#I'm thinking the best way will be to flip around the order of the prompts so 18 comes first

[radarsteddybear]

Whumptober Progress: 6/31 prompts filled.

Except I accidentally covered prompts 18 and 4 as one prompts (for 18), so I need to figure out the easiest way to split them up.

[yoichiris]

daytime shooting stars | isagi yoichi x reader ✩ a date with a reality show soccer star

"yocchan!"

you wave to him happily when you see him running up to you. from far away, he looks exactly like the last time you saw him: in his dorky vest, his hair covering his eyes slightly, with his bookbag slung over his shoulder.

but as he gets closer to you, you can see the difference. he fills his clothes like he hasn't before, the fabric stretching tightly across his chest and his shoulders. he's wider, bigger. you're sure he hasn't gotten taller, but something about him seems grander, towering over you.

"hey, yn!" he snaps you out of your daze, picking you up and twirling you around, "did you wait long?"

you shake your head when he puts you down. "nope," you smile at him, "what do you want to eat today?"

"meat," he grins, grabbing your hand, tugging you along.

isagi brings you to the yakiniku restaurant you guys used to go to after his ichinan matches, even though those days seem so far away now. several people recognize him on the way there while you stand in the background.

"you sure are popular, mr. blue lock," you tease, bumping your shoulder into his.

he blushes, but still asks, "you proud of me?"

your eyes soften. it reminds you that he's still the same yoichi as before, still wanting your praise. you nod, brushing his hair away from his eyes. he smiles, noticing your uncharacteristic silence, and catches your hand in his.

"do you want to eat anything in particular?" he asks softly, cradling your fingers.

you smile cheekily, "anything you want, as long as you pay."

"of course," he puffs his chest jokingly, and you laugh to appease him, "don't you know i'm worth millions now?"

yeah, you think. not the same isagi. but he orders way too much food, with the same expression he's always had when a good meal is mentioned, and you relax again.

you keep an eye on the veggies while he meticulously flips the grilled meat. just like before, you think, picking up a piece of mushroom and sandwiching it with juicy slices of beef.

“say ahh, yocchan,” you prompt, holding up the chopsticks to isagi’s mouth.

he chomps down on the bite with enthusiasm, and you giggle at the look of delight on his face. he finishes chewing too quickly, and opens his mouth for another bite. in return he blows on the hot food for you and feeds you the fattiest piece of pork.

being together since you were young has its perks, you smile. habits like these don’t go away.

“yoichi,” you call to him once you’re outside, tangling your fingers with his, and taking a breath of the fresh air, “will you forget about me when you’re the number one striker in the world?”

he’s surprised when you turn to him.

“why are you asking that?” he questions, tugging you closer to him, “how could i forget my favorite person in the entire world?”

you laugh, pushing him away, “be serious!”

but he doesn’t let you go, catching you around the waist instead and cupping your face in his hands. his eyes have turned serious as he presses his forehead to yours.

“i’m being serious, y/n,” he tells you resolutely, “i could never forget you, and i could never be number one without you.”

you remember his declaration of wanting to be the best striker at nine years old, then again at fourteen, and here is now, at seventeen. you thought those statements had never included you.

but you feel him now, all hard muscles and calloused fingers, and he seems exactly like the yocchan that would kick a ball with you on the playground.

“okay,” you reply, stealing a quick kiss from him, “do you wanna get dessert?”

he grins, "yes, and i want another kiss."

you press your lips to his again, surely this time, and you feel his arms tighten around you. greedy, you think. ambitious. the isagi you've always loved.

[azucar-skull]

A couple options to choose from! Do whichever you like best

F!Leo and Casey jr.

Donnie talking to Leo

Usagi talking to Leo (not really rottmnt characters, but at this point Yuichi is an honorary rottmnt char)

Mikey to [someone]

Raph to [someone]

I'mma do the first one!!!! Also I'm flipping a coin for a good or bad ending. You're getting...a bad ending. =) (I've never wrote one before)

27. "Breathe... breathe. Look at the stars, kid." With F!Leo and Casey

Prompt List

.

.

.

They were ambushed.

It was hard to see at night, especially when your flashlights are off in order to avoid drawing attention. But even so, they couldn't see the swarm of Kraang dogs emerging from the dark shadows of the hilled wastelands. Didn't notice their beady red eyes until they were close enough to reach it.

"RUN!", Sensei shouted.

So Casey runs. All the soldiers run. Now caught, there's no use in keeping the lights off. Casey pulled down his night vision mask and dodged his way through the horde, revving his chainsaw. He slashed away at the dogs, gaining some distance.

He didn't notice the one sneaking up behind him.

Casey is sent tumbling down a slope as the dog pounces on top of him. They land harshly at the bottom, the Kraang slamming its claws on top of the teen. Casey pushed it back with his staff, keeping the dog's teeth away from him as the Kraang incessantly tries to reach out and rip off his face. But the Kraang moved fast. And smart.

The dog ducked down under the staff and bit Casey hard in his side. The teen screamed out in agony as he tried to wrestle free but it was no use. The teeth pierced through his armored chest plate and chomped down down down--

A flash of blue blinds his vision and suddenly the Kraang dog is sent flying off. A chunk of flesh came with too.

Casey stares in fear yet awe as he watches the almighty Leonardo beating the Kraang dog to a pulp with his bare hands. He clasps his fists together, punching down on its rib cages again and again and again and again--

"I think you got 'em, Nardo!", Donnie called out. He slid down the slope to the teen. And blinks in horrid surprise. "...Oh...fuck..."

Leo snapped his head around and spotted Casey. He hurried to him in a second.

"Okay...okay, you're okay.", he muttered, unconvincing.

Leo went to scoop his arms under Casey but it sent hot white flashes of pain throughout every part of his body. The teen screams through gritted teeth, clutching his side. He could feel the wound pulsating underneath his hands, his breathing picking up the pace of his fast heartbeat.

"Okay, okay! No moving, got it. Just hang tight.", Leo quickly stammered. "Donnie, gauze."

The softshell dispensed a first aid from his battleshell, ripping the box open to grab the gauze. Leo pried Casey’s hands away which hurt more than it should've. He pressed the layers of gauze against the wound. Casey screams again, flailing and trying to push Leo’s arms back but the slider only pressed harder.

"I know. I know it hurts, Case. I know.", the slider croaked. "But you need to trust me, okay?"

It hurt. It hurt so bad that....fuck...it just hurt. That's all there was. All there had been. Just. Hurt.

"Breathe... breathe. Look at the stars, kid.", Sensei soothed.

Casey tried. He glanced up at the cloudy night sky. Only a few stars were shown from above. So few. How many were there? 3....7....12...

Casey began to feel exhausted. His head spun, the black sky getting blacker.

"Hey, hey, hey! Stay with me!", the leader demanded. "Shit, he's bleeding a lot. Donnie!"

"There's a chunk missing, Leo!"

"DONNIE, PLEASE! "

The softshell hesitated for a moment, but sighed. He grabbed more gauze, soaking up the bleeding with his twin. But it wasn't enough. Casey could feel the warmth oozing out his side and soaking up in his pants and cape and up to his hair.

The stars began shining brighter. And brighter. And brighter until...

All he saw was white.

.

.

.

Don't blame me. You asked for this. I wrote this while baking cookies btw lmfao.

[the-amber-raven]

Random question... No pressure to answer.... But do u perhaps have any prompts for buck&bobby fics... I have a few fics of them that im working on but i wanna try writing smth simple for a writing exercise since i havent been writing very much lately

Alright so I don't know if I am the best person to ask this because really this is just a list of the stuff I'd love to read... and there's enough of it that I waited until I could answer this on my computer instead of typing it out on my phone 😂 Also a lot of these ended up kind of related to some of the texts I included in the texting fic, probably because I went through so much of the canon for it that they're all front of mind, but you could probably also use some of those sections to help augment some of these ideas??

But some Buck&Bobby related ideas that I reckon would be great fun to explore:

Bobby and Probie Buck at the Springsteen concert. I feel like this is a criminally underused plot point from the pilot episode that I desperately wish more fics touched on. Like what made grouchy Captain Nash decide to go to a Springsteen concert with the probie that was driving him nuts?? Did he have the tickets and he thought maybe the bonding activity would help him connect with Buck thus making him more likely to listen to him? Were they Buck's tickets and he didn't have anyone to go with and he totally faux-casually was like "hey Bobby you're a Springsteen guy, you want to join me? Totally fine if not though!!" except despite trying so hard to keep his cool everyone could see how insecure he was feeling about having no one to go with and Bobby felt bad for him so he agreed to go? Were there shenanigans at the concert? I had Buck planning to like walk somewhere less crowded and then order an uber to get home in the texting fic and I totally imagined Bobby just going "........ this is how get murdered get in my car I'm driving you home."

The Pops nickname, which is the other criminally underused little detail from the pilot. Given we only heard about it then, my headcanon is that Buck was kind of using it as a teasing nickname that was a mixture of him trying to fit in at the firehouse by giving Bobby a mocking nickname that was probably on the edge of disrespectful (like a "wow, you're old, Pops" sarcastic kind of vibe) and partly way too real except he wasn't in a position to admit his terrible relationship with his father then. Which is why I think he then stopped doing it - getting fired made him rethink things, gave him more respect for Bobby so he retired the kind-of mocking feedback and buried the "desperate for a dad" even further... but I would love to see him then break out the Pops later on in the canon, where it actually flips to a mark of the respect and appreciation that Buck has for Bobby's role in his life. So I guess in terms of writing a story, something like an "X times Buck made fun of Bobby by calling him Pops, and X times Buck used it to mean 'you're my real dad'." (Bonus points for having him call him that in front of Phillip Buckley? 😂)

Buck returning to work after the lightning strike. I feel like there's something really interesting you could pull from this part of the canon. Because Bobby is clearly concerned about Buck (he hovers around him when he's doing crowd control instead of being, you know, with the patient and he gives him the perfect performance review score) but he's also clearly trying to act on the lessons he learned during the ladder truck era - namely that he can't wrap Buck up in cotton wool and keep him from doing the job he loves. So there's something in the conflict he must be feeling around that time (and I headcanon that he doesn't let Buck up the ladder for months, a mission that is aided and abetted by Chimney and Eddie). But there's also something in the fact that Buck actually wasn't as keen to get back as he had been during the ladder truck. It could be a fun reversal of roles story, where Bobby gets overly enthusiastic about getting Buck back on the roster ASAP when he gets cleared to show that he's listened and he wants Buck back but it's actually Buck this time who has to tell him that he wants to take it a bit slower and take his time.

Ladder truck recovery period. We know from 3x01 that Bobby accompanied Buck to some of his PT sessions and was involved quite a bit in his recovery - I've touched on it in the texting fic and in words, how little they mean but I've always wished there were stories that explored this era because it's such an interesting part of their journey - Bobby feels so guilty over the bombing, and he's also come to care for Buck a lot but he's also refusing to admit it's a father/son relationship even though it's exactly how he's acting...

Tsunami AU - there is exactly one thing that would make the tsunami arc better for me and that is if the 118 found out that Buck and Christopher were caught up in the tsunami way earlier than all of them converging at the field hospital. I would love to see a fic where Bobby (and the others) get sent to the firetruck and get told about the off-duty firefighter named Buck who saved them all but was swept away by the receding wave alongside his kid (and yes I know I did this exact scenario in mortifying ordeal but it's not the same because Bobby actually is Buck's (adoptive) dad in that one so different dynamics at play than the canon one)

Something to do with the Buckley parents - maybe like 5 times Bobby learns something about the Buckleys (maybe stuff like they're teachers, Buck used to hurt himself to get their attention, they skipped Maddie's wedding because they didn't approve of her husband, they kept their dead son a secret and didn't even tell their other son, and I don't know something totally random (maybe how they seem to have plenty of money - they invested in Hershey and that's why they live there??)) + the time he finally meets them (you could do Buck Begins, but I think it could be even more interesting if it's during the lightning strike)

And one more that came to mind when I was thinking about Buck Begins - the missing scene of Bobby talking to Buck after they pull him out of the factory fire. I was so devastated when I found out they deleted a scene showing them talk AND HUG and oh my god would I love to see it play out in a fic at least.

Lol these were probably way longer or detailed than you might have wanted or expected 😅 But I do hope one of these might inspire the muse and get those creative juices flowing! I know I would be intrigued to read any one of them ���

[some-pers0n]

do you have any writing advice?? i LOVE your fics so much i cant comprehend how you’re so good at making them 😭😭

Awaw thank you!! And, as for advice? It's a bit tricky at times but generally here's some things I always recommend to people trying to write.

Read a lot. It's very unfortunate but you gotta be a good reader in order to be a good writer. I spent a lot of my time rewriting scenes from WoF cause either a) I thought they would be better had they gone another way or b) held a lot of appreciation for it. Of course not every writer is gonna wanna be a fanfic writer, but that's for me.

^ To follow this up, just generally try and read whatever interests you or you find to be fun. Your writing style is a mesh between styles you personally enjoy. Like I think it's kinda obvious to see Tui Sutherland's influences in my style, which, hey, makes sense given I've written so much. If you read, you'll also learn grammar and syntax, which is also quite important as well.

Write a lot. This too is quite unfortunate. There is no real trick or tip to instantly make your writing great. I had to get to this level after like four years of doing this. I didn't miraculously get this way lmao. You have to put in a lot of time and a lot of effort into getting here.

To go along with "read a lot" you also gotta develop a critical eye. Another thing that comes with practice sadly. This helps a lot with fanfic writing, but also with general character building, plot writing, etc and etc. Analyzing other stories and such. I mainly got my start by watching a TON of videos on Bojack Horseman and Arcane and their ways of character writing and storytelling.

For general writing advice channels? I'd recommend Hello Future Me and NEVER GO NEAR THOSE "Top 10 Writing Tips to Make Your Writing Instantly Better!! <33" CHANNELS. I jest, kinda. The advice those channels give are kinda basic surface level stuff that isn't bad at all, but I generally think it's better to understand why some stuff works better than others than to think that doing X, Y, and Z will instantly make your writing better. There is a lot of nuances with writing that is hard to define and you could be hindering yourself because some YouTuber said that audiences HATE it.

You can just go about your writing however you want honestly. When I was first starting out I felt pressured to make giant outlines, but I found them more daunting than helping. I personally work out my plot, characters, dialogue, etc and etc throughout my head through trial and error and seeing what works best. That's my way, but other people may cling to that outline. Other people may need cue cards and something akin to those bulletin boards with red string, connecting plots together. Whatever works best for you.

For more general stuff? For my fics I try to always analyze the characters I'm writing about as much as I can. Obviously my version of them will be different than canon, but I always find it best to understand what the character is at a fundamental level. Identify core characteristics. Why are they the way they are? What could have prompted them to say that? It's a lot of mental (or even physical) notetaking lol.

For more general and practical stuff, I used to like flipping on headphoes or putting in my earbuds and listening to ambience when it comes to more Out There locations. I also like pulling up pictures and trying to see how I'd go about describing it as a funky little practice for when I go and write it.

Lastly for this time? I'd say write and describe around things. Has an arrow plunged into the shoulder of a person? I'd describe the pain and such moreso in how the person reacts, with maybe one sentence dedicated to the actual pain and such. Emotions and such are a lot more relatable, and lines like "I pried his kneecaps off like a lid on a can of paint" hit a lot more if you're a little more generous with them.

[justmightyshadows]

This is an NSFW piece(<1500 words) about Jaheira and her favorite Tav - Thalwyn. There's some unintentional edging happening.

I'm getting prompts from the list here: BG3 Fic Feb and this is day 10!

If you like it show some love on AO3.

The top of the rampart was cool under the moonlit sky, Jaheira watched intently as you patched up her armor. Your hands skillfully weaving pieces of metal and leather together - you added a charm of blade ward since she seemed in the habit of being attacked everytime you took your eyes off of her. Her eyes enveloped you and as always when she looked at you it felt the way a predator would - you’d see her eyes shifting, her body position changing to get the best angle of you at any given moment. This time though, that was your intention, she obviously had things on her mind. Sitting with you was better than sitting alone, sure, but she had to have wanted more than that. You had given her space to make the first move and when she didn’t you picked up the armor as if it were any other night and started to mend it.

“I appreciate the free service but do you think your tinkering can wait?” As expected, picking up a literal craft while she was there had incensed her.

Good.

Now to turn the screws a bit - wiggle the bait, in her case, in front of her and see if she was as she acted to be.

“Wait until what? Is there something you need from me?” Your voice sounded sincere you were sure but the intent was simply to get her to make the first move. She needed to prove that she could, that she wasn’t pining after the love of her dead husband, that she wasn’t resting on you to follow after like the other woman had. You needed assurances this time around - no more waiting for half ass commitment.

“Put the armor down now, Thalwyn.” Her voice was low, commanding as she tossed the armor away from you and straddled your outstretched legs. “Your hands have better uses tonight.” She pulled them to rest along her sides while she bent down to kiss you. Her teeth pulling softly at your lips, her hands trailing up along your hips to the soft meat of your ribs. She turned your head and gave your neck a teasing bite - it would be just enough to leave a mark you thought.

She wanted me to herself, that thought alone set your body on fire. It felt like you began to move in over drive your hands found the bottom of the tunic and slid it up over her head exposing her full breasts to the night air. You pressed your face against her gripping her tightly around the waist as your worshiped each one with the warm, wet embrace of your mouth. She arched her back into you and when she thought you’d had your fill she rose.

“I will not be naked alone, take off your clothes.” She demanded and like any order from Jaheira, you obeyed, sliding from your nightdress into the cold hands of the night. Jaheira stared at you, taking in the curves of your body as she poured two glasses of wine.

“Here, it will keep you warm until I can get you to forget the temperature completely.” The air of cockiness was attractive on her - she clinked your cups together and took a big gulp before sitting down next to you. Her lips meeting yours again and the taste of red wine was eased into the back of your throat. “You could have had me warm by now if you weren’t so nervous that you needed a drink.” You said when she had let you come up for air. It was all a ruse - you could not feel the cold or the wine just her lips, her breath even her gaze had warmed you hours ago. If anything you were worried once she felt between your thighs you’d be exposed for the fraud you were.

She laughed, throwing her head back and wagging her finger at you. “I do not need wine to bed you. I need wine to be close to someone who is more than a simple lay. What would a little bird know of that?” She flipped you over harshly onto your stomach and then pulled up to have you on all fours.

“Here - I like you better in this position.” She planted a hard smack against your ass and lowered her face to feel your wetness with her mouth.

“Thalwyn” She seemed speechless and that is the impression you had hoped to leave with your body. You could feel her breathing in and out, pausing just slightly to think. Her tongue lightly spreads between your lips, causing you to gasp and moan-

 Knock. KNOCK. knock knock knock.

Someone was pounding against the lift door that leads to the ladder. She threw a blanket over you and wrapped herself in another. Laying flat on the ground she cracked the door slightly.

“What could you possibly want at a time like this Geraldus?!” She was practically stabbing him with her words.

“I’m sorry High Harper, I know you said you’d be busy tonight and I really did try to get everything worked out on my own. There wasn’t anything about this in training I even looked back over the book -“

“There is no book! Get to the point.” She growled angrily at him.

“Well, I got a letter and…” His voice trailed off as you lost interest in the information. Fucking Harpers.

I mean - your brain actually couldn’t keep up with how annoyed you were and you felt yourself just cursing mindlessly because, well,

Shit.

This had to be a bad dream, you were dripping in front of Jaheira and here come the honor children brigade fucking up what should have been pure ecstasy for the next few hours. She finished her conversation with him and slammed the door close. She gave your wetness another kiss, sending shockwaves across your body and reached for her clothes.

“I have to go.” It seemed a miracle that you even heard her, your face was pressed into the cold stones as you tried to think through something witty to say, but nothing came.

Finally, you helped her get back into her armor, kneeling in front of her as you tied the leather greaves onto her. Now, the power was completely off balance. You were naked in front of the High Harper while she looked down at you - her eyes hungry, her body armored and more importantly - she was leaving and you were staying here. She was the important High Harper and you were what exactly, a lover? A hot fuck? It didn’t seem to matter to her and why would it? She was going to be just fine no matter how this went and you were what Thalwyn, just going to keep on being the distraction that she got to have on her off days? The thoughts would have to wait you decided - this wasn’t productive right now, not with the way your body felt at the moment.

“Ni Gyrah(little bird) - I will be back in about 2 hours. Wait for me here, this will not take long.” She disappeared down the ladder and you watched as she made her way into the city, through a small crevice in the wall.

You waited an hour, pressed against your back trying to cool the lewd thoughts that are running through your mind. Then another hour and the icy chill of the night finally reaches your bones so you dress yourself again. Then another hour - this time your lack of dinner has caught up to you. You head from the lookout to your tent to grab some food, you’d be back before anyone could make their way up the tower anyway. In your tent is a small letter thrown on top of your bed roll.

Need 3 days, be back.

~ Hatchling

You turned it over expecting maybe hell, any other information but it was blank on the back with small smudges from the ink staining it.

Unbelievable, you wondered if there was a false promises part of Harper training or if this was how they all naturally came, hardwired to be self-righteous assholes with no skills on how to use a clock.

[liberacesghost]

Day 9 -- Pine

i'm quickly realizing that i do not have the time nor the strength to answer all of these prompts how i really want to so i'm making them a lot shorter than i want to.

meaning i'm liking a lot of these less than i would but i am still determined to do all the days!

warnings: none; one-sided pining.....or is it ;)

pairing: hotch x reader (no y/n) though they're not really together

word count: 442

a/n: sooo many ideas for this one cause i looooove some pining but this is what i landed on hopefully y'all will enjoy <33

You see this man everyday, and it’s honestly one of the best parts of your day. Yes, you knew you were pining like a maiden in a period piece and bordering on pathetic, but you could not bring yourself to care. 

Everyday at 7 AM, like clockwork, he would show up. Tall, broad shoulders, dark hair, piercing eyes, and devastatingly handsome. Always dressed impeccable in a dark suit and his serious demeanor giving off an air of importance. He must have been a higher up in some important company, you thought. 

You would make sure you were the one to take his order just for the brief interaction it would grant you. Being on the receiving end of his stare and his lop-sided grin paired with his deep, satiny voice was enough to get you through the rest of the day. 

You would try to ignore the way your stomach would flip as Aaron - you would eventually find out his name is - would approach the counter. Also trying to keep your smile contained and your cheeks from getting too red, knowing damn well that that would be impossible for you. 

He orders his usual and you try very hard to make sure your hands aren’t shaking when you make it so you don’t mess his drink up. Though, it is hard when you can feel his gaze on you the entire time. 

When you’ve finished and handed his drink over to him, he nods at you and says in that quiet voice of his, “see you tomorrow.”

And without even thinking you reply, “I hope so”, before promptly turning red. 

His brows raise ever so slightly at your words, before a smirk overtakes his face. “Yea?” he asks almost disbelievingly.

Shocked at how this interaction is going, you scoff out not unkindly, “I thought it was obvious.” 

Aaron glances down quickly before meeting your eyes again, “No, but I’m glad to hear it.”

Before you can figure out how to respond, Aaron’s cell phone rings. When he checks who’s calling, he lets out a small sigh. Eyes meeting yours again he says, “I’m sorry I have to go.”

“Of course”, you murmur, still in a daze. 

“But I look forward to seeing you tomorrow”, he says with one more smirk directed at you before he’s turning around answering the call with a brusque, “Hotchner” as he moves towards the doors.

You’re left standing there, staring at his retreating form, not quite sure that conversation actually happened. 

The massive smile that forms on your face afterwards doesn’t leave you for the rest of the day. 

You were really looking forward to tomorrow now.

[raaorqtpbpdy]

In the Zone (3)

Based on the Phic Phight prompts: Danny and co. go sight seeing in the zone and get lost. Maybe they have to navigate weird ghost logic/physics/laws to make their way home (from @ventisettestars). And Sam and Tucker maybe getting Pharaoh + plant powers? ecto contamination for the win ig (from @corvidspectre).

Chapter 3: The Metropolitan Realm

AO3 Link

[no applicable warnings]

The Ghost Zone didn't have mornings or evenings, or even days and nights, but the teens all woke up around the same time. Danny and Tucker snacked on beef jerky for breakfast while Sam munched on some mixed nuts for a protein boost. You know, road trip snacks.

"Yesterday was a mixed bag," Tucker commented with his mouth full, "but there's gonna be much cooler stuff coming along today. I'm sure of it. Like, I feel weirdly confident about this."

"You mean like a massive ghost city?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, sure, or a video game realm, or a wizard tower or something? You never know."

"No, look!" she pointed out the window. "A massive ghost city! Danny do you see it?"

"Adjusting course!" Danny said. He got up and sat in the driver's seat, flipping switches to shift into gear and taking them down toward the glowing green and purple skyscrapers in the distance.

"Woah!" Tucker said, finally catching sight of the city. "That looks kinda... modern, for the Ghost Zone, doesn't it?"

"It doesn't really fit the whole aesthetic," Sam agreed. "It's too sleek and... almost normal looking. Why is something like that in the Ghost Zone, dimension of the weird and slimy?"

"Is that a monorail?" Danny asked as they got closer.

He parked the Specter Speeder on the street. There was no one around, it seemed like. Tucker walked over to an abandoned hot dog cart, thinking he could steal some grub, but once he was standing where the line would be a ghost appeared on the vendor's side.

"What can I get for ya?" he asked.

"Two dogs with ketchup and mustard," Tucker said.

"Do you have veggie-dogs, and are they cooked in the same greasy water as the regular dogs?" Sam asked.

"I do, and they're not," the vendor promised. "I also got ecto-dogs."

"Ooh! I'll have one of those, please!" Danny said. The vendor nodded as they finished ordering and gave them their food, handing Danny his last. Since it was the Ghost Zone, where there was no money, he didn't charge. Ghosts held down jobs because they loved doing them, unlike people.

"Make sure you eat it before it eats you, eh?" Danny laughed and took a bite.

"Mm, even better than Mom makes." His friends looked at him with matching disgust. "What?" he asked, smiling internally. Ever since Danny had given them a common enemy regarding whose diet was right and whose was wrong, they hardly ever argued about the pros and cons of meat versus veggies. At least their food wasn't glowing. Once they left the line, the vendor disappeared again.

"Wait I just thought of something," Tucker said, finishing his second hot-dog before the other two were halfway done with their first. He walked back over to the cart, and the vendor appeared again.

"Back for more already?" he asked, then chuckled heartily.

"Actually, my friends and I are tourists, and I was wondering if you knew of any cool places for us to see while we're here?"

"Oh, sure!" the vendor said. "You're gonna wanna take the monorail to the boardwalk for sure! The best shopping is on Third Avenue, just past Wail Street. Oh, and if you can get a reservation, there's this great club on top of the Metropolitan Building, that's the highest skyscraper in the city. It's got great food, great music, and great views of the Zone, and it rotates, too, so you can see everything."

"Sounds awesome!" Tucker said. "I guess that's our day planned. And hey, where is everybody?"

"Oh, it's generally considered impolite to be visible in public places if you can help it, to preserve the city's picturesque quality, but since you three can't help it, I don't think anyone'll call you on it," the vendor said. "Mostly, they'll do what I did and show themselves when you talk to them. It ain't you're fault you're alive."

"Uh... thanks," Tucker said, then shook off the strange comment and smiled. "Thanks a lot!"

"No problem!"

The vendor vanished again as Tucker walked away to relay the information to his friends. They grabbed the things they might need out of the speeder, made a note of where it was parked, Danny activated its cloaking, since apparently being visible was rude, and they headed up to the nearest monorail station.

The monorail moved super fast, and Danny poked his head out the window to see how it worked. It seemed to be using ghost levitation to follow the tracks without touching them so the friction didn't slow it down. "That's so cool!" Danny said, making a mental note to try and replicate the phenomenon for some of his experiments back home.

The carnival at the boardwalk wasn't really anything they couldn't get at home, except that the Ghost Zone physics made the rides even more nausea inducing, to their credit. The carnival food was also as deliciously greasy and unhealthy as it ever was. Occasionally, ghosts would turn visible to talk to them, ask them if they were having fun, and what they were doing there, and say how they'd never seen a living person in the Zone before.

They asked some of the other locals about cool things in the city and Sam got so enthusiastic when she heard about the botanical gardens that they had to make it their next stop. Tucker and Danny didn't really understand her excitement, but every plant she went to see brightened at her presence, to the point where one of the employees made herself visible to compliment Sam on how attuned she was with nature. Danny gave he a smug smirk when the employee disappeared again.

"I don't have plant powers," Sam told him, despite the obvious way the flora reacted to her presence. "Stop being ridiculous."

After the botanical garden, they got directions to the Metropolitan Building. In the end, they didn't really need them, since it was about a hundred feet taller than any other building in the city and the only one with a huge, round disc on the top. The Metropolitan building, as it turned out, was mostly a tourist destination. It's many floors made up a combined hotel and shopping center, with the Metropolitan Club on top.

"Remember, we might not be able to get in," Tucker said as the elevator bypassed the shopping center to the club at the top. "We didn't know how to make a reservation, so don't get your hopes up." The doors dinged and opened on the top floor.

"Hi!" Danny said, and the host turned visible for them. "We didn't know how to make a reservation, but we were wondering if you might have room for the three of us tonight?"

"As it happens, we had a cancellation for a party of four earlier," the host said. "May I take your names?"

Danny started to answer but Sam cut him off. "You may not, please list us as Sam, Tuck, and Danny."

"Clever girl," the host said, writing down the names. "It's always smart to stay on your toes around here, especially while you still draw breath. Go on in, all three of you. Enjoy the Metropolitan Club." 

The club was fun, and just like the vendor from earlier had said, it had a breathtaking view. Danny convinced his friends to do ectoplasm shots, just to try it, and laughed when they took them and gagged.

"Eugh, Danny how can you eat that stuff?" Tucker demanded. "It's... so gross... so bitter."

"It tastes like how wet socks feel," Sam moaned. "I'm never doing that again as long as I live. I can't believe I let you talk me into that."

Danny took another shot from a passing tray, no-doubt being carried by an invisible waitress, and downed it in one gulp. "Ah, refreshing," he said, grinning at the revulsion on his friends' faces.

Once they recovered from the shots, they decided to dance.

"I gotta say, I really like ghost music," Sam said. "I wonder if I can buy a couple albums around here somewhere."

"We should check out the shopping center downstairs when we're done here," Danny suggested. "They've probably got lots of cool stuff, and there's no money or scarcity here, so everything's free."

"Good idea!" Tucker agreed. "We should totally pick up some souvenirs from this place! It rocks!"

They spent a few hours up at the club, enjoying the view, and the food, and the atmosphere, before heading down for souvenirs. Sam picked up some CDs and a ghostly portable CD played, just in case a normal CD player would get fried or something trying to play ghost music. Tucker got himself a Metropolitan Club souvenir T-shirt, and Danny got a key-chain for the keys to the Specter Speeder.

Finally, the three of them got tired enough to head back to the speeder. Danny pulled out the key to deactivate the cloaking. Nothing happened, not even a sound to indicate the car was there when Danny tried to unlock it. This was definitely the right place. It was the right intersection of streets, next to the right building, with the hot dog cart across the street. The speeder should be there.

"Did we get carjacked?" Danny said, frantically waving the key around and clicking buttons at random, hoping to hear the familiar chirping of the speeder. "It's gone!"

Tucker walked over to the cart, and the vendor appeared again.

"Good to see you again, you hungry?" the vendor asked.

"Actually, we just ate at the club you recommended, and it was great, so thanks, but it seems like our vehicle was stolen at some point while we were seeing the sights. I don't suppose you saw who took it?" 

"Oh, I'm afraid not," the vendor told him. "That's the side effect of most things being invisible. There are never any witnesses."

"Thanks anyway," Tucker said, then headed back to his friends, uselessly feeling around for the stolen speeder. "Give it up, guys. Were stranded in the Ghost Zone with no transportation, and no idea how to get home."

"We'll find a solution," Danny said determinedly. Sam nodded, stifling a yawn. "For now, lets head back to the metropolitan building and get some rest. We'll come back tomorrow and attack the problem again with a clear head."

"Shouldn't we call the cops?" Sam asked. "The ghost cops?"

"You think ghost police will be any less corrupt and useless than human police? Tucker retorted with a scoff. "Ghosts with jobs do them out of love for the job, remember, not a sense of duty to the community. If anything, ghost cops will be worse than human cops."

"He's got a point," Danny agreed. "Just think about Walker's goons. They weren't exactly paragons of protect and serve." He began to walk back down the street. "Come on."

First | Previous | Next

[dameronology]

Ok I read this prompt

 “you say this every time and i’m starting to realize that you never mean it.” 

And immediately thought of obi wan constantly saying he'll leave the order but never does

🙃

OHHH sam u are giving me good stuff tonight

It had started out as a soft morning.

The sun hung low in the sky, golden rays splitting through the thin curtains in Obi-Wan's quarters and casting it in a golden glow. He was splayed out beside you; he was flipped on his stomach, ivory skin littered with light pink battle scars and bright red scratches courtesy of the previous night's activities. It was mornings like these that you held so dearly. It just you and him, devoid of the worries of the outside world. The Jedi code didn't apply between the four walls of the bedroom. You could just exist.

"Good morning, my love," Obi-Wan's voice was gruff with sleep. He rolled onto to his side and reached an arm out to you.

"Morning," you softly smiled. "What time is your meeting today?"

"Mm.." he hummed, trailing off for a second. "Midday, I think."

"We have time then," you replied, pressing a kiss to his jaw.

The days that neither of you were busy were the best ones. It felt like there were weeks when you were both running around like mad people, barely having a second to spare for each other. That was just the reality of dating as a Jedi: it had to be secret. That meant there were far and few opportunities to actually be together physically. You and Obi had always spoken about leaving the Order to be together - had he said the words, you could be ready and packed in minutes to skip off into the sunset.

"Not much though, I'm afraid," the Jedi sighed. "I have training at nine and then a briefing at eleven-"

"- I thought you said you were free all morning?"

"I did, but there's only so much I can do, my love," Obi-Wan explained. "You understand, don't you? Our jobs are a lot and I'm sorry I can't make as much time for you as I'd like."

You gave him a small smile. "It's fine."

A pair of broad hands found their way to your waist; Obi yanked you into his lap, fingers coming up to hold the back of your neck as he pulled you into a deep kiss.

"One day, I'll leave the Order," he murmured against you. "Then I'll have all the time in the world."

You pulled back from the kiss, brow furrowing. "Do you mean that?"

"What? Of course I do."

"I know, but..." you paused for a second, gathering your thoughts. "You say this every time but I'm starting to realise you never mean it."

"How can you say that? You know I mean it-"

"- do you, though?" you cut him off. "Because I've had my bags packed ready and waiting for the better part of two years. I know it's easier said than done but if you can't even make time for me right now, how can I ever expect you to actually leave the Order for me?"

Reaching across the bed for your tunic, you pulled it over your shoulders and hopped off his lap. It hurt to think about what you'd just realised, and even more so to actually verbalise it. Still though, it had been brewing under the surface for a while and those frustrations had to come out eventually.

"Where is this coming from?" Obi-Wan asked. His blue eyes followed you across the room as you scooped up all of your clothes. "You know I love you. I'd do anything for you."

"Okay," you paused for a second and threw the items back to the floor. "Answer me now, wholly and honestly - would you leave the Order for me? And I don't mean in a hypothetical sense. I mean in a genuine, fuck this and run away sense. A leave it all behind sense."

He faltered for a second. That was all you needed.

"Yeah," you murmured. "That's what I thought."

[buckyarchives]

Hello hi

I saw you took requests so here I am!

How about some frenemies to lovers with a male police officer x Batman

Basically the Reader doesn’t like the idea, of Batman working on the Riddler case with the police, since he is a vigilante and sketchy in Reader’s eyes

Have a nice day!

really liked this prompt :)

Batman x male officer! reader

word count: 1.6k 

summary: reader doesn’t trust the new masked vigilante, but after a couple of flirty interactions and batman saves reader from a possible mugging, you start to change your mind. 

author note: not to proud of this one but i tried my best :’) reguest are still open! enjoy reading

“I don’t understand why you are letting this dude, who might I remind you, we don’t know! work on this case!” you had yelled at your superior office for what felt like the 100th time today. it had been a couple of days since the riddler introduced himself to the world by killing the mayor and you were convinced you were the only sane person on the task force since everyone else let the batman run around on crimes scenes and tapper evidence. you respect James Gordon but has he lost his mind?

“y/n just do your job, we can talk about this later,” he whispered. You were currently investigating some of the evidence taken from the mayor's house, alongside the bat. his loud leather boots and large cape just distracted you. slowly, he came next to you, you gave him a quick side-eye and batman noticed.

“you don’t trust me.” batman had a low voice, yet almost sounded like a whisper. 

“I don’t even know you.” you flipped through some pages of notes.

“I'm just here to help solve the case.” you had enough with his bullshit hero act, all the emotions from the past week had let out. 

“that’s our job.” you slammed the notes onto the table and turned to him, you had to look up to see his face, you were on the shorter side of men (which you got made fun of for a lot) but he was tall in general. “thank you so much Mr batman!” you yelled sarcastically before storming out of the room. 

you had enough of today and left work, you didn’t need to stay any longer than you had already. heading to a diner to get a quick meal before home. 

the diner was weirdly empty for this time of night, with a few homeless sleeping and a truck driver scarfing down a meal at the counter. You got your usual and sat down.

“The batman.” you muttered under my breath, scoffing. “what a weirdo.”

What person wakes up and decides to run around the city in a bat costume, beating people up and intruding into police business. Sounds like he grew up spoiled with no one to tell him ‘no’, For all you know, he could be just as bad as the riddler dude. His aura was just so intimating too, there was no way people saw him as a hero. Not when he's consistently staring down people's faces, standing menacingly in the dark corner of rooms, the only outline from the dark being his large strong should, and sharp jawline, gosh his hot-ass jawline could kill a man in itself.

‘Why the fuck would I think that.’ you snapped out of your thoughts, not believing what you were just thinking, he was attractive but... 

“Oh my god, literally stop thinking about this, y/n” you smacked yourself on the head lightly, putting a 10-dollar tip on the table and leaving.

It was dark, and Gotham's dark nights felt suffocating at some times. It felt alive like it was following you, it could swallow you whole and get lost in it forever.

“Don't move.” you heard a gun click, shit! I don't have my police belt. Did I fucking manifest this? You thought about what to do, you were strong and fast, but small, and you were against a gun. That never ends well.

“Take out everything in your pockets and don't even think about trying anything.” the tip of the gun's barrel was pushed to the back of your head. 

‘Fuck, is the end-all for me?’ you thought to yourself before obeying the man's orders. Pulling out your wallet, phone, keys, and any loose change you had.

“Thank you– what the fuck?” 

The gun went off and your ears started ringing from the loud pop and everything went in slow motion, eventually, you hit the ground and everything went back. 

The ringing in your ears was still faint as you woke up, your head felt heavy and your clothes were a little damp from falling on the pavement. It was always fucking raining in Gotham.

“Still don't trust me?” you heard the familiar low voice speak from across you, your head shot up, and saw the stupid pointy ears and large black figure. Your head must have shot up a little too quick for your body and you felt fatigued instantly, groaning and hitting the ground again.

“Woah, easy, I can't have you getting hurt.” batman rushed over to your side, to help you head up. He was close, too close. You could feel his breath on your face as he inspected your head for any injuries. 

“Get– “ you spat out, still groggy. “Away from me.” you pushed him away with whatever strength you could muster up. Batman was like a rock, he barely moved.

“I don't get a thank you for saving you from getting mugged?” he scoffed. 

“I could have handled it myself,” you muttered out. your knees were weak, but you slowly but surely came to your feet and leaned against the wall. 

“Says the one who blacked out and fell on his pretty face.” batman said, the leather on his suit rubbing against each other as he walked towards you. You looked up and saw him, less than a foot stood in between you.

“W-what?” 

“Get home safe, y/n. I'll see you again” his voice was softer and less raspy than usual. he grabbed your hand and something hit the palm of it, your heart quicked. He walked off into the night and just like that he was gone. Looking down at your hand and you saw all the stuff you threw out of your pocket. 

‘What the hell just happened?’ standing there dumbfounded, blinking to yourself to make sure that just happened. Did he just call you pretty?

A few days have passed since your run-in with batman and there hadn't been any new information on riddler so you had no reason to see him. Until tonight, the riddler has aired him killing the commissioner the night before, a tragedy as you knew him personally. You knew he wasn't that good of a man but that video was just fucking disturbing. 

You met batman and James Gordon once again, the task force let the detective and the vigilante into the room as long as they had a watch on them. Sadly, the watch was me. You watched them slowly look at the rat maze, cipher drawn onto them in blacklight marker. A drawer opened to reveal another card labeled ‘To The Batman’ in messy handwriting.

“Some admirer on you batman,” you commented, teasing the bat. He looked over at you for a moment and you could swear you saw a small smile on his face. you decided to leave them, walking up the stairs to sit down on the floor across from Martinez.

“what do you think of him?” the heavy accent asked you. 

“not sure.” you thought about last night, you stared at your ceiling thinking about batman when you got home that night. you questioned how you saw him. “I think we’ll just have to figure out.”

“I think he’s cool.” he sighed, toying with the flashlight in his hands, laughing to himself. “though, he keeps looking at you like you’re a piece of meat.”

“what?”

“you know?” he looked at you like you were stupid.

“Martinez, I have zero ideas what you’re talking about,” you said. intrigued at whatever he was talking about.

“Whenever you’re in the room he’ll look at you like you’re—“ 

“Okay, we’re done here. let’s get out before we get in trouble.” Jim's voice cut off Martinez, he walked in between the two of you on the floor and the boy across from you got up and quickly followed the detective.

you sat there for a moment and watched the two walk away, wondering what Martinez was talking about. the similar leather boots came walking towards you, you didn’t want to look up and see his face.

“coming?” the low voice hitting your ears almost forced your head to look up, making eye contact with him. his hand was pulled out, in front of you, gesturing for you to grab it. 

“weirdo,” you whispered under your breath and heard a soft chuckle follow, you grabbed his hand and let him pull you up. 

your chest hit his, quite aggressively too. a gasp escaped your chest at the suddenly close intimacy. batman thought it was cute hearing a reaction out of you out of something so little. you two were making eye contact, you hadn’t noticed till now what a pretty blue color his eyes were, especially against the contrast of the black. batman’s arm was snuck around your waist, something you also didn’t notice. pulling away harshly out of embarrassment, your face had to be red.

“don’t get into any trouble on your way home again, I really can’t risk my favorite boy in blue getting hurt.” he grazed his gloved hand across your shoulder before walking off too. 

you went home that night to your small apartment, you could upsize but you didn’t need. you stared at your ceiling for hours once again, your mind racing around the masked vigilante once again. today. you kept repeating the day, more important, that quick couple of seconds. the two of you were so close, that you felt like you were going to explode when you felt his hand around your waist.

‘i don’t think I’ve been this excited to work before.’ you smiled to yourself and tried to go to bed. ready to see that bat again. 

[talkfantasytome]

Marines & Mustaches

Nesta joins Cassian and Nyx for holiday hot cocoa.

Warnings: Fluff; Precious Toddler | Word Count: 1,988 | Read on AO3

Previous Piece | Hope for the Holidays Masterlist | Nessian Masterlist

a/n: To those who have sent me prompts for this AU so far, thank you! I have seen them, I love them. They are definitely coming! But I decided I wanted to work in chronological order, and my plans didn't include either of those in this piece.

Disclaimer 1: The comment Nesta makes in regards to nuns - I have nothing against nuns, nor am I insulting Gwyn as a character. In this AU, I've decided Gwyn is just going to be far more innocent than Nesta, and just doesn't jump as fast as some might, if you know what I mean. While Nesta is...Nesta. Faster to act, though maybe not fall.

Disclaimer 2: I also have nothing against the Navy. But, like, I think there's a fun-ish rivalry between the military branches? If not, well...then maybe Velaris is just in Prythian, some island country anchored off the shore of Massachusetts, thus it has its own military stuffs and I say that there's a rivalry, but it's all fun and games. And they just happen to use the same words we do. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

"About time," Gwyn chastised, her arms crossed over her chest as she waited for Nesta in the employee locker room.

"No, you don't get to scold me. I'm mad at you." Nesta exaggeratedly narrowed her eyes at Gwyn before she started to take the dress off to hand to her friend. Apparently Bal was too cheap to purchase a dress for each camera girl. It was the other reason he'd asked Nesta, he knew she and Gwyn were similar sizes.

"What did I do?"

"You never warned me about Cassian!" she exclaimed. Gwyn scrunched her face in confusion. So Nesta sighed and continued, "He's gorgeous." She kept her voice low, as if he'd show up in the room at any minute.

Gwyn let out a small snort as Nesta opened her locker and pulled on her grey, cowlneck sweater dress. "We all definitely told you that he's an attractive man."

"No, you didn't. All you said was that he looked similar to Az. Which, by the way, not the best description." Nesta rolled her eyes as she looked in the mirror, checking on her hair. "Coloring is not the only thing that makes people look alike."

"That's fair," Gwyn agreed, fiddling with the Santa hat. "Though, pretty sure you have access to pictures of him."

"You know I don't spend a lot of time on Facebook or Instagram. I see the pictures Feyre sends me, which are all of Nyx."

Nesta still couldn't believe it. She knew Cassian would likely be a beast of a man, considering Az and Rhys's sizes, but she truly never expected that. A man so perfect and rough he looked as if he'd been carved by the gods themselves. There was something wild about him she never saw in Rhys or Az, but his presence was like a warm invitation extended in earnest. His hazel eyes had sparkled in the winter sun, holding her gaze, and his shoulder-length, near-black hair begged her fingers to run through it.

"You'll be seeing him plenty now that you're both back in Velaris," Gwyn sighed, hip-checking Nesta away from the mirror so she could look herself over.

"I know." Nesta grinned widely as she pulled on her leather jacket and grabbed out her purse. "Nyx invited me to go for hot cocoa with them."

Gwyn turned on the spot, gaping at Nesta. "Now?!"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, have fun with that," Gwyn laughed. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do." She flipped her hair behind her shoulders and then strode out the room as Nesta rolled her eyes.

"I'm not a nun," she whispered under her breath.

"And then I flew!" Nyx raised his arms excitedly as he finished explaining his dream to Nesta.

"You flew?!" Nyx nodded excitedly. "Did you have wings?"

"Uh-huh. Big ones!"

"That sounds like an amazing dream. You have quite the imagination," she cooed, booping his nose. Nyx giggled and slid closer to snuggle against Nesta's side. She couldn't help but smile down at him, a warmth expanding in her as she wrapped her arm around him.

"Okay!" Cassian exclaimed, walking up to the table with three mugs of hot cocoa in his hands. The little café he took them to was on one of the corners opposite the winter market and known for its holiday hot chocolates.

Cassian placed the mugs on the table, all three topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings, and then sat down in the seat opposite where Nesta and Nyx were in the booth.

"We have a gingerbread hot cocoa," he said, sliding the mug so it sat in front of Nyx. There was a little gingerbread man cookie sticking out of the whipped cream that Nyx was smiling at. "And a peppermint hot cocoa." The mug Cassian slid to Nesta had a candy cane sitting in it like a stirrer.

"And for you?" she asked, flicking her eyes to his mug that held a wafer cookie.

"Plain hot cocoa." He grinned widely and leaned back in his seat as Nesta let out a small scoff.

"How adventurous."

He crossed his arms over his chest in a way that emphasized the muscles in his forearms and shrugged. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Nesta raised her eyebrows at him. "I think I'd say the flavors are expanding hot chocolate, not trying to fix it. Oh, Nyx, you might want to wait a minute." Her focus turned back to her nephew as he reached for the large mug she was certain would end up all over his shirt. "It's very hot."

Nyx looked up at Nesta, pushing out his lower lip into a pout that had her heart breaking.

"Why don't you eat the cookie first?" she suggested, handing his gingerbread man to him. "By the time you're done, the cocoa will be cool enough for you."

"Okay." He took the cookie and started to nibble at it slowly.

"They didn't have a sippy cup?" she said to Cassian in a hushed voice.

Cassian chuckled as he started on his own cookie. "You're the one that put it into his head he deserved a big cocoa."

Nesta flashed him an innocent smile as she started to stir her cocoa with her candy cane. "I stand by that."

Cassian smiled back at her, his eyes lit with a soft amusement that had Nesta fighting off a blush.

"Aunt Nesa, can we make a gingerbread house?" Nyx asked suddenly, looking at his cookie thoughtfully.

"Of course we can! But not today, because we'll need to get Aunt Elain to bake the gingerbread first. She makes the best gingerbread."

"And she can help decorate!"

"Absolutely," Nesta agreed.

"What about me? Can I help?" Cassian asked, beaming down at Nyx.

Nyx groaned. "No! You don't do it right!"

Cassian's eyes widened in shock, his lips spreading into an open smile. "I don't? You've never seen me make a gingerbread house."

"Dad and Unc Az don't," Nyx argued.

"Well, I can guarantee that I know how to make a gingerbread house far better than my brothers." Nyx stared at Cassian in disbelief, earning a chuckle from the man. "But I promise not to touch yours, so long as you promise to let me eat some of it once it's done."

Nyx nodded sternly and then went back to his cookie.

"Ouch," Nesta whispered, smirking at Cassian.

"I know, my own nephew doesn't trust me with his gingerbread house."

"To be fair, last year when we made gingerbread houses, Rhys and Az were the reason Elain had to bake a new batch."

Cassian let out a booming laugh, throwing his head backward. His shoulder-length hair flowed with the movement, a dark auburn hue catching in the light. "I believe it."

"So, how do you spend your time now that you're retired from…was it the Navy?"

He slammed his hand over his heart in mock offense. "You wound me. Do I look like a pompous Navy prat?"

Nesta looked down purposefully, picking up her cocoa and taking a sip. The heat of the liquid flowed through her veins, chasing away the slight chill she still felt.

"Marines, sweetheart," he corrected, taking a sip of his own drink.

Noticing his aunt and uncle drinking their cocoa, Nyx reached for his own mug again. This time Nesta let him, but she also helped him as he held it with both hands and brought it to his mouth.

Nyx took a small sip and then sighed exaggeratedly, lowering the mug to reveal his face now covered in whipped cream. He took another sip and then placed the mug back on the table as Nesta grabbed a napkin and wiped his face gently.

"My apologies. How do you spend your time now that you're retired from the Marines?" She finished cleaning up Nyx and then placed the napkin on the table.

"I work as a trainer at a gym," he replied. "I do a few classes and have some personal training clients, mostly for hand-to-hand combat."

"Wow, that sounds interesting."

He nodded in agreement. "It's fun. I like people, I like training, and I like helping others learn to defend themselves. I actually teach a women's self-defense class every Thursday. I can get you the details if you'd be interested."

Nesta paused for a moment and took in that broad frame, the muscles that were practically bursting from his flannel shirt. She wasn't entirely sure how much she'd learn from a teacher as distracting as Cassian was likely to be. But, she had always considered taking a class like that.

"Sure, I'd like to learn more about it. And I have a friend who I think might enjoy it." His face lit up, a smile growing, and Nesta took another sip of her cocoa to hide the one that was trying to break free from her in response.

She put the mug down and Cassian's smile only grew as he let out a small laugh.

"What?" she asked.

A high-pitch giggle sounded from beside her and she turned to Nyx to find him looking up at her. "Aunt Nesa, you look silly!"

"I do?!" She faced Cassian again. "Do I have something on my face?"

Nesta thought she felt something prickle her at the side of her mouth, so she grabbed a napkin and wiped at it only to see nothing come off.

"Here," Cassian offered, leaning over the table.

Her eyes snapped to his as he brought a hand up to her mouth. Her breathing hitched when his thumb brushed the center of her upper lip, just where the little dip was beneath her nose. She felt her heart thundering in her chest, but her eyes never left Cassian's. Never left the swirling sea of brown and green, like a blurred forest that beckoned the animals home at the end of the night. Nesta found herself wanting to answer the call.

Cassian swallowed heavily as he remained leaning over the table, his other arm supporting him. His thumb left her lip but he didn't move and, for a moment, it was like time stood still. They stared at each other, the rest of the world fading away, until the bell on the door sounded as someone entered or exited the café.

They snapped out of whatever staring contest they'd been in and Cassian threw on a cocky half-smile as he sat back down. "Just a bit of whipped cream, sweetheart."

"The name's Nesta," she shot back, trying to pretend her voice didn't come out in a bit of a rasp.

"Noted. You look cute with a white mustache, Nesta."

She tried to hide the deep breath she had to take at the compliment but, based on his smirk, Cassian saw it all.

Summoning whatever confidence she had, Nesta shrugged and simply sighed, "I look cute in everything."

"I'm sure," he breathed, purposefully rolling his eyes down the part of her body he could see. "I bet you look good in nothing as well."

Nesta's hands instantly shot to Nyx's head, covering his ears. "Are you crazy?! There's a child here!"

Cassian only laughed, his body shaking slightly with it. "What? I didn't curse."

She narrowed her eyes at him and shook her head as she removed her hands from Nyx. The toddler looked up at her, his blue eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"Sorry. Uncle Cassian was saying things not suited for polite conversation," she explained to him.

"Very guilty," Cassian beamed, as if he was proud of it.

Nyx didn't seem fazed. Instead he just crawled into Nesta's lap and pulled his hot cocoa toward him to take another sip, the mug taking up half his face.

A smile spread unconsciously across her face as he did that, her arms wrapping around his waist as she rested her chin on his head. She looked up to see Cassian watching them, a soft smile on his own lips.

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[jungwonenthusiast]

Hey! I saw that you wanted me to specify my ask a bit I'm so sorry for being so inconvenient! No.14 from your prompt list with sub! sunghoon and fem!reader where sunghoon is saying the quote... I hope this was clearer than the other one hehe

A/N: not inconvenient at all! Just wanna make it perfect for u :) 

Warnings: slight angst, fingering (f receiving), unprotected sex, hair pulling, degradation

Word count: 1.6 k

You tug roughly on his arm and pull him into his room.

“Geez, where’d all this attitude come from?” he raises an eyebrow.

“What do you think?” you huff.

He shrugs, still not giving you the time of day.

You roll your eyes and cross your arms. “Is this that much fun to you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t act so aloof, you’re not as slick as you think you are Park Sunghoon.” you say and his eyes widen a bit. You never call him Sunghoon, let alone his surname too. “If you think that girl is so pretty why don’t you go fuck her?”

“So I can’t compliment other girls now?” he says but he knew what he was doing. Sunghoon had dommed throughout most of your relationship and he secretly wanted to switch things up. And since he’s too much of a fool to ask like a normal person, he decided to get a rise out of you instead.

“You know it’s not just that,” you groan. “How would you feel if I started grinding up on Heeseng and telling him how handsome he is.”

“She and I didn’t even touch!” he exclaims. 

“It doesn’t matter!” you argue. A moment of silence passes before you push on his shoulder. “Get on the bed.”

“What?” he says, trying to conceal his smile.

“Get on the fucking bed.” you order and he eagerly obeys, anticipating your every move.

You straddle him and hold his face in your hands. “So pretty. Too bad you don’t know how to behave.”

He gives you a knowing half smile and you kiss him. He sits there basking in your dominating presence with one arm around your waist and the other keeping himself propped up.

“Did you think I’d find that cute?” you ask him.

“Maybe a little.” he smugly remarks.

You tug his hair back and he whimpers.

“Watch your mouth.” you say before attaching your lips to his neck.

He smiles again, loving the pain.

You suck a hickey into his skin intentionally in a spot where everyone will be able to see it. His makeup artist is gonna be pissed, you think.

You hastily tug his hoodie off and stop for a moment to admire his figure. You notice him cave in, getting a bit flustered.

“Why are you acting all shy? You were so big and bad just a moment ago.” you tease and he looks away sheepishly.

You sit on him so that your core is right on top of his hard on. You kiss him passionately while gently rocking your hips against his.

He whines into your mouth and you smirk.

“What’d you think you’d get out of putting on a show like that?” you ask and he shrugs. You grab his jaw. “Answer.”

“I wanted you to-” he stumbles on his words. “Take control of me.”

You smirk. “So this is exactly what you wanted huh.”

He smiles cutely and you shake your head, chuckling. “I’ve fallen right into your trap. It’s fine, I don’t wanna get out anyway.”

His breathing becomes more labored as you continue to grind on him.

“Please,” he exhales. “I need it.”

“Need what?” you tease.

“Need you to fuck me.” he begs.

“Do you deserve it though?” you tilt your head and he looks at you in defeat. “I don’t think you do sweetheart.”

His hand moves from your waist to your hips then to the buttons of your jeans. “Can I touch you?” he asks and you nod.

He quickly pulls your jeans off and pulls you so that your back is against his chest. He slips his fingers into his mouth before sliding them into your underwear. You moan as his slick fingers circle your clit. Your head drops back onto his shoulder and he takes that opportunity to kiss your neck and whisper sweet nothings into your ear.

“You’re so wet, did I get you like this?” he teases and you nod.

He caresses your hair while slowly pushing two elegant fingers inside of you. You whine and grip at his forearm.

He begins to pump in and out of you, curling his fingers up every time to hit your sweet spot. He smiles as you writhe in his arms.

“Fuck don’t stop.” you whimper.

“You’re so pretty.” he says. 

His free hand moves to massage your chest and pinch your nipples under your shirt. You run your hands up and down his legs, squeezing every now and then to let know you were enjoying yourself, as if your sultry moans weren’t enough.

You reach behind you to hold the back of his neck and your legs begin to tremble.

“Cum for me please.” he begs.

Your hips begin to twitch but he holds you down, keeping you in his arms as pure bliss rushes through your body.

You whimper softly as you come down from your high, your breathing heavy and your thighs shaking.

Sunghoon kisses the top of your head then tips your head back to kiss your neck. “I love you.” he whispers and you smile.

“Really?” you ask and he cocks a brow.

“Of course.” he says.

You shift to straddle him. “I think you’re gonna hate me after how many times I edge you.”

He goes beet red.

You unbutton his jeans and throw them on the floor along with his Calvins.

You align yourself up with him before slowly sinking down. You both moan in relief.

He whimpers and holds your waist tight. “So wet,” he sighs into your neck.

You knock his chin up and stroke his cheek. “My pretty boy, taking this pussy so well. Does it feel good?” you coo and he nods eagerly. You squeeze around him and he moans with a smile, flashing his vampire canines.

He pulls you flush against him and rests his forehead on your shoulder, overwhelmed by the pleasure. You run your fingers through his hair.

“Pull it.” he says.

“Hm?” you’re caught off guard by his sudden request.

“Pull my hair please.” he asks you sweetly.

You do so, tugging it so that his head snaps back. The sound he lets out is the best thing you’ve ever heard in your life.  

He knows better than to thrust up into you but you can tell that he wants to.  

“Fuck,” he groans, his head dropping back and exposing his adams apple. You lean down to kiss it.

“You feel so good,” he says lowly. “Please don’t stop.”

You continue to roll your hips over his as he whines under you, and eventually his breathing becomes labored.

He lets out shaky moans into your neck and right before he’s about to cum, you pull off of him. You almost feel bad, but his pretty sounds make it worth it.

You pepper kisses all over his face and shoulders. “You’re doing so good sweetheart.”

You give him a few seconds before sinking back down on him.

“Fuck yes,” he moans. But his pleasure is cut short and you continue to edge him until he’s on the brink of tears.

“I’m sorry y/n, I won’t do it again I promise just please let me cum.” he begs. His cheeks are flushed pink and he looks so utterly desperate and adorable you could die.

“Have you learned your lesson yet?” you tsk and he nods.

“I have I promise,” he says to you hopelessly. “Please, I’ll do anything.”

You squeeze lightly around his throat and sink down for the final time onto his cock. It only takes one clench of your pussy to have his mouth parting and letting out long and dragged out whimpers.

You stroke his hair as he releases into you. “Good boy,” you purr.

When he’s done and his heart rate has returned back to normal you begin to bounce on him again.

He hisses. “Wait wait,”

“What?” you cock your head. “I’m not done yet.”

He braces himself and whimpers into your neck. He’s still hard though which gets you a little cocky.

“You can do it puppy,” you kiss his cheek. “You’ve been good for this long.”

He lets out a whine every time you bounce on him.

He reaches down to rub your clit while kissing your chest.

“Fuck,” you exhale. “Don’t stop.”

Of course he doesn’t. He’d travel to the moon and back if it’d make you happy.

Your knees begin to give out and before you know it, he’s flipped you onto your back and is pounding into you like a fucking pornstar.

You cry out, clinging onto his back and digging your nails into his skin.

“Please cum for me,” he kisses your neck. “I want you to feel good.”

He watches as your face and body react to the euphoria he’s giving you. Your pussy squeezing around him as you climax.

“God you’re beautiful.” he says as your thighs shake around his waist.

You pull him against your chest and he continues to gently thrust into you. He kisses all over your cheeks, neck, and shoulders as you come down from your high.

He pulls out of you and watches as his cum drips out of your cunt.

He kisses your knee. “Do you forgive me now?”

You shake your head. “Not at all.”

“Why?” he chuckles.

“Because there are better ways to get my attention than being a slut.” you say and he blushes.

He lowers his head and kisses up from your stomach to your lips. “I’m sorry y/n.”

“Whatever,” you roll your eyes and he giggles.

[wri0thesley]

Could I request Gojo, Nanami, Geto, Toji, and Mahito with their s/o getting injured while fighting alongside them? Who rushes to their side to tend to them and who goes after the attacker?? I'm always a sucker for this hc prompt!!

♡ —-> below the cut: gojo, nanami, geto, toji, mahito <—-  ♡

♡ Gojo is used to carrying a fight on his own. This is not the first time his partner has been injured whilst they are on a mission - but it’s the first time it’s been you, his partner in more than one way, the person he thinks he might want to spend the rest of his life with--. So he ends up amping up the fighting - if this isn’t a special grade curse, it’s suddenly being treated like one, because if there’s one thing Gojo isn’t in control of it’s how much he loves you. He has lost too many people in his life, and this curse has just threatened another one of them, and this isn’t something that he’ll take lightly. If Gojo makes far more of a mess out of the scene of the battle then he needed to in order to take it out and teach the curse a lesson, so be it. He’s quick dispatching it so that he can feel less guilty about rushing over to your side - he’s had the weight of the world on his shoulders for too long to shirk his duty, but that doesn’t mean he’s not thinking about you the whole time. He’s bent over you in an instant, pulling you into him, asking if you’re alright and trying not to let the worry show. If you can talk and still seem at least to be within yourself, he cracks jokes as best he can about how you’ve gotten him worried, and never to do that again even as he tries to get you to Shoko as soon as possible. You’ll find that Gojo’s influence means you’re not asked to go on a mission for a couple of days, despite how short-staffed everyone is - but when you ask him about it, he shrugs it off with a steely look in his eye. “Guess it’s just not that busy, cupcake - more time for you to stay home and eat sweets and recover!”

- ♡ -

♡ Nanami thinks that being a jujutsu sorcerer fucking sucks, sometimes. And he has not felt how much it sucks so concretely as when you’re knocked onto your back and he sees an arc of blood, hears a sickening crack. He knows he has a duty, and he’s never been the kind of man who leaves it behind - but, like Gojo, he can’t help but let his frustration and anger show through in the way he wields his weapon and the way his teeth grit. Nanami is a formidable enemy at any time, but he’s practically possessed himself now - if he loses you, he will never forgive himself. He has given up too many parts of himself for this job (for both of the jobs he’s inhabited), and you are a bright spot of sunshine in his life. He can’t lose you. He can’t, he can’t, he can’t. So he hacks and he slashes and the moment the curse is gone he’s lifting you up, checking your pulse, trying to keep himself under control even though his heart is beating erratically and memories of other people he hasn’t saved are flooding his head. He can’t stop thinking about how shit this job is, how bullshit it is that you’re expected to die in the line of duty - and then, your eyes open and you cough, and Nanami feels a heavy weight lift from him as he stares into your eyes. Your wounds are treated by Nanami if he can, or by Shoko if they’re too bad - and when the two of you get home, Nanami begins to flip through property books and magazines as he tells you with a tight jaw that the two of you should really think about retiring in the next few years. 

- ♡ -

♡ Geto is incredibly loyal to those he cares about - the little family of curse users that he’s built up all around them. And you are no different - as his beloved, you occupy a different plane. Something more important than even he realises. He loves having you beside him, wrapping his arms around you, watching you with Mimiko and Nanako - after becoming a curse user, he didn’t think he’d ever find such pure happiness as he’s found in you. So it’s no surprise that when he watches you get injured in the battle, he’s driven a little bit wild with his rage. 

He comes to you first, because he is lucky enough to have a technique that means he can release curses to fight for him as he checks you over. The sight of you bent and broken, your beautiful face perhaps bruised, your eyes closed, makes him feel like he could tear the world apart for you. If your eyes do open, and he’s able to ascertain that you’ll be safe, his priority is to get you out of harm’s way.

If they don’t, and you’re hurt more than he can help with at that moment . . . whoever did it is going to regret having ever been born. 

- ♡ -

♡ Toji is immediately bothered when he hears your soft cry of pain. He will not go to you immediately, because he is a professional and the job has to come first - but you can rest assured that he’s running through every possibility in his head, wondering when he can get to your side the quickest. This is a man whose battle skills are superior to almost anyone’s in the world - it’s not that difficult for him to re-arrange his steps, to goad his victim closer to your body so he can work out what the damage is. If you’re merely unconscious, his victim might get off luckily, and Toji may do his work with one clean, quick slice.

If you’re bleeding, though, or something looks broken, or you’re crying - Toji is not so merciful. If you ever get hurt, he wants it to be because you asked him for it and he wants you to enjoy the process - that this enemy would dare lay a finger on you frustrates him to no end. Toji is rather a possessive man. The victim is going to know exactly how he fucked up as Toji brings a painful end to their life, as Toji explains to them like they’re a child before he watches the light drain from their eyes.

Toji is going to do his best to take care of you until whatever injuries you sustain have healed, but this isn’t necessarily a good thing. Toji isn’t exactly the most ideal of sickroom companions, and his bedside manner can be appalling. 

- ♡ -

♡ Mahito says that you are an interesting toy, an experiment - that you’re human, and you are expendable, like all of them are. His main goal, he tells himself, is more important than his silly feelings towards a squishy little person who doesn’t matter. He doesn’t care if you get hurt, if you die; if you were to disappear from his life tomorrow, he thinks, it wouldn’t matter. But he is lying to himself, because the minute that you are in the heat of battle and the path of something dangerous, something in him kicks in.

He normally does not pick fights he cannot win - there’s a streak of cowardliness in the middle of him, though he doesn’t often feel it due to knowledge of how powerful he is. But hearing your noise of pain, seeing your body tossed aside like trash awakens something in him. He does care about you, you’re not trash, you might be one of the only good things about the human world that has ever existed--

And Mahito throws himself into fighting with everything he has. When Mahito’s hand touches this poor creature that has had the misfortune to have attacked Mahito’s most beloved little human, they are going to become the guinea pig for some of the more unhinged experimentations with Idle Transfiguration that Mahito can do. And he hopes that they retain their consciousness all the way through it. He wants to make them suffer. 

-  ♡ -

[spookybias]

[ attractiveness everywhere, stupidity everywhere ] — kang taehyun

pairing: kang taehyun x gn! reader. genre: fluff, crack. warning: mention of bugs, mc doesn't have any friends. for: @ficscafe's dialogue prompt event. word count: 1960 note: obviously i wasn't sure how to end this T_T

prompts: #22: "stop staring, it’s creepy" + #23: "what the hell are you wearing?" + #25: "you got something on your face." "what? where?" "your stupidity. it’s everywhere."

You shrieked at the sight of a tick crawling up your leg, and immediately began swatting at the skin in an attempt to slap it and any comrades that might have kept it company off of you. As a cold breeze passed, you brought your knees up to your chest and wrapped your arms around yourself in a hug. The thought of more ticks crawling all over you, consuming your blood and body in their tiny, red glory, sent shivers to your spine. The wait for your guardian to come pick you up from school was beginning to feel endless, and although the sun was shining, the warmth was certainly not existent on this particular day.

The thought of having to wait longer in the chilly weather only produced more thoughts of ticks and ants and other bugs finding the time to crawl on you. Anxiously, you dusted off your tutu skirt and legs once more, and even your jean jacket every few minutes. You thought that waiting at a nearby cafe instead of at the high school grounds was a better option, considering you refused to let any of your peers find out that you were still being picked up by someone. But you weren't expecting to become the seven course meal for some ticks.

The sunlight began to beam down. You were gracious for the heat to finally be hitting your shivering physique, but immediately became irritated at the brightness that you were sure would blind you if you sat at the table for another half and hour. You rose a hand to your head, trying to block out the sunlight, and caught sight of a boy from your school making his way over.

You realized who it was, and your knees began to tingle. You were eighty-five percent sure that the tick hadn't bit you, and that the twinkling panic in your body was due to the pretty guy plopping down in one of the seats across the table. Taehyun shuffled through his backpack, pulling out some snacks.

The desire to impress one of the cool kids from you school flew in like a pigeon at the sight of bread. You leaned back in your chair, legs crossed in what you hoped was a sexy angle, and twirled a piece of your hair around your fingertips. Before you realized what you were doing, you made a mental note of everything that was attractive about taehyun; his half brown, half blonde hair, his pearly whites, and his gentle but assertive hands. overall, his face was amazing. You mumbled to yourself as you watched him eat his animal crackers, unaware of just how creepy you appeared.

"Is there something you need?" Taehyun looked up from his notebook and sighed. He picked up his pack of crackers and held them out to you. "Are you hungry? Do you want some?" He waved the food in front of your face.

You were left dumbfounded. The tone of his voice made you feel like you were some kind of wild animal trying to prey on him, and he was trying to distract you in order to escape. You knew you weren't the best around people, but never predicted that the boy you'd seen people swoon over for ages talked to others like they were beneath him. "No, I don't want anything from you." It came out much more rude than you had intended. perhaps you were something feral, and your defensive instincts had kicked in.

Taehyun blinked twice before setting his pack of crackers back down. "Stop staring, it's creepy." Then he looked down, taking note of your appearance. He had never seen someone combine a jean jacket and a tutu skirt in forty degree weather. "What the hell are you wearing?"

Feeling self-conscious, you pulled your knees up to your chest again, tugging at your skirt. "What? You think I'm weird or something?" You weren't trying to sound so targeted, but you were used to people picking on your taste in everything, and attacking first had become your immediate reaction to others. "You don't have to sit here."

"Calm down," Taehyun held his hands up with a look of so much disbelief that you wondered if you seemed like you were about to shoot. "You seemed cold, even from all the way over there." Your eyes followed his thumb pointing over his shoulder to the nearest crosswalk, the direction he had come from earlier. "And it's no wonder. You're wearing a skirt in weather like this."

"I thought I looked cute..." You mumbled into your arms crossed over your legs. "Besides, you have no control over what I wear. I can show as much leg skin as I want to." You ended your sentence with a pout.

"I'm not saying you don't look cute." Taehyun looked directly into your eyes. "It's nice seeing an already attractive person in a strange, but nice outfit." Your face started to feel hot. "And you're right, I have no control over what you want to wear. I was just concerned is all. It's freezing and I know you're cold in that skirt."

"So you care?" The words tumbled out of your mouth before you could catch a hold of what you were saying. You weren't exactly used to people who weren't your guardian worrying about you.

Taehyun rolled his eyes and flipped to a new page in his notebook. "I would rather you don't pass out from the temperature right in front of me."

"My guardian usually tells me if it's hot or cold," You went on to say, no longer remembering that Taehyun was one of the cool kids, and instead eating up the idea that someone seemed interested in you. "The sun was out, so I assumed it would be better weather today."

Look at me, you thought to yourself, talking about the weather with someone handsome.

"You have a phone right?" Taehyun suddenly questioned.

Your eyes widened, a tiny bead of sweat dripped down the side of your face. You managed to stutter out, "Y-yes. I do. W-why?"

"Phones have weather apps, idiot. Start checking yours." Taehyun didn't bother to look up from his book. You wondered if he was still interested in what you had to say, if he had more questions after this one. "If you don't have the mental capacity to do that, then at least open your window and stick your hand out."

"Oh ok." You screamed into your skull. You had let yourself get a little too excited about Taehyun's question. You were brought back to reality. Taehyun was a cool kid, and you were a weird new student, an outsider. There was no way he'd give you his number.

The clouds moved in, blocking the sunshine that had previously been annoying you. Taehyun's appearance had made you forget about your irritation entirely, though. It was silent except for the occasional sound of the cafe door a few feet away swinging open joined by the sound of a customer's footsteps as they power-walked out with whatever they had bought. You wanted to talk to Taehyun some more, but wasn't sure what you could possibly say that hadn't already been said to the boy a million times —that day.

He was just that popular.

Taehyun jumped at the sudden sound of a slap on skin. You shrieked at the sight of an ant on your leg. Taehyun could distract you from the cold and the sunlight, but not from your worst nightmare coming true.

"Oh my gosh, they're eating me!" You wailed.

"What on Earth are you talking about?" Taehyun closed his notebook and put it away. It was impossible for him to get some studying (and snacking) done with you around. "You really are crazy."

"There was an ant, and earlier there was a tick. Am I gonna die? They've been attacking me all day!"

Taehyun squinted. He wondered if you were mentally okay. Maybe the lack of social interaction was the cause of your eerie behavior. "Ants aren't much of a problem, but did the tick bite you?"

"No, I don't think so." You patted down your clothes.

"Then you're fine," Taehyun started to pack up his things. "I mean, if the tick did bite you, it's possible that your legs could go numb and you'd never walk again—"

"WHAT?!" You weren't sure if your life was flashing before your eyes or if the sun's demonic brightness had finally gotten to you.

Taehyun stared blankly at you. "You got something on your face."

"What? Where?" Panic began to strike again at the thought of a bug crawling on your cheek.

"Your stupidity. It’s everywhere." Taehyun grabbed his bag and stood up. "And I'm starting to believe it might be contagious, so I'll go now."

"You're leaving?" You scrambled around for your bag on the back of the chair and followed suit.

"Yeah, my ride should be here in a few minutes. I'm just going to stand by the corner." Taehyun walked off. You stood frozen in place.

"T-Taehyun!" You called out.

"Yes, ____?" He looked over his shoulder expectantly. "I don't have all day," He reminded as he took a look at the invisible watch on his wrist.

"You know my name?" You didn't think anyone at your school knew your name. No one talked to you unless they hadn't been paying attention to what the teacher was saying and needed a recap.

Taehyun turned around and looked at you. "Of course I know your name. We're in the same grade."

Oh. You had gotten ahead of yourself again. "Taehyun." You fiddled your fingers and lowered your voice. "Can I stand next to you while you wait for your ride?" It was silly, really, but that was the kind of person you were.

Taehyun continued walking. "Yeah, sure. Stop being creepy about it." There was a hint of teasing in his voice and a growing smile on his face. You were so stupid and weird, and that made him want to learn more about you.

And so you stood beside Taehyun for the next three minutes, utter and comforting silence surrounding you both. You thought you looked like two strangers who talked to each other and stood next to each other like they weren't strangers at all. You shook your head, letting the desire to be close to Taehyun shake. He'd probably let anyone stand next to him on the sidewalk.

A black van with tinted windows pulled up to the curb. It looked suspicious and you wondered if Taehyun was quite the suspicious character. You also wondered if you should probably run as far away as you could from the van. Then the door opened, and you caught a glimpse of an older guy with red hair sitting inside.

"Hurry up, Taehyun. We're gonna be late to game night, and I just know Beomgyu and Kai are hiding all the good cards." The guy peaked his head out and eyed you. "Taehyun you have an interesting taste."

"Your hair is weird," You immediately shot back.

Taehyun turned around. "Do you need a ride?" You gulped as you watched him put his bag in the car.

"Uh, no my guardian should be on their way. And I'm not allowed to take rides from strangers." You scratched your head awkwardly. "Not that I would want to ride with that weird guy in the back," You managed to finish.

Taehyun chuckled. "I'll leave first. Don't wait here on the corner by yourself, though. Someone might mistake you for a prostitute. It's not exactly safe," Taehyun warned. "See you at school."

"Got it." You retreated back to your empty cafe table, and watched from afar as Taehyun's car drove our of sight.

[nagisasstunningpersonality]

Retranslation and Analysis of That Fight Scene

So firstly, I just want to say the subs are not bad and convey the general meaning very well, in a way that sounds natural in English. That being said, there's always some things that get lost in literal translation, and I really want to demonstrate how much depth the Japanese in this scene actually has for Karma and Nagisa's characters.

Basically the TLDR point here is that this fight is very much not about Korosensei. This is completely platonic, I promise I resisted making any shippy points.

Karma: Hey, Nagisa kun, aren't you getting extremely carried away?

Nagisa: Eh? (definitely surprised and bewildered)

Karma: The number one strongest assassin in Class E is Nagisa kun, isn't it? (uses yo here, which suggests confidence in the statement). Are you (very directly yourself, your own thoughts) wanting to quit assassination? Let's think about the talentless others who are desperately trying their hardest to kill him. When you put it like that, it's like a woman who 'has it' telling the ugly ones that they should honestly quit being so desperate to get a boyfriend, that kind of feeling?"

So some interesting analysis here is that Karma says "zuibun", or extremely, when the original translation is "a tad". The translation feels more natural in English, however it kind of makes me feel that Karma's trying to make more of a point. Nagisa has the right to be making suggestions and stepping up, but he's gone so far this time it's crossed a line.

I think 才能がないなり (talentless, saino ga nai nari) is also very interesting. Talent is the best translation, but if you look at the kanji very literally, there's "genius" and "ability". This specific word choice more implies that the other assassins are good, but Nagisa's just another level. Japanese grammar is confusing at best, but essentially 'nari' means become. So you take this as kind of like 'students who couldn't develop genius ability'.

The repetition of 'desperate' is also pretty interesting, linking the examples together better. It emphasises the point that they're kind of at a loss with. He also doesn't directly say attractive woman, he says "motteiru onna", which essentially means the same, but is literally "a woman who has (no object given but essentially 'it'). This more directly reflects to what he's saying about Nagisa, he HAS talent, this unspecified natural quality that makes him better than everyone else without trying.

There's also a lot more rhetorical questions in the Japanese, which got combined into single sentences in the English. The "let's think" thing is very literally what he says, like he's wanting Nagisa to actually consider his thoughts for himself.

Nagisa's original argument and intention may have been about Korosensei. Karma may be genuinely opposed to saving Korosensei. But that isn't the point of Karma's argument at all, he's making this about Nagisa because he's reached a limit with the both of them.

In order to spare you, more under the cut.

Nagisa: T-the aim wasn't... Above all, for assassination, your understanding is always better than mine

Karma: Saying that directly (take with slight pinch of salt - he could have also said "fixing your statement") is irritating. In reality, isn't it that you yourself are the most powerful, and you can't comprehend the feelings of weak humans?

Nagisa: That's wrong (also using affirmative yo here)! That's not what I said! These are my true feelings! Do you hate Korosensei? We went to see a movie together with him, didn't we have a variety of great times?!"

Karma: That's why, that octopus did his best to come and make a fun classroom every time, and didn't give up like Nagisa. Without bloodlust, this classroom wouldn't have been built. Can't you understand the effort?! It's not just your body, are you still a fresh elementary school student?

One thing to note here is that Nagisa isn't actually finishing his sentences. You can absolutely tell what he means because Japanese makes sense like that, but he's still dropping words. Or when he does say a full sentence, they're very short statements. He is desperate here, trying to prove a point he can't actually voice into words correctly.

The context here is that this is before we know their full backstory. Nagisa admired Karma, and he can't quite say it right yet. He thinks they're on different stages still, and Karma is frustrated because Nagisa doesn't see the point.

Karma, after all, does have this inhuman image of Nagisa in his head from years ago. The image of Nagisa looking like some kind of snake demon as he kills Karma in his sleep. He genuinely still, here, believes that Nagisa is purposely hiding this. That's why he keeps putting words into Nagisa's mouth. He's also cutting him off at points, not listening at all to what he's truly saying.

At the same time, Karma starts talking down to him. Instead of saying 'no' (how you'd end a sentence to a friend), he starts using 'kai', which is condescending and how you'd speak to a child. There's an argument here to be made for Karma doing this as a kind of defence mechanism too, but that's very complicated. At this point he really is just trying to get to him.

They are not arguing about killing Korosensei, not at all.

Karma: Huh?

Nagisa: *does the creepy eye thing*

Karma: Eh? What are those eyes? You with the social standing of a tiny female animal, are you defying a human?

Nagisa: I was just...

Karma: If you have a complaint, how about saying it after you win a fight for once? It's aimed at me, so come on. C'mon. C'mon. C'mon!

This is actually one of the most significant changes to the original.

This is the thing, Karma was never calling Nagisa a tiny mouse of whatever, he was just comparing him to one. Because he knows very clearly that Nagisa isn't like that. He sees that look in his eyes and it prompts him, in his frustration, to finally try and bring it out of Nagisa. He's trying to prove a point.

But then Nagisa stops himself. He lets go of his bloodlust for a moment, defaulting to Nagisa as we know and love him, literally turning his head away from Karma.

But Karma's too far gone at this point, he's dragged stuff up his past feelings about Nagisa, the ones he's been hiding for a year to be tentative friends with him, and now he can't let them go. He needs to see Nagisa's darker side plainly, no matter what that means.

It's also important that he says "it's aimed at me". I think this is a little deeper than literal. I think what he's implying here is this entire thing is somehow aimed at him, like Nagisa's trying to strip everything away just for his own perspective.

Obviously at this point Nagisa snaps and chokes him.

Nagisa internal thoughts: Even I...

Nagisa: I'm not going with half my feelings!

Karma: This guy...

This is also pretty significant. I'm surprised they cut the "even I" part because that says a lot about Nagisa's current feelings. He still doubts himself. He's aware that he's a pacifist, that he's got a lesser social standing, but Karma's put him into a position where he has to stand up for himself. And this is important to him.

Karma smiles when he says "this guy", getting ready to punch him. He feels like he's succeeded, in a way. Though at first he looked genuinely surprised Nagisa actually did it. There's a certain kind of satisfaction that finally he managed to bring Nagisa's 'true' self out.

Obviously at this point they get separated.

So what does all of this actually tell us? Well, pretty clearly here, this is just Karma's issues coming to light. But also a very helpful and useful moment for Nagisa's development as a character. Whether we agree with Karma using him as a punching bag or not, it genuinely does force Nagisa to get some self agency for once.

Karma and Nagisa will never be characters who sit around and talk honestly about their feelings. But even if they're using a whole situation to mask the fact that they very much are discussing their relationship here, it is still a significant moment where pretty much all the barriers they've been putting up against each other drop. They're just still not entirely on the same page through this scene.

Nagisa thinks Karma is just looking down on him and trying to pick a fight. He's baffled and confused as to why Karma feels so strongly against him.

Karma, on the other hand, thinks Nagisa is better than them all and is frustrated when he 'purposely' acts like he isn't. Karma still feels lied to from when they were kids. And he wants to expose it all, to get Nagisa to understand the position his skill puts him in. I honestly don't think Karma ever thought Nagisa was less than him at all, he just knew it would be an easy way to get a reaction. See how he flips tactic from "you're the best here" to "you're a tiny animal" when Nagisa just went into denial the first time?

I'm not going to go into the whole of their actual full fight, but there's some interesting points that reflect back on all of this.

Korosensei saying "your own answer is right in front of you", basically demonstrating that this entire thing really is just Karma and Nagisa

The entire point of the fight was to get one hit in with a knife, but Karma decides to just continuously beat Nagisa instead. Which yeah, is pretty ineffective. Pretty much proves again that it wasn't about just taking a victory.

Karma took Nagisa's hits on purpose, maybe it can be argued that this is trying to make things last longer, to get Nagisa to actually work for it.

Nagisa demands that he listens to what he has to say. And that's right, because Karma was cutting him off originally.

Karma is a super strategist right? And he was genuinely shocked that Nagisa didn't use his bloodlust to take him down. This is Karma. Sure, he's allowed to make mistakes. But this is odd for him. He was so caught up in his own perspective of Nagisa just having that skill that unfairly made him better. But Nagisa literally throws that skill out and beats Karma on his own level, pretty much disproving him. Maybe Nagisa has this special ability, but he's also worked just as hard as everyone else. He's trained to know what assassination means.

Beating Karma like this, on a 'human' level, was pretty much it. Karma stopped fighting back when he realised that, because he was disproven, and pretty much every wall he put up against Nagisa got literally choked out of him. Karma is already known as kind of an ass and a dirty fighter, you really think he'd worry about the others not accepting it if he stabbed Nagisa fair and square? If he cared that much about killing Korosensei, he would have just done it.

Their fight was never about Korosensei.

[coldshrugs]

praying that it waits for me

featuring: douglas friedman; supporting cast: alma green, verda, tina word count: 1.4k note: a @wayhavensummer entry for the 6/13 prompt first pride! doug's gay, i said so. (p.s. if you're closeted, i love you so much and it's okay not to come out. your reasons are your business and you're still part of this beautiful community)

It's a mindless thing, the way his attention searches for purchase on something, anything, in front of him. Something immediate. All the while those inescapable thoughts hover around the edge of his attempts at stimulation.

Douglas glances down at his phone. Back to the work computer. Clicks through a few links. Tries to read a stupid listacle. Back down when the phone vibrates—a text from Dad. He’ll think about that later. He swipes it off the screen as Alma and Verda come up from the lab.

They’re chattering away in a bubble of quiet laughter and relaxed touches as they hang their white coats on hooks by the station’s kitchen. There's something familial between them, an understanding that Doug’s never had with anyone.

He’s not sure if it’s something he can have. But he can hope.

It was months ago that Alma invited him in when he had nowhere else to go, even after he’d acted like an idiot. Longer still since she’d put herself between him and an attacker. Doug can’t describe how grateful he is that she cared. No one ever seems to care.

He thought he was in love, just for a moment. Thought he could finally ignore this clawing in his chest.

The part of himself he can’t face.

He buries the thought for now. They’re wandering over anyway.

“How’s it going, Doug?” Alma leans against his desk, words caught mid-giggle, and the bubble of warmth extends to him for a moment. The natural pull of her gravity is something he can’t resist—fully aware that this is not attraction—because he knows she’d care. She’d listen and tell him it’s okay.

He doesn’t say anything important. Only shrugs and offers a weak smile. “I’m okay. Ready to clock out.”

If they were alone, he could say more. Maybe even tell her the truth.

“I hear that.” She groans.

Eric pokes his head through the glass door, both daughters in tow, and Verda meets him with a quick kiss. Douglas tries not to stare. Takes a deep breath to hide the heat in his face.

There’s something else he can’t imagine having. Best not to even hope for that.

Goodbyes are said. Doug keeps his head down. It’s not long before one of the volunteers comes to relieve him at the front desk, and then he’s free for the night.

He wanders around town for a while. A coffee from Haley’s to savor at the docks; flipping through something new at the bookstore; finally, a single beer at the bar. Anything to avoid going home.

His phone buzzes for the first time since work. Dad again. Better check both texts now.

4:52 PM: Councilman Meyers and his family are coming to dinner tonight. Don’t embarrass me by being late.

Doug is way past late. That was the one that came through while he was at the front desk.

8:03 PM: You are, as always, a disappointment.

That sinking feeling in his gut both leads the way and slows his steps as he shuffles back to the north side of town. Back to the place he feels emptiest.

Doug enters as quietly as he can. There’s the clink of ice in a tumbler from the sitting room. Dad must be drowning his fury with whiskey.

“Goodnight,” Douglas mumbles from the foyer. No response.

His father doesn’t even bother to berate him to his face anymore. Doug doesn’t know what’s worse, being yelled at or being ignored.

In the safety of his room, the weight falls away. He can practice being himself.

He curls into bed with his laptop, fingers hovering over the keys with uncertainty. Every letter, every word typed into the search bar solidifies the truth of it a little more. The forums are always full of support, camaraderie, and understanding. More empathy than he's been shown in his life.

Would he receive the same love?

Doug showers before bed, wipes the fog off his mirror, and practices saying it.

"I'm gay," he whispers to himself. Then just a little louder. "I'm gay. I'm gay."

It’s not comfortable, but it’s his. Like new jeans, still too stiff when he sits, but they fit perfectly. Boots that might cause a blister for the first week, but will last for years.

He likes how it looks on him. Likes it enough to smile.

Maybe tomorrow will be different. Maybe he'll tell someone besides his reflection.

- - -

Tomorrow isn't different, nor is the next day. Or the one after that. But eventually, after stockpiling his courage, Doug decides it's time.

He stops at Haley’s to pick up a couple coffees. He doesn’t know Alma’s order, but everyone likes a flavored latte well enough, right? He wants to extend a friendly gesture. She’s the closest thing he’s had to a friend in a long time.

He catches her sliding out of her car in the station’s parking lot. His pounding heart protests as he moves around to the front of the car to make himself known.

It’s now or never.

“Alma,” he starts.

“Morning, Doug. Everything alright?” She heaves a messenger bag onto her shoulder and bumps the door shut with her hip. He looks for any signs of annoyance--a sharpened look, a pinched brow, a disappointed frown. Things he's used to seeing when he tries to talk to his father.

But she just looks a little confused, a little curious.

“I… I grabbed a coffee for you.” He awkwardly extends the drink, and she takes it after half a second’s hesitation.

“Thank you?”

Well, this is going spectacularly.

“Do you have a second? To talk?”

Her brows raise, curiosity shifting to something like worry, he thinks. It’s more concern than he’s gotten from either of his parents in a few years. She nods and gestures for him to follow her to the bench a few feet from the entrance.

“What’s up?”

Doug hasn’t given much thought to how to say this, only that he wants to say it. Wants someone to know him.

“There’s something I, um, want to tell you.” He sips his drink to steady his nerves. “Because you’re someone I can trust.”

He starts gathering the threads. How this started, when he knew, why he hasn’t told his parents.

Why he hasn’t told anyone.

Where he plans to go from here.

He knows the answers, but struggles to weave them into anything solid in his mind. He still has questions of his own, after all.

His sexuality isn’t something he can put into bullet points, no matter how much easier that’d make this conversation. So he sits, swaying on the edge of his truth, still afraid of becoming.

“Douglas? Are you okay?” Alma’s hand is on his arm, the lightest, warmest touch he can remember.

“I’m gay.”

The words fall out in a rush, and when he looks up, he’s met with soft eyes, a quiet smile. The hand squeezes his arm and pulls him in for a hug. His body, wiry and thin, sags against her small frame. A relieved laugh shakes through him.

“Thank you for sharing that with me,” she mumbles into his shoulder. “I’m so happy for you, Doug.”

The smile might as well be plastered to his face for the rest of the day. He feels lighter. Just like all the nights he's gone over it alone, this isn’t exactly what he’d call comfortable, but having someone accept him instead of dismissing him... well, it means the world.

- - -

Weeks pass. Work becomes a sanctuary, and Douglas springs to life in ways he never believed possible. He joins in their conversations, shares more of himself.

He comes out.

He invites others in.

Alma and Tina invite him to come along to the Pride festival in the big city, and even if the car ride is filled with a fuzzy, nervous haze for him, Doug sings—no, screams along with them to their favorite songs until it’s time to pile out of the car and join the crowds taking to the streets.

He’s allowed to lose himself in the electric pulse of energy, the colors, the overwhelming love of it all.

There are still questions to ask.

There is still progress to make.

Douglas shines with all the vibrant trepidation of the sun at dawn, making himself known, slowly, slowly as he ascends into what was once darkness. But he is certain this is where he belongs. For the first time, he feels like he’s part of something like a family.