause in such a short blow.

“Remember what I told you?”

“Keep my head down and don’t come for you, even if you call my name.”

He had said it in one breath as he was leaving with the Chief to help the damaged. If you had known what you know now, you would have been less easily convinced that the call of your name from him wouldn't make you do anything necessary.

“Don’t play the hero, sweetheart.” A glimpse of his eyes, and no matter how scared he truly was down under—they were still soft when looking at you.

“I don’t have to.” Your smile was weak, blood spattering around the room as you watched him stand. Your heart beat thumped loudly in your ears like the ticking of a clock, eyes shutting as you heard him take in a hollow breath. “Because you’re already mine.”

It was there. It was always there. Changbin was given to you, not just by reason—but purpose, fate. There was a reason he never took a vaccine for himself. Why he never feared death outside your door. How he managed to stay so calm and put together even covered in blood, with every bit of strength he has having to be used, when your life is most at stake. He was practically already dead.

The infection has done too much damage, and he'll die here protecting you. Fate in his earlier words, he told the truth.

You could see the faint darkening of blood forever stained on his lips, remembering the deep cough he had to release every little while that made even you flinch. As his index finger left the knife, plucked between the case and the loop of the pin, tears of true fear left your ducts.

His body had grown weaker right before you, and as he stood on his shaking legs and took two bullets to the chest like he felt nothing—all you wanted to do was hug him one last time.

The coldness of your world, the horrors Changbin had endured—it created one of the warmest people in history. If only he wasn't created to die for you.

A small sound reached you, the pulled pin falling to the floor as Changbin stood as close to the window as he could. The twilights on the other side, unaware of the dangerous hold he had on them, could only yelp at the sudden explosion.

A massive breach between you and the dead, only Changbin was left breathing shallowly on the floor.

Your knees were pained by the wood as you collapsed, crawling to him as he huffed. The blackened blood that ran through his veins poured from his chest, minutes remaining for the man that existed only to protect.

"Things are different. You were once the one in charge of our lives, but an enemy. Now you're the one with the power to save more than your family ever did." He speaks as he points towards his armory, a strap from a black bag sticking out of the bottom of the doors.

Vaccines. It was all there.

Almost like a dog to a whistle human ears can't pick up, the slowing of his beating heart brought you closer to him. His eyes staring up at you as you cupped at his cheek—for once, they were as warm as you now knew him to be.

Cradling his head against your thighs, he released a sigh from the feeling of your fingers combing through his hair. A break in his steady breathing, and it was apparent he was succumbing to his wounds.

"I don't n-need a vaccine to save my life, to m-make me strong enough a-again." he spoke in broken syllables. "You made m-me realize what work I've truly d-done, how many p-people I've saved."

It was so short—the smile on his lips. Toothless, his bright eyes dimming, and the warmth beginning to leave him with his final breath.

How could anyone be prepared to watch someone fade away?

"I love you." Your voice was a call into the dark, Changbin's frame growing stiff and colder by the minute.

Purpose, the word kept replaying in your mind. If a twilight, born with peace but raised to be a weapon, could have such humanity—where did you lie?

The black bag was heavy, glass vials clinking together as you unzipped it to find the medicine intact.

There were so many others that needed what Changbin could give. Love, support, protection, a friend.

Pulling the bloodstained, red bandana from his arm and tying it around your own, you felt even a glimpse of what he did. What you held in your hands, enough power to save everyone at once. It wasn't out of selfishness, control, or empathy.

It was what was meant to happen—the distribution of the vaccine. All in the hopes it could save someone from the remaining district before they become as far gone as your protector.

"For Changbin."

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