#THOSE FLOPPY EARS WERE A BLESSING | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

electrasev5nwrites · 1 year

Text

Ninja Daily: Vapors 92

It took several hours and a disgraceful amount of cooking wine for Aiko to mostly forget that she was a back-stabbing monster. Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough for her to stay drunk for long.

Aiko scrunched up her face and curled up into a ball, knees held tightly to her chest. Then she opened her eyes again, because having them closed had made the room move too much. With difficulty, Aiko stood and used the counter as a brace to cross the room. She risked walking on her own when she ran out of counter, then stopped to blink gummily at the room. Why had she done that? Surely she'd gotten up for something, hadn't she?

The pale underside of her ROOT mask was still sitting on top of the pile of clothing by the door, and the armor leaned against the wall. She should probably put those away, as per policy.

That project took a surprisingly long time, not least because the storage seals in her closet didn't want to work for her. Aiko ended up shoving most of it under her bed. It could be cleaned properly later. She wasn't supposed to leave that sort of thing lying around.

She found that she didn't really want to put the blank mask away with the rest of the equipment, however. That and the little red half backpack still by the door were the only uniform components that she'd gotten from ROOT, aside from the wig in the bath drain.

Hmm. Should probably do something about that too. Leaning to wrestle the black mess out of the drain made her feel queasy, and it felt coarse and filmy between her fingers. Aiko held it up and frowned. It was trash. Trash, it was all trash. She dropped it in the metal trash bin from her bathroom, and then reconsidered. She picked up the whole bin and carried it like a baby out to the front room and shoved the red backpack in it as well. Aiko considered the pile of bloody clothes on the floor as well—but no. That was an ANBU uniform like any other. Blood would wash out, and it would hardly be the last time she was soaked in it. She carried the whole kit back to the kitchen, suddenly missing her bottle.

Guiltily, Yamato wavered between his door and his neighbor's. It was a little late to bother Aiko…

'No, it's only nine,' he assured himself. 'She's still awake. Besides, she likes animals. She wouldn't want the thing to go hungry overnight.'

He was probably going to have to go to Kakashi-senpai himself to make sure that he took care of his own rabbit properly. The off-put look on senpai's face had been badly hidden: surely, he intellectually understood that the rabbit was an herbivore of some sort, but the concept of going out of his way to coddle prey was counter to everything Kakashi knew.

The cage that Bunny was huddled in was rather ugly and cramped, so he opened his door and stepped in just far enough to set the cage down in the genkan and extracted the little beast.

Yamato spent a moment holding it straight across from his face, trying to get a measure of the little animal's worth. It twitched a little black nose at him and paddled in the air futilely. If it could have reached flesh, it probably would have bitten him.

Pathetic and without function. But somehow he couldn't quite bring himself to toss it back in the cage and hope Tsunade took it back soon.

He heaved a sigh and awkwardly tucked the thing in the crook of his elbow, stroking it with the other hand. He really was insufferably soft-hearted. It was just something he would have to come to terms with.

"Are you ready to make a friend?" Yamato mildly asked, rubbing behind one floppy ear as the animal slowly calmed and stopped digging claws into his sleeve. "I bet you are." He crossed the hall to knock on Aiko's door.

Then he knocked again, because there wasn't any answer. "Aiko?" He outright banged on the door, feeling it vibrate underneath his fist. "Are you alright?"

Sinking back onto the tile was a blessed relief. Her skin felt oddly hot, and the floor was cool. She carefully settled the can between her knees and worked on the remaining alcohol. There wasn't much. She settled back into a rhythm of taking a pull of the dwindling supply as soon as the prickling heat faded from her insides, feeling her face flush and eyes redden. The mask was sitting face-up on her knees, over the trash can.

Aiko considered it. That wouldn't burn, would it? But she didn't want it. Didn't need it anymore and never would.

"Aiko?"

Belatedly, she realized that there had been a knock on the door. And that the voice had been familiar. It sounded like… Yamato?

"Are you alright?"

Well, it sounded like him, but that had to be wrong. She didn't sense his Hiraishin tag. Oh no… there it was. She blinked, wondering why that had been so hard. Now that she was thinking about it, her connections to her seals felt blurry. Like she was talking to them through a thick pane of glass.

'I don't want to talk to Yamato right now.'

Yamato shuffled his feet, leaning into the door. Was she even in there? He didn't think she should be out of the village.

Finally, she answered. Her voice wasn't loud, but seemed to be surprisingly close to the door. "Go away, please."

Uneasy, he shifted his weight. That wasn't much like her at all. He'd never known her to not answer the door—she bowed to social obligation even if she really didn't want to talk to anyone.

Aiko clapped a hand over her open mouth. Then she shut her jaw, almost shocked by how easily the words had slipped out. Had she really meant to say that? Did alcohol make her talkative- or at least, less likely to filter her words properly? If that was the case, she couldn't be around Yamato. He would hate her if he knew what she'd done. Killing Shou hadn't even been on orders. That had been her initiative. Self-hatred welled up again, and she tilted up the bottle one more time to drain the last of the warm liquid. It didn't seem to help distract her this time. Furious with herself, she rubbed harshly at her eyes with a palm, willing them to stop stinging.

'Maybe I should make sure everything is fine?'

But he couldn't exactly break down the door and trounce in, either. She was a seal-master. There was a damn good chance that the place was trapped floor to ceiling.

'What would senpai do?' Yamato wondered a bit helplessly.

Then the answer seemed obvious. Emotional manipulation.

Aiko bent inwards and seriously considered covering her ears when the barging on the door seemed to pick up force. But his voice got counter-intuitively smoother and caught her attention before she'd shuffled her burden around to manage it. "Aiko-chan, if you don't let me in, a cute furry animal is going to go hungry," Yamato cajoled.

Oh. Aiko's fingers tightened around the edge of her mask. Had he really been given a bunny? It had seemed funny earlier when Tsunade had suggested it, but now that there was a chance she'd have to look at the rabbits again, not so much. They were going to be an unpleasant reminder.

"I need help with this rabbit-"

Yamato seemed to cut off in astonishment when she lifted her arms and twisted the mask slightly to impact with the rim of the tin can, neatly cracking it into two pieces. Gently, she set it on the floor and hugged the trash can to her chest. It took a full second to search out a seal in the outskirts of the enormous forests surrounding Konoha and pull herself away from a possible conversation.

He jumped directly up like a startled cat at the sound of a single crack within the apartment. What was that about? "Aiko?" Yamato tried again.

'I think she left,' he slowly realized. 'She used her Hiraishin.'

It seemed a bit extreme. Maybe she just really didn't like rabbits. Or she could have had a really bad day.

"Sorry, Bunny," he apologized stiffly, tucking the thing back into the cage in his apartment. "I suppose you'll make it one night, right?" Uncertainly, he tucked a porcelain bowl with water and a bit of radish inside.

Dozens of miles away, Aiko was sitting on the damp ground, feeling twigs and other forest debris press uncomfortably into her thighs. It wasn't nice, so she used the trash can as a brace to stumble to her feet.

It took four tries to light the equipment on fire. The first two attempts didn't make sparks, and the third she misaimed at the metal itself instead of the fuel inside it. It stank, but she slumped against the nearest tree to wait for it all to burn to nothingness.

After a while, she got cold. But Yamato might still be at her apartment, and she didn't want to talk to him. Much more clumsily than usual, Aiko scraped off skin from her thumb to draw blood for a summoning. Then she threw her arms around a surprised-looking Mitsuo, inadvertently smearing blood on the nape of his neck. "Hi," she sniffed into the thick ruff at his collar. "I had a bad day."

He whined sympathetically and sat down, then craned to lick at her arm. Aiko gave a snuffling giggle and pressed her nose into his fur.

"I did a bad thing," she confided lowly. Mitsuo drew back and stared her directly in the eye, and then blinked slowly. Deliberately, he gave a rolling howl in the back of his throat that she recognized as a comforting sound. "Thanks," Aiko ran a hand down his back. "I had to fight someone who I was on a team with for a year. He was a traitor, but he wasn't a bad man." The smell of the alcohol on her breath washed back into her face, wafting back off of Mitsuo's coat. She cringed, ashamed.

"I'm sorry, I must stink." She drew back and leaned against the bole of the Hashirama tree at her back. Mitsuo followed her back and laid his head on her lap, turning to lick at her bare stomach. He kept one eye open and pinned on her.

Carefully, deliberately, he made a four-tone whine, moving from an inquisitive pitch to an order. Aiko mindlessly obeyed, rubbing at the cut on her thumb to induce it to bleed again. Hōseki shook her coat, dissolving the cloud of smoke from an inefficient summoning and took in her contract partner.

"Why sad?" She tilted her head, letting an ear flop over. Without waiting for an invitation, she drew herself up to place her paws on Aiko's shoulder and lick at her ear.

Mitsuo lifted his head just enough to talk to Hōseki, keeping his yaps soft and talking far too quickly for Aiko to pick apart. Whatever it was, it convinced Hōseki to lean in and rub her nose against Aiko's cheek in a silent kiss.

"You're a good human," she reassured. Hot, malodorous doggy breath washed across Aiko's face, but she didn't care. She wrapped a grateful arm around the little dog to stroke down her luxurious coat.

"I killed three Konoha nin today," Aiko confided.

The Shiba Inu stilled for just a moment. "Not pack?" she asked curiously.

"One was pack. ANBU pack, anyway. They were traitors, but they didn't deserve to die." Numbly, Aiko stared up at the night sky. The last of daylight was fading. If she didn't put out her fire soon, it would be far too visible. That meant she should probably move, if she didn't want to talk to any patrols.

"Sometimes…" Hōseki hesitated, then laboriously crawled on Aiko's hip, nearly stepping on Mitsuo's face. He moved at the last moment. "Sometimes not all dogs are good for the big pack." Her dark eyes were soulful and serious. "Sometimes Alpha has to cull."

Aiko gave a surprised laugh and rubbed at the little dog's ear. "I'm not really the Alpha," she deflected. "that would be Tsunade-sama."

'And she didn't give that order. She didn't disapprove when she found out, but it was my idea. Judge, jury, and executioner.'

"Are," Hōseki disagreed crossly. "Alpha makes those decisions." She nipped lightly at Aiko's ear, as if to scold.

She didn't bother to argue with the Shiba Inu anymore. Pack didn't really have the same kind of political hierarchy that a place like Konoha did. In Hōseki's mind, it probably did make sense that Tsunade wasn't really Aiko's alpha if Aiko went over her head to do what she thought was best.

'Then again, maybe Tsunade isn't my alpha,' Aiko thought, bleakly amused. 'She doesn't assert authority over me or give me orders. I pretty much have free reign as long as I don't do anything insufferably stupid.'

Was that really usual? Couldn't be. Her foray into ROOT had been entirely at her own discretion, and Tsunade hadn't said a damned thing about how she chose to conduct it. She had gotten mocked a little bit for handing out a Hiraishin seal to Gaara, but Tsunade had never disciplined her and then had in fact continued to allow her to do similar things.

Huh. The dog might be onto something. It wasn't like Aiko really cared what Tsunade thought. She went through the motions of hierarchy, but not consistently or sincerely.

'Do I have an alpha, then?' Aiko wondered.

The answer was a sullen no. It was a bit depressing, really. She didn't especially like to lead, so she hardly felt like an alpha herself, but she didn't trust anyone else to account for everything that she did. Kakashi had been her alpha for a long time, but when was the last time that she had really regarded his word as law?

A long time.

'If I didn't have Mitsuo and Hōseki, I'd be a lone hound,' Aiko realized, suddenly feeling grateful beyond words that she did have pack. It was a tiny pack, to be sure. A week ago, she might not have realized, but there was a critical difference between the big pack and the little pack. She couldn't tell the big pack things like what she'd just told the little pack. Pack didn't judge: the big pack would forgive her, but they would look at her differently if they knew what she did. Kakashi would be disappointed. Naruto would think she'd done something monstrous. Yamato would probably just be sad for her sake, but that hardly appealed to her either.

"Love you guys," Aiko said quietly. Mitsuo moved his head out to nose her legs, making room for Hōseki to sit down on her with a huff.

"Yes." The little dog tossed her head like a queen, pawing at Aiko's hip. "Take us inside," she commanded regally. "Where are your furs?"

It took a moment for that to sink in. Then she glanced down, and saw only dogs on her lap and white bandages around her torso.

'I'm still half-naked. How did I forget about that?'

Aiko just about choked on her laughter, but managed to restrain it. "I forgot them. Just a minute."

Feeling infinitely better than she had before, Aiko pulled all three of them to her old room at the house. Naruto and Karin were out, but-

"Aiko?" Hinata pushed open the door and visibly relaxed, slipping the kunai in her hand back into her thigh holster. "You startled me." She walked into the door just enough to really take in the puddle of dogs, and blinked. "Where are your clothes?" she asked uncertainly, as if worried that she didn't want the answer. To be fair, she was wearing only shorts and breast bindings in addition to the two dogs and a healthy smattering of twigs and leaves.

Aiko just shrugged, palms up and a sheepish smile on her face. "I lost them on the path of life?"

After a moment's consideration, Hinata heaved a sigh and stepped out into the hall. She came back a minute later with one of her navy blue shirts. Aiko thanked her and slipped it on gratefully.

It had been a bit cold.

The first thing that Yamato did in the morning was to head to the corner store in search of pet supplies. Some of it was promising and had pictures of small animals on the packaging, although the cashier was spectacularly unhelpful. He'd figure it out on his own, he supposed. How hard could it be?

Bunny seemed inclined to make it more difficult than it really had to be.

His plan to learn the proper care of rabbits through experience was derailed by a messenger at about six. He dutifully reported to the Hokage's office as soon as he could, but was apparently slower than he should have been. Sai was already there.

Tsunade looked up blearily. "Good, that's two out of three," she mumbled. With a sigh, she pushed her chair back. Yamato wondered if she'd been working all night—there were deep creases in her clothing and her fingertips were stained with ink. "I sent a messenger for Hatake three hours ago, so he-"

"Is not feeling particularly appreciative," Kakashi finished, giving a one-eyed glare to his boss. For once, he had entered through the door.

She just shrugged. "This is too important to wait around for. I'll be publically announcing that Councilman Danzo passed away during the night. By the way, the funeral is going to be the day after tomorrow." She rolled her eyes. "Since you three are already involved in some level, it makes more sense to send you to his home. Right now, there should be a perimeter keeping out curious bystanders. I want any and all documentation and indication of ROOT cleared out of that place, as well as anything remotely suspicious."

A few minutes later, the three men were quietly standing in Danzo's entrance hall and observing the still home.

"Do you think that blood counts as suspicious?" Yamato asked a bit wryly. Kakashi snorted, but Sai shrugged.

"Not really," he idly replied. "Perhaps the clean couch fabric does."

"The couch is soaked in-" and then Yamato stopped, because that wasn't precisely true. There was a clean outline on the couch that was much more incriminating than the blood and pulpy matter on the ceiling and wooden floor. "Ah," he finished weakly. Belatedly, he noted what looked like part of a mangled hand resting on a chair—a pinky and most of a ring finger attached to part of a palm. He tore his eyes away, nervously tugging at his hair. It might be best not to dwell on what had happened here.

Kakashi was still staring at the outline, a slight line forming on his brow. It was undeniably human, but looked like a small woman or a young teenager. That wasn't usually the profile of someone already hardened enough to resort to the level of violence displayed here. After a moment he shook his head like a dog, as if to chase away a thought, and heaved a sigh. "Maa, I'm not sure we deserve this."

Despite the light-hearted complaint, he worked as hard as the other two. They only had a couple of hours to clear out the domicile: ideally, they would be done before Tsunade's impromptu memorial service was so that as few people as possible saw ANBU hanging around the Councilor's house.

"I hope that couch wasn't an heirloom," Yamato commented a bit gloomily when Kakashi immolated it. All he received in reply was a shrug, so he set to sweeping up the ashes while Sai scrubbed the floor. Kakashi wandered off in search of Danzo's private documents as well as anything else that needed to be removed from the premises. The living room was nearly immaculate by the time his voice called out faintly from somewhere within the house.

"There's a secret passage over here."

"It leads to the underground facilities," Sai commented blandly. Yamato took a moment to give him a stink-eye for not sharing that information beforehand. The teen didn't seem to catch on, but it was hard to tell with him.

On more than one level, actually. His presence indicated that Tsunade trusted him implicitly. But the last Yamato had heard, Sai was one of Danzo's elites. Had he really been convinced to change loyalties beyond a shadow of a doubt?

'He must have proved himself somehow,' Yamato reminded himself, trying to visibly warm up to the boy. There wasn't any point in maintaining intentional distance if Tsunade trusted him. She must have a good reason, and it wasn't his place to second-guess that.

He worked to keep that in mind as he followed the teen twisting faultlessly through Danzo's convoluted home to the passage Kakashi had already found. He looked around with mild curiousity, and spotted the same thing that Kakashi did.

"There was a fight here." Yamato bent to examine the scratch in the floor. "Someone dropped their sword."

"Do not worry. It was necessary to eliminate Danzo's house guards," Sai blandly informed them, turning back into the house.

Yamato nobly resisted the urge to ask exactly had happened yesterday. It was clear that Sai had been involved in it, but he also knew perfectly well that prying was a poor idea. If Tsunade thought it was necessary, she would have clued them in. She had simply wanted people that she trusted not to become too curious about what had happened here. All three of them had worn the mark of slavery to Danzo—had Sai's been removed as well?

An interesting thought, but he didn't ask. It didn't matter to him either way. He just needed to know that the Hokage still trusted him.

'And she doesn't need a seal that forces me not to talk to do it,' he noted with a little thrill. That was marvelously freeing.

They finished their work in time to have to wait on Tsunade outside her office while she finished talking. She threw off her official robe as soon as she'd entered, and all but collapsed on her chair. "Report?"

"The area is cleared," Kakashi shrugged. "Though the underground will have to be checked as well." He laid out the storage scroll full of pilfered materials. "I assume you know why there was a mess in the front room?"

"A mess?" Tsunade's brow creased.

"Yes," he clarified bemusedly. "It looked like someone exploded in there."

She winced visibly. "Ah, that. Yes, I'm aware. Thank you boys. You're dismissed."

Sai split from them immediately, but the older shinobi kept a languid pace. "Barbeque?" Yamato suggested to fill the silence. Kakashi didn't seem to care, so they ended up there for lunch.

"Did Aiko have any wisdom about your newest problem?" Kakashi idly played with the saltshaker, clinking it against its match. His expression was exponentially darker than the saltshaker probably deserved.

Yamato heroically resisted wondering if that long-suffering tone meant that Kakashi had experienced problems with his rabbit already. Bunny had been fine, aside from resisting when he'd taken her for a walk in the morning. She didn't want to go to the restroom when the opportunity was provided, and she certainly hadn't liked the leash and collar. He sincerely hoped Aiko had tips for convincing Bunny not to go limp whenever he tried to exercise her. It would be disappointing to have wasted money on toys otherwise, although the little tube that produced a red dot of light was fascinating on its own merits and he was seriously considering taking it apart to see how it worked.

"No, I didn't end up talking with her," he admitted, turning his glass in his hand. "I tried, but she didn't want to talk."

Kakashi outright frowned. "That's odd. Isn't she off leave? I'd think her mood would be back to usual."

Unspoken was that Sasuke had been more vocal than he'd really needed to about just how difficult Aiko had been behaving before their team had been sent out. Amusing, but not revelatory. She was contrary at the best of times. Yamato didn't particularly fancy walking straight into a trap like that if she really was still crabby.

"Maybe you could try," Yamato sighed, propping himself up on his elbows. "She likes you better anyway."

And if Kakashi went in first, Yamato wouldn't be the one getting pouted at. Much safer.

His senpai sent him an amused expression that implied the attempt to throw him under the wagon had been spotted, but dropped the topic in favor of shop talk.

Kakashi had probably taken the suggestion to heart, because he wordlessly accompanied Yamato back to his apartment complex. "Do you want to try again so we can have a better comparis-" His voice trailed off, and the older man frowned slightly.

"Senpai?" Confused, he fell silent when Kakashi ignored his query and bounded the last few stairs to their floor and strode over to Aiko's door.

"Stinks like blood," he lowly informed, rapping on the door. Kakashi barely waited three seconds before trying again, raising his voice. "Aiko?"

When no one answered his call, Yamato shifted uneasily. "I could ask the manager for a spare key?" he offered.

Kakashi gave him a withering look and then lit his hand up with chidori. Yamato had barely covered his eyes when the sound of splitting wood informed him that his senpai had shoved his hand through the door. He opened one eye gingerly to glare as Kakashi impassively twisted his arm to slide over the lock and gently opened the door.

"Her shoes are here," Yamato noted as the apartment came into view. They were covered in chips of wood, but they still implied that Aiko should be home.

But she wasn't. Kakashi strode in and made a circuit of the apartment. Yamato lurked uncomfortably in the entryway, putting together a rather unpleasant picture.

Two empty bottles were lined neatly against the side of the kitchen counter. Two feet in front of them was a porcelain mask, neatly broken in two. He gingerly flipped one half over—and then blinked, moving to make the other half visible as well.

It was blank. Strange. She'd been in the corps long enough that her equipment should be personalized.

A disconcerting theory was trying to make itself known. Honestly, this looked like an ANBU mission had gone badly and she'd freaked out. Alcohol wasn't the worst or most uncommon coping mechanism. Running off barefoot was a bit more worrying, however.

"You assholes owe me a new door."

Yamato jerked, swiveling to where the dry comment had come from. Messy-haired and indeed barefoot, Aiko stood in the doorway with a severely unimpressed mien and her fingers tangled in the snowy fur of her first contracted summons ninken.

"Honestly," she continued, moving into the room. "It's like you've never seen a closed door. My people use them to signify: stay the hell out." There was a tiny snicker, and her smaller dog sprinted into the apartment on a collision course for her bedroom. A moment later, he heard the 'whumph' of a small body colliding with cushions. The girl didn't so much as twitch.

"You know me," Kakashi deflected breezily, poking his head back out of her room where he'd been snooping. "I was raised by wolves. We consider them a challenge to get at the pantry. The tribe always loved me because I have thumbs." He wiggled one at her in a way that Naruto would have found absolutely infuriating.

She just scoffed. "Seriously…" Aiko trailed off, frowning at the mess that had been her front door. "You're going to fix that, right?" The worried look on her face would been endearing if it hadn't also been slightly insulting. Of course Kakashi would… Hmm. Yamato exchanged a sheepish look with his senpai. He didn't look like a man who fixed doors.

"I have some glue in my apartment?" Yamato began weakly, but she was already shaking her head sternly. "Hey, we were worried," he defended. "He said he smelled blood." Aiko frowned as soon as Yamato jerked his head to indicate Kakashi.

"It's nothing," she clipped out, with a glare that implied anyone who said otherwise was going to regret it.

"Nothing?" Kakashi asked sarcastically, slouching in the way that usually meant he was about to say something confrontational. "I thought it was the pile of clothes inside the door."

'I missed those.' Yamato scratched at his cheek and hoped his expression hadn't betrayed that he hadn't been particularly observant. To be fair, they barely looked like clothes. It was just a crumpled pile of rather crusty-looking black fabric.

Oh. Crusty. Yes, now that he was looking, he could easily believe they'd been the source of the smell. It took a lot of blood to soak clothes to the point where they would dry in peaks. He winced, and tried not to think too hard on where Aiko would have acquired that much blood. She didn't seem to be wounded at all—tired, but not wounded. It was relatively easy to tell, seeing as she was wearing some of those terrifyingly tiny shorts she preferred with an oversized sleeping shirt that probably hadn't come out of her own closet. It seemed to have come from someone a bit bigger or bustier.

It wasn't really his business that Aiko had apparently ended up taking a shower of blood yesterday. He hadn't been assigned to whatever mission she'd been on, and it was rude to pry.

"What happened last night?"

But Kakashi-senpai was kind of a rude bastard. And he was looking strangely intent on getting that answer.

Aiko blinked twice, and her gaze darted to Kakashi's nose instead of keeping eye contact. Yamato was relatively certain that meant she was about to lie. It was hard to catalogue her tells: not because she didn't have them, but because she had so many – but they were inconsistent and contradictory as far as he could tell. When she was on a mission, pretending to be bubbly meant something completely different from pretending to be bubbly in the village, and something similar applied to when she broke eye contact (and where she moved it to), what body posture she adopted, how her wording changed, etc.

For all his tactical brilliance, senpai seemed to have no ability whatsoever to read her. It was possibly because he didn't think it worth the time to invest in figuring out how to catalogue someone he'd never have to fight, but it was probably just because he didn't have the social intelligence to keep up with her rapidly changing personalities. Yamato tried not to snort at the thought.

That way only led to madness.

"Oh, last night?" Aiko rolled her eyes. "Sorry I ran out on you, Yamato." Her tone was casual. If he hadn't just seen her alter her body language, Yamato might have believed that whatever it was didn't particularly bother Aiko.

"I spent the night at the house." Aiko cracked her neck and walked right past them. The fluffy monster dog clacked in behind her, giving Kakashi a mournful look as he passed. "Hinata gets lonely when Karin and Naruto are gone," she called light-heartedly over her shoulder.

That statement was probably truthful, but a completely unhelpful digression to distract from the real issue. Yamato resisted the impulse to roll his eyes. Why not just say she didn't walk to talk about it? All three of them had known what Kakashi meant, and knew that she was deflecting. What pretense could she possibly be upholding?

Weird kid.

"I didn't end up sleeping very well before she woke me up on her way out, so I was planning on having a nice nap in my own bed." Her voice echoed oddly out of the hallway from her room. "I guess that plan is shot, though, since I can hardly go to sleep when my apartment doesn't have a door. Not very safe, is it. I'll have to remember to chidori-proof my door, but I admit I never thought it would be a problem."

That was a much better conversation change. He knew what she was doing, but he still felt a little guilty. Which probably said more about him than it did about her, since he had been uninvolved in the door breaking. Shoulders hunched in slightly, Yamato offered, "I can try to make a new door, but it'll take some time to get the dimensions exactly right. And I've never installed a lock before."

The look Kakashi gave him was mildly incredulous. "You keep the locks your landlord gives you?"

Somehow, the tone managed to convey pity, amusement at his naivety, and just a hint of scorn.

"Yes," he huffed defensively. "It specifically states in all housing contracts that changing the locks is a violation of the lease."

Kakashi looked skyward, as if praying for strength. "I suppose I have to help you, then," he grouched, looking self-pitying. Yamato momentarily felt guilty for imposing, and then he remembered who had broken the damn door in the first place. "But I can't do it without refreshments. I'm already wilting. Aiko, what do you have to drink?"

'He's not going to let her wander away,' Yamato noted, amused. 'He must really want to get an answer out of her.'

The ploy was transparent to him, but she fell for it. "You can have water," Aiko replied flatly, coming out of her bedroom to glare at him sternly. She'd pulled loose pajama pants on over her shorts. Perhaps she was cold. "Tea is for guests who don't trash my things and let poor Yamato take the blame. He gets ice cream."

It was sort of funny to see a grown man pout, even if he certainly didn't want ice cream anyways.

Kakashi swallowed, hard, and tried not to stare as Aiko walked off into the kitchen. A very unpleasant conclusion was niggling insistently for his attention. Yamato seemed to be doing a much better job of ignoring the obvious. He almost wished that he could, because he didn't like the evidence begging for attention.

The blood he'd scented last night in Tsunade's office was the same type he'd seen in Danzo's home. That wouldn't have been completely damning if it weren't also the same scent he'd picked up on the day-old blood soaked clothing inside her door. Aiko had killed that man in Danzo's house, or been there when it had happened.

She'd been involved in ROOT.

He didn't know how, and he didn't know why. But she had. The conclusion was an inescapable as it was distressing. Some part of him had known before he'd seen the dirty clothes and the white mask that Yamato had apparently managed to persuade himself into not understanding for what it was.

It explained so many things. In the last year, she'd been almost constantly stressed and sleep deprived. Aiko had experienced a subtle but noticeable personality change, especially in regards to how antisocial and secretive she was. She was distant and less affectionate with Naruto and Sasuke, and almost fanatically protective of them. As if she was seeing dangers under every rock and around every corner. But that wasn't the only way her relationships had changed: she was much closer to Tsunade and Sai than he could see reason for. Sai was confirmed ROOT… or had been anyways, he realized sickly. Was that how they had become close—working together?

"Here's your water, you vulture." A smile that belied the words was tugging at one half of her lips when Aiko returned toting drinks. She was obviously tired, but glad to see them, despite her attempt to portray suitable grumpiness. She just didn't look like someone who had clearly drank herself into a stupor the night before and then outright ran away when Tenzou had come to her door. That was more worrying: why would she compartmentalize like that to hide things from him?

"I thought I was getting tea and ice cream," Yamato complained good-naturedly, taking his drink and a polite sip before he set it aside and cracked his fingers.

"Maybe later." Aiko turned just enough to examine the door Yamato had managed to tug off the hinges, tilting her head sideways. "All I have left is strawberry. Do you know how you're going to do this?"

Yamato visibly brightened. "I was thinking that it would be nice to decorate…"

Kakashi let his mind drift away from Tenzou's good-natured babbling about scalloped edges and to the girl who was watching him fuss with obvious fondness.

How had she kept this from them? Why would she want to?

Intellectually, he knew that question wasn't fair. She had to have been on some mission from Tsunade, since the Hokage had immediately known what he had been referring to when he'd told her that Aiko was overworked months back. He'd had missions he certainly wasn't going to talk about, even if it was legal for him to do so. Had she just been involved in the ROOT clean up, or had she really gotten tangled up in the organization? The mask and the long-term problems seemed to indicate the latter, though he'd hope the former was true.

Had she and Sai really been the ones to kill those people in Danzo's home? It had been a grotesque scene. No… someone else had to have been there. If Aiko had been sitting on the couch, she hadn't been the one to kill that poor man—she needed to touch someone to put an explosive on them— and Sai didn't have anything like that in his arsenal.

How many people did that make who had been more cognizant of what was really going on in his subordinate's life than he'd been? He'd just… he'd thought that she was just growing and didn't need him anymore. Was that true, or was she intentionally pulling away so that he didn't see what was going on?

For a reason he couldn't begin to articulate, he felt ashamed. He should have known. What kind of captain was he if he couldn't put together information about someone he knew so well just because he didn't like the conclusion?

He didn't know how or why, but she'd been involved in Tsunade's takedown of Danzo. It must have been a busy day: the scent of blood in Tsunade's office had been faint but fresh, so she'd still been working while he and Yamato were lazing about unconscious. Danzo had been taken into custody in the early afternoon. What had happened between those times?

"No, I think that you're putting those on the wrong way." Aiko gave Tenzou a skeptical little frown, poking at the metal bits he was trying to screw into the new door.

His kohai took a frustrated breath and all but pouted. "Does it really matter which way the hinge goes?" he pointed out practically. "The door will just open the other way, and it's more defensible if it opens outward."

"Is not," Aiko protested crossly. "That's so backwards."

"Tenzou, why don't you go check on your rabbit?" Both of them blinked and turned to look at him, clearly not expecting him to jump into conversation. He gave a faint smile to take the sting out of the dismissal. "Aiko can take a look at it and help you with it while I fix this."

'If I let him fix the door, I'll just have to redo it.'

It would be a more valuable use of Yamato's time to prod Aiko for instructions in the care of the horrible little animals they had been saddled with. He could listen in on that conversation and avoid the indignity of asking for himself. He certainly wasn't going to admit that the little bastard had bit him that morning when he'd gone into the bathroom to take a shower, but he was hoping there was an easy explanation since he had to cohabitate with the vicious monster.

Otherwise, he was going to feed it to the pack and deal with the consequences later.

The younger man nodded slowly. Aiko just looked wary. As the faint tap of Tenzou's footsteps faded down the hall, Aiko scuffed one little bare foot against the wood floor uncomfortably and looked down.

He did his best not to notice, and instead turned his attention to pulling the metal from the old door frame. "Are these really the locks that came with the apartment?"

Asking Aiko about ROOT would be a bad idea at the moment. If she had been forbidden to talk about her mission, then he would be putting her in an untenable situation and forcing her to either lie or disobey the Hokage. He didn't know which option would be worse.

So he was going to have to go to Tsunade first. After he'd taken care of his mess, of course.

"And so how many?" Tsunade asked, attempting to keep the disbelief out of her voice.

Aiko made a little 'puh' sound and looked slightly up. "Ah, I believe five."

"Five ROOT outposts that you know of?" A bit weakly, she leaned back. That was more than she'd expected. Danzo had been a busy bastard.

'Then again, so was Aiko,' Tsunade thought ruefully. In retrospect, it seemed obvious that she had been putting the girl in a bad position by giving her Fukiko. But at the time, it had made so much sense. Fukiko would be in danger if her Sharingan manifested before she was strong enough to defend herself. The obvious solution had seemed to be two-fold: have someone trusted watch over Fukiko, and have her quickly trained up, now that she was in remission. Giving Fukiko an ANBU guard would have been too conspicuous, as would have putting her under someone established like Kakashi. Aiko was strong enough to do the job, but young and inexperienced enough that no one would think it implausible that she'd gotten saddled with a clanless orphan to gauge her worth as a sensei before risking anyone valuable.

She was just grateful that Aiko was still willing to accept the assignment, although the redhead hadn't bothered to hide a strange expression when the topic had been brought up.

'Actually, she seems far too calm, all things considered.' Tsunade half-heartedly took notes on what the girl was saying, but let her mind wander away from the mundane lists. As far as she knew… Aiko still hadn't chosen an ANBU contact touchstone, had she? Her lips twitched in disapproval. 'That's dangerous. She should talk to someone. I'm not advocating full disclosure, but venting would probably help quite a bit.'

"-any experiment data recovered?"

Tsunade blinked, now that her attention had been called for, and wracked her memory. "I don't think so," she settled cautiously.

A flash of irritation crossed Aiko's face. "Well, it's there somewhere," she grimly bit out. "Sai and I retrieved a small library from Orochimaru's base in Grass. There wa-"

"Wait, what?" Tsunade resisted the urge to leap to her feet. "Was Danzo looting, or had he been working with Orochimaru?"

"Both," came the bland reply. "I can only assume that his modifications came from Orochimaru and not from his own medic. B… Shou lacked those abilities, as do any other ROOT ANBU medics that Sai had encountered. Medicine was not emphasized in Danzo's training philosophy."

"Of course it wasn't," Tsunade muttered sourly. She'd known he didn't value her art. Kami only knew that he'd badgered her and blocked her hospital funding at every turn, back when she had been a Jounin working to revamp the institution.

"Now that I think about it, I should probably report that we encountered and eliminated four hostiles on that mission. One was unmarked, three were from Iwa. So it was possible that Orochimaru had dealings with the Tsuchikage, or it could just have been that a Sound survivor ran to them to sell information."

'This is just getting depressing. There was so much going on under my nose that I didn't know about.'

It was informative to know that Danzo had no compunctions about setting his agents to use fatal force against countries that they weren't at war with. Perhaps he'd been poisoning their relations with Iwa.

Probably not, though. The Tsuchikage was holding grudges from before she'd been born, and he just wouldn't up and die. As long as he led Iwa, they could never be allies.

"By the way…" Tsunade hesitated, not sure how this would go over. But she shouldn't let Aiko be surprised either. "Shou will be getting his name carved onto the Memorial stone the day after tomorrow. I imagine that your captain will tell you the same. I'm sure you know-"

"That we can't tell anyone he was a traitor," Aiko interrupted. Her tone was bored, but her jaw was just a little tight. "I know. Claiming that revelation came out the day Danzo died of totally natural causes would be too suspicious."

"Well, to be fair, we're claiming that Shou died the day before," Tsunade awkwardly informed. "But… Yes." She cleared her throat. "In any case, there's no point in going over all of this twice, so let's save the rest for when your scoundrel of a godfather is here."

Not that she particularly wanted to have that conversation. But if anyone could figure out what the hell they needed to do about a problem that involved a spy organization and a complicated seal, it was going to be him.

"Aiko." The girl halted, half to the door. "Find someone to talk to, or I will," she gently threatened. "I won't have you burying this without dealing with it. You'll burn out."

It was impossible to read anything into the way Aiko inclined her head and left silently, but Tsunade had the bizarre impression that the girl had been amused. Couldn't have been.

After Aiko left, Tsunade tried to do her best to keep from thinking about the problem. Coming up with potential solutions was less than worthless without information, but she just couldn't help it. Had taking that seal given Aiko any real authority over ROOT? Did it mean she was their leader? If so, what would happen if they dissolved it? Would ROOT agents know that there had been a shift in power, or were they scrambling blindly?

"Don't you ever knock?" She flipped to the last page of the letter she'd found only an hour ago in with her taxes for some godforsaken reason without looking up at the grump in her office. Hatake didn't say a thing, so she heaved a sigh and deigned to grace him with an exasperated look. "What is it, Kakashi-kun?"

He sauntered up to her desk, and she knew something was wrong. Tsunade stiffened a little warily, eyeing him like the predator he was. It was more than a bit unusual for her shinobi to openly show such aggression. Wordlessly, she bared her teeth in something that was less a smile and more a challenge. She'd dealt with her fair share of Inuzuka: Hatake wasn't thinking like a human right now. Being half-dog probably didn't help his social skills any, but it did make him slightly easier for her to read.

Hatake bent first, though probably out of necessity and not because he'd been cowed.

"You had Aiko in ROOT."

Hell if he wasn't too smart for his own good. It wasn't a question, so she didn't prevaricate. "I did." Her confirmation was factual. The tone seemed to infuriate him—a muscle jumped visibly in his arm, as if he was fighting the urge to resort to violence. "Don't take an attitude with me, brat. She knew what she was doing and she did it well."

If she gave him an inch, he'd take twenty miles and she'd find herself ass-up in a ditch somewhere wondering why she let someone half her age ream her out.

"You didn't tell me what was going on when I came to tell you that she was obviously overworked. You hadn't even known that." He changed rhetorical tracks smoothly, leaning in ever so slightly. "How can you say you had the situation under control when someone who had no information on the mission saw something so basic that you missed?"

She just about winced. But he'd never respect her authority again if she backed down to him, so she didn't let him bother her visibly.

"I don't have to tell you anything."

It was a better answer than it sounded. If she explained herself to him, even if she convinced him, she would have acknowledged him as an equal to whom she was accountable. Judging by the quiet rage she saw in his eye, he understood the snub for what it was.

But she wasn't without kindness, and this would solve two problems… "Talk to the girl yourself, if you're so worried." Dismissively, she turned her attention back down to the boring letter. "Don't bother m-"

Then she cut off, because he was already gone. Her lips pulled reluctantly into a fond smile. "Little shit," she mumbled, shaking her head. She'd played right into his hand, hadn't she?

Fukiko ducked her head shyly and nibbled on her lower lip, feeling her face flush a heated pink. As her classmates giggled and gaped, she obediently followed the stern-faced teenager away from where everyone else was engaging in taijutsu practice. Was she in trouble? She didn't know why she'd been pulled from classes. She'd been doing her best, she really had! Was she being dropped from the program? Worry gnawed at her belly. If she was dropped, she'd never be a shinobi like mom. She buried her shaking fingers into the pocket of her sweatshirt to disguise her nerves, and tried not to fidget too much when the older girl settled against the railings on the Academy rooftop.

"Hey, I don't bite." The redhead's tone had gentled slightly. "Fukiko-chan, right? I'm Uzumaki Aiko, but you can call me Aiko-sensei, alright?"

She froze. That was a name she knew. But it couldn't be… "The fourth Hokage's Uzumaki…?" the question trailed off as her bravery fled. "I'm sorry, that was rude." She ducked into a quick bow, heart pounding. She was so stupid. The older girl wouldn't want to work with her now.

"Ugh, everyone knows that now," came the disgruntled groan. But the older girl perked up, as if she sensed Fukiko's distress. "But yupp. We're going to be working together, so I'd like to get to know you. I'll start. I'm sixteen, and I have one otouto. He's very naughty," she confided grimly. Fukiko tried not to smile at that description of a grown-up shinobi. She'd already known there were two Uzumaki. "I have a big amorphous blob of a team. They're a bunch of silly, hopeless boys, but I love them anyways. My ninken summons are my best friends, and I like to train." She paused deliberately. When Fukiko just stared, Aiko-sensei gently prodded, "Tell me about yourself?"

"I…" Fukiko swallowed, digging down deep for courage. She could do this. This was just a conversation, not another workout where her body would fail her and everyone would laugh. And that hadn't happened in months anyways. Uchiha-sensei at the hospital would be so disappointed in her if she wasted his work. "I don't have any siblings, but I have two cousins." Her face was beet red, but she forged on. "I live with my aunt and uncle. My mom was a Chuunin kunoichi, and I want to be like her." Meekly, she twisted her fingers into the fabric of her shirt, momentum gone.

"A Chuunin, huh?" Aiko-sensei puckered her lips and seemed to stare straight through to her bones. Fukiko tried not to shiver. She'd never seen eyes like those before. Yamanaka Kaito had blue eyes too, but his were less intense in coloration and not so sharp. Whatever she read, Aiko-sensei seemed to come to a conclusion. She stood up straight and sighed, stretching her arms behind her back. "I think we can do you one better than that, Fukiko-chan. You're going to be an excellent kunoichi, but I think your mother would be proud even if you never broke genin. Do you know what kind of shinobi you want to be?"

Struck dumb, Fukiko just stared.

The older girl gave a slight smile. "I mean, specializations," she clarified. "I use fuinjutsu and taijutsu, with a little bit of kenjutsu and ninjutsu. But you can do anything that you want. We can find you a unique weapon, or train you in all of them, or try genjutsu…" she trailed off, blinking expectantly.

"Ah… Genjutsu?" Fukiko guessed. She didn't really have a preference yet.

The uncertainty must have been obvious, because Aiko-sensei looked amused. "We can try a little of everything and see what you like and what you're inclined towards." She heaved a sigh, staring up at the sky to check the time. "We should probably do something with our time today, huh? From now on, you'll be excused from Academy spars, taijutsu, and weaponry practices. Basically, you're going to learn everything but the bookwork from me. If you work hard, you can be a genin before your classmates get there." Unexpectedly, she leaned in and poked Fukiko's tummy. Her lips curled into a catlike smile at the way Fukiko squeaked in surprise and clapped her hands protectively over her front. "I'm going to expect you to do your best, got that? Sasuke-kun thinks you'll go far, so I know you can do it."

'Uchiha-sensei thinks I…" Fukiko fought not to let her eyes widen too much. She didn't realize that he liked her. He was the Hokage's apprentice. If he thought that she could be a good kunoichi… Well, he would know, wouldn't he?

Wait.

"You know Uchiha-sensei?" she asked quietly, trying not to hover as Aiko-sensei led her to an unfamiliar area that had to be a training facility.

Aiko-sensei looked amused. "He was my adorable little kohai, back in the day," she confided. Something positively wicked flashed in her eyes. "Now he's all grown up and sassy."

Kakashi backed away slightly, trying to conceal his startle. This hadn't been what he expected when he searched out Aiko to ask her to talk about ROOT.

'What is she doing with that kid?' Uncertainly, he peered into the break in the trees where a huffing pre-teen was running sprints between two marked trees while Aiko watched. 'Is she seriously trying to train a student?'

The child didn't even look like a genin. The brunette was a tiny thing, and he didn't see a headband anywhere.

Of course, if the girl had been a genin, she probably would have been faster than that. Kakashi chewed thoughtfully on the inside of his cheek and tilted his head slightly like a bird, watching the child tire and slow. When Aiko immediately had the girl transition to strength exercises, he became certain. 'She's gauging the girl's abilities,' he concluded.

And Aiko looked strangely peaceful doing it. He hadn't seen her take up that soothing tone since Naruto and Sasuke had been ickle genin themselves.

Huh. Who'd have thought that she had any aptitude as a teacher? She hadn't learned it from him, that was for certain.

Of course, he was perhaps a bit deeper in reminiscence than was strictly advisable. By the time her voice carried over to him, it was too late to escape.

"Fukiko-chan, did you know we're being watched?"

He cringed at the mock innocent tone, which seemed strangely ominous now. It had been stupid to forget that he couldn't sneak up on her anymore, now that she had that seal on his kunai.

"My team leader is over there. Kakashi, don't be a creep."

Sullenly, he considered shunshining away. Then again, he had come to talk to her. With a sigh, he dropped to the ground and shunshin-ed forty feet to stand beside Aiko. "Yo." He creased his eye into a fake smile, watching the brunette blink up at him.

There was something very familiar about her features, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it.

"Fukiko-chan, this is Hatake Kakashi. Kakashi, this is my new student."

Well, that was confirmation. Still, he couldn't let this pass without teasing. "That explains it," he sighed, feigning boredom. "Here I wondered if you were taking a leaf out of Anko's book."

Aiko rolled her eyes and shoved at him with a palm. He playfully let the motion move his torso over, despite the lack of force behind the blow. "No, I did not steal her," Aiko confirmed dryly. "I got her from Tsunade-sama, but I suppose you can check if you don't believe me."

'Is this what Tsunade expected me to see, or is it just a coincidence?' Thoughtfully, he eyed the pre-genin. She was a nervous little thing, and steadily turning a dangerous shade of white. Odd. 'Is this Tsunade's idea of therapy?'

He would have laughed her out of the room if she'd suggested it to him, but Aiko really did look content. Teaching was supposed to be stressful, wasn't it? He'd thought Aiko was a snuggly hellion, and then he'd gotten a full team of the little monsters. Perhaps that was why Aiko only had one short person. She was being eased into it. Feeling generous, he nodded to the shaky pre-teen. "Nice meeting you, Fukiko-chan. I was hoping to borrow your sensei."

"We're done for the day," Aiko decided grudgingly, giving the younger girl a once-over. "Fukiko-chan, I'll take you home." She turned away before the little girl could begin to sputter that it wasn't necessary. "Be back in a minute, if that's alright."

It was alright, but it didn't much matter if it was or not because Aiko didn't wait for his reply. She picked Fukiko up like a sack of potatoes and settled her against a hip.

Kakashi briefly wondered if Aiko realized that child had to be nine or so and had certainly learned to walk by now.

"Where do you live?" Fukiko stuttered out a reply, and then the two were gone. Kakashi blinked at the flattened grass in the shape of two footprints that slowly pushed itself up.

'She doesn't honestly have tags all over town, does she?'

Odd. How lazy could she possibly be?

Aiko took long enough to return that he'd popped open Icha Icha by the time she rematerialized on the exact patch of grass that she'd left, yawning and stretching.

"Bit of a mouse, isn't she?" Kakashi commented bluntly, lowering his book just slightly to check her expression.

"Meh." Aiko all but collapsed into the grass, stretching out on her back with her fingers above her head. "I think she's a cute kid." Idly, she rubbed her ankles together and blinked up at the clouds.

It hardly seemed the time to start such a depressing conversation, but putting it off wouldn't help. So he put away his book. Instantly, he felt Aiko's full attention on him, and resisted the urge to give in to a wry smile. He needed to do a better job of hiding his tells, if that let her know that he was serious about something.

"You know, when I was fourteen, Shimura Danzo approached me and asked if I wanted an opportunity to take more missions," he mused. Kakashi didn't stop to check her reaction. If he asked her to talk about ROOT, she'd feel put on the spot. If he talked about his own experiences, she'd know he wouldn't judge her, and possibly feel obligated to reciprocate the openness. "Sandaime-sama had been limiting what I could do, because I was so young and he didn't want me to burn out. But I just wanted to work until I could forget everything else. I didn't realize that what ROOT did was illegal, but I might not have cared at the time either. It took me a long time to realize that what he was doing to me and to other shinobi was wrong."

Aiko rolled her head over to stare intently, hair splayed out in the grass in a riot of color. The overall effect was intense enough that he wanted to look away.

"One day, I just stopped reporting because I knew he couldn't force me. But that hadn't solved the problem. I still knew that I'd acted counter to the Hokage's interests when he trusted me, and that Danzo would just find other talented young people to manipulate and discard when they became inconvenient."

On that note.

"I suppose that's why Sai is so strange." The playful musing broke the spell of seriousness that had fallen over them.

Aiko snorted. "He's not that bad," she defended fondly, closing her eyes. "I don't think I want to hear you call other people strange." Sai was doing remarkably well, all things considered. Granted, she hadn't yet seen him to talk about the ROOT mess except in passing in Hokage Tower, where Tsunade seemed to be keeping him busy. Perhaps he would be replacing Boar as a tower guard?

Kakashi feigned hurt, blinking at her soulfully. The expression was wasted: one eye was covered, and she wasn't looking anyways.

"I suppose that now that you've shown yours, you want me to show you mine?"

He cringed. Her crude sense of humor had been more amusing when it had been Tenzou that she taunted with it. That was a most unfortunate choice of metaphor, even if the comparison regarding sharing vulnerability in hopes of reciprocation was somewhat apt.

Aiko cracked one eye open to gauge how uncomfortable she'd made him and smirked, despite the fact that he'd already wiped his face clear. She rolled her head to the side and shrugged. "ROOT was pretty dumb. I'm glad that's done."

That was an underwhelming summary. His eye narrowed in displeasure. He'd made a real effort, so she should too.

The redhead heaved a put-upon sigh and patted the grass at her side. When he didn't move, she lifted her head just enough to give him a mild glare. "I'm not going to talk to your shins."

Perhaps this was just one of her conditions for talking? Pacified, Kakashi gave in and settled in a seated position at her side, with one leg stretched out and the other slightly bent. Immediately, he realized his error when the little viper plopped her head in his lap and stared up at him cheekily, scrunching up her nose. "Thank you, I needed a pillow."

He gave serious consideration to pushing her off.

"Anyway, talking about Danzo." She wiggled her head slightly above his knees and seemed to bite at the inside of her lip in thought. "You're right, Danzo did totally suck. He threw the worst parties and I hated the matching tattoos. Someone should have suggested club t-shirts instead."

"Parties?" Kakashi repeated cautiously, not entirely certain he was following her. She blinked up at him gravely.

"Yes, parties. There ain't no party like a Danzo party, because a Danzo party is mandatory." She made a strange hand gesture for emphasis.

'I'm not familiar with the type of thing I'm seeing.' Wisely, he didn't respond. When he didn't engage, Aiko fixed him with one of those long-suffering looks that implied she was wondering why the world didn't recognize her obvious brilliance and huffed.

"Heathen." He tried not to snort at the poorly hidden pout. She really shouldn't have given up on wearing masks. She was terrible at keeping her face blank when not on missions. Then again, maybe that wasn't so terrible. Kakashi waited patiently, tilting his head slightly in a request for more information. That had been a start, but not really comparable to what he'd shared. While her expression was first playful, as the seconds drew on, Aiko betrayed her unease by biting at her lip. Gently, he reached down and tapped the lip, lightly pulling it away from her teeth.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, but not with any sort of anger. Aiko seemed oddly vulnerable and searching. Without knowing what she was looking for, all he could do was hold eye contact.

She broke it first. "Did Danzo give you a codename?"

Well, that was a baffling conversation change. Of course he had. "Yes," Kakashi ventured cautiously, not sure where this was going.

"What was it?"

He furrowed his brow. What an odd question. "I don't remember," he said apologetically. "That was a long time ago."

'Why did you ask that?'

She seemed to be asking herself the same question, clearly regretting bringing up the topic. Nonetheless, she gave a soft sigh and turned her head slightly to stare at his feet, breaking any chance of having to look him in the face.

"He talked a lot about how getting emotionally involved in a mission or a partner could prevent you from doing the right thing. Danzo liked to say that was one of the best and most wasteful ways to get killed."

Well, that sounded like his kind of bullshit.

"And then he called me Sakura, so I remembered."

It took a moment for an intense loathing to rise up in his gut. That was utterly foul. "That's-"

"A lie, I know." She curled one hand up and tapped at his calf with her knuckles in a half-hearted gesture of comfort. "I can't see myself making the wrong decision because I care about people." Aiko closed her eyes, clearly indicating that she was done talking for the moment. "That's the only reason I was in ROOT."

He seriously considered asking if she wanted to talk about anything else, but she appeared to have fallen asleep by the time he'd steeled himself for more conversation. With a sigh, he settled back to wait, pulling out his book since there was still sunlight.

Ridiculous. He was too old for taking naps in dog piles. But there was no harm in letting her rest.

Tsunade didn't turn away from staring into her glass of water, even when the intruder made an obvious play for attention by scuffling one of his geta on the floor. Eventually, Jiraiya scowled and came up to lean against the back of her couch.

"You've been busy, Tsunade-hime."

Wordlessly, she flickered her eyes to look at him without turning her head. "Hello, pervert."

He rolled his eyes at her unenthusiastic greeting, and jumped over the couch to sit on her feet. He propped his legs up on her table and crossed his arms contemplatively. "So, Danzo just up and kicked the bucket, huh?" His tone was dry enough to convey skepticism, despite lacking his usual dramatic emphasis.

"Yepp," she confirmed blandly, chin braced between two fingers. "It was a surprise all around."

"And this had nothing to do with ROOT, ne?" The look he gave her implied that he would lose all respect for her if she lied to his face.

Tsunade sighed, biting on her lower lip. Grouchily, she shrugged. "Maybe just a little. That and the eleven stolen Sharingan in his arm and hidden eye socket, but he probably would have survived that surgery. Removing the mokuton genetic material he'd attached all the way to his bone was perhaps the final straw."

There was a long moment where he was very still. "I was not aware of this, Tsunade-hime."

"I know." She flexed her foot against his thigh in a rare gesture of comfort. "To be fair, I wasn't either, until the end. Speaking of the end, there's a seal I need you to look at."

Jiraiya scoffed loudly. "If that's not a soothing transition, I don't know what is." He heaved a dramatic sigh. "Let me guess: you want me to try to pick apart his tongue seal again? You got a whole organization running loose now?"

Tsunade didn't laugh. "I wish that was all," she grunted, tilting her chin up to look at the ceiling. "Although, I do need to figure out what the hell to do with them. I was hoping for your help there, too. My agent hasn't done a full debriefing yet, but I was hoping that you could help me use what she has to track down them all before they can scatter. No, I was talking about something different. Danzo had some large, complicated seal on his chest. I had no idea what it was for, but Aiko hypothesized that it was intended to fail with an explosion when he died."

"This oughta be good," Jiraiya muttered.

Ignoring the interruption, Tsunade continued. "Which is why she peeled it off him and put it on herself before he died."

Something odd flickered in his expression, and she took a moment to hope that he'd take the bait and the tangent about sealing. Alas, it was not to be.

"Before he died?" Jiraiya repeated mockingly. "That's a nice euphemism." His gaze was hard and sullen, jaw set tightly. "So she was your ROOT plant, then?" He pinned her with a confrontational look. "You know, you're the worst goddamn day care I've ever heard of."

Tsunade was surprised into a barking laugh at his irreverence, despite knowing just how serious he must be. "I thought we already had a conversation about your godchildren being adults," she deflected.

"Which makes it just dandy for you to let them fight Akatsuki, when one of them is a target and the other one is the best bait for him." The sarcasm was poisonous.

"They're involved," Tsunade snapped back defensively. "Naruto deserves to be able to fight for himself! If you didn't want them to become shinobi, you should have raised them outside of Konoha. You don't get to avoid them for fifteen years and then claim parental privilege."

"Oh really?" Jiraiya sneered at his old teammate. Bitterness was making them both ugly. "That's awfully high-handed coming from you. What right do you have to talk about avoiding duties? You were a missing nin in everything but name for twenty years. I was at least still serving."

"At least I didn't—" Tsunade cut herself off, grimacing. She leaned back shamefaced, and quietly deflected, "We're acting like children. This isn't what you're upset about and we both know it. Dragging up old history won't change anything." She met his eyes wearily. "You're not wrong. I screwed up at least once with one of your kids."

'More than once. I put that little girl into a situation where she had to kill her own teammate. How didn't I see it?'

She couldn't say that. A secret like that wasn't hers to tell, although it was so likely to be damaging that she'd need to interfere with Aiko's mental health directly. If Tsunade didn't take responsibility, the girl could leave that situation with the worst possible message. No one should have to make that decision.

It was a struggle, but she didn't look aside despite the bleakness of her thoughts. "I thought I'd gotten Aiko killed," she confided quietly, fingers curling into a fist at her chest. "I didn't believe her when she told me that the Ame woman was up to something. Her only evidence was that this kunoichi was walking around at night. So I told her she could investigate on her own and went back to bed." Her lips twisted bitterly. "If I'd gone with her…"

"She might not have been kidnapped," Jiraiya finished bluntly. But he relaxed, a little pitying now that he saw she was genuinely remorseful. "But she got out on her own, huh? Her dad was always slippery too."

"Minato had more sense," Tsunade huffed, eyes wearier than he'd seen before. "I'm scared for that girl. I think sensei made a mistake by not giving her a genin team to learn cooperation, and I made it worse by putting her in ANBU ROOT. It's so seldom that it honestly even occurs to her to ask for help." She looked down. "And I turned her down one of the few times she thought to ask."

"To be fair, I might have thought she was overreacting too," Jiraiya comforted awkwardly. "Walking around in a hotel at night isn't exactly proof positive of conspiracy."

Tsunade snorted. "Whose side are you on, anyways?" She shoved at him with her foot, mood momentarily lightened. "Aren't you supposed to be going all, 'roar, protective daddy' on me? She really could have died. Kid looked like complete hell when she came back." Her lightened attitude fled, and she heaved a derisive laugh. Grimly, she confided, "Akatsuki really did a number on her. Most of it's cosmetic. She's got about eighty percent of a left ear now, and scarring from small projectiles and a crappy healing. But…" Tsunade gave a guilty glance at him, before admitting, "She really should have died. If she didn't have that Uzumaki resilience, she would have. That Ame kunoichi must have really clocked her from behind, and then didn't do anything about the fact that her brain was hemorrhaging for days. I'd say it was a miracle she made it back, but it was really criminal hard-headedness."

Jiraiya's lips tightened. "Sounds like we should be taking a closer look at Ame."

"About that…" Tsunade hesitated, mulling over what she was considering saying. "At the time, it slipped my mind. But Aiko's report made me… Well, it doesn't make any sense. I know she's supposed to be dead. But…"

"What are you trying to say, hime?" Jiraiya prodded gently. She stared at him thoughtfully for a moment, before seeming to give in. With a sigh, she gave in.

"I didn't immediately recognize her. But how many blue-haired kunoichi from Ame named Konan could there really be?"

Jiraiya froze stiff.

Tsunade deflected her gaze and continued. "It wasn't until I had Aiko's report that I really believed it was the same girl. Aiko talked about her using paper based jutsu, and-"

"No," he interrupted softly, before raising his voice. "No, it can't be. They died."

"Apparently, they didn't." Tsunade broke the news as gently as possible, but there was just no way to feel comfortable about giving such mixed news. Had the circumstances been different, she would have loved to be able to tell him that he had at least one surviving student, despite the dubious silence she'd kept for so long. But as it was…

"Konan in Akatsuki?" His voice was as broken as she'd ever heard.

They'd have to kill her. She was threatening their people. Jiraiya loved all his students, but he loved his godchildren more, both on their own merits and as the last remnants of his apprentice. Minato had practically been his own son.

#vapors #uzumaki aiko #electrasev5n #ninja daily #fanfiction #naruto fanfiction

6 notes · View notes

mingling-spirits · 2 months

Text

Spirit Time! - Daílaki and Lakielos

You guys are getting a character time post AND a new post about spirits? Hell yeah!

Because my keyboard does not like me, Daílaki will be spelled Dailaki. Very sorry 'bout that.

Dailakis are small, rabbit-like creatures with upright ears, glowing white eyes, and no mouth or visible nose. They are completely indistinguishable from shadows, being a complete absence of light, with the exception of their eyes. They have short, pointed tails that more closely resemble a spike than anything on a living animal. It is curled up slightly. Dailakis have no fur, but a faint fuzz that is as thick or thin as the spirit wants it. It is heavily debated on whether or not this fuzz is even a solid part of the spirit, or simply magic that feels solid. They are on the more peaceful side for spirits, choosing to avoid conflict where they can. They do not feed on physical food, and therefore see no need to hunt. It is said that they are fueled by magic. You will never find a Dailaki alone, as they are always with Lakielos or a balance (a group of these spirits) of the two species.

While Dailaki and Lakielos are widely regarded as two different different spirits, many people speculate that they are one in the same, with Lakielos being blessed by a goddess. This is incorrect.

Lakielos are also small, rabbit-like creatures, with floppy ears, and their eyes being a void of inky nothing. They have sharp teeth resembling those of a shark's, and no visible nose. They hide easily in the day, looking like pure light bunny-ified. They have sharp, pointed tails that often has a jagged crook in them, making the tails have a lightning bolt shape. It is turned downwards. Lakielos have no fur and tend not to have the fuzz their Dailaki counterparts have. While they are typically peaceful, they are more prone to violence than Dailakis. They do have mouths, but they are rarely used for anything other than attacking. Lakielos have the ability to eat solid food, but do not require it to survive. They tend to lead around their Dailaki, but if they get too harsh with their guiding, fights break out. These spirits are evenly matched and there will be no victor.

No Dailaki or Lakielos can assume a more human form with the exception of J and R. J and R were, in fact, blessed with these forms for purposes that I am not getting into here. Both of them have traits that remain in spite of this, with them having to hide their lengthy ears and stubby tails. Though the tails practically hide themselves.

0 notes

thecontumacious · 2 years

Note

I’M BACK I SAW THE REQUEST IS OPEN AND I CAME AS FAST AS I COULD! I’ve had this in idea in my head rent free for weeks, what if reader is a member of the nijisanji en but they are a rabbit hybrid with really cute floppy ears and a puffy tail and they are shy and soft spoken, I like to imagine that luxiem and their fans would gush over them like crazy! On the side note, I’m glad your mid terms went well hope you are doing well, I adore your writings!

Luxiem and a Pair of Fluffers

a/n: bunnies are literally just a ball of fluff I WANNA OWN ONE BUT I CANT UWAHHHH SADGEE btw u guys, i'm doing far better than last week so i'll slowly start going back to writing again ehe <3 also, hi again lunaaa!!

Vox Akuma 👹🌹

it’s pretty obvious, especially recently, how vox fucking adores animals

rabbits are totally up his list without a doubt so imagine the literal stars in his eyes upon seeing dem fluffers at the top of your head

“DARLING?” vox gasps, comically backtracking upon seeing your pair of rabbit ears. “AM I SEEING WHAT I'M ACTUALLY SEEING?”

his voice, though not meant to scare, still made you flinch at how loud it was and your ears immediately lower, yelping a bit

“oh—sorry, darling,” vox smiles as he tones his voice down by a mile, soft and gentle. “but are these real? these are really your ears?”

you look away, biting your lip. “y-yeah.”

“can i touch them?” but from looking at his eyes, he was gonna find a way to touch them anyway so you nod. you giggle when he grins brightly, “hehe, thank you, darling.”

he runs his fingers through your hair first before finally touching the base of your ears

it was a foreign feeling to you, but it was by no means uncomfortable

vox experiments by massaging the base of your ears first and when you pretty much melt, he smiles as he kept on going, occasionally moving between ears

he revels in the softness of your fur, truly unlike any other he’s felt

after a bit more head rubbing, you give in and eventually choose to curl up against his much bigger frame, nuzzling into his neck to enjoy the warmth and the head pats

“awe, my sweet little rabbit.”

ddlg vibes starting to come in hoo boy

you were already naturally timid and with your newly discovered weakness of head/ear rubs, vox is taking advantage of those things

when you’re busy and he’s in need of some attention, he is quick to make use of his hands and have you on his lap

“just a moment of your time, my beloved. please?”

YOU WERE THE BUNNY WHY WAS HE THE ONE BEING CUTE AYE :<

that’s just level one

it gets super bad when he resorts to biting your ears and tugging on your little tail if it was visible

“you leave me no choice, love.”

you’re a blabbering mess and can’t contain yourself anymore, forced to either hide from the embarrassment or do what vox tells you to

“awe, that’s a good little bunny.”

and he just won’t stop either.

you both rly like it and don’t. leaning towards the former though :3

but on a more serious note, he sees you as a source of comfort like that of a rly cute plushie

being an animal lover at heart, he knows exactly how to deal with you (and definitely takes advantage of it as often as possible)

at night, he’ll try to lay off the teasing and have you ball up against him, stroking your ears in a more comforting manner

vox doesn’t think you’re weak of course, but seeing you so precious makes him want to protect you even more and assure that no one harms you

precious must protecc ✨

conclusion, it’s both a curse and a blessing for you to be a rabbit hybrid. but it is life’s greatest gift for vox being able to pamper and coddle one of the most precious people alive

other boys utc!

Mysta Rias 🦊🔶

he’s not always in the presence of animals but he does think they’re absolutely adorable

especially when it came in the form of you

actually wait, the first time he saw it, he thought you were being extra kinky (-`д´-)

“oh? this is new~” mysta grins with the sussiest face known to man

you wave your hands dismissively, red covering your cheeks, “no, no, wait mysta! this isn’t a costume! th-these are my real ears…”

you twitch your ears around and mysta will just freeze in his place

just what exactly was he seeing rn, eh?

“we-well, that’s interesting,” all previous unseisoness will evaporate, replaced with complete embarrassment as he tries to place himself in the awkward situation. “they’re really cute…”

although he was avoiding eye contact, it was clear that he meant what he said

you giggle, “yo-you can touch them if you want, mysta.”

at this, he braves himself to look at you with the visible look of excitement. he strides over and hesitantly hovers his hands over your ears

but then his fingers come in contact with the soft fur and he is immediately enamored

gently, mysta lets his entire hand rub through your long ears

you shudder at the touch

“ah- did i hurt you?” he asks nervously, retracting his hand

you shake your head, “no, i just… really liked it.”

mysta chuckles as he put his hand back to your ears, rubbing them oh so gently but enough pressure to elicit a satisfied hum from you

without realizing, you’re up against mysta as he continues to adore you through his head pats

he might’ve seemed shy and hesitant about touching you at first, but all that disappears within time

while mysta would usually ask first if he could pet you, nowadays when he wants to, he’ll just do it

it catches you off guard often and this makes for a good land plot to plant all his mischievous deeds

sigh, there it is

he’ll pretend to be stupid just to see you mad, because with you being this cute, being angry just made you more adorable

he’ll also just be generally annoying (in a cute way) by bugging you while you work or doing a chore

instances include when you’re reading or doing work, he’ll lay his head on your lap and while he claims he’s there to offer “moral support”

he’s actually poking your stomach and maybe your tail too

“eek!” you yelp, sending a glare down mysta with an irritated and also shy blush. “mysta.”

“yes, baby?” he’ll grin

or when you’re washing dishes, he’s gonna hug you from behind and nibble on your ears

“MYSTAAAA”

“eh? what’s up? i just saw a snack.”

you: (•ﾟдﾟ•)

bunnies to him are more vulnerable creatures and he somehow has the fucking audacity to think you are too :<

so he’ll pretty much baby you and actually not feel like a bottom like how it usually is on stream with the chat

rias appears more often and it brings chills down your spine

these are the rare times where you actually will take him more seriously, especially when he demands that you sit on his lap

while you usually just shrug it off, the look in his eyes and just how he spoke was enough to knock you off your feet

and like an actual rabbit, skittering towards him and following his orders

bunny ears still look super kinky to him

ANYWAY

all this is just his way of adoring you, how he truly feels affectionate and though it might get a bit overbearing sometimes (when it gets annoying), you know mysta loves you a lot still

Luca Kaneshiro 🦮🔆

he thinks animals are cool! fluffy animals, pog!

at least, that’s what he thought of them before he saw your ears and tails

“oh my god,” he gaped, studying your twitching ears. he kept staring at you for quite a while, which brought you worry. luca looks at you, the biggest grin on his face, “YOU’RE SO CUTE UWAHHHHH”

he doesn’t even pause to ask you as he wrapped you in his arms, squeezing the fucking life out of you all the while nuzzling his face into your fluffy ears

“THEY‘RE SO SOFT AHHHHHH”

he was quite literally screaming into your ears ;-;

“mercy, luca, mercy!!” you gasp for air, patting his back alarmingly

luca hears your pleads and lets you go, grinning bashfully

“hehe, sorry,” he says as he scratched the back of his head. “no seriously, but you’re so cute!! look at you!!”

at his bombardments of compliments, you shrink and can merely blush, your soul evaporating when luca didn’t cease to give you a break

“can i touch them please? pretty please?” he asks in a high pitched none, in hopes it could swoon you

even without doing it, the love pouring from his eyes didn’t give you much choice to refuse

you nod, “sure.”

he cheers softly, hopping over to you (even tho you were the rabbit…) and reached for your soft ears

despite his chaotic outburst at first, his pats are gentle

luca wasn’t afraid to use both his hands to give the equal amount of love

he massaged the base of your ears firmly without having it to be too pressurized and like a natural, he has your ears twitching from satisfaction

you hum, enjoying every second

you don’t even realize your eyes are closed until luca pointed it out, “awe, do you like your headpats?”

you flutter eyes open again, pink tinting your cheeks as you admit embarrassedly, “y-yeah… they’re rly nice…”

“c’mere then,” luca pats his lap, giving you only the most gentle smile in the entire world

your heart had never felt so light seeing your blonde lover having such a heart of compassion so you crawl on over, making yourself comfortable in his neck

he continues the ear rubbing routine, hitting just the most perfect spots

“you can relax into me, honey,” luca whispers, pecking your forehead

even without him saying it, your body was by default falling asleep on its own

you woke up hours later with luca also asleep, his hand in your hair and between your ears

and how dare he say he’s a mean and evil mafia boss （＞д＜）

after that, he treats you as his personal source of serotonin

whenever his days were hard and long, he’s just going to wrap his arms around your tinier figure and quietly snuggle into you

you know he’s had a tiring day when the usual golden retriever vibes just disappear today

and on these days especially, you’ll be nudging his head with your own or boop nose to nose

usually these things alone are more than enough to recharge luca and he’ll be nudging and booping back

talking from real experience, my younger brother likes to nudge his head to me like a cat and let me tell you, it really is a cute and affectionate gesture 😩

unlike with vox and or mysta, you don’t have to feel shy or embarrassed around luca because he genuinely adores your more bunny like side, appreciating every second of it to the point where you see being “too cute and adorable” as a power than a small inconvenience

you’ll be asking luca for something and even without doing anything, he just can’t say no to you <3

seems like luca’s getting more of the benefits than you in this case ^^

Ike Eveland 🖋💙

he likes cute things! but he’s more so hesitant that he’ll do something wrong or hurt you somehow since he doesn’t know much of the animal world :(

so upon seeing your floppy bunny ears, ike is stunned and honestly doesn’t know what to do first

“o-oh… oh wow, those are real?” ike peers from where he stands, unlike the others who immediately approach you hands on

while you were supposed to be the one embarrassed and shy, your lover seemed to be more timid in this case

you take a slow step forward and you notice how ike tenses up, his hands hiding behind his back

“ike?”

“hm?”

“are you alright?”

unable to evade you any further, he sighs, “sorry, um. i don’t think there’s anything bad about this, really! i’m just… kinda nervous. i’m worried i’d hurt you or touch you in the wrong way…”

ah this sweetheart, worrying for your wellbeing over his in the end 

you shake your head, grabbing his hand and placing it upon your head, specifically between your ears softly

shy to say what you wanted, you look up at ike and curl your lip

and he understands what you were asking for, hesitantly moving his fingers into your hair before finally making it to the base of your ears

his touches are incredibly light and ticklish, so you nudge your head against his hand even more

ike is caught by slight surprise but seeing you encourage him like this gives him the reassurance that he was in the clear

he adds more pressure and actually starts giving you the proper headpats

you hum, satisfied

ike smiles and all earlier hesitance washes away

“you adorable sweet thing,” ike whispers, leaning in to place a chaste kiss at the top of your forehead

though your cheeks are a warm red from his ever so enchanting words, you let go of any distress from the day and just enjoy being in ike’s comforting presence

after that, though safe and probably will be guided by you for any questions, ike is one to investigate your half species through theoretical research

he wants to make sure he actually knows what he’s doing without having to bother you with his questions

no matter how many times you catch him and insist that he can just ask you unfortunately ;-;

bcs he’s thoughtful and compassionate like that

but hey you appreciate the extra comforting headpats and scritches in the ears due to those independent inquisitions ^^

with you around (ideally on his lap and snuggling into him), he gets more work done and has a reason to keep moving just so that when he’s finally finished, his end goal is right there in his arms

you don’t even need to be interacting with him to give this sort of effect

your bunny ears and soft tail makes it all the better

your timid and shy nature motivates ike into teasing you a lot more than usual, adoring every single blush enrapturing your cheeks and the stutter of every word that comes out of your mouth

“how is my liten kanin doing?”

*little rabbit*

you get embarrassed every time he uses that specific nickname but the fact he even chose to call you that makes it endearing

you’ll quickly boop his nose with a shy smile

“i’ll take that as ‘good’.”

Shu Yamino 🔮✨

not surprised to see a rabbit hybrid like yourself and probably has a rly good starting foundation on your species already

actually, he might seem rly chill and cool but that’s only him not wanting to lose his image bcs inside, shu is screaming over how cute you are

“awe, look at these little fluffers,” shu coos, bringing a gentle hand to your ears and carefully rubbing at the right spots

your cheeks are a bright red but you’re too distracted by his ear rubbing and end up curling up against him like he was your bed

eh, he probably was anyway

now even though he wasn’t saying much, when you buried your face into his chest, shu’s face is actually a thousand times redder than yours by the end of it

this cutie of a lover, nuzzling and stealing all his body warmth so effortlessly

how the heck did he get so lucky

first time showing your ears to him is not the most exciting amongst all of luxiem but THE WAY HE TAKES SUCH GOOD CARE OF YOU :<<<

when your shy side is taking over and you don’t get your daily dose of shu yamino headpats, man knows what’s going on and goes over to you with hands already in your hair

“you doin’ okay, u-sa-gi-chan?”

aye, the usagi chans ;-;

he knows what he’s doing to you and he likes it a lot

the fact that you’re shy and soft spoken can’t help but stir the more teasing side of shu, breaking out all the cute japanese nicknames equivalent to the words fluffy and rabbit

but for your sake, he doesn’t make this a habit and will spare you all the teases (even if he meant it in an affectionate way)

on normal days, shu will just chill and casually brush through your hair and ears, making this routine a habit between you two

whenever stream finishes, doesn’t rly matter if he had work after that. You just crawl next to him for his usual headpats and he’ll just revel in your comfy presence

there are so many times where shu is up at weird hours and you’re simply asleep in his arms

though not awake, he appreciates how you still want to offer your company to him

or when the day has been particularly long for the sorcerer, you’re the one taking care of him by coddling him like how he usually coddles you

“your lap is rly comfy…,” he mumbles half awake and you only giggle as you massage his head and consistently kiss his cheeks. “love you…”

before falling asleep in your hold, you following just behind

insert cute picture of pingus and bunnies together

shu is a fun guy and is willing to try new things

so, there was that one time where he tried using his sorcery skills to match rabbit ears with you

“now I can be your usagi-kun!”

author chan proceeding to die

he might seem shy with the floppy black-purple-yellow-pink ears at first but seeing you jitter with enthusiasm and excitement calms him down

bunny ears asset for shu yamino anyone?

Masterlist!

we also just recently hit 600 follows! thank you and hello new friends ^^

1K notes · View notes

colorfulstudentmuffinmaker · 2 years

Text

Empires (Lore) SMP Thoughts Dump pt. 1

It's been so long lmao and surprise surprise I'm watching everyone's POV this time. These are only half of the ccs btw, since this might be too long of a post if I tried to put all my thoughts of all the ccs.

Pixlriffs

Lore Man. I am so excited for this character.

Hot Lore Man, thank you @floweroflaurelin. May you be blessed with a, uh I guess, fruitoftelperion.

HIS STORYTELLING. HIS CINEMATOGRAPHY. HIS VOICE.

The Machine implies a lot of things, the Old Kingdom was incredibly morally gray. They used the life of monsters to fuel their own power, they were brilliant architects (Pix praise there)

THE BRIDGE. (the inspiration behind this post)

Please, I'm so excited, I hope the other Emperors will put statues on those towers.

Hooray otherside disc. Bop.

The Ruins deserve a mention too.

Unpopular opinion, I don't think the kingdom is Pixandria. Sorry guys.

The mirror is also something I'm excited about.

Hooray for fossil preservation.

GeminiTay

Gem's kingdom is really cute. Just saying it now, I adore sunrise and sunset colors, I hope she somehow incorporates magenta and pink into her build pallette which are underrated sunset and sunrise colors, the pink and purple being the colors right between night and day, dusk and dawn.

The soul fire will-o-the-wisp is a nice touch for lore.

I hope she and Katherine get into a Princess quest thing soon. Afaik they're canonically the only self-identifying princesses of the server.

did y'all notice btw, in I think Shelby's or Katherine's vid, Gem was glowing.

Katherine Elizabeth

SVTFOE HELLO?

MAGICAL GIRL TRANSFORMATION, HELLO??

ALLAY LORE? HELLOOOO???

And Katherine is still the sheep queen in the smp, I love it.

Lizzie/LDShadowLady

So I thought she was the Red Queen, big head, servants are animals and all, but I've been watching streams recently and I know that's not the case.

Something furry this way comes (Lore)

Ariana Goate. *screams*

Amethyst shards? Purple + White build? Lizzie's coming for your brand Gem.

fWhip

Hooray for smol, scrunkly, goblin man

still daddy fwhip tho

BOARS. PUMBAAS

I really appreciate fWhip's effort on the minecart systems though, that is exhausting.

Hooray for floppy ear lore.

The Stone sign looking like it belongs on Las Vegas is awesome y'all.

Joel Smallishbeans

lore.

cHILD. wITH sAUSAGE. Their flirting rivals Scott's frankly.

The Floating Islands empire is a brilliant idea.

No matter what he says, he's still our 5'8" king lmao.

But really, hooray for 11ft tall hot, sexy, handsome, humble god dad.

I seriously can't wait to see what Joel has planned.

and this time, he won't have to be overwhelmed with his megabase since he isn't building a super grand one like the Matral Palace. Good for him.

#empires smp #ldshadowlady #pixlriffs #smallishbeans #geminitay #fwhip #katherine elizabeth gaming #katherine elizabeth #empires season 2 #joel smallishbeans #empires smp season 2 #empires gem #empires katherine #empires pixl #empires joel #empires lizzie #empires fwhip #empires smp s2 #color's thought

128 notes · View notes

cyber-skeletons · 3 years

Note

Welcome to the DADWC! Here's a prompt: road trip!

It is literally impossible for me to not answer this with the Origins crew jksjfhkjs, bless you <333

Content Warning for brief mentioned disownment from and death of "family" members Heavy inspiration taken from The Rocky Road to Dublin, hehe @dadrunkwriting

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Could we not just… you know… take a boat, to get to Redcliffe from the Circle…? We already walked ALL the way there, do we really have to walk AAAALL the way back a-round the lake-?”

Morrigan let out a sharp scoff from deep in her chest and violently rolled her eyes into the sky. “Then tell me, Alistair, with what money would we procure such a boat? The only vessel we’ve seen for miles ‘twas the Templars’, and even if we were to hail a fishing boat, would you really risk the chance of being turned in to Loghain’s army for the simple plight of wanting to go faster?”

Alistair rolled his eyes back and bobbled his head in a dramatic floppy mockery of the woman beside him. “You’re not the one wearing armor,” he drawled, deadpan. “And all those furs look cozyyyyy-uhhhhgh…”

Sten threw a sharp glare over his shoulder. “I am wearing armor,” he stated, blunt as a toy sword. “And I do not complain as if a child.”

“You’re wearing medium armor, it’s different!”

“How?”

“It weighs less!”

“Then wear medium armor and stop complaining.”

“HA!” Morrigan yipped, then choked, clapping her hand over her mouth and smoothly recovering to tuck a strand of her raven hair behind her ear.

Alistair threw his head back and stomped his feet down the trail they were walking to make their way the hundred or so miles southwest along the lakeshore, creating an almighty racket of clanging metal and jingling chainmail, before calling up to Cian at the head of the party, “Cian, back me up here!”

His sole Warden companion merely remained silent, marching with the dark resolve of a seasoned soldier, his attitude a stark contrast to his flaming red hair and iridescent blue robes covered in golden silk and black feathers, like some kind of… wet rooster.

Alistair frowned. “Cian?”

“Hm?” the junior-but-also-leader Warden grunted, lost in his thoughts. Usually it was the other way around, with him endlessly prodding at them with his bright, disarming blue doe eyes, trying to get them to open up and hold hands.

“Your thoughts on the great armor debate we’re having back here?”

Cian slowed his steps, then sighed, turning to look back at them with glassed-over eyes. “I… I’m sorry, I think I missed… the context… Can you repeat everything again? I’m sorry…”

Alistair frowned harder while Morrigan huffed, sharply calling, “You are the one who insisted on not only choosing to utilize blood magic to fulfill your duties as a Warden, but also putting it on full display in your Circle besieged by blood mages! You have made your bed, so lie in it, and stop with this dreadful pouting!”

“Hey,” Alistair warned, pouting at her with a slight furrow in his brow. “He lost a lot back there.”

“Can we stop talking about it?” Cian prompted, his tone raw and split as he picked up the pace again, making them all quicken their gait.

“If the only Wardens able to stop the Blight are a whiny child and a coward mage, then this nation if not the world is already doomed,” Sten growled.

Cian stopped dead in his tracks at that.

The others stopped at his side.

“You’re right,” Cian declared darkly, his voice low and steely, and a glint of interest alighted in Morrigan’s eyes as she arced a brow and Alister further furrowed his. “It doesn’t matter that I got disowned by the man who I once considered my father. It doesn’t matter that I recognized nearly every corpse in there. My purpose isn’t attached to the Circle anymore. I know what my true purpose is, now, and I will not let anyone impede me from accomplishing it.”

Sten slowly lowered his chin, casting his gaze onto their leader. “Then what is your purpose?”

“To distract Alistair from how boring all this walking is.”

Morrigan and Sten both instantly grimaced as Alistair lit up like a firefly, his face splitting into a wide smile.

Cian turned a truly impish smirk over his shoulder, extending his elbow for Alistair to take. “Shall you join me in an old travel ditty I learned as a child, my good man?”

Alistair proudly stomped forward and took his arm. “Let’s!”

Cian dramatically inhaled, then began to sing,

“In the merry month of Solis from me home I started

Left the girls of Highever nearly broken hearted-”

Alistair beamed and set off down the road with Cian in a merry skip, the both of them bellowing,

“-Saluted Father dear, kissed me darling mother

Drank a pint of beer, me grief and tears to smother

Then off to reap the corn, leave where I was born

Cut a stout blackthorn to banish ghosts and genlocks

A brand new pair of brogues, rattlin' o'er the bogs

Frightenin' all the dogs on the rocky road to Redcliffe!”

Morrigan and Sten dragged their hands down their faces, pinched their noses, and massaged their temples before plodding after their… heroes…

#cian amell #alistair theirin #morrigan #sten #dao #dragon age #da drunk writing circle

9 notes · View notes

fenristheorem · 3 years

Note

Oh, I'm sorry I didn't explain myself well, it's mostly Gardienne with a fever that makes her delirious (this mostly because it would be funny) but if you prefer one where she has difficulty moving (I love the physical contact with Lance, I apologize ) By the way I love how you write! I'm glad there are such talented people in the fandom <3

Don't worry about it! I wanted to check just in case I was reading the original ask wrong because this sounded like such a fun ask to write and I wanted to make sure it was what you were looking for lol.

Thank you so much for the compliment, it truly means a lot to me! ❤

I decided to write two headcanon topics; one for Lance taking care of Guardienne who's feverish and delirious and the second where she's too weak to move. They both sounded so tempting to write lol.

These both are a bit of a scenario-headcanon hybrid (it seems I’ve liked writing those recently), but I’m certainly not disappointed by it. I really wanted to be specific throughout for the sake of adding in moments of humor and adding depth (which made it a bit of a scenario), but they do sort of evolve into more traditional headcanons in time.

~Under the cut~

Lance with Guardienne who's feverish and delirious:

Oh by the Orcale; how did this happen?

Guardienne was feeling fine... and then she wasn't.

Ewelein wasn't very surprised - somehow she always gets hurt, or sick, or something. She tells Guardienne to isolate herself, rest, and overall not do anything. Ewelein knows there’s a risk that this advice will be ignored, but she figured Guardienne may at least have enough sense to heed her warning.

And then Guardienne starts complimenting the birds that are singing in the Infirmary...

"Get me Lance, I need to speak with him about Guardienne's condition."

Upon hearing news that his partner has fallen ill - and knowing that Ewelein wouldn't send for him about something so common and otherwise not of much worry - Lance entrusts a few last responsibilities of the day to a couple seasoned warriors and heads swiftly to the Infirmary. Upon entering, the Elven nurse immediately pulls him to a quiet corner of the room and explains that Guardienne has a very high fever that’s making her delirious. She’s been irritated, apathetic, and is even experiencing hallucinations, rambling about those hallucinations, then proceeding to forget about hallucinations that she was just rambling about, and she’s - despite having a fever - been restless and walking around, trying to chase after those hallucinations and putting herself in danger.

Lance is quiet as he looks at her like she just said that the sky was falling.

“What do you mean she has a major fever but is walking around? How is that possible, or safe? Shouldn’t she be subdued?”

“Illness is a strange thing, Lance. I can’t give a real reason aside from that’s just her way of coping with the discomfort of the fever right now, and again, she’s hallucinating so that doesn’t help either. I would give her a sedative but I’m not sure I trust the possible side effects with her current condition.”

“Eweleeeeiiiiin...” A hoarse, scratchy voice called for the nurse from an isolated bed further in the Infirmary. Ewelein looked towards where it came from before glancing back to Lance with a ‘please help me’ expression.

She led him back to the isolated bed and they found Guardienne - pale and heavily sweating, it was very clear that she was sick - sitting on the mattress, shifting through the thin blanket that was laid over her. It seemed like she was searching for something...

Ewelein did a few quick checks and let Guardienne nudge around the blankets as she explained to Lance that she needed someone to keep a consistent eye on her, as she couldn’t do that due to her other responsibilities.

Lance hesitated as his thoughts flicked to his typically busy schedule, but he couldn’t just leave his partner to suffer this without doing something. He could find someone to carry out his typical responsibilities, and Huang Hua will certainly understand when she sees Guardienne’s high-maintenance conditions herself.

“I can watch out for her. I’ll take a few days off-” “The birds - the birds are getting loud...” “-to make sure she doesn’t hurt herself by accident.”

“Thank you, I’m so sorry to ask this of you but with this illness going around-” “The birds are screaming.” “-the other nurses are too busy for us to have a constant eye on her. Fortunately she’s the only case this severe.” “Ewelein can you make the birds stop screaming? I think it’s upsetting the wall rat.”

Lance was about to reply to the nurse when Guardienne mentioned the birds and the wall rat, instead lowering himself by her side to try and look her in the eyes as alarm filled his being.

“What wall rat?”

Guardienne’s eyes flicked to his and she brightened, leaning to the side - teetering all too close to the edge of the bed - to rest against his abdomen and loll her head up to look at him as he straightened.

“Laaannce. Oh, you’re the pretty icy dragon, can you get rid of the birds? You have the big sword. The wall rat is angry at them and it keeps chewing at the rocks and the fluffy things are scuttl.... they’re around... in - trying to steal... why is it so bright, turn off the sun it’s burning.”

Lance nearly loses his breath as Guardienne just rambles and gazes dazedly around the room, shocked by how such a vibrant woman was now rendered nearly helpless. She’s making absolutely no sense.

He steels himself and decides here and now that he needs to take care of her. She has no sense of reality right now, and he needed to be here to make sure she would be alright. He gently took her chin to tilt her head back so he can look into her eyes again.

“What are the fluffy things doing? What rocks is the wall rat chewing at?” Guardienne stares at him for a moment with drifting eyes.

“What... the fluffy... no wall rat, no stones, the fluffy things... haha, how did you come up with that? You’re not usually funny, haha...”

Anxiety and distress for his partner settles heavily in his chest as he observed her continuously disturbing condition. He looks back towards Ewelein as she explains that she’s been providing Guardienne with a treatment. It’ll take a few days before it will begin to work, though - if it even does work. Lance was about to reply when Guardienne cut him off.

“The birds are loud, the birds are loud. Oww, someone please make the birds quiet.” She covered her ears with her hands and tucked her chin to her chest. Lance adjusted her gently and leaned her to lay back on the bed so she wouldn’t fall over the side.

“I’m not sure what to do about the birds... she’s kept talking about them. They seem to only be in the Infirmary because she didn’t complain about them when she wandered into the hall earlier.”

“She wandered into the hall earlier!?” Alarm shot through him again.

“Yea, Adalric seemed to argue her point though. He told her that the birds are everywhere, even inside her... Thankfully she doesn’t seem to have taken any attention to that.” Now exasperation.

“Ok, how about this; I’ll settle my plans with Huang Hua for the next few days and take Guardienne to my room so I can watch her constantly. I can stock up on a few basics from Karuto so I don’t need to leave her and set someone in charge of running meals to us from the Dinning Hall. She won’t ever be alone and she won’t need to go out anywhere. I’ll send a companion immediately if we need help of any kind.”

“May the Oracle bless you, Lance. You’re a lifesaver. Please don’t get sick, though.” She persistently thanked him more as she explained a basic routine so Guardienne can recover. Healthy food, don’t let her get too hot - not a problem, he’s an ice dragon - don’t leave her alone, and the medicine should begin to take effect in the next few days.

Lance responded by saying that it was no trouble - there was no way he was not taking care of Guardienne at this point - and quickly headed out to find Huang Hua while Ewelein could spend a bit of time watching Guardienne. Fortunately she was in the Dinning Hall, talking with a few other members of the Guard, including Karuto. He walked over with a brisk note in his step and stopped in her line of sight when he was a few feet away, signaling that he needed to talk to her.

Kindly, she stepped out of the conversation as the others kept talking - and Lance spotted a warrior within his guard that he trusts before waving them over as well. He quickly - but modestly - explained the situation and they both understood, Huang Hua even offered to persuade Karuto to share a few food items as Lance explained to his colleague what he needed to do the next few days. Once everything was set, he brought the food back to his room - storing it safely in a cabinet - and went back to retrieve the sick Guardienne.

Many strange and bizarre things happened over those few days he spent with his delirious partner - some things he thought he would never experience in his life. Like Ewelein said, she did ramble a lot about the most odd things that she’s hallucinated; ranging from watching Musaroses fly around the room (which may have stemmed from Floppy observing her from high surfaces, if he did in fact adopt Floppy, and I believe he did), the sun and moon rolling around the room, and even yelping incoherent words as she tried to run away from light flecks. When she did manage to make a coherent sentence, she was quite crass and tactless with her tone and words - she didn’t seem to be able to comprehend the idea of emotions, but her imagination sure ran wild.

When he first brought her into his room, she wandered around for a while - chasing shadows it seemed... and then she took interest in shiny things, like his weaponry.

“Ah, pretty!”

“Guardienne don’t touch that! That’s sharp!” He quickly leapt to her side and took her wrist as she reached for an axe hanging on the wall, gently pulling her towards the bed as she giggled giddily and danced around with him. He tried his best to reign her in without being harsh - she wasn’t in her right mind - while making sure she didn’t hurt herself on any surface as she flung her limbs around before finally managing to get her on his bed. She still burned with the fever as he settled her into the light blankets, but she seemed to be tempted to fall asleep as she curled into his pillows. Relief settled into Lance for a moment as he turned to quickly glance around the room, observing everything he would need to hide for her safety until she recovered.

He glanced back to Guardienne to find her gone. He’s never felt panic invade him so quickly.

Lance quickly scanned the room again to find her nowhere - actually it’s dread at this point, he’s definitely feeling dread - and then a feminine noise of surprise sounded from the floor before his bed. He rushed to the other side of the bed to find her laying on the floor, staring intently underneath his bed.

“I can see into realms...” She was probably staring through the gap underneath his bed to look at the other wall.

The thought of tying her to the bed to keep her still passed through his mind until he decided that that would be too inhumane for such a sickly woman.

Fortunately there were a few things that Lance felt he could do well. Occasionally he would ask if she wanted tea, or something to eat, and he definitely made sure she drank lots of cold water (being an ice dragon truly had some perks, like refreshing cold water at any time). She wouldn’t exactly respond - although on occasion she was brought back to reality enough to realize and comment that she was hungry at the mention of food - but Lance made sure to keep rigorous note of when she last ate and what anyways, so she stayed well fed. It was a bit of a struggle to get her to eat sometimes, but he found that she responded well to smell, so he tried to focus more on giving her warm (not hot) or stronger smelling foods. Once she caught the scent she seemed to snap back to reality a bit and nibble on it for a while - and when he’d sit beside her and eat a meal of his own she would catch on that it was time to eat and happily devour the food until she lost interest. He also realized quickly that her heavy sweating would mean that she’d need to shower more, so while it wasn’t always possible to wash her multiple times per day, he found that giving her a small bath with a wet cloth helped her - especially with cooling her down. He did make sure to shower her at least once a day, and he did join her for this. There was no way she’d be able to shower alone with her hallucinations...

These showers did lead to rather humorous events once in a while. The first time he showered with her, she tried to run away from the water because “the rain clouds are angry at her”, but she eventually calmed down - nearly going limp in his arms - when she realized how nice it was to feel the warm water on her skin. Surprisingly, when they’re out of the shower she seems to be brought back to her sanity a bit, being able to hold a... semi-normal conversation for a few minutes, usually remembering that emotions exist and being able to accurately describe her distress. However, Lance is perhaps most proud of the other times, late at night or early in the morning, when she’s burning hot in bed next to him and he helps relieve her of this.

He’ll lean up slightly, adjusting the pillows underneath him so he can recline back while somewhat sitting up and pull her gently into his arms, letting Guardienne rest her head on his chest or abdomen. She’ll moan in distress, dozing but not yet sleeping, and he’ll call forth his powers to help cool her. He’ll lay a cold hand on her forehead or the back of her neck, letting his body temperature drop to provide a cool presence that she can curl up with. Lance quickly found that she really enjoys this, she’ll cling to him all night as her breathing evens and her sweating calms down, and he finds that it even helps calm her during the day. Perhaps Ewelein was right; her restlessness was due partially to the fever.

Fortunately the medicine works, and within a week she’s feeling better. Guardienne woke up one morning; groggy, lethargic and overall feeling like shit, but she moves around to adjust her position anyways, rolling over to find Lance awake and watching her.

“Hey...” She greets him, her voice grating in a way that nearly makes her wince.

“Good morning. Did the wall rat wake you up?”

“...”

“Excuse me? What wall rat?” Lance looks a bit worried.

“Ok, she doesn’t remember the wall rat...” He mutters the words to himself as he glances away before meeting her gaze again. “Nothing, what about the Liclion under the bed? He’s not licking your hand again, is he? I can take care of him if you need me to. I could probably do something about those birds, too, if they’re here.” Guardienne stills mid-weak-stretch and looks at him with an off put expression, somewhat afraid of his random speaking. He blinks back with a calm expression before shock brightens him and he leans towards her a bit

“Wait, are you better!? Do you actually understand what I’m saying!?”

“Yes, Lance, but I’m not sure that you understand what you’re saying.” She looks at him in a concerned manner, but Lance is busy throwing himself over her in a desperate, gentle hug. She hugs back, still incredibly confused but thankful that he didn’t throw all of his weight on her as well - she was very weak and tired, she didn’t think she’d be able to breath if he rested his weight on her.

“Seriously, are you ok? What’s happened these past few days? I can barely remember anything.” Lance draws back to flash her a bright grin, overjoyed at the fact that he has his partner back.

“Yes, I’m just fine, but you’re not going to believe any of this...” He tells her the story anyways.

Lance with Guardienne who's sick and too weak to move:

It started slow. Guardienne was feeling a bit sluggish one day while training with Jamon, finding that she tired easier than normal and her reaction time wasn’t as fast as usual. She had to ask Jamon for a few extra breaks throughout, sparking concern from the Ogre. He asked if she was alright and she said that she was just feeling a bit tired. Jamon promptly reminded her of the time where she had the infected wound from the Warrifang, asking if she could have another bite like that that’s causing her fatigue.

“I don’t think so, I don’t recall fighting anything as of late. I suppose I should warn Lance if this gets worse, though, just so we don’t have a repeat of the market scene the first time I saw him again.” Her tone was light with humor, but she did dismiss herself from training. She didn’t want to push herself if she was getting sick.

She carried out the rest of the day with normalcy, but the following morning is where she was really hit.

Guardienne woke up sore, tired, lethargic, and nauseous. She should have seen Ewelein sooner. To make things even worse, she woke up with a headache and a pounding noise in her ears. Wait... no, that was her door.

She hauled herself out of bed, requiring much more strength than she expected, and immediately a flood of heat washed over her. Regardless of her swimming head and heavy limbs, she stumbled to the door and cracked it open as the pounding became more persistent .

“Oh, hey, you’re late for our breakfast! Mathieu was getting really worried - such a sweetheart! And Adalric started forming conspiracy theories of why you’re late. Karenn suggested that we - hey, you don’t look so good, are you alright?” Guardienne could barely pay attention to Koori’s rambling - her headache was terrible and she was reduced to clinging to the door frame to remain standing. She sighed, closing her eyes and groaning as she rested her head next to her hand on the frame.

“I need to go to the Infirmary.”

“Ok, come on, I’ll help you.” Fortunately Koori was a kind person - flirtatious, and bold - but caring for her friends.

Guardienne leaned her weight against the Kitsune as they headed to the Infirmary, nearly stumbling every other step as even the slightest movements took far too much energy - only to encounter Lance along the way.

Concern immediately struck him, showing clearly on his expression as he jogged to meet the two before asking what was going on. After a brief explanation, Lance offered to take Guardienne to the Infirmary. Koori put up a bit of a fight - not anything odd, she just wanted to make sure Guardienne would be alright (and she was curious of the illness) - but agreed to let Lance take her the rest of the way.

Koori gently let go of Guardienne, letting her stand on her own two feet a moment before she wobbled. Lance quickly took hold of her, gently taking her into his arms and lifting her from the floor as Koori dismissed herself from them, wishing Guardienne good health. He turned and set a brisk pace towards the Infirmary.

“You really don’t need to carry me. I know you’re a bit weird with touching in front of others.” Guardienne spoke softly - tiredly - as she rested her head against his chest, discreetly glancing around the room to see a few heads turning to look at them.

“Hush, I don’t care about that right now.” His tone said that there would be no arguing of that.

He walked through the doors, immediately calling for Ewelein - who was fortunately near the entrance. Within a few minutes Guardienne was rested on one of the many isolated beds - isolated to assure the sickness wouldn't spread if it was infectious. Ewelein began to check her over and verbally nipped at Lance to shoo him out of the room, only to be stopped as Guardienne requested that he stay with her. If he could, at least.

Lance paused, surprise written on his face as he let the knowledge that his partner wanted him around for this sunk in. He wasn't really expecting this. She's usually very independent and doesn't like to disrupt his responsibilities for the day, so her specifically requesting his presence was a bit of a shock

"It's alright if you don't want to stay, I don't want to get in the way of your job, but if I couldn't get here on my own then I don't think I'll be able to get anywhere else... so it might be helpful to have you around..." Guardienne gave him a gentle, fatigued smile before Lance softened and relaxed a bit.

“It would be a good idea. She shouldn’t risk walking around right now; she needs to rest. Fortunately this seems to only effect her energy - there’s no major fever or anything, only a faint fever, so she just needs rest - but if walking around will be a major issue then it would definitely be a good idea for you to be around to help her.”

A gentle warmth settled in Lance’s chest; his partner was asking for his help, she wanted him to lean on while she recovered from this.

How could he say no to that? How could he deny his partner who needed him right now?

“I’ll stay, I’ll take a couple days off. You’ll have my full attention.” He turns to walk towards her and sit down beside her on the mattress, taking her hand in his as Ewelein shuffles around the Infirmary. Guardienne squeezes his hand and looks gratefully at him through narrowed eyes, leaning against his shoulder slightly.

Ewelein returns after a few minutes with a vial in her hand and configures a dose for Guardienne, explaining what it is, what it should do and in how long it should start to take effect. After a few minutes - when Ewelein is still muddling around Guardienne but not saying anything particularly important - Lance excuses himself to find Huang Hua to notify her of his time off.

From there it’s the same as when Guardienne was sick with a fever and delirium; he notifies Huang Hua and sets up a replacement for himself, only excluding asking Karuto for extra food / tea as he can leave the room this time to retrieve food without worrying for her, but he does notify him that he’s taking care of Guardienne so he’ll need two meals to go. Karuto grumbles about the information, possibly not believing him, but agrees to it anyways. If anything, he can check with Ewelein later to confirm that Lance is actually taking care of her.

Eventually he returns to Guardienne - who was dozing peacefully - and gently picks her up after speaking with Ewelein before heading out of the Infirmary to settle her on his bed.

She curled immediately into the blankets and pillows on his bed, and Lance observed as she took in a deep breath, letting it out softly as though the sole reason for that was to breathe in his scent. A warm spark fluttered in his chest as he watched her - he’ll be sure to provide for her in the coming days.

And that’s exactly what he does; provides for her, in any way she needs.

He does this in a lot of similar ways as when she had the fever delirium; he’ll bring her food, help her eat if she’s too weak, will shower with her so she can lean against him (she really likes the showering with the handsome, wet, naked dragon), and watches her carefully when she insists on trying to take a few steps on her own to test how her strength is shifting - after all, his room certainly isn’t the safest with all the weaponry laying around and he promised to himself, for her sake, that he would take the greatest care of her, so he watches her without taking his eyes off her when she tries to shuffle around.

However, there are many other things that he does this time that he didn’t (sometimes couldn’t) do last time. He cuddles with her - a lot. After all, she can’t walk around on her own, so she’s bedridden most of the time, and what better way to pass the time than cuddling it out? If her minor fever acts up, he’ll use the same cooling technique on her by using his powers. Sometimes he’ll even entertain her by playing around a bit, forming delicate, glassy shapes out of his element and letting her explore his creations. He may lay a hand on her arm and let flat, snow colored tendrils drift across her skin like frost, a faint chill emanating from where they appeared as she watches with a fascinated smile when they curl elegantly around her arm.

He’ll let her sleep as much as she wants - which is a lot - and is just fine with being woken up at any hour for any reason. At first she was hesitant about this - she didn’t want to disturb his sleep when she woke up randomly in dark hours of the night with no sign of sleep threatening her consciousness again - so a few nights were spent messily nudging her body around to shift her position with the little strength she had. This woke Lance up a few times, and she was quite surprised when he decided to stay up with her and offer to occupy her time. Guardienne continuously told him that she was alright, he could go back to sleep, but he refused to do so. He was just fine with being woken up in the middle of the night - under this circumstance, of course, not on a typical day where he has responsibilities to carry out the next day - and eventually one night she found herself attempting this as she lay awake and unable to fall asleep again. She pondered over his offer to wake him up if she wanted entertainment, and after what felt like hours of trying to do anything else, she reached an arm over to brush her hand from his jaw, down his neck, and to his bare chest - eventually giving in to try and nudge herself closer to cuddle the sleeping dragon. He shifted slightly at this - waking fully as he noticed her movement - and grinned softly at her, pulling her closer to satisfy her wishes. They stayed up for many hours after that, talking quietly and nuzzling each other. Guardienne is a bit less hesitant to wake up him for company after that.

Sometimes his partner will grow a bit restless staying in one place, being moved only when she needs to use the bathroom, shower, test her strength limitations, etc. so Lance decided to take her into his arms one day and carry her around his room. Why? Well, she was tired of staying in one place, so now she’s moving around without moving around. Guardienne looks at him like he’s the greatest thing to ever exist, and then asks if he could take her to the Fountain Park. He happily complies, being sure to keep themselves a bit more distanced from others than usual for privacy and health’s sake.

A few heads turn to watch them as Lance casually carries his partner through the guard - but he doesn’t pay mind. He’s busy providing for his partner what she needs; fresh air and a change of scenery. They’ll spend a fair amount of time outside for a while before Guardienne eventually grows tired again, and he’ll carry her back inside to nest into his bed and cuddle.

Above all else, Lance is sure to remember the medical advice Ewelein gave to him - let her rest, don’t push her energy, keep her well fed with healthy food, exercise her a little bit per day so she doesn’t lose too much muscle function, and overall; be there for her. Lance is happy to provide for his partner, and he’s honored that she wanted him specifically to take care of her, so when times come where she’s sick and needs to be taken care of again, he doesn’t hesitate to offer his help. The last thing he wants to do is leave his partner to suffer alone.

Fortunately, within a week or two she’s usually feeling better, and after that they carry on their routine as normal.

She does still ask for him to carry her around his room on occasion, though.

I hope you liked these! I tried to add in a fair share of humor and fluff. The first scenario almost seemed to take on a few dark tones due to how heavily I made her hallucinate, but I tried to keep it light. That being said - if anyone is ever that sick and is hallucinating that heavily, take them to a hospital so they can have proper treatment and supervision. This is merely a story written for entertainment, so I can bend the rules of reality a bit.

Just as I thought, these were very fun to write. Thank you for requesting such an entertaining ask!

Have a request? Ask them here!

But first, please read the rules list for asks!

#eldarya #Eldarya ANE #eldarya lance #Eldarya Lance ane #eldarya lance headcanons #fenristheorem writing #askfenris

54 notes · View notes

lifeofmars444 · 3 years

Text

05/08/2014-12/09/2021

RIP

Gretel Ann Armwood❤️

You were soooo tiny when I got you! & I was so depressed and heartbroken. You came into my life at the right time and you lit up my world with those floppy ears and big heart. You always found a way to be inside of my clothes 🤣🤣 I loved it though. You cuddled me ALL the time and it spoiled me. You will always be my first fur baby and I want you to know that I love you more than anything. I know Fiona and Nova were waiting for you🥺❤️ you go up there and live your best afterlife and may your next life be your absolute best! You were the sweetest, kindest, most gentle fur baby I ever had and I’m grateful I ever even got blessed with the opportunity to be loved by you.🤞🏼❤️✨

5 notes · View notes

merryfortune · 3 years

Text

that fluffy feeling of stress & frustration

Written for the 100ships Challenge on Dreamwidth

Prompt #20 Nude

Ship: Entrustshipping | Kiku/Takeru

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS

Word Count: 1,674

Rating: T

Warnings: No Warnings Apply

Tags: Alternate Universe - Pomegaverse, Pre-Canon, Fluff, Non-Sexual Nudity

Takeru could feel it happening again. That fluffy feeling of stress and frustration just puff-puff-puffing up. Then, finally, poof! It happened again. Just great.

Takeru huffed to himself, or maybe woofed would be more accurate as he had shape-shifted from being a fairly average heighted teenager to being a teeny-tiny pomeranian dog.

For whatever reason, human beings have a very odd adaptation to cope with stress. To ease this burden, the human body simply shut down and replaced itself with something with a far smaller scope of stress and a lot more fluff. For most, this meant spontaneously transforming into a pomeranian dog for no good reason at all but others, not very many, transformed into a persian cat or similar. Though, a tiny slice of the population never transformed at all and oh how Takeru envied those blessed folk who apparently never got stressed at all.

Takeru considered it incredibly maladaptive but maybe it's because it happened to him all too frequently. For most people, experiencing the sudden transformation was something that occurred rarely but for him, someone who was all stress and frustration all the time, it was incredibly common and he hated it. He really wished to be one of those people who didn’t experience this paw-ful plight but then again, he wouldn’t wish his problems on his worst enemy.

He needed to find someone to help him get back into his own body. Again.

Thankfully, yes, these incessant transformations were only temporary. With enough time away from the stressor, it will wear off eventually, within a couple of hours to a day but there was also a much faster way of removing it. That was by finding someone - or a couple of people - willing to give you attention and pampering until poof! Human again.

Unfortunately for Takeru, he was the only one in the house. His grandmother had gone grocery shopping and his grandfather had been pulled away by one of his subordinates for meetings regarding upcoming judo exams and the like. Not that it mattered much; whilst his grandmother loved to coax him out of his transformations, his grandfather wasn’t so eager to coddle him, thinking Takeru was trapped in a poor cycle of his own creation more than anything else.

So, off to find the one person who would be very happy to put up with him and his tantrum: his dear friend Kiku. His dear friend whom he may or may not have feelings for. He wasn’t sure.

Takeru had known Kiku all his life. Ever since pre-kindergarten, when they had encountered each other in the playroom. She had found him crying because the front wheel had fallen off the fire truck he had been playing with so she single-handedly fixed it for him. Thanks to that incident, they had become the best of friends and Kiku had been fixing things for him ever since.

The only thing that Kiku couldn’t really fix for Takeru was the Lost Incident. Takeru wasn’t even to breathe a word about it to her but he had anyway, nothing too morbid but she knew the basics but she never looked at him differently after learning bits and pieces of what had happened to him in the six months that he was missing. At least not bad differently, just hard differently, like she respected his strength.

Strength that Takeru couldn’t see in himself because, well, otherwise he wouldn’t be on four paws right now with floppy ears flicking irritably. But Takeru trusted that just like usual, Kiku could fix this for him too. He just had to find her in town.

It was incredibly inconvenient but Takeru wiggled out of his pile of clothes - his favourite white tracksuit - and grabbed his boxers as he would need them later. With that, he plodded on out from his room and through the halls of his home and then wriggled out of the sliding door. He squeezed through the doorframe and then he was out in the garden.

The world certainly looked a whole lot different when you were about twelve inches tall and could only see in monochrome. At least the scents of the world became a whole lot more vibrant, Takeru was able to navigate what he couldn’t quite see as well through that so he just kept trekking along. It was all he could do, one paw after another.

He just hoped that no one would find it weird that there was a dog walking around town with a pair of knickers in its mouth. Though unaccompanied, uncollared dogs - especially pomeranians - was a little common, not overly, thanks to that whole maladaptive response to stress thing, but still. Takeru did not want to be looked at or acknowledged, the idea of that happening just made him feel worse.

Though regardless of whether he was a dog or not, he never felt human around his peers. He felt like he was some kind of animal. A specimen, maybe. There were all sorts of rumours and scoldings. Everyone remembered ten years ago when Takeru had disappeared and his parents had gone missing too, never to return unlike him but there was never any closure. Not for him, not for the gossips. It all trickled down and he hated being treated like glass. Like he was about to break for real. He hated how that six month stint had stunted him in every way that mattered: emotional, social, even in education. He just wanted to drop out and close up, hole up inside his room but his grandparents wouldn’t let him.

Kiku wouldn’t either.

She always brought him things from school. Mostly homework but sometimes the cupcakes she made in home economics, too. She would even tutor him, not that they would get a lot done but it still helped. Still pieced together what Takeru wanted to give up on entirely. He was ungrateful but he appreciated it.

By some miracle and a half, Takeru made it to Kiku’s place. It was getting close to sundown, maybe he should have just waited until his grandmother came home but sitting on Kiku’s porch, he felt like he had made the right decision to come and visit. To be proactive. He yipped and barked at the door since he couldn’t reach the brass bell and he couldn’t knock either but the door was answered all the same and by Kiku, nonetheless.

She was surprised, at first, seeing no one, until she looked down. Then her surprise became bemusement and then amusement when she noticed that Takeru was carrying his red boxers with green polka dots. She shook her head, trying not to laugh.

“What am I going to do with you?” she playfully admonished him.

She bent down and scooped Takeru up. He whimpered, embarrassed, feeling like a real puppy dog and Kiku took him inside. Her house was a western style farmhouse and had that ranch-like gravitas, the long wraparound porch with windows, the cutesy wood carvings on the doors and such. Kiku took him to her room and locked the door.

Kiku plopped down on her bed with a sigh. Takeru stayed put and got comfortable on her lap. He spat out his underwear and it flopped on the floor. Kiku’s room was neat and tidy, with a red and gold palette. His underwear looked very odd in her rather girly room. If he didn’t have a snout and fur, he would probably be blushing because of it.

Well, either it or how Kiku was pampering him. She clutched at his face and massaged the fat on his jowls, working back to his ears, scratching behind them and he was melting. Her fingers were deft and thorough but her words were even more contentable.

“Good boy, good boy,” she assured him, a sing-song lilt to her voice as she pet him, not a hint of teasing, just understanding, “let go of all that stress, hm? You are safe and comfy now, promise.”

Takeru continued to sprawl out in her lap, making Kiku giggle. She ran her hands over his back and grabbed onto the fat and fluff of his belly. He was just so cute! He made a perfectly little red-and-white pomeranian dog. Kiku was having the time of her life just pampering Takeru, massaging him from head to toe, from the tip of his ears to the tip of his tail - and Takeru was having the time of his life getting pampered. This was exactly what he needed and so-

Poof!

Puppy dog had become teenaged boy again.

Takeru leapt to his feet and stumbled around. He was a bit turned around, literally, and dizzy too as he tried to hide his modesty. Kiku, politely, looked away but in the corner of his eye, as he bent down to pick up his underwear, he could see her blush. And even try to steal looks but the brevity of their flustered gazes connecting severed it all.

Once upon a time, they used to take baths together, believe it or not. Played under the sprinklers in summer too. Takeru couldn’t believe he was nostalgic for that childhood innocence as he tried very hard to get into his boxers as quick as possible. Yet, he couldn’t resist hazarding one more look as he smiled, his heart skipping a beat.

“Thanks, Kiku, I really appreciate everything you do for me.” he told her.

Kiku shyly turned to face him and her smile was everything: it was golden, it was naked, “I know, Takeru,” she assured him.

There really was no one like Kiku for him, Takeru was confident as he sat down on the bed again and let Kiku pet the top of his head all the same as when he’d been a pomeranian dog. Stress really did just evaporate off him at her touch, as she ran her fingers through his hair and caressed his cheeks. She really was the best friend that he could ever ask for, Takeru thought to himself appreciative down to the tailbone.

#100ships challenge #entrustshipping #yugioh vrains #vrains #yugioh #takeru homura #kamishirakawa kiku #writing tag #pomegaverse

5 notes · View notes

littlemessyjessi · 4 years

Text

“Chasing Jessi”: A Sirius Black Story: Plus Size OC: Chapter 7: Tinkerbell & The Lost Boy

————————-

Sirius Black Imagine Turned Story

Re-Written and Edit of an old story of mine I had on Mibba that deserved some more love and attention, lol.

Sirius Black x Jess Scamander (OC, OFC, PLUS SIZE OC, PLUS SIZE OFC)

————————————

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

Sirius Black was lounging comfortably in his bunk. He hadn't even bothered to change out of the KISS shirt and black flannel pajama bottoms at this point. He was reading through a book that he'd borrowed from Jess. Contrary to popular belief... Sirius actually loved to read.

He’d rather die than admit that but he’d learned from an early age that it could easily provide an escape from his horrible daily life.

Again though, he’d rather die than admit and let someone see him doing it.

He was up rather early on a Sunday morning- something that used to be obscenely out of character before he played Quidditch. Now, it seemed that his biological clock was against him. However, it proved rather useful when wanting the shower to yourself or getting to breakfast while everyone was still in bed. He'd been to breakfast already and was currently just relaxing for he had been informed by a tired looking Lily Evans that Jess was not coming down for breakfast this morning. He had been slightly disappointed but guessed that it was because the two girls had been up late talking. He figured that girls did that just as much as boys did. Although, for Jess's sake he hoped not because James had nearly driven him mad last night by both talking about every detail of his and Lily's date and all but demanding the same from Sirius. Honestly, boys were just as bad as girls when it came to gossip.

If not worse. However, he supposed he could just try and read this ridiculous book of hers until she awoke. He had really just settled in and was beginning to immerse himself into this fantasy world when.... "Sirius!!!" His brows furrowed and he glanced over at Remus who was studying on the floor in front of his bunk but he only shrugged.

"Sirius! Ooof! Sorry! Sirius!" "What in the name of Merlin?" he pondered as he sat the book down and went to the door to see none other than his hyperactive girlfriend balancing a package on her hip and apologizing to a fourth year boy who went white as a ghost at the sight of her. "You're ...you're not supposed to be up here." the boy said. "Oh, I'm sorry." she said to him. "I'm just looking for Sirius. See, I have something I have to-" The boy was too shaken to speak. To be fair, she was still wearing her pajamas and he was a fourteen year old boy, most likely with a crush on her. And she was only wearing a big floppy yellow smiley face shirt and some rather short multi colored shorts. "Over here, love." Sirius smirk. She turned to face him with a relieved smile looking so odd with her floral cat ear headband and her big blue monster house shoes. "Thanks, anyway." she told the boy and gave him a one armed hug. Sirius almost snorted when the boy looked as if he may pass out. The poor boy probably didn't know whether he found her attractive, terrifying or strange....or all three. "What are you doing up here?" he asked her as she came to a stop in front of him, "And in your pajamas no less?" "I have something for you." she said simply but he smirked and she smacked him in the stomach, "Not that!" "Aw, and it's almost my birthday too." he moaned playfully and he opened the door and let her him. "Hello, Remus." she greeted the studious green eyed boy. "Oh, uh, hi Jess." he said a little surprised to see her there, especially in her pjs. "Remus, she beats me." Sirius wailed dramatically. "She wounds me." "If it's to your pride..." he said. "I suggest she do it some more. Your head is far too big as it is." Jess grinned in victory. Sirius gasped, "Moony, old boy, I can't believe it! Everyone's mistreating me and it's almost my birthday!" "Sirius, if you don't come sit down, then I'm going to open your present." she informed him smartly. "Present?" he asked. "What present?" "This one." she said tapping the lid of the green box. "You got me a present?" he asked curiously taking a seat on the bunk as the box lay between them. "No." she said. "Well, yes. I did. But this isn't it. This is from my mum and dad." "What?" he asked in disbelief. "From mum and dad." she repeated. "She sent a blasted howler as well. Damn near threatened my life if I opened it. So I'm guessing it's rather good and most likely involving food. Best open it sooner than later." Sirius' hands shook just a little as he pulled the box open and cringed as a howler floated out. It was that same familiar shape that he recognized as the ones Jess usually got. From previous experiences, he was expecting yelling but relaxed when he saw the letter transform and the dark wax sealed lips give him a smile. It began to speak in a soothing tone, "Hello, Dear. Happy Birthday! I do hope you have a good one this year and that you get this package in time. Jess mentioned that you had a particular liking for toffee and fudge so I do hope you like what's inside. She also mentioned that you loved music and so there is something extra special inside from my husband. He said that he wanted it to go someone who could appreciate her as he much as he did. I wasn't allowed to see so I'm trusting that it's appropriate and if it's it not, you'd best tell me so I can tan his hide! Everything is under the shrinking charm so all you need to do is use the Engorgio charm. If you have trouble with it, I would advise you to ask Lily rather than Jess. She means well but she tends to get terribly excited and...blow things up. We are so excited to see Jess making such lovely friends! She speaks very highly of you and bless your soul, you must be patient to deal with her antics! I do hope she isn't being too rough. Some of those pictures... Merlin, I feared she'd nearly kill you with that one on the broom. I've told her about that! Nevertheless, any friend of hers is a friend to us. Welcome to the family, sweet boy. Have a wonderful birthday, dear! May you have many more! P.S. Do not let my child con you out of your presents with her innocent face. I know that she 'seems' sweet but if you give in...you'll regret it. Trust me. Her father has been wrapped around her finger since she was six seconds old. " When the letter was finished it ripped itself up and turned to ash. Sirius was a little disappointed. It had been so nice...he had kind of wanted to keep it. He glanced up to find Remus looking at him curiously and Jess looking mildly offended. "She makes me sound like some kind of animal." she scoffed. "Well..." Remus smirked. "I'd say more reptilian. You do have a certain, what was it you called it Padfoot? Dragon lady...quality about you." "Remus Lupin!" she scolded him. "You are a booger head and I am not talking to you anymore!" "I have chocolate." he said lifting his brows at her and holding up a piece. "All is forgiven." she said racing over to join him. "So what did she get you?" she piped up from her spot with Remus on the floor. Sirius reached into the box to pull out a container and he smiled. "Toffee." he smiled. "Oooh!" she gushed and jumped on his bed. "That's mum homemade toffee! It's really good! She won a blue ribbons for it at the local Muggle fair!" He pulled another out and observed the white chunks with rainbow sprinkles. "Birthday cake fudge." he smiled as he read the label aloud. "It's really good." Jess nodded. "It tastes like white chocolate and cake batter. Mum makes it for Dad every year on his birthday. I bet she had to make two batches!" He pulled out a jar of something and for just a moment it made him think of firewhiskey but he smiled when he read the label. 'Sirius, dear, this is a new recipe I'm trying out. It's called Toffee Syrup. We like to put it in porridge, tea, pumpkin juice, coffee...come to think of it, anything really. I've added just a bit something special to this one. I'd love to hear what you think.' "Mum'll kill me for telling you this but it's really good you mix it with firewhiskey and put it over ice cream." Jess piped up and he lifted his brows at her. "And here I thought you were sweet and innocent." he commented. She laughed, "Sirius, we both know I'm far from either of those." He pulled out a black knitted hat. "Oh, Mum, doesn't want you to catch cold!" she wailed dramatically. "Don't cry on it." he teased. "But she stitched it with love, Sirius!" she wailed again. He resisted the urge to shove her off the bed when something caught his eye. A small black case and upon further inspection he realized that it was a guitar case. 'Engorgio.' he murmured and enlarged it before pulling the zipper open to reveal a beautiful black acoustic guitar. "Ophelia!" Jess squeaked. "What?" Sirius asked her. "It's Ophelia." she said. "It's Dad's guitar. He let me name her when I was a little girl." Sirius frowned, "Oh, maybe you should have it then." "Nah." she shook her head. "I'm rubbish at guitar. I'm a drums kind of girl...much to mum's dismay." She grinned wickedly and pretended to play the drums.

She never failed to make him laugh. He pulled it out and ran his hand over it before glancing into the case and seeing the matching strap and an envelope. He opened the envelope to reveal a small note and a silver chain with a matching guitar pick on the end. "Hello, Sirius. I hope you have a very Happy Birthday. Jess tells me that you love music along with many other things. She seems quite fond of you and speaks of you quite a lot. Which is considerably out of character for her. You have to understand that for the longest time when she wrote home...it was usually to tell us that Lily's eyebrows had grown back or that she'd was very close to finding redcap colony. Naturally, as her father, I was a little defensive about you at first. However, you seem like an alright lad and she seems to take a liking to you. Any man that will willingly let her braid rainbow colored yarn into their hair....well you're alright with me, kid. I hope you have a great birthday and you enjoy old Ophelia. P.S. If you press the guitar pick, you can record yourself. Comes in handy when you're working on songs. ' Sirius carefully sealed the letter back up and placed everything delicately back in the box. "Sirius?" Jess whispered. "You have really, really good parents." he said quietly. Remus quietly left the room, deciding it was best to give the two of them some time. "I know." she said softly. Sirius just nodded, still just slightly shaking until she placed her hand on his. "Maybe you can meet them sometime. You know, to properly welcome you to the family and all." she said. There was more to that statement than either of them were willing to talk about at that moment. Grey eyes caught green and they just stared for a moment. She decided to break the tension with some comedy. "Mum may be swayed by your charms but I will not being giving you your present from me until it's your actual birthday." she said. "You got me a present?" he questioned. "Yes, and I'm not telling so don't even try!" she scolded as she stuck her finger in his face. He smirked at her challenge as he carefully placed the box underneath his bed and grabbed her ankle. "Not even if I do...." he trailed off as he hovered above her neck. "This." She bit her lip when his lips caressed her skin. "No!" she cried out. "Don't use your tricks!" "How about here?" he asked kissing her nose. "Never." she whispered. "Alright." he said. "But I think I'll try one more." "I'll never surrender, Captain Hook!" she called out, grinning wickedly as she saw her book on his bed side table. "Now, now Tinkerbell. Let's not be rash." he teased. "Now give me some of that pixie dust." She erupted into a fit of giggles, "Sirius Black, Lord of the Cheeseballs!" He tickled her relentlessly, "Surrender!" "Never!" she said rolling out from underneath him and racing into the halls, "Lost Boys, unite! We have to defend ourselves against the terrible Captain Hook!" The muggleborns got it, thought it was weird, but go it. Everyone...just kind of wrote it off as Jess being Jess. And James Potter stood at the foot of stairs looking at his friend with an odd expression on his face. "What?" Sirius asked. James shook his head. "Nothing. It's just...you two are clearly into some weird things." he said. Sirius laughed and shoved his friend along into his room. The thing was...he didn't mind her little games. He loved them almost as much as he did her.

Chapter Six

Chapter Eight

Hello, loves! How do we feel about Sirius’ early bday present from Jess’ parents? How are we liking their relationship so far?

I’d love to what you think! Please feel free to hit up the ask box, blast the comment section or reblog with your thoughts and feelings! Next chappie coming soon!

All my love darlings!

Kenny

————————-

@frankie2902

@pleasantdreamqueen @becrazy–beyou

@littledeadrottinghood @blackirisposts

@therealmrshale @woodworthti666@thegreatirene@fanfictionandjunk

@angelus320

@alanlizzingtonshore@buriednurbckyrd@disneymarina@tubbypeachwriting

@sullybot @georgiagrl1990 @whenallsaidanddone

@mischiefnevermanaged94 @inumorph

@congurl

@centerhabit

@bubblymusiclover13

@qtmeryr

@thisismysecrethappyplace

@tnupsweetpie

@alisoncdariel

@hannahloveslife

@wormyboi

@blackirisposts

@maggyme13

@amethyst09

@ibenkastberg

@fanfics1717 @mrscasnovak

@thickemadame @babygirl-barnes

@theladyofmasks @aengsty

@kalliravenne

@witchygagirl

@gruffle1

@writtenbywolfie

@kribbydahhufflepuff

@leah-halliwell92

@thelastwildangel

@silent-browser

@simplymagical@simplymagicalwritings

@lilacflicker

@malulucifer

@minxyvixen

@moncheriemoony

@queenlexusloverofbts

@criminalyetminimal

@plus-size-reader

@owenniasstars

Love, Kenny

#sirius black #sirius orion black #sirius black imagine #sirius black story #sirius black x ps #sirius black x plus size #plus size #ps #ps ofc #ps oc #plus size oc #plus size ofc #sirius black x oc #sirius black x reader #marauders #marauders era #marauders era sirius black #young sirius black

26 notes · View notes

keelywolfe · 4 years

Text

FIC: The Rose and the Thorn: Chapter 13 (Mafia AU)

Summary: Rus fled after his argument with Blue, leaving his brother behind to try to pick up the pieces. Blue has already been forced to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea, what other deal might he have to make?

Tags: Spicyhoney, Cherryberry, Mafia AU, Flower Shop AU, Violence, First Meetings

Warning: Warnings for implications of prostitution.

~~*~~

Read Chapter 13 on AO3

Read it here!

~~*~~

“Wait!” Blue cried. Too late, far too late, his little brother was already gone, stepped into one of those shortcuts of his that Blue usually appreciated, relieved that his brother could easily escape from any awful confrontations. He hadn’t used that particular skill against Blue since he’d been a frustrated child, chafing at the limits Blue put on his wandering in the Underground. He’d never needed to, until now, and Blue sank to sit again on the bathroom rug, burying his skull in his hands and struggling to breathe through the heavy, steamed air from the still running shower.

Stupid, Blue thought tiredly. Blaming Papy for his own idiocy, taking out the frustrations he didn’t dare let loose anywhere else on his undeserving little brother. Papy was so sweet and kind, still clinging to some of his naivety even in this unwelcoming Human world; how could Blue ever have expected him to handle someone like that Edge fellow? If Red made him deeply uncomfortable and fearful, then Edge was so much worse. Red at least he understood, he knew what that brother wanted of him, product and sex, in that order, and once he got it, Red would dismiss them out of hand, hopefully without leaving too many scars behind.

Edge held mysteries behind that polite demeanor of his and Blue rather wished either he was taller or Edge was a great deal shorter, because he would have liked a good look in the large skeleton’s eye lights, trying to read exactly what was hidden within them. If only he simply wanted sex from Papy, that at least would only break his brother’s heart. Blue was far more worried about the state of his soul.

And then he went and gave stabbing through it himself a good try, Blue thought glumly. The brief, bitter satisfaction of watching his words strike home was almost immediately swamped by horrified regret as his little brother’s expression crumpled, the first tears falling. Blue couldn’t know how much truth any of his accusations held, but even if they were, Papy didn’t deserve that. Not when Blue well knew how easy it was to make mistakes.

He really was just like their father, blaming others for his blunders—no.

No, it was this place. He needed to get them out of here, away from the Fells, any way that he could.

Blue dragged himself upright and to the shower, reaching inside to turn off the taps and barely wincing as steaming hot water soaked through his shirt. He felt brittle and exhausted, had since late this afternoon when the weight of cameras watching him grow golden flowers became too much to bear. An uncaring mechanical eye watching as he did the very thing he’d promised himself he wouldn’t by getting involved with this sort of people. It brought back too many memories of living in the Underground and doing whatever it took to support him and his brother after their father…well…after he was gone.

He’d sworn he wouldn’t do such things again, made a promise to himself when they came to the surface and knowing he was breaking it left him nauseous, sickened by his own deceit. In the end, Blue filled most of the planting boxes in that room until it became too much, claustrophobia swarming over him, dimming his vision even as his gorge rose. He’d nearly staggered out the door and begged the guard outside to take him for some fresh air.

The Dog, Dogamy, he later learned, did so with some haste, perhaps worried that Blue was about to vomit on his very nice shoes. Instead of bringing him downstairs or to a handy window, Dogamy led him up to the rooftop and both the fresh air and the small garden was a blessing. Something to take his mind off of what he was doing in that closed off little room and when he’d finally brought Papy back upstairs with him, Blue could almost pretend this was why they were here, tending to an overgrown garden for some wealthy benefactor and soon they’d go back to their own little house and plants, back to their simpler life of flowers and hard work.

Then he’d looked up to see his brother and Edge kissing, and his meager daydream shattered.

Blue felt far too old for his years as he shuffled back out into the bedroom, stripping off his sopping shirt and tossing it into the discreet hamper next to the closet. The closet itself held plenty of clothes, far too many for what was only supposed to be a short stay here, and a brief pang of worry tightened in his chest as he wondered about their closed shop slowly losing their regular customers, his garden overgrown and going to seed without his care.

He shook it away. It didn’t matter, they’d managed before and they could do it again. Nothing mattered but keeping his brother safe.

Blue chose one of the shirts in his size at random, forced to yank it down and leaving the hanger at an awkward angle. He shrugged into it, buttoning it up as he made his way to the loveseat to sit and wait.

And wait. Hours passed and his brother did not return while the heavy weight of worry and regret nesting in Blue’s soul hatching into something closer to panic. He’d been angry and even cruel, but surely Papy wouldn’t hold a grudge for the entire night…would he? Either he was too angry or hurt to return, or he’d gotten himself into trouble and Blue couldn’t bear to wait any long to see which it was. He only hoped he wasn’t making another reckless decision based on his worries.

Opening the door revealed one of the seemingly endless supply of the Fell brothers’ Dog guards. This one had large, floppy ears and a mottled patch of white around one of their soulful brown eyes. They looked at Blue curiously as he stepped out and said, firmly, “I need to see Red.”

He didn’t know what orders they’d been given but the Dogs who wouldn’t take him look for his brother yesterday readily took him to Red, leading him down the corridor with none of their ridiculous backtracking and fuss of before. Not that it ever fooled Blue, he prided himself as being something of an expert at puzzles, but it wouldn’t do to tip his hand about that. Let the Fells think him lost in their silly little maze, they could gape in astonishment if ever he needed to make a quick escape.

The room he was led to was the same one he’d first seen here, Red’s office. Only this time, that enormous desk was covered in scattered papers and Red sitting behind it looked harried for once. His jacket was gone, tossed over the back of one of the sofas, his tie raggedly loosened, and there was a teacup at his elbow that he loudly slurped from, not the whisky glass Blue was growing accustomed to seeing in his hand, and honestly, why did these people insist on dressing up so much in their own home?

A glance back at his current guard confirmed that the Dog was wearing a fine suit of its own, honestly, everyone here dressed like they’d gotten a clearance deal on leftover costumes from the set of ‘Goodfellas’. That was one of Papy’s favorite movies, scrounged from the dump years ago and it made it to the surface with them for occasional re-watching. Perhaps that should have been a clue for Blue from there, a premonition of the sort of trouble his brother would be wont to find.

Then again, Blue was acutely aware that the clothes he was wearing weren’t his own. None of the clothing in that large closet was any he’d’ve chosen on his own, but even he could reluctantly admit they were flattering. This one was almost too cutesy for his tastes with its billowy sleeves and pale, delicate floral pattern, but he had no doubt he wore it well.

Not that it helped in the slightest. Red only barely glanced up from his paperwork, the first Blue had seen in this place aside from his own contract, reluctantly signed even as he wondered precisely what sort of devil he’d made a deal with.

“whatcha want now?” Red asked brusquely, shuffling a clumsy stack of papers to the side, “wanna whine about our deal again? gonna have to wait until morning, i got other things to handle aside from you.”

“My brother is missing,” Blue said, bluntly. That was enough to at least get Red to look at him, brow bones raised. “We argued and he…left,” Blue finished, lamely. He hardly wanted to explain to Red what they’d argued about, “and I’m worried about him, I’m sure he didn’t leave the building but—” Left unspoken was that surely Papy didn't need to leave the club to find trouble.

Red’s sharky teeth curved into a sly grin. He slouched back in his chair and it creaked ominously under his shifting weight, "lost him, already, huh. how many times you expect me to play fetch with your boy?"

"Woof!" Blue snapped, too harried to care about irritating this…this…but Red’s grin only widened, his deep crimson eye lights gleaming.

"heh, cute.” His gaze shifted to the Dog. “doggerel, g'wan and check downstairs, kid snuck down yesterday to hang out with the morning shift.” Red’s expression soured as he added, “may as well tell edge, if you shitstains haven’t gone behind my back and done it already. he’ll pitch a fit if ya don’t.”

It was on the tip of Blue’s tongue to protest telling Edge anything, but instead he only sputtered out, “Downstairs! He was down there yesterday with all those horrible people??”

A sudden coldness abruptly dropped over Red’s face like a storm cloud. “might wanna watch what ya say about our downstairs personnel. they work fuckin’ hard, don’t need the likes of you judgin’ ‘em.”

“What?” Blue said, aghast, and shook his head, “I don’t mean the ladies, they’re perfectly lovely, do you know how often I’ve delivered flowers here? I mean the patrons!” He shivered helplessly. “I don’t even like to think what that sort would do to my brother, please, you need to—”

“calm your tits, it ain’t like he snuck out on the stage to shake his ass.” But some of the cold tension in his expression eased. Red jerked his chin at the dog, who nodded and went back out. Which left the two of them alone, again, and that was not something that ever seemed to end well, in Blue’s opinion.

“this wasn’t part of our deal, ya know,” Red pointed out lazily. “already found your bro once on my dime, now we’re gettin’ greedy.” He stood and came from behind the desk, sitting instead on the leather love seat. His bulk took up more than his fair share, but then, he didn’t invite Blue to sit next to him. Rather, he spread his knees wide in silent, obscene invitation, smoothing a hand along the inner seam of his trousers with his rings glimmering against the dark material. “whatcha gonna give me for this, baby blue?”

Blue took a deep breath, calming the thin tremor that quivered through his soul. He’d known this was a possibility from the start, braced for it before he’d ever left that borrowed bedroom. He lifted his chin and said, stoutly, “Whatever it takes to keep my brother safe.”

He stepped forward boldly without another word, dropping to his knees on the plush carpet and reached up to scrabbled roughly at Red’s belt as he tried to work up a little moisture in his suddenly dry mouth before there were complaints about his sandpapery tongue. He could do this, Blue told himself, it was to help his brother, he could do this, do anything for Papy, anything at all, and he never needed to know what Blue had done, never, even as his own hypocrisy burned acrid on the back of his tongue.

But before he could even manage the shiny buckle, hands took a rough hold of his wrists, stopping him.

Startled, Blue looked up, “What--?”

Red never seemed to lose that smirk of his, but now it was more lopsided, startlingly reminiscent of Edge, and never had he and Red looked so much like brothers. “stand up, baby blue. keepin’ little bros safe is free of charge.”

“I pay my debts,” Blue said, low, even as he wondered wildly why he was arguing in favor his own defilement. Red only gave him a withering look, reaching inside his vest pocket for a fat cigar. He popped a wooden match alight with the sharpened tip of his thumb and the pungent smell of smoke filled the air.

“i don’t need to barter for sex, honey,” Red said in a cloudy exhale. “you wanna pay me back, you just make sure you stick to our deal.” He leaned in suddenly, cigar held well away in one hand as his mouth barely brushed the side of Blue’s skull in a low murmur, “when ya finally get on your knees for me, ya gonna be beggin’ me to be there.”

“I’d love to see you try,” Blue said unthinkingly. It earned him a startled laugh even as he quailed inwardly.

“oh, sweetheart, ya never let me down.” Red drew back and offered him that wider grin. “gonna try, fer sure, that’s a bone-ified promise.” He set a hand in the middle of Blue’s chest and gave him a light shove, sending him toppling on his backside as Red stood and went back to the desk. “now get out, the dogs’ll bring your bro back to ya when they find ‘im.”

Blue wobbled to his feet, already heading for the door. He hesitated there, uncertainly, he should be grateful for what he’d gotten, he should flee with all due haste and yet, he could help a soft, heartfelt, “Thank you.”

He didn’t wait for a reply, the door closing softly behind him as he fled. There wasn’t a Dog in sight, hopefully they were all searching for his brother, and Blue headed back to their room alone. He was halfway there when he realized, a niggling, absent thought in the back of his skull suddenly coming clear. The teacup he’d been drinking from; when Red leaned in, beneath the layer of cigar smoke, he’d smelled like golden flower tea. Why would he be drinking his own profits? It made no sense, or none that Blue could make of it.

That didn’t matter, not right now, he could worry at that sore spot later. For now, all he wanted was his brother back with him, as safe as circumstances allowed. He hoped fervently it wouldn’t take long.

~~*~~

tbc

#cherryberry #spicyhoney #papcest #keelywolfe #underfell #underswap #underfell papyrus #underswap papyrus #mafia AU

42 notes · View notes

forever--darling · 4 years

Text

not too far away - s.m. (part twelve)

a/n: where she goes and explains everything to everyone

warnings: 6.7k words of truth telling, text messages, and tears

XII. heaven’s not too far away pt. 1

him

It was early in the morning, maybe around seven thirty or eight. Shawn wasn’t sure. He had gotten to the studio at six desperate to pull out his guitar and start putting together all of the loose lyrics that had been stuck in his head since he got to Canada then left again. Finally, he was able to let it all out. Everything he was feeling because of Y/N, finally he would be able to express it.

Lounging in an office chair, back sinking into the cushions, he sat crossed leg with his guitar in his lap. He was plucking the strings, trying to find the right chord. His producers and other music writers were littered across the room, going through what they had gotten done already in the two-hour span that they had been at the studio. Finally, their attention was brought back to Shawn as his head fell back against the headrest of the chair and he let out a frustrated groan. His gaze moved from his guitar to each member of his staff.

“I think I’m going to take a break,” he announced, setting the guitar down next to the chair. He stood up shorts falling loosely around his hips.

“That’s probably a good idea,” Teddy, one of Shawn’s music producers, replied standing up from where she was sat.

Snatching his phone from a side table, Shawn bolted for the door to head into the hallway. He opened it up to his lock-screen and instantly smiled at the message that was displayed. “Hey superstar, don’t work yourself to death today. okay?”

It was Y/N, because who else would it be. She was the first person, he called when his flight landed and then that night Facetimed her for three hours. He had been gone a whole twenty-four hours and was missing her like crazy. He was happy to be back in the studio and though trying to write hit singles was a long and frustrating process, he was relieved to be back to what he loved. That didn’t change though that the other part of him wanted to fly back to where his other love currently was.

“No, promises, but I’ll try not too. What are you doing today?” he typed back.

Dropping his arm, Shawn tapped his phone against his thigh impatiently and luckily within seconds his phone buzzed. There was an image and then a text. She had sent him a picture of her lounging on her couch, glasses on her nose, hair messy, and sat in one of his hoodies with a textbook in her hand. “This,” was the simple text.

“All day?” he questioned.

She was typing. The speech bubble was there and though they were only texting he still felt all giddy inside. “I don’t know, we’ll see what the day brings.”

Quite the adventurer, Shawn thought to himself as his thumbs hovered over the keyboard. “Whatever, happens I hope today is great. Facetime you later?”

Buzz. “It’s a date. ;)”

Sighing happily, he hugged his phone to his chest. He really had fallen and it never had felt like this before. Was this real? He felt like he should ask someone to pinch him because he felt like he was dreaming. Who knows maybe in a week or two, Andrew would let him go up to Canada for a weekend. If he was doing well in the studio and everything was in order, maybe no one would mind. He knew though that if that was going to happen, he needed to really push himself during the sessions. Try not to get too distracted and just focus on what sounds the best and most importantly what sounded like him. And if all else fails, the love that filled his heart would do the work for him.

her

You can’t believe you just did that. You lied, again. There was no way you were going to be able to talk to Shawn later unless it was before six and being in Canada meant you were three hours ahead in time. I am a horrible person, you thought to yourself. Running your hands through your hair, you glanced down to the time on your phone. It was now eight. You should really get up and get going. You had asked your boss for the day off a week ago when you scheduled the surgery and without a second to hesitate he obliged. Now, it would be a long day of visiting people and telling them about your situation. You only had until four before Demi would be picking you up to take you to the hospital to meet your family.

From there the next two hours would be used for prep, for the surgery, and to calm the nerves that were currently bubbling in your stomach. Like you had been saying for days, a week, pretty much since you found out the cancer was back… you had a horrible feeling about the whole thing. You had been so lucky the first time and since leaving the hospital that day where you had been “cancer free” you had gained so many blessings. Shawn being the main one. He had appeared out of nowhere like a knight on a horse and didn’t only rescue your friendship but he rescued you. He might end up being the love of your life and he would never know because though you had been one of the lucky ones, now you were afraid that your luck was about to run out.

You were beginning to scare yourself, your thoughts were turning against you and at this point, you were no longer feeling sane. So, with no other option, it was time. Time to get off your ass and reveal the truth so if the worst ended up to happen, those you loved could start their healing process. If things were to not go your way, you needed the truth to be lifted off your chest. Not only for you but everyone you cared about. They had the rest of their lives to live, and they couldn’t waste it grieving over how yours was cut short. You would never forgive yourself if you went to the grave without telling the people how much you loved them in person before it was too late. You had already done that once but came out lucky and you couldn’t have it happen again.

So, you stood up from your couch and made your way to your bathroom. You took a long warm shower, using your favorite body wash, and then pulled on a pair of white jeans and a dark grey tank top. You paired it with a pair of white slip-on shoes, and a jean jacket. Straightening the short hair that you had, you pulled the back bits into a bun, pulling out a few pieces to frame the face. You even put in the effort to do your makeup, bronzed cheeks, tan lids, and a little bit of mascara. It was out of the ordinary for you but the simple action made you smile .

A quarter from twelve, you packed up your car with everything you needed for the day and climbed into the driver’s seat, a pair of sunglasses resting on your nose. With the necklace Shawn gave you lying against your chest, you started the car and began to make your way towards the best book shop in the whole city.

It was early, and you knew that Loretta had opened it up not too long ago. You parked in your normal parking spot near the door that never seemed to be taken. A bag was being carried in your left hand, as your car keys clinked in the other on the key-ring that also happened to have the key to Shawn’s apartment on it. Opening the old wooden door, the bell jingled above the door. Then came the door creaking as it slid against the floor and then the sweet smell of pumpkins. You would never get tired of that smell and the sound of that door. It was a place you wished you could be more often.

At the sound of the door, Loretta whipped around from behind the desk eyes going wide as they landed on you. She quickly emerged out and away from her chair that sat behind the desk and made her way towards you. Though your hands were full, she still pulled you into a tight hug. “Y/N, darling, what a nice surprise.”

“Morning, Loretta,” you replied as the lady released you from her sometimes suffocating arms, and stroked your cheek like she often did when she saw you.

“How have you been, my sweets? I wanted to tell you about how lovely your party was but didn’t get the chance before I left.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. There were just some things I needed to deal with.” you explained, hand self consciously tucking a piece of hair behind your ear.

“It’s all good,” she sighed, hand rubbing your forearm gently, “I wanted to say that I’m proud of you and your father of course. What he did was in no way easy and I’m glad that you had told everyone what had happened.”

You smiled, “Me too.”

She smiled back as her eyes fell to the bag in your hand, obviously growing curious, “Oh, and what’s this?”

“Well, I brought you something,” you said, moving over towards the desk to put the bag on top.

Loretta still had a smile on her face but now was a little confused, “What for?”

“I don’t know, just because,” you shrugged not finding it in yourself to admit it that second.

Not able to take her curious eyes scanning you any longer, you turned and reached inside the bag pulling out the object which turned out to be a yellow hardcover book with some purple detailing on the front. Loretta’s eyes drew to it immediately. “Y/N, what is that?”

A mischievous smile had formed on your lips as you handed her the book, “Well, it just so happens to be your favorite book but first edition.”

At that, her mouth dropped and her eyes had widened. Tears were quickly forming as she glanced back and forth from the book in her hands to you. As she stared at you speechless, you could hear that familiar sound of four little feet bouncing off the floor. Looking towards where the sound was coming from, the first thing you noticed was the big floppy ears. Lou jumped towards you, the pads of his feet starting to paw at your legs.

You chuckled as you bent down to the pet the mutt’s head, fingers then running over the soft fur that covered his ears. “Hi, Lou. Don’t you worry, buddy because I got you something too.”

With that, you stood back up and reached into the bag again, pulling out a brown collar that had books printed on it. Loretta gasped again, this time louder as you handed her the collar. She had small tears falling down her round cheeks and she stared at you in disbelief and in happiness. “Y/N, where did you find this book?”

“It doesn’t matter,” you responded hands reaching out to cradle hers that were shaking.

“Yes it does.”

“It really is nothing,” you assured her as the smile on your face dropped a little as you stared at this woman that you cared so much about.

She was someone you looked up too and often was envious of all the kindness that filled her soul. Her life hadn’t been a walk in the park and she deserved way more than she had been given and you were so happy that she turned it around and now was where she was. She was truly an extraordinary woman who was making a change in the world one book at a time, as corny as that sounded.

Another tear rolled down her face, “It really does. This means everything. What made you want to do this?”

At that question, you grew silent and you smiled at her sadly as if you weren’t able to get the words out. She was the first person on your list to tell and you didn’t even have to guts to do that. But within an instance, it seemed like you wouldn’t have to. Her smile had quickly faded and her tears had stopped for a mere second but at the realization, they began to fall again, this time faster.

“Oh, honey,” she cried, gripping your hand, “Please tell me it isn’t true.”

You held back the tears gathering in your eyes because you knew if you were going to make it through going to see everyone else you couldn’t cry. “We both know I can’t do that.”

“How bad is it?” she asked timidly.

“Not bad enough that I need chemo but still just as bad that I need to have surgery,” you mumbled, eyes locked onto her chocolate ones that were swimming with tears.

It became silent for a second. “When?”

You sighed squeezing her hands, “Tonight, and if it’s not too much to ask I would like you and Demetrius to come to the hospital right before. In case it goes long, you don’t need to stay but-”

She cut you off, “Baby, we’ll be there.”

You smiled thankfully as Loretta began to wipe at the tears on her face, “Thank you. Now, is Demetrius around so I can tell him what’s going on.”

Loretta gained back that smile. The one on her face that was small but filled with so much kindness it could lift anyone's spirits on a bad day. “Yeah. He’s back in the corner. In that green velvet chair, you love so much.”

That smile on your face got twice as large at the new found fact and with one more squeeze to Loretta’s palms you bolted towards the back, bag in your hand, and Lou chasing after your feet. You ventured back into the deep depths of the shelves and as you turned the corner, you set your eyes on a Demetrius Xavier sat tucked in your chair with To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf in his hands, that coral shaded bookmark you had left still sat within the page you had been reading the last time you were in the shop.

Demetrius had always thought it was your favorite but it wasn’t. Sure, you read it maybe a hundred times but that’s only because they managed to sell out of the book that was your favorite and you always forgot to bring yours from home. So every single time you would settle with Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse.

“Well, look what we have here,” you joked as Demetrius’s head lifted at the sound of your voice, “You’re reading Virginia Woolf.”

He smiled, it seemed different from when he usually smiled at you, but it was still a smile, “Yes, I am. I learned from one of the biggest book nerds that it’s a good read.”

“Well, I would agree with that book nerd. She seems very smart,” you laughed, leaning against a nearby bookshelf as you all of a sudden could feel a small wet nose nudging at your ankle.

It was Lou, not a surprise at all.

“She is smart,” Demetrius replied, closing the book in his lap, thumb marking his page, “And beyond beautiful. All I can do is hope that she isn’t taken from us too soon.”

Your smile dropped and all joking behavior was set aside. Biting onto your bottom lip, you began to fiddle with your fingers, nervousness showing in your actions.

“I heard you,” he answered your unvoiced question, “It may be a long way back here but the shelves aren’t very thick and the voices carry through the long hallway.”

“Oh,” it slipped. The very word that seemed to ruin every moment you had with someone.

Demetrius frowned, “You're having surgery tonight and all you can say is ‘oh’?”

“Yes,” you admitted, gaze locking onto the books above his head not able to look at him, “There is no other way to deal with the fact that this might be the last time I see you.”

He didn’t respond at first. Instead, the warmth of his hand slipping in yours was what caused your eyes to look back at him. He was standing in front of you, close, book forgotten on the chair. “It’s not going to be the last time.”

His stare was intense like he was so sure that you would make it through to tomorrow. At first, you didn’t notice his eyes moving to your lips but once they did you knew that every gut feeling and everything Demi had said about Demetrius was true. He had some sort of feelings for you. Ones that you weren’t going to be able to give back to him. Glancing back to your eyes then down to your lips again, you knew that whatever he was about to do couldn’t happen.

“I brought you something,” you exclaimed, suddenly, slipping out of where you were standing between him and the bookshelf. Grabbing the last item out of the bag, you looked back towards Demetrius with a smile gracing your lips, like you hadn’t noticed his lingering stare. “If you had to name my favorite book right now what would you say?”

“Easy, To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf,” he said, sounding so sure of himself.

“Wrong.”

That’s when he became confused, “What, that’s totally your favorite book.”

“It’s actually not,” you chuckled.

“Then what is it?” Demetrius asked, arms crossing over his chest. You then took the item that was behind your back and handed it over to him. “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”

“Yes,” you confirmed, “You see it’s such a popular book that Loretta never has it in stock so instead I just settle with Woolf because it’s not a problem. This though is my all time favorite book and I know that you have never read it. Any of them in fact, so I was hoping for me that you would.”

A smile formed on his face, “For you, I would do anything.”

It was sweet but it didn’t sound like something a friend would say to a friend. It felt like more and you needed to set the story straight. Eyes locking with your shoes on the floor, you asked before you changed your mind. “Demetrius, do you like me?”

His face turned to one of confusion, “Of course I like you.”

“You know that’s not what I meant,” you whispered, head lifting to meet his eyes.

You were calling him out and he didn’t look terrified one bit because he was sure of his feelings and that was something you could see on his face. “I know and I do. I shouldn’t because of how you feel about Shawn but I can’t help it.”

You felt relief wash over you, he wasn’t trying to do anything to get with you. He knew of what you wanted and simply was a man who couldn’t help what he was feeling. You pulled him into a hug, arms wrapping around his torso. “Please, promise me that you’ll find someone and stop holding onto what you feel about me. Demetrius, you deserve so much more. You deserve someone who feels the same way and I just need you to promise that you’ll try and to find that person.”

It was a simple answer and though you were breaking a small piece of his heart, he answered like he knew this was going to happen all along and he was okay with it. “For you, anything.”

After you had spent more time with Loretta and Demetrius, just talking about the surgery, you had bid a goodbye. You had hugged them both and got into your car, not daring to glance through the front store window, too scared to see the looks still enveloped on their faces.

The next person you went to see was Demi. Though you were going to see her late so she could drive you, you felt like you needed to see her. Besides Shawn, she was the best friend that had been with you through thick and thin. She was one of your favorite people in the world and there was no one else that you felt as sure about being your friend as Demi. She was a light and on days in the hospital where it seemed completely unbearable, she was there to lift your spirits with her unique sense of humor and love and care that she had as a best friend. You were internally grateful for her existence and knew without her you maybe wouldn’t be where you are now, both emotionally and mentally.

She was a catch, a queen, and the most beautiful woman you knew and if there was one thing you were sure about it was that if you didn’t make it and James does not treat her right, you’re older brother would be the first person you were going to haunt.

Parking the car, you could already see Demi through the front window. She was working at a fashion store at the moment as she finished up her last few years of college, and you wouldn’t deny that one of the reasons you came to see her on her lunch break so often was because she gave a discount on the clothes. Instead of a bag this time, you were carrying a wooden box. One that was filled with so many memories, all that could never go forgotten... by anyone.

There Demi was, sat on top of the counter with the cash register, not caring about her bosses rules because there were no customers at all in the store. She had a can of Coca-Cola next to her as she talked, hands moving in the air to her co-worker. That was your best friend alright, you thought to yourself as you walked in causing her to leap from the counter obviously thinking you were a customer but felt relieved when she saw you. That calmness though only lasted for about ten seconds before she started to freak out.

“What are you doing here? What the fuck is wrong?” she crossed the room to get to you and then began to scan your body, knowing that if there was something wrong with you cancer wise she wouldn’t be able to see it, but she still looked anyways.

“Nothing’s wrong,” you said. laughing lightly.

She sighed, hand reaching up to clutch her chest, “Don’t scare me like that. Now, what’s up. I thought I’m not supposed to come get you until four.”

“You’re not but I needed to come see you and I was hoping you could take your lunch break.”

She was cautious with your words but still accepted your offer, “Yeah, of course.”

As soon as she agreed with you, you led her out of the store and about a block away to a nearby park you had only been to once in your whole time of living in the city, and the whole walk there Demi whined. Which you knew she would. You found a bench and sat down on it with Demi following. She looked around the park before her gaze moved back to you.

“You couldn’t just talk to me at work but instead bring me a whole block away to a park?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, I did,” you said gripping the box in your hand.

“Okay,” she shrugged, taking her lunch box that she had brought with and unzipped it pulling out what she had packed for lunch.

“Do you have to eat right now?” you asked giving her an irritated look.

“Well this is my lunch break and I am fucking starving,” she argued, beginning to eat her strawberries.

You sighed, “Dem, this will only take a minute, I promise.”

She could see how important this clearly was and put the food aside. With that, you handed her the wooden box that was plain out the outside, not giving a clue of what was inside. She stared at it for a second in her lap before she looked back at you, “What is this?”

“Just open it,” you said, impatiently.

And without another word spoken, she did. Under the top was a picture of you and her at your birthday party. You both had your bodies facing each other as you looked at the camera. Hands that were closest to the camera were intertwined with each other while your other arms were wrapped around the other. Your smiles were so bright and so happy like they always were when you were together, and it warmed your heart that you had had such a strong friendship with someone.

Around the picture were golden stars that you had glued on along with little pieces of gold confetti. Within the box though was a bunch of different stuff. From your favorite pair of comfy socks that she always stole when you were over, to the one movie you watched over and over again since you heard you had cancer, The Fault in Our Stars. You also threw in Just Friends with Ryan Reynolds in case it was too depressing to keep watching The Fault in Our Stars over and over again. Scattered around the inside, there were multiple pictures of your friendship over the year, one from Prom that had your corsage taped to the bottom because that night Demi had treated you better than your own date. There was another of you and her at a fancy restaurant eating some kind of exotic cake for her birthday.

You also added in her favorite perfume and lastly a charm bracelet. There were multiple charms to represent the crazy adventures you had, like a boat, for the time you had let her drove one on the lake and almost crashed it. You also added a wand for both of your obsessions for Harry Potter. But though those all meant something none of them were like the plastic pink butterfly in the middle.

The rest were silver and you had bought for the bracelet, but that butterfly you had added. Crazy enough it used to be on this thick plastic pink chain you had gotten for your sixth birthday from Demi. You had loved that necklace so much that you wore it every day for three whole years before you lost it. You eventually found it again and after that you swore you never would lose it again.

“Y/N/N,” she was speechless and the only thing that could come from her mouth was your name.

You gave her the biggest smile you could muster because she was one of the only people that could make you smile that big, “Demi, I just wanted to say that I love you. A lot. You’re my best friend, and don’t say anything about Shawn, because though he has always had the title so do you. You have been by my side through everything and even when I had gotten sick you had made time for me. You brought a kind of support and friendship to my life that I could never repay you for. There’s a chance that things might not work out but this is how I want you to remember me, always. You truly are one of the most important people in my life and I did this so you know how much I love you and how blessed I am to have you in my life.”

There it was. The tears. Those Demi tears that didn’t make a showing for many people. She was sniffling too and you knew that she wasn’t going to be able to say anything back after the speech of gratitude you just pulled out. So, instead, she hugged you. Hugged you, the way a friend does. She poured all of her feelings out in the way she held you and you knew that you would never find a better partner in crime than here.

“And there’s one more thing,” you mumbled, moving back to look at her tear stained cheeks, “I want you to know that you can date my brother. I’m giving you permission.”

Her eyes moved away from your gaze like she was scared to admit that. Scared to tell you of her feelings for James but you both had an idea that you already knew because just like the back of your hand you knew Demi.

“You don’t have to deny it because I see everything that’s been going on since the night of my birthday to the secret texts and the dates that you are going on but claim are with some guy who is into marketing. I just want you to know that though it’s a little weird, I don’t mind because I am not going to stand in the way of what makes you two happy.”

More tears fell from her brown eyes and because you were sure her throat was closing up due to her trying to hold back more tears, she just grabbed you for another hug instead of struggling to find her words. This was fine with you because you knew what she was trying to say.

This was going to be the hardest. You knew that as you walked into that restaurant to see the three of them sat at that table. Happy and smiling. You knew you could turn around, not tell them, and pretend that everything was fine but then you thought about your parents, you thought about Shawn. It was the right thing to do. Which is why you sucked it up.There was no more time to be scared, so you walked over to the table and took a seat in that fourth chair.

“Y/N, dear, how are you?” Karen asked, hand reaching out to touch your arm.

You smiled, “I’m okay. And you?”

“Lovely, thank you for asking,” she replied.

“Nice to see you, kid,” Manny said from across the table to which you nodded in reply.

Then there was Aaliyah. Sweet, funny Aaliyah. Fifteen years old, not much older than when you first found out about your sickness. She was going to take it the hardest you knew that. She was smiling at you and you couldn’t imagine the look that would be on her face after this lunch.

“I know you’re probably all wondering why I made you drive all the way to the city,” you started, hands fiddling with the black frame in your lap.

Karen could see the anxiety that was forming and grasped your hand in hers, “Whatever it is, just take a deep breath and tell us.”

You did as she said, you took a deep breath, and handed them the frame. It was a picture, taken in the summer at a lake house your families had gotten together. Both your family and the Mendes family were stood on the dock in front of the sunset. You were standing in between Shawn and Aaliyah and next to her was James. Both sets of parents stood behind the four of you and nothing but smiles were present on everyone's faces. It was funny because right after that picture, Shawn tried to push you in the lake but the joke was on him because you ended up taking him with you.

Karen, Manny, and Aaliyah stared at the picture then glanced at you. They were smiling at the fond memory but weren’t sure with what your point was with the picture. You took another deep breath, “As long as I can remember, your family has been there with mine. You all have done so much for me and James and my parents. I wanted to say thank you.”

“Y/N, we are happy that you feel this way but hun what else is going on to make you feel like you have to say this?” Karen asked, eyes locked onto you.

You sighed, fingers tapping against the table, “At my birthday party, you all got to know the truth of what I had gone through and my dad had never been so relieved to announce that his daughter was cancer free which it turns out I’m not anymore. I went to the hospital a little bit ago and there are new Mets.”

Their faces dropped and all traces of happiness from moments ago were gone because of you. You knew this would be the result of today, you were telling people something they feared for you but it was what you were supposed to do. You had to rip the band-aid off because the sooner you do that the sooner the pain will start to go away. It was a healing process.

“To remove the cancer cells, I am having surgery tonight at around six o’clock and if you could, I would really like you to be there before I go. You all are so important to me and it would just mean a lot if you were there. I am sorry it’s so last minute.”

That’s when Manny nodded, “Yeah, of course, we’ll go.”

It brought a smile to your face, “Thank you so much.”

“Of course, we are going to be here for you every step of the way,” Karen spoke a sad smile on her face.

The only one who hadn’t talked was Aaliyah. She was staring at with you such large, sad eyes while she bit on her lip to hold in her emotions. You looked towards her hoping she would say something and as her eyes locked with yours, her mouth opened but what came out was something you never expected.

“Shawn?” she questioned, “What about Shawn?”

That drew both Manny and Karen’s attention too because for a few minutes they forgot about their son who was in LA recording songs for his next album at the moment. “He doesn’t know,” you admitted.

You had never seen Karen and Manny look so conflicted before. They probably wanted to tell him but also didn’t want to upset you. You knew that by the way, they were looking at you, they were a little lost with what do to. You had to say it, you needed to assure them of all of their doubts and worries.

“I need you to know,” you paused, trying to catch your breath, “That I’m in love with your son, so completely. And it hurts me to not have him here, trust me it does but I think that it would break him if he had to watch me go through this. He needs to stay in LA and sing and just get back to being Shawn Mendes. It’s just something I had to say because I do, I love him.”

“Thank you.” Karen replied tears in her eyes, “I know that he holds a special place in his heart for you.”

“I’m going to tell him. I promise. He is going to know by tonight,” you confirmed, glancing back and forth between the three members of the Mendes family that stood in front of you.

They didn’t say much else, you knew that they wanted to but held back for you. You were going through something that they couldn’t even imagine and though they may have not agreed with your decisions, they accepted them for the time being and that’s all anyone could ever ask for.

You had one more place to stop at before you had to head back to your apartment and then leave with Demi for the hospital. It should be a quick spot because you knew that there was no possible way this person could stand having you around for more than a few minutes. That or they might not even see you at all which, either way, it didn’t matter because you had things to say and they were going to be heard. You parked the car a street down, away from the building. It was tall and made of windows. Expensive and chic. Everything that successful men and women got to see every day when they worked there. That was a life that you were maybe never going to see but that wasn’t such a bad thing.

Going in through the revolving door, you asked around until you found which floor was the place you needed to go which took at least ten minutes to get the information. The floor was used for the higher staff who worked at the magazine company. There were writers, editors, assistants to the writers and editors. It was a place that was full of important people who probably wished to not spend their important time on you. You had taken the elevator and as soon as you walked off and onto the floor, you came face to face with a receptionist sitting at her desk. She had a headset on her head and was scribbling down notes like crazy. It took you almost two minutes to get her attention.

“Excuse me, I was wondering if you could tell me where I could find a Lauren Arendse,” you politely asked which didn’t change the uptight face that was on the receptionist.

“Do you have an appointment?” she asked, snobbishly.

“Uh, no but I’m an old friend of hers from school and I really needed to see her,” you said pleadingly.

She stared at you for around twenty seconds like she was trying to see if you were telling the truth. She blinked and just pulled her ponytail tighter on her head as she began to dial on a phone. “What’s your name?”

“Y/N Y/L/N,” you replied watching as the receptionist leaned back in her chair as the phone rang before she finally began to talk into the phone, meaning someone had clearly picked it up. “Ms. Arendse, there is a Y/N Y/L/N here to see you, claims that she went to school with you. Do you want me to send her to your office.”

There was a moment of silence, signaling that Lauren was talking on the other side of the phone and just as it was starting to feel like forever, the receptionist hung up and turned back towards you. “I’m sorry but Ms. Arendse is in a bit of a crisis right now.”

“Oh, okay,” you said, voice sounding disappointment as you fiddled with a white envelope in your hand, “I understand. In that case, do you think you could give this to her, for me? It’s important.”

The receptionist could see how desperate you looked and for those last few seconds didn’t seem like a total witch, “Sure.”

She took the envelope from you and put it down on her desk just as you turned to make your way back into the elevator. You weren’t surprised at all, that Lauren didn’t want to see you. That was the whole point of the letter because you knew this was going to happen and she still needed to hear what you had to say; about your cancer, Shawn, and the old friendship you used to have with her.

You told her of the importance of what it was like to live in the moment and to forget about everything that had happened in the past. Because when you're constantly thinking about yesterday how can you ever plan for tomorrow? It was quite simple; laugh like it’s the only thing that can cure a broken heart and love like it will all be gone tomorrow. You only have so much time, before it runs out and there’s no point wasting it on someone and something that is no longer a part of your life, or matters to who you are.

Everyone dies at one point and if they were right about anything it was that forgiveness sets you free. If there was a chance you were going to make it to whatever afterlife there was, you couldn’t have extra weight on your shoulders weighing you down. This was your life, the one you had to deal with, and now you had told everyone. They all knew and the truth was heartbreaking. It wasn’t hard a thing to do, just sad, but now… now, it was time to go and deal with the real hard stuff.

next part

#shawn mendes #shawn mendes imagine #shawn mendes imagines #shawn mendes fanfiction #shawn mendes fanfic #my writing #shawn peter raul mendes #shawn mendes angst

48 notes · View notes

pressedinthepages · 4 years

Text

Vorfreude (Part 4)

Fandom: The Witcher

Pairing: Jaskier/Reader

Word Count: 2438

Rating: M

Series Masterlist

a/n: Oh my goodness, this little series has gotten to be so much more than what I thought it would be! So many of you sent me wonderful ideas for this chapter, and I hope that I tied it all together with my own little twist nicely :) Also, the song/poem that Jaskier sings is an excerpt from "On the Beach at Night" by Walt Whitman.

(There is a link on my page where you can be added to my taglist :D)

Warnings: fluff, childbirth, oh shit we have a kid, eskel is a BAMF

As the end of a long pregnancy nears, a few new faces find their way to your home.

“Oh, dear Gods…” you groan quietly, running your hands over your belly. Everything is swollen and sensitive; your stomach, your ankles, your fingers, hells, even your elbows don’t feel quite right. You are laying on the bed, one pillow shoved between your legs and another under your back, trying to finagle a way to get comfortable. You may have finally found it, settling down gently into the comfort of your bed and letting your eyelids drift slowly closed.

And then...the baby hiccups.

Your eyes shoot open, suddenly wide awake once more as your stomach jumps and churns. You sigh, sitting up and propping the pillows against the headboard behind you. “Hmm, you poor thing,” you hum, rubbing little circles over your belly in an attempt to soothe the child. You call quietly for your husband and he comes bounding into the room, his chemise hanging off his shoulder and hair all disheveled.

“Everything all right, my dear?” Jaskier’s eyes, previously filled with worry and unhinged anxiety, visibly calm at the sight of you, relatively comfortable and healthy.

“Baby has the hiccups, love.”

Jaskier hums sympathetically, moving to sit next to you at the edge of the bed. His hand joins yours on your stomach, resting lightly over where the baby jumps. “Is there anything I can get to help?”

You shake your head with a sigh, resigned to spending the rest of your days as a human punching bag. “We’ll be alright, but would you stay and lay with me?”

Jaskier smiles, still as vibrant and bright as the sun, shifting to rest at your side. You lay back down as well, Jaskier’s head resting on your chest. He begins to sing softly, shocking no one, his hand resuming the careful circles over your belly. You let his voice soothe you as well, but you recognize the song as the one that he has been working on for your child.

On the beach at night,

Stands a child with her father,

Watching the east, the autumn sky.

Up through the darkness,

While ravening clouds, the burial clouds, in black masses spreading,

Lower sullen and fast athwart and down the sky,

Amid a transparent clear belt of ether yet left in the east,

Ascends large and calm the lord-star Jupiter,

And nigh at hand, only a very little above,

Swim the delicate sisters the Pleiades…

The baby has settled, allowing you to finally do the same. As Jaskier finishes singing his hand drifts further down, kissing your tender breast as he moves.

“You know,” his hand trails up the inside of your thigh, “I’ve heard of a way that we might be able to speed things along…”

“If you touch me right now Jaskier, so help me Gods you will not live to see the morning.”

“Fair enough.”

***

The leaves have turned vibrant shades of red and orange, the eyes of the multiple Witchers around you blending right in. Apparently, Ciri had begun to turn a bit stir-crazy being stuck in Kaer Morhen for the past year, driving all of them more than a little mad. Finally, Geralt had relented to her ceaseless pestering for a change of scenery-on one condition. Yennefer, Eskel, and Lambert would join them.

They had all shown up at your little cottage a few days ago, having sent a letter with Yennefer’s familiar the evening prior. Upon your acceptance of their visit, Yennefer had opened a portal in the woods nearby and a veritable stream of mountainous men stormed through, followed by the palpable energy that both Ciri and Yennefer exude in their very bones.

“Oh, you are just going to adore them, my love. These men, no no, these magnificent heroes, they are just so wonderful and inspiring! Well, Lambert can be a bit of an ass, but can’t we all sometimes?” Jaskier wrapped his arm around your waist as he prattled on, the two of you having perched yourselves right outside of your little home.

All at once, you saw a blur of bright color and shiny silver hair burst from the treeline and sprint towards you. Jaskier laughed, stepping forward to catch the young woman in his arms. Ciri squealed in delight as Jaskier picked her up and swung her around as if she weighed little more than a toddler. “Jaskier, oh how I’ve missed you!”

You watched the rest of her entourage emerge from the cover of the forest, curious of these people that have claimed this young woman as their family. Geralt stepped out first, a stunning woman with dark black hair at his side. He looked infinitely more at ease than you had seen him in some time, and the woman moved with such grace and confidence that you had found yourself almost compelled to follow her every word.

As introductions were made for Yennefer you crooked an eyebrow at Geralt, wordlessly inquiring about the others. He grumbled, turning back to look where the gaps in the trees were swallowed by darkness. “They said that they didn’t want to intrude.”

You scoffed, walking (more like waddling, in your extremely pregnant state,) to the very edge of the woods. “You would not offend a woman so much as to refuse her hospitality, would you?”

You heard some brief scuffling, followed by the sound of someone getting cuffed on the back of the head. “Shut the hell up, if you want to stay out here in the fucking woods that’s your business, I’m gonna go get warm.”

A figure stepped out from the darkness, imposing with a cocksure swagger to his stride. He had a broad chest and a trim waist with the telltale pair of swords peeking out from behind his shoulder. His hair was dark and slicked back, his eyes the color of a light golden ale. A long, sharp scar cut through his right eye and down onto his cheek, two shorter ones accompanying it on either side.

“No, Lambert, wait, we shouldn’t-” Another man burst from the darkness, taller and broader than the other. He was large, about the same build as Geralt. He too had double swords strewn across his back, and his armor was dotted with studs and other pointy things that you had no doubt had protected him numerous times. His hair, lighter than Lambert’s, was floppy and hung just below his ears, and his eyes shone with a dark amber that was amplified in the light from the rising sun. He grimaced as he approached Lambert, a nasty scar over the expanse of his cheek pulling the corner of his lip in a gruesome fashion.

You knew that these two men could be very frightening to the wrong kinds of people, and would fiercely protect those that they love. Geralt had been easy enough to read, you just had to show him that you weren’t scared of him and wouldn’t walk on eggshells around him. You figured these two would be the same.

As they approached you had stood your ground, putting your hands on your hips and taking up as much room in the atmosphere as you could. Your belly jutted out, very obviously with child, and the two men looked you up and down before the second man moved to pull Lambert back into the cover of the forest.

“Ah, ah, no.” Your voice rang through the silence, both men freezing and looking back at you. “This is my home, I get to say whether or not my guests are intruding. I will not have you out here, freezing your bollocks off in the woods behind my home just because you would be so stubborn. Come.”

You turned and strode (again, waddled,) back to the house without a second glance behind you. You knew that they were following though, Jaskier nodding triumphantly before beckoning you all inside to a warm breakfast and a rest by the fire.

Now, as you sit and sort through the various herbs and other plants for the evening’s meal that you have all been in the forest collecting, you cannot ignore the feeling of something...off in your belly. However, you’ve been feeling some form or another of off for the past nine months, so you chalk it up to just another twinge of your pregnancy.

Ciri comes to sit at your side, passing you a generous handful of creeping thyme. “Thank you, Princess.”

“You know,” she murmurs, only barely loud enough for the Witchers to hear from where they are spread nearby, “you and Jaskier are the only people left who call me that.”

Her voice still has that strong, regal ring to it, but now it is tinged with an air of sadness and your heart breaks for her. You wrap your arm around her and pull her close, holding her against your shoulder. You would be more than happy to just sit and stay here for a while, letting yourself bask in the warm afternoon sun that peeks through the treetops.

Your baby, though, apparently has other plans.

Suddenly, you feel a warm wetness spread from your core. Just as that registers in your brain your body is wracked with pain as the most intense cramping you’ve ever felt burns through your entire abdomen and around your back. You cannot help the gasp that escapes your lips, gritting your teeth and pinching your eyes shut in an effort to quell the pain.

Ciri shoots up, calling out for help. Everyone comes running, all of the Witchers with a sword drawn, Yennefer with energy crackling from her fingertips, and Jaskier (bless him) with his precious lute brandished like a club. You try to bring your knees up to your chest to curl away from the intensity, but nothing helps. Jaskier is immediately at your side, his hands everywhere as he tries to figure out how to help you.

You can hear Ciri using her regal voice, commanding with just her tone. “She is in childbirth, we need to get her back to the cottage. Yennefer, can you make a portal back there?”

The mage nods, walking a few steps away and thrusting her arms open, a circle of energy opening in the air and leaving a void in the center. Geralt groans, sheathing his sword and running his hand down his face.

The pain subsides as quickly as it came, leaving you breathless in relief. You moan, tight and pinched as you think of what is to come. “Can you stand, my love?” Jaskier asks, his bright blue eyes shining with anxiety.

You nod, moving to push yourself off the ground. Geralt moves to your side, fitting himself under one of your arms as Jaskier does the same. The two of them support you as you approach the portal, bracing yourself for the yanking force of the magic.

***

Your screams ring through the darkness, only broken by the latent crackling of the fire. Your body quakes with the near constant cramping, only a brief reprieve every few minutes. Jaskier sits at your side, your hand in his, and Ciri rests at the foot of the bed, somewhat unsure of how to help. Apparently, the healer has ironically fallen ill, leaving you all to your own devices. As another wave of pain washes away for a moment, Eskel peeks his head through the doorway.

“I uh-everything going alright in here?”

You swear, falling back into the pillows as Jaskier dabs your forehead with a towel damp with cool water. Ciri tells him that while she can tell that you’re well on your way to delivery, she has no veritable idea of what to do to help you. Eskel nods, coming into the room to kneel at your side. He looks up at you, something intense and forlorn behind those striking irises.

“I can-I may be able to help.” You blink at him, your chest heaving with every breath that you take. “I’ve assisted with the animals when they would have babies back at Kaer Morhen, and I was actually with a healer when she helped a woman in childbirth too. It’s been a while, but it’s better than nothing…”

You nod, taking his hand in yours and gripping tightly. “Thank you, Eskel. That would be greatly appreciated.”

Fire licks along your skin as a new surge of pain burns through you. Eskel moves to kneel on the bed, resting his hand on your leg before Jaskier speaks up at your side.

“Are you sure, love? I mean, he’s going to see everything…” His voice trails off as you glare at him with the cool intensity of a thousand suns. “No, no you’re right, I’m sorry.”

Eskel’s voice is low and strangely soothing as he gives direction without a waver of room for debate, “Jask, go sit behind her and support her weight. Ciri, could you please grab a fresh bowl of warm water from the fireplace?”

You can feel Jaskier’s heart beating frantically against his chest where he sits at your back, his arms wrapping around your chest in a sweet embrace as his nose finds the crook of your neck. You sag into him, falling limp with exhaustion before the next bout of pain breaks through you.

***

The next few hours pass by in a blur, filled with sweat and tears and screams. Jaskier croons lightly in your ear, helping you drink water and doing everything that he can to assist. Eskel is a welcome presence in the room, a sanctuary of rational thought in the whirlwind of chaos that your mind threatens to spill.

Pressure in your abdomen builds and builds as Eskel instructs you to push, every muscle in your body tight and straining with each passing moment. Your nails dig into Jaskier’s thighs as you give one final shout, a sudden release of pressure following. You close your eyes as Jaskier holds you tight to his chest, neither of you daring to breath and break the fragile silence in the room.

And then, the baby cries. They cry, and you sigh and sob in the same breath. You can feel Jaskier’s tears on your shoulder as Eskel wraps a clean cloth around the child, bringing them up to lay atop your stomach.

Eskel smiles, the scar along his cheek endearing with the gentle expression. “Welcome to the world, young lady.”

You know that there is still much to be done to care for your newborn daughter, but you are content to stay in this moment for a while longer, with Jaskier’s arms around you and your daughter resting against your body.

#jaskier x reader #fluff #pregnancy #childbirth #softe

24 notes · View notes