#Originally posted on Ao3 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

linatheweirdooo · 10 days

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Don't hurt me

I wrote this fic on ao3 originally as a vent, but due to the positive reception I'm gonna post it here too :3 here's the link to it on ao3 if you wanna give it a kudos or reply or read any other stuff I wrote bc I don't plan on posting that much on here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56567776/chapters/143770822#workskin

TW; implied S/A (it's hurt/comfort but the subject is mentioned and implied)

It all happened so fast.

The sensation of water trickling down her synthetic skin, the studs of soap covering her body. It was a normal day, V just wanted to take a shower to clean herself off after an especially bloody hunt. Until she slipped.

Her entire frame collapsed onto the soapy ground, and her optics struggled to make out what was happening. Her processor overwhelmed with the sensory information from all fronts, it retorted to its only defense; to connect this situation to something familiar, something that has happened before.

In her disoriented state, instead of seeing the shower in her home, she saw a room in the old manor. And instead of feeling water slide down her hydrophobic shell, she felt hands. Hands that were distinctly human. Hands of the people whom she still can't remember the faces of, violating her. Touching her in places she shouldn't be touched, abusing parts of her body that are too sensitive for it.

This was stupid. She was a robot, she was a servant, why would she care if she was used? Wasn't that what she was made for? She shouldn't be whining.

Poisonous words from the person seemingly executing this echoed in her audio receptors. Even when it happened, V could bearly make out proper sentences.

V just yelled for them to get away, but her pleas proved vain when nothing changed.

Eventually, she succumbed to it, with only whimpers and muffled sobs with the occasional "stop" escaping her mouth.

N was out today, which only left Uzi and V in their home, but the purple worker couldn't help but feel slightly worried by how long her girlfriend had been in the shower, she was usually quick.

But Uzi brushed it off. Maybe she's doing some self care for herself. V was responsible, they've known each other for a while now. Long enough to build a life with her and N.

That was until she heard V's voice, muffled by the walls of the bathroom and too far away from Uzi to make out any actual words. But why would V be yelling? There's nobody else in the house other than her, right?

Uzi panicked, but took a deep breath. She needed to stop assuming the worst all the time. So she calmly (albiet still quickly) walked up to the bathroom she was in and knocked on the door.

"V? You okay?"

No reply. At least, no reply that was directed at Uzi. It was hard to tell what she was saying, which worried her. Uzi does know V has a... complicated past... but even after getting together, she didn't talk about it more than she needed to. What if she was stuck in some kind of flashback?

No. No jumping to the worst case scenario. She'll just ask her again.

"V? Did something happen? Can I come in?"

No reply again. This was now a cause for concern, so Uzi opened the door, only to see her girlfriend on the floor of the shower sobbing and whimpering.

Immediately she ran up to V. But the disassembly drone sat up and made eye contact with Uzi.

Fear. The thought that V was even capable of the feeling had never even crossed Uzi's mind, but the hollow yellow rings that replaced her eyes were all that stared back her girlfriend.

V looked sad, tired, and scared, and while she has shown more emotion in front of her partners than she would to anyone else, this was different. It was raw, it was unfiltered, and it was heartbreaking. Her wet hair covered parts of her face and water was still pouring over her. She looked helpless.

"V?" Was all Uzi got to say before the disassembly drone tensed up and her endoskeleton started to shake. Pants and suppressed sobs were all that escaped the drone in front of Uzi, and when she tried getting closer, V cowered, pushing herself on the floor into the corner of the shower.

With her knees to her chin, one cone-shaped arm wrapped around her legs and the other in a protective position, hiding most of her face, V looked...vulnerable.

Noticing her girlfriend's reaction, Uzi moved backward. V must've thought she was someone else. Why else would she be this scared at the sight of her own girlfriend? Did Uzi do something?

V seemed to relax slightly, but she still looked like a helpless, terrified kitten in the rain. It hurt Uzi to see someone so important to her look like that. Only a year or two ago, Uzi would be scared of V, stating what she would think would be her final words if she crossed by any disassembly drone. Never in a million years did she ever entertain the idea of dating not one, but TWO of them. And now one of them is terrified of her.

As Uzi prepared to speak again, she heard V mumble something mixed with a sob. Uzi's audio receptors may not be as advanced as her girlfriend's, but she could make out a few words.

"Don't hurt me" were those words. The rest were lost to the sounds of whimpering and water from the shower hitting the floor, but Uzi's heart sank at the thought of what those words implied.

"V... it's me, Uzi"

It was a softer tone and volume, and it seemed to have worked as V relaxed a little bit and lowered her hand. However, she was still shaking and her eyes were still hollow.

Uzi leaned down to get on V's level, in an attempt to make her more comfortable. "it'll be okay" she comforted. Maybe it won't be, she had no way to tell, but it may help calm V down. She grabbed the towel V had hung on the hanger. "Can I get you out of here?"

V, still shaking and her eyes still hollowed, nodded. She didn't say anything, as if her voice were being held under a lock and key.

Uzi got into the shower and turned the water off as V stared at her, with digital tears hanging from the eyes displayed on her screen.

The worker drone reached out a tender hand to her girlfriend's cheek, which she immediately leaned into and closed her eyes.

Now that she was closer to V, the stress lines under them were more obvious, and as she brought back her hand, Uzi draped the towel over V like a blanket.

"Do you want me to dry you off or do you want to do it yourself?" Uzi asked in a loving tone.

V took a bit to respond, but she then replaced her eyes with text that read "I'll do it, but stay here" before adding on a "please".

Uzi nodded in response, and V blinked away the text as Uzi used one hand to interlace her fingers with V's and the other supporting her other arm, lifting it up and allowing V's limp body to stand at its full 5'11" height.

V took the towel that was hastly draped over her and wrapped it around herself after she had dried off the plastic and silicone that shielded her insides from the elements.

Uzi looked back at V once she was done but before Uzi got the chance to marvel at how beautiful her girlfriend looked, V collapsed onto Uzi before clearing her throat and spoke.

"Can you..." She paused, as if she was incapable of asking Uzi to do anything for her.

"Can you brush my hair?"

Her voice was scratchy from the crying, and her voice was still shaking despite thinking all the tears were gone. Maybe it was from embarrassment. The strong and terrifying Serial designation V asking for help? She might as well be dead at that point.

"of course..." Uzi smiled before going onto her tip toes and closing the gap between the two drones in a short, soft, loving kiss.

~~~~~

Uzi walked out to let V change, and after a few minutes she saw her girlfriend in a baggy purple sweater collapse into a hug, burying her head into Uzi's shoulder.

"..'m sorry for scaring you" was all V said, partially muffled by Uzi's shirt.

But Uzi just hugged her back and smiled into V while running her fingers through her girlfriend's still partially wet hair. "Its okay, it's not your fault"

V must've believed her. Or didn't feel like arguing. Because she just hummed in reply before pulling away from Uzi and sitting on the edge of their bed infront of the worker.

As Uzi played with V's hair, she wondered what must've happened. Who did V think she was? Why was she scared? Was she stuck in some kind of memory? What was happening in it?

She didn't want to ask too much. V was already secretive about her past even after getting together. But if it was hurting someone she cares about so much, she should at least ask her if she's okay now.

So she asked.

"What happened in there?" And immedietly felt bad. What if she was forcing V to re-live this memory? Was she overstepping a boundary?

"Uh.." V stopped in her tracks, almost trying to remember what just happened before Uzi cut off her train of thought.

"N-not that you have to tell me! It's just-" Uzi sighed. "I just want to know if you're okay"

A moment of silence passed, but to Uzi it felt as though it was a thousand years, and to V, half a second.

V took a deep breath before adjusting her position so that her knees were to her chest and she rested her face on them. "No... you deserve to know. Just-" another beat passed. "- just... i-it's just hard to talk about... uh.."

It was hard to keep talking, trying to figure out which words to carefully string together to form a cohesive sentence. She shouldn't be nervous, but she hasn't really talked about this to anyone. Her mind just kept flashing back to moments she has tried so hard to forget every time she wants to attempt to tell the most important person in her life what happened.

"V? You okay? You don't have to talk, you know"

Shit. She zoned out.

V collected herself and rehearsed what she'd say in her head. Why was she overthinking? She can trust Uzi.

"I..." Her eyes trailed down, and Uzi moved to the left of V to get a better look at her.

"Th-this was like, a long time ago and-"

She stared at her hands, and watched as she fiddled with them to relieve a bit of her anxiety. Or was it fear? Nervousness? Even she can't pinpoint the feeling. But, she does know she needed to talk about it.

"When I was a- uhm... w-when I worked for the Elliot manor... there were some...bad people" she took a slightly shaky breath. Uzi could probably see that V wasn't okay. Maybe that's why she rested her hand on top of V's after she said that. And despite the topic at hand, and emotions racing through her head, V made eye contact with her girlfriend and smiled. Not the sadistic smile she sported in hunts, or the beaming one she wore when Uzi said that magic three-letter word after asking her out. It was soft. It was okay. She's safe with Uzi.

So she took another shaky breath, and continued. "They hurt me. And... the ways they did that, varied..."

Uzi's digital eyes displayed slanted lines, reminiscent of human eyebrows when someone was sad.

"A-and one of those ways... included parts of me that I still wonder why I have. Maybe it was to feed their sick fantasies" it was hard to talk about, but the lump in her artificial throat was smaller as she found herself getting more comfortable.

V opened her mouth so speak, but choked on a sob that she had been trying to suppress. Damn it. She can't be crying now. She supposed to be scary. What was she even doing right now? She was stupid to think she can be vulnerable. She's supposed to be big and scary.

While V spiraled in her thoughts, hypocritically degrading herself for things she did three seconds ago, she snapped out of it by a sudden weight, and arms wrapping around her.

It was Uzi hugging her.

Suddenly, she couldn't control it anymore, and V let out more sobs as she finally broke down. Uzi held her through all of it, she even moved in front of V to face her. And as V sobbed and cried into the crook of Uzi's neck, she wrapped her own arms around the worker, despretly shaking and clawing onto her to make sure Uzi will never leave her side.

Between V's slightly muffled sobs and sniffles, Uzi lifted her head slightly to plant a kiss on V's cheek and whispered comforting words into her audio receptors.

"I'm here now" "Its okay now" "im sorry", they all helped but sounded the same to V. Until Uzi said a particular phrase.

"You didn't deserve that"

What a joke. She absolutely did. Maybe she hadn't done anything bad when it happened but the things that were done to her was probably something whatever higher being looking down on her did to punish her ahead of time. Maybe they thought it would stop her from doing the horrible things she did later in her life as a disassembly drone. In reality V didn't deserve Uzi. Or even N. She doesn't deserve loving partners who care about her. She doesn't deserve the affection she received from them or any forgiveness that they gave her.

But V couldn't even muster the energy to say that. Uzi would probably tell her it was absurd to think that way. Maybe it was. It was hard for someone programmed to serve people to imagine those people may be bad.

At some point in her thoughts, V's sobs got reduced to just occasional hitches in her breath, and her digital tears were replaced with tired lines under golden eyes. And they were very visible to Uzi, who pulled away from the hug and was now holding V's larger hands that were slightly illuminated by the yellow triangles on them.

"Hey, it's getting late. Do you want to go to bed now?"

V blinked a few times and looked at Uzi, then to her own hands. Hands that were made to kill people like Uzi. But right now, hands that were being held by her. And she watched as Uzi's thumbs brushed along her palms.

"Yea. Maybe" V finally sighed, and leaned onto Uzi, who pushed her own weight towards her and hugged her harder.

An "I love you" escaped the purple drone as she rubbed soothing circles on her girlfriend's back. It almost made V start crying again.

She was fine. Everything's fine now. She'll never be hurt that way again. She's loved now.

She's loved now

V's voice shaky from the newly built up tears, she reciprocated the statement

"I love you, too, Uz"

It was quiet, muffled, half mumbled, but it was enough for Uzi to hear her and squeeze her girlfriend tighter.

They shuffled a bit while cuddling, and ended up in a position where Uzi was spooning V. There's a first time for everything, she guessed. But it wasn't that bad, being cradled by the one she loved the most.

Minus V's purring and occasional sniffle, it was relatively quiet. But, it was comfortable. Uzi subconsciously ran her fingers through V's hair as V listened attentively to the rhythm of Uzi's core and wrapped her tail around Uzi's leg. Getting used to how clingy and physically affectionate V was took a bit of time, especially since before dating, Uzi's only ever seen her murdering people, playing with their corpses like dolls only to animalisticly take a bite of her prey.

But it was nice. Paired with V's purring, Uzi really enjoyed cuddling with her, too.

It was a while before V broke the silence.

"You know... I never thought I'd ever tell anyone that experience, much less to a worker"

Uzi looked down at V in her arms, which caused V's complimentary eyes to look back at her.

"Not that it's a bad thing. I'm really glad I could finally talk to someone about it. I never thought I'd see myself this close to someone like you. You opened my eyes to a diffrent way of looking at things, and I'm forever grateful we met. I'm sorry I was such a dick at first."

Uzi's face softened at the remark before she leaned down to kiss V's hair

"Don't say that. You were scared. And you've changed" Uzi paused to cup V's face in her hands and lean in for another kiss, V holding the back of Uzi's head.

"I'm glad you trust me enough to talk to"

V didn't talk, but her smile and blush spoke a thousand words. Uzi just held V to her chest and continued playing with her hair.

It continued like that for a while, until V's "eyelids" grew heavy, and she eventually succumbed to her exhaustion.

Uzi didn't know how long it's been, and frankly she didn't care. That was until she heard footsteps walking into her room before she saw the unmistakable yellow headband of a disassembly drone.

"Hey Zi d-" N cut himself off as he saw V asleep and walked over to Uzi.

"Did something happen?" He asked Uzi in a hushed tone, careful not to wake the drone laying in his girlfriend's arms.

"...Yea. I don't know if she would let me say what happened, but..." the worker looked at the murder machine curled up in her arms, asleep, and smiled. "...she's fine now" Uzi replied, petting V's hair.

N's face shifted to a sympathetic smile as he sat on the edge of the bed and eyed V.

"I hope she is" was all he said before going behind Uzi and snuggled up with her, hugging her from behind before he too fell asleep.

Which left Uzi alone with her thoughts.

V was right, though. A few years ago Uzi's life was hell. It was hard to even avoid hurting herself. But she's so glad she didn't. Now instead of walking to her home after a shitty day at school to be ignored by her father, she walks home after another day of university to a home with her girlfriend and boyfriend, ready to tell them about her day and hear about theirs. Now she looks forward to life, as long as she has her two favourite people in it.

Eventually, Uzi also fell asleep, being hugged by N and V, and hugging the latter back.

#vuzi #glitch productions #md vuzi #murder drones v #v murder drones #murder drones uzi #uzi doorman #serial designation n #envuzi #nuziv #Envuzi is a much better name we should use it more #hurt/comfort #cuddling & snuggling #originally posted on ao3 #nuzi #just a lil bit #It's mainly vuzi tho

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sheepiemc · 11 months

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your touch (a craving)

part 1: thigh

From the moment he first met you, Diavolo knew you would be his undoing.

This exchange program was so important to him, to what he knew the Devildom could be, too important to jeopardize for any reason - especially not something as frivolous and fleeting as infatuation.

And yet here he was, hot under the collar because your clothed thigh was hovering dangerously close to his clothed thigh on your shared bus seat.

The cacophony of chaos from the other riders couldn't distract him from just how close to him you were sitting. He was hyperfocused on every bump and jostle that caused you to get ever closer to him.

How did he get to this precarious situation?

One might say it was his own damn fault.

Another one of “the prince's whims”, you had shown him (and the rest of the student council) a movie from the human world that featured a school bus transporting students on a field trip so obviously, Diavolo had to experience it for himself. This trip was just for the student council to test how feasible it would be to take all the students at RAD on a field trip.

There was an argument getting on the bus about who would get to sit next to you and for how long. Lucifer settled the argument when horns and wings and tails came out, determining if they couldn't decide peacefully amongst themselves, no one would get to sit with you.

So Diavolo watched you at the back of the bus, surrounded on all sides by the Avatars of Sin, without anyone actually sharing the bench with you. Lucifer sat on the bench behind Diavolo, barely contained annoyance masked behind a polite smile. Even Barbados, his most trusted advisor and confidant, sat on the bench across the aisle from the prince, ever-present unreadable smile on his lips. Diavolo clenched his fist in the empty space next to him.

Facing forward throughout the bus ride, but still hearing the commotion surrounding you, Diavolo imagined what it would be like for him to be just another voice in the crowd. Through the din, he could also hear Lucifer droning about what they would do once they got to their destination, though he wasn't listening very closely. Leave it to the Avatar of Pride to have a plan for everything.

After a while of this, something compelled him to turn around; a feeling he couldn't quite place. When he looked back over his shoulder, he saw you laughing, hard. Your eyes met his across the many seats between you and you smiled at him so genuinely. His eyes widened, almost imperceptibly, and he felt his heart rate spike. He smiled warmly at you in return then turned back around in his seat. How could something so small make him so giddy, so easily? It was almost laughable.

At their destination, Diavolo could hardly focus on anything Lucifer was saying as they went around on their tour. It was decided that the logistics of a field trip for the entire student body just weren't adding up (which even Diavolo expected). Still, the trip was a success in his eyes.

Especially when you approached him on the empty bus and asked if you could sit on the same bench as him for the entire ride back. Of course, you didn't realize how big of a deal what you asked really was. How could you? You didn't know the intricacies and etiquette when it came to interacting with demonic royalty. Still, he was so shocked by your boldness. He couldn't remember if he even said anything, but you smiled that same inviting smile and took the seat next to him - so he must've said yes.

Now here he was, concentrating so hard on not freaking out every time a bump in the road knocks his and your knees together. Sitting there, so close, he wondered if you would notice if he just…

"What do you think, Diavolo?" You leaned in closer to him, your thigh now fully touching his, your words just loud enough for only him to hear. His eyes snapped to attention, searching yours. The conversation continued around him but his attention was solely on you. That smile, just as warm as ever, kind eyes inviting him to fall right in and never come out again.

He blinked and shook his head, laughing to himself. “I must admit, MC. I have no idea about what you all have been discussing this entire time.” Your smile widened and Diavolo had to look away - out of embarrassment or because your smile was just that radiant, he wasn't even sure.

You didn’t ask why he wasn’t paying attention. Could you see right through him? You explained the discourse and how you felt about it before you started to talk about something else entirely and no one else was on the bus but the two of you. Your thigh was pressed up against his the whole rest of the way back and the vice grip he had on his opposite knee made his hand sore the following day.

[next]

#obey me shall we date #obey me fanfic #obey me diavolo #diavolo x reader #diavolo x mc #i love doing things in parts bc i love to get attention 😌#originally posted on ao3 #like a few hours ago lmao #if you saw what i originally called it no u didnt #OP #fic

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shadow-bringer-ao3 · 2 months

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How to Save the World by Hatake Kakashi

It all starts when, for the first time since he lost his team, Hatake Kakashi shows up precisely on time for a meeting. The Sandaime Hokage, who has grown used to his current most skilled shinobi being an upwards of three hours late most days, had not actually been prepared for Kakashi to slip through his window at exactly seven, landing without a sound just inside the room before wandering over to his desk.

He looks more tired than usual, Hiruzen notes, not even making an attempt to hide his weariness. It bodes ill, he thinks. Last time Kakashi had looked like this, he had taken so many S-rank missions back to back that Hiruzen had had to put him on guard duty to get him to rest. This doesn’t feel quite the same but he can’t help but think it’s no better.

“Hokage-sama,” Kakashi greets.

“You’re early,” is all Hiruzen can think to say for a moment. Kakashi hums, rolling his shoulders in the approximation of a shrug.

“I had a nightmare,” Kakashi says lightly. Hiruzen blinks, surprised that the man would be so candid— “You see, the moon came down and it told me ‘Kakashi, one day you’ll be the Rokudaime Hokage’ and then it started dancing with Uchiha Madara except Madara had Hashirama-sama’s face on his chest.” Ah. Well, that kind of excuse is certainly more in line with how Kakashi usually acts even if it makes Hiruzen more concerned for how the man’s mind works.

“Is that so.” Hiruzen carefully makes sure his voice is nowhere near questioning. Kakashi nods gamely anyway, his visible eye curling into a smile that gives Hiruzen a bad feeling.

“Mhm but that’s not all the moon told me,” Kakashi says cheerfully.

When it’s clear his shinobi is expecting some sort of response, Hiruzen responds blandly with, “how intriguing.” Kakashi leans forward conspiratorially and, despite himself, Hiruzen copies the movement.

“It also told me…” Kakashi pauses dramatically before saying, “that I must go soul-searching.” Hiruzen blinks at the Hatake before mechanically dropping his blank gaze to the hitai-ate slid across his desk. Hiruzen looks slowly back up at Kakashi. For the first time since the war, Hiruzen can see both of the boy’s eyes.

“Soul-searching,” he echoes. He’s fairly sure Hatake Kakashi, perhaps his best ANBU and the most unlucky shinobi currently in the village, just quit. Something which is actually illegal, despite his leniency towards Tsunade.

“I’m glad you understand!” Kakashi chirps. Chirps. What.

“What.” Kakashi just beams at him and… vanishes in a swirl of air? Hiruzen stares at where the shinobi was and then realizes that, before anything else, he’s going to have to find a new prospective sensei for the new prospective Team 7. He’s also going to have to fill out the paperwork to officially discharge Kakashi from ANBU. He’s also got to decide if he’s going to list Kakashi as a rogue-nin or hand wave his absence like he did Tsunade’s.

“Fuck.” He says emphatically and gets busy trying to figure out who to assign Team 7 to. Ebisu doesn’t have a team but he’s never been the sort Hiruzen really wants in charge of teaching the next generation of shinobi, Genma doesn’t have a team but he’s as liable to throw the brats headlong into the Forest of Death as he is to actually teach them, Tenzo is strong and worked with Kakashi long enough to understand the basics of the sharingan but Hiruzen would be loathe to lose another skilled ANBU…

Kisame is being followed. Or Itachi is but it amounts to the same thing. Itachi’s noticed it as well, his sharingan active and his eyes flicking to take in the forest around them. There are very few people out there that could follow around the two of them without getting caught and none who would have a reason to as opposed to attacking or running.

Maybe they want to join the Akatsuki? Although if they think this is the way to make a good first impression, Kisame is pretty sure they don’t want them. Of course, there’s not really any missing-nin listed in any of Bingo Books that are skilled enough to be considered for the Akatsuki anyway.

Of course, Kisame thinks blandly when their stalker finally wanders into sight, nose buried in a book, Hatake Kakashi is not a missing-nin by any measure and he’s definitely at the skill level of an Akatsuki prospect. Kisame and Itachi do not exchange a glance because they’re more professional than that but the urge is there.

“Oh hello Hoshigaki-san, Itachi-kun,” Hatake greets pleasantly, eyes curling into crescents. And that’s a surprise too— last Kisame knew, the Konoha shinobi wore his hitai-ate over his scarred eye. Although, now that Kisame is looking for it, he can’t actually see any hitai-ate.

“…Hatake-san,” Kisame returns because Hatake was polite. Itachi appears to have gone catatonic. In light of this, Kisame finds himself asking “what are you doing here?”

“Oh, you know,” Hatake says happily, “soul-searching.”

“Soul-searching,” Kisame echoes. The situation is not making any more sense as time goes on.

“Mhm,” Hatake hums, attention back on his book. Kisame finally gives into the urge to glance at his partner but Itachi is placidly watching Hatake and doesn’t seem to notice Kisame’s questioning look.

“…Kakashi-taichou?” Itachi finally inquires after a long pause. The honorific is a little concerning since Itachi hasn’t been a Konoha shinobi for a long time now but Kisame’s willing to give him the benefit of the doubt considering how strange this interaction has been.

“Say, Itachi,” Hatake starts, eyes still glued to his book, “what would you do if the moon was evil?” Okay, what the fuck. That’s not a normal question. Itachi’s brow furrows but Kisame genuinely can’t tell if it’s because he’s pondering his answer or because Hatake just asked something insane. Sage, what if Konoha shinobi are just like this? Kisame can’t deal with Itachi asking him his opinion on evil moons or— or lonely suns or whatever.

“I would destroy it,” Itachi says eventually. Kisame wonders if his partner is being serious or if this is some sort of weird code. At this point, he’d almost prefer it if his partner was a traitor and this was all some weird code that would make sense at a later time. Hatake hums again.

“If you say so,” the weird man says cheerily before wandering into the forest with his nose still buried in his book.

“What the fuck.” Itachi, ever in Big Brother Mode, gives him a Look for the swear.

Maybe this whole day has been a fever dream…

Kakashi is in Kamui. Obito has no idea how long Kakashi has been in Kamui but there he is, relaxing against a block, reading Icha Icha. He does not, Obito notices, have a hitai-ate. He also doesn’t have his father’s tanto and Obito honestly can’t remember a time Kakashi was without that tanto when outside Konoha. Maybe he assumed Kamui is safe? He would have no reason to think otherwise— he would have had to get through with Obito’s mangekyo and as far as he knows, Obito is dead.

Although, as far as Obito knew, Kakashi didn’t have access to the mangekyo. That must have changed, clearly, but he doesn’t know when or how and Obito— well, Obito has known everything about Kakashi these past years. Every mission, every failed genin team, every visit to the Memorial Stone. He hasn’t checked up on Kakashi in three days. What could have possible happened in three days to have Kakashi gain access to the mangekyo, learn to warp into kamui, and apparently retire. Or go rogue or something.

“You know,” Kakashi muses apropos nothing, “I always wondered what I would have done if I had a second chance. Save Minato-sensei, save Kushina-nee, save my father?” Kakashi flips a page in his book. “Save you, Obito?” Obito stills, every tiny fidget vanishing as his focus narrows down to Kakashi and the space between them. “I suppose it’s a moot point. I’m now, not then. There’s nothing I can do to change those events in this time, no jutsu I can use, no sacrifice I can make. The past is gone, the dead are dead. And there’s nothing either of us can do about it.” Obito debates leaving Kakashi here, talking to empty space, snuffing out whatever tiny hope his former teammate thinks he found. He debates going down there, playing Tobi or Madara or just some random eye-stealing shinobi. He debates for one moment killing Kakashi. He leaps down to land in front of him but Kakashi doesn’t so much as glance up, even though he’s clearly not reading any more. If he ever was.

“How?” He asks. Kakashi fingers the edge of Icha Icha for a moment before he snaps the book closed and slides it away, finally looking up at Obito.

“Does it matter?” Kakashi asks. Obito stares at him, thinks about his hand through Rin’s chest. He doesn’t kill Kakashi.

“Where’s your hitai-ate?” Kakashi blinks at him, apparently not expecting that question. He smiles or at least the way his eyes curve implies he does.

“I turned it in. I’m soul-searching.” Obito stares flatly, disbelieving.

“And, what, the Hokage just let you go?” Kakashi beams. Really truly beams. And it doesn’t look fake. Played up, yes, teasing, absolutely, but there’s no sardonic edge to it, no sense that it’s empty. Three days. Three days and Kakashi might as well be a different man.

“Oh, he didn’t really have much of a choice. He can’t follow me into Kamui, after all.” Kakashi sends an appreciative look around like Kamui, blocky and unending and just generally creepy, is a place to like.

“Why are you here? Why are you doing all this?” Obito asks, a note of frustration curling out from his careful control, infecting his voice and demeanor. Kakashi had always been able to drag his less savory emotions to the forefront. Irritation, annoyance, anger. Hate.

“Because you’re stuck in the past,” Kakashi says simply. “You’re looking back. For once, I’m looking forward.” Obito closes the gap between them in a moment, wrenching Kakashi up by the front of his flack jacket and slamming him back into the wall behind him.

“I am creating a future that not even you can ruin,” Obito snarls. “I’m dragging these violent, unforgivable nations to peace kicking and screaming.” Kakashi reaches out and Obito expect to feel a hand at his throat or cheek but no— Kakashi’s fingertips just hit his mask, curling lightly along it’s edge. He had forgotten he was wearing it.

“It won’t bring her back,” Kakashi says softly. “It won’t bring any of them back. An illusion is just an illusion and it will never be the same.” There’s a half-second of warning, Kakashi’s chakra spiking as the air warps, and then he’s gone, no hint of him having ever been there at all beyond the fast-fading smell of dog.

Orochimaru is in his lab when the Hatake brat steps in. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say ANBU Inu steps in. There’s no sign of Hatake’s perpetual slouch or his wandering attention, just the smooth movements and sharp focus of ANBU. Orochimaru sets down the vial he had only just picked up and keeps one careful eye on Hatake. Hatake has always been skilled, a dangerous opponent even to the Sannin, but he had always been weaker. Now, Orochimaru isn’t so sure. His chakra is smothered to just the barest hint of ozone but there is a difference in the way he holds himself, a confidence in his movements, that puts Orochimaru on edge.

The sharingan, he realizes suddenly. It no longer stands out as distinctly other. Hatake has somehow managed to integrate it into his chakra system. It probably doesn’t take nearly as much chakra as it used to, though Hatake is still keeping his eye closed. There’s no hitai-ate covering it. How… curious.

“Was there something you wanted?” Orochimaru asks. Hatake stops his circling between Orochimaru and the door. He looks far more wolf-like than he usually allows himself to.

“I’m giving you warning,” Kakashi says, “because you were once friends with people close to me.” Sakumo, Orochimaru thinks, though he hadn’t know the younger Hatake was aware his father once ran with the Sannin. “Leave Uchiha Sasuke alone,” Kakashi continues, just the hint of a growl in his voice, “or I’ll tear your throat out with my teeth.”

“Oh?” Orochimaru says dangerously, shifting forward in a clear threat. Hatake doesn’t blink, doesn’t shrink back, doesn’t tremble. There’s no fear scent in the air. “And what, pray tell, would you know about that?” Hatake regards him coldly.

“I’ll only say it once more. Leave Uchiha Sasuke out of your plans. If you want a sharingan so bad, take it up with Danzo.” Hatake is gone in the next moment, vanished into the air with no hint of a shunshin or other jutsu. Just the barest hint of red.

(Zetsu dies screaming.)

The door that blocks the entrance to the Akatsuki hideout scrapes open. This would be less noticeable if everyone in the Akatsuki wasn’t already gathered in the meeting room. Everyone stops and turns almost as one, waiting to see what idiot decided to waltz into their lair. (Konan and Pein don’t appreciate it when Deidara calls it a lair but he calls it like he sees it, un.)

When the idiot is revealed to be Hatake Kakashi, of all people, the air turns just a hair more panicky. The sound of Kisame’s forehead meeting the table is loud in the quiet. Hatake wanders further in, nose buried in a book (is that porn?!), and drops into the seat Zetsu once used without a word. It was shock that stilled everyone’s hand initially but now no one makes a move because if they can avoid a fight with Hatake Kakashi, man of a thousand justsu, why the fuck wouldn’t they? He couldn’t beat them all but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t do some serious damage before he died. It is, surprisingly, Itachi that speaks up first.

“Why are you here, Kakashi-taichou?” He asks politely.

“I’m terrorizing your boss into having morals again,” Hatake informs. He flips a page in his book. Itachi placidly stops Kisame from slamming his head against the table again.

“What the fuck?” Deidara puts out there. Because honestly, what the fuck.

“Don’t mind me,” Hatake says cheerfully. He flips a page in his book. Deidara’s not sure he’s actually reading.

“…I have morals,” Pein says after a long moment. Hatake hums and flips another page in his book. He doesn’t respond. After a moment, Konan clears her throat.

“If you don’t leave, we are going to have to kill you, Hatake-san.” Finally, Hatake looks up, book snapping shut in his hold. His one open eye scans over them all and Deidara scowls when it gets to him. Hatake might not be an Uchiha but everyone knows he has one of their eyes. Deidara hates the stupid sharingan.

“Maa, that’s not very nice,” Hatake says lightly. “I’m really only here to visit an old friend.”

“Who the fuck is friends with you?” Hidan snaps. “Fucking Itachi?!” Hatake blinks. It’s slow and lazy like. Deidara wonders if the guy thinks they’re threats at all.

“No,” he says. He does not elaborate. After a moment he opens his book back up. There’s only a second before the air twists and an arm appears to drag Hatake away into thin air. They all stare at the now empty seat. Kisume attempts to brain himself again, once more stopped by Itachi.

“What the fuck?” Deidara says again because it really cannot be said enough. Seriously, Konoha nin are the worst.

“What are you doing?” Obito snarls. He’s got Kakashi jammed up against a cube in Kamui again though considering the stupid genius asshole managed to escape last time he doesn’t figure he’ll be overly successful at keeping him here this time. He should just stab him. Leave him to die. Obito’s going to get a better version of him and Rin in the Infinite Tsukuyomi anyway, what’s the point of leaving him alive if he’s being more trouble than he’s worth?

“Weren’t you listening?” Kakashi asks innocently. “I’m terrorizing you into having morals again. I can’t punch you and make you good or talk you into being better or threaten to take away your right to bones or anything so this is the best I can do.” The worst part about it, Obito thinks, the worst part is that he sounds so genuine while saying such insane shit.

“Kakashi.” Obito stops because he’s not entirely sure how he should respond to something like that. “Kakashi, literally what the fuck.”

“What’s the point of putting the entire world under an illusion, anyway? Sure. everyone would get their perfect little worlds but they would all starve to death,” Kakashi says. Obito stares at him.

“What.”

“If everyone was in an illusion,” Kakashi says patiently, “how would they eat? Or drink, actually? Or have kids? Everyone would just die.”

“That— no, they— this fucking world sucks, anyway, and if everyone dies happy, what does it matter?!” Kakashi frowns at him. He looks disappointed which is entirely unfair. Kakashi should hate him or be angry with him but he just looks— tired. Disappointed. Sad but in a resigned kind of way. It’s not— even now, it’s not the empty exhaustion that’s plagued him since Obito killed Minato-sensei and Kushina-nee (oh god, he killed them, they were family and he killed them).

“It’s not peace if everyone’s dead,” Kakashi said. “And illusions aren’t real. That happiness isn’t real. Even the sharingan can’t trick an entire world to believe an entirely fake lifetime. It won’t work, Obito. If you don’t want to come back to Konoha, that’s fine, I’ll stay with you. If you want to work towards peace, that’s fine. But starting a war where the end result is an entire dead planet is not the way to get it.” Obito stares at Kakashi. Kakashi, who would leave Konoha for him even though Konoha is everything to him. Kakashi, who was always the smartest one on their team. Kakashi, who agrees that things should be better. Kakashi, who he can’t bring himself to kill. Kakashi, who he knows is right.

Obito runs.

Something very strange is happening in the world right now. Jiraiya has feelers out in just about every nation. He’s probably the most knowledgeable spymaster in the world. The things he knows go as follows:

One: Hatake Kakashi, his grand-student, has left Konohagakure in a not dissimilar way to how Tsunade left Konoha. This makes less than zero sense because Kakashi adores Konoha. It’s all the kid has left. Jiraiya lost everything and left. Kakashi lost everything and he sold his soul to Konoha. Kakashi is obsessive to the point of concern and there is no earthly reason Jiraiya can possibly come up with that explains why Kakashi is not still at Konoha.

Two: something happened with the Akatsuki. They’ve been exceedingly quiet lately, barely doing more than the absolute minimun required to keep a terrorist organizaion afloat. Nagato and Konan have redoubled their presence in Amegakure which feels a little like a step in the right direction, if Jiraiya’s being honest. There’s not been a whisper about the Akatsuki’s plans regarding the bijuu.

Three: something happened over at Mountains’ Graveyard. Let him rephrase. Something exploded over at Mountains’ Graveyard. It had to have been a big explosion as well because that’s an area that’s pretty universally avoided.

Four: Kiri has gone abruptly silent. The only thing Jiraiya’s managed to get out of that is that the Mizukage apparently had a complete change in personality.

Other things have happened as well, a cascade effect of change across every nation. Kakashi seems to be at the center of a good quarter of things he comes across. Nothing that makes sense. Most of the rest of it seems tied to the Akatsuki’s missing presence or the missions they are taking or it’s tied to the absolute nothing coming in and out of Kiri.

Something very strange is happening in the world. Jiraiya just hopes it’s a good strange.

Tsunade opens the door to the Hatake brat and a guy in an Akatsuki cloak and an orange mask. Tsunade slams the door shut. Shizune is gone, dealing with their last matters in town before they leave. Tsunade is not drunk. She knows this. She knows intimately every stage of drunkenness and how it affects her. Tsunade is not drunk. She opens the door. Hatake and the Akatsuki guy are still there.

“What the fuck do you want?” She demands.

“How do you feel about healing—” Tsunade slams the door in their faces. When she turns around to go out the window, they’re in the middle of the room. “Rude,” Hatake says, like he didn’t just teleport into her hotel room uninvited. “I know you don’t like blood and all but I’m trying to stop the end of the world, here.” Tsunade stares at them. She thinks for a moment about the effects of repeated head trauma and then about the average injuries a shinobi usually gets in a year. She decides that Kakashi has no brain left and that she does not want any part in this, for a variety of reasons.

“Get out of my room,” she says.

“It’s not technically your room,” Hatake tries.

“Out,” Tsunade interrupts loudly. Hatake sighs and looks like a kicked puppy but does grab his oddly silent companion by the elbow and drag them past her, out the door.

“I told you she wouldn’t help,” the Akatsuki guy says with a surprisingly low voice before Tsunade slams the door shut behind them. She waits until she’s sure they’re gone before opening the door and heading down towards where she knows Shizune will be waiting. She’ll deal with whatever the fuck that was exactly never.

It started with Hatake Kakashi showing up on time. Hiruzen will not budge on that. He’s half convinced he somehow ended up in an alternate universe where everything is just a little weird and that was the first sign. It started with Kakashi. It continued with Jiraiya coming back, looking uneasy and hesitantly hopeful with news that apparently bad things are just. Resolving themselves. It continued with Team 7 (under Gekko Hayate) starting to act just plain weird. It continued with Danzo’s death— apparently of natural causes but everyone has their doubts, of course. It continued with Team 7’s disappearance and Gekko’s miraculous recovery of his lifetime illness. Gekko himself seems entirely uncertain on both of these topics. It continued with Tsunade’s return and subsequent hostile takeover of the hospital, complaining about ‘stupid silver-haired brats’ and ‘creepy fucking undead Uchihas’ and ‘that asshole is blackmailing and bribing me, the little shit’ all the while. Hiruzen decides he will not deal with this any longer. He resigns.

Shikako is pigeonholed into becoming Hokage. He makes sure that it is everyone's problem.

Obito will admit, he was distracted. He didn’t see the attack coming. Then again, who the fuck would expect a tiny red and pink arrow of a genin to come flying out of the woods at speeds even the sharingan can’t keep up with just to put a tiny fist through your chest? No one, that’s who.

Obito still gasps awake, sorer than he has been in years, a backlog of guilt choking him up. He is surrounded. Kakashi is behind and half under him, apparently acting as his not-death-bed, and the pink-haired menace that killed him in the first place is disturbingly close to his face, staring at him intensely. Sasuke is on his left and Naruto on his right and he feels a little like he might die a second (third?) time.

“What the fuck?” Obito half-sobs with feeling.

“It’s better not to question it,” Kakashi recommends sagely.

(“Hey so are we ever going back to Konoha?” Naruto asks a week later after Obito has cried enough tears to last at least seven lifetimes and feels a little more like a human being. The whole group turns to him. Obito doesn’t particularly want to return to Konoha. He’s still sorting through the mess of emotions Madara manipulated him into having in his head but he knows that Konoha definitely isn’t his home any more, if it ever was. It’s hurt him too much and he’s hurt it too much. Sakura, little pink-haired she-devil that she is, shrugs.

“Nah,” she says after a moment. And that, apparently, is the end of that.)

#nart fic #How to Save the World by Hatake Kakashi #originally posted on ao3 #kakaobi #timetravel #hatake kakashi #uchiha obito #various others #au

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chocopbwafer · 2 years

Text

[ general dating headcanons with fem!human!reader ]

Pairing : [m!voltron!chars x fem!reader]

TW? : None

Word Amount : 836

Originally Posted On : AO3

When Shiro gets stressed out he just likes to rest his head In your lap, or In the crook of your neck while he wraps his arms around your waist.

He finds your presence very comforting.

When you're worried or stressed out, he catches on Immediately.

Will give you a glass of your favorite beverage, maybe some snacks and hold you close to him, and you just bury your head In his chest enjoying the comfort.

"Want to talk about It?"

If you don't want to, then he'll respect that, he'll just try to keep whatever's bothering you off your mind.

If you do want to though, he'll definitely listen to whatever you want to vent about.

He's been In a few past relationships so he's decent In experience

He gives great hugs.

(Sometimes he likes to be the little spoon.)

Idk why but he gives me the vibe of somebody who can cook good waffles

He likes to kiss the bridge of your nose.

If you have freckles then he's definitely kissing each one he can find.

Kiss his forehead while playing with his hair If you want him to melt Into a puddle

(♡)

You and Hunk have your own little cooking class with each other.

One part of you Is paying attention to what he's saying while he's cooking with you and the other part Is just smiling cause he's smiling too and his happiness Is so contagious???

He's been on a few dates before but this would be his first time In a serious relationship so he's kinda awkward at first

He eventually warms up and gets closer to you

He's a really good singer, like, you come home one evening and just hear him In the shower singing his lungs away

If you've had a nightmare he'll hum and sing to you while holding you close, and he sounds so nice you end up dozing off.

Kiss his cheeks and he's just gonna grin at you like a goof

(♡)

Self-care for Lance Is a very big deal, and If he notices that you're not taking time out to care for yourself he's putting that to a whole stop.

Ask him for face masks and moisturizers cause the boy stays stocked up

He'll definitely wash and braid your hair (If you let him that Is!)

Pampers you with love and affection every chance he can

He's clingy and needs kisses every five seconds

"Lance, I JUST kissed you"

"I want another one though!"

Despite his constant flirting he actually has never been In a relationship, let alone a date

So when he asks you out and you accept he's kinda confused

"Now what?"

Very sweet boyfriend

He likes to nuzzle his head Into your neck and sneak a peck or two there.

His jaw Is kinda ticklish but he certainly won't complain if you pepper a few kisses there

(♡)

Both you and Shiro are the only ones that can calm Keith down when he's agitated.

Just pull him aside and talk to him for a little bit

He'll calm down

Eventually

He's never been In a relationship before and he's kinda emotionally constipated so the whole dating and love thing Is kinda awkward for him

So when he asks you out, flowers In hand, his head averted and cheeks a dusty pink you already know he didn't do It on his own

Shiro, Hunk and Pidge helped him out

Coran helped too, but Keith was pretty sure the courting methods he was talking about probably only worked on Altean women

Goes to Shiro for advice occasionally

He does not understand flirting

He'll just look at you confused and then like, ten hours later he's like "oh"

He really likes to hold your hands, and just idly rub along the lines of your palms

He likes to kiss your knuckles

His shoulders are kinda ticklish

(♡)

Sometimes you'll tag along behind Coran when he makes improvements on the castle-ship.

While you help him with chores and whatnot he might talk about what Altea was like

He'll apologize for babbling but If you encourage him to keep talking about his home-planet and he will not hesitate to just talk about what It was like, and you end up smiling cause his eyes are literally sparkling the whole time

Tell him about earth dang it

Poor man doesn't know what snow is

If you and the rest of the crew ever make It back home you promise to yourself the first thing you'll do Is show your boyfriend how to make a snowman

Has been In a few relationships and dates before but with Altean women

He has no clue on how to pursue a human woman

Gets advice from both Pidge and Shiro

He's oddly warm

Like, If you cuddle or hug him he just feels like a fricking furnace

Very overprotective and sweet boyfriend tbh

He likes to sneak little kisses at the tips of your ear

fin.

#voltron x reader #shiro x reader #hunk x reader #lance x reader #keith x reader #coran x reader #headcanons #originally posted on ao3

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0skeleton-tears0 · 1 year

Text

Rosyln

[Jacob Black] X [Reader]

One shot

Prompt: Unwilling Imprint, ANGST

Pronouns: I tried to be gender-neutral but I may have messed up a few times.

TW: DESCRIPTIONS OF BLOOD AND GORE. Read at your discretion. A little bit of mommy issues lmao. (laughing through the pain rn)

Notes: I don’t have the best grasp on what phones were like in the 2000’s so it’s probably inaccurate. Jake is fine y'all please don’t call paw patrol. JUSTICE FOR LEAH CLEARWATER. A little bit of simping for her because idc she's gorgeous and I love her.

I realized that the timing for this is a little confusing, so its supposed to take place in like the middle of New Moon but I wrote that Seth and Leah had already shifted, which doesn't happen until eclipse so pls ignore that.

THE FUCKING TITLE HAS BEEN SPELLED WRONG THIS WHOLE TIME ITS ROSYLN NOT ROSLYN

꧂☾✮☽꧁

Jacob Black had made it clear he didn't want me in his life anymore. Those last words I had heard from him burned themselves into my memory, into my very skin.

"It wasn't supposed to be you."

I cringed and tried to sink into the bed further, but the mattress wouldn’t let me in. My eyes traced the shapes in the popcorn ceiling of my room, and I tried desperately to think of anything else. Making shapes out of nothing—and stories to go with it. Yet my mind seemed to somehow circle back. Everything seemed to remind me of him. And the last time I saw him.

The rain pounded against the steps of my front porch, drenching my clothes in muggy water. The deafening sound almost tore me away from the boy in front of me. But he wasn't the boy I knew before. He was taller, bigger, and much meaner. He said nothing for a moment, he just stared at me. I couldn’t read his expression—it was many things all at once. There seemed to be some sort of realization, then confusion, and then hatred. A burning hatred that made me want to shrink away from him. It made my skin crawl. I was suddenly very aware of the way my clothes now hung to my skin, the rainwater adding an extra pound or two.

He shook violently, his breath hitching. His eyes darted around like they were searching for something.

I hadn’t expected him to change so drastically in the two weeks I hadn’t seen him. His long, dark hair was cut short. His formerly lanky figure looked like that of a man twice his age. And his dark skin bore an intricate tattoo located on his right shoulder. It was the same tattoo Sam had. Sam, the man he apparently hated.

"It wasn't supposed to be you."

That was the last thing he said to me, before storming away. Into his truck, and out of my life.

It hurt to think about it, I tried to convince myself that it was somehow my fault. That I had said or done something wrong. Something so vile that it would make him hate me enough to leave. But why would he be so angry with me? I had called him, I called Billy. I even tried calling Charlie. No one would give me a coherent answer. Charlie was the only one willing to give me anything. Saying something about how Jacob and Bella had gotten into a big fight, and she was receiving similar treatment. But to know that he had at least had contact with her while having ignored me completely. It stung. It made my skin crawl, and I felt a burning sense of rage. But it was overshadowed by guilt. Maybe it was my fault—or was it selfish to assume that everything in his life revolved around me?

I felt tempted to call Bella. It seemed like she knew the most about whatever had Jacob acting this way. I bit my lip, weighing my options. Bella and I were never close, I knew that Jacob liked her. Jacob liked her a lot—I bit my lip a little harder at that thought. I hated the way he would swoon whenever she breathed in his direction. How he would trip over his feet trying to please her. And yet he couldn’t take the hint that she didn’t want him. And she refused to let him go. Wrapping him around her finger and leading him on, only to pull back as soon as he got his hopes up. I stared at my phone, I had Bella’s number saved somewhere deep within my contacts. The last time I had actually used it was weeks ago when I tried to be friends with her—she had denied my advances of course. I reached for my phone hesitantly. My heartbeat quickened slightly. Would she even answer me? Was it rude to try and talk to her just so I could ask about Jacob? Especially while they were fighting? My finger hovered above the call button. I pressed it quickly, it was worth a shot.

The phone rang for an uncomfortable amount of time, enough for me to start regretting my decision. But before I could chicken out and hang up, Bella answered. She didn’t sound too great. Her voice was slightly hoarse, and it wobbled a bit. It sounded like she was forcing the words out of her mouth.

“Hello?” She answered. It took me a second to remember what I had called her for, though I should have expected this from her. She was almost in the same situation I was in. Almost.

“Hey Bells,” I used the old nickname we had for her when we were kids. I hoped that the friendliness would maybe help convince her to spill the beans about Jacob. “I don't want to pry into your guys’ business, but what's going on with Jacob?” I tried to sound like I was just mildly curious, forcing the worry out of my tone. But I didn't have time to explain my reason for asking before she cut me off.

“He's just not feeling well.” She spoke fast, too fast for me to understand at first. The words jumbled and rushed, slowly connecting in my mind. Not feeling well? He seemed fine to me.

“Oh,” That couldn't be all that was wrong. “Did he say if he was sick?” I questioned. I wanted to drag this conversation out. I wanted to pry as much information as I could from Bella.

She paused on the other side of the phone—I desperately wanted to know what was going on inside her head, to hear what she was keeping from me. There was no way she didn't know more than what she was leading on. “Uh, he said it was Mono. Yeah, he got pretty bad Mono recently so you probably won't see him for a while.” She spit the words out fast. Stumbling over them like the way she stumbles through life. I knew for certain that he did not have Mono. That was the biggest load of shit I had heard since Jacob told me he “didn't have a crush on Bella”. People got Mono from kissing someone else with it, and I knew that Jacob wouldn’t have kissed anyone but Bella. And she was apparently Mono-free.

“Oh that’s awful, when did he get it?” I asked. I had no idea whether or not she knew about my recent encounter with Jacob. Only her answer would tell.

She panicked for a second. “Um, I think it was three weeks ago. Yeah! Three weeks.” She sounded more sure of herself the second time she said it. Bingo.

Bella had always been a bad liar. She’d stutter over her words more than usual, and she’d start to get antsy the longer the lie went on.

“Huh, well that really sucks. If you get a hold of him could you tell him I hope he feels better soon? I haven't been able to contact him.” I didn't plan on telling Bella about Jacob's midnight appearance. She didn't know, which meant she didn't need to know.

“Yeah, I will.” She sounded eager to hang up, so I put her out of her misery. I tossed my phone back onto the bed. And began to calculate my next move.

Bella had no idea that I had seen Jacob, so she had no idea that I was certain he was not sick at all. Sick in the head maybe, but he seemed physically healthy to me. Jacob stood in the pouring rain with no problem, in a sleeveless shirt might I add. And showed no signs of any kind of sickness. From the sound of it, Bella knew he wasn't sick. It was painfully obvious that she was trying to cover for him. I had to come up with some plan of action. I needed Jacob to talk to me. It wasn’t fair that Bella was allowed to know everything while his “best friend” wasn’t.

I inhaled deeply through my nose and exhaled from my mouth. This wasn’t going to be easy. I had no idea where he was, and I knew no one was going to tell me. I could beg Billy to tell me what was going on, he could only handle so much of my puppy-dog eyes before he cracked. I could march my way to Sam’s house and demand to know everything. Both plans of action sounded terrible. It felt selfish. I wasn’t really owed anything, it felt wrong to demand that they tell me their secrets. Maybe once I found out I’d wish that I’d left it alone. Stubborn as always, I decided that I was going to find out. You can’t just shut someone out for no reason and then be upset when they want to know why.

I reached for the stale glass of water on my bedside table and knocked back a large gulp. I cringed at the funny taste. My thoughts flew a mile a minute. I came up with a new plan of action. I was going to go to Jacob’s house and wait for him there. He couldn’t stay away from his house forever and I was willing to wait as long as it took. He would talk to me, whether he liked it or not.

I marched to the other side of my bedroom and rifled through my closet. I picked out the first outfit I found, and threw on a jacket. I snatched my keys and marched to my front door. I didn’t care who I had to ask, I would figure this out. There was no way Jacob was getting rid of me so easily. The puddles on the pavement splashed violently as I stomped through them, soaking through the crevices of my shoes and dampening my socks. But I was too preoccupied to care. The car door creaked from the force that I opened it with, I threw myself into the driver's seat and slammed it shut again. I flinched from the loud noise. I need to slow down a bit. I inhaled, closed my eyes, and relaxed my shoulders. I shouldn’t be driving in such a state. I pried my eyes open and started the car, reversing out of the driveway once I heard the roar of the engine.

The long roads that led to the reservation were more familiar to me than the back of my hands. I had driven there so many times, for as long as I could remember. It hurt to think about every other time I had been here. When things weren’t so complicated. When it was Jake and me against the world. Without Bella. I bit the inside of my cheek, focusing on the pain from that instead of the tears threatening to spill. Breaking down crying while driving was not the best idea. I didn’t need to add a hospital visit and a wrecked car on top of all of the other shit going on in my life. I focused on my breathing, and not crashing the car. With every landmark, I knew I was getting closer. It wasn’t long before I was turning down the road that led to Jacob's house. A cozy, barn-esque house. Where I shared some of my most cherished memories. Though the memories were slightly bitter now. I parked the car in his driveway. Billy Black was sitting on the porch, his eyes bored into my very soul, and I fought the urge to avoid them. He huffed and wheeled himself back into the house.

I shoved myself out of the car and marched up to the front door. I pounded on the stable wood, he wouldn’t ignore me too. Billy swung the door open, looking frustrated and concerned.

“He isn’t here [Y/N]. I’ll tell him you stopped by.” He turned to close the door again. It hurt to have Billy turn me away. I had never felt anything other than welcome in his home, but I was treated like a stranger now, he was treating me like a girl scout. I grabbed the door before it could close.

“Then I’ll wait here for him,” I said in the sternest tone I could manage. It killed me to be rude to Billy. But I kept my guard up. I couldn’t show any sign that I would back down.

Billy sighed but made no move to let me in. He glanced behind him into the house, then back at me.

“I hate to do this to you kid, but you really can’t be here right now.” Billy looked me in the eyes again. His tone was stern but comforting. But I couldn’t give up so easily.

“Why not? Why won't anybody tell me what’s going on?” I was more desperate this time, my faḉade dropping. It took everything in me not to start hysterically screaming.

Billy cringed, it hurt him to shut me out. He obviously knew what was going on with his son but something was stopping him from telling me. He looked up at me again, opening his mouth to speak. But his eyes caught something behind me, and he stopped. I turned around. A red truck pulled into the driveway. Jacob sat in the driver’s seat and huffed when he saw me. I looked next to him, of course, Bella was with him. She bit her lip, and blinked way too many times, looking between me and Jacob. He stepped out of the truck and walked to the other side to open Bella’s door for her. He was just pouring salt on the wound at this point. The pair walked toward me, I opened my mouth to yell at Jake, but he walked right past me, Bella in tow. Billy looked disappointed but said nothing. Bella looked back at me with a look that I couldn’t quite pinpoint. It almost looked like sympathy, but there was venom to it. Not quite a glare, but not friendly. I scoffed. Who does this girl think she is?

“Hey!” I shouted. Jacob paused, his shoulders tensed. But he didn’t turn around to look at me. “What is your problem?” I continued, “What am I not good enough for you anymore? Not cool enough to hang out with you and your new friends?” This went much more calmly in my head. A lot less accusingly. Jacob still refused to look at me. But Bella did. She walked toward me and put her hand on my shoulder.

“[Y/N] I really think you should leave.” Bella insisted, but I shoved her hand off of me. I was even more frustrated that she had the audacity to tell me what to do after she tried to lie to me earlier.

“No! I’m not going anywhere ‘till he explains himself! He has no right to just cut me off.” I yelled, more at him than her. But she still flinched, and I felt a little bad. Jacob spun around now, jumping at the chance to protect Bella. He got in my face and pushed Bella behind him.

“Don’t you dare yell at her.” He glared at me. He shoved me back a bit, the force almost sent me flying, but I held my ground.

“I’m not yelling at her, I'm yelling at you, Jacob. Funny how you only speak to me when you want to protect her. And what the hell does “It wasn’t supposed to be you” mean?” I got right back in his face, confronting him about his last encounter with me. His eyes widened slightly, and he glanced back at Bella. She furrowed her brows and looked at him.

“Jake, what are they talking about?” She held onto Jacob’s shoulder and tried to turn him towards her. But he didn’t budge, only turning his head to look at her.

“Don’t worry about it, Bells.” The nickname made me want to barf. Wasn’t she dating that Cullen guy? Oh right. The Cullens had packed up and moved town a few months ago, the whole town had been so worried about Bella since she was so in love with Edward. I had felt bad for her too, her depressive episode was all too familiar to me. Though it seemed she had moved on and sunk her claws into Jacob now. Suddenly I wasn’t too sympathetic toward her.

“He didn’t tell you?” If he wouldn’t, I would. “He showed up at my doorstep in the pouring rain and told me the most cryptic bullshit I’ve ever heard, before disappearing out of my life!” I shouted. It seemed I had called out to some weather god because a light rain began to fall on all of us. But no one made any move to take shelter. At least this was more dramatic now.

Bella looked confused but didn’t press any further. Jacob turned to me again, he looked more frustrated than mad now.

“Look [Y/N], just go away. If I could tell you I would. But you shouldn’t be here right now.” Jacob started to shake, he wasn’t wearing that thick of clothing, so he was probably cold because of the rain. He turned to walk away again, but my hand shot out on its own to grab onto his shoulder. Woah. I was wrong, Jacob wasn’t cold at all. He was hot to the touch. It almost burned.

“Holy shit!” I pulled my hand back, and he turned around frantically, my cry alerting him. “Jacob you’re burning up! I think you need to see a doctor or something.” I looked down at my hand, thankfully it wasn’t burned, only a slight red tint was left behind. Even though I was mad at him, I couldn’t help but worry. As much as I try, I’ll never be able to hate Jacob. I looked up at him, my ‘angry face’ was gone now, a look of worry taking its place. His eyes softened for a moment. His shoulders relaxed, before tensing back up again. His gaze hardened, and he huffed.

“Go.” Was all he said, before turning again. He ushered Bella to follow him, leaving his arm around her shoulder. I stomped forward again and slammed my palm onto his shoulder.

“Hey! I’m not leaving without an answer, Jacob Black. If you think you can get rid of me that easily you are stupidly mistaken.” I let out a sarcastic laugh at the end of my sentence. Nothing was funny about this but I couldn’t help myself. Jacob shook more, and his breathing sped up. He let go of Bella and looked at me.

“I am not going to tell you again [Y/N].” He emphasized each word, “Leave now, for your own good.” For my own good my ass.

“No Jacob, not until you tell me WHY.” I emphasized my words, mimicking his. He shook so hard I was afraid he would combust.

And then he did.

Within a split second, the sounds of clothes tearing filled my ears. And I felt something tear at my arm. I was flung back from the force of it, landing on the muddy ground. White hot pain shot through my entire right side. I felt something warm run down my arm, contrasting with the cold rain surrounding me. But my focus was still caught on what was in front of me. Jacob was gone, replaced with a reddish-brown wolf. It was the size of a horse. Way bigger than any normal wolf should be. My mind felt fried. This couldn’t be real. This had to be some horrible dream or some hallucination. But the pain in my arm told me that this was all too real.

The wolf, presumably still Jacob, snarled and growled for a moment before its eyes caught sight of my arm. I looked down. I could barely see anything past the amount of red. It was my blood. The flesh was torn, ripped almost to shreds. Exposing the pink mussel beneath. I caught a small bit of white. Bone. My breath was rapid. The air entering my lungs burned, it felt like they were trying to rip open. I shook. It took everything not to start screaming. I was in shock. This couldn’t be real.

I looked back up at the Jacob-wolf. His ears flew back, and he shook and backed away slightly. His brown eyes, eyes I knew too well, flickered between my face, and my arm. His tail tucked between his legs, and he ran. With incredible speed, he ran into the forest. My ears rang.

All I could hear was the pounding of the rain and yelling. I heard yelling from all sides. A woman’s voice. And a few different male voices. I heard something thump on the ground across from me. But as my vision blurred, I was unable to make out what it was. Or, who it was. I felt something pull me from the mud. Two large hands grabbed me and held me tight. I was pulled into someone's arms, and I felt us move. The heat was almost unbearable. It was suffocating. I wanted to pull away. To be left on the ground. But I couldn’t pull together the strength to do anything. I felt oblivious to the world around me. Everything was blurry, and moving both too fast, and too slow all at once. I could make out only some of the words I heard around me. Most were panicking. But over all of that, I heard a calm voice yelling orders. I heard more clothes ripping, and two more giant figures ran into the woods. After Jacob.

I heard that same voice from above me, it was calm and reassuring this time.

“Everything is going to be okay [Y/N], we're gonna get you some help” It was distinctly Sam. I knew that tone. It was paternal, it was gentle. But it felt so firm, so firm that I believed every word of it. I let myself relax. Black spots entered my vision, everything was blurry again, and then there was nothing.

꧂☾✮☽꧁

The faint sound of beeping woke me, the shrill noise scraping against my ear canal.

I groaned. My everything hurt. I squeezed my eyes further shut, trying to block out the bright light that threatened to burn my retinas.

My opened my eyes reluctantly as I heard footsteps come through the door. Sam’s large figure came through the doorway. He looked calm, but his brow was slightly furrowed. He opened his mouth to speak, before shutting it again. He looked down for a moment, almost like he was having a conversation I couldn’t hear. Sam inhaled deeply, before stepping towards me. His heavy footsteps resonated through the nearly silent room. The only other sounds were the beeping of the machines next to me. He stepped cautiously towards me, before sitting down in the chair next to my bed. I looked at him anxiously. I knew what was coming, but I didn’t know how. There was no way I could explain what I had seen without sounding insane, “Why yes doctor, my best friend turned into a wolf and mauled my arm. No biggie though.” I bit the inside of my cheek nervously, but Sam gave me a knowing look that calmed me slightly. His look told me he could understand the silent words I was trying to speak.

“How are you feeling?” Sam’s commanding voice vibrated off the walls. I didn’t know how to answer, I assumed he was asking about my arm.

“Fine, the doctors gave me a bunch of meds to make it hurt less so I’m mostly just numb now-”

Sam raised his hand to stop me.

“No, no. How are you feeling.” He emphasized the word. He didn’t mean my arm. It was clear that he wasn’t going to try and cover up what I had seen. I knew there wasn’t much I could say to him. If anyone were to overhear me talking about my friend turning into a giant wolf and scratching my arm, they’d ship me off to the psych ward without a second thought. I bit the inside of my cheek. For a moment, I refused to meet Sam’s gaze. His eyes were intense—they always were.

I tried to think of an answer for him. But I just couldn’t put what I wanted to say into words. He seemed to understand my frustration, and he sighed.

“Look kid, I know that this is going to be hard to understand, but it's time you know the truth.”

I perked up at this. Finally, they were going to tell me what was going on. It only took a traumatizing and unexplainable experience, and my arm getting fucked up to make it happen. Worth it.

We sat there for what felt like hours, as he explained to me the deep, and extensive past of the Quileute tribe's history. How they could turn into wolves, and it was their duty to protect humans from vampires. He also told me about where Bella fit into all of this. The Cullen boy she was dating was part of a family of vampires. And, by proxy, she was now involved with the pack too. But everyone in the pack was sworn to secrecy. And that's why they couldn't tell me. Sam being the alpha made his word law. So they had no choice.

I felt guilt bubbling inside my chest, I was so mad at Jacob and the others for not telling me. But they couldn't whether they liked it or not. It felt like someone was grabbing at my heart and squeezing it. I felt so selfish, so arrogant. I demanded that they tell me everything, and then got myself hurt. I felt so bad.

Sam gave me a sympathetic look, it was as if he understood without me having to speak a word.

“It’s not your fault. Besides, we would have had to tell you anyway.” I looked up at that. But he paused.

“Why?” I asked. It was hard to find the words I wanted to say. I felt like I had so many questions, but forming them together in a coherent manner was impossible. These drugs were fucking with my head. I noticed that the lights were a bit fuzzy now.

Sam looked away and contemplated for a moment. But when he looked back, it was obvious he wasn't going to explain himself. Why does everyone have to be so cryptic all the time?

“I think Jacob should tell you himself,” Sam spoke with finality. There was no wiggle room to try and pry anything out of him.

I sighed. But I didn't try to push any further. I was exhausted. Taking in so much information was hard, especially while I was barely awake. Sam smiled at me and stood. He towered over my bed, making the giant machines look like children's toys. This explains why the Quileute men are all so big.

“I'd better let you rest kid, just come to the reservation whenever you're ready.” He smiled and made his way out.

I sunk back into the firm hospital bed. I ran through everything in my head again. Vampires? Werewolves? What other ghouls should I be worried about? Will I run into a troll the next time I cross a bridge?

I couldn’t pull together the energy to really care at the moment, the only thing I cared about was going back to sleep. I glanced down at my bandaged arm, moving it slightly, and wincing. I sighed, and relaxed my whole body. I tried my best to ignore the beeping, and clamped my eyes shut. I shifted slightly, and felt a jolt go through my entire right side. I grumbled and settled back down, being more weary of my arm this time. I rolled my eyes, this was going to be a long recovery.

꧂☾✮☽꧁

It took a week before they let me out of the hospital. But the stitches in my arm would take way longer to come out. And I wouldn't even be fully healed for a few months.

They gave me fresh clothes since mine were basically ruined. I had to wear a shirt that was way too big for me, and shorts that went down to my calves. My socks were a bright yellow, and the worst texture I’ve ever felt, with grips on the bottoms. This sucked. Stupid Jacob. Stupid wolves. Stupid me.

My mother helped me to the car, but I nudged her away slightly. My arm was hurt not my legs, I could still walk on my own. I half-expected her to try and carry me to the car.

I wasn't allowed to drive while my arm healed, obviously. But at least I got time off of school, and off work. At least one good thing could come out of this mess.

But having so much time on my hands gave me too much time to think. And of course, my mind went to every bad scenario that could happen. I didn’t know how I was going to be able to face Bella. She had seen everything. But I couldn’t really find it within myself to hate her any less. Hate feels like a strong word, but I can’t think of any other word to describe the way I feel about her. It felt like she had ripped my best friend away from me, and left a gaping, burning hole behind. But was it entirely her fault? He chose to leave me, for her. But at the same time, she didn’t make any move to stop him. I sighed. Obsessing over it wouldn’t change anything. My mom glanced at me from the driver's seat. I could see her reflection through the window, as I stared at the beautiful scenery. The rain cast a thick fog across the forest, giving a gray tint to the world around it. My mom's eyes scanned my face, before quickly bouncing back to the road.

“What’s wrong honey?”

I didn’t know how to answer that. So many things were wrong. Jake was gone, my arm is fucked, and I’m way behind on my homework. What was I supposed to tell her?

I sighed, “I just… I just miss Jake.” That felt right. It was the truth, but not in its entirety.

She grimaced, “I know sweetie, but… when people get older, they tend to drift apart. Maybe it’s just time to let Jacob go. Maybe make some new friends?” She always got over things quicker than I did.

“No. He’s my best friend. I can’t lose him.” But what would I do if I did? It was entirely possible now. He had his new wolf friends and… Bella. A shiver of anger rushed through me at the thought of her.

“I know it’s hard but-”

“No! I-” I cleared my throat. I didn’t mean to yell at her. “No, I- I won’t lose him.”

She didn’t respond, she continued to stare at the road ahead. The large pine trees cast a thick canopy above us, rainwater pouring through the gaps in the branches. I sighed and tried to relax. All this stress was bad for my health. I didn’t need to have a full breakdown and end up back in the hospital.

The pine trees gave way to a small path on the side of the road. I caught a glimpse of brown fur vanishing into the foliage. I gasped lightly, which alerted my mother.

“What’s wrong? Did you hurt your arm? You’ve got to be careful with those stitches in! And how did you even-” I cut her off before she could start ranting.

“No, no everything’s fine I just thought I saw something in the forest. Like a bear or something.”

Smooth [Y/N].

She looked hesitant, I couldn’t tell if she believed me, but I prayed she wouldn’t push me. I guess lady luck finally decided to cut me a break because my mom sighed and focused on the road again. I wanted to yell for her to stop the car. I wanted to jump out and chase after him. I didn’t care if I was injured, or if I could get lost in the forest. I wanted nothing more than to just at least talk to him. But after… the incident… would he even want to see me? I held back a sob.

As soon as we pulled into the driveway, I shoved myself out of the car. I needed to be alone for a bit. My mom waited a bit to get out, trailing behind me a few steps. I stood on the porch, waiting for her to unlock the door.

Memories flashed at me in waves. Pieces from my childhood, when Jacob and I would play in the grass, or draw in the driveway with our chalk. When Jacob would pull in with that loud ass truck after school to complain about all the homework he had. And when he struck the final nail into the coffin that was now our relationship. I cringed. Everything would remind me of him now. Ghosts of my past would haunt the hallway. Phantoms of what I had lost. My mother didn’t bother to hide her concern. I’m sure I looked like a mess right now. My hair was unkempt, my eyes dark and sunken in, and my skin drained of its warmth. I felt like a shell of my former self. A ghost walking amongst the living, trying to blend in. I sniffled and shook it off. I didn’t need to scream my anguish to the world. As far as they were concerned, everything was fine and dandy. I let myself in as soon as the door opened, and made a bee-line for my bedroom. I ignored the memories, and my mother when I was asked what I wanted for dinner. I let my legs give out and fell onto my bed. Just inches away from crushing my arm. I sighed, and ran my good hand over my face, trying to wipe the stress away.

I had no idea how long I lay there. Staring at the ceiling, without even bothering to make shapes in it this time. My phone rang, and my computer pinged. But I made no move to check either. Nothing went through my mind. It felt like time was moving at breakneck speed, and I was stuck. Unmoving. I was catatonic. I felt myself going through my nightly routine, showering, brushing my teeth, and taming my hair. But none of it registered. Like an automated machine. I was on autopilot. When I lay back down, I hoped to just pass out immediately. I should be exhausted. And I should be happy to be able to sleep in something other than a hospital bed. But I felt nothing. Something was missing and I knew it.

But minute after minute of laying there, I felt myself start to drift off. Maybe when I woke up, everything would have fixed itself.

꧂☾✮☽꧁

I was running. Branches and bushes whipped around me, scratching at my arms and face. They caught onto my clothes as if they were trying to slow me down. But my feet carried me through the thick forest. I heard howling, and the sound of something running. But they didn’t stop me. I had to keep going. But what was I running towards? I didn’t stop to think, I kept moving. But I was quickly halted, as a huge, black wolf appeared from the trees in front of me. I stopped as fast as possible, losing my footing and sending myself onto the hard ground. I scrambled back to my feet quickly, without taking my eyes off the wolf. It was as big as Jacob was when he turned into a wolf. More wolves emerged from the forest surrounding me. I could see now that I was in a small clearing, only a few feet big. I turned around, ready to make a run for it. But as I did, I came face to face with a brown wolf. This one was closer than the others. And its eyes bore into mine, nothing was threatening about this wolf. It took a tentative step towards me, and I stepped back. It bowed its head and continued to approach me. But before I could move, its head snapped back up. It growled and snarled. The wolf took a step back. It wasn’t looking at me anymore, but something behind me. I didn’t have time to look before the wolf pounced. Jumping high above me. I screamed and ducked. And then, I was in my room.

I sat up in my bed, panting and sweating. My heart was beating so fast, I feared it would fly out of my mouth. I tried to slow my breathing, I wasn’t in the forest anymore. I was home. I was safe. It was a dream. A really weird dream. I fell back into my bed.

It was clear to me now that the brown wolf in my dream was Jacob. The reddish-brown fur, and the deep brown eyes I had known my whole life. But what did it mean? What was behind me? Why did he attack? Maybe it was just a weird dream, maybe it had no meaning. I assumed that the first wolf was Sam, it seemed a tad bit bigger than the others, and it just felt like it commanded authority. I sighed and rubbed my eyes. I rolled over to my bedside table and grabbed at my phone, eventually, my hand made contact, and I turned it towards my face. I recoiled from the intensity of the phone's light, my eyes having been adjusted to the dark. I squinted, 2:45 a.m. Great. It’s not like I was going to school in the morning, not while I was healing. So I could just go back to sleep. But what if I had another weird dream? I could only handle so much weirdness at a time.

The door to my room slammed open, and I flinched at the sudden sound. My mother stood in the doorway, still clad in her nightclothes. She looked frantic, and her eyes studied me.

“What happened?! I heard you scream!” My mother yelled, breathless. I guess when I screamed in my nightmare, I must have actually screamed. That was kind of embarrassing.

“Oh sorry. I had a nightmare.” I looked at my hands, they were shaking still. My mother sighed a breath of relief, but when she looked back at me, she was concerned.

“Honey, what’s wrong? You still won't tell me why you were in the hospital, and now you’re having night terrors? Why can’t you just tell me?” Her voice started to waver, I knew I was hurting her by not telling her.

It pained her to see me like this, but since she didn’t even know what was wrong, she was unable to help me. I felt so bad. But I knew I couldn’t tell her, Sam had sworn me to secrecy, and I wouldn’t betray his trust. Or the pack.

I didn’t really know the boys too well, of course, I knew Embry and Quil, as they were Jacob's other best friends—I didn’t know if I was even considered his best friend anymore, it felt weird to call myself that. After… everything. So of course I knew them well enough. But after the whole shift, and then Bella's situation. We grew apart.

I blinked, snapping myself back to the present. I think I just made mom more concerned.

“It was a dog. I saw some stray dog and I was gonna give it some food, but it attacked me.” I lied, I had to make it up on the spot. She didn’t look convinced, but I’m sure I looked rough enough for her to leave it be. She sighed, and gently grabbed the door handle, contrasting to how she had slammed it just a few minutes before. She glanced at me, before shaking her head and leaving. I sighed, relaxing my shoulders and flopping onto my bed. I thought back to the pack. So many of them were so young, too young to be fighting vampires. I thought back to Embry and Quil. Quil still hadn’t shifted, but Sam told me that they knew he would soon. I thought about how much Embry had changed. I didn’t even really talk to him anymore, but any time I saw him he just seemed different. I glanced at my phone. I probably still had his number somewhere. Maybe I should call? I still had plenty more questions about the pack. Why did they cut their hair off? Why did they go through a growth spurt that drastic? Why was Jacob so mean now? I held my phone in my hand and hovered over the call button.

“Hello?” Embry’s distinct voice echoed through the silent room. I almost forgot what I was going to say, he was still so different, but he sounded the same as he did before shifting. Into a werewolf. The word felt wrong. Like it wasn’t the right way to describe them.

“Uh hey, Embry. I’m sorry did I wake you up?” I tried not to stutter over my words. I had completely forgotten what time it was. I felt bad for waking him.

“Oh hey [Y/N], no it’s fine I wasn’t asleep yet.” Embry’s voice picked up in volume. The tired tone from his voice had vanished, leaving the excited boy I was familiar with.

“I uh, just wanted to ask you a few questions.” It wasn’t like that’s the only reason I called, but it must have sounded like it. Because Embry sounded upset like he audibly deflated.

“Oh, yeah. Of course, uh go ahead.” His enthusiasm from before was lost.

“No! No! I wanted to talk to you too, I didn’t just call for that. It’s just that since I know about you guys now, I can really talk to you again.” I reassured him.

I could hear him perk up at that. “Oh! Of course! Well uh, what’d you wanna know?”

We talked for a long time, and he told me a lot more about the Quiluete boys. How their hair translated to how long their fur was, which seemed stupid to me. That their bodies had to rapidly grow to accommodate their new wolf abilities. But when I got to my third question, Embry stopped. He didn’t answer when I called his name. But in a few seconds, he shook out of it.

“Oh uh, well, Jake’s been going through a lot more hormones than the rest of us, and he… He uhm…” He stuttered over his words, it was painfully obvious that there was something he wanted to tell me. But something was stopping him. I’m getting pretty sick of people being all cryptic and keeping shit from me. “He’s just, well… I don’t think I should be the one to tell you.” I was quickly reminded of my conversation with Sam in the hospital.

“So who should I ask?” I was getting frustrated at this point, but I didn’t let it show through my tone. After all, it wasn’t Embry that I was upset with.

“I think you know the answer to that [Y/N].” Embry finished. Before I could say anything in retaliation, he said a quick goodbye and hung up the phone. I glared at my phone as it flashed CALL ENDED across the screen. I resisted the urge to chuck my phone across the room in anger. Breaking your phone is counter-productive [Y/N]. I went back to my contacts, gazing at one familiar number. I shouldn’t call him so late.

Waiting overnight and thinking about what to say is probably the smart decision. But I didn't doubt that he would ignore my call anyways. At this point he probably had me blocked. I didn’t know if I should be mad at him for that or not. I was calling excessively, and that was bound to get annoying at some point. I thought about going back to his house, and waiting there for him to show up. But that didn’t go too well last time. But if I was calmer this time? My thoughts trailed off. I thought about every scenario possible. I thought about every possible way he could try and dodge my advances, and I thought of ways to make sure that he couldn’t run away from me. I don’t know when I managed to fall back asleep, but sooner than I thought I had drifted away. I was ready to face my problems. Tomorrow.

꧂☾✮☽꧁

“Come on, get your lazy butt up.” My mother barged into my room, ripping the blanket off of me and shaking my shoulders. I winced from the cold air hitting my newly exposed skin and tried to pry it away from her. “Wake up, you have a visitor.” That woke me up. My thoughts raced, was it Jake? Embry? Bella…

I heard a voice from the other room, “It’s okay Ms. (L/N), I could just come back later.”

Bella.

I sighed, slumping back down into my bed. I let my entire body go limp, hoping that I could somehow mold into the mattress and avoid all of my problems. But unfortunately, reality came like a harsh slap to the face.

“No, it’s fine hun! I’ll have them up in just a minute!” My mother called back, making a promise that I really didn’t want to keep.

I groaned into the pillow. My mother grabbed my shoulders again and started to pull. After a couple of seconds of pulling and tugging, I gave up and sat up fully.

“There you go. Now get dressed, we’ll be waiting in the living room.” My mother chirped and flitted to the doorway. “And fix your hair. You look like a mess.” She threw out one last comment on my appearance, shutting the door before I could respond. I sighed, did she expect me to wake up with perfect hair?

I shook off the last of my blankets and forced myself out of bed. I stumbled a bit, letting my legs get used to the feeling of walking again. I dragged myself around my room, grabbing whatever clothes I could find. To be honest, I was tempted to go out in my pajamas, was Bella really worth the trouble of getting dressed? I contemplated it for a minute, but I knew my mother would chew me out as soon as I stepped out of the door. I got dressed sloppily, not caring if I looked presentable or not. I ran my fingers through my hair, taming it as much as I could. I tied it back, hiding most of the mess. I didn’t bother with shoes.

I carefully opened the door, trying to refrain from making too much noise. I slowly shut the door and made my way down the hall on light feet. I rounded the corner into the living room, my mother's back was turned, but I had a clear view of Bella. She didn’t look too much better than me, but it was clear she had at least tried to hide it. Her hair was tied back, but the chunks that framed her face had escaped. Her eyes were dark, with deep bags hanging underneath. Her clothes were too big for her, hanging off of her small frame. I felt big just standing next to her. I felt like if I walked by her too fast she’d crumble. Her emotional state didn’t seem much better either. A small frown permanently occupied her light pink lips. Her eyebrows perpetually furrowed. I almost felt sorry for her.

It only took a moment for her to notice my presence, she looked up and gave a half-assed smile. I formed my lips into a tight line, I could be civil. But she was on my turf. It’s free range here. I smiled a little more at that thought. I made my way to the couch where my mother was sitting and plopped myself next to her.

She pushed me away slightly, “You’re sitting too close.” She murmured.

I made a show of scooting to the other end of the couch, exaggerating my movements as much as possible. She scoffed and looked back to Bella. Her expression brightened drastically as she looked at the girl across from us. Way to make it subtle Mom.

“So what brings you here Bella?” My mother chirped, she took a sip from her mug without breaking eye contact. Bella squirmed under my mother's intense gaze, fidgeting with her fingers and the hem of her jacket.

“Oh uh, I hope it’s not too much trouble but I’d really like to talk to [Y/N] alone.” She stuttered. She avoided eye contact with me entirely. I hoped that I was intimidating her.

My mother deflated as if she was hoping that Bella was here for her. No doubt I would get a lecture later, ‘You should be more like Bella! She’s so much better than you in every way blah blah blah’ etcetera etcetera. I rolled my eyes and shifted around.

My mother straightened again and smiled at Bella. “Oh of course honey! Why don’t you two go to [Y/N]’s room?” I snapped my head toward her, my room? It felt wrong to let Bella in there. As if she was trespassing into my domain like she was tainting my sacred grounds. I huffed, and my mother shot me a deadly glare. I winced and lowered my gaze. I held back a sigh as I pushed myself off the couch, gesturing for Bella to follow me. As soon as my back was turned, I grimaced. She shuffled behind me, watching her every step. Like she was afraid she’s break something if she stepped on the wrong floorboard. I rolled my eyes, knowing damn well I was the same way.

I shoved my door open and waved my arm in front of me in a ‘ladies first’ motion. She gave an awkward smile and walked in. When she was far enough into the room I walked in after her, shutting the door behind me. Every inch of my body was screaming. Screeching for me to shove her out, to get her out of my room. My brain itched and scratched, I wanted nothing more than to scream at her to leave. I smiled, at her and gestured toward the unmade bed.

“You can sit down.” I tried not to sound upset about it. Her sitting on my bed.

She glanced at the bed and hesitated. But she didn’t sit down. She continued to stand in the middle of the room. She bit her lip and blinked too many times.

“Oh, it won't take that long.” She started, “I just… wanted to talk to you about what-” she paused, “What happened.” I knew exactly what she was talking about. And I grimaced, taking a look at my arm. I chewed the inside of my mouth, debating my response.

“Oh yeah… That.” Wow. Absolutely amazing. 10/10 conversational skills [Y/N].

It was silent. Neither of us dared to say anything. Bella opened her mouth for a moment, presumably to say something, but she closed it just as quickly. I shuffled my feet, taking notice of the fact that I wasn’t wearing any socks. Kind of weird to have my feet out right now.

“It’s fine.” I blurted. “My arm I mean, it’s healing all right.” I clarified.

“That’s good. It was uh, pretty bad…” She trailed off, grimacing as she remembered that night. I thought about it too.

I felt tingles run down my arm as my skin remembered the feeling. The feeling of being torn open, the warm blood coating my skin and clothes. Lying on the wet ground with my former friend in front of me. My stomach lurched, and I resisted the urge to double over and empty my guts on Bella’s shoes. I shook my head, shaking the thought away.

“Yeah. But I’m getting better so.” I gave an awkward confirmation, was this all she came for? She could have just called or something.

“Um, [Y/N]... I dont mean to pry but…” Oh god, here we go.

“How are things with you and Jacob.” She asked shyly, shuffling her feet and picking at her fingernails.

I knew this question was coming. I guess it was only fair she wanted to know, but something in my gut told me that it wasn’t just innocent curiosity. I sighed, thinking about my answer for a moment.

“We haven’t spoken since then.” Putting it bluntly seemed like the best idea. I didn’t know if there was a way to sugarcoat it, but I didn’t bother to try anyways. Bella tried and failed, to hide her excitement. I guessed that was the answer she was hoping for. She tried her best to hide the way her back straightened, and her eyes lit up. But as always, Bella was a shit liar.

I gave an awkward smile.

“It’s fine though, I think it’s best to just give him some time before I reach out again.” I ignored the shiver that ran down my spine. I tried to ignore the way that she deflated a little. Maybe she was hoping that I would never speak to him again. She smiled and took one last look at me. Before she politely excused herself. Hopefully to leave my house altogether. As soon as the door was closed, I breathed a sigh of relief. And let myself fall back onto my bed, being careful not to land on my arm this time. I stared at the ceiling. I find myself in this position a lot huh? Whatever. Going back to sleep sounded really good.

꧂☾✮☽꧁

I was only aware of the events that took place in the next few days secondhand. And surprisingly, I made a new friend.

As usual, the sky was covered in a thick layer of clouds, creating a blanket over the trees. And the air was moist with the promise of rain. I walked briskly, I was completely out of snacks and that would just not fly. What was I supposed to eat? Real food? Absolutely not.

The posters covering the walls of my favorite convenience store brought a smile to my face. The door opened with a loud ding, alerting my presence to the man behind the counter. A sweet old man smiled at me through bushy eyebrows. His big handlebar mustache moved up with his smile.

“Hey, Mr. Barker!” I chirped, making a beeline for the snack aisle. As expected, it was recently stocked, and colorful plastic littered the shelves, drawing me in. What I wasn’t expecting, was Leah Clearwater standing in the middle of the small space. Right in front of my favorite chips. I paused, not wanting to alert her. I didn’t feel like getting on her bad side and getting my head bitten off today. But, as if she could sense me, her head turned quickly. Her beautiful dark hair was cut short, as were her sleeves and shorts. Her russet skin bore the same tattoo Jacob had. I had heard of her shifting recently, and of her father's death. I tried not to let the wave of pity I felt show on my face. I avoided her cold gaze and pretended to check out the other snacks. I would have to wait until she’d moved.

After a few seconds, a hand made its way into my view, holding my favorite kind of chips. I followed the arm upwards until I found the face of the owner. Leah held her hand out, without making eye contact.

“Here, you like these right?” Her voice was assertive like she wasn’t asking me. She was telling me.

I’m sure I looked really confused because my silence made her turn to look at me.

“Pack mind-reading. Jacob doesn’t keep much to himself.” She explained. I grimaced.

I was trying not to think about him. She must have noticed because her lips turned up just slightly.

“He still hasn’t told you huh?” She teased, but I could hear underlying sarcasm in her tone. She sounded upset about it.

“Oh god,” I rolled my eyes, “Not you too.” I groaned.

It took me a second to realize what I had said. And I slapped my hands over my mouth. I snatched the chips out of her hand and started to speed walk out of the aisle. But, to my surprise, Leah laughed. Not like the sarcastic one before, this one sounded genuine. It was a quiet, small laugh.

“I know what you mean kid,” I’m pretty sure I’m older than her. “I felt that way before I joined the pack.” She opened her mouth to say more but stopped herself. She peeked her head around the aisle to look at the old man behind the counter, and the various other shoppers. Mr. Barker was blissfully unaware of us, too occupied with his game of solitaire. She turned back to me and grinned for a split second, it threw me off for a second.

“Do you wanna talk about this at my house?” She gestured behind her with her thumb. Her face was unreadable again.

Oh.

OH.

I felt my heartbeat speed up, just a little. A pretty girl just invited me to her house. What do I do?! I felt my brain moving at lightning speed, trying to come up with a response that didn’t make me sound like a total dork. I prayed that I wasn’t sweating.

“Uh, sure!” I beamed. Nailed it.

She gave a small—noticeably strained— smile, I was sure that she saw through me without any trouble. But to be fair, she’s very intimidating. I mean, she could tear me in half like wet paper—the same went for all of the pack to be honest— and she’d look pretty doing it. I cleared my throat and tucked the chips under my arm. Being careful not to crush them. We went to pay for our stuff quickly, I’m sure the old man could sense my internal panic because he sent me the most heartwarming smile. Stupid old man and his silly mustache. I smiled back of course, before hurrying to meet Leah at the door.

She opened the door, stepping out into the cool air. The rain must have started when I went inside, it wasn’t pouring thankfully. I watched as Leah stepped out into the cold rain with no trouble as if it didn’t even phase her.

I suppressed a gasp as I watched, the water was evaporating as soon as it touched her skin, coming off as mist.

Incredible.

I guess I hadn’t paid much attention to how warm all the members of the pack were. Thinking back on it, I’m pretty sure Jacob did the same thing in the rain. The water had evaporated from his skin as soon as it had touched him. I hadn’t processed it then, with my mind being so preoccupied, I thought I was just seeing things.

I pried my eyes away from Leah. It was rude to stare. But as soon as I did, she laughed quietly to herself, before leading the way to her house. I wasn’t as sneaky as I thought.

The walk to her house was quiet, with nothing but the rain and the sound of cars filling the air. It was hard for me to tell if the silence was awkward or not. I couldn’t see her expression, as she was a few paces in front of me. Damn, she walked fast. She didn’t say anything for the duration of the walk, but thankfully it was short. We made our way up to the front door, she unlocked it quickly. It took a harsh shove for the door to open, it creaked loudly in protest. Leah groaned and held the door open for me. Waving her arm as a gesture for me to go in.

I was getting a lot of deja-vu from when Bella came over. I’m pretty sure I did the same thing. And just like Bella, I sheepishly made my way into the home. Taking in as much as I could, I watched my every step. Leah walked past me, and I followed her instinctively.

She led me to the living room, I repressed a sigh of relief. I didn’t know if I was ready to go into her room. That felt a little too personal. She gestured for me to take a spot on the couch next to her. I carefully sat down, feeling the couch creak a bit. She sighed, before turning to make eye contact with me. I resisted the urge to shy away from her intense gaze.

“So, Jake still hasn’t told you huh?” Leah started, “I guess it makes sense since he’s still got that obsession with the leech-lover.” Her tone was malicious, she didn’t try to hide her disdain for Jacob, and whoever the “leech-lover” was.

“Leech-lover?” I questioned, why would someone like leeches?

She paused and looked back at me. A sense of realization crossed her features, and she grinned.

“Bella, the vampire girl.” She explained. I nodded my head, humming in affirmation. I had almost forgotten about the fact that vampires existed too. And that Bella used to date one.

Wait. Vampires. Does that? Mean what I think?

“Wait, the Cullens were vampires. Did they… eat people?” My voice wavered at the thought, were they responsible for the unexplainable deaths in the area? How many people of Forks had they eaten?

Leah noticed my concern and shook her head.

“No, the Cullens were… vegetarians. They ate animals instead.” She said that like she didn’t believe it, as if it were blasphemy.

“Oh. Okay, that’s a relief.” I sighed, “So there aren’t vampires running ramped through the streets anymore?” I giggled. Leah’s eyes darted away from mine. Oh god.

“Well, not the streets.” She sounded very reluctant to say that. I felt the color drain from my face, my eyes widened, and my breath hitched. There were still vampires? That wasn't the Cullens. They weren’t vegetarian. Leah saw my face and quickly retracted her statement. “No! No! It’s just one and we’ve got her under control.”

“Under control? So what you’ve got her like locked in your basement or something?” I barked out a strained laugh, trying to deflect my anxiety with humor.

“No,” she laughed, before fixing her face to look stoic again. “We’ve managed to chase her off the border, but we can’t figure out what she wants.” So she wasn’t just trying to kill everyone in sight? Good. Great. Cool.

She inhaled and shook her head lightly, “But that’s not what I brought you here for.” She started.

I perked up at this. Finally, I’d get some damn answers. I was confident that Leah wouldn’t be as cryptic as the others. Her blunt nature gave me a sense of security. I knew she would tell me the truth.

“So, did Sam,” she paused at his name, but I didn’t question it. She cleared her throat and continued. “Did Sam ever tell you about imprinting?” She asked.

“Imprinting? Like that thing ducks do to their moms?” What did that have to do with me? The last time I checked they weren’t ducks.

“Sort of. But it’s kind of different in our case. So, well- I… ugh” She stuttered over her words for a moment, “How do I explain this?” She sat there for a moment, gathering her thoughts. Before she inhaled and started again.

“When we imprint, it’s like, the whole world stops. As soon as you set your eyes on your imprint, the world stops rotating for anyone else. They are the only thing that matters, you would do anything, be anything for them. It’s a kind of devotion like no other. And there’s no escaping it.”

She didn’t sound too happy about it, now and then her eyes would narrow. I really wanted to see what was going on in her head.

I was starting to connect the dots in my head, so did this mean Jacob imprinted? On who.

Bella. Of course. Obviously, it was Bella.

I barked a laugh, “Of course.” Leah looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to continue.

“Jacob imprinted on Bella!” I could faintly hear her groan, but I was too preoccupied with my thoughts to care. “He imprinted on Bella, but he’s mad she doesn’t like him back so he ended up taking it out on me! Ugh, it all makes sense now.” The way Bella clearly didn’t want me around Jacob, the way he’d always protect her, the fact that he wouldn’t stop pining over her even though she didn’t want him. Of course, it was so blatantly obvious to me now.

Leah sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose disappointedly. I was taken aback, was that not what happened? I glanced out the window, it was getting late. I sighed and picked up my stuff. I got up to leave but Leah stopped me.

“Hey wait, that’s not what happened.” She started, then who was it?

“Jacob didn’t imprint on Bella, he imprinted on-” She was cut off by a loud BANG.

We both whipped our heads to the door, where a young Seth Clearwater stood panting. He barged in frantically and started to shake Leah.

“Leah! We gotta go one of the Cullens is back and Bella’s gonna go to Italy and get them back and Jakes freaking out and, Oh hi [Y/N],” He stopped for a second to acknowledge my presence, but I was still trying to figure out what the hell he was talking about.

He opened his mouth to continue, but Leah held up a hand and got up from the couch.

“[Y/N], you go home. I’ll catch up with you later.” She ordered, I didn’t have time to say anything before she and Seth hurried out the back door. I jumped from the couch and watched as they ran into the forest, I could see clothes tearing, and fur sprouting. I marveled at the two new wolves, watching them in awe as they darted into the trees.

I grabbed my stuff and hurried out the front door. The rain wasn’t quite pouring, but it would be a pain to walk in. I hurried down the street, trying to avoid the puddles. They splashed violently against my shins, dampening my pants. I cursed but continued.

It took me a long longer than I liked to make it back to my house. I was regretting not just taking my car, but walking was good for me and I needed to save gas. Courtesy of my mother. I stomped to the front door, my wet shoes making small puddles on the porch. I fumbled with my keys, and hurriedly unlocked the door. The house was dark and noticeably empty. Mom’s car was gone, and all the lights were off.

I flicked on a few lights as I made my way inside, but as I set my keys down my eyes caught something.

A brown leather jacket was hanging on the coat rack, it was way too big to be my mom's. And I knew it wasn’t mine. My heart raced, my eyes widened, and my mouth fell agape. Someone was in my house.

I scanned the area around me before my eyes landed on the hallway closet.

Bat! We had a bat in there just in case, and mom called me paranoid. I opened the door as quietly as I could, grabbing the bat quickly. My cold hands wrapped around the hardwood tightly. My knuckles turned white with the death grip I had on the poor stick. I slowly made my way through the house, turning corners quickly, with the bat raised to swing.

I felt a presence behind me, I was sure whoever it was could hear my heart pounding, and my breath hitching. I felt a large hand touch my shoulder gently.

I whipped around and swung the bat with all my strength. It made a sound CRACK as it met its target.

“Hey! What was that for?” I recognized that voice. I knew that voice so well, it was the voice I was praying to hear for weeks.

“Jacob?!” My hands fumbled for the light switch, I squinted as I turned it on. But I was able to see the boy in front of me now. Lo and behold, Jacob stood in front of me, like a giant brick wall. But he didn’t look like Jacob. His eyes were darker, heavy bags hanging beneath them. His skin was de-saturated, giving him a sickly look. His hair was messy, and his clothes were raggedy. I stepped back a bit.

“Jake, what are you doing here? How did you get in my house?! Why were you just waiting with the lights off?!” This didn’t make any sense, he avoided me for weeks, and then shows up in my house all creepy? I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand this boy. I untensed my shoulders, and sighed.

He looked away for a moment, he looked embarrassed. “You weren’t here, and I heard Leah say you were at her house so I thought I’d wait here for you. I didn’t think you’d let me in soaking wet.” Of course, Jacob knew where the spare key was. So he wouldn’t have had any trouble getting in without committing a crime. I sighed and looked him in the eyes.

The air was tense, we both just stood there for an uncomfortable amount of time. Neither of us knew what to say.

“I heard what you and Leah were talking about.” Jacob blurted. It caught me off guard before I remembered about their whole wolf telepathy. I huffed. I had so many things I wanted to say, but putting them into words was impossible. I thought of everything at once, before just meshing them all into one.

“Why?”

Maybe I shouldn’t have been so vague, but Jacob looked at me with a guilty expression. It was clear he understood, he knew exactly what I was asking without me even having to say it. I tried not to let it show, but I was trying not to cry. I thought of everything that happened the past few weeks, it felt like it had been years since I saw Jacob. Really saw him.

Within a month I had lost my best friend, fucked up my arm, had my perception of reality shattered, and now my long lost best friend broke into my house. And I still don’t know who he imprinted on.

I sighed and shook my head. “Why did you cut me off, Jacob? What did I do? Was it something I said? Or did I make you upset? Whatever I did I’m sorry-” I started to ramble, I couldn’t even look at him as I choked the words out of my mouth. I had told myself I was ready for this confrontation, but just thinking about it made my eyes swell with tears. I tried not to let my breath hitch.

Jacob looked guilty again, grimacing and looking down. When he looked back at me, he sighed. He held my face gently and wiped the tears from my eyes.

“[Y/N] I’m sorry please dont cry.” It was clear he didn’t know how to comfort me, but he was trying his best. I pushed his hands away harshly and wiped my face with my sleeves.

“I’m not crying, you’re crying.” I hid my face in my hands, trying to calm myself down. I heard him huff and take a step back. When I was ready, I made eye contact again. I didn’t care if I looked like a trainwreck. My hair was frizzy and messy from the rain, my eyes were now puffy from the tears, and I could only assume the bags under my eyes were prominent.

“Well? Are you going to answer?” I demanded, I don’t think it was wrong of me to want some damn answers.

He grimaced, and looked away. His eyebrows furrowed, scrunching together in thought. I watched the way his eyes darted around for a second, I analyzed his every move to try and figure out what would come next. I was waiting for the bad news, for some terrible fate to come crashing down on me. I was waiting for him to look me in the eye and tell me he hated me.

His gaze hardened, and his eyebrows scrunched up. The way they moved seemed harsher this time, more hostile.

“I had no other choice. I won't get you wrapped up in this.” His voice was firm, unwavering. His eyes were dark, completely unreadable. I felt them burn into my skin even as I looked away.

“It’s a little late for that Jake.” I mumbled. His huffed, and I saw his jaw tense. His upper lip curled up slightly, in a menacing snarl.

It was frightening.

I told myself I wasn’t going to be afraid of him. He didn’t hurt me on purpose, I just happened to be standing too close.

But as the boy in front of me shook again, I shook too. My heart pounded against my ribs, I pulled air into my lungs violently. My lungs burned from the force of my breaths. My eyes widened, and I took a tentative step back. I tried my best to hold a tough exterior. But it was obvious how easily Jacob saw through me.

He stopped, and blinked. His cold exterior fell for a second, showing the warm, sweet boy I knew before.

But as soon as it was dropped, he caught himself. I blinked and it was back, sending a shiver down my spine. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, holding his breath for a few seconds.

He let out a long exhale, and opened his eyes again. His calm and cool mask was back, no doubt hiding the anger I knew he was feeling.

But he deserved to be upset, after all that transpired. I failed to see where I could have possibly been wrong. What I could have possibly done to piss him off this much.

“I came to say goodbye.” He spoke, his voice didn’t waver for a second. His eyes didn’t move from mine, his unrelenting gaze intimidated me.

“What? Wait why are you leaving?” I asked, I didn’t try to hide my emotions this time. I was baffled, he’s leaving again?

“I just… have to. I’m sorry but this is the way it has to be.” My fat fucking ass it is.

“No it’s not, Jacob stop trying to run away from your problems!” I shouted, “What did I do to you? Why are you doing this to me?” I was frantic now, raising my voice at him.

“Goodbye.” He gave a curt nod, and turned around, making his way to the front door. I tried to grab at his shoulder to stop him but it was no use. He pushed forward, completely unaffected by my feeble attempts to hold him back.

He didn’t so much as glance at me as he opened the door, it gave a loud creek in response to being ripped open so suddenly.

I watched as he walked down the front steps of my porch, into the pouring rain.

I was vividly reminded of the first time he did this to me.

The first time Jacob had ripped my heart out of my chest, crushing it beneath his big stupid feet.

I stood in silence.

Not this time. I wouldn’t chase after him this time.

#jacob black #the twilight saga #angst no comfort #jacob black x reader #bisexual panic #mommy issues #jake is being an ass #originally posted on ao3

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hope-to-hell · 7 months

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The bedbug. Originally posted on ao3 waaaaay back in 2020. August Walker x Reader. Smut, noncon, blood, gore, dead dove do not eat, knives, restraints. August learns about the mating habits of bedbugs. He’s going to have a great time, but you? Not so much.

———

He comes out of a Wikipedia black hole with a brilliant fucking idea. Fucking brilliant? Either way it’s the same and it starts with knives and ends with his seed spattered in the ruins of your abdominal cavity.

And it’s just, he looks at you where you’re tied down, spread open and still sticky; he looks from the knife in his hand to his dick to your belly and back the other way. Lines the blade up alongside himself and sighs, twitches, the jerk and pulse of blood reflected in the knife. It’s sharp, so fucking sharp; he cares so for his toys. And he’ll care for you as well, if you survive this. Might not, though. It’s a process.

He’s working out the logistics, you can see it; he tells you all about the bedbug and its penis, how it stabs straight into its mate’s belly. And he can do some real damage with his, he has in fact; he’s left you bruised and bloody, left you aching, but even this is beyond him. For all his awful hardness, he still can’t stab into you. Not really. Hence the knife.

He holds himself parallel to the blade, presses himself right up along the flat of it and lucky for him, he’s big but the blade is bigger. And there’s fear coiling in your gut because he’s serious, he’s really fucking serious about this. He presses the tip of the knife to your belly, walks it just a little farther past the end of his cock, a little dead space between penetration and fucking.

He’s got a two-handed grip, keeping himself absolutely steady along the flat of the blade, guiding the entire fiendish apparatus to the softness inside your hipbone. The fourth and fifth fingers of his right hand come up to steady himself against your skin, considering. And then he shifts to a sharp and sudden angle and stabs inside.

The first thrust is sharp agony, and he cannot quite get inside that slender slit left by the end of the knife so he withdraws, shifts a little, cock pulsing in time to your screams. He adjusts the angle and tries again, making a line that intersects the first cut and now he’s inside you, now his hands are slippery with blood where they hold his cock against the knife, where his fingertips too disappear into the wound.

His hands slip; the knife twists wetly in his grip and he nearly loses his cock to it but lucky for him it’s only you who’s cut, the wound growing wider and more ragged by the moment. And he throws the knife away because he is wanton but he is not stupid; now he plants one hand on your belly and the other wraps around himself to line up, to guide himself back into the meaty mess of you.

And he is silent, so perfectly silent, teeth bared and eyes narrowed, not watching the twist of agony on your face even though he loves it so; he’s watching himself disappear inside you by inches, smearing blood all around the hole, leaving handprints and cock prints and unidentifiable smears all over your skin. He’s torn something inside, whatever keeps your organs in their proper places, and he has the freedom to slide slickly wherever he pleases. He goes shallow to see the outline of himself through your skin; he curls over you and thrusts deeply to feel your guts part around him. And all the while your kittenish moans and mewls are weak and growing weaker; they fuel him to drive in harder with every decrease in your own strength.

And you can’t feel it when he comes, there’s just too much other sensation between the tearing and cold-burning pain and the plain and pure fear of it, but you can’t miss the way he stills all of a sudden. You can’t miss the drips and spatters that fall back into the hole when he withdraws, or the self-satisfied look on his face as he sits back on his heels to watch you live or die. It’s much the same to him.

#henry cavill #august walker #august walker x reader #august walker x you #august walker fic #august walker smut #gore #sex and blood #dead dove do not eat #originally posted on ao3 #eons ago

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jazzystudios82 · 3 months

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His Lovely Rose - Chapter 23: Frieza Beaten

WARNING: This chapter contains gore, violence, and potential disturbing imagery.

Previous. . . . Next Story. . . .

——————————————————————————

Brier watched Vegeta and Frieza in the middle of their stand-off. It was like watching two rival gunslingers waiting for the other to draw their weapon in those films Kero likes so much. Though it was unclear if the "hero" would be able to defeat the "villain" in this unscripted battle.

"Sorry Frieza, but I can't let you kill Kakarot." Vegeta said. Brier blinked in surprise. Did Vegeta have a soft spot for Goku after all? "As annoying as he may be, I need him in my life so that I can have someone always pushing me to get stronger." he added.

Ah, so that was why. It made more sense actually.

"You. . .how dare you, you mongrel?! You coward!" Frieza shouted, angry at having been robbed of his moment.

'Coward? Says the one taking cheap shots. . .' Brier thought to herself, annoyed. Releasing a sigh, Brier outstretched her right arm and used magic to bring Goku's weakened body to her and the others. As soon as Goku's body made it to the group, Bulma and the Z-Fighters gathered around him.

"Dad, are you ok?!" Gohan exclaimed.

"Back up everyone." Brier commanded. "He needs room." Everyone nodded and backed away. "S-Sorry about making you do this, L-Lady Brier." Goku said, apologetic. "I-I screwed up big time, huh?"

"It's fine, Son Goku. Though I'm afraid Whis did try to warn you about something like this happening. So you should probably be more concerned with him." Brier told him.

Goku looked at Whis for a reaction. As always, Whis didn't seem to care.

Brier then gently placed her hands on Goku's chest and said, "laeH!" In a matter of seconds, the Saiyan's body was healed of its life-threatening injury.

Goku almost immediately sat up straight, alarming the others (except Beerus, Whis, and Brier). "Goku, take it easy!" Piccolo told him. "Relax! I'm fine! Looks like Lady Brier's magic works as well as the Senzu Beans!"

Upon seeing that his father was fine, Goten immediately hugged him. "D-Dad! I-I was so scared!" he cried. "Hey, it's ok bud. I'm alive, aren't I?" Goku said, attempting to calm his youngest son.

Before anyone else could speak, a loud blast was heard. Brier looked to see that Vegeta and Frieza were now fighting one another, and that the one known as 'Sorbet' had been shot in the chest, and was almost dying. Whether he was shot by Vegeta or Frieza during the battle was unclear to her, but she didn't care. It was when he made a weak attempt to shoot Vegeta that she decided that she had enough.

He needed to be taken care of now.

Brier then snapped her fingers and let out a low whisper, "emoC, oreK! Kcatta!" Suddenly, the ground beneath Sorbet turned blood red. Before Sorbet could react, his entire body was ensnared in the massive jaw of a cream colored wolf with glowing ochre colored eyes being pushed back into the sockets of its exposed white skull. The demonic wolf, Kero, was chomping on the now limp, bloody body of the former commander of the Frieza Force. It was such a disturbing sight that Bulma and Gohan made sure to cover the eyes of Trunks and Goten respectively. Pretty much everyone was disgusted by it, except for Beerus and Whis. They had seen this before, therefore they were used to it.

The giant wolf swallowed the remnants of Sorbet's body and licked his lips. He then looked at Brier, ignoring the others.

"Is this all that you called me for, my lady?" Kero asked, his voice booming like Shenron's. "Yes, that's all. I just needed you to take care of a pest for me. You can go back home if you wish." Brier said. "Although I wouldn't mind if you wanted to stay and meet everyone."

"Hmmmm. . . It's probably best that I go." Kero said. His eyes glanced at the others for a brief moment, startling them. "After all, it seems that the Earthlings don't want to be near me. Perhaps another time, with me in a more. . .comfortable form for them to comprehend."

"If that's what you want, then that's fine. We'll see you soon." Brier said as she bid him goodbye. The void-like portal that led Kero to Earth vanished as soon as his giant wolf head disappeared. As soon as he left, Gohan and Bulma allowed Trunks and Goten to see again. The only one who had the courage to ask Brier who that was was none other than Bulma herself.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Bulma exclaimed. "Him? That was Kero." Brier replied, nonchalant. "Kero. . .? Wait, isn't that the same name as Whis' co-worker?!" Bulma asked. "Are you telling me that that thing is the guy that is the same person Whis thought about bringing over for a party?!"

"Co-worker? I suppose that you can call him that." Brier replied. "Though he's technically my familiar, and-" "Familiar?! Is that a fancy way of saying a 'pet' or something?!" Bulma nearly shouted. "No. A familiar is a daemon who is in a contract with a god or goddess." Brier explained. Brier hoped that Bulma was done asking follow up questions. But alas, she wasn't.

"If you had something like that, why didn't you use him against Frieza?! We all could have-" "Ms Bulma, like what my husband said earlier, we're not really allowed to intervene in mortal affairs." Brier said. "What? Then why did you have that wolf eat that guy?!" Bulma questioned.

"It's simple. He annoyed me, and I decided to get rid of him." Brier answered with slight cold tone. This comment made Bulma slightly scared of the goddess. In fact, nearly all of the Z-Fighters were a little disturbed by it. Brier seemed like such a kind-hearted being that it seemed impossible to even imagine that she didn't care about taking the life of another person. Even if they worked for a bad guy.

"Are we finished now?" Brier asked, seemingly back to her regular mood. She then patiently waited for Bulma to answer. "I-"

An electric blue glow appeared from behind the goddess. "?" She turned around to see that Vegeta had transformed into Super Saigon Blue as well, having the same characteristics that Goku had prior.

"I-I don't believe it!" Brier heard Frieza shout, sounding shocked. She watched as the Saiyan Prince descended to the soil of the Earth with a smirk on his face. "Things have changed the last time you were around. For starters, I can now do this." Vegeta said. Frieza gritted his teeth in anger as Vegeta got closer. The tyrant then shot at Vegeta with an energy blast, but it had no effect. "?!"

Brier could tell that this was pushing Frieza over the limit as he continued to shot at the Saiyan. "NO! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!" he yelled. "You of all people should know about me: I don't share the same taste for forgiveness like Kakarot does! You're going back to Hell!" Vegeta declared. He flew straight towards Frieza and punched him in the abdomen, causing him to cough up a mixture of purple colored blood and saliva.

Vegeta avoided Frieza's attempts to punch him, using his newfound speed to attack the one who caused him so much pain. To rob him of his right to be king.

Vegeta used an excessive amount of force to kick Frieza's calf. The kick was so strong that he could hear the sound of bone shattering. It was obvious that Frieza's leg was now broken. Vegeta watched as the space lizard cried out in pain. To say that this made him feel a small amount of victory already was putting it lightly. But he knew that his fight wasn't over yet.

"Give it up Frieza. You don't stand a chance against the true power of a Saiyan God!" Vegeta said.

"It's simply not possible for me to be defeated by the likes of you Vegeta! It won't happen!" Frieza shouted. He made an attempt to stand, but was quick to remember what Vegeta did to his leg. He fell to the dirt once more, and to make matters worse, Frieza's golden form vanished, meaning that he was now in his original form once more. "!" Frieza tried to move away from Vegeta, but due to his injuries, he did make it very far.

"Woah, look at that! He's lost his golden form!" Krillin nearly exclaimed. "I guess this means that he's completely at Vegeta's mercy now." Piccolo commented as well. "Yeah. Sucks to be him, I guess." Goku said.

"How. . .how could this have happened?!" Frieza began to shout. "OUT OF ALL THE BEINGS IN THE UNIVERSE, THE ONE WHO GOT THE BETTER OF ME WAS VEGETA?! THIS IS NOT THE WAY THIS ENDS!" "Hmph. At least try to face your death with a shred of honor." Vegeta said with a cold smile. He then outstretched his right arm once more and was preparing an energy blast just for Frieza.

He had waited a long time for this. "And don't ever dream of resurrecting again."

"You. . .YOU CAN ALL GO TO HELL WITHOUT M-" Before Frieza could finish his sentence, a black circle appeared under his body, turning into a dark void instantaneously. Slimy ink-like tendrils formed around the tyrant and forcefully dragged him into the void, covering his mouth to prevent him from screaming. And just like that, Frieza was gone.

Everyone was stunned by what happened. Especially Vegeta.

'Was this some kind of new trick Frieza learned? To escape from his enemies?. . .' Vegeta wondered. He felt around for Frieza's energy to see if he was going to attempt a sneak attack of sorts. But he didn't sense anything. It appeared that Frieza was truly gone.

"Woah, what was that Vegeta?" Goku asked, he and the others going to the Saiyan Prince. "Did Whis teach you some kind of secret technique or something?"

"What? No, he didn't. I thought that Frieza had some kind of new escape tactic. Unless. . .Lady Brier, did you use magic to get rid of him?" Vegeta questioned, causing everyone to look at the goddess.

"N-No, I didn't. Believe me, I'm as shocked as you are." Brier answered honestly. "Although from the looks of it, Frieza didn't seem to have known about this. . .thing that took him, so it was most likely against his will."

"So you're saying that someone kidnapped Frieza?" Gohan asked. "Either that or perhaps Vegeta was right and he used a new method to escape. Or at least, a surviving member of his army did." Brier said.

"So then. . .does this mean that Frieza can come back?" Trunks asked. "Most likely, I'm afraid." Brier answered.

Everyone began to worry about the potential return the evil emperor, but Beerus decided to break their scared silence. "Oh relax! Even if he does come back, I'm sure that all of you will get stronger in the meantime. That is if you still want to protect Earth anyway."

"Of course we do! Why wouldn't we?!" Piccolo nearly shouted, but then remembered that he was speaking to a god. Luckily for him, Beerus didn't seem to care. "Good, then you can all worry about this for another day." he added.

"I hate to say it, but Lord Beerus is right. We should be happy that Earth's been spared for today." Bulma said. "Let's have a get-together at my place. What do all say?" Pretty much everyone nodded their heads.

As everyone began to get ready, Brier felt an odd presence nearby. "?" She looked around to see where it was coming from. Then her ruby eyes noticed a peculiar bird resting on a nearby tree. It was that damned crow from Bulma's birthday party. What the hell is it doing back here?

"-r? Brier?" The goddess turned around to see Whis and Beerus looking at her. "Darling, is something wrong?" Beerus asked. "What do you mean? You don't see the. . ." When she went to look back at the bird, Brier saw that it was gone. "That's odd." she mumbled, which the two men heard.

"What is, my lady?" Whis asked.

". . .You know what? It's been a long day, I'm probably just a little tired and seeing things." Brier replied, hoping that she was right. The Titan then walked with Beerus and Whis to follow the others to Capsule Corp for a celebration.

Location: Unknown Planet. . . .

Frieza roughly landed on the ground of a dark and cold room. Well, more specifically on something hard and boney. The sudden fall made the sharp pain in his broken leg worse. "Argh!! Who's the one that brought me here?! Just so you know, I'm NOT in a generous mood today!" Frieza yelled, his voice echoing across the vast room. His blood red eyes looked around for any source of light he could find and use so that he could get out. He didn't find any, it was just a vast darkness all around him.

Frustrated, Frieza created a small red energy orb with his finger to use a as a light source. And the first thing he saw was a wrinkled, lifeless body of what appeared to be a Namekian, who had a forever horrified look on his smelly decomposing face.

"!"

Frieza backed away in a panic, his back colliding into something. Or rather someone, given how soft it was. Frieza turned around to see a cloaked figure behind him. He couldn't see their face properly due to their face being partially obscured by their hood.

"W-Who are you?!" the tyrant shouted. "Tell me at once, you bastard!" "Oh my, you're a feisty one, aren't you~?" the hooded person said as a response, his voice rich and melodic. Like a siren. His voice strangely somehow managed to soothe Frieza just a little bit.

"I apologize for startling you, good sir. It wasn't my intention. And for the mess of the place. I haven't had guests for some time." the stranger said. He snapped his fingers and a strange mist appeared, getting rid of the Namekian body, and several skeletons that were nearby. When the mist disappeared, he muttered something in a language that Frieza couldn't understand. Whatever it was, it resulted in his leg healing.

"There you go. Hope you're feeling better now."

Frieza stood up from the ground and dusted himself off. "Who. . .who are you?" Frieza asked once more, this time more relaxed. "A possible new ally of yours, I hope." the stranger said. He then noticed the small light from Frieza's finger and chuckled, which sent a shiver down Frieza's spine. A pleasant one actually. "There's no need for that, anymore." he said as he then raised a hand up in the air, creating a white hot flame that flew to several chandeliers on the ceiling. This lit up the room properly. Frieza looked at the stranger to see if he could finally see what he looked like.

Frieza couldn't see the upper half of his face, only the mouth area. From what he could tell, the hooded figure had skin as white as porcelain, and cupid bow lips that were colored a deep shade of pink, and near the left side of his lips was a dark beauty mark. Even though he couldn't see the entirety of his face, Frieza could tell that this man was a rather attractive individual, like Zarbon was when he was alive and in his primary form.

"Is there something odd about me, Lord Frieza?" he asked. "You're staring." "!" Frieza couldn't believe that he was caught staring. This was not like him. This wasn't like him at all.

"M-My apologies, Mr. . .?"

"Right, I never did tell you my name did? I'll fix that soon enough." the stranger said as a black ink-like portal appeared behind him, allowing a half-skeletal crow to enter in the room and fly to the hooded figure and gently land on his left shoulder. Frieza's eyes widened in surprise at the sight. It was similar to the one that brought him here. "Wait, are you the one who saved me from meeting my demise?" Frieza asked.

"Yes, I am. I've had my eye on you for a while now, and I believe that you and I can be beneficial to each other for our. . .respective goals, to say the least." the stranger said, not minding the fact that the crow was now resting on his shoulder. "I have an offer to make, if you're interested that is."

Frieza raised a 'brow' in suspicion. "As intriguing as that is. . .I would still like to know your name before we talk about your 'offer'."

"Oh! Right! Of course." the hooded figure said. "How rude of me. A thousand apologies, good sir. I'm called 'Montsechia'. Though you can call me just call me 'Monty' for now. Does that sound good?"

"I suppose it'll do. Now tell me, uh Monty, how do you plan on helping me?" Frieza asked. Monty smiled and said, "Oh, I'm so glad that you asked~." He stood up and led Frieza to a nearby table with two chairs that seemed to have been made from bone and silver. Where Monty got the bones from, Frieza didn't really want to know. But then again, it's not like he wasn't capable of performing disturbing acts himself.

Frieza sat in his chair and waited for his savior to do the same. Upon sitting down, Monty snapped his fingers and it resulted in a bottle of wine and two crystal clear glasses to appear in front of the two. "Would you like a drink?" he asked. "It's chilled."

"I suppose." Frieza answered.

Monty placed the glasses on the table and poured the dark red liquid in both of the glasses. He gave Frieza a glass and took a sip from his. Frieza looked at the contents of the glass. He sniffed it to see if there was something wrong with it. He didn't smell anything wrong, but that didn't mean that Monty didn't try anything. It could contain an odorless poison that could kill him in an instant.

"Is something on your mind, Lord Frieza?" Monty asked. "Did you put anything in this? Such as a poison that only affects its intended target?" Frieza questioned, acting as if Monty was a criminal in an interrogation room. And Monty reacted in a way Frieza didn't expect: he laughed. Frieza waited for him to stop so he can get his answer.

"Oh my. . .You're not one to trust easily, are you?" Monty joked, having calmed down.

"After what I've been through, of course not!" Frieza nearly shouted.

Monty laughed once more at Frieza's little outburst, revealing a pair of sharp white fangs that glistened in the light from the white hot fire. "Oh, you truly are going to be fun to have around." he said, which caused Frieza to become embarrassed. What the hell is that supposed to mean?

After composing himself, Monty said, "Answer me this: Why would I save you only to then poison you? It'd be a waste, wouldn't it?"

". . ."

"Aw, what's wrong, Lord Frieza? Cat got your tongue?~"

Frieza said nothing as he took a sip from his glass. He was pleasantly surprised by the taste. How did someone who lived in such. . .morbid and decrepit area have such a fine tasting wine like this? Frieza cleared his throat and said, "Well, I can see now that you mean no. . .physical harm. So tell me: why do you need my help with whatever it is that you're planning?"

Monty placed his glass back on the table, and let out a sigh. "Well, normally I wouldn't need outside help, but I'm not exactly as great as I used to be back in my prime."

In his prime? Just how old was this man?! Frieza thought he was a relatively young man, since he seemed to have smooth skin and sounded like he was barely a day over twenty. Maybe he belonged to an alien race that aged slowly or stopped aging at a certain point in their life.

"I'm building an army. And I need a right hand man to help me with the process." Monty said honestly. Frieza blinked in surprise. "You want me as your right hand man? And what makes you think that I wish to follow you?"

"Oh please, haven't you ever heard of the phrase, 'you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours'? If you help me build an army and take back what belongs to me, then I'll help you make the Frieza Empire the greatest force in the entire universe. I can make you the most fearsome being this solar system has ever seen and no one will ever question your rule." Monty said with a grin. "And all you have to so is help me, and everything that you desire will be yours. What do you say?"

Frieza took a minute to think it over. There had to be more to this deal, right? It sounded too good to be true after all. But if he wanted to take down Goku and his friends, then he's going to need all the help he's going to get, especially if he wanted to be Emperor of the Universe. Besides, if this "Monty" proved to be troublesome in the future, he could always just kill him.

Frieza took another sip from his wine, and after placing the now cool glass on the table, outstretched his hand for Monty to take.

"Very well, Monty. You've captured my interest. You have yourself a deal."

Location: Planet Earth, Capsule Corp. . . .

Brier took a sip from her wine glass as she watched everyone chatting amongst themselves. She herself wasn't in the mood to interact with anyone, for she was mentally drained and wanted to go back home to rest. The goddess stood up from where she sat and was going to walk to Beerus and get his attention. But she stopped in her tracks when she felt someone lightly tug on the skirt of her attire.

Brier turned to see that it was none other Goten and Trunks. "May I help you boys?" Brier asked. "I'm fine, but Goten wanted to say something to you, Miss Brier." Trunks said, gesturing to his dark haired friend. "I just wanted to say thank you for helping my dad." Goten told her. "Oh it wasn't a problem, Young Goten." Brier said, kneeling in front of the boy with a little smile. "Is there anything else that you wanted to say or was that it?" "If it's alright, can you show us more of those magic tricks like you did on Bulma's birthday?" Goten asked with a hopeful smile. The goddess's smile turned bigger and let out a little laugh before replying with, "Of course. What kind of tricks do you want to see?"

The first to reply was Trunks, now getting interested. "Can you do that trick with the butterflies? Only this time, can you make like a horse or something?" Brier nodded and with a flick of her wrist, created a big glowing rose red stallion made up of magical energy. Trunks and Goten became excited and immediately got up on the horse, which sprouted wings and began to ascend up in the air and took the boys for a ride.

Their parents and everyone else noticed and were amazed by the sight. Brier even heard young Marron ask her parents, Krillin and Android #18, if she could ride on the horse when Trunks and Goten were done. After Trunks and Goten were done, the young blonde girl was placed on the back of the magical stallion and began to go for a ride as well, with her mother #18 going with her to make sure she didn't fall.

Brier then felt a tap on her shoulder, and she turned to see that it was none other than Beerus. "What is it, love?" she asked. "It's time for us to leave. Whis has gone to bring back leftovers for us, so he'll be back soon." Beerus said. "Oh, is it?"

"We have no business here, and I can see that you're tired." Beerus added, placing his arm around her waist and bringing her body close to his. Brier nodded her head slightly and said, "Of course you noticed. I assume that this means that you want to for us to nap together again?" "We could. But if you still have enough energy, I can think of something else for us to do back home~" he whispered in her ear.

"!" The goddess face warmed up at the suggestion. "B-Beerus!" she nearly exclaimed, flustered. "What?" he said innocently, though Brier knew that his mind was anything but. Brier gave Beerus an amused smile and said, "Very funny, love. As tempting as that sounds, I'm afraid that I'll have to decline. I'm not in the mood." Beerus shrugged his shoulders and said, "Oh well. If that's what you want. I can settle for a nap with you."

"Oh I know you can." "Hey. . ."

Brier gave her husband a playful shove as she walked to the others to inform them of their departure. The first to notice her was Bulma and Goku. "Hey Lady Brier! How're you doing? Is everything alright?" Goku asked, taking a bite of a piece of barbecued meat he had on his plate. "I'm fine, Son Goku. I've simply come to inform you all that Beerus, Whis, and I are going to leave soon." Brier answered. "What? Already?"

"I apologize. But since we don't have any business here, we have to leave." Brier told him and Bulma. "Oh, well that's fine." Bulma said. "Again, I'm sorry for the three of us having to leave so suddenly." Brier said. Just as she was about to leave, Goku stopped her by asking, "Wait, Lady Brier! Are you guys still gonna come to Pan's party?" "Your granddaughter's party? Oh, is it to celebrate her birth?" Brier asked. "Yeah! I kind of haven't done anything for her yet, and Chi-Chi wants me to be a good grandpa for her." Goku explained.

"Hmmm. . .I suppose I can come as long I'm not too busy. And as for Beerus and Whis, they can come with me as well as long as there's good food for them." Brier said. "All right. And this time we'll be sure to have enough pudding for Lord Beerus to have!" Goku declared. "Goku! Don't go making promises that we can't probably keep!" Bulma told him. "What? You have money, so can't you just-"

Seeing that this was her time to leave, Brier bid everyone goodbye and walked back to her husband and Whis, who had a bag filled with food that the chefs made for them personally. The three deities left the planet and were now traveling through space with Whis in charge of taking them all home. During the ride, Brier fell asleep, causing Beerus to wrap his free arm around her body and to hold on tight, so that she didn't fall into the vacuum of space.

Location: Beerus's Planet. . . .

Beerus woke up to find himself in bed with Brier, whose back was facing him. Beerus softly smiled as he made an attempt to bring her body close to his for warmth. But then he sensed the energy of three deities nearby. What made it odd was that they were three people he wasn't expecting to see for a while. Letting out a low growl, Beerus got out of bed and put on his shoes, ready to confront the trio near his planet. The destroyer made sure to silently close the door so that he didn't wake up Brier. As he was walking through the hallway, he made contact with Whis.

"You can sense it too, right?" Beerus asked. "Yes, I can." Whis answered. "Take me to him, now." Beerus ordered. Whis nodded and used his staff to transport the two off planet. They were now in front of the three unexpected visitors. He was primarily looking at his twin, Champa, with annoyance.

"I've heard of people getting lost, but you're taking it to new heights." Beerus said. "Ha! So you're awake for once, guess there is such a thing as miracles!" Champa said as a slight jest. "You wanna go?!" Beerus nearly shouted, but then he decided to take a minute to calm down. The sooner he can get this over with, the better. "You're in the 7th universe, Champa. Surely you know that as a Destroyer god of the 6th universe, you have no business being here." Beerus told him.

"Will you relax? We were just taking a short cut. Honestly, why do you feel the need to be such a stickler?" Champa said. "How Brier puts up with you, I'll never know." "What was that?" Beerus asked darkly. A woman with bright pink hair noticed Beerus' tone and was quick to jump in. "Please do forgive Lord Champa, Lord Beerus. He didn't mean anything by it." she said, trying to calm him down.

"And you're sure about that?" Beerus asked. "Of course! You know how he is sometimes, saying things without thinking."

"Camellia!" Champa shouted, his cheeks turning pink. "What?" Camellia said, genuinely confused. Not wanting this to take any longer, Beerus asked, "So what's the reason why you came?" "I told you already, the three of us were going on a stroll!" Champa declared loudly.

"If you say so. C'mon Whis, let's go back." Beerus told his angel. "Right away sir." Whis said. "W- Wait, that's it? You're just. . .gonna let it go like that?" Champa asked, shocked. "I'm a bit too tired to care at the moment. Just be glad that I am letting this go and not keeping you here for an interrogation." Beerus said as Whis took them back home.

Beerus and Whis both went their separate ways. The angel went to his room for some much needed alone time while Beerus went back to Brier's room so he could sleep next to her again. But as he opened the door, Beerus was shocked to see that she wasn't in the bed. He looked all over the room to find her, but she was no where in sight. Where was she?

The destroyer's ears picked up the sound of Brier humming a gentle tune, so he followed the sound to learn where she was. It led him straight to the bathroom, and as he opened the massive metal door, he was met with the sight of a naked Brier in the bathing pool. She stopped humming when she heard the door opening and closing, and turned her head to see Beerus by edge of the pool.

"Oh! You're back. Do you want to join me?" she asked, stretching out her wet hand for him to take if he wanted. Beerus nodded and removed every article of clothing he had on and took Brier's hand, joining her in the bath. He wrapped his arms around her body and brought her close to him, her back touching his chest. "So, who was here?" Brier asked. "My annoying brother Champa." Beerus mumbled, placing his chin on her bare shoulder.

"Really? For what reason did he decide to visit Universe #7?"

"I don't know. He said that he was going for a stroll, but I know that he was lying. He's up to something that he doesn't want me to know about."

"Beerus! Why must you always assume that he's up to something?"

Location: Outer Space. . . .

"Vados, how many have we collected so far?" Champa asked. "So far, we have five in total." Vados answered. "And based on our luck so far, the last two will be much harder to find, yes?" Camellia asked. "It's possible." Vados said.

"That means that we have to be more careful from now on." Champa told them. "I don't want Beerus or Whis finding out that we're almost done with getting the Super Dragon Balls!"

------------------------------------------------------------

Montsechia "Monty" Info:

Voice Claim: Hexxus from Ferngully: The Last Rainforest

Age: N/A

Gender: Male

Species: Titan

Powers & Abilities: Magical Prowess

------------------------------------------------------------

AN: And that's a wrap on Book One! Thanks to those who stuck around to see how this would go! And in case you were wondering, I did make a picrew of what "Monty" will look like, from here on out, though it's as close as I could get anyway: please ignore the human ears and pretend that they are elf ears and that his hair is straight. As for the purple paint and the blood? Let's just say that he got a bit creative when designing his mask's look.

I'll do proper designs for all of the original characters at some point in the future when I can draw digitally.

Hope you'll check out Book Two when I post it here. If you want to read it right away, you can check out my Ao3 account.

#dragon ball #dragon ball super #his lovely rose au #bride of the destroyer story #beerus x original character #lord beerus #whis dbs #son goku #vegeta #bulma briefs #the z fighters #frieza #original dragon ball characters #originally posted on ao3 #writers on tumblr #ao3 writer #dragon ball fanfic #oc x canon

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jolenes-doppelganger · 1 month

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Alert alert! Lady Jessica lovers, please go read this fic. If this is your work of fiction, let me know so I can tag you!!!!

#lady jessica x reader #lady jessica x you #fic rec #originally posted on ao3

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sigmxnd · 24 days

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forever (short story)

hi everyone :3 i posted this on ao3 not that long ago, but since a few more people are aware of my ocs on here, i kinda wanna try my hand at posting a story just on my account!!!!! this took me months with LOTS of breaks inbetween, but it's finally finished and i'm extremely proud of it. i hope you enjoy :3

~♡~

Leo's screaming fell upon his own deaf ears as his knees painfully hit the wooden floor. That wasn't him.

And yet they all still identified him.

Leo choked on his own wails and sorrowful tears, tearing the hoodie off his back and tossing it away from him. The fabric made him want to tear himself apart.

He was so deformed, destroyed. Twisted and cracked. His form resembled a horrific art project, a test of what the human body was capable of and how far the limits could possibly be pushed. And McLean was smiling.

A sick man and his best work. The ratings would fill his dinner plate tonight.

Leo could only wonder if he had any shred of consciousness left. If he was there now, would he even be recognized? If he hadn't left, would any of this have happened? The scenarios only encouraged the bile that threatened to escape his stomach. He couldn't handle this; not now, not ever.

Was 'he' even there? His body may have been, but the crowd calling upon his name seems to bring no reaction. His eyes only filled with one emotion that reflected throughout his terribly thin body as he reached towards Chris through the bars. Fury.

But maybe, if Leo called out for him, if he could only scream louder and reach his arms for the only one he'd ever desired to hold.. Maybe he was still there. Still clawing and fighting and looking for him, through the blinded mind of an animal. Hoping that someone would come back for him.

Leo didn't realize he'd moved to a different room until he heard the bathroom door open, seeing the taller stature of Sigmund from his spot on the cool tile floor. The blonde kneeled in front of him, reaching out and tenderly taking one of his wet hands.

"Can you hear me?" Sigmund mumbled, and though his head was pounding and his chest that felt far too small for the breaths he took, he nodded.

"Focus on me, if you can. Everything will be okay."He didn't understand. How could he? It certainly wasn't his fault, Leo couldn't blame the emotions he could never feel on him, but how could he ever see a silver lining in a ravenous tornado?

The front of his shirt was becoming uncomfortably soaked. He wanted to writhe, rip the cotton in two and free his body from the cage. Like a beast. The associated imagery didn't help.

"Maybe it's all a trick. You know how Chris is, he'll do anything to keep his show popular. Especially if it had something to do with the person everybody loves and talks about."

Although he wasn't wrong, how on Earth could he have faked that? It didn't seem like any kind of high budget CGI, a stuntman in makeup, a real animal, anything. Leo felt as though he wouldn't have known it was him so profoundly if it wasn't real.

His mind finally slipped the name. It only worsened his already severe sobbing. It really was Ezekiel.

Sigmund had stopped trying to comfort him, most likely realizing nothing he could say was going to help him. He sat properly beside him, letting the light brunette grip his hand as hard as he needed to.

The agony stayed for longer than he could bear to keep track of.

Leo had found he never particularly cared for eating at restaurants. Always too noisy for him and too expensive, the idea never seemed worth it. And while a café seemed to get grouped in with that concept, when Sigmund suggested a local shop that didn't seem to get too populated, it didn't seem like a horrible idea.

The drive was silent, which Leo was thankful for, but he could tell Sigmund didn't enjoy it. He needed sound, something to fill the air and give him a chance to get out at least some of his pent up energy he couldn't expel elsewhere. But Leo couldn't bring himself to engage, feeling mostly numb. He'd spent himself with the constant crying and feeling the most rock bottom he thought he'd ever felt, and now there wasn't much left to give. As dramatic as it sounded in his head, there wasn't a better way to tell it.

The tiny building was admittedly very cute. They stepped inside, and he was satisfied that the described environment didn't disappoint. The two men placed their orders and went to sit, not exchanging words between each other. It didn't bother Leo, but evidently Sigmund couldn't take it anymore, breaking the air with a sentence that stirred the still emotions inside of him.

"They're making a new season." He muttered, audible enough for the man across from him to hear. "I don't know why. I don't know where it'll be, either. But I just heard about it."

Leo sighed and put his face in his hands, trying to keep himself from bursting into tears in a calm atmosphere. To his surprise, it mostly worked. "Awesome. I can't wait." The sarcasm practically dripped from his teeth onto the freshly cleaned tables, and he'd started to feel guilty as he saw a blur of the blonde man beginning to fidget with his hands nervously. He wasn't mad at Sigmund for anything; the entirety of everything simply weighed him down to the point of not having the capacity to fake it 'till he made it. He just couldn't.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to make it seem like I'm angry at you, I'm not."

"No, don't worry, man. You've been.. Dealing with a lot. I shouldn't have brought it up."

The spiked edges of the old grief stabbed his chest and burned at his eyes. 'Not now.'

"It's fine." He replied in a flat voice, looking out the window as Sigmund got up to retrieve their drinks. He felt the desire to be in the closed off box of his room develop in his mind and tug at his limbs, but he didn't move. He was long due for a day out of the house, and he was going to get through it, no matter how badly he wanted to go home.

When the man returned, they quietly enjoyed their drinks, equally knowing that any more conversation would surely lead to something worse.

Sigmund knew he was far from being over it. Even without it being visually obvious, he just knew Leo had been struggling to live the way he had before. Which was completely understandable.

He tried to help as best he could, but he didn't know how. Asking would typically work, but Leo's mind clouded and would overload so frequently that it made it hard for him to even know what he needed himself.

He just wished he could connect with the way he felt. Take his feelings and memories and put them in his own head, so he could be a more effective friend. It wasn't a really good train of thought, as friends couldn't be labeled by how 'effective' they were, but he found he had a hard time trying to find a better term for it.

He'd been there as much as he could, whether it was just as the comforting presence of another person or to be the encouraging voice to get him to eat. That was another thing Leo had been battling with; he'd told Sigmund it was hard to not imagine what Ezekiel had to (more so what he couldn't) eat throughout the period of him going crazy, and it made him sick to his stomach. It was rough looking for a technique to help with that.

Today, he'd constantly been worrying about the words that left his mouth, knowing all too well he had the habit of saying things without thinking, nearly every moment they came to mind. He'd tried to keep from internally cursing himself as he drove Leo back to his home, as it wouldn't help anything, though he lost that battle quite unfairly.

They hopped out of the parked car when they'd arrived, walking up the driveway and turning to each other at the door.

"Do you need me to stay for anything?" Sigmund asked softly, putting his hands in his hoodie pockets awkwardly. He wasn't sure what to do with his hands in moments of nervousness; he typically tried to settle on putting them away. "I don't have anything to do today, and my mom can just call if she needs me."

The taller shook his head, digging in his pants pockets for his house key. "No, it's fine." Turning the key in the lock, he paused before he put his hand on the knob. Sigmund took notice of the hesitation and furrowed his brows.

"You okay?"

Leo took a quiet, restricted breath. "Sorry, I lied. Can you stay?" He wiped his face on his deep blue hoodie before turning back to Sigmund, scratching at the raw skin of his hands that had been far past itchy hours ago.

"Yeah, of course."

As the trees became bare with the unforgiving winter, Leo slowly moved back into his normal routines. The grief hadn't gotten a lot easier, many things still made his heart hurt and have the potential to ruin his day, but Sigmund had helped him with healing more than he realized.

He knew he didn't have to, and there was a chance it wouldn't be accepted out of humility, but he wanted to get his friend something as a 'thank you' for not abandoning him when he was most vulnerable. He didn't think he wouldn't, but he was still beyond grateful.

Though after lasting two seconds thinking about it, he figured he'd just grab some snacks and go visit him.

Parking in the driveway of the modest two-story house, an unpleasant shiver ran up Leo's spine as he exited the warm car into the contradicting temperature outside. He knocked on the equally freezing door, not having to wait long before he was greeted by an unusual concerned look displayed on Sigmund's mother's face. She looked a bit surprised to see him at the door, but she couldn't get a word out before an unintelligible and distressed yell echoed from upstairs.

"My apologies, Leo, I didn't know you were coming. Sigmund is upstairs, but I'm not sure if he wants to be interrupted at the moment." She stepped aside and let him in, locking the door behind him. The warmth spread throughout his face and down to his bones, and he sighed contentedly, a small piece of calm before he was startled by another angry exclamation. A swear word he, frankly, never planned on repeating.

"Is he okay?" The taller man asked, readjusting the plastic bag he held. Maybe what he'd bought wasn't quite right for this.

"Yes, he's just on a call with somebody, I forget who. I checked on him a bit ago and he's very upset, but thankfully the walls are insulated enough that the neighbors can't hear him. I've been trying to tune him out until he comes down for any comfort." She sat down on the couch, taking a sip of a soda she had. "Feel free to sit down, if you'd like."

"Thank you, but I'm okay. I'll go see what's up." He made his way up the stairs, stopping every time a shout rung through his ears. By the time he made it to the cracked door, the vibrations of the blonde evidently pacing around his room could be felt through his navy boots.

"FUCK YOU!" Sigmund cried, a flash of black flying past the light creeping out of the doorway. No thump was heard, which was slightly relieving, but it was nullified immediately at the sound of Leo's friend uncontrollably sobbing.

Leo approached the door, knocking gently and standing awkwardly. The door was flung open by a disheveled and seething Sigmund on the other side, who eased up at the sight of him and dropped his shoulders silently. "Oh, um.. Hi." He stepped back from the door, trying to inconspicuously wipe his tears on his shirt.

Leo wasn't sure what to say. The emotion in his chest was different this time; not quite the same grief he'd been trying to deal with for months. It hurt without the crushing hopelessness welling up in his eyes and throat. He felt something bloom in his chest, hardening his heart while opening it up to the vulnerable man in front of him.

Hesitantly, he stepped towards him, setting the plastic bag of snacks down on the ground and extending his arms to Sigmund. The way he'd desperately wanted to, days and days ago. Without a second thought, he nearly fell into Leo's offered hug, completely breaking down and muffling his cries in the taller man's soft blue jacket.

"Hey."

Startled, Leo and Sigmund looked up from each other, up at the stranger standing at their table.

"Oh hey, I know you. Aaron, right?" Sigmund pointed out, putting on a fake voice to try and cover up what they were both feeling. Leo simply folded his hands on the table and anxiously tapped on his skin. "You were in the newest season."

"Yeah. I know you guys too, no need to tell me or anything." Aaron rustled in the pockets of his white jacket, clearly trying to grab hold of something. "I don't want anything, I just came by to.. Stir shit up, I guess." He gestured for Sigmund to lean forward and whispered something inaudible in his ear, causing the blonde to put on his iconic shit-eating grin and cover his mouth some.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" He mumbled, trying to hold back his giggling. Aaron smiled slightly and nodded, the former pulling his jacket over his nose to muffle his laughter. The dark brunette then turned to Leo, pulling out a folded up piece of paper and putting it in front of him.

"You don't gotta open it right now. I just figured you might want it."

Those words repeated in Leo's head the entire way back to Sigmund's house, he was (they both were, frankly) dying to see what it was. As soon as they parked, they flew in the house and up the stairs, holing themselves up in Sigmund's room.

"Okay open it, I think I might explode if I don't know what it is." The blonde threw himself on the bed, flipping onto his stomach and leaning his chin on his palms. The taller sat next to him, delicately opening the mysterious paper.

The air went from warm, to very, very cold. They exchanged no words, nor a glance, seeing a slightly weathered, signed photo of Ezekiel in his corny rapper persona.

"Okay, I think that's the last box." Sigmund sighed heavily and sat down against the wall, twisting his soda open and taking quite an unreasonable drink. It caused him to choke and cough, but he couldn't care.

"Cool." Leo slumped next to him, also taking a (better) drink of his pop. The room was empty for now, but hopefully unpacking everything wouldn't take forever.

"Jesus, why is all my shit so heavy? Are you sure you didn't hide a vintage brick collection in my boxes?"

"Last I checked, I don't collect bricks, but you never know. Maybe I did."

Infectious giggles filled the vacant space of the room, causing the two to almost spill their drinks on each other. When Sigmund calmed down, his eyes caught on the already assembled desk table. "Hey, since that's already up, we could probably fill it with stuff. You still tired?"

"Nope. Let's do it."

Simultaneously singing along to the likes of 2010's hits and popular emo music ("Is it true emo though?" Leo asked, to which Sigmund shrugged and said "Who cares, it's good.") while unpacking stuff for the table, it seemed to get faint when Leo picked up the picture of Ezekiel he framed years ago.

It had gotten a little dirty before he'd put it behind the glass, but it still nearly looked as good as when he'd got it. He knew now that it definitely couldn't look like it did when it was taken, but he didn't care. It didn't make it any less special.

"Put it there, I can surround it in dinosaurs." Sigmund pointed to a specific area of the table, holding a clump of plastic dinosaurs in the other hand. Leo chuckled softly as he gently placed the frame on the table, helping surround the picture with not so menacing looking creatures.

"Perfect, now he will never leave and can forever live in fear of these dollar store prehistoric.. Things."

Stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets, he blinked back some tears as he smiled. A familiar, loving warmth took up all the space in his heart.

"Yeah. Forever."

[end ♡]

#text #total drama #short story #writing #originally posted on ao3 #td oc #sigmund!!#leo!!#aaron!!#oc x canon #< implied #post canon #angst with a happy ending #this is pretty much me reposting all the tags on the ao3 version xiahsoxjak #but sorry to everyone else cause i don't really wanna do that..........

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ponlibrary · 5 months

Text

✿ The Princess Owns You ✿

> A Kim Gaeul x Jang Wonyoung story <

Rumors are going around that IVE is going to be disbanded and when an invitation to Jang Wonyoung to debut as a soloist became public, the members start to suspect that the future of the group is uncertain. However, Wonyoung promises to stay and to do everything to keep the group alive if and only if the girl everyone thought she disliked, Kim Gaeul, accepts her dark proposal.

WARNING: BLACKMAIL AND DUBIOUS CONSENT.

In the last evening of January Liz, Rei and Gaeul were hanging out at a karaoke, Liz and Rei were having a great time, Rei took the time to show some J-pop classics from her childhood to her friends, the three of them were smiling and kind of singing on beat, however even with the disco illumination of the room the eyebags below Gaeul’s eyes were still noticeable. The song ended, Liz jumped to pick the next song, but Rei tried to intervene and pick something she wanted, Gaeul lowered her head trying to ignore the playful fighting of the other two.

"Ok what if just this once, we pick one of our songs?" Said Rei pointing at the screen.

"Ugh, ok but which one?" Replied Liz rolling her eyes

"What about Love Dive?"

"Oh! yes it's been a while since we don't do that one just for fun," Liz replied, then she looked at Gaeul "Also I remember that unnie loves to sing Wony’s parts."

Gaeul almost screamed, "No." The joyful expression of the girls disappeared.

"Unnie, are you ok?" Asked Rei, Gaeul squeezed her eyes and used her hands to avoid being seen almost crying.

"Excuse me, I'll meet you outside." Gaeul left the room.

Gaeul stepped on the street, some people were passing by but none of them recognised her. A chill air brushed her face while she was staring down at her phone’s screen ––3 missed calls from Yujin ––. The girl unlocked her cellphone and took a deep breath just before she looked up and saw on top of a building across the street, a massive billboard adorned with Jang Wonyoung’s face. She clenched her jaw but her eyelids started to quiver, finally found a release throwing her cellphone in the direction of the billboard landing just a few steps from where she was.

"Fuck you!" Gaeul screamed trying to find some relief. Tears began to pour out of her eyes, just a few seconds later Rei and Liz came out giggling from the karaoke, just to witness her friend and unnie curbed down in the sidewalk crying.

“Gaeul!” Quickly Rei helped the crying girl to stand up and comforted her with a hug.

"What's happening?" Asked Liz while Rei was using her hands to brush Gaeul’s hair back into shape.

"No-nothing," she said, still stuttering from the crying.

"Oh unnie, your mobile." Liz went to retrieve the device, she lifted from the floor a cellphone with a smashed screen, unresponsive to her attempts to make it turn back on. Liz hummed confused, then looked up and saw the same billboard that made her unnie rage out, it was from a pretty famous makeup brand, but Liz understood what was happening just by looking at the model. The girl looked back at her group mates, only Rei stared back at her.

"Um, Gaeul unnie," whispered Rei, trying to sound as soft as possible.

"Do not tell this to Yujin," said Gaeul, separating herself from her bandmate.

"Come on unnie it's important–."

Gaeul interrupted, "Please, I’ll explain it to her, later, but she was trying to call me, she must be worried."

"Yes she was, but she called me just a bit ago, it’s all ok, but we have to come back to the dorm," Interjected Liz.

"Why? it’s not even that late" Asked Gaeul with a hopeful glint in her eyes.

"Well—.” Liz hesitated to continue“—You-know-who, is finally coming back."

"Oh, it’s her," Gaeul replied with a dry tone "Call our chauffeur or something," said while plucking her broken cell phone from Liz’s hands, she continued "Oh right, they don’t have those for us anymore," before walking a couple of steps away from her group mates.

Rei reached for Gaeul’s shoulders from behind and softly said, “Unnie we can wait a little bit here, there is no need to rush.”

Gaeul joined one of her hand’s with Rei’s, and said, “If Yujin needs us to come back, we must come back”.

Rei tried to protest, “But you–.” However she was interrupted by her unnie.

“I’m fine!” Gaeul then looked for her other bandmate, “Liz?”

"Right, I’ll call a taxi," said Liz. The trip back to the dorm went pretty silent.

— — —

When they arrived at their dorm, there was no one waiting for them, they removed their shoes and then they noticed sounds coming from inside Wonyoung’s room. Gaeul stared terrified, was Wonyoung already waiting for them?

“Oh sorry, hello everyone! I was hoping you would take a bit longer," said Yujin happily, coming out of the room with an empty plastic bag and wipes. Gaeul, being the shortest, fell back so she could hide behind her group mates,“I was just making sure her room was squeaky clean." The trio saluted her back.

“Yujin unnie, is she really coming back today?” Asked Rei looking at the time on her cellphone.

“Yes Wonyoung is on her way here, so we need to—," said Yujin getting close to the trio, “—what happened?” Asked in a serious tone when she noticed Gaeul’s eyebags and red eyes.

“Sorry I- I fell yeah," murmured Gaeul lowering her head. “Excuse me," she said, leaving the rest of the cliche and going inside her shared room. Yujin stared down at Liz, who simply shook her head.

Gaeul entered the room and found Leeseo putting some makeup on their shared secretter, the youngest member of the group was listening to some music, oblivious to the oldest, who decided to gain her attention by quickly poking Leeseo’s shoulders. The girl flinched scared.

“Sorry!” Said Gaeul, almost laughing.

"Unnie! Hello! How was the karaoke?” Replied Leeseo, taking out one of her airpods but still looking at the mirror, barely glancing at the other one.

“Not as good as I hoped for, hey are you preparing to welcome Wonyoung?” Asked Gaeul while taking off her jacket.

“Yes! I’m so excited, as her favorite group member I have to look the prettiest!” Said Leeseo, almost dancing to her own words.

“That’s nice of you." Gaeul came closer to the side of her younger bandmate and said, “Hey, does it bother you if I hug you for a bit?"

“Not at all! Come here unnie." Leeseo moved towards Gaeul, finally noticing her face, “Oh, unnie?” The oldest slided her arms under Leeseo’s, and hid her face inside the soft embrace. "Unnie is everything ok?'' said Lesseo, just before Gaeul started to sob, quietly.

“I don’t want her to come back."

Leeseo started to look around the room, confused about what to do now “I'm sorry," quietly said in her unnie’s ear, she then raised her voice carefully to not shout too close to her friend, “Yujin unnie, please come in!” An affirmative response was barely audible from outside the room.

“Is she—” Questioned Yujin just entering the room, but she stopped at the sight of her unnie looking back at her not only crying but also angry, still embracing the youngest member of the group.

“What do you want now?!” Screamed Gaeul back at her. Yujin just nodded in silence, then exited the room for a moment, just to come back with a cup filled with water. When she came close to the oldest girl, she made a gesture so Leeseo moved back. When Gaeul looked up, she was met by a splash of cold water, leaving her dripping wet. “What the heck!” Gaeul shouted.

“Les, could you leave us here alone for a moment? I really need to talk with our unnie." After hearing Yujin, Leeseo complied, took her makeup palette, and left the room. Once the girl left, Gaeul gained back her composure and looked back at Yujin, brushing to the sides her soaking wet hair.

“There is nothing to talk about, you all can easily welcome the princess without me,” said Gaeul.

“No. I can’t let you do that. We are a group, remember?” Said Yujin.

“What are you talking about? We are barely a group anymore, it’s been weeks since the company has called us to do anything about IVE," reproaches Gaeul, pointing at the group leader, “Besides, you know that she and I. We always hated each other."

“You don’t know that!” Said Yujin, followed by a frustrated sigh“I guess you have seen the rumors that are going around," continued, she then took a sit on the bed of Gaeul and asked, “Please sit," She complied while Yujin kept explaining, "Unnie, you once told me that you would do anything and everything for this group to work."

“Yes, I danced, I sang, I rapped, I took care of Leeseo. I did everything that was asked of me. I know I had always been far from the best but—," Gaeul got interrupted by Yujin who grabbed her face by the chin.

Yujin pleaded looking into her unnie’s eyes,“Please Gaeul, just. One last time."

Gaeul moved away from Yujin and complained,“I don’t understand why it is so important that I welcome Wonyoung."

“It’s not only that, today when she told me on the phone that she was coming back, she asked for you, and—."

“Shut up, that can’t be true," interrupted Gaeul in a raised voice.

Yujin wrapped Gaeul with one of her arms and explained,“Listen to me unnie, she asked for you to cook something for tonight, she loves that Steak Au Chocolat that you made for her birthday."

“She didn’t say that when I gave it to her," murmured the oldest, then looked Yujin back in the eyes to ask,“If I say hi, fake a smile and cook her meal would you all stop bothering me?”

“Yes."

— — —

Gaeul dried her hair and tried her best to cover the eyebags, they could have looked better but time was running out so she decided to prioritize the cooking. Unfortunately Steak Au Chocolat is a dish that takes quite a while to get done. She picked that recipe from the interweb just some months ago, when she was still comfortable with unconsciously obsessing with Wonyoung to the point to search for a meal with the girl’s two favorite things, chocolate and beef. And then making it over and over until all the other members were sick of chocolate but she was confident that the dish at least was ‘good enough for Wonyoung’.

Sadly during Wonyoung’s last birthday, just like every other time she came back from a long time working outside the dorm, she was pretty tired, so she barely ate that magnificent Steak Au Chocolat and went straight to her room to sleep. That memory was clouding Gaeul’s mind, making it difficult for her to even concentrate, obsessing that it would happen all over again, then all of the sudden she felt a sharp pain. The girl confused tried to pull herself back from the images of that last August, just finally looking down at the cutting board. A tiny canal of blood was oozing from her index finger, she had slipped while cutting shallots.

While the rest of the dorm was moving pretty fast, 4 girls scrambling around trying to get ready, Gaeul quietly contemplated her wound. She played with it for a moment, relishing the pain, until she managed to move on to find a bandage to envelop her finger. Once her wound was covered she watched the kitchen full of skillets and pots, a lot was already done, but the meal was really far from being ready.

The girl took a deep breath, and muttered to herself, “Come on Kim Gaeul, just one last thing, and you will not have to put up with her— her pretty face ever again," she covered her face with her hands “I won’t see her pretty face ever again,” she stomped her way back to the kitchen and started chopping shallots again, a single teardrop, unnoticed by her, runned down her face, leaving marks on her fresh makeup.

While the rest of the girls were still getting ready, Rei came to help Gaeul, making sure she finished the dish on time, until she noticed "Unnie, you have been crying again.”

“No I haven’t!” Gaeul covered her face just to make sure. Rei took a napkin and got close to her, gently cleaning the marks the tears left on her makeup, she then softly whispered “Thank you.”

Both girl’s faces were just a couple of inches from each other, Rei said,“Please don’t forget about me, no matter what happens today, you can always count on me.” Right before Gaeul could mutter any word, the doorbell rang, both girls flinched and they separated, with nothing else said, Rei approached the door, the short girl gained focus once again, just to realize that the now chopped down beef was still raw.

— — —

Jang Wonyoung entered the dorm, looking flawless but at the same time, just a little bit casual, “Heyo everyone! I missed you!” Yujin helped Wonyoung with her logging while she was one by one hugging and greeting each of the members of the group.

“How was your trip Wony unnie?” Leeseo asked.

“Pretty nice! I ate some peanuts on the plane, but I'm a bit tired," said Wonyoung, and for a moment looked over the heads of her bandmates, “Girls, where is Gaeul unnie?” The tall girl stepped inside the dorm’s living, and heard the sizzling of beef. She watched Gaeul finish the beef for the dish, and made a big smile.

“She is preparing what you asked for," said Yujin, and then conducted Wonyoung to the kitchen bar.

“Smells really lovely!” exclaimed Wonyoung sitting on the bar.

Gaeul hadn't looked at Wonyoung or greeted her yet, until she rotated towards the bar, placed the perfectly cooked beef on top and then poured the chocolate salsa. Finally with the help of a pair of thongs she prepared a portion. Once the plate was done, she almost threw it towards Wonyoung accompanied with a pair of chopsticks, “I hope you are hungry” said the girl in a hostile tone, barely audible from the ruckus the plate was making against the tabletop.

She was preoccupied with preparing other portions when Wonyoung quietly said “Hi unnie, won’t you hug me?” The short girl stalled for a moment but finally placed the thongs down and came close to her taller bandmate.

“Of course, sorry I forgot." While Gaeul was beginning to wrap her arms behind the taller girl, Wonyoung was already pressing her body against her, forming a tight embrace.

“Thank you," whispered Wonyoung into Gaeul’s ear.

“No, thank you."

Yujin tried to avoid looking towards her friends hugging, meanwhile Liz came close to her and quietly asked “Hey it’s ok if we just go to our rooms to eat?”

“It’s ok, I need to talk only with Wonyoung anyway” Whispered back Yujin.

Gaeul separated from Wonyoung, both girls were clearly flushed, “Sorry” said the shorter girl, “Liz, you and the girls also want beef?”

“Yes please!”

Gaeul started serving some other portions, Wonyoung took her chopsticks and finally had a bite of the Steak Au Chocolat, her face contorted in a weird smile and liberated a small pleasureful hum. The oldest finished serving beef, passed the last plate to Yujin, and grabbed hers,“I think I’m going to excuse myself too," said, trying not to glance at Wonyoung or Yujin.

“Yes, thank you unnie," answered Yujin, but before taking another bite, Wonyoung glanced at Yujin with a worried expression.

“Can’t she stay?” Pleaded Wonyoung.

Gaeul winced her eyebrows into a frustrated expression as she heard Yujin say “Sure, Gaeul unnie can you please stay with us?”

“Okay." The shorter girl sat in the stall beside Wonyoung.

“Thanks for the beef, this is so good!” Said Wonyoung while eating at a faster pace.

“Sure."

“Really this is the best meal I had in a long time!”

“Glad you liked it."

The rest of the meal went pretty silent until Wonyoung asked,“Did you girls do anything fun today?”

“I stayed here catching up with some dramas," said Yujin. Wonyoung then stared towards her unnie, waiting for an answer, until Yujin interjected, “Also Liz, Rei and Gaeul went out to a new karaoke."

“Oh! Really! How was the karaoke unnie?” said Wonyoung to her unnie.

Gaeul stalled for a bit until she answered,“It was good, I had fun until Rei wanted to sing Love Dive and—” she looked away trying to hide her face from the stare of her bandmates, “—And then they mentioned you Wonyoung, so I just ran outside but you were still there, in a billboard —" The girl’s voice started to crack while speaking”—And I saw you, and I didn't know what to do, so I threw my phone up in the air, trying to hit you." Almost unable to speak, finally muttered, “But I broke my cell phone, and for nothing."

“Why? Unnie, are you mad at me?” Asked Wonyoung, getting closer to Gaeul.

Gaeul placed her hands in the bar, tilted her head down and muttered,“I don't know, but I heard some things that really hurted me."

Wonyoung reached one of the girl’s small hands and reassured her,"Unnie, those rumors are not real." Gaeul, with tears in her eyes but a glint of hope in her pupils, stared back at Wonyoung, just before she clarified, “It’s all fake, I’m not dating anyone."

“What? No, I’m not—" Almost crying, Gaeul pulled back her hand from Wonyoung’s grasp.

Yujin grabbed one of Wonyoung's shoulders and pulled her while ordering,“Enough, Jang Won-young, we need to talk. Privately."

“O-ok," nervously replied Wonyoung. Yujin took Wonyoung inside of the latter’s room, leaving Gaeul alone at the kitchen bar.

— — —

Gaeul checked the oven’s clock and estimated that 15 minutes had passed. Then she noticed on the reflection of the surface that tears were running down her face, without even realizing that she had been crying this time she tried her best to clean her face with some napkins. She was just about to enter her shared room when she started hearing muffled screaming, coming from Wonyoung’s room. Gaeul got near the door when the door was slammed open, Wonyoung pushed Yujin out of her room.

“Get out, I don't wanna talk with you If you are going to be this rude," said Wonyoung in an unstable voice, right before shutting her door.

“What happened?” Asked Gaeul.

A defeated Yujin said, “Seems like the rumors are true, Hybe is offering her to be a soloist, even trying to help any contractual issue."

The older girl insisted, “And she said…?”

“She is still thinking about it," explained Yujin while sitting back in the kitchen.

“Thinking about it?!” Said Gaeul, raising her voice.

Yujin let out a sigh, and replied, “Listen, the company has been waiting for this to get— a resolution, before they start giving us more work, with or without her."

“And you are not going to do anything about it?”

“There is no need, I believe, no— I know that we could work out just the five of us," said Yujin.

Gaeul grabbed her leader by the collar of her shirt and said“So you are not even going to try to convince her?!”

The leader hesitated to answer but she gave up,“I-I just can't, ok?”

“What do you mean?! Are you not her best friend?!” said Gaeul, then she walked close to the entrance to Wonyoung’s room, “It's fine, doesn't matter."

Yujin standed up and closed her distance to her unnie while asking, “Wait, what are you doing?”

“You asked me to help you one last time, so I'm doing that," explained Gaeul, while grabbing the handle of Wonyoung’s room door.

Yujin just stood there, watching Gaeul enter Wonyoung’s room, uninvited.

— — —

Gaeul peeked inside Wonyoung’s room, it was the first time she ever looked inside, she took a moment to look at the sober yet cute decoration, glancing at everything except the bed that was just a few steps from her.

“Gaeul unnie? What are you doing here?” Wonyoung asked the girl, forcing her to finally take a look at Wonyoung’s bed. The taller girl had an upset expression, while laying down just beside a big Cherry plushie, however her arms were wrapped around a Dal-E plushie, the one based not on Wonyoung herself but on Gaeul.

Gaeul replied calmly “I just want to talk with you."

“Ok you can come in, but please make sure to close the door after you."

Gaeul thanked her and entered the room, while Wonyoung changed her posture into a sitting one, but still caressing her Dal-E plush. “Hey, I'm really sorry from before, I shouldn't have been so mean to you." Said the older girl, just nearing the bed of Wonyoung, who then made a gesture inviting her to sit beside her.

She took a sit at the edge of the bed, pretty close to Wonyoung, who said, “It's fine, I understand now what was happening, sorry If I misunderstood your feelings” Wonyoung hugged her Dal-E tightly and added,“But you are not longer mad at me aren't you unnie?”

“I wasn't even mad," said Gaeul, reaching out and grabbing the Cherry plushie, she continued, “I was just hoping that you would stay with us."

“Why?”

Gaeul hugged the plushie based on Wonyoung’s likeness and answered,“I heard that you may debut by yourself, pretty far from this dorm and band, but I think that we need you."

“I just wish we had more time to get closer," said Wonyoung, putting down her Dal-E.

“So are you really going to do it?”

“I’m not sure, but unnie, my life is currently a mess, I don’t have time for my family, my friends, myself, not even time for all of you, the ones I depend on the most," said Wonyoung standing up. Once she was a couple of steps away, and not facing her unnie, she continued, “I love being an idol but my life could get better if I was just alone, I would lose all of you yes. But maybe it’s a good thing, it’s not fair that we are a band and I can pick and make big decisions but the rest of the time I’m just tending to other responsibilities."

Gaeul stayed in silence for a couple of minutes. Hiding her face in the plushie, finally said, “Seems pretty cut and dry, why don’t you just say yes to them?”

“So you really want me to be gone, don't you unnie?” Quietly muttered Wonyoung.

“Maybe. I don’t think we ever liked each other that much, but I’m sure you will stay in contact with the rest of the girls. So why don’t you just leave?”

“You are confusing me because, well—," said Wonyoung, her words started to come out slowly. “I heard you say one time that you would do anything and everything to keep IVE working. is that true?”

“Yes I said that.”

Wonyoung said in a frustrated tone, “Then why are you not trying harder to convince me not to go?” Finally facing Gaeul.

“Maybe IVE doesn’t need you and—” On the verge of tears the shorter girl said, “I can’t help you reach the comfortable life you deserve. Leaving looks like the only option."

“Oh dear. But there is another option," whispered Wonyoung right before she quickly walked towards her unnie and pushed her all the way into the bed until her tall body was on top of the small Gaeul, moving the plushies away so their bodies could feel each others warmth,”You just don't want to give it to me."

“What are you doing?!” Said Gaeul, her lips quivering just by feeling Wonyoung’s breath.

“Would you still do anything—?” Asked Wonyoung, who then took both of Gaeul’s hands and pinned them down over her head, leaving the smaller girl at her mercy.“For me?”

“Any-thing," said Gaeul, almost tasting the words.

“Then I will do everything I can to keep IVE together, but I want you to take care of me. To cook for me, to listen to me, to just be there for me at any time I need you. I want you to worry about me, I—," begged Wonyoung, getting her face even closer to Gaeul’s,“I want you to be mine."

A blushing Gaeul turned her head away and protested, “Why are you playing with me like this? It’s obvious that you hate me."

Wonyoung squeezed the smaller hands and whispered to Gaeul right into her ear, “No, you are the one that hates me, but I don’t care how you feel about this. There never was another option for us, so now. Answer me!"

Gaeul stared directly into Wonyoung’s eyes and in a burst of joy said,“Y-yes, I-I’m yours, you own me now."

“Wait unnie, did you—!” Said Wonyoung, her severe expression became a wide smile. Wonyoung freed the small hands, and wrapped her arms around her unnie’s neck tightly hugging her. Before Gaeul could embrace Wonyoung too, the one on top realized in which position they were. Wonyoung rose until she was sitting on top of her hips. Aware of this the girl on top excused herself, “I'm sorry” and completely flushed, dismounted, and went back to sitting on the edge of the bed.

Gaeul looked at Wonyoung, disappointed. Then she also moved down to the edge of the bed, “Don’t you want this?” said, and joined one of her hands with Wonyoung’s hands.

“I wasn’t prepared for this, you actually said yes," said Wonyoung.

“I would have always said yes to you,” whispered the older girl, finally being honest.

“Did you–” The taller girl felt blood rushing to her head, confused, tried to find other words and kept caressing the smaller girl’s hand… "Unnie did you cut yourself?” Wonyoung grabbed Gaeul’s hand and moved it closer to her face, staring at the bandaid.

“Yes I did, it happened while I was chopping some vegetables for your beef."

“But you're the best at cooking, what happened?” Wonyoung let her unnie's hand go.

She explained, “I was overthinking— believing things would go like your last birthday. And you would simply ignore me and my efforts."

Wonyoung’s voice started to crack when she explained, “I’m sorry, on my birthday, I worked all day, when I came back, I was a mess and–”

The smaller girl placed her wounded finger on the model’s lips and calmed her saying, “Shh, I understand," The model answered by enveloping the finger with her hands and giving it a soft kiss. Then both girls got lost in each other's eyes for a moment, until finally Wonyoung threw herself at Gaeul and their mouths connected on a passionate kiss.

Wonyoung quickly pushed Gaeul back into the center of the bed, she was getting comfortable on top of her unnie, when suddenly the small hand’s of the other girl grabbed her by the hips and reversed the position, the smaller girl was now on top. She then grabbed Wonyoung’s hands and pinned them on top of her head. The tall girl, now drunk with desire, looked at the dominant girl with her eyes wide open and said, "Gaeul wait."

“Shhh, you just have to tell me when to stop," reassured Gaeul to her owner.

“But I want to hug you” asked the girl at the bottom, the smaller girl let her hands go, Wonyoung embraced Gaeul very tightly and they started to kiss again.

Gaeul never slept again without her owner, Wonyoung.

The end.

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lucagray813 · 6 days

Text

Shadow Clones

Rating: Gen

Word Count: 3,132

Main Characters: Rumble, Savage, MK

Minor Characters: Macaque, Wukong, Mei, Sandy, Tang, Pigsy

Relationships: None, hints of Shadowpeach if you really want it tho

Summary: All MK had wanted was an explanation for why his clones had minds of their own, meeting Macaque's clones does not provide him with any answers.

Additional Tags: Hijinks & shenanigans, light-headed, Rumble & Savage are called Xīng & Huì

CW: None

Link to AO3 Version

----

"Hey, Macaque?"

The grunt of acknowledgement from the branch he was currently dozing on was all the go ahead MK needed, "So, you know how I've got some, er, unique clones?"

In a lazy drawl he responded, "Can't say that I do."

Undeterred MK continued, counting off on his fingers, "Yeah, I've got my food guy, my art guy, my porty guy but when I asked Monkey King why they were like that he said I should come ask you?"

He had been surprised that Monkey King would defer to Macaque on anything but given how gleefully he had, MK suspected it was less to do with any respect for Macaque's knowledge and because there was something embarrassing that was about to come to light.

The tip of Macaque's tail gave an irritated little flick before he sighed heavily. But he didn't even open his eyes as he raised a hand towards the sky and clicked his fingers, two shadows separated from him and travelled down the tree until they stopped in front of MK as two perfect circles. Unbothered, Macaque said to no-one, "Alright, have fun you two. Try not to traumatize anyone too badly."

MK took a cautionary step backwards as two forms rose from the ground and he looked between them with increasing alarm. Fully formed, they were clearly two clones but while the resemblance was undeniable they each had a distinctive sense of style.

The one smiling somewhat devilishly at him looked... Well, actually he looked really good. His hair, his outfit, his vibe - it was all so well put together. MK actually felt a little underdressed looking at him.

He was much preferable to look at than the other shadow monkey that stared at him with no emotion on his face whatsoever. His dress sense was simple, efficient and dark. There wasn't a spec of colour on him.

Wary, he called out to the original, "Macaque...?"

Macaque lazily raised a hand in the air and waved it over the brightly dressed clone first before gesturing to the rest of them in order, "Xīng, Huì - MK. MK - Xīng, Huì. Knock yourselves out."

Xīng grinned and bowed with no small amount of flair, "MK, the Monkie Kid. The pleasure is all ours."

Still unsure what to make of the situation, he did his best to be polite, even if the way Huì continued to stare unblinkingly unnerved him, "Er, yeah. Nice to meet both of you. You're both clones?"

Xīng stood and made his way over, throwing a friendly arm around his shoulders, "Sure are. How about we gather up your buddies and we'll put on a show for you?"

"What do you mean a- Gah!" MK startled at the silent appearance of Huì on his other side. He clutched at his chest as he unsubtly asked Xīng, "Is he, uh, I mean, does he...?"

Xīng patted his shoulder before forcing him to start walking forward, Huì walked silently beside them, "He's the strong, silent type. Don't you worry though, he won't do you any harm. Not as long as you stick with me."

MK edged ever so slightly closer to him before throwing a desperate look over his shoulder at Macaque.

He was not at all reassured by the grin on his face.

----

During the short walk back to where he'd left his friends on the beach he had learnt that Huì couldn't speak but that didn't seem to be a problem as Xīng could speak enough for two. MK had barely gotten a word in but, in all honesty, he'd been too focused on keeping a wary eye on Huì to really even try and offer any intelligent responses.

When the three of them emerged from the trees, it was not to the delight of everyone waiting for them.

Pigsy pinched the bridge of his nose, "MK..."

Mei was slightly less tactful, "Ugh, why are there two of him? One is more than enough."

Tang nodded decisively beside her, looking more than a little nervous. Sandy was the only one that didn't seem at all put off by the two renditions of Macaque beside him.

He ducked under Xīng's arm and moved closer to his friends, "I know, I know! I went to ask him about the clone thing and this was how he responded! So, I guess we're stuck with them for just now?"

Xīng commented dryly behind him, "You know, I'm beginning to think we're not welcome here. We didn't even get a chance to introduce ourselves."

MK turned around and did a double take, "When did you change your outfit?"

Xīng held up a corner of his coat and asked coyly, "Why? Do you like it?"

Mei walked up beside MK, and eyed the clones suspiciously, "Ok, so what's their deal then?"

"They say their names are Xīng and Huì, and I guess they're Macaque's equivalent of Porty MK?"

Xīng clicked his tongue, "You know, clones or not, it's pretty rude to talk about someone as if they aren't there. Can't you see how much you're upsetting Huì? He's a sensitive soul."

They all looked at Huì, who stared back with dead, emotionless eyes. Deciding it was better to err on the side of caution MK apologised, "Er, sorry, Huì? We didn't mean to upset you...?"

Huì didn't so much as blink but Xīng nodded, "That's better. Now..."

He disappeared into the shadows only to reappear sitting on top of the picnic table they'd set up, oddly in yet another new outfit, "What do you lot do for fun around here?"

Mei whistled, "Damn, that is actually one nice dress. Where'd you get it?"

Xīng just smiled and clicked his fingers. A miasma of shadow tendrils quickly wound their way up and around Mei and when they disappeared she was wearing a similar dress with her hair put up in a matching hairpin.

Mei had looked fairly alarmed at the shadows but it was almost immediately forgotten about as she picked up the skirt of the dress and started to turn this way and that, "Hey, not bad! You got it in green and white?"

A click and a flash of shadows later and she had what she requested. He even summoned a full length mirror that stuck out of the sand so she could check it out properly, "Damn, you even did my hair! Do you know how much of a pain it is to put up like this?" She turned to Xīng, "Hey, can you put it up in, like, a french braid bun?"

It was done in the blink of an eye and Mei was delighted, "You know what, I take it back, this Macaque has already outranked the original in my books."

Xīng laughed, "High praise. Anyone else want a costume change? What about you, big guy?"

Sandy actually looked a little hopeful, "Well, it's sort of hard to find clothes in my size... But I've always really wanted to try on one of those fancy three piece suits...?"

Sandy blinked down at himself before gasping and rushing to the mirror, looking exceptionally pleased with his outfit and posing this way and that before bringing his hands to his face, "I should put braids in my beard more often!"

Admittedly, a little won over, MK also looked towards Xīng hopefully. Xīng just stood up on the table and grinned, "How about that show I promised?"

They all had to dive out of the way as the shadows suddenly converged to raise something massive from the ground but they faded away to reveal an extravagant catwalk. Mei vibrated with excitement beside him, "Oh my god, yes! Hold on! We need music! We need a film crew! We need an audience!"

MK grinned and reached for his hair, "Coming right up!"

The only thing MK didn't have confidence in creating was a camera, well he could make one but he wasn't sure how they would actually get the videos from it, but Mei eagerly volunteered her phone. Entrusting it to the MK clone crew.

Xīng was clearly ecstatic about the additions to the stage and by the time they were backstage he was taking it all very seriously, directing clones and doing up hair and outfits as if he was born to do it.

Mei nudged MK, "Dude, this is totally Theatre Macaque. I bet he came into existence the same way Porty MK did."

He could totally see it, a shadow clone forgotten in a theatre hall that decided he was going to make this his entire personality. Honestly, MK was kind of here for it, so far he was way more fun than the actual Macaque.

Xīng was clearly both the star of the show and the director. No outfit was too outlandish for him and he absolutely went for broke when he struck a pose at the end of the runway. He would shout out directions for everyone else, demanding they be just as bold and brave.

It was a lot of fun but by the end of it they were sweating and exhausted. MK thinks they had all been taken aback by the dangerous look in Xīng's eye when they suggested they called it quits but it was quickly replaced by a cheerful declaration that they needed a finale - last walk down the aisle, no holds barred!

MK had sighed a breath of relief, for a second there he thought he was going to go all "the Porty never ends" on them, but it all ended on a high! Once MK had dismissed his clones, they had all gathered around Mei's phone to watch the highlights.

The review was cut short by Tang's frightened scream but to be fair to him, MK probably would have reacted the same way if Huì had materialised beside him like that.

Mei eyed him up, before addressing Xīng, "Alright, we get your deal, but what's with creepy here?"

Xīng smiled as he walked around and threw an arm over Huì's shoulder, "Creepy? Huì? What are you talking about? He's just a little guy."

Pigsy scoffed, "Oh yeah, he's a real charmer. The unnerving silence, the dead eyes, the total lack of emotion - he's not creepy at all."

Xīng grinned mischievously, "Oh? You hear that, Huì? Your natural charms aren't doing it for them. How about you treat them to a smile?"

The five of them couldn't put enough distance between them and Huì.

"Why does he have so many teeth!?"

"Oh my god, they're like knives!"

"Those eyes...! It's like staring into the abyss, into the unending void!"

Xīng looked entirely amused. He patted Huì's shoulder before approaching them, "Well, that doesn't bode well for the favour I wanted to ask you."

Bravely, MK stuttered, "Wh-What favour?"

"You see, Huì and I don't get to come out and play very often and you've all done me such a kindness by putting on a show. But Huì hasn't had a chance to have any fun yet."

Tang gripped Pigsy's arm, "What does he do for fun? Steal people's souls?"

Xīng laughed, "Of course not. What Huì loves more than anything else is a good fight! If you brave heroes would be willing to indulge him it would just mean the world to us!"

Mei seemed to regain her courage, "A fight? Against all five of us? A bit overkill, isn't it? I mean, I could totally take Macaque by myself!"

Xīng pandered to her, "Oh, I don't doubt it but who knows when we'll be let out again and Huì loves a challenge."

The five of them exchanged a look before huddling together, Mei kicked them off, "We could totally take him."

Tang shook his head, "No way. We're being baited. That... thing is straight from my nightmares!"

It took a little back and forth but eventually they turned back to Xīng, and MK spoke for them, "Alright, we'll do it! But on the condition we can keep all the clothes from the fashion show."

Xīng's grin was unsettling, "Deal." He clicked his fingers and a rack of all the clothes from today materialized beside them.

He then gestured for them to follow him, "Well, come on then. I know the perfect place for your fight."

Pigsy looked a little unnerved, "Why don't we just fight here?"

"Oh no, no, no. That would have been like having our show without a proper stage. You have to give Huì his chance to shine."

Warily they all followed after Xīng and Huì until they arrived at a large but empty hall hidden not too far from Monkey King's vault. The door creaked open to reveal a room in pitch darkness.

Tang immediately backed away, "Nuh-uh. No way. Not happening. I'm not fighting in the dark!"

Xīng simply clicked his fingers and a number of shadow portals opened on the ceiling, a single lightbulb hanging from a wire emerged from each of them to create cones of light.

They reluctantly followed the clones in as Pigsy gruffly complained, "You couldn't have gotten better lights?"

Xīng hummed, "We're shadow clones, I'm simply evening the playing field."

Despite the overwhelming odds in their favour, all of them were undoubtedly uneasy as they took up their positions under one of the spotlights, while Huì stood across from them just behind another.

Xīng leaned casually against a wall, "Everybody ready?"

They all nodded grimly, their eyes not leaving their opponent.

"Wonderful. One last thing then. Huì? Don't eat them."

MK let out a strangled, "Wait. What!?"

He saw Huì's terrifying grin for just a moment before all put two of the lightbulbs shattered above them, eliciting more than one terrified scream. The two that were left started to swing unnaturally.

The next five minutes could only be described as a real life horror movie. No amount of fighting ability could save them as one by one they were picked off, dragged into the shadows by horrifying flashes of teeth. He couldn't even run, walls suddenly appearing to cut him off and turn him around as he tried to escape.

In sheer terror he held a hand in the air and a ball of pure light erupted to banish every shadow from the room. He breathed heavily as he looked around to see his friends picking themselves up from the floor, shielding their eyes, while trying to figure out what was going on.

He startled as he heard Xīng shout, "We're outside! Lights too bright for us!"

Mei groaned, "It's too bright for us too. Can you turn it down MK?"

Tang quickly added, "Just a little! Do not turn it off!"

"Er, I'm not sure how?"

Pigsy just forged ahead to the door, "Let's just get out of here!"

Everyone scrambled after him and it was to great relief when they saw the blue sky above them. MK dismissed the ball of light and turned to the others, "Are you ok!?"

Sandy nodded, "Shaken up but not hurt."

The sentiment was shared, no-one had a scratch on them, but god knows none of them were going to sleep easy tonight.

He swung around at Xīng's voice, "Ah, what a performance! You five really know how to make a shadow clone feel alive!"

Mei was incensed and she started to match towards him menacingly, "How could you do that to us!? That was so messed up! We agreed to a fight, not a-!"

She stopped short as Huì stood in front of Xīng defensively. Xīng grinned over his shoulder, "Forgive him, he's a little protective. What were you saying?"

She didn't move closer but she was not deterred from letting her displeasure known, "I can't believe you would set us up like that! That wasn't a fight! It was a horror movie!"

Xīng did not look apologetic as he took a step to stand beside Huì so he could lean an elbow on his shoulder, "Ah, I'm sorry for misleading you but no-one ever lets Huì play with them if I tell them the truth."

Mei cursed him out as she stomped away, "MK, get these two out of here! I don't want to see their faces ever again!"

Xīng held up his hands, "No need to show us out. We've had our fun." He took a bow, before offering, "But for the record, we are genuinely grateful to you for accommodating us today. C'mon Huì, let's go."

They sunk into the shadows and disappeared.

----

Macaque sighed as he felt trouble reform on the ground below him, "Did you have fun?"

Xīng responded, "Oh, we had a great time. Shame we never get called for an encore but to be fair Huì is a hard act to follow."

He opened his eyes and peered down at Huì, "You take a bite out of anyone?"

Xīng answered, "Nah, he was good. The bird and rodent population may have taken a sharp hit today though."

Wukong better not give him shit for that, there's no way he'd sent MK to him and not known what he was getting him in for, and it wasn't Huì's fault that the hunger of the shadows he embodied couldn't be satisfied.

"You both done for the day then?"

Xīng stretched, "Yeah, let us out again soon though. We never even got to see Wukong - you know he's my favourite model."

Macaque raised an eyebrow, "I'm not stopping you."

"Next time. Huì needs a break. All this sunlight takes a toll on him."

He shrugged, "Fair enough."

The two sank back into the shadows and rejoined his magic. He just snuggled back against the tree, planning to finish this day as he started it - doing absolutely nothing.

----

MK couldn't believe what he was hearing, "You what!? How can you prefer Huì to Xīng?"

Monkey King made a face, "Ugh, Xīng is so annoying. Changing your clothes a hundred times a day, pestering you to put on a show, quoting poetry, randomly bursting into song. I'll take Huì any day, he's basically just a big puppy."

"He's literally a monster!?"

"A monster? Nah. The real monster is Xīng - he's so bossy! A real shame that the two of them are a package deal."

Momentarily distracted from Monkey King's terrible taste in shadow clones, he asked, "What do you mean?"

"Hm? Ah, Macaque can't summon just one of them. It's both of them or neither."

"What? Why?"

Monkey King shrugged, "No idea. But I wouldn't waste too much time thinking about it. Macaque summons them like once a millennium, usually just to annoy me. You won't see them again."

He couldn't say he was upset about that but he still couldn't get over Monkey King's preferences, "But Huì? Really?"

--End--

[A/N - I did my best to illustrate what Xīng and Huì look like here - the post also provides a few additional details about them both if you want to know more! 😁]

51 notes · View notes

dinogoose · 2 years

Text

but this is getting good now

“Bucky… Psst… Wake up…” small hands are currently shaking him back and forth, jostling him awake. He immediately knows it’s Christopher, and despite being woken up so early, he warms with pure happiness.

He cracks an eye open, “What’s up buddy? Is something wrong?” Chris sits down on the edge of the couch, nestling into his warmth.

“…My leg hurts.” Hearing the way his voice trembles in pain causes Buck’s heart to crack. He wishes he could take any and all hurt away from Christopher.

(or, buck and christopher stretch, then make pancakes. eddie is in love.)

He cracks an eye open, “What’s up buddy? Is something wrong?” Chris sits down on the edge of the couch, nestling into his warmth.

“…My leg hurts.” Hearing the way his voice trembles in pain causes Buck’s heart to crack. He wishes he could take any and all hurt away from Christopher.

Another part of him is glad Chris is coming to him about this. Buck had told him he was always going to be there for him, and he meant it. Buck would do anything for Chris.

“Okay. Sometimes my leg hurts too, the doctors told me the best thing to do is to stretch it out.” He turns to the boy meeting his eyes. “Do you want to do some stretches with me?”

Chris looks down at his hands before looking up, his eyes crinkled with sleep, his movements a little shy, then he nods.

Buck smiles, untangling himself from the couch that has been trying to swallow him whole all night. Standing up, his legs giving a loud pop! Chris giggles at the noise, some of his anxieties seeping out.

It’s never wrecking asking for help, but Buck wants to make it clear to Chris that he always can. No matter the time or reason. Buck’s there for him.

“Alright kid, I’m gonna move this table over, giving us more room to really loosen our bodies!” Buck wiggles around as he’s saying this, drawing peels of laughter from Chris.

He’s now aware that it's roughly five-thirty, and Eddie is still asleep after their long shift, so he carefully moves over to Christopher, pressing a finger to his own lips.

“Let’s play a game, whoever can do the stretches the quietest, gets ice cream today.” Chris mulls this over, stroking his chin in thought.

“Two scoops.” Buck opens his mouth to respond, “In a cone.” Buck loves the kid to death, but give him an ice cream cone and he becomes a monster of destruction. Buck chuckles, extending a hand out.

“You drive a hard bargain. Deal.” They shake on it, causing Christoper to laugh again, but Buck presses a finger to his lips and Christopher nods, understanding the game they are now playing.

Buck slides the coffee table over, mindful of his noise.

He sits down on the floor, patting the spot next to him. Christopher sits next to him.

They begin the list of stretches Christopher’s physical therapist gave to him. Hamstrings, wrists, his heel cord, quadriceps.

Buck does each of them with him, coaching Christopher through them, easing any pain or discomfort he has.

By the end of it, they’re both hungry, but feeling much better.

“I think that earned us pancakes.” Buck announces getting up. Chris reaches out a hand, allowing Buck to help him up.

“Thanks B-Buck. I feel super strong now!” Buck smirks at him, ruffling his hair.

“You’re the strongest person I know, Superman.” It’s the truest thing Buck has ever said. This kid is incredible, and Buck’s just lucky he met him at all.

“Come on Bucky, I’m hungry!” He whines, and Buck just laughs trotting into the kitchen.

He’s very comfortable in the Diaz’ home, especially the kitchen. It’s more his than Eddie’s these days.

He gets all his ingredients out as his Sous Chef bullies him for being slow. He’s whisking the batter, when footsteps pitter-patter behind him.

“Sleeping beauty is awake!” Buck exclaims, not even turning around. Christopher throws his head back in laughter earning the reaction Buck was hoping for.

The man behind him makes an offended noise as he steps closer.

“Why do you two have so much energy this morning?” Eddie rasps out, voice deep in a way that gives Buck butterflies.

“My leg hurt so me and Buck did stretches!” Chris tells his dad, kicking his feet from his spot on the counter.

“I’m glad you did your stretches, are you feeling better now mijo?” Worry bleeds into his words, a father caring for his son.

“Yeah! We’re gonna get ice cream!” Buck just knows Eddie raises his eyebrows at that. He can practically feel the burn of his stare.

“Are we now?” Chris rolls his eyes from beside Buck, making him laugh.

“Yes.” And that’s that. They’re getting ice cream.

“Sorry Eds. You know how it is.” Buck tells him, finally turning around.

Eddie’s gaze is way too intense for seven in the morning. Buck has to look away before it melts him.

“Yeah. I do.” Eddie says. The words whispered out- a confession. Buck feels wrong-footed, like he’s missing a major part of this conversation. And from the way Eddie is looking at him he’s sure he is. Maybe he blacked out.

“Eddie, can you set the table?” Buck asks, turning around again, facing the stove, escaping Eddie’s eyes.

***

He finishes cooking and they enjoy laughter and pancakes, before Chris has to get ready for school.

Buck cleans while Eddie rallies the boy into the car.

It’s incredibly domestic. Maybe Buck is getting too comfortable, falling into the ‘ready-made family’ thing that Eddie was so terrified of.

Buck should take a step back. He doesn’t want to hurt Eddie by overstepping. By being too needy.

He sighs, scrubbing away at the pan. He always hand washes the non-stick pans, believing it helps them last longer. Buck wants to give them that extra care. Plus doing the dishes has always soothed Buck.

The repetitive motions, the warm water, the feeling of success when you finally finish.

He’s so focused on his task he doesn’t hear the door open. Or the sound of Eddie toeing-off his shoes. Doesn’t even acknowledge the man until he’s sliding up behind him, breath fanning Buck’s neck.

Buck shivers, setting the pan down. He steps to the side- not wanting to give himself the chance to do something stupid.

“What’s wrong?” Eddie asks, head tilted. None the wiser to Buck’s panic.

“Nothing. I should go, I’ve been overstaying my welcome.” Buck doesn’t want to suffocate Eddie. Exhaust the man just by being him.

“Overstaying? Buck you could never ‘overstay’. You’re always welcome here.” Eddie steps closer, hand placed on Buck’s shoulder, giving the blond a strange sense of deja-vu.

His eyes are intense again, reflecting the same emotions they were earlier. Buck still doesn’t know what to make of that.

“Thanks Eddie- it’s fine, I should leave already.” He tries to back away, but Eddie’s hand remains firm, holding him down.

“Buck. I want you to stay.” Buck’s eyes scour his face for any sign of a lie. He finds none.

“Okay.” Buck thinks there’s a lot more to this talk then just him saying, and when Eddie leans forward Buck knows he's right.

“I’m going to kiss you.” Eddie tells him, face inches from Buck’s.

“Okay.”

Eddie cups Buck’s jaw before leaning in, head tilted to get the best angle. When their lips finally meet, it’s perfect.

Buck has imagined this moment a million times- although the real thing is greater than anything he could’ve ever thought up.

It’s fiery, it’s soft, it’s emotional, it’s love.

Love has always felt like, Eddie bumping shoulders with him. Smelled like aftershave and pine. Looked like brown eyes and brown hair. Tastes like pancakes in the morning.

Eddie backs up, not going far, just resting his forehead on Buck’s.

“You got up and did stretches with my- our kid this morning.” Eddie whispers, his voice reverent. Buck blinks.

“..yeah?” This makes Eddie laugh, tickling Buck’s face.

“Then you made us breakfast.” Buck is getting a little concerned.

“Yes. Are you okay?” Eddie laughs again, the sound bright.

“Yes. God- yes. I love you.”

Oh.

“I love you too.” Has it always been this easy?

Eddie just leans in for another kiss, just a soft press of his lips to Buck’s.

“And I forgive you for promising Chris two scoops on a school night.” Eddie says right against his mouth.

Buck has never been happier.

(I quit whumptober. sorry. I’m never going to change. :])

#buddie fic #buddie #evan buckley #eddie diaz #christopher diaz #911 show #911 fox #911 fic #911 fanfic #tv: 911 #buddie 911 #buck x eddie #originally posted on ao3

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sheepiemc · 10 months

Text

your touch (a craving)

part 2: arm (first)

You were on Diavolo’s mind again.

This seemed to be happening more often than not these days, especially after that infamous bus ride a few weeks before. The warmth of your thigh on his still made him crazy whenever he thought about it. The strength of his willpower was astounding; how he didn’t end up just pulling you onto his lap because of that touch was beyond mortal comprehension. Such were dangerous thoughts for the future King of the Devildom.

Something you had said that day kept bringing him back to that conversation. Somehow, you got on the topic of Devildom flora and he mentioned the Flowers of the Abyss in the school garden would soon be in bloom. You said you hadn’t gotten to explore the gardens much, as it wasn’t a part of the very brief tour you got from Mammon that very first day.

“We’ll need to rectify that immediately,” he remembered himself saying, leaning ever so closer - just as you did to him earlier on the bus.

You tilted your head as if you were surprised by the prince's sudden boldness. “I would really appreciate that, Diavolo. Thank you.”

The way your eyes brightened with your genuine smile made his heart soar; he'd been riding that high ever since. And he definitely clocked you dropping the honorific in his name. He had never been so excited to be disrespected (something to unpack at a later time).

And so, it was time to fulfill his promise.

He had finally cleared up his schedule and worked some magic behind the scenes to make sure you had the same time off. He texted you as soon as he was done to ask if you were available for the tour (even though he already knew the answer). You texted back almost immediately that yes, you were free and you would like to cash that rain check now.

Diavolo looked out the window. It wasn't raining.

You texted back, “I'll meet you at the garden gate.”

He tried to control his excited gait as he made his way to the garden from the student council office, but if anyone saw how fast he was hustling through the halls, they would know something was up.

Approaching the garden gate, he stopped when he saw you - close enough to observe but far enough away for you not to notice him yet. You were looking away from him, leaning against the fence that surrounded the perimeter of the garden.

He admired the way your hair looked in the eternal Devildom starlight, though it made him wonder what it looked like in your natural environment. What did it look like in the sun? Did it feel as soft as it looked?

You looked down at your phone and he could see your face in profile. He leaned against the fence now too, gently enough so as to not alert you to his presence. He wanted to memorize that profile, to become so familiar with it that he would be able to recognize you by its shadow. You smiled so fondly at whatever you found on your phone, and it made Diavolo's chest tighten. It was a stunning sight, to be sure - but he felt a sting of envy that he wasn't the reason for that smile.

“MC!” He waved and you looked at him, only a little bit startled.

“Hello, Lord Diavolo.” You put your phone away and turned to him, smiling wider.

He stopped short at the formality, leaving a respectable distance between you. Of course you would use his title here, in the hallowed halls of his very own institution, but that didn't make the blow land any softer.

He schooled his features into his “jovial prince indulging another of his whims” mask and asked, “Are you ready for your first official tour of our gardens? I can't believe it took this long for you to get to see them. We'll have to fix that for the next group of exchange students we bring in.”

“Yes, well,” your smile faltered infinitesimally, so minutely, anyone else might not have seen a difference. But Diavolo did. Demon that he was, he felt slightly vindicated but it didn't make him feel any better. In fact, it only reminded him that your stay here was temporary. “I'm glad you're the one that gets to show me, My Lord .”

He was startled by the emphasis on his title. Could you really see right through him? He almost shuddered at the thought before fully turning away from you to open the gate, allowing you to walk inside. “It's a huge garden and we have much to see so let's get on then, shall we?”

You walked past him, your smile ever so slightly morphing into a smirk. Diavolo released a breath he didn't realize he was holding and closed the gate behind him.

You wound the serpentine trails of the garden at a decidedly uncomfortable distance. Diavolo kept you at more than arm's length, a distance he maintained every time you stepped a little bit closer. He named every interesting plant you pointed out because what else is a prince to do for millennia if not memorize every plant name in his domain?

When you arrived at the section affectionately called “the flower fields”, you couldn't hold in your enthusiasm for all the strange, beautiful, and entirely unfamiliar flowers that populated this part of the garden. Your glittering expression softened Diavolo’s heart, reminding him why he chose to bring you here in the first place.

“Those would be the Flowers of the Abyss.” He gestured to some flowers with dark purple petals with a black gradient and blood-red stamens, a combination you had certainly never seen on any flower on earth.

“Can I touch them?” you asked.

“Smart of you to ask,” he smiled. “If you wish.”

He watched you, standing on the other side of the trail, as you tentatively reached out for the plant, rubbing its petal between your fingers. Your lips parted in a near-silent gasp. Diavolo gasped too, albeit involuntarily, his attention oscillating between your fingers and your face.

“It's so soft,” you whispered reverently as you gently cupped the flower in both hands. You leaned in, bringing your face closer to the bloom. Diavolo swallowed hard. Was he really getting jealous of a flower? In trying to feel the petals against your cheek, you managed to get some pollen on the corner of your mouth. “And they smell delightful,” you sighed, standing up straight, and releasing the flower from your grasp.

“MC, you have-” he couldn't finish the sentence, so he only vaguely gestured to his mouth, wishing he could get it off you himself.

“Oh,” you wiped it off with your thumb and looked at it quickly before sticking your thumb in your mouth. “Mmm, sweet, too.”

At that, Diavolo had to look away or else he might end up doing something he would certainly regret. That's when he noticed all the Hell Jasmine growing on his side of the trail. Stepping away from them, Diavolo cleared his throat, saying, “Yes, well, there is still more garden to get to so let's-”

“Of course,” you interrupted, “I know you're very busy, you must have something more important to attend to today.”

Anyone else listening to you might have taken that statement at face value, as someone being considerate of a prince’s schedule. But if you could read him, then he could read you just as well.

He heard the subtle hurt.

And it crushed him.

“That's not-” he started.

That's when time slowed down. As Diavolo approached you to try to assure you that you had his full attention, you stepped toward him as well. What you didn't see was the creeping vine that caught your foot as you stepped away.

You were falling.

You reached out for something - anything - to steady yourself, to catch yourself before you hit the ground. That something just happened to be Diavolo. His arm to be exact. The desperate grip short-circuited his brain and all he could think was please, don't let go. Long dormant synapses were firing in his brain and his eyes were only focused on where you two were touching. When you looked up at him, you realized just how close your faces were. You could've been standing there for an eternity, or only a few seconds - the Prince was absolutely transfixed.

You could've been standing there for an eternity, or only a few seconds. “You saved me, Diavolo. Thank you. I almost got your uniform dirty,” you joked in an attempt to snap him back to reality.

He looked at you.

You looked back at him.

“Yes, well,” he said, his voice a little strained, “we couldn't have that now, could we?”

You nodded and straightened out, releasing his arm at the same time. He mirrored your posture and placed his hands behind his back, out of sight, so you could not see the vice grip he had on the arm you were just holding. “Shall we continue the tour? We haven't even seen the restricted part of the garden yet.”

You smiled at him again, “I would love nothing more.”

And you walked side by side with only a few inches between you.

(next)

A/N: Hell Jasmine is a pale blue, glowing flower with a sweet aroma. Breathing in its fumes makes demons extremely needy and affection-craving. (Obey Me Wiki)

#obey me shall we date #obey me fanfic #obey me diavolo #diavolo x reader #diavolo x mc #i couldnt figure out how to make a fake chat screenshot easily so just the stickers are all y'all get #originally posted on ao3 #OP #fic

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shadow-bringer-ao3 · 2 months

Text

Edo Tensei and it's Equivalents

Tobirama blinks into awareness in a coffin. Not the strangest thing that’s ever happened to him but considering he was dead a second ago, it’s up there. His body feels heavy and strange, and when he has the chance to step out of the coffin, he realizes it’s responding slower than usual as well. Like he’s been drugged. Or, more accurately, like someone’s stuffed him into a false body using a modified Edo Tensei. It’s a lab, well lit but without even a hint of windows. Underground, he would guess and there’s enough familiar chakra around that he can assume that he’s in Konoha, at least.

There’s a piercing feeling, something adjacent to but not quite pain, and the summoning seals he had used to bring Wei Wuxian to their world so long ago light up brilliant amber. There’s a moment where his mind and body demand he obeys to the sibilant voice behind him before the controlling seal’s hold on him snaps. Tobirama, off balance from whatever surge of power (vitriolic and burning, like Wuxian had been at the end) had just overtaken him, shakes his head, eyesight blurring.

He turns and spies the man that had attempted to control him— to what ends, he can’t imagine. Slim and pale and snake-like, the man is someone Tobirama has only seen when his family had allowed him to check in on the living. Orochimaru. Hiruzen’s student, or at least one of them. Tobirama remembers him as a child, brilliant and distant from the world. A curious little creature. Too curious, maybe, if it led him to Edo Tensei.

“How did you do that?” Orochimaru wonders, genuinely curious. Tobirama flexes the muscles in his arm, still tingling from the unfamiliar power. The tattoos are smeared, fuzzy from exhausting their remaining power in such an explosive manner.

“A gift from a friend,” Tobirama decides on. He doubts it’ll work twice, whatever left over energy stored in the tattoos has likely been used up. Now that he has a better grip on what’s happening, though, it’ll be more difficult for Orochimaru to put another seal on him.

“A gift,” Orochimaru repeats, unconvinced. Tobirama dips his head. This seal, Wuxian’s seal, is not something he’s ever shared before, and he’s certainly not sharing the secret with a man he doesn’t even truly know. Hashirama is the only other person who’s seen the entire seal and even then it had been a fight with himself to share it.

“You brought me here for a reason,” Tobirama say eventually. “What is it?” Orochimaru stares at him a moment longer, unblinking. Tobirama imagines that that’s how he usually gets answers people aren’t keen on giving him; The snake-like eyes, snow-pale skin, and the way he doesn’t seem to be breathing are quite disconcerting but Tobirama grew up in a war and he grew up knowing he was the creepy one— Orochimaru is going to have to try harder than that. Anyway, he’s not nearly as intimidating as Wuxian, cheerful and kind and soft, could be when he tried.

“I am creating and recreating powerful jutsus for the good of the village,” Orochimaru says eventually, not sounding particularly convinced by his own words. That’s the official mission, then, but not Orochimaru’s personal motivation. Curious.

“You want my help,” Tobirama says. Orochimaru’s chakra twists in unhappiness at that but he doesn’t argue, doesn’t say a word. He takes a long moment to just look at Orochimaru, take in the way the man looks and acts, the way his chakra twists and coils. Hiruzen was not good for him, Tobirama realizes. Hiruzen always believed the best in people but unlike Kagami, who had the charisma to earn their best and the experience to understand and accept their worst, Hiruzen had always been a little naive. It was never anything Tobirama managed to talk Hiruzen through; it’s why the boy was his second choice for Hokage, not his first. That blind hope worked for him as a child but it’s clear it didn’t help as a teacher, not when he had a student so undeniably similar to Danzo and even to Tobirama himself. He doesn’t sigh but a part of him wants to. So long has passed and Hiruzen is still blinding himself to the flaws of those he’s close to.

“For every question of mine that you answer truthfully,” Tobirama decides eventually, “I will help you with another jutsu.” It’s a deal that favors Orochimaru but that’s exactly what Tobirama wants.

“…And if I don’t agree?”

“I created Edo Tensei,” Tobirama says dryly, “I know how to end it, whether I’m the one that originally used it or not.” Orochimaru watches him silently, most likely debating whether it’s worth it to take the deal or whether he should try his luck in controlling Tobirama with another of those seals.

“Fine,” Orochimaru capitulates. “Ask your question.” Tobirama smiles.

“Orochimaru, what’s your favorite food?”

It keeps going. At first, Orochimaru won’t answer another question until they finish the jutsu he’s owed and Tobirama keeps the questions themselves simple. Favorite food (onsen tamago), favorite color (purple), favorite animal (snake). Orochimaru’s natural wariness starts lessening with the easy questions and soon he’s letting Tobirama stockpile questions, keeping close track of how many jutsus (taught or created) he’s owed.

He runs out of really simple questions and starts letting them progress along. Not too quickly or Orochimaru would close up but he starts complicating them slowly, carefully, adjusting them based on his new student’s mood. And Orochimaru is his student now, whether he knows it or not. The first question to truly give Orochimaru pause is ‘what are your teammates like?’ For a long moment, Tobirama thinks he won’t answer, that he’s hit a barrier. Orochimaru is unwilling to trade information on his teammates for the chance at more power. But no—

“Tsunade-hime is the Shodai Hokage’s granddaughter and the last officially recognized Senju,” Orochimaru says, confident in his choice to answer. “She’s a decent shinobi but her loyalty to her Medic Code is a weakness; if freed from it, she would be a force to be reckoned with. Jiraiya is much the same. His skill comes from his powerful ninjutsu and his spy network but he’s still too weak, too kind. And his obsession with pornography is— beneath him.” There’s real annoyance in that last bit, and being able to discern all the little emotions in Orochimaru’s voice and chakra has been hard won, recently. Tobirama smiles and starts describing to Orochimaru the basics of San’nokku.

Tobirama lets the subject lie for a while, slipping back into easier questions. He learns that Orochimaru prefers a good book to most anything, that the intricacies of politics intrigue him, that the only time Hiruzen has truly denied him something was when he asked to be an official Medic nin because he wouldn’t accept the Code. He learns other things as well, not just about Orochimaru, but about the world. Konoha has grown since he was Hokage and changed in other ways beside. It’s… nostalgic, a little, and he feels some combination of sadness for missing it and happiness for it’s success.

The next time Orochimaru has trouble answering Tobirama’s question is the first time the younger shinobi has flat out lied to him.

“Do you like your teammates?” Tobirama asks, expecting a quick and easy answer. Orochimaru’s chakra is forced into unnatural stillness, golden eyes turning to Tobirama, unblinking.

“I hate them,” Orochimaru says, lies, and it sounds like I love them. He doesn’t add a tally to the jutsus Tobirama owes him. Neither of them mention the lie and their careful balance continues on.

They’re the Kagami to his Danzo, he decides. His moral code, the only reason he hasn’t slipped from Konoha to chase his own goals. And they’re gone from Konoha, Tobirama is aware of that much. Jiraiya is the main force of Konoha’s spy network, bringing in information otherwise unobtainable, but Orochimaru never gave a reason for Tsunade. With how skilled at healing Tsunade has apparently gotten, Tobirama doubts Hiruzen would send her off on an extended mission so he has the feeling whatever is keeping her from the village is personal.

“Why don’t you go find them?” He asks at one point. Orochimaru blinks, turning his attention from the jutsu he was perfecting his control over.

“What?” He asks, apparently genuinely confused. Not surprising, he has tunnel vision. Much like Tobirama himself does, when working on a project.

“Your teammates,” Tobirama clarifies. “Why don’t you go find them?” Orochimaru’s eyes flick away. He wonders if the man is going to lie again— or give an excuse that’s not technically a lie.

“They wouldn’t want to see me,” Orochimaru says, his truth. Tobirama watches him, watches him keep his hands busy, and sees a tiny, fluffy haired boy twisting a kunai in his hands and watching the edge of the blade with a raptness that’s clearly born out of anxiety. It’s odd, how a man Tobirama had so closely compared to Danzo could so easily remind him of Kagami, traumatized and orphaned and never sure of his place in the Uchiha clan. Even when Madara had been a strong figure in the clan and a near father figure for Kagami, the child had thought that he never truly belonged with the Uchiha— that they didn’t want him, really.

Tobirama had never been able to break Kagami from that line of thought, not before Madara abandoned them and certainly not after, but Uchihas feel emotion differently than most, so incredibly strongly, and maybe there’s still a chance for him to set Orochimaru on the road to healing. All he knows for now is that he can’t leave, not with Orochimaru’s tentative trust cupped so delicately in his hands, and definitely not without Jiraiya or Tsunade, preferably both, around.

He keeps going with the current deal for lack of anything else. At last, an idea comes to him, quiet and soft.

“Could you get me some himono?” Tobirama asks Orochimaru. “I miss the taste of fish.”

“You miss the taste of fish,” Orochimaru repeats, puzzled. Tobirama nods.

“I like fish of all kind,” Tobirama explains easily. “Fish is my favorite food, though I prefer salmon if I had to choose.” He shrugs. “I’m simply craving himono at the moment.” Orochimaru eyes him like he’s lost his mind.

“We don’t even know if you have proper taste buds,” Orochimaru says as if he thinks Tobirama has suddenly transformed into an idiot. He doesn’t take it to heart.

“Then it’s the perfect time to test it,” Tobirama urges. He won’t push Orochimaru any more after this, he’s already done what he set out to do, but part of him really does crave himono. While he can eat whatever he wanted in the Pure Lands, it’s been a while since he was revived with Edo Tensei and he’s not eaten (or drank) since then. Plus, Pure Lands food had always tasted almost too perfect. There had been little variation. But he needn’t have worried because the idea of an experiment, even one as harmless as this, brings Orochimaru alive with scientific curiosity.

“Salmon himono,” he murmurs, half to himself, and turns distractedly back to what he was working on. Tobirama notices that Orochimaru makes no move to add that particular question to the tally of owed jutsus.

The himono is delicious, when he gets it, and he keeps giving Orochimaru bits and pieces of himself in the meantime. He has no doubt that Orochimaru has caught on to what he’s doing by now. He, by his own admission, has spent time with T&I and while Tobirama has technically gone about it a little backwards, it’s not any less effective at building trust. Tobirama, of course, isn’t intending to use it against Orochimaru as it would have been in a T&I setting but that doesn’t stop his youngest student from pinning him with a calculating look one day and saying, dryly, “I know what you’re doing.” Tobirama smiles.

“You’re letting me,” he points out. Orochimaru frowns at him and turns away but doesn’t deny it. Tobirama can’t give the other shinobi the therapy he so clearly needs, therapy wasn’t something terrible worried about when war was such a complete constant and he doubts the attitude towards it has changers overly much, but he can at least be a friend. Even he has to fight his way into that position. With all his students, really; the village wasn’t at the point yet that six children trained to kill and to lead from six separate clans could live peaceably with each other. Torifu and Kagami were the most receptive to the idea of a team with outside but even they were wary and distrusting in the beginning.

Their balance continues. And it’s working in the way that Tobirama wanted it to— Orochimaru is fixating less and less on learning, on creating, and more on living but…

Tobirama’s not alive. Not anymore. He can’t be Orochimaru’s only support. Edo Tensei was never a jutsu meant to last. The dead should stay dead. Tobirama knows this better, now, than anyone else. Being here in the living world is getting harder and harder. It’s slow, gradual, and Orochimaru hasn’t noticed it yet, but Tobirama’s chakra is responding slower. It’s making his senses just a little dimmer, his body just a little harder to control. He’s on a time limit.

When Orochimaru next leaves him to his own devices, he decides to make a move. For the first time since Tobirama died, two snow leopard summons step into this dimension. Isami and Ayame are different than he remembers. Age has started to leave it’s mark on them, even if they still clearly have the restrained power and easy agility that younger cats take for granted.

“It’s been a long time,” Tobirama says to them, sliding his hands over their cheeks and through their thick fur, “but I have one last thing to ask of you, old friends.”

Tsunade stops, every muscle in her body going tense. Shizune freezes beside her, immediately scanning the forest on the edge of the road. If it’s someone after her for a debt, they’re good. Tsunade’s not even entirely sure what alerted her to the presence in the first place. Between one second and the next she had simply known: they’re being hunted. Likely, their hunter has been following them for a while and just made a mistake or, more likely, they had let her sense them.

Tsunade stays on edge as the seconds tick by, most of her attention on making sure Shizune stays safe and secure. Tsunade doesn’t want to fight but she wants Shizune to have to fight even less so she’s willing to, if she has to.

There’s a flash of white accompanied by a rustle and then a snow leopard steps out onto the path ahead of them, footsteps silent and blue eyes piercing. The snow leopard is big but not as big as she knows they can get. She recognizes Isami, even if the last time she saw him she was just a child, curled into her great-uncle’s side as he told her about his work, the snow leopards spread around them. Isami had always been her favorite, so close to her uncle in temperament.

Isami watches them, eyes slipping to the side to take in Shizune, defensive and wary but not willing to make a move until Tsunade does. Then he turns, glancing back at them only to nod his head in Konoha’s direction. Isami disappears into the forest and Tsunade takes a step in his direction, unthinking, before she stops again.

“Tsunade-sama?” Shizune questions. Tsunade looks at the girl who would have been her niece and thinks. Shizune has never really supported Tsunade’s decision to leave the Leaf. It had been her home, both of their homes, for their entire lives. It’s still Shizune’s home. (If she lets herself be truthful, it’s still her home too, even after everything.)

And— someone summoned Isami. Someone sent Isami to her. Even now, there’s only one choice she could ever make.

“We’re going home,” Tsunade tells Shizune.

Tobirama opens his fist, watching the movement lag jaggedly. There’s no hiding it anymore. If Orochimaru hasn’t picked up on it already, he will soon. He sighs and glances at the tally. Eleven jutsus still owed. He has notes, has written down seven he had yet to teach Orochimaru and three that he had been working on before being the Hokage on top of being a sensei consumed all his free time.

One left.

The door to the lab opens and Orochimaru steps in, oddly hesitant. He’s been expecting this ever since he felt the soft peat of Tsunade’s chakra, accompanied by a crackling blaze of unfamiliar chakra he assumes is Jiraiya and a smaller blip of water chakra that must be the girl traveling with Tsunade that Isami told him about.

“You’re leaving,” Orochimaru says, voice oddly blank. Tobirama nods.

“Edo Tensei only lasts so long. And I miss my family.” Kawarama and Itama the most, if he’s being honest— he has spent his afterlife thus far relearning his little brothers and he regrets missing this much of their un-lives, even if he knows the Pure Lands are a fairly static (and safe) place.

“You still owe me jutsus,” Orochimaru denies. Tobirama gestures to the scrolls he stacked neatly on the place that has become his workshop.

“Ten jutsu, finished and unfinished.” He releases an eleventh scroll, thinner than the rest and decorated in blue and silver, from a tattoo on his arm. “And… a gift.” Orochimaru stares at the scroll before his eyes flick up to Tobirama, wide and overwhelmed.

“That’s a summoning scroll,” he says.

“It is,” Tobirama agrees. “You can’t sign your name, not when you already have a pact with the snakes, but they’ll come if you need them and…” he hesitates, sliding his fingertips along the edge of the scroll. “I have no use for summons in the Pure Lands. I can’t bring them there. I would entrust choosing the next summoner to you, if you would accept.” Orochimaru doesn’t move for a long moment and Tobirama knows the man well enough by now to recognize the fear and uncertainty that twists through his chakra but it’s still a relief when Orochimaru accepts the scroll almost reverently. Tobirama smiles and cups Orochimaru’s cheek, tearing the man’s attention away from the scroll and to him.

“Live well, Orochimaru,” Tobirama tells him. “And know that if nothing else, I am proud of you.”

“Thank you, sensei.”

The second time Tobirama is summoned with Edo Tensei is much less pleasant. Orochimaru is the one to summon him again, among a selection of other people. Hashirama, Kagami, Minato, Hiruzen. Little Itachi and Kisame. Others he never learned the names of, even in the Pure Lands. It’s not for research, which Tobirama could understand, but for something far, far worse.

Over a hundred years ago, now, Tobirama fought in his last war, a last attempt to make the world safer and better for those that came after. Now he’s fighting again, fighting another damn war, armies of people he’s never met, a conglomeration of all the Hidden Villages, all against a handful of people. People controlled by Edo Tensei, a few living people.

Madara and Izuna, fighting side-by-side once again. Another Uchiha, as intangible as a ghost and powerful enough to hold his own against the strongest they have to throw at him. The Akatsuki members that Orochimaru couldn’t get to in time. An army of weak but plentiful soldiers, white and inhuman.

Tobirama does what he can, following in the wake of Izuna’s destruction as he makes loops around Madara. Madara, at least, is context to fight the other reanimated Kages, practically dancing around them as they get used to their new bodies. Izuna is much less willing to play around, sending battalions scattering with powerful attacks so that the Zetsus have a chance to change the tide of the fights before vanishing again, a shadow of death flitting across the battlefield. Tobirama follows doggedly, spending precious seconds putting out out-of-control fights and stopping landslides, drowning Zetsus when the Shinobi Alliance battalion is really struggling.

And finally, finally, Tobirama catches up, back where Madara toys with Hashirama and Minato and Kagami. Hiruzen is gone, released from Edo Tensei or off to help with an issue elsewhere. More people have congregated here, in this lull in fighting. Tobirama recognizes the boy with golden-red hair from the beginning of this battle, and his two teammates. There’s a silver-haired Hatake, as well, and the third Uchiha working with Madara and Izuna, standing close between the two sides.

And then—

Golden-white light and living wisps of shadow, an explosion of harsh wind and sound.

Tobirama blinks spots from his vision, ears ringing. His side seems similarly out of sorts, shaking their heads and pressing hands to eyes, to ears. Tobirama’s eyes sweep back over to the Uchiha brothers and freezes, breath catching. There, standing just to the side of the Hatake and Uchiha pair, is a group of people in odd clothes with odd swords and odd not-chakra signatures, led by a man with fluffy dark hair and friendly dark eyes. Tobirama looks at Wuxian, taking in the familiar energy signature and the sharp, mischievous grin with disbelief.

Wuxian had been dead, Tobirama knows that, and he also knows that this man’s features aren’t quite the same as Wuxian’s but the signature is the same, just shades different from what the bijuu feel like. And Wuxian isn’t alone. There’s four teens just about the Uzumaki’s age clustered together, taking in the battlefield with wide eyes and insistent whispers.

Behind them is a clearly reanimated man, whatever jutsu or seal or talisman holding him together looking like some sort of Edo Tensei offshoot. There’s a resigned man in purple who looks like he’s seconds away from snapping standing with a wide-eyed man in green who looks innocent and child-like but sets off all of Tobirama’s instincts. There’s a man in white as well, expression more flat and emotionless than the Uzumaki’s Uchiha teammate could ever hope to be.

“Tobi-er!” Wuxian cries, his face lighting up. Everyone near them turns to Tobirama with varying levels of surprise and Tobirama wonders if he wants to test the tentative ceasefire by strangling his oldest friend. “And Naru-er!” He adds brightly. Naruto beams and waves enthusiastically.

“Hi, Niichan!” The Uzumaki calls back. On the other side of the new group, Izuna makes an unflattering noise.

“You!” He shrieks. Madara, barely visible behind the group due to his short stature, appears to be muttering to himself about Tobirama’s nickname. How wonderful. Wuxian whirls around to face the Uchiha brothers.

“Angry ghost child!” He gasps, pointing at Izuna aggressively. One of the two teenagers that are dressed in white robes that match the stoic man’s robes yanks Wuxian’s arm down, snapping something at the man in that odd language of theirs. Unfortunately, it’s been far too long since Tobirama’s had a chance or reason to so much as think about the language and all he seems to be able to recall is ‘Xinlà de’. Spicy. The other teenager that’s wearing white robes gives them all apologetic looks and says something that’s probably an apology.

“Were you guys fighting?” Wuxian asks. Then he adds, confused, “also aren’t most of you dead?”

“Isn’t that man dead as well?” Tobirama asks dryly, gesturing to the man at the back of the group. Wuxian glances at the man when he says something.

“Oh,” Wuxian says, “that’s right,” and he pulls out a stack of talisman from… his sleeve? He proceeds to smack one onto each of his companions. The one in purple becomes visibly murderous.

“Now you should all be able to understand each other!” Wuxian says cheerfully.

“Wei Ying,” the one in purple growls threateningly.

“Okay, okay,” Wuxian complains, as if the man gave him a comprehensive lecture instead of a two word threat. “Everyone, this is the world that I sometimes disappeared off to when I was a kid and is also where I was trapped as a spirit. That guy is Tobi-er, that’s Naru-er, that’s Izuna, that’s his brother Madara, I’m pretty sure that one’s named Hashirama, and that one’s Kagami.” He pauses. “I think that’s all the names I know. Anyway these are Lan Yuan, Lan Jingyi, Jin Ling, Ouyang Zizhen, Wen Ning, Jiang Wanyin, Nie Huaisang, and my husband, Lan Wangji!”

“Hello,” Yuan greets politely with an odd bow. Disconcertingly, the boy’s mouth doesn’t match up with the word he apparently said. Probably an effect of the talisman.

“Hiya!” Uzumaki chirps. “I’m Naruto and these are Sakura and Sasuke! And the old man over there is Kakashi-sensei and the other guy is Obito!”

“Your names are weird,” Jingyi says bluntly.

“Like you’re one to talk!” Naruto protests at the same time Yuan scolds, “A-Yi! Be nice!” The younger people devolve into petty squabbling, Yuan and Zizhen futilely trying to play peacemakers while Wuxian laughs gleefully and more and more people get roped into the growing argument. There’s a crackle of purple light that snaps angrily around Wanyin. It shuts everyone up pretty quickly when paired with his downright bloodthirsty expression.

“Someone tell me what’s happening right now.” Wanyin demands angrily, still sparking. When Wuxian goes to say something, he snaps, “not you!”

“Oh, we’re in the middle of a war because those guys over there think that the world’s so sucky that it would be better if everyone was trapped in a giant illusion where everything was perfect even if that means that you could never have friends or be in love or anything because everyone would technically be you cause it’s all in your head,” Naruto says cheerfully. Everyone goes silent, staring at him.

“…the kid’s got a point,” Madara mutters.

“This was your idea!” Izuna shrieks.

“You wanted to kill everyone!” Madara shouts back.

“Not everyone,” Izuna defends, “mostly just the Senju.”

“You guys do realize that there’s only, like, one officially recognized Senju, right?” Wuxian asks. Izuna and Madara’s attention snap to him.

“…What.” Izuna says blankly. Tobirama heaves a sigh.

“At this point, we might as well just talk this out like the adults we say we are,” he says. Hashirama, who has looked lost up until this point, immediately lights up.

“Oh! I can make a building!” And then he proceeds to do exactly that.

“Whoa,” Zizhen says. “How’d you do that?”

“I have Mokuton,” Hashirama tells him. Ling scrunches up his nose.

“Wood Release?” He repeats, confused.

“…A lot to talk about,” Tobirama says on a sigh, mostly to himself.

It does not get any less chaotic once the entire group is wrangled around a table. The juniors, as Wuxian calls them, keep getting into arguments with the youngest generation of Team 7 (or at least Ling and Jingyi do). Kakashi and Obito appear to be trying to share a skin, much to happiness of Minato, all of which is something Tobirama wouldn’t want to touch with a thousand foot pole. Hashirama has apparently found a kindred spirit in Huaisang even though the man still raises Tobirama’s hackles. Wanyin has apparently decided that all of them are beneath him but has lowered himself to complaining about elder brothers with Izuna— Wanyin is Wuxian’s adopted younger brother, it turns out, although he doesn’t seem particularly at ease with that information. Wuxian is egging on the young ones and bugging Kakashi and Obito and butting into Wanyin and Izuna’s complains; really just making a general nuisance of himself.

The only ones not adding to the chaos are Wangji, who hasn’t said a word or emoted since he got here, Sasuke, who appears to be attempting to out-stoic Wangji, Wen Ning, who shrinks in on himself anxiously anytime anyone remembers the fact that he exists, and Tobirama himself, who really just wants to be released back to the afterlife and his baby brothers. And maybe to drink an entire store worth of sake before that. Either way, he would be free of this nonsense.

“So, Ghost Boy,” Tobirama hears Wuxian say, “what are you gonna do now that the clan you were after is gone?” Izuna tosses his hands in the air.

“I don’t know! I never liked Konoha, get rid of that?”

“Why?” Wuxian asks, as the conversations around them start quieting down, everyone tuning into the conversation to see what’s said.

“Because it was never in our favor!” Snarls Izuna. “Because we forfeited our freedom at a disadvantage and we stayed disadvantaged! Because when doling out jobs, the Senju were the leaders and protectors and we were the enforcers, as if there will ever be a time were something like a police force is looked kindly upon!” And something in Izuna breaks, then, gets quiet and sad but still fierce. “Because I had to live with the people that killed my brothers, watch them smile and laugh, and know that they’ll never see justice for what they did.” As much as Tobirama wants to have the perfect answer for this, he knows that nothing he says will make the situation better. He has never been the most sociable of people and any explanation he tries to give for putting the Uchiha in charge of the police force (something that was never, never meant to mean only Uchiha, always Uchiha) will only incense Izuna. Plus, he understands well Izuna’s last point— if he hadn’t hunted down Kawarama and Itama’s killers himself, if he had to live beside them, day in and day out and know…

He’s not entirely sure he would have done anything different.

“Izuna…” Madara says quietly, pained, in the silence his brother left.

There’s another pause, everyone unsure of what to say, before Yuan speaks up, “My entire family was killed when I was four.” Wuxian doesn’t flinch but he does look away from the teenager and Tobirama sees the sadness and guilt that darkens his eyes. “My sect was in a war against nearly everyone. They lost, eventually, and if was just me and my family leftover. Farmers, creators, a child, a medic. The only ones that knew how to fight were Wen Ning and his sister and Senior Wei, when he joined us.” There was a pause as Yuan thought of what to say next.

“My sect killed Sect Leader Jiang’s family.” Wanyin tenses, purple lightning crackling over his knuckles. “They killed Jingyi’s parents.” Jingyi’s eyes turn downwards, his jaw clenching. “They killed Zizhen’s cousins.” Zizhen glances away, blinking away tears. “They killed a-die’s father and the people he was meant to look after.” Wangji blinks and Tobirama catches just the slightest flutter, the most emotion he’s seen since the man’s appeared. “My sect committed atrocities in the name of war because a- a warmongering old man told them to. And when the war was over, people were still hurt because their families were still dead. But my family, the last of the Wens, they were alive and they were Wens.” Minato takes in a sharp breath. Kagami looks sick, far too aware of the horrors of the war to be surprised but still too kindhearted to accept it.

“They took my family from me because my family looked like the people that took their families from them. I could hate them for it. I could kill Jin Ling because his grandfather convinced everyone that my family was evil just because they were Wens or because his uncle caused Senior Wei’s death. I won’t though. I won’t fall so far as to do to them what they did, afraid and angry, to me.” Yuan hesitates, glancing at the other teenagers, and finished with, “and if I had killed them, I’d have never known what it would be to love them.” That pulls Izuna up short, and his eyes flick between the four teenagers. His mouth twists, eyes flicking down, and Tobirama realizes the other must be thinking of someone. Maybe someone he could’ve loved, given a true chance to know them.

Across the table, Tobirama meets Madara’s gaze, and he wonders.

“A truce,” Madara offers. “For now, at least.” Izuna does nothing to deny it, no longer paying any sort of attention. Hashirama smiles and it’s a little more worn now, a little more wary, but it’s still oh-so-hopeful.

“A truce,” he agrees. “You’ll tell whoever’s using Edo Tensei on your side, then? And the Zetsu?”

“No need,” says an insidious voice says darkly.

…

Silver and blue slashes brilliantly through the air, a blade singing with bright power. By the time Tobirama has turned to the intruder, he has been run through, a white sword stuck through his chest, it’s glinting blade stained golden with the creature’s blood. It’s something like a Zetsu but blacker than night with flat, empty eyes. The creature explodes, disintegrates into quickly scattering power. And there’s cords of music, music that speaks to the part of Tobirama still in the Pure Lands, thrumming through his soul and the fingertips of this false body. It’s warm and safe and Tobirama can’t help but lean into the feeling as the music cuts through the waves of power, splitting it around the table like they’re an island in a raging river.

As quickly as it had begun, it’s over.

The creature, the black Zetsu, is gone, vanished from this plane of existence. The music has stopped though the soothing warmth still suffuses the air. The sword, untouched except for the droplets of gold blood lingering on it’s blade, hovers in the same spot, unaffected by the laws of nature. Tobirama’s eyes slide over to Wangji, now standing, and the guqin resting in the air before him, similarly unaffected by the idea that there’s nothing to hold it in the air in the first place. In a flash, the sword as returns to the soft blue sheathe at Wangji’s side and the guqin has vanishes as though it never existed in the first place.

“You killed him,” Madara says, dumbfounded. Izuna looks speechlessly surprised at his side, staring at the spot that the black Zetsu once resided in.

“No,” Wangji denies and does not elaborate. Tobirama turns expectant attention on Wuxian, whom pulls through.

“Spiritual swords are made to be used against nonhuman entities like vengeful spirits, fierce corpses, and the occasional god. The spiritual energy they’re practically bathed in allows the soul, if the enemy has a soul, release from the negative emotions that bind them to this plane. Basically, Lan Zhan, Wangji, set that thing to rest,” Wuxian explains. “It was more difficult to discern what it was than it usually is back home because of the differences between energy and chakra but Lan Zhan is amazing as always and recognized it as a minor god, probably given form by people’s belief, and dealt with it before it could make trouble.”

“How did you know it wasn’t friendly?” Tobirama asks curiously.

“It, uh… felt bad?” Wuxian says hesitantly. “It was made of resentful energy, actual resentful energy so this world has the ability for it, it’s just not common, and things that subsist off of resentful energy are rarely friendly. It taints them, twists all their emotions up until only the negative emotions are there. Wen Ning is one of the few resentful beings still in nearly full control of himself and that was mostly because I… well, I’m not entirely sure what I did, to be honest.”

“Interesting,” Tobirama muses. “So—”

“Not to interrupt,” Madara says loudly, “but do you think that could have affected other people’s emotions? The, what did you say? Resentful energy?” Wuxian tilts his head.

“It’s possible,” he allows after a moment. “Since it was some sort of minor deity, it might have had the ability to affect humans. The only other time I’ve had direct contact with a minor deity, it gained it’s power by fulfilling people’s wishes and then eating their souls as payment, which is a different power set completely, but there’s more variation in the abilities of deities than in most other things. If it came to life with the purpose of manipulation or something similar…” Wuxian trails off, lips moving indecipherably as he murmurs to himself in his own language.

“Shouldn’t we be helping contain the other Zetsus now?” Minato points out. Madara and Izuna frown, sharing a glance.

“We might be able to convince Kabuto to call off the Edo Tensei,” Izuna says, “but Zetsu is unlikely to stop, especially now that his other half has been… lain to rest…”

“Then we better get moving,” Kagami says firmly.

Kagami, as the only Uchiha Hokage and practically the only one of the group that Izuna can stand, goes with Madara and Izuna to inform Kabuto of the change in plans and deal with the fall out of that as necessary. The rest of them split off into groups to help with the Zetsu. All of the cultivators’ (as they call themselves) techniques work astoundingly well against the Zetsu so they’re spread out, a group of cultivators for each Hokage (or Hokage-adjacent shinobi) so that they could protect the cultivators from any unfriendly shinobi.

Minato (and later Hiruzen, when they run into him again) gets the teenagers and Wen Ning, Naruto and Sasuke get Wanyin and Huaisang, and Tobirama gets Wuxian and Wangji. Hashirama is set to the task of hunting down the Edo Tensei on the other side of the war and capturing them in his Mokuton.

Watching Wuxian and Wangji work together is odd. They can fly with the assistance of their swords, which is strange enough, though they’ll stay on the ground near Tobirama when not traveling so that he can better protect them, but they also end up fighting the Zetsus mostly with music. Wuxian will play something on his dizi and that brings the Zetsu in hearing range under a fragile sort of control, keeping them from mostly docile while Wangji uses his guqin to ‘cleanse’ them. The swords, Bichen and Suibian, he learns, pick off any stragglers. The Zetsu drop by the hundred. They’re probably not as powerful as the original Zetsus were since they’re all just solid clones but it’s still impressive to see how effective they are.

The war is over. Or at least it’s stopped. Kabuto has (rather reluctantly, by Kagami’s descriptions) told his reanimated soldiers to stand down. He had then been abducted by Orochimaru and a woman called Anko, looking resigned to his fate all the while. Wanyin had not returned and Huaisang informed them that he had made friends with the current Raikage. Huaisang looks faintly traumatized and wanders off with a distant look; Tobirama sees him with a Nara several minutes later. He still doesn’t trust that man.

The Juniors have been adopted into Team 7 and they seem to be trying to teach them some sort of game. The pale one, Sai, is the only one having any luck with it. Jingyi and Naruto are having a competition that Minato is overseeing to see who can balance on their hands longer while Sasuke and Sakura snarl threats at Sai and Yuan and Zizhen try to explain the game more clearly. Jingyi, he notices, isn’t so much as sweating from his handstand. Naruto’s arms are already trembling. Wen Ning is a couple of feet away, chatting quietly with a red-haired kunoichi.

Izuna and Madara and Kagami and Obito are talking as well, the Hatake lingering beside them with sharp eyes. Hiruzen has left as well to hunt down his students, apparently to make amends. All over, people are resting and healing. Miraculously, no one is dead. The war hadn’t had the chance to get into full swing before Wuxian and his group crashed in and confused everyone to the point of ceasefire. It a miracle. And more than that, it was a chance for the Hidden Villages to see how much more powerful they are when working together. Maybe this scare, short-lived though it was, will be the catalyst for true peace.

“What are you thinking about, Tobi-er?” Wuxian wonders. Lan Wangji is a wall at his back, unmoved in the face of an entirely different world.

“Peace,” he says truthfully, with a gesture around them. At all the people sitting together, talking together, trusting each other regardless of village. A sight that Tobirama had thought he’d never see. Something he thought, on his less optimistic days (of which there were a good number), was completely impossible.

“Good thoughts, then,” Wuxian says, cheerfully.

“Maybe I wanted the war,” Tobirama says, just to be contrary. Wuxian rolls his eyes but makes no move to keep the teasing going like he was so keen to do when he was younger. Instead, he’s content to just stand with Tobirama and Wangji, watching the Juniors make friends. They’re his team, as far as Tobirama can tell. Or at least, the alternate universe version of a shinobi team.

“The fighting you and Wangji-san did earlier was impressive and beautiful to watch. You two make a great team,” Tobirama says eventually.

“Yeah we do,” Wuxian says, love struck. He glances up at Wangji with a sweet smile. He pauses at whatever he sees on n Wangji’s expression for a moment and then ducks his head to say something to his husband in his native tongue.

“Sorry, Lan Zhan isn’t used to people referring to him as just Wangji.” Wuxian explains, “we show respect different back home.”

“Oh,” Tobirama says, a little surprised the thought that something like that could be different never occurred to him. “How do you show respect, then?”

“Well, you guys use honorifics a lot, and we have those too, just different ones, but we also have courtesy names and titles and stuff,” Wuxian starts, a little slowly. “Basically, my name is Wei Ying. That’s the name my parents gave me when I was born. Usually only friends call me Wei Ying and only close friends or family calls me some variation of Ying. Then I have this courtesy name, which is something you usually earn later in life. Mine is Wei Wuxian. It’s what the majority of people call me. Then there’s a possibility of a title. Not everyone has to have one but I do. While usually used to show even more respect, some titles are given for other reasons. For instance, I’m called Yiling Laozu mostly in fear or hate. You use just Wuxian for me which puts you in this kind of limbo between formal and informal since it’s not my given name but it’s also not my full courtesy name.”

“Would either of you like me to call you something else?” Tobirama asks. Wuxian waves him off.

“It’s fine, you didn’t know and I’ve gotten used to it.” Tobirama looks at Wangji.

Wangji: “Mn.”

Tobirama looks back at Wuxian, Wangji’s assigned translator.

“He agrees with me,” Wuxian assures. Tobirama accepts that easily enough. He trusts that Wuxian can reliably understand Wangji and that he wouldn’t lie to him about something like this, which is less likely to make harmless chaos and than to start a fight.

“It’s good to see you this last time,” Tobirama tells Wuxian. The man— younger at this point even if he had started out older, something that is a little disquieting —blinks wordlessly at him, a little taken off guard. “I had thought that I’d never be able to give you a real goodbye. Never be able to thank you for all you’ve done to protect my family.” Wuxian goes red, embarrassed.

“It was nothing, really,” Wuxian tries but Tobirama isn’t standing for it.

“It wasn’t nothing,” Tobirama says firmly. “You saved my students, you brought the Uzumaki back to Uzushio. You’ve helped so many people. You’re a good person, Wei Wuxian, and I am glad beyond words that you seem to have found yourself your own happy ending.” Wuxian opens his mouth, likely to argue, but his eyes land on Yuan and Zizhen and Ling cheering Jingyi on (who still has yet to drop from his handstand), on Naruto, just as hyped and pressed close to his father, and he sighs, instead, expression going soft. He meets Wangji’s eyes for a moment and Tobirama sees sees something indescribable pass between the two.

“Yeah, I am too,” Wuxian says, with more love and warmth in his voice than Tobirama has ever heard someone be able to carry. Then his dark eyes turn on Tobirama, a spark of mischievousness coming back to then. “What about you, then?”

“What about me?” Tobirama asks. Wuxian nods at towards the group of Uchiha. Tobirama turns to see them better and meets Madara’s gaze. (He’s just as beautiful as he was a hundred years ago, confined to his desk by paperwork and three years before that, back lit by raging fire as the sharingan spun hypnotically.)

“Do you really want this chance to slip by too,” Wuxian eggs. Tobirama shoots him a glare but Wuxian meets it head on, grinning sharply and unaffected. Tobirama looks away first. Wuxian laughs bright and loud, patting him on the shoulder.

“Go,” Wangji says, unexpectedly. “Or you’ll regret.” That sounded personal, knowledgeable. Still, Tobirama hesitates. Wuxian shoos him off with a gesture, still smiling widely. Tobirama sighs heavily.

“If you insist,” he says, more put upon than he really feels. Wangji is right, after all. If he doesn’t do this now, he won’t do it in the Pure Lands, and he’ll regret it until his soul enter the reincarnation cycle. So he goes, Wuxian nudging Wangji behind him with warm murmurs.

As he approaches the Uchihas, Izuna rolls his eyes heavenward but Kagami says something that has the man snickers. The Uchiha he doesn’t know the name of sighs irritably, grabbing his Hatake by the elbow and disappearing with a swirl.

“Hi Tobirama-sensei,” Kagami chirps. He links his arms with Izuna’s and starts dragging the other away, calling over his shoulder, “bye Tobirama-sensei!” as Izuna grumbles uncharitably under his breath. Tobirama watches them go bemusedly.

“What was that about?” He wonders aloud. Madara groans, wiping a gloved hand down his face.

“I don’t even want to begin to know,” the Uchiha says pathetically. “Those two hit it off far too well and now I’m worried for the continuing sanity of everyone here.” Tobirama snorts.

“As if there’s any shinobi with sanity in the first place.” Madara pauses and then nods at him.

“You have a point. I worry for the continued self-control of everyone present,” he corrects. Tobirama shakes his head, smiling. It really is an understandable worry— In the distance, there’s an explosion of lightning, both of chakric origin and that odd purple lighting that sparked around Wanyin, followed by a loud screech of “Uchiha!!” that tells them where Kagami and Izuna got off to.

“I’m not fucking dealing with that,” Madara says blankly.

“Neither am I,” Tobirama agrees immediately. They exchange a glance and immediately hightail it in the other direction. Tobirama is laughing when they stop running, feeling lighter than he has in years. They’ve escaped the battlefield entirely, hiding away in a nearby forest. Madara is laughing as well and it lifts years from his face.

"Hashirama's gonna kill us for leaving them to deal with those two,” Madara says, far too gleefully. "Kami, I wonder what they did? They were gone for, like, two seconds!”

“You’re beautiful,” escapes Tobirama before he can stop it and he winces when Madara freezes, eyes wide.

“What?” Well, nothing for it, he might as well double-down.

“You’re beautiful,” he repeats. “I’ve always thought so, just…” he shrugs. Between the war and building the village and everything with Izuna, there had never really been a moment Tobirama had felt he could be completely honest with Madara. And that’s an excuse too, he knows, but it’s a comfortable one and a true one.

“You— I—” Madara cuts off with a high-pitched noise, cheeks pink, and stomps up to Tobirama. He watches, bemused, right up until Madara’s fingers curl around the edges of his armor and he’s yanked down into a searing kiss.

Oh, he realizes, feeling a little dumb.

“I’ve wanted to do that for years,” Madara says victoriously when they part, looking proud of himself. Tobirama can’t help another short laugh and presses a kiss to Madara’s lips, happiness settling in him.

“Oh, ew!” Izuna shrieks. Madara tears away from Tobirama with a war cry, lunging at his younger brother with murder in his eyes. Izuna yelps, scrambling to get away. Kagami’s there as well, laughing at his partner-in-crime’s misfortune. Tobirama wanders over to his student’s side, watching the two brothers fondly. This is what it should have been since the beginning.

“About damn time,” his student teases. “I expected to get adopted by you two ages ago.” Tobirama rolls his eyes.

“Don’t make me sick Orochimaru on you,” he warns. Kagami snickers. Izuna shrieks when Madara tackles him, kicking at his older brother in a desperate bid for escape.

“I”m gonna dunk you in the pond, you brat!” Madara snarls.

“There’s not even one here!” Izuna wails.

“I’ll make Tobirama make one!” Madara scrambles to keep all of Izuna’s limbs under control and makes the mistake of getting an arm too close to Izuna’s mouth. The younger Uchiha goes for blood.

“I’m happy for you, sensei,” Kagami tells him, surprisingly sincere considering the dubious way he’s eyes Madara and Izuna. Tobirama smiles helplessly.

“Thank you, Kagami.” Nothing’s perfect but… it’s better than it was an hour ago, than it was a hundred years ago, and for the first time since his brothers died, Tobirama is really, truly happy.

Part 6

#nart fic #mdzs fic #edo tensei and its equivalents #originally posted on ao3 #crossover #senju tobirama #wei wuxian #various others #au

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