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#again not too complicated but def a step up from the first
foxstens · 2 years
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i’ve experienced three bosses so far and they were all really fucking cool
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gourdkeeper · 1 year
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Love your Jamie Fics soo much!
Would you be able to write a fic about Jamie and Fem!Reader battling it out against each other at a Tournament at the local stadium?
Maybe reader wins, and things get a little heated in the locker room afterwards? :D
Thank you!!! And absolutely can do, this one was fun, reader and Jamie aren't dating in it but it was def not their first rodeo
Warnings: 18+, fem!reader, relationship is complicated, fwb (teacher with benefits?), jamie is a bitter sore loser but also very proud of his disciple, biting, marking, drunk sex, piv, jamie is possessive in this one
Sore Loser
Word count: 1243
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"You can almost cut the tension with a knife!"
The spectators cheer as the announcer hypes the match up.
You and your opponent both struggle to keep it together, you can hardly believe you've made it so far. You'll be hurting and putting ice packs on your bruises for hours after. Same goes for the fighter standing in front of you who is none other than Jamie Siu, your mentor, who's got blood dripping down his nose and onto his lips and chin, courtesy of a punch landed by you, of course.
The way you both move spacing each other and trying to read the next move is more akin to a dance than a fight. You both know that whoever manages to land the next attack will win thanks to the exhaustion.
Both of you have had five fights back to back before this one. What kind of tournament even does that?
Well, Metro City being Metro City you suppose.
Jamie tries to hit you by surprise.
"Aaand the brash peacekeeper makes a move! Is he desperate for an opening?"
The bottom of his palm brushes you just as you dodge right on time and with that you grab onto his arm and toss him over you. He falls flat on the ground.
"And the former winner of the Novice Tournament steps aside! Nothing goes by unnoticed by her aaaand there he goes! Thrown on the ground, will this be it? Will the novice fighter really take on and win against someone of this caliber?"
You know you won. Jamie is not getting back up, he's far too worn out, same as you, and you both knew, whoever would hit the other would take the win under their belt.
---
"FUCK-"
Jamie can't even express how he feels as he punches his own locker.
Under his breath he mutters to himself as he tries to make sense out of his emotions.
"I can't fucking believe this shit. She's my disciple. Mine. And I fucking lost to her." He kicks the poor innocent locker this time. "This crap was broadcast everywhere, how the hell will I move on knowing EVERYONE has seen me getting my ass handed over to me by someone who got trained by ME?"
He's furious. Then again. He's also insanely proud, you've come so far since he has taken you under his wing, but he's not pleased with how it turned out.
He hears you arrive at the locker room.
"What the fuck do you want?" He blows a loose hair out of his face.
"I just wanted to-“ you're cut off.
"To rub your victory on my face?!" He turns around, he looks like a mess. He's clearly been drinking since the match ended. "How the hell will I show my face in public after this?" He's walking towards you, gourd in hand and face scrunched up, clearly not pleased by any of this.
"S-same way you always did?" Your voice is small and uncertain as you step backwards, you didn't realize he'd be affected this badly and you feel bad for even joining the tournament at all. "I'm sorry, I- it was a really close match... It was amazing to fight you, I didn't kno-"
His mouth meets yours. You don't pull away. It's not the first time you've done this.
You reciprocate his kiss and you can feel his hand on your shoulder gripping tight as if warning you. Suddenly he pushes you onto the wall of lockers and dominates the kiss entirely. Tongue ravishing you, making you feel weak, imaging what else that tongue could do.
He breaks away from the kiss. Anger has mostly dissipated from his face, it's nothing but wanton lust now.
"How fuckin' dare you humiliate me in front of everyone," his words are sharp but his voice lacks malice "how dare you make a fool out of me... I'm gonna make you pay." He bites into your neck and sucks on the skin. He wants to mark you as his.
You feel the heat form between your legs.
"I'm so proud of far you've come... All because I taught you, and then I let my guard down and you do this? You need to be taught a lesson don't you think?"
"Huh-uhh!" You whine, god. Fuck. You need him. Was this caused by the adrenaline of the fights? Maybe but you need him.
"You belong to me. You belong t- to Jamie Siu, and 'm gonna show you." He's growling at your neck, possessiveness coming forth thanks to the drink. "Gonna make you beg for forgiveness. You'll know where you belong when I'm done with you."
His hands work at your waistband, grabbing both pants and underwear at the same time and pulling down leaving you vulnerable. You quickly wrap your legs around him and his fingers find your clit.
"You're so fucking wet, is this all for me? Are you so desperate to please your master? Maybe you should learn to be a better disciple huh?"
He starts rubbing you, showing no mercy. He wants you to lose control and he wants you to come for him, he needs a victory.
"You're so fucking pathetic. About to get fucked in the locker room... And here I thought you were a champion?" His teeth sink into your neck once more.
His other hand busy trying to free his dick.
"How badly to you want me inside you?"
"So bad! ...Jamie please!"
You're so terribly turned on by his behaviour. Maybe you should try and beat him more often if it leads to this.
He pushes himself into your wet folds, "Shhhh quit being so loud and be a good little disciple for me yeah?" He cups his hand over your mouth and bites at your shoulder. Thrusting in and out, keeping you pinned in place with the weight of his body.
"That's right... Take Jamie's cock, beg for more like a weakling and a loser... Come all over me."
He's working you fast, pumping in and out of you, you're overwhelmed, his dirty talk is driving you insane, his teeth on your neck, warm breath making you quiver, you can't contain yourself for much longer.
"Please Jamie...! I-“ you can't even finish what you wanted to say before you see white. Your body tenses up and he tightens against you. You're not going anywhere, he wants you to ride out the orgasm in full.
The locker room has been filled by moans and the sound of skin slapping at breakneck pace.
"That's right... That's my good girl, my good student... You're not taking any wins from me anymore from now on because you belong beneath me with my cock buried in you."
You're seeing stars. You know Jamie is close to cumming as well, he's far too sweaty and slurring the words, swears escaping his lips with ease.
He grabs onto your arms as he loses it. This is it, he can't take it any longer either.
"M- I'm so fuckin- p-proud of you, you're so fucking good- you take me so well" he turned to praising you as he comes undone and it riles you up again, your cunt still filled and now dripping with his seed.
His body limps and finally lets up on you. You both lower yourselves to the ground out of breath.
"Y-you good?" He asks you with an eyebrow raised.
"M-more than good-" you reply with a sideway smirk.
"God you make me so fucking hard, do you have any idea of how hard it is to focus and fight while trying to hide a boner? You're not fair-"
There's a knock at the door "PRESS INTERVIEW IN 5!"
You both jump out of your skin, you need to clean yourselves up and fast.
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gomzdrawfr · 1 year
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Hi Gomz! Been so inspired by your art, I'm considering picking up digital drawing again haha. What device and app do you use? What would you recommend if I wanna restart drawing? Would be great if you can answer with doodles :D thanks!
Hello Cumi! Thank you very much for this ask, to think I can inspire other people with my doodles means a lot to me <;3 ((def not cryin rn))
In this ask response, I'll include some links that you can check out for the appropriate stuff! I hope you can understand some things by the end of it :D
Disclaimer: im no professional, so most of this is just based on my experience!!
Okie dokie first off:
What device and app do I use?
I draw using a drawing pad, the Deco Mini7 on my laptop, and I use Krita to draw :3
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Krita is free to use! You can download it here, or if you can afford it, clip studio paint is definitely a popular choice out there, some people use adobe too!
I will say it may seem complicated at first BUT it is relatively easy to learn once you get the hang of it, there have a full tutorial on their website with videos included if you wanna know more! digital art apps usually works the same way, once you get the fundamentals you can draw on any app tbh
Or if you do want to start using Krita, then you can send me another ask in the future and I'll share you my tips and tricks (which are honestly pretty scuff HAHA))
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Other recommendation if you want to draw on phone/tablet/ipad!
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2. I know you didnt ask this, but I wanted to share my experience starting out with digital painting/using the drawing pad for the first time
the thing about digital painting is that there's a lot of features here and they serve to make the process easier, but it can be quite overwhelming when you start off! examples are layers
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drawing pad also means getting used to not looking at the pad and the screen at the same time + getting used to the pen, I had a hard time with it but the more I use it, the more i got used to it :D
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funnily enough, I actually gotten this drawing pad bcuz I started using lecture notes online through pdf and such xD
3. What would you recommend if I want to restart drawing?
Not really sure what you mean about restarting, but Im assuming like finding a new artstyle or trying out different art medium is it? (like from traditional pencil doodle to stylus pen) but if you mean literally restarting then uhhhh XD I guess you gotto start drawing then haha?
I think my motto when it comes to drawing is that no matter what it is, just do it
"its gonna look bad" its okay bcuz at least I drew it, yk? xD the thing with art is the more you draw, the more you're familiar with it, the less intimidating it will become(tho it can still be scary, but hey! baby steps right?)
perhaps what I would recommend is testing out all kinds of artstyle, ask yourself:
what am I going to draw? ex: I wanna do self potraits! I wanna do silly doodles of my favourite characters!
what style do I wanna do? ex: Chibi, non-chibi, landscapes
Sometimes, you won't know those answers to those questions until later on, which is exciting dont you think? one day I said "im gonna draw Ghost in full gears" then the next I decided "actually nah screw that im gonna make Ghost cute" -w-
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didchu know my first few digital doodles were done on OneNote? haha yes! and on my lecture notes nonetheless pfttt (this was around october 2022)
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When in doubt, always ALWAYS start small and simple. Draw a circle, draw a blob, anything! Make it manageable :D
You can, of course, challenge yourself and go big! the most important key is you're drawing for yourself :3 and you should do something you're happy with!
well, sometimes there are moments where you wont like what you draw or artblock, when it comes to those time Id recommend taking a break xD
Finding your artstyle is an ever growing journey, I would suggest looking through websites like Artstation or Pinterest and collecting artstyle that you like! then learn from it, replicate it, trace it(AS LONG AS YOU DONT CLAIM IT AS YOUR OWN AND YOU DO IT FOR PRACTICE PURPOSES!!!) and study it :3
like heck I just found a new artstyle yesterday literally HAHA so you know, enjoy the fun!
4. Other helpful links and video for starting out digital painting:
Marc Brunet, has a ton of tutorials that are useful! my fav one being this one about face drawing and cell shading
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Bluebiscuits, very cute artstyle and the videos are always soothing and calming to watch! they did this video about finding your artstyle which I highly recommend! their face drawing tutorial is also really good :3
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I also watch tppo occasionally, his video focuses more on how he study other people's artstyle and then implementing it on his own! If you like art studies you can give it a go, like this one!
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practice, practice and practice! things like art takes a while to master and get happy with :) like i said, keep trying and dont forget, all of this is for fun!
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have a good day! feel free to ask me anytime if you want if you want some clarification <3
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ectonurites · 2 years
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how do you make a stamp??? Where do you get the materials for this???
gdfhgf OKAY so it is actually not the most complicated process in the world and you can make a simple stamp with some pretty basic craft supplies! like the actual carving bit can be a little tricky/is something you kinda just gotta practice to get the hang of- but nothing terribly fancy materials-wise is involved.
The Robin one I made (which I imagine is what prompted this ask lmao) was made with the following supplies:
half a pink eraser (like. this is the exact one i had used)
an x-acto knife
a stack of post-it notes (regular paper is probably preferable, i just have a ton of post-its on hand LMAO)
a pencil
a marker (i tried a few different ones i had on hand and was having the most luck with my tombows but other markers would def work too, or alternatively an actual ink pad)
i will make another one to show u the process with these exact materials (also the Robin one is here too just as an example of the finished thing)
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(tho pls ignore that that is a used eraser i sanded down a little bit… i didnt have anymore new ones fjdjdh i would in general recommend only doing this with a new one)
the basic steps are:
1. cut eraser down to the size you actually need it (if the design you want to make is already nearly the size of the whole eraser then you don’t need to do this, this is more when doing something smaller)
2. trace around your eraser on a piece of paper, so you know exactly how much space you have to work with
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3. draw your design in pencil! don’t worry about it being flipped or anything, just draw it how you want it to appear. if this is your first time doing this, i’d highly recommend sticking to very simple shapes. another thing i’d recommend is to color in darkly the areas you want printed, and leave blank what you’re gonna cut away (or mark with X’s in the blank space, i do that as a reminder personally), to give you an idea of how it’ll actually look
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4. line up your eraser with the outline you made earlier, flip the whole thing over, and just scribble on it a ton- making sure you go over all the lines you had drawn on your design. (I folded the paper around the eraser to keep it in place)
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5. Take the paper off, and your design should be visible on the eraser flipped from how you originally made it (realizing now my example is mostly symmetrical- but it is flipped)! If it’s too light/not super visible, darken the lines with your pencil on the actual eraser so that it’s clearer as a guide for cutting. (if it’s not visible at all, you can try tracing over your original design again on the unflipped paper while pressing harder/getting more graphite on it, and then repeat the previous step). If your design is symmetrical (or you feel confident in your ability to draw things flipped from how you want them to end up) then you also could just draw directly on the eraser to start with.
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6. X-acto time! please please please be careful- especially if you haven’t got much practice using one of these. But basically just cut away all the parts you don’t want to have print- aka what was left blank on your design! (this is the most time-intensive part imo).
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7. Once you’re done with that, if you have an ink pad then you’re all set to use your stamp with that! but if you don’t (i didn’t have one with me lmao) then you can just go over your stamp with a marker and then stamp it on stuff! you may need to experiment with pressure while stamping/how much you go over it with the marker/etc before you find what you think looks best, but ya!
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woohoo crafts!
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kirascottage · 3 years
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dating jj maybank
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jj maybank x gender neutral. reader
word count: 1.8k
cw: headcanons, overall domestic fluff, angst if you squint till ur visions blurry, mentions of poor emotional expression, mentions of sex / sexual innuendos, mentions of fighting / injury, strong pda, kissing, consensual groping, swearing, soft!jj
okay so this is the first time i’ve ever written dating headcanons so i’m gonna try my best
• jj and expressing emotions are a very complicated duo and almost everyone knows it, including you. he knows how he feels for you, and feels it strongly, but the way it comes out of his mouth is like gibberish and completely not understandable. 
“so you know — like — i don’t know, man. i feel heavy for you, like do you feel heavy for me, too?”
“jj, i don’t even know what heavy means in this context and what you’re referring to.”
• but he comes from a good place, and you come to know, learn and love that, because well he loves you, and with jj you just have to infer by his mess of words.
• this boy tries to be as romantic as possible but he’s literally never had a s/o before. the only thing he knows are one nighters so there is a lot that pope and john b advise him on because miscommunication is quite literally the worst. (stated by john b himself)
• for this instance and the sake of the headcanons: you are a member of the pogues, through and through.
• so most of the time you’re together, the pogues are there too. even dates. they love to occupy and jj could shout at the top of his lungs how they are the biggest cock-blockers to ever exist and they would not care. 
• so at that point he doesn’t even try to keep his hands to himself, he will touch you or quite literally make out with you in front of anyone and everyone he can.
• i mean he can get a little protective. (also considering he would never let you around his dad because he wants to protect you and would never let you near anyone that could hurt you) 
• i mean this guy would fight for you till the very end; punches thrown countless of times and harsh words absolutely shouted more times than you could count on your fingers, but no matter how many times you chastise jj, he would never stop to defend your honour because at the end of the night you’re the one playing with his hair and kissing his cuts and bruises.
• especially after everything as well with rafe, topper and the kooks he just wants everyone (including the tourons you see once a millennium) to know that you and him are romantically involved and you are very much taken.
• he even lets the most irrelevant people know the both of you are dating because he loves you that much:
“okay, babe, here me out—”
“jj a whole group of kids just asked me about our relationship! i love you, but the whole population does not need to know that we’re together.”
“obviously we can't tell the whole population! or I would, duh.”
•  even though he could blabber on about everything about you, including what shampoo you use and which perfume of yours is his favourite, affection is more his style: 
• this includes walking around with his hand in your back pocket because wearing anything but jean shorts is really not an option in that heat, (and this does include ass grabbing at every opportunity he can)—
• — his hand gently placed on your thigh while driving / while he’s next to you, interlocking pinkies 98% of the time as you walk together —
• — and peppering kisses is always happening. whether they’re ticking at your checks, suffocating your neck or affectionately placed on your forehead he’s always kissing you.
• other key, and essential, things that come to mind are that his arm is always around you; after everything that’s happened to him he just needs to physically know you’re there and that’s enough to subdue him.
• it’s almost routine for him arm to go around your waist or your shoulder, whether you’re tall or short, tbh he doesn’t really care, his arms and lips are always on you.
• dating jj is dating a teenage boy with absolutely no impulse control and zero control over what he says—
“I mean, dude, if you think about it, why isn’t a banana called a yellow if an orange is called an orange? and why are phones called ‘telephones’ like who the fuck came up with that crap?”
or
“i mean, hey, we could bang out here and it’s not like anyone would know. like jb could be out in the living room and be like clueless.”
“jj, there’s two windows pointing directly at us. i think he would know.”
• —if you don’t understand then he definitely does not either.
• you also flip each other off a lot and people are like ??? but you both are like — fuck you —(affectionate & full of love with my middle fingers)
• one thing he does know is how to flatter you, whether he’s obnoxiously winking at you or bringing you flowers with his tips from work, or he picked them himself, it’s all in the effort.
• any effort from you is like kids getting their favourite toy they’ve been wanting on christmas, for instance: anytime you bring him food, or offer to stay with him at john b’s is like swelling up his heart to the maximum.
• so when he’s not with you, or the pogues, which is rare he is outside. and jj is like diego the explorer he always finds little places just for himself, or for this instance with you.
• so a lot of dates include going to these secluded spots: sometimes it’s a picnic, or a walk, and stargazing is his absolute favourite as he listens to you drone on about the constellations and even just watching the sky with your presence next to him is so comforting and makes him feel safe. 
• of course when the pogues find out they’re brutal with their teasing.
“awww, look at the cute and happy couple!”
“my wittle babies, growing up so fast.”
“god, kie, you make it sound like we’re five?!”
• speaking of alone time, jj loves to cuddle when you guys are alone and that’s one thing he’s not fond of being teased about.
• his head is firm on your chest, his arms wrapped around your waist and his leg flung over your hips. to him it’s just a perfect way to start and end the day.
• he also loves to watch movies while cuddling and he has a set of movies and their genres completely memorized for the occasion.
• he has such a good memory to the weirdest things. like he can state in the exact order your makeup routine, or talk about all the caves and sinkholes in yukatan but ask him how many states there are in america and he’s completely bummed.
• back to what i was saying, cuddling and movie times together.
• he’s the little spoon i will not argue with anyone about this, especially if something happened that day.
• like if rafe pissed him off, some kooks stepped on his toes, his dad had been particularly agitated that day or he was just frustrated. your embrace is what keeps his together. he just loves the feeling of your arms around him, essentially protecting him.
• and the pogues always get a kick out of it when they see you too snuggled in the morning. they even take pictures, a lot of pictures of everything and anything they can. 
• their fav times to take pictures is when you both are off guard: like when he’s putting his hat on you, he’s sharing his juul with you, you guys are laying together on the boat or maybe your surfing together in the water.
• he’s surprisingly intimate about everything even though they’re such mundane things for him.
• he expresses his love for you by actions rather than words. for example, he has a guitar (an absolutely beat up one with missing strings and chipped wood, but he says it has more character that way as well as your signature on the back of it)—
• —and just strums it for you absolutely whenever and however your mood is because no matter what its always calming. sometimes he even hums a little tune or starts singing a bit.  
• another few ways he depicts his love for you is by shoving his baseball hat on your head (the one that absolutely nobody is allowed to wear) because he doesn’t want you frying in the sun or dying of heatstroke.
• a lot of his tank tops are now yours because they’re so comfortable and you can wear them literally anywhere.
• he shares, only with you but, he shares. his rings are on your fingers, his bandana is around your neck, his boxers are your sleep shorts, and he absolutely eats that shit up.
• he also gets extremely comfortable with you, like even more than john b in a way. example: you could just be chilling, his arm wrapped around your neck and — boom — he’s shoving your face in his armpit and trying to tickle you.
• it gets to the point where the pogues are so used to it and sometimes even they join in because they even like being included in on your affections but would absolutely rather drown than admit it. they love watching their two best friends love grow for each other, and they're happy jj has found sanctuary to love and be with someone freely. 
• speaking of love, jj is also like a puppy: praise, reassurance and kisses are the way to his heart and staying there.
• i’m gonna say it, jj has self confidence and love issues. they are not detectable at all but with his mother gone and the way his father treated him, there’s shit buried in his heart that it takes awhile for him to open up about.
• once he does: he cries, and he cried a lot. but after that it was like never letting go again. he trusts you with his whole heart and soul and he knows you won’t take advantage of that.
• the way you both accept each other into each others lives is so important to him no matter where you live, who you are and what your family is like everything counts for him and that just makes you the person who you are. 
• dating jj can be complicated and messy and wonderful and passionate and relationships aren’t easy but he would def be worth it <3
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heavenlyhischier · 3 years
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only when you're high - rafe cameron
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word count: 4.3k
summary: Rafe only ever talks to you when he's high, and you've eventually had enough.
warnings: angst i guess, language, mentions of drugs and alcohol, lil makeout sesh at the end
note: ik this isn't the request but i've been working on this for a while so here ya go <3 this is def not my best writing so dont judge it too harshly
3:53 a.m.
You had been dreaming about your cat taking over a world full of people with fish heads when the incessant ringing from your phone jolted you awake. You blindly flung your hand onto the nightstand, knocking over a half empty water bottle and a bottle of ibuprofen before your fingers grazed the cool screen. You picked up the device, nearly blinding yourself when you opened your eyes to see who was calling you at such an ungodly hour. Once your eyes adjusted to the screen’s brightness, the name ‘Stupid Kook’ was displayed across the top. You hesitantly swiped to answer.
“What in the flying fuck do you want,” You whisper yelled, propping your half-conscious body up with your elbow.
“Hey, baby,” He greeted, his voice dragging as if he was thinking too hard about his words. “Just wanted to hear your voice.”
You stopped breathing for a moment, not sure what you were supposed to say to his weird revelation. You had been having a weird thing with Rafe for a few months now. After many drinks, you would often finding yourself making out with him in a secluded area. Despite your random make out sessions, he had never once called you to simply hear your voice. In fact, he hadn’t even called you before. It was usually always a quick ‘wyd’ text at midnight and nothing more.
“That’s weird, you’ve never called me before,” You pointed out, “You’ve also never called me baby before, so what’s that about?”
“Mm, I don’t know. Always wanted to call you that before so why not? What are you up to, baby,” He asked, his words slurring together in a way that could only happen while under the influence.
“You’re high aren’t you,” You sighed. Of course, he was high. You should have known that from the get-go. Rafe Cameron wouldn’t have called you sober; he never even looked at you sober.
A brief silence hung over the line, Rafe’s heavy breathing being the only thing coming through the receiver. “Maybe a little. Had a rough day, so I went to see Barry and now I’m at Topper’s. Talking to you.”
You couldn’t help but let a small smile grace your features; a smile that was gone almost as soon as it came. You let your elbow fall from its position, your head falling back onto the pillow that was still warm from when you were asleep. “How sweet of you. What are you doing, anyways? Shouldn’t you be getting shitfaced and taking some innocent girl to bed?”
He let out an airy laugh before speaking. “The only one I’d like to take to bed is you, and we somehow always stop before it gets to that point. Anyways, it’s just me, Topper, and Kelce, and I started thinking about us in the back of my truck when we were outside. Before I knew what I was doing, you answered the phone.”
Your cheeks flared red as images of Rafe’s hands exploring your body flashed through your mind, the feeling of his ring on your skin igniting something inside of you. His mouth latching onto the sensitive spots of your neck as your moans filled his truck. You let your fingers ghost over your lips as if you could still feel his own on yours. More memories of him exploring your body in every way but the way you wanted him most were running through your mind. Every time you wanted to give in to him, give in to your urges, but you couldn’t.
“You know, I’ve never wanted someone as much as I want you and I hate it,” He started, his words still slow, “I hate it because you’ll never let me have you.”
“Rafe,” You groaned, running a hand over your tired face, “I don’t really feel like giving myself to someone who only talks to me when they’re drunk or high. Someone who would rather be caught dead than with a pouge.”
“You know it’s not like that, baby. It’s complicated,” He tried, and you could tell there was a hint of unfamiliar panic in his voice.
“It always is. Guess I’ll see or talk to you next time you get fucked up. Goodnight Rafe,” You whispered before hanging up on the boy, ignoring his desperate protests.
1:38 a.m.
You turned the shower water off before stepping out onto the cool tiled floor, water dripping from every part of your body. You chose to ignore the buzzing coming from your phone, moving to grab the towel hung on the back of your bathroom door. However, the buzzing started again as you were drying off your legs.
“Who the fuck,” You groaned as you wrapped the towel around your still wet body. ‘Stupid Kook’ was making a second appearance, much to your surprise. “Yes, Rafe?”
“What’s up your ass,” He laughed his infectious laugh. You could picture him throwing his head back and his glazed over eyes twinkling with amusement, something you had only seen when you found yourself admiring him from afar.
“Nothings up my ass. Just don’t know what your high ass wants this time.” You gripped your phone in your hand and started to walk back towards your room. Your parents had fallen asleep hours ago, so you had to make sure you were quiet. However, that deemed difficult in the darkest hours of the night in your already poorly lit house. You bumped your hip and stubbed your toe on just about anything that was out in the open. Once you were in your room, you hastily shut the door and flipped the light switch on.
“Hello! Hello! Hello! Where are you,” Rafe yelled, making you wince and pull the phone away from your ear.
“Jesus, dude. Calm down, I was walking back to my room,” You chastised, doing your best to hold your phone in between your ear and shoulder.
“What were you doing? I missed you,” He pouted.
You ignored the swelling you got in your heart and said, “I was leaving the bathroom. I just finished showering. What are you doing?”
You grabbed a clean pair of underwear and a shirt you had taken from JJ after you had thrown up over whatever you were wearing that night. Rafe began telling you what he was doing, which was quite literally nothing. However, he quickly dove into a spout of how you were naked and wet and how badly he wanted to see you without any clothes on. Your cheeks were burning as he went on and on about all of the sinful things he wanted to do to you. You let him ramble on a bit more as you turned the light off once you were clothed and ready for bed.
“Okay, that’s enough, Rafe,” You stopped him, pulling your blanket back so you could crawl in bed. “So, calling me two times within a week? You falling in love with me?”
It was so painfully obvious that it was a joke, but you could practically feel the tension radiating through your phone from Rafe’s end. His abrupt silence concerned you because this boy was far from silent when he was doped out.
“Maybe I am,” He finally got out, and you couldn’t detect any sarcasm in it.
“Sure you are,” You rolled your eyes, blaming exhaustion for briefly clouding your judgment, “If you were in love with me, you’d actually talk to me when you aren’t too fucked to remember your own name.”
You started picking at a loose thread on your blanket as you let your mind wander to what life would be life if you had an actual relationship with Rafe. Going to parties with him. Hanging around the Island Club with him and his friends. Him doing lines off your body before having his way with you.
“I will talk to you when I’m not high,” His voice broke you from your thoughts, “If that’s what you really want.”
“I do,” You said way too quickly, “I mean, yeah sure. That would be nice, I guess.”
“Just text me and I’ll answer.” You couldn’t stifle the yawn that escaped your lips, but you did try and hide it from Rafe. Your attempt was no good, though. “You’re tired, go to bed.”
“No, I’m fi-.”
“Goodnight, Y/N,” Rafe shouted over you, “Talk to you soon, baby.”
Rafe’s name popped up on your phone screen every few days after he had gotten drunk out of his mind or too high to do anything other than find your contact. You didn’t mind it at first, but after you had texted him during the day and those messages went unanswered, you grew hurt and annoyed. You had tried asking him why he wouldn’t respond, but he always found a way to change the subject. You wanted to ask him about it in person, but you hadn’t seen him in almost a month. You wanted to ask him why he couldn’t bother to pick up the phone when he was sober, but wasted no time in calling you as soon as he got his bump in.
One of the nights he called, you offered to have him come over because your parents were gone, but he said no. Made up some excuse about how he was staying with Topper for a while since Sarah cheated on him and he wanted to be there for his friend. You understood that, so you didn’t push him after that. Then, the next time you told him about a party everyone was going to and how you wanted to see him there. You even told him to bring the other two. That time he told you he was staying away from parties for a while, wanting to stay to himself for the most part due to the constant stress from his dad. You knew how Ward could be sometimes, so it wasn’t hard to believe him and move on from there.
You wanted to be mad to him for only acknowledging you when he was high, but you couldn’t be. You’ve always wanted to feel wanted by somebody, and he made you feel like that albeit only when he was far gone from reality. You could deal with it as long as you got to talk to him, no matter how insecure it made you. Well, you thought you could.
2:25
Your parents were gone for the night, so you opted to watch Marvel movies in the living room. You were so invested in watching Iron Man and shoving popcorn in your mouth that you didn’t feel your phone go off the first six times. Or the fifteen times after that. Not that you would have cared either way. You knew the only person it could be was the boy who never wanted you sober. The credits began rolling across the TV, so you finally decided to pick up your discarded phone. You were shocked to see Rafe had called you eight times and texted you thirteen. Overall, his texts said the same thing.
Why aren’t u answering me :(
Call me pls
I wanna talk to you baby
It was if he knew you were finally looking at your phone because his contact popped up not ten seconds later. You rolled your eyes, but reluctantly answered.
“Y/N! Where have you been,” He whined into the receiver, “I’ve been trying to call you for like two hours.”
“Watching movies,” Your words were sharp and short, not particularly wanting to talk to him right now. You’ve nearly reached your breaking point with him.
Rafe could immediately tell something was off with you by the way you sounded. “What’s wrong, baby? Are you okay?”
You took a deep breath in, setting your bowl of popcorn on the coffee table after you paused the end credit scene. You leaned forwards and planted your elbow on your knee as you held your head in annoyance.
“I’m fine, Rafe. I’m just getting fed up with you only wanting to talk to me when you’re high or drunk,” You started, “I used to be fine with it because it once every couple of weeks, but now it’s almost every day and it’s annoying. You told me to text you when you’re sober, and I did, but you never responded. I try and offer to come over to you or have you come to me, but you always have an excuse. I know you want to be there for Topper and you don’t really want to be around anyone right now, but that doesn’t mean I have to put up with it.”
“Y/N, I know, and I’m sorry. It’s just-It’s complicated. Please understand that,” He was practically begging you to listen to him.
“Rafey, are you coming back to play beer pong with us,” A female voice suddenly cut through the sudden sound of music.
Your breathing stopped and your heart felt like it was being squeezed by Rafe’s own hand. A wave of heartbreak crashed over your entire body. “‘I just don’t want to be around anyone’ huh? Thought you were just spending time with Topper for a while? You know, if you didn’t want to see me, all you had to do was say so,” You whimpered, hurt now mixing with your anger and annoyance.
“No, wait,” He tried, yelling at whoever came in the room to get out, “Y/N, please. It isn’t lik-“
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence. It is like that, Rafe. It is exactly like that. You don’t want to see me, and that is fine. I get it. Why would you ever want to be seen with someone from the Cut? It doesn’t matter, though. Don’t call me anymore. You lied to me. That is not something that I can forgive,” Your tears were too strong to hold back now, “I don’t care for liars, Rafe Cameron, and you’re the biggest one of all.”
You quickly hung up and turned off your phone, throwing it towards the end of the couch so you weren’t tempted to grab it. You grabbed the large blanket from the back of the couch, picked another movie, and let your tears fall as it played in front of you.
“Honey,” Your moms gentle voice broke through, “You fell asleep on the couch.”
You slowly opened your eyes, letting them adjust to the bright light shining through the giant window. The headache hit you like a ton of brinks, causing you to squeeze your eyes shut in pain. Your mom was hovering over you, her hand on your shoulder and her soft eyes pretending to not notice how puffy your cheeks and red your eyes are.
“I guess so,” You mumbled, pushing yourself up into a sitting position, “I’ll go lay down in my room. I’m still tired.”
She gave you an understanding nod with a caring smile and helped you off the couch. Her hand lingered on your back as if she wanted to say something to you, but she decided to leave it alone for now. You would talk to her when you were ready, if you ever were. You gave her a thumbs up when she told you her and your father would be out again most of the day.
Your feet dragged as you stumbled back to your room, using the wall to keep you steady. You pushed the door open with your foot and gave your cat, who was laying on your bed as if she owned it, a stupid smile. You fell onto the bed and pulled her onto your chest as you turned your phone back on. You were scared to confront the actions from last night, but knowing Rafe, he probably wouldn’t have bothered to even send you a text about it. You were quickly proven wrong the moment your phone turned back on. The vibration from all of the texts, voicemails, and snapchats felt like it lasted for five straight minutes. Nearly all were from the boy you wanted nothing to do with. Although, you noticed a voicemail from Topper, who you forgot even had your number.
Um, hey its Topper. Look dude, I don’t know what happened, but Rafe is freaking out like a bitch right now. He keeps mumbling shit about how he fucked things up with, which I didn’t even know you two were a thing but whatever I don’t really care. He kicked everyone out of my house and has been calling and texting you for like thirty minutes straight now so please call him back, so he shuts the fuck up. If not for him, do it for my sanity before I kill him. Uh, yeah, thanks, bye.
You sighed deeply after the voicemail cut off, your heart rate increasing at the thought of Rafe being upset. If he was bad enough that Topper of all people called you, you knew it was bad. You wanted to not care because of how he made you feel, but you did. You’ve always cared about the blond boy more than you cared to admit. You finally decided to look at the messages he sent you.
Y/N pls call me back
I’m sorry its not what it looks like and I know that sounds stupid but its true
Pls talk to me. I need u to talk to me
I promise that I never wanted to hurt u ok???
I love you, Y/N. Please call me or I’m coming to your house tomorrow.
The world stopped spinning when you read the last message. You kept reading it over and over again as if you misread it the first time. Rafe had never been any kind of affectionate with you until he called you baby. Rafe Cameron was not someone known to get emotional, so you weren’t sure if you believed his words. He was a liar and would do anything to get what he wanted, so what was different now?
You heard a knock on the door followed by your moms muffled voice, but you were too focused on the situation in front of you to notice who it was. Your eyes were glued to the screen, staring at the three words you never thought anyone other than your family and friends would say to you. The world around you was fading away, your heart feeling as if it was going to beat out of your chest as tears slid down your still puffy cheeks. You weren’t going to let him do this to you. You weren’t going to let him toy with you anymore.
“Y/N,” A deep voice dragged you out of your subconscious.
Your eyes darted over to the door and saw the last person you wanted to see. Rafe was standing there, his eyes wide and blood shot and he looked like total shit. His hair was a wild mess, nothing like its usual tamed state. You met his gaze and you wished you hadn’t. One look from him and you were puddy in his hands. One look and every thought you had about never seeing him again flew out the window.
“Hey, can we talk,” He mumbled, his bright blue eyes looking everywhere but at you. “Please.”
Not trusting your words, you gave him a swift nod and gestured to the spot next to you on your bed. You leaned to the side and placed your cat on the ground, watching as she rubbed herself all over Rafe’s leg before scampering away. His walk to your bed was painfully slow, and you wanted to tell him to hurry up, but you knew that was unreasonable.
“What do you want, Rafe,” Your voice was harsh, trying to ignore the urge to reach out to him. “What do you want to talk about? How you only use me for your own pleasure? How you only ever even look at me when you’re drunk or high? How you lied to me? Wanna talk about that?”
Your anger surprised even yourself. One second you wanted to hold him in your arms and comfort him, but then the memory of how he treated you came back and flipped a switch in your brain. You don’t know how you feel and you hate it.
“I deserve every bit of your anger,” He breathed out, letting his hand fall dangerously close to your own, “But please let me explain everything to you, okay?”
“Fine,” You gave in, “Talk.”
“Yeah, thank you, okay. I really do want to talk to you when I’m not absolutely fucked, I do. I know that it doesn’t seem like that, but its true. I just, I can’t. Every time I look at you, think about you, I hear my dads voice screaming at me that I will never be good enough for anyone. I have this thought drilled into my head every day that no matter what I do, who I am, I am just never enough. To me, you’re no exception to that. In fact, you remind me even more. Wait no.”
Rafe rubbed both of his hands over his face and tugged at his hair, afraid that he’s already fucking this up. “Rafe,” You gently spoke up, turning to grab his hands from his face. “It’s fine. Keep going.”
His eyes met yours and you could see how strained he was. There were too many emotions swirling in his eyes for you to pinpoint exactly what he was feeling. “Okay, um, okay. To me, you are way too good for me, so the only time I feel comfortable talking to you is when I’m high. I’ve never had trouble talking to any girl before, but you’re more than that to me. You’re more than just some girl to me and it scares me, so I feel like I have to be, yanno, not me. When I talk to you. I want to be with you more than I have ever wanted to be with someone in my life”
Your hand was still holding his as you let his words sink in. Him revealing how his dad truly made him feel made your heart ache for him. It made you want to grab him by the face and tell him how he is more than good enough. You wanted to let him in, but you weren’t sure if you were ready for the risk that came along with it. You’re not sure if you want all the things that came with being with Rafe Cameron. He’s followed by hurt and lies, and you do feel guilty thinking that, but it’s been proven true countless times.
“Rafe, listen to me,” You began, moving so you were straddling him and holding his face in your hands. His hands immediately came to grip your hips, and you are well aware that this was a more than compromising situation. “I understand that your father is probably the worst person we both know, but that doesn’t excuse you lying to me. I don’t know if I can trust you, no matter how much I may want to.”
You watched as tears gather in his eyes, and he was doing his best to keep them at bay. He had never felt the way he feels about you before, and he’s more than aware that his reputation precedes him. He knows that he’s done nothing more than prove how untrusting he is to you, but he wouldn’t let that stop him from trying to prove to you that he means what he’s saying.
“I know that nothing I say will fix what I’ve already done. I know that, but I can show you just how much you mean to me, if you’ll let me. We can go at your pace. Do things your way. Just, please, give me another chance to prove myself to you.”
You’re searching for any detection of a lie in his eyes, in his voice, but you come up empty. You wipe away the stray tears that broke through his wall of protection. You hesitantly placed your forehead on his, and you could hear him take in a sharp breath at the connection. Your eyes fluttered closed, your nose brushing against his as you weighed all of your options.
“Did you mean what you to me? In your last text,” You whispered, too scared to open your eyes and look at him. “Do you actually love me?”
“More than you know,” His breath was hot against your chin, and he pulled you closer into him.
You decided to take a leap, dive into something that scared you more than anything. Your lips finally met his, and Rafe wasted no time in returning the feeling. Your hands fell from his cheeks and clasped each other behind his neck, while his hands stayed placed on your hips, too scared to push you too far. You deepened the passion filled kiss by pulling him closer to you and running your tongue across his bottom lip. Rafe’s lips moved in such a sensual way that you almost didn’t know how to react. It was much different from the lust filled kisses you’ve shared in the past. You started moving your hips on top of him, an action that had him gripping your hips tighter than before.
Y/N,” Rafe breathed out after he broke away from you, “If you don’t stop, I don’t know if I can control myself.”
“Then don’t.”
i have not edited this so if you see a mistake lmk. love u
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writerlyhabits · 3 years
Text
Banana Bread
Pairing: Bucky Barnes x female reader
Summary: You get to know your neighbor across the hall, James.
Ch 1 of the Neighbors Series | Masterlist | Prologue | Ch. 2
Word Count: 3.0k
Warnings: angst, mild swearing, therapy, Bucky’s past, we’re diving in headfirst in this one, maybe anxiety? that’s probably fair, I probably missed things but I tried, Im sorry
AN: eeee this story is so many years in the making, but now it actually follows canon and isn’t just a weird fever dream 😂 This first part is set before tfatws, I’ve gotta build their story up a bit first 😉 I’ll probably elaborate on some of their cute lil moments from before this but I kinda wanted to get the ball rolling, lol. Beta read by the lovely @deceiverofgodss, deserving of all my love 💖
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He didn’t know how it had happened, how he’d gotten so comfortable around you, how he’d let you in. At first, everything was quiet, Bucky was adjusting to this new life, his pardon, his therapist, his amends, and everything they’d gotten him into. Sure there was Yori, but that was like one old man to another, and far more complicated. You were different.
You were a bright smile that appeared at his doorstep, just moved in right across the hall. You were banana bread muffins, your favorite recipe from an old friend of the family, a burst of “thought I’d say hello!” in an otherwise quiet and lonely apartment building. And after a friendly greeting in passing, with a “that was the best banana bread I’ve had in eighty years” that earned him a laugh, it wasn’t much longer until your warm presence had found a place in his every day.
Now, weeks after those first interactions, Bucky was collecting his keys from his jacket pocket after another thrilling appointment when he noticed a grocery bag teetering on your knee and another one in your arm.
“You struggling there, doll?” The nickname had slipped some time ago, coming from a place inside him he didn’t know was still there, and you had liked it so much you almost begged him not to stop. It was driving him crazy, but he couldn’t say he didn’t enjoy it.
Right now, however, you simply scoffed at him. “No, I’m perfectly capable, sir.”
“You know you could always set them down,” he reasoned, though he walked up to you and effortlessly took both bags in his arms. You rolled your eyes, grabbing your keys from your small purse and opening your front door, stepping to the side to hold it open for him.
“Or if you had shown up a moment later you would’ve seen that I was doing just fine.” Bucky walked into your familiar apartment, chuckling softly at you.
“I think what you’re looking for is Thank you, or I couldn’t have done it without you ‘cause I’m too stubborn,” he sassed, setting the bags down on your kitchen counter while you deposited your belongings on the front table.
“I would have done it without you,” you argued, joining him in the kitchen. Your expression softened into a smile when you continued. “But thank you, James.”
“Anytime,” he smiled back, resting his gloved hands at his hips. You scrunched your nose as you widened your smile at him before moving to the groceries.
“And now that I’ve suckered you into helping me put these away…” He opened his mouth to try and argue, shrugging his shoulders back, but you shoved cereal boxes into his chest. You gave a small giggle in victory when you watched his shoulders droop, taking the boxes and putting them away for you. “You can tell me how your appointment went today.”
“I regret telling you about them,” he grumbled, earning one of your deep belly laughs. You were so polite that day, asking what his plans were, and he hadn’t been quick enough to come up with a lie. But you didn’t press into it, so they simply remained therapy appointments. Not court-mandated, not for anything specific… just therapy. “We actually talked about you today.”
“Shut up, did you really?” you asked. “What about?”
Well, that wasn’t the whole truth. Dr. Raynor had told Bucky he needed more friends. Again. And when he so defensively told her about you, she asked for his phone to look, and his stubborn pride instantly deflated. “She’s cute” was the initial comment Raynor had made about you. Of course, it was only a small portion of what they had talked about, there were nightmares and amends to be brought up... but you didn’t need to know about that.
“She thought your muffin thing was sweet,” he smiled.
“Yeah? Did you tell her you ate all of them the next day?” Bucky made his scrunchy ‘hell no’ face and shook his head, making you giggle.
“What do you have going on this weekend?” He asked as he continued helping with your groceries, doing what he could to steer the conversation away from any more details.
“I was actually going to head up to the Smithsonian tomorrow… you free? I’d enjoy the company.” You were smiling so brightly up at him, but Bucky just froze in place. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t breathe, he felt like he’d been hit by a truck.
“I uh, I actually promised I’d take Yori to lunch,” he lied. He wanted to scream, oh god, not the Smithsonian, not yet… His heart had to have been pounding loud enough in his chest for you to hear it. “Which um… which one are you going to?”
“Probably the Natural History Museum, I could spend hours in there,” you laughed. Bucky released a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, making an attempt to laugh with you. “I don’t know though, I’ve always liked the Air and Space Museum, I haven’t been in years. They had the Captain America exhibit closed the last time I went, so that’d be fun to see.”
It was like he was standing on train tracks, the train was coming, and he couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it.
“Wouldn’t it be crowded, though?” He tried. He didn’t even have any ground to stand on, he just threw something and hoped it stuck.
“Probably, but I feel like it’s always going to be crowded? Especially on weekends,” you groaned. “I’ll probably just start at the Natural History and see where it takes me,” you shrugged nonchalantly, moving to open the fridge. You grabbed two of the cokes in glass bottles you had a weird fondness for and set one in front of him.
“What’s this for?” He managed. You pulled a bottle opener out of a cabinet drawer and popped his open before moving to your own.
“A thank you, for helping me,” you smiled softly. Bucky basked in the warmth of it. “And maybe an invitation to stay?” This time you were making your scrunchy ‘pretty please?!’ face that he knew he couldn’t say no to. He took a sip from the bottle, pretending to contemplate his answer.
“What torture am I in for tonight?” The giggle that came from you rung through his head like a song.
“Well, I could always put on a movie, or we could play some of my old people music while I tell you about what Cathy did today at work.” You wiggled your eyebrows with the second suggestion, plopping yourself on the couch, tucking into the corner with your legs pulled up under you.
“The passive-aggressive one?” Bucky made his way over to your record player, filtering through the selection he knew better than he should. He held up the Ella Fitzgerald album in silent question, and you nodded enthusiastically. It had quickly become one of his favorites, just barely out of his time, but he loved listening to you sing along.
“Geez, she was the worst today, I don’t even think you’re ready.”
“Oh I’m ready,” he replied, sitting in the opposite corner of your couch.
Bucky wanted to soak in every single moment like a sponge, engrain it into his memory. The facial expressions you made when you talked passionately, the way you made him laugh, the way you got distracted by the music he was so painfully familiar with. He wanted to enjoy this moment so badly, but he was plagued by the thought that it might never happen again. That you might go to the Air and Space museum tomorrow, and figure out who he really was… and then what would happen?
Bucky felt like his world was falling apart. And there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it, but watch.
You were buzzing with excitement, having checked Amelia Earhart’s plane off of your list of things to see, and making your way through the museum to the highly anticipated Captain America Exhibit. James was right, it was certainly crowded here, but this crowd had to be far more tolerable than what you imagined the Natural history would have been. Right as you approached the front steps you saw almost an entire school of children pulling up for a field trip… so you turned yourself right around to head to the Air and Space.
The first avenger’s exhibit did not disappoint, and it felt almost surreal to see the old uniforms of his and his team standing so proudly in front of you. You stopped to appreciate the details and the design of the outfits, taking great interest in the tears and damage leftover from the effects of war.
While you admired the blue jacket next to the Captain, you couldn’t help but wish James could have come with you. He had quickly gone from your neighbor to a good friend, someone you looked forward to sharing a laugh and good conversation with. A sweet smile on a handsome face you found yourself wanting to share your day with, whether it was a quiet night at home with a movie, or a day exploring history together. But you’d have a good time on your own, you would just have to bombard him with your pictures later.
As you turned away from the uniforms you caught a familiar face in the crowd and did a double-take, your eyes landing on…
Not James.
A plaque?
An old photograph…
A Fallen Comrade … James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes.
Not James in the way you thought, but … how in the hell...
You quickly cut through the crowd to get right up in front of the etched glass wall with the eerily familiar face. ‘...enlisted shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor… Barnes and Rogers led Captain America’s newly formed unit…1916-1944...’ It was all information that would usually have been very interesting, but right now it was fucking useless. You needed more, you had to figure out if that was your James… and what the hell had happened to him.
You probably looked like a crazy person, moving through the entire exhibit with one thing on your mind, searching every plaque and info panel for one name. The blue jacket you had admired upfront gave you nothing. The Howling Commandos section dropped his name, but no answers. The short film had some old photos and footage of him and the Captain, and had at least mentioned his death in the field … but no firm answer. All of which brought you right back to the glass etching of his face, desperate to find something you had missed.
Your texts to James went unanswered, and your call went straight to voicemail. He had to be at lunch and completely ignoring his phone… or did he know this would happen? Your mind was reeling with possibilities, only interrupted by a voice behind you.
“Interesting, isn’t he?” You spun on your heels to see one of the staff members looking at you. You furrowed your brows in confusion, realizing you were trying to catch your breath from everything. “Bucky Barnes. He’s a remarkable man,” the young man answered, gesturing to the picture behind you.
“Oh… yeah…” you managed, taking a moment to read his name tag… Devon. He continued to look at the plaque behind you, and you jumped on your opportunity. “You make it sound like he’s still around?” Devon looked back at you with a spark in his eyes, like you’d asked exactly the right question.
“That’s because he is,” he smiled. You felt your breath hitch, your heart skipping. “Have you heard of the Winter Soldier?”
Devon proceeded to tell you everything he knew, the two of you pulling off to the side as other guests continued to cycle through. He told you about the conspiracy theories, the secret organization that had taken him hostage, and the brutal history of the mystery assassin. Then there was the scandal with the death of the Wakandan leader, rumors surrounding the Sokovian accords, and the group that emerged successful after Thanos and the blip. You clung to his every word, and he seemed glad to have an interested audience.
“The government gave him a pardon for all of it though, and as far as anyone knows, he’s out there living a normal life.”
“So it’s all true? He really was the Winter Soldier, and he’s still… still around?” You asked, with both the eagerness to get the answer, but the caution to keep the appearance of an innocently interested guest.
“Well, we know he was the winter soldier, that’s for sure,” he nodded enthusiastically. “They made it public, it’s all online, you can look for yourself! That’s where I got my information anyway. Unfortunately, this is all the museum has on him.” You looked back out at the exhibit, meeting Jame’s– Bucky’s eyes once again. “I hope one of these days they put more about him in here… after everything he’s gone through, I think he deserves it.”
You could feel the tears threatening to spill at that last comment, everything he had told you and its tie to James finally hitting you. Thanking Devon for his help, you made your way out of the exhibit, out of the building, and out onto a bench in front of the museum.
The crisp breeze hit your face as a tear rolled down your cheek. You felt like you couldn’t catch a breath, thinking about all the torture, all the pain, all the years spent as someone else… You tried calling him again, cursing under your breath when it went to voicemail again.
“Dammit James, I need you,” you muttered to yourself as you stared at his contact.
‘...it’s all online, you can look for yourself…’
You must have looked like a damn fool sitting on a bench outside the Air and Space museum with tears streaming down your face as picture after picture of James came up on your screen with nothing behind his eyes. The friendly smile was gone, his hair hung around his face like a shield, his body was wrapped in constricting leather and weapons and… and a silver arm.
You had to talk to him one way or another, and if he wasn’t going to answer his phone, you were just going to have to go to him.
He’d hardly moved all day, sick to his stomach not knowing if things were about to change or how you’d respond. His phone sat on the kitchen counter when it began buzzing with your texts and calls as he sat on the small couch in the living room, his head in his hands. You must have made it to the Captain America exhibit after all.
After a while it became silent, and Bucky didn’t know if he liked that better or worse, not knowing what you were feeling on the other side. But he couldn’t pull himself to answer let alone get up and look at what your messages said. He tried turning on the tv to distract himself, but his thoughts were too loud, drowning out the sitcom on the screen.
The friendship he had found himself in with you was warm and genuine, almost innocent, built around nothing but each other’s company. Unlike anyone else in his life, there were no ties holding you to each other except choice. No war, no secret organization, no fighting team of weirdos and assassins, no friend in common, no guilty past… You made him feel like he did in the forties when he befriended that scrawny blonde kid in Brooklyn, and he didn’t want to lose that. Not again.
A knock at his door pulled him from his thoughts, and when it was followed by a buzz from his phone he pulled himself from the couch to find you standing before him.
His eyes were slightly red and puffy, and your heart broke. You knew there had been no lunch with Yori, that he’d probably holed himself away in his apartment, waiting. The two of you looked at each other for a few moments, not quite sure what to do.
“... Bucky?” you tried quietly, trying to ask him if what you had seen today was true. You could see him swallow when the nickname left your lips. The nickname that had followed him through time, representing the side of him he’d tried to keep from you until he was ready.
“Yeah, doll,” he replied, barely above a whisper, understanding what you meant. His heart softened when he noticed your eyes start to water.
“Are you…” you started, taking a breath to calm yourself down. Bucky’s mind was going five thousand miles a minute, wondering what you were trying to ask. Are you… the winter soldier? Not anymore. An Avenger? He hoped not. Dangerous? It’s complicated…
“Are you okay?” Bucky melted. You found out who he was and you asked if he was okay? It spoke volumes of your character, always so sweet and caring towards not only him, but almost everyone he’d seen you interact with. He let out the breath he was holding, a slight chuckled of relief with it.
“Yeah, yeah I’m okay.” You seemed to do the same, your shoulders drooping with your sigh of relief, that bright smile returning to your face as your eyes glistened with the threat of tears. He brought his hand up to rub the back of his neck, and he didn’t miss how your eyes followed the vibranium, as if just noticing it for the first time. He brought it back to hold his fingers extended out between you, offering you a better look.
“I forgot the gloves this time,” he tried, earning a slightly choked giggle from you. “Do you um… do you want to talk about it?”
“I’d like that,” you almost whispered. “If you’re up for it that is, I just… I want to hear it from your side.”
“My place or yours?” He asked softly. You’d never been in his apartment before, which was almost weird to think about considering how often he frequented yours. There wasn’t much to see, whereas you had trinkets and belongings on every surface you could manage. He just had somewhere to live, you had made a home.
“I have banana bread?” Bucky gave a genuine laugh at your comment and stepped out of the doorway to close his apartment door behind him, nodding towards your front door across the hall.
“I’m following you.”
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Masterlist | Prologue | Ch. 2
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because-of-a-friend · 3 years
Text
GuardianAngel!Jun
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MASTERLIST
Thanks for the request anon! I really hope you like it!!! This was def a bit out of my comfort zone but in a really exciting way! Also I don’t keep up with absolutely all lore on angels/ guardian angels, so if I say something you weren’t expecting/didn’t really want or left out something you were expecting, I’m sorry and hope it’s still enjoyable anyways! (I DIDN’T MEAN TO MAKE THIS ANGSTY IT JUST SORT OF HAPPENED IM SORRY)
Warnings: Near death experiences (including almost drowning), mentions of injury and death, and angst
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There are rules about being a guardian angel that are so obvious, they don’t need to be spoken
Obviously, if there’s a fixed point where your person has to get injured or even die, you can’t intervene
You can’t ever assist in a way that would get you spotted by your person
You can’t do more than simple guidance when it comes to matters of the heart and mind
And, you cannot ever meet your person and tell them who you are
Jun has always followed all rules to a T
He’s never gotten in trouble or anywhere even close to trouble
He’s an example to his peers
He always does his job perfectly
There’s never been a hitch
And then he’s assigned to you 
At first your life is as normal as anyone else he’s ever been a guardian to
But then things get complicated
It’s honestly like you’re trying to get hurt
Suddenly, there’s just a period of time where you’re constantly in danger
Jun will save you once and then immediately be running off to save you again
Boy is he stressed
He feels like his constant state of being is just standing there, bent over, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath before you need him again
He’ll admit that he’d rather be assigned to you than someone who never required his help at all
He’d be so bored
But still, did you always have to be so... reckless?
One day it gets to be too much
And Jun slips up
You had already walked under an AC unit falling from someone’s apartment window and he had to send a gust of wind to push you out of the way
Then you stepped out into the street in front of a car speeding down the road
Jun was still in the middle of breathing out a sigh of relief from the first incident
So he didn’t have the time to think of how to save you from the next danger
In his panic he steps forward and grabs you
You feel the hand around your wrist
You feel the force yanking you back out of the street
You see someone out of the corner of your eye
But once you fully turn to thank them, no one is there
You’re turning around over and over to see who you could have missed
But there’s really no one
Jun is watching you from a few feet away, now invisible to your eyes, his heart practically beating out of his chest
He didn’t do anything wrong... did he?
Technically he didn’t get caught by you
Technically 
But that was close 
He needs to be more careful
You have a period of time where you’re just utterly confused about what happened that day
You’re constantly looking over your shoulder wondering if maybe it was something supernatural
You start to notice your close calls with injury/death
And begin to wonder what’s stopping you from actually getting hurt
Sometimes it’s a gust of wind strong enough to push you out of the way, or a loud noise to stop you in your tracks, or sometimes just the kindness of a random stranger who is suddenly overcome with the need to help you
It’s starting to feel impossible how many times you’ve crossed paths with death and walked away fine
You begin to almost... test the waters
Instead of accidentally running into trouble, you start purposely running towards it
Jun is unbelievably stressed
Why do you have to do this? 
He feels like he might die at this rate just from how much he’s stressing out about your safety
Then you put him in a situation where he really has no choice but to help you as himself
You’re walking by a community pool late at night after agreeing to help your friend that works there out by locking up for them so they could go out that night instead of being stuck at work late
There’s no one else there since it’s already closed
It’s dark and slippery
And with you being you, Jun is beyond nervous, so he follows behind you from no more than a foot away
It’s going fine and you’re almost done
So Jun is letting out a sigh of relief
But it was too soon
As you’re passing by to double check that the back door is locked, you slip on the wet floor
You tumble towards the pool and hit your head on the way down
Jun watches in horror as you fall into the water and sink straight to the bottom
He doesn’t hesitate even for a moment to jump in after you
He drags you out and sets you down next to the pool
You’re not waking up and he’s terrified
He begins to perform CPR
Finally you sit up, choking, water streaming out of your mouth
You saw him, you know you did
There’s a boy sitting in front of you even though you knew there was no one in the building besides you
He’s staring into your eyes with such great concern
“Are you ok?”
You nod slowly as he helps you sit up 
“You need to go to the hospital, you hit your head”
You nod at his words again, reaching up the rub your eyes since they’re blurred from the water
“How did you get in-”
You stop mid sentence
As soon as you’ve taken your hands away from your eyes, you look up and see that no one is there
You begin to search around but you really are alone
You’re spooked and also worried that maybe it’s just because you hit your head that hard and immediately head to the hospital 
The doctor discharges you quickly, telling you the hit didn’t do any serious damage and that you just needed to rest and take it easy for a few days
You’re still completely confused by the disappearing boy 
Was he the same person that pulled you out of the street that one day?
Jun begins to observe you closely after these incidents
He can tell you must be thinking about him
Most days when you’re not busy, you’ll be staring off into the distance, your mind trying to explain these strange happenings
And for the first time since he’s ever become a guardian angel, Jun really wants to tell you
Usually he had no issues hiding from the people he was assigned to
But you
He likes the way you live
How you speak to people
Your goals and dreams and how you work towards them
The hobbies you enjoy
He feels happy being your guardian
And while it can be stressful sometimes, he never hates it
It feels, ironically, comfortable to be your guardian
He’s honestly grown quite fond of you
Which is also a big no-no for guardian angels
You should never get too attached to your assigned person
There will come a time where they have to get hurt 
Or a time when their life must come to an end
If a guardian angel is too attached to a human
They may try to change what must be
But Jun hates watching you feel like you’re going insane over not being able to explain these instances 
He wants to be able to explain it all to you
In the end all it takes is one more brush with danger before you’re standing there, Jun’s hand locked around your arm, staring into his eyes after he’s saved you once again
He immediately turns to walk away but you grab his arm
“WAIT! Wait!”
Jun knows he should do anything, anything at all to leave you right then and there so he doesn’t get caught
But he also doesn’t hate the idea of that happening
“I know you!” you say. “You saved me the other day at the pool!” 
“I’m sorry,” he says, turning back to you, “but I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 
“It was you, wasn’t it?” you’re so sure this is the boy from the pool
Jun hesitates
Instead of saying anything, he just holds a finger up to his lips in a shushing motion before finally walking off
And you just stand there in awe
It was him
You go home immediately, beginning to study different supernatural creatures and happenings
You print out pages and pages of all sorts of information on any type of guardian creature you can find
You’re certain this boy is something other than human and you’re sure that whatever he is, he must be in charge of your safety
Now every time you almost get hurt or in trouble, you look around wildly, trying to spot the boy who you’ve only really been able to see twice
Sometimes you’ll catch a glimpse of a figure walking around a corner out of sight, or a being seemingly disappearing into thin air
This boy must be following you everywhere and you’re determined to catch him again
Jun, who is very tired after all of the saving you and then concealing himself moments, sort of just... lets you
One day you turn around after surviving another potentially dangerous moment, and he’s just... standing there
You can’t think of anything else to say, so you just blurt out the question, “Are you my guardian angel?”
Jun just smiles and nods at you, “Nice to finally meet you”
He walks you home that day
And you have a million questions for him
“Did you chose me or were you assigned to me?”
“What abilities do you have?”
“Have you been with me my whole life?”
“Do you have like... a boss?”
“Actually what is the system like?”
“What other supernatural creatures exist?”
“Do you have a name?”
He interrupts your next question by answering, “Jun.”
It silences you for a moment
“I like that name.”
Jun smiles brightly at you
You notice he sort of... glows
To say your relationship moves fast is an understatement
Jun knows your time together will be short
He’s heard what has happened to other guardian angels who have broken the rules
Someone will be coming for him
But he knows he’s in love with you
And wants to make sure he takes advantage of all the moments he has left with you
He’s very forward
But since your safety and comfort is his top priority, he always lets you set the boundaries beforehand
He’ll never do anything you don’t want him to do
But he’s definitely going to do anything and everything that you are ok with him doing
You feel strangely comfortable around him
Obviously you know he’s there to protect you and he’s been there your whole life
But it’s still strange how easy it is for you to just fall right into Jun
He holds your face in his hands and looks at you like you’re the whole world
And to him you are
Nothing has ever mattered to him as much as you
And all he wants to do is spend as much time with you as possible
He wants to go on all the traditional human type dates and do all the cliché human couple things 
The two of you celebrate every human holiday in like a week so he can experience what it’s like lol
On the day you celebrate Valentine’s Day he gets you every cheesy gift he’s ever seen humans get each other
“Jun how am I supposed to sleep with this many giant teddy bears in my room?”
“You’ll figure it out”
Then you two celebrate Christmas and he definitely sets up mistletoe on every doorway
You don’t miss how tightly he holds you at night
Or the way he looks at you like you’re about to disappear
Or the way he always needs to suddenly reach for you to make sure you’re there
You know something is off
Why would your guardian angel suddenly show up out of the blue to spend your life with you?
“Junnie, you’d tell me if I was gonna die right?”
“What? [Y/N], what makes you think you’re gonna die?”
He comes and kneels in front of you and takes your hands in his
“I don’t know, sometimes you just act like... this is all going to end at any moment.”
Jun knows he should tell you 
But he just wants the two of you to stay in your little bubble for as long as possible
“It’s just because I love you so much, and I just want to make sure you’re always safe and happy”
He clings to you even tighter the next few days
He knows he has to tell you asap so he wants to give you the best days of your life
He’s so doting
Makes you breakfast every day
Is always right there to show you affection
Wrapping his arms around you from behind
Resting his head on your chest and gazing up at you
Ruffling you hair
Pressing kisses all over your face
Letting his hands stroke up and down your arms and then all the way down to your fingers sending goosebumps across your skin
And then one day he gives you a gift out of nowhere 
It’s a beautiful necklace that looks like one single angel wing
“Oh Junnie, I love it” you say putting it on immediately
You quickly notice that he’s wearing a necklace with a matching wing
“[Y/N], I need to tell you something.”
He sits close to you and strokes your hands with his thumbs as he lays out the reality of your situation
His heart is in the pit of his stomach by the time he’s finished and he’s ready for you to run away and leave him behind
But when you assure him that you also want to make the most of every moment you have left
He’s so happy he could cry
So you start to take him on all the typical cheesy human dates
So that way the two of you have plenty of happy moments together while also getting to experience everything
The carnival
Picnics
Walks on the beach
Stargazing
And it’s honestly perfect every time
When he stares lovingly down at your face, stroking his thumb slowly up your cheeks then leans in to kiss you slow and sweet under the stars, you feel like you could fly
Your happiness is short lived though
You’re not even surprised when two men show up at your door asking where Jun is
Despite not being surprised, you are devastated 
The two of you put up a good fight
But the ending was inevitable
You watch helplessly as they drag Jun away from you
But before he’s gone completely he calls out to you
“If it’s in this life or the next, in this world or another, I will come back to you”
And as you see the look in his eyes during those last few moments
And see his expression as he says those words
You know that he will
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punkranger · 3 years
Note
☕🕷️📣☁️💚 For the Steps!!!
Thank you!!~ I think i got all of these xD got stuck a bit on the fluff cuz man is it difficult sometimes to think of nice things lol
☕️ HOT BEVERAGE - do they prefer hot or cold drinks? what is their favourite drink?
Antoine: prefers cold drinks in general and as with food he's not picky, but would go for a beer if he's not working, cola otherwise
Nicholas: coffee. That's it, they live, breathe and are sustained solely by coffee. In general just black, but they do like to switch it up sometimes with some milk (not much for caramel or anything like that tho) .
Rene: depends on the weather, if its hot a milkshake and if it's cold tea or hot chocolate - but anything goes as long as it contains at least 50% sugar
Densil: def wine, if he treats himself which is rare. Otherwise has no preference for hot or cold, also depends on the weather
🕷️ SPIDER - what is their biggest fear? do they have any irrational / mundane fears?
Antoine: cannot stand restraints of any kind, to the point where he'll even be very uncomfortable by long/tight hugs. Ortega has definitely gotten a bloody nose from Antoine headbutting him for hugging him too long.
Nicholas: being exposed, as in his alternate identities and current occupation of being a villain being found out by Julia mainly, or the Farm finding his real identity. Also the dark.
Rene: talking to people, especially people she doesn’t know.
Densil: hates lacking control over a situation, they can deal with unexpected complications - but mainly does so by planning for them as well.
📣 MEGAPHONE - how loud are they? what do they speak like? got a voice claim?
I've been trying for so long to find voice claims but I'm never really happy with them so descriptions will be all
Antoine: can be pretty loud at times, if he’s excited, or upset. When he was younger he had some problems regulating the volume of his voice. In general he tends to speak with a bit of a drawl and people can have a hard time telling if he’s serious or not.
Nicholas: Has a low voice, but manages to make it very audible by articulating well. When he’s upset he can get /very/ loud and sometimes shrill. Speaks carefully most of the time, sometimes very flat, sometimes passionately - very varied.
Rene: Tiny voice, barely audible most of the time, but can be louder if she’s comfortable, which is rarely. Has a pretty melodious voice.
Densil: Tends to speak in short sentences in a flat tone unless he’s really trying, then he can sound pretty pleasant or at least polite. Doesn't generally let much emotion show, though ortega and chen has definitely managed to get some of the anger to show
☁️ CLOUD - a soft headcanon
Antoine: likes to doodle, wouldn't say he actually draws because he rarely sits down to finish a whole piece. It's mostly something he does while doing something else, to keep focus, like while listening to the news or something. He usually just doodles mindlessly, but it's usually things that have been on his mind recently (like certain rangers)
Nicholas: thinking about Nicholas having long hair now, while Julia's is short. Julia braiding Nic's hair instead. It's soft, but there's also a lot of feelings. About change, and the time that they lost, but also old rituals being rediscovered and given new life.
Rene: being invited to tía Elena's house and seeing Julia's room was a very good experience for Rene. She was nervous at first, but meeting Ortega's closest family and seeing where she grew up made her seem more human, she'd always seemed like this perfect hero who was just a bit too good to be true. Seeing this side made her easier to connect to - despite the fact that Rene didn't have anything like that.
Densil: some of their favourite moments during sidestep days were when they were playing chess with Chen, it's one of few pastimes that they don't think is a waste (and maybe they liked spending time with Chen). I’m thinking they’d have a game again later and things are maybe not awful for a moment.
💚 GREEN HEART - what things make your oc feel comforted? hugs, kisses, food?
Antoine: smooches for sure, touch in general but if that's not an option or he's not in the mood, just taking a walk is good
Nicholas: cuddles, encouragement, having coffee and honestly just holding a cup of coffee is comforting to him
Rene: usually food, cupcakes preferably (thats not real food i know), hugs
Densil : haha comfort who's she? Densil rarely feels, or lets herself feel comforted; food is just fuel, touch is mostly uncomfortable. The most comfortable she feels is when she’s had a shower and is having a cigarette.
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lo-55 · 4 years
Text
Playing With Fire Ch. 3
Ignition
@emrysaf
You’ve decided. You’re going to marry Maki. 
You’re going to marry her and adopt Sputter and Flare, and you’ll all live happily ever after in the cathedral and- 
You’re broken out of your thoughts when Maki smacks you so hard you literally see stars and throws you on the ground. 
“... owe.”
If everything else hadn’t cemented the fact that you were really living inside Fire Force, the pain of Maki’s fist and the hard concrete under your cheek sure would have. Holy hell, how was she so strong?
You roll over on your back to look up at her. 
“I bet,” you begin, “that you could bench press me if you really wanted to.”
Maki’s cheeks pink and she huffs down at you. “Why aren’t you using your pyrokinesis? Do you think I can’t handle it?”
I have no idea how to do that! 
“Nope, Nope! I’m sure you could wipe the floor with me, it’s not that miss!” You said quickly. “I was just in awe of you, sorry,” you salute quickly, and watch pink crawl across Maki’s face. 
So cute!! 
“H-honestly! At least use your spear!” 
You perk up. Spear? The Sun Spear? Is that what you have here? An answer! Finally! An answer! 
Maki takes your surprise for something else. “No one told you that they’d sent it over ahead of you? You should really keep better of your gear.” 
You dip your head quickly. “Yes, yes. Sorry. Can you show me where it is, please?” 
“Sure,” Maki smiles at you, “We’re about done for now, anyhow. Let’s go back inside and wash up. Sister Iris and Shinra should be waiting.” 
Maki takes you back into the cathedral, away from the training area on the roof. The cathedral really is pretty run down. The walls could use a good scrubbing, the floor boards either need to be replaced or are missing entirely, and there’s a lot of cracks in the tile and missing corners. The windows are fine, if not dusty, and the stained glass pieces are really beautiful. The whole place smells faintly of burnt wood and gun oil. It’s not bad, but its certainly unfamiliar. Everything is so vivid. The way it smells. The sound of the building settling, and the birds outside, and the voices of your new comrades. 
It’s amazing. 
Kinda terrifying, but crazy cool too. 
After a quick shower for each of you Maki shows you to the weapons room, where a long, thin case is rested against a wall between two racks of guns. Obi’s shield is propped up in one corner, along with a couple of his weird stabbing things that he puts infernals to rest with. You’ve been here two days now, and you’ve seen him use it twice.
You don’t know how, but you know instinctively that that case belongs to you. 
You go to it. There’s a strap along the back, like the kind on a violin case. You carefully set it on a table, mindful of the bullets stacked on top of it. With a few clicks you undo the buttons on either end and open up the case. Inside is a long staff, deep red in color and capped at the bottom with copper colored metal that curves into a diamond point. On the opposite end is a thin band of the same metal, that reveals the inside to be hollow. 
You pick it up carefully, testing its weight in your hands. It feels natural. Even though you’ve never actually fought with a spear before your body knows where to hold it, and how to spin it around elegantly until you’re facing Maki again. Your body knows how much space you’re taking up, and how not to hit the walls, while your brain geeks out over the fact that you’re actually holding the Sun Lance. 
So cool! 
Is it conceited to say that you’re super cool? Or that this was hella badass? 
You were almost bouncing on your toes you were so excited. 
“Wow, I didn’t know you missed your spear this much,” Maki smiled at you. “You look good with it.” 
“Aha, you think so? It’s just nice to have it I guess. This has been, I dunno. An adventure already. I’m in a strange place, with strange people, and I’m in an awfully dangerous situation. It’s been an adjustment, ya know?” 
You feel like a fool for rambling, but Maki smiles at you kindly. 
“I understand. Even though I was raised in a military family, it took me a while to get used to life as a fire soldier too. Don’t worry too much about it, and you know, we’re always here to help. It’s not like you have to go it alone.” 
You’re heart warms with her words. “Yeah. Thank you, Maki. You’re really a nice person.” 
Once the Sun Lance is safe in its case the two of you leave the armory, and make your way to the dorm rooms. 
Since the company is so small, each person gets their own room. In bigger companies you would be in actually dorms, or barracks, but the eighth only has Obi, Hinawa, Maki, Sister Iris, Shinra, and yourself. Arthur will be here soon too, and Tamaki. Your small company will grow soon. 
Your own room ended up being at the top of one of the towers on the west side of the cathedral, opposite of the garage. Which meant that last night, when the alarm had gone off, you’d been the last to arrive at the Matchbox. Near the garage are the locker rooms, and the communal showers, although there’s more bathrooms scattered through the base. 
In the center of the cathedral is the courtyard where Sister Iris purifies herself, and grows flowers. 
It’s really a nice place. 
“Thank you,” you say again, and Maki nods to you and leaves you to climb the steps on your own. You shut the door and lock it behind you. 
Your room is scant, all things considered. A bunk bed it pushed into each corner, with a desk underneath it. You’ve claimed the one nearest to the window. There’s a wardrobe on the opposite side, and a small, stocky book shelf. 
You need to hang up some pictures or get a rug or something. It’s entirely impersonal. 
You rest your Sun Lance up against the corner by the window and go to sit at the desk under your bed. You’ve already unpacked your few belongings into the wardrobe and the drawers of the desk, including the diary from ‘Fuyuki’. 
Your ‘sister’. The game honestly hadn’t told you a whole lot about her. Just that she disappeared, and what few flashbacks you would have now and again. Like the one you got when you touched your ring and the lighter.  
You open it up with careful hands. 
Inside the handwriting is familiar, even if the words aren’t. There’s no mistaking your hand writing. It looks like a serial killer in a movie has left a ransom note made out of letters cut out of magazines. 
I wonder if there’s cereal in the kitchen. 
You always think better when you’re snacking. 
To keep your thoughts in order, you scatterbrain.
<3 Fuyuki 
 The first entry is dated for 193 AC. After the Cataclysm. It’s 198 now, so this was given to MAIN (to you?) five years ago. That would have been right before she graduated the fire academy and joined her company. A year before she disappeared, around 194. 
It feels invasive to read the diary of the person whos life you’ve taken over, but you need answers and you don’t have a lot of options here. 
I can’t believe Fuyuki gave me a diary! That’s so lame, and super girly. I don’t really want to write in it, but she gave it to me so I guess I should? Even if I am kinda mad at her. She left to go to school years ago and she never comes home! She’s so mean but then she’s nice and its so frustrating! Not fair. Stupid sister. 
But i’ll try i guess. There’s not much else to do in the house. None of the other kids really wanna play with me, and the Yagi’s are busy watching the littler kids. And maybe i’ll have kids and their kids will have kids will have kids will have kids and i’ll be their super cool ancestor and they’ll read this for inspiration or something. 
Good god, how old were they when they started writing this? Twelve? How old even were you? 
Fuck it. 
You kept reading. They/you weren’t a regular writer, with long months going between entries. Some of them were sad, some of them were happy, most of them were angry. They had a lot of complicated feelings on the sister who had abandoned them to what was basically a group home outside Asakusa, and then bitterness at themselves for being so angry when she disappeared. But most of it wasn’t that useful. It was about grades and teachers, and grief. They got into a lot of fights, and they were something of a scrapper. They were briefly enrolled in martial arts classes, but they had to quit because they were too rough with the other kids. So they were a scrapper, but that wasn’t anything related to fire. 
You rubbed your temples and glared at the diary. How did it answer your questions but leave you with more? 
Why is this my life now? 
So much here didn’t make sense, nonetheleast the fact that you were here to begin with. Well. At least you finally knew what your pyrokinesis was right? Even if using it was nearly impossible, and you couldn’t make sense of everything. 
Of course, there were plenty of things in this world that didn’t make sense. Like how sound could turn fire into ice. 
Bringing back the dead made more sense than that! 
You cross your arms and glare at the diary. So far the only useful bit is the part where you’ve had some decent training. Everything else is just the most vague information about the investigation into her sister’s disappearance. That much you already knew, although you didn’t have time to read everything in it. There were big gaps that you just knew were holding important information! 
At a loss, you flipped to the very last written on page, halfway through, and froze. 
Staring back at you was your own face. A small picture. It was your resume for the squad assignments, with your own check boxes and preferences listed. Underneath it was the list you had written before, of Everything You Knew. It was short, with little screen caps here and there. You flipped the page and found it filling itself in with ink that didn’t come from a pen, finishing up what it started on the page before. 
A new page started, this one listed your stats. 
In game there were a hundred levels. You had gotten maybe halfway through? A third if you rounded down. And it listed your level at 40. Underneath had your attack power, defense, stamina, agility, and your special moves. 
You were weirdly well rounded. Three out of five bars for everything, except the SM, which only had one. 
But, you hadn’t put that there! 
You quickly flipped it back and forth before you went to the very, very last page in the diary. On the back cover the ink finally finished filling out. A progress bar. 
You stared at it for a long, long time, trying to work over everything was happening. 
So. 
Now you knew what you could do. Just not how to do it. 
You were out of options at this point. You were just going to have to suck it up. 
You were going to have to ask someone for help directly. 
 ~
Shinra looks up from his work when you plop into the seat across from him, your arms crossed across your chest. It would be a lie to say you’re not nervous. You’re not even totally sure how you’re supposed to ask these questions, but you don’t have any other way to go about this any more. 
You tried the diary. You’ve spent two and a half days trying to get your ignition ability to work without help. Admittedly, you hadn’t even know how your ability was meant to manifest at the time, but even now you can’t get it to work.  
“Oh, hey there,” Shinra offers you an awkward smile. You grin right back, trying to project as much happy-go-lucky-nothing-wrong-here-!-  as you can. It’s made easier by the fact that prior to a few days ago, no one here had known you as anything more than a passing acquaintance. 
“Hi Shinra. I’ve got a weird question for you,” you announce bluntly. 
Shinra looks a little more wary, and he’s starting to smile. 
“Oh yeah? What is it?” 
“Ah, it’s pretty simple actually. How do you activate your abilities?” 
“Huh?” 
“How do you-” 
“No, I heard you,” he holds up his hand to cup you off. “It’s just a weird question.” 
“Hey man, I told you it was gonna be one.” 
You stare at each other for a long minute before Shinra huffs and looks towards the ceiling. He might not be the best person to ask. Maybe you should ask Maki, but Shinra makes you feel secure and you trust him more than anyone else just yet. 
“How do I activate my abilities? I dunno. I guess for me it’s more like I have to turn it off.” 
You tilt your head, listening intently to Shinra. 
“When I was a kid… I had a hard time controlling my flames. They started up suddenly, and burned through my shoes and pants. I ended up wearing these extinguisher boots, and shorts, so I wouldn’t destroy everything around me. It took a long time to figure out what was going on, but someone finally explained it to me. For a lot of third generation pyrokinetics, the thing that triggers out ability is the memory of the first time they happened.” 
You falter. “But, wait. Didn’t yours activate when-” 
“Yeah,” he cuts in, shooting you a grin that’s anything but happy. Your heart clenches in your chest. 
“Oh god, Shinra…” That meant that every time he used his powers, he had to remember his mother’s ‘death’ and his brother's disappearance. He had to think of pain and fear and grief, and he used his flames so often-
“It’s okay,” he cuts in. You can’t imagine what kind of face you’re making. “It was painful at first, and it still is, but it’s a good reminder for what I’m fighting for, and why I’m working so hard towards that goal. I will find a way to stop human combustion. I will make sure no one else ever has to grieve the way I did.”  
“Shinra,” you say softly. “You really are something.” 
Shinra tries to shrug off your words, but his smile is a little more genuine. “I just wanna be a hero.” 
“You will be,” you promise him. It’s all you can do not to tell him the truth then and there. His mother is alive, and suffering. His brother is alive, and suffering. 
They need help. 
But you hold your tongue. You don’t have any way of proving it to him, and there’s already so many things that are different here than they were in the game, or the show. Your presence being one of them. 
You let out a breath. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up something so painful.” 
Shinra shakes his head. “What made you ask?” 
“Honestly?” you rubbed the back of your neck, “I’ve been having trouble using my abilities since we left the academy. I thought maybe if I asked you how you do it, I might be able to figure it out.” 
Shinra looks startled. “Really? I guess that explains why you haven’t used them in the last few days. You never really held back when we were training.” 
“Sorry to disappoint?” you offer lamely. “I just can’t figure it out.” 
“Well… Have you thought about when you first activated your powers?” 
“That’s just it,” you say sadly. “I don’t remember when it happened at all. So that’s not really an option for me.” 
“Oh.” 
You frown, and draw in on yourself. You can’t help it. You have no way to activate the powers you now know you have, and you’re in a bad place to be powerless in general. Not to mention these people are going to expect you to help, and you can’t help, and if you can’t help then- 
Shinra’s hands land on your shoulders, startling you. It’s a warm touch, one that sinks into you with comfort and kindness. Shinra looks seriously at you, his red eyes bright and intent. 
“Whatever happens, I know you’ll figure it out, and I’ll help you as much as I can. Even if I have to protect you in missions for now. So put your trust in me for now, okay?” 
Your heart thumps hard in your chest and heat spreads through your body. It grows hotter and hotter, centering somewhere in your chest and your back. 
Light blooms behind you and you barely turn your head to see a flicker of white fire over your shoulders, wings stretching over your back. They’re small, going no further down than you’re elbows and no further up than your jaw, pale and white and glowing. 
You recognize the feeling in your chest with a start. 
It’s care. Friendship. You want to help them. You want to fight for them and earn and keep their trust. The flickering embers of love bloom into a fire across your shoulders and flutter with undistinguished feather’s. 
~ ~
A/N So! Phoenix is my favorite power, but everyone else seemed inclined towards the Sun Lance, so I smashed them both together!
If you’re so inclined, let me know what you think :D
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rainbowrider1290 · 3 years
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Part 3 of my take on a genshin impact circus AU: Bennett, Fischl, and Razor as a beast-taming trio. Backstory under the cut.
Benny:
Bennett was adopted into a research team of zoologists (what in canon would be the adventurer’s guild). The ones that go out into the world and get their hands dirty in studying animals. He loved interacting with the animals, and though research was interesting, he always spent more time with the animal caretakers and vets than with the researchers so he’s extremely acquainted with their habits, how to feed them, when to keep them in captivity versus the wild, and how to regulate their environment properly when in captivity. He has this knack for interacting with them, even the big ones.
As for how he got into the circus: Well first off he got wind of how poorly these animals are treated in some circuses and got into the circuses for the caretaking purposes. He would hop from circus to circus to take care of the animals and show the performers how to Not Harm Them (like tigers jumping through hoops on fire??? Nuh-uh. Whips, tight collars, and muzzles? We don’t do that here). He certifies himself as a vet after a while of this.
More time passes and he realizes this is a bigger problem than can be solved by himself. He’s been kicked out of a few places and for a while had terrible luck finding work because some of his previous employers didn’t want to spend the extra resources on animal care (lacking funds and lacking planning for it) and spread word of a legal liability of a vet.
Aether and Lumine catch word of this and track him down to a little animal clinic where he works as an intern. They offer him a spot in their circus bc they’ve been wanting to introduce animals into the mix but want to plan correctly (like how many animals they can support properly). Long story short, Bennett gets into the circus and works with Yanfei to actually become a legal liability to the circuses not treating animals correctly, and he himself will take as many of those animals as he can into his corner of the circus and send the rest to his dads (since circus animals tend to be rare breeds and his dads have a branch of research on captive animals). And finally he can take care of his animals and show the world that you don’t have to harm animals for a good show. Mostly big ones like elephants, big cats, and camels.
He’ll do shows more like synchronizing movements between the animals and tricks like they do with marine animals. They do have cages for transport but they’re spacious and they take frequent breaks for physical activity. Benny will only take the animals that have been domesticated their whole lives and will send the ones fit to live in the wild to his dads to set free.
Fischl:
Fischl was born into the circus life and was that kid who would stop people from killing bugs, take them in a glass container, and set them outside. She regularly patches up the birds with broken wings she finds outside.
Def spent more time outside hanging with the birds than with the people in the circus, since birds aren’t technically a circus animal. Oz is an old old vulture (or falcon, I haven’t decided yet. If anyone can pinpoint his species please let me know) that has taken a liking to Fischl and so no matter where her circus goes, she sees Oz there to hang and bring her injured birds.
She once asked if birds could be circus animals and was told that they tried but it didn’t work out. She gets into reading the obscure materials on birds as circus animals and deduces that they just weren’t taking care of them right. She brings up this idea to the circus manager and essentially gets the door slammed in her face. The last time she asks about it, it’s to her parents and is told to find something realistic to do in the circus and forget about the birds.
From then she sees all the other kids her age in the circus training to be in the show in some way or another and hears what they say about her “head in the clouds”. So she starts training with different branches of the circus (gymnastics-based, death-defying stunts, fire, etc.) and she... genuinely considers leaving to pursue another profession.
Then as her circus is about to get on the road, she catches wind of a circus performing in the town they’re just about to leave. One that uses animals, and since her circus never used animals due to lacking funding, she goes for a night out of curiosity and on the off-chance that they use birds. She noticed that this wasn’t anything like she’d heard about or read about circus animals, so she sends them a letter addressed to the person running the animal part of the show asking about birds in the circus.
Benny’s response boils down to “well it’d be a little complicated but what’d you have in mind?” so they start exchanging letters and the next time the two circuses are near each other, she goes on over and brings all her letters after a show and sees how gentle Bennett is with the animals. They get to talking and Benny takes her to meet the animals, telling her about how he does things while she tells him about how she’d go about introducing birds to a circus.
Aether and Lumine hear about this and before she knows it, Fischl’s being told to get her birds ready, she has an audition in a month (spoiler alert: she passes). Her act is made up of all kinds of birds. Very few of them are housed on the circus for very long since she’s never liked the idea of birds in cages. The birds she uses are all the injured ones in the process of rehabilitation brought to her by Oz. She also keeps the ones that won’t fly again or never learned to find food despite her and Oz doing their best to socialize them. Those that don’t perform are excellent at taking care of the newbies and overall helping Fischl out. 
At any given point she’ll be seen with about 3-5 birds of different sizes on her and she’ll always smell a bit like worms and seeds of various kinds. She expands on her first-aid abilities from watching Bennett, and in turn offers knowledge on birds and how to deal with smaller animals with different bone structures, metabolisms, and cardiovascular systems.
Razor:
Razor’s story is a lot simpler. Backstory is essentially the same as in canon, except he doesn’t meet Lisa right away, and spends a little more time with Varka learning to read and write at the most basic level and fight hand-to-hand. Instead of an abyss mage attacking them, it’s a group of hunters. During this fight, a lot of the wolves are gravely injured but he takes one of them and runs into town looking for help.
After a show, Bennett and Fischl are on their way to see Bennett’s dads to take some birds that can’t handle the circus life but also aren’t fit to be free. They happen to be in the town where Bennett trained to be a vet and they stop by the clinic to say hello. Inside they see a boy dressed in rags and covered in dirt cradling an unconscious wolf pup, trying to get the attention of one of the clerks. One of the clerks tries to help him but the communication barrier is not helping them and the boy seems distressed on top of that, pointing and growling with the word “help” thrown in here and there, so Bennett steps in bc he knows some of these people in the clinic.
Bennett comes in and he and Fischl follow him out to where the rest of the pack is. Fischl brings her birds bc they’re her babies in case anyone was wondering. They perform first aid the best they can given the conditions, and manage to save a good chunk of the wolves, but a good chunk of them still die.
The pack splits up into two. On the one hand, the older wolves take whoever’s still alive and resume their activities in the forest. On the other, Razor has this opportunity to go and find out whether he’s a human or a wolf, and the little wolf pup he brought to the clinic goes with him because she’s too injured to go with the others. Same for a few other wolves.
So they go and the only place they have to stay is the circus bc Bennett and Fischl want to monitor the wolves a little more, so they spend the night. Next morning, Razor gives Fischl and Bennett a basket of meat, berries, and seeds to feed their respective animals and they realize Razor has some valuable skills, so he ends up staying upon receiving the OK from Lumine and Aether and telling Lisa and Ningguang for administrative purposes.
Because wolves inherently do not do well with loud noises and circus settings, Razor is very off-put by the idea of performance. Not to mention that he himself probs wouldn’t feel comfortable in the performance setting, so he sticks to the background (even learning the basics of tech) and gets really good at gathering resources from food for the animals to helping Oz bring back injured birds and track other injured animals. He and Oz interact a lot, which helps his friendship with Fischl as he was initially closer to Bennett.
His relationship with Lisa after a while can be summarized as “focus up you little monsters. not you Razor. You’re an angel and we’re thrilled you’re here”
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✨Update✨
So, we did take more time to talk about the elephant in the room, and you will find out why in this update :D
The day after we found the tiny box, Miss oh honey just, OUT OF THE BLUE, decided to put on a suit
I had ONE OF THE BIGGEST GAY PANICS OF MY LIFE
She just doesn't look pretty with it
No no nonononono
SHE COMPLETELY ROCKS IT
Just- HOW DO YOU GO FROM CUTE BEAM TO SEXY LIKE THAT!?!?! WHAT KIND OF POWER IS THAT!?!?!?!
Hold up- DID I JUST GOT GAYER!?!?
HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!?!?!?
If I die of gay overdose I just want my final words to be:
MY DEATH IS ON YOU MISS OH HONEY!!!
ANYWAY, as I was being seduced Roommate finally woke up!!!
Me and Miss oh honey were just being gay on the sofa that is on the left of the sofa Roommate was sleeping on
I can only imagine how gay and confusing Roommates POV most have been, like, they were peacefully sleeping and when they wake up, they see Miss oh honey in a suit, me sitting on her lap, while we have a gay moment
Fun times :D
To call our attention, they pretended to clear their throat loudly so we could hear
We didn't
They tried to make sounds with things around them
We still didn't hear
We were too entranced, too focused on each other's gaze to notice anything around us, it was a really soft moment that part of me wishes it lasted forever
I never expirienced something like this, we were simply looking in each others eyes, but it was as if I could read her mind as much as she could read mine, we didn't need any words to express what we wanted or needed at the moment, we simply knew it
It felt like magic of some sort
Unfortunately it had to end because Roommate was getting desperate with the itch on their arms
When we snapped back to reality, I got up, picked the lotion and put it on Roommate's arms
They were pouting, me and Miss oh honey looked at each other then at them, and I asked
"Why are you mad?"
*insert very exaggerated dramatic voice*
"Because YOU BETRAYED ME!!! YOU WERE BEING GAY BEHIND MY BACK!!!! HOW ABSOLUTELY CRUEL OF YOU TO DO THAT ME!!!"
They kept being overly dramatic and me and Miss oh honey were rolling on the floor XD
The day went as normally as it can get with me and Roommate dying of gay panic, Miss oh honey in suit is too good for us
Nobody mentioned the little box or the octopus, wich was odd cause Miss oh honey was pretty keen on talking bout it
When I went to cook dinner, I called Miss oh honey to help set the table, I closed the door behind us so Roommate wouldn't hear and started talking
"Why didn't you talk about it?"
"Bout wha- Ohh... Right that... Look I jus-"
"No excuses! I'm not saying you need to go and tell them, I just want to know what is holding you back"
"I- I just- It's complicated... I just feel like I shouldn't and BEFORE YOU SAY ANYTHING I'm not saying this because I don't love them or anything of the sort, I just- I don't- I donno I just- I don't feel like I should- Like, I'm not- I'm scared..."
I didn't say anything, I simply held her hand and panciently waited until she was confortable to talk again, at her own pace
"Since we were little kids... They were were always there to protect me, it didn't matter if they had punched me or only said something mean to me, as long as it hurt me, Roommate was always there to protect me... I knew that no matter what I would be safe as long as I was with them, and, strangly enough... I felt safer in their company then at my own house since, my parents always wanted to keep the facade of the perfect middle class familly so they let Roommate be my friend out of pity for them since they were an orphan..."
"Hold up a bit... Roommate is an orphan!?"
"Yeah! I even got the chance to meet their siblings before they got separated"
"Siblings!?"
"Yep! Two baby twins!"
"Wow... I need to talk with Roommate about that someday, but right now, lets get back to were we left off"
"Right right... Like I was saying, Roommate was, and still is, my knight in shining armor... They are my protector... My hero... But, I don't want them to be the one scraficing themselves because I'm week or something... We are both worthy of as much protection as the other and- I think thats whats holding me back"
"Well... I get that! And, well... You should talk with them about that and-"
"There is no need to, I heard everything"
We were both looking at them with our eyes as wide as a dears caught in a cars light in the middle of the night
"Look, just because I got my arms burned doesn't meen I got def! And uuhh... I- I didn't know you felt like that..."
We both stayed looking at them not knowing wtf to do!!!
WE JUST MUTE!!!! WE MUTE NOW!!!
As we were being two mute idiots, they proceded
"You know I- I never did that cause I thought you were weak or anything... Cause, weeelll... I just wanted to show off most of time when we were little kids with our little problems and, as I grew older, I stoped doing it for showing off to one of the prettiest girls in the world and started doing it to make you feel safe... I just wanted you to feel protected and taken care of and, I guess I was sorta acting like a big sister at first... But then your parents kicked you out of the house and- Well... We all know were it got us to, don't we?"
I was going to answer, but then Miss oh honey walked close to them, pulled their shirt to make them lean in and kissed them, proceeding to say
"Yeah, in marriage"
My jaw dropped so low I thought it was GOING TO FALL OFF
AND ROOMMATE WASN'T ANY BETTER THAN ME!!!!
THAT WAS- JUST- JESUS MISS OH HONEY!!!!
They were there having a moment so I thought I would go back to cooking, but when I turned around THEY BOTH GRABED ME AND SANDWICHED ME!!!!
Picture this, Im the tiniest here, so I had a big strong woman holding from behind, and a woman slightly taller than me wearing a suit and giving me nose bleeds
Needless to say I COMPLETELY FAINTED RIGHT THERE!!!
GAY OVERDOSE IS GONNA KILL ME ONE OF THESE DAYS!!!
In the middle of my panic, Roommate turns me around, holds my face and asks
"What bout your anwser?"
I followed Miss oh honeys steps and anwsered
"It's a yes you dummy!!! Also, aren't dying inside with the pain you most be feeling from your arms???"
"I'm alright actually! The lotion did wonders with the pain and itching!"
"I'm glad but please let go of me now if you want to have a decent dinner"
They both let go and went to set the table while I cooked
I will have another update soon since we never have a fucking rest around here "-w-
Hope you are having a great day/afternoon/evening/night :3
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yukipri · 4 years
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On Deuce, Part 1 - a One Piece Mermaid AU Text Story
Alrighty, here's a story thing on Deuce!
My goal for this story? series? thing, is to not just give everyone a better idea of who Deuce is, but also bring up other Novel A characters and events that are relevant to the Mermaid AU (and there are several), especially for those who have not read the novels. Also want to give some info on what the hell Ace was doing in his Three Years between when he first left Dawn at 17, and him restarting his journey together with Lu.
I am defs in no way going to retell Novel A (if you wanna read them, the official English translations are out through Viz), but there are defs some major changes that occur in Ace's past as a result of Lu being a mermaid, that I feel are relevant and will tie in to some future decisions.
WARNINGS for this section:
*I have not read the English translation of Novel A, only the original Japanese, and as such names etc. may be inconsistent.
*This section contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Novel A volume 2, specifically about the identity of one of the novel only charas. If you want to read the novel without being spoiled, you may want to hold off on this, but if you don't care, go ahead!
*Just a lotta Deuce being introspective, he's just that kind of guy.
*Hint of implied AceLu
~~
Three years ago, Deuce met Ace on a deserted island, and they formed the Spade pirates together. Deuce was Ace's first crew mate on his first adventure, and he finds it poetic that he's also his first on his next, a journey all the way back to the starting point.
Deuce, in many ways, is Ace’s opposite. While Ace was the Spades' fire, their Sun, the charismatic leader who drew them together and whose flames fueled them forward, Deuce was the voice of reason and responsibility. Deuce was their strategist, their navigator, and their doctor all in one, a true First Mate who gave more orders than the captain to keep their crew functioning. If Ace was their beating heart, Deuce was their backbone.
Ace loved the Spades, and the Spades loved their captain, love him still, even after joining the Whitebeards. But Ace also carries darkness, and secrets that he decided he didn't want to burden his crew with, both for his benefit and theirs.
Ace has two major secrets: one, that he’s the Pirate King’s son, and two, that his “little brother” is a female mermaid.
The first, only Deuce knew among the Spades. He found out on accident, back on that deserted island where they first met.
Deuce likes to think that the rest of their crew would have accepted Ace regardless, that their faith wouldn't be so easily shaken by their captain's heritage. But at the same time, he both understands and sees wisdom in Ace choosing to remain silent. Knowledge of even the mere existence of the continuation of the Pirate King's bloodline is something that the World Government would and has killed for. Ace doesn't want to subject his crew to that, and to be honest, Deuce doesn't either.
But one other on their crew knew Ace's second secret, regarding the identity of his younger brother.
When Banshee, the lone woman on their crew, revealed that she was a mermaid, Ace's reaction wasn't that of a typical pirate. Their other crew members were a mix of awe at her tail, and rude disappointment that their mermaid crew mate was a plump older woman and not a sexy young babe.
But Deuce watched Ace, and saw his eyes widen, glued to the shimmering rich green of the mermaid's tail, and Deuce knew that he was being reminded of a specific person.
Deuce was already in the room when Ace asks Banshee to join them to talk in private. Deuce makes to leave, but Ace gestures for him to stay--after all, Deuce already knows what they're going to talk about.
"Auntie, sorry for calling you in here all of a sudden," Ace begins, using the nickname the crew had adopted for her.
"This is about me being a mermaid, isn't it," she says bluntly. "Is that going to be a problem, or...?"
"No, no, not at all!" Ace quickly holds out his hands placatingly, eyes wide.
Deuce doesn't blame Banshee for her wariness; he's heard more than enough about the dangers of mermaids out at sea, especially around pirates. Which, is probably what Ace wants to talk about anyway.
"It's...well, this is less me wanting to ask you questions, and more me wanting to let you know something," Ace begins, and Banshee frowns. The crew knows the basics of their captain's origins, and has had their ears chatted off about his love for his brother--but he doesn't talk much about himself much.
"It's about my little brother--"
Banshee heaves a huge sigh, all tension leaving her shoulders, and she throws an are you fucking kidding me glance at Deuce, who also sighs but minutely shakes his head to redirect her incredulous gaze back to Ace. Because well yeah, it is about Luffy, but it's actually serious this time.
"Well, you know my little brother Luffy," Ace begins again. "I don't tell a lot of people this, and actually other than you, only Deuce here knows. But...he, is actually a she, and she's, well, a mermaid."
Deuce watches the information sink in, because it clearly wasn't what Banshee was expecting.
"Is that why you caller her 'younger brother'?" she finally asks.
"Well that...that's a bit complicated, actually. That's not the reason why she's my younger brother. But I realized it's convenient, so I've just been going with it."
"I was going to say, if it's intentional, that's awfully clever of you, captain," she smiles teasingly, and Ace sputters while Deuce snorts. Banshee has a point, because Deuce actually had been the one who'd mentioned the convenience of the title 'little brother' in protecting Luffy's identity. But, he keeps quiet for now.
"So, yeah, I just wanted to let you know that well, that's where I stand regarding mermaids." Ace shrugs, then scritches his cheek, looking away. He's always awkward about Feelings talk, but it needed to be said, and Deuce feels proud of him.
Because mermaids are so incredibly vulnerable above sea level, surrounded by humans. While young maidens are the most targeted, coveted by slavers as a free ticket to wealth, power, and connections to even the Celestial Dragons, even an older woman like Banshee might face discrimination and danger. Ace had wanted to make Banshee feel safe and secure on his ship, and revealed his own familial connections to give his words weight.
The woman smiles fondly at Ace, much like she might a son, and ruffles his hair as Ace blinks dumbly. "Thank you, captain," she says. "I knew I had a good feeling about you, before I asked to join this crew. It's not often a mermaid joins a pirate crew, you know?"
"You surprised me, I didn't know mermaids could have legs," Ace says honestly, eyes brimming with blatant innocent curiosity as they flick shyly to her feet, and Banshee ruffles Ace's hair harder. "It's my first time meeting a mermaid other than Lu."
"Mmm, well, she seems to be in good hands, with an older brother who knows how to be discreet about her, even if it's only by following Deuce's plans," she says, and Deuce guffaws while Ace buries his face in his hands, because of course she'd already guessed. "But well, I know now. So you can ask me anything you'd like, and tell me about her, if you want."
With Banshee's invitation, Ace pounces on the opportunity, and Deuce listens in even as he continues writing in his journal, occasionally taking notes in the margins when their their conversation gets interesting. Banshee tells them how merfolk tails split when they reach thirty, allowing them to live as humans on land. She tries to convince Ace to keep his brother hidden until that age, when mermaids are far safer and less attractive to slavers, but Ace shakes his head. It was hard enough convincing her to stay behind this time. She'll be leaping off that island at seventeen, no matter what I say.
Eventually, someone comes banging on the door to pitifully beg Banshee for food.
"Thank you, Auntie," Ace says as they get up to rejoin the crew outside.
"You talk to me again whenever you want, captain. And I'm always ears to hear more about your darling Luffy." She says the last part with a knowing little wink, before stepping out, leaving Ace blinking with confusion.
Deuce sighs, because Ace can be oblivious at times, and clearly doesn't know how he looks when he talks about Luffy. And Banshee just found out that said Luffy's a girl, a mermaid, and unrelated to Ace by blood.
To be fair, Deuce's pretty confident that Ace's feelings wouldn't be any different even if Luffy was a guy and human, but he gets where Banshee's coming from. Even if it still seems far too early for Ace to come to any realizations about himself.
~~
~~
~~
Bc YEAH, Ace had a mermaid on his crew, so of course that is Majorly Relevant to AU.
Prolly jumping right to Whitebeards next update for this series, whee~
As always, thank you so much for reading, and an extra thank you so much to anyone who can spare me a few words of thoughts! ;A;
❀ ❀ Send YukiPri an Ask! ❀ ❀
~This ask has been added to the Mermaid AU Text Headcanons Compilation post~
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sparkles-and-trash · 4 years
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South Park Main 5, Headcanons Masterpost  ~
Stan Marsh 
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Looks: 
hair is actually nice and somewhat floppy naturally, but because he wears a hat most of the time, it’s usually flat and a little greasy kshdhsd
hair is that blue-ish black color
eyes is piercing ice blue 
skin is light, kind porcelain like, but he also tans really fast?
soft sweaters are the only thing he’ll wear from early autumn to late spring
in summer he’ll literally only wear band shirts and flannels lol 
Personality and General Trivia:
totally cares more for animals than most people let’s be real 
sometimes he struggles with seeing things from others point of view and ha can come across as a little self centered 
he is aware of it tho and tries to be better at it 
his instagram is filled with Sparky haha 
let’s Sparky sleep in his bed every single night even tho Sharon tells him not to 
likes reading and writing, has a tiny obsession with dark themes and Lovecraftian stuff 
he and Kenny volunteers at the local pet shelter and homeless shelter together 
the pet shelter was Stan’s idea, and the homeless shelter was Kenny’s 
wants to be edgy but is really just very soft
“Kyle said...” 
believes everything Kyle tells him lol 
enjoys video games a lot, prefers single player, story based ones tho 
also still enjoys boardgames a lot, and when the big group isn’t up for hit, he, Tweek, Jimmy, Butters and Cartman groups together to nerd it out 
has clinical depression, but is managing it with help of a therapist, his mom and friends
sometimes things gets pretty dark, but he is getting better at reaching out and asking for help in those times 
Friendships:
like I mentioned above, he struggles a bit with seeing things for other’s point of view 
but he is aware of his flaws and is trying to be better
can get a little bit caught up in his own drama, but listens when his friends tells him he needs to get over himself 
will always stand up for his friends, especially if they’re not there to do it themselves 
when he starts getting closer with Butters in early high school he gets really upset when he realizes how much he gets shit-talked 
enjoys spending time with his friends individually, probably the most of the group, and takes initiative to do so a lot 
which is very important to Kenny, since he tends to feel a little overlooked sometimes, and it makes their friendship really strong 
same with Butters, except Butters doesn’t usually doesn’t mind mainly being in a group, but the first few times and Stan hangs out alone it’s obvious he really appreciates it 
Family:
daddy issues 
sorry I don’t make the rules lol 
has a decent relationship with Sharon tho
she’s a good mom 
and he wants to be a good son 
Shelly is still kinda angry and scary
she keeps the “only I can beat you up bro” attitude and there is secretly mutual respect there
but we don’t talk about that!!! 
Ships and relationships:
okay so my main ships for him are stutters (Butters), stenny (Kenny) and Style (Kyle) 
my fav is stutters tho 
I usually head canon him as bi or pan, but as with everyone in SP, I’m open to different interpretations if different Au’s and stories! 
I just really like the idea of them learning to balance facing their issues AND celebrate the good things in life together 
I def think he can be a bit insecure in relationships, struggling with feeling like he’s not enough, and would need a partner that naturally will be affirming and positive 
that’s not to say he’s super needy or clingy, he’s just a bit insecure 
but I really think he would truly be a good partner 
he’s caring, kind and very appreciative 
which is again why I really like him with Butters offh 
Kenny McCormick 
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Looks:
sandy blonde hair that’s always messy and floppy/softly curled 
teeth is kind of crooked due to lack of funds for braces 
his front teeth are kinda big and has a significant gap 
lots and lots of freckles man 
all over his face, shoulders, back, hands and arms 
tans fast 
I actually really like him with brown eyes? like, soulful deep brown eyes 
but also very, very clear blue ones, like almost unnatural (yes that’s a mysterious thing) 
medium tall 
wears his hoodies, usually with the hood up, no matter if it’s freezing or a heatwave
not conventionally attractive, but charming looking lol 
likes to wear some eyeliner every now and then
and nail polish, but it’s like super clumsily put on and always chipped
Personality and General Trivia:
falls asleep in class a lot, but always seems to know the answer if the teacher asks him something
also has decent grades
I think he’s way smarter than he gives himself credit for, both socially and school wise 
the therapist of the groups 
actually, the therapist of the whole school 
knows a lot of secrets due to this, but he always, ALWAYS keeps them 
I see him as very friendly and approachable, but terribly hard to get close with
lots and lots of walls, man
very much an observer type? 
quietly stays in the background if that’s an option
but if he is talked too, or feels like he has something to really contribute to in a conversation he’ll jump in and be comfortable talking and taking up space if he is with friends or people he knows 
if not, he’ll just stay in the background with that.... look on his face that just makes you know he knows more than he says 
works at Tweek’s parents coffee shop, is kinda close with Tweek because of this 
zones out a lot 
“…what?” 
can fall asleep anywhere
Friendships:
is pretty close friends with Butters! 
Butters used to have a little crush on him, but Kenny didn’t find out until years later lol 
he also has a lot of patience with Cartman compared to the others
which is why Cartman actually cares when Kenny sets him in his place 
likes learning new things, and does that with Kyle a lot! 
both school and homework stuff, and things like cooking and other homey stuff, the two of them really bond with this 
him and Stan volunteer together, and I already mentioned, and that time means a lot to Kenny 
since he works with Tweek, the two of them are pretty close and good friends 
is the one of the main boys who gets along the best with Craig and those guys
actually hangs out with them from time to time, so does Butters
it low-key drives the others crazy
Family:
I often like to think his parents would keep having these bursts where they try to get their shit together? 
and it’s slow, and one step back and two backwards, but the fact that they’re trying at all means a lot to the kids after years of them... not 
I can also see Kevin stepping up and taking more charge, Kevin get’s way too little love in this fandom! 
Kenny usually never fights with his sibs
but when he does it’s with Karen, usually because he’s worried about her and it’s nor pretty
none of them can stay mad at each other for long tho
Kevin trying to be all “big brother” and kinda failing because he is chaotic, but he really wants to do right and Karen and Kenny knows that and appreciates it 
Ships and relationships:
ohhh kay here we go, unpopular opinions ahead! 
first, my main Kenny ships are Tokenny (Token x Kenny) and Stenny 
rn Tokenny is my main, I love the potential dynamics, both with their personalties and backgrounds and families 
I tend to head canon him as pan or bisexual, and demiromatic 
I know the demiromantic part is... controversial, at best 
but hear me out! 
I see him being very comfortable with discussing sexual stuff, and being attracted to someone physically is never something he feels awkward or bad about 
but when it comes to more emotional connections, he is way more awkward and fumbling 
for those who doesn’t know, a demiromatic person (like myself! surprise!) won’t have crushes or romantic feelings for someone they don’t already have some form of emotional bond with! We can still feel sexual attraction tho, and some of us are comfortable with casual sexual encounters (like me!) and others are not, and both are very valid! 
I usually have two ways of writing him 
either him being comfortable having casual sexual interactions, but struggling with the romantic aspect and having to figure out how this works for him 
OR 
him having some trauma related to debating sexually very early, thinking he was all ready and it was just sex, but getting his emotions caught up in it and being very heartbroken and confused, and therefore having issues with being intimate with people for a while 
I mix them up depending on the story, but the first one is usually my go-to! 
Kyle Broflovski 
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Looks:
he still covers his hair a lot, either with hats or hoods? 
because I really see him being insecure about it 
it’s a medium sort of red, and like, really curly and fluffy 
not frizzy, big like... big 
I usually give him green eyes, but I also could see him with a light brown or hazel! 
some light freckles on his face that only really shows up if he’s spent time in the sun 
pretty tall, kind of lanky 
d i m p l e s 
Personality and General Trivia:
big nerd energy
in every way, board games, video games, loves school, like genuinely, enjoys studying for tests, loves fantasy books, the longer and more complicated the better 
co-captain of the debate team with Wendy 
is good with arguments unless he gets too passionate on the subject, or if someone knows his weak points and uses them to tick him off
it’s usually Cartman  
his mom wants him to go to an Ivy League but honestly he just wants to go to the same one in Denver as Stan, Butters and Cartman are planning on, and now that Kenny is also considering it he seriously think he’ll die if all his friends go to the same college without him
he struggles with FOMO, which is kind of an issue since he’s a busy guy, and some of his friends are not lol 
if any one of these kids become a jock, it’s def Kyle with his basketball change my mind- 
but not like, a letterman wearing fuckboy type of jock, but like, is obsessed with his sport and his team and works really hard to do well type of jock
Friendships:
very loyal 
he and Stan walks Sparky together at least twice a week, just to be sure they’re always caught up with each other even when they’re busy with school, sports and dating
yeah they’re still super best friends 
when they started high school he got closer to Wendy as she’s also on the debate team, in all of his AP classes and they share a lot of the same interests  
they’re still good friends, but nothing more
the first time Cartman got really drunk was at a party freshman year, and at the time everyone was pretty fed up with him, and he ended up crying and Kyle found him, and Cartman thinks Kyle doesn’t remember, but he does 
that was the first night Kyle really kinda understood why Cartman was the way he was, and even though he still thinks he’s a dick at times, he tries to remember everyone have a story, and to give people time 
but he often gets too riled up to remember that lol 
good pals with Jimmy, they share a lot of interests in fantasy stuff and have the same humor 
he also start to go along well with Craig when they are around middle school age, but they’re both kinda too stubborn to admit they’re friends until a year later lol  
Family:
even tho Sheila is pretty overbearing and can be too much, he is a mommy’s boy deep down 
tense relationship with his dad 
enjoys cooking, so that’s where he spends a lot of time with his mom! 
tries his best to keep up with Ike and his life
sometimes he is a tad cringy when doing so, but Ike appreciates the gesture 
Ike is pretty confident and strong in himself so he doesn’t care if Kyle is a bit awkward lol 
the type of brothers who genuinely enjoys spending time together 
Ships and relationships:
I like Style, Kyman, K2 and Kyvid! 
I think he’d be a late bloomer when it comes to love and dating
struggles with opening up and letting himself feel these things 
I often think of him as biromantic asexual, but I’m not always set on it! 
he’d enjoy traditional dinner and a movie type of dates a lot, such a nerd 
Eric Cartman 
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Looks:
keeps his hair cut pretty short and styled
has heterochromia iridium (different colored eyes), one blue and one brown
also he has a real nice smile when it’s a genuine one
which is rare but like 
it happens 
is kinda insecure about his weight and tries to compensate with always having the newest stuff and pretending not to care
sometimes tries to diet in secret
he isn’t huge anymore, but is still sort of broad, and isn’t skinny, but like..
kinda bulky, if he wears the right type of clothes it’s hard to see if he’s chubby or buff
but he is def chubby 
Personality and General Trivia:
spends way to much time on reddit arguing with randoms
angry gamer, will call you a slur on voice chat 
after almost getting dropped by his friends in middle school he tries a little harder to be a more decent person
still an asshole at heart, but like, an asshole who sometimes cares about some people 
always tells people that’s he’s seen that meme before, even when he hasn’t 
nothing is ever his fault and the only ones who can get him to admit he’s wrong are Kenny and, very, very rarely, Kyle
he wears supreme hoodies for a full year of High School and stands in line all night for the new ones and never shuts up about how he is the first in South Park to have the new stuff 
Kenny finds it hilarious to buy the fake supreme stickers and put then on his own worn out hoodies
Kyle makes it his main goal in life to put things (everything from used gym socks to old food he finds in his locker) in Cartmans hoods and see how long it takes for him to notice 
can’t handle alcohol, is constantly being teased for it
sloppy drunk lol 
one of the main reasons the other bothers with Cartman trough middle school, when he is at his worst, is because of his big basement, the old Coon Lair, who got a big renovation around 7th grade and is an awesome, private hangout spot with a big TV and wifi and gaming systems
Friendships:
constantly says he hates his friends but would die if everyone left him 
is secretly terribly jealous of Kyle, both his closeness to Stan, his basketball skills, his grades and his family
but they had that thing in Freshman year when Kyle found him drunk, alone and sad, and Cartman himself barely remembers it, and doesn’t think Kyle does because he never mentioned it 
but he does
so much tension there, but also co-dependency 
sees Kenny and Butters as his best friends, and knows deep down neither of them feel that way about him and it secretly kills him 
is in the same board game group with Stan 
is low-key terrified of Tweek lol 
Family:
big mommy issues 
but also very protective of her
I really enjoy the AU/headcanon that Liane marries Clyde’s dad 
it’s not like, the only version I like, but I put it in as many au’s and works of mine as I can 
I def think both boys would be mortified right away 
but Clyde comes around first, because he really wants a brother, even if that brother have to be Cartman 
Cartman would never admit it, but after some time he really starts to see Clyde as a brother and genuinely cares for him 
Ships and relationships:
I mainly see Cartman as gay 
sometimes I start of AU’s and stories with him not being out to himself or anyone else tho, I think that whole journey for him will be very interesting and help him grow as a person 
I def think he’d have a few girlfriends before he comes out tho? 
he can be very charming when he wants too yanno 
my only Cartman ship is kyman atm, but I’m def open to explore more of
Leopold Butters Stotch 
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Looks:
I really really really like T A L L Butters??? 
like tall and gangly and adorable 
I know it’s very popular to head canon that he bleaches his hair, but I like to think he has very light blond air naturally! 
keeps it short on the sides and longer on top, with cute ass curls 
soft sky blue eyes 
also dyes his bangs light blue in high school!! 
Pete the goth helps him because he is a pro of dying bangs 
I like to think he’d be into pastel grunge, and keep his love for Hello Kitty and Sanrio etc, but still be a bit more... edgy? 
Personality and General Trivia:
one of those people who’s friendly with almost everyone
but that doesn’t mean he’s friends with them, yanno? 
gets drunk from one wine cooler 
loves the theater and is in the drama club, but likes to be behind the stage, not on it 
wants to be a director one day 
watches Netflix on his phone every single time he has any time to spare, because he’s always binging a show
is usually pretty positive and kind, gives people the benefit of the doubt 
but can be very stubborn, and if he has decided he dislikes or doesn’t trust someone, it’s almost impossible to change his mind 
Friendships:
Butters put up with Cartman for so long because he genuinely thinks he can be fun when he’s not horrible, and he really tries his best to believe in people
he was also the first one to forgive him after the others cut him off 
a very loyal and fun friend
takes a lot of initiative to do stuff, and loves hosting movie nights 
thinks of these boys as his closest friends, but is also real close to Wendy, Bebe, Jimmy and Tweek
Family:
I just hate Stephen so much you guys
so tbh I usually like to just... have Linda leave him, or straight up kill him off oops 
I know Linda is terrible too, I do, but I think she could possibly have a moment of realization if something happens like Butters potentially being taken away? 
idk I’m not gonna go too deep into this, I know it’s such a heavy topic and I don’t wanna seem like I just ignore it, but I personally don’t usually include Stephen directly in my stories, and this is why, I hope y’all understand and respect that! 
Ships and relationships:
my main Butters ship is Stutters (Stan x Butters) 
I mentioned a lot why in Stan’s headcanons? 
but idk, I just really think they’d balance each other well, and could have a very interesting and cute relationship! 
I usually headcanons him as pan or gay, and genderqueer, but I’m open for other interpretations too! 
he does date a little bit, but have never been in a real relationship and isn’t stressing about it! 
he did have a pretty huge crush on (a very unaware) Kenny during middle school, but then they started hanging out a lot more and became really close and Butters didn’t really bring it much thought?
that’s until Cartman gets jealous and throws out a “what are you guys dating and fucking and being gay huh???” and Butters mind immediately goes to “omg ew no he’s like my brother!” 
aaand that’s how Butters realized he was over his crush 
they two of them stay close friends tho, Kenny makes Butters laugh and helps him be more sure of himself and Butters helps Kenny remember that they’re still just kids and should have fun and be good
286 notes · View notes
periminkle · 4 years
Text
Orphic | 04
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After moving into your own place, it seems life is finally going your way; the path to independence leading you to a quaint suburban town where even the grass seems to grow a little greener. Although a shocking encounter leads you to believe that perhaps appearances can be quite deceiving.
pairing: hybrid!jk x reader (first person)
genre: hybrid au, angst, fluff
word count: 7.6k
rating: PG-15
warnings: swearing, descriptions of blood and cleaning wounds, mentions of cannibalism (o.o)
author’s note: mMMm setting deadlines is effective but exhausting, so the pacing of this might be a bit weird? also im def not late bc it’s still sunday in some timezones so ;))
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I stared intently at the grungy nick in the otherwise spotless wall, mind racing a mile a minute.
The better half of the last hour had been spent pacing back and forth, gaze unmoving from the unconscious man in fear of missing the twitch of a finger or the flutter of an eyelash. His complete stillness persuaded me to check on his pulse frequently, glad to feel the faint, yet steady, beat beneath layers of smooth skin.
When I received a second call from my cranky saviour to inform me that he was nearly here, I forcefully sat myself down and practiced that infamous square breathing that every zen yogi swore by. By the persistent bouncing of my knee, it was evident that the yogis had failed me.
Rain was pounding down in thick sheets onto the pavement outside and at this point I was convinced the world had it out for me, using every trick in the book to further complicate this surely doomed rescue mission. Nonetheless, I optimistically hoped that the incoming storm would soon subside.
My unfortunate lips dealt with the brunt of my merciless canines, rendering the skin raw by the time a distinctive series of raps against the sturdy door caught my attention. It was the very same pattern in which I’d regularly knock on the door to the cleaning storage, craving the company of someone other than the three musketeers I’d gotten to know better than my own blood.
Although I ordinarily would be enthusiastically welcomed and greeted with nothing less than a wide, heart-shaped grin, the circumstances now were undoubtedly exceptional. Thus, the crinkle between his brows and the disgruntled glare fixed on my sheepish smile were to be expected.
Needless to say, Hoseok was not impressed.
“What the hell?” the typically friendly janitor barked out, huffing out his frustration at having his slumber disturbed. “You do know that it’s almost two in the morning right? How did you even get in here? Why couldn’t this wait for tomorrow?”
His hair stuck up in a multitude of different directions, evidently having rolled out of bed, slipped on a jacket and came to my rescue. The wrinkled, blue horse character on his pajama set eased some of my nerves at the familiarity of its nose, in the shape of Hoseok’s smile that was, understandably, nowhere to be found with the current circumstances.
I gripped the distressed male by his lithe shoulders, imploring him to slow down. “I’m not coming in tomorrow. Listen, this is gonna sound absurd but—”
His eyes drifted past my smaller form and I firmly shook at his torso to prevent him from spotting the other man. “Hey! Eyes down here.” A hint of curiosity bled through his agitated exterior when he focused on my stern exterior once more. “You can’t freak out, okay?”
Hoseok shrugged his approval, murmuring, “Yeah, I get it, directly disobeying the head researchers is pretty satisfying and all, but did you really have to drag me into this? Especially when you know I start early on Saturdays?”
At the reminder of his strict schedule, I withered marginally as I originally hadn’t intended to involve him at all. A shameful appreciation began to eat away at my conscience, grateful for his presence in spite of my outrageous request. I wouldn’t know what to do if Hoseok hadn’t come through and in my eyes, he remained an angel who was too good to be true.
“I’m sorry, I promise this is really important.” I brought my arms back to my sides, glancing down at my feet in order to organize my swirling thoughts. “I wouldn’t call you if it wasn’t an emergency.”
What I didn’t notice while lost in my reverie was Hoseok’s rebellious stare, wandering over the injured man’s form. “What the fuck?” He gently shoved me aside, stumbling deeper into the laboratory. When he was planted by the stranger’s table, he repeated, “What the actual fuck?”
My head tipped back in exasperation, disappointed that not even my last minute backup strategy was going according to plan. “Hobi, please.”
I could practically envision the gears whirring in his head, a natural reaction considering the mutant in front of him. When he finally craned his neck back to me, he mumbled with wide eyes, “Say sike right now.”
“Stop talking for two seconds.” I groaned, marching up to position myself between the janitor and the table in an attempt to calm him down. Immediately upon noticing his trembling digits, I reached out to clasp them within my own quivering hands. “Listen, this experiment they’re conducting? From what I know, it’s all some screwed up excuse to inject animalistic characteristics of their choosing into humans. And their track records point to a lot of predator species.”
“Predators? Wha—why would they even want to create a predator-human hybrid?” Hoseok took a tiny step back and out of the fear that he would flee, I fiercely clamped down onto our conjoined limbs.
“I don’t know yet,” I faltered. “But, honestly, I couldn’t care less because of how unethical they are in their approach to this project.” At his puzzled expression I somberly gestured to the unmoving lump in the corner, willing myself to postpone any tears for a safer location.
Hoseok must have connected the dots at the midnight black shade of fur peeking out underneath the fabric matching the colour of the hybrid’s ears and tail, as his stare hardened and his breathing began to even out from the rapid pace it was at before. “I’ll need more details later on, but let’s get him out of here first.”
At his command, I retracted from Hoseok's hold, scoping out the rather barren area for something other than the masses of files and papers strewn about. “You think we can carry him together?”
Simply comparing the difference in size between the stranger and Hoseok, there was no doubt the copious, hulking mass of muscle outweighed my friend’s slimmer figure. Our combined strength would have to somehow prove formidable against his bulky body.
Hoseok’s grimace spoke volumes about his faith in that idea, although there wasn’t much of a choice considering the alarming time crunch and our limited accessibility to other parts of the laboratory. Due to my blind confidence in the ostensibly foolproof scheme I constructed, the only cameras shifted were directly located in the path from the front entrance to the changing room to the upstairs lab.  
Oh, how I was regretting that naivety now.
Using an abandoned stretch of fabric that had been stuffed into one of the drawers I rummaged through earlier, I covered his immobile body with the thin cover to provide some decency and act as a layer of defence against the torrents outside.
While Hoseok stood directly behind his head, leaning forward to loop his arms underneath the hybrid’s triceps and around his chest, I grabbed each of his ankles, cradling them to my abdomen. Even with our best efforts to avoid any of his wounds, there was no way to avert the countless scratches and bruises that littered every inch of visible skin. We counted on the sanguine belief that he wasn’t conscious enough to feel any of it, reluctant to use any tranquilizers when we weren't aware of how much juice they’d already injected him with.
“On the count of three?” Hoseok asked.
With a nod, I tightened my hold and widened my stance. “One, two,” after taking a generous inhale, I heaved, “three!”
The two of us managed to maneuver the stranger down the length of the dingy hall before we were forced to gently place him onto the ground, desperate to grant our aching muscles the break they demanded. Currently, construction was being done on the elevator, which meant that the flight of stairs was the next obstacle to be tackled.
I lost the brief, but fierce, battle of rock-paper-scissors and endured the frightening prospect of marching down the stairs backwards—in the dark. All because Hoseok was unwilling to sacrifice the slightest bit of his comfort for the both of us to step sideways.
It was safe to say the stairs themselves took ten minutes to clear.
On the first floor, we were able to cross over to the main entrance in a breeze thanks to the spacious nature of the lobby. After scurrying to Hoseok’s car and laying the hybrid in the back seat, I returned to the lab to dutifully lock up the front door and jogged back to the vehicle.
Hoseok sent me a befuddled brow lift from the front seat when instead of the passenger’s side, I hesitantly stood a stride away from the driver’s door. “He’s fine, hurry up already so we can get out of here.” He motioned to the space beside him with the flick of his chin, his bed head dancing along with the movement. “It wouldn’t look too great if anyone caught us right now, especially with the man-cat knocked out cold in the back. Plus, the lab just radiates spooky vibes at night, look at my goosebumps!”
“Okay, okay, give me a second,” I grunted, opening the door to the back seat as I bowed inside to avoid a painful meeting with the roof of the vehicle. While gripping the back of the stranger’s skull with one hand and his upper back with the other, I lifted his torso and slipped inside. Tenderly, I placed his head on my lap.
“What are you doing?” Hoseok stared at me through the mirror, evidently unnerved by my proximity to the man. “He could literally wake up at any minute and there goes your throat!”
“Or he could get juggled around from your shitty driving and open his injuries again,” I countered, “which I think is a lot more likely, no?”
He scoffed, taking full offence to my jest. “Never mind. I hope he throws you out the damn window for calling my driving anything less than spectacular.”
The rush of excess blood coursing through my veins as a result of my overactive heart pounded in my head, nearly loud enough to block out the boisterous revving of the engine echoing throughout the empty lot. Tires squeaked against the pavement, jolting the hunk of metal into action as we sped away.
“Where were you thinking of leaving him?” he asked, taking a breath before mumbling, “that is, if you thought about this at all.”
“Hobi!” My jaw dropped dramatically at his not so subtle jab, shaking my head as I commented, “You’ve been hanging around Yoongi too much lately. I mean, all this sass couldn’t have come from nowhere.”
He slowed down behind the only other car in sight, flicking on his signal to turn. “Don’t change the subject.”
“I’m not, I was just commenting on your drastic change in behaviour,” I rebutted, crossing my arms across my chest at his determination to aggravate me tonight. “For your information, I actually planned this out for weeks; who do you think got the key card to the upstairs lab, the keys to the building itself, moved all the cameras—
Despite the leather seat between us, I knew he was sporting a sly smirk, for his conceit was bleeding through his supercilious tone. “And who begged me for help halfway through this ingenious plan?”
My jaw clenched shut, astounded at his cheeky retorts. At first, I was unsure of how the relationship between the jovial custodian and the chilly facade that Yoongi donned among strangers would progress, but judging by the sheer number of occasions in which I’d walked into a room with the two chatting away—gummy smiles all around, it seemed to be advancing better than expected.
“Whatever, you came anyway.” I sank back into my seat, careful not to disturb the comatose man peacefully resting on my thighs. Hopefully he was narcotized enough to remain oblivious to the various disturbances around him and would only rouse when the sun made an appearance.
Hoseok blithely sneered, pressing harder on the pedal as he spun the steering wheel to the right. “Yeah, well it’s kind of hard not to when you claim that Hyunho’s going to sue your ass for thousands of dollars.”
“And was I wrong?” I recalled our earlier conversation, where I hadn’t yet mustered up the courage, much less the patience, to confess to the details of my crimes. In a panicked state, I simply presented the consequences which would follow Hoseok’s absence—Hyunho’s wrath.
“No, now you’re just gonna get your ass handed to you by Namjoon and Yoongi,” he countered. “But I guess you’ll save some money while you’re at it.”
Merely the thought of their reactions to my late night escapade made me want to shrivel up in a ball. “Who said I’m going to tell them?”
“You’re not telling them?” The car slowed as he gradually came to a graceful stop behind a red light, turning his torso to face me with the help of his hand on the central console. “You know better than to release the man-cat, he’ll just get caught again.”
Rolling my eyes like a petulant child being scolded, I muttered, “I’m not releasing him.”
“But you can’t deal with him on your own either!” he snapped, the lack of sleep shortening his tolerance. After a pause to regain his senses, Hoseok rapidly shook his head and twisted back to focus on the empty roads ahead.
"Listen," I gritted out between my teeth, my own temper flaring. “I think you’re forgetting that I was well aware of the fact that I would be housing some kind of animal for a while, just didn’t know he would be this big.”
“Or this dangerous? This costly?” His firm grip on the wheel tightened, knuckles turning white as his emotions boiled over. "You’re not prepared to deal with him, I'll just take him back to my place."
A puff of air escaped my throat at his ridiculous solution, stating, "You live with your sister. There's no way she won't find out."
"Like you're any better off," he quipped, staring me down through the rearview mirror. "You live alone. If he were to do anything to you, we’d be none the wiser about it."
"Well, we can't risk anyone discovering his existence. There's no other way.” By watching the stranger’s chest rise and fall with each elongated breath, I was able to simultaneously avoid Hoseok’s prying eyes and collect my own thoughts.
While impatiently waiting for his arrival back at the lab, my mind had trudged through copious possibilities, overwhelmed with the pressure to choose the right one. Eventually, I came to the disconcerting conclusion that, be that as it may, the most secure option remained to bring him back to my place.
I reassured, "Don’t worry, I cleared out my bedroom so that there’s nothing in there that could potentially be used as a weapon. We'll secure him down, lock the door, and I'll camp out in the living room."
"Y/N, we don't have any clue what this guy is capable of,” Hoseok stressed, worry colouring his voice as he sharply gesticulated with his free hand. “Hell, look at him! He has cat ears, Y/N, and do not get me started on his tail.”
I stole a glance at the accused appendage in bewilderment, unsure of why that aspect was at the forefront of Hoseok’s concerns regarding the mutant boy. “What’s wrong with his tail?”
“My point is,” he accentuates, “we have no idea what we’re dealing with here. What if he has some kind of monstrous super strength and his diet consists of human flesh? He could probably rip right through any restraints and bam! That'll be the end of you."
I held my tongue at ridiculing his absurd speculations when some sort of man-cat hybrid was currently strewn across the back seat of Hoseok’s run-down Corolla; a dim display exposing the current, ungodly hour of the early morning.
“Do you have any better ideas?" Although my question was met with radio silence, we steadily continued on the potholed path headed away from my house. I spoke up again, "Where are you taking us?"
"We're going to Namjoon's place, and we're gonna think of a better alternative all together."
"Hoseok," I seethed, fists clenching next to my thigh. "He'll make us take him back. We're already too far in to go back now."
The car jerked violently due to the bumpy road and being suddenly reminded of the wounded boy, I shot out to grab at his thin waist in order to nail him to the seat. Despite my best efforts, crimson liquid soaked through the thin blanket and I cursed under my breath.
"I can't leave you there alone with him!"
"Please, we'll be careful." A beat passed as I greedily inhaled the fresh air flowing in through my open window,  gathering ideas to negotiate. "I'll stay awake the whole time and I'll text you every hour."
Regardless of my pleas, the car kept at its incessant pace to Namjoon's apartment. Sweat began to accumulate at my temples at the unsure fate of what censure awaited me. To distract my nerves, I gripped the fabric that covered the man’s body, tugging it over his shoulders to rest just below his chin while pressing a bunch into his side in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
Past the low hum of the vehicle, a gentle utterance met my ears. I lifted my head to inquire whether the sound was merely a figment of my fatigued imagination when Hoseok repeated, "Every half hour."
My eyes widened, darting to examine his stoic expression from the rearview mirror. "Yes! Yes, yes of course. I can even do every ten minutes if that’s what you want." I shrugged my shoulders, pointing out, "I'll be up all night anyway."
"No, I'm good. Unlike some of us, I don't deserve to be punished for my crimes and would like to salvage the little sleep I can get," he declared as he performed a U-turn at a wide intersection.
My grin expanded exponentially at the change in direction. "Suit yourself."
I allowed my thoughts to clear, tracing a clear droplet on the window as it raced to engulf another, merging into one, larger globule that ran down the smooth expanse until it was out of sight. Unknowingly, I mindlessly carded my fingers through the stranger’s dampened strands; more so for my own comfort than for anyone else.
Before I knew it, we’d arrived at my quaint cottage and with the addition of another individual residing under its roof, the place seemed tinier than ever. Hoseok and I shuttled him over to my bedroom as gracefully as we possibly could, aiming to avoid whacking into any obstacles along the way.
Other than his lengthy legs knocking into two door frames, we were clear.
The second his back met the rigid mattress, we collectively released a weighty exhalation from the excessive exertion that strained both our physical and mental states. Although the chances of the stranger waking up now were low, seeing as he was out like a light throughout the whole journey, I hurried to collect the sturdy ropes that I purchased in advance.
“Ooh, you’re into some kinky shit, huh Y/N?” Hoseok quipped, taking the material from my hands.
My eyes rolled back at his stupid antics, glaring at the pleased crinkles forming next to his drooping eyes. “Ha ha, very funny. Now help me tie him up, so I can kick you out of my house.”
“And what’re you gonna do to him when I leave?”
Snatching the rope that he stole from me, I shoved Hoseok to the side by pressing against his firm bicep—which definitely carried more than his fair share of the hybrid on the way here—and grumbled, “Guess If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself.”
Hoseok burst into a short fit of contagious laughter, invoking a couple quiet giggles that I was unsuccessful in fighting down. As he raised the stranger’s arms to the bed frame, I looped the braided, nylon material snug around each of his wrists. Along the way I checked to ensure that the restraints weren’t too tight before moving onto his ankles to repeat the process. Luckily enough, his height stretched the entire length of my minuscule bed with his feet dangling off the ledge.
“Tell me you brought more tranquilizers in case?” Hoseok asked immediately upon securing the last knot. Throughout a tedious explanation on how foolishly lax I was behaving with the hybrid, he went back to inspect my handiwork, tugging the ends of the cords closer together into a grip that nearly cut off the hybrid’s blood flow.
Over his nagging, I sneaked a victorious grin as I displayed the syringes I’d nabbed from the lab. He spent a few more minutes fiddling with various safety measures consisting of the pepper spray he stealthily retrieved from my purse, the bedroom door’s lock and an air horn that he remarkably pulled out of his coat’s pocket. Although it was questionable if the blaring sound would awaken even my closest neighbours due to the sheer distance between our houses, I didn’t dare attempt after imagining old Sangmin marching over here on his rickety cane to bark my ears off.
Refusing to bother expending effort on pondering over the rationale behind Hoseok’s little magic trick, I blithely shooed him out before any more ridiculous objects could be plucked out of his jacket.
The last straw was his finger approaching the sensitive button on said air horn. Unwilling to face the consequences of his brash actions, I slammed the front door closed behind Hoseok, the space suddenly void of his rowdy antics. I wearily blinked the drowsiness out of my eyes, the stillness and tranquility of the early hours slowed my heart rate from the fast paced, action packed night.
My sock-clad feed padded their way back to the bedroom, snatching my phone out of my black hoodie to fiddle around with an app that I discovered upon moving out. In order to relay my continued existence to my family, I scheduled texts to be sent every week, which would prove useful at this time as well. Knowing my own forgetful nature, one update to Hoseok would slip my mind, and either four, furious men would burst through every available entrance or I would have the whole police force upon my front steps in minutes.
To prevent such a disastrous event from taking place, I tampered around with the settings and added the fretting male to the list.
I halted in my tracks when faced with the mundane sight of the four walls where I spent most of my sleeping hours, not a hair out of place other than the addition of the injured hybrid on my dirtied bed. The crimson stains jolted me into action, retrieving my brand new first-aid kit and finding it hilariously ironic that the dressings were going to be used on the very same criminal that broke in to steal such supplies.
In order to fight off any cold that could have possibly slithered its way past the weak barrier draped over his body, I peeled the flimsy, sodden cover off and replaced it with a puffy comforter. Traversing through the storm that continued to rage outside definitely put a strain on his already weakened state, and his pale countenance wasn't very reassuring.
I slid the blanket down to access the sullied wound at his rib cage and grabbed a couple pads of gauze to firmly press onto the area. Thankfully, some blood had already begun to coagulate around the edges, so I didn’t have to wait too long for the trickling stream to cease. With a clean towel, I wiped the surrounding skin to get a better look at what I was dealing with, grimacing at the bruises forming galaxies across the jagged edges of ripped skin.
He was in worse shape than either Hoseok or I could have predicted. At this realization, the fleeting worry that he might succumb to the severity of his wounds grew, festering a nasty doubt in my mind.
Deciding whether to clean the laceration commenced another strife within the whirlwind of emotions inside my head, but I poured a few drops of antiseptic onto a cotton ball anyway, fearful of infection. As I tried my best to carefully dab the soaked material across his wounds, I peered up at his face to search for signs of consciousness.
My eyes involuntarily softened at the small cuts littered across his neck, travelling past his jaw and over the slopes of his hollowed cheeks to his forehead, which was partially hidden under his dark locks. When the cotton was thoroughly besmirched with a blend of bright crimson and a muddy brown, I drenched another and advanced up to other regions after the more serious lesions were taken care of.
A closer look at his sinewy torso allowed me to examine the scars scattered all around, mostly clustered around his upper arms. Absentmindedly, I wondered whether their appearances were linked to the cruel methods of the laboratory. How had he gotten within their clutches in the first place? For how long was he suffering under the justification of being an experiment?
What were they trying to accomplish with him?
My mind raced with all the different possibilities of what could have brought the hybrid into this situation in the first place, and before I knew it, I was pushing back the disheveled strands on his forehead to clean the last of his cuts. There were definitely more on his dorsal side, but I wasn’t willing to undo his restraints and flip his hefty weight over on my own. I would either wait until he woke up or ask Hoseok to stop by again after his shift.
In my current position, I was close enough to feel his warm breath fanning across my skin, observe the tiny brown mole under his lip and how utterly breathtaking this man was underneath the cuts that marred his skin. He was undoubtedly attractive at first glance, although I wasn’t able to appreciate his masculine features while under the stress of saving him.
Once every laceration in my reach had been disinfected to the best of my limited abilities, I swiftly bandaged his side again and stuck Spider-man themed band aids onto the smaller cuts in memory of the Hello Kitty ones that decorated his body earlier. I settled back on the chair, admiring my handiwork and fighting back the looming threat of dormancy that approached with every elongated blink. My head leaned back as I crossed my arms, thinking that a little snooze never hurt anyone.
I was blind to the cocoa orbs drinking in the darkness.
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The bright light streaming in through the numerous cracks between my blinds prodded my eyelids apart, pupils struggling to adjust past the groggy haze of an unexpected slumber. Rather than revelling in the bountiful energy supplied by a restorative nap, an obnoxious cramp in my neck made its presence known alongside the bleak, obstinate tingle of dormancy that lingered within every tightened tendon, pulsating throughout my entire body.
Although the pain gradually ebbed away after I rolled my head around in wide semicircles, I knew from experience that the ache of sleeping in an uncomfortable position would linger.
Gold streaks were painted on the hardwood floor as a result of the sun’s harsh rays, a stark contrast to the dusk of a few hours ago. As I began to fuzzily recollect the memories from yesterday, I spotted the growing number of discrepancies between the room I’d seen before I closed my eyes and now, from the open door to the ruffled sheets, devoid of any sign of life.  
Fortunately, I seemed to be in the same position, seated on the tough chair that I snoozed off in a few hours ago. However, I found it odd that it was particularly difficult to do much else than squirm around, and that was when I realized the problem lied in the nylon material tied around my wrists and ankles, binding me to the furniture.
A cold dread washed over me, much like a freezing bucket of ice being poured over my head. The hybrid escaped.
Well, at least he didn’t exact his fallacious revenge on my sleeping form.
“Awake?”
I squeaked at the whiplash that followed the movement of my head twisting a second too quickly, intent on identifying the furtive speaker. My eyes widened exponentially at locating the muscular hybrid, black ears twitching at my cry and tail swishing in curiosity. Being clad in only boxers, I shifted my gaze away out of instinct, a fiery blush overtaking my features despite having ogled the man’s ripped physique before.
It felt completely different when he was unconscious and my only intent was to treat his multitudinous wounds though.
He slowly blinked, clearly finding my astonishment puzzling with the bewilderment laced in his orbs. Waving a large palm in front of my face to get my attention on him, he calmly said, “No hurt.”
The tight rope that currently hindered my motion was definitely the same one that had been previously occupied with restraining the hybrid to the bed. Yet the very same male stood in front of me, free as a bird. “H-how did you get out?”
Instead of answering verbally, he extended his defined arms out to the side, imitating the position he was tied up in, then robustly swinging both limbs towards one another. So he broke through those thick, durable ropes with sheer strength and willpower. Comforting.
The tranquilizers laid scattered across the floor, much too far to even consider reaching them.
“Where’s your blanket?” I questioned, suppressing the tremor in my voice as I found it outrageous that my throat was still intact at this point. There was no guarantee that he wasn’t harbouring any motives to rid the world of my presence, but the fact that he wasn’t actively making any moves to rip my heart out was a good sign.
The mop of dark chestnut swayed along in the same direction that he tilted his head over to; a habit revealing an emotion that I couldn’t place on the stranger. “Warm. No like.”
His broken English revived a flurry of trepidation. I recalled the night of the break-in, the terror and hysteria that I’d buried away under the incorrect pretense that a burglar never hits the same house twice.
I didn’t know if that sentiment applied to kidnapping the criminal and using your place as his hideout, as well.
As I noisily gulped, I felt his stare dart to my esophagus and in a wild panic, my wide eyes met the doe-like curve of his own. The hybrid edged closer to my trembling form before treading past me, out of sight. I closed my eyes in preparation.
This is it. Goodbye world, it was pretty shit while it lasted.
I heard the rustling of fabric behind me and silently applauded the man for thinking of a quick and easy suffocation to reduce the amount of clean up afterwards.
His bare feet slapped against the floor, trekking over to my front again. When a couple seconds passed and none of my airways were blocked nor was there any piercing pain to be felt, I cautiously cracked an eye open to see the stranger standing there, the puffy blanket from before wrapped around his broad shoulders.
“Good now?” he inquired with a bunny-like smile.
My jaw dropped slightly as I nodded, attempting to formulate a sentence but coming up empty. The stark contrast between the brawn enveloping his body and his innocent features threw me in for a loop. This must have been part of his grand scheme to ruthlessly murder me—lulling me into a false sense of security before executing me on the spot.
Outwardly, the hybrid appeared to possess more human features than his animal counterpart, leading me to wonder which instincts ruled over the other. Was he more level-headed and rational or was he unable to suppress his bestial instincts? Did he get sudden, violent mood swings or go on occasional, bloodthirsty rampages?
The lack of knowledge I had regarding the man, who had somehow gained the upper hand through his brute strength, was worrying. A tinge of regret for not skimming through a few files on said hybrid before Hoseok’s arrival made me softly curse under my breath.
As I shifted in place, I was reminded of my own predicament. “So, uh, any chance you’ll let me go?”
With his broad grin still on full display, he made his refusal clear by shaking his head back and forth. It was worth a try. “Not fair. I tied, now you tied.”
His childish logic caught me off guard and a bark of laughter shook my stiff shoulders, marginally relaxing at the prospect that he might postpone the bloodshed for a later time. The mystery laid in how he could distinguish my harmless intentions from the head researchers’ diabolical ones. Maybe it was the lab coat?
I made a mental note to never wear my own lab coat in front of him.
A grumble snapped me out of my reverie. I observed the stranger’s startled features as he glanced down at his abdomen, then, unabashedly, back up to my face. Recalling his screams of horror back at the lab, the barbaric treatment he received there was indisputable and based on his raging stomach, I guessed that it had been a while since he’d eaten anything of substance.
Of all times, Hoseok’s ridiculous words of the hybrid’s diet consisting of human grade meat played back through my brain and jitters erupted over my limbs, wanting to please the man before he was picking his teeth with my freshly cleaned bones.
“Hungry?” I prodded, pushing other priorities to the side in favour of feeding the rumbling beast.
His dark orbs immediately lit up with pure, unadulterated glee. The hybrid gracefully tied the ends of the fabric around his neck like a cape and rounded closer to me with mirth written across every crease on his countenance.
Unsure if his giddiness was attributed to the assumption that I was offering up the meat lining my organs, I squirmed in protest, attempting to cause a ruckus in order to spur his excitement towards another source of protein in the fridge.
Not having much choice in the matter with my limited range of motion, I watched in worry as he scurried out of sight again. “Hey, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here and—”
Despite being prepared for his unpredictable nature, a yelp flew past my lips when I was effortlessly lifted into the air, chair and all. His forearms caged my thighs as he gripped the bottom of the seat, hot pants of air blowing onto the back of my neck from his position.
His elation was practically tangible as he flew past the open doorway and sped off through the foyer. He must have ventured deeper into the house while I was blissfully unaware, since his strides towards the kitchen were filled with nothing but confidence in every step.
Hastily, I spat out, “I’m not that delicious, trust me! My budget’s been pretty strict this month, so I’ve just been eating junk, and I don’t imagine that’ll taste very go—”
The force holding me upright loosened when we reached the fridge, permitting my feet to find the floor. “Dee-lee-shiz?” He tried to imitate, turning to point straight at me.
“No! No, no, not delicious.” I corrected, violently shaking my head.
His outstretched arm retracted to his side, staring like a hawk at my chin tipping towards the metal cooling box behind him, and I repeated, “Delicious.”
As he flung the door to the refrigerator open, nearly ripping it right off its hinges, he yelled, “Dee-lee-shiz!”
Utter fascination at the chilled temperature and the rather meager array of food etched onto his features, sending relief through my veins. I encouraged him to ravage the tenuous stock of food while simultaneously rejoicing at successfully having deterred him from eating me alive.
Packs of eggs, blueberries, condiments, and essentially anything within his reach was hauled out, forming a growing heap on the countertop. When a zucchini found its way into his grasp, he took one puzzled look before chomping down on one end. I wasn’t too sure how raw zucchini would taste when eaten as though it were a cucumber, but he seemed pleased enough to take another bite that resounded throughout the space with a loud crunch.
I reclined back into the stiff chair, content on observing the ravenous hybrid empty my fridge and taking an occasional nibble on snacks that piqued his interest. Although, his grab at the bundle of raw chicken was when I decided to voice my concerns. “Ah, that has to be cooked!” At another tilt of his head, I explained, “You could get sick if you don’t cook it.”
By his furrowed brows, I deduced the concept flew over his head, but he threw the package onto my lap anyway and peered down expectantly. “Cook.”
“You tied me up, remember? I need some mobility to cook.” I tugged at my subdued arms to demonstrate my current inaptitude.
He hummed in thought, enveloping his lower lip between his lengthy canines as he weighed the pros and cons of being able to consume the meat by setting me loose. Finally, after clearly expressing how torn he was between his hunger and his teasing, it seemed that he’d come to a conclusion when he latched onto my left forearm.
Just as I was about to jib that I was no longer on the menu, a searing pain ripped across my wrist. I hissed through my teeth with my fists clenched as I teared my tender arm out of his grip, protectively cradling the limb to my chest.
He flinched away from the sound, taking a step away from my defensive form. At the sight of my disgruntled frown, he withered into himself, chin to his chest while I examined my sore wrist, whimpering at the edges of the flaming red, torn skin. I was a second away from viciously reprimanding him for the bruise that was more than likely to form by tomorrow, but one look into his guilty, fearful eyes made me pause.
With his strength, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that he possessed the ability to do much worse, which didn’t seem to be his intent from all the fretting—ears tucked into the crown of his head and tail hanging low. As he seemed to be repenting without a chiding needed on my end, I redirected to a softer approach. “It’s fine, just be more gentle next time, okay?”
“Mm,” he complied weakly, his prior enthusiasm having substantially deflated. Before I could dismiss the topic and entice him with more food, he knelt down to my ankles, gripping the rope with both hands this time as he effortlessly tore the material apart, careful not to graze my legs in the process.
A shiver crawled down my spine at the display of power, mentally noting that there was probably enough strength in his fingers to flick my stunned form across the room; yet the man proved his duality by proceeding to grab one loose end of his makeshift cape and gently tie it around my unscathed wrist. “No run.”
Surprisingly enough, I hadn’t made it a break for it as soon as I was liberated. Although I sustained minimal injuries, he expressed his remorse and made no moves to consume my flesh, which was another good sign. As more time passed, he was revealing to be more and more of a passionate bunny stuck in a wrestler’s body.
After all, I hadn’t gone through all the trouble of kidnapping him just to sprint at the slightest sign of trouble. I confirmed, “No run.”
Some of his original ardour reappeared at my acknowledgement, along with a faint giggle that evoked a tiny smile on my own face. I figured that with his minimal experience revolving around homemade dishes, simply slapping on some salt and pepper to flavour the meat with a side of boiled vegetables would suffice. Thus, I took the package from my lap and got to work.
Cooking with another, rather useless, individual essentially attached at the hip was difficult, to say the least. In the beginning, the man fired question after question, curious about every ingredient and spice going into the dish, but after realizing that he lacked the correct vocabulary to obtain the information he sought, he became a silent observer.
Basically, he followed me around like a lapdog while munching on another zucchini to occupy his restless hands.
After pulling him around left and right, occasionally giving a soft tug on the blanket when he would unintentionally zone out, I finally threw all the components into a single pan, deciding to serve a simple stir-fry. With only the expanse of the puffy fabric between us, I was constantly elbowing the hybrid while mixing the ingredients together, which I considered a redeeming form of payback for his carelessness with my arm.
While the mouth-watering scent of lunch wafted around, he extended the wrist connected to mine, sidestepping over to the island to fish for a bag of baby carrots before coming to stand next to me by the stove. Spotting my stare, he flashed another blinding grin and I couldn’t help but imagine long, bunny ears extending off the top of his head, his slender tail replaced with a fluffier ball of fur at the back. That seemed to better suit his ardent personality.
The chicken gradually changed colour as the exterior of the vegetables softened, and I brought the meal along with the chair by the fridge over to my tiny two-person table, prompting him to take a seat in front of the steaming plate. I expected him to ravenously dig in and devour every crumb, yet he refused to move a muscle, staring out the glass doors to the backyard and into the forest instead.
“I hurt.” He stumbled over his words, somberly bringing his gaze to my cocked brow. “No mean to hurt.”
Thinking back to the scuffle that seemed eons away at this point, I flashed a reassuring smile his way, explaining, “I get it, you were injured. Um, I was kind of mad at first because you broke my door and everything,” I offhandedly gestured towards the broken contraption, “but I forgive you.”
“No.” He clenched his jaw, analyzing the surface of the table as if the words he was searching for were etched on the surface. “Now. Sorry now, too.” To drive his point home, he delicately grabbed the arm not wrapped in the blanket, streaks of red decorating my wrist like a tight bracelet.
I hummed my understanding. “Ah, I told you it’s fine already,” I reassured, patting his hand.
Content at my acceptance of his makeshift apology, he began to dig into the chicken. His nose twitched at the unfamiliar taste, but he made no complaints. Anything was better than nothing, in the end.
I let him enjoy his food for a bit before asking, “Did you have a name? Something like J3?”
His eyes went back to scanning the outdoors, the sound of his chomping coming to an abrupt halt when he spotted a sad lump on the porch.
“Bud?” he inquired, the light glimmering in his irises.
The nickname stumped me, as I had difficulty imagining Hyunho or Minzy affectionately calling their experiment ‘bud’. “What are you talking about? Is that your name?”
His finger poked out to the cylindrical pile of tuna outside, then back to himself, “Bud.”
Befuddled now more than ever, I tried to laugh it off and nodded my head towards the plate again, silently advising him to continue eating.
Unfortunately, he didn’t seem too keen on evading the topic, whimpering in frustration at either my lack of understanding or his incapability of properly communicating due to the language barrier. His unending appetite was going to be put on hold for this. As he stood up, the chair behind him screeched, and he clutched on to the blanket, pulling me towards the back door.
Refusing to allow history to repeat itself, I rushed ahead to slide the hairband off and pushed the door open, allowing him to slip through. I figured that when the man drifted off to sleep tonight, I could replace the rapidly decaying tuna in hopes that my kitty would visit again.
While I was lost in thought, he undid the knot connecting the two of us and sprinted into the forest.
His back disappeared within the thickets fencing the towering maple trees and I froze in place, my jaw going slack in an ugly mixture of bafflement and betrayal, believing that he had simply taken advantage of my hospitality then ran off. Although, all attempts at making sense of the hybrid’s actions were cut short when familiar noises of horrifying, crackling sounds met my ears, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end.
When the underbrush twitched, leaves fluttering from the movement of an animal hidden within their cover, a sinking feeling entered my chest. And that was the moment I met the vibrant, emerald eyes that had dug their own space within my heart.
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miss-noo-na · 4 years
Text
Cursed (Goblin!Minhyuk) Part 1
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Title: Cursed
Featuring: Lee Minhyuk (Monsta x) X Reader
Rating: PG-13 for now
Summary: Your grandfather always warned you that the family was cursed by Dokkaebi, something you never took seriously until tragedy brought you face to face with one. Now you’re trying to reconcile what you believe to be true with what the strange and handsome creature says he is. 
Note: This was a commission requested by @def-sol​. If you would like a commission of your own, peep my profile link for more info. 
The crackling of burning wood echoed into the sky above you, the wispy orange embers fading into the stars. The shadows of the flames danced across your grandfather’s face, the man who raised you all on his own.
He was regaling you with stories, as he had done your entire life. You didn’t mind that you were too old for fairytales, you just liked the comfort that came with his voice.
“Some say they’re just mischievous, but I don’t believe that,” He said with narrowed eyes, “All the ones I know of are pure evil.”
“Goblins aren’t real, granddad.” You laughed, shaking your head. They weren’t fairytales to him, every creature he spoke of was very real, and he hated the Dokkaebi most of all. He was convinced that every ill-fated thing that had happened to your family and village as a whole were thanks to them, hiding in plain sight.
It was true there had been numerous incidences and tragedies surrounding you most of your life, and at times you were almost just as convinced it had to be something other-worldly, but logic prevented you from accepting the stories as truth.
“You laugh now, but one day they’re going to show their true faces around here, and you’ll be sorry you didn’t listen to me.”
He wagged a disapproving finger as he spoke, and you recalled all the prepping and ritual that had taken hold of his life and in turn, affected yours, too. Most of it was like habit now, second nature, and you had to admit you had grown a bit too superstition to stop, even though a voice in your head told you you were being silly.
He raised a closed fist to his mouth and coughed, and you winced at the sound his lungs produced.
“You’re still not feeling well?” You asked, and he shook his head vigorously.
“It’s just this dry weather, that’s all.”
He was in denial about his failing health. He was getting older, you could see it in the lines in his face and how his gait slowed. Now he had this awful coughing that had been going on for months, and all you could do was tsk at him and send him to bed with some tea. He was too stubborn to see a doctor, he didn’t think the trip out of your village was worth the trouble. 
You stood from your place next to the fire. “Come on inside, I’ll make you a cup.”
“I’m not done with my story!” He protested childishly.
“I’ve heard all your stories, granddad.” You smiled as you waved him inside as you began to walk toward the back door. 
You never thought that would be the last time you saw him.
He passed peacefully in his sleep, you knew something was wrong when he wasn’t up bright and early as he often was. 
After that, everything that followed happened in a foggy haze. Trudging into town to inform someone about his passing, body preparation, the funeral, the rituals, the condolences of far off family and friends nearby. You hadn’t cried and you hadn’t spoken much, it didn’t feel real. You were alone now.
Every night you sat by yourself at the fire, and repeated his stories in your head. It was natural, he was an old man, it would have to happen sometime, but you weren’t anywhere near prepared. Would you ever be? You weren’t sure. You just knew you didn’t know how to till this land and run this home on your own. You didn’t know who you were going to talk to, laugh with, take care of. You didn’t know who would dry your tears, pat your head in approval, or tell you that you could do anything you set your mind to.
Suddenly your grandfather’s stories of the Dokkaebi didn’t seem too far fetched. He hadn’t been keeping up with his rituals lately due to his health and had encouraged you to do them for him, but you brushed them off. You might set out an amulet for protection or burn some incense, but the longer, more complicated rituals seemed like a waste of your time. Until now, of course.
Everyone in your family had been taken from you, and while part of you urged you to think of this rationally, that life simply wasn’t fair, you couldn’t accept that. You couldn’t just sit and take it, let this tragedy and sadness happen to you over and over again with no reason.
You spent days gathering materials, traversing the woods in search of the right herbs and stones for what you were about to do. Sometimes you thought yourself crazy, driven by grief, other times you convinced yourself this was the best thing to do.
Driving away a Dokkaebi was complicated, and difficult to accomplish. If there was one (or many) nearby, haunting your family and bringing ill will upon your land, it could be forced to leave you and generations of your family alone if you did it right.
Once you had everything you thought you would need, everything you could remember your grandfather telling you and everything you could gather from his diaries, you picked a night to begin. 
Candles scattered about the garden, with the bonfire roaring at the center. In front of it a table was lined with fruit and incense, and you made as much noise as you could, banging metal together as you walked the corners of your property, hoping to drive the evil away.
It went on for hours, alternating meditation and prayer with your noise making. You were hot, sweat dripping from your temples, and you were exhausted, but you were propelled. Finally, as the sun barely began to peak from the horizon, you fell into hysterical tears, crying for the first time since he died.
Kneeling on the ground with your head in your hands sobbing, you didn’t hear the rustle of clothing or the small steps toward you, or how the figure lingered over you for some time before you finally picked up your head. Seeing the figure there, half cast in shadow as the morning sun had not reached the garden just yet, you gasped and fell back.
With a tear streaked face, you peered up at the figure through blurred vision. It was a man, dressed in traditional clothing with dark hair and dark eyes, and his handsome face struck you as odd and frightening given the circumstances. You might have thought he was just a villager, brought to the garden by all your commotion, but there were sparks of blue light that radiated off the edges of his frame that told you he wasn’t even human.
“I-it...it’s you.” You trembled as you spoke. He didn’t look anything like the ogre-ish creatures from your grandfather’s stories.
He crouched so he was at eye level with you and you scurried back. He half-smiled in a devious yet amused way.
“Who am I?” He asked.
“T-the Dokkaebi”
He laughed, and the way his smile lit up his face was complicating your feelings. There was something sweet about his eyes and his voice.
“I would think so, you’re the one that summoned me here.”
“What?” You asked, then shook your head. “No, I was trying to drive you away.”
“Well now, why would you do such a mean thing?” He asked with a pout.
This was too much to take in at once. You were mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted and it was hard to form a coherent sentence, to explain the entire situation. Plus, you had just had all of your childhood fairytales proven real right before your eyes.
“You’ve been bringing destruction to my family, I want you to leave.” You sniffed, trying to sound firm, but you were meek and small underneath him, still shaking and half-crying.
He cocked his head, “You’re sure that was me?”
“Who else would it be? Are there more of you?”
“Of course there are.” He stood up once more. “But none of them are in this village. Never have been, actually.”
“That’s impossible.” You near-whispered.
He shrugged, “You don’t have to believe me, but it's the truth. Whatever ill fate has bestowed your family has nothing to do with me or my brethren.”
You felt sick to your stomach, not wanting to believe what you were hearing. How could everything your grandfather spoke of be true and false all at the same time? How could all your misfortune be random?
You pulled yourself shakily to your feet, and glared hard at the goblin.
“I want you gone by today.”
He simply grinned at you, and you turned to extinguish the flames of the candles and stoke out the fire. He simply watched, and you tried to move without fear, though deep down you were terrified of what he was capable of. 
You went inside and collapsed onto your bed, no time to clean the dirt and tears from your face or remove your clothes, thick with smoke smell. When you awoke hours later, your body ached and the sun was beating down on you from the window. You didn’t have the energy to heat up your water, so you dumped the basins you already had over your head, cold and shocking to your skin, but you felt refreshed.
Once you had changed into  clean clothing and had something to eat, you peered out of your back window into your garden, a mess from disrepair and the remnants of your ritual. As your eyes scanned the fields, your heart dropped into your stomach when you saw him.
The goblin waltzed around your cabbage patch, looking a lot more human in the daylight. He didn’t seem out of place, touching the leaves absent-mindedly as he strolled. He seemed so non-threatening, but you knew better.
You marched out of your home and down the garden path toward him, and when he saw you coming he smiled.
“Good afternoon, did you sleep well?”
“Why are you still here?” You planted your hands on your hips and glared.
“You summoned me, remember?”
“I told you to leave.”
“Oh, it doesn’t work like that.” 
You stood up straight and blinked. “What do you mean?”
“I guess you’ve never done a banishing ritual before, because you did it wrong, or maybe it was because there was nothing to banish?” He stopped a moment to think to himself  
“Nevertheless, what you did was a ritual to appeal to me, so I would come here and help you.” He explained, then looked out at your land. “Your crops are decent, but they could be better.”
“I don’t need your help.” You spat, the vitriol dripping from your tone. You refused to believe this creature, he was probably as cunning as your grandfather always told you they were.
“That’s a problem.” He said, unphased by your anger. “I can’t leave until my job is done.”
You felt tension sear through your already aching muscles, getting more and more upset as the goblin spoke. “Listen, I don’t care about what you think you have to do, all I know is that I don’t want to see you anywhere near my land, you got that?”
“Wrong again,” He almost laughed, “I actually can’t even leave the property, even if I wanted to.”
You sighed heavily and raised your fingers to rub your temples, what had you gotten yourself into?
“I really don’t understand why you’re so mad at me, especially since you’re the one that brought me here and all.” He shrugged, there was a hint of naivety to him that angered you, acting innocent when you knew what he really was.
“I’ve heard all the stories, I know all about your kind and what you’re capable of, so if you think I’m going to trust you to help me, you’re dead wrong.”
“That isn’t fair.” He said, his pout returning. “I think you’ve been misinformed about us,”
“My grandfather wouldn’t lie.” You said, voice deepening, daring the goblin to defy you.
“I wouldn’t doubt your elder,” He agreed, then pondered a moment before continuing, “But maybe he was misinformed, too? Did he actually ever meet one of us?”
Suddenly your thoughts went reeling through all his stories, scouring over the details for some kind of proof, when it dawned on you he had never claimed to have seen them in person. All his stories were second-hand, passed down from ancestors, and only strange coincidences had ever happened in his own life. You felt weak suddenly, questioning everything you knew about your grandfather and your family as a whole. Maybe they were just stories? Rumors and blame for life’s very normal tragedies. 
You didn’t have an answer or an argument for him, so you locked eyes for a brief moment, curiosity and a hint of concern on his face, before you turned and walked back to the house without another word.
You fell back into bed and the tears came like a flood, free-flowing and constant. Your grief now mixed with regret and betrayal. It was silly to blame the old man, he had his convictions, but so much of your life had been put into this thing that wasn’t even true. Now you were stuck with a monster of your own making, plus a very real supernatural creature frolicking through your garden. You were lost. You pulled the blankets up over yourself and cried yourself to sleep.
To Be Continued.
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